Higher Education in WTO Regime

1. Introduction         

When there was no university elsewhere in Europe; Takshasila, Vikramshila, Pallavi, and Nalanda were the centres of Global Education and attracting learners from all around the globe. The development of modern education in India started with the establishment of Hindu College in Calcutta in 1817. During British reign, Calcutta University was the first to confer the bachelor degree on women in 1883.

After independence, various universities have been opened both by the government as well as private sector. The main motive behind opening these universities were not to earn profit but to serve the society by imparting higher education and conducting researches related to pure and social sciences. The fees charged from the students were minimum, hence these institutions were generating deficit so there was a need to go for the donations and aids to cover its fixed and running expenses. But gradually there was a drastic change in the scene. The education sector emerges as one of the most profitable business opportunity. The increase in the number of private schools and institutions supports the fact. Higher education is not an exception to this. Gradually most of the corporate entities have also entered into the picture.

2. Corporatisation of Higher Education

Nowadays education sector is a trillion dollar industry. It is a service sector industry in the area of education as service with a huge global market in which students, teachers and non-teaching employee constitute resources for profit generation. So the concepts of marketing are also applicable. The organizations have to market their product and themselves in order to survive. In this industry the students are the customers, the teachers are the service providers and the institutions are organizers or marketers and teaching-learning process is no longer for the building of a nation but a business for profit making. Education at all levels will continue to grow, because it cultivates the human mind and makes people important and useful in the all-round development of a country, however for the corporate sector, it will grow as a big service industry. Predatory and powerful MNCs are targeting public education, particularly higher education, for profit- making. Though predominantly a government supported service most governments are as consequences of neo-liberal economic reforms, withdrawing from it. The government of India through extensive privatization, commercialization and deregulation is encouraging this process.

3.  Education under GATS umbrella

In 1996, the United States provided exports of education and training services had reached 8.2 billion dollars, and its trade surplus in education amounted to 7 billion dollars. Higher education was the fifth largest service exported by the US. Therefore, the pressure of the United States on WTO member countries in relation to trade in education service is clearly understandable.

The US, the European Union (EU), Japan and Canada are the main powers behind the GATS. Though WTO membership consists of nation-states, the transnational corporations of these countries that sit on all the important “advisory” committees and determine detailed policy shape its agenda. While denying access to decent healthcare, education housing and long-term care to millions of workers and their families the world over, the agreement will confer ever greater political power on these corporations as they control and dictate public policy.

GATS has two components: (i) the framework agreement containing 29 articles, and (ii) a number of Annexes, Ministerial decisions etc. as well as the schedules of commitments by each member government, which bind them to allow market access, and /or remove existing restrictions to market access. This agreement covers all services, including education 

When the services are entirely provided by the government, they do not fall within the GATS rule. For a service to be out of the purview of the GATS rule it has to be entirely free. However, when the service has been provided either by the government partially or some prices are charged (as happens in education where some fees are charged), or provided by the private providers, they shall fall under the GATS rule.

The informal WTO classification List (W/120) divides educational services into five parts: (a) Primary education (b) secondary education (c) higher education (d) adult education (e) other education.

The idea behind this is the creation of an open, global marketplace where services like education can be traded to the highest bidder. GATS cover the educational services of all the countries whose educational system are not exclusively provided by the public sector, or those educational systems that have commercial purposes. In India, we cannot get exemption in education from the application of GATS because education at all levels, particularly at higher education level is not entirely free (i.e. some fees has to be paid)

Corporate because of their huge financial resources are able to attract the best talent available in the country and hence they are providing the quality service to their customers (students). They have the access to the new sources of finances. In India also the issuing of shares by the schools and educational institution and its trading in the stock exchange will be a reality. Then the quality of the institute may be judged by looking at the share prices in the stock market and like any other business enterprises the wealth maximization will be the main goal of the institute and their entire effort will be to increase their market share and ultimately to increase the market capitalization. The government is reducing the grants given to the universities and colleges and these institutes are asked to arrange their own sources of finance. In that scenario, those educational institution who will not be earning surplus will die like any other seek industrial unit. So it is the high time for those institutes to think for earning surplus and make themselves competitive for survival.

