Education, not defence should be the focus but can one be without the other

Veteran faculty says the country has failed it’s children in education and stress and expenditure must be diverted towards it rather than defence. Can one but be done without the other?

The strength of our country is in it’s masses and the true potential can only be realized through education and it’s propagation. The suggested cut back on defence expenditure and making peace with China comes from Uday Balakrishnan, visiting faculty, Centre for Contemporary Studies, IISc, Bangalore. a country’s sovereign status and independence is upheld by a strong defence and how possible is propagation of an educated country albeit weak.

In a Release Meet marking the 22nd anniversary of the Centre for Policy Studies here on Monday this has come to light. Drop out rates are high and quality education and vocational education and skills are going amiss. A skewed job market and undistributed development seeks a solution. But the answer does not add up to a cutback on defence cost. With nations playing a game of muscle twisting and arms terrorizing can we afford to say this? If so what when we are educated. Can arms be substituted by a pen/pencil always. May be they complement each other and strengthen the nation but in today’s world it is a ‘not one without the other scenario’.

Also present was former Union Energy Secretary E A S Sarma who is quoted by The Hindu for having said the country was facing a crisis of democracy with its four pillars- dialogue, dissent, discussion and debate- on decline. Dialogue and thinking and learning go hand in hand but in the presence of an aggressor how far can a discussion go.