A call for action...

My internship at CRY was something which can be referred to as a perfectly proper and professional experience. The butterflies hovering inside my stomach before joining CRY, thinking about what exactly is going to happen and what all work I will be told to do, flew away exactly after my orientation session taken up by my mentor, Ms. Leena Prasad

I was assigned to make a photo feature in terms of Right to Education Act and its impact on Delhi’s slum children. My excitement almost touched the sky after hearing that I have to go to the various CRY supported slum areas and click pictures. What could be more exciting than this?

But all the differences in my own thought process rushed in as soon as I visited the areas to click pictures. I wonder what could be the reason which brings such a lot of differences and inequality in our society. Children not going to school and those who are going to school are equally in a bad shape as they are being subjected to differences in terms of gender gap, castes, class and race.

India, as we all feel great about (or at least I used to feel till joining my internship) for being a totally democratic country and every citizen enjoying their rights, if not according to the Constitution, at least through humanity, is diametrically opposite when I actually visited the slum areas.  The problem is so deep-rooted that sixty-three years after attaining independence a major part of the society is still stuck where it was long back. Girl children being avoided and deprived, whereas, even if the male child is getting more importance, his family either hasn’t got the means to educate him or the means provided by the government is violated.

Photograph by Soumyajit Roy at Dwarka , South West Delhi 

What exactly can we do about it? Is it the middle class mentality to shrug their shoulders off saying, “the problem is too deep-rooted you see...What can we do about it? We belong to the middle class after all”. This is what I learnt from my internship. It’s not about belonging to any particular social strata. It’s about standing up and making a change. Can we stop thinking about what the government is meant to do wait comfortably for good? Can we not join our hands for the respect of humanity and make a change?

By: Soumyajit Roy, intern, CRY - Child Rights and You