| PATRICIA MUKHIM | |||
| Since its establishment, Nagaland University has been in the news for the wrong reasons. Successive vice-chancellors of the university have apparently failed to carry out their duty both as academicians and administrators. Lack of financial accountability and transparency and the wrong utilisation of resources have rightly agitated the minds of the university teachers. They have moved heaven and earth to get the wrongs addressed by the Union ministry of human resource development.
One vice-chancellor was removed on that account only to be replaced by another who, according to the teachers, is alleged to be equally if not more corrupt. Nagaland is perhaps the only state where vice-chancellors spend a considerable time hobnobbing with political bigwigs, although this should not be the case at all. When teachers go on an agitation mode — and in the case of Nagaland it has been a protracted one — the consequences are felt by the student community. Normally teachers strikes and close down universities as the last resort. But when the agitation becomes the sole preoccupation of those who are to impart knowledge, there is a serious lapse and it is time for citizens’ groups of Nagaland to take stock of the situation. If a university is not functioning in the manner it should, then should the onus not fall upon the Naga public to demand that things be set right? Why should teachers alone take up cudgels on their own behalf and fight their battle in an isolated manner? After all, the university was set up on the demand of the people of Nagaland so that it serves their purpose. It was never meant to be only an employment agency where a few people would get jobs and a few others their education. A university is a centre of knowledge and a laboratory for rigorous research in different spheres so as to assist human society in its growth and development. Steven Swartz, a professor of Macquarie University, says: “A university is for training people for a job as well as opening their eyes, hearts and minds so that they can analyse complex problems, communicate their point of view to others, work in teams, trying to improve the nature of society and understanding the universe and their place in it.” In that sense, a university has a larger social purpose and is not just a place for consuming academic knowledge. Any knowledge that does not translate into a better social, political, economic and human transformation is therefore quite useless. The role of a university professor is definitely more challenging than that of a primary or high school teacher. The role of the latter is essentially to build the basic skills of students in their formative years, help them form good habits, live a disciplined life with respect for fellow beings and nature and help mould the personalities of the children in a manner that is desirable and yet leaves them with the liberty of thought and action. A university teacher, on the other hand, has the responsibility to build human beings who are questioning and who challenge the status quo. They guide research students to rigorously test out their field data in the laboratory of rational thinking where assumptions are eliminated and facts are distilled with clarity and logic. To be a university teacher therefore requires not only academic qualifications and communication skills but also the highest standards of intellectual integrity. Hence, it is jarring to hear of university teachers pursuing an agenda to remove the vice-chancellor. This antagonistic stance by a group whose prime duty is the pursuit of greater intellectual accomplishments for better social responses seems incongruent with their stated goals. It is true that the university is a place where dissent flourishes and is even encouraged because lack of dissent or the silence of the citizen is the bane of modern society. Yet dissent is by no means destructive. It is a diligent pursuit of the truth by advancing the most cogent reasons. Dissent certainly has nothing to do with violence. It is in fact the most non-violent path pursued by the world’s greatest thinkers. Universities are supposed to produce such modern thinkers who can rise to the challenge of solving complex human problems. If university teachers were to spend more of their waking hours engaged in a dissent that is no longer reasonable and which takes them out of the classroom which is the laboratory of ideas, there is a cause for genuine concern. At this point of time, the teachers of the Nagaland University might find it hard to agree with me but in their more sober moments they too would see the futility of fighting their own battle without marshalling the larger society which is actually the real beneficiary of a university. The teachers in their release to the media have tried to justify their actions and have also brought to the fore their compulsions to stop teaching activities indefinitely. Things have indeed reached a flashpoint. At least 10 teachers who are members of the Nagaland University Teachers’ Association have been suspended from their jobs. The non-teaching staff are also in an agitated mood. It may be reminded that the association has been pursuing the cases of corruption against the current vice-chancellor and his predecessor as well. One question that baffles is why the ministry of human resource development sends the kind of people it does to occupy a leadership position in an academia? It is an