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OPINiON/EDITORIAL
Nagaland Post Vol. XXxI NO. 210 Dimapur, TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021
Way out and in
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ncidents along the Assam-Nagaland border between Jorhat/Sivasagar districts in Assam and Mokokchung district in Nagaland are not infrequent, especially at areas adjoining Mariani and Amguri where certain sections of people there grab at any opportunity to add fuel to the situation instead of letting the due process of law take its course. Such incidents have been occurring with glaring regularity almost every year. The only time no incident occurred was in 2020 probably due to the pandemic. When much efforts were made to discuss issue across the table, the spell of incident-free record from 2020 till May 2021, was broker on June 29 this year. On that day, a hundred-strong company of uniformed personnel led by the Armed Police Battalion intruded inside Tzurangkong area (under Mokokchung district) for setting up of a border outpost at the vicinity of Vikuto village. What has surprised many observers was that the Assam Police has taken such a step in setting up an outpost within Nagaland and in doing so has blatantly violated the 1972 border agreement between the two states. The agreement was that both states will maintain a status quo along their borders and undertake no activity without the consent of the other. Of course Assam provoked and sparked the 1984 Merapani incident which Nagaland had to respond. People from both sides of the border have been involved in sparking incidents but this time it appears the Assam government has decided to adopt an aggressive policy. It may be recalled that in past incidents, public of Assam have been urging and pressurising their government to establish police checkposts deep within Nagaland. On July 23,2018 some labourers from Assam were prevented from clearing jungles within Nagaland and this led to bandh imposed at Amguri on Nagalandbound vehicles. Again the following year on January 24, 2019, huts hurriedly built for Assam Police, were dismantled by villagers from Nagaland since the latter claimed that the huts were erected within their land. What needs to be noted is that on May 23,2013 mobs at Mariani assaulted Naga passengers passing through and damaged their vehicles. The mobs did not spring up from nowhere nor were the incidents spontaneous. The mobs had been imposing their economic blockade on Nagaland for days on end. Eventually a district-level meeting between the DCs of Jorhat and Mokokchung and also talks at the highest level led to suspension of the blockade.It needs to be noted that the recent incident was preceded by another incident where the MLA of Mariani, Rupjyoti Kurmi who had been elected since 2006 as Congress candidate, had gone to the border on May 27 this year with an armed escort. There was some firing which, on video that went viral on social media, seemed like warning shots allegedly aimed at Kurmi. Later, Kurmi defected and joined BJP under chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. It seemed like a coincidence but even at the Assam-Mizoram border, Assam Police has erected its outpost and caused heightened tension. The question is whether Assam, now under chief minister Himanta is taking its glove off? However, what is important for Nagaland is to have its own road network without being under perpetual fear or threat. This can only be achieved if the ongoing Foothill Road linking Dimapur with Wokha-Mokokchng and Mon districts. It is easier to blame Assam for these problems but it is crucial to re-examine what Nagaland itself has been doing?
DailyDevotion Don’t Plan Without God Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. —Psalm 37:5 Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him— that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning. In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are. Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love…thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint. Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command— “Let not….” To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.
Quotes
Courage is knowing what not to fear. ~ Plato
Nagaland Post, Dimapur TUESDAY, JULY 6, 2021
Post-mortem
Indian Education System Needs Remodelling W
hat is education? Answer to this question is multifaceted. Some say that it is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values and habits. Swami Vivekananda rightly said that, “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in the men.” Mahatma Gandhi said that, “Education is the basic tool for the development of the consciousness and the reconstitution of society”. However, recent moves by our policy and decision makers try to belie this belief, as these moves seems aimed at taking India back to the old ages. Education is a journey, which gives the art of living, not just the livelihood. It makes us learn how to nurture our life and be more creative. Education makes us understand our conflicts. Thus, education is not merely learning of facts but is to train our mind to think. Education systems must provide opportunities to each and every individual to learn through experience and should help to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. However, in India the education system has evolved in a completely different manner. Instead of focussing on critical thinking, expressing new ideas and debating and writing critically on any issue, our students are forced to learn through the rote route. This concept of educa-
Country’s education system needs to be remodelled as per the requirements and aspirations of today’s world, instead of taking it back to the old ages.
