Gujarat Elections II: Incumbent Modi may retain Power, Thanks to his Opponents

Note: A modified version of this article is published in Fair Observer, international magazine: Read here 

Courtesy: Modi's Blog

Usually, elections in India’s western state of Gujarat would get headlines in national media for only a couple of days and would have little relevance to the national politics. However, things have changed in recent elections. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has rose to great political heights and is considered a strong prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. As a result, the upcoming Gujarat polls are getting unprecedented coverage in national and international media.  

Modi’s rise has much to do with his projection of mutually incompatible personality-traits. Over these years, he has succeeded in polarizing masses into two camps –Pro-Modi or Anti-Modi, not just in Gujarat but in India as well. For ‘pro’ camp, Modi is a rockstar politician, a future prime minister, a reincarnation of Sardar Patel who integrated India; the one who will turn Ahmedabad into Singapore, Surat into Hong Kong, Katch into Dubai, and Dholera into New York, keeping the soul subtly Gujarati. On the other hand, the Anti-Modi camp considers Modi an arrogant vindictive capitalist autocrat who wants to control everything by repressing all others of equal or higher competence and a reincarnation of Hitler with Hindu identity and anti-Muslim agenda. The anti-Modi perception mainly stems from his alleged in-action during post-Godhra riots; while the pro-Modi perception is due to his administration’s governance and economic development in state.

The rise of Modi’s popularity can partly be attributed to the nonstop negative reporting on him for many years in national media. Apparently, anti-Modi camp has had louder voice at least in Delhi-based English media. However, as years passed, Gujarat’s economy and infrastructure grew steadily. Modi administration begged occasional headlines for its good governance. In addition, no allegations against Modi have been proved in the court of law so far. It is obvious for the common citizens to be curious about Modi, as despite loud anti-Modi buzz in the media there was no charge-sheet filed against him and simultaneously his government received accolades nationally and internationally. Then Modi’s marketing genius came into the play. With the spread of internet and social networking, Modi found a medium for connecting directly with people. Unlike his opponents, he has the oratory-skills to connect with the intellectuals as well as the masses and shares all of his speeches on his youtube-channel. When he addresses the investor-summit, he talks about state’s business friendly policies and infrastructural facilities; while addressing farmers, he talks about irrigation techniques, soil-analysis and water preservation – in-short, Modi does his homework well. It is possible that many of those who had only presumed Modi to be a demon saw his human side and were sold by seeing a politician talking about developmental vision, which is very rare in India. In total, Modi was infamous earlier, but he managed to convert that into his glory through bringing in the discourse of “development”. By all accounts, Modi is the most followed Indian politician on the internet.

However, just as fixation on “anti-Modi” sentiments was problematic, branding of a politician by attributing entire state’s success-story to him is unfortunate. Gujarat BJP and the pro-Modi mob have created a “Modi” brand of politics, which links every achievement of Gujarat to Modi, the poster man. Even when there is no election, Modi-posters are everywhere: on hoardings across cities, on government websites and reports, and even on government distributed school-begs of elementary children. It is especially interesting because the BJP boasts of its Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) roots where the team-spirit is central phenomenon. But, in Gujarat, BJP itself has turned into a person-centered party, while it continues to criticize the Congress for being family-centered at the national level. In addition, over the years most of the senior BJP members have been either kicked out or have resigned from the party on their own. This, in a way reflects Modi’s intolerance for a second voice in his party, at least, in Gujarat.

Many of the BJP rebels, including ex-Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, have formed a new party- Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP). This party hopes to beg some traditionally BJP strongholds especially in the region of Saurashtra. Its campaign is anti-Modi for obvious reasons, but they do not provide alternate vision for Gujarat’s progress.

The largest opposition party, the Congress is in reactive mode. Whatever Modi does, the Congress reacts to it. There is no proactive thinking or action. Moreover, it is repeatedly shooting self-goals by its plagiarized ad-campaigns, using abusive language and simply trying to catch up with BJP. Instead of taking on Modi administration’s policy decisions and tabling better plans, Congress still lives in historic era where politicians would promise “free-stuff” to illiterate masses. Only difference is that now it is offering free laptops to the youth. To add to their pain, the congress led central government is performing miserably and is perceived to be the most corrupt Indian government to date. In conclusion, the Congress has serious problems with credibility, leadership and (lack of) vision.

