Rahul Writes

I recently attended the Art of Living (AOL)’s Yes+ course. YES+ stands for Youth Empowerment and Skills Seminar. I had heard about AOL a long time back when I was in my engineering college. AOL representatives had come to our college and had given a very nice talk. But at that time I had not attended the course because (1) there was a donation involved with it, (2) I thought Yoga and meditation are for old people, and (3) most of my friends had not done it. Now that time has changed and I got to realize my mistake in perceptions, I didn’t miss attending it. This time AOL was conducting sessions very near to my home (as well as our office). At the end of the program, I came out with a rich experience and very useful knowledge. 

Yes+ course is designed for the youth (18-30 years). So the program is packed with life-changing thoughts and ideas most applicable for the youth. We had talks on how to make most of life; how to have good relationships; keeping gratitude towards parents; active role in society; and also what kinds of food are the best and why. I liked the scientific manner in which the trainers explained each concept – from why to avoid leather articles, or meat eating, or even tea/coffee. Youth are at very inquisitive stage but the knowledgeable trainers could clearly satisfy all the queries. Along with the talks which were mostly demonstrated with performing some practical exercise or tasks, we learnt many enlightening Yoga techniques. Most of the participants had wonderful experiences with the Yoga session. 

The powerful spiritual flow into the content was really amazing. (I am not sharing much of the activities otherwise it may subdue the surprise element in newcomers.) Every day we were given some very interesting home-works. We also had Q&A sessions with the trainers in which we could ask them any doubts in our mind. I also loved the way trainers answered some controversial questions. They were also very much supportive of other Gurus, like Baba Ramdev. It was heartening to realize that the AOL guys practice what they preach. No surprise that when our teacher shared his own life story and his journey to AOL, all of us were touched. On the last day, we also ran through some videos introducing us to the world of Art of Living. 

What an enlightening experience it has been. It ran for 6 days – first 4 days for us were in the evenings and then two long sessions ran on the weekends. I found the organization and structure of the training simply brilliant. Given that so many highly qualified and successful guys from top universities are part of AOL, it came as no surprise. Another aspect of the course was that we came to know so many nice individuals (as participants) – who are now good friends. 

You can check these websites: http://www.yesplus.org/ and http://www.artofliving.org/yes-plus  

We were informed that advance Yes+ course is being organized soon in Bangalore. Hope to attend it someday. Till then, I have to maintain and improve on the Yogic path shown by AOL. AOL also conducts many other courses for people of all ages. I highly recommend the AOL courses for each one of us… 

With heartfelt thanks to AOL and trainers, 

Jai Gurudev! 

Rahul

Education

The Uneducated Supreme

"Reservation is one of the many tools used to preserve essence of equality so that disadvantaged groups can be brought to the forefront of civil life" Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan

1. Why don't you use the exact words and say: "Caste-based reservation is one of the many tools used to preserve essence of equality.." Can you justify how this system, which divides and discriminates people based on their birth caste, preserves equality?

2. What are others of the 'many tools'?

3. Do you think caste-based reservations are the best tool? Why not ask the government to find out the 'best tool' among the many tools to preserve ?

4. Do you think a college degree is all it takes to come 'to the forefront of civil life'? Laughable. There are caste-based discriminations even against those who are rich and powerful. 'Reverse-discrimination' is not the medicine for 'discrimination'; more hatred is not an answer to hatred.

Your Verdict: Creamy layer won't get benefit.

1. You say 'backward status vanishes when somebody becomes part of the creamy layer'. Then what makes you say that "Creamy layer concept was not applicable to SCs and STs"? Any answers from the real creamy layers of our judiciary?

2. Definition of creamy layer is those who earn over Rs 2.5 lakh annually. So in principle, you say that those Indians who earn more than Rs 2.5 lakh annually don't deserve reservations. Then what about those among the General Category who earn less than this figure?

Your Verdict: Review of OBC quota every 5 years.

1. Why not ask for review of all other caste-based quota (for SC/STs) every 5 years?

2. You don't prescribe any end date for such quotas; so this will run till eternity.

Your Verdict: Quota law won't cover minority institutions.

