Chennai: Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi said despite India’s successful launch of Chandrayaan 2, sometime in the next one hour, eight children will go missing and six children would get raped.
In his keynote address on “Youth and Compassion,” to more than 4,000 students at SRM Institute of Science and Technology here Monday, he said in the land of Saraswati, Durga and Lakshmi, girls are not safe and our boys too are not safe.
He asked the students to take a pledge to end child slavery in their lifetime. He also invited the students to play a larger global role of being the spokesperson and voice of child labour. “You can challenge companies using child labour in their supply chain. You can be a good volunteer, write small blogs and use social media skills for betterment of humanity,” he said.
A Centre of Child Rights would be established at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology in partnership with the Dr Kailash Satyarthi Foundation. Kailash said he wanted the SRM Institute of Science and Technology to be the first Indian university to lead the global 100 million campaign for social transformation.
SRM Institute of Science and Technology president P Satyanarayanan described Satyarthi as ‘India’s Abraham Lincoln’ while alluding to the late US President’s efforts to abolish black slavery.
Vice Chancellor Sandeep Sancheti welcomed the gathering after which students made a presentation of their social welfare projects. Pro Vice Chancellor T P Ganesan and R Balasubramanian were present on the occasion.