open secret that the bureaucracy in the ministry is very powerful. This is perhaps the only country where vice-chancellors and heads of other institutions are selected not for their academic excellence but because they know powerful people in Delhi and in the ministry. How can any university perform well under such circumstances? Besides, vice-chancellors today spend more of their time in the national capital running around for funds and other resources and actually spend very little time in their real work of building a healthy academic atmosphere and in teaching. In a state like Nagaland, which is already so volatile, it would have made sense to appoint a vice-chancellor with unquestioned credentials. Unfortunately, all incumbents thus far have failed the test. But far from learning lessons, New Delhi does business as usual. These actions of the Union ministry are reflective of a Brahmin mindset. This is how Delhi has always treated its periphery. The attitude is that if the periphery is asking for something, give them the worst because they do not deserve better. It is the attitude of the ruler towards the ruled, which is not what a democracy should be. But whoever said that India practises democracy in letter and spirit has not lived in the Northeast. The Nagaland University affairs are indeed very unfortunate. But somebody has to break the deadlock and resolve matters once and for all. (The author can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com) |
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Showing posts with label Northeast Echoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Northeast Echoes. Show all posts
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Northeast Echoes , Politics of education : Patricia Mukhim
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Northeast Echoes
Peace as a political tool
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s cup of woes seems to be overflowing with conflicts on so many fronts. The resurgence of Bodo militancy after a lull has only sharpened the contours of conflict in Assam. It was not at all pleasing to the ears to hear two prominent leaders of the Bodo people, publicly trade charges at one another.
Supporters of Hagrama Mohilary accused U.G. Brahma of masterminding the fratricidal killings in Bodoland. Brahma threw back each allegation at his detractors. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Bodos are a culturally superior race with a history of civilisation that is longer than most of the other tribes in the Northeast.
How a group that is culturally and intellectually endowed could be subsumed and pushed to the fringes of development is a historical aberration that can only be revisited with much anguish and a sense of loss of something irretrievable.
Historically, the living space of the Bodos comprises nearly one-third of Assam. But in terms of development what is euphemistically referred to as “Bodoland” remains a laggard. The creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) was a temporary palliative. As always the beneficiaries of such political endowments are the leaders of the movements and their kin. The rest of the Bodo people have remained at the subsistence level. For them a BTC or a state government are one and the same.
Co-existence
At one conference attended by Bodo women, one was surprised to learn that the Bodos living along the borders of Bhutan get their electricity from that country. They earn their livelihood across the border and depend very little on Assam.
For them it is advantageous that India and Bhutan co-exist peacefully because any imbalance between the two as had happened during the Bhutanese operation against the Ulfa, tends to create a livelihood problem for them. As long as such simple folks continue with their economic pursuits and stay out of political discourses about their rights and the infringement of those rights, there will be a lid on political aspirations.
But history is a grim reminder that marginalised groups do tend to seek their place in the sun sooner than later. It is evident that several Bodo people are dissatisfied with the BTC. They do not see the council as an answer to their development backlogs.
The BTC we are told has failed to live up to the expectations of the hoi-polloi. There is allegedly no system of financial accountability and this is the crux of the matter. When people ask for greater autonomy for themselves what the leaders are actually asking for is more money to play around with. It is so easy to forget “the people” in whose names armed struggles were raised and whose blood was shed for the cause.
In cold blood
Besides the current blood-letting in Bodoland which has yet to raise the temperature in Dispur, the other battlefront that could spoil Tarun Gogoi’s sleep is the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) led by Jewel Gorlosa. This group is known to be mentored by the NSCN (I-M) and therefore as unscrupulous in its operations. Recently, the DHD (J) killed a dozen truck drivers who were on routine trips through North Cachar Hills to the Barak valley and beyond carrying food supplies.
The manner in which the drivers were shot in cold blood and at point blank range is reminiscent of the cruelties of the Gestapo. The DHD (J) then attacked the railway employees who were merely carrying out their duties. As a consequence the rail authorities suspended their work and trucks refused to move.
