There is widespread rancour among medical students and it is spreading. Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has just said in an interview with Press Trust of India that it is pay-back time for the students of government medical colleges and they must serve in villages as they are paying “dismally low” fees.
It is not everyday that governmental moves deserve commendation, but this one is certainly an exception for “the government is heavily subsidising the education.” Ramadoss has a point when he says that the government is not asking much from medical students and many countries have two-three years of compulsory service in villages.
The point is the medical students have taken to streets in three states even before any announcement on compulsory rural service has been made. However, the agitation amply brings out the contempt the city-bred, notably the young, have for rural India. The divide between Bharath and India has always been there and come to draw increased attention only in the present era of digitization. (It is but a paradox that the divide also has the solution to the divide it has deepened. Digitization is at once both the divider and the bridge!).
There are innumerable solutions to bridge the gap, but a certain amount of concerned human intervention is essential to set the ball rolling. Health and Education are two critical areas which seek such intervention. However, we find that doctors and teachers are two communities that constantly look for ways and means of rural postings. What growth can the nation achieve with such apathy? On-going strike by our students who ought to carry our hope of a better India, is symptomatic of a major malady which has crippled India’s development. Any wonder our distressed farmers have joined the money-making bandwagon by being ever so keen to dispose of their landholdings for the huge sums in return? Everyone wants to be where the big bucks is?
