Monday, May 29, 2017

The other day, a student asked me what exactly the word ‘liberal’ mean. She wanted to know whether ‘liberalisation’ promotes ‘liberal’ values. She had noticed that institutions of higher education, which are supposed to promote liberal values, were finding it difficult to resist ideological and commercial pressures triggered by the process of economic liberalisation. So, was economic liberalism different from political liberalism? And what do people mean when they refer to neo-liberal policies? The questions she was asking could hardly be addressed without invoking the political economy that has emerged over the last three decades.

When liberalisation of the economy started to receive common consent in the mid-1980s, few people thought of examining what it would mean for education. Then, in 1991 came the dramatic announcement of a new economic policy, accompanied by a package of steps to be taken for ‘structural adjustment’ of the Indian economy. The purpose of ‘adjustment’ was to facilitate India’s integration into the global economy. Even then, education didn’t receive specific attention. Some critics of the new economic policy expressed anxiety about the consequences of state withdrawal from its prime role and responsibility in sectors like education and health. The national policy on education drafted in 1986 had mostly adhered to the established state-centric view. A major review in the early 1990s vaguely resonated the new discourse of liberalisation, but offered little evidence of change in the basic perspective. The Programme of Action, announced in 1992, stopped short of admitting that the state’s role in education was about to change. Nobody could imagine at that point that over the following decades, the state’s role in education would change so much that the Constitution would begin to sound like rhetoric.

School education

In order to examine what happened, we must make a distinction between school and higher education. When Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao spoke about liberalisation as the central theme of the new economic policy, he also referred to the ‘structural adjustment programme’. Under this programme, the World Bank offered a ‘safety net’ for primary education. It meant additional resources and policy guidance to enable the system to expand its capacity for enrolling children. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), which later mutated into Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), symbolised the ‘safety net’ approach. It was designed to cushion the harsh effects that ‘structural adjustment’ under liberalisation was expected to cause in welfare sectors like children’s education and health. The DPEP and SSA efficiently served this role, creating an ethos in which children’s education seemed to have become a major priority of the state. The success of these programmes emboldened the government to push the Right to Education (RTE) law through Parliament. Governments of many States registered their anxiety over their capacity to fund the implementation of RTE after the Central assistance provided under SSA runs dry.

How valid that anxiety was is now amply clear. All across northern India, the DPEP and SSA have left a radically expanded system that no one wishes to own. The contractual teachers appointed on a massive scale to fulfil the ambitious goals of DPEP and SSA are crying aloud for dignity and stability. Post-RTE, many State governments have drawn on the services of mega-NGOs and private companies to look after schools. As one might guess, it is children of the poor who attend these schools. Under the policy of liberalisation, the state has outsourced these children to non-state players. Those belonging to the better-off sections of society have moved to private schools.

Higher education

In higher education, the new economic policy designed on the principles of liberalisation offered no safety net. From the beginning, the assumption was that higher education ought to generate its own resources. An accompanying idea was that higher education should respond to market demands in terms of knowledge and skills. Over the last three decades, these two guiding ideas have dented the established system of higher education in all parts of the country. Both Central and State universities have been starved of financial resources. Cutting down on permanent staff, both teaching and non-teaching, has emerged as the best strategy to cope with financial crunch. A complex set of outcomes, specific to different universities, makes any general analysis difficult. In some, self-financed courses, mostly vocational in nature, have provided a means of income. In others, such courses have been resisted by teacher unions. However, these unions have gradually lost their power and say because they are broken from within.

A shrinking elite of senior, permanent teachers is struggling to represent a vast underclass of frustrated and vulnerable ad hoc teachers. The old idea that an academic career should attract the best among the young holds no meaning now. Research fellowships have been used as a cushion to absorb the growing army of unemployed, highly qualified young men and women. They have no organised voice, and each one of them is individually too vulnerable to protest against continuous exploitation.

