The Hindu : New Delhi News : Readers' Mail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 20, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Readers' Mail

No, IGNOU....

Sir, -- I am enrolled as a student with Indira Gandhi National Open University (Enrolment No.989539020). I completed my Bachelor's degree in computer applications in 2002 and then enrolled for the Master's in the same discipline. Ever since I joined the University, in 1998, I have had to bear the brunt of its unfair evaluation system. Random marking is prevalent. IGNOU has enrolled more students than it can manage and as a result it is not able to ensure a fair evaluation system. Answer sheets are marked arbitrarily without the content being read.

My convictions have become stronger after one of the evaluators made a confession about this state of affairs. He told me that the evaluators are asked to check one answer sheet in two minutes.

Moreover, the evaluators employed by the University hardly have the required qualification. The Masters course in computer applications requires a high degree of acumen and expertise. The subject is complex and a problem may have many possible solutions. But IGNOU is unable to pay its examiners more than Rs. 5 per answer sheet. I wonder why and how a highly qualified person will be ready to work for such a meagre sum.

I have been a victim of this unfair system all along since 1998. I finished my Bachelor's with much agony and now I am facing the problem again. It is depressing to find that I have failed in an examination when I was expecting more than 90 per cent marks. This is not the case with me alone; this is the story of many students suffering at the hands of IGNOU.

I have relayed my grievances to IGNOU time and again but failed to get a response. The Administration at IGNOU is not open to students and it does not even acknowledge the correspondence.

I hope there is immediate action now to improve the state of affairs.

Mahesh Narayanan,

C-001, Hindon Apartments,

Vasundhara Enclave,

Delhi-110 096

Sorry, but....

Sir, -- Pure yarn is the only way to describe Lachchman Das Madan's boasts of his past predictions based on planetary configurations ("Trouble Ahead", Readers' Mail, August 23). Take, for example, his prediction for June-July: "The weather and nature will be unkind but the Government will take a number of measures to . . . protect the people from expected hardship." He does not specify (a) where exactly in India nature will be unkind; (b) precisely what form it will take such as earthquake/ flood/ drought/ forest fire/ epidemic.....) In a vast country like India, nature is always being unkind in some way in some part of the land or the other. And particularly during June-July it is certain that there will be delay in onset of the monsoon, and hence drought in some areas while flood in some others.

And if nature is unkind at any place, even a primary school student can "predict" that the Government will take welfare measures. It is worth noting that at no point does Mr. Madan venture into any quantitative prediction -- for example, the expected magnitude of nature's unkindness or the extent of the Government's welfare measures.

Next he says he predicted "the weather and nature will create havoc in the country from August 1 to November 12" and then tom-toms his prediction citing floods in India. Can he point out a single year when there was no flood in any part of India during August-September ? Even then, to play safe, he never restricts his prediction only to "weather" but always clubs "nature" with it to protect himself against the slight possibility of the weather behaving itself. Once "nature" is added to it, all natural calamities get included.

I challenge him here now to respond in these columns (not in his own magazine) predicting the following:

1: In 2005, which river basins will experience rainfall less than normal, normal, and above normal? (Specify the basin and rainfall grouping for that basin)

2: How many earthquakes larger than 6 on the Richter scale will take place in which part of India in the next one year? (Specify location, magnitude and month of occurrence).

3: Will India win a specified cricket tournament next year? (Choose and specify the tournament for prediction; do not make vague statements like "they stand a good chance but. . . "; say whether India will win, or will not win).

Chetan Pandit,

79 Anandavan,

A-6 Paschim Vihar,

New Delhi-110 063.

Three cheers

Sir, -- With reference to your news item, "Soli Sorabjee felicitated" (September 7), I convey my heartiest congratulations to Soli Sorabjee on his being appointed Chairperson of the U.N. Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. We Delhiites are proud of Mr. Sorabjee who possesses all the qualities of a good human being, a good nationalist and an equally good internationalist. Mr. Sorabjee's secular liberal outlook is admirable. As a legal luminary his commitment to the country and the Constitution is highly praiseworthy.

