June 2014

The decline of institutions

On the first day as the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi said, “I want the credibility of the Indian institutions and the respect of the constitutional organisation to be increased.” Time and again, a few statesmen and also the media have voiced concern about the steady decline of our great institutions and expressed the need to restore their credibility. A democracy as we all know can survive and flourish only when its institutions are protected and function independently.

The spotlight of the June issue of One India One People is on the significance of some of our important institutions and their steep decline. We talk about the most vital organ in a country’s body, the Parliament: It’s glorious past; how the norms and protocols of the august house started bending and breaking that has had a debilitating impact on it. The second most important institutions are the defence mechanisms, the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. Their reputation has been tarnished of late by charges of corruption and lack of trust in leadership.  The credibilility of important establishments such as the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Comptroller General of India and the Central Vigilance Commission too has taken a beating in the last decade.. Cricket is religion in our country and the Board of Control for Cricket in India was appointed to safeguard its sanctity. But it has been dogged by corruption scandals and controversies concluding its mighty fall.  Premier education institutes such as the IITs and IIMs too have not been spared by critics who have questioned the quality of education imparted in these institutes.

While speaking about the growth of these institutions and their achievements in the past, the writers point out the reasons for the decline of the institutions and what needs to be done to restore their glory.

In the lead article, ‘Can the downslide in the temple of democracy be reversed?’, Dr. P M Kamath has written about how the Indian Parliament has witnessed a steady decline in the standards of working in the past decade. There is an urgent need to arrest this downtrend and restore the sanctity of the temple of democracy, he says. 

The writer is Former Professor of Politics, University of Bombay; currently, Director, VPM’s Centre for International Studies (Regd), Mumbai and Adjunct Professor, Department of Geopolitics and International Relations, Manipal University, Manipal. His book on India-China Relations for Asian Century (Gyan, 2011) deals with some issues raised in this article.

In the article, ‘India’s defence mechanism under attack’, Lt. Gen.(Dr.) D.B. Shekatkar  PVSM, AVSM, VSM (retd.), says the most important challenge to the top leadership is and will always remain, how to keep the defence forces isolated, untouched, unpolluted and uninfluenced from overall national environment of corruption.

The writer has served in Indian Army for four decades. He has participated in Indo-Pak war in 1965 and 1971. During Kargil war in 1999 he was incharge of entire China front in Arunachal Pradesh. He has served extensively in North East combating insurgency  in Assam, Nagland, Manipur and other areas.

In, ‘Restoring the credibility of CBI and CAG’ N. Vittal proposes measures to restore the credibility of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, which has taken a severe beating in the last few years because of its brazen misuse by the UPA II government.

 

The writer is a former Central Vigilance Commissioner.

In the write up, ‘Cricket isn’t at the heart of BCCI’, Venkat Ananth wonders aloud whether the richest cricket body in the world is capable of reforming itself to safeguard the sport it governs.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in New Delhi.

The article, ‘Shaping the IITs and destiny of India’, Kinkini Dasgupta Misra tells us what could be done to foster creativity, innovation and excellence in shaping the institutes and how IITs could drive India’s social, economic, and technological transformation.

The writer is a Scientist-F at Vigyan Prasar (under the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

The write up, ‘To live happily ever after’, Dr. Harish Shetty says, marriages like any institution are in an exciting flux, coloured by the issues, idiosyncrasies and innovations of our era. They are no longer the goal of women or even men. In the changing script, a million variations in marriage may exist, but as long as two people find balance, life moves peacefully at a different pace during different times. 

 

The writer is a Psychiatrist and a Counsellor. He can be reached at mindmoodsandmagic.blogspot.in. All the names in the article have been changed to protect identities.

In, ‘Sir J.J. School of Art: Unfolding a legacy’,  Dr. Manisha Patil says it is time for India’s premier art institute, which produced some of the best talent in the field of art, to shed its colonial baggage and reinvent itself.

The writer is an artist and art historian. She is also a professor of Art History at Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai.

Know India Better

Warangal, Amazing Gateways to a Glorious Past

From ruined temples to huge manmade lakes and from dying art to long hanging bridges, the district of Warangal in Andhra Pradesh has something to offer to every tourist and traveler.  Rangan Datta with his text and photographs takes through the fort, temple, paintings and art.

A mathematics teacher by profession, the writer is a regular contributor in the travel columns of leading newspapers. To know more, visit his website www.rangan-datta.info and blog www.rangandatta.wordpress.com

Face To Face

“I express myself through poetry, literature and films”

Gulzar a poet, lyricist, dialogue-writer and director has been bestowed the Dadasaheb Phalke Award this year for his lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. The 79-year-old soft-spoken, fair and handsome poet has directed a wide variety of films ranging from Mere Apne to Koshish, Khushboo, Mausam Angoor, Libaas and Maachis, is the 45^th recipient of the award.  As Gulzar walks down memory lane, he tells Shoma A Chatterji, how he became a poet, and then a lyricist and filmmaker. 

The writer is a freelance journalist, film scholar and author. She has authored 17 published titles and won the National Award for Best Writing on Cinema twice. She won the UNFPA-Laadli Media Award, 2010 for ‘commitment to addressing and analysing gender issues’ among many awards.

The Youth Voice section, ‘Are the rich in India under taxed?’ is by Shinzani Jain a 3^rd year BSL LLB student at ILS Law College, Pune. She is a volunteer at the Academy of Political and Social Studies. Shinzani likes to read, write and research and is interested in politics and journalism.

In our features section, ‘Values are the soul of ethics’, Dr. Ravindra Kumar emphasises the importance of values in our life.

The writer is a former Vice Chancellor of CCS University, Meerut. He is also the editor-in-chief of Global Peace International Journal.

‘Monika’s garden of hope’

Megan Mylan’s documentary, ‘After My Garden Grows’ has a universal appeal as it tells the story of an adolescent girl from India`s hinterland – a school dropout who nurtures her garden to make a living while also learning about  property and inheritance rights, health and nutrition.

The article has been sourced from Women’s Feature Services.

Cultural Kaleidoscope is on ‘Manipuri – An ethereal dance’ which is characterised by fluid movements, where each movement appears to flow into another. The dance has extremely graceful movements of the wrists and palms, and the footwork is predominantly on toes lending the dance its renowned ethereal quality, writes Dr. Kanak Rele.

 

The writer is Director, Nalanda Dance Research Center and is a recipient of Padmabhushan award, Akademi Ratna (Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi)

Book Review

Three Judges And Their Times

Contributed by Ajay Dandekar a Social Scientist.

In Great Indians

We have profiled

Guru A T Govindraj Pillai

An institution in himself (1914-1984)

Prof Manorama Savur

A thorough role model (1927-2014)

Lt Col R Vishwanathan VrC

The valiant Colonel (1960- 1999)

And also read our regular columns and other features. To book a copy, email to oiopfoundation@gmai.com/oiop@vsnl.net or call Nagesh Bangera, OIOP Subscription-in-charge at 022- 2353 44 00.

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