Education In India

There is no doubt that India has a right to feel the pride about its educational system which has a legacy of a few thousands of years. The major change took place in British rule. Though it helped to educate the Indian community and includes several good things, the system was mainly designed as per the needs of British rulers and that period. In today's world the educational needs have changed. The system needs to be rich in content and also should reach to all. So definitely there is a need of radical changes to make education more life oriented. At the same time too many experiments are being conducted without any long term thoughts. Another aspect of this is, really good policies are being thought, but there is failure to implement.

To improve the quality of education in the country National Policy on Education was prepared in 1968. It was focused on providing education facilities to all the citizens of the nation. The policy has been updated from time to time. The recent changes took place in 2009-2010 along with Right to Education Bill. Though education is subject for both state and centre as per the Constitution of India, the State Governments play an important role in the development of education especially in the primary and the secondary levels.

Aim is to provide education to each child till the age of 14 years, practically it is not easy. Not each child reach in the school and the drop-out rates are also very high in some states. The measures like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and District Primary Education Programme have been successful to some extent.

To avoid the drop outs the examination till 8^th Standard have been made only mock drills as the underperformers are to be promoted to the next grade and there are no failures who study in the same class once again as in older system. Though this was a good attempt to decrease the number of students leaving the school half way it has its repercussions on overall teaching system. As the student realize that exams are loosing its importance it affects the will to study and also decreases moral of the teachers over the years.

The proportion of student per teacher is also important. If it is 30 or less than 30 the impact of the teaching is better as the teacher can give individual attention to those needed as and when required. But in reality this proportion is always more and decreases the quality of the education as it increases.

The basic system of education is 10+2+3 but considering the contents of the curriculum and importance of vocational training requirements it is needed to modify further to 8+2+2+3. Those who do not wish to go to mainstream education or are interested in joining certain profession for those early choices of various subject to acquire the related skills and experience should be available at 8+. 

The credit system is a relatively new concept to our educational system and can be used effectively in higher education to make it at par with international levels. Accreditation of the institutes is another related issue and needs serious involvement and initiative of the universities.

A single common entrance examination instead of multiple such exams for professional courses is welcome but at the same time as the entrance exams are gaining more attention the board exams start loosing its importance.

What should be the medium of education is another burning issue. It is true that the early education should be in mother tongue. At later stage the semi-English medium is beneficial. This will prepare the student for change in medium of instructions at higher education level and also keeps the choice open to receive the high-school education in mother tongue. It’s really astonishing that in state of Maharashtra the permission is not being given to open the new Marathi medium schools for a considerable period.

The mid-day school meal programme is another time tested success story. It not only improves the retention rate at school but also helps to improve the health of the child. However it is really a managerial challenge to implement this programme successfully. Lack of sincere implementation wipes out all the advantages of the programme.

The future of the country is in the hands of this young generation receiving education in schools today. No one needs to describe the peril if the educational policies are not well implemented.

Fishing in Konkan

A few issues depicted in the following presentation about the change in fishing in Konkan region of Maharashtra over the years.

The presentation is in local language Marathi.

Info from: Websites and Shri Dnyanesh Dewoolkar.

Presentation in Marathi

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Fishing in Konkan(India)

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Presentation in English.

Fishermen And Fishing

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Ayodhya Verdict

Ayodhya : High Court Verdict

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Ayodhya : Ram Janmabhoomi

There is no doubt that the whole country is watching with keen interest towards the outcome from Ayodhya case verdict with the apprehension about its repercussions.

Basically Ayodhya issue is a political issue. It needs to be sorted out by the Government, Political parties and other stakeholders arriving at consensus through national debate.

The issues in the court currently are mainly related about the ownership of the disputed property like any other civil suite and the validity and interpretation of archaeological evidences about the existence of a ‘Hindu’ structure prior to the building of Babari Masjid.

But today Ayodhya issue is bigger than that. Now it is a National issue with multiple dimensions. If not resolved amicably it will have long lasting impact on the social fabric of this country.

Originally the issue was never Indian Hindus versus Indian Muslims. It has become so with the political activity as well as political inactivity.

Looking at Hindu – Muslim divide most of the Indians agree that partition of British India should have never taken place. After the independence it was not wrong to protect the rights of the minorities. However over the years it deviated to appeasement of the Muslims for creating the vote bank rather than the real developmental activities for the Muslim Community. This resulted in anger about favoritism of Muslim creeping in the minds of Hindus. Demolition of Babari Masjid was the expression of this anger.

Does this mean demolishing the Masjid was justifiable?
No. No place of faith of any religion should be damaged.

The Hindus also cannot ignore the fact that centuries ago Muslim rulers have demolished hundreds and thousands Hindu temples and converted them into mosque as they didn’t believe in idol worship.

Does this mean that we should turn the wheel of history back to destroy every such Masjid?
No. That also will be not correct.

There were attempts to resolve this issue in the past by peaceful means. If the Muslim community would have realized that Ayodhya is a birth place of ‘Ram’ the Hindu God and a matter of faith of millions of Hindus while the so called Masjid or ‘disputed structure’ is just another remnant of Muslim rule where even locals were not paying Namaz for several years maybe the demolition would have never happened. But the lack of initiative to intervene by central government due to fear of losing vote bank by hurting Muslim sentiments has not only resulted counterproductive but the issue has been dragged to such an extent that now it has become more and more difficult to be handled by Political leaders alone.

