"As different streams
having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different
tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to
God."
—Swami Vivekanand (Indian,
1863-1902))
Word for the day
Moira (n)
A person's fate or destiny.
The personification of fate.
Malice towards none
What about decentralizing
film certification!
Let each state issue a
separate certificate to all movies. So that a producer can boycott one or more
states if it wishes to.
First random thought this morning
Media reports suggest that the finance ministry may be mulling
100% FDI in private banks and 49% FDI in PSBs. If implemented, this could
result in complete undoing of Bank Nationalization. Large, private banks like
HDFC Bank (34%), ICICI (35%), IndusInd (58%), Axis (49%), Yes (46%), Kotak
(41%) etc. already have substantial foreign holding. These bank can easily see
their foreign holdings going up materially, thus effectively making them
foreign banks.
The foreign holding in PSBs, e.g., SBI (12%), PNB (12%), BoB (14%)
is relatively small. If the private banks get substantial foreign capital, most
smaller PSBs will get further marginalized and rendered irrelevant in the
broader picture. The few (4 or 5) that are left will be more private than
government.
Begin from the beginning
Stock market blatantly refused to acknowledge the study on the
status of education in India (The
annual status of education report 2017). This report highlights the
pathetic state of primary and secondary education in areas where most of the
future workers are dwelling.
Investors appear least concerned about the fact that not in a
distant future, Indian companies may not find enough skilled workers locally
and may have to depend on foreign workers for even routine clerical jobs.
A nation which should ideally be the largest provider of skill
workers to the world might become a net importer of skill workers.
As per the report, though Standard VIII enrolment has doubled in
past one decade, only two third of class VIII students stay in school for more
than 3years. Implying that the dropout rate of students exiting the RTE
framework (14yr of age) is very high.
Furthermore, the report suggests that lack of employment
opportunities and availability of good incentives is making a large number of
students staying in colleges, pursuing post graduate courses etc. But only a
fraction of these PG students may be employable. Many students take such
subjects in colleges that do not make them job worthy, because the institution
accessible to them offers only such subjects.
The report finds that "Even accounting for work and
enrollment in a vocational course, one third of youth who are not currently
enrolled in the formal education system are not doing anything. Those who are
working are probably doing so in low productivity jobs given their age and
education profiles. This does not bode well for the future of these
youth."
While a number of ultra nationalists are busy proclaiming fancy
facts regarding how India is origin of most modern scientific and mathematical
concept and innovations, the fact on the ground is that amongst the children in
age group of 14-18yrs:
- About 25% still cannot read basic text fluently in their own language.
- More than half struggle with division (3 digit by 1 digit) problems. Only 43% are able to do such problems correctly.
- Amongst the youth in this age group who have completed eight years of schooling, a significant proportion still lack foundational skills like reading and arithmetic.
- 24% of surveyed youth could not count money correctly.
- 21% could not name the State they live in.
- 14% could not recognize the map of India.
- 36% could not name the capital of India.
The experts sitting in Yojna Bhawan, need to set the priorities
right.
But more than the government, the people of this great nation need
to understand that giving or taking a fraudulent education degree (BEd, BT, NTT
etc.) is a bigger crime than murder.
By killing one person or robbing a house, a criminal perhaps ruins
one family.
People adulterating food may expose a few thousand consumers to
health hazard.
A clerk at Motor Vehicle Department does not understand that by
giving driving license to an untrained driver for Rs1000, he is potentially
endangering the life of all his family members who use roads and are exposed to
the such rouge drivers' litany .
But the people allowing incompetent people to become teachers for
few thousand rupees, do not understand that they are exposing the entire nation
to a grave danger.
These incompetent teachers cause huge stress in the society, as
the students inappropriately passed by them (mostly to hide their incompetence
and in many instance for money) fail to get any job. Many of these grow as
frustrated and cynical citizens. Some of them become criminals too. The more
resourceful find a way to get into government jobs (through quota or bribe),
adding to the inefficiency and corruption in the administration.
The growing instances of petty crimes like chain rapes, snatching,
and even murders involving juveniles, clearly highlight the inadequacies of our
teachers.
Anyone who is investing in India for long term needs to be worried
about this trend. If this trend is allowed to persist for another decade, this
country may not even remain worth living, leave alone investing.
And all those who trolled Mrs. Amir Khan for saying so a couple of years
back, might her find words prophetic!
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