My own Superhero - StupidMan

In my younger days I was an avid reader. Reading transported me to a variety of places, transformed me into a variety of people, and gave me performances in a variety of walks of life from sports to counter terrorism that I could only dream of... when I slept. It was different matter that when I woke up, I was as ordinary as ordinary can be. It made me a super hero.

 I use to read anything that came my way... ranging from novels to comics, from MAD to Archie’s and everything in between, provided it held my interest from the first word.

I was not immune to superheroes, given my rather plain looks, family pack abs, timid and introverted nature.  I was the perfect breeding ground for a superhero seed to sow and grow.

In my time, there were two superheroes that dominated the landscape - Superman and Spiderman. They had many similarities, and some differences - They were both S Men – when outside, but at home both became YES Men!  They were manly not because of their v shaped upper body, but because they had the word ‘MAN’ in them.  They both displayed their inner wear – one outside and the other, neither inside nor outside.  Superman wore cape that would flutter behind him when he flew through the air, without the benefit of Air India, while Spiderman climbed walls with the help of his artificial web. They both helped good triumph over evil and lived ordinary lives like me, when they did not imbue their superpowers.

When I read about them, I got transported into a world of my own and became my own superhero…. I called him….Stupid man. His name too began with S and ended Man in it.  And at home, an ordinary home, like theirs, he was a total Yes Man. He too functioned in two modes - Superhero mode and Aam aadmi mode.

In his aam admi mode, Stupid Man was the anti thesis of his superhero mode. He had the body of superman, the good looks of a SRK, and wore the clothes of page 3 celebrities,  but was unfortunately a dumb klutz. Hence the name. For example, he would attend a toastmasters meeting and listen attentively to TM’s coming up with tall tales, and believe each one of them, to be true.

In his super power mode, he was unlike our two superheroes - He wore his Stupid Man embossed flowered underwear inside his loose fitting white shirt and denim abcd pants.. his shirt tail would hang out and his belt would be half way down his buttocks.  Of his attire, all but the underwear was transparent! His body was such that an ECG machine would be continuously beeping! His cape was like a kimono open at the sides, and would blindside him as he floated through the air like an eagle. But the beauty was,  he always knew where he was headed! He wore floaters and raybans and was a slim lanky dorky looking guy with round specs and wavy hair. Your ordinary nerd...with extraordinary powers to control, Alter and Delete! your thoughts.

He could see what you were thinking with his xray vision, and feel what you were feeling, Doppler heart, and manage those thoughts and feelings without your knowledge either for your benefit or not!

And that was what was scary - It was scary cause he could fight without fighting, create fights without screaming or getting physical and make politicians loose elections by inciting them to make inappropriate comments like - boys will be boys.

How did he get his superpowers? He was not born of alien parents or such like. He was the illegitimate son of a distressed farmer and a rich and powerful politician, who wangled for the distressed famer, a chance to participate in GM trials of a new insect resistant mango variety. There were only two trees and only one had begun to yield fruit. Stupid man wandered into the field and partook of the forbidden fruit in its raw form, despite his father telling him it’s forbidden. He was like that, irreverent and disobedient. He added some chili powder and salt he carried with him and under the shade of the very tree, he enjoyed his snack.

Soon he discovered, and without warning, that he could see what the bulls in the field were thinking as were the cows, (the bulls: come hither you pretty thing, and the cows: oh bull crap) when he looked directly at them in their face - and he tried to shut out those thoughts, and he found he could only do that when he looked away.  Gradually he also discovered this power over human beings when at home, he could hear in his head, his father  thinking of Shilpa Shetty, while telling his mother, Sweetie pie, I love you, You’ve cooked my favorite Dal fry today. He was tempted to substitute his mother’s thoughts, which revolved around gratefulness, but looked away just in time.

He discovered also his power to do good… or bad.  He was returning from a night at the movies, ironically called batman, when, as he was flying through an upscale neighborhood he heard loud voices. He arrived at the window and what did he see?

