O P I N I O N S

PERSPECTIVE

Enhancing excellence
Charter as instrument of reform in universities 
by Dharam Vir and S.K. Mullick
Increasing demand of higher education, particularly of the professional type has resulted in mushrooming of private institutions and universities, often with dilution of academic standards and poor facilities, despite the fairly high tuition and other fees.  

Profile
A firm upholder of rule of law
by Harihar Swarup
A devout Hindu becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in a staunch Islamic state like Pakistan sounds a bit strange. That too, when President Pervez Musharraf, exercising his authority as a military dictator, sacked the sitting Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry, for whatsoever reason, sparking off a spate of country-wide protest. For the first time in his iron-grip rule, even General Musharraf seemed rattled.

 

OPED

How Badal can make Punjab a model state
by B.S. Ghuman
Punjab economy experienced a growth rate of over 5 per cent for more than 20 years. This, however, has slowed down drastically, becoming a cause for worry, particularly when post-liberalisation the national economy is growing at around 9 per cent per annum.

Remembering Bhagat Singh
by Kushal Pal
Bhagat Singh, whose Martyrdom Day was observed on March 23, was a great thinker. But his original ideas and ideology are rarely understood. He was a spirited thinker who analysed the problems of communalism, casteism, national unity, poverty and exploitation.

On Record
Reserve houses for poor in townships, says Selja 
by Prashant Sood
With recent surveys showing that poverty in urban areas has declined compared to the rural areas, there is renewed emphasis on inclusive growth of the cities by measures such as security of tenure at affordable prices to the poor. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Kumari Selja, wants states and urban local bodies to recognise the contribution of the informal sector in the growth of cities by providing them space and amenities.

PERSPECTIVE

Enhancing excellence
Charter as instrument of reform in universities 
by Dharam Vir and S.K. Mullick

Increasing demand of higher education, particularly of the professional type has resulted in mushrooming of private institutions and universities, often with dilution of academic standards and poor facilities, despite the fairly high tuition and other fees.

Though the norms for setting up of institutes and universities have been prescribed by regulatory bodies such as the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) etc., in terms of physical and academic infrastructure and human resources, these are flouted in a large number of cases and the defaulting institutions get around them one way or the other. The academic standards thus get compromised and the students, for whom institutions are set up, suffer, as a result.

Another major reason that contributes to this imbroglio is the lack of transparency on the part of management, especially about curricula, laboratories and faculty profile, and subsequent dissatisfaction of students, their parents and the public at large.

There is hardly any institutionalised mechanism for addressing the major concerns of students and their parents such as quality of education, facilities being provided by institutions, adherence to the academic calendar and time-table, smooth and efficient functioning of academic as well as non-academic administrative set up, conflict resolution, etc. in an effective manner.

This, quite often, leads to agitational students’ union activities and its exploitation by vested interests. Such activities, in particular, the students’ union elections, have reached the stage that the Supreme Court had to intervene and formed a six-member committee, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh to streamline the students’ union elections across the country to curb the use of money and muscle power.

A recent survey of higher education by The Economist, rates the US model as the best in the world. Though we have tried emulating this model in our IITs , IIMs and some Indian universities by adopting semester system of instruction, more frequent and regular in-class evaluation of student’s comprehension rather than the traditional annual examinations, greater involvement and freedom to instructors in curriculum making and academic evaluation, relative grading system, student evaluation of instructor’s pedagogy etc., a very important facet of the American and Western model of higher education, namely the Students’ Charter, has been ignored.

Another very important lacuna is the absence of a successful facilitator like the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in the US, a private, non-profit national body, that fosters accountability, high academic standards, fair practices, and serves as a dispute resolution body.

In our country, the reputation of colleges and universities is available only by word of mouth and ratings or rankings published by some media publications. The AICTE has only recently come forward with a plan to publish the ratings for all the 4,000 plus colleges under its umbrella on its website. It intends to merely rate them and not rank them.

A much needed and heartening development that has taken place to bring transparency and in improving the day-to-day governance is the Right to Information (RTI) Act. To make it an effective instrument of reform in our educational system, suitable variants of the RTI must be made applicable to all educational institutions, private and public. The UGC, it has been reported, is likely to bring forth a draft of the RTI policy guidelines for universities and their affiliated colleges.

