Veiling the right to education

Educational institutions should focus on improving the quality of education imparted to the lakhs of students, and stop short of moral policing is a point that seems to be repeated very often that the people who have to take note are missing frequently. Two news items that have appeared earlier this week in Bantwal and Uppinangady, both places in Dakshina Kannada, highlight a disquieting trend of increasing religious intolerance and how right wing extremists are blatantly using academia as a means to an end.

Aysha Asmin, a first-year student of Sri Venkataramana Swamy College, Bantwal, was given two options by her principal Seetharamayya --- ‘abide’ by the college rules or quit. That no such rules exist or were mentioned during the time of Aysha’s admission and the college union is managed by a right-wing group is not a mere coincidence. Similar objections raised by the college management at the Government First Grade College, Uppinangady, seem to have died down after Muslim girls have been permitted to wear a head scarf for the ‘time being’.

Religious intolerance has been on the rise and Dakshina Kannada has been its epicentre in South India. The banning of burqas and the graphic visuals of hooligans, backed by Pramod Muthalik’s Sri Ram Sene, beating up boys and girls in Mangalore in January this year, details a disturbing malice that is gaining currency.

The show-cause notice issued by the district deputy commissioner is a move in the right direction and it is expected that the Department of College Education would take punitive action against the college. The state home minister, V Acharya, who has backed the college decision citing ‘discipline’, has overlooked a simple norm that ‘discipline’ and order should not be imposed or attained at the cost of an individual’s freedom as enshrined in our Constitution.

The question to be asked is why is it that the Universities Grant Commission and the ministry of education have not taken cognisance of the issue if there is a ‘rule’ in the prospectus of the government-aided college banning students from wearing a burqa, as claimed by Seetharamayya. As the ban is a clear violation of the fundamental rights, the college should be reprimanded and not just smacked on the knuckle.

The college principal’s statement ridiculing religious freedom and that he was under pressure from certain organisations, coupled with the Mangalore University vice-chancellor K M Kaveriappa’s assurance to Aysha that he would secure an admission in any college of her choice, are confessions in public that the system has bowed to antics of right-wing groups.

That colleges, and universities in some cases, insist on a dress code alibi discipline, is a reflection of the lack of maturity in thought and blinkered vision that is spreading among educational institutions at an alarming rate.

(The edited version of this can be accessed at http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Intolerance+in+academia&artid=8PA3IZ3a8eQ=&SectionID=RRQemgLywPI=&MainSectionID=RRQemgLywPI=&SectionName=XQcp6iFoWTvPHj2dDBzTNA==)

Teflon Bill takes a call

It is said that history repeats itself and it could not be more true in the case of the United States when former Democratic President Bill Clinton chose to travel more than 6,800 miles to meet America’s bête noire North Korean premier Kim Jong-Il in a meeting that the White House described as ‘solely a private mission’ to give a diplomatic hint to the release of two American journalists who were held, tried and punished in a manner that would pale banana republics elsewhere in the world.

Fifteen years ago, around the same time, Clinton, then president, had sent former president Jimmy Carter to North Korea to speak with the ‘Great Leader’. At both times Pyongyang’s used its nuclear programme as the carrot to lure the US.

The successful mission should be viewed as a personal and political triumph for Bill Clinton. From being increasingly seen as the husband of the secretary of state, though Hillary is yet to make a mark of her own in an Obama Administration full of influential White House aides, to a former president who has a diplomatic panache and international presence that cannot be ignored, Bill Clinton is all set to be in the spotlight if Obama’s press secretary Robert Gates’ statement that the two presidents are to get together ‘sometime soon’ is to be believed.

While the administration is still reeling in the triumph of what Obama described as an ‘extraordinary humanitarian effort’, critics have not taken kindly to the fact that the US has yielded to a rouge regime and in the event legitimised it. It is argued that the trip has portrayed Washington in poor light for kowtowing Jung-Il and would encourage other countries, like Iran, to use arm-twisting tactics in the future to meet their ends. These allegations, however, would not hold water as Clinton, a private man today, has gone in his personal capacity and has not billed the exchequer for the North Korea trip. He has tapped his business contacts and well-wishers of the William J Clinton Foundation. Moreover, the administration was quick to distance itself from the rescue mission with secretary of state Hillary Clinton reiterating that US policies towards North Korea ‘remain the same’.

