Saturday, April 8, 2023
The Right to Education Act
The children are the most precious resource of any country. The future of a country rests on the physical, mental, moral and cultural growth of the children. Education system plays an important role in shaping the future of children of a country. A sustainable and effective education system nurtures all the qualities of a child to become a resourceful citizen in future life.
Large-scale unemployment and existence of under utilised labour force are the most unwanted form of human resource wastage. In a global market, a country can’t afford such an extensive wastage.
To become an economic super power, India needs to create opportunities to trap the unutilised and / or under utilised human resources for capacity building. An education system, which is capable of fostering the innate qualities of the students, is what India needs most now.
To meet the growing need of a vibrant and dynamic education system, the Government of India has implemented ambitious Right to Education Act (REA) in 1 April, 2010. This Act actually mandates the overhaul of school curricula and traditional examination procedures drastically.
With the enactment of the Right to Education Act (REA), all the children between the ages of 6 and 14 are eligible to get opportunity of free and compulsory elementary education. The Act aims at expansion, inclusion and excellence of education system to help the children of the country to blossom into enlightened personalities.
As per the new law, the schools need to have certain minimum facilities like adequate teachers, playground and infrastructure. The government will evolve some mechanism to help marginalised schools complying with the provisions of the Act. The Finance Commission has provided Rs 25,000 crore to the states for implementation of the Act. As per the government's estimate, there will be a requirement of Rs 1.71 lakh crore in the next five years for implementation of the Act.
The plan under inclusion deals with actually implementing the Act in its truest spirit. At present, there are nearly 22 crore children in the relevant age group. However, 4.6 per cent of these children (nearly 92 lakh) are out of school.
The responsibility to identify the drop outs or out of school children above six years of age and bring them within education system rest with the local school management committee and/or the local authority. The local administration will conduct household surveys and mapping of neighbourhood schools. Regular and intensive surveys will help to identify the out of school children while mapping of neighbourhood schools will act as a database.
The Act makes it a right of every child to get education. It also makes it obligatory for the concerned authorities to ensure that every child gets free elementary education. The REA mandates that even private educational institutions have to reserve 25 per cent seats for children from weaker sections. It is also mandated by the act that no child shall be denied admission for lack of age proof, held back or expelled from the school before completing the elementary education.
Presently, the number of students in a classroom to the teacher ratio stands at 50:1. However, the Act stipulates that the ratio should be 30:1. To maintain the stipulated ratio, at least 12 lakh more trained teachers need to be recruited. More critically, more than five lakh teachers are currently untrained whereas the Act states that all the teachers must be qualified and trained.
The Central government shall develop and enforce standards for the training of the teachers. To this end, the Central government shall provide technical support and resources to the state government for encouraging and promoting innovations, researches, planning and capacity building.
Special attention has been paid in outlining the school curriculum and evaluation procedure. Maintaining conformity with the values enshrined in the Constitution, curricula are to be designed focusing into all round physical and mental development of a child. Efforts to build up knowledge, potentiality and talent of a child through educational activities, explorations and discoveries in a child friendly and child-centric manner have been emphasised. One of the important tasks of the teachers is making child free of fear, trauma and anxiety and helping him expressing his views freely. The REA prohibits private tuition and mandates comprehensive and continuous evaluation of child’s understanding of knowledge and his/her ability the same.
No, it is one of the most significant reforms introduced by the government in recent times. The Act has already come under severe criticism for various reasons. However, the necessity of changing age-old European model of education based on the concept of ‘individual growth’ with a more pragmatic education system based on collective prosperity is considered to be too important for sustainable development of the country.
Thursday, April 6, 2023
THE RIGHT TO STRIKE SHOULD EMERGE FROM DENIAL OF JUSTICE
India is well known for ‘Bandhs, Hartals and Strikes by various political parties, trade unions, employees of Government and Semi-Government orgranisations including Trade and Business Associations. The purpose and aim of such non-productive agitations are sometimes flimsy, egoistic and to show the strength, clout and superiority before the concerned authorities and their respective organizations. If we see all such rights to protest against injustice or for any genuine grievances through the same prism, it would be a prejudiced or misconceived view, as quite often there are spontaneous protests against injustice or for the survival of the weaker sections over the suppression and depression of dominant sections who have ample resources, clouts and muscle power in today’s polity.
Our democracy has become a platform for implementing the might and influence of certain sections of the society who has all the wherewithal to take advantage of the weak points of our political parties and the State and Central Governments through manipulation, misrepresentation of the facts and coercing the various wings of the government machinery to cut out maximum cakes in their favour from a fluid and confused situation prevailing in our country. The Unions and their leaders are also not exception from this reality. While a section of the people are protected and promoted at the cost of the taxes paid by the citizens and resources of the country, teeming millions working in private sectors lead a hand to mouth existence and exploited from their masters and to fight for their cause no leaders are coming forward and if at all someone raise his protest, it would be ridiculed and neglected by the rest of the powerful sections who control the majority of media which should brought out such injustices and partial attitudes of the authorities and policy failures to the lime light.
The recent strikes by the members of Oil Sector Officers Association for better pay based on the basics of 6th Pay Commission recommendations and the hardships they brought to the common man all over the country inspite of their fatty pay packets and other perks compared to other sectors show their immaturity in taking out the ultimate weapon of right to strike for justice, as our country is also being gripped under the global recession and many sections are struggling to cope up with the emerging scenario. The situation had gone from bad to worse in view of the strike declared by Truckers’ Association by raising unreasonable demands including abolition of toll tax. However, the widespread condemnation of the people against such strikes which caused innumerable hardships to the common man forced the Government to take stringent action against them including termination of services and imposition of ESMA finally opened their eyes to see the stark reality and thus had to retreat from their illogical decision to hold the nation to ransom for their illegitimate demands. Out of this process, though the people faced some hardships, a clear message emerged from under the carpet that no section can fool the people with unjustified demands.
The emerging consciousness amongst the people on various issues shows that the Governments in power shall have to consider the feelings and difficulties of the people and the policy of appeasement to a section at the cost of their normal life shall have effective backlash and the anger and resentment expressed by them is not sorted out, the party in power has to pay a heavy price. Why it happens today? This is because of the rising awareness amongst the people due to the expansion of media coverage and increase in education amongst the citizens not only in urban areas, but in rural sectors too.
Therefore, all the political parties should frame out their manifestos in the forthcoming elections by measuring the hardships, under development, poverty, illiteracy and social and economic backwardness of various sections of our countrymen and come out with true and logical solutions to ameliorate their concerns and work for fulfilling their aspirations and hopes in a liberalized and globalised economy. Now the people of India is comparing our lifestyles and social status with other similar developing and developed nations and they are evaluating the roles and actions of various political leaders and ashamed and angered over the stories of rags to riches of many leaders at the cost of poor and weaker sections, since they think that these sections are their liability and hindrance against their material progress in their political profession!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
MULLAPERIYAR DAM – LIFE AND DEATH ISSUE FOR TN & KERALA
The controversy about Mullaperiyar dam has drawn the attention of the people at national level and discussed and debated at length in the media. It has also become a thorny issue for the Centre to settle the sensitive dispute when both the States of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have stuck to their respective stands. When TN wants to maintain their rights over the maximum availability of water for its drought prone southern districts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala fears that if the dam breaches, it would be a colossal disaster for the four million people living downstream. In short, it is a story of large heartedness of water plus Kerala to help out the neighbouring water starved State of Tamil Nadu that cries for water for the cultivation of its drought prone areas. Now the people and the Government of Kerala feel that bad days are ahead and started shouting for help to avert the impending disaster with all sorts of suggestions and seeking intermediaries to sort out the complex issue.
