A Soldier’s Perspective - Part 1

It was 26 years ago when I was barely 18 ½ that I left home to join the Indian Navy. The next 25+ years I lived within the confines of the armed forces, in the company of men in uniform who think alike. Most of the time, I lived within the military cantonment or been out at sea and thus, I was blissfully unaware of the life outside, till I swallowed the anchor to join the civil society as a retired Naval Officer in 2011. The series of experiences that I intend to narrate may perhaps be a normal daily experience of the most. Yet, I feel it is worth writing about - May be our souls will awaken one day from its deep slumber.

One fine evening, I was travelling in my car with my wife in company and we were waiting at a junction for the traffic light to turn green. There was an oil tanker behind and a state transport bus ahead. The tanker driver was relentlessly honking behind, suggesting us to disregard the traffic light and move on. No sooner the light turned amber, the tanker moved furiously and physically pushed our vehicle ahead by 8-10 meters till we were about to be sandwiched between the bus and the tanker. We were shocked as no amount of shouting and screaming dissuaded the driver. Before we could regain our composure, my driver got off the vehicle, boarded the tanker and physically manhandled the driver and came down with the keys of the tanker leading to complete chaos and all rounding honking by vehicles. It was then that the traffic constables arrived at the scene in their motorcycle. They were absolutely composed and just not disturbed by any of the happenings. The drill was very simple – He took the license of the tanker driver and asked him to call his owner, told my driver to return the keys and instructed both of us to park the vehicle on the side. I was much relieved to see the men in uniform and thought that the issue will get resolved soon.

He called my driver to know the extent of damage to my vehicle and that how much compensation we expect from the other party. I thought more importantly the cop should register a case and proceed against the defaulter and hence decided to intervene. I suggested to the cop to register a case as it was sheer negligence on the part of the driver/owner and it could have been fatal. Firstly, the driver was suffering from severe conjunctivitis and was wearing black glasses. Secondly, there was no conductor in the tanker which is mandatory for heavy vehicles to guide the driver in heavy traffic. Thirdly, the documents of the vehicle were not in order.

The constable looked at me with cynicism, saw the red sticker on my car that read ‘Defence’ and said, “This is not military and I am only trying to help you get some compensation for the damage caused.” He asserted that if I register a case I would get nothing and even the owner of tanker and the driver will get away with minor penalty like reprimand as no damage to life has been caused. I was confused and my driver thereafter took charge of the situation. The unruffled owner of the tanker arrived at the site and offered Rs 500/- compensation.  After a long haggling, kudos my driver he managed to get Rs 1100/-.  We straight headed to a garage to be given an estimate of Rs 4500/-. Annoyed by the loss, we went back to the traffic police and complained. Apparently, by then the deal was already done and everything around was normal. The tanker was back in business and the traffic was moving as usual. The traffic cop said, “You are lucky to get Rs 1100/-. What could you have done had he refused to pay even that?” I was quite furious but somewhere the cop was right. What could a common man do in any case? I was made to feel lucky for getting Rs 1100/-, the cop must have got another Rs 1000/- for mediating the deal and not registering a case and the owner of the tanker must have felt happy for he saved Rs 2400/- and avoided any legal hassles – What a win-win situation, is it not?  

I am driving my car in the same damaged condition till date as a sign of protest and also the fact that I am unable to afford the repair being a pensioner and a third part insurance holder. There is also this after thought - who knows when someone else will ram my vehicle yet again? So what is the great point in getting it repaired?

Now I understand why we see so many damaged vehicles moving on Indian roads. Now I know why innocent children are mowed down by vehicles. Now I know why 14 people die every hour in road accident alone in India. What a shame? Is this the civil society that thousands of soldiers are protecting at the cost of their own personal life? Is their sacrifice justified in a society which is so corrupt and mean? The answer is a definite ‘NO’ I suppose.

The Fallacy of Privatized Education – A Case of Technical Education in India

India though a fast growing economy ranks very low in the human development index, with issues like primary health care, poverty, illiteracy etc being only marginally ahead of some of the poorest nations of the African Continent. In order to improve the state of intellectual capital of the nation the government decided to privatize technical education in the early 80s. It was envisaged that this move would provide opportunities to the ever growing youth population to take up higher education and become skilled and employable. Three decades down, the reality is that each year India produces over 1 lakh management graduates and over 1.5 million engineers of which only 25% are employable (NASSCOM –McKinsey Report). Wall Street journal dated 06 April reported the growing mismatch between what is desired and what is available in the Indian labour market. Where did we go wrong?

