Are students customer or products in Higher Education

You go to a nice restaurant. The manager politely asks you if you have a reservation and if you have you are pointed to a nice table. You order some food. It comes in a particular order, you finish it off with a dessert, the bill comes, you pay and off you go. You just experienced a nice dinner or lunch. You are the customer even though there are some checks and balances and rights of admission. The manager did check whether you look the type who can pay or goes with the decor of the restaurant.

Extend this to higher education and things are not very different. You can check in to a university ( read apply), clear the admission criteria, pay the fee, go through the semesters, get a job, and hopefully some education and off you go. If I were to ask a student who she is the answer will be – yes I’m the customer because I pay the fee. She can’t be further from the truth.

Let’s think about the question from the point of view of the university. That there two kinds of universities on two extreme ends of a spectrum. On one end are the state-sponsored or philanthropy universities where the fee the students pay makes for a small part of the overall revenues. On the other extreme are private universities which are largely dependent on fees. Between these two extremes are various revenue models of grants plus fees. So depending upon where you are on this spectrum you can answer this question differently.

But I would argue that the correct way to answer this question of whether students are products or customers is to look at the purpose of higher education.

The purpose of higher education in my opinion is to create useful members of society who will be able to navigate themselves through ways and means of our society and find the most appropriate ( and profitable) job necessary for the economy. While I do believe that the university has a higher purpose of creating knowledge but knowledge creation without students who will add value to society will not find many takers. So modern university has to make sure that students will well not in the immediate future but also for the next 30-40 years of their work life.

How does one do that? Well many ways but most importantly by making sure that while at the university students learn life skills, learn how to learn, explore areas as diverse as critical thinking, social sector, and entrepreneurship, learn to communicate well, learn to lead learn how to deal with uncertainty so on and so forth. These are the only skills I feel will be relevant over the next 30-40 years.

So coming back to our question- If employability is the purpose does it make sense to think of students as raw material and not so much as customers. The ultimate customers are the companies and individuals who employ our graduates.

This way of thinking is a welcome change because then we can think of what is important to value add at work and in society. We are not driven so much by what the students want because quite frankly sometimes they don’t know what they want. Fee or no fee is our job to make sure that students are future-ready to be useful members of society.

Why there is a Tank at UPES campus?

I walk everywhere at UPES and most often take the longest route. On my walks I find many interesting things lying here. One of them is a Tank.

There is a “Vijayanta” Tank proudly standing next to the library building. It has camouflaged colours, it gels well with the greens that you see at UPES but it still stands out. May be that is part of the plan 🙂

At UPES campus things that one finds

There could be a number of reasons why there is a tank at UPES. Tanks are amazing engineering feats and we have a School of Engineering at UPES. Tanks are virtually unstoppable and we want our students and faculty to be unstoppable isn’t it. Vijayanta tank is also a matter of pride and glory for Indians as it was the main battle tank during the 1971 war with Pakistan that led to the liberation of Bangladesh. Vijayanta is our hero. Heroes inspire others for greatness. We are an institution to build Heroes in all walks of life. What better way than to come face to face with a Tank ( remember Tiananmen square)

But I feel more than anything else “Vijayanta” tank at UPES serves us a reminder- a reminder to be aware that if we don’t learn and unlearn we will be obsolete. Technology will make us obsolete unless we do something about it. Who is us- students, faculty and, university itself.

Here is a lesson from the history of Tanks. Tanks were a new technology in World war I and World war II. When tanks became fully operational in battlefield they made trench warfare almost obsolete. Mobile infantry fighting alongside tanks made it possible for trenches to be overrun very quickly. One of the reasons why Germans made such huge advancements against the French was because the German Panzer tank just overrun French defenses. French had no idea how to deal with this new technology. Same effect aircrafts had over Forts- they were not needed anymore.

