ELSA
online Meet
75
Years of Indian Independence: A Roadmap for the Future
5.00
P.M., Sunday, 26 September, 2021
Knowing
that we all were still humming the tune from our August meeting, Prof Ghosh
spoke of the ‘unforgettable musical meet’ as he welcomed us all. Sharing his
source of inspiration for this month’s topic, Prof Ghosh mentioned two
illuminating and famous personalities – Rabindranath Tagore and Dr. A P J
Kalam.
Prof.
Ghosh quoted a few lines from the famous poem of the 1913-Nobel Laureate Indian’s
Gitanjali,
Where the mind is without fear and the
head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up
into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Speaking about the individual
interpretation of it, our guiding light mentioned Dr APJ Kalam’s insight on how
an individual can contribute responsibly towards achieving this difficult task.
What Dr. Ghosh was driving at was how to contribute effectively and
constructively to the nation in the midst of all the divisive and destructive
forces at play; what road map can be suggested in one’s own individual capacity
as a member of the profession one is in charge of. Change can be initiated by
each of such individuals who can impact a community wherein ideas generated are
agreed on, that further lead to collective actions, citing an example of writing.
Our
first speaker was Mr. Debashish Chakraborty, Outstanding Scientist and former Director
DRDO, currently based in Vishakhapatnam who had in the past written an article
for Re-Markings
on his association with Dr. Kalam. He shared his valuable thoughts on his
experiences (quoting them from his college days) and how he perceived the
contribution that one can make. It can be best summed up in his following line:
“Our mind is like a parachute, it works only when it is open!”
Our
next speaker, Dr Multani, from Patiala echoed a similar thought and she summed
it up in the following two bits: ‘Ek aur ek gyaarah’ and ‘Boond boond saagar
banta hai’”
Ms.
Anjali Singh, dwelled on how difficult it is for any democracy to survive the
constant threat of non-democratic forces. She cited the fresh example of
‘Abandoned Afghanistan’ and how it was an achievement in itself that India
sustained for seventy-five years; all because of its citizens!
Dr.
Manju highlighted the richness of Indian philosophy that has inspired the
western wasteland. She quoted that “True happiness lies not in accumulation”
and cited Bhagwad Gita’s emphasis on Karma
and to live in the ‘Present’.
Mr.
Anil Sharma, the writer and poet’s ‘poetic tone’ and rhythm gave a charm to his
expression - the importance of cottage industry in sustaining the Indian way of
life; how it died a slow death – first in the hands of the colonial powers and
currently by the domestic forces closely resembling the former masters.
Taking
a similar thought forward, Saurabh Agarwal brought to our notice the ‘inequality
challenges’ the nation is grappling with. Sharing data highlighting the glaring
inequality, he started with the eye-popping contemporary fact that three fourth
of the nation’s wealth was in the hands of one percent of the population!
The
meet was immensely enjoyed by all. Moreover, there were long discussions and
exchanges that were quite constructive. The presence of Prof. Santosh Gupta
from Jaipur, Dr. Ajit Mukherjee from Bhubaneshwar, Dr. Ranjana Mehrotra from
Dehradun, Dr. Archana from Ashok Nagar (MP), Dr. Pramila Chawla, Jessica Joel
among others added to the vibrancy of the meet.
It seemed that already each one present wanted to contribute
individually and productively!
Wrapping
up the evening, Prof Ghosh said that Patriotism is a sense of belonging to
something beyond oneself; even as each one of us understands that we can
contribute individually and collectively (through small pressure groups). We
should, at the same time, not be afraid of those who may push the country
backward. He emphasized the need to remain alert to the voices that do not come
out from ‘the depth of truth.’ If we don’t awaken to this fact, we may
unknowingly be the accomplice and contribute to another 75 years of continued glaring
inequality.
Independence, Science & Technology
Debasish Chakraborty
Independent India attained the age of 75
years this year, when majority population of our nation is in their vibrant
young age. At this crossroad, it is therefore very relevant to choose a topic -
‘75 years of Indian independence, a roadmap for the future’ and introspect,
deliberate and discuss amongst the enlightened citizens of the country from all
walks of life.
Dr. Nibir Ghosh (emeritus Professor,
Historian & Chief Editor of Re-Markings) has done exactly the same, and
provided a platform in ELSA MEET held on 26th September 2021. The
150 minutes session with all participants have been a great experience for all
of us to ponder upon and contribute individually in their respective domains.
