It is “Protests” season once again, in India we are used to doing things seasonally, we have seasonal fruits, harvesting is seasonal, even marriages are solemnised as per seasons. Periodically we have a season when the protests begin, sometimes farmers agitate or it could be the CAA, Anna Hazare anti-corruption LokPal or Delhi Nirbhaya. Sometimes these succeed, as was the case in Farmers or Nirbhaya protests, sometimes it takes a while but it bears fruit for a regime change as in LokPal protests. The protesters are also more emboldened now with the evident success of such movements in the immediate neighbourhood, so much so that they openly threaten that they will convert India into another Nepal. If only wishes were horses, cockroaches would ride!
Protests are engineered, that there is no doubt about, as even when Mahatma Gandhi launched his movements, they were not spontaneous. It requires funding, organisation, resources and leadership. It is widely known that the major protests like Farmers and CAA received widespread funding from abroad, obviously there are vested interests involved. Forces inimical to the country would like nothing better than India embroiled in its internal conflicts rather than pursue its path of progress. Notwithstanding that, this round of protest has a genuine raison d’être, the rotting education system of this country. NEET paper leak is just the manifestation of this decadent system which is in much need for an overhaul and not just some patchwork solution.
While this generation does like their jeans distressed, you know the ones which are torn with threads emerging from the vents, they don’t really approve of their education system in total tatters. An education system which rewards only memory and not knowledge or its application per se, is not a recipe for a budding super power. A simple comparison with China who spends $800 billion a year, whereas we spend just $12 billion, a clear give away of the priority we accord to education in India. By our own planning figures, we should be spending at least 6% of our GDP, whereas we are managing just above 4%. There are challenges as the subject is in concurrent list in the constitution, hence uniformity of policy and their implementation is a huge ask, as is evident in the recent logjam in the conduct of NEET exams itself, with Tamil Nadu up in arms insisting on following their reservation system rather than the one applicable at the national level. The three language formula is also being actively contested by Tamil Nadu primarily.
Despite the mess in Education system, the sincere and hardworking middle class puts their progeny through the grind of coaching institutes hoping to get out of the rut by qualifying in one of these competitive exams. This is the dream which almost every parent has, and leaves no stone unturned to ensure their children cross the rubicon, thereby hoping for salvation of the complete family. Examinations were supposed to be a fair system of assessment, at least that is what one would have liked to believe. If the candidate has acquired the skills which these coaching institutes drilled into him/her over the two-three years period, he/she cracks it, else he/she probably did not have what it took to succeed. But of late, paper leakage has acquired menacing proportions, with hardly an exam managing to buck the trend. Barring the UPSC conducted exams, all the others can hardly be called fair. The so called demographic dividend is very demanding, but unfortunately the returns are only diminishing. So it had to come to a boil sooner or later.
Govt, as usual hasn’t covered itself with glory, it can’t offer any excuses, as having been in power for more than a decade, they had adequate time to fix the system. The conduct of Re-NEET is at best a patchwork solution, the National Testing Agency (NTA) itself has failed the test time and again. Repeated failures of this kind can’t be excused and heads should have rolled even without any protests. The minister in question should have offered to resign much earlier, which would have sent the right signal, the NTA bureaucracy should have been sacked for their failure of oversight. Getting into a confrontationist mood with the youth can hardly be considered a politically wise decision. Once the anger dissipates, holistic reforms should be on the agenda.
One moot question which needs introspection by all of us, is that why are the papers leaked? Obviously for just one simple reason, ‘greed’. The perpetrators are greedy for money, the parents are greedy, as they see this as an investment with disproportionate returns. So, again reverting to the education system, isn’t there a dire need for character building in the curriculum?
15 thoughts on “WITHER PROTEST”
A few observations of significance:
1. Have we ever heard of such sad tales of ineptitude; of not being able to conduct a national level exam in a reliable manner – from other parts of the globe? As a nation we have unfortunately not reached the state of maturity where systems and processes work the way they should. And thats truly sad. In this case so many young folks and their families were devastated multiple times.
2. Yet accountability in public life, is ZERO. It takes public ire (and perhaps foreign funding to fan the flames) to bring strife to streets. The former Education Minister quit not because he accepted moral responsibility for institutional failure; but under pressure.
3. And, what does that tell us?
You’re amongst the few who don’t hyperventilate on such events of organizational ineptitude and it’s misuse by fringe elements to extract political mileage, by any means.
Recall, Indian Today or some media conducted a survey in year 2000 on which is the most honest profession [Armed Forces]. And which is the profession Indians least want to join [Armed Forces].
Our national character was visible therein. Overpopulation leads to fight over resources, which leads to greed and corruption.
Thanos, where art thou?
The decadent system has too divert operationally committed air stories to distribute paper as they couldnt trust their own bureaucracy and hierarchy in the education system. Such appalling conditions they have reached and people are yet blaming parents of those who lost lives or students who couldn’t cope the stress of preparing again…
What ignominy that questioning a broken system is also considered anti-national!!!
