From Editor’s Desk
Magazine on Education Volume 1 Issue 1 November 2012
Managing Editor Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran Editor James Paul Reports P. R. Sumeran Jeena James Adv. D. B. Binu Columns v.r.krishna iyer Johan Roos Augustine Thottakara Art Jayalal V. Layout Rejo Varapuzha
Printed and published by Rajagiri Media.
Contact: Phone :+91 0484 2428249, 39. Extn : 232 Editor : 9847109337 Mail : editor@rajagirimedia.com
Paļļikkūtam: The Icon of Holistic Education The word ‘Paļļikkūtam’ evokes nostalgia. It evokes memories of childhood, the vivid memories of our own school days. In the Indian tradition Paļļikkūtam represents a unique epoch of educational praxis, a transition from ‘Gurukulam’ towards a more integral or holistic education, ‘Paļļikkūtam’. The word ‘Pallikkūtam’ has a Buddhist/Jain origin. The Buddhist/Jain monasteries were known as ‘palli’ in Tamil. The word “kūtam” means a small room of the monastery or that attached to the monastery, where the monks used to teach their students. As it was the only educational system that prevailed in the Buddhist times, the word ‘Pallikkūtam’ began to denote ‘school’ in Tamil and in the other related Dravidian languages, including Malayalam. ‘Pallikkūtam’ marks a paradigm shift in educational philosophy: from an ‘individual-centered’ (‘gurucentered’) system to a ‘community-centered’ (‘pallicentered’) system, from ‘teacher-centric’ education to ‘student-centric’ one, from ‘ritualistic’ to a ‘secular but holistic/integral education’. The practice of building schools in conjunction with Catholic Church and monasteries in Kerala could be traced back to Bl. Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805–1871), who was the Vicar General of Syro-Malabar Christians within the diocese of Varappuzha. It was a Christian version of ‘Pallikkūtam’ revolution. Bl. Chavara also deftly integrated salient features of Western education, which he learned from missionaries of the day into the ‘Pallikkūtam’ system.
CONTENTS COVER STORY
7 To my teacher V.R.Krishna Iyer V. R. Krishana Iyer sharing his childhood memories
6
37
Networking in the Age of Social Media Using social media Web sites is among the most common activity of today’s children and adolescents. In this cover story we discuss about the positive and negative impact of social media websites.
My Army Days Sajita Nair Sajita Nair, a retired officer of the Indian Army, talks about her experience in the Army.
8
Current Affairs
The diary of Malala Yousufzai 2
12
Waiter to educator: His students call him Bala sir. Prof.A. Balasubramanian, the Founder President of Balaji Management Institutes is a well known figure in the education scenario of the country.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
CONTENTS
14
AXn-Po-h\w
32
Babu Moopan and the art of leadership
34
Need for Vocationalisation of Education in India
60
Why no Indian Universities in the list of top 200 institutions globally
ZfnXv ssk≤m-¥n-I≥
sI.-Fw.-ke - nw-Ip-am¿ Xs‚ Pohn-Xm-\p-`-h-߃ ]¶p-h-bv°p∂p
42 Social Media plays an important role
Dr Johan Roos
26 52 Pallikkutam
Debashis’ Philosophy of Management
Interview with IIMK Director
Nov.2012
Kpcp-Z£ - nW Bbncw ]q¿Æ-N{μtim`-bn¬
s{]m^. Fw. sI. km\p 3
INSIGHTS What is a test good for?
According to current research in psychological science, Tests are good for: (a) Assessing what the students have learned; (b) Learning new information. While testing can be useful as an assessment tool, the actual process of taking a test can also
help us to learn and retain new information over the long term and apply it across different contexts. Such learning that can be called “Test-induced learning” is often disregarded in different types of tests.
Testing and the transfer of learning Many studies have shown that having to retrieve information during a test helps you remember that information later on. But most research on this “testing effect” has measured the ability to recall information in the form of a final test that’s similar to the initial test. Much less is known about whether the testing might also promote the application – or transfer – of learning. In this article, psychological scientist Shana Carpenter reviews recent studies that have begun to address this issue, especially as it relates to the benefits of testing on our ability to transfer information across multiple contexts, test formats, and knowledge domains. The few studies on this topic
The multiple-choice test Multiple-choice tests are often criticized since they expose test takers to the correct answer among the available options. This means that you only have to recognize the correct answer, you don’t have to rely on retrieval processes that are known to enhance later recall. Psychological scientist Jeri Little and her colleagues investigated whether multiple-choice tests could actually be designed to call upon these retrieval processes. If the alternative answers are all plausible enough, they hypothesized, test takers would have to retrieve information about why correct alternatives are
4
correct and also about why incorrect alternatives are incorrect in order to be able to distinguish between the two. Thus properly constructed multiplechoice tests can, in fact, trigger productive retrieval processes. They also found that multiplechoice tests had one potentially important advantage over tests in which only the question is presented. Both kinds of tests helped test takers remember the information they been tested on, but only the multiple-choice tests helped them recall information related to incorrect alternatives.
have, so far, reported robust benefits of testing on the transfer of learning. Carpenter highlights the need for research that explores the potential of tests to promote not just the direct retention of information, but also the application of knowledge to new situations.
Cross-language information Researchers know that repeated testing leads to better long-term memory for information than does repeated study, but they’re unsure of why this is the case. Psychological scientist Peter Verkoeijen and his colleagues hypothesized that studying may strengthen the aspects of a memory trace that pertain to the
way words look and sound, while testing may strengthen the aspects of a memory trace that have to do with the meaning of words. The researchers had Dutch-English bilingual participants learn several lists of words in Dutch. In some instances they were tested after an initial study period (test condition), and in others they were told to study the list again (restudy condition). The main finding shows that participants in the test condition were better at recognizing the words they had been told to learn when they took the final test in English (acrosslanguage) but not when they took the final test in Dutch (withinlanguage). These results suggests that using a test as a method of learning – strengthening the meaning of words – was useful for the participants when they weren’t able to rely on the visual or phonological familiarity of words because the words were presented in different languages.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
INSIGHTS Twitter Improves Learning Twitter, best known as the 140character social-networking site where Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga chit-chat with fans, has become a new literary format that is improving student learning, a new study argues. Christine Greenhow, assistant
Active retrieval promotes meaningful learning When researchers think about the retrieval of information from memory, they often focus on retrieval as a way to figure out what people have already learned. But psychological scientist Jeffrey
Methods of making selfdirected learning effective Educators today advocate to focus more and more on the importance of lab-based experimentation, hands-on participation, student-led inquiry for enhancing student learning. While the benefits of self-directed learning are widely acknowledged, the reasons why a sense of control leads to better acquisition of material are poorly understood. Some researchers have highlighted the motivational component of self-directed learning, arguing that this kind of learning is effective because it makes students more willing and more motivated to learn. But few researchers have examined how self-directed learning might influence cognitive processes, such as those involved in attention and memory.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
Karpicke argues that retrieval processes play a central role in the active process of learning as it happens. Karpicke outlines the retrieval-based learning perspective and discusses the role
of retrieval in learning, the means by which it can enhance learning over the long-term, and the ways in which it can help to promote meaningful learning.
professor of education at Michigan State University, found modes of communication such as that college students who tweet as part of their instruction are face-to-face and phone more engaged with the course communication to talk about content and with the teacher and behavioral, social, and health related issues to more accurately other students, and have higher grades. interpret the content of the Greenhow analyzed existing messages as well as each research and found that Twitter’s other’s reactions, convenience was often an overriding factor in real-time design allowed students and instructors to engage in which mode parents selected to sharing, collaboration, communicate with teachers. brainstorming and creation of a These findings give clue how to project. Other student benefits advise and train teachers to included learning to write communicate more effectively concisely, conducting up-to-date with parents. New research and even communicating communication technologies such directly with authors and as iPhones and iPads increase researchers. the likelihood that parent-teacher communication will continue to expand. Therefore, it is important for teachers and parents alike to consider the importance of communication in fostering relationships and, most importantly, in enhancing student success and learning.
Parent-teacher communication Parent-teacher communication represents a primary form of parental support or involvement. Mazer and Blair Thompson of Western Kentucky University have recently investigated into parent-teacher communication and found that parent-teacher communication centers around five different topic areas: academic performance, classroom behavior, child’s academic and social preparation for school, hostile communication between peers, and health related issues. The findings suggest that parents most frequently communicate with teachers about their child’s academic performance. They also found that parents most frequently chose e-mail to communicate with teachers across all five topic areas. communication that may be accomplished more effectively via face-to-face communication. While parents used richer
5
PERSONALITY
My army days Sajita Nair
F
or me, being in the army as one of the first few women officers was an immensely fulfilling experience. Some of the most memorable moments of my life are from my days in the army, when I served at remote locations, travelled extensively and met new people. There was work, fun and adventure in equal measure. Lessons I learnt during my army tenure hold me in good stead even today. During my tenure, I gained insight into every aspect of life in the army, starting with the tough military training, handling weapons and machineries, interaction with troops, commanding convoys and living in tents in remote field locations. I was always encouraged to be determined, strong and consistent with efforts, irrespective of all the hurdles that come in the way. I also learnt here that changing the mental make-up from ‘Can I?’ to ‘I Can!’ brings about positive results. These insights and experiences inspired me to write a novel! ‘She’s a Jolly Good Fellow’, my debut novel follows the life of two strong women army officers who choose a different path and march right through adversities, learning their lessons the hard way. Although the plot is entirely fictional, the situations that the protagonists face, descriptions of places and many of the experiences they go through are based on reality. Many who read the book commented that it left them feeling motivated and raring to go.
Sajita Nair is a retired officer of the Indian Army, one of the first few women to achieve this goal. Her work ‘She’s a Jolly Good Fellow’, talks about her experience in the Army.
6
If you love to work in an extremely professional setup, travel, handle multifarious appointments, meet interesting people, seek new challenges and adventure, you will definitely enjoy being in the armed forces. The army has openings for capable and competent personnel in all its branches. Based on one’s age and qualification one can join the Infantry, Artillery, Signals, Engineering, Ordnance, Supply, Education, Medical or Nursing corps among others. As doctors, engineers, weapons specialists, logistical managers and lawyers, you become professionals in uniform. The new economy has opened up many career opportunities, but a career in the armed forces is still one of the most preferred. India has one of the largest defence forces in the world. To ensure that this organization remains youthful and dynamic, it is imperative that ‘you’, the youth of India contribute to it.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
MEMOIRS
To my teacher V.R.KRISHNA IYER
T
he Professor who impressed me the most, while I was a law student was Prof. Venkitasubramania Iyer taught us constitutional law. It was so impressive and eloquent that student from neighbouring classes would steal away from their classes to hear Venkitasubramania Iyer. My father was a successful lawyer. His cross-examination would bring out the truth from the cleverest witnesses. Fowler’s English usage could not fault a single word in him. He was a master of correct English.
the money measure. The culture of our professions have alienated the Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi. When all is said and done, my English has been affected by my linguistic college days. About my judgments, Mr. Michael Kirby, Judge of the High Court of Australia remarked ‘Krishna Iyer did not write judgments, he wrote poetry.’
Prof. P.A. Subramania Iyer was our best English teacher. English usage found him at his best. He was faultless in idiom while the ordinary English teachers made common mistakes which Prof. P.A.S. Iyer would point out. Principal Krishna Menon of the Madras Law College was dignified and perfect, in his style and diction to listen to him was a delight. His prose was excellent and his speech was in chaste English. This was my impression about the two year course in Law College. My father was a successful lawyer. His cross-examination would bring out the truth from the cleverest witnesses. Fowler’s English usage could not fault a single word in him. He was a master of correct English. Prof. Renganathan impressed me most for his accent and perfect style. No accomplished English man could excel him. He was great in his pronunciation beautiful in his delivery and a wonder in his eloquence and can’t find a parallel except perhaps Rt. Hon. Srinivasa Sastry whom I have heard a few times with attention. This is English at its best. It is true that in our commercial age education and other college studies have suffered the syndrome of commercialisation. The industrial civilizations have dominated the soul of the professions. Money profits are the measure of success. The spiritual values of the noblest professions have suffered
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
7
Hopes, fears and the diary of
Malala Yousufzai Saturday 3 January 2009:
Malala is the teenager shot in the head by Taliban gunmen, because they believe she “promoted secularism”. These are her words from the diary, that they didn’t want the world to read.
I am afraid I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taliban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school. I was afraid of going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools. Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of the Taliban’s edict. My three friends
8
have shifted to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi with their families after this edict. On my way from school to home I heard a man saying “I will kill you”. I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me. But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
CURRENT AFFAIRS Sunday 4 January:
I have to go to school Today is a holiday and I woke up late, around 10 am. I heard my father talking about another three bodies lying at Green Chowk (crossing). I felt bad on hearing this news. Before the launch of the military operation we all used to go to Marghazar, Fiza Ghat and Kanju for picnics on Sundays. But now the situation is such that we have not been out on a picnic for over a year and a half. We also used to go for a walk after dinner but now we are home before sunset. Today I did household chores, my homework and played with my brother. But my heart was beating fast – as I have to go to school tomorrow.
I was afraid of going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools. On my way from school to home I heard a man saying ‘I will kill you’. to myself: “Why do these blasts keep happening in Pakistan?” Wednesday 14 January:
I may not go to school again
Do not wear colourful dresses
I was in a bad mood while going to school because winter vacations are starting from tomorrow. The principal announced the vacations but did not mention the date the school was to reopen. This was the first time this has happened.
I was getting ready for school and about to wear my uniform when I remembered that our principal had told us not to wear uniforms – and come to school wearing normal clothes instead. So I decided to wear my favourite pink dress. Other girls in school were also wearing colourful dresses and the school presented a homely look. My friend came to me and said: “For God’s sake, answer me honestly, is our school going to be attacked by the Taliban?” During the morning assembly we were told not to wear colourful clothes as the Taliban would object to it.
In the past the reopening date was always announced clearly. The principal did not inform us about the reason behind not announcing the school reopening, but my guess was that the Taliban had announced a ban on girls’ education from 15 January. This time round, the girls were not too excited about vacations because they knew if the Taliban implemented their edict they would not be able to come to school again. Some girls were optimistic that the schools would reopen in February but others said that their parents had decided to shift from Swat and go to other cities for the sake of their education.
I came back from school and had tuition sessions after lunch. In the evening I switched on the TV and heard that curfew had been lifted from Shakardra after 15 days. I was happy to hear that because our English teacher lived in the area and she might be coming to school now.
Since today was the last day of our school, we decided to play in the playground a bit longer. I am of the view that the school will one day reopen, but while leaving I looked at the building as if I would not come here again.
Monday 5 January:
Friday 9 January:
The Maulana goes on leave?
This diary was published on the BBC News website in 2009. Malala wrote the diary under her pen name Gul Makai.
Today at school I told my friends about my trip to Bunair. They said that they were sick and tired of hearing the Bunair story. We discussed the rumours about the death of Maulana Shah Dauran, who used to give speeches on FM radio. He was the one who announced the ban on girls attending school. Some girls said that he was dead but others disagreed. The rumours of his death are circulating because he did not deliver a speech the night before on FM radio. One girl said that he had gone on leave. Since there was no tuition on Friday, I played the whole afternoon. I switched on the TV in the evening and heard about the blasts in Lahore. I said
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
9
FOCUS
Fairy tale of a college drop out
The Journey
Sandeep, a college dropout, started as a freelance photographer and faced countless adversities to become one of the most well known entrepreneurs of India. 2000 - Started as a freelance photographer without any studio (used to take studio on rent). 2001 - Sold his camera and joined Japan Life, a multi level marketing company. 2002 - Started a company in partnership with three more people but the company closed within a period of six months. 2003 - Wrote a book on marketing and started a consultancy firm. Failed again and got back to what he was really passionate about - photography. Created a World Record in fashion photography (Published in the “Limca Book of Records 2004”). 2004 - Created a small studio set-up at home and started expanding the portfolio making business by hiring few assistant photographers. 2005 - Conceived the idea to start a stock photography website and started working on ImagesBazaar. 2006 - Launched www.imagesbazaar.com with just 8,000 images shot by a few photographers.
10
B
ill gates, co-founder of Microsoft was a drop out of the much coveted Harvard University, Steve Jobs cofounder and chairman of legendary firm Apple Inc. was dropout of Reed College, Portland, Mark Zuckerberg founder of Facebook is a dropout of Harvard…the list goes on with many successful-internationaldropout- entrepreneurs. Meet Sandeep Maheshwari, founder of Images Bazaar, world’s largest image bank, is also a dropout . The professional life of Sandeep Maheshwari set off in the year 2000 with a camera click. He debuted as a freelance photographer for a daily wage of rupees 500 for portfolios. In 2001, he sold his camera and joined Japan Life, a multi level marketing company. By 2002, he thought of starting a business of his own and started a company in partnership with three more people but the company closed within six months. That was the first setback faced in his professional
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
FOCUS career. Entering the world of letters, in 2003, he wrote a book on marketing and started a consultancy firm, but failed again and got back to photography that he was really passionate about. This is Sandeep Maheshwari, a college drop out. But that is an old story. Now Sandeep Maheshwari is a renowned inspirational speaker, author, entrepreneur, a world record holder, and recipient of numerous awards and accolades. He is the founder & CEO of ImagesBazaar, the world’s largest collection of Indian images. “I am a college dropout from a middle class background, and I am a success, No matter whether you are a student, businessman, housewife or an employee, you can also succeed just like I did,” says Sandeep. At 31 years, Sandeep Maheshwari has tasted both failure and success. On his journey to success, he has inspired countless people from all walks of life in discovering their true potential through his free LifeChanging Seminars. And he doesn’t even charge a single rupee for this. He strongly believes that, “If you have more than you need, simply share it with those who need it the most.” “Money doesn’t prompt me to start a business of my own. Being a dropout, I was working as a freelance photographer at the beginning of my career, where I made money by doing portfolio shoots of aspiring models. Steve Jobs was my inspiration at the each step of my entrepreneurship,” says Sandeep. Not surprisingly, India’s leading business weekly, Businessworld, recently adjudged Sandeep as one of India’s Most Promising Entrepreneurs. On the surface, Sandeep Maheshwari might appear plain lucky to have started the right business at the right time. Before the success of Mash Audio Visuals Pvt. Ltd. (of which ImagesBazaar and ShotIndia are a part), he had tried his hand at six businesses, but in vain. At the age of 21, he had authored a book on marketing. But when no publisher was ready to take it on, he published it himself. Out of the first print run of 1,000 copies, barely a hundred
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
Awards and Accolades Sandeep was adjudged as one of the “India’s Most Promising Entrepreneurs” by the “Business World” magazine in March, 2009. He has been featured in almost all the leading magazines, newspapers and television channels such as The Economic Times, India Today, CNBC-TV18, IBN7, ET Now, NewsX and more. He is the recipient of the following prestigious awards: “Star Youth Achiever Award” instituted by the Global Youth Marketing Forum. “Young Creative Entrepreneur” Award by the British Council, a division of the British High Commission. “Pioneer of Tomorrow” Award by the “ET Now” television channel.
were sold. The book might have failed but look carefully and you will see that’s a very special book. Unlike most books, the pages need to be turned left to right rather than right to left. If you are wondering why, you just need to read the first page that asks, “If you can’t even change the way you read, how can you change the way you think?” Sandeep’s attempts at creating something unique did not end there. At 23, he created a world record in photography by taking more than 10,0000 shots of 122 models in just 10 hours and 45 minutes. As a photographer, Sandeep would regularly get queries from advertising agencies who wanted to use his pictures for their campaigns rather than shooting fresh images. That’s when he thought of creating a website with a stock of pictures that he had already shot. Some research on the internet revealed that ‘Stock Photography’ was a well-established industry worldwide. However, he discovered that there was no stock photography agency providing creative images with Indian faces. This helped him firm his plans and work started in earnest in March 2005, and the website www.imagesbazaar.com was launched in February 2006. With over 700,000 images, ImagesBazaar.com today has the world’s largest stock of Indian images where one can search, purchase and download as per need. The website has proved to be a great hit
with small, medium and large businesses by providing them ready-to-use high-quality images for advertising, marketing and publishing. In short, it slashes down the cost on producing a shoot from lakhs of rupees to a few thousands and the time from weeks to a few minutes. At present, over 6,000 customers in more than 42 countries are using images from ImagesBazaar.com and ShotIndia.com An online image bank with just seven years of experience, Images Bazaar is performing much more than that of its experience. It presents a highly professional team of photographers, models, make-up artists, stylists, art directors, creative researchers, production managers, assistants, spot boys, location co-ordinator, shoot coordinator, model co-ordinator, graphic designers, keywording team, etc. “Our vision and mission statement is, “we are proud to generate an image of India like never before. Within next few years, we will be behind every kind of visual communication about India anywhere on this planet, through our images, videos, animations, illustrations and 3D imagery” says Sandeep . With diverse experience as an entrepreneur, Sandeep is now also an inspirational speaker, who pens his thoughts as fluently as he speak about them. As an author, his second book, “Small is the new big”, a bestseller that has sold over 22,000 copies has helped many to learn invaluable lessons of life from their own childhood.
11
Waiter to educator: ‘hard work’ is Bala’s management mantra Jeena James
H
e started his career as a waiter in a hotel. Now, with a triple post graduation, he is known as an educationist and a writer of many management books and is the Founder President of Balaji Management Institutes, one the premier management institutes in India.
His students call him Bala sir. It was a humble beginning , there was a time when he struggled for his daily bread. He walked through a period of darkness and pain in his childhood. He ran away from his home to continue his studies. There was not even a ray of hope. But now Prof.A. Balasubramanian, the Founder President of Balaji Management Institutes is a well known figure in the education scenario of the country.
Prof.A. Balasubramanian, popularly known as Prof.Bala, had a dream even when he was struggling for survival in the early years of his life and had the stamina to work hard to reach his goal. Those were the only attributes which took him to these heights. He recollected his agonizing past in the comfort of his luxurious office on the campus of Balaji Institute of Modern Management (BIMM, Pune): “I was a bright student. I studied at a school in my neighbouring
12
village till VII standard. My father didn’t allow me to continue my education. He said the school was far away in the next town. Higher education costs were also very high at that time, compared to our income. He wanted me to concentrate on agriculture instead of studies”, Bala recalls. He had no other choice, but to run away from home to continue his studies. Young Bala took refuge in an orphanage and continued his studies till he completed his 10th Standard. “But I failed in my 10th Standard. At that time Indian Army was on a massive recruitment drive after the 1962 war against China. I made a casual visit to such a camp and they recruited me as a subedar and sent me to Nashik. I worked there as an orderly to a senior officer. The only difference between him and me was that he was a `matric pass’ while I was `matric failed’. I decided to continue my studies. I subsequently passed my SSLC exam and went on to secure a master’s degree in arts,” he said. Bala was then transferred to Southern Command Headquarters in Pune.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
EDUPRENEUR Edupreneur Management institutes in Pune worked in the afternoon. So he decided to join PGDM course in IMDR. He came out with flying colours. Subsequently he joined Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) where he got his Master’s degree in personnel management with distinction. After opting for voluntary retirement from the Army in 1991, Bala was introduced to the founder director of Symbiosis Society, Dr. S. B. Mujumdar. “I was introduced to him by Dr. George Judah, the then director of SIBM. George was the pillar of SIBM. His contribution to SIBM in its foremost years is proverbial. I will always remember him for it was he who gave a turning point in my life by asking me to join SIBM. Based on his recommendations and my credentials, I was appointed as the Head of Department of HR in SIBM. Not only did Dr. Mujumdar give me a job, he also solved my housing problem by making me the rector of the Symbiosis hostel,” reveals Prof. Bala, acknowledging the efforts of two of his closest friends and fellow teachers. “The entire credit for what I am today in management education shall go to the greatest educationist of Maharashtra, Dr. S.B. Mujumdar. I had the privilege of honouring him later with an award of ‘Educationist of the Decade’ which was given by Balasaheb Thackeray.” By this time, however, the idea of a management institute exclusively for defence personnel and their families had already begun to take root: an indigenous idea, which received the full support of Dr Mujumdar, but faced serious opposition from the army brass who scorned at the idea. Says Prof Bala: “Some sneered at the idea saying that a retired subedar was being given too much importance, but my guru stuck by me. Thus the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS) was born and I was appointed as its director.” It was while SIMS was going from strength to strength that Prof Bala was confronted with perhaps the darkest chapter
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
of his illustrious life — a phase that cost him his job as director of SIMS. Devastated at the sudden turn of events, Prof Bala would have retired but for his
friends from the industry who advised him to start something of his own. Recalls Prof. Bala: “Unable to reach a decision on my own, I went to Tirupati and put five sealed chits in front of the Lord. Four of them had ‘no’ while one contained ‘yes’. I told the Lord that he would have to help me choose a path. I then picked up one of the chits. It was the one with ‘yes’ written on it.” It was a decision that was to change the course of his life forever. On return to Pune, an emboldened Prof Bala released an advertisement in the papers. “It was a simple advertisement that invited applications for Prof Bala’s distance learning programme of management.” The advertisement attracted approximately 300 applicants from the Armed Forces. Encouraged by this overwhelming show of support, Prof Bala launched a family trust — Sri Balaji Society— and opened his first management institute — Balaji Institute of
Modern Management (BIMM). This was followed in quick succession by Balaji Institute of International Business (BIIB), Balaji Law College (BLC) and the Balaji
College of Arts, Commerce and Science (BCACS). Many more colleges are on the cards. Continues Prof Bala: “I am grateful to the industry and proud that my BIMM students have received excellent placements. Many of them have also got international postings and my alumni are there everywhere. For this I am grateful to my friends in the industry and the corporate stalwarts who repeatedly take time out from their hectic schedules to come and lecture to my students.” Prof Bala’s wife Tilagwathi, stood by him through the worst phase of his life. Today his elder son, Prof B Parandhaman is the Principal Director of Sri Balaji Society and his younger son, Prof B Paramanandhan, is the finance director of Sri Balaji Society.
