Bharat ka Jhanda

Driving down from my place of work I often see children big and small begging or selling balloons, flowers, toys, car décor items and other knick-knacks on red lights. Mind you, all these items are coming from China, often smuggled, so neither the government earns nor the local industry flourishes. But that is beside the point.

Often times these families live under the flyovers in open unlivable conditions and get down to business as the traffic lights turn red. What I see every day is so heartbreaking that I wrote to the Chief minister of Delhi asking as to why they are not provided with shelters. Not receiving a reply, I did some research. Got to know that they do not want to live in shelters made by the government as conditions there are as bad and unhygienic as living anywhere else. In addition they are troubled by drug addicts in these night shelters.  The police has been hand in glove in their begging business and I am told begging is a much bigger racket and that there are contractors who make these children beg or sell stuff at red lights. If they try to get out of the racket their limbs are broken and they are disabled so they cannot take up any other profession. Can we turn a blind eye to all this. Why a legislation which is strict enough to create fear in the mind of anyone doing this or running such a racket be made? Why is it not discussed in Parliament? Why is this not important in this country where we talk so much of poverty alleviation? Recently a new bill has been passed in the parliament prohibiting child labour under 14 years of age. Will it be able to curb such mafia from operating?  This too is beside the point.
What caught my eye this Wednesday and the rest of the week was that instead of the regular stuff the children were selling the Indian Flag in various shapes and sizes- hand held to be waived, with a stand to be put in your car or your table and one to be put as a broach. Also they had a plastic cap in colors of the flag. This child all of ten or twelve, came running to my car window wearing this tricolor cap, a tricolor broach on his torn shirt and a couple of flags in his hands which he was waiving vigorously to grab attention. I asked the child what was he selling to pick his mind. Very proudly he answered-Bharat ka Jhanda. Is this the Bharat of our calling after seventy years of independence? I looked closely at this Bharat ka Jhanda, it was made in China. So we have a child of school going age selling our national flag with pride at a red light, half clad and malnourished. Is it not a slap in the face of the nation? A nation which we call the world’s largest democracy, which got its independence seventy years ago and which boasts itself of being the fastest growing economy.  When will the fruits of development reach them? Where is our pride, where is our self respect, where is our governance? Do we not need to sit up and ask ourselves where have we gone wrong as a nation?? I believe if all of us answer this question we will be able to find solution to this problem. Let us not depend on our netas and political parties, they are too busy in so called governance, playing politics, managing dalits and mahadalits, and winning elections.
It is people like you and me you have to do something. If the government had a will, seventy years were good enough.

Jai Hind!