Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

De-motivated students,
dis-interested teachers

By Dr Vishiesh Verma
In the college system, students are expected to be accountable for their
studies, teachers for their teaching. However, several well....more

Flexible rather than
mule - headed approach
to fiscal policy

By Sisir Basu
By all accounts, the projections made in the Union budget for 2001-02, are increasingly becoming unstuck. Nor ...more

HERE AND THERE
Sonia Gandhi and pain
of terrorism

From B L Kak
The AICC president and leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Ms Sonia Gandhi, may lack knowledge vis-à-vis...more

Five decades of culture

By K K Khullar
The cultural scene in the last five decades has expanded beyond recognition. If......more

EDITORIAL

Clear the mental airs...

The frequency of the terrorist depredation unfolding in the State makes it well nigh impossible to say which adjectives to apply, and where, to aptly describe their gravity. The day, before, the militants committed their first major strike in the district Kathua with the kidnapping of two brothers from the central parts of the district, in vicinity of the national highway, and killing them in the forests of far away Billawar. The security mounted a major hunt only to find their slain bodies after a three-day toil. Though the militants had struck earlier in the upper reaches of Billawar and killed a prominent BJP leader of Lohai Malhar, this one is more daring and from the heart of the district. This is the same area where, two years back, the villagers would catch any terrorists straying in there with bare hands, tousle them up in ropes and hand them over to police. Today, the militants not only roam through the very same localities of the district terrorizing people but are actually using it as a route for their transit into Doda and Udhampur districts. Now it appears they have begun to infest the lower, hither to called safe areas of the district.

That is a most alarming development there. But quick on its heels comes the attack on the state legislative assembly. Nearly thirty six people have died in the blast and more deaths especially those of the lawmakers themselves have been averted because the strike came a little after the members had retired for lunch. That is another most alarming development, indicating a new dimension where the terrorists have begun to strike very close to the seats of government. And it is difficult to say whether it is more dastardly or less heinous than the blasting of the school bus in Anantnag last fortnight that killed half a dozen school children, or the strike at Wandhama or Chittisinghpora, the strike at Poonch and Doda police lines the first time killing of two sadhus, or any of the dozens of dastardly massacres the terrorists have been wrecking all over the state from the Valley to Kishtwar to Rajouri and now Kathua... each one of the massacres is more dastardly, most alarming in import, heinous, inhuman and cruel. Each one of them was a major advance in the terrorist depredation, each one a crying notice to the state to gear up its loins, each an ultimatum that the time for dallying is past. Yet, one must say that the preoccupations of this very highest body of State leadership and guidance, over the past several years of its constitution and functioning do not show that, even after these many havocs were wrecked on the state, it has realized the true import of the strikes and the striking capacity of the militants. If anything it has not taken the happenings seriously at all. Or else, it would not have given the militants clean chits as it did during the debates on the Autonomy resolution., it would not have been castigating the security forces on every flimsy pretext it got; it would not have been providing virtual justifications for the militants’ ravages. But that is just the houses have being doing all these past five years. Observers of Kashmir scene point to the fact that the government and its legislators virtually dug the graves to bury the Ikhwanis. The SOG remained in dock perpetually and its officers and men became practical pariahs in the echelons of administration. It could not be that they in their security vehicles felt that all was well with Kashmir and they could politick as before; they are more astute than that. Yet they fiddled even as a near ‘normal’ valley they inherited in 1996 became a blazing conflagration....

To breathe free

The secessionists cannot cite a single instance-of the excesses of the security forces, not a single instance of their having come out of their barracks for the forty years before the terrorism forced them out, ‘yet the imaginary excesses and uncertain atrocities was what one heard from the hans of the legislatures for all these years. The irony went full circle when minutes before the terrorist strike Farooq Abdullah had to chastise Sheikh Abdul Rehman with this very point when the latter had begun to pontificate on the pet-fiction of 'excesses' and 'atrocities'. The irony is that those 'excesses' about which the legislator was speaking were supposed to have taken place when the legislator himself was a prominent leader of the erstwhile Jana Sangh and was busy agitating against the 370, separate constitution of the State, and special treatments begin conferred on Kashmir and its people. Politicians are known to change planks with change of their parties and politics but here the very facts are being changed to suit the new party. Others in the assembly have done little better.

