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Populist
as usual Over-burdened
courts |
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Importance
of being Modi
Oh, that
VIP feeling!
Higher
learning rich in size, poor in quality
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Over-burdened courts Like
beauty, vulgarity lies in the eyes of the beholder. What is erotic for some may be vulgar for others. It depends on taste. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has decried the tendency among people to file petitions just before the release of a film based on flimsy grounds. Most objections pertain to vulgarity, which is hard to define in our layered social reality. At one level, people of creative pursuits -- artists, filmmakers, writers and thinkers -- try to help society adapt to progressive changes by questioning the old norms, depicting life as it is and uncovering tiers of hypocrisy. At another level, some people believe technology of the 21 century should be used for replicating a medieval society. In this vague war of propriety, the sufferer is often the film producer, who ends up losing crores of rupees. And the niche viewers do not wish to be treated as juveniles about their adult-life experiences - be it a questioning of caste prototypes, war histories, mythical characters or adult sexuality. More and more over-enthusiastic, self- styled social reformers waste precious time of courts, already over-burdened with pending cases, by filing petitions just before the release of a film. In September 2013 a Chandigarh-based lawyer filed a PIL based on the trailer of a film he watched on YouTube, claiming the film that was given a U/A certificate by the Censor Board was vulgar and not fit to be watched with family. The certification U/A as such advises parental discretion. But petitions like these question the wisdom of a board that consists of 12 eminent people from different walks of life. The court is right in its observation that people have the power of discretion to watch a certain film of not. If they find a film vulgar, they should avoid watching it. They should also avoid wasting precious time of courts.
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Man is born to live and not to prepare to live. — Boris Pasternak
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English-teaching and Sanskrit Pandits
IT is rather strange that much difficulty should be experienced by Pandits well versed in Sanskrit in their attempts to learn English. Evidently they are not encouraged to learn English and they feel that at the present day without a knowledge of the English or another European language their Sanskrit scholarship cannot be fully utilised. The Shastris and Pandits of the Poona city have just sent a memorial to the Viceroy requesting him to establish a Sanskrit College at Poona and to enforce an entrance test equivalent to the School Final Examination. They say: "We are alive to the importance of English in these days as a necessary vehicle for correspondence with European Sanskrit scholars and are desirous of access to the mass of information that at present is locked up in that language, not only about Sanskrit literature and Shastras but also about the growth and development of philosophical thought in the west." They hope to resuscitate the love of Sanskrit learning, by combining a knowledge of English which enables them to utilise their learning and scholarship to their best advantage.
Training of Indian medical women
IT is difficult to exaggerate the importance of the interesting event that took place in Delhi on Tuesday, the 17th instant, viz., the laying of the foundation stone for the Women's Medical College by H.E. Lady Hardinge. Throughout India the paucity of Indian lady medical practitioners is keenly felt and in the public hospitals also the want of Indian lady doctors is discouraging certain class of Indian women in sickness from availing themselves of medical aid. Her Excellency has correctly understood the cause of this defect and has by her interest in the question matured the scheme of establishing a college for women fully equipped for medical instruction and training under strictly purdah conditions.
