Day: December 13, 2019

What does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean?

Anyone working on curriculum or materials or education in general, ends up wanting children to take pride in being an Indian. But what does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean? Though the idea of \’taking pride\’ can be questioned, here are some things a person \’proud of being an Indian\’ would do / not do (not in any particular order):

  • celebrate the uniqueness and successes of those who are \’different\’ from us – whether belonging to different religion, ethnicity, language, region, profession…
  • not spit out in the open anywhere (surprised? well, this is a leading cause of diseases like TB still being active and killing people)
  • stop complaining about what is wrong (hoping someone else will do something about it) and start taking small steps to make things better, and also urging others to do the same (there\’s power in numbers!)
  • not restrict their sense of identity to a state or a region or a sub-set of India…
  • taking the responsibility of being at one\’s best (whether in health, or talent or work or socializing) so that one can ADD to what is already good in India 
  • taking responsibility of keeping one\’s immediate surroundings at the best we can (in terms of things being well-organized and clean/hygienic as well as in an \’ecological\’ sense) 
  • not simply keep harping on the \’golden days\’ of India\’s past but be aware of what we are at present… and hence 
  • not be afraid to face what is really wrong, accept it and work to changing it (e.g. recognize the \’ugly Indian\’ who jumps lines, is rude and selfish, flouts rules and grins when he gets away with it. Or, of course, the bigger issues of poverty, security, discrimination…)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

What does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean?

Anyone working on curriculum or materials or education in general, ends up wanting children to take pride in being an Indian. But what does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean? Though the idea of \’taking pride\’ can be questioned, here are some things a person \’proud of being an Indian\’ would do / not do (not in any particular order):

  • celebrate the uniqueness and successes of those who are \’different\’ from us – whether belonging to different religion, ethnicity, language, region, profession…
  • not spit out in the open anywhere (surprised? well, this is a leading cause of diseases like TB still being active and killing people)
  • stop complaining about what is wrong (hoping someone else will do something about it) and start taking small steps to make things better, and also urging others to do the same (there\’s power in numbers!)
  • not restrict their sense of identity to a state or a region or a sub-set of India…
  • taking the responsibility of being at one\’s best (whether in health, or talent or work or socializing) so that one can ADD to what is already good in India 
  • taking responsibility of keeping one\’s immediate surroundings at the best we can (in terms of things being well-organized and clean/hygienic as well as in an \’ecological\’ sense) 
  • not simply keep harping on the \’golden days\’ of India\’s past but be aware of what we are at present… and hence 
  • not be afraid to face what is really wrong, accept it and work to changing it (e.g. recognize the \’ugly Indian\’ who jumps lines, is rude and selfish, flouts rules and grins when he gets away with it. Or, of course, the bigger issues of poverty, security, discrimination…)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

What does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean?

Anyone working on curriculum or materials or education in general, ends up wanting children to take pride in being an Indian. But what does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean? Though the idea of \’taking pride\’ can be questioned, here are some things a person \’proud of being an Indian\’ would do / not do (not in any particular order):

  • celebrate the uniqueness and successes of those who are \’different\’ from us – whether belonging to different religion, ethnicity, language, region, profession…
  • not spit out in the open anywhere (surprised? well, this is a leading cause of diseases like TB still being active and killing people)
  • stop complaining about what is wrong (hoping someone else will do something about it) and start taking small steps to make things better, and also urging others to do the same (there\’s power in numbers!)
  • not restrict their sense of identity to a state or a region or a sub-set of India…
  • taking the responsibility of being at one\’s best (whether in health, or talent or work or socializing) so that one can ADD to what is already good in India 
  • taking responsibility of keeping one\’s immediate surroundings at the best we can (in terms of things being well-organized and clean/hygienic as well as in an \’ecological\’ sense) 
  • not simply keep harping on the \’golden days\’ of India\’s past but be aware of what we are at present… and hence 
  • not be afraid to face what is really wrong, accept it and work to changing it (e.g. recognize the \’ugly Indian\’ who jumps lines, is rude and selfish, flouts rules and grins when he gets away with it. Or, of course, the bigger issues of poverty, security, discrimination…)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

What does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean?

Anyone working on curriculum or materials or education in general, ends up wanting children to take pride in being an Indian. But what does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean? Though the idea of \’taking pride\’ can be questioned, here are some things a person \’proud of being an Indian\’ would do / not do (not in any particular order):

  • celebrate the uniqueness and successes of those who are \’different\’ from us – whether belonging to different religion, ethnicity, language, region, profession…
  • not spit out in the open anywhere (surprised? well, this is a leading cause of diseases like TB still being active and killing people)
  • stop complaining about what is wrong (hoping someone else will do something about it) and start taking small steps to make things better, and also urging others to do the same (there\’s power in numbers!)
  • not restrict their sense of identity to a state or a region or a sub-set of India…
  • taking the responsibility of being at one\’s best (whether in health, or talent or work or socializing) so that one can ADD to what is already good in India 
  • taking responsibility of keeping one\’s immediate surroundings at the best we can (in terms of things being well-organized and clean/hygienic as well as in an \’ecological\’ sense) 
  • not simply keep harping on the \’golden days\’ of India\’s past but be aware of what we are at present… and hence 
  • not be afraid to face what is really wrong, accept it and work to changing it (e.g. recognize the \’ugly Indian\’ who jumps lines, is rude and selfish, flouts rules and grins when he gets away with it. Or, of course, the bigger issues of poverty, security, discrimination…)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

What does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean?

