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You are here: Home / Archives for Smriti Irani

Court takes cognizance of complaint against Smriti Irani

June 24, 2015 by Nasheman

Smriti Irani

New Delhi: In fresh trouble for HRD Minister Smriti Irani, a Delhi court today took cognizance of a complaint filed against her for allegedly giving false information about her educational qualification.

Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain took cognizance of the complaint and fixed the matter for recording of pre-summoning evidence on August 28.

“It is held that the present complaint case is filed under limitation (of time). Cognizance is taken. The matter be now fixed for pre-summoning evidence on August 28,” the magistrate said.

The complaint was filed by freelance writer Ahmer Khan, who alleged that Irani, in her three affidavits before the Election Commission (EC) while filing nominations for her candidature for Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha polls, had purportedly given different details about her educational qualification.

The court had on June 1 reserved the order on the plea after hearing arguments on the aspect of limitation and whether cognizance of the complaint could be taken or not.

Senior advocate K K Manan, appearing for Khan, had told the court that in her affidavit for April 2004 Lok Sabha polls, Irani had said that she completed her BA in 1996 from Delhi University (School of Correspondence) whereas in another affidavit of July 11, 2011 for contesting Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat, she said her highest educational qualification was B.Com part I from the School of Correspondence, DU.

The complaint alleged that in the affidavit filed for nomination of April 16, 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Irani said she had completed Bachelor of Commerce Part-I from School of Open Learning, DU.

“It is evident from the contents of the affidavits filed by Smriti Z Irani that at best only one of the depositions by her on oath in respect of her educational qualifications is correct,” the complaint alleged.

“The aforesaid affidavits of Smriti Irani, apart from the ostensibly false and discrepant statements in respect of her educational qualifications, also appear to contain false/ discrepant statements in respect of immovable properties owned by her and other details set out by her,” it claimed.

“The aforesaid facts and circumstances reveal commission of offences by accused under section 125A of Representation of People Act, 1951, besides any other offences that may attract other penal provisions as an outcome of an additional investigation,” the plea alleged.

(PTI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: BJP, Smriti Irani

Tomar row: Congress asks Centre to act against Irani, Katheria

June 11, 2015 by Nasheman

Smriti Irani

New Delhi: Latching on to the arrest of former Delhi Minister Jitender Tomar, Congress today demanded that Centre should also be pro-active in cases related to Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Ram Shankar Katheria.

“The way they have proceeded against Tomar, they should do likewise against Irani and Katheria”, party spokesman Ajay Maken said in reply to a volley of questions from reporters.

Detractors of Irani have accused the HRD Minister of giving wrong information about her educational qualifications whereas Katheria is facing a marksheet forgery case. Irani was alleged to have provided contradictory affidavits of her educational qualifications to the Election Commission.

Maken, who is also the Delhi PCC Chief, demanded that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should quit in the wake of the arrest of Tomar.

This, he claimed, was necessary as the issue of Tomar’s “fake” law degree was raised inside AAP before the Assembly elections, but Kejriwal had ignored it. Tomar was not only given the AAP ticket, but was also made a Minister by Kejriwal despite knowing fully well the charges against him.

Maken faulted Kejriwal for doing precious little to promote transparency and accountability in the government despite getting a huge mandate from the people of Delhi.

Recalling that Kejriwal had last time resigned as Chief Minister after 49 days in power citing his failure to bring the Jan Lokpal bill, but now he has not acted over the matter.
Besides, he said that there has been no Lokayukta in Delhi for long, but Kejriwal has not cared to fill the post till now. He noted that Kejriwal had also removed L Ramdas who was working as the internal Lokpal in AAP.

Earlier in the day, scores of protesters led by the Maken and senior party leader PC Chacko marched towards the Delhi Secretariat demanding the resignation of Kejriwal.
Meanwhile, former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram took a dig at the Centre over the developments in Delhi.

“Orders & counter orders of Delhi CM & LG (read Union government) are fine examples of Acche din, and maximum governance !”, Chidambaram said in a tweet.

Another party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi wondered through a tweet: “Is the delhi law minister post jinxed? First Somnath Bharati now TOMAR!”. The obvious reference was Bharati forced to resign as Law Minister during the first stint of AAP in power in the wake of a controversy.

