The Hindu Business Line : There Is Always An Alternative

India's academics should overcome the `There Is No Alternative' psyche and realise that problems, however complex, can be subdivided into binary choices. This, they well know, is what all digital computation is about but appear reluctant to use to solve the problem of quotas, says P. V. INDIRESAN.

No one is willing to think of an alternative to the technique of reservation, certainly not policy-makers, not even academics in the IITs. Regrettably, nobody is selling the idea.

There is a story of a worried youngster, a very worried youngster. On enquiry, he said he had heard rumours that conscription will be introduced, and youngsters like him will be called up to serve in the army. He said that poses two problems: The rumour may be true or it may not be true. If it is not true, I have no problem. If it is true, I have two problems: I may be called up, or I may not be. If I am not called up, I have no problem. If I am called up, I have two problems: I may be sent to the battlefront, or I may not be.

If I am not sent to the battlefront, I have no problem. If I am sent to the battle front, I have two problems: I may come under enemy fire or I may not. If I do not come under enemy fire, I have no problem. If I do come under enemy fire, I have two problems: I may be wounded or I may not be wounded. If I am not wounded, I have no problem. If I am wounded, I have two problems: The wound may be fatal or it may not be. If it is not fatal, I have no problem. If it is, I have two problems: There may be a priest to perform last rites, or they may not be. If there is a priest, I have no problem.

If there is no priest, I have two problems. I could go to hell, or I may not. If I am not sent to hell, I have no problem. If I am sent to hell, I have this worry: Will life in hell be worse than driving on the roads of Chennai or Bangalore or Mumbai?

The moral of the story is that all problems, however complex, can be subdivided into binary choices. That is what all digital computation is about; it is very powerful and very accurate.

Consider the options

There is a Polish proverb that complements this idea: No matter how hopeless the situation may appear, there are always two options. Likewise, however certain one may be, there is always an alternative.

A good manager should be humble enough to be conscious of that fact, and whoever he or she may be, should consider seriously whether there is any alternative. It would be a good idea for managers to have a plaque on the wall in front of them with the legend, "Have I considered the alternative?"

The fact that decisions are best made in the binary mode does not mean that they thereby become straightforward. It is a common error to think that, where there are two alternatives, one of them is right and the other is wrong.

That fact was forcefully brought to my attention recently when I gave a talk in IIM Bangalore where some participants insisted that their chosen alternative is right and the other wrong. In this imperfect world, such clear-cut distinctions do not exist. Each option has some probability of being right; the remaining probability is that of being wrong.

That one day we will be dead is one of the rare instances of having a probability of one; almost always, we cannot have that degree of certainty.

It is surprising how often, and how many people, do not appreciate this fact; they will assert, all arguments to the contradictory, that they are right, everybody else is wrong.

Education debate

My talk in Bangalore was about the current debate on combining equity with excellence in higher education. That raises the issue whether higher education should be elite or democratic; elite in the sense of being the best, and democratic in the sense that the education would be manageable by everyone. If the decision is that higher education should be democratic, then there is no problem. There are thousands of colleges in India that provide that kind of education where virtually every one can join and get a degree. On the other hand, if the decision is to have elite education, we have two problems.

Should institutions offering elite education admit only the elite or should admissions be democratic in the sense anyone can join? If only elite candidates are admitted, there is no problem. On the other hand, if anyone may be admitted, we are faced with the problem of integrating the highly competent with the not at all competent. There are large number of persons, very vocal too, that this is not a problem at all, and that with sincere effort anyone can be taught to achieve any order of excellence.

Defying logic

This assertion that is popular with politicians and activists defies logic. When it is pointed out that short persons cannot play basketball well, they counter that many short persons play better than tall ones. That is true. Yet, when we talk of elite effort, at championship levels, it is impossible for a short person to compete. In high jump that is even more obvious. Yet, as I saw in Bangalore, there are persons who will not accept the obvious fact that not everyone can be a State-level cricketer, let alone play in Tests. They refuse to accept that, just as it is in physical attributes, mental attributes are highly variable.

There are a powerful group of educators who insist that even if mental abilities are variable, everyone should be clubbed together; there should be no separation of the highly able from the ordinary. In fact, as the situations stands today, that is the law of the land: In the IITs and the IIMs, exceptionally talented students must be, by law, clubbed with less than able ones. Accepting this as the given situation, we have two alternatives: One, keep the evaluation of students rigid; non-elite students will then fail. Two, have separate soft courses for the less able. In fact, that is how American universities such as Harvard have resolved problems arising from Affirmative Action. The option of having rigid tests cannot be sustained politically. Hence, IITs will have to offer both hard and soft options — a B. Tech. degree for those who brave international quality programmes, and a B.E. degree for those who cannot.

Alternative to quota

Getting back to the idea that for each and every process there is an alternative, no one is willing to think of an alternative to the technique of reservation, certainly not policy-makers, not even academics in the IITs. Regrettably, nobody is selling the idea. Optimisation under constraint is a basic exercise in engineering. Many IIT professors are adept at it but, evidently, they are not thinking of applying their theoretical knowledge to the very practical problem of reservations in admissions to elite institutions.

Let me state the problem: How can IITs admit students from certain set of castes without applying the quality parameters and yet maintain international standards of education? Reservation is the solution to get Backward Caste students into the IITs, but it is not the solution to sustaining high standards under the constraint that Backward Caste students should constitute at least half the class.

TINA — There Is No Alternative — rules our psyche; it has been applied to the reservation policy too. Let me repeat the Polish proverb: However hopeless it may appear, There Is Always An Alternative — TIAAA not TINA.

(To be continued)

(The author is a former Director of IIT Madras. Response may be sent to: indiresan@gmail.com)

(This is 190th in the Vision 2020 series. The previous article was published on December 11.)

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