Human history is replete with a pervasive legacy of conflicts between the dominant interests ... interpolated with the perpetuation of the insidious and surreptitious repressive positions and structures... And the dominated whose legitimate articulation for justice and truth remains marginalized and sidelined. 

The classical reality of the persisting conflict between justice and injustice, truth and falsity, real and unreal is evident in the subaltern position occupied by UGC-CSIR NET/JRF qualified candidates in Manipur. Hoarse cries cutting across different sections of the society for quality education and qualitative changes in the state tautologically reflects a Babelian display of rhetoric in the stark absence of concrete and substantial steps and measures from any section of the Manipuri society. Apathy, complacency and indifference apparently appear to be the only signposts of the times as the incubus of corruption and injustice assumes colossal proportions. Ignoring the harsh and bitter realities underline a tacit, complicit and slavish acceptance of the false, unreal and injustice.

The truth behind the indispensability of UGC CSIR NET/JRF is evolving a "standard" and "qualitative" educational system, substantially and radically defrayment from the prevailing "quantitative" and " interim" based education, foregrounds the need for a holistic understanding of the issue at stake. Detailed discussions, investigations, deliberations and painstaking research by the UGC (constituted under the Parliament of India Act. 1956) led to the formulation of a written test to assess the teaching aptitude and proper knowledge of concerned disciplines. 

The sole logical aim was to maintain a high "standard" and bring about "quality education" in the colleges and universities of the country. As such the National Eligibility Test (NET), for lectureship, comprising of three sets of papers in each subject including a mental aptitude and logical reasoning test, is an essential test necessary for turning the hoarse rhetoric of "quality education" into "practical reality". 

This particular written exam is markedly characterized by its wide popularity and acceptance by hardworking, studious and intelligent students whose aspirations for a better future in a better society are vivified through the exam. It is not a Herculean task or a Sisyphusian or an impossible feat, but a mundane and practical affair where an in-depth knowledge of the concerned subject at the graduate and postgraduate level is the sole requirement. 

Held twice every year, no maximum age limit is prescribed and a candidate can keep on trying until he qualified. Manipur University center first witnesses UGC NET in 1986 with many candidates taking the test. As such, the claim that UGC NET or UGC norms and guidelines for lectureship did not exist before 1998 is baseless and hollow. The year 1986 should be hard reminder to all and sundry. It should not strike as a surprise to note the pertinent fact that as many as 275 candidates of humanities and social sciences from the Manipur University center alone have qualified the NET. This staggering figure is exclusive of science candidates and those who have qualified NET from other Indian universities. Delhi alone has a staggering figure of over 100 NET qualified candidates from Manipur.

Tangential to this observation is another vindicative fact that ipso facto implies the relevance of NET in Manipur University and its colleges. Like any other recognized university in India, Manipur University (estd. 1981) is classified in the list of Indian Universities under the purview of the UGC. Fake universities not recognized by the UGC, declared non grata, are not accepted by the government of India as per the rule of law of the land. 

Established in 1981, Manipur University (under the UGC's purview) automatically entailed the affiliation of government colleges in the state, which hitherto existed under Guwahati University affiliation. The truth per se is crystal clear, as both Guwahati University and the subsequently created Manipur University exist under the UGC's purview. Hereby, the logical deduction of the fact that both the universities function under UGC guidelines should not be missed. The covert and dubious claims made by certain section of the people in Manipur regarding the acknowledgment of UGC norms only in 1998 is a literal misnomer. 

It is indeed highly misleading and misinforming to claim such a pathetic ignorance of the UGC rules and regulations prior to 1998 when Manipur University and all the affiliated government colleges existed under the UGC's purview right from their points of inception. Ignorance of this stark fact by the obstreperous ignoramuses in the state which includes high ranking bureaucrats, ministers and suspicious shady scholars only tends to serve the purpose of repressing truth and reality. Intent to perpetuate a pervasive legacy of the corrupted ideological assumptions working exclusively in the interests of dominant power structure meticulously and dexterously work itself out with perspicuity. Repression and suppression of facts and truth have perniciously arrested growth and development in the state.

The illogical assumption that UGC norms and guidelines did not exist prior to 1998 is not only naive and facile but also rather bizarre and insane. Ignorance of the norms cannot be criteria for lectureships. Entertaining the ostentatious plea of ignorance of UGC rules and regulations for lectureship prior to the 1998 MPSC episode is highly debilitative and recalcitrant. The already redundant educational fabric of Manipur will be plunged into the abyss of darkness and ignorance in today's cut-throat and competitive world where "ignorance is no longer a bliss but a bane". 

These regressive tendencies only aggravate and exacerbate the chasm in our social fabric between the efficient and the inefficient, the capable and the incapable, the sincere and the insincere. An invigorated and rarefied cleansing of the prevailing mess for growth and development oriented "Quality" Education is firmly circumscribed by the indispensability of UGC NET in the recruitment of college and University teachers. At this juncture, it is also crucial to note that the norms and guidelines prescribed by the UGC for lectureship are mandatory nature; they cannot be modified, transformed or interpreted in different ways to suit the whims and fancies of certain politicians and bureaucrats with populist policies aimed at cheap popularity. Delhi University had gone to the Supreme Court in 1995 for relaxation of UGC norms, only to be rejected firmly by the apex court of India. Once flouted or violated through these populist measures retrogression of Manipur is the sole logical consequence.

In the fractured, fragmented, chaotic and confused social order of present Manipur, a clean educational environment is one of the most effective means available to reverse the rising river tide of corruption, bribery and nepotism. To inculcate the dynamics of a social change for a better human order is the raison d' etre of a sound unpolluted educational atmosphere. Eroding the sacrosanct nature of education implicitly underlines a tacit support to the seamless web of corruption.

Historicisation of contemporary Manipur society reveals the surreptitiously forked tongue of "long sufferers", inherent in our conscious psyche, to be at root of many evils that still stand the classical definition of "evil". It completely boggles the imagination of all, including the political unconscious, to note the inertness and casual approach to such long standing corrupt practices prevalent in our society. The Manipuri society has internalized a kind of "we'll buy, hire, beg or steal" attitude whereby the cult of mediocrity seems to rule the roost. 

We have disturbingly exhibited a consistent inclination and - ever since we assumed charged of our own affairs - to opt for mediocrity and compromise. Manipur is no longer a great land. It is markedly one of the most corrupt, degenerated, sterile, insensitive and inefficient places on earth. Is the time to shatter this false image of ourselves as inhabitants of a "Sanaleibak" or "land of gold" still distant? Social destiny lies in human hands - a grim reminder of the need to redeem ourselves. Manipuris are what they are only because their leaders are not what they should be.

(The writer taught English in Shyam Lal College, University of Delhi)

(Courtesy: The Imphal Free Press)