What was the deal or the compromises made, if any, is not clear yet, but from either point of view it is a win-win settlement. For an ailing Kim Jung-Il, who wants to handover a powerful N-nation to his youngest son Kim Jong Un, the release is a propaganda gimmick and a masterstroke that would silence the voices of dissent in Pyongyang as well as reaffirm the power of his dynasty.

In the coming days it would be interesting to see if there is a shift in the stand either country adopts, or of any developments within North. There are also chances of Obama extending his ‘open hand’ all the way up to the Supreme People’s Assembly.

Moonwalking all our lives

As I had some writing to meet a deadline, I went to bed at around 3.30 am on Friday June 26. By then news channels were breaking the news that Michael Jackson was rushed to a UCLA hospital. I didn’t think much of it for two reasons. One MJ has been having a hard time keeping himself fit, especially for the concerts lined up in London. The second was that the media frenzy for everything has been so overdone that ‘breaking news’ is no more breaking enough.
I dozed off with the television on. I woke up around seven (IST) and got to know the bad news. I managed to break my spectacles by sleeping over them. I felt strange. Not because my specks were broken but because it was not the first time I was sleeping over them. The sinister omen was right. After putting together my specks I gazed at the TV and Anderson Cooper broke the news. ‘King of Pop Michael Jackson passes away’ (1958- 2009). I surfed other channels and all were ‘breaking’ the news. An Indian news channel had even sniffed a conspiracy angle to it by then.
For someone who missed the Beatlemania, Elvis and many more, MJ was what filled the gaps in aspiration. MJ was a child star (by the early 80s he had attained cult status), was coloured and had a charming innocence that prompted every parent to wish their child was a MJ.
Growing up in the Arab world, in Kuwait among other places, it would seem strange to say that in the concoction of friends I had, Michael Jackson was a rage. Yes from dishdasha flaunting Arabs to Spaniards who popularised the Berumda shorts breakdancing was the coolest thing to do – on Friday evenings, after football matches and even near souks. Moonwalking was a good way of connecting with the local boys. Though we could not figure out a word they said, and for them what we said, the only common thread we had was music and in the 80s music was Michael Jackson. MJ pushed us to moonwalk near the subways, sneak to school with our walkmans playing Thriller blasting our eardrums. Adding to this, girls liked MJ; they like boys who either played MJ, looked like him or who could dance like him. Where Stevie Wonder, Phil Collins, Bobby McFerrin and George Michael failed, Bad worked.
MJ raised a phenomenal craze for black jackets and white gloves. I always made it a point to wear white socks and pointed toe shoes. How could I forget the black shades. Finding a pair for kids was hard and we resorted to the big ones that rested on our cheekbones. But who was complaining. With our shades, shoes and jacket we were also MJ!
My first MJ video, as far as I recollect, was a collection that had video songs of Thriller, Bad, Dirty Diana and many more. A Pakistani friend who had cousins in the US managed to get hold of an assortment of MJ video songs and Moonwalker. All friends huddled up in Jude’s house. Those days we didn’t have compact discs and VHS’ was the best. As Jude pushed the VHS in (it always took an awful lot of time to start) all of us were staring at the dictionary-type VHS cover. We played, replayed and replayed the songs forever. Music, dance and style were never the same again. All of us friends hugged Jude. Never did I feel so much love for a Pakistani.
Being on the healthy side, as a kid there were people always taunting me to reduce the flab. If at all I felt the need to trim down it was because I wanted to shake my leg like the King of Pop. There was also another reason for aspiring to follow MJ. My brother, five years elder to me, was a lookalike of MJ. His lean built, coloured complexion, big sparkling white eyes and natural curls helped him earn the status of a neighbourhood MJ. To top this he was a singer and knew that he could pull a moonwalk with equal grace (something that I still can’t do).
Maybe it was this deep bounding that later down the years I found it hard to believe his fall from grace. During all the scandals and innumerable eccentricities there was always a voice in me saying that he was paying the price for being popular. I kept telling myself and the world that sneered at him: ‘Wait, he’s gonna come out clean and put to rest all these scandals. His next album is gonna make history’.
The whole world was looking forward to the concerts in July. I hope he is remembered for the music he gave and not his personal life; that he would be shown justice denied to him while he was alive.
Michael Joe Jackson went away before he could sing his last song and receive his last standing ovation.
MJ - thank you for the culture, thank you for the revolution and thank you for the music. Thank you Michael Jackson.

