God’s own country? Not for its women who face sexual violence daily

The last word on the molestation case involving a popular actress from Kerala is far from over as the saga undergoes various twists and turns. But what is clear is that this is part of a worrying trend in crime against women in the state. Last year, there was a brutal rape and murder of a law student reminiscent of the 2012 Delhi gang-rape but which evoked nowhere near the attention that the latter did. In the latest case, the insidious theories doing the rounds in many local media vehicles reveal the extent of prejudice about the acting profession and the stereotypical assumption that women in it are of dubious character.

The extent of atrocities on women in Kerala is surprising since this is a state with superb social development indicators and very high literacy levels. In fact, women’s literacy is 92% and there is a healthy sex ratio of 966. But none of these has translated into more progressive attitudes towards women — to the contrary, things have got worse. From 2005-2014, incidents of rape grew by an astounding 436%, assaults on women by 246% and sexual harassment by 980%. This puts Kerala among the worst in rankings among states when it comes to crimes against women. There are 63 crimes against women per lakh as opposed to the national average of 56.3 with neighbouring Tamil Nadu registering 18.4. The cavalier attitude towards violence against women is very much ingrained both in the political system and the police in the state. With the actress’s case making national headlines, the state government has slowly swung into action but much of this has been fiery rhetoric about smoking out all those responsible. With a huge proportion of men working outside the state due to the lack of employment, women are often left alone to manage households. This makes them vulnerable to predatory advances. The other problem is that lack of employment has left too many young men idle and frustrated, a contributory factor in crimes. There is a generally permissive attitude to sexual harassment of women, the usual theory being that they asked for it. Since a large proportion of women are in the workforce, the number of cases has skyrocketed.

While the increase in reporting explains the number of cases, it also suggests the prevalence of violence. The only bit of good news is that there is a very strong women’s movement building in the state in the form of the Kudumbashree programme. If it takes the lead in the battle against violence against women, the state might see some progress on this front.

Source: Hindustan Times, 22-02-2017

China’s rise could be the biggest challenge to an ideas-based global order

Speeches by three leaders at the recently concluded Raisina Dialogue stood out for their pronouncements on globalisation. The first, by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sounded a note of caution about the “gains of globalisation” being at risk. “Economic gains are no longer easy to come by”, said PM Modi, who went on to cite the “barriers to effective multilateralism”. The Prime Minister’s message was direct and simple: that globalisation needs new inheritors who can help promote the projects, regimes and norms of the 20th century. This responsibility would invariably fall on the shoulders of a class of nations that we have come to know as “emerging powers”.

A second perspective on globalisation at Raisina came from former Canadian PM Stephen Harper, who highlighted the role that religion plays in these turbulent times. Harper noted the role that Pope John Paul II, a Pole, played in providing “anti-communists in Poland effective leadership outside the country” in their struggle against the Soviet Union. PM Harper was hinting at the capacity of a religious leader whose tacit support of the Western ethos ensured resistance to entrenched nation-states. In this respect, religion returned to world politics (to destroy the Soviet Empire) in the eighties, long before the rise of the Islamic State. Can tendencies driven by religious sentiment today — whether through the rise of terrorist groups like ISIS, or through the counter-movements against migration in Europe — defeat the globalisation project driven by states?

And finally, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson offered yet another take on globalisation, in balancing his full-throated defence of Brexit with his call for greater economic cooperation with Britain. The “selective” or “a la carte” globalisation that Secretary Johnson pushed for at Raisina reflects the desire of many Western states to preserve its economic benefits while assuaging “nativist” tendencies at home.

What do these three speeches at the recently concluded global conclave tell us about the world today? For one, they concede that globalisation of a certain kind has run its course. This was a globalisation spurred by Western leadership in the 20th century, promoting ideas and institutions to salvage economies that had been devastated after two great wars. The urgency and desire to create those linkages no longer exist in the trans-Atlantic universe, so this period is witnessing selective de-globalisation.

Secondly, the leaders’ speeches acknowledge that globalisation is a victim of its own success. In true Hegelian fashion, the “idea” has been destroyed by its “actualisation”. Globalised economies today promote the free and rapid flow of information, bringing communities, societies and peoples together. These connected networks are by no means homogenous. They are miscellaneous groupings that often have little in common, by way of political heritage or intellectual traditions. As a result, they begin to sense their respective differences quickly and conspicuously. To be sure, the world was just as polarised or opinionated before the Information Age. But digital spaces have made distances shorter, and differences sharper.

