Dissent is Not Enmity

PRAKASH SHESH





If all of us always agreed with others, we would be a race of zombies. It is disagreement that leads to progress. When we question the status quo, eventually we find better, more efficient answers. One has to just look at the phenomenal progress science has made in order to understand this.Intelligent people rarely agree with one another. They agree with one another. They have their own points of view based on their unique personal experiences, and they use this to come up with acceptable solutions. If a group leader finds many in his team challenging his point of view, he should be happy that he is being offered a chance to view the problem from different angles.
In Indic culture, respect for elders and guests is given paramount importance and `disagreement' is often perceived as being disrespectful; this is the primary reason why we view `disagreement' so negatively .We are so actively discouraged, right from childhood, from forming our own opinions that we are unsure. Disagreeing with oneself leads to better decision-making, especially when we have no one to assist us. Yes, disagreements between nations have resulted in bloody wars, but we aren't talking of extreme situations here.
This is about upholding one's own beliefs but be willing to listen to others' arguments. A Japanese proverb says, “If two people constantly agree with each other, then one of them is useless; but if two people constantly disagree with each other, then both of them are useless.“ Let us not shy away from productive disagreement.

UGC to rank all univs, irks watchdogs

Pavan MV

Bengaluru:





Even Private Colleges To Come Under Its Ambit

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has said it will rank all institutions across the country , including colleges for the study of engineering and medicine, in a move that has been panned as “overreach“ by many watchdogs. Private colleges and universities will also come under the ratings' ambit.Predictably , the move has annoyed other regulatory agencies, like the All India Council for Technical Education (for engineering), the Medical Council of India (medical), and the UGC's own statutory authority National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
This is the first time the UGC has set out to rank edu ational institutions.
Having come up with a National Institution Rank ng Framework (NIRF) for universities and colleges, the UGC has directed all institu ions to participate in the ranking exercise by registering themselves on the NIRF website. To rank institutions, the UGC has decided different parameters under NIRF.
It will announce the rankings in April 2016.
For one, the move has created confusion among educationists in Karnataka. Just a few months ago, they point out, the Karnataka State Higher Education Council had decided to rank and rate universities.
In its directive to universities regarding NIRF, the UGC ties regarding NIRF, the UGC said, “The best learning experience in the ideal environment is the ultimate objective of every institution. This objective becomes more highlighted when institutions are constantly adjudged on the basis of excellence in teaching and learning, excellence in research and innovations and excellence in engage ment. Institutions are also expected to provide inspiring learning and living environment on their campuses.“
“These are some parameters which are looked into by students and parents whilst making an informed choice of pursuing a programme in any institution of higher learning,“ it added.
R Chandrashekara, secretary of the Forum of Former Vice-chancellors of Karnataka State Universities, told TOI that ranking institutions at the national level will prove difficult. Since the NAAC grades universities, the NIRF is not required.State-level committees are enough to rate universities and colleges, he added.
“Does the NIRF have sufficient manpower to assess and rank all institutions in the country?“ Chandrashekara added.

Source: Times of India, 17-12-2015

UGC Set to Revisit Order on Closure of Off-Campus Centres

Anubhuti Vishnoi

New Delhi





WAY OUT May grant one-time exemption to institutes

A month after the University Grants Commission shot off notices ordering 10 top deemed universities including Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Birla Institute of Technology & Science at Pilani & Mesra and the Homi Bhabha National Institute to immediately close their off-campus centres, it is set to revisit the issue.A proposal to review the matter and even possibly grant a one-time exemption to the institutes is lined up on the agenda of a UGC Commission meeting scheduled next week.
Many of the institutes are said to have written to the UGC and the Ministry of Human Resource Development, arguing they should be allowed to continue running their off-campus centres, many of which were set up before they were conferred with deemed university status. The vice chancellors of many of the deemed universities met UGC officials and the secretary of the HRD ministry to explain their position and find a way out.
“The entire issue will be discussed threadbare at the commission meeting. These are all established and prestigious universities and there is a proposal to grant them a possible one-time exemption. However, a final view on the same will only be taken at the meeting of the full UGC Commission scheduled for next week,“ highly placed UGC officials confirmed to ET.
The country's apex higher education regulator had shot off the notices on November 9 to TIFR, BITS Pilani and Mesra, HBNI, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Indian School of Mines Dhanbad, Banasthali University, PRIST in Tamil Nadu, Indian Veterinary Research Institute and Lakshmibai National University of Physical Education in Gwalior.
The UGC asked them to “immediately close down the unauthorised off-campus centres“ saying they were established without prior approval of the ministry , failing which “necessary action“ would be taken.

