Role of Visual Media in Society

 

“Today mass media, specifically the visual media, plays a pivotal role in creating an atmosphere of awareness among the society. Visual Media refers to different communication channels or ways through which knowledge and information are conveyed to the viewers or the readers through knowledge, television, cinema, posters, etc. Whatever is supplied through the visual media has a fast and long-lasting effect on the minds of the viewers.”

With the rapid development of information and technology the visual media in the shape of cable TV, with multitudes of domestic ad foreign channels have reached almost every house, play a vital role in molding public opinion in various ways. It plays a very crucial role in educating, and entertaining the masses. Cable TV has changed the means and modes of entertainment and education. Sitting before a TV, one can pass and enjoy his leisure listening to music, viewing movies, learning techniques of bodybuilding, hearing sermons of religious saints, learning about lives of wild animals, birds, water creatures, knowing about space, and whatnot. During the election period, one can know the positions of political parties, their leaders, happenings at each part of the country and their impact on the election campaigning and all facts of electioneering, just sitting at home before TV.

Youngsters and teenage students are nowadays seen viewing the channels, as per their likings, if some are viewing the music, some are seen quenching their thrust of knowledge, viewing channels like ‘discovery’ or National Geography or History, etc. The image on the small screen thus has a significant impression on all, more particularly on the gullible children and on the teens. The young mind takes the reel as real and thus more often and more easily molded and motivated by the visual media. The present-day fashion, hairdressing, sexual liberties, dating and awakening towards the right of children, awareness among the women to their rights are because. of the role, visual media has played in society.

There is nothing wrong if visual media has so emphatic effect on the viewers, but the owner of the channels must understand it in the right perspective, that if they are showing something of violent nature, or sexual ritual like a rape scene, naked scene, then it can undermine the positivity of the role to be played by the media.

In a hysterical effort to excel from others, some channels are showing such scenes and images, which are of no importance and hurt the mind of viewers. Showing sexual and rape cases, with minute details by the anchor, and showing brutal scenes of murder, the channels have crossed the limit of ethics and morality. The TV coverage of the massacre of Gandhi Nagar Akshardham, Godhra’s burnt and churned bodies of victims lying in the bogies and outside create a feeling of hatred among the communities and motivate others to wreak vengeance. Obsessed by the monoamine of making fast bucks, the channels are competing with one another to stoop to any kind of absurdity, without considering even for a minute as to what effect such visuals have on society.

Whether the visual media haVe no responsibility towards the society? Whether the visual media should not desist from visualizing such scenes that are of inflammatory nature?

It is argued that the media’s role is to bring reality to the public, but then does showing of mutilated burnt churned bodies help the society or our nation in any way. Some of the channels are playing a very important role in awakening the common man against corruption, the rotten outdated rites still spoiling the society, the superstitions, the killing of the female unborn child, and such other evils prevailing in the society. These are very positive things that have resulted in putting the authorities at the vigil and the government to take steps in the right direction. ‘

Cinema

Cinema is also a very important visual media, a source of entertainment that caters to the vast population throughout the world. With cable TV, being cheaper, and with a multitude of channels available, the number of cinema-goers has reduced considerably, yet, it has a great impact on the youth in their lifestyle, fashioning, dressing pattern, etc. Modern cinema has turned to violence and sex, and the obscenity presented in the movies has contributed to a gradual increase in crime and violence in society. The youth and teens tend to imitate the characters portrayed on the screen—copying the styles of heroes, in enticing and teasing the girls—are observed nowadays. The vulgar and sexual scenes of movies have a very negative and adverse effect on the minds of the gullible youth. The present-day goondaism, falling in love affairs by college and school boys and girls, opting for revealing dresses by the girls are some of the effects of the present-day movies.

Other visual media

Besides theatres, several video parlors have started taking place in cities, showing adult movies, blue films in a clandestine manner. Vulgar and naked sex scenes, encourage the youth to commit crimes, like rape, eve-teasing, kidnapping, etc., and diverted them to very wrong directions thus spoiling their life to the core of the abyss.

Visual media thus has an emphatic and motivating effect on society. The negative and adverse aspect of the visual media is needed censor by the administration. Films must be made with certain moral and noble ethical values, that have an educative and patriotic effect on society. The picturization of rape scenes, obscenities, crude violence must be made punitive by providing extra-legal teeth to IPC Sec. 292 (sale of obscene books), Section 293 (Obscene act and songs) and the indecent representation of women (Prohibition) ‘Act 1986 and other laws, so that the visual media actually have a role of positive social changes, education, patriotism, curbing corruption and evils prevalent in the society.

Role of Women in Nation Building

 

“There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing.”

—Swami Vivekanand

When our countrymen were struggling and fighting to attain freedom, the womenfolk also fought shoulders to shoulders and wholeheartedly supported the struggling freedom fighters. During India’s struggle for freedom, the position of women took a favorable turn. After India became independent it was realized by most of the national leaders including Nehru, Gandhi, Dr.Rajendra Prasad, that emancipation of Women is necessary and also realized that so long as the conditions of women were not improved, and granted equal status with men, India could not progress. The role of women in the freedom struggle cannot be undermined. Sarojini Naidu, Mira Ben, Suchita Kripalani, Vij ay Laxmi Pandit, Aruna Asaf Ali, all played a very crucial and enthusiastic role in the struggle for attaining freedom.

“Woman is the builder and molder of a nation’s destiny, though delicate and soft as the lily, she has a heart, stronger and bolder than that of malt, she is the supreme inspiration for man’s onward march.”

—Rabindranath Tagore

Women constitute approximately 40% population of a nation. If she is given the task for the development of the country she can make a wonder. She is more dedicated, more hard-working, more sincere, more devoted to the cause. Many social evils like; dowry, illiteracy among the females, the killing of girl child in the womb, ignoring the hygienic values, polio, etc. can well be tackled by the active involvement of the women.

Many women have proved themselves, dynamic, vibrant, sincere, and perfect in many fields. Smt. Indira Gandhi, Sirimao Bhandernaike, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Goldammer, Margaret Thatcher, Vijaya Laxmi Pandit, Supercop Kiran Bedi have proved themselves in all manners better than their male counterpart. These names made both the society and the women folk proud of them. The myth that certain fields were only meant for men has been proved wrong by women. Modern women in the present age occupy top rank and attained immense success in all the fields such as politics, policy, administration, medicine, services, etc. Mother Teresa, P.T.Usha, Mrs. Mohsina Kidwai, Mrs. Subu Laxmi, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, the great environmentalist and social activist Medha Patekar and Promilla Kalhan, Mrs. Kiran Bedi, Kalpana Chawla, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi have become well-recognized names in their respective fields.

