Click to play videoPatna: This is the hard reality of rural India, 10-year-olds replacing oxen to plough fields. The situation is so desperate that there is no dearth of human ploughs.
In Sahpur village of Vaishali district, Bihar, small children are ploughing croplands belonging to Union Rural Development Minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.
The man who supervises their job is the minister's younger brother, Raghuraj Prasad Singh.
"Agar tabiyat kharab hoga to ilaaj karwange, lekin kaam to bacha hi karega. Ye nahi to dusra karega, dusara nahi to tisara karega. (If they fall ill, we will get them treated, but the work in these fields will be done by children only. If not these, then there will be others to take their place. But what is the solution to all this?)" says Raghuraj.
So, like animals, these children go on ploughing fields dawn to dusk and no mercy is shown even if their back breaks.
One of the children who is employed in the fields, Sonu Lal Kumar says, "Pair, hath mein dard rahta hai. Kya karien? Karna parega khaane ke liye. (My hands and feet ache all the time, but I cannot leave this work. I need to work for food.)"
Sonu's father, Ram Krishna Singh, says, "Yahan par tractor nahi chal sakta hai, aur bail nahi jot sakta hai. Issliye bacha log hi jotega. (A tractor or oxen cannot be used in this field and so they use the children to plough the land)."
And the man who's responsible for developing rural India, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, thinks this is all a big joke.
"They are just doing some small work in the field and it is just being blown out of proportion," he said.
So much for rural development and eradicating child labour in India.
(With inputs from Sudhir Patel)
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