Lok Sabha elections 2024: Drawing a blank to create awareness about voting

Tambda rassa No It is tabula rasa Election officials in Jalgaon district have been using the concept of tabula rasa which can be traced back to the writings of Aristotle to promote the importance of voting in elections Armed with a stack of blank A4 sheets midday on Monday visited a drive at a local college where students had fun while learning about electionsThe ideaTabula rasa or blank slate in Latin refers to the notion that when born humans entire lack builtin mental content and that later perceptions or sensory experiences are the sources of all knowledge The concept was first developed by the 4th century BCE Greek philosopher Aristotle and refined and expanded upon by subsequent thinkers including Ibn Sina Reneacute Descartes and Sigmund Freud through the agesHow is it being usedAyush Prasad Jalgaon district collector said that as part of the process students are handed a sheet of paper and asked to do whatever comes to their mind with it ldquoThey may pen down their thoughts draw vent their feelings scribble or even crumple the paper The basic idea is to make use of the paper with freedom as per their thought process and wishes We give them a few minutes Once this is done the sheets are collected and they are told this is exactly what happens inside the election booth in those few seconds when you are alone with the EVM You can express your wish use the EVM and cast your vote It is just like a blank paper and the freedom that one has inside is booth is the essence of our democracy It is for this freedom that we had our fight for independence which we achieved in 1947 This is what students and firsttime voters are toldrdquoElection awarenessJalgaonrsquos election officials have been visiting colleges and educational institutions to spread awareness about the importance of voting to boost the vote count of the district ldquoThe average sarkari messages are mundane and hence we are using such creativity to rope in firsttime voters and the electorate in generalrdquo Prasad said midday visited a tabula rasa drive at Khandesh College of Management and Engineering along with district election officials armed with a set of blank A4 sheets Firstyear engineering students had fun while learningJalgaon district collector Ayush Prasad at his office on May 6 PicsAshish RajeDr Atul Ingale professor at the college and PhD in English literature coordinating with the election officials explained the concept to students ldquoWe have got some tambda rassa for yourdquo The words clicked and the chaotic students were attentive Well tambda rassa has nothing to do with Latin or the concept in discussion but it is one of the most popular and spiciest dishes from Maharashtra The name of the dish is derived from the way it looks as in Marathi tambda means copper which is almost red while tassa refers to curryAfter explaining the concept in brief officials spread around and asked the students to use the blank sheets and there was an overflow of creativity Being students some wrote explanatory notes about the importance of elections in democracy while a girl listed why voting for the right leader is important as Parliamentary elections come once in five years Another student listed points like inflation and rising prices abolishing GST free rations and paper leaks One student drew an image of the inking of the fingerMost of the distributed papers were used to express something or the other and the session ended with an explanation of election processes ldquoThis practice involves students in the process and reaches across faster than the regular typical modes of communication Everyone was enthusiastic We will know how well the system has clicked with the youth only after the voting dayrdquo an election official saidVote count statsIn 2019 there was a 5612 per cent turnout in Jalgaon and 6140 per cent in Raver lower than the numbers of 2014 when it was 58 per cent in the former Lok Sabha constituency and 6348 per cent in the latter The administration this time hopes to get to the root of the cause and increase the vote count in 20245612Percentage voter turnout in Jalgaon