A feeling of homelessness

Anti-NRC campaigns refuse to acknowledge that Assam’s indigenous people are losing land and economic space

The strident propaganda launched by some quarters against the updating process of Assam’s unique National Register of Citizens 1951, insinuating that this was a conspiracy to disenfranchise a huge number of Indians, forget that the upgradation is being carried out under the direction and supervision of the Supreme Court of India in a state that has long suffered from large-scale infiltration of foreign nationals.

It was decided to have an NRC for Assam after the 1951 census after it came to notice that large-scale illegal migration was taking place in the state. It was a far-sighted decision. Unfortunately, this exercise was abandoned in the subsequent censuses, presumably under the influence of vote bank politics. And illegal migration through the porous border continued. This created a situation in which the indigenous people of Assam were gradually losing their land and economic space, and further becoming almost politically irrelevant in their native land. The Assam Agitation took place in such a situation. Indian researchers have documented the migration problem and even an American researcher, Myron Weiner, discussed in detail Assam’s disturbing demographic change in his book, The Sons of the Soil. In 1987, the then Assam Governor Lt General S K Sinha had submitted a detailed and well-documented report to the President of India on the issue of illegal migration suggesting many measures to effectively prevent this undesirable situation. Unfortunately, successive governments ignored the well-meaning recommendations of the governor.

The draft of the full NRC was published on July 30, 2018. Despite the exercise being undertaken under the supervision of the apex court, a massive international campaign was carried out against the exercise even before the final draft was published in the name of human rights. It launched a signature campaign claiming it to be a conspiracy to deprive 70 lakh “Indian Muslims” of their citizenship equating the fate of this imaginary number to that of the Rohingya of Myanmar. Another campaign was carried out by some organisations and intellectuals from the Barak Valley to call it an exercise against the Bangla-speaking population of Assam.

Where do these two separate campaigns, issuing from two different socio-cultural registers, meet? They both are attempting to paint this exercise as conspiratorial on behalf of the indigenous people, who have ironically been at the receiving end of migration pressure on demography since the time of the British occupation of this region. The British encouraged continuous migration of the immigrants for making their occupation profitable. The trend continued and migration increased even after the partition of India. Successive ruling parties have found in the immigrants a vote bank. So through the successive census operations, demography continued to change in favour of the non-indigenous people with the alarming reduction of the original natives. History does not go back and the pre-British original natives of Assam cannot be expected to get back the comfortable position of absolute preeminence of the past. This is the lesson the Assam agitation has taught resulting in the compromise of Assam Accord. But the one thing the indigenous communities will not accept is being a minority in their homeland and be politically beholden to the immigrants, who may, in course of time, try to grab the major portion of the political cake. The anti-NRC campaigns are an attempt not only to communalise the exercise but also to cause an amnesia about the historical fact of continuous loss of political and economic space by the indigenous people.

The NRC is an exercise to ensure that genuine Indian citizens are not deprived of the entry of their names in the register and that those who entered India after March 24, 1971 from Bangladesh are not included in the same register. The acceptance of the entire stream of immigrants from the date of the independence of the country till March 24, 1971 is not only a recognition of the historical situation of the birth of Bangladesh, but for the autochthons, it is a big sacrifice of their interests and rights on their native soil.

Since the Supreme Court is overseeing the exercise, it must lend its weight to the preparation of a correct NRC. Entry of names in the NRC needs proof of some documents, which are many with alternatives, and everyone including the indigenous people have been required to collect and submit these documents. Everyone has taken a lot of pains to submit their proof of citizenship. If there is some mistake and if there is some mischief, all such aberartions have to be rectified during the ongoing process of submission of complaints and if it is found that any official is indulging in mischief, such official/s have to be taken to task according to procedure. Unfortunately, the ruling party by bringing in an amendment to the Citizenship Act to grant citizenship to illegal migrants of all religious communities barring the Muslims, has provided ammunition to international groups to paint a communal picture of the NRC document.

This exercise is not the end of the struggle of the indigenous communities to preserve their native identity. The Clause 6 of the Assam Accord has to be implemented to ensure constitutional safeguards for the future of these communities. Assam’s Commissioner of Home L S Changsan has said “a common database is being created with the objective to avoid confusion and overlapping”. This is welcome as it will help citizens from being subjected to undue harassment. Besides, the updating is not an one-time exercise. The citizens will have children, and so, there has to be a seamless process for updating the NRC in future to include the newborns. In future, the birth and death registration will have to be linked to the NRC database.

