Fund Raising for 9 different causes

 Hi folks, i am an admin with Mumbai Road Runners a running community in India. This year we are raising funds for 9 different NGOs in 9 different sectors coinciding with the Navratri Festival in India next month. As you are aware, the NGOs are all facing severe funds crunch during this covid pandemic with the result that many of their projects are starved for resources. This is an attempt by us to fill in that gap, to augment the resources of these NGOs so that their programs are carried on successfully, thereby benefiting the poor and marginal people to whom the NGOs serve. Therefore requesting one and all to contribute generously to one or more than one of these NGOs. The fund raising link for each NGOs is given below. You can click on any link, which will take you directly to the payment page. All these NGOs are on the United Way platform so they are vetted properly by the United Way team. All contributions to these NGOs are tax exempt under the Income Tax Act, 1961 and the tax receipts for your donations, will be furnished directly by the respective NGO.

https://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/tmm-fundraiser-15409

St. Jude India Childcare Centres. St Jude India ChildCare Centres provide free, safe, hygienic accommodation and holistic support to needy cancer affected children travelling with their parents from rural and semi-urban areas to big cities to seek the best cancer treatment. We bridge the gap between free medical treatment provided by the hospital, and physical and emotional support needed by families to complete cancer treatment.

https://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/tmm-fundraiser-15407

Animedh Charitable Trust – The objectives of ANIMEDH CHARITABLE TRUST (ACT) are to provide support and social services to needy women and children. ACT empowers women to transform their lives by providing vocational training and facilitating income generation opportunities. ACT also promotes basic and higher education for the children, especially the girl-child.

https://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/tmm-fundraiser-11843

MOHAN (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) Foundation’s mission is to ensure that every Indian suffering from end stage organ failure be provided with the ‘gift of life’ through life-saving organ. Its main objectives include creating public awareness about organ donation, training healthcare professionals in transplant coordination, counselling bereaved families to donate their loved ones’ organs.

https://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/tmm-fundraiser-15411

Light of Life Trust – Light of Life Trust is an NGO registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950, works towards realising untapped potential of India’s rural communities and empower them through its 2 verticals – Project Anando (Education) and Project Jagruti (Community Development).

https://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/tmm-fundraiser-15412

MENTAID a parents driven initiative, ensures early intervention, education, vocational training, respite care. It promotes Self Advocacy and Independence for children and young adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Through intensive training it empowers their families, 50% of whom come from the economically disadvantaged section of society.

https://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/tmm-fundraiser-15413

Dignity Foundation’s mission is to create an enlightened society in which senior citizens feel secure, confident and valued, and can live with dignity. We help empower senior citizens with an enriching set of opportunities & programmes so as to lead a more dignified, secure, joyful and fulfilling life.

https://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/tmm-fundraiser-15414

Bhumi is one of India’s largest independent youth volunteer non-profit organisations. Bhumi as a platform will enable over 12,000 volunteers in more than 12 cities across India for causes like education, environment, animals and community welfare. Bhumi is the recipient of the ‘Leader in Volunteer Engagement Award’ conferred by iVolunteer.

https://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/tmm-fundraiser-15408

Population First is a communications and advocacy initiative for health and population issues from a gender and social development perspective. Our key objectives are to help reduce gender imbalances in the population and work towards gender sensitive and social development oriented health and population programs.

https://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/tmm-fundraiser-15410

Habitat India beneficiaries are economically poor, low income, marginalized groups considered non-bankable, disaster affected families that includes historically disadvantaged communities. Till date, we have served over 62,025 families comprising of 297,720 individuals through our interventions in Housing, Sanitation, Access to Water and Disaster Response. We are head quartered in Mumbai.

Rebecca

 

Brilliant psychological drama movie from Alfred Hitchcock "Rebecca" (1940) starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) accidentally meets the beautiful Joan Fontaine when he is rather contemplating jumping down a cliff in Monte Carlo. One thing leads to another and soon both are romantically involved. She then becomes his second wife after his first wife Rebecca accidently drowns herself off the sea coast. Rebecca is never shown in the movie, but her imprint is throughout the movie. Her faithful housekeeper Mrs. Denvers is rather too faithful to her memories and seems to be of the devilish and plotting kind. She was too close to Rebecca and adored her too much to bear her loss too badly. Hitchcock twists the plot towards the end to first implicate Maxim with her murder and then it goes around to another tale of her sickness, or probably that she was pregnant or maybe she committed suicide or murder, the plot keeps swinging about till the end. Joan Fontaine as the girl who does not have a name in the movie looked beautiful throughout the movie and acted brilliantly as well.  Laurence Olivier is passable, The film won a clutch of awards for Alfred Hitchcock. 

Pygmalion

 George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion being adapted into a film in 1938 directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller among others. The film stays true to the play, well almost. Professor Higgins (Leslie Howard) is a professor of phonetics & linguistics, and while wandering about in lowly Convent Garden, gets into a scrap with a flower girl Eliza Dolittle (Wendy Hiller). Just then Colonel Pickering comes by, he is an expert of linguistics and dialects himself and wants to meet Higgins, having returned from India. Pickering challenges Higgins to improve the flower girl in a few weeks. Eliza lands up on his doorstep the next morning to learn from him. Then follows the most exacting phase of her life while she tries to throw away her Welsh cockney accent and to adapt a proper British accent with pronunciation, grammar, manners, etiquette etc. Higgins accepts an invitation to an embassy reception with trepidation as to how Eliza would perform. It became his obsession and luckily Eliza goes through with flying colours. Higgins thinks he has won the battle but what has to become of Eliza, where will she go back now that she has become a proper lady, she won't be able to go back to selling flowers. Higgins is unfortunately not able to make that connection.  Higgins comes across as a self centred egomaniac and for him every girl is like a subject to him, like his triumph. Wendy Hiller got nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars. Superb acting by both Wendy Miller and Leslie Howard, both stayed true to script. 

