Season of Scams

One thing in which the year 2010 broke all previous records was the sheer scale of scams which are shameful  even by Indian standards.The UPA government and congress  presided over large-scale loot:- the Adarsh society,IPL, Scorpene submarine deal, paddy export, cash-for-votes, Prasar Bharti, the CWG... The last being the one which led to tremendous evictions of poor from Delhi and students from U.G hostels in the name of beautification, immense exploitation of wage labourers in the course of constructions and even extreme caused to the city residents for  months. Whereas, even before the games have had started, we got to see the naked corruption and misuse of public money done by games organisers while on the other hand government turned a blind eye towards it and continued to hail the games as the golden chapter of indian history in an even more louder voice.   As if it was not enough, we came to know about 2-G spectrum scam,dubbed as the mother of all scams in India involving as it does a whopping Rs,1,76,379 crores lost to the public exchequer. The only action taken has been a few face-saver resignations. Recent revelations-like the phone tapes involved in the telecom scandal- underline forcefully that the UPA government is being run to serve corporate powers, who vie amongst each other to decide policies and even ministerial berths. The
corporate media is no less 'embedded'- playing middleman corporate lobbyist. What this demonstrates is that the decline of the 'quota-permit raj'-yesteryear's' convenient whipping boy for rampant corruption- did not lead to any decline in the menace. Quite to the contrary, all pervasive liberalization and globalization have throne the floodgate of corruption wide open, bolstering the black economy and further degrading the quality of politics. Not surprisingly, 'Transparency International's corruption perception index' report covering the public sector in 178 countries shows that India fell by three positions from its ranking of 84th in 2005 to 87th this year in terms of  corruption. 

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE 2G SPECTRUM SCAM: 

According to CAG report,immense procedural violations took place to unfailingly benefit certain companies, granting them 2-G spectrum-a national asset- at throw away prices leading to loss to the public exchequer to
the tune of Rs 1.76,379 crores.It was not auctioned but allocated on a 'first come first serve' basis at dirt cheap rates, and even this tampered with to 'fix' the match in favour of certain companies. Of the 122 licences issued in 2008,85 were found to fall short of the eligibility conditions prescribed conditions prescribed by the ministry itself. Further some of the companies which bagged the spectrum allotment for a mere Rs 1651 crore, didnot have any prior experience in the business of mobile phones and then within a matter of six months sold off shares to foreign companies at the prevailing market rate making at the least 700%return on their on their invest. From the very beginning itself in 2007-2008, the 2-G spectrum allotment process was so outright corrupt that the CV the IT department started prima facia investigation amidst huge public and political outcry. Strangely, the Mr. Clean P.M paid no heed and allowed A.Raja to continue with his ways. it is only when things came to a head recently after the CAG report that Raja was asked to go but still not without brazen attempts on the part of congress to undermine and trivialize the mind boggling findings and indictments by this constitutionals body. Despite more then a month a month-long logjam by the opposition in the Parliament, why is the government stubbornly refusing a Joint Parliamentary Committee(JPC) probe?Is it not because the JPC, unlike the Parliamentary public accounts committee(PAC) would be empowered to summon ministers and look into political dimensions of the the scam, whereas the Congress seeks to reduces the huge loss due to the scam to a debate over "accounting" alone? One must forget that this is the same government that mooted  Food Security Bill and did not table any money with the passing of Right to Education Act giving excuses of fiscal deficit or lack of finances.But the amount (1,76,379 crores- 3% of our GDP) that we are talking about can fill  both tasks and many other public beneficiary schemes easily. The P.M must tell the people- why did he turn a blind eye and allow this massive loot of the public exchequer- that will, as we can see from the above sample of facts, affect the lives of millions of the country's poor- to continue
unabated?                              

CRONY CAPITALISM:-

Corruption in the telecom sector has come hand in hand with privatisation of this sector. More than a decade ago, Congress Minister Sukhram was at the centre of a telecom scam that accompanied the centre of a telecom . And now, the size and scope have grown with more rapid privitisation of this sector.In the wake of scam revelations, neoliberals commentators have and probity while defending the "clean PM' (or, in the case of CWG,'cleab Shiela Dixit') as opposed to corrupt individual leaders like Kalmadi OR Chavan and allies like DMK. There is also very little focus on the main actors in the corruptions drama- the CEOs and corporations
themselves-choosing instead to focus on individual politicians. And there is a careful 'see no evil' policy regarding the neo-liberal economy itself. A close observation, however, reveals that cronyism is  inbuilt into liberalization,which was ushered in by Manmohan Singh himself in the early 1990s. How? In the first place, liberalization dictates that scarce national and natural resources- land, water, minerals, magnetic air waves etc.- as well as public sectors assets are to be privatized and handed over in a platter to corporate to exploit for their own profit. here, the myth is that the anonymous and fair forces pf the 'market' will somehow ensure that the most suitable company gets the resources. But such fair competition is a myth-in reality, competing corporates jostle with each other in the arena of bribes and cronyism(closeness to a particular minister, for e.g) that decides which corporate gets which resource. No wonder the era of liberalization has time and again seen bigger and bigger loot of such resources.

