It is customary to complain of the bustle and strenuousness of seemingly hectic life in the India of today.

Why did he change it?

But in truth the chief mark of our epoch is a profound laziness and fatigue; and the fact is that the real laziness is the cause of the apparent bustle.  Take one quite external case; the streets are noisy with taxicabs and motor cars; but this is not due to human activity but to human repose.  There would be less bustle if there were more activity, if people were simply walking about.  Our World would be more silent if it were more strenuous.  And this which is true of the apparent physical bustle is true also of the apparent bustle of the intellect.  Most of the machinery of modern language is labour-saving machinery; and it saves mental labour very much more than it ought. Scientific phrases are used like scientific wheels and piston-rods to make swifter and smoother yet the path of the comfortable.  Long words go rattling by us like long railway trains. We know they are carrying thousands who are too tired or too indolent to walk and think for themselves. It is a good exercise to try for once in a way to express any opinion one holds in words of one syllable. For example if you say “The social utility of the indeterminate and harsh corporal punishment is recognized by all educationists as a part of our educational revolution towards a more humane and scientific view of punishment in the field of education”, you can go on talking like that for hours with hardly a movement of the grey matter inside your skull.  But if you begin “I wish Headmaster Krishnan to go to jail for having beaten up an innocent seven year old student named Kumar in his school,” then you discover, with a thrill of horror, that you are not only obliged but forced to think.  The long words are not the hard words, it is the short words that are hard.  There is much more metaphysical subtlety in the word “Damn” than in the word “Degeneration”.  But these long comfortable words that save modern people the toil of ordinary reasoning have one particular aspect in which they are especially ruinous and confusing.  This difficulty occurs when the same long word is used in different connections to mean quite different things.

These reasonably human, non-pseudo secular, and ‘communal’ thoughts came to my mind when it was brought to my notice that our Union Minister for Human Resource Development, has taken a sudden decision  to change the beautiful logo of Kendriya Vidyalayas in India. The original LOGO, which depicted the rising sun and the lotus, the National Flower of India, was approved sometime in November 1962 (not during the days of Sangh Pariwar but during the days of Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru) and remained in force till the 79th meeting of the Board of Governors of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan(KVS) which was held in New Delhi on the 26th of June 2008.  I have seen the minutes of this meeting..  Under Item No.3 ‘RATIFICATION OF DECISIONS TAKEN BY CHAIRMAN OF KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA SANGATHAN’, in Item H the decision of the Board has been recorded ‘The Board ratified the changed logo as approved by the Chairman, KVS’.  From a reading of the minutes of the KVS Board of Governors meeting, it is not clear where the idea of change in emblem originated and what were the inadequacies of the previous emblem. Nor is the new emblem explained in the minutes.

The decision in regard to changing the established and beautiful logo of KVS and Kendriya Vidyalaya’s was taken by Arjun Singh, the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, at his own level, like an oriental despot.  No enlightened member of the public can see from the minutes of this meeting as to what were the factors which weighed with Arjun Singh to take his solo decision for changing the logo of Kendriya Vidyalayas which had lasted for 46 years.  Nor is it clear as to what were the imperative and compelling public educational reasons or factors which counted with the Board of Governors of KVS when they took their routinely slavish decision to just ratify the ‘mighty’ decision of Arjun Singh.  What kind of national emergency or issue of national survival or such vital national concerns, impelled Arjun Singh to take his peremptory and dictatorial decision to change the Logo of Kendriya Vidyalayas and KVS? Did any noted educationist or any responsible member of the public or any Member of Parliament give any representation in writing to Arjun Singh or his Ministry, giving proper public reasons, against the continuance or continued use of the original logo which lasted from 1962 till 26th of June 2008?

The old logo of Kendriya Vidyalaya	The new Logo of Kendriya Vidyalaya, with their cross and star motifs being prominent

The HRD Ministry is giving a vague explanation for the new logo by saying that it will reflect a “broader reflection of the national ethos and advances in science and technology”.

This new anti-Hindu initiative of Arjun Singh only reminds me of the attempt to Christianize and Evangelize India by minting the Christian Cross on 2 Re and 1 Re. coins of India. Immediately there were massive public protests against the figure of Christian Cross on those coins. At that time also an equally vague  and untenable explanation was given by the Reserve Bank of India  by saying that “the symbol which looked like the Christian Cross were meant to show four heads sharing a common body.” Later like any other routine smuggler slowly removing his contraband opium away from the scene of crime, the Government of India gradually removed these coins showing Christian Cross from circulation. Having failed to initiate the process of evangelization through the coinage front, Sonia directed UPA is using Arjun Singh as its executive arm to open a new front for the same process through Kendriya Vidyalays.

The rising sun and the Lotus have been the leading secret symbols of Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma from the dawn of history.  The removal of these symbols is a direct attack on the Soul of our Nation and Hindu Heritage.  Sanatana Dharma is rooted in the eternal and sacred Vedas.

Murli Manohar Joshi, the former union Human Resource Development Minister, has said “There is nothing scientific or Indian in the emblem that has been newly created. The previous emblem in fact reflected the Indian ethos. They have no idea of the importance of lotus, which was used as a carrier of struggle against the foreign rule and finds place in all architecture also in the Parliament.” Lotus is a symbol of 1857 War of Independence and we always associate the sun with progress, innovation, spiritual endeavour and it is unfortunate that the Government of India is trying to create a sense of alienation in young minds by trying to promote imported concepts. This shows the ignorance and a very degenerated state of mind of the UPA Government. It is a reflection of ignorance of Indian culture and history”

The main opposition Party the BJP has alleged that the Blooming Lotus Flower which was there in the original logo has been removed from the new logo only because lotus happens to be the symbol of the BJP party. On this ground the BJP has described the move of Arjun Singh and his Ministry as “irrational and unwarranted”.

(The writer is a retired IAS officer)
e-mail the writer at
vsundaram@newstodaynet.com