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Militancy's
Second Innings But it is the general gloom in Jammu and Kashmir that is more disturbing.
At one level, the Kashmir Valley, Doda and the heights of Kargil are different theatres of the same conflict. Therefore, internal strife has to be tackled with the same resolve as the invaders in Kargil were this summer. Having said that, it would be unwise to ignore that the problem in Kashmir is not merely law and order gone awry. Despite three years of popular -- at least nominally -- government, the level of confidence among the people is abysmally low. Actually, it has progressively fallen, despite the hype about tourism being on the mend and the militants losing mass sympathy. The voting figures bear that out -- even if a chief minister more concerned with how many film units have shot sequences in Kashmir prefers other indicators. The challenge of separatism can be met as much by the gun as by a responsive administration. This may appear an axiomatic truth; but does Farooq Abdullah know his axioms? Notional Literacy Mission Why India still hasn't educated itself out of its misery
India's literacy rate is growing at a piffling 2 per cent a year. Population goes up faster. Since the linkage between literacy and other indicators of social development -- community health, women's rights, birth control -- is more or less established, the slow progress of India's basic educators is in effect holding back a revolution. Nor is this tardy record a reflection of India's poverty. Functional literacy is not a PhD programme. Reports of it being a resource guzzler are grossly exaggerated. Some 50 years ago, a country as poor as Ethiopia undertook a very successful mass literacy programme. Nicaragua and Cuba are other examples. What was meant to differentiate the NLM from other such schemes was a high degree of mobilisation, modern management techniques, adherence to targets and a zeal that was, well, missionary. India needed it; it still does. |
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