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Thursday,
April 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Looking ahead, constitutionally Meagre hike Chandigarh — 50 and forgotten |
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NO END TO GUJARAT’S SHAME
India beyond Gujarat-II
High time to stem the rot in our temples of learning
Dens of politics, intrigue & power struggle
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Looking ahead, constitutionally THE Constitution Review Commission has set the tone for several crucial reforms which, if implemented in the right spirit, can help improve the quality of our democratic polity. The 1976-page report presented to the government by Mr Justice M.N. Venkatachalliah has suggested several critical changes with regard to the fundamental rights, the working of democratic institutions, the judiciary and the electoral system. Some of the 249-point recommendations require a thorough examination and separate comments. As many as 29 recommendations relate to the Fundamental Rights and Duties and the Directive Principles. The scope of freedom of speech and expression gets widened with the proposed inclusion of "the freedom of Press and other media, the freedom to hold opinions and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas". Equally heartening are the provisions relating to the right to education, the right against torture and the right to privacy as fundamental rights. The commission has specifically suggested that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruelty, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." This clause will make the Constitution look more humane and citizen-friendly. The people have to be treated with care, dignity and self-respect. The instruments of governance are not meant to be misused against peaceful and law-abiding citizens. Interestingly, among other related proposals, the commission has recommended the election of Prime Minister by the Lok Sabha and also a "system of constructive vote of no-confidence". This means a motion of no-confidence is expected to be "accompanied by a proposal of an alternative leader to be voted simultaneously". This is a welcome suggestion. For, stability holds the key to reforms. The commission does not favour "prescribing a minimum of 50 per cent plus one vote" in elections. It has also said “no” to the idea of state funding of polls. It is not certain to what extent the government will adopt the commission's recommendations. Of course, many proposals require a closer scrutiny and objective analysis. They have to be tested on the touchstone of necessity. In this context, the commission's stress on small family norms deserves full support. Equally heartening is its proposed recognition of Sikhism as a distinct and independent
religion identity. This will help break the psychological barriers that have often bothered the Sikh community. It needs to be borne in mind that mere amendments to the Constitution cannot bring about the desired improvement in the working of our democratic institutions unless we implement them in letter and spirit. What is disturbing today is that the spirit of democracy is under threat from communal and lunatic fringe of society. The Constitution, of course, can act as a beckon light provided we are honest and sincere to the established civilisational values. The task ahead is gigantic. If we cannot give the people a new-look Second Republic, we can at least introduce the requisite reforms to make the system more dynamic, forward-looking and people-friendly. The Constitution is a live document and not a decorative piece to be left to the whims and fancies of the powers that be. It is for the people to remain vigilant and muster courage to call a spade a spade. After all, the distortions in the polity are not entirely due to the flaws in the Constitution. The failure, in a way, is mainly political and not constitutional. As Justice B.Lentin of the Bombay High Court once put it, "The Constitution has not failed the people, nor have the people of India failed the Constitution. It is only the unscrupulous politicians who have failed both." Do we have an answer to this failure? |
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Meagre hike WHILE increasing the minimum support price of wheat by only Rs 10 per quintal, the government has taken into consideration factors like the huge stocks of wheat that have accumulated but has ignored more relevant issues like the cost of production. The hike to Rs 620 per quintal from Rs 610 per quintal is thus going to cause tremendous unrest in wheat-growing states, particularly Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The point made by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Amarinder Singh, that the increase is grossly inadequate should not be seen in political light alone. He has only stated a fact. There has been a hike in agricultural inputs such as fertilisers. There has also been a sharp increase in the cost of living which has a bearing on the farming community as well. Only recently, PAU experts had calculated that the cost of production of wheat had already risen to Rs 660 per quintal. But all these factors have been conveniently ignored. There is no denying the fact that the country's godowns today are overflowing with more than 60 million tones of foodgrains. But if the FCI and other agencies cannot ensure that the foodgrains reach the needy speedily and efficiently, the farmers should not be punished for this