But when these institutions will be running on absolutely business principles for earning profit obviously the fees charged from the students will be higher. The application of some unethical and unfair practices for attracting the students and earning a higher profit cannot be overlooked in that scenario.

4. Indian reality

In a country like India where a large section of our population is living below the poverty line, almost 35% of the population is still illiterate and we are talking about removing poverty and illiteracy, in that situation they will be the most mistreated people. So it is the government and its institutions, which will have to look at this aspect. Hence imparting higher education by charging high fees by the government-run universities and college will not be desirable and the government has to look at the welfare aspect of its people. But before coming to any conclusion we have to consider the following two ground and hard realities in this respect:

a. India being the member country of WTO, must abide by the decisions and regulations of WTO. So it cannot stop the foreign universities and institutes to operate in India, which are having ample financial, physical and intellectual resources and is running on absolutely business principles for earning a profit.

b. The government of India is reducing the grants and aids given to the government universities and colleges and these institutes are called to mobilize resources from their internal sources as well as external sources. They are also asked by the UGC and NAAC to become more competitive.

So it is the time as well as the opportunity for our Government funded institutions/universities/colleges to make themselves competitive and to go for globalization. This can be only possible when they will stand on their own feet by earning surplus and are effectively and efficiently run. But at the same time, we have to think for the weaker sections of the society who could not afford a high expenditure on the study.

Therefore it is very high time for educational institutes to build a business model, which will be able to compete with the foreign universities and also the weaker sections of the society will also be taken care of.

5. The model of Arvindo Eye Hospital, Madurai

The Arvindo Eye Hospital of Madurai has set an outstanding business model showing how an organisation can serve the society at large on one hand and can also earn a profitable surplus on the other hand. At Arvindo Eye Hospital, economically poor people are provided treatment at free of cost and the patients who can afford are charged the requisite treatment charges. More than two-thirds of the patients treated in the hospital fall under the former economically unprivileged category and yet the hospital earns substantial profits. But a remarkable policy to be noticed is that the service provided to both categories of rich and poor patients are exactly same and no compromise of any sort is done with regard to the quality of treatment and service provided. The secret behind the success of the hospital is the volume of patients giving business and fact that hospital does not spend money on conspicuous consumptions. Promotion is through word of mouth and mass print media.

The similar model can be adopted by our government run and universities, whereby the required fees can be charged from students whose parents can afford the same, and concessions to be provided to the economically deprived students. With the globalization, liberation, privatization and economic growth more and more people are finding occupations in private sector leading to an increase in the purchasing power at the hands of the middle and upper class of the society who has become conscious of and can afford quality education at higher prices. This is a positive factor which the universities can cash upon and which further supports the above model.

Notes and References

1.      http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/news23/text001.htm

2.      Www.education. nic.in/htmlweb/iperposch.htm

3.      Www.pd.cpim.org/2002/feb17/02172002_wto_educ_2.htm_2000

4.      A Case study on Arbind Eye Hospital, Madurai, IIMB Review, September,2005.

5.      Kumar R; World Trade Organisation, Structure, Functions, Tasks, Challenges, Deep and Deep Publications, 2004.

In the Quest for the roots: History of Paliwal

Paliwal is a surname in India that many families have adopted from their place of origin: Pali. Pali was for many years a centre of trade and commerce, located in the current state of Rajasthan in India. Although these people practised many religions and belonged to different Hindu castes, most of them were Brahmins and Rajputs. A lot of them belong to Jain community too, who call themselves Digamber Paliwal Jains having surnames Lodaya, Khedikar etc.

Etymology and use

The origin of the surname Paliwal is Pali wale (a person from Pali). Most of the inhabitants of Pali were called Paliwal.

