Indore. So much celebration and no thinking.

Celebrations are in the air as people celebrate Hartalika i.e. Parvati Puja and Ganesh Chaturthi today It is a big festival. Lord Ganesh, the obedient son of Lord Shiv and Goddess Parvati. He is also fondly called 'Vighnaharta'-one who removes obstacles from the path.

The entire city has adorned a festive look today with processions, drum beating, music and chanting of mantras. It is the same with other festivals. I marvel at the people of Indore for their religious fervour and zeal. In the past 10 years, there has hardly been a day when I have not seen women decked up and going to temples with puja thalis!

Financial crunch and money restraint is somehow forgotten at such times! Call it God's blessings if you will! But this year things are a bit difficult. We are in a grip of drought. There is water scarcity and the prices of everything has gone up.

I do not wish to spoil the mood of the people, but we all need to think about TOMORROW. After all, it is the second consecutive year when we have received less rains. Festivals are important. They make us upbeat. But at the moment we need to restrain ourselves and save water and grain for the difficult days ahead. The state government should work on this and make people understand the situation.

Kudos to Yashpal Committee! Great Going.

The proposal to dissolve UGC, AICTE, MCI couldn't have been better timed. I salute the members of the Yashpal Committee. And I have a special salute reserved for Mr Kapil Sibal.

1) Indeed with countless engineering colleges coming up all over the country , the B.E degree has lost all the importance that it once had. It has been reported there are several engineering colleges in Chattisgarh, Bangalore and other places which are running in just one room. I really wonder how? No surprise, the engineering giants say that today's engineers are not worth employing!

2)In case of MCI, it is just the reverse! The officiating body is forever finding faults with all medical colleges . As a result, medical colleges are very few in number. This forces the students stay on in spite of severe ragging. This apart, there is always a fear of de-recognition from MCI. In Indore itself there is always a sword hanging on MGM Medical College for lack of PG doctors. From where will the P.G doctors come if just a few colleges run PG course?

Even otherwise, one needs to see the ratio of engineering and medical colleges. If engineering colleges are in lakhs, the medical colleges are barely a thousand something!

3) While restraining myself from saying much about UGC and NAAC, I shall just comment that awarding 3star and 5 star on the basis of one or two days survey makes no sense. UGC certainly lacks feedback system regarding the classes being conducted in departments and colleges particularly related to commerce and humanities. UGC cares two hoots for the payment of visiting faculty which is downright cruel. Further, there is a need to dig into the PhD's that are being done particularly in Humanities. The students and their research appear nowhere near the mark. It would indeed be nice if university examination papers are set outside i.e. by another university. That will truly decide the merit of the students and teachers alike. Partiality and nepotism will then end. I hope, the proposed 'Commission for Higher Studies and Research' go deep into this. This commission should have the facility called 'Ombudsman' to check the growing malpractices in various universities.

4) Regarding scrapping of 10th and 12th exams, the only thing I feel strongly is that students who pass out of school should at least write a few sentences without spelling mistakes. That, there should be either schools or coaching classes. This unnatural pressure that has come on the students and parents must end. This may also bring down the rates of suicides, I feel.

P.S.
As per the news report today, the Bhopal Gang Rape case was a concocted story. Things will get clear in a few days I am sure.