Today the educated women have come out of their inferiority complex and are shouldering all kinds of responsibility es, as Managers, Officers, TV and Radio news-readers, Pilots, Ministers, Anchors, Musicians, Clerks, Stenographers, Ministers, Prime Ministers, and whatnot? There are veteran MPs and Ministers in the center and the State, Ms. Mayawati, Ms. Jayalalitha, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, Ms. Mamta Bannerjee, Mrs. Rabri Devi, Uma Bharti, Mrs. Vijaya Raje Scindhiya have proved to be astute Politicians.

The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act passed in 1992, lay upon the women of our country more responsibilities in accelerating the development of the country. These amendments provide 33% reservation for women in the Panchayat Raj. Women elected to Panchayat and Municipal Councils, because of the reservation, have started asserting themselves. Now the women in local governments are taking the basic issues like water, health facilities, family planning, polio eradication, more seriously, more sincerely. Now they can play a better role in the development of their area of operation whether village or municipality, which in turn will result in the overall development of the State and the country as a whole.

Women are more dedicated and devoted to their duties and have much patience and politeness than men by nature. There is no doubt that women had played a very important role in the national building, but the man is still not in favor of giving them the given due powers. The example is that the women’s reservation bill for 30% reservation in State Assemblies and Parliament has not been made the law so far.

The bill was introduced several times since 1996 but couldn’t take shape of an Act so far. The empowerment of women by itself cannot place women on equal footing with men, the need of the hour is the change of social attitudes towards women.

Many social evils, like dowry, illiteracy among women, infanticide of a female child, elimination of girls’ fetuses, are required to be fully rooted out. The crime against women likes, eve-teasing, rape, is to be dealt with the strongest hand though several measures but half-hearted are being taken by the government in this direction, yet a change of social attitude and honesty, on the part of politicians, is must make the women participate in the nation-building at the grass-root level.

“Rightly,” said Dr. Raj Indra Prasad, “our women have a very great part to play in the progress of our country as the mental and physical contact of women with life is much more lasting and comprehensive than that of men”.

What can’t be done by women? If the men can help in the national building, the women can do much better! Women are no less creative than that men. Women, undoubtedly, can play a very important role in the betterment of the nation if men give them chance.

It was rightly said that “the hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.“

The Most Beautiful Planet

 

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and is the second-largest in the solar system with an equatorial diameter of 1,19,300 kilometers (74,130 miles). Much of what is known about the planet is due to the Voyager explorations in 1980-81. Saturn is visibly flattened at the poles, a result of the very fast rotation of the planet on its axis. Its day is 10 hours, 39 minutes long and it takes 29.5 Earth years to revolve around the Sun. The atmosphere is primarily composed of hydrogen with small amounts of helium and methane. Saturn is the only planet less dense than water (about 30 percent less). Saturn’s hazy yellow hue is marked by broad atmospheric banding similar to, but fainter than that found on Jupiter.’

The wind blows at high speed on Saturn. Near the equator, it reaches velocities of 500 meters a second (1,100 miles an hour). The wind blows mostly in an easterly direction. The strongest winds are found near the equator and velocity falls off uniformly at higher latitudes. At latitudes greater than 35 degrees, winds alternate east and west as latitude increases.

Saturn’s ring system makes the planet one of the most beautiful objects in the solar system. The rings are split into a number of different parts which include the bright A and B rings and a fainter C ring. Space probes have shown that the main rings are really made up of a large number of narrow ringlets. The origin of the rings is obscure. It is thought that the rings may have been formed from larger moons that were shattered by impacts of comets and meteoroids. Radial, spoke-like features in the broad B-ring were also found by the Voyagers. The features are believed to be composed of fine, dust-size particles. The spokes were observed to form and dissipate in the time-lapse images taken by the Voyagers.

Saturn has 18 named satellites and more than a dozen of newly reported satellites that have been given provisional designations till they are verified and named.

In one of nature’s most dramatic examples of “now-you see-them, now-you-don’t,” NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured Saturn on May 22, 1995, as the planet’s magnificent ring system turned edge-on. This ring-plane crossing occurs approximately every 15 years when the Earth passes through Saturn’s ring plane.

The rings do not disappear completely because the edge of the rings reflects sunlight. The dark band across the middle of Saturn is the shadow of the rings cast on the planet (the Sun is almost 3 degrees above the ring plane.) The bright stripe directly above the ring shadow is caused by sunlight reflected off the rings onto Saturn’s atmosphere.

An image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, shows a rare storm that appears as a white arrowhead-shaped feature near the planet’s equator. The storm is generated by an upwelling of warmer air, similar to a terrestrial thunderhead. The Hubble images are sharp enough to reveal that Saturn’s prevailing winds shape a dark “wedge” that eats into the western (left) side of the bright central cloud. The planet’s strongest eastward winds, clocked at 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) per hour based on Voyager spacecraft images taken in 1980-81, are at the latitude of the wedge. The storm’s white clouds are ammonia ice crystals that form when an upward flow of warmer gases shoves its way through Saturn’s frigid cloud tops.

The top image shows the first image ever taken of bright aurorae at Saturn’s northern and southern poles as seen in far-ultraviolet light by the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble resolves a luminous, circular band centered on the north pole, where an enormous auroral curtain rises as far as 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) above the cloud tops.

For comparison, the bottom image is a visible-light color composite of Saturn as seen by Hubble on December 1, 1994 pieces of evidence that unlike the ultraviolet image, Saturn’s familiar atmospheric belts and zones are clearly seen. The lower cloud deck is not visible at UV wavelengths because sunlight is reflected from higher in the atmosphere.

Last View of Saturn :

Two days after its encounter with Saturn, Voyager-1 looked back on the planet from a distance of more than 5.0 million kilometers (3.0 million miles). This view of Saturn has never been seen by an earth-based telescope, since the earth is so close to the Sun only the sunlit face of Saturn can be seen.

Saturn has 18 officially recognized and named satellites. In addition, there are other unconfirmed satellites. One circle in the orbit of Dione, a second is located between the orbits of Tethys and Dione, and a third is located between Dione and Rhea. The unconfirmed satellites were found in Voyager photographs but were not confirmed by more than one sighting. Recently, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged four objects that might be new moons.

