The Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) Scheme providing for supplementary nutrition, immunization and pre-school education to the children is a popular flagship programme of the government. It is one of the world’s largest programs providing for an integrated package of services for the holistic development of the child. As per 2001 Census, there are around 160 million children, constituting 15.42 per cent of the scheme in the country.
The scheme gets a further boost with the Ministry of Women and Child Development deciding to expand and universalize it by increasing the number of Anganwadis to 14 lakhs from the existing 10 lakhs as per the commitment to the National Common Minimum Programme and increasing weightage cost of supplementary nutrition from Rs. 2 to Rs. 4 per child and in the case of severely malnourished children to Rs. 6 per child. Nutritional support and referral medical services are available to pregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls also at Anganwadis.
In order to reduce malnutrition among children and the pregnant and lactating mother, the government provides supplementary nutrition through Angawnwadis under the scheme. The government provided around Rs. 3338 crore during 2007-08 to the states. The allocation for the purpose has been increased to Rs.5984.95 crore in the current financial year.
Under the scheme, innovative methods are used to provide pre-school education to the children at Anganwadis. The children feel more comfortable as generally they are accompanied by their mothers and Anganwadi workers from neighbourbood. India is the home to the largest child population in the world. ICDS is the foremost symbol of India’s commitment to its children and it is the response to the challenge of providing pre-school education on one hand and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality, on the other. It is an inter-sectoral programme, which seeks to directly reach out to children, below six years, especially from vulnerable and remote areas.
Objectives of ICDS
Laying the foundation for proper psychological development of the child, improving nutritional and health status of children up to the age of six, reducing incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts, enhancing the capability of the mother and family to look after the health, nutritional and development needs of the child and achieving effective coordination of policy and implementation among various departments to promote child development.
Services Package
The scheme provides an integrated approach for converging basic services through community-based workers and helpers. The services are provided at Anganwadis. The Anganwadi, literally a courtyard play center, is a child-care center located within the village itself.
The services provided under the ICDS scheme are: supplementary nutrition, non-formal pre-school education, immunization, health checkup, referral services and nutrition and health education. The supplementary nutrition includes supplementary feeding and growth monitoring, and prophylaxis against Vitamin A deficiency and control of nutritional anemia. All families in the community are surveyed to identify children below the age of six and pregnant and nursing mothers. They avail of supplementary feeding support for 300 days a year. By providing supplementary feeding, the Anganwadi attempts to bridge the protein energy gap between the recommended dietary allowance and average dietary intake of children and women. Children below the age of three are weighed once a month and children in the age group of 3 to 6 are weighed every quarter. Weight-for-age growth cards are maintained for all children below six years. This helps to detect growth faltering and helps in assessing nutritional status. Besides, severely malnourished children are given special supplementary feeding and referred to health sub-centres, primary health centers as and when required.
Pre-school Education
Under ICDS scheme, children are provided pre-school education also besides supplementary nutrition, health-checkup and immunization. Around 3.39 crore children are at Anganwadis as on March 31st this year. Innovative methods are used to provide pre-school education to the children in the age group of 3 to 6 at Anganwadis. Moreover, children feel comfortable as their mothers accompany them. This component for the children is directed towards providing and ensuring a natural joyful and stimulating environment with the emphasis on necessary inputs for optimal growth and development. The early learning component of the ICDS is a significant input for providing a sound foundation for cumulative lifelong learning and development. It also contributes to the universalization of primary education by providing to the child the necessary preparation for primary schooling and offering substitute care to younger siblings, thus freeing the older ones, especially girls to attend school. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru said “No subject is of greater importance than that of education. It is the men and women in a country that make and build a nation and it is education that is supposed to build those men and women.”
Health Care
The health check-up of the children less than 6 years, antenatal care of expectant mothers and postnatal care of nursing mothers are taken care by the medical staff in-charge of Health Sub-Centre and Primary Health Centres under the Reproductive Child Health (RCH) programme of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry. Other health services include immunization, management of malnutrition, treatment of diarrhoea, deworming and distribution of medicines etc.
Immunization of pregnant women and infants protects children from six vaccine-preventable diseases like poliomyelitis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, tuberculosis and measles. These are the major preventable causes of child mortality, disability, morbidity and related malnutrition. Immunization of pregnant women against tetanus also reduces maternal and neonatal mortality.
Funds Allocation
ICDS is a centrally-sponsored scheme implemented through the state governments and UT administrations with 100 per cent financial assistance for inputs other than supplementary nutrition, which the states are to provide out of their own resources. However, from 2005-06, the government has decided to share with the 50 per cent cost of supplementary nutrition. Almost three times increase has been made since then. During 2007-08 allocation of Rs. 1800 crore was made for supplementary nutrition which has been increased to Rs. 2261 crore in the current year.
Social Security
The government has introduced Anganwadi Karyakartri Bima Yojana to Anganwadi workers and Anganwadi helpers with effect from April 2004 under the Life Insurance Corporation’s Social Security Scheme. In order to motivate Anganwadi workers and give recognition to good voluntary work, a scheme of award has been introduced both at the national and state levels. The award comprises of Rs.25,000 cash and a Citation at Central level and Rs.5,000 cash and a Citation at state level. The remuneration of Anganwadi workers has been increased to Rs.1500/- from the existing Rs.700/- and that of the Anganwadi workers to Rs.750 from the existing Rs.500/- with effect from April 2008. The government has also decided to provide uniform to the Anganwadi staff. This will benefit over 18 lakh staff.
Beneficiaries
As many as 787 lakh beneficiaries — 650 lakh children (0-6 years) and about 137 lakh pregnant and lactating mothers are covered under the scheme through over 10.53 lakh Anganwadi centers across the country. The government had issued instructions to all states to give priority in locating Anganwadi centers in areas predominantly inhabited by Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minorities. It is significant to note that the number of beneficiaries for supplementary nutrition have registered an increase of 97 per cent during the period from March 2004 to January 2008. Similarly, the number of children (3 – 6 years) attending Anganwadi centers for pre-school education has increased from 204 lakh to 326 lakh, an increase of 60 per cent during the same period.
Considering the importance of ICDS, the government has given very high priority to the scheme.The significant achievements in its implementation will certainly help as an effective tool in the eradication of malnutrition and ensure all round development of the children, who are the national assets of the future.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Project Elephant By Smt. Kalpana Palkhiwala, Deputy Director, Press Information Bureau, Delhi
Project Elephant (PE), a centrally sponsored scheme, was launched in February 1992 to provide financial and technical support to major elephant bearing States in the country for protection of elephants, their habitats and corridors. It also seeks to address the issues of human-elephant conflict and welfare of domesticated elephants. The Project is being implemented in 13 States/Union Territories-Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu , Uttranchal , Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Based on the proposals received in the form of Annual Plan of Operations, the Government provides financial and technical assistance to State/Union Territories for wildlife protection under the various Centrally Sponsored Schemes – Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries, Project Tiger and Project Elephant. During the current financial year, i.e. 2007-08, the Government of Maharashtra has submitted proposals worth Rs. 15.75 crores to the Central Government for wildlife conservation
The funds under the Schemes - Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries, Project Tiger and Project Elephant are released after scrutiny of the proposals received from the State/Union Territory Governments and also subject to the availability of funds and fulfillment of procedural requirements.
Main Activities
Various activities are being carried out under this project. Existing natural habitats and migratory routes of elephants are restored ecologically. Scientific and planned management is being developed for conservation of elephant habitats and viable population of wild Asiatic elephants in India to reduce man elephant conflict. In crucial habitats, promotional measures are being applied- domestic stock activities in crucial elephant habitats have been stopped, wild elephants are given protection against poachers and also against unnatural cause of deaths, research on elephant management related issues, public education and awareness programmes and Eco-development are other measures under implementation.
Enumeration of Elephants
First time an exclusive exercise for enumeration of wild elephants in the Elephant Reserves was done during Feb-May 2005. This exercise also sought to experiment with two sampling methods, Block Sampling and Line Transact-Dung Count (with Retrospective Method of Calculating Dung Decay Rate).
Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants
Project Elephant has been formally implementing MIKE (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants) programme in 10 Elephant Reserves since April 1, 2004: the Shiwalik (Uttaranchal); Eastern Dooars (West Bengal); Mayurbhanj (Orissa); Ripu-Chirang and Dehing-Patkai (Assam); Garo Hills (Meghalaya); Deomali (Arunachal Pradesh); Wayanad (Kerala), Mysore (Karnataka) and Nilgiri (Tamilnadu).
Research & Consultancy Projects
Project Elephant has initiated a 36-months research project (2003-04 to 2006-07) with the help of the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), Cuttack, for developing high yielding varieties of paddy not relished by elephants; developing elephant-proof storage bins for food grains; and developing elephant repellants. The project is being carried out at the CRRI’s research stations in Orissa and Assam.
Two other 36 months research projects (2003-04 to 2006-07) initiated by project elephant with the help of the Assam Agricultural University are on ‘Disease management in captive elephants’ and ‘Anatomical studies on the Asian elephant’.
Project Elephant has entrusted the WII with a small project (2004-05 to 2005-06) to study the impact of the relocation of the Gujjar on the flora and fauna of Rajaji National Park and has also given a consultancy project (February-July 2005) to the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, to help the West Bengal Forest Department in carrying out a sample-based enumeration of elephants during 2005.
Microchips
Project Elephant has initiated a programme for registration of domesticated elephants by using microchips. More than 1000 elephants have been microchipped so far in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar and Delhi etc.
Elephant Habitat in India
There are only 17 States in which wild elephants exist. Project Elephant has declared 24 elephant reserves in 12 States to protect elephant populations in the wild and develop their habitat. It was launched in the year 1991-92 as a sequel to a series of efforts to conserve this magnificent species covering primarily the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Based on the proposals received in the form of Annual Plan of Operations, the Government provides financial and technical assistance to State/Union Territories for wildlife protection under the various Centrally Sponsored Schemes – Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries, Project Tiger and Project Elephant. During the current financial year, i.e. 2007-08, the Government of Maharashtra has submitted proposals worth Rs. 15.75 crores to the Central Government for wildlife conservation
The funds under the Schemes - Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries, Project Tiger and Project Elephant are released after scrutiny of the proposals received from the State/Union Territory Governments and also subject to the availability of funds and fulfillment of procedural requirements.
Main Activities
Various activities are being carried out under this project. Existing natural habitats and migratory routes of elephants are restored ecologically. Scientific and planned management is being developed for conservation of elephant habitats and viable population of wild Asiatic elephants in India to reduce man elephant conflict. In crucial habitats, promotional measures are being applied- domestic stock activities in crucial elephant habitats have been stopped, wild elephants are given protection against poachers and also against unnatural cause of deaths, research on elephant management related issues, public education and awareness programmes and Eco-development are other measures under implementation.
Enumeration of Elephants
First time an exclusive exercise for enumeration of wild elephants in the Elephant Reserves was done during Feb-May 2005. This exercise also sought to experiment with two sampling methods, Block Sampling and Line Transact-Dung Count (with Retrospective Method of Calculating Dung Decay Rate).
Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants
Project Elephant has been formally implementing MIKE (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants) programme in 10 Elephant Reserves since April 1, 2004: the Shiwalik (Uttaranchal); Eastern Dooars (West Bengal); Mayurbhanj (Orissa); Ripu-Chirang and Dehing-Patkai (Assam); Garo Hills (Meghalaya); Deomali (Arunachal Pradesh); Wayanad (Kerala), Mysore (Karnataka) and Nilgiri (Tamilnadu).
Research & Consultancy Projects
Project Elephant has initiated a 36-months research project (2003-04 to 2006-07) with the help of the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), Cuttack, for developing high yielding varieties of paddy not relished by elephants; developing elephant-proof storage bins for food grains; and developing elephant repellants. The project is being carried out at the CRRI’s research stations in Orissa and Assam.
Two other 36 months research projects (2003-04 to 2006-07) initiated by project elephant with the help of the Assam Agricultural University are on ‘Disease management in captive elephants’ and ‘Anatomical studies on the Asian elephant’.
Project Elephant has entrusted the WII with a small project (2004-05 to 2005-06) to study the impact of the relocation of the Gujjar on the flora and fauna of Rajaji National Park and has also given a consultancy project (February-July 2005) to the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, to help the West Bengal Forest Department in carrying out a sample-based enumeration of elephants during 2005.
Microchips
Project Elephant has initiated a programme for registration of domesticated elephants by using microchips. More than 1000 elephants have been microchipped so far in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar and Delhi etc.
Elephant Habitat in India
There are only 17 States in which wild elephants exist. Project Elephant has declared 24 elephant reserves in 12 States to protect elephant populations in the wild and develop their habitat. It was launched in the year 1991-92 as a sequel to a series of efforts to conserve this magnificent species covering primarily the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Infrastructure Development Through Public Private Partnerships
In order to achieve the targeted growth rate of 9 per cent for the 11th Five Year Plan, country requires enormous investment in physical infrastructure. At 2006-07 prices, infrastructure investment requirement has been estimated at over 20,60,000 crores (about US $ 515.5 billion). This amount cannot be met by public sector alone. Moreover, investment in the social sectors is the priority charge on the Government’s own resources as they are not amenable to private investment in a big way.
Therefore, it is necessary to explore avenues for increasing investment in infrastructure through a combination of public investment, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and also, exclusive private investments wherever feasible. PPPs offer a number of advantages in terms of leveraging public capital to attract private capital and undertake a larger number of infrastructure projects, introducing private sector expertise and cost reducing technologies and bringing efficiency in operations and maintenance.
