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Sunday,
October 20, 2002, Chandigarh, India
  
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SPECIAL
FOCUS ON EDUCATION Including education in
the larger agenda of societal transformation |
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Knowing
the true value of learning & evaluation H. Kalpana UNIVERSITY education in India offers a dismal scenario. The mode and pattern of teaching are outdated, conventional and traditional. Essentially new models of learning need to be implemented wherein students get to enjoy education leading to qualitative research. To pursue such a system of knowledge, Pondicherry University developed a pattern of teaching based on the American cafeteria model of education. In the present system students and teachers not only work interactively and communicatively but also work in a system that is open and transparent. It isn’t beyond
repair
Will
Mufti finally become CM?
Move
over Vajpayee, Modi is here!
Centre
averse to Cong-led govt in J&K
Television talkathons galore
Bush & Sharon as
our role models
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SPECIAL
FOCUS ON EDUCATION INDIA'S social crisis has emerged in its crudest form, in the domains of education, particularly higher education. Men of power in a bid to legitimise their authority have taken over the seats of learning and institutions of knowledge. Knowledge no longer controls power; it is power that has successfully captured seats of knowledge. Such conditions obviously give way to academic decadence as well as social catastrophe. The relation between power and intellect has created a miasma of distrust among people leading to the growth of an atmosphere of bitterness and strife. The educational institutions including the seats of higher learning have utterly failed to fill the yawning gap between ideals and achievements, rather the gap is widening everyday. Men of intellectual sensitiveness are convinced that there is something radically wrong, some where, and the tragedy is that the pith of pedagogic philosophy could only provide a nostrum having a little effect over the disease as well as its symptoms. The main purpose of education, as we understand, is to provide stimulus and direction to the individuals to turn their potential into reality which ultimately goes to develop their personalities intellectually, spiritually as well as materially. The teachers ought to remain alive, alert and active in grasping the living and vibrant knowledge and in order to impart it to the students they should rise above mediocre standards. Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead points out: “The justification for a university is that it presents the connection between knowledge and the zest of life, by uniting young and old in the imaginative consideration of learning”. Such a rationale develops a perspective ultimately ushering in the creation of a genuine educational system. Learning, thus, is the main feature of education and it is only the learned who are capable of defining and explaining the social policy on education in its original sense. Describing learning as the hallmark of education, Chinese ancient philosopher Confucious pointed out: “Without learning frankness becomes vulgarity; bravery, disobedience; firmness, eccentricity; humanity, stupidity; wisdom, flightness, sincerity, a plague”. Learning, knowledge and education jointly become the trichotomy of culture that finds its efflorescence only in educational institutions i.e. college or university. It, therefore, becomes necessary to critically focus on the aims and objects of education as well as functions of a college or university so as to develop the modes of humanist culture on this planet. The problems of academic decadence and social chaos can be tackled by the persons having imaginative will and varied experiences. Imagination and experience alone can stem the tide of ignorance and fanaticism. But the social tragedy of human society in the words of Whitehead is that “those who are imaginative have slight experience and those who are experienced have feeble imagination”. In such circumstance society pins its hope on genuine educationists and unattached intellectuals. They can, both objectively and scientifically, play their role in preserving the sanctity of education and also in determining the rationale for a genuine social order. The crisis bursts out only when educationists and academicians act on knowledge without imagination and the policy makers and policy executors work on imagination without knowledge. Under these circumstances, the existing social reality obviously throws education in abysmal depths from where it is utterly impossible to come out alive. Only a dialectical unity between experience and imagination can drag the education and the educationists out of the quagmire into which they have jumped. A cursory glance at the prevalent system in our country through the above mentioned philosophical perspective makes us sad and sullen and we are flabbergasted to observe the education has always remained a most neglected lot in India and it was never given priority in any governmental programme in the real sense of the term. Education, though considered most important, is the most neglected subject in our country. It has been marginalised by the bureaucracy and forgotten by the political leadership. The Indian Education Commission in one of its reports said, “Indian education needs drastic reconstruction, almost a revolution...” Jawaharlal Nehru once said: “The entire system of education in India must be revolutioned”. But this did not happen. Educational system even after 50 years of social democratic rule remains as decadent, as corrupt, as backward, as reactionary, as violent, as it ever was during the colonial era. We could not chart out a uniform educational policy for the whole country; even the states have created a mess in organising schools, colleges and universities. The private commercialisation of education has made it a market commodity and educational institutions have been turned into corporate offices of the vested
