To Perish by Silence

                                                 To Perish by Silence

“The mark of the educated man is not in is boast that he has built his mountain of facts and stood on top of it, but in his admission that there may be other peaks in the same range with men on top of them-  that their views too are legitimate”- E.J.Pratt

These words have special relevance to us today. It is equally relevant to the rest of the world as it is to us. This is because the new age seems to worship those who precisely do not fit with Pratt’s definition of the educated man. It seems to applaud only those who brag about their own views and admire them for their boldness to assert that only their views matter. They hold sway over a large number of people by projecting themselves as strong, sinewed and superior in their physical dimensions with a corroborative implication that their machismo on display is equally applicable to other dimensions, notably intellectual, moral, psychological and knowledge dimensions. The new age displays a fervor similar to that which gripped Germany and Italy in the first half of the 20^th Century, leading to the emergence of fascist parties. Both Mussolini and Hitler used their concept of “nationalism” to whip up mass passion and hysteria – passion to endorse their assertive leadership and hysteria to denounce all those opposed to it. The shocking and gruesome happenings in the 21^st century- especially in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Turkey in the Middle East, in Libya, Algeria, Egypt  and Nigeria  in North Africa, in Pakistan and Afghanistan in Asia and now in the overwrought exercise of atavistic nationalism in India-  resonate with the fascist reins of the first half of the previous century. It is increasingly getting accepted that leadership is to be bestowed on those who aggressively claim that they have the last word on anything and everything.

What is alarming is the absence of or the feeble resistance to such aggressive claims of individuals and their supporters who are intolerant of ideas and ideologies different from their own and who insist on total obedience to their words and actions. Democracy is in peril, increasingly yielding its place to dictatorship or as in the case of ISIS, the rule of one man- the Caliphate who according to Shia Islam is the Imam chosen by God. But even a country like US, which has the pride of being the oldest democracy in the world is veering towards Trump who prides himself for being crude, irascible, offensive, divisive and a bully. He uses his nativist and hardline jingoism and taps and thrives on people’s fears and promises them jobs that he would wrench  out of the Indians and the Chinese. His simplistic rhetoric about good and evil gives the naive Americans the goose pimples and very likely they will vote him as their next President. His vulgarity  and demagoguery is funny and yet frightening what is known as the Grotesque in Literature. An American political correspondent writes “Trump is the most dangerous major candidate for president in memory. He pairs terrible ideas with an alarming temperament; he's a racist, a sexist, and a demagogue, but he's also a narcissist, a bully, and a dilettante. He lies so constantly and so fluently that it's hard to know if he even realizes he's lying. He delights in schoolyard taunts and luxuriates in backlash.” Trump’s trump card  is not his money power alone, but his authoritarianism. It is difficult to predict who will be the next US president, but the sizeable following for Trump is an indication of the new thinking of our times with an underlying emphasis: “the Winner takes it all”.  Putin has made Russia almost a monolithic entity and is seen as the 21^st Century Czar, “distrusted, feared and revered”(Comment from the Guardian). Russia today presents a different kind of totalitarianism – not one based on fear, as in the Stalinist times, but on a Russian desire to be acknowledged as a great power. It does not matter if the facts are true or false. The Caliphate’s violence unleashed by a vast contingent of IS terrorists-that includes mercenaries from the West – again betrays the assertion of might, money and ruthlessness – far removed from Pratt’s endorsement of the educated man.

India has also shown its weakness for admiring strong men who have been elected to the parliament on the basis of muscle power and money power. Though India prides herself as the world’s largest democracy, this pride may be short lived once we allow the subjugation of all dissenting voices as a democratic endeavour to impose a new trend of nationalism as the only one form of loyalty to the country. Often this tends to become belligerent chauvinism that is against the openness that goes with democracy. However exaggerated may be the report by foreign media and Amnesty International, there is a kernel of truth in the  scathing indictment of  the  climate of intolerance fuelled by provocative speeches and violent actions, by police cracking down on dissent through arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings of rationalists  and attacks on freedom of expression. As in every party, there is a fringe group to prove itself more loyal than the party and unfortunately for reasons best known to it, the present government has not been able to rein in these hyper-nationalist, hyper-hindutva groups. The opposition party is also not curbing its tendency to shout anti government slogans and has hardly attempted to find a middle path that reconciles hyper nationalism with rightful limits of democratic dissent.