failure. Another argument against a substantial increase in the MSP is that it is necessary to reduce the subsidy burden. However, that has not stopped the government from announcing dearness allowance for its employees which will put an additional load of Rs 1,800 crore on the Centre. Is this burden bearable because the beneficiaries belong to the organised sector while the farmers come under the unorganised sector? It has been given out by the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) as well as the government that in order to encourage farmers to go in for crop diversification the hike is only marginal in the case of wheat but is considerable in the case of gram and oilseeds. But the argument does not really hold water. For one thing the hike of Rs 100 in the case of rapeseed/mustard, sunflower and masoor (pulse) from Rs 1200 to Rs 1300 can hardly be called lucrative. In any case, the move away from wheat and paddy and towards oilseeds cannot be brought about through price increase alone. What is needed is a whole slew of measures, including dependable and timely support from providers of inputs and technical knowledge. The help provided so far has been scandalously inadequate and erratic. Agriculture universities which were supposed to be the engine of farm growth are mired in their own difficulties. The farmer is more or less left to fend for himself. If he does not get remunerative rates for his produce, the green revolution that he ushered in against all odds can start withering. As a consequence, the exodus towards the cities might increase, putting untold burden on civic amenities. The only way to avoid that eventuality is to keep the traditional bond between the land and the kisan intact. Unfortunately, economists who deliberate on the pricing mechanism while sitting in airconditioned comfort fail to appreciate the alarming weakening of this emotional link. |
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Chandigarh — 50 and forgotten IT takes centuries for cities and civilisations to evolve, and even longer for them to become faint imprints on the sands of time. But an insensitive Chandigarh Administration has allowed the city to be reduced to a slum even before it could raise itself as a model of sound and futuristic town planning. A city that is only 50 years young is supposed to be pampered and loved. Had Chandigarh been a private enterprise even managers would have found excuses to celebrate some aspect associated with its planning and construction. After all, a new city is like a fresh pair of trousers that is washed and pressed even before it gets dirty and crumpled. Unhappily, Chandigarh has already begun to look like a tattered piece of history because of the indifference of the bureaucrats and city fathers in packaging and marketing the city as an architectural masterpiece. The administration would not have had to invent an excuse to celebrate the idea of Chandigarh. On April 2, 1952, Jawaharlal Nehru, free India's first Prime Minister, laid its foundations. The place where the ceremony was held should have been preserved as a memorial. But who cares? It may not be wrong to say that in the case of Chandigarh, that was conceived and designed as a symbol of free India's modern face, the celebrations should not have stopped. Unhappily the celebrations never began. Of course, there was a brief period in the early years when the city received its due share of care and attention. That was when the redoubtable M. S. Randhawa was the Chief Commissioner of the Union Territory of Chandigarh. He expanded the city on the model prepared by its founding fathers. In fact, he added new features that enhanced the architectural beauty of the city. He was the one who literally discovered Nek Chand and his genius to turn junk into a "city of aesthetic joy". A less sensitive administrator might have dismissed Nek Chand from service and ordered the demolition of the secret world of the modest and self-effacing overseer. Today the Rock Garden is the main tourist attraction that has earned Nek Chand international honour and recognition. The Rock Garden should have been the focal point of the celebrations that were never organised. Neither the city fathers nor the army of bureaucrats have expressed regret for ignoring an important milestone in the life of the new city. However, to lay the blame only at the door of the bureaucrats and the politicians may not be fair. Can the original settlers raise their hand and say that they have taken a personal interest and pride in the planned growth of Chandigarh? The City Beautiful has already begun to resemble any of the countless urban slums that dot the cities of India. An aware and alert group of citizens may not have let Corbusier's dream gone to seed. If the citizens and the administrators have any sense of shame, they should make amends for the serious lapse — that of not celebrating the 50th anniversary of Chandigarh — by committing themselves to the task of removing the slums. Thereafter they should work collectively for restoring the basic character of the city. The third step should involve the preservation of Chandigarh as a dynamic model of town and country planning. Any takers? |
