Goals for Education~I

 Under the NEP-2000, the name of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) was changed to Ministry of Education (MoE). There was a serious dimension to this change in nomenclature.

nder the NEP-2000, the name of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) was changed to Ministry of Education (MoE). There was a serious dimension to this change in nomenclature. The term “human resource” induced the person in charge to look at teachers and academics as part of a labour force and therefore not worthy of too much respect. The renaming of the department could well initiate the process of refashioning the government’s attitude to educational institutions and to those who teach in them.

The attitude, as articulated by present Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s predecessors, had been for the government to curtail the autonomy of academic institutions as much as possible on the ground that most universities were fully or partially funded by the government. The presence of the government ~ often bordering on interference ~ tended to stifle the pursuit of excellence in bodies of higher learning. It was expected of Mr Pradhan to step back and allow the heads of universities to run the institutions. Admittedly, this would be one of the first steps in the government’s gradual withdrawal from the sphere of higher education and to opening it up for private players. So the task before Mr Pradhan as the minister of education for a second time is to cut the Gordian knot. While the policies of successive governments have failed to live up to the country’s much-trumpeted goals in the sector ~ inclusion, expansion and excellence ~ electoral politics have always prevented our planners from thinking creatively. Drawing the border between populism and pro-people policies is often forgotten. Our country’s Constitution cannot be faulted.

The directive principles of state policy offer great promise. Article 41 says: “The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.” However, there is a rider: the State will perform such tasks “within the limits of its economic capacity”. The ground reality is daunting though. There has been an unmistakable imbalance in the allocations for the different facets of the social sector in the union budgets for decades. One can easily plead that the economics of learning is yet to be calibrated in our country.

A notable trend, particularly in the past three decades, is that private expenditure on education is growing faster than that of the public, which reflects increasing privatization of education in India, and has far-reaching policy implications. Growing demand for education coupled with inadequacy of public expenditure on education has resulted in growing private expenditure. The nonfulfillment of the public education system due to inadequate state funding strained the private pockets in meeting the growing demands. NEP-2020 intends to curb the commercialization, but not privatization. According to All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report estimates, Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education in India was 28.5 per cent in 2021-22.

Private educational institutions account for nearly 46 per cent of the total school enrolment and 70 per cent of higher education enrolment. Most of the studies on private expenditure on education infer that education being a public good, public investment in education is a must. Unfortunately such expenditure is found to be insufficient in achieving the educational goals of our country. Whereas the private expenditure on education (PFCE) increased from Rs 86.5 crore in 1951-52 to Rs. 509961.6 crore in 2018-19 and to Rs 728197.6 crore by 2022-23, public expenditure increased from Rs 64.5 crore to Rs 736581 crore and further to Rs 1098589.4 crore for the same periods.

It goes without saying that the government’s intent on faster digital Integration and creating a high-quality and equitable public education system needs to be supported by adequate fund allocation. Though NEP-2000 notes the criticality of enhancing public funding, it is discouraging that the budgetary allocation does not provide proper support to make a convenient roadmap for achieving the target. While it was expected that some specific allocation would be announced keeping in view the objectives of NEP-2000, much to our dismay a sum of Rs 1.206 lakh crore was allocated to the ministry of education in the interim budget (2024-25) which is a mere 6.8 per cent increase in comparison to FY 2023-24. Of this, Rs 47619.77 crore has been set aside for higher education departments. However, the budgetary allocation for education as a percentage of total expenditure has dropped over the last seven years from 10.4 per cent to 9.5 per cent, according to the Economic Survey 2022-24.

The allocation is not encouraging in view of the NEP 2000 schemes that aim at improving infrastructure and teaching in educational institutions post-Covid 19. While the government is and should be intent on an overall implementation of the NEP 2000, which aims at universalisation of education from preschool to the secondary level, the budget for Samagra Shiksha Scheme, the main vehicle for implementing the Right to Education Act is at Rs 37500 crore, slightly higher than Rs 37435.47 crore allocated for 2023-24. The NEP launched in the second half of 2020 aimed at overhauling India’s education system, but the pandemic situation turned the academic calendar topsy-turvy. It is time to review how far the NEP can be made relevant to the new normal in education. A UNESCO report explained the scenario: “Education systems responded with distance learning solutions, all of which offered less or more imperfect substitutes for classroom instruction”.

