Sunday, May 23, 2010

Kapil Sibal's test for patriotism


In a speech at an "education conference", he "sought to dispel fears about IIT faculties joining foreign institutes after they set shop here." This is what he said:

I know my faculty is patriotic and passionate about India and I know my faculty will not sell their conscience for a little bit of money. [Source].

This is sick. Horribly, totally sick.

That's all.

16 Comments:

  1. Ungrateful Alive said...

    "My faculty"? Tera baap ka faculty hai saale?

  2. Abi said...

    @WebMiner: Thanks for that input, but please don't take your eyes off the main thing: his questioning of the patriotism of people working for foreign institutions.

    Please ...

  3. Anant said...

    Where can I sell my conscience for lots of money?

    Jokes apart, what an idiotic thing to say.

  4. Yayaver said...

    Then why did great patriot like Kapil Sibal gone to foreign country leaving his mother India for mere Master's in Law degree ?

  5. Unknown said...

    It is for IIT faculty to prove him wrong.

  6. Unknown said...

    For those who want to pursue an academic career in India and desire good research facilities, decent working atmosphere, student community etc., IIXs are the only choice today. Some of the faculty who also wanted a decent salary had to keep reminding themselves of these goodies and put up with financial frustration. If good unverisites (such as Geogia Tech, e.g.) setup their campuses in India and are willing to pay well, why would one put up with any frustration? Just wait and see!

  7. Anonymous said...

    Nothing on topic but thank you for staying off a "scxxndrxl Sibal" soundtrack- always your prerogative, of course, but IMO always better unused.

  8. Ankur Kulkarni said...

    Thanks WebMiner. I was about to say what you said.

    But Abi points out the essential bullshit present in Sibal's statement. He is saying that working for the govt or for Indian companies is the only way to show one's patriotism.

  9. Ungrateful Alive said...

    @Abi @Ankur: Of course I appreciate what you say as well. But Sibal is not that level: "Lathh ka bhooth baat se nehi maanta." BTW, an exchange regarding this article from my joint of space; again you will realize that Sibal cannot be handled with these levels of refinement.

    "Humour is supposed to be generated when deep contradictions get juxtaposed very closely. In that sense this is indeed hilarious!"

    "Isn't this article a self-goal? I mean, basically he is implying that whoever will be employed as faculty in those foreign universities are (doing something) unpatriotic. And whoever is giving that opportunity by bringing in these universities in the first place is unpatriotic."

    "Ah. Didn't you know that in certain religions, the all-powerful and always-benevolent god is always tossing devilish temptations at its subjects to test their purity and commitment? (And if said subjects trip up, the "always-benevolent" part takes a toss.)"

  10. Ankur Kulkarni said...

    I didnt read the article carefully enough, so I missed this one. Here is another joke from KS:

    "The kind of conferences and exposure you get at the international level (in IITs), you won’t get in a private university, foreign or otherwise"

  11. Ungrateful Alive said...

    OK, let's get serious. So the man has coffers to line, or a vendetta to fight, or just a plain simple case of a lizard in his pants. The main question is, in any case, could he not have relieved himself and attained his end without destroying IIXs? Or was destroying IIXs his explicit goal? (Please note I don't think all that highly of IIXs, but all told, they are a bit of an oasis of relative competence in a subcontinent of squalid failures.) Is he deluded enough to think that continuing to neglect fertilizing the soil (primary education) and watering the plant from the top (tertiary education) will really do the trick? Does he really have a vote bank worth targeting (unlike, say, the subsidized Haaj vote bank)?

  12. truti said...

    Arun Jaitley has the right description for Kapil Sibal - Minister for Announcements. It is another matter that Jaitley and Sibal exchange clients and cases. Jaitley took on Sibal's load when the latter joined the cabinet in 2004. When Jaitley moved to the RS in 2009, Jaitley handed a bunch of cases to Sibal's son!

  13. Anonymous said...

    On the contrary, Conscience is on-demand always but it is not a commodity that, it can be sold.
    Hence, the sentence of Kapil Sibal is wrong. May be law books written in his times didn't mention that.

    On the second thought, any amount of money can be made by conscience and it is nobody's monopoly.

  14. Anonymous said...

    Quotes of Dhirubhai Ambani :
    1. Secret of my sucess was to have ambition and know men's mind.
    2. We cannot change our Rulers, but we can change the way they Rule Us
    3. Give the youth a proper environment. Motivate them. Extend them the support they need. Each one of them has infinite source of energy. They will deliver.


    Quotes by Chanakya :
    "Shikshak kabhi saadharan nahi hota. pralya aur nirmaan dono uski god mein khelte hai"

  15. Anonymous said...

    In the context of people working in domestic and foreign institutions, how is the term patriotism defined in today's times?

    And is the adjective "patriotism" applicable for individual people?

    Also, is the term "Employment" itself a widely figured out term by Government?

    Can the young scientists be really broad-minded without worrying about the term "employment"?

  16. Anonymous said...

    I think, motivation, self-realisation for energies happens more in corporate environment than universitites these days. I don't know about other times. Universities are merely a passing-by station to final destination :)