Bhopal Notes :: 78 :: Determining limits of the Upper Lake

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Reports emanating from Bhopal are not very encouraging in so far marking of Full Tank Level (FTL) of the Upper Lake is concerned. This item of work has been assigned to the Municipal Corporation which is besides being incompetent is also corrupt. It has now said that the work of marking of FTL will take another month as it is short of the required manpower.

The ploy, it seems to me to be of the Municipal Corporation, is to delay the marking so as to enable the water to retreat from its full tank level allowing the thus vacated areas of the lake to be encroached upon. The Municipal Corporation cannot be trusted wit such a vital asset of the town. After all, it is the Municipal Corporation that made the Boat Club a food zone with numerous establishments – permanent and temporary – selling edibles which should have been a strict no, no on the bank of a water body that is a source of drinking water for lakhs of people in the town. It is here the Corporation encroached on the lake to create, much against the wishes of a large number of people including the member of the Bhopal Citizens’ Forum, an amphitheatre seating a few hundred people for the non-existent laser show. The show never took off as with scanty rainfall last year the fountains planted in the Lake bed got exposed because of receding waters. Some Rs. 7 crore were reported to be spent on it which were lost. Nobody has so far been held accountable for such indiscretions of the Corporation.

The Corporation was also playing soft on the much maligned retaining wall that continues to stand despite ordered to be demolished by the former chief minister. The Corporation was also hell bent on providing Boat Club 2 for Khanugaon as mentioned in the report of the CEPT that was suppressed by the previous government. For the shrinkage of the Lake if any organization is responsible it is none other than the Municipal Corporation.

This year Gods have been kind and they have given bountiful rains to the town so much so that the gates of the dams have had to be opened a number of times. This opportunity should in no case be lost to determine the Lake’s FTL and whatever has been illegally constructed within its limits should be ruthlessly demolished. Care needs to be taken that nothing in this regard is left to the Municipal Corporation which has mostly corrupt officials with vested interests. If one looks at it objectively, it is able to do nothing effectively, whether it is controlling the population of stray dogs or cattle or building and mending of roads or even supply of water to the people. What is more none in the Corporation seems to have any shame There has been so much of criticism of its ways in the newspapers and yet hardly makes any attempt to improve.

One fears that the rains will not be as copious in the coming years as they have been this year. Hence, this opportunity to determine the extent of the Upper Lake should not be lost. IF necessary use of drone-photography needs to be resorted to in order to overcome the alleged manpower shortage to identify the limits of the Lake

Our Life, Our Times :: 42 :: Fast and fiery

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Bundling out the West Indies team in a matter of 100 runs was quite a feat by the Indian team in the Antigua Test, the home of the great West Indian batsman Sir Vivian Richards. What was perhaps a bigger feat was that all the wickets were captured by Indian fast bowling threesome – Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jaspreet Bamra. Jaspreet Bamra’s five West Indian wickets for only seven runs in the 8 overs that he bowled was the outstanding performance of the match. 

Gradually the Indian fast bowling unit is becoming fearsome with its clinical lethality. India was hardly ever known for fast bowlers. We were spinning kings of the world. We had world class spinners and we seem to have produced them one after another. It was always held that our pitches were not conducive to pace bowling and therefore the concentration was on encouraging spinners. Pitches were dressed for them and on many a time they played havoc with visiting foreign teams unable to read the spin that the Indians gave to that red cherry. Spin was the forte of the Indians.

That is, perhaps, no longer so. While they have world class spinners in Kuldeep Yadav, Yazuvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashvin in the current team they seem to be mere passengers. It is the pace attack that did in the West Indians at Antigua. The Indian pace attack was a work in progress for quite some time and it seems it has evidently matured only now. With money being poured on finding new talent and training them under the best available trainers has given India a bunch of fast bowlers so much so that we have today a healthy bench strength – with some of the fastest being benched at Antigua. While the three named above devastated the West Indians there were three others viz., Saini, Umesh Yadav and Khaleel Mohammed waiting on the sidelines.

