PERSPECTIVE

GUEST COLUMN
The need for a paradigm shift in defence
Avinash Prem

THE constant refrain of our leadership ever since independence has been, “There is no sacrifice too great that the nation will not make to ensure that the armed forces are equipped with the best equipment, having the latest technology. And Rupees do not matter.” Rupees do matter and unless these are utilised in a cost-effective manner, the result would be wasteful and the nation will have lesser military capability.

Unlike developed countries where most citizens undergo conscription and are knowledgeable about defence matters, to almost all our leadership, defence is the ‘holy cow’. Montgomery in his article on “War in Modern Times”, stressed, “whatever is done must begin at the top. If the organisation there is right, progress will be possible. If the organisation on the top is faulty, there will be no progress.” Unfortunately, our higher defence organisation in the absence of a Joint Chief of Defence Staff and a total vacuum on the political and bureaucratic front as regards defence matter, is more prone to reactive management rather than long term planned defence management. The problem is further aggravated by four factors. These are:-

First the ongoing quest for self-aggrandizement by each individual Service, which gets further impetus in the absence of a neutral umpire. Their concepts encompass massive blitzkrieg mechanized operations by our armoured formations to cut Pakistan in two. A myth left behind by an erstwhile general with a Rommel fixation, who during Rajiv Gandhi’s time almost took the country to war to prove his prowess. Next, the Air force wearing the emblem of a “Strategic Force’ and ecstatic with its ‘Fast Flying fighter Syndrome’, deems itself to be ‘Big Brother’. The youngest, the Navy not to be left behind, in its quest for ‘A Blue Water Navy’ status, digs in its flippers for an antiquated aircraft carrier with all its attendant add ons, to dominate its deemed enlarged area of influence.

Secondly, the introduction of a new major dimension, the nuclear factor, which dictates major shifts in defence planning and strategy, is yet to be centric to our defence planning, force restructuring and training. The need is change.

Thirdly, our fixation with Pakistan and a deep strike capability, leading to overwhelming expenditures on mechanised formations and their support elements, at the cost of degrading our defence posture in the Northern Sector. It would be pertinent to mention that in terms of our national policy, we are not a conqueror of realms. “The terms of reference for the Armed Forces are to protect the sovereignty of the Nation, give a befitting reply to any aggressor and carry the battle into his country, with a view to be in an advantageous bargaining position. These objectives can well be achieved without ‘Strike Corps’ by employing lesser resources in a better coordinated and more cost-effective manner, and, hence their redundancy. Further despite Pakistan’s economy being in the doldrums, it would be naive to underestimate their capabilities given its parity in armour and the weapon of last resort. It has the capability of bringing our offensive by the ‘Strike Corps’ to a grinding halt, if the very existence of their country is at stake. In this context a lesson should be drawn from NATO’s defence plans for Europe during the cold war against a Soviet blitzkrieg operation based on strategic and tactical nuclear missiles.

Fourthly, consider a case study. Suppose we had invaded and conquered Tibet and thereafter deployed our nuclear tipped Agni and Prithvi missiles, pointing at the heartland of China. Suppose we had struck an unprepared Chinese army, captured thousands of sq kms of their territory and laid claim to much more. And suppose we assisted Taiwan in its defence preparedness, passed on thermonuclear technology and supplied the necessary delivery systems. Wouldn’t the Chinese dragon have got a lockjaw? That’s exactly what they have done to us and much more with Pakistan as its strategic ally. This includes the Karakoram Highway in POK, an all weather road enabling strategic movement of forces. The construction of the Lhasa-Kathmandu road being a part of its gameplan, China’s stand as regards India’ position in Sikkim and Bhutan adds to the problem. And in recent times it has focused its attention on Myanmar. Coupled with par boiling activities in the strategic great Coco Islands, just 20 nautical miles off the northern tip of the Andaman’s completes the encirclement of the prey, besides challenging the American presence in the Far East. The US may refer to the Chinese dragon euphemistically as the strategic competitor, but for India it is no ‘Bhai Bhai”. A pointer — China has settled its border disputes with Russia and Myanmar but in the current talks with us, the focus has been only on the Central Sector and not the crucial Western and North East Sectors, where hostilities took place in 1962.