1. You say minority institutions are a 'Separate Class'. How many 'Classes' have you created in my one India? Why don't you sue the government for creating 'Classes' of special rights in a democratic country?

2. Can you explain why government of a secular country which funds 'minority' institutions, should have no say in the way they run?

My verdict on 'your' system:

Your caste based reservation system:

1. Defines, validates, and authorises the 'Caste System' in India, which is a social malaise

2. Doesn't protect the poorest from the general category, just because they are born in a family that was 'historically' advantaged.

3. Doesn't do anything to eradicate the caste-based discriminations in society.

4. Gives disincentive to a system based on performance and merit.

5. Is based on the unjustifiable system of 'reverse discrimination' and results in divide, hatred, and discomfort in the society.

6. Helps generate and nurture 'vote bank politics'.

Ref: All quotes and news taken from HT, Mumbai, April 11, 2008

Education

How they do that in France?

After I evaluated the 'school voucher' system for Indian condition: a question came to mind: how do they do it there? I strongly believe that India still doesn't want 100% literacy, may be it dreams for it, but is taking no effort to achieve that. To what we could have achieved, see the Chinese literacy level to get a feeling )

I have a friend in France; we are in touch after we met when she came as a consultant in the French MNC I was working with. I have some good memories of her stay; she came without luggage, as Air France missed her luggage, and so she purchased Indian dresses. On her last day of stay, company gave a party in her honour and she arrived in a pink salwaar-kameej; looking great!

I sent her an email asking how the French manage their system, whether primary education is free there. Here is her reply: I hope you too will learn something from this:

Hello Rahul

Yes, in France, school is free in what we call 'public' school and not free (yet very cheap for most) in 'private' schools (I pay 100 euros/month/child). At university, it is about 400 euros/year.

We pay a lot of tax (45 % of income) to achieve that (access to medical system is also almost free). It took us centuries to achieve that and France is among the European countries that has the highest level of tax.

I myself come from a very middle class family yet could follow engineering school with grants at the time. The best engineering school (we call them "grandes écoles" are free (for several centuries) .

I am sure it is a surprise for you

The drawback is that we pay too much tax and that many people take advantages of the system and I would rather have a system not free, yet free for children who make efforts.

The other drawback is that school system is not very good anymore (not enough money) and that in suburbs, it is necessary to pay to complete education if you want to succeed (we have national examinations). So in practicality, the system is decaying.

Yet, I can say that it is one of the most egalitarian educational system I have encountered thru my travels (GB, USA, .). To note that I have also studied in the USA with grants (from the rotary foundation), all tuitions and fees paid, and I could teach to pay the rest. Therefore, it was even easier for me to study there than in France (graduate school, University of Madison-Wisconsin).

I hope these info suit you.

A . F .

Education

'School vouchers' in India ' any takers?

'School voucher' or 'education voucher' is a system in which government distributes free vouchers to the parents or students, who can use these to pay for public or private school fees, the schools are of their choice. This is in contrast to the more commonly found system in which governments run their own schools which provide quality education at cheaper. The concept was promoted by economist Milton Freidman in the 1950s and after that it has been followed in many countries like Chile, Sweden, Britain, Ireland, and the US. In the US, the current Bush administration pushed for vouchers leading up to No Child Left Behind Act.

The advantages for such a scheme are many ' though benefits may differ from country to country. The special feature of this system is that it results in better schools getting more students and hence more money, while schools with poor quality won't see much candidates reaching them and hence would face a threat to be closed down. If everyone has got a voucher, one is free to choose a better school over a bad one. And this way, the overall education quality in the country improves. Otherwise, poor continue to go to the government run schools which provide poor quality education. They can't afford private education, where education comes at a price.

In India if we follow such a system, we shall have the risk of an explosive situation, because no one would join the government schools and instead join the private ones, while paying through the school vouchers. In fact, our whole government schooling system is completely inefficient marred by unavailability of teachers and basic infrastructure because of lack of accountability and protection. If they are asked to compete with the private ones, everyone would benefit except the corrupt teachers and officials. The reason why India can't ask its government schools to compete with the private ones is because it would result in increase in the fee demanded. But anyhow we are covering the cost of running these schools through public funds. If we just divert the flow of public funds from the schools to the parents, we can make a lot of change in the whole system I think we should remember that out goal is to provide affordable education to all children, and not to run affordable but poor quality schools and protect the jobs of teachers.

