Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL THE CONNECTION It is not the electric connection to facilitate shock treatment. Shock therapy has its own significance which is no less than drastic surgery. Surgery in itself is no panacea for multiple ills that afflict body and mind of political clan and the bureaucratic hierarchy. Bureaucrats alone cannot generate heat that burns the system. In doing so they have to be blessed by the powers that be, the corrupted system that has its genesis in hereditary pursuits. If only Nehru had not thought of inducting his daughter in politics the nation would have been spared the awkwardness of being 10 amongst the most corrupted countries. Perhaps, they all thought about the adage 'Badnaam Hote to kya naam na hota.' What is this corruption? It reminds us of one interesting anecdote. There was a PWD clerk who spent...more		Education Private Tuition: A menace By: Shabbir Hussain Jafri Private tuition's at any academic stage are harmful, but they are more harmful at the . ... .more New economical aircraft on anvil By: D.K. Arora With a need for smaller and more economical aircraft in India, Airbus Industry has offered its newest and smallest A318, to public and private operators. The ....more Ignorance is not Bliss for Teens By: Swati Bhattacharjee (The article is set in Calcutta and talks of the situation in West Bengal. But .. ...more

EDITORIAL THE CONNECTION It is not the electric connection to facilitate shock treatment. Shock therapy has its own significance which is no less than drastic surgery. Surgery in itself is no panacea for multiple ills that afflict body and mind of political clan and the bureaucratic hierarchy. Bureaucrats alone cannot generate heat that burns the system. In doing so they have to be blessed by the powers that be, the corrupted system that has its genesis in hereditary pursuits. If only Nehru had not thought of inducting his daughter in politics the nation would have been spared the awkwardness of being 10 amongst the most corrupted countries. Perhaps, they all thought about the adage 'Badnaam Hote to kya naam na hota.' What is this corruption? It reminds us of one interesting anecdote. There was a PWD clerk who spent almost his full career in one unit only. There were in any case not many units during those good old days. He had the sagacity, foresight and mental skills to arrange the records in most haphazard manner by mixing up years, months, subjects and everything in that office which none other than he could ever trace. It goes to his brains that he would dig out the required item in few seconds all the same. So he was all important. Without him not a fly could move in that office. All were totally dependent on him. And then his transfer orders were arranged to Kathua by his own office people who were fed up with his antics. He had done all this to hit all birds with solitary stone to be the sole rightful person for commissions (mind you corruption were gained currency long after). Then it used to be commission only. Off he went to his new station. It was then that his importance and relevance increased as nothing could be traced from amongst the highly jumbled up records. His jugglery clicked. He was called back to the same office. If only Nehru's daughter had not nursed her most ambitious son Sanjay to be the natural heir to her political throne, corruption would not have assumed present dimensions. If only her other son Rajiv was not saddled with political burdens of the nation, there would have been no Bofors. If only sonnies had not propped up there would not have been connections like Dhirendra Brahmchari and Chandraswami, the former having his own small planes and the latter having cultivated connections with at least 130 heads of States the world over. This son and son-in-law culture thus gained momentum when other politicians started propping up their offsprings. Narasimha Rao also developed those connections with Karsum, Harshad, Nemi Chand Jain and that St. Kitts business. Sukh Ram did likewise. Hereditary fallout manifests its presence in J&K as well. Badal has already seen that his son gets into the ministerial slot which Sukh Ram is endeavouring hard for his son. Laloo thought that his State is safe in the hands of his wife alone. Others could prove suicidal. In the last assembly election in Rajasthan it was the kin-syndrome of ticket seekers that cast the Congress heavily. This culture is once again dominating Madhya Pradesh scene. Mind you Election Commission is about to ban opinion polls. Why not ban the opinion itself? Or for that matter ban on the polls? After all there is a visible connection. This EC cannot ban criminals from contesting elections. So it bans public opinions about them. As simple as that. American democracy and openness resulted in even most embarrassing testimony of Clinton and Lewinsky being put on the internet. But in India EC won't allow even opinion polls. And that connection these days. Ramesh is Dawood's man. And whose man is Dawood? Oh, Chandraswamy, Babloo Srivastav and of course all those who sought Swami's blessings before and after induction into the cabinet. Thank God, Vajpayee is a bachelor!

