child labor

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/world/asia/in-india-missing-school-to-work-in-the-mine.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

In the New York Times article "Children Toil in India's Mines, Despite Legal Ban" the author Gardiner Harris talks about children in India under the age of 18 who work. There is a 17 year old boy named Suresh Thapa working in the mines. His mother says he did that of his own free will. She also says that he doesn't work then how will they live. Someone just can't give them money. Also the problem is that while the Indian government can make the rules the states have to enforce them which they don't. Many policemen are bribed by coal mine owners.

I think that Gardiner Harris wants us to feel sorry for these boys who have to work and can't go to school. He uses the story of Suresh to pull the strings of our hearts. Even though Suresh works of his own free will he's doing it to support his family. Then Harris mentions how the boys have no safety equipment. They were babdanas to hold flashlights and waer rubber boots. He mentions how unsafe the mines are. He then talks about how policemen are being bribed and turn a blind eye to these children working and act as if nothings wrong. By mentioning this he counts on people to get angry. Angry at the fact that children in places like India have to work yet the police turn a blind eye. Also when Impulse a nongovernmental orginazation saw this state officals angirly denied there was any child labor. When people hear this want officals like that out of office.

My reaction to this was to be honest surprise. Reading this makes me grateful that I live in the U.S. I go to school and my family is better off then most children there in India. However I'm pretty sure that the problem isn't only in India. It's most likely in other third world contries. The problem is that either the government has no law against this the the local law enforment doesn't enforce it. We are going to have to something about it. Not now but soon.