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Charity's plea: remember India's real Slumdogs
23.02.09
People were urged not to forget the children living in poverty in India after the hype surrounding the Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" died down.
The British-made rags-to-riches story, which picked up eight Oscars including best film and best director, is set in the slums of Mumbai.
It tells the story of an orphan, Jamal Malik, who finds himself just one question away from winning India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?".
A spokeswoman for Save the Children said it highlighted the harsh reality of life that millions of children face everyday and the urgent need to protect them.
More than 120 million children live in poverty in India - equivalent to double the UK population.
Shireen Vakil Miller, Save the Children India's Director of Policy, said: "We hope 'Slumdog Millionaire' will make people across the world sit up and take action for the millions of children who are denied their childhoods.
"We urge people not to forget them after the Oscar excitement dies down because they will need our help long after the red carpet is rolled away.
"We are calling on governments to urgently invest in tackling abuse and violence against children, in placing orphans in safe family and community environments, and in finding ways to identify and protect children who are in danger. Otherwise, unlike Jamal's fairytale win, the real "slumdogs"
will continue to suffer not just grinding poverty, but the nightmare of abuse, too."
Save the Children works with slum children in Delhi, Calcutta and Hyderabad.
Reader views (3)
None of us have to look much farther than our own backyard to see that the world is in dire need of attention. ALL of us have to step up to the plate and do something about it in our own way.
Remember, it just take each of us putting in our grain of rice.
- Lorayne, Morelia, Michoacan. MEXICO
India has by far the largest number of dollar billionnaires of dedeveloping countries. If the IPL instead of throwing millions of dollars into the packets of cricket players, most of home are Indian players
who are already earning well and set that sum aside for theslum dwelling children it will go a long way in helping them. India instead of behaving like a would be superpower in attempting to send humans into outer space and set aside that budget for these unfortunate kids, it will be so helpful to them. India with a population over 1 billion has tens of millions children in poverty
living in shanty towns all over the country.
- Ravi, London
Whilst I have a great deal of sympathy for people in under-privileged parts of India (and other countries) and I agree poverty should not still be happening in 2009, there are parts of the UK in dire need of an injection of money too. We also have more and more people daily in the UK having to resort to living on the street because they can't afford a roof over the head and don't have money to feed themselves. I think perhaps charity needs to focus a bit more on home at the moment.
- Geraldine, London
