Pitambar Pant, Caning and Virtual Reality
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 12
Palash Biswas
http://www.troubledgalaxydetroyeddreams.blogspot.com/
I am very happy today. My young friend Ronnie, Aneek Roychowdhaury, a
eighteen year boy, has been selected for admission in Indian
Statistical Institute, kolkata, He has cleared IIT and joint Entrance
examinations with higher ranks but he was determined to get in ISI.
His Parents Dr Ajit Roychowdhury and Mrs Roychowdhury were quite
tense as he was reluctant enough for refusing Engineering or Medical
options.
Ronnie told me that thousands and thousands of doctors and engineers
get through every year but he wants to do something basic and
original. His priority happens to be research and higher studies. he
had mad up his mind for higher studies provided not being selected
for ISI. Ronnie write very well. he could have been a very good
creative writer. Roychowdhuries belonged to Barishal district now in
Bangladesh. Half of the family is still stranded there.
Ronnie`s grandfather has given away his Zamindary for public welfare.
the family runs several colleges and education across the border.
Senior Roychowdhury was Mahamahopaddhyay and the legal consultant for
Bangladesh government in Hindu affairs. He is no more. Bangladesh
declared National Mourning on his demise. This family is liberal
enough to allow inter caste marriages. A niece of Dr Roychowdhury,
Jayanti works as a lecturer in Dhaka University and she is married to
a scheduled caste educationist. We are glad to be neighbours.
I am writing about Ronnie not for his success or family glory or our
personal relations. I am influenced by his clear vision. I am
influenced by his personality.
Contrarily my only child, Tussu, Excalibur Stevens, a 22 year guy is
still confused and has no vision at all.
I see all the girls, those in our locality, in friendly families and
acquaintances to do well in studies and quite serious in their
career. I often have a little chat with them.
But most of the boys, including the friend circle of my son are
never so good in studies . Neither they look serious enough in
career or life.
Most of them are often engaged in video games and chatting and
hanging around with either computer or mobile phones.
What I realised, it seems like that the girls are keen to break the
sickles of domestic enslavement and they identify the studies with
their quest for freedom. But the boys are enough free not for longing
for it anymore. They get everything without any struggle. They run
for brands and style. Enjoyment and present day happen to be the
ultimate horizon for them.
Ronnie seem outstanding. He studied in Ramakrishna Mission, Rahra in
Khardah. He secured a moderate Marks sheet with eighty percent only.
but neither he nor his parents did seem a little bit worried. We all
knew Ronnie and his calibre.
What I insist, I don`t understand much the psyche of the Post modem
neo capitalist generation next, the faces of Future, lost in virtual
reality. Bengali literary mag `Desh' is publishing a serial Novel
titled `PALTA HOWA', involving a string of Generation Next including
teenagers and young men and ladies. I read it regularly despite it is
somewhat soft porn and portrays copulation better than the psyche of
the generation next. I try to understand them in communities and
groups. I fail, I am afraid.
I see them dating freely in Millennium park on the bank of Ganges,
in parks, trains and public places including offices. They are free
of any psychological bondage, tradition, discipline or taboo. But the
most wanted vision is absent. They live the life Today only.
In this background, I go back often in my childhood. In my college
days and Universities. The younger environment during pre liberation
and post independence days were strikingly different. We may not
expect any Student Movement like the Paris Students` movements in
sixties as well as a few years back. No La Chino was may be created
by any Godard with this generation. It may not mobilise itself like
the students mobilised themselves under JP`s leadership. I don`s see
any possibility of thundering Spring of Naxalbari next time.
Generation next is nowhere linked with this world or time. It never
cares for family or relationship. And it worries me most.
I pity these girls and boys as they are deprived of the schooling we
got.
The society has lost the teachers.
Sometimes back, I read a short story about a School Master, `PANDIT
MOSHAI', written by Tara Shankar Bandopaddhya. The school master was
a poor Brahman. He was appointed in a school run by the Zamindar. He
was chosen, in fact for his cooking abilities and was made the in
charge of the Kitchen of the Zamindar. Zamindar, based in Kolkata
rarely visited the place. Last time while the Zamindar visited the
village, the School Master was caught red handed stealing rice, ghee
and vegetables. It was turned to be a rare case of the love of a
teacher for his student. The school was unrecognised but the students
of the school were famous to get scholarship. One of the children was
the most poor. But he was the most intellectual. The schoolmaster
stole just because he wanted to manage proper nutrition for the child.
