Moving the Juggernaut

“THE PM’s been told to step on the gas for English.”

---“Oh? Who told the Prime Minister that?”

“Sam Pitroda did.”

---“In what capacity?”

“The PM appointed the National Knowledge Commission--- the NKC; Pitroda’s its chief.”

---“ India going China’s way, eh?”

“Think so?”

---“Don’t you?”

“No, I don’t. When were Indians as serious-minded as the Chinese?”

---“Okay, cynic, what’s your take on it?”

“It’s just hot air.”

---“Cynicism doesn’t pay, y’know. Tell me what Pitroda said.”

“Oh, he made the right noises alright. Said Indians as hadn’t a good grounding in English hadn’t access to higher education.”

---“And?”

“And that those who don’t know English well enough can’t find a place in the best schools and colleges. And that this makes for a sudra class in the work field.”

---“Well, that’s true, innit?”

“Sure it’s true; only, nothing’ll ever get done about it.”

---“Why not, if Pitroda hammers at it?”

“Hah! Can Pitroda move the juggernaut?”

---“What juggernaut?”

“Our system, our parties, our teachers . . .”

---“You’re way too cynical; why not---if the NKC gets down to it?”

“And you’re way too gullible . . . see what’s involved?”

---“Reforming the system, y’mean? . . . gotta start somewhere, surely?”

“One, you’d hav’ta reorient all teachers. Two, put a stop to bogus teachers minting money by writing trash. Three, stop teachers’ cartels prescribing the trash as text books. Who’ll bell the cat, eh?”

---"How’s China going about it?”

“When the Chinese set about something, boy, they’re gonna do it---even if it kills millions. Remember Mao and his Cultural Revolutions? Can India push the teacher mafia to that kind of effort?”

---“Hey, that’s not a nice thing to say about our teachers; they do try, don’t they?”

“Do they? Look at West Bengal. Teachers are the CPI-M’s pampered vote bank---teachers and clerks. The CPI-M helps the teacher mafia bully the Secondary Board: the Board’s gotta prescribe any muck the racketeers churn out. Even downright wrong English. The racketeers get the loot; the party gets the votes, and students get the muck, see?”

---“Don’t paint all teachers with the same brush; some teachers are sincere, surely.”

“Sure some are; only, they don’t count: the racketeers bully them to keep mum. They’ll even set party goons to harass ’em if they dare oppose the mafia.”

---“Hmm . . . guess they’ll kill any move against their money-making racket, eh?”

“You bet. The CPI-M’ll let loose its lumpen brigade: to stage chakka bandh, kaam roko. Then the CPI-M’ll call a rally on Kolkata maidan.”

---“Whatever for?”

“To announce that the goody-two-shoes CPI-M always respects ‘spontaneous people’s protest’ . . . and so chuck the ‘anti-people reform’. Part of its ‘democratic tradition’. And that’ll be that. Gotta keep their vote bank in place, y’see. That’s how it’s screwed the State for three decades now.”

---“And the education baboos’ll just toe the party line, eh?”

“No effort needed; the CPI-M fixed that long ago. All the king’s horses, and all the king’s men are the CPI-M’s cadre.”

---“And they won’t put Pitroda’s Humpty Dumpty together.”

“Exactly. And other States’ll play a similar game. And it’ll all come back to square one”

---“Where y’have the juggernaut, right?”

“Bravo! You see the light at last.”

---“No way out, then?”

“Well, Pitroda’s suggested an expert group for all text books. Right till class 12.”

---“Ah, good. That’ll fix it, won’t it?”

“How naïve can you get? Education’s a State subject. Each State’ll tweak whatever the NKC lays down . . . tweak it all to suit vested interests; the ruling party’s interest.”

---“Why’d vested interests always be the ruling party’s interest?”

“ ’Cause that’s the way the cookie crumbles, man! You can’t getta rule if you don’t pander to vested interests. Scratch a politician and find some mafia’s mongrel.”

---“Shush . . . but there’s gotta be a way out . . .”

“One way out ‘ud be to move away from text books altogether.”

---“Huh? How’ll students do without text books?”

“I mean ban text books authored by the ‘teacher mafia’. No racketeering. No dumping muck on students. Let NKC arrange cheap editions of the best books, graded by reading level. No dearth of standard works on each subject. Hands off text books---that’s what the racketeers gotta be told.”

---“But you just said each State’ll tweak whatever the NKC lays down.”

“That’s right. And that’s why I said the NKC’ll achieve zero. To end the teachers’ racket, the NKC’d hav’ta be armed with teeth.”

---“To bite whom?”

“To bust the teachers’ racket, of course. But that’ll need legislation. Take it out of the reach of States. Or else, the States’ll sabotage it all---so that the racket goes on, and teachers remain the ruling party’s vote bank.”

"Gosh, it’s so difficult to move the juggernaut, eh?"

"Nothing moves the juggernaut; you gotta demolish it."