Education Private Tuition: A menace By: Shabbir Hussain Jafri Private tuition's at any academic stage are harmful, but they are more harmful at the graduate level because the creativity of the students is hampered. Majority of the private tutors are working college teachers. The way the activity is done, has proved to be harmful both for the teacher and the students. The private tuition nourishes the culture of spoon - feeding among the students. They depend upon the readymade notes supplied by the tutor teachers. Students cram these notes and reproduce them in the examinations. There remains a very little scope for self activity. These tuition products cannot withstand the vagaries of the real life when they enter the practical life. The notes are short-cut. The students in the whole span of their studentship donot see the text books and reference books prescribed in their syllabi. Thus the seeds of imagination, insight and curiosity never get the favourable conditions even to germinate. Alien pregrown trees (in the form of notes) when planted inthe brains of the students give a bumper harvest inthe form of marks in the examination and then fade away leaving behind barren brain lands. Purpose of studies is lost. "Studies', as in the words of France's Bacon, "Serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their Chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in disposition and for ability, is the judgement and disposition of business." In the presence of private tuition's the habit of studies among the students cannot be cultivated. Private tuition's bring moral degradation among the the teachers practicing it. The teacher cannot do justice with the job which he is paid. He stands on the dias delivers the lecture but his mental strength has already been squeezed as he comes in the institution after taking four or five groups in morning and he has to take the same numbers in the evening. He often does not take the class and relaxes on the sofa to regain the strength. As many of the faces in the class are the same who meet him in his private clinic, he does not go into the required details of the lesson. Student are kept in good humour by narrating jokes. The poor students who cannot afford private tuition are deprived of the class teaching. In order to get rich quick by putting every bit of wit into ditch these teachers adopt many immoral ways to lure the students to their clinics. They spread propaganda among the students that the notes prepared by them are the only passport to the next class and that too with the flying colours. Many students have in their minds that they will either fail or pass the low grade if they reproduce the same notes in the exams. Mixed groups of male and female students are arranged so that the students remain attracted towards the clinics. As teacher is over burdened due to the tuition work, he hardly bothers to evaluate the scripts of Internal Assessment. He is bound to give very high marks. (Some time 100%) to his students. The marks are marked on the front pages of the scripts without opening it and the whole exercise of Internal Assessment, which other wise, is an integral part of the students evaluation, becomes a poppycock. Here again only those students who donot offer private tuition's, no matter they are intelligent, suffer badly. They are given low grades. Sometimes their scripts are exchanged. Thus the seeds of disparities and injustice are sown which on growing become menace in the society. Private tuition results into the money relations between the teacher and the student. The subject notes are exchanged with the currency notes. The teacher becomes shop-keeper and the student a customer. The fact that the student teacher relationship is on the verge of collapse. Both sides have no regard for each other. Teacher ae considered as education sellers. There is no mutual affection of sense of respect left between the student and the teacher. The whole fun of learning and teaching is vanishing. The greatest poet and educationist of the East. Dr. Mohammed Iqbal has beautifully said: Tehzeeb Kay Mareedh Ko Goli say Faidah; Dafeh Maradh kay wastay Pill paish Kijiyay; Ek Tha Zamana Izzat-e-Utad Kay Liyay. Dil Chahta Tha Hadiyah-e-Dil Paish Kijiyay; Badla Zamana Iss Qader ke Larka pass Az; Sabaq; Kehta Hai Ustad say Ke Bill Paish Kijiyay. The patient of modern civilization needs tablet to relieve him; Pill is the only receipt to cure the disease. There was a time when in the respect of a teacher; The gift of the heart was bestowed on him. The time changed in such a way that the student after getting the lesson; Ask the teacher for the bill to be paid. The Private tuition has shattered the Concept of Guru and the disciple. The students are losing faith in their teachers. For a disciple to imbibe know ledge from his guru, complete faith in teacher becomes an obsolute necessity. This is the faith reposed in the teacher which help the students to improve their moral conduct and raise the sell (Khudi). When the teachers become model part of students character. Francis Bacon has beautifully stated, "Abeunt Studia in mores. (Studies pass into character)." The teachers of the arts and humanities who become jealous of science teachers in the field of private tuition are adopting other ways. They have opened private educational institutions. They become patrons of these institutions and get them adjusted in near by schools and colleges where they visit casually and devote full time in their private institutions. The menace is deep rooting in the society. Some of the teachers lure the students of other disciplines to their clinics. One is astonished to see that a lecturer in the Education is teaching English, Political Science, History, etc. that too of Graduate level. They prepare such notes where it become difficult to find the sequence. Not contented with this they open counters in the colleges and the schools from where they or their representatives sell the substandard notes. This is the worst type of exploitation. And as a last nail in the coffin of the society, they prepare the guides, booklets, pass notes and get them published. The material is highly sub-standards, full of wrong information which make the students of nowhere. The adulterated edibles which affect generally the physical health are covered under consumer laws, but the adulterated sub-standard study material which harms mind and soul is not an offence. Here consumers are not protected. These disguised guides are the barriers between the students and the text book/reference books, because the teacher prescribes these guides to the students. One of the reasons of indiscipline and hooliganism in the educational institution is the private tuition's. The students do not attend the classes because they are sure to get hundred percent attendance and internal assessment as they have paid the teachers in their tuition cells, or purchased their notes. Only the poorer are the sufferer. They have no resources to purchase these notes and there by marks in the internal exams, and they are also deprived of the class teaching. The internal assessment was introduced to strengthen the students teacher relationship to check the indiscipline in the colleges and to inculcate the habit of study among the student, Private tuition has made it otherwise. The menace of copying in the examination to a certain extant is linked with the tuition's the same teachers are invigilators and the students who are their Customers become their weakness. Sometime the students get the notes/guides reduced through Electrostats and use as the copying material. The situations is very grim in case of science subjects where practicals constitute 33 per cent of total awards. For a B.Sc. medical students the total practical marks are 450 and internal assessment in theory in 180 totalling 630 out of the total 1650 marks. The comparison between the internal assessment and the external awards reveal negative correlation. Thus the merit is dubious. Krishnamurti has prettily explained, "Education is not just to pass examination, take a degre and a job, get married and settle down but also to be able to listen to the birds to see sky, to see the extra-ordinary beauty of a tree and the shape of the hill and to feel with them, to be really, directly in touch with them." This stage comes when we love teaching and learning. Love purifies the hearts. Jealously and envy breed cruelty and hatred. Money is not a bad thing but to become money minded for a teacher is bad. Lust for money is bad. When there is affection between the teacher and the taught, kindness, politeness, good manners bloom. Love can only exist and flower when there is no hate, no envy, no ambition. Without love human heart is like a barren earth, arid land and brutal.

