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On
Record When power
brokers rule the roost in varsity campuses |
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Profile Reflections Diversities
— Delhi Letter
Kashmir
Diary
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On Record
With rising oil import
bill and growing demand for energy, India is finding it hard to meet its
energy requirements. Consequently, the government has decided to tap the
estimated potential of 100,000 MW renewable energy to partially fulfill
energy needs, according to Vilas Baburao Muttemwar, Union Minister of
State for Non-Conventional Energy Sources (Independent charge). An
associate of the late Rajiv Gandhi, he has been actively involved with
the demand for a separate Vidarbha state. He has succeeded in activating
the ministry by involving the state governments and local bodies to
promote the non-conventional energy sector. In an interview to The
Sunday Tribune, he talked about his priorities and strategies to tap the
potential of this crucial sector. Excerpts: Q: What is India’s
potential in the field of renewable energy? Why has this sector remained
untapped so far? A: India has a huge potential for new renewable
energy (RE). In addition, there is an unlimited scope for generating
power through solar, wind and micro-hydel projects. However, only a
fraction of the aggregate potential in renewables and particularly solar
energy has been utilised so far. This sector has mostly remained
untapped due to high cost of technology, centralised functioning of the
departments concerned in states and high subsidy to the conventional
energy sectors like hydel power, petrol and diesel. India spends
billions of dollars on oil imports as our domestic production is very
low. So, with the increase in the cost of petro products and with
growing demand for energy, this sector would play a crucial role in
meeting the energy requirements of the nation. Q: What are your
priorities? How do you plan to attract private investors to this
sector? A: We have decided to promote the renewable energy sector
as the "power of future." Our objective is "Ghar-ghar
Bijili, Ghar-ghar Prakash" (electricity and light in every house).
Since rural electrification may take years to reach remote villages, we
are emphasising on providing electricity to them through non-traditional
sources like solar, wind or biogas. The Ministry has sent a message
across the nation, through the national conference of state chief
ministers and awareness campaigns, that we cannot always depend upon the
limited resources of fossil fuels. As the international crude oil prices
are rising, private investors should invest in the solar, wind power,
micro-hydel power projects and other renewable energy programmes to meet
the energy demand in the urban and rural areas. Since there is almost
"zero cost" for solar or wind power generation, the private
sector can make good money. Q: What is the Ministry’s achievement
so far in this sector? Has any big company come forward to invest in
this sector. A: At present the wind, biomass and small hydro power
contribute about 4.5 per cent of the total installed power generating
capacity, which currently aggregates to about 5000 MW. Biogas and solar
lightings have reached 3.5 million and 1 million households
respectively. A large number of private companies are coming forward to
invest in solar, wind power and other non-conventional energy sectors.
Reliance has announced to set up 500 MW wind power projects in Tamil
Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat. The government has chalked out a plan to
provide liberal subsidy to promote this sector apart from encouraging
the R&D sector. Q: Despite substantial subsidy, most
non-conventional energy technologies are costlier as against
conventional energy sources. How will the government promote this
sector? A: It is a misconception that solar or wind energy is
costlier than thermal or nuclear energy. Over the past 20 years,
scientists have refined the technologies and costs have been
substantially brought down. We are encouraging R&D to develop new
and cheap technologies and hope that once the demand for these products
picks up, costs would further come down. We would be able to use soon
battery powered vehicles, solar pumps, cookers, heaters, biogas run
gassifiers, bio diesel and wind power to meet most of our energy
requirements. Q: According to the Ministry of Power estimates,
about 56 per cent of rural households are still without power
connection. Does your ministry have any plans for these rural
households? A: Yes. I feel that without electricity there can be no
social development. On equity considerations, the right to electricity
can be said to be as fundamental as the right to life and liberty. We
have planned to electrify all the remote villages through renewable
energy by 2007 and all households in such villages by 2012. The target
is to install 10 per cent additional power generating capacity
corresponding to around 10,000 MW during the Tenth and Eleventh Plan
periods. The ministry also has a scheme to distribute subsidised solar
lanterns through village panchayats in the non-electrified villages,
besides encouraging individual farmers and community to install biogas
plants in the villages. Q: What are the recommendations of the
national conference of state chief ministers to promote non-conventional
energy? A: The conference has recommended to the state governments
to make it mandatory to use solar power in all the outdoor advertising
signboards. The hotels, housing societies and government offices would
be encouraged to install solar heating systems to save energy. In
