DNA exclusive: If only a scrappage policy could change the mindset of Indians which they imbibed from the British, Mughals

75 years ago, India got independence from the British. But it was not easy to achieve this independence as the British had ruled India for 190 years before exiting the country. A handful of British were able to enslave such a large and thousands of years old civilization as they succeeded in attacking and destroying the education system of the country soon after they arrived here.

New Delhi: There was a time when people in our country would bring a car home and believe that they would drive and keep it for the rest of their life. That was the time when a car was treated as the pride of the family and was even placed as an important member of the family by some. However, things are no longer the same anymore. 

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a national vehicle scrappage policy stating that the policy is a significant milestone in India's development journey. The government said scrapping the vehicle would help phase out unfit and polluting vehicles in an environment-friendly manner. Under these regulations, a car owner won't be able to drive the same vehicle for 15-20 years or if it is found to be unfit before the completion of 15 years. In such a situation, the vehicle will be scrapped, i.e. it will be turned into junk. Under the Scrappage Policy, there is a plan to scrap government and commercial vehicles that are over 15 years old. Private vehicles older than 20 years will also be scrapped. 

On the other hand, owners who want to re-register their old vehicles can get it done after it passes the fitness test. For this, old vehicles will be checked at the Automated Fitness Center. The fitness of the vehicles will be checked as per international standards. Emission test, braking system, safety components will be checked and vehicles failing in fitness test will be scrapped.

A car owner would be able to get at least 4-6 per cent of the total cost from car dealers on getting the old car scraped. Apart from this, there will be a discount of up to 25% in road tax on the purchase of the new private vehicles and up to 15% on the purchase of new commercial vehicles. On scrapping certificates, vehicle manufacturers will also give a discount of 5% and the registration fee will not have to be paid on the purchase of a new vehicle.

As per the government, with the implementation of this scheme, the import of oil in India will also be reduced. The demand for electric vehicles will increase and the environment will also be benefitted. According to the data, there are 51 lakh Light Motor Vehicles in India that are more than 20 years old, out of which almost 34 lakh vehicles are more than 15 years old. There are around 17 lakh Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles that are more than 15 years old and are running without the required fitness certificate.

Scrap policy is also necessary because old vehicles cause 10-12 times more pollution than fitted vehicles and are a major threat to road safety. One advantage of the Scrap Policy is that the automobile industry will get the cheaper raw material from scrap material and with the help of cheap raw materials, the production cost of the vehicle manufacturers will be reduced. With the scrap policy, about 3.70 crore people will get employment in the automobile sector.

At least 35,000 people will be employed in new fitness centres and investment of Rs 10,000 crore will increase. The government treasury is estimated to get an amount of about 30-40,000 crore rupees through GST from the Scrap Policy.

Rules for creating Fitness Test and Sapping Centers will come into effect from October 1, 2021. Scrapping of vehicles by government and public sector undertakings older than 15 years will be started from April 1, 2022. The fitness test will be made mandatory for heavy commercial vehicles from 1st April 2023 and fitness tests will be made mandatory for all other categories of vehicles from June 1, 2024 in a phased manner.

Germany, Canada, America and most of the growing countries of Europe had implemented this type of Scrappage Policy some 11-15 years ago from today. Although India delayed bringing in the police, it has finally been launched. 

And while the government has brought in a policy to scrap unfit old vehicles, ever thought about the thinking and mindset of the people here that they imbibed by British and Mughals several decades ago.

India got independence from the British rule almost 75 years ago. However, it wasn't easy to achieve this independence as the British had ruled India for 190 years before exiting the country. A handful of British was able to enslave such a large and thousands of years old civilization as they had succeeded in attacking and destroying the education system of the country soon after they arrived here. 

In 1931, Mahatma Gandhi, in his speech during a Round Table Conference in London, stated that the British had cut down the education system of India. The number of educated people was much higher. He said that before the arrival of the British, the number of educated people in India was much higher. Objecting to his remark, an English MP said that whatever the people of India know to read and write today was all because of the British. Gandhi said that he can prove his point, however, due to the paucity of time, he could not present his views. However, Mahatma Gandhi was completely right in his views.

The British themselves had conducted a survey in 1822 on the education system of India at that time. The report showed that at that time, almost 1 lakh schools were running in Bengal Presidency alone. There was not a single village in Madras then that did not have a school. At that time, every village in Bombay with a population of more than 100 had at least one school. The teachers and students who taught in these schools belonged to all castes, there was no discrimination of any kind.

The only difference was that then the education in the schools was done in the Indian way. The British were terrified to see this and made a plan to ruin India's education system in the next two decades. The education tree of India was cut down and the seeds of Macaulay's education system were sown in the society of India. India remained a slave of the British for almost 200 years.

Under this, missionary schools were established across the country, in which English was taught in which Christian teachers taught the children about the history of Western civilization, its merits and history. This experiment of the British was so successful that in 1836 Macaulay wrote a letter to his father in which he mentioned that 'our schools were progressing rapidly. No Hindus studying in these schools will remain attached to their culture. And if all goes well, in the next 30 years there will not be a single Hindu studying English who believes in idol worship, or believes in his religion.'

The upper-caste Hindus were targeted by the British. They were taught in schools and were made to believe that they were responsible for the poor condition of the lower castes.

This education system of the British gave birth to that class in India because of India's independence was postponed for many years. Those people were included in this class who started dreaming of getting power even before India became independent. After this, when India became independent, only these people who thought, wrote and studied in English started ruling India. 

After independence, these people ran the government. Children and students in schools and colleges were taught only what suited the political agendas of these people. The golden history of India was gradually disappeared from the history books. Ashoka the Great was replaced by Akbar the Great and Aurangzeb replaced Dara Shikoh in school books. 

Now, you must have got an idea that how everything can be changed by changing the education system of a country.