JNU row should be an eye opener. In the last seventy odd years the left slanted JNU has been known for debates, discussions and freedom of thought and expression. If the present  argument that it is a breeding place of anti nationalism, there has to be a corroborative evidence that it has incited violence and has been instrumental in the breaking of law and order all these years. To my knowledge, no such evidence exists and JNU has only contributed outstanding academics, administrators and scientists who have served the country with distinction.  Youth is that phase of life when the argumentative mind works at its best. It is the phase when the mind is open and receptive to diverse views, intellectually trained to sift and analyze all that it learns and grows in maturity to form its own judgement.  The essence of graduation lies in this cultivation of maturity. JNU has not faulted  once to indulge in anti national activities even when it had more of a left leaning contrary to the government in power that was left of Centre for a major part of our post independence era as well as to the government that was right of centre  for a brief period. No earth shaking event had taken placeall these 70 years  to invoke the spirit of Nationalism and to warrant the arrest of the President of the JNU students’ union.

A University is the place for the discovery and germination of ideas that relate to the advancement of society. Pratt’s definition holds true of University where teaching is centred on exposure to thoughts and philosophy from different quarters and an openness to gain knowledge by means of thesis-anti thesis and synthesis. The truly educated person emerging from the university portals  is one who admits the right of others to have perspectives different from one’s own and cultivates the ability to accommodate and reconcile the differences .

India needs such educated leaders. So does the world. In the absence of such genuine literacy, the world is likely to descend to a dark age.  Literacy must reaffirm its authority against jargon, jingoism and pseudo slogans that appeal to the emotions ofmasses  but shorn of truth.

 If dissenting voices are plugged, we are in danger of losing our fundamental democratic right to speech.   George Steiner in one of his brilliant essays quotes these two lines from Pervigilium Veneris, a  Latin poem assigned to the 2^nd or the 3^rd or the 4^th century. In English translation it reads: “To perish by silence; that civilization upon which Apollo(Greek god of music,poetry,learning) looks no more,  shall not long endure.”

Universities and the Right to Debate

                                                Universities and the Right to Debate

Do I dare to write this article? My mind has been in a swirl since the JNU row started. I neither have all the facts to display Solomon’s wisdom in judging who is right and who is not nor the courage to take sides on this controversial issue without being flogged by one side or the other. Every conflict, every controversy needs to have two contending issues; otherwise there cannot be any dispute. Hence it is best to leave it to the investigation team to find out the truth as to who was behind the anti-national chorus indulged in by a small group of slogan mongers. Yet the events that are daily reported and shown on the national TV channels create a sense of unease and disquiet in the minds of all those who are patriotic  though they do not wear patriotism on their sleeves. It is surprising that the police was on the dot at the venue from where the anti national slogans were emanating. Did the police have prior information that they suo moto descended on the University campus or did they come on the request of University authorities?  I have served Delhi University both as Principal of one of its constituent colleges and Dean of Students Welfare besides teaching for four decades. Not even once was there a law and order situation that warranted police presence and action. Students who at times engaged in shouting and entering the Dean’s office and resorting to breaking the chairs were treated with good humoured indulgence towards their young and spirited action. I used to call the TV crew into the room so that these young agitators got free photo-ops and they would go away soon after that. There have been many occasions when these students had returned late in the evening after 6 to my room with apologies saying that nothing was intended against us but they had to do so at the bidding of their political masters. “After all, we are the student wing of the party” they would say in defence.

No student is anti national even if s/he were to disagree with the policies of the establishment.  Youth by nature has the tendency to rebel against anything imposed or anything that it regards as anti-youth. But this does not mean they are anarchic or unpatriotic. All of us have gone through that phase when we were university students and  questioned anything and everything that had a paternalistic rigour. We have rebelled against  parental authoritarianism as much as that of the establishment till such time we crossed over to the other side. This is what Aristophanes(450B.C) had written in his play The Clouds where he talks about a Think-Academy run by Socrates who promises the youth to learn to think critically about all norms and conventions and to construct arguments heedless of authority. Socrates was criticized and punished as a heretic to question regimented views imposed in the name of tradition and to encourage independent thinking.

