Why DMK’s Claim That Sanatana Dharma Denied Education Is Baseless ?

 

Besides calling for the eradication of Sanatana Dharma during the infamous Chennai conference, Tamil Nadu minister Udyanadhi Stalin stated that the policy of Sanatana is that we (meaning the non-Brahmin castes) should not study. Last month during the convocation function of a college in Thoothukudi district, TN Assembly Speaker Appavu mentioned that during the earlier periods only seven percent people could study in India.

The same Appavu while speaking in a Catholic institution in Trichy during June 2022, noted that it was the Christian missionaries who made education available to all; they also brought social justice and the Dravidian movement is an extension of their work. He had also stated that the Catholic missionaries are the main reason for the growth of Tamil Nadu; it was they who laid the foundation for the state; but for the Catholic missionaries, Tamil Nadu would have been a state like Bihar. Later when questions were raised about his speech, he explained that he only spoke the history.

The main reason for the DMK leaders to speak along the above lines is to emphasize that those belonging to no-Brahmin castes were denied education during the earlier centuries by the Brahmins, while they dominated it. Besides, they also try to perpetuate the impression that the process of giving education to all was initiated only by the British.  

The impression that education was not given to all the Indians before the arrival of the British was a myth created by the colonial rulers and the missionaries to subjugate us. Till today the DMK and the leftists have been parroting their views to obliterate our history and divide the communities. Unfortunately, majority of the educated Indians themselves are not aware of the facts, as the education system dominated by the Congress- leftist-DMK eco-system do not allow people to know the true history.   

But what is the truth? India was a pioneer in education and had always been known for her superior education since the ancient periods. We all know that the first university in the world was established in our country about 2700 years earlier. Nalanda university was considered as Asia’s university, as people from our neighboring countries including China got their education here. There were several other universities over the years.

 

The first book on medicine and surgery was written here more than 2600 years ago. Chanakya wrote his Arthashashtra, the first book on politics and economics, around 2300 years. There have been outputs of the highest intellectual order over several centuries in diverse fields. The great saint Thiruvalluvar wrote Thirukkural more than two thousand years ago. For several centuries continuously since the Sangam age, there have been literary and spiritual works of the highest quality in Tamil. The authors of these works were from different backgrounds, including women.

There were women who devoted their lives completely for intellectual pursuits. Intellectual giants such as Gargi and Maitreyi contributed to the Vedas. In Tamil Nadu, Avvaiyar who lived during the Sanagam age contributed more than fifty verses to Puranaanooru. The one who wrote Thriuppaavai that is sung in all the Vaishavaite temple across the world, was the eighth century Tamil woman - saint Aandal.  

How could India and Tamil Nadu have had such great giants and produced so many books in different fields without education during the ancient periods? When we raise such questions, we can try to go towards the answers.

While addressing the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London in 1931, Mahatma Gandhi stated that the literacy had declined in India during the earlier   50-100 years and said the Britishers were responsible for it, thus paving way for the “beautiful tree” of Indian education to perish.  He was challenged to provide details, but he did not have the time to study the issue in detail. Later the noted Gandhian Dharampal took upon himself the responsibility of studying the Indian education system from the British documents and the archival materials. He published his work under the title “The Beautiful Tree – Indigenous Indian Education In The Eighteenth Century.”

The details for his work were from the British documents, surveys and British - Indian Govt. sources. They include the Surveys of Indigenous Education made by the British administrators in the then Madras Presidency during 1822-25 and   in the Bombay Presidency during 1820s, Report by a former missionary William Adam on the districts of Bengal and Bihar during 1835-38 and a later work by G.W. Leitner relating to Punjab.

The facts completely nail the false criticisms being levelled against the ancient Indian education system by the DMK, Left and such other groups over the last so many years. Let us take three major issues raised by the DMK one by one. Here we have to remember that even before the periods of the said surveys, the decay of the Indian education system had started due to the British policies and hence the conclusions derived here are for the periods during which India was facing difficulties. British officials themselves admit that the indigenous education system was much better during the earlier periods.  