Meshes of the Afternoon

 

Meshes of the Afternoon, (1943) a short film created by Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid. Its again a surrealist film just like Luis Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou". A woman is seen as walking down a path, she goes to a door, finds it locked, finds the hidden key, the key falls down onto the stairs, then she goes inside the room, which is in disarray, the phone is off the hook, she finds a knife on a bread, a record player playing and then somebody is chasing her, she in turn is chasing a lady without a face but not able to catch her. The images and visuals keep repeating like in a dream. There is no meaning to the movie, its a dream sequence, and one can interpret it the way one wants. Later a man comes into the house, the same sequence keeps repeating, with the key and the knife and the lady. One can sum it as the character's thought patterns in a time of crisis. 

Strange Happenings at Landings Castle & Other Humorous Stories

 

A collection of uproariously humorous stories by Gopal Ramanan, third in his series of short stories books. Starts off with a brilliant spoof on Sherlock Holmes with some strange happenings going in Landings Castle with Lord Landings himself perplexed and requesting for Sholmes' help along with Dr. Dotson. Then there is a take on the venerable James Bond getting old, well, actually old instead of being perpetually young and handsome. Partha is then fretting with his unusually long name in the US and wonders whether he could change it to something short and sweet. Then there are a series of short essays on the author's crisp observations on life's inanities all laced with sweet humour. Written in a very simple style with narrative reminiscent of the great RK Narayan, this is a highly recommended book for light reading. Goodreads 5/5 

Ad Astra

Ad Astra, a 2019 science fiction drama movie directed by James Grey and starring Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Liv Tylor, Donald Sutherland among others. It is more of a psychological drama movie rather than pure technology although there is a lot of science frontiers being broken down as shown in the movie, for eg. colonies in moon, Mars and space travel to Saturn, Jupiter & Neptune. Brad Pitt (Roy McBride) is the son of Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) who has gone away to space for 30 years in search of intelligent life on the universe, in the process he has travelled to Saturn, Jupiter and now stationed near Neptune. His space station has created some cosmic ray disturbances which has affected Earth also, so the son sets out to locate his dad in the vast universe, which takes 79 days from Mars itself. Lot of emotional tug of war between father and the son later, earth is safe from the cosmic disturbances and the power surges. The movie drags a bit in the middle especially when Brad is about to reach Neptune to find his dad after 3 decades. There is no emotional re-union sort of, the Dad has more or less lost his contact and interest in Earth. The movie was nominated to the Oscars in the sound mixing category. The special effects in the movie is quite extraordinary, it is in the human connect that the movie finds its weak spot. 
 

Open Water 2: Adrift

 

An open water adventure holiday gone horribly wrong. Open Water 2: Adrift is projected as based on true events, but with the kind of human stupidity depicted in the movie, i doubt if humans can be so stupid. Three pairs of couples go on a yatch holiday out in the open sea or ocean, far away from shore. One couple has an infant daughter also on board, which itself was a risky thing to take such a young one on a ship or a yatch cruise. Four of the members jump into the water to do a swim which i thought was another stupid thing to do, who swims in open ocean far away from land, maybe some do perhaps. Of the remaining, Amy (Susan May Pratt) has a phobia for water because of an incident in her childhood when her father drowned while swimming with her. The other guy Dan (Eric Dane) is ostensibly the owner of the yatch, but later reveals that he is a fraud and that the yatch is actually belonging to his boss. What kind of a boss allows his employee to take his yatch out to a cruise, beats me. Anyway, both of them also jump into the water, without realising that nobody has bothered to put the ladder down or keep the hatch down so that people can climb back. Dan is such an idiot that he does not realise the blunder he has committed endangering everybody's lives. All of them are stuck down in the water with nary any hold or groove to climb back. Soon one after another start drowning. The movie advertised shark attack, but there was nothing of that sort, even though blood oozed from a couple of the guys. 

The General

 

Buster Keaton and his rip roaring comedy in The General (1926) one of the finest silent era comedy films of all time. Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) is a train engineer and loves his engine and his lady love Annabelle (Marion Mack). When war breaks out, time comes to enlist for the Confederates, but he is rejected and his lady love also rejects him without an uniform. In the meanwhile, the Confederates are infiltrated by some spies who steal his train and make off with the supplies. Off goes Johnny after the train and some delightful comic scenes follows. Annabelle is meanwhile kept as captive by the Union soldiers and then Johnny has to rescue her, so some more delectable comic scenes. Buster Keaton's comic timings were superb in the movie somewhat reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin. Fight ensues between Union and Confederate soldiers much to the relief and joy of the Confederates. Brilliant movie to watch especially for Buster Keaton. The direction and camera work were quite superb for that era, especially shots of the moving trains and the wilderness. Who knew a silent movie would prove to be so powerfully comic. Brilliant. 

The Squaw Man

 

A 1914 silent era movie "The Squaw Man" directed by the great Cecil de Mille and the first western ever in Hollywood. It is one of those cult movies in the history of movies. Starring Warner Baxter as Jim, Eleanor Boardman as Diana, Lupe Velez as Naturich, its a story where an Englishman Jim has had to leave England to save his face and family name, following the swindling of the war regiment cash by his cousin Henry. Jim has to take the blame on himself and unfortunately he loves Diana who is Henry's wife. So all sort of tangles there. He escapes to America, where he becomes a wild west man, gets into a conflict with a local goon there Cash Hawkins, who is killed by Naturich. Later Jim and Naturich marry and have a kid. In the meanwhile Henry dies in an alpine fall accident and his dying confession absolves Jim of all the wrongdoings. Diana comes to America to reunite with Jim and ask him to take his rightful place as the Earl. There is no music, unlike in Battleship Potemkin which had great orchestral music. And with no sound, and only the few notes to let us know what is going on in the movie. Cecil de Mille made a 1931 version of the same movie, but with sound and dialogues, but that version is unfortunately not available on youtube.  