addition, the states have also been urged to send proposals to provide
electricity to non-electrified villages through renewable sources. In
conformity with the Common Minimum Programme, the government will
encourage the use of bio-diesel, solar and other non-conventional energy
to create new employment opportunities in rural areas. Our estimates
reveal that with an investment of Rs 20 lakh the energy needs of a
village of 100 households can be met through biomass-run gassifiers. We
are planning to make a beginning this year itself by covering around 500
villages. Eventually, the programme will cover around 25,000 remote
villages and 1,75,000 forest fringe villages. Utilisation of available
biomass resource and its production along with oil-bearing trees, raised
by local community would form the basis of the programme. |
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When power brokers rule the roost in While
the universities replicate the universe of knowledge and wisdom, our universities have also come to epitomise the subtleties and intricacies of complex political processes. The university academics are so intensely engaged in the power games that either they have become oblivious of their prime activity of academics and research, or these institutions have been relegated to a secondary position. As a result of the power dynamics, feudalistic structures have ostensibly emerged and entrenched tenaciously in an otherwise serene and sacred ambience of the campuses. The ego-boosting lust and glamour of power, by manipulating power equations on the campuses, have tempted the academicians more than the sagely quest for unravelling the mysteries of knowledge and learning. The university campuses have come to truly reflect the mirror image of the power dynamics and struggle characterising the national polity. Instead of gaining prominence and power through academics and research, teachers’ groups on the campuses have blatantly indulged in reinforcing their power by enlarging their fold of rank ‘followers’, either by promising them to extract trivial benefits, or by charming them with an aura of their ‘connections’. The ‘followers’ also show their eagerness to join the entrenched groups, perhaps to camouflage their reluctance to work. The leaders of such entrenched groups thus assume the role of bourgeois rent-seekers or
powerbrokers. Hence the erosion of work ethos and the pursuit of nonacademic achievements in the campuses. These powerbrokers in the university campuses have formed their pressure groups and draw and reinforce their
tentalising strength through myriad ways and sources. Some entrenched pressure groups connive with the authorities, and their leaders prop up their grip with the backing of the high-ups in the campuses. These go-betweens in turn enable their rank followers to extract some trifle benefits from the authorities, and the latter also feel safe and smug in the company of their henchmen and minions. Through this power brokering syndrome, a euphoric sense prevails in the campuses, which is enough to subdue any well meaning academic activity. Campus atmosphere apparently looks solemn, but becomes academically sterile. There are others who take the union route. The group leaders among the campus teaching fraternity hold a constant threat to the authorities, who, out of lurking apprehension of teachers’ activism try to humour their leaders and, in turn, the leaders continue to tactfully help in diffusing any potential conflicting situation for the authorities. Thus, the teachers’ leaders enjoy a unique rent-seeking position vis-a-vis the authorities and the follower teachers. In this process, they relentlessly usurp both the official power and the tacit support of their rank followers in lieu of their intermediary role. However, in this bargain, neither the teachers’ interests get substantially protected as a community, nor it excites the teachers to pursue higher achievements due to the illusion of their proclaimed ‘protection’. The result is the spiral of low work and low accomplishment level. But the powerbrokers continue to have a field day. There are also those who try to gain leverage through political connections. It is most unbecoming of a teacher and an academician to boast and flaunt his political connections. Some even try to facilitate the entry of petty politicians into the governing bodies of the universities to boost and utilise their political links for reinforcing their power brokering. Thus outside political interference makes inroads into an otherwise autonomous and placid academic system as also breeds the cult of intermediaries among the faculty who attract and enlarge their following. There are still other pressure groups among the campus fraternity who try to use their brawns and nuisance value to demoralise and bamboozle the authorities and force them to submit to their pressure tactics to extract benefits for themselves and their associates at the cost of other colleagues. Similarly, some teachers’ groups have also been observed to be abusing student power to intimidate and coerce authorities to surrender to their designs and thus empower their rent-seeking behaviour. Some others themselves take positions of authority and become a part of the establishment in the campuses and are in a better position to distribute largesse among followers thus enhancing their ego boosting power-brokering activity. Whatever the route or the trick, by which the conmen among the teaching community in the campuses exalt their rentseeking position, and throw their weight around to boost their egos, academics and learning suffer. Everyone