You are your own Boss

You are your own Boss

“A man does what his society rewards him to do.” A society which rewards trust, produces leaders who are trustworthy. A society which encourages corruption at individual homes producing individuals who are corrupted. That’s the basic truth of democracy, the beauty of which allows the people of the society to elect their own reflection to govern them, which means the personnel forming the elected government is a representation of the ones who elect it.

A man who supports education single-handedly in a rural area pushes all by himself because the ruling govt of the period does not care to intervene. Students sit idle in govt schools and teachers ignoring their responsibilities are indulged in nonsensical talks and activities, now that may be either because they do not have the slightest of an idea about the future of the country that feeds them or they strongly believe that earning money for themselves is enough for the country’s future. Such people do not give a damn even if the national sovereignty is at a stake.

So, who is to blame? Laws? Corruption? Ministers? Public? But before you blame someone, let’s look at the very root where every problem needs a solution. A nation can be great only if has great citizens, and a young nation as “India” is a tremendous possibility regarding the same. So, before we blame the government, or someone else for our problems let’s try and make sure that we rectify the slightest of a role that we ourselves played in it.

It’s true that wrong committed over decades cannot be corrected overnight, but in this election, at least, we can take our first step in that direction. Many may think that what a single person can change in a “Democracy”. But we must remind ourselves, in a democratic form of government, “YOU ARE YOUR OWN BOSS.” It is you who decides your way of action. It is not a spectator’s sport, rather it is a participatory game, where every citizen has their own role to play.

This article is not to persuade you to follow a particular political party, but an urge to make a conscious choice in making the state a better place to live in.

Election’s at the door: Gear up

Election’s at the door: Gear up

April 4 it is (for lower Assam the date’s 11^th of April), the day when the citizens of the state will be handed the power to decide their representatives who will guide their future for the next five years. The period when you are granted their highest power in Democracy, to be the boss of your own and the region’s future. The day when you will have the power to vote.

That will be the juncture when your choice and decision will either empower you or trouble you for years to come. So, being a conscious citizen, we are to make a conscious choice of consecrating a sentient leader to ruling the state. First and foremost duty of being a citizen is to exercise your right to vote. Please Do Vote and make the ones who ­­­­­­­­­­ignore the necessity to vote, either out of ignorance or frustration, realise its importance.

But the burning question is, “Who is an apt candidate for CM?”  Most of you have surely found your own answers to the question and know what needs to be done, but even then here are a few facts which might help you to determine regarding the same:

· Over the last 15 years only three new medical colleges have been inaugurated. Jorhat, Tezpur and Borpeta. All of them have mixed reviews.

· Government claims to have connected 18000 villages with electricity but research says most of these work have only been done on paper.

·  Assam Forest department states in its website(assamforest.in) that there has been substantial growth in forest cover over the region, but the truth is large forests such as Garbhanga are slowly being depleted and people like “Jaydev Payeng”, who single-handedly planted an entire forest even when govt discarded the project near Jorhat are not recognised.

Read: This is not Just an Image-It's a ddepiction of what's coming

· Schools like Parijat Academy are still surviving on volunteer help and well wishes instead of govt fundings.

·  Certain areas by the outskirts of the city do not have fresh drinkable water, especially the areas beyond Narengi and tribal locations of Maiong.

Though it is said that there has been a gradual decline of extremism within the city since the year 2000, but that is not enough. Extremists still trouble the state through its unexplored areas, and “The Secret Understandings” (Gupon Buja Buji) among the political parties on the cases of corruption are undeniable.

From the period of secret killings and kidnappings to poach the pride of Assam, the one-horned rhinoceros, extremism has shifted from one target to another.

So, we must be conscious and choose wisely because the one you choose will represent you.

This is not just an image - It is depiction of what's coming

Have a nice look at the image? Do you see a pattern? A pattern that has been going on for the last several generations and still continuing. The pattern has not only been denigrative but will insidiously continue to degenerate the very essence of Mother Nature that we, the citizens of Assam are proud of.

You think it might be just an ordinary image of a hill slowly and steadily getting affected by deforestation but in reality it is a sign of something reverential being crushed under the burden of greed and desires of the human body. It’s petrifying to even contemplate the future of North-eastern forest if these blasphemous scenario heads the same way.

The government and the forest department of Assam, whose shoulders bear the responsibility of upkeeping these ethereal beauty claims to have a tremendous success in their endeavours of managing the complex scenarios of these forests. But this image erases every single doubt in the mind that the success achieved is only partially true or totally false. The forest you see here is a home to more than fifty different species of birds, elephants, leopards and more than a hundred different types of butterflies. These had been homes to numerous others as well before human intervention.

