A few weeks back, I had an interesting conversation with a close friend of mine on Education loans. I explained my views on how difficult its for any under-privileged student to get Education loans. Reluctant managers , amount of paper work, collateral and what not. I don't mean to say that you drop into a bank and get out with an educational loan. But its a fact that many people have stopped dreaming big because they cannot afford the dreams.
I also informed my dear friend about the plan of providing loan @ 4% interest to students as per the BJP manifesto for Election 2009.
Here are some of the views that my friend had on this issue. I more or less listened to him and didn't come to any conclusions. After a lot of thought. My replies are inline.
1. Who the hell cares!! Dont act like a communist. You were supposedly right wing capitalist.
Oh, Is it Shouldn't the government care about education of its citizens? Don't capitalist countries like USA, Germany award umpteen scholarships to deserving students. Would you term USA, Germany socialistic-capitalistic democracies then?? :)
2. Who the hell came up with 4% number? Yaake helu free ne kotbidtaare. Yaava bhoopa 4% andiddu. You know there is something called repo rate , market dynamics wont allow this to happen ..................
Obviously , I was very ill qualified to take on his understanding of the "market dynamics" , having been working on electronic circuits, this surely had to be my Achilles feet. Should we just stick to a discussion of just numbers? I have no idea, how 4% came in. Say its not 4%, its 5-7%. Isnt that good enough? Do we get to know how each paisa of money that we pay as education cess gets used? What percent of the so-called loan market does education loans constitute to have adverse impact on "market dynamics"?
3. People who can't afford, can't dream big. That's capitalism.
Wow. I am not asking you to spend on someone's education from your pocket dear. If I coerced you then you could blame me for being a communist, Socialist. Isn't it the government's responsibility to aid people who have had good credentials and who can make it big?
Sorry dear. Now look who's behaving like a communist. It's a habit that the communist have to align every view of theirs to their "holy" doctrines, never mind if it's right or wrong. Communists are believed to have jeopardized research on Mendel's genetics because it didn't align with their doctrines.
4. Bank's are money making proposition. It's capitalism.
I didn't know that. :) Why do we have regulatory bodies like the RBI? Why do we even have a government that controls these regulatory bodies? Let's have some capitalistic fun. No frills attached. That's capitalism isn't it?
How valid is it to base every argument on text book definitions? I for one believe that Capitalism is the birth right of every individual, Socialism is an advisory.
I only wish to remind my dear friend that in ancient India, there was no upper limit on the income one could earn. But service to the needed was considered a virtue and its still considered one.
Do we need to make our government just another "money making proposition" ? Or do we need to re-think the definition "For the people, of the people, by the people" ? Or do we need to redefine "people" itself ?
