Editor,
Through this column I wish to draw the urgent attention of the Deputy Commissioner (Supply), East Khasi Hills and the authorities concerned on the regular woes of the LPG consumers who are clients of the noted Khasi Pnar Gas Agency (KPGA). This Agency has been taking LPG consumers for a ride by repeated irregularity in the supply of LPG cylinders. This has happened throughout 2018 and with the onset of 2019 we consumers do not know what will our fate will be. This Agency is notorious for failing to meet deadlines for supply of LPG cylinders. Most of the time it supplies only one cylinder in two months or more whereas other Agencies of Shillong supply one LPG cylinder every month to each household with a connection. We consumers are tired of complaining to the Agency. We don’t know why KPGA is defaulting and who it is selling the gas cylinders that it regularly receives from Oil India or from other gas companies. I earnestly request the Deputy Commissioner in-charge supply to immediately attend to this problem and mete out exemplary punishment to this service provider, according to law so that it will not stop harassing the hapless consumers.
Yours etc…
- S Lyngdoh,
Shillong-2.
Free education & health from pvt sector
Editor,
The guarantee of a minimum income to the poor can become a game changer in India if it is done along with the government’s active participation in providing the people with quality education and health services to stop people’s out of pocket expenditure (OOP) and to give private players a run for their money. The OOP expenditure acts as the quicksand that traps victims into the cycle of poverty.
Since the government’s has the lion’s share of these two key sectors it can rescue education and health from private hijackers. It is a much better option than providing the poor with just loans and insurance so that they can pay ransom to the hijackers.
India is a welfare state. But the idea of welfare is held hostage as a large chunk of education and health services are allowed to be propelled only by profit motives of the market forces.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Via email
Child is meant to learn, not to earn!
Editor,
Child labour means any work that deprives children of their childhood and interferes with their ability to attend regular school. It means children doing work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful. In India, not all children are lucky to enjoy their childhood. Many of them are forced to work in inhuman conditions where their miseries know no end. Though there are laws banning child labour children continue to be exploited as cheap labour. It is also because the authorities are unable to implement the laws meant to protect children from being engaged as labourers.
Unfortunately, the actual number of child labourers goes undetected in India. They are forced to work in completely unregulated condition without adequate food, proper wages and rest. They are subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuse. According to the Indian Constitution no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any hazardous employment. But due to poverty, illiteracy, population explosion, large family size, low family income, maximum of children below the permitted age are forced have to work.
Indeed one of the main causes of child labour is poverty. As we have seen in India, poor families have more children, so it becomes very difficult for them to survive on the income of only one family member. So parents make their children work in factories and sell items on streets. Some parents even carry their infants on the street to earn money by begging.
There are cases of child labour where a child has to work against the repayment of a loan taken by his father who was unable to pay it off. This is called “Bonded Child Labour”. It normally happens in villages in which children work as slaves to pay the loan taken. Not only poor families, but also some well established business families put their small children into business at a young age instead of making them complete their education. The largest sector where children work at early age to contribute to their family income is agriculture. India has more than 12.6 million kids who are forced to work in order to survive. Of those 12.6 million, 60% work in agriculture. They suffer from many complications and diseases throughout their childhood.
According to a study, Delhi alone has one million child labourers. The government should bring down the incidence of child labour through reforms and investments in education. Midday meal should be re-emphasized, homeless children should be provided housing through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, boarding schools, and law banning child labour should be strictly enforced. Together we can help those poor children by creating awareness so that children get the education they deserve.
Yours etc.,
Jessica Rymbai & Jelly D. Sangma
College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry,
Aizawl Mizoram