Whither Values?

Robert Browning the poet had an axe to grind. He was extremely unhappy with William Wordsworth. His grievance was the Wordsworth who once stood by the French Revolution had gone back and become a part of the establishment. I too have an axe to grind, but for reasons that are the exact obverse of Robert Browning's. I see that teachers (read University Lecturers and Professors) who have become a part of the establishment firmly have turned revolutionaries. I have no problem with revolutions when they are required. But when revolutions are sought to be created for the furtherance of very personally derived agendas then I have a problem. Let me get to the point without too much ado. I went to my University as I would every day. I found that there was a "Chalo Warangal" programme of the TRS party for the Telangana Garjana which was being organized there. There were more vehicles at the university than there were students. I now conflate this with what I read in the Hindu newspaper of today. It quotes students who on the condition of anonymity complained that they were not willing to boycott end semester examinations and that they wanted their academic schedule to go ahead. They wanted to put politics and agitations on hand and academics on the other, with the former not interfering with the latter. They believed that they needed to get on with the studies, finish them and look for employment. They also said that mainly Ph.D scholars who had nothing to lose since they do not have a semester bound programme were trying to disrupt the academic schedule. I have no reasons to doubt them. In fact in the past I have been told that they were encouraged by some teachers also to boycott exams and continue with the agitation rather than with studies. That brings me to the point of revolutions and revolutionaries.

Herbert Marcuse while examining the causes for the Marxist revolutions not happening, claimed that only students and the lumpen proletariat had a revolutionary potential since they had nothing to lose. The lumpen proletariat bit maybe right but not the students bit. He should have said University Teachers had the potential to be revolutionaries. Having been assured of salaries, pension and a total lack of accountability to anyone or anything, university teachers are the true revolutionaries. They can go and look beyond where any student dares to go. Today's Hindu while talking about the discussions in the Andhra Pradesh State Legislature on the subject of the new bill for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors (which empowers the Governor of the State and the University Grants Commission of India in the appointment process) quotes Chukka Ramaiah (a renowned educationist, apparently for overseeing the coaching of generations of students for the IIT-JEE exam) claims that the appointment of Vice-Chancellors of Universities in the Andhra Pradesh should be the sole prerogative of the State Government since a democratically elected government was accountable to people so would a Vice-Chancellor appointed by the government!!!! I still cannot believe he said that. The Universities in the State of Andhra Pradesh without exception have gone to seed, because of Vice-Chancellors who have been political appointees. Governments have fallen but never have Vice-Chancellors faced the wrath of the people. In fact, a few names of Vice-Chancellors who have curried favour with all political parties and different governments come to mind, but I shall refrain from actually naming them here. Mudslinging is not the purpose of why I write. But the Vice-Chancellors of the above mentioned category have sometimes had tenures of a decade or two (no exaggeration here) when the humble politicians who have appointed them fell out of power in a period of five years.

What stumps me totally is that even a few private college managements who are sympathetic to the Telangana agitation have closed colleges and postponed exams scheduled for today. Strikingly the students wanted to get on with it since some of them are from out of Hyderabad and had reserved tickets to leave on a particular day but the postponement now affects their travel plans. Fortunately the teachers or the management have no such problems. I think it is time that scholars of Marxism and revolutions re-examined the traditional ideas and come back with new theories. In the meanwhile I am impressed with this whole thing of taking salary from the government only to fight it. I think the Idea mobile ads can use this and say "What an idea Sirji".

P.S: Not proof read. Apologies for the many errors of spelling and grammar that you will find.

Compounded confusions and confounded realities

I have delayed this post because I had some trepidations of how reactions would be to something that involves questions about caste and that too about the scheduled castes. I wish I was not so political about my life but it seems that I am. As a preface to what I have to say I will quote Steven Spielberg. This is not a verbatim quote but more a paraphrased recollection of what he once very famously said. After the success of "Saving Private Ryan" (a movie that has moved me to streaming tears every time I have seen it) Spielberg was asked about his motivation behind the making of such a film. To that he said that he wanted the present generation of people to remember that their present is secure because it is built on the sacrifices of this generation's forefathers and especially during the two World Wars. A very profound thing to say and this is true even in the Indian context since the Independence of this country has been a result of a selfless sacrifice of an entire generation (maybe many) of Indian people. But today we seem to have no sense of proportion of the nature and magnitude of sacrifice made by our preceding generations and that is why we shamelessly quarrel over territory and other identities.