A Turbulent Mind

 

A Turbulent Mind is written from heart. Written by my good friend Swetha Amit, whom i know for a good many years. She has chronicled her journey from an unsure, turbulent, self conscious individual to a confident, determined, dedicated woman going on to conquer Ironman 70.3. Many of us are runners, marathoners, mountaineers, tennis players, footballers etc. We have seen pictures and images of multi sport people on our television, sportspersons like Daley Thompson, Swapna Barman, decathletes and heptathles, those sportspersons who compete in 10 sports and 7 sports respectively. That is for professional sportspersons. The closest that amateur individual can come close to achieving that kind of super stardom status is by taking part in a sport called triathlon, which comprises of three sports, i.e. swimming in open waters, cycling and running all done back to back with cut offs at each sport. To do that and also carry on with your normal daily life routines takes some miraculous will power and determination. Swetha did all that within a few months of reaching US on a work assignment which took her hubby there. Having to juggle sports times for 3 sports, plus strength training, stretching and then your family time, household work, shopping, etc. all in a day in the US where you don't get household help unlike in India and also to ensure that one gets adequate sleep takes some kind of planning and clockwork precision. Luckily the sport has many advantages in US where you get good open water swimming facilities and cycling lanes unlike in India. Along the way Swetha has conquered her fear of open water swimming, and hill cycling and conquered her inner demons on the way to her Ironman 70.3 medal.  Swetha has written her journey very well, very meticulously detailing all her thoughts, fears, aspirations, in a very simple language. She has written from her heart. Highly recommended for all sports persons and those planning to take up triathlon shortly.  Goodreads 5/5

Old Enough

 

Winner at Sundance Film Festival in 1984, Old Enough is a coming of age story of two young girls from contrasting backgrounds. Karen (Rainbow Harvest) from a struggling neighbourhood with a somewhat abusive father to boot, and Lonnie (Sarah Boyd) from a rich upper class society with all the comforts that her parents can give her. They meet and become friends and hang out together, Lonnie experiencing lot of things that she could never get with her rich upbringing and Karen overawed at the comforts and extravaganza of Lonnie household. Karen has a moral streak though, going to church, confessing and all that stuff   but she also has a knack of lifting things from a shopping mall. Karen's brother Johny (Neill Barry) about the same age and showing some interest in Lonnie and she getting slightly infatuated with him and all that stuff. Johny in turn becomes infatuated with a new neighbour in their building. It all happens one summer. The kids discovering new things as they grow up and their friendship with each other coming as they are from different backgrounds, that is the sum of the movie. 

Brief Encounter

Brief Encounter, a 1946 film starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard and directed by David Lean. It got Celia Johnson her nomination for the Oscars. An interesting story of two middle aged, married individuals falling in love unexpectedly and not able to do anything about it. It just happened just like that. Laura (Celia Johnson) is a happily married woman with two kids and a doting husband, and she always goes every Thursday to the townside by train and then she shops, changes her books in the library and goes to watch a movie, almost solo, and almost ritual like. She unexpectedly runs into Dr. Alec (Trevor Howard) who is a general practitioner and who also comes into town every Thursday to visit the hospital and relieve his friend of his duties. When Laura is standing too close to the tracks and one train passes by, some girt goes into her eyes, and Dr. comes to the rescue. One thing leads to another and in no time, their Thursday ritual gets more deeper and meaningful and they both realise that are in love with each other. Both also suffer from guilt because both have families to look forward to. Its a nice soft movie, not much of preaching going on, something that happened to two individuals without any hidden motive or malice behind it. Production values were quite good for that era. The background music by Sergei Rachmaninoff was quite exceptional.  

 

The Song of Bernadette

 

Brilliantly made film on the life of Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) a girl who sees a vision in a grotto in Lourdes in France. Bernadette played by Jennifer Jones in an absolutely magnificent role befitting the Oscars for Best Actress given to her as well as the Golden Globe awards for that year. The Song of Bernadette (1943) directed by Henry King remains true to the story of Bernadette Soubirous. The film is beautifully made with superb camera work and cinematography, outstanding for that era. Bernadette sees a vision of a lady in white, while going to fetch wood for her family. Only she can see the apparition, nobody else and she communicates with the lady. Initially even her family doubts her story and so do the other villagers of Lourdes, but eventually one miracle occurs when a spring appears where there were only rock and stones and shrub, and the waters from that spring starts curing people of their illnesses. The church was initially against her, but the Dean of Lourdes starts believing her even as the higher authorities in Rome impose one commission after another to ferret out the real truth. The bureaucrats of Lourdes are totally against her and even want to arrest her on some old 1789 law. Jennifer Jones has done a splendid role, doing full justice to the character.  Eventually Bernadette is sent to become a sister. The climax of the movie is quite beautiful and sad and poignant. Worth watching for the acting of Jennifer Jones, the beautiful cinematography and camera work.   

The Last of the Cockleshell Heroes

 

The Last of the Cockleshell Heroes by William Sparks, an autobiographical true story of bravery during World War II. Its an incredible story of raw courage in enemy territory by two British officers William Sparks and Major 'Blondie' Herbert Hasler. They were part of a secret mission sent to jeopardise enemy lines in France. It was an unusual raid, because it was a canoe borne raid. It was a foldable canoe which is why it was called cockleshell. Each canoe carried two marines and there were 5 teams in all. Their plan was to paddle along the Gironde river, sneak into Bordeaux port under cover of darkness and attach mines to the German boats lined up there. Out of the 5 canoes, three canoes were lost either shot or captured. Their ambush was successful as several German ships was destroyed. Sparks and Hassler then abandoned their canoe and walked more than 100 miles across enemy territory in extremely difficult and trying conditions to reach a French village changing locations several times during this rendezvous. They eventually met the Resistance team who took them to Spain for a debriefing. Out of the 10 member squad, only two came alive and successfully, to tell a tale of raw courage. Goodreads 5/5 

Bicycle Thieves

 

Iconic cult classic "Bicycle Thieves" directed by Vittorio de Sica in 1948, an Italian neorealist film ranked as one of the greatest films of all time. The film derives its strength from its beautiful story told in a simple style. Its a post world war II Italy and work is hard to find. Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) gets an employment call to stick posters of an upcoming film, but he must have a bicycle of his own, otherwise he does not get the job. He has pawned his bicycle to meet ends of his family comprising of his wife Maria, son Bruno and a small baby. Maria manages to sell some quilts and get some money to release the bicycle. Antonio is happy with his bicycle and dreams of a big future giving comforts to his family. Unfortunately on the first day of the job itself, some one steals his bicycle and then its a desperate struggle to get it back, because he knows what it means to him and his family. Antonio does not give up the search and enlists the help of his friends to find the bicycle. The police is not of much help and neither he can spot his own bicycle in the second hand bicycle mart. As he gets one rejection after another, Antonio gets frustrated and sometimes angry at his son, for the bad luck that has befallen him. Lamberto has done a brilliant role as the angst ridden Antonio looking for his bicycle. The climax is very poignant. Both Lamberto and Enzo Staoila (Bruno, the boy) were non actors when they played this part. de Sica has used poor neighbourhood to shoot most of his shots and none of his shots were in studio. It was all realist portraying the poverty, grime and unemployment of the city in post war Europe. Many Indian film makers have been influenced by Vittoria de Sica including Satyajit Ray, Bimal Roy both of whom showed poverty and angst in their movies.  The film won the Golden Globe for the best foreign language film in 1949. 

