SAAB KI SATH -SAAB KI VIKAS

 

Prime Minister  @narendra modi  , Sir,  SAAB KI VAKAS - can only be achieved through proliferation education , vis a vis boundary less distance education 

The importance of knowledge and learning has been recognized since the beginning of time. Plato wrote: “If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life.”

But it was really the Nobel winning economists that put the argument of education as investment. T.W. Schultz argued that investment in education explains growth and Gary Becker gave us the Human Capital Theory.

In a nutshell, the Human Capital Theory posits that investing in education has a payoff in terms of higher wages. Moreover, the theory and empirical estimates are backed up by current science, as explained by James Heckman.

Today,  with Covid19 , this  World Order  particularly   the domain of education is undergoing a vast transformation. 

While all the Governments are understandably desperate for anything that would forestall the deaths, closures and quarantines resulting from COVID-19. But combating this disease demands a vaccine that is safe and potent. The fatality rate is low (3.4% by the World Health Organization’s latest estimate, although this is highly uncertain), yet transmission rates are high and the spread is difficult to track. That means many people — perhaps the majority in hotspots — would need to be vaccinated to stop the spread and prevent deaths. By contrast, Ebola virus has very high fatality rates (averaging around 50%, but varying from 25% to 90%), yet is less contagious, so vaccination can be more targeted.

Decades ago, vaccines developed against another coronavirus, feline infectious peritonitis virus, increased cats’ risk of developing the disease caused by the virus (T. Takano et al. J. Vet. Med. Sci. 81, 911–915; 2019). Similar phenomena have been seen in animal studies for other viruses, including the coronavirus that causes SARS (Y. W. Kam et al. Vaccine 25, 729–740; 2007).This makes mandatory that , regulators must continue to require that vaccine developers check for potentially harmful responses in animal studies. Further , The virus behind COVID-19 might well mutate in ways that would make previously effective vaccines and antivirals useless. Therefore, any regulatory agency considering ways to accelerate treatments into testing should also weigh up how likely these drugs are to work beyond this particular coronavirus. This makes the entire process time consuming ,which interalia  puts a coma on regular classroom coaching 

But  education is the backbone of any Nation , and  as it has to reach every one , when he or she cannot reach the door of the Institution for any reason whatsoever and this gives birth to the LEGITIMATE DEMAND of RESTRUCTURING & REVAMPING - the concept of Distance education .

Most surprisingly , it has been observed that the  UGC has clearly overstepped its jurisdiction , and for which instant matter needs "REVISION " from Ministry of HRD , Government of India .

Clause (5) of Article 15 of the Constitution read as follows:-

Nothing in this article or in sub – clause (g) of clause (1) of article 19 shall prevent the State from making any special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than the minority educational institutions.

The constitutional validity of clause (5) of Article 15 of the Constitution insofar as it enables the State to make special provisions relating to admission to educational institutions of the State and educational institution aided by the State was considered by a Constitution Bench of this Court in Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India & Ors. [(2008) 6 SCC 1] and the Constitution Bench held in the aforesaid case that clause (5) of Article 15 is valid and does not violate the “basic structure” of the Constitution.

Some persons of the UGC for obvious reasons, have started inappropriately quoting a Supreme Court judgment - (Prof Yashpal’s case) where the Supreme Court has never pronounced any judgment debarring any other University from conducting distance education where its Statue has empowered such and which has been approved by the UGC as well as by the Open University Act at that point of time.

It is noteworthy to observe – that the UGC is trying too hard to remake the judgment itself of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. While Supreme Court in WP (Civi) No 19 of 2004 in Prof. Yashpal and Anr vs State of Chhattisgarh & Ors the instant judgment in Para 41 – has only referred the view of the discussion of Ld Advocate Dhawan, UGC has most high handedly asked Universities, which are even having their Acts permitting them for having jurisdiction outside the State, to stop their operation. The relevant Para of the said Judgment on which UGC is shooting off letters are-

Para No 41 – wherein it was observed that –

Dr. Dhawan has also drawn the attention of the Court to certain other provisions of the Act which have effect outside the State of Chhattisgarh and thereby give the State enactment an extra territorial operation. Section 2(f) of the amended Act defines ‘off – campus centre’ which means a centre of the University established by it outside the main campus (within or outside the State) operated and maintained as its constituent unit having the university’s complement of facilities, faculty and staff. Section 2(g) defines “off – shore campus “ and it means a campus of the university established by it outside the country, operated and maintained as its constituents unit, having the university’s complement of facilities, faculty and staff. Section 3(7) says that the object of the University shall be to establish main campus in Chhattisgarh and to have the study centres at different places in India and other countries. In view of Article 245 (1) of the Constitution, Parliament alone is competent to make laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India and the legislature of a State may take laws for the whole or any part of the State. The impugned Act which specifically makes a provision enabling a University to have an off – campus centre outside the State is clearly beyond the legislative competence of the Chhattisgarh legislature.

When the citizens are busy to earn a square meal a day , it is duty of the Government to ensure that Education reaches each and every household in a manner which is appropriate to each and every situation . 

