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Monday, February 23, 2009

Belated WTF

This happened the last year. And I found about it now . Apparently , caste based reservation was just not enough for dear old Arjun Singh jee, he had to do this as well . Although it is a trivial matter , to me it appears to be a reflection of the bickering political mindset . This is the old logo of the Kendriya Vidyalay Sansthan .



And this is the spanking new one , courtsey , the Union Minister for HRD .



Where did the Lotus and the Rising Sun go ? A sane mind wouldn't bother much , but then , I am not sane . :) Why was the logo changed ? Did the old one not reflect the spirit of KVS ?

"But when a board headed by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Arjun Singh decides to omit the ‘lotus’ symbol — also the BJP party symbol — from the emblem to enable a “broader reflection of the national ethos”, it’s hard not to see any politics in the act. This new emblem, say officials, was chosen from amongst several proposed by the art teachers of various KVs and after a close selection in which HRD minister Arjun Singh is said to have taken keen interest"

We can't even call it De-saffronisation . The fact that KV's logo had a lotus and a rising sun had nothing to with the BJP , KVS was founded in 1965 , and there was no BJP then .

'We have retained the Sanskrit motto taken from the Upanishads and that is very much reflective of the Indian culture. The new logo was decided upon after several deliberations and keeping in mind the present spirit of education and the scientific temper and globalization of education besides the changed National Curriculum Framework (NCF) that has broadened horizons and also focused on computer education 'said Dr. U.N. Singh, Joint Commissioner (Academics) - KVs "

By what rationale is the lotus and the rising sun not a part of Indian culture , if a Sanskrit shloka from the Upanishadas is ? I think even that motto could have been stricken off , citing that it does not reflect the secular nature of our country . So what comes next ? Changing its slogan from "Vidya sarvate shobhte" to something stupid in Italian or Latin to please the Mistress ? Banning the symbolic use of lotus altogether , as it is used by their political rivals as a party symbol ?

This is a very small and seemingly insignificant matter , that most of us won't even give it a second thought . But I couldn't help uttering a WTF, albeit a belated one . And given that in a country like ours, where almost everything sparks off a controversy , why did this not ? Why ? I am genuinely very surprised . This is just the kind of excuse any hard-working right-winger would need to create a furore . Was I in a comatose state that I missed the media mention , if any ? And am I making a mountain out of a molehill ? On a side note , what if it had been the other way round , the BJP removing some symbol associated(directly or indirectly) with the Congress ; what do you think would have happened then ?

"Dr U N Singh says that the organisation would rather steer clear of political controversies and pointed out that the BoG had as members not only eminent educationists, officials from various state Governments, directors of both CBSE and NCERT, but also members of the Opposition parties and the logo change was a 'collective decision' arrived at considering the dynamic nature of education."

What if the Minister Sahib had decided to put his foot down ,issued a "farman" that the symbol had to go , and asked his sub-ordinates to cook up a credible enough reason for it . In all fairness , it is quite possible that this was not politically inspired . In all fairness , it is quite possible that I have lost it . But my twisted mind cannot get over the fact that Politics had something to do with it . The way the Congress,the BJP, the Communists etc. are always at each others' throats, no wonder why I cannot digest this easily . It sometimes appears as if they are waging wars against each other , and not against the abstract and the physical enemies of this nation . And elections are around the corner, so it is political World War time . The saddest part is that is that in this war, the face of the enemies within are not clear . A very sad WTF . :(


Image Source - 1 and 2
News Source - Indian Express and Yahoo

19 comments:

OG said...

WTF.... :)
I did not know about this...
not that I have an opinion on this matter... but kislay dude, does it matter???...
I only have a grouse with the fact that they keep spending money doing such useless things without looking at the quality of education..

and as you rightly say, all these jokers keep fighting with one another...

Winnie the poohi said...

Too true!

Its like john plagiar.. you know the guy who wanted to correct works of Shakespere!

Umm just wanted to add.. lotus being our national flower.. we shud change that too no? For being secular?

Anonymous said...

Oh dear! I am a KV-ite. Did they change the logog because of Lotus?

CBSE-AISSCE syllabus is something which all political parties change as they wish. There was a time when Shivaji was a terrorist and all Mughal rulers were epitome of goodness. Most of history I only read glorified Mughal history. May be now it is changed.

As they say 'History is written by the winners' and in this case ruling party.

manju said...

Kislay- I had not heard about this. And yes, it does matter, because it shows the petty mindset of the ruling party.

