Gaushala instead of schools; cleanliness without pourakarmikas!
Various sections of media are covering PM Modi’s swachata or cleanliness programmes with great aplomb. On the other hand, the government is spending crores together on setting up gaushalas for cows. And at this time, two reports have been published that could mock the schemes listed above. One being, five people have died after getting into the sewer manhole in Chhattisgarh. Another news is that a there are no schools in 13,511 villages in the country. And Uttar Pradesh stands on top of the list of states without schools in the country. This information kind of mocks the whole interest Yogi Adityanath is showing in setting up cow shelters since the time he took over as CM.
Swacchata Andolan is not something new to this country. We have created castes to clean streets and drains in our country. And a particular community has been putting its life and future, at stake for the sake of cleanliness in the society. Mahatma Gandhi had stopped visiting these places after he was shocked at the level of unhygienic standards in temples and pilgrimages. He held a flag of freedom in one hand and broom in another. He saw that the toilets were reeking of filth in the first Congress meet and he began cleaning them up. He called upon everyone to take up tasks to ensure hygiene is maintained, by way of reaching out to broom, and this is an honourable thing.
He reiterated that this task isn’t a lowly job. He spoke the same way about Bhangis also. But unfortunately that turned into a controversy. Gandhiji had actually said that with the intention of conveying that their job or the need for hygiene is extremely noble one. Today, Narendra Modi is speaking of cleanliness just like Mahatma Gandhi. He is standing before the cameras for the sake of ‘cleanliness’. Though it has been three years since he launched the scheme, he is unable to explain the success of other works during his tenure. He has not been able to find out reasons for that either. All that cess collected for Swacchata Andolan, where is it going? Thousands of crores have been set aside to clean Ganga. The water is still not drinkable from that river. Has any Pourakarmika been able to see any improvement in his life in the last four years? All these issues will lead to disappointment.
Swacchata Aandolan can be a success only when the lives of Pourakarmikas improve, so as to enable them to do better work. None else other than politicians or officers who can make this scheme a success. Pourakarmikas have been cleaning the roads of this country since ages. They are the ones that are real and inseparable partners of swacchata andolana in our nation. While they are in this noble task, the government or the authorities have been refusing to pay them a decent wage for their work. The situation of Pourakarmikas having to demand their wage through a strike or a dharna is the hard reality of this country. The contract workers that work on cleaning streets of drains do not even get least safety gears such as gloves or proper dresses. They need to be supplied, at least once a month, with a new set of safety materials to safeguard themselves. Their health is to be cared for. If a swacchata andolan is taken up without all this, we’d have dead bodies floating every now and then in the drains. This is the reality of Modi’s andolan right now.
After Yogi Adityanath came to power in Uttar Pradesh, more than Rs 80 crore has been spent on setting up Cow Shelters or Gau Shalas in the state, and the money continues to flow for this purpose. But the same state is on top of the list of highest number of villages without schools. The government is spending money on Gau Shalas when it should be spent on schools. The inevitability to set up Gau Shalas has also arisen out of that state’s wrong decisions as well.
So far farmers could decide whatever they wanted to do about their cattle. But ever since Yogi became CM, the farmers lost the right of deciding whether they could sell the cattle after their utility or keep them. Even a cattle past its utility could bring money to a farmer. But after the policy banning its sale was imposed, the farmers were forced to leave the useless cattle on the streets. Today the government is spending many crores on cattle but that has no use for dairy farming or to common people. This whole issue of Gau Shala is more of an emotional thing than with any utility at the end. The government has no money to supply oxygen cylinders to hospitals. Such schemes as Gaushala set the country back by ages. Leaders like Yogi and Modi are the biggest challenges who refuse the stakeholders a share of their role in the success march of the country.
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RJD surprise element in J’khand polls, party candidates leading in 5 of 6 assembly seats
Ranchi(PTI): The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has emerged as a surprise element in the Jharkhand assembly elections with its candidates leading in five of the six seats where the party is contesting, according to trends available on the Election Commission's website on Saturday.
RJD candidates in five assembly seats were leading over sitting BJP legislators.
In 2019, RJD had secured only the Chatra seat where its nominee Satyanand Bhokta won.
In Deoghar, RJD’s Suresh Paswan was leading by 19,581 votes over his nearest rival and BJP's sitting MLA Narayan Das after the third round of counting.
RJD’s Sanjay Prasad Yadav was ahead by 19,867 votes in Godda over BJP MLA Amit Kumar Mandal after the sixth round of counting.
In Koderma, RJD nominee Subhash Prasad Yadav, who was out on bail, was leading by a margin of 3,471 votes over BJP’s sitting legislator Neera Yadav.
Subhas Prasad Yadav, considered to be one of the close aides of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court in a money laundering case.
Party’s Naresh Prasad Singh was leading by 5,159 votes after the fourth round of counting over BJP’s Bishrampur MLA Ramchandra Chandravanshi.
RJD's Sanjay Kumar Singh Yadav was also leading from Hussainabad by 8,213 votes after the fourth round of counting over BJP MLA Kamlesh Kumar Singh.
Party’s candidate Rashmi Prakash, however, was trailing from Chatra by 3,776 votes.
Bhokta did not contest the elections this time, and his daughter-in-law Prakash was given a ticket.