Nearly 2500 years later, we are still on the warpath with youngsters for starting a debate on capital punishment that has kept hanging since Afzal Guru’s execution. That debate has snowballed into an issue related to sedition against the nation.  Once again knives are out as to what constitutes sedition and how is it different from dissent and debate that go by the pejorative “subversiveness”.  Either we suffer from a loss of memory or lack of historical knowledge since we do not recall the  flower power of the late 1960s and the early 1970s that was a symbol of resistance of the American youth  to Vietnam war following the Gandhian path of passive non-resistance. Ten thousand youth from different American Universities joined this ‘Flower Power’movement, which by its name symbolized ideals of universal humanity, peace and harmony. So was the Velvet revolution in Eastern Europe, a student led peaceful pro democracy protest that overthrew forty-one years of authoritarian communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

Young adults are always in the vanguard of movements that herald a change in society and politics. They debate, deliberate, dissent and out of this churning, they emerge as mature adults. University provides the platform to discuss and interrogate traditions and unchallenged mores of society. But in India universities have become handmaids to politics. Every political party makes use of universities and colleges to influence the young voters. Students’ union elections are regarded as a mini referendum on their party’s popularity but unfortunately they are bereft of  political ideas and ideologies. In some universities party leaders address the student community extolling the virtues of their respective parties. Students have also come to look upon these elections as the stepping stone for their movement upwards in the political hierarchy. The result is universities have become a hotbed for political clashes. The Lyngdoh Committee (Lyngdoh was former Chief Election Commissioner) on University/ college elections has made it clear in its recommendations that student elections and student representations have to disassociate from political parties(6.3). It is this political affiliation that is at the root of all that has happened in JNU and all that had happened earlier in other universities. Having been at Delhi University for forty years, I affirm that student union elections in a majority of  women’s colleges( exceptions are just a few) have always been  fought on issues related to the institution and no political campaigning have ever taken place till date.

Students come to the University to learn and they learn as much from the classroom as from the debates and dialogues within the campus. The argument that students are the future leaders makes sense if they are allowed to study, learn and are exposed to different points of view to arrive at their own mature conclusion. Universities are often labeled ‘ Liberty Halls ‘ where the right to express is recognized as the inalienable right of the student. Only after completion of their graduate programmes can they attach themselves to a political party of their choice. What is happening today is students are not given the time and opportunity to think and mature, but are lured into joining political outfits to enhance their future prospects. It is a moot question as to how many new ideas are germinating from the universities whose primary function is to generate ideas.  We are back to pre-Socrates world where students had no choice but to implicitly pay obedience to what is told rather than question, argue, debate and accept or reject it.

 I make this plea to the universities to adopt Lyngdoh’s recommendation in letter and spirit and disallow entry of political groups to contest elections. The mass youth movement against Vietnam war was the result not of any political influence of the Democratic or Republican parties, but of a natural surging of protest in the name of humanity. So was the Velvet Revolution. Vaclav Havel became president only after Czechoslovakia was liberated. Let our universities take the lead in nurturing young minds and protecting them from being brainwashed and prejudiced for or against a political party. If political leaders stop interfering with the academic institutions, the university remains true to its objective to enable students to develop critical thinking which forms the basis for discerning judgement. The Universities should aim at building thinking skills which, according to John Dewy would benefit the individual learner, the community and the entire democracy. In the UK school system, critical thinking is offered as a subject at the A-level examinations, to make students think critically about, and analyze issues on their deductive or inductive validity, and bring forth their own arguments. It also tests their ability to analyze certain related topics such as credibility and ethical decision-making.

JNU row can prove an important milestone for higher education in India if Universities implement Lyngdoh’s caveat against political interference in the university elections. Some of the women’s colleges have organized open debates on the model of American election debates  and this is a healthy practice where the students are told not to descend to  low levels of name calling and name bashing, and where they are expected to address the genuine difficulties faced by the student community. It is time for our universities to set a model code of conduct of elections and enable the contestants to focus on issues relevant to the students with respect to curriculum, examination system, reforms in pedagogy, facilities in the campus for self development, placements etc.