Source: Indian Express, 27/08/2018

Her rightful place

Schemes to develop skills, provide financial inclusion and uphold dignity are ensuring that women become a part of the growth story

People living on the margins have been the core concern of the current government. Most such people live below the poverty level and a sizeable proportion amongst them are from the farming community. Women constitute a large chunk of the marginalised.

Farming has become non-profitable and a large number of farmers are debt-ridden. The participation of women in India’s workforce is only 27 per cent and their contribution to the country’s GDP is merely 17 per cent. The challenges before the government, therefore, were to increase the income of farmers and create conditions for the productive engagement of women. It was reckoned that if women’s participation increased to 50 per cent of the workforce, the Indian economy would see a staggering increase of $0.65 trillion.

These challenges were factored into the targets of the Ministry of Food Processing when I was assigned the task of working towards the goals of doubling farmers’ income and creating an environment conducive to the involvement of women in our economic growth. The food processing sector has emerged as a vibrant component of the overall manufacturing environment. It has attracted an investment commitment of nearly Rs 1 trillion. This year we expect 25 mega food parks to be completed. Another five such parks will be ready next year. The ministry is also creating a national cold chain grid. Several hundred projects will become operational this year. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana aims to create agro-processing clusters and backward and forward food processing linkages.

Such grass roots schemes mean more livelihood opportunities for women. For example, 14 women entrepreneurs have taken up projects in nine mega food parks, while 60 promoters of the cold chain projects are women. The government has tried to ensure that women have the skills to leverage such opportunities. The academic-cum-research institutes, National Institute of Food Technology and Entrepreneurship Technology (NIFTEM) and Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT), have stepped up their intake of women students. The government has also made sure that women benefit from the village adoption and training programmes.

World Food India 2017, the country’s first ever mega global food processing event of its size and scale, has delivered remarkable results and opened up new avenues for the Indian food sector globally. Projects worth $11 billion have already been auctioned by more than 30 companies. Organised retail companies and food majors of the world have scaled up their engagement in India’s food sector, setting up warehouses, collection centres and large-format stores.

While this is a source of satisfaction, I realise the potential is far greater. Women are today largely employed for sorting, grading, washing and packing in the food processing industry. In other words, illiteracy is not an impediment in their desire for financial independence. I am fortunate to be a member of Team Modi whose leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi not only recognises the potential of women but also works tirelessly to help them realise their potential. The PM has spearheaded some of the most revolutionary schemes to transform the lives of crores of women. This has ensured the increased participation of women in India’s growth story.

The government has a three-pronged strategy to empower women. First, it has focused on building their capacity for productive engagement through schemes like Beti Padhao Beti Bachao. A number of programmes have been launched to provide them access to skills and financial resources through the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. Initiatives have also been taken to provide them decent housing, sanitation and LPG connections. Third, the government is committed to framing strong legal deterrence in order to provide a secure environment to women — these include death penalty for rapists of minor girls and the Triple Talaq Bill.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana enabled 18 crore women to became part of its financial inclusion programme. Seventy-six per cent of the benefits under the Mudra Yojana have accrued to six crore women. The yojana has enabled them to avail loans and become self-reliant.

The more than 7 crore toilets and 1 crore houses constructed by the government are also means to ensure the dignity of women. The Ujjwala Yojana has lit up the lives of 5.5 crore women through LPG connections. The scheme has also given them the right to good health.

My own mission over the past 10 years in Punjab has involved improving the state’s child sex ratio. Nanhi Chhaan, an NGO I run, has trained 10,000 women, who have been given sewing machines. These women are changing the mindset of their families who would earlier consider them a liability. Nanhi Chhaan has, in fact, become a people’s movement in Punjab. For example, the Lohri of a girl child is now celebrated with as much gusto as that of male child. Saplings are distributed in social functions and bhogs as a mark of respect for environment.

The prime minister has worked tirelessly to transform, empower and enable the women of India to play a pivotal role in our country’s march towards becoming a global economic super power. I am grateful to him for making me part of this journey.