In my Junior High school days while I was a student of class Eight, I
led an agitation against the Principal, Mr KL sah. Because our
Bengali question paper was printed in Devanagari instead of Bengali.
Simply because , there was no Bengali Printing press.It was in 1970.
My father Pulin Babu was arrested in language movement, the famous
Bhasha andolan in Dhaka. Tushar kanti Ghosh, the editor of Amrita
Bazar patrika got bailed him out. Pulin Babu was in the management
committee of the school and very friendly with Mr KL Sah. Sah
introduced Uniform in the Zila Parishad school. It was a Private
junior High School run by the Udvastu Committee. The school was
upgraded to High school and later on to a government Inter College.
But the refugees were agitated as the school was taken over by the
District Board. While I was in Primary School in Haridaspur, an
agitation was launched against the district board acquisition. My
father supported the acquisition. But it was a fierce movement and
all the board appointed teachers were thrashed and driven away. One
night, the agitators raided in the quarter of the Principal MR Sah.
The sah couple caught the night raiders and three students were
restricted. Thus, the question paper issue was too hot. Our
Agriculture teacher Mr Gola Singh was controversial enough for
awarding rigorous tasks on field and punishing the students
physically. He was the in charge to maintain discipline. We sought
for the dismissal of the Principal and mr Gola Singh. Terai Udvastu
committee chairman Radhakant Mandal was dead. All India Udvastu
Committee was constituted and Pulin Babu was chosen President.
Haripad Biswas was the Challenger. His son Amal Biswas defeated my
father`s lieutenant Kumud Ranjan Mallick in the Sarpanch elections.
Father pleaded in defence of the Principal and said that he did not
intend to insult either Bengali Language or Bangla nationality.
But Haripad Biswas and his supporters were reluctant. They were
supported by the most of the Bengali population. I was chosen as
leader simply to challenge my father and his supporters. But I was
dare devil enough to lead and convince others.
Shyam Lal Verma was the district Board president and was very close
to my father.
The strike continued for a long month without any result. We were
studying in open air classes arranged by rivals. My Thamma as well as
my villagers,neighbourhood and all the supporters of my father were
shocked by my leadership. My father slapped me while I was leading a
procession on the first day of the strike. It was the last
interference by my father. he never interfered with my decision.
At last Verma came and assured that the Principal was to be replaced.
The strike was withdrawn. I passed class Eighth virtually reading
nothing. But the Principal was not replaced. instead three High
school students were restricted. It was just a betrayal for us. It
hurt me as no action was taken against me and I was studying in the
school in class Nine. Meanwhile, all the naxalites shifted in Terai
escaping Bengal repression, Very soon, I was in close touch with all
of them. In 1971, while my father was busy in East Pakistan and later
Bangladesh and Mrs Indira Gandhi was described as reincarnation of
Goddess Durga, I turned Naxalite. Red book was my holy Book. My
father did not intervene. I concentrated on studies other than my
course. The Principal KL Sah loved me very much. As there was no
first class in last five years. I was his choice. I knew it and
revolted. Despite my first Boy record, I tried my best to fail in
class ninth exams. Instead of school Uniform, I used to wear all
Black dress.
But Mr Sah was not hopeless. He visited my home, the rest house in
our fields in Basantipur three miles away. A Chaprasi would accompany
him. They would raid everywhere and would get all the unexpected
books.
In the exams, I deliberately did very bad. Wrote anything except the
right answer. But I passed the exams. Later, the refugee leader from
Shaktifarm, Mr Deben Acharay came and he convinced me to shift in
Government High school in Shaktifarm. Where I once again revolted and
got admission in class Nine to ensure the loss of One Year to punish
my father who supported KL Sah.
But KL Sah never forgot me. I always remained his favourite student.
he forgave me. I returned to the school in Dineshpur as soon as Mr
sah was replaced by Mr Dalakoti. I passed
High School in First division. Mr sah was the happiest man in this
world.
Pitambar Pant was also known for his raids. he could visit our home
and fields anytime and could locate us anywhere.
