Facebook
has made an investment of more than Rs. 43,000 crore in Jio Platforms for a 10
per cent stake. Jio Platforms is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance
Industries. This move by Facebook reaffirms two axioms about valuations in tech
and telecom. One is that access matters. Jio, which has 388 million subscribers
at last count, has that in spades. It is the window to the
world of 388 million Indians. The second axiom is that the pace of
digitization has been accelerated by the coronavirus disease. This presents a
great business opportunity for both. In his comments after the Jio deal was
announced, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg spoke of the presence of more than
60 millon small businesses in India
The
Centre has significantly strengthened legal protection for frontline
healthcare workers in the light of the persistent attacks on them600
even as they battle the coronavirus disease. Amending the antiquated Epidemic
Diseases Act, 1897, the Government has made attack against healthcare workers
as a non-bailable offence, expedited the duration of the investigation,
instituted a prison sentence for the convicted up640 to seven years, and
provided for fines ranging from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh. The Ordinance will
cover doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and accredited social health
workers, who have faced increasing attacks on the grounds that their
work makes them carriers of the virus. Housing societies have denied
them accommodation, they have been physically attacked, and, in one700
particularly heart-rending case, mobs attacked the ambulance carrying
the dead body of a doctor to his burial site. The proposal720
to appoint nodal officers to register any concerns that healthcare
workers have regarding their safety is a welcome measure too.
Misinformations on social media, ignorance, prejudice, and disregard for the
law have contributed to the appalling stigma. To its credit, the
Government has consistently lauded the role of healthcare workers and emphasized
their indispensability in the fight against the virus. The Prime
Minister himself has taken the lead with his public calls to honour healthcare
workers. The Government must now800 disseminate the provisions of the
Ordinance widely using all the tools at its disposal. Political
parties should use their extensive cadres to inform constituents of the new
measures. Much will depend on the efficacy of implementation, which has
so often840 been a gap in enforcing the law. The
Government will need to ramp up security presence both in medical facilities
and outside as they conduct screening operations. But at the end, this
is not just a question of legal safeguards. It is a moral imperative that
we respect and protect those who are saving lives at great risk to
their own. This is a test of Indian society and its values.
Prejudice and irrationality should never be allowed to win over humanity
and science.
When
we fix people into one image, we create a stereotype. When people say that
those who belong to a particular country, religion, sex, race or economic
background are ‘stingy’, ‘lazy’, ‘criminal’ or ‘dumb’, they are using960
stereotypes. There are stingy and generous people everywhere, in every country,
in every religion, in every group whether rich980 or poor, male or
female. Just because some people are like that, it is not fair to
think that everyone will be the same. Stereotypes stop us from looking at
each person as a unique individual with his or her own special qualities and
skills that are different from others. They fit large numbers of people
into only one pattern or type. Stereotypes affect all of us as they
prevent us from doing certain things that we might otherwise be good at.
Discrimination happens when people act on their prejudices or stereotypes. If
you do something to put other people down,1080 if you stop them from taking part
in certain activities and taking up jobs, or stop them from living in
certain neighbourhoods, prevent them from taking water from the same
well or hand pump, or not allow them to1120 drink tea in the
same cups or glasses as others, you are discriminating against them.
Discrimination can take place because of several reasons. Groups of people,
who may speak a certain language, follow a particular religion, live in
specific regions etc., may be discriminated against as their customs or
practices may be seen as inferior. People who are poor do not have the
resources or the money to meet their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.
They experience discrimination in1200 offices, hospitals, schools etc.,
where they are treated badly because they are poor. Some people may experience
both kinds of discrimination. They are poor and they belong to groups whose
culture is not valued. Tribals, some religious groups and even particular
regions, are discriminated against for one or more of these reasons. People are engaged in different kinds of1260
work like teaching, carpentry, pottery, weaving, fishing, farming etc., to earn
a livelihood. However, certain kinds of work are valued1280
more than others. Activities like cleaning, washing, cutting hair, picking
garbage are seen as tasks that are of less value and people who do this
work are seen as dirty or impure. This belief is an important aspect of
the caste system. In the caste system, communities or groups of people
were placed in a sort of ladder where each caste was either above or below the
other. Those who placed themselves at the top of this ladder called
themselves upper caste and saw themselves as superior. The groups who were
placed at the bottom of the ladder were seen as unworthy and called “untouchables”.
Every
country needs a government to make decisions and get things done. These can
be1400
decisions about where to build roads and schools, or how to reduce the
price of onions when they get too expensive or ways to increase the supply of
electricity. The Government also takes action on many social issues. It
does1440
other important things such as running postal and railway services.
The Government makes laws and everyone who lives in the country has to
follow these. This is the only way governments can function. Just
like the Government has the power to make decisions, it has the power
to enforce its decisions. For example, there is a law that says
that all persons driving a motor vehicle must have a licence. Any person caught
driving a vehicle without a licence can either be jailed or fined a large sum
of money. Without these laws, the Government’s power to make decisions
is not of much use. In addition to any actions that governments can take, there
are also steps that people can take if they feel that a particular law is not
being followed. If a person feels, for example, that he was not hired for a job
because of his religion or caste, he may approach the court and claim that1600
the law is not being followed. The court can then give orders about what
should be done.
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For audio version of this dictation exercise, please follow the links given below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZaQ6hvqeY4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELnJO5es1Tw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skGirsrGbQQ
