WHAT capital are we building for ourselves???

Education in India is seen as one of the ways to upward social mobility. Education is the essence of life. The primitive man was no better than a wild animal but that same man has now become dignified and coherent to a great extent only due to education. Today, India claims to be the biggest supplier of human resource in the world but WHAT capital are we building for ourselves???
On the one hand we have IIMs & IITs that rank among the best institutes in the world and on the other hand there are number of schools in the country that don't even have the basic infrastructure. Moreover, the present Education system is not shaping youth with a significant Value system. They are preparing them as mere Job seekers, who think that their future lies in going abroad. Very few of the best brains like to stay and serve the country.
Good Education is one that makes you free, makes you experiment and makes you ask questions. Ultimately, it makes you realize what you are. But, on the contrary- youngsters in India do not have the freedom of selecting their career. They are forced to become engineers, doctors, MBA’s and IAS officers. It’s their family who decides their fate and forces them into a world which is far the opposite of what they dreamt of. And the outcome is –stress, lack of initiative, drive and self –reliance.
The ills of present educational institutes are no less. They don’t help child to become independent but just stress on completion of syllabus to pass exam. Education has turned into a business with private coaching centers mushrooming at every corner. To make the condition worse, there are reservations based on religion and caste. This system of reservation tells the backward class students that they don't need to work hard because they have a spoon fed seat in front of them. And many students who have scored more marks but belong to the upper class are not admitted because of fewer seats whereas the students belonging to backward classes are reserved.
In India, most of the institutions teach students everything. They make the syllabi so big that students even become inclined to leave the stream of education and service. They start considering other occupations. Institutions teach students everything but most of the students don’t learn most of the content. Why not let the students specialize in a particular field? The worst part of it is that they incline the students to mug up things, as the hierarchy of level of education increases. The students with practical knowledge lose marks just because they don’t like to mug up and the institutions want specific words mentioned in the text written in the books.
Today, education is not the career of choice, but it is the career of compromise. If you are a teacher, people sympathize with you. Education is one of the highest profit making ‘industries’ in the service sector, but its workers are paid much less.
Creativity and independent thinking is not encouraged. Mugging up and passing exams is becoming more important than learning concepts. This has to change.
What Indian Education System needs?
• Education which encourages innovation and creativity. Encouraging research activities. Giving more importance to practical learning rather than theoretical.
• Greater investments into education, public as well as private are required. We need world class infrastructure and best talents in all schools and universities of India. These resources should not remain limited to a handful of IIT’s or IIM’s.
• To curb corruption - this is cutting deep roots into Indian society and not sparing education industry.
• Selection of student should be merit based not caste or religion based.
• Curriculum should be more relevant to equip students to suit market demands.

Centuries Old.....Young issue!!

The 21st Century is just around the corner and with it will come many changes in today's modern society.
Is this what you believe in????
Actually, I also used to believe in it …but not now.
The dream of better society and a better world have been shattered by face of world coming in front of my eyes since past few years.
Last week’s news of increasing cases of Honor Killing, Deoband‘s fatwa against working Muslim women in India and young leaders supporting something as evil as Khap panchayat, made me mourn on ideals Indians are living on.
Out of above mentioned concerns Honor killing comes out to be the worst practice going on. As far as Deoband’s fatwa is concerned, I just feel like who needs a self appointed guardian of Indian Muslim. I really don’t want to give this any more air and the same is what I suggest to others. Further, there is this whole age old practice of Khap panchayat…though I bet nobody knew about it a week before. I realized that Honor killing and Khap panchayat are interrelated topics …so let me unfold them both together.
Just a couple of days back I was reading about an incident where police arrested the mother of Delhi-based journalist Nirupama Pathak on the charges of honor killing. It’s awful to realize that to be young and in love has proved fatal for many young girls and boys, just because this intolerant and bigoted society refused to accept any violation to its strict code of decorum. Many such killings are happening regularly in north India especially Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. These merciless killings are socially sanctioned by caste panchayats known as Khap panchayat and carried out by mobs with the consultancies of family members. The whole concept of honor killing arises from society where women are presumed as vessels of family honor and reputation. In a society where most marriages are arranged by fathers and money is often exchanged, a woman's desire to choose her own husband is viewed as a major act of defiance that damages the honor of the family.
The problem of “honor killings” is not a problem of morality or of ensuring that women maintain their own personal virtue; rather, it is a problem of domination, power and hatred of women who, in these instances, are viewed as nothing more than servants to the family, both physically and symbolically. The problem in the villages is the presence of their own belief system and laws never seems to reach there. The strong presence of a panchayat or informal court that consists of members of the same caste who decide all matters relating to their community is worsening the situation.
It would be wrong to say that honor killing only involves the killing of women. Men are equally victims of this practice, especially when it affects the reputation of a particular caste and community. Many grooms have been killed by the father or the brother of the bride.
Unfortunately, the legal safeguards who should protect women and men from such indiscriminate and unlawful act, are blinded by luster of money and are sitting in their offices just to manipulate the papers of cases.

