Right to Education.. What happens to the quality of education?

15th Apr 2012,

So, finally we have it here. The Right to Education. In the United Nation's Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), this is one unique issue on which a lot of conflict of opinions has occurred. While most of the UNDHR has been about promotion of the will of a freeborn man, the right to education has come as one bondage on every citizen as a duty. The states have been empowered to compulsorily educate all its citizen. the term of 'compulsorily' has often been interpreted as an element of force and coercion by the detractors of this Article of the UNDHR. The anti-educationist camp have claimed this article as a deprivation of their freedom to not to go to schools due to their personal choice. The question rises from a philosophical meandering on the issue of ,"what is education? and, is school education only what can be termed as education?" . That is how the anti-educationist camp has found its moral strength.
nevertheless, the article has successfully continued to prevail , and on the reasoning that while the remaining of the articles of the UNDHR has continued to uphold freedom from all bondages of man as the supreme motto of Human Rights, education is must for achieving liberation from certain kinds of bondages and for sustenance of the remaining of freedom, lest the mankind again slip back into it's slavery epoch.

While the RTE has come to effect, newspapers have expressed opinions on the rising cost of education because of implementation of this law.
I do not conflict on the opinion taken by some citizenry group on this angle of the RTE, but have often remained concerned for every beggar -child i meet in the mumbai local, or on the pavement of the Railway Crossing Bridges of Mumbai. (I have only recently moved house to Mumbai due to my new job).
Everytime I see them begging, I feel an immense conflict within, about to give alms or not to give. The law , as I know for sure, proclaims that begging is a crime and to give alms is also a crime as that amounts to encouraging the begging practices. But the religious views have often upheld the belief that more one gives, the more one gets. My religion says that Gods have often come to test your honesty , integrity and faith in them by asking you to donate. the one who is ready to part with his wealth is the one who has truely devoted himself in the worship of god. however, i do not believe in the religious views as I am not so much a religious man.
But, just for the cause and sake of humanity, and that milk of human kindness running in my veins, I feel the conflict too strongly within. between my heart and my brain.
Then I begin to ponder as to what can be done to alleviate the humanity from this sufferings of the begging job. do humans everywhere, all over the world , get into begging. The Buddhist dilemma and the Three Great sights of Buddha, take over my mind. What is suffering and why some humans have been condemned to such sufferings by the bountiful and the almighty. Or , is this an act of human sabotage somewhere while the society has always endeavored to bring relief to all its deprived members. Since, I am free-thinker and almost an atheist, the second reasoning soon takes a better control of me.
The RTE has been made compulsory, but will it ever find its sincere enactment. I have and I had always paid my taxes as a citizen but what did the educated, hi-seated, power-wielding people do with that money. Quite a part, and astonishingly high chunk, has been given to those Scams worth Thousands of Corors of rupees in the form of Defence deal underpayment, the 2G/3G licensing scam, and so many more.
What did the educated and powerful pen-mightier-than-sword men do with their Education until now in the history?
Last day, i fell in one argument with a colleague over what is freedom. I discovered that he believed freedom was about running away from "competition", as he would think it to be so, by bringing admission to his children in International Baccalaureate Organisation Schools. That is the NSS Hill Spring School of Mumbai. That was quite funny because he was still quite a collegue of mine, who earned his bread and livelihood as a "professional", and not someone a celebrity. To my knowledge and belief, the Baccalaureate system of education has been meant for people of high family background who are into a different "sphere of life".
To define and explain this "sphere of life", I had to return back to Wikipedia to do some research on the Maslow's Theory on needs.


Abraham Maslow gave certain descriptions of the traits of self-actualised people. The traits are compiled in the Wikipedia site on Abraham Maslow, over here

Our education system, even when readying itself to impart education to everyone has not done enought to produce the Self-Actualised people. No matter how much we make the laws, the sincere implementation will require people on top to be Self-Actualised to work sincerely to achieve them. In this pyramid on Hierarchy of Needs, Maslow put the self-actualised people on the top of the pyramid.

 In the tradition Indian system, the knowledge being in the custody of the Brahmins, the laws of Manu (Manu Smriti) wanted Brahmin to have certain qualities in them. Some how , to me it seemed that the Qualities expected of a Brahmin were not any thing different from those a Self-actualised people described by the Maslow's Need Theory.