Even in my college days, during Graduation and Post graduation, I had
been under close surveillance of my Primary Teacher. I always
respected him. I never disobeyed my Primary teacher. Though in the
University, the Professors in all disciplines and even the Vice
Chancellor were scared of me. I did not apply for lectureship in DSB
college despite the Department Head recommended me and new colleges
needed lectures in English department. The university was looking for
English lecturers for at least a dozen colleges. I was called for and
could have been accommodated with different life story. Because we
mishandled the Vice chancellor during agitations, I was reluctant to
ask for Job face to face him. the man was the only appointing
authority.
But I never dared to say anything against Pitambar Pant or Tara
Chandra Tripathi. Mr pant retired and I could not contact him
further. But I maintained live contact with Mr Tara Chandra Tripathi.
The Education system is corporationised. MNCs dictate the destiny of
the Generation next, not the teachers. The so called teachers are
much trained for running an education business than in teaching. We
had no tuition, no coaching. but it never stopped us getting higher
education.
Just Twelve pass and some vocational training with speaking English
is the modern day career for any student in general. higher education
and research work have been made irrelevant. The Generation Next
seems to be either illiterate or semi literate. It cares for
techniques and information. Infinite flow of MP3 version of XXX
infractions has taken over the generation Next. The State itself
sponsors the Blue revolutions with all the electronic and print media.
I still visualise Pitambar pant and his caning.
It makes me happy to feel the stinging pain of caning.
It was perhaps in 1961 , when madam Christie handed me over to
Pitambar Pant, the religious Brahma from Pithoragrgh , Kumayoon.
Despite being a boy belonging to a dalit refugee family I always had
the support from the affluent Brahman families in Terai and Hills.
Basanta Kumar Bannerjee belonged to a freedom fighter family from
Banaras. His brother, Manindra Nath Bannerjee had been hanged by the
British. Bannerjees had been always friendly with our family. I had
the privilege to get entry in his library. Where from I learnt all
about European history and world Wars, Netaji and the revolutionaries
of Independence struggle.
Ramjee Roy was another freedom fighter from Deoria. He fought the
Loksabha Elections against KC Pant in 1967 General elections. We
supported him. i accompanied the freedom fighter in his election
campaign while I hardly passed my primary school. It was a very
effective schooling in practical politics.Ramji Roy maintained the
relation lifelong, even after the demise of his dear friend, the
leader of Dhimri Block Peasant Uprising, Pulin Babu.
When I just entered in Zila Parishad Higher Secondary School, English
teacher Suresh Chandra Sharma and Hindi teacher Mr sual got me. Both
of them were Brahman. Another Brahman, Prem Prakash Budhlakoti,
taught me all about Marxism while I was studying in junior classes.
In GIC Nainital, Tarachand Tripathi changed the course of my life.
Whatever I turned to be in my life, it is just because of Mr Tara
Chandra Tripathi. who guided me in systematic studies in different
disciplines. I had been residing at his home during my undergraduate
days. Ms Beena Pandey, the Biology teacher in our High school was the
first lady out of our family circle who was intimate enough. I still
remember madam Christie. But I can see the face of Ms Beena Pandey,
the young lady in early twenties, very clear. Then, during my
Graduation and post graduation days, Mrs Madhulika Dexit of English
Department was the first individual who recognised my vision and
ambitions as well. Most of my teachers were Brahmans. They taught me
all about nationality and nationalities. I was quite acquainted with
Uttarakhandi Nationality from my schooldays. I was acquainted to
Marxism and knew all about Class struggle. Thus, I never felt
handicapped or suffered any kind of inferiority complex for my
refugee, Dalit background.
I was born and brought up amongst different nationalities in Terai
and Hills. Teari in Nainital was itself a MINI India. Sikhs and
Bengalies were rehabilitated side by side, quite different two
nationalities. In Chittaranjanpur,in my first school, I had to study
with Sikh children. My village Basantipur has best Sikh neighbours in
Amar Pur, Arjunpur, Jafar Pur, Bindu Khera. Bab Ganesha Singh of
Arjuna led the Dhimri Block Uprising along with Harish Dhondiayal and
Liladhar Pathak, both of them Kumayooni, Chowdhury Nepal Singh, a Jat
and so on. Rajmangal Pandey, a central minister in Janata Party
Government in 1977 had his farm in Prem Nagar. I had been among them.
