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Nehruvian pluralism Profile |
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Universities denied funds The growing threat of Naxalism On Record
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Nehruvian pluralism Bal Thackeray
is the latest person to explain Mr Narendra Modi’s success in Gujarat. “Godhra victims and Gujarat riots were useful to him (Modi)”, the Shiv Sena chief said. “Gujaratis began to think Modi is their support. Muslims are terrified … this is his formula in politics”. Social scientist Ashis Nandy cites another reason. According to him, the urban middle class in the state “has found in militant religious nationalism a new self-respect and a new virtual identity as a martial community in the way Bengali babus, Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Muslims at different times have sought salvation in violence”. His hope is that “at some point in time will come a modicum of remorse and a search for atonement, and that ultimately Gujarati tradition will triumph over the culture of the state’s urban middle class”. What is this tradition in which Mr Nandy reposes his faith? Perhaps, it can be discerned in the observations of a 16th century Italian traveller, Andrea Corsali, who wrote in 1516 that the Gujaratis are “gentle people … who do not feed on anything that has blood, nor will they allow anyone to hurt any living thing.” The Italian would have been surprised if he heard the chants of “kill him, kill him” at Mr Modi’s election rallies whenever he asked a rhetorical question about the fate of anti-social elements like Sohrabuddin Sheikh. It is this kind of conduct which may have made a writer in The Hindu say that “what should worry us is not whether Mr Modi is a demon, but the change in the Gujarati psyche. What has happened to Gujarat? Is it still redeemable?” In response to this article, a saffron apparatchik wrote in The Pioneer that the time to be politically and socially correct “to sound secular” was over. He had discerned how the “ripples of change (had) reached Hindus living outside Gujarat” when he heard the applause which greeted Mr Modi’s speech on the uniform civil code in the Calcutta club in 2004. It might be recalled in this context that the historian Tapan Raychaudhuri was appalled when he heard well-heeled Bengalis say that the Muslim deserved what they got in Gujarat. So, is Gujarat and Bengal redeemable if this is the feeling among urban middle class Hindus in the two states separated by over a thousand miles? The answer is “yes” simply because no political trend is permanent. Popular perceptions change depending on a myriad factors, the most important of which is the country’s political leadership. It is obvious enough that the issues which the Hindutva brigade uses to foment disaffection against the Muslims have always been there — the temple-breaking of their forebears, the divisive role of a later generation in creating Pakistan and their suspected divided loyalties, the retrogressive social practices such as marrying four wives, and so on. And yet, the Jan Sangh remained a marginal force for as long as four decades after Independence while another anti-Muslim outfit, the Hindu Mahasabha, faded away. Not surprisingly, Savarkar’s belief was that the “epitaph for the RSS volunteer will be that he was born, he joined the RSS and he died without accomplishing anything”. Even if Savarkar was speaking as the Mahasabha chief against a rival organisation, few in even the saffron camp would have disagreed with this assessment for about half a century from the 1920s. And certainly not when the BJP was reduced to a miserable two Lok Sabha seats in 1984. Clearly, the Hindus were not losing any sleep at the time over the need to “liberate” Ramjanma-bhoomi. It goes without saying that it was the high stature of the secular leaders from Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru down to the lesser functionaries of the Congress which ensured that communal sentiments were politically and socially eschewed. The catholicity of these two stalwarts even marginalised the sectarian impulses of influential people like Vallabhbhai Patel about whom Lord Wavell had said that he was “entirely communal and had no sense of compromise or generosity towards Moslems”. It is the decline of the Congress and the failure of the Left to influence the social discourse because of the collapse of their ideology which have enabled the anti-minority elements to make their presence felt. They were always there, of course, but it was the politics of the day with its celebration of the country’s proud heritage of a composite culture which made them lie low. It was only their political success as camp followers of secular parties like the Janata outfits and the communists in 1977 and 1989, which emboldened these communal groups to come out in the open. They were also helped by the rise of Islamic terrorism and Pakistan’s “proxy war” in Kashmir, coincidentally from 1989 when the V.P. Singh government came to power with the help of the BJP and the Left. But the real failure was the Congress’s on two counts. One was the mistake of its leaders to equate secularism with the need to pander to the fundamentalists among the Muslims. It is the mindless cultivation of the “mad mullahs” which enabled the BJP to drive home its accusation of minority appeasement against the Congress with considerable success. The most obvious case