It is pertinent to mention here that Dr. Nibir Ghosh anchored the event with
focussed objective of bringing out the inherent thought process of participants
impromptu informally rather than making it ritual of prepared presentations on
the subject. We have enjoyed every bit of it with lots of
interaction/deliberations. My sincere thanks to Dr. Ghosh for organising such a
wonderful event.
I try to attend all programmes hosted by
Dr. Ghosh, since I enjoy the views of erudite members and thereby try to educate
myslf a little more with my little knowledge and wisdom. I joined this event at
5 pm on a Sunday to listen to all.. To my surprise the anchor called me first
to start the session for which frankly I was not mentally ready, however I
decided to present whatever I felt relevant with respect to my profession as a
Scientist in DRDO.
Let me give out a little preamble of an
incident I faced in the beginning of my career as an Engineer. I was working
for a British multinational company called Indian Oxygen Limited, at Kolkata
with a very good salary. However I was feeling little throttled. There were
little scope of Engineering designs/innovations,since the designs were all
imported and we have been broadly running the production line in India. So I
decided to join DRDO through UPSC, at substantially lower salary. Some of my
coleagues at Indian Oxygen tried to dissuade me saying with sattire “ R&D
in DRDO is Relax & Do only”.. Still I quit IOL and joined DRDO. 3/4 years
of working down the line in DRDO have made me realise -- that all categories of
R&D people are there--”Relax and Do”, “ Relax and Dont” and also “Reason
and Do”. the day I got grooved into the “Reasoning and doing”category of
R&D, there was no looking back. We
started applying our Engineering knowledge in the field with innovative
problems/experimentation etc and sometimes correcting some learnings of the
college as well. Since then , in the process -- Reasoning has been ingrained in
our psyche for all the endeavours we undertake.
The same reasoning I tried to mull on my experience of 35 years
of Engineering Experience in DRDO to reflect some points, relevant to the
roadmap for future of our nation.....
I tried to touch upon certain points in
my talk,which are relevant to create a general awareness for promoting Science &
Technology for the nation in future.
A)
Science & Technology
education in the country requires a boost
(i) Educators need to create an
environment, whereby students get motivated. Communication with students on
Science & Technology topics to be more proactive with practical
experimentations/ examples involving students. Guest lectures from experienced
Science professionals to be encouraged in all schools across the nation.
Student friendly education to be the key to progress
(ii0 Some scientific ways to decipher
students’ inherent choice of pursuing Science or any other subject to be given
priority. It is often found that by peer pressure & other extraneous
economic conditions, a student is forced to opt for Science and finally, either
the student is not able to do justice to the same and feel stressed, or shift
to other areas of their choice later--thus not giving a space to a deserving
Science student. It is indeed painful to see an IIT graduate finally joins
Accounting/ maketing/ administration etc and not pursuing the core areas of
technology/innovation -- thus depriving the nation to develop innovative
technologies/designs.
(iii0 My personal experience these days suggest that even if I offer myself to so many schools to interact with them on Science fundamentals and awareness, very few schools respond and when I interact with them in some schools, i find they try and ask very pertinent Science questions which stems out of their quest for knowledge. This is very exciting and it assures me that we have good potential in scientific human resources which is required to be tapped.
(iv) The Educators/ academicians in
Technology institutes in our country need to have mandatory application
oriented field experience in Industries/other Govt/other Research Institutions
in their respective field of teaching on a fixed 1-2 years’ tenure basis. This
will improve the quality of imparting Technology education. More and more
students will get exposed to wholesome learning both in analytical and
practical domains. The understanding of key future research areas based on this
field experience may also be explored.
(B) Role of Science research organisations (ISRO, DRDO, BARC, CSIR etc)
-- Technology stems out from good
knowledge and teamwork, since it is multidisciplinary in nature for any modern
systems. Our country is proud of having good R&D establishments in the
country who have excelled in their respective areas facing tough challenges.
However following areas need more emphasis --
(i) Incubation centre for young scientific
talents on certain key areas independently and parallely.
(ii) Attracting and Retaining more and
more Engineers from premium Institutions like IIT, NIT etc,
(iii) would try and gradually move towards
an eco-system, where Science and scientific merit is the Boss, rather than any
individual in the hierarchial structure.
(iv0 would promote success stories in
Science & Technologies to different technical institutions of the nation to
bring about awareness to the students.
Our mentor, leader and visionary Dr. APJ abdul Kalam once commented, “In this world, Fear has no place, only Strength respects strength... and Technology is our strength”
Mr. Anil Sharma’s talk on cottage Industry movement braught out how to improve the life of these sections of our society. It has also evolved some questions to ponder. I felt that anything done for this marginalised class of farmers, peasants, cottage industry people by any NGO individual etc is a welcome move. However more efforts are required to reduce the inequality between this vast majority class and the rest.
