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THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN CURBING CHILD LABOUR

As soon as i start thinking about this word, the first thing that enters my mind is the images i see often of young, 8-12 years old children working at the small restaurants, road-side dhabas,selling things at roads in the midst of heavy traffic jam of Delhi; with so much of proficiency, with so much ofregularity that one might even forget for a moment that they are just kids after all. There is no child-like expression on their face-there are hardly any smile in their eyes, their face seems to have lost its innocence and a child's excitement. it almost looks expressionless. all they seem to have is loads and loads of work, with very little hopes of a bright future, or rather a present like any other normal child-this is all what i can remember of.

In India, child labour has been a problem for a very long time now. But still there isnt seem to be ab end to it. It is not like nobody tried to do anything against this evil-many schemes, many programes have been launched for N no. of times to sort this problem. But the result... where are we lacking then? and whats the area we can still work upon and take its help to remove this problem called child labour. Government is doing its bit of work. Or so does it says...but we, the youth of india can also have a fair share of efforts, and can bring a drastic change in the present condition of major part of the present working class- i.e children. The youth in india, or should i say, even i being a part of youth, feel that we need to put our share of efforts to help our country become better. But the question is how? its not that we dont want to help, youth of today is very enthusiastic about bringing a change in society. But what we lack is the true guidance of how to go for issues like this and how to tackle them. So, first of all we need to guide them and make them aware by conducting programs.so that they can use their energy and enthusiasm at the right place. secondly, we need to accept this, that with the present senario of poverty in India its really hard to stop this evil at one go. what we can perhaps do is to take small but significant steps to keep things in check and so control it progressively.

Next on the block is to understand the reasons for which young children get into this petty world of child labour- food and lack of education. food, the main necessity of all human beings unless there is not enough amount of foods per required,they have to work. they wont stop working unless there is a security of food , and shelter for them. So, this thing needs to be taken care of.

Second comes lack of education-almost all the parents of these child labours are uneducated and so money being their prime agenda for survival, all they teach their kids is how to get work for them as soon as possible.For this even the parents need to be educated and who better than the youth of today can do this.Young students can put up street plays and awareness programms for the parents.Simultaneously,they can also take part time classes so that they can become self-dependent and donot rely on their meagre wages only.The main idea behind this thing should be that studies should not be a burden for them.For this the youth can team up and provide them small but valuables things like books,pencils etc.There are also many NGO's working presently to eradicate child labour across India.One can always join them and do their bit for poor young children to help them save their childhood and to have their dreams and as well as to retain them.

By
Garima Shah
3rd year

POEM

Life has loveliness to sell
All beautiful and splendid things
Blue waves whitened on a cliff
Soaring fire that sways and sings
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup
Life has loveliness to sell
Music like a curve of goal
Scent of pine trees in the rain
Eyes that love,arms that hold you
And for ur spirits still delights
Holy thoughts that star the night
Spend all you have for loveliness
Buy it and never count the cost
For one white singing hour of peace
Cost many a year of strive well lost
And for a breadth of ecstasy
Give all you have been or could be

By: G.Padmavati
3rd year

AN ERA OF PESSIMISM

Its but common these days and extremely convenient at that,to turn a deaf ear to our country's unabashed screams to free her from the shackles,unleash her from the dreary depths of dirty politics and shallow mindedness,petty bureaucracy and untamed treachery.
Another way of thinking that has become common is that if not completely oblivious a person gets his peace in bickering or merely having a laugh at the state of affairs in the country,little realising his indebtedness to it.
Everything including the sullen and sickly is so taken for granted(which certainly suit some better)that there is no yearing for change ,or the wanting for the correct ways,for the incorrect ones seem to be much more curing and easily accessible. A little misguidance (lent primaly by the power greedy,the so called leaders of our country) or injustice goes a long way in explaining the series of conococtions that occurs due to a man's wrong doing.Or what else can explain the innocent murdered,helpless raped or guiltless whipped?

Often i feel a few unsettling questions clouding my mind .During these times more than others i am painstakingly conscious about my responsibility to our country and am overwhellmed by the feeling of making a change,changing the world.And i am slowly realising that changing the world ,as much as,i feel compelled to, is presently notin my control,but changing myself is.And so it dawned upon me the if each one of us strives to change ourselves,to be just a little more sensitive towards many a burning issues ,to make a difference,we would atleast be making a start in the right direction.It is time we realise that shying away from initiation is not exactly the best we can do to awaken our country to that heaven of freedom which Tagore dared to dream and so beautifully described,replete with all expectations .Hopefully it will be fulfilled one day with the burial of CYNICISM!!

By;
Harpreet Kaur
3rd year

Elegy to the pestering pest

Busy little bug, buzzing with impatience
once entered my room
dodged my hands
ducked my broom
and beganruling over my room in my presence

To his Majesty, I became his royal court my head was his royal seat If I took a shot, he would fly with god speed
and my head would take the punishing beat
for he was the black Pegasus whose actions Lucifer would himself promote

Dejected and exausted, I gave up the fight
the sun descended into the horizon and darkness covered the ground
to my agony , lights went out and in darkness I was found
so I lit up a candle and pronounced:
LET THERE BE LIGHT

The dancing flame caught his majesty's intrest
The daredevil. the fly propelled by a blasphemic desire
his wings began to melt as he plunged into the fire
there I witnessed his funeral pyre
and said AMEN to the annoying pest

By:
Mridu Pawan Saikia(3'rd year)

Quote for the tee-shirt:

MY books laugh, scream, bleed,
I listen, I feel, I react
By:Mridu Pawan Saikia
3rd year

An Open Letter to Mr. Omar Abdullah

"I am a Muslim and I am an Indian"
kudos to you sir for having dared to make such a bold statement.

