Turning the tide in tribal land

Every morning she wakes to the sound of drums from a distant santhal village. She walks barefoot to a nearby field. Every morning, she waits till they start streaming in through the green iron gate that separates Bhalopahar from the rest of Bandowan in Purulia on the Bengal-Jharkhand border. The area is infested by Maoists and inhabited by adivasis on the edge of survival.

Jayati Chakraborty gave up a secure job with Tisco in Jamshedpur, a nice apartment and a decent salary “to build something new, create something that would be of use to others. Honestly, I did not know what it could be”.

A trip to Bandowan in 2000 answered the unspoken question. She happened to visit Bhalopahar, an NGO run by another former Tata employee Kamalesh Chakraborty. She was inspired by his developmental work in the area and ecstatic when he agreed she could work with him.

She quit her job, faced down appalled friends and family. "They found it hard to believe that I would be better off working with poor people in a godforsaken village.” And she tried new things — linseed and tomato farming — finally deciding the area needed a school. “We converted a hall into a classroom and started with 66 students in 2001. It seemed the school was waiting to happen,” she says. Students pay Rs 30 a month. But paid pupil or not, no one is turned away

TARGET 2009: Deliver us from poor delivery

Ronojoy Sen | TNN

The grainy images of poorly armed policemen, captured on close circuit TV at Bombay's Victoria Terminus, were a cruel comment on the state of governance in India. The Indian police was trying to match the terrorists’ firepower. In the process, it exposed the Indian state's basic shortcoming — its inability to provide security to its citizens. The right to security means the right to live. This right was violated when heavily armed terrorists walked through the busiest parts of India's commercial capital, wantonly shooting people.

For some time now, India has had the dubious distinction of being one of the world’s terror-struck hotspots. In the past three years alone, more than 800 people have died in terrorist attacks. It may not be possible to put an end to such attacks, but surely, better intelligence inputs and coordination on terrorist groups is doable? A start has been made with plans to set up a federal body — the National Investigation Agency (NIA) — with wide-ranging powers to investigate terrorist crime. But the government has to ensure that the NIA does not become yet another talking shop. It should also consider merging the CBI and NIA as there is likely to be an overlap in responsibilities of both central agencies. Particularly shocking, during the Mumbai carnage, was the lack of police preparedness. Its lathis and antique rifles must immediately be replaced with modern weapons if the police force is to prove a match for terrorists.

The security establishment’s inability to tackle the terrorists was perhaps the starkest example of the failures of the Indian state. But the state has fallen short in other ways too, notably bijli, sadak, paani, which is shorthand these days for governance in India. Our roads are a case in point. They are the backbone of any economy. But India’s highways account for only 2% of India’s vast, 3.3-million-km road network. Only 12% are double-lane highways. At the head of the 2009 agenda must be the completion of 47 projects in the second phase of the North-South-East-West corridor. Of these, first priority should be given to 17 projects, which are more than 75% complete. Work must also begin on the 1,500-km road and rail network linking Delhi to Mumbai. The Japanese government has promised aid for this. It is up to us to meet the 2013 deadline.

Urgency is needed to deal with the shortage of electricity. The government’s target of adding 90,000 MW by 2012, which works out to a little under 20,000 MW a year, might well be a pipe dream because only 7,000 MW was added in 2007. But the government must raise the $600 billion needed over the next 10 years to ramp up power generation. State electricity boards must be reformed if private investors are to enter power projects in a big way. Power theft — 35% of the electricity India generates is stolen— has to be curbed and free power for farmers phased out.

The year ahead can bring real change if we deal with the parlous state of education and health. The UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI), which provides a composite measure of health, education and income, ranks India 132 among 179 countries. But there is a glimmer of hope. Several surveys have shown that India’s poorest families aspire to sending their children to school and enrolment has risen more than 90% even in rural India. But the quality of education provided is poor and students are unable to acquire even the most basic skills. On any given day, more than 50% of teachers in state-run schools are absent. This can be tackled if local panchayats are given more powers over local schools and there is greater involvement of parent-teacher committees.