Though in many areas there is still no alternative to the government schools and they still manage to provide decent education even with their corruption and inefficiency, and this is the factor which makes India different, and it becomes inevitable that we can't implement the school voucher system in one go across India.

But in India, there are more problems than one. The quality of schools varies so much that after getting the vouchers, entire town or city would try to get admission in only 2-3 good schools. This situation can be handled by taking an entrance exam. But any such exam would again help the ones who are richer or who already have attended good schooling. This entrance exam won't also benefit those who are entering the education system for the first time.

Can we start by implementing this system in the urban areas at first? But it is highly probable that the private school lobby would fight hard to get such a scheme scrapped. Some times back, there was an attempt to reserve some seats in every private school for those from poor ST/SC category candidates. I am not sure whether this has been followed or not.

Should I conclude that despite school vouchers being a great system, it can't be implemented in India? I think if we try with a long term target, may be in the way of a five-year plan to put system in place, in the form of promoting opening of more private schools, increasing the overall quality of schooling system, and filling out the gaps between the private and government schools, we can bring India to a level when it can transcend to accept the school voucher system. State funding of basic education is a must if we want to achieve 100% literacy and education, and more important is the way in which India decides to fund the education system What do you say?

Education

PGJMC

I just completed my PGJMC course.

Course code:             PGJMC

Course name:           Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication

Offered by:                Ignou (www.ignou.ac.in)

Duration:                  1 year

Papers:                      4

Work experience:     Minimum 2 years in press or media

Fee:                            Around Rs 2500.

I did this course out of my extra-curricular interest; though many people initially laughed at the idea. What has journalism got to do with chemical engineering? But I did it; though I took two years instead of one to appear for the exams.

I found the course content satisfactory. The target junta for this course are those already working in the media industry, and haven't got a formal education in the field of journalism and mass communication. As you can see, there is a mandatory requirement of two years of work-ex. (I managed it J; some things are fair in love, right?)

In case some of you want the study material, and can collect from me in Mumbai, contact me soon. Otherwise I will donate that to the nearest Ignou study centre.

Now I have plans to do at least three more courses:

o       A course in disaster management

o       MA in English

o       MA in Political Science

Can you suggest, from where to do the last two courses? I am already doing MBA, and that is not a joke doing that from here. But I believe I can still manage to do these, if not in 2 years, then in 4. But everything is possible.

Perils of distance learning in India

Kumar Rahul Tiwary

Last month, I appeared for the final exams of my PGJMC (Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication) from IGNOU. I had filled up their online form, marking my centre of examination as Thane, in a hope that my centre would be conveniently near my residence. But I discovered that Thane was a huge district, and my centre was at a school in Tarapur, Boisar, which is famous for its nuclear power plant. I reached the centre in time. That had made me woke up at 4 O' clock in the morning, and change trains once. The centre was an IGNOU study centre built up by a trust from Tatas. The examination hall was the same hall used for audio ' video trainings. Places were marked for 20 students who were to appear for the exam. A girl was already waiting in the room, deeply engrossed in her last minute preparations. The exam was to be of three hours duration.

To my surprise, not a single other student turned up for the exams. The examiner came with sealed question paper, and after some rituals, we were allowed to write the exams. The girl was writing her last exams for MBA. But only two out of twenty actually turned up: only 10%! Ultimately it turned up that I too couldn't appear for two out of my four papers because of unavoidable reasons.

