Are You For Real?

I just read that President Patil recently made a statement about how education is the most important tool for empowering people and how the youth should ensure a future that is ‘enlightened’ and “create a society free from social evils”.

Is she for real? What society is she living in? The rest of her speech also involved archaic and standard politician material of asking the youth to be "good citizens of the country, conscious of their rights, civic duties and responsibilities". I’m sure I read this in school in my History and Civics textbook more than 10 yrs back.

Oh and there was also the getting rid of evils like child marriage, dowry and female foeticide along with creating awareness about harmful effects of alcolhol, smoking and other intoxicating material.

I’m still trying to close my jaw from the sheer stupidity of this statement. I mean, yes all the above are issues that need to be dealt with. But they have been for the last any number of years. I’m sure the office of the President can come up with something that belongs to today and that doesn’t sound like it has been in circulation since Nehru started talking politics.

And what is with this whole youth thing? Why the pressure? Are the youth expected to dismantle what passes of as advanced human civilization replete with everything we seem to have inherited and increased ten-fold with every passing year and recreate a “society which is free from social evils”? And about ensuring an enlightened future, I can safely say that with an increasing number of students looking beyond boundaries of countries to study and work, the youth are way ahead of you Mrs. Patil.

So as much as one appreciates the attempt, I think someone needs to tell the President (or better yet, her speech writers) that they need to get their heads out of the textbooks belonging to their school days and get real. It’s high time someone did.