Our Education system has become a plebeian cultivation field. People who are materialist, deprived of the values which were originaly used for the creation of the material, when material+value= Asset was created. We have lots of plebeian today. every where. seated on the high tables of decision-making.  maybe because of the electoral politics system adopted by our nation. Maybe because the 'boss' in our system can be an ill-literate man while the educated people have to keep mum before the 'boss'. That produced plebeian culture.

How many laws will this country require to get itself moving on the path of achieving happiness for everyone. I don't want development. I want happiness. If development of land brings the happiness, so be it. But if development of land, the real-estate frenzy which we have created today under the guise of "development" is not what brings happiness, them let the real-estate be doomed. But to do that, RTE is essential.

But more than that, an education for the literate people, to achieve Self-Actualisation.

Sachin Tendulkar as Rajya Sabha member !

Here is a debate which broke out between me an my frind on nomination of Sachin Tendulkar in Rajya Sabha;

NP: Conceived as a "House of Elders", where elderly wise people from various states could give advice to the "House of Commons", nominations to Rajya Sabha today have become a way of showing appreciation / reward.

While one applauds Sachin & Rakhi, will they really be able to do justice to the seat they occupy in Rajya Sabha? Would not nominating intellectual people who can really advice the government on issues facing the country, be better?

AK: Eminent persons are nominated to the upper house so tht they can represent their field. Sachin may give fresh views on sports bill. Jaya Bachhan n Shabana Azmi actively participate in the parliamentary process. However non-performers and frequently absent members like Lata Mangeshkar should not be nominated again.

NP: NO sir, this is not the function of Rajya Sabha. They are supposed to advice the government in matters of governance, and not any field as such. Sachin can give fresh views from outside parliament also, he does not have to be a member of Rajya Sabha for that. How many sports bills do u think Rajya Sabha will debate in one year? It is such a waste of a Rajya Sabha seat.

NP: ofcourse, they are reserved for eminent people, my point is why not someone who can be more useful. How much use a film star or a singer or a sports person can be for running the country, is the point to moot. Maybe one odd bill in 5 years, you should have people who can contribute substantially, not just on one issue

AK: My dear doctor, do not look down upon a person on the basis of his or her profession. They all make up our societies.

MS: So, The field of Sport,,aaahh,, CRIcket, is what needs helps because cricket is in distress in India! No other sports personality?? Why not make him sports minister or In-chareg of IOC,--where people like Kalmadi are controlling! It is a sham , a clever deceit to fool Indian masses afetr so many years, and afetr so many scams--CWG, IPL-gate, and So much cases of match-fixing.

AK: And his illustrious career in sports alone should not be the basis of removing him from decision making caucus of this country.

MS: Tendulkar is the eyewash to fool indian masses out of their Intellect.

AK: Anna Hazare n Arvind Kejariwal have been accused of dishonouring the parliament because they presented their views outside that building.

AK: Ok googled it. Out of 250, 12 are nominated by President for contribution to arts science social service etc. I think we should be making noise if they pick Politicians for those seats, not against Tendulkar.

MS: agreed that tendulkar is now worthy to be part of the decision-making caucus, but does he really speak and decide? How many times have we seen him giving his opinion on a matter,? rather, he is quiet a media-choked man, whose one word makes the media headline! Do you expect any great decisions and opinions? How would you evaluate him as a thinker?? There are no clues to this question in the public domain. tendulkar is a susbstitution of Lata mangeshkar, to keep those people quiet who complained of her absentia! This is clever deceit.I ccan bet. Tandualkar is a permanently media-gaged man!


AK: That doesn't say much actually. You have met me, n Dr Pandey. I don't speak so much in public either. That doesn't mean I don't think.

MS: i know! but there are clues to to it that you think. You facebook speaks. How about Tendulkar? guess he gave one opinion on Mratahi-Bihari-UP Bhaiya issue, that Mumbai is of all the Indians. But we can count on fingures how many times he can speak, and hold opinion. Can he do arguments?? Parliament is suppose to be doing that, no matter what field you have been nominated for.

