Few months back, some children in a village complained of swollen necks. More and more children started complaining about swollen necks every month.
A villager, Ram Singh being superstitious thinks that the village is cursed by a ‘devil’. Shyam is another villager, who thinks it is due to some disease which needs consultation from a doctor.
On the basis of above passage, answer the following questions.
(i) Do you agree with Ram Singh or Shyam?
(ii) What can be the reason behind swollen necks of the young children in the village? How can the problem be overcome?
(iii) What values are shown by Shyam?
(i) No. I do not agree with Ram Singh as there is nothing like devil. I agree with Shyam.
(ii) The swollen necks might be due to deficiency of iodine in food of the village children. Iodine is necessary for the thyroid gland to make thyroxine hormone. Thyroxine helps in regulating carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism in the body to give best balance of growth. The problem can be overcome by consuming iodised salt in place of ordinary salt.
(iii) The values shown by Shyam are rational attitude, awareness and scientific temperament.