The perils of distance education in India are two:

1.      Lack of quality educational institutes offering distance learning.

2.      Low enrolment rates because the distance learning courses are perceived inferior than regular courses.  

3.      Lots of joining students are actually disinclined, and drop eventually.

To our amazement, all of these three points are interrelated. There are some individual institutes like Ignou and Symbiosis distance learning, who maintain a level of quality in their courses. But there are far more number of one-room institutes who sort of sell out the certificates. I have completed a diploma in industrial safety, and I can say that not only the course material was not up to the standard, but the final exam was like a formality. Ignou is an exception; its course materials are of very good quality, written in a narrative manner to facilitate distance learning, it has study centers all across India, and their final exams are rigorous. For example, for my PGJMC course, I received 20 books, had to submit 20 assignments in one year and had to appear for an examination of 4 papers. Otherwise, despite having thousands of colleges, India has not yet fully exploited the potential of distance education.

To make the matter worse, there are a number of disinclined students who join the courses offered by correspondence. Later, either they change their mind and join some other courses, or they drop out and start a business. The housewives, who take up some courses, may find it hard to continue, eventually dropping. The only loser in all these cases is the distance education system as a whole.

If the present situation continues, the private institutes may drop the idea of running these courses. Or, they will make lesser investments in maintaining the quality of the courses, to make the process economically feasible. A vicious cycle will thus start rolling.

Government can play a very important role here. Distance education plays a very important role in a country like India where both the literacy rate and enrolments in higher education are very less. Institutions like Ignou, though they continue to be beefed up with government funds, must continue. Some inquiry should be made in order to understand why exactly distance learning is not very successful in India. The practice of self correction and continuous development will make courses from these institutes much sought after.

Mumbai, 07 July, 2007
[This is the day of Sevens - 07-07-07]

Balance of Power ' the IIT Way

"Balance of Power": I learnt it at an unexpected place: IIT Bombay.

In international relations, Balance of Power is a concept in power politics. Within a balance of power system, a state may choose to engage in either balancing or bandwagoning behavior. Balancing or hard balancing refers to a state joining a weaker coalition to counter the influence or power of a stronger coalition. Balancing is a military action, intended to increase the power or threat of power of one state relative to another. Bandwagoning refers to the act of weaker states joining a stronger power or coalition within balance of power politics & it occurs when weaker states decide that the cost of opposing a stronger power exceeds the benefits to be gained from supporting it.

If we search beyond the international relations, the following meanings can be derived from the term “Balance of Power”:

• Balance of Power is a musical rock band from Great Britain.
• Balance of Power is a computer game first released for Apple Macintosh.
• Balance of Power is a 1986 album by the Electric Light Orchestra.
• Balance of Power is a book by New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming.
• Balance of Power is a novel by Richard North Patterson

But I learnt a new meaning of Balance of Power, the day I visited IIT Bombay. Yes, I mean Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. (Just for information, do you know that Jairam Ramesh (Congress MP) is a product of IIT Bombay? You may know about Nandan Nilekani and Kanwal Rekhi as its more famous alumni.)

Shivaji and Ambedkar, under the same roof

When you reach the reception area in the main academic building of IIT Bombay, you will find two busts there. One is of the Shivaji and the other is of BR Ambedkar. Neither personality needs an introduction. But their statues do. I could not get time to find out which was installed earlier. But the statue of Shivaji was installed at a more appropriate place and was covered with glass casing. The statue of BR Ambedkar was in the open, and it seemed that they tried hard to look for a convenient place for it. That is why the wall before his statue looks askew in this picture. It seems to me that the Shivaji's statue was present there from before and a new statue of BR Ambedkar was installed later on.

Balance of Power

Why from the whole universe of great scientists and thinkers did the IIT authorities choose to install these two figures there?

Shivaji, Chatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhonsle to be precise, is one of the greatest heroes in India. His rule is called one of the six golden pages in Indian history. He inspired the freedom fighters of India’s freedom struggle. Shivaji was a deeply religious Hindu but he respected all religions within the region. Shiv Sena has taken inspirations form the Maratha king and many important locations like international airport were named and renamed after him. You can feel the presence of Shivaji everywhere in Maharastra. So I was not surprised to find him at an IIT also.

BR Ambedkar is a Bharat Ratna; first he fought for the rights of lower caste and untouchables among Hindus and then started the Dalit Buddhist Movement. He is credited for being chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. (Ambedkar hated Hinduism and was a fierce critic of Gandhiji. Taking note of his state of mind, it surprises me why the Congress party made him in charge of writing the rules for Indian democracy!). Several political parties like the BSP and Dalit organizations have made him their paragon and constant source of inspiration. Go to any slum in Mumbai, and you will find his statue or temple guarding the area.

