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By:

Commodore S.L. Deshmukh

31 October 2024 at 3:00:19 am

The Revolution That Never Stopped

In 1896, when Dhondo Keshav Karve founded the Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha (MKSSS) in Pune, the idea of educating women was not merely unconventional but an act of social rebellion. Karve’s radical yet simple conviction was by educating a woman, you altered not merely an individual life but the destiny of generations. More than 125 years later, that conviction has expanded. Social Mobility Today, MKSSS encompasses more than 65 institutions, ranging from schools and engineering...

The Revolution That Never Stopped

In 1896, when Dhondo Keshav Karve founded the Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha (MKSSS) in Pune, the idea of educating women was not merely unconventional but an act of social rebellion. Karve’s radical yet simple conviction was by educating a woman, you altered not merely an individual life but the destiny of generations. More than 125 years later, that conviction has expanded. Social Mobility Today, MKSSS encompasses more than 65 institutions, ranging from schools and engineering colleges to vocational training centres, nursing institutes, hostels for working women and teacher-training academies. Yet its significance lies not in the scale of its infrastructure but in the philosophy that binds it together. It views education not as a degree to be acquired but as an instrument of economic independence, dignity and social mobility. The organisation understood long before policymakers did that educational inequality begins early. Its network of pre-primary, primary and higher secondary schools spread across Pune, Satara and Wai, focuses particularly on girls from rural backgrounds, while its English-medium schools seek to equip students with the confidence and skills demanded by an increasingly competitive world. Education here is conceived not merely as classroom instruction but as character formation. Its commitment extends even to communities that often remain invisible in discussions of educational reform. The tribal Ashram School at Kamshet provides quality education to tribal boys and girls, with enrolment steadily rising over the years. In regions where educational access has historically been patchy, such institutions often represent the only bridge between marginalisation and opportunity. MKSSS has deliberately diversified beyond conventional disciplines. It operates institutions specialising in architecture, management, fashion technology, nursing, computer applications, arts and sciences. Its greatest milestone came in 1991 with the establishment of Cummins College of Engineering for Women - the first all-women engineering college in India - created with support from the Cummins Diesel India Foundation. At a time when engineering classrooms were overwhelmingly male, the college quietly demonstrated that talent required opportunity, not permission. That philosophy has become even more relevant in an economy increasingly shaped by technology and specialised skills. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than at the Manilal Nanavati Vocational Training Institute (MNVTI), established in 1995. Long before “skill development” became fashionable government vocabulary, MNVTI recognised that employability depended on practical competence as much as academic qualifications. The institute offers industry-oriented programmes spanning computer technology, interior design, fashion design, cosmetology, hospitality and culinary arts, alongside online courses that extend its reach into remote areas. Students benefit from workshops, industrial visits, entrepreneurship projects and placement assistance, ensuring that education translates into livelihoods rather than certificates gathering dust. Safe hostel accommodation enables young women from distant regions to pursue education without compromising security, a factor often overlooked in discussions about female participation in higher education. Statistics alone, however, rarely capture institutional impact. Consider the story of Pavitra Gowda. Married immediately after completing Class 10, she returned to her parental home with a young daughter after enduring domestic abuse. With little education and mounting financial pressures, domestic work became her only source of income. Recognising both her predicament and her potential, MNVTI waived its qualification requirements and admitted her to a one-year cosmetology course. Today she owns three salons in Pune. Her transformation illustrates what genuine empowerment looks like. MKSSS complements these efforts with teacher-training institutes, a skill development centre, a women’s studies centre and even an old-age home, reflecting an understanding that social reform cannot be confined to classrooms alone. It requires ecosystems that nurture women at every stage of life. Yet institutions of this kind face an enduring paradox. Their social value is immense, but their financial resources are often fragile. Government assistance covers only part of the costs. Much of their work continues because individuals and philanthropists believe that investing in education yields the highest social returns imaginable. India often celebrates unicorns and startup founders as symbols of national progress. But the country’s real transformation has always depended on quieter revolutions taking place inside classrooms where girls acquire confidence, skills and independence. Maharshi Karve planted the seed of one such revolution in 1896. More than a century later, MKSSS continues to demonstrate that the finest monument to a visionary is not a statue or a memorial, but an institution that continues changing lives long after its founder has gone. (The writer is a retired naval aviation officer and a defence and geopolitical analyst. Views personal.)

Why is Mamata Seeing Ghost of Bangladesh?

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Why is Mamata Seeing Ghost of Bangladesh?