The day before the assembly was stunned it had been in high emotions on the issue of SIMI ban. SIMI was banned on the proof of involvement in terrorist activities and links with terrorists. The same terrorists that blasted the assembly killed its members and attempted to massacre the whole lot. And the ban was being criticized on as silly a point as not 'consulting the opposition'. SIMI was not banned by this State, did not seem to involve this State, unless the legislators here believe that anything with a Muslim connotation is a just cause for them to get emotional. And that would be a spurious secularism. But then a clear-cut appreciation of the words and their import has not been a remarkable feature of the legislative utterances. Analysts point out that the majority of the house-members have appeared as if they were putting forth briefs for the militants and terrorists. And that muddle-some thinking is cited as the major cause of the resurgence of the terrorism in the Valley and its spread across the Pirpanchal in a big way. Unless that fog is cleared a proper response to the very grave threat of terrorism cannot be mounted. That threat is underscored on one hand by the Kathua killings showing its sway over the whole State is complete now and on the other by the limitless striking power of terrorism demonstrated by the Monday strike. As Farooq says terrorism can neither have any justification in religion nor in politics It is heinous in principle and until it is uprooted none may breathe free. And, to uproot it all mental fogs have to be cleared.

De-motivated students, dis-interested teachers

By Dr Vishiesh Verma

In the college system, students are expected to be accountable for their
studies, teachers for their teaching. However, several well known educationists have stated on more than one occasion that students do not study and teachers don't teach. Of course, such general statement would be doing in-justice to many diligent students and devoted teachers. But the statement cannot simply be brushed aside as totally un-founded.

In this context, a social audit of the following results of college students of Jammu University declared in July - August '2001 shows 47 to 70 percent failures.

There are 47 to 70 percent failures.

The teachers have responsibility to increase productivity (more number of passes, First class and distinctions). On the contrary, what the result indicates the colossal loss of time, money and energy of the students. Besides parents contribution the Govt. spends about Rs. 15000/- on the education of each college going students annually. The average cost of constructing a college is about Rs. 50 crore. Its average annual use don't exceed total 400 hours.

What makes our college education poor in quality? Pay Scales? Service Conditions? Security of Service?

"The fault dear Brutus lies not in our Stars but on ourselves."

Our students are neither of low quality nor they are un-motivated. They are highly motivated to get degrees, they are motivated to work hard for two or three months near the examination, they are motivated to buy made-easy books and study them, they are motivated to pay large sums of money to their own teachers for private tuitions. They are motivated for selective study and for getting maximum marks by doing minimum work.

The parents too are very much motivated for the education of their children and pay huge fees for their admissions and tuitions. The principals are very much motivated to keep their colleges running out there is no motivation to review whether every teacher in their colleges is putting in his best for teaching and whether there is high quality academic climate in the institutions administered by them.

There is other side of the picture also. The students refuse to learn from demotivated teachers who don't enjoy teaching but are in the profession to earn their livelihood, visit the institution for limited time, take attendance, parrot prepared lectures, leave with an easy conscience without considering its qualitative impact. In fact, if the teachers possess greater knowledge and are also able to pass on this knowledge to their students effectively students do love, respect and even adore their teachers. It is said knowledge is gained from the books but love of knowledge is transmitted only by the teachers. Out students remain deprived of this bliss.

The students have no motivation to study the syllabus in detail and consult standard text books and reference books to prepare for examination. They have sound reasons to do so. Our educational system doesn't expect the students to work hard throughout the year and to learn indepth. The question papers rarely have questions which require a deep understanding and there is plenty of choice in every question paper.

The students are demotivated since there is no transparency in the examination system. They are not shown their evaluated scripts. The criteria of evaluation and for which the marks are enhanced or deducted remains mystery to the students.

