HOW E-LEARNING PLATFORMS TARGET KIDS

The coaching centres in India focused a lot on IIT entrance exam preparation of aspiring students from class 11th and 12th. Soon, these preparations began for classes 8th, 9th, and 10th. As the Internet penetration rate of India increased, online coaching platforms emerged and they started targeting students of 9-10 years for various medical and non-medical coaching.

From 2017, there is a gradual increase in number of online coaching (E-learning) companies. They not only target the students but also play along with insecurities of parents by misleading and fake advertisements to sell their courses for high prices which are available on internet for free or at very low price.

Bad Tactics of Selling and Marketing

Companies like Byju's, Osmo, Unacademy, etc. have earned high profit during Covid-19 pandemic as there was mass closure of education institutes and all the students had to, willingly or helplessly, start studying online. The profit earned by Byju's was so high that it acquired Whitehat Jr, Great Learning, and Aakash in the span of one year. Following are some of the unethical ways used by these companies:

Fake Posts and Misleading Ads

There are so many E-learning companies uses fake posts to promote their courses. A company named Whitehat Jr in one of its advertisements claimed that a 6 year old child made games. An average software engineer knows very well how pathetic this advertisement is but it can be misleading for a less educated person. 

In August 2021, FIR was filed against Byju's founder for allegedly using fake information in its UPSC curriculum. The Whitehat and Byju's ads were highly criticized on Twitter and Instagram as They are highly misleading. According to them, their policy of marketing is shamelessly looting Indian parents.

The advertisements are more seemed to motivate children and parents for money and less for skill enhancement. The successive ads to learn coding and crack high earning packages in big companies might influence the mindsets of young students. There is nothing wrong in pursuing a dream of working in Google, Amazon, NASA, etc. but it is also not right to use insecurities of parents and let them compare their kids with other kids' IQ.

Poor Selling and Marketing

Salesman of such E-learning companies are given full liberty; they are free to say anything they want. The Salesman of Byju's trained for selling the courses to both upper as well as lower middle class parents. The course selling starts with questioning the kid and end with parents counselling that includes panic-mongering. They sometimes trap the parents with anxiety of child's future and competition in the study line.

Consequently, most of the parents end up paying the whole amount at once or in installments due to which many of them unknowingly finish themselves as paying loan for years. Over-exaggerated lies are no less than crime when it comes to education of a child and we as a society have to detect this epic loophole of these companies as soon as possible.

Fixated Loop for Children

One of their tactic is to make children remain fixated in their platforms they provide in their tablets. These companies do not want children to become aware of resources that are freely available on internet. By staying in their fixed bubble/loop, these users never get aware of reality and that's what these companies want in order to keep children away from the central skills.

Censorship to Criticism

Numerous cases of censoring various social media accounts, articles. etc. 

Another brutal tactic of these E-learning companies is censorship which means banning or suspending videos, accounts, articles, photos, etc. that try to tell the truth about these companies. Not only normal people but the parents who were saying that they did not like their products, their reviews are hidden. Whatever is being said is kept hidden so that they can fool more people and sell their products to them.

Major Threats

Success of one company will lead to rise of more number of such companies implementing same set of tactics and keep ruining the future of so many poor or lower middle class families. Byju's turnover was so high that many MNCs have invested in it; the impact of Covid-19 resulted boom in the online education sector which is a great thing only if it's done in ethical ways.

In an year or two, this way of education will become a norm if the bad practices would not stop. The parents are falling into EMI traps during the primary phase of study of their kids, college is still a long way to go. In addition, the poor and uneducated parents are falling in this trap more frequently than the others because of marketing methods of such companies.

Solution

Lavish Marketing of E-learning company Byju's

Marketing is the top priority for these companies whereas the technical approach is their lowest. It is believed that if you are making quality product then sales and marketing don't require much investment. E-learning companies should learn from Coursera, Udemy, Google, etc. platforms which also sell online courses but in an ethical manner.

These companies should invest more on trainers and teachers. They should not force their skilled trainers to become salesman who should convert the trial class into a paid one. It is the duty for us as a society to stop falling into these kind of traps and become aware of what our kids actually require. The E-learning companies should stop targeting small kids.