The history of the construction of dam goes back to British era when the idea was first conceptualized by the then rulers of Madras Presidency who approached the Maharaja of Travancore for diverting water from Periyar to Vaigal river for agricultural purposes. Although the plan was initiated in the year 1808, the official signing of the agreement was done in the year 1886 and thus the dam was built in 1985 on the river Mullaperiyar. It has a length of 1200 ft. and height of 155 ft and the catchment area comes to 5334 sq. km. of which 5222 sq. km. come inside Kerala and the remaining is in Tamil Nadu. The signing of the agreement seems to have been done by the Maharaja of Travancore under pressure from British Government and whatever the compensation given against the diversion of water from the dam for irrigation and generating electricity was quite token and nominal. And the agreement entered into between two parties was for a period of 999 years. As such Madras Presidency was very alert to modify and expand the dam structure periodically and started the process of generating electricity. In fact, after the reorganization of the State on linguistic basis, the popular government in Kerala was not alert to take care of its own interests as compared to the erstwhile princely Sate of Kerala while Tamil Nadu Government went on to take maximum advantage of the dam by supplying water to its southern part of drought hit areas.
Though Kerala could have taken adequate steps to safeguard its interest, it again signed an agreement with TN to continue the uninterrupted use of water and generation of electricity through another agreement in the year 1970. It was really an unwise step on its part and later on that step turned out to be the ratification of the previous agreement signed in 1886, which resulted in weakening the scope to challenge the previously agreement legally in the court of law. The second agreement gave Kerala the right to fishing in the lake as a compensation for allowing power generation and increase in the annual rent for the land, inspite of the fact that Kerala government started raising the issue of safety of the dam way back in 1960. Whatever the repairing work to plug the leakage and the weakening structure undertaken by TN Government was not sufficient to give the desired results and thus on request, the Central Government interfered in the matter and an expert commission was appointed under the Chairmanship of the then Chairman of Central Water Commission and two engineers each from the two States as its members. All the suggestions put forward by the Commission were fulfilled by TN, but could not implement the last suggestion of constructing a new dam not far away from the existing dam. The main reason shown by the reluctance of building the proposed site for the new dam was that it came under the wild life sanctuary and the clearance of Forest Department was required. Meanwhile, leaks were detected below the baby dam and the commission suggested the strengthening of the same. However, Kerala was satisfied with the retention of water level at or below 136 feet in the dam. But later on the pressure from Tamil Nadu to raise the water level precipitated the matter and a two member commission appointed by the Kerala State to look into the feasibility of the demand of TN found that the main dam has already completed its normal life and amongst its other findings, the main recommendation was that the water level should not be raised beyond the stipulated 136 ft.
Later on 1998, both States held ministerial level meeting to sort out the issue, but the reports were contradicting in nature and this led to filing of suits in the Courts of Kerala and TN by various agencies and individuals. Ultimately TN approached the Supreme Court for transferring all pending cases into the purview of the Apex Court, which in turn asked both the States to sort out the issue through bilateral talks. There was a standstill regarding raising the water level above 136 ft. and thereafter the Supreme Court directed the Central Government to appoint an expert committee, and during this period i.e. between December 2000 and January 2001, two serious earthquakes took place near to the dam site resulting in several cracks and water leaking on the dam. As to how such leaks would be stopped became a bone of contention between two States and the recommendation of the Central Water Commission to raise the water level after strengthening the dam to 142 ft. initially and thereafter to 152 ft. was rejected by the representatives of Kerala who were part of the expert committee. Based on the approval of the raise of water level suggested by the Committee and forwarded to Central Government, Supreme Court made an order in 2006, which went in favour of TN, but rejected by the Government of Kerala. After the pronouncement of the Order of Supreme Court, there was a demand from all sections in Tamil Nadu to close the shutters in order to allow the raising of water level in the dam.
However, Kerala assembly convened an extra ordinary meeting and the then Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy made it clear that water level would not be allowed to raise above 136 ft. and the special session of the Assembly passed Kerala Irrigation & Water Conservation (Amendment) Act 2006 which gave powers to Kerala State to verify the safety of all dams in the State and take necessary actions, if necessary. Although TN approached the Supreme Court, still status quo is continuing.
Now, Kerala seeks new dam to protect the lives and property of its citizens and all the political parties were united and observed a total shut down in four districts – Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam. The State is concerned with the recent strong earthquakes that can endanger the lives of four million people residing in downstream area. Anger and anxiety among the people living in and around the dam area has increased. The Chief Minister assured the opposition leaders to do the needful by suggesting to construct a new dam so as to dismantle the existing one to save the lives of the people and alleviate their constant fear. Even, he represented the case before the Prime Minister and led an all party delegation of Kerala MPs with a request to intervene in the matter before the situation turns beyond control.
Prime Minister stressed on the need to create a conducive atmosphere in both the States and requested to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution through process of dialogue and communication and advised both the Chief Ministers to maintain restraint and enter into a meaningful dialogue to sort out the issue.
Thereafter, a special one day session of the Kerala assembly was also convened for arriving at a political consensus on the demand for a new dam in place of the 116 year old structure. It adopted a unanimous resolution to lower the water level in the reservoir to 120 ft from 136 ft as an immediate safety measure. Chief Minister of Kerala is wondered over the adamant attitude of TN Government, when it has assured the same quantity of water to TN and there was no plan for regulating the flow and restriction or diversion of quantum of water. He also rejected Jayalalithaa’s charge that political parties in Kerala are whipping up fear psychosis on the safety of the same. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court dismissed the demand of Kerala to reduce the water level to 120 ft. considering that the situation is not that much critical and at the same time dismissed the demand of TN Government to raise the water level over the present level of 136 ft.
The political scenario in Tamil Nadu was gradually heating up in Tamil Nadu, when widespread protests were going on in Kerala. DMK observed one day fast in all towns and districts to draw the attention of the Centre and neighbouring Kerala, while Chief Minister Jayalalitha has convened a special assembly session to discuss the matter and declared that the water from Mullaperiyar dam is a lifeline to the water starved TN for irrigation and as per the existing agreement and under any circumstances, it would not succumb to the pressure tactics of Kerala. Chidambaram also stated in a meeting that the issue of dam safety was raked up in view of Piravom by-election. However, his statement was rebuked by his own party men in Kerala as an immature comment without realizing the gravity of the ground reality. Meanwhile, TN Government has banned the screening of controversial film “Dam 999”, as the characters in the film spoke of the theme that a dam, though built for drinking water and irrigation requirement was a potential disaster on account of earthquake and depicted in the film such a way that it would be ten times dangerous than a nuclear disaster. Meanwhile a special session of TN assembly was convened to pass a resolution that the State would not give up its rights over Mullaperiyar dam. The unanimous resolution would send a clean signal that the State is united on this issue. Jayalalithaa requested her counterpart not to politicize the dam issue and solve the matter in scientific spirit and based on the findings expert committee.
