[sacw] sacw dispatch #2 | 18 July 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #2
18 July 2000

_____________________

#1. India: Controlling Education
#2. Letter by Indian citizen regarding the 'VHP' application to seek
recognition by UN
#3. Bangladesh: Ban looks likely for sectarian groups

_____________________

#1.

Economic and Political Weekly
June 24-30, 2000
Commentary

Controlling Education

[by] Harsh Sethi

Acharya Murli Manohar Joshi is a popular dartboard figure, and nowhere
more so than in the left liberal camp. His very appearance " dhoti,
'angavastram' and a large tilak on the forehead " is like a red rag to a
bull. He is also not known for his circumspection of speech, particularly
once he starts off on his favourite bug-bear =96 the secular intelligents,
whom he gleefully lambasts as deracinated and lacking in tradition. But
more than his sartorial preferences and intemperate pronouncements, he will
be remembered for being single-minded in the pursuit of his objectives.

The ministry of human resources development (MHRD) rarely represents a
prize position for senior politicians. Barring the erudite Maulana Azad and
much later P V Narsimha Rao, it has rarely been occupied by politicians
known for their intellectual acumen. What few, however, realise is that the
MHRD represents a large empire, and though its budgets nowhere match those
of the more glamorous ministries of home affairs, defence or finance, the
possibilities it offers for those seeking to dispense patronage are
immense. Even more important is its role in ideological battles. So if Syed
Nurul Hassan made =91creative=92 use of his position by bringing in favourit=
es
in key academic positions, central to Indira Gandhi=92s project of
cultivating a left-populist image, and Arjun Singh, ever keen to project
himself as the last defender of secularism, extended the patronage to
individuals from the Fourth Estate, Joshi has been untiring in his efforts
at promoting a saffron agenda. Little wonder that so many of his actions
are mired in controversy.

In his first stint as minister HRD, Joshi signalled his intentions by
reconstituting the ICHR and the ICSSR, the two premier bodies for funding
and supporting research in the humanities and social sciences. Targeted in
particular was the ICHR-sponsored 'Towards Freedom' project which,
incidentally, is still making news because of the ongoing tussle between
the council, which holds the copyright to the volumes, the publisher Oxford
University Press, which refuses to return the unpublished volumes unless
the council reimburses the costs incurred, and the authors, who have
threatened to withdraw their names from the volumes in case there is
pressure to revise the text.

Despite media outrage, the moves continued. The director of the Indian
Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, was pressured into submitting his
resignation. The board of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
was reconstituted with its high-profile academic director, Kapila
Vatsyayan, served marching orders. Joshi even succeeded in installing as
chairman, University Grants Commission, a reported favourite. True, the
project for hegemonising higher education has met a setback with the recent
vice-chancellorial appointments in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim universities.
It is reported that as many as six central university vice-chancellors are
of a left-liberal-secular pre-disposition, a fact that has caused some
consternation in Jhandewalan.

Not that these minor hicupps have dampened the zeal for altering the very
face of higher education. In the eye of the storm is the Gandhian Institute
of Studies, Varanasi, a research centre set up by Jayaprakash Narain.
Currently grants to the institute, both from the state government and the
centre (via ICSSR) have been stopped. What has been engineered is a split
in the faculty, with opposing sections courting differing godfathers,
unfortunately within the Sangh 'parivar'. The effort seems to be to keep
the situation on hold till the faction close to the minister wins out. It
can be no one's case that the Gandhian Institute is a premier and vibrant
centre of research. Its proclivity to court controversy is legendary. Few
today may recollect that the institute faced a similar situation during the
emergency days, ostensibly because of its close links with JP. At that
stage, the member-secretary of the ICSSR, bailed it out (though at
considerable risk) by offering fellowships to the entire faculty. Such
expectations, these days, seem unwarranted.

