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Amit Gud
I was studying for my examinations. It was March. I saw two teen-age boys and a girl carrying a heavy load. Wrong Guess! Not of books, but of bricks and sand. These children were younger than me just about eight or twelve years and were working as labourers with a PCMC contractor making underground passages for the laying of electric cables.
My heart sank and I pondered about how these kids were made to work at so young an age and that too with our government's permission - it was effectively paying them for the work! At such instants I feel that all the government's plans and policies to improve social conditions especially for children are nothing but just ironies. The government makes plans, puts up policies, appoints committees, provides finance, but these facilities just doesn't reach the people they are intended to.
The questions are - where are the flaws and how can they be overcome? The probable answer would be `a lack of social awareness'. People in our society aren't really aware and upright about their duties. Also, how far will the government be able to look after these things? That is why, ultimately it comes to society and citizens - `we'. We should see and take care that everything in society is right, within the laws and worth living.
The kids I saw would rather have carried their school bags instead of sand and stone.
From this day I decided to do something as a social creature. But alone I could stand now where. Then I came to know about an institute named CRY short for Child Relief and You. I was curious to know more about the institution, so I wrote to them and received a positive reply. I got what I was looking for. I became a volunteer for CRY.
India is a rich country with poor people. Amongst these poor people there a number of children who are regularly exploited and who don't how to rectify the situation. Therefore, In 1979 seven friends made a simple decision to pool in Rs 7 each and change the lives of India's underprivileged children. Led by Rippan Kapur, their goal was to enable deprived children to realise their full potential. The only resources they had were Rs 50 and a dream with the firm belief that each one of them could make a difference in the lives of Indian children. This was how CRY began.
An Indian Dream Spreads....
CRY emerged as a link between those who needed support and those who wanted to give it. Today, 17 years later CRY has become a movement for children's rights with operation in Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, and Bangalore.
The question often asked is, ``has CRY really made a difference?'' The answer is ``yes''. People like you have helped transform the lives of the future of India. Yes, there's still a lot more to be done, but together we can achieve a lot. Because every day counts for the children. As Gabrielle Mistral puts it so simply
``Right now is the time, his
bones are being formed,
his blood is being developed
and his senses are being developed...
to him we can't answer
tomorrow; his name is Today.''
Come! Be a part of it as I did and be a cautious citizen. CRY counts your support because after all it's a children's story. And children's stories should have happy endings.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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