CAN WE FLY LITERACY FLAG ON INDEPENDENCE DAY?

CAN WE FLY LITERACY FLAG ON INDEPENDENCE DAY?

On August 15, we all shall fly our Tricolour and celebrate once again that our country is a Sovereign, Secular Democratic Republic as envisaged by our Freedom Fighters and makers of India. But somewhere, there is a bit of ugly feeling that many of our fellow citizens are not having the basic Roti, Kapada , Makan and, above all, ajeevika. We also have many people still illiterate especially our women as today; the female literacy levels according to the Literacy Rate 2011 census are 65.46% where the male literacy rate is over 80%.  The female literacy among the Scheduled tribes in Odisha is 42.5%- much below the national average. . Despite having Total Literacy Campaigns and many other kinds of efforts, the percentage of female literacy has not significantly improved. In the entire country, the female literacy has needed special attention and hence Saakshar Bharat Programme has been launched with a lot of hope and positive visualisation. The Government and Civil Society Organisations have been seriously engaged but can we set another example in the Country and din the World that our female literacy rate is comparable to the developed countries!

The National Literacy Mission has designed a Literacy Flag and has formulate a pledge so that after hoisting the National Flag, the Literacy Flag is hoisted in every Gram Panchayat and men and women take the pledge. We all who are concerned with the issues of low female literacy must hoist the Literacy Flag and take ledge to make all women literate and send all the girls to school.

The Adult Literacy for  the poor and the toiling mass have been visualised  by leading thinkers and practitioners like great  Mahatma Gandhi, Antonio  Gramsci, Paulo Freire.  They have demonstrated that the Empowerment and Literacy go hand in hand resulting in the breaking the shackles of poverty and marginalisation.  On Independence Day, we have to revisit the Pedagogy of the Oppressed and evolve suitable strategies to combat illiteracy in the changing contexts of our society.

I am attaching the Literacy Flag and the Text of the Pledge. Our friends will hopefully respond to my request of hoisting the Flag and take the Pledge.    

    

TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD OR NOT TO KILL

TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD OR NOT TO KILL

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.  They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us.  That's why it's a sin to kill a mocking bird."(A Quote from the book by Harper Lee).

Like some of the best books of the World, I had enjoyed reading To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee more than 40 years back. A month ago , I saw the film made on the book  in which Gregory Peck got an Oscar for best Actor playing the role of Atticus, the lawyer and the father of the little girl Scout  who has narrated the book in her words. Atticus, a white lawyer in White South of US was defending a black Tim Robinson who was falsely implicated. The all white jury had given the verdict convicting Tim who was unfair despite Atticus proving that Tim was innocent. Tim was killed while escaping the prison. Atticus and his motherless children (Jem and Scout) were the point of attack of the racist white. Finally, the law and the society stood for him and his family. The Dignity was restored.

In United States of America and in the entire World, this book was a best seller and so also the film was a great hit.  It had created tremendous sensation and went into several editions. Harper Lee, the Pulitzer Award Winning author of the book had indicated that the novel had been autobiographical to some extent.  However whether   there been was any dent on the discrimination in terms of the class and colour, race and religion, is a big question. Recent legal debate on the killing of black boy Trayvon Martin in US   and suicide/murder on Dalit youth Illavarasan in Tamil Nadu do indicate that the society has hardly changed.  

For a few nights, I could not sleep after seeing the film as I thought more and more of our society which has been rife with discrimination and hatred. One who stands for the poor and marginalised, is insulted and humiliated. One who stands for the rights of the underprivileged gets implicated. However, we all have to fight the ravages of the Society collectively and like Atticus should firmly believe that the mocking birds are not to be killed. Never.