NO END TO GUJARAT’S SHAME ONE of the boasts of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, and an astonishingly large number of his defenders in the power structure in New Delhi used to be that he had “controlled” the orgy of violence, arson and loot” within 72 hours flat”. Such a “feat”, the spin-doctors had started crowing, had never before been accomplished in the state that has been prone to a vicious spiral of communal killings since 1969. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. More than a month later, Gujarat continues to not just smoulder but also burn in places. Brutal killing of one another by the two communities persists. Selective burning down of homes and businesses seems to have become an unending pastime. Over the weekend alone the conflagration erupted in not only several sensitive localities of Ahmedabad but also in distant districts of Anand and Mehsana. Unlike in the initial stages of the slaughter, openly justified by the state government because of the undoubtedly horrendous Godhra outrage, the police and the armed constabulary are no longer looking the other way. But they are not yet effectual enough. Otherwise, there would have been no need to call in Army columns to control the situation yet again. A clue to the possible reason for this alarming state of affairs has come from a North Gujarat village where victims of a wanton attack have publicly alleged that the state Finance Minister, Mr Nitin Patel, had “personally encouraged” the rampaging mob that he had earlier invited to a feast. Other leaders of the Sangh Parivar have also attracted similar charges from sources that cannot be dismissed as irresponsible. Nor should this be a surprise considering that Mr Modi himself has continued to be both blase and brazen about his own failure to curb the violence. By an ironic coincidence when the latest spasm of killing and burning took place in parts of Ahmedabad, he was in Mumbai telling the captains of industry that the situation in his state was “totally normal” and they should not hesitate to invest there. Owners of factories, shops, showrooms, restaurants and hotels that have been razed to the ground or remain shut because of disturbances have a different tale to tell. Lakhs of daily wage earners, deprived of any opportunity to work, have been driven to the edge of starvation. In short, both carnage and callousness continue to disgrace Gujarat and Mr Modi’s government does not seem bothered. It rejects all criticism from the media, Opposition parties or even the Human Rights Commission, and it seems utterly unrepentant about its palpable partisanship in dealing with the bloodbath that has already taken a heavy toll. Sadly, the dressing-down the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, gave Mr Modi in New Delhi last week hasn’t had the desired effect. On the contrary, the Gujarat Chief Minister appears to have become even more defiant and cocky. Immediately after his meeting with Atalji and others, he had told the media at the Prime Minister’s house that both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister were “satisfied” with his handling of the situation in Gujarat following the Godhra episode. Authoritative New Delhi sources, however, contradicted Mr Modi’s smug claims. They made it clear that Mr Vajpayee — apparently with Mr L K Advani’s concurrence — had done some plain speaking to the Gujarat Chief Minister and specifically directed him to go back home and restore confidence in the minority community in his administration. In this context, Mr Modi’s statement, released by his office on Sunday, is shocking beyond belief. “Gujarat,” he has proclaimed, “will progress on the strength of its five crore Gujaratis. It will not do mujra in any Delhi durbar. Those days are over”. The unacceptable tone of the statement apart, the use of the word mujra is particularly suggestive because it applies to a specific dance form usually prevalent only in red light districts. No wonder, the Prime Minister has been driven to writing and reciting a poignant poem giving expression to his frustration that he can no longer sing. Why? Because of betrayal by his own people, because of the “knife in the back that is like the moon” and so on. But is that enough? As Clement Attlee once reminded Nehru, it is nice to understand both power and poetry, but a ruler must know where poetry ends and power with its concomitant responsibility to govern begins. The country expects Mr Vajpayee to rein in a wayward Chief Minister who is guilty of dereliction of duty and worse. Thanks to the Modi Ministry in Gandhinagar, international opprobrium hitherto concentrated on Pakistan’s military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, has been all but deflected to India and its government. Friends of this country in many capitals have started asking whether it is in a position to hold fast to the core values that alone make India the world’s largest democracy in which equality before the law is supposed to prevail. Ideally, the Prime Minister — who himself has delayed his visit to Gujarat for too long — and his colleagues in the top leadership of the BJP should have given Mr Modi the marching orders by now. However, it is only realistic to recognise that it is not easy to do so, if only because many powerful people in the Sangh Parivar are sympathetic to Mr Modi’s dangerous views and activities. Some are crass enough to argue that Mr Modi’s “success”, because of his blatantly communal approach, in consolidating the Hindu vote has created an “ideal opportunity” to hold snap elections and win them hands down. Mercifully, the idea of an immediate poll has not found favour, at least partly because Gujarat, instead of being helpful to the party, has contributed to the BJP’s humiliating defeat in the Delhi municipal