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Education and freedom
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How Army officers can lead from the front Strengthening Punjab’s
rural economy
On Record
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Education and freedom Education
today suffers from a fear of freedom. In its most obvious form, it can be seen in the resistance to any change in curriculum. In many universities, including the so-called ‘good ones’, courses of study have remained unchanged for decades! This fear of freedom can also be seen in the ease with which educators submit to the paternalistic prescriptive approach to pedagogy where someone else decides what we should read and how we should read it. This is then reflected in the manner in which we confuse teaching with learning, skills with knowledge, information with wisdom, marks with merit, degrees with competence and fluency with the ability to think afresh. It is important to remind ourselves that the corner stone of any meaningful liberal education is freedom: freedom to explore and to reflect, to create and to connect, to venture and to wonder. Such a freedom leads to the discovery of new ways of thinking, new concepts, a rediscovery of our powers of perception, and, in the ultimate analysis, it is a discovery of our own selves. Yet, freedom is by no means a simple matter. Freedom is fraught with fear. Freedom breeds insecurity. Freedom, as the Danish philosopher Soren Kirekegaard points out, means possibility and to stand on the edge of possibility is like standing on the edge of a precipice. This produces an anxiety and a dizziness that is not easy to handle. Ironically, while the processes of knowledge and education should find it easy to overcome the dizziness of freedom, they are the first to regress to the coziness of conformity and conventionality. This fear of freedom is sought to be drowned in a surfeit of narration. Even a cursory look at the teacher-student relationship at the undergraduate level reveals the essential narrative nature of this relationship. The teacher is the narrating subject whose task is to ‘fill’ his students with the contents of his narration: the teacher talks and the student listens, the teacher knows and the student needs to know, the teacher chooses and the student complies, the teacher teaches and the student is taught. This narrative sickness effectively camouflages the fear of freedom or confuses freedom with the maintenance of the status quo. Thus, anything that threatens the status quo appears to be threat to freedom itself. As the Industrial Age gradually evolves into the Knowledge Age there has to be a corresponding evolution in our pedagogical processes and methodology. We must no longer be content with “survival learning” and need to move on to “creative learning” where learning is not just “taking in information” but is a participation in an on-going re-creation of our world. This implies a shift from an obsessive emphasis on cognitive skills to an exploration of the multiple intelligences that a human is endowed with. In doing so, we will affirm that education is a holistic progressive accumulative continuum. We may divide it into various sections for sake of better understanding, but we cannot treat these sections as complete in themselves. Thus, we need to develop mechanisms that deal with education in its entirety so that our definition of ‘merit’ no longer remains partial and truncated and therefore highly unsatisfactory. While ‘classroom’ work must remain an important concern of education, the activity on the playing field and in the co-curricular sphere must find space and recognition on the ‘merit’ chart. Francis Bacon classified books into three kinds: those to be simply tasted, those to be chewed, and those to be swallowed and digested. This description applies as aptly to life in college as to books. Some of the activities during the academic year are meant to be savoured and passed over, others to be dissected and analysed while there are those that are meant to be assimilated and internalised so that they remain with us to be pondered and mulled over for years to come. Thus, there are aspects of academic life that are of immediate consequence while there are others that may not become clear for years or decades after one graduates. Yet, these are the experiences that feed the soul and promote critical thinking, inter-culture sensitivity and civic responsibility. The movement from the Industrial Age to the Knowledge Age will be successful only if educators are willing to overcome the fear of freedom. Liberating education would involve a moderation of the paternalistic prescriptive apparatus and replacing it with creative responsibility coupled to a measure of autonomy. As long as this does not happen, our educational institutions will continue to be dogged by issues of relevance, quality, and accountability. Let us remind ourselves that some of the skills that jobs today increasingly require are the ability to be able to think critically and effectively, to know alternate forms of problem solving, to have cross-cultural understanding and have capabilities in aesthetic appreciation and expression. All these skills required in the emerging knowledge-economy are raising a demand for people who can think “outside the box” and can deal with matters ranging from protecting the environment to ethical issues connected with civic responsibilities, same-sex marriages and human cloning. Those who graduate from colleges and universities always need to answer the age-old question: “will you graduate with a degree or with an education?” A ‘degree’ may initially open the door to employment but an ‘education’ ensures continued employability. A degree is simply a record of requirements fulfilled but an ‘education’ opens the doors of perception, intuition and discernment and is a testament to one’s desire for knowledge and understanding, for human dignity, decency and moral
progress.