Liberal Arts course as a compulsory course in the second and the third years ( and not in the first year)should be introduced where the study of political ideas, ideologies, economic theories that stress on equity and development, historical narratives, sociological concepts, study of world religions, Literature and Humanity  and the relevance, influence and negative fall-outs of Science and Technology will enable students to have a breadth of understanding of issues that have a bearing on Man and Society. Our universities have to come forward to provide quality education cutting across disciplines to make a wholesome individual of the student. General lectures should be in place for an hour and a half thrice a week either before lunch break or at the end of the day by leading academicians and these should be supplemented by uploading these lectures along  with additional study  material and reference books to enable students to study on their own. Debates, discussions, paper presentation and seminars on related topics should be a part of evaluation of the students. This calls for a dynamic curriculum on Liberal Studies. The lectures can be arranged in different colleges on specific days and specific time to enable students from cluster colleges to attend.

We are sitting on a goldmine which is our youth force. Let us not mistake it to be a powder keg to explode. If the goldmine is kept under lock and key,it will be of no use. There will be no power to drive us in the future. If it is properly nurtured and utilized, it will be our future asset. By working on impressionable minds, by appealing to their emotion and clouding their reasoning faculty, we will be destroying our future asset. University is a place that allows for diversity and through free exchange of contesting ideas and ideologies, it promotes catholicity of thought and a high degree of multipolarity in social and economic order. But if we incite it and set aflame the powder keg, we are in danger of intellectual, liberal, social and emotional extinction. Hope Universities wake up to usher in a new order of thinking, opening up of deep and sweeping vistas of the future and a well informed and knowledgeable youth force that will be truly and meritoriously a “made in India” product.

Technology, Innovation and Obsolescence

                                         Technology, Innovation and Obsolescence

I know that a majority of those who read (luckily for me, even that is a small number) will consign this article to the wastebasket as it flies in the face of all that is modern and up-to-date.  It will appear to them as old fashioned, antediluvian and blasphemous, going against the spirit of modernity. I do concede that I am in my mid-seventies, the right age to be labeled antiquated and criticized for living ostrich like in the hollow sands of the past. But I refuse to be so labeled as my spirit is still young and strong though I may lack the energy needed to keep pace with the modern times. It is also true that I am overawed by the technological advances and feel frightened to be a back-number as my mental agility to understand and use new gadgets is on the decline. As a result I hold onto whatever I had bought a decade ago since familiarity with these new toys breeds self confidence.

But over the last year and a half I have been badgered by my friends and younger members in the family for using the old basic Nokia that well serves my limited purpose to make and receive a call, to send and get SMS. They have been embarrassed to go out with me carrying this antiquated museum- worthy phone in my hands which makes me look still more ancient than what my age warrants. They smirked at  my protests that I had no use for cell mail, cell photo and cell music since I have a PC, a camera( Japanese make) and a cassette player and I was constantly bombarded to buy a smart phone.

I finally made my way to the Mobile Junction where I was warmly welcomed and made to sit  a special geriatric hospitality)and then given a non-stop technological discourse on the merits and demerits of mobile phones of different makes, interspersed with technical terms such as 2Gs,3Gs,4Gs, What’s APP, Self-healing pack, PDA,4G LTE internet  etc- terms I couldn’t  understand, leave aside making use of them. Still  I pretended to be very knowledgeable by having a poker face ,occasionally enlivening it with an all knowing smile, though all the time my mind was swirling how to extricate myself from a situation where not to buy would  reflect my economic status while to buy demanded a fair degree of understanding of the complexities of the new era gadget. The shop assistant must have seen through my ignorance and came up with the most expensive phone saying, with the technological savviness I had displayed, I should not go in for anything less than that. I demurred sheepishly.  I knew after all this flattery, I could not return without purchasing a smart phone. Nonchalantly I asked for the most expensive phone and went home, drained in mind and money both suffering from a state of depletion.

I read through the manual and started using the new instrument in my hands. I felt like Dr.Faustus who asked Mephistopheles (the devil’s assistant) to grant him all he desired. Here this tiny little box could give me instant news, instant mail, instant music, instant photos- and I realized why my friends smirked when I spoke about my prize possessions such as a PC, a cassette player, a camera. All of them in one sweep have now been rendered obsolete and useless by this tiny gadget which doubles and trebles up, functioning in multiple ways.  I was pleased as Punch and could show off my new acquisition before the younger group at home and outside.

