Day: December 15, 2021

Scourge of Illiteracy in India

By – Supriya

With India on the verge of being the most populous country, the only gizmo that can decide the country ‘s fate now is education. Education alone possesses the power to convert the population of 1.21 billion Indians from liability to assets. Today, human asset is the most valuable and prized resource. The dire need is to provide the requisite skills to transform it’s masses into massive working force. The first step towards the arduous but rewarding journey is literacy – the ability to read and write with understanding . While the country boasts of its IT revolution the world over and churns out world – class software professionals and engineers , it is disgraceful that 1/4 th of the country is still illiterate. Today, India’s literacy level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84% . In comparison to other nations , India ‘ s education program is lagging far behind other nations and currently India has the largest illiterate population of any nation on the earth. According to 2011 census, literacy rate of India is 74.04% . Moreover, a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate can be observed as literacy rate for men was 82.14% , in comparison to 65.46% for women. The low female literacy rate in turn directly affects family planning and population stabilization efforts.
Although over the years, the country’s literacy rate has improved manifold , yet with the level far below the world average literacy, much is left desired. India ‘ s ten states and union Territories , including Kerela , Lakshadweep , Mizoram , Tripura ,Goa, Daman and Diu, Puducherry , Chandigarh , National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands , have attained literacy rate of above 85% , but states like Bihar, Jharkhand , Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh faint in comparison. While Kerela has the highest literacy rate at 93.91% followed by Lakshadweep at 92.28%, Bihar is at the lowest rung of the ladder with literacy rate of 63.82% followed by Arunachal Pradesh at 66.95% . It is an anomaly that Bihar , which gives large number of Civil Servants to the country, houses a vast population that cannot even read and write! Illiterate parents and parental attitudes , rampant corruption in Bihar ‘ s political and governmental setup to sustain reign by keeping the public illiterate and unaware , poor infrastructure , poor educational initiatives and rising population forms a vicious circle of non – progress and illiteracy. Presently, India faces many hiccups that are an impediment to our desired literacy rate. Those living in rural areas are the biggest victims as rural schools operate in extremely poor conditions . While the lack of teachers creates many obstacles for children in rural schools , another setback is the lack of resources which becomes detrimental to the learning process. Lack of books and other reading materials ; lack of proper infrastructure , basic amenities like toilets and electricity are other major problems. Besides , the availability of high – tech devices such as computers is extremely rare.
In this regard, the government has taken a number of initiatives to provide free education programs to poor people living in villages and towns through setting up new schools and colleges. Several Committees have been formed to ensure optimal utilisation of funds to improve literacy rate. 21000 Crore has been allocated in the 2011 budget for Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan to accelerate the literacy drive in India . Through judicious use of allocated amount , the fortifying scale and the requisite quality of primary education can be achieved. Literacy in India is a key to socio – economic development as it initiatives awareness in people to work towards a better living. It is thus a starting point for modernization , urbanization , industrialization growth and commerce and advanced communication . To build a nation with strong social , economic and political foundation , Literacy is indispensable.

THANKYOU !

The Perfect Body

All day all night we hear people talk how important it is to have a healthy body and heart. How companies market their products on the prospect of delivering a healthy and fit body, mind and heart. But all these advertisement, marketing etc, are they really about the healthy body? Or are they only about the perfect body? The body which is popularly accepted and appreciated view of a healthy body is taken as the perfect body. Ever since the beginning of the human life, individuals have been involved in various physical activities not just to feed them self but also to stay healthy and fit and in this light the GYM culture was born. But as time progressed and humans got an understanding of beauty and gorgeous body they started with the obsession of having and making other people know about their perfect body. This obsession could be more dangerous than any other addiction.

Bollywood Influence=

As beings grow up and realise that the bollywood culture is all about the body that could serve as the apt body for a dancer, a model, an actor, they start struggling for this body. The bollywood influences not only the perspective a person has about overall aspect of perfect body but also they serve as the base for the self complex that people face after they find out that getting the perfect body isn’t a true reality but sometimes rather a myth. The actors toil hard in getting their shape right for all the right reasons of portraying their best selves but as they devote their entire time for it, it might look effortless to achieve. But when individuals fail in getting near to that perfect body they start hating themselves and end up with their worst self, not physically but mentally.

Societal Pressures=

However blaming bollywood for every other thing isn’t the goal. But rather is to highlight the fact that bollywood gets its movies from the society around and hence, it is actually the society that manifests a type of body as the perfect body. We see older men and women commenting mercilessly on the younger generations’ body and eating habits. Though correcting them for their wrongs might be okay sometimes but completely rejecting their bodies for they do not serve rightly on their perception of perfect body is erroneous. They body shame not the ones who are overweight or underweight but even the one who discard their standard of beauty and perfectness. The uncles and aunties in the mask of wanting the welfare of the children of their ‘family’ stoop low to another level.

Self love=

Today with people coming out with their stories of distress and anxiety because of the kind of body they have, many organisations and individuals have been promoting the values of body positivity and self love. Body positivity is about accepting who you are and loving thee body as god made it. Though exercising might help in increasing stamina and keeping you happy and healthy but body positivity is about exercising with the love for the body and not the hate, it is about working out for own happiness and not because our body is flawed. Self love is actually the key to the perfect body- a body that is healthy, free of diseases, with a happy heart and liberated mind.