Ex MLA Deb Bahadur singh from Gorakhpur and Bharat Bhushan of Deoria,
who defeated KC Pant in 1977 loksabha elections, were two other
politicians apart from Ram Dutt Joshi, Shyam Lal Verma, ND Tiwari and
KC Pant, who had been close to us.
In fact, our family landed in a different United province, Uttar
Pradesh. Gobind Ballabh Pant, Dr Sampurnand happened to be our chief
minister. Sarojini Naidu was the first governor. I saw Chandra Bhanu
Gupt and Sucheta Kriplani, a Bengali and close associate of Bapu were
the chief ministers when we were growing. Pdt. Nehru, Lal Bahadur
Shastri and Mrs Indira Gandhi were the prime ministers who belonged
to UP. It was a different UP. I am proud to say that after the
partition holocaust, we were lucky enough to be accomodated in
Nainital in Uttar Pradesh. The partition victims in UP and
Uttarakhand always felt at home away from home. We never realised
ourselves as refugee or Dalit or underclasses. Though we were well
aware of our Bangla Nationality.
It was always a combined indigenous community. We always had a joint
front. We were never discriminated or alienated. We were in the
mainstream from the beginning. I am afraid to say that the east
Bengal refugees who were lucky enough to get accommodation in West
Bengal, the so called home of Bangla nationality are still deprived
to be a part of the mainstream.
The psyche I inherited from my teacher, could not be transferred to
my son. It is subjectively True as well as generally. The Generation
Next of either Uttarakhand or Uttar Pradesh could not inherit our
legacy of a combined Community.
I repent that I could not finish my Hindi Novel, `America Se Savdhan'
(Beware of America), which I began in 1990 and given up in 1997 after
publication of almost 110 episodes. Now I have no time, no space, no
money, no friend and no publisher on my side. I may not finish it in
future. Life won`t allow me. Initially I intended to dedicate
different parts of this novel to my teachers. First was to be
dedicated to Pitambar Pant, my Primary teacher. The Second one was
reserved for Mr Tara Chandr Tripathi, my GIC teachers.
Piatambar Pant was the only teacher in Haridaspur Primary Pathshala,
half a KM away from my village. He managed to teach all the Five
classes simaltaneously.
When I landed in his school as a student of first standard, it was
situataed in Green Fields of rice paddies. A thatched school it was.
My cousin Meeradi and her friend Debla di were in class Four. Both of
them were married away in 1962. Since then I was alone in the school.
Though, I had been always first in my Primary , junior and High
School Classes, I was injected with a notorious habit of asking
questions, relevant or irrelevant. It was not enough. i used to
debate violently. I am lucky that most of my teachers not only did
bear with it but they encouraged me. I was often handed with new
books, literature or at least a book list. In DSB College, our
English lecturer in the department of English, Captain LM Sah ensured
my free entry in the College library like any professor while I was a
student of M.A English, first year.
We shifted to the roadside single long room thatched school very
soon. Pitambar Pant was very strict. I remember that he used to get
Rs Seventy per month and the payment was never regular. He used to
get the payment in months. The villagers would supply his ration
always. Mr Pant was ther with his two sons, Bhuvan and Jagdish.
Bhuvan was studying in the Junior High school. Jagadish was with me
since first standard. We were togeteher until we passed High Schools.
Both Bhuvan and Jagadish became teachers later.
Jagadish had a tail in his head, the Chutia as the Hindus maintain a
lengthy string of hair on head to certify Hindutva. Mr pant would
use it as a tool when evre he divereted from the dictated ways of
study.
I was often selected as class monitor. But it turned out to be
horrible for the people around and the teacher as well, always.
Different ideas of mischief cropped well in my mind and I would
inflict all this mischief in other students. I would lead any awesome
adventure. Suppose, we could jump in the river without knowing
anything about swimming!
We cold lit the pitch, the black liquid meant for metalled road which
was in progress. We could harm the rice paddies anytime swimming in
the flooded fields. We could destroy the boundary walls simply
breaking the fences. We could loot any garden full of Mangoes or
Guavas. We could run away with any amount of suger canes from the
lorries stranded or running on the road. We could run away from the
school anytime while the teacher was busy otherwise.
The punishment was sever. We had to get the canes from Jungle ,
knowing well the ultimate result. I was always punished for my
mischiefs, never for my studies. Instead, Mr Pant was always careful
to prepare me in advance. I was always made up for advance courses.
