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Soldiers' killings
Chill in relationship
A writer's arrest |
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Incivility in public discourse
My first day in battle
Securing future with tailor-made skills for jobs
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Soldiers' killings
After
an initial goof-up, Defence Minister A.K. Antony has cleared the air and squarely blamed the Pakistani army for the killing of five soldiers. The tendency to jump to conclusions, pin the blame on someone or give a clean chit on the spur of the moment leads to needless political storms and embarrassments. If the Defence Minister did not have with him full facts about the brutal attack, where was the compulsion to come out with a statement in Parliament — that too so loosely worded and divergent from that of the Army? Once the facts are established, it is expected of the government to articulate a well-considered response. A half-hearted attempt to deal with a sensitive issue can backfire — and it did. At the time of a national tragedy the political class often does not act in a dignified way. Barring some, political leaders usually fail to keep their emotions in check and express their viewpoint in a controlled and measured way. Some get even hysterical. A few television channels too, without waiting for the picture to become clearer, provoke panelists to make outrageous comments in the heat of the moment. Not to be left behind, government representatives join the high-pitched debate that tends to inflame passions. There is no doubt the death of any soldier saddens the entire nation and everyone expects the government to act in an appropriate way. The action has to be well thought out, keeping in mind the larger national interest and its repercussions, and not guided by advice given by charged “experts” on TV channels. India should not be made to look like a nation of jingoists who can easily be led to react the way the perpetrators of such dastardly attacks — Pakistan army or terrorists — want it to. Nor should the country appear soft on state or non-state actors, sponsored by disgruntled elements in the Pakistan army, ISI or government. The political leadership in the nuclear-armed neighbours must act responsibly and maturely, and firmly rein in the saboteurs out to disturb the peace in the subcontinent.
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Chill in relationship
US President Barack Obama's decision to pull out of a scheduled summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin comes as no surprise, given the visible evidence of rising US frustration at the Russian government. The trigger for this action is the temporary asylum granted to Edward Snowden, who has leaked classified details about secret US surveillance programmes. The move is a diplomatic rebuke rarely used, and is bound to add to the chill of a relationship that is already far from warm. Indeed, lately the two countries have not seen eye-to-eye, especially on Syria where the US finds Russia’s support to President Assad irksome, even as the Russians have objections over the US-supported missile defence scheme in Europe and the way in which the US is critical of the human rights situation in Russia. The relationship between Russia and the US has recently been rocky, to say the least, and even Mr Obama had said that Russia was slipping back “into cold-war thinking”. On the other hand, the Russians maintain that the US finds it difficult to deal with their country as an equal. No matter what, this is a confrontation that the two countries will seek to minimise. Thus, their scheduled talks at various other levels will continue. President Obama is going to attend the meeting of the Group of 20 nations in St Petersburg on September 5, as scheduled. Yet, he will no longer travel to Moscow for the summit meeting. The Snowden expose has cost the US diplomatically in many ways. It has lost prestige and found itself in a morally sticky situation, following disclosures about its electronic surveillance programmes worldwide. Relations with a number of nations, including key allies like Germany, have taken a blow. Now the Snowden effect has hit its relations with Russia too. The US and Russia need to find ways in which they can still communicate and continue business, in spite of bumps like the latest one.
