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21. Value-Based Education

Author:
Kishore Singh
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
There is widespread concern today with the ‘values crisis’. Moral and ethical values are sinking, and materialistic pursuits generated by the neo liberal economy are thriving. Mushrooming of privatisation in education, giving rise to the phenomenon of ‘edu-business’ in India, fosters this trend. This makes a mockery of India’s great traditions in education, her spiritual heritage and civilisational values in which gyaan or vidhya is not a commodity—a vyapaar and in which education has no lucrative purpose. Moreover, ‘edu-business’ is also an affront to the ideals embodied in our constitution. We seem to have lost all respect for our philosophical foundations and civilisational values where knowledge is free, and the head is held high. Use of digital devices also adds to the values crisis, as evidenced by fake degrees awarded by Internet-based learning, as well as the potentially harmful effects of various sites on the minds of children and adults. Many countries around the world are recognising the need and importance of overcoming the values crisis by promoting human values as a primary vocation of education. India, with its rich spiritual heritage and philosophical traditions, should be at the forefront in such initiatives. It is all the more imperative for India to play a pioneering role in value-based education since the thrust of India’s spiritual quest had been ‘universalist’, which makes it the heritage of the whole of humanity. Transformation of the education system in that spirit calls for radical measures. The challenging task is to evolve a new architecture for education in India, in which core human values derived from India’s philosophical legacy and spiritual heritage, as well as from ideals and principles enshrined in India’s constitution, permeate the entire education system. Value-based education is invaluable in mitigating and overcoming many woes that afflict our society.
Topic:
Education, Ethics, Neoliberalism, and Values
Political Geography:
India

22. Freedom & Sons Ltd.: The Enterprise of Free Speech in a Market of Control

Author:
Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
As the title of this lecture suggests, it is about dissent, the right to dissent, the freedom to differ, to be able to say ‘I disagree; in fact I oppose…’. And to do so without fear. But no right comes without some difficulty. And sure enough, as I began working on this text, my late brother Professor Ramchandra Gandhi, Ramu as he was widely known, appeared in a hallucinated vision, to express dissent, strong disagreement, over the title of this lecture. He said to me in his inimitable mix of Hindi, Tamil and English: ‘Maine tumhare Mushirul Hasan lecture ka title “Freedom & Sons Ltd.” dekha hai… aur uska matlab samajh rahaa huun… lekin... Freedom & Sons Ltd… Sons…illai …illai….konchum politically incorrect…and not konchum, in fact romba incorrect, romba gender insensitive…. It may have passed muster some twenty or thirty years ago but not today…and certainly not in the IIC where Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay’s spirit is alive, where Durgabai Deshmukh peers over her husband’s shoulders to see that all is done right….The title obscures …in fact it nullifies the roles of India’s daughters…from Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi and Begum Hazrat Mahal of Avadh to Madame Cama and Annie Besant, Kasturba Gandhi who died, don’t forget, in a Raj prison, and Maulana Azad’s wife Zuleikha Begum who died in Calcutta when he was in the Ahmednagar Fort Prison and would not seek parole…. And then, no less than any of these…the women who stood for freedom not from the white man’s domination but from that of our own male-controlled society, like Mirabai, who broke out of the court and palace to public spaces singing of Krishna, the great emancipator, and M. S. Subbulakshmi, who broke out of the Carnatic kutcheri’s strict repertory to sing Mirabai’s songs of Krishna…’.
Topic:
Freedom of Expression, Civil Rights, Freedom, Dissent, and Free Speech
Political Geography:
India

23. Friends, Heroes, Scientists, Women

Author:
Gagandeep Kang
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
Where are we today with regard to the role of women in science, technology, engineering, medicine (among other fields), women in leadership roles, and what are the challenges that lie ahead of us? In that context, it is very interesting to address both biology and sociology, and the reason we need to address the former is that explanations for why societies manifest in certain ways, or not, often hinge on our recourse to biology in various ways. As far as biology goes, humans are the consequence of hundreds of million years of evolution, from unicellular organisms to multiple kinds of multicellular organisms. There are a great number of animals with behaviour and nervous systems, and functions and physiology, which have many similarities with humans. Many animals run, many walk, many taste and smell in ways we do, and so on. Some animals fly, we do not. That brings us to sociology, and how our societies grew. Humans are distinct from other animals, in that, over evolutionary time, we chanced upon ways by which we could throw objects, and therefore make tools and engineer nature. We could speak and therefore communicate with each other and develop language.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Science and Technology, Women, Medicine, and Evolution
Political Geography:
India

