Indian Politics from Ideological framework 2: Solution through Value-based Centrist Pragmatism

Image courtesy: INKCINCT Cartoons

India needs a paradigm shift in how politics is played at the centre [please see the article: Understanding Present Political Dysfunction]. From the close observations of state elections, one can infer that mere vote-bank politics has not much worked after year 2000. Voting trends¹ in state elections in India can be described as below:

1947 – 1980 : Incumbency trends, which means party in power gets re-elected

1980 – 2000   :  Anti-incumbency trends, which means party in power fails to get re-elected

2000 – Present:  Performance based trends, which means party in power gets re-elected if perceived to be delivering good governance and development.

In most cases, the parties which have retained power successively in this decade have focused on growth and development whether it is BJP in Gujarat, BJD in Orissa, CPI(M) in Tripura, Congress in Delhi or JDU in Bihar. This recent trend demands a new type of political paradigm and rethinking of ideology that works. India, today, needs a political ideology that delivers concrete results and resolves issues, rather than approach of ‘kicking the can down the road’ until issues become major crisis; an ideology that is more than philosophical theory and is related to growth and development of individual citizens; an ideology that common citizens relate to, and which is not limited to political journals and blogs of a few “intellectuals”. 

I would like to propose the political ideology of “Value-based Centrist Pragmatism (VCP)”. Let me explain what exactly I mean by it.

All Indians, across all divides (i.e., religion, caste, language, region, gender, culture), are defined as a single unit, CENTRE. Term ‘Centrist’ emphasises focus on this singular unit. It is inclusion of all different voices. Depending on the issue, views of representatives of all stakeholders is given due consideration, rather than selective inclusion and exclusion. Even all extreme voices are heard and multiple perspectives are acknowledged.

Some people may argue that it is not possible to secure interest of all the people all the time, and occasionally, politicians have to take decisions that ignore interest of individual(s) or group(s). This ideology of VCP rejects such assertion. It is assumed that interest of all of human-being is interrelated to one another, directly or indirectly, in long-term. If a country has to progress, all must get on board. The art of politics lies in the ability to convince all relevant representatives of the CENTRE that a particular decision is in their interest.

By the term ‘Pragmatism’, the importance of resolution of issues is underscored. A country with enormous diversity and population like India cannot afford to ignore practicality. VCP demands measures that influence both hard development [i.e., infrastructural development] and soft development [i.e., Human Development Index (HDI) and Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) of the CENTRE]. Pragmatism points out the functionality of politics and effective governance.  Furthermore, ideology of pragmatism pushes for rational and scientific approaches to governance. Predetermined ideological biases have no value in decision making, but comprehensive history (and not selective facts) is utilised for gaining contextual understanding in addition to present ground realities. Social programmes are taken up as social experiments. Programmes are taken up based on needs assessment of the target population; specific outcomes are measured; and the results are communicated to the citizens. Cost-benefit and cost-effective analyses are declared in media and citizens are involved through public discussions. 

This centrist pragmatism will help see issues from wider perspective as one would think about the entire population, the CENTRE, critically and scientifically. For e.g., all these years the political discourse on reservation for backward communities and religious minorities for college admissions has been tragic, as it puts high-caste people against these beneficiary communities. The politics being played in this issue is a classic example, where all communities are disappointed and frustrated, and neither equality of opportunity nor social equity is in sight. The real issue is the pathetic state of higher-education in India. According to the World Bank report only 1 in 10 of Indians has access to higher education². In order to cater to the higher education demand, India needs about 400 more universities at present. So, the real solution is to open up higher education sector with appropriate regulations and clear guidelines and revolutionary building up worlds class universities. If everyone interested in higher education finds access, where’s the question of reservation and who gives a s**t about it? If the politics would have been based on VCP, instead of vote-bank appeasement, all communities would have come together to expand access to higher education in these past 64 years, rather than fighting internally, and India would have had the largest highly skilled labour force driving the world through its intellect today.

The term ‘value-based’ is included to discard the negative pragmatic approaches to solutions. For e.g., India has relatively cheaper labour market, which gives India an advantage for attracting foreign investment. Policies that sustain availability of cheap labour through restricting higher education access to some group of people can be described as pragmatic, but not value-based. Such unethical pragmatic approaches have no place in VCP ideology.

The real strength of this ideology is that it is not exclusion of any of the present political ideologies, but it is the inclusion of all. Thus, it is absolutely possible for any party leader to adopt this ideology and still remain revered party-person. In fact most of the leaders, who are considered progressive, can be described through this ideology irrespective of their party.

Role of individual Voters: Ideology of Value-based Centrist Pragmatism demands voter neutrality. Voters must realize that there is no point in being loyal to any party. Vote for a party that performs, that’s it. It doesn’t matter if a party is left, right or centre, as long as its candidate is a value-based pragmatic centrist and is willing to take measures that can influence HDI and KEI positively.   