“Forged BSC degree, forged LLB degree, fake marksheet. And Mr Tomar & AAP expected soft treatement?”, Singhvi said attacking AAP in another tweet.

(PTI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Aam Aadmi Party, AAP, Congress, Delhi, Jitender Singh Tomar, Ram Shankar Katheria, Smriti Irani

An Interview With Akhil Bharathan (Ambedkar-Periyar study circle, IITM)

June 3, 2015 by Nasheman

Ambedkar-Periyar study circle

by Shreela, Venkat, Sathish and Alok, Sanhati

[Ambedkar-Periyar Study circle is an independent student body at IIT Madras which ever since its inception in 2014, has carried out a number of activities aimed at initiating discussions on socio-economic issues. These activities range from organizing seminars, discussions and distribution of Pamphlets. APSC was unilaterally de-recognized by the IITM administration after receiving a letter from MHRD. Akhil has been a member of APSC since the beginning and talks to us about a number of issues related to APSC and caste issues on IITM campus.]

Q: What was the idea behind Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle?

A: For many years IITM has had various student organizations based on Hindutva Ideology. One example is Vivekananda Study circle (VSC) which was founded in late 90’s. They have had talks which advocate Intelligent design and which claim the existence of Quantum Physics in Vedic Sciences. Such organizations have a complete support of IIT administration and they certainly play a role in making the environment in IITM very regressive. There is also little understanding of Caste based discriminations inside the campus. Keeping the dominance of such ideas in the campus in mind we thought of forming a collective which will introduce rationalist thinking in the campus and open up a dialogue on caste based issues which continue to plague Indian society.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about the History of APSC ?

A: APSC was founded in April 2014. In last one year we have conducted seminars on effects of genetically modified seeds on agriculture and environment, on Relevance of Ambedkar in contemporary society, A talk by Prof. Chaman Lal on the relevance of Bhagat singh in today’s society and a seminar on massive coal-bed Mithane Project in Tanjore district. We also held discussions on imposition of Hindi in campus and tried to make students aware about dangers of imposing vegetarianism in our society. I should also perhaps mention how we tried to counter an interference in the IITM campus from the MHRD(ministry of Human Resource and Development) which had sent a letter seeking action report to all the IITs regarding consumption of non-vegetarian food items on campus. We distributed pamphlets against this letter. The average audience in our talks is 30-40 people. We believe that even though our presence is rather limited on the campus, the awareness about our activities have slowly grown in past one year.

Q: Where does the funding of APSC come from?

A: In the initial stages, the members of APSC pooled their own money to start the circle. We now get some funding from other (non-member) students as well. In any case the funding is all completely from within campus. Our expenses are rather limited. Most of the time, our faculty advisor books a hall which is free of charge and we usually get our speakers from within Chennai, so only have to pay his/her commuting charges. By far the most expensive event for us was when we had a speaker from Dravidian University who spoke about Ambedkar and we had to pay his train fare . On this occasion, we even asked the audience for some donation to cover the cost.

Q: Were there any previous standoffs with the administration prior to the current issue?

A: There were no prior issues except that at the time of inception, the Dean of Student Affairs asked us to change the name to something else as he said Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle sounded “too radical”. After a rather lengthy discussion among the members of the circle, we decided to keep the name as APSC.

Q: So why this name?

A: Ambedkar and Periyar are two of the foremost social reformers in Indian History. The issues that they addressed and fought against are relevant even today. By discussing their ideas in the context of contemporary issues we aimed to establish a platform which would resist Hindutva Ideology. Our main aim is to increase the awareness of student population in the campus as regards caste , religious and economic issues.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about the institutional guidelines which student organizations in IITM have to adhere to?

A: Every independent student organization in IITM like APSC have a faculty advisor assigned to them. Every time we organize an event, we go and talk to the advisor. Sometimes he will give an input as to what kind of pamphlet should be prepared or notices be written etc. He then books a hall or auditorium for us.

Q: Where does the Dean of student affairs come in the picture?

A: He doesn’t.

Q: But it has been reported in the press that he was your faculty advisor?

A: No our faculty advisor, was and continues to be a faculty member from Humanities department (name withheld for consent reasons). We have been informing him of our activities and he has guided us on most occasions. Usually he forwards our requests and books the hall for our events. The Dean has appropriated the role merely to lay blame on us for not consulting and taking prior approval from him.

