he headline speaks of my frustration and anger over the over-placid Indian masses. We have learnt to lament the demise of TV Bahus, and get angry over the dismal defeat of the Dare Devils. We have learnt to live in blips, in Jameson’s “Perpetual Present”. We have learnt, and yet we have to master the art.

In the week that ended on India’s Independence Day eve, the world saw the haughty flame bursting out of the Carpet Right building in Tottenham, and licking the London air with a fiery tongue, the dropping saliva of which spoke volumes about London burning.

We also heard, or perhaps never did, about the thousands of Spaniards trampling every inch of their own Tahrir Square – Puerta del Sol square – in the heart of Madrid to denounce the current democratic and economic systems which have carefully kept 44% under-25 Spaniards out of job, and also against police brutality – contrast it against our reaction to police brutality in Ram Leela Maidan. We didn’t speak because we didn’t like the “yoga guru” who was being dragged, and whose supporters were getting beaten. They were not us.

In another event, the dead gladiator souls in the Romans pumped adrenaline for one more time and they flashed their banners against Silvio Berlusconi’s austerity drive (read increase in tax for common people and a cut in public expenditure like healthcare, education, etc.). We don’t care because we do not have such benefits. We are happy people because we pay for health and education in the great democratic welfare state.

People in France, on more than one occasion, since 2005, have brought the government on its knees punishing the tear gas discharged at them to penetrate into the blank-sockets of the couch potatoes munching on the snacks while they see French suburbs burning.

…but what the heck

This heading concludes the remark of the Indian mass that has been too busy playing “angry birds” on their China-made android-based phones, making Tom Cat do meow on their iPhones, and flashing their newly bought iPads. The rest stay glued to substandard soaps and gross “reality porn” served on their 40” glazing 3D LCD screens.

The LCD screens and play stations kept them glued while the fuel prices were going up. They stayed glued when the bus fares were going up.

Death of the Indian mass

The actual time and date of the said death is not known. Perhaps it died in 1947, only for the ghosts to come alive in JP movement and then during Emergency, or did it die in 1991 when the Sonys and Pepsis of the world were made available in the corner shops, or did it die when iPhones and Blackberry came to life, or was it the IPL that caused it? Or was it always dead only to wake-up sporadically like ghosts in new moon and dark moon nights.

Dying people, vying people

Elderly men and women, and pre-school children in Orissa laid flat on their chests to protect their lands, and others, who do not need to empathize, laid flat on their backs watching TV and sipping colas and updating Facebook. While farmers in the villages of Uttar Pradesh kept on shouting against the government, urbanites gave ears to sponsored tirades, which in India passes for talk shows, about how the money of investors are going down the drain, and how builders are sympathetic towards them, yet remain as helpless and lonely as they are.

We spoke “I am Anna” and lit candles and were taken for a ride. Everything was like a Bollywood movie – no substance, no style, and not even real emotions. We do not even question the legitimacy of that movement, if that was movement at all. It was mere a friction between two different interest groups with the same agenda – to squelch, and we happened to be on the side of the one who looked more sleek, more sexy, and more “in fashion”.

We rejoiced on the construction of the world’s first billion-dollar house, Antilla. We thought we have arrived and the man deserves it, despite the fact that it rose like an inselberg looking with a disdainful look on scree deposited like filth, all-around it. And we do not care about the dying millions and brain-dead all others who want to work hard to make others rich. We do not have qualm with it. We think he deserves to put us all in our offices till 12 in the night fueling his kitchen.

The world today is not much different than the days when Gladiators walked this earth. The only difference is Gladiators spilled blood and basked in its sweetness, and sportsmen and actors shine in the reflection of the oozing salty sweat droplets. All for the entertainment of the common man, to keep him away from things he already hates – politics and social engagement.

While London burns, Paris stands still, and Madrid Marches, Delhi still yawns.

London Burnt, Paris Stood Still, Madrid Marched, and Delhi Yawns

ow that the dust of the pitched verbal battle that ensued from the ministerial words of wisdom over the lack of ‘world-class’ faculty of the IITs and IIMs has somewhat settled, it is pertinent for us to dig a little deeper and weigh Jairam Ramesh’s observations in their appropriate contextual measures. Talking of his ministry’s decision to establish a National Centre for Marine Biodiversity in Jamnagar, a ‘world-class’ research institute on the model of public-private partnership with Reliance Industries Limited, Ramesh’s statement was a not-so-finely calibrated attempt to bolster a committed neo-liberal government’s still relatively diffident (in face of a small but relatively vocal critics) attempts to progressively withdraw its hands from education and research—and indeed, from the whole of the welfare sector.