But the pride and joy were short lived as I saw the front page newspaper advertisement about a new wrist watch that had the touch screen and all the features of the smart phone. The advertisement said “Most Powerful Waterproof Android 4.4 OS 3G Smart Watch Cell Phone with 1.54-inch Touch Screen WiFi Bluetooth GPS Google Play Store 5.0MP Spy Camera Video Recorder.” My nephew, hardly four, saw the newspaper in my hand and  said that he would like to get this watch for his birthday. My jaw dropped and I wondered if I shouldn’t have waited a little longer!  Certainly the cards had been stacked against me. First the PC, then the Cassette player, the camera, the I-pod and I phone( luckily I had not purchased them) and now this smart phone- one after the other, I have been a victim of obsolescence. This is total technological cruelty inflicted on me ( and I am sure I am one among billions). Even as I write this article, I learn that Google is working on a virtual reality headset that does not need a computer or a smart phone.  No doubt, discovery, invention and technological advancement are at the core of human development. Even we in India have our own “make in India” innovation called the “Jugad”( a colloquial Hindi and Punjabi word that can mean an innovative fix or a simple work-around, used for solutions that bend rules, or a resource that can be used as such, or a person who can solve a complicated issue). Human progress is measured by the invention of new gadgets that would provide us comfort and relief from manual chores that drain our energy. But what do we do with all those gadgets that were the pride of yesterday and the despair of today?  

How to dispose off the ones that have become obsolete, giving me the creeping fear that I will also become one like them!  “No buyers, we are modern”, thunder  the younger generation. I will have to seek the assistance of online classifieds like OLX or Quicker and dispose them of  for whatever price they may fetch.  The big question is do we need such gadgets replacing one another in succession? Do these fancy phones add to quality improvement of our daily existence and a still bigger question is do we need such innovations?  Internet and mobile phones have made communication easier and faster.  Human ingenuity cannot rest on one invention and seeks to go farther to manufacture new gadgets but most of these new gadgets are just old wine in new bottles. The car manufacturing industry turns out new models, but they are new only in name. It is certainly a welcome innovation if cars based on solar cells take to the roads. This will be a right step in preserving our environment. But new cars on display with nothing of significant difference pander to the basic human desire to go for the ‘new’.  There is no inventiveness in such production, only competitiveness that works on human greed and human vanity  to own all things new. We can well recall how the simple Radio was displaced by transistor, gramophone  by cassette player and spool tape recorder followed by VCP and VCR, Home TV, I Pad and I phone and the list is endless. Maybe every invention would have bettered the fidelity and quality of music, nonetheless the fact remains that all gadgets have a very limited shelf value.

 There is no denying the fact that the impact of scientific and technological advancements has certainly made life more comfortable, more pleasurable and more exciting. Transport, communication, entertainment, daily domestic grind have become easy, enjoyable and less demanding of our mental and physical energies. But we have not devised productive ways of occupying the time we have gained and even at the cost of annoying the modern generation, I have to truthfully say that most of the young adults have turned lotus eaters. We see them in malls and hang out joints with the headphones, listening to non-stop music without pausing to wonder about its effect on the auditory nerves.  Seeking knowledge and discovering new theories of path breaking importance is different from improvising changes for augmenting comfort that is already guaranteed by existing gadgets. The latter involves waste of material adding to environmental destruction besides changing men and women into restless consumers, adopting a lazy life style; on the other hand, the former is insightful towards understanding the planet we live in.  Scientific experiments bolstered by technology help Man to understand and appreciate the universe around him which in turn will have far reaching effective consequences towards preservation and sustainability of our Environment.

             Today’s newspapers are replete with news about gravitational pulls vindicating Einstein’s theory predicted by him a hundred years ago. Physicists have concluded that “the detected gravitational waves were produced during the final fraction of a second of the merger of two black holes to produce a single, more massive spinning black hole. This collision of two black holes had been predicted but never observed. The ground breaking discovery means we can see some of the strangest part of space giving a deep insight into the beginnings of our universe.” The discovery could lead to huge steps forward in understanding how the universe was formed and exploring its very deepest and darkest edges.

I wonder if obsolescence is progressive or regressive. At my age when I am nearing obsolescence (critics of this article may say that I have already reached that stage)  I question the propriety of greedy manufacturers to systematically engineer obsolescence, unmindful of its lethal and harmful effect on our minds, attitude, economy and environment. Maybe it is my way of affirming that time does not necessarily make humans obsolescent but continuous efforts at manufacturing obsolescence may make them reach that stage rather before time. Knowledge must be for the sake of knowledge, for the advancement of the mind, for the nurturing of civilization, for the preservation of the planet and not become an obsession to cater to human greed and vanity.