I feel traditional universities are also under a similar kind of attack. First high quality free learning is getting accessible easily on the internet thanks to MOOCs, Individuals and, entrepreneurs. Second more and more companies are not looking at degrees any more- Tell us what you can do for me and not which degree you have or which school you are from. Third Short terms courses, coding camps are becoming more popular. All parts of a traditional university are under threat from various players- Ed tech like MOOCs, UDACITY, EDX are attacking courses, boot camps are looking to close on to various short term course that universities offer. Free or cheap access to research is widely available and so are libraries. There are start-ups that are offering placement support or creating online communities for students. On top of it COVID pandemic is taking away college experience.

Every university needs to ask this question- in the next 10-20 years or so why would anyone come to study with us when learning is essentially free or low cost on the internet and degrees are irrelevant Will the students come for high-quality learning from our faculty ? Will they come for the brand value that is associated with us.?

The threat is real. However, there are many things Universities can do to make sure that they are not overrun by ” Barbarians at the gate”. The First is to think of how to build a bigger gate or moat. Ivy League Universities like Harvard, Stanford have done this well. People will still give an arm and leg to study with them. It’s incredibly difficult to build a reputation like that and it takes time but I guess one has to start somewhere.

A simple way to start is to get good faculty. Good faculty attracts good students. Good students put pressure on the faculty which ensures faculty up their game. This attracts even better students. These students do well in the world eventually building the reputation of the university. This is the virtuous cycle that keeps on playing over and over again.

Another way is to stop thinking in terms of gates, campuses. How? That is a topic for another blog.

Day 2: Hair cut and anatomy of a business idea

It’s that time of the morning when I have to do my “morning ritual”. Write one page of what is going on in my mind and get over that writer’s block.

Today is Saturday and one more ritual that I have to do is to go to the barber shop and get a hair cut. Well actually hair cut is a bit of a misnomer here as what I have to do is “get hair removed” a.k.a head shave. Perks or not so perks of being a almost bald man.

Which bring me to another important thing that is going in my mind. As part of my role at UPES I have to design a course called “start your start up”. As I’m building the structure of this course I’m watching videos, reading articles and doing all sorts of things that you would normally do when you want to start a new business. While doing my research I came across this conundrum- when you think of start up ideas don’t think of start up ideas. Which is rather “conundrumish”- isn’t it. What to think then ? The simplest answer is to think of problems that need solving. Look around, look into your own life and see what problem you would like to be solved and happily pay for it.

That brings me back to my morning ritual of going for a head shave.

Problem: There are too many bald men in this world.

Need: We want to grow our hair, period. Save our hair. We will pay anything. But we want a easy to administer pill and not painful transplants. Pills that are safe and not make us grow our tails.

Do you wonder that a specie that is sending rockets to Mars can’t save its “Men hair” from extinction. Well I have a theory behind this. There are not enough smart men like Elon Musk who are balding. If Elon Musk were to lose his hair he will lose his sleep over it. He will then go develop a pill that will save ” Man Kind”.

Jeff Bezo’s would probably say.. what a Amzonish idea. I will be your first customer Elon.

I will be his second.

The writers block day 1

Along with many other students who are enrolled in Ritam Dutta’s -UPES class on “learning how to learn” I have also taken the challenge of writing one page every day for the next seven days.

Well I have no idea what I’m going to write about. But hey it feels good to be able to write again especially on a blog that was long in hibernation. Thanks for the nudge Rita.

So what do I want to write about.

One is about Dehradoon. I have recently moved here. This is a city which is both known and unknown to me. I know some but there are parts which are hidden. Every day when I go out I make a new discovery. For instance I found one of the only working water mills near Maldevta. The guy who runs it is using the power of water to mill flours of all kinds. A little chat and I get to know that in local language its called a “Gharat”. This was the common way of milling wheat, corn, Madua and other grains before electric and diesel mills became popular. Quite a lot of fun and amazement to watch the power of water move the mill. Needless to say the the Chapatis made from the flour from this water mill tastes amazing.