Ramachandra Guha has coined the term “phipty-phipty” democracy to describe India. While India remains a rare example of a functional democracy in the developing world, its infrastructural problems drag it down. The answer is not authoritarian leadership, as some suggested after 26/11, but greater accountability. And as the state is strapped for cash, it must look for more public-private partnerships.

An important person joins parent-teacher talk: The child

Karen Ann Cullotta

Streamwood (Illinois): For years attendance was minimal at Tefft Middle School’s annual parent-teacher conferences, but the principal did not chalk up the poor response to apathetic or dysfunctional families.Instead,she blamed what she saw as the outmoded, irrelevant way the conferences were conducted.

Roughly 60% of the 850 students at Tefft, in this working-class suburb some 30 miles northwest of Chicago, are from low-income families. Many are immigrants, unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the tradition of parents perched in pint-size chairs, listening intently as a teacher delivers a 15-minute soliloquy on their child’s academic progress, or lack thereof. “Five years ago, the most important person—the student—was left out of the parent-teacher conference,” Tefft’s principal, Lavonne Smiley, said. “The old conferences were such a negative thing, so we turned it around by removing all the barriers and obstacles,” including allowing students not only to attend but also to lead the gatherings instead of anxiously awaiting their parents’ return home with the teacher’s verdict on their classroom performance.

Recently, 525 parents attended parent-teacher-student conferences, Smiley said, compared with 75 parents in 2003. No appointments were needed, and everyone was welcome at this year’s conferences, spread over two days that school officials called a Celebration of Learning.

Student-led conferences are gaining ground at elementary and middle schools nationwide, said Patti Kinney, an associate director for middle-level services at the National Association of Secondary School Principals in Virginia.

Although researchers have long hailed the benefits of such conferences—anointing students as the main stakeholders in their education, accountable for their performance during the school day and responsible for their academic future—their popularity appears to be increasing in part because of the rapidly shifting demographics at public schools nationwide. The classrooms, after all, are where a community’s changing cultural identity is often first glimpsed.

“I think we’re learning that every school has its own DNA, and there is not a prescription for conferences that works for every school,” Kinney said. “There is such an increasingly diverse population at our nation’s schools, the one-sizefits-all model conference just doesn’t work anymore.” NYT NEWS SERVICE

Student-led conferences are gaining ground at elementary and middle schools around the United State.

IIT-B alumni woo faculty with Rs. 1 crore

Mumbai: On Sunday, the class of 1983 joined its seniors in supporting the IIT-Bombay’s efforts in attracting faculty members. The 1983 raised more than Rs 1.1 crore that will allow the institute to attract talent by paying a premium.

The initiative, Gurudakshina, builds upon the ‘Legacy Project’ launched by the 1982 batch and extends it to a broader activity focused on faculty recruitment and retention.

Already, the class of ’82 has pledged Rs 6 crore to address faculty compensation. Under the ‘Legacy Project’, the institute will be able to offer an annual amount of Rs 1 lakh for three years to every associate professor joining IIT-B.

Girish Gaitonde from the 1983 batch said, “Gurudakshina will also fund a reward and recognition programme for faculty members achieving significant education milestones.’’ TNN

Students can now get scores questionwise

Hemali Chhapia | TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: For millions of students, the battle to know details of their performance in board exams or competitive entrance tests has ended. In a landmark judgement that will change how examinations are conducted in the country, the Central Information Commission has ruled that exam-conducting authorities must usher in transparency and provide questionwise marks awarded to candidates under the Right To Information Act.

The ruling will bring cheer to India’s large student population, which has been fighting for access to copies of answer sheets ever since the Right To Information (RTI) Act was passed.

Students score with CIC ruling
Mumbai: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that exam-conducting authorites provide questionwise marks awarded to candidates under the Right To Information Act.

In March 2006, Treesa Irish of Kerala was the first student to fight tooth and nail to get a peek into her exam answer scripts. She lost the battle when a full bench of the CIC ruled that the data she had requested was of a personal nature, and that its disclosure had no relation to any public interest and would therefore be prohibited under section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.