It was lucky for me that My father Pulin Babu used to be away
anywhere countrywide or across the border with his all time
mobilisation. Otherwise, the punishment had to be double. As Pulin
Babu was a father who met my teachers daily to get the progress
report anytime. he had been friendly with all my teachers.But it
happened rarely as he used to be always out of station. My Chhoto
Kaka,uncle was very loving who supported me in any condition and
supplied me with all classics. I had to accompany him in his fishing
adventure or Jatra show. I was not little bit afraid of him. My
Jethamoshai, the Elder uncle had to look after the Agro sector and he
was always busy with music. It spared us very much. We never were
interfered by the womenfolk as they were too busy with their kitchen.
But I had to read aloud. I invented a rare tactic to encounter this
problem. We all used to read anything out of course. We used to read
aloud collectively. thus, it was quiet impossible for our rural
people to understand anything amongst the chorus.
The Primary school set the mood of my psyche. I was much more aware
of nationalities and knew nothing about caste system. Only after I
transferred in Bengal, I became acquainted with the curse of
Manusmriti. First time I felt the discrimination in lifetime!
I, personally, feel the tense communication gap with the youth force
around me. My only son Tussu will be twenty three years old on 3rd
September next. I have not any link with him . However he lives with
us. He avoids every opportunity of dialogue. He is busy with his
personal computer and does not like any talk at all. This isn't the
tension derived from differing expectations regarding communication,
professionalism, and organization. This isn't even the normal
parent/child relation. And I feel parents all over the world,
particularly, in India face the same intriguing problem with their
post modern children.
The faces of future seem to be lost in virtual reality!
Mobile, video games, Hollywood films, WWF and chatting and
downloading with personal computer is the whole world for this
helpless lot. They never care for relationship or liabilities. We the
parents have to pay for whatever they want. Some of them are , no
doubt, very brilliant. But they believe very strongly that the
history is dead and dead is the ideology. Thus they have to do
nothing as far as the society and the nation are concerned.Have you
come to the stark realization that most parents interpret their
worlds and faiths through the lens of modernity while their children
see the same landscape through postmodern lenses?
May be, you realized this fact and figured out that you must rethink
some of your convictions and retool your methods in order to disciple
today's teens.
But we also see the career oriented generation to shout slogan on
streets, demonstrate against state power with as much violence as
allowed, clash and scuffle with police, sitting on indefinite hunger
strike and even, joining Naxals or any anti state group as they do in
the entire north east.
They are not anarchist.
Not nihilist.
Not idealist.
But, sometimes, they come out and challenge the State Power,
Establishment and we, the Parents.
But it seems to me that they are still far away from Reality and
live in virtual reality.
We saw the French government to rectify the objectionable labour law
enacted as entire student force in France rose against.
We also know the history of students movements in countries like US,
China,Indonesia, Nepal, Germany, Mexico.
where do our own students stand?
We have seen the latest development of anti quota movement.
Where do the brilliant students hide , until and unless their own
career is not in danger?
Reservations in educational institutions have become a tool in the
hands of all political parties to garner votes among the socially and
educationally backward classes of Indian society.
The statement made by the HRD Minister Arjun Singh on implementation
of 27 per cent reservation in central universities and even in
institutes of academic excellence, such as IITs and IIMs is highly
regrettable.Institutions of academic excellence should be free from
any sort of reservation. Only academic merit should be the criteria
for admission to such institutions.
The student force cry helplessly that domestic vote bank politics
should not be allowed to deteriorate the standards of these
institutions of academic excellence, but the bill was passed in the
Rjya Sabha and presented in the Loksabha. Now it happens to be
decided in the Parliamentary standing committe.
Without the mass participation of student force and urban youth,
rising Naxal violence over the years is now emerging as the single
largest internal security challenge for India, as the ruling classes
put it. They seem to be satisfied this time as their own brilliant
children have nothing to do with this revolt against the state. The
demand for crushing Naxalites have become a hype already and recently
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted that growing Maoist insurgency
was fast emerging as a big threat for the nation. According to
reports the 'Naxals' as Maoists are addressed to in local parlance,
have now spread to huge swathes of the country's hinterland in south,
central and east India in recent years.The insurgency, named after
the town of Naxalbari where it emerged in 1967, is thought to affect
165 of the country's 602 administrative districts in a "red corridor"
stretching from the southern tip of India all along its eastern half
and up to Nepal.
