K Natwar Singh: Is the government listening?

Much has been written about the Lok Pal Bill. I shall not add to the endless confusion. Both sides seem to be addicted to unedifying cachinnation. Amid all this, one fact does stand out. Anna Hazare has succeeded in highlighting the decay of personal and political values.

In the past few days, nearly a hundred people have taken the trouble to visit me. They came from Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh. Most were between the ages of 25 and 40. They wanted to let off steam and vent their anger and frustration. Their complaints, however, were not new: corruption, inflation and the harassment of the aam admi. Most of these fellow Bharatwasis were non-English speakers. In Hindi they were articulate and passionate. I listened without interruption. After all I could not possibly disagree with their indignation, rage and outrage.

I have been reflecting on what these not-so-well-off, well-meaning and public-spirited individuals had said to me. Without using any fancy terminology they delivered body blows to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA-II). UPA-II had disappointed and disregarded them. It appeared to be suffering a collective nervous breakdown. The political doctors were confused and running for cover. Run they can. Hide they cannot. Next, UPA-II started to haemorrhage, which was not a pretty sight. It gave the impression, “Divided we stand; united we fall”. Why resort to loud sneering and use impolite language? Can a gag order be imposed on certain spokespersons’ use of invective? The prime minister could, and should, apply balm and bring the political temperature down. He has an excellent opportunity to stem the rot by effecting a courageous and meaningful Cabinet reshuffle.

Let’s now move on to the issue of high cut-off marks. Recently, a well-known college in Delhi announced that a student needs to have scored 100 per cent in class 12 board exams to even try for the first cut-off list to gain admission. In that case, what can the parents of a child who has scored 98 or 99 per cent marks say? They cannot blame her for being an inferior student. Amazingly, the principal of the college in question brazenly defended the atrocious 100 per cent cut-off. The human resource development minister rightly expressed his disapproval. But he also said he could not interfere with the autonomous character of colleges, thus throwing the baby out with the academic bathwater. Autonomy should be exercised with good sense, prudence and imagination. A college or university should be producing well-rounded alumni — good at academics, sports and extra-curricular activities. The existing system of assessing performance should be reformed drastically. I secured a first division in History (honours), and stood first in the college and second in the university. I did not get 90 or 95 per cent marks. No one in history, English or philosophy can achieve this ridiculous score. Since the pressure to score bloated marks was absent, I did well in sports (university tennis champion) and extra-curricular activities (president of the union). I was not the only one. Many others did even better. If a student is aiming to score 100 per cent marks or is required to do that, she will have missed out a lot in terms of her college life.

In Cambridge I knew several students in my college who were awarded a first in their Tripos despite answering only one out of five questions. I doubt if Dr Manmohan Singh scored 90 or 100 per cent marks while pursuing his degree in economics at either Cambridge or Oxford.

In the past 64 years, India has made spectacular progress in many fields. But we have not done well in three vital fields: family planning, education including research and development, and judicial reforms. In family planning we are behind China, Vietnam and Indonesia (even in life expectancy we have not achieved what these countries have). In education, too, we could have done much better. Literacy rates in the above listed countries are much higher, over 90 per cent. The other day, Dr U R Rao bluntly said not a single Indian educational institution, including IITs, was world-class. Many students from IITs go in for the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Foreign Service. Several qualified doctors opted for civil services. This is unfortunate. The number of pending cases in high courts, even the highest court, runs into hundreds of thousands. Civil cases go on for decades. Why can’t more judges be appointed?

TAILPIECE
The Instituto Cervantes has organised a month-long exhibition in New Delhi to mark the centenary of the discovery of the Peruvian wonder city, Machu Picchu. I nearly made it to this “sacred city”. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi embarked on a three-week tour of several South American countries in October 1968. I had done much research on Machu Picchu. Like the prime minister, I was looking forward to set foot on this unique landmark. We had arrived at the Santiago airport to leave for Peru when our host, Chile’s President Frei, informed Ms Gandhi that the government of Peru had been overthrown a few minutes ago. We were compelled to stay two extra days in Santiago before flying to Bogotá. Machu Picchu remained a dream.