Assault on souls of Universities
Nurturing the false pride of ‘we had this long ago’ is India developing a mindset to destroy everything that we got today? India was on the forefront of technology in the past and had achieved great feats in the field of education through the pages of history, are the ‘neo cultural’ pundits of India turning into a roadblock for India to grow into the future? Education policy is the best example to show how India is on downhill journey with its scientific and rational approach to the future.
The believers of Hindutva are posing a massive challenge to growth of intellectualism, by tampering with the educational policy. The so called upholders of culture, often shed crocodile tears about how the invaders destroyed the Nalanda University way back in 1193. This often finds its way into public speeches that Prime Minister Modi delivers at frequent intervals. His government is working stealthily on destroying the post-independence universities of India.
On one hand this government is working on uprooting the modern universities at the cost of glorifying the historical legacy of the country. All the steps initiated to change the UGC that existed since 1956 into HECU, need to be noted. Immediately after, the yet-to-be set up Jio University sponsored by Mukesh Ambani was given Institute of Excellence, along with six other institutes. These are the biggest mistakes that can turn detrimental for India’s educational future. We need to also know HECU would operate.
The government will have all rights to withdraw the power of any university that disobeys the government diktats. The VCs and management heads of the educational institutions can be subjected to disciplinary action or three years of punishment if they fail to pay heed to the government. UGC had the powers to control the allocation of funds, but in the new body that is being constituted can only keep an eye on quality control, of course, with the prior permission of the government.
HRD ministry will have direct control over the funds that flow to institutes. As per the 1956 Act when the UGC came into existence, at least 50% of the members had to be from outside the government, from fields such as agriculture, forests, medicine or law and so on. But HECI will only have members that are nominated by the government.
It is not as though UGC was without faults, since the Commission had at times allowed practices to be taken up by the Universities that were against the interest of the students on several occasions. For instance, the ever changing syllabus and exam practices of Delhi University had subjected the students to a lot of problems. The university has switched from annual exam to semester system and then back again to annual exam pattern when students retaliated against this.
The UGC had also directed the Delhi University to engage 20 teaching hours over the existing 12 hour teaching time. Do the students have the bandwidth to listen to over 18 hour classes? Have the members or policy makers or politicians even understood how much time it takes to prepare for one hour class?
With all this, the anticipated changes that HECI would bring in, are already mired in problems. This would only help the rich universities that aspire to become top universities, one of those dreams the government is chasing right now. Even the students and teachers will choose such institutes over the others and public money will be given in large parts, including pumping of private funds only to these universities. In this ordeal, colleges and universities with lack of facilities would be sidelined.
As of now, India has 760 universities and 38,498 colleges. Among the 1.56 million students, over 80% are going to degree level classes the ones who opt for higher level of education are just about 0.67% of them. Even when the government is speaking about privatization of education, at least 78% are private institutes. What plans does the government have for these institutes and their students? By creating ‘renowned’ and ‘non-autonomous’ categories, the government is pushing most of them into second grade categories. The government assumes the students have to be controlled, and not be let off to have a liberal mindset.
This is much against the thought of ‘Where the mind is without fear and head is held high; and the knowledge is free…’ The government is trying to put a massive control mechanism over young minds, by attacking the souls of universities. This is worse than whatever was unleashed on the Nalanda university in the annals of history.
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London, Nov 22: A bomb disposal squad deployed as a “precaution” to the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport concluded an investigation into a "security incident" on Friday after making a “suspect package” safe.
The South Terminal of Gatwick Airport, the UK's second busiest airport after Heathrow, which was briefly shut owing to the incident reopened following the incident.
The Gatwick is around 45 km south of London.
Two people detained during the enquiries have since been allowed to continue their journey as the airport was opened.
“Police have concluded their investigation into a report of a suspect package at Gatwick Airport. Officers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team made the package safe, and the airport has been handed back to its operator,” Sussex Police said in an updated statement.
“Two people detained while enquiries were ongoing have subsequently been allowed to continue their journeys. There will remain an increased police presence in the area to assist with passengers accessing the South Terminal for onward travel,” the statement added.
Earlier on Friday, the incident caused severe disruption at the busy airport’s South Terminal, while the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport remained unaffected.
“Police were called to the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport at 8.20 am on Friday (November 22) following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage,” a Sussex Police statement said.
“To ensure the safety of the public, staff and other airport users, a security cordon has been put in place whilst the matter is dealt with. As a precaution, an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team is being deployed to the airport. This is causing significant disruption and some roads around the South Terminal have been closed. We’d advise the public to avoid the area where possible,” it said.
Footage on social media taken outside the airport showed crowds of frustrated travellers being moved away from the terminal building.
Gatwick said it was working hard to resolve the issue.
“A large part of the South Terminal has been evacuated as a precaution while we continue to investigate a security incident," the airport said in a social media post.
“Passengers will not be able to enter the South Terminal while this is ongoing. The safety and security of our passengers and staff remain our top priority. We are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Train and bus services that serve the airport were also impacted while the police carried out their inquiries.
In an unrelated incident in south London on Friday morning, the US Embassy area in Nine Elms by the River Thames was the scene of a controlled explosion by Scotland Yard dealing with what they believe may have been a “hoax device”.
“We can confirm the 'loud bang' reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers,” the Metropolitan Police said in a post on X.
“Initial indications are that the item was a hoax device. An investigation will now follow. Some cordons will remain in place for the time being but the majority of the police response will now be stood down,” it added.
