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EQUALITY, FREEDOM & FRATERNITY: INDIAN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION SYSTEM

– A CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Veteran Major P M Ravindran

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN,
SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens: -
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all;
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November 1949, do HEREBY
ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
- The Preamble, Constitution of India

Introduction

Equality, liberty and fraternity- three terms made popular by the French Revolution are now
recognised the world over as the touchstones of a welfare society. They have of necessity
found their place in our Constitution also though only in its preamble. On 2nd September
1953, while making a statement in the Rajya Sabha (Parliament) Dr. Ambedkar gave this
following clarification: “People always keep on saying to me, so you are the maker of the
Constitution. My answer is I was a hack. What I was asked to, I did much against my will. I
am quite prepared to say that I shall be the first person to burn it. It does not suit anybody.”
Earlier, on 19 November 1949, Seth Damodar Swarup had said in the Constituent Assembly
of India itself that 'this Constitution … may be heaven for the lawyers, and may even be the
Magna Carta for the capitalists of India, but so far as the poor and the tens of millions of
toiling, starving and naked masses of India are concerned, there is nothing in it for them.'
Almost 70 years down the road, does anybody need any validation for Seth Damodar
Swarup’s assertion?

Interestingly, the Preamble of the Constitution is considered only as a legitimate aid in the
construction of the provisions of the Constitution. And, rightly so! But those who have been
given the authority to interpret the laws, to be specific, our judges, had introduced
ambiguity even in the interpretation of this simple concept. Two factors have been
introduced: one, that if an enactment is itself clear and unambiguous, no preamble can
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qualify or cut down the enactment*1 and two, the Preamble of an Act, is not recognized as
part of the Act because it is not enacted and adopted by the enacting body in the same
manner as the enacting provisions. The second factor was wrongly applied to hold that the
Preamble of the Constitution was not part of the Constitution by our apex court in the
Berubari Union case in 1960*2. But in 1973, when the constituent history of the Preamble
was brought to the notice of the court in the Kesavananda Bharati case *3 it held that the
preamble to the Constitution was part of the Constitution and the observations to the
contrary in Berubari Union case was not correct!

The Part and the Whole

Equality, liberty and fraternity being the objectives of governance in any and every welfare
society, its analysis in the context of a limited sphere of activity- Indian University Education
System- can be considered as an effort to understand only a part of the whole. And it cannot
be done without at least conceptualizing the whole.

Equality, liberty and fraternity in the Society.

To understand to what extent the concepts of equality, liberty and fraternity have taken
roots in our society let us start from where Seth Damodar Swarup left.

Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative index for measuring the state of
development in a country. It combines factors like life expectancy, literacy, education and
standard of living. India stands at 133rd place amongst 195 countries as per the list
published in 2008 based on data of 2006. In comparison China is at 90th place, Sri Lanka at
104th, Iran at 84th place, Egypt at 116th place and Congo at 130th place. As per 2016 HDR

*1. Powell v Kempton Park Race Course Co and Attorney General V HRH Prince Ernest
Augustus of Hanover ([1899] AC 143 at 153 and [1957] AC 436, 467-68)

*2. Berubari Union and exchange of Enclaves, AIR 1960 SC 845, 856

*3. Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala, (1973) 4 SCC 225; AIR 1973 SC 1461
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(Page 200) India stands at 131 with medium human development. In comparison Vietnam is
at 115, Iraq at 121, Bangladesh at 139 and Pakistan at 147*4.

We are told that we are the third largest economy in the world (behind the US of A and
China). What we were not told is that our per capita GDP (PPP) is only $1709.4 per year
against the world average of $10,150.8. In comparison the U S of A has $ 57,466.8, China has
$ 8,123.2, Vietnam has $2,185.7, Iraq has $4,609.6, Bangladesh has $1,358.8 and Pakistan
has $1,468.2*5. Interestingly, as per a similar report by IMF *6 India does not figure in the list
of first 50 either in the nominal or PPP rankings for 2016 or the projected figures for 2020.
Luxembourg and Qatar are at the top positions on nominal and PPP basis, respectively in
2016. With per capita income of $105,829 Luxembourg is 10.26 times richer than world's
$10,313. But in PPP terms, Luxembourg is only 6.24 times richer than world's $16,329. In
PPP terms, Qatar has GDP per capita of 129,727, 7.94 times higher than world. It is at 6th
position in nominal ranking.

