Protesting against the unknown

 Many of us have been deeply tangles into heated arguments about current issues such as politics or economics. Recently, minister Wert's proposed educational plan has been topic of many intense arguments, very often against its approval. I myself had a strong opinion against it. But, do we really know what the educational plan is or we're arguing merely to attack our opponents in a biased and irrational way?

Last Tuesday, the 'Premios Final de Carrera' were given to all of the top-achieving students in their respective university degrees who were finishing their superior studies that year. In an act normally blushed in happiness and pride, were some of the most promising rising professionals receive their well-deserved recognitions, something went terribly wrong.

The prizes, as always, were going to be given personally by the education minister, currently minister Wert. From the hundred winners, more than ten refused to shake hands with him, snatching their certificate and leaving the stage.

These kinds of situations makes one think the gravity of Wert's educational plan, as these young adults are surely intelligent enough to build well-cemented opinions on the matter. And (furthermore) some months ago, not one of the Spanish university deans appeared to a meeting Wert was holding. If such highly regarded professionals believe that the educational plan is wicked, how could I possibly think otherwise!

And this is exactly what should never be done.

 This type of argumentation is completely erroneous, as social behaviour obviously cannot and will never be an empirical source of evidence. Believing that, if virtuous people believe in something that must be correct is not a way of reasoning, as it would be obtaining data from not only a human and subjective mind, but from their own stand, many times strongly biased to stress their points.

Wert's educational plan has many strong points and many weak ones. On the plus side, his plan focuses on promoting a more selective type of education, for instance deleting 4rth ESO and substituting it for two options: introduction to bachillerato or to FP studies. Moreover, to avoid certain centres from passing students who are really unable to complete their Bachillerato, there will be an official exam that students will take and evaluated by external examiners.

Nonetheless, Wert's plan does not seem to contemplate individuality and talent, as the ministry will rigidly lay syllabus contents. Besides, the plan features many controversial subjects, such as religion as an official subject where students will chose between it and ethics.

Despite initially being against Wert's educational plan and probably still being, Spain's rate of people with Bachillerato or FPs is strikingly low: 22%, half as much as in the Eurozone. Obviously, a change is needed, and Wert's plan seems to propose a good draft. When people protest against politics, sometimes they lose the real purpose of raising one's voice to propose a change, which is the way to dialogue. Screaming empty words and a cocky attitude does not.

Mistreat of woman in India

When the unidentified woman died in a Singapore hospital early on Saturday, the victim of a savage rape on a moving bus in the capital, Delhi, it was time again, many said, to ask: why does India treat its women so badly?

Female foetuses are aborted and baby girls killed after birth, leading toan appallingly skewed sex ratio. Many of those who survive face discrimination, prejudice, violence and neglect all their lives, as single or married women.

TrustLaw, a news service run by Thomson Reuters, has ranked India as the worst G20 country in which to be a woman. This in the country where the leader of the ruling party, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, at least three chief ministers, and a number of sports and business icons are women. It is also a country where a generation of newly empowered young women are going out to work in larger numbers than ever before.

But crimes against women are rising too.

With more than 24,000 reported cases in 2011, rape registered a 9.2% rise over the previous year. More than half (54.7%) of the victims were aged between 18 and 30. Most disturbingly, according to police records, the offenders were known to their victims in more than 94% of the cases. Neighbours accounted for a third of the offenders, while parents and other relatives were also involved. Delhi accounted for over 17% of the total number of rape cases in the country.

And it is not rape alone. Police records from 2011 show kidnappings and abductions of women were up 19.4%, women being killed in disputes over dowry payments by 2.7%, torture by 5.4%, molestation by 5.8% and trafficking by an alarming 122% over the previous year.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has estimated that more than 100m women are "missing" worldwide - women who would have been around had they received similar healthcare, medicine and nutrition as men.

New research by economists Siwan Anderson and Debraj Ray estimates that in India, more than 2m women are missing in a given year.

The economists found that roughly 12% of the missing women disappear at birth, 25% die in childhood, 18% at the reproductive ages, and 45% at older ages.

They found that women died more from "injuries" in a given year than while giving birth - injuries, they say, "appear to be indicator of violence against women".

Deaths from fire-related incidents, they say, is a major cause - each year more than 100,000 women are killed by fires in India. The researchers say many cases could be linked to demands over a dowry leading to women being set on fire. Research also found a large number of women died of heart diseases.

These findings point to life-long neglect of women in India. It also proves that a strong preference for sons over daughters - leading to sex selective abortions - is just part of the story.

Clearly, many Indian women face threats to life at every stage - violence, inadequate healthcare, inequality, neglect, bad diet, lack of attention to personal health and well-being.

Analysts say deep-rooted changes in social attitudes are needed to make India's women more accepted and secure. There is deeply entrenched patriarchy and widespread misogyny in vast swathes of the country, especially in the north. And the state has been found wanting in its protection of women.

Angry citizens believe that politicians, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, are being disingenuous when they promise to toughen laws and speed up the prosecution of rapists and perpetrators of crime against women.

How else, they ask, can political parties in the last five years have fielded candidates for state elections that included 27 candidates who declared they had been charged with rape?

How, they say, can politicians be believed when there are six elected state legislators who have charges of rape against them?

But the renewed protests in Delhi after the woman's death hold out some hope. Has her death come as an inflexion point in India's history, which will force the government to enact tougher laws and people to begin seriously thinking about the neglect of women?

It's early days yet, but one hopes these are the first stirrings of change.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20863860

What do you think about the treatment women in India receive?

Do you think that people should trust thei political parties?

It is clear that many countries have evolved leaving behind the discrimination and mistreat of woman, but do you believe India belongs to that group? Why?