The Analyst

Print the Change : Go 3D

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 18:29:00 +0000

Who doesn't like Robert Rodriguez films? And, who doesn't love the movie-series ‘Spy Kids’? Here I am another fan of the series and would you care to guess my favorite gadget?

Yeah, yeah… All those spy-gadgets are cool, I know, but, the foodie in me won’t vote for any of them. I’ll go for the re-hydration machine that turns packaged articles into smoking hot McDonald burgers with just a spark!

When I laze about, I just think in my mind… WOW! A single flicker and delicious fresh food in hand! And how I wished someday NASA will make it happen and I’ll be motivated to be an astronaut (or, even a kitchen plongeur for those culinary marvels). And, then a newsflash caught my eyes, PIZZA PLEASURE FOR ASTRONAUTS!!

Not a drone/quadrocopter delivery from Domino’s but a garden-fresh one printed in space! PRINTED!!!

I confess being an easy-to-amaze person and a mere Telefax machine keeps me astounded till date but this is something which is ‘very very VERY’!

When I used this ‘Roman Holiday’ dialogue I couldn't avoid thinking of the protagonist, the timeless star Audrey Hepburn! I used to long for a breakfast date with the lovely and serendipitous ‘Holly Golightly’ at Madamme Tussauds. But it’s not a big deal these days as I can always own the exact same model now, thanks to 3D printing. All I’m gonna need is a few bucks, as low as £30.

THE PRICE

In fact 3D printing has gone so cheap that people are printing plastic knobs of coffee mug lids and all sorts of thingamajiggy with it. Even you can own a 3D printer of your own:

Velleman K8200 3D Printer Kit uses electric energy 12V/3A at max., costs £700 and prints in plastic of 7 available colors; 1 kg of the plastic printing material costs £30.
Open-source metal 3D printer costing less than $1,500 in parts is in the works at Michigan Technological University (MTU). You can easily assemble them to get your printer ready with a home-available tool-kit.
Makerbot Replicator Mini is an entry-level 3D printer. The product, which is priced at $1,375, is designed with ease of use and simplicity in mind with a one-button interface and offers "plug and play" usability.
The scope of 3D printers have already transcended the realm of utility, 3Doodler arrives in the form of a pen, allowing users to sketch objects in a 3D space, with the doodles they draw coming off the paper. 3Doodler is presently available at $99.
3D Systems Chefjet isn't your average 3D printer, either. Chefjet use sugar for 3D printing producing various sweet treats. However, Chefjet printers have a $5,000 starting price.
The LumiFold photopolymerisation 3D printer is both small and affordable. Most desktop 3D printers aren't small or portable, but a new LumiFold claims to be both – easily fits in a backpack and available for $400.

LumiFold photopolymerisation 3D printer - small and affordable
Photograph: Indiegogo

Can’t afford? Keep calm and outsource!

Many traders offer 'in store' 3D printing service besides retail giant Asda. The supermarket chain is trialing a new facility that allows shoppers to scan and replicate anything in ceramic. Shoppers can walk into the 3D scanning booth in Asda’s York store and replicate just about anything bigger than a shoe, including people and pets. The object is scanned within minutes in-store. The model is then sent to a specialist 3D printing company, which produces a ceramic print in up to 6m different colors at various sizes for as little as £40 within a few days shipping it back to the store, "ready to pick up with your next week's shopping".

Astonishing indeed, isn’t it?

BRIEF HISTORY

The more startling fact is 3D printing technology has been around since the 1980s. The first working 3D printer was created in 1984 by Chuck Hull of 3D Systems Corp which chronologically corresponds to Windows1.0! The solid imaging process was then known as stereolithography rather than 3D Printing.

Stereolithography (SLA or SL; also known as optical fabrication, photo-solidification, solid free-form fabrication and solid imaging) is an additive manufacturing technology used for producing one layer at a time by curing a photo-reactive resin with a UV laser or another similar power source. Chuck Hull also invented and got patent of the first commercial rapid prototyping technology, and the STL file format (3D scanned image).

Contrary to common perception, 3D printing using metal has been possible for quite some time - but the price has limited its availability to industry rather than hobbyists. One of the techniques, direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), fuses metal powder into a solid part by melting it with a powerful focused laser beam, often used to make prototype metal parts for the aerospace industry. But the boom in the 3D printing industry came with putting it within the grasp of anyone with an interest, no sooner than 2010. So, if I claim the sheer cause of this upsurge is the rapid fall of the cost, you can’t blame me for over simplification.

3D printing technology goes way beyond simple plastic trinkets and puts it within the grasp of the multitude… metal 3D printing at home becomes a reality. And the flare is up, as said Joshua Pearce (the scientist who led the designers of the low-cost Open-source metal 3D printer which uses a gas-metal arc welder to lay down thin layers of steel which can be built up into complex geometric objects ), “Within a month, somebody will make one that’s better than ours, I guarantee it.”

KNOW HOW: WHY IS 3D PRINTING SO DIFFERENT?

Before I get to discuss the scopes and socio-economic impact of this mind-blowing technology, let us have a glimpse of the fundamental distinguishing features of the expertise designated as the ‘forerunner of new industrial revolution’.

3D printing is known as the additive manufacturing as it adds layer by layer of materials to construct the scanned geometric shape. What traditional molding machines do is subtractive manufacturing. Subtractive processes remove undesired materials to achieve desired forms. On a large scale, the later results in big environmental problems and undue costing.
It is being said that there is no additional benefit on gross production with a 3D printer. Hence, we are heading to a world with all goods personalized, better ergonomics and output!
Finally, this machine has got an incredible property of self-replication. This machine can precisely print parts to construct its sisters or even parts required for an upgrade! So you simply buy a basic one and print out an even better one!

SCOPES

Household

Still confused about the importance of one 3D printer in household? To fully appreciate the way 3D printing might impact our lives, consider this: in under an hour, your $2,000 3D printer can turn a couple of meters of coiled plastic filament into anything from jewelry and artworks to gadgets and kitchen tools. So, physical items, mass produced and bought in outlet stores, will become replicable and editable by anyone who knows computer-aided drawing (who doesn't these days?) and/or has access to a 3D scanner (it’s cheap as a service!). This inevitably means we will face new frontiers in global trade.
People are definitely getting along with this, as evident from Shapeways produced 1.5 million objects for its customers this past year, including self-designed jewelry, iPhone cases, lampshades and vases. In the coming year, the company expects that number to reach 6 or 7 million, with its products made from around 30 different materials. So, this autumn Shapeways opened a new production facility in the New York City borough of Queens, with long rows of 3-D printers of many different types. (Reminds me of laundromats.)
The next step of-course will be clothing produced by 3-D printers, tailored exactly to fit each customer's figure. And what could possibly beat 3D printed shoes, custom-made for each pair of feet?

Machine Tools

Since antiquity 3D printing technology is being used in the field of aeronautics for making trial designs. Later on BMW started experimenting with motor-parts. But now, "It's safe to assume that every auto racing team works with components from our printers", says Eos CEO Hans Langer.

This also turned the vintage car sphere inside-out as you can print durable versions of rare motor-parts at a minimum cost.

Medicine

One of the two fields that got hit the hardest by the 3D wave is undoubtedly medicine.

Printable body-parts : Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine head Anthony Atala, M.D. is one likely candidate for this year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine after a successful 3D printed bladder transplant. Dr Atala said, in an interview with Ray Martin (at a 60 Minutes episode), they started with flat structures like skin and then progressed to tubular structures like blood vessels and wind-pipe (tracheo-bronchial tree), hollow non-tubular structures like stomach and bladder and finally attempting the most complicated solid structures like heart or kidneys, and “this is just a beginning”! The technology is already a big hit among dentists. A dental prosthesis requires very skilled technicians and extensive hours of sitting to be a good fit. But a 3D printed denture will be a spot-on fit and will be printed in whatever material the patient wants. Similarly, an artificial 3D printed hip prosthesis weights just 200 grams (a titanium prosthesis currently available weighs 450- 900 gram) which means early recovery and grossly curtailed post-operative physiotherapy session!

Earlobe (Pinna), Nose and a Finger 3D Printed by Dr Anthony Atala
of Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Tailored Medication : As we print customized flavor adjusted pizza we are also printing pills with dosage exactly as required for the patient. Firstly, though individualized drug dosage was long been recognized as the best way to treat patients, a drug company can’t make billion different doses for every person but the printer gives us a fine opportunity to quench every thirst. Secondly, all drugs given to the patients can be combined in a single pill which increases compliance.
‘Orphan Drugs’: In nutshell, these are rarely prescribed but important drugs most pharmaceutical companies refuse to market as they spell all-cost-and-no-profit since demand is low. We learned by now, 3D printing has been bestowed with the peculiarity of making production on the small-scale as efficient as large scale production. These two plus two equals four as well as good news to those in need!

Balanced Diet: As we can choose ingredients and add precisely, individualized accurately balanced diet is another soon-to-become reality.

Guns

crypto-anarchist & libertarian Cody Wilson,
co-founder of Defense Distributed
holding his creation 'Liberator'-the 3D-gun

If on one hand we see this saves lives, it can be the very contrast too! ‘Liberator’, the 3D printed gun plan is up in the internet and downloaded by more than 1 million people by now. Download-Print-Fire… it’s as easy as that and now metal printed guns fire 50 tandem shots accurately. The government automatically banned these guns. On the other end, the libertarians are in monumental glee as universal gun-right is now a very close possibility! On being asked if it’ll lead to an unsafe society, crypto-anarchist & libertarian Cody Wilson, creator of the 3D-gun, co-founder of Defense Distributed who is designated as the 14th Most Dangerous Person in the World told,

“It means people will abuse these rights. But what does it mean, as a structural feature, to have access to military weapons as a society? I'm not trying to brush it off but it means accepting people will abuse their liberties, but that's why they deserve protection. If no one is going to abuse a gun, it wouldn't be a right worth protecting. If no one was going to make a speech, we wouldn't need to defend the principle of freedom of speech. The same thing with the right to be secure in your possessions."

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN MAKING

The 3D printing industry is predicted to be worth over $8bn globally by 2020.

An expert panel under US President Barack Obama sees 3-D printing as a "megatrend of the future" and the US government is putting hundreds of millions of dollars toward developing the new technology. Industrial giants including Boeing, Siemens, General Electric (GE), Samsung, Canon and Daimler are all experimenting with the related production methods.

"I absolutely believe this will come to be very important", says Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of global conglomerate GE. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made his own fortune in new technologies, calls 3-D printing "an exciting new industry with virtually unlimited potential" and one that "could completely revolutionize manufacturing".

Assuming that 3-D printing technology continues to develop steadily, four colossal transforms are obvious:

1. A High Season for Entrepreneurs.

Need explanation? There are a few :

• Lower Start-up capital (seed money) - Considerably fewer production steps, fewer tools needed and lower material costs all spell enormous cost savings.

• The economies of scale that make mass production necessary for reducing costs will be a fairytale. Even small production batches can and will be profitable.

• More innovative products will be brought into the market, since this method makes it easy to try out new ideas cheaply.

• Changing a product's design no longer means the entire assembly line must be reworked as well. This shortens product cycles considerably and makes it possible to introduce improvements more quickly.

• One or two skilled workers are enough to run a professional-grade industrial 3D printers that can use as many as 10 materials at a time to make complex, multi-component objects relatively cheaply.

May be, this technology is the harbinger of the future with ‘intelligentsia as the ruling class’.

2. High Season for Tycoons Too:

There is no good reason why the advantages spelled above will bless the entrepreneurs alone. Plus, the mass scale production will also become more cost-efficient due to the additive nature of 3D printing technology. With products no longer needing to be cut from the materials from which they are made, some 3-D printers require just 10 percent the amount of plastic or metal that conventional subtractive methods such as milling do.

But, sorry, the days of monopoly is over!

3. Poor Proletariat

A wise man once told when Karl Marx was toying with his Utopian model at the British Museum Library, if only he could know, what just a few miles away (at Cambridge) Maxwell is working with. I mean, the concept of electromagnetic induction motor was a giant leap towards factory mechanization and defied the concept of labor-based production, the pillar of Marxist concepts. But until now, using the techniques of traditional manufacturing, the production of one-off items and prototypes was very costly or impossible as the absence of specialized machines and molds makes production labor-intensive. This labor-intensity has driven many types of production offshore and helped millionaires holding monopoly. (What an irony!). But with a 3D printer in hand? Marxism and the long decorated ‘proletariat’ work-force is another chapter of ancient history! No one will search for unskilled labor anymore.

Now, just think about the largest structural economic shifts over the past 30 years : the flight of relatively low-skilled manufacturing jobs to nations with lower wage rates and a comparative advantage in manufacturing. 3D printer just pressed Ctrl+Z.

4. Dare to be Deutsch, ‘Once More’...

Given the potentially vast global impact of this new technology, it's surprising that so far only around two dozen companies dominate the market. Along with US giants 3-D Systems and Stratasys, about 10 German companies provide this technology, some of them market leaders in their respective segments, for example Eos and Concept Laser, both in the southern state of Bavaria. German companies are seen as leaders, especially when it comes to 3-D printing of metals. In fact, some of these German 3-D printing specialists are growing at a rate that has some industry experts hoping this nascent digital industrial age will finally see the emergence of new innovation drivers "made in Germany."

In conclusion, theGuardian aptly declared, “This is just one of many technological advances challenging us to change our way of thinking about international trade and economic growth”.

HITCH

Like everything 3D printers has their vices:

1. Very important one: time-factor. Three-dimensional printing as currently practiced is a long, slow process.

2. The scanned copies are not perfect yet - though a layperson just hears a violin music experts can hear the difference when the 3D printed instrument is played.

INDIA

If you think that 3D printing service is available overseas only, just read the Tech Panda report and see how the industry is mushrooming in the fertile Indian soil.

Wan't to buy one? Go to 3Ding or, protomaker or, any other company and order a new one for yourself!

Or, as I said earlier, keep calm and collect your demo 3D-printed model as a free gift from 3digi prints!

Mainak Prakash (Guest Author)

About the Author:

Mainak Prakash is a freelance writer who wants to write for masses. Being a self-proclaimed expert in sensing the pulse of people, he feels very comfortable in explaining quantum mechanics to a class five student. He passionately hates social networking sites.