elections. Ironically, the BJP leaders themselves had foolishly declared the local body poll to be a “referendum” on the record of the Vajpayee government. This, coupled with the BJP’s earlier defeat in state assembly elections in UP, Punjab and Uttaranchal should be a wake-up call to it. All these issues, with Gujarat at the top of the agenda, are to be discussed by the BJP’s national executive in Goa next week. It is greatly to be hoped that the party leadership would grasp the nettle and not try to evade uncomfortable problems. However, while the responsibility of those in the driving seat both at the Centre and in the state is much the greater, Gujarat is not a problem of the BJP alone. It is the concern of the entire nation that must not abdicate its duty to preserve India’s secular, pluralistic and multicultural ethos against all odds, internal and external. Given the country’s highly polarised political climate, cooperation between the two sides on a whole array of issues is not a practical proposition. But there is at least one core issue that is crying out for immediate consensus if grave and irreparable damage to national interest is to be avoided. Gujarat has underscored yet again the appalling consequences of the steady politicisation and consequent corrosion of the police, the main agency for enforcing the law. At first the Ahmedabad police, on its own or under instructions, did precious little to curb the tidal wave of apparently organised slaughter of the minority community. A top police officer appeared on television and blandly declared that his force was inactive because it was “affected by the same sentiments” that were driving the people at large. Later, after very senior cops and even judges were forced to flee, some honest and brave police officers did act on their own to order firing on the killer and looting gangs. For their pains, they have been shunted out from their posts, and the Modi government, characteristically, is nonchalant about it. In a TV discussion, the Union Law Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, and the senior Congress leader, Mr Kapil Sibal, outstanding lawyers both, quarrelled over many things but agreed entirely that it was imperative to let the police act professionally instead of being controlled and manipulated by politicians. In heaven’s name, why don’t they start taking at least the first step towards this desirable goal? |
India beyond Gujarat-II HOW long and how damaging the fallout of Gujarat will be depends, as I said yesterday, on such truth about the riots as may emerge, particularly regarding the general allegation that the state government deliberately delayed prevention, control, and relief because it thought the BJP would gain from the polarisation of Hindu and Muslim votes, and some specific allegations such as it applied POTO only to what happened in Godhra and not to what followed in other parts of Gujarat, that it arrested more Muslims than Hindus under that Ordinance, and it announced a higher rate of compensation for the Hindu than for the Muslim victims of violence (the decision was later reversed). One can look at the allegations only in the light of the presently available evidence. The main facts of what happened at Godhra as far as known at present are that a train was bringing Hindu pilgrims to Gujarat from the sacred temple town of Ayudhya, in UP Close to the Godhra station, someone on board the train pulled the chain to stop it. Within a couple of minutes a crowd estimated at 2,000 and variously armed with weapons and incendiary materials came out of a Muslim locality, surrounded a coach carrying the pilgrims, locked it from outside, poured oil on it and set it on fire. All the occupants, numbering over 60 and including women and children, were burnt to death. As news of this ghastly tragedy spread, rioting broke out at many places in the state, including the capital, Ahmedabad, which has a history of communal violence. Detailed descriptions of what happened in Godhra have been published, some in journals which can in no way at all be described as partial to the BJP and its governments ( the contrary stands out a mile ). They show that the attack was well organised and premeditated. The attackers quickly gained the advantage attackers always have for a while over the police in civil commotion. Hindu rioters who counter-attacked in other parts of Gujarat would have had the same advantage even if the police had not been, as alleged, slack. The attack in Godhra occurred in the forenoon of day one, curfew was imposed in several parts of the state on day two, the Army came in on day three. There might have been some slackness too. Some elements in any civil service are tainted by the prejudices which taint the society to which they belong. But no response time seems to have been wasted, particularly by the Army, though it had found itself in a tricky situation. Ever since the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in December last year, and the steep mobilisation which followed, most of the Army has been deployed all along the Pakistan border, and on this huge stretch the Gujarat-Pakistan sector has become the most crucial, for reasons which have been developing over the years. It is very likely that because of these circumstances, any sizeable number of troops and their supporting equipment, particularly suitable transport, could not be detached from the front and re-deployed in the interior without covering the gap through re-dispositions. The need to cover them