Source: Indian Express, 27/08/2018

International Journal of Emergency Management

Volume 14, Issue 1

Sector prioritisation in Rabat region for emergency management Meryam Benabdouallah, Chakib Bojji, Othmane El Yaakoubi 14(1), pp. 1–22 Keywords: emergency service, AHP, analytical hierarchy process, hospital logistics, prioritisation,sector Abstract | PDF (2005 KB)

Understanding emergency response: lessons learned from the helping literature Daphne E. Whitmer, Madeleine R. LaGoy, Valerie K. Sims 14(1), pp. 23–39 Keywords: emergency management, helping, communication, emergency warnings, emergency response, risk perception Abstract | PDF (247 KB)

Terrorist attacks with explosive weapons: pattern of injuries and health constraints Georg Schmidt 14(1), pp. 40–50 Keywords: terrorist attacks, terror-related events, explosive weapons, bombing events, bombing-incidents, pattern of injuries, terror-related events, mass casualty emergencies, emergency management, clinical management, emergency-triage Abstract | PDF (337 KB)

A closer examination of command and control practices by incident commanders during realistic operational exercises in the Netherlands Jelle Groenendaal, Ira Helsloot 14(1), pp. 51–71 Keywords: incident command and control, incident commander, battalion chief, fire service,emergency, frontline, naturalistic decision-making Abstract | PDF (3036 KB)

Decomposing issue patterns in crisis communication: the case of the lost airliner Boyang Zhang, Marita Vos, Jari Veijalainen 14(1), pp. 72–89 Keywords: crisis communication, organisational communication, issue arenas, issues management, social media Abstract | PDF (520 KB)

Seismic risk assessment and design of tourism buildings using probability analysis Chung-Hung Tsai 14(1), pp. 90–106 Keywords: seismic risk assessment, catastrophic risk, loss exceedance probability analysis,seismic hazard analysis Abstract | PDF (4046 KB)

What is Sleeping Beauty problem in decision theory

This refers to a puzzle about the probabilities of a tossed coin landing heads up and tails up. According to it, Sleeping Beauty, the popular fairytale character, is first put to sleep by researchers on a Sunday. A coin is then tossed and Sleeping Beauty is woken up on Monday if it lands heads up. However, if the coin lands tails up, she is put back to sleep on Monday with her memory erased and woken up the next day. At the end of the experiment, Sleeping Beauty is asked about the probability of the coin having landed heads and tails up. Some have argued that the probabilities are equal; others say the coin landing heads up is more likely.

Source: The Hindu, 24/082018

Why history matters so much

Its importance in shaping our political ethos is undiminished, but the subject has no place in the competitive education culture

Why is history such an important school subject? And why does it not receive the importance it deserves? These two were among the major questions debated at a conference recently held in Kolkata. A brief answer to the second question is that history cannot compete with science subjects in the market that shapes and controls education today. Yet, history is an important subject because it moulds the outlook of the younger generation. By turning the past into a narrative, history creates a public ethos and influences culture. From architecture to film, and from ancient India to Partition, the Kolkata conference, organised by the History for Peace initiative of the Seagull Foundation for the Arts, covered a broad canvas to trace the complex relationship between history and culture.

I can think of few other gatherings where school teachers got a chance to discuss their classroom experience with scholars of history and culture. The outcome was a richer understanding of the constraints that a poorly functioning system of education places on a society’s capacity to cope with its present difficulties and imagine sustainable solutions.

Debates over texts

The history syllabus and textbooks have been at the heart of a deep political controversy in India. India is not alone in this respect. No country in the world is immune to debates about the past and how it should be presented to school children. To take just two instances, America’s discomfort with Hiroshima and Britain’s discomfort with Gandhi continue to be reflected in their school syllabi.

The main reason why portrayal of the past in school textbooks arouses controversy is that a publicly shared past imparts a collective memory and identity. Textbooks are viewed as officially approved documents — even if they are privately produced and have no official sanction — and are therefore believed to be associated with state power. Significantly, they do shape the perceptions of the young because children are impressionable. Children introduced to a certain version of the past at school acquire a disposition which can be politically mobilised in the future.

Debates over school textbooks seldom take into account the significance of curricular design and the preparation of a syllabus. When criticising poor quality textbooks, people do not recognise that the problem may be at the level of syllabus and curriculum. Similarly, when good textbooks are appreciated, people seldom realise the effort required in redesigning the curriculum and syllabus.

