Hypocrisy in the field of education

I WAS amused to read the views expressed by Prof Gurdial Singh and a few other Punjabi scholars (as reported in The Tribune on 18.4.99) that education to children in Punjab should solely be imparted in Punjabi because other languages are difficult to learn.

This may be true in the case of Tamil and Telugu. There is hardly anything common between Hindi (or Urdu) and the Dravidian languages, but this is not true about Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. Speakers of Punjabi (even illiterate farmers and taxi-drivers) easily understand simple Hindi and Urdu, and there are hardly any difficulties involved in the process. We who had our primary education in Urdu (in the pre-partition days) could write letters to our relatives in that language just after a couple of years of schooling. We had munshis and petition-writers in our courts, most of whom were educated only up to 5th or 6th standard, who could draft reliable documents in beautiful Urdu. On the contrary most of the clerks in our offices today who are supposed to be at least matriculates with Punjabi as a compulsory subject have made a mess of our files and records.

The great stalwarts of the freedom movement in our beloved Punjab who studied through the medium of Urdu and English have left an indelible mark in the pages of history not only because of their deeds and sacrifices but also through their speeches and writings. But look at the competence (i.e even literary competence) of the present day politicians who are supposed to guide our destinies.

I know numerous Hindi and Punjabi scholars and professors of these languages in our colleges and universities, who wax eloquent while speaking of the beauty and importance of these languages, but send their own children to English medium public schools. Quite identical is the conduct of politicians who exhort the poor common folk in our villages and towns to read Hindi (Haryana) and Punjabi (in Punjab) but see to it that their own wards are admitted to the most prestigious English medium schools in Chandigarh, Shimla, Sanawar, Dehradun, and even in as far-off places as Jaipur, Ajmer and Nainital.

When the Education Minister in the Akali-BJP ministry, Mr Tota Singh, proposed in his wisdom that even the rural children hailing from poor families should be allowed the opportunity of learning English from the first primary stage, and as a follow-up measure he introduced the subject in government primary schools, a hue and cry was raised by these language enthusiasts as if a disaster was going to overtake us. How long shall we continue to deprive the poor of an equitable dispensation? How long will this hypocrisy, even in the field of education, continue? For god’s sake please, show some mercy to the poor and the deprived. Let them also stand erect and compete with the privileged!

R. L. SINGAL
Chandigarh

* * * *

Groundwater protection

Apropos of The Tribune newsitem “CGWA’s plan on underground water” (April 11), the Central Ground Water Authority deserves appreciation for having attracted the people’s attention towards depleting groundwater resources and the extent of pollution in shallow aquifers.

The CGWA was constituted in the Central Ground Water Board, Union Ministry of Water Resources, under the environmental Protection Act by the orders of the Supreme Court on December 10, 1996. The CGWA has the responsibility of framing of guidelines and notifying/denotifying areas for regulation and control of the development of depleting groundwater resources.

A model bill is under circulation to all States in India for establishment of respective Ground Water Authorities who are supposed to be empowered to regulate and control the extraction or use or both in any form, in areas so notified based on a report from the Ground Water Authority. The small and marginal farmers are free to sink wells and tubewells provided the water is intended to be used exclusively for their own purposes excluding commercial use in notified areas. Necessary registration of existing groundwater users and drilling agencies has to be made by the State Ground Water Authorities.

The CGWA is merely a monitoring agency and alone will not be able to create the desired impact in actual realisation of the goal of groundwater protection unless the State Ground Water Authorities are created all over the country and assigned the activities of the management of groundwater resources through technical and legal means.

DR. B. S. TANWAR
Kurukshetra

* * * *

Tobacco threat

The chewing of tobacco and pan masala is fast becoming a social evil in Punjab with a corresponding increase in number of patients with scars arising out of the abuse of these substances. The habit of tobacco and pan masala use in addition to causing addiction leads to damage of the mouth and surrounding areas which could turn into cancer. The first abnormality which is noticed by a habitual user is a restricted movements of the lower jaw (lock jaw).

It is estimated that there are over 1500 pan shops in Amritsar city alone, with a large number of grocery and confectionery shops also vending pan masala. On an average 30,000 to 40,000 pouches of regular pan masala and tobacco containing “gutka” and “zarda” are sold everyday in addition to thousands of betel quids containing tobacco or otherwise.

The result of such a largescale abuse of the pan masala has been that number of patients with oral sub mucosal fibrosis (presenting with a locked jaw and burning sensation in mouth and hypersensitivity to chillies) has now gone up. The alarming fact is that most of these patients belong to the 20-30 years age group and to all sections of society. It is a condition which could turn into cancer if not checked at an early stage and we could start seeing a large number of patients with oral cancers in coming years in Punjab also. The states like UP, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan are already coping with a burden of a large number of oral cancer patients.

According to a survey conducted by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, the prevalence of sub mucosal fibrosis in random samples in India is 0.4%. Areca nut (supari), which is the main ingredient of pan masala, is the main causative factor in the development of this condition. This addition of tobacco in the pan masala compounds the problems and accelerates the development of this condition. Tobacco is responsible for nearly 40% of all cancers in India.

The sandalwood powder which is another constituent of pan masala consumes 6000 sandalwood trees every year.

The most important aspect in this developing epidemic of oral sub mucosal fibrosis is the primary prevention. A ban on the advertisement of these products in newspapers and electronic media needs to be enforced. The free availability of the pan masala has made it accessible even to our children which is a cause for serious concern. A strong social movement needs to be built with a focus on youth and school-going children. The Lake city, Udaipur, has taken a lead in this regard where a strong anti-tobacco campaign has been built by a local NGO. Let us act now lest it is too late.

DR DINESH KUMAR
Amritsar

* * * *

Tailpiece

Whenever a promising government is toppled;

The pressure on every citizen also mounts.

However, hope that Vajpayee is no more troubled;

If the general public opinion really counts

Yasmin Dutta
Panchkula