           

Sunny Kumar, Research scholar, Dept. Of history, DU

Condemn Assaults on Democracy: Raipur Sessions Court Convicts Dr. Binayak Sen, Sentences Him to Life Imprisonment!

On December 24^th, the Raipur Sessions Court delivered a shocking and shameful verdict convicting noted human rights activist and peoples’ doctor Binayak Sen for ‘sedition’. And on the basis of this charge, the court has sentenced the 58-year old Dr. Sen to life imprisonment, which is the maximum possible punishment for sedition. This judgment came at the end of a so-called trial in the court of law – a trial that was nothing but a farce in the name of justice.

For many years now, Dr. Sen has been targeted by the Chhattisgarh government for being one of the most vocal voices against the state-sponsored genocide under the garb of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh. We have not forgotten that prior to this ‘trial’ in the Raipur Sessions Court (which was clearly politically motivated), Dr. Sen was imprisoned in jail for more than two years on the basis of extremely dubious ‘evidence’. He was repeatedly deemed a ‘security threat’ by the Chhattisgarh government, and was even denied bail not just by the courts in Chhattisgarh, but by the Supreme Court. It was only after a prolonged national campaign exposing the real intensions behind his arrest and imprisonment – a campaign that was supported by several rights activists and doctors from all over the world – that he was finally released on bail in May 2009. And now, the Chhattisgarh government has succeeded in sending Dr. Sen back to jail, this time for life.

It is to be noted that throughout Dr. Sen’s trial, the prosecution failed miserably failed to show any evidence linking the highly respected paediatrician and human rights activist with the Maoists. Any pieces of ‘evidence’ were lacking the most basic proof of authenticity. Firstly, the most important ‘evidence’ presented by the prosecution is a letter allegedly seized during a raid on Dr. Sen’s house. This letter does not contain signatures of Dr. Sen himself, and is not included in the list of items noted in the seizure memo. For the Court to overlook such overwhelming proof of faked evidence, and instead to convict on the basis of such faked evidence, is nothing but a travesty of justice.

During the trial, the prosecution more than once showed itself in a ridiculous light. On one occasion, the prosecution displayed its rank ignorance when it argued that Dr. Sen’s wife Ilina Sen’s conversation with the ‘ISI’ showed her links to Pakistani intelligence – whereas it was in fact a conversation with Walter Fernandes of the Indian Social Institute, a well-known institute in Delhi. For the court to give credence to a prosecution case that was reduced to such farcical and absurd arguments is a shame.

AISA strongly condemns this verdict, and calls upon the progressive and democratic forces in the country to launch strong protests against this state-sponsored witch-hunt. Not just this particular verdict, but the Chhattisgarh government’s concerted attack on each and every voice protesting against state repression, forcible displacement and corporate land grab has to be unequivocally protested.

AISA Report

Semester System; Change in whose interest?

Youth are always an asset for any society or for that matter for any nation. This is the age when people are full of energy and the age when they dream, aspire and think of changing the society. Education is that one connecting link which puts in the youth the idea of responsibility and grooms him/her in a way that he/she thinks not only as an individual but in a collective sense. India in that case is at an advantage as it is projected that by 2030 37% of our nation will be under the age of 25. Now the question is how to channelize the energy of this youth in a way that the whole society is benefitted by their creative thinking and work. Here come the two visions of higher education, one which see education as an interaction between student and the teacher and the basic aim of which is to work for the overall betterment of society. And the other vision looks at education as something in which a teacher trains a student in a specific way for a specific purpose. To say in simple words one vision is meant for solving immediate problems for the market and other talks of long term issues for the society. I think we have to see the present situation in education system in this particular paradigm, through this particular lens.

The neoliberal agenda which was brought by the agents of World Bank and US imperialism in 1991 opened the gates of Indian economy for the corporate house. Though in 1980’s the process of privatization in education was started in India but for the first time UPA in its second term has made concrete plans to make education as a  commodity  to be sold in the global market. The ‘Semester system’ in DU is only an extension of this particular neoliberal ideology.

But have we at least tried to understand what actually ‘Semester system’ is? Have we at least attempted to study the scenario, pose questions and participate in the discussions on the semester system in the university?

“Why me??” is not the answer to the bigger forces which come into play through this small reform. Without going into the broader view, let’s analyze things, first beginning with the arguments given in favour of ‘semester system’.