AK: Let's give him some benefit of doubt. Let our perception not cloud our judgement. Let us have a clear conscience that we gave him a chance!

MS: Haha,, there are some 130 billion of us! 'Keeping conscious clear' is not the right criteria to act. That is , acting emotionally. In the scarcity of time at hand and limited number of seats, just 12, we need to find more robust criteria to send the right person over there. It is like choosing a right balance cricket team of 11. You cannot keep conscious clear by giving everyone a chance. You need to play the game and with the aim to win the game.

AK: Non-emotinally speaking, he fits the bill for the nominated seat. Period.

MS: how about Pankaj adani ?how about abhinav bindra? The criteria is not about fitting the bill..as though india as scare people "whose contributions to arts, science and social service" are not fit enough to win them Rajya Sabha job. Or that all sports are doing good but for cricket that someone from this sports needs to reach Parliament to make the case for "downfall' of cricket ! Rajya Sabha seat is not for adoration, or for award bestowing. It is job. To make the case for the problems in the field he represents, to the decision-making caucus of the country.

VAD: I have read all the above comments and feel that such personalities should come to parliament to show a different prospective on any issue other than the politicians typically.president nominates such people who add different flavour other than chilli of politics always.its always better to know some other view and thats why president was given this right.maybe rekha and Sachin will nt speak much but it adds to parliament like akbar's 9 jewels- they all were nt supposed to speak on all matters,important is what field they come from and do their bit for that field.

AK: I like Venu's point. But can't see like button on the mobile. :P
In any case she sums it up perfectly.

MS: the theory holds that such nominations, only of limited number and only to Upper house, (that is, 12 members to Rajya Sabha ), be made because the field Which have been chosen for such nominations have their people in minority about their opinions about professional matters. Minority is just not about religious beliefs, it is also about beliefs stemming from other works. For example, back in 16th century, person having belief about helio-centricity was a minority. The idea is not about adding taste to parliament, although in effect it may be spoken in that form as well. Every Rajya Sabha had enough Hema Malini's to add taste. The Idea of nomination is about being given special impetus through route of 'nomination' instead of 'selection' which other members take to reach Rajya Sabha, because such people maybe a minority in their beliefs to get enough votes for their selection by the due process. Back in the black and white cinema days, maybe Cinema and Crickets were minority view people. We all need to re-evaluate if it is so today.

SC: By jove, i tell you, such debate. Considering the fact that sachin and rakhi sawant are both well past their sell-by date, i think they both are excellent choices for the house of "elders".

When do people ask too many questions?

when you do something abnormal !

Correct and smart answer? right? But is that complete, self-sufficient answer? the obvious next question is, what is "abnormal" ?
It is here the the worth of a corporate seminar, of the idealism, of the correct methodology comes into use. That which is not conforming to what is the seminary way of doing it; that of the ideally defined manner of doing it,--is always subjected to question.
Nobody will question the whys when a gas has expanded in the ideal proportion when heated. Because everybody has been taught, a seminary discourse equivalent, that gases *all gases, that is,* conform to gas laws, and expand on heating in proportion to temperature, co-relatable also with the pressure.
but, if a given gas did not expand as per anticipated proportion, do not expect people to sit empty mind and accept the "abnormality".

that is "abnormality". And that is why a Seminar is required on new and different issues in corporate offices, and in government organisations.