of such capitulation to the Muslim bigots was Rajiv Gandhi’s decision to legislate against the Supreme Court’s verdict on alimony to Shah Bano, an indigent woman. But such kowtowing continues to this day, as is evident from the virtual house arrest of Taslima Nasreen. Secondly, the reason why the Congress seemingly continues to believe that it is the bigots who represent Muslim opinion — it is like believing that the VHP reflects Hindu opinion — is that there is virtually no one in the party today who can convincingly articulate the intellectual rationale for secularism, as Nehru did. In speech after speech in the years after Independence, Nehru told his audience how the integrity of India can only be preserved if none of its citizens feels alienated. Hence, his “appeasement” of the southern states through the announcement, in the teeth of opposition from the Hindi chauvinists of North India, that English will remain in use as long as the people of the South want it. This was in the fifties when the seeds of Sri Lanka’s civil strife were being sown because of the Sinhala majority’s decision to make Sinhalese the official language and Buddhism the official religion of the island-nation. Similarly, the ground was also being prepared for Pakistan’s break-up with its western wing’s decision to impose Urdu on East Bengal. Although the rest of the world is now slowly realising the reasons behind India’s success in keeping the multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-linguistic land together, there are parties in India with their vicious majoritarian agenda, which want to undo this achievement by imposing Hindu cultural norms on the entire nation. Because of the Left’s loss of credibility for reasons of its pursuit of a dead ideology, it is virtually only the Congress which can articulate the Nehruvian vision of pluralism and modernism, as it did so successfully in 1984. It will also have to summon the courage to say that it is against both Muslim and Hindu bigotry and obscurantism and that it will not allow matters of artistic and scholarly freedom to be settled through violence, such as the ransacking of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune over a biography of Shivaji. Only then will the communalists with their agenda of hate beat a
retreat.
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Profile Thousands of commuters who travel by Delhi Metro everyday silently express their gratitude to this 74-year-old railway engineer as they board the swanky air-conditioned trains. Gone are the days of endless waiting at crowded bus stops and jostling in rickety vehicles. An hour’s journey has been reduced to barely 10 minutes. With the 56 km track ready and two phases left, the $2 billion Metro project is running ahead of schedule and, more importantly, strictly within the budget. In just two years the high-speed underground train will be accessible to every resident of Delhi. Indeed, this is India’s public transport revolution. What is the “mantra” behind the success of the man who is known to make impossible things possible ? Punctuality, picking up right people for the right job, team work, discipline, honesty and adherence to deadlines have been Sreedharan’s yardsticks. He motivates people around him and rewards them for completing the assigned task before time. Every officer in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation keeps a digital board which shows the number of days left for the completion of the next target. On his part, Sreedharan clocks in at work on the dot at 8.45 every morning, 15 minutes before his staff. For him, the job at hand is not just a duty but his “dharma”. He is hardly ever seen in public and rarely gives interviews or attends public functions except some classical music concerts. Remember it took two decades to build the Kolkata metro and all the chaos and hardship that the people had to undergo. It was a result of bad planning. In Delhi Sreedharan faced no such problem. When people in old Delhi (Chandni Chowk area) objected to the demolition of their houses, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation used the tunnel boring machine technology to solve the problem. The same technology is being adopted in South Delhi’s densely populated areas. At the same time it is ensured that there are no major traffic bottlenecks, no demolitions. The Konkan Railway project was mooted by the then Railway Minister, George Fernandes in 1990 but later he himself gave up the idea, dismissing the project as impossible. A month later, Sreedharan met him with a well-charted plan and told him: “We will have to work in a different fashion”. Fernandes was so impressed by the plan that he got the Cabinet approval for the project within three days and work began in right earnest under the newly constituted Konkan Rail Corporation. When the government was short of funds, Sreedharan raised public bonds. The end product was an engineering marvel with the laying of a rail network across the mountainous Western Ghats. The Mumbai-Kochi distance was reduced by one third. When Sreedharan disclosed the plan to build a metro rail in Delhi, everybody laughed, terming the project as impossible. “We have seen the chaos while building a small, one-line metro in Kolkata”, they remarked. But the former railway civil engineer made possible what looked like a fantasy. Besides other states in India, many foreign countries too now want to replicate the
experiment.
