Coronavirus and social distancing

With the number of cases of Coronavirus positive patients increasing, the University has finally closed down.  All the students have been asked to leave the hostel, exams and classes have been cancelled. Ostensibly this is till 31st March and I devoutly hope so.   I am kind of resigned.  The labs in the University has not been functioning since last November when the students went on strike.  We open and we close down.  Again and again.  This time we functioned at least for 2 months before closing down.

Every one has been talking about social distancing. It can be done if we have large enough flat/house.  What will Sumitra, my help, do?  She lives in one room with her husband and two sons.  There is a tiny kitchen.  The room has two beds, one refrigerator, one cooler (summer without one would be simply impossible), and one washing machine.  What social distance can the four of them practice?  This, unfortunately, is the reality for the majority of the people living in our country.

My colleague, extremely cynical at times, pointed out that this is an infection of the well-to-do.  The ones who traveled abroad carried it back to the country.  If, he said, it had been infection affecting the poor, no one in the country would have bothered.  Which is what happens with TB- the poor are majorly affected and kills more than what Coronavirus will do-but who talks about it?

A lab of one's own- Patricia Fara

I picked this book up in the book fair.  Bookstores are becoming scarce in India as the independent book stores are closing and we do not have anything like Barnes and Noble. 

Patricia Fara reveals the stories of female scientists, doctors, engineers against the backdrop of the first world war.  Women were admitted to colleges by 1869 in England.  However, the scope of their work was limited.  Most ended up as teachers.  However, when World War I happened, men were conscripted and what was initially thought as something would last only weeks or months ended up lasting for years.  This when the doors opened for women.  They worked in munition factories, they were engaged as engineers, as doctors and of course as nurses.  Patricia Fara examines the role of these unsung women in the war.  Intertwined is the Women Suffragette movement and women get the right to vote- not all women but some of them-during the war.
Of course, when the war ends the women are expected to take a back seat to men.  People expect things to go back to as usual but things have changed subtly.  Women no longer are willing to take a back seat.  There are still struggles (in fact it continues today also) but slowly there is a grudging acceptance too.
I really enjoyed the book- in fact I finished half of the book during the flight from Delhi to Chennai.  It was an absorbing tale.

The stories are limited to England but I was asking myself about India.  Of course, this was the time of Freedom struggle.  But it was also the time when child marriages were the norm and girls were not educated.  If the husband died, then the wife (whether the marriage was consummated or not) became a child widow with her head shaven and forced to wear the widow's garb.
The first college for Women was Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow which was started in 1870 as a school and later became a college.  Queen Mary's in Chennai was started 1914.   Much before Queen Mary's was started, the first women graduate in Chennai was  Sister Subbalakshmi who attended Presidency College.  I remember reading her memoir in Imprint where she says that used to go to college in a rickshaw.  She was, in fact, a child widow but her father refused to shave her head. Instead he had her educated.  She later opened Sarada Vidayalaya in Chennai where my mother studied.
But education for girls remained a rarity except in few of the highly educated/enlighted houses.  The woman professor, most celebrated, was Janaki Ammal  who studied in Queen Mary's and later obtained Ph.D at the University of Michigan. 

Information about these early women is scarce or at least I have not come across the information.  Something to do later on.

Re: Site Visit

At the outset let me state that this blogpost is done on the behest of Asha Berkeley for whom I did the site visit.  I have removed all the names to protect privacy.

Last Saturday (30th Jan 2020)  I visited Mera Sahara in NOIDA.  Ever since we have to mark our attendance I have stopped doing site visits during the weekday. to far flung places.  For example, to go to NOIDA itself takes about an hour or more depending upon the traffic.  As I would not be in the University the entire day, I would have to take casual leave, which are limited and  I want to save them for my visits to visit Chennai. I do long for the good old days when we worked without fear.
So when Asha Berkeley approached me for a site visit, I asked them whether it is open on Saturday!  It was and so it was on Saturday that I did the visit.

