Know your scientist: Richard Feynman

The American theoretical physicist came up with the idea of nanotechnology and pioneered the field of quantum computing.

Richard Phillips Feynman was born in New York City on May 11, 1918. The American theoretical physicist was best known for discovering the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, and his work in quantum mechanics and particle physics. He also came up with the idea of nanotechnology and was one of the earliest pioneers in the field of quantum computing.

His academic achievements include New York University Math Championship which he won during his senior year at Far Rockaway High School, a Bachelor of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Ph.D. from Princeton in 1939. Despite his intellect, Feynman was an avid prankster, so much so that his autobiography is titled “Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman”.

In 1943, Feynman and Hans Bethe derived the Bethe-Feynman efficiency formula or the formula for calculating the yield of a fission bomb. Feynman also worked on the Manhattan project -- which developed the earliest nuclear weapons -- while he was still a student at Princeton.

The highlight of Richard Feynman career as a scientist was when he won a Nobel prize in 1965. He shared the spotlight with along with fellow scientists Tomonaga and Julian Schwinger. The prize was awarded based on “their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles". He also won the Albert Einstein Award in 1954 and the Lawrence Award in 1962.

Source: DNA, 8-02-2017

Students don't want teacher who knows it all

These lessons learned from my students challenge me to acknowledge the diversity in learning styles, knowledge, skills, and dispositions; consistently evaluate my teaching to meet the needs of each new group of learners

The funny thing about being a teacher is, you are schooled just as much as your students. Education isn't just one way. It, like most avenues of life, travels with reciprocity. My students have taught me some invaluable lessons during my first five years as a college lecturer. I can't help but reflect on all of the lessons I learned. It has helped me think more clearly about what I want my students to know and do, and who I want them to become. And it has made me a better teacher and a better person. And while my students (hopefully) remember the lessons I've taught them, here are some of the lessons they've taught me.

Listen

There are a lot of things that distract our attention, no matter how outlandish, silly, or absurd the story is, just listen. Everyone needs to be heard; and know that their words are important. It helps to build self-esteem, it allows making real connections, and it helps to learn how to interact with others. In a world where many of us simply communicate electronically, nothing replaces real world connections of the heart.

Challenges are the spice of life

Students are eager to learn. There is a 'bring it on' attitude which keeps things interesting. They always try to come up with new ideas if you challenge them. This helps us to be focused and motivated in everything that we do. The adventure of life is to learn and grow. The nature of life is to change. The challenge of life is to overcome.

Patience is a virtue

Naturally, as instructors, we want our students to succeed, but sometimes learning comes slowly. Not all students learn at the same pace (nor do they all learn in the same way). But I have learned to take it easy. The majority of students will get to where they need to be eventually, and I am often surprised by 'growth spurts' that occur along the way. Learning is not linear and can't always be measured by the clock. Everyone is unique.

Never judge a book by its cover

Time has a way of revealing someone's true character. The student who seems like a slacker will sometimes surprise you with creativity. We tend to make judgments about people based on their appearance and a few scraps of knowledge about them. Sometimes these impressions turn out to be wrong as we get to know the person and their story. I have learned to believe in people no matter how unproductive or dull they seem to be, No matter what stage of life they are in, supporting them and encouraging them is crucial. After all, that is what teachers do.

Improvement through feedback

'What can I do to make myself better?' and 'How can I improve?' are questions that my students ask me frequently? I have learned that sometimes we're afraid to ask for honest feedback because we'll hear something we won't like. But if we can set aside our insecurity, people will often give us great insights we couldn't receive any other way.

It's okay to say I don't know

Teachers are supposed to be the 'Experts'. They are supposed to have all the right answers. Any teacher will tell you the three hardest words to say are 'I don't know.'

True learning is not just about gaining knowledge. It's about having a curious mind and a willingness to change and grow. It's about the excitement of searching for answers, not the security of feeling like you already have them all. Students don't want a teacher who knows it all. They are looking for guides and coaches who can provide feedback, direction, and motivation.

These lessons learned from my students challenge me to acknowledge the diversity in learning styles, knowledge, skills, and dispositions; consistently evaluate my teaching to meet the needs of each new group of learners. Although I'm sure there are much more lessons to learn, these lessons continue to transform my thinking.

