Three incidents shaped Kailash Satyarthi’s activism against child labour

The Story in Brief

Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi narrated three defining episodes from his childhood and youth that set him on the path to fighting child labour and bonded labour. At age five in Vidisha, he saw a shoeshine boy outside his school and was told poor children must work. At 11, he started a book bank after his best friend dropped out because of poverty. At 27, while running a journal, a slave named Wasal Khan collapsed at his door seeking help to free his daughter Sabo from a brick kiln.

Rather than write an article, Satyarthi led a rescue, eventually freeing 36 people with the help of lawyers. The children, who had grown up inside the kiln, had no idea of the outside world. That experience founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which has since rescued over 1.4 lakh men, women and children.