It was also reported that scattered violence took place on border areas of the State targeting Keralites and tension is building up due to the passion created by political parties in their respective States. It is quite strange that the national parties are also taking sides with the State political parties without suggesting a solution to the issue. On the part of Kerala, the CM Oommen Chandy urged his counter part to take care of the safety and security of scores of Keralites settled and living in Tamil Nadu and assured them that Kerala has taken adequate steps to protect the safety of the people hailing from Tamil Nadu staying in the State.
Now, the Supreme Court has asked the Central Government to give response to the demand of both the State Governments seeking deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for the security of the dam including the sabotage by anti-social elements or miscreants to create havoc by taking undue advantage out of the volatile situation. It has further directed both the parties to respect the status quo and declared that the Supreme Court empowered Committee was still looking to the dam row issue and may give its final verdict after going through the entire matter and hearing both the parties and weighing their presentations and also based on the real facts. Kerala High Court has also asked the State Government to clarify the action that will be taken to provide relief and rescue the people in case of a disaster due to the breach of the dam.
Since the Supreme Court has intervened in the matter, political leaders of both the States have advised their cadres to keep calm till an amicable solution is found at the earliest. The visit of Prime Minister to Tamil Nadu on the eve of Christmas got an opportunity to submit a memorandum to him by Jayalalithaa to advice the Kerala State to abide by the Supreme Court order and carryout strengthening work of the dam and on the other hand Karunanidhi also appealed to Prime Minister to see that the attack on Tamilians in certain pockets of Kerala would be viewed seriously and do the needful.
Now the ball is lying on the court of Central Government to take up the issue seriously and bring the parties across the table by entrusting the investigation to a truly professional technical team either from the country or abroad regarding the safety of dam and its capacity to resist the pressure of water during monsoon and what interim steps would be taken till an alternate formula is adopted to set right the matter. It would also highlight the tragedy of collapse of dams in the recent past to the public glare and set norms for the life span of a new dam when approval may be granted by the concerned ministries. Finally, it is also the responsibility of the Centre to take all the social, economic, geographical aspects of a dam which would be built in future on the borders of two states and the possible confrontation in future, if something goes adverse technically or economically which in turn may detrimental to the interest of the people of a particular state.
In the case of Mullaperiyar, the State of Kerala is pleading the case with practical approach and Tamil Nadu being the beneficiary should practically see the safety of dam and security of the people of its neighbouring State and ought to act in a sensible manner considering the future consequences and without forgetting the needs and necessity of its people from the existing dam or the dam which may be built at the cost of Kerala. It is the most opportune time to act with great constraints and not the time for profit and loss in economic terms, as a wrong decision may sometime create havoc and holocaust and under the situation who would take up the responsibility for such a situation and who will award exemplary punishment to the authorities responsible for the same.
The history of the construction of dam goes back to British era when the idea was first conceptualized by the then rulers of Madras Presidency who approached the Maharaja of Travancore for diverting water from Periyar to Vaigal river for agricultural purposes. Although the plan was initiated in the year 1808, the official signing of the agreement was done in the year 1886 and thus the dam was built in 1985 on the river Mullaperiyar. It has a length of 1200 ft. and height of 155 ft and the catchment area comes to 5334 sq. km. of which 5222 sq. km. come inside Kerala and the remaining is in Tamil Nadu. The signing of the agreement seems to have been done by the Maharaja of Travancore under pressure from British Government and whatever the compensation given against the diversion of water from the dam for irrigation and generating electricity was quite token and nominal. And the agreement entered into between two parties was for a period of 999 years. As such Madras Presidency was very alert to modify and expand the dam structure periodically and started the process of generating electricity. In fact, after the reorganization of the State on linguistic basis, the popular government in Kerala was not alert to take care of its own interests as compared to the erstwhile princely Sate of Kerala while Tamil Nadu Government went on to take maximum advantage of the dam by supplying water to its southern part of drought hit areas.
Though Kerala could have taken adequate steps to safeguard its interest, it again signed an agreement with TN to continue the uninterrupted use of water and generation of electricity through another agreement in the year 1970. It was really an unwise step on its part and later on that step turned out to be the ratification of the previous agreement signed in 1886, which resulted in weakening the scope to challenge the previously agreement legally in the court of law. The second agreement gave Kerala the right to fishing in the lake as a compensation for allowing power generation and increase in the annual rent for the land, inspite of the fact that Kerala government started raising the issue of safety of the dam way back in 1960. Whatever the repairing work to plug the leakage and the weakening structure undertaken by TN Government was not sufficient to give the desired results and thus on request, the Central Government interfered in the matter and an expert commission was appointed under the Chairmanship of the then Chairman of Central Water Commission and two engineers each from the two States as its members. All the suggestions put forward by the Commission were fulfilled by TN, but could not implement the last suggestion of constructing a new dam not far away from the existing dam. The main reason shown by the reluctance of building the proposed site for the new dam was that it came under the wild life sanctuary and the clearance of Forest Department was required. Meanwhile, leaks were detected below the baby dam and the commission suggested the strengthening of the same. However, Kerala was satisfied with the retention of water level at or below 136 feet in the dam. But later on the pressure from Tamil Nadu to raise the water level precipitated the matter and a two member commission appointed by the Kerala State to look into the feasibility of the demand of TN found that the main dam has already completed its normal life and amongst its other findings, the main recommendation was that the water level should not be raised beyond the stipulated 136 ft.
Later on 1998, both States held ministerial level meeting to sort out the issue, but the reports were contradicting in nature and this led to filing of suits in the Courts of Kerala and TN by various agencies and individuals. Ultimately TN approached the Supreme Court for transferring all pending cases into the purview of the Apex Court, which in turn asked both the States to sort out the issue through bilateral talks. There was a standstill regarding raising the water level above 136 ft. and thereafter the Supreme Court directed the Central Government to appoint an expert committee, and during this period i.e. between December 2000 and January 2001, two serious earthquakes took place near to the dam site resulting in several cracks and water leaking on the dam. As to how such leaks would be stopped became a bone of contention between two States and the recommendation of the Central Water Commission to raise the water level after strengthening the dam to 142 ft. initially and thereafter to 152 ft. was rejected by the representatives of Kerala who were part of the expert committee. Based on the approval of the raise of water level suggested by the Committee and forwarded to Central Government, Supreme Court made an order in 2006, which went in favour of TN, but rejected by the Government of Kerala. After the pronouncement of the Order of Supreme Court, there was a demand from all sections in Tamil Nadu to close the shutters in order to allow the raising of water level in the dam.