Q: Can you explain a bit about the guidelines which have been talked about in media a lot?

A: On 28th January, 2015 there was a set of guidelines passed by the SAC (Students Affairs Committee) , which however was amended by Dean of student affairs as he is also chairman of BOS (board of students) and it is within his rights to amend the guidelines. These amendments were proposed sometime in February.

Q: IITM has had student organizations for a long time, then what was the need to introduce guidelines in 2015?

A: Prior to 2015 the prerogative of recognizing or banning an organization was completely with the Dean. It was up to him to allow or disallow a student organization. However in 2014, when Chinta-bar (which is not a recognized student’s collective) organized a kiss of love event in the campus, the institute decided to introduce certain guidelines to keep various recognized organizations in check.

Q: So which among this amended guidelines is an issue according to IIT?

A: Dean of student affairs claim that we have used Institute’s name in one of our pamphlets which violates one of the guidelines.

Q: And what is your response to this accusation?

A: We reject this accusation on two counts. One, we have never used IIT’s name in any of our events. During the event under spotlight (in which it is claimed that we used IIT’s name) one of the lines in our pamphlet was that we are an initiative of IITM students. It is not clear to us how this implies we used IIT’s name to promote the event. I mean this is just trivially true! More importantly, organizations like Santhulan even used IIT logo in one their pamphlets (which was incidentally about a talk that opposed evolution and promoted idea of intelligent design). Even Vivekananda Study Circle hosts their site on IITM domain and also use IITM logo. However these organizations have not been de-recognised. Thus we do not think this accusation stands on any firm ground. Secondly, after we got the mail from the Dean of student affairs which informed us that APSC was temporarily derecognised, two of our members, Ramesh and Swaminathan went to see the Dean. They were told nothing about the guidelines issue and were just shown a letter from MHRD which asked what action was being taken against APSC for criticizing Modi government. Thus initially we were de-recognised due to the MHRD letter. It is only after MHRD denying any involvement in the issue, that IIT is now accusing us of not sticking to the guidelines.

Q: What is your understanding of this de-recognition and MHRD’s letter?

A: In our opinion, IITM has long been comfortable with presence of organizations which promote Hindutva Ideologies. Now we have a group which democratically protests against the importance of Sanskrit etc. The right wing organizations are increasingly uncomfortable. As far as MHRD’s letter is concerned I think it shows their paranoia. We are such a small group in one Institute and our membership count is below fifty, hence it is remarkable MHRD is concerned with our activities which are by the way completely democratic.

Q: Is this a de-recognition or a ban?

A: First of all I would like to say that this de-recognition is unjust and biased as I explained in the answer to the question above. Secondly, de-recognition means we cannot use Intra-net servers like Smail to invite students to an event. We cannot use notice boards to put up our notices, and we cannot book auditorium for any event. Hence it severely constrains our activities and is effectively a ban.

Q: How do you plan to oppose this de-recognition?

A: We do not even accept it! As I just said it is unjust and biased and based on an assertion which has no grounding. Thus we know that the de-recognition is to stifle any sort of dissent and critical discussions on the existing policies of the central government. We are demanding the following from the institute. An Immediate re-recognition of APSC, an unconditional apology from the Dean of student affairs for misuse of official powers, an unconditional apology from MHRD for it’s biased move and overturn the undemocratic code of conduct which is against article 19(A) of the constitution. We are also demanding that a commission be set up which investigate the use of IIT Madras funds which promote Hindutva activities inside campus.

Q: What has been the response of the student community on the campus?

A: Student community is highly divided on this issue. On one hand many students have approached us and expressed their solidarity but on the other hand the right wing organizations have been very vocal in their opposition ever since the issue flared up.

Q: Is there a caste problem on IIT campus?

A: When we started APSC, we received a number of hate messages on our Facebook page, written by students of IITM some of them stating Dalits should not even be there on campus. So yes I would say there is a serious caste issue on the campus. If we even look at the caste composition of the institute at various levels. According to a recent RTI, 87 percent of faculties are from forward caste. In last seven years only 3 ST students have been admitted to the MS program. I think this clearly shows the magnitude of the problem.