Technical work in a marine Pilotage job

Continuation from the previous blog on the same subject

The one big-policy execution responsibility on a pilot is that of Under Keel Clearance. UKC, as it is called in the maritime world, is the avaible depth below the keel of a ship, upto the bottom of the sea. This is a tight choice because the lesser the depth the greater is the cargo carriage but also is the increased risk of damage to full ship, its crew and the cargo. In port areas where the water is already congested, it also means a loss in revenue if any accident or agrounding happens in the narrow channel where such an accident can block the passage of other ships. A pilot is charged with the compliance of the UKC which the port regulations stipulate for all the ships which come inside the port limits. This UKC clearance as a policy matter is generally kept as 10percent of the draft of the ship. But to work out this "10%" , pilot should have good knowledge of the depth of entire channel. Depth of waters made available through the navigational charts as a technical procedure is called Chart Datum, to which the tidal rise of water is yet to be added.
  The Chart Datum information is calculated through a complex mathematical and geo-physics theories and under the Office of the Real Admiral of Indian Navy, located in Dehradun. The office in general parlance is called the Hydrographic Office. This data is vital, and done in every country, for use by its merchant ships, navies, sub marines, and other water installations.
In all this mathematics, a pilot needs to work out with 'precise approximation', "the height of tide". In tide tables (also produced from the Hydrographic office for the full calender year) this information is provided only for the maximum levels, that is, high tide and low tide for every calendar day. The in-between hourly work is expected to be done by the pilot, which further is a matter of practise of some routine mathematics. This calculations can however be easily programmed on a computer. However the catch is that it all still remains approximate, giving room to pilots to choose to some degree his own 'safety margin'. Thus if he makes a personal choice to increase the safety margin, he can refuse the entry to a ship of deeper draft. However another pilot who is ready to take the 'risk' by decreasing the safety margin, may accept to bring that same ship inside the harbour. That is the degree of risk a pilot has choice to work. This gives a pilot a little control over the commercial aspects and a little discretion to happen.
It is possible to argue out through a mathematics logics the discretions exercised by a pilot, but that is not done as a traditional practise for letting the business happen. This, with the just observation of the fact that "in nature's work, man can only be 'approximate' and never 'accurate' ,"-- this fact comes to a Pilot's rescue on why some discretions should be allowed to rest with him. In court, it can always be argue about-- to whom to hold responsible if an agrounding still happens after due compliance with all the mathematical logic in the UKC policy. Contrary, freedom can be granted to a person to take slight risk should he take it that an accident is not likely to happen even if the calculated safety margin as per the organisation's policy is less. Business is sometimes about taking risk.

The other decision in the realm of pilotage work is about how many moorings ropes are required to tie a ship to her berth. There are guidelines, and also some internationally published book with good mathematical work on how to devise the arrangement. In practise, the pilots always go by the traditional practises learnt from the senior. They never take a chance on this issue. Should someone fail to confirm to the practises, the ship may be ordered to keep a tug support vessel to come to her rescue. And ofcourse, the cost of keeping the tug on duty is borne by the ship.
The number of tugs to be used is generally regulated through another of the port policies, but the pilots have liberty to use more than the stipulated number. Only that such decisions without sufficient reasoning may go against the competence and the skills of a pilot. Pilots keep a control on the operations of lock gates, tidal basin upkeep and water level maintenance, continuous surveying of the port waters and depths, maintenance and operational status of navigational marks.
The breadth clearances between the ships, shore mooring crew, tug boat manning crew , these all come within the work domain of a pilot. Tug boats, its strength, operational status, crew - these are important knowledge to be held by a pilot on day to-day basis.
Pilots also decide on the fore and aft clearance between the ships on their berths. This is another commercially significant control a pilot has. There is a policy matter on this aspect, obviously. But should he choose larger clearance due to natural reasons such as angular leads of the mooring ropes coming from the stem and the stern of the ship, a pilot can affect the business of the port.
In older times , even the allocation of the berth to ships was regulated by pilots directly. However, with monotony coming in this job, now the simple civilians have been trained to do this task. They are called the Traffic Managers. The kind of cargo gear facility avaible on the berth is the first criteria. The depth of berth becomes a traditionally accepted data figure for all berths inside the port. Hence , there is not much of thinking/Decision-making job in this. Pilots sometimes work in the VTMS stations. But as a matter routine principles of Decision-making, this job has now been passed to civilians only. The depths decide on which ship can go which anchorage berth. This becomes a traditional practise , along with the nature of cargo on ship. Hence non-seafaring civilian can be trained to decide on such matters while doing the VTMS task. The safe distance checks and vessel traffic monitoring can also trained to civilians when computer based systems are installed. However, a little knowledge on Colregs and ship's maneuvering work is required by the VTMS operators so as to broadcast a proper timely information to ships about activities of other ships which can be navigational threats.
Navigational Activities are routine works but depending on the kind of ships around and the cargo, the activity of one ship may be treated as a threat for another type of ship. However it may remain a normal activity for some other type of ship. This kind of knowledge on Decision-making can not be trained easily if the port handle large varieties of vessels. A sea-going person becomes essential for the job in this case.

