Pleading Poverty

By: Kashvi Shrivastava

SNBP International School

March 19th, 2021 walking down the road at 6:00pm, just as the sun was setting I
spotted an infinitely long array of people boarding alongside the scaffed roads. I silently
walked past with nothing to say, nothing to offer. In guilt I washed my hands but couldn’t
wash away the stilted memory of helplessness. Something was to be done. Rummaged
to my laptop, pulled up a blank screen and began typing the next twitter trend.
India tops the charts at 68.8% of the population in poverty. That’s 2/3rds of our
country without proper shelter, food and most
importantly jobs. With the new regulations of GST in
India, the majority looked forward to a funded
government building new infrastructure where job
opportunities could open up. The government of
Madhya Pradesh proposed a scheme where job
applications with no previous experience and no age
restrictions were to be given. People applied
continuously and put to work the next day. A success
indeed, but after months when the pay day arrived officials made excuses and delayed
the date. The problem is dishonesty and how the privileged feel they can use the lower
class. Jobs were assigned but salary wasn’t given. Another fraud to the poor.
Even if the impoverished secure themselves a lowly paid job, they never feel
their importance in the country. India flourishes with its democratic government limited
only to the urban regions. Small villages, the heart of
India, are only given posters but not any voting ballots
despite their higher voter turnout. Voting is a serious era of
politics in India where peoples opinions “are heard”,
supposedly. The majority of the country is not enrolled
despite legal citizenship and age. Several political parties
scam the votes and many elected state governments do
not have pro-poor policies leaving them unjustified.
Without a proper support system, one’s family in despair of cash may have to
indulge their children to start looking for jobs instead of letting them complete their
education. The youth today is ready to make changes for the
world to suit them and not change themselves to suit this cruel
world. About 35 million children aged 6 - 14 years do not attend
school, that’s 53% of the kids being illiterate. Instead of building
schools across the country, businesses and governments prefer funding fast food and
high class diners. Even if a kid enrolls in a school, the heavy fees which schools carry
become uneconomical for families leading them to withdraw. The government should be
propelling it’s generation and not stripping them of educational moralities.
Exploiting the lower class doesn’t only hurt the innocent but will indirectly come
back to the abusers of their feeble state. Without fair job chances and dishonest voters
rights many barely survive. Furthermore, the education we take for granted becomes a
rare probability for several. Laws need to be enforced so that fair opportunities are
bestowed upon every citizen irrespective of caste, creed and economic status. Eliminate
these barriers for the betterment of your country!