Several generalizations can be made about the satellites of Saturn. Only Titan has an appreciable atmosphere. Most of the satellites have a synchronous rotation. The exceptions are Hyperion which has a chaotic orbit and Phoebe. Saturn has a regular system of satellites. That is the satellites have nearly circular orbits and lie in the equatorial plane. The two exceptions are Iapetus and Phoebe. A lot of probe of the Saturn is yet to complete, nothing certain can so far be said about the Saturn, but a mystery is being revealed. What earlier sounds impossible is on the verge of solutions.

“It is difficult to say what is impossible for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and reality of tomorrow.”

—Robert Goddard

A Menace

 

The Supreme Court defined ragging following words: “Any disorderly conduct whether by words spoken or written or by an act which has the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any other student indulging in rowdy or indisciplined activities which causes or likely to cause annoyance, hardship or psychological harm or to raise fear or apprehension thereof in a fresher or a junior student or asking the students to do any act or perform something which such students will not do in the ordinary course and which has the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment so as to adversely affect the physique or psyche of a fresher or a junior student.”

The apex court has taken into consideration while defining ragging all kinds of acts faced by a fresher or a junior while subjecting to ragging by the seniors.

Ragging has become a menace, cause of fear and shock not only for a. fresher but to his parents too who are sending the loved ones for pursuing higher education by investing a lot of hard-earned money. Several intellectual youths have become the martyr of ragging, some have suffered a nervous breakdown, some left the institutes after being suffered from ragging, some have committed suicide and some were murdered by the seniors on the pretext of ragging.

The court, the authorities, the principal, and every concern, have described ragging as a heinous practice, but a very paradoxical situation is, it still persists in spite o fall the rules, regulations, and directives of courts, and authorities. None could claim to have stopped it 100%.

The most gruesome incidence of ragging came into light in Nov. 1986, when Navarasu a 17-year-old first-year medical student of Annamalai University, Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, was brutal, murdered by a senior named ‘David” who was said to be a Karate expert. He killed Navarasu because he refused to submit to his whims of ragging.

In Aug. 2003, an engineering student of Engineering College Jalpaiguri in West Bengal was admitted to hospital after he was subjected to night long brutal ragging by his seniors. The victim was beaten up with iron rods and cycle chains for refusing to strip before the seniors.

In Aug. 2003, IIT Delhi expelled five senior students for they were found indulging in ragging of a fresher who left the college after being ragged by these seniors. In the same month, a student of Pune Institute quit, just a few days after joining it in July due to the same reason of being subjected to inhumane ragging.

The governments, Central as well as States, have taken positive steps again to stop this practice. In 1997, the HRD Minister, Mr. S.R. Bommai, apprised the Raj ya Sabha that steps were being taken to ensure that those found guilty of ragging can be treated as guilty of gross misconduct and subsequently, the penalty of rustication or removal from the rolls of the universities could be imposed on the offenders. He also informed in the house that instruction has been issued to the universities, and institutions and the State Governments to take stern action to curb this menace and to invoke the provisions of law if needed.

A few years ago, the Governor of Kerala, promulgated the “Kerala Prohibition Of Ragging Ordinance” seeking to prohibit ragging in educational institutions in the State. The ordinance inter alia provides dismissal of a student from the educational institution, who found indulged in acts of ragging and that student is to be further debarred for taking admission in any other educational institute for five years from the date of order of such dismissal.

The Supreme Court while dealing with public interest litigation in 2001 said that `failure to prevent ragging by the management would mean an act of negligence in maintaining discipline in the institution. The Principal and other authority will be liable to face action in case a student is subjected to ragging’. The Supreme Court further directed that “If an institution fails to curb ragging the UGC/ funding agency may consider stoppage of financial assistance to such an institution till such time it implements the anti-ragging norms”. A University may consider disaffiliating a college or institution that fails to curb ragging the court administered a clear warning. Though the Supreme Court has also issued very strict and stringent guidelines to curb the menace of ragging yet a point to ponder is why the students resort to such heinous practice, after all these so-called seniors are also from a decent home and belong to the intellectual group of students of the nation.

Why do few resort to such socially unacceptable behavior? Why the so-called seniors do not understand the problems of their own juniors and subjecting them to such intolerable inhumane acts?

Serious thought is given to the above questions, we find that our present education system is intended to create intelligentsia, but they are absolutely lacking moral and ethical values. We do not teach our students, philanthropic and moral values. There is no place for ethics in our education, we are just teaching them the importance of the materialistic value of money. The result has become meaningless. How alone the students are to blame, for such acts? Teachers and parents are also equally responsible for they are unable to cultivate in a good citizen. Academic qualification alone is of no value. If education does not teach students to share the problems of others to love all serve all, it would become meaningless.

It shall be important to quote the following words of a great thinker that

If money is lost, nothing is lost

If health is lost, somethings are lost.

If a character is lost, everything is lost.

To stop the menace of ragging it is but necessary to inculcate among the students, importance of good character, the importance of love, and affection towards their juniors and fellow beings.

Operation Vijay—A Scintillating Success

 

“As soon as the Government came to know, that thousands of Pakistani intruders have crossed the LoC (Line of Control) and perched themselves on strategic heights six to seven kilometers inside Indian territory in Kargil sector of Jammu and Kashmir, the government realized the seriousness of the matter and an operation Vijay was launched to flush out the infiltrators from the Kargil sector.”

On May 6, 1999, an Indian army patrol party first noticed some unusual movements in the Batalik sector. The extent of intrusion was discovered the next day itself when a second patrol party was sent to the area. By May 10-14, 1999, the Pakistani intruders were well into the Drass, Kaksar, Mashkoh, and Batalik sectors, hazardously threatening the safety of the Srinagar-Leh highway, the virtual line of communication.

This was the third time in the history of Independent India that Pakistan tried to occupy the Kashmir by assisting or backing the infiltrators. The first time just after independence, a second time in 1965 as part of Operation Gibraltar that leads to the Indo-Pak second war and now the third time through Kargil.

It was on May 16, the Indian army launched counter-insurgency operation and succeeded in forcing the Pakistan backed intruders to flee from one of the ridgelines in the Kargil sector. Reinforcement were sent from the 15th Corps. to the affected area, but the area couldn’t be fully cleared of the infiltrators.

The ‘Operation Vijay’ was launched on 26th May 1999 to clear of the area fully from the infiltrators backed by the Pak army. The actions were limited to the Indian side of LoC, as stated officially. “This is the start of operations and they would continue till our defence forces occupy our territory. Any escalation of conflict will be entirely the responsibility of Pakistan”, added further.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mr. Nawaj Sharif said “A war on the subcontinent could not be ruled out”. This was later retracted by Mr. Mushahid Hussain, the Information Minister of Pakistan. The war seemed imminent Mr. Vaj payee, the Prime Minister of India, admitted on 31st May, that a warlike situation had developed in Kargil sector, something like what had happened 52 years ago.

