Pakistan : A Failed Islamic Experiment

The idea of India is based on the diversity and inclusiveness. It requires that the Muslims stop alienating to themselves and seek more avenues of engagement with all. All the remnants of exclusivity and isolationism of any Hindu, Muslim or Sikh society should be taken out from the minds first and then from the national life.

So what is the contribution of Government ? By just allowing the minorities to pray, doesn’t mean that the government is secular. Secularism means equal opportunities at every level. It also requires not shunning away from criticism of liberal commentators. India is not doing much good in this category, but seeing the engagement of Islamic culture, it seems praise worthy.

Whenever idea of India is defined, the secession of Pakistan come in the frame. The partition based on exclusivity of perfect Islamic society is the thesis of the idea of Pakistan. I agree with the warning of cultural commentator Nadeem F Paracha. "Pakistan is one of the first examples of a fascist, faith-based dystopia."

Today, Pakistan is a country who is exceptionally sensitive towards religion and in the dream of setting up utopia of Islamic society based on Koranic values. And the result, a sharp decline of rational debates, economic collapse and intolerance of sectarian groups towards each other. Pakistan’s silent majority is tolerant but NOT fundamentally secular in the nature. 'Liberal' People are afraid for taking clear statements against extremists and the gradual cowardly behavior by law makers are signals of influence of religious extremism over public sphere. The signs of conservativeness has increased in the society despite of no visible increase in the vote shares of fundamentalist parties. Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy further analyzes this situationin detail in the interview : Pakistan awaiting the clerical tsunami.

The most educated citizens of Pakistan have lost the capacity to question the false Islamic history served to them in academics and TV evangelists. Mullahs and Army has besized the oppurtunity of spreading their laws on the masses. In the brilliant article "Curse of the ‘almost elite’", Rafia Zakaria points towards mind set of elite (rich, powerful and upper middles class) of Pakistan :

What a society emulates and anoints as the basis for power and importance is what in that context becomes sacred. It is not that Pakistanis are unique or isolated in their devoted paeans to the wealthy, an exercise found throughout the ages in all parts of the world. The inability to create a definition of success that originates solely from within or is the product of hardship is tied not only to an obsession with inherited wealth but also to mythologised ideas of historical origins.

The same effort put into the pretence of revelling in inherited wealth is also invested in the claiming of Arab, Persian or similarly exotic ancestry. Not being actually South Asian, then, is crucial to being good or privileged or socially viable, announcing to all that your presence in the current milieu is a fact not of your peasant origins but the conquering vigour of your ancestors.

Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti are dead now. Who is next, Sherry Rehman? Death threats are shouted and liberals are branded as "infidels" and heretics deserving of death. Government come on rollback the freedoms of the people to accommodate this Islam of Mullah's dreams. We know from history that appeasement of violent extremist doesn't pay, it only emboldens them. These religious extremist have no plan, policies or idea about governance. They run there campaign on the basis of religious slogan and propaganda. And it's easy to guess when structure fails, the response by religious extremist is : ‘If only ...... imposes true Islamic system, we’ll be able to get rid of the hypocrisies committed in its name.

The official lawlessness combined with cruelty has become the daily norm. Suicide Bombing, Taliban insurgents, economic collapse, the rise of extremism is not only due to sheer inability of leaders. It arrived from the movement of a nation towards old age customs of Islamic society.  This is the degrading power of Islam that it devolve society into ancient custom resembling them more with Taliban. And with all respect to all, We all know the advantage for Muslims to live "pious state of Afghanistan" over "progressive state of Turkey".

Ten Common Errors When Building a New World-Class University

ITBHU has always owe much of their success to the exceptional leadership qualities of the founder Madan Mohan Malviya: who inspired, mobilized and showed the way to the establishment of BHU with a vision. Over the long run, however, this element of strength has devolved into a limiting factor. Our institution had not make provisions for orderly transition procedures with changing times and funding of grants. hence have been pushed back by new colleges.

Achieving the ambitious result of launching a high quality is easier said than done. Conversion of IT BHU to IIT will surely give college huge fund. Almost all the structure is established one and need only few bureaucratic changes in administration. So if the entire working culture is same, then what is the difference in new IIT -BHU and old ITBHU ? Jamil Salmi's paper on Ten Common Errors When Building a New World-Class University is presented as blog post here as it is the urgent need of time to rebuild the mission and structure of  the ITBHU at par with the best institutes of the world.

1. Build a magnificent campus; expect magic to happen. The physical infrastructure is obviously the most visible part of a new university. A lot of care is usually given to the design and construction of impressive, state-of-the-art facilities, and rightly so. Good academic infrastructure is certainly an important part of the education experience of students, and researchers need adequate laboratories to carry out leading-edge scientific inquiries. But, without an appropriate governance set-up, a strong leadership team, a well-thought curriculum, and highly qualified academics, the beautiful campus will remain little more than an empty shell that embodies a waste of valuable resources. Remember the Tower of Babel!

