Education System Touching Low-ebb

 University and College teachers' appointment processes and interests have changed beyond recognition in the last four to five decades. My father-in-law Dr Sabhajit Mishra, a retired Professor and Head of the Philosophy Department of Deen Dayal Upadhyay University of Gorakhpur, says that in the seventies the salaries of university and college teachers were not as lucrative as they are today yet the desire among good students to become university teacher was very high. The yearning to learn more and excel in their fields was unbeatable. Dr Mishra tells the story of a Professor at BHU, who used to commute from his home to the university on a cycle because he could not comfortably afford any motorised vehicle, however, his enthusiasm to purchase books was seen to be believed. It was generally seen that after collecting his salary every month, the first thing that he used to do was to go to any big bookstore to purchase the new arrivals of books.

 

See the contrast, in present times the teachers spend little on books and they spend more time on the sale and purchase of properties. No wonder that in Delhi, most of the government schoolteachers are found to be busy in property dealings. They devote little time to teaching the students but more to property business or tuition. The situation, however, is not so bad in colleges and universities but it is certainly not very conducive to learning and imparting good education. It does not mean that everything was hunky-dory earlier, but it was definitely not as bad as it is today.

It is openly talked about that money plays an important role in the appointments of college and university teachers. It is not a secret at all that the rates have been fixed for posts-wise. Speak to any University teacher and he/ she will admit that even in the appointments of the Vice-Chancellors and the Principals, money changes hands. Some say that even high-ups like Governors and Ministers do accept bribes for the appointments of Vice Chancellors.

This situation, if not stemmed, may lead to unfathomable degeneration of education in the country. While copying in the examinations by the students in cahoots with unscrupulous teaching staff has already caused enough damage, bribery in the appointments of teachers and Vice-Chancellors is bound to irredeemably shatter the system.

The government(s), the public and the educationists must all  have to wake up to the reality otherwise education is bound to  go into the hands of mafia dons

Unidorm Civil Code is a Welcome Move

  

Article 44 of the Constitution of India says: ‘The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India.’This was made clear by the makers of the Constitution of India more than 7 decades ago, yet it is still not fulfilled and is being debated at various fora about its utility and applicability. Thus, it is long overdue and should have been implemented in the early fifties. Then there would not have been any need to introduce the Hindu Code Bill. In fact, no nation can become strong and cohesive if it contains different laws and rules for different communities or persons living in the country. Our Constitution speaks of equality and non-discrimination on the ground of caste, creed or sex yet when we find that the discrimination continues in many ways and sometimes it is used as a tool by some people for their ulterior goals. The most unfortunate part of it is that while equality is demanded but the Uniform Civil Code is opposed on the ground of personal religious freedom. Its opposition is neither in the interest of the country nor of the people. Thus, it will be in the interest of the country and all citizens that the Uniform Civil Code should be made applicable across the country without wasting further time.

Why at all the common civil code needed?

A question is often posed why should there be Uniform Civil Code? As it is stated in the outset the common civil code under its umbrella will bring about cohesiveness to different sections of society and will ease the problem of law and order. Unity in diversity is the characteristic of India but diversity does not mean different rules, regulations and laws for different communities. For example- the law of marriage and divorce should be the same but how the marriage is solemnised in different parts of the country is nobody’s business because that does not create any problem for the State and the same can be maintained as a unique feature.

A Uniform Civil Code means that there has to be uniformity in marriage, divorce, guardianship acts and in matters of inheritance. At present, we find that while the women of all religions enjoy complete freedom the women community of the Muslim community are highly discriminated against their male counterparts. It is as clear as daylight that when the Uniform Civil Code is made applicable across the country there will be no need for the Hindu Code Bill, Hindu Marriage Act, Christian Marriage Act or even the Special Marriage Act etc. Once marriage is solemnised each individual will have the liberty to enjoy uniformity; while at present a Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Persian, or Christian man or woman do have to follow the rules of the marriage and a man or a woman cannot divorce his or her spouse at his or her sweet will without any solid rhymes or reasons as specified in the Act but, on the other hand. Muslim women are placed in a highly disadvantageous position as compared to Muslim men. Muslim women cannot even think of divorcing a man as per Sharia law, the most they can think of is 'Khula' i.e., separation, which is well-nigh impossible in the society they live in. However, this freedom is available to Muslim males, which is mostly misused by them.  Although Talaq- e - Biddat i.e., pronouncing talaq three times in one go has been prohibited by the Supreme Court of India. It says that Talaq- e- Biddat is illegal yet the pronouncement of talaq by stating it three times in three months is still holding the ground. This will certainly go away once Uniform Civil Code is adopted and it will render massive relief to Muslim women.

