Why are they not ashamed?

An outright fake news regarding the Art Director of Maharashtra state was published in a leading daily like Loksatta and the arrest of the art director was averted. During his career, the Art Director established over two hundred unaided art colleges and shattered the tradition of art education in Maharashtra. Who made all this happen? That’s what Satish Naik, editor of ‘Chinha’, narrates here.

I have no animosity towards Dr Aroon Tikekar. If at all there had been any, it would have been in his mind, not mine. Anyhow such animosity was there in his mind about most of his colleagues at Loksatta. It was a fact that only due to this, Loksatta lost its number one position in terms of circulation. I don’t have the slightest idea whether the same situation continues there or not. Once I turn my back, I forget everything that is left behind. Now you may ask, why do you write all this by remembering it?

The reason for this is that because of that one fake news in Loksatta, not only Directorate of Art but also JJ School of Art, JJ Institute of Applied Art, ShaKaM (Govt College of Art) Aurangabad and Nagpur and about nineteen or twenty art colleges in Maharashtra which are run in a very philanthropic spirit, in the later period, i.e. alternatively the art education tradition of Maharashtra has literally been destroyed. Many good and talented teachers were unnecessarily troubled by this. Many good artist teachers retired from the same position they started as teachers after thirty-five years of service. After working for thirty to thirty five years, they did not get any promotion or even the due respect. On the contrary, they had to work under the same students whom they taught – students who did not have any merit – for 10 to 15 years as their ‘boss’.

Where does this happen? But it has happened and is still happening rampantly in the art colleges under the Directorate of Art. The Directorate of Art and the JJ School of Art were used as guinea pigs by officials of the Higher and Technical Education Department and the Private Secretary to the Minister of Higher and Technical Education. Non qualified candidates without any educational qualification were appointed here indiscriminately. The Public Service Commission also gave full support to the concerned in all this corruption and extraordinary human gems(!) were appointed here, none less charming than the others. Many of them are still in office today. Those who could not even simply write their name and address in their mother tongue Marathi, prided themselves as professors here. Some of them still are.

The mind-blowing stories of all of them were published by ‘Chinha’ continuously. Still being published. Do visit our features or news section of ‘Chinha Art News’. You can read everything. Nangare took office from 1994 to 1999 and Ingale from 1999 to 2004. These are the only two permanent Art Directors that Maharashtra has had in the last three decades. The first of them set up the art directorate to ‘trade’. (I am aware that I am using foul language but from what I have seen up close I will confidently state that I am writing very sparingly. What has happened is far worse.) Ingale’s career has nothing to write about. He simply continued the ploughing of the Directorate of Art which Mr Nangare started. Nangare ploughed only the Directorate of Art but Ingale continued it on both JJ School of Art and Directorate of Art as he was the Dean of JJ. The destruction of these two institutions that was done by these two persons has not been recovered in the last twenty five years and there is no likelihood of it in the next fifty years.

JJ School of Art and Applied Art will definitely be rescued from that death row with the DeNovo status. But the end of the Directorate of Art and the two Government Art Colleges of Nagpur and Aurangabad and about twenty-five to thirty aided and seventy-five to one hundred unaided Art Colleges under their jurisdiction is now inevitable. No one can save them.

Out of the 175 art colleges started by Nangare, only 70 to 75 are functional now. I keep wondering, why should one call these art colleges, which have just 5, 15, 20 or in rare cases 40-45 students in each class? But whom to ask this question? From the year 2004, one in-charge Ratna was appointed by the Maharashtra government to the post of art director. Since 2004, the government has appointed human gems to the post of Art Director. Those who cannot even name five famous artists from Maharashtra or the country. Should we ask them these questions? It is surprising that the Minister of Higher and Technical Education and the officials of the concerned departments do not feel any shame or embarrassment about all this. This was the result of that one fake news of Loksatta. Read what happened after that fake news till date in the next part.

Satish Naik

Editor ‘Chinha Art News’