Keep an Eye on Arvind Kejriwal

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 19:18:00 +0000

Let us go to the 'Mahabharata', the greatest epic of the Hindu civilization. We might start our discussion with Yudhisthira, the epitome of honesty and truthfulness. Yudhisthira never lied but once. According to the karma theory, he was duly punished. In the balance-sheet of his deeds for the part of sin show a single lie only, his penalty was limited to a momentary stay at the hell’s inferno.

Was it just an itsy-bitsy faux? Or was it a grievous one for which even the legend of truth, Yudhisthira, needed to go through salvation?

At this point I feel it’s worthy to go through the chronicle. Those who have a spiffing grasp of the epic saga can skip this paragraph at ease. All the Kourava brothers* had their combat training from Dronacharya, an invincible fighter himself and a great teacher. Dronacharya’s only weakness was his beloved son Ashwaththama. When the five Pandava brothers raised arms against the rest of the Kouravas, Dronacharya took the latter’s side (out of his bindings, not from will though). Dronacharya started taking heavy toll of the Pandava-soldiers, so he was ought to be deleted. But he was unvanquishable until he was weak. As his scion Ashwaththama was immortal, there was no choice left but to deceive Dronacharya that his junior is slain. So the Pandavas killed an elephant, which was a namesake of his son, and Yudhisthira heralded him “Ashwaththama hata iti gaja” (Ashwaththama, the elephant, is dead). The trick was to utter the part ‘iti gaja’ (the elephant) in an inaudible gamut. Shattered Drona lost his will to battle and was fallen instantly to a pawn, Dhristadumna.

Though Drona knew that his child could not be perished, he blindly believed in what he heard from Yudhisthira because Yudhisthira never lied in his life-time. The one discussed here, as you can see, is not a frank lie too, rather a half-truth. The wise veteran Dronacharya believed in it and got killed. So, he was not fallen to Drishtadumna who was nothing of a warrior compared to the legend, but to the ‘just a lie’ by Yudhisthira.

The weapon was not the lie, on a second thought. Had anyone told the same, Drona would never believe. But he trusted the candor. So neither the blade of an assassin nor the lie took Dronacharya’s head. It is the ever truthful image of Yudhisthira, which slaughtered him. Here, the lie is not a Lilliput deviation from his virtue but a sheer modus operandi. I am not ascertaining that he has maintained this image to take the advantage of trust one day, but he had definitely used it in the above-mentioned case.

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In Depth: The Three Mistakes of Arvind Kejriwal

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Now it is time to get to the moral of the story : clean image is not something to be trusted upon. Constant vigilance is required to deal with persons who flaunt this. Else, on one crucial day, one auspicious moment, if the candor show it as her/his most treasured and thunderous trump, we would simply have no choice but to give ourselves in like the duped Dronacharya.

But none so far had learned the lesson. The commoners always had a knack to show their back to reality. They had always preferred a dream capsule to stay in, that makes them believe a Hero would come and will pull them up from their toiling; putting an end to all evils, the famine, fever and follies. This ingrained delusion is dangerously prevalent among the mango people and is no less than a pandemic. Examples are scattered across the globe:

Muammar Gaddafi, the 'brother leader' of Libya;
Robespierre, the instrumental figure of French Revolution (advocated against death penalty when he was chosen as the leader and was called "The Incorruptible" but is better remembered as the ‘dictateur sanguinaire’ (bloodthirsty dictator) of the Reign of Terror, which ended after his execution in July 1794);
Napoléon Bonaparte, the 'son-of-revolution', trusted by the French people to end the Reign of Terror, turned out autocratic;
Adolf Hitler, a decorated war hero, the Prussian youth-icon;
Fidel Castro, the communist revolutionary and apple of Cuban eyes (proved to be an economic flop).

Still many Indians believe that if Subhas Chandra Bose comes back, India will turn into the best place in this world, overnight. (Do not take me wrong, I am not questioning Bose's achievements and abilities but slamming the silly faith that if the Hero runs the country, there will be no corruption despite people taking bribes like they are doing and so on. )

We must keep in mind that Rome was not built in a day. The lesson from history is, therefore, DO NOT lay your trust upon Arvind Kejriwal or any other corruption crusader or Hero incongruously. Their show-off might be a master-trick to get the throne. Hence, in lieu of lime-light I strongly recommend a search-light for Arvind Kejriwal & his Aam Aadmi Party.

* Kourava means all the descendents of Kuru, the forefather of Vichitravirya, the legal (not biological) parent of Dhritarashtra & Pandu. The five sons of Pandu were collectively called pancha pandava (five heirs of Pandu). But, after all they were also Kouravas. So, it is a common mistake to utter that 'Kurukshetra War' was between Kauravas and Pandavas. Rather the battling sides were Pandavas and rest of the Kauravas, both with their alleys.

Sunabha Ghosh (Executive Editor)

About the Author:

Sunabha Ghosh is co-founder and the current executive editor of The Analyst.

Join him on: Facebook | Twitter

"What is Sanskrit?" - A Pathetic Case of Dereliction

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 13:00:00 +0000

In our previous article of this series "Why an Indian Must Learn a 'Dead Language' Called Sanskrit '", we have explored the befits of learning Sanskrit, and tried to prove why all INDIANS, irrespective of cast, creed or religion MUST learn it. At the concluding part, we had also strongly advocated the case of Sanskrit as the National Language of India. But ironically, the word which suits best with the attitude of Govt. of India (along with a significant portion of so-called intellectuals) towards Sanskrit, is not 'indifference' (let alone 'respect'), not even 'negligence', but 'dereliction'. In this piece, we would take an attempt to discuss that piteous story.

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The First Part: Why an Indian Must Learn a 'Dead Language' Called Sanskrit
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Now, if anyone asks me - "What is Sanskrit?" (I am damn afraid that after 20 years, it would be a forgotten Language, literally, and Indian children would ask their parents this question), I cannot go by the well-written Wikipedia definition ("Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and a literary and scholarly language in Buddhism and Jainism"). My answer would be stupidly simple - Sanskrit? It is a pathetic case of dereliction.

Okay, let's not get emotional at this point. Let's start our story with a quote of our Honorable Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh -

"Like the civilization of India, Sanskrit does not belong to any particular race, sect or religion. It represents a culture that is not narrow and sectarian but open tolerant and all-embracing...It is this spirit of liberalism and tolerance embedded in Sanskrit that we must inculcate in our present-day life."

And yes, he further added that the government will strengthen efforts for promotion, development and enrichment of Sanskrit. (He had made this comment in the 15th World Sanskrit Conference, organized in the month of January, 2012.)

Like many of our articles, here, at the very beginning of this one, we are putting another caveat. In this article, we would refrain ourselves from going into a debate on whether Sanskrit does not or does belong to any particular race or religion. If anyone try to remember history a bit, there is a high probability that he ends up with a conclusion that Sanskrit was an integral part of Ancient Indian Civilization aka Hindu Civilization. But we are not going into that, at least in this piece.

For the sake of our discussion, we are taking the positive part of the above comment. Now, this is quite clear from our Prime Minister's speech that Sanskrit deserves a respect and Govt. would try its best to revive it's importance in India with social and financial support. BUT, is it the real case??? We would try to analyze in detail in this post.

First let's try to figure out what Sanskrit deserves at the current situation (i.e when Sanskrit has neither the national language of India tag nor a declared "minority" status). It is probably known to all that Sanskrit is one the languages those are included in the eighth schedule of Indian constitution. What is its significance? This status direct government to release fund for Sanskrit colleges and universities, and for a national organization to stimulate the study it. Further, according to The Official Language Resolution,1968 (dead link, accessed the resolution via web.archive.org),

... a programme shall be prepared and implemented by the Government of India, in collaboration with the State Governments for the coordinated development of all these languages, alongside Hindi so that they grow rapidly in richness and become effective means of communicating modern knowledge;

... all the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution and English shall be permitted as alternative media for the All India and higher Central Services examinations after ascertaining the views of the Union Public Service Commission on the future scheme of the examinations, the procedural aspects and the timing.

Additionally we can recall article 351 of Indian Constitution once more. It was explicitly written in the "Directive for development of the Hindi language" that the primary language from which words are to be imported to enrich Hindi is Sanskrit.

So, by the constitution of India itself, Sanskrit has its own rights and it should enjoy some advantages than other foreign languages like French or desi languages like Urdu. But real situation hardly indicates so. If we go to find the main reason behind it, we would discover something humorous (as well as pathetic) - a part of so-called intellectuals support this shameless negligence with a damn attitude - Sanskrit is communal.

Back in the year of 2008, Prof. Kamla Kant Mishra (a Sanskrit prof and a member of Govt. projects related to Sanskrit), in a talk with The Washington Post, had expressed his disappointment precisely - speaking about Sanskrit is very political in today's India. In his words, "Some people oppose anything that promotes Sanskrit because of its association with Hinduism."

He was hundred percent right. Numerous examples can be cited . But the best is probably to analyze our PM's comment again. Does not the implicit message is something like - Well, the word 'Sanskrit'...is considered...somehow...communal. May not be true...but....

Varman also pointed out the same nicely in an old article - "Sanskrit, a synonym for Communalism". And obviously same point was dealt in Shantanu Bhagwat's article- "The Shameful Neglect of Sanskrit". As a result, overall position of Sanskrit is our society is deteriorating , in a rapid rate. Courtesy? Obviously people in our country who love to be 'secular'. And easiest way to prove you secular nature? Show some disdain to Sanskrit. And obviously our nature of following - from Macaulay to MTV - does not help much.

Some instances of this dereliction can be summed-up (obviously this not exhaustive and many more painful situations can be cited without much effort) as follows.

As The Washington Post reports, Govt. of India is continuously cutting fund for Sanskrit education at the school level. But what is more piteous, the attitude NCERT towards it. In their own words -

"The Sanskrit project was initiated by the previous government. They had their own priorities. The project was so-so. How many people really speak Sanskrit in India? ..... We cannot replicate the teaching methods of traditional religious schools in our mainstream schools."

If this is on-the-record attitude, anyone would be afraid of thinking about the off-the-record approach. As a result, projects (that were fortunately started during NDA periods), one after another, are either terminating or no one knows the status. Many ambitious NCERT projects like Teaching in Sanskrit through Sanskrit, Computer-aided Sanskrit teaching, Vidyarthi Sahitya Shabdkosh, Bal Sanskrit Shabdkosh had stopped all of a sudden. Sometimes one or two media houses reported these stories (e.g. This report on Sanskrit, appeared on The Sunday Indian), but absolutely nothing had changed. A blamed B, B blamed C, ultimately everything had settled down and we had forgotten everything. Dereliction continues.
All of us probably well-aware about Sachar Committee Report. So, without going in detail about it, I am directly quoting two excerpts from this Govt. of India accepted report -
"…. This was brought into sharper focus by a constitutional provision (article 351) which prescribed that Hindi should draw increasingly upon Sanskrit for its vocabulary. This Sanskritisation of Hindi and the perversion of the three language formula in many Hindi speaking states (providing for only Hindi, Sanskrit and English) has practically put an end to Urdu instruction in most government schools, there by effecting the education of a whole generation of Muslims." (Page no. 18)

“Non-Urdu medium schools with a provision for teaching Urdu as an elective subject are few and far between. This contrasts sharply with the importance attached to, say, Sanskrit, which is offered in a majority of the schools. ‘The Hindi speaking states operate largely with Hindi, English and Sanskrit whereas the non-Hindi speaking states have largely operated with a two language formula’ with some exceptions (NCERT, 2005). The importance given to Sanskrit in the educational framework in Delhi and many north Indian states has tended to sideline minority languages. Students have to opt for Sanskrit as there is no provision to teach Urdu (or any other regional language) in many schools. This, in effect, makes Sanskrit a compulsory subject". (Page no. 83)

Now, this is simply an attempt to compare Sanskrit with Urdu and to prove that the minority are being affected by the importance given to Sanskrit at the present time. So, the inline message is - implement something so that Sanskrit (the saffron language) loses it position. And astonishingly this report was accepted by central govt. (The Supreme Court Verdict on Sanskrit is worth-remembering here). Another shameless example of dereliction.
A nice article was published in the May, 2012 issue of सम्भाषण-सन्देश (The English translation is available here). How Sanskrit is going to be abolished from school education in the entire country was shown clearly in that article. The writer's own experience is worth mentioning -

"I witnessed firsthand last week how stupid people’s thinking is regarding Foreign languages . I was standing in line in front of a bookstore to buy a textbook for my 7th grader son. At that time a father of a 6th grader, in Central Schools, had come to buy just the Sanskrit textbook. The previous day the book was not available and thinking that he should stand in line only if the book is available that day, he asked the store keeper something loudly. Hearing that, 2-3 people in line lectured him – ‘Why is your son studying Sanskrit? Teach him French or German’ and such!"

Thus sometimes foreign languages, sometimes even computer, is replacing the subject Sanskrit from school-curriculum. Hilarious! [Please note, we are by no means deny the need the learning a foreign language or computer in this era of globalization. But we are against the poor govt. policies which are directing students to learn it in cost of Sanskrit.]

In the following part we are furnishing some information from that article (I have not personally cross-checked any of them).
First consider the Central Schools (Kendriya Vidyalaya). In the Central Schools three languages are taught. Now they are under Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). And CBSE was providing a three language formula - English, Hindi, Sanskrit/French/German. As a result, even central schools are introducing the same. And at that condition most of the students are not opting for Sanskrit.

Secondly, consider Maharashtra. Hindi was the compulsory third language in all Marathi Secondary schools. They were thinking of changing it, to introduce a foreign language as a third one. The message is clear - there is no place for Sanskrit.

Third, consider Tamil Nadu. Here some 'oriental' schools used to teach Sanskrit as an elective. But now state govt. ordered to stop such 'special' Schools.

Forth, consider Assam. There elective Sanskrit used to taught for three years (in 8th,9th and 10th grade). But now, it's importance is decreasing and would be taught for two years.

Fifth, consider Andhra Pradesh. Here, state govt. started 355 model schools. And, of the 7100 positions for teachers, there is none for Sanskrit.

