SOCIAL MEDIA - TWO VIDEOS, TWO STORIES

For the last many years, social media is triggering decision-making within the government and society. Last week demonstrated it yet again when the Jammu and Kashmir administration reacted to two videos, both concerning the education sector

For the last many years now, the cell phone is emerging as the main changemaker. Equipped with the best cameras and linked to the global highway of information, the younger generation know how to reach people. Now even the government and the formal media follows the trends set by social media.

Education being the key component of life, last week witnessed two major developments. In one, the son of a teacher committed suicide after recording a video highlighting the plight of his family in absence of the salary denied to his father for 30 days.

SHOAIB BASHIR MIR

Two days after he consumed poison in an apple orchard, Shoaib Bashir, 24, died in SMHS Srinagar on May 28. Son of a school teacher, Shoaib’s pre-suicide video stormed social media, a day later. He had expected a quick death but fate forced him to live for two days and reveal his crisis to his mother, Jamila His last words were: “Mother, I have consumed poison.”

“There is only one motive behind my suicide,” Shoaib says in the video. “For two and half years, my father hasn’t been paid. Our life has become miserable. I want my suicide to end the miseries of all the teachers who haven’t been paid.”

Bashir, his father, a militant was arrested in 1996 and acquitted in 1999. In 2005, he was appointed a temporary teacher. Eight years later in 2013, his services were regularized. In 2019, the new rulers of Naya Kashmir sought fresh verifications of the antecedents and Bashir’s salary stopped. For two and half years, Bashir and 630 others were not paid.