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Sunday,
August 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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On Record School education in Punjab: what needs to be done |
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Tapping youth potential for nation building
Acting sisters — Zora and Uzra style
Tagore was much more than a literary giant
So Spake Kabira and more
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On Record Q: For decades you have been in public life and active politics. Do you feel politically shackled now? A: Public life has always meant to me a constant challenge — challenge of fighting against poverty, illiteracy, hunger and disease and recurring droughts in Rajasthan. Poverty alleviation schemes and development, therefore, became items of priority for fast speed action — whether as Chief Minister or as Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan. Now, since August 2002, I am not concerned with party politics or electoral politics. But I am concerned with key public issues which should be addressed in a non-partisan manner. Q: Which public issues? A: My foremost concern has been to improve the functioning of democratic institutions. I believe that public perception of the functioning of Parliament largely determines the effectiveness of public governance. With members’ support, we have achieved some success in raising the standards of conduct of business in the Rajya Sabha. Sustained efforts in this direction would continue. Our country today faces formidable challenges. Improving public governance and faster economic growth demand national consensus on key issues to ensure requisite focus and thrust of action on these issues. Through purposeful debate in Parliament, media attention and wider public awareness, right solutions would emerge and the agenda of action would be developed for time bound implementation. Q: What according to you is the most formidable challenge before the nation? A: Population growth is the most formidable challenge before the country. The government has formulated the “National Population Policy - 2000” with certain goals. Q: Are we on the right track? A: We are witnessing serious slippages. A more concerted effort is needed. Population stabilisation should be our national agenda number 1 comprising adoption of two-child-norm as national goal (with a strong system of incentives and disincentives); political consensus and demonstrative political support to have two-child-norm as eligibility for elections (the Rajasthan initiative to disqualify persons with more than two children from contesting elections to panchayats/ municipalities should be extended to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies); and mass movement for population stabilisation. Media should play a powerful role. Every newspaper should earmark space for population control message everyday, every TV channel should carry the family planning message a couple of times every day. Q: You are the first political leader to have raised the issue of synchronisation of Lok Sabha and assembly elections to cut huge costs. A: Our Constitution envisaged that Lok Sabha and State Assemblies would be having elections only every five years. But since 1977, the spirit of the Constitution has been given a go-by. But now every year has become an election year. This is having an adverse impact on governance. Compulsions of electoral politics overtake genuine public welfare and national interest and short-term gains triumph over vision of growth. The adverse effects of frequent elections are too big a luxury for our country to afford. We have got to ensure that the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies function for their full term of five years. Q: But how do you propose to change this scenario? A: We should first get out of the syndrome of elections every year. Elections to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies should be in a fixed month every five years. Q: Political parties and the Chief Election Commissioner have shot down this idea. A: We can still find the right answers. There are many eminent luminaries who can give sound options. Let us generate wide public debate on this issue. The pressure of public opinion would lead to building up a political consensus on feasible solutions, for I believe that all political parties committed to the larger interest of the nation cannot afford to ignore the stakes involved. Q: On May 2, there was a long debate in the Rajya Sabha on judicial reforms. What are your
views? A: Yes, it was on a private member’s resolution calling upon the Government to ensure wide-ranging reforms in the judiciary. The debate was very purposeful and of high standard. Cutting across party lines, members touched upon various areas of concern. The Government and the judiciary should expeditiously implement measures for judicial reforms, including the setting up of the National Judicial Commission. The system is full of delays, hassles and also infected by the virus of corruption. Judicial reforms have thus assumed urgency. Q: What is your roadmap for improving the lot of the common man? A: A holistic approach is essential so that at the cutting edge we provide a hassle-free administration. This requires a value system based on care, compassion and concern for larger public good not only thinking in terms of current consumption and our own needs but also saving enough for the future generations. This is the essence of caring for the environment and taking up development which is sustainable. The environment of public governance needs urgent attention. It is an obligation upon any system of governance to provide a hassle-free and corruption-free governance to its citizens. Then alone democracy can serve its objective of promoting the welfare of the people. It is important that these issues impacting on public welfare and public governance receive due focus and attention from all sections of
