Outpour

Noam Chomsky-the student

2009-11-08T06:35:00.000-08:00

"At the discussion, which took place over the course of a few days at the Abbaye de Royaumont outside Paris, Lévi-Strauss sat patiently said nothing as others spoke their piece or pontificated, or pleaded and shouted their oppositions. But his doodles of cats and other real and fantastical animals were stunning, and those he left behind were the objects of a fierce competition among some of the conference’s participants, including myself. On the way to our last lunch, Noam Chomsky ─ who had dominated this conference of Nobel-prize winning biologists and world-famous mathematicians, philosophers, psychologists and anthropologists as I have never seen anyone do before or after ─ walked up to Lévi-Strauss and said in a shy sort of way: “Perhaps you remember me, when I sat in on your class at Harvard with Roman Jakobson?” Lévi-Strauss looked at Chomsky and said: “I’m sorry, but no.” Those were the only words he would utter in the conference room."

more here [link]

What happened?

2009-07-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

What happened just after I posted the last post is this.

Wordpress gives you some awesome features, what blogger does is it gives you all the freedom. Which means Wordpress is easier and fashionable, the dynamic Blogger requires skill. I have experimented with html before, but that is it. I couldn't make this blog any sexier on my own. So I searched for free templates with exciting options and I came across a Philippines website. When I installed the template it started showing google ads. Advertisement is something I hate. I know, speaking from an econmist pov, advertising is benefial for costumers since it increases the competition of the products, and the informed costumers now have options. But information is not as plain as it seems. If you are acquainted with "promotion focus"/"prevention focus" like psychological jargons, you would know that cost of being misled outweighs the benefit of product information.

Anyway, I didn't have any adsense account, I never wanted to, and now there was an ad prominently sitting under my first post. Sometimes, it would be a disgusting one like LK advani's prime ministerial ad. No matter what I tried, the ads stuck. I changed templates, deleted entire css code, posted in forums, followed suggestions, deleted the particular adsense codes they suggested. Nothing worked. So, I changed to the classic theme. The ad was gone. But when I reverted it was still there. I had to keep the blog in classic theme forever. But I missed not being able to put up gadgets. I especially like the list. I wanted to have a book list.

Then a couple days back, I realised I could import the blog, save it, delete it, create a blog in the same id/name and import it. Blogger says you can do it. It worked. The old links I have given elsewhere is still working. And the stupid and irritating ad i gone. I am so relieved.

So now, after several months I am back.

Soul Murder

2009-03-15T02:32:00.000-07:00

I saw 39 women and 104 men in the course of 100 weeks. 95% of the patients were black. Reviewing my records, I see that all 39 of the women reported emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; of the 104 men, 13 suffered all three kinds of abuse, while 91 suffered only physical and emotional but not sexual abuse.
From my experience, the most destructive form of abuse is sexual, because of the betrayal and devastating confusion over who is friend, who foe. Many patients during a first visit, despite my probing inquiry (no relative? not a grandfather? no mom's lover? no neighbour? no babysitter? no priest or preacher? no teacher?) deny sexual abuse, but admit to it later. I have found that it is for good reason that sexual abuse of children has been termed “soul murder”

Victoria Lewin-Fetter writes in The Lancet

The article she responded to was mainly about the child abuse in high-income countries. It says the official figures of child maltreatment of these countries are only one tenth of the reality. (please have a look at the article to know various forms of child abuse). What' more! A recent study is able to identify a gene in the brain (hippocampus- a region known to control mood) that is marked in people who were abused as a child and committed suicide as an adult. It is NOT confirmed but the researchers suspect a history of child abuse predisposes suicide in adults (genetically). If so, its murder ? And not just of the soul.

Shall we pause and ask about our very own country? Let me gather some information.

Michelle Obama serves the homeless

2009-03-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

What would be your response to the presidential patronage to homeless?

I have a conflicting opinion. One the one hand, I believe when Michelle Obama does that charitable act of serving food to the homeless, it reinforces the belief "we can't do no more". And probably "the homeless should be happy that they got to eat". That also strengthens the arguments that, the homeless chose their state of penury. That, its either their fate or their own making. As a friend once said to me in not very different context, "you can take a donkey to the river, you can't make it drink". Except for the chronic alcoholics and drug addicts, I dont think anyone else would prefer that life over anything else. May be some anarchist too, but then they would like to venture out far away places or the wild and wont be tied down to the routineless destitution.

On the other hand, denial is not cure. There are homeless is your country and you have to acknowledge it. Only then you can take steps to provide a solution. And of course, you cannot let them starve till you find homes to put them back in. So probably it is a humane gesture, not just charitable. But it must be followed up by some policies, some endeavor to give them some place, some dignity.

It reminds me of George Carlin, the late comedian, who once said, if some of the golf courses were dismantled in USA, all homeless could be sheltered in. He was, of course, joking!

Wrong Indians In Obama Team

2009-01-11T19:14:00.000-08:00

There are two so far, Sonal Shah and Sanjay Gupta. Both are with highly objectionable background. Economist and former head of Google philanthropic team Sonal Shah is for her VHP affiliation. She went on to renounce it fearing being dropped out. But she never was.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a neurosurgeon and a jounalist/TV-host for CNN. He touted for the Surgeon general post in Obama administration. He opposed Universal Health Care System, Obama's (and Hillary's) election plank. Not only he opposed, he misquoted wrong numbers from Michael Moore's film and accused Moore of "fudging fact". Both of them than had a debate in Larry King Live, where Gupta continues to advance his hollow arguments. Find out Moore's refutation of Sanjay. The reason, as widely believed, in that he represents the interest of the health-care industry. Read New scientist, Paul krugman and Dissident Voice.

There are opposition to both Shah and Gupta.

Uncanny Obituary

2008-10-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, but disturbingly often, we hear news of "an iitian killing himself". In this country where poor farmers' suicide is a political joke and politicians' security is of crores-worth seriousness, cost of life is relative. And the iit administration understands it. This is what the dean, student affairs infroms in iitb.newgroup[1]

With deep regret, we announce that Mr. Balakrishna Gupta, a second year Ph.D. student in Chemistry committed suicide in Hostel 12. The reasons are not believed to be related to academics and much will be known after the investigations are completed. A condolence meeting will take place early in the week and I shall inform you once the same is fixed.

Prakash Gopalan
Dean (SA)

And like most of the political murders, the mystery of "a suicide in iit" is never solved. The result of the investigations are never revealed. And the administration believes- as so clearly the dean does here-and convinces junta[2] that the reasons are not academic. So then concern junta in iit debate the cause and they blame walls, corridors, fixed-beds

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1. iitb.newgroup is an online platform for iitians to interact hosted by computer center.
2. Junta is an iitian term for the people.

Hullabaloo In H1

2008-09-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

We, iitians, are always discontent about something or other. And particularly about Mess, throughout the year. I had a friend, whose genre of humour was sarcastic, used to start cursing the mess manager from the time he entered dinning hall. If you could laugh its okay, otherwise your stomach would be filled with his vitriolic outpour. Thats usual in our hostel.