24. The Most Indian of the Major French Poets: Charles Leconte De Lisle

Author:
Come Carpentier de Gourdon
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
Indian civilisation has, time and again, influenced French literary and artistic life in various ways, more particularly from the mid-17th century, when the travel accounts of Francois Bernier and Jean-Baptiste Tavernier achieved great popularity in an intellectual class exposed to the fine goods imported by the French East India Company (la compagnie des Indes), or bought by traders. These included Golkonda diamonds, carved ivory, muslin, indigo, cashmere shawls, printed cotton fabrics known as ‘Indiennes’ or ‘madras’ , ‘Coromandel’ screens and miniatures of the Mughal school. The first poems, fables, novels, comedies and operas on Indian themes appeared in Europe in the years that followed.
Topic:
Culture and Literature
Political Geography:
India and France

25. Judging The Judges: Need For Transparency and Accountability

Author:
Ajit Prakash Shah
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
One subject that has been rankling me greatly for the past several months, and, I am sure, many of you, too, is that of the accountability of judges. The immediate trigger for my selecting this subject was, of course, the allegations made by a former employee of the Supreme Court of India against the present Chief Justice of India (CJI), and the events that followed. Over the past few months, several people have expressed concerns about how the judiciary must deal with such cases, and the accountability mechanisms that exist to monitor the judiciary in its actions. The issue still remains unanswered, and the incidents that took place reveal the many weaknesses in the in-house mechanism that is employed for resolving such matters. Without passing judgement on the truth or falsity of the allegations, I must admit there are certain stark facts that stand out which demand consideration. A permanent employee of the Supreme Court of India was removed from her post on the flimsy allegation of availing casual leave for half-a-day, and protesting against her seating arrangement. Her relative was dismissed from the same service soon thereafter. She made allegations of sexual harassment against the CJI, in response to which an unusual hearing took place on a Saturday, without a petition having been moved. In what was termed as a ‘Matter of Great Public Importance Touching upon the Independence of the Judiciary’, the person holding the highest judicial office in the land sat as a judge on his own case. Three judges attended that hearing, but the order that emerged was surprisingly signed only by two of those three, with the Chief Justice choosing to abstain.
Topic:
Law, Supreme Court, Accountability, Judiciary, and Legal Sector
Political Geography:
India

26. The Other's Shoes

Author:
Prabha Sridevan
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
This is a sharing of my journey as a lawyer and as a judge, and about the right to dignity. This right precedes the Constitution; it probably dates to when we became homo sapiens and expected to be treated with dignity. In our Preamble, ‘We the people’ solemnly resolved to secure to all citizens, Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Fraternity, which is the least understood term, assures the dignity of the individual. But first, let me tell you how I became a lawyer and about that journey. Was it easy becoming a lawyer, and then a judge? people ask me. It was, in a way, and therefore my experience is not the standard sample case for other women. I joined law college 13 years after my basic degree, my marriage and my children. It was only because my husband was a lawyer. After I got enrolled, I had no trouble finding an office, because I joined my husband’s firm. I learnt the work along the way, not really expecting to head the office. And the clients who came to our office did not really see me either—I was ‘invisible’. They headed straight to the male juniors. I can’t blame them, they probably thought that this lady is there for what is politely called ‘tax purposes’. Slowly, they accepted me, and realised I actually ‘worked’. This went on comfortably and I trundled along.
Topic:
Law, Memoir, and Legal Sector
Political Geography:
India