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A writer's arrest
The
young Chief Minister of UP, Akhilesh Yadav, who came to power riding the popularity wave of his free laptop scheme for young students, has failed to gauge the power of social media. He has also failed to learn a lesson or two from the mistakes of other chief ministers. His government has arrested Kamal Bharti, a Dalit scholar, for his post on Facebook wherein he had raised issues related to the suspension of Gautam Budh Nagar SDM Durga Shakti for the alleged demolition of wall of a mosque. Bharti wrote that in Rampur a “madarssa” was recently demolished for allegedly being on the land of a graveyard. While its manager was placed behind bars, no action was taken against the officials deputed to demolish it. His post also mentioned that the 'will and wish' of the Urban Development Minister, Azam Khan, prevails in the area and not the law of the land. This was reason enough for the UP government to arrest the scholar who is also critical of the reservation policy. For those whose ‘will and wish’ prevails in UP, the likely flaring of communal passions has become an excuse to terrorise democratic voices. Rampur Additional SP Sadhna Goswami said that Bharti had been arrested following complaints that he was inciting feelings of a particular community with his writings on the Internet. The plea taken for the suspension of Durga Shakti was similar. Before showing such audacity, the UP administration should refresh its memory of the social media campaign waged against the arrest of two Mumbai girls whose Facebook post criticised the shutdown of Mumbai during Bal Thackeray's funeral. It should also recall the public outcry after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee got a Jadavpur University professor arrested for circulating a cartoon of her on the Internet. These so-called leaders should remember that they have come to power because of democracy; if they try to gag free speech, they would lose what has been accorded the democratic way.
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It is better to be young in your failures than old in your successes. — Flannery O'Connor
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Incivility in public discourse The
pre-election mood has already taken hold of political parties as governance suffers and Parliament takes the form of a spectacle, rather than a forum of discussion and reasoned debate and passage of important legislation. To an extent, it is par for the course, but there is an edge of new bitterness in discussing issues, insofar as they are discussed, and an almost total absence of civility in public discourse. Nothing illustrates this better than the case of the junior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Durga Shakti Nagpal, who was taken to task by the Uttar Pradesh government for doing her duty even as she allegedly tangled with the sand mining mafia. She caught the imagination of the public because the popular perception was that an honest officer doing her duty, instead of bending to the powerful, was being victimised. What was surprising was the level of invective unleashed by the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) against the Central Government, apparently in response to Sonia Gandhi's publicised letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to assess the IAS officer's predicament. Even as the parties opposed to the SP sought to make political capital out of the incident and the wave of public support she had garnered, the Uttar Pradesh ruling party took it as a seminal challenge to its rule. Take another example. The long-pending decision on Telangana set off a chain of events not only from other parts of Andhra but also from the many other demands from other parts of the country espousing their own divisions, with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati repeating her demand for a four-way division of what is an unwieldy Uttar Pradesh. Here again, as the tempo of new agitations picked up momentum, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government prevaricated, instead of accepting the logic of a second States' Reorganisation Commission, which would have tempered the shrill demands in Assam, among other parts, to enable a calmer assessment of the country's future shape. Indeed, examples abound on how the volatile prevailing atmosphere inflamed by the approaching general election has brought a new combativeness to contesting arguments. For Mr Narendra Modi as the Bharatiya Janata Party's face for 2014, recent events have provided a new opportunity to hone his skills on taking on the Congress. It must however be recorded that he is still trying to live down his blunder in trying to exculpate himself from the 2002 Gujarat anti-Muslim pogrom by suggesting that he was a mere passenger in a car that had run over a pup. For the Congress Party, it is a difficult time because apart from the scams that have been piling up, the obvious drawbacks of a dual-headed leadership arrangement in which the final decision-maker is not the Prime Minister but the leader of the governing party are becoming apparent each day. It s not merely a question of who takes the decisions but one of public perception of the main policy-maker of the governing party not having the authority or the clout in making important decisions. Indeed, it is open to question whether Ms Sonia Gandhi should have written to Dr Manmohan Singh regarding Durga's case, rather than picking up the telephone to express her distress to him. What lends greater edge to the political discourse