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His playground is a leather unit, his school a glass factory…
Raju works at a roadside dhaba for sixteen hours a day. Idrees has lost his memory and bears on his body the scars of being tortured at the carpet-manufacturing unit where he worked. Saheb scrounges the garbage dumps on the streets of Delhi for his daily wages. Munni has traveled long distances from her village home, looking for work as a domestic help in the city. Like Raju and Idrees, Saheb and Munni, millions of children all over the country are doomed to a life of backbreaking toil. Half adult, half children, victims of physical and mental abuse, they represent the dark underbelly of India’s economic growth.
In Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood, best-selling author Anees Jung exposes a national shame: children cleaning floors and tables in shanty restaurants; making locks, slates and fireworks; rolling bidis; weaving saris and carpets; packing and hauling loads in factories and stone quarries. With her trademark sensitivity and insight, she analyses the grinding poverty and traditions sanctified by caste and religion which condemn these children to a life of exploitation.
In this bleak world, the author also finds stories of resilience and fortitude—children who have refused to accept their condition, thus opening new vistas for themselves and others like them. She also documents incredible profiles in courage—individuals and institutions who battle not only governmental and bureaucratic apathy but also social values and cultural norms that support and accept the concept of child lab-our. ISBN 9780144000166
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Pages : 136
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