13
AXn-Po-h\w ZfnXv ssk≤m-¥n-I≥
sI.-Fw.-ke - nw-Ip-am¿ Xs‚ Pohn-Xm-\p-`h - ß - ƒ ]¶p-hb - v°p∂p
]n. B¿. kpta-c≥
AXn-Po-h\w
shfn®wI≠-hs‚
kl-\k - a - c - ß - ƒ ]pg-Ifpw BIm-ihpw hnev]\bv°v hbv°s - ∏-Sp∂ temIØv aÆns‚ Ah-Im-in-Isf Xß-fpsS Ccn-∏n-Sß - f - n¬\n∂v ]pd-Øm-°p-IbmWv. Nhn-´n-\n¬°p-∂Xv A—s‚ Aÿn-Ød - b - n-em-sW∂v IÆo-scm-gp°p∂ BZn-hm-kn-Iƒ \ΩpsS sI´pIm-gvNb - mbn amdp∂ Bkp-ca - msbmcp ImeØv kenw-Ip-am¿ Xs‚ AXn-Po-h\ - Ø - ns‚ hyY-Iƒ ]¶p-hb - v°p-∂p.
Øn\pw ]ndhn \evIn-bXv A£-cß-fm-Wv.-am-dnb a\pjy_‘ßfpw AhbpsS cq]m-¥c - ß - f - psa√mw A£-c-ßfn-ep-≠v.-A-Xns\mcp adp-h-i-ap≠v.A - £ - c - ß - f - n-√mØ-h-cpsS temIw.A-[o-i-Xz-ß-fpsS temIØv A£cw A[n-Im-ca - m-Wv.Cu A[n-Im-csØ sh√p-hn-fn-°m-\pff Bbp-[hpw A£cw Xs∂.-F∂m-eXv t\SpI
ImSpw ae-Ifpw Fs‚ hwi-kvar-Xn-I-fmWv.-ss{S-_¬ kv°qfp-I-fnse {]mY-anI hnZym-`ym-k-Øn-\p-tijw ae-I-fn-dßn \m´n≥]p-dsØ s]mXp-hn-Zym-eb - ß - f - n-seØp-tºmƒ a\p-jy-_-‘-ß-fpsS amd-d߃°v km£n-bmbn tKm{X-t`-Z-߃ am{Xw I≠-dn™ Rm≥ PmXn-aXt`Zßfpw kmº-Øn-I-t`-Z-ßfpw kv{Xo]p-cpj-t`-Z-ß-fp-sa√mw I≠-dn-™p.-A-£-cØns‚ temIsØ km≤y-X-Iƒ a\-
Ffp-∏-a-√.
A
¿l-X-bp-f-f-h-cpsS AXn-Poh-\Ø - ns‚ temIØv A¿l-Xb - n-√m-Øh - c - psS {]iv\ß - f - p-≠v.k - z-ImcykzØn\pw Poh\pw kwc-£Ww \evIp-∂-h-cpsS temIØv kzØn-√m-Øh - c - psS Pohs‚ {]iv\h - pw. Iymad IÆp-I-fn¬ ]Xn™ \·bmb Pc-h-bp-h-Xn-bpsS Nn{Xw am[y-a-ßfn-¬ I≠-t∏mƒ AΩ-bpsS apØ-—-s\bmWv Hm¿Ω h∂-Xv.-Fs‚ _meyw I≠ Gd-dhpw apXn¿∂ a\p-jy≥.-A-t±-lhpw \·-\m-bn-cp-∂p.-\· - a - mb a\p-jy-hÿ bpsS t\¿Im-gvN.-Hcp hwi-kvar-Xn-bpsS Hm¿Ω. ]pXnb Ime-Øn\pw ]pXnb temI-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
H∏w ]Tn-°m-\n-cp-∂-h-cn-te-sdbpw, F-s∂°mƒ apXn¿∂-hcpw Xmsg-bp-f-fhcpw c≠pw aq∂pw h¿j-߃°n-Sbn¬ ]T\w \n¿Øn aS-ßn-t∏mIp-∂-Xp-I-≠p.-h-g-ßmØ A£c-ß-fp-sSbpw `mj-bp-sSbpw temIsØ Zpc-¥a - m-bn-cp∂p AXv.-Fs‚ _mey-Øn\pw AsXmcp {]Xn-k-‘n-bm-bncp-∂p.-\n-c£ - c - ¿°n-Sb - n¬ A£cw sImXn-®-h¿ Fs‚ Pb-ß-fn¬ Nncn°p-∂Xpw ]cm-Pb - ß - fn¬ aqI-cm-Ip-∂Xpw I≠n-´p-≠v.-A-h¿°v IgnbmsX t]mbXv Fs∂tb-ev]n®v ]n∑m-dn-b-h-sct∏m-se.
15
AXn-Po-h\w
IpSpw-_-tØm-sSmØv
ns\ kzm[o-\n®p.h-g-ßm-Ø-Xns\ Iogvs∏-Sp-Øp-hm-\p-ff {iawXpS-ßn.I≠pw tI´pw A\p-`-hn®pw am{Xw Adnbp-∂-h-cpsS temI-Øp-\n∂v Fgp-Ø-dnhp-I-fpsS temIØv {]th-in-°p-hm≥ Ign™ ku`mKyw A\p-`-hn-®p.-F-∂m¬ ]pXnb _‘-߃°pw kulm¿Z߃°p-an-S-bn¬ ]nd∂ hwiØn¬\n∂v Hmky-Ømbn e`n® t]cpt]mepw ]cn-l-kn-°-s∏-Sp-∂XpI≠p. CXn-s\-Xn-sc-bp-ff a\- ns‚ DXvI-WvTIƒ kwi-b-߃°pw tNmZy-߃°p-a∏pdw \ntj-[m-fl-I-am-sbmcp Nn¥-bmbn cq]m-¥c - s - ∏-´p.-AXv ssZh-sØ-t]mepw \ntj-[n-®p.-hn-{K-l-h-XvI-cn-°-s∏´ ssZham-bn-cp-∂n√ F∂n-te°p ]I¿∂ tKm{Xhn-izm-k-sa-¶nepw ssZhw Hcp k¶-ev]ambn Ahn-sSbpw D≠m-bn-cp-∂p.-kz¿K-
16
Iymad°Æp-If - n¬ ]Xn™ \·-bmb Pc-hb - p-hX - n-bpsS Nn{Xw am[y-aß - f - n-eqsS I≠t∏mƒ AΩ-bpsS apØ-—s - \bmWv Hm¿Ωh∂-X.v F - s‚ _mey-w I≠ Gd-dhpw apXn¿∂ a\p-jy≥.-At- ±-lhpw \·-\m-bn-cp-∂p.-
sØbpw sh√p-hn-fn-°p∂ Hcp hy‡nkz-Xz-ambn AXv cq]m-¥-c-s∏-´p. 1967˛68 Ime-Øv Fd-Wm-Ipfw alm-cmPmkv tImsf-Pn¬ D∂X hnZym-`ym-k-Øns\-Ønb Rm≥ ISpØ F∂ tKm{X-
\maw Dt]-£n®v kenw-Ip-am-dm-bn.-ImSpw \mSpw \K-ch - p-ambn cq]m-¥c - s - ∏-Sp∂ a\p-jym-h-ÿ-bpsS {]—-∂X Cu t]cpam-d-d-Øn-ep-≠m-bn-cp-∂p.-Xn-cn-®-dn-bptºmƒ ]cn-l-kn-°-s∏-SmØ a\p-jy-_‘-߃tXSn-bp-ff Hcp bm{X-bpsS Hcp°w.-im-kv{X-hn-j-b-ß-fm-bn-cp∂p ]T-\Øn\v e`n-®-Xv.-tUm-IvS-dm-I-W-sa∂ taml-ap-≠m-bn.-F-∂m¬ XXz-im-kv{Xhpw cmjv{So-b-hp-sa√mw kzbw Is≠-Ønb ]mTy-hn-j-b-ß-fm-bn.-Xpey]cn-K-W\ e`n°msX Ah-K-W-\-Iƒ°pw Hgn-hm-°-epIƒ°p-an-S-bn-eqsS Bcmepw {i≤n-°-s∏SmsX IS-∂p-t]mb ]T-\-Imew £p`n-Xam-sbmcp buh-\-Øn-te°v \bn-®p.-Fs∂-°mƒ Zcn-{Z-cmb kl-]m-Tn-I-tfmSp Iq´p-Iq-Sn-bpw Df-fXp ]¶n´pw AXv ian∏n-°p-hm≥ {ian-®p-sh-¶nepw ^e-ap-≠m-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
AXn-Po-h\w
bn-√.-k-l-]m-Tn-I-fmb an{X-ß-fp-sS thcpIƒtXSn-bp-ff bm{X Zp:Jkm-{μhpw Ak-aXz PUn-e-hp-amb Pohn-X-bmYm¿∞y-ß-fn-te-°mWv FØn-®-Xv.-F¥n\p Pohn-°-W-sa∂pw B¿°p-th≠n Pohn-°-W-sa-∂p-ap-ff tNmZy-ßfmbn AXv amdn. \K-c-Øns‚ kº-∂-Xbv°pw ku`mKy-߃°pw B¿`m-S-߃°p-an-S-bn¬ a\ v Zcn-{Z¿°n-S-bn-em-bn-cp-∂p.-Fs‚ c‡-_-‘p-°-fpsS apJ-ß-fmWv Rm≥ Ah-cn¬ I≠-Xv.-\n-cm-{i-b-cmbn sXcp-hne-e-bp∂ Ip™p-ßfpw kv{XoIfpw hr≤≥amcpw tcmKn-I-fp-sa√mw a\- ns\ Zp:JmIp-e-am-°n.-cm-jv{So-b-Ønepw A[nIm-c-Øn-ep-amWv Ah-bpsS ]cn-lmcw Is≠-Øn-b-Xv.-\n-c-£-c¿°n-S-bn¬ \n∂v A£-c-Øns‚ Hu∂-≤y-Øn-te-°p]-d™-b® amXm-]n-Xm-°-fpsS {]Xo-£-Iƒ XI¿Øv hnZym-`ym-k-tØm-Spw AXp-h-gnI≠ hy‡n-t\-´ß - t- fm-Spw hnS-]d - ™ p.-\Ivk¬_mcn-bnse kmbp[I¿jIka-cØns‚ ]n∂mse hk-¥-Øns‚ CSn-apg°w tI´p-W¿∂ C¥y≥ bph-XzØns‚ `mK-am-bn.-am¿Ivkn-b≥ hnπ-h-Nn¥bpw hntam-N-\-kz-]v\-ßfpw kmbp[t]mcm-´h - p-sa√mw s\©n-te-ddn \S-s∂mcp Ime-am-bn-cp∂p ]n∂oSv D≠mb-Xv.-ap-sºßpw A\p-`-hn-®n-´n-√mØ am\p-jn-I` - m-hß - ƒ a\p-jy¿°n-Sb - n-eps≠∂v Xncn-®-dn-™-Im-ew.-kwLw tNcp∂-h-sc√mw kJm-°-fm-bn-cp-∂p.-Xym-K-k∂-≤X - b - p-ff - h - c - m-bn-cp-∂p.-]c - kv]ckvt\lhpw hnizm-khpw BZ-chpw ImWn-°p∂-h¿.-k-Xy-k-‘-Xbpw {]Xn-_-≤-X-bpap-f-f-h¿. 70 Ifn¬ Rm≥ I≠ tIcfob buh-\-Øns‚ Hcp ]cn-t—-Z-am-bncp∂p CXv. 1975 ˛ ¬ C‘n-cm-Km-‘nbpsS `c-WIm-eØv ASn-b-¥cm-hÿ {]Jym-]n-°-s∏-Sp-Ibpw cmPyw tk—m-[n]-Xz-Øn-te°v hyXn-N-en-°p-Ibpw sNbvX-t∏mƒ AXn-s\-Xntc Db¿∂p-h∂ sNdp-Øp-\n-ev]ns‚ `mK-ambn Pbn-en-e-S°-s∏-´h - c - n¬ Rm\p-ap-≠m-bn-cp-∂p.-t]meokv Iymºn¬ c≠p-am-k-tØmfw \o≠p-\n∂ sImSnb a¿Z-\-ßfpw 15 amksØ Pbn¬hmkhpw.hm-b\ioe-ambn-cp-∂-Xp-sIm≠v Pbn¬hmkw ]T-\-Ime-am-bn.-P-bn¬hn-ap-‡-\m-b-t∏mƒ Iayq-
Wn-kvddv hnπ-hm-i-b-߃ {]N-cn-∏n-°p∂-Xn-\mbn Fd-Wm-Ip-f-Øp-\n∂v c‡-]XmI F∂ {]kn-≤o-IcWw XpS-ßn. hnhmlw asddmcpPohnXwIqSn km≤y-am°n.{]-W-b-am-bn--cp∂p AXns‚ `mhw.-F-∂m¬ AXn\v Xøm-dmbn apt∂m´v h∂-bmƒ sImSp-t°≠nh∂ hne Pohn-X-tØmfwXs∂ hep-Xm-bn-cp∂p.-am-Xm-]n-Xm-°fpw ktlm-Z-c-ß-fpsa√mw \jvSs - ∏-´p.-Ip-Spw-_Ø - n¬\n∂v _ln-jvIr-X-bm-bn.-Po-hn-Xm¥yw hsc \o≠p-\n∂ Zpc-h-ÿ.-]-T-\-ap-t]-£n-®,k¿°m¿ DtZymKw ths≠∂ph® ,P-
bn¬hm-k-a-\p-`-hn®,\-Ivk-sse-d-dmb ˛ Imc-Wß - ƒ ]e-Xp-ap-≠m-bn-cp-∂p.-F∂m¬ PmXn-bm-bn-cp∂p apJy-Im-c-Ww.-Iogm-f¿°n-S-bnse PmXn-hy-h-ÿ-bp-sS lnwkm-Xv-a-IX Xncn-®-dn™ Xo{hm-\p-`hw. `qan F∂pw Bfl-_-e-am-bncp∂p;XncntIsN√m-\p-ff Pohn-X-Ønse XpSn∏v.Hcp Xcn-a-Æn\pw Ah-Im-i-an-√msØmcp kaq-l-Øn¬\n∂v Ft∂msSm∏w PohnXw]¶n-Sm≥ \n›-bn-®-bmƒ kz¥waÆn¬ A`n-am-\n-°p-∂Xpw hyXykvX-am-sbmcp PohnXw Bkz-Zn-°p-
`qan F∂pw Bfl-_e - a - m-bn-cp∂p;XncntIsN√m-\p-ff Pohn-XØnse XpSn∏v.HcpXcn-aÆ - n\pw Ah-Im-ia - n-√m-sØmcp kaq-lØn¬\n∂v Ft∂m-sSm∏w PohnXw]¶n-Sm≥ \n›-bn-®b - mƒ kz ¥waÆn¬ A`n-am-\n-°p-∂Xpw hyXy-kvXa - m-sbmcp PohnXw Bkz-Zn-°p-∂Xpw I≠p.-{]-Wbwt]mseXs∂ Dujvaf - a - m-bn-cp∂p F\n°v aÆnse A≤zm-\w.-
aI-tfm-sSmØv
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
17
AXn-Po-h\w
∂Xpw I≠p.-{]-Wbwt]mse Xs∂ Dujva-f-am-bn-cp∂p F\n°v aÆnse A≤zm-\w.-A-bmƒ Iq´n-cp∂p;klm-bn-®p.Hcp ta¬t\m-´° - m-cn-sb-t]mse.Fs‚ kmaqlnIPohn-X-Øn¬ Icp-Øp-dd t{]c-Wb - m-bn. Xn‡-amb \nc-h[n Pnhn-X-°m-gvNIƒ°n-S-bn-eq-sS-bm-bn-cp∂p k©m-c-sa¶nepw PmXn-{]iv\w Kuc-h-amb At\z-jW-߃°pw ]T-\-߃°pw hnt[-b-am°-s∏-´Xv 80 IfpsS c≠mw ]Ip-Xn-bnemWv.A∂p Rm≥ kn.-B¿.kn kn.-]n.sF(-Fw.-F¬)-kw-ÿm\IΩ-ddn AwK-ambn-cp-∂p.-I-Ωyq-Wn-kvddv {]ÿm-\-Øn-\p-ffn¬ C{X Kuc-h-ambn PmXn{]iv\w apsºm-cn-°epw N¿® sNbvXn-cp-∂n√.A[:ÿnX\thm-∞m-\a - p-∂W - n-sb∂ khn-ti-ja - m-sbmcp kwL-S\ - m-cq-]Øns‚ Bhn-jvIm-c-Øn-te°v AXv \bn®p.-F-s∂-bm-bn-cp∂p B kwL-S-\-bpsS apJy-Np-a-Xe ]m¿´n G¬∏n-®-Xv.-kmaqlnIcmjv{SobPohn-XØ - nse kp{]-[m\-am-sbmcp hgn-Øn-cn-hm-bn-cp∂p AXv. 1989˛¬ a\p-kvarXn Nps´-cn-®p-sIm≠mWv A[:ÿnX \thm-∞m-\a - p-∂Wn {]h¿Ø-\-߃ i‡-am-°n-b-Xv.A[:ÿnX-scbpw kv{XoI-sfbpw ASn-®a¿Øp∂ kh¿Æta[m-hn-Xz-Øns‚ \oXn-imkv{Xw a\p-kvarXn Nps´-cn-°p∂p-sh-∂-Xm-bn-cp∂p ktμ-iw.-tI-c-fob kaq-l-Øn¬ \ne-\n-ev°p∂ kh¿W/ ]pcp-jm-[n-]X - y-aq-ey-ßf - psS kzm[o-\sØbpw \thm-∞m-\m-\¥c tIc-fØns‚ PmXn-c-ln-X-an-Yym-t_m-[-sØbpw Xpd-∂p-Im-Wn-°p-I-bm-bn-cp∂p e£yw. PmXn-hn-th-N-\-߃°pw D®-\o-N-Xz߃°pw AXn-{I-a-ß-ƒ°p-sa-Xntc XXzm-[n-jvT-amb \nc-h[n kmaqlnI CSs]-S-ep-Iƒ ]n∂oSp \S-∂p.-ko-\n-b¿ sF.-F.-Fkv DtZym-K-ÿ-\m-bn-cp∂ kn.Sn.-kp-Ip-am-cs‚ sIme-]m-XIw kn._n.sF At\z-jn-°-W-sa-∂m-h-iy-s∏-´psIm≠v A[:ÿnX\thm-∞m\ ap∂Wn Bcw-`n® {]t£m-`Ww Zen-X-cpsS Bflm-`n-am-\t- _m[w X´n-bp-W¿Øm≥ e£yw h®p-f-f-Xm-bn-cp-∂p.-bm-K-b⁄ kwkvIm-c-Øns‚ ]p\-cp-÷o-h-\-ØneqsS Db¿∂phcp∂ kh¿Wm-[n-]Xy apJ-߃ Nq≠n-°m´n Fd-Wm-Ip-fØv
18
\S∂ ]p{X-Im-ta-jvSn-bmKw apS-°ms\Øn._m-_dn akvPnZv XI¿°m-\p-ff lnμp cmjv{S-hm-Zn-I-fpsS \o°-߃s°Xntc atX-Xc\ne-]m-Sn¬\n∂v ap…ow ]£Øv tN¿∂p.-km-aq-lnI\o-Xn-bpsS h‡m-°-sf∂ \ne-bn¬ aWvU¬ IΩoj≥ dnt∏m¿´v \S-∏n-em-°p-hm≥ Bh-iys∏-´p.-X-ß-fn¬ h¿W/PmXn t`Z-߃ \ne-\n-ev°p-∂n-s√∂v iTn® ss{IkvXhkaq-l-Øn¬ Zen-X¿ t\cnSp∂ PmXnhnth-N-\-ßfpw AXn-{I-aßfpw Xpd-∂p-Im-´n.-Z-enXv ss{IkvXh kwh-c-W-Øn-\p-th≠n i_vZ-ap-b¿Øn.`q-X-Øm≥sI´n¬ BW--\nebw ÿm]n°m-\p-ff k¿°m¿ \o°-Øn-s\-Xntc ]cn-ÿnXn{]h¿Ø-I¿s°m∏w P\-]£ØptN¿∂p.-]q-bw-Ip´n ]≤-Xn-s°Xntc ImSn-s‚bpw ,Im-´nse a\p-jy-cpsSbpw ssP-h-ssh-hn-≤y-ß-fp-sSbpw ]£-Øp-tN¿∂p.-Cß - s - \-sb-√m-am-bn-cp∂p sXmÆq-dp-I-fpsS XpS-°w.-]n-∂oSv tIc-f-Øn¬ {it≤-b-am-bn-Øo¿∂ \hkm-aq-lnI-{]-ÿm-\ß - f - psS [mc-If - n-sem∂m-bn-cp∂p Zen-X¿°n-S-bn-ep-≠mb CØcw CS-s]-S-ep-Iƒ.-Xp-S¿∂v \nc-h[n Ah-Imika-c-ß-fmbpw apØß-bnepw sNß-d-bn-ep-sa√mw FØp∂ BZnhmkn˛Z-enXv `qk-a-c-ß-fmbpw AXv amdp∂XpImWmw. sXmf-fm-bn-c-Øn-sXm-Æq-dp-Iƒ tIc-fØnse ZenXv{]h¿Ø-\-ß-fpsS Ncn-{XØn¬ \n¿Wm-b-I-am-sbmcp Zi-I-am-bncp∂p.{]m-tbm-KnI{]h¿Ø-\ß - t- fmsSm∏w ssk≤m-¥nI At\z-j-W-ß-fnte°pw Bhn-jvIm-c-ß-fn-te°pw AXv \bn-®p.-h¿K-k-a-c-Øns‚ ssk≤m-¥nI apJ-Øp-\n-∂p-sIm≠v ]cn-c£ - m-`m-hsØ shdp-°pI ]cm-{i-b-t_m[w hen-s®-dnbpI F∂ teJ\w 1991 ˛ ¬ Fgp-Xn-bXv(-Z-enXv {]Xy-b-im-kv{Xhpw kap-Zm-b-hXvI-c-W-hpw.-t]Pv 25 sI.-Fw.-k-enw-Ipam¿)-]m¿´n-°p-f-fn¬ kwi-b-߃°pw ]ndp-]n-dp-∏p-Iƒ°pw CS-bm-°n.-PmXn k{º-Zm-b-Øns‚ \ne-\nev]v hnt[-b-Xz_-‘ß - f - n-eq-sS-bm-sW∂pw IΩyq-Wnkvddv {]ÿm-\hpw AXns‚ _e-X-{¥ßƒ°p-f-fn-em-sW∂pw Cu teJ\w \nco-£n-®p.-C-Xns\ adn-I-S-°m-\p-ff am¿Kw Zen-X¿ Bfl-t_m-[-ap-f-f-h-cm-bnØo-cp-I-bm-Wv.-a-d-dp-f-f-hsc B{i-bn®pw
1989˛¬ a\p-kvarXn Nps´cn-®p-sIm-≠mWv A[:ÿnX\thm-∞m-\a - p∂Wn {]h¿Ø-\ß - ƒ i‡-am-°n-bX - v.A[:ÿnX-scbpw kv{XoIsfbpw ASn-®a - ¿Øp∂ kh¿Æta[m-hn-Xz-Øns‚ \oXn-imkv{Xw a\p-kvarXn Nps´-cn-°p-∂p-sh-∂X - m-bncp∂p ktμ-iw.-tI-cf - ob kaq-l-Øn¬ \ne-\nev°p∂ kh¿W/]pcp-jm[n]-Xy-aq-ey-ßf - psS kzm[o-\s - Øbpw \thm∞m-\m-\¥c tIc-fØns‚ PmXn-cl - n-Xa - n-Yymt_m-[s - Øbpw Xpd-∂p-ImWn-°p-Ib - m-bn-cp∂p e£yw.
