Friday, March 29, 2019

Approximately 29% of India’s population is below the age of 14, and, at 250 million, we have the highest number of school-going students in the world. Unfortunately, we also have a public education system that is failing the young population by denying them quality education.

To effect a large-scale transformation in education, a systemic approach, consisting of comprehensive and coordinated set of academic and administrative reforms, is needed. Academic interventions like competence-linked teaching, learning and assessments need to be accompanied by an overhaul of the existing governance structures.

Some states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha have implemented these system-level reforms, leading to many early successes. Here are five key lessons that emerge from these comprehensive change programmes that can be useful for other states in their effort to improve their public education systems.

One, embed grade competence in all classroom transactions: More than half of our children studying in government schools lack competencies appropriate to their grade levels, which when accumulated over the years, lead to significant learning gaps. This is because teachers focus on syllabus completion instead of emphasising the attainment of competencies. Haryana has instituted a system of saksham taalika that takes the shape of a table that defines grade competencies for all subjects for each two-month cycle in an academic year. These grade competencies are mapped to all teaching and learning material — specific chapters in the text books, state designed remedial programmes and teacher training programmes. To close the loop, assessments are conducted and mapped to the grade competence framework with standardised statewide Summative Assessment Tests (SATs), conducted every two months to track progress on these metrics over time.

Two, ingrain human enablement in the system: For quality delivery of education, it is important to empower frontline workers such as teachers as well as those working in the background such as education officers, state board officials, etc. with appropriate skills and resources. In recognition of this, states have taken several steps. Himachal Pradesh, for example, has launched the TeacherApp, which is a tech-based teacher training platform that provides bite-sized content for easy consumption by teachers. Remote training ensures that teachers do not lose time in travel and can upskill themselves continuously. Another great example of human enablement comes from Andhra Pradesh where an assessment cell has been created with 13 subject matter experts. This cell aims to build capacity of relevant stakeholders.

Three, leverage data/ technology to improve efficiency: According to a report by the National Institute of Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA), teachers spend less than one-fifth of their time on teaching activities, with more than double their teaching time being spent on administrative activities such as data collection, material distribution and redressing their human resource and personnel issues. It is widely accepted that accountability in delivery of services is achieved when stakeholders are enabled to better perform their core functions by minimising time and labour on tasks removed from their primary responsibilities. In acknowledgement of this, states like Rajasthan have sought to free up teacher time by creating an enterprise system like the shaala darpan web portal. This portal allows for faster grievance redressal, online transfers and postings, and acts as a single source for all school-related data, eliminating the need for repeated data collection for various material distribution and other activities.

Four, strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems: Most states have an established system of inspection of schools by the education department to ascertain their quality, but the reality is that the target numbers of school inspections are rarely met because of manpower shortages. Mindful of this, states like Andhra Pradesh have created systems that set in place publicly available, real time and data backed monitoring mechanisms.

Five, build momentum through a public campaign: All the above interventions are dependent on stakeholder commitment and their consistent high performance. This can only be brought about by a steadfast political and bureaucratic commitment to the goal of improving learning outcomes. A dynamic campaign with the support of highest levels of political leadership needs to be built to provide momentum and align all stakeholders on a single transformation road map.

While these interventions are replicable everywhere, their success or failure ultimately rests on a state’s ability to move these parts simultaneously. Given the right momentum, these interventions can, over time, mature into transformative juggernauts such that they both individually thrive, and collectively drive the education system to produce consistently better outcomes.

Amitabh Kant is CEO, NITI Aayog

Source: 25/03/2019

The fourth industrial revolution will further marginalise the subaltern

The new economic reality demands more tech skills and creative thinking for which the segment is not equipped

The fourth industrial revolution promises to transform the entire economic structure as we know it. By changing the economic basis of social organisations, technological revolutions fundamentally transform the entire social structure. In India, apart from economic classes, we also have caste and the intricate web of relations between castes. In simple terms, castes are endogamous social groups organised around hereditary professions.Even though hereditary professions are breaking down in the past few decades, there still exists a strong correlation between the caste and broad professional category with forward castes concentrated in the upper echelons of the value chain in the production process while backward castes are at the lower end.