is the predicament of the BJP. Obviously, the main opposition party is well within its rights to take the governing party to task for its misdemeanours, but the sense of desperation it shows in making its points is neither good for its own electoral prospects nor for the health of the country's parliamentary democracy. Although the present Parliament session has been stalled for other reasons, there was no justification for the BJP to prevent previous sessions from transacting business. The BJP does have its own problems to contend with, including the dissension among its leadership ranks on the choice of Mr Modi for 2014, but it should present a more responsible face to the people. If it aspires to return to power at the Centre, it should remember that its opponents can administer the same medicine to it, should it achieve its objective. The moral of the story is obvious. The practice of parliamentary democracy, admittedly with Indian characteristics, requires a measure of civility and give and take among the ruling and opposition parties. Transforming Parliament into a public spectacle, rather than a forum of discussion and legislation, serves the interests of only the spoilers. Besides, it encourages cynicism among the people who are totting up the costs of each wasted day Parliament does not function. To the extent the BJP is responsible for this state of affairs, it should do some soul-searching on its political mission for the country. There is obviously no single party responsible for the present state of affairs. It is rather a convergence of forces and circumstances that have brought political evolution in the country to its present sorry state. There is admittedly a churning process taking place, with power flowing to the states because there is no national party that holds sway like the Congress as the Independence party did. Regional parties have come into their own and, despite the sorry parade of Prime Ministers and governments we witnessed in the 1990s, formations in the states are vociferously demanding their rights. In a sense, despite the semi-federal nature of the Constitution, the Congress sway at the Centre and in the states in the first decades of the Independence era meant that the system worked as a unitary state in practice. Constitutionally, this was not desirable, and as the Congress lost support in one region after another, regional parties and forces demanded a greater voice. Indian polity should welcome this development as an inevitable progression of democracy. But it is all the more important in this transitional phase for mainstream political parties to behave responsibly. Jawaharlal Nehru gave us the grounding in parliamentary democracy and unlike many of his successors, he was meticulous in attending Parliament sessions and in listening to the then pitifully small opposition. We owe it to his legacy not only to take Parliament more seriously but to temper our extravagant rhetoric to more temperate
levels.
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My first day in battle The
battlefield is the sole preserve of soldiers. All soldiers fantasise about being in battle situations, although many go through their full career without having the experience. A battle is the ultimate test of a soldier's professional competence, moral/physical courage, will power and determination. I am one of those who got the opportunity to go to battle stations. The first day in battle is an important one because anything can happen. You may have a great victorious day or you may get whipped. At the personal level, you may have a great/indifferent/bad day. My first day in battle was in the famous Battle of Laungewala in the 1971Indo-Pak war. Laungewala is a small place North-West of Jaisalmer. I was an Air Observation Post pilot and our flight was located at the airfield in Jaisalmer. The war broke out on the night of December 3, 1971, and by midnight we were given orders to move up to our Advance Landing Ground (ALG) the next day. Accordingly, I along with another pilot flew two aircraft to the ALG in the afternoon of December 4. The Flight Commander had gone up to the Division HQs for briefing and orders. Under the original plans our formation was to go in for an offensive into Pakistan and as such we were mentally prepared for that. On the morning of December 5 we were up early and started preparing for the day ahead. At about 6.30 am the Flight Commander came in a tearing hurry and called us for a quick briefing. We were informed that the enemy had launched a surprise attack in the rear flank of the formation with a Brigade Group supported by a regiment plus of tanks. The Laungewala post, which was held by a company of infantry, was under attack. I was briefed to go there and get information of the battle situation. I was told that our Air Force was launching a two-aircraft mission which will also be there. So, very quickly we got an aircraft ready and there I was sitting in it with my Observer Operator, Raj Singh, beside me waiting for enough light to take off on a winter morning in the Thar desert. My mind was in a bit of turmoil since this was going to be an entirely new experience. I was thinking whether I was going to make it back alive and that made me think of my parents and siblings. Anyway, at 7.15 am we had enough light to fly and I started my engine. A quick salute from the marshalling crew and we were running down the narrow ALG to get smoothly airborne. I turned left towards Laungewala and set course. I was surprised to feel my knees shaking. Was it fear of the unknown or just nervous tension? Probably, a mixture of the