The minister stated emphatically that India’s past sixty years of experience has shown that the government set-ups fail to attract young talent and government managed institutions cannot be ‘world-class’. Surveying India’s education and research history of the last sixty years from the elevated vantage point of a ministerial berth, Jairam Ramesh, however, did not consider it necessary to explain the reasons, other than those that further undermine our confidence in the political institution he owes allegiance to by ascribing it with unqualified and inherent limitation, for their failure.

Perhaps that was not the appropriate platform for it; however, in the days that followed, none of our political figures chose to develop and articulate a more nuanced and honest position.

It is true today that the monopoly capital can command to its disposal the kind of money and resources that the government funded institutions can only be envious of, which in turn enables the former to generate the other necessary factors for instituting and maintaining centers of research excellence.

However, it is important to bear in mind the principles on which contemporary corporate capitalism works. An overwhelming proportion of research would necessarily be in the fields that would qualify as lucrative, leaving humanities and liberal arts out on a limb, or abjectly dependent on the liberality of an indulgent patron or a rare institution. While the logic of filtering everything exclusively through the prism of utility is in itself reductive, it is even more flawed to confine it to economic efficacy.

In the defense of humanities

In the defense of the marginalised, it is fair to argue that both humanities and liberal arts still have a lot of social worth and vigour left in them. Any society that aims to stay dynamic and progressive necessarily needs to be aware of and stay alive to its cultural, literary and aesthetic forms of thought and expression, which together reflect the creative, imaginative and critical maturity and evolution of a civilization.

Not only do they chart out the historical trajectory of the growth of a community, but also, like the many hues of a rainbow, converge to form the ‘white’ light of illumination that irradiates and makes visible the complexities of social systems and practices.

Any original work of creativity or research in arts and humanities is an attempt to comprehend and converse with social processes in its multiple forms through the use of imagination. In their deployment of imagination, these works offer their readers an alternative lens to examine through and gauge reality, a lens that not just invigorates and delights in its artistic richness but is also insightful in its novelty and critical acumen. I contend that these attributes of these disciplines are today more relevant than ever, when the logic of corporate capitalism is insistently re-defining education and research in terms of conformity to industry and economic utility, and our expectations and motivations solely in terms of financial and personal reward systems.

This brings us back to the question of the government and its institutions. In principle, a government is constituted to look after the interests of its people—identified and defined in broad terms. In a poor country like India, the protectionist role of the state is even more important, particularly in the social sector. It has to define priorities, allocate funds for it, and ensure easy accessibility of the results of research and developmental works.

It is possible, indeed, to assign a lot more money to education and research by curtailing waste, checking corruption, rationalizing corporate largesse and tax breaks, and promoting a culture that sees money only as means to an end and not an end in itself. Meanwhile, will the public-private partnership work? I suppose that question is irrelevant. After all, good and socially relevant research is not just an outcome of pelf, but also of conscience, vision and good intentions.

Higher Education and Research in India: Whither Its Future?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why Quantum Physics Ends the Free Will Debate – MICHIO KAKU

Dan Dennett talks about purposely-confusing theology and how it’s used. He also describes his new project interviewing clergyman who secretly don’t believe anymore, and introduces a new term: “Deepity.”

Dan Dennett is the author of many excellent books, including “Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon” and “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea”. He is also featured in the video “The Four Horsemen” along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.

‘The Evolution of Confusion’ by Dan Dennett

Toronto. February 12, 2010. God is Not Great (Hitchens), The End of Faith (Harris), and The God Delusion (Dawkins), present religion as a bankrupt enterprise. Progressive Christians (Vosper) acknowledge the crisis but see an honest and useful future for religious belief and practice. Dr. Ian McGregor reviews recent research on the motivational mechanics of belief, and suggests a bridge to a shared future for atheism and religious belief. He also introduces Unitarianism and offers some insight into a very liberal and non-dogmatic religious group.

