Selecting Vice-Chancellors

(Note: This is a personal view only!)

Indian hierarchical society always favous a recipe of power
and so also academia (many). Inherently, academia has less power but
just at the time of getting grey, power in Indian academia lurks
and for many it remains illusive.

For some lucky and manipulative ones, the illusion may turn reality (DB!)
if one is at right side of fortune. The right side is measured on the basis of
many real factors (that are behind the screen) like caste, religion,
connections etc. etc. But on selection, the selected one starts singing
sermons, recites the names of Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge to drown
the community with obfuscate calls for turning the university to No. ONE!
Amused academicians with tongue-in-cheek have to listen
(for no other choice) to such oratory. And some of them
return to in the same words at the end of episode. But, the university
remains (if fortunate enough) at the same for future.


A university does not probably budge to change to the whims of the
selected one for it having grey or colored image; and as it decides
to run the business as per the wish of their gurus - (they
behind the curtain are the real honchos).

Search committee - the best heard term like GoM (Group of Ministers)
is one of the most wonderful committee for academia of higher learning.
The committee is of GoDs to select another GOD for academia! It could
turn to a snake for frogs begging the Lord a GoD to their better uses.

GOD loves to be an authoritarian and and prefers mostly to live in hierarchy,
(most of the GODs). That's why GODs thrive in Indian society for its well
marked hierarchy. What happens if GODs turn to democracy and so also
the process of vice-chancellor selection adopts?

Once search committee proposes some names; each of them should talk to
University community of their dreams for the university and globally, for
the fast changing knowledge society. Ideally, if a candidate does not have
its own dream then is not welcome!

On hearing dreams, community must vote and select
the best dreamer - not an executive who can't even put a stroke using
its own brush and paints! Modern way of selecting somebody is not a top-down
but a bottom-up process.

Indian Universities need to embrace a lot of changes; if they want to
be bit closure to reality of Stanford!

(Note: This is a personal view only!)
Hrushikesha
(Bishuba Sankranti)

Key faces of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption crusade

Key faces of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption crusade

Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign, which has captured the imagination of the nation like no other, has some high-profile faces lending it weight and substance. Here are the key faces:

Anna Hazare: Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare, 73, is popularly known as Anna Hazare. The iconic Gandhian is known for his contribution to the development of Ragelan Siddhi, a village in Parner taluka in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district. He was awarded a Padma Bhushan in 1992 for turning it into a model village. On April 5, 2011, the 72-year-old began a fast-unto-death to exert pressure on the government to enact a strong anti-corruption law that will see the appointment of independent ombudsmen at the centre and in the states to deal with cases of corruption. He broke the fast after 97 hours after the government constituted a joint panel of ministers and civil society representatives to draft the law.

Swami Agnivesh: Born as Shyam Vepa Rao on Sep 21, 1939 in Sakti in Chhattisgarh, the saffron-clad activist is best known for his work against bonded labour through the Bonded Labour Liberation Front that he founded in 1981. He is the founder of the World Council of Arya Samaj and is associated with the United Nations Trust Fund on contemporary forms of slavery. A former lecturer at St Xavier's College, Kolkata, he joined the Hindu Reformist Movement in Haryana and became a legislator. He is an also a proponent of the inter-faith dialogue and is a member of the board of the Elijah Interfaith Institute. His entry into the corruption crusade has mobilized mass opinion.

Arvind Kejriwal: The 1958-born is a crusader for greater transparency in the government. The graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur is popularly known as the RTI or the Right to Information Man. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emerging Leadership in 2006 for empowering citizens to fight corruption by holding the government answerable to people. On February 2007, he was named the CNN-IBN Man of the Year. He is associated with a non-profit anti-corruption group, Parivartan.

Kiran Bedi: The 1949-born is India's first supercop. She is known for her sweeping reforms in New Delhi's Tihar Jail to rehabilitate inmates and integrate them to the mainstream. She became India's first woman Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in 1972 and retired from service in 2007. A television presenter, Bedi is also the founder of Navjyoti, for welfare and preventive policing in 1987 and India Vision Foundation for prison reforms. Hazare's crusade has inspired the former tough cop.

