Mid-Day Opinion: Students should have no complaints

This may come as a surprise to some Bombayites but a lot of students across India appear to be angry with the government for multiple reasons I had no idea about this issue myself until I happened to read a couple of newspapers from other countries where independent journalism is still being practised According to these reports there have been protests taking place for over a month now along with a few marches to Parliament because students believe they are being ignored by the governmentI must admit that my first reaction was one of healthy scepticism not only because this has been official government policy for over a decade but because I couldnrsquot imagine why young Indians have anything to be upset about There have been few indications of bad things happening anywhere in the country so I couldnrsquot think of any possible reason for their dissatisfaction I even wondered if these students were being paid by Indiarsquos enemies to discredit our honourable government This didnrsquot seem feasible though given that these neighbouring countries canrsquot possibly pay so many people every other year They have already been accused of paying minorities environmentalists farmers housewives even members of the opposition so I knew they couldnrsquot have infinite financial resourcesThere were also a few reports of the youth being hurt during these protests along with rumours of police brutality Now I have spent most of my life avoiding visits to Delhi unless I have had no choice but I still canrsquot bring myself to believe that the police of that state would stoop to this How can any sane Indian associate violence or uncouth behaviour with officers from the countryrsquos capital The only explanation I could come up with was that the students may have hurt themselves to gain sympathy the way one of our honourable leaders often weeps during election ralliesI read a few more of these reports from foreign journalists to try and understand what Indian students were angry about The biggest complaint was about the minister in charge of education followed by accusations of the system being corrupt They also had a lot to say about a lack of job opportunities and the rising cost of living which was the first time I had heard complaints like these being made in recent years In fact the last time there were protests about inflation we had a leader who wasnrsquot particularly qualified to understand these issues Questions about the economy no longer make sense if the country is now being run by someone with a Masters in Entire Political ScienceIrsquom not saying the education system is perfect by any means If it were the children of the Finance Minister Commerce and Industry Minister External Affairs Minister Agriculture Minister or Education Minister wouldnrsquot have been forced to study abroad Still just because there have been repeated accusations of fraud paper leaks and systemic cheating in recent years doesnrsquot imply that the system needs a complete overhaul either The government has already shown how seriously it takes this issue by sending Air Force helicopters and aircraft to securely transport question papers If thatrsquos not enough to pacify students theyrsquore just being unreasonableEven their complaint about high levels of youth unemployment makes little sense I am aware that some experts say around 40 of Indiarsquos graduates under the age of 25 are unemployed but this is surely an exaggerated figure I see young people working for Blinkit Zepto Uber Ola Amazon Swiggy and Zomato all the time and if these arenrsquot safe wellpaying jobs with a secure future India wouldnrsquot have the worldrsquos fourthlargest economy todayMy hope is that these students come around to seeing the government for what it really is a force for good backed by some of the most educated qualified people in Indiarsquos history Just because some of them have criminal cases or fraudulent degrees shouldnrsquot taint all of Parliament Itrsquos like saying all students are antinational just because thousands of them are asking for transparency and accountabilityThis is not how a healthy democracy works and no young Indian with common sense can say that India isnrsquot a healthy democracy If it werenrsquot there would be Internet shutdowns during every protest false cases against anyone questioning the government blocking of content on social media platforms biased reporting from journalists paid by businessmen or the government and no freedom of speech Thatrsquos not what wersquore seeing anywhere in the country is itWhen he isnrsquot ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He can be contacted at wwwlindsaypereiracomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper