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NDTV
11 hours ago
- Politics
- NDTV
"Our Lips Were Sealed But...": Ex Tihar Official Recalls 1975 Emergency Days
New Delhi: "Our lips were sealed but our conscience wasn't," said a retired Tihar Jail official, claiming that during the 1975 Emergency, probe agencies covertly deployed officers inside the prison to monitor staff and political detainees. While discipline was maintained, many jail staff were deeply troubled by the detention of familiar faces, including teachers and leaders, HC Verma, who was posted in Tihar Jail in 1975 as an Assistant Superintendent and was 26 years old, recalled that the staff was initially told to expect a group of 'extremist' prisoners. He emphasized that while the jail staff maintained official discipline, many were deeply disturbed by the detention of people they knew personally. Sharing an emotional encounter with his former school teacher Master Somraj, who was among the detainees, Verma, who went on to become the Superintendent of Prisons, recalled, "I instinctively touched his feet when I saw him. He stopped me and warned, 'don't do this in jail -- it could go against you'." Verma said that in the initial days of the Emergency, jail officials were kept in the dark about the identity and numbers of incoming detainees. "We were told that dangerous extremists were being brought in. Only later did we realize that they were prominent national leaders," HC Verma said in an interview with PTI. He said that amid the sudden influx of political detainees, including leaders like Raj Narain, George Fernandes and Maharani Gayatri Devi, the intelligence apparatus moved quickly. "We later got to know that under-cover officers from various probe agencies were deployed inside the prison under various pretexts like PWD workers, electricians and many other different works. Their job was not just to keep tabs on the inmates but also to monitor the conduct of the jail staff," he said. He recalled that even a minor breach of confidentiality was met with swift punishment. "In one such case, a woman warden was immediately suspended and detained for allegedly passing a casual remark about the well-being of a prominent leader to an outsider. What we got to know that she only said that the leader is fine. But within hours, she was suspended and locked in the same ward where earlier she was monitoring the detainees," Verma said. He said that surveillance of multiple probe agencies extended to routine delivery and food checks, ensuring nothing was passed without scrutiny. "Even when a relative brought homemade food for a prisoner on his birthday, it was refused. A junior staffer who tried to help deliver, he was also placed under suspension," he added. On June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi announced the imposition of the Emergency in a broadcast on All India Radio, shortly after the Supreme Court granted a conditional stay to an Allahabad High Court verdict declaring her election to the Lok Sabha as null and void. It was lifted on March 21, 1977. At the peak, Tihar housed around 1,900 detainees, including 350-400 political prisoners under MISA and others under the Defence of India Rules (DIR). "Managing such a mix of hardened criminals and high-profile political detainees was a massive responsibility I was given," Verma said. He further said that during the Emergency the jail authorities categorised political detainees under different prisoner classes to manage the influx of high-profile leaders. Verma said there used to be different categories like -- A and B. The B-class ward was well maintained and got vacated to accommodate the incoming political prisoners. Cellular wards were also cleared for leaders like Nanaji Deshmukh. Verma said efforts were made to ensure prominent detainees were kept in relatively comfortable conditions within the framework of jail rules.
