http://www.ibnlive.com/news/kids-not-oxen-plough-rural-ministers-farm-
land/53919-3.html
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Kids, not oxen plough rural minister's farm land
Prabhakar Kumar / CNN-IBN
Published on Mon, Dec 10, 2007 at 13:43, Updated at Mon, Dec 10, 2007
in Nation section
Tags: Bihar, Raghubansh Prasad Singh , Patna
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Patna: This is the hard reality of rural India, 10-year-olds
replacing oxen to plough fields. The situation is so desperate that
there is no dearth of human ploughs.
In Sahpur village of Vaishali district, Bihar, small children are
ploughing croplands belonging to Union Rural Development Minister,
Raghubansh Prasad Singh.
The man who supervises their job is the minister's younger brother,
Raghuraj Prasad Singh.
"Agar tabiyat kharab hoga to ilaaj karwange, lekin kaam to bacha hi
karega. Ye nahi to dusra karega, dusara nahi to tisara karega. (If
they fall ill, we will get them treated, but the work in these fields
will be done by children only. If not these, then there will be
others to take their place. But what is the solution to all this?)"
says Raghuraj.
So, like animals, these children go on ploughing fields dawn to dusk
and no mercy is shown even if their back breaks.
One of the children who is employed in the fields, Sonu Lal Kumar
says, "Pair, hath mein dard rahta hai. Kya karien? Karna parega
khaane ke liye. (My hands and feet ache all the time, but I cannot
leave this work. I need to work for food.)"
Sonu's father, Ram Krishna Singh, says, "Yahan par tractor nahi chal
sakta hai, aur bail nahi jot sakta hai. Issliye bacha log hi jotega.
(A tractor or oxen cannot be used in this field and so they use the
children to plough the land)."
And the man who's responsible for developing rural India, Raghubansh
Prasad Singh, thinks this is all a big joke.
"They are just doing some small work in the field and it is just
being blown out of proportion," he said.
So much for rural development and eradicating child labour in India.
(With inputs from Sudhir Patel)
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