It is not that Modi is invincible. His government has many flaws. Gujarat is far from developed. There are serious problems pertaining to public-health, education, and food security, issues that really matter to the people. Though Modi has published a book on Gujarat’s efforts to tackle global warming, it is difficult to breath in cities during rush hours because of immense air-pollution. Modi boasts of 24X7 uninterrupted power supply to the entire state, but in reality even in the second biggest city Surat receives power cuts at least 3-4times/week by Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB). In addition, there are serious corruption charges on Modi administration whether it be fisheries scam, Adani land scam or oil and gas scam. If the opposition can get its act together, give a plan of action for producing inclusive growth-rate of 10%, generate employment and create quality educational institutions at every-level, bring-in investment and make agriculture more productive, the people will give serious consideration to it. The Gujaratis would be happy to vote Modi out, if they have a better alternate. In present scenario, there is no other politician in Gujarat who is at par with Modi. His opposition is out of touch with the ground realities. There are clear indicators suggesting that 54% of voters are youth, who find very little resonance with either Congress or GPP.

Modi is a shrewd politician. He is increasingly using Hindi rather than Gujarati, indicating that he is definitely looking beyond Gujarat. While others remain silent spectators attempting to decode him, Modi has already begun his national campaign for 2014, it seems. Even if he falls, he knows how to use it to gain sympathies of masses. This election is definitely going to affect political permutations and combinations at the center.   

Gujarat Election- 2012 Special

I am unlikely to cast my vote in this upcoming state election, since I am out of the country. But, I have been keen observer of Gujarat; and in this post I’d like to present some ideas to the fellow Gujarati voters. 

Image Courtesy: http://www.mapsofindia.com/gujarat/

When I see Gujarat today, I find mainly two types of people: 1) Political loyalists, and 2) People who don’t give a s#!t to politics.  

Political loyalists are the one who have jumped in the camps of one or the other political party (e.g., BJP, Congress, or GPP etc). Caution- I’m talking about common voters and not party workers. These loyalists look at all issues very superficially and dichotomize everything in ‘us and them’. Unfortunately, the past decade has been such that almost entire Gujarat has turned into Political loyalist, mainly because of the severe public castigation and praise of Narendra Modi, the chief minister. This guy has completely polarized my Gujarat into two camps –Pro-Modi or Anti-Modi. Whatever the issue is, the Pro-Modi camp only has praise for the Modi-administration, and the Anti-Modi camp –criticism. In this constant battle over the past decade, the intellect and rationality have mostly remained absent from the political discourse.

For pro people, Modi is a rockstar politician, a future prime minister, a super hero, a reincarnation of Sardar Patel or possibly Vivekanand; the one who will turn Ahmedabad into Singapore, Surat into Hong Kong, Katch into Dubai, Dholera into New York, and so on (of course, keeping the soul subtly Gujarati). On the other hand, the Anti-Modi camp considers Modi an arrogant vindictive capitalist autocrat who wants to control everything brutally repressing all others of equal or higher competence, who is a Saffron-Nazi, a reincarnation of Hitler with Hindu identity and anti-Muslim agenda. (In another article, I have explained the reason for this polarization. To read Click here.)

It’s obvious that both these perceptions are incompatible – how can a person be both - Patel and Hitler!!! If we go deeper, it’s not so difficult to understand: ‘Though the reality is one, it has many dimensions’. Accordingly, though Modi is one, his persona has many dimensions. The problem arises and the lack of understanding becomes explicit when people pick and chose a few dimensions and present that as an entirety of Modi or his administrations. Projecting Modi or his administration as either extreme standpoint is just not fair to Modi, his administration, his opposition, or to the people of Gujarat.

It is worthy of mention that political loyalty to Congress has diminished in Gujarat. Whatever support Congress harnesses, it mainly stems from Anti-Modi sentiments. Those who are unable to find any resonance with Congress are now turning to the newly formed Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP), formed by ex-BJP leaders.

The other type of voters, people who don’t give a s#!t to politics, may not even bother voting. Enough has been said and written by many to engage people in political discourse constructively. I have only one question for these “I hate politics" people: What makes you think you deserve to live in a democracy???  

So, what kind of voters do we need?