The repercussions were felt in Mizoram and Tripura whose foodgrain quota was dwindling by the day.
Having carried out their horrific massacre the DHD (J) then calls a unilateral truce. This trigger-happy group probably woke up to the seriousness of the situation only belatedly when it began to affect their own people and a hue and cry was raised by the Dimasa people themselves.
Today there are over 40 companies of security forces posted in the North Cachar Hills, the largest ever for the smallest area. This became necessary in order to complete the railway gauge conversion and the trans-Asian highway.
The role of the NSCN (I-M), a group that is ostensibly on a truce with the Centre, but is providing the fuel to different armed groups across the region has not come in for close scrutiny. But things being so convoluted you can never be too sure as to who is fuelling what and under whose direction.
Be that as it may the Assam government is expected to have some plan of action to deal with groups like the DHD (J) which have assumed the characteristics of marauders.
If such groups are not put down with an iron hand one foresees many more splinters emerging each with its own ideology but all of them out to make a fast buck. The complete absence of the rule of law in North Cachar Hills, Karbi Anglong, and Bodoland can no longer be covered up.
The lawlessness in Assam has in fact reached such serious dimensions that even the state forests will now be guarded by the army. This is quite a telling account of the ground situation in that state.
All these are bad enough indications but what is worse is Tarun Gogoi’s proclivity to buy peace in instalments.
His government is all out to sign a truce with a faction of Ulfa whose cadres are faded and jaded and have lost their firepower. Normally, no armed group would sing the peace tune if it could still survive in the jungles. And the rule of the game is that talks are held only between equals.
Why should the state agree to a peace proposition from an ineffectual group? Unless of course there is an uncoded quid pro quo that the group will serve the political dispensation at Dispur in some strange way.
Ulfa on back foot
The argument that Ulfa has not killed anyone for months together and therefore deserves a chance at peace is specious. If Ulfa is on the back foot now it is only because they have run out of steam. At this juncture the outfit is in dire need of oxygen. If it is starved of it for some more time it might have to surrender. Hence the proposal to smoke the peace pipe.
If the Tarun Gogoi government succumbs as it appears to have done then the future of Assam will stand gravely compromised.
Non-resident Assamese are appalled by the number of bandhs calls, which have crippled particularly the tea industry. Any attempt to give Ulfa its much-needed time to regroup will spell disaster for Assam. It will also be the death knell to entrepreneurship and industry both of which are meant to trigger economic growth.
Alas. Politics pushes people to look for short-term gains and abandon any long-term policy for the common good.
(The author can be contacted at patricia17@rediffma il.com)
THE TELEGRAPH - JUNE 23, 2008
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s cup of woes seems to be overflowing with conflicts on so many fronts. The resurgence of Bodo militancy after a lull has only sharpened the contours of conflict in Assam. It was not at all pleasing to the ears to hear two prominent leaders of the Bodo people, publicly trade charges at one another.
Supporters of Hagrama Mohilary accused U.G. Brahma of masterminding the fratricidal killings in Bodoland. Brahma threw back each allegation at his detractors. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Bodos are a culturally superior race with a history of civilisation that is longer than most of the other tribes in the Northeast.
How a group that is culturally and intellectually endowed could be subsumed and pushed to the fringes of development is a historical aberration that can only be revisited with much anguish and a sense of loss of something irretrievable.
Historically, the living space of the Bodos comprises nearly one-third of Assam. But in terms of development what is euphemistically referred to as “Bodoland” remains a laggard. The creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) was a temporary palliative. As always the beneficiaries of such political endowments are the leaders of the movements and their kin. The rest of the Bodo people have remained at the subsistence level. For them a BTC or a state government are one and the same.
Co-existence
At one conference attended by Bodo women, one was surprised to learn that the Bodos living along the borders of Bhutan get their electricity from that country. They earn their livelihood across the border and depend very little on Assam.