The first major issue is the allegation that the education system during the earlier centuries was poor and hence education was not widespread. But what are the facts?  Thomas Munroe, who was the Governor General of the Madras Presidency from 1820 noted that in the areas under his Presidency “every village had a school.” Similarly, in the then Bengal and Bihar regions, W. Adam concluded that every village had at least one school and “there will still be 1,00,000 villages that have these schools.” He also mentioned that there were around 100 institutes of higher learning in in each district of Bengal, thus taking the total to 1800 for Bengal.   

In the same manner, officials of the Bombay Presidency who studied parts of it noted that “there is hardly a village, great or small, throughout our territories, in which there is not at least one school, and in larger villages more.” Later the observations made by G.W.Leitner showed that the spread of education was of a similar extent in Punjab. Thus the Survey Reports prepared by the British officers in different parts of the country at the district levels show that almost every village had a school, financially supported by the villagers themselves.

While writing about the education system in the Malabar region of Kerala, Peter Della Valle wrote in 1823 that no people appreciate the importance of education more than the Hindus. Thus even after repeated invasions by the aliens and the disturbances caused by the Europeans, the literacy levels were reported to be very high at the global level even during the eighteenth century. Author Makkhan Lal notes: “In the contemporary world, no other country had such a high percentage of literate population”

The second issue is a serious criticism. DMK, DK and their associates have been repeatedly emphasizing over the years that education was available only for the Brahmins, while denying the same to all others, particularly those from the backward, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities.

What are the facts? When we take the area under the present Tamil Nadu state, the school students from the non-Brahmin castes in different districts were high, averaging between 78 percent to 90 percent. Even when we leave the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, who were considered to belong to the Forward Castes category, the Sutras and similar castes dominated the school system. The share of Brahmin students in different districts varied between 8.6 percent to 22 percent, averaging around 13 percent for the state.

The number of students from the Sutra and other castes (apart from the Forward castes) in districts formed the highest share averaging between about 70 percent to 84 percent. The students from the Sutra families alone averaged more than 70 percent in districts such as the then Coimbatore, Trichy, South Arcot and Chengalpattu. The number of Muslim students averaged between 2.4 percent and 10 percent in different districts.  So where is the question of education being controlled by the Brahmins and denied to all other castes.

The third point raised by the vested interests is that it was the Britishers (Christians - to use the words of Appavu ) who brought education to India and there was nothing much in India earlier. Again let us see the facts. Even during the early eighteenth century, school education was not available to all in Britain. Dharampal notes that “School education, especially at the people’s level was rather an uncommon commodity in Britain.”  Even that education was limited to few sections and confined to one to three hours per day. Details show that during the turn of the nineteenth century even the number of schools in England was less, about half of the schools in the Madras Presidency.

So, when school education was not available to most of the people in Britain, what expertise did they have to come here and give education to us ? In fact, the reality is the opposite. Many of the Britishers themselves acknowledged that they had introduced the education system prevailed in India for centuries in their country after learning from us.

In this connection, it is relevant to note that while the indigenous Indian education system was getting decayed, the number of schools and students enrolled were increasing in Britain. W.Adam, Leitner  and many of the district collectors in Madras Presidency have clearly mentioned that the Britishers were responsible for the death of the indigenous Indian education system.

Thus the British systematically destroyed the indigenous education by removing all the support systems and income sources to the institutions. In 1835, the Macaulay system of education was introduced in India. As a result, the native Indian education systems underwent a sea-change. Education became costly and was thus denied to all. By 1891, the official records show that the literacy rate was just 6.1 percent.  In a period of around six decades, the whole scenario of Indian education changed completely.

The Srilankan - born historian and expert on India Ananda Coomaraswamy noted that the ‘alien and rootless’ education system introduced by the British ‘destroyed the social balance in which, traditionally, persons from all sections of the society appear to have been able to receive fairly competent schooling.’ Well-known American author Will Durant observed in 1930: “Only 7 percent of the boys and 1.5 percent of the girls receive schooling” with school goers averaging just 4 percent. He noted that by then the schools were extracting high fees, making it difficult for most to get education. 

The above details clearly reveal that native education system was widespread across India giving opportunities to all the sections of people, including the so-called Sutra and other castes. Besides, the details prove that it was the British who destroyed the indigenous system and while improving their school education in Britain.