Q: What is the future of APSC?

A: Once we fight off this de-recognition, our aim in near future will be increase the number of activities in a given semester and increase the membership. Most importantly, we would like to keep the public discourse and debate alive on caste, communal and socio-economic issues.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Akhil Bharathan, Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, Caste, Caste System, Education, Hindutva, HRD, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Narendra Modi, Smriti Irani

Demoncrazy: Little girl arrested for protesting against Narendra Modi in Chennai

June 1, 2015 by Nasheman

Police personnel detained this girl along with protesters. (Photo by: Solaris)

Police personnel detained this girl along with protesters. (Photo by: Solaris)

Chennai: In a shocking turn of events following the controversial ban on a student organization in Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, the police personnel detained a little girl for protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The incident has sparked outcry on social media wherein the shocking photos of the detained child is being circulated.

The girl was detained when she was raising pro-democracy and anti-Modi slogans along with the members of Students’ Youth Front and Thanthai Periyar group in Chennai.

The protests erupted after IIT-Madras derecognized an independent student body, Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle last week for creating awareness about the anti-people policies of Modi-led NDA government.

The protests were initiated by members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), and gradually other student organizations too joined them, condemning the alleged undemocratic action of Human Resource and Development Ministry of India.

The agitating members of the group shouted slogans against the Modi government and HRD minister Smriti Irani, while they were whisked away by the police personnel.

Meanwhile, IIT-Madras justified the ban and said that the student body was temporarily derecognized for “violating the guidelines of the institute”. While the agitating members claim that the move was based on a letter from the HRD Ministry, interfering in the matters of student groups within an educational institute.

The questions here are: Can a child be arrested in such a manner? Is Mr Modi seeing all this? Is staging protest a crime in India? Is India really a democratic country?

A police woman takes the girl to the police van. (Photo by: Solaris)

The girl joined the protesting members of the Radical Students’ Youth Front and Thanthai Periyar group. (Photo by: Solaris)

Police personnel detain members of the Radical Students’ Youth Front and Thanthai Periyar group. (Photo by: Solaris)

Police personnel detain members of the Radical Students’ Youth Front and Thanthai Periyar group. (Photo by: Solaris)

Police personnel detain members of the Radical Students’ Youth Front and Thanthai Periyar group. (Photo by: Solaris)

Police personnel detain members of the Radical Students’ Youth Front and Thanthai Periyar group. (Photo by: Solaris)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, Education, HRD, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Narendra Modi, Smriti Irani

Full text of Arundhati Roy's statement in support of Ambedkar Periyar group de-recognised by IIT Madras

May 30, 2015 by Nasheman

arundhati_roy

“What is it about a student organization, the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle (APSC) that frightened the Dean of Students of the IIT Madras enough for him to unilaterally ‘derecognize’ it?

The reason given is the usual idiotic red herring: “They were spreading hatred among communities”.  Another reason they were given, the students say, is that the name of their organization was considered to be too ‘political’. The same does not apply obviously to other student organizations such as the Vivekananda Study Circle.

At a time when Hindutva organizations and media outlets are outrageously celebrating Ambedkar the man who publicly denounced Hinduism, as though he is their very own man, at a time when the Hindu Nationalsts’ campaign of Ghar Wapsi (a revamped version of the Arya Samaj’s ‘Shuddhi’ program) has been launched to get Dalits to return to the “Hindu Fold’, why is it that when Ambedkar’s real followers use the name or likeness of Ambedkar they get murdered like Surekha Bhotmange’s family in Kahirlanji? Why is it that if a Dalit man has a ring tone on his phone with a song about Ambedkar he gets beaten to death? Why has the APSC been derecognized?

It is because they have seen through this charade and have put their finger on the most dangerous possible place. They have made the connection between Corporate Globalization and the perpertuation of caste. There is hardly anything more threatening to this present Ruling establishment than doing what APSC did—celebrating both Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar. This is what has brought them into the line of fire. This is what is sought to be quashed. Equally threatening is the VCK’s announcement about joining forces with the left and progressive Muslim organizations.