Origins

There are no exact answers to the question of origin; in fact, there are two major views on this topic. One view says that Paliwal come from Pali which was a small kingdom in the Thar Desert of India and the inhabitants turned into an oasis. At some point in the 13th century, unhappy with what they saw as tyrannical behaviour by the King of Pali, they migrated to the area of Kuldhara in the then state of Jaisalmer. Their origin was identified by the appellation Paliwal. It is said that each new Paliwal family was welcomed into the 84 villages around Kuldhara with a brick and a gold coin from every other family in the village. The brick was used in the building of a house and the gold to start a business or farm. As the community's prosperity was rebuilt, it became the target of Mughal invasions. Apparently, in the 18th century, there was a raid which resulted in the wells being poisoned by animal carcasses, and which caused this community to migrate away again from the Kuldhara area.

From the perusal of the above facts, it is clear that “Paliwal” is a geographical identity. It includes several castes such as Brahmins, Rajput, Vaishya etc. The Rajput community of Paliwals migrated to eastern and western UP. Some of the families migrated to north Bihar.

Paliwals are Chandravansis and it is believed that Paliwal Rajputs are the descendants of Pandavas. Paliwal Rajputs have Vyagrapath gotra. 

The term “Paliwal” is uttered differently in different places. It is pronounced by different names in different places and by different people depending upon their understanding such as “Palwal”; “Paliwar” AND “Pariwal” etc.

Paliwals Rajputs belong to the Chandrawansh and being the ancestor of King Bharat and Pandwas some Rajputs mentioned themselves as Bharatvanshi. Palwal Rajputs are the great fighters in their own times. 

They belong to Vyaghra Gotra with the honest prayer of the Devata Nag.

There are some sacred-text available in the royal library of Mewar (private library and belongs to the royal family of Udaipur) at Udaipur about the history of Paliwal.

There is another view of historians about the history of Paliwal’s. According to them, Paliwal Rajputs are basically Solanki Rajputs. Some say that they are descendants of Pandavas and they are "Tomar" Rajputs.

Some believe that Kuldevi of the Palwal Rajputs is Kshemkari (Khimji) Mata in Janore, Pali, Rajasthan.

As Solanki Rajputs dynasty vanishes after 1100 BC and Wadhelas of Gujrat carry the same in the future this Rajputs are known by the Raja Pal (last King of Solanki Dynasty) Whose 4th Grandfather was Raja Vyahgradeo. Further, they started writing the Vyhaghra Gotra as their dynasty.

Paliwal’s in Gorakhpur, UP

In Gorakhpur District of Uttar Pradesh, there is the presence of Paliwal’s. In some of the villages such as Hundara, Khalanga, Gagaha, there is a huge presence of this community. It is said that when these people migrated from Rajasthan and in search of some other safe place they came to the then kingdom of Badhayapaar. Badhayapaar is a small kingdom in the present district of Gorakhpur. The then king of Badhyapaar was having a very bad time in dealing with Pindaris. Pindaris were basically a tribe and their main occupation was to loot villages and towns. They were merciless people and used to destroy the villages and towns after looting it. These people (Paliwal’s) have heard that the king is in trouble and hence they extended their help to the king and next time when the Pindaris attacked the kingdom, they defeated them and destroyed them ruthlessly so that they never dared to look towards this kingdom again.

When the king of Badhyapaar came to know that these people were migrants then he offered three villages to them to reside and since then Paliwal’s had rooted themselves in these three villages. Later on, one village was taken back by the king. The Paliwal’s have converted these villages into livable place which at one point in time were forests.

