Three incidents that shaped Kailash Satyarthi’s life and work

Shoeshi e
boy
outside
schoolI
1959,
o
his
fi st
day
to
school
as
a
five-a d-a-half-yea -old
i
Vidisha,
Madhya
P adesh,

Kailash
Satya thi
(he
was
Sha ma
the )
spotted
a
shoeshi e
boy
sitti g
quietly
outside
the
gate.
Cu ious
a d
co fused,
he
asked
a
teache ,
“Why
is
a
child
sitti g
outside
the
school?”
He
was
told
that
it
is
ot
u commo
fo
poo
kids
to
wo k.Satya thi
was
ot
satisfied.
Eve y
day,
he
would
see
the
boy,
oughly
his
ow
age,
sit
the e
with
his
fathe
u til
o e
day
he
gathe ed
cou age
a d
asked
his
fathe
why
his
so
was
ot
at
school.
The
ma
spoke
with
a
deep
hopeless ess,
ecalls
Satya thi.
He
said,
“Babu,
school
jaa e
ke
liye
aap
log
to
hai .
Hum
to
yehi
kaam
ka e
ke
liye
paida
hote
hai
(The e
a e
people
like
you
who
go
to
school.
We
a e
bo
to
do
this
ki d
of
wo k).”As
a
child,
Satya thi
felt
the e
was
somethi g
w o g
i
this,
but
he
could ’t
u de sta d
what.
“I
was
taught
that
God
has
made
us
all
equal.
Why
this
i equality,
I
wo de ed,”
he
ecalls.This
e cou te
gave
him
a
diffe e t
pe spective
o
life
at
a
ve y
ea ly
age.F ie d
who
d opped
outSatya thi
was
just
11
whe
he
fou d
that
his
best
f ie d
a d
some
othe
stude ts
had
stopped
atte di g
classes
i
the
ew
sessio .