So the criticisms being levelled against our forefathers, particularly the Sanatana Dharma is completely unfounded. Clearly this is another colonial narrative kept alive by the DMK to tarnish the image of Tamil culture and our Dharma. At least from now, the DMK, communists and their associates should understand the true history of India and Tamil Nadu, and refrain from levelling baseless charges. Otherwise, they will be thrown into the dustbin of history much sooner than their expiry periods.

(P.Kanagasabapathi is State Vice President, TN BJP)

(Swarajya, Sept 9,2023)

Appointment of Vice Chancellors by TN Govt. Would Seriously Affect Higher Education

 

On April 25, 2022 the TN Assembly passed a Bill empowering the state Government to appoint the Vice Chancellors of thirteen state universities. The main objective is to replace the existing system of the Governor of the state appointing them in the capacity as the Chancellor.

During the discussions, the Chief Minister had noted on the floor of the House that the state needs to be empowered to select the VCs and not doing so would create a big impact on higher education. The Minister of higher education was candid when he admitted that while the Governors used to consult the state Governments before appointing the VCs during the earlier periods, there has been a change in the approach over the past few years.

In the present system, whenever there is a vacancy in a university, the search committee appointed for this purpose collects the details from the desiring applicants. After analyzing them, it selects three names and forwards the list to the Governor.  The Governor in turn will select one person out of it and appoints him/her as the VC.

The selection of members of the search committees is not the sole prerogative of the Governor. In many universities the Governor does not have any role in it, while the state has the right to have its nominees. It is true that in a few universities the state Government does not have the right to have its direct nominees.

The members of the search committees are selected by the academics, Government officials, educationists and other representatives who form part of the syndicate, senate and other similar bodies of the concerned university.  But the state Governments in TN over the years have always used to exert their influence through the higher education secretary and other means in all the universities.

The issue of the appointment of VCs became a topic for discussion in public only during the recent periods, after many vigilance cases and court proceedings. In one instance, a former VC of Bharathiar university was caught red- handed in his official residence while getting money. In another instance, a former VC of Anna University was sent to jail in corruption case.

Many VCs of the state universities such as TN Agricultural University, Periyar University, Law University and Anna University are facing cases charges relating to corruption, disproportionate assets and irregularities. Such VCs were serving in different universities across the state. So the issue is not confined to two or three institutions. Besides, the successive VCs of the premier technical university situated right in the capital city of the state are facing serious cases.  

This was mainly because of the indiscriminate appointment of VCs by the ruling parties based on considerations other than merit. The situation was very bad particularly during 2006 - 2016. As a result, the relatives of ministers such as son-in-law, daughter-in-law and those with political and monetary connections could only become the VCs.

As a result, there was complete politicization of the VC appointments. The situation went to such an extent that around ten VCs went and met Mrs Sasikala, the former Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s aide, during Dec 2016 after the demise of her mentor a few days earlier. They also pleaded with Sasikala to take over the mantle of the party leadership. One of the member of the team of VCs was the convener of the search committee for selecting the VC for Anna University constituted earlier.

A few days later on Dec 24, a group of 22 concerned citizens consisting of former VCs, senior academics, bureaucrats and others wrote to the Governor condemning the meeting.  The dignitaries included the highly respected former VC of Anna University Dr.M.Ananthakrishnan. In their letter, they noted that the “VCs behaved like ruling party cadres.”

 They also pointed out the root cause for the problem when they said that the “UGC norms for VC selection are completely ignored in public universities in TN and there is a strong perception that caste, political connections and of course, huge sums of money are the decisive criteria”

Therefore, they appealed to the Governor to see that, among other things, the “UGC norms be strictly incorporated in the statues of all the universities for appointment of search committees as well as that of VCs” and “set in motion complete transparency and objectivity in the constitution of the search committee and selection of VCs”

The present Chief Minister who was in the opposition at that time insisted that action should be taken against the VCs who met Sasikala to prevent “politicization of the office of the VCs and belittling the dignity of the autonomous status of the universities of the state.”

Earlier during 1994 the Jayalalitha Government passed a legislation in the TN assembly for taking over the power to appoint the VCs, similar to the one passed now. But in 1996, the DMK Government led by Karunanidhi, withdrew it saying that it was against the interests of the independence of the universities.