Today we need voters, who support parties based on issues. For example, I totally support Modi’s Gunotsav program for accountability in public education. Though there are areas of improvement (e.g., raw data-files must be public), but it’s much better than nothing. However, I find Modi’s views on Pakistan very amusing, especially his speech on “Mia Musharraf”. I also don’t like that BJP has turned into one man show in Gujarat. In his speeches Modi gives credit to the “Team”. What is this “Team”? Faces in the team are never revealed; and in the end all credit is granted to Modi, the poster-man.

Let’s look at the candidates in our polling station. Let’s check their criminal background, and the assets that they have. It’s a slap on the face of the voters’ prudence when a politician with criminal charges, as in the case of Amit Shah of BJP, wants to fight election and is sure of victory. Let’s force politicians to reveal their concrete plan of action for the next five years (I highly doubt if they prepare any plans, but at least they’ll think momentarily). Finally, let’s ask politicians how they plan to balance the budget. Increasing debt is not only foolish, but is criminal in nature for future generations. And last but not the least, let’s question politicians at every possible forum. Gujarat is the economic engine of India. Now is the time, we should lead India with political intellect. Perhaps something greater will unfold in the 2014 Loksabha elections.

The Global Beings: Binding the Humanity

Human societies have always encountered divisions based on religion, caste, race, gender, colour, economic class, nationality, and language and so on. Whenever I come across contents of hate-speeches, abuses, violent events, and wars, some difficult questions resurface and drag me into never ending internal struggle – stuck with thoughts meeting dead ends. I often wonder – given all divisive forces that are so prevalent in human societies, why don’t we, the human beings, fight all the time? If all of us have so much of hatred for one another, why don’t we just call for all-out war and finish each other off? Why do we sustain?

If we go deeper into the question – “why conflict exists”, it is apparent that there are at least two perspectives on any topic of interest. When we are unable to find a common element which holds both perspectives together, the conflict arises. In other words, conflict is born out of incompatibility of different perspectives. Let’s see a very simplistic example: a wife wants to watch a romantic movie with her husband, whereas the husband wants to watch sports on TV. Both options are not feasible, and the conflict has generated. The question remains how the couple responds to the incompatibility – who holds on to the personal desire and who accommodates the other person’s choice. 

Conflicts are inevitable. It is just impossible for us to have compatible perspectives all the time with everyone. Therefore, whether we spend energy fighting with each other or collaborate for taking the mankind forward depends on how we respond to the conflicts. The zone in which we respond with kindness and consideration, I shall call it “conflict-free” zone. Different people have different areas of conflict-free zones. The figure (below) shows possible categories of conflict-free zones. As we move in upward direction from “I” to “Global Being”, the area of conflict-free zone widens. 

            People in “Myself” category are ready to pick up fights with all others who have incompatible perspective with their own. They are unwilling to identify any common grounds between themselves and others. They can be highly self-centred and egoist.

At level two, lies people concerned only for their family. These people are willing for resolving all conflicts within their “family” peacefully; but can neither forget nor forgive anyone outside of it. A conflict with a non-family member results into never ending battle for this category people.

On similar lines, “My Caste/ State/ Language/ Gender/ Religion/ Nation” people proactively lookout for conflict resolution within those respective boundaries. They invest all their resources not only for resolving conflicts within zone-people, but for fighting against the “other sides”.  

People in all the categories so far dichotomize the human population in – “I” & “You, or “We” & “Them”. The focus is almost always on –“We are not like them; and they are not like us”. The “others” are always demonized and considered as the existential threat. The aggressive response to the conflict is often justified by “victim” mentality. People rationalize their prejudices that lead to aggressive reaction saying –“We are victims of their deeds. We were better off in the past; and they tarnished us. Whatever we are suffering is because of them” – and so on.  Once this is understood, it is not difficult to understand the genesis of hate-speeches, abuses, violent events, and wars that we see in the world today.

The biggest challenge for the mankind is then revealed –“Can a human being rise above these dichotomies of ‘we’ and ‘them’?” So far, a very few have taken up this challenge in the history of mankind. Though small in number, these people have had the biggest impact on the human societies. An individual who takes up this challenge is called “The Global Being”. Instead of getting trapped into the cycles of revenge and violence, these people work towards conflict resolutions by identifying compatible long-term interests.  They recognize the binding forces and succeed in transcending all divides.  They realize the higher dimension of life that links them to all fellow human-beings; and feel for them, share their suffering, pain, joy, and love. As long as these “Global Beings” exist, the human society will sustain. The peace and harmony will triumph over war and hatred.