The writer is new Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla
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Profile Among the recipients of the current year’s Padma Bhushan award, India’s third most coveted civilian honour, is Indira Nooyi, already titled ‘Global Indian of the Year’ by the CNN-IBN news channel. She has also come to be known as one of the world’s “most powerful woman”. Many of Nooyi’s admirers wonder what is the secret of her success? Here are some tips which may be emulated in the day-to-day life of bright young men and women of India. She believes, “What you say is, perhaps, less important than how you say it; speed of response is extremely critical in crises; and perception is reality. If you are perceived to be arrogant, condescending and patronising then you are that”. An excerpt from her speech is worth quoting: “As I grew up and started to study geography, I remember being told that the five fingers can be thought of as the five major continents. The index finger is Europe, pointing the way up; the ring finger is Latin America, sensual and romantic; the thumb is Asia, proud and aspiring; the little finger is the Dark Continent while the middle finger is the United States.” “Remember that the middle finger always stands out. If you are smart, if you exhibit emotional intelligence as well as academic intelligence, if you ascribe positive intent to all your actions on the international business stage, this can be a great advantage”, she observed in conclusion. Nooyi attributes much of her success to her upbringing in India and says, “Being a woman, being a foreign-born, you have got to be smarter than anyone else”. She has indeed a razor sharp wit and deal making skills. All this has made Pepsico one of the top corporates in the last 10 years. Joining Pepsico in 1994, she became the Chief Financial Officer in seven years. Spearheading the company’s restructuring, managing its mergers with The Quaker Oats, Tropicana Juices and Gatroade, she proved her strategic competence. In 2005, the Wall Street Journal named her as the woman to look out. Just a year later, she proved the prediction right, becoming the first woman CEO of the soft drink giant. Born in Chennai and a graduate of the Yale School of Management, Nooyi is a devout Hindu. She has an elaborate puja room in her house in US. She visits Tirupati regularly to worship Lord Sri Venkateshwara. True to her heritage, she wears a sari even in Pepsico events. Her favourite food continues In her alma mater, Madras Christian College, one of the world’s toughest business women is still remembered fondly. “She was always very active, bubbly and fun-loving girl. Normally she will entertain us with the Hindi hits of seventies with the guitar whenever we had some free time”, says her teachers. While Chennai remained the foundation, it was in Kolkata where Nooyi’s heart and mind were shaped. It was here that she learnt the first and best lesson in corporate management – how to manage people. She has brought fame to the Indian Institute of Management from where she got her management degree. Although she has lived in the US for over 25 years, she continues to track India’s economic reforms with an uncanny businesslike perfection. She spent her childhood in Chennai. Her father worked at the State Bank of Hyderabad and her grandfather was a district judge. Nooyi is turning out to be a role model for India’s young women. At a gathering of students under twenties a question was posed by the moderator; like whom would you like to become? There was din and the moderator could only listen the first word - “Indira”. “So the girls of today want to grow up like India Gandhi”, quipped the moderator. The perplexed girl, who had replied to question, got up and said in loud voice: “No Sir, I said Indira Nooyi”. Believe it or not, the role model of the young generation of India are persons like Nooyi and not the political
leaders.
