Are we not concerned about remote areas in India

 

I was reading some article on rediff. Apparently- Manipur was cut off from the rest of the country for more than a month due road blockade started by some organization which (i feel sorry to say, i do not recollect). For me who did the road blocks, whether they were right are not important questions. For me what is important is  ‘We’ simply did not seem to care.  Government was sleeping over this. Even more disturbing was – media apathy on towards on this issue. These days i am getting bothered with media, TRP and ‘we’ liking only ‘entertaining’ news.

Simply put it- we are bothered about the issues which we have proximity to. They are accessible to us. More importantly many times they do not really affect us that badly and hence, we see them with ‘gossip’ mentality.

Recently- we ‘forgot’ railway accident in WB very easily- even media. I am very certain- media persons were paid very heavily to keep quiet about this issue after 1 day.Similar observation about the killings in Dantewada a few days back or Gadchiroli last year.

We forget who do not have proximity to us. Period.

This should change. At least in the educated class by at least being aware of the issues.

Probably i can co-relate with these issues- because i come from Nagpur, Vidarbha one of the neglected areas of Maharashtra. And perhaps i can co-relate with Manipur people. What happens with region/people of Vidarbha at state level probably happens 50 times more with these 7 remote states of India. (Some people will probably need to be reminded that there are 7 states in North East India with distinct/different cultures and our very own Indian people).

At this juncture i have decided to do one small thing- i have decided to look into geography of Vidarbha and know the exact names of districts in Vidarbha and know good or bad things of Vidarbha. Please note I am a proud Maharashtrian and love being part of Maharastra and in no way supporter of separate Vidarbha movement.But in these times when people in non-remote areas least concerned about the remote areas, at least people in remote areas can use information technology to try connect with people with-in their areas and form a stronger network.

My sympathies with people of North east in general and people of Manipur in particular.

 

Love- Harsh