"Why do we have to pay the price of poverty. We didn't create poverty, adults did."
Sultana, a twelve-year garment factory worker from Bangladesh in Thailand, 14 February,1998.

I've always heard about how small children work in congested areas making the fireworks we enjoy on New Year's Eve, Diwali and Christmas. I've heard its because of their sharp eyes and small, nimble fingers that they are exploited. I've heard that there are often accidents that leave these working children without limbs, eyes or fingers.
I've seen pictures of children from my country transported in cattle trucks to factories where they forced to expose themselves to hazardous materials. I've seen children hit for sitting under a tree rather than begging on a hot summer day in my city. I've seen children a decade younger than me abused by the owner of a road-side tea stall for spilling some tea while serving it.
Most of these children have belonged to homes that are economically insufficient. They have no freedom of choice and live on the verge of survival. While the severity of their conditions vary, most of their futures remain bleak. Their miserable lives are, more often than not, left 'unperturbed'.
Though there are Acts prohibiting the exploitation of children in India, most cases of child labor have be sensationalized before strict measures are taken. There are thousands of children who have no hope of a better lifestyle.
It is our responsibility as those who have been privileged to have escaped that life, to reach out to those who have been denied education. To do all that we can to provide hope for all those who have be forced to undergo abuse, forced to work in conditions unfit for any human let alone a child--to eradicate the lifestyles that these children are born into. To do our part in making sure we do not give fuel to those who are responsible for the plights of these laborious children.
What can we do? Well, as Indians we could report any activity that goes against the Child Labor Act to the officials. We could make sure the fireworks we buy are not made by children, that he companies that manufacture them have been approved by the government. By giving begging children food instead of money and by contributing in our own little ways to the eradication of poverty. If we manage to positively impact the eradication of poverty, we will be simultaneously impact the eradication of child labor. While these small acts may not seem gigantic, it will make a difference. Afterall, the first step is the most difficult.