tion goes back to the British colonialists, who wanted an army of clerks with basic understanding of the language and mathematics, to support their administrative system. However, this concept got roots in India and instead of focussing on developing mental and critical thinking faculties of the students and promoting research, our education system tuned into one where you amass degrees by cramming. Educational advance in India Education and the right to education is one of the fundamental rights of our country’s citizens. It is compulsory for children aged between 6-14 to have an education. Over the many years, especially after independence, India has managed to increase its literacy rates to nearly 75% by 2021, and some states even boast of 100% literacy rate. Most important focus in the recent decades has been on enhancing infrastructure, incentivising enrolments in schools by providing benefits such as midday meals etc. The private sector with government support has played a significant role in the expansion of the Indian education system and improving its quality. But it can also be credited with corporatising the education system, thus making education accessible
to a privilege few. In the research domain, Indialags behind many countries. Our universities and colleges lack a multidisciplinary approach to stimulate enquiry-based research skills. Absence of a proper framework for developing industry linkages with academia to promote research, further limits the faculty and students to work in this area. We can perceive that most measures are more on paper with no tangible results evident. In 2004, the then UPA government had imposed an Educational Cess of 2% on every transaction in the country. In a three year period this cess generated 32,000 crore rupees. But how this amount was used, nobody knows and if one asks then vague answers are given. In fact if this amount hadbeen used prudently, we would have a well-equipped and wellstaffed middle-level school functioning in every village of the country. Similarly, for the last ten years, every taxpayer is bound to pay a 1.5% education cess on his total income tax. Where this money goes, nobody knows. Tinkering with school syllabus Last year, in a completely uncalled for move, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
revised its syllabus for students of Classes 9th to 12th in the name of handling the stressful situation of teachers and students in view of the continuing Covid19 pandemic, and in the name of rationalising the syllabus. Some of the important chapters that have been deleted include: Federalism, citizenship, nationalism and secularism from class 11th political science subject besides India’s foreign relations with neighbouring countries and citizenship, besides Social and New Social Movements chapter in India from class 12th political science paper. Demonetisation from class 12th Business Studies paper. Colonialism and the countryside colonial cities and understanding partition from class 12th History subject have been deleted. The irrational exclusions smacks of a political tone, aimed at keeping a large and young part of the population unaware of these issues. We should not forget that depriving the young generation of its right to increase its knowledge base is not only authoritarian but it might also boomerang. Most of the deleted topics form the foundation of democratic societies and students need to learn about these to enhance their knowledge base.
National Education Policy 2019 and 2020 The national educational policy came into force in the year 1968 to make education accessible to masses. It was aimed to strengthen national integration through a unified culture of learning. Since then constant measures have been taken to reform the Indian education system to provide better education services in the country, the latest being the National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 and 2020. However, if we analyse critically the NEP 2019 and 2020, the overall intent and decision maker’s mindset, in tandem with the moves taken last year, will be clearer. A critical study of the 484-page NEP 2019 reveals an issue deserving of wider, more heated debate. The words “secular” or “secularism” are not found anywhere in the NEP 2019. Though a clear reference to secular education was vital to be seen as the base for these ambitious reform proposals. The absence of the word “secular” in the NEP 2019 becomes all the more pronounced when seen in contrast to the earlier policies of mentioning secularism as a core Indian value for the Indian education. The omission of the words “secular” and “secularism” in the NEP 2019 is ominous,
along with the frequent affirmation of its aim of inculcating constitutional values in the education system, making it doubly odd. The NEP 2019 was launched last in its new avatar as NEP 2020, but many of the contentitious isssues still remain. In contemporary India, which has seen a sharp rise in caste and religious violence, the curriculum and teaching methods in Indian classrooms clearly have a key role to play in making caste and religious prejudices in society irrelevant and out of times. The challenge is to find fresh and creative ways of making young minds grasp these difficult contemporary social realities. You have to understand that you can’t hide history by giving it a new twist. Even in countries like the UK there are demands to teach the medieval history to the school students again. If you feel that by hiding the truth on your controversial decisions you’ll be able to befool people or hide your misjudgements then you are wrong, as the history will ultimately judge you, whether you like it or not. Asad Mirza (Asad Mirza is a political commentator based in New Delhi. He was also associated with BBC Urdu Service and Khaleej Times of Dubai. He writes on Muslims, educational, international affairs, interfaith and current affairs.)