 

Age of Marriage 

Men and women in all communities get to grow up at certain age, then there is no point to have different age groups for marriage in different communities. For example, while Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Christian and Persian males can marry only after attaining the age of 21 years and women can marry only after the age of 18 years, Muslim men do not have any such age bar. It is ridiculous to allow women to marry immediately after attaining the age of puberty which can be between 10 years to 12 or 13 years. This is highly discriminatory against Muslim women which needs to be done away with.

Likewise, it hardly needs to be said that monogamy should be strictly adhered to by all communities. Presently, while all other communities have to follow monogamy, Any violation of it invites the wrath of Section 494 of the IPC, which says:  ‘Marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife.—Whoever, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine’. What is most shocking, is that Muslim women have to bear the brunt of living with four women, if and when their male counterpart decides so. There is no merit in the logic that only a minuscule minority of Muslim men go into polygamy. But why such absurd and laughable liberty should be given to any section of society?

 

Guardianship and Adoption:

Discrimination is visible among Muslims and other communities. While women of all communities enjoy the privilege of adopting a child, it is denied to the women of the Muslim community. The guardianship right is also discriminatory, and it violates fundamental rights.  And therefore, must be done away with. Such anomalies are found in the case of inheritance and distribution of property and maintenance. Such discriminations make a mockery of the laws of the country.

Therefore, Uniform Civil Code should be enacted without any further waiting, and it should be rigorously followed. There should be no objection from any side, particularly when there's no objection to Uniform Criminal Code, which is welcomed with open arms even by Muslims, who do not want Sharia to be imposed.

 

'Honeymoon' That Makes Serious Reading

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Sometimes the cover of a book can be deceptive. Normally the title of a book is made catchy to attract the attention of the readers. But what can you say about a serious book having a cumbersome rather embarrassing title like ‘Honeymoon’ by Sushil Chand Shrivastav, an officer in the secretariat of Uttar Pradesh? I hesitated to read this book for more than two years because of its cover title but during this summer vacation, I started reading the book and found it to be amazingly good, highly informative and replete with shlokas, chaupais and folk idioms. The story of the novelette begins with a daughter of an air force officer, who laid down his life in the service of Mother India in the 1971 war and an idealist Sooraj, a son of the retired Vice-Principal of a College.

One marvel at the description of the scenario that was built around and after the 1971 war between India and Pakistan. It is like a refreshing memory for those who have witnessed the blackouts and horrors of the war like the huge influx of refugees from the then East Pakistan. For youngsters, the book gives a graphic description of conditions which prevailed in India in the early seventies. It swells the heart of every Indian with pride over the sacrifices and valour of the army, navy and air force of the country.

 Through Sooraj, the book takes the readers on a spiritual journey as he once finds himself engrossed in religiosity and then after some time gets disenchanted with the hypocrisy and superstitious behaviour of the so-called saints.  

The book also portrays the sordid and sad saga of the hopeless judicial system, which to say the least, is very realistic. The way some clever people frustrate the purpose of justice by dragging the cases in courts for years and decades has been very beautifully narrated by the writer. Justice is not only denied by adopting the tactics of delay, but it also brings enormous misery, pain, suffering and despondency among the litigants. In fact, sensitivity finds no place in the justice delivery system. It is seen that over the years judges and advocates become part of the grinding judicial system instead of providing any succour to the sufferers.

In between the book contains some thrilling events in the tourist places like Goa but it can be safely said that the book does not contain any ingredients of the cheap and pulp fiction. It does not titillate but compels us to think and ponder over the problems. The writer will do well to change the cover title of the book, which may truly reflect its contents, although it is his prerogative and yet the reader certainly has the right to make suggestions.

 

 

 

Remove the Rot from the Allahabad High Court

 Justice Markandeya Katju once remarked about the Allahabad High Court, quoting the Hamlet of Shakespeare, that there was something rotten in the state of Denmark (paraphrase it with Allahabad High Court). There are three recent incidents related to the Allahabad High Court which further reinforce the comments of Justice Katju. Although he has not been considered a tongue-tied judge, yet it isn't easy to disagree with his views on Allahabad High Court.                                                                 

 Just think over it. Is it not ridiculous to request the astrology department of Lucknow University to determine whether a woman, who is an alleged rape victim is a ‘ Manglik ‘ or not? In this case, a person, who has been sexually exploiting a woman on the pretext of marrying her refused to marry on the most bizarre ground of her being ‘ Manglik’ ( a horoscope condition being born under the influence of mars(mangal). This was a case of cheating, fraud and rape by the man, but the High Court lent credence to his most stupid logic of woman. When he was repeatedly raping the woman by holding out the assurance of marrying her, he should have been tried and punished, if found guilty, under those provisions instead of verifying the horoscope computability of the man and woman.