Compiled by

Dr Ranjit Singh

Source:

1. Paliwal Sansar. (2012). History of the World's Largest Family Tree, retrieved from http://gauravp.byethost15.com/paliwalsansar/aboutus.php

2.        http://www.paliwalsangh.org.in/history.php

3.  https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2

Dhaka Diary

Once again after a gap of almost two years, I was heading towards Bangladesh. Last time in the year 2015, I was there and had a very memorable experience. But this time, it was not by the same route. Last time I entered Bangladesh from Karimganj of Assam but now as I am stationed at Allahabad so I had to enter Bangladesh from Kolkata. I reached Kolkata two days in advance and went to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission Office for Visa. Initially, I thought that visa will be issued on the same day but after reaching there I discovered that it cannot be issued on the same day.

On the Visa counter, a lady was sitting in her traditional Muslim attire. The lady asked me “Why are you applying for Visa from Kolkata and not from Guwahati? We have an office in Guwahati too.” I said, “I am currently stationed at Allahabad, so Kolkata is near to me”. On this, she gets annoyed and said, “You should have to get it issued by Guwahati office”. I again repeated the same thing. Then she asked, “How far is Allahabad from Guwahati?” I said politely, “almost 1700 km”. she exclaimed, “Is it?” it seems she was not familiar with the length and breadth of India and after that, she quietly kept the Visa application form and asked me to come on next day.

I came to a Hotel in Kolkata and cancelled the ticket which was for the next day. I decided to book tickets for Dhaka only after getting final Visa. I spent the whole day sitting in the Hotel and next day I was waiting for 5 pm because I was expecting to get Visa at 5 o’clock in the evening. But suddenly I got a call from an unknown number. I picked up the call. It was from Bangladesh High Commission. I was informed that there was some problem going on in the server at Dhaka and therefore, Visa cannot be issued before Monday. I requested the person who called me to issue Visa somehow otherwise it will be too late for me. He said that since the entire process is computerized so nothing is in their hand and they have to depend on ICT for everything.

I was going to Dhaka to present a research paper at an international conference and one of the papers was on ICT. In that paper, I have advocated for adoption ICT in all possible aspects of life and now ICT is showing its cruel face which I had not mentioned in my paper. It seems ICT is laughing at me and saying

“Duniya hai mere pitche, lekin main tere pitche”

It was Friday on that day. I was shocked and worried too. The conference for which I was going was scheduled on Monday itself. It means Visa will be of no use if it would be issued on Monday. I called to my friend cum research scholar in Dhaka Prof. Sogir Hossain and informed him the situation. He was also very worried. After all, we were going to meet after a long gap so both of us were excited to see each other but all of a sudden it seemed that all our plans for the next few days would be crashed.

After some time, he has given me one name and reference and asked me to meet the person in the Bangladesh High Commission. Immediately I rushed towards the office of Bangladesh High Commission. I took an appointment with the person who was named by my friend. He was the Counselor General of the High Commission. I was waiting in the waiting room. In the waiting room, there were a few other people also waiting to meet someone. I was chatting casually with a few of them. One interesting thing in the room was the introduction of people. Generally, we used to introduce ourselves with our name, then our designation, our caste, religion etc. In the waiting room, everybody was introducing themselves as either INDIAN or BANGLADESHI and this was the only introduction for most of the people present in the room.

More than the idea of missing of the conference, I was thinking about the embarrassment that I would have to go through after going back from Kolkata. I was thinking how I would face my friends and colleagues that Bangladesh has rejected my Visa. If the USA would have refused to issue Visa then there are fair chances that one might become Prime Minister of India but Bangladesh…? 

However, my fortune favours and I received a phone call on my mobile that server is fixed and my Visa is ready. I was asked to collect it from the counter. I rushed towards the counter and after some wait, I got my passport with proper Visa.

I came back to the Hotel. I had decided to go to Dhaka by bus. The reason was I wanted to see Bangladesh elaborately. I believe that the atmosphere at the airports is not different whether it is in India or Bangladesh, but if I have to see real Bangladesh then I must travel by bus. My belief was true and I found that a common Bangladeshi citizen is similar to a common Indian citizen and travels in the bus and enjoys his/her life to its full extent. He sings, dance, cracks jokes.