These five are only examples. If you try to find, you would probably find a lot. And the picture would be clearer for you.
Recently, Ministry of Human Resource and development took the decision that Devanagari numbers would be thrown out from school curriculum. "People should educate their children about ancient Indian learning at home and must encourage such studies...Therefore, those who are interested in ancient learning, can pursue them separately. Use of Devanagari numerals cannot be included in school syllabus" - yes, this is the attitude of a Delhi-based-educationist, who works as an advisor to MHRD on primary education. What is clear as daylight, the govt. is determined to destroy anything that was a part of ancient Indian civilization. Fight against Sanskrit or Devanagari is merely a part of it.
If anyone give a look to Scheme for Development of Sanskrit Education, he would be speechless, literally. I don't know even that was implemented well still now. But some Brain-storming figures (going through this one may think Sanskrit is so cheap!):

a) Meritorious students at traditional Pathshalas, would receive 300/- Per month.

b)Eminent Sanskrit Pandits in indigent condition (read per annum income <24000/-) would come under the scheme of Samman Rashi - they would receive Rs 2000 per month.

c) Under the scheme of Financial Assistance for Publication, Re-print of Rare and Bulk Purchase of Sanskrit Books, 80% of total expenditure would be borne by Govt., and max copies allowed to order is 500.
I was surprised like anything when I came to know that Sanskrit education at Jawaharlal Nehru University was started only in 2001! If a leading institution like JNU took long 32 years to start a "Center for Sanskrit Studies", I am afraid when other institutes can get the time to think about it!
This negligence is not limited to the central govt. or to a few state govt. only. The root of the problem has gone to innermost layer of our society. There are only a few who actually care for Sanskrit. Old valuable books are going out-of-print one by one and we are showing a great thumb to the problem. Sometimes even original priceless ancient manuscripts on different areas of Science (written in Sanskrit) are rotting or becoming the food for worms (the original link on livemint.com is dead, so accessed via web.archive.org).

To be very frank, we need to agree, as Prof. Sheldon Pollock had pointed out, India is on Verge of ‘Cultural Ecocide’. And the audacity to ignore Sanskrit is a syndrome of that acute disease. Here I would like to quote from a column of Ananya Vajpeyi, "Sanskrit: Classic tale of Neglect", which depicts the gloomy picture very well:

"In early 2010, author Gurcharan Das told me that he was disturbed about having to go to American universities to study or refresh his Sanskrit in preparation for writing his latest book.....As we shared stories across generations, I recounted to Das my own disappointments and difficulties in trying to study Sanskrit in India. I told him about my misadventures at universities, libraries, archives and traditional schools in multiple states - Maharashtra, Karnataka, UP, Tamil Nadu and Bengal. I had spent my twenties in graduate school, searching for Sanskrit. I found it more readily in the UK and the US: in India it consistently eluded me.....By 2050, when India would have become the world's most populous nation, it will also have severed ties with its extraordinary linguistic and literary inheritance."

So, after reading up to this point, you may get frustrated enough. And ask me - "What's next?" Really, even I don't have a clue on what is coming for Sanskrit in next days in our country. Surprisingly, today much more work on Sanskrit is going outside India. As The Wall Street Journal reported, Sanskrit has already made a mini comeback in US. In China, Peking University had launched an ambitious project to rediscover Sanskrit learning. Now, in the UK, Sanskrit is thriving. The Daily Mail had observed a global interest in this "forgotten" Language Sanskrit. [As we have already discussed in detail, about Sanskrit education in school level around different parts of world, so we are not repeating it here.]

In India, there is obviously a class of people who literally devoted their life to reboot vigor in Sanskrit. Someone like Sampath Kumar is publishing daily newspaper "Sudharma" in Sanskrit, still today. Yes, still we hear some good news (like Sanskrit is getting popularity in Ranchi University or some enthusiasts have organized Sanskrit classes at IIT Kanpur), but exceptionally. The general trend - it's better if we don't talk about it more. It can only increase our pain.

Once Sir William Jones wrote (Source: Wikipedia article),

" The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin and more exquisitely refined than either: yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs, and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all without believing them to have sprung from some common source which perhaps no longer exists..."

So, it would be a unpardonable Sin if we don't try our best to revive the study and culture of Sanskrit in our own country, in the birth place of this forgotten language. Obviously, Govt. has its own duty, but at the same time we cannot deny that as a citizen of India, we also need to so something. At least, we have to change our attitude towards the matter.We have to join our hands and have to change the story. It's our moral responsibility, as an INDIAN.

Why an Indian Must Learn a 'Dead Language' Called Sanskrit

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:12:00 +0000

"If I was asked what is the greatest treasure which India possesses and what is her greatest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly that it is the Sanskrit language and literature and all that it contains. This is a magnificent inheritance, and so long as this endures and influences the life of our people, so long will the basic genius of India continue."

--- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Quoted from The Discovery of India)

Starting an article which will deal with the need of Sanskrit (संस्कृत) education with a quote of Pandit Nehru, I think a good idea. I am not saying (neither agreeing, nor denying) that he is the best person around the globe to comment on it. But I think, if I do so, at least, people would not label me as a 'biased' or communal person. Yes, today 'Sanskrit' is also a communal word like 'Saffron'- the credit obviously goes to the some of the eminent columnists and journalists. (I often wonder how easily something can be tagged with 'communal' or 'secular' in today's India; but lets not go into that right now. Let us first focus on our core issue).

Rigveda in Devanagari (image via Wikipedia)

There are debates (probably more than enough to confuse anyone) on whether Sanskrit can be called a dead language or not. Many a scholar has given their own outlooks. And almost every opinion added a new dimension to the problem and made it more critical to solve.

Prof. Sheldon Pollock was the famous one who tried to prove that Sanskrit is a dead language and tried to discover the reasons behind it in his paper "The Death of Sanskrit". He wrote on the very first paragraph of it:

"In the age of Hindu identity politics (Hindutva) inaugurated in the 1990s by the ascendancy of the Indian People's Party (Bharatiya Janata Party) and its ideological auxiliary, the World Hindu Council (Vishwa Hindu Parishad), Indian cultural and religious nationalism has been promulgating ever more distorted images of India's past. Few things are as central to this revisionism as Sanskrit, the dominant culture language of precolonial southern Asia outside the Persianate order. Hindutva propagandists have sought to show, for example, that Sanskrit was indigenous to India, and they purport to decipher Indus Valley seals to prove its presence two millennia before it actually came into existence. In a farcical repetition of Romantic myths of primevality, Sanskrit is considered—according to the characteristic hyperbole of the VHP—the source and sole preserver of world culture."

He had identified four major reasons (or cases, to be specific) behind this 'death' -

The disappearance of Sanskrit literature in Kashmir.

The decreased use of it in sixteenth-century Vijayanagara.

The short-lived moment of modernity of Sanskrit at the Mughal court in mid-seventeenth-century Delhi.

It's loss of importance completely in Bengal on the eve of colonialism.

He even compared this scenario with the death of Latin -

Both died slowly, and earliest as a vehicle of literary expression, while much longer retaining significance for learned discourse with its universalist claims. Both were subject to periodic renewals or forced rebirths, sometimes in connection with a politics of translocal aspiration... At the same time... both came to be ever more exclusively associated with narrow forms of religion and priestcraft, despite centuries of a secular aesthetic.

[The complete paper can be downloaded for free from Columbia University Website. I may not agree with him, but I have to say, it is an interesting read]

Obviously, there is a class of scholar who very strongly objected Prof. Pollock's view. The most noted criticism probably came from Prof. J. Hanneder. He explicitly wrote in his paper On "The Death of Sanskrit" (published in Indo-Iranian Journal) -

On a more public level the statement that Sanskrit is a dead language is misleading, for Sanskrit is quite obviously not as dead as other dead languages and the fact that it is spoken, written and read will probably convince most people that it cannot be a dead language in the most common usage of the term. Pollock’s notion of the “death of Sanskrit” remains in this unclear realm between academia and public opinion when he says that “most observers would agree that, in some crucial way, Sanskrit is dead”

[This paper may seems to be more fascinating for someone, but unfortunately subscriber access to Indo-Iranian Journal is necessary to read this.]

Again, noted scholar (UC Berkeley alum) and President medal winner Ram Karan Sharma also thinks that it is quite unjustified to label Sanskrit as a dead language. He said during a national convention on "Sanskrit language, literature and education" organised by Bihar Sanskrit Shiksha Board,

"...not withstanding the fact that Sanskrit has been used from time immemorial, even now Bihar's languages and dialects are using Sanskritic derivatives, like "eso" in Bhojpuri comes from the Sanskrit word "aishmah" and "chichiana" (again Bhojpuri) from the Sanskrit word "shishyanan" referring to fire, although few people can correlate the two easily. This can be found in all Indian languages."

But discussing on which opinion is to be voted up, is the last thing that I want to do with this piece of post (As I believe, a blog is hardly a suitable place to criticize some peer-reviewed content). I have put the points and counter-points only to prove that there is still huge scope of discussion in this question. For the sake of further discussion here, let me agree with intellectuals like Prof. Pollock up to this point i.e. they have done an absolutely right job by labeling Sanskrit as 'dead language'.

But, if we explore Prof. Pollock's article some more, we would see, during his venture to discover the reasons of that death, he has gone beyond this. His points are -

1. Sanskrit is dead as it is hardly used today.

2. After the period of Zain-ul-Abidin creation of original literary verse in Sanskrit became rare. It was reduced to reinscription and restatements of ideas already explored, and any creativity in Sanskrit was restricted to hymns. It indicates the 'brain-death' of Sanskrit. In his words,

What was lost was something more elusive but more central to the life of a culture: the ability to create new literature.

3. Sanskrit is a out-of-date language which cannot go with today's world. Or even it is used, that would be limited to literary verses and nothing else). He tried to provide logic behind this also. For example, in one place, he wrote -

During the course of this vernacular millennium, as I have called it, Sanskrit, the idiom of a cosmopolitan literature, gradually died, in part because cosmopolitan talk made less and less sense in an increasingly regionalized world.

Now my main objection is here. From now onward, we will try to find out why we cannot be satisfied with his third argument, why we have to revive Sanskrit even if we consider it as a 'dead language' and why Sanskrit is a MUST, even in this twenty first century.

Brain Exercise - Advantage of Devanagari Script:

The first point which gives Sanskrit an edge over many other languages is its script. Usually Sanskrit is written in Devanagari. A recent research by the scientists of National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) have discovered that reading Devanagari involves more areas of human brain than Roman Scripts (please note, English uses a roman script). That means learning Sanskrit is a good exercise for human brain.According to them, In Devanagari, consonants are written in a linear left-to-right order and vowel signs are positioned above, below or on either side of the consonants. As a result, the vowel precedes the consonant in writing certain words but follows it in speech making it a unique script. "Our results suggest bilateral activation-participation from both left and right hemispheres of the brain-for reading phrases in Devanagari", they concluded [Source: India Today Report].

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The Last Part of this article: "What is Sanskrit?" - A Pathetic Case of Dereliction

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Knowledge of Sanskrit Helps One in Learning English:

It is now seen that knowledge in Sanskrit accelerates the learning of English (Please note, though we had strongly advocated for vernacular as the medium of instruction in school level previously, we never deny the importance of English at a time when we are residing in a global village). This news may astonish someone on the first glance. But, we need to keep in mind that it has a perfect grammar and nicely-built structure. Once KWH Schlegel, an eminent German critic, said (in his book History of Literature, p. 117) -"Justly it is called Sanskrit, i.e. perfected, finished.....The Sanskrit combines these various qualities, possessed separately by other tongues: Grecian copiousness, deep-toned Roman force, the divine afflatus characterizing the Hebrew tongue."

Probably, that's why if someone learn Sanskrit properly, he can learn English quickly. Ficino School in Mt Eden area of Auckland (a school in New Zealand) has experimented with it and found that Sanskrit provides a roadmap for understanding English. Besides giving a clear view of the structure of language, it also heightens "their awareness of the process of speech, creating a greater understanding of and ability to, enunciate words clearly."

We can shift our look from southern hemisphere to northern, but scenario doesn't change at all. As St. James School (a school at London where Sanskrit is compulsory at the age of 11) teacher tells, apart from the fact that the children are immensely benefited afterwards in learning English , the most note-worthy point is they ENJOY learning Sanskrit. Though I have not experimented with a pool of students, still from my personal experience, I can bet, not only for English, but the learning curve for Bengali or Hindi would be easy for a child if he learn Sanskrit first.

One Step Towards Spiritual Upliftment:

The advantage of learning Sanskrit is obviously not limited to the advantage of learning English. In fact, it is a bold step towards becoming a 'perfect man'. Quoting Rutger Kortenhorst, a Sanskrit teacher in the John Scottus School in Dublin, we can advice any parent:
"The qualities of Sanskrit will become the qualities of your child- that is the mind and heart of your child will become beautiful, precise and reliable. Sanskrit automatically teaches your child and anybody else studying it to pay FINE attention due to its uncanny precision. When the precision is there the experience is, that it feels uplifting. It makes you happy. It is not difficult even for a beginner to experience this. All you have to do is fine-tune your attention and like music you are drawn in and uplifted. This precision of attention serves all subjects, areas and activities of life both while in school and for the rest of life." (Courtesy: Dr. Anuradha Chaudry).

Practical Advantages:

If someone does not know Sanskrit, he is obviously missing something. He cannot get the clear perspective of Vedas, Geeta, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Arthashashtra and many other books, which are till regarded as the finest piece by a large portion of our society (Translated versions almost always create a wall behind the reader and the original book).

Even to be a master of subjects like Ayurvedic Medicine, Yoga, Indian philosophy, Vedic Mathematics or Astrology, one need to know Sanskrit to some extent.

Sanskrit - the Best Language for Computer:

Yes, one can be astonished, but this is probably true. In near future NASA is going to use Sanskrit as a computer Language.

NASA is Going to use Sanskrit as Computer Language

NASA scientist Rick Briggs discussed why Sanskrit is one of the best language for use in computer long ago (in 1985) in his paper Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence. According to him, Sanskrit is the natural language in which a message can be sent by the computer in the least number of words. Three excerpts from that paper, I find particularly worth-mentioning.

*There is at least one language, Sanskrit, which for the duration of almost 1000 years was a living spoken language with a considerable literature of its own Besides works of literary value, there was a long philosophical and grammatical tradition that has continued to exist with undiminished vigor until the present century. Among the accomplishments of the grammarians can be reckoned a method for paraphrasing Sanskrit in a manner that is identical not only in essence but in with current work in Artificial Intelligence...a natural language can serve as an artificial language also, and that much work in AI has been reinventing a wheel millenia old.

**...The reasoning of these authors is couched in a style of language that had been developed especially to formulate logical relations with scientific precision. It is a terse, very condensed form of Sanskrit, which paradoxically at times becomes so abstruse that a commentary is necessary to clarify it.

