- Promoting talent

The popular competition for budding singers, Indian Idol, is going to be over in a few weeks. As soon as the name is declared, the winner’s life will change drastically. He or she will suddenly become a star, and it is a different matter whether the stardom will or will not last.
As a ‘short cut’ to success, a platform like Indian Idol is indeed something that every talented youth dreams of. But, naturally, not every gifted person can make it to such shows and there are many such rough diamonds in India who remain unheard and unsung till the end. In fact, given the size of the country’s population, in the normal course, no matter how much the talent, there is a lot that still needs to be done to identify and groom all of it. This means the level of desperation increases in direct proportion to the number.
Another reality show called ‘India’s Got Talent’, Season Two, is going to start again soon. The risk factor in this programme is high, but in the eagerness to get through the competition, the contestants do not hesitate to go to any extent. Some of the talent in the previous session of the show was from extremely poor financial and social backgrounds, and they wanted to win at any cost just to get the cash prize offered by the producer. In fact, such programmes also help shed light on the undeveloped parts of the country that are totally untouched by ‘economic growth’. There are certainly not the several TV channels and newspapers to focus on them and bring to the fore their problems. There are still a number of extremely backward villages where there is no electricity or roads, hospitals, schools and so on. This means, the other part of India is yet to be ‘lit up’ on the radar of development.
It is really sad that the children and youth in the backward areas are thus discriminated against. And the very slow development, the government’s apathy towards them is responsible for the same. Even though the people in such areas are loaded with talent, it goes waste as there is just no environment that can identify and boost their skills. Many of the children, despite whatever efforts the government is making for their education, are still not going to schools, and thus they are deprived of the system that could help them take their unique talents forward. At home, they do not have understanding, educated and encouraging guardians who can guide them. For instance, the children in the Naxal hit areas are hardly going to succeed no matter what talent they have. Instead, it is most likely that a number of them will be forced to choose the gun very early in life.
Several organisations, institutions and the TV song and dance shows are doing their bit to help out the good artists from across the country. However, it is unfair that the people in the remote areas, who are large in number, do not have easy access to such opportunities. They definitely deserve equal opportunities.