14/04/2013
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Ready for the CHANGE!
“Be the change you want to see”, if everyone started following this simple line, most of the problems would be solved. While I have always said this, I’ve never seen this happening around me. Blaming the government is something we consider our birthright.
‘India is a store house of problems’- I’ve lost count of how often I’ve heard these words. No solutions though, just bare criticism, as to how poor we are, how corrupt our system is & how many years will it take for us to be able to compete with the rest of the world. But ironically, none of these is incorrect. So I also started blaming the government for not only not being able to solve problems, but becoming a hindrance in the way of others who wanted to.
Just when I was having one such discussion with a friend, he told me about some initiatives his state government has taken up. Before I tell you, I’ll say that this is in no way any kind of promotion or a news making stunt. But just something I really liked and would love it if others follow it too.
‘Good governance is bad politics’- this used to be the only known principle of Indian politics, over a decade ago. But the present Gujarat govt. has proved it wrong, by implementing several ‘Pro People, Good Governance (P2G2)’ schemes, which have reached up to the grass root level and have affected the state growth tremendously. One such leading P2G2 scheme in the field of education is ‘Shaala Praveshotsav’- Festival of enrolment in schools.
Now about a decade ago, the literacy rate of Gujarat was very low, & hence, it was inevitable to handle this issue as urgently as possible. That’s when the State Govt. came up with the revolutionary idea of Shaala Praveshotsav. Every year, in the month of May-June, in the scorching heat (its Gujarat we’re talking about), each and every govt. officer, including the Chief Minister himself, goes to the remotest & far-off villages, where the literacy rate is alarmingly low. They go to each village, hold a meeting with the village people and make them understand the value of education in life, so that they’d send their children to schools.
Apart from studies, these kids are given full-time meals at schools. After every few months, regular medical check-ups are being done for them. Those found suffering from some disease are cured at the govt.’s expenses. Now, if you start a scheme, as grand as this, there would be challenges. One of the major challenges to this was that the schools had to be categorized into several grades and repair works and renovation had to be done accordingly. For this, the govt. started something called ‘Gunotsav’, where all the schools were divided into A,B,C and D grade schools and planning was done on how improve the grades. Within one year of implementation of the Gunotsav, there was a remarkable 15% increase in the number of grade A govt. primary schools- another success story advocating good governance.
That’s not it; in other fields too they have been efficient the same way. I was told that there was a provision of abandoning the cows when they got old and were unable to give milk. This way there was no one to take care of them. So a few state governments now pay the owners of those cows to feed them and buy the cow dung. That cow dung is then used to produce bio-electricity.
If such things are known to the masses and applied on every level and in every state, the day is not far when we’ll see India shining. I am happy that some people are doing it. No matter how many counter arguments one might have against the policy, but I believe if you can’t do something good, at least appreciate the person doing it.
A BIG thanks to my co-author Devansh for being a major help in the post. It’s basically his post. To know more about him, follow his posts here: The Argumentative Indian
You can read this and more such posts here: www.youthdiaries.in
Link to the post : http://youthdiaries.in/ready-for-the-change/
Shubham (http://abuginmymind.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/the-change/)