India has wasted a lot of time, energy and resources in needless political filibuster for so long. Issues like where a temple or mosque should be, or what’s the religion/caste/surname of a politician, have exhausted Indians. In addition, the politics of fear by present parties is not tolerable at-all, with Congress spreading fear of Hindu fundamentalists, BJP propagating fear of Muslim extremists and the leftists spreading fear of capitalism and religion-by-itself. India needs hope, not fear. Value-based centrist pragmatism ideology enables to have scientific ethical solutions for securing long-term wellbeing of all Indians. Let’s hope the younger generation will not suffer the same political suffocation as the present generation does, and will see a functional political scenario, which is a win/win for all.   

I welcome your comments....

References:

¹NDTV Convergence Limited. (2010). Battle ground Bihar with Prannoy Roy.

²The World Bank Group. (2011). Education in India. Retrieved from (29/12/11):  http://www.worldbank.org.in/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/INDIAEXTN/0,,contentMDK:21493265~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:295584,00.html

Indian Politics from Ideological framework - 1: Understanding the present dysfunction

This article has also been published in Fair Observer: http://www.fairobserver.com/article/indian-politics-understanding-present-dysfunction

Image Courtesy: Vishal Bhatt: www.facebook.com/wizard.vishal  

The present political setup in India is dysfunctional. In order to understand this, it is very important to understand how we have arrived at the present. Here’s the explanation in brief:

In the pre-independence era (before 1947), Indian National Congress was the biggest nationwide political party [see article- The Brief History of Congress Party]. It was thriving on propagating optimistic progressive future vision for all Indians, irrespective of their caste, religion, class, language and any possible divides. Indisputably, Congress was highly inclusive and progressive party in those times.

            Apart from this centrist perspective of Congress, there were rival political ideologies of mainly, Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha and Communist Party, having support in some sections of society. Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha were in a way mirror organizations with respect to religious politics. Muslim League’s efforts were aimed at securing socio-economic rights of Indian Muslims and their politics was based on spreading anti-Hindu propaganda and fear among Muslims – “Support us; else you will be slaves of Hindu Banias and Brahmins for the rest of your lives”. Hindu Mahasabha’s narrative was rightwing, nationalistic and to oppose both divisive Muslim League and inclusive Congress, which attempted to have dialogs with Muslim separatists [Mahasabha deemed such dialog as appeasement]. Whereas, the communists were striving for a socialist political setup and were idealizing Soviet Model. It is noteworthy to mention that all of these parties opposed the widely-popular civil disobedience campaigns led by the Congress Party to achieve Indian independence from British rule. Hatred towards Congress was such great as these parties did not bother forming indirect alliance with the British as these parties not only refrained from participation but also obstructed Congress during the historic Quit India movement of 1942. Despite their tiny stature, these parties helped Congress with establishing a political equilibrium at a centrist perspective, which eventually got ruptured due to partition of India.

            Many historians, political scientists and sociologists have talked a lot about innumerable negative consequences of India’s partition. But, hardly anyone has mentioned its effect on the Congress party. The partition was based on absurd religious divide – naming Muslim majority areas as Pakistan and Hindu majority areas as India. Almost entire Muslim League shifted to Pakistan, which resulted in an Islamic country. And because of nationwide stronghold of Congress, which was centrist, India attained a pluralist democratic structure. Nonetheless, bloody partition had raised rightwing pressure on the political equilibrium. Also, the absence of any significant non-Congress Muslim voice in political sphere had created vacuum for Minority politics. These factors tilted Nehru’s Congress towards left to balance the rising rightist momentum and to protect the rights of the minorities. This point is well supported by an excerpt of a speech in the Loksabha on 21^st December 1955, by Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India¹,

“....if I may venture to lay down a rule, it is primary responsibility of the majority to satisfy the minority in every matter. The majority, by virtue of it's being a majority, has the strength to have its way: it requires no protection. It is a most undesirable custom to give statutory protection to minorities. It is sometimes for example, to backward classes, but it is not good in the long run. It is the duty and responsibility of the majority community, whether in the matter of language or religion, to pay particular attention to what the minority wants and to win it over. The majority is strong enough to crush the minority, which might not be protected. Therefore, whenever such a question arises, I am always in favour of the minority.”