However, Kerala assembly convened an extra ordinary meeting and the then Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy made it clear that water level would not be allowed to raise above 136 ft. and the special session of the Assembly passed Kerala Irrigation & Water Conservation (Amendment) Act 2006 which gave powers to Kerala State to verify the safety of all dams in the State and take necessary actions, if necessary. Although TN approached the Supreme Court, still status quo is continuing.
Now, Kerala seeks new dam to protect the lives and property of its citizens and all the political parties were united and observed a total shut down in four districts – Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam. The State is concerned with the recent strong earthquakes that can endanger the lives of four million people residing in downstream area. Anger and anxiety among the people living in and around the dam area has increased. The Chief Minister assured the opposition leaders to do the needful by suggesting to construct a new dam so as to dismantle the existing one to save the lives of the people and alleviate their constant fear. Even, he represented the case before the Prime Minister and led an all party delegation of Kerala MPs with a request to intervene in the matter before the situation turns beyond control.
Prime Minister stressed on the need to create a conducive atmosphere in both the States and requested to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution through process of dialogue and communication and advised both the Chief Ministers to maintain restraint and enter into a meaningful dialogue to sort out the issue.
Thereafter, a special one day session of the Kerala assembly was also convened for arriving at a political consensus on the demand for a new dam in place of the 116 year old structure. It adopted a unanimous resolution to lower the water level in the reservoir to 120 ft from 136 ft as an immediate safety measure. Chief Minister of Kerala is wondered over the adamant attitude of TN Government, when it has assured the same quantity of water to TN and there was no plan for regulating the flow and restriction or diversion of quantum of water. He also rejected Jayalalithaa’s charge that political parties in Kerala are whipping up fear psychosis on the safety of the same. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court dismissed the demand of Kerala to reduce the water level to 120 ft. considering that the situation is not that much critical and at the same time dismissed the demand of TN Government to raise the water level over the present level of 136 ft.
The political scenario in Tamil Nadu was gradually heating up in Tamil Nadu, when widespread protests were going on in Kerala. DMK observed one day fast in all towns and districts to draw the attention of the Centre and neighbouring Kerala, while Chief Minister Jayalalitha has convened a special assembly session to discuss the matter and declared that the water from Mullaperiyar dam is a lifeline to the water starved TN for irrigation and as per the existing agreement and under any circumstances, it would not succumb to the pressure tactics of Kerala. Chidambaram also stated in a meeting that the issue of dam safety was raked up in view of Piravom by-election. However, his statement was rebuked by his own party men in Kerala as an immature comment without realizing the gravity of the ground reality. Meanwhile, TN Government has banned the screening of controversial film “Dam 999”, as the characters in the film spoke of the theme that a dam, though built for drinking water and irrigation requirement was a potential disaster on account of earthquake and depicted in the film such a way that it would be ten times dangerous than a nuclear disaster. Meanwhile a special session of TN assembly was convened to pass a resolution that the State would not give up its rights over Mullaperiyar dam. The unanimous resolution would send a clean signal that the State is united on this issue. Jayalalithaa requested her counterpart not to politicize the dam issue and solve the matter in scientific spirit and based on the findings expert committee.
It was also reported that scattered violence took place on border areas of the State targeting Keralites and tension is building up due to the passion created by political parties in their respective States. It is quite strange that the national parties are also taking sides with the State political parties without suggesting a solution to the issue. On the part of Kerala, the CM Oommen Chandy urged his counter part to take care of the safety and security of scores of Keralites settled and living in Tamil Nadu and assured them that Kerala has taken adequate steps to protect the safety of the people hailing from Tamil Nadu staying in the State.
Now, the Supreme Court has asked the Central Government to give response to the demand of both the State Governments seeking deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for the security of the dam including the sabotage by anti-social elements or miscreants to create havoc by taking undue advantage out of the volatile situation. It has further directed both the parties to respect the status quo and declared that the Supreme Court empowered Committee was still looking to the dam row issue and may give its final verdict after going through the entire matter and hearing both the parties and weighing their presentations and also based on the real facts. Kerala High Court has also asked the State Government to clarify the action that will be taken to provide relief and rescue the people in case of a disaster due to the breach of the dam.
Since the Supreme Court has intervened in the matter, political leaders of both the States have advised their cadres to keep calm till an amicable solution is found at the earliest. The visit of Prime Minister to Tamil Nadu on the eve of Christmas got an opportunity to submit a memorandum to him by Jayalalithaa to advice the Kerala State to abide by the Supreme Court order and carryout strengthening work of the dam and on the other hand Karunanidhi also appealed to Prime Minister to see that the attack on Tamilians in certain pockets of Kerala would be viewed seriously and do the needful.
Now the ball is lying on the court of Central Government to take up the issue seriously and bring the parties across the table by entrusting the investigation to a truly professional technical team either from the country or abroad regarding the safety of dam and its capacity to resist the pressure of water during monsoon and what interim steps would be taken till an alternate formula is adopted to set right the matter. It would also highlight the tragedy of collapse of dams in the recent past to the public glare and set norms for the life span of a new dam when approval may be granted by the concerned ministries. Finally, it is also the responsibility of the Centre to take all the social, economic, geographical aspects of a dam which would be built in future on the borders of two states and the possible confrontation in future, if something goes adverse technically or economically which in turn may detrimental to the interest of the people of a particular state.
In the case of Mullaperiyar, the State of Kerala is pleading the case with practical approach and Tamil Nadu being the beneficiary should practically see the safety of dam and security of the people of its neighbouring State and ought to act in a sensible manner considering the future consequences and without forgetting the needs and necessity of its people from the existing dam or the dam which may be built at the cost of Kerala. It is the most opportune time to act with great constraints and not the time for profit and loss in economic terms, as a wrong decision may sometime create havoc and holocaust and under the situation who would take up the responsibility for such a situation and who will award exemplary punishment to the authorities responsible for the same.
Monday, April 26, 2010
SEZ – A SLOW RACING HORSE IN INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
The scheme of Special Economic Zone was controversial since its inception itself. However, after the declaration of the scheme in the year 2006, many companies were interested to establish their units under the scheme in the years 2007 & 2008. But, their interest has been slowed down during the previous year and many of them either wish to leave their projects or ask for the extension of period in completing it. Therefore, there is a necessity to analyse their change of minds in this direction. According to the official statement, so far 597 projects have been cleared in principle out of which 335 units are notified. Out of 335 units, some units are working and some units are under uncertainty.
Reasons for attraction towards SEZ.
After declaration of SEZ scheme, many companies were eager to establish their units under it and there were two three reasons for the same. The main attractions were the following :-
i. The zones established under the scheme shall get the benefit of 100% tax benefits including income-tax, and thereafter, for the next five years, there shall be tax concession of 50% and thereafter, 50% tax concession on the profit made from the zones for its reinvestment.
ii. The other point of attraction was that out of the land allotted
for establishing the industrial zone, only 35% should have to be utilized for manufacturing activities and the remaining can be utilized for Administrative Buildings and also for other activities.
iii. Further, the State Governments were ready to acquire the
land for SEZ directly from farmers.