Let me get to the point that I am trying to make. I am bemused by the senseless and thoughtless actions of my brothers in this part of the world. The issue of Telangana has now been vitiated by considerations of caste more than anything else. I have posted about that in the past. The talk of "dorala Telangana" (Telangana of the feudal landlords) versus "prajala Telangana" (Telangana of the people) has been on for sometime now. The naivette (or is that maliciousness) of leaders seems to have no end. I have asked before and I have asked again as to how an agitation for a separate Telangana can be seen as a freedom movement and how you can treat people of your country and region as enemies. Are there no people belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes and other backward classes in Andhra and Rayalseema? Why should not people fight casteism instead of asking for a separate region and then try to neuter the power of the upper castes? I still have no answer to this question. Equally important is the fact that there are contradictory tendencies in the articulation of region and caste questions. The brother belonging to the Madiga caste want a division of the State of Andhra Pradesh and in the list of Scheduled castes. My Mala brethren do not wish to have the latter division but are game for the former kind of division. It is not as if there are no intellectuals in these groupings. They have a rich tradition of them. I am utterly confused by the intellectuals also towing the line of the political opportunists. Where is the question of building a society based in equality and a nation based in integrity in the discourse of a separate Telangana and a social justice Telangana? Is there no deliverance from social evils and only the furtherance of particular political gains? Have we become incapable of seeing ourselves as Indians rationally and are we just caught up in the jingoism of a politics based in the pursuit of meaningless identities?

When India became independent, the British said that the nation wouldn't last for more than five years. We have lasted sixty three years. Good so far. But the pursuit of fissiparous tendencies and vision less politics could mean that the British prediction may come true even though it will not be true in the timelines proposed. Are we going to throw away the freedom given to us by the sacrifice of our preceding generations? Are we going to divide ourselves so that someone else can yet again come and rule us? I don't feel too confident about the future. Do we do something about this or do we say que sera sera?

P.S. Not proof read. Mistakes may please be excused.

Whither Social Sciences? Part Trois

For a change I am not taking too much of a break between my posts. What has prompted me to do this is a few conversations that I have been having with a few of my colleagues, "academicians" if you like. I know that the tone of my posts has changed considerably. I can see my early posts were more in the nature of academic presentations which were neutral to emotions. Now they have turned polemical and I think what has happened is justified because the change in the tone has happened involuntarily and probably because I feel indignant about what has been happening ever since the separate Telangana agitation has happened. I don't really want to temper my feeling of indignation since it seems to me that it is not misplaced at all. The question then what has this go to do with the whithering of social sciences? My indignation is not because of the posturing of politicians or because of the antics of goons or because of the inability of students to weed out the chaff from the grain. It is because of the attitude of teachers. I somehow think that the term cannot be applied to these individuals who are no better than petty politicians trying pass of intellectuals. Most of them cannot talk about any aspect of social sciences for more than thirty or forty seconds meaningfully.

The "intellectuals" of the universities in the Telangana region can make uneducated politicians seem like towering visionaries. For those of you who read my earlier posts what I am saying now will be familiar. I have claimed in the past the most of the teaching faculty have come into the profession have done so because they have been brought in by someone who was distributing favours. Most of these people are petty in their thinking and have as much intelligence as sheep and are quite happy to follow the leader. Since they have aspirations of becoming something that they are incapable of and since they want to be facilitators between politicians and those who need the politicians, they are quite happy to tow the line of the politicians. They in fact, brazenly try to ingratiate themselves to the politicians by providing them platforms to speak in academic institutions such as the universities and colleges and shout slogans along with the followers of the politicians. They have no understanding of any issues of any kind and that is the case with Telangana too.

The world today emphasizes the necessity for a vibrant social science community that has the wherewithal to understand complex social issues and present them in a cogent manner to the students and society in general. This is mostly the case if developed countries such as the USA, UK and other European countries. The social scientists there are conscientious and work with the idea to understand their society and politics better. Even those who have agitated against the State have done so after they have understood the functioning of the State. In my university and other universities in the state, this is a bit too much to expect. Social scientists have not studied even the social science texts of the 5th grade in school properly. Some of them have written text books themselves and these are works of pure fiction. In their ignorance therefore it is easy to overlook questions pertaining to nativity. The Telangana agitation is based in the issue of "sons of the soil" (I use this expression wisely, since daughters have no part in anything). Academicians are competing with each other to show that they are sons of the soil and anybody else is a "settler". The coining of this term astounds me in this context. Nowhere in the world do people call their own countrymen settlers if they move from one region to the other in the same country. But here in Telangana it is done. People from any other part of the world are welcome but not if they are from the Coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh or the Rayalseema region. Some one who lives a few kilometres away from the Telangana region moves about 2o or 30 kms and is immediately a settler. Anywhere else in the world, this would be a matter of shame but not here. Neighbours shame but owners pride. With social science in this wonderful condition and with legions of uneducated students pouring out into the world, I wonder what the future is.