Our infant mortality rate is 55 per 1000 live births. In comparison the rate is 23 for China, 11
for Sri Lanka and 53 in Nepal. The world average is 48.8 per 1000.

Our literacy rate is 65.2% and places us at 159th out of 195 countries. The rate is 93% for
China, 90.8% in Sri Lanka and 71% in Egypt.

As per UNDP list India has 28.5% people below the poverty line. In comparison, China has
4.6%, Egypt has 16.7%, Malaysia has 15.5% and Sri Lanka 25%.

Is there anything in the above figures for us to be proud of?

*4. Human Development Report 2016, United Nations Development Programme

*5. World Bank national accounts data, and OECD National Accounts data files accessed at
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD

*6. International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook (October-2016) accessed at

http://statisticstimes.com/economy/projected-world-gdp-capita-ranking.php
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India became independent in 1947. No doubt the colonizers had looted us thoroughly
before they left and to be sure they did not leave us in any better shape than when they had
come as is touted by some quarters. China became independent in 1950. China had been
devastated by Japanese occupation from 1935 to 1945 and 38 years of civil war between
the Nationalists and the Communists. Yet China is far ahead of us in every sphere. Why is it
so? The answer is simple. China has had more effective governance than what we have had.
The Chinese leaders were more nationalist than ours. Our people in government have rarely
been able to put the interest of the nation above that of self, dynasty or the party. My
interventions using the Right to Information Act have convinced me sufficiently to assert
that all our public servants are idiots or traitors unless proved otherwise!

To quote theirreverent1 *7 ‘We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers
destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press
destroys information, religion destroys morals, our banks destroy our economy, our citizens
live in willful ignorance and reek of cowardice.’

Justice gone missing.

Of all coincidences, this is one coincidence-‘Justice’ missing from the subject here and in real
life too (as I believe and can vouch for)- that caught my attention right from the word go.
Yes, that’s right. Justice, ensuring which is the fundamental duty of any government, is really
missing in our society. While equality, liberty and fraternity go hand in hand, they can do so
if and only if they are founded on the factors that can be identified as social, economic and
political justice. What prevails in our country is only a shadow of political justice in that the
electorate gets to vote periodically for a candidate of their choice, to represent them in the
government. However, after the vote is cast whether any of these representatives really
represent the interests of those who elected them is a big question. If I were to answer that
question honestly, it would be a big NO!

*7. Comment at http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/why-does-the-u-s-

government-treat-military-veterans-like-human-garbage
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Of social and economic justice one would be justified in doubting if they exist at all. Even in
a fully literate and politically conscious state like Kerala where the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) have led the government every alternate 5 years, reports have appeared in the
media of certain sections of the society being treated as untouchables even as late as in the
last six months!

On the economic front, there have been reports that in India more than half of its GDP is
with less than 1 percent of the population!

Aravind Kumar, Jurist and lawyer, rightly wrote*8 that ‘Justice is an intrinsic human need. We
suffer much privation but we cannot suffer being wronged. Absence of justice, we must not
forget, is one of the causes of crime.’

And Renuka Narayanan, journalist, wrote*9 that ‘When we transformed from subjects to
citizens, we forfeited our rights it seems, since what happens in our country now in the
name of law is often rank injustice.’

The National Commission to review the working of the Constitution, a judiciary-headed,

judiciary-heavy body*10, which submitted its report in 2002, has stated that 'Judicial system
has not been able to meet even the modest expectations of the society. Its delays and costs
are frustrating, its processes slow and uncertain. People are pushed to seek recourse to
extra-legal methods for relief. Trial system both on the civil and criminal side has utterly

*8. 'Needed high speed legal redressal'-Aravind Kumar, Jurist and lawyer, Pioneer, Kochi,01
Aug 2006

*9. 'Human rights, the genesis of justice is from religion' under 'Faith Line' by Renuka
Narayanan, The New Indian Express of 20 Dec 2004

