Thiruvananthapuram: DGP
Nirmal Chandra Asthana, in his book ‘The Dumbing Down of India’ published last month, has come up with arguments that there is nothing that can be cited as a creation of the country’s intellectual effort.
Asthana, who is currently the vigilance director of the state, has made scathing criticism of country’s premier research and educational organizations like the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the IITs, the manufacturing as well as IT sector, the military and the coveted civil service.
He has said that despite getting 6% of the defence budget (that comes to Rs 14,819 crore in 2017), the DRDO that has 5,000 scientists in 52 laboratories, has failed to return anything significant, except some stuff of low technology. The book cites the indigenous and ambitious projects of the DRDO like the Tejas light combat aircraft, the Kaveri engine being developed for the aircraft and the Arjun tank, to substantiate his point that the DRDO has failed to come up with a fool-proof product despite the years these projects have been going on.
The book claims that the Army’s present demand for a multi-calibre assault rifle is an outrageous one, and an Army that does not know that personal weapons of soldiers play hardly any role in the battlefield can only be pitied.
Finding that the Isro, which still imports its critical components from other countries, the book compares the ambitious research on country’s nuclear-powered submarine with the ‘infinite monkey theorem’.
The book further rips into the IITs and says that these institutions have been a ‘farce’ and the country’s technocrats are nothing but techno-coolies who are just cheap programmers.
He also does not spare his colleagues. “Intellectual contribution of this crème de la crème has been pathetically insignificant and the basic job of civil servants is to lick above and kick below,” the book said. Creative intellect lies in creating laws, he said, claiming that in the 163-years history of civil service, he is the only person who drafted a law the Kerala Police Act 2011.
The book goes on to criticise the media in the end, accusing it for being intellectually bankrupt and adding that it thrives because the people deserve only stuff of low standard.
However, he claims that whatever discussed in the book are his personal opinions, and there is no criticism of policies of the Centre or state government or anything that is intended to harm the relations between the country and other foreign states.
His predecessor in vigilance, DGP Jacob Thomas, is currently under suspension for his book that has criticised government decisions and had remarks about some of the cases that are sub-judice.