Ian McGregor is an Associate Professor of Personality and Social Psychology in the Faculty of Health at York University, Toronto, Canada. His experimental research on conviction and zeal is internationally acclaimed, published in the top scientific journals, and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His most recent research reveals social factors and personality traits that combine to cause political and religious extremism. It also illuminates neural mechanisms that can help explain why people go to extremes. His research is guided by rigorous psychological science methods and by insights gleaned from his eclectic personal and academic background.

With or Without God: Minding the Gap with Ian McGregor

It all looked so Gandhian, so pure in spirit — I do not intend to say Gandhi was pure in spirit, either –, and so pristine. Thanks to an endless series of mindless rattling of Radio Joks (I know RJs call themselves Radio Joks, and in the process are becoming butt of every Joke), a lot of men and women and children, who were dragged by their parents, assembled at various places in the country to show solidarity with the drafters of Jan Lokpal Bill and their mascot, Anna Hazare.

Like every other time, people never stopped to think what all this was about. They were again taken by hands by media and carried either to Jantar Mantar, India Gate or Gate Way of India with countless candles in their hands.

Anna Will Be Watching You

I have a great respect for the stupidity of mass, particularly Indian mass. I understand how easily futility can set in their minds like something very important and urgent, particularly when they see people like Anupam Kher, Aamir Khan, and other Bollywood celebrities endorsing that futility (cause).

It is a great misfortune of India that we mistake these Naachne Gaane Wallas (read film stars) for intellectually superior people who have good sense of judgment, particularly in matters related to society and politics.

For me, they are like those over-sized jokers that distribute “sale pamphlet” near any super market.

I admire Anupam Kher for his immense acting talent, but I would never look forward to him when it comes to serious matters like politics, society, and governance.

Why we should not let Jan Lokpal Bill to become a law

I am feeling like George Orwell’s Winston Smith. I can sniff Big Brother in the making, like a trained dog of bomb squad who can smell bomb from a distance.

If you go through the Jan Lokpal Bill 2011 ((Citizen’s Ombudsman Bill) drafted by Kiran Bedi, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan,and J. M. Lyngdoh, etc., then you will understand my contempt with this Hazare wave.

I hardly blame Anna Hazare. Yes, he is too short-sighted to see the deeper consequences of his acts. But he is a mere puppet used by people to fulfill their goals.

I am having an Orwellian nightmare. I cannot imagine giving one organization all the powers it needs to be dictatorial and not using it that way. We are being naive if we think Lokpal and Lokayukta will be incorruptible.

Power, in all its varied interpretations, has corrupting influence on people. Generally, I am very optimist, but my experience with life forbids me to be too enthusiastic about “benevolence” of a human being. It, rather, tends to change color on the sight of absolute power.

Giving policing, judiciary, and investigative power to one organization which will be above and beyond politics and judiciary systems will be committing social suicide.

We all are too keen to do that, and we are burning scores and scores of candles for that on India Gates of India. Indian middle class cannot be fool enough. I know I too belong to the same sect, but I refuse to be a fool. I am not sold my discretionary power to media, particularly electronic media.

I am having an Orwellian nightmare, and I feel like Winston Smith.

Jan Lokpal or Big Brother – What Are We Lighting Candles For?

On the cost of irritating a lot of so-called “socially aware” individuals, I am going to compare Anna Hazare with Prince — the kid who fell in a well and which was so much glamorized by the media to make every mother in India feel if “Prince” was her own child. I hope you have not yet forgotten Prince, or have you already buried him deep in the dark and forgotten recesses of your mind, miles beneath the memory of the sweeping wave of India’s Joyous World Cup victory, or débâcle of Delhi in IPL 2011.

What is so similar about Prince and Anna

With other things being different, one this is strikingly same about the two is that both are media’s children. Although created in different hues, both (Anna and Prince) served the same purpose — more TRP and more revenue.

What Anna signifies?

One thing for sure Anna episode has vividly displayed that Indian mass has become more sophisticated to be trapped by episodes like Prince. Now, people need something meaningful, something like Anna Hazare.

The journey of Indian mass has been significant. it has jumped straight away from being completely unconcerned about anything that happens to their surroundings to being hyper-reactive to each and every thing that happens around them, and mostly it does so blindly, without even thinking what it is doing, or without ever stopping on sanity.

Both are equally dangerous. In the first phase, bureaucrats and corporate vultures benefited from Indian people’s “WHO CARE” attitude, and in the current phase corporate vultures alone benefit from this.

See how tactfully, corporate guys have removed bureaucrats from the mix!