interests. The processes of admission, recruitment, and examination evaluation are extremely ambiguous and so flexible that they can be moulded to accommodate the powerful at the cost of common people and on curriculum, the less said the better. Parents are visibly upset as they are unable to get their children admitted to courses of their choice. They feel helpless to determine the careers of their children according to their wishes. The policy for conducting higher research is so vague and nebulous that it has made the whole higher education a laughing stock. The rules are violated even at the higher UGC level. What we teach is highly repetitive, grossly irrelevant and utterly boring. The entire process of education has failed to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of the students. It is neither job-oriented nor knowledge inspired. Educational institutions are machines that produce timid conservative men and women who are afraid to take any risks. The class room lectures are so technical and mechanical that these are not concerned in any way with life and its zeal for progress. As Bernard Shaw once humorously pointed out that teachers are like gramophones who do not know the effect of their lectures on students. The seminars at post-graduate level are only a matter of routine lacking enthusiasm and spirit of critical evaluation. This has alienated the students and teachers alike and has eroded the spirit of creativity and originality necessarily required in academic scholarship. The basic reason for this academic chaos is that education is defined, planned administered and controlled not by professionals but by politicians, supported by bureaucracy who remain at great distance from the academic world. Teachers and students are neither consulted nor taken into confidence while formulating policies at school, college and university level. New Education Commissions at the Centre and in the states comprising teachers, students, Vice-Chancellors, intellectuals, scholars and relevant politicians and officials are needed to scan the entire problem of education. This calls for a determined action. Tinkering with the existing situation in a half-hearted manner would not help. We have been able to construct big buildings for our educational institutions but have failed to infuse the real spirit of education in them. We have created laboratories and libraries but do not know how to use them effectively properly and respectfully. We have raised senates, syndicates, managements and departments for the efficient running of these institutions but the composition of these bodies is indeed appalling and stunning. The academic and intellectual degeneration has created a dangerous tendency in our teachers and intelligentsia resulting in total lethargy, apathy and sycophancy. This further complicates the matter. The need of the hour is to present the liberating credibility of education for the emancipation of man. It is education that can liberate man from narrow parochial thinking leading to fanaticism and terrorism of worst type. Education is, therefore, required to be tackled in a democratic spirit of liberation. The spirit of criticism should be developed and intellectuals must continue to think critically. This fact is well illustrated in Russian history. The social lethargy and intellectual bankruptcy in late 19th century Russia provoked Tolstoy to combat repressive Tsarist feudal autocracy through education. He propounded the new theory of education that produced a generation which took on their shoulders the tremendous burden of Russian backwardness and prepared ground for the Revolution, they worked for the future. His Yasnaya Polyana started in 1861 was a great pedagogical experiment for social revolution. Teachers are not incapable of doing positive towards human liberation. They must have the guts to stand against backward tendencies and worn-out sick ideas both in the campus and society. They should adopt a new radical approach in dealing with students, fellow colleagues and other social forces of the
time. They should discard cheap sycophancy to win popularity and emerge as real teachers whose main objective lies in grasping and imparting knowledge even at the cost of their socio-economic existence. A real teacher alone can bring a radical chance in the entire system of education. As Albert Einstein puts it, “It is the art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge”. This can only be possible when we can impress the world with our love for knowledge and with our attitude and behaviour towards students, colleagues and, above all, the general masses. We are passing through a period of crisis. Civilisation appears to have reached the brink of extermination and the brute forces supported by both ideology and technology have challenged the existence of human race. Innocent people are mercilessly killed in the name of God and people are subjected to irrational and anti-intellectual phraseology in the name of freedom. Crafty politics, vulgar economics and hypocratic religion are eating into the very vitals of our life and man has been reduced to the level of gnome standing helpless before his own image. The intelligentsia must jump into the arena to usher in a revolution of new hopes bringing justice in policy, grace in academy and sanctity in divinity The writer, a former Professor, National Integration Chair, Punjabi University, Patiala, was also Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India. |
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Including
education in the larger agenda of societal transformation THE policy of human resources has become a centre of all decisions with deep-rooted
implications. The hydra-headed monster of teeming unemployed millions has put our planners, policy-makers and administrators into a dilemma. The contradiction between the