Coco

 

Wonderful animation movie Coco (2017) from the Pixar Disney combination, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney studios. Its a story of a young kid and his love for music but his family forbids from playing any music or even going near a musical instrument, because his great great grand father was a musician and left his family to pursue his musical career and the family to fend for themselves. From then on the family has no music in its household despite having passed through so many generations and having a successful business to boot. Then there is a Mexican festival the Day of the Dead, in which apparently the dead members of the family are remembered by keeping the food that they loved and celebrating with them. The story has beautifully taken off from there into the Land of the Dead where young Miguel goes on to find his great great grand father and seek his blessings to play music. The interplay between the living and the dead has been wonderfully made during this phase with lot of adventure, daring, innovativeness, creativity with a murder plot, a suspense and a reunion thrown in, all around a deep rooted culture and a family life. Pixar's animation has been absolutely magnificent to say the least. Awesome movie to watch for all generations. 

Battleship Potemkin

 

Battleship Potemkin, a 1925 silent era film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. It is supposedly one of the greatest films of all time. Its a story of a mutiny on board a battleship Potemkin when the sailors are given poor quality meat and rebel against that. The officers round them up and order the officers to shoot them, but the officers refuse, marking the beginning of the workers' rebellion. One of the sailors Vakulinchuk dies in the melee and when his body is taken to the port of Odessa, the town erupts in anger against the then Tsarist regime. The Cossacks then come down and start randomly shooting many people, including women, children and old people. The battleship Potemkin fires cannons against the Odessa opera house and thereby signals its attention to protect the people of Odessa. Production values for the movie made way back in 1925 is stupendous. Some of the shots especially in the Odessa steps are quite brilliant.  Some of his shots have been copied by other movie directors, such as the baby pram slowly falling down the stairs in "Untouchables", With the orchestral music playing throughout the movie, it must have been a blockbuster movie way back in 1926 when it was released.    

Danton

 

A dense historical fiction movie "Danton" directed by Polish director, Andrzej Wajda in a French Polish joint production. It won the Bafta in 1983. The story takes place in 1794 during the Reign of Terror in France with Maximilien Robespierre pitted against Georges Danton. Robespierre is the fiercest advocate of the liberty of people but he has apparently turned to be a dictator. Danton is a popular figure of those times and the people are with him. Both sides have their own set of supporters. The story details that part when Danton and his friends are accused of plotting against the Republic and made to stand trial. The trial in those days were more farcical than today's which says a lot. Basically Danton is accused of sedition in today's times. But he says i conspired for peace and amnesty for the people. Some gems from the movie "The final safeguard against despotism is a free press". The press guys are not allowed inside the court room and take notes. "A defendant's right to be heard is not a privilege, it is simply justice". This is uttered by one of his party members in a kind of Parliament of those days, called the Committee. "Politics has nothing to do with justice" which sadly we are witnessing in today's times as well. "We send you Republic's enemies, your duty is not to judge them but to eliminate them" this is uttered by Robespierre to the judge, shades of what we are seeing today as well. Wojciech Pszoniak as Robespierre has done a brilliant job and Gerard Depardieu as Danton with his usual theatrics. There is not many female interests in the movie. 

Last Man in Tower

 

Aravind Adiga's "Last Man in Tower" is a story about desperate people - desperate lower middle class people wanting to go up in society, wanting the riches, dreaming of a rich future and to achieve that they will throw all the scruples to the wind. Its a story of a old middle class metropolitan housing society in a suburb of Mumbai. The building is old, needs urgent repairs, the residents are all middle class with aspirations for more. In comes a corrupt, wealthy, ruthless builder who offers more than the market price for each flat in the society. Everybody agrees but for a couple of residents - old couple Pintos whose children are abroad and a widower Masterji a retired teacher whose only son is residing in a posh swanky flat in South Mumbai. He is a principled man with lots of attachment to the flat because of his late wife and daughter. He digs his heels in and refuses to accept the lucrative offer, the other residents get desperate because of the impending deadline, while the builder is sweating because of the potential loss of his reputation, when other builders are ready to pounce upon the property. The book is too long, but the narrative is quite brilliant. Aravind Adiga has written beautifully, his prose is superb. Towards the later part of the book, it starts getting depressing and the ending is a huge anti climax. Reminded me of the 80s movie "Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho" a sort of similar story about house owners who are unable to vacate their tenants and the matter goes to courts and stays there for decades, while the lawyers start getting rich, the plaintiffs become poorer and poorer by the day.  

Nayak

 

Brilliant noir film by Satyajit Ray, "Nayak" (1966) explores the dark underbelly of a film star's imperfections. Made in black and white and starring Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore as the central protagonists, the film is shot entirely inside a moving train except the opening shot and few sequences in his dreams/ recollections. Arindam (Uttam Kumar) is a huge film star going to New Delhi to receive an award in a second class train from Calcutta of those days. His arrival at the train station and inside the train creates a buzz amongst the passengers. Aditi (Sharmila Tagore) is a journalist writing for a women's magazine and wants to interview him. Over the course of the interview which takes three to four sittings, Arindam degenerates his personality from a confident movie star into a insecure, distressed, unsure, nervous person due to ephemeral nature of his profession. All along his biggest fear is that three flops will take him down to the gutter. Satyajit Ray has interspersed the narration with three to four episodes from Arindam's past such as his first ever day in the films, his betrayal of his friend who becomes a union leader, his inability to help a lady who wants a career out in the movies. In one scene he is seen desperately clutching bank notes as he is sinking deeper and deeper into a morass from which even his mentor Shankarda is unable to help him. Satyajit Ray has also added minor sub plots in the movie in the train itself with one lady wanting to act in the movies but whose husband wants her to inveigle herself to a potential client who is enamoured of her. That man's wife and children are in the same coupe as Arindam and the daughter who is sick from the beginning of the train journey recovers towards the end. There is a Hitchockian touch to the movie. The to and fro between Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore is brilliantly done and Uttam Kumar's character from a confident assured movie star to a distressed despairing insecure individual is brilliantly done by Uttam Kumar. Sharmila Tagore looks glamorous and alluring when she removes her thick glasses.  