India was hardly ever known for its pace attack. After Mohammed Nissar and Amar Singh in the 1930s there was a drought and the country had largely to make do with medium pacers. Post Independence, one recalls, it was mainly Dattu Phadkar that the team relied on and he was only a medium pacer. From Phadkar to Kapil Dev there was a string of medium pacers who did duty as pace men. The name of Ramakant Desai readily comes to mind. Their only job was to take the shine off the ball to enable the spinners to get into action. If they got a few wickets in the process it was well and good. Wicket-taking was largely the responsibility of the spinners. Kapil Dev, however, was different. He, with his attitude and application became a successful genuine fast bowler. Attaining iconic status he started winning matches abroad for India capping his aall-round performance with the 1983 World Cup.

Kapil Dev provided an idol. With his spontaneity and good and amiable ways he became a model to follow. No wonder soon there were Javagal Srinaths and Zaheer Khans and numerous others who came on the scene to give India the taste of fast bowling and the success and satisfaction it gave. But never before in the history of Indian Cricket there were so many pace men at one and the same time as at present to give the Indian skipper options to choose from.

And he chose well at Antigua for the Second Test. The three – Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Jaspreet Bamra – are the best Indians in their business. Bamra, of course, excelled at Antigua grabbing a fifer for just seven runs in the West Indian second innings drawing complimentary comments from Andy Roberts and Courtly Ambrose – the two great West Indian exponents of pace bowling of yester years. Roberts seems to have gone lyrical in appreciation of Bamra’s pace, length and the movement he imparts to the ball. Earlier Bamra used to be essentially an in-swing bowler. Of late, he appears to have developed an out swinger that pitches on the middle or off stump and moves a shade away. And it is that ball that became lethal in Antigua slaying as many as five West Indians.  

Obviously, a tremendous lot of effort has gone into making Bamrah and other fast bowlers what they are today – fast and fiery. The efforts of BCCI have paid off and India today is feared more, not for its spinners but for, quite ironically, its pace attack. The efforts need to continue as the country could do well with a few more Bamrahs on the pitch.

Our Life, Our Times :: 41 :: Sindhu brings home the gold

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Yes, it took the third outing for her to do it. PV Sindhu made it to the finals of the World Badminton Federation championships twice before but lost it virtually at the last moment. This time at Basle in Switzerland, however, it was different. She just sailed through against Nozomi Okuhara, a former nemesis of her, beating her in straight sets 21-7, 21-7. It is Nozomi who had disrupted her dream of being the World Champion in 2017. But this time Sindhu came well prepared, garnered enough confidence from her win against TT Ying, the former World No.1, in the quarter finals

On the court Sindhu appeared relaxed and whenever the occasion demanded she made a placement or just smashed her way through. She did not entertain any long rallies as in 2017 when against Nozomi there was 73-shot rally. This time it was more simple keeping her opponent on the lines and use the smashes when she got the shuttle lobbed on to her. The longest rally this time was of around only 22 shots. While her stamina has improved the changed strategy to concentrate on the lines and the corners paid off. The strategy to shun long tiring rallies also brought home the dividends.

Sindhu has been making it to the finals of several tournaments but somehow was unable to convert them into wins. Probably the reasons were either not quite appropriate strategy or lack of stamina. She had been groomed and coached for quite a few years by Pulella Gopichand, a player of distinction who had won years ago the coveted All England Badminton Championship. But one thought Sindhu needed to change tacks and move on. Defeats in the finals of several tournaments must have been heart-breaking and must have acted as confidence busters. What was needed a strategy to win and quite appropriately the authorities brought in one Miss Kim, an East Asian. That seems to have made the difference.

The difference was palpable It was the same Nozomi, if a little more experienced, though of the same age as Sindhu. She is well known as a singles specialist and is known for her speed, agility and endurance. None of that was visible on Sunday at Basle. She many a times could not decipher Sindhu’s deceptive returns (probably a new weapon in her armoury) and several times Nozomi was floored literally by Sindhu’s returns. She seemed to have somehow lost her agility. In fact, Sindhu was more agile and played to her plan leaving Nozomi in distress on several occasions. The score line indicates complete superiority over her adversary. Probably all this and much more was because of the induction of her new coach who apparently advised Sindhu to shun long rallies, instilling in her a killer instinct. In this final Sindhu used far more smashes than perhaps in any earlier tournaments.

