The Fight To Be Called ‘Backward’!

There are so many things that can happen only in India and the fight for being called ‘backward’ is one of them! There would be no other country in the world where people fight to be called ‘backward’. Thanks to a few castes in India, that have risen all of a sudden, out of nowhere, to claim reservations in the sector of education and government jobs.

In August last year, we saw Gujarat burning over the issue of reservation. The Patidar samaj in Gujarat had been fighting to given reservations in government jobs and the education sector. The entire movement was lead by Hardik Patel, a 21-year-old Patidar. The movement that shook the whole of Gujarat and the nation as well had many adverse effects on the common man’s life. Situations became worse when curfews were enforced at many places and schools, colleges and shops remained closed in order to avoid further destruction.

After the Patidar fight came to a standstill, history seems to have repeated itself. Now, it’s the Jats claiming reservation for their cast under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) or Special Backward Classes (SBC) category. The movement, yet again, seems to be getting serious and violent just like the Gujarat movement. Where on one side the country is fuming over the Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU case, the Jat movement is helping attack India from the other side.

Our Prime Minister, Mr. Modiji, recently inaugurated the ‘Make In India’ campaign and a ‘Make In India’ week was celebrated in Maharashtra to encourage the growth and development of the country with more industries and Foreign Direct Investment pouring in. However, as they say, not everyone can see good happening, even when it is happening with their own Motherland. So, here are the great JNU students, who live and study in India, earn and support their families in this country, yet want the country to be destroyed. It is a shame that the students had organized a function to remember terrorist Afzal Guru who was hanged in 2012 for his role in the Parliament attack.

And, as if that was not enough, the Jats have now risen from nowhere to claim they are a part of the OBC category and deserve reservation. Like I said at the beginning of this post, some things happen only in India!

While the world if struggling to develop and become more forward and superior over others, some Indians are busy claiming that they are ’backward’ and fighting to be called so. While some Indians on the borders are fighting to protect us from our enemies, there are these Indians who are attacking our forces even from the within. While some Indians, irrespective of their castes and religions, are working together in ISRO and DRDO to take India to greater heights and make it a superior and self-sufficient nuclear power, there are some Indians who make use of the same nuclear power to destroy the country, burn it and kill innocents.

It is such shame that people, even in the 21st century, still believe in institutions such as caste and religion and demand reservations. And, by the way, both the Patidars and Jats, who have come up with the issue of reservation lately, are highly respected and influential castes in their respective states. Of course, they hold significant positions in politics and, unnecessary to say, have quite a good amount of income! At least, enough to support their families, feed them and educate them! Then, why the reservation fuss?

In my personal opinion, the reservation system should be completely eradicated from India and admissions in colleges and government jobs must be based purely on merit. If not, the reservation system must be changed and modified altogether, only to give reservations to people who are financially backward and cannot afford education. Caste should not be a barrier to this and no caste should be given reservation at all. Because most of the people and castes that fall under the reserved categories, do not need any reservation at all in the first place!

‘Make In India’- Everything That’s Good And Bad About It!

After having been remained in news for long, I think no Indian now needs an introduction to the epic ‘Make In India’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yet, for people who still don’t know what exactly is the movement about, it is an initiative by the Indian Government to erect more industries across India, encourage Foreign Direct Investment into it, create multiple job opportunities and, in turn, increase the GDP of the country.

Of course, it’s mere description sounds quite luring and impressing. In fact, this is a one-of-a-kind initiative ever taken by the Indian government to speed up growth and prosperity in the country.

But, the initiative has an equal number of advantages and disadvantages. I won’t complicate it too much and hence try to explain the entire thing as simply as I can.

The ‘Good’

1. First and foremost, the initiative will help in increasing India’s GDP.

2. Secondly, and importantly, it will help create employment. Like, a lot of employment!

3. It will fuel exports from the country and thus help increase foreign exchange reserves with India.

4. The more the industries and companies coming up, the more it will attract investors to invest in Indian businesses.

5. With foreign investment, a huge amount of expertise and foreign technical knowledge will pour into the country. This knowledge, in turn, can be used and applied in other businesses to expedite growth and professionalism.

6. Last but not the least, it will enhance the standard of living of people. Since the initiative will play a phenomenal role in creating employment all over the country, people will be capable of earning more, thus fuelling an improved overall standard of living.

The ‘Bad’

If all the above points have made you fall in love with the initiative already, wait a second! Every coin has two sides and this one has a ‘bad’ side to it too.

1. The first and the greatest danger that the ‘Make In India’ initiative is going to cause in India is discourage the existing small businesses. When huge companies and Foreign Direct Investment will be welcomed in India, the small businesses and local stores here will have some strong and tough competitors to deal with. This can discourage them and even lead to their shutdown.

2. Intense industrialization in itself is a big threat to the country. With industries, comes pollution and a large number of other environmental threats! We have China as the living example for this! Many cities in India are already facing dangerous levels of pollution. In fact, the government is now trying to find solutions to curb the levels of pollution across the countries. For instance, we all know the ‘Odd-Even rule’ introduced by Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi.

3. It can lead to serious overcrowding in the cities. As mentioned above, the initiative is supposed to create countless new employment opportunities for people. And, in order to seek these jobs, people will obviously migrate from rural areas to cities. This, in turn, can lead to overcrowding, lack of basic facilities, unhealthy living conditions and sub-standard living.

4. More industries equal more threats of accidents. We already know what loss the Bhopal Gas Tragedy has done to us!

All in all, the ‘Make In India’ initiative can do good as well as bad to the country. The government needs to plan as to how many new industries would be constructed under the initiative and also decide upon the favourable locations for them.

Also, according to me, the first and foremost focus on ‘Make In India’, ideally, should be agriculture. In the race to become more technically advanced and self-dependent than any other country in the world, we are neglecting farmers and agriculture in our own country. For real self-dependence, we need to cultivate food in our own country first rather than technical and industrial stuff. Else, one day, we will have everything in our country, except food to eat. And we would have to import that from the world!

We hope such a day never comes to our homeland!