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Importance of being Modi It is a given that in view of his style of governance, Mr Modi has trod on many toes in his party. The controversy over Mr L.K. Advani's seat to contest led to the senior leader's capitulation; he had earlier resigned from all posts to protest over Mr Modi's elevation only to eat humble pie. A more recent blood bath was the denial of the ticket to Mr Jaswant Singh fruitlessly pleading that it would be his last attempt. Ms Sushma Swaraj, who has become something of a resident dissident, tweeted her sadness. Even as the prospect of Mr Modi's prime ministerial ambitions being fulfilled seems nearer achievement, his style of governance in how he has ruled Gujarat state becomes more apparent each day. He takes no prisoners and sentimentality has no place in his dictionary. The trait that prevented him from apologising for the 2002 pogrom of Muslims in Gujarat is as strong as ever. It is apparent from the clinical manner he has gone about stitching alliances in the states that ends justify the means. Thus Mr Y.S. Yaddyurappa, the tainted former chief minister, and his cronies are welcomed back in the party in Karnataka. Mr B. Sriramulu, the faithful follower of the Reddy brothers of the coal mining controversy, has been given the party ticket, despite Ms Swaraj's public disapproval. And the welcome mat is out for all Congressmen seeking to switch sides to fulfil their selfish ambitions. For Mr Modi, a turncoat's ability to win a seat is the sole criterion to award him the ticket, consigning his own party men to the margins. There is much heartburn among the old guard in the BJP over the new dispensation that has overtaken the party. Mr Modi gave a taste of his method by appointing his man Friday, Amit Shah, to manage the all-important state of Uttar Pradesh with its catch of 80 Lok Sabha seats. The party is now discovering that most election strategies are managed by a small coterie of Gujarat officials, with senior party office-bearers kept out of the loop. The RSS has decided to bite the bullet and kowtow to Mr Modi's way of doing things because he holds out the prospect of victory in the belief that once he does breast the winning tape, the organisation would be able to control him. That is a tussle that would lie ahead. In immediate terms, the BJP has to cope with the consequences of bruised egos, the redundancy of party organisations in favour of small opaque decision-making mechanisms and the amazing feat of transferring major party decisions to Gujarat. The party president, Rajnath Singh, seems to be an accomplice in the new arrangements. How far the new crisis in the BJP will play out remains to be seen, but it cannot but add up to the demoralisation of some of the party cadres and their enthusiasm for achieving victory for its candidates. Mr Jaswant Singh's supporters in Rajasthan, for instance, expressed their outrage over the denial of the ticket to him by tearing down Modi posters and attacking a BJP office. Meanwhile, the queue of new entrants to the party grows longer as Congressmen and others discover virtues in Mr Modi and the BJP. It reminds one of the famous film "Kissa Kursi Ka" (it's a question of the chair) in deciding an ambitious politician's proclivities. Ideologies are at a discount in this election, thanks in part to the new Aam Aadmi Party, which rose like a meteor in the last Delhi assembly election without an ideology, contenting itself with substituting anti-corruption for ideology. In any event, AAP was so carried away by its success that it threw in the towel in the capital to seek greener national pastures putting up many candidates of bewildering hues, although in the end it might win only a handful of seats. In any event, it broadened the field to include actors and many from the journalist fraternity. Inevitably, many ambitious men and women latched on to AAP to fulfil their personal ambitions. The Congress party is in a sad state, with many leaders opting out of the Lok Sabha race, giving much cause for merriment to the BJP. The party realises that it has its back to the wall but Mr Rahut Gandhi bravely marches on as he campaigns from state to state. Indeed, for the BJP the upstart AAP poses a greater threat in peeling away some 5 per cent of the vote share possibly to tip the scales against its candidates in closely fought contests. For AAP, even a handful of seats in the Lok Sabha would be something to treasure. In a sense, therefore, this election promises to be unique. For one thing, a party that prides itself as a collective leadership is trying out the experiment of projecting one man above the party and the organisation that reared him in the traditional RSS way. Second, apart from the post-Emergency election, this election will be something of a game changer in seeking a new philosophic direction for the country. Third, if Mr Modi wins, he would embody a new method of governance with centralised authority and a small cabal of decision-makers who would employ modern technologies to win over the public in propaganda blitzes. Perhaps, the BJP's need for regional allies will somewhat soften the hard edges of a Modi government. The only hurdle for Mr Modi in the BJP would be the party's mentor, the RSS, which would seek to reclaim its primacy.