The last minute attempt by the Supreme Court will not leave anyone chance to complain tomorrow that no enough attempts have been made for settlement. And if this attempt does not work the verdict of the High Court will make the way free for further political battle.

ram janmabhoomi

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Population And Poverty

Our country which is having second highest population in the world have seen a five-fold increase over the last 100 years and will surpass that of China by 2050. Projections made so far show that while India's population grew by 1.4 per cent over the last five years, China saw only a 0.6 per cent population growth in the same period. India's total population is nearing 120 crores while China's nearing 135 crores. Pakistan's population grew at the highest rate of 2.2 per cent in last five years among the neighbouring countries however it has still not reached to 20 crores. By 2050 India's population is expected to increase to 160 crores and that of China will be only around 140 crores.

Currently Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar combined contribute to 25 per cent of India’s population and by 2025 it will grow to one third of country. The individual populations of many Indian states equal the total population of many countries. Uttar Pradesh with a population 18.3 crores nearly touches that of Brazil at 18.7 crores, Maharashtra's 10.4 crores is equal to that of Mexico's 10.4 crores and Bihar's 9 crores is more than Germany's 8.3 crores.

The recent measurement of poverty through Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) shows that acute poverty prevails in eight most populous Indian states, (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) together accounting for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African nations combine (410 million). The MPI assesses a range of critical factors or 'deprivations' at the household level from education to health outcomes to assets and services. Taken together, these factors provide a fuller portrait of acute poverty than simple income measures. Progress towards the eight important Millennium Development Goals is measured through 21 targets and 60 official indicators and based on these indicators the recent report mentions that though there has been progress by India it is not sufficient.

High mortality among the under five children is one of the cause of high population growth. Globally 8.8 million children a year die before their fifth birthday, more than forty per cent of them during their first four weeks of life. At least two-thirds of all child deaths are preventable. India has reached to under-five mortality rate of 69 per 1000 live births from 116 in 1990 while Bangladesh has reached to 54 from 149. China has reached to 21 from 46. Globally countries are being advocated to bring the under-five mortality rate at least below 40 per 1000 live births by 2015. 

As per UNDP advocacy, it needs improving access and quality of health care. Investment in health information and referral systems, equipment, medical supplies and infrastructure is critical. It also needs to note that usually the poor are excluded. The high national coverage levels do not always indicate progress in reaching the poorest and most vulnerable population. For reducing inequities it needs greater political commitment, specific targeting of low-income groups, redirecting of human resources and other strategies. 

The country should identify inequities in coverage by geographic area, casts and religion, income and the like—and initiate actions to not only to provide universal coverage of essential interventions and packages but their delivery also. Parliamentarians should participate in national and local reviews of health related data to monitor progress and advocate for greater budgetary resources as well legislative frameworks to be sure that evidence based polices are adopted.

Mentioning Your Caste in Census

Currently there is a lot of debate going on the topic of mentioning caste in the census. There are around 5000 different castes in India of which around 2500 castes are considered as backward and of these around 1000 castes are considered most backward. Post Mandal Commission the figure of backward castes has crossed 3500. Some castes are considered backward in one state and not so in other.

In urban and educated India the caste does not matter much. However we cannot deny that caste system do exist in India. Suppression of backward caste at one end and Honor killings at other end still occur in India.

There is definitely need of availability of good quality caste related data in view of planning and policy making for the country. Though the data about castes is collected through sample surveys the last time in census it was collected in 1930.

The reservations is another issue and has several dimensions. Even those who are against reservations will agree that underprivileged should be given some consideration while competing with the rest of the society. Should the criteria be 'caste or economic backwardness ?' and 'what should be the percentage of reservations?' or 'what should be the format of benefits?' are all debatable issues.

In this census actual caste should get recorded in detail even if one is not from the backward castes. Some are against it pleading that it will affect the social fabric. But those who have the habit to make the mess of the things will do that even without this data.

At the same time we should remember that those who want to do some good to this country a good quality data will help. Census is not only headcount but data on several social aspects is collected. Reservations can not be the sole purpose of collecting caste related data. There is a possibility that census will not take place in future and this census data may be linked with UID which will be a permanent feature.

This data is to be converted in information after the analysis using the appropriate parameters. And this information when viewed in proper perspective will generate the intelligence. With the good political will this intelligence can be applied in the policy makings for the better future of the country.

Sindhudurga Fort Festival 2010

किल्ले सिंधुदुर्ग चा उत्सव सध्या मालवण मध्ये साजरा केला जातोय. त्या निमित्ताने किनाऱ्यावर साकार करण्यात आलेलं हे वाळूचं शिल्प.

शिल्पकार विवेक अंबिये ९८२३६६०२३२ सुरेश गुळेकर ९४२२५९६७०५ चिन्मय जाधव ९१५८५८९४१७

ओरिसा च्या किनाऱ्यावर ची वालुका शिल्पं नेहमीच बातम्यात असतात. या शिल्पकारांनाही जरूर दाद द्या.