Who is Kailash Satyarthi ?

Satyarthi along with Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousufzai won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".

My customers will ask me to pay back what they had spent on their shoes.

He has helped enactment and adoption of national and international legislations, treaties and conventions as well as the constitutional amendment on child labour and education.

Satyarthi is married and is the father of two grown children, a daughter and a son. His extended family also includes many of the former child labourers that his organizations have rescued.

I barely make ends meet, with great difficulty. How would I pay back my customers? Look what a mess have I landed into just because of this foolish boy.” Kailash was shocked.

Kailash, who was born in Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, has a degree in electrical engineering and a post-graduate diploma in high-voltage engineering.

On one hand, he was standing there with a raincoat and the umbrella that his brother had purchased to ensure that he did not get wet.

His works have been covered by several television and radio documentaries and he has been featured in many prominent magazines like ‘Reader’s Digest’, The Time’, ‘Washington Post’, and ‘New York Times’.

Kailash decided to work for social change following his experiences as a student who saw the lot of less priovilegded from close quarters.

Kailash's work is based on three major strategic thrusts - he organises raids to identify and free bonded children; tries rehabilitate them by providing vocational training and and works with the media and other groups to build national and international consumer resistance.

On January 8, 2015, Kailash Satyarthi dedicated his Nobel Peace Prize medal to the nation (India). The medal, in 18 carats gold and weighing 196 grams, is kept at Rashtrapati Bhavan (President's House) museum.

On the other hand, there was this cobbler who was just not concerned about his son getting wet in the rain.

All that he was worried about were the shoes of his customers. Instantaneously, he handed over his favourite colourful umbrella to the boy, because he anyway had a raincoat as a backup,

At age 26, Satyarthi gave up a career as an electrical engineer to devote himself to protecting children, even raiding factories where workers were held captive.

therefore he did not think twice before parting with his umbrella. This incident moved Kailash to the core.

He is known for participating in protests and demonstrations – all peaceful, according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee – with a focus on child exploitation.

Kailash always felt very strongly that all children are born equal and therefore have the right to lead a good life.

Kailash Satyarthi was born in the Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh in India. After completing an electrical engineering degree, he worked as a teacher in the area.

He started a program in 1994 called “Rugmark,” now known as GoodWeave International, in which rugs are certified and labeled to be child-labor free.

In 1980, he left teaching and founded the organization Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which has freed thousands of children from slave-like conditions. He has also been active in a wide range of other organizations working against child labor and for children's rights to education

Public schooling was not free when Kailash was around eleven years old. With the help of a few like-minded friends, Kailash started a football club to raise money for the children who were unable to attend school.

A campaign founded by Satyarthi and his friends in 1980, Bachpan Bachao Andoloan, can be translated as “Save the Child Movement.” It’s credited with freeing nearly 80,000 children.

The membership fee thus collected was donated to support the school fees of few such children.

He was featured in a 2005 PBS series “The New Heroes,” hosted by actor Robert Redford.

Kailash Satyarthi is married and has a son and a daughter.