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Sikhi
spirit calls
The community which claims Sewa as its core strength
must give these good men serious competition
Gian inder Singh
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Copying is
strictly prohibited in such tough exams, but outside the
examination hall, there is no bar on becoming copycats. Sikh
activists must study the model, visit them, send volunteers, see
how it can be adapted to other streams and inspire Sikh
businessmen, industrialists to back it up. This year, all the 10
Muslim students in Abhiyanand's Super 30 also made it to the IIT.
Is he not following the Sarbat Da Bhala dictum? Hurry up. We
must not be left behind. Someone is doing all the good work.
Launch the competition, now. |
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 Two
good men had a fight, and we are so happy they could not pull
together. Reasons be damned. Thefact is that they are helping pull
up a section of society left behind in the pits by the Indian nation
state. And they are doing a magnificent job of it.
Let's recognise that the two men, who have nothing to do with
Sikhism, are working in the true spirit of Sikhi.
Their story is simple. A mathematician and a police officer resolved
to do something for poor kids in school at a time when a network of
coaching institutes mushroomed to train students to crack the
fearsome IIT-JEE test thus creating a further gap in resources for
those who could hardly afford the school fees.
Anand Kumar, the mathematician, joined forces with Abhayanand, a
senior police officer (Bihar's additional DGP) and ran a school in
ramshackle buildings with no fans and mud floors, picked up 30
students from low-income, historically disadvantaged backgrounds
whose chances are nixed even before the competition begins, and
provided them free coaching, accommodation and food. And oodles of
confidence.
 Super
30 they called themselves. Soon they were cracking the code, and
Super 30 kids began getting into IIT rather fast. As a mesmerised
media and the rest of the world watched, last year all the Super 30
got into JEE. But by then a sad news came. The mathematics man and
the cop split, and the cop opened his own Super 30.
That was perhaps the best thing to happen after the cent percent
success of Super 30. This year, Anand Kumar's all 30 students have
gotten into JEE. And the additional DGP's 26 out of 30 students have
also managed to make it. Can we have some more splits please? Can
someone please give them serious competition with a Super 100? Is
there market out there for good ideas? Super 50 for doctors, for
example? Super 500 for nurses? Super 1000 for technicians?
Come on, we need them all. And we need them now. It is time the Sikh
community volunteers, activists, do gooders take immense inspiration
from efforts like Super 30. They did not start with a press release,
and they were not wooing the local vernacular stringers to get their
photo in the local Bhojpuri daily. They were focussed on studying
classrooms and picking up kids with real talent and not even enough
to eat at home. And they were lending a hand.
Efforts like this need to be replicated among the Sikhs too. And
Sikhs should be doing it for other communities too. Sections of the
Sikhs known as Sikligars, Rai Sikhs and many others have been left
behind, and there is dire need to pull them along.
The
space for community work is not just in the domain of the IITs, the
the most competitive, influential undergraduate institution in the
world. We need to lend a hand to those who just need a bit of help
to triumph over personal privation.
India's Rs 10,000 crore coaching industry is adding to the gap
between haves and have nots. The mathematics man and the cop are
helping bridge it, and they are doing a stupendous job.
 Copying
is strictly prohibited in such tough exams, but outside the
examination hall, there is no bar on becoming copycats. Sikh
activists must study the model, visit them, send volunteers, see how
it can be adapted to other streams and inspire Sikh businessmen,
industrialists to back it up. This year, all the 10 Muslim students
in Abhiyanand's Super 30 also made it to the IIT. Is he not
following the Sarbat Da Bhala dictum? Hurry up. We must not be left
behind. Someone is doing all the good work. Launch the competition,
now.
Between Anand Kumar and Abhyanand, they have made 76 more visible
dents in the barriers that keep such young people out of the new
economy. Let's help increase it to thousands. After all, haven't the
Sikhs always claimed a bigger right on the word "Sewa". This is your
chance. Step up, and prove it.
27 May 2009
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