http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Butchering-childhood/articleshow/15641480.cms
HYDERABAD: All of seven
years, Ali Ahmed from Bihar has barely ever held a pencil but can hold a
sharp butcher's knife with ease, swiftly slitting the throats of
chickens at crowded meat shops. His uncle had brought him to Hyderabad
for the month of Ramzan, a busy season when meat shops needed extra
hands. Little Ali came in handy for the shop owner as he was paid a lot
less than the older staff and asked to put in extra hours during the day
and night.
Ali Ahmed, who can mouth expletives like the older men around him, finds it difficult to sleep at night in the small bunk above a tea stall he shares with another boy near Charminar. The shrill cries of dying birds in a closed drum haunt him. His overworked joints are sore and his body bears the marks of the desperate animals that clawed and flapped against him while he can still feel the chicken faeces hitting his eyes, when the frightened birds released bowels before being slaughtered.
Like Ali, scores of little boys are brought to the city from Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh during Ramzan to work overtime in the innumerable meat shops across the city. Working for close to 18 hours a day, dozing off on the blood-stained floor, these children have often earned nothing other than occasional thrashing as the meagre amount that the shop owners pay go to their contractors. Some who stay back in the city often graduate to slaughtering bigger animals.
Defending the use of children for slaughtering and skinning chicken, some meat sellers say that it is a process of initiation to the harsh way of life that the children are expected to lead in the future. "It hardens the child and broadens his outlook of the world. There is no point hiding away from reality," says a meat shop owner who also encourages his 10-year-old son to butcher the animals.
His idea of child psychology is clearly alarming. "It is damaging for a child's psyche. In a world where we speak about controlling violence in films and television, it is unacceptable that these children have to experience this day in day out. It has been seen that a lot of them, mostly those who are not traditionally from a butcher family like these migrant children, turn to substance abuse and violence in future as a result of the stress and psychological trauma. But for those from the families, it is more of an initiation," said Dr A Rajesh, consultant psychiatrist at Aware Global Hospital in LB Nagar.
Apart from children like Ali who are employed whenever there is a requirement of extra hands, there are several other children who work regularly in the approximately 2,000 chicken outlets in Old City alone. "Children are used only in chicken shops, other meat shops need people with more strength to slaughter bigger animals," claims Ateeq Khan from Khan Mutton Shop.
Child rights activists say that the labour department should conduct frequent raids if this evil has to be stopped. Achhuta Rao from AP Balal Hakkula Sangham says, "There have hardly been one or two raids this year. Even so, the department focuses on big shops on the main roads when this practice is more common in smaller shops in colonies. We have no right to take away the childhood of these kids. They lose innocence, become cruel and often end up turning into anti-social elements in future."
Ali Ahmed, who can mouth expletives like the older men around him, finds it difficult to sleep at night in the small bunk above a tea stall he shares with another boy near Charminar. The shrill cries of dying birds in a closed drum haunt him. His overworked joints are sore and his body bears the marks of the desperate animals that clawed and flapped against him while he can still feel the chicken faeces hitting his eyes, when the frightened birds released bowels before being slaughtered.
Like Ali, scores of little boys are brought to the city from Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh during Ramzan to work overtime in the innumerable meat shops across the city. Working for close to 18 hours a day, dozing off on the blood-stained floor, these children have often earned nothing other than occasional thrashing as the meagre amount that the shop owners pay go to their contractors. Some who stay back in the city often graduate to slaughtering bigger animals.
Defending the use of children for slaughtering and skinning chicken, some meat sellers say that it is a process of initiation to the harsh way of life that the children are expected to lead in the future. "It hardens the child and broadens his outlook of the world. There is no point hiding away from reality," says a meat shop owner who also encourages his 10-year-old son to butcher the animals.
His idea of child psychology is clearly alarming. "It is damaging for a child's psyche. In a world where we speak about controlling violence in films and television, it is unacceptable that these children have to experience this day in day out. It has been seen that a lot of them, mostly those who are not traditionally from a butcher family like these migrant children, turn to substance abuse and violence in future as a result of the stress and psychological trauma. But for those from the families, it is more of an initiation," said Dr A Rajesh, consultant psychiatrist at Aware Global Hospital in LB Nagar.
Apart from children like Ali who are employed whenever there is a requirement of extra hands, there are several other children who work regularly in the approximately 2,000 chicken outlets in Old City alone. "Children are used only in chicken shops, other meat shops need people with more strength to slaughter bigger animals," claims Ateeq Khan from Khan Mutton Shop.
Child rights activists say that the labour department should conduct frequent raids if this evil has to be stopped. Achhuta Rao from AP Balal Hakkula Sangham says, "There have hardly been one or two raids this year. Even so, the department focuses on big shops on the main roads when this practice is more common in smaller shops in colonies. We have no right to take away the childhood of these kids. They lose innocence, become cruel and often end up turning into anti-social elements in future."
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