O P I N I O N S

PERSPECTIVE

A Tribune Special
Left, BJP on a slide
The Congress can rest easy for now, says Amulya Ganguli
There is good news for the opponents of the Left and the BJP. As the recent post-poll meetings of these two political formations showed, they have drawn virtually no worthwhile lessons from their setbacks. As a result, they are expected to stick to their old ways even if these lead downhill.

Cyclone Aila swept away many lives in Bengal
by Sonia Sarkar
Ten-year-old Madhumita loves school and hopes one day to be a teacher. But she hasn’t been able to go to school and all her textbooks have been destroyed after Cyclone Aila hit her delta village in West Bengal.

OPED

Education Policy — A Tribune Debate 
Explore linkages
Making teaching and learning meaningful
by Shelley Walia
The radical measures in the education system in India suggested by Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal envisage a programme that will take teaching and learning towards new frontiers of knowledge. Apart from the changes suggested for initiating a single school Board, he also plans to bring in grading instead of marks that would accompany the credit transfer system operating within the semester system that would be introduced in all universities across the country.

On Record
The best of minds should enter politics: Narayan
by Suresh Dharur
The recent elections in Andhra Pradesh may have been a fight for power among the traditional parties but a strong undercurrent of public support for the new language and agenda of Lok Satta did not go unnoticed. Despite heavy odds, Dr N. Jayaprakash Narayan, founder of Lok Satta, who quit the IAS after 16 years of service, won from Kukatpally Assembly constituency in Hyderabad. This may well be the beginning of a new political culture gaining acceptance.

Profile
An accomplished diplomat
by Harihar Swarup
In a male-dominated world, women have been fast reaching the top, particularly in India. And, they do so purely on merit even as political parties vie with each other to ensure 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament.

PERSPECTIVE

A Tribune Special
Left, BJP on a slide
The Congress can rest easy for now, says Amulya Ganguli

There is good news for the opponents of the Left and the BJP. As the recent post-poll meetings of these two political formations showed, they have drawn virtually no worthwhile lessons from their setbacks. As a result, they are expected to stick to their old ways even if these lead downhill.

Consequently, their adversaries, of whom the Congress is the most prominent, can expect a relatively easy ride in the immediate future compared to the months leading up to the general election when the Left, the BJP and the BSP, among others, were creating an atmosphere of impending doom.

In contrast, the coming weeks are likely to see these three parties and groups too busy dealing with their internal problems to pose any threat to their political enemies. The Left and the BJP could have avoided some of the wrangling in their back rooms if they had taken a hard, unsentimental look at the reasons for their reverses. However, having failed to do so, both the Communists and the “fascists” will continue to flounder in their inner contradictions.

The BSP, of course, is in a different category, being a one-person party. As such, it will stand and fall only on the basis of what the leader decides. The organisation as a whole is virtually irrelevant in its case.

Curiously, the Left, too, has come to depend almost exclusively on the predilections of one person, i.e. Mr Prakash Karat. But it has at least acknowledged the mistake of chasing the Third Front chimera probably because its illusory nature could hardly be ignored.

However, on the related point of withdrawing support from the Manmohan Singh government, the CPM has refused to admit that it was wrong although it has conceded that it failed to explain its position to the people. But then, the CPM’s reaffirmation of the essential correctness of its stand shows its susceptibility to making similar dogmatic mistakes in the future. Even the drastic reduction of its seats in the Lok Sabha from 43 in 2004 to 16 this time does not seem to have convinced the Marxists that they did anything wrong.

Since the withdrawal of support was the most crucial of all the decisions they took last summer, they might have at least pondered over why their anti-American posture failed to impress the electorate. Such an assessment was all the more necessary in view of the reports that Mr Jyoti Basu was among those who had opposed the move.

So did a person of the stature of Professor Amartya Sen, who cannot be considered anti-Left by any stretch of the imagination. Beside, as Mr Somnath Chatterjee’s recent observations show, there were people inside the party, mainly in West Bengal, who may have agreed with Mr Karat’s opposition to the nuclear deal, but not with his insistence on withdrawing support.

Yet, if even a post-poll analysis largely approved of the fateful step, it is a sign either of the fact that there are not many in the party who have the intellectual certitude to stand up to Mr Karat, or that blind adherence to an anti-imperialist dogma remains the CPM’s guiding force.