Big city and yet small wonders here and there.

While I’m here I have revived my old Bajaj Chetak scooter. All it took was one servicing, some new parts and brand new tyres and it was up and running. What a pleasure to drive a scooter after many years. I wonder why Indians left this grand vehicle and moved on to bikes. Although when I’m on the scooter it is like a signal to others that I have become old. But who cares. I’m very attached to this scooter as this was the first vehicle I purchased in my life. First vehicles are like first love and first salary cheque. You never stop admiring 🙂

It seems I’m writing about nostalgia and things old people do like blabber about getting atta from water mills and fall in love with old scooters.

Just to put water on all those thoughts that I’m old and rusting I want to talk a little about my cycling plans for the upcoming weekend. I have borrowed a Trek 3700 ( its a cycle brand and model) while my Trek marlin 7 ( another model) makes its way to Dehradoon. My aim is to do close to 1000 kms in November and December while I wait for my bike to arrive. For the un initiated this is not a lot of cycling. Serious dudes will be putting 3000 kms a month but what the heck, I’m old and rusting.

Thats all for the writers block for today. See you tomorrow 🙂

UK Politics 500 word or less

I attended an amazing lecture by Prof Nick Owen of Queen’s College Oxford University as part of Chevening Gurukul Fellowship. This is what I understood about UK politics and Brexit in particular.

UK has two major parties- Conservatives and the Labour. They capture more than 80% of the vote even though there are other parties like Liberal Democrats, Scottish Nationalist Party, et al.

Conservatives are a bit confusing. They have mixed ideas- liberal, free capital, limited role of the government, pro-Brexit, unionist and they want lower taxes ( supply-side economics). Labour Party, on the other hand, is left of centre, socialist and believe in Government spending ( Keynesian) and redistribution ( taxes). However, in today’s context, there is not very much difference between the two parties. The areas where they overlap is larger than the areas where they differ.

UK has about 40 million eligible voters and they still use paper votes ( Thank God for that). Money that is spent in the election is capped. Election commission is very independent and the elections are completed in a single day. Unlike in America, there has never been a vote count dispute in the UK.
On the question of Brexit Prof, Nick Owen explained that normally people vote along party lines but the Brexit referendum has cut across party lines. People from both parties have either supported or opposed Brexit. This has made workings of Brexit very challenging and is taking time. And there is a real possibility that now parties might be aligned based on their support to Brexit or not.
Overall a fairly orderly and pleasant system. And yes one more thing. People don’t join politics to make money. Salaries are not great and opportunities to make side money are limited as everyone is very carefully watched. Something that we can take back home 🙂

Identity, radical uncertainties and Narratives

I’m in doing a short course in Oxford as part of Chevening Gurukul Fellowship.

This is a summary of the discussion we had with Sir Paul Collier who among things has authored: “The Future of Capitalism“. As with summaries, this is my interpretation of what Sir Paul Collier said during our class.

Sir Paul proposed that the world is facing a divide between booming metropolis and stagnant provinces due to the forces of globalization. This he calls a spatial divide. This is the new class divide from who you were/are to how educated you are. The educated are on an up escalator whereas those with modest education are on a down escalator. He thinks this is natural as the world is becoming more and more productive and the price of productivity is complexity in which manual skills get redundant. More and more people who are living in provinces or smaller towns are getting sidelined because of the forces of Globalisation. And that’s why there is a rebellion and mutiny against the metros. But mutinies are expressions of rage and not strategies to solve issues.

Sir Paul Collier

England according to him had a shared identity and a lot of it was shaped during the war. However, the educated who control the public policy moved away from the shared identity with the less educated in the provinces. This has created a disdain for the educated elite among the masses. We see examples of everywhere from the rise of Trump in the USA and Brexit in England.

