Government Schemes and Protests

The government conceives schemes for the welfare of people and also implements them to the best of its ability. However, often what is lacking is education and awareness about the schemes as a result of which not many people know about their benefits. The government also needs to methodically disseminate knowledge about them and spend some effort on policy education. If the right policy education is given, then the type of misinformation and mistrust that we are seeing now will not happen. The government has to make an all-out effort to reach out to people from their side. The same thing happened with the agriculture laws also. They were good for the country but policy education was missing. I would urge the government to give attention to policy education on this matter and in future as well.

At the same time, I will appeal to young people not to go on a strike like this. This is not going to help you or the nation. By burning trains and damaging public property, you are causing inconvenience to the entire population, and that’s not the right thing to do. You must understand the scheme properly. If you don’t like it, you are free to choose something else. In a democracy, everyone has the right to protest but nobody has the right damage public property and harm human lives. So much suffering has been inflicted by your violent protests, that it’s not fair, especially, to the general public. You can put forth your contentions and concerns but do it peacefully without destroying public property. I saw the video of a young man trying to remove the railway lines! This is not right.

Be a civilised human being. Protest, but first, try to understand the scheme. It has been conceived to empower you. I consider it a good initiative as well. Countries like Singapore or Switzerland have 1 or 2 years of compulsory military training. Here, even women are given the chance to work in the armed forces. Take this as an opportunity for your growth and develop your skills. Once you have completed 4 years, don’t think you will be unemployed. The armed forces instil integrity that is essential to succeed in any field of work. As a result of this stint with the armed forces, your prestige goes up not only because you are more disciplined and physically fit, but because the nation entrusts you to safeguard our boundaries. Everyone will honour you. Every village welcomes ex-armed forces personnel with respect. The protectors of the nation cannot become the destroyers of the nation. Seeing the youth protesting like this, damaging public property, is a big disappointment for the people of our country.

I appeal to students to take utmost care in their behaviour and not take the law in their hands. I know your pain, your problem, and I understand it. But there’s a way out of it through dialogue, through patience, perseverance, and through proper understanding. I would like to ask all of the young people involved in this, as well as the youth organisations, to make sure that no more violence occurs by treating this as a contentious issue.

Jai Hind!