PATNA, India // When the Nobel Committee announced that Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi had won the peace prize, a skinny 13-year-old boy was running around serving cups of milky tea to customers at a tiny stall in eastern India.
By law, Raja Manjhi should not be working at all. But, like millions of other children across India, he has been forced out of school and into a job to help his impoverished family.
Despite the country’s rapid economic growth, child labour remains widespread in India, where an estimated 13 million children work, with laws meant to keep kids in school and out of the workplace routinely flouted.
Mr Satyarthi, who won the prize on Friday along with 17-year-old Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, accepts that “a lot of work still remains” before children like Raja no longer have to work.
Raja dropped out of school in the second grade, when he was handed over to the owner of a tea stall in Patna to pay off his father’s 5,000 rupee (Dh300) debt. The money was needed because Raja’s mother was sick.
He has no idea what a Nobel Prize is. And he has no idea when his father’s debt will be repaid so he can go back to his village.
Across India, children – some as young as five or six – end up working in all sorts of jobs. Many, like Raja, are in bonded labour, bound to their employers in exchange for a loan and unable to leave while in debt, which can last forever.
Others, like Srabani Das, 13, need money so their families can eat.
Srabani is a babysitter for a middle-class family’s one-year-old girl in Kolkata.
It’s a job she has had for a year and which pays only about 800 rupees a month, which she sends home to her family of farm labourers.
Srabani lives with her employers, and has no fixed work days or time off.
Srabani has heard of the Nobel Prize, thanks to receiving a bit more of an education than Raja after studying up to the sixth grade.
She was happy that an Indian had won the award, but said: “It won’t change my life.”
For more than three decades, Mr Satyarthi and the organisation that he founded, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or Save the Children Movement, has worked to rescue children like Raja and create awareness to keep others like Srabani in school.
In 2006, India banned the hiring of children under 14 as servants in homes or as full-time workers in restaurants, tea shops, hotels or spas, mandating that they must remain in school. But such laws can be nearly impossible to enforce.
It is not unusual to find girls as young as Srabani, and sometimes even younger, taking care of an infant for a middle-class family. Across the country, they are found in upscale shopping malls and fancy restaurants, entertaining children while the parents shop or dine.
In return, they earn a pittance, as well as food and a place to sleep, which is usually in the family’s living room or on the kitchen floor.
For the children themselves, the issue is not as clear-cut as many outside India would think. They come from bitterly poor families, and in many cases are their families’ sole breadwinners.
Rohit Kumar came to Lucknow two years ago, when he was only 11. His father worked at a construction site, while he worked at roadside food stalls.
His father went back to their village last year, but Rohit stayed behind at a tea stall, where he works up to 15 hours a day washing utensils and serving customers.
“I like this job,” he said, adding that it fetches him two meals and about 800 rupees a month, more money than he has ever had in his life.
But Rohit does not go to school and gets sad when he watches other children play cricket on the streets or in playgrounds.
“I want to play cricket,” Rohit said. “I have seen how children play this game, but I do not have enough time.”
And what of the law that makes his job illegal?
“I serve tea at the local police station. All the cops know me,” he said. “So who will enforce the law?”
* Associated Press
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
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The five new places of worship
Church of South Indian Parish
St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch
St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch
St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Mission to Seafarers is one of the largest port-based welfare operators in the world.
It provided services to around 200 ports across 50 countries.
They also provide port chaplains to help them deliver professional welfare services.
Saturday's results
Brighton 1-1 Leicester City
Everton 1-0 Cardiff City
Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace
Watford 0-3 Liverpool
West Ham United 0-4 Manchester City
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
What is a calorie?
A food calorie, or kilocalorie, is a measure of nutritional energy generated from what is consumed.
One calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C.
A kilocalorie represents a 1,000 true calories of energy.
Energy density figures are often quoted as calories per serving, with one gram of fat in food containing nine calories, and a gram of protein or carbohydrate providing about four.
Alcohol contains about seven calories a gram.
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The specs: 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn
Price, base / as tested: Dhxxx
Engine: 5.7L V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 556Nm @ 3,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Youth YouTuber Programme
The programme will be presented over two weeks and will cover the following topics:
- Learning, scripting, storytelling and basic shots
- Master on-camera presence and advanced script writing
- Beating the algorithm and reaching your core audience
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
