A Preview to how my piece on "My take on Agitations" will conclude.

Considering the fact that I teach Political Science at the Osmania University in Hyderabad, a lot of people have been asking me why the students of the Osmania University are at the forefront of the Separate Telangana agitation. Many are too impatient for me to finish the long piece that I have started. I was foolish enough to think that I could finish writing that piece in one go, but now I realize that as I write, there are so many details that I need to incorporate into that piece. I think therefore I will proceed at the pace at which I have been doing so far but give a small preview of sorts to how the lengthy exposition is going to end, or should I say, likely to end. What I will do therefore, is pick two questions that most people ask me about the students and their involvement in the Separate Telangana agitation.

Question no. 1

Are the students a part of a cadre of a political party or are they independently operating on their own?

Brief answer: They are not really a cadre of a political party, even though they, along with some teachers, have definite party affiliations and maybe just a few are possibly official cadre of a party. But perhaps with the exception of one party, the others are not even cadre based parties.

Question no. 2

What are the motivations of the students in getting involved in the agitation? In fact they seem to be spearheading it, at least at this point in time.

Brief answer: A brief answer to this question is really not possible. I would say that the closing section of my serialized piece will answer that in detail. But for now, I am compelled to say something, and therefore I will. The student involvement in this agitation is not as simple as it may seem. It has everything to do with the process of policy making and governance that has over a period of time disadvantaged students belonging to the rural areas, especially of Telangana. To put it succinctly, this has made most of the students graduating in the recent past, and those who are in the process now, and those who are likely to in the immediate future, unemployable. This is because they have been never introduced to the skills required to make them employable. In a country where education is seen as means of employment for livelihood, this is unpardonable. The frustration that comes with knowing where exactly they stand, and a remote hope that the agitation and setting up a separate state may find something to do, drives them towards the agitation and even to spearheading it. This is representative of a failure of leadership, as also a systemic failure. More of this will come out in the final part of my piece. So please bear with me till then.