Aurangabad: “My mission in life is that every child on the earth is free to go to school, to laugh, play and enjoy his/her childhood in a natural way,” Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi said while addressing the 70th Rare Share session organised by Aurangabad Management Association on March 23.

Highlighting the importance of globalisation of compassion, Mr Satyarthi said, “When you feel the suffering of others as your own, that is empathy. When you try to take action to end that suffering, that is compassion. How to connect with issues related to child rights? Connections are driven by a deeper feeling of compassion.”

“India should be the land to globalise compassion. We should globalise our values and morals,” Mr Satyarthi said while calling for a collective effort towards globalisation of compassion.

He also shared some inspiring stories about his journey and narrated how child rights became the core of his universe.

“On my first day of school, I saw another boy of my age working as a shoeshine boy instead of attending class. It distrubed me so much that one day I mustered the courage to ask the boy’s father, a cobbler, as to why he didn’t send him to school. The answer left an indelible mark on me. He told me you are born to go to school, we are born to work. I was shocked. This incident left an indelible imprint on my mind. Though I went on to become an engineer, I wanted to work against child labour. There was no legislation against the social evil. Even the United Nations never took up the cause till the 1980s. The notion of child rights came only in 1989 when the UN Convention on the rights of the child was adopted,” Mr Satyarthi added.

Appealing to the audience to bring a smile to the faces of children, especially those who have been robbed of their childhood due to forced labour, he urged everyone to do their bit.

Aurangabad Management Association’s flagship ‘Rare Share’ sessions have become popular with the management fraternity of Aurangabad. The program is attended in large numbers by entrepreneurs, managers, management institutions, industry representatives, student, faculty and startup enthusiasts among others.