India’s Landmark Projects<

Posted on August 1, 2009 by indra

Perhaps India doesn’t have any agreed list of its landmark projects, be infrastructure or in any other sector. Everyone has a different priority or selfish motive in calling a project as landmark one.

I have been appealing to promote Nalanda International University as one to reflect the national identity with presence of the best of educational institutes from all around the world in one campus with 10,000 dedicated teaching faculty and 1,00,000 best students coming from the countries around the globe.

One issue of ‘Business Today’ had a feature on ‘India’s Landmark Projects’. It listed six infrastructure projects that included New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport terminal 3, New Delhi Airport Express, P.V. Narasimha Rao Elevated Expressway (Hyderabad), Hyderabad growth Corridor (Outer ring Road), Vallarpadam International container Transshipment Terminal (Kochi), and Bandra-Worli sea link recently opened and named as Rajiv Gandhi Setu. Surprisingly, the Mumbai sea link took 10 years to complete that is unusually a very long time. Airport Express being built by Delhi Metro will connect New Delhi Airport to New Delhi Railway Station that will have check-in facilities. All the landmark projects are the right steps to push India as a developed nation.

I don’t know if the country’s government considered or considers these as landmark or not. I also don’t understand why the magazine neither mentioned Mumbai International Airport that is under up gradation along with New Delhi one or the Mumbai New Delhi Rail Freight Corridor under implementation with assistance from Japan.

I do also wish some additional projects to have ‘landmark’ as adjective. Kashmir Rail Link between Udhampur and Srinagar is one. Has the railways forgotten the project with change in minister, as the UPA government dropped the bullet train project between Mumbai and New Delhi or the river-interlinking project proposed by NDA government?

Near from Noida, I look to Mayawati’s Yamuna and then Ganga Expressways as also landmark projects. Both can impact the development of the region through which it will pass. But who does know if its announcement was an election gimmick or serious one. The NDA’s GQ and NS-EW corridor Expressways were certainly landmark projects in absence of any such major project in the past half century. Unfortunately, because of the inefficiency of the administration both the projects remain incomplete till date.

But then the rapidly expanding Delhi Metro network must be a landmark project for the country and needs emulation in other metros with the same speed minus the flaws that have been very lately reported.

I wish the country take pride in having more of these landmark projects and completing the same in time, as these are the indices of the nation’s skill and technological progress, as Delhi Metro have been doing but certainly without any quality doubts.

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Manmohan’s Quest for Statesmanship

Posted on July 30, 2009 by indra

Indo-US Nuclear deal made Manmohan confident. Rahul’s hesitance to take over strengthened his respectability in the party. He appeared to be forcing himself in cabinet making and allocating portfolios. Manmohan manipulated induction of Krishna as foreign minister to keep himself in the main role of leading the country’s foreign policy. Manmohan now is hell bent to prove that he is as good a statesman as Nehru if not better. And Manmohan, in his quest for statesmanship, will go to any ‘doomed archival site of international brotherhood’, as apparent from his attendance at NAM in Egypt.

How can any Indian and for that matter a Prime Minister agree to include a reference to Baluchistan in a statement with Pakistan’s intention of accusing India of fomenting an insurgency there and allow the global community to put India at par with Pakistan in terrorism game? Will Manmohan saintly statement in parliament help changing the global perception when Pakistan is hell bent on marketing it?

His joint statement with the prime minister of Pakistan, issued from the sidelines of the NAM summit may not be a testament of total surrender as some columnists claim, but it was certainly in bad taste. The text read as follows: “Prime Minister Gilani mentioned that Pakistan has some information on threats in Balochistan and other areas. Both Prime Ministers recognized that dialogue is the only way forward. Action on terrorism should not be linked to the Composite Dialogue process and these should not be bracketed. Prime Minister Singh said that India was ready to discuss all issues with Pakistan, including all outstanding issues.” Why couldn’t the Manmohan and his diplomats get the mention of Balochistan deleted?

Some call it timid and impotent. As one columnist opines, ‘now India and Pakistan are equals in their sins, and it took the sagacity of a Mahatma Manmohan to tell the truth.’