And as the old village economy melts away in the face of urban-industrialisation, many of these caste-based professions have become obsolete, already throwing millions of people into a crisis of survival. Since India has failed to invest in social goods like health and education, these sections of society have been unable to move to different professions ,which require educational capital. This lies at the root of the “late convergence stall” in India. Late convergence stall refers to the phenomenon of a late comer being unable to make the jump to a higher-income status and remaining stuck in the low-income category. One of the main reasons is the increasing technological divide between countries and the inability of the late comers to bridge the gap by investing in human capital. It is extremely difficult to train an illiterate and unskilled workforce to handle new hi-tech production processes.

The problem is daunting in India. The advent of the modern capitalist economy under the colonial rule and acceleration of the industrialisation after independence reinforced the economic and social distance between castes. The backward castes stayed where they were while forward/dominant castes leapfrogged into the modern economy due to higher social and educational capital. The difference between them was now overlaid with the urban-rural divide as well as with the divide between high-productivity modern and low-productivity traditional sectors of the economy. This process exaggerated the intercaste inequality far beyond what was possible in the rural-agrarian economy where all the castes shared the same, albeit an unequal, space.

Now Artificial Intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution may herald another phase where those with requisite skills due to the higher social and educational capital can further move up the economic value chain under the new structure of production leaving those at the bottom further behind. This can lead to mass social antagonism and unrest, which can potentially become a breeding ground for radical and anarchist ideologies and groups. Already the old stable permanent jobs are disappearing, which so far have been the most crucial and, for some castes, the only way up the socioeconomic ladder. The new economic reality demands more flexibility, technological skills and creative thinking for which a large section of the marginalised castes is unequipped. The technological disruptions also demand frequent retraining, which involves an economic cost that might be unaffordable for those who are already marginalised.

But the political discourse in India, especially of the champions of social justice, remains oblivious to these developments. There is no focus on how to train the subaltern for the new economic structure or how to ensure social security when permanent jobs can no longer be guaranteed. What we fail to understand is that rhetoric is no substitute for a policy roadmap. And it is time that we start demanding it from our politicians. What is the reason that in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, political parties ruling for decades in the name of the subaltern and social justice failed to invest in quality health and education?

What India needs is a new political discourse which locates social justice in ensuring universal health and education, skill development, easy market-entry for entrepreneurs from the subaltern castes, and next-generation social security delinked from the job and place of work. What we need is a fundamental rethinking of our social and economic future. Twentieth century ideologies and discourse can no longer work.

Abhinav Prakash Singh is an assistant professor at SRCC, Delhi University

Source: Hindustan Times, 27/03/2019

From Motion to Stillness

Yoga links stretching exercises, breathing and meditation through repetition of a series of poses. Yoga and T’ai Chi, a slowmotion martial art, use breath and consciousness, static-ness and dynamics, with the motions and within-the-motions in which stillness remains concealed. Yoga and T’ai Chi search for stillness in motion, leading towards self-mastery. Every movement is filled with awareness and meaning. Both attempt to experience something of a reality, which is the essence of life with presence of mind and also attend to the daily needs of life. The relationship between yoga and T’ai Chi is important as both aim to balance movements of the body connected with deep breathing. T’ai Chi is not only physical; it is also conceptual. Both yoga and T’ai Chi consist of equanimity that has connectivity of breath with body movements. In yoga, we direct movements towards the inside; in T’ai Chi, we do the same towards the outside. Deep breathing is essential in both T’ai Chi and yoga. To breathe properly is to live properly. In T’ai Chi, the flow of breath coincides with the flow of body so as to unite body and mind with spirit. T’ai means breath and Chi represents life’s energy. The flow of Chi along with the realised flow of T’ai gives a complete T’ai Chi, uniting the internal and external strength (mind and body). Every movement in both forms represents the art of respecting the pancha bhootas and derives energy from this. These ancient disciplines awaken one’s physical potential to be able to live a strong and dynamic life.