The 12 week Fitness Project

 

Quick read book by Rujuta Diwekar, although one is supposed to read it slowly and imbibe it along the way and follow the instructions from the book, which is what i did. I like her bindaas attitude to food in the sense that she advocates eating ghee, white sugar, jaggery etc. all of which are anathema to other nutritionists or diet consultants. She uses a lot of Indianised words in the book, which is the hallmark in her earlier books as well "Don't Lose your Mind, Lose your Weight" which was also a good book to read. One has to follow the instructions to the T for proper results otherwise it will not be visible, which is what happens to most of us, in the sense that we get busy with our work lives and forget to follow most of the basic principles advocated in the book. Lot of the information given in the book is very practical to use and adapt. I would recommend, read one chapter at a time, imbibe and practice solutions from that chapter and then go ahead. Highly recommended read. 

The Stranger

 

1946 psycho drama film starring Orson Welles, Loretta Young and directed by Orson Welles himself. The film has dark shades as Charles Rankin (Orson Welles) a school teacher in Harper, Connecticut could possibly be an ex-Nazi criminal by the name of Franz Kindler. He is about to marry Mary (Loretta Young) the daughter of one of the judges of the US Supreme Court. UN War Commission is after Kindler who has left Germany without leaving any trace behind, save for one of his associates Meinike who is a prisoner in a Czechoslovakia prison. Meinike is released in the hope that he will try to contact Kindler and as expected he does go after him to Connecticut. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) who is heading the UN Commission goes after Meinike in order to prise out Kindler. Wilson plays the waiting game for Kindler to fall into his trap. Nice noir movie with Orson Welles playing a super role that of a hard core, unrepenting criminal, Loretta Young as the confused and disbelieving wife and Robinson as the cool and composed cop. The film was released in 1946 which means production must have taken place sometime in late 1945, when the war had just ended with the Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombing in August 1945. Quite a brilliant effort for that era, when many movie goers must not yet have realised the depravity of the Nazi concentration camps.    

Asgari Bai

 

Documentary on Asgari Bai, the rare exponent of Dhrupad in Hindustani Classical music. Dhrupad is one of the ancient ragas in classical music and as far my limited knowledge of listening to Dhrupad, i have heard only male singers rendering it, most famous being the Dagar brothers. Asgari Bai was a court musician during the royal times in the pre Independence India. She became the main singer of the Orchha dynasty in the Bundelkhand region. By the time this documentary was made, she was quite old, 86 years of age, and the best years were behind her. There were no performance by her during the documentary nor are there very many youtube videos of her singing. One link i got in youtube was this one

Documentary is nicely made by Brahmand Singh, the doyen of documentary film makers in India. You can watch the documentary at this link

A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash

 Absorbing documentary about Oil - its history, its development through the ages, its role in the society, including Oil as War, Oil as Politics, oil developing the world, so much of petro products being consumed by people all over the world. It talks of the oil fields that were there in Baku, Texas, Venezuala - all finished, all ghost towns over there. Oil as war tool when Saddan Hussain invaded Kuwait but even otherwise almost all wars have been about oil. US goes into war with Iraq over the so called weapons of mass destruction when it was all about securing oil assets and securing oil contracts for George Bush's Republican friends. The conflict in Darfur in South Sudan was all about oil discoveries with the military using force to clear families staying there.  There are some lovely live footages including one of a smiling Adolf Hitler (which is rare, indeed). Baku produced all that oil that was used by the German army. The film gives a realistic picture of the forthcoming shortage of oil in the world, with the world running out of oil reserves. Alternate sources of energy like wind power, solar, bio diesel, are all too puny in quantity and too much expensive to be affordable. Same applies to electric energy one expert says that even if you hybridised all the automobile vehicles in the world today, still we will be requiring as much oil as we are consuming today. Oil is virtually ruling the world which is why we see so much influence in the middle east. Then there are problems with OPEC and the production in Saudi Arabia is not growing that much to be of comfort to the world.  Very feeble or practically nil attempt being made to enforce democracy in the middle east - reason - oil. Very rich documentary with lots of expert voices, lots of live footages and material. Well made documentary. 

Available on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odCZpBPfFQk

Picture taken from internet, not with a view to violating copyright. 

 

Mahanagar

Classic Satyajit Ray movie "Mahanagar" made in 1963 in black and white once again a woman centric movie by the master, after "Kanchenjunga" which was made in 1962 also a woman oriented movie. Quite a genius to make a woman centric movie in the 60s, advanced thinking for the ages. This one is a beautiful film with traces of psychological drama in it, but Ray brilliantly picks it up towards the end. Brilliant performance by Madhabi Mukherjee in the main role of Arati the demure wife of Subrata Mazumdar, the banker who is just making by with his salary with old parents to take care of plus his kid and a sister as well. They live in a old ramshackle house with no fans and no cooking gas. His father is a retired teacher and likes to play the crossword in order to win some prize money. Then they decide that Arati can work to supplement the income of the family. She applies and secures a job as well and becomes quite a star performer in her company. Then all hell breaks loose because it is a patriarchal family system, how can a women go out and work, a silent war rages on between the elderly in laws and the woman. But pangs of jealousy and guilt start hurting the husband, this is where Anil Chatterjee as the husband has performed a bravura role. The wife starts earning more, starts wearing lipstick, sun glasses, appoints maid for the house, meets other gentleman in a cafe, all of which troubles the husband. The husband also loses his job because of a run in his bank. There is one shot in the movie, when Arati is eating and leaves the plate on the floor and asks her husband to do something in a subtly higher voice.  The transformation of Arati as demure, house bound, insecure woman to a confident, courageous, bold woman is quite brilliant and subtle and Madhabi has done her part quite brilliantly in that. At this juncture, Ray takes the script down to show the decay in the husband and when i think he would go for the complete melt down of the husband, but that does not happen. There is one instance in the end, when the husband says to the wife "if you succumb what will happen to us". Ray has controlled the pace in the movie quite brilliantly. The final shot is fitting in that he pans over a city with tall buildings, the only time, the movie refers to its title "Mahanagar" meaning big city.  Beautifully made movie which has the master's stamp all over it. 