Tall by Indian standards and athletically built, Sindhu can reign over World Badminton for many years if properly handled. That, of course, is for Badminton Association of India ro work out. Sindhu is a precious asset for the country; she needs to be conserved and intelligently taken care of.

August 15, 1947 – perspectives from two different parts of the country

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Nabanita Deb Sen, former wife of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, has written a lyrical piece in the Indian Express on the occasion of Independence Day. For those who are not aware of her, she is a remarkable intellectual. Having graduated from Presidency College of Kolkata she did MA from Jadavpur University. She then obtained a Masters with Distinction from Harvard University. Later, she had several assignments in universities of the US, England and Europe. She authored several books in Bengali and English. She is a socially active person and is currently doing an assignment for the Central Government. While her former husband is a Bharat Ratna, she has been honoured by the award of Padma Shri.

Almost the same age as me her and my memories of the Independence Day of 1947 were of the images that were recorded by the pre-teen eyes of both of us.  The period was synchronous but we were locationally separated by hundreds of miles. She was in Kolkata that was generally the scene of action of the Independence movement. Kolkata was, after all, the former capital of British India and was considered the first city of the country. I was way out in the backwaters of Central India in the native state of Gwalior.

Gwalior was a sleepy place and nothing much would disturb the even tenor of life. People were, by and large, happy with the feudal dispensation. Though there was rationing on account of the then concluded World War they did get all the essentials. The Maharaja had contributed his forces for the British effort along with the Allies hence there were cut down on supplies but, as one remembers it, one could and did get by.

 There were, however, no demonstrations for independence, at least, not until immediately before the month of the Big Day. There were few instances of communal killings creating short-lived panicky situations. Perhaps the state police were on alert and they would see to it that normalcy is restored. Normal daily activities continued; vegetable vendors would call out, we children would go to schools and my father, a professor, would go to the college and so on.  

       

It was on the 15th August that my father decorated the verandah overlooking the road. He, too, was a product of Presidency College, had taken part in the “Swadeshi” movement and was a nationalist to the core. We all helped him with preparing buntings, wrapping red cloth around the pipes supporting the tin shed, hanging framed pictures of national leaders on the wall and sticking the tri-colour wherever we possibly could. Father installed lamps that we had at strategic places to illuminate the verandah.

Fortunately it did not rain that day. When dusk fell father switched on the lights and our front verandah lit up like never before. Passers-by would look up and appreciate the effort. But not many were enthusiastic about this Big Day. One does not recall any exuberance; only a few of father’s students reacted positively. They, obviously, saw what it meant; others probably thought Independence was not going to make any difference to them. It would be the same old feudal rule – howsoever good it might have been.

Nabanita Deb Sen was, however, in Kolkata where, both the sights and sounds that she encountered were rich and copious. She remembers the radio blaring out the midnight speech of Nehru from every house. But, then Independence brought traumatic times for the people. Families were torn asunder and the city was full of refugees from what was till then East Bengal and on that day becoming Pakistan. As a child, she says, she had seen roads flooded with refugees, some of them walking skeletons and begging for, not rice, but its starch that is generally thrown away. She also remembers to have seen those skeletal forms fighting for wasted food in the bins with dogs. Remembering the Great Calcutta Killing she recalls how her father’s close friend was chopped and packed up in a packing box. Fond of this uncle of hers who used to frequently play with her she could not eat for some days

Nabanita also remembers how beautiful parks were dug up for trenches in which she and her friends used to play. In anticipation of the Japanese air attack glass doors and windows were painted black and baffle walls were erected to ward off, presumably, the splinters of bombs. The city was full of military camps and the “endless plying of heavy military vehicles had chewed up the roads.” Nabanita recalls that even then she remembers to have played with friends on those streets since the playgrounds and parks had become army camps.

 Belonging to a distinguished family of intellectuals, her experiences in those days of childhood were sensitive and poignant. Her father, Narendra Dev was a poet, author, translator and was author of the first Bengali work of cinematography and he married her mother who was a widow in those conservative times. Her father seems to have been overwhelmed by the powerful poet that was her mother who wore Khaddar and was a child widow.