Ah-cpsS ]cn-c-£-bnepw Ign-bp-I-sb∂Xv A]-am-\-I-c-am-sW∂ Xncn-®-dn-hmWv Bfl-t_m-[w.-C-Ø-c-samcp Xncn-®-dn-hnte°v tIc-f-Ønse Zen-Xsc FØn-°m\p-ff {ia-ß-fm-bn-cp∂p ]n∂o-Sp-ff c≠p]Xn-dd - m-≠p-Im-esØ kmaq-lnI-Pohn-Xw.-{_m-“-Wn-ksØ am{X-a√ Km‘nk-sØbpw am¿Ivkn-k-sØ-bp-sa√mw Cu Dƒ°m-gvN-bn¬\n∂v hna¿i-\-hn-t[b-am-°n.-h¿K-k-a-c-Øn¬ \n∂v PmXn-hncp≤ka-c-Øn-te°v amddw ]m¿´n_‘߃ hnt—-Zn-°p-∂-Xn\pw kzX-{¥-amsbmcp ZenXv {]h¿Ø\aWvUew \n¿Ωn-s®-Sp-°p-∂-Xn¬ ]¶m-fnØw hln-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
AXn-Po-h\w
\ntj-[n-°s - ∏-´ CS߃ hy‡n-s°-∂t]mse kaq-l߃°pw iq\y-amb ÿe-ßf - m-W.v {- In-tb-ddn-hn-d-dn-bpsS aWvU-eam-Wn-Xv.Z- e - nXv F∂Xv Fgp-]X - p-If - psS XpS-°Øn¬ Hcp kaq-lØns‚ Ah-ÿb - psS kqNIw am{X-am-bn-cp∂p.-F∂ - m¬ C∂Xv \n¿hNn°s∏´ Hcp kaq-la - m-Wv.- km-ln-Xyam-Wv,I - e - b - m-Wv,k - wkvImcamWv,N - c - n-{X-amWv,c - m-j{v So-ba - m-W.v -
°p-∂-Xn\pw CS-bm-°n. {ia-I-c-am-sbmcp ZuXy-am-bn-cp∂p CXv.-hn-P-b-ß-f√ ]cm-P-b-ß-fmWv FhnsSbpw I≠-Xv.-kw-L-S-\m-cw-K-Øm-bmepw ka-c-ap-J-ß-fn-em-bmepw PmXn-Ifpw D]Pm-Xn-Ifpw aX-ßfpw cmjv{Sob hnizm-kß-fp-sa-√m-ambn inYn-eo-I-cn-°-s∏-s´mcp kaq-l-Øn¬ \n∂v asddm∂pw {]Xo-£n°pI Ffp-∏-am-bn-cp-∂n-√.-F-∂m¬ sXmÆq-dp-I-fpsS c≠mw ]Ip-Xn-bn¬ CØcw ]cn-an-Xn-I-sf√mw ewLn-®psIm≠v kmap-Zm-bn-I-am-sbmcp Znim-t_m[-Øn-te°v {]th-in-°m-\m-bXv kp{]-[m-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
\-am-sbmcp Nph-Sp-shbv]m-bn-cp-∂p. \ntj-[n-°-s∏-´ CS-߃ hy‡n-s°∂-t]mse kaq-l-߃°pw iq\y-amb ÿe-ß-fm-Wv.-{In-tb-d-dn-hn-d-dn-bpsS aWvU-e-am-Wn-Xv.-Z-enXv F∂Xv Fgp-]-XpI-fpsS XpS-°-Øn¬ Hcp kaq-l-Øns‚ Ah-ÿ-bpsS kqNIw am{X-am-bn-cp-∂p.F-∂m¬ C∂Xv \n¿hNn°s∏´ Hcp kaq-l-am-Wv.-km-ln-Xy-am-Wv,-I-e-bm-Wv,-kwkvImcamWv,N - c - n-{X-am-Wv,c - m-jv{So-ba - m-Wv.F-gpØv Zen-X¿°v {]th-i\w \ntj-[n°s∏´ A[n-Im-c-Øns‚ aWvU-e-am-bn-cp∂p.-C∂v ZenXv Fgp-Øp-Im¿am{X-a-√,-ZenXvNn¥-I-cp-ap-≠v.-am-Xr-`qan BgvN-∏-Xn∏n¬ s\{Kn-d-dyqUv Fs∂mcp ]w‡n ssIImcyw sNøm≥ kao-]-Im-eØv Cu teJ-I\v Ah-kcw e`n-®-Xns‚ ]n∂n¬ {]t£m`cwKØpw _u≤n-I-cw-K-Øpw ]Xn-dd - m-≠p-If - mbn \S∂ t]mcm-´ß - f - psS Ncn-{X-ap-≠m-bn-cp-∂p.-Im≥k¿tcm-K_ - m[sb XpS¿∂mWv AXv \n¿Øn shbvt°≠n h∂Xv. t]mcm-´-amWv Pohn-X-Øn-s‚hgn.- a-\pjy-_‘ - ß - f - psS ]p\-cm-hn-jvIm-ca - mWv e£yw. -A-hnsS tKm{X-ßtfm PmXnItfm aX-ßtfm kap-Zm-b-ßtfm `mjItfm tZi-ßtfm cmjv{S-ßtfm H∂pw \ne-\n-ev°p-∂n-√.-a-\p-jy-s\-bp-f-fq.-F∂m¬ C∂v kwkm-cn-t°-≠n-h-cp-∂Xv Zen-X¿°p th≠n-bm-Wv.-Z-enXv kmap-ZmbnIcq]o-Ic - W - s - Ø-°p-dn-®m-Wv.\ - n-›b - ambpw hn`m-Ko-b-X-bpsS kv]¿i-an-Xn-ep≠v.-F-∂m¬ kzbwkwkm-cn-°p-hm≥ tijn-bn-√m-Ø-hcpw X߃°mbn kwkm-cn-°p-hm≥ a‰mcpw C√m-Ø-h-cpamb Hcp kaq-l-Øn¬\n∂v Fß-s\bmWv a\p-jy-s\-°p-dn®v kwkm-cn-°m-\mhp-I. F√mw XI¿∂p-sh∂v Bh¿Øn®p hnXp-ºp∂ a\-kp-ambn´mWv Im≥k¿ tcmKn-bmb Pohn-X-]-¶m-fn-tbm-sSm∏w c≠ph¿jw Ign-™-Xv.-a-°-sf-tbev]n®v Abmƒ ]ncn™pt]mIp-tºmƒ Hcn°epw `wKwhc-cp-sX∂p IcpXn \n[n t]mse ImØp-kq-£n-°p-hm≥ {ian® kvt\lw XocmØZp:Jambn amdn.Zp:Jw Xs∂ kXy-sa-∂-Xn¬ a\kv L\o-`-hn®p-t]m-bn.-Ip-Spw-_Z - u-Xy-tØm-sSm∏w Fßp-sa-ØmØ kmaqlnIkz]v\ß - fpw
]ns∂bpw a\-kns‚ ssPh-`m-h-apW¿Øn. Im¿∂p-Xn-∂p∂ A¿_p-Zt- cm-KØns‚ s\mº-c-ß-fn¬ \n lm-b-bn-cn°p∂ Iq´p-Im-cnsb XS-hn-s°m≠v thZ\ ]¶n-Sm-\m-hp-am-bn-cps∂¶n¬ F∂v kam-[m-\n-∏n-®n-´p-≠v.-F-∂m¬ AØ-csamcp kam-[m-\-hm°v ]d-bm≥ Bfn√mØ Ime-Øv AtX alm-hym-[n-Xs∂ Fs∂-bpw ]nSn-Iq-Sp-sa∂v Bcp I≠p! sR-´epw DXvI-WvT-Ifpw a\-kn-sem-fn∏n®v ]Xnhv s]m´n-®n-cn-tbmsS Rm≥ Bfl-_-‘p-°-tfmSv hnfn-®p-]-d-™p.-Fs∂bpw Im≥k¿ ]nSn-Iq-Sn-bn-cn-°p-∂p.Im≥k¿ hm¿Unse ac-W-ß-fpsS tLmj-bm-{X-°n-S-bn¬ tcmK-Øn\v Iog-Sßm≥ hnkΩ-Xn--°p∂ {]nb-X-a-bpsS Hm¿Ω-Iƒ AXns‚ ]n∂n-ep-≠m-bn-cp-∂p.k-enw-Ip-am¿ Pohn-®n-cn-t°-≠-Xp-s≠∂p ]d™ Bfl-_-‘-ß-sfbpw Rm≥ At∏mƒ I≠p.-k-Xy-k-‘-Xbpw kz`mh-ip-≤nbpw t]mep-ff Nne aqey-߃ am{Xta [\-ambn D≠m-bn-cp-∂p-f-fq.-AXv Xncn-®-dn-™-h¿ klm-b-hp-am-sb-Øn.- adn-®m-bn--cp-∂p-sh-¶n¬, buh-\-Øn-te°p {]th-in-°p-tºmƒXs∂ Xs‚ ]p{Xs‚ ssii-hm-hÿt]mepw Bkz-Zn-°p-hm≥ Ah-kcw e`n-°msX CtX alm-hym[n A]-l-cn-s®-SpØ Fs‚ ]nXm-hns‚ ZptcymKw F\n-°p-ap-≠m-Ip-am-bn-cp-∂p.-NnIn-’-bp-≠m-bn´pw AXv e`n-°msX t]mb A—≥ a°ƒ°v asddmcpZp:Jw IqSn-bm-Ip-am-bn-cp-∂p. Iosam-sX-dm∏n, k¿P-dn,-td-Un-tb-j≥˛-Im≥k-dn-s\-Xn-tc-bp-ff Hcp bp≤-am-WnXv.- i-co-c-amWv bp≤-`q-an.-tcmKw am{X-a√ NnIn-’bpw ico-csØ XI¿Øp-I-f-bp∂p.-tcm-K-sØ-°p-dn-®p-ff kwkm-c-ßsf√mw ac-W-Øn-te°v \oßp-∂-Xm-Wv.th-h-em-Xn-Ifpw Bi-¶-Ifpw \nd™ a\-kv.-A-\n-›n-X-Xz-am-Wn-Xv.-hm-b\ km≤y-am-b-t∏mƒ Bizm-k-am-bn.- ]ns∂ Bfl-IY Fgp-Xm≥XpS-ßn.-\S- ∂ - p-t]m∂ hgn-I-fnse Pohn-X-Øn-te-°p-ff Xncn-®pt]m-°m-Wn-Xv.-A-hnsS A\n-›n-X-Xz-an-√.AXpw AXn-Po-h-\-Øs‚ Hcp hgn-bm-bncp-∂p.
19
AXn-Po-h\w
ZfnXv˛ BZn-hmkn kaq-lsØ tIc-f-Øns‚ s]mXp-[m-c-bntebv°v Db¿Øn-b-h-cn¬ {it≤-b-\mWv sI.-Fw.-k-enw-Ip-am¿.ae-bm-f-Ønse apJy-[mcm B\p-Im-en-I-ß-fn¬ {it≤-b-amb teJ-\-߃ Fgp-Xn-hcp∂ At±lw kw-h-c-Whpw ka-hm-bØns‚ cmjv{So-bhpw Z-enXv {]Xy-b-imkv{Xhpw kap-Zm-b-h-XvI-cWhpw `q-an-bpsS PmXnbpw cmjv{So-b-hpw A-ø-¶m-fn-bpsS temIho-£-Ww,-s\-{Kn-d-dyqUv F∂o teJ\ kam-lm-c-ßfpw {]kn-≤oI-cn-®n-´p-≠v.-Z-fn-Xv-˛-B-Zn-hmkn `qk-a-c-ß-fpsS Nme-I-i-‡nbmbncp∂ kenw-Ip-am¿ C∂sØ `qk-a-c-ß-fpsS \b-ß-fn¬ ISpØ \ncm-i-\m-Wv.ZfnXv A\p-`-h-ß-tfm-Sp-ff hntbm-Pn-∏p-Iƒ At±lw Xpd∂v ]d-bp∂p.
`qan-bpsS Ah-Im-in-Iƒ°n\nbpw {]Xo-£b - p≠v ]n.-B¿. kpta-c≥: ZfnXv ˛ BZn-hmkn- I ƒ°v `qan Bh- i y- s ∏´v Xm¶ƒDƒs∏-sS-bp-ffhcpsS ka-cß - ƒ Ct∏mƒ ]Xn-d-dm-≠p-Iƒ ]n∂n-Sp-I-bmWv.-k-a-c߃°v ^ew ImWp- s a∂v {]Xo- £ bpt≠m? sI.-Fw.-k-enw-Ip-am¿: Xo¿®-bmbpw {]Xo-£-bp-≠v; C-¥y≥ kml-N-cy-Øn¬ cmjv{So-bm-[n-Imcw ]IpØp \evIp-∂-Xpt]mse `qan-°p-ta-ep-ff DS-a-ÿm-h-Imihpw Zfn-X¿°pw BZn-hm-kn-Iƒ°pw ]IpØp\evIphm≥ `c-W-IqSw _m≤yX ImWn-t°-≠X - m-bn-cp∂p.]t£, AXp-≠mbn-√.km-aq-lnI\o-Xn-bn-e[ - n-jT v n-Xa - m-sbmcp `q\bw AXn-\m-h-iy-am-bn-cp-∂p.-C∂pw cmPyw Cu _m≤yX XmØzn-Ia - m-bn-t∏mepw GsddSpØn- ´ n√.cmPysØ \mensem∂phcp∂ Zfn-X¿°pw BZn-hm-knIƒ°pw Irjn-`qan \ntj-[n-°s - ∏-´n-cn-°p∂Xv C¥y≥ `c-WL - S- \ - m-XØ - z-ßsf A]lm-ky-am-°p-∂XmWv.-
20
tIc-f-Ønse ZfnXv ˛ BZn-hmkn hn`mK-ßfpsS `qk-ac - ß - sf Hc-\m-hiy G¿∏mSm-bn-´mWv s]mXpkaqlw ImWp-∂X - v.C - Xn\nsS ]e kacßfnepw ZfnXv BZn-hmkn {]mXn-\n[yw Ipd-™p-h-cp-∂p-ap-≠v.-k-a-c߃°p ]n∂n¬ ]e-t∏m-gpw AWn-\n-c°p∂Xv cmjv{Sobt\-Xm-°-fmWv. F¥psIm-≠mWv Cß-s\-sbmcp kml-Ncyw Db¿∂p-hc - p-∂Xv? -cmjv{So-b-]m¿´n-I-fpsS kzm[o\w aqeam-Wv `qan-°p-th-≠n-bp-ff Nne kac-ßfn¬ \n∂v Zfn-Xv-˛-B-Zn-hm-kn-Iƒ amdn\n¬°p-∂Xv .-tI-c-f-Ønse ]e `qk-a-cßfpw k¿°m-cn\v t\cn´v ]cn-l-cn-°m-hp∂-Xm-Wv;-]t£, AXp-≠m-Ip-∂n-√.-F√m `qka-cß - f - p-sSbpw hn[n-]d - b - m≥ tImS-XnIsf G¬∏n-°p-∂ X{¥-amWv k¿°mcns‚ `mK-Øp-\n∂v D≠m--Ip-∂-Xv.-tI-c-fØn¬ `qam-^nb e£-°-W-°n-t\-°¿ `qan ssIhiw h®n- c n- ° p- t ºm- g mWv
ZfnXv˛B-Zn-hm-kn-Iƒ°v \evIm-\mbn HcpXp≠v `qan-t]mepw C√m-sb∂v ÿm]n-°m\mbn tUm.-tXm-akv sFk-°n-s\-t∏m-epf-f-h¿ ]pkvX-I-sa-gpXp-∂-Xv.Zfn-X-cpsS `qk-a-c-߃ A´n-a-dn-°p-I-sb∂ AP-≠ tIc-fØ - nse cmjv{SobI£n-Ifpw s]mXpk-aq-lhpw Ct∏mgpw ]pe¿Øp-∂p-≠v. kzXz-t_m[w Zfn-Xv kaq-lØ - n\v KpWI-ca - mtWm? kzXz-t_m-[hpw kzm-`n-am\t_m[hpw Zfn-Xp-If - psS kmaq-lnIhf¿®bv°v A\nhm-cy-am-W.v t- Km-{X-kz-Xz-Øn-s‚bpw PmXn-kzXz-Øn-s‚bpw \ncm-I-cW-Øn-eq-sS-bmWv Zfn-X¿ kmap-Zm-bn-I-kzXzw B¿÷n-°p∂-X.v k - z-Xz-t_m-[Ø - n-eq-sS-bp-≠m-Ip∂ Xncn®-dnhv AwKo-I-cn-°p-tºmgpw Zfn-Xp-Iƒ sshhn-[y-ßsf ImWm-Xn-cn-°-cpXv.kz-Xzt_m[w F¥p- s Im≠pw Zfn- X p- I - f psS hf¿®bv°v KpW-I-c-amWv.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
AXn-Po-h\w
tIc-fobkaq-l-Øn¬ PmXn-Nn¥ \odn-\n-∂n-cp∂ Adp-]-Xp-Iƒs°m-Sp-hn-emWt√m Xm¶ƒ alm-cm-Pmkv tImsf-Pn¬ ]Tn-°m\msb-Øp-∂X - v.A - ° - m-eØv tImsfPv Imº-kn¬\n∂v A\p-`-hn-t°≠n-h∂ PmXn-]-c-amb hnth-N-\-߃ Fs¥m-s°-bm-bn-cp∂p? alm- c m- P m- k n¬ ZfnXv hnZym¿∞nIƒ°v addv kap- Z m- b - ß - f n¬s]´ hnZym¿∞n-If - p-ambn henb ASp-∏s - am-∂pan√m-bn-cp-∂p.-Ah-cp-ambn ku-lr-Zhpw Ipdhm-bn-cp-∂p.-¢m vapdn-I-fnepw hcm-¥-Ifnepw am{Xw HXp-ßp∂ ]cn-N-bw am{Xta D≠m- b n- c p- ∂ p- f fq.- A - \ y- P m- X n- b nse hnZym¿∞n-I-fp-ambn ZfnXv hnZym¿∞nIƒ°v Bfl_‘-ßfn√m-bn-cp-∂p.-Z-fnXv hnZym¿∞n-Isf addv hnZym¿∞n-I-fpsS hoSp-I-fn-sem∂pw sIm≠p-t]m-In-√m-bn-cp∂p.-k-Xy-Øn¬ F\n°v ad-dp-f-f-h-cpsS hoSp-I-fn¬ t]mI-W-sa∂v henb tamlam- b n- c p- ∂ p.- ] t£, A°m- e Øv Hcmƒ t]mepw Fs∂ Ah-cpsS hoSp-I-fn-te°v £Wn-°pIt]mepw sNbvXn-´n-√.-H-cp BZn-hm-kn-bmb F\n°v kplr-Øp-°-fmb ]pe-b-cp-sSbpw ]d-b-cp-sSbpw ho´n¬ am{Xta t]mIm≥ Ign-™n-´p-f-fq.tIc-f-Øn¬ Gd-dhpw {]Kev`-cmb A[ym-]I - c - m-bn-cp-∂t√m A°m-eØv almcm-Pm-kn-ep-≠m-bn-cp-∂X - .v Z- f - nXvhnZym¿∞n-ItfmSv Ah-cpsS kao-]\w Fß-s\-bm-bncp∂p? A°m-eØv alm-cm-Pm-knse A[ym-]Icmcpw ZfnXv hnZym¿∞n-It- fmSv hnth-N\w ImWn-®n-cp-∂n-√.-A[ - ym-]I - s - cms° hfsc Db¿∂ a\- p-ff - h - c - m-bn-cp-∂p.-tUm.-Fw.-eoem-hX - n,-s{]m-^.-Fw.-Kp-]X v ≥ \mb¿,s{]m-^.Fw.-sI.-km-\p,-s{]m-^.-sI.-F≥.-`c - X - ≥ Chscm-s°-bm-bn-cp∂p Fs‚ A[ym-]-I¿.CXn¬ `c-X≥amjv F\n°v {]nb-s∏´ A[ym]-I-\m-bn-cp-∂p.-A-t±-l-sa-t∂mSv Gsd hm’-eyhpw ImWn-®n-cp∂p.hn-Zym¿∞n-IfpsS sNdnb Ipkr-Xn-I-tfmSv t]mepw Ah¿ ]cn-`hw ImWn-®n-cp-∂n-√.-Rm≥ ]e kμ¿`-ßf - nepw A[ym-]I - t- cmSv [n°m-c] - c-ambn s]cp-am-dn-bn-´p-≠v.-¢m- n-sems° A[ym-]-I-cpsS ap∂n-eqsS ap≠pw aS-°n°pØn \S-∂n-´p-≠v.-A-t∏m-sgms° Ah¿ ASpØv hnfn®v D]-tZ-in-®n-´p-f-f-X-√msX
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
Rm≥ I≠-Xv,-tI-´Xv,A - \ - p-`h - n-®Xv AXmWv Bfl-IYbpsSkmcw.-AXn¬ tKm{X-hpw tZi-hpw B-Wpw s]Æpw a-Xhpw Hs° hcp-∂p≠v. Fs‚ a\- ns\ thZ- \ n- ∏ n- ° p- I tbm Fs∂ Bt£-]n-°p-Itbm sNbvXn-´n-√. ZfnXv Nn¥bpw FgpØpw kwhm-Z-ßfp-sams° Ipd-®p-t]-cn¬ am{Xw HXp-ßn\n¬°p-I-bm-W-t√m.-]pXn-b-Xmbn Bcpw IS-∂p-hc - p-∂n√.B-scbpw \n߃ Db¿Ønhn-Sp-∂p-an-√.-k-Xy-Øn¬ ZfnXvNn¥-Iƒ \n߃ IpØ- I - b m°n h®n- c n- ° p- I bmtWm? R-ß-sfms° Fgp-Øns‚ apJy-[mcbntebv°v IS-∂p-h-∂Xv hfsc sshInbm-Wv.BZy-Im-eØv Rm≥ FUn-d-d-dm-bncp∂ A[x-ÿnX \thm-∞m-\-ap-∂Wn _p≈d-dn≥,c-‡] - X - mI F∂o sNdp-am-knI-I-fn-emWv Rß-fp-sS-sbms° cN-\-Iƒ {]kn-≤o-I-cn-®n-cp-∂-Xv.-k-Xy-Øn¬ ae-bmf-Øn¬ C∂n-d-ßp∂ ]e {]apJ B\pIm-en-I-ß-fn-te-Xn-s\-s°mfpw \ne-hm-c-apff cN-\-I-fm-bn-cp∂p B sNdp-am-kn-IIfn¬ {]kn-≤o-Ic - n-®n-cp-∂X - .v ] - n∂oSv h - ¿jß-tfmfw krjvSn-I-fp-ambn tIc-f-Ønse am[y- a - ß - f psS ]n∂mse Ae- ™ n- ´ p≠v.Rß-fpsS Fgp-Øp-Iƒ {]kn-≤o-I-cn®n-- s √- ∂ p- a m- { X- a √,hm- b n- ® p- t \m- ° m≥ t]mepw ]{X-ap-X-em-fn-am¿ Xøm-dm-bn-cp∂n√.-Zf - nXv Fgp-Øp-Im¿°v \n›nXt]Pp-Iƒ amd-dn-h® - Xv sXmÆq-dp-If - psS XpS-°Ø - n¬ sI.-thWp FUn-d-d-dmb kao-£bm-Wv.Fs‚ ]e {][m\teJ-\-ßfpw {]kn-≤oI-cn-®Xv kao-£-bn-em-bn-cp-∂p.kn.-A-ø-∏-\p-tijw anI® Hcp sNdpIY t]mepw ZfnXvkmln-Xy-Øn¬ D≠m-
bn-´n-√.-CXv ZfnXvkmln-Xy-Øns‚ ]cn-anXn-bt√ Nq≠n-°m-´p-∂Xv ;F¥p-sIm-≠mWn-ßs\? -ZfnXvkmln-Xy-Øn¬ ]pXnb sNdp-IY-Iƒ krjvSn-°-s∏-Sp-∂n-s√-∂Xv henb ]cn-an-Xn-bm-Wv.-]t£, AXns\ adn-I-S-°m\p-ff{ia-߃t]mepw ZfnXvFgp-Øp-Imcn¬ \n∂p-≠m-Im-ØXv ZfnXvkmlnXyw t\cn-Sp∂ henb sh√p-hn-fn-bm-Wv.kmlnXy-Øn¬ _Z¬kuμ-cy-aq-ey-߃ DXv]mZn-∏n-®p-sIm≠v ae-bmf`mhp-IXzw k¥pen-X-am-°m≥ {ian® Icp-Ø-\mb sNdp-IYm- I r- Ø m- b n- c p∂p kn.- A - ø - ∏ ≥.At±lØns‚ IY- I ƒ \ho- \ - a m- s bmcp {]Xy-bi - mkv{Xcq]o-Ic - W - Øn\pw XpS-°an-´n-cp-∂p.Xm¶-ƒ Bfl-IY - b - nsegpXn-s°m-≠n-cn°p∂ ]e kw`-h-ßfpw Ct∏mƒ shfns∏-Sp-Øn-s√∂v ]d-s™-¶nepw s]mXphmbn Bfl-I-Ysb Fßs\ hmbn-°m\mhpw? Rm≥ I≠- X v , - t I- ´ - X v , - A - \ p- ` - h n- ® Xv AXmWv Bfl- I - Y bpsSkmcw.- A - X n¬ tKm{X-hpw tZ-i-hpw -B-Wpw s]Æpw aXhpw Hs° hcp- ∂ p≠v . H- d - d - h - c n- b n¬ hmbn-®m¬ a\p-jy-_‘ - ß - f - psS ]mT-t`Z-ß-fm-bn-cn°pw Fs‚ Bfl-IY. Xm¶ƒ°v CjvS-s∏´ ]pkvXIw ,Fgp-Øp-Im¿? Aßs\ GsX-¶nepw Hcp ]pkvX-IØn-t\mtSm Fgp-Øp-Im-ct- \mtSm {]tXy-IXm-X] v cyw tXm∂n-bn-´n-√.-Rm-s\∂pw Hmtcm hnj-b-hpw {]iv\-ßfpw tI{μo-I-cn-®mWv ]pkvXI - ß - ƒ hmbn-°p-∂X - v.R - m≥ At\zjn-°p∂ {]iv\-߃ N¿® sNø-s∏-Sp∂ ]pkv X - I - ß - f pw Fgp- Ø p- I mcpw F\nt°sd {]nb-s∏-´-Xm-Wv. IpSpw-_] - c - a - mb Imcy-߃? NnIn-’b - psS kuI-cym¿∞w a°-tfmsSm∏w Ct∏mƒ sshd-dn-e-bn-emWv Xmakw.-a-I≥ `KXv Bbp¿th-Z-tUm-IvS-dm-Wv.a-Iƒ _p≤ A`n-`m-j-Ibpw.sN-dnb coXnbn¬ hmb-\bpw Fgp-Øp-ambn Rm≥ Ignbp- I - b m- W v . - [ m- c mfw kplr- Ø p- ° ƒ Ft∏mgpw FØp- ∂ - X n- \ m¬ PohnXw kt¥m-jI - c - a - m-Wv.