While the moves at 'structural transformation' through curbing/stamping
out dissidence and placing favourites in key positions have come under some
scrutiny, the equally dubious and possibly more important changes in the
arena of school education and literacy programmes have gone relatively
unnoticed. True, an earlier effort at making Saraswati Vandana cumpulsory
in state-aided schools and introducing value-based education (via a
discussion paper prepared by an RSS sympathiser) was rejected by the state
education ministers=92 conference. Given that education falls in the
concurrent list, carrying along state governments is essential. Equally,
since many of our school programmes =96 DPEP, Bihar Education Project, UP
Education Project, Shiksha Karmi and Lok Jumbish Projects in Rajasthan,
just to name a few =96 involve funding from multilateral and bilateral
donors, blatant changes in curricula and pedagogy are not easy. Not only
does the government have to provide regular progress reports, all these
programmes involve "autonomous" consultants to ensure ongoing monitoring.
Control strategies thus have to be more subtle and low key. As of the
moment, the three key institutions involved in the preparation of textbooks
and designing the overall framework for school curricula =96 the NCERT,
National Institute for Educational Planning and Action (NIEPA) and the
National Open Schools Authority, have new directors, all appointed during M
M Joshi's second term as minister HRD. The NCERT has, in addition,
appointed Rastogi, a self-confessed RSS sympathiser, as its
nominee on all appointment committees. And this despite extensive negative
press coverage.

Similarly, NCERT has circulated a draft policy document outlining a
framework for formulating the curriculum for the 12-year school programme.
While this document is still to be ratified, it is significant that the
draft, rather than outline approaches to education, focuses on the
importance of religion as a source of values for children. While this in
theory is incontestable, for who can deny the role of religion as a source
of moral values, a complete silence on non-religious (read science) sources
for inculcation of values is disturbing. As is the apprehension that this
emphasis in the policy document might give a fillip to communal agendas,
not unfounded given the experience of Gujarat.

Equally significant is the ministry=92s new programme, Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan, which seeks to bring together all the different schemes for
elementary and primary education under one umbrella, thereby facilitating
and extending bureaucratic control. Fortunately the proposal to channel all
external co-financing, whether for official programmes or for NGOs working
in the field of education, through one body which would in turn allocate
resources to different entities on 'a rational basis', has met with
opposition from the finance ministry.

It is only dimly realised that schools enjoy a high priority in the
BJP/RSS imagination. Partly because the Sangh offers a total package =96 fro=
m
cradle to grave (or rather funeral pyre) =96 and the chance to mould young
minds is too delicious to give up. Equally, primary school teachers make
excellent party cadres. The difference is that while the CPI(M), the only
other party targeting this strata, concentrates on government teachers, the
Sangh parivar simultaneously operates through civil society. With close to
70,000 Saraswati Vidya and Saraswati Shishu Mandir schools spread
throughout the country, in turn supported through seven educational trusts,
the 'parivar' is well-positioned to take advantage of shifts in policy.

So far the Sangh 'parivar' had paid little attention to the arena of
literacy and continuing education. The National Adult Education Programme,
initiated during the Janata regime in the late 1970s, enjoyed a short and
inglorious existence. It achieved little apart from a spread of official
largesse to selected voluntary agencies. The National Literacy Mission is a
different matter altogether. Initiated as a technology mission during Rajiv
Gandhi's tenure, it really took off after the success of the Ernakulam
experiment resulting in, for the first time, universal literacy in a
district. Soon the programme spread all over, and while the quality remains
variable, the figures for literacy achievement reported in the 53rd round
of the NSS are astonishing. No previous decade had reported a 10 per cent
increase in literacy, and this figure relates to just six years.

At one level, this has permitted the government to gather accolades. For
once, we can legitimately claim pride at meeting international commitments
and obligations, viz, the 1990 Jomtien Conference in Thailand promised
'education for all' by the year 2000. What sticks in the craw is that NLM,
more specifically the Bharatiya Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), the agency
providing ideological and programmatic support to the literacy campaigns,
is seen by 'the powers that be' as a hot-bed of leftists. Surely they
cannot be permitted to gain from the accolades?