Reforms at the cost of education

Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, probably is all pepped about warming a Cabinet seat and wants to have an impressive progress report at the end of 100 days while Manmohan Singh examines it. Heeding the suggestions from ‘a group of experts’ the minister has proposed for a unified system of evaluation for the Board examinations. The minister might have been referring to the Yashpal report titled The Committee to Advice on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education which was submitted to the government in March earlier this year. The Left has seen red over Sibal’s remarks and it is not without reason. While the report has taken objection to the unaccounted growth of private educational institutions and deemed universities and suggested a halt in further allotment of such institutions until proper guidelines are set, its suggestion for private sector involvement in primary education is a step if not taken cautiously would lead to irreversible damage.

It is a fact that the present system of evaluation with focus on two board exams, one in tenth and the other in twelfth standard, is a burden on students for the shear amount of pressure it exerts on them, not to mention the family.

The tremendous pressure, an alibi used by naysayers criticising the education pattern, is not a product of the system, but our creation. It is the taunting and torture primarily from parents, teachers and peer groups, and secondarily from the society and media that push students to extremes.
A unified system of evaluation is not the answer to rectify the existing malice in a system that has been applauded by many developed countries. Ask any child who has had part of his/her education in India before moving to the US, UK or Australia, and they would sing paeans of the system back home.

The proposal for a grading system is a road that leads to nowhere. An example for this could be Kerala which has only recently shifted to it. This year the state has recorded a phenomenal pass percentage of 91.2 or for every 100 students who gave the exam, only nine failed. Even is we were to momentarily blink at this ‘great feat’ and attribute no political undercurrent to the ‘achievement’, do we have the required higher education infrastructure to meet the demand? And in cases where they are present, does it meet the required criterion?

It is a fact that primary and secondary education is on a strong footing when compared to the quality, and availability, of higher education in India. It is only good sense to disturb the strong foot once the other is firmly placed. Change, on the other hand, is always welcome, unless it is for the sake of it.

Malady of state defining religion

On Monday, June 22, French President Nicolas Sarkozy created history in at least two ways. With his address to lawmakers at the historic Chateau at Versailles, he became the first president in 136 years to address a gathering at the venue. The Greens and communist kept away from the address stating that the selection of the venue smacked of Sarkozy’s thirst for power.

The other was his denouncement of the burqa worn by Muslim women as a sign of ‘subservience and debasement’. France has a substantial population of Muslims and at around five million it is the largest in Western Europe, the ‘developed’ side of the continent. French authorities have agreed to set up a commission to study the spread of burqa wearing after 60 MPs signed a petition to this effect demanding an inquiry.

In 2004, France imposed a ban on wearing apparel that had a religious insignia to schools. This included the hijab, Sikh turbans, Jewish skullcaps and crucifixes. This created a stir but was later eased. Sarkozy’s is not a lone voice but one of the many across Europe who think that the burqa, hijab and niqab are a hindrance to personal freedom. Voices of dissent have risen in other parts of Europe and the world. In 2003 the schools in Sweden were allowed to ban burqa’s while the Dutch stopped short of banning it in 2008. Not to forget the Sikh protest in Vancouver, among other places, against a ban on turbans in Canada.

As all debates have two sides and so does this. While Sarkozy, and the European community, which gives paramount importance to individual freedom, might have a point in terming the burqa as a means of subjugating women and treating them as ‘mobile prisons’, Sarkozy overstepped by saying that it was ‘not a religious symbol’. Religion, at best, should not be a subject of national debate and its practices should not be defined by the secular democracy.

That Sarkozy has said this at a time when France is going through a crisis also indicates that its principle of ethnic assimilation is failing – a fact he observed in his speech while stating that the present immigration model was not working. Sarkozy’s reaction can also be attributed to France’s near xenophobic adherence to guarding its or secularism which is its religion. But what the authorities fail to realise is that if they manage laicite to pass a resolution banning the burqa in public places, it would be a great injustice towards women who enjoy a certain level of freedom because it would further lead to the cloistering of womenfolk.