21
Dr. Soumyanetra Munshi, Assistant Professor, IIM Bangalore
Dr. Soumyanetra Munshi , Ph.D. in Economics from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA is currently an Assistant Professor in the Economics and Social Sciences Area at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Alumni of renowned Presidency College, Kolkata she has done M.S. in Q.E. (Master of Science in Quantitative Economics), from Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. In six years of academic career, she has also worked as an Instructor in Rutgers University’s Department of English and Economics besides taking up projects as a research assistant.
Of Acorns and Anganwadis Early childhood interventions in humans can potentially have tremendous impact on educational and other outcomes in life. Academic research shows that factors determined by as early as age 18, drive interpersonal variation in lifetime earnings, and exposure to better preschool environments may lead to higher achievement test scores, higher grades at school, higher rates of highschool graduation, higher rates of employment, better jobs, lower propensities to crime, more healthy lifestyles. “
T
he tallest oak in the forest is the tallest not just because it grew from the hardiest acorn; it is the tallest also because no other trees blocked its sunlight, the soil around it was deep and rich, no rabbit chewed through its bark as a sapling, and no lumberjack cut it down before it matured’ We all know that successful people come from hardy seeds. But do we know enough about the sunlight that warmed them, the soil in which they put down the roots, and the rabbits and lumberjacks they were lucky enough to avoid?” (From ‘The Matthew Effect’ in ‘Outliers’ by Malcolm Gladwell.) When we talk about education, the
22
platitudes seem to be centered on the problems of public schools, private schools, teacher absenteeism, school enrolment, schools attendance, teacher incentives, teacher salary, contract teachers and even mid-day meals. How often do we talk about early childhood or pre-school interventions in this context? In more familiar terms, how often do we talk about our very own ‘Anganwadis. and its services? Psychologists, sociologists, biologists, and now even economists are very likely to agree, that in fact, perhaps the only most important factor to concentrate upon, as far as educational and other major achievement outcomes are concerned, is precisely pre-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
OPINION school development programs, which in India are the services of Anganwadis. And one doesn.t need to be an expert to guess why these early years are so important – it is then that the brain is most malleable, it is like a blank slate, and the most casual of experiences leave long-lasting impressions and often indelible marks that can permanently change the ‘hard-wiring’ of the brain itself. Examples abound. A child with better vision in one eye, will have neural connections from it to her brain proliferating and connections from the eye less relied on withering and this process is irreversible once a sensitive period in early childhood is past. Similarly, children not exposed to language during a sensitive period of early childhood may become largely incapable of language because of wearing away of the brains. neural circuitry responsible for language acquisition.
Examples abound. A child with better vision in one eye, will have neural connections from it to her brain proliferating and connections from the eye less relied on withering and this process is irreversible once a sensitive period in early childhood is past. Similarly, children not exposed to language during a sensitive period of early childhood may become largely incapable of language because of wearing away of the brains. neural circuitry responsible for language acquisition.
There is also evidence that other personality traits, like ability to handle stress, patience, aggression etc. are all founded in early childhood. For example, biological experiments have found that rat pups reared in the first week of their lives by a relatively indifferent dam, not necessarily their mother, grew up to be more aggressive, impatient and fearful, than pups reared by a more concerned and caring dam. In fact, even when pups of aggressive parents (so that they were genetically predisposed to aggression) were left in those early days of life with more tolerant dams, they grew up to be much less aggressive than pups of lessaggressive parents left with less-tolerant dams. These changes have been called epigenetic (changes in gene expression, i.e. the ‘turning on’ or ‘turning off’ of genes, caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence and such changes are inheritable, at least within proximal generations). It is also believed that this model is applicable to humans as well. In short, environment during days of early childhood, actually change the ‘hardwiring’ of the brain and hence have irrevocable impact for, not just the rest of their lives, but also that of immediate future generations.
stories to children, provision of friendly environment, provision of nutritious food, etc.) can potentially have tremendous impact on educational and other outcomes in life. Academic research shows that factors determined by as early as age 18, drive interpersonal variation in lifetime earnings, and exposure to better preschool environments may lead to higher achievement test scores, higher grades at school, higher rates of high school graduation, higher rates of employment, better jobs, lower propensities to crime, more healthy lifestyles.
This means that early childhood interventions in humans (these interventions can range from provision of toys, telling
Economists in the United States have started viewing such early childhood developmental interventions as cost effective means of
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
redressing many economic and social problems. Among LDCs, India, however, is an exception and is far ahead in this respect to many other LDCs since we have a 35 year old nation-wide network of public early childhood developmental facilities called Anganwadi Centers (AWCs), established as part of the Government of India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Program in 1975' It caters to children in the 0-6 age group. There are an estimated 1’053 million AWCs employing 1’8 million mostly-female workers and helpers across the country. They provide outreach services to poor families in need of immunization, healthy food, clean water, clean toilets and a learning environment for infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers. They also provide similar services for expectant and nursing mothers. Anganwadis are India’s primary tool against the scourges of child malnourishment, infant mortality and curbing preventable diseases such as polio. Economic analysis on early life interventions (AWCs) has been recently carried out in India (like in the US). Economist, Prof’ Gautam Hazarika, finds that the average 7 – 19 year old rural North Indian is much more likely to be currently enrolled in school as a result of having previously participated in an early childhood developmental program, whether in an Anganwadi Center, an analogous facility run by a nongovernmental organization, or a preschool classroom. Infact, much much more likely. Further, of those presently enrolled, children or youth who participated in early childhood developmental programs are found to have better performance in school as well as lower rates of grade repetition. This is undoubtedly the effect of better ‘hardwiring’ of the brain as the biological evidence suggests. The message for educationists and policymakers is clear: strengthening of AWCs and other such early childhood interventions are invaluable and cost-effective means for the expansion of schooling, and in turn for a more holistic, humanitarian and healthy overall development of India. So India has taken the right step in the right direction but there are still miles to go. And apprehensions lurk about one more of our initiatives being stashed into oblivion.
23
NOTES ON CREATIVITY
Serendipity Favours Prepared Minds Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran Serendipity, means a “happy accident” or “pleasant surprise”. Specifically, it means “the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it”. Training can improve serendipity.
Unfortunately the current education system does not encourage this kind of lateral thinking, which promotes serendipity. The emphasis goes to linear and logical thinking. Creative thinking is often discouraged at school. 24
I
n a 7th December 1854 lecture at the University of Lille in France, Louis Pasteur, the inventor of the vaccines against rabies and anthrax and of pasteurization method of treating milk and wine, said in French: “Dans les champs de l’observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits prepares”, which translated means “In the field of observation, chance favors the prepared minds”. The “chance” that is seized spontaneously by the “prepared minds” is called “serendipity”. Let us revisit the story of Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin. Dr. Fleming came into his lab one day in 1928 to see that a mold had contaminated his cultures of staphylococcus. There was no bacterial growth around the mold colonies. Dr. Fleming knew that this was useful! Penicillin became a wonder drug for fighting bacterial diseases. A new history of bacterial cure was in the offing! But this is not the whole story! Six years before, in 1922, Dr. Fleming had noticed
similar ring of inhibition around some bacteria in a culture to which he had added his own nasal fluid. He deduced that something in the nasal mucus could prevent bacterial growth. This fete was repeated for the tear drops from the eyes. Further experimentation revealed that the mucus and tears contained lysozyme, an enzyme that digests bacteria. In 1928 when he observed the mold on his bacterial cultures, his mind was certainly “prepared” to see the significance of the inhibited bacterial growth! Serendipity occurs to prepared minds!
What is serendipity? Serendipity, according to Wikipedia, means a “happy accident” or “pleasant surprise”. Specifically, it means “the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it”. The first reported use of “serendipity” in the English language was by Horace Walpole (1717– 1797). He claims to have formed it from the Persian fairy tale of “The Three Princes of Serendip”, a chronicle of the adventures of
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
NOTES ON CREATIVITY To develop “prepared minds” one must 1) learn from the literature, 2) learn from mistakes, 3) be open towards the new, 4) look for novel sources for ideas and 5) put together ideas in novel ways. All these skills can be developed through training! Training can improve serendipity! three traveling princes whose notable powers of observation and deduction led them to accurate, insightful, and surprising conclusions. “Serendip” is in fact, an old name for Sri Lanka, derived from Arabic “Sarandib”, which was adopted from Tamil “Seren deevu” . The root for Sri Lanka is “Suvarnadweepa” or “Golden Island”. “Serendipity” is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident.” “— you don’t reach Serendib by plotting a course for it. You have to set out in good faith for elsewhere and lose your bearings ... serendipitously”, suggests John Barth (in “The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor”). One idea leads to another and it goes beyond both. So marches serendipity ahead. This is evidenced by inventions of Thomas Edison. There is no such thing as luck; it is opportunity meeting preparedness. Your eye of discernment could be dulled by being “un-
prepared” or “under-prepared”, not to see those opportunities. The eternal vigilance the gurus require from their disciples reminds us of this fact: “So be alert at all times” says Jesus in Lk. 21:36. To see the splendor of life the disciple has to be eternally vigilant like the “prudent maidens waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom”.
prepare ourselves to capitalize on the flood of information surrounding us. That could be a better policy in the emerging “era of information”.
Information age: End of serendipity?
Royston Roberts identified two necessary qualities of people skilled with serendipity: 1) Curiosity: “They were curious to understand the accident they had discovered.” 2) A special way of perceiving: “They observed a phenomenon that was unexpected, and they took note of it rather than dismiss it as trivial or annoying.” Roberts concludes that serendipity “arises not from random accidents but from circumstances brought about by unconscious motives which lead ultimately to the serendipitous event”.
In 1997, Gup lamented the ‘end of serendipity’ in the information age of ours. He suggested that the ‘vastly more efficient’ pursuit of information supported by computers would rob us of the ‘random epiphanies’ and ‘accidental discoveries’ that are limited in an information environment that is tailored to our needs and where ‘nothing will come unless summoned’. As the pace of change accelerates and the volume of information explodes, we’re under great pressure to connect just in time with the people and ideas we need to thrive. But we can no longer plan our way to success— there will always be factors beyond our control. (Gup, Ted. “The End of Serendipity.” CyberReader. 2nd ed. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 250-252.) Such uncertainty however, could help develop certain ingredient for success: serendipity. More than blind luck, serendipity produces quantifiable results: breakthrough ideas, effective networking, effortless cooperation, etc. Hence, we need not share in the pessimism of Gup, rather
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
How to cultivate a “prepared mind”?
To develop “prepared minds” one must 1) learn from the literature, 2) learn from mistakes, 3) be open towards the new, 4) look for novel sources for ideas and 5) put together ideas in novel ways. All these skills can be developed through training! Training can improve serendipity! Unfortunately the current education system does not encourage this kind of lateral thinking, which promotes serendipity. The emphasis goes to linear and logical thinking. Creative thinking is often discouraged at school. The educational ecosystem needs accommodation for creative thinking to prepare the new generation students for serendipity!
25
26
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
Kpcp-Z-£nW
""
Bbncw ]q¿ÆN{μ≥ amcpsS \nd-hnse-Ønb km\pam-jv Xs‚ kmln-Xy-Po-hn Xhpw hy‡n-Pohn-Xhpw Xpd-∂p]-d-bp-I-bmWv Cu IqSn-°m-gvNbn¬.....
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
t∏m-ep-ff F s∂km[m-cW - ° - msc
hio-I-cn-°p∂ ]eXpw Fs∂ hio-I-cn-°m-dn-√.Fs‚ hnNm-c-K-Xn-bnepw aqey-k-¶ev]Ønepw A`ncp-Nn-bn-epw Rm≥ `n∂-\msW∂v ]e-t∏mgpw Rm\dnbp-∂p.-Fs‚ B¥-cn-I-Pohn-Xhpw hnNn-{X-am-sW∂mWv Rm≥ a\- n-em-°p∂-Xv.-]-e-cnepw sXd-dn-≤mcW P\n∏n-°m≥ Cu {]tXy-IX - I - ƒ Imc-Wa - mbn-´p-≠v.-AXp ImWptºmƒ hnj-a-a√,^-en-Xt_m-[a - mWv F∂n-ep-≠m-Ip-∂X - v.F - \ - n°p Xncn-®-dn-bmt\m a\- n-em-°mt\m Ign-bmØ-Xmb Awi-߃ CXp-t]mse ]e-Xpap-s≠∂v Rm≥ hnNm-cn-°p-∂p .-Xs‚ Bfl-I-Y-bmb I¿a-K-Xn-bn¬ km\p-amkvd-d¿ Fgp-Xn................. Bbncw ]q¿Æ-N-{μ≥amsc ImWm≥ Ign™ -ku-`m-KyØns‚ \nd-hnseØn ae-bm-f-Øns‚ Kpcp-t{i-jvT≥ s{]m^.Fw.-sI.-km-\p.Xp-em-am-k-Ønse hnimJw\£{Xw km\p-am-jn\v ]nd∂mƒ a[pcw ]I¿∂p.-H-IvtSm-_¿ 27 \v 84 hb v Bbn.-{]m-b-X-f¿®-bnepw tIcf-Ønse kmaq-lnI˛-cm-jv{Sob cwK-ßfn¬ Xs‚ km∂n[yw sIm≠v km\pamjv C∂pw \ap°v Du¿÷w ]I-cp-Ibm-Wv.-HcpImeØv hnZym¿∞n-I-fpsS Nn¥-I-fn¬ kvt^mS-\-߃ krjvSn® Icp-Ø-\mb A≤ym-]-I-\m--bn-cp∂p At±lw.Poh-N-cn-{XsØ C{X-tbsd k¿Kmfl-I-am-°nb asddmcp Fgp-Øp-Im-c≥ ae-bm-f-Øn¬ thsd-bn√.-A-≤ym-]-I≥,{]`m-jI - ≥,-\n-cq-]I - ≥,-Po-hN - c - n-{X-Im-c≥,\n-ba - k - ` - m-km-am-Pn-I≥,hym-Jym-Xm-hv,] - c - n`m-jI - ≥,-XØz-Nn-¥I - ≥,_m-ek - m-ln-XyIm-c≥,-]{Xm-[n-]¿,-k©m-ck - m-ln-Xy-Im-
c≥,-km-aq-ln-I-{]-h¿Ø-I≥ XpS-ßn Ht´sd taJ-e-I-fn¬ C∂pw km\p-amjv {it≤-b\ - m-Wv. Bbncw ]q¿ÆN{μ≥amcpsS \nd-hn-seØnb km\p-am-jv Xs‚ kmln-Xy-Po-hnXhpw hy‡n-Po-hn-Xhpw Xpd-∂p-]-d-bp-IbmWv ]≈n-°q-S-hp-am-bp≈ Cu IqSn°m-gvN-bn¬.................
Pohn-Xhpw kmln-Xyhpw Pohn-X-sØbpw kmln-Xy-sØbpw km\p-am-kvd-d¿ thdn-´p-Im-Wp-∂n-√.-A-tXk-a-bw,-I-e-bn-em-bmepw Pohn-X-Øn-embmepw kzbw ]pXp-°-ens‚ Bh-iyIX amkvd-d¿ Du∂n-∏-d-bp-∂p.-AXp Imem-\p-kr-Xa - m-bn-cn-°W - s - a∂pw amjv hmZn-°p-∂p.- Fs‚ Pohn-X-ho-£Ww cq]-s∏-Sp-∂-Xn¬ tZhn-s‚bpw XI-gn-bpsSbpw addpw kmlnXykrjvSn-Iƒ kzm[o\w sNep-Øn-bn-´p-≠v.-A-Xp-sIm≠p-X-s∂,-A-h¿ hf¿Øn-sb-SpØ kmln-Xy-{]-ÿm-\Ø - ns‚ t\¿°v F∂n¬ A\m-Z-c-ap-≠m-hpI km[y-a-√.]t£, Im-em-\p-kr-X-amb A`n-cpNn \ho-Ic - Ww \S-∂p-sIm-≠n-cp-∂n-s√-¶n¬ kmln-Xy-Øn¬ \n›-e-Xtbm Po¿WXtbm D≠m-hp-∂p.-km-ln-Xy-[¿Ω-sØ-∏ddn ]ptcm-K-a\ kmln-Xy-{]-ÿm\w ]pe¿Øp∂ BZ¿i-Øn\v Ct∏m-sg-∂√,-F-t∏mgpw {]k‡nbp≠v...... AkvX-an-°mØ shfn®w F∂ IrXnbmWv ]pkvX-I-cq-]-Øn¬ {]Im-in-∏n® BZyPoh-N-cn-{Xw.-B¬_¿´v ssjzddvk¿ F∂ alm-\mb a\p-jykvt\-ln-bpsS IY-bm-Wn-Xv. 1965 ˛ ¬ At±lw Nc-a-a-S™ ]{Xhm¿Ø -hm-bn®-t∏mƒ Hcp eLp-{K-Ÿ-sa-¶nepw cNn-®vFs‚ Bcm-[-\m-`mhw {]Im-in-∏n-°-Wsa∂ B{Klw F∂n¬ Xo{h-am-bnØo¿∂p.-A-tX-h¿jwXs∂ B ]pkvXIw {]Im-in-∏n-°m≥ F\n°p
27
Kpcp-Z-£nW
`mKyw kn≤n-°p-Ibpw sNbvXp .amjv ]d-bp∂p . \mcm-b-W-Kp-c-p-kzman F∂ Poh-N-cn-{X-amWv ]n∂oSv cNn-°p-∂-Xv, hnthtIm-Zbw amkn-I-bn¬ \mep h¿jtØmfw JWvUix {]Im-in-∏n-®-Xn-\p-tijamWv IrXn {]kn-≤o-I-cn-®Xv.
kpK‘w ]c-Øp∂ kvarXn-Nn-{X߃ _jo¿:GIm¥hoYn-bnse Ah-[qX≥ F∂ Poh-N-cn-{X-Øn¬ Hcp hniz{]-Xn-`-bpsS _lp-h¿ÆNn{X-amWv km\pamjv hc-®n-´-Xv.-_-jo¿ F∂ IYm-Im-c≥,_-jo¿ F∂ a\p-jy≥,_-jo¿ F∂ Zm¿i-\n-I≥ Cu IrXn-bn¬ \nd-™p-
IÆo-cn¬ IpXn¿∂ _meyw Pohn-XZp:Jß-fpsS Ccpƒ \nd-™-Xm-bncp∂p _mey-Im-ew.-k-º-∂-amb Iq´p-IpSpw-_-Ønse AwK-am-bn-cp-s∂-¶nepw ]nXm-hns‚ ac-W-tijw \nXy-Zm-cn-{ZyØn-em-bn-cp∂p. Bdmw¢m n¬ ]Tn-°ptºmgmWv tcmK-sØ-Xp-S¿∂v ]nXmhns‚ acWw. Xd-hm-´n¬ \n∂v amdn AΩ-tbmsSm∏w Ign-bp-tºmƒ ho´n¬ B-lmcw Ign-°m-\n√mXn-cp-∂-Xn-\m¬ kv°qfn¬ Xe-I-d-ßn-hoW kμ¿`߃ t]mepw D≠m-bn-´p-≠v._ - meywapXte A`n-am-\n-bmbn-cp∂ km\p-am-jv -H-cn-°¬t]mepw Xs‚ kzIm-cyZp:J߃ Bcp-ambpw
I-Y-bn¬ At±-l-Øns‚ PohnXw ad-bn√msX hni-Z-am-°p-∂p-≠v.-
Imcn-°m-ap-dn-bnse k‘y IpSpw-_Ø - nse GI-k¥ - m-\a - mbncp∂p.A-—≥ Fw.kn. tIi-h≥.-A-—s‚ hoSmb awK-e-ØmWv P\n-®p-h-f¿∂-Xv. AΩ sI.]n. `hm-\n.-B-e-∏p-gbv°p kao]-ap-ff Im´q¿ {Kma-Ønse {]mNo-\-amb Ipcp-°-t»cn Xd-hm-´nse AwK-amWv . `mcy ap≥a{¥n ssh°w am[-hs‚ ]p{Xn F≥.-c-Xv\-Ω-bm-Wv.-a-°ƒ A©pt]-cm-Wv.-c-RvPn-Øv,-tc-J,-Ko-X,-ko-X,-lmcnkv. kz¥w Imcy-߃ Bhp-∂n-S-tØmfw kzbw sNøp-I,-B¿°pw `mc-am-Im-Xn-cn°p-I -_meywapX-ep-ff km\p-am-jns‚ Cu ioeØn\v C∂pw Hcp amd-d-hp-an√.kv-°qƒ hnZym¿∞n-bm-bn-cp∂ ImeØv h¿jw-tXmdpw shf-f-cn,-X-Æn-aØ≥,-]-S-hew apX-em-bh Irjn-sNbvXp t]m∂p.-A-h-bpsS ^e-߃ kvt\l-ap≈h¿°v hoXn®p sImSp-°p-∂-Xn-em-bncp∂p km\p-am-jn\v kt¥m-jw.
\n¬°p-∂p.-_-jo-dns‚ th¿]mSv km\pamjv C{]-Im-c-amWv tcJ-s∏-Sp-Øn-bn-cn°p-∂-Xv. Ah-cpsS kvt\l-io-X-f-amb Ic-kv]¿iw A\p-`-hn-®p-sIm-≠n-cnt°,ssh°w apl-ΩZv _jo¿ F∂ A\p-Kr-loXIYm-Im-c≥ im¥n-bpsS Xocw {]m]n-®p.-am-\-h-cm-insb am{Xa√,Poh-Pm-e-ß-sf-sbm-s°bpw `qtKm-fsØbpw {]]-©-sØbpw kvt\ln-®ncp∂ B lrZ-b-Øns‚ kv]μ\w \ne®p.
28
]¶n-Sm≥ Xøm-dm-bn-cp-∂n-√ .-hn-i∏pw GIm-¥-Xbpw adn-I-S-°m≥ I≠ GIt]mw-hgn ]pkvX-I-߃ hmbn-°p-I-bmbn-cp-∂p.-_meywapXteXpS-ßnb ]c∂ hmb\ ]n∂o-Sp-ff At±-lØns‚ Pohn-X-Øn\v IcpØv ]mIn.-]n-evImeØv At±-l-Øns‚ Hcp IrXn-bn¬ Cßs\ Ipdn-®n-´p: kz¥w Zp:JØn¬ ss[cyhpw A\y-cpsS Zp:JØn¬ A\p-Xm-]hpw ˛ CXmWp Ipeo-\-X-bpsS e£-Ww. -. I¿Ω-KXn F∂ km\p-am-jns‚ Bfl-
`mh-ß-fpsS inev]n-bmb K‘¿h-I-hnsb-∂mWv Nß-ºp-gsb km\pamjv hnti-jn-∏n-°p-∂-Xv. N-ß-ºpg IrjvW]n-ff: \£-{X-ß-fpsS kvt\l-`m-P-\w F∂ Poh-N-cn-{X-Øn¬ Hcp Zpc-¥-I-Ym]m-{X-Øns‚ Hu∂Xyw Nß-ºpg F∂ Ihn-bn¬ km\p-amjv ImWp-∂p≠v.sI.kn.am-a≥ am∏n-f,-k-tlm-Z-c≥ Aø-∏≥,]m¿hXn AΩ,-bp-‡n-hmZn Fw.kn.-tPm-k^v F∂n-h-cpsS Poh-N-cn-{XØn¬ Ah-cpsS PohnXw Xpd∂p]d-bp∂-Xn-t\m-sSm∏w tIc-f-Øns‚ kmaqlnI ˛ cmjv{Sob Ncn{Xw IqSn tcJ-s∏-Sp-Ønb-Xmbn km\p-amjv Nq≠n-°m-´p-∂p.almIhn -Ip-am-c-\m-ims‚ Poh-N-cn-{X-Øn¬ ae-bmf Imhy-N-cn{Xw IqSn ]d-bp-∂p-≠v. Fw.-tKm-hn-μ\n¬ At±-l-Øns‚ ]eXcw kn≤n-Iƒ HØp-tN-cp-∂p.- v. ]m¿hXn AΩ F∂ Poh-N-cn{Xw eLp-hm-bn-´p-ff H∂m-Wv.-k-tlm-Z-c≥ Aø-∏s‚ [¿Ω-]-Xv\n-bmWv ]m¿hXn AΩ.-kz¥w AΩ-sb-t∏msebmWv km\p-amjv Ahsc kvt\ln-®n-cp∂Xv.At±lw ]d-bp-∂p.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
Hd-d-sbm-d-d-bmb kmlnXyIrXn-I-sf-°pdn®pw km\p-amjv At\Iw hna¿i-\߃ Fgp-Xn-bn-´p-≠v. -Im-ddpw shfn®hpw F∂ BZy-Ir-Xn-bnse Ip‰hpw in£bpw F∂ teJ\w kn.sP tXmakns‚ B a\p-jy≥ \oXs∂ F∂ \mS-I-Øns‚ hna¿i-\-am-Wv.- Xmgvh-cbnse k‘y F∂ ]pkvX-I-Øns‚ H∂mw`mK-Øn¬ Ggp-t]-sc-°p-dn-®p-ff kvac-W-I-fp-≠v.-H-∂m-a-tØXv hn.-Sn.-`-´-Xncn-∏m-Sn-s\-°p-dn-®m-Wv.-B-Zy-ambn hn.Sn.sb I≠p-ap-´p∂ kμ¿`-tØm-Sp-IqSn hnh-cWw XpS-ßp-∂p.-]n-∂oSv hn.-Sn-bpsS hy‡nXzw hc-®p-Im-Wn-°p∂p.tI-c-fØns‚ kmaqlnIPohn-X-Øn\v B hnπh-Imcn \¬Inb kw`m-h-\-Isfs¥∂v XpS¿∂v hy‡-am-°p-Ibpw sNøp-∂p. B¿.-kp-K-X≥ F∂ kpK-X≥ kmdns‚ Nn{X-amWv c≠m-aXphcp-∂-Xv.-hn.-Sn-sb°pdn®pff hnh-c-W-Øn\v Iem]w Hcp Bfl-_en F∂ t]cm-Wp-f-f-sX-¶n¬ kpK-X≥kmdns‚ Nn{X-W-Øn\v \¬Inbn-cn-°p∂ t]cv sXmgn-emfn h¿jØns‚ al¿jn F∂m-Wv. Imddpw shfn-®hpw, N{I-hmfw, aÆn\v aÆns‚ KpWw, {]`m-X-Z¿i\w, Npa-cnse Nn{X-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
߃,cmP-hoYn, Ah-[m-cWw,A\p-`q-XnbpsS \nd-߃, AXn¿h-c-ºp-I-fn√msX,D∂-Xm-flm-°-fpsS Poh-c‡w, Aim-¥n-bn¬\n∂v im¥n-bn-te-°v,Fs‚ hgn-b-º-e-߃,Fgp-Øns‚ \m\m¿∞߃,hna¿i-\-Ønse cmP-inev]n,Xpd∂ PmeIw, Imhy-XXz {]th-inI F∂n-hbmWv km\p-am-jns‚ {][m\ kmlnXy hna¿i\߃.A©p imkv{X \mbI≥am¿,hnizm-k-Øn-te°p ho≠pw, Ata-cn-°≥ kmlnXyw,ssKUv F∂n-hbmWv hnh¿Ø-\IrXn-Iƒ. B≤ym-fl-cmam-bWØn\pw {ioa-lm-`m-K-hXØn\pw km\p-amjv cNn® hymJym-\-߃ Gsd {i≤ ]nSn-®p-]-d-dn-bn-cp-∂p.