We crossed the border at Benapole near Kolkata and completed immigration formalities. The other side of the border was Bangladesh. Completely identical in all respect, but a different country with a different currency, different name and different mobile network and again I was reminded of the dialogue from a Hindi movie Sarfaros:

“Siyasat ke dalalo ne zameen pe lakir khich ke mulk ke do tukade kar diye aur dono taraf

ke zahilo ko yeh fisala karne ka adhikar mil gaya ki kaun sa gadha takht pe baithega”.

I am always mesmerized by the beauty of Bangladesh. On both sides of the roads, there were green paddy fields. However, the road conditions were relatively poor. This time I experienced one problem which Bangladesh facing is the traffic jam. Later I came to know during the conference that Bangladesh especially Dhaka is famous for its traffic jam. Our bus was also a victim of same. After the whole day of travel, the bus reached on the bank of river Padma. There another big experience was waiting. I found that the bus was shipped on a big ferry. The ferry was so big that it had accommodated around ten big buses. The ferry travelled for approximately 45 minutes and after that, the bus was on the other side of the river.

Again after the run of around two hours, the bus entered the Dhaka city and finally it was the time to face the great traffic jam of Dhaka city. The distance of approximately 15 kilometres was travelled in around two hours and finally, the time came that one of my friend, Mr Salauddin (who became my friend during the journey) informed me that the destination has arrived.

Mr Salauddin was my co-passenger on the bus. He got the seat with me on the bus. He was very friendly and cooperative. In the bus, he asked me in Hindi if I am going to Dhaka and I said “yes”. I asked him about his nationality and he told that he is a Bangladeshi and then I astonishingly asked him how he can speak Hindi so well. He said that his grandmother is from Bihar in India and he used to talk in Hindi at his home. This was a unique learning for me that people in Bangladesh also speak in Hindi at their homes. Throughout the journey, Mr Salauddin has taken all possible care of mine. I was in touch with my friend Md. Sogir Hossain through his mobile as my mobile network was not working in Bangladesh.

After getting down on the bus, I was taken to the Dhaka Club. It was a beautiful residential Hotel and I was informed that only privileged people are accommodated in the Dhaka Club. I felt proud of myself and happy to be placed in the privileged category. The person sitting on the counter was speaking in Hindi.

Next day, my programme was to deliver lectures at the Jagannath University, Dhaka. I completed my breakfast before 8 am. Md. Sogir Hossain came by 8 am and take me to the Jagannath University which is situated around 16 kilometres away from the Dhaka Club. On the way, he has shown me the race course of Dhaka where the historic surrender of Pakistani Army taken place which is considered as the world’s biggest surrenders. A group of around 95000 Pakistani shoulders have surrendered before the Indian army on 16^th December 1971. My heart filled up with the joy and glory of being an Indian. On the way, there was the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, High court of Dhaka Division. Bangladesh does not have the concept of states like India rather they have divisions and the entire country is divided into eight divisions and each of the division is having one High Court.

Md. Sogir Hossain is a Professor in the Department of Finance, Jagannath University, Dhaka and I have the privilege to be called as his PhD supervisor. He is a very creative person and everyone loves his company. He has a very inquisitive mind which is essential to be a good researcher and I always get impressed with his ability to see the same thing from a different perspective.

At Jagannath University, I interacted with the students of MBA, BBA and MBA (Evening) programmes. Students were very excited and enthusiastic to interact with a foreign Professor. Interestingly, they asked to engage classes in Hindi. One of them said that they had attended the class of Professors in English and Bengali and they are interested to listen to lectures in Hindi. I asked how they understand Hindi. They said that it is due to the Hindi TV Channels and Hindi Cinema. Anyway, the visit to the Jagannath University was very successful. I met with the Vice Chancellor too and I must appreciate the dynamism of Hon’ble Vice Chancellor.