The new history textbooks brought out by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) from 2006 onwards are a case in point. They have survived the change of government. One reason for their longevity is their professional quality. They have no single authors. Teams of eminent historians worked through deliberation and dialogue, first drafting a new syllabus and then the text itself. They represent the spirit of the National Curriculum Framework, 2005, which is still in place, which gives precedence to inquiry through direct exposure to evidence. The textbooks based on it do not narrate a long story. Instead, they enable children to explore different, often divergent, themes, such as lives of peasants and women, architectural styles, etc. Archival material is cited as evidence, and debates among historians are highlighted to demonstrate the difficulties of interpreting evidence.

Problem of perception

These books mark a major step forward in the teaching of history, but older ways of teaching and conventional textbooks have persisted. As a presentation at the Kolkata conference pointed out, the history teacher at school is often someone who has not studied history or enjoyed it. So, despite a shift in historiography, old problems continue to affect the system. One of these is the perception that history is all about wars, kings and dates. Another is the tenacity of dividing India’s past into three long chunks: ancient, medieval and modern. These categories flatten out the complexity and richness of India’s history, wasting the opportunity of studying it with the aim of arousing curiosity and imparting tools of inquiry. The examination system also reinforces flat perceptions by asking questions that are best answered with the help of guidebooks. The 2005 curricular revolution has made little impact on this wider scene.

In most States, the use of history to build collective memory and identity continues. Assam-like situations suggest that education is not perceived as a means of resolving a problem. The fear that incoming migrants would push the regional language into minority status or hurt the State’s cultural identity shows how poor the State’s trust in education is.

On the contrary, schools are actively engaged in creating a delusion of an ongoing collective ‘self’ which thrives on a monolithic ‘other’. Teachers of social sciences work in an atmosphere of relentless regimentation of children’s bodies, thoughts and emotions. Fear pervades life at school, taking many forms. It forms the core of the intensely competitive environment that our schools, including the most reputed ones, love to sustain. In that environment, the teacher’s attempt to make children reflective and sensitive to details gets drowned in the din of everyday life.

The importance of history

Schooling adds a dimension to culture that we do not quite understand. As public institutions, schools carry many burdens the society is not always aware of. Government schools cope with bureaucratic norms and private schools cope with parental pressure to maintain heightened competition. The natural sciences bear the brunt of this pressure. For the growing middle class, including the vast multitude of first-generation educated, science and mathematics represent the golden route to high income jobs in medicine and engineering, including information technology. The social sciences and humanities do not figure in this landscape, yet they also suffer the consequences of the command that the entrance test culture wields over schools.

Although history has no place in the competitive culture of education, its importance in shaping the larger political ethos of the country remains undiminished. Children depend on adults to learn about the past, and that is what makes history the most challenging school subject. Ironically, poorly taught history matters even more than well-taught history, simply because when history does not arouse curiosity or impart the tools of analysis, it creates an emotional barrier for further inquiry.

Krishna Kumar is a former director of the NCERT

Source: The Hindu, 24/08/2018

Should Article 35A be scrapped?

It treats non-permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir as second-class citizens

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was an integral part of the Dominion of India, according to the Instrument of Accession which was signed by Maharaja Hari Singh on October 26, 1947 and subsequently ratified by the Constituent Assembly of J&K.

Article 35A of the Constitution is now being vigorously contested with its constitutional validity being challenged before the Supreme Court. It has managed to create widespread legal and political controversy, despite it not even finding a mention in the regular sequential text of the Constitution. As Article 35A is reflected only in an Appendix of the Constitution, it is often missed by many legal experts.

Explaining Article 35A

Article 35A was born through a Presidential Order, the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order of 1954. Therefore, it was added to the Constitution without undergoing the procedure for constitutional amendments as laid down in Article 368. The Presidential Order was issued in exercise of the power conferred under Article 370 (1) (d) of the Constitution. Whether such power also extends to inserting a new Article in the Constitution is contentious.

The heading of Article 35A reads: “saving of laws with respect to permanent residents and their rights”. Article 35A declares that any law enacted by the J&K State Legislature on the issues of permanent residence, or special privileges and rights, or imposition of restrictions, or employment, acquisition of immovable property and settlement in the State, or aid from the State government shall not be void on the ground that it is inconsistent with any rights conferred on other citizens of India. In short, such laws granting special rights to permanent residents would not be deemed a violation of the fundamental rights of other citizens.

