Are you a human?

Author : Saudamini Deo
Country : India

Human Rights...what are they? There have been and will be many definitions but as we have reached the 70th anniversary of declaration of human rights, we don't need to define the rights---we need to define the term "human"!! What is a human? Is it just a creature evolved into a homo sapiens or a bit more than that...a person living with reasonable dignity and intelligence. As we see that 5th article of the charter of Human rights guarantees that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, we also see that these rights are innate to human but the point here arises that the violation of human rights can be seen by two perspectives

1). If a human right is violated then the person has degraded from being a human! That is because these rights are necessary to live a life of human---so does that mean we can continue the violation?

2).Or, the people with poor background are not taken as humans!

It is very paradoxical but still as far as the logic goes the latter seems the reason.

As the history did and will hold, poverty and human rights cannot go together. Both are contradictory. While human rights make humans and humanity, poverty does exactly the opposite. But ironically, poverty is not an uncommon site, here we may also rethink on poverty, it is not just the lack of economic resources to fulfill your basic needs but also lack of means to achieve economic independence; it is made up of lesser quality of life. Today the picture of the world is very disturbing and turning a deaf ear isn’t going to help. A poor person, as the definition crudely puts, is a person sustaining on less than $1 a day. Less than a dollar a day!!!!! A poor person has to go through a lot of turmoil and, has to tolerate the degradation of his own personality---being humiliated and confronted.

As we have many instances here in the third world countries. How poor people are not aware of their rights, let alone the violation of those. There have been many reported cases of Human rights but the statistics just doesn't present the real picture. It is actually much worse than that. How about having come to be known of a case in Orissa where a woman was imprisoned for 20 years in a cage made for animals. And when she was released she couldn’t behave like humans? And the case of young men of Kashmir who are paid Rs 50 for throwing a hand-grenade and then labeled as terrorists just because they are poor??? This is what is happening...not just here but all over...people are violating human rights without any fear of consequences...they are exploiting poor people--it doesn't harm them---it harms the society, it harms the faith in humanity and it does harm the faith in human rights!

Poverty makes a person incapable of defending his/her rights and again, the world is very cruel; rights are violated of those who cannot defend it. It is a vicious circle! But then again, we, you and I and everyone else can make things better.

Losing faith in humanity and humans is an insult to human rights. Development cannot foster in isolation; education, awareness and the understanding the law of market--demand and supply--has to be there for removal of poverty. Why not we all take on the responsibility of making at least one person know their rights, the human rights and then handing over our duty to them?

One thing we all have to know that the causes that will remove poverty will be the ones that will implement human rights. Let us, as responsible people of a civilised society take it upon us to be a part of this implementation and see to it that our name goes down in history as those who made a difference, as those who aspired to bring a change for the better.

Do we really value our children?

Author : Sharanya Iyer
Country : India

“Mom, Mom,……… somehow no matter how much I shout it doesn’t quite seem to have any effect. I can’t remember how much time I have spent here. Every effort I make to climb up ends up in vain. There is hardly any space for me to move. I want water more badly than ever. I can barely see the light above. Maybe I should just rest for some time………In a few minutes I will be free from this place and my mother will be hugging me, comforting me and everything will be over……… I smile and close my eyes.....”

“IN A TRAGIC CULMINATION OF A 50-HOUR ORDEAL, A SIX-YEAR-OLD BOY, WHO FELL INTO A BORE WELL WHILE PLAYING AT A VILLAGE 35 KM FROM JAIPUR, WAS PULLED OUT ON FRIDAY NIGHT, BUT WAS LATER DECLARED DEAD.

RESCUERS FROM THE ARMY AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION PULLED OUT THE BOY SURAJ BANZARA FROM INSIDE A 13-FEET PIECE OF RUSTED IRON PIPE OF EIGHT INCH DIAMETER WHERE HE HAD REMAINED STUCK EVER SINCE FALLING INTO THE BOREWELL IN NIMEEDA VILLAGE ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.”

This piece of news has been among the top stories of every channel here in India since last week. People all over our country prayed for the young lad over those two days, but in vain. By the time a parallel bore well could be dug and the boy removed, it was too late.

What is most shocking is that this is not the first incident of children falling into a bore-well. There have been SIX similar cases of death in the year 2007 alone. In spite of repeated incidents the concerned authorities who are in charge of digging the bore well have not learnt any lesson. It is high time that the government take strict action. This is the time to lay some rules and regulations for borewell construction. Bylaws should make it mandatory to fill the hole after the tube well is installed and the owner should be made responsible for it.

Any further loss of such innocent and young lives will only shatter the faith our people have in the Government. Ours being a democratic country, it is the Government’s binding duty to serve its people first and foremost, failing which it loses its very meaning.

Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian prime minister saw the children of the country, as future citizens whose guidance and contributions would make India sail through the next century as a superpower and yet it is sad that we have not yet learnt to respect the value of human life-especially when it comes to our children.