Interestingly the DMK Government led by Stalin now, has come out with this legislation. The main problem for them now is that the Governors appointed by the Modi Government are honest and firm. They follow the rules in letter and spirit and don’t compromise with the state Governments. Those in the academic community know that it is only during the last few years, VCs are appointed on the basis of merit. Hence there is a new confidence in the academic circles.  

It is unfortunate that Tamil Nadu has the notorious reputation of having perhaps the highest number of VCs and higher authorities of universities in the entire country facing prosecution agencies and court cases.  The state has also witnessed the successive education ministers going to court on corruption charges in the recent years.  

Those who were appointed as VCs through the wrong means during the earlier periods, threw the rules and regulations away to the winds.  They made all attempts to make appointments, from the office staff to the Professor and the Registrar, through unfair means. They devised several innovative methods such as opening of new departments and bifurcating the existing ones only to create more opportunities for appointments. Besides they were all the time involved in irregularities in all the different activities of the universities, with the intention to make money.  

All these would change when the VCs selected as per the rules begin to act in a fair manner with determination. The present Governor is maintaining his independence as the Chancellor and appointing VCs on merit. So there is new hope for the higher education system in the state. But apparently the DMK does not want this to continue.

TN higher education system has major issues to be addressed. Selection of faculty and staff in different universities and colleges  should be made only through fair means. There should be congenial atmosphere for serious teaching and research. Right now there is lot of politics and groups with vested interests in universities. The role of the state Government is critical in all these aspects.  

While the National Education Policy is opening up new avenues and funds are being made available by the centre, TN is not fully geared up to grab the opportunities. It is time for the authorities in the TN higher education system to understand the realities and re-orient themselves for a complete overhaul of the system based on transparency and merit.

In this connection, the appointment of VCs by the state Government would further bring down the quality of higher education, when the TN universities are already finding it difficult to recover from the misdeeds of the earlier periods.

The educationists, academicians and all those concerned with the system should join together to raise their voice for a healthy higher education system in the state. Meanwhile, the Governor should be requested to not to forward the Bill to the President of India for assent.

(The writer had earlier served in the syndicates of TN universities)

( Swarajya, May 4,2022)

DMK Is Wrong : NEET 2021 Results Reiterate Social Justice

 

Almost all the major political parties in Tamil Nadu with the exception of BJP, particularly the DMK, remain consistent in their opposition to NEET. They object to it because, in their opinion, there is lack of social justice in NEET. DMK has become vehement in its opposition after it came to power in 2021, as one of its poll promises was the abolition of NEET. So it passed resolutions twice in the assembly to that effect and sent them to the Governor. Now the DMK wants the Governor to send the resolution to the President of India.  

When the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu submitted a list of demands to the Prime Minister in Delhi recently, it included the removal of NEET for the medical admissions in the state. Besides their MPs have also raised this issue in the Parliament.

But the argument of the DMK and the supporting parties are completely wrong. NEET has been repeatedly ensuring social justice year after year, enabling the students from the socially and economically disadvantaged sections to get a higher number of seats, like never before in the history of Tamil Nadu.

An analysis of the allotment of seats in the state medical colleges for 2020                   ( Swarajya, June 2021) showed as to how the students belonging to the backward, most backward and scheduled castes were able to get much higher proportion of seats than their allotted quotas as per the state reservation policy. It revealed that the students from those  sections, that the DMK claims it is fighting for, have benefited hugely after the introduction of NEET. The allotment details for the Government school students in the state medical colleges under the 7.5 per cent reservation for 2021 again confirmed the above trend. ( Swarajya, Feb 2022)

The latest allocation details for 2021 for all the medical and dental seats under the state quota released by the Tamil Nadu Government again establishes that there is ample social justice in medical admissions in the state, that was absent before the introduction of NEET. The Table below provides the caste wise seat allocation data after the first round of results in February 2022.