*10. A 11 member Commission (including the chairman) of whom 4 (M.N. Venkatachaliah,

the Chairman, B.P. Jeevan Reddy, R.S. Sarkaria and Kottapalli Punnayya) were judges of the
Supreme Court/High Courts, 2 (Soli J. Sorabjee and K. Parasaran) were advocates, 2
(P.A.Sangma and Sumitra G. Kulkarni) were political nominees, 2 (Dr.Subhash C. Kashyap
and Dr. Abid Hussain) were bureaucrats and just one (C.R. Irani) was a representative from
the media! A citizen’s review of the Report is available at
http://raviforjustice.blogspot.in/2011/03/report-of-ncrwc-citizens-review.html
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broken down.' Also, 'Thus we have arrived at a situation in the judicial administration where
courts are deemed to exist for judges and lawyers and not for the public seeking justice'.

The above quote would be incomplete without reproducing here what Dr.Subhash C
Kashyap has written in his Notes to the above Report: 'The Chapter 7 of the Report is titled
'The Judiciary'. This chapter particularly is seriously flawed and distorted. The much needed
Judicial Reform issues have not been even touched or these got deleted in the final draft.'

Thus, ‘the whole’ can be summarized in the following words:

Law makers without any prescribed qualities, qualifications or experience, their men Fridays
(popularly known as bureaucrats, who are required to help them in decision making by
collecting and collating data and maintaining records) without any accountability and a
judiciary which has the scope for the most whimsical decision making being held not only
without accountability and beyond criticism but also protected by a totally illogical and
weird armor called contempt of court, are the essential features of our Constitution, the
Bible for our governance!

The Educational System Muddle

Muddle? It is certainly not an approved manner of approaching the main topic. But then
why should one beat around the bush? Apart from enforcing law and order, health and
education are the only services that the government of a welfare state should have taken
upon itself to deliver directly to the people. But how has it been India? Right from telephone
and gas connections to road, rail and air transportation the government has had its fingers
in every possible commercial activity and, I may add, with disastrous consequences!
There are, or may be there should be, three objectives to higher education: one, fine tuning
the art of learning (by self and as a continuous process), fine tuning social skills and
acquiring competence needed to earn ones living, or in other words, finding a job. And in
the context of the subject being discussed, there is a need to ensure that there is equality of
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opportunity to access higher education, the liberty to choose any subjects of one’s choice
and to interact freely with each other as members of a fraternity.

Education as a Right.

It was only 62 years after independence that this country got its Right to Free and
Compulsory Education Act. The Act, notified in the Gazette of India on 27 Aug 2009,
provides for free and compulsory education for all children in the age group 6 to 14 years.
The National Education Policy is still in embryonic state. While the National Assessment and
Accreditation Council (NAAC) was set up by the UGC in 1994 to accredit universities and
institutions of general higher education as well as to certify for educational quality and the
National Board of Accreditation (NBA) was established by the All India Council of Technical
Education (AICTE) in 1994 to accredit programmes and institutions, themes and questions for
Policy Consultation on Higher Education were released only on 21 Mar 2015*11. But while
we wait for policies let us look at what has been happening on the ground in the past.

Access to Higher Education- the admission process

National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) was made compulsory for admission to MBBS
and BDS courses with effect from academic year 2016. This was a step in the right direction
but due to the last minute promulgation of the orders resulting in opposition from various
quarters it was made mandatory only from the academic year 2017 with the final seal of
approval coming from the apex court. But in Tamil Nadu, a student, S Anitha, who had got
1176 marks out of 1200 in the Plus 12 committed suicide because her dream of becoming a
doctor had been dashed to the ground. Tamil Nadu had been using the marks of Plus 12 as
the only yardstick for MBBS admissions. But in neighbouring Kerala the problems arose from
a different source- the apex court decision empowering private medical college
managements to charge Rs 11 lakhs as fees per year for 85 percent of the seats and Rs 20