Performance Audit of the Teachers:

Fortunately, in India the Pay Scales of teachers are now quite attractive and their social position and status has been enhanced greatly in recent years. They are happy in present system because students are interested in just passing examination and don't insist on their taking classes regularly. Every teacher is assured on the day of his appointment that he will be confirmed irrespective of his performance. In the advanced countries particularly in USA where excellence in higher education is a recognised feature there are only 20 percent to 40 percent of total teaching posts the remaining 60 percent of of the approved posts are filled up on fixed period short terms contract. Thanks to the merit promotion scheme of UGC, the teacher is sure that he will be promoted at regular intervals after some formalities of interviews etc. are completed. His standing in the profession is determined by his seniority rather than by his teaching or by the results of his students.

The teacher has not to correct by the assignments of his students, and conduct tests. Even the answer books if ever returned to the students after marking show the marks given not the mistakes and suggestions for improvement. The teachers don't have office hours to be punctually observed.

UGC has suggested 180 working days in an institution, 100 teaching hours per subject, 40 hours work load per week for a teacher. The fulfillment of these physical norms has been found impractical for our teachers. The 180 days (six months in a year) even the developed countries can't afford the luxury of such a colossal wastage of resources. A group of academicians from Surya Foundations think Tank on higher education have recommended that number of teaching days be raised to 220. With six days in a week a copy of recommendations has been forwarded to Ministry of Human Resources Development and UGC for consideration.

The teaching is noblest of all the professions, not because of any pecuniary considerations but because it gives a greatest satisfaction when the work is done well. As in medicine the end is to promote health while in education it is to promote learning. It is essentially a craft, an art, with a little of science and little more of technology. The teachers have to play a larger than life role in society because of their proximity to the younger generation. The problem in present educational set up is that the student is very much exposed to environment and is very much informed. The first of all is to become an accepted teacher. It requires special professional and personal skills. The learning process is initiated only when students have confidence in the teacher. The teacher need to be exposed to Science of education and methodology of teaching.

(The writer is a former Reader Co-ordinator of Jammu University)

Flexible rather than mule - headed approach to fiscal policy

By Sisir Basu

By all accounts, the projections made in the Union budget for 2001-02, are increasingly becoming unstuck. Nor is this a replay of the classical flaw of "poor fiscal marksmanship" of the Indian budget – the wild swings between tax revenue projections and the actual outcome or the proverbial bureaucratic proneness to underestimating expenditure, particularly on the revenue account, and the more recent habit of dressing up the fiscal imbalance through the inclusion of "wishful thinking" in terms of imagined proceeds of disinvestment!

As the economy stands perilously poised between a chronic state of demand stagnation and a brooding negative sentiment on investment, it is becoming increasingly clear that the fiscal dilemma will emerge in more traumatic terms than ever before and that the chorus of fiscal orthodoxy that swears by the virtue of deficit reduction will get drowned in the clamour for a more realistic fiscal policy pro-public expenditure rather than one tilted towards pruning of public spending regardless of its nomenclature.

Data on public finances released by the Centre, covering the first quarter (April-June 2001), are uniformly antithetical to any anticipated correction of fiscal deficit. Total expenditure for the period of Rs. 65,089 crore represents an increase of 14 per cent compared with the expenditure during the corresponding period in 2000. As against this, tax revenue during April-June this year, at Rs. 16,835 crores actually reveals a decline by 25 per cent as compared with the position in 2000. Overall, non-debt receipts of the Centre have decreased to Rs. 22,891 crores from Rs. 32,010 crores. This amount included non-tax revenues and recoveries of loans as well.

Ballooning expenditure and dwindling revenue receipts have ineluctably led to an increase in market borrowings by the Centre in defiance of all the fiscal fundamentalism which Mr. Yashwnat Sinha, the Finance Minister, has been dutifully articulating for the last three years. Market borrowings during April-June have exceeded Rs. 46,500 crores as compared with Rs. 28,000 cores during the corresponding period last year. Consequently, the gross fiscal deficit had shot up to Rs. 42,200 crores – a whopping 68 per cent increase over the year! Assuming that the mismatch between revenue receipts and expenditure continues unabated during the remaining moths of 2001-02, the fiscal deficit for the whole year would end up around Rs. 168,800 crores as against a budgeted deficit of Rs. 116,314 crores! A catastrophic scenario? So it would seem going by the consensus among puritans of public finance (who hold the centre-stage in multilateral financial fora including the IMF). But that dictates of development policy in India would mandate a fiscal regime that facilitates a reactivation of demand rather than merely subserve the cause of stability (manifested in moderate GDP growth and in a regime of suppressed price-levels) is a point of view which appears rather too hesitant as yet to impact on the policymakers.

