[sacw] SACW #2. (21 July 01)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire / Dispatch No.2
21 July 2001
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

----------------------------------------

[1.] [ Sri Lanka] Panel to probe 1983 riots named
[2.] A theocratic spectre haunts Pakistan, but jehadis disunited by 
hate undercut the threat
[3.] India: Ayodhya returns to the Capital with a bang
[4.] India: Goa: Questionable Initiatives in Education

-----------------------------------------

1.

[ Sri Lanka] Panel to probe 1983 riots named
Roy Mendis in Colombo, 9.30 AM SLT Thursday,July 19,2001.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga has named the members of a three man
commission which will inquire into the 1983 anti-Tamil riots in Colombo and
other parts of the island.
The commission will be chaired by former Chief Justice S.Sharavananda,a
Tamil; Mr.M.M.Zuhair PC,a Muslim; and Mr.S.S.Sahabandhu PC,a Sinhala.
The demand for such a panel had been made by Mr.K.S.Ganeshamoorthy,a Tamil
Deputy Minister for Ethnic Affairs.
The commission,which has been directed to submit its report within three
months,will find out what led to the pogrom and the killings,who all led and
organised them,what kind of damage they caused to property and how the
victims could be compensated now,what the riots did to the multi-ethnic
social fabric of Sri Lanka and what could be done to prevent such a
catastrophe in the future. However,the panel would not seek penal action
against any of the alleged perpetrators because the objective was not a witch
hunt,said the Minister for Ethnic Affairs,Mr.Athauda Seneviratne.
"The idea is to educate the people about the dangers posed by ethnic
extremism and intolerance," he explained.
According to his deputy, Mr.Ganeshamoorthy, assessment of damage with a view
to paying compensation to the victims is an important aim of the inquiry.
He said that he had mooted the idea of having a probe into the 1983 progrom
after the government announced that it would compensate the victims of the
anti-Muslim riots in Mawanella earlier this year.

LacNet
Published: Wed Jul 18 23:35:07 EDT 2001

_______

2.

Outlook, July 23, 2001
FUNDAMENTALISM

Clotted Streams
A theocratic spectre haunts Pakistan, but jehadis disunited by hate 
undercut the threat
ARIF JAMAL

On July 1, 1980, Pakistan's Shia clergy converged on the 
administrative city of Islamabad to protest against the pro-Sunni 
policies of the military ruler of Pakistan, Gen Zia-ul-Haq. For 
nearly three consecutive days, the Shia clergy occupied the building 
blocks housing the secretariat of the federal government as well as 
the streets in Islamabad. The paralysed military regime retreated to 
the adjoining garrison city of Rawalpindi. That was a rare occasion 
when the generals felt scared in a country where military rule has 
been the norm. The Shias left only after Zia accepted most of their 
demands.

The deprived seek b oth livelihood and reason to live in Jehad.

The Shia protest shook Gen Zia, who began nurturing his own 
constituency among the Sunni clergy. Consequently, Sunni Islamist 
organisations and madrassas mushroomed countrywide. Simultaneously, 
the cia-sponsored jehad
in Afghanistan also needed human cannon fodder from such 
organisations and madrassas. The interests of Gen Zia and the cia 
coincided and many of these organisations received lavish financial 
support from both sources. With the exception of a few Islamist 
parties-the Jamat-e-Islami, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (jui) and the 
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (jup)-most Pakistani Islamist and jehadi 
organisations trace their origins to the Zia era and flourished with 
assistance from around three dozen countries, particularly the US and 
Saudi Arabia.
Gen Zia died in 1988, leaving behind as his most enduring legacy the 
jehadi groups and madrassas, which were fast multiplying. As the 
Afghan jehad came to an end with the Soviet withdrawal from 
Afghanistan, the Pakistani establishment diverted these jehadis 
towards Kashmir where a great rebellion was unfolding.
With rising unemployment and increasing pauperisation of the society, 
Pakistan has become a fertile land for the recruitment of Islamists 
and jehadis.
Most of the outfits concentrate on the poorest regions to recruit 
their cadre. This is particularly true of the organisations which 
recruit their cadre from madrassas. Such groups include the three 
factions of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (ssp), 
the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, the Harkat Al-Jihad Al-Islami, 
Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Jamat Ahle Sunnat. The Lashkar-e-Toiba is 
one big exception, with less than 3 per cent of its cadre from