Another effective way to improve the satisfaction of students, parents and public at large is the Students’ Charter. It is a document, which aims to set out, as clearly as possible, what standards of service can be expected by students and what the university / institute / college can expect of students in return. Such charters are common features in colleges and universities in the West. It is an expression of the close working relationship between the administration, the faculty and the students and their shared commitment to maintaining and enhancing excellence in the educational experience of its students.

Such a charter should, therefore, address the following issues:

*Admissions and registration system in a transparent manner
*Facilities — academic, curricular and extra-curricular available at institutions
*Fee structure
*Transparent redressal system
*Teaching, learning and academic guidance
*Tutorial support
*Students’ academic representation and evaluation
*Academic services
*Health, safety and security
*Personal development
*Discipline
*Complaints, appeals and grievance procedures
*Student services
*Effective system for dissemination of information

We strongly feel that such a charter would result in greater transparency and accountability on the part of all stakeholders of an institution, especially its management. Several universities in the West have made very elaborate charters, which can easily be searched on the Net. The charter should be made part of rules and regulation of affiliating university so that the aggrieved person can approach a court of law for its enforcement.

A model charter could be drafted by regulatory bodies for its adoption by universities and institutions.

The writers are alumni of IIT, Kanpur. Mr Dharam Vir is a senior IAS officer of the Haryana Government and Dr S. K. Mullick is Professor of Electrical Engineering at IIT, Kanpur

Profile
A firm upholder of rule of law
by Harihar Swarup

A devout Hindu becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in a staunch Islamic state like Pakistan sounds a bit strange. That too, when President Pervez Musharraf, exercising his authority as a military dictator, sacked the sitting Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry, for whatsoever reason, sparking off a spate of country-wide protest. For the first time in his iron-grip rule, even General Musharraf seemed rattled.

More mysterious were Justice Rana Bhagwandas’ whereabouts; he was untraceable as Presidential proclamation named him the Acting CJ in place of Justice Chaudhry. All sorts of rumours were let loose that Justice Bhagawandas was being held in incommunicado by the military regime or he was in the protective custody of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.

But the facts were otherwise. The incumbent Chief Justice was seeking spiritual solace in India, far from tumult at home. He was in Lucknow attending daily Satsang (spiritual discourse) by Guru Ma Lilu Sajnani. He was also seen at Cheti Chand functions, marking the commencement of the Sindhi new year.

Justice Bhagwan maintained a low profile during his 20-day camp in India, steadfastly refusing the hospitality of the Uttar Pradesh Government or brother judges in India. He preferred to live as an ordinary devotee, commuting in autorickshaw and living in the modest house of a local Sindhi friend, who had been quoted as saying, “I have not seen such a simple person in my life”. For last seven years, Pakistan’s incumbent Chief Justice has been visiting Lucknow almost every year, spending his time in morning and evening spiritual discourse.

Though born in Pakistan, having seen the tumultuous days of Partition and years of ups and downs in Indo-Pak relations, 65-year-old Justice Bhagwandas loves India. Barely two years back, he was honoured with a siropa during his first visit to Harimandar Sahib in Amritsar. Accompanied by another judge of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramdev and his wife, he visited Amritsar, Ropar and Chandigarh.

One wonders why his Muslim judge-colleague adds — Ramdev — after his name? Possibly because Justice Ramdev’s ancestral village falls in Nawan Shahr district of Punjab. On a visit to the village, he took four bricks from an old house of his ancestors. He was later given honoris causa by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

Whenever Justice Bhagwandas comes to India, he wants his visit to remain unnoticed but he rarely escapes the prying eyes of newsmen. Last week an enterprising correspondent of a Pakistan TV channel flew to Delhi, chasing what he thought could yield a big story in view of judicial turmoil in Pakistan. His news instincts were correct but Justice Bhagwandas refused to respond to any question.

Fundamentalists and diehard Mullahs in Pakistan have never taken kindly to Justice Bhagwandas’ high position in the judiciary. When he was appointed to the superior judiciary in 1999, they challenged the selection and filed a petition against the Government of Pakistan. The petition demanded that the judicial bench consisting of Bhagwandas should be declared unconstitutional because of his religion, claiming that only Muslims can be appointed to the superior judiciary. The petition was rejected and the petitioner was condemned by the judges of the High Court and lawyers.

