Face-to-Face (Interview by News Magazene, School of Educators)

Education reflects a society’s fundamental assumptions: Dr. Anoop Swarup

Professor Anoop Swarup, presently Vice Chancellor at Shobhit University is a recipient of Presidential Award, Republic of India in 2003, has 43 commendations for distinguished service. He has been a Finance Expert with the United Nations and the Govt of India having extensively worked in public, private and not for profit sectors. A Fulbright Visitor to the United States in 2005, he founded Global Knowledge Alliance in 1996, was Patron, Melbourne School of Knowledge Management, Australia, and had set up ‘Sambhav' Trust for deaddiction in 2008, ‘Sambhavami’, to promote microenterprises in 1992 and ‘Youth and Biosphere’ for environmental consciousness in 1984. Prof Swarup has studied and taught both in India and abroad having a brilliant academic career with a Doctorate and three Masters, has extensively traveled globally having represented the Government and the United Nations on various international forums. Has a very rich career profile starting as a research fellow with the UGC and CSIR in 1980, joined GIC in 1981, Civil Services: IRS in 1985 was ED at NYKS & Director in Ministry of HRD and Ministry of Finance and as Commissioner in various capacities with the Govt of India. Nominated as a Fellow of World Business Institute and Member of International Institute of Strategic Studies he has earlier been a National Gandhi Fellow, Research Fellow with CSIR and UGC as also a National Science Talent Scholar with NCERT. A GEO Reviewer with IPCC he has been a visiting Professor/ Resource Person with WIPO, WWF, WII, WTO, WCO, IIMA, NACEN, NIFM and NADT and Monash University, Australia. He has authored and edited many books that include ‘Money laundering, Commercial Frauds & Financial Crimes’ and ‘Regional Economic Engagements & Free Trade Agreements' and over 200 other publications.

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·              Education should ensure access, dignity and social mobility.

·              You educate a girl child and you educate the entire family & country.

·              Government is acting as a controller instead of being a facilitator or a regulator.

·              Abolition of 10^th Board is not in consonance with Gandhi’s vision and for reaping the country’s demographic dividend.

1.           Your career has been very challenging one: from a National Science Talent Scholar in India to General Insurance in London and from Indian Revenue Service in India to a Professor at Monash in Melbourne and from the United Nations in New York to a Vice Chancellor here ! What have been your driving force, rewards, regrets and challenges?

         Question is a difficult one! Initially I started my career as a researcher with the National Science Talent Scholarship of NCERT and later on fellowship with the CSIR, and with the UGC. However on joining the public sector, General Insurance Corporation of India and later the Indian Revenue Service or at the United Nations and now in the academics, I have felt that the challenge to bring about a change for the better for the society really lies in trying to be better than the best, to put your heart and soul at the job on hand. Thus, while fighting the smugglers and the drug traffickers on the ground and facing their bullets head on, I have been extremely fortunate in having survived or later while investigating a number of key cases ranging from hawala and money laundering to commercial frauds and tax evasion against well known traffickers, smugglers and even high profile individuals my driving force was the unstinted support, comradiere and teamwork of my team. My success, be it the first posting as a Assistant Collector and SPS in difficult and far-flung border areas or at the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence Headquarter in Delhi and as Director Anti Smuggling, in the Union Finance Ministry and later as a Commissioner of Customs, or with the United Nations, can be directly attributed to team ship. I am grateful for the reward and recognition both within and outside the civil service, be it the Presidential Award for undertaking risk of life or the Presidential award for distinguished of service to the nation beyond the call of duty. The challenges as also the rewards have always been different more so in the academic arena as the outcomes have always been different. If I reflect back the only short cut to success is hard work and more hard work discipline, drive and dedication.

2.           You are the follower of Gandhi ji, now with Anna ji and for the past 30 years shouldering a lot of other responsibilities. How do you manage all these?

         I always remember Mahatma Gandhi’s “My Experiments with Truth” that I read during my school days and his mantra for me has been “When you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man, if he gains anything by it, if it restores him control over his own life and destiny, and whenever in doubt my ‘self’ melts away. Yes I regard myself as a very humble proponent of the ‘Lokpal movement’ from its very inception, being an ardent supporter of Annaji from the 90s when I was the Executive Director of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan always have been a believer in transparency and the right to information and the participation of civic society in the democratic process and nation building. Thus, I believe that if you are passionate about your work and your ideals, you have to draw a “work-life balance” as every moment in your life counts and time management takes care of itself.

3.           Do you support the abolition of class 10^th Board Exams?

         No, not at all, as the abolition of class 10^th Board exam is not in consonance with Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of skill-based vocational education that ensures access, dignity, social mobility and employability for our youth. In our country, poor parents can ill-afford higher education for their children even at 10 + level. Also if we have to take the advantage of India’s democratic dividend for the nation’s GDP growth, we do need skill-based training just after the 10^th Board Exams more so as 52 % of the population is 25 years and less as the country keeps getting younger for many more years to come. The 10^th Board provided uniformity of assessment across the country and considering the simple fact that further education even at + 2 level may not at all be necessary for a majority of our youngsters. This is evidenced by the stark fact that due to economic and social reasons India has one of the highest school dropout rates at 88 %. Incidentally, for a skill deficit nation as ours where at the policy level we talk a lot about dignity of labour but act little and where only 12 % of the population is skilled and only 2% receive any formal skilling. Unfortunately the ITIs and the polytechnics can accommodate only 10 lakh students and therefore it is the schools that should provide skilling and vocational education for gainful employment in multiple trades to these year ten students. I am all the more convinced on the lack of perspective and vision amongst our planners every time I visit abroad and study the skilling process in countries such as Australia, UK, USA and even China.

