Every country’s development depends on the hands of the youth. The children and their upbringing hold all the keys to prosperity. They are the base of any nation. In India, the base itself is prevented from solidification. Children are found working as laborers in construction buildings, factories, as servants in food stalls and houses. Begging itself is considered to be a $16000000 industry (Lamb, 2006). This is something to be concerned about. Making a movie like Slumdog Millionaire is not going to put the matter to an end. It only provides an ugly sight of India.
To get rid of these grave problems charity is not going to help. People need to be aware and a combined effort should be put in. That is exactly what CRY (Children Rights and You) is trying to do since 1979 and they have been quite successful so far. It is an organization formed by Mr. Rippan Kapoor and even after his death in 1994, it is still going strong. They do not believe in charity, they do not do street teaching campaigns or build up orphanages, etc. Instead, they help grassroots level NGOs to work with and for the children, their parents, and communities to make them aware, so that the problem could be totally uprooted rather than giving a vague effort (Waller, 2008).
CRY does not sympathize with children. They consider them as citizens who have their own rights but are just not aware of the rights. CRY works hard to make them aware so that they can fight for themselves. CRY also provides all the instruments as many as possible to support them in their battle. Here are a few examples of the gallant efforts of the Grassroots NGOs which are supported by CRY:
ADHAR – A Cry project, done in the Bolangir district of Orissa proved a great success as they fought against the issues of malnutrition and migration of children and ensured that poor pregnant women get proper healthcare.
“ASSOCIATION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY” (Lamb, 2006) (APD) – Another CRY project, done in Kolar district of Karnataka where they addressed the issues abut disability of children, their care, prevention and raise awareness that they should not be treated as excluded from the society. They are not to sympathize but to be seen in equal light.
“ASSOCIATION FOR INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT” (Lamb, 2006) (AIRD) – This was one of the biggest campaigns of CRY. They fought for the rights of the Palmyra workers in Tamil Nadu to force the Government to waive off the ban from the toddy tapping and form a trade union for the workers. AIRD communicated with over 250 villages to support this movement and made them aware of their rights and motivated the 47000 workers to fight for their own rights which they were unaware of. With this united effort, they compelled the government to fulfill their demands.
ARAMBH – This program was once supported by CRY as well. It dealt with educational issues related to children in the slums and stopping child labor.
What makes CRY different from other institutions that fight for child rights is their massive success. They believe in the proper approach as the others could prove to be unethical and illegal and can ruin the whole cause and worsen the situation. So far they have covered 13089 villages across India, ensured a good future for more than 1500000 children, thousands of births were registered and ICDS centers revived, 315 villages are freed from child utilization, and lots more (Rennie, 2009).
The statistics speak for themselves and what makes it even more successful is the involvement of thousands of common people. Common masses are influenced through campaigns and made aware of the need. Hopefully, this mission will succeed and each and everyone would participate to strengthen the base of India and free the children from exploitation so that India sees a better tomorrow.
References
Lamb, D. (2006). The arch of Ethics. Auckland: TMB Press.
Rennie, B. (2009). Evaluating Welfare: A Best Practice Guide to Planning, Research and Evaluation. Wellington: IPL Press.
Waller, N. (2008). Consider Welfare: Theory, Readings, and Contemporary Issues. Delhi: Orient Longman.