*11. Annexure –II, Themes and questions for Policy Consultation on Higher Education,
Consultation Process for New Education Policy, Departments of School Education &
Literacy and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. Can be accessed
at the website of MHRD
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lakhs for the remaining 15 percent seats reserved for NRI students! But that is not the only
issue. There are confusions galore there. But it is nothing new because ever since self
financing colleges were introduced in 2002-2003 by the AK Antony led UDF government
admission time has been harrowing for both the students and their parents. Antony had
permitted such colleges with the promise that two self financing college will be equal to one
government college, implying that 50 percent seats in each college will admit students with
fees as in government colleges. But the managements of such colleges renegaded quoting
apex court orders that there cannot be two different fess structures in the same college as it
would amount to cross subsidy! Soon a Committee was constituted with a retired judge of
the high court heading it, to fix the fees and monitor the admission process. Now there
were four different fees- General merit quota, General non-merit quota, management
quota and NRI quota in the same college and not a murmur of protest has been heard. The
disputes at every admission stage thereafter have been on the distribution of seats and rate
of fees. And here, since we are on the topic of equality, freedom and fraternity in Indian
University Education System there are two questions that need to be addressed- why have
AIIMS and JIPMER been excluded from NEET? And why have similar common entrance
examinations not been introduced for other professional courses?

Quality of higher education- Ranking institutions and disciplines.

After entrance examinations comes the quality of education in our institutions of higher
learning. A 16-member Core Committee, appointed by the Ministry of Human Resource
Development, under the chairmanship of Secretary (HE), evolved the National Institutional
Ranking Framework (NIRF) over a period of one year during 2014-15. And the Department
of Higher Education under MHRD has come out with their rankings for 2017. Prakash
Jawedkar, Minister for HRD has expressed the intention of the government to ‘divide the
universities in three categories - A, B and C -on the basis of various criteria including
their NIRF rankings’*12. NIRF however covers not merely universities but also colleges and

*12. India Rankings 2017, National Institutional Ranking Framework, Department of Higher
Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.
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even discipline wise ranking is provided. Right now getting the ranking is a voluntary process
and hopefully it will be a necessary factor for educational institutions to even survive in the
competitive world of commercialized education.

Cost of higher education-prohibitive.

While standardizing admission criteria and ranking of institutions/disciplines provide a level

playing field as far as having access to education of one’s choice is concerned, the issue of
affordable cost remains to be addressed. In this context the decision of the apex court to
allow private medical colleges to charge Rs 11 lakhs per annum as fees is a blow to the
aspirations of students hailing from amoung more than 90 percent of the population. At the
same time it has been reported in the media that amoung the top 20 rank holders in the All
India Civil Services Examination of 2017 nineteen are engineers and also that engineers
constitute half of all those who cleared the exam*13! While there may be nothing
objectionable in individuals changing tracks but the current figures really question the logic
of selecting the right person for the right. The skill set required for pursuing a profession
like engineering and conducting the business of administration are definitely not
comparable. So the present situation offers a new perspective on our education system and
available job opportunities. One perspective is that for engineers the available job
opportunities in the field of their expertise are less lucrative than being a administrator with
the government. But think of the administration in government and the skill set required for
it and one feels compelled to question the selection process and the compensation offered.
Suffice to say that the babus in government, led by the members of the Indian
Administrative Service, primarily need a skill set- making briefs and answering
comprehension questions that one acquires in the high school- to enable decision makers to
make the right decisions with the least effort. And the cost to the exchequer for such a
mundane job should be definitely enviable to make engineers opt for it ditching their first
love!

*13. 19 of 20 UPSC toppers engineers, constitute half of those who cleared exam: Govt,
India TV, 3rd Aug, 2017.
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Reservations- murdering equality, liberty and fraternity in one stroke.

I have read reports about foreigners mocking India for its Hindu rate of growth and now we
ourselves are acknowledging that we have become a country where everyone is competing
to be backward. Whether politically correct or not there is no gainsaying that reservations
only breed incompetence. In a fast and competitive society it would be fatal to compromise
on competence to perform whatever one is required to perform. Equally true is the fact that
there is a need to provide support to those who had been on the fringes of the society in the
past and need to be brought into the mainstream. And the only way of doing it is by
helping them acquire the competence they need to perform the tasks they would like to
perform. To illustrate, if an adivasi boy or girl wants to become the Collector of his/her
district, train him/her to qualify in the Civil Services Exams on his/her own steam. Reserving
a few posts of District Collector for an incompetent person will be a sure shot way of ruining
not merely the district administration but the whole district!