***It should be pointed out that these Sanskrit Grammatical Scientists actually wrote and talked this way. The domain for this type of language was the equivalent of today's technical journals. In their ancient journals and in verbal communication with each other they used this specific, unambiguous form of Sanskrit in a remarkably concise way.

Sanskrit as a Career Option:

Sanskrit is recognized as 'mother of all languages' throughout the greater portion of the world. Even if you aiming for a bright career only, Sanskrit can provide it, till today. Harvard to Cambridge, Oxford to Trinity college Dublin - you can end up with a faculty post in some highly ranked universities.

Mode of Hindu Survival:

Sanskrit and only Sanskrit is the language which should bubbles up in our mind even if we merely think about Hindu Survival. Probably, it is needless to mention that if Hindus want to revive their past glory, the first thing which comes into mind is the unification of Hindus. And if Hindus really want to think that "Our sole identity is we are Hindu", they need some common points. Only religion and some rituals cannot satisfy the criteria. And the first common platform where all Hindus have to arrive is the Language (If someone consider Bangladesh Liberation War, he would get a clear perspective on how language matters). And this language cannot be anything but Sanskrit.

One may question - Why not Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu or something like that. The answer lies in the question itself. Which one you would choose? Apparently the best option is obviously Hindi (with may be Bengali with a ~83 million native speakers).

First we remember that day, when Dr. Rajendra Prasad, cast the deciding vote in favor of Hindi (as the link language) in the Constituent Assembly , to the detriment of the other candidate, Sanskrit. But if we see at the national and international picture, we can easily identify that Hindi is NOT well-accepted in a large portion of Hindus. Till today, the greater portion of educated speakers of Bengali, Telugu or Tamil consider Hindi as a vulgar language. That's why most of the Hindu children whose mother-tongue is not Hindi, didn't go for Hindi education. And they also question - Why should I learn Hindi? Is it better than my mother-tongue?

The case is worst for mixed families (pretty common practice today if someone considers the NRI families). Their child often don't know any Indian Language. They learn English only, which is basically a Foreign Language. If we want to introduce another languages, unmistakably it would be a massive failure. But Sanskrit may not be.

The greater portion of Hindus still have enough sympathy for Sanskrit. And, for almost all Hindus, learning Sanskrit is a difficult or easy job to the same extent. Dr. Koenraad Elst rightly said in his article "Hindu Survival: What Is to Be Done"-
Still Sanskrit is the only chance the lovers of India have. Hindi failed, and English will only weaken Indian unity, apart from being an utterly undignified choice of link language.

In fact, if you extend our discussion a bit, we can discover that Sanskrit is not only a way of Hindu Survival, rather it is the best option for national language. Let me quote Naziruddin Ahmed, a Muslim League leader, who openly advocated for Sanskrit -

“I offer you a language which is the grandest and the greatest, and it is impartially difficult, equally difficult for all to learn."

[Source: Constituent Assembly Debates 1334, quoted in Ramaswamy, 354-355, via
International Forum for India's Heritage]

There are many strong arguments in favor of Sanskrit. And I think, most of them are nicely discussed in a chapter of 'The Wonder That was Sanskrit' book. In a paper, Prof. Makarand Paranjape (Professor of English at JNU) also finely tried to establish the case of Sanskrit as India's national Language. I have tried to sum-up the arguments:

Only a language that is native to a country, that is, a language that has taken birth and developed in a particular country, can be the national language of that country. English, though wide-spread, doesn't satisfy this criteria.

India's national language has to be one which is not regional. Sanskrit is alone non-regional. No province or state or people can claim it as its own.

Though Sanskrit has no regional identity, still it had served as a link-language. English cannot be the binding force between well-educated and illiterate India. Again, Hindi also can create mere division. Between native and non-native Hindi speakers.
Again, in contradistinction to English, Sanskrit is the “mother” of most Indian tongues. All these including Tamil have a large percentage of words derived from Sanskrit. Sanskrit through the well known processes of Tatsam (words borrowed as they are from Sanskrit) and Tadbhava (words derived from Sanskrit but modified), it is estimated that almost 70% of the words of most modern Indian languages are from Sanskrit. That is why it is possible for people in India from different parts of India to understand each other even if they speak different languages. After all, there is a common vocabulary not to speak of a great deal of similarities in syntax.
Sanskrit is change with the times, and it can produce an infinite variety of new words. Again these words can enrich the vocabulary of modern Indian languages.

A table on that paper simply nailed all Sanskrit-phobic childish arguments. It is really worth sharing [So, I took a screenshot of that and adding it here].

In conclusion, we can say that it is Sanskrit which can be the common platform of communication. Through it, we can feel that we, Indians, irrespective of cast, creed or religion are brothers. And at the same time, we can take pride in our magnificent past culture. So, Sanskrit is not basically the best option, rather it is the ONLY option. In the current situation, where none has "national language of India" tag, Govt. of India should put it on Sanskrit. And of course, sooner is better.

Now, considering the entire scenario, in my opinion, it would be a sin, if someone, being an Indian, doesn't learn Sanskrit or show enough audacity to to neglect it's importance. But, this is one of the common practices among a section of shameless Indians. But, that is a different story. And we will discuss that in detail in the next article.

Delhi Gang Rape: Society Missed Key Issues In Much Ado

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:50:00 +0000

It is exactly 45 times the sun arose with the hope to see a day more innocuous and parabolized under the horizon with poignant ignominy and anguish after the appallingly atrocious incident of Delhi stained a black spot on the Elysian plume of Mother India.

There are thousands (21413 in 2009 and 24270 in 2011 as per Crimes in India statistics published by National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs; look at page 397 in both reports) of such incidents taking place throughout India, at a ‘happening’ rate of 1 per 30 minute and one per every 14 hours in the capital itself, but somehow the Delhi incident has managed to blow up the whistle. It generated huge mass mobilization around Delhi and all other places in India. Shame and protest is avowed at the international level too. The Wikipedia coverage totted up to the infamy; even Google lit a candle 'in memory of the Delhi brave-heart'.

The incident spawned a gargantuan international coverage, various aspects and a number of opinions got published in The Guardian to The New York Times, The Sun to USA Today, National Posts to Spiegel Online and in many more. Even it was condemned by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, who called on the Government of India and the Government of Delhi "to do everything in their power to take up radical reforms, ensure justice and reach out with robust public services to make women’s lives more safe and secure".

The government is not sleeping too. Let us have a peek at the reactions of the chief minister of Delhi, a woman herself,

Sheila Dikshit

The Chief Minister of Delhi, said that she did not have the courage to meet the victim and described Delhi as a "rape capital" in interviews. What a gallant display of honesty!

And then she went back on the common blame-game and passing off the buck strategy as she said that senior police officials should be accountable for failure to take sufficient measures to stop such incidents. It is true that there could be a more vigilant police patrol, or on a broad view the police could be more gender sensitive, active and have better PCR (police community relations) as admits Suman Nalwa, head of Delhi Police’s Unit for Women. But it does never mean that our police officials are totally inutile. The contrary appears from the prompt and decisive action of well-equipped & weather-stripped force as they rammed the protesters to maintain law & order : "Security has been tightened in the heart of New Delhi, with police in riot gear in every area of possible demonstration. Section 144, a criminal code that prohibits assembly of more than five people, has been imposed. The situation turned quite ugly on Saturday, after protesters clashed with police, and the police retaliated with water cannon and tear gas" reported Subina Shrestha from New Delhi.

It is worthy to be noted that the state of tranquility on capital’s highway was achieved by the same police force that usually hesitate & get botched to take even minor actions in many of the cases. I am neither carping nor extolling the act itself. All I want to focus is the same establishment can work way better if they are not mere puppets with hands tied to the upper tier of the ivory tower.

Blaming the "unbridled influx" of migrants into Delhi for the incidents was another masterpiece from her. It is quite expected that a metropolis like that of Delhi would be bulging with fortune-hunters. No exception that Delhi has an eclectic population, having representation from every part of the country like a true capital. Most of them cannot afford to keep their family in the very costly capital city and staying away from family is definitely making them sex-starved. They are, therefore, obviously more prone to commit crimes against women. It is the duty of the government not to blame them blindly but to solve the problem from its root. But it is always easier and politically helpful to produce a division among protesters. The shrewd CM is trying the same by igniting a skirmish between the Delhi natives and migrants, instead of taking any corrective measures.

Dikshit also said the ever-increasing population has put enormous pressure on the housing, sanitation, power, water, sewerage, solid waste management, public health and the transport systems. However she came up neither with a resignation nor with any sound plan about how she is going to combat this problem. What she did was placing a demand for a more prestigious throne of ‘full statehood’ of Delhi.

But the most otiose step taken after the incident is allotment of a Three-digit number for women's helpline in Delhi. I simply don’t know how one could manage to call the number and pass through the complicated digital instructions while getting molested. Also I wonder who is going to listen to her if someone calls in anticipation, within a system where none takes even a rape victim seriously.

Now let us look at another political maestro, the Honorable Union Home Minister,

Sushilkumar Shinde

"It is very easy to say that home minister should go to India Gate and talk. Tomorrow, if any other parties engage in demonstration, why shouldn't the home minister go there, why only with this? You answer me, tomorrow if Congress party people will demonstrate or tomorrow BJP will demonstrate. Tomorrow, Maoists will come here and demonstrate; why should the home minister go there?" Shinde quoted on TOI. Perhaps he has become too braggart to see the difference between the people who chosen him & the Maoists (the biggest internal threat to India).

Asked whether it was right to compare the protesters with Maoists, he said, "You don't separate law and order. I had already, right from day one, met them in my house, I met them in my office and I met their representatives. They should have been satisfied, but after chanting 'we want justice, we want justice', what kind of justice are you expecting? Either you only give justice. There are some limits." Height of megalomania did not end at that: He emphasized that the Congress chief had agreed to meet them at midnight. "A person like Sonia Gandhi met the delegation of the students at midnight. They should have responded to that" he said. This is the reason why Sunil Rajguru, a common citizen of India in his own words, addressed in his open letter to the PM, “I must commend you and your government. Whether you have 400 odd seats like in 1984 or 200 odd seats in 2009, you manage to behave in exactly the same dictatorial manner.”

Avijit Mukherjee, Asaram Bapu and others

I am not going to waste words on people making risqué comments about rape victims and other ladies, from politicians to self-proclaimed gurus and moral polices, even the scion of his Excellency Pranab Mukherjee the laudable president of India and an MP himself. "None of us have come out of this looking good. Personally as a man, as an Indian, I felt demeaned by what happened. I felt diminished as a human being," said Jairam Ramesh in an interview with NDTV. Asked whether those who made insensitive statements should be punished or not, Mr Ramesh said, "Privately I think anybody who makes such comments should be asked to go home. You make this comment with full knowledge. It is not that you have been misquoted... I find it appalling actually." The word 'privately' was really worthy of emphasizing as he had no intention to get chucked out from the cabinet of :

Dr. Manmohan Singh

At the end of a televised statement asking people to stay calm referring to protests in the capital over the weekend, which had turned violent, injuring some 85 protesters and police personnel, Mr. Singh looked up from his written text to ask “Theek hai?” (Is that okay?). It appeared as if he was asking the cameraman or producers if his performance was adequate. Well his performance “was without feeling, wooden and totally unequal to the situation. The ‘theek hai’ at the end revealed it as theatre!” tweeted TV personality Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose). Eminent actor Anupam Kher made a dig saying Mr. Singh’s expression when he said “Theek Hai” “was d most Candid & Natural expression I have EVER seen from him. :)” No wonder it goaded tweeter trend to become a huge jibe of ‘#theekhai’ beating even 'Merry Christmas'.

But when it comes to make brainless comments, ‘I hate to have to say it but I very firmly feel’, the imbecile politicians share the echelon with the smart, young and enthusiastic,

'Social' Brigade

If not all, at least a majority of them. They indulge in candle light vigils at periodic intervals; they react more and more … and MORE. And think a whole lot less! If you have read up to this, you probably think I am against this spontaneous response of county’s youth. And then you are absolutely wrong. I respect the stout and firm flame of protest, their emotion. I do very much appreciate that finally India has shook off the taboo about sexual offences, speaks out loud that "I Was Wounded; My Honor Wasn’t" and there is a silver lining of a India which is 'modern' in the true sense but probably you have not come across the following (which are, I believe, enough to make you unanimous with me) :

1. Nishit Adatia (@adatianishit): 2 more rape case in Delhi 2day , 1 with a 3 year old girl :/ da best way 2 serve rapist is : unki maa behen ko nanga karo beech sadak pe (strip their mother & sister in public) 20 Dec 12

2. hassans sibu (@hassans_sibu): the accused of Delhi gang rape should b given strict punishment!! system like shariat should come 2 our country to stop these barbarians!! 20 Dec 12

3. Pragati Ajmani (@pragz_1992): To protect our women from rape, Our government should call those crazy Connecticut shooters from USA to do random massacre here in Delhi. 20 Dec 12

4. arun gurani (@arun_gurani): If the Delhi rape case was occurred in gujarat instead of Delhi then modi was enough to punish the rapist wit death sentence !! 20 Dec 12

They even hardly cared to consider the honor of an unmarried Indian girl while making a hype with a photograph of a Kerala girl, claiming her to be the rape victim.

All I want to say them is ‘Go home dudes… You’re dumb!’ I request everyone to keep close watch for every indication of fanaticism concealed in the shadow (we all know, the brightest flame casts the darkest shadow) or creeping out slowly.

Apart from these, there are sincere urges to amend the current scale of punishment awardable to persons associated with sexual crimes against humanity (a better term than rape, molestation, eve-teasing and so on). The usefulness of this is an idea that is to be thoroughly debated and discussed. I fear, the government will enact a bill with stricter punishments, the protesters will cherish their success flooding the social media for a few days and then after the law will rest in peace within the pages of IPC. The fundamental problem, I feel, is the dearth of implementation of the law, not paucity of grimness in the current punishment. The fact that the conviction rate for rape is just a dismal 27 per cent seems to be the reason why persons do not fear to commit a crime that may take them to the gallows.