New economical aircraft on anvil

By: D.K. Arora

With a need for smaller and more economical aircraft in India, Airbus Industry has offered its newest and smallest A318, to public and private operators. The A318, which formally commenced sale at the recent Farnborough airshow in London, has a ticker price of $36 millions and is powered by two Pratt and Whitney 6000 engines.

The 107-seater aircraft, which is due for its first flight in 2001, is claimed to have a cash operating cost that is better than that of Boeing's 737-600 and 717-200, its closest competitors. The new aircraft is ideal replacement for Alliance Air's ageing fleet of Boeing 737-200 aircraft, which are considered as fuel guzzlers with high maintenance cost, claimed the European company.

A 318, due for delivery in 2002, is the fourth member of the A 320 family, the fastest selling and the most popular category. Designed for short to medium-haul routes, the A 319, A 320 and A 321 are the most economical and environmentally responsible aircraft in their category. All derived from the same fuselage, they provide operators the best flexibility and economy for aircraft in the 124-185 seat category. Airbus has already sold 2,000 such aircraft to 100 operators. Every 20 seconds one of these takes off somewhere in the world.

A shortened version of the A 319, currently the smallest of the A 320 family, the A 318 has 107 seats against the A 319's 124 seats. Its basic version will be able to cover 1,500 nautical miles with an option of 2,000 nautical miles. The aircraft has a common cabin and flight deck as compared to the A 319, A 320 and A 321. All have the same cockpits and handling qualities and pilots trained to fly one of the four are automatically qualified to fly the others due to their same type-rating. With the same airframe and systems, all the aircraft can be maintained by the same mechanics.

The A 318 offers the best cabin in any single-aisle aircraft a most advanced technology, operational commonality with all new generation Airbus aircraft, proven reliability, and minimum change with minimum cost. "It is the best replacement for 12 ageing Boeing 737-200 with Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Indian Airlines. These Boeings are fast approaching their maximum life of 20 years,'' a company spokesman said.

The national carriers and private airlines will need to acquire 216 aircraft between now and the year 2017, so as to replace the ageing aircraft and provide for growth. The total replacement could cost $ 18.6 billion. Indian carriers were flying a total of 97 airliners (70 seats or larger) at the end of 1997 and all of these need to be replaced within the next 20 years. A traffic growth of around 5.5 per cent a year means that Indian carriers will need to acquire a further 115 aircraft so as to carry more people on existing routes and open up new ones. By the year 2017, Indian carriers will be flying just over twice as many aircraft as they were today.

