I was just going through The IIT story: IIESTs, 3 new IITs on way on rediff.
Any good step in the field of Technical education in india is a welcome step and deserves big applaud. This step is one of them. But I have a few points of concerns:
Why do we need to abolish all the existing 4 year B. Tech. courses and convert them into 5 year dual degree M.Tech?
On paper it seems like a good decision as we may boast of introducing technical platform for students who opt for higher education. But reality is something different. Reality story says that in India, most of the students opts for an M. Tech course only when they don't land up with a job during their 4 year B. techs or B.Es. This is a very straight forward fact. Those who can not fetch a job during their bachelors opt for masters from reputed engg colleges like IITs, BITs and IT-BHU. A majority of them end up doing what graduate student does after 4th year, a software job and in rarity a job in his field of specialization.
For a majority of School kids when they take various entrance exams, their first choice happens to be a 4 year course. Only when they DO NOT get one, they go for a 5 year course. It becomes a makeshift arrangement. Towards the end of 4th year, most of them start getting frastrated because their friends who were lucky to get into 4 year courses, get into job a little earlier while they would be landing up into similar kind of jobs a year later. Well, their frastration is natural.
IT-BHUs case will be more complicated than the others in consideration. IT-BHU has been admitting students through IIT-JEE and as it seems from the article, it may not be the same if it is given the status of IIEST. Another point of concern is, it has been famous to produce undergraduates of high quality untill now and this brand name will be in jeopardy for a few years when all the B Tech courses will be converted into M.Techs. To be straight-forward, they would be second to the 4 year courses in most of the cases for the reasons mentioned above. So IT-BHU will be in some kind of loss initially and I am not sure enough to predict about the future.
What could be done?
1. The Govt should make sure that a master course results in a master benefits as well. Where are the jobs in India for all these masters? What is the point in being a master if a graduate and a master, both are joining in a company as freshers?
2. If we are so enthusiastic about having these technical courses of 5 years, are we also ready to support them with enough opportunities at the end of their 5 long years in colleges? Or will they end up joining softwares? Then what was the need of having these special technical streams? Create opportunities first, please.
3. Why do we need to eliminate all 4 year courses? Don't we need them too? Yes we do. By eliminating them, are we forcing students to have Masters degree? They can surely co-exist and flourish more. This way the brand build by institutes like IT-BHU would also not be impacted and it would rather add to it.
The govt committe has definitely done a very good analysis and it deserve an encouragement. But given the above points, a few concerns could be easily eliminated and the plan can be made much better to suit indian conditions and indian mindsets :-)
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
7/11 Mumbai Blasts and Politicians: What can we do?
Following the recent Mumbai Bomb blasts which will be known as 7/11 on the line of 9/11, most of us must have shown our anger in some form or the other against the government (read politicians) blaming them for what happened which at best could be called the worst form of something in the name of JIHAD. Politicians are busy and would largely be busy in the stuffs related to Mandir-Masjid and OBC Reservations because this might be there ONLY way to roti, kapda aur makaan. Fair enough as they say anything is legal in love and war. So every action could be justified in one way or the other. This is perhaps the best form of democracy!!!
Most of us can't do anything about all this because we are normal human beings and we have our own reasons for not doing anything. But what purpose is solved when we blame the system, politicians and a particular section of the people for such kind of atrocity? I guess nothing.
I had an argument with some of my close friends on whether we have a right to blame the government? Most of us believed that we don't have because we were not a part of the election process followed to elect the government in the first place and this was per our WILL. We find pride in not being a participant here. Some of us feel we anyway are not meant to vote and this is a right way to stamp our superiority and modernism over those who wait on long queues to cast their “useless” vote. The people for whom government vows now and then to make reservations and erect Temples best do this job. Fair enough, if we neither elected them nor did we try to oppose them, we don't have a right to get pissed off now. If we thought this government is not for us, why would any action or inaction on their part at this time would irritate and frustrate us?
But one of my friends put up a very strong point which all of us must agree. According to him " Whom should we Vote for? All are the same. If we do decide to cast our so called precious vote, what is the choice before us?”
Well he has a valid point and all of us must agree. But as elderly people say, inaction only aggravates the problem. So its action time albeit in passive form.
What can we do?