4.           Is the Grading system relevant in the Indian context?

         Yes, very much! We live in a global village where we have to keep pace with the changing standards, values and advancements in our understanding of human ethos and the educational dynamics. International grading system ensures continuity in imparting knowledge, better participation, close and continuous assessment and evaluation where the teacher has to be constantly in touch with the students and involved in their academic monitoring and knowledge dissemination. This having been adopted all over the world as better innovation should also be integrated in both the schools and university education in India.

5.           Mahatma Gandhi and education in India

         One of the most widely-quoted aphorisms of Mahatma Gandhi is,

         "Be the change you want to see in the world."

         The real difficulty is that people have no idea of what education truly is! We assess the value of education in the same manner as we assess the value of land or of shares in the stock market. We want to provide only such education as would enable the student to earn more. We hardly give any thought to the improvement of the character of the educated. The girls, we say, do not have to earn; so why should they be educated? As long as such ideas persist, there is no hope of our ever knowing the true value of education.

         Given Gandhi’s values and his vision of what constituted a truly civilized and free India, it was not surprising that he developed firm views on education. Education not only moulds the new generation, but reflects a society’s fundamental assumptions about itself and the individuals which compose it. His experience in South Africa not only changed his outlook on politics but also helped him to see the role education played in that struggle. He was aware that he had been a beneficiary of Western education and for a number of years while he was in South Africa, he still tried to persuade Indians to take advantage of it. However, it was not until the early years of this century, when he was in his middle thirties, that he became so opposed to English education that he could write about 'the rottenness of this education' and that 'to give millions a knowledge of English is to enslave them ... that, by receiving English education, we have enslaved the nation'.  He was enraged that he had to speak of Home Rule or Independence in what was clearly a foreign tongue, that he could not practice in court in his mother tongue, that all official documents were in English as were all the best newspapers and that education was carried out in English for the chosen few. He did not blame the colonial powers for this. He saw that it was quite logical that they would want elite of native Indians to become like their rulers in both manners and values. In this way, the Empire could be consolidated. Gandhi blamed his fellow Indians for accepting the situation. Later in his life he was to declare that 'real freedom will come only when we free ourselves of the domination of Western education, Western culture and Western way of living which have been ingrained in us. Emancipation from this culture would mean real freedom for us'.

6.     As we have seen, Gandhi ji had not only rejected colonial education but also put forward a radical alternative. So what was this alternative? What was so radical about it?

         First of all, I need to say a word about Mahatma Gandhi’s attitude towards industrialization. He was absolutely opposed to modern machinery. In his Collected Works, he refers to machinery as having impoverished India that it was difficult to measure the harm that Manchester had done to them by producing machine-made cloth which, in turn, ruined the internal market for locally-produced hand-woven goods. Typically of Gandhi, however, he does not blame Manchester or the mill owners. 'How can Manchester be blamed?', he writes. 'We wore Manchester cloth and this is why Manchester wove it'. However, he notes that where cloth mills were not introduced in India, in places such as Bengal, the original hand-weaving occupation was thriving. Where they did have mills e.g. in Bombay, he felt that the workers there had become slaves. He was shocked by the conditions of the women working in the mills of Bombay and made the point that before they were introduced these women were not starving. He maintained that 'if the machinery craze grows in our country, it will become an unhappy land'. What he wanted was for Indians to boycott all machine-made goods not just cloth. He was quite clear when he asked the question 'What did India do before these articles were introduced?' and then answered his own question by stating 'Precisely the same should be done today. As long as we cannot make pins without machinery, so long will we do without them. The tinsel splendour of glassware we will have nothing to do with, and we will make wicks, as of old, with home-grown cotton and use hand­made earthen saucers or lamps. So doing, we shall save our eyes and money and support swadeshi and so shall we attain Home Rule'.

         Within this context of the need for a machine-less society, Gandhiji developed his ideas on education. The core of his proposal was the introduction of productive handicrafts in the school curriculum. The idea was not simply to introduce handicrafts as a compulsory school subject, but to make the learning of a craft the centerpiece of the entire teaching programme. It implied a radical restructuring of the sociology of school knowledge in India, where productive handicrafts had been associated with the lowest groups in the hierarchy of the caste system. Knowledge of the production processes involved in crafts, such as spinning, weaving, leather-work, pottery, metal-work, basket-making and book binding, had been the monopoly of specific caste groups in the lowest stratum of the traditional social hierarchy. Many of them belonged to the category of ‘untouchables’. India’s own tradition of education as well as the colonial education system had emphasized skills such as literacy and acquisition of knowledge of which the upper castes had a monopoly.

         Gandhi’s proposal intended to stand the education system on its head. The social philosophy and the curriculum of what he called ‘basic education’ thus favoured the child belonging to the lowest stratum of society. in such a way it implied a programme of social transformation. It sought to alter the symbolic meaning of ‘education’ and to change the established structure of opportunities for education.

         Why Gandhi proposed the introduction of productive handicrafts into the school system was not really as outrageous as may appear. What he really wanted was for the schools to be self-supporting, as far as possible. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, a poor society such as India simply could not afford to provide education for all children unless the schools could generate resources from within. Secondly, the more financially independent the schools were, the more politically independent they could be. What Gandhi wanted to avoid was dependence on the state which he felt would mean interference from the centre. Above all else, Gandhi valued self-sufficiency and autonomy. These were vital for his vision of an independent India made up of autonomous village communities to survive. It was the combination of swaraj and swadeshi related to the education system. A state system of education within an independent India would have been a complete contradiction as far as Gandhi was concerned.

         He was also of the opinion that manual work should not be seen as something inferior to mental work. He felt that the work of the craftsman or labourer should be the ideal model for the ‘good life’. Schools which were based around productive work where that work was for the benefit of all were, therefore, carrying out education of the whole person - mind, body and spirit.