Airbus Industries market forecast is based on a detailed analysis of the needs of carriers in India and is mainly driven by economic growth. It takes account of the current situation in Asia, with the European consortium predicting that any short fall in aircraft orders during the short-term will be largely compensated for by increased orders in the long-term.

The Airbus-India President said the main factors driving air travel in Asia are still in place, namely, a geographical concentration of large cities separated by large distances including oceans, economies which are mainly based on international trade and tourism, and ethnic communities with family needs. So, despite the current situation in Asia, there is good reason to expect continued success for air travel in the long term.

Airbus Industry has a particularly strong presence in the Indian airliner market, where its aircraft make up a full 60 per cent of the Air India and Indian Airlines fleets. The European consortium's relationship with India dates back to 1974-the year when the company's very first aircraft entered service with the Indian Airlines acquiring A300B2s. Further orders followed, from Air India for A300B2s and A310s in 1982 and 1985, respectively, and from Indian Airlines for A320s in 1986.

A decision to involve Indian industry in the manufacture of Airbus Industry aircraft was taken in 1988, when Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) of Bangalore was chosen to build passenger doors for the A320. HAL has a contract to provide 600 aircraft sets of the doors, and has delivered 75 to date. HAL also makes parts for the A320 nose undercarriage. The work represents more than $ 50 million worth of business to HAL.

Airbus Industrie's link with Indian industry was further expanded in 1995 with a contract to Computer vision's subsidiary at Pune. Computervision Research and Development (India) Private Ltd. for computer programming work. Airbus Industrie's partners had earlier placed a contract with Computervision for computer-aided design and management and, at their request, more than $ 8 million worth of work is to be carried out by Computervision's subsidiary at Pune. So the design and manufacture of all future Airbus Industry aircraft will benefit from the Indian skill.

Airbus Industry would launch its 500 seater A3XX aircraft by 2004 A.D. to meet the growing demand on the dense international sectors worldwide. With the doubling of passenger growth during the next 15 years, the need for large and long range aircraft would be much more pronounced. These aircraft would be operated primarily on sector which have very high traffic throughout the year. The need for large aircraft would increase to 1300 over the next 20 years and the A3XX would supplement the growing needs of the market.

The company is yet to receive firm orders for the A3XX, but was working with 20 major passenger and cargo carriers, including British Airways, Cathey Pacific, United Airlines and Federal Express, on the project. It would cost between $ 215 million to $ 230 million as compared to $ 180 million of B747-400. He said the consortium had already sold 417 aircraft worth $ 29 billion in the first nine months this year as compared to 412 of its American rival Boeing, thus capturing half of the new airliner orders (100 seats or more) placed during the year.

The company has sold over 3000 aircraft worldwide since its inception in 1970. It had delivered 1,820 aircraft and the backlog of nearly 1,2000 aircraft worth over $ 75 billion would be cleared in the due course of time. Airbus is a consortium of France's Aerospatiale, Dasa of Germany, British Aerospace and Casa of Spain.-CNF

Ignorance is not Bliss for Teens

By: Swati Bhattacharjee

(The article is set in Calcutta and talks of the situation in West Bengal. But while reading it you will find that the situation could hold good in many other Indian States).

CALCUTTA: It's Saturday night. Teenagers in trendy clothes throng night clubs, where they dance and swill alcohol before spilling out into the night. But scratch beneath their ultra modern veneer, and you will find school girls and boys, confused and unprepared for sexual decision making-not unlike teenagers elsewhere in the world.

West Bengal, unlike some other Indian States, has not made sex education programmes compulsory in Government-run schools. Even voluntary organisations offering short courses on AIDS awareness have been sent packing by some school principals, despite a serious problems with HIV/AIDS, which is largely spread by unprotected sex. There are between 3 and 5 million people living with HIV in India, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS).

Worldwide, millions of young people who do not have the knowledge and means to protect themselves are sexually active with catastrophic results. In West Bengal, Government health researchers note a rising incidence of unmarried, teenage pregnancies and an increasing frequency of sexually transmitted diseases among both sexes. And this is true of India as a whole.