(The author has worked with DAVV University Indore as a Management Faculty. She has also been associated with The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India as a Soft Skills Trainer and has conducted various seminars for students motivating them to overcome their weaknesses and develop their strengths.)

Source: DNA, 27-01-2017

Project Khel: For him, education is just a child’s play

Akshai Abraham to start Project KHEL (Kids Holistic Education and Lifeskills), after working for around eight years in the development sector.

While mugging up for almost every exam, I wondered when in life I would use what I learnt about kinetic energy, or which career would require me to draw an obtuse-angle triangle. I’m not against learning History or Geography, but what about knowing how to resolve conflicts, or communicating effectively?

It was thoughts like these that led Akshai Abraham to start Project KHEL (Kids Holistic Education and Lifeskills), after working for around eight years in the development sector. Having studied in a boarding school where sports were given much importance, Abraham realised that his personality and character were shaped by what he learnt outside the classroom. That’s where the idea of sports for development came from.“After college, I worked for a year in Austria and living in a developed country motivated me to return home and work in the social sector,” says Abraham. Since 2012, Project KHEL has been helping underprivileged children reach their potential through play.

Abraham and his eight-member team work with around 1,200 underprivileged children, between 8-18 years, from slums, shelter homes, orphanages, low-income schools, and with children of domestic and migrant labour, of rickshaw pullers and paan shop owners, across 19 locations in and around Lucknow. Using the concept of play, “we use team sports (football, volleyball, handball, basketball, kho kho, kabaddi), games, theatre, music, dance, and art, to teach them life skills,” shares 38-year-old Abraham.

Each of the hour-long sessions, conducted twice a week, comprises two parts. Out of 60 minutes, 25 are devoted to playing a sport, after which “we have a debriefing for five minutes. As facilitators, we observe and encourage the kids to talk about their behaviour and what they’ve learnt. For example, when we’re playing dodgeball, the boys generally have a tendency to reach for the ball, even if it’s headed toward the girl standing next to them.

When a boy does this, but realises it and gives the ball back to the girl, we appreciate it. It is this behaviour that moulds character and teaches things like gender sensitivity”. In the next 20 minutes, the kids learn life skills, such as empathy, through an activity-based curriculum, followed by a debriefing session once again. There are four levels, and as “we go higher, these kids who would not even play with the opposite gender, later have heated discussions on serious topics,” says Abraham, who plays all sports except golf and is now falling in love with ultimate frisbee, a mixed-gender sport with no referee that closely matches with what Project KHEL tries to teach.

“At stage four, we had introduced the concept of ultimate to other sports, including kho kho, kabaddi and volleyball. With this variation, they have to learn to communicate and resolve their conflicts,” he says.

Talking about the way in which the programme is customised to a high degree, Abraham says, “We assume that different groups will progress at different speeds. Even within groups, since every child does not learn at the same pace, the fast learners are given leadership opportunities as peer leaders, who help the facilitators conduct sessions, while the slower ones are given more time to learn.”

“A lot of people think, ‘what are kids going to learn from playing?’,” says Abraham, who believes that if we let boys and girls play together today, we might change things 20 years from now. Through these interactions, the children learn to follow rules, teamwork, discipline, strategies, communication, leadership, gender sensitivity, and to win and lose gracefully, which can’t be taught in a classroom. “There’s no need to lecture about women empowerment when a girl, who is otherwise not allowed to play with boys, kicks a ball in a mixed-gender team. They realise that girls can play as well as boys, and if she can’t the guys give up their game to coach them,” says Abraham, whose favourite sport is basketball.

With state, national and international-level players on team Project KHEL, the kids learn rules, techniques and enjoy the game, albeit not with the aim of creating sportspersons. It’s not just the children who learn; the team members undergo a facilitator-to-facilitator learning programme too as well as intensive weekly trainings on Sunday mornings.