Picture taken from the internet and not with an intention to violate the copyright. 

 

Roshni

Nice sweet documentary on a Himachal girl who lives in a village in Himachal Pradesh and aspires to travel to a big city like Mumbai once. The documentary shows life in the villages are self sufficient with their own produce and own water. They live a contented life, with the TV being possibly the only link to the other world. In between the documentary shows a Sanskrit teacher talking about the values etc. which i thought was a bit out of context. Then there was a lengthy interview with Dr. Vandana Shiva, the renowned environmental activist about food being corrupted with western thoughts coming in with genetic engineering distorting the natural food system. The visuals are quite good and does inspire to leave the city life and go back to the villages. After all, if there is wifi available in the villages, then no problem in working from the villages and occasionally travelling to the city for business or negotiations. With the covid situation, even the business discussions are being carried out online with anybody sitting anywhere in the world. 

Okay documentary, but goes a little wayward in the middle. This was on Amazon Prime Video.

Picture taken from the internet and used for representational purposes only not with an intention to violating copyright. 

Persona

A Swedish psychological drama movie (1966) written & directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson. The film starts with some weird images juxtaposed with each other. Liv Ullmann who is Elisabeth Vogler in the movie is in a hospital with an apparently nervous break down. She is a theater actor and during the staging of one play she freezes for one minute fully. The doctor thinks she is mentally sound but arranges for Elma (Bibi Andersson in a brilliant role) to be assigned to her. Then the doctor arranges for Elisabeth to be put up in the doctor's sea side house and assigns Elma to be with her full time. Nurse Elma talks and talks and opens up with her admiration of the actor and various other personal details but Elisabeth does not utter a single word throughout the movie. Over a period of time, the identity of both the personalities inter mingle with each other and super impose one over the other. Nurse Alma then narrates all that is wrong with Elisabeth which has led to her present condition, her guilt complex with not caring for her son. Brilliant movie it gets on one's nerves and quite scary for Nurse Alma to be in the position she was. Multiple interpretations have emerged of the context of the movie including possible lesbian under tones. Imagine you are in close contact with somebody and you talk but the other just listens without talking at all - after some time, it will get on one's nerves surely. 

Image is taken from internet for representational purposes only and not with an intention of violating copyright. 

The Old Man and the Sea

A classic from Ernest Hemingway for which he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Its a simple story told in a simple form, of an old man a fisherman Santiago and considered unlucky in fishing circles because he has gone 84 days without a catch. A young kid is with him and enamoured of him but his family forbids him to go fishing with the old man. The next day i.e. 85th day the old man ventures far out to the sea in search of that elusive catch and manages to snare a big fish but the fish takes him around the ocean for two days and two nights all the while battling the old man for his strength and endurance. The old man respects the fish, starts talking to the fish but by the third day, the fish also gets tired and starts circling closer to the boat which is when the old man kills the fish with his harpoon. He ties the fish with a lasso around the boat since it would have been impossible for him to haul it on the boat since he was tired and also he was alone. But when he killed the fish, the blood attracts some sharks nearby and they attack the fish relentlessly. It is a metaphorical book, you can look at it from the view of the old man or the fish. The old man battles bravely but the fish is also equal to him. He has a great sense of justice towards the fish. Also towards Joe DiMaggio the famous baseball player whom he adores and whose father was a fisherman. So when he loses the harpoon and the knife, he uses the club against the sharks the DiMaggio way. In all the old man kills 5 or more sharks. All the time he feels the absence of the boy, and talks aloud that if the boy had been there, it would have helped him. In the end he is left with only the head, the tail and the skeleton of the great marlin. Goodreads 5/5.

The picture is taken from the internet and used only for representational purposes and not with an intention of violating its copyright. 

 

Bacurau

A Brazilian film directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles. Bacurau is a fictional village in a town called Serra Verde in Brazil. The matriarch of the town Carmelito dies at age 94 and everyone gathers for her funeral including her grand daughter Teresa (Barbara Colen) who has come from abroad. Then strange things start happening in the village. The local politician from Serra Verde one Tony Jr. comes a calling to the village but gets a cold response. That is because he has dammed the water supply to the village, which now has to depend upon the tanker coming to supply water to the village. Then suddenly the cell signals go off, power supply goes off, the water tanker is shot at with bullets, all the while the villagers are clueless as to what is happening. There are drones to be seen near the village and more villagers are killed. Horses are left loose onto the village. In the end it is a fight to the finish. They recruit the help of Lunga (Silvero Pereira) who is a gangster but unreconciled with the villagers. Ending is a Quentin Tarantino style shoot out which is quite brilliant. The story is well made, characters are all fine, there is suspense until the very end. Most of the characters are germane to the story. 

This film won the Jury prize at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. 

Bela Bela What keeps mankind alive

https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/08c0c38d-3e15-41d4-878c-c7dfd0b8749d/bela-bela-what-keeps-mankind-alive

Very poignant and touching documentary on four poets who were incarcerated by their repressive regimes and speak out after their release on how they were tortured and blackmailed by their captors during their incarceration, how they kept their hopes alive, how they did not break and their lives post their release. The four poets are Nizatmedin Achmetov, Maria Elena Cruz Valera (from Cuba) Irina Ratoesjinkaja from Russia and Marcea Dinescu from Romania. Achmetov i suspect is also from Russia. What's with dictatorial regimes and their fear of the poets and hatred for their poems. India has also imprisoned a 81 year old poet on a trumped up charges and not given bail despite many people clamoring for his release on the grounds of his ill health. 

Of the four poets above, the Romanian guy speaks very little, whereas the others recount tales of horror in the prison walls including isolation cells. The Russian lady says that they started a practise of smiling at each prisoner which lifted their spirits and when they were kept close to each other in a small cell violating their private space, they adopted a method of conversing in 19th century language with lot of respect for each other, so that in turn them a space. 