Source: Economic Times, 29/03/2019

Friday, March 08, 2019

Women and the workplace

Do UN strategies to deal with sexual harassment and ensure gender parity offer examples to follow?

For more than a century, March 8 has marked International Women’s Day — a global day celebrating the achievements of women and promoting gender equality worldwide. But as we pause to celebrate our many advances, we must also acknowledge how much remains to be done.

Interlinked issues

Two interconnected issues have emerged as priorities over the past two years: sexual harassment at the workplace and obstacles to women’s participation at all levels of the workforce, including political representation. The 2017-18 explosion of the #MeToo movement across social media uncovered countless cases of unreported sexual harassment and assault, first in the U.S. and then in India. In both countries, it led to the resignations or firing of dozens of prominent men, mostly politicians, actors and journalists.

It also prompted a range of public and private organisations to examine the internal institutional cultures surrounding sexual harassment, gender parity, and gender equity. Amongst them, the United Nations.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been a staunch supporter of women’s rights since his election in 2016, stating the need for “benchmarks and time frames to achieve [gender] parity across the system, well before the target year of 2030”. In September 2017, the UN released a System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity to transform the UN’s representation of women at senior levels. Today the UN’s Senior Management Group, which has 44 top UN employees, comprises 23 women and 21 men.

A mirror within

In response to the MeToo movement, the UN recently conducted a system-wide survey to gauge the prevalence of sexual harassment among its more than 200,000 global staff. Though only 17% of UN staff responded, what the survey uncovered was sobering. One in three UN women workers reported being sexually harassed in the past two years, predominantly by men. Clearly, the UN gender strategy has much to improve, but then the UN, like most other international and national organisations, has a decades-old cultural backlog to tackle.

The inter-governmental UN is as affected by prevalent national cultures as are individual countries. Some might argue more, since the UN Secretary-General has to find a way through contending blocs of countries that support or oppose women’s rights’ goals. This is where UN research plays a significant role. As findings on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicate, many countries, including India, were able to substantially increase their performance on issues such as sex ratios and maternal mortality once their leaders had signed on to the MDGs. Tracking performance on the Sustainable Development Goals, a more comprehensive iteration of the MDGs, will again provide useful pointers for policymakers and advocates going forward.

Efficacy of single window

At the same time, Mr. Guterres is to be commended for holding a mirror to organisational practices when it comes to sexual harassment or gender parity. Bringing the issue of gender inside the organisation, to reform its practices, will enable the UN to stand as an example of the rights it advocates.

How can organisations as large as the UN improve their internal cultures surrounding sexual harassment, gender parity, and gender equity? This issue has generated considerable debate in India, where political parties have begun to ask how they are to apply the rules of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 which lays down that every office in the country must have an internal complaints committee to investigate allegations of sexual harassment. With thousands of offices across the country, and barely any employee trained to handle sexual harassment, Indian political parties ask whether broader structures, such as district or regional complaints committees, could play the role of office ones. In this context, does the UN Secretariat’s single window structure for such complaints provide a better practice? One caveat is that it does not apply across the organisation, so UN agencies, including the multi-institute UN University that aims to achieve gender parity at the director level by end 2019, still have to identify their organisation-specific mechanisms.

Clearly, we need further research before we can arrive at a judgment: perhaps a follow-up to the UN’s sexual harassment survey that looks at complaints received and action taken. In India, going by past figures — since the current government has not released data for the last two years — the impact of the 2013 Act, one of the most comprehensive in the world, has been poor. Despite a large jump in complaints recorded, convictions have not shown a proportionate rise, largely due to poor police work. That is an obstacle which the UN, with its internal mechanisms, may not suffer from as far as first responses are concerned, but will certainly face as and when cases come to law.

