Life owes

... to them as much as it owes to us. Are they less mortal because they are born in a poor family or orphaned at a tender age? When shall we be able to call ourselves civilized?
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From today's (27/8/2010) TOI:

TORTURED CHILDHOOD
Boiling water poured on 14-yr-old maid

Falguni Banerjee | TNN

Pandua (Hooghly): This tale of horror would drown all the governments tall talk about uplifting the girl child.A 14-year-old orphan girl had boiling water poured on her neck and back by her employer in Chapahati village in Hooghlys Pandua on Thursday.
Doctors fear Putul Khatun may have to live all her life with the horrible burn wounds and scars.
Police first arrested Putuls employer,Rehnaz Bibi,a homoeopath.Later,they arrested Mahila Bibi,who brought up Putul after her parents died but forced her to work from the tender age of 10 and even allegedly instigated Rehnaz to exploit her.....

A 24/8/2010 report
"Thirteen-year-old Bikash Ram wanted to go home for Rakhi festival in Bihar, but owner Babu Chandra Chowrasia, objected and refused to give salary and grant the leave.

As the boy insisted on the leave to go home on Rakhi Purnima, as he did every year to celebrate the occasion with his sister, Chowrasia allegedly beat him black and blue in rage and left the boy alone inside the shop whole night.

When the shop, located near 56 bus stand in Howrah, was opened, local people found the boy was frothing at the mouth. They shifted him to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries this afternoon, police added.

Police lodged an unnatural death case and arrested the owner under murder charge."
Indiabloom, The Telegraph, ToI today's edition
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Each of us counts. Can we spare 1-2 hours per week and try to understand issues in our own neighbourhood? There are Govt. and Non-Govt. agencies, different schemes. Even if they are not accessible, cannot few of us form a team and try to reach out and do whatever little or big we can do? There may be lot of philosophy behind who takes birth where. To me it is just a chance. A child has no choice to select his parents or family, poor or rich. It could have been me, you and anybody in his/her place with that sense of helplessness. Let us give people their due. Let us try to work for that with whatever capacity we have. Let us devote at least our extra time and energy for that. We are solving many a problems in an efficient way. There is no better problem than this one.