increased education and rising unemployment is thus explicit. The main challenge confronting education strategies in Rajasthan is the education of the girl child, especially among Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. Education in medieval Rajasthan was based on patronage, either by the royalty or by influential members of the local community. While it did affirm the key role of public provisioning of education, its sphere was limited both in terms of the area covered and the skills taught as the students (and teachers) were mainly either from the royal or noble households or were beneficiaries of occasional munificence. In general, girls’ education was considered unimportant and suffered from conservative social attitude and practices, as well as from a lack of female teachers. The improvement in literacy rate recorded by Rajasthan between 1991 and 2001 is the highest in India. But the education scenario is doubly constrained: not only is the achievement level relatively low in absolute terms, its distribution across social groups is highly uneven. One of the daunting tasks facing the Ninth Plan is to accelerate the growth of employment opportunities to absorb the increase in labour force. The emerging structure of employment has numerous problems such as high level of underemployment, increasing casualisation, emergence of low productive jobs and
underutilisation of educated persons. States which are likely to face the prospect of an increase in unemployment in the post Ninth Plan period (2002-2007) are Bihar, Rajasthan, UP, Kerala and Punjab. In Rajasthan and UP, labour force and employment growth differential widens more than in the Ninth Plan. It is employment (including self-employment) alone which assigns an individual a specific place in the economy and enables him to contribute effectively. The optimum utilisation of human resources through appropriate employment is a matter of deep concern. Education has had a very beneficial impact in moderating the growth in population. It has also led to increased awareness in the common man. Although education often tends to raise aspirations, it is argued that job expectations have by and large remained realistic in Rajasthan. Education has had a deleterious effect on the employment
situation, but it’s exact extent has not been ascertained. Secondly, education accounts for the high level migration. This has repercussions on standards of living, provision of education, medical and welfare services. Therefore, differences in education and economic structure should be narrowed down. The first step should be to relate our present-day educational system to the employment situation. There is highly important correlation between education and employment and their relation is doubtlessly more complex than the simple causal relation. The specific responsibility of education towards the employment situation is three-fold: employment preparation, employment adaptation and employment creation to a limited extent. The effectiveness of education requires a deeper study of questions related to planning, the role of specialists in the national economy, their training and actual employment in the economy which determines the effectiveness of education. The present developments in science and technology make it necessary to prepare long-term plans for development of all types of education (secondary, general, technical, professional). The social development prospects for the next decade require us to define the quantitative and qualitative problems which should be solved in the area of education in order to prepare the young and the active population for the future. Thirdly, there is a need for greater emphasis on technical and vocational aspects of education in place of the present accent on general education, which pushes the educated from rural areas to migrate to the cities. Fourthly, there is a need to move away from thinking of education as an autonomous sector and locating it in the larger agenda of social transformation. Good education cannot be mono-sectoral. It has to focus on knowledge, attitudes and skills, conscentise and instil pride in self and cultural heritage, prepare and motivate people for self-generated change. The habit of thinking education only in terms of financial allocations and quantitative expansion should be given up. What matters most is the quality and relevance rather than the quantitative targets. Fifthly, the question of making general education universal and compulsory should keep in view the expansion of secondary and advanced education in relation to absorption of the graduates into the job market. There is an impression that though education is in the priority sector which ought to be stimulated, it cannot be expanded indefinitely as it already faces the risk of unemployment of educated individuals who meeting with frustration, create pools of dissatisfaction apart from its implications in terms of investments lying or being underutilised. A good education system is not enough to compensate for the inadequacies and impossibilities in the job market. The first step must not be confused with the journey’s end, and the first aid should not be confused with proper medical aid. Rajasthan holds a good promise to create a balance between education and employment. The past and the present bear evidence that wherever people of Rajasthan have set their foot, they have built empires. But the absence of this phenomenon in their own homeland is quite baffling. There is large reserve of unexploited natural resources minerals. It has large effective demand, satisfied partially through imports, but capable of being met indigenously, largely through the development of know-how and there is potential demand progressively becoming effective with the economic growth. The present situation presents many opportunities and challenges which call for initiative, drive, resourcefulness and an inquiring mind; an adventurous spirit; a co-operative attitude and leadership qualities which can be developed only through appropriate educational methodologies. The writer, a senior IAS officer, is Secretary, Administrative Reforms Commission, Government of Rajasthan. |