Some or most of you might be already knowing about this but even then, I would like to introduce you to something called "Lok Paritran” (http://www.lokparitran.org/ ) in this regard. This is a political group comprising of some of the young enthusiasts like us in some senses yet very unlike to us. They have been very courageous till now but have been struggling for the lack of support from the so-called educated and uneducated lots. To have some impact on a vast democratic country like ours, they need the support of its democratic people. Since this is going to be a tough battle against the well-set players on the pitch of Political affairs, this is not an easy task. This is no daydreaming. This is neither a Maniratnam movie “Yuva” nor another superhit from bollywood “Rang De Basanti”. Most of us can't help them directly for the reasons well known to us and not so well when discussed in public. But I am sure, even if we support them in some way or the other or at least make people aware about them, so that they are recognized and gradually supported, we would help them a great deal.
Then who knows, tomorrow we have something good coming up and some good reasons compelling us to vote and be a part of the process we always criticize and end up being frustrated? At least, a small effort towards this won't kill us.
Please find some time to know about them at http://www.lokparitran.org. Spread the news about them in all manners possible making people aware about them.
Join their yahoo group (paritranaites: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paritranaites/?yguid=262829209 ) today and be an active part of their message forum.
If you already knew about this group, please spread this message to all your near and dear ones.
We might agree that in a country like ours, where its tough to be optimistic, its very difficult for ourselves to be encouraged for doing something like this which has no prompt or direct benefits but remember, there will not be another Rama or Krishna avatar to solve these problems. Let us believe our good small acts will sum up to give the final solution towards this.
Hail Mumbai.
"It is the tragic outcome of the civilised world's struggle with terrorism that the world's largest democracy should be subjected to such attacks"
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Theory of Relativity
June 13, 2006.
"Theory of Relativity"
Recently, I went to Chicago to enjoy the Memorial Day, long weekend with some of my friends there. The total flight duration from Phoenix to Chicago was about 3 hours and 15 minutes. I barely had a good sleep the night before so I was fully prepared to utilize those 3 hours and 15 minutes enjoying a sweet and sound sleep. I boarded the Southwest Flight #1150 to Midway Chicago Airport. Soon I was on my seat and was being accompanied by a good looking American babe. Well, she was just average by American Standards in looks as well as by attire:). She started the conversation by asking me whether I was going all the way to NYC. This led to a little bit of introduction and soon we were talking to each other comfortably. Needless to say, my plan had changed by now. Interestingly I found her to know about India and Indian stuff more than I had expected to. She told that she considers herself an Indian because she loves everything about being an Indian and hates most of the American style of life. She considers herself a true Hindu and worships Krishna and Radha and is currently reading something called "GEETA" as a part of her daily routine. This was a bit of too much for me. I asked her how this interest developed and how it went so far? She laughed and told, “This fascination has been around for the last 5 years. I was working in an Indian Restaurant in New York when this started. I got attracted to Hinduism unconsciously and now I love it. My parents know about it and they sometime object to it but now they have started accepting and respecting what I am doing”.
She discussed some stories about Ramayana and Krishna to me, which would amaze me every time. She knew about the places like Agra, Mathura, Gokul, Rishikesh, and Ayodhya etc apart from the modern temples Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore etc. She was able to pronounce my name very correctly as her pronunciations for the above places were correct as well. Then came the interesting part when she mentioned about her fascination about Indian guys and her plan to marry one of the Indians. She also told me if she gets a chance to get settled in India, she would not mind it. I was just giving a patient ear to her. Then I got a chance to ask her as to how many Indian guys she has already dated or seen, to which the answer was, “ Well, not much but should be around five”. I asked how they were to her, and she answered, “They were all good”.