Thousands of people have died in nearly 40 years of Maoist violence
including hundreds of policemen. Reports say 157 people had been
killed in Maoist-related violence this year alone, up from 114 in the
first quarter of 2005. Last November, Bihar authorities were shaken
by a Naxal attack on a Jehanabad prison. Some 250-rebel prisoners
were freed, and a paramilitary leader was executed. There were
several major incidents in the first quarter of 2006. In early March,
rebels hijacked a train in Jharkhand and held 40 passengers hostage.
There is hardly any ideological debate in this matter. The youth of
today is not concerned whatever the Naxals say. But in sixties and
seventies, students did cosist as the major force of the agrarian
revolt in India.
We had a hero named Amitabh Bachchan , popularly known as angry young
man. He had been an odd personalty, fighting against his time and
environment.
Those were the days of seventies, just after the thunder of spring
failed in West Bengal.
We had also a Romantic superstar Rajesh Khanna with his films like
Aanand and Namakharam, Aaradhana and Amar Prem.
We had enjoyed the melancholy of self destruction in Devdas with the
self destruction of Dilipkumar as Devdas.
This generation is also involved with Devdas without the classic
black and white tragedy. Tragedy is there with full of colour. It is
Sanjay Leela Bhansali Shahrukh Khan version of Devdas.
This generation seems to be colorblind. They may not identify all the
colors , but they ars always busy with color monitor.
It is a good time for Hollywood in India. It is time for Terminator,
Rambo and all the Special effects and Robots. It is a time for Love
story 2050.
Our own children turn to be Terminator or Rambo. Gone are the days of
Sherlock Homes, Stayajeet Ray, the wonderful world of Charles Dickens
and Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhya and even James Bond. Romance and
revolution of sixties and seventies are quite absent. Absent are
Icons of national heroes.
Generation Next has no Hero. No Heroine.
Icons are the perfect combination of animation, video game and
special effects. A Jurassic Park is created with perfect disaster
plan.
No Pitambar Pant or no Tarachandra Tripathi available around!
Who would dare for caning?
The time lacks Discipline.
The Time lacks vision!
We have an excellent film Rang De Basanti with the tagline :
Awakening generation and we see the generation involved with an issue
like mig accidents.the Bollywood film industry of India. It was
released on 26th January 2006; it was directed by Rakeysh Omprakash
Mehra (of Aks fame). The film stars Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan,
Madhavan, Kunal Kapoor, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni,
British actress Alice Patten, Waheeda Rehman, Om Puri, Kiron Kher and
Anupam Kher. The music is by A. R. Rahman and the album went on to
become a chartbuster.
The story line is excellent and the treatment is very good. The
director does not sidetrack the issue at all. But in reality , there
is no student movement in India dealing with the burning question the
nation or the people face. Anti corruption movement is absent since
the decline of JP movement in seventies. The Naxals and anti
establishment elements of yesterday are well established in the wings
of power. The JP movement vanished with the Janta government and we
see Laloo, Nitish, Sharad Yadav, Sushil Modi, all heroes of JP
movement in Bihar clash with each other in power politics.
Struggling British filmmaker Sue (Alice Patten) comes to India after
she reads the diary of her grandfather, who served in the British
Force during India's struggle for Independence. She comes to India in
order to make a short film about some of the heroes of the Indian
Independence Movement, including legends such as Bhagat Singh and
Chandrasekhar Azad. The hitch at this point is that the youth of
today do not read the history and they know nothing about the heroes
of independence. On the other hand, the history of independence has
been made irrelevent. So that ,with the help of her friend Sonia
(Soha Ali Khan) in New Delhi, she sets out to find actors suitable
for the roles. Sonia introduces Sue to some of her male friends:
Daljeet Singh aka "DJ" (Aamir Khan)
Sukhi (Sharman Joshi)
Karan (Siddharth)
Aslam (Kunal Kapoor)
Sue convinces them to act in her film. Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni),
a political party activist, later joins the group though he is
initially disliked by the other boys on account of his Hindutva
beliefs and contempt of Aslam, who is a Muslim. This scenerio is
picked up with the prevailing communal equation of India with the
background of Gujrat riots. We simply forget that since the first
struggle of Independence in 1857, Muslims have been equally involved
with Hindus. In Rang de Basanti, It seem to be a quota only.
