2
The Weekly Observer
‘A Child is the Father of Man’
C
halo School Chale Hum". Why? What
is education? Is it only an activity of
acquiring knowledge and skills or
something more than this? Are our primary
schools successful in embedding the concepts of curiosity and learning in the minds
of children, which is the foundation for further education and a vital element of life? Is
our concept of primary school education an
illusion, under the spell of which, every
morning, we are loading up 25 Kg school
bag on our children's back. Do we pay about
seven thousands of crores annually to the
government, only to remunerate the incompetent bureaucracy and hopeless teachers,
some of whom are still living in the barbaric
world, taking agnipariksha of our children.
Till how long we Indians would be carrying
the burden of the century old education system, which British evolved to create a herd
of unthinking and loyal clerks? Why can't we
do away with this nuisance of school system
to educate children up to 14 years of age?
Why are we weighing their shoulders down
with the hysterically saffronized books?
Why can't we give them their right to think,
and their right to choose? With this huge
annual budget allocation on elementary education, why can't we develop scientific
course materials like Oxford visual dictionaries and distribute them for free among the
Photo Editor :
Archana V Nair
IIJNM Students’ Journal
Contact: two@iijnm.org
Telephone: 28237907
28437903
Address:
Opp. BGS Int’l Residential School,
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L
ife, many a times leaves many questions
unanswered. Should I have done it this
way? Should I have worked that way?
May be I should have done that, so that I would
not have been in the trouble I am in at the
moment? Whether it is an ethical dilemma or
guilty conscience there is no solution to the
question the mind asks the heart or the heart
asks the mind.
As children we all have, sometimes, made
fun of someone who has a handicap and have
been scolded by elders for doing so, only to
learn and mature into adults. But, as adults
have we ever been able to answer the innocence in us as to why we let it die?
A blind man who was to be interviewed by a
journalist lies to her about his absence from
come out of deadlocked Hong Kong will be
India. When Cancun failed, the then
Commerce minister and head of India's delegation proclaimed, "No global resolution is
better than a bad one." This time around, no
global resolution would be a bad one. A
stalemate on agriculture would lead to a consequent stalemate on the services negotiations. Agriculture is no more the backbone of
the Indian economy. In fact, agriculture and
manufacturing now contribute to less than
half of our annual GDP, while services
makes up for the rest. India has been persistent in its efforts to ensure that highly skilled
Indian professionals enjoy free movement.
While agriculture is the bone of contention
for most nations, India is worried about the
talks on services. Thus, not only does an agri
stalemate threaten the sixth WTO ministerial, but also the danger that developed nations
will push for an early completion of Mode-1
and Mode-3 negotiations while sidelining
Mode-4. Our current Commerce minister,
Kamal Nath, has rightly declared that the
guidelines underlined in the July Framework
are not up for re-negotiation. The Five
Interested Parties must ensure that the interests of all are protected - while at the same
time ensuring a fruitful completion of the
Doha Round of Talks..
home when he was still there and the journalist
believes him. But to her surprise when she
reaches his house she finds him there. Should
she ask him why he lied to her and embarrass
him or just let things be as it is and let the questions disturb her for the rest of her life?
NEETA MAHADEVAN
Scientists say that the brain is divided into
two halves, right and left. While right thinks the
right way and follows the brain, the left follows
the heart and thus leads to a tussle between the
two, in most situations, thus leading to an ethical dilemma.
While psychologists say it's all a matter of
ID, ego and superego and their satisfaction the
question still remains, why don't all questions
get answered and why are we not answerable to
any questions asked to us? Is it always a matter
of ethical dilemma?
There were two best friends who became
IAS officers together, while one reached the top
in five years because he became corrupt, the
other reached the top in fifteen years with full
respect from colleagues and a new task, to fire
all corrupt officials of his department, which
included his friend.
Would he answer the questions his brain
asked or the questions his heart asked? He had
to make a choice and what ever he chose one
question would never be answered. "What if?”