{io\m-cm-b-W-Kp-cp-hns‚ Poh-XØn-eqsS {io\m-cm-bW Kpcp-hns‚ ktμ-i-߃ {]N-cn-∏n-°p-∂hcn¬ F∂pw km\p-amjv ap∂n-em-Wv.{- ]-ÿm-\ß - fpw ÿm]-\ß - f - pambn kl-I-cn-®mWv B {]h¿Ø\߃ \S-Øn-hc - p-∂Xvv.ÿ - m-]\ - ß-fpsS `mc-hm-lnXzw GsddSp°m≥ s]mXpsh At±lØn\v XmXv]-cy-an√.-F¶nepw bqWn-th-gvkn-d-dn-bn¬ HutZym-Kn-
I-]-Z-hn-Iƒ Ipd-®p-Imew At±lw hln®n-´p-≠v.-tI-cfm bqWn-th-gvkn-d-dn-bpsS Iogn¬ {io\m-cm-bW kvddUn sk‚¿ BZy-ambn XpS-ßn-bXv km\p-am-jns‚ t\Xr-Xz-Øn-embncp∂p..B sk‚-dn\v At±lw {io\m-cm-bW kvdd-Un-sk‚¿ t^m¿ tkmjy¬ tN©v (Sree Narayana Study Centre for Social Change)F∂p t]cv \¬In-sb-¶nepw AXv {]tbm-K-Øn¬ hcp-Øm≥ km[n-®n-√.-]n-∂oSv Fw.Pn. bqWn-th-gvkn-d-dn-bn¬ ÿm]n-X-amb {io\m-cm-bW]oTw km\p-am-jn-s\-bmWv BNm-cy-\mbn \ntbm-Kn-®-Xv.ae-bm-fØnse {it≤-b-amb kmlnXyhmcn-I-Ifm-bn-cp∂ Ip-¶p-aw,-hy-Xn-bm-\w,-\-h-tIcfw F∂hbpsS ]{Xm-[n-]¿ IqSn-bm-bncp∂p. \mcm-b-W-Kp-cp-kzman F∂ Poh-Ncn-{X-{K-Ÿ-sØ°pdn®v km\p-amjv ]d-bp∂Xv Cß-s\-bmWv. km[m-c-W- K-Xn-bn-epff ho£-Ww-sImt≠m am\-ZWvUw sImt≠m a\- n-em-°m≥ Ign-bp-∂-Xn¬ Ihn™ Ft¥m H∂v kzman-bpsS hy‡n-Xz-Øn-ep-f-f-Xmbn Rm≥ Adn™p.-AS- p-°p-∂h - s - c-sb√mw Bcm-[I - cm°n amd-dp∂ B Awi-amWv kzmanbpsS hy‡n-Xz-Øns‚ ssNX-\y-tI-{μsa∂pw F\n°pw a\- n-em-bn.-A-hm-Ny-
29
Kpcp-Z£ - nW
amb Cu AwisØ shfn-s∏-Sp-Øm-\pff {ia-amWv {io\m-cm-b-W-Kp-cp-hns‚ Poh-N-cn-{Xsagp-Xm≥ Fs∂ t{]cn-∏n®Xvv.
{]`m-j-W-Øn-\mbn bm{X-Iƒ bm{X-I-sf∂pw km\p-am-jn\v lc-am-bncp∂p.-C¥y-bn¬ sNss∂,-_mw-•q¿,ssl-{Zm-_m-Zv,-apw-_m-bv,-U¬ln apX-emb \K-c-ß-fn¬ ae-bmfn kwL-S-\-I-fpsS ktΩ-f-\-ß-fn¬ km\p-amjv {]`m-j-W߃ \S-Øn-bn-´p-≠v.C¥ybv°p shfnbnepw \nc-h-[n-X-hW bm{X sNbvXn´p≠v.-BZyw tamkvtIm-bn-emWv (1984) t]mb-Xv.I - e - m-Im-c≥am-cpsS temIkw-L-\-bmb ^nb (FIA) £Wn-®-X-\pk-cn®v ]ptcm-K-a\ Iem-km-ln-Xy-Øns‚ {]Xn-\n-[n-sb∂ \ne-bn¬ At±lw tamkvtIm-bn-se-Øn.-tkm-hn-b-ddv bqWnb-\nse c≠p \K-c-߃ IqSn At∏mƒ kμ¿in-°m≥ km[n-®p.]n∂oSv IpSpw-_t£aw (Seminar on Family Welfare) F∂ hnjbsØ°pdn®v kwL-Sn-∏n® Hcp skan-\m-dn¬ kw_-‘n-°m≥ 1988 ˛ ¬
30
bm{X-I-sf∂pw km\p-am-jn\v lc-am-bncp∂p.-C¥y-bn¬ sNss∂,- _mw-•q¿,ssl-{Zm-_m-Zv,- apw-_m-bv,- U¬ln apXemb \K-cß - f - n¬ ae-bmfn kwL-S\ - I - fpsS ktΩ-f\ - ß - f - n¬ km\p-amjv {]`mj-Wß - ƒ \S-Øn-bn-´p-≠v. C¥ybv°p shfn-bnepw \nc-h[ - n-Xh - W bm{X sNbvXn´p≠v.-
kzoU-\n-te°v bm{X sNbvXp.B Ahk-c-Øn¬ bqtdm-∏nse Nne cmPy-߃ Xoh-≠n-bn¬ bm{X sNbvXv kμ¿in°m≥ km[n-®p.-s_¬Pn-bw,- kzn‰vk¿e‚ v, tdmw F∂o cmPy-ß-fmWv kμ¿in-®-Xv.-]n-∂oSv Ab¿e‚ v,-Cw-•-≠v,-
P¿Ω-\n,-A-ta-cn° F∂o cmPy-ß-fn¬ t]mbn.-\yq-tbm¿°n¬ ae-bm-fn-I-fpsS {]apJ ÿm]-\-amb tIc-fm-sk‚¿ DZvLm-S\ thf-bn¬ apJy-{]`m-jWw \SØn.-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
STUDENT OF THE MONTH
T
ijo Jose, an M.Tech computer science student at National Institute of Technology, Calicut, has bagged a placement offer of Rs70 lakh from Google Inc. This is the highest ever salary offer received by an engineering student from any technical institute in the state, according to a statement from NIT. The previous record of the 50-year-old NIT (formerly Regional Engineering College) in terms of salary was Rs22 lakh received by two PG students in 2011-12 from McDermott Inc, an MNC. Tijo has been selected to the Google’s Mountain View office, USA. Tijo is son of Jose Joseph, an agriculturist and Annet Jose, a homemaker in ‘Nedungatt house,’ Vazhakulam near Thodupuzha in Idukki. Jonitha Alphonsa Jose is his sister and Sanal Jose, brother.
My Profile I am Tijo Jose (Tuttu) An M.Tech. (CSE - Mathematical Foundations and Algorithms) Student of National Institute of Technology, Calicut. I did my B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from Viswajyothi College of Engineering and Technology, Vazhakulam. I live with my family in Vazhakulam (The Pineapple City), Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam Dt., Kerala, India. (Presently, at NITC Hostel) Well, I wanted to become an astronomer. That was my best, first and foremost vision. I was and am fascinated by the deepest and darkest mysteries of the premises of the earth. Stars used to tickle
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
me in my dreams. The way stars are born, live young and old, and die! Oh! how exciting it is just to hear that. And they live after their death as black holes or pulsars. And the nebulae of the universe. The jewel in the crown. To study extra terrestrial, to explore extra terrestrial, to capture extra terrestrial, to understand extra terrestrial. Oh! how I dream them. But now, I am on the way of becoming a computer engineer. Still, my vision is with me. I’ll never let go. May be you can call me a Maths wizard. B’coz the only area I found interesting in school was the study of Mathematics. And to be honest, I did it well too! Isn’t it wonderful to play with numbers? Like the countless stars in the sky, the count of the
countless numbers is just addictive to me. I love proving this and that in maths, which may be of really no use to anyone (sometimes, it really is useful...you see...that is how great mathematicians are born), but is of great satisfaction to my mind. There lies the greatest pleasure, when you enjoy something, like anything. The part of math I love most is everything except nothing. I luuurrrvvv to do programming. But ain’t no hero at it. In the upcoming stage. Can do almost medium rated programs myself in a relatively few languages I know. I enjoy reading books. Not study materials but library materials. Born on March 3, 1990, Knows English, Malayalam, Hindi
31
Babu Moopa leadership S
elling cars is his profession. But, M. A. M. Babu Moopan, the Chairm Kochi, is a different business man in terms of values and principles. of keeping relations from his Rajagiri days. That is why he respects valu mobiles and all other technological luxuries of the modern life were a di weren’t Google ‘smart’, they depended on their teachers for knowledg lessons of life from Rajagiri. When I look back to those days with a nost on the values and morals which I acquired from my school days”, says B vision about life in an exclusive interview with Pallikkutam. Excerpt:
What are your recollections about the school days? Lot of emotions and feelings connected with Rajagiri. School days were the best period in my life. I am talking about early 70’s. The best available option for any parent at that time was Rajagiri School. I should say, the best school in Kerala. We were only 40 students in our class. It was like a second home for all of us. We really enjoyed our school life. Can you tell us about the recent meeting of your school mates? We thought about meeting all our batch mates three years back. We organized a programme and tried to invite all over class mates. It was a herculean task to connect with the class mates of that time. But we did that. Some of them are in the remotest places across the globe. We organized it in one August 15, as it was a convenient day for all
32
of us. It was a two days programme. Early morning we met at a place. We took our old school bus, which was there. We travelled in the same route to Rajagiri campus as we did in our child hood. We had a morning prayer, we had an assembly, we hoisted the flag as it was August 15th. We went to the same class room. We had even the bell ringing by the same peon who was present there. We attended two class by our old teachers. We had an interval after the class and we had the same kind of cricket match. Then we had lunch, we spent almost half day. We all were in uniforms including tie. Everything was like the same as our school days. What is the most important lesson you learnt from Rajagiri? We learnt lot of things from Rajagiri. The first thing is the value of keeping relations with our friends, teachers and parents. Rajagiri taught me to keep lifelong relations and it helped me a lot in my career.
Do you think that the technological developments are helpful for the students? Modern devices are very user friendly even to the children. It is all depends on how it is utilized. It is the individual who decides how to use the technology. Technology is always helping us in our business and daily life. It can be used for negative and positive aspects. What is your success mantra in business? I believe in team work. Every success in my life depends on team work. I have almost 2500 employees working with me. I don’t call them employees and they don’t call me boss. We have leaders and the captain for the team. I was a football player in my school days. Like a football team, here I am the captain and all other players contribute to the success of the team. There are no super stars in our team. We don’t need super stars.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
an and the art of
man and Managing Director of Nippon Toyota at ‘Team work’ is his secret of success. He learnt the art ues and principles above business. Computers, istant dream for the students of his time. They e. “Life was different on those days. We learnt the talgic feeling, I could understand that I built up my life Babu Moopan. He shares his memories, views and
Everyone contributing to the success of the company. What is your role as a leader? My role as the leader is to ensure the smooth running of the company. All my team members share the responsibility. To jell all the people and their talents is the skill what the leader of the company needs. My duty is mainly man management. I don’t delegate anyone. I empower them. When I empower somebody he can do what I would have done at that point of time. All my key team members are here for more than 13 years. They know what I would do in a particular situation and when I empower them they also do the same thing. You have been working with General Motors, U.S.A., Toyota, Japan and Daimler A. G., Germany. How do you evaluate them? Culture of American companies is totally
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
different from others. They work for five days a week. It is a casual approach by Americans. They don’t need everything in black and white. But they know how to run the business. But for Japanese, everything should be in black and white and everything should be transparent. They are really workaholic. They make you work like anything. Japanese are not person driven but process driven companies. They are not dependent on individuals. If an individual moves out nothing will happen. You can learn millions of things from Japanese. I just started working with Germans and I am yet to comment on them. What is your philosophy in life? When we are talking about philosophy in life, first of all we should think that why we
came to this world, in this century or this point of time. You have to know why you are here. You should have a clear direction. There is a mission in life. That is why you have been sent to this world. You should have clear lines to be drawn in your life. You can go on making wealth. There is no end for it. But you should know where to stop. A successful person is one who is leading a calm and quiet life. A person himself is responsible for that. Humility is the first thing a person needs in his life. Others are also working like you. So you should be humble before them.
33
LIMELIGHT
Need for Vocationalisation of Education in India Ms. Swati Mujumdar, is currently the Director of Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning and Principal Director of SymbiosisOpen Education Society. Her area of research is higher education, distance education and use of ICT in education. She has a keen interest in various policies related to higher education, privatization of education and has presented several papers in national and international conferences.
Swati Mujumdar Director, Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning
Vocational Education and Training (VET) is an important element of the nation’s education initiative. In order for Vocational Education to play its part effectively in the changing national context and for India to enjoy the fruits of the demographic dividend, there is an urgent need to redefine the critical elements of imparting vocational education and training to make them flexible, contemporary, relevant, inclusive and creative.
Current Scenario of Vocational Education and Training in India
I
n India, skill acquisition takes place through two basic structural streams – a small formal one and a large informal one. Details of major formal sources are listed in table 2. Status of Vocational Training received: The World Bank report of 2006, shows that among persons of age 15-29 only about 2 per cent reported to have received formal vocational training and another 8 per cent reported to have received non formal vocational training. The proportion of persons (15-29 years) who received formal vocational training was the highest among the unemployed. The proportion was around 3 per cent for the employed, 11 percent for the unemployed and 2 per cent for persons not in the labour force.
34
Comparison with other Countries: There is little capacity in vocational education in India and even that is under-utilized. World Bank Report suggests that the enrolment figure is less than three per cent of the students attending Grades 11-12. This implies that between 350,000 to 400,000 students are enrolled in vocational education, which works out to less than three per cent of the 14 million students or more in Grades 11 and 12, implying that less than one per cent of students who had entered Grade 1 over the last decade or so would have eventually participated in vocational education. In comparison the status in various other countries is as shown in (Table 3) Problem Areas in present Vocational
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
LIMELIGHT
The structure of current education system can be described as in Table 1
Education and Training System Through, the study of the prevalent Vocational Education System in India the following problem areas have been identified 1. There is a high drop out rate at Secondary level. There are 220 million children who go to school in India. Of these only around 12% students reach university. A large part of the 18-24 years age group in India has never been able to reach college. Comparing India to countries with similar income levels – India does not under perform in primary education but has a comparative deficit in secondary education. Vocational Education is presently offered at Grade 11, 12th – however students reaching this Grade aspire for higher education. Since the present system does not allow vertical mobility, skills obtained are lost. Enrollment in 11th & 12th Grade
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
of vocational education is only 3% of students at upper secondary level. About 6800 schools enroll 400,000 students in vocational education schemes utilizing only 40% of the available student capacity in these schools. 3. International experience suggests that what employers mostly want are young workers with strong basic academic skills and not just vocational skills. The present system does not emphasize general academic skills. The relative wages of workers with secondary education are increasing.
for continuous skill up-gradation. 6. There is a lack of experienced and qualified teachers to train students on vocational skills. In foreign countries Bachelors of Vocational Education (BVE) is often a mandatory qualification for teachers. However, in India no specific qualifications are being imparted for Vocational Education teachers. 7. Vocationalization at all levels has not been successful. Poor quality of training is not in line with industry needs.
4. Private & Industry Participation is lacking. There are no incentives for private players to enter the field of vocational education.
8. There is no definite path for vocational students to move from one level / sector to another level / sector. Mobility is not defined and hence students do not have a clear path in vocational education.
5. Present regulations are very rigid. InService Training is required but not prevalent today. There is no opportunity
9. No clear policy or system of vocational education leading to certification / degrees presently available for the
35
LIMELIGHT
Polytechnics train about 450,000 people within communities annually and NIOS offers 85 courses through 700 providers.
unorganized / informal sector. No Credit System has been formulated for the same. Over 90% of employment in India is in the Informal sector. JSS offers 255 types of vocational courses to 1.5 million people, Community Polytechnics train about 450,000 people within communities annually and NIOS
36
offers 85 courses through 700 providers. None of these programs have been rigorously evaluated, till date. 10. Expansion of vocational sector is happening without consideration for present problems.
The industrial and labour market trends clearly indicate the necessity of strengthening of vocational education in India. The introduction of vocational education at secondary level through bivalent schools and SSC (vocational) will enable us to broaden the vocational education base at secondary level of education. A clear pathway for vocational students to enter higher education streams is the way to move forward. Through this concept note we have made an endeavour to provide some of the possible solutions to address these issues. Framing of vocational qualification framework, introduction of vocational degrees and setting up of a Vocational University with polytechnics, community colleges, CPs and other VEPs as affiliated colleges are some of the recommendations which require further deliberation at National and State level.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
COVER STORY
Networking in the Age of
Social Media Using social media Web sites is among the most common activity of today’s children and adolescents. Any Web site that allows social interaction is considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter; gaming sites and virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Second Life, and the Sims; video sites such as YouTube; and blogs. Such sites offer today’s youth a portal for entertainment and communication and have grown exponentially in recent years. For this reason, it is important that parents become aware of the nature of social media sites, given that not all of them are healthy environments for children and adolescents. In this cover story we discuss about the positive and negative impact of social media . Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
37
COVER STORY
Revolutions Through Social Networks Five Reasons
D
uring the Internet’s early days, the easiest way you could find someone that shared your core beliefs or interests was to discover a website. Direct interaction was either non-existent or very limited. Five of the biggest reasons social networks have the ability to foster social revolution.
1. It’s Easy To Find Similarly-Minded People What social networks bring to the table is the quick and easy ability to find a very large population of people in the world that share your beliefs.
38
For example, Ann wrote a brilliant article listing 3 great tools for searching Twitter for people. One of the best tools is Twiangulate, which lets you search for tweeters that often issue tweets on topics that interest you. Then there’s Nancy’s article on visualizing Twitter, which included a mention of Twittermap. It doesn’t take very long to see how useful this app is to find other Twitter users near you that share your common interests in promoting freedom. You can follow local Twitter users, send them private messages, grow your social network and collaborate with other people near you. The ease with which such social networking tools let you connect with other people is the single biggest reason why social networks foster revolution.
2. It’s Simple To Plan & Organize So how much good does following Twitter users do if the authorities work to prevent you from gathering together in groups to plan out your protests? Well, that leads us to the second reason social networks are so powerful for revolutionaries – they provide you with a place to privately organize and plan. Facebook groups let you plan out events and other actions, and members of that group can comment. Another great social networking tool you can use to plan protest events privately is with a shared Google Calendar. To do this, all you
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
COVER STORY
have to do is share the calendar with specific people (in the Calendar settings), by typing in their email address. By providing a shared calendar space, members of your revolutionary group can plan and schedule specific events where everyone in the group can see. You can either set up the calendar so you’re the only person that can add events, or make it truly collaborative by letting everyone add events.
3. It Cuts Across Social Boundaries Another reason why social sites, like forums in particular, lead to revolution is because these forums cut across boundaries that used to be blocked by geography alone. For example, when you’ve got a forum like WhyWeProtest’s “Free Iran” forum, it becomes clear very fast just how many perspectives you can get on issues regarding individual “freedom.” Just reading through posts from people struggling for freedom from a powerful regime is a real eye-opener. Online forums provide you with perspectives that may very well open your eyes to things taking place in other countries that you never would have known about. For people living in countries under a strict regime or tight government censorship, that awareness can go a long way toward inciting revolution.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
4. It Encourages Freedom Of Expression The nature of social media – like Facebook and Twitter – provides people with a greater ability to share their thoughts freely and openly. Reading some of the thoughts and ideas from many of these protestors and human rights advocates, it’s very enlightening to see just how well and clearly people express their discontent with their government when they are given the chance. Whether it’s on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll find amazing advocacy groups that are making a huge impact by releasing information and facts about dictatorships and their human rights abuses – information that, years ago, would have been more easily covered up and hidden. Today, thanks to the speed and efficiency of status updates on sites like Facebook and Twitter, these governments are finding it far more difficult to hide the truth from the world.
5. It is Accessible From Anywhere Finally, the last reason why social networks are so effective at sparking revolution is the fact that access is so difficult for governments to stop. Short of pulling the
Whether it’s on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll find amazing advocacy groups that are making a huge impact by releasing information and facts about dictatorships and their human rights abuses – information that, years ago, would have been more easily covered up and hidden. entire plug on the Internet, governments will do their best to filter and halt the flow of information in and out of the country. However, it is nearly impossible to stop crafty and creative computer gurus from finding a way around the various firewalls that these governments use. No matter what tools you use, the beauty of the Internet and social networking is that it is accessible – and when people can meet and communicate with other people from other countries and other cultures, a very powerful “awakening” can happen. People realize that they, too, have the right as a human to enjoy a life that is free of oppression and fear.
39
COVER STORY
Self-Harming And Suicide In Young People The Impact Of Social Networking Sites
W
orldwide, suicide is the most prevalent cause of death in female teenagers, and the third most common cause of death in male adolescents, after road traffic accidents and violence. In a study published in The Lancet, researchers examine existing research in order to look at the associations between self-harm and suicide in young people. According to official estimates 164,000 people commit suicide each year, but Professor Keith Hawton, Dr Kate Saunders of the University of Oxford’s Center for Suicide Research, and Professor Rory O’Connor of University Stirling’s Suicidal Behavior Research Laboratory, UK, say that this figure is likely to be significantly more. They highlight that official classifications often hide deaths from suicide to protect families, especially in places where selfinflicted deaths are still considered a criminal act.
40
Women more likely to be addicted to Facebook Women are more likely to become addicted to Facebook, according to researchers who designed a chart of symptoms signalling whether someone has an unhealthy devotion to social networking.
people in person, they added.
People who suffered from anxiety or social insecurity were heavier users of the website, most likely because they found it easier to use the technology than to communicate with
Scoring “often” or “very often” on at least four of the criteria suggests you may be addicted to Facebook, according to the study published in the Psychological Reports journal.
The study also found that extroverted people were more likely to be addicted to Facebook, while people who were well organised and ambitious were less at risk, Psychologists from the University of Bergen using the website primarily for work or in Norway studied 423 students for signs of networking purposes. addictive behaviour in the way they used and The findings were measured using the felt about Facebook. “Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale”, a new They found that some participants showed list of six criteria for each of which a person clear signs of “Facebook addiction” similar to is given a score from one (“very rarely”) to those exhibited by people addicted to drugs, five (“very often”). alcohol and other chemical substances. Categories include feeling an urge to use Younger people were more likely to become Facebook an increasing amount, trying and dependent on Facebook than older people failing to limit your use of the website, and and women were at greater risk than men, feeling unsettled if you are denied access to the researchers said. your account.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
COVER STORY
?
Are You a Facebook Addict A
re you a social media enthusiast or simply a Facebook addict? Researchers from Norway have developed a new instrument to measure Facebook addiction, the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. “The use of Facebook has increased rapidly. We are dealing with a subdivision of Internet addiction connected to social media,” Doctor of Psychology Cecilie Schou Andreassen says about the study, which is the first of its kind worldwide. Andreassen heads the research project “Facebook Addiction” at the University of Bergen (UiB). An article about the results has just been published in the renowned journal Psychological Reports. She has clear views as to why some people develop Facebook dependency. “It occurs more regularly among younger than older users. We have also found that people who are anxious and socially insecure use Facebook more than those with lower scores on those traits, probably because those who are anxious find it easier to communicate via social media than faceto-face,” Andreassen says. People who are organised and more ambitious tend to be less at risk from Facebook addiction. They will often use social media as an integral part of work and networking. “Our research also indicates that women are more at risk of developing Facebook addiction, probably due to the social nature of Facebook,” Andreassen says.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
People who are organised and more ambitious tend to be less at risk from Facebook addiction. They will often use social media as an integral part of work and networking. According to Andreassen, the research also shows that Facebook addiction was related to extraversion. People with high scores on the new scale further tend to have a somewhat delayed sleep-wake rhythm.