©Indo-Asian News Service
Courtsey: http://www.samachar.com/Key-faces-of-Anna-Hazares-anticorruption-crusade-lejmK7gcabc.html?source=recommended_news

Play For themselves Only

Sure, many will not agree with me on this blog.
Still, I will tell you my observations during
Cricket World Cup.

My civil contractor, who visits our house these days
as we have taken up some construction work,is a cricket
premi - I guess as he asks about scores, to his disappoint
he finds our indifference to cricket.

But, he could not control himself and requested my wife
to make him watch semi-final and final on our TV during
his visit to construction site. Thanks/Shame to media who put
India-Pakistan cricket match as 'mahaYudha'; unfortunate
(sports) journalism!

Next day after world cup as the contractor came to our house
Anjali (my wife) asked him, 'you must have enjoyed yesterday's
match.' Then he tells, 'what's to us madam? Foolishly, we spend
so much time for them forgetting they are playing for their own
(plots, cars, Bharat Ratna, money ....etc. etc. etc.)He put
a signature of distaste on his face and walked away to his
works!

Hrushikesha

A different captain is Shri Anna Hazare

A different captain is Shri Anna Hazare leading a fight against corruption.
that our country has been passing through hugely at present. Sri Anna, who on call of Swamiji
(Vivekananda) threw away his suicidal note and started his life anew to bring light
to many in his native villages. Sri Anna possess nothing but handled missions of
crores of rupees - unbelievable. Seventy two years old has taken up fast till death
with an aim to cleanse India of corruption. Hats off. Indians need to rally behind him
as they did for Cricket World Cup. It's a bigger CUP India is badly in need since
1947. Probably Swami Vivekananda is looking through Annaji for the India he dreamt of.
And Gandhiji must have whispered to Annaji wishing him the success.
Let it come TRUE ...........

My support and sincere regards to Annaji

Hrushikesha Mohanty

let a chemistry make a right alloy ..........

If Ratan Tata does not share chemistry with Maran, so does he share
that with Raja? A natural question comes. Whatever, it's but it makes
any loving citizen sorry to see Tata's at this position. Jamshedji must be
turning in his grave with utter discomfort; so, also me a fan of Tatas for
their much advocated social responsibility.

Has Ratan Tata diminished the stature of Tata, betrayed the love the
countrymen, in general. Time will say, hope will not disappoint.

The question is on the mess, that prevails. The stream does not flow and the flow is
muddy. Anything, you look through this looks also so. And so, is Ratan Tata now

Let the goodness prevail in Delhi, mud gives a way to clarity and
so the original color comes out be it anybody ................ .
And at last, let a chemistry make a right alloy ..........

Hrushikesha Mohanty
(In response to Ratan Tata's statement at PAC yesterday)

Congratulation Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik!!!

I have told last about Mass Management in my blog posted in March responding to a failure of AP police in controlling a march by Telengana activists that resulted to a very indecent situation- breaking of statues of the prominent people the land of Andhra Pradesh has given to us.

I am very concerned of security at mass gatherings. For mass, I was afraid of a darshan of Lord Balaji in Tirupati. However, that brought a punishment, Lord made me standing at a stretch for 13 hours carrying my little daughter around 12 years back. Similarly, I get weird thoughts when I visit Mumbai - I'm afraid of huge population and gatherings. Infact, I love to spend time alone with books (not really technical ones!!!).

This time, I had similar fear of gatherings at Wankhade Stadium for cricket world cup final match in Mumbai. Heard about unprecedented security bandobust there; still I had a fear always. With God's grace everything went on well and Team India won the world cup. Though, I have no such fascination to cricket, still I am happy and congratulate the team. More, I was relieved, it went off well without any security problems.

Mumbai police must have worked very hard. They are unsung heroes. Incase God forbid, had there been any problem; there would have been rain of curses to them. But, in case of good work nobody told of them except the union Minister of State for Home Gurudas Kamat. I'm very much thankful to him. He understood, success story for these unsung heroes never comes to front whereas, their lapses roll the headlines. It's always true for who work at the back, away of publicity.

Congratulations to Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik and his team!!!


Hrushikesha Mohanty

ICDCIT 2011 (2)

ICDCIT - 2011 (1)