ELECTION SCENE

Four Indian states are having the elections . Election time is a festival time . Money is available all around giving the impression that India is a very rich nation. Election is a good opportunity  for converting BLACK MONEY into white ; something like the role of the Reserve Bank of India..A lot of employment opportunities are created during election time, though it is seasonal. Grabbing walls of buildings and painting slogans of parties are highly competitive activities.. A new category of contractors has emerged: Election Contractors. Their functions : arranging participants for election meetings and rallies,; supplying goons ;  arranging   soda bottles, stones ,cycle chains and other destructive materials; procuring liquor ( illicit ,local or branded) and sex workers ; making available different types of  food ; etc. Election contractors mature into local body councillors and higher-ups in course of time. Participants in rallies and meetings  are paid well on a per day basis : Rs. 600 for a man, Rs. 800 for a woman and Rs.1200 for a student. The same persons will be utilised for different parties what ever be the party ideology. Speech makers are in great demand according their vocal chord strength, and star status in the parties.
Door to door campaigners in large numbers will be in demand once the high decibel  public meetings come to an end.. Poster making is a profit making enterprise during the election period..Voter bribing is an art and many with bribe giving skills are rated high with the candidates and parties. On the whole our elections are not only an entertainment extravaganza but also a wonderful economic enterprise .. A temporary START UP INDIA.

PhD FOR A PRICE

Hindustan Times exposed the well-known business of  fake Doctoral research work in Indian Universities. A shopping complex opposite old JNU campus in Delhi  has a row of book shops that appear like ordinary book stalls. But inside serious "research " discussions regarding creation of bogus Doctoral discussions take place between the research customers and touts. PhD on any topic. Price of  ghostwritten dissertations ranges from a minimum of ₹ 30,000/- depending on the topic and the "degree of originality " required by the research " scholar". Ghost written dissertations are not merely for researchers from ordinary Universities, but also for scholars from prestigious Universities like JNU, Jamia Millia Islamia ( JMI ) and Indian Institute of Technology ,Delhi.  It is said that South Delhi is a flourishing ghost-written PhD market. This malady is not confined to Delhi alone.All across India doctorate degrees are sold for researchers by Professors and administrators of various Universities.

Doctorate degrees are also in great demand from  politicians,astrologers, businessmen, civil servants, and others. Some give doctorates to them by themselves. Astrologers of various types call themselves Dr. XXX. Who questions them. When persons without any medical qualification practise medicine and even do surgery , adding Dr to one's name ,though not from any University, is a minor aberration from Indian standards.

Writing dissertations for Master's degrees, MPhil degrees and PhDs is a Start-Up  Industry in India needing no venture capital. Like corruption for public service in government departments, Ghost dissertations for a price have become a common phenomenon. Ironically, even a doctoral degree secured after years of hard work is viewed with suspicion . Some years ago, a good research scholar worked hard and wrote his dissertation under the research guidance of a Professor with an MPhil and a PhD . Before submitting he showed me his dissertation. His dissertation had a very serious defect : the percentages in all the cross-tables were computed with a wrong base. When I pointed out this to him, he was initially upset. But he had no time to redraft the dissertation. He took the risk hoping that like his research guide , the examiner would also be ignorant of the percentage rules. He was perfectly right. He passed MPhil with distinction.

Our HRD Miniter Ms.Smriti Irani announced that soon Universities in India would be ranked. Very good idea. When academic Ghosts are available in plenty in India ,rating of Universities has to be taken with a " bag of salt". AMEN.🌺😝🌺