So next time when you face a conflict outside your “conflict-free zone”, here’s the challenge – Can you rise beyond that zone?  

Global Peace: A Delusion at Present

Have you ever wondered why we human beings have not been able to achieve global peace? Our technological advancement has been terrific, but why have we not learnt to co-exist peacefully? Why some or the other region in the world has to be a “conflict zone”? 

 Courtesy:  http://www.oxfam.org/en/content/2012-g8-summit-camp-david-maryland

The answer is simple: Peace does not help generate money for the ruling class. 

Leaders of countries with “conflict zone” are short sighted, corrupt, self-indulgent, incompetent or all of that and continue ‘kicking the can down the road’, neglecting steps for the real solutions. This is the scenario in most of the developing countries with conflicts.

Whereas, leaders in “conflict-free” countries need conflict in other countries to drive their economy. Check the list of ‘Top Arms Exporters’ (Ref: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2012. http://www.sipri.org/googlemaps/2012_of_at_top_20_exp_map.html):

1. USA

2. Russia

3. Germany

4. France

5. United Kingdom

6. China

7. Spain

8. Netherlands

9. Italy

10. Israel

If there is peace in the world, who will buy the arms? The list is full of “developed nations” (except China, Russia which fall in developing category). All these nations often look out for excuses to intervene in other countries’ conflicts. In the name of “peace”, “democracy” and “freedom”, they often generate more complexities by providing arms to rival groups, fueling the conflicts; for example: almost all wars around the world after IInd World War. Interestingly, all five permanent members of UN Security Council are topping this list of the arms sellers.

No wonder, global peace is a delusion in the present world order.

See this interactive world map of conflict zones:

http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/peace/conflictmap/conflictmap.html

Slide the arrow to see how number of conflicts has increased in recent times.

India: A Country of Cheap Public-Gossips

There is nothing called public discourse in India; what exists is public-gossips. I may sound cynical, but I am simply frustrated by the complete silence in media/public forums on the issues that matter to the people– issues that are related to the development of people and their quality of life – how India is generating resources and preparing itself for the present and future challenges – what systematic reforms are required and carried out in order to establish transparency and accountability at each level of governance. The Planning Commission of India lists “Twelve Strategy Challenges” for the 12th five year plan (2012-17):

1. Enhancing the Capacity for Growth

2. Enhancing Skills and Faster Generation of Employment

3. Managing the Environment

4. Markets for Efficiency and Inclusion

5. Decentralisation, Empowerment and Information

6. Technology and Innovation

7. Securing the Energy Future for India

8. Accelerated Development of Transport Infrastructure

9. Rural Transformation and Sustained Growth of Agriculture

10. Managing Urbanization

11. Improved Access to Quality Education

12. Better Preventive and Curative Health Care

More details about this list can be obtained here: http://12thplan.gov.in/displayforum_list.php

My cynicism stems from the following experiment:

• On any day go to any of these Indian Media (print/TV) sites

       o NDTV

       o CNN-IBN

       o Aaj Tak

       o India TV

       o Hindustan Times

       o The Times of India

       o DNA

       o The Indian Express

• Count stories/articles/videos which are relevant to India’s strategic-challenges in12th plan as mentioned above.

I have attempted this experiment and have had results varying between 2%-20%. And when I counted articles/reports based on any research studies, there was none. You can do the same experiment. There are hundreds of news-papers/channels, so pick up the one that interests you the most and start counting. I am sure your result will not be more different than that of mine.

It is a disheartening fact that the media is completely indulged in the cheap gossips of personalities of four areas – cricket, cinema, corporate, & politics. There is just not enough constructive discussion on issues that matter to you and me.

Nonetheless, I think media is in-a-way reflection of the society. Media’s dumbness points out that the masses are interested in a few people’s lives, and not in pondering how their own life will ameliorate.

