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Abhijith's Blog
Mourning: Death of IITs
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 Nearly six decades after independence, this country is planning to announce that majority of its population is backward and does not have equal opportunity to pursue education and employment. Along with this, it is going to open up a Pandora's Box by various caste groups to be classified as "backward". What an interesting way to begin the 21st century when finally India was beginning to emerge as a serious player in the new knowledge economy! The major carrot that is being doled out is the seats in the elite medical, engineering and management Institutes. What bothers me is no one is interested in even consulting the people who have built these Institutions and brought them to this stature. I have strong views on efficacy of reservations in general but here I would confine myself to the issues concerning IITs. At least here with my three decade long association, I can claim to know something. Many of these arguments may be applicable to the other elite Institutions in medical and management disciplines as well.
Today IITs are considered excellent educational institutions. There is a countrywide scramble to get into these with many students spending the best part of their teen years in preparing for its entrance examinations. This should not be confused with ranking of universities where just a couple of IITs make it in the top 500. These rankings deal primarily with the research output and not with the quality of undergraduate education. I can confidently say that any ranking of quality of undergraduate engineers produced would put IITs in the top 20 worldwide if not in the top 10. And it is this achievement that is going to be hard to maintain with the proposed reservations policy. Before we go any further, it would be best to examine how this excellence has been achieved.
The fundamental contribution that the Central Government has made to these institutions is in generous funding (by Indian, not global standards) combined with unmatched autonomy. The main point of engagement between the Government and these Institutions has been through the appointment of Directors. Except for a brief period during the last administration, the Governments had refrained from any major politicking in these appointments. They have by and large appointed the best available applicant Professor from the same or another IIT for the job. These venerable people had themselves a great pride in these Institutions and have ran the Institutes with the best of their abilities (maybe not always efficiently but always fairly) without major vested interest.
For someone outside IITs to understand the power of this position is not easy. The Director virtually appoints the complete senior administration including the deputy directors and deans, chairs all the faculty selections including that for the Professors, is the chairman of the senate and thus the academic head, is the financial head and also the administrative head. For most people living in the campus, which includes 90% of faculty and students, he is also the chairman of the local municipality (all major complaints on water, electricity, sewage etc. would reach him). This ensures that the buck almost always stops with him and thus decision making is unavoidable. This autonomy that has been the hallmark of these institutions is being eroded. There were attempts in the last Government (fortunately not vigorously pursued) to tell IITs what to teach. The present decision would strike at the fundamentals of IITs as the Government no longer feels whom to teach and how many to teach is best decided by these Institutions themselves. This in my opinion is the most dangerous fallout as it strikes at the very core of the success of these Institutions. Once the lines of control get blurred, there would be no stopping, as today's political functioning is clearly not dictated by long term vision. Soon we could have reservations in faculty and create a caste based patronage system which has destroyed many of the once excellent state universities.
In IITs, the faculty selected and promoted solely based on merit has maintained a high standard of ethical behavior, have taken their teaching and research seriously, refrained from politicking themselves and supported the Institute in many ways to fulfill its commitments. Who are these faculty members? A large number are our own alumni (undergraduates as well as postgraduates), majority of them have studied or conducted research in the west and almost all of them have had opportunities of pursuing financially much more lucrative careers in India and abroad. Thus each faculty member is here by choice and he/she has exercised that choice with one major attraction - opportunity to teach, interact and work with extremely bright students perhaps unmatched anywhere. It is this attraction that is being tampered with. In a situation where all IITs are short of faculty and desperately trying to innovate to attract faculty under the constraints of the pay commission dictated salaries (while competing with Sensex based salaries), this is not a pleasant development.