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Wit of the week “The fact that there may be a slowdown in the US means people will become much more concerned over better value for money… we could look at it as an opportunity”. — Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy — SEBI chief M Damodaran “I am all for censorship of songs, especially when VCDs are already subjected to screening. Nobody should be allowed to sing anything or everything without any thought for propriety or responsibility towards society”. — Comedian Bhagwant Mann I’ll be the President of Europe (EU Council) if you give me the power. — Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister I’ll carry on cooking… The constitution does not restrict a prime minister from talking about food. — new Tai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej He (Suharto, a former dictator of Indonesia) lived by short, sharp aphorism – “Don’t be troubled, don’t be surprised, don’t be arrogant” – and by simple loyalties to God, teachers and the government. — The Economist — Sharad Pawar Pakistan does not accept prisoners who are lodged in Indian jails for minor offences. Pakistan only needs hardcore terrorists. It recycles them and sends them back. — Additional Solicitor General Amarender Sharan during the hearing of PIL filed by Panthers Party leader Bhim Singh
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Universities denied funds The
primary objectives of a university are disseminating and creating knowledge at the highest level, fostering among its members a spirit of creative inquiry, an aesthetic sensibility and a cultural sensitivity, nurturing a community of scholars who are not swayed by passions of the time and place and offer constructive criticism to political and social leaders. University education in India is at the crossroads. Changes are inevitable in the education system, particularly at the university level to meet the challenges arising from complexities of educational process and changing demands and needs of society. The standard of education in our universities, particularly in state universities, has gone down to an alarming level that invites the attention of intellectuals and educationists. There can be many reasons, but in my opinion, the autonomy of a university, the resource crunch and the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor are the main reasons which need immediate remedial action. Education is given the least priority by the politicians in power irrespective of their political affiliation. To achieve the goal of quality education, research should have been strengthened and resources mobilised. In contrast, the budget of the universities in many states has been curtailed and a ban on fresh recruitment has been imposed. This has resulted in a detrimental effect on the smooth functioning of teaching and research programmes. The worst affected are their libraries that are denied funds for the purchase of new books and subscription of journals and periodicals. The fund squeeze has badly affected the maintenance of the institutions of higher education. Bureaucrats and politicians consider the expenditure on higher education as unproductive and universities are asked to generate their own funds even to meet the day-to-day expenditure. The autonomy of universities is very essential for safeguarding academic interests, having a congenial environment and ensuring quality education. This issue is being hotly debated in academic circles, but it has not invited the attention of politicians and policy-makers. Political interference in selections, appointments and day-to-day administration has become common and, consequently, employees of universities run after politicians to get their work done. Thus the autonomy has eroded to such an extent that a university is considered a government department of the state. Political and bureaucratic interference is one of the major problems that the state universities are facing. The most important issue is the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor, who is the main functionary and executive authority of the university. The vibrant education standard and academic atmosphere in a university largely depends on the leadership to be provided by the Vice-Chancellor. Unfortunately, the appointment of Vice-Chancellors is made more on political considerations than on academic and administrative ability and educationists who have an academic stature and administrative acumen are ignored if they have no political links. In some states the universities’ Act and statutes have been amended to give more powers to the state government, striping the power of the Chancellor in the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor. The Chancellor, who usually is the Governor of the state, appoints a Vice-Chancellor on the recommendation of the state government, which is influenced by political considerations and favouritism. It has been observed that whenever the term of the existing Vice-Chancellor is near expiry, a race among the contenders starts to get the coveted post. Even persons who have no teaching and research experience join the race and sometimes they succeed to occupy the hallowed office of the Vice-Chancellor. Thus a person who has political links gets the appointment, while academicians of high calibre and reputed are ignored. What can you expect from a person who wins in the sordid political game? Throughout his tenure, he would remain obsessed with the favour earned from his political mentors and try to oblige them by doing unjustified work. Merit will be the first casualty and that will cause unrest and frustration among hard workers and dedicated faculty members. In the report of the Kothari Education Commission (1964-66) it is mentioned that a Vice-Chancellor should