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Oh, that VIP feeling! All guests, irrespective of their status, position and age came to greet and bless me with sweet words like, "Looking great! Looking gorgeous! May God bless both of you…" Surrounded by camera men, everyone wanted to have a photograph with me. Even when I reached my in-laws' place, relations and guests rushed to have a glimpse of me, a few jostling to be on a vantage point. Children and their friends, not contend with one glimpse, kept skittering about like bees around honey, late till night. Indeed, on that day I had every reason to feel a VVIP. And I'm no exception; it is true of everybody. Indeed, unless you are a celebrity, this is once a-life-time experience. But I had never thought that another special day in my life would fall upon me quite unexpectedly. This happened about 25 years back. We had gone to a small town in Karnataka to see the famous waterfalls. As we were returning to our hotel, there was a downpour; so we decided to spend our evening watching a movie in the town's only theatre. When we entered the theatre, we were shocked to find only a handful of people inside and it was already time for the movie to be screened. The lights were still on. We were in a tizzy when we saw people standing up, clapping and applauding us with smiles on their faces. It continued for a few minutes. But just then my husband started waving his hands at them and returned a broad smile. Following him was our intuitional instinct. The lights were dimmed and the movie was about to begin. Elated, my husband remarked: "We are almost 2,000 miles away from our home and they are giving us a standing ovation. They must have mistaken us for some Bollywood celebrities. I can't say whether it is you or me." He continued: "Definitely it must be me because so many people say I resemble Rajesh Khanna". Profusely excited, my husband could not stand his curiosity. He got up, combed his hair, tucked his shirt properly and went to them. One of them came and gave my husband a handshake. My husband, with a radiant smile on his face, asked: "How did you recognise me?" The boy gently replied: "Sir, we do not know who you are. I just want to thank you because, just before you and your family walked into this theatre, the theatre manager informed us that unless four more people came for the movie, the movie would not be screened today." No doubt, the bubble had burst but even that momentary joy of VIP feeling was huge.
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Higher learning rich in size, poor in quality
India
has been ranked 60th in “The Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014”, released recently by the World Economic Forum, out of the 148 economies that were evaluated on a number of factors, primarily grouped as basic requirements, efficiency enhancers, and innovation and sophistication factors. The evaluated economies have been further classified as factor driven, efficiency driven and innovation driven. India falls in the factor-driven economies group. China (Rank 29), Indonesia (38) and South Africa (53) are among the efficiency-driven economies, and Switzerland (1), Singapore (2), Finland (3), Germany (4), the USA (5) and Taiwan (12) under the innovation-driven economies. The Report stresses the importance of vitality and vibrancy of higher education and training if a nation intends to migrate from the cluster of ‘innovation poor’ nations to that of ‘innovation rich’ nations. India slipping It will be apt to closely study the global ranking of Indian universities. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) of top 500 universities released by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) is considered to be one the most trust worthy global university rankings as it follows a transparent methodology and uses reliable data. The ARWU 2013 ranking carries 149 universities from the US, 28 from China, six from Brazil, two from Russia and one from India. The sole institution of India figuring in this highly competitive ranking is the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. A comparison with ARWU 2009 reveals some disturbing facts. In 2009, the US had the distinction of having 160 universities, China two, Brazil six, Russia two, and India two (IISc, Bangalore, and IIT, Kharagpur). China has remarkably improved its higher education system over time and has substantially increased the number of institutions in the latest ranking. Professor Shyam Sunder, James L Frank Professor of Accounting, Economics and Finance, at Yale School of Management, shared with me that US universities prefer Chinese students over Indian for highly specialised areas of research. As per the latest statistics released by the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the US has become number one destination for quality education as it has attracted the largest number of foreign students in higher education, numbering 8,19,644 in 2012-13, with 28.7 per cent originating from China and 11.8 per cent from India. This calls for a dispassionate assessment of the higher education system in India to make it a global player in delivering quality education, especially when India positions itself as one of the fastest growing economies. There are a number of factors related to the issue, but here we take up infrastructure, responsiveness and leadership. Infrastructure It has been well documented that the Indian higher education system faces three fundamental challenges of access (captured by low Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 17.9 per cent (2011-12) as against world average of 26 per cent), equity (captured by wide disparity in GER across states, areas, communities and gender) and quality (in terms of poor availability and usage of physical and human capital). India has one of the largest networks of higher education institutions in the world at more than 33,500, followed by the US and China. However, lack of quality gets remarkably clear with an average Indian college having nine books and 0.01 journals per student as against 53 and 0.40 for a student of IIT-Bombay, based on an analysis by Ernst & Young. The National Accreditation Assessment Council (NAAC) has