Nabanita’s memories stirred my own and I recalled my mother speaking of Anusheelan Kendras which were generally meant for boys. Their aim was to inculcate a culture of fitness – currently a rage among young people of both sexes – among them. Members included revolutionary journalist Barin Ghosh, founder of Jugantar newspaper and his elder brother Aurobindo Ghosh, later known as Sri Aurobindo of Pondicherry Ashram. Some of this part of the history has been recaptured in the tele-serial that is currently being aired on Zee Bangla with the title of “Netaji”. Netaji, it seems, got mixed up with some of these people, including Jatin Mukherjee known as Bagha Jotin. Netaji’s fiery disposition against the British appears to have been imbibed from Anusheelan Samiti members and those who were involved in the “Swadeshi” Movement.

Bengal was the crucible where the love for the country and “Swadeshi” cult were nurtured and numerous young boys gave up their lives in the hope of freeing the country from the British yoke.  Independence did not come cheap; it came at the cost of many young men who were intellectuals and morally upright. Unfortunately, what we see today is some of the undeserving enjoying the fruits of freedom that was won after great sacrifice by numerous young men. Independence Day, therefore, is a day that is joyous and also sombre when those unknown and unnamed martyrs need to be remembered.

While 15^th August 1947 was by and large placid in Gwalior Kolkata faced the brunt of the Partition. Though freedom had to be celebrated, the celebrations were naturally muted because of those who were left with nothing and had nowhere else to go.

*Photo from internet

Dulat's militants

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I do not know how many have read “The Vajpayee Years” authored by AS Dulat. He was the Indian Intelligence chief and is kind of an expert on the militancy that prevails in Kashmir. Later he became the Chief of the Research & Analysis Wing, the country’s snooping agency. He was also Adviser on Kashmir affairs to the then prime minister, Late Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee between 2000 and 2004. 

He is a self-confessed garrulous man who talks a lot. And he talked to almost all the militants that came his way. Sometimes he seems to have even sought them out. Whether they were of Kashmiri origin or not, somehow they would open up to him and reveal their experiences or thoughts on our Kashmir or POK or even their mentor, ISI in Pakistan. Dulat probably won their confidence and they openly told him what their masters in Kashmir or across the borders would not have liked. I had jotted some of their conversations as recorded by Dulat and am reproducing them below. The first Independence Day after revocation of Article 370 giving special status to Kashmir and the ongoing discourse over it is probably an opportune time to recall these conversations as fears are being expressed about intensification of militancy as a consequence. So, here it goes:

An unnamed militant saying: “Once you go across (to POK or Pakistan) you don't know if you are going to be used or misused... Once you have been to that randikhana (brothel, it is not clear whether he means Pakistan or its ISI) it is very difficult to get back out...The guys who have come into proper contact with the ISI are never going to be in position to work something out with Delhi.”

Firdaus who used to be an assistant of Shabir Shah, a Kashmiri militant, told Dulat: “Each and every Kashmiri he met in Pakistan felt they were in an alien land. They also advised him to never merge Kashmir in Pakistan.” He also told Dulat that he realised on being refused SAM missiles that “lSI was not interested in escalating the proxy war and was not interested in the fact that the Kashmiris had gone all out to fight their dirty war.”

Hashim Qureishy, the highjacker of Indian Airlines flight from Srinagar to Lahore told Dulat, “I speak the truth so they call me an Indian agent... I say that Hurriyat people should give up accession to Pakistan, as should our people. 65 years have passed, another 500 years will pass, Kashmir will never become Pakistan. You can write it down... and people (addressing Kashmiris), don't sacrifice your children. You are not going to get anything from their (Hurriyat's) struggle. If you are sincere then say both India and Pakistan should get out of our land".

Again another militant said, “There is no country freer than India and people don't realise it. America is a great democracy but has not even spared our ministers from physical searches. I know of a Tamil Nadu minister who went there, he had lot of hair coming out of his ears. They searched that even. India has let down a lot of people, no one more than me. They have no morality.  But at least they are humane."