Six warning signs As Facebook has become as ubiquitous as television in our everyday lives, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many people to know if they are addicted to social media. Andreassen’s study shows that the symptoms of Facebook addiction resemble those of drug addiction, alcohol addiction, and chemical substance addiction. The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale is based on six basic criteria, where all items are scored on the following scale: (1) Very rarely, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often, and (5) Very often:
You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or plan use of Facebook. You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more. You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems. You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success. You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook. You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies. Andreassen’s study shows that scoring “often” or “always” on at least four of the seven items may suggest that you are addicted to Facebook.
About the Scale In January 2011, 423 students – 227 women and 196 men – participated in tests for the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. The scale can facilitate treatment research, clinical assessment and can be used for the estimation of Facebook addiction prevalence in the general population worldwide. The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale has been developed at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen in collaboration with the Bergen Clinics Foundation, Norway. The researchers involved are also working with instruments measuring other addictions, such as the recently introduced Bergen Work Addiction Scale.
41
COVER STORY
Social Media plays an important role Dr Johan Roos A Swedish national with two decades of work experience abroad Johan Roos is an internationally recognized scholar, adviser and source of inspiration in the field of strategy, innovation, and change. Dr. Roos is Dean and Managing Director of Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Sweden, where he also holds a professorship in strategy. Earlier he served as the President of Copenhagen Business School, where he led a major strategic change effort with a focus on repositioning CBS as a globally connected, regional competence hub on issues related to “Business-in-Society”, industry collaboration, as well as entrepreneurship and innovation. In this exclusive interview with Pallikkutam he speaks about the impact of social media in student community across the globe. What are the positive aspects and influence of social media on student community across the globe? The social media not only help students’ communication with each other but it enables cross boarders and crossgenerational communication, which is something that is vital in today’s world. Communication and availability are two key factors for survival in any business. With the help of social media we can communicate news to all our alumni through one channel, we can reach prospective students in the same way, and give information and news to current students similarly. Do you think that social media has an important role to play in the education sector? Why? Yes, it most certainly plays an important role, as all means of communication do. The
42
difference with the social media, compared to other types of communication and media, is that the information is levelled; all players are on the same page, the same field. We must practise and train ourselves to master the social media, but by doing so we will gain a whole new range of reaching out and getting our message across. Means of communication change with every generation and this is today’s way – we absolutely have to keep up with it. What will be the role of social media in education in the near future? I think it will be gradually more and more important, both in the everyday communication and in the formal communication. As the social media are gradually integrated into our everyday lives it would make sense that we also make that move.
How can social media contribute to the development of education in rural areas? It is an easily accessible and mobile way of communication. It literally eliminates limitations of communication, enabling distance learning and easy access to information. Do you think that developing countries like India and China are making the best use of technology in the education sector? If not, which are the areas to be improved? They should, and I think they have to reach some of the ambitious goals set. Neither India not China are able to open the thousands of universities it will take to educate all citizens. The internet is making it possible to educate those hundred of millions of people outside traditional class rooms I hope the decision makers in such growing economies take the lead in this necessary
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
COVER STORY development. However, this means rethinking some conventions and perhaps even overcoming some fears. Do you think that social media and other technological developments affected our relations and culture? It is too soon to say how the social media, new technological developments and most importantly the internet will affect our relations and cultures, however, I do think that it’s safe to say that it
probably is already influencing our values and assumptions, and that it will affect us even more in the years ahead. Not only in general terms of bringing the cultures closer together, but it will also make it painfully obvious which countries have not got the resources or possibilities to keep up in the race. What do you think as the major roadblock of development of education in India?
make India an innovation “superpower” by 2020 and it includes a range of great and very impressive initiatives, including a range of new universities. Contrast this ambitious vision with the recent policy decision that all schools should have a toilet (only half today). This contrast between vision and realities illustrates the real roadblocks to rapidly developing education throughout this amazing country.
The Indian Innovation Strategy 2020 aims to
Negative Impact Of Social Networking Sites On Society Dave Parrack
S
ocial networking sites aren’t a wholly positive influence on the world. In fact, if you delve just a little into how they have changed the world you find there are some potentially negative impacts social networking sites are having on society as a whole and each of us as individuals.
Friends? The idea of ‘friends‘ was once very simple. If you knew someone, hung out with them regularly, and liked their company then they were a friend. While the people who still fit that description are still your friends, so are the people you have connected with on social networking sites apparently. Whether you talk to them, care about what they’re up to, or have any interest in them whatsoever, they’re still listed as friends.
Self-Centered AttentionSeeking We all like to talk about ourselves or the things which interest us, which is the most basic reason social networking sites work. Those who shy away from doing so are unlikely to be on Facebook or Twitter, or if they are, their accounts will likely be sitting unloved and untouched. But there is passing on important news and telling anecdotes that will interest
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
people, and then there is detailing every single aspect of your life, no matter how dull or uninteresting it may be.
Short Attention Spans If you’re anything like me you will have noticed your attention span shortening in recent years. I can safely say that since the arrival of the Internet, and of social networking sites in particular, my mind flits between things at a faster rate than it once did. There is so much information to consume that we rarely spend any time exploring any of it in great depth.
Causing Distraction & Harming Productivity I work from home as a freelance writer. I love my job, but sometimes it’s hard to stay focused and on track. Especially when you work on the Web and cannot help but be surrounded by sites trying to seduce you into wasting time. Social networking sites are some of the worst offenders. Purely because they’re a constant stream of news and views from people who, for the most part, you want to listen to. Then there are the games, such as Angry Birds, Facebook Scrabble, and Zynga Poker,
which tempt you into playing for five minutes and end up consuming your whole afternoon. If you have a whole afternoon to spare then great, no harm done. But what about those working or studying? The distraction is harmful to productivity, and isn’t going to do society any good in the long term.
Breaking Up Relationships Reconnecting with old friends from school may seem a nice idea, and in many ways it is. You have a lot to talk about, stories to tell, reminiscences to bond over. But you may reconnect with someone you once adored from afar. And now that you’re all grown-up you may get the urge to explore feelings that went unrequited 20 or 30 years ago. If you’re already in a relationship this could spell disaster. It isn’t just old flames, either. People use social networking sites to hook up. Even if it’s a hook up of the extra-marital variety. I hate to think of the number of relationships and even marriages that have ended as a result of social networking. And when they do, where is the first place people share the news? On that same social networking site, of course.
43
COVER STORY
ssk_¿temIsØ
NXn-°p-gn-Iƒ AUz. Un.-_n. _n\p kv{X-˛k - m-t¶-Xn-Ih - n-Zy-bpsS hnkvab - m-hl-amb hnπhw G‰hpw {]I-Sa - m-bn- \ap°v t_m≤yw hcp-∂Xv ssk_¿ temI-Øm-Wv. hnhc hn\n-ab - c - w-KsØ AZv`p-XI - c - a - mb am‰w "kn‰n-k¨' F∂ ]ucs\ "s\‰n-k¨' B°n am‰n. cmPy-Øns‚ AXn-cp-Isf adn-IS- ∂ - p-sIm≠v `qansb Hcp s\√n-°t- bmfw sNdp-Xm-°n. AsX,
im
44
ssk_¿temIw \ΩpsS kZm-Nm-csØbpw \nb-a-ß-sfbpw aX-ß-sfbpw cmjv{So-bsØbpw F¥n\v temIsØØs∂ Iogvta¬ adn-®p. ssk_¿temIw Ccp-Xe - a - q¿®-bp≈ Hcphm-fmWv \ap°v \¬In-bX - v. hnh-ch - n\n-ab - Ø - ns‚ A£-bJ - \ - n-Iƒ \ap°v
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
COVER STORY
ssk_¿ Ip‰-Øn\v BZy-in£: sF.-Sn. \nb-a-{]-Imcw BZy-Ip-‰-hmfn in£n-°s∏-Sp-∂Xv sNss∂-bnemWv. 2004¬ hnhm-l-tamNn-X-bmb Hcp bph-XnbpsS A«o-e-t^mt´m tkmjy¬ s\‰v h¿°n¬ {]kn-≤o-I-cn°p-Ibpw A]-Io¿Øn-Ic-amb hnh-c-߃ \¬Ip-Ibpw sNbvXp F∂mWv Ip‰-]-{Xw.
Xpd∂pX∂-tXm-sSm∏w Acp-Xm-bvaI - f - p-sS, NXn°p-gn-If - psS ]pXn-sbmcp temIw \ap°p ap∂n¬ A\m-hc - Ww sNø-s∏-´p. Bh-iy-ap-≈h - ¿°v Bhiy-ap≈sX-Sp°mw F∂v kzX-{¥-hm-Zn-Iƒ AXns\ \ymbo-Ic - n-®p. ]t£, Nne-t∏m-sg-¶nepw hy‡nI-fpsS kzIm-cy-Xb - psS e£vaW - t- c-JI - ƒ AXnew-Ln-®p-sIm-≠p≈ {]h¿Ø-\ß - ƒ kZm-Nm-cØns‚ am{X-a√ kmaq-lnI-_‘ - ß - f - psSXs∂ sI´p-]m-Sp-Isf XI¿Øp. 1990-If - n¬ Hcp-e£ - wt]¿am-{X-amWv C‚¿s\‰n¬ IS-∂s - X-¶n¬ Ct∏mƒ 500-an-√y¨ P\ß-fn-te°v C‚¿s\-‰v ]S¿∂p-Ib - d- n. ssk_¿ s]cp-hg- n-bnse A]-Yk - © - m-c߃ Kpcp-Xc - a - mb kmaq-lnI-{]-iv\ßfmbn hf¿∂p. ssk_¿ Xo{h-hmZw cmjv{S-ßf - psS \ne-\n¬∏ns\ _m[n-®p. [m¿Ωn-I-hpw, knhn-epw, {Inan-\-ep-amb ]pXnb {]iv\ß - fpw krjvSn-°s - ∏-´p. ssk_¿ tIkp-Iƒ s]cp-Ip-∂p. amdp∂tem-I-Øn\v A\p-kr-X-ambn cq]s∏-Sp∂ ]pXnb Ip‰-Ir-Xy-ßsf t\cnSm≥ ]pXnb\nb-aß - ƒ A\n-hm-cy-am-Wv.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
ssk_¿Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃ Hcp cmPy-Øns‚tbm Hcp kaq-lØ - n-s‚tbm am{Xw {]iv\a - √ - m-ØX - p-sIm≠v AXv BtKm-fX - e - Øn¬ sFIcq-]y-ap≈ \nb-aß - ƒ Bhiy-am-bn. 2000 HIvtSm-_d- n¬ hnh-ck - m-t¶Xn-I\ - n-baw C¥y ]mkm-°p-tºmƒ temIØnse 16-˛m-asØ cmPy-ambn C¥y amdn. 2000-˛¬ 60 tIkp-If - mWv sF.-Sn.-\n-ba - {- ]Imcw C¥y-bn¬ cPn-ÿ sNø-s∏-´-Xv. AXn¬ 33% (20 tIkp-Iƒ) A«o-e{- ]-kc - -
Øn¬. 2007se IW-°\pk-cn®v C¥y≥ ssk_¿\nb-a{- ]-Imcw 217 tIkp-If - mWv cmPyØv cPn-ÿ sNø-s∏-´X - v. tIkp-Iƒ cPn-ÿ sNø-s∏-Sp-∂X - ns‚ FÆw Hmtcm h¿jhpw s]cp-In-s°m-≠n-cn-°p-∂p. ]t£, bYm¿∞ tIkp-If - psS FÆw F{Xtbm A[n-I-am-bn-cn-°pw. ]ecpw Cu kw`-hß - ƒ dnt∏m¿´p-sN-øp-∂X - n¬ hnapJ-cm-bn-cn-°pw. t]meo-kns‚ ]oU\w IqSn t\cn-tS-≠n-hcpw F∂ Bi-¶I - fpw D≠v.
W-hp-ambn _‘-s∏-´X - m-Wv. "ssk_¿ t]m¿tWm-{K^n' F∂m-Wn-Xv Adn-bs - ∏-Sp∂-X.v 2002¬ 70 tIkp-Iƒ dnt∏m¿´p sNø-s∏´p. 2003-˛¬ 60. CXn¬ "ssk_¿ t]m¿tWm-{K^n' F∂ Ip‰-Øn\v 17-t]¿ AdÃv sNø-s∏-´p. Cu h¿jw, C¥y≥ in£m-\n-b-a-hp-ambn _‘-s∏´ ssk_¿Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃°v 475 t]¿ AdÃp sNø-s∏-´p. 30-˛45 hb- p-≈h-cmWv Cu Ip‰-hm-fn-If - n¬ 45% KpP-dm-
kao-]I - m-eØp \S∂ Hcp k¿th A\p-kcn®v 500 ssk_¿ Ip‰-Ir-Xy-ßf - n¬ shdpw 50 FÆw am{X-amWv t]meo-kn\v dnt∏m¿´v sNbvXX - v. AXn¬ Hcp tIkp-am{X-amWv t]meokv cPn-ÿ sNbvXXv! hnhml-tam-Nn-X\ - mb ap≥`¿Øm-hmWv Cu Ip‰Ir-Xy-Øn\v ]n∂n-se-∂m-bn-cp∂p {]Xn-`m-KØns‚ hmZw. F∂m¬ hnZ-Kv[k - m-£n-Isfbpw ssk_¿Is^ DS-aÿ - s - \bpw tImSXn hnkvXc - n-®p. 2 h¿jsØ ITn-\X - S-hn\pw Hcp h¿jsØ shdpwXS-hn\pw
45
COVER STORY
tNmZyw sNbvXt- ∏mƒ e`n® adp-]S- n.
sNss∂ tIkv
5000 cq] ]ngbv°pw in£n-®p. ssk_¿ Ip‰-Øn\v BZy-in£ sF.-Sn. \nb-a-{]-Imcw BZy-Ip-‰-hmfn in£n-°s - ∏-Sp-∂Xv sNs∂-bn-emWv 2004¬ hnhm-lt- am-Nn-Xb - mb Hcp bph-Xn-bpsS A«o-et- ^mt´m tkmjy¬ s\‰vh¿°n¬ {]kn-≤o-Ic - n-°p-Ibpw A]-Io¿Øn-Ic - amb hnh-cß - ƒ \¬Ip-Ibpw sNbvXp F∂mWv Ip‰-]{- Xw. Nn{Xw {]kn-≤o-Ic - n-®tXmsS iey-s∏-Sp-Øp∂ sSen-t^m¨ tImfp-If - psS {]hm-la - m-bn. bphXn t]meo-kn\p ]cmXn \¬In. apws_bn¬ \n∂mWv kplmkv F∂ {]Xnsb AdÃv sNbvXX - v. bph-Xn-bpsS IpSpw-_k - p-lrØm-bn-cp∂p {]Xn. bph-Xnsb hnhmlw Ign-°W - s - a∂v XmXv]cyw Abmƒ t\ctØ {]I-Sn-∏n-®n-cp-∂p. F∂m¬ as‰mcmsf Ah¿ hnhmlw Ign--®p. ]n∂o-Sv, B hnhmlw \nb-a] - c - a - mbn tamNn-∏n-®p. AXn\p-tijw kplmkv ho≠pw bph-Xnsb kao-]n-s®-¶nepw Ah¿ AXv \nc-kn-®p. XpS¿∂mWv tIkn-\m-kv]Z- a - mb Ip‰IrXyw \S-∂X - v. sF.-Sn. \nb-a-Øns‚ 67, C¥y≥ in£m\n-b-a-Øns‚ 469,509 hIp-∏p-I-fmWv Ip‰-]-{X-Øn¬ Dƒs∏-Sp-Øn-b-Xv. 18 km£n-Isf hnkvXc - n-°p-Ibpw 34 tcJIƒ tImSXn ]cn-tim-[n-°p-Ibpw sNbvXp.
46
]Xn-\m-dp-h-b-kp-Im-c-\mb hnZym¿∞nsb sF.-Sn.-\n-ba-{]-Imcw AdÃp sNbvXkw-`hw am[y-a-ß-fn¬ hen-b-hm¿Ø-bm-bn. 2001 G{]n¬am-kØ - n-emWv U¬ln-bnse {]kn-≤-amb Fb¿t^mgvkv _m¬`mcXn kvIqfnse hnZym¿∞nsb A«o-e-sh_vssk‰v D≠m-°n-b-Xn\v t]meokv ]nSn-Iq-Sn-b-Xv.
"ssk_¿ Xami' 2008 am¿®v 18\v Hcp kzIm-cy-Nm-\e - n¬ Cßs\sbmcp C˛-sa-bn¬ ktμ-is - a-Øn. ""ZmhqZv C{_m-ln-ans‚ kwLw s{Sbn-\n¬ t_mw_psh®n-´p-≠v. AXp-Ss\ s]m´n-sØdn-°pw.'' t]meo-kns‚ At\z-jWw ssk_¿ It^-bn-ep-sa-Øn. C˛-sa-bn¬ Ab® Iºyq-´¿ t]meokv ]cn-tim-[n-®p. 12-˛mw ¢mkv kb≥kv hnZym¿∞nbn¬ At\z-jWw FØn. Sn.-hn.-Nm-\-en¬ t{_°nwKv \yqkv ImWm-\mWv Cu "Xami' ImWn-®s - X-∂m-bn-cp∂p t]meokv
Hcp bphm-hns‚ ]cm-Xnbnt∑emWv sNss∂-bnse tUmIvSd- mb F¬. {]Im-is\∂ 50 Imcs\ t]meokv AdÃv sNbvXX - v. A«o-eh - oUntbm hntZ-iØ - p-am{Xw {]Z¿in-∏n-°p-sa∂ Dd-∏n¬ bphm-hns\ A`n-\b - n-∏n-°pIbpw ]n∂oSv sh_vssk‰n¬ Cu hoUntbm Zriy߃ {]Z¿in-∏n-°p-Ibpw sNbvXp-ht- {X. t]meo-kns‚ At\zjWØn¬ Ata-cn-°b - nep≈ Cf-bk - t- lm-Zc - \ - pambn \S-Ønb sR´n-∏n°p∂ ssewKnI hoUn-tbmhym-]m-cß - f - psS IY-Iƒ ]pd-Øp-h∂ - p. bYm¿∞hpw A√m-ØX - p-amb Hcp e£tØmfw A«o-eh - o-Untbm Zriy-߃ t]meokv ]nSn-s®-Sp-Øp. CXnse ]e-Zr-iyßfpw Ir{Xn-aa - mbn krjvSn-®X - m-bn-cp-∂p. A«oe hoUntbm hyh-km-bØ - n-eqsS tImSn-Iƒ kºm-Zn® tUmIvS¿°v Poh-]cy¥w XShpw ]ngbpw tImSXn hn[n-®p.
Fb¿t^mgvkv _m¬`m-cXn kvIqƒ tIkv ]Xn-\m-dp-hb - k - p-Im-c\ - mb hnZym¿∞nsb sF.-Sn.-\n-ba - {- ]-Imcw AdÃp sNbvXk - w`hw am[y-aß - f - n¬ hen-bh - m¿Ø-bm-bn. 2001 G{]n¬am-kØ - n-emWv U¬ln-bnse {]kn-≤a - mb Fb¿t^mgvkv _m¬`m-cXn kvIqfnse hnZym¿∞nsb A«o-es - h_vssk‰v D≠m-°n-bX - n\v t]meokv ]nSn-IqSn-bX - v. kvIqfnse A≤ym-]n-Ia - m-cp-sSbpw hnZym¿∞n-\n-If - p-sSbpw A«o-eN - n-{X-߃ \n¿Ωn®v sh_vssk-‰n¬ {]kn-≤o-Ic - n-®X - ns\-Xntc hnZym¿∞n-\n-If - psS amXm-]n-Xm°ƒ ssk_¿sk-√n\p \¬Inb ]cm-Xnsb-Xp-S¿∂p≈ At\z-jW - Ø - n-emWv kw`hw ]pd-Øp-h∂ - X - v.
t_mws_ tIkv Al-ΩZ- m-_m-Znse 16-Im-c\ - mb hnZym¿∞n At‘cn sdbn¬th-tÃ-j≥ XI¿°psa∂v `ojWn-s∏-SpØn Ab® C˛-sa-bn¬ ktμiw henb ]cn-{`m-¥n-bmWv krjvSn-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
COVER STORY
®-Xv. At\z-jW - Ø - n-s\m-Sp-hn¬ "Xo{hhmZn' sb Is≠-Øn. apws_ Pph-ss\¬ tImSXn Ip´nsb in£n-®p. ssk_¿ \nb-aß - f - psS Bhn¿`mhw sFIy-cm-jv{S-k`- b - psS, 1997 P\p-hcn 30\v AwKo-Ic - n® amXr-Im-\n-ba - Ø - ns‚ NphSp]n-Sn-®mWv. 2000 sabv 17\v C¥y≥ ]m¿ensa‚ v "hnh-ck - m-t¶-Xn-I\ - n-baw' ]mkm-°nb-Xv. Ce-Ivt{Sm-WnIv coXn-bn-ep≈ Bi-bhn-\n-ab - ß - ƒ°v \nb-a] - c - a - mb kwc£Ww \¬IpI F∂-tXm-sSm∏w cmjv{SØns‚bpw kaq-l-Øn-s‚bpw kpc£bv°v amc-Ia - mb `ojWn Db¿Øp∂ ssk_¿ Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃ ^e-{]-Za - mbn XS-bpI F∂-XmWv Cu \nb-aØ - ns‚ e£yw. sF.-Sn. BIvSns‚ \S-Øn-∏n\mbn C¥y≥ in£m-\n-ba - w, C¥y≥ sXfn-hp-\n-ba - w, _mt¶gvkv _p°v Fhn-U≥kv BIvSv, dnk¿Δv _m¶v Hm^v C¥y BIvSv F∂o \nb-aß - fpw t`Z-KXn sNbvXp. Cu \nb-aØ - n¬ hnh-£n-°p∂ tUmIyp-sa‚ vkv F∂ hm°n-\p-tijw "Ce-Ivt{Sm-WnIv sdt°m¿Uv' F∂v t`Z-KXn sNbvXp. Cu t`Z-KX - n-bn-eqsS hnhn[ hnh-ct- iJ-cW am[y-aß - f - n-eqsS IS∂p t]mIp∂ IØp-Iƒ, Icm-dp-Iƒ, Nn{X߃, i_vZß - ƒ F√mw Ce-Ivt{Sm-WnIv sdt°m-¿Uv F∂ ]cn-[n-bn¬ hcp∂p. Npcp-°Ø - n¬ ssk_¿ temIsØ \nb-{¥n-°p-Ibpw {Ia-s∏-SpØp-Ib - p-amWv sF.-Sn.-BI - vSns‚ e£yw.