Role play

Project KHEL also conduct workshops across the country. “Ours is a preventive approach. In a menstrual hygiene session, we talk about myths and restrictions, such as not eating or touching pickle, not sleeping on the bed, not entering the kitchen... They can challenge these myths once, but if they live in a joint family they shouldn’t suffer. We ensure they understand that one day when they’re mothers, they shouldn’t let this continue. When we do role plays, the boys take up women’ role and understand what the women in their homes go through.”

Source: DNA, 10-02-2017

A besieged life of the mind

Attacks on Nivedita Menon, Rajshree Ranawat show the decline of state universities, perversion of student politics

The reports of attacks and a hate campaign in the form of agitations and police reports against academic Nivedita Menon of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Rajshree Ranawat of the Jai Narain Vyas University (JNVU), Jodhpur, must concern us all. We cannot simply shrug it off when the university administration itself is filing criminal reports against academics for their “anti-national” remarks on its premises. FIRs have a life of their own and can have serious consequences. Books have been pulped, recalled from shelves, writers and artists have apologised for something they have not done, jobs have been lost. So, it is not amusing to learn that teachers are facing a “popular” agitation, bad press and possible arrests for their scholarly work, be this in a lecture at a seminar, an article or a book.

This attack is not an exception. A similar assault had taken place at the Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, some time ago when the organisers and speakers of a seminar in the department of philosophy were targeted with criminal cases and a “popular” agitation. The case of the teachers in Haryana Central University, attacked for staging a play, is still fresh in our minds.

In these cases, nationalism is used as a weapon against knowledge and free enquiry. This article, however, is not an attempt to defend Nivedita Menon and Rajshree Ranawat or the English department at JNVU, which invited Menon to speak at a conference on “History Reconstructed Through Literature: Nation, Identity, Culture”, where she made allegedly “seditious” remarks questioning India’s claims over Kashmir.

Menon has since clarified, in great detail in a post on Kafila.online, that statements attributed to her are falsehoods and half-truths. She is not a coward, so she does not disown her remarks. But clearly, most of what is being blamed on her is not what she said but what the agitators imagined she had. This is an occasion to deliberate on the sad decline of state universities, the perversion of student politics and the irresponsible reporting by the Hindi
media, which borders on instigation and hate campaigns.

We know the sad story of the destruction of the once-outstanding Jodhpur and Jaipur Universities. They have been killed by starving them of funds and the non-appointment of faculty. Reduced to examination machines, they lack even the ambition of contributing to knowledge creation.

The divide between the state universities and central educational institutions, in terms of finances and knowledge, is huge and daunting. The sheer insensitivity of state governments and political parties towards the young is demonstrated in the way they treat and maintain universities. Vice chancellors are selected not for their ability
in academic leadership, but their loyalty to the government of the day. Departments are empty, libraries impoverished and laboratories non-functional.

In such a dismal scenario, conferences like the one Ranawat and her colleagues organised are audacious acts, pulled off in extremely adverse situations. They also serve as oases, a rare opportunity for students and faculty to be exposed to and interact with the best minds in the academic world. Such conferences provide an opportunity to the faculty and students to break free from mechanical, examination-driven classes. But it is clear that the university authorities are ready to sacrifice them at the very first provocation.

The quality of the corporate life of a university is something we need to think about. When unions of teachers and non-teaching staff members turn against their own colleagues, it gives a signal to other teachers that they cannot be adventurous and would be left alone to fight their battle. The behaviour of the ABVP, in such cases, has been
uniform. Instead of engaging intellectually with its ideological opponents, its members have indulged in threats, physical attacks, destruction of public property and public agitation. One expects student organisations to promote a culture of dialogue. It is disappointing to see some of them using their physical prowess and proximity to power to make their point.

The role of the Hindi media in the JNVU and other such cases has been dangerous. It does not engage in a balanced reporting of the facts. A team from the editors’ guild, which investigated Hindi media’s role in the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, found that it has turned into a propaganda machine for Hindu right-wing politics. The reader and viewer solely dependent on Hindi media are not only malnourished, they are being fed intoxicants in the name of news and opinion.