Since the beginning of the lockdown, campuses across the country were shut down and all academic institutions switched to virtual classrooms. However, most institutions lacked the infrastructure to take digital classes while only a few had previous experience on the platform. Most of the teachers struggled to learn how to use the digital platform for the teaching-learning process. As for the learners, the digital divide became a matter of great concern. A Delhi High Court judgment called for the responsibility of the government to directly address the digital divide. It mandated in its judgement and order of 18 September 2020 in Justice for All versus Government of NCT Delhi & Ors that the government has a responsibility and legal obligation to enable online education for EWS students ensuring free laptop/iPad/mobile phone and high speed internet etc. for online classes through video conferencing to be provided free of cost to children defined under Section 2 (c) of the RTE Act.

Encouragingly, the NEP has plans to set up and develop a National Education Technical Forum to oversee capacity building, develop e-content and provide a platform for educational institutions and stakeholders to share best practices leveraging technology. Setting up more virtual labs to give students remote access to experimentbased learning and virtual field trips strongly suggests that the policy promises a lot in focusing on experimental learning. It also aims at providing learning apps, satellite based TV channels and teacher’s training to strengthen online learning.

NEP is set to include more online and e-learning platforms at both school and college levels to make it more technologyoriented. It also seeks to encourage research across a higher perspective of education by setting up a National Research Foundation. It is very likely that remote learning and technology-based education delivery are going to become the norm and are sure to attract huge investments. The digital divide may only be bridged with the availability of requisite hardware, software and networking facilities.

A.K.Ghosh

Source: The Statesman, 23/06/24

Goals for Education~II

R ealizing the desired emphasis on digitisation and virtual teachinglearning process, higher spending on education is desirable to upgrade digital infrastructure. Getting private sector spending may be a plausible solution. Instead of building new infrastructure in the domain of higher education institutions, the existing government structures could be rebuilt in modern mode. Public-Private-Partnerships could be reinvented in a better way so that equitable education opportunities to all through EdTech platforms can be extended. Our immediate attention is caught by EdTech in the new normal situation in education which holds the promise of a more effective and equitable education experience.

This commitment holds sway of late with advanced technology at the forefront. Augmentation of quality of teaching goes hand in hand with these initiatives to prepare a pool of trained manpower for post-Covid campuses. In this respect, the government may collaborate with the private industry to ensure continuous skill enhancement of educators. EdTech rose to the occasion during the prolonged lockdown periods. It was feared that prolonged out-of-school learning might lead to children staying away from school systems. But later years saw improvement in Gross Enrollment Ratio in schools. In FY22, enrollment in India’s nearly 1489115 schools stood at 26.5 crore children with 19.4 lakh additional children enrolled in primary to higher secondary levels. Schemes such as Samagra Shiksha, RTE Act, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya and the POSHAN Scheme play an important role in enhancing enrollment and retention of children in schools.

The education infrastructure in the form of schools, amenities and digitisation has to be steadily promoted along with a focus on pedagogy. Under the ICT component of the Samagra Shiksha Scheme, the government is bound to support classrooms and ICT labs in schools, including support for hardware, educational software and e-content for teaching. The availability of teachers measured by a pupil-teacher ratio ~ an indicator which is inversely related to improvement in the quality of education ~ has to be improved at all levels. Under the PM SHRI scheme 2022, there is provision for setting up more than 14500 PM SHRI schools, over a period from FY23 to FY27 by strengthening the existing infrastructure in all the schools. These schools will be equipped with modern infrastructure and showcase the implementation of the NEP.