∂Xpw Ah {]kn-≤o-Ic - n-°p-∂Xpw kzImcy-Xb - psS \·-amb ewL-\a - m-Wv. CØ-cØn-ep≈ Nn{X-߃ C‚¿s\‰v hgnbpw samss_¬ t^m¨hgnbpw ssIam‰w sNøp-∂Xpw Ip‰-Ic - a - m-Wv. samss_¬ Iymad D]-tbm-Kn®v as‰m-cm-fpsS kzIm-cy`m-Kß - ƒ ]I¿Øp-∂Xpw in£ e`n-°mhp∂ Ip‰-am-Wv. sF.Sn. BIvSns‚ 66(-kn) hIp-∏p-{]-Imcw Hcp hy‡n-bpsS kzImcyX ewLn-°p-∂Xv hne-°p-∂p. 2. kwL-S\ - I - ƒs°-Xn-tc-bp≈ Ip‰-Ir-Xy߃ k¿°m¿ ÿm]-\ß - ƒ, hym]mc ÿm]-\ß - ƒ, Iº-\n, hy‡n-If - psS
kwL-S-\-Iƒs°-Xntcbp≈ Ip‰-Ir-Xy߃ k¿°m¿ ÿm]\-߃, hym]mcÿm]\-߃, Iº-\n, hy‡nI-fpsS kwL-߃ F∂n-h-bvs°-Xntc \SØp∂ Ip‰-Ir-Xy-ßfpw ssk_¿\nb-a-ß-fpsS ]cn-[n-bn¬hcp-∂p.
ssk_¿Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃ ]e-Xcw ssk_¿Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃ {][m-\a - mbpw aq∂m-bn-Xn-cn-°mw. hy‡n-Iƒs°-Xncmb Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃, kwL-S\ - I - ƒs°Xn-tc-bp≈ Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃, kaq-lØ - n-s\Xn-tc-bp≈ Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃.
hy‡n-Iƒs°-Xn-tc-bp≈ Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃ hy‡n-If - psS kzIm-cy-Xb - psS taJ-eb - nte°v AXn-{I-an®p IS-°p-∂-Xns\ ssk_¿\n-ba - ß - ƒ hne-°p-∂p. hy‡n-IfpsS hkvXp-hI - I - ƒs°-Xn-tcbp≈ \nb-aew-L-\-ßfpw \nb-a-Øns‚ ]cn-[n-bn¬ hcp-∂p. Hcm-fpsS A\p-hm-Za - n-√msX ico-cØns‚ kzIm-cy-`m-Kß - ƒ Nn{Xo-Ic - n-°p-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
kwL-߃ F∂n-hb - vs°-Xntc \S-Øp∂ Ip‰-Ir-Xy-ßfpw ssk_¿ \nb-aß - f - psS ]cn-[n-bn¬ hcp-∂p. cmPy-Øns‚ sFIy-Øn\pw AJ-WvUXbv°pw kpc-£bv°pw hntZ-ic - m-Py-ßf - pam-bp≈ kulr-ZØ - n\pw `oj-Wn-bm-Ip∂ Xc-Øn-ep≈ {]hr-Øn-Iƒ ssk_¿ Xo{hhmZw F∂ \n¿h-N\ - Ø - ns‚ ]cn-[n-bn¬ hcp-∂p. sF.-Sn. BIvSns‚ 66-˛mw hIp∏mWv C°mcyw ]cm-a¿in-°p-∂X - v. Poh-]cy¥whsc in£ e`n-°m-hp∂ Kuc-hI - camb Ip‰-Ir-Xy-am-bmWv ssk_¿Xo{h-
hm-ZsØ \nbawImWp-∂X - v. Iw]yq-´¿ kwhn-[m-\ß - f - n¬ \pg-™p-Ib - d- p-I, A]I-SI - c - a - mb t{]m{Km-ap-Iƒ D]-tbm-Kn-°pI X{¥-{]-[m-\a - mb s]mXp-hn-hc - t- i-Jc - ߃°v sshdkv D]-tbm-Kn®v XI-cm-dp-Iƒ hcp-Øp-Ibpw tamjvSn-°p-Ibpw sNøpI AXp-aqew kaq-lsØ {]Xn-Iq-ea - mbn _m[n-°p-∂p-sh-¶n¬ AXpw ssk_¿ Xo{h-hm-ZØ - ns‚ ]cn-[n-bn¬hcp-∂p. kn\n-am-hy-hk - m-bsØ XI¿°p∂ XcØn¬ ]I¿∏-hI - miw ewLn-®p-sIm≠v
47
COVER STORY
C‚¿s\‰n-eqsS kn\na Uu¨temUv sNbvXv hnX-cWw sNøp∂ coXn hym]-Iam-bn-cn-°p-∂p.
ssk_¿Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃ Fßs\ XS-bmw? ssk_¿temIsØ A]-Yk - © - m-c߃°v XS-bn-Sm≥ ^e-{]-Zhpw I¿°-ih - pamb hyh-ÿI - ƒ Dƒs°m-≈p∂ \nb-aß-fp-s≠-¶nepw ]e-t∏mgpw \nb-ae - w-L\ - ߃°v tij-amWv \nb-aØ - ns‚ lkvX߃ ]nSn-ap-dp-°p-∂X - v. A]-Io¿Øn-Ichpw B`m-kI - c - h - p-amb hnh-cß - f - psSbpw Nn{X-ßf - p-sSbpw {]kn-≤o-Ic - W - Øn-\p-tijw Ip‰-hm-fn-Isf in£n-®h¿t]mepw hy‡n-Iƒ°p kw`-hn-°p∂ A`n-am-\£ - X - ß - ƒ°v AXv ]cn-lm-ca - m-Ip∂n-√. ssk_¿ temI-Øns‚ A\-¥a - mb km[y-XI - ƒ D]-tbm-Kn-°p-∂h - t- cm-sSm∏w Xs∂ AXnse NXn-°p-gn-Iƒ ap≥Iq´n Adn-bp-Ibpw AXn¬ \n∂p c£t\Sp-∂Xn-\p≈ D]m-[n-Isf°pdn®v t_m[-hm-∑mcm-°p-∂X - n\v c£m-I¿Øm-°fpw A[ym-]Icpw {i≤n-t°-≠X - p-≠v.
Ip´n-Iƒ ]cn-tim-[n-°p∂ ssk‰p-Iƒ GsXms° XcØn-ep-≈X - m-sW∂pw Fs¥¶nepw {]iv\-߃ Ah¿ t\cn-Sp-∂p-t≠m-sb∂pw amXm]n-Xm-°ƒ \nco-£n-°-Ww. ®v) in£ e`n-°m-hp∂ Ip‰-ßf - m-Wv. (sF.Sn. BIvSv 66(-F) hIp-∏v) 2008 \hw-_¿ 26se apwss_Xo{h-hmZn B{I-aW - a - mWv ]n∂oSv k¿°m-cns\ DW¿Øn-bX - v. ssk_¿Xo{h-hm-ZsØ t\cn-Sm≥ D]-bp-‡a - mb t`Z-KX - n-It- fmsS 2008 Unkw-_¿ 15\v _n¬ ]m¿e-sa‚n¬
`y¿∞\ \nc-kn® bph-Xn-bpsS A«o-eN - n{X-߃ {]N-cn-∏n-°p-I, {]apJ hy‡nIƒ°v h[-`o-jWn apg-°p∂ C˛-sa-bn-epIƒ {]N-cn-∏n-°pI F∂o Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃ \n¿_m[w \S-°p-∂p-≠v. ssk_¿temI-Øns‚ KpW-t`m-‡m°ƒ°pw Ip‰-Ir-Xy-߃ At\z-jn-t°≠ t]meo-kp-Im¿°pw kmt¶-Xn-Ia - mb ]cn⁄m-\Ø - n-s‚bpw \nb-am-ht- _m-[Ø - ns‚bpw A`mhw C∂pw \ne-\n¬°p-∂p. \nb-aØ - ns‚ hym]-Ia - mb Zpcp-]t- bmK km≤y-Xbpw \nbaw \S-∏n-em-°m≥ Npa-Xe-s∏´ DtZym-Kÿ - c - n¬ Btcm-]n-°p-∂p≠v.
2008se \nb-a-t`-Z-KXn
kaq-l-Øn-s\-Xn-tc-bp≈ Ip‰-IrXy-߃ sh_vssk-‰n-eqsS A«o-eN - n-{X-߃ {]kn≤o-Ic - n-°p-I, C˛sabnen-eqsS A«o-eN - n{X-ßf - psS ssIam‰w F∂nh sF.-Sn.-BIvSns‚ hnhn[ hIp-∏p-If - psS ewL-\a - mWv. 3 h¿jw hsc XShpw 5 e£w cq] ]ng-bp-amWv in£. Ip‰w Bh¿Øn-°p-Ibm-sW-¶n¬ XShv Imem-h[n 5 h¿jhpw ]ng 10 e£-hp-am-Wv. ssewKnI{]h¿Ø-\ß - f - n¬ Ip´n-Isf D]tbm-Kn-°p-∂Xpw {]mb-]q¿Øn-bm-ImØ Ip´n-Isf Nn{Xo-Ic - n-°p-∂Xpw B Nn{X߃ ssIam-dp-∂Xpw Cu Nn{X-߃ {_ukp sNøp-∂Xpw Uu¨temUp sNøp-∂Xpw Ip‰-Ic - a - m-Wv. ssN¬Uv t]m¿tWm-{K^n Kuc-hX - c - a - mb Ip‰-ambmWv sF.-Sn. BIvSv ImWp-∂X - v. Hcmƒ Ab-°p∂ C˛-sa-bn¬ ktμ-iw, Nm‰nwKv, Fkv.-Fw.-F-kv. F∂nh ssewKnI-Xsb t{]m’m-ln-∏n-°p-∂X - m-sW-¶n¬ AXv Ip‰-Ic - a - m-Wv. B`m-kI - c - a - mb ktμi-߃ C˛-sa-bn¬, samss_¬ t^m¨ F∂n-hb - n-eqsS Ab-bv°p-∂Xv aq∂ph¿jwhsc XShpw ]ngbpw (c≠pw H∂n-
48
Ah-Xc - n-∏n-®p. a‰v F´v _n√p-It- fm-sSm∏w shdpw ]Xn-t\gv an\n‰v a - m{Xw N¿® \S-ØnbmWv kp{]-[m-\a - mb Cu t`Z-KX - n-_n√v ]m¿e-sa‚ v ]m m-°n-bX - v. ]t£, Cu \nb-at- `-ZK - X - nbpw ssk_¿ \nb-asØ Xf¿Øn-bn-√. "Hm¿°p´v' Dƒs∏-sS-bp≈ tkmjy¬ s\‰vh¿°p-If - n¬ hymP s{]mss^-ep-Iƒ IS-Øn-hn-Sp-I, {]W-bm-
A\p-\n-anjw am‰-Øn\p hnt[-ba - m-bns°m-≠n-cn-°p∂ ssk_¿ temI-Øn\v A\p-Kp-Whpw A\p-cq-]h - p-ambn \nb-a߃ amtd-≠X - p-≠v. ]t£, \nbaw \n¿Ωn®v F´p-h¿j-߃°p-ti-ja - mWv B am‰w sF.-Sn. \nb-aØ - n\p h∂Xv! AXn\p Imc-Wa - mbXv U¬ln ]_vfnIv kvIqƒ hnZym¿∞n-If - psS A«oe Fkv. Fw.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
COVER STORY
ap≥I-cp-X-ep-Iƒ 1. s\‰v h¿°p-I-fn¬ CS-s]-Sp-tºmƒ hy‡n-]-c-amb hnh-c-߃ Ign-bp-∂Xpw A]-cn-Nn-XtcmSv shfn-hm-°p-∂Xv Hgn-hm-°p-I. 2. hy‡n-If - psS t^mt´m-Iƒ A]-cn-Nn-X¿°v Ab-°p-∂Xv Hgn-hm-°p-I. 3. s{IUn‰v Im¿Uv \º-dp-Iƒ ssk‰n-te°v Ab-°p-∂Xv kpc-£n-X-a-√. 4. Ip‰-Ir-Xy-ßsf kw_-‘n®v F{X-bpw-thKw ssk_¿sk-√n\v dnt∏m¿´v sNøp-I. 5. ]mkvth¿Uns‚ kzIm-cyX kwc-£n-°W - w. 6. Ip´n-Iƒ ]cn-tim-[n-°p∂ ssk‰p-Iƒ GsXms° Xc-Øn-ep-≈X - m-sW∂pw Fs¥¶nepw {]iv\ß - ƒ Ah¿ t\cn-Sp-∂p-t≠m-sb∂pw amXm-]n-Xm-°ƒ \nco-£n-°W - w. 7. AS-®n´ apdn-I-fn-e-√, Xpd∂ apdn-I-fn¬ C‚¿s\‰v D≈ Iw]yq-´¿ D]-tbm-Kn-°m≥ Ip´n-Isf amXm-]n-Xm-°ƒ t{]cn-∏n-°W - w.
ssk_¿\n-ba - ß - fpw ]I¿∏-hI - m-i\ - n-ba - hpw ewLn-®p-sIm≠v ae-bmf Ne-Nn{Xw Uu¨temUv sNbvX Bbn-ct- Ømfw t]¿s°-Xnsc kwÿm\ t]meo-knse ssk_¿ sk¬ \S-]Sn kzoI-cn-®Xv kao-]I - m-eØ - m-W.v Iº-\n-If - p-sStbm hym]m-cÿm-]\ - ß - f - p-sStbm hmWn-Py-cl - k - y-߃ tNm¿Øp-∂Xpw \nb-ah - n-cp≤-ambn AØcw hnh-c߃ ssIhiw hbv°p∂Xpw Ip‰-Ic - a - m-Wv.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
Fkv. tIkm-Wv. 2004 Unkw-_dn¬ hnZym¿∞n-If - psS A«oe Fkv. Fw. Fkv. ¢n∏n-ßp-Iƒ sh_vssk-‰n¬ hn¬∏-\bv°v h®p. kw`hw hnhm-Za - m-bt- ∏mƒ t]m¿´¬ ta[mhn Ahn-\miv _Pm-Pns\ sF.-Sn. \nb-a{- ]-Imcw t]meokv AdÃp sNbvXp. JcIv]q-cnse sF.-sF.-Sn. hnZym¿∞n t]m¿´-en¬ hn¬∏-\bv°ph® A«oe hoUntbm ¢n∏n-ßns‚ DØ-ch - m-ZnXzw X߃°n-s√∂ t]m¿´-ens‚ hmZw tIm¿∏-td‰v, sF. Sn. taJ-e-Iƒ G‰p-]n-Sn-®p. XpS¿∂v sF.-Sn. \nb-aØ - n\v t`ZKXn \n¿t±-iß - ƒ ka¿∏n-°m≥ hnZKv[kan-Xnsb tI{μ-k¿°m¿ \ntbm-Kn-®p. h¿j-ßt- fmfw Cu dnt∏m¿´n¬ XpS¿∂v \S-]S- n-Iƒ k¿°m¿ kzoI-cn-®n-√. 2000se ˛ sF.-Sn. \nb-a-Øn¬ Un.ssh.-Fk - v.] - n. °p Xmsg-b√ - mØ t]meokv Hm^o-k¿am¿°mWv
At\z-jW - m-[n-Imcw \¬In-bn-cn-°p-∂X - v. \nb-at- `-ZK - X - n-°p-tijw k¿°nƒ C≥kvs]-IvS¿°v Xmsg-b√ - mØ t]meokv DtZym-Kÿ - \v k¿°m¿ A[n-Imcw\¬In. Hcp t]meokv Hm^o-k¿°v GXp s]mXpÿ-eØpw {]th-in-°m\pw sk¿®v \SØp-hm\pw hmd-≠n-√msX AdÃv sNøm\pw \nbaw A\p-hZ- n-°p-∂p. t]meo-kn\v e`n® Cu Aan-Xm-[n-Imcw hnth-N\ - c - l - n-Xa - mbpw cmjv{So-b{- ]-Xn-tbmKn-Iƒs°-Xntc D]-tbm-Kn-°m≥ A[n-Im-cØn-en-cn-°p-∂h - ¿°v Bthmfw Ah-kcw \¬Ip-∂p-sh∂ Bt£-]hpw a\p-jym-hIm-i{- ]-h¿Ø-Ic - n¬ \n∂v Db¿∂n-´p-≠v. hnth-N\ - c - l - n-Xa - mb Cu Aan-Xm-[n-Imcw ]e-t∏mgpw \nc-]c - m-[n-Isf ]oUn-∏n-°pIbpw bYm¿∞Ip-‰h - m-fn-Isf \nb-aØns‚ Ic-ßf - n¬\n∂p c£-s∏-Sp-∂Xn\pw Imc-Wa - m-Ip∂p Cu Aan-Xm-[nImcw "C˛-ssI-°q-en'°pw hgn-sbm-cp-°n.
49
COVER STORY
c≠mw ¢m p-Im-c\v Nm‰v sNøm≥ Hmkvt{S-en-b≥ {^≠v...
Ip‰w amXm-]n-Xm-°-fp-tS-sX∂ Ia‚n\v IqSp-X¬ sse°v b¬]°sØ c≠mw¢m p-Im-c≥ Hmkvt{S-en-b-bnse kplr-Øpambn Nm‰vsNøp-∂p-sh∂v apØ»n ]d-™t∏mƒ Rm≥ AZv`p-X-s∏´p t]mbn.'' Fw.F v.Uªyp c≠mw h¿jhnZym¿∞n-\n-bmb {Sok ]d™p. ]t£, At∏m-tg°pw kZ n¬ \n∂p- tNmZyw Db¿∂p.
Øp-°-fm-cp-an-√. AXn-set¥m Hcp ]¥n-tI-Snt√?''
""AXn-se-¥mWv AZv`p-X-s∏-Sm\p≈Xv. C∂sØ Ip´n-Iƒ Aßs\bmWv''
tkmjy¬ aoUnbm Bh-iy-am-sW-¶nepw AXv tZmj-I-c-ambn amdp∂ Ah-k-c-ß-fp-aps≠∂v Fw.-kn.F. hnZym¿∞n anYp≥ A`n{]m-b-s∏-´p.
""
A
""AZv`p-X-sam-∂p-an-√. \m´n¬ Ah\v kplr-
50
l¿jm-c-h-ß-tfm-sS-bmWv {Sok-bpsS adp-]Sn kZ v kzoI-cn-®-Xv. If-a-t»cn cmP-Kncn tImsf-Pn¬ tkmjy¬ aoUn-bsb kw_‘n® N¿®-bm-bn-cp∂p thZn. .
F∂m¬ B[p-\nIPohn-X-Øn¬ tkmjy¬ aoUnb Hgn-®p-Iq-Sm-\m-hm-Ø-Xm-sW∂v amXm]n-Xm-°-fpsS `mKØp\n∂v kw-km-cn® Dj ]d-™p.""`¿Ømhv hntZ-iØv tPmen-sNøp∂ kml-N-cy-Øn¬ Bi-b-hn-\n-a-b-Øn\v tkmjy¬ aoUnb hf-sc-tbsd klm-b-I-amWv. tkmjy¬ aoUn-b-bpsS {]tbm-P-\-߃ I≠n-s√∂v \Sn-°p-∂Xv icn-b√'' Ah¿ ]d™p. F∂m¬ A—≥ hntZ-i-Øm-Ip-tºm-fm-gmWv tkmjy¬ aoUn-bbn-eqsS a°ƒ hgn-sX-‰m-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
COVER STORY
\p≈ km[yX h¿≤n-°p-∂-sX∂ hmZ-KXn Djbv°v kzoIm-cy-am-bn-√. a°ƒ hgn-sX-‰p-∂Xn\v ]mhw tkmjy¬ aoUn-bsb F¥n\v ]gn-Nm-c-W-sa-∂m-bn-cp∂p Ah-cpsS tNmZyw. amXm-]n-Xm-°ƒ ]cm-P-b-s∏Sp∂XmWv AXn\v Imc-Ww. {]mbhpw ]Iz-X-bp-ambtijw tkmjy¬ aoUn-b-bn-te°v {]th-in-®m¬ aXn-sb-∂m-bncp∂p Iu¨kn-e-dmb ao\ Ipcp-hnf-bpsS A`n-{]m-bw. tkmjy¬ aoUn-bbpsS NXn°p-gn-bn¬s]´ Ip´n-I-fpsS A\p-`-h-ßfpw ao\ ]¶p-h-®p. ]t£, {]mbhpw ]Iz-Xbpw FØnbtijw tkmjy¬ aoUn-b-bn¬ {]th-in-°pI F∂ \n¿tZiw {]mtbm-Kn-I-a-s√-∂m-bn-cp∂p tamUtd-‰-dmb tPmjn h¿§o v Dƒs∏-sS-bp-≈-hcpsS A`n-{]m-bw. sIm®pIp´n-Iƒhsc kvam¿´v t^mWp-ambn \S-°p∂ ImeØv CXp-h-√Xpw \S-°ptam F∂m-bn-cp∂p as‰m-cm-fpsS kwi-bw. tkmjy¬ aoUn-b-bneqsS kplr-Øns‚ aI-
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
fpsS PohnXw Zpc-¥-ambn amdn-b - IY-bmWv Iw]yq-´¿ kb≥knse slUv Hm^v Z Un∏m¿´vsa‚ v ]n.-FIvkv. tPmk^v kmdn\v ]d-bm-\p-≠m-bn-cp-∂-Xv. ""s^bvkv _p°ns‚ F√m \√hi-ß-fpw AwKo-I-cn®p sIm≠v Xs∂ ]d-b-s´, Ip´n-Isf tkmjy¬ aoUn-bmbn¬ \n∂v AI‰n \n¿Ø-Ww. Rm≥ s^bvkv _p°n¬ A°u≠v Xpd∂ A∂v Xs∂ Fs‚ Ht´sd hnZym¿∞n-I-fp-ambn _‘w ÿm]n-°m≥ Ign-™p. AsXmcp \√ImcywXs∂. ]t£, s^bvkv _p°n-eqsS kplr-Øns‚ aI-fpsS PohnXwXI¿∂ kw`hw Hm¿°p-tºmƒ as‰√mw \n m-c-amIp∂p. Ip´n-Isf kw_-‘n®v tkmjy¬ aoUn-b-bpsS D]tbmKw \nb-{¥n-t°-≠Xv Xs∂'' At±lw ]d-™p. F∂m¬ bp.-F-kv.Sn t•m_-ense kp\n-en\v hyXy-kvX-amb A`n-{]m-b-am-bn-cp-∂p. ""C∂v _n n\- n\v AXym-¥m-t]-£n-X-amb H∂mWv tkmjy¬ aoUn-b. tkmjy¬ aoUnbm h∂-tXmsS \ΩpsS ]c-º-cm-KX coXn A∏msS A{]-Ivk-‡-am-bn-cn-°p-I-bmWv. tPmen°msc Iº-\n-IƒXs∂ tPm_v ssk‰p-I-fn-eqsS Is≠-Øp∂ Ime-am-Wn-Xv.
tkmjy¬ aoUnbm D]-tbm-Kn-°p-∂-Xn\v \nb-{¥-W-ta¿s∏Sp-Ø-W-sa∂v ]d-bp-∂Xv F{X-am{Xw {]mtbm-Kn-I-am-sW∂v F\n-°-dnbn√'' At±lw ]d-™p. A≤ym-]n-I-bmb PnPn {^m≥ko-kn\pw tkmjy¬ aoUn-b-bpsS KpW-ßsf ]‰n ]dbm-\p-≠m-bn-cp-∂p. F¶nepw AanX D]tbmKw B]Øp Xs∂-sb∂ Imcy-Øn¬ PnPnan n\pw A`n-{]mb hyXym-k-an-√. Ip´nIƒ ]T\Øn\pw a‰v tPmen-Iƒ°p-ap≈ kabw tkmjy¬ aoUn-b-bn¬ sNe-h-gn°p∂XnemWv sS m F{_lman\v ]cm-Xn. ""tkmjy¬ aoUn-bbv°v AUn-Iv‰m-Ip-∂Xv A]ISw Xs∂. kmt¶-XnIhnZy-bpsS \√ hi-߃ Bh-iy-am-Wv. AXns\ \ntj-[n®p sIm≠v Hcp kaq-l-Øn\pw hf-cm≥ Ign-bn√.'' tkmjy¬ aoUnb kaql\∑bv°v ^e-{]-Zambn D]-tbm-Kn-°p-tºmƒXs∂ AXns‚ A]-I-S-ßfpw Xncn-®-dn-tb-≠Xv AXym-h-iyam-sW∂v N¿®-bnse A`n-{]m-b-ßsf kzmwio-I-cn®psIm≠v A≤ym-]-I-\mb tUm. Inc¨ Xºn ]d-™p.
51
Debashis’ Philosophy of Management
P
rof Debashis Chatterjee, director, IIM Kozhikode, studied the Bhagavad Gita for nine years before writing the recently published Timeless Leadership: 18 Leadership Sutras from The Bhagavad Gita.
Debashis Chatterjee seeks to blur the seemingly antithetic. Strict compartments can soften to embrace the other freely, whether managerial and artistic, material and spiritual, socialist and capitalist, or arts and science. “A tree is a marvellous act of engineering yet a thing of beauty,� he says. Debashis himself is a specimen of these contradictions at ease. He went to a medical school before pursuing his masters in English from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Then he sprinted across streams and temperament for a research fellowship from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, before leaving for Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Pallikuttam interviewed him recently. Excerpts:
52
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
INTERVIEW
Your earlier books Break Free and The Other 99% were voices of an insider picking out the frailties of the corporate world, but Timeless Leadership — 18 Leadership Sutras from The Bhagavad Gita marks an evolution, an attempt to correct and start afresh. Can you explain the evolution? My earlier books are about corporate world, their problems and solutions. I tried to anyalise the problems of corporate world and offer solutions. But Timeless Leadership — 18 Leadership Sutras from The Bhagavad Gita is a different approach. It is the out come of my nine years research. Gita has answers for most of our leadership problems. Here I tried to explain the principles of Gita in the back drop of our present day crisis and corporate world. The Bhagavad Gita has been a perennial source of inspiration to many leaders and policy makers.A quest into the unfathomed ocean of the Gita still provides great insights to modern day leaders including businessmen. It took nine years to complete the book. I spent nine years in research, meeting many seers and missionaries and going through many of the interpretations of the Gita. My aim was to rescue the Gita from the perception that it is some sacred kind of thing, only to be pulled out when someone dies. I mean, it is not a funereal object; it is a way to comprehend consciousness and the human mind, minus religious connotations. Unnecessarily, people have added dimensions to the Gita that do not exist; I wanted to clear that debris. Does this matter to business leaders or entrepreneurs? Why should it? A young professional may like to understand the extent to which his desires are his preoccupation, and how much they are taking away from his real occupation—the task at hand. Our emotional experiences cloud our minds all the time. I have tried to set out a way to observe those emotional reactions as a way to empower leaders.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
I am not reflecting you in my agenda. I am not writing about myself. I am just telling the facts. Your book is selling in 40 countries. Why the interest from those who don’t practise, nor have interest in Hinduism or the Gita? The interest in my book is not because people are reading the Gita or looking at it. They are only looking at the uncertainty in their own lives, the problems their country faces. We are all aware of what is happening around the world, the economic situation, and the global crisis. So, people are asking the question—what is a way out? For atheists or people from other religions, the book is not out of reach, in the same way that a purposeful life is not out of anyone’s reach. What are the most important values and ethics you demonstrate as a leader? a) Authenticity. b) Being myself. c) Convergence. These are the values a leader should keep in life. What is the one behavior or trait that you have seen derail more leaders’ careers? Ego. It is the trait that has derailed more
leaders careers. Ego will affect the functioning of the institutions and organizations. One should know how to control his ego if he wanted to be a good leader. What do you like to ask other leaders when you get the chance? Why should others follow you? What our leaders should ask themselves is: “Why should somebody follow us?” There can be money, luck and other things, but the enthusiasm lasts only till one gets it. Even when you are not a leader why should someone follow you? I mean leaders like Jesus Christ or Gandhiji. They have followers after their death. Why should some one follow these leaders even after their death, this is what I want to ask. I would like to ask this question to you. Why should people follow you? Because I am not reflecting you in my agenda. I am not writing about myself. I am just telling the facts. What do you expect from a manager? A good human being. First and foremost a manager should be a good human being. Then only can he manage an organization.