Abdul Majeed Dar, a former militant of Hizbul Mujahideen was later described as a sane voice when he realized the futility of the gun. He told Dulat, “Kashmiri militants settled in Pakistan are an unhappy lot and long to return (home). Most of them are disillusioned with Pakistan which only wants to merge Kashmir (in Pakistan) as against demands of militants for Azaadi". Majeed Dar was so disillusioned with the ISI that he not only contrived to come away to Kashmir but also refused to take its calls. Obviously the ISI found him very precious for their designs in Kashmir and didn't want to let go of him. For his intransigence, however, they had him shot and killed.

All round disillusionment with Pakistan was so great that even Prof. Abdul Ghani Lone once told Musharraf when he was CEO Pakistan that he shouldn't worry about Kashmir, he should take care of Pakistan instead. Dulat has written that when ISI found out that Lone was working for peace and was in favour of the 2002 (Kashmir) elections it had him killed. Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhatt too is reported to have said “Who can depend on Pakistan? It cannot look after itself how can it look after us?”

Perceptions that one gets from the statements of the militants’ statements in many ways work out to be synchronous with the general understanding of the situation in this country. The ISI has been wary of escalation of matters in J&K as its aim was to run a covert war of “thousand cuts” against India and did not want to provoke a severe reaction from it. Pakistan is now reluctant to expend its own manpower in Kashmir. It is also largely known that Kashmiris who are anti-India and are involved in militancy in the Valley are, in fact, fighting ISI’s war by proxy. Hence the call to Kashmiris in the Valley not to sacrifice their children! It is also clear that whatever happens in Kashmir happens at the instance of Pakistan’s Army – actually its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). It was also known that the militants who had crossed over were generally unhappy with the treatment that was meted out to them in Pakistan. For Pakistan, Kashmir was a piece of land that had to be wrested from India with religion being used as a fig leaf at later stages for the purpose.

 The civil government of Pakistan has no role in deciding the Kashmir policy this way or that. The villain of the piece is the Pakistan Army as stoking trouble in Kashmir ensures its own survival. Out of the blue the revocation of Article 370, therefore, came as a hard kick on its butt. It apparently had stunned it for a while.  Pakistan, whether its army or the civil government, is going to find it a handful to deal with the Modi-Shah combine. They are not like the softies that they have dealt with hitherto.

One cannot but agree more with Hashim Qureishi when he said that “65 years have passed, another 500 years will pass, Kashmir will never become Pakistan.” Another 7 years have gone by after this statement was published and Kashmir has remained where it was.  Kashmir is going to be with India till eternity. Only for India it is going to be a long haul as it will have to face the aggressive neighbour that has lost face having lost four wars to a country it considers its adversary. Without caring one bit for Kashmiri lives it has, therefore, come down to giving pin pricks by staging skirmishes.

 India has to put up a solid, impenetrable front to these warmongers across the border.

Bhopal Notes :: 77 :: Brimful of a Lake

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The last report that I saw said that the local Upper Lake was just 0.30 ft. short of the full tank level (FTL). This morning’s papers brought in the happy news that the flood gates at Kerwa were opened to release the excess water from the Lake.

 It is now only around the middle of August and the Lake is full ensuring a full year’s water supply. Gods have been kind to Bhopal as one never expected such copious rains. Forecasts were of a weak monsoon and, indeed, one came to believe in the predictions as till the end of July there was hardly any rain. A few sharp showers in the last 10 or 12 days relieved us of the anxiety. Then the monsoon took off showering bountiful of rains on Bhopal in the first week of this month.

Things were terrible till the rains set in. Water level in the so-called lifeline of the city sank to levels that were never touched before. It was below the dead storage level and yet the municipality claimed it was maintaining supplies by using floating pumps. But we hardly got any water and the Narmada line for which our Society paid three thousand-odd rupees did not yield any water. We were sustaining ourselves by getting tankers-full of water. One wondered where the tankers got their water from; and whatever they got was dirty and mucky fouling up the filters in the Aquaguard machine. Yet, it was the precious fluid.