With a focus on developing cognitive, effective and psychomotor abilities and also early literacy and numeracy for students in the age groups of 3+, 4+ and 5+, Project Balvatika was launched in 49 Kendriya Vidyalayas. The Samagra Shiksha Scheme has been aligned with the recommendations of the NEP and extended from FY22 to FY26. In spite of an increase in awareness to get children educated and their enrolment, India’s learning crisis remains critical. NEP-2000, which suggested a huge restructuring of the school curriculum, envisages learners through the school and higher education system being exposed to vocational education.

Vocational courses through distance mode would also be encouraged. Skill-based training is being prioritized with greater implementation of modern technology. But there are challenges that the government must address in order to expedite the implementation process. In the absence of unequivocal operational guidelines regarding curriculum priorities, the education sector came up with different approaches recently to keep the show going. Some priorities concerned the academic skills and knowledge that students needed to maintain in subjects such as language, mathematics, science and history, considering the rest of the curriculum, say the arts, as non-existential.

Keeping the pandemic situation in mind, the idea already in vogue is that students were hardly able to transfer the knowledge and skill acquired in school to everyday situations. The narrative could accelerate the idea that school is boring and less worthy in the making of an individual.

It is worth mentioning that the OPEC called for an effort to make education more ‘meaningful’ through revamped curricula that are more challenging and interesting for students. The Council of Ministers of Education in Canada stressed the importance of giving priority to global competencies within curricula that could be leveraged in different situations. The Covid situation in our country raised questions about the usefulness of certain curriculum content. The NEP can draw on the UN’s 2030 “Sustainable Development Goals” as a source of framing contextualized and authentic learning situations relating to the challenges facing mankind.

The NEP might require certain revisions in the areas of strengthening the normative framework of the RTE Act instead of restricting it. It will need to situate equity, inclusion and diversity accordingly. The one nation, one channel or one digital framework thereby may not be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. While NEP-2020 lays emphasis on foundational literacy and numeracy, our youths are led to believe that those are not the only components that could lead them to build their careers. A lot remains to be done in order to improve the state of foundational literacy in the country, which includes increased investment in and strengthening of public education, a reduction in student-teacher ratios, a comprehensive revamp of teacher education, greater decentralization of decision-making and a focus on conceptualizing curriculum, textbooks, pedagogy and assessments.

NEP-2000 endorsing the 6 per cent norm certainly intends to curb commercialization of education, especially tertiary education. However, certain other provisions made therein may encourage private sector participation which may further lead to commercialization of private education. Research shows that public expenditure on education is a key factor fostering growth and reducing inequalities. In the US, school education is more or less public funded as higher education is left to the private sector, but still the economically poor are supported with public funding through scholarships.

In our country, the private sector continues to occupy the majority space in school and higher education as well. A country with nearly 50 per cent of its population below 25, India needs extra emphasis on education. Education, that happens to be on the Concurrent List, has seldom been a priority of either the Centre or state governments. The allocation for education in the current budget reflects the same trend and, like the previous budgetary exercises, lacks the components that can help the Indian education sector take a giant leap forward, especially when the NEP is allembracing. The task before the education minister is, of course, a challenging one.

A K GHOSH

Source: The Statesman, 24/06/24

Quote of the Day June 18, 2024

 

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
Dalai Lama

“खुशी कोई बनी बनाई वस्तु नहीं है। यह तो आपके कर्मों के परिणाम में निहित है।”
दलाई लामा

Is India Making Progress in Environmental Performance Index?

 According to the 2024 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), India was ranked 176th out of 180 nations. Compared to 2022, when it was at the bottom of the index, this shows a small gain.   Different external factors are used by Yale and Columbia universities to make the EPI. Historically, India’s rank has gone up and down, but since 2014, it has gone down a lot.

Historical Context and Recent Trends

India’s rank changed from 122 to 127 between 2000 and 2012. In contrast, a steady drop was seen starting in 2014. The country was ranked 177th in 2018, 168th in 2020, 180th in 2022, and 176th in 2024. The drop is because other countries are doing better and India isn’t doing enough to fix its pollution problems.