We should teach our kids to focus on fact checking. The Google search seems ordinary but most of the time we have no idea how much we are capable of doing things if we know how to search on Google. The critical thinking and problem solving skills are very important for today's children because the kind of teaching environment these companies are providing do not teach basic set of skills.

Conclusion

Parents should be less insecure to avoid their kids from overburden

Parents need to be aware of identifying what is right and what is wrong for their kids. The anxiety and insecurity for their future is understandable but it is also mandatory to realize that their kid is being made to work and study like a robot if stuck in learning traps like this. From now we can take steps to avoid these companies to acquire bigger market, otherwise after some years these education policies will become a norm and due to censorship, no one will be able to criticize or show the reality. 

PUNJAB'S YOUTH LEAVING COUNTRY

We have seen migration of Indian youth to abroad for study and job; mostly we hear "a Punjabi going to Canada". More than 2.5 lakh students and around 5 lakh job seekers left Punjab and moved abroad (3rd highest in India). Punjab was once called bread basket of India because of its agricultural growth in comparison to other states. Let's see the major problem associated with Punjab for years.

The Rise of Punjab's Agriculture

During 1960s India went through economic crisis due to heavy debt and war with China and Pakistan. It started working towards Green Revolution which is the transformation of farming technology (HYV seeds, irrigation techniques, fertilizers, etc.) to increase crop production. Punjab was selected for testing green revolution because of its moderate climate, adequate water supply, fertile soil, and most successful agricultural history.

Punjab is known for its agriculture

Punjab became the leading exporter of Wheat and Rice in all over India. The Green Revolution's success in Punjab made it the 3rd richest state. Per capita income of Punjab had been more than the average income of India for around 40 years. Green Revolution increased the production of mainly two crops in Punjab: Rice and Wheat. 

The government gave incentives and promoted more production of these crops. The Ensured MSP (Minimum Support Price) helped farmers immensely to an extent that Punjab's farmers are richer than other state farmers even today.

Crisis in Punjab

Bad Impacts of Green Revolution

The Procurement of Green Revolution had two bad impacts on Punjab: Farmers kept focusing on just two major crops, and less or no focus on Industrial development. The production of Rice and Wheat crops were more than the demand. Due to the same crop production, the fertility and nutrient qualities of soil decreased. The excessive use of pesticides, fertilizers, etc. degraded soil quality and lack of agriculture diversification caused decline in the state's overall agriculture growth.

Subsequent Downfall of Punjab's Agriculture

Due to high MSP, farmers were focusing more on rice and wheat. The high production of rice and paddy led to decrease in ground water level and farmers had to use powerful motors. The demand of electricity increased rapidly but the supply was not up to that extent and that's why businesses of Punjab collapsed during the electricity crisis.

Lack of Industrial Growth

In 2004, the agricultural growth collapsed and due to successive decline, some farmers decided to leave farming and move to other sectors. But that was the main problem of Punjab: lack of Manufacturing sector. Less attention was paid towards the industrial growth which means there was nothing as a backup for the economy except agriculture. This was the reason why protest from farm bill was majorly seen from Punjab farmers.

Competition in the Market

If we talk about International market, 90% was covered by Chinese Industries at that time (even now). Punjab's industries were generating very low profit because of their high transportation cost. Textile industries left Punjab and moved to Gujarat or Maharashtra because of availability of ports and raw material. Due to the heavy production of rice Punjab was not able to produce cotton as much and that forced the textile industries to stop operating in Punjab.

Negligence by Political Leaders 

Experts believe that the upliftment or promotion of manufacturing sector was never a priority for the political leadership. Both at state or nation level, this issue was never raised or given the attention. After assassination of Indira Gandhi, the focus over industrial growth became null.

Punjab continuously lost its Agricultural Identity 

The Finances of Punjab Government was in no position to offer subsidies or incentives to attract industries from other states to establish and operate in Punjab. The political system was largely controlled by Jaat Sikhs and they are agriculturalist; less than 10% of the time was spent on non-agricultural issues.