A young lady was being strangulated by her mother in the presence of her husband and his son! It seemed like that and he confirmed it when he looked into their minds. She was screaming silently – You, you you’ve brought dishonor to this family, I told you to have nothing to do with him and you went and lived with him. Let me see how he can help you now.  The victim was thinking, please please don’t kill me, I fell in love with him just like you did. And the step dad was thinking, Ive got to choose and fast. It’s complicated. I love both of them

In comes our superhero passing through walls and doors and reverses the thoughts in their mind and prevents a murder… How? I love him, please let me share him with you? And he says please dear? And she says yes I Love both of you more than I can say.

The Son just looked on in amazement as stupid man flew out the window!

An Indian PM's Diary

• Disclaimer: This is a satirical work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
  
  
  Date line : August 2015
  
  
  Two countries and a state. Pakistan, UAE and Bihar. All on my agenda these past weeks. I surprised my colleagues when I  suddenly decided to visit the UAE. I had returned to the country on the 13th of July, and almost immediately the itch began - I quickly began to miss the single minded attention and the selfies - and on the 16th I took off for Abu Dhabi - the 26th foreign country I have visited in the 15 months I have been in office. It's a real pleasure to represent India abroad. India must benefit, no matter the strain on me. That's been my mantra all along. 
  
  
  By then I had  remained in India for a month, ostensibly tied down to the capital by the Monsoon session of parliament and Independence, but fully dependent on a unified and aggressive opposition out for my jugular.  I managed to stay away from the scalpel, deftly deploying instead my soldiers to quell the rebellion, while I guided strategy from the rear and watched with amusement, and a little consternation the unity and ferociousness of the opposition. Gradually the Monsoon session washed itself out, despite the monsoon being 12% in deficit. Quite strange I thought.  
  
  
  In the meanwhile, ex soldiers were out on the street. I didn't have much to offer them, certainly not what they wanted - one rank one pension on their terms - and they were not taking it lying down. Like most people, I'd forgotten that they were soldiers and deserved better. I realized my words wouldn't soothe them, I had tried and failed, and I tried again on Independence day, but for them, independence meant freedom from want. But then I'd to balance between their arrears and a package of 1.65 lakh crore for Bihar. In front of this sum, 8500 Crore was a pittance I realized  - but the dilemma was, what was more important? 
  
  
  

  It was time to host the Pakistan NSA - and I told my NSA that tis time he got his act together - People are crossing the border without Id's and Passports, but with guns and ammunition, and in Pakistan itself they are letting all the terrorists go scot free despite our clinching evidence. Some ammunition was needed, and he directed NIA chief in person, to milk the apprehended Pak terrorist, Naved, aka Usman, the first one caught alive after Ajmal Kasab, for information before he came across the border. They established that he was Pakistani, but little else, and then poked him with the truth serum to get more out of him.  He seemed to be having the time of his life, a step up from his days in Pakistan perhaps - three square meals a day, medical attention and body guards. 
  
  
  I knew for certain, that  Paksistan would be getting ready with the Question - If you can settle the Bangaldesh border issue, which has been festering for decades, why cant you do the same with Pakistan?. I asked the NSA and his answer? its not so simple my friend. There is the matter of History, Lakhvi, Saeed and Dawood, and polical cumpulsion.  He suggested I rush of to the UAE and convince them to help get Dawood back by squeezing him where it hurts - money supply. Good Idea I thought, and rushed off managing to convince them to look into his dealings there. Whether blood is thicker than water, only time will tell.  Meanwhile it was chanting and selfie time.
  
  
  

  I was a happy man. Social media, my most important barometer of succes, hailed my visit, as did the twitterati, the electronic media without exception (earlier it was only prasar bharathi, now its everyone on the bandwagon - I've really brought about massive 'parivartan') and most of all whats app the host of all my selfies, hailed my visit as a grand success. What more could i ask for? What a roar I heard when I entered the Dubai cricket stadium and all through my speech, but only when I paused. It was so unlike the temple of democracy back home, where they roared to have me pause, and then start up again as soon as I resumed. It had become so bad, that this time I avoided going there all together! In the end it didn't really make a difference though, the result was the same - a big zero. But enough of negatives. Lets focus on the positives.
  
