The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

PERSPECTIVE

Tech education and research: IITs show the way
by Dharam Vir and Keya Dharam Vir

THE Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have emerged as one of the most prominent success stories of Independent India. While most IITians have stayed in India and made invaluable contribution in diverse areas, they shot into greater prominence because of the success of their alumni in the US where they made their mark as world class scientists, engineers, managers and entrepreneurs.

Of late, it is felt that the number of IITs and their intake are so small for the size of our country that many outstanding students are deprived of this type of world class education. India has a large pool of world class students, but not enough world class institutions. Admission in these institutes assures students of a good career and also migration to many foreign countries, especially the US. It is, thus, natural for aspirants to cash on this brand by increasing their intake and setting up more IITs.

From time to time, the state governments, experts and the general public have demanded more IITs. Subsequently, two more IITs were set up at Guwahati and Roorkee (through conversion of the University of Roorkee). Now there are seven IITs. The Centre’s decision last year to convert five well performing institutions into IITs is yet to be implemented.

The total intake in the seven IITs is about 3,000 students. Five more IITs would take the total intake to 5,000. But this would not help produce high quality technical manpower required on a larger scale. Moreover, the goal of having more IITs is to have top class institutions. There are over 1,350 engineering colleges and 311 universities in India. What will happen to these institutions and the quality of technical manpower being produced by them?

According to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, it costs about Rs 1,000 crore to set up a new IIT. Given the resource crunch and the people’s reluctance to pay higher fee, only a few IITs could be established as new projects. Thus, the idea of converting good institutions on the pattern of University of Roorkee gained acceptability, though opinion is divided on this. Though conversion suggests that an institution could achieve excellence only if it is named IIT, conversion of too many institutions into IITs would dilute the brand image of IIT.

IITs need to grow further. They have mostly been engaged in science and technology. Their management programmes, recently introduced, are beginning to pick up. The same is the case with Biotechnology. However, they are not highly diversified institutions. Compare them, for instance, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is well known for Economics, Biology and Medicine. Can we not think of widening the scope of the existing IITs?

IITs do have their weaknesses. They need competition to grow. Thus, the issue is much larger and cannot be examined in isolation. This brings to the fore higher education and research. There has been no enough discussion on various alternatives which can meet the objective of producing high quality science and technology manpower.

What is that puts IITs at the top? They have always been conceived as institutions of national importance for science and technology. Therefore, successive governments supported them by way of funding and giving them functional autonomy. Unlike traditional universities, the governance model and administrative systems of IITs are conducive to the promotion of excellence. The first IIT, set up at Kharagpur, focussed on the MIT and the University of Manchester. IITs at Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur and Chennai were set up with the help of the erstwhile USSR, the UK, the US and Germany respectively — all leaders in industry, science and technology. As most teachers appointed were trained in good universities of these countries, they brought with them the latest know-how, the best academic practices and educational technology.

For one thing, the curricula of IITs are at par with the best in the world as teachers have greater freedom in devising the syllabi and evaluation system. For another, the system of admissions through the Joint Entrance Examination is unique and highly credible. IITs firmly believe that engineering and technology disciplines cannot flourish without a high content of physical sciences. That is why they have well staffed departments of physical sciences.

All undergraduate engineering programmes of IITs have sizeable component of science subjects, which are taught by senior teachers of these departments. Thus, an undergraduate student at any IIT has the privilege of learning basic science subjects from top experts in physical sciences, which help him get a unique perspective in any engineering related activity.

All IITs also offer Master’s and Doctoral programmes in physical sciences. In fact, most students who did Master’s or Ph.D. in science subjects have distinguished themselves in various types of professions, specially teaching and research. Many of them have won national and international awards. The quality of science programmes can be judged by the fact that every year students with high rank in JEE take admission in the five-year integrated Master’s programme in Physics. Last year, the JEE’s topper joined this programme. Several IITs also offer Doctoral level programmes in social sciences.

Another prominent feature of IITs is the opportunity given to students in the selection of courses and to pursue their interests. Students of all disciplines and degree programmes are encouraged to take a few courses of other departments. For instance, several B. Tech students could become physicists and vice versa. A few IITs offer specialisation at B. Tech level. Credit based system is followed. The evaluation (examination) system is fully decentralised. And results are declared soon after the examinations, during vacations. The system of relative grading generates competition amongst IITians to do better.

Each IIT has a very strong and active alumni association which binds them in many ways. Many well-to-do alumni have donated huge funds to their alma mater to set up centres of excellence in emerging areas and for improvement of the existing infrastructure. Thus, IITs are radically different from the universities and other technical institutions.