Anyone working on curriculum or materials or education in general, ends up wanting children to take pride in being an Indian. But what does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean? Though the idea of \’taking pride\’ can be questioned, here are some things a person \’proud of being an Indian\’ would do / not do (not in any particular order):

  • celebrate the uniqueness and successes of those who are \’different\’ from us – whether belonging to different religion, ethnicity, language, region, profession…
  • not spit out in the open anywhere (surprised? well, this is a leading cause of diseases like TB still being active and killing people)
  • stop complaining about what is wrong (hoping someone else will do something about it) and start taking small steps to make things better, and also urging others to do the same (there\’s power in numbers!)
  • not restrict their sense of identity to a state or a region or a sub-set of India…
  • taking the responsibility of being at one\’s best (whether in health, or talent or work or socializing) so that one can ADD to what is already good in India 
  • taking responsibility of keeping one\’s immediate surroundings at the best we can (in terms of things being well-organized and clean/hygienic as well as in an \’ecological\’ sense) 
  • not simply keep harping on the \’golden days\’ of India\’s past but be aware of what we are at present… and hence 
  • not be afraid to face what is really wrong, accept it and work to changing it (e.g. recognize the \’ugly Indian\’ who jumps lines, is rude and selfish, flouts rules and grins when he gets away with it. Or, of course, the bigger issues of poverty, security, discrimination…)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

What does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean?

Anyone working on curriculum or materials or education in general, ends up wanting children to take pride in being an Indian. But what does \’taking pride in being an Indian\’ mean? Though the idea of \’taking pride\’ can be questioned, here are some things a person \’proud of being an Indian\’ would do / not do (not in any particular order):

  • celebrate the uniqueness and successes of those who are \’different\’ from us – whether belonging to different religion, ethnicity, language, region, profession…
  • not spit out in the open anywhere (surprised? well, this is a leading cause of diseases like TB still being active and killing people)
  • stop complaining about what is wrong (hoping someone else will do something about it) and start taking small steps to make things better, and also urging others to do the same (there\’s power in numbers!)
  • not restrict their sense of identity to a state or a region or a sub-set of India…
  • taking the responsibility of being at one\’s best (whether in health, or talent or work or socializing) so that one can ADD to what is already good in India 
  • taking responsibility of keeping one\’s immediate surroundings at the best we can (in terms of things being well-organized and clean/hygienic as well as in an \’ecological\’ sense) 
  • not simply keep harping on the \’golden days\’ of India\’s past but be aware of what we are at present… and hence 
  • not be afraid to face what is really wrong, accept it and work to changing it (e.g. recognize the \’ugly Indian\’ who jumps lines, is rude and selfish, flouts rules and grins when he gets away with it. Or, of course, the bigger issues of poverty, security, discrimination…)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Ramamritham falls in love