Coming to the core issues which warrant restructuring of our armed forces. Firstly, during the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan, our much hyped offensive capability could not even uncoil itself and that too after achieving almost complete surprise. Subsequently, proteges of Rommel, zealously propagated hitting the Indus River in a blitzkrieg mechanised operation in 72 hours. This was an outcome of the so-called lessons learnt from wasteful massive exercises like Exercise Dijvijay and Brasstacks, wherein the armour had an 80 km uninterrupted night run followed by plenty of back slapping to fortify their ego. The opposing force commander an entity destined to be written off, cried himself hoarse that no cognizance was taken of his tactical and defensive minefields backed by effective manoeuvre elements to ensure defence of crucial nodal points.

To the best of my knowledge, the same concepts hold sway even in today’s nuclear, chemical and biological (NBC) environment. Even if we choose to ignore our past experiences, let us examine the existing ground realities. Modern day, surveillance devices and an active ISI organisation operating in our country mitigate against achieving surprise. It would be only the time and exact location of the offensive, which may achieve limited surprise. Give Pakistan’s surveillance capability, near parity in armour and shorter interior lines, the offensive would be timely blocked, and peter out into a slogging match of attrition.

Mr Ashley J.Tellis, Senior Policy Analyst, US Rand Corporation, in an essay, New Delhi has carefully refrained from pursuing any military strategies that would provide Islamabad with either the excuse or the opportunity to brandish its nuclear capabilities.” Very true, and Pakistan too is well aware that the ultimate success of military lies in this power not being used. Given the fact that exercising the nuclear option can be disastrous for all concerned, no country dare resort to it in a hurry and particularly Pakistan with its lack of depth, which makes the entire country vulnerable to a variety of modes of delivery. However, if per chance our offensive is successful and they are driven to the brink i.e. their limit of no further penetration is threatened; then the red button could well be pressed as the very existence of Pakistan would be at stake. This limit of no further penetration could be alone the Hakra Canal, intermediate between the Indus River and the IB.

We hear about exercises recently conducted by our offensive formations against the backdrop of an NBC environment, and that appears to be about all as regards NBC training. The question arises what percentage of our tanks and APC’s can function in a sealed in mode, and are these going to fight the battle by themselves? What would be the fate of the supporting arms and services? At Allah’s mercy? Finally, what is the time required to prepare a tank for a seal-in mode? And would our adversary advertise the exact time and location of his nuclear response.?

The question which would come to any one’s mind would be — “Suggest a viable alternative, which is in conformity with our national policy, is effective and cuts costs so as the same resources can be ploughed into our nuclear deterrence programme and further the modernisation programming of the army to make it a”Lean and Mean” army.

We could well borrow a lesson or two from the ‘strategic Planning, Programming and Budgeting system’ (PPBS) followed by the U.S.A. since 1961-62. This was introduced by Mr Robert Mc Namara, the then Secretary of Defence. It is the main framework for management of the resources of the Armed Forces at the macro level. That this system has proved to be an unqualified success is evident from the fact that it has not only survived the changes in Secretaries of Defence, but all other western nations have also adopted this system with modifications to suit their own conditions. The basic philosophy of PPBS is an economic way of thinking in making military decisions. Of this the most important concept is that a decision to commit resources to some specific use, or to utilise more resources for a particular purpose, is simultaneously a decision not to commit these resources to some alternative use.

The important features of PPBS are that it provides a structure for identifying, organising, comparing and presenting relevant information in a manner suitable for analysis and decision-taking. It uses the assessment of the National Security Council and the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the basis for preparation and up dating of the defence arrangements. Category-wise costs are prepared to include all overheads including establishment costs and R&D covering a period of at least five years. This facilitates analysis of various alternatives through System Analysis. The crux of the decisionn-making process at the policy level is ‘trade-offs’ on the basis of value judgement. An example of alternatives for study in our context could be, an additional armoured division or five mountain divisions. Finally PPBS facilitates easier defence budgeting. We too have a Committee for Defence Planning, a five year Defence Roll on Plan, but sans the crucial neutral umpire, the Joint Chief of Defence Staff.

It is here that Montgomery’s words ring out loud and clear — “a faculty organisation at top...”