As the young men learn their lines and learn more about the history
of the Independence movement, they realize that, unlike the men they
are playing, they have lived completely for their own pleasures and
have ignored India's pressing problems. They lack the spirit of
patriotic self-sacrifice.Just as they are beginning to form some
higher ideals, they are forced to deal with a real-life tragedy in
their midst. Sonia's fiancé, Ajay (Madhavan), is an Indian air-force
pilot. He is killed during routine practice when the MiG he is
flying, crashes. The friends soon come to realize that Ajay, in fact,
chose to steer the plane away from densely populated Ambala city
instead of ejecting himself from the plane to save his own life.
The government proclaims that the crash was caused by pilot error.
But Sonia and her friends know that Ajay was a seasoned pilot, also
that there have been many MiG crashes of late -- too many to be due
to pilot error. They discover that the crash was due to a corrupt
defence minister (Mohan Agashe), who had signed a contract for cheap,
spurious MiG spare parts in return for a large kickback.
Not content to accept this as "just the way things are done", the
group decide to protest peacefully. Police forcefully break up their
protest. The young men decide to emulate the exploits of their new
heroes, Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad, fighting corruption just
as Singh and Azad fought the British. Violence ensues.
Amartya Sen on what ails India's education system
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February 05, 2007
Amartya Sen is man of many parts -- Lamont University Professor and
Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, honorary
doctorates from major universities across the world, and author of
books including The Argumentative Indian (2005), and Identity and
Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (2006) besides research in
philosophy, welfare economics and the economics of peace and war.
He is the recipient of many awards including "Bharat Ratna" and Nobel
Prize in economics. He will be speaking at the Nasscom Summit 2007 in
Mumbai on February 7. In an email interview with Leslie D'monte, he
explains why he's not satisfied with the current state of India
education. Here are the excerpts:
What positives do you see in today's Indian education system?
Positives? First, our higher education system is widespread, and
while the quality of it is very mixed, there are still a lot of
people getting reasonable higher education.
Second, in some fields, especially in technical education, the
quality of what is offered is indeed fairly high. Against
these "positives" stand the huge neglect of primary education and
also secondary education, and of course - as already mentioned - the
highly variable
quality of university education (some of it not worthy of that name).
What are the major pitfalls?
The pitfalls of illiteracy include functional handicap, intellectual
deprivation, and social disadvantage. When large groups are
systematically neglected, like girls, especially from economic and
social underdog families, the social penalties are gigantic.
Is technology is gradually helping in taking education to the masses?
The main causes of our uneven and highly unequal educational system
are not technological underdevelopment but political and social
neglect.
It is, of course, important for those who are masters of contemporary
technology to take deep interest in removing the educational neglects
that plague the country, but they have to look for the diverse ways
and means of helping, rather than sticking only to their identities
as "high technologists"!
Any sector that become as rapidly - and as convincingly - prosperous
owes something to the rest of the society as well, but that is not
the same thing as looking only to technology to solve all problems.
Technology can certainly help the spreading of education, for example
in making the schooling of maths easier and faster, and even in
monitoring the attendance and accountability of teachers and of
school officials (I remember Ramadorai of Tata Consultancy Services
explaining to me the possibility of using smarter technology in that
work), or in making communication of elementary maths easier, but it
is not the lack of a
"technological magic bullet" that is holding everything up.
We need IIMs and IITs and we simultaneously need to provide for
primary and secondary education. What steps should the government
take to ensure that neither one is promoted at the expense of the
other?
The main "step" to take is to get on with it! The government has to
speed things up. However, the government is not the only agency
involved. Not only more money is needed in schooling - not just
through raising salaries of teachers and officials - but also better
organisation of teaching and better practices (not minimal schooling
with maximal private tuition!).
For this we need cooperation between many agencies: governments (at
different levels), teachers' unions, parent-teacher committees, civil
society in general.
We have gone into some of these issues in a few small reports of the
Pratichi Trust - a small Trust that I was privileged to set up in
1999 with the help of my Nobel money, one in India and one in
Bangladesh.
The Indian Trust is particularly involved in elementary schooling and
elementary health care (the Bangladesh Pratichi Trust has tended to
concentrate especially on gender equity, including the training of
young women journalists from rural background).