Who is the person I hate the most ? No; not that one, whom I frankly don’t care about . He is half the planet away and troubling other folks; not me. My visceral hate is reserved for somebody much closer home. The “dotard” called Ramamritham. Allow me an unhinged rant please; I badly need it !
You see, the problem is that Ramamritham has fallen head over heels in insane love. We all know how crazy he is even when supposedly normal. Now that his brain circuits have been singed with love, he has become a monster. The delectable damsel who has swept this idiot off his rockers is called Aadhaar.
For the benefit of the one American reader who claims to be ignorant about India (no; not the lady – she is an expert !), Aadhaar is the national ID that every resident of India is supposed to get.
The government introduced Aadhaar some 5 years ago ostensibly as a way to identify individuals to whom subsidies could be paid directly and thereby minimise leakages.  The government gave pious assurances (including to the Supreme Court) that Aadhaar was not compulsory or mandatory and it would never make it so.
I think the government framed this with good intentions, but had not factored that the old toothless fart, Ramamritham, would fall in love with this.  They say love makes you irrational, and if anybody needed any further proof of this, look at what this apology to the human race is doing.
He first made Aadhaar mandatory for buying gas cylinders. Then he made it mandatory to operate any bank account. Then he made it mandatory to file a  tax return.  But where he has gone completely bonkers is that he has now made it mandatory for a mobile connection !! And where it truly descends into madness is that its not just an Aadhaar number that this clown wants. He wants a fingerprint match for every mobile owner !! No; I am not joking. He wants to fingerprint you before you have a mobile phone.
Consider the logistics. There are 1.2 billion people in India. Perhaps some 800 million own a mobile phone. And we being the argumentative Indians we are,  don’t possess just one connection . Almost everybody has two SIM cards. And this is what Ramamritham wants us to do.
1. Go physically to a store of the mobile company (they usually have one store for a million users)
2. Stand in a queue ; you can imagine the length of the queue yourself
3. Give your mobile number and Aadhaar number to whoever is behind the counter
4. You will get a one time password on your phone
5. Give this number to the flunkey
6. He will enter some 10 fields into a computer system that has been ordained by Ramamritham.
7. You then place your thumb on a fingerprint reader
8. If it goes through (and that’s a big IF – see below), then the flunkey does some more fiddling with the system
9. You then place your thumb a second time (Ramamritham wants to make absolutely sure)
10. If it again goes through, then say four different prayers and then go home
11. You’ll get a SMS saying that your request has been registered and that you will get a confirmation in 24/48 hours
12. If you get a SMS after 24/48 hours, you should follow the instructions there and type Y or N or don’t do anything
13. If you fail in any of these steps, go to Step 1
Note : The big IF arises because , this being India, any sensible store has bought a cheap Chinese fingerprint reader and it is impregnated with the smudges of the half a million people who have tried to bestow their affections on it.  Therefore your fingerprint is rarely read on the first attempt. If you fail in three attempts, your Aadhaar gets locked and if you want to unlock it then you have to undergo some contortions not dissimilar to what a certain Mr Scaramucci suggested a Mr Bannon was in the habit of doing.
800 million Indians have to do this twice ( not just once, for you see everyone has two SIM cards). If you are stretcher bound, you still have to do this. Nobody else can do it for you because you have to press your damn thumb on that damn machine in the store. If you don’t do this by February, be prepared to just not have a mobile phone. Cost estimates for the whole nation to cater to Ramamritham’s love affair have been pegged at Rs 1000 crores.
I have lived in the most obsessed country in the world which wants to control every single bit of information you have access to – China. This is the country that has blocked Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, ………… This is the country that employs a million people to read every tweet and delete those that it doesn’t like. Even in that country, buying a SIM card was as simple as going to a corner shop and just buying it. No paper, no forms, no crap. It takes all of 2 minutes. And I am now supposed to be living in a liberal democracy called India. And I have to do all of what I have outlined in this post, simply to have the privilege of talking to a friend.
Unfortunately this is not the worst of it. The other day, I had to receive a payment from some company. They demanded my Aadhaar. Very soon, if I have to pee, I am sure I will have to validate my Aadhaar.
Readers are invited to design the most creative torture that can be inflicted on Ramamritham. And to the good American referred to earlier in the post. Let’s do an exchange. I’ll gladly take your dear leader in exchange for Ramamritham !!

What happens when you seriously try to empower children, teachers and community through large scale education initiatives?

The pervasive notion that \’nothing has been done in education in India\’ could not be further from the truth. In fact not only has a great deal been done, but its consequences have been faced over decades. In particular, what follows applies to introducing educational designs based on local context, using the experiences and strengths of the stakeholders, creating a situation where they play an active role in determining and implementing processes.

Though obviously much must have been done over the decades till the 80s, my experience ranges from mid-80s, when I was part of a team working on such classroom practices, textbooks and educational designs from 1986 onwards. Implementation of the programme called Prashika (Prathamik Shiksha Karyakram) focused on marginalised groups, with the team living in a tribal area as well as in a rural, deprived pocket and introducing the innovation in government primary schools. The work in Prashika was pathbreaking in many, many ways (integration of 5 subjects at the primary level, incorporation of multiple local languages, a hugely localised textbook/workbook that could only be completed with each child contributing, called Khushi-Khushi – still not matched anywhere, I believe). It provided hope that much was possible despite the difficulties faced and informed many of the later efforts that followed, both in the government and the NGO sector.

Later in DPEP – particularly Kerala, Assam, Karnataka, Haryana, UP, Bihar, TN, Nagaland and later with SSA Gujarat further work was done. Localised training, contexualisable textbooks (some really brilliant stuff still not matched anywhere – and that\’s a professional opinion), teacher determined assessment system, involvement of community knowledge, children constructing local histories / local environment books, peer learning and assessments, textbooks that would be \’complete\’ only along with a set of 50 district-specific books kept in the school library…. many, many innovative and large scale measures were conceived and actually implemented using a strategically developed implementation plan. 

In each first five states we were able to see 2-3 years of implementation, development of hundreds / thousands of teachers who implemented contextualised learning, a high degree of in-class practice backed by supportive, localisable material. These states changed their position in the national achievement surveys too, with Kerala rising to the top (it had been fairly close to the bottom before this, below Bihar in the first national survey). In the case of Gujarat, field testing was done in 630 schools, researched by MSU Baroda with very encouraging findings. 

