Originally posted by s.munagala
Ok pls excuse this ignorant "outsider" 😕 here - what exactly are NGO's? Are they like govt. agencies or something that help rural/poor India? In my naivety I also believed that Child Weddings & Untouchability to be a thing of India's distant past. Is that not so? We still hear of women dying at their In-Laws'/husbands hands if they don't pay a dowry and stuff, but not about Child Brides/Grooms or Untouchability. They do publicize the fact that children make up a larger part of the workforce though. It is something I am embarrassed about when my non-Indian friends question me about it here. I try to downplay it and tell them that the government cracks down on employers who practice hiring kids. I hope that I'm not lying outright about it!
I am also living in US for many yrs now, but having lived in India for most of my youth, I know what goes on over there, plus I read news articles and follow Indian social news.
When foreigners ask u abt vile customs like untouchability, tell them its the same as racism and racial profiling that goes on in most Western countries. Untouchability is just another form of racism, only difference racism is based on skin color whereas untouchability is based on caste divisions which was initiated during Vedic days to clearly demarcate the type of work people do, for example Kshatriyas were fighters, Vaishyas were businessmen and Shudras were cleaners, laborers. But in later times in history, caste division degraded into untouchablity where lower caste Shudras were treated like less than human by upper castes. And this is still continuing in many parts of India, especially villages. Its just another form of bullying...the upper castes bully lower caste folk and keep them in subjugation. Just like Racism!
NGOs are Non-Governmental Organizations that do a lot of good work in India, particularly in backward areas, villages...teaching poor uneducated women abt health, maternal and childcare etc, they also help these women to set up small businesses like handicrafts or home food business. These NGOs are mostly run by international or non-profit agencies.
Child marriages, untouchability... these bad customs and practices are still prevalent in some village areas because people there are uneducated and backward in thinking.
But unfortunately child labor, dowry deaths... these still occur in cities and small towns...all because of poverty and greed. Kids of poor parents send them to work in factories and domestic service because they need the money...and some monster in-laws burn brides in their greed to get more money and latest gadgets from bride's parents.
As far as I know, child labor is illegal in India, but it still goes on because of callousness and corruption of Government and law officials.
Edited by pallavi25 - 11 years ago