Muthar J.
For the last seventy years of independent India, there has not been any significant effort to discuss the issue of stress that students go through during examinations. It was Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi who invented an innovative platform of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ (PPC) in the year 2018 with a vision to bring together students, teachers and parents from across the country in order to create a stress free environment for the students appearing for various examinations. ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ is one of the cornerstones never imagined by anyone other than Prime Minister, Narendra Modi highly required for students who have been rightly called ‘Exam Warriors’ by him. ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ has fostered an environment, where the unique individuality of each child is celebrated, encouraged and allowed to express itself fully. Why PPE is important: The interaction of PM Narendra Modi with the students under ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ before their examinations has boosted not only their confidence but has created astress free environmentfor them after interacting or witnessing the interaction with the Prime Minister from North to South, from East to West throughout the country. The student interactions with the Prime Minister under PPCemphasize the mantra of Prime Minister that’exams are not a life and death situation but must be viewed as one of the many opportunities to seek out more challenges rather than running away from them’. This mantra has not only created a positive approach among the students but has created the same among the parents. The PPC not only embodies the essence of a participatory model of governance and development but takes into account the feedback and concerns that are shared by the students, parents, and teachers. During the previous PPC, when Prime Minister NarendraModi said, ‘You are not talking to the Prime Minister of India, you are talking to a friend’ creates a conducive environment for discussing the importance of stress-free examinations. The various quotes during the previous PPE’s by the Prime Minister like ‘connect with your children, know their likes and dislikes’ will definitely bridge the generation gap. The previous editions of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ have witnessed tremendous participation from students, parents, and teachers alike. The use of interactive and pictorial activities has not only encouraged participation but also aided the use of thought-provoking and enjoyable activities that hadhelped absorb concepts through practical means. PPE- platform revolving around many important things: The theme based PPC every year revolves around many things making students more informative and instructional. The themes selected for this year’s PPC like Know Your Freedom Fighters, Our Culture is our Pride, My Book My Inspiration, My Life My Health, Enabling Learning Environment, My Child My Teacher etc. will not only inspire the studentsbut will also make them learn about our freedom movement, culture, life and health etc. PPC is thus, a multilateral platform in terms of various themes selected under it. The vision of NEP-2020 is that education should be value based to make good citizens and instead of coming first in the race of marks, the students should be motivated to acquire knowledge. So, come and join the sixth edition of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ and talk to your best friend, the Prime Minister of India for exam stress management. (The author is a former Lecturer at School Education Department, J&K) 6th edition of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ Nawang Tsering Shakspo The Union Territory of Ladakh was the brainchild of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The region obtained UT status on the 5 th of October 2019, after the party’s thumping victory in the Parliamentary election held in May 2019. In August 2019, the BJP Government removed section 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted special power to the then Jammu and Kashmir Government to administer the state’s affairs and prevent the Central Government from passing laws to redress the grievances of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, including the people of Ladakh. Interestingly, this unique state- level protection can be traced back to none other than Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, who had armed Sheikh Abdullah with section 370 of the constitution and crowned Sheikh with the position of the Prime Minister of Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir in spite of opposition from the leaders of his own cabinet such as Sardar Patel, the then Home Minister of India. These concessions did not stop him from becoming a leader of the secessionist forces of Kashmir who favoured annexation of Kashmir into Pakistan. This act of Sheikh resulted in the Nehru-led Government in New Delhi hurriedly dismissing Sheikh from the post of Prime Minister of Kashmir and showing him the way to prison. With this dramatic incident, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, a loyalist to Delhi became the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Cognizant of the needs of Ladakhis, Nehru directed Bakshi to induct the