This is the bleak new academic scenario. In India, the term ‘liberal’ essentially meant a voice representing courage and wider awareness. Training of such a voice was the main job of colleges and universities. This function grew under severe constraints in colonial times. The constraints were both social and cultural, but as electoral democracy advanced, political constraints gained ground. Politicians of every ideological persuasion resented the role of colleges and universities in maintaining the supply of critical voices. These institutions have now been forced to compromise their role in training the young to speak out. The compromise has taken over three decades to occur. It is hardly surprising that no political party shed a tear. So, if we now return to the question my young student had asked: ‘Does liberalisation promote liberal values?’ The answer is, ‘It hasn’t.’ Rather, it has eroded our society’s institutional capacity to train young people who might pursue liberal values by exercising an independent voice.

Krishna Kumar is professor of education at Delhi University and a former director of NCERT

Source: The Hindu, 26-05-2017

Bail or jail: on bail law reforms

The Law Commission’s report on bail law reforms deserves urgent attention

That bail is the norm and jail the exception is a principle that is limited in its application to the affluent, the powerful and the influential. The Law Commission, in its 268th Report, highlights this problem once again by remarking that it has become the norm for the rich and powerful to get bail with ease, while others languish in prison. While making recommendations to make it easier for all those awaiting trial to obtain bail, the Commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge B.S. Chauhan, grimly observes that “the existing system of bail in India is inadequate and inefficient to accomplish its purpose.” One of the first duties of those administering criminal justice must be that bail practices are “fair and evidence-based”. “Decisions about custody or release should not be influenced to the detriment of the person accused of an offence by factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, financial conditions or social status,” the report says. The main reason that 67% of the current prison population is made up of undertrials is the great inconsistency in the grant of bail. Even when given bail, most are unable to meet the onerous financial conditions to avail it. The Supreme Court had noticed this in the past, and bemoaned the fact that poverty appears to be the main reason for the incarceration of many prisoners, as they are unable to afford bail bonds or provide sureties. The Commission’s report recommending a set of significant changes to the law on bail deserves urgent attention.

The Commission seeks to improve on a provision introduced in 2005 to grant relief to thousands of prisoners languishing without trial and to decongest India’s overcrowded prisons. Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that a prisoner shall be released on bail on personal bond if he or she has undergone detention of half the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence. The Law Commission recommends that those detained for an offence that would attract up to seven years’ imprisonment be released on completing one-third of that period, and those charged with offences attracting a longer jail term, after they complete half of that period. For those who had spent the whole period as undertrials, the period undergone may be considered for remission. In general terms, the Commission cautions the police against needless arrests and magistrates against mechanical remand orders. It gives an illustrative list of conditions that could be imposed in lieu of sureties or financial bonds. It advocates the need to impose the “least restrictive conditions”. However, as the report warns, bail law reform is not the panacea for all problems of the criminal justice system. Be it overcrowded prisons or unjust incarceration of the poor, the solution lies in expediting the trial process. For, in our justice system, delay remains the primary source of injustice.

Source: The Hindu, 25-05-2017

Locating gender in the digital divide

In order to attempt to close the digital divide, we must recognize not only the economic factors but also address the social and cultural barriers that discourage women from meaningfully using the internet.

While conducting research on young women’s engagement with online spaces, I had a conversation with 16-year-old Jyoti about how she uses the internet and the websites she likes visiting. Jyoti, who lives in a single room apartment with her two parents and older brother, told me that every time she logs in to the internet, her brother looks over her shoulder to keep an eye on which website she is accessing. While it is acceptable for her to use online dictionaries for help with homework and occasionally access news websites, she is not allowed to use Facebook or other social media sites. Unlike her brother, she is also not allowed to have a mobile phone since her parents are worried that she might use the phone to chat with boys.