Then came the topic of what we generally term as true and real India, i.e. poor country and poor people. I talked to her about these realities although not in much detail but she gave a patient ear to it. She told me that I love poor people because I am also poor. This was a topic for me to laugh. I said, "Do you really understand what being a poor means?" I told her some hard realities of being poor in India. She accepted everything but she kept telling me she is also very poor. She has to take care of her family which comprises of her brother, sister and mom. Earlier she had mentioned that her favorite time passes are listening to music on IPOD and surfing the internet, the later she does to know more and more about India basically. She probably got a little irritated by my reasoning which were forcefully trying to make her agree for not belonging to that "poor" category. So she asked me how much money I make her on a monthly basis. I told her it might be just average. She asked the exact amount of dollars. I told her about 4k. She laughed and said " Compare your 4k with mine 1k per month. This is what I get when I work 6 days a week in that Indian Restaurant and that too in a city like NYC. My Mom also makes equivalent amount of money and that is the total source of our income. We hardly have any good furniture’s in our house and we drive an old car. I was just confused. We talked for sometime and then we became quite. She went to sleep and I also tried to utilize the remaining hours as per my plan thinking upon this "Theory of relativity".
In the last few years, McDonald has been a status symbol in Indian Metropolitan cities. Every middle class Indian loves to belong to the class who is a regular visitor of McDee in India. McDonald is a status symbol in the States as well but bears different significance and meanings. I thought this analogy might help me here as well. A person who can afford an IPOD, computer and Internet and a Car, definitely has to belong to that elite class of India wherein everybody's dream lies. But the same might not be true everywhere. Being “Poor” is an absolutely relative feeling.
She discussed some stories about Ramayana and Krishna to me, which would amaze me every time. She knew about the places like Agra, Mathura, Gokul, Rishikesh, and Ayodhya etc apart from the modern temples Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore etc. She was able to pronounce my name very correctly as her pronunciations for the above places were correct as well. Then came the interesting part when she mentioned about her fascination about Indian guys and her plan to marry one of the Indians. She also told me if she gets a chance to get settled in India, she would not mind it. I was just giving a patient ear to her. Then I got a chance to ask her as to how many Indian guys she has already dated or seen, to which the answer was, “ Well, not much but should be around five”. I asked how they were to her, and she answered, “They were all good”.
Then came the topic of what we generally term as true and real India, i.e. poor country and poor people. I talked to her about these realities although not in much detail but she gave a patient ear to it. She told me that I love poor people because I am also poor. This was a topic for me to laugh. I said, "Do you really understand what being a poor means?" I told her some hard realities of being poor in India. She accepted everything but she kept telling me she is also very poor. She has to take care of her family which comprises of her brother, sister and mom. Earlier she had mentioned that her favorite time passes are listening to music on IPOD and surfing the internet, the later she does to know more and more about India basically. She probably got a little irritated by my reasoning which were forcefully trying to make her agree for not belonging to that "poor" category. So she asked me how much money I make her on a monthly basis. I told her it might be just average. She asked the exact amount of dollars. I told her about 4k. She laughed and said " Compare your 4k with mine 1k per month. This is what I get when I work 6 days a week in that Indian Restaurant and that too in a city like NYC. My Mom also makes equivalent amount of money and that is the total source of our income. We hardly have any good furniture’s in our house and we drive an old car. I was just confused. We talked for sometime and then we became quite. She went to sleep and I also tried to utilize the remaining hours as per my plan thinking upon this "Theory of relativity".
In the last few years, McDonald has been a status symbol in Indian Metropolitan cities. Every middle class Indian loves to belong to the class who is a regular visitor of McDee in India. McDonald is a status symbol in the States as well but bears different significance and meanings. I thought this analogy might help me here as well. A person who can afford an IPOD, computer and Internet and a Car, definitely has to belong to that elite class of India wherein everybody's dream lies. But the same might not be true everywhere. Being “Poor” is an absolutely relative feeling.
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
India Shining – A myth or reality
Date: 29th Aug 2004.
“India Shining – A myth or reality”
All of us are aware of the psychological effect that is created when one repeats the same “mantra” in a crowd. More often than not, the mantra automatically becomes the crowd’s mantra. Perhaps that was the logic behind BJP government’s “India Shining” campaign before the recently concluded Lok Sabha election. They were under the illusion that the mantra of “India Shining” will automatically spread throughout the country and it will become a mantra for India. But, poor guys they were, that they assumed that the whole country would behave in a similar manner as a small crowd consisting of a few hundred people.
Now it’s a proven fact that “India shining” campaign has backfired the BJP itself thereby proving its fallacy to some extent. This was talking in terms of some result, which many people may not approve. But let us not discuss it in terms of BJP’s win or loss. Doing that would really make the issues less important.