Hindustan Times
28-04-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
CBSE crackdown on institutions allowing dummy candidates a wake up call for Bihar students, parents
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decision that students not enrolled in regular schools would be banned from taking the Class 12 board examination would have a direct impact in Bihar, from where thousands of 'non-attending' students join coaching institutes both within the state and outside and take board exams from pre-identified centres. There have also been instances of students from CBSE schools in large numbers shifting to Bihar government schools or aided institutions after Class 10 board results to avail the non-attending facility and pursue coaching anywhere in the country. The CBSE's decision has come after two rounds of inspections in different schools across the country, including in Bihar and others in Delhi, Kota and various other places where students from the state go, to get a hang of the serious problem posed by the institutions offering non-attending facility in connivance with the coaching institutes. Also read: FMGE June 2025 registration begins, direct link to apply and other details CBSE chairman Rahul Singh said the exercise involved inspection with videography to ascertain if the schools were running in accordance with the affiliation norms and it was part of the regular exercise. A senior official of the CBSE said that the non-attending students detected in its affiliated schools would be asked to take exams through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and strong action would be taken against the erring institutions. Also read: JEE Advanced 2025: IIT Kanpur launches portal to submit registration-related issues, direct link here Last year also, the CBSE had issued a warning to its affiliated schools 'to resist the lure of accepting dummy or non-attending admissions, as it contradicts the core mission of school education, compromising students' foundational growth'. Earlier this month renowned Physics teacher Prof HC Verma, recipient of Padma Shri, during a lecture at the Central University of South Bihar, was also critical of the mushrooming coaching institutes and termed it as a 'threat to classroom culture in schools and colleges'. 'The rat race for shortcut to success has put the youth under intense pressure and it has started affecting their mental health. The emphasis should be more on learning than teaching,' he added. Also read: NEET-UG plan: Transport of question papers under police escort, monitoring of coaching centres However, the problem of dummy students is not confined to CBSE schools only. Bihar board schools, with much higher number and enrollment, also face a similar problem, which last year prompted the department of education to crackdown on coaching institutes running during the school hours in a bid to improve the classroom attendance, but it did not have the desired impact, as the schools were not well equipped. Pathak's successor S Siddharth has also been very particular about improving not just the condition of schools, but also classroom attendance, and has been monitoring things on a daily basis, but there is still a lot of distance to cover to create the right academic ambiance in secondary and higher secondary schools with proper laboratory and other facilities for ensuring regular attendance of students by choice. The 2018 intermediate (science) and National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) topper and many others in the top 10 had exposed 'non-attending' facility offered by Bihar Board affiliated schools to draw students. 'Now, it is difficult in the Bihar government schools to skip attendance due to strict monitoring of both students and teachers. What is required now is to equip schools with proper facilities. Laboratories have just started coming up in some schools and it will take time. If schools are strengthened, it will have a lasting impact and that will require reposing trust in the headmasters and teachers. What is important is to sustain the tempo, as everything changes with the change of guard in the department,' said former MP and Bihar secondary teachers' association president Sharrughan Prasad. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) also runs specialised coaching under separate team of teachers appointed by it for students. 'We have here 83 girls selected for the coaching. They are enrolled with our school, but attend coaching classes for competitive exams,' said Kiran Kumari, principal in-charge of Bankipore Girls' High School in Patna. Similar facility has been extended for boys at Patna Collegiate. Its principal Afzal Shahadat Hussain said that all the students are selected by the BSEB through test and all the students are required to stay in hostel. 'They are enrolled with us. They attend coaching classes for two years till the JEE (Advance), but for practicals they have to join school labs. Their attendance is also regularly done, but their system is separate,' he added. Earlier, intermediate was also in colleges, where monitoring students' attendance was difficult. The Bihar government had in February, 2024 issued a resolution to end intermediate education in all three streams of Arts, Science and Commerce in colleges under different state universities and run it exclusively in higher secondary schools only from the new session starting April 1, 2024. The government had in 2007 taken a policy decision to phase out intermediate education from colleges to conform to the 1986 National Education Policy of 10+2+3 and introduced CBSE format in plus two from 2007-09 session. It was in 2007 itself that Patna University became the first university in the State to delink intermediate from its degree colleges. The process was to be continued for other universities, but it took another 17 years to implement the policy. However, the problem of non-attending students is not confined to Bihar alone. All the coaching hubs spread across the country provide this facility and Bihar students flock there. Even after Plus Two, many students continue to try for competitive exams and prefer taking admission in institutions where attendance is not strict. No wonder, Bihar's premiere Patna University was also found struggling to fill all the seats and had to seek applications second time after the commencement of the new session. 'The coaching institutes enter a tie up with certain schools to let their students take the board exams with all-perfect paper work, including attendance and sent-up results,' said a teacher of a coaching institute, who earlier worked with one such institution offering non-attending facility.