National, New York City, and other major city crime rates (1990–2002)

As a kid I have learned a phrase, ‘a stitch in time saves nine’. This is why I believe it is beneficial to adopt an aggressive enforcement/deterrent strategy involving crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as ploughing on of vehicles with tinted glasses, on road alcoholism, cannabis possession, public nuisance even smoking in public and aggressive panhandling by "squeegee men". This would send a message that order would be maintained. The most successful Newark mayor Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani was a man of success (see figure above) following this hypothesis known as the broken window theory. Reflecting the same, Kiran Bedi also commented "People do not become rapists all of a sudden. Rapists have a history in molestation and other petty crimes. But since complaints against them are not registered by police early on, they go on to become bigger criminals and rapists."

So, as long as the police administration is just a trussed marionette, I see improvement is only A Midwinter Night's Dream.

I would like to terminate this rather bitter discourse after few other illustrations of frivolity:

The Name Game

Union minister of state Shashi Tharoor tweeted on the 1st January, 2013 that the name and identity of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim should be revealed so that she could be publicly honored triggering a fresh debate. Under the law, the identity of a rape victim cannot be disclosed and printing or publishing the name or any matter which may make known the identity of any person against whom rape is committed is an offence under section 228-A of Indian Penal Code. Being a lawmaker himself he could have easily put the matter in front of the house. But instead of addressing the medieval cliche about the 'dishonor' of being raped the Tweeter-happy MP made another (well, he is quite used to it) silly publicity stunt.

The Media didn't fall short to add to this horrific drama. They named her anything that sells - from Damini to Nirbhaya to Amanat! I believe being addressed by those names made that poor fighter to feel a whole lot of things but honored while taking her last breaths.

Prurient 'Breaking News' and Bloodlust

The country was at a rage, 'justified' as feels our PM and it was time to handle the situation with utmost sensibility. But that was certainly not the thing that sells. So, the media (mostly electronic) went on with nonstop circus-like, play-by-play accounts and deep digs into salacious details of the heinous incident. Christopher Zara, a reporter from the U.S. Edition of International Business Times, cautioned that the protest rallies are being “amplified and primed up hysterically by the electronic media” and are “in danger of becoming even more driven by bloodlust.” The caution become true leading to the unfortunate death of a police constable on duty.

Several doctors questioned the Government's move to shift Delhi gang-rape victim to Singapore. I am of the opinion that it would be unjust not to make another complete referenced article gauging the vindication of the act.

The effect of pollution of Indian culture by the 'civilized' western world also demands another full-length along with the worse scenario of the west behind the mask called Chivalry.

One Final Question

The Delhi Bar Association said that on “moral grounds” none of its members would act for the accused men. Few are viewing this as the humane face of the legal system. FirstPost criticized this as a detour from the duty of a lawyer. But what I wonder is where was their morality while defending the heinous Don Abu Salem? Or, Manu Sharma, the son of Venod Sharma, a wealthy and influential Congress-nominated Member of Parliament from Haryana, shot and killed Jessica Lal? Or, when Priyadarshini Mattoo had been raped, struck 14 times with a motorcycle helmet, and finally strangled with a wire by Santosh Kumar Singh, the son of a Police Inspector-General? The question bothering me a lot is what's really tickling the morality inside the lawyers (once described as nothing but educated liars by Mahatma Gandhi)?' The brutality of the incident would make a very lame answer as the Mattoo incident was no less brutal. Is it possible that the solo reason is that the accused persons in Delhi gang-rape incident are neither rich nor influential (as were the other cited litigators)?

Sunabha Ghosh (Executive Editor)

About the Author:

Sunabha Ghosh is co-founder and the current executive editor of The Analyst.

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The Uncut Press-Conference of MS Dhoni

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:03:00 +0000

Sticking to the tradition of losing (well, there were one or two totally unintentional accidental cases, where India won – but you have to note – that did not affect the result of the entire series at all), today Indian National Cricket team under Shri Mahendra Singh Dhoni loses another ODI against England. After the match, Dhoni was kind enough to come in the press conference. And he came, he saw and he conquered.

This reporter of The Analyst was one of the fortunate ones, who attended it. He strongly repeats his statement when he was asked whether he would step down. “NEVER!” was his single word answer. And he has then furnished some superb cutting-edge logic.

“Cricket is a team game, just like politics. When Congress lost the battle of Uttar Pradesh, there was Digvijaya Singh to take the responsibility on his shoulder. Remember, Rahul Gandhi was the captain of the campaign. Still Diggy did so. If I don’t have someone like Diggy in my team, what can I do?” – Dhoni simply knocked-out the journo by these words.

He further added, “I repeat, Cricket is a team game. I did whatever I could”. Citing the reference of his recent century and even today’s innings (32 runs on 25 balls) he clarified, “Captain’s performance is not everything. See, wherever Rahul Gandhi campaigned in Gujarat, Congress won. But still Congress could not do well overall. ”

One reporter tried to question whether Rahul was really the skipper in case of Gujarat, Dhoni cut him in the middle (well, even Arnab Goswami can learn this stance from Dhoni) and said – “Don’t ask silly question. Let me finish. Yes, in India, Guests are treated as Gods. Here everyone, including Javed Miandad, is warmly welcome. And if our guests lose matches here, what the message would go in the world?” After hearing this response, the reporters forgot to ask why he lost consecutive eight tests abroad.

The way he tackled the journalists, several political parties secretly contacted him with some exclusive offers of making him the General Secretary of media cell (or something like that). Though the details of the packages are not currently available, our unconfirmed sources say that the most lucrative one has come from none other than Indian National Congress (though Dhoni’s comments are anti-congress, according to some self-proclaimed political analysts), where there are still enormous need of the political managers, despite having some brilliant ones in their squad.

Even the most vocal fans of Sourav Ganguly are appreciating the way Dhoni played with the veteran scribes. But some of them are still busy in nitpicking. Rajnish Gangulian (this is one of the most popular ways of writing name among the die-hard supporters of DADA to show their madness) is one of them. He said to The Analyst, “Well, the sporting as well as the managerial skill he showed in the press conference is awesome. If he applies even 10% of his wit in the games, probably India would be in a far better position.”

And yes, Srini uncle, in the meantime, is spending sleepless nights to find a way to felicitate Dhoni that he deserves, for his brilliant and charismatic press-conference. “He is the new youth-icon of India!”, Srini Uncle exclaimed in joy when this reporter of The Analyst has contacted him.

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This is a purely fictional work which has no relation with the truth.

Indian Education - Past, Present and Suggestions for Future

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:12:00 +0000

There is a popular idiom in Bengali, "Ora joto besi bojhe, toto kom mane" (The more they understand, the less they obey). So, why I am starting this article with a Bengali quote? Obviously, not to disturb my non-Bengali friends. Rather, this is probably one of the best phrases that portrays the mentality of the British rulers of Colonial India, and their blind followers, of course. Let's recollect two snaps.

Take 1: Please remember that day - 2nd Feb,1835 - when Thomas Babington Macaulay was asked in the House of Commons as how to subjugate this nation with so vast a wealth and grandeur. His was historical reply meant to say - to finish off the prevalent education system in India and to instate in its place one which teaches British as a superior race and to serve them. Even, In 1836, while serving as chairman of the Education Board in India, he enthusiastically wrote to his father:

"Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully. The effect of this education on the Hindus is prodigious... It is my belief that if our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolater among the respectable classes in Bengal thirty years hence. And this will be effected without any efforts to proselytize, without the smallest interference with religious liberty, by natural operation of knowledge and reflection. I heartily rejoice in the project."

[If this kind of introduction gives you the impression that this is going to be merely another hate speech against the westerners, please bear with me for some more time.]

Take 2: Now cut from 1835 and come to 2005.

Remember the speech our Honorable Prime Minster His Highness Dr. Manmohan Singh (delivered when Oxford University conferred an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law on him in July,2005). Some excerpts:

"Consider the fact that an important slogan of India's struggle for freedom was that "Self Government is more precious than Good Government". That, of course, is the essence of democracy. But the slogan suggests that even at the height of our campaign for freedom from colonial rule, we did not entirely reject the British claim to good governance. We merely asserted our natural right to self-governance.

Our judiciary, our legal system, our bureaucracy and our police are all great institutions, derived from British-Indian administration and they have served the country well.

Of all the legacies of the Raj, none is more important than the English language and the modern school system....Today, English in India is seen as just another Indian language.

it is undeniable that the founding fathers of our republic were also greatly influenced by the ideas associated with the age of enlightenment in Europe."

So, what I understand from the entire speech, can be summed up like:

We are indebted to the English for teaching us good governance, modern education, law and order, science, English language.

This was extremely shameful for any INDIAN, who has at least one ounce of self-respect. For once, we might think, well, Churchill was right in saying - "If India is granted freedom, power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all leaders will be of low caliber and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air and water will be taxed."

Now cut from 2005, and come straight to today. As I sat mulling over where to start from and what to write, I realized, in India, it does not take a genius to point out the problems in any sphere (some problems are so explicit, I often wonder why they are still unsolved), and may be least intelligence is required if the name of the sector is Higher Education. It is clear to all of us today that in the emerging global world order, India is trying to position herself as a superpower, a knowledge driven economy and thus importance of higher education will keep increasing tremendously. So, no doubt, it's the best time to discuss about the problems of this sector. And, for the ease of discussion, I am dividing my into three parts (Yes, I have been inspired by Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, in nomenclature) - Maa ki chhilen (How our dear mother was), Maa ki hoiachhen (How she is now) and Maa ki hoiben (How will she be).

Maa ki chhilen (How our dear mother was)-:

Education in ancient India was Gurukul based. Almost everybody knows about Gurukuls to some extent and I would not elaborate too much on this here. But let's try to point out where our education system stood as compared to the British. From the proceedings in the House of Commons on 2nd Feb,1835 we can draw the following comparisons.

1. The literacy rate in South India was 100%, in Western India 98%, in Northern India 82% and in central & rest of India was 87%. Whereas the British education minister says that at that time literacy in whole of Great Britain was only at 17% !!

2. There were approximately 7.5 lakh Gurukuls and their strength varied from 200 to 20,000. Whereas in Britain there were hardly 250 schools.

3. Subjects taught in Gurukuls varied from Vedic Mathematics, Astronomy, Metallurgy, Karigari to modern sciences like Astro-physics, Medicine, Surgery as compared to only Bible being taught in their schools.

4. In Europe be it economics or science or engineering or philosophy, everyone agrees "The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato"- Alfred North Whitehead. In his book "The Republic", Plato said that only the ruling class in a society needs to be educated as they are the ones issuing orders/instructions and the rest only need to follow. This was maintained by such great scholars like Aristotle, Leibniz, Descartes, Rousseau in their books.

Here is my earnest appeal to you Manmohan-ji, next time you address on a world stage please care to know the history of the nation you repesent. The country is ashamed to see you as its citizen and I am ashamed to see you as our PM.

Maa ki hoiachhen (How is she now)-:

Slowly the British form of education set-in and replaced the old system. They got their constant supply of trained 'Babus' who worked as intermediaries & petty office clerks and we started embracing and praising whatever western. Thus, in course of time, our own education system got destroyed and we can't adapt with European system either (much expected result).

Then one fine morning, we ultimately got independence. Well, we were lucky enough to have some visionaries like Maulana Azad who formed the UGC (an important institution to supervise and advance higher education) and IITs.

As time went on the population increased at a rapid rate and soon the educational institutions too expanded sacrificing quality for quantity. Nothing was being done at the primary levels and number of dropouts after 6th standard and 10th standard kept increasing. Desires for western appraisals never diminshed, Indian students still flock to tier-3 universities in US or Europe for a degree and are revered as a huge achievement in our society. Once a professor at an IIT remarked "People generally do not come to the IITs for more than one degree."

Moreover the ever prevalent problems of minority appeasement and caste based vote-bank politics also made its way through reservations. A liberal education is at the heart of a civil society, and at the heart of a liberal education is the act of teaching. The institutes of national importance (INI) are plagued with shortage of professors and well-trained staff, even if available are not good enough. The recent setting up of seven more IITs perhaps will enlarge this void all the more. All of these coupled with the foolhardy Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal's decision to change IIT-JEE pattern trampling the autonomy of IITs, was a big thrust towards a complete breakdown.

Out of the huge number of students passing out of the bachelors programme, less than 5% land up a job in their core area of expertise. Rest go off to some high paying jobs in banking/insurance/trading... So much for producing skilled manpower.

Some brain-storming points, on the current condition of Indian Education system are mentioned under following section, for the ease of discussion.

Maa ki hoiben (How will she be)-:

Following are some points which I think might help -:

The IITs and IISc are setting up new state-of-the art labs but there are none to run the machines. Thus a student who wishes to use the machine needs to go through the painstakingly long manuals or run around searching for someone who already worked on the machine. This is certainly not so in reputed foreign universities, where a salaried technically expert person is kept all time to operate the instruments.
Expenditure for higher education in India is only about 10.5% of total expenditure, 52,000 crore in 2011 (as per UNESCO report). An alternative study is available on Eximguru. So, how can we become very enthusiastic about the future of Indian education system?
Most universities in India still do not have access to the latest journals; and when we think of “state of the art facilities,” we only have in mind clean toilets, and electricity to run our computers. The fact is that most Indian universities do not have the funds to air-condition lecture halls or provide air-conditioning even in the chambers of senior professors.
According to a survey, over 94,000 families in India which are willing to spend on average Rs 12,40,000 (Rs 1.24 million) a year on their children's education. The failure of the HRD ministry to tap into this huge potential does signify lack of quality education here.
To address the above issue I think the INIs can start two parallel programmes where one will be more of a compensatory course (lets name it Mcomp) where the student will have to bear his/her full expenditure and another course (lets name it Morg) where the student will be selected purely based on research skills, dedication and sincerity and would contribute to the institute's research output. The second one might be a longer course than the former. Similar thing might be implemented in bachelor's programme also.
The research in Indian Universities is generally no-good. In the IITs, barring few departments, it is generally incremental research. The general mood is make a change here, make a change there and get a paper published, very small effort/thought goes into actual innovation.

If we compare the advancement of Indian science with the Chinese, we would be simple ashamed. As reported by the Global Post, "...while Chinese academics published a similar number of papers in 1997 — 12,632 — that figure rises to 67,433 by 2007. As a result, China contributes 8.6 percent of the world's scientific papers, a British study found, while India lags behind with a mere 2.4 percent."

