For themselves, yes - and within the security of the family, of the community. All the parts of the community would be working together to support themselves. It may not seem to matter, at first, if I get a child to come in and sweep and swab for me, or do some cooking for me, if I cannot afford to hire an adult and don't have the time to do this work myself. But then, slowly, bit by bit, I reach the point when I am asking the kid to do everything. We need outrage, not just from people in India but from the whole world community, against child labour.
Child labour is in fashion now in the media .
It's fashionable to talk about child labour - but child labour is not fashionable. It's a reality for the children who are working. You have spoken about the breakdown of traditional communities. Fathers stay out drinking, wasting the family income. But I think saying no to parental irresponsibility has to come about not by legislation but from social pressure building up.