The auditing profession, in its global reach, is rightly lauded for its commitment to financial probity, disclosure proprieties and of late, for its increasing concern for corporate governance. Yet, to identify that profession, with the fine art of financial engineering or that of marrying risks with rewards, would be as erroneous as to expect governments to become enterprising entrepreneurs!

The recent report of the comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) on Union finances for 1999-2000, is as severe a stricture on fiscal management as any independent consultant could have offered with a clear conscience. There is no question that the CAG critique on the fiscal polity regime of the Centre is all well-warranted in terms of how the Government’s responsibilities in mobilising and deploying public funds have not been property carried out.

Take, for instance, the comment that the Government has been losing financial autonomy is not being able to apply available resources for legitimate current expenditure or for asset-creating activities. The fact is that the incubus of accumulated public debt and the financial burden of servicing it, results in as much as 87 per cent of current borrowing being used for repayment of debt! Consider another nugget of CAG wisdom regarding the parlous state of fiscal management. "To the extent the fiscal deficit is not used for creating assets, finances become vulnerable because liabilities are being added without addition to the capacity for repayments."

While there is no disputing the profound truth inherent in the rule that debt financing is injurious except when it is used for building income-earning assets, the economic milieu in which a Government functions (and which compounds the fiscal responsibilities of the Government) cannot be totally wished away.

What could be more compelling for governments in heavily populated, labour-endowed and poverty-striken developing countries, than to trigger the investment-development process through an expansionist fiscal policy (aided by a properly-graduated cheap money policy as well)? That there are downside risks in such a policy preference goes without saying but to believe that a zero-fiscal deficit is summum bonum for a welfare approach is to take the ostrich for a rolemodel!

Indian economic policymakers since the days of Dr. Manmohan Singh in the early 1990s have been fed with bountiful exhortations by the IMF-World Bank duo on how to open the doors to elysium by simply closing the tap of the fiscal deficit! It is not that any miracle in the nature of elimination of fiscal deficit at the Centre or in the States has come to pass.

That the IMF continues to harp on fiscal discipline (as manifested in reduction of fiscal deficit) in not surprising but what should cause scepticism is that many of the caveats against fiscal deficits so religiously repeated by the IMF and its trumpeters have turned out, in the Indian context, to be little more than theoretical obsessions or psychological misgivings.

Consider the traditional argument about fiscal deficit "crowding out" private sector investments. All the theory is that when once liberalisation is embarked upon, private investments will boom provided only that the Government (read the public sector) does not preempt investible resources from the market.

What if the private sector is not so excited about committing itself to new investments or if the capital market itself goes into a coma or if the policymakers continue to dither for lack of experience on how to open up the economy with adequate safeguards for ensuring that no "crony capitalism" takes the place of an erstwhile state capitalism?

Would the argument about fiscal deficit "crowding out" private investments then be valid? Would there not be a strong national compulsion for larger public investments in infrastructure, social sectors and so forth, if need be, on the basis of fiscal deficits? Can it be denied that the economic conjuncture in India today warrants a flexible rather than mule-headed approach to fiscal policy?

A growing fiscal deficit is not the acme of economic rationality. Nor, at the other end of the scale, is a suppression of fiscal deficit, an unmixed blessing. As the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Dr. Y. V. Reddy, has recently pointed out, the "crowding out" effect of fiscal deficit has not been at work in India. Nor is the investment lag apparently the consequence of any perceived high real interest rate regime.