Some people would argue that this status quo has been challenged by the unprecedented popularity of the new talk show “Satyamev Jayate”… But, to my mind, it only corroborates the fact that masses are so uninformed about what’s going on in their country. If you did not know about the wide spread problems of female feticide, child sexual abuse, or malpractices in healthcare, I wonder if you can be considered educated at-all!!! Do we really need Aamir to sensitize us? Can’t we be self-aware and fine-tune our actions in the direction of solutions???

Just in case if you are still in denial of Indian media's flaws, here's Mr Umesh Aggarwal’s documentary, “Brokering News”, released by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) that exposes the depth of corruption in the mainstream media. It shows corruption in the political coverage of elections, news on business and industry and even movie reviews.

   Directed by Umesh Aggarwal
  Assistant Director & Editor – Naveen Samhotra

  Script – Anirban Bhattacharya

  Narration – Roshan Set

Can BJP replace Congress?

It is no secret anymore. People of India are very frustrated by the UPA (United Progressive Alliance), and especially, the Congress party. By all accounts, the present central government of India is perceived to the most corrupt government of all time. In addition, the country desperately needs urgent proactive measures in almost all sectors, whether it is human resource development, public health-care, agriculture, infrastructure development, defense & internal security, or economy in-general. The economic growth projections are falling; and it is said that we’d be lucky to touch 6.5% -7% by end of 2012; whereas the planning commission desires growth-rate of 10% sustained throughout 2012-2017 for the 12th plan (more info: http://planningcommission.gov.in/plans/planrel/12appdrft/appraoch_12plan.pdf). How the heck are you going to do that and provide funding for all ambitious projects? Making the things worse, the Congress-led government is simply dysfunctional... The prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the UPA chair-person, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, who are directly accountable for the mess, are hiding away from the media for years now [in fact, I highly doubt if the main-stream media would even take up issues that upset them, something which they have never done so far]. And the highly irritating Congress spokesmen (and women) who appear almost every day on talk shows (rather verbal WWE) have absolutely no listening skills, and foolishly keep pointing fingers elsewhere saying –“Ok… we (Congress-ies) all are dogs; but what about others being donkeys and calling themselves lions???”   
   
Amidst this grim scenario of the present Government of India, the thing that disheartens me more is how BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is acting. In fact it does not act, it only reacts. The only other pragmatic option that any Indian has for replacing Congress at center is the BJP. But the party does not have its basics right. It simply lacks a strong leader at center. Its standard response is –“We all are lions; and after hunting those dogs (in elections) we shall decide the king”. 


My response to them: 
Arre bhai, haven’t you heard that story? 
A group of lions led by none 
gets defeated by the group of dogs led by one. 


The leadership matters. The reason why you lost last election is mainly because of your poor prime ministerial candidate choice, Mr. Advani. With all due respect, that person simply does not have the charisma of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Some people are suggesting Narendra Modi’s name. Frankly, if India has a system of primary elections (within party) for BJP’s prime ministerial candidacy like the US has for president-ship, quite undoubtedly, Modi would win it (as pointed out by Swapan Dasgupta). However, keeping in mind India’s diversity, international relations, and how Modi is perceived nationwide, that maybe an extremely fatal step. The Congress’ campaign will be completely negative and the entire liberal-class will join-in naming him “Hitler” & “Merchant of death”; and your total energy will be lost into defending him rather than targeting Congress for its mis-governance and massive corruptions. Reserve him for the future though, as public perceptions may change over time. For the present, how about someone like Sushma Swaraj, or Arun Jaitley? Ms. Swaraj definitely has a public appeal; and her assertiveness will suit to your hard-liner supporters as well. Also, India hasn’t had a female prime minister for a few decades now. On the other hand, Mr. Jaitley is well known for his intellectual sharpness. Though he has not fought any Lok Sabha election, but what’s wrong with a prime minister from Rajya Sabha? If any of these two take a complete charge of the party, and if entire BJP carry out coherent attack on the government, we may very well see early elections, may be within an year. 


Another big fault-line in BJP is the mismatch between ideology and actions. Ideologically, it claims to be a nationalistic, progressive, and pro-market (and minimum government interference) party. However, it behaves as an opportunistic one. A few examples:
• When Vajpayee was in power, the relations with the US significantly improved despite the nuclear tests. It would have been his government’s top priority to convince the Americans that India is ready for civil nuclear deal. However, when BJP set in opposition, it vehemently opposed the deal.
• Fact that a party which talks about including private players and opening up markets can oppose opening up of retail sector is simply not digestible.
• Again in Vajpayee era, Indo-Pak relations improved dramatically despite the Kargil war and attacks on parliament. But, now BJP completely opposes even to have dialogs with Pakistan. Why this mood-swing?   