Areas of Improvement and Continuing Challenges

Even though it is ranked low, things have gotten better. India got better grades on things like pollution from solid fuels used in homes, cleanliness, the quality of drinking water, acid rain precursors, and climate change. Even so, India is still having trouble with “air quality,” “ecosystem vitality,” “biodiversity and habitat,” and “species protection index.”

Comparative Global Performance

Myanmar, Laos, Pakistan, and Vietnam were the only countries that did worse than India on the 2024 EPI. Estonia was at the top of the score because it had made the most progress in protecting the environment, especially by cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, major countries like the USA, China, and Russia have either not cut their emissions at all or have seen them rise.

About Environmental Performance Index (EPI)

• Overview and Purpose: The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a biennial ranking developed by Yale and Columbia Universities to assess countries’ environmental performance in achieving policy goals. Launched in 2006, it incorporates 32 performance indicators across 11 issue categories related to environmental health and ecosystem vitality.
• High-Performing Countries: Denmark, Luxembourg, and Switzerland usually do well on the EPI because they use energy efficiently and have strict rules about the climate. These countries set examples for other countries that want to improve their environmental standards.
• Importance for Policymakers: The EPI helps lawmakers figure out what their country is doing well in terms of the environment and what needs to be fixed. The EPI gives a full picture of how much environmental care people in each country are taking by using information from global expert reviews and satellite sources.

Economic & Political Weekly: Table of Contents

 

Vol. 59, Issue No. 24, 15 Jun, 2024

Surging Global Public Debts

Comment

GDP Growth: The Tyranny of Numbers?

From 25 Years Ago

From 25 Years Ago: Transformation of Tribes in India: Terms of Discourse

From 50 Years Ago

From 50 Years Ago:  New Uses of a Colonial Law

H T Parekh Finance Column

RBI Wants Financial Entities to Shape Up or Ship Out

T T Ram Mohan

Commentary

India’s Economic Growth Has Been Manufacturing-led, Not Services-led

Bishwanath Goldar

Recent Decline in Indian Savings - Is It in Line with the Global Trend?

Parthapratim Pal, Partha Ray

Maratha Reservation - Growth, Inequality, and Unemployment

Vivek Jadhav

Book Reviews

Disputations around COVID-19

Biju Paul Abraham

Passion in the Modern Workplace - Navigating Affective Landscapes

Samseer Mambra

Perspectives

Resurgence of the Pink Tide in Latin America

Vijay Kumar

Special Articles

Is GST Regressive in India? - Distribution of Tax Burden across Consumer Groups

Sacchidananda Mukherjee

The Hunger Crisis - Measuring Hunger across Indian States

Amrita Pal, Atanu Ghosh, Shoummo Sen Gupta, Samiran Bisai

Discouraged Borrowers - SMEs in Indian Manufacturing

Ketan Reddy, Sunil Mitra Kumar

Current Statistics

Current Statistics

Postscript

Aattam: Unmasking Gender Inequality in Reel and Real Worlds

Libina K Sebastian, Asha S K

The Great Indian (Sarkari) Aspiration

Krishna Moorthy

Spring Blossoms

Prabhakar Singh

Last Lines

Letters

Political ‘Influencer’ in Indian Democracy

Vineeth Thomas, Loitongbam Jaya Devi, Chandana Deka

On Election Symbols

Krishna Kumar

Farm challenges

 The relationship between climate and agriculture is closely interconnected with worldwide processes. Even a minor alteration in climate can have detrimental impacts on agricultural productivity and the production of agricultural goods.

he relationship between climate and agriculture is closely interconnected with worldwide processes. Even a minor alteration in climate can have detrimental impacts on agricultural productivity and the production of agricultural goods. While the contribution of agriculture to India’s economy has been decreasing over time, approximately 75 per cent of India’s population relies on rural incomes. Furthermore, India’s ability to ensure adequate food supply depends on the cultivation of cereal crops and the enhanced yield of fruits, vegetables, and milk to satisfy the needs of an expanding population with increasing incomes. Nevertheless, the Indian agricultural sector encounters difficulties due to severe weather phenomena such as floods, droughts, heatwaves, and others, which have severely impacted overall productivity.

