Whether or not students should take part in politics is a very debatable issue and what can be said for or against it. We do see students take part in politically organised slogan shouting processions, demonstrations, strikes and so on. One feels sorry for them, for what they appear to be misguided sometimes. In fact, it’s a wondering question whether they are even aware of what they are shouting against and the dirty politics involved behind the scenes.

Primary duty of a student whether in school and college is to study hard and acquire as much as knowledge possible, for this period of can never return again. On secondary thoughts as well, it’s about having as much as fun with friends,exposure, participate in co-curricular, bit of knowledge on how life works and the rest the life will teach them. This time of a student is the time he can imbibe the maximum, get to know is aptitude and give positive direction to his life.

Getting into politics may or may not be a positive aspect or something that a student wants in his life, but how good would it even turn out, if he has no knowledge about it and just got stuck with it? It is not just about academics, but everything else that might stand in the way of his career prospects later on. Becoming a politician without having to know what politics is, how dirty it can be, is surely not a good career prospect.

However this does not mean that the student should totally stay away from politics. He can take part in what one could term as ‘passive’ politics. This means that he considers this period of life as a time to prepare themselves for the ‘active’ politics later on in his life. This way he will get to know better how politics is played, and he wouldn’t be playing with their life instead.

If a student is politically ambitious and wishes to be a leader in his country for the betterment and changes that are required, the first step towards this is to concentrate on acquiring good knowledge, general education, and developing his intellect. Only then can he aspire to reach the Heights of wanting to be a good leader and not just remain a slogan shouting follower amongst others.

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Due to the pandemic, the challenges for the poverty-stricken folks have raised to an unusual level and not affecting much to the bourgeoisie class in terms of social and economic factors. The working class of our society is under tremendous pressure be it a social pressure or an economic crisis. Their substandard living is one basic reason for their migration. The nation wide lockdown has made them helpless, compelling them to migrate to their hometowns.

The Madras High Court has also questioned the Tamil Nadu government as well as the Central government about the safety and security of the migrants. Whereas on the other side, these workers are showing their rage by coming out on the streets, pelting stones and demanding for their safety.

Various steps are taken by the government authorities to help the innocents like the 20 lakh crore package, various food packages, Pravasi Rahat Mitra App to trace the movement of the migrants in UP. People from outside the territory as well as within are brought back through various missions like that of mission “Samudra Setu” and the mission “Vande Bharat”. But still the feeling of dismay and sorrow couldn’t abandon the faces of the migrant labourers.
Now, let’s pay attention towards the factors acting as barriers between government and the migrants.

1) Demographic factors : As compared to other countries India is potentially rich in terms of it’s population having 130 crores individuals. Reaching to the masses could be viewed as a great problem.

2) Political scenario : Being in a democracy it is a legal right of any individual or political party to criticize the government in working to enhance their efforts but looking at the contemporary hardships that are confronted by the migrants, the right to humanity should be prioritise. Rather than being involved in the blame game, one must consider this disheartening phase as a human tragedy and should keep their political structures aside. More importance is needed to be laid on the well-being of these workers.

3) Lack of awareness : Lack of education is a major problem with our people. This in turn leads to lack of awareness about the happenings of the society. This prevents the weaker sections to gain the benefits provided by the governments.

This phase requires the humanitarian aid rather then waiting for the measures being adopted by the government. It is more about survival rather than intensifying economy and political stabilization.

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We as human beings are always confused about the real meaning of politics, we misinterpret it in many ways, sometimes , and not sometimes but most of the times we imagine that politics is not related to us in any way. This is one of the main reason why we are so much ignorant towards our government, its policies, its action and towards any program that is launched by it. Laughing in front of TV channel, criticizing the government, abusing our leaders, is a common notion and people do it but have we ever given it a serious thought, have we ever tried going deep inside it, have we ever researched that if some program is launched by  the government then they must have done it under some circumstances and have we ever given it a serious thought. Our ignorance towards the society and the way of governance, have given the imperialist and fascist forces power to exploit the very essence of living.  They have attacked on every possible aspect of life, ruining it in every possible way.

It’s not that we all are silent about whatever is happening, majority of us are, but still some people come out in front, raise their voice against the juggernaut of the powers, try struggling, but after some days it generally dies out. The process of dying out is very common as seen in the Indian context. Any burning issue will be picked up by the media, on the very first day every media house will cover it, there will be debates and discussions over it, but after some days they even stop talking about it, like it has been solved or there is no further need to  lay stress over it. There is a silence all around regarding that issue, and only dust keeps on settling over it.