Thirdly, their utterances indicated globalisation is in need of new torchbearers, who may not be able to project strength or underwrite stability in the same vein as the United States or Europe, but will preserve its normative roots regionally. These torchbearers will emerge from Asia, Africa and Latin America: they may not be connected by a lingua franca but their political systems will share a common commitment to free expression and trade. Their rise will be neither smooth nor inevitable. If disruptors today find the cost to destabilise the global system rather low, its custodians realise it is expensive to fix the mess they leave behind.

Prime Minister Modi astutely observed at Raisina the dust has not yet settled on what has replaced the Cold War. Russian Parliamentarian Vyacheslav Nikonov, one of the conference speakers, went one step further: “We may not be the number one military in the world,” he said, “but we [Russia] are not No. 2 either”. With the traditional leadership of Western powers giving way to the rise of regional powers, it is anyone’s guess if they will emerge as preservers or destroyers.

Above all, the speeches by Modi, Johnson and Harper at the Raisina Dialogue reflect their desire to couch globalisation in normative terms. The Washington Consensus was not solely about free markets, but also untrammelled expression and political dissent. The room for promoting such norms, for all the reasons mentioned above, is considerably limited today. The rise of China presents perhaps the biggest challenge to an ideas-based global order. Beijing has pursued with transactional vigour and single-minded ambition the setting up of regional financial architecture to bankroll its infrastructure projects. These initiatives place little regard for notions held sacred in the international order.

At Raisina, PM Modi highlighted the importance of these norms for the continued execution of the globalisation project. “Only by respecting the sovereignty of countries involved, can regional connectivity corridors fulfil their promise and avoid differences and discord,” said the Prime Minister.

It should be clear then that there is only one legitimate inheritor to the global liberal order of any consequence: India. New Delhi alone can pursue the expansion of regional and global economic linkages while staying true to the ideals that drive them. The Raisina Dialogue itself was an example of how a global platform can be forged in India, bringing together contradicting opinions and voices from across the world. As the steward of the process, the Prime Minister cited the Rig Veda, inviting “noble thoughts [...] from all directions”. The future of the globalisation project is intimately tied to India’s modernisation and rise. There is no growth without ideas, and conversely, no innovation without prosperity. India is the world’s best shot and perhaps the last shot at achieving both.

Samir Saran is vice president at the Observer Research Foundation

Source: Hindustan Times, 22-02-2017

Social Action: Table of Contents

JANUARY–MARCH  2017  VOLUME  67  NO. 1
FORCED MIGRATION : A GLOBAL PHENOMENON

Title	Author
Forced Migration: A Global Phenomenon (Editorial)	Denzil Fernandes
Migration Crisis and Right-Wing Extremism in the West :  A Critical Challenge to Globalisation?	Rabab Imam  Rakesh S
Forced Migration: An Implication of Various Developmental Activities in Odisha	Sitaram Behera  Gayatri Padhy
Migration and Poverty :   An Indian Reality	Preethi L Nagaveni  Amit Anand
Legitimacy of Baath in Syria and Gramscian   idea of Cultural Hegemony	Lakshmi Priya
Skill Development and Rural Youth Employment:  Case of MGNREGS in Chhattisgarh	Archana Sinha
Democratic Norms and Political Engagement among Youth in Nagaland	Moamenla Amer

Indian government launches free antivirus for PC and mobile phones

The Indian government has approved Rs 900 crore for the National Cyber Coordination Centre.

The IT Ministry today launched anti-malware analysis centre that will facilitate free anti-virus for computers and mobile phones in the country with project cost of Rs 90 crore spread over a period of five years.

"I would like ISPs (Internet Service Provider) to encourage their consumers to come on board, there is a free service available. Come and use it in the event some malware has sneaked into the system," IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at the launch of Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre.

The Indian cyber security watchdog CertIn will collect data of infected systems and send it to ISPs and banks. These ISPs and banks will identify the user and provide them with link of the centre, launched in name of Cyber Swachhta Kendra.

The user will be able to download anti-virus or anti-malware tools to disinfect their devices.

"The project has budget outlay of Rs 90 crore spread over period of 5 years," CertIn Director General Sanjay Bahl said.

As of now 58 ISPs and 13 banks have come on board to use this system.