The Lake looked in terrible condition. Huge swathes of land appeared where there was water not many days ago. The Island in the Lake ceased to be one and people could walk up to it. Waters of the Lake retreated from the fringes exposing the ugly soggy earth that was earlier kept hidden under a few feet of water. There was panic and the forecasts exacerbated it. One thought one was at the threshold of apocalypse and that too in Bhopal – the City of Lakes. Even in this crisis situation the supply pipelines would leak and the municipal tankers carrying precious water would also leak profusely.

That is all in the past now. Now that the city has been able to shed the specter of a water famine everyone needs to get into the act of conservation of our water resources, more so the public agencies like the Municipal Corporation, the Water Resources Department and sundry others. The country is now water stressed and we in Bhopal too are similarly stressed. Efforts need to be intensified for conserving what we have. Leakages from all sources should be banished by strictly monitoring the supply lines and the tankers that are used for water supply. All encroachments on the Lake need to be bulldozed away and the FTL levels need to be prominently marked and those who breach them should be prosecuted. Hopefully, the retaining wall that was ordered to be demolished by the former chief minister has since been demolished.

While surface water has to be conserved at any cost even the ground water needs to be conserved. There are strict regulations for sinking bore and tube wells which have been observed more in breach. Those found breaching the regulations have to face legal consequences. Unless this is done ground water that is an alternate source of water would not be available in times of needs. In fact availability of ground water should be enhanced by rainwater harvesting. The Municipal Corporation had reportedly made some legal provision for rainwater harvesting but enforcement has been patchy. Rigorous inspections need to be carried out to ensure that the rainwater harvesting arrangements are made wherever called for.

Water will be very much in the news in the future as rains are uncertain with clouds frequently playing truant. The Centre has, therefore, created a whole ministry for water naming it “Jal Shakti”. The civic bodies, too, have to look sharp to ensure that maximum amount is conserved and not a drop is lost. Officials need to be held accountable for any undue loss of water. It must be realized that the population has increased but the natural resources are shrinking with their unavoidable consequences.

A nonagenarian in the family

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The other day, to be precise on August 8, 2019, my big brother Sanjoy, generally known as Dada, crossed a huge milestone. After completing his 90^th year he stepped into his tenth decade. This should have been a day of jubilation but that couldn’t be as it also happened to be the first death anniversary of my second brother who left us on this very day last year.

Dada’s ninety years were delightful to look back on. As my mother used to tell us, he was a precocious child and uniformly did well in school. The World War II broke out when he was just 10 years old. He took upon himself to monitor through the newspaper reports the progress of the Allied Armies daily in a diary. This diary would be referred to by even my father’s friends and colleagues from his college when they came over for their monthly session of bridge. He was a reasonably good student and in the college he became a member of the debating team in which were, among others, Atal Bihari Vajpayee who later became prime minister. It was my father’s colleague and best friend Prof Qureishy who insisted on him to opt for Geography as the subject for his post graduation and after which he encouraged him to take the IAS Etc. Examinations. Prof Qureishy had lost two of his ICS brothers during the partition riots.

In his administrative career he frequently fell foul of his political masters. Probably, he had a congenital dislike for the politicians including the highest of the land. But because of his competence and irrefutable honesty they could only transfer him from place to place. Perhaps he found fulfillment of his ambitions when he was deputed to the Union Government. He was initially posted as Addl. Textile Commissioner in which post he again came across an utterly corrupt minister who, as a measure of punishment, transferred him to the Ministry of Commerce as Joint Secretary and head of the then small Policy Planning division.

 Nobody in the Commerce Ministry or elsewhere wanted this post. He went and took it up and was required to go practically every month to Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union, for negotiations. His intellect, knowledge of trade matters and capability to interpret the complicated GATT rules attracted attention of Arthur Dunkel, Director General of General Agreements on Trade & Tariffs, a specialised agency of the UN. He was called by name by Dunkel to assist him as consultant to him. That is when a career in GATT began for as long as 20 years during which he won the hearts of even the representatives of the countries not very friendly with India. It is, in fact, because of their insistence that he chaired the International Textile Control Board after his retirement from GATT. This he gave up after completion of the term of three years to return home.