This year IEEE released a list of prohibited authors along with their institutes for 2010-2011 accused of plagiarising. It is a shame that almost one-third of them are from India.
Paying the professors more might seem a jolly good idea but I myself do not know the future ramifications.
People quite often ask whether the higher education system in India has managed to raise the standard of living of the poor Indian masses who are struggling with massive unemployment, skyrocketing prices, huge problems of health care, housing etc. I have fundamental issues with this line of argument. First of all, massive unemployment, skyrocketing prices and such other governance-related problems are not the failures of the Indian higher education system: these are systemic failures and pinning that on the Indian higher education system is grossly unfair. Second, the primary job of the universities is to teach students and guide their research, not to tell the government how to run the country. Third, even when the universities produce research-based studies on ways of improving various aspects of governance in the country, the government hardly ever takes notice of the research outputs of universities. If the babus don’t listen to the professors, why blame the professors?
Once Brigham Young has said -

“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”.

Education of women in India is improving no doubt but still much more needs to be done at the primary and secondary levels. Many social issues become a hindrance here.

Well, so much for the future of the nation. Perhaps if I were a political activist I would rally support and fight for education reforms in the country! Perhaps one day that will be so! For now... I write.

References :-

1. Language in India Website.

2. Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, available on Columbia University Website.

3. G. M. Young (ed.) 1935. Speeches by Lord Macaulay with his Minute on Indian Education. Oxford University Press, London

4. The Background of Macaulay's Minute by Elmer H. Cutts. The American Historical Review, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Jul., 1953), pp. 824-853

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Disclaimer: This article is penned by Shri Debopam Banerjee. So, it is based on his personal opinion which does not necessarily match with the view of the editorial team of The Analyst . Additionally we do not take any responsibility for any information mentioned in the above content.
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Note from the Editors: Some are questioning about the sources of the comments of T.B.Macaulay and Winston Churchill. So, we are hereby providing some references that are taken from reputed Websites/books. If you have any solid evidence that those are wrong, please inform us. Then only we would remove that said part.

1. The Macaulay Comment:

i) Aryan Invasion — History or Politics? -- Article by Dr. N.S.Rajaram

ii) Page no 4, From Bharata to India: Volume 1: Chrysee the Golden -- A book by M. K. Agarwal
iii)Page no 204, God and Goddesses in Hinduism by Krishan Saigal

2. The Churchill Comment:
i)Past present: Churchill said -- by Mubarak Ali [Dawn is one of the most reputed newspaper of Pakistan]
ii)Mr PM, you made Churchill proud -- by Ram Jethmalani.
iii)Indian Raj outdoing British Raj -- by B.S.Raghavan

Debopam
(Guest Author)

About the Author:

Debopam Banerjee is an Hon'ble guest author of The Analyst.

He is continuing his M Tech at IIT Bombay. He loves public commenting on various social and political issues, but extremely passionate about Indian Education system.

Join him on: Facebook | Twitter

How Vote Bank Politics Is Harming India

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:13:00 +0000

Gujarat elections are over and the results are out for everybody to see. Detractors of Modi have taken a beating but this clan has shifted the goal posts now. Modi fell short of his previous tally of 117 seats, you see! In the process of undermining his tremendous achievement, they are even maligning the electorate of Gujarat. Some lesser known leaders from BJP's "secular" ally JD(U) started their same rant on TV channels - "There is no change in our stand that PM candidate should have secular credentials". However, deep within their hearts, all these "secular" entities know that this election was a watershed and Modi is an unstoppable force now. Gujarat is not separate from India and just like Gujaratis, people across India, want quality governance and not false promises which commoditize communities in the shape of vote bank. This blatantly vitriolic and abrasive misinformed propaganda campaign again highlights an increasingly growing problem we are facing - vote bank politics.

India is a unique nation with rich diversity and cultural heritage. From centuries, people of different beliefs have lived together in perfect harmony and our history has least blood when compared to other civilizations. Yes, there are certain social malaise such as caste system which needs to be eliminated and it is a work in progress. We have our own problems when it comes to bridging the divide between haves and have-nots. However, we are certainly on right track unlike countries like Pakistan which take absolutely no measures to give rights to their minorities and under privileged. This diversity is also reflected in our political landscape where hundreds of parties are competing with each other over myriads of issues. In theory, it appears to be a healthy phenomena and is a testimony of our vibrant accommodative democracy. But in reality, this political diversity is taking us back to the dark ages and parties with narrow vested interests are undermining national cause shamelessly! It is no secret that in India politics always surrounds individuals. Current examples include Modi, Mulayam, Mayawati, Sharad Pawar et al. In the past, we had leaders like Indira Gandhi and J P who had cult following. Some of these individuals rose to the stature they had through rigorous public service, while other reached there through vicious identity politics. It is this identity politics, which is threatening the idea of super power India. A nation does not become super power by achieving double digit economic growth for a decade. Super powers are those who empower their citizens and who care for them. Super powers realize that human capital is the best asset they have and leverage that. We are not a super power, period. Unless we mend our ways, we will never be a super power. Why? Because we have no national goal and agenda.

Look at the policy of reservation. It was certainly started with noble intention but we failed to deliver. The benefits did not reach the intended audience. Now, we are committing even bigger blunder by introducing reservations in promotion! No party is able to confront the issue of reservation because everybody is fearful of losing votes. If we really want to benefit the most backward sections of society, reservation is simply not the solution. We need to create an infrastructure for them so that they can compete with the rest at leveling playing field. Scope of this article is not to suggest solutions for that as there already are numerous brilliantly thought out ideas for that. But bottom-line is politicians are reluctant to work out a long term permanent solution and are using reservation as a quick fix. Mayawati, who is often projected as champions of Dalits, is not concerned about the welfare of her respective vote bank. She is only concerned with the number of votes she gets and that is why she is often high on rhetoric and low on action. If we objectively assess , we find that Mayawati has done nothing substantial for Dalits. She has always indulged in grandstanding but has never gone beyond invoking Dalit pride symbolized by the numerous statues she has erected across the state of UP. Similar analysis can be performed on Mulayam Singh who is hailed as the messiah of Muslims. What has he done for Muslims? It would be worthwhile if somebody can point any meaningful steps he has taken for Muslims. State of Muslims is far worse in "secular" UP that in "deeplydivided and communalized" Gujarat. UP has become the biggest victim of this vicious identity politics of Mayawati and Mulayam.

Highly fragmented political landscape makes governance a nightmare. In the era of coalition politics, no single party can form government on its own and I do not see any change in near future. Parties like SP, BSP, DMK, AIADMK, TDP, BJD, JD(U) are gaining more and more ground. Since there is no thread which binds these parties together except for their desire to grab power, it is unimaginable that they will work together cohesively in the national interest. They have their own narrow interests and serve their unique clientele. We have already seen how narrow political interests do not allow several policy decisions to go through. Ideological opposition to any decision is fine (and is a good thing) but typically the opposition by regional parties are not because of ideological reasons. They are generally driven by their desire to extract some mileage (financial package for indirectly bribing voters through extravagant schemes or freedom from CBI investigation). The phenomena of regional parties is here to stay and we will have to work with it. As a voter, we have to be ever more cautious and must demand honest politics from these parties. If we allow these parties to continue in accordance with their whims and fancies, we will be responsible for sending India to dark ages. I sincerely hope that voters exercise their voting right with utmost care.

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Disclaimer: This article is penned by Shri Anand Prakash Rohit. So, it is based on his personal opinion which does not necessarily match with the view of the editorial team of The Analyst . Additionally we do not take any responsibility for any information mentioned in the above content.

A P Rohit
(Guest Author)

About the Author:

Anand Prakash Rohit is an Hon'ble guest author of The Analyst.

Being a NIT Hamirpur & University of Alberta graduate, he currently works in Ontario, but finds pleasure in commenting on issues with national interests of India.

Join him on: Facebook | Twitter

The Three Mistakes of Arvind Kejriwal

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:36:00 +0000

So, as you have guessed, this piece is on Arvind Kejriwal. Before going through the rest, please think on your own for once (so that you can’t blame me for making you biased).

Who is Arvind Kejriwal, in your eyes? An IIT Kharagpur graduate who dares to be different? An ex-IRS officer, who didn’t care about his lucrative job? A genuine crusader against corruption who is to be supported blindly given the fact that India is regularly ranked as one of the world’s most corrupt countries? A mere nitpicker who would be suited better as a journo? A super-ambitious politician? Or an over-hyped guy who is misled by Indian media? Or simply a person who is best-fitted under the tag “Mr. Super-clean”?

Well, I know this question is difficult to answer in one-line. His character has so many shades that it’s next to impossible to depict him in a single sentence. So, we’ll not try to do that. We are going to do an in-depth analysis on him.

First of all, though it may seem from the title of the post, it’s not the fact that I am dead against of IAC or AAP and going to slam Arvind in the rest of my post (if you are an Arvind-maniac, relax dear). I have to agree that Arvind has the courage to be different and he has already done some significant ground-work. As a social-activist, he indeed has appreciable achievement under his belt. Let’s look into his life(as a social worker) briefly:

Parivartan:

Arvind started his journey as an activist with this small organization. But in course of time, it had made a prominent foot-print in society (He was later awarded ‘Ramon Magsaysay Award’ for this). It was reported[1] that (Please note, I have not checked the claims personally):

He has started Parivartan, but initially he left the limelight to Kailash Goduka and Colonel Pandey. This organization was basically the need of that hour and became popular instantly. They received almost 400 complaints against income tax department just after inauguration. Despite being harassed by the chief commissioner several times, they started actively helping common people who has to bribe Income Tax officers to do almost anything. Wisely using their two weapons - satyagraha and legal suit (once they filed Public Interest Litigation directing the department to implement a five-point transparency plan) - they kept a constant pressure on IT department. As a result, once the Department had to file an affidavit in the Delhi High Court saying that they had issued orders for implementation of all the suggestions made by Parivartan. And more importantly, N Vittal, the then CVC, told the chief commissioner that Parivartan’s suggestions were genuine and that the antipathy the chief commissioner may feel for them should not get in the way of the income tax department’s implementing sensible procedures. And it had produced results and forced IT dept. to take action. Finally almost 700 people had benefited from the group’s "Don’t pay bribes!" campaign at the tax department (till 2006). We have to note that this is a huge achievement for a newly-formed organization! And yes, team Parivartan had acquired it!

Another area of Delhi that was 'revolutionized' by Parivartan was electricity department. That time Kejriwal had led from the front. And that movement was a massive success. The number of cases filed with the Electricity Court dropped to three or four cases a month from forty to fifty. Parivartan documented some twenty-four categories of problems, including deliberate mistakes in bills that would need a bribe to rectify, delays in fixing faulty electrical meters, and long waits for new electrical connections. Those who were helped would gratefully ask what they could do. The volunteers told them to stay for an hour and distribute Parivartan pamphlets. “That’s why you will find, on any day, several people standing there and telling others, ‘Don’t pay bribes inside’. The fixers were unhappy and some threatened the volunteers, but nothing came out of it. Up to that time (2006), Parivartan has settled 2,500 grievances with the electricity department on behalf of individuals. Again, this is Arvind who has done it! Kudos to him!

On the later stages, Parivartan increased its area of operation and was effectively working in sectors like food, water supply (Arvind actively protested against privatization), public distribution system, road development etc. Interestingly the financially weak portion of the society became their 'priority customer'! A silent (progressive) change worth noticing!

By that time (2001), Right to Information act was passed in Delhi. Parivartan started experimenting with it in the state and got instant success. The details of RTI movement are discussed below under separate heading.

RTI Movement:

Barring the Janlokpal movement, or most recent AAP, Arvind was best known for his RTI movement. The RTI act, passed by Delhi Legislative Assembly is something very unique in nature. It gives:

i) the right to ask for any information from Delhi government departments,

ii) the right to inspect any government document,

iii)the right to ask for a photocopy of any government document,

iv)the right to ask for an inspection of any government work,

v)the right to ask for a sample of materials to be used for any government work.

In this time, Arvind had read an article about Aruna Roy, who was then examining the application of RTI by organizing public audits of government projects in the poor villages in Rajasthan. He tried to replicate the model in Delhi. Again, he got instant success. In three months, he helped nearly two hundred people file Right to Information applications with the Electricity Department itself. He started organizing street meetings and made people conscious about the difference between the figures shown in the Govt. report and actual money invested in a project. He increased the people consciousness by many times during this part.
Later he had started collaborating with eminent people like Justice P. B. Sawant (former justice of the Supreme Court of India), Aruna Roy, Prabhash Joshi (a senior journalist), Vinod Mehta (editor of OUTLOOK), Bharat Dogra (a senior journalist), and Arundhati Roy. They had created a silent social movement nationwide. As a result, RTI has been passed finally at parliament in 2005. For this contribution, hewas awarded Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award by IITK this time. He was continuing his movement with RTI. He co-founded the Public Cause Research Foundation, which espoused transparent and accountable governance, in 2006 along with two other people—his long-time aide and former television journalist Manish Sisodia and television producer Sekhri. In 2010, He had also announced an award for RTI activists to motivate them. These are all, no doubt bold, brave and wise steps.
We have to salute him again. You have to agree that up to this point he is second to only Mr. Perfect. He was proving his passion, eligibility and leadership quality as a social worker constantly (In an interview he said his Ramon Magsaysay Award does not belongs to him only, it is the property of all RTI activists - Note again,He is speaking like a true leader). And He was simply growing till then.

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Also Read: Keep an Eye On Arvind Kejriwal
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Janlokpal Movement Phase 1:

Yes, I am talking about the first phase (7th-9th April, 2012) I am not going in detail. Because nation knows how he had worked as the lieutenant of Anna Hazare, how efficiently he worked with the other members of team Anna, mobilized the crowd (almost 6 crore people supported them), kept a superb relation with Indian media houses (many of those are criticized several times for being pro-congress – still they had supported the movement to a great extent). After three days, govt finally agreed to setup a drafting committee with IAC members to consider their suggestion in lokpal bill. It was not a cakewalk. And we have to praise Arvind along with Anna for it!

Janlokpal Movement Phase 2:

This is the movement for which Anna, Arvind or Kiran Bedi become the issue of even normal household discussion. The stubborn nature of Delhi police to allow Anna to fast, arrest of Anna, His release from Tihar Jail, buckling of Delhi police under public anger, Anna's fast for 288 hours (16 August-2011 to 28 August-2011) are now basically some milestone in the history of post-modern India. I am not going in detail again (so many data are available online on this phase, just a Google search would show you), but just mentioning some statistics to show how modern India supported the movement -

According to the survey conducted by STAR News and Nielsen, 87% of the 8900 respondents of the survey supported the Jan Lokpal Bill.

