A very sad case of lynching took place in West Bengal’s North Dinajpur district, where a Station House Officer from Bihar’s Kishanganj, Ashwini Kumar, was beaten to death by a village mob, which was instigated to attack him by a few criminals who had stolen a bike in Bihar and fled to their village in Bengal. If this was not enough, the incident came at a time when the fourth phase of polling in the state was marred by unbelievable violence. At Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district, a young voter died after being attacked allegedly by the cadre of the state’s ruling party; and then the Central forces shot dead four young men after allegedly coming under attack by a local mob. Even otherwise, the poll process has been marred by violence, making one wonder what ails the state of Bengal. This sort of violence is not observed in any other state, in fact not even in Jammu and Kashmir, where too elections have to be spread over several days so that voters can vote peacefully. But Jammu and Kashmir is the most “disturbed” region in the country—a “conflict zone”. To place Bengal in the same category as Kashmir, raises the obvious question: where has Bengal gone wrong? Even Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, once considered the two most violent states in the country, have smooth election processes now, but not Bengal.

Bengal’s elite takes great pride in the state’s culture and its icons. In fact one of the main attacks on the Prime Minister and his party coming from this section—echoing the ruling Trinamool Congress—is that they being “outsiders”, are unable to fathom Bengal’s syncretic culture. There is no denying Bengal’s rich cultural heritage. But the problem starts when the only culture that is apparent to the rest of the country at present is the culture of violence—something that cannot be justified by saying “but political violence is in the DNA of Bengal”. Worse, in this election season, it’s also about politics over violence. The two parties trying to make the maximum political capital out of the Central-force incident at Sitalkuchi, the CPM and the Trinamool Congress, are also totally responsible for the present state of affairs. In 35 years of CPM rule, Bengal witnessed complete anarchy. The Left single-handedly drove out industry from the state, and stopped the rise of any viable political opposition, by unleashing violence through its unions and cadre. Over a period of time, Left rule become synonymous with murder, massacre and mayhem. So, when Mamata Banerjee’s government came to power in 2011, it was hoped that since she herself had withstood Left violence, she would be mindful of this aspect. However, to “eliminate” the Left, which was too entrenched in the ground, her party needed the help of elements—ironically, many of them originally CPM—who could fight a tough turf war. From there onwards, the situation deteriorahas ted to the extent that ground level criminality is one of the biggest issues of the 2021 elections. It was this criminality that made 30% of the panchayat seats go uncontested in 2018. In fact, 2018 was the turning point for Mamata Banerjee’s second term in office. Coming within two years of a landslide Assembly victory in 2016, there was no reason for the TMC to fear any adverse outcome in the panchayat elections. Even then voters were not allowed to vote and terror was unleashed. 2018 showed how free and fair elections were next to impossible in the state unless conducted under strict supervision. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Central forces did an exemplary job. In 2021 too they are doing an equally good job. They have been able to instil a certain degree of confidence among the people, and in fact have created conditions that are helping some voters in some areas exercise their franchise for the first time in five or ten years. Voters in general are all praise for the forces. Hence, it is rather unfortunate that supposedly responsible politicians are trying to spread disaffection about them by hurling the most outrageous charges at them. The forces are above politics. So is the Election Commission. There is no point crying foul over them when, as Sitalkuchi showed, even eight phases of election may not have been enough for Bengal. It is not the EC’s fault that the fear of intimidation and vote manipulation is very real in Bengal. Hence, politicians of all hues need to behave more responsibly, talk more responsibly and create conditions so that voters can vote in peace. Parties need to rein in their goons. After 45 years—35 years of the Left and 10 of TMC—Bengal is broken. A state has lost almost half a century of its existence to anarchy. The canker of violence is eating away at the innards of Bengal. This cannot be allowed to continue.

Music composer Jatin Pandit reminisced about his Bollywood journey, the inspiration behind his new single and much more. Popularly known by the name Jatin-Lalit, the duo has delivered timeless songs in movies like ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’, ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’, and ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ among many other blockbusters. The composer has now ventured into independent music with his first-ever non-film music album called Dhadakte Rehna.

