Against Chauvinism

Friends, Some of us had the opportunity to gather at an NDTV programme on language wars along with a diverse audience and panel at their studios in N.Delhi. The discussion covered a range of issues including the issue of a link language for India and personal experiences of learning languages in the Indian context. The backdrop of the programme was the dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra on the issue of Marathi speaking villages in the district of Belgaum in Karnataka which Maharashtra is claiming for its own.This has given vent to a rising tide of linguistic and regional chauvinism in both Karnataka and Maharashtra. Now, language was the basis on which Indian states were organised in India.The background to adopting this criterion were the famous debates on the nationality question in the 20th century.The challenge in this context was always to rise above chauvinism. This was well reflected in the concerns raised by the panel and some of the audience. The discussion also turned to politics of language etc. but missed out on the question of education against linguistic chauvinism and chauvinism as such as the anchor acknowledged towards the end.To us however, the democratic spirit of the gathering and the concern of the vocal and not so vocal in listening to each other in fact contributed to the spirit of education against chauvinism. It is this democratic spirit which ultimately contributes towards an internationalist education against linguistic chauvinism.It was this spirit which was highlighted by the prominent writers on this question in the nationality question debates in the 20th century.
However, it is this very democratic and educational spirit which is being hijacked in the current context. The attack on Zee TV station in Maharashtra where a discussion on the Belgaum issue was in progress last week or the attack on TV Today offices in Delhi again last week shows that there are forces out to annex this progressive spirit itself. We need to be on our guard against this.(SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)

Best Wishes

Friends, It has indeed been a May of negative and violent political developments. On the other hand IGNOU had a hectic schedule of conferences and seminars. We must also congratulate the Student Support Division of IGNOU and the Regional Centres for successfully holding the North Zone Learners' Conference on 16th of May2010. Over five hundred students from different streams participated. Spread over four sessions with themes including counselling, evaluation processes, use of ICT in open and distance learning and placements of students there was free and frank exchange of views. The organisers made it clear that they were there to listen which they did. Coming as this did on the 25th anniversary celebrations of IGNOU the conference held out the hope that IGNOU students would become active participants in the processes of the university.IGNOU students, as veterans would testify, do not have the luxury of a campus like in the conventional system of education.They are out there in the society trying to work out a learning space while perhaps working or with other pressing commitments. In that sense violence and negative political developments only negates the processes of creating a conducive learning space in manifold ways. Not having the shelter of the walls of a campus they tend to be more vulnerable. The organisers of the Learners Conference by attentively listening to and in moving towards a more participatory process contributed towards a 'healthy human understanding' of the vulnerabilities involved.Meanwhile best wishes to the thousands of IGNOU students from us for the on going June term end exams. (SFC and PG IGNOU with the help of Mr. Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)

PICS

PICS ON CAMPUS

Friends, As the short spring this year turned to a very hot summer the landscape turned really fiery. The social and political landscape too did not provide any relief as the events of the last one and a half months show. Our friend Dr. SVS Reddy has been clicking away on the IGNOU campus meanwhile and has sent us some pics. We are posting them as they seem to provide a little relief. We have not classified them yet and hope you will help.(SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Mr. Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)

SFC work at Almora

Friends, In an earlier posting on this blog on September 8th, 2009, we had told you about setting up the experimental SFC and PG groups at the remote Almora, (IGNOU) SC. We had told you then that important to setting up the study groups would be the multicultural experiences of the students of our PG member Dr. Dandekar. His students were to stay with families in the villages of different communities in the vicinity of the Almora SC.These students themselves come from different backgrounds and for most of them staying in a remote rural village would be a first time experience. Since these students were not trained anthropologists, Dr. Dandekar had gone in advance along with some of us to meet the families in the villages where these students had to stay. He also liased with a local NGO and asked them to take care. The students, however, had to be on their own and had to live with the families as family members and even do chores etc. in the process of creating time and conditions to study the local developmental processes. Towards the end of their stay, we made another trip, to visit the students in the villages they were staying in. This time we were accompanied by some local IGNOU students as well. In the discussions of Dr. Dandekar with his students, the IGNOU students got a first hand opportunity to listen in and participate in discussions on remote area developmental processes. That these studies were being conducted in a multicultural environment in harsh winter months was itself a learning experience(This perhaps would be used in setting up their study groups). Moreover these villages were poorly connected by roads. There was no telephone network except now one satellite phone is kept at the house of the village sarpanch for emergency calls etc. We too had to walk long distances in the cold to reach these villages.The villages we visited were Dulum, Loharkhet, Chaura and Supy(height of 7000 feet above sea level). This was sometimes end October 2009. It is important to recall these experiences at a time when the left in India just this week held a rally to focus on the issues of peasants and workers in Delhi.In the rally also figured the issue of the cycle of violence in which the Indian countryside(and elsewhere) developmental processes get caught up in. In this context the role of students in studying and understanding these processes is important.Our students were by this time nearing the end of their stay and were a little emotional about leaving.The families with whom they were staying had developed an affectionate bond with them. Many of us have gone through the school/college/university leaving experiences after a long period of stay. Farewells normally are a reminder that the 'carnival' is over and time for goodbyes has come. As the number by the Australian group Seekers put it ' Now the carnival is over, high above the dawn is waiting,and my tears are falling rain, for the carnival is over, we may never meet again' It is towards this high dawn that our students were moving for different and more absorbing experiences when we left their villages in Almora.Doubtless thousands of IGNOU students would perhaps be feeling the same when they leave after receiving their degrees on the convocation to be held on the 15th of March2010. (SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Mr. Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew. We are posting some pics sent by Dr. Dandekar taken on the trip)