Since them he has been home. Voracious reader as he used to be, he read a lot ordering stacks of books every month. He even wrote a book on Indian Bureaucracy that was published by Rupa. As he progressively aged his eyes failed and he had to give up his passion for reading. Yet the verve for life remains. Every evening he is in the Arera Club to spend time with old associates. It is like “steady church going” for him. Another marked trait is that he continues to be a foodie with emphasis on the non-vegetarian type of stuff.

Now that he has attained a coveted milestone one wishes him continued good health, happiness and well being.

Our Life, Our Times :: 40 :: Condemnation of the education system

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Sonam Wangchuk

Sonam Wangchuk, Director of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, who inspired the largely applauded Bollywood film “Three Idiots” recently made scathing comments on the education system in India. He said that he has travelled to many countries “but if we talk of equity I have not seen any country as unfair in its education as ours.” He went on to say “it is a country where 5-10% children study in such schools which are probably far ahead of schools in the US. Around 90% schools are worse than those in Sub-Saharan Africa.” He also said that the “binary” of public and private is the biggest shortcoming in the Indian system.

This must be true as it has come from no less a person than Sonam Wangchuk. But it was not always so and the government schools were not all that bad. I went to school when private schools in small towns were a rarity. Like in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, there was only one private school that I recollect and it was close to our house. It was Miss Hill’s School that was run by donation by an American elderly lady. The head mistress was one Mrs. RK Hukku, a very genial lady who was a family friend and her four daughters and a son were very dear to all of us. Yet when it came to admitting me in school for primary education in 1943 I was admitted in a government school.

   

As my mother had schooled me at home, like she did all my older siblings, I was admitted in Class III. It was the Sarafa School not far from our place. There were no nurseries or pre-nurseries; even kindergartens were rare to find. I was not sent to Class I as I was judged fit enough for Class III by the Head Master.

Because of my father’s very modest salary as a professor in the local (at that time) degree college he could not have afforded the somewhat elevated fees of Miss Hill’s School. Although Mrs. Hukku very much wanted at least one of us kids in her school yet father did not relent as the household budget would have got a big dent.  Despite that it was the grounds of Miss Hill’s that we used to go and play with the Hukku children every evening. My eldest brother, however, used to keep Mrs. Hukku’s paralysed eldest son in good humour and occasionally play Mahjong with him.

Facilities in Sarafa School were basic. In Class III we were made to sit on the floor on hessian mats and we had only a single teacher who used to teach us all the subjects – from arithmetic to English, Hindi, Geography, history, etc. The teacher was a Maharshtrian Brahmin with a shaven head and a tuft of hair at the back. Since he was a pucca Brahmin he gave us a lot of ethical instructions and instructions on morality.

The school was subjected to inspections almost every six months for which the headmaster and the teachers used to prepare. From the standard of teaching to cleanliness and availability of furniture, everything was brought within the ambit of the inspection. This kept everybody, including the teachers and students, on their toes as nobody knew when the inspector would make an appearance and ask some uncomfortable questions.

 As I remember it now after so many decades I find it was a well run school and perhaps the same was the case with other government schools where my older siblings, including my sister, were educated. We all worked our way up to the college and then made our careers through competitive examinations. In the college four of us distinguished ourselves. My eldest brother made it to the IAS in 1953 and a brother qualified for Central Services in 1955. I myself did likewise and was selected for Central Services in 1961. My sister went on to become a lecturer and then a professor in the US, eventually ending as professor emeritus. Another brother retired as Managing  Director of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. Primary schooling was largely responsible for our successes.

I have narrated all this in some length only to emphasise that well-administered government schools and colleges were as good as any. But that was the fact in those days now considered hoary past in pre-independence India. However, as educational expansion took place and more and more schools and colleges were opened, especially in rural India, the standards dipped remarkably. Besides, the government did not have the wherewithal to effectively maintain, administer and monitor the standards in myriad institutions that came into being resulting in a crisis in public education.

 That was perhaps the reason for privatization. The state was flooded with demand which it was unable to meet. It had to, therefore, partially abdicate its responsibilities and throw open the sector to the market where numerous what are known as “edu-preneurs” appeared to establish schools and colleges to satisfy the burgeoning demand. Parents would go for them even at the risk of damaging their financial equilibrium. Nonetheless these schools did come to the rescue of the government. But there was a flip side. “Netas” became corrupt and they turned the sector as a money spinner. Hence we got schools, colleges and even universities in apartment blocks sans teaching staff and necessary infrastructure.