The ‘Digital in 2017’ report compiled by Hootsuite, social media management platform, and We Are Social, a social media agency, demonstrates that compared to the global internet penetration rate of 50%, only 35% of the Indian population uses the internet. This digital divide is largely understood in terms of lack of access to digital resources and the absence of digital literacy skills. However, the report also makes visible gender as a crucial factor that determines internet usage; the report demonstrates that when it comes to Facebook users, the percentage of male users outnumber female users in every age group. In India, of the total 191 million Facebook users in India, only 24% are female. In order to close the digital divide, we must therefore recognise not only the economic factors but also address the social and cultural barriers that discourage women from meaningfully using the internet.

My conversation with Jyoti is reminiscent of the many instances where women’s access to mobile and internet technology has been a cause for moral panic. Recently, a panchayat in Uttar Pradesh decided to impose a fine on women seen using mobile phones outside their homes, stating that mobile phones lead women to a “wrong path”. Such a fear of women using mobile phones must be understood in the broader context of patriarchal restrictions on women’s autonomy, mobility and self-expression.

Accessing online spaces allows women to forge friendships and relationships, and express sexual and romantic desires outside the surveillant gaze of their families and communities. As can be seen in Facebook pages such as Feminism in India and Dalit Women Fight , access to online spaces also enables women to form communities and voice their resistance to the many forms of gender and caste-based violence that they face in their everyday lives.

However, efforts by women to participate in online spaces and make their voices heard is often met with violence , leading women to withdraw from such spaces. Earlier this year, Gurmehar Kaur spoke about deleting her Facebook account after receiving rape threats in response to one of her posts. The incident exemplifies how the presence of women in online spaces and their participation in political debates is seen as a challenge to the status quo that limits women’s participation to the private sphere. Efforts towards addressing the gender gap in internet access and use must not only take into account issues of access but also work towards creating spaces where women can participate without fear of violence. Only then can the potential of the internet as a space for education, self-expression and mobilization be realised.

Sujatha Subramanian is with the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Ohio State University

Source: Hindustan Times, 29-05-2017

Developed states not adding to skill sets; face big gaps: ASSOCHAM Study

New Delhi: The most economically developed states are not adequately adding to skill sets , which may result in the severe shortages of skilled manpower in the coming years, with Maharashtra leading the table followed by Tamil Nadu, according to an ASSOCHAM-Thought Arbitrage Paper.

Other states which lack in creating skilled manpower include Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, said the paper.

By 2022, the biggest deficit in supply of skilled labour force is expected to be faced by Maharashtra, with the number pegged at 48.9 lakh persons, according to the paper. Tamil Nadu comes close second with shortage of 46.3 lakh.

“These two states together account for more than 70 per cent of the skills deficit in these seven states (mapped by the paper) with highest per capita NSDP and large skill gaps. Haryana and Gujarat are expected to face shortage of approximately 13 lakhs and 11 lakhs persons respectively by 2022. Kerala, Himachal Pradesh. and Punjab are likely to witness skills shortage of about five lakhs each by 2022,”, it said.

In terms of verticals, construction, building and real estate would have incremental human resource requirement of 31 million in the next five years, while retail sector would need about 17 million additional work force. Other sectors generating employment opportunities through skill up- gradation include beauty and wellness (10 million), transportation and logistics (12 million), furniture and furnishing (7.2 million) and handloom, handicrafts (6 million). Textiles and clothing would require additional 6.3 million people and tourism and hospitality 6.5 million.

“Our mapping of the skills shortages suggest that committing resources to training and skill upgradation would serve the twin purpose of employment creation as also helping the industries to grow in a cost effective manner,” said ASSOCHAM Secretary General Mr D S Rawat.

Source: Indiaeducationdiary, 28-05-2017

Stress-Busting Techniques Every Engineering Student Must Follow

Engineering is packed with potential stress situations. From gathering information of btechcourses, preparing the research papers on time, taking semester examinations to maintaining the attendance percentage, everything, just everything can make any student feel stressed. While stress and anxiety are unavoidable for students, it doesn’t have to demolish a student’s life or make a significant impact on their academic performance. There are many stress-busting techniques that can effectively take off the burden and help students excel and perform better at studies. Here are five stress-busting techniques that can help every engineering student have a lower-stress college life.