            In this post independence period (in 50’s & 60’s), though India led the ‘non-aligned movement’ due to its enormous moral-power in the world, it was going through a gradual leftist swing silently. This leftist shift of Congress further corroborated as India deepened ties with the (former) Soviet Union. The socialist economic policies were adopted and the state controlled almost all key areas of the country's economy, either centrally or on a state-wise basis. The rigorous state laws and License rules put a great degree of restrain on the free execution of industrial policies. Even the farmers, along with the business personnel, found themselves to be at the receiving end of rigorous state control policies and high taxation². Poverty and unemployment were widespread throughout Nehru's governance. When Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi (or Ghandhy), came to power in 70’s and 80’s, India became more socialists with nationalization of banks and oil and coal industries. The economic picture got further grim. Indira’s commitment to socialism and minority politics is reflected by the fact that earlier India was declared as a sovereign, democratic republic, but in 1977 through constitutional amendments, two terms were added to the preamble of the Indian constitution– ‘secularist and socialist’³. In addition, government policies and programmes increasingly targeted the axis of religion and caste and special privileges were provided to religious minorities and socially backward communities. When incentives are targeted at groups of people based on castes and religion, voters belonging to these groups find incentives to vote as one unit. This political strategy is popularly called as “Vote-Bank Politics”. It is needless to mention that if a strategy works once, it is bound to be repeated again. Congress’ formula was then adopted by various regional parties, each trying to please their respective vote-bank. This regressive election winning strategy, which ignores the big picture of comprehensive long term growth and security, has continued till date by most parties and in most elections.

            However, such political strategy created a vacuum for the right-wing politics. Indian government never really had enough resources to provide services and incentives to entire population. For most part, it ended up favouring religious minorities and socially backward communities. Given the extreme poverty at every level from individual to state in country, policies like – state negligence for Kumbh Mela and subsidies for Hajj travel, negligence of high-caste poor while quotas in jobs and college admissions for religious minorities and backward communities irrespective of their economic conditions- increasingly made the higher caste Hindus wonder about their political representation. Amidst this increasing feeling of political isolation among the people of majority, the Ram temple issue acted as catalyst and rightwing politics gained nationwide momentum in late 80’s and 90’s. One can now easily understand how come Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had won only 2 seats in 1984 Loksabha election, emerged as the biggest party with 187 seats in 1996 election, within the span of only twelve years. And it formed government in 1998 and became the first non-Congress party to complete its full term. It resumed economic reforms, which had begun in 1991 but had stalled after 1996, and established “economic feel good factor”. However, it could not secure win in the following election in 2004. BJP’s loss can be explained in brief as following:

·    It won election from rightist position, but adopted centrist position on most of the issues including Ram temple, Kashmir and relations with Pakistan. This clearly disappointed its right-wing supporters. Publicly expressed differences between BJP and RSS (Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) support this point.

·      Middle class neutral urban masses, who supported BJP with hope of bringing in some change in the political culture, found themselves being betrayed by BJP’s silence and inaction after 2002 Gujarat riots, in which Muslims formed a high proportion of those killed. In addition, Muslims are politically much stronger than many other communities in India and with help of liberal Hindus they have been able to generate a strong nationwide campaign against a few BJP personnel for perceived non-action. [It is noteworthy to mention that more tragic riots have occurred in India in the past. For e.g., anti-Sikh riots in 1984 directly linked to Congress party, ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pundits (Hindus) in 1990 by fundamental Islamists, anti-Hindu & anti-Buddhist violence in North-East by Christian militant organization National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and so on, but they failed to generate such nation-wide relentless agitation due to lack of political muscles.] 

Congress’ leftward shift has left limited room for the leftist parties to gain nationwide significance. However, there has been a newly realized room for Dalit politics in recent years. Since ancient time, Dalits have been at the bottom of the social hierarchy in the Indian society. Congress has always projected itself as a ‘Dalit-friendly’ party, and it has been successful in attracting Dalit candidates and voters to some degree. But, in this decade, Bahujan Samajwadi Party’s (BSP) emergence, as a single majority party in the most populous hence most politically influential state of Uttar Pradesh, has hinted new political permutations. BSP is ideologically a party for Dalits, but it is projecting openness for higher castes and religious minorities in order to realize political expansion. Parties like BSP along with support of leftist parties have potential of creating a third front to have national significance and to challenge Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).  

            Today’s India has supposedly these three choices – UPA, NDA or the third front. The UPA won last two elections in 2004 and 2009, respectively. Its win in 2004 can be attributed to NDA’s failure as explained earlier. In 2009, it won mainly because...

·       increase in economic prosperity, awareness in masses about India’s economic boom, and international praise of India’s growth story created positive momentum despite global financial crises

·    perception of Dr. Manmohan Singh, the prime ministerial candidate, as an honest man in the masses and introduction of historic Right to Information Act helped with establishing image of transparent governance

·       programs like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act helped market pro-poor image of Congress

·       BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Lal Krishna Advani, lacked popular appeal