The de-recognition of APSC is a recognition of a kind. It is a recognition that it is absolutely right to make the connections it makes. And that many are beginning to make those connections”.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, Arundhati Roy, Education, HRD, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Narendra Modi, Smriti Irani

Our dissent against Modi govt and caste discrimination on the campus is being stifled: Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, IIT-M

May 30, 2015 by Nasheman

We would like to share the mail which members of Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle sent to Dean and Director of IIT-Madras to explaining their stand on recent issue.

Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle

Sir,

We the students of Ambedkar-Periyar Study circle are writing you regarding our stand on the recent email that we received from the Dean of Students, de-recognized our students’ organization.

The mail from Dean of Students dated on 22/05/2015 says “because of the misuse of the privileges” given to your study circle (Ambedkar-Periyar study circle) as an independent student body, your student body is de-recognized by the institute. However it does not contain any details regarding the privileges misused by the APSC.

We resent the fact that the Dean has de-recognized our study circle unilaterally without giving us a fair hearing and an opportunity to represent ourselves. In our face to face interaction with the Dean of Students, we have been told that our study circle engages in “controversial activities” and violated the code of conduct of independent student bodies. We are clear on the stand that we have not misuse any privileges given by the institute. So far our activities are engaged with the healthy discussion on socio-economic issues on scientific basis to promote the scientific temper among the student which is allowed by the Indian constitution. We have not been given a satisfactory definition of what entails “controversial”. Further, we were asked to give assurances that we shall desist from such activities in the future before the Dean (Students) can allow us to restart our activities. We have also been asked to route all our activities through the Dean’s office rather than the usual practice of routing all our discussions, plan of activities and pamphlets through our faculty adviser. This excessive scrutiny is unprecedented and does not apply to any other students’ organization. Vis-à-vis this move of DoS clearly shows, only opinions put forth by the right wing group will get the consent to see the light of the day, while the voices and opinion of the democratic students like us will be curtailed hereafter. Since DoS chaired this position, two times he warned us to change the name “Ambedkar-Periyar” stating that it is polarizing the student. This shows the aversion of DoS towards the the name “Ambedkar-Periyar.”

The Dean’s office has provided us with a copy of a letter from the MHRD dated 21/05/2015with the ref no. F. No. 5-3/2014-TS-I. The letter stated that the MHRD has received serious complaints regarding the activities of our study circle through anonymous letter. A copy of one such letter was provided. We wish to respond to the allegations in the complainant’s letter.

  1. It has been alleged that we have spread hatred against the Modi government and a copy of our pamphlet on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti was enclosed. We do not see any merit in such a statement. We stand by our opinions. Yes, we were very critical of the government. However, we do not understand how dissent and criticism of the government’s policy is akin to “spreading hatred”. If any person professing an anti-establishment view is accused of engaging in “controversial” activities and all dissent is stifled, wouldn’t that be a violation of our constitutionally guaranteed rights to freely express ourselves? We feel that a vibrant and proactive civil society is an integral part of a healthy democracy. IITM itself have had many meetings that discussed the policies and legislation’s of the current and previous elected governments. Among them the reservation policy is the one which has not been still implemented in IITM campus. Here we want to raise a rational question on IITM’s stand on the reservation policy which is still an alive Government policy even in Modi Government since Independence. When OBC reservation was announced by then Govt., whether anti-reservation student group of IITM simply sat without commending because that its ‘government’s policy’ or it fought against it on the streets of Chennai with its tooth and nail to stop that move? What was the action taken by IITM towards those who fought on streets against the Govt. Policy on Reservation? Rather, the IITM took part in negotiating a raise of 24% to safeguard the vested interested of those anti-reservation body functioning in IITM?