Zoonotic diseases: A neglected Digital India - Redefining the way we work public and planetary health frontier
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s we reach the milestone of six years of Digital India, we find he Covid-19 pandemic has impacted eration, either in our planning or in action. human lives and resulted in socio- It ultimately took a global pandemic of the more and more people daily economic disruption of unimagi- current scale, coming with an enormous using some form of a digital nable scales. While several hypotheses, human cost, to spotlight the long-pending service, whether digital paycounterhypotheses, and even conspiracy discussion on zoonotic diseases and the ments or COWIN vaccinations. The pace of digital theories about the likely origin of Sars- drivers behind them. CoV-2 are currently in circulation, the one Though the natural genetic changes transformation, especially in indicating its zoonotic origin remains the that make these pathogens more infectious the post-pandemic year, has most plausible one. and lethal are outside our control, several been phenomenal. The number of regisSimply put, this hypothesis suggests field observations and scientific investigathe possibility that a virus that was already tions have established that the increased tered users on Digilocker circulating in a wild animal without causing incidences of zoonotic diseases in recent has gone up from 37 million disease, underwent certain random natural times are a direct consequence of the ongo- in April 2020 to 66 million today - an increase of almost genetic changes to gain the ability to infect ing abuse of nature. and damage human cells. Subsequently, Our irresponsible actions such as 78 per cent. The number of when a human being came in contact with large scale deforestation and encroach- registered users on UMANG a wild animal carrying this “novel” virus, ment of pristine natural ecosystems; reck- has gone up by 66 per cent the pathogen made the species jump. It less land-use changes either to enhance from 19.7 million in April thus started a human to human infection agriculture and livestock productions, or 2020 to 33 million. MyGov chain, which rapidly engulfed the entire to provide land for infrastructure and in- has seen an increase of alhumanity. dustrial developments; and unsustainable most 65 per cent in the numThough the actual identity of the spe- consumption, coupled with unregulated ber of registered users from cies of wild animal(s) involved in this event trade of wildlife and their derivatives, often 11.1 million to 18.3 million. is still under investigation, the catastrophic via a long and unhygienic supply chain, On Social media platforms, outcome of this phenomena is on display provide the enabling conditions for such MyGov has seen an increase across the globe. disease spillovers. These activities expose of 216 per cent on YouTube The prime reason that makes this humans and their livestock to distant wild subscribers, 162 per cent on hypothesis most plausible is that such inter- animals and the pathogens they carry, by Instagram followers, 125 per species spillovers of diseases from animal to shattering the intricate arrangements of cent on Facebook followers, human are not new. Rather, such diseases, niche-separation established through slow 138 per cent on LinkedIn broadly termed as zoonotic diseases, impact and delicate evolutionary manoeuvring by and 37 per cent on Twitter. humankind since the beginning of its as- nature, spread over several centuries. The Poshan Tracker, a project sociation with animals. pathogens exchanged during these interac- that was launched in March They are also the most numerous tions often end up causing deadly diseases 2021 to get data on nutrition ones. Out of all the human disease causing in their new and previously unexposed and health from around 1.4 million Aanganwadi pathogens identified so far, over 60% are of human hosts. animal origin. These include the causative From this, it is evident that since such centers is regularly getting agents for several well-known human and diseases are the outcomes of a complex updates from more than livestock diseases such as Tuberculosis, interaction between the ecosystem, animals, 9.5 crore beneficiaries. The Brucellosis, Anthrax, Leptospirosis, and and humans, a selective approach of dealing volume of digital payments Rabies. The scale and spread of these with only human health cannot succeed. has exceeded Rs 4 lakh crores diseases are so high that every year, at the Also, after closely witnessing the ongoing from around Rs 100 crores global level, the top 13 zoonotic diseases global struggle against the virus, it is clear in 2016. Our investments in lead to nearly 2.4 billion cases of human that humanity cannot afford to deal with illness, and 2.2 million human deaths. individual pathogens on a case-by-case building the JAM platform Other than their enormous impact on hu- basis, and certainly cannot bear the cost - Jandhan- Aadhaar-Mobile— has not only enabled man health, their footprints on global and of more such pandemics coming in quick financial inclusion but also national economies are discernible. succession. proved to be extremely useful Even more unsettling are the new and Hence, if we wish to minimise the risk in enabling money transfer emerging Infection Diseases, against which neither we nor our immune system are fully of future pandemics and mitigate its impact, through DBT to the poor prepared. As high as 75% of the diseases a long-term and holistic approach