would have been real in any case. But the felt need was made sharper by the growing suspicion that the attack in Godhra was instigated by provocateurs who realised that riots would spread and would divert the Army from its dispositions on the Pakistan border. By the time deployment and logistics were completed a rash of riots had broken out in many urban concentrations and scattered rural areas. Matching deployments with the available logistics took time. The affected Muslims saw a design in the delay, many Hindus saw a Pakistani plot in the dislocation of troops, the looters saw an opportunity, and action and reaction escalated into terrible crimes. Use and non-use of POTO followed. Cases were first registered under it and then transferred to other laws. Rightly ? Yes, if POTO was wrongly applied, no if done only under partisan pressure. As its name shows, the Ordinance is meant specifically for use against suspected terrorists and their accomplices. Godhra was suspected to be their handiwork, and POTO was applied. Since all of them were Muslims, the number of Muslims arrested under the Ordinance rose. But less because they were Muslims than because of the suspected presence of provocateurs behind them who wanted disturbances in the hinterland of the Gujarat front on Pakistan. Similarly doubtful is the merit of a recent shift in the public’s remorse over Gujarat. The outcry against what happened to the victims of the rioting, and against what continues to happen in the human dumps called refugee camps, is fully justified. It should get louder till it becomes more effective. But the remorse over the stark tragedy of the pilgrims who were burnt in Godhra all but dried up in a couple of days. Many people have rightly berated the state government for the condition in the camps and for its failure to stop the riots and killings. But the demand that it should be dismissed for this reason invites a question. These are not the only refugees to have been forced into such wretched conditions, and some, like the Bangladesh refugees in Kolkata, had to endure them for much longer. Killings too have continued for much longer in some states, for example Andhra, Assam, Nagaland, J&K. In how many of them should the governments be dismissed? Again very rightly, the Human Rights Commission has publicly and severely indicted the state government. It might have been fairer for it to have waited for the report it was about to get from the state government, but that apart, the public has yet to hear what was seen in Godhra by those of its members who went there. Did they discover how the build-up for the attack on the train escaped the attention of the local people and the administration? If there is politically convincing evidence of serious failure on the part of the government either in Godhra or in the rest of Gujarat then a political decision to dismiss it should follow. The report of the Human Rights Commission should also be considered actionable in this respect. If there is legally sustainable evidence of complicity then those responsible for it should be prosecuted. But then this must happen in the case of the governments of all the states mentioned above, and in all such cases in future. Political action, and much less legal action, cannot be evoked selectively because the concerned government belonged to one party or another or the concerned victims or the guilty belonged to one party or another. However, the administration has not all that failed. Society failed as a whole, and that in a state in which civic sense has always been strong and people have often responded together in emergencies. Armchair critics sitting comfortably on hindsight are engaged in the favourite Indian pastime of leaving everything to the government and then complaining that it does not deliver. If the administration did not see what was brewing in Godhra, or what would follow if it boiled over, no one else did either. The only ones who saw the future were those who desired it — the ones who pulled the chain to stop the train, and those who stood behind them. What follows for India? Remorse is much in evidence. More will come, and punishments as well. But better things can happen if statesmanship can take two steps. First, joint efforts by the leaders of the two communities to profit from the changes which have been taking place in both, as described above, softening the political divides within each and between the two, in favour of a liberal modern outlook and against bigotry and orthodoxy. Second, a decision in favour of an electoral reform which many people have been advocating for long. At present India has the first past the post electoral system, in which a person can get through with a very small share of the vote if no one else has polled a higher share. This predisposes a candidate to appeal divisively to a social splinter to consolidated it behind him, and then to exploit divisions between his opponents in order to get a fragmented verdict. Under the change proposed by many, no one would get elected without half the votes plus one, and if no one got them in the first round of voting there would be a single run off round open only to the leader and the runner-up in the first round. Knowing no one would get elected without less than half the votes, no one would appeal so sharply to any segment as to offend those whose votes he would need in the run-off round. Electoral politics would then get rid of the stigma that they divide. Hindu-Muslim antagonism is often traced to that.