Both the UN’s early successes and the Indian experience offer lessons to UN member-states, few of which have gender parity or serious action against sexual harassment in the workplace. In the U.S., companies such as General Electric, Accenture, Pinterest, Twitter, General Mills and Unilever are setting and achieving targets to increase female representation at all levels of their workforce. This March 8, let us hope that companies worldwide pledge to follow the examples in the U.S. And that other institutions, whether universities or political parties, follow the UN example. Gender reforms begin at home, not only in the family but also in the workplace.

Radha Kumar is Chair of the Council of the UN University, Tokyo

Source: The Hindu, 8/03/2019

Making the world a meaningful place

For girls and women to enjoy the fruits of good education and satisfying careers, government must reach out to their families, ensure they are on board while formulating state policies.

I met a young girl recently. She is a nurse — the first from her village in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab to go for a professional degree. Having worked in a private hospital at Nawanshahr, where she was paid the paltry sum of less than Rs 10,000 a month, she applied for a vacancy in the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMR) in Chandigarh and got selected. She is with PGIMR for about five years now and is earning above Rs 60,000 per month. Most of the girls from her village could not study beyond primary school as the middle level school was in the next village, about 3 km away. And a college was further away, in the town.

She was travelling from Chandigarh to Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh to attend the wedding of a senior resident doctor. It was her first air travel and she admitted the same very confidently, with an excited smile. She was not at all hesitant or apologetic. Chirpily, she confided that she is currently appearing for the Punjab and Haryana State Public Service Commission exams, and would later appear for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam too. She had already joined coaching classes for the same and negotiated good rates for herself, though she was finding it difficult to juggle between her nursing duties and coaching classes. She has to request the senior nurses and colleagues to “adjust” her shifts but is persisting in her endeavour nevertheless. The young girl has no pretence and is proud of her achievements. At the same time, she comes across as curious and adventurous, determined to go ever further.

This is the story that we need in India today and we need an abundance of such stories. Where girls not from privileged urban backgrounds, but from rural average households dare to dream and achieve. This needs an enabling environment: Schools in villages, colleges nearby, access to libraries, and, parents who are willing to send their daughters out to study, in case schools and colleges are not within the proximate area. Some time back I had visited “Women Help Line” in Lucknow and was told that a large number of distress calls were about harassment — in buses, on roads, in streets, practically everywhere. The police department that is running the helpline was encouraging girls to report such incidents, however, and had adopted various means to trace the errant boys: They are warned, initially, followed by criminal cases if they do not pay heed. This issue is rampant in most of India. No wonder parents have apprehensions about sending their daughters out to study, though enrolment and retention of girls in schools and colleges has improved considerably in the last decade. Providing safe travel and a secure atmosphere to girls for pursuing their education and career is the missing link that the community and government have to work on together. Or, families would continue to deny that very vital permission to their girls.

In the meanwhile, the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) has been successful in bridging the gap between the rural community and the health system in India. They have reduced infant mortality, child malnutrition and provided pre-school education. A similar bridge specifically for safe girls’ education needs to be built. The gram panchayat, especially the village police patil, known by different names and titles across the country, should be made responsible for coordinating the safety of girls’ movements. The beat officer of each police station and police outpost can supervise it — his uniform carries tremendous weight and can deter roadside romeos and molesters. Though the police don’t always have enough resources, they seem, at least, willing to chip in.

Recently, during a gender sensitisation training programme of the Goa police, I visited the women’s helpline, where the counselors received about 2,500 distress calls in the last six months. Most of them are about domestic violence, though some cases of harassment too are reported. It was a pleasant surprise to see that all the call takers are post graduates in counselling. Goa 181 is managed by GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute), a not-for-profit professional organisation operating in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Such helplines definitely create an enabling environment and so do the gender sensitisation programmes being undertaken by each state police.

If we want girls and women to achieve their full potential, we have to double our efforts to reach out to the families. Efforts of the government alone, and even those of NGOs, will not be enough. Gram panchayats, police patils and beat police officers must coordinate with villagers so that girls can move around safely for their education and careers. Schools and libraries in rural areas, encouraging girls to cycle and move freely for their education and the sharing of success stories of educated young girls can be game-changers. Most states have already made girls’ education free, but the “permission to travel” out of the village is most often denied by the parents. Girls from Bihar cycling to school had made headlines some years back. We need to replicate the same all over the country through wide publicity in print and electronic media.

