It was always assumed that the higher learning that was initiated by the ignorant powers of this world (including the first chairman of the research systems) would be able to do something. The first lot went for its PhD under the Agricultural Research System-1 (ARP-1).
Analysis indicated that these students were not the stuff on which the academia or the research system could be developed. Thirty-four of them never came back and the rest were found to be indentured labour-doing the work of the professor and having a lousy looking white skinned female labourer as temptation.
That kept the attention of the deprived and depraved Faisalabadi's attention. The simple question was what good would come out of these degrees for they may not have been spurious but these were given out as a means to keep Pakistan in its place. The degrees were a subterfuge and these personnel were on study on loan provided by the WB on the instance of Zia. The money was ploughed back to the US and the loan part went to the poor Pakistani taxpayer and there was no payback. What did we get? Lousy creatures hybridised with the culture of the US and or the West not the wisdom of the East. They were neither here nor there. All of them or most of them were Gold Medallists - guess from where? The town that has given us the greatest number of spurious obsolete agriculturists governed by the caste system and by the hate that follows throughout their careers. Some of them changed their castes.
The kumhar became Rehmani, the churas became something else and the majority of them became shahjis. Some of the witnesses swore that they were genuine in their assertions and that they had themselves seen them change their ethnicity and caste system. Churas are very dear to our hearts for they are probably the best carrion carriers. One of our leading academia built a house (very difficult in those early sixties). Government college students went to congratulate him and then they saw that the neighbours had built their servant quarters in the proximity and overlooking the sitting room. We were aghast, not the professor. He said 'Do not worry about this minor aberration for we are all churas in this country'. The statement holds true even today, in fact we may have deteriorated to a lower level.
The PhD if he is the son of the soil and not of the night soil then must show some skills that places his university in a prime position, if the contrary, then he has been added as a pirate and a plagiarist to the system. The second lot went for PhD under a different scheme for unlike the first one where the caste system connectivity came in to play this was done in a transparent manner up to a point. Thereafter, the same recruited gentleman became the head of the organisation. He came from a more terrible stock and was found guilty of corruption but now that he is horizontal in a graveyard he may now be forgiven for his conduct.
These PhDs were sent in a split programme (partly in Pakistan and theory in the host country) and they were sent to different countries. This was ARP-II another WB loan, another massive disaster. The PhDs coming from Japan and Germany did very well, the two WW-II nations that lost the war and won the peace through disciplined behaviour. Those that were educated there, have achieved considerably and are a credit to their respective institutions. Their discipline was above par.
The HEC built in a local PhD programme and this analysed 29 of these PhDs. The thesis was third rate and the researched item must have been the interventions in agriculture when life was stagnant. Such topics as weed control in rain-fed areas, weed control for productivity etc topics that were on the face of it obsolete. The HEC decided that they will also be sending the first batch of PhD students abroad. That by itself is a scandal and the refused candidates have subsequently worked themselves to the outside universities. The local as well as the PhD degree holders that have been mentioned have to be ashamed of themselves as plagiarism is ripe and the people that are doing it are guilty of gross mistakes; the argument about having PhDs stemmed from the inappropriate conclusion that a critical mass of PhDs was necessary to achieve any development. What these morons did not understand was that there were other factors necessary and essential. But it is easy to create a web across a dictator's mind and not so easy in a parliament. What of ethics? If there is plagiarism in the first instance what will happen when real life difficulties are to be resolved. The ethics of the PhD at least in agriculture is vitiated by other requirements more crucial, false in little things false in big things is a jurisprudence tested principle.
There have been instances of entire thesis written by someone else and this has been happening as the examiners are internal in the localised PhD examination system. Much of the blame for this attitude comes from the parent Faisalabad University of Agriculture where these values are perpetuated by the Vice Chancellors. The cheat process goes on. It has entered the National Agriculture Research University as well. They have learnt fat and well. These locals suffer from acute psychosis. They are the best and they have achieved nothing short of milking this nation actually and metaphorically. Gold medallists abound and not worth a penny. There was once a scientist who had over 50 gold medals and ended up in the local jail. Try and impress someone else with gold medals. The university for which one is born and brought up is not furthered by these agriculture universities where the jobs have been given to people for their connections and their caste systems. They then will go to any extent to do what they want to. Even to the extent that one of them promised to marry a PhD lady working in NARC if she was to write the thesis for him. She did just that. He never fulfilled the promise and she sought justice where none was possible. Now that one looks back there was a way out for her. But that is a lot of water under the bridge for she died heartbroken and while still young. The person continues being what he is a scoundrel of the first order willing to be a licker of many things.
So what does a PhD degree mean and what evidence is available to see what happens when someone does its university proud? Madame Curie wrote about an 18-year-old and it is the shortest recommendation letter ever written for it said to the Heidelberg University 'Any university that admits this lad will do its university proud'. That youngster was Einstein. The PhD is a developed extraordinary mind and does look at problems differently. It lives in truth and not in intrigue. It resolves issues by developing new patterns of thinking. The solutions are unique and the ability too communicate is immense. If a thesis writer has never written after the PhD degree was awarded then be rest assured that the person is not genuine PhD but an imposter. There is another kind of imposter. That is the one that seeks the work of others and adds their own name onto it. There have been ministers in agriculture that did just that and there have been research chiefs that did just that. The mind of the PhD is stretched like a chewing gum. It stretches and it has no limits or if there are any finite limits it is capable of stretching itself. It is great to be a par excellence PhD and it is the biggest curse to have degree because it allows you Rs 5,000 per month. The University of Life does not forgive the easy virtues of a person. Very few fill the bill. So do not suffer PhD fools. Do not suffer any kind of fools for that matter. By being contemptuous of the real situation we have come to this pass. We are the creators of this and we are the sufferers of this kind of working. Work the micro-picture and then the macro-picture will emerge. But there are many routes to decency. Ever heard of 'Zaat di Korkilli tey shaterian no jhappe'. It cannot be translated. Maybe a Punjabi can decipher. The country requires humans that are humane.
Why waste financial resources? Now that a PhD degree is entitled to Rs 5,000 per month, the degree is sold to anyone that can give a certain amount. The HEC is supposed to consider what is happening in these universities. Money is not what is required as an incentive. Maslow must have been a fool to have given his motivational theories. The Pakistani mind is a rogue mind, false in small and big things. About time, someone gave these PhDs a lesson in ethics and how not to have selfish interests above unselfish ones. The scandal is about to burst. Cricketers never learnt their lesson. Ability is always subservient to ethics and decency. In the life of science one cannot live and live by one's wife and her relatives or by any connections. The existence in science and economic well-being is dependent on the intangibles of life. Once these intangibles are missing, then imagination and innovation is also missing. Scratch these PhDs and you will see a malaise deeper than what is on the surface. Pakistanis will have to do better or face the consequences that are certainly to follow.