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School education in Punjab: what needs to be done WHAT ails Punjab government schools? Poor results in the examinations held in March-April, 2003, have disturbed the general public and those at the helm of affairs. The results should have been better, but one should understand the circumstances under which the teachers have been working. They are overburdened with so much work — census enumeration, election duty, industrial survey, medical camps, Pulse Polio etc. Sadly, many schools in Punjab are without teachers, Principals/ Headmasters and other teaching staff. The figures on the vacancies provided by the Department of Education are shocking — School Principals (1015 posts), Headmasters (702), Masters (3,667), and Lecturers (1,645). This problem is far worse in the case of Elementary Education — Teachers (7,645), Head Teachers (2,917), Central Head teachers (525) and Block Primary Education Officers (199). The position of posting and attendance of teachers in villages is also deplorable. The various schemes like Operation Black Board, Adult Education, Sakshrata Mission etc. have not been properly implemented. If the officials had worked sincerely, the schemes would not have failed. It is because of the half-hearted approach of the officials that the literacy rate in Punjab is 69.95 per cent as against 90.92 per cent in Kerala and 87 per cent in Chandigarh. It cannot be said that the Education Department is doing nothing to improve it. To scrutinise teaching by proxy, the Principal Secretary, Education, Government of Punjab has planned to issue identity cards to teachers so that their identity/ presence could be lawfully ascertained during regular checking. She has also planned to make the officers of the department to undertake regular inspection so that the attendance of the teachers in the schools could be improved. But this is, indeed, a formidable task to be minutely supervised by higher authorities. It is common knowledge that the checking staff reach only those schools which are near Chandigarh and those who play traunt in far off villages remain unseen and unchecked. Even the schools far from Punjab’s district headquarters remain unobserved by seniors for quite a long time. Hence, our fellow officers should check schools in remote areas and submit regular reports to the headquarters, so that action could be initiated against the guilty. In Punjab, about 30 per cent students are dropouts, particularly in primary, middle and secondary classes. To quote official figures, 3.30 lakh children of the 6-14 age group have fallen into the dark domain of dropouts. Because of extreme penury, they begin to work with their parents and stop studies. The Adult Education and Sakshrata Mission schemes have not helped to reduce the drop-out rate. The impact of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme is yet to be examined. The provision of mathis and laddoos in a few schools in Punjab will not bear the desired fruit. The Mid-day Meal Scheme, if implemented effectively, can reduce the drop-out rate and improve the health of the needy children. The elected representatives, the Education Department and the General Administration should check its proper utilisation and severely punish those showing laxity in its implementation. Every student is declared pass these days in all the primary classes. As a result, most of them do not have the knowledge of three-R’s up to Standard Five and are a source of severe headache for Middle School teachers which results in low percentage of results in the Middle Standard Examination. Mass copying has also eaten into the vitals of our education process. During examination days, the checking staff visit only a few private schools in SAS Nagar (Mohali) and Kharar while others at distant places act on their own volition. It is said that there are certain schools in some villages, where Panchs/ Sarpanchs are checking Primary, High and Senior Secondary Schools by proxy. This unhealthy practice is prevalent in the villages where women have been duly elected as Sarpanchs/ Panchs of their respective villages. The ladies remain in their houses doing household work while their husbands and other blood relations go to check schools and interfere with their normal functioning. In some schools, they have stopped ongoing works under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme because of their differences with previous panchayat members. They wish that the duly elected women representatives should not delegate their powers and public trust, which the people have reposed in them. Even officers of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats call this menace as illegal and illogical, but it persists. Clearly, the task of improving the education system should not be left to the Education Department alone. The state government, parents, pupils and the public should shoulder this responsibility together. The state government should recruit the required number of teachers through the Subordinate Services Selection Board soon. It is also mandatory to provide good school buildings, necessary furniture and better service conditions for our teachers so that the history regarding low percentage of results does not repeat itself in future. The writer, a senior IAS officer, is Director, Information & Public Relations, Government of Punjab |