Present Scenario
     Dr. Singh, who served as finance minister in Narasimha Rao’s government in 1991 and who is an eminent economist, is the person given credit for India’s economic liberalization. During the earlier term, 2004-2009, Congress had restricted degree of freedom to implement financial reforms as it needed support of the left-parties to stay in power. But, this time it had enough seats and faced no such limitations. Naturally, people were having high expectations for economic reforms. However, almost all those expectations have fallen flat so far with no significant reforms at all. The government is crippled with one scam after another coming out in public. By all accounts, it is perceived to be one of the most corrupt governments of Indian history. The Congress is completely clueless while dealing with corruption and repeatedly its claims of clean governance have proved wrong. Whenever it is attacked, it counter attacks BJP and other parties and cites alleged charges on their personnel, but fails to respond to charges against itself. In addition, it goes back to the minority politics card, projecting itself as the only inclusive nationwide party, while attacking its major rival BJP of communal polarization. It is repeatedly failing to understand that by doing so, it is only getting further away from the majority, corroborating the widespread perception about itself as ‘minority appeasing party’. Moreover, Congress has still not succeeded in coming out of the image of ‘party of political dynasty’. It simply is unable to function independently, without support of Nehru-Gandhi family. How can a party establish meritocracy in country, if it chooses ministerial candidates who are either from a particular family or loyalist to that family?

               One the other hand, BJP is a highly confused party. It calls itself a rightist party but takes rightist, centrist or even leftist positions on different issues. For e.g., it opposed to nuclear deal with the US and opening up of the retail sector, issues that a rightist party would initiate. It also changes its stance on the same issue depending on whether it is in power or in opposition. For e.g., on Kashmir issue, Vajpayee, former Prime Minister when BJP formed government, advocated dialog with all stakeholders including Pakistan. But, since BJP has shifted to opposition it has taken a hard-line approach and is completely against any kinds of dialog with Pakistan. More importantly, it is in dilemma about what ‘Hindutva’ is and finds it difficult to discuss issues like demolition of Babri Masjid and rightwing radicalism. It seems that it has realized that in order to have majority, it cannot afford to make minorities feel insecure. But, by trying not to take stand against minorities; it disappoints its right-wing fundamentalist supporters. Thus, BJP is walking on a more thin ice. Though BJP led NDA’s governments in various states are doing much better than Congress governed states, it desperately needs a strong leader in Delhi to help re-establish connection with the masses like Vajpayee had.

            The Third-Front is too fragile at present and it is not yet empowered enough to challenge either UPA or NDA. In addition, the poor performance of the leftist parties in the recent elections has decreased their national significance. Some regional parties having bad experiences of both Congress and BJP usually join this front. And in the past, such coalitions have formed governments but remained unstable, as parties would withdraw support if their demands are not met.  

            Given these three options – 1) corrupt and minority subservient UPA 2) confused and faceless NDA and 3) all of the above with higher instability the Third Front; and all three focusing on respective vote banks rather than on all of Indians; I strongly believe the present political setup in India is dysfunctional.       

Then what is the way out? See article my next article: Solutions through Value-based Centrist Pragmatism

I welcome your comments....

Reference:

¹Kar, S. B. (2011). Nehru and communalism. Orissa Review. Retrieved from: http://orissa.gov.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/2011/Jan/engpdf/55-56.pdf

²Economic Policies of Jawaharlal Nehru. Retrieved from: http://www.mapsofindia.com/personalities/nehru/economic-policies.html

³Forty-Second Amendment to the Constitution. Ministry of Law and Justice of India. 28 August 1976. Retrieved from (25/12/2011):  http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend42.htm.

Decoding the success of “Why this Kolavari Di”

                                                                                                              Image Courtesy:     http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article2650957.ece

Recently released song “Why this kolaveri di”, which has gone viral on the internet, consists of some crucial factors, which make it a super-hit song quite naturally, like – extremely catchy composition, rhythm that sounds like Indian-pulse, and very simple yet highly creative lyrics. In addition, simplified English has succeeded in reaching to the masses like never before, while bridging the south and the north. Many people have written on such factors, but none has mentioned the factor that I feel is the crux of its success. After reading this article, it should not be a puzzle any more why this song of the upcoming Tamil-movie “3” received nearly 3million hits on its Youtube page in just one week. Here’s why:

People of India (and of the world) are biased, especially when it comes to “gender”. Large scale organizations are functioning to support women in every part of the country. Everyone has simply assumed that male is a dominant creature and the poor female needs to be empowered to secure her rights. As a result, we have laws that favour female, and we have created a society that severely discriminates against men. The feminists would argue that look at the number of crimes against women ranging from dowry, rape to home violence. The answer is simple – “Please don’t generalize”. There are unfortunate crimes and let’s make our country more secure place for everyone, but it is highly pitiful to feed into the public perception that the villain is always a man. Imagine what will happen to a young guy if he’s involved in an accident with a lady (of any age). Without a doubt, no one would give even one chance to the boy to tell his side of the story, and the people would beat him until some miracle happens and the guy finds a chance to abscond. This is a classic case of gender discrimination that boys face.