Re-inventing the Congress Wheel

      

                                             Re-inventing the Congress Wheel

 This is a sequel to my earlier blog where I had endorsed the need for a courageous acceptance of failure as a possible means to success. We have to turn failure on its head to achieve success. Success comes to those who dare and act, but seldom to the timid. So also success comes to those who fall and rise and never to those who refuse to rise. The blog Failure is the Road to Success was mainly intended for the Congress, badly mauled in the last elections and continuously mocked at thereafter whenever it raises its voice on issues that are debatable. “Look! Who is calling the Kettle black” is the refrain from the Media and from all those ranged against the Congress, in particular from the ruling party.

The only way Congress can restore its lost credibility is by re-inventing itself through strategic planning for an alternative form of governance as it is dissatisfied with the present government. No battle is won by merely mocking at the opponent or by taking a confrontationist position vis-a-vis the opponent. Knowingly or unknowingly our films show evil characters especially the mythological ones like Ravan and Duryodhan mocking at the opponent(s) and indulging in mockery and a loud guffaw to end with a dying plaintive whimper. This is as true of the victor as it is that of the vanquished. What we see in our political arena is a vicious mocking of the Congress by the victorious BJP and its supporters that includes the media while  Congress in desperation is sniping at the Prime Minister and his policies. Though these attacks are intended to be good sound bytes, in reality they fail to make any impact on the listeners.. Such efforts at mocking do not help in recovering lost ground. It is what Ralph Waldo Emerson had said : “ We have such exorbitant eyes that on seeing the smallest arc we complete the curve, and when the curtain is lifted from the diagram which it seemed to veil, we are vexed to find that no more was drawn than just that fragment of an arc which we first beheld”.

Congress, now left with a tiny arc should begin to draw the full circle. It should pick up the broken pieces and start rebuilding its lost credibility. It has to set an agenda of reforms both for the party and for policies that would have a far reaching effect on the growth and prosperity of the Nation. I list below a few suggestions though I confess that I am neither experienced in politics nor a student of politics. But I take courage in spelling out my list of priorities from the fact that a majority of those who are now in Parliament have no knowledge of political theories to weave them into a coherent agenda to bring a transformation. That is why India after seven decades continues to meander as a functioning anarchy where the functioning had proved effective despite indiscipline, disorder and lawlessness only because a few worthy leaders brought in reforms at crucial time. The Green revolution(1961-), the White revolution(1965-, the liberalization of  economy(1991-), linking India by creating a vast new network of highways,  envisaging linking the country's rivers and heralding the telecom revolution(1998-2004) were by astute, farsighted leaders from Pt.Nehru  through Lal Bahadur Shastri and Narasimha Rao to Atal Behari Vajpayee.  They brought in reforms that have changed the face of India from an undeveloped nation to a developing nation.

If the 21^st century should transform India to a developed nation, we need good and ethical governance where the ruling and the opposition are constructive in criticism, while laying out roadmaps towards progress and growth. Congress has lost ground despite some good policies it had earlier brought forth as MNREGA, RTI, Land Acquisition Bill, , GST Bill, FDI etc but most of them except the first two were put on hold in the wake of bitter opposition from the BJP. It lost the election as it could not implement any reforms besides being weighed down by corruption scandals running into lakhs of crores of rupees.

Ironically now those very bills are introduced with some modification by the present government and Congress is opposing it on some technicalities (though it is a covert means of paying the BJP in its own coin). Congress has now to show statesmanship and magnanimity and bring forth those reforms that are essential for the economy to grow. Even if it has reservations on some issues on GST and Land Refoms, it should not follow the dog in the manger policy.  In one stroke, Congress can change the negative perception about it and can be seen as a party with a positive outlook. It should pass GST Bill in the coming budget session with a caveat that there should be an annual review to introduce changes if needed. This would show the party has national interest at the core- in sharp contrast to what the opposition did to it during its last tenure.