I, being a technologist, wandered so many
times why there is not much initiative for making user friendly Cold Storages
as infrastructure development plan so that foodgrains produced by the farmers
can be stored and sold by them at an appropriate price, rather than making a
distress sale to the private cold storage owners.
Indeed a food for thought .. and I would
love to study about it...if feasible, then our technologists will work for a
low cost user friendly cold storages for our farmer friends...who knows, our
nation will be worthy of proclaiming-- a
Resurgent and self reliant India in the future.
“I
vow to thee, my country”:
Reflections
on the 75th Anniversary of our Independence
Nibir K. Ghosh
“I vow to thee, my country, all earthly
things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service
of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that
stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and
the best;
The love that never falters, the love that
pays the price."
These lines from the poem by Cecil Spring Rice, composed in 1921 i.e. exactly a century ago, comes to my mind as we salute our national flag on the 75th anniversary of our political Independence from British rule.
Notwithstanding the irony
of remembering a patriotic hymn created by an Englishman on this historic
occasion, I strongly feel we need to question ourselves: are we truly free from
the fetters of caste, class, region, colour, gender, religion, selfishness,
greed, hypocrisy, nepotism, corruption and the like?
If each one of us can
resolve, in flesh and spirit, to give to our nation “Entire and whole and
perfect, the service of our love;/ The love that asks no question, the love
that stands the test,” we can demonstrate our true sense of belonging to Mother
India.
Bande Mataram! Jai Hind!
Happy Independence Day!
Why has India always been
the target country for all invaders including a small country like Portugal?”
and “Why India always, almost all the times, has given in to the invaders?”
These two questions often asked by Dr. A.P.J. Kalam to the youth of India who
came in contact with him call for deep introspection at all levels of history,
society and polity. In my view the abundance of natural resources as well as
the wealth of spiritual wisdom made India an obvious haven for looters,
plunderers and conquerors from across the world in whatever garb they came. The
vulnerability to fall easy prey to the invaders was primarily on account of the
near-total absence of the sense of belonging to a nation. We existed as either
individuals concerned with our own predicament and fate or at best as part of a
clan, caste, community, religion or province. The idea of India as a country or
nation has virtually been non-existent for centuries. Consequently, patriotism
of any kind, which is an integral prerequisite for the defence of any nation
against foreign invasion, has often been an extremely rare commodity.
Let us all walk in the
footsteps of valiant patriots and martyrs of India who conceptualized the
foundation of the nation in the principles of “faithfulness, duty and
sacrifice.” If we construct our lives on such visionary ideals irrespective of
the profession we are in and place our selfish interests even at par with our
concern for the well-being of all in the nation, unmindful of the machinations
of divisive forces, we can be certain that no invaders can henceforth dare to
disturb the solidarity and prosperity of our motherland.
Jai Hind Jai Bharat.
(Excerpts from Editorial,
Re-Markings)
Indian Values: A Remedy for the Modern Wasteland
Manju
Modern time has its reflection
in literature as a period characterized by a self-conscious break with
traditional ways of writing. A change is observed in everything. An effort was
made here to visualize this change through this poem:
It's Trendy
Why is it so trendy to snub and dishearten?
To hate, to break, to leave and to keep at stake
It's so tough to build the temple of love
In the city of abomination.
The nib of my pen is crushed on the paper
Where someone announces
“Poetry makes nothing happen”.
Where the “ceremony of innocence” is drowned in the gutter of
cruelty.
Where humanity suffocates under ambition galore.
Righteousness silently dies and loudly do perversions roar
Expending anxiety clutches my heart
Wounds are peeping out of my soul and my art. (Manju)
Existential crisis, isolation and loss of values are some of the words which characterize this period. More and more dependency on technology has dried up human emotions causing emotional wasteland. Somewhere it seems as we are moving towards Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World a novel known for displaying totalitarianism and the eradication of individualism. Human beings are living a robotic life under a psychological slavery as they are refrained from thinking. The concern which was addressed in ‘The Wasteland’, a landmark of modernism, by T S Eliot, comes true in Huxley’s Brave New World. The epic poem creates a chaotic canvas to portray modernity sobbing in tatters of emotional penury. The poet finds the solution in Buddhism and he attempts to offer hope by suggesting that it can be overcome and “a damp gust” brings rain to the dry and cracked land, and then the thunder speaks,
“Da. Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata
Shantih
shantih shantih”
The
meaning of the lines was interpreted differently by various intellectuals but most
of them explained it as to give, sympathize,
and control, respectively and Eliot finds it a solution to restore life to the
modern wasteland. Modern men are so busy in accumulating things that they have
forgotten the meaning of life. There is an urgent need to contemplate on
mindfulness and what we prefer out of these two. The remedy for these concerns
is discovered by numerous intellectuals in Indian Philosophy as T. S. Eliot
suggested in ‘The Wasteland’.