  
  I got to shake hands of some of my fellow Indians, both the rich and famous and those who live in godawful conditions only to bring back the buck. I enjoyed meeting them, but became uncomfortable when they asked me for the same things that folks back home ask without much success - Here I could ignore their cries, but there? no way. They asked me the most mundane things - better accommodation, cheaper flight tickets, repatriation insurance, and voting rights, and no taxes back home - just as they enjoy in the UAE.  We have worked hard - we cant give it up they said - and I was reminded of the 'giveitup' campaign I had launched in India for people who did not have to much to give, after the government took most of it in taxes.
  
  

  
  

  It was time to get back - this was getting complicated and Bihar was going to the elections -I had to go straight there ask them for their votes, and I knew that they wouldn't come for free - I would have to give them a special package, not that it would make much of difference, but at least it would push us to the front of the line.   

  
  

  I heard the same roar when I announced the package, and was relieved - things were back on track after a real trying fortnight.

The life of Lie! - a short story

The life of Lie!

82 year old Inderjit lived in a village, close to the city of Jaipur. He portrayed himself as humble, honest trader, which indeed he was. He was respected as a Village elder. His family of one son and a daughter, their spouses and their 4 children, (each son was blessed with two children) were spread out across the country, well placed, in government jobs, and followed his lead in every way.  They were hard working, good parents, good citizens and honest people serving their families and their country.

Although he was respected, he was also a mystery to many, as he was a man of few words, especially after his wife died 10 years ago of cancer, after suffering for five years.

Life in Pakistan

What his fellow citizens didn’t know, was that he had lived the first half of his teenage life in Pakistan, in Lahore, Pakistan, and crossed over on August 15^th 1947, at the tender age of 14.

In Lahore, he was known as Abdul, and he had lived with his parents and a younger sister. Abdul as a young boy spent more time at his neighbour’s, Uncle Sarabjit's house than in his own. He had his own reasons. His father was a strict and severe man, who brooked no opposition. He was conservative and obsessive about rituals and would not allow him to speak unless spoken to. As a result, to him, his house was a quiet mausoleum, with hardly a word spoken, love not evident and as he went into his teenage years, he was getting increasingly desperate for a little love and attention. This desire manifested itself in pranks at school and spending more and more of his free time at Uncle Sarabjit's house next door. Here he found, laughter, love and attention from both Uncle and Aunty. They treated him as one of their own, with no difference between him and Uncle’s two sons, younger than him by two and four years.

Interestingly, Uncle Sarabjit and his father had the best of relationships, and they often they visited each other, sitting in the drawing room and discussing a variety of subjects over a cup of tea. Many a time they disagreed on issues, and the discussion became heated, anger was never evident. Discussions generally heated up over the two state theory and the alternatives to it.

Abdul the prankster

Abdul, entered his teenage years, as a mischievous boy.  He used, perhaps unconsciously, notoriety, to attract attention and he earned this through his share of pranks at school. Whenever he was hauled over the coals, he  had learnt to lie his way out of it, fearing that telling the truth would get him into severe trouble with his school and his father. But, the regular, punishments, being whipped, being grounded, nothing could stop him from pulling a prank.

One such prank, was putting talcum powder just near the board, knowing that the teacher of moral studies was a teacher who taught using drama. He would prance around the board, acting out his stories. On that particular day, he slipped, and fell squarely on his buttocks. He suspected that what he thought was chalk powder was really talcum powder, because he got the whiff of perfume, when he squatted. 

He immediately suspected that it was the work of Abdul, and called him up to the principal’s office, and tried to whip the truth out of him, but failed, as Abdul maintained he knew nothing. That day, however, the Moral education teacher had had enough. He told him that he would learn to tell the truth always, no matter the consequences, the hard way.

The teacher called up his father and told him the story of the talcum powder.  Abdul's father was livid. He came home and searched for Abdul. Abdul was nowhere to be seen. He called out to him repeatedly but failed to find a response. He questioned his wife and daughter but they were too scared for him to reveal his location.  It was then that a crowd shouting anti India slogans, came rampaging down the street and silenced him.