He also shared his views on the idea of Identity and power. He mentioned that the structure of political power needs to be in line with the structure of the identity of people for a nation to be successful. But if you have oppositional identities then blame game starts. People say that I’m poor because of you and vice versa.

Sir Paul shared about two types of knowledge that society has- Tacit which is based on experience and instinct and codified knowledge. With this background, he shared the ideas of decentralization and subsidiarity. Tacit knowledge is at lower levels. So the more complex the design the more tacit knowledge we need.

He explained that there has to be a balance between decentralization and decisions at top levels. At lower levels, people see the world as a zero-sum game so some decisions need to be at top levels so that there are opportunities for collaboration. In other words, we need multi-level Government so that we can reap tacit knowledge and opportunities of working together.

Sir Paul proposed that we are now entering an age of Radical Uncertainties. We don’t know what is going to happen what Donald Rumsfield famously said ” The unknown unknown”. One way to deal with Radical Uncertainty is by narratives. One narrative is how the world works. If everyone knows something it must be right. ( For instance in Finance world Asset prices are going up and they will keep on going up).

Some narratives are self full-filling prophecies. For instance, Lee Kwan’s narrative that Singapore is the city of the Future and it became the city of the Future.

Another way of handling radical uncertainties is Rapid social learning. China has remarkably done this. Their premise was- We know where we want to be but we don’t know-how. China then sent out thousands of bright people in provinces to do experiments and share the learnings. And that is how they were able to rapidly build their economy and bring millions out of poverty.

Sir Paul argued that  Political leaders need to communicate well. They need to communicate their message and follow it up with visible action. They need to ask- Does everyone trust me? What do they think of me? and then choose the right action. This is painful because this will require be jailing your friends and relatives. If you are doing something that others can’t then thats is a signal/message to the public. This is precisely what Lee Kwan Kew did in Singapore to be able to rally behind Singaporeans to fight corruption.

In Sir Paul’s view every Political leader sees themselves as commander in chief with various levers of power but their hard power is very limited. They can’t achieve much only with coercive power. They need a certain level of willing compliance to able to achieve their programs and policies. One way to do this is to clearly communicate the narrative of identity, narratives of norm and narratives of causality. For instance, we are all Indians, we were a great country and if we make these short term sacrifices then we will be better in the future. This is what we should do and call out those who don’t. This is how you build social pressure and create the glue that holds everything together.

One great opportunity that  political leaders have is the opportunity to change the narrative. According to Sir Paul leaders start with people’s anxieties and they acknowledge them. Then they say what they can’t do and why and be honest and upfront about it. Then they share what they can do and how and give people a visible horizon- year or two. And keep telling them about strategy- the what and how of what they can deliver. This is what President of Botswana did and in no time he made Botswana one of the richest countries in Africa.  It is possible for political leaders to bring about change if they want to.

The lecture made me think a lot about how political discourse is shaping in India. One big radical change force that we didn’t discuss much in the class was the Rise of automation and machine learning. My view is that this is going to everyone with rising unemployment in the educated class too. This is one of the biggest uncertainties that we are facing. We don’t know what is the future of work and how each one of us will contribute to that if at all.

Overall we had a great session. After all not every day you get to hear a knighted well-regarded author and professor.

Chal Oxford Via Chevening Gurukul Fellowship

The time has come to be a student again thanks to the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship. As part of the fellowship, I will be spending the next 2 and a half months at Oxford University.

I hope this is the beginning of something exciting. As a start, I’m going to start writing again and document my experiences at Oxford and other places.

I’m also going to learn how to be on Instagram. It seems like the whole Instagram revolution passed by me. Friends tell me that I haven’t missed much but I want to be sure. My brand new Instagram username/handle/account is chaloxford.

