You don’t have to go outside your so-called ‘modern cities’ to witness the reasons for the country’s lack of development
At a time when hundreds die of hunger each year, the opportunity to attend the best mass communication college in India is definitely a privilege that is not to be taken for granted. The best way to understand this privilege is to spend time with people who often don’t have access to the most basic facilities. Working in the development sector as part of our learning at the Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication was a real eye-opener and helped us put things in perspective.
We tend to overlook things that are easily available to us in our lives. But there are so many people out there who have to struggle for everything – from food to shelter to clothing. Our internships with Teach For India after the first semester put us right in the middle of a young and growing India sans proper education. The internship was vital in explaining the role that we need to play in order to get more people involved in the growth of the country. It becomes our responsibility to ensure that we spend time with those less fortunate than us and guide them towards a better future.
Further into the program, two more internships in the development sector helped in providing a deeper understanding of some more issues that continue to plague today’s society. During my time at these internships, I learnt that India still has a long way to go before it can put itself in the same bracket as countries in the West when it comes to social security. Discrimination on the basis of caste and sex remains one of the biggest issues in India today and you don’t have to go outside your so-called ‘modern cities’ to witness the reasons for the country’s lack of development. India needs to take some massive steps to reduce problems for a large part of the population who are often overlooked when it comes to policy decisions at a larger scale.
Article By: Haziq Zargar (Batch of 2018)
Photograph By: Haziq Zargar (Batch of 2018)