I have been visiting Mera Sahara on and off for many years now.   This was my first visit in two years. One of the points I was very glad about was that they had not changed the location of the school.  Generally, NGOs find it very difficult to rent space.  The owners keep increasing the rent by 15% every year and after a year or so it become unviable to rent that space or else the owner will ask them to vacate because they have a more lucrative offer.

So, Mera Sahara for some time now is located in a 3 floor house.  The biggest advantage of this house is that it is secured.  Once the children, the doors are locked.  No child can leave the premise without specific permission.  The rent of the house is Rs 35,000 per month.  The owner has been gracious enough not to raise the rent for the past couple of years.  Previously, all the classes along with computer center and the Sewing school was housed in this building.  I think last year (because when I visited in 2017 they had only one building) when the funding situation was good, they rented another place and moved the computer center as well as the sewing school to this place.  I can see the logic- space was not sufficient for all the activities- but they have have to now raise additional Rs 20,000 per month for this center.  This stretched the budget.

 

Regarding the Mera Sahara school- They have pre-primary A and B, a creche, and classes 1 to 5.  This runs in the morning.  In the afternoon, they have also have a tutorial center and an adult education center.  Abut 170-180 children (both shifts) attend Mera Sahara.  The uniforms are provided by a company.  The mid-day meal comes from Sai Mandir. The children are also provided with some nutrition when they come in the morning as very often most of the children do not have breakfast.  Also with economic downturn, many of the poor families are now doing with one meal a day.

 

There are seven teachers and the school follows the UP board curriculum with some additions.  For example, after the CAA, they have mandatory for the children to learn about the Constitution of India.  Children from class 3 onwards also learn computers.  For this, they walk across to the new center (it is about 5 minutes away) where they are taught computers. 

 

One of things they really lack is space/place for children to play sports.  They compensate for this by having many other activities like music, dance and arts & crafts.  One of their teacher is very good at these things and she does it with the children.

 

When I visited, the children were preparing for the final exams.  The teachers were finishing the course work or giving them tests.

 

In the evening, they Adult education classes as well as tutorials.  The tutorial classes are run for children who are going to school but need help with the course work.  Some of the morning children also come to the tutorial classes. 

 

As I said earlier, one of the main things about this building is the security as the doors are locked once the children enter the building.  Nithari, in the past, has seen many child trafficking cases but in the past few years the rate of incidents have come down.  Mera Sahara engages with the community at many different levels and they have been working on this area for a long time.  So now they are seeing success in terms of reduce rate of child trafficking incidents.  The organization also runs Health Camp, Dental camp and they also managed to do breast cancer screening.  For these events, they work with the doctors and hospitals so that it is free of cost.

 

The children do pay Rs 100 for Mera Sahara but very often they pay for one month and then for couple of months they do not pay as the parents do not have the money.  The computer center also offers computer classes for other people in the community.  Again a nominal fee is charged.

In addition, they have also added open school program.  They hold classes for children who are enrolled in the open school. However, the open school needs to be registered with NIOS.  They have done this but the registration as well as examination fee needs to be covered by Mera Sahara.

 

They have also started a center in Kausauni, Uttarakhand.  There are 40-50 children in this center.  They started at this at the request of a villager.  He came to Mera Sahara to provide with weaving looms and went back to Kausauni.  And decided to start a school like Mera Sahara there too.  So Padmini and Vimla visited that place and for the past two years a they have put a program together.  The classes are held in the verandah of villlager's house.  This is free of cost.  They have two teachers and a ayah.  They also need a headmistress for the center.   Right now, the teachers are not being paid or are being paid very nominal amount.

 

I feel Mera Sahara has expanded their activities a lot. The financial situation is in dire straits. They used to get funds from companies.  However, the government is encouraging the companies to form foundations.  So instead of giving to NGOs, the CSR program has been converted into foundations. This essentially implies that companies can no longer support NGOs.

Mera Sahara wants to focus on Kausauni lot more because the children come from remote villages.  They are Dalit children being bought up single mothers.  The father are either away earning livelihood in the cities or they are in army.  Many of the children have lost their fathers.

