Everytime I devour a galaxy bar, I keep thinking about the underpriviledged children who don't even get a bite to eat everyday. They're deprived of education and forced to work in tanneries.
In Ambur district, India, tens of thousands of children are presently working in tanneries. The output of that production goes into exports - mostly to Germany. Just like the adults, the children are unprotected against the aggressive chemical agents used in tanning the raw hides, the toxic vapors and the dust. The tanneries, where sometimes more than 150 different chemicals are used, are the worst. At times, working here can be fatal.
They toil hard to make leather shoes, which the rich people don with flamboyance.
India is not the only country that is plagued with poverty. Take Cambodia, for instance. Poverty in Cambodia is characterized by low income and consumption, poor nutritional status, low educational attainment, less access to public services including school and health services, less access to economic opportunities, vulnerability to external shocks, and exclusion from economic, social and political processes. The relatively high prevalence of HIV/Aids in Cambodia is an additional challenge to the current human development situation.
There are a plethora of NGOs and organizations striving towards eradicating poverty. Having adopted various approaches, ranging from equal distribution of income and wealth to providing employment opportunities, the poverty should have reduced by now, at least to a certain degree.
But it hasn't happened.
Could there be a flaw in the plan? Are the money, donations, and charity really reaching the poor people? Are they really being helped, and if so, to what extent? Are they being given employment opportunities? Are the children being educated in a condusive environment with good infrastructure? Are the ailing people being provided with proper medical treatment for free?
It's time for someone to ask file a Right to Information Act and ask the government to disclose information pertaining to the amount of funds the government recieves, and what percentage of it is being used effectively towards eradicationof poverty, and what does the government do with the remaining funds. The RTI Act is, I must say, one of the few benefits granted by the Constitution of India to the citizens. It'a an Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
It's time for the people to wake up, and raise their voices, otherwise the plight of our economy will continue to disintegrade.
We have to open our eyes to what's happening around us and really look.
Unless the condition improves, I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy a bar of chocolate.
