Working against the System

I got my semester results yesterday and I must say i ‘expected’ some of those grades. In fact, I understood what it means to go against the system. Actually it was this Teacher in Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) that ‘literally screwed’ my grades. It was a 6 credit course and the highest there is. Well, like I said earlier; for alleging her to the biased and unfair in her marking and complaining to the authorities about it, I got what I expected.

Well, that is one of the downsides for going againt the system. Universities must be seen as institutions that encourage liberal thinking and not enforce the moral ideals and notion of a particular individual. Perhaps, I was fed up with being treated as a primary school student and didnt want to be bound by rules anymore. Rules, where asking a legitimate question would mean doubting the authority of the teacher and something as silly as an attendance is being cut for not answering a question.

The root of the problem is not the infamy of certain teachers but the very way university education works in India. A former principal of my school RIMC, Mr. Hugh Catchpole characterised it as a ‘Guru- Chela’ relationship; where in the student is to do strictly as the teacher says. Students must do their homework, get all their books to class and know everything that is going on. I remember my days in Kendriya Vidyalaya where I had to take heavy bags with all the books possible . That may work in primary and secondary schools but surely not in Universities where every one is above the age of 18 and is to be considered mature enough to make the right decisions. In Universities, students must not be forced to learn but interested to learn; its informed choice that works in this case.

I would like to put forth another instance of the ‘guru -chela’ notion. Two students Canada came over to my jurisprudence class and started addressing the prof. by her first name, while at the same time we address her as “ma’am”. I could notice a distinct openess between her and those Canadians as she was aware of the system out there and appreciated it from them; and she was not open to us following suit, the true reason for which Im not aware of but Im certain our education system has a part to play in it.

Perhaps, this is one of the reasons that I felt a ‘burn out’ in this place. And it is in these times that I feel my going for the exchange programme to Canada comes as a blessing. I’m done with nepotism and sycophancy and have had enough of it.

NHRC - NPPTI - Complaint from the ND - Nandigram, West Bengal

To

The Chairman
National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House, Coparnicus Marg
New Delhi-

Hon’ble Sir,

Ahead of Panchayat polls on Sunday i.e.11/5/2008 the ruling party sponsored goons continued unhindered violence in Nandigram in spite of assurance by all political parties in a meeting with Block Development Officer that normalcy would be restored there.

Our fact finding team on getting information of the ongoing disturbances and police inaction reached violence-torn Nandigram today and have gathered information from the villagers that since the previous night the musclemen and goons alleged to be supporters of the largest ruling party CPI(M) flaunting red flags resorted to bloody violence in the area. Those miscreants snatched away the voter identity cards of the villager-voters and beat the possible opponent voters of the ruling party mercilessly even on mere suspicion of not being supporters of the ruling party. As a result of pre-poll clashes, at least 11 to 15 persons including women were admitted in Nandigram Block Primary Health Centre in critically injured condition.

The fact finding team has found that about 1000 to 1500 persons of village Kalicharanpur (Booth no.148 to 155) were robbed of their voter identity cards in the hands of the goons of the ruling party. Sk. Mojaffar, Giyasuddin Ali Shah, Sk. Malek , Sk. Rajjak, Sahauddin Shah, Saibul Shah, Samad Shah, Sk Basir, Amar Khatua, Mriganka Majhi were among other goons who masterminded and carried the operation in the area at the instance of the ruling political party. Moreover hundreds of villagers of Sonachura Gram Panchayat (Booth no.168 to 176), Gokulnagar Gram Panchayat, Bhangabera Gram Panchayat were also not free from such incidents.

Today at about 11 a.m. in the morning hundreds of villagers whose voter identity cards were forcibly taken away, gathered at the office of the Block Development Officer, Nandigram in order to ventilate their grievance and seeking permission to cast their votes after loosing their voter identity cards in the hands of the cadres and goons of the ruling party.  But without any provocation Mr. Debashish Chakraborty, Officer in Charge of Nandigram Police Station with Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel conducted lathi-charge upon the innocent gathering of the people.