Constraints
While encouraging PPPs main constraints identified are policy and regulatory gaps; inadequate availability of long term finance; inadequate capacity in public institutions and public officials to manage PPP processes; inadequate capacity in the private sector – both in the form of developer/investor and technical manpower; inadequate shelf of bankable infrastructure projects & inadequate advocacy to create greater acceptance of PPPs by the public.
Initiatives to promote PPPs
The Government has taken several initiatives to create an enabling framework for PPPs by addressing issues relating to policy and regulatory environment. Progressively more sectors have been opened to private and foreign investment, levy of user charges is being promoted, regulatory institutions are being set up and strengthened and fiscal incentives are given to infrastructure projects. Approval mechanism for PPPs in the central sector has been streamlined through setting up of Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) in the Ministry of Finance headed by Finance Secretary. An Online database on PPP projects in the country is being developed to provide comprehensive information on the status of infrastructure sector PPPs.
Funding of PPP Projects
The Government has taken various steps to address the financing needs of these projects. India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited has been set up to provide long tenor debt to infrastructure projects and a scheme for Financial support to PPPs in infrastructure has been launched to provide Viability Gap Funding to PPP projects. Multilateral agencies such as Asian Development Bank have been permitted to raise Rupee bonds and carry out currency swaps to provide long term debt to PPP projects. Setting up of dedicated infrastructure funds are also being encouraged to increase the flow of equity investments.
The ‘India Infrastructure Finance Initiative’ facilitated by the Ministry of Finance, is one such collaborative effort to deploy approximately US$ 5 billion in capital for infrastructure projects in India. The Fund is structured as a Venture Capital Fund, with about US$ 2 billion in equity capital and US$ 3 billion in long term debt financing with maturities exceeding ten years. Initial steps have been taken to use Foreign Exchange Reserves for building Infrastructure. The Reserve Bank of India has given ‘in principle” approval to invest upto US $ 5 billion in the securities of the SPV and these would be fully guaranteed by the Government.
PPP Projects in India
Analysis based on study of 221 PPP projects in the country reveal that development and use of PPPs for delivering infrastructure services has now at least 10 years of precedence in India, with the majority of projects coming in line in the last five years. Participation as well as innovation with different structures have met with varying degrees of success.
Some sectors like telecommunications, power, ports and roads, have done very good progress compared to limited success in other sectors. Some states have undertaken far more PPPs than others, and a much heavier use of PPPs in some sectors than others. As per the survey of the 221 PPP projects in the main sectors of focus, undertaken at the instance of Department of Economic Affairs for preparation of the Online Database on PPPs, - where a contract has been awarded and projects are underway - the total project cost is estimated to be about Rs. 1,29,575 Crore.
The road projects account for 78 percent of the total number of projects (36 percent by total value) because of the small average size of projects. Ports, with a much larger average size of project, account for 17 percent of the total number of projects (47 percent by total value). It is noteworthy that if ports and central road projects are excluded from the total, there is a relatively small value of deal flow, in basic infrastructure PPPs to-date, suggesting a significant potential upside for PPP projects across sectors where states and municipalities have primary responsibility.
The potential use of PPPs in e-governance, health and education sectors remains largely untapped across India as a whole, though of late there have been some activities shaping in these sectors. Almost all contracts have been of the BOT/BOOT type or close variants. Since its constitution in January 2006, PPPAC has granted approval to 65 projects, with an estimated cost of Rs. 53,284.95 crore. These includes Highways (Fifty-six projects), Ports (six projects), Airports (two projects) and Tourism Infrastructure (one project).
Outlook
The Central Government is working with the State Governments and all other stakeholders to expand the horizon of PPPs in infrastructure development in the country. It has created a favourable atmosphere, provided fiscal incentives and facilitated funding of PPP projects. The Government now allows FDI in most infrastructure sectors to the extent of 100 percent. The time is ripe for the foreign strategic investors for taking greater interest in PPP Projects for infrastructure development.
Therefore, it is necessary to explore avenues for increasing investment in infrastructure through a combination of public investment, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and also, exclusive private investments wherever feasible. PPPs offer a number of advantages in terms of leveraging public capital to attract private capital and undertake a larger number of infrastructure projects, introducing private sector expertise and cost reducing technologies and bringing efficiency in operations and maintenance.
Constraints
While encouraging PPPs main constraints identified are policy and regulatory gaps; inadequate availability of long term finance; inadequate capacity in public institutions and public officials to manage PPP processes; inadequate capacity in the private sector – both in the form of developer/investor and technical manpower; inadequate shelf of bankable infrastructure projects & inadequate advocacy to create greater acceptance of PPPs by the public.
Initiatives to promote PPPs
The Government has taken several initiatives to create an enabling framework for PPPs by addressing issues relating to policy and regulatory environment. Progressively more sectors have been opened to private and foreign investment, levy of user charges is being promoted, regulatory institutions are being set up and strengthened and fiscal incentives are given to infrastructure projects. Approval mechanism for PPPs in the central sector has been streamlined through setting up of Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) in the Ministry of Finance headed by Finance Secretary. An Online database on PPP projects in the country is being developed to provide comprehensive information on the status of infrastructure sector PPPs.
Funding of PPP Projects
The Government has taken various steps to address the financing needs of these projects. India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited has been set up to provide long tenor debt to infrastructure projects and a scheme for Financial support to PPPs in infrastructure has been launched to provide Viability Gap Funding to PPP projects. Multilateral agencies such as Asian Development Bank have been permitted to raise Rupee bonds and carry out currency swaps to provide long term debt to PPP projects. Setting up of dedicated infrastructure funds are also being encouraged to increase the flow of equity investments.
The ‘India Infrastructure Finance Initiative’ facilitated by the Ministry of Finance, is one such collaborative effort to deploy approximately US$ 5 billion in capital for infrastructure projects in India. The Fund is structured as a Venture Capital Fund, with about US$ 2 billion in equity capital and US$ 3 billion in long term debt financing with maturities exceeding ten years. Initial steps have been taken to use Foreign Exchange Reserves for building Infrastructure. The Reserve Bank of India has given ‘in principle” approval to invest upto US $ 5 billion in the securities of the SPV and these would be fully guaranteed by the Government.
PPP Projects in India
Analysis based on study of 221 PPP projects in the country reveal that development and use of PPPs for delivering infrastructure services has now at least 10 years of precedence in India, with the majority of projects coming in line in the last five years. Participation as well as innovation with different structures have met with varying degrees of success.
Some sectors like telecommunications, power, ports and roads, have done very good progress compared to limited success in other sectors. Some states have undertaken far more PPPs than others, and a much heavier use of PPPs in some sectors than others. As per the survey of the 221 PPP projects in the main sectors of focus, undertaken at the instance of Department of Economic Affairs for preparation of the Online Database on PPPs, - where a contract has been awarded and projects are underway - the total project cost is estimated to be about Rs. 1,29,575 Crore.
The road projects account for 78 percent of the total number of projects (36 percent by total value) because of the small average size of projects. Ports, with a much larger average size of project, account for 17 percent of the total number of projects (47 percent by total value). It is noteworthy that if ports and central road projects are excluded from the total, there is a relatively small value of deal flow, in basic infrastructure PPPs to-date, suggesting a significant potential upside for PPP projects across sectors where states and municipalities have primary responsibility.
The potential use of PPPs in e-governance, health and education sectors remains largely untapped across India as a whole, though of late there have been some activities shaping in these sectors. Almost all contracts have been of the BOT/BOOT type or close variants. Since its constitution in January 2006, PPPAC has granted approval to 65 projects, with an estimated cost of Rs. 53,284.95 crore. These includes Highways (Fifty-six projects), Ports (six projects), Airports (two projects) and Tourism Infrastructure (one project).
Outlook
The Central Government is working with the State Governments and all other stakeholders to expand the horizon of PPPs in infrastructure development in the country. It has created a favourable atmosphere, provided fiscal incentives and facilitated funding of PPP projects. The Government now allows FDI in most infrastructure sectors to the extent of 100 percent. The time is ripe for the foreign strategic investors for taking greater interest in PPP Projects for infrastructure development.
Monday, July 20, 2009
ESSAYS
1.Drug Abuse is a Social Evil
"Drug is Death: Say no to Drugs " and other similar slogans visible on billboards and newspapers are proofs of the social awareness drug abuse has attracted. Drug related crimes are equally conscience stirring and have made people much over it.
We all have relied on the drugs. Our doctors have prescribed for the various diseases, so, how can its use be an abuse. The use of psychoactive substances for obtaining relief from mental tension or physical discomfort i.e. for therapeutic uses is legitimate use of drugs. Contrary to this, when used for attaining pleasure or new experiences and consequent physical or psychological harm is termed as drug abuse. Such drug abuse induces drug dependence and ultimately addiction and habituation. In drug addicts there is enslavement to drugs and compulsion to obtain and consume it by any means. They develop a psychological and physical dependence on the effects of the drugs and an effect detrimental to the individual and to the society.
The abusable drugs are of various types; sedatives or depressants that relax the central nervous systems, induce sleep and provide a soothing effect. Stimulants activate the central nervous systems and relieve tensions, make them aggressive and counteract fatigue. Narcotics, like depressants affect — the central nervous system and produce feelings of pleasure strength and lesson inhibitions. Hallucinogens produce distortion of perceptions and dream images.
Drug abuse has been explained by psychologists and sociologists. It is generally regarded that pleasurable sensations produced by drugs reinforce their use or it satisfies certain psychological needs, or is a response to fear and insecurity to the conditions of modern life, often association with users is also regarded as a reason for accepting drugs. Drug abuse can also be explained in terms of weakening of social bonds between individuals and society due to maladjustment alienation and noncommitments.
A new dimension in drug abuse has been its use by sports persons to enhance their potential beyond humanly endurable limits. The incident of Ben Johnson was a jolt to the sports lovers all over the world and has caused much thinking on effort to curb the recurrence of such incidents. However, with unfailing regularity such controversies erupt, for example Katrin Krabe.
It would be appropriate here to search for the causes of drug abuse. Among sports persons it can be safely attributed to the search and urge for glory. It can be an attempt to gain an unfair advantage over the others in the achievement orientation of modern society. The ends have become all powerful and means have been relegated as secondary.
The use of drugs among children which is most shocking and astounding can be variously explained. Juvenile delinquents take to it in defiance and deviance to the social values. Some children accept it under peer group pressure and as an act of proving their 'masculinity. Others take to this due to weakening of emotional bonds between parents and siblings. The children who are in an impressionable age require much effectual and emotional bond to wean them away from such antisocial activities.
In rural areas the use of psychoactive substance is for religious purposes and on ritual occasions. However, it is also used to relieve fatigue and also a source of entertainment.
In industrial urban setting the use is for more or less the same reasons.
Apart from the health and physical disadvantages drug abuse causes, it has also led to e acceleration in crime. An addict would stop, nothing to get his dose of the drug. There has been a spurt in thefts and murders by these addicts whose dependence physical and psychological upon the drugs is so great that the accepted values and norms of the society are shelved and their prime concern becomes acquiring their dosage.
There has been an increase in smuggling and peddling of those drugs as the economic advantages are numerous. It has also made the gangs engaged in such activities more vicious and violent as the economic stakes are very high.
This delineation of drug abuse brings us to the point where reference must be made to efforts to curb their evil. Given that the use of drugs have historical and cultural context makes prevention more complicated. Efforts have been made to combat drug trafficking, treat addicts and prevent drug abuse.
India being on the transit route faces a challenging and unenviable task. However, our Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Act has not been very effective, Seizures have increased and so have indictment for offences but that is reflective only of the increase in those activities and not any positive development of control of drug abuse. Other legal sanctions are merely suggestions of intention and not actions.
Government regards drugs as a source of revenue and therefore its cultivation cannot be stopped. The inefficiency of administrative machinery in policing and preventing abuse needs no highlighting.
The only positive development is the establishment of de-addiction and detoxification centers which, have enabled us to salvage some people from destruction. However, these centers are expensive and the addicts have a tendency to relapse unless they have a strong will power and a desire to abdicate the malaise. Voluntary associations have also been doing a commendable task.
In conclusion, we can say that drug abuse has been realized as a major evil. It is a social problem and has legal ramifications. It has been given a high profile now and mass media has been disseminating information to educate people with the intention of preventing drug abuse. The battle continues and war on drugs is on.
2.Scientific Temper and Rational Planning"Realizing these limitations of reason and scientific method, we have siill to hold on to them with all our strength, for without that firm basis and background we can, have no grip on any kind of truth or reality".
These are a large number of people in our society who have formally studied or are studying science, clearly driven by job expectations. This has caused the retreat of traditional values and a degree of modernization and homogenization of society, it Is now certainly far less segregated along lines of caste, language or religion. Those who are engaged in industry, business and' commerce have no time to determine what identity their counterparts belong to. This is certainly a major achievement in free India.
However, if one looks at some of our fundamental problems, there is much cause for dismay and disappointment. Take the question of population. Even 50 years ago. At the time of Independence, the Indian subcontinent was already crowded. Today's India is adding in population in terms an Australia every year. But we are not adding to our resource base in the same proportion.
Irrationality is the lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitary toilets for a large majority of our population, while a small segment is busy with star TV, CNN, MTV and so on.
After independence a substantial and comprehensive base of science and technology has been created and several scientists and technologists trained. Among the laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, there have been some very good examples of integration with application. To mention only two : the Central Leather Research Institute has done well to help export leather goods; the National Chemical Laboratory too has a good record of working with industry.
The other laboratories, in spite of high quality manpower and facilities, have not yet been able to upgrade industry or provide new designs and processes. A recent move to make them earn fifty percent of their operating cost outside of the government funds, may force them to integrate with industry.