 

 

 

Table -  Tamil Nadu MBBS/ BDS Counselling 2021: 1^st Round Results- Seat Allocation – Caste-wise

Community	Govt. Medical Colleges	Allocation of Seats %	Self- Finance Medical Colleges	Govt. Dental Colleges	Self- Finance Dental Colleges	7.5% Reservation seats	Special Category	Total	Allocation %
Forward Caste	102	2.60	103	6	29	3	1	244	3.36
Backward Caste	1867	47.52	679	83	557	211	40	3437	47.38
Backward Caste - Muslim	187	4.76	50	6	69	24	6	342	4.71
Most Backward Caste	1005	25.58	277	30	312	190	20	1834	25.28
Scheduled Caste	611	15.55	206	24	180	89	6	1116	15.38
Scheduled Caste - Arunthathiar	117	2.98	40	4	34	14		209	2.88
Scheduled Tribe	40	1.02	14	2	12	4		72	0.99
Total	3929		1369	155	1193	535	73	7254

 Source: MBBS Counselling Round 1 and Extension Results, Govt. of Tamil Nadu

 

The above figures reveal that the students from the families belonging to the BC, MBC, SC and STs have got more than 96 per cent of the medical and dental seats for the latest year.  Hence there is no truth in the argument of DMK and its supporters that there is no social justice in NEET. It is only after the introduction of NEET that such a high number of students from the poorer BC, MBC and SC categories have been entering the medical and dental colleges.

Besides, 535 students from the Government schools have been allotted seats in the medical and dental colleges this time. So their another argument that the students from the Government schools do not get admissions into medical colleges is again proved wrong.

Moreover, the number of students who have got seats in the All India premier institutions such as the AIIMS and JIPMER have been increasing and are higher this year. The results (first round) of the Medical Counselling Committee, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India show that 46 students from the state have got admissions in different institutions under the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. It is important to note that 40 per cent of the seats (20 out of 50 seats) in AIIMS, Madurai have been taken by the Tamil Nadu students in its first year of functioning.  

In the case of JIPMER, Pondicherry, a record number of 32 seats have been taken up by the students from Tamil Nadu. It is more than one-fourth of the 121 seats coming under the general competition, after fulfilling the quotas under the state, NRI and EWS seats.  Besides, Tamil Nadu students have got four out of the first ten seats there. So the opportunities for the TN students to enter into the premier medical institutions outside the state have increased manifold and as a result, more students are joining such institutions.

Critics of NEET like DMK note that the Tamil medium students do not get the opportunity to get medical seats under the present system. In this connection, it is significant to note that an increasing number of students from the Tamil medium are opting for NEET. This can be understood when we see that above 17,000 students have written NEET in Tamil during 2021, which is around 15 per cent of the total students who took the examination.

So the results for 2021 NEET further reiterate that it is the students from the socially and economically poorer and the disadvantaged sections who have been   benefiting through this system. Hence all the arguments of the DMK and its supporters are completely wrong. The latest results also disprove the biased opinions of the Rajan Committee Report that formed the basis for rejection of NEET by the DMK Government.

It is clear that the opposition of the DMK to the NEET is not based on facts, but is kept alive only for the political reasons.

( Swarajya, Ap. 9,2022)

 

 

 

The Tamil Nadu Governor is right: The state needs NEET

 

The DMK Government passed a resolution in the state assembly during September 2021 seeking exemption from NEET for the state and submitted the Bill to the Tamil Nadu Governor. The Governor returned it back to the state Government for reconsideration on Feb 1, 2022. The press note released by the office of the Governor says that he “is of the opinion that the Bill is against the interests of the students, specially the rural and economically poor students of the state”.  

After four days, the DMK Government convened a meeting of representatives of all the parties in Tamil Nadu legislature to discuss the issue.  The BJP and the AIADMK did not participate in it.  The next day the Government has announced that a special session of the assembly is to be convened on Feb 8^th to pass a resolution seeking exemption once again and send it to the Governor.

A detailed analysis of the medical admissions for the previous year   revealed that the students belonging to the families from the backward, most backward and the scheduled castes got the maximum number of seats in the state medical colleges ( Swarajya June 2021). In the case of allotments under general category also, the students from the above categories got more seats over and above the quotas prescribed by the state.   

Earlier when the admissions were taking place on the basis of the plus two examination marks, the number of students who entered the medical colleges from the Government schools were very minimal. During 2006-16, only 213 students got admissions, an average of just 19 students per year.  

