Double Murder Or Suicide?

Two more Dalit girls died in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the most populated, and most backward province in the country. While family members insist that the girls were murdered, the police calls it a suicide.

The bodies of the teenagers, aged 15 years and 18 years, were found hanging from a tree in a mango orchard last Tuesday, near their home in district Farrukhabad. The two friends were last seen celebrating the festival of Janmashtami, birth of Lord Krishna, at the local temple. Why would they take their own life the same evening, is a question under investigation.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at the deteriorating law and order situation in UP. He wants an immediate and impartial investigation into the tragic incident.

He said that on-going crimes against women have created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity in the state. Yadav underlined that women’s safety should transcend politics and be treated as a serious issue.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh wants greater focus on women’s safety in UP, and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi slammed the police for the ‘hurried cremation’.

Gandhi wrote on X, “Shouldn’t a grieving father have the right to know full details of what happened to his daughter? Why was there a rush from the authorities to cremate the bodies?”

The ‘Holy’ CM

However not one kind word, not one word of solace has been heard from the UP Chief Minister (CM) Adityanath over the death of the two Dalit girls.

Unmoved, the CM continues to concentrate on fanning hate in UP with his divisive talk. He is seen as the ruling party’s future, and spends an astonishing sum of money on advertising his ‘achievements’, which remain mostly on paper.

The same money could have been put to better use to clothe, feed and educate countless poverty stricken citizens in UP. Instead the propaganda mills work overtime to try and trick voters into believing that projects like the Lucknow Metro, women's helpline, an expressway and a cricket stadium are the ruling party’s gift to the state, including the narrative that the ruling party alone has succeeded in maintaining law and order, and providing security to women in UP.

The reality is that despite its political significance, UP remains one of the poorest states in the country. In the last decade, the living conditions in UP have worsened, its economy has spiralled down, unemployment has spiked, the price of essential commodities has skyrocketed and the headlines travelling out of the state are mostly hateful, violent including gruesome crimes against women.

Swatantra Talim

One answer to many ills facing UP is a drop in the value system amongst citizens, and the need for life appreciating education for all. That is exactly what Ridhi and Rahul Agarwal are trying to do for a living.

The couple is founder of Swatantra Talim, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that believes in providing considerable freedom to children from low income families to learn also on how to grow up into more gentle and kind citizens.

Swatantra Talim is a non-government organisation (NGO) that has been working with the education of children from low income families with a rural background for over a decade.

“We want education to not just reach children’s minds, but to reach their value system, their soul,” Outreach and Communication Lead Alisha Asif told The Citizen.

Swatantra Talim encourages children to open up to conversations and to empathy. It is founded with the objective of introducing children to the power of decision making before they reach the legal age of adulthood of 18 years.

Last Sunday, Swantantra Talim’s latest project culminated into a day-long exhibition titled Children as Citizens that attracted a generous crowd of viewers at Lucknow’s art gallery called Kala Srot. On display was the artwork of students of classes four and five that had focused on integrating a child's potential as a thoughtful citizen.

At first the students were helped to explore the different aspects of Lucknow for a year, including architecture. At the end of the year, they were asked to express their feelings and thoughts about their experiences of their city in artwork.

The process was to help children learn about the cultural, social and civic aspects of Lucknow. The hope was to draw a creative and conscious connection between the citizen and the city they live in.

“Our children often work and grow in silos. But experiences and programs like these bring them together and help them collaborate, find problems and solutions together”, Lakshmi Kaul, the principal of KK Academy, said. The school had collaborated on the educational journey with Swatantra Talim.

The event was an occasion to express values close to the heart of children and how they see citizenship and their city! “I learned how to make people out of clay for the first time, and to see the clay doll made by me exhibited here makes me very happy,” Maanya, one of the children participating in the project said.

The parents were thrilled too to see the creative potential of their children on display before the world. “For days we had been hearing that I learnt this today I learnt that today. Now I can see how much my child actually learnt and how hard the children have worked to make this exhibition a success,” a student’s mother Azma said.

Her husband Umar added that he was surprised to see how much his child had achieved because at home it took him a while to listen to the parents. “Maybe it’s the joy, and the way he was made to engage with the project that made him feel part of the process and to enjoy the work too,” the proud parents concluded.

A favourite exhibit was an advertisement reel on Lucknow that had featured the children, and was filmed by them. There was a wall that had explored the civic and social awareness the children had picked up during the exercise, creating posters and graffiti that had advocated a kinder world.

Swatantra Talim has made it its responsibility to provide children and youth a space where they can practise, rather than just read, about the principles of free speech, free association, and the freedom to choose their own learning paths.

With children, and the community around them as support, the crazy adventurous and fun loving team of educationists at Swatantra Talim try to enrich the mind and heart of children through every way known to them.