With the launching of Operation Vijay, the question on everybody’ s tongue was, how much time Indian Army would take to push back the intruders from the Kargil sector ? Many experts opined to take at least six months to clear the area from Pak infiltrators and after six months there would be severe winter with snow all around in the sector, being part of Himalaya’ s range, but Indian forces stunned the world by pushing the intruders beyond the LoC within a period of just 50 days. Operation Vijay have been a magnificent success.

Within three days of launching of operation Vijay, about 400 intruders were flushed out of the Indian territory. Indian Air force played very crucial role in the Kargil war by striking at the forward supply bases and the rear side of bases of Pakistani backed intruders. The task indeed was frightening as the intruders took over in a very difficult mountain terrain. It was very’challenging that the IAF had further to see that the airstrikes were limited to Indian side of LoC only, since it was not allowed to be extended to a full fledged war, so air strikes were limited to cut off the infiltrator’s links of supply and IAF had to restrain itself from violating Pak side of the LoC.

Ever since the Operation Vijay began, the intruders and the Pakistani troops were forced to surrender one post after another in Kargil. After consolidating its hold in the Tololing area in the Drass sector on June 15, 1999, the Indian army started moving ahead slowly in the Balatic and Drass sector blocking the supply line, wherever required and at several places, one to one battles were also fought. As per an official report, there were approximately 900 Pakistani intruders in the Kargil Drass sector as of 17th June 1999.

The IAF used the firepower of Mirage-2000 to flatten the 14600 ft. high Munthodhalo supply camp and it could well pulverized the 80 odd structures built by the enemy with 500 pounds bombs. Mirage -2000 used also as a vigilance Aircraft, while the other planes did their job.

General Josef Bali, the UN observer in Srinagar confirmed on June 19, 1999, that heavily- armed Afghan warriors had crossed over the LoC. There is a lot of indication that former Afghan fighters from the war against Russia are now fighting here. Weapons provided for Afghanistan with large help from the Americans and the CIA are now in the hands of militants. General Bali also appealed to the big powers, “not to sit back and let this situation play out“. The entire Tololing Ridge in the Drass subsector was cleared off intruders and Pakistani forces up to June 20, 1999, by the Indian armed forces and it was a matter of exhilaration for the Indian side. The Chief of Army Staff Gen. V.P.Malik said on June 23, 1999, that Indian troops could cross the LoC provided there was a political mandate. He asserted that the Pakistani army had conceived, planned, and executed the Kargil attack and that the severing of the road between Zojila pass and Leh and exerting pressure on Indian defenses in Kargil, Batalik, and Turtuk sectors was the Prime focus of the Pakistani operations. The Army Chief said that details of the LoC alignment and the process of delineation had been well documented and signatures to these records had been affixed by top army officers of the two countries in 1972.

In another major strike, the Indian army captured nearly 16000 ft. Jubar Hill in the Batalik sector on July 7, 1999, even as the government refused any kind of safe passage to the Pakistani armed intruders in Kargil. The recapture of both the Jubar Hill and the Tiger Hill would also mean deprivation of any mischievous act by the enemy in creating a wedge between north and south of the Indus river in this area. The immense use of artillery, the Multi Barrel Rockets, the Bofors Howitzers, and our field guns played a decisive role in the capture of Tiger and Jubar Hills by the Indian Army.

By July 9, ninety percent of the Batalik sector was cleared of the Pakistani intrusion. Up to then, about 661 Pakistani soldiers had been killed, while on the Indian side the toll was 321 and 476 injured.

With mounting pressure of the world and regular march of the Indian Army climaxed by the fall of Tiger Hills and the stark refusal of the US President, Mr. Bill Clinton to rescue Mr. Nawaz Sharif from the position where he had been cornered by his own betrayal of the Lahore agreement, the Kargil misadventure, forced Pakistan to call off its support to the intruders and its own army. Pakistan tried its best to garner the support of USA and the China, but drew a blank. None could be convinced by the Pakistan’s concocted story and calling the intruders, Kashmiri freedom fighters. On July 4, 1999, Pakistan agreed to withdraw its forces from the Indian side of the LoC. A joint statement issued in Washington at the end of a prolonged meeting between President Bill Clinton and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made it clear that concrete steps will be taken for the restoration of the LoC in accordance with the Simla Agreement.

As part of the diplomatic efforts to canvass more support for his country, the Pakistani Prime Minister had a stopover in London where he met the British Prime Minister. Mr.Tony Blair, who too turned down the idea of third party mediation and asked Pakistan to withdraw its army from the Indian side of the LoC and try to resolve the issue bilaterally. During all these Pakistan’s diplomatic overtures, India had been taking every step with great caution and firmness. It declined bluntly an invitation from President Bill Clinton for talks in Washington when the Pakistani Prime Minister was already there, India made its stand very clear, No third party mediation in Kashmir or Kargil.

Without mincing words, India’s Prime Minister and Home Minister asserted that India would continue its military operations and would not allow any foreign mercenary to remain on its soil till the last of the intruders is flushed out of the Indian territory.

On July 11, Pakistan agreed to declare July 16, as deadline for complete withdrawal of its Army regulars and other intruders. Pakistan bows to India’s demand that its forces must withdraw to well north of the LoC in the Kargil sector by the deadline of July 16, morning. On July 13, Indian troops recaptured the strategic Bajrang post in the Kaksar subsector, and on July 14 (50th Day) Pakistan virtually withdrew all its forces from the Indian side of LoC. It was a record win, a scintillating success for the Indian forces, to complete the operation of Vijay within a record time of merely 50 days. Every inch of the territory was recovered. Long live the Martyrs who laid their lives in this most successful Operation Vijay.

 

Rights of the Disabled

 

“Disability is a class in itself that anyone may fall victim to at any time. It can come about as a result of a sudden accident, a fall down a flight of stairs, or disease. Disability maintains no socio-economic boundaries. Since disability catches up with most people in its fold in old age, it is a class that any of us may fall in it someday.”

Even today the disabled in India see their physical or mental limitations as either a source of shame or a source of inspiration for others. By concentrating on overcoming the disability, we fail to notice that a disability itself cannot be overcome by a disabled person, however, heroic she or he may be. In the West, the Disability Rights Movement has realized this, and, therefore, they proclaim that “it is okay, even good, to be disabled”.