As clear from his replies, Manmohan wishes to trust Pakistan’s new leadership that is considered very weak in its own country following on the footsteps of Bajpai. I couldn’t understand why Manmohan exhibited this sudden love for Bajpai so openly in parliament. Perhaps it was to blunt the already very poorly presented attack from BJP front. Manmohan appeared to have succeeded. BJP has none to put the points forcefully enough about the Manmohan’s misadventure. I found opposition parliamentarians listening Manmohan’s written reply with awe and perhaps admiration too.

Manmohan can go to any length to get in the good books of his western friends who somehow wish to keep Pakistan being an Islamic country on its side. As some columnist wrote, Manmohan might be aiming for a Nobel for peace and his western friends may help him.

Manmohan keeps on referring to Pakistan as neighbour that one can’t choose. But what does one do when the neighbour gets proved unscrupulous time and again? We have bad experience of a similar neighbour. We keep totally detached. Why can’t India live without making love affairs with Pakistan? Why should not Manmohan show similar love affairs with other neighbours that would have been more beneficial for India? Manmohan wishes to verify the transformation in Pakistan’s intention with one more 26/11 or attack on India’s parliament.

For all practical purposes, Manmohan has nothing to loose. If he succeeds he becomes hero. If his efforts fail, Sonia and Congress can disown him at appropriate time as it has done Rao who gave Manmohan the liberty to go ahead to act and become the hero finance minister of 90s with liberalization to his credit.

But I wonder why Manmohan doesn’t endeavour to put the things in the domestic governance right. Why do India’s infrastructure projects announced never get completed?

Why does it take still more than 170 clearances to set up a power project even after five years plus for Manmohan? Why are about 423 projects of the 925 in the central sector facing huge delays and cost overruns? Is Manmohan concerned about it? Why should he, as it will not give him Nobel?
PS: B. S. Raghavan wrote in Hindu Businessline, “The Prime Minister’s prestige might have suffered, but he enjoys the big advantage of TINA (There Is No Alternative).”

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Higher Education: Sibal Must Prioritize

Posted on July 29, 2009 by indra

In general, almost every one, the friends as well as foes is appreciative of the numerous radical reforms Sibal wishes to bring in education sector. However, some of them must move fast on priority.

As many perceive, ‘the vast majority of private institutions, ranging from mediocre to abysmal, are solely devoted to making money’. And those who run it have hardly any intention or will for imparting quality education. Sibal must do something urgently to correct it. The institutes can’t play with the future and career of the young men and women of the country. I don’t find anything wrong if private players in education sectors charge more as fee. However, there can’t be any compromise with the quality of education the private institutes provide. Sibal must force these institutes to get into accreditation from honest and capable agencies within a time frame. May be, the fee keeps some relation with the accreditation ratings.

The correct information about the institutions must be readily available for all the users-parents, students, and teachers on its website as well as through the printed literatures about the institute. And any confusing and misguiding information must invite heavy penalty including cancellation of affiliation of the institute.

Sibal must allow full autonomy to all the institutes of excellence and the ministry must not interfere. The aim must be to get into global ranking with regards to scale, original papers, researches and industry interactions.

Sibal must facilitate in building up the best possible infrastructures such as the teachers, libraries, laboratories, hostel facilities, conference halls, and sports complexes before scaling up the entry numbers.

The dismal shortage of good teachers must be tackled fast and effectively. Sibal must also encourage introducing compulsorily the system of teaching and research assistants in the institutes of higher education. The system will provide financial assistance to needy and qualified students, train and motivate the students to get into teaching and research profession, as it will make them appreciate the work.

The institutes must take initiative to keep its door open for the people with work experiences in the industry and administration who show interest in teaching and research work. Many a times there is bias among long time teachers against the men in the industry. The mindset needs to undergo change.

Another very important resource for the institutes is its alumni. The institute must try to explore wherever they can help including teaching and sharing of the experiences of interested ones with the students. Unfortunately, hardly some institutes are tapping these resources. In recent past, IIT alumni from developed countries have shown a lot of interest in education. I wish Sibal involves them and use them. As reported, “Some IIT alumni teaching in the US have come together to form a group called Indo-US Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE) to facilitate training of faculty at the IITs.”