Source: Economic Times, 16-12-2015

Living Above And Beyond What Is Mortal

Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh





There are so many Holy Scriptures accessible to people today towards which they hold faith and pay obeisance, nonetheless they remain curbed to this mortal form and distanced from the truth. They perform all the arduous rites and rituals, recite religious scriptures, visit places of pilgrimage, sit in penance, indulge in holy bathing and still find they are at odds. Because instead of unifying with the eternal Being, prejudice is holding them back, and the one thing which will set everything right is not obtained, that is, God-realisation. So, one must relate with this Supreme energy .This is how dwelling in this world becomes a festivity throughout the tenure. Like when a goal is achieved or a destination is reached, like when we win a competition in sports or excel in our career or do well in our studies and the success and achievements call for the word “congratulations“. To live a life enlightened and having knowledge of your Supreme Being is a humbling honour that gives a reason to rejoice.
Sages suggest to concentrate on acquiring divine knowledge to ensure fostering celestial stability. The sooner one achieves this knowledge the better it is as life would then be spent in peace and tranquillity. Like when some work is pending, the mind feels burdened till it's done ... it's like a relief derived after paying back a debt. An errand scheduled for tomorrow, must be done today and the one scheduled for today, must be done right away. Without a shred of doubt we don't know when we breathe our last and when the curtains to this play would be drawn.
So the prudent advise to get acquainted with the Supreme Being promptly , ensuring the remaining duration, more or less bestowed by Lord is spent pleasured and enlightened ... a celebrated understanding.
It's excruciatingly apparent that confinement stifles liberation.Nevertheless, there are so many factions persisting to be free in theory but enslaved in so many ways. Divine awareness imparted by saints implores mankind to optimise human ability .
A life of service is keeping one of the prominent facets of devotion elucidated. The way of life is then synonymous to a tree or a river which is ever engrossed in physical and material servi ce without any motive or desi re. Selfless service without coercion, done with great delight is how body , mind and wealth are purified.
When someone loses track and drifts miles away , it gets difficult to return. The compaints aid to step out of shadows ny of saints aid to step out of shadows when worldly influences cloud the mind. Subsequently, when the magnitude of God remembrance dawns upon us, the Almighty's name is in every breath.Not only mind or heartbeat but every iota in the body realises the existence of the Omnipresent each passing moment.Like a person in love remembers his beloved no matter what he's doing, he doesn't need a reminder; he gets recurring thoughts every hour of the day .Similarly the ones imbued in God's love are the ones who could perhaps keep their mind connected to God at all times.
The journey is itinerant, and reaching the destination is accomplishment. Without this spiritual disposition, we are disjointed individuals and not complete beings. Hence, getting enlightened and expelling darkness, living with love, togetherness, compassion and brotherhood makes the journey of life a triumphant and an appreciated one, embellished with the beauty that stays long after one's departure, too.

UNDP calls MGNREGS best job guarantee plan

Swati Mathur & Sruthi Nair

Lucknow: TNN





The latest edition of the United Nations Development Programme report on Human Development Index released on Monday has referred to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as among the best known employment guarantee schemes providing direct jobs to the rural poor. Interestingly, in February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had referred to the scheme as a “living monument“ of Congress-led UPA government's failures.MGNREGS, which finds mention as a “milestone“ in the UNDP report's chapter dedicated to enhancing human development through work, has also been cited as exemplary in accelerating job creation from less than 1 billion working days among 20 million households in the scheme's first year of oper ation (2006-07) to 2.5 billion among 50 million households in 2010-11. “Instead of cash transfers or conditional cash transfers, countries have also provided employment guarantees. Jefes de Hogar in Argentina and the regional Karnali Employment Programme in Nepal are examples, though the best known is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India,“ says the report.
However, pointing to the humongous nature of the MGNREGS, the report says, “Its (MGNREGS) size has no precedent nationally or internationally, posing important design and management challenges.“
The MGNREG Act, pop ularly known as NREGA, was mandated by the UPA government in 2005 as a demand-driven employment creation programme to benefit the rural poor through projects that improve agricultural productivity and alleviate land degradation. The scheme guarantees rural households 100 days of unskilled manual work.
Extrapolating from the MGNREGS figures, the UNDP report said, “ A simulation estimated that GDP would increase (by) 0.02­0.03%, that labour income would rise (by) about 700 million rupees and that the welfare of the poorest households (as measured by Slutski-adjusted consumption relative to initial consumption) would increase up to 8%. People belonging to Scheduled Tribes or Scheduled Castes would also benefit.“