The shift to India

Abdul meanwhile, still in uniform was, as his wont, playing a popular game of those times - lagori with his siblings from a neigbour, in the back yard of their home, when they heard a crowd shouting. 

At the call of the head of the house, all of them ran into the house, in fear. Uncle Bikramjit, who was a cloth merchant in Lahore, then quickly locked the door. He was scared, as was Abdul, and the rest of the family. Bikramjit told his wife and two sons, Sarabjit and Ranjit to hide behind the sofa as he peeped out of the window.

As the crowd passed, it went dark, and began to rain, (the monsoon had already begun). Uncle Sarabjit made up his mind to shift to India. He had been contemplating this move for some time and had even discussed it with Abdul’s father, who advised him to take the path less trod. They packed a few belongings and under the cover of darkness they began to move.

They urged Abdul to go home and keep quiet about their plans. Abdul was confused.  He felt lost. He had no love lost for his home.  He did love his mother and sister, who was five years younger than him, but he realized that as long as his father was around, there would be no hope for a life of the kind he dreamed off – filled with love and laughter.  Not that his father did not love him. But he was made like that.

He made up his mind. Uncle he said, can I come with you?.  Uncle was stunned.  He said how can you come? All Muslims in India are coming here. “Please uncle” he pleaded. I can’t stay here. Please take me as your son. I am ready to do anything.

Uncle Sarabjit was a compassionate man.  He was torn between his duty towards his neighbor, the anguish on the child’s face and the conditions he would likely face when he went to India.  His wife sealed his internal debate. She said, “Sarabjit, he is like our own. Let’s take him, if he wants to go”.  They knew, that depite his love for his family, he was not very happy at home, and he was more comfrortable with them. Their compassion for the child, won the day. Quietly they slipped out into the night.

Meanwhile at Abdul’s house, his mother watched from the window, but didn’t utter a word. His father searched all over for many days, but then gave up in disgust, relating  his disappearance to the prank he had played at school.

The journey to India was an eventful and a learning experience, as he saw bloodshed at close quarters, yet missed the knife, understood the depth of feeling of either side, and realized how caught he was in between.

His adopted family protected him always, giving him the name Inderjit. Following their customs was not really a challenge as he had grown up with them and gradually he became one of them, integrating so well, that none suspected that anything was amiss.  He was the first to leave school and help his uncle, whom he now called Father, in his clothing business which he set up in Amritsar, but as he grew older, he fell in love, separated and moved to a village near Jaipur after, marrying into a Rajastani family, where he became a small civil contractor and trader of hardware items.

No one suspected that he was who he was, not his children, not his wife. The only persons who knew his background,  were his adopted family, and of them, Uncle Sarabjit and his wife had passed away within months of each other many years ago, while his step brothers were abroad.  They rarely kept in touch, each busy with their own live.

Learning his lesson

One day in the early 1970’s  a few years after the  1965 Indo-Pak War, two men approached him, while he was at his hardware shop, and informed him that they knew his real identity, and would expose him, if he did not cooperate with them. They informed him that his family in Pakistan, was safe and well even though his father had passed on. His sister they told him was now working for Pakistan Intelligence, after joining the Pakistan Air force, and it was at her insistence, that this visit had become a reality.

He felt  proud of them, and did feel a momentary pang of regret, which was replaced with love, but he was always grateful to adopted country and family for the life he had had which he felt was fulfilling in every way.   At first he thought of committing suicide, for he didn’t know which way to turn. He rued what had come to pass, and remembered the last words of his Moral Science teacher. But, he also thought of his current family and wondered how they would cope in his absence.  He had no thought for himself.

He decided he would go with the flow and see where it would take him – as just another prank.  He reluctantly became a spy.  He felt he did not have a choice, and as  the lie had already become a way of life… What’s one more? 

He had access to the local military base as a small contractor, and gradually he passed on lots of information and sometimes even military plans that he would photograph while inside the complex.  He hated what he was doing, but he consoled himself that he was doing it for his family.

His life was now one big lie.  He was Abdul and yet he was not. He was Inderjit and yet he was not. He was honest and yet he was not. He was loving and compassionate and yet he was not.

