On Tapas Majumdar

ISSN 0976-271X JNU IMDS Working Paper Series Special Issue, October 2012 In lieu of Working Paper Nos. 43–54 March – December 2012 Tapas Majumdar Memorabilia In commemoration of the Second Death Anniversary of Late Professor Tapas Majumdar (6 January1929 – 15 October 2010) Founder of Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies and Formerly Emeritus Professor, School of Social Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University 15 October, 2012 International Migration and Diaspora Studies Project Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi-110 067, India The IMDS Working Paper Series is published by International Migration and Diaspora Studies Project at the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. © IMDS Working Papers cannot be republished, reprinted or reproduced in any format without the permission of the author or authors. Citations of this publication should be made in the following manner: Author, Year, “Title of the Paper”, IMDS WPS 2012 Special Issue, International Migration and Diaspora Studies Project, ZHCES, JNU, New Delhi. ISSN 0976-271X EDITORIAL TEAM Professor Binod Khadria, Project Director Rashmi Sharma Umesh L Bharte Perveen Kumar Nitu Singh Jayrath Shinde International Migration and Diaspora Studies Project Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies School of Social Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi 110067, India Tel: +91 11 26704417 Email: [email protected] The views expressed in the papers are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMDS Project. IMDS Working Paper Series Special Issue October 2012 Tapas Majumdar Memorabilia In commemoration of the Second Death Anniversary of Late Professor Tapas Majumdar (6 January1929 – 15 October 2010) Founder of Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies and Formerly Emeritus Professor, School of Social Sciences Jawaharlal Nehru University 15 October, 2012 International Migration and Diaspora Studies Project Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi – 110067, India Tapas: A Picture Gallery Tapas among colleagues and students (2004), being honoured (2007), and at work (2005) iii Young Tapas (1957), with wife Gauri (1961), and with mother Snehlata (1956) iv Tapas with wife Gauri and daughter Srinayana (1971-1979) v Tapas with wife Gauri (1979), and daughter Srinayana (1996), picking pebbles at Brighton beach (1985), and teaching young children of the campus (1992) vi Contents Tapas: A Picture Gallery iii Editorial ix About the Colloquium xi About Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies xiii A Biography of Professor Tapas Majumdar xv Obituaries 1–20 Obituary–Tapas Majumdar (1929-2010), by Dipankar Dasgupta Tapas Majumdar (1929-2010), by Asis Kumar Banerjee Remembering Tapas Majumdar, by Binod Khadria Commitment of a Scholar and Teacher: A Personal Tribute, by Amiya Kumar Bagchi On Tapas Majumdar, by Prabhat Patnaik A Different Dividend, by Abhijit Banerjee Remarkable Moments of Real Education, by Amartya Sen “Memories”: Personal Reflections by Tapas Majumdar 21–26 Last Two Decades of Tapas Majumdar’s Writings: 27–120 Equality’s Equations Wrong Number Games – There is more to Promoting Education than Government Spending Marking up a Price – Consumer Courts being out of Bounds, Examinees need a Forum for Redressal Teach your Children well – India should set Realistic Goals in its Education for All Campaigns Getting Back to Basics – Drastic Measures have to be taken to achieve Universal Elementary Education Charter of Three Rs – Recent Court Battles suggest a Need for a Code of Education Rights Learning by Degrees from Below Living Life Tech-Size Teaching Troubles - A Recent Report on the Decentralisation of Education Management falls into some Old Traps In Search of the Clean Slate What Price Victory – The Budget should aim to Fight Inflation through a Revamped PDS and Well Planned Imports Selling Dream Merchandise – The Budget fails to define the Institutional Ways, Hopes may be turned into Economic Realities Yes and Know – Oneupmanship, Overburdened School Curricula and a Misdirected Education System leave Students floundering vii Schooling the Alternative – The Open School Movement must learn from the Mistakes made by the Formal Education System Easing Peer Pressures – The Logic of the Supreme Court’s Judgment on Academic Seniority cannot be denied Slow Poisoning – The Indian Economy still lacks the Dynamism necessary for Successful Market Reforms Kidding about the Idiot Box – Children are more Discriminating about Television Programmes than Adults believe Nation as an Open Book – Education for All could be achieved via a Decentralised and Modernised Open School System When State Plays Truant – Nowhere is the Gap between Official Talk and Action greater than in Compulsory Education Tongue Tied before Teachers – Universal Primary Education is Possible by Implementing Policies at the Local Level Forgotten Amendments Balancing Needs – India needs a Vision with Common Sense Waste Not, Want Not – To make the Reduction in the Cost of Education Meaningful Stumbling in their Tracks – Who will take Charge of the Right