If this is the case, then the party is sure to lose further ground in the coming days since its outdated doctrine obviously does not enjoy a wide measure of support among the ordinary people. What is more, as it tumbles down, it will take the other Left parties along with it since they are too small to stand on their own.

The reason for the Left’s rise at one time, mainly in West Bengal and Kerala, was the perception of the high integrity of its leaders. Since the Congress was badly tainted by corruption charges in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, it was the moral rectitude of leaders like Mr Jyoti Basu, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, A.K.Gopalan and others which propelled the Communists to their nearly unassailable positions as the standard-bearers in those days.

Given the inestimable value of their probity, the people were willing to overlook their ideological angularities, especially when these did not threaten to unsettle the existing system.

But the scene is different today. As the allegations faced by Mr Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala show, the Left leaders can no longer claim to be beyond reproach. In West Bengal, apart from Mr Jyoti Basu, Mr Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and a few senior leaders, the common man has no illusions about the reputation of the average Leftist leader.

So, when dogmatic stubbornness combines with the venality of the local leaders and the thuggish conduct of the cadres, electoral support is bound to decline. It may be too early to write the Left’s obituary, but it will obviously take a superhuman effort by its leaders and the rank and the file to lift it up from its present lowly position.

Like the Left, the BJP, too, is hobbled by its ideology. But its problems are different from those of the comrades in two respects. First, the party adopted Hindutva via the Ramjanmabhoomi movement only two decades ago. Secondly, the BJP is not the master of its own destiny.

Being a party of the RSS-led Sangh Parivar, it cannot afford to defy the head of the family. As a result, even if some in the party, like Jaswant Singh, want to redefine Hindutva, the BJP cannot do so because the RSS remains firmly committed to the theory.

Yet, the belief among sections in the BJP such as its Muslim members and those associated with it like Sudheendra Kulkarni is that Hindutva or cultural nationalism is perceived as an anti-minority world-view because of the phrase, one culture, in the definition of cultural nationalism — one nation, one people, one culture.

Since such a stance militates against the country’s multicultural tenets, the BJP remains suspect in the eyes of the minorities and liberals as long as it follows this line. However, since the RSS will not allow it the luxury of any deviation, the BJP’s chances of attaining power at the Centre in the near future via the NDA are not very bright.

It isn’t only the dim prospects of both the Left and the BJP which are a matter of solace to the Congress. Some of the caste-based parties, too, have shot themselves in the foot to mark the possible end to the Mandal era, which also began two decades ago with V.P. Singh’s implementation of the Mandal report on reservations for the backward castes.

However, while reaping political dividends from their casteist assertions, parties like the RJD, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP not only shunned the path of development, but have also showed themselves to be out of sync with the modern world. As much is evident from Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s condemnation of computers and Ms Mayawati’s narcissistic penchant for erecting statues of herself. Parties and leaders such as these can hardly pose a serious challenge to the Congress at the Centre.

Nothing emphasised the inadequacies of caste-based and regional parties more than the collapse of the Third Front idea floated by the Left. As an assessment by the CPM has noted, “the reliability of some of the partners (of the front) was suspect”, apparently because of their limited outlook. The process of the rise of parties based on communalism (the BJP), casteism (the RJD, the BSP) and communism is seemingly coming to an end.

Cyclone Aila swept away many lives in Bengal
by Sonia Sarkar

The people of the delta region have seen storms, cyclones and floods and have learned to fight with them but this time the destruction is enormous

Ten-year-old Madhumita loves school and hopes one day to be a teacher. But she hasn’t been able to go to school and all her textbooks have been destroyed after Cyclone Aila hit her delta village in West Bengal.

Madhumita’s parents are trying to collect what little remains of their household effects after their home was wrecked in the violent storm.

Her family of nine has sought refuge on a nearby mud embankment in Gosaba in the Sunderbans delta famous for its forests and tigers.

Fourteen of the delta’s 37 islands remain inaccessible after the cyclone hit the region. An estimated 5.1 million people have been affected in the state.

“This is unimaginable. I have not seen such destruction like this in my life,” laments Kripa Sindhu Pradhan, an old man in the village. “We have seen storms, cyclones and floods and have learned to fight with them but this time destruction is enormous.