for ensur- when they needed it the catalogued in this group are of zoonotic ori- ing wholesome planetary health, involves most. The government has gin. They include dreaded human diseases humans, animals (both domesticated and been able to transfer more such as HIV/Aids, Ebola, Avian influenza, wild), and natural ecosystem’s health needs than 16.79 lakh crore directly Swine Flu, Zika, Nipah, Mers, and Sars; to be pursued. Such a comprehensive ap- to the bank accounts of benmany of which have caused havoc in several proach, recognized as One-Health, should eficiaries. Almost 10 crore farmparts of the world in recent times. Covid-19 be the target of all our preparedness and responses against the future pandemics of ers have benefited through is the newest addition to this list. PM Kisan Scheme and this While they are so prevalent, our re- zoonotic origin. In short, if we wish to aspire to a safe year we have had a record sponses towards these diseases have been far from satisfactory. It is unfortunate that and disease-free future for us and our com- procurement of wheat at an a problem of such devastating potential ing generations, we have to immediately MSP price of Rs 19750 per has so far failed to elicit the required sup- start repairing our fractured relationship MT - almost 432.58 lakh MT port from policymakers and resource al- with nature. The time for doing this is fast of wheat was procured and locators. Despite repeated warnings from running out, as the next pandemic might more than 85000 crore was conservationists, veterinarians and public be around the corner. transferred to bank accounts Saket Badola, Indian Forest Service health professionals about the possibility of farmers. of zoonotic diseases causing large scale officer and head of TRAFFIC in India When we look back disruptions in human lives and activities, (TRAFFIC is an international network that at the year that was, one they were never given the warranted consid- deals with wildlife trade issues) notices a key difference in Reader’s note: Articles or letters published in any of the columns do not reflect the view of this
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the way these projects have been executed. Most team members’ are not physically present in the office. Work goes on most through virtual meetings, collaborating through digital tools like VC rooms, e-Office, Open Forge, E-mail and instant messaging apps. Almost 300-plus team members from 50-plus cities, towns, and villages collaborate virtually to deliver projects on time and with quality. There are project-wise breakout rooms. The day begins with team meetings to review work done and tasks on hand and members then move to their breakout rooms after the mandatory video attendance. These virtual rooms function just like adjoining rooms in a physical office. One can seamlessly move from one room to the other without needing to click any link or login again. VPN is used as and when needed to securely access e-office and data center environments. There are breakout rooms for meetings and conferences also. There is also a cafeteria room where team members can have lunch together in a relaxed atmosphere. There is also a water-cooler point where senior management is not allowed and that provides a convenient outlet for stress-venting. In such a remote working environment, productivity has gone up by almost 30 per cent. Work from Anywhere has significant savings for everyone. Team members save
on commute time and they can add almost 1-2 hours in daily work time. The number of people taking leave has gone down Work from Home has really helped female employees continuing their work without the need to take time off due to domestic responsibilities. We have team members who delayed their entitled maternity leave as they could manage work and their health working remotely. It also helped in savings as many team members terminated their lease rentals and moved to their villages and family homes and continued working. This shift in work culture has many unseen benefits also. One has realised it is possible to hire good quality resources at very reasonable costs since it obviates the need for relocation. Remote working is also having an impact on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as more companies resort to WFH and remote working. This is resulting in more disposable incomes in these cities and will result in growth in the services sector in these areas and the creation of more jobs. Digital India and the new age working models have the potential to not only transforming India through digital inclusion and citizen empowerment but will also result in more equitable growth. Abhishek Singh (The writer is CEO, MyGov and NeGD and MD, Digital India Corporation, Government of India. The views expressed are personal.)
Reader’s Post
Auto drivers flouting SOPs
Sir,
Autos have been allowed to ply throughout the roads of Dimapur on the grounds that they follow necessary measures to curb the Covid crisis. However, a lot of these drivers have been seen flouting the rules and regulations. Most of these drivers are seen with masks on their chin and the transparent partition sheet being lifted. Yes, I do agree that the Dimapur weather makes it unbearable to wear masks but none of us want to die either. Therefore, I request everyone to obey the rules. Now is not the time to be careless and act according to our own thoughts. There is a reason why the SOP exists hence, follow it without failure. Achila Ao, Dimapur newspaper nor that of the Editor in any manner.