IAC conducted a survey on the draft Lokpal Bill presented by the Indian Government in Parliament. It showed that 85% of the participants were opposed to the government's bill.

Over a million people joined the Times of India online anti-graft campaign, making it one of the biggest ever voting exercises in the virtual world.

As The Economic Times reports, on 15th August, Anna had over 500,000 mentions through status updates and comments across Facebook and Twitter. On 17th, the number had shot up to 9 million.On YouTube, over 40,000 people watched the video shot by Kiran Bedi inside Tihar Jail in which Anna has addressed his supporters. 542 fan pages created on Facebook by Anna's name.

You can argue here that those stats are the product of the movement led by Anna, not by Arvind. And personalities like Aruna Roy or Arundhuti Roy started bashing IAC from this time ([2] [3]),but again you have to remember that their opposition could not cut the the link between IAC and 'aam admi'. Rather people usually labelled them as mere fault-finder egoist people.

But, you need to keep in mind that it is Arvind who had tackled media, motivated the crowd along with Anna and did all other needful. We have no other choice than giving him credit.

Janlokpal Movement Phase 3:

Now I want to talk about the December movement. This is the time when Kejriwal did his first mistake. This is no secret today that December movement of IAC at Mumbai was a major flop show. On MMRDA ground on Mumbai, the estimate of people varied between 4,000 to 10,000, which was in sharp contrast to 30,000-40,000 that poured in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan in August.

Experts has given various reasons of that failure - ranging from a Test series was going at that time to a Lokpal bill was under the purview of parliament at that time. Other note-worthy points include - the division within team Anna, faulty handling of social media, etc.

More interestingly, Some even direct their finger to him. Question has bubbled on his childish phobia to Baba Ramdev also - Was it really required to go again Baba? Some pointed out that Kejriwal could not deal with media with perfection this time. They questioned whether choice of Mumbai was wise, leaving Delhi (which is famous for activism, by university students and other people). Even Anna questioned on the IAC management in a recent interview with Indian Express:

I even told them that it was too soon to go on a fast and start an agitation, but they had made all preparations, so I was forced to go. My health worsened after that.

Whatever may be the reason, it was a massive failure and it is also clear that Arvind have to take the major responsibility. But if the case stops here, Arvind may be forgiven. But he didn't stop. He wrote some trash article ventilating his immense confusion that he has no idea what he should do next. Then finally over-hyped Arvind made a split with Anna, did the massacre, the second mistake, and open a political party.

Starting of the Political Party:

I really don't know on which ground he took this decision, but he took it. He thought probably running a movement and a party/Govt. is similar in nature. Great mistake by Arvind Kejriwal. Let's have a look in his vision document (my views on those are given in the bracket):

Lokpal Bill will be brought in within 10 days of the party being voted to power (as if and they will get ~300 seats and there would not be any pressure from coalition allies).

People will decide the price of essential commodities(The most funny and absurd one. Arvind, it is the balance between demand and supply which determines price. Market cannot be controlled like that. If you start doing that farmers, people associated with production industry and businessmen all would get ruined. Please learn ABC of economics, or at least apply your common sense).

Any person can lodge a complaint against any leader with the Lokpal (I praise his passion. But it is very easy to utter this and very difficult to assume what will happen after a person lodge a complaint against anyone. The problems associated with corruption cannot be solved overnight, John Elliot already discussed this in detail, on The Independent Has he forgotten his experience with Parivartan?).

No beacons on cars of any MPs or MLAs (Oh man, I have nothing to say. Red-light is not to show one's importance (though so many thinks like that), it's for speedy journey. So that he can devote his time more in his work for the country. Please think twice).

All expenditure and fund details to be posted on the party's website(even if people who would donate in party fund unwilling to disclose his details? What Arvind thinks? People don't need privacy? Or everyone likes limelight like him).

All colonial laws on land acquisition to be abolished (No comment right now. Time will tell).

Right to Reject and Right to Recall (Right to reject is already there. No point of mentioning it again. And about Right-to-recall - Has Arvind any idea how much money is spent to conduct an election? Who will bear this money? His 'aam admi'?).

A maximum of 2 years to act on any case of corruption (Devastating idea. I know pretty well that the slow speed of judiciary system is a major problem in India. But it ensures better judgement, it ensures the security of innocent people. If you destroy this basic quality of Indian Judiciary to speed up the system...I am damn afraid of the consequences).

Everyone will be provided with good education and good healthcare services (Why not? Money will begin to grow on mango tree, when AAP would get the power. Or even that is not the case, Arvind is there to make up the deficit. Uhh...Disgusting).

Farmers will be given good price for their produce(People will decide the price, still farmers will get good price. I doubt how many rupees Arvind has in his pocket.).

People will have the right to participate in the formulation of laws and government's policies (Disaster is waiting. I repeat, disaster is waiting, if this is implemented. I am not telling that people of India are bunch of fools. But in a country, if ALL people have enough eligibility to make policy to run a run a nation, then the name of the country is probably heaven. No or very poor education, immaturity, less intelligence (yes I am using politically incorrect word), plus huge population - Arvind, India is probably worst place in the world to apply the concept of direct democracy ).

No government money will be used in any area without the will of the people (Again an attempt to implement the concept of gram sabha anddirect democracy, hole in the wall of the idea is self-explanatory).

Look at the points. A bunch of childish ideas. A deadly combo of left-liberalism and direct democracy. When someone read this, there are enough probability that he would lose his faith on Arvind. He should do some homework before launching the party.

PS: The name of the party is equally irritating. If we are 'Aam-admi', who is the special admi of India? Arvind? Or Prasant Bhushan? Why are you using the congressi jargon?

One After Another Expose:

If a guy has a manifesto like this, he has no other option than doing something populist steps to make an impact on indian political system. Arvind is no exception. He started attacking people - politician, their relatives, industrialists and all who don't support his movement.

Robertgate: It is Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, whom he first attacked. He really did some meticulous study and revealed some brain storming data.

Kejriwal alleged of a nexus between realty firm DLF and Robert Vadra (son in law of Sonia Gandhi). He accused Vadra of taking an interest-free loan of Rs. 65 crores and heavy bargains on land from DLF Limited in exchange for political favors. He said the Haryana government gave 350 acres of land meant for a hospital to SEZ, of which Robert Vadra had 50% of shares in the SEZ project.[4] Look, Kejriwal is gaining our confidence again! He has directly questioned the dynasty. He dares to point at the first family of India. He dares to go for a head-on collision with kleptocracy. And again he earns respect from us (despite his crap vision on socio-economic system).

The story had a sharp impact. Haryana govt. has to initiate a probe. Based on the preliminary details uncovered by that inquiry, Mr. Ashok Khemka cancelled the mutation of the 3.531- acre plot that Mr. Vadra’s company, M/s Sky Light Hospitality, had sold to DLF on September 18, 2012. He did so on the grounds that the mutation violated the States Consolidation Act and was done not by a revenue officer but by the Assistant Consolidation Officer of Gurgaon who was not authorised to do so. (EA4/2012/4620-4621 dated 15 October, 2012). AND...Khemka was transferred (read removed) within hours he had initiated the probe[5]. This story expresses the sad picture of Indian democracy. And Kejriwal arises to a level. He became the hero of middle-class Indians. And he deserved it!

Salman Khurshid: Salman khurshid became his second target. He questions on the financial irregularities of Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust with the grants given by Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for the welfare of physically impaired people. and alleged Mr. and Mrs. Khurshid (71 lakh Ruppes Scam, was first reported by India Today). This news also created a stir in the Indian politics. Khurshid allegedly warned Kejriwal like a petty criminal - "Kejriwal can enter Farrukhabad, how will he return?" Even BBC had reported the story with importance. Though Khurshid denied it later. Arvind got the greatest weapon - public sympathy.

BUT... after that? He started doing mistake! Again, by choosing wrong targets to allege!

Loss of Credibility:

This phase may be the most crucial for the political career of Kejriwal. He stared attacking BJP prez Nitin Gadkari, Reliance, HSBC and finally Narendra Modi. But he can't give solid proof against anything. In my own view, this is the time when he fails again to understand the pulse of "aam admi". To satisfy media houses and to prove his secular nature he took easiest way - attacking BJP. Well, even if we consider him successful in that, we have to agree at the same time that he is losing the unconditional support given by common Indians, who badly want a non-corrupt India.

Take the example of Gadkari case. Based on the findings of his colleague Anjali Damania he took on Gadkari on irrigation scam, all of which refuted well by BJP. BJP even published a letter (available on Scribd) which indicates that Damania had vested interest -

She wrote a letter written to the Maharashtra irrigation department, in June, 2011. She says that the location of a proposed dam coming up in Kondhane-Karjat be shifted by about 500 to 700 metres so that 30 acres of her property would not get submerged.

In her letter, Damania says that there is no private land but Adivasi land beyond 700 metres and she mentions that the Adivasis can be adequately compensated.

Arvind had to initiate an internal probe against him. Result of the entire scenario put him back-foot, literally. Somehow he starts losing his larger-than-life image from this time.

Later when he started exposing RIL, Jet Airways, or even congress MP Annu Tandon that stops appearing in first pages of newspaper (I personally observed this with TOI Kolkata edition). If you go through the denial statement made by respective persons or organizations, even if are die hard Arvind supporter, you would start believing that. "Well...may be Arvind is exaggerating [6][7][8][9].

Finally, attacking Narendra Modi he almost lost the support from the youth of India. As the Times of India reported:

In their sixth "expose'', Kejriwal and Bhushan said Modi had favoured Gujarat-based business house Adani Group on power purchase and land allotment besides giving gas fields worth Rs 20,000 crore to private companies -- Jubilant Energy and Geo Global -- for "free", adding that their disclosures were evidence that the rivalry between Congress and BJP was a pretense and that the two parties were actually "business partners'' in private.

They also alleged that Modi "gifted'' away 20% stake of $20 billion worth of gas blocks acquired by state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in the KG basin to Geo Global and Jubilant Enpro causing an estimated loss of Rs 20,000 crore to the public exchequer.

Questioning the process of shortlisting the two companies, Kejriwal said Geo Global, owned by Jean Paul Roy, was incorporated just six days before the agreement with GSPC and was expected to provide technical assistance. Not only did Geo Global admit to Securities and Exchange Commission in the US that it did not have the requisite expertise but the agreement gave the company gas fields free of cost.

A similar agreement by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance with British Petroleum ended in the latter paying Reliance an amount of $7.3 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) to acquire 30% stake and to provide technical assistance.

The most interesting part is that they cannot produce any solid evidence Modi. Gujrat govt. defended it very well. Excerpt from the press conference -

The charge that the state government favoured Adani group while purchasing power is not true. Power was purchased from the Adani Group after inviting bids and Adani was the lowest bidder.
The government has not given any farm land to Adanis. The land which was given in Kutch was wasteland. The charge that the land was given at Re 1 is false as it was given on a lease for 30 years on BOT basis and every year the state government gets rent on it.
GSPC (Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation) had informed the Director General, Hydrocarbons in 2010 that the deal with GeoGlobal was cancelled and they did not have 10 per cent participating interest anymore in the oil exploration of the Krishna Godavari Basin Deendayal Block.

Clearly, Arvind & Co. has lost it's face. Their credibility has gone now under constant scanner! In the mean time they had faced allegations against themselves! Digvijaya Singh wrote a letter containing 27 questions. Please don't ignore it only because of the fact that it was written by Diggy. Some questions really force you to think twice -

a) Why there are no details of individual donors and corporate donors on any website of your NGOs. Is it a fact that the NGO, Kabir, with whom you are closely associated, received $172,000 and $197,000 from Ford Foundation in 2005 and 2009 respectively?
b)Was this foreign money used to organise seminars, advocacy, discussions, programmes, social media campaigns and publicity material related to the issue of corruption?
c)What is the logistical and other support your anti-corruption movement received from Avaaz?
d)How you managed to get permission to go on study leave with full pay and subsequently form an NGO despite central government rules not permitting it?

Again, Y P Singh, a former IPS and RTI activist, questioned Arvind and Co. on their selective exposure. He alleged that they are not taking the name of Sharad Pawar who was involved in bigger scam in Maharashtra.

What is clear the entire flow of events, Arvind is losing it's edge. Entering active politics and becoming successful in it is not a cakewalk - it is not possible via some 'exposure' - as soon as AAP would understand this, that would be better. 'Prime Time' is not the only phrase which works in the politics. I do have doubt whether they can secure even five seats in the LS election. The battle is not easy, Arvind. And you are making mistakes, one after another. Being successful is improbable for you, if it is not impossible. You can take my word.

Once, Simon Denyer has written in The Washington Post -

As a social activist, Kejriwal used to smile a lot. These days, he almost never does.

His anger never wavers.

Everyone is observing - you are in pressure after joining politics. You have done your greatest mistake there, you should be happy as an activist only, Arvind. You will understand it.

OF Medicine,A dying mother and PREJUDICE

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 22:19:00 +0000

The Case

“Two investigations are under way into the death of a woman who was 17 weeks pregnant, at University Hospital Galway last month. Savita Halappanavar (31), a dentist, presented with back pain at the hospital on October 21st, was found to be miscarrying, and died of septicemia a week later… Ms Halappanavar asked for a medical termination. This was refused, he (Praveen Halappanavar, her husband) says, because the fetal heartbeat was still present and they were told, ‘this is a Catholic country’.” Despite knowing that,“the cervix was fully dilated, amniotic fluid was leaking and unfortunately the baby wouldn't survive.”, The Irish Times reports. In short, as it appears in The Telegraph, “A woman died after she was refused an abortion at an Irish hospital whilst undergoing a miscarriage”.

The Law

The medical consultant said “it was the law, that this is a Catholic country.” But the reality is, in Ireland, a woman has a legal right to an abortion where there is a ‘real and substantial’ risk to her life… writes Sally Peck (The Telegraph 3:44PM GMT 14 Nov 2012)

Reflection is there in ToI report on 17Nov 2012 , “Ireland law provides for abortion, say legal eagles ”

The Therapeutic Guideline

T.N.A.Jeffocate, M.D., F.R.C.S.Ed., F.R.C.O.G wrote in the indubitable article published in the BMJ, abortion is permitted but “It has to be shown that the continuance of the pregnancy will be more harmful than therapeutic abortion.”