2. Design the curriculum after constructing the facilities. It is often assumed that teaching and learning can easily adapt to the physical environment of the institution. This may be true for traditional lecture-based teaching, but innovative pedagogical practices often require equally innovative facilities.For example, interactive approaches, problem-based learning or pedagogical methods relying heavily on teamwork and peer learning are constrained by the physical limitations of conventional lecture halls or even classrooms.

Libraries and laboratories have evolved dramatically in recent years due to changes in technology. The promoters of a new university should refrain from launching into the architectural design stage of their institution until they have established not only a clear definition of the vision and mission of the new institution but have also determined some of the specific content of teaching and research. It is particularly essential (and most prudent) to prepare the academic plan of the new institution ahead of the construction of the physical infrastructure and to tailor the latter to the requirements of the former rather than the other way around. At the very least, the academic staff should be given the opportunity to influence the design of the pedagogical and research spaces of the new institution.

3. Import content from somewhere else. Why reinvent the wheel? The teams in charge of establishing new universities tend to look almost exclusively at the top-ranked institutions in industrial countries to buy or copy elements of their curriculum instead of going through the more labor-intensive process of custom designing their own programs. While this may seem expedient and practical, it is not the most effective way of building the academic culture of a new university that aims to reach high standards. The Harvards and Oxfords of this world are unique institutions that have evolved over centuries, and it is unrealistic to think that reproducing their distinctive academic model is possible or even desirable. And it is impractical to envision shopping around and bringing curricular fragments from a variety of top notch institutions across different countries / cultures, assuming that everything could easily gel together and fall in place to create an authentic learning and research culture in the new university. Curriculum development is demanding work, but it is the main mechanism that can allow a unique and innovative organizational culture to emerge.

4. Design with an OECD ecosystem in mind, implement elsewhere. Replicating the three key features that make flagship universities in industrial countries successful—concentration of talent, abundant resources and favorable governance—is a fundamental requirement, but it does not encompass the full complement of operational conditions that underpin the authorizing environment of a successful world-class institution. It is difficult if not impossible to create and maintain thriving universities when the tertiary education ecosystem within which they operate is not fully supportive. Some potentially important dimensions of a favorable ecosystem include leadership at the national level (existence of a vision about the future of tertiary education, capacity to implement reforms), the regulatory framework (legal provisions, governance structure and management processes at the national and institutional levels), the quality assurance framework, the mechanisms and pathways integrating the various types of tertiary education institutions, the financial resources and incentives, along with the digital and telecommunications infrastructure. To operate adequately, all of these require an overarching set of conditions which have to do with political and economic stability, the rule of law, the existence of basic freedoms, and a favorable location from the viewpoint of the spatial environment in which the new tertiary education institution is meant to operate (local economic, social and cultural life). The absence of even only one of these elements or the lack of alignment among these various dimensions is likely to compromise the ability of new universities to progress and endure.

Among other things, these errors point to the importance of developing an original academic and institutional culture that fits well into the local environment.

5. Delay putting in place the board and appointing the leadership team. The resolution to establish a new university is often a political decision reflecting a visionary ambition at the highest levels that a ministry or a technical project team is then charged with putting into action. This typically leads to a centrally managed design and implementation process.

Given that the establishment of a new university requires passion and drive to create a new organizational culture, it cannot be built by a disinterested committee. A project of such magnitude must be fully owned and carried out by a dynamic leadership team, working under the authority of an independent board with the capacity to offer guidance and empowerment. The first order of business of the new board has to be the identification, selection and installation of institutional leadership. Putting in place an appropriate governance framework from the outset is a key factor of success.

6. Stack the board with political appointees. Founders need to choose a governing board that brings together a range of essential expertise that can evolve over time. The governing board should start out small and grow very gradually to accommodate more expertise as needed. The common oversight is that people are appointed to boards on the assumption that they "represent" their institution or represent a constituency, when really they should represent an area of expertise needed in the management of the new and growing institution (legal expert, financial expert, infrastructure expert, academic experts, retired institutional leaders, etc.). Another, related misstep is to appoint governing board members who have too little time. It is better to have the board skewed toward recently retired university presidents or experts than to have too many members with too little time and dedication to the endeavor.

7. Plan for up-front capital costs, but pay little attention to long-term financial sustainability. The promoters of a new university usually announce with enthusiasm the huge endowment dedicated to the establishment of the new institution, but the initial capital investment is only one part of the total project. It is essential to provide adequately for the first few years of operation and to establish a thoughtful business model that allows the new institution to grow and endure in a financially sustainable manner.

The common errors presented today highlight the importance leadership along with proper sequencing in designing and implementing a new tertiary education institution.

8. Be too ambitious in enrollment targets. The leaders of new institutions sometimes think that they can rapidly enroll large numbers of students, often in the tens of thousands. This is rarely achieved without sacrificing quality. In the 1970s, E.F. Schumacher wrote in his famous book “Small is Beautiful” that successful development projects were preferably of a small size.

Small is still beautiful today, especially when it applies to setting up a new college or university. It is usually a better idea to begin with a small number of programs and student body if quality is a priority. It allows the new institution to deploy resources more prudently, to take time to develop its new academic culture, and to give precedence to quality factors over everything else. Once a strong academic culture is in place, it is easier to scale up from there.