A military coup in India !!?

why a military power seizure may not be possible with the government system such as that of India?

After reading that baffling news in the Indian Express, I thought if the newspaper can publish a news for me (and for the sake of explaining better what is the big joke in the news that the Indian Express is giving.)
"OMG ! Can you believe this. Banta Singh tried to take over the reins from Manmohan Singh by plotting his killing!".
Technically Indian system does not have the essential features which can aid a military take over. Most people are not aware of what those features should be like. So the people can be fooled by such news scripts. But then, those same people can also be fooled by as idiotic news as any common man planning a coup to take over the government by murdering the prime minister.
Essential, any military coup will require abundant elements of obedience from the civil services group, and that too a voluntary one, coming in the form of a constitutional order. The constitution does not provide any military leader to even come as second-in-command to the civilian head of the military forces, so that any military leader may issue orders through the constitutional routes to the vast civil services group, under any pretext such as the incapacity of the civilian leader, or say, due to the physical ill-ness. Hence, it is not possible for the military head to issue orders to the civilian heads under any circumstances.
The spy agencies are headed by the purely civilian people with negligible military back grounds. Spy agencies can forewarn any plots of a coup by the military. Hence government systems such as India have a very remote possibility of a take over. The trends of economy In India, the strength of Indian business organisation in the world market, all will suffer downslide if any coup happens anytime.

Why do we always take up a cause like a lobbyist?

Why do we always take up a cause like a lobbyist? Are we humans born a lobbyist by nature?
Or it is the basal attitude which changes as the living standards improve and the evolution happens?

Perhaps the latter. Talking about the avtaar of man--the-component-of-the-system, to form a good peaceful society, he must have robust arguments on his choices of the right and the wrongs. With that basic knowledge, he should deliver the justice to every party involved in a conflict each of which is lobbying for his own interest. Thus man is originally, that is, by his natural born state a lobbyist; some one who is meant to follow his own dreams alone without having any regards for how others are affected by acts. But to become the man--the-policy-maker, he should evolve to the higher plane of justice and keep an all round knowledge of other interest groups and their concerns. The legitimacy to their concerns should be awarded through empathy awareness and the basic understanding of the rights and the wrongs.
         I am talking about this because in recent days I am coming across the problem where the entire system is complaining of being helpless while some of the things are happening incorrect in the good knowledge of everyone. No body is responsible, nobody can be easily held responsible, no body can stop what wrongs are happening, BUT everyone agrees to the fact that it is wrong. It is Infact a very common sight in the government organisation where no body can say who made that wrong decision and why did no one correct him?? They all complain of their diminishing 'powers', (as though power comes out from a magic wand which is suffering corrosion due to lack of paint maintenance). Slowly everybody has started to lobby up for his own cause and the in-fighting in near future signals of  breaking- out. No body knows the why's of what is happening while everybody has a complain for something wrong which they point to , to be happening.
   By my basic understanding of the rights and the wrongs, I am inclined to award the legitimacy tags to each of the complains; sensibly all of us will. But the problem further up is never explored by anyone. 'if it is wrong, they is it happening and no body is stopping it?' Nobody maintains an all round knowledge on the matter, while some of them pretend to be holding them through some ignored or overlooked pieces and weblinks of some news stories. But those news stories do not provide the essence of the justice behind the question that we have primarily asked. That, whatever wrong is happening is essentially a justice delivered from somewhere from some conflicts. What is that occurance to which the present wrong is the justice??
             The philosophical query of what is the idea of justice comes up, and then I notice that all the people I meet are indeed still living their life on the basal plane of being a lobbyist. Which is why that basic cause has escaped detection from everyone's knowledge ,and now perhaps from the documentary records too. We all are preserving knowledge but of the kind which serves our interest, and helps us improve our lobby. Thankfully, in this war of the lobbyists all the lobbies are still intact and the cause can be re-detected through slow and peaceful interactions with all the lobbies, and the final justice be dredged out again , to know why the present wrong is happening. Only that it is a time taking work and has to be done personally without any support from the organization.
In the mean time, the lost causes will become the cause for more damages of the future.