Last saturday, someone knocked my door and invited me to the hostel GBM[1]. The hostel PA[2] system was blaring continually till then. It seemed, dinner that night was unpalatable. In the meeting vociferous management students have kept the front rows, agitated. The warden with a deceivingly charming smile and the assistant warden(probably, you never know!) quiet and quite uninterested were at the dias. Junta was hesitantly standing or peeping inside. And the accused, the mess workers, dressed in their usual dark-coffee colored clothes were just themselves, obfuscating any attempt to look inside their collars.

And the proceedings began. Sshhh...every 2 sec. one would hush, cause he thinks he has real issues while others were just blabbering. As he begins, the hushed ones and more fresh voices would barge in and the GBM would become a fish-market, sometimes with the smell. Anyway, as a curious onlooker I had put on my satirical journalistic glasses.

The mess workers were called to the front, and asked to sit down. The mattresses were packed, some sat down on the floor- one moved a guy for a place on the mattress, another smiled and occupied an empty seat on the bench- others chose not to. Its hard to remember what was the first question asked to them, but they were told the 'cucumber" in salad was bad and who cut the bad cucumber into the salad should be held responsible. No name came out. Someone was impatient. He said, if messing in all other hostels were good, H1 had to do something. Grass is greener at the other side of the fence huh ? Many more complains pour in.

Warder explains. He had been a witness (thanks heaven, not victim :D) of the sordid saga for almost eight years now. There had been complains, meetings, talk about rotating the mess staff between hostesl, submission of memo to HCU, nothing seemed to change. He categorically said, "there is no solution for this problem. you cannot force them to cook good food for you". While I searched for a response to this pragmatic pessimism, an overly excited panchhi[3] blurted out, "we need to explore every possibility, if needed use 'force'." While I busted into a mouthful of laughter then, wardern started to articulate the length and unedning process of "force". It is then when the blame is shifted entirely to one person. That cook is supposedly the worst of all, does not give a damn to any threat. Sometimes back the HCU tried to force him to take VRS, which he denied and HCU was left at its wits end.

One mess worker is allowed to speak. He says, dont talk about time. We are the most flexible mess in terms of dinning hours. They are, I agree. They serve you 15min before and upto 1 hour late. The demagogues catapult, what is the use of time if its not edible.

Then someone responsible comes up. He tries to reason. "Out of seven days, do u get 5days good meal or not". Junta is hesitant to agree. "The idea of a good food is personal, isnt it", they point the worst as their standard of bad. "How many of you appreciate for a good meal", I do, I do...all of them join the corus. I dont think I ever did. I have not seen anyone ever doing that.

I get impatient, I had told santosh to call me after 10mins. He did, I moved on. Reminding myself the Rs 1.75 meal we used to have in West hostel back in my college and Laksya. "No amount of make up would make a monkey look like a Man" thats his difference between Mess food and Home food.

In the whole affair, the Hostel Mess Manager was surprisingly never called, he was absent anyways, never accused. Except for the fact that all effort to rectify him has also failed previously.
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1. General Body Meetin
2. Public Annoucement System
3. An iitian

Diwali: Changing thoughts, stubborn traditions

2007-11-09T03:08:00.000-08:00

The two things that make an " isolation chamber" an instrument for torture are the space that has shrunk around you and the time that has expanded to eternity. I wonder how much of here(dont ask where) looks like that.

I have forgotten how many diwali it had been, and when exactly this happened. But for some occasion like today, there was a vibrant discussion. Diwali it is today, diwali it was, diwali it would be that way too. Only they were hoping to celebrate without crackers, deafening explosions and chocking pollution.

I have been receiving many many e-mails not to celebrate diwali this year. Well, it could be a symbol of cultural dominance, it could also be an instrument of hinduisition of secular institutions but you can not deny the fun and excitement the crackers bring. That brings me, squarely to the question we have debated fervently few years back. "Should we bust crackers ?" I know my stand that time. I was opposed to crackers, and my line of defense were rock solid. I wreck the nerve of the most vociferous pro-cracker and continued hound with facts about crackers/pollutions after diwali too, after the celebration strode his way anyway. Flawed his arguments may be, but right he was about fun. "Diwali is no fun, without crackers", for a lot many.

That refocuses on the concern of the different groups. For those, who see Diwali as malpractice of a secular institution need to recompose the festivities in calender. Amartya Sen says in his book "argumentative indian" Indian definition of secularism is not abolishing religiosity but maintaining a perfect harmony of all the faiths. So it would be grossly improper for a department like ours to celebrate Diwali and Holi in so much fanfare, while we maintain a studied silent on other religious festivals. And have you imagined how subjugating it might sound, when the school prayer is that of a religious majority ? For those, who see Diwali as a mere cultural dominance need to evolve equally pleasurable festivities as an alternate. You cannot just shut the door to the all the glazing and simmering fun outside. And last but not the least, crackers ?

We need to dissociate fun with the feeling of power, crowding noise and amazement of explosives. Not only diwali, we have made crackers inseparable from personal affairs like marriage to national days and new years celebration. Growth of civilization, by which I mean to enhanced understanding of nature, insight into human psyche and enlighted thoughts, do not guarantee that. But I am sure happiness could come through many channels, and constitute many different modes. I also think, all experiences of happiness should be yielded as much as we can, but we can definitely do some load shedding for the sake of pollution, when its so much more demanding.

Queuing up is in Our Blood -I [Puja or Publicity]

2007-10-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

Population is the worst problem, isnt it ? Thats the fist inference of any insensitive and misinformed analysis of Poverty, Poor infrastructure, Unemployment or Health care that the green card[1] holders often delve into. Under the influence of this Malthusian myth some iitan, who is about to receive sainthood, even remarked, people not able to ensure their children go to school should be denied parenthood !!. But in a resource-flushed human sanctuary like iit bombay, the twitching realities of India bare our skin. All because of our big brains, short sightedness.

So its Ganesh Puja 2007. One of the biggest festivals of Maharastrian Hindus, and celebrated throughout India by Hindus in schools and colleges as well as in homes. Hostel 1 has erected the idol, a podium and barricaded the prayer area inside the ground floor lounge which housed earlier a dozen chairs and a dozen newspapers, two carrom boards, chess table, a 47" plasma TV and few mattresses. All these are now pushed off to half of the room, some thrown out. And there is an equally aerated, well-lit, bigger and completely empty lounge just upstairs.

The Puja went on for 10 days, with several prayer hours in a day and continuously oozing hymns from the tape. And on the other side of the barricade the plasma TV glittered with skimpy girls and buzzed lewd music. The newspapers were the worst sufferers. The biggest challenge to the mutual tolerance of both sides was the cricket match. It was too important, it went on full volume in the evening prayer session which by its own loud hymns was desperately trying to connect the god and the devotees. Too important cause otherwise devotees would ask the viewers to simply mute or switch off the TV. Usually the whole lounge swells like a gravid belly on those match-days, and the half of it was crying for help now. Some heed it and rushed to the upstairs lounge, to the old 29", abandoned TV. Soon it filled up too.

On the podium where the Idol seated, there was an A4-size mocking at us. It read "Unity in Diversity".

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1. Green card is a benefit offered by one of the eastern state govts. of india for people having 2 children. The children get some relaxation/advantage in admission and so on.

doEs iT rEAllY mATTErs

2007-07-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, how profoundly difficult it seems deciding good to bad, right to wrong. It must be impossible to prefer good from the better then. Because the line is always blurred. Because man is always disoriented with a prethora of fear both real and percieved. Then again reality and perception are not different, so al what matters is fear.

