Plugging loopholes of an argument

The Op-Ed page of ‘The Hindu’ carried out an article of the IT minister, Kapil Sibal, which intended in giving a reply to the recent remark of Narendra Modi on the inadequate spending of UPA government in the education sector. In this, the minister defends UPA with the comparison of public expenditures on education during NDA and his government.

Recently, in a gathering at a Pune University, Narendra Modi passed a remark on the UPA government’s expenditure of mere 4% of GDP compared to China’s 20% of GDP on this sector. The conjecture of data from Government World Reports (2013) proclaims the Chinese government expenditure was $1.25 trillion in the previous five years. This clears the air; china has spent only 4% of GDP on education. This extrapolation of data forms a basis of the minister’s argument.

He accuses the NDA government’s expenditure of 2.4% of GDP whereas the UPA government spent staggering 4.2% of country’s GDP. Apparently, the figures show a hike in spending during the UPA regime. But to be noted is the country recorded its unprecedented GDP growth of 8.5% in the last decade only. The onset of real economic boom brought by IT was set after 2004 in the country, which means under the UPA government.

Ironically, the public expenditure on education reveals a different set of data. The government recorded its highest spending in the year 1999 with 12.72% and its least in the year 2009 with 9.98% of total government expenditure, according to official figures.

Thus, these figures support no successive government had valued the importance of education. Apart from RTE, the UPA government hasn’t roll out its sleeves in the sector. What believed to be a game changer, mid-day meals, is fraught with corruption and inefficiency driving students away from the school. Besides, the country concentrated very little on the pre-primary schools where the drop out ratio from schools scales higher as no legislation take cares of it.

The education sector is disfigured beyond recognition and being hopeless to millions of young minds. The persistent neglect of government, uncontrolled power exercise of private parties not bode well with the future of the country.

Apparently, the minister started his article with a quote, "Great leaders, it is said, are dealers in hope". This saying makes us to admit that our country, unfortunately, never stumbled across a great leader, so far.

Premonition of Alfred Hitchcock

Way back in 1955, the ‘Alfred Hitchcock presents’ sitcom aired an episode on the increase in violence and deaths in the city directly connected to the increase in earth temperature. The people’s mind in the hot climate is temperamental waiting for stoke to hound other person. This formed the crux of the episode which aired under the title ‘Shopping for death’ in the FX crime channel.

In some sort of a weird coincidence, recently, a study found the rise in temperature level of earth can trigger sporadic violence and conflicts among people. This could be significantly visible in the tropical country due to its climatic conditions. The other startling revelations are the rise of 2 degree Celsius of earth temperature by 2050, the increase in ethnic violence and clashes among people.

The study appears to be a rehash of the episode, or else, may be this study is being churned for time and again to remind the adversity on its way of people’s life.  It’s visible the temperature and climatic conditions of our place, region and the country showing variable changes.

Likewise, we could see the unhappiness growing among people globally and ostensibly visible in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and the African countries as they are in the middle of the ensuing civil wars. When the women of Turkey instructed to refrain from modern clothes irked the Muslim country which resulted in an uproar. The Syrians fight against decade-long dictatorship after following suit of Egyptians.

The people of Alaska regret following American lifestyle after the inhabited place looks no longer habitual for sustenance. The increased sea level submerged the land in the island and believed to disappear from the face of earth in another few years.

Back at home, the growing division among the states, people on the lines of castes, religion and money are starkly visible. The long rule of mismanagement of government gets highlighted in recent years, with the people demanding out rightly for the safety and security of fellow citizens.

The masses wield arms to stall the commissioning of nuclear power plant, to vent out anger on a community after an inter-caste marriage of adults, fighting for statehood, demanding the repeal of draconian laws and institution- sedition and AFSPA. The ever growing unsatisfied heaps spew fury and venom on the society by harming innocents.

Apart from this, another study claims the draining of resources forms a bone of contention for the future conflicts. When things look chaotic and unsatisfied, there are few people who work to combat the crisis in the future.

The researchers around the globe engaged in finding an alternative to the mainstream. A crew involved in developing a water-free public toilet for future as the source of water depleting at a faster rate compared with its repletion. Germans replaced their Volkswagen with electric cycles and are ready to close down nuclear power plants by 2025. Along with them there are large numbers of environmentalists around globe who are striving to bring back the earth from the verge of being inhabitable place.

All these events don’t boil down to the usual question on preponderance of good over evil, but how we are going to save ourselves before resorting to the last hope, abdication of earth.