prasanth Booshan

The civil society  finds it very strange to observe the adamancy of the  bench of the  Supreme  Court that deals with  the contempt case on lawyer Prashanth Booshan  in punishing him despite observations of the legal  scholars, retired judges, Legal administrators, senior and eminent lawyers quoting many legal arguments in support of the view that  , he need not be punished in this case.  Two questions arise in everyone’s mind regarding this case.  They are-whether the Supreme  Court’s prestige and honour would be protected when it punishes  Prashath Booshan  by all means or  it would be enhanced  by stopping with giving Prashanth Booshan advice regarding their expectation from a senior lawyer  who was unhappy  over  some defects ( in his view ) in the justice delivery system in the recent past? Is it not a fact that in a democracy no constitutional body can behave like a monarch and should be subjected to checks and balances while using power? .

 

Boomi pooja in Ayodhya

The media has given wide coverage regarding  the Boomi Puja in Ayodhya for Ram temple and selected electronic media channels has given nonstop coverage of the event , hailing it as historic and peaceful event and insisted on the point that, no protest and “anti national “incidents took place. One should belong to the affected communality  to understand  the pain and the impotent anger, the mental stress  over the fear  of losing the  secular feature of this nation very soon .The silence over  “great justice” rendered by the Supreme  court related to the construction of a new Ram temple, “ butchering of thousands of Indians in the wake of Advani’s chariot of fire and the aftermath of razing of Babri Masjid” (Mani Shankar Iyer”)  is a silence born, resulting in  worry over the future policies and programmes  of this nation  which are likely change the social structure of India.  It is very strange to watch the efforts of the Congress Party to prove that, they are also” more Hindu” forgetting totally the Nehruvian ideologies and even afraid to declare openly that, they are for secularism since, it has become a bad word in today’s India and may cost them votes.

 

New education policy

The Introduction of four year graduate degrees with multiple entry and exit options, the abolition M.Phil degree course and the mandatory teaching of Hindi are the welcome features of the New Education Policy  formulated after  thirty four years. The recommendation on vocational courses needs  more clarity regarding the purpose of it. But what many stake holders in the education sector might object is related to the four year degree course for teachers training. The unreasonable longer period may discourage candidates who have aptitude for teaching  to opt out of  this course and divert  them to more lucrative courses . This would result in scarcity of good quality teachers . It is because teaching profession is not yet  a high paying job in India

Transforming higher education

The author of the article, “transforming higher education “ in the Hindu has suggested that, the , “the time saved i n regular classes in the institutions can be compensated   for the development t of skills ---- values “ to help the students in enriching their lives. All of  us who have spent 3-6 years in college have the memories of the  academic discussions  initiated by excellent teachers,  opportunities  thrown at us to develop  our academic and non academic  skills through lot of extracurricular  activities  . These skills developed through attending colleges have developed our personality and character and helped  in shaping  the values of our lives  through exposure to different types of experiences and regular and direct  interactions  with various types of fellow students and  teachers  .  The purpose of higher education is not to create robots to fulfill the needs  of the corporate sector.  Even they emphasis on soft skills  than on theoretical knowledge.   On line teaching can be suitable only during crises like the present situation,. It can never replace  physical classes of colleges and never will  be suitable to nation   with higher level of  income inequity and urban and rural divide . We  need mass education and development of skills through college campuses than class education through online education. This can be a additional method   and not  a substitute for regular physical learning process if we have to reap the benefits of demographic dividends. .

The lost voice of the Indian universities - article in the Hindu By mahesh Gopalan

Mahesh Gopalan in his article, “The lost voice of the Indian universities “(17. 7. 20) in The Hindu has articulated the list of all the events that had led to the disappearance of academic independence and down fall in the quality of higher education in India. The, “ bureaucratic centralisation” efforts in the higher education sector has resulted in choking and  strangulation of voices of the educationalists, teachers parents and the students in higher education affairs . The  Indian universities currently are  reduced the position of voiceless and mindless  bodies .The top down approach in academic matters and the helpless situation of university bodies has reduced them t to  serve the agenda of the central government for this sector exercised ruthlessly through bureaucrats. These damages have led to the loss of academic freedom of the universities even in matters of curriculum framing, freedom of expression of the university administrators, teachers and the students and free thinking atmosphere in the universities. The best example is the high level interference   in resent past in the affairs of an eminent university i.e., JNU. The free thinking and freedom of expression activities of their students and the teachers were criminalised and these events created an atmosphere of fear. How can Indian universities get global ranking in such atmosphere? The New education policy framework is the best example of how the voices of   stake holders in the higher sector were ignored and the non academics dominated in the decision making process related to higher education. The life blood of higher quality education and research activities is the prevalence “of fertile intellectual spaces” and not suppressing academic freedom.