IITs have had reservations for SC/STs for decades. Why would this be different? Aren't these students likely to be better prepared than the students admitted under the existing reserved category? Here I would like to share some of the facts with the readers. IITs have been admitting SC/ST students for years under two modes. From the general category, a significantly lower JEE cutoff is decided and reserved category students scoring above this cutoff are admitted directly to the UG programmes. Another still lower cutoff is decided and reserved category students from this set are admitted to a one year preparatory course conducted by IITs themselves. After passing this course, they can join the programmes without having to appear in JEE again. Even this exercise collectively yields less than 15% in IIT Delhi though the quota amounts to nearly 22.5%. Half of the reserved category students manage to clear courses comfortably while the other half struggle on the margins. What would be called a good performance (cumulative grade point average or CGPA of 8 and above) and is achieved by nearly forty percent of general category students, is rare and occurs once in many years among the reserved category students. It is not that all general category students do well. There is nearly a 5% "dropout" rate even among them which is a cause of concern but mainly attributed to the burnout due to JEE preparation phase. The "dropout" students have no effect on teaching as they neither are regular nor make their presence felt in classes. The remaining part of weak students is too small and at present hardly any instructor would pitch his / her course at that level. On the other hand, the present policy may introduce a large band of weak students which no instructor can ignore. This would definitely result in drop in the quality of education. It is the hypocrisy of the highest order that on one hand the reservation for SC/STs is considered a success and quoted for extension to OBCs, and on the other hand, no hard data on the performance of these students is available in the public domain. Some administrators I talked to consider this data as sensitive! Analysis of where the reserved category students go after graduation would be enlightening. I do not have the sensitive data but my experience shows that most of them either go to services like IAS/IES or to the public sector companies. Normally this choice of careers by IIT graduates should be a matter of satisfaction except that both these entries are again using the reservation quota. Is it empowerment or crutches for life?
In this whole episode, the most stunning news for me was when the Hon'ble minister announced increase in intake to compensate for the reservations. This would amount to nearly 56% overall increase in undergraduate intake in the IITs. This showed complete ignorance of what makes IIT undergraduate education tick. There are few Institutions in the world where undergraduate students get to interact one to one and so freely with such high-caliber faculty. Students are advised on courses in small groups, interact over hostel dinners, go on industrial trips and finally carry out a well supervised project. Every undergraduate student does an intensive "novel" project either individually or in groups of two and he/she is effectively "supervised" by a faculty member. Many of them result in publications. This system evolved when the student-faculty ratio was 6:1 and is getting strained at the seams when it has reached 12:1. In some disciplines like Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering where market competition is heavy, it has already gone to 20:1 and above. Though currently producing excellent results, it is a highly non-scalable mechanism. Intake increase on this scale, when effectively faculty strengths in key areas are decreasing could sound a death-knell tone of our few international brand names.
I have a poser for Prof. Jayati Ghosh, my well renowned colleague from JNU and a member of the knowledge commission. She has justified reservations in IITs based on the poor ranking of IITs internationally. Her argument is anyway these Institutions are not great, why they should crib about the quality of intake. She nowhere states that any of the 400+ odd Institutions worldwide which are ranked above IITs have achieved their status through reservations. In that case all Tamil Nadu Engineering Colleges with 69% reservation for decades (openly defying the Supreme Court suggested norm of 50%) now should be at the top.
Finally, I would like to seek opinion on the composition of our next Olympics team. We have admittedly done much poorer in sports than education. Should our next Olympics team be chosen on caste basis or perhaps with adequate representation to athletes aged 40+ who are at present completely unrepresented? After all we do not have much to lose as we only win one bronze medal in alternate Olympics. I would no longer be surprised if some future Sports Minister considers caste based quotas for our national cricket team. After all that would be worth a few votes and the nation would have been well prepared by then to cheer only for its own caste brethren! (This is an article written by Prof. M. Balakrishnan, Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at IIT Delhi. He has been with IIT Delhi since 1977 except for a three year stint outside India. Currently he is on Sabbatical and working with a startup) 
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An Ostensible Hope!!
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 Hope.. for a moment of comfort, for a memory of love, for the human existence to last forever. Hope is that aspect of living which is the most vital element that often goes unnoticed. When is the last time that things happened to you, instead of you waiting for long to see them turn into reality? The struggle to win the battle of understanding our needs, our aspirations starts with gathering courage to understand and challenge the authority of hope in our life. It is then, only then if I may say, that we start to have a realistic picture of what is within our reach and what is beyond at present. The next stage involves in understanding the kinds of efforts which appear as demands from the nature to achieve the needs and aspirations we have set for ourselves. This again speaks of how 'hopeful' we are, and what aspirations (within our reach or beyond our reach at present) we are aiming at. Realization of our aspirations again invites 'hope' to be a partner in our continuous struggle to work towards our goals. So all along, it is the hope that defines the vital link and pushes us to work to our or beyond our limits to achieve the desirable. What I gather from my own experience and the reason for me writing this post is, hope is the only element that lasts for ever... 