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Knowing
the true value of learning & evaluation UNIVERSITY education in India offers a dismal scenario. The mode and pattern of teaching are outdated, conventional and traditional. Essentially new models of learning need to be implemented wherein students get to enjoy education leading to qualitative research. To pursue such a system of knowledge, Pondicherry University developed a pattern of teaching based on the American cafeteria model of education. In the present system students and teachers not only work interactively and communicatively but also work in a system that is open and transparent. This mode of education is called the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS). It was adopted in 1992 and noting its success other universities in South such as the Madras University and the Manomanian Sundaranar University too have implemented it. The postgraduate students in the university are given a degree on their achieving 72 credits. They can gain these credits in a span of four semesters. There is also provision, however, for the students to complete the credit requirements in three semesters. The courses in departments are sectioned into hard core and soft core courses. Hard core courses are compulsory courses. Thus students who take a literature paper may find that courses such as Augustan literature, Modern poetry, and Contemporary critical theories are compulsory courses. The hard core courses are built up based on the need for essentiality and contemporariness. The departments generally have a programme committee where in the matter of syllabus is discussed and courses are set accordingly. Alternatively, soft core courses are not compulsory and are floated by individual teachers who have specialisation in that particular area. For example, a teacher specialising in English language teaching could offer a course on communication skills/ writing skills which would benefit students who may be from other departments and are in need of such a course. This aspect is quite invigorating and stimulating for the concerned teacher designs the whole course and could modify it too, if so needed, based on the requirements of the students. The transparency in the system is the biggest attraction of this system. Evaluation is in two sections — internal and external. Internals constitute 50 per cent and the weightage is for three tests plus assignments and seminars in the ratio of 20:20:10. The final examination constitutes 50 per cent. An external setter could set the final/end semester examination paper and also the external setter could do one evaluation. Students know the performance in the internals as they are allowed to go through their tests papers. Grades are given on the basis of performance, namely
S, A, B, C, D, E and F. S denotes superlative and F denotes failure. If students don’t take the exam, an FA can be given denoting failure due to absence. The meaning of classifying courses as six, five, four, three credits or two credits is a reference to the number of teaching hours in a week. Therefore, a four credit course indicates four teaching hours and so on. In certain cases like higher/ advanced levels courses, such as M. Phil or Ph.D programmes, it could also mean contact as well as non-contact hours in a week. The six and five credit courses are meant for higher levels such as M.Phil or Ph.D courses while four credit and three credit courses are offered for post-graduate courses. A major complaint from students on the credit system is about grading. Most students equate grades to classes such as I and II. This is wrong because the grading system is an independent system of evaluation and is based on points. S grade carries 10 points while E is equal to 5 points. F and FA carry 0 points. The Grade Point Average (GPA) is calculated at the end of the course with the credits students have opted. Thus an A in six credit course, a B in four credit course, a C in three credit course and D in two credit course will have GPA of 9 x 6 = 54+8x4 = 32+7x3 = 21+6x2 = 12. This finally leads to a GPA of 7.9/10 (total of grade points, 54+32+21+12 = 119 and total of credits, 6+4+3+2 = 119/15 = 7.93/10. Thus even students who get a C grade or B grade reveal creditable performance. Moreover, all courses need not carry same grading. Grades are dependent on the average level of students and ability of individual students. Consequently, a student who is good in English may not be very good in French. So the student who gets A in English may get C in French. Therefore one must understand that the grades are based on the intellectual levels of the group. Thus, in a batch of just average students a bright student may be able to get an S or A grade but not in a class of all bright students. Teachers complain of more work and correction. But the problem is that both teachers and students have known to become lackadaisical and easy going, thereby giving rise to falling standards. Also teachers are angered by the transparency in the system, which means that their evaluation has to be standard. The major hurdles in this system of education are that when a student fails she/he has to wait till the course is offered again to write the final examination. In some cases this may not work out for if a teacher who has specialised in spectroscopy has offered a soft core course and taken a sabbatical in the next academic year the course may not be offered and student may finish her/his course of study without the chance to write the course examination. To avoid such conflicts a board could be set up in the university, which will take into account all the failures in various departments and arrange for examinations. Grade like S is to be given only when one is extremely superlative. Not understanding this concept, many teachers tend to give S freely and also to many students. When S is given only one student can be awarded. In the interest of monitoring the system judiciously it would be wise if universities constituted a committee, which would overlook the functioning of the CBCS and rectify anomalies or complaints that may arise. Over all, the CBCS is an extremely flexible mode of education and helps in relating an interactive environment in the universities. It also creates interests in teaching and offers an open window system of education where students and teachers know the value of learning and evaluation. It is a system that helps to create and promote individual interests and satisfaction. One hopes that more and more universities adopt this system in future. The writer is Lecturer, Post-Graduate Department of English, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry. |