There is a dire necessity to improve the university system of education. At least five well performing universities should be converted into world class institutions by introducing world class academic practices, or set up new ones and make them compete with IITs.

The restructuring of Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) and a few other institutions as National Institutes of Technology with deemed university status is commendable. These institutions are to be developed on the pattern of IITs. Though they have the potential to become first-rate institutions, for various reasons, their performance has not improved to the desired extent. Even otherwise, the conversion of RECs into NITs was a serious attempt to create a new model. This vision must be pursued vigorously by removing the bottlenecks in NITs and by adopting the best practices of IITs.

Some of the research institutes set up by the Government of India’s departments of Atomic Energy, CSIR, IT, ICAR etc., should be converted into research universities by introducing undergraduate and graduate level programmes on a modest level. Most world class universities in advanced countries offer undergraduate programmes on a large scale. As students get inspired and motivated early, undergraduate is perhaps the right stage to give them a push. Institutions such as Bangalore’s Indian Institute of Science, New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and Central University of Hyderabad, with no drag of affiliating colleges, should start undergraduate programmes in science and technology. They will have to deliver more than what they are doing now.

Radical reforms, legal and managerial, in the system of governance of universities as well as academics and examinations are urgently required. The application of information technology in managerial activities in all academic institutions of higher education should be made mandatory.

The universities and other institutions of higher education do not have adequate resources. Any move to raise fee and user charges leads to strikes and agitation. This is a very serious issue which needs immediate resolution.

A legal framework for foreign direct investment in higher education and research has also become necessary. This will not only help India to have world class institutions but also become catalytic for reforms in the government-funded institutions. India can also emerge as the preferred destination of higher education and research on the pattern of IT and business process outsourcing.

Clearly, seven (or 12 if five more come up) IITs are not enough for our country. We deserve several world class institutions. True, all of them cannot come up as new projects. The solution lies in adopting a multi-pronged strategy. The existing IITs need to reach greater heights through diversification and higher intake by strengthening their infrastructure. An action plan is overdue for improving the university system and research institutes.

The writers are alumni of IIT, Kanpur. Mr Dharam Vir is Principal Secretary, Home and Technical Education, Haryana. Dr Keya Dharam Vir is Professor of Physics, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

On Record
Debate needed on Governor’s powers, says Rajnath Singh
by S. Satyanarayanan

Rajnath Singh

THE installation of the Shibu Soren ministry in Jharkhand by Governor Syed Sibtey Razi has hit the national headlines, bringing to the fore the issue of flagrant abuse of powers by partisan Governors. In an exclusive interview to The Sunday Tribune, BJP National General Secretary Rajnath Singh makes some candid remarks on the episode. The prudent election management by Mr Singh, a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, helped the BJP-led NDA to emerge as the single largest combine with 36 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly. Though the combine could not get a simple majority on its own, its performance against heavy odds including the anti-incumbency factor, has earned him the name “silent killer” from the party cadre. Suffice it to mention, Mr Singh was also instrumental in ensuring the BJP’s victory in Chhattisgarh in 2003.

Excerpts:

Q: How do you see the developments in Jharkhand?

A: This situation would not have arisen had any of the political combine got a majority. This would have also not provided an opportunity to the Governor to act in an illegal, unethical or unconstitutional manner. Unfortunately, the NDA despite having performed well, could not cross the magic mark of 41 on its own and ended at 36. However, our effort to reach out to Independents worked, five of whom assured us support. Though this was intimated to the Governor in writing, his action has given room for open horse-trading.

Q: Has Mr Razi justified his action?

A: After abusing his powers, he is now trying to justify his action. First, he did not invite the single-largest party (BJP) or the single-largest pre-poll combine (NDA) to form the government. Instead, he installed the JMM-led combine, which did not enjoy majority. He refused to recognise the NDA’s presentation of five Independent MLAs before him in the Raj Bhavan together with their written consent. Worse, Mr Shibu Soren was given 20 days to prove his majority in the Assembly. While the Manohar Parikkar-led BJP Government was given just 24 hours in Goa to prove its majority, the Pratapsinh Rane-led Congress Government was given a month’s time for the floor test. This clearly reflects the anti-democratic psyche of the UPA-appointed governors — S.C. Jamir in Goa and Syed Sibtey Razi in Jharkhand. Apparently, they acted at the behest of the UPA leaders and the Congress High Command in 10, Janpath (read Sonia Gandhi). Even a leaf can’t move in the UPA without the consent of 10, Janpath.

