Breaking the ice

As students finish school, a whole new world unfolds. How do colleges make sure that new students get to know each other and relax?

School was a phase where, after having spent several years, one has gained a degree of comfort. Stepping into college means sailing on unchartered territory. Students are often intimidated by the thought of entering this new and vital phase of their life. It’s a whole new world for them, quite different from their school where they were given clear instructions about what to do and what not to do. This calls for an ice- breaking session where they can shed their initial fears and adapt themselves to the new atmosphere.

Ice-breaking sessions could involve a task or an interactive activity that enables students to break out of their shell. There could be some students who do not enjoy taking part in them, and these are the ones who require the sessions the most.

“Teachers have a knack of identifying the shy and reluctant ones based on the experience they have gained over the years. We use our power of persuasion to let students come out of their inhibitions and make them individuals who can interact with people and build socialising skills,” says Asha Sharath, an English teacher. Apart from this, the activities help in developing various soft skills such as interpersonal skills, verbal and non-verbal communication skills, team-building skills and so on. It helps one understand problem-based learning. Ice-breaking sessions are designed to help students relax, get to know one another and also to energise them. In addition, they help students form random and informal groups to break up cliques in a fun and informative way.

Shed inhibitions

Mostly, while entering the college campus on their first day, students either have too many preconceived notions or none at all. The process of making them feel at home varies from institution to institution as per their requirements. Colleges such as Women’s Christian College, Loyola College and Stella Mary’s College, take their students on a campus tour to familiarise them with the campus and its surroundings. Such measures can help in breaking students’ inhibitions and make them feel more connected to their study place. Also, in this process, they get to interact with fellow students, seniors and professors and learn about how things work around the college. Another interesting activity is ‘Mapping It’, where a big map of the city is given to each student and they are asked to mark their address and name on it. For those who are not from the city, some space is left beyond the border of the map. After this is done, each student can say a few words about their place. This not only encourages them to interact, but also helps them to know about various new places and their unique features.

‘Complete The Sentence’ is another activity in which students form an assembly and each person gets to begin a sentence which has to be completed by the one on their left. This game uses a bit of guess work and mind reading. Sharing their fears can also help as it would let the students seek solutions. The approach of asking each student to come up with a slogan or a motto that they would like to identify themselves with can be a motivational boost too.

Special care

While planning the sessions, it is crucial to keep in mind that the stumbling blocks one faces could be different for different people, as they come from various ethnic groups, cultures and backgrounds. Kavya Santosh, an NRI student, felt that her first day at college was rather confusing. “Students were talking in their vernacular language and bonding over it, whereas I could converse only in English with them. It was then that I felt the need for some official introduction that would help new students to find friends easily sans the initial embarrassment,” she said. For such people, their block zone should be identified and helped with. Inhibition and isolation are common emotions when strangers come together. Hope, fears and expectations build up and it is almost imperative that one overcomes them.

To make the students feel at ease, it is important to break the initial moment of awkwardness. Locating depression points will make it easier for individual students to overcome their awkwardness and work towards free expression.

Facing up to global troubles

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has a certain stature in the global financial world. He had predicted the 2008 global financial meltdown much in advance: in 2005, during his tenure at the International Monetary Fund he wrote a research paper in which he warned of financial sector-induced turmoil. Since then, Dr. Rajan’s words and actions in his line of work are watched and read with more than a cursory interest. Not surprisingly, his purported remark made at a London Business School programme last week on intimations of the Great Depression elicited wide reactions. The RBI had to intervene with a clarification to put the Governor’s articulation in perspective and context. “What Governor Rajan did say, in his remarks, was that the policies followed by major central banks around the world were in danger of slipping into the kind of beggar-thy-neighbour strategies that were followed in the 1930s,” it clarified. For quite some time now, Dr. Rajan has been voicing his concerns over the ‘competitive monetary policy easing’ by central banks across the globe. According to him, the current non-system in international monetary policy is a ‘substantial source of risk’ to sustainable growth as well as the financial sector. Unconventional policies have the potential to trigger huge risks when they are terminated. He reckons that such policies will push the world economy towards ‘musical crises’. In an inter-connected world, actions in one place trigger consequences elsewhere. In such a situation, domestic policy-planners have to factor in this ‘outside influence’ in their strategies.

Indeed, Indian policy-planners find themselves in a predicament thanks to the continued monetary easing by some nations and the shrinkage in world trade. Given this ‘new normal’ kind of an environment, they will have to look at ways to protect the Indian economy from external vicissitudes. In this context, a fund-starved country like India will do well to focus on foreign direct investment rather than get unduly worried about foreign institutional investment, which will have its ebb and flow depending on the environment outside. A 75 basis-point reduction in the key repo rate made in three equal instalments this year by the RBI has not really helped spur investments. A combination of capacity overhang, slack demand and banks’ mounting non-performing assets has only compounded the problems. With everyone waiting for the other to act first, the onus is definitely on the political bosses to devise quick solutions to accelerate the economy. Perhaps, the prescription of the Depression-era economist John Maynard Keynes is relevant now. Indeed, a bit of a socialistic approach to spur demand is unavoidable.