Despite innumerous loopholes the government is surviving only because the opposition is not addressing its inner fault-lines. At state level, BJP led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) governments are doing a much better job whether it is in Gujarat, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh or Karnataka (more info: http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/NDA-states-better-than-Cong-led-states/254/29560/) as compared to congress-led states. However, if BJP wants to secure its position at national level, it has to fix its house in order first. It seems that BJP has realized that inclusive developmental politics is the key. No nonsense issues like Temple & Mosque anymore, please... Let’s focus on Human Development Index and Knowledge Development Index. If you still want to argue, let’s educate all, improve health of all, and ameliorate everyone’s life-style, first, and then we can continue arguments like the developed nations do.  

Satyamev Jayate – Truly honoured to be part of this connection

It’s almost 2am. I am supposed to submit a research paper-draft to one of my colleagues tomorrow; and so far, I have prepared only a rough version. I need to and I really want to work on it. But, something happened this evening and my mind has been completely occupied since then. One of my friends had sent me a youtube link of the theme song of Aamir Khan’s Satyamev Jayate in the afternoon. I did not pay much attention to it then, as I was analyzing data. But, in the evening I watched it in a complete isolation at home and went through something inexplicable. Even after the video was over, I remained motionless for a few moments, and then tears started blurring my vision. I am not the kind of guy who cries easily. Now that I have resettled, in order to make sense of the turmoil in my mind, I am writing this article. 

Prasoon Joshi, you are one of the most gifted people on this planet. You have found words to express something that people like me have always struggled with expressing. In fact you not only touch the depth, but you also cover the entire construct of being in love with the collective conscience of fellow countrymen.  The beauty is that you have addressed the song saying “Tu” (meaning ‘you’), and that’s sufficient for conveying the meaning. It is a personal conversation between ‘you’ and ‘me’, underscoring the closeness of the relationship. You had done this earlier in the song “Maa” from Taare Zameen Par, and the magic is working here as well. 

The common mistake that I make at times in wishing very best for India is that I want India to look great so that I can call myself a proud Indian. In this case, I am waiting for the collective conscience to do a more positive posturing, while I sit back and relax. I forget to check that if I am not contributing positively, am I eligible to be part of this collective conscience? What is my contribution? I have only remained insignificant for most parts. Nevertheless, India does not kick me out from its collective conscience. The belongingness for me is unconditional. Even if I change passports, my soul is always networked to that collective-soul. Of course, there are some fault-lines and challenges associated with this connection. But, those things are absolutely nothing as compared to the warmth that this connection provides. I am indeed honoured to take the responsibility for bridging those fault-lines. Yes, this demands self-purification, which is painful, but I am highly obliged by and grateful for that connection. This central idea of being humble and striving to be worthy of this unconditional   connection redefines patriotism in current times.  

Ram Sampath, this composition of yours is right on the cards for becoming not only a commercial, but an emotional super hit as well. With a marvellous mixture of a catchy tune with moments of percussion-less rhythm, it will definitely capture imaginations of everyone from children to old age people. Fusion of soft rock with a shade of Sufi, usage of guitars with Rajasthani morchang, very well represent the sound of modern diverse India. 

Lastly, Aamir, I cannot thank you and your creative team enough for providing such precious visuals. I have always wondered – there are innumerable divisive forces in India (e.g., caste, religion, language, regionalism, class, gender and so on), but what are the cohesive forces? How is India maintaining social cohesion? This video answers this big question in less than 5mins. 

This video has fuelled in me the desire for making myself worthy of the incredible connection with the collective conscience of fellow human beings; and has reminded me that as along as my commitment is true, I am guaranteed succeed – “Satyamev Jayate”.

   Composer: Ram Sampath
   Lyricist: Prasoon Joshi
   Singers: Keerthi Sagathia and Ram Sampath
   Production House: Aamir Khan Productions Pvt.Ltd.                                            
   Music: T-Series

“Unscientific” practices of Educational Boards: why tolerate?