Tariq Ali "The dragon seeds sown in 2,500 madrassas produced 
a crop of 225,000 fanatics ready to kill and ready to die for their 
faith when ordered to do so by their religious leaders -Excerpted 
from 'On The Abyss'

madrassas. Their popularity stems from the fact that they provide 
food, clothing, and shelter as well as reason to live and die to 
those for whom the society has nothing to offer. In other words, they 
impart meaning to their lives. The world no longer looks invincible 
to them when they pick up Kalashnikovs to avenge their past miseries.
Some Islamist organisations focus particularly on the lower-middle 
classes. The Jamat-e-Islami, its offshoots, and the Tehreek 
Minhaj-ul-Quran are packed with recruits from this class. The 
Tanzeem-ul-Ikhwan, another organisation with its roots in the middle 
classes, is staffed with retired army officers. However, all of them 
focus on the rich, mercantile upper classes for funds.
The popularity of Islamism among the middle and upper classes is due 
to the perceived worldwide humiliation of Muslims. For them, jehad is 
the only way Muslims can retrieve their lost glory. Hesitant to pick 
the Kalashnikov themselves, they donate lavishly to those willing to 
do the same.
Islamist and jehadi organisations are increasingly turning their 
attention towards Pakistani society. Ideally, they would like to 
establish an Islamist state in Pakistan from where they can export 
the jehad abroad.

Their rise has visibly dented the votebank of the major parties, such 
as Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (ppp) and Nawaz Sharif's 
Pakistan Muslim League (pml). Disenchanted with the palpable failure 
of the state to deliver, many sections look upon Islamist and jehadi 
parties to provide solutions to their problems. And they've already 
taken over many functions of the state, particularly education and 
healthcare. Perhaps the gradual decrease in the voters' turnout in 
general elections, 1990 onwards, is due to the success of these 
organisations.
My own calculations show that hardcore Islamists number 5 million, as 
against Musharraf's estimate of 1.

Janissaries Number of Lashkar-e-Toiba men killed by the 
Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir: 1,400

5 million. Out of these, nearly 5,00,000 have received military 
training, though very few eventually go to wage jehad in Kashmir or 
Afghanistan. They're waiting for the right time to establish an 
Islamist state in Pakistan.
The opposition to religious politics could never strike roots, 
largely because all

governments, since 1977, have tried to coopt Islamist parties. Nawaz 
Sharif allied with the Jamat-e-Islami and the Jamiat Ahle Hadith; 
Benazir Bhutto headed coalition governments with jui of Fazlur Rehman 
and the ssp. Similarly, all political parties have supported the 
Taliban and jehad in Kashmir, consequently bolstering religious 
outfits.
Unlike the mainstream political parties, Islamist and jehadi 
organisations keep a low profile, preferring to hold small gatherings 
in mosques and streets instead of organising public rallies. But this 
doesn't mean they lack mass support. The jui gathered over 
half-a-million persons last April for a conference of Deobandis; the 
Lashkar-e-Toiba would, till 1999, attract around 4,00,000 persons at 
its annual convention at Muridke (it had to abandon this practice 
under different pressures); the biennial international conventions of 
the Jamat-e-Islami boasts of 2,00,000-odd participants. Neither 
Benazir nor Sharif can command such a large turnout.
The only opposition to jehad in Kashmir comes from the Ahle Sunnat, 
the majority sect in Pakistan, bitterly opposed to the Deobandi and 
Ahle Hadith sects, the two minority sects that dominate jehad in 
Kashmir. The Sunnat and its affiliated organisations have been openly 
and vigorously demanding an end to jehad in Kashmir. This has sucked 
them into the bubbling sectarian cauldron of Pakistan-the ssp and the 
Jaish-e-Mohammad murdered Salim Qadri, a leader of the Ahle Sunnat.
Yet, an Islamist takeover remains a far-fetched dream. Most of these 
organisations consider other groups infidels and fight each other 
with the same ferocity as they do the Indian army. Since the early 
eighties, thousands of them have died in the Deobandi-Shia conflicts 
in Pakistan; again, several thousands perished in the internecine war 
of the Kashmiri jehadi groups. Indeed, when some Islamist groups feel 
emboldened to make a bid for Islamabad, rest assure that other 
Islamist forces would foil them.
(Arif Jamal is writing a book on jehad in Kashmir.)

_______

#3.

The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com)

Ayodhya returns to the Capital with a bang

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI, JULY 19. Having won a ``censorship case'' after eight
years of legal battle, the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust today re-
mounted its much talked about exhibition ``Hum Sab Ayodhya'' and
topped it up with a vocal recital by its ``friend'', Ms.Shubha
Mudgal, here to celebrate the vindication of its stand.

