With our constant exposure and never ending addiction to super heroes like Superman and Hulk, we tend to overlook real life heroes with amazing abilities. Our maiden edition of “Hero of the Month” salutes 16 year old Govinda, who single handedly fought to pull out hundreds of children from the shackles of bonded labour in his native village Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh.

Govinda was bonded child labourer in a stone query in Bihar. In 2006 he was rescued by Bachpan Bachao Andolan.  He went through non formal education which not only included reading and writing but also human right education and theatre in Bal Ashram , Virat Nagar. This brought new confidence in Govinda and also he was able to experience his childhood again. After the nonformal education he was linked to main school and got admission in 9th Grade. Once he went back to his village, he was determined to put an end to this menace. In 2007, he started persuading families in his village to enrol their children in school. His perseverance opened new horizons for innumerable children in his village.

 In November 2009, Govinda with the help of BBA activists operating in the state rescued children below the age of 10 years who were toiling day and night in a farm for two meals a day. These bonded child labourers were promised a salary of 3 thousand but that unfortunately, never became reality. Govinda was threatened in a bid to silence him but nothing could deter him. Not even a false police complaint, according to which he was a thief. He fought all odds and helped rescue 11 children of his village.