UPA Intensifies Attacks on Education : 3
UPAMERRY GAME OF THE POWERFUL
We must understand that these policy changes are a part of the much bigger shift in the power game in the country over the last one year. In fact, the big business houses of the country and imperialists could not have even imagined a merrier time than this one, nor could they have a better ally than the Congress-led UPA 2. Just to exemplify the situation, the hurry to push the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill is nothing but a hidden subsidy to the US equipment suppliers and their hangers-on in India. On the other hand, what did we see in the general budget last month? Food subsidy has been cut off by Rs 424 crore and fertiliser subsidy by Rs 3000 crore. Indirect taxes have been increased, burdening the common man still more, while the land mafia, traders and corporate sector have been given tax concessions worth Rs 26000 crore. Allocation for a crucial social welfare programme such as the NREGA saw only a meagre increase and the universalisation of mid-day meal still remains a distant dream! It appears that in order to promote the private nuclear power plants and favour the US companies, the UPA is ready to sacrifice the interests of the same ‘aam aadmi’ who continues to be in the centre of its electoral slogans.
Whether it is a blackboard or the nuclear plant, the UPA’s priorities are crystal clear. Education has not been exempted from the government’s withdrawal from the social sector. The state has is gradually giving up whatever little welfare role it has been playing and is now nakedly facilitating private interests. When India became independent with 35 crore souls, around 500 private colleges were made government aided institutions and made to contribute to the task of nation building. The role has reversed now. The primary aim now, as Professor Prabhat Patnaik notes, is to deliver, “organic intellectuals for the global job market.” The idea of education with a social purpose has been cremated with all the state honours, literally.
Can the students community allow the commoditisation of their knowledge and consequently of themselves? The role the student movement played before 1947 in cooperation with other classes and sections against British imperialism, needs a revival on a higher level --- so as to take on the dastardly ways of imperialism. It is high time to rise up, for nothing less than our hard won freedom is at stake.
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