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Journalism of Courage
A lot of hand-wringing on thuggish student politics has followed the murder of a professor in Ujjain. Student politicians have been asked to behave better. They have been seen as representing India8217;s new youth culture of ideas-less materialism. Political parties have been blamed. The Lyngdoh report on student politics has received considerable attention. All this sounds most sensible 8212; and misses an unpleasant truth. India is awash with second-rate universities that offer second-rate education that in turn attracts academically challenged students. This is not to say good universities/bright students and politics don8217;t mix. Or that student politics in such contexts can8217;t be volatile. The global ferment in universities in 1960s and early 1970s was mostly a product of serious politics practised by bright students.
What8217;s been happening in many of India8217;s second-rate universities is different. These so-called institutions of higher education are ideal training grounds for lumpen politics because they don8217;t offer anything by way of serious academic pursuit. Indeed, from the point of pure economic rationality, one can see what student politicians in these universities want to do: they are more or less unfit for the medium or high end of the white collar job market but politics offers a well-paying alternative; so use the university as a graduation centre for learning how to cope with the rough and tumble of politics.
