Page 206 - EducationWorld December 2022

Postscript

Atonement & absolution amendment/); switching to the mayoral system of civic
governance with a directly elected mayor presiding over
a “three-tier set-up” comprising civic administration,
HERE’S NO SHORTAGE OF MARXIST AND engineering and maintenance wings as suggested by bril-
socialist intellectuals within Indian academia ready, liant architect and civic planner Gautam Bhatia (Times of
Twilling and able to argue that European powers
of 18-19th centuries plundered and pillaged third world India, November 18), get short shrift.
The plain truth is that the country’s municipal
countries so thoroughly — the Indian subcontinent in
particular — that we haven’t been able to recover our pre- corporations and affiliated civic organisations are chock-
a-block with engineers, technicians and bureaucrats
colonial glory and momentum. These faux intellectuals
conveniently forget that after independence a battalion of with ornamental certification from low-grade state
entrepreneurs including JRD Tata, G.D. Birla, Walchand government colleges. They have rock-bottom education
qualifications and obsolete skills.
Hirachand, Lala Shri Ram, Sarabhais among others who
Moreover even from this muddy pool, many are re-
made sizeable fortunes in the teeth of British opposition, cruited on the basis of kith, kin and caste considerations
were set to dominate Asia, if not beyond. However under
the “socialistic pattern of society” shaped by prime min- and have greatness thrust upon them. Expecting them to
ister Nehru and cheered on by anti-business lefties, they solve complex urban design and management problems is
to flog a dead horse. Wake up folks, you have everything
were cabined, cribbed and confined by a stifling licence-
permit-quota regimen. to lose!
In retrospect, it’s clear that of the greedy European
powers who carved up the world some 200 years ago, Second fiddle editors
Brits were the best of a bad lot. They left behind a func-
tional civil service, judiciary, national railway and several
high-quality English-medium schools and universities. IFTY YEARS AGO, INDIA’S FREE PRESS WAS
And conclusive proof that they have since atoned and indeed the fourth estate of the Republic. Powerful
developed national capability to rise above crude racial Feditors such as Frank Moraes, Sham Lal, Girilal
prejudice is provided by the appointment on October 24 Jain, Khushwant Singh and C.R. Irani strode the national
of Indian origin and practicing Hindu, Rishi Sunak as stage. However in 1975, when prime minister Indira
prime minister of Great Britain and N. Ireland. Gandhi declared India’s first — and thus far only — State
Your editor who was active in British politics as a law of Emergency and imposed strict media censorship, the
student in London, was absolutely convinced that despite country’s biggest newspaper barons and mightiest editors
every encouragement I received from top leaders of the “crawled when they were merely asked to bend” in the
Labour and Conservative parties, racial prejudice was memorable post-Emergency comment of BJP leader L.K.
too pervasive in British society for even modest success. Advani.
Instead I decided to try my luck in India, only to discover In 1994, Times of India Group chairman Sameer Jain
that the kith, kinship and caste loyalties were prerequi- sacked the late Dileep Padgaonkar, editor of ToI, for
sites of success in Indian politics. claiming that his was the “second most important job”
Looking back, I had a better chance of rising in British in India. Moreover in a thorough spring cleaning, Jain
politics than in India, where politics is a family business. upended the traditional hierarchy of ToI by decreeing
With Sunak’s appointment as prime minister, our erst- supremacy of marketing over editorial.
while masters have absolved themselves of the common With market leader ToI having become entirely mar-
charge of hypocrisy by creating Europe’s most multi- keting driven, the media has lost interest in human rights,
racial society. especially in reporting the multiplying trials and tribula-
tions of unglamorous citizens. For instance the open, un-
interrupted and continuous exploitation of Indian citizens
Civic dead horses imported into Qatar to build stadiums and infrastructure
for the FIFA World Cup 2022 tournament that kicked off
last month, has received scant coverage. An estimated
BIQUITOUS POTHOLES; MONSOON FLOOD- 6,500 migrant labour imported mainly from India who
ING; traffic jams and gridlocks; power and water
Ushortages; runaway omnibuses; no parking space; started work some 12 years ago on the first football World
itchy-palmed traffic policemen and municipal corpora- Cup tourney ever staged in the Middle East (estimated
expenditure $220 billion/Rs.180.62 lakh crore), were
tion employees. To that list add noxious air quality and
millions of viruses looking for warm bodies. The weight working and living in inhuman conditions.
While media worldwide have reported complaints of
of evidence is overwhelming: 21st century India’s chaotic,
ill-governed cities are in meltdown. wage-theft, lack of medical care, pathetic living condi-
As slums proliferate and spread through India’s cities, tions, non-payment of life insurance to nominees, India’s
the response of the academy and intelligentsia is mere marketing-driven godi media spotlights the prime
lamentation, breast-beating, and bleats for improved minister’s temple visits and page 3 celebrities, blanking
out these outrages. Why our fellow citizens are obliged to
civic governance of by all-at-sea municipal corporations.
Intelligent solutions such as enforcement of the 74th scramble for slave labour jobs in hostile geographies and
Amendment which would devolve civic administration who’s to blame, is another narrative. Meanwhile for the
media it’s business and more business while once mighty
to ward committees comprising local property owners
(see https://www.educationworld.in/enforce-74th- editors play second fiddle.

204 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2022