Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Synonyms with ‘Sushasan’
Author: Arjun Ram Meghwal
New Delhi: The good governance or ‘Sushashan’ is an imbibed inheritance of India’s ancient culture and ethos. The democratic values retrieved through the ‘Gan Sangha’ of Buddhism, ‘Anubhav Mantap’ system of 11th Century AD established by Lord Basveshwar, Chankya’s ‘Arth Shastra,’ Civic Planning during the Indus Valley civilization, legacy of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, among others, are inherited wisdom towards better governance. On the occasion of Good Governance Day to mark the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it is imperative to throw light and contextualize his remarkable role in institutionalizing the excellent governance measures in independent India.
After independence, good governance remained a focal point of the governance reforms, but in discourses only. In the Constituent Assembly debates or institutions like the Planning Commission, the duly crafted policy discussion remained on paper with poor implementation measures. With the visionary leadership and statesmanship of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the nation witnessed historic good-governance efforts that brought fortunes to the lives of the masses.
A long stint as a parliamentarian having ten terms as a member of Lok Sabha, two terms as Rajya Sabha Member Atal Bihari Vajpayee, kept on throwing light on good governance’s nuances. As an opposition member, his reasoned argument and constructive criticisms carried much gravity to aspire for a welfare-centric governance system. During his prime ministerial tenures, the people-centric initiatives emerged as milestones in India's transformational journey.
The improving farmers live by introducing Kisan Credit Cards, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, and infrastructural boost by the Golden Quadrilateral scheme, the conceptualization of river interlinking and National Rural Health program, educational reforms through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, constituting a separate Tribal Affairs Ministry, among others, are a few measures that have touched every section of society. The quasi-judicial Central Electricity Regulatory Commission was set up, and the age-old electricity act was amended in the Power sector to improve the regulatory framework.
In May 1998, conducting nuclear tests at Pokhran Rajasthan catapulted India’s status to a nuclear weapon state as part of his national governance agenda. The famous Vajpayee doctrine towards solving the complex Kashmir problem echoed the popular wisdom of ‘Insaniyat, Jamhuriyat and Kashmiriyat’ meant for humanity, peace, and sanctity of Kashmiri People. His foreign affairs related insights that ‘You can change friends, not neighbors’ continuous source of engagement at all platforms. Atalji's government had allowed bringing bodies of martyrs to their homes to enable the people to honor the soldiers who were given supreme sacrifices in the service of the nation. He was a man of consensus and pragmatism reflected from the fact that in 2000 three new states of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were formed by carving out from Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar respectively in a very peaceful manner. It was a well-thought-out move towards establishing good-governance by bringing government closer to the people.
He was deeply influenced by the futuristic insights of Dr BR Ambedkar's thoughts and his role in nation-building. It was the insistence of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani Ji that VP Singh government, supported by BJP, honoured Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar with Bharat Ratna on March 31, 1990. Vajpayee’s will to develop the pious premises of 26 Alipore Road, Delhi where Maharaja of Sirohi, Rajasthan invited Dr Ambedkar to stay after resigning from the Union Cabinet (1951), transpired to create it as a museum that would inspire the people for social equality. Dr Ambedkar breathed his last at this place only. The Ministry of Urban Development signed the exchange deed of this private property on October 14, 2003, under Vajpayee’s supervision and development works were inaugurated in December 2003. Later during the UPA regime, this project was kept at bay. The Modi government developed it with the cost of Rs 100 crore as Dr Ambedkar National Memorial and dedicated it to the nation on April 13, 2018.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee walked the talk of Good Governances by undertaking several initiatives at the dawn of the 21st century. Now taking that baton forward, PM Narendra Modi has increased the speed & scale of these measures to realize his goals and make New India a 21st century global leader. Technological interventions like DBT, JAM trinity, faceless taxation, among other measures, led to minimizing the discretionary power, and it has strengthened the people’s confidence in institutions. The ambit of Kisan credit cards has been increased, and Agriculture allied activities have been incorporated. A big boost to the infrastructure sector is undertaken through the Bharatmala, Sagarmala, National Asset Monetization Pipeline, Agriculture Infrastructure fund, an extension to PMGSY phase-III.
The repeal of Article 370, that is, the special status of J&K, has added a new dimension to the effective and efficient services delivery mechanism for J&K. Now, people from every section are brought into the mainstream development agenda. Atal Bhujal Yojana is for sustainable groundwater management. Recently, on 8th December the Union Cabinet Approved the Ken-Betwa interlinking project, which became the first major center-driven project to carry water from areas with surpluses to drought-prone and water deficit areas to realize the vision of Atalji.