Osama

What a powerhouse of an Afghani movie "Osama" made by Siddiq Barmak, tells the story of life under Taliban rule in Afghanistan. An unnamed young Afghan girl and her mother are caught in the maelstrom that is Taliban in Afghanistan. Under Taliban rule, women are not allowed to study or work and not even allowed to walk on the streets unaccompanied by a male relative. So when the hospital in which the Afghan girl's mother closes under Taliban orders, she is left bereft of any income and the three of them i.e. the girl, her mother who is a doctor and her grandmother are left penniless. Till the grandmother decides to dress up the girl as a boy and send her to work. There is disgust everywhere among the Afghan residents but there is fear also of their harsh rule and retribution. The girl is named Osama by a street urchin who sees through her disguise and made to study in madraasa and perform ablutions. Till she gets caught. There is a heart rending and gut wrenching scene when the wailing girl is forced to hang from a well - it breaks the heart. In the end the film shows the mullah to whom the girl is forced to marry already has three wives and keeps all his wives under heavy lock and key. Brilliantly made movie by Barmak, it is a hard hitting commentary on the Taliban rule. The camera work is quite spectacular and Barmak has managed to extract maximum from all his performers and most of all from Marina Golbahari as Osama. It is both breath taking and brutal in its intensity. This movie was apparently made after the fall of the Taliban in 2003. 

  

Guitar Man

Guitar Man by Will Hodgkinson is an autobiographical journey of a 30s Britisher to learn guitar having virtually no musical brain at all since his birth. But it turns out to be delightful journey of the guitar itself. Will delves into the history of the guitar taking us to its roots. Enroute he takes us through some of the musical greats who have played guitar and he interviews a few of them and travels to US to delve into the Nashville blues, Memphis rock & roll, Mississippi delta blues all the way taking some lessons or two from the guitar masters, many of them reclusive ones. First up is an intro to Davey Graham who seems to be an iconical guitar player and his composition "Anji" is certainly one up at the top. Davey influenced guitarists like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton among others. When i listened to Anji it certainly inspired me, it is apparently a difficult piece of composition and many seasoned guitarists have tried to play it without any success.  Being a lifelong music fan especially of the blues, this book resonates very much with me. Blues is one genre i love very much and it is one genre that has not died down the ages. Will's narrative is fluid, easy going laced with humour, having to navigate learning guitar and form a band of sorts, take care of his wife and kids as well. Highly likeable book for those who like music and the blues. Goodreads 5/5

National Education Policy

PIB press release dated 29th July, 2020

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved the National Education Policy 2020 today, making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors. This is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the thirty-four year old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.  Built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability, this policy is  aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both school and college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to 21st century needs and aimed at bringing out the unique capabilities of each student.

 

Important Highlights

School Education

Ensuring Universal Access at all levels of school education

NEP 2020 emphasizes on ensuring universal access to school education at all levels- pre school to secondary. Infrastructure support, innovative education centres to bring back dropouts into the mainstream, tracking of students and their learning levels, facilitating multiple pathways to learning involving both formal and non-formal education modes, association of counselors or well-trained social workers with schools, open learning for classes3,5 and 8 through NIOS and State Open Schools, secondary education programs equivalent to Grades 10 and 12, vocational courses, adult literacy and life-enrichment programs are some of the proposed ways for achieving this. About 2 crore out of school children will be brought back into main stream under NEP 2020.

 

Early Childhood Care & Education with  new Curricular and Pedagogical Structure

With emphasis on Early Childhood Care and Education, the 10+2 structure of school curricula is to be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.  This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial stage for development of mental faculties of a child. The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre schooling.

NCERT will develop a National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) for children up to the age of 8 . ECCE will be delivered through a significantly expanded and strengthened system of institutions including Anganwadis and pre-schools that will have teachers and Anganwadi workers trained in the ECCE pedagogy and curriculum. The planning and implementation of ECCE will be carried out jointly by the Ministries of HRD, Women and Child Development (WCD), Health and Family Welfare (HFW), and Tribal Affairs.

 

Attaining Foundational Literacy and Numeracy

Recognizing Foundational Literacy and Numeracy as an urgent and necessary prerequisite to learning, NEP 2020 calls for setting up of a  National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by MHRD. States will prepare an implementation plan for attaining universal foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary schools for all learners by grade 3 by 2025.A National Book Promotion Policy is to be formulated.

 

Reforms in school curricula and pedagogy

The school curricula and pedagogy will aim for holistic development of learners by equipping them with the key 21st century skills, reduction in curricular content to enhance essential learning and critical thinking and greater focus on experiential learning. Students will have increased flexibility and choice of subjects. There will be no rigid separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic streams.

Vocational education will start in schools from the 6th grade, and will include internships.

A new and comprehensive National Curricular Framework for School Education, NCFSE 2020-21, will be developed by the NCERT.

Multilingualism and the power of language

The policy has emphasized mother tongue/local language/regional language as the medium of instruction at least till Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond. Sanskrit to be offered at all levels of school and higher education as an option for students, including in the three-language formula. Other classical languages and literatures of India also to be available as options. No language will be imposed on any student. Students to participate in a fun project/activity on ‘The Languages of India’, sometime in Grades 6-8, such as, under the ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ initiative. Several foreign languages will also be offered at the secondary level. Indian Sign Language (ISL) will be standardized across the country, and National and State curriculum materials developed, for use by students with hearing impairment.

 

Assessment Reforms

NEP 2020 envisages a shift from summative assessment to regular and formative assessment, which is more competency-based, promotes learning and development, and tests higher-order skills, such as analysis, critical thinking, and conceptual clarity. All students will take school examinations in Grades 3, 5, and 8 which will be conducted by the appropriate authority. Board exams for Grades 10 and 12 will be continued, but redesigned with holistic development as the aim.  A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development),  will be set up as a standard-setting body .

 

Equitable and Inclusive Education

NEP 2020 aims to ensure that no child loses any opportunity to learn and excel because of the circumstances of birth or background. Special emphasis will be given on Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups(SEDGs) which include gender, socio-cultural, and geographical identities and disabilities.  This includes setting up of   Gender Inclusion Fund and also Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups. Children with disabilities will be enabled to fully participate in the regular schooling process from the foundational stage to higher education, with support of educators with cross disability training, resource centres, accommodations, assistive devices, appropriate technology-based tools and other support mechanisms tailored to suit their needs. Every state/district will be encouraged to establish “Bal Bhavans” as a special daytime boarding school, to participate in art-related, career-related, and play-related activities. Free school infrastructure can be used as Samajik Chetna Kendras

 

Robust Teacher Recruitment and Career Path

Teachers will be recruited through robust, transparent processes. Promotions will be merit-based, with a mechanism for multi-source periodic performance appraisals and available progression paths to become educational administrators or teacher educators. A common National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will be developed by the National Council for Teacher Education by 2022, in consultation with NCERT, SCERTs, teachers and expert organizations from across levels and regions.