two. I willed myself to calm down and soon I was cool, calm and collected. Ten minutes later I could see the dark smoke rising into the sky and I knew that I did not need any more navigation aid. That was Laungewala. As I got closer I could hear the two fighter aircraft pilots talking to each other. They, like me, were not very clear about the ground situation. I contacted them on the radio and told them that I will be there in five minutes. Once I was there I saw the scene below. All hell was breaking loose. There were a number of tanks around the post of Laungewala, which was gutted and on fire. The tanks were churning up the desert sand to hide themselves from the fighter aircraft. The machine guns of the tanks were firing towards the aircraft. Since there was no Forward Air Controller (FAC) to guide them, the fighters needed help. So I took on the role of an airborne FAC and started guiding our fighters onto the enemy tanks. After a two-hour sortie I went back to the ALG and came back a second time with a new aircraft. During the next two and a half hours a number of fighter missions came and we worked as a team to knock the wind out of the Pakistani force. By the time I headed back to the ALG 13 Pak tanks lay burning around Laungewala. Having taken part in a five-hour intense battle in which we came out the victors I was in a state of euphoria. If the enemy had planned their operation well with adequate air support, it would have been a very different story. Pakistan had 104 Star Fighters which were vastly superior to the Hunter aircraft that we had there. One heat-seeking missile would have sent me to the happy hunting grounds. But that is not what happened and so we were the winners. That evening, while I sipped rum I thought about all this. But then ask any soldier his choice of departure from God's good earth. Would he like to go away in a road accident, on a sick bed or on the battlefield doing his thing? I think most will opt for the third
option.
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Securing future with tailor-made skills for jobs IN
an era of knowledge-based economies, vocational education plays a pivotal role in development. In India, however, vocational training is the most neglected field. Only 2 per cent of the Indian youth receives vocational education. India produces 3 million vocationally trained manpower against the requirement of 9 million. For mitigating the gap, community colleges are the most cost-effective institutions. The government has decided to open 200 community colleges in the 2013-14 academic session. India can devise a suitable policy for community colleges, learning from North America, where the mandate of community colleges is providing students with skills aligned to the job market and re-skilling displaced work force, and promoting students’ upward mobility to higher education through associate degrees. The access to higher education in India is only 18 per cent. Employability of students is also very low — 25 per cent for engineers and 10 per cent for college graduates. Employability is rock bottom among school passouts. The poverty of employability is mainly due to education-industry dichotomy. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) aims to improve access to higher education and employability by setting up 200 community colleges on pilot basis. Punjab and Haryana have been allotted four community colleges each while Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi and Chandigarh have respectively been given two, two, two and one. These colleges are a step above secondary schools and a step below degree colleges. As per the Planning Commission, the colleges are a good blend of vocational and academic skills. In the long run these institutions help in integrating higher education and skill development. For setting up community colleges, the Planning Commission has decided to adapt the models of advanced countries, specially the US and Canada. North America model In US alone, there are more than 1,000 community colleges enrolling around 13 million students constituting 44 per cent of the total students. Each year, the Aspen Institute adjudges excellent community colleges based on parameters like performance, improvement and equity. In 2013, the institute declared Walla Walla Community College and Santa Barbara City College as the winners. Total enrolment of the Walla Walla college was 4,953 students, out of which 48 per cent belonged to minorities. The fee structure of the college is very low. Around 54 per cent of its students holding two-year associate degree, against the national average of 40 per cent, transfer to universities. The placement rate is also high. In 2011, graduates of the college earned $41,548 annually — around 80 per cent higher than that of newly hired in the region. Santa Barbara City College has similar performance indices. In Canada there are around 150 community colleges with 1.5 million students. Around 90 per cent graduates get employment within six months. Cases of reverse transfers have also been reported in North America. In case of reverse transfer, university graduates seek admissions in community colleges to improve their employability. A sample of course offered by community colleges include hospitality management, culinary arts, fashion designing, administrative assistant, public safety communication, lifelong learning, information and communication technology, agriculture, broadcasting and journalism, business management, nursing, healthcare assistant, welding, carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, electronics and auto repair.