Aside from policy revisions we have suggested, the Indian Trust
organises regular parent-teacher meetings at the state level (so far
only in West Bengal though - we are still a small Trust), and we have
also started arranging collaborative meetings with the teachers'
unions to get their help in making the schools more effective and
with greater accountability. The government does, of course, have a
huge part to play, but other people and other organisations also have
responsibility. Powered by
More Interviews
China far ahead of India in primary as well as higher education
Filed under:
Education
China is far ahead of India in primary education with literacy rates
more than 85% compared to Indias less than 65%. However, an analysis
of statistics tends to prove that China has acquired a considerable
lead over India even in higher education. Another interesting aspect
about China is that it is well ahead in professional education.
India, on the other hand, still leads in the non-professional
education.
When one compares the number of graduates in India in 04 with China
in 2003, the figures are revealing. India graduated 24.6 lakh
students ahead of China at 18.8 lakh. India also has 11.5 lakh arts
graduates compared to China which lags at just 5 lakh. Science
graduates in India at 5.4 lakh are far more than Chinas very meagre
1.73 lakh.
But China is far ahead of India in professional education. For
instance, China churned out 6.44 lakh engineering graduates compared
to just 1.55 lakh graduates from India. Medicine presents an even
starker contrast. China churned out 1.1 lakh medical graduates
compared to a mere 25,000 from India. And, very interestingly, the
nominally Communist China turns out 2.8 lakh management graduates
compared to 64,000 from India.
China has been working at its educational statistics for the past
decade and more. For instance, the funding for education has
increased by almost eight times since 1991. India has several lessons
to learn from China in the way it has handled higher education,
especially its focus on professional education.
India could do with more institutes for professional education. A
recent ETIG analysis had concluded that India has a severe scarcity
of doctors, especially in northern states.
The fact that China annually generates more than four times the
doctors that India does only strengthens the view that India needs to
work at increasing the output from its professional educational
institutions, especially medicine.
Source : Online Resource
Related News
China Marches Ahead Of India In Higher Education
It is well known that China is far ahead of India in primary
education with literacy rates more than 85% compared to Indias less
than 65%. However, an analysis of statistics tends to prove that
China has acquired a considerable lead over India even in higher
education. Another interesting aspect about China is that it is well
ahead in professional education. India, on the other hand, still
leads in the non-professional education. When one compares the number
of graduates in India in 04 with China in 03, the figures are
revealing. India graduated 24.6 lakh students ahead of China at
China Marches Ahead Of India In Higher Education
It is well known that China is far ahead of India in primary
education with literacy rates more than 85% compared to Indias less
than 65%. However, an analysis of statistics tends to prove that
China has acquired a considerable lead over India even in higher
education. Another interesting aspect about China is that it is well
ahead in professional education. India, on the other hand, still
leads in the non-professional education. When one compares the number
of graduates in India in 04 with China in 03, the figures are
revealing. India graduated 24.6 lakh students ahead of China at
Asian resurgence needed with India, China as partners: Aiyar
Asian resurgence needed with India, China as partners: Aiyar Praising
the Chinese model of primary learning, Panchayati Raj Minister Mani
Shankar Aiyar today said India needed to increase expenditure on
education and manage it better with more local community
participation to keep up with its Asian neighbour. The reason why
China has done better than us in education is not a matter of
resources, it is probably more to do with management of its primary
education, Aiyar told an international seminar on higher education
for growth and equity - India-China Experience, organised by the
University Grants Commission (UGC). In our case,
Malaysia To Hire Teachers From China And India
The Government will go ahead and hire teachers from China and India
to teach Mandarin and Tamil as elective subjects in national schools.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said he would
visit China soon while his officials would visit Tamil Nadu in India
first. He said the move to hire the foreigners was a temporary
measure until the country produced enough local teachers. The NUTP is
against this move but I dont see anything wrong with it. We cannot
keep quiet as we have no other choice because of a shortage of local
teachers, he told newsmen here on
Malaysia To Hire Teachers From China And India
Malaysia To Hire Teachers From China And India The Government will go
ahead and hire teachers from China and India to teach Mandarin and
Tamil as elective subjects in national schools. Education Minister
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said he would visit China soon while
his officials would visit Tamil Nadu in India first. He said the move
to hire the foreigners was a temporary measure until the country
produced enough local teachers. The NUTP is against this move but I
dont see anything wrong with it. We cannot keep quiet as we have no
other choice because of a shortage
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