BANK P.O.

SPECIAL
914 I MAY 2002 I THE COMPETITION MASTER
Descriptive Questions
Privatisation of non-
performing government
schools
Q. There is a proposal that
non- performi ng government
schools should be privatised for
qual i t y educat i on and bet t er
results. In the light of the proposal,
express your views based on your
experience, knowledge and ground
realities.
Ans. Irrespective of the politics and
polemics that the Indian political classes
practise, the polity stands committed to
providing universal education to all
upto the age of fourteen. Since
education for all is a constitutional
obligation, no government worth its salt
can retrace its steps on the road to giving
education to one and all. In theory, this
commitment appears highly
commendable, but in practice the picture
that emerges is equally depressing. With
most government schools lacking in
basic facilities, and the staff too not very
much committed to performing its duty
consciously and conscientiously, the
drop-out rate continues to remain the
bane of the problem of illiteracy. In order
to break the scourge of wilful wastage
of men, material and money, it has been
proposed that some non-performing
government schools should be
privatised and the resources thus saved
could be better used on other schools
under the State patronage.
The crying need of the hour is that
many more government-aided/
financed schools are opened across the
length and breadth of the country.
Equally urgent is the need to provide
quality education to all those who seek
admission in such schools. The
experience so far has been rather sad, as
far as the working and performance of
most government-run schools is
concerned. The remedy suggested by
some persons that non-performing
government schools should be
privatised is worse than the malady. The
moment such schools are privatised, fees
and other charges would go up and a
majority of students unable to foot the
bill, would naturally go out of the
portals of these privatised schools. If this
happens under the so-called umbrella
of a welfare State like India, the goal of
universal education will remain a pipe
dream.
The proposal to privatise non-
performing government school is
preposterous, to say the least. The
remedy lies in making these schools the
light-houses of knowledge through
quality education. When the teachers
working in these schools are paid full
salaries, there is no reason why they
should not put their hearts and souls in
the job of making their wards fully
equipped and prepared to face the world
with confidence.
Accelerating economic
growth
Q. Suggest three effective
measures to enable the Indian
economy to become buoyant and
register faster growth in the years to
come. Elucidate or explain how the
steps suggested by you would produce
the desired results.
Ans. In the latest Competitiveness
Index ranking, India is ranked 36
among 75 countries. This speaks
volumes of Indias economy in the
context of global slow-down. The
authors of Global Competitiveness
Report 2002 make an important point
on competitiveness, which under new
dispensation of globalisation means:
At low levels of development,
economic growth is determined
primarily by the mobilisation of
primary factors of production: land,
primary commodities, and unskilled
labour. As economies move from low
to middle-income status, global
competitiveness becomes investment-
driven, as economic growth is
increasingly achieved by harnessing
global technologies to local
production.
Bad pol i ti cs l eads to worse
economies. With political parties still
holding on to populist policies, it is
an uphill task to rein in the mounting
fi scal defi ci t and publ i c debt/
borrowings. It is time now that some
hard decisions are taken, because bad
politics has already ruined many
countri es. A pol i ti cal party that
adheres to certai n val ues and
principles, and does not allow caste
and other considerations to colour its
percepti ons and practi ces, can
contribute to the revival of economy
that is in a shambles now, both at the
Centre as well as in most States.
The current economic situation
demands that non-merit subsidies are
phased out. Downsizing of the
government, pruning of over-sized
ministries, closing down loss- making
State-owned enterprises, judicious and
efficient use of available limited
resources, coupled with bringing about
a buoyancy in revenues by expanding
the tax base would enable the economy
to pick up momentum and achieve the
target of economic growth as
stipulated. Though there are certain
reservations on the measures taken in
current year s budget, there are
indications enough to show that efforts
are afoot to bring the economy back on
the rails.
BANK P.O. SPECIAL
915 I MAY 2002 I THE COMPETITION MASTER
For big investment the government
needs big money. Slicing off subsidies,
disinvestment in public sector
undertakings, mobilisation of resources
by resorting to VRS/Winding up of
redundant departments and similar
other steps aimed at austerity and
optimum utilisation of funds, can go a
long way in creating a climate that can
stimulate economic growth. Some
dislocations or distortions that may
result from some harsh decisions, would
be off set or taken care of, once the
economy begins to register growth or
revival.
