Newspaper Dilemma

These days I am riding on the horns of dilemma as far as choosing a newspaper is concerned. Till last month I had an 'intermittent' (courtesy IITK vendors) supply of The Hindu. Before subscribing to The Hindu I had 4 months of exposure to Indian Express. I still believe that The Hindu is the best newspaper currently in India. Here I proclaim it to be the best in terms of the quality of articles, veracity of reporting and yes, an important parameter is absence of those obtrusive ads which adore our populist circulations of Hindustan Times and Times of India. By now you might be thinking where the problem is?

The problem is that The Hindu seems unduly sympathetic to left ideology. In fact a regular columnist is M K Bhadrakumar, a former Indian diplomat whose loyalty it seems (and it is my personal opinion, forgive me if you disagree) lies with China. I shudder to think of what he would have done when he was in his service to the 'nation'. You can search for his articles and look how baseless claims he makes. I once commented on his article citing his earlier baseless allegations but to my surprise The Hindu did not even publish it. But just as one swallow does not makes a summer, the rest of The Hindu is a fine example of quality journalism. Indian Express, to me is a nationalist newspaper and comes hard on bigotry, but the problem with it is that it seems anti-Congress to me at times. I am open to fair criticism of Congress but having columnist like Tavleen Singh who are known to spew venom against Congress deters me. A ray of hope is the medium which connects me to you. The online edition of The Hindu is very good but the same cannot be said of Indian Express. Subscribing to Indian Express and reading The Hindu online seems to be an idea worth looking.

Pune blasts : Lessons to be learnt

Once again a blast strikes an Indian city. Once again the blame game begins. Once again media frenzy comes to fore. Once again we do nothing. Please rise to the occasion. Get out of this mess. It is very disappointing to see the same pattern one after the other. If the speculations presented in newspaper reports are true, it becomes very difficult to have faith in our internal security.

There are several reports claiming that Headley had surveyed the German bakery. If true this implies that the administration of the bakery had advance knowledge of the gravity of the situation and also the government should have been more active. The trigger for the blast is highly disappointing. A waiter opened an unclaimed object. This is ridiculous. After so much awareness campaigns we Indians can't even follow simple rules for security. As far as I remember these campaigns have been since Khalistan militancy days. But how many of us are serious about it?
This is the time that we learn our lesson although a very tragic way to learn it. I would suggest that we plan an awareness campaign with the friends of that waiter exhorting people to follow security norms. Please do not miss this opportunity.

In the defence of Thackerays

The title is perhaps highly unlikely to be found elsewhere as Thackeray bashing seems to be the in-thing these days. Although it is justified to some extent but our media has this tendency to overdo things whether it is the case of Chinese incursions or of Indian team losing a match. What I am talking about here is castigation of Bal Thackeray for criticising Shahrukh Khan for his remarks on Pakistani players' participation in the IPL. I do not approve of hooliganism associated with Shiv Sainiks but there is no doubt that Shahrukh Khan's statement on IPL was a highly irresponsible statement. Yes, I agree that in a democracy everyone has right to express his/her opinion but then is it not true that a hypocrite should deserve flak for what he/she is ? Mr. Chidambaram also expressed his opinion on the matter saying that Pakistan has very good Twenty20 players and they should have been brought out. But then he has no control over who is picked in the tournament. He is not a franchisee but Shahrukh Khan is. What Mr. Khan offers is a pretty lame excuse. He says they wanted Razzaq in the team but didn't pick him because he was injured. How does he know that same problem was not with other owners? That's a true charlatan for you. Oh! can a charlatan be true?

Language Barrier

At times I wonder how foolish we can be. Just because someone speaks a different language we see that person as alien. Of course as I have posted earlier, language can be a barrier as far as administration is concerned but how is it that it can be used as tool to alienate a section of society. Why do you feel slighted if someone else speaks some other language? I agree we all should be proud of our mother tongue but that does not implies we look down upon other languages. Still you can see a lot of instances in history where language was used as a tool to create divide in society. Forcing your language on others can lead to a lot of trouble. Pakistan forced Urdu on Bengali speakers and eventually had to part with them. India was engulfed in language movement in 1960's when they tried to force Hindi on southern states. One of the reasons for unrest in Punjab was Hindi/Punjabi divide. Now language is being used as a political tool in Maharashtra. There are several parties who are opposed to the English education terming English as a foreign language. Should we abandon a good thing just because it is foreign? They raise trivial issues such as changing 'India that is Bharat' to 'Bharat, that is India' in constitution. What good this change is going to bring? But as usual these parties have no logic to defend their statements. Be proud of your mother tongue but respect other languages. The language in usage should be the language that is convenient. I will talk to a farmer in Uttar Pradesh in Hindi and a foreigner in English. Just imagine what will happen if I do the other way round?