Plan a Study Strategy

Having a well-planned study strategy will make any student feel less burdened. Break down projects into small parts and set targets to accomplish each part. This way, you will have enough time to concentrate on each part and get the project finished right on time. On the other hand, if the examinations are approaching close, making a proper study strategy by dedicating enough time to all the subjects would make the night before the exam less stressful.

Think Positive

Feasting the mind with positive outcomes would make a huge impact on performance and grades. Students should always remember that one simple negative thought would lead to another and before they realise it, there will be a chain of negative thoughts already in their mind. A better approach is to feel confident and motivated about examinations and studies and keeping the mind away from negative thoughts as much as possible. However, it’s okay to feel anxious at times.

Indulge in Fun & Entertainment Activities

Rewarding your body every day with a reward can be of a big help. Engineering students should make sure that they are indulging in some form of entertainment and fun activities once a day. Keeping the mind always on pressure would be of no help. Instead, it will start affecting your grades. From watching movies to hanging out with friends, you can do whatever that makes you feel happy and rejuvenated.

Exercise

While there are many benefits of exercising, stress management tops the list. No matter what the stress level is, an hour of rigorous workout can fight stress like anything else. We understand it’s hard to maintain an exercise routine with studies, but something as simple as a walk or run can refresh the brain and make it all ready for the intense study sessions. If there is an on-campus gymnasium, nothing is better than spending a few hours early in the morning to make the body and brain ready for the upcoming lectures.

Sleep Well

The human body needs adequate sleep to perform and function better on a daily basis. However, there are times when an all-nighter is the only option that seems functional to the students. Pulling an all-nighter once or twice a month is surely not a problem, but making it a habit is. Students need to understand the value of a good night’s sleep, especially if the exams are approaching close.

Fighting with stress is an art, and every student should excel in it. Stress can sabotage the efforts a student makes to score well and can affect other areas of life as well. Fortunately, several coping strategies can effectively keep one away from feeling overburdened or stressed. Five such strategies are listed above. So, if you are pursuing engineering or gathering information of b tech courses and plan to pursue in future, keep these stress management tips handy, to make those four crucial years of your life pass like a breeze. Many institutions like BML Munjal University offer their students with stress management sessions that help them perform better and score well.

Source: Indiaeducationdiary, 28-09-2017

Become a Witness

SUKSHMANANDA SWAMI

Detachment is not indifference or lack of love. In fact, it is real love because it is not related to appearance. Witness has no attachment and, hence, no detachment is needed. Ego has attachment, therefore, detachment has to be developed.If appearance was a permanent reality , we could not make changes. We make changes in our lives in order to gain new experiences. This is possible only because that particular part of life is not reality , it is appearance, and until we know what reality is, we will continue the game of changes to modify our experiences. This is the age of browsing. We browse quickly through a variety of experiences, including relationships.The browsing will continue till we reach reality . So, in one sense, by browsing, we are indirectly searching for reality .
Spirituality eliminates the disparity between appearance and reality . The answer, “I don't know why I love you, I just do,“ reveals the ridiculousness of the situation. If you do not know why you love, it simply means you are not conscious about your love. True love never generates problems but is always part of the solution; it is part of witness, not ego.
The ability to love the world is a post-transformation state. A single glimpse or a single darshan of God alone is insufficient to transform a person's whole life. The darshan should become the background music of our lives, or it will appear and disappear like everything else in life. Only when we see the difference between the eternally real and the ephemeral image will our problems disappear.

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Monday, May 29, 2017

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

The bleak new academic scenario

Liberalisation has eroded the institutional capacity to train young people who might pursue liberal values