New Karnataka schooling coverage: Yogendra Yadav, the protestor for rent, and Professor Japhet, who drafted anti-superstition particularly concentrating on Hindu rituals, a part of committee

On Wednesday (eleventh October), the Congress authorities in Karnataka constituted a committee of ‘experts’ to formulate the Karnataka State Education Policy which might substitute the National Education Policy (NEP).

The state authorities has issued a ‘Government Order’ (GO) forming a 15-member committee headed by Professor and former Delhi UGC Chairman Sukhdev Thorat, with a secondary group of eight topic specialists/advisers rendering professional enter. The committee will submit its report on February 28 subsequent yr.

“The government is pleased to accord sanction to the State Education Policy Commission for the preparation of a draft Karnataka State Education Policy under the chairmanship of Professor Sukhdev Thorat, an eminent Educationist. Economist, Professor, Writer and Former Chairman of UGC New Delhi,” the GO acknowledged.

As per the federal government round, the 15-member committee includes- Professor S Japhet, Founding Director of the UGC-sponsored Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEEIP), Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice Chancellor of National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Sharat AnanthaMurthy, Professor, School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, A Narayana, Professor at Azim Premji University’s School of Policy and Governance, amongst others.

Meanwhile, Bhagyavana S Mudigoudra, Special Officer, Department of Higher Education, would be the fee’s Member Secretary, coordinating and sustaining the assembly’s proceedings.

Today, the Karnataka Government introduced the formation of a 15-member committee tasked with crafting a brand new schooling coverage for the state.

In addition to the committee, an advisory board has been established to supply insights and steering on this endeavour. pic.twitter.com/4Qkms8a342

— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2023

In addition to the committee, an advisory board has been established for professional recommendation. It is attention-grabbing to notice that the eight-member professional group consists of protestor for rent Yogendra Yadav alongside Professor Rahamath Tarikere, Retd Professor in Kannada, Kannada University, Hampi; Professor Janaki Nair, Historian and Retd, Professor on the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Sonam Wangchuk, Engineer turned Education Reformer and Director of the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL), Professor Valerian Rodrigues, and two others.

It is notable that the “Duggal Sahab” of political activism, Yogendra Yadav had admitted final yr that the farmers’ protest wherein he took the avatar of a ‘farmer leader’ was a “political stunt” meant to oust BJP from energy. Moreover, Yadav had additionally given an identical assertion in a debate on NDTV on 10 March 2022 whereas discussing the UP Assembly Election outcomes. He mentioned the farmer’s motion led by Samyukt Kisan Morcha performed an important position in constructing the inspiration for the opposition events to defeat the BJP in UP, nonetheless, the opposition events primarily the Samajwadi Party didn’t play effectively.

Unsurprisingly, Yogendra Yadav additionally has hyperlinks with the controversial financier and regime change specialist George Soros. It is notable that in February this yr, George Soros overtly expressed his disdain for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused him of crony capitalism saying that he has good relationships with businessman Gautam Adani. OpIndia has printed detailed stories on George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) which has been backing anti-India parts working inside India.

It is value noting that earlier UGC chairman Sukhdev Thorat, who would lead the aforementioned committee, has been a vocal opponent of reservations for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS). Thorat acknowledged his discontent with the ‘upper caste’ Hindus, primarily Brahmins, “dominating” India’s energy construction in an interview with Islamist propaganda portal Maktoob Media. Additionally, he insinuated that caste-based reservations needs to be utilized to the personal sector with a purpose to slender the hole between the higher castes and the SC, ST, and OBCs when it comes to indicators like life expectancy, baby mortality, and so forth.

After drafting the Hinduphobic Anti-Superstition Bill, Professor S Japhet joins the Congress authorities’s committee to border Karnataka’s schooling coverage

It is value recalling that Professor S Japhet, founding director of the UGC-sponsored Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEEIP) was a outstanding participant in drafting the controversial Anti-Superstition Bill, in 2013. It is value noting that the invoice supposed to outlaw ‘superstitious practices’ was a pet challenge of Karnataka CM P Siddaramaiah.

The controversial invoice aimed to ban practices like made snana which concerned any particular person or individuals roll over (uruli seve) on the leaves of leftover meals by different individuals in any public or non secular locations or comparable practices saying that it violated human dignity. Performing hearth walks throughout Jatras and spiritual festivals, Baibiga observe which concerned piercing of the jaw from one facet to a different, Mata mantra, Gandra Dora practices for treating snake, scorpion or canine bites and so forth had been deemed inhuman acts.

“Creating panic in the minds of the public in general by way of invoking ghosts or mantras. Persuading, propagating or facilitating rituals that involve self-inflicted injuries such as hanging from a hook: inserted into the body (sidi) or pulling a chariot by hook inserted into the body,” the invoice acknowledged.

While the invoice included self-inflicting accidents to outline Hindu rituals, the invoice didn’t point out Muharram, an event of mourning for the Shia sect of Muslims who inflict accidents to their very own our bodies utilizing chains and sharp objects in public locations. Moreover, the invoice talked about ‘ghosts’ and practices carried out on the pretext of expelling them from the particular person possessed together with bodily assault and forcing one to carry out sexual acts, nonetheless, there was no point out of Satan, Shaitan and Jinn and bizarre practices concerned in expelling them from an individual ‘possessed’ by them.

Back in 2013, Professor Japhet had mentioned that by way of the invoice an try has been made to “define the superstitious practices as those that cause grave physical, mental or sexual exploitation or offends human dignity”. It is amusing that Japhet did not or intentionally didn’t ‘define’ comparable superstitious practices in different religions.

Notably, after a lot outrage from the folks and political events, the invoice was handed by each homes of the state legislature in 2017 when Congress chief Siddaramaiah was the chief minister of Karnataka.

Two years earlier than drafting the invoice, Japhet wrote an in depth piece on the plight of Dalit Christians in 2011, wherein he admitted that Christians from non-Dalit communities discriminate towards Christians who convert from Dalit communities. Despite this, S Japhet didn’t embrace evangelism and conversion primarily based on the promise of equality as a superstition.

Congress rejected the Centre’s National Education Policy

The formation of a committee to border Karnataka state schooling coverage comes after the Congress authorities had in August introduced that its authorities will implement its personal coverage rejecting the Centre’s NEP. In May this yr, Siddaramiah had mentioned that he wouldn’t permit the schooling sector to be adulterated within the identify of the brand new schooling coverage.

Siddaramaiah claimed that the Central Government’s nationwide schooling agenda is ‘incompatible’ with the federal type of governance. “It has several anomalies that undermine the Constitution and democracy,” remarked the Chief Minister. “Uniform education system does not suit a nation like India which has diverse religions, languages and cultures”. While the chief minister asserted that the NEP won’t ‘suit’ India because the nation has various languages, the NEP directs to put “emphasis on promoting multilingualism and Indian languages; The medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language.”