The Disability Rights Movement :

Unlike other movements like Feminism or Lesbian Movements which have distinct agendas of either gender justice or the right to sexual orientation, the Disability Rights Movement does not have a systematic path. Disability Rights Movement even in the West has a very recent origin and tries to draw strength from the traditional legal order rather than by critiquing or deconstructing it. Joseph Shapiro neatly summarises the characteristics of this movement in the West: “The disability movement is a mosaic movement for the 1990s. Diversity is its critical characteristic. No leader or organization can claim to speak for all the disabled“.

The Disability Rights Movement in India and Third World countries is discursive and disorganized and there are no written documents to trace its origin. Instead of coming together, sections of disabled viz. blind persons, persons with a physical disability, deaf and dumb persons, and those with mental disabilities have launched their movements and struggles separately, mainly through NG0s. It was all the much difficult for all disabled groups to come together with the stupendous diversities in their problems. Two important reasons can be assigned for such a scenario.

Firstly, in our country, the disabled are bound to struggle to fulfill basic needs like food, shelter, and education and therefore, they are bound to be disable specific in their struggles. Secondly, the Advocates of Disability Rights in India do not have any coherence in their agenda, some stress solely on Rehabilitation and Research, others are solely concerned with the generation of employment, and still, others are wholly occupied by efforts in the education sector. A few in India ever talk about the ‘Civil Rights’ or ‘Crisis of identity’ of the disabled. Under such circumstances, the various groups have to work segregated, and so they could not come together chalk out a common agenda.

Actually in India, the Disability Rights Movement has been launched by NGOs and therefore, a large number of NGOs have mushroomed all over the country. Instead of working together to strengthen the movement, there is often seen an unwarranted and unhealthy rivalry between NGOs. Similar conflicts were also noted across different sections of the disabled. While several organizations are making serious rehabilitation efforts and genuinely working for the upliftment of the disabled there are also NGOs that are simply cashing in on the cause just trying to pocket the funds and doing nothing for the disabled.

Assumptions about the disabled:

Some stereotyped presumptions prevailed about the disabled in our country like:

1. Disabled people are the most vulnerable section of society and have been ignored by the state and society alike for a long.

2. Disabled people have always been dependent and, therefore, need helping hands and gracious charity.

3. Disabled people are victims of their own bad luck.

4. Disableness is the punishment for sins he has never committed in this life.

Such assumptions about the disabled do nothing to help them. This approach perpetuates the stereotype of the disabled as victims and objects of pity and charity.

Persons with disabilities are considered to have a very small sphere to operate within owing to their limitations. So if a disabled person achieves something beyond his/her small ‘sphere’ he/she is considered to have almost overcome his/her disability. He/She is then presented as a role model and a source of inspiration for the non-disabled community even. This image hits the average disabled person very hard who does not have the capacity to live up to such heroic standards. Average disabled people tend to compare their ‘little successes’ to the ‘large successes’ of their fellow disabled. This leads to an inferiority complex among them.

Government’s Solace for the disabled:

Until 1995 no law even defined discrimination against people with disabilities. It is only with the ‘Persons with Disabilities Act,’ passed in 1995 that discrimination specifically against persons with disabilities came under the purview of the law.

Till 1995, most of the welfare measures taken by the States were by way of affirmative action. The Ministry of Social Welfare was largely concerned with problems of persons with disabilities and with providing them privileges. Rehabilitation of people with disability by opening shelter workshops and educational and research institutions like the National Institute of Visually Handicapped, Dehra Dun, the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad, the National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped, Calcutta, and the Ali Anwar Jung National Institute for Hearing Handicapped, Mumbai providing basic education to individuals with disability by funding NGO s, opening special schools and awarding scholarships for students with a disability, providing employment through job reservations mainly in Class 3 and 4 in Central and State Government Departments and giving disabled people travel concessions and installing awards for disabled workers and institutions working for the welfare of the disabled. During the early ’80s, some major developments in the International Disability Rights Movement brought about a change in the attitude of the Government of India. The first earnest sign was the enactment of the “Mental Health Act, 1987”. The Act is aimed at protecting mentally ill persons in matters of admission and detention in psychiatric hospitals and the custody of his/her persons, his/her property, and its management and human rights.

Persons with Disabilities Act 1995

A meeting was convened by the Economic and Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific region in Beijing in December 1992 to launch the Asia-Pacific decade of disabled persons. The meeting declared 1993-2000 as the Asia-Pacific decade and proclaimed the “full participation and equality of people with disabilities” as the objective. To give legislative effect to the above proclamation, the ‘Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity, Protection of Civil Rights, and Full Participation) Act was enacted in India in 1995 and came into force on 1st January 1996.

Objectives of the Act:

To spell out the responsibility of the State towards the prevention of disabilities, protection of rights, provision of medical care, education, training, employment, and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.

1. To create a barrier-free environment for disabled persons.

2. To remove any discrimination against disabled people in the sharing of development benefits vis-à-vis non-disabled persons.

3. To counteract any situation of abuse and the exploitation of disabled persons.

4. To lay down strategies for the development of comprehensive programs and services and the equalization of opportunities for disabled persons.

5. To make special provisions for the integration of persons with disabilities into the social mainstream.

Critics:

A close study of the Act makes us feel “as if the Government is a gracious donor and disabled persons are absolute dependents”. This is a major stumbling block in the process of providing equal opportunities to the disabled. Instead of focussing on the capabilities of disabled people, the Act focuses very much on the activity limitations of the disabled and perpetuates the victim image of disabled people.

Unfortunately, the Act does not pay any serious attention to securing some basic rights like the right to human dignity, the right to equal concern and respect, the right against discrimination in public employment and educational institutions, the right against exploitation, the right against victimization, etc.

The Act has completely ignored some vital aspects such as Pre-school education of disabled children, special problems of the parents of the disabled, special problems of the female disabled, games, sports and cultural activities, exploitation of disabled by their own families, higher education of the disabled.

Although the implementation of the Act has been gradual, it does not mean that the Act has not helped the disabled at all. It has provided a platform to unite and mobilize disabled individuals across the country. It is also significant to witness the participation of the disabled in decision-making processes through their representation in various policy-making and shaping bodies under the Act.

The success of this Act would, however, depend much upon the extent to which the political leaders and bureaucratic executive internalize the values, sensibilities, and goals enshrined in the Act. If persons with disabilities are to be regarded as full citizens of India, their right to equal concern and respect must find its expression in the supreme law of the land.