Source: Times of India, 16-12-2015

Livestock causes 15% of all emissions worldwide: Scientists

TIMES INSIGHT GROUP





Need To Cut Intake Of Meat, Mainly Beef

Everybody knows that burning of fossil fuels is the biggest cause of climate change.But, another important factor that is often brushed under the carpet is meat consumption. Scientists have estimated that about 15% of all emissions come from worldwide livestock, mostly reared for consumption of meat or milk. That's a mind-boggling 7.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.One way of cutting emissions would be to reduce meat consumption.Perhaps a beginning could be made by having a few days on which people do not consume meat, especially beef, because beef contributes over 40% of emissions from all livestock.
Meat consumption has zoomed up from 70 million tons in 1961 to 278 million tons in 2009 ­ a 300% increase in 50 years. According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), meat consumption is expected to rise to 460 million tons by 2050. All this meat, the bulk of which is beef, is grown in gigantic industrial farms in Europe, US, South America and Australia. FAO estimates that there were about 1.4 billion cattle and one billion pigs and sheep in the world in 2010.
But what's the connection to climate change?
The animals themselves emit an enormous amount of methane which is generated in their digestive system. FAO estimates that in 2013, this process, called enteric fermentation generated 39% of all livestock emissions. Almost a quarter of the world's arable land is used to grow feed for this livestock, including soya bean and corn. Fertilizers are used profligately for this, contributing to nitrogen oxides emissions, besides the loss of forests to clear land. This contributes another 21% of emissions. The manure produced by these animals runs into millions of tons and produces 26% of emissions, mostly nitrogen oxides. The remaining 14% are generated from various energy uses for transportation, processing and from land use changes ­ like deforestation ­ to provide land for growing feed.
Various scientific studies show that among all meats, beef has the highest carbon emitting potential. An analysis of 27 European Union countries found that a kilogram of beef is the cause of 22.6 kg CO2 emissions compared to 2.5 kg from pork, 1.6 from poultry , and 1.3 kg from milk. The emissions vary from region to region because of rearing practices. Consumption of 1 kg beef emits as much greenhouse gases as driving a car 160 kilometers. Plant cultivation is re sponsible for much less emissions: as compared to 16 kg CO2 per kg beef in UK, one kg of wheat was found to emit just 0.8 kg CO2.
Cutting down on meat ­ mainly beef ­ consumption will be a big contribution to the fight against climate change provided the big meat eating countries take it up. In the US, average meat consumption is about 322 grams per person per day , with Australia and New Zealand close behind. Europeans, Brazilians, Argentines and Venezuelans eat about 200 grams per day on an average, while the Chinese consume 160 grams.Indians, however, consume just 12 grams per day . Indians can perhaps extend support by having one meatless day , more as a symbolic support to a global fight.
Times View
The Sangh Parivar has been clamouring for a ban on beef in India on religious grounds. Banning beef because of religion would be wrong and autocratic in a secular country and can only aggravate tensions between religious communities. There is, however, a good, secular reason to advocate the shunning of beef globally. And that's because the methane produced by cattle is a big factor in global warming. With the Paris deal done, the timing is right for Prime Minister Modi ­ who last year succeeded in convincing the UN to declare June 21 as International Yoga Day ­ to persuade foreign governments to make one day of the month beef-free globally by prohibiting restaurants from serving it. It would be a small sacrifice for people to make, but would help raise awareness on the impact of beef-eating on global warming. It is also much easier to do than many other steps needed for cutting global emissions. Above all, by involving people directly in the effort, it drives home the message of Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world“, a message that must be internalised if global warming is to be successfully combated.

Source: Times of India, 16-12-2015

India racing ahead of China when it comes to pollution

New Delhi: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





15 Of 17 Cities Under Pollution Watch Have Poor Air Quality: Data

An evaluation of the National Air Quality Index (NAQI) data maintained by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) released on Tuesday has revealed that as many as 15 out of 17 cities that are being monitored fail to meet the ambient air quality standard by a considerable margin. The evaluation, done by Greenpeace India, also found that infrastructure to monitor air pollution is abysmal in India despite such severe levels of pollution.For instance, compared to an average of four real-time air quality monitoring stations in all big cities in the US, around five stations in major European cities and eight in major Chinese cities, India has an average of just 2.5 stations across the 17 cities that are being monitored.
The evaluation also found Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Faridabad among many others to be extremely polluted -between July and November for instance, Jaipur was below the desired air quality standard on 100% of days, Delhi on 93% of days, Faridabad on 69% Patna on 98% of days.
India started issuing AQI from March last year. Several pollutants like PM 2.5, CO, ozone, NO2 and SO2 are mon itored as part of the AQI.
“As the political capital, the bad air in Delhi gets the most attention. But, scratch below the murky surface, and you will find concentrations of PM2.5 in several other cities -Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Muzaffarpur and Faridabad among others -that would justify the triggering of a `red alert', like Beijing does. Even the government's own largely inadequate NAQI data reveals that 23 of the 32 stations across India are showing more than 70% exceedance of national standards,“ said Greenpeace India campaigner Sunil Dahiya.
He added, “The NAQI, in its present form, fails to acknowledge the scale of the problem. Data is only available in 17 cities, which is a shockingly low number considering the size of our country .“
The evaluation, that also compares PM 2.5 concentrations between July to November 2015 among some Chinese cities and Indian cities monitored by AQI, showed most Indian cities to have exceeded China's levels.
CPCB officials said they haven't seen the evaluation by Greenpeace India yet but claimed that air pollution in Delhi is strongly influenced by meteorology . “For about 50 days in a year Delhi has good air quality and about 27% of the year the conditions are very calm and windless, accentuating pollution. This is true for entire northern India,“ he said.

Source: Times of India, 16-12-2015