Cherubim

(published in Mainstream Weekly. Vol  LI No 13, March 16 2013) By diluting its major stake in many areas, Privatisation has become a charmed policy of the Indian State . The underlying assumption being that the pace of development can not be accelerated without giving free hand to private players. A ‘liberal’ approach towards domestic players has given rise to  neo corporate entities  in a span of a decade or more. There is no doubt that entrepreneurship needs moral support and legitimate encouragement. But that does not mean public resources should be thrown to the bucket of those who do not have any social concern. Inequality weaves serious strains and tensions in the social fabric and this entailed the corporate world to moot the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility. The idea behind CSR has been to sensitise the corporate /business entities for their surroundings and make them organically involved into uplifting the marginalised population. CS...

Poverty breeds poverty. This is indeed a fact rightly said for the vicious circle of poverty. In India, it is no mere exaggeration to state that more than half of the country's population stay below the poverty line. This phenomenon is not an end in itself. It has given a lead way to other problems like that of malnourishment, socio-economic inequality, chronic diseases, social unrest, child labor etc. India is said to employ the largest number of child laborers in the world. Children between the age of 5-14 constitute 42 percent of India’s population out of which 29 percent are child laborers. Be it the household of an urban sophisticate or an utter illiterate, or liquor outlets or agricultural farms, or a shoddy garage or the popular Tea Stall situated in the campus of my university, child labor is still a common sight in these kinds of places in India. Child labor is not only a threat to the educational aspect of a child but also a hazard to the mental, physical, s...