P.S. Many of the "sons of the soil" have members of their family who have moved on to the USA, but don't see themselves as "settlers". In fact, one of them even told me that there they feel like they own the piece of land on which they are. How is that for hypocrisy?

Post not proof read. Bear with me, as usual.

Whither Social Sciences? Part deux

I suppose there is no point in apologising for the long delays and gaps between posts but then I honestly tell you that I have been busy, perhaps for the first time in the twenty years of my working life. I would like to share with you stories of what happened and what kept me so busy but then that would be akin to giving away the official secrets of my employer. However, I cannot stop myself from saying that when we were speaking to a team from the UGC some of my colleagues from the sciences spectacularly made fools of themselves. That brings me back to the point that I have been making for a long time now, inbreeding weakens the gene. By cleverly coining the Osmania for Osmanians slogan and sticking to it steadfastly for a few decades, we have managed to successfully convert ourselves into very small frogs in very, very small wells. Ironically however, we have also built up massive egos thinking that our hole is the world. Today we are paying for that. Even though I am repeating myself, this is the reason why there is a separate Telangana agitation and that too in the university alone. We all have seen our highly qualified students making themselves completely ineligible for any kind of employment. It sickens me to see that there are Ph.D holders who do not even know what is there in their theses. These theses are products of the ever growing "service industry" and the concept of "outsourcing". The wonderful liaisons between serving academicians means that theses are passed without anybody actually reading them. On the lines of various mafias, we also have an academic mafia that will survive only when the system is subverted successfully and hence these mafiosi are always on the look out for opportunities of subversion. The unholy link with the political parties and joint action committees with students are all products of this great enterprise of the academic mafia. While qualified people are rotting somewhere or have left the shores of the country, the mafia controls the education system. Amen to that.

But that is only a part of what I want to say in this post. The take over of the system by the mafia has meant that the ranks of teachers have swelled with people pursuing their own agendas. Now that caste has become a political variable what better than to use it to leverage things for personal benefit? Most social scientists (if you can call them that) in the southern part of the country have turned out to be casteists. All their "work" is centred around their own caste. The special thing about this is the fact that everybody is now in the race to prove how their caste is the most backward. In this process a new and sharp schism is beginning to take root between the Scheduled Castes and the Other Backward Classes. It is pertinent to note here that OBC stands for Other Backward Classes but for all practical purposes people have converted the expansion of the the abbreviation to Other Backward Castes. We all know that the implication of class is completely different from that of caste. So here is a case of misappropriation of terminology which has deep social implications. The contradictions between the SC and the OBC are sharpening because of the perception among the SCs that there are many OBCs who are traditionally rich and powerful and that more are emerging as powerful because of the patronage that they enjoy from upper caste political parties and the political system itself. The OBCs have been quietly retaliating by saying that the general stock of many Scheduled Castes is better than that of many Other Backward Castes (in fact, they have dropped the O and now are just Backward Castes or BCs). There is now an attempt to build the case of MBCs or Most Backward Castes who are worse off than the Scheduled Castes. They also claim that Scheduled Castes are smaller in number and have enjoyed reservations constitutionally for a much longer period. Needless to say the Scheduled Castes do not agree with this version. In all this social science "research" is non existent but is made to look as if it is active by simply quoting ones own caste history (mostly unwritten) or by talking to members of the caste. Since it is politically wrong and physically unsafe to contradict any of this, upper caste social scientists have migrated to working on stuff that is pertinent to them. Since Phule and Ambedkar are now the exclusive preserve of the BCs and SCs respectively, Gandhi is being rediscovered along with Nehru, Rajagopalachari etc. The upper caste social scientists too are a divided lot with those having right wing affinities having usurped the right to speak about Vallabhai Patel and Bhagat Singh and the Bengali intellectuals comfortably nestled in Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya's and Aurobindo and Subhash Chandra Bose. This to me is an indication that there is no focussed research on anything contemporary in society and that social scientists are clinging to straws from the past which will neither add to or subtract from what is happening in contemporary society.

P.S: The Social Scientists of my University and State ensure that their progeny rarely study social sciences and certainly not in our university. Most of them send their sons and daughters to other states to pursue more "meaningful" education with greater possibilities of employment. Meanwhile here they are contented to form Joint Action Committees with students and playing with their futures and ultimately destroying their lives.

As usual I have not proof read this. Mistakes may therefore by excused.

Whither social sciences?