The biggest adversaries are the “good” guys. I would define a Good Guy (GG) as someone who always respects a woman and has no wishes to play games with her emotions. One, who does not qualify to be a GG, is a Bad Guy (BG). Because, the society and especially girls do not have any mechanism to identify GGs from the pool of BGs, GGs end up being (mis)treated as BGs. I have always been a GG (certified by my wife), hence I can safely write the following memo on behalf of all GGs to the “Beautiful Girl”, who either mercilessly dumps a GG or does not even bother having a GG in life.

“We, the good guys, very well understand the Bad Guys around, and why/what they are hunting for. But, we fail to understand why you give so much of importance to the BGs. We focus on studies and career only because we can provide shelter and security (physical, economical, social and so on) to you in future. Things are so unclear and uncertain. We don’t know what career we shall have, what will be our salary or how we’ll take care of family. And because we are GGs, we consider our parents and siblings (of both-sides, ours and yours) as part of our family, not just me, you and our children. In addition, we also care for the betterment of the state and country and the world we live in. Amidst all these daunting challenges of future responsibilities, we remain committed to you. You also know we won’t cheat on you. But, despite all of our truthfulness and candour, you end up having a relationship with a BG. You make us realize “love is not just blind, but it is highly foolish”. And “love becomes deaf” when you won’t listen to any of our warnings. We would silently walk out of your life wishing, truly, the very best for you”.

W

hy this Kolaveri Di is a song that brilliantly touches the gist of this feeling of millions of GGs, also called “soup boys”, who end up being dumped or remain being ignored and could never really figure out the why of "di's kolaveri”, which means girl's murderous rage. Actor, singer and lyricist of the song, Dhanush begins with, "Yo boys I am sing song... a soup song", the words that clearly support the analyses presented here. This song has given voice to those millions of GGs, who always remained respectful, committed and faithful yet received only kolavari, who otherwise were scattered around the corners of the world attempting to understand that “why” in isolation and loneliness. This song has not answered that “why”, but it has assured them that they are not alone; there are millions of them. GGs have finally found some resonance in the form of this song that there is nothing wrong with them. Perhaps it is the fate of that particular girl with the “black” heart, which makes her a BG (Bad Girl), one who does not respect man and wishes to play games with his emotions, and a better match with a Bad Guy.  A Good Guy on one the hand is discriminated for the ills done by the Bad Guys, and on the other hand looses the girl as she opts for a BG over him. This is indeed a tragedy. The last few lines of the song go like this:

"God-u I am dying now-u,

She is happy how-u?

This-u song-u for soup-boys-u,

We don't have choice-u...."

In the end, the background music in Shehnai* like tone, giving the hint of what could have happened otherwise, clearly underscores the acme of irony. Unfortunately, the masses are unlikely to understand this endemic pain of GGs and will find their heartbreak amusing. No wonder people call “why this kolaveri di” a funny song.        

You decide:

(Courtesy: Sony Music India SME. Video shot during the recording of the song with the music composer Anirudh,Dhanush,Shruti Hassan, Aishwarya and Sound Engineer Sivakumar)

I welcome your comments....

*Shehnai is often played in traditional Indian weddings (at least in movies)...

Smart readers must have identified serious logical flaws in the article. The fact is that this article is for an intellectual entertainment, and no logic is needed for liking a song. Have fun and enjoy the music... Cheers :D

For meaning of Why This Kolaveri Di? Song Lyrics: http://buffernews.com/6585/meaning-kolaveri-di-song-lyrics

Expectations from Ghayal Returns

Image Courtesy: http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article2096213.ece

Ghayal-fans must be aware of its sequel movie, Ghayal Returns, which is scheduled to be released in 2012. I sincerely hope it is not simply “just-another action-entertainment” movie. Ghayal has been a very special movie for me. And I wish that whosoever is making its sequel is mindful of its core elements. In this article I shall share my story to explain why Ghayal is so personal to me and what I think its core elements are.

If I am asked to list movies that impacted my life profoundly, Ghayal would easily top the list. I remember quite well that I was in first standard, when this movie was released.  I along with my whole family (i.e., my parents, elder brother, all uncles, aunts and my cousins; about 15 people in total), had gone to drive-in cinema in Ahmedabad. It was my first ever “drive-in cinema” experience, and I still have a few glimpses of that visit enshrined in memory. 
[Note: For summary of story of Ghayal click: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghayal_(1990_film)]

At that time, quite obviously, I did not understand the story but something was telling me from inside- “this is something extraordinary”. I don’t remember exactly what was going through my mind while watching the movie, but I am absolutely sure about the effect it generated in me afterwards. For several days the movie scenes were repeatedly being played in my mind. Movie had raised a lot of questions – “can a system be so unjust? What can one do when the system itself is rotten? What will I do, if I face such situations of systematic injustice?” My five year old mind had concluded that I had to be physically strong and powerful like Ajay Mehra (Sunny Deol) to fight against villains like Balawant Rai. Nobody in my home exercised, so I started exercising in private, keeping doors closed of my room, to develop a muscular physic like Ajay Mehra.