Therefore, it is crucial to enact policies that focus on enhancing overall agricultural productivity, expanding diversification, and encouraging sustainable agricultural practices. India’s agriculture sector encounters a multitude of challenges. The adverse consequences of climate change include the occurrence of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, and coastal inundation. These events have resulted in a decrease in crop yield, reduced productivity in livestock, and have caused millions of people to fall into a cycle of poverty and food insecurity. In India, a rise in temperature of 1.5° C and a decrease in precipitation of 2 mm result in a reduction in rice yield ranging from 3 to 15 per cent. Soil fertility is reduced due to the excessive use of fertilisers and chemicals, which leads to soil degradation and erosion. Consequently, the soil becomes more vulnerable to pests and diseases.

The overall productivity has stagnated as a result of insufficient nutrients in the soil. In addition, the implementation of inappropriate land use practices and the burning of crop residues during harvest season have contributed to soil erosion, resulting in significant and lasting impacts on agricultural productivity and sustainability. In India, the lack of adequate agricultural infrastructure, such as storage facilities, pack houses, and efficient supply chains, contributes to higher post-harvest losses. Moreover, the absence of fundamental infrastructure such as road and rail connectivity impedes the farmers’ access to markets and contributes to increased production expenses. The Indian agricultural sector continues to rely on primitive agri-technologies for the production of agricultural goods. The limited availability of modern technologies hampers the ability to widely adopt innovative agricultural practices.

In numerous rural regions, the absence of banking institutions and financial establishments poses challenges for farmers in securing loans and credit facilities. Furthermore, the combination of exorbitant interest rates and restricted availability of formal credit impede the productivity of farmers. This, in turn, prevents them from embracing contemporary farming methods, effectively managing market risks, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices. In the Indian context, landholdings are fragmented, meaning that the average size of land owned by individuals is relatively small. This poses challenges in adopting modern farming techniques and achieving economies of scale. Insufficient mechanisation is evident in the agricultural sector, where traditional methods and tools such as sickles and wooden ploughs are still predominantly utilised. There is a need to transition from traditional approaches to contemporary methodologies in order to enhance production on a large scale.

Inadequate agricultural marketing infrastructure results in farmers being dependent on local traders and intermediaries to sell their produce, often at prices that do not reflect true value. As per the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, if adaptation measures are not adopted, rainfed rice yields in India are estimated to decrease by 20 per cent in 2050 and 47 per cent in 2080 scenarios. Similarly, irrigated rice yields are projected to decrease by 3.5 per cent in 2050 and 5 per cent in 2080 scenarios. Climate change diminishes crop yields and decreases the nutritional quality of produce. Moreover, the occurrence of severe events such as droughts and flash floods has a detrimental effect on the consumption of food and nutrients, thereby exacerbating the overall impact on the welfare of farmers.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (2020) report says India still struggles to feed its undernourished population despite producing an estimated 314 million metric tonnes of food in 2021-22, which falls short of achieving food security and meeting the Global Goals for Adaptation. In order to satisfy the increasing need for food due to a growing population and higher income levels, India will have to almost double its food production by the year 2050. In order to surmount these ever-changing obstacles, the Government of India has devised strategies to enhance the adaptability of agriculture to climate change. The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) is a component of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

Its objective is to develop and execute strategies to enhance the adaptability of agriculture to the impacts of climate change. It is imperative to prioritise the development of adaptation strategies that specifically target climate-resilient agricultural practices. These practices should focus on enhancing agricultural productivity to meet global and food security objectives, enhancing the resilience and adaptability of agricultural systems to climate change, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate risks. India must adopt a multidimensional approach to address challenges related to climate change by implementing a diverse set of adaptation strategies, in addition to adopting climateresilient practices. Technologies for Adaptation refer to the utilisation of technology to decrease susceptibility or improve the ability to withstand the effects of climate change. In the field of agriculture, technologies for adaptation refer to the process of identifying and evaluating agricultural practices and technologies that improve overall productivity, food security, and resilience in specific agro-ecological zones and farming systems.