Migration to Abroad

As the Agriculture was not yielding profit and private companies kept closing down, the youth of Punjab had no option but to leave Punjab. Although the migration is being seen all over India but for Punjab the reason was quite obvious as only 2% of the present youth population of Punjab thinks that the state provides good job opportunities. The reasons for moving abroad, mainly Canada, are:

• More Educational and Job opportunities
• Cultural Diversity
• Less Competition
• No caste based Reservation
• Self Development
• Communal Harmony
• Attractive Lifestyle
• Immigration Opportunities.

Canada is known as "Mini Punjab" as there are mostly Punjabi Sikhs migrating from India to Canada. Not only Indian rich or upper middle class, but also young people from lower middle classes are taking scholarships and moving abroad and finding opportunities.

Solution

Punjab presently has come out of this situation but there are some major steps still required to be taken to promote manufacturing sector and reduce agricultural dependency. It should take lessons from Haryana and Tamil Nadu which were previously agriculture dependent states but presently they implemented policies to establish market clusters for manufacturing various products.

Diversification of agriculture (Growing all kinds of vegetables, fruits, flowers, and cotton) is another great way not only to improve the condition of farmers but also to enhance soil fertility and ground water. The government should prioritize employment as much as agriculture to implement policies for better education, and more companies to establish which will result in economic growth of Punjab and the youth would eventually stop assuming that his/her future is in studying/working in abroad.

Conclusion

Data of various States'Youth Leaving Country

Punjab is gifted with fertile land, great minds, and powerful people. With the desperation to move abroad, many young aspirants are scammed by some immigration agencies and IELTS coaching centres. There is nothing wrong in planning to move abroad; even Punjab government supports bright and helpless students with scholarships to move abroad. Like Punjab, every state of India is having its specific issue and consequence is nothing but the suffering of youth.

Punjab government has to step up for the dreams of youth. The focus should be to provide education, resources, employment in all sectors, agriculture growth, and better platforms for students or job seekers to move abroad. The hope is with the new political rule to establish everything needed in the favor of the state.

DR. BR AMBEDKAR: FACTS WE SHOULD KNOW

If Someone is, ever, to be considered as the biggest epitome of struggle, the name of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar will be uttered first. The reason we remember him even today is because of his immense contribution in the upliftment of lower castes (especially untouchables), and development of the Great Indian Constitution. He was the first Law and Justice Minister of Independent India.

April 14, 1891 - December 6, 1956

The Early Struggles

Babasaheb was born on April 14, 1891 in Mahar caste, one of the untouchables/Dalit castes of Hindus. Due to enormous caste differences, during his days, he was not allowed to sit inside the class and also not allowed to drink water from the common vessel. He was not allowed to study Sanskrit as the person from Mahar caste was not allowed to study Sanskrit or Vedas. Not only school, but anywhere he went, he had to face brutal discrimination from the upper caste people.

But these obstacles couldn't stop him. He obtained degree in economics and political science, the first from his community to get the degree. He got the scholarship from Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III and went to foreign in 1913 to pursue higher studies. He studied MA and Phd from Columbia University and Masters in Economics from university of London. He was the most literate Indian of that time.

But even after achieving that much, his struggles didn't reduce. No one was ready to give him job or rent him room because of his caste. He was forced to sleep on the benches in garden. He somehow got the job as a economics professor in University of Bombay, but there too he had to face the discrimination from the upper castes lecturers. After facing all these hurdles he pledged to change the whole system that permits extreme oppression towards untouchables.

The Fight for Equality

Ambedkar started working in legal profession in 1926. In 1927, he decided to launch active movements against untouchability. He began with public movements to open up water resources and temples for the depressed classes. His famous 'Satyagraha' (non-violent resistance) attempts are:

Mahad Satyagraha at Chowder Tank

1. Mahad Satyagraha (1927): Ambedkar drank water, along with his thousands of followers, from 'chowder tank' located in Mahad town.
2. Kalaram Temple Movement: Around 15,000 volunteers assembled at Kalaram Temple to enter, making it one of the greatest procession of Nashik. 
3. Establishment of Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha for Dalits in order to promote education and socio-economic improvements.
4. Started periodicals like Mook Nayak, Bahishkrit Bharat, Equality Janta for defence of Dalit rights.