In view of many concessions granted under SEZ, many observers called it as the new advent of Feudalism, however, the Government was committed to go forward with the scheme and many companies shown their interest to establish their units under the scheme till 2008.
The impact of Recession
In view of the global recession which started by the middle of the year 2008, the situation was changed all over the world which affected our country too. Prior to the recession, there were huge demands for commercial complexes and offices and thus the value for real estate property was at higher level. After the recession, there was a downward trend of valuation in property market which affected the rush for the purchase of offices in commercial complexes. Further, the Companies exclusively functioning in the real estate area found it difficult to get the finance, as there was a disinterest amongst the investors in shares in view of lesser value of the real estate properties.
The availability of land
There was a trend to obstruct the possession of land in establishing SEZ units. In the beginning, the Government started to acquire land for public interest by using its legal right and provided to such units for setting up units by private industrialists/business men. However, there was a hue and cry for acquiring the land by the Government for public interest and at the same time handing over to the private parties for making profits. And due to this issue, it was difficult for the Government to acquire the land for SEZ units by using its authority and power. Gradually it became the custom for the private parties to acquire the land directly from farmers for setting up their units, however, such practice also did not sustain for long in view of the opposition from small land holders to sell their land for the project although a large portion of the land was acquired for the zone unit.
There is an opinion that such cases should be resolved by the intervention of the State Government and one another opinion is that the Government should keep away from such disputes. And thus, there is an uncertainty still exists for setting up the SEZ.
Increasing Uncertainties
Now a situation has arisen wherein many companies are not interested to set up their units in an atmosphere of uncertainties. Therefore, the companies which are working in the real estate are started de-notifying their own schemes and also slowed down its activities. The companies working in other fields also are closely watching the chaining scenario, as we can understand the trend from their decisions to extend the implementation of setting up of the projects for a further period. According to the official statement, it is claimed that 101 projects are working at present under SEZ and about Rs. 1.70 lacs are invested by different parties till date. However, the opinion of the observers differ from the official stand, as according to them this is not an extra ordinary achievement and they site that under the normal conditions also there is an increase in investment in our country. And perhaps, without SEZ scheme also, there could have been investment of this order. According to observes, many times, SEZ schemes are compared with the Chinese industrial policy. But the fact is that the Chinese Government on its own sets up Special Economic Zones and there the ownership of the land rests with the Government. As such SEZ is now obstructed from all angles.
Reasons for attraction towards SEZ.
After declaration of SEZ scheme, many companies were eager to establish their units under it and there were two three reasons for the same. The main attractions were the following :-
i. The zones established under the scheme shall get the benefit of 100% tax benefits including income-tax, and thereafter, for the next five years, there shall be tax concession of 50% and thereafter, 50% tax concession on the profit made from the zones for its reinvestment.
ii. The other point of attraction was that out of the land allotted
for establishing the industrial zone, only 35% should have to be utilized for manufacturing activities and the remaining can be utilized for Administrative Buildings and also for other activities.
iii. Further, the State Governments were ready to acquire the
land for SEZ directly from farmers.
In view of many concessions granted under SEZ, many observers called it as the new advent of Feudalism, however, the Government was committed to go forward with the scheme and many companies shown their interest to establish their units under the scheme till 2008.
The impact of Recession
In view of the global recession which started by the middle of the year 2008, the situation was changed all over the world which affected our country too. Prior to the recession, there were huge demands for commercial complexes and offices and thus the value for real estate property was at higher level. After the recession, there was a downward trend of valuation in property market which affected the rush for the purchase of offices in commercial complexes. Further, the Companies exclusively functioning in the real estate area found it difficult to get the finance, as there was a disinterest amongst the investors in shares in view of lesser value of the real estate properties.
The availability of land
There was a trend to obstruct the possession of land in establishing SEZ units. In the beginning, the Government started to acquire land for public interest by using its legal right and provided to such units for setting up units by private industrialists/business men. However, there was a hue and cry for acquiring the land by the Government for public interest and at the same time handing over to the private parties for making profits. And due to this issue, it was difficult for the Government to acquire the land for SEZ units by using its authority and power. Gradually it became the custom for the private parties to acquire the land directly from farmers for setting up their units, however, such practice also did not sustain for long in view of the opposition from small land holders to sell their land for the project although a large portion of the land was acquired for the zone unit.
There is an opinion that such cases should be resolved by the intervention of the State Government and one another opinion is that the Government should keep away from such disputes. And thus, there is an uncertainty still exists for setting up the SEZ.
Increasing Uncertainties
Now a situation has arisen wherein many companies are not interested to set up their units in an atmosphere of uncertainties. Therefore, the companies which are working in the real estate are started de-notifying their own schemes and also slowed down its activities. The companies working in other fields also are closely watching the chaining scenario, as we can understand the trend from their decisions to extend the implementation of setting up of the projects for a further period. According to the official statement, it is claimed that 101 projects are working at present under SEZ and about Rs. 1.70 lacs are invested by different parties till date. However, the opinion of the observers differ from the official stand, as according to them this is not an extra ordinary achievement and they site that under the normal conditions also there is an increase in investment in our country. And perhaps, without SEZ scheme also, there could have been investment of this order. According to observes, many times, SEZ schemes are compared with the Chinese industrial policy. But the fact is that the Chinese Government on its own sets up Special Economic Zones and there the ownership of the land rests with the Government. As such SEZ is now obstructed from all angles.
The ugly and unpredictable face of Maoism
The gruesome killing of 73 CRPF personnel in the thick Mukrana forest of Chhatisgarh’s Dantewada district on 6th April once again proved the lack of efficacy in collecting intelligence outputs and lack of training in jungle warfare to contain the guerilla war strategies of Maoists. The high causality of one of the elite para-military in a single attack shocked the nation and the responsibility for this tragic incident has to be shouldered both by State and Central Government. CRPF team consisting of about 80 personnel including a Deputy and Assistant Command of 68 battalion and a constable of the District Police Force were traveling in a vehicle which was surrounded and ambushed and overpowered by a strong force of about 1000 maoists. They had also triggered a landmine blast, which could blow up the CRPF vehicle and was the cause of maximum unexpected causalities. Although the injured and dead were airlifted to nearby hospitals and reinforcements were sent to track down the naxals and their whereabouts.