This very concept of ignorance, we have seen this from the very beginning of our life and this thing that devastates our mind to such a great extent that it becomes a very common habit for all of us. Students even after coming to  universities don’t realize the importance of education policy that is made at central level, such is the extent of ignorance. Even if we keep the idea of education policy aside, because this might appear a very whopping issue, they don’t even take part in the elections at college level. They think that the so formed students union, they won’t require the help of them and that’s why they don’t even come to vote. The voting day for them has become an holiday where they prefer watching a movie over voting. The so called dumb-intellectual class that we are building, and this thing can be a result of western influence, has took control over our brains and spoiled it. This thing has become a new trend and this class has become the so called ‘cool’ class. Everyone wants to be a part of this but no one wants to really address the issues. We think that it is an out of box thing for us and so it will not impact our lives. But the reputation of any college or university depends on how active the students union is, its students are and how much concerned they are about the future of this country. It feels like that the very feeling of patriotism has died out in us and it has become a very common notion.

There are very few universities left which are funded and run by the government. The level of education in these universities is already degrading day by day and the government is taking every possible step to privatize education as much as possible. We being the youth of country, the future of country, the so-called leaders, must learn how to raise our voice and how to make it more effective. We can’t be so much egomaniac that we don’t even give a thought about the future generations. There are a lot of issues that needed to be addressed at an immediate level, otherwise they will ruin the future. With increased extent of private education, the student politics have already died out, because private universities never allow such type of thing to exist, in their dictionary no such word ‘politics’ exist. Their main aim is to make a student so much  indulge in course books that he can’t even think about other aspects. And when any political organization of a government college tries raising their voice against the system, the people sitting in the parliament have a policy of crushing them, just like the recent incidents in JNU, HCU etc. Why will they want anybody to disrupt their comfort. There is an urgent need for all the students to mobilize themselves and raise their voice, since the future of any country depends on  how much active their youth is. Otherwise its consequences will be so severe, that even survival will become difficult and at that time we will have no one to blame. The ‘ignorance’ that we are living in has severe consequences and a time will come when this system, like a termite, will eat up our future. so to be more aware is the need of time and only a students revolution can shake this system. Stand up, face the danger, fight for your rights, because we have got this land after a great amount of bloodshed of our freedom fighters. They wanted that each citizen should get access to basic facilities and he/she can  breathe freely but now the time has come when we need to stand against our own people, because they are the only danger. Remember that our every action, from the very moment we woke up, to the moment we sleep is politicized, nothing happens without politics, and our negligence towards this factor will only spoil our lives.

Rishabh Jain

Content Writer

DU Times

The post Ignorant towards politics? You shouldn’t be! appeared first on DU Times.

Read on to find out their reactions!

“It’s quite an amateur idea. All of my cars have even numbers and three members are working in my house. It can be a big problem for some people. Plus taxi drivers are charging double the amount now! But the silver lining is that this rule is not applicable on CNG cars and women drivers. So I am okay okay with the Odd and Even formula.”

Megha Dhiman
B.A. English Honours, 3^rd year
Kamala Nehru College

“Good on the part of the government for taking a stand against such a problem, but for it to be efficient it will definitely take time. I have no issue with such a rule because it’s for a limited period of time during the day. Moreover, on Sundays and in case of any emergencies there are no restrictions. Even if another rule is added to curb the pollution and deal with health issues, it won’t be bad. It’s time to see the work of our politicians.”

Kritika Gupta
B.A. English Honours, 3^rd year
Kamala Nehru College

“I personally feel that this step is a good thing happening to Delhi. The government and public must work together in order to curb the pollution and pure the toxic air we are breathing! DMRC and buses are handling the rush well. Though pollution levels at peripheral roads are not going down, in few areas the effect is visible. I hope it’ll eventually work out and leave a successful trail.”

Siddhant Sharma
B.Sc. Chemistry Honours , 3^rd year
Shyam Lal College (Morning)

“This formula is definitely going to fail because we Delhites just don’t want to change! Lung problems aur asthma se mar jayenge par thoda sa bhi change nahi karenge khud ko. Yes, this idea seems silly but what other options do we have? There are so many things we can do to make this rule work such as carpooling and certain companies can also participate by providing transportation facilities. A class 8^th student, Akshat Mittal has created a website which will help people to connect with others commuting through the same route by finding out the best possible option available for carpooling. It’s high time we do something for our city and our life. Because I don’t want to die!”

Ankita Bagri
B.A. English Honours, 3^rd year
Kamala Nehru College

“The odd- even formula is a new initiation to reduce pollution and bring positivity in the environment. However, no one can guarantee the success of this trial but if people really need a clean state they will have to cooperate with the government and will have to go through any problems they might face. At the end it is we ourselves who will have to fight for our own cause.”

Sakshi Khandelwal
B.Com. Honours, 3^rd year
Maitreyi College

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