Coming to the aspect of an alternative to Strike Corps. A form of defence with an in-built hard hitting offensive capability of approximately 30 kms would be in consonance with our overall aim. The Holding Corps in the plains of Punjab and Rajasthan should be given this capability by milking the essential resources of the Strike Corps. This should include an armoured division and a mechanised brigade to each of these Holding Corps, with necessary reinforcement artillery and air defence resources. In southern Kashmir, an additional independent armoured brigade would suffice. This arrangement would give a viable counter offensive capability to the Holding Corps. These resources being integral to them, their employment would be better coordinated.

Similarly the savings in infantry could be utilised to provide the much needed reserves in the Northern, North East Sectors and J&K. We are particularly thin on the ground vis a vis China and as regards J&K, this would mitigate against the type of reactions that we witnessed during the Kargil operations. The net savings in terms of HQs, some elements of the air defence brigades, engineer brigades and supporting services would be the trade-off elements for our nuclear programming and modernisation of the armed forces. The savings in terms of mechanised artillery; both field and air defence and mechanised specialised engineer units would be colossal. It is the cost effective utilisation of these scarce resources which is the need of the hour.

The writer is a retired Brigadier and author of “India — A Soldier’s View”.

Making big bucks from VVIP memoirs
V. Gangadhar

Bill and Hillary Clinton: Memoirs may open up cans of worms.

MIDSTREAM
J&K crisis is not only a law and order problem
Rakshat Puri

IT is astonishing that a politician of Mr L. K. Advani’s experience and maturity should have succumbed to pressure from his own partymen as well as the Opposition to extend the Armed Forces (J & K) Special Powers Act of 1990 to the Jammu area. Not only has the application of the Act in the Valley shown little success so far in countering the depredations of the Pakistan-backed “Islamic” terrorists but the extension of the Special Powers Act to the Jammu region is likely to impinge generally on the strategic need to keep people on the side of counter-insurgency.

The pressure on the Government from the BJP’s fellow groups in the Sangh Parivar and from Opposition parties for “adequate and immediate action” came following the cowardly killing of pilgrims on the way to Amarnath, the massacre of innocents at Doda, and the killing of passengers at the Jammu railway station. The crisis in Jammu and Kashmir is not a law and order problem. Along with measures for tackling the menace that the Pakistan-supported terrorist groups are creating in the name of “Islam” the Government has to (tackle) the situation politically. Terrorists and terrorist groups are often wittingly or unwittingly encouraged by groups and combines this side of the LoC, such as the All-Party Hurriyat Conference. The APHC, claiming undemonstrated popular representativeness, tends to take advantage for its own purposes. The Hurriyat leaders are also helped by the media, Pakistani as well as Indian, to keep themselves in the limelight. It has never been convincingly explained by anyone at any level how and why the APHC should “count” in bringing a solution to the situation in J-K.

Ordinarily, the terrorist groups should be very happy with the Government’s decision to extend the Armed Forces Act to the Jammu region. For they will have propaganda opportunity to spread word among common people about “the cruel and repressive army rule” in J-K. While the general record and attitude of the armed forces in J-K speaks of commendable restraint in difficult circumstances, there have been instances of a lack of self-control, under presumably excessive nervous tension, when innocents became their victims. The killing or victimisation of innocents has invariably led to public protests.

Cases of victimisation of innocents by armed forces should be extremely helpful to the terrorists in their depredations and despoiling. But the terrorists, by wanton acts of killing and ravaging such as at Doda or at the Jammu railway station or on the Amarnath pilgrims or by turning masjids into bases for murderous and destructive assaults etc, surrender the advantage. People tend to turn away. There may be much for Government as well as Opposition political leaders to learn from recent history of insurgency and counter-insurgency. Consider Vietnam, when the communist Democratic Republic in the north was fighting under General Vo Nguyen Giap to overcome and remove the US-supported Republic south of the 17th Parallel. The Vietcong, the agents of the Democratic Republic, began to make gains only when the southern Republic’s armed forces began to lose the trust of the people.