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Tapping youth potential for nation building THERE is a need to tap the vast potential of the Indian youth for national service. This help not only inculcate nationalism, discipline, patriotism and self-confidence among them but also divert the minds from disruptive activities. The system of recruitment in the army, paramilitary forces and the civil police is not cost-effective. The average age in these forces is high, which affects their optimum utilisation. Without a pension tag, greater availability of youth for short duration voluntary service, will reduce the average in security forces and make them more cost and combat effective. National service should thus be integrated into our existing recruitment systems for these forces. In the foreseeable future, our armed forces are likely to be extensively deployed in the borders and concurrently used in counter-insurgency and aid to civil operations. Thus, we should not fritter away our resources in secondary military operations. The National Service Voluntries (NSVs) will greatly ensure that the armed forces are able to apply their full might effectively in the primary test of ensuring the country’s territorial integrity. The area in which our youth can be gainfully employed are manifold. In the context of a developing India, education, healthcare and water management are vital factors to deliberate upon. A constant lament of the police is that it is not possible to effectively combat crime and exercise proper traffic control, particularly in the major cities due to paucity of manpower. The NSVs can be effectively employed to assist policemen. In tackling crossborder terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and insurgency in the NorthEast, while security forces are deployed in large numbers, the NSVs can further strengthen our security apparatus. Village Defence Committees would need to be equally reinforced to help combat the menace. Selected NSVs can act as “'eyes and ears” in sensitive areas, in intelligence gathering, to enable timely action by the security agencies. Equipped with suitable weaponry, they can equally assist them in actual combat. The NSVs can be gainfully employed to assist the paramilitary forces and the police in defence of vital installations and repair of airfield runways. To the army and BSF in t he battle zone, they can help in digging of defenses, carriage of ammunition and improvement of roads/tracks. They can also help the Army in protecting the gun areas, tanks and in laying/clearance of minefields. Local youth can act as guides in forward areas and partake in anti-para and other roles. They can also assist in the administration of refugee camps. A two-year tenure should suffice. The training period, weaponry and other wherewithals would then depend on the tasks for which the respective NSVs have opted for. Age group and educational standard would also vary for each category. Preferably, the age of NSVs should be between 18and 22 years. The NSVs should be allotted to military, para-military and police units with regimental centres made responsible for the training of their NSV contingents, making use of the existing equipment and training aids before sending them to the units. This would give them a sense of belonging to their allotted units, besides reducing the overheads of NSV. To make national service compulsory may not suit the national exchequer, in view of the huge numbers involved. It should be made obligatory for those seeking government service. This could also be made applicable to aspiring legislators and parliamentarians that shall form the political leadership of tomorrow. The corporate sector may be equally urged to do likewise. The cumulative impact of national service, with millions having served as NSVs, say over a period of 20 years, needs to be duly visualised. To reap maximum benefit from national service, we need to lay greater emphasis on moral education, patriotism and pride in Mother India right from the school level.n The writer is a retired Major-General |
Acting sisters — Zora and Uzra style
THIS is the story of two talented sisters, 92 and 87 years old, born in undivided India but separated following partition of the sub-continent. The elder one, Zora Sehgal, remained in India and the younger, Uzra Butt, migrated to Pakistan. The two sisters have now come to be known as grand old ladies of Indian and Pakistani theatre and lauded as most prolific stage artists of the 20th century. They now symbolise the urge of the people of the two countries to live in peace, forget the bitter past and carry the message of love and brotherhood. The story of the lives of Zora and Uzra is is truly reflected in the play “Aik Thee Nani”, the first Indo-Pak collaboration to have crossed the troubled borders after the Kargil conflict. The play brings together, besides Zora and Uzra, their grand niece, Samiya Mumtaz and niece, Salima Raza, representing three generations of women of the two countries. Staged in Delhi last week, the play provided a glimpse to the audience of the two sisters’ childhood days and the theatre in undivided India. Zora and Uzra started their careers in late 1930s and worked with legendary theatre personality, Prithivi Raj Kapoor. Hailing from Nawab of Rampur’s lineage, they created sensation in British India’s Muslim community for taking to acting and dancing as their vocation. Zora was the first to take the plunge even at the cost of resentment by her father and Uzra followed soon after. Zora rose like a meteor but Uzra came to limelight in 1943. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas had given her leading role in the play “Zubeda”. Prithivi Raj Kapoor was impressed by her role and choose Uzra as heroine for his plays. Zora joined Prithivi Raj group later. The sisters toured England and America and enthralled the audience by their performance. In 1947, the partition of India violently disrupted their careers. Uzra moved to Pakistan with her husband but Zora decided to stay back and zealously pursued her career as a stage artist working with legendary Uday Shankar, brother of Sitar Maestro Ravi Shankar. Uzra’s talents were of little use in Pakistan where performing arts were regarded as anti-Islamic. She virtually gave up acting and dancing and settled down as a housewife but even long years could not suppress her talent. She was rediscovered by a theatre group “Ajoka”, striving hard to bring about social change in Pakistan. The moving spirit behind “Ajoka” is India-born Shahid Nadeem and the credit of pitch-forking Uzra to the stage