Speaking about the inspiration behind his new single Dhadakte Rehna, Jatin said, “I was just sitting at home, utilising my time by playing some tunes on my guitar. The rhythm and the words of this song hit out of nowhere. I was just humming the words and playing the tune accordingly. It felt unique and pleasing to my ears and I realised that it had created a melody. My son Rahul Pandit heard it and insisted me to complete the song.”

He explained the meaning of the lyrics, “To me, it seemed like a new approach. When I reviewed the lyrics after writing a few lines, I knew that it was going to be fresh and unique. That’s when I decided to complete it. We decided to shoot the song and started our hunt for a few locations and finally decided to shoot in West Coast California. We shot the whole sequence with Rahul and a Mexican model named Jessica Lopez. The chemistry between the two looks amazing.”

Speaking about how it felt to create an independent music single, Jatin expressed that the entire experience has been amazing. “The song was shot during the Covid-19 pandemic. The presence of Rahul in the video appeals to the youth and revives the young-love element in the video. It was a special moment for me.” 

When asked about his opinion on the changing trends in the music industry, he said, “With the advent of technology, new trends have emerged in the music industry which is good. Music has evolved with time. Now, there are many music directors and background singers. Earlier, the music used to create such an impact that people would forget the stories, the films but good music stayed in their memories forever.”

Talking about his favourite song, Jatin said, “Nothing like Pehla Nasha, composed by my brother Lalit Pandit and I, has ever been created or can be created in future. I believe that the song is immortal.” On a concluding note, the music composer and his son crooned a few lines of Pehla Nasha.

In an exclusive conversation with NewsX as part of NewsX India A-List, Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder & CEO of Koo said that on learning over 90% of people were not comfortable with English they built a platform giving equal recognition to local languages for them to search information, connect and communicate easily.

As Koo expands its network across the length and breadth of the country, Aprameya Radhakrishna spoke about his journey, taking the big leap from the corporate world to establishing his own venture Koo. Sharing insights from his journey, Aprameya said, “After graduating from IIM Ahmedabad, I started working and understanding how a business works. With that understanding, I began to brainstorm what businesses I could run. The first problem that we solved was the cab-hailing problem. Before Vocal and Koo, I founded Taxi for Sure, which was the second-largest player in the cab-hailing market in 2015. We sold it to Ola for $200 million and that was my first entrepreneurial experience. Post that, we started thinking about what would be the next big wave. We saw that people were getting access to phones and the internet. The one thing that would stop them from using the internet was that every app was in English. More than 90% of people in India are not comfortable with English. That is when we started thinking about building something in local languages so that people can search information, connect and communicate with each other, express oneself and that is how our product got formed”. 

Speaking about the necessity of microblogging in India, he expressed, “Vocal is a question and answer app. Although some of our community, which were answering questions, needed to express themselves without answering questions. This made us curious as to why they needed a separate app even although there are other apps. When we deep-dived, we saw that all the major options were in English and if you have to give a comfortable environment for people to express themselves on what is on their mind, it has to be in their own language. If you enter any community, the app converts it into their language and you can find people from the same community who are speaking the language. You will be able to create content in that language very easily including the hashtags and you will talk about things that are important to that community. That did not exist before and so to bring the voices of India, irrespective of language was a new problem to solve. We are solving the problem of connecting India on a deeper level whereas the existing options only connected English-speaking India to the rest of the world. The core philosophy of KOO is the experience we have given to users in terms of local languages and allowed them to easily express themselves in those languages. Nobody has built an app around microblogging and expression of thoughts and opinions ever before in local languages and that is what we have focused on.”

