MY SOCIAL WORK JOURNEY FROM JARRET'S GARDENS (1)

I am fortunate to have a small, reassuring family consisting of my wife, children ,children-in-law ,and grandchildren , and a big extended family comprising my former students of social work , many of whom keep in touch with me regularly or occasionally. Some of my former students  have been asking me to write my experiences as a social work professional. I am touched by their warmth and I am planning to look back in time .

My father's ambition was to see me as an Engineer as I was good at Mathematics. But I completed my Master's degree in Statistics. Soon I realised  that I will not be happy with Statistics as my career option. I discussed with my Statistics Professor Dr. M.Mani my indecision. He suggested Social Anthroplogy. The "Social"part appealed to me, but not Anthroplogy. Meanwhile , I was in contact with a famous Marxist thinker and a Member of Parliament as from my College days, I was a part of the activities of the Student Federation of India. I had attended many study sessions on Marxism. I was advised by the MP to consider joining the Communist Party as an ordinary member and he assured that he, being an economist , would be able to sharpen my theoretical skills on  Marxist theory and praxis. But my family circumstances did not permit me to consider his advice.

Meanwhile, I happened to see an advertisement of the Madras School of Social Work (MSSW) inviting applications for the postgraduate course in social work. I thought Social Work would be suitable for me as a career. The address given was JARRET'S  GARDENS. Lal Bagh at Bangalore with its beautiful gardens was in my mental  image . I appeared for selection test at Jarret's Gardens at Casa Major Road at Egmore. As I entered the gate my mental picture changed dramatically. The campus had some trees, two thatched sheds, a dilapidated out house, and an old two-storied structure, which gave the impression of  a heritage building. It was in June 1961.

There was a written test, group discussion, a face-to-face interview with a member of the faculty, and the final panel interview. For the first time  I met two significant personalities: Mrs. Mary Clubwala Jadhav, Founder-Secretary , and Prof.K.N.George, Director of MSSW. Our Head of the Department of Mathematics  during my degree course , Prof. John K John was always in suit and we have never seen him smiling. Our Statistics Professor  Aleyamma George  was a terror. In contrast, I saw to my surprise a Director who was cheerful. Prof. K. N.George was different. I saw him walking up and down most of the time, screaming for minor things, and talking casually as if nothing happened. I found my name in  the selected list of candidates for the postgraduate course in social work. My social work career ,thus, started from Jarret's Gardens.

BONDED AND SWEAT LABOUR OF OUR CHILDREN

Sustained global and national campaigns ultimately led to the banning of Child Labour in India 25 years ago. But nothing has changed on the ground as unscrupulous exploiters of cheap labour continued to use child labour as law implementing officials sleep over the violations. Textile Mills are   among the biggest violators. A shocking  revelation is from a Spinning Mill at Dindigal which PULLED OUT 22 school going children from schools to work in the Mill and the poor parents who are peasants in low paying work definitely prefer some money to education.

SUMANGALI is a beautiful blessing showered on women at marriage for a happy married life. But this age-old blessing has been converted to a clever ploy to exploit children. In Kongu belt consisting of Erode, Tirupur and Coimbatore Textile Mills influence poverty-stricken families with girl children with the Sumangali Scheme to keep girls as mill workers on contract for a number of years so that the children could save money for their future dowry???. Many horrifying instances of this exploitation have come in the public domain with no effect.

The government of India enacted the Right to Education Act (RTE) making education of children a fundamental right. Children are required to be in schools and parents are  to be educated on the need for keeping their kids in schools. But  hunger and deprivation make parents  opt for some earning from their children to supplement their wages. So they do not pay attention to their children dropping out of Schools when prospective employers Pull them out of schools.. Pulling children out of schools is a heinous crime. So also making children work. But who will enforce law? Those who are required to protect children and punish the violators of law themselves are in BONDAGE to the violators. Cruelty to children is a media item for a short period : the officials are fully aware of this reality.

POLICE MEN :TOUGH IMAGE, BUT SOFT JOB

In the United Kingdom, a police constable can occupy the highest police position by performance over a period of time. But not in India. The IPS blocks the constable's growth. At best a constable may become a Sub-Inspector ; but most may not cross the post of Assistant Sub-Inspector. But for many constables, attractive  openings are available as Orderlies in the houses of their superior officers. An orderly is a Domestic Servant doing a variety of services for the  Officer'sfamily and its members. When there is shortage of constabulary for law and order, and criminal investigation duties,  many constables are posted for domestic duties in the houses of  the police officers. After a tough selection process and  giving bribe to politicians in a good number of cases, the young  recruits are shocked to see their posting as domestic help. The wife of a police constable lamented that " my husband is doing even a scavenger's job at the officer's house. I was proud to marry a policeman. But now I am ashamed ."