The cultural life of what is known as the Hindi heartland is becoming dangerously narrow. This is definitely a loss for teachers, but more so for young minds. As socioloist Satish Deshpande argues, universities are the only spaces, in our otherwise highly segregated and hierarchical society, where the youth get a chance to participate in intellectual discourse in an egalitarian manner. This is an opportunity for them to experience a freedom which is unavailable in wider society. This applies especially to first-generation college and university goers.

To restrict or close down such spaces is to deprive them of their only source of intellectual and cultural nourishment. Here, they learn the art of dealing with differences and the art of persuasion. When a Rajshree Ranawat organises such a conference, or a Nivedita Menon speaks in it, they do not do so merely to exercise their right to free speech, but more out of their sense of responsibility towards the youth. They are being told that this is a soldierly duty, fraught with real risk, that they have been in the line of fire from the enemies of intellect, who, by being so, become enemies of equality, freedom and humanity.

The writer teaches at Delhi University

Source: Indian Express, 10-02-2017

Bowing down to patriarchy

e of the success stories of affirmative action in India has been the implementation of reservation of seats in local body elections for women, to the order of 33% or more. The importance of democratising the public sphere by inclusive participation of women in a largely male-dominated society cannot be stressed enough. In rural areas the quota has helped improve local governance, enhancing outcomes in delivery of civic services related to drinking water supply, sanitation and irrigation, among others. In urban local bodies, the visible impact has been more quantitative in terms of representation rather than qualitative, with success being linked to emphasis on gender sensitisation by civil society and political parties. It is therefore unfortunate that the Nagaland government, after initial steadfastness to hold the long-delayed urban local body polls on February 1, declared the elections as “null and void” after some tribal bodies, opposed to reservations for women, sought to disrupt the process. Rather than bowing to this pressure, the State government led by the Nagaland People’s Front should have enforced the rule of law. That a substantial number of towns participated in the elections despite a bandh called by the tribal bodies reflects public support for affirmative action as mandated by the 74th Amendment to the Constitution.

Article 371A of the Constitution secures a special status for Nagaland. But as the civil society groups striving for reservation have argued, urban local bodies are not part of traditional Naga society, and ULBs are constitutional bodies to which customary Naga laws cannot be applied. The conduct of the long-delayed elections was achieved after a protracted legal struggle led by women’s groups. Arguments against women’s reservation invoking Naga customs have been consistently quashed by the courts, ultimately paving the way for elections to be announced for February 1. The State government later submitted to pressure exerted by the Naga Hoho, an apex group of 16 tribal groups, which smelled blood and sought Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang’s resignation. The State government then wrote to the Centre seeking exemption for Nagaland from Part IXA of the Constitution — which is clearly untenable. The Centre, meanwhile, sees Nagaland merely through the lens of the still- pending peace accord with some insurgent groups. This milieu has emboldened patriarchal forces to assert themselves and deny women their constitutionally guaranteed rights of representation in local bodies. Civil society and women’s groups now have their work cut out in realising their just demand for electoral representation. Denial of women’s rights cannot be a measure of the State’s autonomy.

Source: The Hindu, 10-02-2017

Let Go of the Past

NEERAJA RAGHAVAN





Why do unhappy events stay on in the mind? Why are we haunted by those episodes in our lives that left us grief-stricken, frustrated, resentful, hurt, guilty or upset, and not by those that left us happy and contented? Across the mind's screen, unpleasant images of the past flash by more often than fulfilled pleasant ones.Perhaps the key lies in the word `fulfilled'. Fulfilment implies completion. It refers to something that is over, finished with, with no loose ends. Close that file. We need to click on the filename if we wish to open it.Otherwise, the file is tucked away inside a folder, somewhere. However, numerous haunting memories continue as current files. Something in each one of them remains to be finished. It may well be an apology that was due. It could also be an unwillingness on our part to accept a loss.
Whatever the case, that niggling file is always open in the mental computer screen. As sole operators of the `files' that trouble us, we have it in our power to `complete' those files and save them, too, in that folder in the recesses of the mind. But to do that, we will have to let go of some of the pride, hurt, guilt, resentment or whichever emotion is coming in the way of our `completing' that file.
Each religion has its own prescription for this `completion'.Confession, forgiveness, mindfulness, conscious acceptance -all these are different ways of telling those open files to close. For, this is one computer that never shuts down -not even when we sleep. Our troubled dreams testify to that.