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Fleeting Realities
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 Let this wetness,
extend an invite to festoon one’s visage.
Seldom does the surface know,
the utility of moss through old age.
Let this darkness,
resolve the need for juxtaposition.
A dime still encourages men,
to seek beyond reason or position.
Let this coldness,
sweep the continent till the sunrise.
Only when one values the fall,
there is joy in the effort to rise.
Let this consciousness,
be my chief, helping in translation.
I walk alone to fathom,
this poem: my life with systems of scansion.
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Child Labor
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 (This article is regarding one important sector of Human Rights: Children. This article is part of a series of articles written for TakingITGlobal.org with a focus on Child Labor) It is estimated that 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labour worldwide. Millions of children are engaged in hazardous work environments like mines, working with petro-chemicals and pesticides. From Sub-Saharan Africa where around one in three children are engaged in child labour, representing 69 million children to South Asia, where 44 million are engaged in child labour because of poverty.
A study demonstrated the parallels between the historical pattern of the decline in child labor in the United States and situations today in developing countries. It is understood that the greater the extent of poverty in a country, the greater the amount of child labor, the relationship holding within a country over time as well as across countries at a given point in time. Though poverty may be a determinant of child labor, it cannot be examined in the absence of cultural and social factors, such as education, culture, and urbanization. Another Study points that child labor is deeply rooted in poverty and social customs. Thus, one reason for such high labor force participation is that working children are from impoverished families. There are several social and cultural explanations for widespread child labor in developing countries.
The effect of being sold into slave labor has the obvious physical scars from the constant beatings the children receive, their inhumane living conditions, and the practical starvation that the employers impose on them. However, the effects of slavery do not merely affect the physical well-being of the children. They also suffer from emotional scars. In addition to the risks that they face, there are also many negative side effects of exposing children to the excessive demands of adult labor. These side effects not only manifest themselves in the children’s health and growth, but also in their access to education. In fact, it is rare to find children who, over a prolonged period of time, manage to balance their studies with their daily chores. More than half of children laborers have never attended school, and those who have rarely finish the first cycle of elementary school. As researchers have noted, boycotting exports of goods produced by children may actually worsen the welfare and well-being of those children and their families, first by lowering their living standards and second by pushing children into dangerous work endeavors, such as begging and prostitution. This speaks of the need for a sustainable development plan to include the marginalized sections of the society to best tackle the growing numbers of child abuse.
If we can understand the dynamics of poverty, education, and child labor, we may be in a position to create more effective ways of eliminating child labor through education and economic development efforts. The problem of child labour, being inextricably linked with poverty and illiteracy, cannot be solved by legislation alone and a concerted effort to tackle this problem will bring in the desired sustainable growth.
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My Assorted Musings
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 The constant struggle to simplify things is a well known and widely acknowledged practice. It becomes increasingly tough when we try to use the normal strategy in simplifying the reason(s) for our existence. Like a rainbow which showcases a collection of colours (and the convulsions of long lost memories for those intellectuals in us), where the distinct line of seperation is lost (Does this speak of a phase of transition?), the reasons for our existence is also a closed knit fabric having lost their individuality ( and may I say, have subscribed to a dependent mode of existence) to create the soft continuity of the thread.
This post is a salutation for all the reasons, registered for their influence on my unbending self and their help to twine the threads into this rope... 'My Life'
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Moments of Fun...Moments of Grief
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 Statutory Warning : This post is an attempt to understand the various shades of our living. People who wish to stick to the view that emotions are simple can safely ignore it. What we normally perceive as an understanding of a situation rarely is the only observation that can be made from it. It is increasingly important for us to acknowledge the complexity of the situation and simplicity of our understanding.
