Thursday, May 26, 2016
Modi Govt Turns Two Years Old - An Analyisis
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Rabies Is Just One Reason Why Stray Dogs Are A Snarling Menace In India
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
How India’s Archaic Laws Have A Chilling Effect On Dissent?
Friday, May 20, 2016
India Verdict 2016: BJP's Gains Wrested By Learning Previous Lessons Of Defeats
Thursday, May 19, 2016
How The Congress Imploded On National Arena?
Umbrellas in May: When Chennai’s Season Of The Sun Brought Back Memories Of The December Deluge
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Why The Side Effects Of NEET Are Much More Damaging Than The Disease It Claims To Cure?
By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE
The common entrance exam may spell doom for the majority of medical aspirants and state boards.
The Supreme Court of India has revived the spectre of a common entrance examination for all medical colleges. Ostensibly, the National Eligibility Entrance Test is aimed at creating a level playing field. However, many fear that the effect will be exactly the opposite, as demonstrated by widespread protests, rail-rokos and even clashes with police across many non-Hindi states including Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, among others. There has been vehement opposition from students, doctors (especially rural doctors associations and state units of the Indian Medical Association), parents, non-commercial educationists, political parties and even social justice organisations. The governments of non-Hindi states have also opposed the move.
The overarching fear is that NEET will provide a huge advantage to students of Delhi-headquartered boards such as the Central Board of Secondary Education. Students from these boards also tend to be more urban, upper caste, rich and less likely to be from non-Hindi states, apart from the principal language of non-Hindi states not being their first language.
In short, they will be unrepresentative in a way that will deepen already existing inequities which exist along various axes of class, caste, language, location and rootedness, among others. In addition, many fear that the common medical entrance exam will destroy prestigious state boards as we know them.
Debunking myths:
While the NEET judgement was in response to admission-related corruption in private institutions, other reasons have also been offered in its support. There is a belief in some quarters that a common exam will provide relief to students appearing for multiple entrance tests and that supervision by the Medical Council of India and CBSE will curtail corruption in admission tests. And then there is the purported desirability of a common syllabus, which will ensure that physicians of similar pedigree are produced all around (this a ridiculous idea, since medical entrance exams do not make doctors, rather it's the MBBS exams after admission that do).
However, these arguments, do not hold water.
Firstly, most major states were already conducting their own medical entrance exam. Private medical colleges are not located in the air, but on the soil of these states. A simple solution would have been to admit students on the basis of the already-existing state medical entrance exam. States such as West Bengal, among others, have been conducting transparent medical entrance exams for nearly four decades. It is beyond comprehension why corruption in some places was used as an excuse to change admission policies everywhere.
Capitation fee corruption involving the management quota of private institutions is a headache only for people who can pay in tens of lakhs and even crores – in short, not even 5% of the students who take medical entrance exams. It is a problem of the upper middle class and the super-rich, which obscenely fancies itself as the “common man”.
Numbers tell a story:
As for relief to students who take multiple exams, a reality check is in order. Who exactly are these students and what percentage do they comprise of all medical entrance test takers across all states? It is astonishing that no such data has ever been presented – likely because anecdotal experiences suggest that this is a very small proportion of students.
Let us take some statistics into consideration. Across multiple All India Institutes of Medical Science, the common entrance test attracted about one lakh students last year. This figure is under 10% of the medical college admission seekers across all states. In Maharashtra alone, about four lakh students took theCommon Entrance Test exam this year. And when we compare the number of all Class 12 science students across all states, irrespective of entrance-takers, the percentage becomes negligible.
Even among that small minority, CBSE-like central board students are hugely over-represented in this multiple entrance test-taking class. The fact that the NEET judgement might imply science syllabus changes across many boards tells us how the stupendous majority is being victimised and marginalised for the convenience of a tiny minority.
Quality queries:
Among the major characteristics of this minority mentioned earlier, what stands out is the board – CBSE.