However, as long as we were not visibly successful there were no problems. When change began to be visible on some scale and a palpable sense of energy was witnessed among teachers and communities, alarm bells began to ring. in each of these states, the powers that be – especially at state level, state institutions, administrations, political parties – found that this went against the command-and-control structures conducive to them being able to assert their authority. Schools didn\’t want to be told what to teach when and how – they had their own plans. Empowered teachers / school heads / even some VECs refused to kowtow to mediocre ideas or corruption oriented bosses – leading to huge conflicts all over the place. Unfortunately these never got reported, recorded or researched. The results were mass scale transfers, cases against state project directors who encouraged this (Kerala SPD was charge sheeted, Karnataka SPD given punishment posting in North Karnataka, Assam SPD sent to conflict zone during worst riots, Bihar SPD transferred to PHED and later kept without posting), the re-casting of State Resource Groups from those selected for tested capabilities to those stocked with ex-officio positions, the emasculation of the BRC-CRC structures from genuine teacher support institutions into data collection centres (believe it or not, we did have functional BRCs CRCs at one time!), the centralisation of powers away from the VECs and re-casting into SMCs with a different function, and major shift in recruitments away from districts to states (in one state the Education Minister held a Recruitment Mela in a stadium to personally appoint 3000 para-teachers). 

Interestingly, Prashika in MP faced a similar adminstrative backlash and was closed down.

Yes, like it or not, this is what ideas of empowerment through education come up against – and they fall short not because of lack of any purity in the idea itself or absence of rigour, but because after a point when it goes into implementation an idea is something else, and not its original pure self. You might look at the actual work and find it is not \’up to the standard\’ – yet when trying to create it for those who need education the most, other aspects need to be taken into account. Basically, empowering the weak is clearly seen by the strong as disempowering them – and the empire strikes back! One of the outcomes is that a few years later, it appears as if nothing has been done, and people gear themselves up to again come up with \’innovative\’ ideas, often weaker than might already have been tried, uninformed by the past.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Three Reasons Why The Use Of I.T. In Schools Is NOT Leading to Improved Learning

Recent reports from different parts of the world show that computer / IT supported learning programmes are not yielding the learning improvements expected. 
So why is this happening?
After looking at a fair number of IT-based programmes, software, and reports from different sources, this appears to be because something critical is being ignored: that improved learning requires both improved relationships and processes, and a clearer focus on outcomes considered worthwhile. Let me explain this a little. 
1. IT Use Doesn\’t Seek to Impact Relationships 
Relationships among the key stakeholders – teachers, students, parents / community, school heads, supervisors and administrators, and academic support personnel – cannot be bypassed; without improving them, it is difficult to see learning outcomes improve. Living in the hope that IT usage will make a difference here, is to be unrealistic. For relationships to flourish, apart from changing the teacher\’s role (and several other aspects), activities that require real group thinking would make a difference. At present the IT material has not paid sufficient attention here, though it is uniquely placed to do so, especially in gaming software. 
In addition, of course, several governance changes are required (e.g. in how school \’inspection\’ takes place) as well as in management of learning (through better preparation for teaching, classroom organization and use of assessment). Again, a misplaced emphasis on IT will not see changes here.
2. IT Use Could – But Doesn\’t – Sufficiently Impact Processes:
Some parts of the curriculum require face time between teachers and students, and among students themselves. Some parts are better handled through IT – I believe such an analysis of curriculum has not been done, resulting in everything being dumped on to IT, much of which it is not really in a position to support. (Khan Academy does try to increase the face time by \’reversing\’ the class, but it still does not do this analysis sufficiently and could benefit from it).
3. IT Use Doesn\’t Always Focus On The Outcomes It Should
The tendency is to focus mainly on a limited number of scholastic outcomes. In fact, even within the subjects themselves, higher order learning objectives are often ignored, or under-represented. Believe it or not, this affects the learning of other aspects as well! E.g. children who have the opportunity to make creative use of language end up being better in grammar and spelling than children who get an overdose of grammar and spelling. A great deal of IT material is geared to towards getting children to answer tests / exams rather than help in real, long-term learning.
But other than the subjects, larger curricular goals – such as cooperation, respect for diversity, development of a scientific outlook and an ecological perspective, developing a questioning mind, democratic values – hardly figure in much of the IT based material / activities. Implying that it is, at best, supporting some parts of subject-oriented learning rather than  education as such.
So is all this emphasis on \’modern technology\’ wrong and misguided? No, not necessarily wrong, but our expectations are certainly misplaced. In our desire to find the one single magic solution we have ignored the many other actions that need to be taken before learning improves. Perhaps focusing on IT seems easier and more exciting than than the hard work that the other stuff requires.
At any rate, IT is clearly not the silver bullet that many desperately believe it to be. It needs to be treated as just one more tool to be used, rather than as a solution for problems that it can\’t solve. And even as a tool, it needs to be used much better than is the case at present. 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Constitution is the Holy Book Which Provides Dignity to the Citizen and Upholds Unity of the Country

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today highlighted the strength of inclusivity in our Constitution and said that this has made us face of our challenges while upholding the integrity of the nation.

He was today addressing a joint sitting of the both the houses to mark the 70th Year of Constitution in the Central Hall of Parliament.