The way, the High Court passed the order to find out whether she was ‘Manglik’ or not is atrocious, illogical and shameful. The country must be thankful to the Supreme Court of India that it took Suo moto cognisance of the appalling order of the High Court. The Supreme Court bench sat on Saturday and stayed the High Court order. Since the order is in the public domain, so every citizen has got the right to comment on such unheard-of order.

 Justice cannot be bereft of humanitarian consideration. It cannot afford to be asinine.  In the Supreme Court, it is commonly seen that if anybody has undergone long imprisonment or is too old, infirm or suffering from incurable diseases or may die soon due to those reasons, the prisoner is released to be at peace with his family.  But a 90-year-old man has been convicted in a 42-year-old case of mixing water in milk by the Allahabad High Court under the Food Adulteration Act. The convict has been sentenced to six months imprisonment and a penalty of Rs two thousand.   The person has been arrested a decade after the High Court order. This is a sad reflection on the functioning of the judicial system that a nonagenarian, who is seriously ill has been arrested on the orders of the High Court.

In the third instance, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court Sudhir Agrawal said that there was a lot of pressure on him to buy time and not pronounce the judgment on the Ayodhya tangle. It is said that judges speak through their judgments, and they do not offer any explanation but here is boasting about his imaginary courage It may be noted that a three-judge bench of Allahabad High Court consisting of Justices S U Khan, Sudhir Agrawal and Daram Veer Sharma had delivered a 2:1 verdict on 30^th September 2010. Justice Agrawal now says that there was tremendous pressure on him from family members as well as from outside, not to have pronounced the judgement on the Ayodhya issue. He claims that if he had not given a verdict then, the issue could not have been resolved for two hundred years. One wonders how a retired High Court judge can make such infantile claims. It is only the minority judgment of Justice Dharam Veer Sharma that would be considered a landmark and that was what has been upheld by the Supreme Court. Otherwise, the majority judgement of Justices Khan and Agrawal was a specimen of a bad ambiguous and unimplementable verdict. Justice Khan and Agrawal’s names will go down in judicial history as judges without any clarity.

However, what is all the more condemnable is that Agrawal is not coming out with the names of external pressures that were brought upon him. Such judges try to take the credit for which they do not have any right to boast. Justice Agrawal has, in fact, made himself a butt of jokes by such an absurd claim and thereby he has brought a bad name to the judiciary, particularly to his parent High Court of Allahabad.  Such judges should be openly taken to task so as to maintain public confidence in the judiciary.

 

Female Wrestlers are Doing Injustice to the System and Eroding their Trust.

 

  Justice has to be dispassionate. It cannot be allowed to succumb to the demands of a mob or yield to agitations. The sit-in dharna of some wrestlers against the WFI chairman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for more than a month demanding his arrest and removal from his present post cannot, in all fairness, be acceded to. The complaint against Singh is that he outraged the modesty of a minor girl and sexually exploited many of the female wrestlers. It may or may not be true, but sexual exploitation of girls and that too, of any minor girl is certainly a serious matter. It is a cognisable and non-bailable offence. Nevertheless, the Police have no power to arrest the person unless something tangible is found against him in the preliminary enquiry. More so, when the allegations have been made many months after the commitment of the said crime or offence.

 The Supreme Court has accepted the petition of the wrestlers that an FIR against Brij Bhushan Singh should be lodged which must be enquired. If any truth is found in the allegations, then and then alone Singh can be arrested. But in the meantime, the demand for female wrestlers has acquired political overtones. Many busybodies have also swung into action. These agitators must understand that justice cannot be held ransom by pressure tactics. Justice has not only to be done but must also appear to have been done.

 Nobody knows -who ill-advised these wrestlers to move their agitation from Jantar Mantar to the place of the New Parliament, which was to be dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister on the 28^th of May. It was not only a national but an international event, which was seen on TV Channels by the whole world. Could Delhi Police have permitted such a spectacle to happen in the full glare of the media? Certainly not. If the Police had allowed it, then it would have placed itself in an extremely bad light. No civilised law enforcement agency could have taken that shameful risk. Thus, Delhi Police did what it ought to have done. However, the most surprising is why the wrestlers who have brought glory to the country thought of shifting the place of agitation to the new parliament building.

 The wrestlers and their advisers must now ask the police to file the chargesheet. If anything, grave is found against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the law will certainly take its own course because then it would be difficult for him to escape the dragnet. Even otherwise he is openly saying that if he is found guilty, he would himself get hanged. Although the punishment of hanging himself is not permissible, the least that can be expected from him is that he will cooperate in the investigation and not flee from the punishment.

