Influential Figures

The Tireless Journey of Kailash Satyarthi Against Child Exploitation

Their passion translates vision into reality and set out to make a difference. Kailash Satyarthi is a living example whose actions inspire and motivate others to dream and learn more. An education advocate, Kailash Satyarthi is a child rights activist who prevents children across the globe against various atrocities.

Born in 1954, Kailash Satyarthi dedicated his entire life to advocacy against child servitude and child labor. He gave up his promising career to bring about a revolution in the entire world. A tireless crusader, Satyarthi founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) in 1980, which aimed at saving the several rights of the children. His organization has initiated various movements to fight against human trafficking and child slavery.

His countless efforts and works to save children’s rights have inspired the International Labor Organization to adopt a convention on the numerous and worst forms of child labor. Kailash Satyarthi has been accredited with freeing more than 83,000 children from more than 140 countries. Since his childhood, he has been acknowledged for his philanthropy. He sowed the seeds of a book bank in the early years of his life by collecting books from his locality and distributing them to the needy and deprived children. He dropped his surname Sharma when he felt the growing intolerance of upper-class Indians against the untouchables and hence adopted Satyarthi. Satyarthi, which means ‘Seeker of Truth’, later campaigned against numerous societal evils of the caste system.

Kailash Satyarthi was honored and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his decades-long fight against the exploitation of child labor and child slavery. Satyarthi was awarded several other awards for his exceptional work for children and society. Since his work for society, Satyarthi has played a key role in his struggle against the suppression of children and in promoting children’s educational rights. Despite facing several assaults and attacks from various child labor mafias, he continued his struggle. Kailash Satyarthi fought several legal battles successfully; as a result, the Supreme Court of India introduced several guidelines against child labor and paved the way for many rules and amendments.

His initiative, known as Rugmark Initiative, kicked off a consumer awareness campaign to discourage the citizens from buying carpets made in looms where thousands of children were employed. In 1998, Satyarthi launched a Global March Movement, which stretched a whopping 80,000 kilometers to create awareness worldwide against child labor. The campaign was initiated to abolish child slavery and human trafficking in India. Satyarthi started a ‘Bal Ashram‘ in the same year for the children rescued from child slavery and human trafficking. The children were provided with vocational training and education in these ashrams.

India might have millions of problems, but we also have countless solutions. A country cannot develop and lead by example if the children of the nation are not free to grow, develop, sleep peacefully and learn. The incredible people in India like Kailash Satyarthi, who left no stone unturned to work for society with utmost selflessness. His organization Bachpan Bachao Andolan has reestablished faith in the children and their trust in society and helped them seek promising careers. Satyarthi has motivated the world to walk together to pursue global progress.

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