New Delhi: Kailash Satyarthi, India’s best known face against child labour, was yesterday awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Pakistani teenager Malala Yousufzai “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people”. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a proud nation in congratulating the Delhi-based 60-year-old activist, who pledged to keep fighting to secure freedom for the hundreds of thousands from poor families who slog away as child workers in pitiable conditions.
Satyarthi is the fifth Indian to win a Nobel prize after Rabindranath Tagore (1913, Literature), C V Raman (1930, Physics), Mother Teresa (1979, Peace) and Amartya Sen (1988, Economics). Rajendra K Pachauri accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for the Inter-governmental Panel on Climatic Change (IPCC) in 2007.
Born in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, Satyarthi, who gave up a promising career as an electrical engineer when he was 26, expressed hope this recognition would strengthen the struggle of child labourers.
“This award is a dedication to all those people and activists fighting for the cause of children. I hope this will give strength to the struggle of children working as labourers,” Satyarthi said.
Satyarthi’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA, or Save Childhood Movement), has for years not just campaigned against child labour but raided factories as well as sweat-shops that employ children illegally, turning them into virtual slave labour and often paying them a pittance for hours of hard toil.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was awarding Satyarthi and Malala “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”.
It said that showing great personal courage, Satyarthi, “maintaining Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain. He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children’s rights”. The Nobel Committee regards it “as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism”.
It said there were 168 million child labourers in the world now. In 2000, the figure was 78 million higher. The world has come closer to the goal of eliminating child labour. Satyarthi’s group has so far freed about 80,000 children from servitude, including bonded labourers, and helped in their successful re-integration, rehabilitation and education.
Officially, there are only about five million child workers in India. But activists say the actual figure is ten times as much. President Mukherjee said: “The prize should be seen as recognition of the contributions of India’s vibrant civil society in addressing complex social problems such as child labour and the important role played by them in collaboration with the government in the nation’s efforts to eliminate all forms of child labour in the country.”
IANS