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

Most of the educational boards in India conduct examinations at the end of 10^th and 12^th grades. The 10^th grade result plays a big role in narrowing down student’s choice of academic discipline for further studies (e.g., liberal-arts, commerce, or science-stream); whereas the 12^th grade result serves as a criterion (at times, a sole criterion) for the choice of career as well as admission to the higher education institution. Over the years, the board examination system has changed at administrative level with things happening in a more efficient way. However, things were poor, are poor, and are on a path towards poorness when it comes to scientific assessment. Here’s why:

The state boards have never published any of the psychometric properties (e.g., reliability, validity, item discrimination, & difficulty value) of their tests. Perhaps nobody has ever cared for asking for it. Today, through this article, I would like to raise this vital issue and draw your attention to a mass-deception exercise in the form of the “Board Exams” that decides careers of our youth.  

Ten big points for improving the Board Examination:

1.                  Improving Reliability and Validity of Test Items

All tests have these two basic characteristics:

·         Validity: Measure the concepts that we want to measure (i.e., A weighting-machine should measure weight, not any other property).  

·         Reliability: Scores should be consistent for the same competency level of student (i.e., A weighting-machine should show same weight every time we step on it, as long as our weight is constant).

The State Board Examination papers often have test items that are likely to have significantly poor reliability and validity. Moreover, some test items simply measure the memorization of the opinion (and not scientific facts) of text-book authors that has nothing to do with the subject content. Let’s have a look at the following test items, which are taken from Question Bank-2008 of Gujarat Secondary Education Board (Source- http://203.77.200.35/gseb/question-paper.htm).

Towards what Indians have developed the feeling of equality? (Std. 10- Social Science)

   A)     Huge living beings

   B)     Nature

   C)    All living beings

   D)    Animals

Which one is the most valuable asset to human being? (Std. 12- Psychology)

   A)     Money

   B)     Strength

   C)    Mind

   D)    Language

What could be the rationale for above test items? Perhaps, “how well do you remember personal (unscientific) opinions of our authors?” The test maker should check validity and reliability for tests and provide rationale for each test item.

2.      Diminishing Excessive Focus on Lower Cognitive Level

In this era of globalization, where our youth will compete with the best of the world, we got to encourage critical and creative thinking and problem solving skills. Research shows that the teaching methodology of teachers and the learning methods of students greatly depend on the type of final examination (type and quality of questions). Thus, if the majority of our students are choosing rote memorization and superficial learning strategies to crack the State Board examination, something must be wrong with the type of questions being asked. The board exams focus excessively on knowledge and understanding levels of cognition (as per Bloom’s Taxonomy). The students rarely get opportunities to exhibit their in-depth learning driven by mastery oriented goals. Our test items should measure higher levels of cognition as well (i.e., application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation).

Let’s look at the following question taken from March-2010 10^th grade social science test-item.

What is Environmental Degradation? Mention the measures to control Environmental Degradation. (5 marks)

This question is at knowledge-level and requires only good memorization skills to get a full score. How about questioning in the following manner-

Based on your knowledge of social science text book, prepare a detailed plan of action to cope up with the Environmental Degradation in your home town/village/city. (5 marks) 

The above question will demand insightful learning of environmental degradation; and will measure higher levels of cognition. Of course, this will also demand better teaching from teachers. Such test items have potential to break the cycle of poor teaching→ poor learning → poor testing; and encourage students to study for mastering the subject, rather than remembering the content. They will also encourage teachers to facilitate learning, and to critically analyze, evaluate, and discuss issues in the classroom. 

3.      Preparing Tests that Distinguish Students

In the present scenario, the test items are not designed so that they distinguish between a mediocre student, a poor student, and a brilliant student (i.e., discrimination parameter in technical terms). This requires creation of large item pool and thorough item analyses of each item.

4.      Making Difficulty Level Uniform

Many times test paper of one subject is more difficult than that of other subjects. It is a mystery if the difficulty level of a test is analyzed by the test-developers. If the difficulty level of tests of optional subjects is different, it will be unscientific to compare the total scores across exams of these subjects. For example- student “A” has scored 80 in Sanskrit-test, which has lower difficulty level, whereas student “B” has scored 80 in Hindi-test, which has high difficulty level. In such case, the score of 80 in Hindi has higher value than that of in Sanskrit. In current practice, these technicalities are completely ignored.