The sun and lotus symbols had to be changed because the Congress wants to please the minorities so much that everything connected with the Hindu tradition has to be erased.

aShyCarnalKid said...

@OG
That is what I wonder , whether it matters or not .
@Winnie
Maybe , someday that will be done as well . You never what the politicians will do .
@Solilo
History is written by the winners , yes . Napolean said so , I guess . But who is the winner here . And India is the loser for sure .
@Manju
I can't say for sure whether it was that kind of a trick . But it seems like an anti-BJP move . The most surprising part , why was there no row over it ? We all know what kind of stupid things can turn into a big issue in India .

Vinod_Sharma said...

Next we will find Goddess Lakshmi being shown sitting in tulip rather than a lotus! Or will we see a Sonia Gandhi look-alike as Bharat Mata in that tulip? Is the Lotus going to be officially banned from all offices and gardens in govt offices, parks etc? In the revised logo, they seem to have forgotten their geography too..deliberately? The stylised boy and girl are emerging from the Atlantic ocean and South America! Couldn't go farther from India, could they? This is paranoia going bonkers. Some of these guys need to go to a shrink.

I think this calls for a PIL. why is everyone silent?

Vinod_Sharma said...

And there are two crosses too in the ears of the stylised girl. Coincidence?

Shail said...

So what happens to our national flower now??!

@Vinod Sharma, Isn't that supposed to be two pigtails rather than crosses??

aShyCarnalKid said...

@Vinod Sharma
Aren't you surprised we all missed it ? And yes , they could have atleast shown the children emerging from the Indian side of the globe .
@Cool Cancerian
I think its safe , for the time being . Although , I would like to know what Madam Roma's favourite flower is , just in case . Will try and develop a liking for it . :D

Indyeah said...

let me echo your point Kislay and say what the..?

coz this reeks of politics...
and yeah I dont really care couldnt care less infact but this is plain absurd and height of madness or political correctness..

And Arjun Singh has lost it..he should be doing his meditation now..


its the same with all political parties now..

what next an opposition party can say dont ever show your hands?keep the palm facedown?

what the..?

elephants will not be allowed to roam the streets during ceremonies coz people might get 'ideas'?
crazy!crazy!
crazy!
India is using her brains talent and money to come up with this?Do you knwo how much will be spent in changing the damn logo throughout India?

Couldnt they have used it for opening more schools?

aShyCarnalKid said...

@Indyeah
Thank you . It seems that I have NOT lost it after all . :) What I would like to know is how much of the tax-payer's money has been spent in changing names of cities and states , changing signboards and logos etc. ? And I am sure the amount would stagger us all .

Anonymous said...

Knowing the Congress and Arjun Singh, I am sure the reasons were not as simple as wanting a new, more contemporary logo.

I am surprised they didn't lighten the colour of the sun any further.....it's still too Hindu, in my opinion.

Cheers,

Quirky Indian

aShyCarnalKid said...

@Quirky
:)

"I am surprised they didn't lighten the colour of the sun any further.....it's still too Hindu, in my opinion."

I didn't get that .

Anonymous said...

If they want to be truly inclusive then they should have got rid of all variants of that evil colour, saffron. The particular shade of the sun in the new logo, while definitely less Hindu than the colour in the older one, is till too Hindu! :-)

aShyCarnalKid said...

@Quirky
"all variants of that evil colour, saffron" . :D . Touche .

Nam said...

I agree Kislay, we should begin creating a furore over attempts at erasing the Hindu identity of our national institutions. This is totally worthy of a large nation-wide protest.

Did you know that the Congress has made Madrassa education equivalent to CBSE education? Check this out: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/madrasa-certificates-will-now-be-cbse-equivalent/404478/

This to me is THE MOST SHOCKING thing that happened this year. Now we'll have brainwashed madrassa educated people gaining entry into medical schools and treating our family and friends as doctors. I don't know about you guys, but I surely won't be trusting those doctors anymore...

aShyCarnalKid said...

@Nam
I did read about that . And it shocked the hell out of me . WTF are these guys thinking ? Is there any rational thinking behind that decision ? Instead of roping in madarsas and integrating them with the other schools , they did this .

Indian Home Maker said...

I have no idea if politicians have a legal right to change such things, first, road names, then city names, names of air ports and universities, then Shop names, now logos. Expect a lot more.
:(

aShyCarnalKid said...

@IHM
Legal right ? :D I think they think it is their birth right . As I said before , just imagine the amount of money that could have been saved , if it were not spent on useless name/logo changes .