Hence , all  Universities which were having distance education  should be again allowed to have distance education and the jurisdiction of such University must be read with the parental Act or with amendments made thereof . 

By restricting Universities from reaching out to the people , today the  matrix of education has stooped to an all time low . 

People are facing genuine problems across India .All Universities are not having the same courses or medium of instruction, this is hurting the most  For example a person stationed in New Delhi for a Job cannot do a course on Rabindranath Tagore from Rabindra Bharati University today ;

Similarly a Tamilian who is stationed in North East India cannot upgrade himself or herself with a newer and effective course from an University in Tamil Nadu offering a a particular course .This senseless act of UGC is  causing a Quality fall in Human value !

Distance education is not a new concept. In the late 1800s, at the University of Chicago, the first major correspondence program in the United States was established in which the teacher and learner were at different locations. Before that time, particularly in preindustrial Europe, education had been available primarily to males in higher levels of society. The most effective form of instruction in those days was to bring students together in one place and one time to learn from one of the masters. That form of traditional educational remains the dominant model of learning today. The early efforts of educators like William Rainey Harper in 1890 to establish alternatives were laughed at. Correspondence study, which was designed to provide educational opportunities for those who were not among the elite and who could not afford full-time residence at an educational institution, was looked down on as inferior education. Many educators regarded correspondence courses as simply business operations. Correspondence education offended the elitist and extremely undemocratic educational system that characterized the early years in this country (Pittman, 1991). Indeed, many correspondence courses were viewed as simply poor excuses for the real thing. However, the need to provide equal access to educational opportunities has always been part of our democratic ideals, so correspondence study took a new turn.

As radio developed during the First World War and television in the 1950s instruction outside of the traditional classroom had suddenly found new delivery systems. There are many examples of how early radio and television were used in schools to deliver instruction at a distance. Wisconsin's School of the Air was an early effort, in the 1920s, to affirm that the boundaries of the school were the boundaries of the state. More recently, audio and computer teleconferencing have influenced the delivery of instruction in public schools, higher education, the military, business, and industry. Following the establishment of the Open University in Britain in 1970, and Charles Wedemeyer's innovative uses of media in 1986 at the University of Wisconsin, correspondence study began to use developing technologies to provide more effective distance education.

In most countries in the two books, distance education is an important part of higher education enrolments and provision. On the enrolment side, in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Russia, South Africa, Turkey and the United States nearly one fifth or more of all higher education students are taking some online or distance education courses and programs. In the United States, the only growth in higher education enrolments is due to growth in distance education enrolments. On the provision side, distance education is not only being offered by open access, or low-selectivity institutions. In Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Russia, South Korea the United Kingdom and the United States, high profile institutions are offering distance education. They are providing distance education not only for adult learners, but for younger conventional higher education students wanting flexibility. Both from a student and institutional perspective, distance education is increasingly seen as part of higher education.

Apex Court has never put a blanket ban on “Open University and Distance Education” – nor this phrase has ever been referred to by any the Hon’ble Apex Court in the said judgment as it is a completely different subject matter.

There is nothing to  worry about the quality of distance education programs. They are often required by government policies or boards to review the quality of programs and are responding to these reviews and regulations by changing administration, design, teaching and support. In the United Kingdom, the Open University has always been proactive about addressing quality issues. Historically, the guidelines for good practice and using quality audits did not apply to distance education. The Open University adapted the standard guidelines anyway and applied them to distance education courses. They recognized that distance education providers often have to do twice the work to get half the acknowledgement. This proactive approach is well received by funding bodies and regulators. Now, the Quality Assurance Agency assures standards and quality for all higher education in the United Kingdom, including distance education. The use of continually new types of information and communications technologies suggest there is always room for distance education institutions to be proactive in their approach to providing and assuring quality programs and courses. Some major developments that have taken place, Worldwide  in the sphere of Distance Education - are that 1) Existing institutions a have increased  their online and distance education offering 2) New institutions are offering online and distance education apart from general classroom education 3) Distance education has become  an integral part of higher education system - with equivalent validity  4) Distance Education  is being  accepted as mainstream education  in developed countries- and i am quite optimistic that the New Government under narendra Modiji - must - do all that is required including removal and abolishing the UGC -( which was the main contestant / subject matter in the case )  to make Distance education boundaryless and meaningful across the length and breadth of the Nation ( Sab ki saath - sab ki Vikaas is  really needed in this sector  ) 

Dr Gautam Ghosh 

www.drgautamghosh.com

Hijjab Hype absent in Quran !

Muslim women’s veil as a topic is still today at the heart of the feminist debate as well as in all the debates on modernity, freedom and the place of religion in our contemporary societies.

As for the Islamic vision, it perceives "veiling" as the essential marker of an Islamic identity that is very fragile and constantly threatened by the "unveiling" of a spreading Westernization. The "veiling" in the Islamic imaginary is the continuity, the safekeeping and the preservation of the normative Islamic identity space and its perpetuation.

