Happiness is key to good health, says Nobel laureate

Dubai - Kailash Satyarthi hails UAE's appointment of Happiness Minister

Before his talk at the Capital Club in Dubai on Wednesday, the 2014 Nobel laureate for peace, Kailash Satyarthi, was introduced as the 'most underestimated person in the doing-good world'.
Speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of his talk, Satyarthi said: "The need of the hour is inclusive, equitable and quality education for all children."
He applauded the UAE's efforts in instating a Happiness Minister. "Happiness is the key to good health, social security, building high morale, and social spirit ... however, it is yet to be seen how a position like this will effect people ... and maybe other countries too can follow suit," said Satyarthi.
The Nobel laureate also raised concerns on the condition of the 2 million displaced Syrian children. "It is an urgent and pressing matter. There are alarming reports of these children being recruited into prostitution and slavery. International communities must work together immediately and rehabilitate Syrian refugee children," he said.
He insisted that governments need to have strong rehabilitation policies in place and there should also be a strong economic deterrent against slave masters. 
Early years
"Even though I faced much scorn from my friends and family, I gave up my teaching career to educate people on the importance of abolishing child slavery." His weekly magazine gained popularity among the poorer communities in Delhi who soon came to him with information about their missing children, many who were recruited into prostitution.
"This information shocked and angered me. How can civilisation and slavery go hand-in-hand," he asked. After hearing several cases of missing children and child labourers, Satyarthi decided to take matters into his own hands and establish the 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan' in 1980. He the acted to protected the rights of more than 83,000 children from 144 countries.
And what began as a weekly magazine that educated and sensitised people on the importance children's education in the late 70s turned into a decades long campaign on children's rights.
Speaking about being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with Malala Yousefzai in 2014, Satyarthi stated that winning the Nobel was only a 'coma in his efforts to abolish child slavery, not a full-stop.'
"I believe that the power of God is omnipresent. And I felt it again after seeing the smiles on the faces of children who'd lost all hope but came back and slept in their mothers arms again," he added.
However, the notion of activism was not momentous for Satyarthi. He did not wake up one day wanting to be an activist. The deep aspiration to stand up for underprivileged children came to him at a very young age.
"When I was at school in Vidhisha, Madhya Pradesh, I came across a boy who was a little under my age polishing shoes along with his father near my school. It struck me then, why was I in school and not him," he said. When he raised this questions to adults and peers, they responded that this was the 'way of the world and nothing could be done about it.'
Satyarthi realised way back in his school days that a vast majority of the labour class in India did not look at education as an option.
"I felt a sense of deep helplessness when I realised that some children were born and raised to believe that their sole purpose is to work and earn money," he said. 
Importance of education
The Nobel laureate sincerely believes that the world needs to take away guns from young hands and establish a public education system that is inclusive, equitable, and high in quality.
"We only need $22 billion to educate all primary school children across the globe in a year.... Sadly, that is the same amount which is spent as global military expenditure in three and a half days."
When Satyarthi began his journey, there were 260 million child labourers in the world. "However, as of 2015, we have reduced that number to 168 million," he added. Satyarthi also encouraged the investment of technology into rural education.
Rural children have equal rights to education opportunities using smart technology, as much as children in developed cities do, he said.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

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