Ourview The promise and pitfalls of urbanization in India

The urbanization that has taken place is skewed and cannot be a healthy long-term model

The eye has never seen a place like it,” wrote Persian ambassador Abdur Razzak of Vijayanagara, capital of the Vijayanagara empire, “and the ear was never informed that there existed anything to equal it in the world.” He was writing in 1443, during the long summer of the empire. Other visitors would praise the city’s wealth and prosperity in later years; Domingo Paes, a Portuguese traveller, compared it favourably to the Italian city-states in 1520. A high compliment indeed—the latter, at the height of the Renaissance, were global centres of wealth, commerce and culture. Sailing east along the Mediterranean coast would have brought a traveller like Paes to one of their few rivals, Constantinople (now Istanbul)—in its time the richest and largest city in Europe.The role of cities as engines of economic growth and innovation has a long history. Urban studies pioneer Jane Jacobs has argued that cities, not nation-states, are the main players in macroeconomics. The Economic Survey, 2016-17 starts its chapter on cities as growth dynamos by quoting her, as it happens. It goes on to detail the manner in which urbanization has defined—and will continue to define—Indian development. From 1991 to 2011, the percentage of India’s population that lives in cities and towns has increased from a quarter to a third. This segment produces more than three-fifths of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The survey notes that controlling for GDP per capita, India’s rate of urbanization is not particularly slow—and as the former picks up, so will the latter.

Higher rates of urbanization will in turn boost GDP more, creating a virtuous cycle; the core thesis of agglomeration economics is that productivity increases with proximity to high levels of economic activity such as are likely to be found in urban centres. A 2016 National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) paper, What Is Different About Urbanization In Rich And Poor Countries? Cities In Brazil, China, India And The United States, finds that the agglomeration effect in India is, in fact, larger than the US. Nor are the benefits confined to capital owners. Unlike the other countries studied, there is a significant real-wage premium associated with denser population clusters in India. There are also associated differences in the quality of human capital due to differences in the quality of education and the like. In other words, greater urbanization in India will boost citizens’ quality of life just as it will boost the GDP.

So far, so good. But urbanization in India also faces a large number of problems, many of them related to internal migration. The 2011 census showed that a third of India’s population consisted of internal migrants. The NBER paper, however, noted that “only two per cent of the sample had moved during the preceding five years in 2011, and that figure replicates results for 2001 and 1993. Less than one per cent of the population had made a major move.” A substantial number of studies back this up. Although there is a lack of comprehensive data about the composition of India’s migrant population—a problem in itself when it comes to policymaking— independent surveys point to the reason for the discrepancy: The majority of internal migrants are seasonal workers.

Thus, policymakers must address two parallel issues: how to enable temporary migrants, and how to enable more long-term migration in the formal sector. There are no silver bullets here, only a host of overlapping measures. Empowering urban local bodies (ULBs) is one, as the Survey points out. The political deficit—the lack of responsibility and authority vested in a city government— leads to governance fragmentation, deficits in funding and infrastructure and low expenditure per capita. This failure of the majority of cities to deliver adequate services and infrastructure means that urbanization patterns are skewed, adding pressure on a handful of already burdened urban centres.

Another measure is allowing temporary migrants to easily access financial services and benefits. The present administration’s JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) Yojana is a start—but only that, as the numerous reports of account dormancy and duplication show. Stabilization here, allowing migrants to access and transfer resources through formal banking, must be followed by delinking benefits from location to the extent possible and gradually shifting to the direct benefits transfer model.

That would be just a start. Encouraging more compact urban development through changing land use regulations, investing in urban mobility and addressing the convoluted classification process of census towns that results in denied urbanization should all be on the menu. As matters stand, the many problems mean that the organizing principle of urban economics—spatial equilibrium, which dictates that if an urban centre has high wages and good services, it will also have a high cost of living, which in turn will make other centres attractive and lead to equalization of growth across a region—has failed to function adequately in India. The skewed urbanization that has resulted cannot be a healthy long-term model.

Source: Mintepaper, 9-02-2017