Sibal with his high respectability with corporate sector must encourage and involve industrial houses and established enterprises of futuristic missions and visions to have positive and dynamic interaction with the institutes of higher education with an objective to make education improving employability index and have focus on useful researches that can take the country ahead in competition with developed world.

The nation wishes Sibal succeeds in getting the education out of messes.

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Perpetuating Poverty

Posted on July 28, 2009 by indra

I get confused every time I try to understand the intention of the politicians regarding poverty and its alleviation. BPL (Below Poverty Line) has become a pretty popular word. It categorizes the families that are really poor. I don’t know if there is any consensus on the definition of BPL. But going by the media reports, there is total disagreement between the states and the centre on the number, particularly those states that are having government of a party other than the one at the centre.

I was under an impression that with impressive GDP in last five years, India has reduced its poverty to about 21%. But as reported, Planning Commission had 28% of population under BPL, and a government panel chaired by Supreme Court-appointed food commissioner N C Saxena has recently recommended that 50% of India’s population be given below-poverty-line cards.

Surprisingly the states have prepared their own data of BPL beneficiaries. That, in most cases, is pretty higher than the planning commission figures. Even at the centre there is difference in opinion between Planning Commission and the rural development ministry. With the increasing allocation for the BPL schemes, the battle will get intense because of vested interest. Interestingly, as against 4.02 crore BPL households estimated by the Centre across the country, there are about 8.13 crore BPL card holders. It means about 400 million Indians are living in poverty. However, none talk about the smarter or stricter monitoring so that the leakages get plugged and the real beneficiaries get their dues.

I doubt the figures of BPL for my own reason. We have two maid servants to help us at home. A washer man visits us daily. A young man delivers milk. And many other young men provide some or the other household services. None should be in BPL based on their earnings. But I find all of them are in BPL for availing the benefits provided by the government. Should not the government with so many intelligent people available to help them in find a right nomenclature and ways that motivate the people to take pride in getting out of BPL?

DEFINITION OF POVERTY
Planning Commission:
Average per capita spending of below Rs 356/month in rural areas & Rs 539 in urban areas

Saxena Panel: Average per capita spending of below Rs 1,000/month in urban areas & Rs 700 in rural India http://www.indianexpress.com/news/for-food-scheme-centre-tries-to-get-bpl-family-definition-right/475082/

According to another definition, those capable of spending below Rs 20 a day are to be included in BPL. And as per National Sample survey, 60.5% of the population was capable of spending only Rs 20 a day. It sounds something like UN figures of the people earning below 1 or 1.5 US dollar a day.

Why should the state take pride in calling itself as the poorest one? Before asking for the assistance from the centre, why should not it be mandatory for the state to come out with its own plan to improve the per capita GDP or reduce the poverty of its people? Is being called poor something to take pride?

Poverty is the dirtiest situation for a family that takes away the human dignity. I am certain that with education and exposure the youth from the BPL families will object to get branded that way. Why should not the government spend on ways and means to create conditions for more useful and high earning engagements and employment of its people? I don’t think these doles, be it Food Security Act or NREGA can achieve the goal to end poverty. It may keep family away from starvation. Many on-site reports have revealed its limitations and misuse. It may win the election for some more time but very soon the people are going to rebel against its managers. The sooner they do, the better it will be for the nation.

I wonder how the finance minister would live up to his promise of reducing the poverty by half by 2014 that he made in his budget 2009. Will the government and its economist Prime minister provide an agreed definition of BPL and encourage and empower the people in the list to come out of it. Why don’t they realize Tulsidas, nahin daridra sum dukh jag mahiनहिं दरिद्र सम दुःख जग माहीं ? Poverty must not be perpetuated as reservation in the interest of politicians, and middlemen making their living and prosperity out of it.

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Education: Sibal’s Priorities and Rural Education

Posted on July 24, 2009 by indra

Sibal has too many reforms on his platter. He has started well and has already pushed the right of education bill through Rajya Sabha out. But will it substantially improve the number of students going to the schools or the quality of the education particularly of rural schools? Will it make the teachers in rural schools more responsible or accountable? Will the bill impose some responsibility to the failing parents or teachers? With 100 million children still out of schools, perhaps a door to door drive such as one for polio plus will be essential to realize 100% enrolments-the basic goal of Sarva Shikhsha Aviyan.