5.      Rationalizing Time Limits

Many times, some exam-papers are lengthy and some are not. And at times, for two students of same competency level, the difference in their result is determined by their writing speed. Now, should the measurement of writing speed be an objective of the state board examination? We ought to devise the length of exam rationally and uniformly. Do we want to give our students time to critically think, to evaluate, to judge, to analyze, and to apply their knowledge? Or we simply want them to vomit out all rote-learning of the previous night? Have the test developers considered the speeededness factor in analyses?

6.      Establishing Uniform Test Administration

Though tests are administered simultaneously in the entire state, the testing conditions are not uniform. The supervisors are not trained and do not have standardized code of conduct. Thus, it is likely that the students in different exam-halls interact differently with the supervisor. Some supervisor may be proactive and helpful, while others may be sluggish and arrogant. This can severely affect the morale of the test taker. The conditions in which students take examination ought to be standardized. Also, environmental factors (like- temperature, wind/rain), physical distance between students, quality of writing desks, noise level, and supervisor behavior should be controlled uniformly across the state. Thus, someone who takes exam in a private school in Ahmedabad has the same exam-experience as someone writing exam in a remote village of Dang.  In addition, we need to control systematic cheating that takes place in many exam-centers. No student should get “center-advantage” or “center-disadvantage”.

7.      Eliminating Subjective Evaluation and Improving Transparency

Many teachers/ parents/ students/ educationalists keep questioning the credibility of the board examination. Subjective evaluation is one of the major factors hurting the credibility of the test. This is related with the inter-rater reliability of test. The test score should be consistent even if different examiner evaluates the test. We got to study the inter rater reliability of these exams. At the very least, inter-rater reliability coefficient has to be greater than 0.7, given that the stakes are high for students.  We cannot allow mood/ personality/or personal views of examiners to determine the careers of our future citizens.

In addition, the examination system has to be more transparent. The students should have an opportunity to know why their score is cut, and what information is missing. They should also get an opportunity to see the answer-key. Of course, there may not be one right response for an essay type question but a model response should be shared with the students so that they can work on their deficiencies. This will also help teachers to have deeper understanding of what objectives they should consider while teaching.

8.      Accommodating Students with Special needs

Most of the educational boards do not provide information on how they accommodate children with special needs except for blind, or speech/hearing impaired. There is a wide range of children that require support. For example- learning-disabled, emotionally disturbed, autistic, schizophrenic, & intellectually challenged etc. When will we acknowledge that formally in educational system?

9.      Improving Predictive Value

If the result of an examination is to be considered for admission or employment purpose, then such examination should have proven predictive value. Though its results are used for admissions and employment, the board exam is aimed only to measure the present competency of student. It does not predict the future success of student in respective subjects. In simple terms, score of 100 in Physics does not predict that the student will succeed in Physics courses at the University level. Now, if we want the result of this examination to be considered for university admissions/ employment, we may include subject-wise aptitude test like SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) in the US. With help of experts, the board can generate tests of high predictive value. The result of such tests may provide important additional information to the universities/colleges/employers about the natural proclivity of the student towards the subject.

10.  Gradually move on to Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT)

In this era of IT revolution (something that India is proud of), we can no longer carry on laborious  expensive and exhaustive ways of large scale assessment. The boards should devise concrete action plans to move on to CAT. Of course, this will take time (to self-educate, to educate educational administrators/teachers/students/parents and masses and to generate resources). But, there are great advantages of CAT as mentioned below:

·         Facilitating convenience of Students/ Parents

·         Standardize test-administration, higher credibility and scientific testing

·         Better control on systematic cheating

·         Greatly encourage computer literacy into masses

·         Development of testing industry in India

In technical terms, the present practices represent a crude and a bit distorted version of classical testing theory. Research in the field of educational measurement suggests that item response theory (IRT) is superior indeed. Many developed nations have moved on to more scientifically rigorous ways of assessing educational outcomes through IRT. It is a high time for Indian states to begin reforms in this direction as well; else they will be out-educated by developed nations with a great margin. There are endless reasons why India has continued these practices. I am simply not going to dig that up as that will be nothing more than a blame game. But, it is clear; I cannot tolerate the current status quo on this front, can you?