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High time to stem the rot in our temples of learning Mr Hari Jaisingh has done a commendable job by writing on
what ails Indian universities? (March 29). He aptly pointed out that the existing procedure of selection and appointment of Vice-Chancellors is the most serious ailment of Indian universities, particularly that of the regional universities. And this is mainly because of politicisation of universities. In most of the cases, Vice-Chancellors are appointed purely on political consideration and political “merit”. So, it depends on the competence, integrity and commitment of the political boss, which invariably is the Chief Minister of the state concerned. Mr Parkash Singh Badal, the former Chief Minister, out of his political wisdom, recommended the appointment of the present Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University. It should be remembered that Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia was promoted from PCS to IAS and thus was basically a bureaucrat. Mr Badal should have appointed as Vice-Chancellor, a person from the university system with high academic merit, proven integrity and commitment. Since the present incumbent was devoid of these attributes, the result is before the people. Political intervention in the management of the universities has been a normal practice for quite some time but the tragedy is that university dons and other conscious members of society have kept studied silence on the issue. They should have started a public debate on such a sensitive issue. Mr Hari Jaisingh is quite right when he writes “Those associated with the academic world must feel free to raise inconvenient questions without fear”, and he supported this cause through the columns of The Tribune when the present Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University initiated an inquiry against Prof Sucha Singh Gill and Prof U.C. Singh when they dared to express their concern on vital issues bearing social, economic and academic importance. The ground realities on the university campus is such that no difference of opinion and dissent is tolerated by the Vice-Chancellor. Every one knows that Prof K.C. Singhal, the then Head, Punjab School of Management Studies, had to face an FIR and removal from headship for raising his voice in one of the syndicate meetings. Even the duly elected Punjabi University Teachers Association (PUTA) was de-notified by the university authorities when it raised certain inconvenient issues. The Punjab and Haryana High Court came to the rescue of Prof Singhal and PUTA and Prof B.S. Khaira and Dr Balwinder Singh, the then president and secretary of PUTA, respectively. The worst part is that senior faculty members either maintain silence or become indifferent or become party with the Vice-Chancellor on such testing occasions. One simply fails to understand such a behaviour pattern of senior faculty members. A good number of senior professors are more interested in fringe benefits and part-time assignments, for which they get a paltry sum. Another important but related issue pertains to the recruitment and promotion of teachers in the universities. It should be strictly on academic merit. It can only be possible if the Vice-Chancellor is of high academic merit and a person of integrity and commitment. Only then he/she would able to resist political pressure. Mr Hari Jaisingh has rightly pointed out that pseudo-intellectuals, negative trade unionism and petty politicking are other serious ailments on the university campuses. I would like to add that the teachers who indulge in negative trade unionism and petty politicking are largely a bunch of inefficient self-seekers and pseudo-intellectuals. The academic community must sit together and give a serious thought to these ills so that the universities could become centres of excellence and role models. The onus lies on the Vice-Chancellor and senior faculty members in particular and the entire academic community in general. Mr Jaisingh has very rightly emphasised that politicisation of universities should be stopped forthwith. But the Herculean job is: how to attain this? Who would do that? He has not commented on it. To my mind, it can only be stopped by building up a public opinion by academic stalwarts, statesmen and the press. The press would have to play a formidable role. There must be an objective criterion and procedure for the selection and appointment of Vice-Chancellors. Such a criterion is already there in the case of Central universities. A search committee, consisting of eminent academicians should be appointed to prepare a panel of persons with academic merit of the highest order and with unquestionable integrity and commitment. The Chancellor should appoint the