Q: Do you think the erosion in the constitutional positions like that of the Governor is due to compulsions of coalition politics?

A: Why blame coalition politics for this? It depends on what kind of ethics, values and commitment a Governor follows. It purely depends on the occupant of the Raj Bhavan. If you ask me to form an NDA government by offering money to Independent MLAs, I will not do that. At the same time, I will not hesitate to share power with them in return for the support.

Q: How can one prevent misuse of powers by the Governor? Do you think he should be kept away from the reach of political persons?

A: I think all political parties should sit together and debate on the possible remedies to ensure that there is no erosion of values attached to gubernatorial offices and to prevent misuse of that position. There should be a national debate on whether or not to continue the Governor’s post itself. If the consensus is in favour of status quo, rules and conventions should be spelt out in a manner that there is no scope for unconstitutional, illegal or unethical decisions. However, one healthy convention the Vajpayee-led NDA Government started was to consult the state governments before appointing the Governors. This was in conformity with the Sarkaria Commission report.

Q: Don’t you think the emergence of several regional parties in the national scene reflects the weakness of national parties?

A: How can one treat this as weakness of national parties? National parties sometimes win or lose. I do agree that in some states regional parties have emerged so strongly that they have even formed governments in their respective states. Of course, I feel that the national parties, while focussing on national issues, should ensure that they adequately take note of regional aspirations, sentiments and problems. That is why, the BJP has been consistently trying to reach out to the masses across the country through its workers and cadres.

Q: After having proved your organisational capabilities in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, would you like to take on the same responsibility in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP’s influence seems to be on the wane?

A: The BJP has done well in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand because of the combined efforts of the party workers. I don’t think that any individual can ensure the party’s victory or defeat. It is always the collective effort of the workers and leaders that can ultimately ensure success. As far as Uttar Pradesh is concerned, I strongly believe that a combined effort from the party cadre will definitely help the party to bounce back as people are fed up with the Samajwadi Party Government.

OPED

Profile
Litmus test for Shibu Soren
by Harihar Swarup

Shibu Soren’s love for his progeny over his long-time political associates and his lust for power has destroyed his father figure image among the tribals and created a sharp wedge in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. His belief that since he had made sacrifice, his children are natural inheritors of his legacy triggered discontent in the JMM ranks which manifested in the recent Assembly election results.

His reputation as architect of the Jharkhand state and years of sacrifice for the tribal cause too came crashing down. Even though his long-time ambition of becoming Chief Minister has been realised, disappointment appears to be writ large on the wall. In the process, he lost the office of the Union Minister also. Soren alone is not to be blamed for the mess created in Ranchi. The Congress and Governor Syed Sibtey Razi are also responsible.

No longer tribals adore Soren. No longer his supporters call him “Guruji”. Controversies always chased him. But the current imbroglio has overshadowed earlier setbacks in his turbulent political career. He was implicated only months back in a 30-year-old murder case and the BJP demanded his scalp. But he came out of the trauma and was re-inducted in the Union Cabinet.

He hit the headlines in 1993 when his party voted in favour of the then Congress government of P.V. Narasimha Rao. Soren was accused of taking a bribe for the vote. Subsequently, in what came to be known as the JMM bribery case, four MPs of the party, including Soren, were sent to jail. Soren was later acquitted.

Soren began his career by campaigning against moneylenders. He was venerated by the tribals of Santhal Pargana. His initial days were spent in the jungles, fighting the cause of the poverty-stricken people. With the passage of time, he became a politician and took over charge of the JMM from Nirmal Mahto, the party’s founder. In the early nineties, he had a strong base among tribals and backward people, particularly the Mahto community.

His credibility has taken a beating because he is known to switching sides. He flirted with both the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at different times. Before the creation of Jharkhand in 2000, he backed the BJP as the party had assured him that he would be made the Chief Minister after the formation of the state. When the BJP backtracked, he joined hands with the RJD.

Irrespective of the fate that awaits Soren, his career graph shows he has always been a rebel and not the one to give up. The rebellion in him was ignited when at the instigation of a money lender, his father, Shobaran Soren, was murdered. A young tribal lad, as Soren was at that time, could not bear the loss. He vowed to get his region freed of the “tyrants” and initially his slogan was “Jharkhand ko soshan se mukti doo” (free Jharkhand from exploiters). Subsequently, the movement gave rise to JMM and Soren became the torchbearer of the struggle.