Emphasising that technology-building has undergone different stages in India, Aprameya said, “We have had the resources to build them. Internet access and technology access define who we built the technology for. Companies like Infosys and Wipro built technologies for companies outside because that is where it was needed. Next came, the English-speaking Indian where most cases were about booking tickets, searching for jobs, booking movie tickets, cabs, and buying things online. Now, is when the majority of Indians are getting access to the Internet and technology. There is no better person than an Indian to build technology for them in their own language. Once we build this, we will know how to create apps for non-English audiences as well. We will take this technology to the world, which has a majority of the non-English population, and to those who face the same kind of issues that Indian users face.” 

When asked about the policy challenges, he replied that the guidelines introduced by the Indian Government are rather flexible. “Most of the social media users are behaving very well. Few people, a small percentage of them, are trouble-seekers or mischief-makers because of whom the community faces problems. The idea is to ensure that people behave as they would behave offline. As long as they feel a sense of responsibility while exercising freedom of speech, it is good enough. What you say should not harm other people’s lives. Abiding by the laws of the land is crucial and as an Indian company, we respect that.”

The immediate priority for Aprameya is to “build the team and get young talent to join us in this mission.” He elaborated, “Building and hiring, especially in engineering are important. Our user base has grown, we are close to five million downloads in India across various languages. Our primary objective is to further make it reach 100 million users in a year or so is.” On a concluding note, Aprameya advised the young entrepreneurs: “Make sure you solve a real problem so you do not have to worry about users coming.”

It appears to be the most terrible time for the young generation in India. With blurred announcements on the upcoming Board examination which supposedly was to be held in March, the student’s mental peace and health are being troubled more. As India witnesses the second wave of Covid-19, normal conduct of the board exams will not be efficient. Yet, the Ministry of Education is not likely to take any decision on the cancelation of the exams. With the government giving the least importance to the education sector during the pandemic, it creates an urgency to understand the resilience of board exams.

The board examination for Class X and XII should have been taken as per the normal schedule in March. However, elections and religious occasions stand out to be of prime importance in India. With such a mindset, the student’s future has been neglected. Now, with a ballooning number of cases, the Education Board seeks to conduct the exams in normal mode steering to a complete mess.

Educationists have seen pedagogy compromised due to the absence of classroom teaching. With little time to worry about the modifications required in the school curriculum, educational institutions around the world, supported by their governments, adopted online teaching as an antidote. However, while imitating the developed countries, India forgot to understand their ground realities. Inequality of access to the internet in India posed a challenge. The ownership of computing devices is abysmally low in India – only one out of 10 households possess a computing device. In rural India, less than 15% of the households have an internet facility while urban households are well-placed with 42% having access to the internet. The disparity in access to education at the root of the digital divide left children of poor and uneducated parents in limbo.

The case proved to be worsening for the girl child. Right to Education Forum policy brief estimated that ten million girls in India could drop out of secondary school due to the pandemic. University of Oxford’s sample study on India showed that four in five (80%) girls (based in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) have never accessed the Internet, and more than three in five (62%) have never used a computer.

The pandemic has also questioned the mental health of the students. Health Parliament’s mental health survey revealed that 99% of the participants had one or more issues related to mental health. Disturbed sleeping patterns (29%) and loss of interest in performing tasks (26%) were the most common issues faced by the students. 82% of students conveyed that most of the health and behavioral issues they faced during the pandemic were due to academic loss.

The result of all this over the past year is that India’s children have lived through a year of lost learning. The pandemic has put a heavy cost on the whole generation of students. In such an alarming academic regression year, with no proper classes, an incomplete syllabus, and where mental peace is at stake, taking board examinations for Class X and XII sounds absurd.

Yet, different boards of examination including CBSE, CISCE, and other state boards have clarified that the examination will be held this year. This statement has risen to be a matter of putting students’ life at risk for the sake of examination. At least 200 undergraduate students at MAMC were exposed to a Covid patient during a practical exam. With no sufficient resources to cover disparity across regions, this decision tends to expose students to worse outcomes. Raising voices, over 1 lakh students across the country have signed a petition on change.org to reconsider its decision. Multiple campaigns have been started on online platforms—#StudentsLiveMatter, #Cancel10thICSEBoard to name a few. Students, teachers, and parents have been proposing alternatives to regular examinations such as online modes of conduct or cancellation of the papers.