The most worrying aspects are the dropouts at different stages in rural schools. Nearly 30% don’t complete even five years at school, and a horrifying 50% of Indian children don’t go beyond eight years. And even in these years at school, they mostly absent the schools and hardly learn anything, mostly because of the lack of any innovation in teaching by the teachers to make the teaching or learning any more interesting and perhaps more so by the total lack of appreciation for education in the parents. The latest estimates from 2008 ASER report indicate that 44% of children in Class 5 cannot fluently read Class 2 level text nor do a division sum of three digits divided by one digit.

Unfortunately, no one talks about the parents’ accountability, may be because of political reasons for displeasing the reliable vote bank. And if a study is undertaken, it will reveal that the children who absent from school are not engaged in any other productive activity at home or elsewhere, as many activists and NGOs claim. Many a times the parents hardly know that.

Sibal will not be able to do much to push education at the primary level in rural India as it can be done only by the respective states. The standard of education in rural area has much to do with fixing of the responsibility of supervising the performance of teachers who play the major role as a majority of the rural schools are one teacher schools. Panchayats, its education supervisory committee with parents of students and responsible members of the community as envisaged in the right of education act must take interest in the education and related activities at the rural schools. I wish it would have included even the selection and appointment of the teachers. Sibal’s enthusiasm must permeate down to the state and panchayat level. Unfortunately, many panchayats are headed by persons with vested interest with hardly any concern and appreciation for the role of education. However, the work on educating the women promised by the first women President of the country may bring the miraculous change. It must start immediately and must proceed to keep the time frame. It will certainly improve the education significantly at the rural schools. I wish the education of the illiterate use the already proven TCS computer based learning. Another promise of taking broadband to every panchayat can make it very much possible, if the work is taken sincerely.

Many a times it appears that the children from the BPL families will have to be taken out to good residential schools away from the families to educate them in conducive surrounding. Only very few such institutions have come up. India Today in its issue of July 27 has reported about the wonderful work being done by some. Vidygyan, Bulandshahr promoted by Siv Nadar Foundation, the government of UP and the former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian is one such institute. However, most of the institutes and individuals, be it Sikhya, Chandigarh, Prem Jyoti Prangan, Jamshedpur, or Thermax Social Initiative foundation, Pune are focusing on urban poor children.

Samarth Bharat Abhiyan of University of Pune is certainly a model with great potential where its 500 affiliated colleges have adopted 487 villages. Why can’t all the universities and institutes of excellence emulate that for equitable development?

Kanavu in Kerala and Friends of Tribal Society, West Bengal are doing admirable job for educating tribals. Sibal will have to discover a solution for upgrading the existing schools in the rural India for quality education. And rural India with 60% of the country’s population is still deprived of a good infrastructure for education. Nearly one-third of schools do not have a pucca building and classes function either in tents or under the open sky. How can one think of any education under this condition?

Instead of going for a new idea of model schools for each block, why can’t the idea be integrated in already existing educational facilities of Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalayas, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas? Why can’t these institutes be set up in every block or in every panchayat and its quality is upgraded to be in the line of the best ones? If 199 KVs can have a 100% result in the class X CBSE examination in 2008, why can’t all of 980 do that?

Who are the teachers in the rural schools? Has someone checked if their degrees or certificates are not fake ones? Have they attended a training course somewhere outside their own state? What were the feedbacks about their performances? Who takes actions on those feedbacks? Sibal can and must help in this area easily. He can come out with some innovative programme for training the rural teachers with a month’s practice in good private schools. It is necessary, as presently most of the teachers’ population constitutes of persons who scored very lowly in their examinations, and who couldn’t get any other job for living. As some opine, the teaching has become the domain of the ‘bored’ or ‘failed’ individuals.

Will Sibal discuss these issues with the chief ministers and education ministers of the states and make them agree to take some positive steps for the rural education?