सो मैं चला आक्स्फ़र्ड एंड आपको भी कुछ कुछ बताता रहूँगा।

आज की बचत कल की सुरक्षा

अगर आप भारतीय हैं तो आप को आप के माँ बाप ने, पड़ोसी ने, दोस्तों ने और दूरदर्शन ने कभी ना ज़रूर बचत करने का पहाड़ा ज़रूर सुनाया होगा। आप ने भी शायद ज़्यादातर लोगों के तरह इस को नज़रंदाज कर दिया होगा। सच्ची बात यह है की इस मुहावरे में काफ़ी दम है। अब सरकारी नौकरी वालों को छोड़ दो तो हम सबको बुढ़ापे के लिए कुछ ना कुछ तो करना पड़ेगा। पते की बात यह है की बुढ़ापे में बच्चे काम आयें ना आएँ पर बचत ज़रूर काम आएगी।

१) कितने पैसे बचाए

अगर आप नौकरी पेशा हैं तो कम से कम अपनी सैलरी का 25 प्रतिशत तो आपको बचाना ही चाहिए। जिनका अपना बिज़्नेस है उन्हें भी लगभग अपनी सालाना इंकम का 20-25% बचाना चाहिए। कुछ लोग तो अपनी आधी कमायी बचाने के सलाह देते हैं। पर आप 25% se शुरुआत करें और जैसे जैसे आपके इंकम बढ़ती रहेगी आप सेविंज़ बढ़ा सकते हैं। और हाँ शुभ काम में देरी कैसे। बचत जितना जल्दी शुरू करेंगे उतना अच्छा होगा।

२) कहाँ इन्वेस्ट करें 

मैंने अपने घर से पैसे को बचाना और इन्वेस्ट करना सीखा। मेरे पिताजी हर साल टैक्स बचाने के लिए NSC certificate ले लेते थे। सो मैंने भी वही किया। पर returns अच्छे नहीं मिलते थे। टैक्स के बाद तो और भी कम हो जाते थे। बाक़ी रही सही कसर  inflation की  मार से निकल जाती थी।  बाद में समझ आया की बचत करना तो एक अच्छी आदत है पर ज़रूरी बात यह है बचत को कहाँ इन्वेस्ट करें ताकी  हम Inflation को हरा दें।

मगर ये inflation किस बला का नाम है। यक़ीनन आप ने  inflation या मुद्रास्फीति के बारे में TV पर ज़रूर सुना होगा या अख़बार में पढ़ा होगा। Inflation की वजह से चीज़ें धीरे धीरे महँगी हो जाती हैं और हमारे पैसे के ताक़त कम होती रहती है। जैसे के अगर inflation 8% और आप के FD returns 7% तो हर साल आप के पैसे की क़ीमत 1% कम होती रहेगी।  मतलब की  बैंक में पैसा रखने से उसकी क़ीमत हर साल 1% कम होती रहेगी। इस लिए ज़रूरी है की पैसे वहीं इन्वेस्ट करें जहाँ  returns inflation से तो ज़्यादा मिलें।

आजकल भारत में  inflation 5-6% है। Real inflation शायद  7-8% तक होगी। इस लिए बैंक FD, NSC इत्यादि तो एक  दम out हैं। टैक्स के बाद इनके returns बहुत ही कम रह जायेंगे। आपको shares की तरफ़ ध्यान देना पड़ेगा। पर Direct shares इन्वेस्ट करना हर किसी के बस की बात नहीं है। इस लिए ऐव्रिज इन्वेस्टर को equity  म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ को देखना चाहिए। यहाँ  professionals आपके पैसे को share मार्केट में इन्वेस्ट करते हैं। इस काम को करने के लिए fees लेते हैं। अगर आपको stock मार्केट्स की जानकारी नहीं है तो स्टॉक मार्केट्स में इन्वेस्ट करने का म्यूचूअल फ़ंड एक दम अच्छा तरीक़ा है।  म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ से 10-12 % returns की उम्मीद रखी जा सकती है।

३) म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ में इन्वेस्ट कैसे करें। 