In my school, Vishwabharati at Shahpur, I and my friends started forming a gang like Ajay had. I remember some of my close gang members’ names - Suhel, Robin, Harshid, Wasim (there were others but I have forgotten names). Unstated primary objective of our gang was to secure the territory of our classroom-lobby in the recess-time from big-boys (students of std 2 and above). The problem was that all classes had shared balcony, and the big boys would play in the whole portion leaving no space for us. And whenever, a first-grader (my class) would get in the way of the big boys, they would beat him with no-mercy. This was completely unfair to us, just because they were more powerful one-on-one. There was no point in complaining to the teachers, as they had hundreds of complaints everyday and their response was no different than that of Police-Commissionaire to Ajay– “I’ll look into the matter”. We had then decided to defend the portion of balcony that covered our class-room (we called it ‘our part’). We would guard the borders of our part and if a big boy infiltrated, we would all strike simultaneously, needless to say, with no-mercy. Within a few days the big boys started respecting our portion and us, as they had self-experienced our collective strength. Gradually, we started providing protection to our classmates, who might have received threats from big-boys of getting beaten up. Also, we gained so much courage that if any of our classmates was beaten, we would enter big-boys’ territory and knock down the perpetrator in front of girls of their class. Quite obviously, my name started appearing in the complaint list. And in the 3^rd standard, my parents decided to change my school. The new school, Abhijat Shishuvihar, had students of completely different background. My class had 15 girls and 2 boys and almost no fights. All my high adrenaline adventures died down.

As I grew up, I have turned to socially acceptable and legal ways of fighting systematic injustice. But the fire that keeps me going is fueled by the core elements of Ghayal, which I have seen countless times over all these years. This movie has made me not to forget any acts of systematic injustice to me or to anyone else. An incidence of systematic injustice gets recorded in my long term memory as it happens, and then I strive to gain strength to be able to fight the system and to change it forever. In one of scenes of Ghayal, inspector Sharma slaps an innocent collegian just to show his police-power. Ajay calmly walks a few steps to pick up the boy’s specs and gives it back to him saying – “Is chot ko apne dil aur dimaag par kayam rakhna. Kal yahi aansu kranti ka sailaab bankar is mulk ki sari gandagiko baha lejayenge”. [Always remember this blow in your heart and mind. Tomorrow, these same tears will turn into the tides of revolution and flood out all dirt of this country.]       

Recording of such pain is especially important for making our world a better place. It is very likely that in current circumstances we may not be in position to respond to systematic violence and injustice, but we have to wait till we gain required strength to respond. We ought not to forget such events. We shall be able to focus our actions on fight against systematic injustice, if we constantly are mindful of it. So that nobody in future has to suffer what we had to or what people of our times had to suffer. When Varsha (Meenakshi Sheshadri) asks Ajay if killing Balawant Rai is the correct solution, Ajay responds, “It’s not about me or my family. I agree that it will not restore the happiness of this home, but it will surely save many more families”. This point puts this movie to a completely different level. It is not simply a story of revenge, but it goes far beyond than that. It is a story of securing lives of vulnerable and at-risk families, who could easily fall into the trap of big drug mafia like Balawant Rai, who otherwise pretends to be a white-color businessman in public. 

In addition, every rotten system has at least one dedicated official of high integrity. This is underscored by the character of Assistant Commissionaire of Police, Mr. D’ Souza, performed by Om Puri. Systemic reform is best possible when both upward and downward pressures are applied simultaneously, when people inside the system are as frustrated (if not more) as people outside the system. An epic dialog of ACP D’ Souza goes like this – “Jab bhi Kanoon ke haatho insaaf ka khoon hoga, ek naya Ajay paida hoga”. [Whenever legal system will perpetrate injustice, a new Ajay will born.]  

I was also struck by Varsha's character performed by Meenakshi Sheshadri. Her dedication and unconditional love was Ajay's biggest strength. It made me realize the importance of people who love and care for us. No matter how hard you try, you are going to need support; and you need to value and cherish people committed to you and your cause. How can anyone understate the contribution of Ajay's gang members, who fought on his side till their last breath? And in the final scene, when Ajay was captured by the police and had absolutely no possibility of accomplishing his mission, it was Varsha who generated an opportunity for him.  

For me, Ghayal is much more than smashing dialogues or thrilling action sequences. This movie had convinced my five year old mind that one man can stand up against the system and emerge as a triumphant reformist. Whenever, I see Ghayal, my that belief is corroborated and strengthened. For the world it is Director Rajkumar Santoshi's or lead actor Sunny Deol's film, but I have always considered it mine. [Deep inside me, I felt being ignored, they did not even consult me before deciding to make its sequel!!!] 
I am looking forward to Ghayal Returns that reinforces these powerful character-values with a newer story-line.  

