I saw him lying half awake under a push cart. His tender and fragile face told me that something must be keeping him awake, something must have disturbed him at such a young age when other children his age don’t have to carry the weight of the world. I was going to have a series of sleepless nights haunted by the image of that boy. Here I was lying on a neatly made bed, my hunger satisfied with home cooking and a hum of air conditioning, thinking about that boy. He was wondering how many children like that there are in my town and in the whole nation. The image of him—poorly clad with his body left to the mercy of blood-sucking insects—contrasted with the eternal bliss in which he lived was more disturbing. I was trying hard not to think about the boy; luckily, office chores allowed me to be easy on myself for a while.

I couldn’t erase the image of the boy from my thoughts for days on end. Every time I passed children of the same age I thought of him. For me it represented the poverty of society and the indifference towards the future generation. We are too lost in the maddening crowd and too caught up in the race of life to stand out, pause and reflect.

When we are deeply involved in thoughts of workplace succession and economic or social development, we leave other issues to governments and don’t even give a minute’s thought to who would tackle the core issues of poverty, lack of services basic civics. and even basic education for children? These incidents made me look further and think how one could take responsibility for these issues and work on them instead of worrying seeing children seen on the streets begging or being flogged accused of stealing. They are deprived of their childhood; their dreams crushed under child labor and exploitation as sex workers. Basic education and a healthy life are their fundamental rights, but who will fight for their cause?

Did you know that there are *an estimated 158 million children aged 5-14 in child labor in India, one in six children in the world is child labour? Millions of children are involved in dangerous situations or conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture, or working with dangerous machinery. They are everywhere but invisible, working as domestic servants in homes, plowing behind workshop walls, on plantations hidden from public view.

* Nearly 13 percent of all children in South Asia are involved in child labor, which equates to around 44 million. Of these children, 29 million live in India, where the child labor rate is 12 percent. Within India itself there are wide divergences between states in the incidence of child labour, ranging from 32 per cent in Gujarat to 3 per cent in Goa and Kerala.

If these children are the future, who will turn them into strong pillars supporting the very existence of our nation?

With these lingering thoughts, my friends and I sat down to share our worry over some Chai cookies. I realized that even they shared similar concerns and ideas on the same topic. Many of the like-minded friends volunteered for this cause and wanted to spend time and effort to bring about a change in the lives of these underprivileged children. But that was not all. This was a temporary solution. What happens when we have transformed our lives growing professionally and personally with a shift from Chai cookies to green tea and cookies as a sophisticated social being? What would happen when this passion and concern simply dies out like every other interest in our life due to job and personal qualifications?

This is a question that each and every citizen of this country or any nation facing similar development challenges must address in order to create a harmonious and equitable society and develop a sustainable solution for the future.

Numerous NGOs are emerging that work for the development of this disadvantaged sector of society with the support of international agencies to mainly provide education and other fundamental rights. For example, Paatshala, an NGO that involves young people in building a better tomorrow. A well-designed model for public-private partnership (PPP) would do wonders for the growth of any developing nation. The first step in taking responsibility may be to collaborate with such NGOs to create a better social and economic environment and a school of thought for the younger generation to flourish and grow.

(*Data compiled from UNICEF statistics on child labor in South Asia)

To find out more about Paatshala and the latest programs, visit: http://www.paatshala.org/