The Delhi High Court had this past week declared ``null and
void'' a Delhi Government notification banning exhibition of a
text panel by SAHMAT delineating various versions of the Ramayana
which included a mention of Sita as sister of Rama. The Court had
found the notification ``indefensible'' and noted that
``everything was pre-designed and pre-determined''.

Describing the order as a vindication of its stand, Ms Shabnam
Hashmi of SAHMAT said that while the organisation had been blamed
all along for putting up ``posters'' depicting Sita tying a rakhi
on Ram, ``no such posters ever existed''.

Ms Hashmi said the controversy was actually ``a hate campaign
against SAHMAT'', whose programme ``Muktnaad'' sought to counter
``vandalism'' that had taken place at Ayodhya on December 6,
1992. ``The fact that over a thousand artists and scholars had
gathered in Ayodhya had disturbed many. Their problem was why
were artists descending on Ayodhya.''

Stating that the Government feared ``we were going to rebuild
the mosque'', Ms Hashmi said even sale of cement and bricks had
been banned a week before the exhibition. Even Mr Atal Behari
Vajpayee had camped in Lucknow and held press conferences against
SAHMAT, she said, adding that it was on August 12, 1993, that
Bajrang Dal attacked the exhibition at Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Later, the text panel was also banned by the Delhi Government.

The Court order now, she said, had given SAHMAT a chance to
explain itself. ``For after the controversy several secular
people had distanced themselves from us and begun attacking us.''
At the time, the exhibition was running in 17 cities. With
research work coming from such distinguished historians as Prof.
Irfan Habib, Prof. K.N. Panikkar, Prof. Ravinder Kumar, Prof.
Athar Ali and Prof. Suvira Jaiswal, the show was attracting a lot
of attention.

Prof. Habib said the exhibition had been unnecessarily targeted.
``Even though the controversial text had appeared in books and
exhibitions of various Right-wing organisations, vested interests
took exception to the section on Rama-Katha in the Buddhist
tradition which mentioned portions of Dasaratha Jataka.'' It
mentioned that ``Sita is not the wife but the sister of Rama. At
the end of the exile when Rama returns to Ayodhya, Sita is made
queen consort of Rama and they rule jointly for 16,000 years.
Rama is said to have descended from Ikshvaku, from whom the clan
of the Buddha also claims descent.''

Following the Court order, SAHMAT now plans to take ``Hum Sab
Ayodhya'' to various centres across the country.

Copyrights: 1995 - 2001 The Hindu

________

4.

EPW Commentary June30, 2001

Goa: Questionable Initiatives in Education

Frederick Noronha

Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar's attempt to speedily implement 
select educational initiatives shows there is one important lesson to 
learn: the BJP takes educational issues seriously, even if for its 
own ideological goals. Moves initiated here have raked up 
controversy, despite the BJP's attempts at media-management, and have 
raised fears about the saffron agenda being propped up in the 
classroom in this small state. Parrikar, whose government is itself 
beginning to be confronted with the uncertainties of Goa's 
instability-prone politics, has launched multi-pronged initiatives on 
the educational front.

In one initiative, the state is handing over 50-plus primary schools 
to what are seen as barely-disguised front organisations of the 
saffron lobby. In another move, the government has named a school 
education advisory board which is dominated by prominent local RSS 
ideologues. In addition, the administration has already drawn open 
protests for interventions into the autonomous Goa University. 
Seen together, these moves suggest a careful strategy by the BJP - 
which ascended to power in Goa by abetting wide-ranging defections as 
recently as in late 2000.

As Goa's educational year began in early June, parents of students 
attending some 53 government-run primary schools suddenly realised 
that the institutions their children were being sent too had been 
'taken over'. In an operation shrouded in near-secrecy, the schools 
were handed over to the RSS-linked Vidya Bharati network. 
Conveniently, the BJP government here has argued that these primary 
schools were on the point of closure. Each had less than 12 students. 
"No procedure was followed by the government", says educationist 
Ramesh Gauns, who has been on the front-lines of a battle against the 
handover of these schools. Gauns adds: "Initially the chief minister 
(Parrikar) made a statement that the schools would be closed, due to 
insufficient students. Later on, he suddenly decided to amalgamate 
schools with one another. Suddenly, something fishy went on, and the 
53 schools were handed to clubs, organisations or societies most of 
which never existed earlier or were simply unregistered bodies."

