the unbraidable braid??
the nomadic mind that I have and the fact that it is like a bee flitting from one flower to another often frustrates me. What frustrates me even more is when a conclusion cannot be reached.
What frustrates me more and more is the fact that we are still a developing country blessed with an affluence of problems and fortunately or unfortunately, completely unaware of where/how to find the solution and if found, how to implement?
population explosion, pollution,poverty, lack of basic health care and infrastructure, corruption, lack of civic sense, unemployment, religious prejudices,child labor,sexual abuse of women and children, female infanticide and feticide and I bet a several hundred can be added to this list. I tried brainstorming to come up with measures that could be taken to eradicate all these and a million other unseen overlooked evils, but, couldn't comprehend as to where could the 'grassroot' level solution to all these problems be.
Awareness? education?
Most of these problems are entwined. In a bid to improve the literacy rate and bring down the unemployment rates, the govt has come up with so many schemes. Free and compulsory education until the age of 14, voucher scheme for girls etc etc. No amount of brain whacking can make me feel it is the sensible solution. Of what use are those initiatives and education when there is no implementation. Isn't forcing a kid, who is more interested in working in a mechanic shop to study is child labor in itself. If the kid is able to feed himself using those welding skills, how can that be child-labor? Off late, there has been a hue and cry about the negativity and inadequacy of our education system. According to a report by DNAindia, 57% of youth in India are unemployable and lack skills for productive employment. Unemployable as in lacking the basic skills that should be acquired through school and college education. Isn't that 'child-laborer' better off honing his skill set that running behind such useless degrees?
Sometimes, I think all the investments made into scientific research, urban infrastructure development are all justified. yet, at other times, I am of the opinion that that money should have been used in a more 'human'ly possible way.I thought may be educating women from rural India and the underprivileged sections of the society can be of some help. By education, i don't mean teaching them about the history or geography of India, but making them aware of the good and bad, benefits of good hygiene , showing them how to protect her kids from disease and dangers. How important a role she can play in bringing down dowry deaths,female infanticide and foetecide rate. But again, how important is all this to a woman or a family in poverty, that is more concerned about being able to provide for those two basic meals a day!
Poverty, they say is the root cause of most of the evils in India. There have been several schemes introduced by the nethas like one rural employment guarantee act where an adult member in the family is guaranteed 100 days of employment(unskilled manual work) during a financial year. And there are so many other schemes that would only provide temporary solutions. Wouldn't initiatives taken to provide skill based employment be more effective? I remember the old Chinese proverb that says teaching a man to fish will help him feed himself for the rest of his life. Will teaching the man to fish be a panacea to poverty? One such action is the Micro-financing institutions that have shown promising results. But, how many of those rag- to-riches stories be able to inspire them to think beyond.
And even if a change is brought, how certain is that change? With existent problems like sanitation issues, epidemics, lack of clean water and health care facilities, and more importantly, social bias and intolerance, and corruption, will that change be consistent? All these problems are like an entangled mess of creepers. A vicious cycle that may again point fingers towards bureaucracy. Now, again, from where do we start weeding in the farm?
We are buried so deep in the existing systems that with time, it will only become impossible for us to rise.
What frustrates me more and more is the fact that we are still a developing country blessed with an affluence of problems and fortunately or unfortunately, completely unaware of where/how to find the solution and if found, how to implement?
population explosion, pollution,poverty, lack of basic health care and infrastructure, corruption, lack of civic sense, unemployment, religious prejudices,child labor,sexual abuse of women and children, female infanticide and feticide and I bet a several hundred can be added to this list. I tried brainstorming to come up with measures that could be taken to eradicate all these and a million other unseen overlooked evils, but, couldn't comprehend as to where could the 'grassroot' level solution to all these problems be.
Awareness? education?
Most of these problems are entwined. In a bid to improve the literacy rate and bring down the unemployment rates, the govt has come up with so many schemes. Free and compulsory education until the age of 14, voucher scheme for girls etc etc. No amount of brain whacking can make me feel it is the sensible solution. Of what use are those initiatives and education when there is no implementation. Isn't forcing a kid, who is more interested in working in a mechanic shop to study is child labor in itself. If the kid is able to feed himself using those welding skills, how can that be child-labor? Off late, there has been a hue and cry about the negativity and inadequacy of our education system. According to a report by DNAindia, 57% of youth in India are unemployable and lack skills for productive employment. Unemployable as in lacking the basic skills that should be acquired through school and college education. Isn't that 'child-laborer' better off honing his skill set that running behind such useless degrees?
Sometimes, I think all the investments made into scientific research, urban infrastructure development are all justified. yet, at other times, I am of the opinion that that money should have been used in a more 'human'ly possible way.I thought may be educating women from rural India and the underprivileged sections of the society can be of some help. By education, i don't mean teaching them about the history or geography of India, but making them aware of the good and bad, benefits of good hygiene , showing them how to protect her kids from disease and dangers. How important a role she can play in bringing down dowry deaths,female infanticide and foetecide rate. But again, how important is all this to a woman or a family in poverty, that is more concerned about being able to provide for those two basic meals a day!
Poverty, they say is the root cause of most of the evils in India. There have been several schemes introduced by the nethas like one rural employment guarantee act where an adult member in the family is guaranteed 100 days of employment(unskilled manual work) during a financial year. And there are so many other schemes that would only provide temporary solutions. Wouldn't initiatives taken to provide skill based employment be more effective? I remember the old Chinese proverb that says teaching a man to fish will help him feed himself for the rest of his life. Will teaching the man to fish be a panacea to poverty? One such action is the Micro-financing institutions that have shown promising results. But, how many of those rag- to-riches stories be able to inspire them to think beyond.
And even if a change is brought, how certain is that change? With existent problems like sanitation issues, epidemics, lack of clean water and health care facilities, and more importantly, social bias and intolerance, and corruption, will that change be consistent? All these problems are like an entangled mess of creepers. A vicious cycle that may again point fingers towards bureaucracy. Now, again, from where do we start weeding in the farm?
We are buried so deep in the existing systems that with time, it will only become impossible for us to rise.
Comments
I know one principal of such school who built 3 stair building. what amazes me is the respect she gets because of that. I mean, if u got corrupted to make a living, isnt one stair enuf???
Your humanity is appreciated.Now, walk. ;)
When educated people themselves are not able to follow the basic civic sense, do you think these education deprived people would be able to? How many times have you come across an "Educated Idiot" throwing trash on the roads? Not to forget the ongoing telangana struggle. The on-going movement has its heart and soul at Osmania University. I can see all the News Channels flashing how much amount of Public nuisance and property destruction these educated fools are resorting to.
Yes, we indeed are buried so deep in the existing systems, that it is impossible to wriggle out of it. If not impossible atleast might take a few decades.
one storey is a need..that is the beginning of corruption. after need, comes greed (3 storeys) and that is when corruption becomes so persistent that those officers demand for more and more and with time they dont remember where it all began..
the reason for the post is I donno where to start walking from so that I can remove at least, a few tangles