  2. We have been accused of spreading hatred between SC-ST and the Hindus and vitiating the atmosphere of the institute. We are surprised and slightly amused. Are SC, ST not part of the so called ‘Hindus’? How MHRD and IITM is perceiving such a venomous anonymous mail with full of hatred towards the SC, ST and Ambedkar? Are we the one who polarise the students or they are the one who think IITM is their own base to propagate against the interest of SC, ST, OBC who are the majority in our Society? Rather our organization is engaged in propagating Ambedkar and Periyar thoughts, in helping depressed castes and the caste Hindus to realize the evilness of caste based discrimination taking place in modern India and expose the ideology functioning behind such discrimination. When we talk about the hierarchical caste structure existing in Indian Society, inevitably we end up in talking about the present pathetic condition of peasants and labours. There are a number of sociological studies that will bear us out when we say that caste based discrimination is still very strong in our society, that caste based associations can leave some with privileges that add up throughout their lives while those that are excluded face powerful social barriers to their attempts to improve their social and economic status. We have only been discussing these issues with an aim to make a common platform for all students in spite of their caste and creed so as to dismantle the evilness of caste barriers. However, even in 2015, our activities are seen to be too radical by the religious right. If the religious right has the right to be offended, then don’t the oppressed Dalits and Bahujans who still face powerful prejudices have a right to be offended with the state of affairs? Our pamphlets do not have any material that would surprise a sociological or political scientist. Yet, the institute has taken these complaints seriously and has chosen to derecognise our organisation. Any higher education institute should be a platform where critical thinking and dissent ought to be encouraged. Where brave new thoughts are nurtured. However, the “dangerous” ideas that we have been accused of spreading are at least a few decades old, if not a few centuries.

  3. The complainant has taken exception to one of our meetings which dealt with an MHRD circular regarding vegetarian and non-vegetarian mess halls. We do not understand how anybody’s sentiments could have been hurt when the entire discussion was about the right of every individual to decide what they can eat. This meeting could be seen as trivial when compared to the meetings on much larger issues. However, the complaint against this meeting indicates how unsparing the dominant establishment has become when it comes to stifling dissent. If such a trivial freedom such as being able to eat meat in the mess halls is seen as dangerous, then the continued existence of our study group becomes all the more important.

  4. Another issue that the complainant has taken exception to is a meeting that discussed language politics and the primacy given to Sanskrit and Hindi in the disbursement of central funds. We had a Linguist from HSS, IITM and a linguistic scholar from Pondicherry University who led the discussion. As rationalists, we feel that though Sanskrit has a valued place as part of culture and history of certain sections of our society, it is also an instrument of spreading a Brahminical, dominant narrative. Imposition of Sanskrit in school has less to do with teaching a language and more to do with the ideology behind teaching the language. We stand by our opinions and wish to assert our rights to profess our opinions freely.

  5. Finally, we have been accused of getting funds from the outside organization. This allegation is completely baseless and absurd. So far for all the programs the financial support had been taken from the study circle members’ own pockets and collected in paisas from IITM students at their doorsteps which was witnessed even by those who wrote the above said ‘anonymous pettition’. Why we had to collect in paisas from the students to conduct our events through a platform like APSC is because IITM rejected many of our moves to bring personalities like Prof. Chaman Lal through EML. Since its birth, EML is been the monopoly of religious right wing to propagate their metaphysical idealist ideology and is a platform for corporate think tanks in the scientific and academic fraternity. When the taxpayers money is been spend for propogating anti-people, anti-rational agenda, pro –people, rational groups like APSC have to collect money from the students to conduct its events. We are maintaining proper account for all our expenditures.

Our discussions, meetings and pamphlets are meant to kick start a discussion within the campus among the academic fraternity. The issues that we discuss are very important and define the way we live our lives. IITM is a public funded higher education institute, whose vision and mission should abide for the upliftment of the common mass, who are the taxpayers. Rather, the move from DoS, IITM says there is no space for such opinions and discussions. We would also like to know what exactly constitutes the “misuse of privileges” and how the specific issues raised in the complainant’s letter could be deemed controversial? The right of function of any independent student body is not the ‘privilege’ given by the authority, rather it’s the democratic right of student themselves.

We strongly believe that what we stated in our pamphlets and content of our discussion is correct and as per the Constitution. Therefore, action against the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle by the DoS, IITM is undemocratic and unilateral against the interest of common mass for whom the Institute itself is indebted; hence we are not accepting this decision taken by the Institute.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, Education, HRD, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Narendra Modi, Smriti Irani

Smriti Irani's ministry interfering in IITs, opposition MPs write to President

April 17, 2015 by Nasheman

Smriti Irani

New Delhi: Cutting across party lines four Rajya Sabha MPs have spoken out against Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani. The MPs have alleged that minister is interfering with the functioning of IITs and universities.

The four MPs are KC Tyagi, D Raja, Rajiv Shukla and DP Tripathi.

The MPs have also asked President Pranab Mukherjee to step in to protect the educational institutions.