Reliability of opinion/exit
polls?
Q. Some persons strongly feel that
the conclusions drawn from opinion/
exit polls are not reliable and hence
they should be banned till the whole
election process minus the results is
officially completed. Express your
well- considered views on the subject.
Ans. Once the election scene starts
hotting up, persons with some
knowledge of psephology set out to
read the minds of the voters, and come
out with the results of their reliable or
otherwise opinion/exit polls. More than
once, these so-called scientific
conclusions of election surveys, or exit
polls, have belied their own authenticity,
but still the tribe of psephologists (some
genuine while others biased or
sponsored) keeps increasing, no matter
how wide off the mark their conclusions
prove. In view of the very unreliable
nature of opinion/exit poll results, there
is a growing feeling among some
persons that these enigmatic exercises
should be banned, or at least their
findings not allowed, both in print and
electronic media, till the voting process
is fully completed.
Unlike in the West, where last
minute swings/sways are not as
palpable and probable as in India, it is
a bit risky to put much credence on
what the psephologists present as
projections or possible outcome of the
voters choice. Since the subject or
medium of psephology has not
acquired the status of a science, its
findings are likely to go haywire.
Though the conclusions of opinion/exit
polls are based on data collected at
random, yet the reach and range of
those engaged on the job is limited
because of the vast number of voters
and an extensive area of a constituency.
In view of these constraints, if there is
a demand to ban the publication of
opinion/exit poll results, it should not
be construed that freedom of the press
or fairness of pollsters findings are
being questioned. Only the reliability
of the exercise and its fall-out are being
brought to light.
It has been observed that in a
country like India, where voters are still
influenced by waves, real or imaginary,
the opinion/exit poll results can
influence the choice of the voters to a
certain extent. Unwittingly, the pollsters
interfere with the process of free and fair
elections when their findings, highly
suspect and unreliable, give a message
not free from errors and unscientific
conclusions. Since it is the right of the
voter to have the last genuine laugh/
choice, it is nobodys business to affect
it, least of all by the pollster. The
charitable and academic explanation put
forward by pollsters may be any, the
uncharitable version is that voters
regard pollsters as meddlesome busy
bodies.
Contempt of Court
Q. The subject of Contempt of
Court has evoked conflicting views
among legal luminaries and common
citizens. Express your views on the
issue as best and unbiased as you
can.
Ans. The issue of what constitutes
the contempt of court has become the
talking point, both among legal eagles
and common citizen, ever since the
Booker Prize winner writer was
sentenced for a day and fined for her
utterances against the judgement of the
Apex Court. It was but natural that
Courts symbolic j udgement
sentencing the writer would trigger a
debate on the issues of contempt, vis-
a-vis the Courts dignity and the
freedom of expression and dissent,
within and outside the judicial context.
Since the subject under discussion is
both delicate and sensitive in nature
and nuance, one should show enough
sensitivity while deliberating and
dilating on the subject. Those who tend
to disagree with some of the Court
judgements on issues pertaining to the
people at large, like the tribals/locals
affected by the Sardar Sarovar Dam,
feel inclined to expect a more
magnanimous view to be taken by the
Court on their dissent or even criticism
of the Courts judgement. Some have
even argued that the contempt law
itself needs a fresh look, while others
have suggested its codification.
Certainly, the debate should help
improve the scope for public dissent,
while upholding the sanctity of the
judiciary.
If political pundi ts advocate
freedom of speech and expression in
an unequivocal language, the judges
have their own reasons to punish those
who try to scandalise the Court and
sensationalise the issue or the cause.
One of the judges of the Suppreme
Court echoed his reasons emphatically:
If the judiciary is to perform its duties
and functions effectively and true to
the spirit with which they are sacredly
entrusted to it, the dignity and
authority of the courts have to be
respected and protected at all costs,...
The power to punish for contempt of
court is a safeguard not for judges as
persons but for the function which they
perform.
Since the right to speech is not
absolute, it is tampered by restrictions
constitutionally deemed to be
reasonable in nature. In England the
contempt of court provision has not been
used for many decades now. In the
words of Lord Denning: We will never
use this jurisdiction as a means to
uphold our dignity. In the same spirit
the public men at large should not
indulge in strong reactions that may be
construed as casting aspersions on the
impartiality/integrity of judges, because
of their judgements.