Agriculture has seen a really successful tieup between the laboratories and the farms. We must continue their association as agriculture will now face another revolution based on biotechnological innovations, it is in atomic energy and space sciences, where the applications have been tightly knit with laboratory work, that progress has been really very impressive. Indian scientists and technologist expected that links between thelaboratories and application areas would be strengthened, and that we would soon see a strong, selfreliant industrial and agricultural development.
But now we face irrationality. The opening up of the economy and liberalization, after four decades of regulation and control, has been widely welcomed. If the new open door policy succeeds, India Is expected to have large manufacturing bases for products of multinationals, hopefully supplying an overseas market with goods that will compete globally in price, quality and performance. This could happen at least in a range of products where our resource base would augment the advantage of lowcost skilled labor.
On the other hand, we will only be manufacturing to designs evolved in one of the advanced countries. The design capability we have built up is in danger of wilting. The exceptions would be where the MWCs find it' profitable to integrate Indian design effort into their mainline work. This is likely to be limited.
What are the prospects of product of Indian technology breaking into the export market? Software export has been growing well and there is considerable scope for expansion. As a general rule, the scale of manufacture has been small. Even our larger activities would be mini or micro in international comparison. Many of these industries have been too small to support independent design effort, let alone research and development. There is a real danger to the survival of many of these industries In the face of competition from overseas giants who can indulge in price cutting and dumping with takeovers, dismantling of any line of manufacture could easily happen in the guise of rationalization.
Why is it important for India to continue its faith in selfreliance? Many people would point out that many economics such as those of South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and others have done well in growing as part of international division of labour. Let us recall that Indian with a population of 800 million and China with over one billion are the two potentially largest economies. They will grow for the next several decades. They will therefore, be large markets for both capital goods and consumer articles.
India will continue to build power stations, extended electricity supplies, add to its fleet of trucks, modernize the railway system, build petroleum refineries, and so on. Equally, the consumer demands for automobiles, two wheelers, TV sets and so forth will also continue. It is important, therefore, that we not only manufacture these articles in the country but also improve them with newer designs based on research and development undertaken in the country. There is a need to integrate ourselves into the global economy at our own pace as equal partners but not be stamped into joining as second class citizen.
Whenever one defends the policy of the opening up of our economy the case is on the basis of bringing in the latest technology required to rapidly build up the nation. Quite often we end up getting technology, for soft drinks or fast food. Verghese Kurien posed the question "Why do we need to import the technology for potato chips?" A news item talks about the entry to India of the American fast food chain, Mc Donalds. The entry is justified on the ground that it would attract overseas tourists.
The list of irrationalities does not end here. At another level, there is the irrationality of the Indian Science Congress instituting an award for astrology. Another irrationality staring us in the face is the Dunkel Draft that is being negotiated by the GATT. Western Pharmaceutical companies have complained in the past about India's patent laws. Even if, these laws did not suit them, the country has been able to supply lifesaving drugs at affordable prices. Under the new dispensation, this may not be so.
Even more ominous are the provisions relating to intellectual property rights as they apply to agriculture. According to noted agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan, free flow of knowledge across national frontiers helped the growth of agriculture and animal husbandry worldwide. The provisions, of the Dunkel Draft favour Europe and North America and mitigate against the developing countries. Even in the field of computer software, the Dunkel provisions mitigate against the hours. In a number of cases, court orders were wrongly interpreted to the chagrin of the affected parties, forcing them to go the High Court or the Supreme Court for contempt proceedings.
Not surprisingly, the system of ready justice dispensed by criminals and antisocial elements with the connivance of political parties is finding increasing acceptance in society. The Kini murder case is only the tip of the iceberg. Political parties are not prepared to take up the cudgels against the trend. Rather, they denigrate the judiciary.
It is not therefore, surprising that the leaders of political parties at the national level are talking of reasserting the supremacy of Parliament visavis the judiciary and of amending the Prevention of Corruption Act to exclude the elected representatives from its purview and so on. There is also a move to amend the provisions of the Constitution to bring the judiciary under the undisputed hold of the executive in the matter of appointment and transfers of judges of the higher judiciary. The latest in this series of the proposed onslaughts is the move to curtail the scope of Public Interest Litigation by making it obligatory for the applicant to pay a deposit of Rs. 1 lakh and to confine the eligibility of the applicants to those who are below the poverty line and so on.
The arrogance and insensitivity of the executive at the State and Central levels were decisively brought home recently once again by its actions of invoking the provisions of the Official Secrets Act. In a recent PIL case in the Bombay High Court pertaining to the reported death of over 1.000 children during the last four, years in the tribal area of Melghat in Amravati district, the Maharashtra Government took the unbelievable stand that the two reports of inquiry made by Secretaries to the Government could not be made available s they were secret. Fortunately, the court did not uphold this plea and directed that they be made available to the parties to the litigation immediately. The other PIL onan equally vital public issue—the safety standards in nuclear establishments—asked whether precautions were being taken conforming to international standards and whether the regulatory and overseeing institutional arrangements were adequate. Again, a plea of the matter being secret was taken in the court by the Government of India. Unfortunately, the court accepted the plea and dismissed the PIL.
As it happens, the State Government concerned is being ruled by a coalition of the Shiv Sena and the BJP, and the Centre by a coalition of 13 political parties with Congress support. Therefore, in a sense, almost all political parties are partners in making a mockery of an open, transparent and responsible government which a democracy is expected to provide. It also shows their disregard for the judicial process and judicial review in such areas of critical public interest.
This inevitably raises the question of the direction in which the Indian democracy is heading. Sooner than later, the question which Mr. Thackeray asked "Who rules this country, the executive or the judiciary," will have to be answered in no uncertain terms. It is the rule of law which governs the country. The executive or the judiciary or Parliament are mere instrumentalities. It is a travesty of truth to say that during the 50th anniversary of our Independence, answers to such basic questions are still unclear to the ruling political elite.
3.Education As a Short of Commodity TodayOver the past three decades, there has been a sea change in the attitudes of people connected with education Teachers, administrators and planners, students and parents are all looking at education as a sort of commodity that leads on to better earnings and status in society. It is not surprising that it is so. But what is unfortunate is another development leading to an attitudinal change in society. The intrinsic value of education is no longer recognized although pious platitudes are mouthed quite frequently.
The main reason is that the flux of change has caught up with education much more dramatically than with other areas of activity. While the demand for education has been growing steadily in the developing countries including India, quality has not kept pace with it. Another factor, and an equally disturbing one, is the politicization of the campuses. Not only colleges and universities, even high schools seem to be getting infected by this virus. It is not uncommon to find on many campuses pedagogues espousing the cause of one political party or the other, no in any academic sense, but with a fervor that would do a party spokesman proud.
About 30 years ago, student unions and debating societies discussed live political issues. The debates were of a high level with the participants thorough in their home work Communication skills too were good and even those who set their sights on politics as a career went through this exercise with earnestness and sincerity. Similarly, mock parliaments marked the academic calendar in many colleges; the professors in charge spent a lot of time and energy guiding students and training them in the art of debating.
These debates attracted a large number of students who came to cheer their compatriots. There was on all sides a desire to learn, be informed and to enlarge the mental horizon. This aspect, which made college life in the fifties and sixties valuable, is sadly missing today on a vast majority of the campuses. Yet another aspect is that the pedagogues were by and large scholars who believed in furthering knowledge. They had an abundant love for their students and could spare time for those who cane to clarify their doubts. Thus, the mutual bond of affection and scholarship helped cement a lifelong relationship between the teacher and the taught. This is conspicuous by its absence today.
These losses cannot be counterbalanced by an impressive infrastructure in the form of stately buildings and an array of instruments in laboratories. The human material of the earlier years did in a large measure fulfill the task set out for it, namely becoming teachers in the true sense of the word and this was done in an environment of virtual poverty of hardware. It is here that the mentors of the olden days score over the pedagogues of today. Perhaps, the teachers of these days worked in a spirit of self-effacement. An inexhaustible love for learning characterized their daily schedule and this got transformed into an abiding love or teaching, in a way, this was the next best that one could wish for in the place of the ancient "gurukula" pattern. But the institutionalized classroom instruction has degenerated in the last three decades or several reasons.
The unholy preoccupation with things that are material (which, of course, is the result of the present consumerist trend), the craving to get rich quickly, the closing of the avenues for certain fields of study to the youth who genuinely pine for these and the decadence that has set in society as a result of the erosion of ethical values are to blame. Caste considerations in the selection of candidates to courses and jobs are also contributing factors. Educationists, by and large, feel that this type of affirmative action by the Centre and the State Governments has been carried to the extreme and need? to be modified to meet the aspirations of the rising generation.
It is a pity that parents are now intent on pushing their children into certain grooves of academic activity. This is evident from the obsession of parents with getting for their wards seats in the professional institutions. There are instances of middle class parents becoming almost paranoid about seats in engineering and medical colleges.
The proliferation of these "self-financing" colleges has in a way satisfied this great demand. But the categorization of seats under the labels "free" or "payment-based" and "payment" has led to an anomalous situation. The students selected ur.der the "free" seat quotas are perforce to pay tuition fees as prescribed for the Government or aided colleges. Often, the hapless scholars have to pay something more on the sly, especially while opting for preferred courses such as computer science arid engineering. But those selected under the "payment" category have to shell out three or four times more. Not unexpectedly, this type of differentiation — two sets of students paying vastly different fees for the same course — produces in the minds of the youth a distorted sense of values.
To be fair to the private managements, it must be said that the cost of establishing and running a professional college has gene up steeply in the last few years. Also, the pressure on the managements to improve the facilities has increased, thanks to the statutory bodies such as the All India Council for Technical Education and the Medical Council of India. The objective, no doubt, is to make the errant managements who are in the habit of commercializing education mend their ways. This has had a salutary effect in almost every State where the self-financing colleges came up.
The conduct of examinations by different agencies including the school boards and universities is another prickly issue. In the last few decades, the number of candidates appearing for various public examinations right from the SSLC through the higher secondary to the degree and postgraduate levels has grown up by leaps and bounds. Indeed, it is becoming unmanageable (running into lakhs of candidates in certain categories) for any centralized agency such as the school boards.
A strong case can be made out for decentralizing the system taking care at the same time that a modicum of uniformity in evaluation and assessment of answer scripts in maintained. What is to be guarded against is the leakage of question papers that has come to characterize the modern scene. The "necessary evil" of examinations cannot in the present context be replaced by any other system: the only remedy is to make the entire process, right from the setting up of question papers, invigilation, paper dispatch and valuation to the announcement of results foolproof. Whenever a reexamination is ordered, it is the hardworking, studious candidates who undergo greater hardship. The curbing of malpractices is only one aspect, refining the techniques of evaluation and selection of teachers of integrity to be in charge of the process is the crucial part.
Campus watchers are struck by the distortion that has crept into the academic field in the last three decades, namely the neglect of languages, the humanities and the social sciences. A study of subjects such as history, politics, sociology, economics, psychology, philosophy, languages and literature provides for a deeper understanding of human relationships, behavior and social currents. A majority of students go in for sciences and commerce. While this trend is in consonance with the science and technology age, the skewed preference for these subjects may not in the long run benefit society.
There must be some way of making the humanities attractive to youth, both from the point of view of employment opportunities and from a higher plane. Also, the teachers who handle the subjects must be men and women of exceptional ability, capable of sparking student interest. Unfortunately, such teachers are dwindling in numbers all over the country. A vigorous effort must be made to attract talented youth to the humanities which are essential for the evolution of human development.
4.Policy of Compensatory Discrimination: A need for Review
Compensatory discrimination is one of the most controversial issues. But out of the whole issue one of its most debatable program is the policy of reservation. It is often confused that compensatory discrimination or protective discrimination and reservation program are the same thing. In fact, reservation program is one of the programs of the policy of compensatory discriminations. lt includes, financial, housing and health facilities apart from reservation in jobs and educational institutions.
It is true that reservation has generated much passion than any other issue. There are reasons behind it. Reservation for SCs and STs had been accepted in late 1940s by our 1st generation leadership who were much committed for the organic unity of the Indian society. The stigma of 'untouchability' in case of SCs and 'isolation' of STs could be broken only by education aid mass emancipation. For this, the masses were also educated, which is evident especially after 1932, i.e., Poona Pact Gandhiji's special drive for the emancipation of the untouchables helped to generate an ideology which could counter the communal ideology of untouchabiiity. Thus, reservation for the depressed classes was an outcome of ideological campaign along with the fear to lose national unity. So the whole issue had been internalized in a different sociopolitical situation, forty years ago.
Now the situation has changed alongwith a major shift in the issue. At present reservation is demanded not for "untouchables" of "Physically and culturally isolated tribal groups", who constituted minority; but for a large section of masses who constituted 52% of the total populations, which includes some big land owning castes like Yadavas & Kurmis (in Bihar).
Secondly, there is no threat to the unity of India, after forty years of independence it is more secured. Now people want their share in the cake of national polity. And in this particular point the reservation policy takes political dimension. The trend to use reservation as a tool to mobilize certain sections of masses is also having a long history. In 1939, Chaudhary Charan Singh demanded 50% reservation for the farmers. Later in 1947 he wrote an article in Hindi in this regard. He achieved a little success to mobilize Kisans. As neither constitutes a class or a community. In fact the present structure in India is not homogeneous; they divided among big landlords, middle peasants and landless laborers. So to unite them as one class is something out of question. Later, Chaudhary Charan Singh too shifted to mobilize masses on the basis of caste. This is evident in his political career during the Janata Government.
A similar move could be seen in the political mobilization of Shri Ram Manohar Lohia who tried to break the hegemony of Brahmins and Banias by mobilizing the shudders and other backward classes. The N.F. Government's move on August, 1990 is very conspicuous in this regard. The Prime Minister was blamed dividing national unity on caste lines and promoting casteism for personal political gains, the circumstantial evidences raised a needle of suspicion on the intention of V.P. Singh.