"Is it merely coincidental that it so happens that from Pernem to 
Canacona (from the northern tip of Goa to its extreme south), all 
these persons (who came forward to run the schools) happen to be BJP 
or RSS workers?" asks Gauns. By mid-June, parents and students from a 
handful of schools were resisting efforts to be taken over by these 
bodies. "The government has put up locks on the doors of such 
schools", said a villager from the mainly-rural area of Pernem. Most 
of these schools are Marathi-medium schools, and fall in rural areas 
of Goa. These are the areas where private-run primary education is 
not widespread and citizens are dependent on the state-run 
infrastructure. Education expanded vastly in Goa in the 1960s, after 
colonial rule ended. But there has also been a high level of 
politicisation of education. Many running schools are well-connected 
politicians. Till recently, government grants were not given for 
primary schools; meaning that politicians and other influential 
persons had little motivation to run such schools.

In handing over these schools to its favoured grouping, the 
government 'followed no procedure' say campaigners opposed to the 
move. Chief minister Parrikar's argument is that he has committed 'no 
illegality', since there was no financial transaction involved. He 
has also taken digs at the opposition for being 'colour blind'. But 
handing over government assets at a token rent of one-rupee fee also 
raises questions about how transparent and fair was the process in 
choosing who would get to run these schools. "Why didn't the 
government announce its intention to hand over these schools publicly 
(instead of presenting a fait-accompli)?" asks Shridhar 
Kamat-Bambolkar, another of those spearheading the issue. "It cannot 
simply hand over these schools to clubs and women's mandals 
(societies) that are mainly involved in activities like making papads 
and pickles", he argues.

Goa Rajya Sabha Congress MP Eduardo Faleiro commented: "Government 
primary schools have been surreptiously transferred to different 
organisations, several of them unregistered, most of them without any 
experience in the field of education and all of them patronised by 
Vidya Bharati, an RSS affiliate". Faleiro said the deal over the 
schools, being given at a rent of one rupee a year, amounts to "a 
gift of government property to the RSS". He also pointed to a 1991 
National Steering Committee on Textbook Evaluation that found that 
Vidya Bharati schools "are used for the propagation of blatantly 
communal ideas". It added that "much of this material (from their 
textbooks) is designed to promote bigotry and religious fanaticism in 
the name of inculcating knowledge of culture in the younger 
generation".

Campaigners seeking to expose the government's suspected wrongdoings 
said they uncovered a statement showing that the letters allotting 
these schools had all been collected by one RSS functionary. They 
charge that the ploy was to get clubs, women's groups and other such 
institutions act as the front for running these schools. "In an 
advert for teachers, the Vidya Bharati on May 19 asked for teachers 
who are 'nationalist persons with wide social contacts'. Do they mean 
that other teachers are not 'nationalist' or anti-nationalist? And 
why does a primary teacher working locally in a small area need 'wide 
social contacts'?" asks angry Gauns.

At the centre of the controversy is the active but small network of 
long-time RSS campaigners in Goa. RSS quarters told journalists 
contacting them that their views had already appeared in an article 
published in a local Marathi daily.

Facing the flak from a wide section of public opinion, the Parrikar 
government launched a media-PR campaign, that included placating 
editors and minimising the controversy that was raging in the local 
Marathi press. More shrewdly, the campaign against the Vidya Bharati 
takeover was given a linguistic twist. RSS functionaries made 
repeated attempts to portray themselves as protectors out to support 
the Marathi schools in the state and said they had taken up the 
'responsibility' to do this job.

In the recent past, Goa has repeatedly suffered bitter Konkani vs 
Marathi controversies. Both the regional languages are sometimes 
portrayed as bitter rivals of one another, in a battle that has caste 
and communal implications. Upper-caste saraswat brahmins and the 
state's minority Catholics in Goa are seen as the main supporters of 
Konkani, while the bahujan samaj (a catch-all concept including 
most of the non-saraswat brahmin Hindu castes) have often backed 
Marathi. Marathi is also the widely-used literary, religious and 
educational language among the majority Hindu community here. But, in 
recent years, there has been a shiftover to education in English, 
specially after primary schooling.

RSS ideologues highlighted the view that the 'scarecrow of 
saffronisation' was being used to hit-out at the Marathi schools, 
thus raking up old fears on the linguistic front. RSS's local leader 
Subhash Velingkar commented in print: "We accept that among those who 
came forward to support the Marathi schools, there are more Sangh 
supporters...(We should) be clear that the RSS policy is to protect 
Marathi schools." Together with such arguments came calls for Marathi 
supporters to 'remain alert'. Such campaigns obviously bore some 
results: sections of the media which were earlier highlighting the 
issue either slowed down drastically or did an about-turn on the 
issue. Most of the being taken over schools were in the Marathi 
medium. In the 1960s, soon after colonial rule ended in this former 
Portuguese colony, school education was expanded in a major way.