The minister directed Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to also set up National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) by June.

The government has approved Rs 900 crore for NCCC which will monitor and handle cyber attacks on Indian internet space in real time.

"Safety and security is integral. As the Prime Minister said cyber threat is akin to bloodless war. I don't have slightest doubt cyber security is not only going to be big area of Digital Swachh Bharat but also going to be big area of digital growth, digital employment and digital commerce," Prasad said.

Source: DNA, 21-02-2017

Realign teaching methods to the needs of tomorrow

Mahatma Gandhi once observed that “True education must correspond to the surrounding circumstances or it is not a healthy growth”. There can be no magic fix for India’s education problems. Access and quality, equity and seeking private capital, adapting pedagogy to changing demand have inherent contradictions. Optimising the opportunity cost of investment between primary, secondary, higher secondary and technical education remains challenging. Some years ago, I remember speaking in a panel with Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow at the Stanford India Annual Conference who arrived at a somewhat uncommon conclusion. In a short regression analysis, he believed that maximum returns would accrue from enhanced outlays in the higher secondary Sector. This is a complex issue but there are of course serious challenges which go beyond inter-sectoral balancing. As a consequence of the Right to Education (RTE) Act enacted in 2010, enrollment ratio has been steadily rising. Regrettably, outcomes and more so academic excellence have remained stagnant. Adequacy of educational spending remains an endemic concern. There was a sharp increase of around Rs. 6,000 crores in the recent budget.

It is another matter that operational inefficiencies, flawed administrative architecture elude outcomes not commensurate with even current levels of spending. Identifying and addressing the allocative inefficiencies from available resources is a smarter way forward. Improved quality in education is contingent on multiple variables. These include teacher attendance, quality of teachers, the pedagogy process, classroom assessment systems and school management to mention a few. The 11th edition of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) has just been published. This year’s report highlights that enrolment ratio in primary education is approaching 100%. There is also a marginal improvement in reading and arithmetic ability among students, especially in primary grades, even though only 47.8 % of Std. V students 73 % of Std. VIII students are able to read Std. II level texts. A meagre 26 % of Std. V students and 46 % of Std. VIII students could do simple division. The report does, however, mention an improved performance in public schools while outcomes from private institutions remain stagnant.

Equally, issues of equity are worrisome. Equity along with access and quality form the troika of challenges facing our education system. ASER 2016 suggests wide inter-state differences in learning outcome among schoolgoing children. States like UP, MP, Bihar, Jharkhand have lagged behind on all assessment metrics of the survey. Similarly, the variations among the social groups too are considerable. According to All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2014-15, Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education for male population is 25.3% and for females, it is 23.2%. For Scheduled Castes, it is 19.1% and for Scheduled Tribes, it is 13.7% as compared to the national GER of 24.3%.

The recent initiative of the HRD Ministry to recognise the importance of autonomy especially in the higher education sector is a positive step. The HRD Minister must be complimented in recognising that autonomy in school management when benchmarked with performance criteria is a path forward. Stepping back from the heavy hand of government in managing institutions of higher learning has eluded successive governments. I was a member of the Parliamentary Standing committee on HRD along with the present HRD minister for several years. A number of legislations for reforming the higher education sector like The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, equally suffered from the lacunae of enhancing state control. Reducing the state governments’ autonomy and seeking to micromanage learning institutions is problematic. In this context, the new initiative deserves encouragement.

Going beyond the present, there are five key issues. First and foremost, the recent initiative of according autonomy to IIMs must become inclusive and embracing. The parliamentary legislative approval is a time-consuming process. So, when there is time and willingness the Bill must provide non-discriminatory treatment to institutions beyond IIMs like ISB, MDI, and other private institutions with impeccable track record. Hopefully, the government will move an amendment or the standing committee would insert an enabling provision for similar treatment to be received by private institutions that adhere to stringent performance criteria. Besides, a separate legislation for each institution by the Parliament is neither practical nor desirable. An enabling provision which enlarges the ambit of the Bill to cover a wider array of institutions which fulfil the stringent criteria would be efficacious.

Second, what about the archaic regulatory structure and the labyrinth of current rules and procedure which govern institutions of higher learning? True, neither the Sam Pitroda, nor the Yashpal committee nor the Bill piloted in the Parliament may be perfect responses. However, an appropriate regulatory architecture which segregates licencing, accreditation and performance monitoring must be spelled out.