Referring to the Constitution day, the Prime Minister said, “ There are a few occasions and a few days that strengthen our relation with the past. They motivate us to works towards a better future. Today the 26th of November is a historical day. 70 years ago, we duly adopted our great Constitution. “

Prime Minister described the Constitution as a product of several debates and deliberations of the Constituent Assembly. He paid tributes to all those who put in their effort in providing the country with its Constitution.

“7 decades ago in this Central hall, every clause of Constitution was discussed, debated on our dreams, challenges and prospects. Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Pandit Nehru, Acharya Kriplani, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and several other senior leaders debated, discussed and gave us this heritage. I pay my tributes to all those who were responsible for giving us this constitution. “

“The dreams of the members of the Constituent Assembly took shape in the form of the words and values enshrined in our Constitution.”, he said.

Prime Minister said that Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkarji, in his last discourse on the Constitution on the 25th of November 1949 reminded the people that in the past “we have lost both our freedom and the republic nature of the country owing to our own mistakes”.

Prime Minister said, “Ambedkar Ji warned the people and asked them if the country can now uphold its freedom and its democracy”

Prime Minister said, “Had Babasaheb Ambedkar been alive today, he would have probably been the happiest. Not only India upheld its virtues but strengthened its democracy and freedom. “

“And that is why I bow to the Legislature, Executive and Judicial wings of the Constitution which helped in preserving the values and ideals enshrined in it.”

Prime Minister said he would also bow to the entire country for striving to uphold the constitution.

“I humbly bow to the 130 Crore Indians whose faith in India’s democracy never diminished and who always revered the constitution as a holy book and a guiding light.

The 70 years of our constitution brings us a feeling of happiness, supremacy and a sense of conclusion.

The happiness is due to resolute sense of belongingness to the virtues and essence of the constitution. People of this country have rejected any attempt to the contrary.”

He said, “The sense of supremacy is due to the ideals of the constitution that we could move towards Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat.

The essence we arrive at is that Constitution is the only means through which this vast and diverse country can achieve its aspirations, dreams and progress.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the Constitution as our holy book.

“Our Constitution is the most holy book for us which is a conglomeration of our life, our society, our traditions, our values and also a solution to all our challenges.”

He said Constitution is based on the twin philosophy of dignity and unity. “Two mantras of Constitution are ‘dignity for Indians’ and ‘unity for India’ It held supreme the dignity of our citizens while keeping the Unity of India intact.”

Prime Minister termed the Constitution as the best express of global democracy and that it keeps us aware not only of our rights but also of our duties.

“The Constitution of India highlights both rights and duties of citizens. This is a special aspect of our Constitution. The relation and balance between the rights and duties were very well understood by the Father of our Nation Mahatma Gandhi ji. “

He urged the people to develop the spirit to adhere to the Sense of duty enshrined in the constitution.

“Let us think about how we can fulfil the duties enshrined in our Constitution.

We should differentiate between service and duty. While Service is voluntary, that is you may help a needy on the street, but if you follow traffic rules rigorously while driving then you are fulfilling your duty.

It should be our effort to emphasise on duties in our interactions with people.

As proud citizens of India, let us think about how our actions will make our nation even stronger.”

He said, “Our Constitution begins with “We the People of India”. Let us realise that We the People are its strength, its inspiration and its purpose”

The Prime Minister also recalled this day as the day in which several people were killed in a terror attack in Mumbai in 2008 and paid tributes to those departed on that gruesome day.

“But today also is a day that causes pain when on 26th November in Mumbai terrorists have tried to destroy the thousands of years of rich philosophy of Vasudaiva Kutumbakam (One World One Family). I pay my respects to the departed souls.”

 

Narendra Modi

✔@narendramodi

Speaking in Parliament on . Watch https://www.pscp.tv/w/cKyzWjMyMjExNTJ8MU93eFdkRU1SbndLUcgLmuwPvCozJ-DbB2Uq4QwGA5BNtnQoQ-jLEOMxjD5y …

Narendra Modi @narendramodi

Speaking in Parliament on #ConstitutionDay. Watch

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Contesting Cribbing

If you\’re a person working to improve the educational system in a country like ours, here\’s something you\’ll recognize: whether it\’s journalists or academics, colleagues from NGOs or \’well-wishers\’ of children, everyone is pretty good at \’problem pointing\’. They\’re really good at telling us exactly how BAD things are. Numerous articles, speeches, social media entries, research pieces, presentations, and even protests, copiously crib about a range of ills affecting education : how the system is dysfunctional, teachers are absent, accountability is missing, children aren\’t learning, process is dated, children are oppressed, administration is rigid, policies are rich but unimplemented, how the disadvantaged continue to get a raw deal right through… Recognize it? I do, for some of this is what I do as well!


But here\’s the rub – all this elaboration on what is wrong (some of it is serious research that is credible as well), how far has it helped find exactly what to do. That is, what to do which would help us get rid of the problems being pointed out. Don\’t get me wrong, I\’m all for the growing numbers of those who are able to detail their dissatisfaction at the continued limitations of our education system. It\’s just that I\’m unable to learn enough from it to know what needs to be done.