The Jamaat-ul-dawa, a front organisation of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, has now strongly resented Justice Bhagwandas’ appointment as Acting CJ. The Jud’s contention is that Pakistan is a state based on an Islamic ideological foundation and, therefore, a non-Muslim cannot head the judiciary of the country; nor can a non-Muslim head any of the other basic pillars of the state, such as executive or legislature. But the fact remains that this was not the first time when a non-Muslim, was appointed the Chief Justice. A Christian, A.R. Cornelius, was appointed the CJ as far back as 1960.

A firm believer in the dictum “the law is equal for everyone” that provides for equal treatment and equal protection, Justice Bhagwandas was sworn in as the Supreme Court Judge in 2000. The first case he was confronted related to kidnapping of a girl in NWFP, forced to be a prostitute for four years. He took strong exception to the kidnapping and his verdict helped rescue the girl. He is also against what has come to known in Pakistan as “ “honour killing”.

He has been reported as saying, “A person cannot be allowed to take the law into his hands and commit murder of a sister or wife or sister-in-law on the ground that she is living an immoral life or is suspected to have illicit relations with someone else”.

Wit of the week

Theatre is something I grew up with. I was four or five months old when my mother would strap me to her back to go for her rehearsals at Prithvi. I grew up with the smell of grease paint in my nostrils. It’s a part of who I am, but in the actual discipline of acting, I am a cinema actor.
— Actor Shabana Azmi

I often got a yellow postcard from the legendary Nissim Ezekiel which just said ‘persist’ during my beginnings as a writer. It is after he saw my later writings that the post cards finally stopped. He thought of some others to send it to.
— Githa Hariharan, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize winner for her first novel, The Thousand Faces of Night

There is a definite demarcation of Indian politics between secular and non-secular forces. If anybody claims and belongs to the former, he cannot flirt with the latter. Riding two horses is not only bad for political health but also very confusing to the electorate.
— Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi 

The shelf life of fame is brief. And human memory is short too. So, celebrities do things to stay in the limelight.
— Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty

The rationing has to be at home. It is the parents who have to decide what their young ones should watch and what they shouldn’t on TV. My kids don’t see cartoons or saas-bahu serials. All they watch is rationed TV and news and they are off to bed by 8 p.m.
— TV actor Smriti ‘Tulsi’ Iraani

Life’s happened. I didn’t plan. Could I? All we can do is smoothen our sharp square edges and fit in along the curves of the round peg. We can only accept. See the meaning in happenings. And follow the sensations of the inside that guide you. I am here for a purpose. Just the need to find it is also enough instead of whiling away time feeding on illusion.
— Singer Chitra Singh

Tailpiece: The French have some of the best TV marionettes and our NDTV team went to Paris to learn how to manipulate and give voice to them. Initially, we were apprehensive about having Vajpayee puppet, as he was the Prime Minster then. However, after that, we started getting calls from politicians as to why we did not have a puppet on them. Lalu Yadav even gave suggestions on what he would like his puppet to say. Lalu’s puppet even had tea with the original.
— Smeeta Chakrabarti, Head of Production, NDTV 24x7

OPED

How Badal can make Punjab a model state
by B.S. Ghuman

Punjab economy experienced a growth rate of over 5 per cent for more than 20 years. This, however, has slowed down drastically, becoming a cause for worry, particularly when post-liberalisation the national economy is growing at around 9 per cent per annum.

To restore Punjab’s economic glory and attain a rate of growth of around 8 per cent on a sustained basis, the Parkash Singh Badal government should prepare a road map. Agriculture, which pushed the economy forward, has reached its plateau and hence cannot be a major source of growth in future. Industrial and service sectors are the new engines of growth. The government should announce a new industrial policy aimed at developing backward and forward linkages between agriculture and industry, integrating small and large-scale industries and attracting foreign capital.

The government should continue to play an entrepreneurial role to offset the locational disadvantages including a border, land-locked state, and being away from major markets and mineral resources. It should announce a service sector policy to develop a core competence of the economy in this sector, particularly in the knowledge sector. The most appropriate policy initiative will be setting up of Punjab Knowledge Commission on the pattern of the National Knowledge Commission.