Recently nuclear scientist and former chairman of the board of governors of IIT Bombay Anil Kakodkar spoke against the decision making process at the educational institution.

The scientist apparently resigned because of differences with the HRD Ministry over selection of some IIT directors.

Kakodkar, whose tenure was supposed to come to an end in May 2015 has, however, agreed to continue till that period after being persuaded by Irani, who had a long telephonic conversation with him, sources in the ministry said.

“I have put down my papers because I want to move ahead,” Kakodkar had said but refused to comment on queries whether differences had cropped up between him and the minister over selection of the directors.

Kakodkar’s resignation came two months after IIT Delhi director R Shevgaonkar had stepped down from his post in December 2014 which had triggered a controversy amidst reports that there were sharp differences between him and the ministry over certain issues. His resignation is yet to be accepted.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: D Raja, DP Tripathi, IITs, KC Tyagi, Rajiv Shukla, Smriti Irani

Smriti Irani finds hidden camera in changing room

April 3, 2015 by Nasheman

Smriti Irani

Candolim: A police complaint has been registered in Goa after Union Education Minister Smriti Irani spotted a hidden camera inside a changing room at an outlet of popular clothing chain Fabindia.

Irani, who is on holiday in the sea-side state that her party the BJP rules, had gone shopping at the Fabindia store in Candolim, when she spotted the camera.

She called a local legislator, Micheal Lobo of her party, who filed the FIR. Lobo said that the camera was positioned in a way that it pointed right into the changing or trial room and was not easily visible.

The police have registered a case of outraging a woman’s modesty against the store and are investigating to find out who had put the camera there.

Irani, 39, has recorded a statement at the Candolim police station.

(Agencies)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Candolim, Fabindia, Goa, Smriti Irani

Amit Shah reconstitutes BJP's national executive, drops Smriti Irani, Najma Heptulla

March 12, 2015 by Nasheman

Amit-Shah

New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday reconstituted the party’s national executive which has 111 members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior party leader LK Advani.

The list has 27 special invitees, including chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.

HRD minister Smriti Irani and minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla are among the prominent faces whom BJP chief Amit Shah dropped from party’s national executive announced on Thursday.

The list announced on Thursday also did not include names of senior party spokesmen Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, a former union minister, and Sudhanshu Trivedi, a close aide of home minister Rajnath Singh.

Sultanpur MP Varun Gandhi, whom Shah dropped as the national general secretary, has been retained in the top panel that also includes the likes of Yogi Adityanath and Sadhvi Nirajna Jyoti.

Subramanian Swami, has been accommodated too.

Apart from 40 special invitees, all leaders of the party in state assemblies and councils and state presidents will also be invitees to the national executive, a party release said.

(Agencies)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Amit Shah, BJP, Najma Heptulla, Smriti Irani

How the Sangh Parivar is taking over education and culture institutions

December 26, 2014 by Nasheman

To propagate the Parivar’s brand of ‘cultural nationalism’, the government is purging some institutions and making suspect appointments in others.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

by Praful Bidwai

A hallmark of the Modi government’s first 200 days in office is the beginning of the Sangh Parivar’s Long March through the institutions of the state, in particular bodies that deal with education and culture. The Parivar’s agenda is to reflect its own specific brand of “cultural nationalism” in these institutions by engineering long-term changes in their programmes and priorities, and by making key appointments of personnel who will loyally execute such changes.

The government’s imposition of the observance of Christmas Day as “good governance” day on a range of Central educational institutions – including Navodaya Vidyalayas and Central Board of Secondary Education-affiliated schools, the 45 Central universities, the elite Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management – is only the latest, if symbolic, step in that direction. It forces them through a mere executive order to celebrate the birth anniversaries of two Parivar icons, Atal Behari Vajpayee and the even-more sectarian former Hindu Mahasabha leader Madan Mohan Malaviya.

The larger Sangh agenda includes more substantive changes in the content of education and what is officially supported and promoted as culture. For instance, the government has appointed pro-Hindutva or pro-BJP individuals to head the apex-level Indian Council of Historical Research, the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study at Shimla, and Banaras Hindu University, established, incidentally, by Malaviya in 1916.