There has to be internal democracy. Everyone knows that Congress can boast of a large number of intellectuals who also have the ability to articulate their reasoned views on changes and reforms. It is also a fact that however well intentioned Sonia and Rahul may be, the mother and son are ineffective and non fluent speakers in English and Hindi- in total contrast to Narender Modi and some of his articulate colleagues. The present tendency of the Congress to attack the PM and his men and women has come a cropper because in the absence of any concrete suggestion or solution, mere criticism as the birthright of the opposition shows a certain degree of vacuity in the party. Congress should now form a shadow cabinet and work out reforms that ensure economic growth and a rightful fair share of it among all sections of people. The policy should be to support industry while guaranteeing equitable distribution of the nation’s resources among the disadvantaged. For the winning slogan of Indira Gandhi-Gharibi hatao- to be again a success, the stage is to be set to intermediate between capitalism and socialism. There has to be a mix of private or corporately owned means of production and partial state ownership of capital and industry in the ratio of 40:60 which I would term as socio-capitalism. There should be stricter enforcement of private industries passing 30% of its profits to the poor to benefit them in housing, education, health and employment. At the same time the Government has to pay its employees salaries on par with private industry to teachers and academics, doctors and nurses, engineers working in government schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and industry. Today a college teacher of the State or Central University does not get the salary a private school Principal gets. Similarly government doctors despite the Non- practising allowance do not get what a private hospital doctors earn. The result is a continuous exodus of top academics and doctors to the private sector, leaving the government organizations in a limbo.  The only way to attract the best and retain them to serve public institutions and thereby the poor and the disadvantaged  is through attractive salaries and not by the present reverse trend of interfering with good private institutions  and bringing them down without upgrading quality in public schools, hospitals and government owned industry.  It is for the economists to work out the modalities to make India a genuine welfare state. Unemployment dole for a limited period during which period the recipient has to find employment, good and free medical treatment for the poor, upgrading the infrastructure, roads, schools and hospitals in towns and second tier cities instead of spending money on smart cities and the continuation of MNREGA are policies that can bring rich dividend to the vast majority of poor people. Whatever I have said will incur the criticism of economists as being naïve and simplistic. I had grown up and was educated in small townships that were built in rural dam sites where we had good hospitals, schools, colleges and theatres besides all the comforts of a good city life.   Welfare measures in US and England give importance to social security with the mandate that the beneficiaries of Social Security System find employment within the stipulated time. The problem with our youth is they have a marked preference for white collar or new collar (pertaining to middle-class wage earners holding jobs in a service industry) jobs. Unless in schools and colleges, field work forms a part of their learning programme, the youth will not appreciate dignity of labour and take up employment other than desk jobs. We need the youth force to build roads, work in fields, teach in village schools and serve in rural hospitals which involves physical exertion, far removed from the comfortable  desk jobs in the cities. Talking about our healthy demographic dividend, can the Congress come up boldly with policies that involve youth force in a dynamic way?

Bold changes have to be initiated in the education sector. It makes no sense to expect everyone to turn out to be scholarly and an intellectual. I have often cited the five finger example where every finger has an allotted duty and all fingers are not of the same length. Our curriculum should be designed for three different groups of students from class XI to the first degree- students desirous of learning employable skills along with some degree of academic knowledge, students seeking professional qualifications and students (a small number) wanting to pursue academics for research and scholarship. Instead of the one-size fits-all kind of curriculum, separate courses should be designed to meet the ability and aspirations of the students. The trifurcation is essential after class X.  Today young graduates have neither the skill nor the competence to take up a job after graduation, not to speak of their academic credentials. Skill India is a good idea provided it is supported by basic knowledge of society, understanding of key issues that are often inter-related and language felicity. Liberal studies at every stage commensurate with the disciplines chosen by the students have to be introduced at different levels of graduation. Compulsory field work/ military service/ social service in the rural sector for a year or two after graduation with stipend for the work done will make India’s youth a potent transformational force. The small number of students taking up academic research are the ones who can generate new ideas that mesh with new developments in technology and relating to the demands and aspirations of modern India.  Educationists, academics, scholars and researchers belonging to the STEM group (Science, Technology, Education and Management)have to be a part of the think tank/shadow cabinet to draw up the new blueprint for a progressive nation. Why can’t the Congress work out revolutionary changes for genuine reforms? Even if they were to lose some percentage of urban rich votes, it will be still worthwhile attempting the reforms, for it has currently nothing to lose.