Multi-stakeholder engagement and collaboration are crucial for improving the effectiveness of policies and facilitating the widespread adoption of agricultural adaptation technologies. Cooperation and collaboration among various stakeholders at different levels are necessary for the smooth dissemination of these technologies. Capacity building is crucial for the government to improve its ability to adapt to and address the negative impacts of climate change in any policy. As per the OECD, it is crucial to enhance absorptive capacity, which refers to a system’s capability to effectively handle immediate climate-related consequences. This encompasses strategies like implementing early warning systems to assist farmers in adapting their practices and establishing crop insurance schemes to provide compensation for any incurred losses. Infrastructure capacity development is crucial for enhancing overall productivity, and it is imperative that the infrastructure is designed to be climate resilient.

The government should implement policies aimed at constructing and enhancing current storage facilities in order to mitigate post-harvest losses. Simultaneously, it is crucial to establish basic infrastructure such as road and rail connectivity to enhance farmers’ access to markets, thereby facilitating the connection between farmers and consumers. Soil management is crucial for agriculture to cope with climate change, improve soil durability, and support sustainable farming methods. The government should enforce diverse soil management techniques to achieve these goals. Cover crops are cultivated specifically to provide soil coverage during periods of inactivity, effectively mitigating soil erosion. Furthermore, implementing crop rotation in a methodical manner can enhance the equilibrium of soil nutrients and decrease the need for fertilisers and chemicals, thus augmenting the content of organic matter in the soil and improving its overall health. Water management is crucial in conjunction with agricultural policies and investments to ensure the development of climate-resilient agriculture production systems.

Utilising a blend of regulatory, economic, and collective strategies is necessary to effectively address groundwater sustainability. This is crucial because aquifers are the largest water reservoirs worldwide and play a vital role in supporting irrigated agriculture in important production areas. Water policies encompass water allocation systems that can effectively manage water demand and supply in response to variations in precipitation. Policy formulation involves the development of strategies and guidelines to address adaptation principles at various levels, including local, regional, national, and international. These policies aim to ensure that the factors that contribute to successful adaptation are replicated across different scales. Past experiences with agricultural adaptation technologies have revealed specific requirements for effective policies and recommendations to facilitate the successful implementation of these technologies in adapting agriculture to climate change.

Financial inclusion is essential for addressing the substantial lack of funding for climate adaptation. To bridge this gap, it is crucial to gather financial resources from private sector investments. Inclusive financial systems play a vital role in directing finance to the most vulnerable individuals and last mile workers, including farmers. Establishing Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) can enable farmers to enhance productivity, allocate resources towards farm mechanisation, and take advantage of economies of scale. Moreover, agricultural-focused non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and financial technology (Fintech) can assist farmers in fulfilling their extended credit requirements, thus promoting their income expansion. Although these strategies are in place, the benefits of adapting to climate change also contribute to mitigating its effects through various methods.

These benefits encompass enhanced energy efficiency, decreased urban energy and water usage resulting from greening and recycling initiatives, sustainable farming practices, and the preservation of ecosystems and their associated advantages. To effectively tackle the challenges in India’s agriculture sector, a comprehensive strategy is needed, encompassing technological advancements, optimal utilisation of resources, policy restructuring, and enhancing capabilities. India can bolster agricultural productivity and guarantee food security by implementing these adaptation strategies, thereby making a significant contribution to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

P GARGI RAO

Source: The Statesman, 13/06/24

Why is Father’s Day celebrated on the third Sunday of June?

 

Father’s Day, as we know it today, largely exists due to the efforts of one American woman. Questioning why a counterpart to Mother’s Day did not exist, she launched a decades-long campaign to honour the memory of her father.