I don't know how ethical I am being here by posting this but I feel an important aspect of education in Andhra Pradesh has seen complete neglect and I came face to face with this. I was asked to speak to lecturers who teach political science at the plus two level. The experience I had was even to a cynic like me, very shocking. I went expecting that the teachers would be lackadaisical, not pay attention to what I would be saying to them. When I reached the place I was told to expect hostility and that already three teachers had been booed when they tried to speak to them. When the resource persons spoke in English they were asked to switch to Telugu. I entered into a room full of people shouting at each other and when the person from the hosts side tried to introduce me to the audience, there were shouts of "we are government servants and we are getting substandard coffee and food". Through this the host valiantly tried to continue introducing me but that only led to greater push back from the "teachers"who wanted to settle the issue once and for all. (The issue being lack of proper coffee and food). I was asked to get to the podium in the midst of this mayhem and I obliged.

As my lecture on secularism proceeded (I was asked to speak about the various meanings of secularism) slowly a silence dawned in the room. Before the optimists among you jump to the conclusion that this had something to do with my ability to bring order among the unruly or my ability to soothe the "government servants"whose ego was bruised, I would like to state that peace descended since most of the "teachers"left the room in complete disgust after I started speaking in English. A handful were left and more than half of the handful that were left were drawn into deep sleep by the sonorousness of my voice. A few grudgingly heard what I was saying while about four seemed to actually listen to what I had to say. Four out of sixty five, I guess things could be worse.

I am sure you have got the point that I am trying to make. These are teachers and their behaviour was such. Every year, many students pass through the classes and lectures of these teachers, one of whom spelt Karl Marx as Karal Marks. We in the University inherit these students and push them out with postgraduate degrees without making any changes in them or their behaviour. I noticed that there was also a parallel course for teachers of mathematics and they seemed orderly in their behaviour and also saw some discussions in their room. So this is obviously a malady plaguing the social sciences because what we see in the university is similar to this. So do I then conclude that social sciences have whithered away and produce teachers and students who are anti-social in their disposition? You decide and tell me.

P.S: As usual my disclaimer. I have not proof read what I have written so I maybe excused. Thank You.

Is democracy another term for goonocracy?

Contrary to popular perceptions, the Ancient Greeks didn't care too much for democracy. Even though the word is derived from the Greek language, its meaning for people such as Plato was more mob rule than people's rule. Karl Popper, the great philosopher of science (I can see him twisting in his grave at this description of mine), put Plato at the top of the enemies of open society. For long academicians, especially those who believed in the linear conception of history, and also in the interpretative method have quite severely castigated Popper for being insensitive to the cultural differences that history creates and talking about an open society in the context of Ancient Greece while it was more of a modern construct. This is not the appropriate forum to discuss the rightness or wrongness of Karl Popper in his uncharitable description of Plato. However, I have invoked his argument for a specific purpose. For once I shall accept his characterization of Plato without question. So Plato is the enemy of open society. He was "totalitarian" in his thinking. He had no respect for this sacred cow called democracy. Now I shall mount my own critique of Karl Popper for scoffing at Plato for being an enemy of democracy and open society. Here I shall firmly stand on the side of Plato and agree with his idea that democracy is mobocracy. And why have I become like this?

A couple of days ago I read in the newspapers of some of the actions of the pro-Telangana "students". Yes those very ones who have been beaten brutally in public by the police and consequently earned the "right" to behave as they please. Some of these people who apparently are on a higher moral plane than people like me, have decided that they have had enough of Andhra Pradesh and that the Government of Andhra Pradesh should not celebrate the formation of the State. (I am quite at a loss to understand why a State Government should mourn the existence of itself though). As a mark of protest and and as a guarantee to validate their claims, these leaders broke into the premises of the Potti Sree Ramulu Telugu University, doused Potti Sree Ramulu's statue with kerosene or petrol and tried to set it on fire. A security guard alerted to the authorities and this bid was foiled, albeit the statue of the said man was damaged. Then the Osmania University Students JAC created and burnt the effigy of same man, as a symbolic freeing of Telangana from the clutches of the Andhra colonists. Some of the leaders then decided to even burn up the statue of Telugu Thalli statue. Hence the police is sparing no efforts to keep anyone away from the statue.

Here I have a couple of questions.

1. How did Potti Sree Ramulu contribute to the betrayal of Telangana or to its colonization by the Andhra capitalists and land grabbers? Do these "students" and "research scholars" even know what Potti Sree Ramulu did? I am sure they don't, otherwise why would they apportion blame on him for things that he is not remotely responsible.