Those who are adventurous cannot be losers, as they dont stop venturing into every oppertunity. Not all well calculated and profitable but each adding to their glory. Problem is mountanous for cowards. He attachs unduly morality to insignificant modality. He retreats at every single possibility of confrontation, perceived or otherwise. If that is not bad he readies himself to give up his rights in to buy peace for next feew hours. He finds himself in the midst of the ocean, and still doesnt to splash water in fear of inviting danger.

But cowardice, silly-sallying are not even easy. One has to be always dissapointed and return empty handed, depressed and spend nights in alternate planning and most importanly contradiction becomes an unfaithful spouse. While with the courageus fight is fllowed by victory and glory, for the indecisive and timid stuggle is eternal always with a blend of suffering.

Unkowingly though, both are precarious at the self choosen trouble in regards to their ability, mostly mental. Both have to stuggle as hard but somewhere in the process the path bifurcates to produce to different end results. While the weapon for the man with courage is his confidence and attitude to presicely look at the problem, lack of the same confidence makes the other person develop cold feet. The the problem spreads its tentacles, from one to another and within a short span of time the whole world that you are concerned of becomes entangled it. It takes a few finest imagination to give a final horrible picutre and then oblige to it.

At the end of the day, the winner can sleep like a log, the one persistant warrier, the indecisive sleeps on the touble

One may wonder how come i know so much.

Hang your convict yourself, your honour

2006-10-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

In the "rarest of the rare cases", the hangman returns to news. Awarding the capital punishment, after lengthy deliberations, numerous bench hours, THEY strike the sentence through the paper and satisfy themselves of delivering justice to the victims' family and bolstered the deterrent for such dastardly killing. But brutal act of actual killing once again to be executed by someone who is paid for, many times less than THEM; keeping the historical tradition of getting the dirty work done by lesser humans. The only explanations the great scholars of law put forward are death as a deterrent and justice to the victims' survivors(learned from The Hindu editorial). Simply put, to incite fear and revenge.

The whole exercise for revenge seems a quagmire. Someone does a massacre hatched in someone else's mind in response to/to protest someone else decision/policy. Some other awards revenge to be executed by someone else. An act of revenge is a totally individualist mental make-up. So it is understandable if individuals clamour for revenge and dreaded punishments. A deep feeling of grief, insecurity, weakness overcome the better judgement of an individual, which carves for revenge, not always a completely futile exercise. But for a state to honour this sentiment of its citizens simply cannot be progressive and humanist. A state must guard its citizen against crimes and chaos. The best possible way is yet to evolve, detention/prison/even life-imprisonment are not for revenge but as deterrent. Otherwise, the law would sentence confiscation of property in response to theft, sexual assault for rape, tit for tat. Crime control and establishing peace should be the motto of the law of the land not taking vengeance for the victims. In the wake of this argument "capital punishment" seems to be barbaric act rather than an egalitarian instrument of social control.

Argument of death as a deterrent in favour of death sentence to a terrorist or extremist is abhorrent. These unfortunate people have a far better chance of being gunned down in some encounter or drop dead in some custodial interrogation rather than reaching the most sluggish and infamous system( judicial, of course) and being awarded the capital punishment. Most of them are suicidal, while some other take this as a glory to their cause. In return the state gets to kill a pawn in the chessboard while the mastermind tries to fan the passion of other pawns in the aggravated air. Even if the mastermind is being judged, it should be remembered that the cause of conflict is what caused the terror. Death as a deterrent wont either work for rapists. It is a well-known fact that criminal commit crimes cause culpability is not conviction. Otherwise even seven years in jail is no lesser scary for few moments of infatuation or male ego etc etc... But the "Mr. innocent" politians and Law professionals know more.

Finally, nobody has a right to put off a life. Those are disillusioned who carried out this inhuman act. THOSE who sentence the inhuman act on these disillusioned are no less disillusioned. Action is same, primary cause is same, only the belief, the conviction is different. In the former the belief is struggling for a greater cause, for people or religion, conversely the later's conviction is the state enshrined law and order. But if THEY are are convinced of the sancity of their action, let THEM soak THEIR own hand with blood even if in the rarest of the rare cases. No one should carry out the dirty job for THEM. Let not a hangman kill a complete stranger, for a supari of Rs **** per month. Let the Judges come down to the gallow to avenge the killing..

Few observations

2006-10-09T03:19:00.000-07:00

Standing tall, calling for attention, a boy of age socialising in school. Just few yards outside the Railway station of capital city Raipur, not without reason in front of the chat-masala food stall. Smilling away pleasantly in his tired face smeared with the stains of penury. His attire unmistakably familliar and the legs tied firmly to the long poles speaking volumes of the freedom that graced the Indian subcontinent half-a-century ago. His standing tall on stilt hardly proved anything for him except implying the 'tall order' the society has to come to terms with. Looking up I was hoping if those long leaps can help him chase his dream, if he had any.

Back in IIT, a six-feet Iitian wore a neat t-shirt printed...."sTop staring aT me, I know I am Tall..
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Its a bright morning. A schoolgirl is walking past the numerous vendors on footpath on her way. She stops at one- an woman squating on a pidha( a small legged stool) who does not seem to sell anything. The girl drops a coin, takes out a small boundle of grass from the stack nearby and feeds the bull standing next to the woman. She touches the animal and touches her throat and her won forehead with respect. As her eyes open after she wished something, I see her eyes wishing for more sleep and her face pleasantly plump. Just then a lightening though pass through my head. What happens to the women in the progressively 'de-believing' city of Bomaby....
......what if the woman had a cow, she would get paid to feed grass....
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An old man spreads his stall before or after the Girls' Hostel No.11 on the road paasing by. Not much actually, one or two basket having very few fruits. Options are not much guava, pineapple, grapes, apples, jamun, zizphus many a times mango; either one or two of the variety at a time. There is no crowd, there is hardly any bargain. He sits there with his deadpan face, with his ruffled shirt and dhoti tinged yellow of years of usage. He appears and dissapears at will. On the metallic black street of IIT with silver footpath and with pedestrians chattering away with english, this man sitting quitely on the footpath (before footpath on the road) looks rather adorably antique. Pleasant enough to be framed as a souvenir.
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The line that is blurred

2006-08-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

Himanshu likes to have an opinion, this is what I think. I like to differ, probably Himanshu has already formed this opinion about me. There is nothing unusual, strange or special about the association of two of us. In fact, we knew each other long back, longer than we know each other now, as friends. So its just two guys having have to say something.

We talk and talk nothing really important. Barely two three lines of "Indian greetings" we turn to impersonal issues. This rewarms the ties between two friends fast becoming strangers. One forms an opinion and the other criticizes left and right, while both setting feet on the same basic principle.

Our recently discussed and midway abandoned issue was "objectification of women". Neither of us really are feminists. At least I cannot claim to be one. But as a tenet of social justice we advocate all equal rights and space to women, which is what the dictionary means of feminism. I suppose we would support if special rights were given to women considering their feminine tenderness. Himanshu was highly critical of marriage which traded women like objects for a husband or for a good life. To which I opined women are still object in most liberal cultures. In liberal societies they do so in free will, in Indian society they are imposed upon. I was trying to press the fact there is only some degree of varation and some variation in perception.