The Mantra of 'Minimum Government and Maximum Governance’ facilitating the ease of lives of citizens. Breaking governance silos through better coordination among various ministries & departments with initiatives like PM Gatishakti, PRAGATI, capacity building through Mission Karamyogi, focused emphasis on simplifying procedures and reducing the compliance burden on businesses, individuals, and other stakeholders are ensuring better service delivery. The implementation of GST, Labor codes, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, New Education Policy, Mudra, PM Awas Schemes, PM Kisan, and seamless faceless resolution of tax disputes are other several aspects, strengthening the transparency, responsiveness, and other dimensions of good Governance. It is testimony to such measures that India has improved on Ease of Doing Business ranking to 79 positions from 145 in 2015 to 63 in 2020. Similarly, the Global Innovation Index ranking increased from 81st (2015) to 46th rank (2021).
Societies co-evolve with scientific and technological developments, and so does parity required for the governance reforms to accommodate the emerging transformation for the betterment of all stakeholders. Modi Government measures implemented in a time-bound manner are genuinely remarkable, and many historic milestones have been achieved so far. As the saying goes, there is always room for improvement; many significant reforms are in pipelines. The PM has raised the concern for holding simultaneous elections, Single electoral roll, and judicial reform in the form of All India Judicial Services on many platforms for the nation’s best interest. Appropriate consultations are being held at federal and political levels among relevant stakeholders to expedite the reform process.
Good governance is a means to essentially serve the people, having its end towards fulfilling their aspirations through the well-established constitutional framework. Atalji’s vision, leadership, guidance, and invaluable insights will always remain an inspiration for present and future generations. As the nation witnessing the Good Governance Day during the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, let us introspect and pledge to act in the spirit of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, and Sabka Prayas’ for building a new India. /PIB/
(The author is Union Minister of State for Culture, and Parliamentary Affairs. The views are his personal)
More In Public Affairs
NEP-2020 aspires for inclusive excellence in school education
Rajeev Ranjan Roy
The New Education Policy-2020 (NEP-2020), unveiled recently, aims at achieving excellence in school learning by imparting quality, affordable and inclusive education to all, with an extra emphasis on those children coming from socially and educationally disadvantaged groups of the society. It is a futuristic endeavour towards building Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat. The previous education policies largely focussed on the issues of access and equity in giving school education, while the NEP-2020 commits to laying the foundation of a vibrant Bharat where no one is devoid of a kind of school education, which helps every student become an asset for the nation in a true sense. The unfinished agenda of the National Policy on Education 1986, which was modified in 1992, has been effectively dealt with in the NEP-2020 along with the vision behind the Right to the Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which “laid down legal underpinnings for achieving universal elementary education.”
Given the undisputed role of education in nation building, the NEP-2020 rightly lays the stress on standardization and accreditation of school infrastructure and teachers as well, since education with accountability, transparency and affordability is the need of the hour, and hence the need to “empower schools, teachers with trust, enabling them to strive for excellence and perform at their very best, while ensuring the integrity of the system through the enforcement of complete transparency and full public disclosure of all finances, procedures and outcomes.” Since private sector is significantly present in the field of school education, the idea to promote ‘not-for-profit’ entities is a unique feature of NEP-2020, which at the same time intends to promote private philanthropic efforts for quality education, thereby affirming the public-good nature of education, while protecting parents and communities from arbitrary increase in tuition fees.
An equally important area, which has got due attention in the NEP-2020 is the need for efficient resourcing and effective governance through school complexes and clusters, a significant initiative in view of the fact that nearly 28 per cent of India’s public primary schools and 14.8 per cent of upper primary schools have less than 30 students. The average number of students per grade in the elementary schooling system – Grades 1 to 8 – is about 14, with a notable proportion having below six students during 2016-17, the year which also had 1,08,017 single-teacher schools, and majority of them – 85,743 – being primary schools taking care of Grades 1-5 children. It was, therefore, a pressing need to evolve a mechanism for establishing a grouping structure, say, school complexes, consisting of one secondary school together with all other schools, which lead to greater resource efficiency and more effective functioning, coordination, leadership, governance, and management of schools in the cluster. This will not only ensure optimum utilisation of resources, but will also foster the sense of oneness and togetherness among the school children, who are the future of the nation.
What further makes the New Education Policy-2020 uniquely special is its pledge for equitable and inclusive education for all, one of the great dreams of our founding fathers. Education, as the NEP-2020 rightly envisions, is “the single greatest tool for achieving social justice and quality.” Inclusive and equitable education, indeed an essential goal in its own right, is also critical to achieving a social order where every citizen has “the opportunity to dream, thrive, and contribute to the nation.” Quality, affordable and ethical education to all is the first move to break multiple social and economic barriers, which sow the seeds of exclusion, discrimination and exploitation against our own people on different parochial considerations.