Why Anna succeeded where everyone else failed?

Anna succeeded because it represented urban middle class of India. It clicked with everyone who has to give bribe to get a gas connection (I know they portray this as an example on radio), to get a driving license, or to pay for “red light” jumps.

Anna has nothing to do with 80% of Indians living in India’s hinterland.

Why I am so worried?

Over the period of time, Jantar Mantar has turned into a place for political Ansans (hunger strikes).  Many social activists have done so to show their disagreement with the policymaker (if not outright hatred), but never, not even once did the government budged, and even when they did it was not so fast.

I have read about many “well natured” activists protesting and going on Ansans at Jantar Mantar, but their plights were never heard, and they never got anything more than mere consolations and empty words. But, here is a 74-year old Anna, who pulled government on its knees.

Isn’t it an example of POP Politics? (Like POP philosophy and POP psychology).

You will agree with me when you will see who all joined Anna’s cause. Among many guests were Aamir Khan (Icon of POP Politics and POP social services who does nothing other than giving lip service to causes related to his films) and Baba Ramdev (POP Yoga Guru).

Aren’t they all after some personal gain? Chasing some personal target?

Today during a course of discussion with me, a very senior journalist mentioned that after the hunger strike was over, Anna left Jantar Mantar with so much of garbage behind that Municipal Corporation of Delhi is having hard time clean it up.

He said what kind of civil society Anna is promoting? He slyly added Anna Hazare is attempting to clean India, and who will clean the garbage he left there? Isn’t he concerned about it? Or cleaning Jantar Mantar is not part of his agenda, or has it already served its purpose? I could sense frustration, anxiety, and sarcasm in his voice.

I am also worried because of the timing of all this

And moreover, look at the impeccable timing of Anna’s fast to death campaign.

It came after India’s World Cup victory, and before inception of IPL 4. Was Anna used to work as filler for media between World Cup Victory and IPL matches? Government genuflected right before IPL began. People will argue that it was “a happy coincidence”, but I am not game for such claims. I believe it was tailored.

Who will benefit from it?

No one if not corporate India (media included)!

Voices of countless other social activists “fasting unto their deaths” at Jantar Mantar were never heard because they were representing a section of people (80% Indians) who lived in India’s hinterland. Media didn’t cover them because their victory would mean defeat of corporate India and of middle class urban Indians, by the way who is also the prime (or perhaps only) target audience of the media.

Media, therefore, cannot risk alienating this group.

Like most of my readers, economically, geographically, technically, or in all other senses, I also do not belong to that 80% of Indians whose voice is never heard, but I do not support Anna Hazare. I do not endorse his view, no matter how loud stupid RJs, arrogant anchors, and ignorant reports shout at me.

I do not support Hazare because I care!

Anna Hazare, Indian Media, and Prince Falling In the Well

The Apex court has robbed state government of its power to appeal against any judgment passed by special court in cases being probed by CBI. This ruling may have brought big smile on Lalu Yadav’s face, but it made me frown.

What are the implications of this ruling?

For one thing, the judiciary will become more corrupt.

Well, I believe you do not believe in the fable of “incorruptible judiciary”. And do we need to remind ourselves how dysfunctional our legal system is?

If you believe, the dysfunction of the judiciary is mere the problem of system and not corruption then ask yourselves how Judges amass so much wealth. In the lower courts, lots of cases are settled on a bottle of whiskey, a plate full of chicken, and wads and wads of cash.

How often have you heard a poor person winning the case against an affluent person?

I challenge you to recall even an incidence where this had happened.

By taking away the right to appeal in the apex court, the Supreme Court has unknowingly provided fodder to already-corrupt judiciary. Buying or threatening judges on the lower level is easier than it is on the upper level. This rule will give more incentive to special courts to end the case then and there. And in most of the cases, the verdict will not be challenged by the Center in the Supreme Court.

This is how justice will be done.

What kind of cases CBI handles?

If you want to know who will benefit from this judgment, you should focus on the cases that CBI looks after, and also on people whose destiny these cases decide. Most of the cases probed and investigated by CBI involve people in power. And do I need to tell, how far they can go to get the verdict in their favor from lower courts?

I would suggest the Supreme Court to consider the implication of the judgment it passes, before proclaiming any judgment. A view of the larger picture is necessary.

Eccentric Supreme Court and Its Whimsical Judgments