But a pragmatist will say that Maratha are ‘upper caste’ community and its leader Shivaji was also upper caste. So the balance of power seems to be tilted in favor of these so called upper caste people. (It looks dirty, but there are people who would support this notion). The remedy? Install another statue of a person from the lower caste; who can be better than BR Ambedkar himself? So another statue of BR Ambedkar comes under the same roof. This decision may have been taken by some director with a different set of inspiration, or under demands from some local politicians.

Well, I don't have an objection until things work out under some reasonable logic. Neither of these two gentlemen had any relations with IIT B. Also, some political organizations have vested interests in promoting them. Why should an IIT install busts of people who are neither related to the institute nor do they provide any inspiration to the students/faculty? I have no objection, until it is followed by some sound logic. We can't let politics acquire a position adjacent to the "reception desk"! Balance of Power should not be an extracurricular learning at an IIT.

[Kumar Rahul, Mumbai, Sunday, May 6, 2007, 12:34 PM]

Girl Donates Eyes before Killing Herself

I have kept the title of this piece blunt; because I want your sincere attention. We can't leave our kids in the present condition. In the memory of Divya ..

Many times, news which could make us get out of our beds are buried in the inside pages of the newspapers. On 11^th of April, 2007 there was a news report on the 8^th page of Hindustan Times, Mumbai edition. Title made me shaken: "Girl donates eyes before killing herself".

In Lucknow, a girl named Divya Pandey (real name), committed suicide. She was a 12^th standard student, and was to appear for her biotechnology exam. Divya's mother says: "She was a very bright student, but was not satisfied with her performance. A day before she took this drastic step, she said to me that she doesn't remember anything that she had learnt and would not be able to score above 90 percent in class 12^th." In her suicide note, she wrote that she wanted to donate her eyes. Her parents, though distressed at her death, decided to honor her last wish and ensured all procedure were followed immediately. Her body, which was discovered in the morning, was taken to KGMU, doctors harvested her cornea and within days, two people were able to see the world, thanks to Divya.

Donating eyes

This is the first such case in my memory. I have never heard if someone else in the past planned to benefit the society in this manner, the society in fact is the reason for their distressed conditions. It shows that Divya was in her sane state at the time of suicide. She knew what she was going to do. Still, if she chose to hang herself, it was not her failure only. It is the failure of the society in which she lived.

Worth thinking over

Should we stop after declaring it as a shocking incident, an unfortunate event and expressing solidarity with the family? Two things come to my mind immediately:

1. The state of cruel competition.
2. The expectations from the family members.

State of cruel competition

All of us know how brutal is the competition to get admission in the engineering and medical colleges like IITs, NITs and AIIMS. In IIT JEE, the success rate is 1 in 60. More than 3,00,000 students appeared for JEE-2006, for total 5500 seats. Around 5,25,000 candidates wrote the AIEEE - 2006 of which around 45,000 people in the open category have been called for counseling. And the matter of fact is that we have very few such institutes of excellence in India, and almost everyone wants to get in there only. In this cut throat competition, the students are so much tense and winding under pressure that if they sense a possibility of failure, they find their world falling over and in a state of depression, they take this decision as an escape from the hell.

Expectations from family

Parents these days are sending their children to schools at a very early age. They feel proud that their kids are already 'there' when at the same age, they used to play at home all the day. Next, we have already heard and faced the problems in getting admissions in good schools. Schools charge huge sum of money for admissions, in the name of anything. Parents of Kangaroo Kids, Mumbai fumed in protests when the school hiked the fee for KG students in Mumbai is Rs 36000 ^{[Ref 1]}. If parents have to pay such exorbitant amounts, naturally their expectations will be proportional.

Also, the practice of comparing our children with those of others in our neighbor is an old one. There was a scene in the movie Ta ra rum pum, a young couple with two children was moving into a new flat, when an already residing couple met them on the stairs. When the gentleman says "How lovely kids", her wife says "Apnaa bhi koi kam nahi hai". If the neighbor's son has won a prize in recitation, your son will have to pay for it.