again goes to him. Nadeem migrated to Pakistan when he was very young and in the course of time became a playwright and social activist. “Aik thee Nani” was, incidentally, written by Nadeen who was, apparently, inspired by life and time of two sisters who have come to be recognised as bond across the great divide. The play is a semi biographical work and at the centrestage is the desire of two young girls to make theatre as their career, marked by struggle, trials and tribulation and, later, the trauma of partition. The play also depicts the lives of two elderly women — a “Nani” and a “Dadi” — separated by partition and living in diverse environment and how the life changes for dadi’s conservative household. It was in 1993, after a gap of 40 years, that the two sisters got a chance to work together at stage. The play was staged in Lahore in 1993 and it has now come to India. Ten years back the Indo-Pak relations were at low ebb and hostility touching a new high. People in general in two countries have now been realising as never before the need for peace and the play, though written ten years back, amply reflects the changing mood. Uzra says “the play is very close to our hearts. It is our history”. Uzra, now on a visit to India, is emotionally moved and says: “I am both Pakistani and Hindutani. I was born and educated here, learnt dancing at Uday Shankar’s school and also worked with Prithivi Raj Kapoor before going off to Pakistan. My heart longs for that undivided country”. At the same time, she realises the harsh reality: “Pakistan cannot be wished away but we can learn to live like good neighbours”. For her physical borders does not matter where there is life. Zora too reflects the same sentiments. Uzra had lived in Dehradun for sometime and it has been long since she visited the place but the fragrance of the Doon valley is still fresh in her mind. Uzra's career in theatre spans to 65 years and she feels that this medium particularly “gives you instant response that you don’t get in films”. That was, possibly, the reason that she rarely acted films while Zora has been very comfortable on the screen. Uzra is associated with Pakistan TV and has done many serials for the small screen. |
Tagore was much more than a literary giant Many in other parts of the subcontinent besides the two Bengals who have either not read Tagore or read him only in English and have, for duty’s sake, leafed through the Gitanjali and some early plays will hardly know him. Even for Bengalis knowing him is somewhat like blind people touch — identifying an elephant. The more one learns about his patriotism his concept of education and of the centuries-old braid of culture and religion; his outlook on nationalism and, of course, his understanding of the human animal, its loves and pains, rejections and victories, the more one realises that here stands much more than a literary giant. In modern India there are three people to whose writings and thoughts Indians turn again and again — Vivekananda, Gandhi and Tagore. Abroad, of course but in India, too, Vivekananda preached often in English. Though Gandhi wrote in Gujarati and, later in Hindustani, his constructive and thoughtful utterances were often in simple English and were translated from it. Tagore is having better English translators now in the nineties but only a tithe of his writings has been translated into a spread of Indian languages and so they are not available to most non-Bengali-speaking Indians. His views on the course of Indian history, on Hindu-Muslim relations, on rural development, on the nature of freedom and many other vital themes about which we have stopped thinking and only take robotic stances. After a short dip in his popularity and the sale of his books after his death both have peaked again and the end of copyright has seen many new editions at reasonable prices. But not, alas, a theory of translations. An enormous amount has been written about him and new dollops of information are still appearing. One amount that came from the papers of Prof. P. C. Mahalnobis (who was very close to him) is very interesting. As everybody knows Jallianwalabagh shocked Tagore through and trough. After some very restless nights and days, he wrote to Gandhiji saying that the two of them should together go to Punjab, but Gandhiji did not agree. Tagore also asked C.R. Das to call a mammoth protest meeting in Calcutta with one or two other speakers besides Tagore and himself. Oddly, Das drew back, using the rather specious argument — if you speak then where is the need for others? During the so-called Bengali Renaissance of the 19th Century there were many powerful new voices and messages from characterful men and women. But none of them has been so durable and deep-searching as that of Tagore. From long-haired intellectuals to mischievous children everyone remains touched by the literary works on the one hand and the lighthouse sweep of his thoughts on the human and political situation on the other. I almost forget what led me to the subject of Tagore. On his death anniversary the Calcutta Tramway Co., as I began to say, celebrated it in a most attractive way. Three Calcutta trams painted and decorated for the occasion, ran along different routes, they had singers, actors, and speakers of his poems. They went round all day reminding people of the city about one of its most famous citizens. About translations. Tagore is only one example of how India is isolated from itself. Following the advertisements of Bengali books published I come across some European names now and again, a translated Malayalam classic perhaps but seldom translations from Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi or Gujarati — or from Nepali or Sinhalese. Anything worthwhile written in the world is instantly translated into English and Japanese from the original. I suspect the Chinese are not far behind but we plod leagues in the rear. How, then, can we prevent the dismasting of our so-called tolerant society?
