The value of zero & much less

KR Bharti

ALTHOUGH the great mathematician-astronomer, Aryabhatta had invented zero and its place value in the 6th century AD itself, people dismiss zero as valueless in day-to-day life. I was no exception to this mindset, until one day a student seeking admission to an engineering college lent me a new perspective. 

I was posted as Director, Technical Education, at Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh, at a time when counselling for admission in engineering colleges was going on. The directorate mainly looked after polytechnics and ITIs, but there being no technical university in the state, counselling for engineering colleges had also been entrusted to the directorate of technical education. 

There was no government engineering college at that time, though one was proposed to be opened from the next academic session. We, however, had four private engineering colleges in the state. Admissions to these colleges were required to be made in the order of merit obtained in AIEEE. 

The counselling seemed to be going smoothly till a student barged into my room with a complaint that the counselling committee was admitting students in utter disregard of merit. I disposed of persons sitting with me quickly to spare time and thought for the complaint. 

‘How do you say the merit has been ignored?’ I asked. ‘Sir, I have not been allotted a college of my choice although I obtained higher marks than many others,’ he rued. 

I asked him how many marks he got. He fumbled, but regaining his composure said, ‘Sir, as you know, there is negative marking in the entrance tests and that makes a big dent in the scores.’ Reluctantly, he handed me his result card, which came as a shock. The student had obtained zero marks. ‘You have scored zero and still you are making so much fuss about merit!’ I retorted. 

‘But, Sir, students getting even below zero have been given admission by the counselling committee. Zero is above minus one or minus five,’ he said calmly. 

Immediately, I called the counselling committee to unravel the mystery. ‘Sir, there is no question of overlooking merit when many seats are still vacant in newly set-up colleges. Since there is no cut-off merit fixed for admission, students with even zero or sub-zero marks have been successful in seeking admission. Perhaps this boy appeared late for counselling. We will sort out the matter,’ the committee said.

I asked them why did we not fix cut-off marks for admission. ‘We had pointed it to the committee constituted under the chairmanship of a retired judge to regulate admissions and the fee structure, but many seats remained unfilled and the managements of engineering colleges built pressure on the government not to take any such step. So much so, they have sought permission to enrol even those students who have not undertaken the entrance examination,’ the committee said piquantly.

As the committee members left my room, I slipped deep into my chair, musing over the value of zero and the value of education we were dishing out.