Another Cartoon - Same Controversy

It has been three years since my last post. But certain things remain the same in the world. This time the cartoon is ostensibly about the economic stimulus plan, but makes, somewhat slyly, a racist jibe at the President. The publishers of the cartoons once again try to take cover under the veneer of the First Amendment. Public opinion is again distracted by the purported suppression of rights.It's all a familiar story.

It maybe impossible to ban such crude, offensive humor by law. But hopefully public outrage discourages further such misadventures.

The outrageous cartoons and the outrageous response

The world is going to the dogs - some claim. Although I usually brush away such remarks as incoherent utterings of the pessimists, some recent events make me doubt my stand. The cartoons that were published in European newspapers depicting Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and the reaction to it in the Muslim and Western countries are few such events.

Firstly, the cartoons are abhorable. What they do is to typecast all muslims of the world as terrorists and conveys an impression that violence is basis of islam. That is of course, not true and Islam does not promote violence. It stands for peace as much as any other religion in the world. The media should behave responsibly and not stereotype millions of people in this world as evil. The parallel I can find to these cartoons is depicting people of African orgin as mentally degenerate and evolutionally backward. If you can brand the latter act as racism and ban it from public discourse why can't you do the same about the former act.

For people who would not be offended, the contoversial cartoons can be found here

Secondly, the response to it in Muslim countries was unacceptably violent. Vandalizing embassies, threatening to kill innocent people, returning the insult with anti-jew remarks are all barbaric acts.

Thirdly, the justification of the cartoons in the Western countries as "freedom of speech" is despicable. All rights come with responsibilities and no person has the right to demean the faith of another person. The comments that I read in this blog on CNN website, made me bristle with anger. And I am not even Muslim.

All this reflects only one thing. The deep cleft between the Western and the middle-eastern world. Or more specifically between Muslims and Christians-Jews. Put in another way, the world is going to the dogs.

The death of TNPCEE (and along with it engineering standards)

The Tamil Nadu government has announced that the TNPCEE examination (Tamil Nadu Professional College Entrance Examination) will be abolished. In the new system for engineering admission, the students will be ranked based on their board exam scores alone. To the uninitiated it might sound like the new scheme is simpler and thus is beneficial to both the students and the administrators. Unfortunately, it might not be so. The new scheme compromises a much more important issue - selection based on merit.

I was initially shocked when I read that Jayalalitha abolished TNPCEE, a move which has been praised by all political parties alike. Then I felt a huge wave of relief that it was not done when I was in my 12th standard. To explain these feelings, I need to highlight a few points about the new system.

1. The board examination in its current form is incapable of distinguishing the aptitude and hardwork put in by different students. Since the structure of the exam is mostly essay-type, it cannot be practically used as a competitive exam.
2. Now students dont need to understand the subject, but rather memorize it blindly.
3. The uncertainities and vageries of answer-paper correction, which has always been of low standard, will unfairly influence students' choices
4. It is very likely that there are going to be 300-400 students with the same score. How is the administration going to sort it? Based on age? caste? or alphabeical order? With a name "Vivek", you can understand why I am relieved profusely. Cant you? I will remember to name my son "Aakash" and my daughter "Aarthi".Maybe I should put in another 'a', just in case.
5. This system is prejudiced against the students from other boards (CBSE etc.)
   
6. The alleged benefit of the new system is that engineering college seats will be more accessible to rural students. What the government doesn't consider is the plight of these students after they join engineering colleges. Not used to the tremendous competition that is common in these colleges, most of these students perform poorly compared to other students. This leads to more college dropouts or worse lowering the standard of education to meet these demands. This is where the old system performs admirably. More competitive students get into more competitive colleges.
   
7. The best way to improve standards of the rural students is to improve the education system itself in rural areas. A quota system for rural students could also be considered. There is already a quota system in place for rural students from SC/ST castes.This could be expanded to all castes. But since the quota system is already abused badly, this could only open a pandora's box of problems.
8. With India striving to be a developed nation, we need more colleges like IITs which conduct active research catering the needs of the Indian society in specific. Colleges that have already established a reputation of providing good engineering education are the ones that could develop the research capability. The new system will be detriment towards this development by lowering the standards.

Some positive spin offs I can think with the new system are as follows. While I welcome the fact that these problems are addressed, I strongly believe the proposed system is not the way to solve these problems.

1. Colleges will have more women students
2. The coaching classes which were extorting money from the students and spreading unnecessary fear about the exam itself are now out of business.

Hopefully the engineering education is refined before further damage happens. Many colleges are already unable to fill half their seats. Any confusion could take further toll.