“Embankments which used to protect us from the high tide water broke down, and water just gushed in.” Sister Jessya, a health volunteer with Palli Unnayan Samiti, an NGO working in the district, shakes her head regretfully. “We had to travel by boat and cycle van to reach our areas of work. Now everything is washed away and we will have to start all over again.”

It will take time for water to dry. With the barriers gone, water comes and goes with the high and low tides. Rajesh, an NGO volunteer, has tear-filled eyes as we travel together in the field. Having lost his home, he worries that, “The monsoon has arrived. What will happen now?”

A Rapid Assessment Team from UNICEF’s West Bengal office visited the Gosaba islands by boat and met many affected women and children. Reaching out to these inaccessible villages is a challenge.

Schools like Madhumita’s that survived the storm are being used as shelters. Safe drinking water, food and shelter are urgently in demand.

“We saw village after village under water, children and their parents on broken embankments, trying to salvage whatever was left of their homes and belongings. People were trying to save their belongings by using home built banana rafts,” says Nasir Ateeq, UNICEF’s Programme Communication Specialist who was part of UNICEF’s rapid assessment team. “The death toll was less in places where they heard the radio warning. We saw carcasses of cattle in water and dead fishes. This will make the area prone to water borne diseases after the water recedes,” adds Parnasri Ray Choudhury, UNICEF’s Emergency Officer in West Bengal.

The Government of West Bengal has moved in tarpaulins, water pouches and packets of dry foods for those affected by the cyclone. The Indian National Disaster Response force is helping with search and rescue in the affected areas.

UNICEF, through its partners, Ramakrishna Mission Lokshiksha Parishad (RKMLP) and 12 cluster organisations, is moving in its pre-positioned emergency supplies that include 2,000 water jerry cans, 800,000 halogen tablets, 3,134 family hygiene kits and 90,000 ORS packets.

UNICEF is coordinating its response with other member organisations of the State Inter Agency Group on Disaster Management, which supports the government’s emergency relief.

The writer is Communication Officer (Media), UNICEF, India, New Delhi

OPED

Education Policy — A Tribune Debate
Explore linkages
Making teaching and learning meaningful
by Shelley Walia

The radical measures in the education system in India suggested by Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal envisage a programme that will take teaching and learning towards new frontiers of knowledge. Apart from the changes suggested for initiating a single school Board, he also plans to bring in grading instead of marks that would accompany the credit transfer system operating within the semester system that would be introduced in all universities across the country.

It would be pertinent to mention that the Panjab University had taken the decision to introduce the semester system along with grading and dual degrees in the university as well as in the affiliated colleges much before the stipulation by the University Grants Commission.

At this stage there is no more scope for any discussion on the pros and cons of the system; the decision has been taken and this was amply made clear by the Vice-Chancellor at the recent meeting of the Academic Council where all affiliated colleges were also urged to immediately initiate the changes.

It may be emphasised here that in the semester system, the students are evaluated not just towards the end of the year but in a continuous manner four times during the two-year PG course. Such a continuous assessment safeguards students from the vagaries of annual assessment. Each student gets several opportunities to review his performance and then enhance it in the subsequent semester(s).

Added to this, the entire pedagogy becomes more rigorous and focused due to the pressures of continuous assessment. While the conventional annual system activates the students only towards the end of the year, semester system breaks that mindset, keeping the students academically more alert throughout the course. Due to the division of papers over semesters, the breadth of the syllabus can be increased to accommodate more papers and options.

In contrast, the annual system offers little room for the expansion as well as intensification of the syllabus. The teacher-taught interaction increases manifold in the semester system and the culture of absenteeism is also significantly curtailed.

Unlike the annual examinations, semester-wise assessment of students yields a fairer idea of their abilities. It calls for a more strenuous effort both by the student and the instructor and involves a constant review of the performance of both.

Most importantly, as a colleague put it, “it minimises the chances of students learning by rote and teachers taking recourse to tired methodologies. If practised honestly, the system can put more vigour into our teaching and learning, thereby eliminating habitual laggards and mere do-gooders”.

More important, the Credit Transfer System being integral to it, brings in interdisciplinary culture that enhances the mental horizon of the students and teachers.