Campus Politics or breeding ground for criminals for political parties?

Campus politics is sought to be encouraged with the view of grooming the future citizens for
fulfilling their responsibilities in a democratic society. But on ground it can be seen to have
got reduced to a recruiting ground for criminals in political parties. The destruction of public
property can alone suffice to brand the campus politics as an irresponsible and anti social
activity and ban them. Students can b seen going on rampage for reasons like increase in
concessional bus fare, tuition fees and of late even for their right to destroy the country!
How many times has anyone seen or heard students protesting vehemently for regular
updating of syllabus, better libraries and facilities for extracurricular activities, regular
classes and timely conduct of exams and announcement of results?
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Education vs Employment Opportunities.

As per a report*14 13.3 per cent of India’s population in the age group of 15-29 years were
unemployed. Yet, as our unemployment figures continue to rise, almost every industry, be it
manufacturing, technology, hospitality or corporate, is facing a shortage of skilled
workforce. The same report continues: 47 per cent of Indian graduates are not qualified for
any industry job and more than 70 per cent of our engineering graduates are not
employable! According to Aspiring Minds National Employability Report, which is based on a
study of more than 1,50,000 engineering students who graduated in 2015 from over 650
colleges, 80% of the them are unemployable.

Interestingly, Kerala, with it’s higher than national average literacy rate, has an
unemployment rate of 7.4 per cent, which is much higher than the national average of 2.3
per cent. According to Labour Bureau's "Third Annual Employment & Unemployment Survey
2012-13" released on 29 November 2013, unemployment rate amongst illiterate youth is
lower than educated youth.

3 Reasons Employers Say They Don’t Hire Youth. *15

Youth Seem Too Entitled. Employers frequently say that whether they’re high school
dropouts or college graduates, youth today seem too entitled. No matter their station in life,
they think they should have rewarding work, ideal workplaces, fair pay, good benefits, and
substantive advancement opportunities. In return, they don’t want to work as hard, as long,
or as meaninglessly as their parents or grandparents did.

*14. Unemployed or unemployable? By Ketan Kapoor in the Hindu dated 22 Dec 2013 at
http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/careers/unemployed-or-
unemployable/article5486730.ece#!
*15. Why Youth Are Unemployable Posted by Adam at https://adamfletcher.net/why-
youth-are-unemployable/
Adam Fletcher is a speaker on engaging young people in business, education, and
communities. He is also the author of several books, including Ending Discrimination Against
Young People. Learn more about him by visiting adamfletcher.net.
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Youth Are Too Apathetic. With their obsessive amount of piercings, tattoos, and poor
clothing, employers say youth constantly show that they are indifferent to common
workplace expectations for appearance. Reflecting that indifference, youth today don’t
respect the predominant Protestant Work Ethic that has dominated successful businesses
around the world for more than 400 years. Many bosses say that young workers’ apathy
shows in monumental ways when they simply don’t exert the energy needed to get the job
done.

Youth Just Aren’t Ready. Despite all their education and education reform, tutoring, youth
programs, and other entitlements youth enjoy today, employers consistently report that
youth aren’t showing up for work ready to get the jobs done. Instead, they’re under-skilled
and less-than-willing to learn what they need to in order to perform the most menial labor.

Learning to Earning…

In order to create employment opportunities for blue-collar jobs, to begin with, the National
Skill Development Council (NSDC) has planned to target 25 million youth for training in
various skill-based jobs over the next 10 years*14.

While government still needs to work out to remove hurdles to economic activity by not
only merely simplifying regulations but going for smart regulations, the quality of public
education must be enhanced and licence raj should be totally dismantled to enable
entrepreneurs exploit fleeting opportunities that they come by. The increase in wages in
China had opened the door for export-led garment industry and other labour intensive
industries of India to generate millions of jobs. According to a report of World Bank
“Stitches to Riches?” even a 10% growth in garment price of China will create 1.2 million
jobs in the Indian garment industry*16.