It is true that the Tamil Nadu students faced difficulties initially when the NEET was introduced. It was due to two reasons. One, both the Dravidian parties and their allies were continuously assuring that NEET would not introduced in the state. Hence the students were not fully prepared. Second is the poor school education system. The school syllabi remained outdated without revision for twelve years.

But after the revisions during 2018 and the introduction of coaching for NEET in state schools, the performance of students increased fast.  As a result, the success rate of the students who had written the exams during 2020 was higher than the national average. In just one year, the success rate of the state students increased by 9 percent. Besides   around thirty students from the state were able to join the premier all India medical institutions.   

More number of students from Tamil Nadu are appearing for NEET every year. Around 1.08 lakh students went for the NEET during 2021. Besides the number of students writing the exam in Tamil is also on the rise.

As the selection process is going on, the allotment details of all the students who wrote NEET in 2021 are not available. The allotments for students from the Government schools eligible for 7.5% reservation is almost over. Available details show that 535 seats (435 medical and 100 dental) have been allotted.

Details reveal that students from the backward, most backward and scheduled caste backgrounds have got higher number of seats than the seats prescribed in the quotas this time also. Students from backward castes have got 43 percent seats as against 30 percent prescribed, most backward castes 31 percent as against 20 percent and scheduled castes 19 percent as against 18 percent. Only in the case of scheduled tribes category, there was deviation by one seat. 

As a result, all the seats in the Government medical colleges of the state have gone to the students from the above categories this year. It is the  students from very poor families and underprivileged sections living in difficult circumstances, with majority from the rural and upcountry areas, who  have got admissions.

Anusha is from Perumpedu Kuppam in Thiruvallur district whose parents are daily wage- earners. She studied in the local Government school in Tamil medium and prepared for NEET from home without joining any coaching centre. She has got admission in the Government Medical College, Villuppuram. She says that NEET is not difficult.

Sathya is a physically challenged girl from Ganesapuram in Vellore district. Her parents work in a quarry breaking stones as daily labourers. Studied in the local school, she has got a seat in the Government Medical College, Vellore.

Kalaiarasan is from Surappalli Sinnanur  in Salem district. Parents are working in looms. Studied in Alamathur Government school, he has got admission in the Madras Medical College, Chennai.

Joseph Sundersingh, who lost his father, is from Thirukkadaiyur in Mayiladuthurai district living with his mother earning daily wages.  Studied in Government schools through Tamil medium, prepared for NEET from home, is going to join Government medical college.

Sneka stood first in the state from the Scheduled Tribes category. Her father manages family with five daughters through juice business on the road side and selling of utensils during summer. She has selected Stanley Government Medical College, Chennai.  

The above are just a sample from the socially and economically disadvantaged groups who are joining the medical course. A great   majority of them are going to be the first time graduates in their families.

Moreover, higher number of students from the economically less developed districts in the state are joining medical courses this year. Students from the districts of Dharmapuri, Pudukkottai and Thiruvallur districts have got 33, 31 and 26 medical and dental seats respectively. Thiruvannamalai, Kanchipuram, Villuppuram and Tenkasi district students have also got good number of admissions.

For the first time in medical education, Tamil Nadu is witnessing a historic transformation. Students from the very ordinary backgrounds are entering the medical colleges in metros and cities. The list of toppers at all India level for the OBC (non- creamy layer) category shows that two out of ten are from Tamil Nadu. 

The admissions during the previous year and the allotments for the Government school students this year clearly prove that maximum number of students from the economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds are entering medical courses only due to the NEET system. With more medical colleges in the state from this year, we will be witnessing a very high number of students from these sections every year in future. 

So the argument of the DMK Government and its supporting parties scrapping NEET is not based on facts. The conclusions of the state appointed Rajan Committee are biased. Tamil Nadu needs NEET to enable students from the poor and the ordinary backgrounds to get into medical colleges on the basis of merit, without paying higher amounts. The Governor has taken a wise decision in returning the Bill. We all have to support the Governor in the interests of true social justice for Tamil Nadu.  

( Swarajya, Feb 6,2022)