Probably there is only one question that we are wresting on and on. The question of whether there is a dividing line.

The courage to stand up and say “no”

2006-08-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

This is a moving story of an Israeli soldier who stood up and stood firm against the abuse of humanity by his own force. He refused to join the Israeli aggression and is prepared serve the maximum sentence. Glad, I am, to know that he is not alone. There is also a group who support such thoughts and action.

The first Israeli soldier punished for refusing to serve in Lebanon was sent to a military prison for 28 days yesterday.Amir Paster, 32, an infantry captain in the reserves and a postgraduate student at Tel Aviv University, was called up at the end of last week along with at least 15,000 other reservists. Another 10 Israeli soldiers are also considering refusing to serve, according to Yesh Gvul, a support group for troops refusing to fight.Mr Paster reported to his commander on Sunday and said he objected to the war. Within hours he was before a disciplinary hearing and given the maximum sentence."He said this war is against his moral values," said Ishai Menuchin, 48, a spokesman for Yesh Gvul, a group whose Hebrew name means "There is a limit".Mr Paster called the group on Sunday saying he did not want to serve and asking for advice. "It is very hard to go to your commander and tell them you're not going," said Mr Menuchin."He had to go to soldiers he has served with for 10 years and tell them. (published by Guardian)

I believe sane voices, even if minority, are raised and occasionally heard too.

WE, the intellectuals

2006-06-24T02:10:00.000-07:00

Even though the connotation is not exact, "Buddhijibi" is the term conveniently used to translate "intellectual" to Oriya. It means some one who earns his livelihood (jibika) from intelligence and/or knowledge. No other parameter is required than your profession. Even after that being an intellectual, pertains to one's own personal claim, in a public forum. Media generally downplays the word intellectual by giving reference to the actual profession (like academic, professional, businessman and politician) but caps all of them as intelligentsia. Without this recognition, to prove him one of them is an individuals own responsibility. And we do it with deepest sincerity.

The first requirement to do this is to distance us from others. Others, who dont have an opinion, or don’t have voice or simply do not have their presence there. They supposedly dont think and suffer totally in oblivion. In a student body meeting, its leader said, "We must not confine our concern among us (the intellectuals), we must carry this to the common people (the others)". Intellectuals often feel obliged to pass on their burden to the common people in the society. Whether it is the burden of their concern over a problem or the burden of (un)realistic solution, it does not matter, what matters is their claim.

And who are these common people? Those who have more serious things to take care of- their daily life, whose personal struggle for a space under the sky is too much to overcrowd any complex brain and who actually gather the strength around our-the intellectuals' opinion by taking it to the streets. So much is the intellectuals' conceit that they would like to siege every zone of activity where they don’t have to move a hair. In a bid to establish ourselves intellectuals we rob off the common people their credit. In a discussion, a social activist suggests, "Consensus can be arrived at amongst Intellectuals. It is not an impossible thing. Certainly, with rationale thinking, we all can agree on some points." Then he proves himself one. What his self- agrandisation deplores is the fact that, reaching a consensus or discussion or rational thinking is not any highbrow ability. Discussion is the commonest form of human interaction and rational thinking is the only practical approach of day to day life. Nobel laureate Gary S. Becker’s research suggests that even petty criminals take a rational decision before committing a crime. It turns out; the benefit they get from the crime is higher than the cost of the apprehension of punishment. Neither is consensus result of any intellectual exercise. Execution of a policy action or anything that requires more than one personal to take shape, demands consensus.

Could there be a fine line between the intellectuals and the masses? Can there be someone who is a master of all subjects? Can a nuclear scientist be considered intellectual when he speaks about some of the most penetrating social issues or a social scientist about satellites? In a state where more than half of population is denied the right to decision, by denying basic education and basic information, where do we selfish little creatures of privileges stand to be counted? What is our empty-posturing going to yield? We don’t know, in fact we never bothered. We always stressed our unlimited capacity as intellectuals. One of my friends says about different levels of intellectuals. When asked was it a stratification, he corrects himself, he meant different planes not exactly levels.

It is our strive for intellectuals that we encourage academics to screw the democratic process and get to the highest chair, loyal respect for intellectuals that we let the arm-chaired social activists retain their high-profile social service record, morbid chase for the recognition that we seek to do things that never will have an impact other than winning laurels for us, the same desire that squeezes our world squarely just beneath our feet.

To Err Can Be Inhuman

2006-06-12T08:58:00.000-07:00

This is a heart-rending story about how a myth destroyed the hopes and aspiration of several thousands of people. A myth that had got legal sanctity, along with scientific support of that time, is now completely demolished. The ransacked dreams of the people remain scattered as science progress, law amend itself, as a blot on the face of humanity. But the myth that Intelligence can be measured as a physical quantity and intelligence is inheirted continues to exist in the society being nurtured with our limited observation and sporadic experiences.

Epilogue from Stephen J, Gould’s Book “Mismeausre of Man”, 1981

In 1972 OLIVER WENDEL HOLMES JR. delivered the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the Virginia sterilization law in Buck v. Bell. Carrie Buck, a young mother with a child of allegedly feeble mind, had scored a mental age of nine on the Stanford-Binet. Carrie Buck’s mother, then fifty-two, had tested at the mental age seven. Holmes wrote, in one of the most famous and chilling statements of our country:

We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the state for these lesser sacrifices…….Three generations of imbeciles are enough.

(The line if often miscited as “three generations of idiots…”But Holmes knew the technical jargon of his time, and the Bucks though not normal by the Stanford-Binet, were one grade above idiots.)

Buck v. Bell is a signpost of history, an event linked with the distant past in my mind. The Babe hit his sixty homers in 1927, and legends are all the more wonderful because they seem so distant. I was therefore shocked by an item in the Washington Post on 23 February 1980-for few things can be more disconcerting than a juxtaposition of neatly ordered and separated temporal events. “Over 7,500 sterilized in Virginia,” the headline read. The law that Holmes upheld had been implemented for forty-eight years, from 1924 to 1972. The operations had been performed in mental heath facilities, primarily upon the white men and women considered feeble-minded and antisocial-including “unwed mothers, prostitutes, petty criminals and the children with disciplinary problems.”

Cherrie Buck, now seventy-two lives near Charlottesville. Neither she nor her sister Doris could be considered mentally deficient by today’s standards. Doris Buck was sterilized under the same law in 1928. She married Mathew Figgins, a plumber. But Doris Buck was never informed. “They told me”, she recalled, “The operation was for an appendix and rupture.” So she and Mathew tried to conceive a child. They consulted physicians at three hospitals throughout her childbearing years; no one recognized that her Fallopian tube had been severed. Last year, Doris Buck finally discovered the cause of her lifelong sadness.

One might invoke an unfeeling calculus and say that Doris Buck’s disappointment ranks as nothing compared with millions dead in wars to support the designs of madmen or the conceits of the rulers. But one can measure the pain of a single dream unfulfilled, the hopes of a defenseless woman snatched by public power in the name of an ideology advanced to purify the race. May Doris Buck’s simple and eloquent testimony stand for million of death and disappointment and help us to remember that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath: “I broke down and cried. My husband and me wanted children desperately. We were crazy about them. I never knew what they’d done to me.”