It needs to be see how they overcome this financial situation and how they expand their activities in Kausauni.

Violence on campus- before and after

For past two days, there is an eerie silence in the campus.  Before Sunday violence, the campus was a bubbling pot.  On a walk, we would see students, animated, a bounce in their steps, in groups or alone, busy with classes, discussion, debate, arguments, sitting in dhabas, or just going about their business.
That was before.
After.
After Sunday, hostels have emptied out.  Students are scared to step out.  For the first time, it is dawning on us that the campus is no longer safe.  Anyone can come in and beat us up.
Sunday night was terrifying. The first intimation I had that something was wrong was when my student called up and send me a WhatsApp message:  There are goons on the campus.  Please be safe and do not step ou.
Then a colleague called up.  She was seeing horrifying images on TV and wanted to know whether I was safe.
It was then I realized that there was something terribly wrong.  I called up my students trying to figure out whether they were safe.  I was petrified when I could not reach one of them.  His phone was switched off.  Knowing his penchant for plunging into causes, I asked his whereabouts from other students.  None could reach him.  We tried frantically to locate him.  Finally, another student was able to reach him.  All was well.  At least for the time being. 
We remained huddled within our walls.
Next day I walked to my lab. As usual. Only it was not as usual.  Students were nowhere to be seen.  There was just an eerie silence.  The school was closed down.  We were supposed to hold the final exams of the previous semester.  It was off.  The students were too traumatized to give the exams.
I never thought I would see this day.
One of our student asked me:
How do we respond to this?
My answer:
I do not know.  I do not have words.

Hum Dekhenge- We Shall Witness

IIT Kanpur has formed a panel to investigate whether this poem by Faiz is anti-Hindu.  Apparently, students at IIT Kanpur sang this song while carrying out protests against the CAA.  A professor has taken objection to it and said that it is anti-Hindu. So IIT Kanpur has formed a panel to investigate.
To put it in perspective, this poem was written by Faiz Ahmed Faiz.  Iqbal Bano sang this poem in Lahore stadium.  This article in Scroll explains why the crowd erupted  when Iqbal Bano sang and why this poem remains a song of defiance.  Iqbal Bano's rendition of the poem is available on You Tube.  A translation is available here.

Happy New Year!

Citizens March

On Saturday, 23rd November, there was a citizen's march from Mandi House to Parliament Street. It was supposed to be till Parliament but we were stopped just before the Parliament Street Police Station.

I participated. It was spur of the moment decision.  I had planned to surrender my landline that day but when my friend asked whether I would like to join, I decided I had to do it.  The landline can be surrendered any other day but showing solidarity with the students did not come every day.

I would like to add some caveats here: I belong neither to the Left nor to the Right.  As another friend of my mine put it, I just am with what I believe is right (as opposed to wrong).  I will also add here that the continued lock down of the School/University administration fills me with apprehension.  I do not see a plan B or a way out of the impasse. I also do not think there should be only one fee structure for everyone but that can be debated later.

Hopefully, things will resolve this week.  I fervently hope so.

Back to the March.

Our students were there. So were many teachers. And many ex-students. There were students from other Universities.  I was delighted to see AIIMS- very unexpected-but they were there with a banner.
Talking of banners, there were some very delightful ones including one that said "To count condoms also one needs Education."  A very nice dig at those who said that condoms are found everywhere in JNU.
The police/CRPF were there.  But nothing much happened. We marched and came to halt near the Parliament Street Police Station.  A dais had been put up and the student leaders gave speech.
My friend and I decided to grab lunch and return home.

On the way home the autorickshaw driver said that he supported us because we were right.  If the prices increase, he asked, how will I provide education to my children.

In reality, school education is a right whereas higher education is a privilege.  In the US, school education is free and compulsory.  There are private schools but only the rich can afford them.  Everyone else just sends their children to the government schools.  Higher (college) education is expensive. There are scholarships and many students do end up taking college loan that they have to repay.  Also, not many end up taking college education.  They have other choices in terms of community colleges.