He
was
told
that
such
d opouts
happe ed
because
the
poo
could
ot
affo d
eve
omi al
fees
a d
textbooks.Satya thi
wa ted
to
do
somethi g.
He
got
a
idea
a d
sha ed
it
with
a
f ie d.
“My
fathe
had
give
me
some
mo ey
to
buy
sweets
afte
I
had
clea ed
the
exami atio .
We
we t
to
a
vegetable
ve do ,
gave
him
the
mo ey
a d
e ted
his
pushca t,”
he
says.They
we t
a ou d
the
eighbou hood,
u gi g
people
to
do ate
the
used
books
of
thei
child e ,
so
that
the
eedy
could
use
them.
“Withi
a
few
hou s,
the
ca t
was
full
a d
we
had
to
take
a
seco d
tu .
We
collected
2,300
books
that
day,”
he
emembe s.Soo ,
a othe
idea
—
a
pe ma e t
book
ba k
fo
eedy
kids
—
was
bo ,
i
which
eve
headmaste s
a d
booksto e
ow e s
joi ed
i .
About
10,000
books
we e
collected.Decades
late ,
whe
Satya thi
we t
to
Vidisha
afte
wi i g
the
Nobel
i
2014,
he
hea d
someo e
call
out
his
ame
du i g
a
ope -jeep
pa ade.
“The
ge tlema
said,
‘I
am
a
eti ed
headmaste .
I
had
almost
quit
my
studies
due
to
lack
of
mo ey.
But
you
book
ba k
i itiative
allowed
me
to
co ti ue’,”
Satya thi
ecalls.It
was
quite
a
mome t
fo
both.Wasal
Kha
a d
SaboAt
27,
Satya thi
had
sta ted
a
jou al,
‘Sa gha sh
Jaa i
Rahega’,
which
spoke
up
fo
the
ma gi alised
a d
opp essed.
The
office
was
ea
Ma di
House
i
ce t al
Delhi.
O e
day,
a
sickly
pe so
i
a
lu gi
k ocked
o
his
doo
a d
passed
out
afte
a
few
wo ds.
He
was
ca yi g
a
copy
of
the
magazi e.Whe
he
egai ed
co scious ess,
the
ma
sta ted
whimpe i g,
“Babuji,
please
save
my
daughte .”
His
ame
was
Wasal
Kha .
Ove
the
ext
few
mi utes,
he
pou ed
out
his
life
sto y.
His
wife
a d
he
we e
lu ed
away
f om
a
village
i
Aliga h
dist ict,
take
to
Pu jab’s
Si hi d,
whe e
they
had
bee
e slaved
i
a
b ick
kil
fo
17
yea s.
They
wo ked
without
pay,
give
just
food
a d
used
clothes
to
wea .
“He
said
the
ow e s
we e
pla i g
to
sell
Sabo,
his
15-yea -old
daughte ,
to
b othel
age ts
f om
Delhi,”
says
Satya thi.
Wasal
had
escaped
o
the
back
of
a
t uck
a d
eached
Cha diga h,
whe e
a
magazi e
subsc ibe
had
give
him
a
old
copy
a d
asked
to
go
to
Delhi
fo
help.Satya thi
was
faced
with
a
tough
choice:
w ite
a
a ticle
o
take
actio .
He
opted
fo
the
latte .
He
o ga ised
a
t uck
a d,
o
eachi g
the
spot,
he
a d
his
f ie ds
f om
Pu jab
—
o e
of
them
had
a
came a
—
boldly
told
the
lo e
gu -wieldi g
chowkida
that
they
we e
jou alists
f om
Delhi.
The
watchma
a
away.
“We
we e
about
to
leave
with
36
me ,
wome ,
a d
child e
whe
a
police
jeep
a ived
with
the
ow e s.
They
sta ted
slappi g
us
a d
fo ci g
the
labou e s
to
get
dow
f om
the
t uck,”
Satya thi
ecalls.
The
t uck
d ive
had
u
away.
Satya thi
a d
his
f ie ds
too
had
to
flee.
“Ou
slippe s
we e
lost,
ou
clothes
to .”Somehow
they
eached
Cha diga h
a d
the
Delhi.
“They
had
take
away
the
came a.
But
two
eels,
which
vividly
captu ed
the
labou e s
o
came a,
we e
with
us.
We
had
good
evide ce,”
he
says.
Satya thi
app oached
Swami
Ag ivesh
a d,
th ough
him,
e ow ed
lawye
Gobi da
Mukhoty,
who
filed
a
habeas
co pus
petitio
i
Delhi
high
cou t.
Si ce
obody
k ew
the
ame
of
the
b ick
kil
ow e s,
a
otice
was
se t
to
Pu jab
Police
a d
the
state.

Eve tually,
Wasal
Kha ,
Sabo
a d
the
est
we e
p oduced
i
cou t
a d
f eed.The
child e ,
who
had
g ow
up
i side
the
b ick
kil ,
had
o
idea
of
life
outside.
“As
we
walked
f om
the
high
cou t
towa ds
ou
office,
they
we e
jumpi g
like
f ogs
eleased
f om
a
bucket,
oblivious
to
the
t affic.
That
day,
I
ealised
what
t ue
f eedom
eally
mea t.
I
could
feel
God
i
thei
joy.
We
also
k ew
this
was
the
field
whe e
we
have
to
wo k.
Ove
the
decades,
ou
o ga isatio ,
Bachpa
Bachao
A dola ,
has
escued
ove
1,40,000
me ,
wome
a d
child e ,”
he
says.Compassio
a d

AI
ethicsThis
is
the
age
of
AI
a d
Satya thi
believes
that
tech ology
should
facto
i
compassio
(ka u a),
which
he
defi es
as
“a
fo ce
bo
f om
feeli g
the
suffe i g
of
othe s
a d
d ives
us
to
take
actio .”
Satya thi
feels
that
AI
tech ology
must
be
gove ed
by
a
se se
of
espo sibility
du i g
its
desig i g,
developme t
a d
deployme t.
“AI
should
have
a
mo al
compass.
It
ca ot
just
be
p ofit-hu g y,”
he
says.

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