There seems to be no valid reason for the approval of Board exams for Class X. It should be completely canceled. National Education Policy (NEP) itself recommends doing away with class X board exams. Nonetheless, now at the time of implementation, the government looks to be backing behind. Addressing Class XII board exams, it should be conducted online only if the government can assure digital access to far-off regions. Else, cancellation of the papers will be the wise step ahead. Postponement of the paper should not even be thought of as it only adds more burden and chaos in the student’s life. Colleges and universities already have entrance exams that address admission issues. Albeit, such processes are not in action for many universities, the past 3-4 years of performance assessment can deal with such admission concerns during extreme times.

Rising tensions have put doubts on the importance of examination. Exams should not be considered as the main criteria for student promotion. Rather, there is a need to bring a transformational structural change to the education system in India. It should be more inclusive in personality and extra-curriculum development. On the other hand, the government should also make available more vaccines for the young age group. Immunising children is important rather than testing their brains.

It is time when India should learn from Nordic countries like Finland and build more cohesive educational programmes realising long-term gains. The government needs to shun the deeply flawed ‘technological approach’ to eliminate human suffering, and instead, adopt a humanist approach to tackle deprivation, including the provision of quality education through public deliberation, systematic investment, and enhanced accountability.

Education is a means to develop the fundamental skills of a child. With more than one lakh daily Covid-19 cases, the decision to conduct the board exams has thrown the entire education system into qualm. No parents are ready to send their children to the exam hall at the cost of their lives. To sustain the meaning of learning, the nation needs to come on grounds to understand the lives and challenges of students, parents, teachers, and the entire education system.

Rajesh Mehta is a leading international consultant & columnist working on Market Entry, Innovation & Public Policy. Diksha Mittal is a public policy researcher. Views expressed are personal.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday blamed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the violence which led to the killing of four people in Cooch Behar during voting in the fourth phase of Assembly polls in the state on Saturday. He said that Mamata’s appeal to the people to target security forces provoked the clash and attack on the central forces.

Addressing an election rally at Basirhat Dakshin assembly constituency of North 24 Parganas district, the former BJP president said, “An unfortunate incident has taken place during the fourth phase of polling, where some youngsters have attacked a pooling booth under Didi’s misguidance, they tried to snatch CISF personnel’s weapon, in the circumstances, the CISF personnel had opened fire and four people lost their lives. This is a sad incident for all of us but I want to know why these youngsters had to take this step, some days back Mamata Didi held a meeting in the Sitalkuchi Assembly Constituency announced and instigated youngsters and women to come forward and gherao CAPF.”

The Home Minister further said, “You said that and left on your wheelchair but because of you those four people were killed. And the next day in the same assembly constituency a BJP worker was killed. Early morning at 7:30 am, the goons of Trinamool Congress shot dead the BJP worker.”

Shah said, “Didi is repeatedly saying Amit Shah must resign. Didi when people will ask me to resign then I will. But you must prepare as you will have to resign on 2 May.” The Union Minister was in West Bengal and held several roadshows including back-to-back events first in Nadia district’s Santipur and then in Ranaghat Dakshin.

Meanwhile, Mamata termed the incident as “genocide” in which four TMC workers were shot dead by central forces at a polling booth in Sitalkuchi in the Cooch Behar district on Saturday.

Addressing the media persons in Siliguri, she alleged, “It is genocide. We have decided to observe today as a black day. The forces fired on them directly. The CISF is trained to provide security to industries and not to control a mob. I could not sleep last night but the Prime Minister was eating sweets. Such an incompetent government, incompetent Prime Minister, incompetent Home Minister.”

After featuring in blockbuster films like Gold & Kabir Singh, Nikita Dutta is now winning hearts with her performance in The Big Bull. On the day of the film release on Disney + Hotstar, Nikita Dutta joined NewsX for a candid interview as part of NewsX India A-List.

