He was about 25 and his younger brother might have been 20 year old. There was a young woman with two children. Their mother, about 55, was also with them. They were wandering in the Muslim locality of Jamia Nagar in Delhi, worried and begging. They were penniless and needed money to go home which they were begging/requesting every by-passer to donate.
This family had come to Delhi from Akola in Maharashtra. Anil, the father of the two children, said that poverty had forced his family to come to Delhi looking for better prospects. Some contractor, as he said, had promised to get them jobs but deserted them when they landed in Delhi. They had no one else to look to and began begging.
Anil looked blank when asked if he regretted that his decision to leave Akola for Delhi, with his entire family including two children below five, was utterly foolish. He had no answer and no idea about what the future held for them; he was desperate to return to Akola.
Such life-stories are common, perhaps, in every part of India. It is not only the people from Bihar and eastern U.P. who migrate to Mumbai and other mega cities to make a living but they also happen to be in Maharashtra, poor and compelled to move to Delhi or elsewhere for earning their livelihood. One wonders if Mr. Raj Thawkeray is aware of the fact that there exists a poor population in Maharashtra also which finds Delhi economically more attractive than Mumbai. And an Anil, whose story has been narrated above, creates the very kinds of problems for Delhites which North Indians have allegedly done to Mumbaikars. Anil with his five family members can not afford but to live in slums or squattter on roads. Being semi-educated, they would hardly find decent jobs to sustain them economically. Like their North Indian “cousins” in Mumbai or Kolkata their life seems to be condemned to poverty and deprivation.
Poverty is a problem everywhere. But it is a tragedy in India. Here poverty is not merely economic deprivation which keeps one under-nourished or even hungry. Poverty or living below the poverty line means that you can not send your children to a decent school ensuring an equally dark future for them. In India it is the deadly combination of economic and intellectual poverty that compounds the problems of the poor and keeps them mired in the vicious vortex of deprivation, privation and marginalisation.
It is said that 65 per cent Indians are literate today. We do not have a definite definition of literacy but surely it can not be called an enabling education. The whole emphasis is on making people literate which is just good in the sense that something is better than nothing. All will agree that being just literate is not enough ; instead we need an enabling education.
The fortunate among us, men and women with degrees in higher education, specially the ones who received their early education in private public schools, can not fathom the depth of deprivation in rural and tribal India. There are schools which exist only on papers in Government offices. And the ones which exist in form and structure hardly have an academic atmosphere. The teachers are poorly paid, and in some states salary payment is utterly irregular. This compels teachers to look for other avenues of resource-earning than just focus on imparting “quality-education” to their wards. One fails to understand why primary school teachers are paid poorly in India. If this state of affairs continues unabated, we would surely blacken the future of India.
The parents, whose wards go to primary schools in rural and tribal areas, are not just poor but they are also educationally backward. They do not have a mind that can look beyond their immediate needs. The result is that they do not create an educationally congenial atmosphere in their surrounding and thus their wards suffer at home as well.
A fresh and revolutionary thinking is required. Government and private endeavours for improving the educational conditions across the country are welcome. However, what we need the most at the moment is social and educational awakening. We need reformers and an army of social workers to accomplish this national mission, and this alone is the sure way to eliminate the plight of Anils scattered all over the country. This should indeed become a national agenda.
[May 2008]
This family had come to Delhi from Akola in Maharashtra. Anil, the father of the two children, said that poverty had forced his family to come to Delhi looking for better prospects. Some contractor, as he said, had promised to get them jobs but deserted them when they landed in Delhi. They had no one else to look to and began begging.
Anil looked blank when asked if he regretted that his decision to leave Akola for Delhi, with his entire family including two children below five, was utterly foolish. He had no answer and no idea about what the future held for them; he was desperate to return to Akola.
Such life-stories are common, perhaps, in every part of India. It is not only the people from Bihar and eastern U.P. who migrate to Mumbai and other mega cities to make a living but they also happen to be in Maharashtra, poor and compelled to move to Delhi or elsewhere for earning their livelihood. One wonders if Mr. Raj Thawkeray is aware of the fact that there exists a poor population in Maharashtra also which finds Delhi economically more attractive than Mumbai. And an Anil, whose story has been narrated above, creates the very kinds of problems for Delhites which North Indians have allegedly done to Mumbaikars. Anil with his five family members can not afford but to live in slums or squattter on roads. Being semi-educated, they would hardly find decent jobs to sustain them economically. Like their North Indian “cousins” in Mumbai or Kolkata their life seems to be condemned to poverty and deprivation.
Poverty is a problem everywhere. But it is a tragedy in India. Here poverty is not merely economic deprivation which keeps one under-nourished or even hungry. Poverty or living below the poverty line means that you can not send your children to a decent school ensuring an equally dark future for them. In India it is the deadly combination of economic and intellectual poverty that compounds the problems of the poor and keeps them mired in the vicious vortex of deprivation, privation and marginalisation.
It is said that 65 per cent Indians are literate today. We do not have a definite definition of literacy but surely it can not be called an enabling education. The whole emphasis is on making people literate which is just good in the sense that something is better than nothing. All will agree that being just literate is not enough ; instead we need an enabling education.
The fortunate among us, men and women with degrees in higher education, specially the ones who received their early education in private public schools, can not fathom the depth of deprivation in rural and tribal India. There are schools which exist only on papers in Government offices. And the ones which exist in form and structure hardly have an academic atmosphere. The teachers are poorly paid, and in some states salary payment is utterly irregular. This compels teachers to look for other avenues of resource-earning than just focus on imparting “quality-education” to their wards. One fails to understand why primary school teachers are paid poorly in India. If this state of affairs continues unabated, we would surely blacken the future of India.
The parents, whose wards go to primary schools in rural and tribal areas, are not just poor but they are also educationally backward. They do not have a mind that can look beyond their immediate needs. The result is that they do not create an educationally congenial atmosphere in their surrounding and thus their wards suffer at home as well.
A fresh and revolutionary thinking is required. Government and private endeavours for improving the educational conditions across the country are welcome. However, what we need the most at the moment is social and educational awakening. We need reformers and an army of social workers to accomplish this national mission, and this alone is the sure way to eliminate the plight of Anils scattered all over the country. This should indeed become a national agenda.
[May 2008]
1 comment:
it feels bad 2 know abt such people but we cant ignore the reality...the story of Anil is really touching...people r fooled on the name of better work by fake contractors....the need of the time is social & educational awakening & u r right in saying dat it shud become a national agenda to eliminate such plights!
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