Keywords: World economy, Great Depression, Raghuram Rajan, RBI, interest rates, growth rate

70 per cent students in popular DU colleges are from outstation

While mapping admission seekers’ trend at the reputed Delhi University (DU), it has been found that 70 per cent of students in ‘popular’ colleges are not from Delhi, but outstation students. To name them, St. Stephens, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Shri Ram, Hindu, Miranda House, Ramjas or Hansraj, are the popular colleges of DU, and most sought after destinations among outstation aspirants.

Interestingly, 50 per cent of the aspirants who applied for sociology at Sri Venkateswara College were from Assam alone.

A media report mentions a top Delhi College principal informing that at times as much as 75 per cent of students in the college are not from Delhi, which goes to show the aspirations of the youth to get the best education in the country.

It may be mentioned that even when the admission rigmarole is over, the outstation students have to hunt for a suitable accommodation where they will have to spend the next three years of their student life. This is because there are limited seats available in the college hostels. Several independent and political students’ groups have been raising the issue of lack of infrastructure and hostel facilities for students from outside Delhi.

Rainwater could help Indians save money: NASA data

Rainwater harvesting is not a new concept, but researchers said it is a largely untapped technique in India.

Collecting rainwater for vegetable irrigation could reduce water bills, increase caloric intake and even provide a second source of income for people in India, according to a new study by scientists looking at NASA satellite data.

The study is based on precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which provided observations of rainfall over the tropics and subtropics from 1997 to 2015.

“India has severe problems getting potable water to all of its residents,” said Dan Stout, research assistant in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Utah.

“We considered collecting water in a relatively small tank, and it’s amazing the effect that doing something that small and simple can have on the Indian people,” Stout said.

Rainwater harvesting is not a new concept, but researchers said it is a largely untapped resource in India.

In the new study, the team examined the possibilities if Indians collected precipitation in cheap 200-gallon tanks that they could easily engineer to fit in densely populated urban areas, such as many of India’s growing cities.

The team analysed satellite data of precipitation in different areas to evaluate the availability of rainwater for direct harvesting.

The team used data sets provided every three hours from 1997 to 2011 to determine how much precipitation, on average, was available for collection and supplementation in each of the six test cities: Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Srinagar.

The team input TRMM data into algorithms that Stout developed to determine the benefit to each of two scenarios: indoor use and outdoor vegetable irrigation.

They estimated each person would require an average of about 35 gallons of water per day. For an average household of five people, demand would be about 178 gallons daily.

Outdoor vegetable irrigation would require less water.

The team calculated irrigation demands for a roughly 215-square-foot garden planted with tomatoes and lettuce.

The team found rainwater harvesting provided for nearly 20 per cent of the average indoor demand overall, though some seasons, such as southern monsoon season, provided more.

Rainwater harvesting provided sufficient water source for vegetable irrigation, which demands less water than indoor use.

While rainwater collection for irrigation resulted in fewer water bill savings, it did provide vitamin—rich food, profit from selling excess vegetables and a significantly shorter payback period for infrastructure, operation and maintenance required for the endeavour.

This can help boost cost savings and increase quality of life in India, researchers said in the study published in the Urban Water Journal.

After a one-year payback period, rainwater harvesting for vegetable irrigation would provide a profit of between 1,548 and 3,261 rupees per year and a total cost savings of between 2,605 and 4,522 rupees per year.

Keywords: rainwater harvesting, NASA data, vegetable irrigation schemes, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

Needed, a new urban vision

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his flagship Smart Cities Missionproclaiming that governmental intervention in planning the cities would be minimal. He referred to a “bottom-up approach”, but did not emphasise who exactly would benefit from the cities. The approach suggests that India is breaking away from its Anglo-European architectural tradition, promoted by Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1960s with the projection of Chandigarh as a template for urban planners. Nehru’s aim was to create mixed-income cities with easy access to community infrastructure and to institutions such as the judiciary, the legislature and the executive. But Mr. Modi’s urban-planning approach contradicts that view and largely resonates with American-style urbanism. The government is putting the spotlight on smart cities and allowing the business community to lead the development. Let us take an example in the U.S. to figure out who could benefit from the new urban plans in India. In New York City, most of the commercial and residential buildings from uptown to downtown Manhattan are inhabited by the rich who can afford the huge rents. They have installed biometric security systems to keep the ‘unwanted people’ — that is, the poor — at bay. The city government has largely outsourced the public services to private companies, which are replacing the labour force with mechanised technology. As a result, the job market has become saturated. The unskilled workforce is caught up in a low-wage job cycle.