The same idea
is being repeated by Robin Sharma, a Canadian writer in his book The Monk who Sold his Ferrari. He tells
the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer who confronts
the spiritual crisis of his imbalanced life, and the subsequent wisdom that he
gains in the lap of The Himalayas where he had a life-changing experience that
enables him to create a life of passion, purpose and peace. The valuable wisdom
of Bhagavad Gita, a revered book in its famous shloka shares a highly valuable
statement: “karmanye vaadhikaa raste, maa phaleshu kadaachanaa” seems a panacea
for all the modern anxiety and teaches us how to enjoy our work. Swami
Vivekanand suggested a panacea in his speech ‘The Secret of Work’ where he
considers ‘Karmayoga’ (work) a source of salvation if it is done incessantly
and by keeping our soul “unattached”.
Dr Manju is Associate Professor,
Chandigarh University
Resilient Democracy: Democratic Resilience of
Indian Literature during last 75 years
Anjali Singh
On
75 years of Indian Independence, following are the points I would like to
highlight:
Upholding
democracy: our democracy has been a very resilient one especially with the
democratic resilience of the citizens! Looking at the examples worldwide
wherein states have been quick to fall to anarchy, the most recent example
being Afghanistan; it tears apart every humane human to see the scenes of chaos
and desperation echoed by ‘Abandoned Afghanistan’.
Looking
at this period from the literary aspect, this is what I have felt:
From
the 1947 India, that unconsciously and sub consciously inherited the culture of
the colonial power that ruled India for over 200 years, the Indian literary
scene has undergone a transition – from dependency towards an Independency; be
it writers, themes, characters or the publishing industry itself. This is more
evident in the 21st century India that sees an emergence of new
breed of writers who have touched issues that are contempory and very Indian. I
would briefly like to mention a graphic novel ‘Pashmina’ by Nidhi Chanani. What
drew me to it was the theme that reflects the growth of the Indian democratic
thought that gives the space to think freely. There has also been a growth of
Young Adult fiction space which is a much neglected field. This is in sync with
the global trends which India is exhibiting parallelly. Apart from the themes,
there has been a broadening of the medium of literature too – the digital books
and digital literature in the form of audio books and read aloud books.
On
the question of how can I contribute to my nation – in nurturing a constructive
persona of my daughters. My relationship with them will contribute to their
relationship with their mother nation. What they get is what they will give and
contribute socially. As future citizens of our nation, they will be members in
nation building. Thus, it is important that they be given the environment and
education that will help them be responsible, law abiding citizens.
Anjali Singh is Research Scholar, Dr.. B.R. Ambedkar University, Agra
आत्मनिर्भर भारत-फ़्यूज़र रोड मैप
अनिल कुमार शर्मा
इस महान भारत देश को सोने की चिड़िया कहलाने का गौरव प्राप्त है जो आज तक किसी देश को नहीं मिला ।ये कैसे हुआ इसके पीछे क्या व्यवस्था थी, कौन थे वो बुद्धिमान लोग जो दूरदर्शी विचारों के धनी थे, जिन्होंने समाज को जोड़कर ऐसी व्यवस्था बनाई कि हर व्यक्ति की व्यावसायिक सहभागिता रहे, पीढ़ी दर पीढ़ी बचपन से युवावस्था तक घर में होने वाले काम को बिना कहीं जाये सीख लेना सरल होता था। अल्प शिक्षित या अशिक्षित युवा किसी न किसी तकनीक में निपुण होकर रोज़गार में लग जाते थे।
उस समय गृह उघोग योजना व कुटीर उद्योग योजनाओं को हर सम्भव सहयोग दिया गया उनको उन्नत करने हेतु आधुनिक तरीक़े भी अपनाए गये, जो रोज़मर्रा की ज़िंदगी में यहाँ के नागरिकों की दिनचर्या में आत्म निर्भरता की सरल शिक्षा शामिल कर गये थे । किसी को कारीगरी सिखाने के लिये स्कूल या कालेज में नये पाठ्यक्रम को लागू करने या हटाने की आवश्यकता ही नहीं होती थी। क्योंकि पढ़ाई के साथ साथ गृह उद्योग घर की शिक्षा में शामिल था, और यही कारण था समृद्धि का। हर व्यक्ति कोई न कोई ऐसी वस्तु बनाने में लगा था जो दूसरे लोगों को चाहिए। इसी वजह से वस्तु विनिमय देहात में चलता रहा, देश में बनी वस्तु की खपत अपने देश में होती रही .