It is the CBSE syllabus that will be followed for NEET. Is this the largest board in the Indian Union? No. The Maharashtra state board alone has more Class 12 students than the all-India strength of the CBSE. If that statistic comes as a surprise, we need to seriously question our sense of standard and get out of our metro-centric, Anglo-Hindi bubbles.
Is CBSE the “best” board in some academic sense? Hardly so. Are Class 12 students studying science in the CBSE syllabus uniquely equipped with an understanding that is unparalleled by the state boards? Or in other words, if the state boards are being forced to emulate the CBSE (in the name of aligning syllabi), is it something worth emulating?
Following rigorous research (published in Current Science, 2009) that reviewed the comparative performance of students from different boards, Anil Kumar and Dibakar Chatterjee of the Indian Institute of Science showed that when it comes to science proficiency, CBSE is not numero uno.
West Bengal board students did better than CBSE students in all four science subjects – physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics. Andhra Pradesh does better than CBSE in mathematics and physics. By the same metric, Maharashtra is hardly the worst performing state, as it was in the NEET that was held in 2013 before it was scrapped.
Tellingly, neither West Bengal nor Andhra Pradesh were top performing states in NEET. Independent, non-CBSE excellence has thus become an albatross around their neck. The CBSE syllabus “pattern” has become the standard, even though research shows it isn’t the best.
Clear hierarchy:
On corruption and the Medical Council of India, the less said the better. Its former chief Ketan Desai was charged with accepting a bribe for granting affiliation to a private medical college. Last year, the CBSE-organised All India Pre-Medical Test was cancelled because of widespread cheating.
When a body such as the Ketan Desai-tainted MCI approaches the Supreme Court to fight corruption, and the Supreme Court employs the cheating scam-tainted CBSE to ensure a fair and free examination, we have to understand the deeper games being played.
CBSE schools are naturally very excitedabout NEET as it hands their students a huge and undeserved competitive advantage over the stupendous majority. After the NEET judgement, we are sure to see a mushrooming of CBSE schools everywhere and an exodus from state boards of the class who can pay for such private CBSE schools.
There is already a surge in the business of CBSE syllabus-based coaching institutes – all of this is big and often corrupt business, but that doesn’t seem to matter.
Therein lies the danger, where the Supreme Court ruling is already creating a caste system between boards and forcing everyone else to align with the Centre, which isn’t necessarily the best as described earlier.
Reducing importance:
Framed from Delhi, after “consultation”, the CBSE-based NEET syllabus favours those who have undergone their schooling and training in the CBSE/Indian School Certificate framework, the syllabus being a vital component of that framework.
State boards with syllabi that differ considerably from the CBSE are at an unfair disadvantage – they have to change or perish, for absolutely no fault of their own.
The viability or “worth” of a board of education’s science syllabus then is not in how well it teaches the subject to the students but incredibly, by how well it has adapted (or not) the basic framework of a Delhi-based board's syllabus. This will reduce the importance of the Class 12 exam, and we will increasingly see coaching institutes operating under the legal shell of a school.
The schools affiliated to the state boards will rapidly become low-grade holding pens for the rural and the poor, while the urban middle class will detach itself from them – taking educational apartheid to another level. By completely disregarding the percentile obtained in Class 12 board exams, multiple choice question-solving is privileged over detailed concept development, something boards such as the ones in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have been historically proud of and is evident in the over-representation of these boards among faculty members of science institutions, where the CBSE “advantage” evaporates. We cannot even fathom the damage that this development will do to science education.
Explicit bias:
This Delhi-headquartered board and Anglo-Hindi bias in so-called “all India” medical entrances is not new. Central board students (comprising less than 10% of Class 12 students) have till now enjoyed a de-facto 15% reservation in all medical colleges, as the syllabus of the AIPMT exam (held in Hindi and English only, though no MBBS courses are taught in Hindi) through which these seats were filled, was modeled on the CBSE syllabus and conducted by the CBSE.