Is this why the executive committee of the NLM was reconstituted, with
official nominees for the first time outnumbering non-officials? Or that
the EC is no longer empowered to approve projects and schemes? Not that it
has ever met after reconstitution. Similarly, proposals submitted by the
BGVS for further funding have been inordinately delayed, not turned down
for that might raise a stink. Clearly the hardship caused to numerous
volunteers who work on a niggardly honorarium is of no concern. Nor that
the thrust, in the event of official disapproval and lack of support, may
peter out.

Unfortunately too many of us see these moves as sporadic, incremental and
uncoordinated. There is also some exhaustion with cries about saffron
conspiracies. Many on the losing end today have been themselves guilty of
playing selective patronage politics. Nevertheless, a deconstruction of the
new moves in education =96 at all levels including literacy campaigns =96 is
vital. And it should move beyond analysing texts and speeches to mapping
out changes in bureaucratic positions and procedures. Otherwise we may be
too late to counter the moves at creeping control.

______

#2.

[ Letter by India's well known documentary film maker and peace activist to
the United Nations regarding the current move by the Hindu right wing
organisation the VHP (Visha Hindu Parishad) to seek consulatative status as
a NGO at the UN]

dear sir
i am shocked to learn that the UN is considering recognizing the vishwa
hindu parishad (VHP) as a legitimate non-governmental organization. that
would be akin to recognizing bin laden as a social worker, or the hitler
youth as a bonafide ngo. yes the vhp may do some social work, but they are
far more infamous for the hatred they have spread in india against
minorities in general and muslims and christians in particular. the only
way one could call them an ngo, is if ngo stood for "no good organization".

please consult more than the present ruling party of india which is
fraternally tied to the vhp, and therefore incapable of impartiality on the
issue.

regards,
anand patwardhan,
indian citizen, and a member of the tragically silent secular majority of
india
______

#3.

South China Morning Post
17 July 2000
SOUTH ASIA TODAY

Ban looks likely for sectarian groups

BANGLADESH by ARSHAD MAHMUD in Dhaka
The Government is considering reimposing a ban on
religion-based political groups in the face of rising tension over the
killing last week of eight people, allegedly by Muslim fundamentalists.

"The Razakaars and Al-Badars must not be allowed to do politics any more
and they should be banned forever," Home Minister Mohammad Nasim said at a
public meeting on Friday in the port city of Chittagong two days after the
killings there.

The term "Razakaars and Al-Badars" is used to describe liberation forces
such as the Jamat-e-Islami and other sectarian parties that fought with
Pakistan to prevent the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. The parties were
subsequently banned.

Those killed last week included six student leaders belonging to the
ruling party. The attack is the most serious on Awami League supporters
since the ban was lifted 25 years ago after the overthrow of the first
Awami League government. Jamat-e-Islami denied involvement in the incident,
but police arrested 50 leaders of its student wing in weekend raids.

Independent observers said Wednesday's attack highlighted the strength
fundamentalist forces had gained and was intended to frighten those at the
centre of power in Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's unusually
angry reaction confirmed that assessment.

"Enough is enough. It's time we must act and they must be crushed," she
said. But many observers said it was easier said than done. Fundamentalist
forces have been steadily gaining ground, working to exploit popular
religious sentiment.

With financial help from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, they have
opened banks, schools and orphanages for the underprivileged. One of their
achievements has been the unprecedented growth of madrassa (religious
schools) across the country.

In recent years, many of their graduates have reportedly been sent to
promote jihad, or holy war, among their comrades in Bosnia, Chechnya,
Kosovo, Afghanistan and Kashmir.

But they have been unable to translate the achievements into electoral
gains. Their parliamentary strength dropped in 1996 to three seats, from 20
in 1991.

"They can never come to power through election," commentator Professor
Serajul Islam Chowdhury said. Bangladeshis were secular by nature, he said,
and "don't like to be governed by fundamentalists".

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_________________________
Harsh Kapoor
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