Currently, the world is facing some very grim times with the Russians attacking Ukraine for reasons that humanity will never understand and this time is going to remain as a black spot in History for all times to come. Geopolitics is changing with every minute and the world is yet to understand whether to deal with Pandemic or the War resulting from Human greed! The reasons for war, the live coverage of the unfolding events are all out in the open for everyone who is following World Politics and hence I will refrain from going into details of the same.

Coming back to concerns with respect to India, around eighteen odd thousand students have been stranded in Ukraine who had been there for pursuing medical studies. And today was a black day as one of the students, just about 20 years of age has lost his life in the bomb shelling as confirmed by the reports of MEA( Ministry of External Affairs )! I sincerely hope such events do not happen but I do not have much ground to support my hope. What adds to the anxiety is that we as a nation have failed on many points yet we fail to acknowledge. We are still debating on the reasons, the fairness of death. Blame games have been on and there are ridiculous reasons being churned out?

I would like to point out a few such points of concern. At this point, when we collectively should be wanting the safe return of the students who are actually the youth of the nation, all we do is ask invalid questions like

1. Why did these people have to go out and study?
2. Why did they take so much time to leave the country after release of the advisory being issued ?
3. What happens to these students who come back for a license to practise medicine in India?
4. What was wrong in commercial airlines demanding hiked prices from students?
5. What social strata do these kids belong to to be able to pursue such education?

The list of questions is long and the debates are mindboggling. Well, I fail to understand the state at which we have reached that as a nation in spite of having our focus to evacuate the students there who have been cut off from family, who are running short on supplies of food and essentials, are braving it all out on the borders trying to escape their lives at sub-zero temperatures, all we do is debate !! I just ask one question, what if the dead child was from your family, what if the assaulted students at the border were your blood or near and dear ones? would the sides that you are choosing be the same?

If the country had enough affordable seats that accommodate the rising aspirations of the youth, why would someone think of going to a foreign land to pursue a professional course? Private colleges demand as much as six times ( almost ) the fees that a Government College charges. So a student who has missed the cut-off for admission to a government college by few marks and does not have money to take admission in private colleges should just give up on one’s dream? So, that means either you have to be a top securing student or filthy rich to survive the rat race! Why is the resource allocation to the education system so dismal that India loses its best minds to brain drain! Why are the career prospects for the meritorious candidates ( thanks to reservation policy) so bleak here that they find it easier to do better in a foreign land?

Well on the timing of issuing an advisory, a much more proactive step was expected from the Indian Embassy in Ukraine ( Kyiv) which put up a notice to register students by Jan 25th, a time by which other nations had been more proactive in approach. On 15th Feb another advisory followed where it said that students ‘may’ consider leaving the nation ( as vague as it may sound). Well, that explains it all, why did we not choose to be specific in our directive and actions towards Indian citizens.

Students who come back after completing the foreign course have to clear another exam to get the license to practice medicine. A lot qualify and yes some might fail. So does that mean their decision to study for five long years of their own life, to go after their dreams is wrong? Do we not understand that youth is about chasing your dreams, working on them, and making them happen? So we mean to say that the fear of failure should stop us from trying to go after our dreams?

A ticket price of about twenty-six odd thousand was spiked to around eighty-odd lakh rupees at this scenario was ok from the point of view of commercialization. But when we as a society do not see any wrong in such a commercial scenario at the brink of war, when children of the nation are running from pillar to post to get help, then there is a major problem with us !!

Before asking the social strata of the students, do we not look into the fact people who can not afford medical studies in India go abroad for cheaper fees. Why have we created such extremes and not a level playing ground we should clearly ask whether are we doing enough for the nation of this country? And it is best not to talk about the media houses!! They run on propaganda and not any agenda !!

I just pray that all the students are evacuated safely and on a war footing basis. I can not even think of the mental trauma that they would be going through in these conditions. If we can not do anything, we should at least keep quiet rather than trolling or asking futile questions. We need more capable representatives to handle such delicate issues. India can and must do better.

Sources:

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/world/ukraine-russia-war-putin-zelenskyy-kyiv-invasion-indian-students-live-updates-7792696
2. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/view-do-the-math-and-it-is-clear-time-is-running-out-on-18000-indian-students-in-ukraine/articleshow/89904981.cms
3. https://twitter.com/jugalrp/status/1498338155967041540?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1498338155967041540%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fjugalrp2Fstatus2F1498338155967041540widget%3DTweet

Note: The views expressed are purely mine and do not bear any political inclination. This should not be used for any kind of propaganda whatsoever. No part of this article is published without the knowledge of the author.

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Chinmayee