So much so, that in West Bengal, students coming through this “all-India” were from Hindi belt central board schools almost to the last man and in West Bengal were referred to simply as "CBSEs" or "Delhi boards".
Such a naked violation of the principle of natural justice and fairness went unchallenged as the positive beneficiaries of this provision constituted the unofficial first-class citizens of the Indian Union – typically well-to-do, urban, largely upper-caste Hindu males from Hindi-speaking areas studying in Delhi-headquartered school boards.
Since Hindi areas have much fewer medical colleges per capita, the AIPMT is a system to lodge North Indian students in South and East India in disproportionately high numbers, under the innocuous dissent-stopping fig leaf of "all-India".
The NEET seeks to create a hugely expanded version of this unjust dominance over all seats of all medical colleges in the Indian Union. Given the explicit bias, it is pertinent to ask to which board do the grandsons and granddaughters of the Supreme Court judges belong?
To which board do the sons and daughters of the lawyers defending the NEET, the functionaries of CBSE and the MCI head office, belong? Does this class more closely match the social profile of people studying in central boards or state boards? What is the definition of conflict of interest in such cases?
The Supreme Court ruling of holding a test under CBSE syllabus thus violates the fundamental legal principle of fairness. A state board student in a non-Hindi state will have to compete against a CBSE student who has studied for 12 years of incremental science syllabus learning. For example, in Tamil Nadu, the biology syllabus is about 70% different from that of the CBSE. Can a state be forced to change its board syllabus to align with central syllabus or otherwise risk playing in an unfair non-level playing field? It makes a mockery of the federal structure of the Constitution of India.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
HOW MANY MORE? The Indian Police’s Guide To Royally Screwing Up A Rape Investigation
The body of the 29-year-old lies in a pool of blood in a shack-like house. Thirty deep wounds all over. Private parts slashed over 20 times. Stab wounds on the back of her head, on the chest, chin, and cheek. Intestines pulled out by an iron rod thrust into the vagina, chest torn open by stabs.
And it is not 6 pm yet. She lies dead for over two hours before her mom returned after the day’s labour.
Tuesday, September 01, 2015
'Bharat Bandh' On September 2, Over Labour Reforms May Hit Banking, Transport, Factories And Trade In India
In India, nearly 150 million workers from 10 central trade unions will go on strike on Wenesday, September 2 against the government’s proposed labour reforms with the protest likely to shut down banks, factories as well as auto, taxi and flight services in many parts of the country.
The nationwide one-day strike, according to the trade unions, is supposed to be the biggest strike ever in the country. The protestors are striking against the anti-worker economic policies of the government.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Focus: The Spectacular Onam Festival Dhamaka In Dubai
The traditional backdrop of Onam is quite intriguing. If you are new to all this stuff, then spare a moment to hear about this great festival. Onam is a Hindu festival celebrated with great pomp by the Keralites.
According to ancient records this festival marks the commemoration of Vishnu and the subsequent homecoming of the mythical King Mahabali, whom the Keralites consider as their king. Onam is considered to be a harvest festival, reminding of Kerala’s agrarian past.
Lip-Smacking, Vegan Dishes On Kerala’s Grandest 'Onam'
Like most Indian festivals, Onam is typically celebrated with food—lots and lots of it, consisting of at least six courses.
So much so that a proverb in Malayalam on the harvest festival goes “kaanam vittum onam unnanam.” It means a man must host a sadya—or a grand vegetarian lunch banquet—even if he is forced to sell his property.
The sadya, which is served on a banana leaf and relished best without the use of cutlery, is historically known to have included 60 dishes. Over the years, however, the number of dishes has reduced and several recipes forgotten.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
World Organ Donation Day: I Am An Organ Donor, And You?
Life and death are part of the divine plan. Since life is the most sacred gift of God, we need to fulfil the obligation to save the life of our fellow brothers and sisters.Whoever sustains a single person is one who sustains the whole world, and whoever destroys a single person is one who destroys the whole world for every person bears the divine image and every person was created unique and irreplaceable.