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It isn’t beyond repair ILLITERACY surely is the root cause of many a socio-economic problem. Education, in its broadest sense, is a systematic methodology that a society develops and practices in order to inform and instruct its members for its all-round growth. The flip side perhaps is that the more people are educated, the more they become aware of their ignorance. Since the formation of first social group, man evolved various modes and methods of learning and teaching according to the prevalent needs and resources of each social set of people. With a view to keeping pace with the shifting social system and patterns, the educational techniques and traditions have also been changing with the passage of time. Always in a flux, education today has developed not only into a well organised science but also a challenging and enormous enterprise. While our past British political masters twisted our education system to suit their own requirements, our greedy politicians are bent upon moulding it as per their political needs. They feel the need to keep large sections of our society virtually illiterate. For, an uneducated mass of people suits them well to achieve their nefarious goals. To achieve their sinister designs they go to any extent by painting education as per their pressing requirements — saffron, secular, or occult! Teachers too should own a great deal of responsibility for the current mess. Teaching is no more considered a noble profession. It is due to this particular rot in our system that our social institutions have crumbled. Teachers know that parents go to any length to promote their wards. They started using parents’ weakness for children for their personal ends. They admit students of influential parents, particularly in institutions of “higher learning”, though they are least interested in education. Teachers are the most coward among all other professionals. That is why the rot that began some three decades ago could not corrupt the entire teaching community. I sincerely feel that the rot can still be checked. As a first step, the education system should be freed from the influence of politicised bureaucracy. The teachers should get back their pristine academic freedom and respectability so that they need not take resort to agitations or knock at the doors of our rather slow-moving judiciary for their genuine dues. Then, I sincerely hope, they will not fall prey to trifling allurements. The day should not be far off when people would like to rub their shoulders with teachers. Amen! The writer is a Chandigarh-based teacher with three decades of experience. |
Will Mufti finally become CM? Four years back, Mufti Sahib was a successful Congress candidate from the Anantnag constituency but his term in the Lok Sabha was short-lived followed by another mid-term poll. It was unfortunate that he had to quit the Congress subsequently and form the People’s Democratic Party. Had Mufti Sahib not quit the Congress, the party would have emerged a formidable force in the trouble-torn state. Even if the Congress and the PDP had forged a pre-poll alliance, they might not have to struggle to cobble a majority. It was also a stark truth that he alone carried the Congress flags in the valley for long years and faced the onslaught of the National Conference. Two aspects of Mufti Sahib’s personality stand out clearly in his four-decade-long political career; steadfast adherence to principles or what he believes to be correct and staunch opposition to the late Sheikh Abdullah and, later, Farooq Abdullah. He was opposed to the Congress-National Conference tie up in 1977 and quit the Congress, apparently, peeved at Rajiv Gandhi-Farooq Abdullah accord at the time of 1987 election. What followed in the aftermath was a rigged election, more alienation of the people and rise of strident militancy. Mufti Sahib did not think twice to snap ties with the Janata Dal when the then Prime Minister
H. D. Deve Gowda came closer to Farooq. Mufti Sahib often narrates an incident to illustrate Sheikh Abdullah’s hostility towards the Congress. Addressing a public meeting in Jammu, the Sheikh launched a bitter attack on the Congress saying “Ek crore ka mal char anne me bekta hai”. Several people asked him where they could get the “mal”. His reply was go to the bank and find out. One of them took him seriously, went to the bank and produced four annas at the counter. In lieu, the cashier gave him a Gandhi cap. The Sheikh told the public meeting that by wearing the cap, one can easily earn one crore rupees. The meeting was, incidentally, organised by the J&K unit of the Congress and it was attended, among others, by the then Congress president, D.K. Barooah. Mufti Sahib took the Sheikh’s uncharitable hit at his party to heart and vowed to avenge the humiliation. The Mufti, who later became the PCC president, organised a series of meetings and spoke how the Sheikh and his family had amassed wealth and reduced Kashmir into their personal serfdom. His reply to the Sheikh’s insinuation “Ek crore ka mal char anne me bekta hai” was “Sheikh char anne ka mal hai”. Requests were sent to the Mufti from the National Conference office to stop denigrating an elderly leader like Sheikh in this manner. Mufti Sahib continued his belligerence against Farooq Abdullah with more ferocity and quit the Congress when that party entered into an alliance