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It’s not that the story is not getting expressed in ordinary news reports. It’s what surrounds the story. The climate, the atmosphere of the street, the feeling of the people, the gossip of the town, the smell, the thousands and thousands of elements that are part of the events you read about in 600 words of your morning paper. If western democracies have failed, it is not because democracy has a fault. Actually, the failure is on the part of those who are not capable of working in its principle. The need of the hour is to have great and courageous leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. I love Carnatic music but I do not like the safe approach to life of my Tamilian roots. It’s not a risk-taking culture and if I didn’t take risks as a jazz musician, I’d die on the bandstand. There are always doubts but conviction gets rid of doubts and conviction can only come out of knowing the truth.
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How Army officers can lead from the front COlonel G.S. Sarna, Commanding Officer of 29 Rashtriya Rifles, laid down his life in the best fighting traditions of the Indian Army. His death, tragic as it was, was the result of a gallant action, in an anti-terrorist operation in Jammu and Kashmir. His death has raised the issue of commanding officers taking part in these actions and exposing themselves to such risks. It is contended that their place is in the rear from where they can control the battle or action. They should train their subordinate commanders (company, platoon and section commanders) and give them the responsibility to conduct operations at the level of their respective commands. It is decidedly an essential function of command to train one’s subordinates so that they can carry out tasks appropriate to their level and one step higher, accept responsibility and undertake independent missions, where required. But this cannot be the reason for the senior commanders not to share risks and dangers to which platoon and section commanders and troops are exposed to. Commanding officer of a fighting unit - be it an infantry battalion or an armoured regiment - is the highest level in the command hierarchy of the army who is in direct and intimate contact with his troops. Beyond that the contact is impersonal. His conduct, actions, professional integrity and competence influence his troops. He has to set a personal example for every one to emulate. Above all, it is his daring and willingness to take risks and risk his life, as he calls upon others to do so, which has the most profound effect on troops. Briefing his troops during the Second World War, a CO of a commando battalion, to be dropped behind the German lines to seize an important communication center, told them, where each company would be “para-dropped” and then work its way to the objective. When one of his company commanders queried as to where would they find him, he replied, “when you reach the objective you will find me there: waiting for you.” No motivation talk could have been more inspiring than his simple answer and his own intended action. Lt-Col Yoni Netanyahu during the Entebbe Raid could have stayed back in one of the rescue aircraft rather than go out and personally control the operation. After all his full battalion was not committed on the task. Could the action at Entebbe have been such a daring operation and a resounding success had Netanyahu stayed back in the rescue aircraft! During the 1947-48 Kashmir war, Lt-Col Ranjit Rai was air lifted to Srinagar with only two companies. One was sent to Srinagar for a flag march and guarding an important bridge and the other to check the raider’s advance from Baramulah towards the airfield. He could have waited at the airfield for the remaining two companies to arrive. But he move ahead and joined the company sent towards Baramulah. His presence with the forward company made all the difference and possibly saved the valley from falling into the raiders’ hands. Many times commanding officers disregard their own safety, operate along side the forward troops and laid down their lives or were severely wounded. Commanding officers who stay back and control operations from the rear can seldom inspire their men to attempt the impossible or get the feel of the battle. In tank warfare, the commanding officer has to be “up front” to seize fleeting opportunities in mobile warfare. Troops can overlook any failing in an officer, and that includes the commanding officer, except cowardice or even over concern for their own safety. Cowardice has many facets: in the military, staying away from where the bullets fly and shells explode is one of these and this applies up to the level of commanding officers. During all the war with Pakistan our battalion commanders and regimental commanders, by and large, moved with the assaulting troops and leading tanks. At the platoon and company commander level it is the “follow me” order that works best. Troops will storm the very gates of hell when advancing behind their officers. Where an officer is less of a leader and hesitant to forge ahead, units have seldom acquitted well. The Isreali Army’s great successes have essentially been due to the firm belief of its officers in the order “follow me.” The Central Police Organisations (CPOs) also take part in the counter-insurgency operations, when did one last hear of an IPS or lower cadre police officer getting killed, whereas every other day an Army officer is laying down his life. If commanding officers of infantry battalions and their company commanders were to leave these operations to the care of platoon and section commanders (at the level at which CI operations are normally carried out) then Indian infantry will be no better than the CPOs. A major failing of the Pakistan Army during the 1965 and 1971 wars was that their officers, especially battalion commander, and on occasions, even company commanders did not move with the forward troops, leave alone lead them. This was a sore point with the troops. Counter-insurgency operations are section and platoon level actions. Seldom are these at the level of an infantry company. In such a setting, how do company commanders and commanding officers share the risks their men face every day and in every action. Therefore, selectively, these officers join in the operations, particularly the more dangerous ones, to keep their troops in a high state of motivation through personal example and share with them the dangers they face and the risks they run. Col G.S. Sarna fell upholding the great fighting tradition of our battalion commanders. We salute our company and commanders who lead from the front and are ever willing to make the supreme sacrifice in the country’s
service.
