Dilemma of a Seminarist

By Patricia Mukhim

A seminar in Guwahati: Mumbo jumbo?

Northeast India was introduced to the seminar culture in the early eighties. At the time, seminars were the preserve of the academia and intellectual circuits. Today, all colleges are expected to hold regular seminars if they are to be accredited grades by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

NAAC is an autonomous body funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to — A, B or C. The NAAC uses seven criteria as their measurement tools. Seminars perhaps fall under the category of research, consultancy and extension. For colleges and universities, seminars are also part of a continuous learning process without which existing views are not critiqued and new ones do not germinate.

Interestingly, seminars have spilt over into other non-academic domains and have now almost a cult following among NGOs, governments and quasi-government institutions.

A quick research reveals that the word “seminar” has its basis in the Latin word for “seed”. It was originally a meeting of scholars for sharing and nurturing the kernel of ideas and then challenging the human intellect to find out better ideas. In a seminar all participants are meant to be on an equal footing.

Everyone’s opinion counts. It is a process of interaction where people learn from one another and where even the most simplistic of views is treated with equal respect as the mumbo-jumbo spouted by so-called scholars.

No one comes to a seminar to simply “listen”, but to engage with the topic under discussion. Hence, it is important to read up the concept note before one agrees to participate in a seminar, rather than be a blank slate where everyone leaves cruel verbal and verbose footprints. As somebody has rightly remarked, the point of a seminar is less to teach and more to share views. In India, we have the ugly habit of inviting some (un)worthy (politician or celebrity) to inaugurate a seminar. This officious ceremony is boring and unnecessary.

It often cuts into the time of the real seminar. Sometimes you wonder why the seminarists even have to listen to people who are themselves the cause of all problems and who after mumbling words of wisdom leave the hall and also the attendees totally flummoxed.

Fact & fiction

There are types and types of seminars. In half a century of existence on this earth one has had occasion to attend all types. Seminars come under various names and guises. Some are so convoluted that you do not even know whether you understand what you are being asked to speak. I have noticed that at such times, the truly learned come up with the most basic points intelligible to all (laypersons, non-academic types) except perhaps to the author of the mind-boggling theme.

Some themes are pretty much like recycled plastic. If you are in the Northeast then the regular topics are peace, conflict, governance, ethnicity, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, influx from Bangladesh and the like.

But there are other themes which are flagged by international donors which also have to be taken up. They include gender, women and land rights, women’s access to natural resources, child labour, trafficking of women and children, culture and self-governance, among others.

The problem with being an NGO is that you have to have a problem to survive in a cut-throat world. If you do not pose a societal problem, you do not get funds. So as far as NGOs are concerned, problems are never meant to be solved. This basically means continued employment for the project staff. Hence, the issue of HIV/AIDS seems to exacerbate after every intervention. Similarly, the number of trafficked women and children appears to grow exponentially every year. The more the theme is beaten to death the more people seem to want to be trafficked.

Recently, a Shillong-based NGO came up with a fantastic figure of 70,000 child labourers working in the coal mines of Jaintia Hills alone. The NGO claimed to have studied working conditions in 900 out of the 5,000 or more mines in the district and since they found four or five children working in each mine, they extrapolated the figures. Now none of us would really have the time to double-check on the facts and figures presented to an international audience which is ready to lap up such problems because they need to spend the money they have within a particular period. That is how NGOs survive their lies and turn fiction into fact so glibly.

Tehelka picked up the child labour story and raised a stink. Meghalaya is now notorious for child labour and trafficking. Obviously, the NGO that brought out the figure will be wooed by child rights activists across the world. Funnily, the Meghalaya government did a similar survey and found only 270 child labourers in the same area. So who is lying here? We will need a heavily funded seminar to arrive at the truth, I guess.

Waste of money

Recently, the government of Manipur organised a seminar on Peace Dividends — The Way Forward. This is the second seminar on the theme this year, maybe with a slight tilt towards governance and development gaps.

The seminar held in Imphal saw some leading Naga intellectuals and peace workers in attendance. To the serious minded, the fact that the Nagas deigned to attend and engage with an issue that has been baffling the two states for a quarter of a century should count for something. But as usual, chief minister Ibobi Singh — who inaugurated the meet — shamelessly encroached into the real seminar time.

Paper presenters were told to quickly condense a 20-minute presentation to 10 minutes. If only it was so easy to encapsulate a 63-year-old problem into a countdown of 10 minutes, then all the problems of the world would have been solved.

But such seminars are probably just talking shops. They only help the organisers get a good annual confidential report (ACR). There is no serious follow-up and no consolidation of ideas for forward and backward linkages.

The next seminar will also predictably start from scratch. The same people who attended the first seminar will reshuffle their ideas and recast a few points and make a presentation to a disinterested audience. I have noticed that few people have any interest in what others do. They are engrossed in their own presentation and consider that the only gem of wisdom.

Hence, seminars are a waste of public money that could be better utilised to make a difference to some lives somewhere. Contrast this to seminars organised by groups abroad (this is not to certify that everything foreign is good, but some things are).

There are no pre-seminar ceremonies. The organisers just outline the theme and the expected objectives. Time is managed to the dot. Following the seminar there are repeated emails to discuss, debate and mull over the issues raised. Countrywise groups are formed to address problems at the country or state level to finally arrive at a point where we can push for policy changes. This is the real purpose of a seminar.

But who cares? After all, as some wit remarked, the NGO and seminar circuit is itself one big racket. Few will disagree with this acerbic, tongue-in-cheek comment.

(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)