New India

We have been thinking all   along that, India is a democratic nation where people are given the  right for free thinking, writing and talking without exceeding the limits  set by the laws of this nation. But now , some body with even slight political power seems to decide what we have to think, talk or write or eat  . What dresses to wear and what culture to follow   , what language to learn  , what religion we have to follow, whom should we  marry and what functions to attend and what opinion we have to give on various matters happening in this country during public speeches or in television   discussions are all decided by strangers not connected with our lives at all. There seems to be no control over their abusive language or threats used against those who differ from them . Any body is condemned as anti Indian and anti national . This  is new India and my experiences in this new India  is strange and scary

my letter published in the Hindu

Educationists  in general are not objecting to The Institute of Eminence Policy . But as the author of the article,”  Helping hand for Indian universities”, C. Rajkumar (The Hindu  has pointed out , the objections are related to the “ the procedure and   process of selecting the  IOCs . “ How does the Indian government aims to create institutes of excellence with global ranking in the higher education sector without addressing two very important requirements , viz., fund crunch and academic autonomy? So many commissions have pointed out about the low budgetary allocation to higher education in India and about too many regulatory bodies stifling academic freedom . Yet , no lesson  are  learnt . Even the low contribution of the corporate sector through CSR expenditure towards higher education has not been given due attention. Finance is the life blood for the execution of  any reform. Without paying urgent attention to the assessment of exact  financial needs of the universities to upgrade their quality and raise resources from various sources ,the IOE policy will remain only a  rhetoric . The pity is that,  even  the  New Education Policy Proposals do not seem to address these critical requirements.

local body elections in Tamil Nadu

We describe India as a vibrant and functioning democracy . In such a democracy   the local body  elections have not been conducted for more than one year in a state called Tamil Nadu. Who is managing all the programmes and problems  at panchayat, municipality, district and corporation levels? Who should the people approach for the local problems in the absence of elected representatives ? Is there any other state functioning like this in the whole of India? why do the social activists and media not highlighting this serious problem and demanding the state government to conduct local body  elections as soon as possible. Soon rainy season will start , flooding the streets and drainage problems will complicate it . People will suffer in different ways .