When the Vietcong — like terrorists and unlike guerrillas — targeted with bombs places like the American Embassy or the Assembly Hall or civilians whom they thought “loyal to and important for” the Ngo Dinh Diem government in (then) Saigon, they did not exactly win the confidence of the people. But then, in due course, the Diem government’s forces began to lose their morale and patience with common people. More and more reports and rumours either of south Vietnamese army’s repressiveness or of desertion by its soldiers began to be heard.

Most often such “reports” in J-K are rumours; and almost invariably the Hurriyat leaders rush in to corroborate them. Whereby hangs a tale! General Giap was clear in his mind about the kind of war he was fighting: True, Giap led the insurgents, against south Vietnam’s government. But government and political leaders in Delhi and Srinagar would gain valuable lessons in strategy and approach from a study of his experience and writings. Under his direction, the Vietcong began to make an unremitting effort to win over the public, and gradually to move among people “as a fish moves in water”. A key advantage this brought General Giap and the Vietcong was effective intelligence, without which a war against the kind of terrorism that plagues J-K simply cannot be won.

In short, though Giap led and directed the side that fought against the South Vietnam government, a reading and analysis of what he said and did would be very relevant to how we estimate and understand the situation in J-K. The “Islamic” terrorists who are killing and destroying in J-K are not engaged in either a jehad or an “independence struggle” — Pervez Musharraf can keep parroting the phrase as long as he likes!

Mr Advani needs to re-think his approach to the J-K situation. The situation does not call for a simplistic law and order approach. Prevailing on Dr Farooq Abdullah’s government to extend the Armed Forces (J & K) Special Powers Act of 1990 to the Jammu region is unlikely to take the situation towards any significant kind of peace and stability. As Giap said of the situation in Vietnam, it was “generalised in all domains: military, economic and political”. That is the way Mr Advani should be thinking of the situation in Jammu-Kashmir, if the Government is to make any headway towards liberating the State and its people from “Islamic” terrorists. With its present approach, New Delhi runs the risk of playing unwittingly into the hands of Islamabad. (Asia Features)

KASHMIR DIARY
A culture of lawlessness
David Devdas

SUHAIL used to be a militant. In fact he was a commander of the Hizbullah outfit, which dominated the area around his house in Batmaloo in the early 1990s. Having spent most of his prime teenage brandishing guns, Suhail never got much of an education. His family isn’t particularly well off either. They live in a few rooms of a building in the warren of lanes in Batmaloo, one of Srinagar’s older localities.

Its sturdy, traditional structure, with one-and-a-half foot walls, reflects the character of the lady who runs the home, Suhail’s mother. She works for the government and keeps a tidy home, controlling Suhail and her younger son with the proverbial iron hand in a velvet glove. Her husband left her some years ago for another woman but she is undaunted, carrying her tall, almost regal, frame like a princess.

Suhail and a young lady of the upmarket Nagin area have been deeply in love with each other for a few years. She comes from a relatively wealthy family, which does not approve of Suhail at all. To them, he is an unlettered awara, a street-smart good for nothing. He may have been something of a legend for his daring when he was a militant, but that was more than five years ago and that particular career doesn’t impress the young lady’s family now.

Against their wishes, the two secretly got married a few months ago. She continued to live in her parents’ house, watched constantly for any signs of continuing association with Suhail, but it became too much for her and she ran away to Suhail’s house more than a month ago. Suhail’s mother took her in, no doubt pleased that her son had managed a better match than she could have arranged. He is after all unemployed.

She says she immediately telephoned the girl’s parents to say she was keeping the girl as an amaanat (trust). After several uneasy conversations between Suhail’s mother and her daughter-in-law’s family, during all of which the girl remained adamant that she would not return, the mother proposed a wedding. She claims that the other family told her to do what she wanted, that they didn’t want to get involved.

So she got about arranging a walima (Muslim reception for a bride) at her home. Large numbers of her neighbours and relatives wanted to go to the girl’s house with a barat (groom’s party) but fell in line when she decreed that only two of his friends would go with him. A small barat is not very uncommon. The young lady had been kept under wraps in the house and had been smuggled out to a relative’s house a couple of days earlier.

