Ministers proposes, politician disposes

The suggestion of raising the limit to 80 percent in XII boards, for IIT entrance was perhaps the only rational idea that came from our learned (pun intended) HRD minister in recent time .As usual, this proved to be a politically bad idea which is likely to remain trapped in black annals of officialdom, unlikely to see the daylight of implementation. There is not a slightest doubt in my mind that there lies an obnoxious nexus between the coaching centers and politicians.

The logic presented by the brigade of opportunists who are opposing the move, under the postulation that it would be against the poor and meritorious students, holds no water. Can a poor student of any state of India afford the fees of these coaching centers? A student who decides to reside in Kota for a two year program has to spend nearly three lac rupees for boarding, lodging and fees. Besides, the true percentage of selection from these institutes is not something you can write home about.  

The fact is a student who gets selected in IIT invariably gets more than eighty percent in boards. BITS have the percentage criteria of 80 percent for some years now and are successful in getting best minds in the country. Such a move will mean that every student who opts for science stream will now focus on learning the basics appropriately and that is not likely to benefit the coaching centers who know that one percent of the students are rankers and rest ninety nine percent are their bankers. How can they stand for decline in numbers of these guinea- pigs that they catch claiming to be their succor and messiah for IIT selection.

It is high time that we stop selling education as a commodity and the parents stop transferring their expectations to their wards. The aim of education should be to teach us how to think and not what to think – It should improve our minds to cultivate originality and not to memorize some equations and formulas.

I strongly feel that we have drastically failed in educating the masses, we might have made a number of degree holders but have totally killed the curiosity of a rational mind .Alvin Toffler was very right in observing “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”. 

For audio file of my reaction click

http://www.esnips.com/doc/49497533-801f-40d8-a1be-76f1cfda338b/Jee

Facts don’t bother us …fiction does

I don’t want to waste reader’s time by writing anything about the uncanny ability of Raj Thackrey to covert non issues into prestige issues. I hardly understand politics but what amuses me is, no matter how eccentric this person can be, he still gets a sizable percentage of votes from Marathi Manus. Who should I blame?

Just for the benefit of the people who may not know about the latest controversy,  in one latest release of filmmaker Karan Johar some characters on screen call Mumbai by its former name Bombay . Now, that has irked   Politician (Can’t call him a leader) Raj Thakre and his brigade so much that they have instigated to protest in typical MNS-style. We have slums in Mumbai where people vegetate for existence, foreigners show that in films, but it is ok with us .Millions of people squat by the sides of railway track every morning is fact that we continently ignore but on screen if a character calls mumabi as Bombay it is national crisis. Actually some diversionist associate Mumbai as their Victory so making it Bombay will be disadvantages to them in many ways.

Two basic question that have been cobbling my mind are

1.You have a municipal problem in your colony and you telephone the authorities about it, if you are lucky someone will answer the phone only to tell you to submit the complaint in writing. You being a law abiding, morally upgrade, citified person do so, only to discover that nothing really happens for days and weeks. In contrast tell your problems in sena office and a brigade of youth might go and catch the collar of the officer- in- charge and bring him to site in true filmy style. To your surprise, the job will be done in hours. Who should be blamed?

2.Coming on to the obsequious apology of Karan Johar, well it may not make sense to you and me but it makes economical sense. Karan Johar is a young man who in every sense represents the modern youth of India who wants to get things going in his favor by any means, forget values and forget self respect, what matters these days is the economics and survival.  He knows he can’t fight these hooligans so he bows. It is difficult to expect people standing by their values when convenience is the only guiding principle of life. Who should we blame?

Personally speaking, movies like satyakam are so much of solace because at least there you see characters that you can look up to and identify with. Had uploaded this video on You-Tube because I have always found it so inspiring, hopefully Mr. Bachaan and Johar and all those who plan to apologize to Thakre will take a look.

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTJKtYxcZuQ

Ten thoughts from Gandhiji’s life

We are born in a free democratic country, fully aware of our rights and equally nonchalant about our duties. It is very difficult for our generation to feel the miseries that the people fighting for freedom must have gone through.

Freedom struggle was a collective movement supported and nurtured by an average Indian. The fact remains that Mahatma Gandhi was one of the most significant leaders who successfully mobilized the masses on the way to freedom struggle. Sadly, it has become fashionable these days to criticize Gandhiji especially by young and naïve who haven’t read a single word of what Gandhji believed in. His thoughts were really worth applause, here I have just compiled ten of them with a hope that our generation understands and apply them…..

1. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; even if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

2. Whatever you do may be soon insignificant, but it is very important that you do it

3. There are seven sins in the world: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice and politics without principle.

4. It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

5. Non-violence does not signify that man must not fight against the enemy, and by enemy is meant the evil which men do, not the human beings themselves.

6. I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.

7. It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

8. The outward freedom that we shall attain will only be in exact proportion to the inward freedom to which we may have grown at a given moment. And if this is a correct view of freedom, our chief energy must be concentrated on achieving reform from within. 

9. Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.

10. I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent because what difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?