‘Political will must to achieve socio-economic goals’
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Human rights are not violated by ordinary uneducated people: Supreme Court Chief Justice (Retd) K G Balakrishnan, Chairman, National Human Rights Commission
WHILE INAGURATING a Conference on ‘Introduction of Human Rights in Education in Maharashtra’ organised by the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission in Mumbai last week, Governor of Maharashtra K Sankaranarayanan said that women constitute half of our population. The Governor stressed empowerment of women with respect to political, economic and social rights is therefore essential for giving them their basic human rights. In this connection, the Governor called for sustained efforts to change the age-old attitude of society towards women.
The Governor said that Kerala has succeeded in achieving 100 per cent literacy and has reserved 50 per cent of seats in the Panchayat Raj institutions for women. “One can achieve desired socio-economic goals if there is a strong political will. Although the term ‘human right’ is used in a modern context these days, the concept of human rights has been an integral part of Indian culture,” said the Governor who was a Minister and know the grass-root level spirit of Keralites. Sankaranarayan, who studied thoroughly Indian history, said while Buddhism and Jainism have laid stress on respect for all living beings, Saint Tukaram advocated love towards tree, nature and environment.
He supported the view that ‘Human Rights’ as a subject should be offered to under-graduate and post-graduate students in the universities and colleges in Maharashtra.
Speaking on the occasion, Supreme Court Chief Justice (Retd) K G Balakrishnan who is Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission observed that human rights are not violated by ordinary uneducated people. He said, incidents like teachers beating school children and police and jail authorities beating undertrials highlight the need to sensitise even educated people about human rights. “Without sensitising people about human rights, we cannot achieve the goal of social equity,” said Justice Balakrishanan.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Chairman of Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission Justice Kshitij Vyas, Minister for Higher and Technical Education Rajesh Tope also addressed the Conference.
In the meantime, Ms Krisshna Arjun, president, Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Education Society (Regd) accused Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan, for the downfall of the educational grade in the state. “While the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Education Society applied for a piece of vacant land to built an school for the needy in Central Mumbai, instead of allocating the land for the School, Chavan in connivance with builders’ lobby in the metropolis is trying to grab the land. How can he boast about promoting educational system in the State,” asks Krisshna. “The government doesn’t hesitate to allocate land to the societies founded by bureaucrats, member of legislative assembly, politicians, who has already well accommodated in the city limits, I don’t understand why Chavan is hesitating to allocate the land for a genuine cause,” exclaimed Ms Arjun.
Last week, Ms Arjun met Supreme Court Justice (Retd) K G Balakrishnan, who is the chairman of National Human Rights Commission during a visit to Mumbai and submitted a brief letter about the whole episode. Balakrishnan assured her that he will personally look into the matter and direct the concerned to take appropriate action against the culprits, she said. According to Ms Arjun, most of the educational institutions in the State have been controlled by the kith and kin of leaders and ministers of ruling and opposition political parties.
“The Society was founded by grassroot Congress workers, in a tribute to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who sacrificed his life for the country, gone through all the formalities legally. The Collector of Greater Bombay and the Revenue Department forwarded the file for the sanction of the CM. However, his office held back the file for obvious reasons. How can we expect a fair educational value from these institutions?” asks a visibly annoyed Ms Arjun, who was the general secretary of Bombay Pradesh Youth Congress, during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure.
In the meantime, answering to a question to Karan Thapar, in Devils Advocate programme aired in CNN-IBN, Union minister Kapil Sibal said that, every Indian will be literated by the year 2020. “There always will be because the process of implementation is highly complex. One must understand the government is not just Prime Minister. Prime Minister provides leadership. Government is various stakeholders who have official responsibility to carry forward the policies of the government. And therefore please do not look at the government by one incident here or there. Implementation of the Right to Education Act is the responsibility of whom: the central government, state government, schools, and parents?” said Kapil Sibal.
The Union minister said that the problem is to make sure that the level of every school - all that is laid in the Act is implemented. “They are doing it. They have got three years under the act itself. Now you want a 100 per cent performance in a few years when the Act describes three years. And you are saying look, there is a big problem of implementation. There is a problem and that implementation has to be done in a three year time. We are not even six months old in that,” he said. However, while answering a question he said that he meant that 98 per cent literacy by 2020. “It will take three years for the physical infrastructure, five years to get teachers there and in five years time, every child will be in school. When you say - the numbers will be increasing. We have 64 per cent literate today. There are ten million children out of school. We have to get them into school. This is no easy job and is not the job one minister or another but all the stake holders in the system. And that applies to every other function,” elaborated the minister.