Mamata is seeing a ghost of Bangladesh behind the massive outrage and waves of protest over rape and murder of the trainee doctor. And the reasons are many.

It’s been over a fortnight. Yet with each passing day the voice of protest is getting louder and stronger. From the streets of Kolkata it’s pouring into roads of hinterland. The cry for justice for a rape victim has consolidated into a wail of demands to set a lot of wrongdoings right. Here in lies the fear and trepidation. Wasn’t the issue that brought the youth of Bangladesh out on the thoroughfares a simple, innocent one of quota reform?

The chief minister of Bengal, known for understanding the pulse of people better than many, was quick to read the signages floating in the political horizon.

The most obvious reason for her to be tensed is that both the regime change in Bangladesh and the mass protest in Bengal, were student-driven to begin with. The two incidents---end of 15 year old Sheikh Hasina government and turbulence in West Bengal, over the heinous crime, falling back to back, the first on August 5th and the latter from August 9th onwards, give natural scope for comparisons. More so, because in both the cases the movement strayed beyond an affected constituency to include aggrieved people at large, cutting across socio-economic demography. If the quota reform protest started by students in Bangladesh became a mass uprising against an autocratic regime, the campaign demanding justice for the rape victim and overall safety and security of women in Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal soon snowballed into a movement of no-confidence against the government. Slogans--”Mamata must resign” also got floated in social media much in line with the call for ouster of Sheikh Hasina. In fact “Resignation of Hasina” became the single point agenda into which all other fringe demands coalesced.

Incidentally, even before people started drawing parallels, that there could be a thread of commonality in the way the upheaval in Bangladesh and Bengal played out, Mamata was quick to point out that the Opposition were trying to pull off a Bangladesh by politicizing the tragic incident: “A coordinated approach has been executed by the BJP and the CPIM with support from the Centre to defame Bengal and exploit the situation....They want to make a Bangladesh here. They are taking cues from student unrest in Bangladesh and are attempting to capture similarly. I have no longing for the chair. I came here to serve people.”

Not only Mamata, her political lieutenants are consistently equating the turmoil in Bengal with the mayhem in Bangladesh. Cabinet minister for North Bengal development Udayan Guha threatened to take stern action against those, who would be trying to exploit the situation by emulating a Bangladesh like movement. “ Even after the hospital was vandalised, the police did not open fire on anyone. The police will not allow a Bangladesh type situation. We will not allow Bengal to turn into Bangladesh, Guha thundered.

Is the government’s fear unfounded?

Apart from the similarities on ground zero, as to how and where the future course of events are heading to, there are ample reasons for Bengal to mull on-- as to what led to a Bangladesh like boiling point. To begin with, it’ll be appropriate to talk of Bangladesh and the prevailing situation, that made the students’ protest become big in magnitude. The students were out on the streets because of a high reservation in public jobs. Unemployment and stagnant job market in private sector coupled with a high rate of inflation drove the educated youth to rebel against the government.

But soon the students found enormous number of sympathisers, who were equally at the receiving end. According to Bangladesh citizens, the last two terms of the Sheikh Hasina government were a mockery of democracy. Even elections would be compromised. As Hasina grew from strength to strength, she politicized institutions. The rank and file of police owed allegiance to the ruling dispensation. Extortion, harrassment and raids by police and people in power became rampant. An atmosphere of fear and repression reigned and people got restless to overthrow the government.

Politicization of institutions has been happening in Mamata government too. Allegations are quite strong that police in Bengal functions at the beck and call of political bosses. The lapses and alleged loopholes on the part of police in handling the rape and murder of the young doctor have yet again revealed a sense of confused or misplaced loyalty.

But above everything else both Hasina and Mamata governments allegedly seem to have twined in accepting corruption as a way of life. In Bangladesh jobs of primary and secondary teachers got sold at premium, Rs 10-12 lakh in the Hasina regime. Even police had to pay up for prized postings and transfers. In Bengal busting of the teacher’s recruitment scam has revealed how unsuccessful and ineligible candidates got government jobs in schools in exchange of bribes.

Similarities are multiple and inescapable. Mamata has good reasons to be apprehensive. It’s not only she, who can see and connect the dots. People, out on the streets, clamoring for justice, can see a providential pattern somewhere in the unfolding of future events in these two places-- Bangladesh and Bengal. True, they share more than 2,217 odd km of border. They share the same umbilical cord, other than language, culture, ethos, icons. Even emotions are the same. So she cannot take any risk.

(The writer is a senior jounalist based in Kolkata. Views personal)

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