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Entrepreneurs! Here is a Business Plan

Posted on July 23, 2009 by indra

Finally, we got our Samsung LCD TV back in operation yesterday after three days. We could see the wonderful eclipse right from our bed room and could hear parliamentarians wasting the nation’s money in debating reality shows on TV channels instead of doing something about the people miseries all over the country with the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.

We found these three days pretty difficult without any news and instant entertainment that the TV provides. Many in India’s cities and towns experience the same nightmarish situation with the poor response from the manufacturers’ designated service centres and lack of reliable private repair technicians. I know Rai and Grover had similar horrible experiences and perhaps for more number of days. Depending on the population, many may be waiting helplessly for their household appliances restored at any particular time or day.

And again people at large in these days have become slaves of many of these household appliances, be it refrigerator and air conditioner in summer or Geysers or room heaters in winters, be it a cell phone once lost or a car that developed major problem suddenly or even the power generator that many have installed to face the frequent power cuts. Generally, it requires tough head and heart to get the equipment back in operation, as the after-sales services are just laggard and the top management of the manufacturing companies hardly keep it in touch with the suffering customers.

Why can’t some agency provide the replacement of these appliances at rental within minutes or few hours of trouble? The service must cover all possible household items that we today use and without which we feel really uncomfortable. The rental must not be too high but good enough to make it a viable business proposition. The affected person can call the replacement agencies giving the details of the need and negotiate the specification, terms and conditions for the replaced item. Once agreed, the agency must send his men with the appliances promptly that can serve the basic purpose of the family as agreed in advance and get it fixed up to serve the purpose of the clients to their satisfaction. The agency on its part can have arrangement for sourcing the appliance with the different manufacturers or agencies. The agency may take some initial deposits too. Naturally the details of the business require fine tuning.

I guess this will make the life of at least oldies convenient and reduce the mental tension to a great extent. I am sure for younger ones too it will add to the quality of living.

Do you think this idea as a viable business proposition or do you know someone somewhere who is already providing this type of services? Please comment and convey.

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Golu: Victim of Distorted Democracy

Posted on July 21, 2009 by indra

Golu was with me on Sunday. He has already entered IIT, Delhi. His story is good enough to start a rebellion. At least, it makes me a rebel at this age of 70. I read about the ill-effects of reservations particularly when Arjun Singh got the OBC (Other Backward Class) reservation in the institutes of excellence. However, I could only appreciate the dangerous consequences of the reservation better today after hearing the case of Golu.

Golu got 209 rank in IIT-JEE. Naturally he as well as his well-wishers thought that he would easily get the computer science (CS) in IIT Delhi, Bombay or Kanpur with that rank.
I was shocked when I heard that he couldn’t do that. Finally he opted for Electrical engineering in IIT, Delhi.

But surprisingly his friend Yadav who ranked 610 could get CS in IIT, Delhi itself. Yadav got the benefit of being in OBC category and so got promoted to the effective rank of 61. Golu knows another student who was at 6534, but got promoted to the effective rank 16 and got CS in IIT, Delhi as he came from SC category.

Interestingly the fathers of these two students from the reserved categories draw much higher salaries than what Golu’s father gets and are better off in every respect.

Golu, 17, had his schooling in a small place Ramnagar near Varanasi. He went for Central Hindu School, affiliated to BHU for Higher Secondary. He did attend a hardly known coaching institute JRS in Varanasi almost free partly because of his merit and more because of the kindness shown by the director. But Golu with all that couldn’t make to CS in IIT, Delhi, as he is from general category as defined by the political leaders of this country. Naturally it makes me angry and forces me to ask questions from the system and the countrymen including those who are getting benefitted.

Is the system doing a justice to young minds like Golu? Should Golus not feel punished for no reasons to his knowledge? Should Golus not become revengeful when they come to decision making positions? Why should Golus be denied the right that their merit deserved? Did Golus’ ancestors harm any way the ancestors of the other boys? The answer is just a BIG NO.