He was constantly reminded day in and day out about what his moral education teacher told him the day he fell on his buttocks – He would learn to tell the truth the hard way.  And in the end he did… when a chance encounter with the airforce personnel on the base resulted in his arrest and interrogation.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Obama goes home to his roots

Washington: A part of Barrack Obama's heritage lies in Kenya. And on Thursday, it will be the third time he sets foot on the soil of his forebears, the first as president of the United States. The first time he went there he was met at the airport by a half sister and an aunt. “Welcome home”, the aunt said. It’s not clear if it was a mission accomplished then, for he went there to fill “a great emptiness” - He really wanted to know his heritage, who he was, and where he fit in. They traveled from the airport in an old Volkswagen Beetle and the silencer fell off during the ride into town!. As the aunt got out to go to work, she chided Obama not to “get lost again.”

During the visit, he experienced African hospitality and hostility. He slept on the sofa in the living room of his half sister, Auma, a professor at the University of Nairobi. He met most of his relatives, went to his father's village, and even met his grandfather's last wife Mama Sarah. He called her Granny. But he also witnessed hostility and division between the various wings of his family and travelling around the country brought him in contact with the hostility between the Luo and Kikuyu tribes and between Africans and Asians. 

Now, twenty-eight years later, he is the POTUS and on Thursday he returns there – No Volkswagen Beetle this time, but a long motorcade that includes an armored car. It was in 2006 that Obama returned to Kenya as a new senator, surrounded by media and a motorcade. That was but a miniature rehearsal of the current visit. 

Is he still confused? Difficult to say.

Obama was born in Hawaii. And at the start of his presidency, he was at the center of a mysterious rumor that said he was born in Kenya and thus ineligible to be the president. He kicked the rumor in the butt with a press briefing in 2011 that handed out a copy of his birth certificate that said he was born in Hawaii! 

He has, truth been told, enjoyed being celebrated as a son of Africa, though it has complicated his political identity.  But what do the Africans think of him and his contributions to their impoverished continent?

He is now into his second term, but during his first term, he avoided controversy, refusing to give in to his instincts to visit the land of his forebears. He spent a day in Africa far away from Kenya and didn't do much for the continent – or that's how some of the natives feel.

But now he seems interested. Last year saw him hosting a summit meeting in Washington for African leaders and recently batting for a renewal of an African trade preference program when it came before Congress.

Obama's African legacy

Obama is the first president to visit either Kenya or Ethiopia where he will go, after Kenya, while in office, and he is pushing for democracy, security and development. His Power Africa electrification program and his Feed the Future effort are the key initiatives that he is seeking to push during the visit. With this visit he would have made more trips to Africa than any of his predecessors.

“President Obama’s record on Africa will not only match that of his predecessors but, I will predict with confidence, will exceed it,” Susan E. Rice, his national security adviser told the New York Times.

Democracy and its principles will be high on his agenda, or should be, when he meets with President Uhuru Kenyatta, of Kenya, who had been charged with crimes against humanity for instigating ethnic violence until the case was dropped last December and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia, whose party and its allies won 100 percent of the seats in Parliament.

Obama had commenced his Electricity initiative in 2013 but the ground reality has not reflected its stated objectives so far. Ms. Rice however defended the program, saying that the program had been slow to get off the ground but was now “building up strength and capacity,” adding, “This is going to take time.”

Emotionally charged

"Dreams of my father: a story of race and inheritance", a book Obama wrote in 1995 as he was preparing to run for the IIinois senate, recalls his African roots, but its only now, when he returns to the land of his fore fathers, will he likely have to face up to the emotions it stirs. 

“Obviously, Kenya holds a special place for him, and it was central to that first book and, I think, central to his self-exploration,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s former White House senior adviser. “And I think he also knows what he represents there.” 

Obama  met his father only once, when he was 10, but he felt connected through him with Kenya and went there for the first time as a young man in 1987.

Burton, another former aide, said Kenya had shaped Mr. Obama’s identity as an African-American. “It’s obvious if you read his books, if you listen to what he’s said about his own biography, Kenya plays a very big role in how he thinks about the world and how he thinks about his relationship with other Americans,” Mr. Burton said.

