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Front Page >> Editorials > Story

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Mixture Of Opposites
The logic behind any agitation is invariably to protect the rights of the people as well as to protest when the Government of the day fails to deliver the goods and deprive the people of their basic needs. However this very logic is defeated when the agitation, which was in the first place launched in the interest of the people, starts to infringe upon the rights of the common people. The tragedy of such a situation is compounded when the affected people start to accept such infringements upon their rights as something inevitable and learns to take it with just a shrug of the shoulder. 

In many ways the Manipur that we know today represents such type of a society where the people have resigned to their fate without even trying to remove the impediments that stand in their way to a better life. So if everyone wails and cries against corruption, each and every individual do not think twice about handing over that little bit of money to grease the palms of the telephone linemen or electric linemen to repair the faulty connection. The reasoning behind such practice is, everyone does it so there is nothing wrong if one swims with the tide. By any measure this is simply astounding. 

Everyone talk about corruption in high places but no one has ever raised a voice against the faulty scales used by the women fish mongers at Khwairamband bazaar. We rail and rant against the Government for not repairing the road or bridge but we never think of pulling up the neighborhood ruffians who happily go about smashing and breaking the street lamps installed at the leikais and by lanes. Every one of us appears to be against bandhs and blockades but no organization or civil societies have announced that they will not resort to this method of protest.

We bring up this mixture of opposites because it reflects something about the mindset of the people. So much time, money and energy are wasted whenever a bandh is called not to speak of the negative impact such method of protest has on the education scenario. However each and every sundry organization that has some followings have not hesitated to use this primeval form of protest at the drop of the hat. We repeatedly talk about the welfare of the students and do not hesitate to lambast the education system and the Government for the poor showing of the students at any public examination but the question of greater import is, how many of us can really say sincerely that we have done something for the betterment of our students ? 

Quality education has become one of the most fashionable terms in recent times and each and every sundry organizations have latched on to this catch word but the tragedy is nobody seems to realize what education, leave alone quality education, is all about. Bandhs, strikes and blockades are far removed from the concept of quality education and the interesting point is majority of the bandhs imposed here come from student bodies or on issues concerning education. 

However unpalatable it may sound, let's face it. We as a people seem to carry a large dosage of destructive elements within us. We as a people appear to have resigned to our fate unable to even speak out when our rights as an individual are trampled. And of course it goes without saying that as long as we allow ourselves to be trampled upon; we do not have much to look forward to. For once let's not blame Delhi but ourselves.

(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

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