Recognition and affiliation India already has 500 community colleges. Lack of recognition is the major handicap. In the absence of recognition, their products fail to get jobs especially in the government sector. Lack of recognition also constrains upward mobility of students to the institutions of higher learning. In North America, a number of states have their own policies in place to recognise associate degrees for admission to universities. Minnesota, Oregon, North Carolina, Illinois, California, and Arizona in the US and the British Columbia province in Canada have designed state-level “transfer curriculum”, making provisions for the transfer of credits to universities. Based on this experience, the government should formulate a national policy for recognising and affiliating the community colleges. This would resolve the issue of students’ eligibility for jobs and admissions.
Governance model Though there is no uniformity in governance model of community colleges in North America, a policy prescription patterned on the philosophy of community centric-governance suggests a three-tier system in India. First, the MHRD should steer the policy of community colleges. The UGC should coordinate community colleges; also ensure uniform standards in teaching, and transfer of credits across the country. Second, there should be a state-level governance board having representatives of the community also. These boards should deal with policy matters, including affiliation, recognition, finances and quality control. Third, each community college should have a local advisory board having representatives of all stakeholders, including faculty, industry, and community.
Curriculum development The North American community colleges have evolved a unique methodology of curriculum development and its delivery. Each course has an advisory committee comprising a member from the faculty, industry and community. The committee meets twice a year for suggesting changes in the curriculum. The Indian community colleges should design and customise their courses in consonance with skills required in the market by involving the stakeholders. In North America, the industry is also involved in teaching in the delivery of curriculum; and training in the form of student internships, apprenticeship and co-op programmes, etc. A partnership between the college and industry in the delivery of curriculum provides an opportunity to students to gain hands-on experience. This practice should be adopted in India. Community colleges not only prepare students for the job market but also impart education leading to a two-year associate degree. For facilitating the smooth transfer of students to degree awarding institutions in a number of states/provinces in North America, the practice of articulate agreement is in progress. The agreement signing institutions recognise each others’ courses. The Indian Community Colleges Association should sign an MoU with the Association of Indian Universities on the pattern of the agreement in order to encourage upward mobility of community college passouts to universities across the country.
Quality of products Employability of community college passouts depends on their quality. In the US, each year the Aspen Institute motivates the community colleges to participate in the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. For this, 120 colleges are shortlisted. The award-winning college is given a fund of around $1 million. In Canada also, excellence is promoted through an awards programme. The mission of being excellent is always a good driving force to improve quality. In the Indian context also, such an excellence awards programme should be constituted. The Sachar Committee and Mishra Commission have suggested improving the access of minorities to education and jobs. The government can rely on community colleges for making education and jobs all-inclusive by adopting a very low fee structure. In North America, fee is very low in community colleges. In Northern Virginia Community College and Langara Community College in Canada, the fee structure per credit is $135.65 and $112.5, respectively, which is almost half that of the universities.
Re-skilling workforce The contours of job markets are changing fast. Some jobs become obsolete and hence displace labour. Community colleges are most effective institutions to re-skill the displaced workforce. The Indian community colleges can also play this role. In community colleges, the candidate’s existing learning level is assessed before admission through “prior learning assessment and recognition programme”, and deficiencies are met through “upgrade programmes”. Based on this practice, the displaced workers, including artisans, may get themselves assessed. Later, through short-duration courses, they can mitigate the gap between the skills they possess and the skills the industry requires. In this way the colleges would emerge as reliable vehicles for making displaced labour force
employable. The writer is a former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Panjab University, Chandigarh. He visited Canada from May 19 to June 30, 2013, to study community colleges. He also participated in two forums on community
colleges organised by the University of The Fraser Valley and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges.
Features of community colleges proposed by Planning Commission
Features of community colleges in North America
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