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schools. “Many, who have been preparing for TET since THEY SAID IT IN NOVEMBER
2014 but could not write it as the exam hasn’t been con-
ducted, have lost precious years and may have crossed “I may be the first woman in this office but
the age bar. This has dashed the dreams of tens of thou- won’t be the last… Every little girl watching
sands of aspiring teachers in a state where employability tonight sees that this is a country of pos-
options are few. Besides, it is already the election season sibilities. And to the children of our country,
and nothing will move until a new government is sworn
in next year,” says Masant. regardless of your gender, our country has
he issue of filling teaching vacancies in public edu- sent you a clear message: Dream with ambi-
Tcation which promises half decent pay is an emotive tion, lead with conviction and see yourself in
one in West Bengal where unemployment is pervasive a way that others might not see you, simply
and small and medium-scale industry salaries are rock- because they’ve never seen it before, and we
bottom. During 34 years of uninterrupted rule of the will applaud you every step of the way.”
CPM (Communist Kamala Harris, vice-president elect of the US
Party of India- (November 8)
Marxist)-led Left
Front govern- “In school education we will have a focused
ment (1977-2011), intervention in early childhood education. The
labour militancy silos we have built – arts, commerce and sci-
and violence was ence – will slowly wither away.”
officially encour-
aged and there Amit Khare, secretary, Union education secretary, on
the National Education Policy 2020 (India Today,
was a continuous November 23)
flight of capital
and industry “Close the bars and keep the schools open.
from the state. Obviously, you don’t have one size fits all.
As a result, overt
and disguised But as I said in the past, the default position
unemployment is should be to try as best as possible within
rife and govern- reason to keep the children in school, or to get
ment — including Mamata Banerjee: middle class ire them back to school.”
teachers — jobs Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of
are highly prized. However, high hopes of an industrial Allergy and Infectious Diseases, USA, on why schools
revival after the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC routed the should reopen (ABC TV, November 29)
Left Front government in the assembly election of 2011
and again in 2016, have been belied. TMC party cadres “There should be a national debate on the
have continued the state’s tradition of agitational poli- kind of an agriculture we want 20-30 years
tics which depressed business and investment confi- from now. Do we want a corporate-driven
dence necessary for generating employment. agriculture or a community-owned agricul-
Currently, with minimal private investment flow- ture which is the basis of Indian existence?
ing into the state and teachers’ recruitment process Do you want a chemical-driven agriculture,
stalled by corruption charges, the number of registered an agriculture which is indifferent to climate
educated unemployed has risen to 7.6 million. Con- change or do you want an agriculture based
sequently, TMC is confronted with the ire of Bengal’s
educated middle class with whom Mamata Banerjee has on agro-ecological principle and practice?
been mending fences in recent years by placing educa- They have to get the victims of the agrarian
tion high on her reforms agenda. crisis to stand in the central hall of Parliament
Inevitably, these agitations have also provided BJP, for three days and explain to the nation what
which is going all out to oust Banerjee from power in the agrarian crisis actually means and what it
next year’s assembly election, the opportunity to fish has done to them.”
in troubled waters. Continuous public protests are also P. Sainath, founder-editor of the People’s Archive
hurting Banerjee’s projected image as a decisive, can-do of Rural India, on the farmers protests against the
leader at a time when she has a high third-term anti- agriculture laws passed recently by Parliament (Indian
incumbency mountain to climb. Express, November 30)
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

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