Are we really republic?

The word 'republic' means a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president. I know that all of us Indians had a wonderful time on 26th of Jan, celebrating our Republic day but on the same day I had an experience which actually questioned as to how much republic we really are. Probably not only w.r.t India, even some other countries might have the same issue.

 

I was walking on the pavement and I found this guy selling corn. He looked pretty young to me. Somewhat I felt that I needed to talk to him. I went near him and asked him as to how much of corn does he sell in one single day. He replied 6-7kg initially and then said that yesterday he was able to sell 10kg since it was a holiday because of republic day as well as a weekend. Then when I asked him as to how much he earns per day. His answer was a shocking "Rs.3000/month!" I went into bit of mathematics at that time. Even if he sells 100gm of corn for Rs.20, he is going to sell 1kg of corn at Rs.200 which effectively yields Rs.40000 for 200kg sold in one month assuming an average of 7kg sold per day. When I went back to him to ask as to how many hours a day he works, he replied "10 hours". A guy who works for 10 hours continuously each day of a month is earning just Rs.3000.

 

Even more disheartening fact was to know that he had just passed 8th std and didn't continue his education as he was disinterested in it and hence took up this job at Bangalore though his native place is Bihar. When the present generation which is suppose to be going to school is working on roads for such mean jobs, how can we expect this generation to be capable enough to elect a representative or President for our country as the word republic says. So my dear friends, it's very important for us to join hands to make sure that we pass on our nation to safe hands and that can happen only when such children are motivated and helped to continue their education. In this regard I would like to congratulate the campaign of "IUY2C" through which the college youth of our nation are taking initiative to go and talk to school children about the importance of education and helping them realise the value of it. Register yourself on www.iuy2c.org if you're interested to be a part of it.