         The right to autonomy that Gandhi’s educational plan assigns to the teacher in the context of the school’s daily curriculum is consistent with the libertarian principles that he shared with Tolstoy. Gandhi wanted to free the Indian teacher from interference from outside, particularly government or state bureaucracy. Under colonial rule, the teacher had a prescribed job to do that was based on what the authorities wanted the children to learn. Textbooks were mandatory so that Gandhi found that 'the living word of the teacher has very little value. A teacher who teaches from textbooks does not impart originality to his pupils'. Gandhi’s plan, on the other hand, implied the end of the teacher’s subservience to the prescribed textbook and the curriculum. It presented a concept of learning that simply could not be fully implemented with the help of textbooks. Of equal, if not more importance, was the freedom it gave the teacher in matters of curriculum. It denied the state the power to decide what teachers taught and what they did in the classroom. It gave autonomy to the teacher but it was, above all, a libertarian approach to schooling that transferred power from the state to the village.

         Gandhi’s basic education was, therefore, an embodiment of his perception of an ideal society consisting of small, self-reliant communities, with his ideal citizen being an industrious, self-respecting and generous individual, living in a small co-­operative community.

         For informal educators, we can draw a number of useful pointers. First, Gandhi’s insistence on autonomy and self-regulation is reflected in the ethos of informal education. Gandhi’s conception of basic education was concerned with learning that was generated within everyday life which is the basis on which informal educators work. It was also an education focused on the individual but reliant on co-operation between individuals. There is also a familiar picture of the relationships between educators and students/learners:

         A teacher who establishes rapport with the taught, becomes one with them, learns more from them than he teaches them. He who learns nothing from his disciples is, in my opinion, worthless. Whenever I talk to someone I learn something from him. I take from him more than I give him! In this way, a true teacher regards himself as a student of his students. If you will teach your pupils with this attitude, you will benefit much from them. Lastly, it was an education that aimed at educating the whole person, rather than concentrating on one aspect. It was a highly moral activity.

7.     How do you perceive pre-Independence and post-Independence educational scenarios in India?

         Literacy in India is key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate grew to 74.04% in 2011 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. Although this was a greater than six fold improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%, and India currently has the largest illiterate population of any nation on earth. Despite government programs, India's literacy rate increased only "sluggishly," and a 1990 study estimated that it would take until 2060 for India to achieve universal literacy at then-current rate of progress. The 2011 census, however, indicated a 2001-2011 decadal literacy growth of 9.2%, which is the slower than the growth seen during the previous decade.

         There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in India: effective literacy rates (age 7 and above) in 2011 were 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women. The low female literacy rate has had a dramatically negative impact on family planning and population stabilization efforts in India. Studies have indicated that female literacy is a strong predictor of the use of contraception among married Indian couples, even when women do not otherwise have economic independence. The census provided a positive indication that growth in female literacy rates (11.8%) was substantially faster than in male literacy rates (6.9%) in the 2001-2011 decadal period, which means the gender gap appears to be narrowing.

         The real issue, however, is where are we compared to the China story, if the India story has to take precedence, we have to believe that given our socioeconomic structure indeed, do educate the girl first because then you educate the entire family !

8.     Having been a part of the government policy-making please do elaborate on the role of the Government of India and the States under the Constitution vis a vis the actual practice!

         Let me first delve on the genesis of the issue! Soon after the attainment of Independence, the issue of the role of the Government of India in education came up for discussion again when the Constitution was being framed. The thinking of the framers of the Constitution on this subject seems to have been influenced by two main considerations:

         (1) The general model adopted in the U.S.A.; and (2) the recommendations of the Hartog Committee. As in the U.S.A., a fundamental decision was taken to treat education as a State subject and also to vest the residuary powers in education in the State Governments by making a specific enumeration of powers reserved for the Government of India in this field. Entry 11 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, therefore, lays down that “education, including universities, subject to the provisions of entries...

         When it comes to the issue of higher education, it is the University Grants Commission alongwith other statutory bodies such as the All India Council for Technical Education, National Board of Accreditation and the Medical Council of India, under an Act of the Parliament that is vested with the powers to regulate higher education. However, in actual practice, it is the Ministry of Human Resource Development that really calls the shots when it comes to the centrally-funded and the deemed institutions to be universities. The state universities and the state-recognized private universities have a relative freedom as they do not come under the direct purview of the Central Government. The issue here is that instead of the much touted autonomy what we really have is the government acting more as a controller than as a facilitator or a regulator.

9.     What are the proposed reforms in higher education and how does the government would handle these?

         The much touted reforms in higher education are through the proposed enactments ‘The Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010’, ‘The Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institution and Universities Bill, 2010’ and ‘The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010’ and ‘The Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010’,as well as ‘The Higher Education and Research Bill, 2010’, being introduced in the Parliament, that may generate a lot of debate as their constitutional validity is being seriously questioned.

10.   There is a lot of talk on the constitutional validity of the proposed enactments. Would you please elaborate?

         To my mind, the Constitution of India categorically prohibits the Central Government from regulating higher education while empowering the States to do so. Parliament can at best coordinate and determine the standards of higher education but cannot regulate it, least of all control higher education. Parliament is not even permitted to incorporate and wind up universities. Let us have a look at some of these aspects:

         Entry 44 of the Union List reads: “Incorporation, regulation and winding up of corporations, whether trading or not, with objects not confined to one State, but not including universities” thus clearly prohibits Parliament from incorporating, regulating and winding up the universities.

         Entry 32 of the State List reads: “Incorporation, regulation and winding up of corporations, other than those specified in List I, and universities; unincorporated trading, literary, scientific, religious and other societies and associations; co-operative societies” and hence specifically empowers the State Governments to incorporate, regulate and wind up universities.