 

Role of Visual Media in Society

 

“Today mass media, specifically the visual media, plays a pivotal role in creating an atmosphere of awareness among the society. Visual Media refers to different communication channels or ways through which knowledge and information are conveyed to the viewers or the readers through knowledge, television, cinema, posters, etc. Whatever is supplied through the visual media has a fast and long-lasting effect on the minds of the viewers.”

With the rapid development of information and technology the visual media in the shape of cable TV, with multitudes of domestic ad foreign channels have reached almost every house, play a vital role in molding public opinion in various ways. It plays a very crucial role in educating, and entertaining the masses. Cable TV has changed the means and modes of entertainment and education. Sitting before a TV, one can pass and enjoy his leisure listening to music, viewing movies, learning techniques of bodybuilding, hearing sermons of religious saints, learning about lives of wild animals, birds, water creatures, knowing about space, and whatnot. During the election period, one can know the positions of political parties, their leaders, happenings at each part of the country and their impact on the election campaigning and all facts of electioneering, just sitting at home before TV.

Youngsters and teenage students are nowadays seen viewing the channels, as per their likings, if some are viewing the music, some are seen quenching their thrust of knowledge, viewing channels like ‘discovery’ or National Geography or History, etc. The image on the small screen thus has a significant impression on all, more particularly on the gullible children and on the teens. The young mind takes the reel as real and thus more often and more easily molded and motivated by the visual media. The present-day fashion, hairdressing, sexual liberties, dating and awakening towards the right of children, awareness among the women to their rights are because. of the role, visual media has played in society.

There is nothing wrong if visual media has so emphatic effect on the viewers, but the owner of the channels must understand it in the right perspective, that if they are showing something of violent nature, or sexual ritual like a rape scene, naked scene, then it can undermine the positivity of the role to be played by the media.

In a hysterical effort to excel from others, some channels are showing such scenes and images, which are of no importance and hurt the mind of viewers. Showing sexual and rape cases, with minute details by the anchor, and showing brutal scenes of murder, the channels have crossed the limit of ethics and morality. The TV coverage of the massacre of Gandhi Nagar Akshardham, Godhra’s burnt and churned bodies of victims lying in the bogies and outside create a feeling of hatred among the communities and motivate others to wreak vengeance. Obsessed by the monoamine of making fast bucks, the channels are competing with one another to stoop to any kind of absurdity, without considering even for a minute as to what effect such visuals have on society.

Whether the visual media haVe no responsibility towards the society? Whether the visual media should not desist from visualizing such scenes that are of inflammatory nature?

It is argued that the media’s role is to bring reality to the public, but then does showing of mutilated burnt churned bodies help the society or our nation in any way. Some of the channels are playing a very important role in awakening the common man against corruption, the rotten outdated rites still spoiling the society, the superstitions, the killing of the female unborn child, and such other evils prevailing in the society. These are very positive things that have resulted in putting the authorities at the vigil and the government to take steps in the right direction. ‘

Cinema

Cinema is also a very important visual media, a source of entertainment that caters to the vast population throughout the world. With cable TV, being cheaper, and with a multitude of channels available, the number of cinema-goers has reduced considerably, yet, it has a great impact on the youth in their lifestyle, fashioning, dressing pattern, etc. Modern cinema has turned to violence and sex, and the obscenity presented in the movies has contributed to a gradual increase in crime and violence in society. The youth and teens tend to imitate the characters portrayed on the screen—copying the styles of heroes, in enticing and teasing the girls—are observed nowadays. The vulgar and sexual scenes of movies have a very negative and adverse effect on the minds of the gullible youth. The present-day goondaism, falling in love affairs by college and school boys and girls, opting for revealing dresses by the girls are some of the effects of the present-day movies.

Other visual media

Besides theatres, several video parlors have started taking place in cities, showing adult movies, blue films in a clandestine manner. Vulgar and naked sex scenes, encourage the youth to commit crimes, like rape, eve-teasing, kidnapping, etc., and diverted them to very wrong directions thus spoiling their life to the core of the abyss.

Visual media thus has an emphatic and motivating effect on society. The negative and adverse aspect of the visual media is needed censor by the administration. Films must be made with certain moral and noble ethical values, that have an educative and patriotic effect on society. The picturization of rape scenes, obscenities, crude violence must be made punitive by providing extra-legal teeth to IPC Sec. 292 (sale of obscene books), Section 293 (Obscene act and songs) and the indecent representation of women (Prohibition) ‘Act 1986 and other laws, so that the visual media actually have a role of positive social changes, education, patriotism, curbing corruption and evils prevalent in the society.

Role of Women in Nation Building

 

“There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on only one wing.”

—Swami Vivekanand

When our countrymen were struggling and fighting to attain freedom, the womenfolk also fought shoulders to shoulders and wholeheartedly supported the struggling freedom fighters. During India’s struggle for freedom, the position of women took a favorable turn. After India became independent it was realized by most of the national leaders including Nehru, Gandhi, Dr.Rajendra Prasad, that emancipation of Women is necessary and also realized that so long as the conditions of women were not improved, and granted equal status with men, India could not progress. The role of women in the freedom struggle cannot be undermined. Sarojini Naidu, Mira Ben, Suchita Kripalani, Vij ay Laxmi Pandit, Aruna Asaf Ali, all played a very crucial and enthusiastic role in the struggle for attaining freedom.

“Woman is the builder and molder of a nation’s destiny, though delicate and soft as the lily, she has a heart, stronger and bolder than that of malt, she is the supreme inspiration for man’s onward march.”

—Rabindranath Tagore

Women constitute approximately 40% population of a nation. If she is given the task for the development of the country she can make a wonder. She is more dedicated, more hard-working, more sincere, more devoted to the cause. Many social evils like; dowry, illiteracy among the females, the killing of girl child in the womb, ignoring the hygienic values, polio, etc. can well be tackled by the active involvement of the women.

Many women have proved themselves, dynamic, vibrant, sincere, and perfect in many fields. Smt. Indira Gandhi, Sirimao Bhandernaike, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Goldammer, Margaret Thatcher, Vijaya Laxmi Pandit, Supercop Kiran Bedi have proved themselves in all manners better than their male counterpart. These names made both the society and the women folk proud of them. The myth that certain fields were only meant for men has been proved wrong by women. Modern women in the present age occupy top rank and attained immense success in all the fields such as politics, policy, administration, medicine, services, etc. Mother Teresa, P.T.Usha, Mrs. Mohsina Kidwai, Mrs. Subu Laxmi, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, the great environmentalist and social activist Medha Patekar and Promilla Kalhan, Mrs. Kiran Bedi, Kalpana Chawla, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi have become well-recognized names in their respective fields.