Before pushing India on to a similar American path, Prime Minister Modi must step back and re-think whether his government should invest in smart cities, or rather empower the existing urban centres by means of policies that cater to poor and middle class Indians. For instance, at present almost every Indian city faces sanitation issues due to the absence or inadequacy of drainage networks. The migration of people from rural areas to the urban peripheries continues at a rapid pace, resulting in the mushrooming of slums and unauthorised colonies. According to Census 2011, some 65 million people live in slums. The government’s response to the issue in terms of planning to build affordable housing for them is short-sighted. Smart cities would simply institutionalise the disparity within the cities instead of filling the lacunae. The last decade of urbanisation did change the academic and policy consensus toward urban centres, but ignored the fringes of these centres where those from the poor and the lower-middle class who came in a large influx ended up. In Delhi, the government passed on powers to residents’ welfare associations, which now decide on the choice of basic civic matters — and they always give preference to their own gated communities. Mr. Modi must take a forward-looking stance when it comes to developing urban India. Otherwise, the glossy vision of building smart cities could end up triggering a process of social apartheid.

Keywords: Housing for All, Smart Cities missions, Narendra Modi, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, urban planning

In Bollywood, storylines remain backward on caste

But Tamil films are refreshingly different.

Just six of the lead characters in the nearly 300 Bollywood movies released over the last two years belonged to a backward caste, an analysis of data by The Hindushows.

In contrast, a substantial number of popular Tamil movies of 2013 and 2014 had backward caste lead characters.

For an insight into the depiction of caste in Bollywood, The Hindu analysed all Hindi movies released in 2013 and 2014 for which information was publicly available, studied the characters’ names and the movies storylines, and used secondary sources of information. Only two movies in 2014 had lead characters who were explicitly from the backward castes — Manjunath and Highway, which starred a Gujjar criminal. Two others had characters who could have been from backward castes — the Madhuri Dixit-starrer Gulaab Gang, loosely based on the life of Sampat Pal, and Hawaa Hawaai, a children’s movie by Amole Gupte.

Mary Kom, based on the life of the champion boxer, has a tribal lead character. Two movies had Christian lead characters, three had Sikh heroes and nine had Muslim lead characters. Among the rest, 66 lead characters were upper caste Hindus, while the remaining were Hindus of unstated caste. In 2013, two lead characters — in Bandook and the Kangana Ranaut-starrer Revolver Rani — belonged to a backward caste, while Ranvir Singh’s character in Goliyon ki Rasleela Ramleela is believed to have been modelled on a Scheduled Tribe person.

Upper caste heroes still hold sway

In Bollywood movies released in 2013, four leading men were Christian, one Jain, three Sikh and 5 Muslim. Of the rest, 65 were upper caste Hindus, while the remaining were Hindus of unstated caste without caste reference. The numbers were the same for men and women.

In the past, Bollywood produced the odd movie with a backward caste lead character. In three such movies – ‘Aakrosh’ (2010), ‘Rajneeti’ (2010) and ‘Omkara’ (2006) — the character was played by Ajay Devgn. However, movies with lead characters who are from backward castes tend to be those that deal specifically with inter-caste issues; characters do not just happen to be from a backward caste.

Lack of diversity

There is a similar lack of diversity among male and female actors themselves; the overwhelming majority of nearly 750 actors and actresses who were in more than five movies over the last decade are upper caste Hindus, followed by Muslims. In contrast, more Tamil movies tend to feature backward caste lead characters. While a systematic analysis of all Tamil movies was not possible on account of the naming conventions used in the south, of the 16 top movies of 2013, seven likely had backward caste lead characters. In 2014, at least one lead character from the top 10 movies was Dalit (Madras).

Several directors and writers whom The Hindu contacted declined to speak because of the “sensitivity” of the topic.

(With additional reporting from Samarth Bansal)

Keywords: Bollywood movies, Bollywood stories, backward caste lead characters

Housing for All, But Not Ownership





Migration will make rental housing a necessity

Housing for all by 2022 seems a daunting task but the target is achievable in terms of the number of units built, provided there is proactive policy and revamped institutional mechanism in place. The chief challenge is to locate housing in an overall context of urbanisation, with its attendant challenges of releasing land, town planning, energy efficiency and costs. Further, given the reality of large-scale internal migration along with urbanisation, policy must delink availability of a place to stay from home ownership. That brings into the picture sensible laws to create a vibrant market for rental housing.The present housing shortage nationwide is put at six crore units and rising, but with growing urbanisation, the backlog is likely to increase to 11 crore dwelling units in seven years, as per one recent projection. The cumulative investment requirement is put at $2 trillion, and further that 1.72 lakh hectare of land is likely to be required for urban residences -much of which would need to be affordable for low-income groups.
And, of course, the vast bulk of the re sources would need to be earmarked for urban housing. The fact is that the Centre and the states budget barely $5-6 billion annually for housing and the requirement is of the order of $250-260 billion each year, primarily by way of public-private partnership. Reducing the gestation period of projects through efficient processes would significantly cut costs.
Housing is not just brick and mortar. For buildings to become residences, they have to be situated amidst schools, hospitals, police stations, playgrounds and other amenities, besides a framework of governance. Urban local bodies need to be created -in very many new towns, civil servants man authorities and no local governments exist -and empowered. Independent regulatory oversight is vital too. Updated norms for prefabricated buildings and skills to deploy them are essential. Public housing can be part of the mix. Thanks to overly protenant rent control laws, we have as many as two crore houses lying vacant!