Clinically evident intra-amniotic infection is among the CONTRAINDICATIONS TO EXPECTANT MANAGEMENT (surveillant maintenance of pregnancy) OF PPROM (Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes, clinical term for what happened to the unfortunate Savita) as writes Dr Carol L. Archie in 'Lippincott's Obstetrics Case-Based Review'.

The other way out is to deliver the uterine contents as soon as possible, whether living or dead. I don’t know a pediatrician who hopes that a 17 weeks fetus would survive even, the record minimum age of viability of a fetus being 180 days.

United Health care guideline, Oxford cited ‘Infection of amniotic cavity, antepartum’ as an indication of therapeutic abortion beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The list grows longer…

Whatever it is, the Irish obstetricians believe that ABORTION IS NEVER MEDICALLY NECESSARY. The Sept. 8, 2012 press release by the symposium organizers presented the conclusions contained in the Dublin Declaration on Maternal Healthcare, which states:

“-- As experienced practitioners and researchers in obstetrics and gynecology, we affirm that direct abortion is not medically necessary to save the life of a woman.

-- We confirm that the prohibition of abortion does not affect, in any way, the availability of optimal care to pregnant women.”

These owlish experts seem quite correct, no?

The ‘should have been’

The Indian National Commission of Women Chairperson Mamta Sharma told reporters that Ireland should have rules to deal with cases like that of Savita. Everybody is now reverberating the same, starting from Enda Kenny, the Taoiseach, the Irish youth, as did Ireland’s Supreme Court in 1992.

But it is not only a matter of moral obligation, recommendation of some society or the laws even… let us have a look on how the incident violates a doctor’s oath.

The oath

Extracting from The Declaration of Geneva:

The health and life of my patient will be my first consideration.
I will not permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient.

“I will NOT give to a woman an abortive remedy.” Tells the Hippocratic Oath, which was amended to “I will maintain the utmost respect for human life, from the time of its conception, even under threat, I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity” and “Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty.” The omen is clear from this loosening of stringency.

The Modern version of Hippocratic Oath (Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.), as currently amended, reads:

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of over-treatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. (Surely enough, the abject could be deflected.)

I think it clearly elucidates what was the expected conduct of the doctor under the circumstance.

Of prejudice

Faith at its very worst, manifested by a dogmatic reluctance to take action - that is what slaughtered the poor Savita in a hostile land far away from her home. Anti-abortion chauvinism is surely not the only one in the list of prejudices that are very much intertwined with orthodox Christianity despite being fatal to humanity. For instance some Christians still believe that women are second to men, that men should lead and women should follow (as 1 Timothy 2:8–15), reports BBC , trusting the words of St Paul :

It is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

(1 Corinthians 14:34-35)

If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

(1 Corinthians 11:3-7)

Participants subliminally primed with Christian words displayed more covert racial prejudice against African-Americans (Study 1) and more general negative affect toward African-Americans (Study 2) than did persons primed with neutral words, a study by Megan K. Johnson, Wade C. Rowatt,and Jordan LaBouff reveals, echoing Gordon Allport who more than 55 years ago pointed out that ,

"on the average, churchgoers are more intolerant than non-churchgoers." A dozen years later Andrew Greeley noted: "The research findings on the connection between religion and prejudice are over whelming." Morerecently, Daniel Batson and Larry Ventis have concluded: "At least forWhite, middle-class Christians, religion is not associated with increased loveand acceptance but with increased intolerance, prejudice, and bigotry."

This author does not mean to aver that we, the pre-historic oriental jungle-dwellers, are clean-chits and they (the enlightened) don’t just have right to point a finger at us. My opinion is we are transcending our bias in the same meaning as they are (like in 2000, Pope John Paul II issued a formal apology for all the mistakes committed by some Catholics in the last 2,000 years of the Catholic Church's history, including the trial of Galileo among others), and they have better business to mean than pick holes in the eastern customs and tradition. The benefit always lies in self-criticism!

Sunabha Ghosh (Executive Editor)

About the Author:

Sunabha Ghosh is co-founder and the current executive editor of The Analyst.

Join him on: Facebook | Twitter

The Great Indian English Medium Drama

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:47:00 +0000

“It must be an English Medium one”

“Of course, it is”

“Umm….why not a Bengali Medium school?” I intruded into the discussion about picking out a school for our cousin and the rest of the lot unanimously threw me out of the boundary with the simple words, “Because we are sane.”

Well, it did hurt me. I handed them a few logic, fought my cause but was frankly outnumbered. Even my parents, who sent me to a school with a very much vernacular atmosphere, raised voice against me. I was subdued, and thought to allow all my ideas a second chance and tried to make comradeship with the trend.

Let us have a glimpse of their points:

The students from a vernacular background cannot comprehend the lectures and books in the sphere of higher education which are mostly in English. Educationist Helen Abadzi’s words support this,

“If they cannot read fast enough, (which comes with either practice or familiarity) then all their mental attention is taken up in decoding the letters… If a child cannot read quickly, it cannot follow what text books or teachers are conveying. They can spend eight years in school and remain functionally illiterate.”
Their academic performance suffer a lot as their talent is not appraised just because of their inability to write proper English sentences or the hurdles they experience in explaining their views due to the lack of verbal competency. Adjuvant to poor academic performance and failure, financial problems arise as they cannot get jobs despite their potential. Speaking to The Hindu on the issue, Vice Chancellor of Pondicherry University J.A.K Tareen said the problem is common in all places where the education takes place in the vernacular medium. Although it is important to learn one’s mother tongue, by restricting education to the vernacular medium means that the student has only a confined scope in the future.
These learners face a lot of mental pressure and anxiety... it has been noted that such learners start assuming the people who are fluent in English are more intelligent & capable and thus start undermining their own potential ultimately spiraling down to the dungeon of inferiority complex or depression. The picture is clear from the experience of a young man, Avinash, who has desperately moved from one after another institute for suitable coaching in English, "If there are thirty students in a class of spoken English; it might be motley of ten with the background of schooling from convents and twenty from vernacular medium schools. But after five classes, all from vernacular medium schooling shy away from attending the classes, while the ten from convent remain in the class."

After an open-minded thought none of these seem invincible.

There is much fuss about speed of reading and comprehension. Taking extract from the same Helen Abadzi text we get “people must be able to read one word per second, or per 1.5 seconds at the outside, to be functional readers.” If a student entering graduation have not managed that speed or even a satisfactory grip in English, it would be logical not to blame the vernacular medium but the institution that brought her/him up.
Coming to the economic-distress-in-future issue, I would love to quote from a report, published in The Economic Times, stating, “The fact that the Laborers too send their children to private or English-medium schools, despite monthly fees of Rs 300-500, which equals two or three days' wages, adds up to the economic burden”. In urban areas, the middle-class, or often low income group kids are sent to English medium schools crowded with pupils from the well-off families. Eventually, they suffer from psychological stress, trauma, humiliation, inferiority complex and hatred towards their own ménage, often ending into a newsflash of juvenile suicide.
Lastly, pretending that English training from the toddler-time bring up a wordsmiths is a betise. The ones having English-speaking and reading habit at home will soon become front-runners leaving the rest behind; ensuring the very same fate of Avinash. “Often most of the students beat about bush over the ways they can develop their proficiency in effective speaking… guys and girls struggle to catch up with the techniques of speaking well in a very competitive atmosphere of learning in such classes.” Srikant Mohanty opines.

Finally it is proved that children who learn to read fluently in their mother tongue can easily learn English later from an experiment in Zambia. The lesson found is: start with mother tongue, and introduce English later. The issue in India is not vernacular vs. English. Rather, a good foundation in mother-tongue improves English learning later. But the experience from the Abolition of English at Primary Level in West Bengal is quite contrary.

What’s wrong then?

At this point I would like to express some of my concerned ideas behind this malady.

One misery is that English in vernacular schools is taught through vernacular.This makes the students form things in their mother-tongue and translate into English, which leads to grammatical errors. The students need to be taught English in English.
Reading books, magazines, fictions and newspapers completely transform one’s ability to speak better. Reading brings excellent changes in vocabulary and improves the caliber for speaking. It is an excellent habit, to read an English newspaper completely every day. It must not be assumed that admission into an English medium school is tantamount to being a sahib. The domestic ambiance plays the prime role.
The tragedy is also at the basic standard of school-level education in India, irrespective of the ‘medium’ which is pretty evident from the massacre at The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (a global evaluation process by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretariat that gauges where schoolchildren stand alongside their peers from other countries. This academic Olympics measures the performance of 15-year-olds in their reading, math and science abilities). In the last assessment in 2009, students from Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, showpieces of India's education and development, stood second last among 73 countries. “Thousands of private schools have come up, especially in the Hindi belt, with outlandish names like Saint Convent School, or even Popatlal Convent School. But not even the teachers in such schools know decent English”, mentions SA Aiyar, the famous columnist of Swaminomics (TOI).
When vernacular is the medium, the woe steps up further. The terminologies, prepared from moth-eaten Sanskrit words, make me feel pity about the ones indulging into them. This could have been avoided at ease by using the exact international terminologies in vernacular scripts. (We are very much familiar to the reverse; I guess we all do a lot of texting in vernacular in Roman script.)
Another Himalayan mistake is giving a damn to everything else and just staying within a biased ‘All Izz Well’ kind of narcissistic cocoon, rather a catacomb. This attitude is essenced from the news like India backs out of PISA, 2012.

My conclusion is the current craze about English medium schools along with its hatred towards the vernacular is nothing except a frivolous tomfoolery. Learning at par to the international standard of education is the most crucial aspect to be stressed upon with immediate effect rather than dawdling in search of a supernal solution. The noble laureate Indian educationist Rabindranath Tagore once averred that “mother tongue is equal to the breast milk of the mother”, the first nourishment to face the hardships of the world. A tree, however orotund it is, cannot stand a breeze if it has lost its roots. [This author is aware of the fact that metaphors are not logic. I think I have put enough gumption for those who are disposed only to the horse sense.]

If you have hold your patience up to the last paragraph of this 1300 word bore, I guess it was not that rot. Just reminding you, it is from someone whose Alma-mater is a through and through Bengali medium school and who never joined any spoken English institute or workshop.

Sunabha Ghosh (Executive Editor)

About the Author:

Sunabha Ghosh is co-founder and the current executive editor of The Analyst.

Join him on: Facebook | Twitter

Our Own Prince

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 09:19:00 +0000

“For the hereditary prince has less cause and less necessity to offend; hence it happens that he will be more loved; and unless extraordinary vices cause him to be hated, it is reasonable to expect that his subjects will be naturally well disposed towards him; and in the antiquity and duration of his rule the memories and motives that make for change are lost…”

Niccolò Machiavelli?

Of course it is; Il Principe, chapter-II, De principatibushereditariis. (The Prince, of hereditary princedoms).

Why digging the Old Hat out of his graves?

Because nothing explains so perfectly the current Indian mentality about our most eligible bachelor, Prince Rahul Gandhi. Everybody is wanting to him to see him as the Prime Minister of India. List doesn’t end at Digvijay the old-faithful…..Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, wants Rahul to be a PM. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna wants Rahul Gandhi as a PM in 2014. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has openly expressed his desire to induct Rahul into the Cabinet. Even media houses doing yearly or half yearly roundups of the public mood in ‘favour’ of Rahul Gandhi occupying the top chair of India.Everybody is wanting to him to see him as the Prime Minister of India. Let us see, what are the political peaks our Prince has achieved…

1. Rahul Gadhi's Entry in Politics:

It was in the 2004 elections that Rahul Gandhi entered politics. He handily won a parliamentary seat from Amethi, an Uttar Pradesh town once represented by his mother and before that, by his father… kinda lolli-pop, no?

2. Rahul Gandhi’s first five years as an MP (14th Lok Sabha) :

i)Attended five debates in five years!

ii)Rahul presented zero private member’s Bill(s) during the 14th LokSabha. Our MP could not find time to present even one in five years.

iii)Rahul asked a grand total of three questions in five years. There were 409 LokSabha MPs who asked more questions than Rahul Gandhi. There were a total of 89,055 questions asked by all MPs combined. Rahul Gandhi’s share was a whopping 0.0034 per cent!

iv)Lastly, Rahul attended 63 per cent of the Lok Sabha assemblies. This was 6.84 per cent less than the national average and 6.9 per cent less than Uttar Pradesh’s average attendance.

3. Rahul Gandhi’s sixth, seventh and eighth years as an MP (15th LokSabha):

This is from May 2009 when the 15th LokSabha started, till the latest data made available as of end-August 2012. You can download the full data used for this analysis from the official PRS site, clicking here.

i)Here, Rahul attended a grand total of one debate since 2009 till date!!

ii)Again, zero private member’s Bill has been presented by Rahul, like his last term.

iii)To make things look extremely poor, Rahul Gandhi has not asked a single question in over three years!

iv)Rahul’s attendance in the current LokSabha is a mere 42 per cent. Aam admi (read "Mango People") like you and I would be lucky to even hold on to our job if we were to show such disregard to our workplace once and here is the ‘Prime Minister-in-waiting’ who has shown such blatant disregard to his workplace ever since he got the job!

4. Rahul’s MPLAD Funds Utilisation:

It’s imperative that people who have voted an MP would be expecting maximum usage of the allocated funds for the development of their constituency. The MP is expected to make an attempt to get maximum funds allotted and utilize the same. Amethi’s people would peg higher hopes on Rahul Gandhi, considering he is the fifth member of the all-powerful Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty to represent them in Parliament.

But facts show his ‘efficiency’ very differently. Of the eligible Rs 14 crore for his constituency, he has managed to get only Rs 6.56 crore released during the current LokSabha term. Compare this with PL Punia getting Rs11.56 crore sanctioned for Barabanki constituency. To make it worse, Rahul has only managed to use 35.35 per cent of the amount released. What a tragedy for the people of Amethi whose MP got only half of the eligible funds released, and spent only a third of that money for the development of his constituency.

[You can refer to this site for details of how MPs of Uttar Pradesh have utilised their allocated Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD) funds]

Then what made the Rhahul Gandhi the most eligible person to procure the top seat?? Of course, Rahul Gandhi is the fourth-generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and the inevitable leader of the Indian National Congress. So when he stands he bears the shadow of the greatest leaders of India starting from JawharlalNeheru to Indira Gandhi and that legacy makes him eligible. What else of leadership did we observe in such a back-bencher MP??

Welcome to The Analyst!

noreply@blogger.com (The Analyst) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:45:00 +0000

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