But all these attempts at national level failed to mobilize a vote bank of more than 50% masses. The reasons are quite simple. Firstly, the 52% of OBCs (as calculated by the M.C.R.) is not a homogeneous category. There are economic, social, political, cultural and ritual differences within these groups. There are depressed castes, communities juxtaposed with politically dominant and economically well of castes. The dominant sections have vested interest in the policy of reservation. But the really depressed are so backward that they are not educated enough to reap the benefit of reservation.
In fact, it is a political battle of two groups of elites; the elites who belong to "forward castes" and the elites who belong to the other" backward castes". The third group of elites, i.e. the elites of SCs and STs had already had their share. And they do not find any substantial gain by taking side of the OBCs as this would dilute their own interest.
Whereas elites of SCs and STs have their own mass bases, the elites of forward castes and OBCs do not have distinct mass base. Now, this is clear that both the elites are trying to carve out their own mass base so as to ensure their political position. But, where the SCs and STs are homogeneous and distinct categories the OBCs are heterogeneous hence their calculation is bound to fail.
Secondly, the nonacceptance of reservation policy by a vocal section of people of India could be understood in terms of regional variations. The policy of reservations for the OBCs is tremendously successful for South Indian states whereas it failed in the North Indian states (i.e. Hindi belt, except Bihar). It is because of the historical and ideological roots of the OBC movement in the state as it generated the socialist and secular political forms which has taken support from the masses of both SCs the STs as well OBCs. This is mainly due to the social composition. The masses of South Indian states are largely deducted and the OBCs are dominant there both numerically and politically. This is not the same for North Indian states where dominant sections belong to the upper castes.
There are various other reasons. The policy of job reservation could excite small sections of masses but not the whole people." The "Economic Liberalization" has challenged the public sector corporations and government jobs. Their absorption capacity is bound to decrease. In an open market, naturally merit will be given priority. Hence, there is a need to review the whole policy of compensatory discrimination, if we are really concerned about social justice.
5.Resource Crunch In Education
"Education has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading."
Institutional education is the focal agency which 'socializes' the individual after his primary exposure within the family. Education does not mean attaining literacy, nor does it mean pursuing knowledge, nor does it mean pursuing knowledge merely for the sake of knowledge. It means much more than that. Ideally speaking education must instill and transmit the norms and values of a society; it should prepare the young people for adult roles and select young people in terms of their talents and abilities for appropriate roles in adult life. Moreover, education must realize its potential for creating a more equal and just society.
The imperative of the structure of education in a country are derived from its historical education pattern and the present priorities. In India, historically our education system was conspicuous by its specificity. For a long time access to learning was considered to be the preserve of higher castes and that too only for males. Although there have been glaring exceptions to this but this has been the general trend. The content of education was nonsecular and was oriented towards making the individual accept and conform to the structure of society and completely subsume his individuality into the society.
Seeds of modern education were sown by foreign Christian missionaries, the British Government and some progressive Indians. The introduction of modern education in India was basically motivated towards catering to the politicoadministrative and economic needs of the British colonizers. As such the system was geared towards providing clerks and lower level whitecollar workers to the Raj and requisite attention towards vocationalization of education was not paid. Somehow, this system was maintained in postIndependence period too, resulting in an immense proliferation of (substandard) institutions of higher learning, a drain on the exchequer and worse the creation of a vast population of educated unemployed youth thoroughly disenchanted with the system. The inadequacies in terms of quality and quantity of primary education, the inaccessibility of education to sections of women and other weaker sections of society are apocalyptical.
Recently the education process has been further vitiated by the process of politicization of education. Politics has crept into education at the level of academic appointments, as well as student activism and last but not the least, even to the 'content' of education imparted to students. On top of it all, is the financial burden thrown on the education system by the government by announcing reductions in educational allocations.
In fact the drying out of financial support from the government to education is only the logical fallout of the resource stringency faced by the government grants. In this context the talk of privatizing higher education and even privatizing textbooks is gaining currency.
In an era of prevailing financial exigency and the ongoing economic reforms, the need for devising strategies for ensuring costeffectiveness of educational schemes cannot be overstated. There are sufficient reasons to rationalize the funding of higher education on the grounds of equity and efficiency. In this context it would be worth mentioning that higher education enjoys government support to the extent of eighty five percent and the government decision to freeze grants has come as a blot from the blue to the university community. As it is, the education sector had been reeling under a less than adequate budgetary support (approximately 4 percent in the Eighth Plan as against a six percent upwards projection of the National Policy on Education Revised, 1992) and the double impact of rapid inflation and rupee, devaluation. The combined impact of all this is that the 'real' allocation to education has declined over the years.
The university community can legitimately fell outraged because the level of funding has' been decelerated at a time when they are already plagued with underinvestment and fiscal deficits. Besides, the freeze has been slapped on, without providing alternative avenues of fundinglike liberal loan scheme or taking policy initiatives on the fiscal front for mobilizing additional resources by universities as are generally available to autonomous bodies.
The most important issue therefore is to identify alternative sources of finance which could be exploited. At the same time effective and gainful utilization of available resources is essential. Thus, a two pronged strategy can be envisaged— one relates to measures for effecting economy in expenditure and other to the mobilization of additional resources.
More than sixtyfive percent of university expenses go towards the salary bill of teaching and nonteaching staff. Economy measures therefore largely affect the staff in terms of either retrenching staff or postponement of recruitment of faculty members. This not only undermines the university plans to carry out ongoing schemes but also strikes at the root of the intellectual viability of the university system. However, since economy in budgeting is unavoidable one would be betteradvised to check nonacademic expenditure by scaling down dependence on nonteaching staff and cutting administrative expenses. Economy can also be effected by devising methods of interinstitutional sharing and lending of facilities like libraries and laboratories on which huge investments are made and yet they are not fully utilized.
As far as the question of mobilization of additional resources is concerned, a case can be made out for raising tuition fees. Though, the requirements of universities are too high even for raised tuition fees to sufficiently provide for, yet a beginning in this direction is most welcome. More so, because most' of the beneficiary groups largely hail from the better off section of the society. In this context schemes need to be devised which would extract fees from beneficiaries according to their income ability or allow them to meet the educational expenses out of interestfree loans while the education of poor sections of society should be suitably subsidized by the Government.
Besides an upward revision of fee structure (especially in professional courses) other resource augmenting measures include full recovery of costs of education from foreign students, mobilization of resources from industry by way of initiating relevant programs for managerial and technical staff of industries and other commercial organizations, undertaking consultancy projects from industry, revising users charges like hostel, laboratory fees, library etc,
Thus, unless an equitable and efficient funding mechanism is devised the process of upgradation of human capital the sine qua non of enhancing resource use and productivity will be seriously handicapped. Moreover, productivity enhancing new innovations and technologies will also be difficult to come by from the conveyor belt of institutions of higher learning. Privatization of Textbooks
Privatization or denationalisation of textbooks is put forward as an extension of the process of privatization of education. Let us first see what 'denationalization" of textbooks means and what its implications are. Nationalization in its classical sense means the state or its agencies like the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and its affiliates in the states (SCERTs) are responsible for the editorial, printing and distribution of textbooks. In this light one can argue that the debate on denationalization of textbooks is irrelevant because firstly prescribed textbooks exists on!, for school level classes (I to XII) there are no 'textbooks' as such for higher classes and secondly because the state does intent the private sector to share the enormous load of printing of textbooks and is completely dependent on the private sector for their distribution.
Despite, the at best 'partial nationalization' of textbooks that we presently have in India, to lobby of private publishers want this sector to be thrown open to them which means that they would be able to cater to the enormous demand of the growing school population. Normatively, there can be no objection to such a proposal if it will lead to better textbooks in terms of language, style, subject matter and production. The ability of private publishers to singularly meet the enormous demand and the cost to the consumer can be the only other considerations in this regard.
The prospects of private sector cunning out better textbooks are very bleak if the past performances of this sector are any indication. Mostly, private publishing is.a one man show with a majority of publishing houses lacking in even the mandatory editorial departments not to speak of production staff, proofreaders etc.
The ability of the private sector to handle the vast magnitude of demand is also suspect because no single publisher can possibly have the requisite infrastructure—in professional staff, warehousing spaces, sales outlets etc. besides the huge financial investment required. As far as the price to the consumer is concerned we can expect a steep rise in prices because the private sector does not work on the ecclesiastic principle of 'noprofitnoloss'. Private sector works only for profit.
If what we have said above seems like an advocacy ofstatus quo ante then we would like to quickly state that what is required is a rational costbenefit analysis of the two extremes. The private sector should weigh its merits visavis the state endeavor and devise ways which maximize benefits to the society as well as the entrepreneur. Surely entrepreneurship cannot be given precedence over the subjective quality of education. Efficiency of resource utilization while at the same time ensuring quality in education so as to enable it to perform the sociological task expected of true .education should be the only guiding criteria.
6.Environmental PollutionOne of the biggest problems the plaguing mother nature is the problem of pollution. Man is just one of millions of life forms existing on the earth, albeit a very intelligent one. But this does not entitle him to interfere in nature's law of ecological balance. He is as much dependent upon other living forms as they are on hire. When man (or anyone else) introduces something extraneous in the natural cycle which positively harms life and creates imbalance, it is known as pollution. Since man is the only life form who has been able to understand nature to some extent, he is the only one in position to cause pollution and unfortunately, he has been doing it at his own free will.
Pollution can be of many types. One of them is the Air Pollution. The very air we breathe in and which sustains life is being poisoned by exhausts from automobiles, smoke from chimneys, dust flam mining and construction activities and numerous other sources of dangerous gases and vapors. Air should have a certain composition which is mostly Nitrogen, Oxygen and very little of other gases but these sources emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, hydro carbons and radioactive vapors. This disturbs the composition of air and harms all the biological processes dependent upon it.
Another type of pollution is water pollution. 90% of our body is water. We need water for cooking, drinking, bathing, cleaning, industrial processes and cooling etc. Many types of life forms lie in it. All animals and plants need water for survival. In fact, presence of water is one main reason why life exists on earth. But man has not spared even this life giver. Sewage effluents, chemical discharges, dyes, agricultural wastes (fertilizers etc.), fuels of ships etc. have converted clean, sparkling water of rivers, lakes and seas into dull, rotting mass of sludge. The aquatic life is being destroyed; dirty water has become the sources of epidemics, diseases and foul smell. Fresh water bodies are being converted into chemical ponds.
Yet another type of pollution is the land pollution. Agricultural chemicals, sewage effluents, chemical discharges from industry, mining and construction activities have denuded the surface of earth. Once lush green land has been converted into a desert. Land subsidence, floods, ground water pollution, dust and fumes are all the results of land pollution. Wild life is being deprived of its habitat and the very trees man used to worship once, are today becoming victims of his greed and carelessness.
While on one hand, atomic power is being used in innumerable ways for mankind's benefit, on the other hand, the same is becoming a major and highly hazardous source of pollution called Radiation Pollution. In this case it is not the atomic power plants but atomic explosions that are the real culprits. Harmful rays and particles, emitted can create abnormalities in body, deformities, mutations, skin cancer, blood cancer and a number of other diseases.
A brief survey of pollution done above shows very clearly that it is man himself who is responsible for his doom. His insatiable greed and use of a poor model of development are responsible for bringing things to such a pass today. It is not that this is the only way that development can be pursued. There are better and more sustainable ways existing. Such a development which bases itself on man's harmony with nature is aptly called 'sustainable development'. It defines development as betterment of human life without jeopardizing the ability of the future generations to live a healthy life. It has many aspects and if implemented can help us live a better life, materially, aesthetically and spiritually.
Implementation of such a model calls for mass participation. This in turns means that awareness and understanding needs to be generated among common people regarding environment and its protection. For example, the scheme of 'Paryavaran Vahini', which includes establishing a committed cadre of environmentally conscious and citizen who will help in protecting environment and bringing pollutants to book, is one step in this direction. Voluntary agencies, citizens, government and industry should join hands in such an endeavor. For example, use of organic fertilizers, environment friendly chemicals, bio-fertilizers, bio- pesticides, optimum use of water etc. by agriculturists can be done if they are informed, trained and helped by government, voluntary agencies etc. Use of ESPs in chimneys, treatment plants, use of eco-friendly products etc. can be done by the industry.
Time is running out fast. We have only one earth to live in and if we do not do something to save it, we can only start the reverse count. Let it be a duty of each one of us to do our best to save and improve environment. We can plant trees, use eco-friendly products, bio-degradable packings, ecomarked goods, spread the awareness and prevent others from polluting earth. Else the day is not far when clean water, safe air, undisturbed land may become a rarer commodity- than gold. May be then, even man will be found only in museums.
"Drug is Death: Say no to Drugs " and other similar slogans visible on billboards and newspapers are proofs of the social awareness drug abuse has attracted. Drug related crimes are equally conscience stirring and have made people much over it.
We all have relied on the drugs. Our doctors have prescribed for the various diseases, so, how can its use be an abuse. The use of psychoactive substances for obtaining relief from mental tension or physical discomfort i.e. for therapeutic uses is legitimate use of drugs. Contrary to this, when used for attaining pleasure or new experiences and consequent physical or psychological harm is termed as drug abuse. Such drug abuse induces drug dependence and ultimately addiction and habituation. In drug addicts there is enslavement to drugs and compulsion to obtain and consume it by any means. They develop a psychological and physical dependence on the effects of the drugs and an effect detrimental to the individual and to the society.
