Nobel laureate Satyarthi asks MPs to pass pending Bill against child labour

The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Kailash Satyarthi, while making an emphatic appeal to the citizens of the country, said “child labour to go into the pages of history”.

Satyarthi, who returned to India on Sunday, also pitched for the passage of the pending legislation against child labour. “History won’t forgive the law makers if the Bill does not get passed”, he added.

“I want to make an earnest appeal to all the Parliamentarians, and also to other leaders to facilitate the passage of the key legislation failing which history and children of India won’t forgive them,” Satyarthi said. Gandhiji turned truth, non-violence and peace into a mass movement. My appeal is to turn compassion into a mass movement. Let us globalise compassion,” the Nobel laureate added.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill which, once passed, will prohibit employment of children below 14 years in any occupation, bringing the law in consistency with the Right to Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009. Earlier, Satyarthi accompanied by his wife Sumedha, visited Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat where they paid homage to the father of the nation.

60-year-old Satyarthi, an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi said that he could “visualise Gandhi walking towards the stage” to receive the award while he was sitting at the podium at the nobel ceremony in Oslo. “When I was sitting at the podium, I was remembering him (Gandhiji) every single moment. I could visualise him walking towards the stage to receive the award,” said an emotional Satyarthi.

On being asked how he would spend the prize money, Satyarthi said he would spend it on the cause that he had been fighting for all these years. “I have never seen that amount of money in my life before. But I can assure you that every single penny will go to the cause of children in my country and globally. The money won’t even go to my own NGO,” he said. 

After landing in India in the wee hours on Sunday, Satyarthi tweeted, “Jai Hind. No words to express my feelings. Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Heartfelt welcome home by fellow Indians”.