पहले तो आपको म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ KYC पड़ेगा। आप form को यहाँ से download कर KYC पूरा करवा सकते हैं। एक बार KYC हो गया तो आप अब किसी भी म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ में इन्वेस्ट कर सकते हैं।

एक बात का ख़ास ध्यान रखें। म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ हमेशा Direct plans वाले लें। इन म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ में कमिशन नहीं लगता और आप के बहुत सारे पैसे बच सकते हैं। म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ broker से तो कभी ना लें। हर म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ के वेब्सायट से आप बहुत आसानी से  Direct Plans वाले म्यूचूअल  फ़ंड्ज़ ख़रीद सकते हैं।

४) किस म्यूचूअल फ़ंड में इन्वेस्ट करें।

बाज़ार में बहुत तरह के म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ अवेलबल हैं। आप 4-5 star फ़ंड्ज़ में इन्वेस्ट कर सकते हैं। बहुत सारी वेब्सायट जैसे के http://www.valueresearchonline.com or livemint.com म्यूचूअल फ़ंड्ज़ के बारे में  काफ़ी जानकारी उपलब्ध करवाती हैं। आप किसी fee based advisor की मदत भी ले सकते हैं। मगर याद रखें, सिर्फ़ advise लें। फ़ंड्ज़ ख़ुद ख़रीदे और वोह भी Direct plans.

आख़िर में यह कहना चाहूँगा की पैसे को बचाए और अच्छे जगह इन्वेस्ट करें। पैसे आप का है तो थोड़ी सी महनत तो आप को करनी  पड़ेगी।  पर बाद में इस महनत का फल मीठा होगा।

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

किसको अंकल बोला बे :(

मुझ को बोला और किसको।

जबसे ३५ का हुआ तब से लोगों ने अंकल बोलना शुरू कर दिया था। हालाँकि मेरी त्वचा से मेरी उम्र  का पता नहीं चलता था पर यह गंजापन सारे भेद खोल देता था। अब ४५ का हो गया हूँ और आगे अँधेरा हे अँधेरा है। लोग तो लोग मैं भी खुद को “अंकल” समझने लग गया हूँ। अब देखिए ना, रात को नींद कम आने लग गयी है। भूक भी अब पहली जैसे नहीं रही है।  ज़्यादा सुबह के फ्लाइट पकड़ लो तो ३ दिन लगते हैं हाजमा और शरीर को ठीक होने में।

मगर वह क्या कहते हैं “उम्र कब के बरस के सफ़ेद हो गयी काली बदरी जवानी को ढलती नहीं” तो हम ने भी ठान लिया के उम्र को तो बढ़ने देते हैं पर बुढ़ापे को थोड़ा स्लो डाउन करना बनता है। अच्छे खासे रीसर्च करने के बाद हमने यह ५ राम बाण खोज निकले हैं जो बुढ़ापे को थोड़ा हल्का करने में काम आ सकते हैं।

१) पहला: Exercise करें। मेरा मतलब ऐसे exercise जिस से थोड़ा पसीना तो निकले।  Walk गप्प  मारने तक के लिए बढ़िया है मगर ज़्यादा पसीना नहीं निकलता है । इसलिए मैंने जिम जॉन कर लिया। कुछ दिन तक तो सब ठीक रहा और फिर एक दिन एक मोहतरमाँ ने कह ही डाला ” अंकल कोई हेल्प चाहिए”।

२) दूसरा : खाने को इम्प्रूव करिए। फ़्रूट्स खाइए, ड्राई फ़्रूट्स खाइए और कभी कभी  smoothie भी पी लीजिए। मेरी माने तो एक smoothie मेकर ले ही  डालिए।  लाइफ़ एक दम  smooth हो जाएगी और लोगों से बात करने का एक और बहाना भी मिल जाएगा।

