My letter published in The Hindu
Barkha Deva has raised relevant
questions regarding the benefits of the proposed amendment bills on certain
existing Acts in her article, “Big questions on our generation.”published in
the Hindu two weeks back I remember very well , an incident when I was
in 3rd or 4th standard when Rajaji was ruling
Chennai . All of us had to be present
only for the morning classes and were sent
home in the afternoon to enable us to learn traditional skills. That is what the teachers
told us . I remember about angry discussions at home and else where criticising severely this move as a step to keep
marginalised sections in that category forever and soon this scheme was
scrapped much to our disappointment . I am surprised that after several decades, this regressive policy
is resurrected and incorporated in the amendment bill to the “Child Labour Act “ Is there any
dying need for the children of poor
families to learn their traditional crafts ? Can’t they use their after school
hours for developing sports or other languages or digital skills? Can’t a poor
man child aspire to become professionals in various fields? Does India
wants to travel back to 18th century ideologies or want to travel on
progressive path along other nations?
