Retired Indians don’t make room for youngsters!
See the nominations to the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies Not much news coming out from the education ministry,rather pompously rechristened one day under very unfounded optimistic day by an young leader. It is better to go by conventional wisdom and stick to words that could mean something. So,education is still and will always be the right word for what we are all doing in the field of education. Now a new government and a new education agenda? Yes,that is how everyone of us thought with the new government.
But the Congress party, as rightly observed by the senior Marxist leader,Harkishen Surjit,wants to keep all power with itself! Also the Congress party bigwigs are accustomed to play with the power at their hands with no sense of responsibility also. Now,what is the education vision of the Singh government?Or the UPA has any serious commitment to education? We are not sure!
All the names you know already! The Planning Commission members? Why they are here again? Don’t they have got enough work at the Commission?
Going by the work done so far by the HRD ministry under the veteran leader Arjun Singh,we are rather plainly become disillusioned, plainly rather deparate! Why? First,he or the government didn’t take any trouble or found time to come out with any agenda.
The only activity that held the news headlines for some days was the school textbooks revision.Now one more committee, it seems, is constituted for making the needed corrections in the text books. Otherwise,there is not much news.
The latest news that seems to be one more body reconstituted.This time it is the Simla-based Indian Institute of Advanced Studies,IIAS. For the readerswho may not know about this rather quite pedestrian outfit we want to say this institute was conceived by the late Dr.S.Radhakrishnan,when he as President when he found out this one-time Viceregal summmer rest house was not used by the successive Indian Presidents. Radhakrishnan himself didn’t have much use for this once regal outfit. So,he in his own theoretical way imagined why not turn it into one of the American style think tank? He had in mind the Princeton-based Institute of advanced studies.Now,the phrase advanced studies is again seized upon by some corporate houses and one such advanced studies is operating in Bangalore under the Tatas at the Institute of Science campus.
No search seems to have been done, nor honest effort had been made to search for enough unknown faces and more new talents.The same old bureaucratca are back at this power play, Clearly,there is sheer waste of public funds and the aims seem very ordinary!
Now for the IIAS, fallen on bad days for a very long time.May be as soon as it was launched under the management of the HRD ministry. The BJP went on to misue all powers and privileges and that is how the present new body replaces the one constituted by that unrepenting Hindutva enthusiast minister who presided over the HRD ministry till the other day.
Now Mr.Arjun Singh.What had he done?He had once again played favourites by nominating all sorts of people on the IIAS board.Who else? All the names you know already! The Planning Commission members? Why they are here again? Don’t they have got enough work at the Commission?Again the men from Sahitya Akademi background.
The same old Ananthamurty and Ayyappa Panikkar.Haven’t they had new and united talents and work in the literary field? No serious effort seems to have gone into the IIAS rationele for its existence on its own pattern or any radical, more contemporary lines to give education, culture and high intellectual academic priorities.
No search seems to have been done, nor honest effort had been made to search for enough unknown faces and more new talents.The same old bureaucrats are back at this power play, Clearly,there is sheer waste of public funds and the aims seem very ordinary!