There were Naxalite violence and attack in Orrisa and some parts of West Bengal and ofcourse Andhra Pradesh has had the longest history of Naxalite movements. If we analyse the factors of naxal/maoist movements, we can find out the suppression and oppression of the poor and landless farmers by rich landlords and their loss of faith in the existing political system and administration to deliver them justice and come out of their miseries. In fact an organized movement with dedicated leaders made a cadre based party could influence a large chunk of people to the naxal / maoist fold and the members were asked to wage a guerilla war against the state establishments by attacking vital installations and killing the targeted people including the police/para-military personnel. As a matter of fact, the leaders of national political parties started thinking about the root cause of naxalite upheavals after a long drawn out battle to suppress the movement by state force and they realized the emerging scenario that the naxal movements have started spreading to new areas of Maharashtra, M.P., Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal etc. and many underdeveloped parts and also in forest areas of these states, their writ runs against the will of the States. Many battles fought with them through the state force could not erase their presence and day by day their area of influence has started increasing. What went wrong for the emergence of such a scenario to develop in these under developed States even after six decades of independence? The simple answer is the failure to distribute equitably the fruits of development and the uncompassionate and insensitive bureaucracy as well as the local leaders to do something concrete for the poorest of poor. Further, they were exploited to the tilt by the local powerful and influential personnel as a tool for their upward mobility and even the Government was also apathetic towards their sufferings and poor social and economic conditions. The spread of media i.e. both print and electronic media coupled with the awareness created by the leaders of naxal/maoist movements made them more tough and they have started organizing the naxal activities with an avowed mission of better tomorrow free from exploitation and suppression and enjoy the pleasure of economic advancement and freedom.
Moreover, there was a great failure on the part of State and Central Governments to find out the root causes of naxalite movements and planning out effective schemes for their economical and social advancement and also monitoring the implementation of schemes already launched. Further, the recent declaration of war against Naxal / Maoist by Home Minister, P. Chidambaram was also uncalled for as it gave them an opportunity to unite various groups and making coordinated attacks on Government establishments and law enforcing authorities. As a strategic measure, the Central Government should have declared more employment generating and anti-poverty schemes in these areas and educating the people regarding their senseless killings of innocent people in the name of their aim and ideology on the one hand and collected more and more intelligence outputs from the people at the grass root level by working amongst them and persuading them the futility of taking weapons against the State thereby demoralizing their leaders to give up the armed struggle against the State establishments for achieving their goals. Unless and until a good rapport and contacts are maintained with the people of troubled areas and understand their woes and aspirations with confidence building measures about their future prospects and progress, it will be a Herculean task for the Government to make a semblance of normalcy in the near future. In order to achieve this, there should have a concrete plan for the amelioration of the poor people and construction of social organizations like schools, colleges, hospitals, better roads, sanitation, drinking water and the sources for continuous employment. And the Government should also propagate and advertise what they are going to do for them and what they have achieved within prescribed period is also must to counter any negative propaganda by the vested interested leaders. Hope, the Government will ponder over all these matters and think afresh for changing their mindsets to wait for some more time for a better tomorrow of their own dreams!
There were Naxalite violence and attack in Orrisa and some parts of West Bengal and ofcourse Andhra Pradesh has had the longest history of Naxalite movements. If we analyse the factors of naxal/maoist movements, we can find out the suppression and oppression of the poor and landless farmers by rich landlords and their loss of faith in the existing political system and administration to deliver them justice and come out of their miseries. In fact an organized movement with dedicated leaders made a cadre based party could influence a large chunk of people to the naxal / maoist fold and the members were asked to wage a guerilla war against the state establishments by attacking vital installations and killing the targeted people including the police/para-military personnel. As a matter of fact, the leaders of national political parties started thinking about the root cause of naxalite upheavals after a long drawn out battle to suppress the movement by state force and they realized the emerging scenario that the naxal movements have started spreading to new areas of Maharashtra, M.P., Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal etc. and many underdeveloped parts and also in forest areas of these states, their writ runs against the will of the States. Many battles fought with them through the state force could not erase their presence and day by day their area of influence has started increasing. What went wrong for the emergence of such a scenario to develop in these under developed States even after six decades of independence? The simple answer is the failure to distribute equitably the fruits of development and the uncompassionate and insensitive bureaucracy as well as the local leaders to do something concrete for the poorest of poor. Further, they were exploited to the tilt by the local powerful and influential personnel as a tool for their upward mobility and even the Government was also apathetic towards their sufferings and poor social and economic conditions. The spread of media i.e. both print and electronic media coupled with the awareness created by the leaders of naxal/maoist movements made them more tough and they have started organizing the naxal activities with an avowed mission of better tomorrow free from exploitation and suppression and enjoy the pleasure of economic advancement and freedom.
Moreover, there was a great failure on the part of State and Central Governments to find out the root causes of naxalite movements and planning out effective schemes for their economical and social advancement and also monitoring the implementation of schemes already launched. Further, the recent declaration of war against Naxal / Maoist by Home Minister, P. Chidambaram was also uncalled for as it gave them an opportunity to unite various groups and making coordinated attacks on Government establishments and law enforcing authorities. As a strategic measure, the Central Government should have declared more employment generating and anti-poverty schemes in these areas and educating the people regarding their senseless killings of innocent people in the name of their aim and ideology on the one hand and collected more and more intelligence outputs from the people at the grass root level by working amongst them and persuading them the futility of taking weapons against the State thereby demoralizing their leaders to give up the armed struggle against the State establishments for achieving their goals. Unless and until a good rapport and contacts are maintained with the people of troubled areas and understand their woes and aspirations with confidence building measures about their future prospects and progress, it will be a Herculean task for the Government to make a semblance of normalcy in the near future. In order to achieve this, there should have a concrete plan for the amelioration of the poor people and construction of social organizations like schools, colleges, hospitals, better roads, sanitation, drinking water and the sources for continuous employment. And the Government should also propagate and advertise what they are going to do for them and what they have achieved within prescribed period is also must to counter any negative propaganda by the vested interested leaders. Hope, the Government will ponder over all these matters and think afresh for changing their mindsets to wait for some more time for a better tomorrow of their own dreams!
RIGHT TO EDUCATION ACT
The enactment of Right to Education is considered as a proactive legislation intended to ensure free and compulsory schooling to children of the age group of 6 – 14 that has come into force since April 1, 2010. India has also joined with the other 130 countries for providing free and compulsory education to children as a legal guarantee under the provisions of the Constitution. RTE enables any child to walk to his/her neighborhood school and assert the right to be admitted. Although, it may be boosted as an achievement by a section of the society, one has to be cautious about its implementation in toto in view of the poor track records of such model legislations in the past.
Our Constitution guarantees education as one of the fundamental rights of a citizen, a large chunk of Indians are not even aware of this noble piece of constitutional provision and our leaders are also seem to be less concerned to make effective measures to make it as a success. This is because of the fact that the poor are struggling to have the basic necessities of day to day life and in such a scenario, they also turn to their children for their contribution to support the family in whatever way possible. According to a rough estimate, 150 million children work as bonded laborers in our country and it is also a well known fact that they are half starved and malnourished in comparison with their counterparts in developed countries.
As a matter of fact that our constitution enshrines guarantee against discrimination, but it is vague regarding the right of life and livelihood, and there are restrictions of converting to religious faith of one’s choice etc. The constitutional provisions to protect the civil rights of a citizen are quite often not implemented and the authorities who are concerned to oversee its effects sometimes abuse and harass the people. There are countries which do not provide any guarantee for free and compulsory education to children. However, they are having the resources and abilities to influence the parents to send their children, so that they may not be a burden to the society later on and further the educational system itself is designed in such a way that when they grow up they will not have any difficulty to earn their bread and butter. It is a rosy picture of one side of the coin, but the other side is the discrimination and unsupportive attitude of the authorities to maintain the status quo of a particular section of the society due to social and historical reasons. But, their miserable stories are not highlighted in the media and no one is interested to report their social, cultural and economic status, since it would not be an attractive job. Although such a situation exists in developed nations, thousands of Indians are prepared to spend a considerable portion of their savings or by borrowing the money from financial institutions to settle in these countries with a dream of better tomorrow.