The semester system offers the following -

Ø  Students pursuing honors can opt up to six papers from other subjects.

Ø  Evaluation of the answer scripts world be centralized, joint evaluation of scripts by 3-4 teachers, each one evaluating one or two answers of all the scripts.

Ø  No further assigning of fictitious roll no., and the system of revaluation to be discontinued.

Ø  For Honors courses the main papers will be 16

Ø  For practical exam- two teachers of the same department same college will conduct the practical exam, monitored by a monitoring committee.

Ø  25% of the marks for internal assessment to be redistributed in the following manner.

Attendance – 10%, Assignment (at least) – 10%, Class Test   - 5%

These offers are justified on the grounds that

1.      The semester system is successful in various European countries and IITs.

2.      It is more inter-disciplinary.

3.      Students will work throughout the year rather than through periods of "leisure” and hyperactivity.

4.      It will increase student-teacher interaction.

5.      Semester system is in conformity with the global standards and will facilitate student’s exchange.

Real Implications of the Semester System

Let us see whether the semester system is suitable for Delhi University with over 80 colleges, Nearly 1,00,000 students, by step by step analyzing the realites & false justifications . 

Rationality – There are many universities which do not follow semester system such as the Oxford, Cambridge and London school of Economics; hence excellence cannot be achieved only by semester system.

The structure and functioning of European Universities is much different as compared to DU, they have a different kind of financial setup, based on the money invested by market forces. Giving examples of NITs and & IITs doesn’t help as they are just compared to one college of D.U.

The harmonization of academic calendar through a uniform semester system across the European Union under the Bologna process has created unrest among students all over France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Croatia; it is unfortunate that such unpopular impositions become ideal examples for education planners in India.

Interdisciplinary & Course Content

The design of the system cuts down the content being covered in the major subject and hence diluting the honors program and lowering its value. Interdisciplinary courses have already been introduced and are running successfully. What is hindering the idea of interdisciplinary is the limitation that colleges face in offering large no of optionals, as a particular college offers a limited courses due to shortage of facility & infrastructure, hence if one has to study the subject (optional) of his choice, he might have to go to some another college, for that particular subject, hence this inter collegiate exchange of students seems impossible seeing the large geographical spread of the university.

Admission & examination related issues

A university where admission process goes on till September, the situation will be very scary if the examinations are held in October end, as a result a large no. of students will fail or the examination process will end in July within a short period of time, leaving many students dreaming of studying in D.U.

The way in which the examinations are conducted creates a situation in which the subject taught in the whole year will be taught in less than half of it, hence increasing the pace by which teachers cover up a subject, leaving no time for detailed explanation and no time to grasp a topic easily.

Reduced period of "LEISURE', "HYPERACTIVITY" & INCREASED INTELRATION BETWEEN STUDENT AND TEACHERS.

Due to overburdening of students, to face exams in 3 months and to finish off the subject in such a short span of time, would divert the students from their extracurricular activities such as being active members of music society, theatre group, dance group, NSS and sports, as they need time, which is termed as period of “leisure”, hence now no laurels to DU for producing world class actors,musicians & sports persons; plus the semester system will diminish an important sphere of informal interaction & involvement of many teachers and students which was earlier possible through these activities.

Centralized Checking and Results

The centralized evaluation has created a wild spread resentment as in this system the teacher gets less than two minutes for non-honors papers and around 3 min in honors to evaluate an answer, Which he/ she has written for about 40 minutes, now fair is it?? Also the student’s right to get his answers revaluated is curbed by discontinuing revaluation, in order to avoid the chaos that would have resulted due to a 1 month difference between new result and next exams. Hence we conclude that the semester system is beneficial only if it is implemented in a proper environment where admissions are completed on time, examinations held and result declared on time, result trusted and students having large no of optional to choose, else there would be a collapse of federal system of affiliating colleges in DU, by bringing in clusters of autonomous colleges with NAAC ratings.

Consequences

          As the semester system is bound to fail in Delhi University so it will inevitably pave way for the argument that the university be broken up into smaller units & colleges given autonomy. This is the actual motive of ‘Semester System’, to have smaller autonomous units so that ‘private players can be pushed into education sector, in the name of raising funds. The situation in St. Stephens College is an example is well in front of us. The motive is to turn all the colleges into Islands cut-off from the real world and real struggles, so that there is no resistance for the fiancé capital to circulate freely. But of course the present scheme of semester system may be good for certain Indian students, desiring foreign trips and for some multinational entrepreneurs and universities wanting to expand their hegemony over the public system of higher education in India, it would result in excessive fee-hike in a country where 77% people earn Rs. 20 or less than that.

Ankur Goswami, KMC, DU