         Entry 66 of Union List when read with the Entry 25 of the Concurrent List, specifically restricts the powers of Central Government only to determine and co-ordinate standards of higher education or research and scientific and technical institutions only. Entry 66 nowhere empowers the Central Government to regulate and maintain higher education and research. Thus, regulation also appears to be under the jurisdiction of the state government only.

11.       Now where is the problem at the Government level, incompetent teachers or any other factor?

         The issue again is more societal than of the incompetency of the government and/or the teacher as is often lamented when it comes to primary and secondary education in government run schools. Unless we have the political will to invest more so as to reach 6 percent of our gross domestic product and have a society that respects the teachers and pays them well we cannot really build the foundation of an India of tomorrow.

12. Why is that the Government schools/public sector lose their quality?

         The reasons are indeed manifold, primary being the lack of investment in school infrastructure, not following the concept of neighborhood schools, low pay and incentives for the teachers, insistence on ‘rote learning’ instead of character, creativity and confidence building as also not adequately popularizing innovative schemes, such as the mid day-meals. The situation can be remedied if there is political will and community participation.

         Let us also briefly look at some other aspects. School education in India is mainly provided by the public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: federal, state, and local. Child education is compulsory. The Nalanda University was the oldest university-system of education in the world. Western education became ingrained into Indian society with the establishment of the British Raj. Education in India falls under the control of both the Union Government and the states, with some responsibilities lying with the Union and the states having autonomy for others. The Indian Constitution does provide for right to universal compulsory primary education being as a fundamental right. India has made progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two-thirds of the population. India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to the economic rise of India.

13.    Can you elaborate on the challenges before the planners?

         Much of the challenge goes hand in hand with progress especially in higher education in our country. The private education market in India is merely 5% although in terms of value is estimated to be worth $40 billion in 2008 and will increase to $68 billion by 2012.

         However, India continues to face stern challenges. Despite growing investment in education, 35% of its population is still illiterate; only 15% of Indian students reach high school, and just 7% graduate. As of 2008, India's post-secondary high schools offer only enough seats for 7% of India's college-age population, 25% of teaching positions nationwide are vacant, and 57% of college professors lack either a master's or PhD degree.

         As of 2007, there are 1522 degree-granting engineering colleges in India with an annual student intake of 582,000, plus 1,244 polytechnics with an annual intake of 265,000. However, these institutions face shortage of faculty and concerns have been raised over the quality of education and here lies the challenge.

14.   What is the future of primary education in India? We are with, or far behind, the comparative international standard?

         Rote system of is a learning technique which focuses on memorization. The major practice involved in rote learning is learning by repetition. The idea is that one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material the more one repeats it. In this regard the Indian system of education has to be integrated with world standards where the stress is now more on character and personality building as also to foster innovation, enquiry and knowledge.

15. Does Corruption in educational system and educational mafia capture the whole scene?

         Unfortunately enough, for corruption in our country some have ironically commented is a lack of opportunity. It has become an integral part of the system. That is why character-building and moral science have to be an integral part of primary education. Autonomy, total transparency, right to information and decentralization of governance will be the key to wiping out corruption. I do agree that the massive investment required in public sector schools and universities cannot feed all the demand. Therefore private investment has to be encouraged on the basis of unambiguous parameters with above board regulation for a competitive market so that educational mafia do not capture the education system and hold the society and the government to ransom.

16.  After education no guarantee of job? Where is the problem with Government policy?

         Although Education, does not guarantee a job, but good skilling and vocational education surely do! This is imperative for our demographic dividend to bear fruits and therefore, the government should foster skill development and training through a network of institutes on the lines of the TAFE in Australia. To my mind, the real contribution of education in a civilized society is through the inculcation of a sense of enquiry, pride, confidence and character building. A good education will help us in getting better and satisfactory jobs in market. If we think in the sense education is just for job purpose it is wrong. The lapse in formulation of a strategy and in implementation of proper policies by the government, both the central and the state, is real.

17.      Education is so costly, so difficult. This is the common feeling of every parent. Everywhere parents and institutes face so many problems. What do you think? Is this is a right track or do we need some changes in our policy?

         Keeping in mind the increase in the population day-by-day the public-sector investment in education (primary and higher education) is up to six percent of the GDP is still a farfetched dream. So there is need for private educational institutions where you need to recover the cost of education from those who can afford it from fee. But we should not forget that the government is also putting some effort through subsidizing educational loans and ensuring free and compulsory primary education at least at the level of primary education.

18.      Meerut is now an educational hub but there is no name or fame or position of this city on national map. What do you think are the reasons and solution?

         It is true that Meerut has become an educational hub, thanks to the enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit of private individuals. It is indeed a testimony to them that Meerut has emerged as a very important education hub because of the good name of many of the Institutions in the region. I am sure that it could have been in a much better position even on the national stage with merit based and unqualified political support of the state government.

19.      Any message for students, teachers and the educational world?

            There is no short cut to success, particularly in the educational world, but for hard work, discipline and dedication. This applies to all - teachers and the students. India is indeed at the threshold of a breakthrough and let us all be a part of this India story!

A world more secure

“There has been on this planet a science of total war and innumerable war strategies. But there has never been a science of total peace …. Nor there have been well thought out, determined peace strategies.” These remarks by Dr. Robert Muller, Chancellor United Nations University for peace were ominous as no era before the twentieth century had witnessed such dramatic tumultuous and often tragic changes in the lives of countless millions of people on a global scale. Thus human existence is concerned with the positive existence of human race: positive as distinct from bare existence meaning survival in a sustainable ecosystem permitting desired political stability and individual fulfillment and growth. During the last few decades unprecedented threats to positive survival have emerged due to political growth and developments as well as concomitant exponential growth in science and technology.