Talking about her incredible journey so far,  Nikita said, “If I go back into when I was in school & college, I actually didn’t have acting on my mind. Like every other very academically-oriented kid, I had plans of sitting and preparing for the IAS. It happened to me with Miss India when I just randomly decided to take part in it and I think from there my journey started. Right after that, once I was done with college, is when I got into television. Television was one of those things that came to me and it seemed interesting. I didn’t want to say no. After I said yes to my first show, I think that’s when I, kind of, fell in love with acting. Slowly & steadily, after doing three shows on television, I said yes to my first film Gold, which of course worked well and that’s how Kabir Singh also happened. From there, I started getting more chances to be a part of some really beautiful films and that’s how it has come along all this while.”

When asked about her time on the sets of The Big Bull and working with Abhishek Bachchan, she expressed, “Well, I had a fabulous time on the sets of the Big Bull. Abhishek, as a person, is extremely entertaining, especially off the camera. I think you can catch him in his best elements off the camera. He is out there to make sure everybody on set doesn’t feel left out. He’s going to pull everybody’s legs. He’s gonna make sure he rags you a little bit. I’ve been a victim of that but I think that is what makes shooting so much more fun with him around. There’s so much I got to learn from him because he is, of course, way more experienced than me. Overall, working with Abhishek and Kookie sir and shooting for The Big Bull was fabulous.”

Nikita tested positive for Covid-19 before the release of the film. Sharing her thoughts on the experience, she said “I don’t know if I should say fortunately or unfortunately, I don’t know how to put it, but I was actually feeling very sick before I tested positive. I was shooting for something and that’s when my co-actor tested positive and we decided to halt the shoot. That’s when I got tested for the first time. It came negative. But, just within a day , I started feeling very unwell and when I got my second test done, that also came negative. It was only in the third test that i tested positive for Covid-19. I got it done just for safety because I wanted to travel. So, by the time I tested positive, I already started to feel much better and now with every day I am getting better. But yeah, it’s something you can’t escape. I think it is inevitable now. Everybody who is out there working outdoors, is somehow going to catch it.”

Expressing her views on the vaccination drive in India and whether it should be rolled out to every adult in the country, she stated, “If you see. India is a highly populated country, so it is right to prioritise, how they have been doing. Though, I also feel it should be really fast because, at the end of it, you know we all want to make a livelihood. We all step out to make money, to earn, make our bread and butter so the soonest this can be done, the better it is for the country and for everybody.”

On doing ‘Rocket Gang’ opposite Aditya Seal, Dutta expressed, “That’s something I am damn excited about. We started this project back in 2019. Then, the pandemic happened. In December 2020, we were in the last leg of finishing the film but, unfortunately, we had to halt it again because of Covid cases on set. But, it is something I am really looking forward to as it is out-and-out dance-based film. I have never danced in front of the camera and this is going to be completely dancing. So, that’s something I am really really looking forward to as it is something different.”

Throwing light on her other upcoming projects, Nikita said, “I am doing this horror film called Ezra with Emraan Hashmi that’s scheduled to believe this year itself. So, again that is a completely different genre again even that is a completely different character I m playing. So, again I think I m very happy with the kind of palette that I have in the coming year that the audience is going to get to see.”

On a concluding note, Nikita shared a piece of advice to all the young girls who wanna make it big in Bollywood. She said, “I have always followed one principle, i.e  go with what your heart says, don’t get influenced by anybody who is coming to tell you how something needs to be done. Do what you think is right. This is one principle I have followed from day one. When I had said yes to television, there were a lot of people who came up to me and said ‘You were making a big mistake and don’t do this. You were gonna stuck over here and you will never be able to be a part of films’. In fact, when I wanted to do films and I took a break from television, I had people coming to me and saying that ‘You are saying no to a constant source of income. With films, you have to be patient and you just never know when you will get the next film.’ So, I have heard all those kinds of things and I think one thing I have always maintained is just follow your heart, do good scripts, do good work that’s all that matters in the end. I think success, or whatever you do in the future, will follow accordingly.”