Numerous rural schools were then opened up by the state, particularly 
in the Marathi medium, as per a policy of the then Maharashtrawadi 
Gomantak Party (MGP) government. This expansion was aided by liberal 
funding from New Delhi, even though many schools later found problems 
to maintain admissions at earlier-claimed levels. In the period of 
Portuguese colonial rule too, Marathi was the preferred language for 
studies in much of rural Goa.

Citizens' Resistance
But now, Parrikar's move for the takeover has resisted by citizens in 
some affected areas, with protests being reported too along with 
resistance to hand over the schools. The Congress opposition 
has termed it an attempt to saffronise education in the state. 
Citizens and campaigners launched an organisation called the 'Sarkari 
Prathmik Vidyalaya Bachao Samiti' (Committee to Save the Government 
Primary Schools). Politicians from the MGP, the BJP's minor partners 
in government, also voiced concern over this issue.

Embarrassed by the flak the move has attracted, Parrikar sympathisers 
have been hard put to explain why the man projected as the 'chief 
minister with a difference' was acting in undue haste and with such 
motives. "Some schools have just three to seven students on their 
rolls", said one supporter of the government policy. Even this 
however does not justify the manner in which the takeover was 
conducted however. The chief minister, in his usual style of tackling 
controversies head-on, shot back by warning those objecting to the 
takeover that he would have to 'close down' the primary schools if 
they objected. The 'Bachao Samiti' has argued that this amounted to 
an 'intimidatory' approach by the government.

For its part, the BJP government has been quite brash in implementing 
some of its controversial policies. On the education front, it knows 
that some of those protesting could sought to be cowed down, since 
they are part of the state-controlled educational network and could 
be penalised by a government seeing them as hostile to its interest. 
Goa's divided Congress, being faction-driven and some of whose 
controversial leaders are facing corruption or other police cases, 
has been slow in exploiting this issue. "We explained to our MLA what 
could be the impact for him politically, if schools could become 
hot-beds of campaigning during the elections", one campaigner said. 
Khadi-clad businessman and Pernem MLA Jitendra Deshprabhu, who 
currently is the Congress Party spokesperson, squatted with villagers 
who staged a protest in Panaji in June. Deshprabhu incidentally is 
also a prominent member of the Goa Chambers of Commerce and Industry. 
Together with this come the other initiatives from the BJP government.

Parrikar's repeated criticism of Goa's lone university is seen as a 
possible attempt to gain control of the decade-and-half old varsity. 
Besides, showing its hand clearly, the BJP government has recently 
put in place a 'school education advisory board' that is packed with 
known hard-line saffron campaigners. In a little-noticed notification 
issued in early May, the Goa government named RSS ideologue M V 
Betkekar, longtime RSS campaigner S B Velinkar, ABVP leader D B Naik, 
K B Hedgewar, Shikshan Mandal secretary T V Desai, BJP MLA Vishwas 
Sattarkar and some others with saffron links on its 21-member panel. 
Given the saffron stress on working in the education field, most are 
of course included in their capacity as educationists.

Parrikar, confronted over this, argued that all those named were his 
'friends', including the Catholic priest who represents the large 
number of Church-run schools and is also on the panel. Parrikar (45), 
an IIT-Mumbai metallurgical engineer, has himself been part of the 
RSS. He is himself a complex mix between a forward-looking politician 
with a vision and someone out to pander to the politics of the 
saffron lobby in his party. Parrikar is credited with bringing the 
BJP to power for the first time ever in Goa in late 2000, after 
abetting defections from the Congress and other smaller parties. 
Known for his political cunning, he worked skilfully in first allying 
with a faction of breakaway Congressmen, and then dumped this group 
to ensure the BJP's ascent to power in a state where coming to power 
on its own has proven impossible so far.