The model laws enacted for social justice seldom help the concerned sections of the society, as the levels of dishonesty and corruptions prevailing in our country make hurdles for its sincere implementation. Not only that unscrupulous elements extort money from hapless people including women, who can not run from pillar to post. Nowadays, we hear the cases of judges and cops whose roles to grease the palms of the culprits to make fast buck close their eyes conveniently before the rule of law and fair legal system which should have been worked for the welfare of the general public.
Our MPs are asked to vote for a particular legislative piece by their party do not have th right to open their mouths and hence they have become the tools of manipulators and lobbyists who are in need of various concessions for their trade and business whose interests are to earn money from the people without giving much to the price paid by them. Therefore, without proper infrastructure and addressing most important issues like unemployment, under wages and lack of support from the concerned authorities, RTE is not going to become a successful tool to support the have nots to stand up on their own feet thereby to achieve economic independence and status in the society.
The declaration and commitment of our Hon’ble Prime Minister that financial constraints do not hamper the implementation of the Right to Education Act. He knows the financial implications of implementing it in a time frame of six years and the gigantic sum required for the same. According to eminent educationist, Vimala Ramachandran “It’s not just about hiring 12 lakh more teachers, how are you going to get teachers to go and each in these government schools, especially in North India, West Bengal and Oriisa, where they are not functioning. The right is not just about the building of school, but the learning experiences”, she reminds.
Kapil Sibal is quite proud to announce that the RTE provides the opportunity to “do away with the myth that government can’t provide quality education”. However, in stark reality, even the lower middle class people prefer to send their wards to private schools show that there are very less takers for his bold statements. It means that the Government Schools have to come out with concrete measures and show that deprived sections are serious in their educational facilities offered by a Government School. Further, The earmarking o 25% seats in private schools for children hailing from economically weaker sections may become a impractical proposal, as who will see minutely regarding their sincerity and honesty in the matter ?
Certain provisions of RTE Act such as quota for poor sections are not going to be smooth, as the private schools have started asking whether the Government will hike the fees of the Schools or Grants will be allotted to them in lieu of their loss of 25% seats.
On the one hand the parents are already reeling under crushing inflation shall have to eke out something from their pockets directly or indirectly to support education under RTE. In order to achieve a sembalance of success of RTE Act, the first and foremost task is to improve the infrastructure and quality of education in government run schools and for this there must be popular support in favour of the new Act by augmenting their sources of income to donate a part for the welfare of the children belonging to poorest of poor section of the people of our country.
In order to revolutionise the existing system, it must be mandatory for every candidate who may contest in the next general elections to withdraw their kins from reputed and costlier private schools and put them in government run schools to show the world that they have no inhibition to send their wards to such schools which in turn would create an impression that change is taking place in government schools. Otherwise, this Act will be another tool to squeeze the pockets of already burdened geneal public to pay the tax in some or other ways to implement the Act without having any vision and mission and thus the middle men, unscrupulous elements and vested interested sections will usurp the money meant for this model and ambitious RTE Act.
Our Constitution guarantees education as one of the fundamental rights of a citizen, a large chunk of Indians are not even aware of this noble piece of constitutional provision and our leaders are also seem to be less concerned to make effective measures to make it as a success. This is because of the fact that the poor are struggling to have the basic necessities of day to day life and in such a scenario, they also turn to their children for their contribution to support the family in whatever way possible. According to a rough estimate, 150 million children work as bonded laborers in our country and it is also a well known fact that they are half starved and malnourished in comparison with their counterparts in developed countries.
As a matter of fact that our constitution enshrines guarantee against discrimination, but it is vague regarding the right of life and livelihood, and there are restrictions of converting to religious faith of one’s choice etc. The constitutional provisions to protect the civil rights of a citizen are quite often not implemented and the authorities who are concerned to oversee its effects sometimes abuse and harass the people. There are countries which do not provide any guarantee for free and compulsory education to children. However, they are having the resources and abilities to influence the parents to send their children, so that they may not be a burden to the society later on and further the educational system itself is designed in such a way that when they grow up they will not have any difficulty to earn their bread and butter. It is a rosy picture of one side of the coin, but the other side is the discrimination and unsupportive attitude of the authorities to maintain the status quo of a particular section of the society due to social and historical reasons. But, their miserable stories are not highlighted in the media and no one is interested to report their social, cultural and economic status, since it would not be an attractive job. Although such a situation exists in developed nations, thousands of Indians are prepared to spend a considerable portion of their savings or by borrowing the money from financial institutions to settle in these countries with a dream of better tomorrow.
The model laws enacted for social justice seldom help the concerned sections of the society, as the levels of dishonesty and corruptions prevailing in our country make hurdles for its sincere implementation. Not only that unscrupulous elements extort money from hapless people including women, who can not run from pillar to post. Nowadays, we hear the cases of judges and cops whose roles to grease the palms of the culprits to make fast buck close their eyes conveniently before the rule of law and fair legal system which should have been worked for the welfare of the general public.
Our MPs are asked to vote for a particular legislative piece by their party do not have th right to open their mouths and hence they have become the tools of manipulators and lobbyists who are in need of various concessions for their trade and business whose interests are to earn money from the people without giving much to the price paid by them. Therefore, without proper infrastructure and addressing most important issues like unemployment, under wages and lack of support from the concerned authorities, RTE is not going to become a successful tool to support the have nots to stand up on their own feet thereby to achieve economic independence and status in the society.
The declaration and commitment of our Hon’ble Prime Minister that financial constraints do not hamper the implementation of the Right to Education Act. He knows the financial implications of implementing it in a time frame of six years and the gigantic sum required for the same. According to eminent educationist, Vimala Ramachandran “It’s not just about hiring 12 lakh more teachers, how are you going to get teachers to go and each in these government schools, especially in North India, West Bengal and Oriisa, where they are not functioning. The right is not just about the building of school, but the learning experiences”, she reminds.
Kapil Sibal is quite proud to announce that the RTE provides the opportunity to “do away with the myth that government can’t provide quality education”. However, in stark reality, even the lower middle class people prefer to send their wards to private schools show that there are very less takers for his bold statements. It means that the Government Schools have to come out with concrete measures and show that deprived sections are serious in their educational facilities offered by a Government School. Further, The earmarking o 25% seats in private schools for children hailing from economically weaker sections may become a impractical proposal, as who will see minutely regarding their sincerity and honesty in the matter ?
Certain provisions of RTE Act such as quota for poor sections are not going to be smooth, as the private schools have started asking whether the Government will hike the fees of the Schools or Grants will be allotted to them in lieu of their loss of 25% seats.