Today the educated women have come out of their inferiority complex and are shouldering all kinds of responsibility es, as Managers, Officers, TV and Radio news-readers, Pilots, Ministers, Anchors, Musicians, Clerks, Stenographers, Ministers, Prime Ministers, and whatnot? There are veteran MPs and Ministers in the center and the State, Ms. Mayawati, Ms. Jayalalitha, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, Ms. Mamta Bannerjee, Mrs. Rabri Devi, Uma Bharti, Mrs. Vijaya Raje Scindhiya have proved to be astute Politicians.

The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act passed in 1992, lay upon the women of our country more responsibilities in accelerating the development of the country. These amendments provide 33% reservation for women in the Panchayat Raj. Women elected to Panchayat and Municipal Councils, because of the reservation, have started asserting themselves. Now the women in local governments are taking the basic issues like water, health facilities, family planning, polio eradication, more seriously, more sincerely. Now they can play a better role in the development of their area of operation whether village or municipality, which in turn will result in the overall development of the State and the country as a whole.

Women are more dedicated and devoted to their duties and have much patience and politeness than men by nature. There is no doubt that women had played a very important role in the national building, but the man is still not in favor of giving them the given due powers. The example is that the women’s reservation bill for 30% reservation in State Assemblies and Parliament has not been made the law so far.

The bill was introduced several times since 1996 but couldn’t take shape of an Act so far. The empowerment of women by itself cannot place women on equal footing with men, the need of the hour is the change of social attitudes towards women.

Many social evils, like dowry, illiteracy among women, infanticide of a female child, elimination of girls’ fetuses, are required to be fully rooted out. The crime against women likes, eve-teasing, rape, is to be dealt with the strongest hand though several measures but half-hearted are being taken by the government in this direction, yet a change of social attitude and honesty, on the part of politicians, is must make the women participate in the nation-building at the grass-root level.

“Rightly,” said Dr. Raj Indra Prasad, “our women have a very great part to play in the progress of our country as the mental and physical contact of women with life is much more lasting and comprehensive than that of men”.

What can’t be done by women? If the men can help in the national building, the women can do much better! Women are no less creative than that men. Women, undoubtedly, can play a very important role in the betterment of the nation if men give them chance.

It was rightly said that “the hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.“

Science Versus Religion

“Ever since the dawn of civilization there has been much debate on the worth and dignity of science and religion; the intellectuals, philosophers, thinkers are divided even today on the conflicting belief in the matter of supremacy of one over the other”.

With the rapid progress made by science and technology in the recent past, the conflict between the two widens further. Science, on the one hand, concludes the theories based on experiments and analytical logic, while religious theories are based on experience, meditation, and blind faith. Science deals with things objectively, while religion is a subjective matter. In the present age of rapid growth in scientific advancements in all walks of life, the future history would depend on the way of living of the new generation to reconcile the conflict between Science and Religion.

Religion is mainly a phenomenon of faith, a purely subjective topic while science is based totally on reasoning and analytically proving the concepts based on laboratory or mechanical experiments. Science always speaks the truth in crude language and absolute terms, while religion speaks in poetic and touching sentiment. Science has the credit for all the material progress made in the world, religion enjoys the credit of providing mental peace and solace in the world, where everyone is mortal. Through science one can amass uncountable wealth, unimaginable luxuries, all material and physical things, that he needs to make him more efficient, quicker, more important in the eyes of others, but the mental solace, the self-respect, the internal peace, he can secure only through the religion. Science gives luxuries and materialistic living to a man, while religion gives him peace of mind.

Bernard Shaw once said, “life will lose its charm when faith is replaced by cold scientific reason.”

Many great scientists, scholars, political leaders, writers have given them credit for their achievements to the Almighty, a supernatural being, it shows that religion is not an unimportant concept to throw away. There is no weightage for moral and ethical values in the materialistic world created by scientific inventions and discoveries, but without moral and ethical values, the world becomes a self-destructive entity. By pushing a button of nuclear warhead the whole world or the whole civilization may face destruction; science is not going to tell you the consequence of the act of pushing a button but it is the moral and ethical values imbibed in a man because of his faith in a religion, which prevent him to push such a button as it can destroy the beautiful creature of living being created by the will of Almighty.

The approach of science towards life is crude, monotonous, lifeless, devoid of feelings of love, emotions, while on the other hand, religion approaches life with animation, with feelings of faith, love towards all human beings, faith in self, and faith in the Omnipotent, Omnipresent a Superbeing. According to religion the existence of man is by the will of God’, all the bad or good happens only by the will of’ God’, while science rejects all these concepts and believes that the birth of a child is the result of a sexual relationship between the man and woman. Science has been able to cure several incurable diseases, but unable to conquer the inevitable death. Science can’t tell us the reason and cause of-birth of the soul. Science can’t solve many mysteries of the world. Religion gives us answers to the above questions, but that is unable to be proved, as, in religion, things are based on faith and belief and can’t be justified and proved scientifically.

Swami Vivekananda in his speech at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893 said, “Science is nothing but the finding of unity. As soon as science would reach perfect unity, it would stop further progress, because it would reach the goal. Thus chemistry could not progress further when it would discover one element out of which all others could be made. Physics would stop when it would be able to fulfill its services in discovering one energy of which all the others but manifestations and the science of religion becomes perfect when it would discover ‘Him’ who is the one living in a universe of death., ‘Him’ who is the constant basis of an ever-changing world, one who is the only soul of which all souls are but delusive manifestations. Thus it is through multiplicity and duality that the ultimate unity is reached. Religion can go no farther, this is the goal of all sciences. All Sciences are bound to come to this conclusion in the long run. Manifestation and not creation is the word of science today.”

According to religious philosophy, “Everything that is in this Universe has been created by the ‘Almighty’ and there lives a ‘Soul’ an invisible thing in the body of every human being. ‘God’ and soul are eternal and immortal. The body of man is mortal, on the death of a person, it is the body that is destroyed, the soul just takes charge of a new body in the womb of a lady. The science does not accept the existence of ‘Soul’ or `God’ and does not believe in ‘Rebirth’ etc.”

The diversities prevailed in various concepts of different religions and the selfish interests of the head of the different protagonists of religion, turn out the havens of superstitions and unscientific, illogical traditions, rituals, made the religion a hegemony of some people. Untouchability, division of society based on birth, caste, and creed, has caused a great loss to the civilized world. The organized war had taken place among the followers of different religions to satisfy the lust for power, killing thousands of innocent lives, and thus the basic concept of religion was totally betrayed. Religion is a pious concept, contemplated to infuse moral and ethical values in the human being to spread love, peace, and fraternity among the civilized world.