legitimate leader of the Ladakhis, Kushok Bakula, into his ministry and to set up a Ladakh Affairs Department in the Government. In fact, Kushok Bakula’s induction into the ministry and the establishment of the Ladakh Affairs Department turned out to be the first steps from the Central Government to bringing Ladakhis into the mainstream of the Indian nation. And with that Ladakhis never looked back. Under the stewardship of Kushok Bakula, Ladakhis did not hesitate to struggle for their legitimate rights both from the state and the centre. Such a situation arose due to the fact that the State Government did not take a worthwhile step which could have mitigated the socio-economic problems of the landlocked people in the region. But with the departure of Bakshi, again the leaders sitting at the helm of the state administration snatched the portfolio of Ladakh Affairs from him and compelled Kushok Bakula to resign from the State cabinet in the year 1967, laveling the allegation that as a minister he had sat idle without work. And with that Kushok said goodbye to state politics, but not politics altogether. In the Parliamentary election of 1968, Kushok Bakula was elected to the Parliament unopposed from the Ladakh Constituency and even being a member of the ruling Congress party Bakula did not hesitate to lodge complaints against state government to the Gajendragadkar Commission, the commission sent by the Central Government on his behest in his capacity as a chairman of the pleading committee. This commission after doing its study made several recommendations to both the state and Central Government for the socioeconomic development of the region but due to the pathetic attitude shown by the J&K Government as the Government was armed with the section 370, all of the recommendations of the commission went unheard. With that more complaints were lodged in the region against the State Government and the demand for separation of Ladakh from J&K State was set in motion. Those demands sought grants of a NEFA-type administration, or else the request to be made a Union Territory. When the Sheikh again formed the Government in accordance with the Indira- Sheikh accord for the second time in the year 1974, still the conduct of state administration did not change. Interestingly in the year 1989, the Morarji Desai-led Central Government at New Delhi appointed Kushok Bakula as the member of the newly setup Minorities Commission at New Delhi. Again the Sheikhled State Government under the pretext of section 370, declined to accept jurisdiction of the commission and not to extend protocol to the members while on a visit to the state capitals. In this connection an instance comes to my mind when Bakula, in his capacity as the member of Minorities Commission, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi alleging that the Central Government was not paying any heed to the demands of Ladakhis and was staying silent on issues such as the granting of scheduled Tribe Status. These are the bygone stories. Interestingly prior to the region becoming a UT, headed by a Lieutenant Governor, the whole administration of Ladakh was performed by the two District Magistrate-cum- Commissioners at Kargil and Leh. To manage the administration of the less than three lakh population herein Leh and Kargil we now find dozens of IAS and IPS cadre officers and a number of other officers of similar position. May be required in the changed circumstances to carry government welfare schemes of the ethnic tribal people. But a perception prevails among the locals that with UT status, job opportunities for the locals have shrunk. At present the BJP holds sway over Ladakh’s politics due to the fact that the sitting Member of Parliament from Ladakh is from the BJP. The BJP also runs the LAHDC, Leh and a sizeable number of BJP members are also in the LAHDC, Kargil. The Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance are spearheading agitations in the region since August 2, 2021, demanding the granting of statehood to Ladakh, or else demanding Constitutional Safeguards under the Sixth Schedule or similar like status, two Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha seats for Ladakh and the filling of 10,000 to 12,000 vacancies in the Government Departments. On this issue, it is pertinent to mention that soon after the granting of UT status to the region, the National Commission of Scheduled Tribe and Tribal Minister of the Government of India had favoured the extension of the 6th Schedule to Ladakh. And recently a Parliamentary Panel has asked the Home Ministry to consider granting 5 th or 6 th Schedule status for Ladakh. The committee also directed the government to declare the official language of the UT expeditiously, which could be Ladakhi language, I assume. Under such circumstances, if an amicable solution is not found and the BJP remains unresponsive to issues such as 6th schedule of Statehood to Ladakh and Ladakhi as the official language of the UTLadakh, a stalemate may dwindle the prospects of tourist season in the region and BJP’s own prospect in coming elections. (The author is Director, Centre for Research on Ladakh, Leh) Ladakh deserves statehood The previous editions of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ have witnessed tremendous participation from students,
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