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By

Brahm Prakash Chaturvedi & Taha Siddiqui

India and United States have initiated a dialogue on collaboration in higher education. With this the debate about the feasibility of foreign universities setting up campuses in India has gained momentum once again.

On October 13, Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal and Secretary of state Hilary Clinton met in Washington DC to discuss the possibilities of cooperation in the higher education sector.

Before this initiative HRD ministry had set up a committee in 2008 in the chairmanship of Prof. Yashpal to advice on renovation and rejuvenation of higher education. In its report in 2009 the committee categorically said that quality universities grow in organic connection with cultural soil and cannot be transplanted mechanically.

Government has also tabled “The Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010 in the parliament which proposes to allow foreign education providers set up campuses in India and offer degrees.

On the other hand, experts are of the opinion that setting up of foreign universities wouldn’t improve the quality of higher education in India

“Setting up foreign universities in India is just the first step to attract the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) but improving the quality, the courses and the standard of teaching is far more crucial, says Dr Apoorvaanand, of Delhi University.

We don’t have to make small islands of excellence but create an indigenous education system that takes care of the large student population, he adds.

As it is, govt. has allowed 100 % FDI in education sector since 2000 but according to experts it has not yielded great results in improving the quality of teaching.

Students are also apprehensive that if foreign universities are established in India it might make higher education more expensive. They would rather prefer an Indian university with quality teachers and good infrastructure than a mediocre foreign university.

“ I don’t think I will apply for a foreign university because the budget would be very high, and if am getting good education in my government run college, in my own country then why would I apply in foreign university which is just mediocre in nature, says Sneha, a student of jamia Milia Islamia.

However, some students believe that it would make higher education more competitive. “ I think setting up foreign campuses here would bring world class faculty”, says Siddhanth Manocha of Pearl Academy of fashion. He thinks that the exposure will rise the standard of education in India.

With millions of students ready to enroll in colleges every year, India is still struggling to improve the quality of higher education. Amidst these disparate voices and opinions, one thing is clear that a long consensus building exercise is necessary with the passing of the bill in the parliament.

By

Sushovan Sircar and Zeyad Masroor Khan

Rahul Sabharwal, a marketing manager, has been a regular visitor of Sanjay Lake for years. The lake , he feels is “different from the chaos and noise of the city”. However , Sabharwal , like many others is disappointed by the government’s apathy towards the lakes and its repeated failure to keep them pollution free.

Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has once again taken an initiative to revive three of Delhi’s largest lakes – Hauz Khas Lake , Sanjay Lake and Bhalaswa Lake.

DDA previously had an MoU with INTACH [Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage] for the maintenance of Hauz Khas Lake which expired in 2007. Noting the deteriorating conditions of the lakes , it has once again turned to the heritage body for the revival of the water bodies. A new MoU for five years has been signed with INTACH for their technical expertise in this field.

“What happens in urban lakes is that pollution level is so high, that the natural water system loses its ability to self cleanse it. We will introduce a consortium of bacteria, which can replicate this natural cleansing process”, says Ritu Singh of INTACH.

Environmentalists though feel that the simply treating the lakes is not enough. A more sensitive approach towards the issue needs to be adopted. However , at a time when the Yamuna itself is so dangerously polluted , lakes often end up as a soft target for pollutants. Sunny Verma of SWECHHA an NGO which works for the revival of Yamuna says ,“ Open spaces need to be kept open and encroachment along the lakes must stop”. Moreover , “the groundwater must be retained and conserved” he adds.

Experts at INTACH ,however , say that having previously attempted to pump groundwater for the Hauz Khas Lake they realized it was neither cost effective nor a solution. “ The only effective method is to ecologically treat water from the sewage treatment plants and introduce them in the lakes” says Ritu Singh.

Both Sanjay and Bhalaswa Lakes have been cut off from the Yamuna due to construction of embankments. Hence they tend to dry up during summer. A treated supply of water from nearby Kondli sewage plants should keep water levels intact throughout the year , says Singh.

Lakes , which attract thousands of visitors everyday are often polluted by the visitors themselves. Navneet Singh , a resident of Mayur Vihar who visits the nearby Sanjay Lake daily for a walk says that people tend to discard garbage in the lakes which spawns mosquitoes and other insects.