with the National Conference. His grouse was justified: even though he was the president of the J&K unit of the Congress, he was not taken into confidence on the alliance issue. Rajiv Gandhi did his best to appease the Mufti; brought him to the Centre as a Cabinet Minister but he never reconciled to soft line towards Sheikh Abdullah’s son. The Mufti resigned from the Cabinet and ultimately quit the Congress. Given long years of confrontation with Sheikh Abdullah and his son, he could not have coexisted with the National Conference. He joined hands with V.P. Singh and became the first-ever Muslim Home Minister in the Janata Dal Government. Mufti Sahib had said after his electoral victory in 1998: “It is people’s triumph who have been fighting for survival. People have considered me anti-establishment since the time of Sheikh Abdullah and they have now voted for me. I was all these years fighting for political existence...I was swimming against the current and I have now succeeded”. The Mufti has fulfilled his life-time ambition by humbling the National Conference but stuck up at the last point because of the Congress’ adamant attitude. Doubtless, he has the first claim to the Chief Minister’s post and the Congress leadership would do well to see the writing on the wall. |
Move over Vajpayee, Modi is here! THE saffron-clad angry old man, Bal Thackeray, is upset these days. The Shiv Sena supremo is cut up not only with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee but also with his fire-breathing deputy L.K. Advani. So much so that he recently told a Congress leader, who visited him to plead the case of some builders, that he should go and tell his party president Sonia Gandhi to stop dreaming of Prime Ministership. Thackeray did not stop here and added that even Advani did not fit the bill. In Thackeray’s opinion, only Narendra Modi deserves to occupy the post. Thackeray has predicted that Modi’s stature would increase after he leads the BJP to victory in the coming assembly elections in Gujarat. Thackeray’s another prediction about the Gujarat Chief Minister is that he (Modi) would finish Pakistan once and for all. Not content with this, Thackeray gave a dressing down to his visitor from the Congress and told him with a pointed finger: “if you had not fled away, you would have been an asset for us in our fight against Pakistan”. Govind & Murli It may be music to some ears but it may cause sleepless nights for others. The news: a meeting between former BJP General Secretary K N Govindacharya and his arch rival Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. Nobody would have believed this few months back but the political improbability became a distinct reality recently at the initiative of a RSS leader. Govindacharya, who has been totally abandoned by his
erstwhile mentor L. K. Advani, reluctantly agreed to meet Joshi for working out a programme to revive the party. Both Joshi and Govindacharya have a common perception of Gujarat where they see defeat of the party in the coming elections. That is where the former sees the opportunity of his life-time for which he has been waiting for years. With the same objective, Joshi had opted for a house at Raisina Road in which Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had stayed for years before
becoming the Prime Minister in the BJP’s 13-day Government. Incidentally, the relationship between Advani and Joshi has somewhat warmed in the recent past. Joshi’s monologue Intrepid netas Gone are the days when politicians were so camera-struck that they would answer even embarrassing questions meekly fearing that they might annoy the interviewer. Now the politicians have started taking on the fourth estate like never before. Here we are talking primarily of electronic media. On Thursday when the counting of votes in Jammu and Kashmir was on, a prominent journalist of a popular news channel got the taste of his own medicine from Union Minister Chaman Lal Gupta, the BJP leader from Jammu. The interviewer, known for his hard talk, asked Gupta if the BJP fared poorly in J&K elections because the RSS backing was not there this time. Gupta shot back saying that he ought to know the RSS better as he (the interviewer) himself was a RSS man. In another case on a different
TV channel, a lady interviewer asked VHP leader Praveen Togadia if he was not ashamed of whatever happened in Gujarat. Not to be cowed down, Togadia put forth his point vociferously and also mentioned that he wanted to give a message “for the likes of you”. Hard nut to crack The CBI is known to be adept in the art of working in pressure cooker situations. it has handled several cases of corruption in high places. But a Private Secretary of a minister in the Vajpayee government, who was booked for possession of assets disproportionate to known sources of his income, has proved to be a hard nut to crack. The bigwigs of the CBI have used several methods to fish out more information from him and put psychological pressure on him to reveal his links. But all in vain. The sleuths of the premier investigating agency are understood to have wielded several threats to him from arresting him to getting him suspended, the accused, who hails from the constituency of one of the former Prime Ministers’ in East UP has proved to be a tough customer. In fact, the sources, say that certain counter questioning by the accused, is believed to have unnerved even hardcore investigators as they have failed to get anything from him even after summoning him to the CBI Headquarters for interrogation more than a dozen times. Azad puzzle Contributed by T.V. Lakshminarayan, Satish Misra, Tripti Nath, S. Satyanarayanan, Prashant Sood and Rajeev Sharma. |
Centre averse to Cong-led govt in J&K WITH the PDP’s rigid stand on the Chief Minister issue, the only option left for the Congress is to carry along Panther’s Party’s 4, CPM’s 2, Bahujan Samaj Party’s 1, together with some Independents and defections from the PDP. There have been undercurrents of various rumours, pinpointing the “games” being played by the Centre. Sources say that the Centre is inclined to have the National Conference in some form at the state level because that would suit its interests. There have also been talks of PDP’s president Mufti