On the one hand the parents are already reeling under crushing inflation shall have to eke out something from their pockets directly or indirectly to support education under RTE. In order to achieve a sembalance of success of RTE Act, the first and foremost task is to improve the infrastructure and quality of education in government run schools and for this there must be popular support in favour of the new Act by augmenting their sources of income to donate a part for the welfare of the children belonging to poorest of poor section of the people of our country.
In order to revolutionise the existing system, it must be mandatory for every candidate who may contest in the next general elections to withdraw their kins from reputed and costlier private schools and put them in government run schools to show the world that they have no inhibition to send their wards to such schools which in turn would create an impression that change is taking place in government schools. Otherwise, this Act will be another tool to squeeze the pockets of already burdened geneal public to pay the tax in some or other ways to implement the Act without having any vision and mission and thus the middle men, unscrupulous elements and vested interested sections will usurp the money meant for this model and ambitious RTE Act.
Monday, April 5, 2010
SHALL THE EDUCATION BILLS TRANSLATE THE DESIRED CHANGES ?
The higher education scenario in our country is going to be changed within a short span of time. HRD Ministry has taken a series of measures to clean up the mess and would like to bring in accountability and transparency in Technical, Medical and Educational Institutions. The UPA Government has taken up this initiative based on the widespread allegations from various student bodies, parents associations and NGOs related with education that higher level education especially in private sector has become a commercial activity and the hype generated through various media channels have in real sense turned out to be an eye wash at the cost of quality education. Further, the students are forced to pay additional fees including exorbitant capitation fees to the authorities if they want admission in higher level educational institutions.
Quite often it has been observed that these educational establishments do not have the required infrastructure, experienced and qualified faculty and they have a tendency to promote their institutions by painting the excellent results with a view to encourage a prospective market at the cost of quality. How far such a scenario should be allowed to go unchecked is a million dollar question? Whether the Regulatory Authorities working under the HRD Ministries of State and Central Government are capable of controlling the widespread allegations against the higher level educational and technical institutions and have enough autonomy and power to take punitive actions or corrective measures? There are many such issues which churn the minds of right thinking educationalists and citizens of our country to create the cream layer of our future generation more worthy and knowledge oriented and become efficient and effective in their work spheres.
This is because latest knowledge of technical skills and educational background are required to carryout their duties, but definitely not the Certificates issued to them with certain percentage as their achievement in a particular area. The new era of globalization needs sharp minded technocrats having excellent educational and technical background to perform their roles with perfection by contributing their own share to make the products and services competitive and qualitative in the fast changing scenario of the modern world.
All the above factors including the large scale migration of students for higher level technical education to foreign universities and also the eagerness of the foreign universities to enter into the educational scenario of our country in view of its emerging role as a dominant economy has forced the Central Government to take some drastic changes in the existing regulatory system of higher level education. Four new bills such as Foreign Education Provider, Educational Tribunal, Accreditation and Prohibition of Education Malpractices have already been cleared by the Group of Ministers and approved by the Cabinet and the fifth bill calls for Amendment in the Architecture Act.
These bills are going to be tabled in the Budget session and expected to become law by Monsoon session. These steps of the Central Government is going to change the face of higher education in the area of accreditation of higher educational institutions and setting up of education tribunals and curbing the existing malpractices practices and empowering the students and parents to take punitive action against erring institutions.
The present monopoly of the Government run accreditation agencies are going to be curtailed and as per the proposed law, there will be multiple accreditation agencies mostly private with their actions being monitored by a National Authority for regulation of Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions with an autonomous body on the lines of Sebi for regulating the Accreditation Agencies. The term of the Members is for five years and they may not be eligible for further employment in any higher educational institutions of Central and State Government. Accreditation Agencies will accredit Institutions in the areas of teaching, learning and research, human resource and research infrastructure, placement, governance structures and course curriculum.
However, the Education Tribunal Bill calls for a three tier structure to deal with disputes between students and institutions, teacher and institutions as well as dispute in connection with affiliation, unfair means adopted by students in examination and also by the Institutions. As such National Education Tribunal Bill may not adjudicate the matters concerning recognition and shall have the power to adjudicate any disputes between two or more statutory regulatory bodies and also the affiliation disputes of higher educational institutions including the affiliation of University controlled by the Central Government.
As regards the status to be given to foreign universities, HRD Ministry has left it to Government to decide about their role and regulation to be made in their routine activities. However, it has become certain that “
Malpractices Bill enlists about 25 major malpractices being practiced an followed by the Institutions. The proposed Bill has provisions impose hefty fines upto Rs. 50 lacs and imprisonment for a period of three years for collecting capitation fees and also for giving wrong information about faculty and facilities, overcharging on various heads including non-transparent admission procedure and also the failure to provide quality education. The Police is empowered to arrest the administrative officials of such institutions without producing any warrant and charge sheet.
The omissions and failures on the part of the institutions are adjudicated as criminal or civil offence depending on the nature of the crime. The collection of capitation fees from the students and failure to practice the terms and conditions mentioned in the practice shall be considered as criminal offences and it shall be tried in a Court of law, while civil offences will be tried in Educational Tribunals and it has the power to settle the dispute regarding any type of malpractices or harassment against the students.
Although the various provisions are provided in the Educational Reforms Bills are praise worthy and would become a model law for the lacunae existing in the educational scenario of our country, it has to be seen how the laws are applied at the ground level and its success rests upon the enforcing authorities and their sincere and dedication to implement as per the letter of spirit. HRD Ministry has a gigantic responsibility to set up the organization chart of each department to tackle the menace and spoils of the present educational system that has emerged as an entity with unquestionable underground practices and customs and no one to question its supremacy in implementing its will with impunity and making the students as its subservient in every step of its activities.
The Tribunals should have enough teeth to punish the guilty and providing speedier justice to the students as well as to the Institutes, in case unscrupulous cases are filed against them out of prejudice or influenced by the external forces inimical to the growth and interest of an institution.
Further, making the admission procedures transparent and appointing honest and dedicated officials in the selection procedure of faculties, infrastructure and also supervising the examination and curtailing the malpractices with an iron hand.
Nowadays, there is a belief that any influential person can approach the higher level educational and technical institutions through the network of politicians and their nexus with officials working therein to shower the favours to the wards of influential people in our society. But, the nation has to suffer a lot if such students are offered jobs in sensitive technical institutions on the basis of the certificates obtained from a reputed educational establishment without testing their actual knowledge and ability in the fields where they are certified with merit as successful in view of the higher connections of their parents and also influencing the officials with money power or political influence.
Our country has to take all precautions to see that our traditional and reputed Universities are not just taken over by the foreign universities in view of their image and reputation at international level. While encouraging the foreign universities, it is our bounden duty to upgrade our Universities and ask them to follow the paths and procedures adopted in the working of well known foreign universities which may set up their campus in our country. Further, it has to be seen that the students hailing from middle class and poor sections of the society are given adequate support and incentives by the Government to compete with the students of well-off sections and as such it is the responsibility of the Government of India to see that the youth of this country is provided with equitable opportunities so as to make it as a welfare model state.
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