 Therefore, the wrestlers must allow the law to take its own course and they must keep themselves away from the politicians and Khaps. It will reinforce the confidence of the countrymen among them. Their antics of throwing the medals in the Ganges have been all the more unfortunate. They must also understand that the prestige of the country is also attached to their medals, and they cannot rub the honour of the country the wrong way.  No legal system worth its name can dispense justice under the pressure of Khaps and politicians because that will seriously damage and erode the faith of the judicial system.

 

Digital Transaction is the only way to Root Out Black Money

 Digital Transaction is the only way to Root Out Black Money

The withdrawal of 2000 currency notes did not cause any ripple in the country. As a matter of fact, for nearly three years, it has not been in circulation because of it being inconvenient for people. The general public has been well aware of its imminent ban or withdrawal sooner or later. So, only those who were engaged in the hoarding of black money business would have felt the shock. That is why, when the people watch wads of 2000 currency notes concealed by the hoarders in the boxes or cupboards, they get stunned. According to reports over six lakh notes of Rs 2000 were printed by the RBI way back in 2016 and if they are not much in public circulation, it shows that most of those notes must have been hoarded as black money. This step of withdrawal would certainly bring them to the surface and thereby substantially reduce the accumulation of black money.

The second most important reason for the no effect of Rs 2000 currency notes is the extreme popularity of digital modes of payment in the last six-seven years. As of today, even very small traders, vegetable vendors, and tea or pan shop owners gladly accept payment through UPI, Payphone or Paytm. Cash transactions have become very limited. Big cash dealings are mostly done by Tax evaders. Needless to say, the human interface in money dealings is the root cause of corruption. This can be rooted out only by the extensive use of technology. Bribery will be controlled to a large extent with the help of AI.

Therefore, except for the corrupt politicians, officers and unscrupulous businesspersons, the rest of the people in the country are unaffected by the withdrawal of Rs 2000 currency notes. Thus, it will be in the fitness of cleanliness drive to remove black money that the Reserve Bank of India should discourage cash transactions and incentivise digital ones. In fact, replacements of notes and coins have been going on from time immemorial to safeguard the economy. 

It is said that the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1000 in 2016 by the Modi government had also broken the back of Pakistan‘s economy. There were many modern printing presses in Pakistan, which were thriving and churning out fake notes of Rs 500 and 1000 of Indian currency but with the demonetisation, the Pakistani economy got bust. And today it is for everyone to see that devastated Pakistan is going everywhere with the begging bowl.

Demonetisation and remonetisation have undoubtedly brought positive results for the economy, but lasting results can be expected only when the economy is transformed to be cashless and digital.

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Irrelevant controversy about the Degree of Prime Minister

Is it not amazing that a Chief Minister has got himself embroiled in the controversy over the educational qualifications of Prime Minister Narendra Modi? How does it matter if he does not possess a university degree? After all, the people of India have not elected him based on his educational qualifications. He enjoys the confidence of the people and his party for the leadership qualities that he has. The country has made giant strides in many fields due to his innovative ideas and the unique capabilities of getting them implemented at the ground level. Thousands of crores of Rs are sent every four months to lakhs of farmers in the country without an iota of corruption, which is unknown and unheard of in our country. The money goes directly to the accounts of farmers without a loss of a single penny. What is the use of a highly qualified Prime minister if he/she cannot get delivered to the targeted people without getting drowned in the cesspool of rampant corruption?
Some thirty years ago the then General Secretary of the Congress Party Shri VN Gadgil had made a ridiculous statement that Sharad Pawar could never become the Prime Minister of India because he was not proficient in the English language. His hostility towards Sharad Pawar was well known. So, journalists rushed to Sharad Pawar and talked about the opinion of Shri Gadgil, then he replied that if English was the criterion to become the Prime Minister, the Professors of English in the universities would be better than most of the politicians. But can they become Ministers or Prime Minister? The myth of English has been broken by the present Prime Minister. The country will remain indebted to him for the pride of place that he has given to Hindi. Now in the twenty-first century, it can be safely said that knowledge of Hindi is essential to become the Prime Minister of India.
However, if no less than a Chief Minister is raising the meaningless controversy about the educational qualification of the Prime Minister, then one can only laugh at his shallowness and imbecility. There are certain areas and professions where educational qualifications do not matter. For example, a good lawyer may not have good academic records but those having brilliant academic qualifications may be very dullard and unworthy of properly defending their clients. A doctor having mediocre qualifications may be a good one in comparison to a person having shined educational qualifications. The same is true, more or less, for other professions like journalism.
This is not the first time such controversies have been raked. Questions have been asked about the academic degrees of Mamata Banerji, Smriti Irani and many others but any Chief Minister has not got mired him/herself in such inanities. There was one Jitender Singh Tomar, a minister in the previous Kejriwal government, who was jailed for fake degrees, but it was not because of his politics but because he attempted to get himself enrolled as an Advocate based on his fake LL. B. degree from a university, that he never even once visited.