 While the government institutions suffered from utter neglect it winked at most of the private institutions that were inadequately equipped to produce properly educated human beings. Privatised education as a movement has, therefore, largely failed in India. And the reason is not far to seek It is all because of the greed of the “edu-preneurs” and the political class who wanted a quick buck as returns on their investments.

There is no gainsaying the fact government schools have always been kind of a boon for the poor for providing a semblance of education. Poor have no way out except of sending their children to the schools run by public agencies. But they have to go through their schooling in very shoddy conditions, deprived of a proper, fulfilling education. Most of the schools suffer from neglect and want of wherewithal to run them effectively. Sonam Wangchuk said that In order to ameliorate the conditions and in order extend equitable education to all sections of society the government schools should be strengthened.

Suggesting a policy intervention in this respect Wangchuk said that children of public representatives – MPs and MLAs – should study in government schools. While admitting that none can be forced to send children only to government schools but the “public representatives should use the services that they claim they are giving to others. I can guarantee that in five years their children will not suffer and instead everyone’s children will improve – teachers will be sent for training and books will be improved.” 

Calling the “binary” of public and private education to be the biggest shortcoming of education in India Wangchuk said if everybody’s children – high or low – studied in government schools then there would be far more attention paid to them. He also said that a lot of times it is said that nothing good could happen to government schools. That is largely true as children of powerful and influential do not study there. “As long as clientele are not those who can demand greater quality, there will be no one to give it either”, said Wangchuk articulating a truism.

From my scrapbook :: 11 :: Refusal to use recycled water

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A borewell in Delhi

The other day I came across an item in my scrapbook which seemed to be out of the ordinary. it was about a news item from Delhi where it was reported that groundwater was depleting yet there were few takers for recycled treated water. A report from the capital of the country says that around 200 mgd (million gallons per day) waste water which could be used for horticulture has found no takers. Finding no use, it is being released into the Yamuna River. The River is so highly polluted that the released treated water would hardly make any impact.

Reports also say that the agencies in the capital managing parks like the municipal corporations and DDA would rather use scarce ground water than the available treated waste water. This is besides the Delhi Jal Board orders prohibiting extraction of ground water for horticulture but none it seems is in favour of using the treated water. While this is the truth another truth is that the ground water in Delhi, which falls in the Indo Gangetic basin, is witnessing falling levels and yet the agencies managing parks do not relent and keep extracting ground water for horticultural purposes.

It seems only 20% of the recycled water is being made use of and the rest is piped into Yamuna. While the water recycling capacity is increasing and is now at 500mgd only around 300mgd is being utilized. About 200mgd is being released into the river in addition to what is called mandated release of 240mgds. The existing Yamuna Committee has requested the NGT to issue necessary directions to all concerned.

According to the Delhi Jal Board Sewage Treatment Plants are located within 5 kilometres of the parks where the treated water is required to be used but it seems the agencies concerned find the distance too much. They want that the treatment plants should be within one or two kilometers of the parks. The DDA, it seems, has said that the pipes get choked by the silt which discourages them to use the recycled water.

While these are all facile unacceptable excuses the Delhi Administration will do well to force the agencies concerned to use the recycled water for horticulture. It must be pointed out to them that recycling plants have been established at great cost in order to save wasteful use of water. And, these cannot be established next to where the waste water is required. The DDA’s argument of choking of pipes are untenable as many municipalities now use easily available de-chocking machines. The prohibition to use ground water for horticulture should be strictly enforced for compliance by all, including the public agencies.

It should also be kept in mind that Delhi is the capital of the country and whatever happens here has an impact all over. Many small cities in and around Delhi will take cue from it and become profligate in use of groundwater. This would be a crime in these days when the country is reeling under water scarcity It is only to combat it the Government of India has created Jal Shakti Ministry. The Delhi Government needs to come down heavily on those who are defying its ban on extraction of groundwater.