Needless to say efforts were made in the past as well to bridge the educational chasm between socially and educationally disadvantaged groups (SEDGs) and the children of top social strata, but the desired results remained elusive. SEDGs account for the country’s overwhelming population, but their children’s share in quality school educational institutions has been minimal over the years. Early childhood care and education (ECCE) needs to be handled more comprehensively. According to the Unified-District Information System for Education (U-DISE) 2016-17 data, about 19.6 per cent of students belonged to Scheduled Castes (SCs) at the primary level, but this fraction fell to 17.3 per cent at the higher secondary level. These enrollment drop-outs were more severe for ST students (10.6 per cent to 6.8 per cent), and differently-abled children (1.1 per cent to 0.25 per cent), with even greater declines for female students within each of these categories. Thus, there is no scope for any complacency on the part of the government. A series of interventions including better facilities, more and more hostels, scholarships and other enabling support have been provisioned in the NEP-2020 so that the idea of ‘learning for all’ is realised in a more comprehensive manner.
Teachers are not only an integral part of an education system, but the most important stakeholder in the entire gamut of things. Their quality and ability to teach school students, when they are in their formative age, become something of paramount importance. From their recruitment to training, every precaution needs to be taken to ensure that school education is not rendered to a mere formality, but becomes a game changer. The New Education Policy-2020 comes with a basket full of tools and parameters to ensure holistic training and upgradation of teachers and their teaching skills in a sustainable manner. From continuous professional development (CPD) to career management and progression (CMP), the NEP-2020 vouches for a set of common guidelines – National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST), which will be put in place by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in its restructured new form as the Professional Standard Setting Body (PSSB) under the General Education Council. This exercise will be carried out in consultation with National Council Educational Research and Training (NCERT), SCERTs, teachers from across levels and regions.
The teacher education will also undergo a sea-change. By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. that teaches a range of knowledge content. Today B.Ed. teaching is most poorly regulated in our country ever since the standalone B.Ed. colleges were allowed to be opened up in the private sector. It is high time to take B.Ed. teaching more than seriously. The NEP-2020 stipulates that by 2021, a new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE-2021) will be formulated by the NCTE. NCFTE, which will also factor in the requirements of teacher education curricula for vocational education, will be revised once every 5-10 years.
In conclusion, the NEP-2020 visualizes to impart a school education which lays the foundation of a self-reliant India and also to help our country emerge as a knowledge hub. From the foundation of learning to foundational literacy and numeracy to checking drop outs and ensuring universal access to education for all and at all levels to the restructuring of school curriculum, India is in for a metamorphosis in the field of school education, recognizing, identifying and fostering the unique capabilities of each student. Tools such as multi disciplinarity, emphasis on conceptual understanding, creativity and critical thinking, ethics and human and constitutional values, full equity and inclusion, and light but tight regulatory framework are bound to do wonders. Education is a public service, a rare pursuit in nation building, which should be holistic and inclusive and must make one take pride in India and its rich, diverse, ancient and modern culture and knowledge systems and tradition. The NEP-2020 aspires so, indeed!
( The writer is a senior journalist and author. The views expressed are strictly personal.)
NEP-2020 aspires for inclusive excellence in school education
Rajeev Ranjan Roy
The New Education Policy-2020 (NEP-2020), unveiled recently, aims at achieving excellence in school learning by imparting quality, affordable and inclusive education to all, with an extra emphasis on those children coming from socially and educationally disadvantaged groups of the society. It is a futuristic endeavour towards building Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat. The previous education policies largely focussed on the issues of access and equity in giving school education, while the NEP-2020 commits to laying the foundation of a vibrant Bharat where no one is devoid of a kind of school education, which helps every student become an asset for the nation in a true sense. The unfinished agenda of the National Policy on Education 1986, which was modified in 1992, has been effectively dealt with in the NEP-2020 along with the vision behind the Right to the Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which “laid down legal underpinnings for achieving universal elementary education.”
Given the undisputed role of education in nation building, the NEP-2020 rightly lays the stress on standardization and accreditation of school infrastructure and teachers as well, since education with accountability, transparency and affordability is the need of the hour, and hence the need to “empower schools, teachers with trust, enabling them to strive for excellence and perform at their very best, while ensuring the integrity of the system through the enforcement of complete transparency and full public disclosure of all finances, procedures and outcomes.” Since private sector is significantly present in the field of school education, the idea to promote ‘not-for-profit’ entities is a unique feature of NEP-2020, which at the same time intends to promote private philanthropic efforts for quality education, thereby affirming the public-good nature of education, while protecting parents and communities from arbitrary increase in tuition fees.