be “a distinguished educationist or an eminent scientist in any discipline of science or arts with high standing in his field and adequate administrative experience”. Even the UGC committee on the appointment of Vice-Chancellors (1991-93) has recommended that a Vice-Chancellor should be a distinguished educationist who has a commitment to the values for which the university stands. He should be appointed solely on academic considerations and ability to provide leadership to the teachers and researchers by his academic excellence and administrative competence. A person from outside the state should be preferred as an outsider is most likely to have a non-partisan attitude and an unbiased approach to reward meritorious academic and research activities in the university. However, there is a trend to appoint local and internal persons who are easily amiable to outside pressures from politicians and relatives, causing irreparable damage to the prestige of the university. The appointment of bureaucrats and college principals as Vice-Chancellor should be discouraged as such persons are often smart in manoeuvering and manipulation, but are generally unable to provide an inspiring academic leadership on the campus. In the end it is suggested that the tenure of a Vice-Chancellor in a state university should be in consonance with that of a central university and the provision of extension should be abrogated. Although education is a state affair, it is on the concurrent list of the Centre and the Union Government can direct the state to streamline the procedure of selection of Vice-Chancellors so that dedicated and enlightened educationists with proven ability and impeccable credentials may become Vice-Chancellors.n The writer is a former Pro Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University
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The growing threat of Naxalism Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, while addressing the chief ministers’ meeting on internal security in New Delhi on December 20, 2007, underlined that left-wing extremism (Naxalism) is the single biggest challenge to the Indian state. He emphasised that “we need to cripple the hold of the Naxalite forces with all the means at our command” and urged the chief ministers that precise and actionable intelligence was the key to fight the Naxals. On the same day, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal pointed out that militancy and extremism were socio-economic problems and not merely law and order issues. Widespread poverty, inequality and unemployment are the socio-economic reasons for the emerging militancy in various regions of the country. The answer to this challenge would thus be in removing the conditions that bred lawlessness and militancy. As such, the tendency to use the police as the only instrument to curb such emerging movements was fundamentally flawed. On the same day, speaking at the 102nd annual session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune, Mr H.K. Dua, attributed the appalling state of affairs to the failure of politics, the bureaucracy and the judiciary. Elaborating his point, he said that “we have not been governed properly by politicians and bureaucrats.” The judiciary has ceased to become the last resort of the people. The benefits of economic growth have not trickled down. Unemployment, illiteracy and the caste system still remain the basic problems of the people. Each of them has diagnosed the problem from a different perspective. The biggest question, however, remains that: is the emerging Naxalism an illness or a symptom of some deep-rooted illness? To me, it seems that it is a symptom and not an illness. If it is so, then curing symptoms will not treat the illness and that too with a wrong prescription. The roots of illness lie in social, economic and political disparities and deprivations at the intra- and inter-personal and at the intra-and inter-regional levels. Poverty, unemployment, inequality and illiteracy are the root cause of the disparities and deprivation. A recent report on “conditions of work and promotion of livelihood in the unorganised sector” by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector highlighted that the per capita daily earnings of 77 per cent workers in the unorganized sector is below Rs 12. Such a level of earnings is below the poverty line. In view of the fact that nearly 91 per cent of the workforce in India is in the unorganised sector, it is something very serious. It is disappointing to note that in a developed state like Punjab the per capita daily income of nearly 68 per cent agricultural labourers is less than Rs 10. The rural-urban socio-economic divide is another serious problem. Education and the health services are going beyond the reach of most of the rural households. In Punjab 40 per cent of the rural households and 31 per cent of the urban households cannot afford to pay the fee of liberal college education, not to talk of engineering, medical and other professional education. Out of the 66 per cent rural population in Punjab the share of rural students in its universities is just 4 per cent. About 69 per cent rural households and 91 per cent agricultural labour households in Punjab do not have even a single member with a qualification up to matric. According to the National Farmers’ Commission, about 1.5 lakh farmers have committed suicide during the last about one and a half decade. According to the National Sample Survey Organisation, about 48.6 per cent farmer-households in India are under debt. The proportion is as high as 82 per cent in Andhra, 74.5 per cent in Tamil Nadu, 65.4 per cent in Punjab, 64.4 per cent in Kerala and 61.6 per cent in Karnataka. The per household outstanding loans range from Rs 18,000 to Rs 41,576. It is significant