to Education? Strength of Simple Truths – Umberto Eco against Intolerance Forgotten Storyteller – The Many Dimensions of T.N. Mukherjee A Shift in Horizons – The Agenda may be changing for the Nobel Prize in Economics Lessons yet Unlearnt – To be a Good University, Presidency must recapture its Prime Journey’s End – Paul A. Samuelson and the New Economics Spell of a Different Kind The Oldest Routes – An Annual Report on Migration in the Past, Present and Future Small Change, Big Move – Repeating truisms will not make Education World-class Select Bibliography of Tapas Majumdar 121–124 viii Editorial It took us time to come to terms with the void left by the sad demise, on 15th October, 2010, of Professor Tapas Majumdar, a friend, philosopher and guide to many generations of his students and colleagues, both inside and outside the academic fraternity. “Tapas Majumdar Memorabilia” is a humble attempt of the IMDS, a project at Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, that has benefitted immensely from his vision and support, in paying our tribute to Prof. Majumdar who used to be and would continue to remain a great source of inspiration to us for years to come. A number of obituaries and articles were written in newspapers, magazines and journals to pay homage to this great visionary. We thought of dedicating this special issue of the IMDS Working Paper Series as a Tapas Majumdar Memorabilia on the auspicious occasion of his second death anniversary today. Seven such pieces written by his former students and colleagues are included here, viz. by Dipankar Dasgupta, Asis Kumar Banerjee, Amartya Sen, Abhijit Banerjee, Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Prabhat Patnaik and Binod Khadria. These obituaries contain glimpses of Professor Majumdar’s life and times as a teacher, a scholar, an administrator, a friend and, above all, a kind and humane being. A select bibliography of Professor Majumdar’s works has also been presented. In addition, a short biography and write – up about the Centre of which he was the founder have been put together. Apart from these, we are happy that we could collate a large number of his small pieces of writings, most of which he published as op-ed page articles in the national daily, the Telegraph during the last two decades of his life – the two transition decades between the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries. These he wrote mainly following his retirement and after becoming the Emeritus Professor of Economics at the School of Social Sciences, JNU. These articles reflect his continuing concerns on contemporary issues of educational and social relevance. Despite being limited in number and scope, these articles are a testimony to the range of his reflections, his concerns for the education of the masses and his dedication to the welfare of the people. I put on record my gratitude to the publishers of these obituaries and tributes as well as of the articles for granting us permission to reproduce them in this collection, to be released on the occasion of the one-day seminar we have organized on “Remembering Tapas Majumdar: A Colloquium on Discourses across Boundaries”. The topic for the colloquium has been chosen keeping in mind the fact it was a subject closest to Professor Majumdar as a thinker, teacher and policy adviser. In fact, it was because of his erudition in practising multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research that he was entrusted with the challenging task of establishing a centre for ‘educational studies’ in a school of social sciences, a novel idea in the early 1970s that did not have many takers. However, it was Professor Majumdar’s unflinching faith in the blending of knowledge from across academic domains and his dedication that the Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, School of Social Sciences, JNU, could earn a distinction of being recognized as a place of advanced study for students and researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds to come together for in-depth understanding and analysis. Binod Khadria 15 October, 2012 ix x About the Colloquium Education is one of the most crucial determinants of development. Educational issues and problems have travelled from periphery to the centre of the social science psyche and thought in the last few decades. There are now tendencies within the social science discourses to accommodate the dynamics of educational change and development in a significant way. In addition, in view of the diversity and complexity of educational issues, the relevance of interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary quest for knowledge has become increasingly high in the last couple of decades. The colloquium is mainly aimed at reigniting such discourses in the realms of knowledge, education and research. Professor Tapas Majumdar, in whose memory the colloquium is organized, was one of the pioneers who had initiated and advanced multi- disciplinary and interdisciplinary social science approaches towards understanding educational problems and guiding policy making in the country.

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