Last week, Obama acknowledged that the visit could never be as it was when he first visited as a young man. Obviously he can’t go to his father's village, nor visit his grandfather's last wife Mama Sarah. However, they will be brought to him. That is the price of high office.

“It’s obviously something I’m looking forward to,” he said at a news conference. “I’ll be honest with you, visiting Kenya as a private citizen is probably more meaningful to me than visiting as president, because I can actually get outside of a hotel room or a conference center. And just the logistics of visiting a place are always tough as president. But it’s obviously symbolically important.”

Newkarnataka.com

A Student's quagmire: Delhi University's Four year degree

There is an ongoing face off between the University Grants Commission, a statutory organization responsible for co-ordination, determination and maintenance of standards of education as well of disbursal of funds for universities in the country, on the one hand, and the Delhi University, India’s first among equals university, on the other, on the issue of Delhi University’s recently (Last year) introduced four year honors degree programme.  

While the Delhi University has voted to continue with the programme started last year, the UGC which was silent when it was introduced has woken up and threatened the DU with consequences if it refuses to follow its diktat - revert to the original 3 year degree. Officials said disobeying the UGC direction could spell trouble for Delhi University as it could stand to lose grants and degrees offered by the university could be de-recognized.  This change of heart in the UGC has come about simultaneously with the change of Government or so it seems. 

The UGC has constituted a ten-member standing committee headed by the UGC vice chairman with representatives from the academic and executive councils of DU, Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA), Delhi University Students Union (DUSU), college principals and teachers to advise the varsity on change-over.  This committee would ensure that students, who were admitted in 2013-14, are able to migrate to the three-year programme, without any hassle and acquire necessary academic and other competencies during the next two academic years, it said.


Defying the UGC diktat, the DU's Academic Council  passed a resolution, saying students seeking admission to undergraduate programmes would be admitted in three-year Bachelor's Programme (B.A/B.SC/B.Com) in their Discipline 1 (major subject) and would graduate with the corresponding degree on three years in conformity with NPE ( a major criticism of the programme), a university statement said. The resolution, which was passed with 81 votes in favor and 10 against, further said the fourth year is an optional year for those students who wish to obtain a B.A Honors’/B.SC Honors’/B.Com Honors’ or B.Tech degree. Critics of the programme, however, said the changes were "superficial" as the structure and the programme remained the same and it was all a play of words. 

The faceoff has left the students in the lurch, with the university’s major colleges like St. Stephens, deferring their admission list announcements.

The History and Consequence of the Four year degree Programme:

Delhi University’s ambitious four-year undergraduate programme became a reality last academic year with the Executive Council approving all the courses, examination schemes and amendments to university ordinances that were required to introduce the new structure.  With this change, that went against the 1986 all India higher education policy pattern of 10 + 2+3, the DU had specially tried to “modify the curriculum, mode of instruction and assessment patterns to address the special needs of students with disability. We have already embarked on the process of working out these modalities,” is what the DU Registrar Alka Sharma said last year. 

There were 2 dissents among the 21 members present and voting in the Executive Council meeting which approved the changes last year. This indicated near unanimity. The dissenting members were apparently keen on further discussion on some items on the agenda, however it appears that it was rammed through as the meeting took a mere 3 and half  hours.  This came on the heels of six members of the Academic Council dissenting on a variety of matters - the making of the syllabus, and constitution of syllabus committees.

The major change from the three year programme is this: from July of last year, the undergraduate programme shifted from the universal (within India) three-year degree programme to a four-year one, with no more B.A.s or B.Sc.s’ Instead, multiple degrees were offered within a single stream: Associate Baccalaureate (after 2 years), Baccalaureate (3 years), and Baccalaureate with Honors’ (4 years).  