One distinct threat is the ability to destroy mankind through global terror and war. Another threat arises from the overenthusiastic and unregulated application of technology in the face of an expanding world population, communication, financial, electronics and biotechnology revolutions. The planetary control feedback mechanism of the biosphere is greatly threatened due to humans and it appears for the first time that unless the process is checked or reversed, the system will likely collapse. We should be reminded that peace is much more than the absence of terror and war. Therefore, these new “first order” threats can duly be countered by collaborative efforts among humans and between humankind and the natural world. Collaborative effort is also essential for resolution of other major but “second order” problems, that do not threaten survival of the biosphere directly, but which afflict large section of the world’s population such as epidemics, mass under nourishment and illiteracy and also religious, racial, ethnic and socioeconomic imbalances. Collective collaborative strategy is possible due to spectacular advances in science and technology which has provided the means of acquiring, processing and integrating vast amounts of information, and for disseminating the finding to individuals, institutions and government.

The on rush of technology has affected not only the individuals consciousness and health but also the welfare and the implicit social contract between the governed and the governments. The information technology revolution has now made it possible for the individual to be exposed to knowledge in unprecedented volume and variety at both local and global levels. Due to the globalization of world money has radically altered the nature of internal markets and economics. Thus these developments threaten both the actual security of individuals as well as the society. This being a world wide phenomenon only an active collective response by individuals can help avert catastrophe by empowering myriad, newly in formed actions. But if knowledge paralyses the individual, including denial of the problems as a means of personal, psychological protection, the pattern of destructive synergism arising from the individual and collective assault on the biosphere will continue. Therefore global existence and security embrace issues at smallest scale of the individuals’ perception, health and living standards to the largest scale of biosphere, sustainable development and the new international political and economic order. Global existence to denote transnational problem with global implications which can only be solved through collaborative endeavor, ‘security’ means freedom from all dangers. The concept of global existence goes beyond the older established concept of national co-existence and its newer extension, international co-existence or security. Its focus is on the transnational problems that affect all human kind. Global security for the frontline existence of human race should be concerned to identify threats to the human race, society and the biosphere, and also devise and develop ways to counter or ward off such dangers. Let us discus a few of these:

1.        Biosphere and Environment      

            The security of the biosphere being a techno rectified problem in environmental studies does need a socio political and historical dimension as well. The ambit of global co-existence and studies should include regional issues that have global implications, such as the future of the Brazilian rain forest or the Antarctic continent. A collaborative approach similarly to issues of biodiversity and genetic engineering safeguards should be concerned with planetary control mechanisms. Today there is widespread realization that technology alone cannot solve environmental problems, weather it is the loss of forest cover, land degradation or the pollution of our air, water and soil. In the developing world these are linked to the problem of meeting human needs that includes the availability of drinking water, food and shelter for all. But, can there be a sustainable future for a global society that is divided into rich and poor? Much of the problems have arisen from unsustainable patterns of consumption and production beyond the capacity of mother earth. While we cannot roll back with time and tide, however, we should at least moderate its flow. Problems like the origins and sources of global warming, the reduced capacity of oceans to absorb carbon dioxide, ozone depletion, global warning and climate change, acid rain or marine pollution do need collective thinking and resources. In order to ensure global participation, availability of financial assistance, transfer of technology and the removal of trade imbalances we need an international response that is crucial under a just international order.

2.        Economics and Development

         The U.N. Conference on Environment and Development held at Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 was unique in having united the countries of the world through global conventions on biodiversity and climate. Above all, a plan of action for promoting environmentally sustainable development known as Agenda 21 was also adopter. This is a blueprint for economic development without environmental destruction. The growing number of ethnic and economic conflicts indicates that development, even if environmentally benign, will not be socially sustainable if it ignores equity.  In others words, a better common present is better than an unknown common future. The issue of equity in economic terms was discussed at the U.N. Social summit in Copenhagen in March 1995. Equity in gender terms was discussed at Beijing later in 1995 followed by the International Conference on Population and Development held at Cairo where real issues such as infant and maternal mortality rates, literacy, the status of women and poverty and livelihood insecurity were sidelined and attention diverted to contraceptive technologies including abortion. Let us have a peep at the much flaunted Millennium Development Goals. “Time is short. We must seize this historic moment to act responsibly and decisively for the common good.” With only six years until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently chose these words to strongly urge Governments to engage constructively in the preparations for a high-level meeting in September 2010 to review progress towards the MDGs and other international development goals. Although development assistance rose to record levels in 2008, donors are falling short by $35 billion per year on the 2005 pledge on annual aid flows made by the Group of Eight in Gleneagles, and by $20 billion a year on aid to Africa, according to the 2009 Report of the MDG Gap Task Force. The Task Force brings together more than 20 UN agencies, the IMF, World Bank, WTO and OECD to track progress on the development partnership called for in the eighth Millennium Development Goal. It is pertinent that more than halfway to the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have begun to slow or even reverse as a result of the global economic and food crises. An assessment, earlier launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva, warned that, despite many successes, overall progress has been too slow for most of the targets to be met by 2015. Thus none of these social summits have lead to any discernable reductions to halt the growing rich poor divide. Successive UNDP Human Development Reports points out that at present 84 percent of the global annual income goes to 20 percent of the population, while another 20 percent lives on 1.4 percent of the world’s income. How can such skewed income distribution be reversed and how can the poor have access to a better quality of life? Over 100 million people mobilized under the slogan “Stand Up - Take Action” at events in more than 100 countries around the globe between 17 and 19 October to demand that world leaders do not use the financial crisis as an excuse for breaking the promises they made in 2000 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It is now imperative that a holistic approach and a broad vision to tackle the problems for a world more secure be adopted. To achieve this end an Agenda 2020 be prepared and the socio demographic charter should address the following components:

(a)      Poverty eradication commitments, gender equity and problems relating to women and children including sex Ratio, crèches and child care facilities.

(b)      Habitat, including environmental hygiene, garbage and sewage  recycling and housing and management of common property resources.

(c)      Education for all at school level.