to note that nearly 62 per cent operational holdings in India are less than 2.5 acres. Another about 19 per cent are between 2.5 and 5 acres. Their economic viability is under a question mark. Employment opportunities in agriculture are shrinking. A very high proportion of cultivators and agricultural labourers is disguisedly employed. According to a recent NSSO report, 40 per cent Indian farmers have expressed their desire to opt out of agriculture but there is no alternative for them. Any failure of the state to address the issues of the common man would lend strength to Naxalites and extremists. And in the absence of any redressal and a social movement, it may take a serious turn. It is in this context that “left-wing extremism” is not simple a law and problem. Its legitimacy is deep-rooted in the socio-economic problems of people. As such the solution does not simply lie in curbing Naxalism with an iron-hand. The Indian state would have to address the deepening socio-economic problems of the people. In the absence of that it would tantamount to cure illness with a wrong prescription. The state would have to set its priorities right.n The writer is a Professor of Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala
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On Record
India
is blessed with a plenty of renewable energy sources — biomass, the sun, wind and hydro power. It is these potentials that Minister for New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar hopes to tap to develop a sustainable path
of energy development. Recently his ministry announced a generation-based incentive scheme for solar energy. Incidentally, India is the only country having an independent ministry for the development and promotion of renewable energy. Excerpts: Q: How hopeful are you of success of this new scheme? A:
Very hopeful. Solar photovoltaic power plants up to 200 KW capacity have been developed in the country and solar photovoltaic power plants of 1 KW to 200 KW installed for electrification in the un-electrified villages and areas. With the new scheme we want to tap the solar energy that is in plenty. India receives solar energy for more than 300
days, equivalent to 5,000 trillion KW/h every year. Presently the cost of solar power generation technology is very high. The ministry will provide financial assistance of Rs 12/KW hour in case of solar photovoltaic and Rs 10/KW hour in case of solar thermal power fed to the electricity grid. The scheme is the first
generation-based incentive in any sector in the country. If it becomes popular we can further pursue it with the Finance Ministry. Q: What are the targets? How much gap are you expecting to fill? A:
The potential of solar photovoltaic systems in meeting the growing decentralised energy needs is well recognised. The available solar radiation can be transformed into electricity either directly through the solar photovoltaic route or by converting it into heat through the solar thermal route. Under the scheme a target of 50 MW solar plants has
been set for the 11th Plan and a maximum of 10 MW capacity in a state will be considered. We have estimated that
about Rs 1,000 crore will be invested by the private sector. We are hoping that incentives will encourage private players in the field. The cost of solar generation is Rs 15 per unit. It costs Rs 20 crore per MW but four-five years back it was Rs 40 crore per MW. The costs came down because of R&D that went into it. A day will come when solar power will become the cheapest power in the world. Q: What is the current capacity of grid-interactive systems in India? A:
Around 11,000 MW grid interactive power has been installed from renewable energy sources like wind, hydro,
biomass and solar. This makes our share about 7.5 per cent
in the total grid power capacity installed in the country.
The ministry has prepared a favourable policy. Q: In other countries solar photovoltaics is already a big hit. A:
You cannot compare other countries with our situation. There people take the initiative and the government follows. In Germany if an individual consumer is investing in solar and additional power he feels like giving to the grid, he gets six times more and is able to recover his capital cost. Here consumers want incentives right from capital costs to everything else. If someone needs power all he has to do is pull a connection from the main line. When we tell them about our schemes the first question is: how much subsidy will you give? They are ready to face load shedding for 12 hours, 14 hours. They will keep complaining that they do not
have light. But if they buy a solar lantern half their problems will get solved. Unfortunately, today the
situation is that those who are getting the power are
wasting and those who are not are just complaining. Q: What is the future of renewable energy? A:
Sixty per cent power that we want to increase is through thermal sources. That, in turn, will increase dangers of climate change and global warming through greenhouse gas emissions. The answer to all these problems is in renewable sources like solar and wind. There are also additional benefits like carbon credits.
But we are not even thinking about renewable sources. We
are more worried about nuclear power when solar power can become our biggest asset. It is all there in black and
white.
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“I have been sleeping eight hours a day… you see my forehead and do you see any lines of worries added? …Volatility is part of the market… one can give any reason or theory for this… but the fact is in the market, one sells and another buys”.
The judge has given a proper judgement. BCCI was consistently taking only one stand that it was practically impossible for us to accept the racist charges against any Indian player.