Budhia Singh, the marathon-running four-year-old, is loved by all. But what is the nature of this love? The answer to this might be a way into the larger and more disturbing question of how India treats its children as the ?future of the nation?. Budhia?s case illustrates almost every aspect of the appalling selfishness that lies at the heart of this high-minded investment in childhood. A very small child was woken up at dawn, fed a nourishing breakfast, and then cheered along to run 70 kilometres on a hot and humid day for more than seven hours. A whole chain of adults, some of them invested with considerable public responsibility, was party to the event. And the words that justified this potentially fatal indifference to the boy?s physical and psychological well-being were ?glory? and ?pride? ? the nation?s, of course.

It is important to note who Budhia?s sponsors and protectors were. The Central and state governments were the primary supporters. This was a CRPF event, with senior CRPF officials, the state sports minister and local MLAs present and sharing in the glory. No less responsible were Budhia?s mother and his coach. The former could barely provide for her son until the CRPF formally took charge of his education and training. The Limca Book of Records mentions him, and Jagannath was the presiding deity as the marathon was flagged off from his temple in Puri. All of them seem to have ignored more than one doctor?s warnings about the risks involved in putting a child through such a feat. But Budhia?s own words ? after reviving from his collapse and accompanied by the victory sign ? bring out the grim irony of his achievement: ?I can run as much as you want me to.? Whose voice is being heard here? And what is this voice saying about the relations of power between the will of the child and that of the nation whose pride is being restored?

Indeed, a great deal of the nation?s glory still rests on the labour of its poorest and most vulnerable children. And not many of them enjoy Budhia?s visibility, or the support and protection ? ironic as this may sound ? that his capacities have earned him. The 2001 census came up with 12.66 million child labourers, excluding the many million children invisible to such a survey. But the imperilling of childhood is not confined to underprivileged children in India. Middle-class and affluent children have their own burdens to bear. Many of these originate in adult desires and investments as well as in diverse kinds of criminal negligence on the part of the State. That this should happen most often in the name of ?love?, within both the family and the State, is what seriously throws into doubt their claims to providing the best forms of care and protection for the nation?s children.