One gauge of teen sexual activity, according to experts and health providers, is the number of young women who seek out illegal abortionists in a desperate bid to protect their anonymity Illegal and unsafe abortions can be deadly. The World Health Organisation estimates that they kill between 50,000 and 100,000 women and girls worldwide each year.

India-wide studies on the frequency of abortion-both legal and illegal-among unmarried adolescents do not exist. But researcher Shireen Jejeebhoy believes that at least half of all unmarried women seeking abortions are adolescents-many less than 15 years old. Ignorant about their condition or unaware that legal and safe abortion services exist, many delay termination until their pregnancies are well-advanced, increasing health risks.

In terms of illegal abortions, Calcutta gynaecologist Arati Basu estimates that teenage girls account for half the clientele of such abortionists. According to B R Satpathy, additional secretary of the health and family welfare ministry, unmarried adolescents account for at least 60 per cent of the clientele of illegal abortionists in rural West Bengal.

"Girls in school uniforms come to our clinics,'' confirms Indrani Mukherjee of the Reproductive Health Education Training unit of Parivar Seva Sanstha, the Indian chapter of Marie Stopes, which offers safe abortion services. "Their fear of being found out is so extreme that they do not hesitate to take hazardous steps. Many girls deliberately leave behind their prescription for (post-operative) medicines, fearing that parents may find it.''

But where parents and teachers don't listen, others may. Radio producer Arindam Sengupta and his team used to produce a half-hour FM radio phone-in programme called Friday Happening. They would field hundreds of queries about sex from nervous school-children, calling from public booths or whispering into their home telephones.

Nearly 200 letters flooded the studio every week with questions like: "Does french-kissing cause AIDS?; "Can masturbation give you jaundice?''; 'Can one act of intercourse cause pregnancy?'; 'Do large breasts mean a girl has more sexual prowess?'

Punctuating pop music with factual discussions of topics that are too hot to handle for schools and families, the year-long programme was one of Calcutta teens' few sources of reliable information, until coming to an end in March this year.

Fortunately, some Calcutta schools are accommodating non-Governmental organisations. At Ballygunge Government High School, students queue up for individual counselling. Often girls confide shocking episodes of sexual abuse, including rape and molestation by family members, Mukherjee adds. Another 25 Calcutta schools are considering adapting teaching aids on sexual health.

Traditionally, Indian society has demanded chastity before marriage, and adolescent sexuality is a taboo subject and the reproductive health needs of teens, who account for one-fifth of the country's 900 million population, went unrecognised by the State Government.

"It is tragic to see how families misinform children rather than enlightening them,'' says Veena Lakhumalani, senior project officer with the British Council, which conducts AIDS awareness classes. She recounts the confusion of one boy who confessed to her: "My father told me that my wife may give me a child, but to get sexual pleasure I must visit a prostitute. So tell me, how can I protect myself from AIDS?''

Adolescent girls, in particular, need information on contraceptive-use so that they can take care of themselves better. A pregnant 14-year-old believed she wouldn't get pregnant if she "did it only once,'' now blames her boyfriend who accused her of being old-fashioned for her plight.

But medical student Swapnendu Bose asserts: "I find the idea of love without sex ridiculous....Why should I wait for a marriage licence? Society allows us to watch explicit movies and yet expects us to stay chaste till our wedding day.''

The Central Government aims to provide sex education to all young people through the national curriculum but the sluggish official machinery is only just staggering to its feet. In 1996, a new Reproductive and Child Health Care programme acknowledged for the first time that teenagers have reproductive needs and required information and services.

A national framework for sex education exists, but it may take five more years before policy becomes reality, admits P.R. Dasgupta, Education Secretary in the State Department of Education. This is because teachers need training and parents need sensitising at the same time, and parent-teacher association are weak and in many places non-existent.

Some women's rights campaigners fear that the long-awaited policy, instead of promoting responsible individual choice, will merely preach abstinence until marriage. "The obsession with chastity is an expression of the patriarchal value system,'' says Professor Jasodhara Bagchi, a reputed academic and women's activist.

"The concept of responsible choice is undoubtedly central to sex education. But we couldn't keep it in our framework,'' admits J.L. Pandey of the Government's department of Population Education, citing strong objection at the top.

Calcutta teens don't have five years to wait. In the meanwhile, NGOs continue to battle "principals who say we can talk about AIDS but not condoms; menstruation and hygiene but not pregnancy or the health risks of too-early childbirth and certainly not contraceptives,'' Mahua Sen of Parivar Seva Sanstha says.
(Unnati Features)