No benefit from budget
It is really heartening that our Finance Minister has finally given some attention to rural India in his Union Budget (“Naidu warns BJP after budget allocation”, Gulf News, February 3). However, there is nothing to rave about for the salaried middle class and pensioners. Whether it is former finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) or the current Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley of the National Democratic Party (NDA), both have proved that they are against the middle classes, who are the people who have to bear the brunt of constant price rise and also an increase in tax. I feel like either we should be born in a poor family or with a silver spoon in our mouth to get some benefit from any government. Until and unless the Members of Parliament (MP) are brought under the income tax bracket, they will never realise the pains of paying income tax by the salaried middle classes.
From Ms Kavitha Srikanth
India
High time for such cases
It is heart breaking to read about innocent children who resort to such extreme measures such as taking their own life (“Girl hangs herself after school stops her from writing exam over non-payment of fees”, Gulf News, February 3). The tragic death of the young girl comes as a disturbing shock. Both, the society and the state government cannot abdicate themselves to the responsibility of providing what is rightfully due to a child, which is education. Getting educated must be the primary right of every child and denying him or her of that right, citing some flimsy reason like pending fees is unpardonable. As a grade nine student, the girl must have been allowed to write her exams in a dignified manner and the technicalities of not payment of fee could have been settled at a later stage. It may not be easy to measure the pain and ignominy the poor child must have suffered, which led to her to committing suicide. In recent times there have been few incidents where young students having committed suicide following the harsh treatment meted out by schoolteachers and the school management. It is high time the Indian government looked into such repeated incidents and address them seriously.
From Mr Esmail Mohammad
Dubai
A sad state of affairs
A girl hung herself after her school stopped her from writing her exam because she did not pay her school fees. Just because she was unable to provide her tuition fees, she was prevented to write an exam, which is sad and I condemned it. The school authorities should have given a time limit for her family so that she could write the exam since it was just a problem of late tuition fees. Because of this act, a class nine standard child, Sai Deepti has taken the drastic step of suicide, which is painful. Today most of the students are highly sensitive and don’t bother about the after effects of their actions. The school authority is responsible for her act and should be brought to justice. Many incidents like this have happened all over India. This shows the sensitive nature of school children. It is a sad state of affairs.
From Mr K Ragavan
India
Mistake from school authority
The class nine student said she was taking extreme steps, due to humiliation in school, in her suicide note. This is very unfortunate and sad, not only because her fees was delayed but also because she was humiliated. Some schools insist children should leave and look for other options. Such actions are entirely against educational ethics and teachers must be supporting the students instead of discouraging them. Some schools want to maintain a 100 per cent pass rate and ask those performing poorly to leave the school. Such remarks are made in the presence of other parents who come for meeting with teachers and definitely humiliates the entire community. While reviewing the academic practices, authorities must also review the code of ethics for teachers and other related administrative practices for improved students’ performances.
From Mr Ramachandran Nair
India
Facebook message
Undocumented Individuals
The other day, I happened to watch a very disturbing video about undocumented individuals. It was about migrant workers who were illegally present in certain countries. The saddest plight was that of the children born to those migrants. They never got any education and never understood where they stood in life. They had to go into hiding with their parents when the police raids took place. I was wondering when every plant or animal have the freedom to be what they are as they are, how come children as young as a few months old, have to undergo such suffering? Can there not be a platform to address the plight of these people? Countries around the world are busy protecting their borders from intruders. But those intruders deserve a better life as well. When will the selfish world in their fight for more, try to remember these unfortunate beings called the undocumented individuals?
From Ms Agniyah Xec
UAE
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