A Step in the Right Direction
Charu Singh is the trustee of the Kisan Trust, organised the Aparajita Samaroh (2025) in Delhi on Women’s Day. Charu is also the wife of the Rashtriya Lok Dal president and Union Minister Chaudhary Jayant Singh. The Trust was founded by his grandfather, the late Chaudhary Charan Singh and works for the benefit of farmers and women belonging to rural and economically weaker sections. What was interesting is that apart from honouring acid attack victims the program also featured panel discussions on health, nutrition and digital empowerment, with experts fielding questions from the audience. Busloads of women from rural areas were invited for tea and to attend the program at the minister’s residence at Tughlaq Road. It’s an interesting initiative, taking information to those who need it the most, especially since there were no men present the women felt a lot more free to raise questions regarding health, hygiene and even finance. And as they say, awareness is the first step in the right direction.
Learning to keep a secret
One aspect that stood out in the recent reshuffle at the Congress headquarters was the secrecy of it all. In fact the entire reshuffle caught the party by surprise though the event was being talked about for a while, no one knew when it would take place. And usually those being axed are given a fair warning (and also time for negotiations), but this was not the case this time around. Those who were axed got to know of it at the same time as the media, via a press release, as well as those who were inducted. If nothing else, the art of secrecy is one thing the Congress has learnt from the BJP.
The North-South Divide
The Opposition is keen to use two of the government’s latest proposals, the three-language formula in the New Education Policy and delimitation of constituencies based on the 2026 census as a move to divide the South from the North. Both these proposals, they argue, are a move to weaken the South since the BJP doesn’t have much of a hold in the southern states. But given that the elections in Tamil Nadu are tipped for the next year, would the BJP commit such a self goal? The BJP leaders, however, claim that Tamil does not have that much of an emotional connect today as it did earlier. As Union Cabinet Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan told the Lok Sabha, as much as 67% of the students in Tamil Nadu were studying at English medium schools, with the Tamil medium enrolment dropping from 54% (2018-19) to 36% (2023-24). Well, one will know if this gamble has paid off or backfired next year during the state elections.