2. What is the language spoken by people in the Telangana region? I was under the stupid impression that it was Telugu. And if it is Telugu why are there intentions of destroying something which is nothing more than a symbol of the Telugu language. Like the Bharat Mata or Maa Bharthi.

3. I wonder how many people will not be angered by terrorists if they set fire to a statue or effigy of Bharat Mata. If people who set fire to Bharat Mata are anti-national, what are people who do the same here to Telugu thalli and Potti Sree Ramulu?

4. And why are not people indignant about these things? Is it fear or have we simply become so comfortably numb that these things do not mean anything to anyone anymore?

If fear is the key to understanding this mute spectating by people then Plato must be right that democracy is nothing but mob rule or in this case goonocracy. That in itself would not have been so bad, if it wasn't for the fact that these goons are "vidyavanthulu", "intellectuals", "research scholars" etc. I am now trying to imagine how the uneducated will be then. Wait a minute, I think I know the answer. They will be much more enlightened, since they are not goons masquerading as something else.

It brings a tear to my eye that a man who has given up his life after an arduous 40 day fast has this done to him. Rest in peace Sri Potti Sree Ramulu, we are not worthy of your legacy.

P.S. I have not proof read this post, due to paucity of time. All errors may please be forgiven, thank you.

Justification for Violence - Shocking

My intention was originally to continue my posts about education being a categorical imperative, but as is normally the case I have been busy and when not busy inertia has kept me away from writing the blog. This time around there has been a reason that has brought me back to the blog and that too with a sense of indignation. I am going to narrate an incident that happened on Facebook and how that has shocked and horrified me. My initial reaction to that was to fight back on that thread itself, then I thought I should let it pass, since the people involved in it are all my very good friends. But a certain sense of righteous indignation persists and therefore I have decided to write about it in my blog. I will not reveal any names, I am still good friends with them and will continue to be, and I assure that this incident despite the indignation in me, has brought no rancor or changed my feelings towards my friends.

I am sure you are all aware that last week or perhaps the week before that there was this incident on one of the Telugu news channels. This incident justifies my opinion that TV channels have been trying to make merry and increase their TRPs by focusing on the Telangana agitation again and again. One of the Telugu news channels called two protagonists of the separate Telangana agitation for a discussion. Both are young men and very "educated". They were representing two views on the issue and this was obviously an inconvenience to each other. Suddenly in the middle of the discussion of the leaders turns around and hits the other and all hell breaks lose with both fighting but the aggressor clearly having an upper hand. In spite of the anchor's plea for a break, the telecast goes on for about 30 seconds, long enough for people to see the fisticuffs and hear abuse such as "nee amma"and "lanja kodaka". These were two that I could make out, there were more. (Those who have missed this can do a search on Youtube and get the clips). The clip was posted on Facebook by one friend and there was some banter about what the leadership was going to be and what that meant for the future of a separate Telangana. One of the friends started getting a little serious in defending the actions of the persons involved in the incident on live TV but put a disclaimer saying that this was not condoning what had been seen on live TV. His argument was that the present leadership is equally bad, so no need for any special castigation of the new leadership. Then comes the bomb. A long term protagonist of the separate Telangana agitation (and a very good friend of mine) writes that the person who started the fisticuffs was "brutally beaten by the police in front of TV cameras"then taken to the police station and given "more of the same treatment there". He also pointed out that this person was hard working and supported his family by working in National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and is a good student who was eloquent in Telugu though not the same in English. Here it may be pertinent to point out that the said leader is a Ph.D student in English at the Osmania University. The post justifies that Osmania University has big contingent of "rural"students who should be seen in a different light. The other friend who was gingerly defending this in the beginning decided to go to the defence of this person with the argument that Osmania University was a university of rural and "dalit"students who have impeccable moral rectitude. That may be the case.

I have two questions coming out of this.

1. Is there a justification for misbehaving in public (on live TV) because you have been beaten up yourself by someone else? I must tell you here that I once knew someone who wanted to throw garbage from the top floor because when this person lived on the lower floor in another apartment in another city people did the same to him. Another person did not want to pay rent to his flat owner because his tenant in another city was not paying him rent on time. Is this logical or is it just me having a problem?

2. By invoking the rural and the dalit categories are we saying that we do not judge them by standards that are normally applicable to people for behaviour in public? Are these people different? I wonder if the dalits and the rural people will agree with this.

I also anticipate that the arguments of my friends will be that the points raised by me are not to be taken seriously and that they were for information only. My request to people then is do not talk about issues that have no bearing on the discussion in question. It can mislead and portray a picture that is not true.

I will be back with some more posts very soon. Hope I can keep up that promise. I have typed this in a huge hurry so mistakes may be forgiven.