Posted by
imports on January 26, 2009 |
No commentsOn Republic Day, quiz yourself. What do the words ‘republic’, ’sovereign’, and ‘democracy’ mean? If you find yourself fumbling and come up with answers that would do Munnabhai proud, ask yourself why.
“I just can’t recollect their meanings. Please don’t quote me on this,” says a 24-year-old advertising professional who goes on to quickly blame his civics teacher for his ignorance. “While the same teacher enjoyed teaching us history, civics was always meant for self-study. Maybe she was uncertain about the complicated structure of government herself,” he says, describing how his civics textbooks were always poorly produced, flimsy and repetitive in content.
The unimaginative way in which civics-the study of the relationship between citizens and the state-is taught in schools has long been an object of censure. Many children struggle with abstract concepts of ‘democracy’ and ’secularism’, and teachers are often unable to cut through the confusion building up in young minds. With learning by rote often being the only way out, a proper grounding in the principles of the modern state are rarely laid in the classroom. One solution is to have extra-curricular visual props in the form of, say, Amar Chitra Kathas, the comic book series which has transformed history from boring to exciting.
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Alex George, author of the book, Children’s Perception of Sarkar: A Critique of Civics Textbooks studied textbooks that were used from the late 1970s to 2001. He says, “Texts were based on the assumption that teaching the powers, functions, and the nature of political institutions would lead to the making of empowered citizens. But my study proved the reality was contrary.”
One reason for this disconnect, George says, is that textbooks scrupulously keep mainstream politics and political parties out of any literature on political institutions. “For instance, textbooks talk about elections but don’t mention political parties, they talk of law-making without stating how the law can affect you or which section in the society may claim or oppose the law.”
After the terror attacks, Mumbai’s elite and youth, whose collective expressions of outrage soon dissipated, were criticised for being politically apathetic and disconnected. Dr Sudha Mohan, associate professor in the Department of Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai thinks there is a general lack of political ethos among citizens today. “Contentious terms like ‘civil society’ are being used without any thought. Nomenclature is being misused blatantly, with people using words based on strange associated ideas they have of them,” Mohan says, citing the example of the word ‘civic’ being used for ‘garbage collection’.
All kinds of patriotic emails and SMSes were mass-forwarded to friends and family, many of them stamped with a laughable ignorance of how the political process worked. One such email declared, “A person can go to the polling booth, get his finger marked and convey to the presiding election officer that he doesn’t want to vote for anyone.” It said, confidently, that if the number of voters who opted to invoke Article 49 were more than the number of votes cast for any of the candidates, there would be a re-poll. In reality, Article 49 of the constitution deals with the protection of historical monuments, but few were any the wiser.
However, several other groups decided to go beyond slacktivism (activism limited to SMS and Facebook groups). One group, Fight-Back, which wants to inculcate values of nationalism among the youth, has co-ordinated with 368 schools to get the students to read out their Fundamental Duties on Republic Day. For many others, January 26 is just like any other holiday.
Dr Suhas Palshikar, professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Pune, says the grand parade in New Delhi is a ceremonial function that bears no symbolism to India being a republic. “Citizens aren’t emotionally connected to R-Day celebrations. It should be a day to showcase people’s power, making it easier for them to connect to the word and its meaning,” he says.
And for those still thrashing around for the definition of the word Republic, here it is: a political order whose head of state is not a monarch. On January 26, 1950, the Indian Constitution came into force, officially making India a Republic.
For TNN.
Posted by
imports on October 17, 2008 |
One commentThe name is Lokamitra but the person who answers to that name is not the traditional Indian hermit. He is a blue-eyed, fair-skinned foreigner. At 23, Jeremy Goody was a history teacher in Britain. Like most youngsters full of angst, he was desperate to know how he could channel his unruly emotions. Back then the hippy culture of the 1960’s was slowly fading away and opposition to the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons was high. It was at that time when Goody took up Buddhist meditation after meeting Sangharakshita, an English Buddhist who had spent 20 years in India teaching Buddha Dharma to followers of Dr Ambedkar who had converted to Buddhism.
Lokamitra, the name given to Goody by his teacher, translates to friend of the people. Ask him if why he was given the name and he says, “It can either mean I possess people friendly qualities or I need to get them.”
3 decades later Goody has truly lived upto his name. For he has spent 34 years in a land that was unknown to him, travelling to the remote villages of India where he was introduced to several people belonging to the underprivileged castes. His extensive work with the Buddhists of Pune and Nagpur has been recognized at the international level too, after he was awarded the prestigious Manhae Grand Prize for Peace this year.
But what made this British Buddhist teacher stay back in India you might ask. “I knew nothing about the Buddhist movement here. But when I saw the enthusiasm among people about Ambedkar, I decided to stay,” he says. It was in the slums and villages of Maharashtra where Lokamitra realised that Buddhism was more than just upliftment. “It actually helped changed a lot of attitudes. People who belonged to the scheduled castes found dignity as Buddhists because they were free from the curse of untouchability.” In current day India, the burning issues of Khairlanji and reservations have managed to sway public opinion on both sides.
A mention of Khairlanji and Lokamitra is agitated. “The verdict treated the massacre as a criminal act, ruling out any question of caste. There isn’t enough national consciousness about the verdict which is why it will soon fissle out,” he says asking for advocacy on the national and international scale. As far as reservation are concerned, he says that it has surely managed to change many lives. Casteism still exists in modern day India and Lokamitra has been witness to it. “I remember visiting the Gujarat after the Bhuj earthquake. It was there when I saw deep-seated discrimination. There were dalits who were denied relief if they didn’t say ‘Ram Ram’ and beg.”
Lokamitra has seen these minorities being fooled in the name of Buddhism by greedy politicians who look at them as sheer vote banks. “These are very bright people. But the politicization of Buddhism has left them with meager or no knowledge of it,” he fears.
Tags: dalit, Khairlanji
Posted by
imports on March 15, 2008 |
No commentsCalculate this. Rs 6 crore from a bid, a few lakhs from cricket matches, some more cash from advertisements, and a little more moolah every time a minister thinks you are making the country proud.
India’s cricket captain has more than just calculations to do. There is the big question of investments and savings too. And learning to do it the correct way might be just one of the reasons why he is getting back to college to complete his BCom degree.
At 26, Mahi might just be the richest student to attend college anywhere in Jharkhand. And while Deepika Padukone prefers completing her graduation degree in Sociology, from Delhi University via a distant education programme, Dhoni is seeking admission at St Xavier’s College, Ranchi through the sports quota.
But how easy is it to get back to college when you’ve crossed a certain age? Ask the city’s shrinks and you’ll get the answers. Clinical psychologist Seema Hingorrani says it isn’t very easy to handle peer pressure, especially when it comes from people younger than you. “IQ levels, ideas, perceptions are different. There isn’t consonance,” says Hingorrani.
Take the case of Shah Rukh Khan going back to college in the film Main Hoon Na. The kids just didn’t think he was cool enough to hang out with. “I know women who have gone back to college at 42 and just couldn’t cope,” she says. Psychiatrist Harish Shetty says nothing can stop a motivated mind. “Someone can be old, married and working and may still want to study,” he says. He goes on to say that people should follow suit as the Indian captain is setting an example for all who want to get back to their books.
Tags: Dhoni, motivation