I met a young, freshly recruited (woman) police constable in the police lines of Pune city recently. I asked her what prompted her to join the police. She said it was her father, and then added proudly that two of her female cousins too had joined the police force thereafter. These fathers and families have to be on board with us if we want girls to enjoy the fruits of a good education and meaningful careers. Is it expecting too much, this Women’s Day?

The writer is a retired IPS officer and has served as Inspector General (Prisons), Maharashtra

Source: Indian Express, 8/03/2019

Fighting for those on margins in both genders

Enacting the Women’s Reservation Bill would be the next step in translating the Mahatma’s vision on gender into reality

The global women’s rights movement has seen a phenomenal push with the advent of social media. Women worldwide have stepped forward to call out harassment, reclaim their spaces, and demand more seats at the decision-making table. But it has taken enormous efforts by various social and political reformers, in the form of three different waves of feminism, to get here.

This International Women’s Day coincides with the 150th birth anniversary year of Mahatma Gandhi. This provides us an opportunity to reflect on the Mahatma’s role in promoting gender equality in India. Certainly his opinions on the subject were layered, complex, and sometimes contradictory. Nonetheless, if we contextualise his views in the socioeconomic environment that he lived in, his contribution to advancing gender rights stands out.

Gandhi’s context, in the last century, was one in which child marriage, dowry and purdah were widely prevalent in society. Indian women had an average lifespan of just 27 years. Only 2% of women had basic education. It was in such an environment that Gandhiji set forth to redefine the role of women in society. He called out regressive practices towards women that were justified in the name of tradition saying, “It is good to swim in the waters of tradition, but to sink in them is suicide.”

For Gandhi, men and women were on a par with each other. “I make no distinction between a man and woman. Woman should feel as independent as man. Bravery is not a man’s monopoly.” He was deeply hurt by the usage of the term weaker sex for women, and chastised men for it. He wrote, “Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none to me, is so degrading, so shocking or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity, the female sex as the weaker sex.”

Gandhi understood that undoing years of oppression would not be possible without building women’s self-confidence. He considered education as the only route through which it would be possible. “I’m uncompromising in the matter of women’s rights. In my opinion, she should labour under no legal disability not suffered by man. I should treat the daughters and sons on a footing of perfect equality. As woman begin to realise their strength, as they must in proportion to the education they receive, they will naturally resent the glaring inequalities to which they are subjected.”

Globally, women are fighting for more political representation today. There is a gradual rise in the number of women running for office in different countries. Gandhi encouraged women to participate in politics. During the freedom struggle, women held political rallies, spun khadi, and picketed foreign shops.

The popular notion that women leaders empower more women’s voices was originally espoused by Gandhi. Advocating the cause of women workers, he had said, “Women workers should enrol women as voters, impart practical education, teach them independent thinking, release them from the chains of caste, so as to bring about a change in them which would compel men to realise a woman’s strength and give her places of honour.” Enacting the Women’s Reservation Bill would be the next step in translating the Mahatma’s vision into reality.

The women’s movement today is not just fighting for women alone but also for the rights of the marginalised, including men. Gandhi words — “I advise women to resort to civil rebellion against all undesirable and unworthy restrictions” — ring true in this era of fourth wave feminism. The Mahatma strongly believed in the immense potential of women to effect change through rebellion. It’s time for us to show through our actions that we believe this too.