Some of us who are regular visitors to India International Centre in New Delhi have had the privilege of interacting with Mr. Sorabjee who deserves full credit for ensuring that IIC thrives as a fountain-spring of intellectual interaction.

Mr. Sorabjee's election as Chairperson of the U.N. Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights is an honour to India. We wish him all success in his new role.

And we have a request to make to Mr. Sorabjee. After Partition in 1947, many Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India from Pakistan as refugees and settled down in Delhi as proud Indian citizens but their birthplaces exist in Pakistan. They have a birthright to visit these places. This should be treated as a "Fundamental Right" and they should be given permanent permission to visit their respective birthplace as and when they like. I request Mr. Sorabjee to take up this issue with the U.N. Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on our behalf.

Onkar Chopra,

Flat-114 A, Block-C2B,

Janakpuri,

New Delhi - 110 058.

Railways' ways

Sir, -- I am a senior citizen 72 years young. Along with my wife, also a senior citizen of 70, I travelled by the prestigious superfast Swarna Jayanti Express from Visakhapatnam to Delhi Nizamuddin on July 19.

We were put up in A/c two-tier coach No.898053. Our tale of woe started then and there. The coach was unlocked only 15 minutes before the actual departure time. It was in a very bad state with stinking curtains, broken lights, torn upholstery.

It was also full of German cockroaches (the small variety) which are dangerous as they are known to cause cerebral malaria infection.

The only Western style commode in the coach was not functioning and a notice was pasted on the door. In the other three bathrooms, there was stagnant water near the door.

To make things worse, the "superfast" was stopping everywhere. At Itarsi station, two trains -- Jhelum Express and Mangala Express -- were allowed to overtake the Swarna Jayanti, even though it arrived before the others with a similar halting time. The coach attendant said that "the other two trains are of daily frequency and they are given preference".

Strange indeed are the ways of the Indian Railways, charging superfast fare yet running like a passenger train, cheating the passenger.

G.M. Ramarao,

Camp: C-1199, IFFCO Colony,

Sector-17,

Gurgaon - 122 001,

(Haryana).

A surprise

Sir, -- I travelled by Air-India Flight 144 on June 25 from Liberty International Airport, Newark, to Mumbai. At the port of departure, as boarding began, a final frisking of passengers was undertaken. I was surprised and not a little disturbed to see that female employees of Air-India were conducting a physical search of the male passengers. This seemed to afford the men in question much gratification and they appeared to be deriving a tremendous "kick" out of the situation. On the part of the employees too -- young girls, straight out of school -- there was much giggling as they moved the electronic sensor over the men's bodies. Their behaviour was unprofessional, to say the least, and as for the men -- regardless of their age -- they were experiencing, to use a cliched term, cheap thrills.

I have travelled before and by various airlines but this was the first time I saw females frisking males. This is against all norms of dignity and should not be accepted.

Vandana Walia,

25/334, Arjun Vihar,

Delhi Cantt,

Delhi.

Off the rails

Sir, -- Recently I travelled from New Delhi to Hyderabad and from Hyderabad to Aurangabad. I was appalled to see a communal campaign in the railway bogies. It said "Hum Hindu Hai aur Hindustan Hai Watan Hamara."

This is certainly anti-Constitutional since the Constitution declares that India is a Secular, Democratic and Socialist Republic.

A communal campaign such as this insults and humiliates the minorities in the country besides giving a wrong impression to travellers from abroad.

I urge the Manmohan Singh Government to cleanse the Railways of this campaign launched during the erstwhile regime.

Yogesh Bhatnagar,

C-3, Pusa Apartments,

Sector-15, Rohini,

Delhi - 110 085.

(Letters for this column may be sent by e-mail to wsins@thehindu.co.in. They must carry the full postal address of the writer

and should be marked "Readers' Mail".)

Vasundhara Enclave,

Delhi-110 096

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