In its plan of creation, the physical body is the vehicle of providing life's vital energy for all actions. The body also houses its soul which plants the seed of thoughts, hopes and dreams.Behind all its actions, there is also an active mind which creates thoughts endlessly . Life activity is dependent on the ideal working of the body's organs.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Why 'Ban' On What We Eat, Watch, Write, Do In Private?
If the bullies of Sri Ram Sena in Mangalore chased and punched young girls because they visited pubs, in Maharashtra, the police rounded up several couples who were spending time in hotels near Mumbai, manhandled them, humiliated them and got away after imposing a fine for “public indecency” for whatever they did in private.
Friday, August 07, 2015
Electricity Conundrum In India: Idle Generators In The Midst Of Acute Power Deficit In Telangana & Andhra
Southern India is expected to face a severe electricity shortage this year. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in its latest annual forecast anticipates the energy deficit in the southern electricity grid to be over 11 percent, equivalent to a generation capacity deficit of 4000 MW. For Karnataka and Telangana, the forecasted energy deficit is greater than 16 percent.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Focus: Where Are The Free School Textbooks For Children?
By Rati Kumar in Bhopal |
According to the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009, every child in a primary school should have text books available on time i.e. at the beginning of the academic year. But the reality is far from what the Act stipulates. In fact, most children do not receive school books and even those who do, don’t necessarily get all the books and rarely at the beginning of the academic year.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Special Report: Worshiped Inside Temples, But Mistreated Outside: The Fate Of Captive Elephants In India
Outside the main entrance stood an elephant tethered to a tree, flapping its ears serenely, munching palm leaves and bananas. It was a majestic creature, easily the largest I had ever encountered, with its long trunk and gleaming tusks. A small crowd of excited onlookers watched with awe and took pictures from all possible angles.
Special Report: This Little-Known 'Hyderabadi Studio' Made The 'Baahubali' A Visual Mega Spectacle
Makuta, established just five years ago, was the principal studio for S S Rajamouli’s blockbuster film, which consists of 90% computer-generated imagery (CGI) and graphics, with some 4,500-5,000 visual effects (VFX) shots.
Everything about the period drama set in medieval India appears larger than life—including the kingdom of Mahishmati, with its gigantic temples and courtyards, the landscapes comprising mystical waterfalls and mountains, and the epic battles.
Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Focus: Unravelling The Mystery Of Delicious 'Indian Food'
By Manju Shree in Doha |
'Curry', 'tikka' and 'tandoori' are words that are often associated with Indian food and while they do reflect a bit of what Indian food is about, they're only a prologue to a very big, fat and interesting cookbook. Indian food has evolved through many generations, invasions, dynasties and experiments and has almost never been categorized under one umbrella.
Sunday, July 05, 2015
The Challenges Of Caregiving For 'Alzheimer's Patients'
By Dr.Sumitra Shah |
Are we aware of this pressing problem and how to diagnose it? INNLIVE talks to caregivers and experts to get some answers.
1. Sometime in 2005 – nobody's sure when – Savitri Joglekar strolled out of her home in Ratnagiri. She was found 10 years later in an Amritsar ashram, 2,000 km away from her village.
2. On the evening of December 12, 2008, Vijaya Patil was traced to Gorai jetty, 12 hours after she disappeared from her brother's flat in Bandra.
Get Featured: ‘Do Indian English Writers Have Any Relevance In Global Scenario Other Than 'Indianness'?’
By Suchitra Menon |
KR Meera is among Kerala's most celebrated contemporary writers. Born in 1970, she worked as a journalist for many years, writing short stories on the side. In 2006, she gave up her job to write fiction full-time – which, as her prolific output reveals, she really does.
The provocative and disturbing tale of a young Bengali woman appointed state executioner, Aaraachaar was originally serialised in Madhyamam Weekly and published as a book by DC Books in 2012.