Bridging the Great Communal Divide.

It is not uncommon for us to consistently remind ourselves of the fact that we are one of the most participative democracies in the world. While there might not be serious reservations as to the accuracy of this statement, incidents and exclusionary structures such as the Uthapuram Wall serve as a clarion call to those who believe that our society is the vanguard of equality.

Most of us would be aware of the recent controversy surrounding the demolition of the wall built by the upper castes of Uthapuram village (in Madurai,TN); the allegedly 12 feet high structure, constructed in 1989 in the aftermath of a violent communal conflict, was aimed at preventing the entry of ‘militant and rowdy Dalits’ into upper caste localities ( Ironically, 1989 is more known to us as the year when the Berlin Wall, a symbol of cultural and economic differences, was tore down). It wasn’t until media reports and activist involvement that the structure was brought to the notice of the public; campaigns to demolish the wall strengthened after news broke out that the wall had electrified fencing.

The demolition of the wall is indeed a welcome move, but it does not in any way mitigate the longstanding instances of discrimination meted out to the Dalit communities in various parts of India. Even today, as The Hindu Editorial reports, Dalits are subject to various forms of social exclusion, be it restrictions on access to public areas/utilities to being served tea in a different set of tumblers across shops. Our constitutional commitments to social justice envisage a community devoid of untouchability and other inherently discriminatory practices. Despite governmental action, segregatory walls continue to exist in the minds of the castes and communities across India. The one at Uthapuram is only a physical manifestation of such a tendency.

One must then, ponder over the exercises to impose equality and social justice in India through affirmative action and social welfare legislations. They would be rendered futile if upper castes and dominant, majoritarian communities were to shy away from being active participants in inclusive social growth. It is not surprising therefore, that the upper caste families at Uthapuram have stayed away from the village, refusing to come back. Our perceptions about social security and growth are unfortunately prejudiced to no lesser extent. Until there is awareness on this count, we would continue to witness variant forms of social exclusion, shocking our democratic, liberal values and conscience. And that is a threat to any society which, as the saying goes, is as strong as its weakest link.

Where’s the food going?

Somebody should feed George Bush a morsel of plain rice with red chilli powder. This should act as a substitute for his ordinary diet of beef, pork, potato chips, beacon, bread and numerous sauces. He should know that 200 million people in India still have that as their staple food and 200 million more are forced to remain hungry. He dare accuse us of eating a lot of calories while he sits in the Oval Office, away from the reality in the average Indian household.

TOI reported;

An average American consumes 1012 Kg of food in a year.

An Average Indian; merely 172 Kg in a year.

More than a third of the world’s poor live in India and 40% of our population lives below the internationally recognised poverty benchmark of 1$ a day. If we are eating a little more food on an average, then more than the growing middle class and their tastes; its to stop the starvation deaths, farmer suicides and people from going hungry everyday.

I was reading Gurcharan Das’s India unbound where he wrote that the poor seem to be at the forefront of every economic policy, election manifesto in India; but they just don’t seem to be coming up and being uplifted. Other than on paper, the poor in our country just don’t seem to matter; neither to the Indian bureaucrats or George W Bush.  We all live such shallow, superficial lives that we seem to ignore the existence of those few who should matter. And there are times when we must care.

If the above picture is the cause of inflation and the world food shortage, then its good. Because in India, below is how most of the people generally live;

So I think George Bush should retract his statement and P Chidambaram shouldn’t Tact worse and attribute it to the use of bio-fuels. There is a limit to stupidity and both of them are crossing it.

The Privacy Debate

The Miller Center Debates on “In the war against terrorism and with advances in technology, Americans need to lower their expectations of privacy”

Supporting the resolution: Douglas W. Kmiec, Professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine; and K.A. Taipale, Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology Policy. Opposing: John, Lord Alderdice, terrorism specialist and former Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly; and Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Georgetown law professor.

The Transcripts of the Debate may be downloaded here.

The Videos and audio files may be viewed/heard at the Miller Center site.