Because when one gets down to the doing, a whole lot of other things unfold that you were not quite prepared for. Turns out dealing with diversity is not exactly easy, and most of the pat suggestions don\’t really hold in face of the actual ground realities. Turns out that poor (or even exploitative) governance is such an all-pervading reality that what we can do in / through education just pales in front of it (try sitting in a district education office for a day if you don\’t believe me). Turns out that our \’log frames\’, strategies, plans and spreadsheets capture something in our mind but all of it simply crumbles when the actual implementation takes place. It\’s often noticed that some of the best experts, especially those from the universities, are usually eager to help in the planning and the evaluation – but not the part that comes in between, i.e. the implementation!


So I\’ve come to the unfortunate conclusion that a great proportion of those involved tend to complain mainly because it is the easiest thing to do. Just like many newspaper sections talk of potholes on the roads, delayed or poor services, or lack of facilities (usually in a self-righteous tone that includes phrases such as \’even 60 years after independence\’ – you get the picture). All this in the hope that saying what is wrong will somehow make it go away. As if it really does! 


Where does all this leave us? To my mind, it leaves us with a lot of cribbing all around us. Every day we continue to read, hear, powerpoint and wordprocess an overdose of shortcomings. Such solutions as are offered are usually: 

  • trite (\’there should be accountability\’ – which is easy to say, of course) or 
  • platitudinous  (\’teachers should be dedicated to their vocation\’) or 
  • superficial (\’implement play way method!\’ – makes one\’s skin crawl) or 
  • autocratic (\’strictly monitor these damned teachers, don\’t let them get away\’ ) or 
  • misguided (\’pay teachers more / less if their students learn more / less\’ – you can see how this will favour the already advantaged, isn\’t it) or 
  • even desperate and daft (\’put a web cam in every class\’).



I\’m doing the same, of course, cribbing. But let me try to redeem myself by making a few (hopefully) concrete suggestions:

  • The first thing is to recognize the huge potential of all this cribbing. It represents an enormous and growing \’cognitive surplus\’ that can be put to better use to further what the \’cribber\’ is interested in – actual improvement.
  • Along the lines of wikipedia, bring out a collective, well-organised and evolving situational analysis to which people can keep contributing. This will help generate a more structured, well-rounded understanding that might increase the likelihood of finding effective strategies.This should include a critique of the kind of superficial solutions mentioned earlier, with case studies of the difficulties they landed in or the actual improvement they brought about. An analysis of serious efforts and the difficulties faced would help bring about a nuanced problematization.
  • Those involved in change efforts could find ways of identifying any \’cribber\’ who shows potential, and involve her/him in actual improvement processes – either the process would improve or the cribbing would be contained.
  • Publicize and set standards for the kind of writing that is deemed as being helpful. This is not easy at all – but the degree to which the social discourse on education is getting overwhelmed by this collective bemoaning (and the resultant diversion from / inability to actually address the issues) is now making it imperative that we find a way out. Any news channel / newspaper could initiate this by developing a policy paper on how to cover the social sector and then actually following it. Once an example is set, others would follow suit (simply because the initiating body would come out looking better, and therefore be likely to grab a bigger share of sensible eyeballs). 

You might feel that I\’ve totally mis-read the situation, that we need more people to actually be pointing out what is going wrong. Well, point away – but that\’s no guarantee it will make the problem go away!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Dogma and relativism: the method to their madness.