Is this system imposed by political leadership of the country aimed at vote bank in the name of the right of democracy not divisive? Will it not cause a question about the justice of the system that the constitution makers provided? Will Golu think great about this nation that couldn’t make him study what he wanted and what his merit deserved? Will he adore India as nation? Will not one day these Golus revolt and turn into difficult citizens for the country? Does the system integrates the citizens or divide them forever? Will the nation be benefited by pushing Golus behind and bringing less meritorious on the top? Will the system breed a future generation of innovators and entrepreneurs? Can the institute keep its brand high and compete with other global ranking institutes of excellence with this sort of birth based differentiation? Can the best of the scientific brains of India prove that the development of brains capability depend on the caste one is born and so the deprived ones be given reservations?

And this is the reasons that many who have left India for US or other countries, don’t want to return. This is also the reason that many who can afford leave the country even today and will keep on doing that?
I am with Narayana Murthy and Infosys who have proved with actual experiments that the boys and girls of so called deprived families are as good as the ones from the higher castes. Why can’t on the same line the government and the system provide all the resources at their disposal to such boys to gain the equal levels before the qualifying entrance examination without damaging the merit based final selection? Let the system not do injustice to these young minds as they were born in a particular caste?

I wonder one day even after getting all the top hundred ranks in the toughest entrance examination of the world, the boy from general categories will not get the departments of their choices.

Revelations about IITs are unfortunate and shocking. The government has totally failed in providing the class of infrastructure that IITs must have. Three students are to share a small room in IIT, Delhi, when in 1957 and then even in 1985 I myself and Rakesh respectively got single room accommodation. Narayana Murthy has narrated the story how IIT, Bombay had to answer awkward questions from HRD ministry when a modern hostel was constructed by a NRI alumni.

Mr. Sibal must correct these anomalies in these institutes of excellence and national importance. If government can’t fund the building of hostels and other student facilities, let it outsource it to private entrepreneurs or beg IIT alumni to help it.

It is unfortunate but with Golu’s story I am losing hope about this global power of tomorrow. How long one will have to live with these injustices? How long the merit will not get rewarded rightly? How long the politicians and the leaders with vested interests keep the Indians divided with so many identities?

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Nightmarish Product Services: Suffering Indian Consumers

Posted on July 20, 2009 by indra

Last week when Mr. Rai was narrating the story of the amount of trouble he faced with the repair of their Sony TV, I couldn’t appreciate it. When Grover of my neighbourhood enquired if I knew someone who could repair his LG TV, I suggested him not to take the risk and opt only for the manufacturer’s service. In both cases, the response of the company’s servicing facilities and persons had been nightmarish. They neither knew the job nor were they courteous with the customers or sincere enough in providing the services promptly. After all, retired oldies can hardly afford keeping multiple TVs in house particularly with the high monthly burden of cable or DTH companies for multiple sets.

I appreciate it better today when we are without our Samsung LCD TV since last Friday night when I couldn’t get my set ‘on’ after coming back from our after-dinner short walk. Yamuna was missing her pet ‘Rakhi ka Swayambar’, and I could not update the way Hillary was charming the Indian leadership and the people she met.

Next day I didn’t even allow my electronics repair man who as otherwise regularly maintains other gadgets in the house, to even touch the TV because of the possible complexity that the manufacturer might have created for any misadventure of the amateur technician.

I went through Samsung call centre and kept on waiting for the whole of Saturday. The man informed of his arrival only at 9PM through his cell phone standing in front of our house. We had locked the gates and doors by that time. Though we cursed him first, but then with a hope of getting a quick fix and possibility of seeing our favourite serials, we welcomed him.

Unfortunately, we were not lucky. The damage according to him required the change of supply board that he didn’t have with him. As the next day was Sunday, a holiday, he promised to get the part as the first thing on Monday and fix the trouble by noon. Yamuna and me requested and prayed frantically but he couldn’t help and left us with only a promise.

Today was the Monday, which has come after a real long Sunday in absence of TV. Fortunately for us, Golu and his father came in on Sunday after completing the formalities at IIT, Delhi and I got engaged with his part of the story of his getting into IIT. Golu is really cute. I saw him after long time. But I shall tell his story in the next entry.