The Political Factor.  The pioneers and the most dominant players in private technical education are no doubt the politicians. The bureaucracy associated with any government department could only be handled by political class and private education came to be known as the preserve of this class. In the 80s, engineering colleges mushroomed under tin sheds and in horse stables, with no infrastructure to impart any meaningful engineering education. Though there was a regulator in the AICTE and there were stipulated checks and balances, every violation had/has a price tag. Thus, there was never a need to build adequate infrastructure and appoint teachers as per the norms and with increasing number of youth vying to get engineering degree this was indeed a very lucrative business – A low investment-high return model. Education therefore, became a much known source of funds to fight subsequent elections and this quest lead to creation of more such institutions.

The Business of Scholarships.          With the profitability of this sector becoming public, anybody and everybody who could leverage the political class and the bureaucracy forayed into this sector, which could include rag pickers to pan walas. Gradually over the last three decades, thanks to the corrupt bureaucracy and government policy, the supply outnumbered the demand. In order to keep the numbers flowing in, the uneducated political class kept pushing innovative ideas through the system. One such measure was providing scholarships to backward class students – Overtly a measure to uplift the underprivileged, an idea that faces least resistance in our country and may even lead to political victories. This increased the customer base and each year billions are transferred from government coffers into the bank accounts of the private institution owners most of whom are politicians. Encouraged by the noble deed of educating India, they created even more institutions so that the most underprivileged can also become an engineer or a MBA – What a great cause they served, is it not?

The Number Game.  The ever increasing supply of seats against a saturating market called for innovative ideas. Adam Smith’s theory of ‘Invisible Hand’ was being put to test and the educated ones thought, now is the time when the better will sustain and the best will grow. But thanks to the brilliance of our political class they forced a policy of lowering the cut off for engineering admissions to 45 % and 40% for open and category students there by increasing the customer base yet again. In all probability such low scoring students could be from backward class rural areas who need not pay even a penny, thanks to the government scholarship. Why should other institutions running courses like MBA be left out? Even they made an attempt to lower the cut off. But for lack of intensity and may be money power, this was not agreed to. However, strangely in Maharashtra there are two entrance tests conducted for admission to MBA - one by the government and the other by Association of Maharashtra MBA/MMS Institutions. Interestingly, more admissions are done through the later and in some cases it could be as high as 80%. The point to note, this test is conducted at the institute level with almost no external checks and supervision. Though the AICTE has declared a single national level entrance test from 2013 the political class is already gearing up to defend this. Only time will prove if logic can dominate idiosyncrasies for at least once in our country.

The Future.    Will this empire built on misplaced foundation crumble? While philosophically one may respond in the affirmative, the mafia could change the philosophy itself. May be the next step would be to remove all shackles and make it free for all. The ideal stipulation would be that anyone could do engineering at government cost. The only condition is that the candidate should be a ‘human’. After all, is it not the duty of the citizens to pay tax as good Samaritans and that of the government to educate the country? What a great service to the nation? The politicians have indeed educated India and have taken care of the most down trodden. They deserve a pay hike and must also be given life time achievement award for their noble service.       

The Folly Unraveled.   The silver lining in the entire mess is that after three decades of this national loot the common man is getting to understand the folly of this education. India was once known for its educational rigor and technical acumen. However, to statistically support the effectiveness of the ill founded educational policy, year after year the universities have been lowering the curricular standards and assessment to ensure that large numbers pass and become engineers on paper. The literary fraternity fell in line and made the best for themselves, though in a much smaller way. The empty classrooms in colleges and ever increasing, fully packed coaching classes are a testimony of the poor classroom teaching standards in the colleges. The number of cookbook guides which sell like hot cakes and sharp decline in the sales of text books is a proof of our exam centric educational system. Students have come to realize the folly of going to college located in the out skirts of the city. They instead join a coaching class in the neighborhood, read guides and pass the examinations with handsome grades/marks. When this is possible, why do they have to take admission in any college? It is more of a compulsion today as the colleges are like Pubic Distribution System of degrees with no private alternatives. Further, the subsidy on education can be available only through these PDS/ Fair price shops run by the government. What can we expect from a PDS of degrees? No wonder 75% of the technical and management graduates are unemployable. One wonders, where are we heading? Is there a way of cleansing this mess?

Introduction

Dear Friends,

Your response to my writings has motivated me to start this blog. I hope you will follow this blog and 'Dare the Evil'. It is important that we keep talking about the evils we face in our society and perhaps that is what will keep our sense of right and wrong in order. I feel over time, we have started believing that our country can not be changed and developed a 'Chalta Hai' attitude. Let us not do that. It is we educated middle class who have to come forward to dare the evil because the poor has enough of his own woes and the rich is oblivious of the ground reality. Hence, it is us who have to make a difference.