Realization of Regression in Science

Today, Dr. Manmohan Singh has accepted existence of red tapism and need of urgent reforms in order to move Indian Science forward and take it to greater heights. Brain drain is a severe problem now. But it is not that only those who leave our shores are responsible. The onus also lies with our establishment which has made it difficult to carry out research in India. Even premier institutions have not been spared. Despite all this there are some who stay here and work for country. But you cannot expect everyone to work just because of patriotism. At the time when the US is thinking of attracting entrepreneurs to their country we are not even able to stem the rot which plagues our educational establishments. The fellowships given to our research scholars are peanuts compared to those given in West and this is even if you take PPP into account.

Dr. Singh has announced revision in funding schemes which bodes well for Indian Science. The number of Phds is very less in India. More so in science. Currently, IITs pay only 14000 p.m. This should be hiked to at least 25,000-30,000 p.m. The admission process to Phd should be reformed in order to attract best talent. This will surely enhance the quality of our research and because the number of Phd scholars is so small, it is not going to be a burden on government also. If industry interface is improved, the burden on government can be lightened even more.

Small States : How far can we go?

Telangana is simmering right now. December 30 has been announced as a 'bandh' day. In other states the demand for separate states is rearing its head once again. The Telangana isuue is more thorny compared to other issues as in this case the rest of the state is not in the mood to accept reorganization of the state. Violent protests seem inevitable at least for time being. If central government agrees to this demand it faces trouble on two fronts: one, the rest of Andhra wont remain peaceful and two, the remaining states in India will witness similar protests and movements. If we look at the performance of smaller states it has been mixed bag. While Uttaranchal has done well, Jharkhand has been disaster. Small states also mean small number of legislative assembly seats which encourages defection and hence instability. Goa bears testimony to this fact. We already have states on linguistic basis. Almost in every large state there is demand for one or two smaller states. Some of them are highly unreasonable. As far as Uttar Pradesh is concerned the travesty cannot be missed. While 'Harit Pradesh' comprises prosperous districts of western Uttar Pradesh, the 'Bundelkhand' talks of most backward regions of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In case of Poorvanchal there is no popular support and a handful of leaders are crying themselves hoarse on this issue. I don't have any idea about similar demands elsewhere in the country.

The government should decentralize the institutions and facilities in the states in order to make them easily accessible. In Uttar Pradesh, most of the institutions are centered in Lucknow. Clearly this is highly inconvenient for people from both ends of the state. But instead of carving out new states we can build similar institutions in east UP as well as west UP. Not many need to meet Chief Minister every now and then, so one thing which I am sure we don't need in Uttar Pradesh is a bunch of inefficient chief ministers. While decentralization based on zonal division of Uttar Pradesh will ensure easy accessibility, the size will ensure stability. Similar reasons can be given for other states also. Please don't play divisive politics in the name of statehood. Sardar Patel united 500 states into one India. Don't undo his unparalleled achievement.

Where is the joy in being child?

During my days of literature study I read various poems, both in Hindi and English, exhilarating joys of childhood. But if you have a look at today's child, you will vexed at the burden he/she is under. The number of courses a child undergoes during primary education is astounding.Most of them are useless and serve no purpose. Some students excel at those courses (which is bound to happen in a populous country as India) and those who don't are deemed failures. The teachers don't teach nowadays. They 'finish'. Yes, they finish syllabus and in that process the desire to learn in most of the students. I remember my history teacher virtually reading through the course text books when I was appearing for council exams in class Xth. The reason: syllabus should be finished and the students should secure high marks. If in the process you learn something... OK added bonus. There is no learning in practical environments. A typical child is expected to know history, geography, civics, mathematics, science (Physics, Chemistry and Biology in class sixth) and a plethora of books in languages (literature and grammar).

What this humongous syllabus ensures is that 'chapters' are finished and contents are 'crammed'. Most of the high scoring students are not able to apply concepts on their own. And yes, everyone conveniently forgets the stuff in no time (in some cases this could be as less as few hours after the exam). If this torture was not enough we have a myriads of exams and tests to plague a child's mind. As expected, majority of students need extra tuition to keep pace with this madness. 8 hrs of school and then 3 hrs of tuition. Add to it the commute time, and you must now be wondering that your job is not that hectic. I don't know about you, but I as a final year student pf engineering surely don't want to be child again. At least I have choices (to some extent) in doing courses and areas I want to work on.

Where's the fun in growing up?