De-saffronisation process derailed

This sends out an unmistakable signal about the shape of things to come in other Central universities, including Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Indian Council of Social Science Research, some of the IITs, and the CBSE, among many other institutions where new appointments are due soon at the top or in their councils and governing bodies.

An even stronger signal emanates from the manner in which Parvin Sinclair, the upright and independent-minded director of the National Council for Educational Research and Training, was ousted over two years before her term ended. This aborted at the last stage the revision (improvement and updating) of the National Curriculum Framework 2005 she had initiated. The framework itself was the product of a long, broadly consultative process of “de-saffronisation”, which led to widely acclaimed, secular-liberal and pedagogically superior school textbooks.

On May 22, even before Narendra Modi was sworn in, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas run by Dinanath Batra (of book-pulping fame) demanded a total overhaul of the education system and rewriting of textbooks so they inculcate patriotism, reflect “Indian tradition, social consciousness… and spiritualism”, and help build a “strong and vibrant India”. He insisted that Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani reconstitute the NCERT. When Sinclair refused to toe Irani’s line on the National Curriculum Framework and other issues, she was reportedly charged with financial irregularities, not allowed to defend herself fully, and asked to resign.

Questionable appointments

There has been no similar purge in other institutions so far. But the government has used three other methods to favour the Parivar: appointing RSS functionaries or close sympathisers to high positions although they manifestly lack academic competence, leave alone distinction; nominating mediocrities who are BJP fellow-travellers to head institutions; and co-opting appointees of the previous regime by striking questionable deals with them which benefit the Parivar.

Last month’s appointment of Girish Chandra Tripathi as Banaras Hindu University vice-chancellor, a post held earlier by luminaries like S Radhakrishnan and Acharya Narendra Dev, falls in the first category. Tripathi, long a hardcore prant (province)-level RSS official, was a professor of economics at Allahabad University. But going by a Google scholar search and other available biographical entries, he has published no books or papers, at least recently.

Teaching history of the epics

The appointment of Y Sudershan Rao, a singularly undistinguished historian close to a spiritual guru (who mediated with the RSS-Bharatiya Janata Party on his behalf), as chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research is a similar, if somewhat less sordid, story. Rao rails against Western and Marxist scholars and defends the caste system. He wants to prove the historicity of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. He emphasises the relevance of the Puranas: “The ICHR has to play a catalyst role in taking to people their history” through the epics. According to Romila Thapar, Rao fails to distinguish between epics and historical texts. He has published no articles on the epics, or on Ayodhya as Rama’s birthplace, in peer-reviewed journals.

One of Rao’s first actions was to invite a Belgium-based, rabidly pro-Hindutva scholar, SN Balagangadhara, to deliver the Maulana Azad Memorial Lecture on November 11. Balagangadhara’s views drew serious criticism from distinguished historians like Rajan Gurukkal.

Belonging to the second category are Chandrakala Padia’s nomination as the chairperson of IIAS-Shimla by the Human Resource Development Ministry, and Kavita Sharma’s nomination as the vice-chancellor of South Asian University by the foreign ministry. Padia, who comes from Varanasi, does have some published work, but its quality is not commensurate with her position at IIAS. Sharma was director of the India International Centre, Delhi, and earlier principal of Hindu College, but can claim little academic accomplishment.

Changing with the times

Third, the Parivar seems to have cut deals with various United Progressive Alliance appointees, who have turned pro-BJP-RSS, including University Grants Commission chairman Ved Prakash and Delhi University vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh, who both attended a lunch hosted by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Delhi on October 12. Prakash is alleged to be anxious to continue in his post till 2017, despite vigilance and other inquiries against him.

Singh’s favourite, but mindless, scheme (the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme) was recently shot down by Irani. Sensing the wind, he allegedly capitulated. He has provided a platform to senior RSS functionaries on the campus, including Indresh Kumar and Krishna Gopal.

This is the first in a two-part series on the saffronisation of education and culture, which first appeared in Scroll.

Praful Bidwai is a journalist, social science researcher and activist on issues of human rights, the environment, global justice and peace. He received the Sean MacBride International Peace Prize, 2000 of International Peace Bureau, Geneva and London, one of the world’s oldest peace organisations.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: BJP, Culture, Education, Sangh Parivar, Smriti Irani

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