The other important change that was envisaged: Whatever the previous training or choice of subject, all students are compelled to take 11 foundation courses, which are designed to occupy most of their time in the first two years. These include two courses on “Language, Literature and Creativity” (one in English and the other in Hindi or another Modern Indian Language), “Information Technology,” “Business, Entrepreneurship and Management,” “Governance and Citizenship,” “Psychology, Communication and Life Skills,” “Geographic and Socio-economic Diversity,” “Science and Life,” “History, Culture and Civilization,” “Building Mathematical Ability” and “Environment and Public Health.”. These foundation courses were supposed to be basic information systems, to enable those without a background in any of these subjects to easily understand the subject.

The Degrees awarded too would be changed and follow the international undergraduate pattern – It would provide a baccalaureate degree  at various stages of learning - after two years, students who have done mostly these courses and five others in some disciplines can leave with an “Associate Baccalaureate” degree which would convert drop outs into certified and qualified individuals, with a basic skill to seek  placement in India’s job market, while others went to earn their Degrees and Honors Degrees which would essentially mean they were individuals specialized in a discipline a.k.a a B. Tech or B.E degree. The Question is who would recognize a two year degree, both from the academic or employment point of view?  What kind of jobs would be available? 

The full four-year programme contains 20 courses in a “major” discipline, six courses in a “minor” discipline, five courses in “Application” (which are supposed to be “skill-based courses that enable employability for students,  and six courses devoted to “Cultural Activities.”  The choice is limited to the majors and the minors. The rest is inflexible.

The objectives of the change included prevention of degreeless drop outs and providing depth to the course of study, for those who needed it (Honors Degree).  It also aimed to make graduates employable through the compulsory application of compulsory foundation courses in the first two years as well as some non credit courses during later years.

Criticism:
After one semester, the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) asked the staff associations of various DU colleges to provide feedback regarding the new system. A total of 47 responses came in and it was found that 44 colleges voted against the FYUP. The three institutions supporting FYUP were Kalindi College, Maharaja Agrasen College and Ram Lal Anand College (Morning). 

The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) along with several student organizations such as NSUI and ABVP has been demanding immediate roll back of the FYUP and the VC, Dinesh Singh's resignation. BJP had during the elections promised to scrap the FYUP if it comes to power. 

At its full commission meeting on June 13, significantly, after the new government took over, the UGC had asked Delhi University to review the programme as it felt that it was in violation of the national policy on education which follows the 10-plus 2-plus 3 pattern.  The Delhi University, however, stood by the programme and in a reply to the commission has maintained that it has followed due procedure. The varsity on Sunday said it had revised the programme to make it compliant with the National Policy on Education (NPE). 

Obviously the changeover was done in a hurry and the basics were not addressed or glossed over while the syllabus and methodology were formulated. All stake holders who were opposed to the changeover were ignored or suppressed leading to the current impasse. 

Positives:
It does seem that the objectives of the change over which included, preventing drop outs, and preparing students to serve industry better, are better served by a four year degree, in line with B.Tech degrees and international practices than a three year degree, which offers no in between options and no specialization or in depth knowledge at the end of three years.  It also promises to make students more employable through its pedagogical changes and more adaptable to the changing employment market. Deficiencies like marking systems and the language policy, teacher workloads and competence, will have to be ironed out though. 

A four-year degree programme will also enable students to apply for a master's degree in countries like the US that usually don't accept students with three-year degrees. Other Indian universities are also joining the league and going beyond the National policy of education - the 10+2+3 concept. Bangalore University had replaced its three-year B.Sc. degree with a four-year B.S. programme in 2011. And it plans to extend this change to the rest of the courses in the next academic year. Officials from the university recently visited the DU campus for this purpose. Although the current B.S. programme conducted by Bangalore University has interdisciplinary courses in subjects such as Language, Environment and IT, its evaluation process focuses more on the theoretical aspects, with 80 marks set apart for a theory paper. The Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore also offers a four-year programme in Science, with an emphasis on research in the final year.

Conclusion:
It’s unlikely that the DU will be able to withstand the might of the Government and the UGC, and will have to revert to a three year degree course, maybe in the circumstances, it is for the best, for it will serve to remove uncertainty for the students.  The Four year degree course should however be debated at length and perhaps introduced all over the country from the next academic year as it retains its academic value as an emerging and necessary concept in Indian higher education. 
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