An Insult to National Honour

2006-05-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

This is a clear disrespect of the National Flag of India. According to Flag code, 2002 (Part-II, Section 2.1 (vi)) "lettering of any kind shall not be put upon the Flag". This photo was published in the frontpage of Times of India (29th May 2006) as a coverage of anti-reservation strike of the medicos in Azad Maidan.

Show Me Some Merit

2006-05-22T05:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, all I am asking for is, merit in your arguments. All these rally and protests are not for equality or merit, it all about caste interests, preserving previleges. Here are my rejoinders to your favorite punch lines and phrases.

1. Youth for equality. A showpiece of total hipocracy. The banner under which the group of upper caste students are united, ridicules the truth about Indian society on the face of it. Since when the youth of various castes in India started being equals? They live in a highly stratified society and they carry around the caste-based identity and complexity in their brains. If they are asked to count the 10 closest associations they had till now, their preference for marriage and their opinion on their role in Indian society, the shield of equality which is the guise of your fight for “caste interests”, will split wide open.
2. Death of Democracy. Voter turn outs have been maxima in states like West Bengal, Kerla and Tamilnadu, averaging around 70-80%. And these states have not witness the anti-reservation protests so far. In states like Bihar, Orissa, MP and Delhi, the doctors are up in arms where 60% turnout is considered very well. You see the difference in sloganeering and reality. In fact, you are ensuring death of democracy, if you believe that a few hundreds of medicos-instigated over a month by some media houses-which can at best grow to few thousands, can influence the rollback of implementation of a bill enjoying full support of more than half a thousand elected representatives of a population of 1.1 billion. Democracy espouses people’s participation in nation building, and reservation is just a step forward that. In fact, if you advocate of democracy you should celebrate any policy which invites diversity and is inclusive. Have you forgotten the slogan, “unity in diversity”.
3. Vote Bank Politics. This is something paradoxical. Terms like “Vote bank politics”, “Populist measures” and “appeasement policy” has been used loosely by the Indian media and subsequently by their elite subscribers to target whatever policy that aims at larger section of the society at the same time does not serve their interest. It is a compulsion of democratic practices that govt. policies must cater to most of its electorate; you can give whatever inappropriate term you can to this invisible feedback loop.
It is even surprising to see that, you-who rebuff the number game in politics do see it an opportunity to show your numbers in some of the elite institutions which have been overtly and covertly kept the higher caste bastions. In contrast to what they sell and what the media is willing to buy, the overwhelming number of the protesters in here does make a point loud and clear. That those sections of backward and most backward castes are visibly absent in the institutes for higher learning and platform of opportunities. That the cake of prosperity and opportunity has been served to those who are privileged.
4. Build Schools, Scrap Reservation. I see a valid point in your arguments here, the need to build nationwide quality basic education. In fact that should have been the first and foremost step of any govt. that came to power after Independence. It would significantly improve the success rate of any affirmative action like reservation or any policy directed towards the masses. The backlog in vacancies, the unfilled seats in reservation category is not result of the loopholes in the reservation policy itself; it is the absence of necessary policy or infrastructure to support it. No policy can work in isolation; it employs the basic infrastructural input from other policies and resources to serve its purpose.
How does strengthening basic education can negate the basic social structure of Indian society which warrants reservation? Both needs to work hand-in-hand to achieve what is aimed at. Besides basic and primary education is as big a challenge as ensuring equal opportunity and social justice are. While the basic education can prepare and increase the competence of the underprivileged students, the discriminatory practices, the cultural difference, the social antagonism the reserved category students face is never compensated for. So reservation remains vital to ensure equal opportunity even with the fundamentally strong pre-college education system.
5. A step backwards. Of course everybody does have the right to be ultra-nationalist overnight. But how many state economic and welfare policies you are critical of? Do you ever read the economic policy espoused by the party in any election manifesto before voting, or the budget analysis at least each year? Or may I ask, do u ever vote? Did you know India was goaded into a non-proliferation trap recently, and yes, about your concern, the primary education was not universal and compulsory till last six years in India and still it is in a shambles now? Have you ever raised a voice against it, marched on a protest? No, oh do these take India foreword??
India could be a developed country only when most its people have access to a minimum standard of life. In a country where mainstream is held by 15% of the population, forget about the prosperity, even market cannot make inroads to rest of the society simply because they don’t have the necessary purchasing power. Land reforms, Basic education, affirmative action everything is held back to perpetuate their plight. It is there the sweet dreams end, not with reservation.
6. Political hogwash. Finally some take on Indian politics. Even if I don’t believe so, if congress has associated its future in the Hindi-heart land with this 27% quota implementation, then my friends no amount of protests would result in a total rollback. My point is, if not total rollback, all your above arguments or punch lines of Merit, Equality, Efficiency and Progress are buried and the middle path just ensures you safeguarding your caste-interests. Politicians have a good knowledge of their electorate, the demography and their potential voters. So if the concern for OBC and commitment of the parliament as suggested by the unanimity of the political parties are genuine, then it can stay. But if it is a political gimmick, you have already lost the ground.

Basic Education in a shambles- I

2006-05-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

Much has been achieved by Indian universities, even though most of them don’t touch the international standards of pedagogy and research. If compared with regards to the human resource it had generated it has fared well, if not wonderful. Notwithstanding the absolute vacuum of job openings in basic sciences, arts and literature, scarce scope of professional educations and absence of thriving intellectual community in most places, huge no of application is drawn by them.

Point of concern is not that. Higher education is the supply basket of human resource for the technological progress of the country. It can be fine tuned as and when the requirement of the country and its industry with regards to economic policies and growth changes. For example, in a more socialistic India of 1980s there were only three Govt. Engineering colleges with a capacity of probably 300-500 students in my state Orissa. The first private engineering college was established in 1986 and after a decade and half of economic reforms and liberalization era even a student having rank 25000 in ORISS-JEE stands a chance. Not long after molecular biology revolutionarized biological and pharmaceutical research, universities subtly switched their curriculum and even the name of the degrees over to fit what they preferred to call “biotechnology boom”. Classical Botany and Zoology are not becoming obsolete because the “advanced” courses are either highly competitive or self-financed. Another eyeful example is the mushrooming management and IT training institutes. So in a way, Indian universities (or say institutes of higher learing) are delivering what are demanded of them!!

But this chain of supply and demand can not be extended to Basic Education, although it affects the same. Both have different purpose. While higher education is expected to produce professional and intellectuals whose number has to be a tiny fraction of the population either consciously or not, basic education is about creating citizens. Basic education confers the natural citizens their fundamental right. Right to freedom of speech, right to private property, right to equality everything precedes the right to acquire information and the right to the power of judicious decision. So even at the risk of being radical, I wont call India a liberal democracy where a little less then half of the population is illiterate, not even uneducated. Education is long been considered the primary resource for any civilization without which it cannot throw effective leadership (consider the state of Indian politics) or create revolutionary society (think of anything exploitation, corruption, violence).

So what do I have to offer on part of solution? I have absolutely no wonder potion. But recently during the spate of debate on reservation I witnessed some people advocating “merti” and “quality” insisted that better students should be prepared in the basic education and allowed to compete with the open category ones rather than providing seats to them on “silver platter”. Here I shed whatever my stand was and prepare myself to contemplate the issue. The issue of basic education.