The CIC also held that the relationship between the exam-conducting authority and the examiner was fiduciary in nature, and therefore information must be kept confidential under section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act.

Irish was hardly alone. Students of several education boards across the country wanted copies of their answer booklets under the RTI Act. All failed in their quest, with Public Information Officers conveniently referring to Irish’s case as the precedent. That is, until Ajeet Kumar Pathak, a class XII student from Bihar, demanded that the CBSE board provide him details of questionwise marks awarded to him in the chemistry paper.

Here too, the CBSE board stated, “The larger public interest does not warrant disclosure of such information.’’ Pathak then filed his first appeal, which was again defeated, with the authority ruling that “no candidates shall have the right to obtain questionwise marks.’’

But in a dramatic twist, the CIC overturned those rulings. Information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, who ruled on December 22 that questionwise marks awarded must be shared with the candidate, said, “None of the exemption clauses in the RTI Act were applicable in this case.’’ Gandhi said that this ruling was now “in principle’’ applicable to all authorities conducting examinations across the country.

In Maharashtra too, several students have taken the RTI route to get their hands on copies of their answer sheets. Basanti Roy, divisional secretary of SSC board, said that to date there has been no provision in the law to part with answer sheets, and that several students had to be turned down. “But we will wait for orders to flow in from the state government on providing questionwise marks,’’ Roy added.

Currently, the Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Examination lets students demand verification, which allows for marks to be re-calculated by opening the answer booklets. Verification also helps ensure that all answers have been marked. However, there is no provision for reassessment, which requires the moderator to read through and reassess the content of the paper.

NCERT joint director G Ravindra said that this ruling was in line with the National Curriculum Framework of 2005, which emphasised transparency in conducting examinations. “NCF 2005 had suggested several exam reforms, including transparency and stress-free exams. However, NCERT is an advisory body, and it was upto boards to implement NCERT recommendations,’’ added Ravindra. Karnataka was the only state in the country that decided to go ahead and hand over answer sheets to students. But the latest CIC ruling will ensure that no state can stonewall students’ requests for information about their performance in an examination.

Educationist and former chairman of the Mumbai board J M Abhayankar said that while the CIC ruling is something to cheer about, boards must be proactive and provide copies of answer booklets. Abhyankar himself had presented a report to the state government on exam reforms in 2002, but it remains on paper. “I had recommended that the Maharashtra board also give copies of answer booklets to students. But the state did not accept the recommendations under some pressures,’’ he said. He added that providing copies of the answer scripts will ensure better evaluation. hemali.chhapia@timesgroup.com

JOURNEY OF A DIFFERENT KIND

This train will teach them basics of business

Madhavi Rajadhyaksha I TNN

Mumbai: Passengers: 18 to 25-year-olds
Route: Delhi to Kanyakumari
Duration: 18 days
Destination: Entrepreneurship and leadership
Unlike most train journeys, passengers hopping onto a 16-bogey train at Mumbai Central on Wednesday aren’t waiting to reach any destination. For the youngsters on board, the journey itself is their destination. The excursion organised under the aegis of the Tata Jagriti Yatra aims to inculcate entrepreneurial skills among the 350 youths on board.

From the dabbawalas of Mumbai to the barefoot college in Tilonia, Rajasthan, to Anand in Gujarat, the group will explore innovative ventures, interact with role models and get a dekko into social entrepreneurship.

“The aim is to get the youth to connect with the genius of India and the focus is on enterprise-led development. Today, enterpreneurship and enterprise are no longer a luxury, but a necessity and we hope to spark interest in the youth,’’ said Shashank Mani, an ex-IITian and one of the founders of the concept, adding that they hope to make this an annual feature. The group had organised a similar trip called Azad Bharat Rail Yatra in 1997 and many of them felt their experience deserved to be shared with others. That’s how the seeds for this journey were sown.

Explaining that the format wasn’t a classroom session but a see-and-learn experience, another organiser Raj Krishnamurthy offered an insight into their itinerary. “There will be conferences inside the train and stopovers to meet role models such as scientist R A Mashelkar (who formerly headed the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Dr M S Swaminathan who is known as the ‘father of the green revolution in India’ and Ela Bhatt who founded SEWA,’’ he said.