During 90s we saw an resurgence of Hijjabi Culture -The spread of the "hijab" phenomenon was the product of the cooptation of the veil’s issue by both political Islam and the conservative religious discourse that made this symbol a strategic question in their "dawa" or sociopolitical proselytism.

1) Ghad y Bassar and Hafd el faraj (Quran 24: 30-31): Tell the believing men to restrain their looks (ghad el bassar), and to guard their private parts (hafd el faraj)…” “Tell the believing women to restrain their looks, and to guard their private parts…”.
It's critical to understand this

Its important to understand that -the Holy Quran

It is about "restraining their looks" and "protecting the private parts of their bodies" for women as well as for men, which is to say that it is a question of keeping a certain modesty of gaze and avoiding the body’s nudity for women as well as for men.

2) Khoumourihina (Quran 24:31) is the plural of khimar which etymologically corresponds to a kerchief or scarf. "And tell the believing women to… not display their charms/attractiveness (zinatohonna) except what is apparent, and to draw their coverings over their breasts, and to not expose their charms except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons…”

In this verse, women are specifically requested to fold sides of their veil (khoumourihina) on their breasts and to show some of their charms (zinatouhouna) only to close family members. However, what is described as "charms" is not explicit. There is no more details about the limits of what should or should not appear. The majority of Ulema, thus, have interpreted this verse as the obligation to cover one's head and to show only the hands and the face.

There are therefore four concepts more or less related to clothing and physical appearance. And none of these four concepts refers to the word "Hijab", commonly used to describe the veil or headscarf.

Indeed, in the Qur'an, the word Hijab does not refer at any time to a dress, veil, or any garment. It is used about seven times and always in the same sense namely that of a separation or a curtain

But the verse that was most often used to prove "the obligation" to veil women and in which we once again find the word Hijab is the one that states: "O believers do not enter the dwellings of the prophet unless you are invited .... When you ask the Prophet’s wives for something, do it from behind a veil (Hijab) "Quran 33; 53.

We note that concerning physical appearances, the Quran transmits implicitly its ethical guidelines regarding the body by addressing women and men without any particular distinction, apart from the two verses about the Khimar and the Jilbab (Qur'an 24.31 and Qur’an 33.59).

Only these two verses mention a dress code without going into the secondary details that we currently find with a meticulous precision in the books for "Muslim practitioners"!

Unfortunately, nowadays, the whole of Islamic ethics seems to be reduced to women's clothing behavior, and only to that. In other words, to their bodies, to the precise way in which they must be covered, to the color and thickness of the fabric, to the uniformity of the habit ...etc.

Now, since the Qur'an did not insist on specific clothing or a specific external aspect for women and men, it would be very reducing to analyze the few verses on the behavior of clothing while disregarding all the orientations of the spiritual message that provides global ethics of the body, concerning men and women as well.

Hence, the Qur’an invites believers, male and female, to a "decency" and "sobriety" behavior, both physical and moral. With regard to women, the general - and subtle - expression of a certain "external appearance" is proof of the great "latitude" offered by the spiritual message in order to enable them to reconcile their spiritual convictions with their respective social context.

Therefore, the Qur’an does not legislates on the need for a religious "uniform" that would be strictly "Islamic", as we tend to demonstrate currently. The primary spiritual intention was not to determine rigid or static dress standards that would be "fixed" once for all, but rather to "recommend" an "attitude", or rather an "ethic" linked to body and mind.

It is unfortunate to acknowledge that this initial intention of the Islam spiritual message is often omitted, or even completely disregarded, at the expense of a literalist reading that reduces all the Quranic teaching about women to the so-called "obligation to wear the Hijab”!

Nevertheless, the Quran has never imposed any formal dress code obligation. Dictating standardized dress norms goes against the principles of the universal message and its spiritual ethics.

The khimâr or headscarf issue belongs to the morality, the behavior and the ethics of Islam. This falls within the Islamic science of mu'amalat, the social field or the human relations, and not within the 'ibadat, the ritual practice.

A religious conviction that appeals to faith makes sense only when it is lived without constraint. Talking about the Islamic obligation to wear the headscarf or khimar cannot be acceptable spiritually speaking, because the Qur’an is clear: "There shall be no compulsion in religion!”. This is one of Islam’s fundamental principles. It is therefore clear that the main purpose of the Qur'an is to induce men and women to free themselves from all the materialistic alienation and the seduction codes, specific to each period, which are ultimately only the concrete projections of recurring dominant ideologies through the history of human civilization.

The Qur’an invites men and women to take ownership of a culture of decency and mutual respect: "The best garment is certainly that of taqwâ; this is one of the signs of God "... Undoubtedly, this verse sums up on its own, the central teaching that should be kept in mind and be implemented nowadays among this great chaos of ultra-liberal consumption, of exuberance, of the cult of appearance and of arrogance, as the ethic of Islam: libas at-taqwa, the garment of awkwardness which inevitably reflects in the externality of acts and actions of every man and every woman. It is this ethic of awkwardness, moral rigor and decency that is preferable to the Creator's eyes.