(above) the family with whom the students stayed at Supy village

(above) observing developmental work at Supy village

(above) students at the village Supy(7,000 feet above sea level)

(above) villagers at dusk in Chaura

(right) a stream on the way to Supy village(below) a shot of a grove

(above) a view of the village Chaura

(right) students at village Chaura

(above) village Chaura at night

(right) view of the mountains

(Right) IGNOU students contemplating the way. Students at village Loharkhet (above)

(Below) 1. A village student at Dulum2.A view of the snow mountains3. Our students at the village Dulum. Dulum in the local language is the place where the shadow of the rising sun meets the shadow of setting sun (Right) A grove

Thank You!

At The Surajkund Fair

Friends, Some of the faculty and and students of IGNOU had visited the the Surajkund crafts fair(ended 15th Feb.2010) which is held on the the way to Faridabad. These pics were sent to us by Dr. S.V. Reddy. The fair is held by the Haryana Tourism. Here the urban and the rural meet spectacularly.This time countries like Thailand, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Egypt and Tajkistan too participated to show their traditional crafts along with the Indian craftsmen/women. In this way a chance for building national and international goodwill and understanding seems to have taken shape.In contrast to the violent past month in India and elsewhere, some shades of harmony were at display at the fair. (SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Mr. Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)




Artefacts on Display and above artificial Flowers
Display at a Pavilion

Mela(fair) pictures

A Trapeze Artist about to begin

Mr. Ravikant (Dir) EMPC at the fair

Mr. Ajay Mahurkar at the Surajkund Fair

The Afghanistan Pavilion at the Surajkund Fair

A canopy at the Surajkund Fair

A village Artist

Performing Artists at the Fair

A Camel At the Surajkund Fair

IGNOU faculty member Dr. S.V. Reddy at the fair

The Surajkund Mascot

Blood Donation Camp at IGNOU

The School of Health Sciences, IGNOU and Rotary deserve to be congratulated for holding a successful blood donation camp at the Maidangarhi campus yesterday. Over a hundred volunteers donated blood and many contributed by looking after the donors and in organising the camp. The participants included students,faculty members and staff of IGNOU. At a time when there would be need for emergency medical supplies (including crises such as the earthquake at Haiti where even Indians are reported as missing or injured), such a camp can either help or atleast be an example for future such camps. That such camps can promote international goodwill is demonstrated by the report in Times of India on 31st Oct. 2009 when the family of an Australian David Moore travelled to India and donated blood in a camp which was deemed to be part of marriage celebrations of an Indian student who had worked and studied in Australia. They reiterated here their commitment to be a part of the wider donors movement. At a time when the attacks on the Indians are again on the rise in Australia, these gestures are worth remembering. (They remind us that a very large number of Australians can be appealed to for building goodwill at times of racist attacks or urban violence of the 'social swamp' which we described in an earlier posting.) The camp at IGNOU also threw up certain questions. The anxiety and apprehensions of participating in such a camp was evident amongst all the participants ie. the students, faculty and the staff. Some exhibited symptons of a higher than usual BP levels or some students fainted. Now the reasons for this could be due to the higher levels of anxiety which prevail in the typical urban existence we lead today. Various studies have documented how these anxiety levels about the body have gone up in the age of mobiles and speed telecommunication. Also, the questionnaires asking for health background etc.could be better designed and executed. As we move in to an an age where workplace takes up most of our time and it is here that we encounter the dynamics of speed telecommunication at its peak, we need to have strategies to cope with its stresses and strains. In India some private sector companies have gyms where employees can destress. Similarly in some countries a good and cheerful ambience is created by the efforts of the working people. This needs to be consciously done. As several writers including Sitaram Yechury, M.P. from Rajya Sabha have recently pointed out (in HT this week), progress in health does not automatically follow economic development. It has to be consciously achieved. As more and more students from diversity of backgrounds come in to IGNOU in large numbers and also leave to join the work force, this task of good health and cheerfulness will have to be worked for. It is here spending time on the counselling of the participants on questions of health background etc. could have been useful in taking care of risks and confidence building . On the whole a success and our congratulations to the School of Health Sciences. (SFC, PG IGNOU with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)

NITIN GARG

Nitin Garg
The Indian student who was killed in Australia was cremated at his village in Jagraon (India) yesterday. We extend our condolences to his family and friends in this hour of grief. Meanwhile we wait for the 'full facts' to come out from the Australian government(as promised by the acting foreign minister Crean) on a series of recent attacks on Indian students in Australia.( SFC, PG IGNOU, with the help of Ajay Mahurkar and Dr. Dolly Mathew)