Should children be put to work?

India's Census 2001 office defines child labour as participation of a child less than 17 years of age in any economically productive activity with or without compensation, wages or profit. I definitely support this and would condemn any such scenario where not just a child even if a grown up is employed but not paid. There is a big difference between unethical labour and an ethical work.

The meaning of labour is already known to you where in the child is deprived of its childhood and the work is harmful to its physical or mental development. However there are other types of simple work such as distributing newspapers, milk, vegetables to houses, assisting in accounting in general and provisional stores, painting pictures and making handicrafts for sale etc. There are a lot more of such examples which will not involve much of labour and are not at all hazardous in any format. These types of simple work just require few hours and dedicated interest and efforts for completions. The best part about them is that they pay back those who work as well. I honestly feel that children must be enrolled in such kinds of work for them to understand that 'every pie counts' as I said in my previous blog.

But what's the right age to put children for work? We have heard and seen that children in some of the foreign countries start earning their own living at the age of 11 or 12 and leave their homes to become independent. India is a different country for sure and hence the same model doesn't work out. Hence I recommend that 14 years must be an ideal age for children to start working part-time for at least 2 hours in a day. One main restriction should be that this work should be known and monitored by the child's parents. Though 18 is when Indians get the right to vote constitutionally, I feel that today's generation matures far ahead at the start of their teenage. By 14, when the child is in the high school, he/she would have understood the basics of adult work-life in this world and that must be the right time for them to experience it part-time as well.

This part-time work will definitely increase the seriousness towards life, cut off the unnecessary distractions, provide financial education and practical education of life, help them to develop time management skills and more positive impacts. Would really love to discuss more on this topic with all of you. Please write your opinions to is.mohanbn@gmail.com

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Refocus Reorient Resurge

Focus, orientation and the surge towards your goals, dreams and ambitions are what make them come into reality. In front of the random situations that come before us and block our path we humans are too weak sometimes to fight against the odds. All the goals and dreams fade away under the shadow of the confusion eating our mental energy. Knowing that we have to do our regular work we miss it in the thought of finding the right solution for the question running in the mind. Atleast if the issue resolves on a positive note, you can be happy to get back to your work but when the issue tears your soul apart and breaks you down completely it is just damn difficult to get out of it. But remember friends, one who fights this fight of resurgence is the one who comes back stronger. I remember the incident in the life of the bodybuilding idol Arnold Shwarzenegger when he was in love with a girl and when he wanted to go to America to enter Hollywood, she was not willing to accompany him. Arnold describes in his book 'The Education of a bodybuilder' that at that point of time he was completely torn between love and his ambitions. Though Arnold spent sometime crying over the issue he had to finally decide to refocus, reorient and resurge towards his goals in life and he did the same. As a result of this comeback power he went on to conquer not just the hollywood but the hearts of millions of Americans. Likewise even I faced certain challenges of similar kind which just pulled me out of my regular workouts. Its been almost four days since I went to gym. Really disappointed with myself in this regard. Thanks to my mentor who helped me to overcome the tough situation with his wisdom-filled lessons. It was hard to accept the truth but there was no other way. A strangling feeling deepened inside but time always has the solutions. As time passed I could gather myself up back and once again refocus, reorient and resurge towards my dreams.

Folks! time and again distractions, problems, confusions etc might just put you to a halt and trouble your mind and soul. Just remember one thing that time will pass. Good and bad times shall prevail for sometime always. Life is itself designed in such a pattern of highs and lows. When the problem is eating up your mental and emotional energies probably you won't be able to cater to your physical self also. You might just get lost in the distress that the problem induces. No matter how much ever wishful we are to win over the problem, sometimes the fate takes the winning side and we can do nothing about it. Just believe that God has planned it all. Just keep the belief in yourself that something better is going to come. Don't stop your action at any cost. Refocus on your priorities, reorient your actions towards working towards them, resurge like a tsunami once again with full zeal and energy to conquer the world. Even Robin Sharma states that sometimes we go offtrack only to come back ontrack. Recognise back all your strengths, remotivate yourself, get reinspired from your inspirational sources, reread your goals and dreams, become like a reborn phoenix and start flying again. The world doesn't end with any of our woes. No one ever will stop their life for the sake of your difficulty. You will be the one who will be responsible to either die in depression of the defeat or bounce back from the failure putting all your energised efforts to accomplish your dreams and visions. Ultimately the choice is YOURS alone.

My dear friends! its been a really tough task in last four days to get over the challenge. It was hard indeed and literally tough to get over the consequences of disappointment. I would advise my dear reader to make sure that you share your set of issues with someone whom you have trust in and learn the next steps to be taken which I did. The life is long enough wherein we will definitely meet a lot of new people and we are bound to find the right ones for us to be surrounded with. Shed the tears of emotions while increasing the longevity of smile on your face continuously which helped me get stronger. I am going to gym tomorrow morning for sure to restart my bodybuilding. Willing to know if you have had any such experiences on is.mohanbn@gmail.com
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