REMEDY:
In my opinion the usual remedy to eradicate such practice, is to make efforts towards sensitizing people on the need to do away with social biases. Also, there should be no escape for those who take justice into their own hands. So far, there is no specific law to deal with honor killings. The murders come under the general categories of homicide or manslaughter. Hence, it becomes difficult to point out the culprit.
There is a strong need for government intervention in this issue. The government needs to enforce strict measures to stop honor killings. There should be a ban on all decisions made by these self appointed courts in the villages because they are taking innocent lives in the name of belief.
Concomitant attention must be paid for meeting basic human needs and solving problems stemming from poverty and illiteracy, as these are often the root of disturbing social trends.
Concluding by quoting the words of a wise man from Amnesty International:
"Change can't happen if it's just people working inside the system; they're overwhelmed. International campaigns and media attention give them some ballast and the ability to say 'Look, the world is watching what is going on here,' and provides support for making change in their own countries."

P.S: This is just my concern over the evil issue. Please, help make society better……share your views .

No one wants to be son-less!!!!

“Even today birth of girl child is viewed as a bad investment for future!!!!”
It’s the most beautiful day in life of every woman when she gets to know that she is expecting. But sometimes her expectations shape out in the ugliest way…in a way she could never have imagined.
Last week I was having a casual discussion with my cousin about how the women’s have really proved to be the pillars of the nation, how women in the past were deprived of education .they were not given any active participation rights and neither any privileges .the society was male dominated and was ruled mainly by ethics and morals. But now the women are enjoying the topmost supremacy and these have won over intelligence and mental capacity of the men. Suddenly our discussion was interrupted by my house maid Lakshmi and what she told us after that was shocking and made me cry over the plight of common women in Indian society.
She remembers the day when she came to know about her fifth pregnancy….she was at seventh sky, she wanted to rush to her husband and give him the good news. She ran barefooted but suddenly something inside her asked to stop….Her inner voice asked her...”What if this is also a girl?” “Have you forgotten about the last three abortions?” “Are you ready to bear it once again?” “Are you going to get this one also killed?” She moved to tears when she recollects the memories of her past. She narrates that she has been lucky to give birth to a boy as her first child and the only child till now. Her other three babies were aborted after sex determination tests, on knowing that the foetuses were female. With pain in her voice, she explains that my family feels that girls are a burden and after they are born, family needs to collect lot of dowry for her marriage and for poor people like us, it is not possible whereas sons are considered to be the only hope of old age and even after life and also they will bring in lot of money in form of dowry when they get married. Lakshmi said, “I knew that if this time also it is going to be a girl, she again have to go for an abortion.” But this time she was not ready to sacrifice her womb….this time she was sure she is going to give birth to a child....she was sure once a child is born whether it be a boy or girl her family will accept it. So, she collected herself and went to her maternal home in village. She didn’t tell her husband about her pregnancy. She was happy that now her child is safe. Her village had no facility for sex determination, so nine months passed without even consulting a doctor. Midwives are still popular at her place as she says. The day of her labor came and she gave birth to a girl child. But what happened after that is far beyond anyone can imagine. Her family refused to nurse her baby girl. To silence the infant's famished cries, the impoverished village woman squeezed the milky sap from some shrub, mixed it with castor oil, and forced the poisonous potion down the newborn's throat. The baby bled from the nose, then died soon afterward. Female neighbors buried her in a small hole near Lakshmi's hut. Lakshmi pleaded everybody present there for life of her child but no one came forward for help.
After listening to her story, I realized that India, a land that is regarded for its deeply cherished values and culture cannot escape its own social evils. The phenomenon of female infanticide is as old as many cultures, and has likely accounted for millions of gender-selective deaths throughout history. Women don’t go missing as young girls, wives or mothers but they go missing even before they are born. And it is the society that is to blame for this, for the real perpetrators of the crime are amongst us and they go scot-free every time.
The reason for this is unchecked technology combined with affordability that has made the practice of female infanticide a norm. People have completely shifted to female foeticide as a more ‘sanitary option'. But still we hear the news of few-days-old infants found dead in bushes, public toilets, parks or garbage bins. It’s like the aim of people hasn’t changed –no one wants to be son-less.
India a country where people worship more goddesses than any other in the world - female infanticide occurs at highest rate and we stand mute and indifferent. We refer India as “Mother India” but when it comes to having a girl child, even some of the richest couples refrain from doing so. It is really tough being a girl in a man’s world in India because here every right to live or be born is not granted to you.
Although all of us take pride in our Indian culture, we need to recognize that there is something fundamentally wrong with a culture that assumes the superiority of males, and that celebrates Indian women for being meek, submissive and sacrificial. One way you can help counter this mindset is by being proud of the women in your life, and by taking pride in yourself if you are a women .