India is a country where one finds all paradoxes, talent sooner or later gets cooked in our country. In a country like India, which boasts some of the richest sportspersons in the world, there is a female champion who has been neglected to such levels that she now sells noodles on the roadside stall in Vadodara to earn a living.
The 21-year old national-level shooter who has represented Gujarat in National Championships has been forced to leave the “expensive” sport due to lack of funds and sell noodles from a cart in order to earn a living and support her family. It’s a heartbreaking sight as she has hung her shiny medal on the cart so that the customers know about her and her achievements. The sight of her medals hanging from a roadside cart is enough to tell the story of this 21-year-old shooting champion. The young shooter was earlier part of the National Cadet Corps and took up sports while studying in college. Pushpa’s father Dinesh Kumar Gupta has his own complaints to Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “Modi ji has been stressing upon the need of empowering women. But we are yet to receive any help from the authorities,” he said.
It was just recently after her news got viral and widely shared on social media that Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation (GSFC) has come forward with a job offer for Pushpa Gupta, promising to help her in continuing her shooting career after she completes her studies.
Thus one finds that social media can change the world to be a better place and I guess with passing time its real potential is being harnessed for common good but the government needs to understand that empowerment should be on a general basis and not be dependent on social media!
(With inputs from ANI and TOI)