(d)      Health security including reproductive health of women and availability of quality contraceptive services.

(e)      Environment with particular attention to human carrying capacity of land and water and conservation of false and fauna.

(f)       Access to balanced diets safe drinking water.

(g)      Opportunities for skilled employment in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of economic activity.

(h)      The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) though a remarkable work could have removed discriminatory clauses like the Article 22 which permits most favored nation treatment and the one on intellectual property rights. These has lead to the creation of several trading blocks or arrangements in the world, being not only detrimental to the concept of global security but have also led to a form of neo economic imperialism.

(i)       Protection of the atmosphere (climate change, depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, trans boundary air pollution).

(j)       Protection of land resources (combating deforestation, soil loss, desertification and droughts).

(k)      Conservation of biological diversity.

(l)       Protection of oceans, seas, coastal areas and fresh water resources.

(m)     Environmentally sound management of biotechnology and hazardous water.

           Although the UNCED had produced – an ‘Earth Charter’ to embody the basic principles to govern the economic and environmental behavior of people’s and nations for a “Common Future”, it does not recognize equity in the imposition of new conditional ties in trade and disparities of the 1^st world and the 3^rd world. Similarly, ‘Agenda 21’ a blueprint for action in all major areas affecting the relationships between the environment and the economy in the next few decades deserves to be more democratic in approach as the developing world requires neither colonialism nor charity.          

                        These ethos are reflected in our ancient treatise, “this universe is the creation of the supreme power meant for the benefit of all his creation. Each individual life form, must, therefore, lean to enjoy its benefit by forming a part of the system in close relation with other spices. 

            "Let not any one species encroach upon the other’s rights”: Ishopanishad (2000 year back) 

            “What of the I dig out, let that quickly grow over, Let me not hit thy vitals, or thy heart”: Atharva Veda However, Gandhi summed it up best: “There is enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed”.

3.        Human existence and the new international order:

            The new international order should be concerned with the dangers of a global war or major conflicts in contrast to the traditional approaches to international relations, focusing on future wars and its causes and ways of averting them rather than on the role of military power as an instrument of foreign policy. Not withstanding the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from the cold war, greater world order remains as the crucible for social, political and environmental change. The models on the existing world order in the classical sense may historically be classified as:

(a)      The classical model:

            This includes those essential ingredients of power which have endured through the ages such as population resources, land resource and national resources with which a nation is endowed. Only a few states qualified for this potential, whereas the rest good enough to acquire the ingredients of power such as the state of industry, technology and political organization were condemned to be medium or small powers. These latter groups did play down the lack of natural attributes to the acquired ones. It is the effort and its success or failure that is now the stuff of history.

(b)      The power model: 

            It was the military might in the ancient times, later coupled with the industrial revolution, technological quality which acted as a force multiplier characterized by the age of imperialism and the supremacy of the west.

 (c)     The economy model:

            The economic capability of a nation, the existing number two power ingredient overtook the military power as the numero uno ingredient amplified in the past few decades. The striking examples are the ascendancy of Japan and Germany.

            In the post cold war scenario president Bush in his preface to the National Security Strategy of the United States in January 1993 wrote, “We are indeed moving into a new era. It is an era that holds great opportunities, but also great dangers as the danger of global war recedes, the potential for smaller but still highly destructive conflicts between nations and within nations is growing. We simply do not and cannot know all the challenges that will arise in future”.

Jane’s Defense weekly  identified 26 ongoing conflicts, 23 areas of potential conflicts and tension in an additional 24 areas, making a total of 73 ‘hot spots’ across the globe. Instead of proverbially ‘preparing to fight the lost war’, we should develop an insight into the future global scenario in order to evolve a global model. Some of the revolutionary and conventionally evolutionary models are:

(a)      The Ecology based model : 

            In the aftermath of global warming, the ensuing world wide drought and the submersion of large areas of coastal and island land mass; the shortage of food, water and other resources may lead to bizarre partnership amongst nations or utter chaos. 

(b)         The demographic explosion based model : 

            In this, the prolific brown and yellow races explode inexorably and expand into low pressure areas on the globe leading to their elimination through weapons of mass destruction.

(c)          The power shift based model : 

            In this model elucidated by Alvin Toffler in his book ‘Power shift’ there is a novel comprehensive reorganization on the global as the world produces wealth. This change is comparable to the revolutionary change during the shift from the hunting society to agricultural society and later to the industrialized society.

(d)         The fault line based models :

            There are based on future fault lines or global security challenges which in a way complement each other. One is John Lewis Gaddis geological metaphor of marine shifts in the historic tectonics of human civilizations like the democratic & human right wags which reflect deep socio-historical forces that lie embedded in the world’s conscience. The other metaphor is that of fractured glass reflecting the traumatic events such as ethnic, tribal, religious and other conflicts having a shattering blow all over the global. Thus the tectonic movements accentuate the crash on the surface of the globe.   

 (i)       After the eclipse of the cold war, euphemistically called the third world war in his book ‘The Fourth World War’ by Count De Marenches & Daved  A. Andelman feels that the world is now engaged in deadliest conflict of all, the fourth world war. It is a war that defies continuous traditions for those with shaky cultural, religious and military background. It is a war waged by terrorist networks & drug cartels unassailable through commotional strategies using religious, political, social & economic facade like the Stalin’s Red Brigade, Baader-Meinhof Gang, Irish Republican army, Taliban, Corsican separatists, Spanish Basques, Turkish Grey Wolves, LeT, JKLF, ULFA, LTTE, KLF and the list goes on.

(ii)      On the nature of future conflicts Francis Fukuyama in his treatise, “The end of History and the Last Man” considers that with the end of the great ideological debate between liberal democracy and totalitarianism the war has ended for the developed world but for the developing, world ‘war of interest and war of conscience’ would continue duly amplified by the developed world.