For them it is advantageous that India and Bhutan co-exist peacefully because any imbalance between the two as had happened during the Bhutanese operation against the Ulfa, tends to create a livelihood problem for them. As long as such simple folks continue with their economic pursuits and stay out of political discourses about their rights and the infringement of those rights, there will be a lid on political aspirations.
But history is a grim reminder that marginalised groups do tend to seek their place in the sun sooner than later. It is evident that several Bodo people are dissatisfied with the BTC. They do not see the council as an answer to their development backlogs.
The BTC we are told has failed to live up to the expectations of the hoi-polloi. There is allegedly no system of financial accountability and this is the crux of the matter. When people ask for greater autonomy for themselves what the leaders are actually asking for is more money to play around with. It is so easy to forget “the people” in whose names armed struggles were raised and whose blood was shed for the cause.
In cold blood
Besides the current blood-letting in Bodoland which has yet to raise the temperature in Dispur, the other battlefront that could spoil Tarun Gogoi’s sleep is the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) led by Jewel Gorlosa. This group is known to be mentored by the NSCN (I-M) and therefore as unscrupulous in its operations. Recently, the DHD (J) killed a dozen truck drivers who were on routine trips through North Cachar Hills to the Barak valley and beyond carrying food supplies.
The manner in which the drivers were shot in cold blood and at point blank range is reminiscent of the cruelties of the Gestapo. The DHD (J) then attacked the railway employees who were merely carrying out their duties. As a consequence the rail authorities suspended their work and trucks refused to move.
The repercussions were felt in Mizoram and Tripura whose foodgrain quota was dwindling by the day.
Having carried out their horrific massacre the DHD (J) then calls a unilateral truce. This trigger-happy group probably woke up to the seriousness of the situation only belatedly when it began to affect their own people and a hue and cry was raised by the Dimasa people themselves.
Today there are over 40 companies of security forces posted in the North Cachar Hills, the largest ever for the smallest area. This became necessary in order to complete the railway gauge conversion and the trans-Asian highway.
The role of the NSCN (I-M), a group that is ostensibly on a truce with the Centre, but is providing the fuel to different armed groups across the region has not come in for close scrutiny. But things being so convoluted you can never be too sure as to who is fuelling what and under whose direction.
Be that as it may the Assam government is expected to have some plan of action to deal with groups like the DHD (J) which have assumed the characteristics of marauders.
If such groups are not put down with an iron hand one foresees many more splinters emerging each with its own ideology but all of them out to make a fast buck. The complete absence of the rule of law in North Cachar Hills, Karbi Anglong, and Bodoland can no longer be covered up.
The lawlessness in Assam has in fact reached such serious dimensions that even the state forests will now be guarded by the army. This is quite a telling account of the ground situation in that state.
All these are bad enough indications but what is worse is Tarun Gogoi’s proclivity to buy peace in instalments.
His government is all out to sign a truce with a faction of Ulfa whose cadres are faded and jaded and have lost their firepower. Normally, no armed group would sing the peace tune if it could still survive in the jungles. And the rule of the game is that talks are held only between equals.
Why should the state agree to a peace proposition from an ineffectual group? Unless of course there is an uncoded quid pro quo that the group will serve the political dispensation at Dispur in some strange way.
Ulfa on back foot
The argument that Ulfa has not killed anyone for months together and therefore deserves a chance at peace is specious. If Ulfa is on the back foot now it is only because they have run out of steam. At this juncture the outfit is in dire need of oxygen. If it is starved of it for some more time it might have to surrender. Hence the proposal to smoke the peace pipe.
If the Tarun Gogoi government succumbs as it appears to have done then the future of Assam will stand gravely compromised.
Non-resident Assamese are appalled by the number of bandhs calls, which have crippled particularly the tea industry. Any attempt to give Ulfa its much-needed time to regroup will spell disaster for Assam. It will also be the death knell to entrepreneurship and industry both of which are meant to trigger economic growth.
Alas. Politics pushes people to look for short-term gains and abandon any long-term policy for the common good.
(The author can be contacted at patricia17@rediffma il.com)
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