The abusable drugs are of various types; sedatives or depressants that relax the central nervous systems, induce sleep and provide a soothing effect. Stimulants activate the central nervous systems and relieve tensions, make them aggressive and counteract fatigue. Narcotics, like depressants affect — the central nervous system and produce feelings of pleasure strength and lesson inhibitions. Hallucinogens produce distortion of perceptions and dream images.
Drug abuse has been explained by psychologists and sociologists. It is generally regarded that pleasurable sensations produced by drugs reinforce their use or it satisfies certain psychological needs, or is a response to fear and insecurity to the conditions of modern life, often association with users is also regarded as a reason for accepting drugs. Drug abuse can also be explained in terms of weakening of social bonds between individuals and society due to maladjustment alienation and noncommitments.
A new dimension in drug abuse has been its use by sports persons to enhance their potential beyond humanly endurable limits. The incident of Ben Johnson was a jolt to the sports lovers all over the world and has caused much thinking on effort to curb the recurrence of such incidents. However, with unfailing regularity such controversies erupt, for example Katrin Krabe.
It would be appropriate here to search for the causes of drug abuse. Among sports persons it can be safely attributed to the search and urge for glory. It can be an attempt to gain an unfair advantage over the others in the achievement orientation of modern society. The ends have become all powerful and means have been relegated as secondary.
The use of drugs among children which is most shocking and astounding can be variously explained. Juvenile delinquents take to it in defiance and deviance to the social values. Some children accept it under peer group pressure and as an act of proving their 'masculinity. Others take to this due to weakening of emotional bonds between parents and siblings. The children who are in an impressionable age require much effectual and emotional bond to wean them away from such antisocial activities.
In rural areas the use of psychoactive substance is for religious purposes and on ritual occasions. However, it is also used to relieve fatigue and also a source of entertainment.
In industrial urban setting the use is for more or less the same reasons.
Apart from the health and physical disadvantages drug abuse causes, it has also led to e acceleration in crime. An addict would stop, nothing to get his dose of the drug. There has been a spurt in thefts and murders by these addicts whose dependence physical and psychological upon the drugs is so great that the accepted values and norms of the society are shelved and their prime concern becomes acquiring their dosage.
There has been an increase in smuggling and peddling of those drugs as the economic advantages are numerous. It has also made the gangs engaged in such activities more vicious and violent as the economic stakes are very high.
This delineation of drug abuse brings us to the point where reference must be made to efforts to curb their evil. Given that the use of drugs have historical and cultural context makes prevention more complicated. Efforts have been made to combat drug trafficking, treat addicts and prevent drug abuse.
India being on the transit route faces a challenging and unenviable task. However, our Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances Act has not been very effective, Seizures have increased and so have indictment for offences but that is reflective only of the increase in those activities and not any positive development of control of drug abuse. Other legal sanctions are merely suggestions of intention and not actions.
Government regards drugs as a source of revenue and therefore its cultivation cannot be stopped. The inefficiency of administrative machinery in policing and preventing abuse needs no highlighting.
The only positive development is the establishment of de-addiction and detoxification centers which, have enabled us to salvage some people from destruction. However, these centers are expensive and the addicts have a tendency to relapse unless they have a strong will power and a desire to abdicate the malaise. Voluntary associations have also been doing a commendable task.
In conclusion, we can say that drug abuse has been realized as a major evil. It is a social problem and has legal ramifications. It has been given a high profile now and mass media has been disseminating information to educate people with the intention of preventing drug abuse. The battle continues and war on drugs is on.
2.Scientific Temper and Rational Planning"Realizing these limitations of reason and scientific method, we have siill to hold on to them with all our strength, for without that firm basis and background we can, have no grip on any kind of truth or reality".
These are a large number of people in our society who have formally studied or are studying science, clearly driven by job expectations. This has caused the retreat of traditional values and a degree of modernization and homogenization of society, it Is now certainly far less segregated along lines of caste, language or religion. Those who are engaged in industry, business and' commerce have no time to determine what identity their counterparts belong to. This is certainly a major achievement in free India.
However, if one looks at some of our fundamental problems, there is much cause for dismay and disappointment. Take the question of population. Even 50 years ago. At the time of Independence, the Indian subcontinent was already crowded. Today's India is adding in population in terms an Australia every year. But we are not adding to our resource base in the same proportion.
Irrationality is the lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitary toilets for a large majority of our population, while a small segment is busy with star TV, CNN, MTV and so on.
After independence a substantial and comprehensive base of science and technology has been created and several scientists and technologists trained. Among the laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, there have been some very good examples of integration with application. To mention only two : the Central Leather Research Institute has done well to help export leather goods; the National Chemical Laboratory too has a good record of working with industry.
The other laboratories, in spite of high quality manpower and facilities, have not yet been able to upgrade industry or provide new designs and processes. A recent move to make them earn fifty percent of their operating cost outside of the government funds, may force them to integrate with industry.
Agriculture has seen a really successful tieup between the laboratories and the farms. We must continue their association as agriculture will now face another revolution based on biotechnological innovations, it is in atomic energy and space sciences, where the applications have been tightly knit with laboratory work, that progress has been really very impressive. Indian scientists and technologist expected that links between thelaboratories and application areas would be strengthened, and that we would soon see a strong, selfreliant industrial and agricultural development.
But now we face irrationality. The opening up of the economy and liberalization, after four decades of regulation and control, has been widely welcomed. If the new open door policy succeeds, India Is expected to have large manufacturing bases for products of multinationals, hopefully supplying an overseas market with goods that will compete globally in price, quality and performance. This could happen at least in a range of products where our resource base would augment the advantage of lowcost skilled labor.
On the other hand, we will only be manufacturing to designs evolved in one of the advanced countries. The design capability we have built up is in danger of wilting. The exceptions would be where the MWCs find it' profitable to integrate Indian design effort into their mainline work. This is likely to be limited.
What are the prospects of product of Indian technology breaking into the export market? Software export has been growing well and there is considerable scope for expansion. As a general rule, the scale of manufacture has been small. Even our larger activities would be mini or micro in international comparison. Many of these industries have been too small to support independent design effort, let alone research and development. There is a real danger to the survival of many of these industries In the face of competition from overseas giants who can indulge in price cutting and dumping with takeovers, dismantling of any line of manufacture could easily happen in the guise of rationalization.
Why is it important for India to continue its faith in selfreliance? Many people would point out that many economics such as those of South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and others have done well in growing as part of international division of labour. Let us recall that Indian with a population of 800 million and China with over one billion are the two potentially largest economies. They will grow for the next several decades. They will therefore, be large markets for both capital goods and consumer articles.
India will continue to build power stations, extended electricity supplies, add to its fleet of trucks, modernize the railway system, build petroleum refineries, and so on. Equally, the consumer demands for automobiles, two wheelers, TV sets and so forth will also continue. It is important, therefore, that we not only manufacture these articles in the country but also improve them with newer designs based on research and development undertaken in the country. There is a need to integrate ourselves into the global economy at our own pace as equal partners but not be stamped into joining as second class citizen.
Whenever one defends the policy of the opening up of our economy the case is on the basis of bringing in the latest technology required to rapidly build up the nation. Quite often we end up getting technology, for soft drinks or fast food. Verghese Kurien posed the question "Why do we need to import the technology for potato chips?" A news item talks about the entry to India of the American fast food chain, Mc Donalds. The entry is justified on the ground that it would attract overseas tourists.
The list of irrationalities does not end here. At another level, there is the irrationality of the Indian Science Congress instituting an award for astrology. Another irrationality staring us in the face is the Dunkel Draft that is being negotiated by the GATT. Western Pharmaceutical companies have complained in the past about India's patent laws. Even if, these laws did not suit them, the country has been able to supply lifesaving drugs at affordable prices. Under the new dispensation, this may not be so.
Even more ominous are the provisions relating to intellectual property rights as they apply to agriculture. According to noted agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan, free flow of knowledge across national frontiers helped the growth of agriculture and animal husbandry worldwide. The provisions, of the Dunkel Draft favour Europe and North America and mitigate against the developing countries. Even in the field of computer software, the Dunkel provisions mitigate against the hours. In a number of cases, court orders were wrongly interpreted to the chagrin of the affected parties, forcing them to go the High Court or the Supreme Court for contempt proceedings.
Not surprisingly, the system of ready justice dispensed by criminals and antisocial elements with the connivance of political parties is finding increasing acceptance in society. The Kini murder case is only the tip of the iceberg. Political parties are not prepared to take up the cudgels against the trend. Rather, they denigrate the judiciary.
It is not therefore, surprising that the leaders of political parties at the national level are talking of reasserting the supremacy of Parliament visavis the judiciary and of amending the Prevention of Corruption Act to exclude the elected representatives from its purview and so on. There is also a move to amend the provisions of the Constitution to bring the judiciary under the undisputed hold of the executive in the matter of appointment and transfers of judges of the higher judiciary. The latest in this series of the proposed onslaughts is the move to curtail the scope of Public Interest Litigation by making it obligatory for the applicant to pay a deposit of Rs. 1 lakh and to confine the eligibility of the applicants to those who are below the poverty line and so on.
The arrogance and insensitivity of the executive at the State and Central levels were decisively brought home recently once again by its actions of invoking the provisions of the Official Secrets Act. In a recent PIL case in the Bombay High Court pertaining to the reported death of over 1.000 children during the last four, years in the tribal area of Melghat in Amravati district, the Maharashtra Government took the unbelievable stand that the two reports of inquiry made by Secretaries to the Government could not be made available s they were secret. Fortunately, the court did not uphold this plea and directed that they be made available to the parties to the litigation immediately. The other PIL onan equally vital public issue—the safety standards in nuclear establishments—asked whether precautions were being taken conforming to international standards and whether the regulatory and overseeing institutional arrangements were adequate. Again, a plea of the matter being secret was taken in the court by the Government of India. Unfortunately, the court accepted the plea and dismissed the PIL.
As it happens, the State Government concerned is being ruled by a coalition of the Shiv Sena and the BJP, and the Centre by a coalition of 13 political parties with Congress support. Therefore, in a sense, almost all political parties are partners in making a mockery of an open, transparent and responsible government which a democracy is expected to provide. It also shows their disregard for the judicial process and judicial review in such areas of critical public interest.
This inevitably raises the question of the direction in which the Indian democracy is heading. Sooner than later, the question which Mr. Thackeray asked "Who rules this country, the executive or the judiciary," will have to be answered in no uncertain terms. It is the rule of law which governs the country. The executive or the judiciary or Parliament are mere instrumentalities. It is a travesty of truth to say that during the 50th anniversary of our Independence, answers to such basic questions are still unclear to the ruling political elite.
3.Education As a Short of Commodity TodayOver the past three decades, there has been a sea change in the attitudes of people connected with education Teachers, administrators and planners, students and parents are all looking at education as a sort of commodity that leads on to better earnings and status in society. It is not surprising that it is so. But what is unfortunate is another development leading to an attitudinal change in society. The intrinsic value of education is no longer recognized although pious platitudes are mouthed quite frequently.
The main reason is that the flux of change has caught up with education much more dramatically than with other areas of activity. While the demand for education has been growing steadily in the developing countries including India, quality has not kept pace with it. Another factor, and an equally disturbing one, is the politicization of the campuses. Not only colleges and universities, even high schools seem to be getting infected by this virus. It is not uncommon to find on many campuses pedagogues espousing the cause of one political party or the other, no in any academic sense, but with a fervor that would do a party spokesman proud.
About 30 years ago, student unions and debating societies discussed live political issues. The debates were of a high level with the participants thorough in their home work Communication skills too were good and even those who set their sights on politics as a career went through this exercise with earnestness and sincerity. Similarly, mock parliaments marked the academic calendar in many colleges; the professors in charge spent a lot of time and energy guiding students and training them in the art of debating.
These debates attracted a large number of students who came to cheer their compatriots. There was on all sides a desire to learn, be informed and to enlarge the mental horizon. This aspect, which made college life in the fifties and sixties valuable, is sadly missing today on a vast majority of the campuses. Yet another aspect is that the pedagogues were by and large scholars who believed in furthering knowledge. They had an abundant love for their students and could spare time for those who cane to clarify their doubts. Thus, the mutual bond of affection and scholarship helped cement a lifelong relationship between the teacher and the taught. This is conspicuous by its absence today.
These losses cannot be counterbalanced by an impressive infrastructure in the form of stately buildings and an array of instruments in laboratories. The human material of the earlier years did in a large measure fulfill the task set out for it, namely becoming teachers in the true sense of the word and this was done in an environment of virtual poverty of hardware. It is here that the mentors of the olden days score over the pedagogues of today. Perhaps, the teachers of these days worked in a spirit of self-effacement. An inexhaustible love for learning characterized their daily schedule and this got transformed into an abiding love or teaching, in a way, this was the next best that one could wish for in the place of the ancient "gurukula" pattern. But the institutionalized classroom instruction has degenerated in the last three decades or several reasons.
The unholy preoccupation with things that are material (which, of course, is the result of the present consumerist trend), the craving to get rich quickly, the closing of the avenues for certain fields of study to the youth who genuinely pine for these and the decadence that has set in society as a result of the erosion of ethical values are to blame. Caste considerations in the selection of candidates to courses and jobs are also contributing factors. Educationists, by and large, feel that this type of affirmative action by the Centre and the State Governments has been carried to the extreme and need? to be modified to meet the aspirations of the rising generation.
It is a pity that parents are now intent on pushing their children into certain grooves of academic activity. This is evident from the obsession of parents with getting for their wards seats in the professional institutions. There are instances of middle class parents becoming almost paranoid about seats in engineering and medical colleges.