The government may show some posters depicting good face of India, but that doesn’t make India shine? What about other millions of faces who sleep hungry every night? Still around 30% people live under the poverty line. Does this make India shine? What about those people who have lost their jobs because of the phenomena called privatization and globalization of Indian economy? You ask these people (more than 30%) the same question. Is India shining? And please take care of your self.
We talk in terms of shining IT and ITES sector, but what fraction of Indian mass has really benefited from this sector? Is it 1%? Oh god it’s even less than 1%. The real beneficiaries are those from the middle class backgrounds who had definite advantage in the knowledge based IT/ITES industry on account of their privilege in terms of getting good education. It is grossly assumed that the benefit of the global world would reach to the upper and middle class people first as they would be directly playing with the global economy, and subsequently over a period of time, the benefit would reach down to the poverty stricken mass also through a theory called “trickle down theory”. But how long it’s going to take? The statistical data would easily prove that even after 13 years since economic reforms started in 1991, this trickling is yet to happen on a large scale. Rather, for the time being, if we consider, this process has really widened the gap between the rich and the poor because of the rich benefiting the most and the poor the least. This ever widening gap has given birth to many social evils at the same time, which keep frightening even the tiny group of those people for whom India might be shining.
Agreed that in the last couple of years we have come a long way given the unusual performance of our knowledge based service industry but we have to still go a long long way before we feel like shining. Given the above facts, projecting India as “Shining” would be tantamount to ignoring all these deprived, poverty stricken, and hungry people in a democratic system. Happiness is infectious but does the happiness of a bunch of people make everyone happy and satisfied when they can hardly earn a decent meal for once a day? Can a democracy be called shining given all these ever increasing and ever-persisting problems? The answer is a firm “NO”.
“India Shining – A myth or reality”
All of us are aware of the psychological effect that is created when one repeats the same “mantra” in a crowd. More often than not, the mantra automatically becomes the crowd’s mantra. Perhaps that was the logic behind BJP government’s “India Shining” campaign before the recently concluded Lok Sabha election. They were under the illusion that the mantra of “India Shining” will automatically spread throughout the country and it will become a mantra for India. But, poor guys they were, that they assumed that the whole country would behave in a similar manner as a small crowd consisting of a few hundred people.
Now it’s a proven fact that “India shining” campaign has backfired the BJP itself thereby proving its fallacy to some extent. This was talking in terms of some result, which many people may not approve. But let us not discuss it in terms of BJP’s win or loss. Doing that would really make the issues less important.
The government may show some posters depicting good face of India, but that doesn’t make India shine? What about other millions of faces who sleep hungry every night? Still around 30% people live under the poverty line. Does this make India shine? What about those people who have lost their jobs because of the phenomena called privatization and globalization of Indian economy? You ask these people (more than 30%) the same question. Is India shining? And please take care of your self.
We talk in terms of shining IT and ITES sector, but what fraction of Indian mass has really benefited from this sector? Is it 1%? Oh god it’s even less than 1%. The real beneficiaries are those from the middle class backgrounds who had definite advantage in the knowledge based IT/ITES industry on account of their privilege in terms of getting good education. It is grossly assumed that the benefit of the global world would reach to the upper and middle class people first as they would be directly playing with the global economy, and subsequently over a period of time, the benefit would reach down to the poverty stricken mass also through a theory called “trickle down theory”. But how long it’s going to take? The statistical data would easily prove that even after 13 years since economic reforms started in 1991, this trickling is yet to happen on a large scale. Rather, for the time being, if we consider, this process has really widened the gap between the rich and the poor because of the rich benefiting the most and the poor the least. This ever widening gap has given birth to many social evils at the same time, which keep frightening even the tiny group of those people for whom India might be shining.
Agreed that in the last couple of years we have come a long way given the unusual performance of our knowledge based service industry but we have to still go a long long way before we feel like shining. Given the above facts, projecting India as “Shining” would be tantamount to ignoring all these deprived, poverty stricken, and hungry people in a democratic system. Happiness is infectious but does the happiness of a bunch of people make everyone happy and satisfied when they can hardly earn a decent meal for once a day? Can a democracy be called shining given all these ever increasing and ever-persisting problems? The answer is a firm “NO”.
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