I welcome your comments....

Call of duty for Science Teachers in India

[This article has also been published in Teacher Plus magazine: http://www.teacherplus.org/classroom-update/teaching-research-skills]                        

                                     Image Courtesy: Vishawabharati English Medium School, Ahmedabad

Science teachers of India have one of the toughest challenges in today’s times. Let me explain:

At the World Economic Forum-2011 in Davos, almost all of the eminent economists appeared to be agreeing on one particular point: a country with a strong “knowledge-economy” will take global leadership in the coming times. The heart of “knowledge-economy” is progress in science and research. America, European Union, China, and Japan are firmly marching forward in this direction. However, in the present scenario, India is lagging behind by a great margin. According to Science Report-2010 published by UNESCO, India’s contribution to the world research publication is only 3.7 per cent, whereas China’s contribution is 10.6 per cent and the United States’ contribution is 27.7 per cent. In global patents, India’s share is merely 0.5 per cent (USPTO patents), whereas China’s share is 4.7 per cent and the US’ share is massive 52.2 per cent. Though 16 per cent of the world’s population resides in India, only 2.2 per cent of scientific researchers of the world hold Indian citizenship. In addition, for every one million of population, India has only 137 scientific researchers; this is outnumbered many times by all of the developed countries and many of the developing nations (for e.g., China -1070, US -4663, and Japan - 5573).

Will India participate in the global competition and give a tough challenge? In the present times, the economic rise is making Indians increasingly optimistic about their future. However, in order to sustain high GDP growth rates for longer duration, India must generate a large pool of globally competent scientific researchers, whose work will drive future industries. As per UNESCO’s Science Report 2010, one of the biggest challenges for India in the coming years will be to revolutionarily improve both quantity and quality of scientists and researchers. The development of this much needed human resource is rooted in the science classrooms of our schools. And, the science teachers are directly shaping our presumably future scientists. The competition is no more between the GDP numbers, but is between the science teachers of various nations. India will out-pace China and America, if the Indian science teachers out-educate the Chinese and the American teachers. The Indian science teachers, truly, have one of the toughest challenges on their hands.

The challenge is tough, but not impossible. This will require a paradigm shift in teaching practices. Since I have taught Physics both in India and US for about two years, I shall more specifically talk about physics-teaching. [Note: The ideas presented here can be applied to many other faculties of science, and up to a certain extend to social-science as well.] When we have this broader goal of nurturing future scientists, teaching a child mere physics-content is not enough. The students must be taught research skills. They should be taught to approach the scientific concepts/problems the way physicists do. Development of scientific attitude and thinking pattern in students is of utmost importance for the future success in knowledge development of their respective field of interest.

Usually, a researcher follows the following steps:

1. Identify & Define Problem

2. Literature Review

3. Form Hypothesis

4. Methodology & Data Collection

5. Analyze Data & Produce Results

6. Explain Results & Draw Conclusions

7. Provide directions for further research

Physics teachers are in a great position to help students acquire these skills. Let us see how we can do this with an example — the experiment of the verification of Ohm’s law (Chapter 12, Class 10, NCERT):

1.         Identify & Define Problem: Students will define the problem. For this, they will identify variables that may play an effective role in a particular physical phenomenon. The teacher should direct inquiry through questions and discussions.

·      In our case: To study the relation between potential difference and current in a closed electric circuit (verification of Ohm’s Law).

2.         Literature Review: In this process, students gain relevant background knowledge about the problem. They may explore knowledge-resources (e.g., text/reference books, websites, or audio-video sources) for getting deeper understanding of the problem presented to them. Preferably, the teacher should encourage library-work with well-defined time limits, and if required, should provide resources (i.e., books, websites, etc.) as well. At the end of this session, the teacher should discuss the basic concepts to make sure no student skips this step.

·          In our case: Students will have the knowledge and understanding of Ohm’s law and will get familiar with relevant terminologies (i.e., potential difference, current, resistance, electric circuits).

3.         Form Hypothesis: Students will be asked to form hypothesis with scientific rationale based on the literature review. Formation of hypothesis requires understanding of - (a) variables and constants pertaining to the problem, and (b) the relation between variables. There can be many different hypotheses and explanations for a single problem.

·           In our case: “As voltage (V) increases, while maintaining constant resistance, the current (I) will increase”.

Rationale: According to Ohm’s law, the potential difference across resistor is directly proportional to current. In addition, the metal wire used as the resistor will provide constant resistance as its temperature is constant.