The irony in the whole episode is that after pronouncing the burqa’s as not , Sarkozy and Carla Bruni were playing good hosts at the Elysee Palace to the Emir of Qatar Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani who was joined by one of his wives Sheika Mozah, whose head was covered in an elegant turban.
(Edited version of this can be found for six days from day of post at http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Intention+unveiled&artid=NxWzmhVMuEA%3d&SectionID=RRQemgLywPI%3d&MainSectionID=RRQemgLywPI%3d&SectionName=XQcp6iFoWTvPHj2dDBzTNA%3d%3d)

A lame Rule 49(0)

The recent reports from our Tamil Nadu bureau stating the difficulties voters faced on election day at polling booths should have the Election Commission concerned given that it is considered that the five-phase general elections was relatively peaceful. The issue in mention is the widespread intimidation and harassment voters faced at polling booths for opting Rule 49(0). In a case where a voter does not favour any of the candidates contesting from a constituency and would want to exercise his/her franchise Rule 49(0) can be used where the vote would be recorded, but in favour of none.
If in Uthapuram, infamous for the caste divide, more than 500 women shied from voting zero, more than 5,000 victims of the airport expansion drive in Sriperumbudur backed out from voting --- in both cases fearing thugs hovering around the polling booths. Reports also said that voters, overcoming fear, who opted Rule 49(0) were left to the mercy of ill-informed polling officers who made them wait for hours, mocked at them and chided voters for their preference.
For all the pride we take in our democracy and elaborate voting mechanism such instances pose serious questions about the rate of inclusiveness and fairness of the system followed. The thugs at polling booths, in spite of the presence of paramilitary forces, were not local boys flexing their muscles but, in all probability, mercenaries hired by political parties to alter the tide in their favour.
The level of protocol awareness of the polling officers should also be of unease for the Election Commission. It should be agreed that while there are awareness drives to familiarise the EVM, not much is done when it comes to Rule 49(0). It is a matter of concern that the PIL filed in the Supreme Court by Peoples Union for Civil Liberties in 2004 seeking a ‘None Of The Above’ option in EVMs seems to be in limbo.
There seems to be an unfair bias that the franchise is secret only if the choice is against a name in the EVM and not while opting for Rule 49(0). This being the case, it is little surprise that large sections of the society refuse to ink their finger, in many cases mass poll boycott being reported. An option on the lines of Rule 49(0) in the EVM can prevent people abstaining from participating in democracy. With an increase in voter percentage it would also prompt political parties to introspect, field better candidates and discuss people’s issues. This is a win-win situation.

Let there be a pet in Race Course

What’s common in Fellar, Checkers, Billy, Macaroni, Drunkard, Tipler, Tipsy, White Tips, Millie, Socks…? While this election season it could be mistaken for the list of the people who have hurled a footwear at a leader, the list has nothing to do with the hustings or India. They are the names of the First Pets in the White House in America to which the latest addition is Bo, a Portuguese water dog. Perhaps the most talked about issue during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, after his religious leaning and multi-cultural upbringing, must have been the promised presidential pet. Since the time of its announcement all sorts of speculations have been made about the pedigree and type of canine the Obamas would opt for. All the talk about a dog would seem weird to many but for anyone with a fair smattering of the history of US presidency, knows only too well the importance of a pet in the White House. Pets have known to make and break presidencies. If Richard Nixon’s ‘Checkers Speech’, named after his cocker spaniel, saved him his bid for presidency, it was Fellar, another cocker spaniel, which tarnished President Truman’s image after he decided to do away with the dog.

The point we would like to stress over here and encourage is the idea of inculcating the practise of a first pet for 7, Race Course Road. Not that it would be mimicking the United States but it might bring a certain character and command of respect which, many argue, at present is wanting.

Rumour mills touted that Obama, who breezed through Pennsylvania Avenue with the promise for change, would use the choice of a pet for furthering diplomatic relations. In the same vein it was suggested that Fidel Castro present Obama a Havanese or Felipe Calderón present a Chihuahua or a Xolo, given the preference for a furless breed.

Similarly, the next prime minister of India, who would be decided after the May 16, could further the bilateral relations with our neighbours by adopting a Bully Kutta from Pakistan, a Black Hill from Nepal, a Lhasa Apso from Tibet or a Chow Chow from China.

Pet power is not just a feature that is confined to the US. Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s poodles, Pakistani dictator-president General Pervez Musharraf’s Whisky, are only a few of the celebrity First Pets.
Our word of advise for the next incumbent in South Block would be give the nation a first pet and the news-craving media would make it a celebrity. On the brighter side, it could also bark at any opposition whenever required.