Rajeev Gowda is member of Parliament and chairman of the AICC research department

Source: Hindustan Times, 8/03/2019

My Grandma and a Prayer

My grandma lived in a village all her life. She was absolutely hale and hearty. She claimed to have completed one hundred years, though according to our calculations, she was probably in her mid-90s. She was a strong woman, a leader in her own way. She was the lady-member of the village panchayat — an adviser, negotiator and storyteller. She lived on her own quite independently. We saw that she was generous. We also found that she was frugal. As children, we were a little confused by her personality. We were also in awe of her. I had never seen grandma perform any sacred rituals seated in front of deities. She was never seen reading or reciting scriptures. Anyway, she could not read. She was a woman of principles and no one could make her swerve from her path. What made her so strong and confident? As far as we knew, she lived in total gratitude. For all she did in the day, she would just fold her hands, close her eyes for a split second, and say, “Shukriya Tera,” which means, “Thank you.” Another prayer that grandma said twice daily was, “Hey Prabhu, meri aankhen aur ghutne salamat rakhna” (O God, please protect my eyes and knees). And God did grant her the boon of good eyesight and strong knees till she breathed her last. Was it the power of prayer that got translated into power of thought that, in turn, somehow manifested in her as good health? Or did she enjoy stable health because of her physical and mental routine and the selflessness with which she expressed her gratitude to God every day in the form of a thanksgiving prayer? We don’t know…

Source: Economic Times, 8/03/2019

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

The rise of women in male workplace

Replace Up To 15% Of Jobs That Are Traditionally MenDominated: Study

Gender diversity numbers may not be statistically balanced yet. However, women today are not only seen to be breaking age-old patriarchal doctrines but also raiding male bastions as well. A study by TeamLease Services, done exclusively for TOI, reveals 12-15% of traditionally maledominated jobs are estimated to have been replaced by women. These include train/ bus drivers, mining engineers and private detectives (see graphic). ITC Hotels said the number of women in the food & beverage departments increased 41% in three years. When Manisha Bhasin started out as a summer trainee at ITC Maurya, she had her eyes fixed on the chef ’s cabin. Today, Bhasin dons the chef ’s hat at the same hotel. “If you are persistent, have a clear focus and are passionate about your work, you can achieve your goals,” said Bhasin, who is designated senior executive chef at ITC Maurya, New Delhi. Bhasin credits mentoring by her seniors as a key enabler for the growth in her career. She doesn’t believe women chefs are paid less than male chefs, clearly debunking any theory of a gender pay gap. “A chef is a chef is a chef. Irrespective of gender, one works equally hard,” she said. Women in India may be shining in sports and services, but they are also roughing it out on the shop floor in manufacturing. Yogita Raghuvanshi, a heavy commercial vehicle driver, chose the field to earn a good income. “The job provides me Rs 2,000-3,000 a day. This was an important aspect for me because I had to raise two children on my own as my husband had passed away,” said Raghuvanshi. “I also fulfil my passion of driving and travelling across states,” added Raghuvanshi. Some of the lines at Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M’s) manufacturing plants are run 100% by women. In automobiles, M&M has increased the strength of women on the shop floor from 33 in FY14 to 301 till the first half of FY19. It now plans to double this number by FY21. Before hiring 33% women engineer graduates, along with hiring women in support functions, M&M began with preparing a gender-friendly infrastructure. Today, M&M has women as forklift drivers, plant engineers, welders and painters. M&M chief of manufacturing (automotive division) Vijay Kalra said, “They have broken all stereotypes.” TeamLease Services co-founder & executive VP Rituparna Chakraborty said, “Traditionally, occupations with a very poor representation of women are found in sectors like construction, manufacturing and engineering.” On the other hand, women have made great inroads into banking & financial services, consumer goods & durables, automotive, insurance, pharma and healthcare. “Though the level of dedication shown by females is equal to their male counterparts, yet the salaries of women in male-dominated jobs are less. Women get paid 20% less than men,” said Chakraborty.

Source: Times of India, 8/03/2019

Thursday, March 07, 2019

Does god exist? There are several possible hypotheses

What I would recommend to you, dear reader, is my own philosophy of scepticism, which has stood me in good stead and which can be summed up in a simple dictum: Anything that is not logically impossible is possible.

Meeting my old friend, Michael Menezes, at the beautiful Pali Village Café in Mumbai recently, my mind drifted back to our college days in Delhi and another café.