2006-05-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Lingering till the deadline approaches is like celebrating “being Prabin”. And when there is no finishing line, the spirit sinks with each forward step until something unconventional strikes my mind. In yahoo chat and yahoo groups I was not sure what I was looking for but not withstanding my proclivity to waste time I was growing sick and senile. The talks, debates were utterly predictable and frustrating. But inertia of idleness remained in me and tried to suck up to me.

For last few days the monotonous chain of boredom was broken. Some old association were rejuvenated. Several issues were glanced at, some old questions took metaphysical turn and some new suggestions were picked up. The very notion which blocked me from blogging was broken. So it is time to put a deadline again...............

Bye, Bye baby..bye bye

2006-04-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Don’t be surprised by the obnoxious title. The only one, who had found it catchy, was one of the organizers of the departmental farewell function, the dept General Secretary. A mail from him said that valfe was fixed on 9th April and the contribution per head was Rs 200/-. So I decided my way of innocuous protest by not paying the money. But Ranjeet made disagreement public for both sifting the date to 9th and for Rs 200/- both. His main contention was how a few people could change a decision when something else was decided in the GBM and that too without giving importance to three of the passing out junta whose hostel valfe happened to be on the same day.

Ronak surfaces a volcano of enthusiasm, suddenly calling out for me outside of my room with Vamsee. He vows he won’t go alone; a bundle of laughter must go along. A skit has to be written, rehearsed and performed in less than 48 hours. Ideas invited, mine were skit on biological blah blah….my boring and intensive short stories….ronak’s two beggars in Biotech….Vamsee’s four years in biotech and….. we stuck to one. Show various stages of humor in ph.d life. Tediously we work and sleep on it and skit is just prepared five hours before the valfe, actors and actress are adjusted and rehearsal is made a one-time-affair. We (Ranjeet and me) are roped in this way naturally; I have a different reason too.

The hard works on the way to the skit was funny and worth a special mention, so let’s keep it aside for now.

While I reached the place, the stage was all set. KK Rao is speaking through the microphone. Making small announcement of having 50,000 square foot of carpet space in the new building in addition to the present 10,000 sf, putting up a student notice board and finally wishing the outgoing students the very best. The mike goes to the pretty anchor of the evening and she “calls upon” Prof NS Punekar to do the same again. He keeps it succinct, letting the event unfold completely. Biotech people do have aesthetics, may be because of adequate feminine company. The stage was close to the gallery, just in front of the angle where both sides of the gallery closed in. Between the two heavy lampposts squarely spread were colorful petals of marigold. A screen for LCD display, a drum and a tabla marked the frontiers of the stage. Somewhere far few halogen bulbs were just enough lighting the occasion, the evening was anyway jubilant with so many girls of biotech.

Balu’s song on Roja preceded everything. It was a karaoke. Followed by Arpan’s song “tanha dil”. We were told we are next. Till then, our contingent was evenly spread, they started cozying in together. But surprisingly, the event that took our place was breathtaking and sensual. It was a dance item, prepared by two items girls of M.tech 1st year and an MSc 1st year boy. The swift movement and flexibility of the lead girl was simply astounding. Her beats, rhythm………

Then we came, without much air and introduction. Thundered Ronak on mike, “Bhaion aur SAC ki bahar walon ki bheheno” and the crowd broke into a belly full of laughter. With every other exchange of dialogue, a tide of cheers came along. Ronak was true; a perfect hilarious seven minutes package was creatively carved out and presented to the small group of broadminded audience which were wrapped up in it. Notwithstanding several glitches, it was a mega comedy. Could you guess Ranjeet’s role? What else, he was playing a lover boy of the department, about to be tricked by his crush. Besides that what would have won hearts, were the imitations of the professors by Tanveer playing a prof, Mr. Mugambo in an informal discussion with Mr Bakre, his student. There were more to it, I simply cannt put all.

As Ranjeet and me were about to move out, the first years opened up their box of entertainment. A musical, filmy event marking the millstones of their two years stay in IIT. It was very well prepared; especially the songs were very well chosen and performed flawlessly. It too was a short one.

When we again got back to the SAC, the mike was live again. Vamsee was shouting Ady, ady it some perfect interval. No he was not crying out for him, it was the profile time. A concise account of your action throughout your stay in the eyes of your nearest people. For ady, it was his ideas out of loo, maal biwi, for Tushar his logic, his palm tree climb down, for Manas it was his not-so-successful attempt to hide his marriage, for Ranjit-experience at OAT all these were bone-tickling. Alternating with the Ph.d were the profiles of the M.Sc students. The M.techs who were earlier separate groups Biomedical engineering, who still have labs in other buildings, were having their profile reading in a separate place. So it were all the people we knew. Anuj was the first in them. They brought out his transition from a Papa’s boy to bikini-chaser (forgive me for the only exaggeration or you may say shrinking up, it was not bikini rather half-pant), his innovative way of getting rid of hiccups. There it came out, Hari was watching some objectionable material in computer lab and Ronak & Sujata came in to view some pics there. Hari alt-tabbed quickly to bring up a power point presentation and virtually locked horn with them to retain the PC. The then shocked both of them bust into a hearty laughter hearing this. Kedar’s punch line then open to the world was “do you want to chat with a cool iitian”. Tariq and Pavnish, both of them had enough of record to go into their profile. I am getting impatient now but definitely put them up sometime, I cannot forget these stories.

Reservation, Logic, Media and You

2006-04-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

Waking up in a fine morning you read in newspaper that the percentage of reservation is increased or new sectors are brought into this policy and you are perturbed. If you belong to the general category, you find it perfectly right time to be panicked. So start an SMS campaign, open up discussions in online forums and in your clique and the best if happen to get a reserved category fellow, wrangle him till he announces defeat.

This is 7th april. Three of the major national newspapers “report the catastrophe”. Yes, they don’t only report they paint it with their disgust. The front page and the editorials are filled with it. But they forget there exist a third category of readers in India who only read the last page for sports, may be they were not important. So, if you happen to miss it don’t worry, the news occupies these spaces for the next few days. Two days later it becomes unbearable, so you (not the you but one of the you) come to me to wrangle…..It was not possible of course.

The point I am trying to convey is “one single article may inform u the news, albeit not without the biasness, but it won’t give you the necessary understanding of the subject”. Here you see only the color that is painted, but the truth is lost somewhere. Let me begin with a prediction.

Reservation for OBCs in education has arrived. Ostensibly, to save IITs and IIMs and institutes of academic excellence, the whole issue is blown out of propertion the way making sure these institutes are untouched even if implemented nationwide. (P.S _I recently came to know that the MHRD had not specifically made any comment to this effect yet)

-What the media fails to see or does not want to say is, what percentage of population the OBCs constitute. According to 1931 census (IE-07-04-06) it is more than 50 %. So if the total population of the beneficiary of reservation is more than 70 % now and they constitute the disadvantaged of the society, than first there is a crying need in this society to do away this disparity and second 49.5 % does not even reach the concept of equal representation. And 70 % of SC/ST/OBC queuing up for the 49.5 % the general category 30% should actually be happy.