Punjab has witnessed phenomenal growth and diversification in the field of education. Converting Punjab into a knowledge hub needs steering of the education system in the right direction, the role that can be played by the Punjab Knowledge Commission. In the era of globalisation, trade particularly with Pakistan, can be another source of growth.

Punjab agriculture is at the crossroads. The government must articulate its strategy to rejuvenate agriculture. The strategy should address issues such as declining public investment, diversification, farmer’s debt and suicides, declining land productivity, depletion of underground water, contract farming and impact of WTO on agriculture. It should also announce its policy for the use of agricultural land for the corporate sector including for Special Economic Zones.

As the economy grows, the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes becomes inevitable. During this phase, the dislocated farm population is absorbed in non-agricultural job market; and farmer’s money earned by selling of land is invested in productive assets. Both these trends are missing in Punjab.

The government must prepare a rehabilitation plan for the dislocated families. They may also be given shareholding and employment in the company. It should also undertake programmes in collaboration with banks for educating the farmers not to spend money on conspicuous consumption rather investing it in sun-rising areas to earn livelihood on sustained basis. The farmers affected by an SEZ, spread over 25,000 acres near Gurgaon, after being educated by banks, have invested money in transport, real estate, capital market, mutual funds and fixed deposits.

To make Punjab a model state, the following economic and governance initiatives may be considered on priority: restoring economic glory by attaining 6 per cent rate of growth; making non-agricultural sectors as engines of growth; adopting agri-industry integrated model of growth; advocating forcefully with Central Government for liberalisation of Indo-Pak trade; incentive-based diversification of agriculture; introducing farmer-friendly SEZs; adopting employment-oriented growth strategy; making growth all-inclusive by introducing specific schemes for poor including Dalits, small and marginal farmers; making education socially relevant and quality centric; setting up of a knowledge commission; making governance corruption free, accountable, transparent and citizen-friendly.

Punjab has a chronic unemployment problem. Around 3,14,871 educated people were unemployed up to March 31, 2005. Matriculates constitute 44 per cent of the total unemployed population.

A four-pronged employment strategy may help government solve the problem. First, for improving the employability of educated youth in the organised sector, the government may launch a quality drive in educational institutions. Secondly, making self-employed generation scheme more attractive and productive by promoting group-centric schemes patterned on the experience of self-help groups (SHGs). Thirdly, enabling matriculates through vocational courses to earn around Rs 10,000 a month by starting their own occupation. And finally, the government should also prepare a plan for guiding and training youth for gainful employment abroad with a view to eliminating the role of unscrupulous travel agents.

The benefits of economic growth have failed to percolate down particularly during post-economic reform period. Market forces accentuate further the disparity between rural and urban areas, rich and poor and advanced and backward districts. For enabling each segment and spatial unit to be recipient of fruits of economic growth, the government needs to evolve an all-inclusive model of growth by adopting the most cherished objective of development strategy of India, namely, economic growth with social and spatial justice.

Good governance holds the key to economic reforms. The government should clearly articulate its strategy for making administration responsive, transparent, corruption-free, accountable and people-centric. It should also specify what people can do if the administration fails to deliver services to their satisfaction. Political democracy and accountability, in addition to administrative accountability, are also parts of good governance. The government should religiously promote democratic institutions in the state along with accountable and corruption-free working of elected officials.

The writer is Professor and Head, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Remembering Bhagat Singh
by Kushal Pal

Bhagat Singh, whose Martyrdom Day was observed on March 23, was a great thinker. But his original ideas and ideology are rarely understood. He was a spirited thinker who analysed the problems of communalism, casteism, national unity, poverty and exploitation.

As a prolific writer, he examined communalism and analysed the causes behind communal riots. He advocated a categorical division between religion and politics. He opined that the improvement of economic conditions was necessary to combat the menace of communalism. As a thinker, he offered a thorough analysis of communalism at both objective and subjective levels. He based his analysis on materialist premises — the economic roots and the class dimension of the problem.

He fought a persistent struggle against communalism. To him, a religion which spreads hatred among people and divides them, which incites people to kill each other can never be the true religion of humankind. He opposed all kinds of superstition and propagated rational thinking.