I came back to the Dhaka Club which was my residence in Dhaka and had my dinner. At midnight I felt stomachache and could not sleep the whole night. In the morning, I ranged to the reception counter and told my problem. Within a few minutes, a person came with two medicines. I ate both the medicines. I already made a call to Md. Sogir and he said that he would bring some medicines for me. When I came out of my room and deposited the room key at the reception, I found that one young and smart boy was waiting for me. He informed me that he came to pick me up. There was one more American lady Professor who was supposed to accompany me. After few minutes of wait, she came out and we headed towards the University of Dhaka.

Soon we were on the premises of Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka. It is a nine-story building full of all kinds of amenities. Truly speaking, I was surprised as well as mesmerized with the infrastructure of the University of Dhaka. The entire campus was thrilling with academicians gathered from all over the world along with the young boys and girls who were the students of the University of Dhaka. I always admire the dressing sense of Bengalis especially the girls. Irrespective of the fashion going on in the market on a particular time, they always have a special Saari for every occasion. So the campus was also full of the beautiful and cheerful girls wearing colourful sari.  

The University of Dhaka has a very rich history and is known as the 'Oxford of the East'. Allahabad is also known as the 'Oxford of the East'. Thus, I was from one Oxford to another Oxford. However, I don't appreciate when either Allahabad or Dhaka is referred to as 'Oxford of the East'. For me, it seems as the symbol of slavery. This is because I believe that our civilisation, culture and Universities such as Nalanda, Takhshila and Vikramshila are older centres of academics than that of Oxford and this is very discouraging when people say Allahabad as Oxford of the East. Rather Oxford should have been called 'Allahabad of the West'.   

  

The conference started in its conference hall. In the meantime, I had another dose of medicines brought by Md. Sogir. My presentation was next day. After the lunch, Md. Sogir took me to the market and bought some clothes for me and my family. I was stopping him but he did not stop and paid all the bills.

Since I could not sleep whole night so I come back to the hotel room and slept. In the evening,    there was dinner at the Vice Chancellors residence. We went there and had our dinner.

Next day, I had three presentations which went well. In the evening, there was conference dinner and cultural programme. It was in the Hotel La-Meridian, a five-star hotel in Dhaka.

The whole memory of Dhaka is very refreshing. People in Dhaka are very cooperative and helpful. Dhaka is very crowded city and therefore, traffic jam is a big problem in Dhaka. However, the way Bangladesh has transformed itself in last two-three decades is remarkable. Once Bangladesh and Pakistan were the same countries but after its liberation from Pakistan, Bangladesh has progressed fairly well and it is way ahead of Pakistan in respect of almost all the critical parameters, which is evident from the available data and in some aspects such as infant mortality it is doing well even than that of India.

Bangladesh has done remarkable progress in the field of mobile phones and through this, they are penetrating in the field of mobile banking too. Currently, Bangladesh is a leader in this part of the world in this field and making a huge progress in bringing financial inclusion to those who are deprived of the formal banking channels.    

Hindi and Hindi cinema both is very popular in Bangladesh and people could speak Hindi. I found that students of Bangladesh are very much aware of the happenings in India. I found one lady at the University of Dhaka was speaking in Bhojpuri to her family members. I could not resist myself to ask about the source of her Bhojpuri Language and she told that her grandparents were from Bihar in India. This was another information as well as news to those who are advocating for recognising Bhojpuri as one of the languages in India. In fact, Bhojpuri is the only Indian Global language because it is spoken in more than 11 countries of the world.   

Bangladesh has successfully completed its project of issuing identification to all its citizens which is similar to the AADHAR in India. This journey was very peculiar for me as I have travelled through all the modes of transport such as railway, roadway, waterway, airways. 

I think this kind of visits should be encouraged which would strengthen the relationship between two countries. Both the countries share a rich history, both the countries have the same DNA, both the countries have fought their war of independence from British together and if the steps are taken appropriately then it can lead to the creation of win-win situation for both the nations.                   

         

       

Pehchan Abhi Baaki Hai 1