After Golu and his father left for IIT, Delhi today and I got some free time after taking Yamuna to the temple for the special Monday visit, I contacted the Samsung TV technician, Khurshid who was good enough to leave his cell phone number on Friday before leaving. And after talking to him, my nightmare deepened. Khurshid was in hospital with his wife and couldn’t come. He gave the cell number of his supervisor. But that gentleman had smartly kept his phone off. I kept on cursing every possible person and system of this great country while keeping on calling the Samsung call centre, its servicing agency and Khurshid’s seniors one by one as advised by the phone receivers whom I could get in the process. It went on for hours. And ultimately, I had to surrender to the system. Vijay, the boss of Khurshid informed that he could get it fixed only tomorrow as he hopes to get the parts by tonight. This was after I had talked to Rijvi, the manager of the service centre. And who knows if my TV would get fixed up tomorrow and we shall be back to normal, as Vijay had advised me earlier before I had talked to his boss Rijvi to wait till next Saturday.

Should these companies not improve the services? Or do they think the standard is good enough for the country, as the customers can’t harm them after once they have bought the appliances? Unfortunately, there are hardly any agencies that keep on rating these companies for their after-sales services to help the prospective customers. That would have certainly helped. I wish some entrepreneur takes a step in this direction.

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School Education: Make It Attractive

Posted on July 17, 2009 by indra

The main task for the education managers will be to correct and create conducive conditions in rural India on priority for universalizing education. Many times, it appears as a hopeless lost case with irresponsible teachers and the corrupt state bureaucracy responsible for educating rural India. Some suggest to hand over the school inspection to private agencies such as Pratham, and to transfer the administrative staffs and officers of the education department back to schools as teachers.

Private interference in rural education sector is still negligible, and will be welcome. One way may be by giving franchise of primary education by branded private urban schools to informal mini-schools of educated housewives of the villages after sufficient training.

However, for reducing the dropout percentage, the education process must become more and more attractive that can automatically pull the children from their homes instead of their parents pushing the unwilling lot.

Mid day meal was born out of the minds of urban thinkers with very little firsthand experiences of the issues of poor and rural India. It may bring in more kids to enroll. But how many of the enrolled ones attend the schools regularly and for the total working hours of the school? The fault may be either with the parents who hold the kids back to provide them the helping hand in some household work or the kid himself may not be interested in going to the school.

The main role naturally lies with the school teachers. Do the teachers constantly review and improve the methods of their teachings to make it attractive enough so that the students hanker for attending the school next day even with all the parental pressures, other attractions and excuses to remain at home?

Instead of following the set and to some extent boring way of teaching, do the teachers devote enough time and energy to find out the latent capability and interest of the individual kids? Naturally, the teachers can handle only a limited number, may be twenty children, efficiently and effectively. So availability of sufficient number of teachers is essential.

Mid day meal may be one attraction for the kids to attend the school and be there till it is served. But again the content of the meal and quality must be attractive enough which perhaps is hardly possible with the limit on its cost.

But besides mid day meal, many other attractions can be integrated in the routine at schools that normally the kids of the day like more.

The school may start with a secular prayer (Hum Honge Kamyaab–) meeting with certain light exercises and inspiring music as done in Japanese workplaces. Every school must have its own playing field. Sports and games both indoor and outdoor are attractions up to age. It prepares a kid to work in team as well as in improving personal skills. It must be made compulsory in every day routine and carry marks for aggregate score.

In olden days, all rural schools used to have flower beds, and the students used to participate in gardening. I wish that is made compulsory. Every child must learn a bit of farming, horticulture, and participate in improving the ambience of the school.

One class room may be used as creativity centre, where the children get their inherent creativity shaped, may be with very cheap local inputs. From class six onwards, every child must learn one of the other skills. Trainers may be pulled from the community. On the same way, the children must spend an hour in library room. A school can’t even be conceived without a library with well stocked books, gadgets and games- coloured, illustrated and suitable for the children. It makes reading a habit for future, when the self study only can improve one’s worth.

Extracurricular activities such as debate, drama and many things and involvement of all the children must be necessary to find out the interest and aptitude of individual child.