He propagated freedom not only from the British but also from the oppressors thoroughly Indian in origin and outlook. His revolt was not a prescription for chaos as revolutionaries are generally understood to be, but a step towards the goal of a social system where there would be no exploitation of man by man.

He advocated a socialist revolution for ushering in an egalitarian society. He wanted to achieve this in a revolutionary fashion. That is why he differed with the national movement launched by the Indian National Congress. He felt that this movement could not bring relief to the poor masses and downtrodden.

Bhagat Singh was very much aware of the diversities and the need to reconcile and overcome them to build a united India of his dreams. He realised that poverty is the root cause of all social conflicts and the mental slavery which promotes primordial loyalties like caste and narrow religious sympathies.

Undoubtedly, his dream of a socialist India is what the common man of today is striving to protect in the form of “welfare state”. Though mechanical application of Bhagat Singh’s idea is not possible, his political vision of a society based on genuine liberty and equality remains unchallenged. We should remember his sacrifices not ritualistically, but try to emulate his great ideals and values in our day-to-day life.

The writer is Head, Department of Public Administration, Dyal Singh College, Karnal, Haryana

On Record
Reserve houses for poor in townships, says Selja 
by Prashant Sood

Kumari Selja

With recent surveys showing that poverty in urban areas has declined compared to the rural areas, there is renewed emphasis on inclusive growth of the cities by measures such as security of tenure at affordable prices to the poor. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Kumari Selja, wants states and urban local bodies to recognise the contribution of the informal sector in the growth of cities by providing them space and amenities.

Having started her political career in 1988 when she was 25 years old, Selja became the youngest woman Central minister in 1992. She has won Lok Sabha elections with high margins and got elected from Haryana. Keenly interested in development studies, she is striving to ensure the progress of cities as centres of growth.

Excerpts:

Q: What is the shortage of houses in the urban areas?

A: At the beginning of the 11th Five Year plan, housing shortage in urban areas was 24.71 million and 99 per cent of this shortfall is for economically weaker sections. To achieve the target of providing housing facility to the lower income groups and other sections of society at affordable prices, the draft National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy envisages reserving 20-25 per cent housing stock and 10-15 per cent of land for the poor in any colony or township, whether promoted by private players or the government.

The draft policy, which is in the final stages, seeks to bridge the gap between the need and supply of housing and infrastructure. It has provisions for promoting foreign direct investment (FDI), public-private partnerships and development of secondary mortgage markets. A high-level task force is also being constituted to advise the Ministry for achieving the objective of “affordable housing for all.”

Q: What about generating jobs in the informal sector?

A: The Ministry has been implementing Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) with focus of self-employment and wage employment for the urban poor. Wage employment schemes are not very successful. The Ministry is revamping the SJSRY with focus on skill development and enhancing employability of the urban poor.

In a globalised world, cities are becoming centres of domestic and foreign investment and business process outsourcing. They are also becoming centres of tertiary high value jobs. The poor have to be enabled with adequate skills for jobs such as drivers, security guards, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, home-based workers, vendors in modern malls, computer operators and high-speed garment unit workers. Our focus is to work with the ITIs, polytechnics and private sector organisations to promote skill development and harness market opportunities for the poor.

Q: What about giving legal status to vendors and providing hawking zones in cities?

A: We have revised the National Policy on Street Vendors and are seeking comments. We have also prepared a model legislation for street vendors to legalise their occupation. As urban development and town planning are state subjects, we are pursuing state governments and urban local bodies to enact the law. For instance, the Pune Municipal Corporation has identified 76 vending zones for allotment to 20,000 street vendors.

Most of the existing master plans have not provided adequate space for street vendors who constitute 2 per cent of the urban population. Many a time vendors are harassed by the police, town planning officials and the mafia. We are proposing an enabling legal framework with suitable amendments to town planning and municipal laws and the Police Act to ensure that street vendors have adequate legal protection for pursuing their occupation lawfully.

Chandigarh is an example of how vendors can be provided space through proper planning. The rehri markets in the city are quite popular.

Q: What about slums in cities? Do you favour relocation of slum dwellers or improving facilities in their existing dwellings?

A: The issue of slum dwellers is being addressed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). We are working to implement a seven-point charter to provide basic services to urban poor that include security of tenure at affordable prices, improved housing, water supply and sanitation. We are in favour of improving existing slums.