Poona Pact (Ambedkar and Gandhi)

In the second round table conference, Dr. BR Ambedkar demanded for the separate electorates (where a particular community will choose their separate leader by separate elections for them) for Depressed classes which would ensure that they could have their face in the politics. On that, the British colonial government under Ramasay MacDonald agreed, but Mahatma Gandhi was strictly opposing the same. According to him, such kind of arrangement would lead to the division of Hindu community. 

Gandhi protested by fasting from Yerwada jail of Poona (now Pune). Pressure started to build on Ambedkar as if anything would happen to Gandhi, it would lead to huge setback to freedom struggle and depressed castes' name would spoil. A meeting was arranged between Gandhi and Ambedkar on September 25, 1932 where an agreement was signed between depressed classes and upper hindus, known as Poona Pact. The agreement stated that:

• To give reserved seats for depressed classes within general electorate (a common election system for entire population where everyone can vote for candidates).
• Depressed class received 148 seats, which were demanded by Ambedkar to increase from 71, so that the pact satisfies arguments of both Ambedkar and Gandhi.
• It allowed untouchables to choose their representative, but for the unified electorate and no separate electorate like Muslim League.

That was remarkable effort from Ambedkar for the depressed classes and he became the undisputed leader of Dalits. He was successful in giving exposure to Depressed classes from politics to education for which they were deprived for centuries.

The Making of Indian Constitution

Post independence, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India at that time, appointed Ambedkar to serve as Law and Justice Minister. Few weeks later to that, he was appointed as the Chairman of Drafting Committee of the Constitution for Republic of India. It took 2 years, 11 months, and 18 days of immense hard work, 448 Articles, 12 Schedules, 616 Signatures, and combinations of other nations' Constitutions jointly contributed to the making of Indian Constitution.

On January 26, 1950, Indian Constitution finally came into force. It is the world's largest Constitution praised by many leaders across the world. Nelson Mandela, the first President of South Africa, was influenced by Ambedkar and the Constitution of India and said that it was highly inspirational for South Africa and would help a lot in establishing the Constitution of South Africa in future. Dr. BR Ambedkar is popularly known as the Father of Indian Constitution.

Contributions for Labour Welfare

• In 1942, when he was the Labour Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council, he brought in the 8-hour working per day in India reducing it from 14 hours.
• He drafted 'Minimum Wages Act' which became law in 1948. It includes Dearness Allowance (DA), Leave Benefit, extra payment for Overtime, etc.
• He initiated the policy of insurance for the well being of employees through Employees State Insurance (ESI) Act.
• He also contributed in enacting the Employees Provident Fund Law. In addition, he was the one to bring in canteen and medical facilities inside the factory or work place.
• Because of him, workers can go on strikes for their rights, with the help of Trade Union Amendment Act.
• He brought many laws for women workers and one of them was Maternity Benefit Act.

Opinion on Caste Reservation System

From the Poona Pact to drafting on Indian Constitution, the depressed classes, which were later on called as Schedules Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), were given reserved seats in politics, jobs, and education. Was it necessary at that time to give this much to them? The answer is YES; because of the way they were treated. It was necessary for them to be uplifted from the extreme and brutal oppression from the upper castes. Equality is not a choice, it is a right for which not only Ambedkar but his followers too fought hard and found triumph.

Today, this very very fact of Caste Reservation System has become highly political and controversial. Should this system be continued in present and for future? The answer should be NO; because after more than 70 years of independence things have changed. It will be unacceptable to do injustice with today's great deserving candidates just because of injustice happened a century ago. This system, if continued more, will slow down the growth and development of the nation.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly Dr. BR Ambedkar was the man of revolution and great ideas. He strongly opposed religious ideas, but that could be well understood because of the struggles he had to face regarding his birth. The sad truth is that he is remembered more for reservation and less for his immense contributions in major areas. He had written famous books like The Annihilation of Caste, Who were the Shudras, The Untouchables, etc. and he received Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, posthumously (post death) in 1990.