Science and Religion are an altogether different concept. Science deals with materialistic progress of the world, needed to arrange physical things necessary for the comfort, luxury for the man, while Religion in true sense deals exclusively for the peace of mind, for the internal solace, for the spiritual advancement of the man, for the good of all concept.

“Now first arose desire, the primal seed of mind. Sages, searching in their hearts by wisdom, found the bond between existence and non-existence.”

—A German Philosopher

Should the Examination System Be Overhauled?

 

“Everyday news of leaking of paper of one or another examination has resulted into a total loss of credibility and collapse of examination system in the country. The students feel that the system of examination has shattered to such an extent that they find to search a person who could leak them the ensuing paper is the better course of an option than to toil all the nights prepare for that”.

The innocent students putting all their best, without caring for their health and hard-earned money of parents feel themselves the main victims of all this money-making game.

Recently the news of leaking of papers of CBSE medical and earlier leakage of CAT paper and the revelation made by the accused that they had also leaked these papers in the past, but the students who failed in earlier examinations in such a misfortune position, that they find no solace anywhere and just treat themselves most unlucky and cheated by the traders of the fate of students. They don’t find any legal or judicial remedy to make up for the loss they suffered from these miscreants.

Such incidents of paper leaking have far-reaching effects on the moral and ethical values possessed by such innocent people. They could turn to such deceptive and improper means in their future course of life that means the youth of today are being diverted towards a wrong and unethical way of thinking. Such character assassination of youth may have a very dangerous impact on the future of any country.

The crucial point to ponder is: whether the examination is overhauled to avoid or prevent such incidence of paper leaks in the future? The answer is a big and boisterous YES!

The System of examination as it exists today does not at all assess the real worth and intelligence of the candidate. If the same answers are judged by two different examiners, we find a lot of difference. One examiner may be liberal and another may be a meticulous one, the way of marking differs a lot. The present-day examination system is nothing but a matter of chance, no certainty or reliability can be placed. Most of the students suffer from examination phobia, as the date of examination draws nearer the students start becoming nervous. Many times his nervousness so overpowered him that even his best-learned lessons seem erased from his mind. Many times the question paper gives him an utter shock, whatever the topics he has left out, thinking unimportant or unworthy of appearing in the papers, but find then in the paper and topics of importance and thoroughly prepared to find no place in the paper.

The existing Examination system and procedure of judging one’s ability are so unnatural and faulty that a mediocre student can secure distinction marks and an intelligent may cut a sorry figure. Moreover, in the present examination system, except for the question paper of objective type, only cram work is useful. One who possesses good power of cramming, facts and texts secure good marks rather than an intelligent one who could not cram but analyze in a proper manner. Leacock says, “Parrots and Crows would do well in such examinations“.

It is also important to point to note that the existing system puts so much psychological and physical pressure upon the students, that many of them, grew pale and mere shadows to pass the rest of their life consulting one or another doctor.

There are some important points to discuss in the matter of paper leaking.

Accountability:- Who is to be held accountable for such incidents? Did the top lose his job or face penalty after any of these scams- CAT scam, CB SE medical leak, etc. ? We don’t see any reason to keep the top man of the university or the examination conducting body to continue. The man at the helm of affairs is to a great extent responsible for such leaks if not directly but indirectly for not taking due care of the security. He must not be allowed to discard the responsibility that it was not his job, but looking to another side of the coin, he has no job to do himself except to supervise all the jobs carried out in the institution. It is again a point that why are the education reforms not underway? The top tests in the world- SAT, GRE, GMAT are conducted not by the government, but by the private-run agency and there was never a chance of a paper leak.

The examination system is purged in a way that the chance of a paper leak is abolished totally and severe and stern action must be initiated against the heads of the examination section so that proper care is taken by them.

Transparency:- Transparency brings greater credibility and would make the process appear above board. Appearing above board is as important as being above board. Some points seem much illogical in the matter of transparency. Why are the selection criteria not clearly articulated by all institutions? Why is the weightage for various parameters not pre-announced by the testing institute or body? Why are percentile scores not made public? Why are students not allowed to take away question papers after the examination?

Why the system of total revaluation of copies not be allowed after charging nominal fees? If all the above questions are tried to be solved in the present scenario of paper leak, a lot of transparency can be maintained.

Deploying technology is not a difficult task as it helps in minimizing the chances of leaking papers. Online examination system can well be introduced in examinations like CAT, Medical, IIT, etc. It is argued that the students from the rural areas will feel discouraged by such an option but if we look to the reality even with the existing system, they don’t have any approach with the coaching centers of the metro from where most of the students secure selection. Only a few candidates from the rural area could secure selection. At the cost of a few, it is illogical to make the huge number of candidates suffer in the democratic pattern of society.

The frequent incidents of paper leaks mean inadequacy of the security in the process of papermaking and handling of the process up to conduct of the examination. Somewhere negligence, over faith, lack of security measures avoiding set guidelines resulted in the paper leaks. The process is not given due importance from a security point of view. Strategies should be built up that even the papermaker must not know the surety of using the same paper for the purpose. Persons of unquestionable integrity only be given the responsibility to get the process completed.

The issue of the paper leak is very complex and requires an in-depth analysis of the existing process before any remedial measures are taken. Two crucial points are important here. First, if the existing system is to be changed, its dominion over the education system has to be minimized and second, the quality and mechanism of examination have to be improved so as to make it more credible and up to the mark. The best way to avoid the leakage of papers is the adoption of a system of’ online, examination’ and ‘examination on demand.’ Stress waiting for an examination, cannot be overcome by online technology but the anxiety of waiting for the result is finished. In a large country like India, where a large section of the students come from the rural segment, proper infrastructure is needed. But providing and developing necessary infrastructure is not a difficult task for a country that excels in IT solutions in the world. With out-sourcing becoming so common in India, the IT companies like Infosys, Wipro, Reliance, etc. can be given the job and we can sure rest assured from any kind of fear of paper leakage.

The system does not help in developing the natural instinct or analyzing the power of the students. It has just become a necessary evil and in the present circumstances when the incidents of paper leaking have become so common that the overhauling of the whole system at least the system of examination of higher education is very urgent and imminent. In order to ensure credibility of the process and to mitigate the sufferings of candidates by incidence of paper leak, it is necessary to overhand the whole system so that it actually judges the capability and intelligentsia of the students.