Vice-Chancellor only out of that panel. That is the prerequisite to achieve academic excellence and save the universities from the ailments to which Mr Hari Jaisingh has referred to. Dr. RANJIT SINGH GHUMAN No two opinions There can be no two opinions on what Mr Hari Jaisingh has said in his article. The university system revolves around the Vice-Chancellor who, despite all checks, remains all powerful. Utmost care, therefore, has to be taken by the government in the selection of VC. The person must be selected on merit; of unimpeachable integrity and professional commitment. The VC should have experience of continuous post-graduate teaching and post-doctoral research, besides efficient educational administration. Only such a person can command respect and inspire both teachers and the taught. A VC who is given this post as a reward for sycophancy (or for reasons other than merit) will not only perpetuate sycophancy but will also ruin the future of the students. There are examples where such unfit VCs could not even hold fair examinations and ended up covering themselves with ridicule. The selection of students for higher studies should also be merit-based, determined by fair entrance tests. It is a negation of merit to admit NRI students by bending all rules to gloss over their performance. Resource generation is a laudable objective but the staggering increase in the number of NRI seats or the fee, is not the best way to achieve it. Any intelligent VC can generate ample funds for the university in the form of consultancy charges from the industries in lieu of scientific and technical know-how, short-term as well as long-term research projects, manpower training, product testing, standardisation of procedures and innovations that can make them internationally competitive. In view of the recent developments, it is hoped that the new government in Punjab would appoint far-sighted and really capable academicians or scientists to lead the universities. Dr SURJIT SINGH BHATTI Falling standards Mr Hari Jaisingh’s article is very informative and thought provoking. The author has dwelt with the main factors responsible for the overall deterioration and falling standards in the universities. Mr Jaisingh is justified in expressing concern over “teachers ceasing to be an inspiration force and more interested in making money rather than training the youth on right lines”. But the fault lies with the corrupt system more than the teachers who feel themselves helpless in the prevailing polluted environment where to get a permanent job as a lecturer in a university or a college. Even the most talented candidate has to seek some political godfather or manage lakhs of rupees as bribe. So what can a teacher do? Too much political interference, unnecessary bureaucratic controls, financial constraints, lack of academic freedom are the main irritants which need to be removed. A teacher should always remain a student so that he becomes a role model for the students to be emulated. But academic freedom is needed to achieve academic excellence. Do we have it?. Dr ADARSH BATRA VC’s attributes Our universities have few outstanding scholars. Casteism and localism rule the roost and the level of research is quite poor. Average men and women with nondescript academic achievements should not be appointed as VCs. Today, a VC is very often seen in the company of his political bosses. He does not derive his strength from academic circles but powerful politicians. A good VC should remain in office as long as he is mentally and physically healthy. Veteran journalists, philosophers and well-established scholars should head our
universities. Every state has (and Punjab certainly has a few scholars of great heights) some established intellectuals of integrity who can carry out the VC’s tasks effectively. Dr R.B. YADAV DEHATI For a fair probe I would appeal to our top political leaders, administrators and judiciary to probe thoroughly the allegations levelled against Mr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, VC of Punjabi University. The findings must be made public in order to ensure accountability and transparency. Similarly, the case against Mr Ravinderpal Singh Sidhu, Chairman, PPSC may also be probed thoroughly. In case they are found guilty, exemplary punishment must be awarded. MOHAN SINGH On expected lines The grave developments in Punjabi University and the Punjab Public Service Commission are symptomatic of the fast spreading decay in our institutions. The rot that has set in is greatly attributable to the political process in which all policy decisions and appointments are based on political considerations. The Punjab State Electricity Board, other boards, corporations have all borne the brunt of misuse of authority in terms of unviable economic