Regardless of how international credit-rating agencies look horrified at the fiscal deficit specter in India, Dr. Reddy would hold that fiscal correction is undoubtedly a medium-term imperative but that right now the policy priority would be to revive investment demand and that given the resiliency in the economy, a dreadful script for financial stability need not necessarily be read in the fiscal predicament. INAV

HERE AND THERE
Sonia Gandhi and pain of terrorism

From B L Kak

The AICC president and leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Ms Sonia Gandhi, may lack knowledge vis-à-vis India’s crucial areas. But who would understand the pain of terrorism more than Ms Sonia? She lost her mother-in-law, Mrs Indira Gandhi, and husband, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, in terrorist attacks.

She has managed to live all these years under a heavy security cover. She was in her home constituency, Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, the other day. In fact, she was busy telling people what terrorism could do to the world and how painful it could be-a glaring example is the attacks in the United States.

Her party has supported the initiative in the fight against terrorism but insisted that national interest must be kept in mind. But that was not the agenda of Ms Sonia Gandhi’s visit to Amethi. On her arrival in Amethi, she was given a rousing welcome by her people.

Her arrival in Amethi came at a time when the Congress was busy holding ‘parivartan’ rallies throughout UP. Who would tell the perpetually fighting Congressmen in the State that ‘parivartan’ (change) must come from within? Will they ever understand? Will they unite?

Mr Maninderjit Singh Bitta, to give the devil his due, is one hell of a persistent character. The former Indian Youth Congress chief, who lost a leg in a bomb attack during the days terrorism was on a high in Punjab, has positioned himself as a formidable anti-terrorist campaigner with his All India Anti-Terrorist Front.

There are other politicians too who head sundry social, political and cultural organisations, but few show the flair or showmanship that Mr Bitta has brought to fighting terror. What Mr Bitta has understood is that you need to sugarcoat your message if you want to communicate with the rank and file. So you will have film stars, cricketers and all sorts of celebrities lined up at his various functions to speak against or take an oath against the scourge of terrorism.

The other day it was the turn of veteran villain, Amrish Puri, to take an oath to fight terrorism. The press release issued on the occasion was full of Mr Bitta’s war against terrorism with just a line stating that Amrish Puri joined hundreds in taking oath on the occasion of the 94th birth anniversary of Shaheed-a-Azam, Bhagat Singh. Finally, Mr Bitta had a word of advice for the Government: Support America!

Stunned by the terrorist attacks in the United States, the Delhi Police have dug out of their attics two antiquated telescopes for air surveillance from the rooftop of the Police Headquarters in New Delhi. Only to realise that one of the two instruments is not working, apparently having gathered dust through months of disuse.

As per the security drill, two cops, equipped with self-loading rifles (SLRs), working in four shifts of six hours each, keep vigil from the terrace of the Police Headquarters. This drill has been in place for a long time. But, according to police officials, the cops on duty were rarely using the telescopes. In fact, most of the time, these tiny instruments were kept in their side pockets.

But the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11 have changed all that. And with the Police Headquarters not ruled out at a potential target of possible militant attacks, the cops have been directed to regularly use the telescopes to check any subversive activities. The only hitch is that of the two telescopes, one is totally dysfunctional-the binoculars are glued with adhesives and come apart when one tried to use them.

In any case, the telescopes are outdated, obsolete models and of no use at all against the high-tech and sophisticated weapons and technology being used by militants nowadays. Be that as it may, after the Black Tuesday attacks in America, the security around the Police Headquarters near ITO gas been stepped up with 133 more police personnel deployed for the building’s security.

It was a class act of diplomacy that totally caught Delhi’s Shahi Imam, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, napping. Moments after he cancelled his scheduled meeting with the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, US Ambassador to India, Mr Robert Blackwill, was busy meeting delegations of top Muslim leaders to explain his country’s viewpoint.

Among the delegations that met the US envoy included leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, who had come to express their anguish and sorrow over the terrorist attacks in the US. A day earlier, Mr Robert Blackwill had visited a Sikh gurdwara to reassure the community that the US Administration guaranteed all protection to the minorities within the United States.