Father’s Day is popularly commemorated on the third Sunday of June every year in many countries. Like other such days, today it bears the distinct mark of commercialisation, with small companies and corporate giants prominently advertising gifting options and discounts.

But the origin of this day is surprisingly personal and primarily relates to one woman’s efforts. What was the intention behind the day first being instituted? Why was this particular day chosen and what was its initial criticism? We explain.

What is the history behind Father’s Day?

Sonora Smart Dodd is a name often associated with the day’s history. The American woman first marked the day in 1910 as a tribute to her widower father William Jackson Smart, who fought in the US Civil War (1861 to 1865) and raised Dodd and her five siblings.

In 1909, Dodd was listening to a church sermon on Mother’s Day, marked annually on the second Sunday of May. Her great-granddaughter Betsy Roddy told the Associated Press in 2017 that the incident “bugged her”. “She thought, ‘Well, why isn’t there a Father’s Day?’”

Interestingly, the origins of Mother’s Day are similar, involving a daughter passionate about preserving their parent’s memory. Activist Anna Jarvis’s mother spent her life working for causes centred around motherhood, such as teaching mothers sanitation to prevent child mortality, and forming a community of mothers from both sides of the Civil War divide to work for peace.

Jarvis decided to campaign for the cause of Mother’s Day and sought to fix a date close to May 9 — the date of her mother’s passing in 1905. She wrote numerous letters to politicians, businessmen, and church leaders to enlist their support for her cause, proposing the second Sunday of May. Following her attempts, some local events were held in 1908. Eventually, US President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill in 1914 to formally recognise Mother’s Day as an official holiday in the country.

Back to Sonora Smart Dodd. Her initial efforts led the local clergy and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) to come on board, and they had their first Father’s Day in Spokane, Washington, in 1910. But it would take a few more decades of lobbying for the day to become more mainstream.

US Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Lyndon B. Johnson also supported such a day of commemoration. In a 1966 proclamation, Johnson wrote: “In the homes of our Nation, we look to the fathers to provide the strength and stability which characterize the successful family. If the father’s responsibilities are many, his rewards are also great— the love, appreciation, and respect of children and spouse. It is the desire to acknowledge publicly these feelings we have for the fathers of our Nation that has inspired the Congress to call for the formal observance of Father’s Day.”

However, this did not accord it the status of an official holiday. That would only happen under President Richard Nixon.

In a proclamation issued on May 1, 1972, Nixon wrote: “Our identity in name and nature, our roots in home and family, our very standard of manhood—all this and more is the heritage our fathers share with us. It is a rich patrimony, one for which adequate thanks can hardly be offered in a lifetime, let alone a single day. Still it has long been our national custom to observe each year one special Sunday in honor of America’s fathers; and from this year forward, by a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, that custom carries the weight of law.”

Why is Father’s Day celebrated on the third Sunday of June?

In Nixon’s presidential proclamation, June 18 was the chosen date of celebration. Back in 1910, Sonora is believed to have brought a petition before the Spokane YMCA, suggesting fathers be recognised during services on June 5 (her father’s birthday). But because there wasn’t enough time to prepare, the event was rescheduled for June 19. This led to an approximate designated day for future celebrations.

According to an article from Reader’s Digest, there was a “national movement” in the US against such days in the 1920s and ’30s, arguing for replacing them with “Parent’s Day”. Many also saw these days as a “commercial gimmick, and as many fathers were the sole breadwinners at the time, they didn’t particularly want their hard-earned cash spent on flowers and chocolates,” it says.

However, the Great Depression and World War II helped the cause of such days when significant sales would help boost economic activity. Today, billions of dollars are spent annually on Father’s Day gifts and events.

The spread of globalisation has brought these days and celebrations to countries like India, too. Another major day, when fathers are honoured in many countries with Catholic populations, is March 19 or Saint Joseph’s Day. A feast is organised on the day for the husband of the Virgin Mary, also believed to be Jesus’s father on earth.

Source: Indian Express, 17/06/24