*** A good many years ago, at a lunch, I asked Pandit Hridaynath Kunzru, “Sir, have you always been a vegetarian?” He replied, “Not at all, I was a non-vegetarian for many years”. “What difference do you notice?” I asked. He said, “I find that my brain is much clearer!” For a confirmed non-vegetarian, one of whose favourite reading matter is recipe books, this was a body blow. But with advancing years the pressure to turn vegetarian becomes stronger. Not only because of what doctors, diatetians and health-books say about simply out of disgust at the way we treat animals. When I see a short pony pulling a tonga piled high with people and the poor pony slipping, sliding and falling, unable to rise; buffaloes with liquid eyes pulling enormous loads in the full sun urged on with a stick, the palpitation of their hearts visible, nowadays something turns inside me. I wonder how in the years past the sight of a black dancing bear, dusty and disconsolate, being dragged down the streets by its owner, or cages of chinken piled up on tempos journeying silently to slaughter didn’t bother me before. Once in Gaya I was parked beside a butcher-shop directly in view of the butcher piecing his meat on the traditional log of wood. But just outside the shop stood tethered two little black kids, as innocent as can be. Motionlessly they were watching the butcher’s thudding knife as it crashed down to make juicy pieces. I thought, deeply troubled, of what was going on in the minds of those two. Human kindness is a good thing, I’m sure but don’t see the carnivorous nations turning vegetarian but the sight of thousands of heads of bead black, white and brindled being marked for slaughter during the mad cow scare was appalling. Unlike, I am sure, 95 per cent of people who use cars, I don't at all mind the cows, bullocks and calves turned out onto Delhi’s streets to forage for themselves. They are patient and never aggressive, their eyes are peaceful; they only look for what has been thrown away which they might eat. Late nights or in the early mornings, they often go in procession down the street looking for food. I certainly don’t mind weaving the car a little this way and that to avoid them. No, I am not a full vegetarian yet but it may not be long.
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So Spake Kabira and more THE UBS publishing house has completed its 40th anniversary recently. It is perhaps the oldest surviving publishing company. It has brought out a series on Sikh places of pilgrimage. Texts by different Sikh scholars and photographs by well known photographer Sondeep Shankar, these books stand out. Kartar Singh Duggal’s book “So Spake Kabira” (UBS) has also been released. As Duggal mentions in the introduction: “Apart from what has travelled from mouth to mouth in the annals of history, Kabir Vani is known to be recorded in Kabir Granthavali, Bijak and Sri Guru Granth Saheb. Of all the source materials available, what figures in the Holy Granth is considered to be most authentic and marked for its pristine purity”. Kabir’s teachings are relevant in present times. If only his all too direct words are directly embedded in young minds, there would less chances of communal slants taking shape.
Strange times Aren’t we living in strange times? Quite evident from the recent press release of the Centre of Science and Environment (CSE). Space constraints come in way of reproducing the entire length, but just these last few lines would be enough to hit you with the paradoxes going on: “CSE welcomes the announcement by the minister that the newly notified standards for bottled water (following EU norms) would be made applicable to soft drinks from the same date (January 1, 2004). But why then does it sound that the minister is giving the companies a “clean chit”?
Stress on women It really surprises me that though there is so much emphasis on women, their condition is almost pathetic. Last week alone, two books on women were released — (Dis) Embodied Form: Issues of Disabled Women by Anita Ghai and the other titled “Indian Women and Nationalism: The UP Story” by Visalakshi Menon. And yet, we all know that women continue to be sidelined.
Narayanan’s record At most book releases what gets to be of importance are words released by the chief guest(s). At the rather elaborate function to mark Rajya Sabha member Ashwani Kumar’s book “Law, Ideas and Ideology in Politics: Perspectives of an Activist”, former President K. R. Narayanan spoke rather spontaneously. Apparently, he wasn’t in the best of health and together with that he tried to drill in the fact that he has retired five times — retired from the Indian Foreign Service, as a minister, as a member of Parliament, as the Vice President, and finally as the President. |
God is a sea of infinite substance. — St. John of Damascus God can be reached through many paths; each of these sectarian religions points out a path which ultimately leads to Divinity. — Shri Ramakrishna He whose joy is within, whose pleasure is within, and whose light is within, that devotee, being well-established in the Supreme, attains to absolute freedom. — The Bhagavad Gita The wealth of a soul is measured by how much it can feel; its poverty by how little. — W.R. Alger |
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FROM a Sub-Inspector in Rajasthan Police to the Vice-President of India, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has come a long way. For him, life has not been different from a batsman batting on 99. Always energetic and hungry for more work, 99 not out seems to be the guiding motif for the soft-spoken no-nonsense Rajasthani patriarch. In an exclusive interview to The Tribune, he pours out his heart out on a host of key issues facing the nation today, including the debate triggered off by his suggestion to synchronise the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Excerpts:
IN Kolkata a few days ago, I had a very strong urge to step back to boyhood days, jump onto a tram one early morning and go from the start of a route to its very end. I didn't but I congratulate the Tramway Company for its brilliant way of celebrating August 8 (the equivalent of 22nd Shravan of the Bengali calendar), the day Rabindranth Tagore died in 1941, as long as 62 years ago.