4.         Methodology & Data Collection: Based on their hypothesis, students will identify independent (V) and dependent (I) variables and constant parameters. They will list the apparatus needed to test their hypothesis, devise a method-plan, and prepare an observation table. The teacher’s role is to facilitate this autonomous process and to probe questions. The teacher should direct students’ attention to their hypothesis and to the literature as required. Once scientifically correct method-plan is devised, students can collect data.

5.         Analyze Data & Produce Results: Students can always refer to the literature as needed.

6.         Explain Results & Conclusion: Students should justify their results and conclude their experiment.

7.    Experiment analysis: Students should mention limitations of their experiment and suggest steps for improvements.

In the above exercise, defining a problem, literature review, hypothesis development, identification of constants & dependent/independent variables, method-plan preparation and justification for results are very vital steps. These steps are the crux of inquiry and development of science. Unfortunately, in our schools, students hardly get any opportunity for such intellectual exercise. During experiment sessions, in most schools, students simply follow method-steps mechanically, calculate results, and copy everything in a journal. Such a practice may work for getting high results in “cram and crack” exams, but it does absolutely nothing to promote scientific inquiry. This must be changed.

            Inquiry-based approach is applicable in regular classes as well. While teaching, teachers should emphasize on the following features of classroom inquiry:

·         engage learner in scientifically oriented questions

·         give priority to evidence in responding to questions and formation of hypothesis (warrant responses with scientific rationale)

·         learner should formulate explanation from evidence

·         learner should connect explanation to scientific knowledge and justify explanation

Group activities and demonstrations, along with scientific discussions, should be maximized in classrooms in order to encourage students to think critically. Now, lecture method alone will not work. There has to be a two-way communication, where students are active participants and can challenge the teacher. Physics should be talked in class – how concepts were evolved, how/why theories were tested and added to the pool of scientific knowledge, how/why theories were refuted, how theories are interlinked and how they are related to the real world.

In addition, physics problem solving sessions can be divided in steps to make critical scientific thinking of students more evident:

1.      Explain problem in your words with appropriate figure

2.   Devise strategy (how will you solve the problem): Students will write problem-solving strategy briefly. In order to control the effect of student’s memory on scientific process, a teacher may give multiple equations and students may choose appropriate equation for devising strategy.

3.      Calculations & results

Here again, I would give higher value to steps 1 & 2, which are essential elements of scientific approach to problem-solving. However, our schools solely focus on step 3, which saddens me. I do not mean that calculation is not important. It is important, but it should not out-value the other vital scientific steps. Suppose the total score of a problem-sum is 10, I would allocate score-value of 3, 3, & 4 for steps 1, 2, & 3, respectively. It is time our high school students use softwares like Mathematica and Matlab, and scientific calculators, so that their class-time is utilized in other aspects of learning rather than mere calculations. In addition, they must be engaged in solving physics problems using computer programming, mainly, in FORTRAN or C language (recommended through personal communication by Ketan Patel, Senior Research Fellow, PRL; & Dhiraj Shah, Research Fellow, ISRO). In research labs, these softwares and languages are widely used; and nobody hand-calculates on paper.

            I totally understand the practical difficulties that a teacher might face while implementing inquiry-based approach in teaching. Based on my personal experiences, three factors play a major role:

·         Lack of Resources:

o   Physical Resources: Activities, demonstrations, and experiments ---- all of these require relevant apparatus and infrastructure. The list may go on to reference books, audio-video equipment, CDs/DVDs, computers with high speed internet connectivity, softwares and so on. In a developing country like India, resource-constraint has been a great challenge when it comes to implementing something on a large scale.

o   Time: Most of the Indian schools have class-period of 30-35 minutes. This is just not sufficient for inquiry-based lesson plans. Tapping into prior knowledge of students, activities/demonstrations, group discussions, teacher-explanation, and note-taking may require, at least, 45mins - 1hr. In addition, the experimental sessions (as described previously) may require about 2-3hrs.

·         Lack of Autonomy: It is possible that the school administrators or parents are not convinced with the newer teaching approach; and they may voice objection. This can be very frustrating and demotivating for teachers.  

·         Lack of Competence: Most of the teacher training colleges never discuss “how to teach research skills”. Hence, it is very likely that even trained teachers lack knowledge and skills that this approach demands. However, as professionals, it is the duty of the teachers to develop the required skills and stay updated to remain globally competent. I would also suggest teachers to develop some political skills like – persuasion, negotiations, and lobbying. These skills can help them tackle the previous two impeding factors (i.e., lack of resources & lack of autonomy). 

            Coming back to the broader question— will India become a global leader? Our teachers may not be the only contributing factor to India’s rise, but they surely are one of the most important ones. If we are able to provide research experiences in our classrooms, I see bright possibilities. I wish our teachers all the very best – ‘You have always been the unsung heroes; and today again, you are asked to heavy-lift India’s great optimism for its future’.   

I welcome your comments....