Analysis of suicide cases in South Delhi

In a paper titled “Suicide among children and adolescents in South Delhi (1991-2000)” ^{[Ref 2]}, the investigators Lalwani Sanjeev, Sharma GA SK, Kabra SK, Girdhar Shalini and Dogra TD from Departments of Forensic Medicine, AIIMS, New Delhi, report the following key observations:

1. Out of 222 cases of children and adolescent who died by suicide, majority 55.4% of the victims were girls. This shows that the girl students have a greater pressure to perform and are more susceptible to be depressed.

2. Commonest age group involved was 15-18 years in both the sexes. This is the time when students appear for their board exams (10/12).

3. Maximum (56.4%) cases were reported in the months of March-July. The psychological problems due to studies, performance in examination and declaration of results are higher during these months.

4. The vast majority of suicide cases had applied hard methods with hanging which reflects a higher degree of auto aggressive behavior and determination towards self destruction.

What to do ' Can we leave the things as they are?

In my opinion, nothing can be more useful in curbing the suicidal tendencies among children is 'parental support'. If Divya knew that her world did not end with her less than 90% marks, she would have accepted her bad performance as part of life. Its time to think and correct ourselves before it is too late.

Ever tried to get a Migration Certificate?  

Beleaguered while trying to get a migration certificate from my last attended university, I thought of some ways in which the system can improve. 

Have you ever applied for a migration certificate from the university you last attended? Migration certificate certifies that the student XYZ has passed out from the university on ABC date and year, and the university has no objections to his/her taking admissions in another mentioned university.

Recently I needed migration certificate from my last attended university, NIT Durgapur. There was fee to be submitted to the cash counter of the adjoined bank, then there was an application form to be filled up, and I needed to attach zerox copies of my degree certificate and university registration certificate. Due to obvious reasons I didn't want to go the institute physically, so I got one presently studying junior to do that on my behalf. I said that I would send the certificates and one authorization letter to him by fax. But the head of academic section, an infamous Prof. from Mechanical Engineering department, said that I needed to show him the original degree and registration certificates. I didn't want to send my original certificates by mail/courier. Also, I didn't have much time left. I talked to him, but he said that was a university rule and he couldn't do anything. I talked to my HOD, who then talked to him, but he won't go back. So, I needed to go to the university myself, with the original degree certificate, in order to get a piece of paper called migration certificate.

I am just wondering, why universities are so strict while issuing migration certificates. I got to know the process followed in Mumbai University. The application form for getting the same is available on their website; any one can download it and fill up the hard copy, attach a DD and send the request by post. There is no need to be physically present, or to verify the original documents. But Mumbai University too is very strict. The application form is of 5 pages. It says it will issue only one migration certificate and if admission is not taken, the same should be returned back.

I am not able to understand why migration certificates should be treated as such an important document. All it says is that the student XYZ has passed out in the year ABC and the university doesn't have any objection to his/her taking admission in another university.

If an institute feeds all its students' data in an online database, I think the migration certificate can be generated in a moment online. Anyone who wants to apply, can submit a fee online, through internet banking or credit card, and then fill up the particulars about him/her, like name, father's name, date of birth, etc for verification. Then a certificate can be generated electronically, whose printouts can be taken by the student.

In worst case, it may happen that someone else gets a migration certificate in some other person's name, because we are not verifying the student's authenticity rigorously enough. But how will this benefit the other guy? That migration certificate will be authentic only when submitted with original degree certificate and marks sheets. So where is the risk of forgery?

I am worried because after passing out form a graduate school, most of the people are working. Now when they want to pursue higher studies, they need a migration certificate from the last Uni. For that they need to go all the way to their alma maters, just to show the original degree certificates for verification.. That makes them to take 2-5 days leave, depending on the distance. Add to that the travel costs. Several universities have some different sets of rules, all in order to make life more difficult for us. Is not this another example of palling bureaucracy?  

[Kumar Rahul, Mumbai, Monday, April 23, 2007, 11:10 AM]