“ If the massive Sanjay Lake in Mayur Vihar is properly rejuvenated , the water problems of the entire East Delhi region can be solved to a great extent” says Verma of SWECHHA. “The lakes need to protected as they are crucial not just for humans but all other life forms as well”, he added.

By
Nishtha Arora

Two crore national unique identity numbers have been issued by the Unique Identification Authority (UID) in the month of October alone. It is said that UID aims to roll out Aadhaar-based applications for improved service delivery that will ensure that the poor benefits from welfare schemes.

“UIDAI has generated 59.6 million crore Aadhaar numbers within a little more than a year, and more than 100 million citizens have been enrolled in the system across the country”, says the latest official statement from the UID authority. But if recent reports of the UID data being misused are to be believed, these cards run the risk of breaching individual privacy.

As recent media report cites the first of its kind complaint received against the misuse of address proof in UID, anti UID campaigners and researchers are vary of its ‘safety’. “It is like a version of homeland security. We are no longer safe with our data being available on the net. The state can use anybody’s fingerprints and make us look like we committed the crime. You know how easy it is to lift anyone’s fingerprints these days”? rues Usha Ramanathan, an independent law researcher and the main voice behind ‘Say no to UID’ campaign. Gopal Krishna, of The International South Asia Forum (INSAF), has other apprehensions. “Wikileaks has shown that no data is digitally secure over the internet, then how can they claim that this UID data stored would not be hacked”? , he asks.

There is no denying the fact that the UID plan could make it simple for people to access various services such as banking and government subsidies through Aadhaar by merely swiping the cards. However, vulnerability of personal data does raise questions in the mind of the people. Is the digitally saved data in these smart cards secure enough?

Meanwhile advocates of the Unique Identification Authority are confident about the security of data at various levels of collection. “It’s based on biometrics and retina scan etc and this personal information of a resident is digitally safe in the regional centres databases. Also, there is an option the form that asks for the resident to share the information with other authorities and they are free to accept or decline that option. It is just a yes or no option…then where does this question of digital data being misused or leaked out arise? When we are not sharing anyone’s details then how can you say that the police or the state can misuse this data?” questions Sujata Chaturvedi, Deputy Director General (DDG) of UID.

Currently, UIDAI plans to issue 60 crore UID cards by the year 2014. The million dollar questions that needs to be answered at the moment is: Would the UID authority be able to keep up the promise of making functioning easy from the governance perspective and also secure our biometric information digitally safe always?

As he talks to us, his first customer has arrived. 45-year-old Jatin Kumar, a daily wage laborer needs a passport size photograph for some court work. He will pay only Rs 50 to get his four B&W photographs clicked and printed in just 5 minutes.

“Technology has made us lazy, taking photographs used to be an art. Now the thinking has disappeared and all they do is click,” 42-year-old photographer explains. “Digital cameras can never give you such joy,” he adds.Clicking a photograph with this ancient camera looks so interesting you can just stand there and watch him as he starts his work. How he adjusts the camera’s focus by sliding the ancient Carl Zeiss lens back and forth along a track before ducking beneath a large piece of cloth at the back to slide the photo paper behind a glass plate.

The shutter release button has been an integral part of camera for long is nowhere to be seen here. Tikam Chand just removes the lens cap for one or two seconds to expose the photo paper to make an image. Then he comes back under the coverings, sticking his hand in tubes made of a blue jeans leg to shift the paper from developing chemicals into the fixer, then into a plastic bucket to rinse off the chemicals.

The image made after all this will dampen you spirits, its just a negative image and he will have to shoot this negative to make it positive by going over the same process once again.
His clientele includes locals as well as tourists from Russia and Thailand. He’s out here every day, shouting, calling tourists to get their photos clicked. On a bad day he’ll earn nothing, on a good day it’s up to Rs 500.

The story of this box camera and how his family got it has almost become a part of the forgotten past now. All he knows is that, his grandfather somehow received the camera as a gift from the royal family. For the last three decades, this camera has been the sole bread earner for him, his wife and two sons.Will either of his sons, aged 6 and 11, go into this business? “They only like the new stuff, cell phones and computer games etc.” he says. “I guess it will probably end with me.”