feels complacent under the protection of power brokers in the universities, instead of struggling and straining to excel. The authorities continue to discriminate and mess up rule implementation, while the teaching community continues to remain bogged down at low level of effort. The campuses degenerate and become cesspools of stagnant academic activity, but power brokering and rent seeking continues to snowball and become self-sustaining. Unfortunately, in the modern day university campuses, whereas political connections, pressure groups and authoritative stances are used by academicians to enhance their power and prestige, knowledge and inquisitive learning do not seem to be empowering anyone. Organisation of academic and debating forums among teachers, ideological debates and discussions, and constitution of research groups to foster constructive academic interaction, have simply become extinct. Conscientious researchers or keen observers are derided and jeered at as rank outsiders. Intriguing and sleazy power games with instant mundane rewards, howsoever trivial, attract young academics and are substantially rewarding. Instead of rewarding and patting serious thinking and research, power brokers have come to rule the roost in the contemporary university campuses as in the muddied mainstream national politics. This speaks volumes for the absence of practical relevance of university education and instructions for national
development. The writer is Professor of Economics, Punjab School of Economics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar |
Profile Nothing sums up Gautam's personality better than a documentary on him, produced by a 27-year-old youth with no experience of film making. Initially, Gautam was skeptical and later agreed, reluctantly though, to face the young man, Amar Roy 's camera. It took two years of hard work to shoot "The View Finder", which traces Gautam's evolution as a creative film maker and captures his dreams and aspirations on the screen. Interesting anecdotes, interviews of people from the film world and footage of Gautam's own films make the documentary lively. As a screen playwright for "Abar Aranye" (In the Forest…Again), he has penned a powerful movie, picking up from where Satyajit Ray's "Aranyer Din Rati" (Days and Nights in the Forest) ended. Gautam says: "I always wanted to make a film on a journey. Watching Ray's films again and again, I suddenly thought, why not put the same actors "In the
Forest.. Again". Taking off from Ray's film, he tells a different story in different time; journey is common but undertaken by two generations. "Socio-economic pressures make us say things were different 30 years ago, but changes are external, not internal", he says. He was certainly not competing with Ray. In the sixties, four city-bread youngmen had wandered into the jungles of Palamau (Bihar) for a vacation. This was in Ray's "Aranyer Din Ratri". In the new millennium, three of them decided to return to the forest in trip down the memory lane. There are major changes. One of them is dead, while another is dying of cancer. They are accompanied this time by their spouses and children. Even the forest is different because Palamau, now infested by Maoists, is unsafe for tourists. They drive off into the more picturesque forests of North Bengal. Gautam's first film, "Mabhoomi", depicts the workers' uprising against the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was a moving account of the era of Independence struggle from 1930 to 1948 and was well received. Produced in Telugu, it was about the Telangana peasants' revolt in 1948 based on a short story by noted Hindi writer Krishan Chander. Strangely, Gautam's first film was shot in a language, not known to him. He was surprised when, while shooting, the illiterate villagers pointed out how the costumes did not reflect the way it was put at the time of uprising. Amends were accordingly made. It was a great learning experience for Gautam. His another film, "Antarjali Yatra" dealt with the evils of the caste system. In olden days, people were to be married in their caste. Since people from one's caste were very few, often a young girl would have to be married to a very old man as inter-caste marriages were not allowed. An old man was shown on his death-bed in the film. His relatives take him near the burning ghat, hoping that his end would come soon. The relatives were apparently interested in the dying man's property. By a turn of destiny, the old man suddenly recovered and the rest of the story followed. Gautam's another film, "Paar", displayed his firm command of the medium and deep social insight. It had a talented caste of performers compromising Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi. It opens with darkness falling on a small village in Bihar. In the huts of the poor Harijan labourers, the hearths are being lit when the stillness of the night is broken by the noise of advancing motorbikes and jeeps. The landlord's henchmen appear out of the dark, carrying torches and guns. The huts are set on fire, men pulled out and gunned down. In the cover of darkness, only a handful escape the holocaust and the story begins
here. |