Classification of citizens

The ‘classification’ created by Article 35A has to be tested on the principle of equality as it treats non-permanent residents of J&K as ‘second-class’ citizens. Such persons are not eligible for employment under the State government and are also debarred from contesting elections.

Meritorious students are denied scholarships and they cannot even seek redress in any court of law. The major sufferers are women who marry outside J&K. Though they retain their Permanent Resident Certificate, their children cannot be permanent residents. This restricts their basic right of inheritance. Further, the issues of refugees who migrated to J&K during Partition are still not treated as ‘State subjects’ under the J&K Constitution.

This matter requires the active participation of all stakeholders. It is necessary to give confidence to the residents of J&K that any alteration in status quo will not take away their rights but will boost J&K’s prosperity as it will open doors for more investment, resulting in new opportunities. Article 35A, which was incorporated about six decades ago, now requires a relook, especially given that J&K is now a well-established democratic State.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee firmly believed that the issues relating to J&K could be resolved following the principles of insaniya t (humanity), jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat (Kashmiri values). Hopefully, this issue will be resolved using the same principles.

Source: the Hindu, 24/08/2018

The path to excellence

Empowering existing institutes holds the key to creating institutes of eminence

In his 2016 union budget speech, the finance minister announced that an “enabling regulatory architecture will be provided to 10 public and 10 private institutions to emerge as world-class institutions”. This path-breaking initiative was widely appreciated. In early 2017, the UGC approved the guidelines for creating 20 world-class institutions that were renamed “institutes of eminence” (IoE). The outcome of the process that took more than two years was that out of over 900 universities, only six have the potential to become world-class universities. It is a damning indictment of the Indian higher education system in ways that the original policy clearly did not intend. The IoE process needs a fresh perspective.

Other than the UGC Guidelines (2016) and Regulations (2017), and statements by the finance and HRD ministers, the exercise to confer IoE status to 20 institutions was reiterated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech at the Patna University in October 2017. Based on these statements that expressed the government’s seriousness in creating world-class universities, one can’t help but reflect upon the legitimate expectations of the applicant institutions. In all, 114 institutions applied on the basis of a promise laid down in policies announced by the government. The terms of references under which the Empowered Committee was tasked to identify universities were not made public. The process of selecting the empowering universities was arbitrary.

Universities take decades to evolve. The attention should have been on empowering existing brown-field universities, rather than recognising non-existing universities as contenders. Institution building is about a deeper recognition of what it takes to build a culture of excellence. Lived experiences of individuals matter more in universities than in any other organisation. Even if there was a vision to recognise green-field institutions, there should have been a separate criteria and process to evaluate them. At a policy level, identical treatment of existing and green-field institutions was unfair and a grave mistake.

India is the only large country with no world-class universities that are globally ranked. Within a decade, there will be 14 crore youngsters in India hoping to enter a university. Only three Indian universities featured in the top 250 in the QS World University Rankings 2018, while just 11 made it to top 700. No Indian university features in the top 250 in the Times Higher Education World Rankings 2018 while only two have made it to the top 500. This is both surprising and embarrassing for a country with one of the largest academic systems.

There seems to be a paralysis in India’s higher education system in not just policy, but also in procedure, planning and perspective. The task for the Committee should have been to simply select from the existing pool of universities and empower them to compete internationally. The Committee should have taken cognisance of the robust methodology that is used to rank institutions. Of course, research is of paramount importance. However, the key characteristics that are vital to any world-class university were missing from the exercise of selecting institutions. This includes, for instance, internationalisation of faculty, research, students, courses and outlook. Moreover, the selection process should have had a holistic approach to disciplines. By giving preeminence to the sciences and engineering, we have completely neglected the humanities and social sciences.

China’s recent academic progress has been remarkable since it focused on supporting 100 research universities, many of which have achieved international stature. The QS considered 300 universities from India for ranking from among the 9,000 BRIC universities and 79 Indian universities were identified in the final BRIC rankings. It is disappointing that the Committee couldn’t identify more universities from a list of those already ranked. It is important that the government unbundle the established methodologies of global ranking agencies. By selecting only six institutions, we have lost a historical opportunity to build world-class universities in India.

India has a lot to learn from the Asian experience. We must recognise that excellence leading to eminence is not just about governmental recognition, but ought to be the raison d’etre of all higher education institutions.

Source: Indian Express, 24-08-2018