The proliferation of these "self-financing" colleges has in a way satisfied this great demand. But the categorization of seats under the labels "free" or "payment-based" and "payment" has led to an anomalous situation. The students selected ur.der the "free" seat quotas are perforce to pay tuition fees as prescribed for the Government or aided colleges. Often, the hapless scholars have to pay something more on the sly, especially while opting for preferred courses such as computer science arid engineering. But those selected under the "payment" category have to shell out three or four times more. Not unexpectedly, this type of differentiation — two sets of students paying vastly different fees for the same course — produces in the minds of the youth a distorted sense of values.
To be fair to the private managements, it must be said that the cost of establishing and running a professional college has gene up steeply in the last few years. Also, the pressure on the managements to improve the facilities has increased, thanks to the statutory bodies such as the All India Council for Technical Education and the Medical Council of India. The objective, no doubt, is to make the errant managements who are in the habit of commercializing education mend their ways. This has had a salutary effect in almost every State where the self-financing colleges came up.
The conduct of examinations by different agencies including the school boards and universities is another prickly issue. In the last few decades, the number of candidates appearing for various public examinations right from the SSLC through the higher secondary to the degree and postgraduate levels has grown up by leaps and bounds. Indeed, it is becoming unmanageable (running into lakhs of candidates in certain categories) for any centralized agency such as the school boards.
A strong case can be made out for decentralizing the system taking care at the same time that a modicum of uniformity in evaluation and assessment of answer scripts in maintained. What is to be guarded against is the leakage of question papers that has come to characterize the modern scene. The "necessary evil" of examinations cannot in the present context be replaced by any other system: the only remedy is to make the entire process, right from the setting up of question papers, invigilation, paper dispatch and valuation to the announcement of results foolproof. Whenever a reexamination is ordered, it is the hardworking, studious candidates who undergo greater hardship. The curbing of malpractices is only one aspect, refining the techniques of evaluation and selection of teachers of integrity to be in charge of the process is the crucial part.
Campus watchers are struck by the distortion that has crept into the academic field in the last three decades, namely the neglect of languages, the humanities and the social sciences. A study of subjects such as history, politics, sociology, economics, psychology, philosophy, languages and literature provides for a deeper understanding of human relationships, behavior and social currents. A majority of students go in for sciences and commerce. While this trend is in consonance with the science and technology age, the skewed preference for these subjects may not in the long run benefit society.
There must be some way of making the humanities attractive to youth, both from the point of view of employment opportunities and from a higher plane. Also, the teachers who handle the subjects must be men and women of exceptional ability, capable of sparking student interest. Unfortunately, such teachers are dwindling in numbers all over the country. A vigorous effort must be made to attract talented youth to the humanities which are essential for the evolution of human development.
4.Policy of Compensatory Discrimination: A need for Review
Compensatory discrimination is one of the most controversial issues. But out of the whole issue one of its most debatable program is the policy of reservation. It is often confused that compensatory discrimination or protective discrimination and reservation program are the same thing. In fact, reservation program is one of the programs of the policy of compensatory discriminations. lt includes, financial, housing and health facilities apart from reservation in jobs and educational institutions.
It is true that reservation has generated much passion than any other issue. There are reasons behind it. Reservation for SCs and STs had been accepted in late 1940s by our 1st generation leadership who were much committed for the organic unity of the Indian society. The stigma of 'untouchability' in case of SCs and 'isolation' of STs could be broken only by education aid mass emancipation. For this, the masses were also educated, which is evident especially after 1932, i.e., Poona Pact Gandhiji's special drive for the emancipation of the untouchables helped to generate an ideology which could counter the communal ideology of untouchabiiity. Thus, reservation for the depressed classes was an outcome of ideological campaign along with the fear to lose national unity. So the whole issue had been internalized in a different sociopolitical situation, forty years ago.
Now the situation has changed alongwith a major shift in the issue. At present reservation is demanded not for "untouchables" of "Physically and culturally isolated tribal groups", who constituted minority; but for a large section of masses who constituted 52% of the total populations, which includes some big land owning castes like Yadavas & Kurmis (in Bihar).
Secondly, there is no threat to the unity of India, after forty years of independence it is more secured. Now people want their share in the cake of national polity. And in this particular point the reservation policy takes political dimension. The trend to use reservation as a tool to mobilize certain sections of masses is also having a long history. In 1939, Chaudhary Charan Singh demanded 50% reservation for the farmers. Later in 1947 he wrote an article in Hindi in this regard. He achieved a little success to mobilize Kisans. As neither constitutes a class or a community. In fact the present structure in India is not homogeneous; they divided among big landlords, middle peasants and landless laborers. So to unite them as one class is something out of question. Later, Chaudhary Charan Singh too shifted to mobilize masses on the basis of caste. This is evident in his political career during the Janata Government.
A similar move could be seen in the political mobilization of Shri Ram Manohar Lohia who tried to break the hegemony of Brahmins and Banias by mobilizing the shudders and other backward classes. The N.F. Government's move on August, 1990 is very conspicuous in this regard. The Prime Minister was blamed dividing national unity on caste lines and promoting casteism for personal political gains, the circumstantial evidences raised a needle of suspicion on the intention of V.P. Singh.
But all these attempts at national level failed to mobilize a vote bank of more than 50% masses. The reasons are quite simple. Firstly, the 52% of OBCs (as calculated by the M.C.R.) is not a homogeneous category. There are economic, social, political, cultural and ritual differences within these groups. There are depressed castes, communities juxtaposed with politically dominant and economically well of castes. The dominant sections have vested interest in the policy of reservation. But the really depressed are so backward that they are not educated enough to reap the benefit of reservation.
In fact, it is a political battle of two groups of elites; the elites who belong to "forward castes" and the elites who belong to the other" backward castes". The third group of elites, i.e. the elites of SCs and STs had already had their share. And they do not find any substantial gain by taking side of the OBCs as this would dilute their own interest.
Whereas elites of SCs and STs have their own mass bases, the elites of forward castes and OBCs do not have distinct mass base. Now, this is clear that both the elites are trying to carve out their own mass base so as to ensure their political position. But, where the SCs and STs are homogeneous and distinct categories the OBCs are heterogeneous hence their calculation is bound to fail.
Secondly, the nonacceptance of reservation policy by a vocal section of people of India could be understood in terms of regional variations. The policy of reservations for the OBCs is tremendously successful for South Indian states whereas it failed in the North Indian states (i.e. Hindi belt, except Bihar). It is because of the historical and ideological roots of the OBC movement in the state as it generated the socialist and secular political forms which has taken support from the masses of both SCs the STs as well OBCs. This is mainly due to the social composition. The masses of South Indian states are largely deducted and the OBCs are dominant there both numerically and politically. This is not the same for North Indian states where dominant sections belong to the upper castes.
There are various other reasons. The policy of job reservation could excite small sections of masses but not the whole people." The "Economic Liberalization" has challenged the public sector corporations and government jobs. Their absorption capacity is bound to decrease. In an open market, naturally merit will be given priority. Hence, there is a need to review the whole policy of compensatory discrimination, if we are really concerned about social justice.
5.Resource Crunch In Education
"Education has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading."
Institutional education is the focal agency which 'socializes' the individual after his primary exposure within the family. Education does not mean attaining literacy, nor does it mean pursuing knowledge, nor does it mean pursuing knowledge merely for the sake of knowledge. It means much more than that. Ideally speaking education must instill and transmit the norms and values of a society; it should prepare the young people for adult roles and select young people in terms of their talents and abilities for appropriate roles in adult life. Moreover, education must realize its potential for creating a more equal and just society.
The imperative of the structure of education in a country are derived from its historical education pattern and the present priorities. In India, historically our education system was conspicuous by its specificity. For a long time access to learning was considered to be the preserve of higher castes and that too only for males. Although there have been glaring exceptions to this but this has been the general trend. The content of education was nonsecular and was oriented towards making the individual accept and conform to the structure of society and completely subsume his individuality into the society.
Seeds of modern education were sown by foreign Christian missionaries, the British Government and some progressive Indians. The introduction of modern education in India was basically motivated towards catering to the politicoadministrative and economic needs of the British colonizers. As such the system was geared towards providing clerks and lower level whitecollar workers to the Raj and requisite attention towards vocationalization of education was not paid. Somehow, this system was maintained in postIndependence period too, resulting in an immense proliferation of (substandard) institutions of higher learning, a drain on the exchequer and worse the creation of a vast population of educated unemployed youth thoroughly disenchanted with the system. The inadequacies in terms of quality and quantity of primary education, the inaccessibility of education to sections of women and other weaker sections of society are apocalyptical.
Recently the education process has been further vitiated by the process of politicization of education. Politics has crept into education at the level of academic appointments, as well as student activism and last but not the least, even to the 'content' of education imparted to students. On top of it all, is the financial burden thrown on the education system by the government by announcing reductions in educational allocations.
In fact the drying out of financial support from the government to education is only the logical fallout of the resource stringency faced by the government grants. In this context the talk of privatizing higher education and even privatizing textbooks is gaining currency.
In an era of prevailing financial exigency and the ongoing economic reforms, the need for devising strategies for ensuring costeffectiveness of educational schemes cannot be overstated. There are sufficient reasons to rationalize the funding of higher education on the grounds of equity and efficiency. In this context it would be worth mentioning that higher education enjoys government support to the extent of eighty five percent and the government decision to freeze grants has come as a blot from the blue to the university community. As it is, the education sector had been reeling under a less than adequate budgetary support (approximately 4 percent in the Eighth Plan as against a six percent upwards projection of the National Policy on Education Revised, 1992) and the double impact of rapid inflation and rupee, devaluation. The combined impact of all this is that the 'real' allocation to education has declined over the years.
The university community can legitimately fell outraged because the level of funding has' been decelerated at a time when they are already plagued with underinvestment and fiscal deficits. Besides, the freeze has been slapped on, without providing alternative avenues of fundinglike liberal loan scheme or taking policy initiatives on the fiscal front for mobilizing additional resources by universities as are generally available to autonomous bodies.
The most important issue therefore is to identify alternative sources of finance which could be exploited. At the same time effective and gainful utilization of available resources is essential. Thus, a two pronged strategy can be envisaged— one relates to measures for effecting economy in expenditure and other to the mobilization of additional resources.
More than sixtyfive percent of university expenses go towards the salary bill of teaching and nonteaching staff. Economy measures therefore largely affect the staff in terms of either retrenching staff or postponement of recruitment of faculty members. This not only undermines the university plans to carry out ongoing schemes but also strikes at the root of the intellectual viability of the university system. However, since economy in budgeting is unavoidable one would be betteradvised to check nonacademic expenditure by scaling down dependence on nonteaching staff and cutting administrative expenses. Economy can also be effected by devising methods of interinstitutional sharing and lending of facilities like libraries and laboratories on which huge investments are made and yet they are not fully utilized.
As far as the question of mobilization of additional resources is concerned, a case can be made out for raising tuition fees. Though, the requirements of universities are too high even for raised tuition fees to sufficiently provide for, yet a beginning in this direction is most welcome. More so, because most' of the beneficiary groups largely hail from the better off section of the society. In this context schemes need to be devised which would extract fees from beneficiaries according to their income ability or allow them to meet the educational expenses out of interestfree loans while the education of poor sections of society should be suitably subsidized by the Government.
Besides an upward revision of fee structure (especially in professional courses) other resource augmenting measures include full recovery of costs of education from foreign students, mobilization of resources from industry by way of initiating relevant programs for managerial and technical staff of industries and other commercial organizations, undertaking consultancy projects from industry, revising users charges like hostel, laboratory fees, library etc,
Thus, unless an equitable and efficient funding mechanism is devised the process of upgradation of human capital the sine qua non of enhancing resource use and productivity will be seriously handicapped. Moreover, productivity enhancing new innovations and technologies will also be difficult to come by from the conveyor belt of institutions of higher learning. Privatization of Textbooks
Privatization or denationalisation of textbooks is put forward as an extension of the process of privatization of education. Let us first see what 'denationalization" of textbooks means and what its implications are. Nationalization in its classical sense means the state or its agencies like the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and its affiliates in the states (SCERTs) are responsible for the editorial, printing and distribution of textbooks. In this light one can argue that the debate on denationalization of textbooks is irrelevant because firstly prescribed textbooks exists on!, for school level classes (I to XII) there are no 'textbooks' as such for higher classes and secondly because the state does intent the private sector to share the enormous load of printing of textbooks and is completely dependent on the private sector for their distribution.
Despite, the at best 'partial nationalization' of textbooks that we presently have in India, to lobby of private publishers want this sector to be thrown open to them which means that they would be able to cater to the enormous demand of the growing school population. Normatively, there can be no objection to such a proposal if it will lead to better textbooks in terms of language, style, subject matter and production. The ability of private publishers to singularly meet the enormous demand and the cost to the consumer can be the only other considerations in this regard.
The prospects of private sector cunning out better textbooks are very bleak if the past performances of this sector are any indication. Mostly, private publishing is.a one man show with a majority of publishing houses lacking in even the mandatory editorial departments not to speak of production staff, proofreaders etc.
The ability of the private sector to handle the vast magnitude of demand is also suspect because no single publisher can possibly have the requisite infrastructure—in professional staff, warehousing spaces, sales outlets etc. besides the huge financial investment required. As far as the price to the consumer is concerned we can expect a steep rise in prices because the private sector does not work on the ecclesiastic principle of 'noprofitnoloss'. Private sector works only for profit.
If what we have said above seems like an advocacy ofstatus quo ante then we would like to quickly state that what is required is a rational costbenefit analysis of the two extremes. The private sector should weigh its merits visavis the state endeavor and devise ways which maximize benefits to the society as well as the entrepreneur. Surely entrepreneurship cannot be given precedence over the subjective quality of education. Efficiency of resource utilization while at the same time ensuring quality in education so as to enable it to perform the sociological task expected of true .education should be the only guiding criteria.