Third, viewing private investments with persistent suspicion is a zero-sum game. To believe that all private sector investments in education are for profiteering or for commercialisation of education would be misleading. Given paucity of funding and employment challenges, harnessing private capital and innovative practices is inescapable. A private entrepreneur would undoubtedly be driven by the opportunity cost of investment. Giving them latitude and flexibility in management to attract and retain high quality faculty and focusing on outcomes needs attitudinal changes which encourages private investment and public private partnership. For instance, a focus on outdated land norms must be replaced by norms on infrastructure, high faculty and fostering creativity.

Fourth, bridging the gap between education and employment is essential. Several employability surveys have highlighted the growing disconnect between our education and industry requirements. Impetus to vocationalisation, with robust certification and enabling apprenticeship system would build wider industry-academia collaboration.

Finally, realign pedagogy to serve the needs of tomorrow. This means educational materials, teaching and curriculum caught in a time warp need to be restructured for the jobs of tomorrow. Most importantly, constant learning and ability to leverage technology is needed. For the future, Einstein was right when he said “education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school”.

NK Singh is a member of the BJP and a former Rajya Sabha MP

Source: Hindustan Times, 22-02-2017

Vast Sky of Realisation

VIVEK DESAI





A gull happily flying with a morsel in its mouth, suddenly noticed that it was being chased by 10 other gulls. They started harassing and pecking it. Frightened, the gull dodged, flew faster, and tried every move to defend itself from this brutal onslaught. After some time, the bird felt exhausted, both physically and mentally . Suddenly , it dawned on the gull that the entire flock of birds was after that morsel.So, it just let it go. At once, the entire flock changed its direction and went for the morsel, leaving the gull alone. The gull smiled and said, “I let go of that small piece of food and look what I attained -the vast sky!“ This story , adapted from Srimad-Bhagavatam, helps us understand a person's bondage with misery and, alternatively , with liberation and peace, especially as expounded in the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism.
Most of one's life is spent in jealously guarding what one has and striving to acquire what one doesn't. This clinging to what the individual thinks of as `mine' is termed in Shiva Sutras as `mayiya mala'. Mala means `impurity', so `mayiya mala' refers to the notion `mine' that veils the experience of one's true nature as peace, as boundless as Shiva, the Divine.
But why does one cling to possessions and people? Shiva Sutras explains that the cause is `anava mala'. ` Anu' means an `atom', so considering oneself to be small, limited is termed `anava mala' at the feeling-level. The visceral notion `I am incomplete' leads to the imaginary boundaries of `mine' and `not mine'. This, indeed, is the source of all strife in our lives.

We are losing fifth of world food to overeating, wastage

London PTI





Almost 20% of the food made available to consumers worldwide is lost through over-eating or wastage, according to a new study . The world population consumes around 10% more food than it needs, while almost 9% is thrown away or left to spoil, researchers said.Efforts to reduce the billions of tonnes lost could improve global food security -ensuring everyone has access to a safe, affordable, nutritious diet -and help prevent damage to the environment, they said. Scientists at University of Edinburgh in the UK examined 10 key stages in the global food system -including food consumption and the growing and harvesting of crops -to quantify the extent of losses.
Using data for 2011 (the most recent date for which the researchers said all required data was available) collected primarily by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, the team found that more food is lost from the system than was previously thought. Almost half of harvested crops -or 2.1 billion tonnes -are lost through over-consumption, consumer waste and inefficiencies in production processes, researchers said.
Livestock production is the least efficient process, with losses of 78% or 840 million tonnes, the team found.Some 1.08 billion tonnes of harvested crops are used to produce 240 million tonnes of edible animal products including meat, milk and eggs. This stage alone accounts for 40% of all losses of harvested crops, researchers said. Increased demand for some foods, particularly meat and dairy products, would decrease the efficiency of the food system and could make it difficult to feed the world's expanding population in sustainable ways, they said. Meeting this demand could cause environmental harm by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, depleting water supplies and causing loss of biodiversity.
Encouraging people to eat fewer animal products, reduce waste and not exceed nutritional needs could help reverse these trends, the team said.“Until now, it was not known how over-eating impacts the system. Not only is it harmful to health, we found that overeating is bad for the environment and impairs food security,“ Peter Alexander from Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences said.

Source: Times of India, 22-02-2017