Of course in India everything is complicated by economy, patriarchy, religion, and caste. Neither school education nor higher education is accessible to many sections of the society. We need to make both accessible.

The fee hike in JNU

Yesterday my cousin called me and asked am I okay?  Given the fact that JNU was in turmoil, she was worried about my well-being.

Over the past 14 years, I have learnt one thing about JNU: Our student never resort to violence against their teachers.  I have never seen them doing harm to the teachers.  Despite all the turmoil and all the protests, our students are attending classes.  Protests and learning happens hand in hand.

The current turmoil/protest is over the fee hike and changes in the hostel manual-both of which was done without consultation with the students.  The changes in the hostel manual regarding the timings and curfew has been dropped but only after the students protested and the MHRD intervened.  It needs to be pointed out the HRD minister talked to the students on the day of convocation and assured them that he will look into the matter.  The 50% cut for the BPL students was, in fact, first tweeted by the MHRD Secretary.

So let us look into the fee hike. 
1. The room rent has been hiked from Rs 10 per month for a double seater to Rs 300 per month.  The room rent for a single seater has been hiked from Rs 20 per month to Rs 600 per month.  
2. The mess bill is as per the actual and ranges from Rs 2500 to Rs 2800 per month.
3. There used to be charges for utilities (electricity and water) but now the students will be charged as per the actual consumption.  As no numbers are available, we cannot make a guess as to how much this will be.
4. There will be also a service charge which will cover the salary of mess works, santitation staff and all other personnel.  In the draft, it was put as Rs 1700 (as per actual) per month.  In the EC meeting, this was modified to as per actual.  So this will come to Rs 1700 per month.
5. Then there other charges like security deposit of Rs 5500 (In the draft this had been increased to Rs 12000 but in the EC meeting this was reduced back to Rs 5500).   There is an Establishment charges of Rs 1100 per semester.  Rs 250 per year is charged for utensils and Rs 50 per year is charged for newspaper.
6. Therefore, the total costs now comes to about Rs 75,000 per year without the utility charges for a double seater.  The room rent, service charges and mess bill will add up to about Rs 5000 per month plus the utility charges for a double seater.

A student who belongs to the BPL category and does not have any fellowship will pay 50% of the charges.  Everyone else will pay the fees as laid out in the new manual.

What the students are protesting about:

1.  First,  how will the poor students pay these charges?  It has been partially addressed by giving 50% concession to students belonging to BPL families. However, the devil is always in the detail.  How will the University define a student belonging to BPL?  This has been elaborated in this article: https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/who-are-jnu-s-bpl-students-who-get-50-concession/story-zEWLc4FWsNL8exOoNK2ZCO.html


2. Second, the students are asking why should we pay for the services?  Of course, we all know.  It is openly whispered around that mess workers, sanitation workers, and the supporting staff are going to be privatized.  Therefore, the money for these people is going to come from the students.  There is also an hidden clause.  Obviously, the salary for the workers will be increased every year and therefore, the service charge will go up every year.  The students are objecting to this proposition.  This is, in fact, the main point of contention.

3. Third, the hike is going to be implemented with the present batch of students.  Many of them are saying that introduce the hike from the next batch.  At least the students who are joining will know the exact cost and they can make an informed decision.  The way it is implemented now will lead to lot of hardship. 

The maximum affected will be girl students from the poorer sections of the society. In fact, one of MSc students, who is really good and asks interesting questions in the class, told me that she cannot afford the costs and she will have to quit.  I was stunned. It was at that point I realized the extent of the problem.

Most of us agree that the room rent needs to be hiked.  None of us support the vandalism that the students restored to.  They had no right to destroy public property.  The least they can do is to clean it up.

However, there is a caveat:  I really wish that the administration had not taken away their spaces for posters.  The walls of JNU used to be alive with posters- some of them were exceedingly good.  But the administration declared that posters can only put on notice boards specific for that purpose.  The walls are now dead.  There is anger on that issue too.  There are other issues too that the students are upset about.

The net result is that:

Every thing boiled over.  And I do not know where it will end.