An equally important area, which has got due attention in the NEP-2020 is the need for efficient resourcing and effective governance through school complexes and clusters, a significant initiative in view of the fact that nearly 28 per cent of India’s public primary schools and 14.8 per cent of upper primary schools have less than 30 students. The average number of students per grade in the elementary schooling system – Grades 1 to 8 – is about 14, with a notable proportion having below six students during 2016-17, the year which also had 1,08,017 single-teacher schools, and majority of them – 85,743 – being primary schools taking care of Grades 1-5 children. It was, therefore, a pressing need to evolve a mechanism for establishing a grouping structure, say, school complexes, consisting of one secondary school together with all other schools, which lead to greater resource efficiency and more effective functioning, coordination, leadership, governance, and management of schools in the cluster. This will not only ensure optimum utilisation of resources, but will also foster the sense of oneness and togetherness among the school children, who are the future of the nation.
What further makes the New Education Policy-2020 uniquely special is its pledge for equitable and inclusive education for all, one of the great dreams of our founding fathers. Education, as the NEP-2020 rightly envisions, is “the single greatest tool for achieving social justice and quality.” Inclusive and equitable education, indeed an essential goal in its own right, is also critical to achieving a social order where every citizen has “the opportunity to dream, thrive, and contribute to the nation.” Quality, affordable and ethical education to all is the first move to break multiple social and economic barriers, which sow the seeds of exclusion, discrimination and exploitation against our own people on different parochial considerations.
Needless to say efforts were made in the past as well to bridge the educational chasm between socially and educationally disadvantaged groups (SEDGs) and the children of top social strata, but the desired results remained elusive. SEDGs account for the country’s overwhelming population, but their children’s share in quality school educational institutions has been minimal over the years. Early childhood care and education (ECCE) needs to be handled more comprehensively. According to the Unified-District Information System for Education (U-DISE) 2016-17 data, about 19.6 per cent of students belonged to Scheduled Castes (SCs) at the primary level, but this fraction fell to 17.3 per cent at the higher secondary level. These enrollment drop-outs were more severe for ST students (10.6 per cent to 6.8 per cent), and differently-abled children (1.1 per cent to 0.25 per cent), with even greater declines for female students within each of these categories. Thus, there is no scope for any complacency on the part of the government. A series of interventions including better facilities, more and more hostels, scholarships and other enabling support have been provisioned in the NEP-2020 so that the idea of ‘learning for all’ is realised in a more comprehensive manner.
Teachers are not only an integral part of an education system, but the most important stakeholder in the entire gamut of things. Their quality and ability to teach school students, when they are in their formative age, become something of paramount importance. From their recruitment to training, every precaution needs to be taken to ensure that school education is not rendered to a mere formality, but becomes a game changer. The New Education Policy-2020 comes with a basket full of tools and parameters to ensure holistic training and upgradation of teachers and their teaching skills in a sustainable manner. From continuous professional development (CPD) to career management and progression (CMP), the NEP-2020 vouches for a set of common guidelines – National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST), which will be put in place by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in its restructured new form as the Professional Standard Setting Body (PSSB) under the General Education Council. This exercise will be carried out in consultation with National Council Educational Research and Training (NCERT), SCERTs, teachers from across levels and regions.
The teacher education will also undergo a sea-change. By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. that teaches a range of knowledge content. Today B.Ed. teaching is most poorly regulated in our country ever since the standalone B.Ed. colleges were allowed to be opened up in the private sector. It is high time to take B.Ed. teaching more than seriously. The NEP-2020 stipulates that by 2021, a new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE-2021) will be formulated by the NCTE. NCFTE, which will also factor in the requirements of teacher education curricula for vocational education, will be revised once every 5-10 years.
In conclusion, the NEP-2020 visualizes to impart a school education which lays the foundation of a self-reliant India and also to help our country emerge as a knowledge hub. From the foundation of learning to foundational literacy and numeracy to checking drop outs and ensuring universal access to education for all and at all levels to the restructuring of school curriculum, India is in for a metamorphosis in the field of school education, recognizing, identifying and fostering the unique capabilities of each student. Tools such as multi disciplinarity, emphasis on conceptual understanding, creativity and critical thinking, ethics and human and constitutional values, full equity and inclusion, and light but tight regulatory framework are bound to do wonders. Education is a public service, a rare pursuit in nation building, which should be holistic and inclusive and must make one take pride in India and its rich, diverse, ancient and modern culture and knowledge systems and tradition. The NEP-2020 aspires so, indeed!
( The writer is a senior journalist and author. The views expressed are strictly personal.)