-I heavily doubt the one man show of the whole affair. It comes at a time when the demand for Reservation for SC/STs in private sector is gaining ground. It is fairly understood that, the GOM constituted for the purpose is disinterested, the constitutional and law experts are adverse in opinion and the Business community is all up-in-arms against such move. All of these are hand-in-gloves with the government of India. So bringing up the controversial issue of furthering reservation by 27.0 % is sensational enough to weaken the previous demand which in fact in the only cause of worry the Private sector giants. Unlike the common subscribers of national toilet papers Indian Business class can very well weigh between the two policies and dent one against another.

-Media does it part of weakening the voice of dissent and you kill it by ignoring it. The demand of Prof Jayati Ghosh, economics, JNU to be specially and noticeably mentioned having not to agree with the letter to be sent by the National Knowledge Commission was reported without importance. But the view was weighed out with Prof. Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s op-ed in the same newspaper. While another newspaper suggested the obvious concern of the IIT, IIM directors’ by reporting, “can’t comment till the information I official”, the comment of IIT Kharagpur director Dr. Dubey- that you must have ignored-was more welcoming.

-Consulation with the Knowledge commission was a bone of contention. As far as I know, it was constituted by the Prime minister and answerable directly to him. So How does the ministry of HRD responsible if it was not taken into confidence, or may be they would have when it reached the cabinet as a draft. Previously when it involved IIM-B going global or Fee-hike in IIMS or Reservation in Private institute or for the matter new admission policy of IIT, how many times the newspaper reported that the Commission had duly advised.

-Times of India should probably suggest more sensible reasons than exodus of students as a negative fallout of the Reservation. “Exodus of the brightest and the brilliant to foreign universities”. What is the fraction of the brightest and brilliant who can afford to go abroad stay back? Even if a miniscule of them do, they train themselves with the tax-payers money and go away anyway to serve either as an employee or researcher. Because scholarships for undergrad courses are more difficult to arrange than the latter two. Besides the brightest will always stay back as they will retain the seat, it will be those who could not, will think of alternatives. Hold back, all these perceived threats are unfounded as the HRD had already decided to increase the number of seats making sure the opportunities for the open category does not shrink.

-How does this harm the modest gain the higher education has achieved? This assumption is based on the premise that with relaxation of entrance procedure the total examination pattern and hence the award of degree will be in decadence. NO policy asks you to award a degree hence recognize his/her mastering his subjects if he failed even if he is from reserved category. On the contrary the it will necessitate more effort from the academics and a more robust educational system. And of course, if these students made to perform in an hostile environment of faculties and peers, their performance can hardly speak of their intelligence, skill or industry and the best educational institute will fail in itself. IITs are a glaring example themselves.

Foul is useful, fair is not

2006-03-25T21:34:00.000-08:00

The other night I met the guy who by Ranjeet’s account, ‘jo department mein pehle aag lagaya”. Looking at this batch reminds me of our fateful two years. In Vani Vihar, there were essentially two Goddesses, Book and Babe. There were a few people who practiced both the faith, but surely hardly any atheists. Of the two, we the “Bookusers” were of course a minority, but we, like the socialists in even in America, were pitied, mocked but respected anyway. This batch boys seem to follow the same path. Mostly like us they are low profile, could be seen studying/discussing at unmanly hours and enjoying themselves or better say cornered at every function and picnic. And the girls are high-profile, figuring in every photograph, cynosures in every event and arousing the deepest desire in everyman on the way just like the girls of our batch did. While the boys would be busy preparing for the destiny in the limited period of privilege most of the girls would be wooed by the followers of the other faith. What is worthy mentioning is that boys would be deemed losers in a race they were never in. And they would be subsequently led to accept it, just the way we were. The process has already set in, with the question “ab bacha kauon.”
Of course I would end with a suggestion hoping that nobody is reading this article. Boys, you are the good ones, the ones a father of a girl would bid few lakhs for but good alone cannot appeal to girls. So if you have slightest inclination for the other faith, proselytion needs just a try. Otherwise the world of books stores for you success anyway, sweet or sour is purely a matter of changing worldview with respect to time.

My people into ruins

2005-10-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

One of my elder sisters is a bit talkative, she is the provenance of information about a home and village some 1200 km away. She, with equal spontaneity tells me both good and bad news. While others worry how I might react to those developement back home, her concern-while on phone- is only the telephone bill. Today when i called up, she was fluent as usual. But never i felt out of place so much as I did today.

Deaths are the important news in a rural area. Everyone, far and near is informed if possible, if anybody in the village passes away. Because everybody is a known face in village, and every name invokes memories of a past you cherise of. But a murder is something that rips off the last piece of sweetness attached to that memory.

I was always a non-resident of my village.

My home was aboout half a kilometer distant from the centre of the village. Not the geographical centre but a place of common acquitance. It was the bus stop, where the road sharply devided the village, where only heavily crowded passenger buses stopped and where small shops of various sizes and shapes did flourishing bussiness. It was at a perfect location having a post office, all three schools and the only bank at it's sorrounding and attracted good no of people at any point of time except in nights and dog day afternoons. There were many satelite settlements but my home was singled out being a lonely house standing next to the hospital. After the working hours the deserted small hospital without any bed would be lost into an eerie silence. Only in mondays there used to be a clamouring crowed in weekly market, driving us more uneasy.

So I grew up within the fortress of our big isolated house and strict administration of my ma. Of course, the only strict rule was going out of the house. We needed permission to go out every single time and were admonished if spent more than required time outside. It was a matter of grave indiscipline if she did not see us at home after sunset. Everything else was flexible and accomodating but that only rule made me a stranger in my own village. Even today I think i am giving an outsider's opinion only.

Rest of my life starting from class XII was in hostel....far away from village. With each passing years the number of my friends back in village, already dearth, declined. Many went away as labourers, some succumbed to bad habits but in fact the widening gaps could never be patched up. And slowly I retracted to ma's safe heaven with willingness, although in discomfort.

Ma's worries were not totally baseless. The village is now crippled with lots of un-employed, disoriented half-educated youths. Liquor is rampant and factional violence has taken over. A classmate of mine was murdered somedays back, (this is what the most saddening part of my 30 minutes phone call). It is not his killing but the current state of my village which is unnvering. Could there is be a solution to whatever happening there ? I have always responded to all sorts of these problems with the same diagnosis. The absence of a good reason. Youths, who i have refered to, are matriculates or college drop outs. After one or two years of trials there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. They start spending most time in the bus stop-the centre of the village, first idly than actively. I know, an idle mind is devil's workshop but something beyond my comprehension is how come every single of them follows the suit ? Anything more on this topic would be a hollowed analysis. Most probably a detailed one warants more involvement than to rely on butterfly effect.

Where Is Charbahal....