 (iii)      Samuel P Huntington, on the other hand in his essay, “The Clash of Civilizations?” considers that conflict between nation states and ideologies including the cold war were primarily ‘western civil wars’. He states that ‘the fault lines between civilization will be the lines of the future’ implying conflicts between world civilizations. He defines civilizations as western Christianity, eastern (Orthodox) Christianity, Islam, Confucian and Hindu and predicts a tactical accommodation between the Confucian and the Islamic civilization. The Hindu may be drawn to the Western Christian for ideological as well as tactical considerations. However, in the Indian context it may be said that there is a larger Indian civilization that transcends the divides of religion. In this perspective it would be interesting to note that General K. Sundar ji in ‘Blind Men of Hindustan’ in his characteristic style argued that India should go nuclear on the theory of ‘Proportional Deterrence’ keeping in view her two main adversaries on the eastern and western borders.

 (iv)    ‘The Third Wave: War and Antiwar’: Alvin and Heidi Toffler in their treatise ‘war and antiwar present scenarios of the fast advancing ‘third wave future’ leaving behind the ‘first wave’ of agricultural  & pastoral civilization followed by the ‘second wave’ of industrial revolution 300 years ago. The third wave war predicted by the Yom Kippur war in Oct, 1973, the gulf war, the Iraq and the Afghan offensives in which 5^th and even later generation of electronics, breath taking advances in information  technology were evidenced by precision warfare, iterative superior planning and coordination. Indeed what was not anticipated was the resurgence of islamic jehad terror strikes that culminated in the horror of 9/11 or the likes of 26/11 terror attacks. The book not only anticipates nuclear fault lines of countries like Pakistan, but also makes a case for brain based warfare & economy in the new world order where information is key. No wonder they predict “to survive at the dawn of the 20^th century it will take more than instinct” lest we forget Leon Trotsky: ‘You may not be interested in war. But war is interested in you.

‘Spaceship Earth’ is not a metaphor but a finite reality. It is indeed very crucial that we assess models both by evolution and extrapolation for future human existence not only for the year 2000 but also for the club of Dome’s project on the predicament of mankind copra also from the ‘Future Shock’ of Alvin Toffler we have seen the decline thesis of Paul Kennedy towards a unipolar moment in the new world order. In order to shape the positive evolution of human race some critical issues are identified as under:

(a)          Environmental issues are crucial for mankind’s survival which should have integrating influences. This includes technology transfer, ecological codes, resource optimization & diversification; biotechnology codes, information & computer regulations, space exploration etc. which may change not only the human behavior but also the entire fabric of present day society.

(b)         Considering that at present rates world population would double in 30 years and with finite space & non renewable resources on earth, mankind will have to seek a state of equilibrium on our planet.  This may call for a uniform social code to be enfaced universally.

(c)      Economic development issue would lead to globalization and supranational capitalism apart from increasing the ‘North’ and ‘South’ divide and the neo-economics blocs for which a global for a international economic code to be evolved by reducing inequities.

(d)      The diffusion of power and the emergence of regionalism may become compounded with the rice of ethnicity and political identity. This may assume explosive proportions due to religious radicalism wars like the ‘gulf war’ would be an exception rather than the blue and low intensity caustics would be a rule rather than an exception. Military strategy should therefore be directed to such operations rather than for commotional wars. Establishment of a counter insurgency on counter terrorism command at the national & international levels should be the need of the hour.

Mankind has to embark on a new course of human existence and evolution by concerted international measures & joint long term planning on a scale & scope without precedent by reshaping the United Nations on perhaps replacing it with a more just & equitable world body would be required. The achievement of a harmonic state of global economic, social, political and ecological equilibrium must be a joint venture based on joint conviction with the imitative from economically developed countries to avert future terror strikes, wars & catastrophes there has to be a basic change of values and goals at individual, national and world levels. I am reminded of the underlying prophecy in the words of Alfred Tennyson in ‘The Passing of Arthur": “The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfills himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world”

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A world less poor

Is there fortune at the bottom of the pyramid? The World Bank estimates reveal that there are now over 7000 microfinance institutions, serving some 16 million poor people in developing countries. The total cash turnover of microfinance institutions worldwide is estimated at US $2.5 billion and the potential for new growth is outstanding. The Micro credit Summit estimates that US$21.6 billion is needed to provide microfinance to 100 million of the world's poorest families. It has also been projected by planners that it should be possible to raise US$2 billion from borrowers' savings alone. Studies have shown that during an eight-year period, among the poorest in Bangladesh with no credit service of any type, only 4 percent pulled themselves above the poverty line. But with individuals and families with credit from Grameen Bank, more than 48% rose above the poverty line. It is estimated that worldwide, there are 13 million micro credit borrowers, with USD 7 billion in outstanding loans, and generating repayment rates of 97 percent. It has been growing at a rate of 30 percent annual growth making it perhaps the fastest growing sectors of the economy in many developing countries. It is also an irony that in the developing world fewer than 2 per cent of poor people have access to financial services (credit or savings) from sources other than moneylenders. The fact also remains that only 10 million of the 500 million people who run micro and small enterprises have access to financial support for their businesses. Some other figures remain equally interesting such as the world's seven richest men could wipe out global poverty. Their combined wealth is more than enough to provide the basic needs of the poorest quarter of the world's people. Indian Government’s estimates show that over 250 million people are without proper access to credit and are forced into informal channels for their enterprise financing – such as the village moneylenders who lend at very high interest rates. It is estimated that thousands of active microfinance institutions support 15 million micro-entrepreneurs all over India. Most of those MFIs are often created by individuals who are coming from, and living, with the underprivileged communities they serve. It is true that the shared vision and conditions between microfinance practitioners and beneficiaries allow MFIs to have a good comprehension of micro-entrepreneurs needs and concerns, but their lack of strategic, financial and organizational skills heavily constraints their efficiency and sustainability. It is imperative that micro enterprises all over the world need a strategic vision and approach concomitant with providing sustainable services to the poor who are in need of financial services to raise their capacity (esp. financial and managerial skills) capitalize on each other experiences and information, benefit from worldwide research and innovation in the field of microfinance, move from isolation to community to play a strong policy advocacy role, improve visibility and transparency to access financing, above all to think globally but act locally. The million dollar question still is who bells the cat: World Bank or the IMF!