Once she arrived and the family was preparing to receive their guests for the huge wazwan feast, all hell suddenly broke loose. A police jeep drew into the locality. Since the lanes are too narrow, it couldn’t come straight to the house but the police posse found their way there after some inquiries. Suhail’s mother, sharp as a razor, had realised what was afoot as soon as she heard the police siren. She told Suhail to disappear and asked her daughter-in-law to quickly change out of her wedding finery.

None of her shrewdness worked, though, for the police had with them one of her daughter-in-law’s relatives, who identified her. Her father had registered a case of kidnapping and the police were unwilling to take cognisance of the young lady’s statements, although she was 24 years old and a graduate, or accept the claims of relatives and neighbours in Batmaloo. There is of course no evidence that the police took money from her family but Suhail’s family certainly received a feeler from the Special Operations Group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police. If he paid a lakh of rupees, they would raid the girl’s house and recover her. His mother decided to fight it out in court instead.

This little story illustrates two points. One, a militant background is a social stigma in Kashmir today rather than the heroic mould that the early euphoria of militancy had cast it in. Then, militants were compared with angels and many families saw in these young fighters the future leaders of a successful revolution. Today, a stable job is the key to the marriage market and respectability.

Two, the story illustrates starkly how the police forces here use their special powers to arrest and interrogate to seize opportunities to make money and get involved in settling personal scores. This does no good to either the image of the force or the state apparatus that empowers them. Indeed, it paves the way for a culture of lawlessness that will be very difficult to break out of, if and when normalcy returns. 

PROFILE

Teaching Hindi at Tokyo University
Harihar Swarup

THE Japanese are known to be wonderful students of foreign languages but rarely have shown love for Hindi, India’s national language. Thanks to Prof Hideaki Ishida young Japanese have now been evincing interest in this Indian language. Prof Ishida is not only well-versed in Hindi but also conversant with Marathi and currently teaches Hindi in the Department of Foreign Studies in Tokyo University. He visits India twice a year with a team of Japanese students interested in Hindi; the second year batch goes to Jaipur University and the third year students learn India’s national language in Delhi University. He says about 100 students are learning Hindi in Japan.

How did Prof Ishida develop a liking for Hindi? On a visit to India last week, as he himself recalls, the option before him after World War II was either to learn Chinese or an Asian language. He did not like the Chinese because of their past hostility towards Japan but was fascinated by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, whom he says, Japan had helped a lot in his struggle to throw the Britishers out of his motherland.

A devout Buddhist as he is, Prof Ishida also wanted to learn the language of the country of Lord Buddha’s birth. He found “Devnagri” script much easier than the Chinese language.

Prof Ishida’s teacher, besides three Japanese, was the grandson of Madan Mohan Malaviya, Lakshmi Dhar Malaviya . The first Hindi literary figure to influence him was Ila Chand Joshi followed by Jainendra Kumar . He has read practically all the work of celebrated writer Munshi Prem Chand which highlight the contemporary evils in society.

He particularly speaks of three novels of Prem Chand — “Kafan”, “Gaban” and “Go-Dan” — which , he calls “revolutionary works” and compares them with the work of the tallest of all Japanese writers, Natsusme Soseki. So popular was he that his bust was embossed on Japanese currency. Prof Ishida has also translated works of Prem Chand, Jainendra Kumar, Yaspal and Mohan Rakesh in the Japanese language.

While on a visit to India, he happened to go to Pune and came to know that in Marathi literature, a lot of work has been done on “Dalit Sahitya”. So curious was Prof Ishida to know about “Dalit Sahitya” that he enrolled himself in the Marathi department of Pune University. His “Guru” was an elderly Marathi gentleman — Dr Naresh Mantri — who went to Japan at the behest of Kaka Sahib Karlelkar and spent 40 years of his life there. Among other things, Mantri did research in Buddhism in Japan and became quite renowned.

Books authored by the Japanese Professor include “practical Hindi Conversation” and “Practical Marathi Conversation”, primarily meant for Japanese students and “Hiroshima Ki Kavitan”, a solid work in literature. He has also translated selected Marathi short stories published in two volumes. Prof Ishida is highly impressed by the simplicity and accessibility of known literature figures in India. “You just walk in and you are received with warmth” but in Japan, he says, “it is very difficult to meet a literary figure. One needs a recommendation from high ups to get an appointment with litterateurs”. Unlike India, in Japan, writers and literary figures are well off, highly respected and revered even by the highest in the land.