6.Environmental PollutionOne of the biggest problems the plaguing mother nature is the problem of pollution. Man is just one of millions of life forms existing on the earth, albeit a very intelligent one. But this does not entitle him to interfere in nature's law of ecological balance. He is as much dependent upon other living forms as they are on hire. When man (or anyone else) introduces something extraneous in the natural cycle which positively harms life and creates imbalance, it is known as pollution. Since man is the only life form who has been able to understand nature to some extent, he is the only one in position to cause pollution and unfortunately, he has been doing it at his own free will.
Pollution can be of many types. One of them is the Air Pollution. The very air we breathe in and which sustains life is being poisoned by exhausts from automobiles, smoke from chimneys, dust flam mining and construction activities and numerous other sources of dangerous gases and vapors. Air should have a certain composition which is mostly Nitrogen, Oxygen and very little of other gases but these sources emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, hydro carbons and radioactive vapors. This disturbs the composition of air and harms all the biological processes dependent upon it.
Another type of pollution is water pollution. 90% of our body is water. We need water for cooking, drinking, bathing, cleaning, industrial processes and cooling etc. Many types of life forms lie in it. All animals and plants need water for survival. In fact, presence of water is one main reason why life exists on earth. But man has not spared even this life giver. Sewage effluents, chemical discharges, dyes, agricultural wastes (fertilizers etc.), fuels of ships etc. have converted clean, sparkling water of rivers, lakes and seas into dull, rotting mass of sludge. The aquatic life is being destroyed; dirty water has become the sources of epidemics, diseases and foul smell. Fresh water bodies are being converted into chemical ponds.
Yet another type of pollution is the land pollution. Agricultural chemicals, sewage effluents, chemical discharges from industry, mining and construction activities have denuded the surface of earth. Once lush green land has been converted into a desert. Land subsidence, floods, ground water pollution, dust and fumes are all the results of land pollution. Wild life is being deprived of its habitat and the very trees man used to worship once, are today becoming victims of his greed and carelessness.
While on one hand, atomic power is being used in innumerable ways for mankind's benefit, on the other hand, the same is becoming a major and highly hazardous source of pollution called Radiation Pollution. In this case it is not the atomic power plants but atomic explosions that are the real culprits. Harmful rays and particles, emitted can create abnormalities in body, deformities, mutations, skin cancer, blood cancer and a number of other diseases.
A brief survey of pollution done above shows very clearly that it is man himself who is responsible for his doom. His insatiable greed and use of a poor model of development are responsible for bringing things to such a pass today. It is not that this is the only way that development can be pursued. There are better and more sustainable ways existing. Such a development which bases itself on man's harmony with nature is aptly called 'sustainable development'. It defines development as betterment of human life without jeopardizing the ability of the future generations to live a healthy life. It has many aspects and if implemented can help us live a better life, materially, aesthetically and spiritually.
Implementation of such a model calls for mass participation. This in turns means that awareness and understanding needs to be generated among common people regarding environment and its protection. For example, the scheme of 'Paryavaran Vahini', which includes establishing a committed cadre of environmentally conscious and citizen who will help in protecting environment and bringing pollutants to book, is one step in this direction. Voluntary agencies, citizens, government and industry should join hands in such an endeavor. For example, use of organic fertilizers, environment friendly chemicals, bio-fertilizers, bio- pesticides, optimum use of water etc. by agriculturists can be done if they are informed, trained and helped by government, voluntary agencies etc. Use of ESPs in chimneys, treatment plants, use of eco-friendly products etc. can be done by the industry.
Time is running out fast. We have only one earth to live in and if we do not do something to save it, we can only start the reverse count. Let it be a duty of each one of us to do our best to save and improve environment. We can plant trees, use eco-friendly products, bio-degradable packings, ecomarked goods, spread the awareness and prevent others from polluting earth. Else the day is not far when clean water, safe air, undisturbed land may become a rarer commodity- than gold. May be then, even man will be found only in museums.
NEW LOCALISM
New localism
New localism is a concept associated with Tony Blair's Labour government in the United Kingdom. It is intended to indicate a cautious devolution of power to the local level in an attempt to better implement national goals.
New localism and 'old localism'New localism is therefore characterised by a cautious devolution of power to the local level in an attempt to better implement national goals.
It emphasises the devolution of managerial over political power - the aim is generally to allow local managers to meet national priorities more effectively, rather than to allow local politicians to derogate from national goals.
New localism differs from the implicit 'old localism' in two important senses. First, it accepts the role of central government in driving change at the local level, something that the localists of the 1980s strongly resisted. Second, it does not centre on the role of the local authority, but takes a wider view of the locality that includes communities and other public service organisations such as health and police services.
New localism in practiceNew localism has been most strongly advocated by the New Local Government Network think tank. Nick Raynsford, the local government minister from 2001-2005, used his tenure to launch a process called Local:Vision, which aimed at creating a 10-year strategy for local government policy and took a distinctively new localist perspective.
Key new localist policies include:Foundation hospitals - the granting of more autonomy to NHS hospital trusts that score the highest marks in their inspections, including freedom to borrow money on the markets and adjust staff pay levels. The foundation trusts must create an elected board including representatives from the local community to oversee their work.
Freedoms for local government - Labour has granted a number of new freedoms to councils, including the right to freely borrow capital on the financial markets and a general reduction in the number of plans that must be submitted for central government approval. Further freedoms are promised to those councils that score the top 'excellent' grade in the key Comprehensive Performance Assessment inspection process. These include freedom from council tax capping and a three year holiday from inspection. The local government community has complained that these freedoms are not always granted in practice.
Neighbourhoods - Labour has shown a growing interest in creating new forms of more direct neighbourhood governance in the hope of improving the responsiveness of public services and engaging local people in both local democracy and the delivery of their own services through service level contracts and co-production. The policy is in its infancy, but is being pursued enthusiastically by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Education reform - it might also be argued that the government's policy of transferring power to school headteachers from local education authorities represent a new localist approach to devolving beyond the council to local communities.
New localismNew localism is a concept associated with Tony Blair's Labour government in the United Kingdom. It is intended to indicate a cautious devolution of power to the local level in an attempt to better implement national goals.
[edit] New localism and 'old localism'
New localism is therefore characterised by a cautious devolution of power to the local level in an attempt to better implement national goals.
It emphasises the devolution of managerial over political power - the aim is generally to allow local managers to meet national priorities more effectively, rather than to allow local politicians to derogate from national goals.
New localism differs from the implicit 'old localism' in two important senses. First, it accepts the role of central government in driving change at the local level, something that the localists of the 1980s strongly resisted. Second, it does not centre on the role of the local authority, but takes a wider view of the locality that includes communities and other public service organisations such as health and police services.
[edit]New localism in practice
New localism has been most strongly advocated by the New Local Government Network think tank. Nick Raynsford, the local government minister from 2001-2005, used his tenure to launch a process called Local:Vision, which aimed at creating a 10-year strategy for local government policy and took a distinctively new localist perspective.
Key new localist policies include:
Foundation hospitals - the granting of more autonomy to NHS hospital trusts that score the highest marks in their inspections, including freedom to borrow money on the markets and adjust staff pay levels. The foundation trusts must create an elected board including representatives from the local community to oversee their work.
Freedoms for local government - Labour has granted a number of new freedoms to councils, including the right to freely borrow capital on the financial markets and a general reduction in the number of plans that must be submitted for central government approval. Further freedoms are promised to those councils that score the top 'excellent' grade in the key Comprehensive Performance Assessment inspection process. These include freedom from council tax capping and a three year holiday from inspection. The local government community has complained that these freedoms are not always granted in practice.
Neighbourhoods - Labour has shown a growing interest in creating new forms of more direct neighbourhood governance in the hope of improving the responsiveness of public services and engaging local people in both local democracy and the delivery of their own services through service level contracts and co-production. The policy is in its infancy, but is being pursued enthusiastically by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Education reform - it might also be argued that the government's policy of transferring power to school headteachers from local education authorities represent a new localist approach to devolving beyond the council to local communities.
New localism is a concept associated with Tony Blair's Labour government in the United Kingdom. It is intended to indicate a cautious devolution of power to the local level in an attempt to better implement national goals.
New localism and 'old localism'New localism is therefore characterised by a cautious devolution of power to the local level in an attempt to better implement national goals.
It emphasises the devolution of managerial over political power - the aim is generally to allow local managers to meet national priorities more effectively, rather than to allow local politicians to derogate from national goals.
New localism differs from the implicit 'old localism' in two important senses. First, it accepts the role of central government in driving change at the local level, something that the localists of the 1980s strongly resisted. Second, it does not centre on the role of the local authority, but takes a wider view of the locality that includes communities and other public service organisations such as health and police services.
New localism in practiceNew localism has been most strongly advocated by the New Local Government Network think tank. Nick Raynsford, the local government minister from 2001-2005, used his tenure to launch a process called Local:Vision, which aimed at creating a 10-year strategy for local government policy and took a distinctively new localist perspective.
Key new localist policies include:Foundation hospitals - the granting of more autonomy to NHS hospital trusts that score the highest marks in their inspections, including freedom to borrow money on the markets and adjust staff pay levels. The foundation trusts must create an elected board including representatives from the local community to oversee their work.
Freedoms for local government - Labour has granted a number of new freedoms to councils, including the right to freely borrow capital on the financial markets and a general reduction in the number of plans that must be submitted for central government approval. Further freedoms are promised to those councils that score the top 'excellent' grade in the key Comprehensive Performance Assessment inspection process. These include freedom from council tax capping and a three year holiday from inspection. The local government community has complained that these freedoms are not always granted in practice.
Neighbourhoods - Labour has shown a growing interest in creating new forms of more direct neighbourhood governance in the hope of improving the responsiveness of public services and engaging local people in both local democracy and the delivery of their own services through service level contracts and co-production. The policy is in its infancy, but is being pursued enthusiastically by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Education reform - it might also be argued that the government's policy of transferring power to school headteachers from local education authorities represent a new localist approach to devolving beyond the council to local communities.
New localismNew localism is a concept associated with Tony Blair's Labour government in the United Kingdom. It is intended to indicate a cautious devolution of power to the local level in an attempt to better implement national goals.
[edit] New localism and 'old localism'
New localism is therefore characterised by a cautious devolution of power to the local level in an attempt to better implement national goals.
It emphasises the devolution of managerial over political power - the aim is generally to allow local managers to meet national priorities more effectively, rather than to allow local politicians to derogate from national goals.
New localism differs from the implicit 'old localism' in two important senses. First, it accepts the role of central government in driving change at the local level, something that the localists of the 1980s strongly resisted. Second, it does not centre on the role of the local authority, but takes a wider view of the locality that includes communities and other public service organisations such as health and police services.
[edit]New localism in practice
New localism has been most strongly advocated by the New Local Government Network think tank. Nick Raynsford, the local government minister from 2001-2005, used his tenure to launch a process called Local:Vision, which aimed at creating a 10-year strategy for local government policy and took a distinctively new localist perspective.
Key new localist policies include:
Foundation hospitals - the granting of more autonomy to NHS hospital trusts that score the highest marks in their inspections, including freedom to borrow money on the markets and adjust staff pay levels. The foundation trusts must create an elected board including representatives from the local community to oversee their work.
Freedoms for local government - Labour has granted a number of new freedoms to councils, including the right to freely borrow capital on the financial markets and a general reduction in the number of plans that must be submitted for central government approval. Further freedoms are promised to those councils that score the top 'excellent' grade in the key Comprehensive Performance Assessment inspection process. These include freedom from council tax capping and a three year holiday from inspection. The local government community has complained that these freedoms are not always granted in practice.
Neighbourhoods - Labour has shown a growing interest in creating new forms of more direct neighbourhood governance in the hope of improving the responsiveness of public services and engaging local people in both local democracy and the delivery of their own services through service level contracts and co-production. The policy is in its infancy, but is being pursued enthusiastically by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Education reform - it might also be argued that the government's policy of transferring power to school headteachers from local education authorities represent a new localist approach to devolving beyond the council to local communities.
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS
Great Britain: The Constitution and Administrative System
The British Constitution is the oldest in the world and it is neither written nor enacted and has been called the “child of accident and design”. It is an example of unique flexibility- it can be amended with the same ease with which an ordinary law is enacted. It is a blend of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. Sources of the British Constitution are:
The Great Charters
Statutes
Constitutional conventions
Common law
Judicial decisions and commentaries on the constitution
The British polity is unitary- not federal in form, as is in India and USA. All the powers are concentrated in a single government at London which is supreme. The ‘Counties’ and ‘Boroughs’ and other local government areas do enjoy certain powers but they are delegated to them by the Central Government.
Britain has a parliamentary or ‘responsible’ form of government, distinct from the Presidential type of government as in America. While technically, all powers of the state are vested in a King, he is in practice, only a titular or constitutional head. His powers are exercised by a team of ministers which is called a Cabinet or Council of Ministers. The ministers constitute the real executive and all of them are drawn from the Parliament. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet and the most powerful person in the country. This form of government is called ‘responsible’ since all the ministers are collectively and individually responsible to the House of Commons. Legally, the King-in-parliament is sovereign. In fact, the Cabinet is the link that connects the monarch with the legislature. The “House of Lords” is the upper house and its members are not elected. It is a permanent institution which is never dissolved and most of its members are hereditary.
In Britain, there is no such thing as the supremacy of the Constitution. Indeed, Parliament is sovereign. Parliament can make or amend any law. It is an ordinary legislature and constituent assembly at the same time. There is no practice of judicial review of and act passed by the Parliament. Whatever it does is legal and constitutional. The executive is fully under control of the Parliament. The Ministers retain their offices during the pleasure of the lower house.
