“India is a developing nation”, these are the words we are hearing from past 67 years. But what is developing here? Why can’t I see any development?
Oh yeah, I see the huge towers, the buildings with glass walls, monorails and metros, huge malls. So, what is India supposed to do with this artificial beauty? Can anyone see the real India?
No, this time it’s not about the corruption here. It’s about the poverty in India; the laws in India. The law in India says “Punishment in India for Child Labour”; where does this law go when there are police on the signal and near the same signal a small kid is selling flowers, nuts or some phone covers. Is not that child labour? Oh yeah, whom will police catch there, it’s of their will.

What is the nation doing for these people? The Government is building huge flyovers, what for? For these kids to sit under it and beg? The ration office here provides grains at subsidized rates, but do they actually give them?
No, they ask for ration card, and for a ration card you need home. How are these poor, homeless kids supposed to get a ration card then?

The Government offers food on days of national significance like 26th Jan and 15th August, but what are they supposed to eat the other days?
There are quotas in schools and colleges for OBC, SC & ST, but still these poor children can’t study? And for what? Because they don’t possess a caste certificate?
How will the one without ration card have caste certificate? These are the fucking laws of our country. When will these people grow? When will they have pen and  paper in their hands to express their thoughts? When will they stop sleeping on  footpaths, getting wet in rains and selling things just to earn few penny?

Is anyone seeing this? If someone asks me am i seeing, then yes I’m and the next  question is why don’t you take them home? OK! I’ll do. I can take 1 or 2, but what  about the thousands who still will be homeless? The Government is working for rural development, women empowerment; can anyone work for these poor people in limelight of this city?
On one side is the class of people who are driving classy cars and on other side is the class of people who are cleaning these cars and still don’t get anything. Please wake up! Stop beautifying the nation with concrete and glass. Make these children smile not for earning Rs. 5 by selling a pen, but by owning a pen to write their own future.

Guest Author : Zankhana Rana