The writer is a former Deputy Chief of Army Staff |
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Strengthening Punjab’s
rural economy AS Punjab is all set to elect a new Assembly on February 13, rural economic transformation occupies the top slot on the agenda of all the political parties. Surely, there is a need to strengthen the rural economy. The green revolution strengthened it by increasing the flow of income which was more or less equitably shared. The total family farm income has increased at the rate of 9.52 and 8.38 per cent during 1970-1980 and 1980-90 respectively. This has connected the rural economy with the markets in India and abroad. A strong network of institutions and physical infrastructure were also developed during the same period. The rural population has also shown dynamism in terms of risk bearing capacity, entrepreneurial skills and receptivity to new ideas. Sadly, law and order continues to be affected even after three governments have completed their full term. This has affected the rural economy and agricultural income. Technological solutions do exist to raise productivity and reduce per unit costs of agricultural produce through harnessing biotechnology. This requires massive public investment in frontline technologies and strengthening institutional infrastructure which can interact closely with the individual farmers. However, the liberalisation regime has left the farmers to fend for themselves or depend on the profit-oriented agribusiness firms which specialise in biotechnology innovations. Rising costs along with stagnant technology and nearly freezing of the minimum support price of wheat and paddy, which turned the already adverse terms of trade from bad to worse, surely reduced returns on food grain production. The state government and the farmers’ organisation need to transform farming through diversification of agriculture, learning lessons from the success stories of the Southeast Asian countries and Taiwan. Local investment efforts are needed to transform the economy. The government must help farmers’ organisation organise production, processing and marketing activities. This requires suitable institutional and infrastructural arrangements which should encourage farmers to process their produce at the farm gates and eliminate middlemen. The new government should enact suitable policy and provide exclusive industrial parks as agro-processing zones for farmers’ cooperatives on the same pattern provided and offered to foreign and domestic private industry. It should rethink the land-prized asset of the farmers’ acquisition policy. The focus must be on land acquisition from farmers at market price and jobs for their family members in the units to come up on their land. Further, one member from each landless rural household should also be employed on the farm land. To help rural labour in this set up, the government should provide short-term training to make workers employable. This will reduce the farmers’ hostility to the corporate sector, develop rural economy and ensure durable peace in
Punjab.