This was in early 1972, maybe March or April. Our three years in St Stephen’s College were drawing to a close, three magical years of fun and friendship. I did poorly in my final exam but that seemed like a small price to pay for all the joy of not studying. Mike and I decided it was time to do some good deed and our plan was to match one of our classmates, whose name will remain anonymous, to a very charming student of Miranda House, whose name, alas, I do not remember. So we devised a remarkable entrepreneurial scheme. We wrote a letter to her pretending to be him, professing to be in love with her and pleading her to come to the university Coffee House to meet him. And we wrote a letter to him pretending to be her, professing love and that he come to the Coffee House at the same time.

When that momentous day came, Mike and I headed off to the Coffee House to witness the fruits of our match-making. On the way, we had to make a phone call and stepped into one of those phone booths, so ubiquitous those days, where you insert coins to make a call. And there we struck gold, or, more precisely, a 10 rupee note, left behind by someone on the phone counter. There was no one to be seen nearby, and it was too small an amount to go searching for the owner. The thought struck us both that this was an occasion for free coffee. Mike, being a Catholic, wondered if we were about to commit a sin. I assured him of the flexibility of the Hindu gods. Further, somewhere in high school, I had ceased to believe in god. I saw no evidence of god and, in case he was there and had hid the evidence of his existence, he would surely be irritated by the dishonesty of the believers who claimed to see evidence.

In any case, we decided this was a good test of god’s existence. We would see whether or not he punished us for this sin. We walked over to the Coffee House and, soon, as expected, our classmate came in, looking tense. He sat alone in a far corner, an eye on the main entrance. Within minutes she came in, and walked unsurely to his corner. They began chatting. We could not hear the conversation but it was clear that it was running into heavy weather, each claiming the other had asked them to come. Then we saw them both pull out letters from their pockets and thrust them at each other, at which point, Mike and I decided it was time to leave the scene of crime.

As we walked out of the Coffee House, Mike got proof (in his case, a reminder) of god’s existence. He reached into his pocket and his wallet was mysteriously missing.

The salad days of college came to an end in June. I packed my bags from my residence in Stephen’s Rudra South, bid farewell to my dearest friends and left for a short vacation in Calcutta and then for the London School of Economics. (Luckily, LSE had given me admission before seeing my final-year performance in St Stephen’s.

Three years later, I was delighted when Mike, by then a chartered accountant, came come to LSE do a master’s degree. On a walk one afternoon, we stepped into one of those iconic, red phone-booths of London to make a call. And, yes, an abandoned five pound note was lying, at roughly the same place as the ten rupee note three years ago. There was no one in the vicinity who could be its rightful owner. We gasped at how uncannily similar the situation was. Was god testing us to see if we had learned our lesson? We, on our part, decided we had to check how consistent god was. So we picked up the money and set off to have coffee at Wimpy.

Like Alexander Fleming in his laboratory waiting to see if the bacteria would grow, we sat, drinking our coffee but with our minds transfixed on the experiment. Time ticked away. We finished our coffee, paid for it with our ill-gotten gain and walked out nervously, and back to our hostel. What happened then, was the following: Our wallets were not lost.

Given nature’s different response to our picking up abandoned notes in Delhi and London, the question remained open: Does god exist? There are several possible hypotheses: There is no god, and the loss of the wallet in Delhi was a fluke; there is god but he believes in punishing people for drinking coffee using ill-gotten gains, but only when that is coupled with writing letters in other people’s names. However, when Mike revealed later that the experiment was not quite the same because this time, while having coffee, he had clutched on to his wallet, we realised there was a third hypothesis — there is god but he is not that powerful, and in particular, he cannot wrestle wallets out of clenched fists.

The upshot basically is that there is no firm answer. What I would recommend to you, dear reader, is my own philosophy of scepticism, which has stood me in good stead and which can be summed up in a simple dictum: Anything that is not logically impossible is possible.

Live by it and you will make better decisions in life.

Kaushik Basu

The writer is C Marks Professor at Cornell University and former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, World Bank

Source: Indian Express, 7/03/2019

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