9. Think that everything can be accomplished in eighteen months. A variant of over-ambitious planning is assuming that a new institution can be launched in a matter of months and that high quality teaching and research can be accomplished within a few years of establishing a new university. In reality, rushing through the initial phase of design and implementation can often only lead to hasty decisions that can have an adverse effect on the quality and cost of the project. Furthermore, institution-building is a long-term process that requires stable leadership, continuous improvement, and patience. This is especially true when it comes to developing the robust scientific traditions needed to produce leading edge research and technological applications.

10. Rely exclusively on foreign academics without building up local capacity. Hiring foreign academics is common practice to accelerate the launch of a new university in a country with limited capacity. Indeed, it makes good sense to bring experienced instructors and researchers to help put new programs in place; it can also be a very effective capacity-building strategy when an important part of the mission of the foreign academics is to train younger, less experienced academics from the host country. On the other hand, it can be a risky and counter-productive approach in the absence of systematic efforts to attract and retain qualified national academics. As with most plans that include reliance on outside actors and forces, the strategy of bringing on foreign academic staff should be one that complements the more fundamental aim of local capacity building.

The Boring Sermon of Devil

Personal Life :-

I was recently made joke by naming me as an 'Intellectual' (a much abused word that means Boring). As for words of Christopher Hitchens :- The usual duty of the 'intellectual' is to argue for complexity and to insist that phenomena in the world of ideas should not be sloganized or reduced to easily repeated formulae. Hence, quite a pseudo character for me. There are two characteristics of mine : Irreverence and Skepticism that I cherish most. I can assure you personally that they can generate surprisingly constructive results if combined with love and compassion.

My Childhood was shaped by the parents, friends, relatives, neighbors and teachers in a quite confined surrounding of home, school and colony. As a scholar in the college, I can retrospect my life as a a simple story into a complex one with time. I was never sharp, ambitious, hard or cynical. It was a moody, dreamy character with a sincere, naive idealist, motivated more by vague yearnings than concrete plans. May be environment around me does not place ambition above all, but was philosophical, accepting and optimistic.

I started ridiculing over unjust world like everyone without even understanding the root cause . So looking for the solution was not in the picture. When inquiry for the root cause begins, it turned to be nightmare. Beyond ridiculing the most banal situations, I realized painfully the insignificance of one's existence. Then gradually, I drifted from the pleasures of life towards boring intellectual talks. There were few light moments providing with a slight relief but much time invested in gaining knowledge, vain efforts and solitude.

And then I realized that there is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal. Now, I want to depict in a tangible way the solitude and morality of humans through words. I speak and write a bit harsh for the reader (Quite Middle and Elite class) there to wake them from the dream. There is a whole humanity to embrace as our own and the time is running out fast.

People are doing well, earning good money, and own a house, and so want to ‘enjoy life’ only. Then, why I am so ranting on everyone. I am fighting for improving this system only so that you can cherish and enjoy life. To make the world that I share with you a happy and peaceful place for billions of us.

Public View:-

"Distinctions between westernisation and modernisation have not touched the bulk of western educated modern Indians, who are convinced that their future lies in being exactly like Europe and North America."---Ashis Nandy

I am rooting for this modernization in order to reform our social, political and economic system, which is full of bias, inequality and discrimination that conflict with our fundamental rights. People are not modernizing with the secular, democratic, republic and liberty concepts of state. They are still divided and fighting over the religion, race and caste background. Religious agendas confuses people, engages them in the conspiracy theories, and decreases society’s collective ability to make sensible decisions.

It is apathy of well educated middle class and casual nihilistic view of the elites is letting us down. Middle-classes of India especially want to make the world a better place. Just like their drawing-rooms !

Law can't change human. The struggle at grass root level is always finished by the conscious of the masses. The society’s collective ability to make sensible decisions always have to be governed by will of the people and inclusive path laid down by wise and just people. No class should be eliminated for the sake of development and even it has to be happened for greater good. Cohesion of elite with the support middle class is needed to uplift threshold conditions of life for everyone.

Every person has a right to live and enjoy the life irrespective of his peculiar background, hobbies or choices.  While doing a job is not enough, one has to check whether the system is inclusive and providing justice or not. One has to design a system where one can at least have a shelter to meet his all requirements and opportunities to improve.

A hungry person on the streets is not going to care whether or not their nation has superpower status or not if he/she are sleeping every night on the empty stomach. The forcibly displaced people seek refuge and livelihood in the city to find themselves again evicted from their jhuggis in the name of cleaning the city and ‘development’.

It is holding on the hope of the unprivileged individual cut from all high connections that his/her life will be better through hard work and honesty one day. The day that hope will die, that will be the beginning of the night of the death of all those beneficiaries of present state. And they can never guess in their wild dreams what has triggered and caused their fall. All 'shining' and 'rising' slogan will meet a sudden abrupt revolutionary and apocalyptic end.

It leads us to basic premise of the plot : Does one can't develop without exploiting others ? A hard nut case for me to crack individually. But we all together can. And here again at the end of this section, I find myself preaching like devil to flush away the dogmas... What an asshole I am !