The JMM supremo was the fulcrum of the movement for the separate tribal homeland for years. The demand for the separate homeland was raised by an Oxford educated “Munda” (a tribal) in 1939. Since then, it has fired the imagination of the people of this region. Jharkhand Party was formed in 1950 with the objective of attaining homeland for “adivasis”. It won 21 seats in the Bihar Assembly in 1952 elections, repeated its performance in 1957 but lost its support base in 1962 elections.

The Sixties saw the exploitation of tribals touching a new high with money lenders, land grabbers, landlords, businessmen and forest mafia getting foothold in the coal and mica belts and bringing with them all the vices. They plundered the forests, seized the land of “adivasis” and desecrated the rivers. The tribals called them contemptuously as “outsiders”.

Rose from the midst of maltreatment of tribals a young man who took up cudgels against the tyranny of exploiters. Shibu Soren organised mining workers, Dalits and Backward Classes under one banner and posed a challenge to the mafia. He came to be known as “jungle leader” and “tribal crusader”. With the murder of Soren’s father, the struggle gathered further momentum. Since then, the son had only one-point mission — to get a separate state of Jharkhand.

The mafia used the adivasis’ weakness for liquor and abject poverty to exploit them. Soren organised with the help of tribal youth the Matka Foro (break the earthen liquor jar) movement. The mafia did not take kindly to Soren’s rising clout and used its muscle and money power to break it. They succeed in splitting the JMM many times but his supporters say “determined and fearless” Shibu kept the movement alive even at the risk of his own life. 61-year-old Soren now faces the biggest challenge of his career.

Comments Unkempt
Western hypocrisy in tsunami aid
by Harihar Swarup

A girl taking food at a tsunami relief camp in Car Nicobar

WE had Shakespeare’s “Tempest” at school and the tsunami recalled some lines:

“Full Fathom five thy father lies;

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were his eyes;

Nothing of him that doth fade

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange.”

For weeks after December 26, 2004, the media were splash-painted with nothing but the tsunami and its aftermath. We haven’t yet got over it and as the media-barrier lifted a teeny bit, the American Administration packed off two of its prize showboys on a trip to Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India to sympathise and fold hands. Bush-elder and Clinton must have been stunned.

Was this hypocrisy, and even that quite late in the day? America began with aid for tsunami worth $15 million when there were loud grumbles from outside and inside the country. The UN coordinator of aid Mr Jan Engelend, a quiet and unassuming man but compassionate called the Western response “stingy” and George W. Bush angrily commented that Engelend was “misguided and illinformed” but the arrow hit its mark because American aid was lifted to $35 million and then to $350 million and the two prize-envoys were sent to silence the criticism where even tiny Sweden forked out $75.5 million.

It was lip curling to hear the elder Bush praise the American administration for doing so much. This was, the course, a former Director of CIA speaking.

The present people round the White House cabinet table know the falsity of American claims and the unpopularity which Bush faced on his recent European trip. A recent survey showed that the American people thought they give about 24 per cent of their GNP to overseas aid when in fact it is a mere 0.14 per cent! George W. Bush had stayed on in his farm at Crawford. Tony Blair had to fly back early from his sunbed in Egypt as political criticism was too strong. Bush launched his Millennium Challenge to give African countries $5 billion a year — this account has not yet released a single dollar.

Of course, we have already got into the statements of how are the receiving countries distributing the aid, and victims in Indonesia and elsewhere have begun to say that they have been getting little and would prefer to get it directly than through their governments. It’s the speech writers who have on field day: Blair said that Africa has a “tsunami every week”.

The sardonic have said that large dollops of money have come from the West and Japan because so many tourists from those countries lost their lives. It is, however, true that there is a near correlation between those environmentally and politically stressed. A few centimetres of rise in the sea level could make some people desperate. A 12-metre tsunami could be disastrous.

The year 2005 in the century year of Albert Einstein’s most productive year. But to think that growing and better technology would solve problems like the possibility of an underwater earthquake is simply a dream. Nor is it likely that the rich countries would dip into their pockets to feed the starving three billion people who still exist on less than $2 a day.

A real enemy is the short memory of people. One can make a ‘watertight’ case with figures but the Four Horseman of the Apocalpse still keep riding through our poor lands. Who remembers the Iranian city Bam that was totally destroyed by earthquake? $1.1 billion was pledged for the rebuilding but only $17.5 million was sent.

Africa today is 25 per cent poorer than at the time of the first Live Aid 20 years ago. Every now and again one of the G8 countries come up with a new Commission for Africa or of total debt discharge. But poverty drags on and even the poor take little notice of the reneging on promises. All the corals and pearls of the ocean-deep will not compensate for the human loss that South and South East Asia have encountered.