Courses under the semester system have been redesigned in a manner that students will be given, for example, an option to choose any 16 courses out of a wide range available to them. In other words, we plan to do away with compulsory courses and introduce the Credit Transfer System, under which each student would be expected to do 16 courses over four semesters, and each course would enjoy, say, four credit points.

Out of a total of 16 courses, a student would be expected to offer only up to 12 courses from within the department (75 per cent of the total credits) and for the rest, we would have to co-ordinate with the other departments. At this stage, our expectation is that the Department of English, for instance, will have a tie-up with the following departments in the university: Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology, Mass Communications, Political Science, History, Theatre, Hindi, Punjabi, French and German.

It is quite possible that in future we may be able to explore linkages with other departments as well. Of course, all this would not only call for a greater flexibility in casting the timetable, but also that the lectures and/or classes would be held from 9 am to 5 pm.

By introducing such a methodology, students would have the freedom to combine courses in Literature and Cultural Studies with those of other subjects, say the Performing Arts, Mass Communication and Journalism, which are complementary in nature.

The department would introduce courses in which inputs for teaching from the faculty of allied departments would be immensely useful in enhancing the quality of these courses. The case I am putting forward redirects studies in the direction of active politics, justice, freedom and equality. In other words, knowledge cannot be cordoned off from social sciences and social theory or the interstitial cultural spaces of globalisation. Scholars bring insightful forms of reading to bear upon social and political texts. They must overcome their ignorance of law, of political theory, of the shape and structure of social movements. Broadly, therefore, analysis is essential for social theorists as they are the most focused and intensely trained interpreters of texts.

Such diverse intellectual endeavours address numerous questions pertaining to different theoretical and political positions. Advanced interdisciplinary study of this nature, therefore, is committed to social reconstruction by a critical political involvement in an intertextual academic environment and will lead to the students opting for duel degrees.

The aim is always to understand and change the structures of closed and compartmentalised disciplines where the areas of science, media, literature, sexuality, fashion and technology are of utmost significance. The credit system within the new programme of dividing the academic year into semesters will significantly change the narrow boundaries of our current areas of specialisation.

The writer is Professor, Department of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh

On Record
The best of minds should enter politics: Narayan
by Suresh Dharur

Dr N. Jayaprakash Narayan

The recent elections in Andhra Pradesh may have been a fight for power among the traditional parties but a strong undercurrent of public support for the new language and agenda of Lok Satta did not go unnoticed. Despite heavy odds, Dr N. Jayaprakash Narayan, founder of Lok Satta, who quit the IAS after 16 years of service, won from Kukatpally Assembly constituency in Hyderabad. This may well be the beginning of a new political culture gaining acceptance.

While mainstream parties resorted to competitive populism, promising freebies to voters, Lok Satta’s campaign was about fundamental issues of primary health care, education, poverty alleviation, decentralisation of power, democratic and governance reforms.

Dr Narayan, who had served as Member, Second Administrative Reforms Commission and National Advisory Council (NAC), spoke to The Sunday Tribune in Hyderabad about his experience in electoral politics, issues of governance, populism, political corruption and reforms.

Excerpts:

Q: What are the major hurdles in political reforms?  

A:  People are yearning for a political culture free from corrupt and criminal elements and dynasties. But the abdication of responsibility by the elite and educated class is the fundamental problem that has led to degeneration of politics. Re-shaping of India is possible only when the elite change their attitude and take up the challenge.

Q: How difficult it is for people like you to make an impact on voters today?

A: Over the years, we have created disincentives for the right kind of people and huge incentives for the wrong kind people to enter politics. Unfortunately, politics has become the playfield of people who do not deserve to be there. Some are there because of their pedigree while many are there because of their money power or caste or muscle power.  It is really tough to counter money power and muscle power of traditional parties. Polarisation on caste lines further compounds the problem. It requires every ounce of our moral strength to reshape politics in our country.

The challenge lies in converting people’s desire for change into votes. We need many forces like Lok Satta across the country to bring about the desired change.

Q: Is it possible to change the way the parties function and the quality of political discourse?

A:  This is what we are fighting for. The rules of the game must change and the best of minds should enter politics. It is the best of times since we have the means and technology at our disposal to resolve people’s problems and it is the worst of times since we do not have many people who enter public office with competence, commitment, and integrity and with a passion for public service.

Q: What is your prescription to eradicate corruption?

