Children At War

Once upon a time there was a family living happily before some goons kills the sole bread earner of the family. Poverty stricken ,the family finds it impossible to make both the ends meet.Compelled by the circumstances the son takes the another route to survival- first becomes a thief and then slowly transforms into a notorious criminal.This isn't the story of hindi blockbuster movie "roti" where the protagonist is rajesh khanna. Nor it is story of typical hindi masala movies from past. This is the plight of the children in states like manipur ,assam ,nagaland ,kashmir to name a few..In these states number of children joining Maoists is increasing in leaps and bounds. Imagine a child aged ten years holding a gun at you .At this age where they should be playing with pen and pencil , they are firing rifles at people specially policemen. .India is not the only sufferer at the hands of the child “terrorists “ but it is a global problem. If there is anything to go by the estimated figures by UNICEF around 2,50,000 children are at present “recruited” into various terrorists camps actively indulging themselves in several crimes. These children who are predicted as future torch-bearers of the country are converted into goons.. After child labour ,"child soldier" is another such epidemic slowly and steadily engulfing the whole world and thus completely obliterating the lives of the children.Now the question to ponder over is that what drives these children to pick the deadly weapons and stand against the masses including the law. It's quite simple. Poverty ,curiosity, and illiteracy together join to become the driving force pushing these children towards joining them. Several camps are held in which children are trained at using weapons and other tricks of the trade. The senior members of the group use them as messengers or use them to transport ammunition .This is quite easy as they do not arouse any suspicion.And if caught also the laws regarding minors favours them.The law cannot punish them severely and hence they are released soon only to be picked up again .I remember an incident during my schooldays which had left me aghast .A nine year boy murdering a man with a pistol handed by some unknown person.It was only out curiosity which made the young boy do this heinous crime.The boy was let free as law could do nothing to him.Taking cue from this incident it becomes the need of the hour to banish these children from joining the rebels. We cannot expect laws to be more stringent towards them and award severe punishments .Thus the only pragmatic solution to this problem lies in creating better opportunities for them to live and learn. They must be imparted knowledge and inculcated the ideologies of a good citizen .Thus the central and the state government must develop some policies ensuring better life for these children before it's too late.