A Police officer is often referred to as YAJAMAN,  meaning Feudal Landlord because of such unacceptable practice and the way many function. Strangely even a Police Constable is called YAJAMAN by the poor ,  an illustration of  the vertical violence of the social order by those entrusted with  the responsibility of  upholding its integrity. A Standing Committee of The Parliament recommended the abolition of the orderly practice quite a long time ago. But like the other pressing Police Reforms which remain unattended by the central and state governments , this recommendation is also ignored.

Child labour, bonded labour, domestic labour and many ther vulnerable  working class are exploited in India despite some form of protective legislation, Police labour or Orderlies have no legal umbrella to prevent this practice or to regulate the working hours, nature of work and working conditions. While Human Rights activists  will condemn this practice, the ordinary citizens are happy that their daily tormentors are treated this way by an indifferent  state.

PEDAGOGY OF THE POWERLESS

After various permutations, combinations and experimentations, Indian education finally settled for 10+2+3+2 pattern from the primary to the postgraduate levels. But all of a sudden there was an implosion in the Delhi University. The Vice-Chancellor , with a supporting cohort , decided to introduce a 4-year Bachelor's degree followed by an 1-year Master's degree by research. This unilateral decision was made possible because of the paralysis of the UPA's policy makers and the HRD Ministry. The 4-year Bachelor's degree may give more learning time ,  and load the tired and bored students with more information while diminishing absorption of real learning will be the end result. An one-year Master's degree by research is attractive to label , but a counter productive academic measure in the present research scenario in India. The decision of a 4-year Bachelor's degrree by the Delhi University lacks a sound rationale of the coverage of the curricula at the first degree level without consideration for the employability and the educational mobility of the students. As far as the duration, why 4 years, why not 3 1/4, 3 1/2 , or 3 3/4 years? By creating an Exclusive Degree Club, inclusive education is a given a farewell by the self-admiring educationists at the Delhi University. They never bothered about consensus-building on an issue that affects the future of millions of our young students. They had least concern for the financial burden of such an extended degree. Their decision created academic chaos in our education system.A decision of this nature ought to have been linked to a human resource policy. But where is such a policy in India ? In the US, employment / unemployment data is available month-wise. But in India, such data is collected once in five years: that too fudged statistics.  In May 2014, the powerless voted out the bedridden and the paralytic UPA rulers, and elected a new government with great expectations. BJP is committed to the abolition of the reckless experimentation of the Delhi University TUGLAQS. History has given Smriti Irani, our HRD Minister a great opportunity to abolish this 4-year disastrous degree with the Prime Minister's support.

DYNASTIES INTO DUSTBINS

May 16, 2014 : Red letter day in Indian history after August 15 , 1947. On this day Indians threw away two most powerful political dynasties into political oblivion. While the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty met with the worst electoral defeat of all time with a meagre 44 seats out of 543 ( 8 %), Kalaigner Karunanidhi dynasty in Tamilnadu was eclipsed beyond recognition with ZERO out of 39.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first  Prime Minister of India laid the foundation for the most political dynasty of the country.Indira Gandhi knew that to retain power in a vast nation powerful state leaders should be weakened. She branded the charismatic Kamaraj, Nijalingappa, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy and other leaders as anti-people Syndicate; empty slogans like Garibi Hatao were raised to hoodwink the people ;  and split the Congress party to have personal control. In 1975, she declared National Emergency ; arrested popular leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan ; promulgated media censorship ; evicted urban poor from their habitats ; forcibly sterilised men and women of all ages in the name of family planning ; and unleashed fear across the country. The massive electoral defeat suffered by her personally and her party in 1977 was only a temporary shocker. The dynasty manipulated the weaknesses of the opposition, and returned to power with a bang in 1980. Since then, the dynasty has been in direct or remote control of  state power for a quarter century. State leaders were made sycophants ; grass root structures became weak or non-existent ; and all decisions were imposed by the dynasty and its High Command. Finally even the exalted position of  Prime Minister was made a JOB. Dynasty believe that Party is their fiefdom and even the country is its property. "India is Indira and Indira is India " was a famous or notorious slogan during the Emergeny Era. Absolute control of power by the dynasty wiith total lack of  of accountability. Corruption became the order of the day and people were taken for granted. Amitabh Bachan once remarked that "they (dynasty) are Rajalog". The arrogant dynasty became insensitive to the mounting anger of the people and was unprepared for the Electoral Tsunami.