For the present government and citizens, the need is to understand the difference between the requirements of today's nation and nation that existed a century ago. There is a need of more education and less propaganda for today's progressive society to achieve the prosperity in the real sense.

EMERGENCY IN SRI LANKA

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared emergency on Friday after a crowded protesting mob tried to attack his residence and damage it out of anger because of serious economic crisis going on in the nation. There is huge shortage of fuel and food. What invoked the citizens, both poor and rich, to rush on streets to protest? Let us try to know what exactly happening in Sri Lanka. 

The Economic Crisis

Sri Lanka is currently having Foreign Reserves low to the extent that it can only import basic items utilizable for a month only. The Reserves decreased by 70% in the last one month. Sri Lanka is heavily dependent on import, even for the basic items like sugar, mil products, fruits, wheat, etc. Due to inability to import, the inflation rate increased to 25%.

In simple words, the prices of basic items have increased: Price of Rice, sugar, Milk powder, etc. have crossed to an extent that a common man cannot afford. The Electricity cuts severely increased to a point that only 10 hours of supply is possible; the street lights are ordered not to be used to save electricity. The prices of gas cylinders have increased to 4200 Sri Lankan Rupees.

Thousands gathered outside the President's residence

The situation has worsen to an extent that people are leaving the country. More than 20 people are found at the Rameswaram coast in Tamil Nadu which have been sent to the refugee camps. India is helping Sri Lanka by extending the LoC (Line of Credit) of $1 billion to procure food items and $500 million to buy petroleum products.

What led to such a serious downfall of Sri Lanka not only in economy but also in terms of national stability? The whole issue is mix of both political incompetence and chain of communal violence that influenced nation's tourism.

Reasons For Sri Lankan Downfall

a. Influence on Tourism and Communal Tension

12-13% of Sri Lanka's GDP comes from tourism. But in April 2019 came the Easter day on which the Tragic event happened, known as Easter Day bombings, where bomb blasts took place in 3 churches and 3 hotels. 269 people lost their lives out of which 45 were tourists. This led to the heavy downfall of Sri Lankan tourism, followed by Covid-19 pandemic just a year ahead. 

There were two anti-Muslim riots took place in 2018 and 2019. Easter day bombing was said to be done by suicide bombers came from Sri Lankan local Islamic terrorist group. With more investigation, it was found out that the riots were done by Sinhala Buddhist group; Facebook paper leak revealed highly anti-communal posts were circulated in that particular period of time. Facebook apologized afterwards for the communal toxicity being spread. 

These incidents increased communal tension which can never be in favor of any nation however powerful or weak.

b. Bad Decision Making by Government

The new Government was elected in 2019 which promised to cut down the taxes so that public spending can increase and economy can grow rapidly. Though it was a good step for the development but the timing was extremely bad. In December 2019, the taxes were reduced and in March 2020, worldwide lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic resulted in heavy downfall in economy.

Due to this, there was a huge additional revenue loss of government which resulted in increase in national debt of Sri Lanka. In 2021, the 119% of the total GDP is the value of debt which the Sri Lankan government had to repay. 

Protesters demanding President's resign

In 2019, the Sri Lankan government took a step towards 100% organic farming and completely eliminated the usage of fertilizers which could not only lead to a healthy and economical way of farming but also to stop the import of fertilizers to save money. But due to lack of execution lead Sri Lanka to food inadequacy. 

The food crisis can be understood by the fact that Sri Lanka had to import Rice and Tea from outside. Sri Lanka has been the top producer of Rice and Tea around the world. There is a big role of Food Mafia for black marketing of basic food items. 26 ministers from the Sri Lankan cabinet resigned after the crisis grew high. Public went angry at government and protesting against the President Rajapaksa.

Conclusion

In just a month, the value of Sri Lankan Rupee fall drastically from 200 SL Rs. to 300 SL Rs. for 1 US Dollar. Sri Lanka asked for help from China, IMF (International Monetary Fund), and World Bank. It also fall into trap of China once that led to the privatization of government owned properties. The effect of Sri Lankan crisis will also be seen on India as there will be more refugees coming from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu.