53
Education in Ancient India Augustine Thottakara, CMI
L
et me begin my deliberations on education with an Upanisadic prayer, which the Upanisadic teacher and his disciple(s) used to say together before they started the lesson: om saha nāv avatu / saha nau bhunaktu / saha vīryam karavāvahai / tejasvī nāv avadhītam astu / mā vidviŗāvai / om śāntih śāntih śāntih // “May he (the Lord) protect us both. May he nourish us both. May we both work together with great energy. May our study bring us enlightenment. May we never hate each other. Om peace, peace, peace!”1
I am trying to present here some scattered thoughts on education in ancient India. I say ‘ancient India’, because education and formation of boys and girls in modern India is known to all, and all the sections of Indian society follow more or less the same pattern of school curricula and course of action in making education available to people. Education today has become a highly competitive field of societal activity. Many powerful private agencies and potent individuals engage in providing education, because it has now become an exceedingly lucrative business. Big money is involved in this sector, both in spending money to provide state of art infrastructures and facilities, and also in collecting funds
54
from the beneficiaries. Perhaps today’s system education is more success- and result oriented, than to providing a holistic and integrated formation and training to young people. Of course, there are still some honest and dependable agencies, which consider education as a service, and try to provide value-based, life-oriented and context-sensitive formation to the growing generations. It should be remembered here at the very outset that the ancient Indians honoured and revered primarily not the rich people, not the politicians, not leaders of society, not even the kings. Respect, honour and veneration went primarily to saints and men of undiluted spirituality, and secondly to learned people, wise men who knew the scriptures and the secrets of reality. And the ancient Indians believed that sanctity, saintliness and the spiritual outlook to life and world are logical consequences of correct and mature learning. The following ancient popular sayings are truly representative of the Indian ethos to education and learning: “Knowledge is not stolen by thieves, it is not taken away by kings, it is not to be shared with your brothers, it is not at all a burden, it only increases if you spend it, and therefore, the wealth of knowledge is the greatest of
all wealth”2. “An ignorant man may be respected in his family, a landlord may be respected in his village, a king may respected in his country, a learned man, however, will be respected everywhere”33 To understand the system of education of ancient India, we need to refer to some concepts and categories of the societal life, family life and of the values system of the ancient India. I mean here the four castes (varGa), the four states of human life (āśrama) and the four values or goals of embodied existence in the world (puruşārtha).
Education and the Four Castes The division of the society into four castes in the ancient India and the lingering caste feelings in this country today, etc. are matters of common knowledge in the whole world. The segmentation of humanity as a social reality into four hierarchical sections or castes is a very antique institution. The first mention of castes is found in Rgveda, which probably came into existence between 1800 and 1500 BCE. The famous Puruşa-sūkta (Hymn of the Cosmic Person) of Rg-veda, narrates the origin of the four castes, namely, Brahmanas (priests and
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
REsearch teachers), Ksatriyas (kings and warriors), Vaisyas (farmers and traders) and Sudras (the servants of the three superior castes). Puruşa-sūkta, in fact, is a cogent and coherent mythic-metaphysical account of cosmogony of Rg-veda. The manifested/ incarnated Puruşa was sacrificed by gods for the sake of creation. About the creation of society it says: “His mouth became the Brahmana, his two arms were made into the Ksatriya, his two thighs became the Vaisya, and from his two feet the Sudra was born” (Rg-veda X.90.12). It is logical to presume that in the Vedic period the division of the society in such a manner was definitely functional, and was dictated by the exigencies of the society. The two key concepts of the Vedas were sacrifice (yajña) and harmony (ŗta). The Vedic society wanted to create, safeguard and enjoy harmony in all spheres of life: in the sacrificial act, which was, as mentioned above, a chief concern of the Vedic literature; harmony in the universe, in the nature, in the society, in the family and in the life of an individual. For the harmonious and smooth functioning of the society they conceived four types of ministries and services, and assigned them to the people according to each one’s charism, ability and aptitude.
vested interests of the potentate, besides the above-mentioned four castes, the outcastes, namely, the so-called untouchables also came into existence.
Vedic Studies Education in those days consisted mainly of the study of the Vedas, or to be precise, the Śruti literature (the revelatory part of the Hindu scriptures), which an orthodox Hindu even today considers as eternal, uncreated, self-evident and infallible, and therefore, most sacred and authoritative. In the course of time more and more literatures and branches of wisdom came into existence. Thus the six members of the Vedas (Vedāngas), namely, Śikşā (Vedic Phonetics), Vyākarana (Grammar) Nirukta (Etymology of Vedic Words), Chandas (Poetic Metres), Jyotişa (Astronomy for fixing the Auspicious Time for Vedic Rituals) and Kalpa (Interpretation of Vedic Rites); the secondary Vedas (Upavedas), like Ayurveda (Medicine), Dhanurveda (Science of Warfare), Gāndharvaveda (Science of Music),
Arthaśāstra (Science of Wealth and Political Economy), etc.; the two Epics; the many Puranas (Legendary Histories); the many Dharmasastras (Codes of Law), etc. were composed. Vedic literature was given the sacred and primary position in the curriculum, because of its sacredness and secrecy, because of its revelatory character and antiquity. In the Vedic study immense importance was attached, and esoteric powers were attributed to the Word and to the correct pronunciation of chanting of these words, rather than to their meanings. To the study of the Vedic literature only the male members of the three higher castes were admitted, because initiation to Vedic studies was given only to these. The female members of the three higher castes, the fourth caste, namely, the Sudras, and, of course, the outcastes, were not eligible for the sacred study and intellectual formation. Even the Vedanta System, which is considered to be the classical theological school of Hinduism, declared that the Sudra (the fourth caste) has no right for Vedic wisdom. In Vedanta-sūtra I.3.33-39, which
The evil and the marauding malaise of the Indian society started at that moment when the castes, this functional division of the society, became a birth right. Thereby education also became a birth right. Education, intellectual and religious formation, became the monopoly of the higher castes, and they played the role of the custodians of wisdom and of the Word of God, and consequently also of spirituality, sanctity and liberation. These elites and aristocrats dictated and decreed the norms and criterions to be followed in the social, family and religious life of humans. They attributed preternatural origin, occult powers and esoteric sanctity to the scriptures, and decided that people of lower origin are not worthy to approach them. By social interpolations and manipulations and by the
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
55
research is known as the apa-śūdrādhikaraGa, which means the section called ‘exclusion of the Sudras’, the question is discussed whether the Sudras are entitled for Vedic and Vedantic study, and author of Sūtras, Badarayana, decided that they are not4. The commentators like Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva accepted and ratified the position of the author of the Sūtras.
The Adhikârin The question has to be asked: “Why the Sudras, the women and the outcastes are not admitted to Vedic literature?” We have to analyse here the concept of adhikārin. The word “adhikārin” means the one who has the right, or who is entitled, to execute the matter in question, especially a Vedic injunction. When one wishes to study a given body of the sacred scriptures, or a branch Vedic discipline of Hinduism, the question is asked whether he/she is an adhikārin for that. Adhikāritvam presupposes two requisites: (i) Sāmarthya, the ability, which implies not only the intellectual ability to grasp the subject matter, but also freedom from impediments, impediments of social and moral nature. For the Vedic studies, the main impediment is birth in a lower caste. (ii) Arthitva is the second requisite, which means that the candidate should have genuine, intense will and desire to earn the wisdom in the branch of learning in question. He should be ready to submit himself uncompromisingly to the disciplines needed for the study, and to the will of the guru, who is to lead him to the inner meaning of the sacred texts. The Sudras, the outcastes, the women, or any non-Hindu for that matter, are not adhikārins for the sacred study, because they lack the initiation to this education. Here I am reminded of the story of the Brahmin boy Satyakama Jabala of the Chandogya Up. IV.4-9. Jabala was his mother; but he did not know his father, because Jabala conceived him in her younger days out of the wedlock. He wanted to learn the sacred scriptures, and according to the instructions of his mother, he approached
56
Normally Satyamaka is not an adhikārin for initiation. Still the teacher decided to initiate him, because he thought that ‘only a Brahmin can speak like that’. the guru Haridrumata Gautama, prostrated before him, and requested him to initiate him to the Vedic studies. The teacher asked him immediately about his family lineage. Satyakama replied: ‘I do not know my father, my mother is Jabala’. Normally Satyamaka is not an adhikārin for initiation. Still the teacher decided to initiate him, because he thought that ‘only a Brahmin can speak like that’. Thus Satyakama was
initiated by the teacher; but he was not immediately introduced to the studies. He had to wait for a long time, tending the cows of the guru in the forest, before he received instructions from the teacher. So anybody and everybody is not eligible for the official education of the society. Education and Four Stages of Human Life Just as the society was divided into four sections hierarchically, the individual’s life, especially of the male members of the three higher castes, too had four stages or states. Technically these stages are known in Sanskrit as āśrama. The four āśramas or stages of life are the studentship (brahmacarya), the householdership (gārhasthya), the hermitage (vānaprastha) and the life of total renunciation (sannyāsa). The Vedic concept was that human life
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
REsearch has a span of one hundred years (śatāyur vai puruşah). These hundred years were equally distributed to the four successive stages of life, the first quarter (twenty-five years) to study and intellectual training, the second quarter to family and married life, the third quarter to a life of solitude and reflection in the forest, and the last quarter to a life of total and radical renunciation and mendicancy. The word “āśrama” needs clarification. It is formed out of the prefix ‘ā’, which means all-round, total, all-encompassing (āsamantāt), and the noun ‘śrama’ formed from the verbal root ‘śram’, which means to make effort, to endeavour, etc. So āśrama exists, where whole-hearted efforts are being carried out. Aśram can also be a place, a hermitage, where the seeker of Brahman is engaged in the employment of spiritual means (sādhanas) for Godrealization.
The Studentship (Brahmacarya) This first state of life or āśrama begins with the sacramental rite (samskāra) of initiation known by the name Upanayana (known also as Brahmopadeśa), by which the candidate is formally introduced into and empowered to the sacred education. The word “Upanayana” actually means to lead the aspirant near to the sacred scriptures or the guru, who will impart him this knowledge. Only boys of the three higher castes are eligible for this sacrament of initiation. That means, as I mentioned earlier, the Sudras, women, outcastes and other non-Hindus, have no right for the sacred education. This sacramental rite is an important event in the life of a man; and orthodox and traditional Hindus perform it for their male progeny even today. The timetable, study programme, relationship with
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
the teacher, etc. of a Vedic student are elaborately explained in the Dharma-sastras (Cf. Manu-smŗti II.69-249).
The Sacramental Rite of Initiation to the Sacred Study (Upanayana) An analysis of the elements of this sacrament will also demonstrate the importance ancient Indians attached to learning. According to Manu-smŗti (Laws of Manu), which is supposed to be the most important Law Book of the brahmanic religion, a Brahmin boy should be initiated to the study of Vedas at the age eight, a Ksatriya boy at the age eleven and a Vaisya boy at the age of twelve. Investiture of the sacred thread (upavīta or yajñopavīta) and the exhortation of the Gāyatrī or Sāvitrī mantra, the most sacred prayer formula of Hindu India, are the two most important elements of this ritual (Cf. Manu-smŗti II.36).
The Sudras, women, outcastes and other nonHindus, have no right for the sacred education. After certain preparatory ceremonies, the candidate approaches the guru and says: “I have come here for taking up the studentship. I will be a student”5. The guru accepts him and offers him a loin cloth (kaupina) and says: “In the way in which Brhaspati put the garment of immortality on Indra, thus I put this garment on thee for the sake of long life, old age, strength and
57
research splendour”6. The next ceremony is investing the boy with a girdle, which is made out of the leaves of the sacred grass Muñca. It should remind him of his vows of the studentship and keep him firm and faithful to his vows and duties. This should also protect him from evil powers and keep him pure. This is followed by the investiture of the sacred thread. The colour and material of this thread is different according to the caste of the pupil. There are actually three threads joined together, representing the three qualities, namely, sattva, rajas, and tamas, or the tree duties, namely, the duties to the ŗsis (ancient teachers and seers), to the ancestors and to gods, or the purity of spirit, mind and body. Then a staff, which is the symbol of a watchman, is given to the boy to make him aware that he is now the custodian of the sacred scriptures. Staff is also a sign of a pilgrim. With the initiation, the student now launches on a long pilgrimage in search of wisdom, truth, sanctity and finally eternal liberation. The exhortation of Gāyatri is preceded by some symbolic and sacred acts. The teacher first pours water into the hands of the student, signifying the purification and purity needed for the study of the Vedas. Then the guru touches the heart of his disciple to symbolize the cordial relationship that should exist between them. The teacher then asks the student to mount a stone with the words: “Step on this stone, be firm like stone, destroying the enemies”7. The student is supposed to be steadfast in the pursuit of wisdom. Then the teacher whispers the Gāyatrī mantra into the right ear of the student. By learning this mantra, the boy is said to be born a second time (dvija). Only the three higher castes are called the twiceborn, because only these castes receive the instruction of Gāyatri. Manu-smŗti says: “In
58
the Vedic birth of the student, symbolized by the wearing of the girdle of the Muñca grass, the Gāyatri is the mother and the teacher is the father” (Manu-smŗti III.170). The student then makes his vows. He promises to study the sacred texts diligently, to obey the guru uncompromisingly, to tend the sacrificial fire carefully, to observe celibacy strictly, to be always vigilant and to be satisfied with simple dress, food and habitation.
The Process of Vedic Study After the initiation the student is received into the household of his guru (gurukula), where he has to undergo the strict, long programme of education, practicing the rigid rules of moral, religious, hygienic and social disciplines. He has the obligation to remain with the teacher
as long as the education lasts, and till the teacher is satisfied. Total submission and blind obedience to the will and words of the guru are essential. Sage Gautama in his Dharma-sutra exhorts that a good disciple should rise up in the morning before the guru is up and go to bed after the guru has retired for night’s rest. He has to embrace the feet of the guru every morning. If the teacher walks, he has to walk behind him. He should occupy only a lower seat than that of the teacher. He should, out of respect, never pronounce the name of the teacher. He has to execute the manual works of the household of the teacher, like fetching water and fuel, sweeping and cleaning the house, maintaining and safeguarding the sacrificial hall and the sacrificial fire, etc. He should beg his food and eat whatever he received with the permission of the teacher. But he has to avoid eating meat
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
REsearch and honey. He should not use perfumes or garlands, nor play musical instruments, nor indulge in dancing and singing. He should not sleep in day-time and has no right to use a carriage for travel, or to wear shoes. He should strive to control his body, senses, mind and consciousness. Above all he should control and overcome all evil tendencies like anger and attachment to persons or things, should avoid all the six cardinal sins, namely, covetousness, anger, avarice, infatuation, pride and jealousy (kāma-krodha-lobha-moha-mata-mātsarya). He has to concentrate all his energies on his svadharma, the dharma of his āśrama, namely, study8. The study of the Vedic part of the curriculum, because it is very sacred and sacrosanct, is carried out in the morning after the obligatory purificatory bath, and before meals. Vedic and Vedantic studies are carried out like a religious ritual. Therefore, purity of body, senses and mind, purity of intention, meticulous observance of the rules attached to it, are to be carried out carefully. Other branches of learning are taught and learnt at other times. The Vedas are not taught on inauspicious days and inauspicious hours of the day. Manu specifies the exact days and times for the study of the Vedas. The Śruti is handled only in day time. But all the days are not auspicious and suitable for Vedic studies. Humans are born with three debts and obligations: debt to God, debt to sages/teachers and debt to ancestors.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
Above all he should control and overcome all evil tendencies like anger and attachment to persons or things, should avoid all the six cardinal sins, namely, covetousness, anger, avarice, infatuation, pride and jealousy (kāma-krodha-lobha-moha-mata-mātsarya). Debt to God is absolved by worship of God; debt to sages is exonerated by the study of Vedas and debt to ancestors is acquitted by begetting children. This fact is kept in mind in the study of Vedas. The day time of the ancestors (pitarah) is the white half of the month and the day time of gods is the Uttarayana, that is, when the sun is in the
northern side of the equator. That means the Vedic literature is handled only in the day time of the white halves of the months of Uttarayana. The rest of the time of the year and months should be used for the study of the members of Vedas (Vedangas) and other subjects9. (To be continued)
59
INVESTIGATION
Why no Indian Universities in the list of top 200 institutions globally?
I
n the past one month, two reputed surveys came out ranking the top 200 and 400 universities in the world. The rankings were Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) world university rankings and Times Higher Education (THE) rankings which featured not a single Indian university in the top 200 institutions at a global level. The academic fraternity dubbed it as a matter of national shame as India is the only BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nation among the developing economies whose institutions have not been able to book a spot in the top 200 league.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
It is only the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) who were featured in the ranking with some improving their positions. In the QS ranking, IIT Delhi (212) and IIT Kanpur (278), have improved from their 2011 position, while in THE ranking IIT Kharagpur stands at 234, IIT Bombay at 258 and IIT Roorkee at 367. But, when the ranking are compared with other BRICS nations institutions the improvement seems dismal as their institutes have fared exceptionally well. There are seven institutions from China have figured in top-200, while Russia's
Lomonosov Moscow State University stands at 112, University of Sao Paolo, Brazil is at 139, and South Africa's University of Cape Town at 154. In THE ranking India has some relief as another BRICS nation Russia has failed to make the top 200 list. China's two top 200 institutions both rose, with Peking University moving from 49th to 46th and Tsinghua jumping 19 places from 71 to 52 supported by extremely strong income figures. Brazil and South Africa has only one, University of Sao Paulo in top 200 institutions at 158 and University of Cape Town at 113 respectively.
61
INVESTIGATION
Though the ranking is not very encouraging for India and a larger group of academicians believe that this is really matter of concern and we need to improve in the areas like research and innovation to earn a place in top league. Other groups of people are of the view that these ranking systems are most suited for the education system in western countries and not favourable for a country like India with entirely different education system. This is what Vice Chancellor's says about the issue:
Problems with India Higher Education System Dr. N. Prabhudev, Former Vice Chancellor, Bangalore University said, "We can't carry forward with the 19th century mindset, 20th century process and 21st century needs. With number of education bills stuck in Parliament, unions and people with vested interest block reforms in the country. We need to re-define the needs of students and teachers. Professors from outside are not called to teach and train. While the ones working in the country are not engaged in meaningful research, so it has become a chain where nobody wants to change. Selection of vice chancellors is more political than on merit. Governing bodies are in tune with the party in power - Left, Right or Centre." "Innovation requires collaboration. No University has innovation centres; we live in an age of stark contradictions. The world enjoys technologies of unimaginable sophistication; we have none. Satisfactory operational system of a university should be one under which the University is run freely by educationists and enjoy the autonomous rights of independent thinking and free expression within the framework of the national constitution and laws. It should be ensured that "Institutions of higher learning should be geared to the needs of society, run independently and practice democratic management in accordance with law, which is sorely missing in our system," added Prabhu Dev.
62
Prof. R K Kale, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Gujarat said, "There are many reasons for that like lack of academic freedom, insufficient funding, lack of infrastructure, lack of support in research, nonavailability of quality teachers etc. Practically, there is no autonomy for running the educational institutes. Most of our universities are starving of fund. The universities of foreign countries have academic freedom and are heavily funded. Recently India has increased the funding for higher education but still it is not sufficient to make universities internationally competitive. It is important to note that whenever nation is in financial difficulties, the universities are affected and suffer the most. The annual budget of the most of top listed 200 institutes is even higher than annual budget of some of states of our country." "Recently, the government has issued office memorandum on the economic measures and rationalization of expenditure which is also applicable to our universities. According to this memorandum, universities are supposed to cut down 10 per cent from their non-plan budget. The university cannot cut the salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff. As a result, non-salary components are decreased to the great extent. What remains with our universities, compared to international standard, is a peanut. From this limited money the institutes have to run its day-to-day affairs and forget about
upgrading library, running laboratories, and other essential things such as inviting scholars," opined Prof. Kale. "Further, in this memorandum the universities are asked to hold only such conferences workshops, seminars and symposiums which are absolutely essential with mandatory 10 per cent cut on budgetary allocations for seminars and conferences. There is also ban on participation in workshops, conferences, presentation of papers abroad. Creation of posts is also banned. How academic expansion will take place without creation of new posts and positions and attending seminars and conferences? There is already 35 per cent vacant posts in higher education in our country the universities When there is no academic freedom, no good infrastructure, no quality teachers and no adequate funding how we expect our universities and academic institutes to compete with Ivy League and C9 Universities?," asked Prof. Kale. Dr. P Kaliraj, Vice Chancellor, Anna
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
INVESTIGATION
University said, "The present system through which these rankings are done are most suited to the western countries and US they give 25 per cent weight-age to noble laureates and 75 per cent to research while we focus on employability. Another major problem is related to funding as most of the funding by central government goes to IITs and IIMs or IISc and state universities get almost negligible amount of fund. They should consider different countries' education system in mind before ranking the universities. The parameters used for ranking do not suit us thus our universities do not get place in the list of select top 200 universities." Nikhil Sinha, VC of Shiv Nadar University said, "QS and THE ranking heavily provide scores for research, the quality of the research, the publication record of the faculty and that's where their focus is, they also rank you on the basis of Nobel laureates among your faculty. Universities in India do not do the research neither quantity nor quality wise. So, the ranking are heavily focussed on institutions that conduct research over institutions that are teaching focussed. We have some very good institutions like colleges of Delhi University they have very good under graduate courses and are teaching focussed but they do not do research, so they would not figure in these rankings."
How to break into the top league? Dr. N. Prabhudev opines giving greater academic freedom to the universities is the key. "We need first rate tangible assets like buildings, books, facilities, etc? In terms of human resources we need great teachers, students, administrative staff, and University culture. Educationists run the university, which enjoys autonomy, rights of independent thinking and free expression. It should operate independently and exercise democratic management in accordance with the law. The culture of a university should be a culture of truth seeking, Precision and discipline." "The world famous universities such as Oxford and Cambridge exploit students' potential and inspire their creativity. A university must have world class professors.
Pallikkutam
Nov.2012
Fortunately, we have made good policies but we failed in their implementation. It is also important to remember that our education system is different, the western universities and other countries are investing in education since long. A sufficient and necessary condition of becoming a first rate university is world class professors, the autonomy of professors and their dedication to their careers. Education should be supported by greater financial resources and stronger commitments. Economic and social development planning shall give priority to educational development. The fiscal budget shall first satisfy the needs of education and human resources development," added Dev. While Nikhil Sinha believes that taking certain informed steps can improve our ranking. "In the programmatic ranking of these rankings we do not do that bad but at university level we have to do good at all the levels in all the disciplines, the other problem is that we do not have multi disciplinary universities neither we are conducting that quality of research. Institutions that extend the frontiers of knowledge do well in these rankings. We need to improve upon these areas and automatically our ranking will improve." Prof. RK Kale is of the opinion that, "If we have to reach the international standards and go in the top 200 universities, we should not do what we are doing now. We only debate and discuss, make policies on education. We keep reminding ourselves on importance and significance of access to education, equity in education, quality and equality in education, as well as its relevance in life. Fortunately, we have made good policies but we failed in their implementation. It is also important to remember that our education system is different, the western universities and other countries are investing in education since long. We started it only few decades back. And therefore there is educationally huge gap between Indian and western universities. To narrow this educational gap the expenditure on education should be increased." "We should also think what is good for our
nation, device our educational policies and implement them effectively. Our agenda should be focused on to enhancement of socio-economic status of every citizen through education. The ranking game appears to me as a business adventure. It has a hidden commercial agenda. We should not get trapped into it. However, it does not mean that we should ignore the ranking. The situation is changing and nation is giving lot of importance to education. I am sure the measures recently taken for higher education will bear the fruits and we will find at least few Indian universities/institutions in the select list of top 200 universities of the world in near future," added Prof. Kale. "Our education system is best suited for our country, if we really want to improve our ranking in these rankings we need to invest heavily in research as, if you look at the Nobel laureates they are innovators and researchers not academicians, we need to build a community, a generation of researchers and innovators to compete with best institutions around the world and this will improve our ranking," said Anna University VC. It seems there is a unanimous opinion among academicians that the primary reasons for underperformance of Indian institutions are lack of funding, lack of research, insufficient number of teachers. While somewhere there is lack of consensus on these rankings and their credibility but there is agreement that Indian Universities as well as the policy makers need to look beyond just giving degrees and have to focus on the research and innovation to get entry ticket for the top rank universities. The Centre also needs to bring a change in its outlook towards the education system and should invest money in state universities as they are the ones catering to the larger group of population. Courtesy: India Education Review
63
Confessions Shashi Tharoor
W
hat is your present state of mind?
Stressed.
What is your greatest fear? Losing a loved one. Which living person do you most admire? Kofi Annan. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? An anxiety to please. What is the trait you deplore in others? Dishonesty. And not just financial dishonesty, but moral and intellectual dishonesty too. What is your greatest extravagance? Chocolates. Who is your favourite painter? M.F. Husain. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Modesty. On what occasion do you lie? Only to avoid hurting others. What do you dislike most about your appearance? My increasingly undisciplined hair and my perpetually losing battle of the bulge. What is your greatest regret? The loss of my father.
Shashi Tharoor, the Minister of State for Human Resource Development is the Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram constituency. Before returning to his native Kerala, he was a career diplomat with the United Nations, where he rose to the level of Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Information. Tharoor is also a prolific author and columnist, having written bestsellers such as “The Great Indian Novel”, “The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cell Phone: Reflections on India in the 21st Century”, and “Bookless in Baghdad”.
What or who is the greatest love of your life? My wife Sunanda. What is your idea of happiness? Happiness is a state of well-being that allows you to feel that your presence on this planet is worthwhile; that you’re happy to be alive, and that you’re looking forward to the next moment. How would you like to die? Ideally at peace after having lived a full life, and with the sense that there is nothing more I particularly wish to accomplish on the planet.
Printed and published by Rajagiri Media. For private circulation only.