In the last elections, the BJP won 10 out of Goa's 40 assembly seats. 
Even today, it continues in power courtesy the ambitions of former 
Congressmen who form up to two-thirds of the cabinet. Parrikar's 
hurry could be explained by the fact that the 'ideal' governance he 
was promising the state has itself come under a cloud by a possible 
premature overthrow of his government. Some of his ambitious partymen 
and 'neo-BJP' members (as the ex-Congress defectors are referred to) 
are betraying indications of being willing to defect back for better 
offers. To add to the sense of being besieged, the faction-ridden 
Congress - that has played an opportunistic role itself in Goa's 
defection driven politics - is itself going into overactive 
politicking mode, in its attempt to grab back power for itself.

So far, Parrikar's attempt has been a quaint mix: offering good 
governance to the quality-of-life conscious middle classes, gain the 
support of the local media and influential caste groups, and keep his 
own party's saffron lobby satiated by bowing to some of its demands. 
These moves he has shored up by undertaking highly publicised drives 
against politicians widely perceived as being corrupt. (Conveniently, 
they all belong to the Congress, or the opposition, and could have 
played a role in toppling his government.) In addition, he has taken 
on some populist campaigns like a clean-up of unlicensed arms across 
the state, supported by high profile police announcements on the same.

Targeting the University
Parrikar showed his intent early by holding on to the education and 
home portfolios. In both these departments, the BJP government went 
on major recruitment drives, contrary to the current official policy 
of downsizing government. Blatantly, even as schools are closing down 
across Goa due to a shortage of pupils, the BJP government announced 
its intentions to recruit some 300 teachers for primary schools. It 
argued that it was finding it difficult to post teachers in some of 
this small state's more distant areas, and hence this move. Likewise, 
Parrikar also launched Goa on a major police recruitment drive. He 
added over a thousand policemen, expanding by a significant 
one-quarter the existing police force of this state. Given 
saffronisation drives of the law-enforcing authorities in some other 
states, this also raises potential questions.

At another level, Parrikar has been going hammer and tongs for the 
state's lone Goa University. His criticism of this institution 
whenever given the slightest chance - including charges of it being 
'corrupt' - have taken most by surprise. After releasing budget 
proposals earlier this year, the CM went on to berate the Goa 
University for its 'failings', even without much prompting. Earlier 
chief ministers like Congress' Luizinho Faleiro have also criticised 
the varsity for being unresponsive to the state's needs. But 
Parrikar's drive is being seen as qualitatively different. Commented 
Nandkumar Kamat, of Goa University's botany department: "The 
university has suffered some humiliation when the CM chose to boycott 
the convocation ceremony this year...We fail to understand why Mr 
Parrikar has considered the (four-star rated) Goa University an 
untouchable..."

His campaign has carried on without much respite, against the 
varsity, which is already suffering from a funding crunch. "When the 
chief executive keeps on making such statements, it is very 
demoralising to everyone working there", said one academic at the 
varsity. This campaign is viewed by some as an attempt to extend 
influence over the varsity. Critics point to the fact that 
individuals with known RSS-links are already being nominated on 
varsity bodies. In another related move recently, state government 
officer M Modassir was named as the 'officer on special duty' in the 
university, a post which didn't exist earlier. In May, registrar D V 
Borkar was given an unceremonious exit, and the new posting was to 
fill this gap, the government said. Modassir is a former aide of 
Congress chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, and was once under intense 
fire from the BJP (when it was in the opposition). Since then, even 
while facing charges of 'saffronising' education in the state, the 
BJP thought it wise to have Modassir as the director of education, 
till he was recently shifted to the Goa University.

"This move (naming an officer on special duty)...constitutes a grave 
violation of the principle of intellectual autonomy", commented Goa 
University political science professor Peter Ronald DeSouza. In a 
signed article highlighted in the local press, DeSouza lashed out 
against the move, which he said was "born of zeal and born in haste". 
He added: "A political reading of the proposal, however, sees a 
sinister design of emasculating institutions for political gain".

Rattled by this response, Parrikar sought to argue that it was Goa 
governor Md Fazal who had undertaken the move, as an interim move to 
replace the registrar. But what was left unclarified was whether the 
governor had actually taken the step in his capacity as the Goa 
University chancellor, or had routinely signed the file moved by the 
government.

Goa's educational system is a strange amalgam of state-run and 
private-run schools. Church groups also have a long role in providing 
education in both rural and urban areas. Known for their affordable 
and fairly efficient schools, their education has been open to 
students of varied religious backgrounds. Sangh groups have been 
building on their slender network of schools in the state, and are 
now attempting a major overdrive, based on the BJP being in power 
here. "This policy (of handing over the primary schools backed with 
other such initiatives) is ad hoc and whimsical. It is nothing but an 
activity aimed at controlling minds", commented one senior academic.

________

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