Mohammed Sayeed being in direct touch with the Centre and getting dictated by the political bosses in New Delhi and that’s why the inflexibility being showed by him because a Congress-led government in the State wouldn’t suit the Centre. When I got in touch with Mufti on October 18 morning, he declined to comment, with this one-liner “I am holding a public meeting at Ganderbal and I will make my statement there...” He discouraged my talking to his daughter Mehbooba, with this excuse — “No she will not be able to talk because there are crowds waiting to meet her...” Congress’ Saifuddin Soz gave the impression that soon there would be some magic formula which would get a Congress-led government upstage by Monday. Shabbir Shah of the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) says, “it makes little difference whether it is a Congress, PDP or a
coalition government, for the basic issues are not going to be sorted out like this...” Perhaps, the most vocal of them of all has been Panther’s Party chief Bhim Singh. He says, “Haathi woh lai gai, dum mere saath chood gaye” (the chunk they have taken, I am left with just a portion). Asked on what basis was he claiming to be on the Chief Minister’s seat, he said, “The people want me as the CM...the minute the jailed inmates came to know of my victory there were
celebrations in the jails. I know I am not from the Valley but if the state had a non-Muslim CM and that too not from the Valley, it would have added another feather in the secular fabric of the state”. |
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Television talkathons galore I
suppose everyone likes talking their heads off, but Indians certainly lead the pack in the TV
talkathons. And last week saw such a gush of words, in every sense of the term, that one had a hard time getting away from an
overbearing torrent. First there was the Big B’s Birthday Bash. Long interview with Aaj Tak, shorter one with Star Plus but endless ones with colleagues, industrialists, politicians, relatives, friends and admirers, some having travelled long distances, on the street and off it, in five-star hotels and tete-e-tetes in gardens. As usual, Bachchan was patient, courteous, dignified and interesting, which is not easy, with so much adulation swirling around. I do not agree that it was a performance. His innate courtesy and charm came through even when he was doing an actual performance in
KBC, picking up a nervous elderly lady’s crumpled handkerchief from the floor where she had dropped it in her nervousness. At the other end of the spectrum was Vir Sanghvi’s Star Talk with Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, a conscious effort on the part of Dr Joshi to sound civilised and liberal even when defending some indefensible decisions. It did not quite convince, but was without
rancour. Natural and relaxed was the joint interview of the husband and wife team of musicians Kavita Krishnamurthy and husband
L.N. Subramaniam. Nothing put on about it, Sanghvi is particularly good with artists who also have human interest and this was one of the most watchable interviews of its kind. Faroque Sheikh had lined up in a formidable studio full of people for his romp with
M.F. Hussain, although one wished he had done without some of the socialites. Of course Hussain, in spite of his at times mumbling speech, is always not only amusing but also stimulates one with his random thoughts on about everything. In fact, even Hema Malini did much better in the previous programme than the floundering one with Sharmila Tagore which lost more due to poor production, poor research, very poor line-up of her directors, heroes and colleagues and the usual stress on the Mumbai
fillum as against her prestige and respect in Bengali cinema through Satyajit Ray’s films, and her recent reincarnation there, including Gautam Ghosh’s interesting sequel to Ray’s Aranyer Deen
Ratri. However, an entirely new variation on the political interview came on the screen via the elections in Kashmir. Not only are the Kashmiris literally a very beautiful (and photogenic) people, but they are very citilized even when emotional in their speech. Omar Abdullah, sulkily tongue-tied after his defeat but never impolite, was more than balanced by the passionate and obviously sincere outpourings of that spunky and articulate young candidate Ms Mehmooba Mufti. Her father too, was seen to wave away garlands. In fact, not one candidate from Jammu and Kashmir spoke in the sort of coarse and abusive terms adopted by Narendra Modi, for instance. But then, Modi is in a class by himself and has dragged down politicking to such shameful depths that comparisons seem unfair. I would also like to mention the men and women voters, or non-voters, who were interviewed on the streets of Jammu and Kashmir. Never once did they use abusive or vulgar language. What they said in the way of criticism was said firmly but not vulgarly. For
that, or for blatant distortion of the truth, one had to go to Pakistan TV. I must confess to an occasional feeling of embarrassment when I find broadcasters of Indian origin slanting their despatches to suit the political needs of the foreign channels (and perhaps governments) for whom they cover Indian news. Mr Satindar Bindra, of CNN, who even pronounces his own very Indian name with an American twist, made two interesting observations after the Kashmir elections were over. First, that the Kashmiri vote was a vote against India. And that it was a vote for India to talk to Pakistan. Sounds suspiciously like His Master’s Voice, does it not? One did not find Anita Pratap, Riz Khan or Niisha Pillai talking like that. So if the reason why foreign channels employ people of Indian origin is to make viewers in the country to which they broadcast feel more at home with them, it seems it does not always work out that way.