But we humans have also bred a species whose greed knows no bounds. It will rip, kill, and destroy entire species if necessary just to fulfill its desires of money and wealth. Just for the hunger of earning a few more bucks, these autotrophs have been depleting ever since. The people living in the shadow of ignorance prioritised a “non-living piece of paper” that we term “money” when compared to those living beings who gives us the life-providing air.

But, it is more unfortunate that what you see is just the surface of the problem. The source of this trouble goes more deep. It’s not a conundrum of the intellect. But the way the intellect is developed. The group which has been proactive in such cases are those who had been onto it for generations. That answers a lot of questions regarding why and how are related to this profession or stumbled upon it.

I am writing this today because today when I looked at it and realized what was being done to it, I felt a surge of gloom inside me, as if someone was trying to communicate their grief but I was incapable of listening to it. As if the realization dawned upon like a thunderbolt and I understood that there are only few more years to the existence of what remains after which it will be converted into barren land for agriculture or building luxury.

The hard and cruel truth is this, “There may be a time soon in the future that only the tales of such forests will remain in the minds and being passed over generations instead of the forest itself.”

7 tips to make a good questionnaire

7 tips to make a good questionnaire

 

Hi folks! Worrying about the project fever is going around the college right now? Running up and down the centres and offices, meeting respondents, collecting and analysing data is really a lot of work to do. But this also provides us with an opportunity to shed light on some of those unenlightened areas which we had, maybe never investigated before. And the most powerful companion which will give you an unadulterated help and data in completing your task will be your questionnaire.

Now many of us while preparing a questionnaire are in a sure wonder as to “How to craft questions which will give me a correct and unbiased data to analyse?” 

Firstly, there is no perfect question for a questionnaire. Every person is a bit different and that make the response of every respondent unlike the other. But there are certain tips which can help you build a questionnaire that will encourage more appropriate quality of information as per your requirements.

So, here are such seven tips to help

•             Consistent Interpretability.

The question you craft must be interpreted by different individuals in a consistent manner. Sounds very easy but equally challenging to achieve. For example, if you ask “Have you ever been subjected harassment from customer care executives?” Some may take harassment to be the misbehaviour of the customer executive officers, while others may consider improper etiquettes to be harassments. So you see the same may mean different to different respondents at different point of time. Make your queries as clear and specific as possible.

•             Make questions that the respondent may answer wilfully.

Now, sometimes the survey requires personal information of the respondents which they may not be willing to answer. For example, if the query is asking if the respondent is suffering from contagious disease or what drug they may be prescribed with.” It is found that the respondent, in most of the cases is not wilfully ready to answer the question. Now, that may be a problem, because the data received may not be 100% to the point. In such a case, you must assure the respondent that the data will not be shared or rather kept, ‘anonymous’.

•             Craft the inquiry to make the respondent answer the truth.

On many occasions it is seen that respondent answers wilfully but that is not the truth. As an example you may ask, if the respondent has a Debit or a Credit card? In such cases it is seen that the respondent may answer positively even if he/she doesn’t have a Debit/Credit card. Now, why is that? This is something called “Social Desirability.” Having a mode of electronic banking is socially desirable now-a-days. So the respondent may lie, for the fear they may be judged negatively. In such a situation, you can carve the question in the way he may answer the truth. It might be better to put it in this way, “Some people use cash to pay their transaction, while others use Debit/Credit Card, which way do you prefer?”

•            Make sure respondent has the appropriate knowledge

This happens to be one of the most important tip, “Never ask a question to a man which he may not have the answer to.” For example, “What is the amount spend purchasing vegetables per month?” This question is something which you will find different for different members of a household. The one who keeps the finances of the house in check can only answer the question. While the others can’t.

•          Avoid double barrelled questions.

Double-barrelled question questions are two different queries in a single stroke of interrogation. For example, you may ask, “Do you think the company should improve their work environment and also reach out to their customers every week?” Now, in cases, respondents may agree to a part of the question but may not agree to the other part. Now, if you come across such question while preparing a questionnaire, divide it into two specific questions. 

•           Avoid bias terminology.

Being the surveyor, you cannot be biased to a conclusion beforehand. The questionnaire must represent that. As in case, you asked the respondent if he likes the cool-new version of TVS Akula 310? The words “cool-new” adds up to portray a bias. That should be avoided.

•           Pre-test your questions.

The final and the most important tip, pre-test your queries before starting the survey. That shall not only help you in re-collecting any gaps that you left in your survey, and improve your chances of developing the survey…

Thank You and Good luck....!!