*16. Youth want jobs not quota, it will not remove frustration of unemployed people
By Radhika Rathore, 2 May, 2016 at https://www.naukrinama.com/youth-want-jobs-not-
quota-it-will-not-remove-frustration-of-unemployed-people/
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8 Steps to Youth Employability*15

Accept Responsibility. If you actually believe youth are unemployable, you are actually
responsible for that condition, as well as for addressing it. If just 10% of all adults
everywhere accepted responsibility for doing something different, youth unemployment
would become rare around the world. No matter if you are a parent, a teacher, a police
officer, business owner, politician, store manager, or simply a neighbor, you have a role to
play. Read on to learn what that is.

Teach Young People About Mindsets. From birth, teach all young people everywhere to be
willing to learn. Build lessons in how we think into early childhood development programs,
and mandate all educators teach about learning styles and mindsets, and more.

Promote Practical Hopefulness. Many adults have largely given up on young people today,
whether they recognize it or not. Instead of piping false hope across social media and
television, we have to promote practical hopefulness that engenders real action.

Create Partnerships. As they enter their teen years, actively engage every young person in
every community in an equitable partnership with an adult, whether as a mentor, in an
apprenticeship, or otherwise.

Build Connectivity. Throughout their youth, continuously connect and reconnect every
young person throughout their community through active learning, volunteerism, and
otherwise.

Redo Education. Re-envision the core curriculum of schools to focus on practical, applicable
skill-based and knowledge-building learning, rather than large topical swaths that are
seemingly devoid of practical applications to students themselves. Student voice should be
at the center of ALL education.
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Promote In-person Internet. Weave together online identities with in-person identities.
With the ubiquity of the Internet today, its increasingly vital that young people move
seamlessly within their social networks, whether on the Internet or in real time.

Foster Entrepreneurial Lifestyles. Entrepreneurship is about more than work; its about life.
More commonly than ever, society accepts that change is the only constant. Teaching young
people to make the most of that is one of the best ways to make youth employable.

Stop Fighting Change. There’s so much resistance to diversity, to people who aren’t white
or wealthy or male or straight or educated or accessible to the mainstream. We must stop
fighting the impending changes our world inevitably holds for all of us, and instead embrace
them ALL. We can guide and move some change, but at the least, we must simply accept it.

Make Lifelong Learning An Accessible Expectation. There is a lot of value to teaching

oneself and learning what you want to, when you want to. However, in our increasingly
commodified societies we’re making lifelong learning more and more expensive and
inaccessible. We should throw the doors everywhere open for everyone, all the day. Andrew
Carnegie knew the value of this; we should acknowledge that’s more important today than
ever.

Perhaps the most important thing we can do is the first thing on this list: Accept
responsibility, because from that place we can change the world.

Conclusion

Equality, freedom and fraternity are not merely some ideals to be touted by opportunists
when it suits their convenience. They are mindsets to be imbibed from the day one starts
interacting with the society. We are not living in an ideal world and that is why we have set
up a system of governance with well defined tasks and empowered and equipped to fulfill
those tasks. The cost to the citizen for sustaining the government is considerable. The
accountability and transparency required in government functions are practically
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nonexistent. The subversion of the Right to Information Act, the only pro-democracy, citizen
friendly law of the country, could be a case study for how every public servant in this
country continue to treat the citizens as subjects, quite often worse than the way they were
treated even by the colonists! The youth of today, in our educational institutions, have the
onus of retrieving the situation for themselves. Ramdhari Singh Dinkar*17, Hindi poet,
essayist, patriot and academic, had once said that when youth walk, the ground beneath
should tremble. But it would be important for them to also understand that everyone’s
freedom ends where the other man’s nose begins. And also about what Jesus Christ said
about doing unto others what you expect others to do unto you! And lastly, lest one is
totally mistaken for a pacifist, here is our poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore guiding us
through an exhortation: "Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in
facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it. Let
me not look for allies in life's battlefield but to my own strength. Let me not cave in."

(4996 words)

*17. His poem ‘Singhasan Khaali Karo Ke Janata Aaati Hai’ (Vacate the throne, for the
people are coming) was used by Jayaprakash Narayan to inspire the people during his fight
against the Emergency. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramdhari_Singh_Dinkar