Mumbai: Nobel Prize winning child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi said on Sunday that it is everybody's job to end child labour, and asked kids to be "candles which light up the world".
"Let us decide never to drink water from a home where child labour is employed," Satyarthi said, interacting with kids at the Children's Science Congress here.
"When a book is published, light glows. When a bullet is fired from a gun, a life is lost," he said, asking people to abhor violence.
"I also had a dream to become a scientist. I became the voice of children and was honoured with the Nobel Prize," he said.
Emphasising on indigenous research in "the land of Buddha and Gandhi", Satyarthi said, "Don't consider anything to be a full stop. Ask questions and seek answers. Be like Galileo and analyse things. Be scientific; not religious. Morality comes from religion but accept it only if it has a scientific basis".
"Study science, not to earn money, but to enhance knowledge," Satyarthi told young science enthusiasts.
He asked parents to keep their kids away from barriers like caste and creed.
"If you don't want to grow old, realise the kid in you. The world is beautiful seen through the eyes of the child," he said.
"We owe it to care for kids who are out of school. If child labour is eradicated, grown-ups will get more jobs," he said.
Satyarthi also called for giving equal rights to girls and questioned, "Why are women not safe in the land of Shivaji Maharaj and Maharana Pratap".