decisions and appointments marked by nepotism. The two referral points of immediate import — the university and the public service commission — clearly illustrate the working of the political system. Both the Vice-Chancellor and the PPSC Chairman were men of dubious public standing and merit when they were chosen to head the vital organs of the state. One was a bureaucrat with scholarly pretensions but widely reputed for corruption. The other was a journalist of little standing and known for his wild dealings off the field. Thus the story that has unfolded now is on expected lines. A.S. SRA Keep them at bay The rules should be flexible not for selection of VCs but for removal in case of their deviation from the requirements of the job. The selection should be purely on professional basis and transparent without political interference. The government should play the role of a watchdog, not as a maker or saviour of mischievous sycophants. ASHWANI K. SAHNI Expedite inquiry Mr Hari Jaisingh has rightly observed: “Most centres of higher learning today have become arenas for intrigue, groupism and undesirable activities”. In this atmosphere, allegations of moral turpitude can be levelled against any male teacher. Should he resign and gracefully bow out? Do charges vanish by bowing out? On the contrary, if he resigns, society will deem it as acceptance of his guilt. And if the court declares him innocent after years, who will pay his salary for this period? I think such a teacher should not resign. He should continue and face the charges. In such cases, the inquiry should be held on a day-to-day basis so that justice is done to all the parties. L.M. SHARMA |
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Dens of politics, intrigue & power struggle This has reference to Mr Hari Jaisingh’s article
“What ails Indian universities? Wanted: a premium on integrity & commitment” (March 29). The universities are regarded as temples of higher education and repositories of knowledge. These are widely considered to aim at making an individual intellectually enlightened, vocationally self-sufficient, socially efficient, morally strong and culturally sophisticated, refined and polished. But these temples of higher learning have deviated from their real path. Rather than imparting quality education of the highest standards, these have become dens of politics, groupism, power struggle, nepotism and sycophancy. Education has been put on the back burner violating all established norms. Obviously, degeneration has crept in everywhere in the university system which is ailing because of its own flaws. The unfortunate happenings in the recent past at GND University and Punjabi University have rocked the state. The VCs, doctors, professors have been allegedly charged with sexual harassment and moral turpitude. This sort of scandalous episodes have certainly lowered the prestige and image of the universities. The fountain-heads of moral values like truthfulness, integrity and character building have themselves flouted these values with impunity overlooking the fact that education is not merely an intellectual exercise but much more than that. When will it dawn on those who man the varsities? Our VCs should know what has vitiated the university atmosphere. Pseudo intellectuals ought to be weeded out if the lost ground is to be retrieved. A lot of thanks! TARSEM S. BUMRAH |
I am a lover, if any one calls my soul, My beloved responds from inside my breast saying it is I. My entity has disappeared, now I think only of Him. That which you actually see is not me but He. Thou cannot be comprehended by wordily people, Thou cannot be confined to the imagination of man. A man who cannot conceive his own self, Can he ever be able to conceive his creator. Although love is a sign of misery, Yet it is an everlasting felicity for the lover. — Kulliyat-e-Anasir-e-Dawawin; Hasht Behisht *** .... Thou art the desire of Thy lovers .... I beg from Thee Thy love. — Imam Zainul Abedin, Sahifa-e-Kamila *** Never loved a husband the wife for the wife’s sake, or the wife the husband for the husband’s sake. It is god in the wife the husband loves, and God in the husband the wife loves. It is God in everyone that draws us to that one in love. (It is) God in everything, in everybody that makes us love. God is the only love.... In everyone is God, the Atman; all else is but dream, an illusion. — Swami Vivekananda, From Frank Rhodehamel’s notes taken during a lecture in Oakland, California *** You may turn your bone to fuel, your flesh to meat, letting them roast and sizzle in the gold-red blaze of severe austerities. But unless your heart melts in love’s sweet ecstasy, you never can possess my Lord Shiva, my treasure trove. —
Tirumantiram, |
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