The youths would get a peek into successful enterprises, be it the Kuthambakkam village in Chennai which is acclaimed as a ‘model village’ or the sprawling Technopark in Thiruvananthpuram which is a hub of IT offices. The eclectic bunch will also participate in six televised panel discussions which will dwell on topics such as ‘poverty to self-help’ and the ‘power of one’.

They received applications from 10,000 youngsters and finally selected 350, including 25 foreigners. The youngsters who are waiting to hop on are predictably high on adrenaline. Suman Chennamaneni (24) from Hyderabad couldn’t have hoped for a better platform. An arts and law graduate who has dabbled in social ventures since he was 21, he said, “I recently interned with an NGO which promoted small entrepreneurs such as plumbers and electricians through the internet. I am keen to learn how social models are scaled up and made sustainable.’’

Breach Candy resident and dentist Neha Parekh is excited about interacting with likeminded youngsters. Summing up the excitement is a blog post by a youngster from Chennai, Abhishek Seth, who says he expects the trip to be “a turning point in his life’’. They may just throw up many success stories in the making.

City youth can now get voter I-cards from colleges

Anahita Mukherji | TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Enthusiastic collegians keen on exercising their franchise but put off by the daunting task of getting themselves registered as voters will now have absolutely no excuse for not voting. In what’s probably the first-ever exercise of its kind in the country, the state election commission has brought the registration process right to the college campus.

Maharashtra’s chief election officer Debashish Chakrabarty has launched a campaign for ‘voter awareness and registration’ among college students. He was recently approached by the NGO AGNI (Action for Good Governance in India) and iVote-Wear the Mark, a student organisation, asking him to “catch ‘em young’’.

“Data during the Lok Sabha elections shows that only around 10% of Mumbai’s youth between 18 and 25 are voters,’’ says Chakrabarty, who responded to the appeal with alacrity. He has already sent out letters to about 50 colleges in Mumbai asking for their cooperation and is in the midst of communicating with the remaining colleges in the city.

The letter has asked colleges to allow AGNI and iVote volunteers to help with the campaign on campus. If the campaign works in Mumbai, Chakrabarty will consider starting it in other cities in Maharashtra. Colleges now have the power to certify a student’s date of birth and address for the election commission. Chakrabarty has enclosed a simple format of the certificate in his letter to principals.

Principals who are keen on participating in the campaign can invite AGNI and iVote volunteers to the college. “We will then put up posters across the college, address students on the need to vote and distribute voter registration forms to them. Students will then fill in these forms on campus in the presence of AGNI and iVote volunteers, who will address any queries that students may have while filling out their details. We will ensure that there are no mistakes on any of the forms,’’ said Gerson da Cunha, convenor, AGNI.

The completed registration forms, along with the certificates from colleges, will be collected either by AGNI and iVote volunteers or by officials from the Election Registration Office who will then route the forms to the election registration officers in charge of the areas where the students live. The processed voter ID cards will be sent to the colleges which can then pass them on to the students.

Principals thrilled with voter drive

Mumbai: Chief election officer of the state Debashish Chakrabarty has some dedicated college students participating in his voter awareness campaign. Natasha Kewalramani, a 20-year-old St Xavier’s College student, began iVote last year when she was faced with the task of getting herself registered as a voter. She wanted to simplify the process for other students.

Kewalramani compiled a great deal of matter on the topic and has actively canvassed for the need for citizens to vote at several city colleges. A large number of collegians joined hands with her. It’s while she was looking up information on how to vote that she came across the AGNI website and subsequently got in touch with da Cunha.

Several principals are thrilled with the latest initiative. K C College principal Manju Nichani says she’s excited about the project and wants to ensure that all her students understand the importance of voting.

St Xavier’s College has also held talks for students on the need to vote. “I think there’s been a great mobilisation of young people in the city even before the recent terror attacks. The youth are eager to do something for the country,’’ says Xavier’s principal Fr Frazer Mascarenhas. anahita.mukherji@timesgroup.com