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Education News

term in office — introduced a gender and child focused THEY SAID IT
budget to uplift women and promote holistic develop-
ment of children with a sizeable allocation of Rs.96,271 “It's a democratic right of the farmers
crore. The budget also allocates Rs.900 crore to class XI to protest and come and be heard in the
students to purchase tablets or smartphones under the
Taruner Swapno (youth’s dream) scheme introduced in national capital. I don't think the border
2022. with China is fortified the way this city is
Since 2013 — two years after the Mamata Banerjee-led fortified. The government should have learnt
Trinamool Congress (TMC) routed the Left Front govern- a lesson from the previous farmers' agitation
ment in the assembly elections of 2011 — the chief min- — consult the stakeholders. Last time it took
ister has been making commendable efforts to improve a year-long agitation before the government
girl-child education in West Bengal’s 92,000 government surrendered and withdrew.”
schools. She has an- Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP, on protesting farmers
nounced an array of being stopped from enetring the national capital
schemes including (Mint, February 14)
the popular Kanya
Shree and Sabuj Sathi “In the next 25 years, India will be unstop-
programmes.
Launched in 2013, pable. From education to economy, all the
Kanya Shree offers positivity will emerge from India...while cre-
an annual Rs.500 ating wealth, we should focus on responsible
scholarship for girls business and public welfare as well.”
to continue educa- Dharmendra Pradhan, education minister, speaking at
tion; one-time grant the 68th Foundation Day of the All India Management
of Rs.25,000 for girl Association (Deccan Herald, February 21)
children from BPL Sabuj Sathi beneficiaries
(below poverty line) homes who clear the class X board “For decades Indian politics has unravelled
exam; Rs.30,000 after clearing the class XII board exam, the country’s moral fabric. Politicians and
and scholarships for girls pursuing post-graduate studies officials, advancing their own interests
in science and non-science streams. Under the Sabuj Sathi rather than the public good, have become
scheme, launched in 2015, 2.5 million bicycles have been the antithesis of les grands commis de l’État
distributed to girl students in classes IX-XII. However — dedicated public servants esteemed in
despite these incentives, the literacy rate of women in the
state is 59.73 percent cf. 79.89 percent for men. French civic culture. An alarming number
n this context, it is also pertinent to note the one-time of Indian legislators have criminal links.
IRs.30,000 grant awarded to girls clearing the class XII The embedding of Hindutva—the century-
board exam is largely used to pay for marriage expenses. old ideology of Hindu-centric Indian
According to the Sample Registration System (SRS)- nationalism—in political life under Mr Modi’s
Statistical Report 2020, Bengal’s percentage of women ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has promoted
marrying below 18 years is 4.7 percent and between 18-20 intolerance and violence.”
years of age 50.2 percent, against the national average of Ashoka Mody, visiting professor, public and
1.9 percent and 26.7 percent respectively. international affairs, Princeton University, in an essay
Moreover, according to the latest available Periodic La- 'Why India is stunted by a lack of moral leadership'
bour Force Survey (2018-19), women’s unemployment in (The Economist, February 28)
Bengal has risen from 2.5 percent in 2011 to 4.4 percent
in 2019. Yet despite incentives for girl children, against “In the Ambani case, there is the spectacle
61 percent of males, only 15 percent of females are in the of the world showing up: From the Emir of
labour force. Moreover against the national trend of a Qatar to Rihanna. This is, in a vicarious way,
larger proportion of women employed in education, in the world paying obeisance to India. So what
West Bengal, women constitute only 14 percent of teach-
ers. All this has raised questions about the efficacy of girls if India is not rich. At least it has the world’s
education incentives doled out by the TMC government. richest.”
Critics of West Bengal’s feisty woman chief minister Pratap Bhanu Mehta, public intellectual, on the grand
highlight that with Banerjee paying excessive attention pre-wedding festivities staged by the Ambani family
to the advancement and emancipation of girl children, for their son in Jamnagar (Indian Express, March 5)

28 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2024