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Reflections During my last visit to Delhi, I was invited to speak to a classroom full of practicing managers of public sector companies on the subject of visionary team leaders. They were all undergoing a course on the subject of developing leadership. The subject was interesting for me and I had my ideas on approaching it. For I was in no mood to lecture on such a practicing subject and do the talking. The practicing managers were under the impression that I was going to make big perhaps an audio visual power point presentation or a speech. Or perhaps give one large sermon. Instead they ended up doing something very different and perhaps enjoyed it as much as I did. After the few formalities were over, I began by asking the practicing managers how they saw leadership happening around them. What was their perception about the current leadership? And how was it impacting them? How did they rate those they expected to be visionary leaders? To be honest, I too was curious to know what they had to say. They were around 200 of them (no small number) and appeared very willing. Perhaps it's not often that they get a listener, I felt. One by one to my just one question as what they thought of their leaders, made them pour out their observations. As I saw the outpourings begin I picked up the colour pen and started to write on the flip chart behind me. For all to see what was being said, and to avoid a repetition and also for them to see and reflect. It also proved to be the most practical way of recall of what had been said so far. Hence without repetition they stated as they felt internally. It just became a very interesting inventory. An eye-opener! One which is perhaps relevant for all of us who are in leadership positions at any level, and are willing to look in the mirror. This was how the senior managers viewed the current leadership. The leaders they said: (1) Do not practice accountability (2) Use verbal and physical violence (3) Are insincere (4) Shift responsibility (5) Practice short term goals (6) Allowing and involved in rampant corruption (7) Are selfish (8) Live and indulge in falsehood (9) Are hypocrites (10) Are insensitive (11) Lacking in dedication (12) Glorify themselves (13) Are bad role models (14) Live in false esteem (15) Have a herd mentality (16) Are ignorant on many issues of national interest (17) Have vested interests (18) Are indecisive (19) Many are even immoral (20) Many also have criminal records (21) Many are not reliable (22) They have hidden agendas and wear masks of public interest (23) They are power seekers (24) Basically they are cowards for they are afraid of exposure (25) Are merely opportunists (26) Are also manipulators (27) They exploit people (28) Are also very superstitious (29) Are also very arrogant (All their words as they stated). I had to halt them for it was getting too long. And that was not really the only purpose.... Now once all the managers had really had their fill, I asked them to audit themselves, similarly and see how many of those same flaws they were seeing in others, be their own too? For not to forget they were all leaders as well. For the levels below them. I suggested, "While you see the shortcomings of others, consider examining your own self." Hence the learning was: whenever we see flaws in others it ought to make us equally look at our own selves as well. And then be sure, somewhere in some class their juniors may be doing the similar exercise concerning them — listing out the 29 deficiencies we listed out, together. Remember, I said, "we all want the best, but only at times from others, without providing our own". This is the reason why we did this exercise to look into the mirror. Not only how beautiful or handsome we look externally but how good and beautiful we are internally, and more particularly for those we
serve. |
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Diversities — Delhi Letter
This
week saw the release of the report of the "Action Research on Trafficking in Women and Children" by National Human Rights Commission Chairperson Justice A.S. Anand. Trafficking of women and children has become a lucrative business. Either there is an increase in demand or the numbers of those in the flesh trade have become more consolidated and with that laws and acts don't really deter them. Justice Anand's address was crisp, focussing on the rape of a 14-year-old domestic girl by her two employers in New Delhi very recently. How did this girl come from West Bengal to New Delhi? Who got her? Who sold her? What happens to her now? With these haunting queries, his speech revolving around this girl left an impact on the audience. For us, it was just a routine news item, but it involves so many issues and the very life of a young girl. It's a shame on us, being called civilised. The report, brought out by the NHRC, the UN Development Fund for Women and the Institute of Social Sciences, covers over 13 states and Union Territories. It shows the strong linkage between trafficking and migration and examines the unconventional means of commercial sexual exploitation in massage parlours and bars. It also examines the new dimension of child sex workers. It says that there is a strong linkage between trafficking and those reported missing. Of the 22,480 women and 44,476 children reported missing in India, 5,452 women and 11,008 children continue to remain untraced. The data collected by interviewing 852 police officials (117 senior officials and 735 middle/junior rank officials) present the following scenario — 54.8 per cent police officers give no priority to trafficking, 25.3 per cent low priority, 12.2 per cent medium priority and only 7.7 per cent give it high priority. Books that set
