Strike by Tamil Nadu teachers

Lesson from unresolved protests

Lessons for the government.

 The government in a democratic nation is not supposed to handle a protest by the teachers in this manner. Right for peaceful protest is a right given to the trade unions.  Destroying them through demonstration of mighty government power and thereby creating fears to the protestor’s mind about their future survival is the practice of military rules. If the students welfare had been the top priority   the chief minister could have met them and given some assurances and explain the reasons for inability to meet some of the demands. This is the beauty of the negotiation instrument . A ministers’ open announcement of the teacher’s salary is not in good taste. The teachers right in asking how during the present financial crunch the IAS and IPS cadres latest salary and arrears are paid and MLSs are allowance are revised twice. Let the government also realize that, the general public will question from where they get the money for grand birth day celebrations of their leaders, statues and memorials and who is responsible for the financial mismanagement of the government funds?

 Lessons for the teachers

 Any protest by any union will succeed only if,  there is public support and their member’s full support. All the teacher’s demands are very genuine and are long pending demands. They could have chosen the examination time as a pressure tactics. But it boomeranged due to the adamancy of the government to call them towards the negotiation desk. The parents and students opposition to their protests happened because of their failure to convince the students and parents about the genuineness of the demands. Yes, as one teacher points out it is not going to be easy for the teachers to tell their students to fight for justice with courage and confidence. But even now they can tell them about trade union instruments and honestly explain why they have failed. 

Quality of engineering education in india

What facts the Anna university vice chancellor has revealed in his interview to The Hindu (27.1.19) is not shocking to the news readers and observers of professional education quality in India particularly, the engineering education. He has shared his experience  about the Ariyalore college students pathetic condition .How do we expect students staying in such environment  to  show  brilliant academic performance ?There are many more c such  private engineering colleges in India which produce only herds that usually go no where .   Various expert committees and employers have been giving comments about the worst quality of our engineering graduates . Yet no serious measures have been taken till today .  Students are wasting  their precious 4 years and when come out they  are shocked to find out about their  unemployability . Parent’s ignorance about the dangers facing their children after spending so much of money and years is helping  the various mafia groups to indulge in profiteering activities  in the higher education sector. Various expert committees and scholars have time again are giving enough warnings to the engineering colleges managing bodies and to the government regarding  this explosive situation. Yet , the government   is not paying priority attention to the wastage of  young human resource.

unemployment scenario in india

All the facts and figures presented in the article, “By  the shape of the job crisis “,  by Santhosh Mehrotra ( 13. 2. 19) In ThE Hindu  very clearly conveys  that,  very soon our demographic dividend which happens rarely in the history of a nation  may turn into a curse if timely measures are not taken to prevent it’s wastage.  We have observed that,  China  has reaped the benefit of demographic  dividend through integrating industrial strategy with education and skill development policy as the author  has stated .  But, we have not only failed to do so which is the correct strategy to follow , but has committed certain other blunders.  Our investment  in human capital formation is highly inadequate compared to several other emerging economies .  Moreover, we have failed to draw the skilled women workers into the job market through the needed incentives  and  we have missed the  great chance to mobilise the huge  potential savings of the young  skilled workers whose working life span is longer by keeping them unemployed for a longer time.  Demographic dividend may soon turn into a liability   for India  if, the young and productive human resource  is   kept unused and under utilised for a long time . This situation will create drastic social , economic and political consequences   if, corrective measures are not taken  immediately.

violence in kashmir

40 CRPF brave hearts from different states of India have become martyrs  due to the mindless and barbarous acts of terrorists of Jammu and Kashmir . Not only the whole of India is shocked and saddened for the loss of  men to so many families but also to our military force. Now, Pakistan is facing the global condemnation . What next is going to happen between India and Pakistan , the world will be watching and hope in this hour of crisis all of us stand united and rise above petty political gains . It is indeed heartening to watch the solidarity among the political leaders in condemning the terrorists extreme acts of violence.

priority sectors

For all the governments which had been ruling India  so far and for  the  present government,  education , health and  poverty removal  which are the essential components   of human capital formation  had never been  sectors needing  priority  attention and funds . We pride ourselves as the nation in the top list in the import of defense equipments but, we are not ashamed of having considerable percentage of the population still living without basic requirements to live their life with dignity and in a position welcome freebees. We are proud about higher percentage of the youth population, but. We are not bothered about their education level, skill training and job requirements and health status. The parliament had discussion on Rafael deal.  But the Defense Minister of India in her very lengthy and aggressive speech has not answered the three fundamental questions the principal opposition party has been raising and nor has she answered the doubts in the minds of the people which are raised in this article.

uncertainties in the election year

The Indian economy is currently facing few political and economic uncertainties due to fast approaching national election.  If these uncertainties are not settled or tackled as early as possible as soon as the new government takes charge of the governance of India, there is a possibility of certain macro factors hurting the economy deeply. They include, jobless growth, agrarian crisis, banking sectors critical problems, the unprepared demonetisation measure’s adverse effects on the economy, particularly the small scale sector, hasty introduction of GST with an imperfect structure with lot of procedural  complications maddening the small businesses , higher retail inflation due to  ever increasing crude oil prices , poor performance of the export sector and  depreciation  of the Rupee , widening current account deficit  Etc., Particularly ,the new government has to take great efforts to  protect the economy from the adverse effects of global recession and take greater care  for fiscal consolidation.