This week's reading assignments tackled the issue of personhood and made some very cogent points while discussing who or what is a human or a person and what does being a human or a person entail. What rights and responsibilities are to be accorded to him and what punishment should be meted out to individual failing to meet these responsibilities or violating the rights of others. With regards to the weekly reading and especially with respect to the discussion of rights of children in the text, I found the news article mentioned below to be highly relevant. The article brings to light the case of Santram, a boy hailing from the tiny village of Harda in Madhya Pradesh, India. Santram wa only 9 years old when he was mortgaged to a local merchant by his indebted father who was paid a sum of Rs5000 (roughly 80 dollars in today's forex rates) and a quintal of rice in clear violation of and human decency. The text discussed the idea of Patria Potestas and how this feudal idea is still prevalent in many parts of the world today. This case effectively highlights this fact. Children too are part of the kingdom of ends but not as object and means to the end. They are rational beings or shall in future be full fledged rational beings and thus must be treated as such, they too must be regarded as ends in themselves and not means to an end.
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/mortgaged-at-9-for-rs-5-000-this-child-worker-waits-for-freedom-765813
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