 

School Governance

Schools can be organized into complexes or clusters which will be the basic unit of governance and ensure availability of all resources including infrastructure, academic libraries and a strong professional teacher community.

 

Standard-setting and Accreditation for School Education

NEP 2020 envisages clear, separate systems for policy making, regulation, operations and academic matters. States/UTs will set up independent State School Standards Authority (SSSA). Transparent public self-disclosure of all the basic regulatory information, as laid down by the SSSA, will be used extensively for public oversight and accountability. The SCERT will develop a School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Framework (SQAAF) through consultations with all stakeholders.

 

Higher Education

 

Increase GER to 50 % by 2035

NEP 2020 aims to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035. 3.5 Crore new seats will be added to Higher education institutions.

 

Holistic Multidisciplinary Education

The policy envisages broad based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Under Graduate  education with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and  multiple entry and exit points with appropriate certification. UG education can be of 3 or 4 years with multiple exit options and appropriate certification within this period. For example,  Certificate after 1 year, Advanced Diploma after 2 years, Bachelor’s Degree after 3 years and Bachelor’s with Research after 4 years.

An Academic Bank of Credit is to be established for digitally storing academic credits earned from different  HEIs so that these can be transferred and counted towards final degree earned.

Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with IITs, IIMs, to  be set up as models  of best multidisciplinary education of global standards in the country.

The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.

 

Regulation

Higher Education Commission of India(HECI) will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body the for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education. HECI to have  four independent verticals  - National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC ) for standard setting, Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding,  and National Accreditation Council( NAC) for accreditation. HECI will  function through faceless intervention through technology, & will have powers to penalise HEIs not conforming to norms and standards. Public and private higher education institutions will be governed by the same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic standards.

Rationalised Institutional Architecture

Higher education institutions will be transformed into large, well resourced, vibrant multidisciplinary institutions  providing  high quality teaching, research, and community engagement. The definition of university will allow a spectrum of institutions that range from Research-intensive Universities to Teaching-intensive Universities and Autonomous degree-granting Colleges. 

Affiliation of colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges. Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an Autonomous degree-granting College, or a constituent college of a university.

Motivated, Energized, and Capable Faculty

NEP makes recommendations for motivating, energizing, and building capacity of  faculty thorugh  clearly defined, independent, transparent recruitment , freedom to design curricula/pedagogy, incentivising excellence, movement into institutional leadership. Faculty not delivering on basic norms will be held accountable

 

Teacher Education

A new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, NCFTE 2021, will be formulated by the NCTE in consultation with NCERT. By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree .Stringent action will be taken against substandard stand-alone Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs).

 

Mentoring Mission

A National Mission for Mentoring will be established, with a large pool of outstanding senior/retired faculty – including those with the ability to teach in Indian languages – who would be willing to provide short and long-term mentoring/professional support to university/college teachers.

 

Financial support for students

Efforts will be made to incentivize the merit of students belonging to SC, ST, OBC, and other SEDGs. The National Scholarship Portal will be expanded to support, foster, and track the progress of students receiving scholarships. Private HEIs will be encouraged to offer larger numbers of free ships and scholarships to their students.

 

Open and Distance Learning

This will be expanded to play a significant role in increasing GER. Measures such as online courses and digital repositories, funding for research, improved student services, credit-based recognition of MOOCs, etc., will be taken to ensure it is at par with the highest quality in-class programmes.

 

Online Education and Digital Education:

A comprehensive set of recommendations for promoting online education consequent to the recent rise in epidemics and pandemics in order to ensure preparedness with alternative modes of quality education whenever and wherever traditional and in-person modes of education are not possible, has been covered. A dedicated unit for the purpose of orchestrating the building of digital infrastructure, digital content and capacity building will be created in the MHRD to look after the e-education needs of both school and higher education.

 

Technology in education

 An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration. Appropriate integration of technology into all levels of education will be done to improve classroom processes, support teacher professional development, enhance educational access for disadvantaged groups and streamline educational planning, administration and management

 

Promotion of Indian languages

To ensure the preservation, growth, and vibrancy of all Indian languages, NEP recommends setting an Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI), National Institute (or Institutes) for Pali, Persian and Prakrit, strengthening of Sanskrit and all language departments in HEIs,  and use mother tongue/local language as a medium of instruction in more HEI  programmes .

Internationalization of education will be facilitated through both institutional collaborations, and student and faculty mobility and allowing entry of top world ranked Universities to open campuses in our country.

 

Professional Education

All professional education will be an integral part of the higher education system. Stand-alone technical universities, health science universities, legal and agricultural universities etc will aim to become multi-disciplinary institutions.

 

Adult Education

Policy  aims to achieve 100% youth and adult literacy.

 

Financing Education

The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.

Unprecedented Consultations

NEP 2020 has been formulated after an unprecedented process of consultation that involved nearly over 2 lakh suggestions from 2.5 lakhs Gram Panchayats, 6600 Blocks, 6000 ULBs, 676 Districts. The MHRD initiated an unprecedented collaborative, inclusive, and highly participatory consultation process from January 2015. In May 2016, ‘Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy’ under the Chairmanship of Late Shri T.S.R. Subramanian, Former Cabinet Secretary, submitted its report.   Based on this, the Ministry prepared ‘Some Inputs for the Draft National Education Policy, 2016’.  In June 2017 a ‘Committee for the Draft National Education Policy’  was constituted under the Chairmanship of eminent scientist Padma Vibhushan, Dr. K. Kasturirangan, which submitted the Draft National Education Policy, 2019 to the Hon’ble Human Resource Development Minister on 31st May, 2019.  The Draft National Education Policy 2019  was uploaded on MHRD’s website and at ‘MyGov Innovate’ portal eliciting views/suggestions/comments of stakeholders, including public.