३) तीसरा : यंग लोगों के कम्पनी में रहें। इस के बहुत फ़ायदे हैं। एक तो induction इफ़ेक्ट से जवान रहेंगे और दूसरा बहुत सारी स्मार्ट्फ़ोन ऐप्स जैसे tinder के बारे में भी पता चल जाएगा।

४) चौथा : कुछ जीवन में रोमांच ले आएँ । मैं जैसे ही ४४ का हुआ मैंने सोच लिए के भाई कुछ adventurous भी करना चाहिए। इसलिए मैंने एक पुरानी  Jeep ले ली। सोच थोड़ा  पहाड़ों की सैर  हो जाएगी । अब मैं अक्सर मकैनिक के चक्कर लगता रहता हूँ। और adventure भी पूरा है। मेरी जीप का कोई भरोसा नहीं, कहीं भी कुछ भी हो सकता है तो बस रोमांच ही रोमांच है ।

५) पाँचवा : हिंदी पिक्चर देखिए। अपने से बड़ी उम्र के हीरो को अपनी बेटी की  उम्र के हेरोईने से रोमैन्स करते देखेंगे तो बिलकुल टीनेजर फ़ील करने लगे जाएँगे।

इस तरह मैं तो कुछ दिनो के लिए बुढ़ापा टाल रहा हूँ। आपके कुछ आयडीयज़ हैं तो हमें भी ज़रूर बतायें। आख़िर बुढ़ापे की इस जंग में हम साथ साथ है।

 

The curious case of missing nutrition in Panna

“हर बच्चा जो ३ साल से छोटा है और उस की माँ को एक नूट्रिशन पैकेट हर सप्ताह आंगनवाड़ी से मिलता है। आपको और आपके बच्चे को यह सब मिल रहा है दीदी? (Every kid below 3 years and her mother should get one nutirtion packet every week from the Anganwadi, are you getting it didi?- Nikita and Jayshree are telling this to every women that they meet in the hamlets and villages in Panna District.

Mercury is now touching close to 45 degrees in Panna but it feels like 100. I’m seriously thinking of getting back to the hotel. But my colleagues Nikita and Jayshree are not relenting. They are keen for yet another meeting with women in the community. Jayshree loves to meet Aanganwadi workers. She checks records of children that are enrolled in the Aanganwadi.  Suddenly she came running out and said excitely said her thickly accented Hindi ” बोला आज खिचड़ी खिलायी थी बच्चों को”

To the credit of Government of MP there was an Aanganwadi in every village that we visited in Panna district. But where ever we went there was a similar story of either mismanagement or misappropriation. Villagers alleged that food packets meant for mothers and kids were not given to them but were fed to the cattle by Aanganwadi worker. We spoke to many families who were getting expired food packets from the Aanganwadi. Aanganwadi worker complained that they are not getting enough packets from the Government department in Panna. They can’t give what they don’t get.

In one of the houses I observe a child munching on a dry roti which is probably his lunch. If he is lucky he might get some daal with his roti for dinner. No sign of any vegetable. There is some mangoes and Jamun that they can get I this season else its missing from the diet. Milk is also missing from the diet and so are eggs. Interestingly Madhya Pradesh has banned eggs to be given to children in Anganwadi’s and School.

The promise of mid day meals was to  provide one nutritious meal to the child every day. While it was not enough it still meant that children from the poorer households will have something good to eat. A closer inspection of mid day meals and you realise that we are not doing a great job.A elder in the village explains to me- अगर अच्छा खाना नहीं मिलेगा तो पढ़ाई कैसे करेंगे और अगर स्कूल पूरा नहीं किया तो फिर अपने बाप दादा के तरह दिल्ली गुड़गाँव में मज़दूरी करते करते ही  ज़िंदगी बीत जाएगी।

I remember reading somewhere that how nutrition is so important in early years. I kept on wondering how will the kids in these villages be able to compete with the million of kids like them in the outside world.

We came back to Panna with many questions in our mind.  We asked whose fault it is that we are going to yet again fail another generation of children.