It is said that emergency rule will be withdrawn in a few days but the way protest is continuing, it is not a good sign for a nation. Students, local citizens, hotel workers, doctors, etc. all kinds of people are protesting for the serious scarcity of resources in the domain they are working. The complete population is being pushed into poverty.

THE BENEFITS OF FASTING

WHO (World Health Organization) reports every year the top 10 reasons of death in the world. More than half of them are related to the wrong habits of eating and lack of exercise. Usually, we are attracted more towards bad eating habits because we see a lot of advertisements related to it. Despite all stuffs, Fasting is one of the best and undisputed ways to avoid a lot of health issues and diseases. With Ramzan and Chaitra Navratri around the corner, let us see how fasting helps in the overall health development.

Why Fasting?

Most of the people are drawn into the idea of fasting due to spiritual means. But the physical, mental, and the psychological benefits are much more interesting and scientifically proven. Fasting has been showing great results for so long; though it is practiced differently in different ideologies. Let us know about various benefits of intermittent fasting, which reflects more to the fasting in the month of Ramzan.

Physical Health Benefits

Intermittent fasting means avoiding eating or both eating and drinking periodically. In simple words, the eating timings can be daily time-restricted or periodic (either in day or night). Let us see physical benefits of the same:

1. Fasting helps in maintaining Blood Pressure and Diabetes
2. While fasting, our body uses fat reserves from various organs, which directly helps in our body weight lose and balancing.
3. Fasting is also called the process of "Cleaning and Healing" because when the blood pressure and diabetes go down it leads to headache, weakness, hunger, etc. which is normal in the beginning. It signifies the start of digestive system cleaning.
4. Fasting helps in the complete detoxification of liver, kidneys, intestine, and skin cells. It leads to healing of sensitive organs intoxicated by bad food habits.
5. Fasting helps in hormonal balance and also cure allergies to some extent.
6. The Immunity improves because of formation of new blood cells and destruction of weak cells. This helps body to deal with cardiovascular problems which is a major reason of death at present.
7. fasting also helps in making body composition better by reducing enormous fat deposits near kidneys and liver.
8. According to some researches, fasting helps in slow aging by improving skin health and around 30% reduction in blood sugar level (mainly in 25-30 days of Ramzan).

Mental and Psychological Benefits

It is true that sometimes we forget to deal with our mental health which is equally or more important than the physical health. It is no surprise that fasting has some impeccable mental health and psychological benefits. Let us look into some of them:

1. Fasting helps in releasing of Endorphins (happiness hormone) which helps in fighting against stress, anxiety, and depression.
2. Fasting boosts brain proteins which eventually helps in strong bonding between neurons. This further empowers memory and concentration power.
3. The craving for junk food is well controlled during fasting; similarly all types of addiction like smoking, alcohol, drugs, etc. when avoided during fasting helps body to stop avoidable in comings.
4. Fasting leads to less hunger, which leads to less intake of food on an average. This further helps in achieving high metabolism.
5. Fasting is itself a routine which is for good. A new habit to follow is a good memorable thing to be added in daily to-do list.
6. Fasting teaches self-control and discipline which is an important trait of a successful person.

An important thing to remember

Before science could prove the benefits of fasting, the spiritual leaders and gurus in the past practiced the methods of fasting and propagated to their disciples and followers. The main idea, in those times, behind the practice of fasting was to teach the art of having patience and discipline in life.

If we compare with the present scenario, we will see not only in India but across the world the poverty and starvation is killing people everyday. On the other hand, we also see people wasting and disrespecting food. When we fast, our hunger increases to an extent where we are ready to eat or drink the most ordinary of food. 

Say No to Food Waste

This is the time when we realize how wasting of food is biggest sin. Fasting teaches us a lesson not only to save food, but also to feed others which is considered as a 'good' deed. We should follow the saying in Sanskrit "Annam Na Nindyat" which means do not disrespect food.

Conclusion

Fasting is a great practice for physical, mental, spiritual, and psychological well being. It is the best way to live a healthy. It is not mandatory to do it regularly but in a week, 10 days, or a month, it yields the best health benefits for longer run. It might feel difficult and exhausting in the beginning, but when it becomes a habit it improves body from head to toe.