“I dream for a world that is free of child labour, a world in which every child goes to school. A world in which every child gets his rights.” These are the words of Kailash Satyarthi who dedicated his life to upholding and protecting children’s rights. As a grassroots activist, Kailash has been a tireless advocate of children’s rights globally for more than four decades.

Kailash Satyarthi (formerly known as Kailash Sharma) was born in 1954 to a Brahman family in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. As a young child of five years, he was deeply disturbed when he saw on the first day of school a small boy working with his cobbler father at the school gate. It did not take Kailash much time to understand the stark contrast between his life and that of the cobbler’s son. From his childhood, he had always been questioning what was wrong and unjust. At just 11, he collected used books and created a book bank for poor children. At the age of 15, he left his high-caste name (Sharma), swapping it for Satyarthi, which means ‘seeker of truth’.

Satyarthi earned a degree in electrical engineering from Samrat Ashok Technological Institute and went on to gain a post-graduate degree in high-voltage engineering before taking up a teaching post. An admirer of Mahatma Gandhi, he gave up his lucrative career to devote his time and energy to fight against the exploitation of children.

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World Day Against Child Labour is an annual event observed on 12 June every year. It is dedicated to raising awareness and taking action against the exploitation of children in the workforce. The theme for the 2024 campaign, “Let’s Act on Our Commitments: End Child Labour!”, underscores the urgent need to fulfill our promises and obligations to eradicate child labour globally.

This significant day commemorates the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the ILO (International Labour Organization) Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in 1999, a landmark treaty that became the first ILO Convention to be universally ratified in 2020. This convention represents a crucial step towards eliminating the most egregious forms of child labour and ensuring the protection of children’s rights.

Child labour is defined as the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives them of their childhood, interrupts their education, or harms their physical, mental, or social development. It remains a pressing issue worldwide.

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Instead of going to school, then 10-year-old Neeraj Murmu went to labour in the mines to earn money for his poor tribal family in Duliakram village, Giridih district of Jharkhand.

Poverty had forced many such rural kids to quit school and toil in the local mica mines. A 2016 survey revealed that about 20,000 kids worked in mica mines in Jharkhand and in neighbouring Bihar. Some were as young as five years, boys and girls, among them many school dropouts, too. Besides stunting their future career, this hazardous occupation also afflicted their health.

In 2011, activists from Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi, selected this village to become a Bal Mitra Gram (BMG) (Child Friendly Village). Promoting child-centric rural development, BMG ensures kids are not employed, married or exploited. Instead, it provides them with quality education by empowering their parents and the communities.

Neeraj was thus enrolled in the local government school in the 8th grade. Two years later, he joined the BBA’s Yuva Mandal (youth group) and began rescuing other child labourers and enrolling them in schools. He also began to address many socio-economic problems affecting his village. He helped to bring electricity to his village, got gas connections for the marginalized, and installed and repaired hand pumps.

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