recently found 62 per cent of the universities and 90 per cent of the colleges have infrastructural deficiencies. This reflects only part of the problem. The abysmally low usage of physical and human capital is more serious. The physical infrastructure is used for roughly 200 days in a year for six to eight hours a day. Similar is the case of human capital. Teachers do not see their role beyond teaching. Their contribution to research, extension and consultancy is not creditable. Why can’t we put these scarce resources to optimal use? Why can’t we run courses in the evenings, on weekends, during autumn, winter and summer holidays? Why can’t we offer training and development programmes for those working in various sectors of economy? Responsiveness The higher education system is not responding to the needs of society. Several instances substantiate this argument. Assess the syllabus of a particular course from five years ago in any of the leading universities of India. Compare it with the most recent syllabus of the same course. You will not find much difference. Our institutions have become complacent and do not incorporate the advances in teaching and research through updated course curricula, participative classroom teaching and text books. Educators also have to be clear about the fast changing requirements of society and design relevant courses. As per the 2012 “Knowledge Paper on Skill Development” of Ernest & Young, India is facing a high level of difficulty (48 per cent) in filling up jobs, because of non-availability of quality manpower, as against the global deficiency of 34 per cent. Almost half of the graduates in India are not employable in any sector, based on the industry standards of employability, as per the 2013 survey of the National Skill Development Agency of the Government of India. In a survey conducted in 1976 regarding desirable skills that companies scout for, 13 skills were identified. The results showed that writing skills were the most important, followed by computational and reading skills. Accordingly, we have been empowering our students with such skills. However, a similar survey conducted in 2007 rated teamwork as the most important skill, followed by problem solving, and interpersonal skills. These skills had been rated at the bottom in 1976. A 2008 study by the Society for Human Resource Management and Wall Street Journal titled “Critical Skills Needs and Resources for the Changing Workforce” found adaptability/flexibility, critical thinking/problem solving, and leadership as the most important skills. It signifies that there is a strategic shift in the expectations from the higher education system. The focus should thus shift from content-based education to competency-based education. As a result, the role of teachers is poised for dramatic change in making universities hubs of opportunity for innovation and personal growth, says Prof Susan Crosson of Goizueta Business School, Emory University. What radical changes have been made in the higher education system in order to empower the students with the skills that will enhance their employability in the 21st century? How have we organised our course curricula to ensure that the students gain desired skills? How has our pedagogy and classroom experience undergone a change in order to impart these critical skills? How effectively are we using the power of information technology to enable students to acquire knowledge anytime anywhere? Most of us engaged in higher education will fumble to find satisfactory answers. How many of the courses that we offer are outdated and do not find favour with recruiters, who could be top-tier educational institutions, business enterprises, publication houses or non-governmental organisations. There is a great demand of quality students even from disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Also ponder over the number of overseas students enrolled in a university. According to a recent survey published by FICCI, there will be a huge deficit in the net supply of quality skilled manpower by 2020. The US will be short of 17 million employees, China of 10 million, Japan 9 million, and Russia 6 million. However, India will have a surplus manpower of 47 million. India being second largest in the world in terms of student enrolment of 25.9 million, has a great opportunity to seize by offering quality manpower to these countries. Otherwise, to create jobs for such a large number of young people in India will be a herculean task. Leadership A number of factors could be blamed for the unresponsiveness of the higher education system, ranging from absence of a strong placements-oriented performance evaluation system for institutions and teachers; inability to harness the wealth imbedded in alumni relations; to the absence of innovative and entrepreneurial orientation. However, lack of academic leadership is an important factor responsible for the current state of affairs. Any top-ranking institution will have a qualitatively different culture that has been religiously nurtured over time by the top people. The physical and human resources of an institution will remain the same. You can’t replace them. However, you can drive them in a better manner with quality leadership. There is a lingering cost of poor leadership. The higher education system direly needs unique leaders who have the ability to deliver intellectual value par excellence by nurturing serious talent and creating a thriving workplace. One of the distinguishing qualities of a leader is the ability to envision. Most educational leaders do not take a long-term view. They struggle to fix short-term problems. In “Competing for the Future”, Professors Gary Hamel and C K Prahalad highlight that managers do not spend even 3 per cent of their time in building shared view of the future of the organisation. What is needed at the moment is looking for transformational leaders who could navigate institutions of higher learning by creating a
culture of urgency motivation, meritocracy, accountability, and experimentation and innovation with a long-term perspective. The writer teaches at University Business School
of Panjab University, Chandigarh.
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