Some lessons to learn
For Private Circulation only
Website: www.iijnm.org
Manpreet K Narula
B
Courtesy@ googalimages.com
O
ur Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan
Singh, was unable to attend the
Commonwealth Conference at
Malta due to the hulla at home. Thus, he
missed out on the fun when the Valletta
Statement was issued, calling on the developed nations to "demonstrate the political
courage and will to give more than they
receive" in the current Doha Round of trade
talks which will be furthered at the Hong
Kong WTO ministerial. However, not many
developing nations are willing to give more
t h a n
t h e y
receive.
France
a n d
Japan
w i l l
strongly oppose any measures to cut down
on subsidies. On the other hand, the ACP
nations will insist that the biggies aren't
doing the right thing, even as they enjoy the
benefits of Aid for Trade. The recent uprising
is against what they consider an "outrageous" cut in EU sugar subsidies. Cancun
was brought crashing down by 'unknowns'
like Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Benin.
Indicators suggest that HK too will result in
a deadlock. Probably the biggest loser to
An ethical dilemma
Editor :
Nimish Pratap Singh
Reporters :
Janani Sampath
Jeanette Rodrigues
Madhurima Duttagupta
Manpreet K Narula
Neetha Mahadevan
Nimish Pratap Singh
Ravi Lakhwani
Sophia Kikon
Copy editors:
Archana Nair
White To Orange
25 per cent population of India, which would
far more interesting, informative and effective way to raise the curiosity among children and would impart the knowledge more
effectively. The task of a teacher is to make
his pupil understand a concept, and at this
very important and sometimes irritating task
teacher, especially of Government primary
schools, put down their thinking and pick up
the stick. By trying to create an interest and
curiosity through these scientifically developed course material why can't we let our
children
become
their own
teachers.
State promoted
competitions,
activity fairs, puppet shows and summer
camps, at regular intervals would further
boost there learning and social capabilities.
The idea given above is not quite new and
impractical to adopt in India. We already
have an open school education system in
India. IGNOU has showed the success of the
scientific way of imparting education
through open school system, using the latest
technology of video conferencing and satellite channels.
The Weekly Observer
December 12 – 18, 2005
angalore,
Dec.
10:
Microsoft
Corporation
Chairman Bill Gates's fourday visit to India from December 6
to 7 was to ensure that Microsoft
remains well ahead in the rat race
in times when all I.T majors are
scanning the Indian market. The
outcome was the announcement of
an investment of $ 1.7 billion in the
country.
Gates's focus on "realizing India's
potential" sounds very tactful.
Indeed it is quite evident from the
amount of charity work that Gates
is doing in India. If his charity's
sole motive was to fight AIDS then
why not Africa? It is in Africa in
some of the poorest countries of
the world that the impact of the
virus has been most severe.
However, it is India not Africa that
has a vast pool of skilled and talented labour and what else could
be a better way to the Indian market that has become a demi-goddess for foreign investors.
There probably is one more reason
for Bill Gates's fourth visit to India
in less than nine years. The Indian
government has been encouraging
Linux, an open-source operating
system which is a major threat to
Microsoft Windows. According to
Yahoo News, the Indian government dropped a requirement that
companies doing business with it
ment center in the
southern
city
of
Chennai. Maharashtra
runs some of its operations on servers using
Linux, as does Andhra
Pradesh. In November,
Canara Bank, one of
India's largest financial
institutions,
chose
Linux to automate
1,000 branches involving 11,000 computers.
A trait of the good businessman is never to
underestimate
your
rival. Timely action
was the need of the
hour and as a good
businessman Gates is
adhering to those
needs.
But on the other hand,
it is still prudent to
agree that the employment generated by Bill
Gate's Microsoft at the
Bill Gates getiing Dotted In India - courtesy google images
end of the day is a winwin situation for both
If the sole motive of Bill Gates’s charity was to fight India and Microsoft.
Nonetheless if the
AIDS then why not Africa than India? It is in Africa , money allotted by
one of the poorer countries in the world, that the Gates is used for a
noble cause like fightimpact of the virus has been most severe.
ing AIDS other than
reaching our politician's
pockets then half the
use Windows and it now encour- ware, even going so far as to set up
ages the use of open source soft- an open source software develop- battle is won.