Prof Ishida has undergone what he calls “shocking experience” as a student of Hindi in Delhi University. In His own words: “I had just come from Japan and could not speak Hindi properly. One evening I went to the library and was looking for some books when a junior librarian tried to engage me in conversation”. The dialogue went on these lines.

“Librarian: What are you doing here in India ? Why have you come here?

“Prof Ishida: I have come to Delhi University to learn Hindi.

“Librarian: What will you do by learning Hindi. It is a language of menial people. You cannot achieve anything by learning it. If you want to achieve anything learn English or any other European language”.

Prof Ishida says: “It was one of the bitterest moments in my quest to learn Hindi. I can never forget the scorn with which the librarian spoke about his mother tongue but this incident made my resolve to learn Hindi more firm”.

He is fluent in English too but always prefers to talk to Indians in Hindi, pretending, as if, he does not know that language. He just smiles when they reply to him in English.

DELHI DURBAR

There is a crowd in the Home Ministry

IT is a crowd of a different kind in the Home Ministry. The high-profile ministry in North Block has more than its share of top level civil servants. The Ministry boasts of two Secretaries and three Special Secretaries. Mr M.B. Kaushal, an IPS officer and a former Delhi Police Commissioner, was recently made a full-fledged Secretary in charge of internal security — something unprecedented in the Ministry.

It was for the first time in the history of the Home Ministry that the Home Secretary, necessarily an IAS officer (in this case the Cabinet Secretary- aspirant Mr Kamal Pande), had his position diluted. And that too at the hands of an IPS officer. Now that Mr Kaushal has just about six months to retire, it is believed that the IAS lobby will leave no stone unturned to see to it that after his retirement the newly created post is never filled. Definitely not by an IPS officer.

The Home Ministry had its third Special Secretary last week when Mr P.D. Shenoy was elevated to this rank. Those who have not heard much about this low-profile spokesman of the Home Ministry, let it be known that this typical South Indian, a 1967 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer is an expert on the North-East. He has also written several books, the last one on strikes and labour issues.

A Major too powerful!

The Defence Minister Jaswant Singh’s apparent bias for the Army has not been taken kindly by the other wings of the services and the differences are spilling out in the public. The inter-services squabbling gives the impression that a street brawl is on in South Block. Interested parties are pulling all stops to put their point forward and the media has become an effective tool for them to air their differences. An issue that should have been handled by the Minister has become some kind of a public fight.

The bitterness which has now creeped in as a result of lack of control in the Ministry of Defence has had senior officials commenting that the “Major”, the rank which Mr Jaswant Singh holds as Territorial Army officer, is becoming too powerful and too biased. Other uncharitable remarks from senior service officers have also been heard against the Minister. One officer was heard commenting: Whatever may happen a Major will always remain a Major. It is indeed a sad commentary on the state of the Indian armed forces.

Raring to go

Officers who remain in states for long, don’t have much idea of how central agencies work. Senior IPS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, Mr R. Rajagopalan, is a case in point. It was last month that his name was cleared for the top slot in the National Security Guards (NSG). But Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha put her foot down and refused to relieve him. It took at least three letters from the Ministry of Home Affairs and as many weeks of suspense before Amma had mercy on the cold-shouldered officer and relieved him.

Mr Rajagopalan obviously found himself in seventh heaven with this. And guess what was his first reaction ? He wanted to hold a press conference immediately after taking over as NSG Director-General on August 20. He was discreetly told by senior NSG officers that secrecy is the key virtue in the NSG as it is basically a secret organisation. That is why no NSG DG has ever held a press conference. Mr Rajagopalan, it is understood, now will have to be content with having a tea meeting with Group Commanders on Monday.

Colour politics

The large number of political parties representing a wide range of the ideological spectrum are now getting identified with certain colours. While it can be said that the Congress sees red at the very mention of the word saffron, the Left parties prefer to describe their reaction differently. Red is after all a good colour for them.

Colour politics came to the fore in the Lok Sabha the other day when the entire Opposition, led by the Congress, launched a strong attack against the Government for what they described as efforts to saffronise the education system in the country. This was opposed by the treasury benches who said saffron symbolised the rich cultural heritage of the country.