Thrust must on imparting the knowledge and understanding of the subject rather than on rote learning in routine manner. The students must get inquisitive and ask questions. Teachers must encourage them in that. They must also pose questions and ask the students to find solutions by self study. Means of teaching must be interesting. Teachers must remember why Panchtantra stories were written. Technologies have provided many options for making learning a fun. And the government is on the course of providing each rural school with the facilities such as broad band Internet, computers, and may be soon e-readers. Videos on the teaching materials can be shown on TV or digital white boards in class rooms. Endless easy-to-teach possibilities are available commercially in the market. Learning of mathematics and language can be fun today. But teachers will always remain the main actor for making the learning interesting. He has to take a lead.

Teachers in rural schools must not copy the types of projects and home works given in urban schools that taxes the parents and that is becoming an outsourcing industry. Home work can at the best be limited to rapid reading material or visiting some place nearby with parents.

Every teacher and the headmaster must innovate their own way to get to the end of real universalizing of the education for the community and the country. They must involve parents and seek the help from the community leaders, but can’t shirk their accountability.

A student coming out of ten years of schooling must be proficient in at least two languages if not three, pretty good in arithmetic, and using computer, beside getting at least one skill of his interest.

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Education: Autonomy, Sibal, and Suicide News from IIT

Posted on July 16, 2009 by indra

This was a bad morning. I went through a bad news from my IIT, Kharagpur on the website of Telegraph, Kolkata. “Yogendra Kumar Singh, 18, a resident of Noida, a first-year student of IIT Kharagpur, committed suicide. According to the report, Yogendra wanted to study in IIT Delhi but had not got admission there and was dejected.” It is really horrible news. Can this be a reason for such an extreme step such suicide? On the criteria fixed by the IITs, Yogendra could not get admission in IIT, Delhi. Should the IITs be a little more flexible or find some way out to provide what the child wishes? Do the successful IIT-aspirants need some intensive orientation by IITs demystifying many wrong perceptions?

The candidates for higher education get all the information through various sources, peers, seniors, parents, relatives, and from media or websites of the institutes. The decision making is pretty difficult. But mostly, the branches and institutes matter very little in real life. I know many instances. Mohit got admission in IIT, Mumbai. But then he left it, and went for MBA in Xavier’s Labour Institute, Jamshedpur, known popularly as XLRI. And today, he has a coaching institute in Kolkata and pretty well off. Soni, Mohit’s younger brother was the topper in computer science department at BIT, Mesra. He went abroad for MS in computer science and then he decided to shift to international law. As soon as his father came to know of Soni’s decision, he came running to me. I asked him to let Soni do what he wants. Soni is running a law firm in US today. Baba did his MBBS, wished to do MD in surgery, but could get only biochemistry. On insistence of his mother, I advised him to go ahead. Today, Baba is in New York and busy in research. There are many examples.I wish the school and parents guide the children rightly. As it seems, the parents require better orientation so that they don’t keep pestering the children for an outdated profession, course and laggard institute.

I wonder if I did rightly advise Golu to join IITs at Kanpur or Delhi, though he had preferred Mumbai. His information was based on his seniors from the school. I shall know about it only on July 18, when he will be with me for getting admitted into IIT, Delhi with his father.

Sibal, the HRD minister gave his definition of autonomy yesterday while replying to the debate on budget for education. The autonomy in the context of education meant giving choices to a child. “Give a child the right to decide and not let the results of examinations decide his or her future. A child is the recipient of knowledge and for the past 60 years no choices have been given,”

Sibal may be right politically and very impressive with his new ideas for multi-dimensional reforms in education. I wish him success. Unfortunately, Sibal carefully avoided giving a time frame for the reforms in his mind. Does Sibal realize that the establishment of 1500 universities and thousands of institutes of higher education is not mechanical and can’t be attained only with physical resources? It requires long time taking learning, innovating, and maturing for each institute to create a name. There are many things that require change at the grassroots levels, particularly respectability for the knowledge and knowledge seekers in the society. The government can encourage agencies spreading right information and knowledge to keep the people at large updated through technological aids. It requires a change in mindsets at various level of the society.

But nothing justifies the suicide of Yogendra. We must take lesson and try to make the education stress free. It is not a battle to be won or loose. It is a way of life to keep on improving the quality of living.

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