2005-07-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

(Charbahal is not-any-different village in Kalahandi, neither it has any noteworthy legend attached to it. Probably one thing it can boast of is the state highway which brings lots of traffic, to keep it's almost dead soul awake.And rest are same as in any part of Kalahandi)

Kalahandi, a western district of Orissa hits the news for a wrong reason, almost each year, drought. Apart from this natural calamity there are scores of other problems those engulf this small area of rather simple living people. Poverty, illiteracy, unemployment (both seasonal and permanent) only adds further life to the existing social evils like casteism, feudalism, animal sacrifice etc. Hunger-death, absence of medical facility, bad-roads, indifferent teachers, corrupt officials and self-centered politicians have been, as if the fate of kalahandi. Undivided Kalahandi along with Bolangir and Koraput attracts special packages from the central governments for development programs, but these aids never seem to have an impact on average life of a kalahandia. Having a share of 5 MLAs out of the 147 seats in Orissa legislative assembly, the Voice of kalahandi has been largely gone unheeded. With virtually no industrialization mostly the district has an agrarian populace, sharply divided between the rich-peasants and agricultural workers. Probably therefore the number of migrant laborers from this district is quite high. After 56 years of independence plight of kalahandi in the field of education is a showcase surely. With only one govt. college in the whole undivided district, scores of private institution are mushrooming with no library, no aid, no classrooms and with ill-trained faculties. Forget about enlightening the students, these can rarely fulfill the aspiration for a degree.

(this is an excerpt from an invitation written asking people to come together and form a group, so that a combined efffort may yield off)

Reservation Fall out

2005-07-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

There are enough people in the group who voice their resentment towards the present reservation system, still agree to some kind of alternatives and don't neessarily feel to do away with it. Most of the anti-reservationists have agreed with them at one point or another except Ram..

For Ram and other like him, who deny any sort of affirmative action I would request to refrain from reading after this, because it would be totally baseless for them. We can actually discuss with them elsewhere.

So the suggestions to replace the present form of Policy (reservation policy) are

1. Give scholarship/stipends
2. Reservation based on economic grounds
3. Reservation in the present form with a stipulation of it being a one-time-benefector for a family lineage.

Some of the basic arguments against the policy to be summed are

1. It has been inaffective to solve the problems of reserved category.
2. It introduces inequalty in disguise, while trying to strech a helping hand.
3. It has become a easy selter for high-class and elite sc/st/obc poeple, and now muslim
4. It perpetuates inefficincy and mediocracy
5. It reinforces caste-hatred.

I have been trying to dissuade such belief which centred around any of these points, in various newsgroups. Incidentally, most of the newsgroup find a lone voice like mine and the reasoning in the debate gets lost in the rucku. Each time I find the most of the anti-policy people come from the common background (i.e either student or some techies) and they blatantly float the idea that they,or their near and dear suffer because of reservation. They also believe their opinions are valid just because they are supported mainly by fellow group member or the otherside is less informed.

For my part, I have been an ardent advocate of equality. I had witnessed serveral discimation and undergone some, both economic and caste-based, still upto a cetain age i was liberal leaning and wishing for a discrimation free, just society. When i first stepped into an urban area for higher education i felt the warmth of this debate on reservation. I carefully read most of the newspaper/journals articles, colums regrading this, then slowly i began to analyse the backround of the columsists. That shaped up my opionion in support of this policy, also to reform it in a positive spirit. Now, i feel i can suficiently see throught the logic of the opposer's view and correct him/myself. So here goes my two pennies.

For the detractor of the policy, I would like to ask which policy in India that needed both government and public involvement was impelmented full-fledgedly. Forget about anything else, Indira Abas Yojana, and Land Ceiling Act which are important and basic to all has been far from succesful. You talk of Prime minister Sadak Yojana, Sampurna Rojgar Yojana any of which could bring a upward curve on your face. And you except this policy benefiting the much hated or otherwise neglected people to penetrate the inaccessible rural india, and do a u-turn in thier life standard, in just 10-50 years, when more than 98% of the higher officials in the exceutive posts are the people who resent the policy ? How ironic ?
For those who beleive that the constitution provides equal oppertunity for all of us hence reservation is unfair, I would mention that in the same constitution the special reservation privileges are given. And there is no double standard there. As supreme court justice P. B. Sawant points out, " to treat unequals as equals are as injustice as treating equals as unequals"... For those with the above arguments, I would say they have not witness the real India (the rural India) or if they did they have blissfully ignored certain section of the society which was never and would never be able to stand equally otherwise.

Some other are not concerned of the positive aspect of it. Their arguments are, "why the person from the same econmic background should get mileage out of it". I refuse to believe on the fact that a lower-caste,economically-well-to-do person has never faced casted-discrimation. It is just a matter how you look at it. Everywhere you can see it anecdotes, stories,literature, , friendly gossip somehow reminds you of being lesser individual. It is always better if your friend circle is aware of your caste-status and sympethetic otherwise these (ancedotes, stories...) continue to keep your wound fresh. Still then I feel this could be the only genuine point for which the policy shoul be reconsidered and revamped.

Many argue that reservation-benefacors trained as professional and officials lack merit and efficiency. The most disreputed and inefficient department of the govt. is Judiciary. It has no reservation system. The next most discredited one is police dept (at least in my state) and 99% percent of the distrit police officials are SC/STs where there is perenial law and order problem. Why not the meritorious people solve the judicial impass of the country also take on the troubled water in Malkangiri district? India has witnessed a developement roadblock with either the developement funds retuned, shiffoned off en route or partially impelemented. And what percentage of resevered category people are there in the implementation process from secretariate to DM and to contractors.
It is easy to argue about merit solely based on marks which can be cultivated by day and night of labour in an relatively secure and peaceful atmosphere and with proper guidence, to all of which the higher-caste, so-called meritorious people have access to. But efficiency demands much more to this, to name a few honesty and passion for your work,a fellow feeling for the people being benefeted etc. etc. But unfortunately our evaluation of merit does not recognise these, instead it tries to make us more self-centred. I can even stress that after a certain point it is not your numbers but the skill, rational, understaning and sense of responsibility that matters.

You are in fool's paradise if you think, you dont have to show any caste-certificate, and your caste-status has gone unnoticed. Everybody in India knows, something that cant be erased is not fate, not religion but caste. It is a belief structure, some kind of diabocal superiority feeling, poeple get out of thier higher caste status, most of which fellow member have either accumulated wealth or curled up at higher jobs, which becomes another matter of pride. It even exists in the lower-caste even more conciously and if subjected to discimination or offences,no matter how brilliant, how well-off you are, you have the feeling that people look you down. So reservation is not enough for the caste-based injustice, nor any formidable policy could be envisioned which may help the belief structure crumble. Look at the racism at England and America and you will feel what a distant dream it is. It may only take the goodwill of the higher castes or a tremdous violent uprising.

But still now i dont see that coming through. I understand and said clearly above why people stand against reservation. Simply because it takes away some of the oppertunities-how little they might be(22.5%)-and gives to some people whose merit-for both getting the oppertunity and the reservatin-is, as defined by them questionable. As if these 22.5% of seats are major obstacles, if cleared they will turn this country into heaven with all meritorious people working overtime, even for those who since time imemorable remain untouchable, out of bussiness, and devoid of basic amenities. I have never seen anybody questioning a candidate being elected as an MP/MLA, but always doctor/engineer/IAS officers. Why ? The reason is simple, they have nothing to do with an MP or MLA seat instead a medical/eng/upsc seat is a better aspiration for the middle class beground they are coming from. But this electorates was the bone of contention between the Father of the nation M. K. Gandhi and Architect of Constution B. R. Ambedkar which led to a 21 day fast and ultimately resulted the present form of the policy in Poona pact. At that time political power was considered to be absolute but now it lacks the edge, have become more or less inaccessible to middle-class and the oppertunity is limited to a few there.

Next I will explore the rationale of the suggestion made by these champions of equality and merit.