27. Health Care in India

Author:
Preeti Sudan
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
Our topic today, is the journey of preventive and promotive health care from a government perspective. I must say at the outset that it was always the intention of the government to have a mix of promotive and preventive health care strategies closely integrated with curative care. However, it is the curative care aspects that are most visible and this is perhaps the reason for significant investments in setting up health care facilities. In addition, people’s vocal demands for curative care, which are legitimate, led us to emphasise the curative part of health care. So the focus was tilted in favour of care provision after people fell ill, and we became the Ministry of Managing Illness. But I am glad that since last year, we are now the Ministry of Health and Wellness, and I am fortunate that I am at this very place as this paradigm shift is happening in health care. I want to also say that I’m doubly blessed, because I also got to do Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, and was able to take action on discriminatory practices against women and girls in our country So I had that satisfaction as well.
Topic:
Health, Health Care Policy, and Public Health
Political Geography:
India

28. World's Religions After September 11: Some Philosophical Reflections

Author:
Arvind Sharma
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
India International Centre (IIC)
Abstract:
The reader’s first reaction to the title is likely to be one of scepticism, for although the events of September 11 are doubtless firmly etched in modern memory, and their connection to the world’s religions, or at least to one of them, is plain enough; to propose that these events could prompt philosophical reflections seems so far-fetched as to suggest an academic’s desperate search for a new topic – a push for novelty. Perhaps the clarification would palliate the reader somewhat that what we mean by philosophical reflections are considerations, which do not go all the way into pure philosophy but, nevertheless, embody reflections of a philosophical nature, inasmuch as their attempt is to place some of the issues raised by the events of September 11, specially in relation to world religions, in a broader perspective. The need for such reflection can hardly be questioned even here in India, now that we have had our own version of the 9/11, namely, the 26/11. I would like to focus on six such issues in what follows
Topic:
Religion, Philosophy, and 9/11
Political Geography:
India and Global Focus

29. Democracy Facing Global Challenges: V-DEM ANNUAL DEMOCRACY REPORT 2019

Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
Abstract:
This year’s Democracy Report shows that the trend of a third wave autocratization – the decline of democratic regime traits – continues and now affects 24 countries. When we weight levels of democracy by population size – because democracy is rule by the people and it matters how many of them are concerned – it emerges that almost one third of the world’s population live in countries undergoing autocratization. Yet democracy still prevails in a majority of countries in the world (99 countries, 55 percent). This section analyses the state of democracy in the world in 2018 and developments since 1972, with an emphasis on the last 10 years. Our analysis builds on the 2019 release of the V-Dem dataset.
Topic:
Authoritarianism, Developing World, Democracy, and Populism
Political Geography:
United States, Turkey, Ukraine, India, and Brazil

30. Ecological Fiscal Transfers and Subnational Budgets: Did Forest-Based Fiscal Devolution Lead Indian States to Increase Forestry Expenditure?

Author:
Jonah Busch, Avani Kapur, and Anit Mukherjee
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Later this year, India’s 15th Finance Commission will review the formula used by its predecessor to determine how much central tax revenue will be devolved to each state for fiscal years 2020-21 through 2024-25. Currently, 7.5 percent of the fiscal devolution (an estimated $6.9-12 billion per year) is allocated in proportion to their forest area circa 2013. These “ecological fiscal transfers” (EFTs) provide Indian states with the incentive to increase their forestry budgets as an investment in increased future shares of central taxes. In this paper, we look at whether states are yet taking advantage of this opportunity. We find that states increased their forestry budgets by 19 percent in three years after the introduction of EFTs relative to three years prior. However, this increase is considerably less than the 42 percent overall budget increase over the same time period. We surmise that states are not yet certain that EFTs will continue in such a way that increases in forest cover will be rewarded with increases in revenue. We recommend that the 15th Finance Commission resolve this uncertainty for states by (i) keeping forests in the devolution formula, and (ii) updating the reference year (e.g. 2019). By doing so India’s EFTs can fulfill their potential as an innovative mechanism for incentivizing states to protect and restore forests, thereby mitigating climate change.
Topic:
Environment, Governance, Fiscal Policy, Ecology, and Forest
Political Geography:
India and Asia