A section of people would consider you anti-nationalist. They would argue that by placing your religion ahead of nation, you are actually going against the notion of secularism- for which India stands but little will they understand that a country is formed by its people and not vice- versa. Your views are not against secularism. You have every right to celebrate your religion. Doing this does not make you less patriotic. After all India thrives on pluralism, where people of different religious and political beliefs come together to form our nation.

I am a 1st year English Honours student of the Delhi University. We discussed the speech, that you delivered in the parliament on 22 July 2008, in the class while reading about Tagore's views on Nationalism.

After reading the part of the speech which said- "the enemies of Indian Muslims are the same enemies that all poor people of India face...", I thought to myself- here is a young leader trying to make an innocent attempt to highlight the sentiments of a particular section of the society that for long has been looked at suspiciously and their people have the right to call themselves Indian as much as the people from other dominating communities namely the Hindus.

I think India has had enough of her politicians trying to use religion for their personal gains. Parties like BJP do not shy away from using religion as a tool to fill in their petty vote banks vying for power..it is very convenient for them to blame a particular community for a mishap.. it is such dirty politics that i am against.

India needs young leaders like you who

1) are aware of the problems faced by India

2) are honest in admitting them

3) work towards getting rid of these problems and own accountability

Countries like USA also face problems like poverty, unemployment,etc but its the way they handle these issues that makes them stand apart.

I think India has the power to lead the world. We have a nice blend of experience and youth. The need of the hour is to solve our internal matters and collectively work towards the realization of a better country based on the higher moral principles like love for humanity,sympathy with mankind...which our forefathers like Tagore and Gandhi dreamt of.

I the youth of this country appeal to you to always listen to your conscience and take decisions that benefit not just your constituency but also act as a model for the entire country..

You have an ominous task in your hand in Kashmir of bringing together the conservatives and radicals and ensuring peace in the terror hit state...i wish you all the best for the same.

ARUN ARORA
1st Year

The spirit of rock … \m/

Okay the spirit of rock ?? eh ?? thats a very tricky question to answer .. There is a simple reason behind it , that many people mistake rock to be like anti religion , or as many Christian Catholics say , anti Christ . Rock ain’t Anti GOD , or anti Christ . Rock is all about rebellion , all about standing against the people who run the society . or as Jack black says in his movie The School Of Rock , rock is all about sticking it the man …

Yes my friends , rock is all about sticking it to the man .

Rock is one layman’s term . Or to put in other words it is a very big genre of music , just as you have blues , jazz and pop . Rock has many sub genres for example ,

Classic rock , Grunge Rock , Hard Rock , Punk Rock , Progressive Rock , Soft Rock ( yeah rockstars are soft also .. ) Psychedelic Rock , Country rock , Alternative Rock and many more . And each genre has its own style of conveying a message .

For instance , Grunge rock include bands like Nirvana , Alice in chains, Pearl Jam and many more .. There lyrics don’t make sense at all with the music and the lines are quite counfusing , but as you look at the lyrics as a whole , you will understand that the lyrics convey some potential meaning after all ..

Rock also gave birth to one of the genres that todays youngsters are really fascinated about .. – METAL

Yes my friends metal , this is a much bigger way of showing rebellion to a particular organization and it also has its sub genres . thrash metal , death metal , brutal death metal , heavy metal , gothic metal , psychedelic metal . and many more ..

First Metal band to name was BLACK SABBATH , who gave birth to one of the most famous names in entire rock history – OZZY OZBOURNE

And then in 1980’s came three bands , Metallica , Megadeth and Iron Maiden , bringing a revolution in the metal history and changed history of metal forever .

But there is one saying that sums up which of the bands gave the most to metal fans .

Black Sabbath created metal but METALLICA perfected it , and the rest is history To sum up Rock is not Anti God . Rock is standing up for yourself , it is all about freedom of speech , freedom of mind from the shackles of laws that people have to abide by to live in it , but they do not know that these very rules and laws are the ones that feed upon them and brings upon them suffering . Rock goes against such rules , but you see as the famous song goes by Pink Floyd people are “ COMFORTABLY NUMB .

By:
Samarth Goyal
2nd year

MY ALMA MATER

A lot is there to be said,
A lot is there to be heard.
But it is time which is scarce
And a plenty of work is to be done.
On the verge of beginning a new phase.
And leaving behind the memories of school days.
A dilemma now surrounds me,
Like the mist in the wind.
Is there something to be said and done,
Or is it just a myth in my mind!

Tears are in plenty in my eyes.
But, none of these shed away.
It's so hard, that I tried
For even a single drop to fade away.

-KANIKA CHAWLA, BA (HONS) ENGLISH; 1ST YEAR

The Killer Eve

MORE OF DARK AND LESS OF LIGHT
THIS CAME EVIDENT IN SIGHT

PEOPLE, FORESAKEN AND ALONE
SEARCHED FOR THE LIVES OF THEIR OWN

BLOOD WAS ROLLING DOWN THE STAIR
LIMBS LAY LACERATED HERE AND THERE

SOME WERE WEEPING, SOME IN CONTROL
LIFE WAS TAKEN OUT OF THEIR SOUL

FATHER RUSHING TOWARDS SAFDARJUNG
TO CLAIM THE REMAINS OF THE YOUNG ONE

WHAT CAN I DO, NOW HE LAMENTS
IT IS ALL DONE BY SOME FALSE FRIENDS.

-KANIKA CHAWLA,BA(HONS.)ENG;1ST YEAR