Dress Code- A suppression of expession

This post is about a recent rule brought about in my alma mater- Anna University. A new vice-chancellor took over recently, and he has decided to impose some of his perceptions of propriety on 50,000 students all over Tamil Nadu. To quote the directive from Anna University website:

"The dress code states that students should not wear jeans, t-shirts, skirts or sleeveless and tight-fitting outfits and enjoins them to dress conservatively."

Chennai has always been a conservative city, but it generally avoids contoversies. Such imposition of "Indian culture" is usually restricted to the likes of Siva Sena and VHP in the north. So it really surprised me to hear about this happening at my own backyard.

To quote the VC's comments on the rule:

"We are only trying to ensure that students dress decently and modestly, in a way that befits our culture. A dress code will also pre-empt harassment of women students,"

Sorry sir.. I differ on your arguements. I do not accept your interpretation of "Indian Culture"

Traditional Indian attire for women used to be two-piece which exposed much of the upper body. Women in ancient Indian society were much more emancipated when compared to women in the modern Indian society. Somewhere down the line in history, the rights of women diminished and the dress they were required to wear increased.

Dont mistake me.. I dont say all girls should start wearing two piece. Dress in whatever you feel comfortable in...

Dress is a form of expression. You feel good when you dress good. It is a way of stating your attitude and character; a way of expressing creativity. In the modern society Jeans and T-shirts have become symbols of youthfulness and confidence. Any move to ban them is retrograde and antidiluvian.

As for short skirts, low hip jeans, short tops, etc... These are symbols of culture change. They are not yet totally accepted by the Indian middle class society. The college is a place where much of the cultural change happens. Dont try to control the change, because you cannot.

Ok now for the second argument: Girls who wear "modern" clothes are more susceptible to harrassment.

I do not accept or deny this. You need to perform a scientific survey to determine it. Like I already said, such clothes have become symbols of confidence. My hypothesis is that girls who wear modern dresses handle harrassment in a bolder way than girls who dont. From my experience, most harassers steer clear of girls who are not intimidated. The solution to harrassment of women comes by empowering them, not restricting them.

Finally to prevent more criticism from women organizations, the vice-chancellor has said even boys will be banned from wearing jeans and t-shirts. They should be dressed in formal shirts and pants. I dont understand why if certain type of western clothes are acceptable, certain others are not.

Problems in Ford Motor Company

Any talk about complacent people is not complete without the mention of the big American automobile companies - General Motors and Ford. In a country where the love for cars is only second to love for beer, declining auto sales is a very bad sign. Ford and GM are no longer the legendary names that they used to be but huge dinosaurs awaiting their doom. Let me restrain myself to discussing about Ford today.

Ford is a company which changed the way the world travels. It was the first company to mass-produce cars, which were until then a luxury reserved only to the rich. It revolutionized manufacturing and empowered the common man. But now the company is dire straits and is making company wide layoff's in an effort to cut costs. There are departments in Ford where more than 30% of the staff were fired. Things do not look any better for the future since Ford plans on further "trimming" its white-collar staff. Such company wide cuts, if lasts for a long period, would bring down the employee morale and scare away top brains to competitors.

We should analyze the reasons for such a crisis. Firstly, I think Ford Motor Company lost its foot by not making the right calls at the right time. A company which made the legendary Mustang - the most popular muscle car of all times, didnt forsee the need to make fuel efficient cars. Also Ford lost out to the Japanese car manufacturers on reliability and durability issues. The number of recalls are much greater for Ford ( and other American manufacturers) when compared with Japanese manufacturers.

The most outrageous recall I have heard is the recall of 2000 Ford trucks for the replacement of its cruise control switch. Ford has been using the switch on many of its models from 1992 to 2003. It has been found that these switches can catch fire without any warning posing danger to life and property. The CNN website recommends you to "park your vehicle away from your house". You should probably park your vehicle away from all human and animal habitation (or in a junk yard) to prevent causing any damage.

The automobile industry is in a crucial phase now while it is preparing itself for a change in technology. The good old internal combustion engine would soon be replaced by cleaner technologies like fuel cells. To prepare for such a transition a company needs to invest a lot into research and development. The amount of profit you make today will determine the amount you are going to invest in R&D and eventually the amount of profit you are going to make tomorrow. It is possible that a small slip could fast turn into a downward spiral. Ford already lags behind Toyota and Honda in Hybrid Technology. Ford Escape-Hybrid, the so called "world's first hybrid SUV" has technology heavily borrowed from Toyota.

All said, it is possible that Ford sees the bottom of the slope and starts climbing again. After all it is still one of the largest manufacturers of SUVs and pickup trucks. Perhaps the solution for Ford's cost crisis lies outside United States - in countries like India and Mexico, which provide the same cutting edge technological support at a fractional cost. But the true solution out of its current position could come not by cost cutting but by innovation. Ford can regain market share only if it come up with exciting, fresh ideas ahead of its competitors. Only the future will say whether this would happen.