Editor,
Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha (RJD) deserves kudos for his historic speech in parliament. “I pay my tax, so I demand my rights,” is a common refrain among many, “educated elite and enlightened,” persons! It seems they are engaged in a sort of “charity” to the State by paying taxes on their income with those not falling within the ambit of tax being “lesser citizens” also having no authority to raise rights entitled to a human being!
Jha deserves special kudos for hitting the nail hard right on the head by stressing, “This is a welfare state, isn’t it? When a poor man buys a bar of soap, he is as much a taxpayer as are Adani and Ambani. And you’re telling him ‘free vaccine, free treatment, free ration!” Yes, it needs to be repeatedly reminded to the class-conscious Indians that each and every citizen of the country pays taxes – direct or indirect. So even the richest of rich hold no right to consider themselves as belonging to any “special stock” with the indirect tax payer being any lesser to them in any respect.
Hence as citizens of that State, all are equally entitled to all sorts of rights, hence no Government at the Centre or any state holds any moral right to blow its trumpet of providing necessary amenities/services for “free”; more so when the recipient of the supposedly welfare state is of economically poor vintage. Jha has rightly stated that the citizens have a stake upon the amenities/services and it is nothing but denigration of the recipient when the State advertises its “magnanimity” by stressing upon the word “free”.
While Jha has rightly shown the mirror to the top honchos of that particular party/Government who dare to project themselves as “successful warriors” against Covid-19 by sweeping aside the deaths and miseries of several millions either falling to the virus, languishing in “Long March” upon highways after finding themselves homeless overnight, driven to suicide, turning jobless with innumerable students/children compelled to enter the labour market. Jha also stressed on the collective failure of all governments since 1947 for not ensuring Constitutional guarantee of the right to health life and work for all citizens. After all, the basic necessities of food, shelter, attire, health, justice, education and livelihood are infinitely more important than the moon/mars missions, hosting Asian/Commonwealth Games or coming up with gigantic statues, lofty flags and bullet trains for the elite to name a few !
All political parties and Governments, be it in the Centre or states, should awaken their respective conscience on the cardinal call of Manoj Jha and devote all its resources, energy and time towards welfare of common Indians only; ensuring basic human necessities, rights and dignity to literally each and every citizen of the country.
Yours etc.,
Kajal Chatterjee,
Via email
How the education system failed us
Editor,
As a student of class X, I write this to address an issue that has been brushed aside too often. This current system of education that we follow often turns a blind eye to a lot of students struggling with mental illnesses. Students with depression, anxiety disorders, autism, ADHD, whether it’s undiagnosed or not, are often looked over. They are labelled as “lazy” or “stupid” or “uninterested”, which is downright ignorant and insensitive. I shall state my opinion on the exams to be held this year. The students of class X, of this year, haven’t regularly been to school for two consecutive years. That is a long time off from school and proper learning.
Concepts are far from clear, so we have to resort to rote learning. So the “assessment of everything we’ve learnt this year,” is mostly based on how much we can remember. It is not how much we have understood, but how much we can memorize. Online classes are frankly good for nothing. Most of the students barely have network connectivity. Not only are the exams quite unfair, but it also totally neglects the students who are already struggling with learning disabilities. Most of these disabilities go undiagnosed, therefore treatment is ignored. And when they fail to score proper grades, they are shamed and taunted for it and somehow gaslighted into believing that it is their fault and that they’re incapable, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
In fact, standardized tests are one of the worst ways to evaluate a child’s learning capacity or intelligence. Children’s minds aren’t standardized, so how can you measure their value with these tests? But that’s a whole different matter altogether. It would be a lot more appreciated if schools actually addressed mental health issues and prevented students from trying too hard and experiencing burnout. It is important to call out these instances because it affects the lives of children whom the education system could not do justice. Maybe learning was supposed to be a fun process, but somehow it got distorted into something tyrannical and exhaustive.
Yours etc.,
Rupsa Marak,
Matchakolgre,
Tura
Northeast shamed
Editor,
Just when Chanu Saikhom Mirabai brought prestige for the Northeast by winning a medal and creating history on the first day of Tokyo Olympics 2021, the region seems to lose that same prestige in no time due to the major border conflict that occurred between Mizoram and Assam on July 26 last.
The dispute which could have been solved across the table occurred due to alleged encroachment into each other’s territories which accelerated into stone-pelting, firing, damaging of local people’s property, vandalising of vehicles and ultimately claimed the lives of 6 Assam cops besides leaving many injured. Not only in the field, the fight seems to have found its way on social media too as the Chief Ministers of both states have engaged themselves in a free for all twitter war.
The sad part is when we, the seven sisters of northeast should be standing in support of our players for making us proud in Olympics; when we should be standing in solidarity against racism and other evils happening around the country, here we are seeking vengeance against each other through bullets and arms. Not only that, we also seem to cross the line of inhumanity by demanding the stoppage of food grains from being transported to Mizoram. Unfortunately, many other North-eastern states are also embroiled in repeated border disputes.
It’s absolutely important that while we desire equal respect and recognition from other parts of India, we should first learn to respect one another, else we are not very far from being called barbarians.
Yours etc.,
Ritika Das,
Guwahati- 8