India: Modern Face of Slavery
Beneath the facade of economic progress in countries such as India, there is the reality of child labor and human trafficking.
“She came to Delhi dreaming of a new start, of escape from a life of poverty and hardship. Yet when she arrived, Sushma Kumari quickly realised she had been tricked.
Far from being trained in the skills of acupuncture, for two years she was forced to work as an unpaid domestic help in the home of the “doctor” supposed to be teaching her. She toiled from 5am to midnight, seven days a week. She was abused and mistreated. Almost certainly she was brought to Delhi by a professional trafficker; what is beyond doubt is that once she got here she lived the life of slave.”
Though India is a case study in child labor, this really is going on all over the world. Once again, the usual suspects are all there: poverty, the desire for profits, gender beliefs and cultural factors. As I have written before: Poverty creates and perpetuates the conditions for child labor, and education is the solution.
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