Congress should have a unambiguous foreign policy as initiated by Nehru’s philosophy of non alignment. Since the end of cold war and the dismantling of capitalist and socialist blocks, it is easy to pursue a neutral policy of enmity towards none, friendship towards all. It is not necessary either to gush forth and make an excessive display of enthusiasm or develop a haughty and distant demeanour to show patronage, but move in a mature way, understanding the complex and changing geopolitics of the 21^st century. With Pakistan we can neither afford to do sabre rattling nor shake hands and embrace with great bonhomie. Action should speak louder than words and exchange of meaningless pleasantries.  The best way is to speak less, to ignore Pakistan as though it is an empty vessel that makes rattling noise and quietly(without trumpeting)  build up our defence and improve intelligence gathering to be on guard. Has Congress devised any strategy to counter Pakistan? Why can’t it come out with policies that encourage exchanges by musicians, theatre groups, films, sportsmen, tradesmen  and academics of the two countries? Simply decrying all the efforts of the present government does not take it –or for that matter the nation- very far without a concrete proposal in place.

In the recently concluded global conference on Climate Change, one of the characteristic Indian weaknesses revealed itself when India blamed the developed West for all the environmental ills. Though this is factually true, there was no substantial gain for the developing nations at the end because our contribution to the improvement of climate was rather subdued, muted and conditional. If you want to change, be the change yourself, said Gandhi. Congress should have come up with an alternative  blueprint for environmental protection and sustenance in place of homilies that we are good at delivering. There are many such issues that require reasoned responses.

The opposition has to play as much of a responsible role as the governing party.  The catchy slogan of maximum governance and minimum government that caught the attention of the people has to be pursued vigorously as the ownership of implementing reforms is to be transferred to people. If responsibility is conferred on people they develop a sense of belonging to a participatory form of governance. AAP captured the imagination of the Delhi-ites but it has not been successful because people have not been adequately educated and trained to take up responsibility. Let Congress pay greater attention to Panchayati Raj and plug the loopholes that are in the system and make it a model of self governance that can be replicated in districts, towns and cities.

Last but the most important part of the Congress is to shed off dynastic rule. If inner democracy is not maintained how can Congress expect to be democratically returned                      to power?  Everyone knows that this country has a vast array of intellectuals, well meaning and articulate, men and women of rare integrity. I do not want to mention names but sufficient to say we have in our midst Ratan Tatas, Premjis, Narayanmurhtys, Gopalakrishna Gandhis, Indira NOOyis and Kiran Mazumdar Shaws, Nilekenis and a whole list of academics  whose understanding, knowledge, vision and ideas should be harnessed for the building up of Modern India. Modernity is not to be misconstrued as something that questions obedience to tradition but as something that seeks answers to beliefs that do not subscribe to rational explanation. The perception that Congress is modern ,does not care for traditionand an ‘angrezi’ party has been one of the causes for its defeat. Tradition is the foundation on which every civilization builds itself around. The ability to sift the accretions that have grown over tradition from its core essence and adapt it to modern times is the role and responsibility of leaders. Unfortunately, Congress had never paid heed to this important cultural aspect despite having hadthe illustrious example of a visionary like the first prime Minister Pt.Nehru who wrote the Discovery of India. One can no longer live buried in a hole in the name of tradition when technology has facilitated the coming together of different traditions, cultures and civilizations. The world is moving at great speed and whether we like it or not, we are also subjected to that high velocity and spun around. Unless the leaders make every effort to bring a synergy between tradition and modernity, we will either be fundamental and cultural atavists or mindless greedy moderns in pursuit of wealth and pleasure. Why has the Congress been silent on all these issue that have been unfortunately hijacked by men in ochre robe whose understanding and awareness of a Global Knowledge Society is feeble if not absent.

 The country needs a good opposition. Congress has not understood that responsibility. Let the party elect better articulate and knowledgeable leaders and seek the services of intellectuals to form a think tank and a shadow cabinet. The party should elect their leaders and not hold on to one family. A new force, a new dynamism , a new vision and a new team can save Congress from oblivion. Hope Congress starts re-inventing the wheel and not wallow in the broken arc.

At the end I make this plea as a septuagenarian, brought up in the Gandhi-Nehru era, when none of the leaders indulged in British bashing even as they fought for freedom from the British raj. Let us rise up to the historical geneology that began with our great freedom fighters and make efforts to bring in intellectual aristocracy in our public discourses and action.