Indian crack intelligence services do work overtime to ensure that all information vis-à-vis militancy keeps trickling in. However, following the attack on World Trade Centre and Pentagon, they realise that apart from information what they need is some divine assistance in predicting man-made disasters. And while it is still to be ascertained whether 15th century soothsayer, Nostradamus, did really predict The hit on America’s WTC, Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers are pouring over every book possible on the soothsayer to say if India has been mentioned and in what context.

Some say that they have already found out a couple of references that seem to be of India, but considering the convoluted and prose form of the various predictions in the book, the intelligence sleuths can only guess. Last heard, they were trying to get hold of someone who could translate poetic and strange phrases into English to see if Nostradamus has predicted anything about India in October 2001.

Five decades of culture

By K K Khullar

The cultural scene in the last five decades has expanded beyond recognition. If someone suddenly went to sleep in 1947 and woke up in 1999 he or she would not be able to recognise the cultural map of India. Preservation of cultural heritage, promotion of creative and performing arts, inculcation of an awareness for art and dissemination of culture through people's participation are some of the main objectives of state endeavour of cultural development. There is a cultural resurgence in the country with a definite cultural identity, an international outlook, a world-view.

We have today 5000 cultural monuments and complexes protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, another 5000 protected by the State Archaeological Departments. Together, their number is the largest in the world. Twenty-one Indian monuments and Parks/Sites are on the world Heritage List. Marine Archaeology with its off-shore exploration in search of the lost city of Krishna's Dwarka in the Arabian sea is a landmark. There are about 60,000 libraries in India, about 610 museums, zonal cultural centres to project cultural kinship transcending territorial boundaries. There are three National Academes viz, There is the national Museum which is a repository of India's heritage and is a deemed-University. There is a National Gallery of Modern Art, a Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, National Archives and State Archives.

Among the museums we have, besides the National Museum in New Delhi, Museums in Calcutta and Bombay, Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad with its 49,000 Art Objects and 10,000 manuscripts in Urdu. The main activities in these museums is the acquisition of art objects, exhibitions, conservation, publication and education of objects of art. They also serve as audio-visual means of education. Besides they promote national integration and international understanding. Culture Language and Minorities.

Any endeavour on culture must take into account the constitutional provisions for minorities and the safeguards for linguistic minorities. Article 29 of the Constitution States that any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same. Article 30 bestows on all minorities whether based on religion or language the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

In other words linguistic minorities are minorities residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language or script of their own. The language of the minority group need not be confined to the 18 languages listed in the VIII schedule of the Constitution, it can be any language other than the principal language of the state. There are 1652 languages in India. Thus a linguistic minority at the state level would mean any group of people whose language is different from the principal language of the state and at district level and taluka level, different from the principal language of the district or taluka. Accordingly adequate safeguards have been provided to linguistic minorities in the field of culture and education.

The chief feature of the safeguards for linguistic minorities in the field of education an primary level is that provision should be made for imparting instruction through the mother-tongue at the primary level by appointing atleast one teacher provided there are not less than 40 pupils in a class.

Inter-school adjustments are also provided in the safeguards at primary as well as secondary stage of education, so that no applicant registered in a school is refused the facility of instruction through a minority language on the ground that the number of such applicants is not sufficient for opening a new section/class in the school. Every year the commissioner for Linguistic Minorities lays his report in parliament about these safeguard in pursuance of the provisions of Article 350-B of the Constitution.

The first attempt in respect of a National Policy on culture was made in 1951 when a certain proportion of the budget was allocated to culture. In the initial outlay the expenditure on culture was only 0.3% of the 3% meant for education. Another attempt was made in the early seventies. However, the idea was not regarding the need for such a policy. The paper says that 'the country has reached a stage in its economic and technical development when cultural development needs to be ought into sharper focus and strengthened.' A stage in development has arrived when the importance of culture has to be clearly and deadly defined, the areas of public intervention in culture is identified and the role of the State assessed and re-adjusted, importance of societal and voluntary efforts in the area recognised and further encouraged'. According to Haksar Committee Report (1990) "The State has a vital role to play in the field of art and culture, but any rash political intervention into culture would be disastrous."

PTI Feature