you thinking I have just received a copy of "Refugee Law and Policy in India" (Public Interest Legal Support and Research Centre) by Rajeev Dhavan, senior advocate of the Supreme Court. Amitava Kumar's latest book "Husband of a Fanatic" (Penguin) was released here this weekend at the British Council. It's one of those writings that set you thinking. It dwells on the great divides of our times — the Hindu-Muslim, the India-Pakistan and the regional divides. Journalist Arvind Bhandari has written yet another book, "India: Issues and Ideas" (Inter-India). He says, he has focussed on certain relevant issues facing the country. He has not only given his views on them but even detailed on how best to counter these issues, ranging from the population problem to the entire issue of Kashmir. Sufism, in
vogue Last week, well known singer Anita Singhvi rendered "Kalam-e-khusrau" at the Sufi Music Utsav. She was bestowed with the "Faqr-e-Hind" award. This week, it was Rekha Surya rendering "Sufiyana kalam". In the midst of it, I will once again stress that it's time that these renderings took place in the places where Sufism and Sufi music actually took
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Kashmir Diary A few weeks ago, a Kashmiri friend took me to a shop off the high profile Residency Road in Srinagar. It was a curio shop that sold artifacts as well as jewellery. A grey-haired gentleman in an old fashioned suit sat at the far end of the shop and my friend took me straight to him. Addressing him by the honorific, "Pir sahib," he introduced me and requested him to look into my future. It turned out that the gentleman predicted fortunes through a system that seemed uncannily like the one Hindu astrologers use. He asked for the date, place and time of my birth and looked through a dog-eared booklet before scribbling some calculations on a piece of paper. Then he told my friend and me some things about what was likely to happen to me over the next few years. Those predictions really surprised me. For, a few months earlier, friends in Bangalore who had been concerned about my ill health had taken me to see a Hindu astrologer in that southern city. I had taken neither of the seers very seriously to begin with but was forced to take notice when the predictions of both tallied to a startling extent. The man in that shop then recommended that I wear a ring with a particular kind of gem. Now, I would have imagined that the recommendation was meant to sell one of the several stones that the shop stocked but a friend in Delhi told me later, basing her analysis on Hindu astrology, what the purpose of the stone was. It is not just the uncanny resemblance between this Islamic and the Hindu systems of astrology that is remarkable. To me, the very fact that Kashmiri Muslims put such great store by such a science is worth noting. One might think of it as superstition but it is rooted in the same sort of faith in the effect of the planets as the attitudes of many Hindus across India. Not only that, I came across a similar Muslim seer in Lahore when I spent a few days there after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's peace initiative by bus in 1999. Clearly then, this faith in the effect of the stars is rooted in the culture of the subcontinent, notwithstanding religious differences. Perhaps Dr Murli Manohar Joshi should have expanded the scope of the research into the scientific basis of astrology that he wanted, as the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, to fund. In Kashmir, however, such faith extends explicitly to the supernatural. The large majority of Kashmiris go not to such astrologers who claim to base their predictions on the effects of the cosmos but to a range of seers who claim to be inspired by God. Most common of all in Kashmir is the habit of visiting the shrines at the graves of revered persons. It has been a Kashmiri tradition since time immemorial and continues unabated despite the tremendous spread of education and knowledge of the world over the past half a century. The best known shrines are of Sheikh Nooruddin Wali at Tsrar, of Baba Reshi near Tangmarg, and of Sheikh Hamza Makhdoom Sahib at Srinagar. Hundreds of Kashmiris daily throng these shrines, particularly on Thursdays. That is the day dedicated, ironically, as with Hindu deities such as Sai Baba of Shirdi to these shrines. Nor are these major ones the only graves that Kashmiri devotees visit. Smaller shrines are to be found in every corner of the valley. The most interesting to watch, however, are the many sorts of Pirs (Sufist holy men across the valley. Some of them are dervishes and behave crazily, swaying, yelling or running naked on the roads. At a whim, they hold court in a field or assault devotees, or set them difficult tasks. There are other more sober ones, who blow blessings upon each of dozens of devotees who throng to their homes - or scribble a blessing, tie it in a green cloth and tie it upon a devotee's arm. These too, in several ways, parallel the many sadhus and other holy men who roam the villages and towns of other corners of India. In the culture then of reverence for holy men — call it religiosity or superstition — Kashmir is no less than any other part of India. Indeed, it is well
ahead. |
My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition. — Mahatma Gandhi Your fear, O god, is my hemp and my mind is the pouch which holds it; I have thus become intoxicated with Your love. With my hands as the begging bowl, I crave nothing but Your vision which I beg day after day at Your door. Bless me Lord with Your gracious sight, I call as a beggar at Your gate. — Guru Nanak The community of the living is the carriage of the Lord. — Hasidic proverb To be a Sufi is to cease from taking trouble; and there is no greater trouble for thee than thine own self, for when thou art occupied with thyself, thou remainest away from God. — Abu Sa’id |
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