Speaking on their behalf, BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra asked the Opposition to describe their allegation in some other manner. They could call it BJPisation of the education system or “Sanghikaran” of the education system. But to bring the saffron colour into disrepute was not acceptable. The colour adorns the top segment of the Indian flag and is worn by pious men. Is the Opposition listening? Value education

Satya (truth), dharma (righteous conduct), shanti (peace), prema (love) and ahimsa (non violence) are the core universal values which can be identified as the foundation stone on which value-based education programme can be built up. These words look as if they are coming straight from the RSS headquarters. BJP members will tell you with a smirk that these guidelines for the education system were given by none other than a Parliamentary standing committee chaired by Congress leader S B Chavan. It is the implementation of these very values in the new draft curriculum of the NCERT that has raised the hackles of the Congress and the Left parties.

A ruling party member pointed out that the opposition tends to jump to conclusions at the very sight of Sanskritised words. The member is not off the mark as recently an exchange visit to Australia by 13 Indian teachers was lauded in the academic circles. The teachers returned from Australia with practical insights into the Australian education system which they said they plan to apply in their schools. Will it be the RSS members’ turn to complain now?

Contributed by T.V. Lakshminarayan, Rajeev Sharma and Girija Shankar Kaura.

DIVERSITIES — DELHI LETTER

HRD nod to text book tinkering
Humra Quraishi

FOREMOST, with the HRD Minister’s confirmation that changes are being brought in the contents of the history texts, there is apprehension of long-term disasters. As the Sahmat spokesperson said: “For months this had been going on — changes in the text books had begun much earlier and that’s why we held the conference. And now it is absolutely pertinent to know who is making those changes and what is the exact nature of those changed portions of the text books.” In fact an HRD Ministry source, on request of anonymity, has disclosed that there had been discreet directions from the ministry itself, to do away with a “major chunk on the Mughal rule period in India, as though the rule of the Mughals was of little to no significance .....” And with the minister concerned, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi’s declaration that these new texts will be introduced in the coming year’s new session there has begun a debate in various academic circles about what the counter strategies should be. And till the time of filing this column no statements have been issued by any forum but I’m told that various historians are set to fight out this decision of the government. And what can be termed as extremely unfortunate is our levels of hypocrisy — just a few hours before the HRD Minister’s statement confirming that there would be changes made in the text books the Prime Minister of the country inaugurated a gender balance meet by the National Forum For Women’s Rights. Tell me, how can we have the nerves to talk about any balance, be it even gender balance, with this sort of blatant saffronisation going on, even at the text book level? On the one hand, you are making sure that there comes about an imbalance in society with biased texts being taught from the primary level and then you inaugurate ‘balance’ meets!

Benoy’s new venture

I first met Benoy K. Behl a couple of years after he had become famous with his rather offbeat method of taking photographs of the Ajanta Ellora caves, without using the flashlight in low ambient light conditions. In fact around that time, for a brief period he had even moved towards the restoration of mud palaces at Ladakh and also that of several Buddhist heritage sites in Bihar ... and now last week I was surprised to hear from him that he has begun what could be termed a milestone in the field of art - the documentation of Indian paintings which lie in the various museums of Europe and in the USA, “in the past, the western view which we also followed, was that India did not have a developed tradition of ancient paintings ....” Obviously Behl and his team are all set to proving it wrong, for he comes out with details: “Over the past 90 days I and my unit have travelled for shooting to over 55 destinations.. and have already shot over 900 selected masterpieces of representative Indian miniatures in Zurich, Paris, Dublin, London, New York, Boston, Harvard University in Cambridge, New Hampshire, Philadelphia, Baltimore and San Diego .....”

Another one passes away

With the passing away of Surendra Mathur last week, Delhi has definitely lost a theatre and dance enthusiast. In fact several of the Delhi’s cultural activities were the brainchild of Mathur and right till last July he was spotted at many a do. In fact, I remember meeting him last at Sharon Lowen’s birthday bash at the Habitat Centre and he looked extremely pulled down. News was that he had been ill for a while but was somehow moving along, till of course he was diagnosed to be cancer stricken and battled with the illness all these 13 months.