The writer is Reader in Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala
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On Record
In an interview to The Sunday Tribune, she describes the Government of India’s response to the IPCC meet as “shocking”. “We need to take hard action and fast”, she says. Excerpts: Q:
How would you react to the IPCC report? A: The picture, as I see it, is definitely scary and I am scared. The IPCC is an inter-governmental body, comprising senior scientists across the world. It is still a conservative picture. The scientists have been warning of such a scenario for some time now but we have not been taking it seriously. I fully agree with the report that reasons behind the future catastrophe are largely human-made. Q:
Is India preparing a road map to tackle climate change? A: The Indian Government appears to be disinterested in the issue. Its attitude can be judged from the degree of importance it gave to the Paris meet. I do not know what the government is thinking. But there is still time to mitigate the impact and for that we have to move very fast. Q:
Is it possible for us to reduce emissions without compromising on development and poverty alleviation? A: India must have a two-pronged strategy — our own norms to cut emissions and we need to pressurise the US to cut emissions. The US has never accepted the need to build a fair and cooperative agreement to combat climate change. The US, still the world’s single largest contributor to climate change and whose emissions continue to grow, says it will not join an agreement which does not involve India and China. The result has been a weak and compromised agreement called Kyoto, which allows renegade polluters like the US and Australia to opt out. Climate change will have devastating effect on the developing world, according to a British government study. It would cost the world much less if it invested today in mitigating emissions. The report authored by economist Nicholas Stern is a warning in a world run by them. For long it has been argued that climate change is too uncertain and there was no reason to take high-cost action today. It is better to wait and see, if necessary adapt. It was assumed that since climate change would happen in the far future, technological innovation and transition will happen. Q:
Is the issue lost in politico-economic equations across the world? A: Global warming is possibly the biggest and most difficult economic and political issue the world has ever needed to confront. This is because emissions of carbon dioxide are directly linked to economic growth. Therefore, growth is on the line. We will have to reinvent what we do and how we do it. There will be costs. But as Stern says, the cost will be a fraction of what we will need to spend in the future. Moreover, the issue is about sharing that growth between nations and people. Clearly, global economic wealth is highly skewed. In climate terms, this means that global emissions are also highly skewed. The question now is whether the world will share the right to emit and pollute or will it freeze inequities...if the rich world, which has accumulated a huge natural debt overdrawing on its share of the global commons will repay it so that the poorer world can grow using the same ecological space? Q:
Between such complexities what is the way out? A: Climate change is about international cooperation. It teaches us that the world is one if the rich world pumped in excessive quantities of carbon dioxide yesterday, the emerging rich world will do so today. The only way is to build controls to ensure fairness and equity, so that this biggest cooperative enterprise is possible. We need to go beyond the weak commitments of Kyoto Protocol to even stabilise carbon dioxide emissions at 550 parts a million. This level is considered by many to be extremely dangerous because it accepts doubling of pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. |
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In a more subtle form, this fear of freedom can be seen in the way in which we slavishly continue to imitate the processes and mindsets of the industrial age. The emphasis on the “sequential curriculum process” is a hangover from the assembly-line syndrome, as is the careful division of labour for both teachers and students. The high premium we place on conformity, our suspicion of originality, the concern for the product with an equal disregard for the process, are all indicators of an industrial age approach to education.
Two years back, the Wall Street Journal forecast that “she is one to look out for”. Fifty-year-old Indira represents India’s new global face, known as a torchbearer of an 18-hour work ethic a day and a tireless toil – a mark of every Indian professional abroad. First woman CEO of the American consumer giant Pepsico, she describes herself as “a true daughter of India” and closely keeps a track of her country’s growth. “When I look in the mirror, I know I’m an Indian. I was born there, the Indian is in me”, she has been quoted often as saying. 
The youth today want to become rich overnight. They must take up research jobs and eventually they will make money. One discovery (like the transistor) has the power to change the world we live in and this cannot be measured by money. There would be fewer instances of psychological stress if more youngsters pursued research rather than information technology.
Instead of stories about whether a starlet is pregnant or not, we need reports on the international crime of sex trafficking. Instead of a national security that’s measured in fighter jets and nuclear weapons, we need one that’s also measured in access to fresh water, education, jobs, contraception, health care.
Young Indians who dream of making it big in the movies should complete their education first. Don’t give up your
education to become an actress. If you are destined to become an actress you will. But you will always have a plan B to fall back on.
My children may have got a platform, but it will not take them beyond that unless they have the skills. No matter how big your father or grandfather is, in this business your fate is ultimately decided by
viewers.
CEnter