Socialism failed. It wasn’t a close runner-up to capitalism, it was a massive and catastrophic failure in proportion to the degree it was practiced everywhere it was tried. The failure was understood, explained, and documented. Those who wished to continue the dream were unable to continue the pretense of a “scientific socialism” rooted in reality but instead had to dispense with reason, push aside science, and evade reality. 11 Indeed, reality is the enemy and reason is the enemy’s tool. Only relativism and subjectivism can support the dream. But what supports relativism and subjectivism? The history of philosophy! “Postmodernism is a result of using skeptical epistemology to justify the personal leap of faith necessary to continue believing in socialism.” 12
The slightest familiarity with the far left shows a ruthless adherence to dogma and an abhorrence of traditional Western values. This is hardly the signs of a doubtful skeptic. Prof. Hicks argues, successfully in my opinion, that the skepticism is selectively invoked only to undermine the remaining elements of the liberal Enlightenment order. America, the symbol of that liberal order and most powerful country on earth, must be opposed by any means necessary. That means denigrating “truth” (generally put in quotes by postmodern detractors), championing any powerless group as noble victims, and consciously embracing whatever lie one can get away with. “[S]ociety is a battle of competing wills, that words are merely tools in the power struggle for dominance.” 13 Thus, postmodernism “justifies using language not as a vehicle for seeking truth but as a rhetorical weapon in the continuing battle against capitalism.” 14
With Prof. Hicks’ analysis, the events of the past two years become intelligible. We are actually witnessing the most vicious embrace of anti-American propaganda during wartime; with the sole purpose of demoralizing and defeating our war effort. This is not the loyal opposition; the concern is not prudence and effectiveness. This is fundamental attack on the soul and character of America. To the left, America is the enemy – a “rogue nation”. The sin of America is capitalism and it is that intrinsic evil that compels America to commit atrocities around the world. And the left’s denial of this duplicity is just part of the New Lie. All dissent is honorable and should be respected according to this trope, even as it viciously attacks American values.
The New Lie is not identical to the Big Lie practiced by the Nazis. It goes beyond that. The Nazi practice consisted of the continual repetition of a falsehood while pretending it is obviously true. The New Lie boldly puts forth a falsehood but without hiding that fact. Thus, there is no longer any embarrassment in contradictions; say whatever you think you can get away with and if that doesn’t work try something else. Show indifference to inconvenient evidence. However, if it is obvious that you’re caught in a lie, deny that truth is possible. The litmus test is “if it hurts the powerful, it’s right; if it hurts America, it is just.”
Remember that the classical liberal mindset holds reason and reality to be important. This leads to the virtues of rational argumentation and the reliance of supporting evidence. Postmodernists discard the concept of truth and thus need to prove nothing. They need only insert arbitrary and unwarranted doubt. They seek to establish nothing but only to annihilate. The use of rhetorical spam and arbitrary statements are merely dialectical trash thrown in the path of all rational persons of good-will in the hopes you may stumble or that you may become worn down jumping these hurdles. With a continue barrage of baseless accusations, piles of irrelevant details, and empty moral posturing, the hope is to undermine morale and induce cynicism. The goal is to destroy, destroy, destroy.
Where does this leave us? First of all, the arbitrary doesn’t need to be addressed. Unless a statement or the assumptions of a question are based on reality and motivated by substantial considerations, they do not deserve cognitive status. They are no different than the sounds of a parrot, and should be summarily dismissed. The very stance of the left – i.e. that truth is a fiction – makes any further dialog a farce. Now one might ask: have we not been silly to dignify the empty and deceitful posturing of the left? Perhaps. But even with a parrot, there may be someone else in the room that says: “hey, what about that?” To which you may reply, it is only a parrot – ignore it.

In defence of TPP – the arbitration clause

One of the big issues in a trade relationship involving multiple countries is what happens if a country unilaterally decides to ban a product, or raise import duties astronomically, or take a similar form of unilateral action that dramatically affects the viability of a foreign investor\’s project. This might go against something that the government itself contractually agreed with the investor. What does the investor do.
The investor can take the government of that country to court, but in many countries of the world  there is no hope of winning, or it would take years in court. After all a government can simply change laws retrospectively (as India often does) and the courts can do little else but enforce them. It is precisely for this reason that the United States for many years has been insisting on independent forums for resolving Investor-State Disputes (ISDs). The US position has been that the legal system of every country outside the US cannot be trusted and therefore there must be an independent mechanism for resolving disputes. In current bilateral trade agreements with 5 of the 12 countries in TPP, the US already has ISD clauses.  In recent years the US has an ISD mechanism in every trade agreement it has signed, bar the US-Australia one. In fact the biggest opponent of the ISD clause has been Australia, rather than the US. In a blatant double facedness, Australia has ISD clauses in trade agreements with developing countries, but refuses with developed countries.
The principle is not new either in the commercial arena or in governmental ones. Every commercial contract has arbitration clauses – parties submit to the jurisdiction of arbitrators rather than courts. This is both cost effective as well as time saving and is universally used in commercial contracts. There are well established global rules governing arbitration – the \”capitals\” of arbitration being London, New York and Singapore. If each commercial dispute came to the courts, the judicial system in every country in the world will come to a grinding halt – it is partly for this reason that courts themselves encourage arbitration.
It is therefore rich for US politicians, and especially Elizabeth Warren to argue against the ISD clause on grounds of loss of sovereignty. Firstly it is the US itself over successive Republican and Democrat administrations that has championed this principle. Secondly it the US which is usually the gainer in such matters – for example it prevents countries from outrightly nationalising companies and industries, as say for example, Argentina is wont to do. 
Two cases are often used to illustrate how \”greedy companies are milking countries\” – the Veolia Egypt case and the Philip Morris Uruguay case.
Veolia , a French firm was executing a project to reduce greenhouse gases in Alexandria in Egypt. The firm executed a contract with the government whereby the government would compensate the company for cost increases because of governmental action. Egypt then raised the minimum wages in the country and Veolia then took the Alexandria authorities to arbitration for compensation for rising costs. The matter is in dispute and has not yet been decided. This is a contractual matter and the spin that Warren & Co are mouthing that this is a corporation suppressing minimum wages in a poor country is pure balderdash.
The Philip Morris case is more nuanced. Uruguay passed laws requiring that 80% of the pack contain graphic images and the risks of smoking. It raised taxes, banned advertising, and sponsorships. Philip Morris took this to arbitration on the grounds that this makes it virtually impossible to do business. The matter is yet to be decided. Uruguay is a signatory to an ISD arbitration and hence this came up before the arbitration panel rather than the courts in Uruguay. There  is no evidence that just because it has gone to arbitration  the ruling would be \”unfair\” or \”unjust\”.
As a consequence of this case, in the TPP negotiations, the US has sought to prevent misuse of the arbitration clause by recognizing each country’s “inherent right” to regulate for health and safety. This will probably get incorporated into the final deal so that unilateral action by governments on grounds of health or safety  cannot be legally challenged.
As far as the US is concerned, the TPP provisions are no different from the existing situation it already has in some 50 odd agreements.  So why all this noise from Warren ? The noise is not because she has a better mechanism for dealing with an investor government dispute. It is in reality because she is against globalisation & trade. That is a different argument and battle.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Ramamritham falls in love