The transition from a moment of fun to a moment of grief is subtle and speaks of the art of the rhetoric using the language called life. There needs to be a constant attempt made by one self to seperate out the various threads that are interwoven to create the fabric of emotions.
The main objective of this post is to speak of existence of no moment whose texture speaks of fun or grief alone. Any moment is always a coalition effort with representation both from the fun and grief camps.
I wish to quote a writing on an epitaph.. and it reads "Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal" . I wish to draw your attention to few points which might encourage the reader of this post to question the complexity involved in the above phrase rather than churning out a theory (no pun intended)
Few words which actually created significant interest in me (more so than the phrase itself which obviously did) are heartache and memory. These are moments which involve the faculties of heart and mind respectively. Death being an occurence attached with acknowledging the physical presence of a person, is more involved with the mind, while the love speaks of an emotion, connected with the heart more than anything else. It is interesting to understand the interdependence of these two emotions and the reactions they normally generate. The complex shade created by this dependence on each other is probably responsible in motivating a person to portray a different emotion.
Every emotion being related to our previous experiences or the interplay between any two emotions, it is easier to appreciate the complex shade of any moment with both the shades of fun and grief framing an integral ingredient of the composition.
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What if...
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 What if... A moment to be lived isn't easier? What if... A memory wraps around us more than the usual? What if... An atheist can fathom the reach of the God? What if... A minute seems longer than a hour? What if... A tide visits the shore never to return? What if... An 'if' never existed in the vocabulary of life? 
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Mere Yaadein...
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 Aawazon main aawaaz ban gayaa hun main
Kya chaha tha kya ho gaya hun main
Misaal dete , woh ishq tha
Kisi Gumnaam gazal ka sher ho gaya hun main
Kagaaz paar girtaa toh akshar banta
Daag kyu baan gaya hun main
Shayad koi tasveer hain jo adhuri hain
Usme katra baan gaya hun main
Tasveer banai toh chitera
Gazal likhi toh shayar ho gaya hun main
Khiladi, siyasi, mosiqi
Kitne naamon main baat gaya hun main
Kuch kho gaya sa
Kuch bach gaya hun main
Shahher ke purane khandar si
Ek yaad ho gaya hun main
(This is an english rendering of a 'Gazal' written by a friend of mine Mr. Shival Kathe. I love this work and connect with it personally)
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Hasan...
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 I lived in a place…
Life changed hands as an old piece of bread,
and many waited for the next bead on the thread.
I lived in a place…
Happiness was measured by things we sought,
and many felt emotions can be bought.
I now live in a place…
Blessed with sovereignty of every emotion,
setting the blue sponges in motion.
I now live in a place…
Anointed by a stroke of his warmth and grace,
greeting everyone with a smiling face. 
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Complimentary Reflections
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 I remember our walk kissing the sky...
And the momentary halt
to moisten the dry throat.
Forever, I shall fall back on this,
to keep myself afloat.
I remember our walk stamping the earth...
And the momentary comfort
of allowing ourselves to rest.
Forever, I shall envy the time,
for its control and the test.
I remember our walk under the sun…
And the momentary anxiousness
due to drying up of this special stream.
Forever, I shall seek you,
in my dream.
I remember our walk by the sea…
And the momentary pleasure
of etching our names on the sand.
Forever, I shall hate the wind,
for its fatal hand.
I shall remember this walk…
And the momentary pain
to sit in my usual hole.
Forever, I shall wait for an other chance,
to play the same role. 
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Blessing: Power of Rumination
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 I always wondered why things happen? When we speak of our understanding of self, we normally don't acknowledge the influences from other entities... people, places we visit, memories we cherish... I personally believe that memories we cherish define life...This 50th post on my blog is dedicated to my week long experience which gave me a bag full of memories...I had the opportunity not only to gain an insight about a different culture but also gave me an opportunity to learn more about my own country...People from a different sphere, with varied tastes and interests influenced me to understand my own existence...Amidst the clouds of warmth and friendship ...there exists a string that holds all of us together...the interest to communicate...I hope the string of communication sustains itself... These days will remain the most cherished moments of my life for a long time to come. To all the people who made it possible, new friends who created a difference... Thanks a lot! I lived my life...
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