A world more virtuous

Contemporary world is at cross roads today: be it rising violence or social injustice, increasing divide between the rich and the poor or the inequities: both social and political. The evolving socio political fabric and the tremendous competition due to a clash in opportunities & population pressure and the emerging chaos in India’s body polity have made Mahatma Gandhi and his thinking even more relevant than ever before. A reflection on Gandhi's definition of Satyagraha will lead us to the three basic tenets: satya or truth, implying openness, honesty, and fairness; ahimsa, meaning physical and mental non violence; and tapasya, literally penance, in this context self-sacrifice. Perhaps it is in the application of the tenets of Satyagraha that the individuals may find solace and the society may be able to rejuvenate itself. It may be pertinent to quote Gandhi:

“In the application of Satyagraha, I discovered, in the earliest stages, that pursuit of Truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one's opponent, but that he must be weaned from error by patience and sympathy. For, what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of Truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but one's own self”.

The Satyagrahi is meant to practice self-effacement, humility, patience and faith best epitomized in Mahatma Gandhi’s own words: “Love does not burn others, it burns itself. ….. a satyagrahi, i.e., a civil resister, will joyfully suffer even unto death. It follows, therefore, that a civil resister, whilst he will strain every nerve to compass the end of the existing rule, will do no intentional injury in thought, word or deed……”

Drawing a distinction between passive resistance and Satyagraha Mahatma Gandhi is famously quoted: “Satyagraha is a weapon of the strong; it admits of no violence under any circumstance whatever; and it ever insists upon truth. I think I have now made the distinction perfectly clear”.

A very pertinent statement that Mahatma Gandhi made is of immense significance today when we confront terrorism and violence that is used to achieve narrow political ends. He said, “Violence will prevail over violence, only when someone can prove to me that darkness can be dispelled by darkness.”

I think that's what we have to remember and try to imbibe in our lives, that we can never overcome violence with more violence. We can only overcome violence with respect and understanding and love for each other. Today when we confront conflicts of all kinds be it– interpersonal, social, religious, state, national or even international conflicts – and use every possible technique for resolving them – in the end we may find the best resolution only through Satyagraha : a potent Gandhian instrument.

A world more enterprising

At the scale of a billionth of a metre Nanoscience and nanotechnology encompass not only newer advances and techniques but do cut across the whole spectrum of science from applications in medicine and physics to engineering and chemistry.

Indeed Nanoscience and Nanotechnology has been an idea that most people simply didn't believe and recently I read Richard Schwartz that the “impact of nanotechnology is expected to exceed the impact that the electronics revolution has had on our lives’. Perhaps the first use of the concepts in 'nano-technology'  as we know today was by Richard Feynman at Caltech on Dec 29, 1959 in his paper on ‘There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom’ we have come a long way to the watershed publication of ‘Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology’  and the ‘Nanosytems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and Computation’  in the eighties  in the aftermath of the birth of cluster science and the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope that led to the discovery of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes. Simultaneously, the invention of atomic force microscope and the synthesis of semiconductor nanocrystals led to a fast increasing number of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles that contributed to the emergence of nanoelectronics, nanomechanics and nanophotonics.

In our drive from the simple to complex and vice versa and the urge to engineer new constructs in addition to natural ones across the world we have followed to approaches: the bottom up approach and the top down approach using the techniques of DNA nanotechnology for engineered nanosystems and the solid state silicon methods for fabricating microprocessors. As per the project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, today there are over 800 manufacturer-identified nanotech products with new ones hitting the market at a pace of 3–4 per week.

Nonetheless, there are calls for tighter regulation of nanotechnology alongside a growing debate related to the human health and safety risks associated with nanotechnology. A major study published more recently in Nature Nanotechnology suggests that some forms of carbon nanotubes a – a poster child for the “nanotechnology revolution” is as toxic to humans just as was asbestos. Thus we have to explore the societal and economic impact of technical, social and commercial uncertainties as well and formulate a responsible Nanocode in our country.

India has established several nanotechnology programs under its five year nanotechnology initiative as the government has recently announced a 987 crore program that includes three national Institutes of Nanoscience and centres of excellence. Presently, India has about 30 nanotechnology startups and about 50 research institutes and can be a world leader in technologies like nano fluid sensors, provided we have more private enterprise and a dedicated venture capital fund for nanotechnology initiatives. I am sure private participation will enthuse both the industries and the academics to the exciting new world of nanobiotechnology, bionics, optical computing with nanophotonic materials, fabrication, characterization and reliability of nanomaterials as also other emerging areas.

A world more equitable

There is more to the ethos and mindsets of a society in transition than the socioeconomic conditions of an emerging nation and other reasons viz political!

We do not encourage innovation but approve consensus and uniformity,

We do not motivate our youth for merit and their talents but promote mediocrity through reservations,

We do not treat all our children equal and provide similar education and equal opportunities at school level as the best private and public primary and secondary schools but foster a new class divide even at the school level of the haves and have nots,

We do not support economic assistance to provide equal opportunities to all irrespective of caste, creed and economic status but prefer to further promote the already existing creamy layer at the cost of those who are perennially deprived of it,

We do not inspire academic freedom and free enterprise but bring down academic and research standards by ensuring quotas for every one and the list goes on.

Apparently our approach is flawed.