The Queen is still head of the state, head of the society and head of the church. The Crown is the chief executive- all the executive authority is exercised in its name. However, in practice, all the powers of the Crown are exercised by the ministers in the name of the King, not by the King himself. The ministers are responsible to the Parliament and not the King. The executive orders are issued by the King, but they are always countersigned by the minister concerned. Since the King is above the law, the minister is responsible to the people.
It is true that the King is a mere ceremonial head; however, his advice is not easily dismissed by his ministers. The King selects and appoints the Prime Minister. The King authorizes the dissolution of the House of Commons to enable afresh election. Summarizing, the salient features of the British Constitution are:
Evolved, unwritten and Flexible Constitution
Unitary political system
Parliamentary system
The supremacy of Parliament
Gap between theory and practice
Conventions of the Constitutions
Rule of law
A Constitutional Monarchy
Bicameralism
There is no unified system of courts for the entire country. The “civil” and “criminal” courts are separate. The Judicature Act of 1873 created a Supreme Court of Judicature, which is a somewhat misleading name. The Supreme Court is composed of parts which are entirely separate. The highest court of law in the country is the House of Lords. According to a custom, only the law lords attend the house when it meets as the court and is presided over by the Lord Chancellor.
EVOLUTION OF THE CIVIL SERVICES IN BRITAIN In early times, political favoritism was the basis of appointment to public offices. The revolution of 1688 had established the supremacy of Parliament. Edmund Burke was the first statesman to point out the evils of jobbery and nepotism. Jeremy Benthem in his constitutional code gave a detailed plan of recruiting persons for public services, their remunerations and service conditions. He was the first person to suggest oral examination in addition to the written test.
Lord Macaulay is considered to be the father of the modern British Civil Service. It is interesting to note that the system of ‘open competitive examination’ to ascertain the merit of the candidates was first applied to Indian Civil Service and then extended to the British Civil Service. Trevelyan, who happened to be the brother-in-law of Lord Macaulay, was entrusted with the task of investigating in to the affairs of the various departments and submit its report with a view to increase the efficiency of the government machinery. Following recommendations were made which were very similar to that given by the Lord Macaulay committee for the Indian civil service:
Open competitive examination in place of the patronage system
All examinations to be conducted by a single authority which should be outside the departments
Examinations should be held at regular intervals
In order to attract the best brains it is necessary to recruit people at young age
Preference of general ability and intelligence rather than special requirements for the class of service.
The National Whitley Council in 1920 classified the civil service into the following classes:
Administrative class
Executive class
Clerical and Sub-clerical classes
Typing grades
Minor and Manipulative class
Specialists
Messengers, Cleaners, etc.
The training of civil servants in Britain is based on the Assheton Committee Report of 1944. According to it, Treasury enjoys the power to exercise general control over training and a Director of Training and Education has been appointed.
In 1965, the Estimates Committee of House of Commons presented a report on ‘Recruitment to the Civil Service’ and hinted at number deficiencies. Accordingly, a Committee under the Chairmanship of Lord Fulton, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex, was appointed which submitted its report in 1968. The main points of the report are:
The civil service still had the hangover of 19th century and its attitude was to support the ‘gifted’ generalist amateur.
To bring a more professional approach to the working procedures.
A new Civil Service Department should be created to take over the establishment work of the Treasury and to oversee the Civil Service Commission.
The system of Treasury classes should be abolished and replaced by a unified grading structure.
A civil service college should be established.
Management service units should be set-up in all major departments.
There should be a separate senior policy advisor, in addition to the Permanent Secretary, to advise the minister.
Ministers should be allowed to employ temporary experts to advise them.
There should be more openness in governance so that the outer world can see who is taking the decision.
The Government accepted most of the Fulton Committee recommendations and most have been progressively implemented. The Civil Service Department was created in 1968 and the Civil Service College was opened in 1969 at Sunningdale, Berkshire. The British Administrative class, as in 1986, is constituted of the following top seven grades:
Grade-1: Permanent Secretary
Grade-2: Deputy Secretary
Grade-3: Under Secretary
Grade-4: Executive Director
Grade-5: Assistant Secretary
Grade-6: Senior Principal
Grade-6: Principal
U.S.A.: Constitution and Administrative System
The constitution of the United States of America is the oldest written constitution in the world and the Declaration of Independence of 1776 was the first formal state paper which helped framing of the Constitution in 1787 at the Philadelphia convention. It contains only 4000 words. It is rigid and can not be amended by the procedure of ordinary legislation.
An important feature of the US constitution is the separation of powers and system of checks and balances. The Congress makes the laws, the President administers them and the Supreme Court, along with other federal courts interprets them and imparts justice. Although the three branches of government are independent of each other, they can be checked by each other, which maintains balance so that no one can assume supreme power.
Salient features of the US Constitution:
Written and brief constitution
Popular Sovereignty
Republican form of government
Supremacy of the constitution
Rigid constitution
Federal form of government
Presidential form of government
Judicial review
Separation of power
Checks and balances
Bill of Rights
Double Citizenship: The dual citizenship created by the 14th amendment implies that while all American citizens are entitled to elect and to be elected at the federal level; at the state level only the state citizens enjoy political rights.
Administrative system:
A person who wishes to contest for the office of the President (or Vice-President) must be a natural born citizen of the United States. He should be of at least 35 years of age and must have resided in the US for at least 14 years.
The American Congress consists of two the two Houses- the Senate (Upper House) and the House of Representatives (Lower House). Members of the lower house are elected for tenure of two years. The Senate is a permanent body and the Senators are elected for six years, but one third of them retire after every two years. The Senate of the US is the second ost powerful chamber in the world.
There are two separate systems of Courts in the USA: the federal courts and the state courts. The lower federal court is known as the District Court. The highest and the most important is the Supreme Court which consists of one Chief Justice and eight associate justices. They are appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. They hold office during good behavior. Once appointed, a judge can not be removed throughout his life, except by impeachment. The procedure of impeachment is same as that of the President. A Judge of a Court may retire, if he wants to, when he reaches the age of seventy and thereafter. Provided he has been a member of the court for at least ten years, and he will be entitled to full salary for the rest of his life.
The British Constitution is the oldest in the world and it is neither written nor enacted and has been called the “child of accident and design”. It is an example of unique flexibility- it can be amended with the same ease with which an ordinary law is enacted. It is a blend of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. Sources of the British Constitution are:
The Great Charters
Statutes
Constitutional conventions
Common law
Judicial decisions and commentaries on the constitution
The British polity is unitary- not federal in form, as is in India and USA. All the powers are concentrated in a single government at London which is supreme. The ‘Counties’ and ‘Boroughs’ and other local government areas do enjoy certain powers but they are delegated to them by the Central Government.
Britain has a parliamentary or ‘responsible’ form of government, distinct from the Presidential type of government as in America. While technically, all powers of the state are vested in a King, he is in practice, only a titular or constitutional head. His powers are exercised by a team of ministers which is called a Cabinet or Council of Ministers. The ministers constitute the real executive and all of them are drawn from the Parliament. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet and the most powerful person in the country. This form of government is called ‘responsible’ since all the ministers are collectively and individually responsible to the House of Commons. Legally, the King-in-parliament is sovereign. In fact, the Cabinet is the link that connects the monarch with the legislature. The “House of Lords” is the upper house and its members are not elected. It is a permanent institution which is never dissolved and most of its members are hereditary.
In Britain, there is no such thing as the supremacy of the Constitution. Indeed, Parliament is sovereign. Parliament can make or amend any law. It is an ordinary legislature and constituent assembly at the same time. There is no practice of judicial review of and act passed by the Parliament. Whatever it does is legal and constitutional. The executive is fully under control of the Parliament. The Ministers retain their offices during the pleasure of the lower house.
The Queen is still head of the state, head of the society and head of the church. The Crown is the chief executive- all the executive authority is exercised in its name. However, in practice, all the powers of the Crown are exercised by the ministers in the name of the King, not by the King himself. The ministers are responsible to the Parliament and not the King. The executive orders are issued by the King, but they are always countersigned by the minister concerned. Since the King is above the law, the minister is responsible to the people.
It is true that the King is a mere ceremonial head; however, his advice is not easily dismissed by his ministers. The King selects and appoints the Prime Minister. The King authorizes the dissolution of the House of Commons to enable afresh election. Summarizing, the salient features of the British Constitution are:
Evolved, unwritten and Flexible Constitution
Unitary political system
Parliamentary system
The supremacy of Parliament
Gap between theory and practice
Conventions of the Constitutions
Rule of law
A Constitutional Monarchy
Bicameralism
There is no unified system of courts for the entire country. The “civil” and “criminal” courts are separate. The Judicature Act of 1873 created a Supreme Court of Judicature, which is a somewhat misleading name. The Supreme Court is composed of parts which are entirely separate. The highest court of law in the country is the House of Lords. According to a custom, only the law lords attend the house when it meets as the court and is presided over by the Lord Chancellor.
EVOLUTION OF THE CIVIL SERVICES IN BRITAIN In early times, political favoritism was the basis of appointment to public offices. The revolution of 1688 had established the supremacy of Parliament. Edmund Burke was the first statesman to point out the evils of jobbery and nepotism. Jeremy Benthem in his constitutional code gave a detailed plan of recruiting persons for public services, their remunerations and service conditions. He was the first person to suggest oral examination in addition to the written test.
Lord Macaulay is considered to be the father of the modern British Civil Service. It is interesting to note that the system of ‘open competitive examination’ to ascertain the merit of the candidates was first applied to Indian Civil Service and then extended to the British Civil Service. Trevelyan, who happened to be the brother-in-law of Lord Macaulay, was entrusted with the task of investigating in to the affairs of the various departments and submit its report with a view to increase the efficiency of the government machinery. Following recommendations were made which were very similar to that given by the Lord Macaulay committee for the Indian civil service:
Open competitive examination in place of the patronage system
All examinations to be conducted by a single authority which should be outside the departments
Examinations should be held at regular intervals
In order to attract the best brains it is necessary to recruit people at young age
Preference of general ability and intelligence rather than special requirements for the class of service.
The National Whitley Council in 1920 classified the civil service into the following classes:
Administrative class
Executive class
Clerical and Sub-clerical classes
Typing grades
Minor and Manipulative class
Specialists
Messengers, Cleaners, etc.
The training of civil servants in Britain is based on the Assheton Committee Report of 1944. According to it, Treasury enjoys the power to exercise general control over training and a Director of Training and Education has been appointed.
In 1965, the Estimates Committee of House of Commons presented a report on ‘Recruitment to the Civil Service’ and hinted at number deficiencies. Accordingly, a Committee under the Chairmanship of Lord Fulton, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex, was appointed which submitted its report in 1968. The main points of the report are:
The civil service still had the hangover of 19th century and its attitude was to support the ‘gifted’ generalist amateur.
To bring a more professional approach to the working procedures.
A new Civil Service Department should be created to take over the establishment work of the Treasury and to oversee the Civil Service Commission.
The system of Treasury classes should be abolished and replaced by a unified grading structure.
A civil service college should be established.
Management service units should be set-up in all major departments.
There should be a separate senior policy advisor, in addition to the Permanent Secretary, to advise the minister.
Ministers should be allowed to employ temporary experts to advise them.
There should be more openness in governance so that the outer world can see who is taking the decision.
The Government accepted most of the Fulton Committee recommendations and most have been progressively implemented. The Civil Service Department was created in 1968 and the Civil Service College was opened in 1969 at Sunningdale, Berkshire. The British Administrative class, as in 1986, is constituted of the following top seven grades:
Grade-1: Permanent Secretary
Grade-2: Deputy Secretary
Grade-3: Under Secretary
Grade-4: Executive Director
Grade-5: Assistant Secretary
Grade-6: Senior Principal
Grade-6: Principal
U.S.A.: Constitution and Administrative System
The constitution of the United States of America is the oldest written constitution in the world and the Declaration of Independence of 1776 was the first formal state paper which helped framing of the Constitution in 1787 at the Philadelphia convention. It contains only 4000 words. It is rigid and can not be amended by the procedure of ordinary legislation.
An important feature of the US constitution is the separation of powers and system of checks and balances. The Congress makes the laws, the President administers them and the Supreme Court, along with other federal courts interprets them and imparts justice. Although the three branches of government are independent of each other, they can be checked by each other, which maintains balance so that no one can assume supreme power.
Salient features of the US Constitution:
Written and brief constitution
Popular Sovereignty
Republican form of government
Supremacy of the constitution
Rigid constitution
Federal form of government
Presidential form of government
Judicial review
Separation of power
Checks and balances
Bill of Rights
Double Citizenship: The dual citizenship created by the 14th amendment implies that while all American citizens are entitled to elect and to be elected at the federal level; at the state level only the state citizens enjoy political rights.
Administrative system:
A person who wishes to contest for the office of the President (or Vice-President) must be a natural born citizen of the United States. He should be of at least 35 years of age and must have resided in the US for at least 14 years.
The American Congress consists of two the two Houses- the Senate (Upper House) and the House of Representatives (Lower House). Members of the lower house are elected for tenure of two years. The Senate is a permanent body and the Senators are elected for six years, but one third of them retire after every two years. The Senate of the US is the second ost powerful chamber in the world.
There are two separate systems of Courts in the USA: the federal courts and the state courts. The lower federal court is known as the District Court. The highest and the most important is the Supreme Court which consists of one Chief Justice and eight associate justices. They are appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. They hold office during good behavior. Once appointed, a judge can not be removed throughout his life, except by impeachment. The procedure of impeachment is same as that of the President. A Judge of a Court may retire, if he wants to, when he reaches the age of seventy and thereafter. Provided he has been a member of the court for at least ten years, and he will be entitled to full salary for the rest of his life.
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