Who is the person I hate the most ? No; not that one, whom I frankly don\’t care about . He is half the planet away and troubling other folks; not me. My visceral hate is reserved for somebody much closer home. The \”dotard\” called Ramamritham. Allow me an unhinged rant please; I badly need it !
You see, the problem is that Ramamritham has fallen head over heels in insane love. We all know how crazy he is even when supposedly normal. Now that his brain circuits have been singed with love, he has become a monster. The delectable damsel who has swept this idiot off his rockers is called Aadhaar.
For the benefit of the one American reader who claims to be ignorant about India (no; not the lady – she is an expert !), Aadhaar is the national ID that every resident of India is supposed to get.
The government introduced Aadhaar some 5 years ago ostensibly as a way to identify individuals to whom subsidies could be paid directly and thereby minimise leakages.  The government gave pious assurances (including to the Supreme Court) that Aadhaar was not compulsory or mandatory and it would never make it so.
I think the government framed this with good intentions, but had not factored that the old toothless fart, Ramamritham, would fall in love with this.  They say love makes you irrational, and if anybody needed any further proof of this, look at what this apology to the human race is doing.
He first made Aadhaar mandatory for buying gas cylinders. Then he made it mandatory to operate any bank account. Then he made it mandatory to file a  tax return.  But where he has gone completely bonkers is that he has now made it mandatory for a mobile connection !! And where it truly descends into madness is that its not just an Aadhaar number that this clown wants. He wants a fingerprint match for every mobile owner !! No; I am not joking. He wants to fingerprint you before you have a mobile phone.
Consider the logistics. There are 1.2 billion people in India. Perhaps some 800 million own a mobile phone. And we being the argumentative Indians we are,  don\’t possess just one connection . Almost everybody has two SIM cards. And this is what Ramamritham wants us to do.
1. Go physically to a store of the mobile company (they usually have one store for a million users)
2. Stand in a queue ; you can imagine the length of the queue yourself
3. Give your mobile number and Aadhaar number to whoever is behind the counter
4. You will get a one time password on your phone
5. Give this number to the flunkey
6. He will enter some 10 fields into a computer system that has been ordained by Ramamritham.
7. You then place your thumb on a fingerprint reader
8. If it goes through (and that\’s a big IF – see below), then the flunkey does some more fiddling with the system
9. You then place your thumb a second time (Ramamritham wants to make absolutely sure)
10. If it again goes through, then say four different prayers and then go home
11. You\’ll get a SMS saying that your request has been registered and that you will get a confirmation in 24/48 hours
12. If you get a SMS after 24/48 hours, you should follow the instructions there and type Y or N or don\’t do anything
13. If you fail in any of these steps, go to Step 1
Note : The big IF arises because , this being India, any sensible store has bought a cheap Chinese fingerprint reader and it is impregnated with the smudges of the half a million people who have tried to bestow their affections on it.  Therefore your fingerprint is rarely read on the first attempt. If you fail in three attempts, your Aadhaar gets locked and if you want to unlock it then you have to undergo some contortions not dissimilar to what a certain Mr Scaramucci suggested a Mr Bannon was in the habit of doing.
800 million Indians have to do this twice ( not just once, for you see everyone has two SIM cards). If you are stretcher bound, you still have to do this. Nobody else can do it for you because you have to press your damn thumb on that damn machine in the store. If you don\’t do this by February, be prepared to just not have a mobile phone. Cost estimates for the whole nation to cater to Ramamritham\’s love affair have been pegged at Rs 1000 crores.
I have lived in the most obsessed country in the world which wants to control every single bit of information you have access to – China. This is the country that has blocked Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, ………… This is the country that employs a million people to read every tweet and delete those that it doesn\’t like. Even in that country, buying a SIM card was as simple as going to a corner shop and just buying it. No paper, no forms, no crap. It takes all of 2 minutes. And I am now supposed to be living in a liberal democracy called India. And I have to do all of what I have outlined in this post, simply to have the privilege of talking to a friend.
Unfortunately this is not the worst of it. The other day, I had to receive a payment from some company. They demanded my Aadhaar. Very soon, if I have to pee, I am sure I will have to validate my Aadhaar.
Readers are invited to design the most creative torture that can be inflicted on Ramamritham. And to the good American referred to earlier in the post. Let\’s do an exchange. I\’ll gladly take your dear leader in exchange for Ramamritham !!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1