But all this statistical sermonising is of no use if the so-called coalition of the willing really remains a coalition of the killing. The Americans dead in Iraq are over 1300, the British are not clearly known.

The number of Iraqis killed might run into hundreds of thousands. To expect the killers to have a great deal of compassion for the Iraq body count is to expect too much. To expect that countries like the US and Britain will accept war to be out of bounds is to expect the impossible.

There will be a lot of semi-sociological writing about tsunami in foreign newspapers and books. Though the devastated areas are our neighbours, Indian reporting has been spasmodic. Inmates of Auschwiz say that the daily killings there equalled that of tsunami.

This is unbelievable except that the concentration camp killings went on and on. But still one reads or watches with stomach-turning the car bomb explosions that took out almost 120 people a few score miles out of Baghdad.

Diversities — Delhi Letter
Speaker of Iran’s Parliament honoured
by Humra Quraishi

THE preceding week was significant as prominent people visited New Delhi. Of course, on separate missions and attended different dos held in their honour. The visit of the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Dr Gholam Ali Haddad Adel. Iran’s best known scholar is most important. He authored the book “Culture of nudity and culture nudity” which was published several times and in different languages. He has seen more destined turns in his 60 years than the average. Being a political activist, he was arrested by “Savak”, the Iranian Intelligence agencies, during the Shah regime. His brother was killed and his academic career disrupted.

With the end of the Shah regime and the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he has been manning key positions. A reception stood lined for him at the Teen Murti House with the former Chief Justice of India, Justice Ranganath Misra presiding over the function. Amazingly, many prominent Sikhs turned up for this event. One Sikh after another went to the platform to garland and greet Adel.

Right from General Kohli, who was born and educated in Iran, to Sardar Mukhtiar Singh who is better known as the man who made special furniture for Saddam Husain’s palaces. Looking highly emotional, he presented a siropa to the Iranian with the Sikhs in the audience cheering and chanting.

Later, during the dinner that followed, Mukhtiar Singh told this writer that he is ready to give up his life, “the last drop of my blood” for the deposed Iraqi leader, Saddam Husain”.

Back to the Iranian Speaker, it is important to mention that during his crisp speech, he did mention about the Iran-India gas pipeline in a positive way, as though it shall start, notwithstanding pressure from other quarters. Though he made no direct reference to the US, at least one prominent Indian speaker used the occasion to condemn the policies of the US government in a blatantly critical mood.

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez Frias visited New Delhi to deliver a special lecture at the Jawaharlal Nehru University on the theme “The challenges of development in Latin America”. There has been much excitement on the JNU campus as this is for the first time that a Venezuelan Head of the State is visiting India.

President Frias is known to be very vocal about his anti-America views. He is also known for his pro-poor policies and is said to be absolutely passionate to uplift the downtrodden.

Kirsti Kolthoff, a feminist trade union leader and president of the European women’s lobby, was here to give a talk at the Institute of Social Sciences. Amongst other issues, she has been striving to ensure equal wages for equal work between men and women.

Message of tolerance

I am really amazed by the series of books hitting the stands. Vice-Chancellor of Jain Vishva Bharti University Sudhamahi Regunathan has put together the popular quotes of the well known Jain monk, Acharya Mahaprajna, entitled “Sounds of silence”. It carries simple lines carrying the profound message of tolerance and caring for the being. Gulzar sahib’s latest is a book on Ghalib entitled “Mirza Ghalib: A biographical scenario” (Rupa) is again one of those biographies that carries you into a bygone era. He has used Ghalib’s verse in ample abundance, inter-webbed with details of his life and times he’d lived in.

If one were to talk about our times, it’s best to read this just released book, “Dark leaves of the present” (Anhad). Edited by Angana Chatterjee and Shabnam Hashmi, this volume is “a lament, a partial biography of the challenges facing the nation”. And those who have written on various challenges and vital issues facing the country are, K.N. Panikkar, Arvind Narain, Colin Gonsalves, Ravi Nair, Vidya Rao, Sukhadeo Thorat and several others.

Help physically challenged

And then, here comes the book by Meena Cariappa and Gita Dang entitled “Meeting early challenges: Special steps for a special child” (UBSPD). As the title goes, it is a book to help you raise a child who is born with a disability or a handicap. Simply written, it makes you deal with a painful reality in a practical way.

“The authors strongly believe that disability in a child just cannot be wished away by playing ostrich. It needs to be faced courageously and resolved realistically and positively, especially in developing countries where 75 per cent of the world’s children are found”.