Kudos to the courage of our country’s future to have called spade a spade…
Wish we had the spine when it mattered….
Paper leaks are a very accepted and small part of our Country’s corrupt and contaminated administrative system, which is due to the failure of all successive Govts since Independence to bring in the much needed reforms in the Administrative, Police & Judicial services, and resultantly no exemplary action has ever been taken against or accountability fixed on the Govt Servants incharge from top to bottom in the hierarchy.
Thanks brother for your write up.
The officials responsible should have just stepped down and it would have diffused.
Yes greed is the cause. Whether it is sale of papers or the one’s buying it.
slight differences IMO..
# Greed = Ambition, in modern 🇮🇳 vocabulary..
both are basic & ancient human nature though..
# Corruption = Greed overpowering morality..
and
# Elite /VVIP entitlements, to both Ambition and Greed /Corruption.. without any shame..😈
now Normalized /Accepted /Ingrained in our DNAs (& 🧠) since Birth..
by the very Feudalistic, Patriarchal and Religion-Rituals conforming 🇮🇳 Society and Culture, going back to ancient Kings /Sultans, Queens and Princely times..
(as per Prof YNH, the Religion was invented by Political-Science, to make the Humans have blind & unquestioned Faith in the King & their Dynasty, still goes in N. Korea, which the poor 🇮🇳 priests converted into mythological GODs, for their ritualistic livelihoods)
There is a fair amount of spontaneity in this protest. Social media is rife with stories of people anonymously pouring in support in terms of water and food. Also it was spreading internationally with students abroad holding their own protests in solidarity. The Gen Z will be a major vote bank in 2029. No party can afford to ignore them.
The reason of leak is corruption..of taking bribes and giving bribes. In everyday life the most hurting is the middle class corruption. Middle class screwing middle class and then shouting the most against bad infra and everything that is wrong. We need to work in education on our character, rest everything will follow.
The terrible & widespread sense of insecurity based upon an unexceptable situation of unemployment puts the larger part of the middle class digress from ethics for oneself while expecting ethical practices from others. White collar jobs are over admired & hardwork though expected from others is generally feared. No amount of harshness of law will dissuade few committed offenders from breaching systems to encash acts of paper leak. Ministery of Education or for that matter, entire govt machinery is likely to fail from time to time till the matter comes in the centre of focus of the majority of entire Indian society, & some very tall leadership leads into some revolutionary social changes in setting the collective moral compass right. Till then enjoy life intermittent with corruption & agitation both in half measures…..
Suyash, you articulated beautifully while I have tried to create confusion for convenience. Regards Sanjay Verma
Well articulated as usual. You have hit the nail in its proverbial head. Even the Education Ministers resignation read like a fight against anti-national forces, rather than accepting accountability for failing system without an apology to the students for the mess.
Democracy derives its legitimacy from peaceful dissent; mobocracy seeks to impose outcomes through intimidation or violence.
One of the defining features of Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership was his moral consistency. After the violence at Chauri Chaura in 1922, he suspended the highly successful Non-Cooperation Movement, believing that the pursuit of a just cause could not justify violent methods. Even during Anna Hazare movement, India upheld this tradition of peaceful mass protest, while London was burning and rioting at that time.
In name of Gen Z, if violence, vandalism, or coercion are tolerated or rationalised because the cause is considered just, the line between democracy and mobocracy begins to blur.
A democracy certainly needs the right to protest, but it also needs the discipline, accountability, and ethical restraint that preserve the legitimacy of that right. One hopes that parents of Gen Z and future India understand these fundamentals of Indic thought!
Protests by the students who are the Gen Z have shown that they can do it. They have shown more than a mirror to the government – with several memes they spared no one…more importantly they did not deviate from their core issue …Atul Rawat
Govt shaken.was needed.
What a balanced and well analysed piece, Suyash. Well done.
The need for overall educational reform (including paper leaks) is an extremely pressing and overdue need. However, many other issues that arose in this “agitation” need all of us to remove our blinders for supporting a group (comprising many depraved Gen Z led by motivated non-Gen Z) that:-
Is at an age and stage where 99.9 per cent have yet to contribute anything to their families or the Nation, but are already into looking at their rights (horribly misinterpreting right to an opinion and freedom of speech to a disgusting level).
Lacks basic understanding of geo-political realities by accepting support from foreign sources inimical to our Nation.
Absolves themselves and their parents of their role in promoting paper leaks. Does the Government promote paper leaks or do students encourage them? No amount of checks and balances can stop paper leaks if demand exists. President John F. Kennedy had remarked before his assassination that, “Any man who is willing to exchange his life for mine can do so.” He shared this private thought on presidential vulnerability, noting that absolute security is impossible if a determined attacker is willing to die to kill the president. The same applies to examinations. We have to be correct first.
The younger generation must find more refined and effective ways to shake up the Government than this appalling display.
Thanks Akash, many amongst us have an ace to grind with the present dispensation, while they may have genuine reasons to do so, they are ready to shake hands with devil, that is the irony.