The postmortem of the Congress Party's performance in the elections was on predicted lines. Pre-scripted resignation of the dynasty and the rejection of the same by the  weak Working Committee, a creation of the dynasty , was a boring drama . Congress leaders are afraid to take responsibility having enjoyed power by subserving the dynasty. FEAR OF FREEDOM as written by The Brazilian Philosopher and Educator Paulo Friere in his famous book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed ". The party functionaries have all along internalised hegemony of the dynasty from Indira to  Rajiv to Sonia to Rahul and Priyanka  to Priyanka's children and grandchildren. Dynasties are always optimistic ,and forget that the historic mission of all power hungry dynasties is to wither away over time :through the ballot or bullet.

TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIAL WORK PROFESSION

Indian and other traditional societies have a reservoir of traditional knowledge which has not been explored by social work teachers and practitioners. In a country with the majority of the population being rural and tribal,oral traditions of the people have not been given due recognition by social work professionals neither in research nor in practice. Creative literature ,oral as well as written , preceded social sciences in understanding social relations and human behaviour. Indian society cannot be fully studied without taking into account of the orality of the Indian rural and tribal culture and literature. The kind of insights that folklore can yield into our social life can seldom be provided by the objective and so-called scientific study of our society.

Social and individual development is the concern of social work. Application of folklore in social work practice is of high utility in social group work and community organization. Changes in attitudes and practices can be brought about by folk songs and plays, which are created by the people of a particular community  themselves., and which facilitate interchangeability of roles between the performers( change agents ) and the audience (client groups ). Folk songs touch the mind ( emotions and thinking) which signals heartbeats (feeling and sensitivity), and the combination of both make men and women to put these thoughts and feelings  into action or practice ; they no longer remain merely in the realm of knowledge . So  social work profession in India should take serious cognisance of the intersection between folklore and social work. Only Athropology ,including Medical Anthroplogy , has the wisdom to have close association with the folklore and folk practices.

KERALA'S MULTINATIONAL SPIRITUAL CORPORATION

"Spirit"and pseudo-spiritualism are in abundant supply in Kerala ,known as God's Own Country with Devils aplenty .Boys get baptised into liquor consumption as early as from the tender age of  12. Kerala is on the top with regard to alcoholism , sexual abuse of girl children by fathers and close relatives, harassment of girls and women in society, and suicide though the state has the highest literacy in India.People seek solace wherever it is readily available . So  priests, astrologers, Godmen and Godwomen, etc  thrive. Kerala is not an exception ;all over the country swamis, gurus, soothsayers and other pseudo-spiritual merchants (though many are in jails) are worshipped.. For instance ,Tamilnadu and neighbouring states in the recent past had the presence of KALKI Bhagawan(God), the tenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu , and his spiritual movement with numerous followers around him. Finally ,KALKI had a brush with law and police.

Mata Amritanandamayi  Math in Kerala is the ultimate destination for laity,celebrity,political class of all ideologies,corporate bosses, and all needing spiritual cleanliness. From here "spirituality and divinity " are exported to all countries with spiritual bases and centres. The simple devotee of Lord Krishna became a Goddess herself over time ,perhaps like Lord Krishna himself ,with temple rituals and "poojas". A new spiritual order of monks and "sisters" is in place.. The Math has a battery of highly skilled marketing strategists and articulate "swamis ", a TV channel , corporate style organisations and community service. The Math has been engaged in outstanding health care and rehabilitation of families affected by Tsunami and other disasters. Thousands of believers are benefitted with emotional support from the Mata with her personal touch and "hug" . On the negative side, its medical college, engineering colleges, and other educational institutions are becoming corporate enterprises. Massive flow of foreign funding under the FCRA Act and huge donations from devotees are worrying  phenomena.

Gail Tredwell, who became Gayathri, spent nearly twenty years at the Math and was a part of the inner coterie of Amma (Mother ) Her book HOLY HELL became an explosive to Amma's believers demystifying the Mata. Sleaze, rape, sexual abuse, cruelty to inmates, witch-hunting of dissidents and critics, diversion of devotees' donations to family, disproportionate  accumulation of wealth by family members and relatives of the Mata, and other unpleasant matters are explained in the book of Gail. Popular TV personality John Brittas of Kairali /WE TV interviewed Gail. The interview was virtually a wide dissemination of information on the Mata and The Math among the Kerala diaspora and others across the globe. A concerned citizen went to the court. Though the case was dismissed,it is a temporary reprieve. The Kerala government has taken the stand that a book cannot be the basis for filing a case. A weak defence. But the dice has been cast. The wind of the present day can be a cyclone tomorrow. Mata is a Goddess to her followers. So it is her responsibility to accept an impartial investigation into the functioning of the Math by eminent citizens.

Mother Teresa is the only Mother India can be proud of. All other "Mothers" are pale shadows of Teresa, the Mother of all time.