Indian Child Labour: Also Not Cricket!

LITTLE HELP? In this photograph, Nurba Kahtun, a seven-year-old girl, breaks stones on the bank of India's Balason river. (Strdel/AFP/Getty Images)

Maybe I'm the only guy in Australia who's sick of all this India vs Australia cricket controversy. But I just feel like shouting:
It's only a game for crying out loud!

It's all the media is interested in at the moment - furious Indian cricket fans, burning effigies of umpires. This just seems to be an utterly ridiculous waste of rage to me so I thought I'd share some other things Indians could get passionate about besides cricket.

Poverty is still a massive problem effecting human rights in India. Even though their economy is booming - the wealth is not trickling down to the millions of people living in poverty:

• 47% of Indian kids under five (1996-2005) are suffering from being moderately to severely underweight.
  
• The flip side to the boom in India's economy has been an over 10% increase in the number of child labourers in the decade since the opening up of the market, according to a study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The Indian Government says there are 12 million child laborers in India although activists say the real number is closer to 60 million!!
• UNICEF statistics show that 46% of children are still being forced into child marriages in India.

Surely these are some issues more worthy of everyone's passion and outrage? Child labour is something that I'm particularly angry about. It's an abhorrent yet still mainly invisible and accepted form of slavery. It should be outlawed! If you're interested in helping rescue children around the world from child labour, child trafficking and sexual exploitation, World Vision has a special Child Rescue pledge program for $15 a month.

Be empowered, watch this Child Rescue video:

• Watch more YouTube Videos on Child Labour in India
  
• Read more about how there are Sweatshops in Australia
• Checkout the Fairwear Australia website.
• Check out the Ethiscore's free ethics report on some retail products (UK)
  

Adam Valvasori - Values Manager