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Bush & Sharon as our role models MUCH war mongering marked the observance of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. Leaders of the Sangh Parivar urged the Prime Minister to go to war against Pakistan. In an interview on TV, Praveen Togadia, general secretary of the Viswa Hindu Parishad, said Vajpayee has been unable to fight terror. ‘He should break Pakistan into forty parts. If the government allows us (VHP), we will go with guns to Islamabad and Rawalpindi.’ VHP President Vishnu Hari Dalmia said at an anti-terrorism rally at Rajghat, ‘We have reached a point where there is no option left than an all-out war against Pakistan and mere rhetoric won’t do…What happened after the Parliament attack? After much-hyped war preparations, nothing followed.’ Not to be outdone by the VHP stalwarts, Jaswant Singh makes curious philosophical observations on preventive or pre-emptive war, which he says is a form of deterrence, which is another form of self-defence. Indeed, Jaswant comes close to Orwell’s ‘war is peace’ formula. What is Jaswant Singh up to? Is he already tired of his finance portfolio? Is he longing to go back to external affairs? Does he think he’s missed the chance of becoming a world statesman? It is true that President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have been deliberately blurring the lines of distinction between pre-emption, deterrence and self-defence. They will do anything to try and justify an attack on Iraq, as will Tony Blair. But ministers of the Indian government don’t need to be so obsequious to the USA and Great Britain. There’s good news coming from many parts of the world. There have been massive anti-war rallies in London, Sydney and several European capitals. Popular revolt is the only means left for ordinary people to change their national policies from war to peace. The London rally is said to have been the largest ever protest rally, including the anti-bomb Aldermaston marches. More than a quarter of a million people, many of them students and office workers with no clear political leanings, took part in a procession starting from the Thames Embankment and ending in Hyde Park. An estimated thousand people a minute filed past 10 Downing Street for four hours and forty minutes, it’s been reported. Neither Bush nor Blair could have liked the spectacle. In India, nobody seems to be speaking up for peace and sanity in the world. Voices of belligerence appear to be gaining ground. More and more people are expressing their admiration for Bush and Ariel Sharon. They have become icons and role models for the messengers of Hindutva. The agonised cry of an old Gandhian has moved me. On October 2, V. Kalyanam, who was for years personal secretary to Mahatma Gandhi, said that Mahatma’s India was just a dream that could never become reality. ‘If Mahatma Gandhi had been alive today, he would have been shocked and fasted to death.’ |
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MUFTI Mohammad Sayeed had described his first-ever victory from Kashmir in 1998 Lok Sabha elections as a “turning point in J&K’s history” and forecast this would open a new chapter in the annals of the beleaguered state. His prophecy has come true now as “Kashmiris have openly voted against the National Conference and shed their inhibition against the Congress”, but the turning point in the state’s bloody chronicle is sought to be marred by the obstinacy of the Congress. At the time of writing, it is uncertain if Mufti Sahib will be the Chief Minister. If the Congress-PDP coalition does not come about, history will blame the leadership of the Congress for another “historic blunder”. 
Talking of Murli Manohar Joshi, the HRD and Science and Technology Minister was in no mood to allow any unfavourable remarks while presenting a seemingly endless thesis on the achievements of his ministries at a press conference held here this week. Determined to blow the trumpet of the Vajpayee government, Joshi made it amply clear to inquisitive journalists that he was there to tell them what his government had done in the last three years and not what it had not done. He asked them to reserve such queries for another day. While talking at length about strides in the field of education, science and technology, he reiterated the much-repeated government slogan: “Education for all, Science in the service of the common man.” He rubbished the Opposition on its campaign against alleged
saffronisation of education and called it “destructive”.
One question uppermost in the minds of Congress leaders last week was whether Ghulam Nabi Azad would become Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Azad has been a rare survivor at the AICC office, always getting plum posts under different Congress presidents. His return to the AICC, after leading the party to a good show in the assembly polls, can unsettle power equations in the Congress. Azad’s room at the AICC, allotted to him when he was general secretary, still remains with him. Many Congress leaders would be happy to see Azad work in the cool climes of Jammu and Kashmir. Azad’s becoming CLP leader has been music to their ears but he is unlikely to stay in the state unless he becomes the Chief Minister.