A: Parliament should amend the Prevention of Corruption Act which suffers from many lacunae. There are at present six agencies dealing with public servants’ acts of corruption. All of their functions should be integrated so that the guilty cannot go unscathed. The Anti-Corruption Bureau should be made autonomous and brought under the supervision of Lok Ayukta. The legislators and other elected public representatives should be brought under the ambit of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Q: Is there no room for well-meaning individuals to enter politics to serve society?

A: Honest politics needs honest money. We at Lok Satta accepted public donations only by cheque and accounted for every rupee we spent and placed the facts before the public.

Q: You are seen as an opponent of caste-based reservations. Is it not politically incorrect to oppose affirmative action?

A: Reservations are necessary as an interim measure. They, however, do not provide a permanent solution. That does not mean that the son of a Collector or the daughter of a Minister too should enjoy reservations simply based on their caste. A solution lies in ensuring that everyone, irrespective of his caste or religion, has a right to free and quality education for 12 years and everyone is enabled to purse higher education at government cost.

Profile
An accomplished diplomat
by Harihar Swarup

In a male-dominated world, women have been fast reaching the top, particularly in India. And, they do so purely on merit even as political parties vie with each other to ensure 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament.

The President’s post went to Pratibha Patil, the Lok Sabha Speaker is Meira Kumar and Sonia Gandhi is one of the most powerful women of the world. All of them are first timers and have made history.

Now the new Foreign Secretary will be Nirupama Rao, India’s Ambassador to China. She will succeed Shivshankar Menon on August 1. She will be the second woman Foreign Secretary after Chokila Iyer, who occupied briefly the number one position in the External Affairs Ministry.

Nirupaman Rao is well-known to Delhi’s press corps, having served as spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry. As the first-ever woman to hold the high-profile post, she did her job with distinction and flair during a difficult period in the bilateral relationship with Pakistan; the Agra summit of 2001 and the military standoff of 2001-02 included.

As MEA spokesperson, she was witness to the testy relationship between Jaswant Singh and Brajesh Mishra, who was National Security Adviser and played a major role in foreign policy management in the Vajpayee era.

The 58-year-old Nirupama is a multi-faceted personality. An accomplished diplomat, she is a published poet and a hobby singer. She has been quoted as saying “I have always expressed myself through poetry, ever since I was 12”. Her first poetry collection — Rain Rising — was published by Rupa.

Indeed, poetry taught her precision of words and honed her skills to find the right words under pressure. “Poetry is my way of coming up for oxygen. It lifts me up”, she said at the launch of the book, adding the collections of poems was a medley of emotions and recollections that were interpretation of life and challenges.

Nirupama learnt Carnatic music but her years abroad attracted her towards Western classical music. One of her little known hobbies is collecting old books on India. The best ones were acquired abroad, in second-hand shops. She now wants to write a book on Kerala, her home state. Though born in Kerala, she was raised in Army cantonments, away from her native state.

Her another poem was St Petersburg , possibly penned, during her posting to Moscow. A few lines are worth reproducing:

The light here is special. Drenched by blood and frost

So much has happened here. Bronze horseman, burning homes,

Nine hundred days written into symphonies of emptied tear ducts.

I came here to see more than just the railings. My eyes empties you

Of every detail, draining the swamp, imagining the father finishing son,

Here is quiet summer house; a death that was not foretold.

A 1973-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, Nirupama has had extensive experience, working the full range of diplomatic assignments that a prospective Foreign Secretary is expected to possess. They included important postings in one or more of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, an ambassadorship in India’s immediate neighbourhood and line responsibilities at the headquarters.

Prior to becoming India’s envoy in Beijing, she was Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. Her other diplomatic jobs included Ambassador to Peru, Deputy Head of the Indian embassy in Moscow and Minister (Press) at the Indian embassy in Washington, DC.

At the headquarters, she ran the East Asia desk for several years and held the post of spokesperson, MEA.

Nirupama returns to Delhi at a time when the Manmohan Singh government begins its second term and the PMO is poised to play an even more important role in strategic and diplomatic affairs than it did a decade ago. She will have to interact constantly with the Prime Minister’s Office.

Nirupama’s husband, Sudhakar Rao, is a senior IAS officer. He is the Chief Secretary of Karnataka. They have two sons.