सिर्फ़ एक खेती ही गॉंव से शहर तक समृद्धि ले आती थी यह कैसे संभव होता था हम खेती से शुरू करके कुटीर उद्योग तक पहुँच जाते थे । खेती—-जिसमें आम आदमी - किसान ,उपजाने वाला बढ़ई व लुहार - लकड़ी व लोहे के औज़ार वह औज़ार जो खेती व घर मकान दुकान बड़े भवन में लगने वाला सामान बैलगाड़ी इत्यादि बनाने वाले होते थे वहीं आसपास के लोग जिनके पास खेतीहर ज़मीन नहीं थी वह बुनकर, रंगरेज व सुनार छोटे दुकानदार - आपस में जुड़े हुऐ सभी काम करके अपनी ज़रूरतें पूरी करते रहे। कपास से घर घर आम महिलायें सूत कातकर अपनी घर की जरूरत के कपड़े बुनकरों को सूत देकर बनवाया करती थीं। आज भी कहीं कहीं यह हो रहा है लेकिन न के बराबर, मुझे याद है मेरी दादी व गॉंव की महिलायें दोपहर बाद चरखे पर सूत काता करती थीं। उस समय महिलायें कहीं तक आत्मनिर्भरता की ओर अग्रसर रहीं ।
लगभग हरेक परिवार किसी न किसी हुनर का ज्ञान रखता था और वही उसकी आय का एक सुलभ व स्थायी साधन होता था । हाथ से बने क़ालीन , मिट्टी व पीतल के बर्तन आभूषण सभी शिक्षा पीढ़ी दर पीढ़ी चलती चली जाती रही।
भारत में विदेशी कम्पनी व विदेशी शासकों ने यहॉं के कुटीर उद्योग को एक दीर्ध कालिक षड्यंत्र के तहत धीमी गति से बीमार किया और इसका असर यह हुआ कि आत्मनिर्भर दस्तकारों व हुनर मंद लोगों को उनकी सहायता पर निर्भर होना पड़ा अंतत सभी उत्पादन उन लुटेरे शासकों के अधीन हो गया ।
लेकिन आज हम स्वतंत्र हैं फिर भी रोज़गार परक शिक्षा का अभाव है यह विचारणीय विषय है। इस गम्भीर विषय पर आम चर्चा का भी अभाव है। एक समय हैन्डलूम उघोग की भरमार थी वह भी बंद करा दिया गया।
अपना छोटा व्यवसाय भी कई लोगों को रोज़गार देता है। छोटी -छोटी तकनीक परक जानकारी सीख कर हर तबके का युवा अपनी रूचि के अनुसार अपना व्यवसाय कर सकता है।
उच्च स्तर की आवश्यक शिक्षा तो सहजता से उपलब्ध है जो आम आदमी के दायरे से बाहर है जो सिर्फ़ एक व्यक्ति तक सिमट जाती है। हमें देखना होगा सोचना होगा कि भारत गॉंवों में बसता है । गॉंव में कुटीर उद्योग के ट्रेनिंग सेंटर खोलने होंगे, वहॉं के युवा का पलायन रोकना होगा, उसे उसके घर में आत्मनिर्भर बनाया जा सकता है जिससे कि शहर के सपने उसे मज़दूर बनने पर मजबूर न करें वह सम्मान से जीवन जी सके। इस देश के सुखद भविष्य के लिये यह आवश्यक है। हम उसे अपना कुटीर उद्योग दे सके उसे ऐसी पढ़ाई के लिये प्रेरित करना होगा। अपने काम में संतुष्टि व देश की व अपनी प्रगति भी शामिल है।
शिक्षा के स्तर के अनुसार आज रोज़गार के लिये युवा को भटकना पड़ रहा है। ये स्थिति अत्यंत चिंतनीय है। हमें अब यह निर्णय लेना होगा कि हम आने वाले समय की चुनौती से कैसे निपट सकते हैं और इसका एक सरल तरीक़ा यही है कि हम किसी न किसी हुनर को सीख कर या सिखाकर युवा हो रही पीढ़ी को आत्म निर्भर बना सकें ।
अनिल कुमार शर्मा , कवि-समीक्षक, आगरा
