Vol. 77 No 3
JUNE 2013
Rs. 20/month
THE RADICAL HUMANIST (Since April 1949)
Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)
519
Founder Editor: M. N. Roy
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VETERAN RADICAL HUMANIST SHRI MAMAN CHAND PASSES AWAY
on 30th April, 2013
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MAMAN CHAND AGRAWAL Obituaries Indian Renaissance Institute is deeply grieved to learn the sad demise of Shri Maman Chand who breathed his last at New Delhi on 30th April, 2013. Shri Maman Chand was a close associate of great revolutionary and philosopher M.N. Roy. After release of M.N. Roy in 1936 from six year' imprisonment in British India, Maman Chand ji was one of the first group of Indian freedom fighters who had joined Roy to work for the realization of their dream to achieve a truly democratic State founded on the principles of equality, fraternity and freedom. Shri Maman Chand was a devoted Radical Humanist and was one of the founder members of the renowned weekly Independent India which was launched by Roy in 1937 and which continues till day in the name of The Radical Humanist. He was also one of the founder members of the Indian Renaissance Institute (IRI) which was established in 1946. Indian Renaissance Institute has lost an ardent humanist who contributed a lot for its development. We, on behalf of the Indian Renaissance Institute and the radical humanist fraternity, convey our heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family. —B.D. Sharma, President, IRI —N.D. Pancholi, Secretary, IRI An Active radical, Mr. Maman Chand Agrawal passed away at his Alipur Road residence in Delhi at the age of 92 on the morning of 30th April, 2013. Although not a leader of the Radical group, he was very close to leaders like Justice Tarkunde and Prof. Sibnarayan Ray. After completing his school education in his village in Haryana, he joined Sri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi; in those days Sri Ram College was situated in a private building in Daryaganj. Maman Chand lost his father when he was a child. After that his maternal uncle took care of him. After graduating
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he joined Calcutta University to complete his M.Com and LLB. There he came to know Prof. Sibnarayan Ray who was studying English literature and was a whole timer of the Radical Democratic Party. Maman and Sib became close friends. In Calcutta Maman Chand was persuaded by M.N. Roy to become editor of the Urdu daily of the Radical Democratic Party. In later years Prof. Sibnarayan Ray’s wife fell ill and was hospitalized. He did not have money to pay the hospital bill. So he wrote to Maman Chand for help. Maman Chand without hesitation sent him Rs.20, 000/-. I know about it because Sibnaryan Ray wrote to me about Maman’s generosity. Justice Tarkunde who appeared for him to argue his legal cases in Supreme Court once asked me to tell Maman Chand that he (Tarkunde) would not charge from him any legal fee because he was a Radical Humanist but he would be happy to receive donation from him for the Radical Humanist or the Indian Renaissance Institute. Maman Chand responded generously. Maman’s demise is a personal loss to me. After I suffered the attack of cerebral thrombosis, Maman called me every morning. Even after I shifted to Thane in Mumbai, Maman would telephone me every morning. The morning phone call remained unbroken for ten years. When I was Managing Editor of The Radical Humanist I requested him to release one page advertisement for R.H. and he did it with unbroken regularity for several years. Maman Chand was very helpful to many R.H. and PUCL activists like Mahipal Singh in Delhi. Maman remained close to Sib Ray and encouraged him to complete his scholarly books on M.N. Roy. He will be remembered by all his friends and well wishers for his excellent qualities of helpfulness and generosity. —R.M. Pal, Contributory Editor The Radical Humanist
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www.theradicalhumanist.com
The Radical Humanist Vol. 77 Number 3 JUNE 2013
Contents
Monthly journal of the Indian Renaissance Institute
1. From the Editor’s Desk: M.N. Roy Memorial Lecture Announcement —Rekha Saraswat 3 2. Guests’ Section: Socio-Political Crisis in Contemporary Society: A Humanist Approach —Anjali Chakraborty 4 The Mind And Momentum —Uday Dandavate 9 3. Current Affairs’ Section: China Adamant on Border; Quiet Changeover; An Opportunity Lost; Naxalism versus Corruption —Kuldip Nayar 10 Quality of Mercy: Death Penalty and Human Rights —Rajindar Sachar 16 Unequal Distribution of Demographic Dividend; Corporate Cultivation ‘a la Cooperative Farming —K.S. Chalam 19 22 4. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: Arms Response To Political Issues: A Threat To Secular Democratic Forces In India —Vidya Bhushan Rawat 23 5. Teacher’s & Research Scholar’s Section: Rereading ‘The Historical Role of Islam’ —Bhaskar Sur 27 6. Book Review Section: Indian Youth at the Crossroads —Vibhuti Patel 33
Devoted to the development of the Renaissance Movement; and for promotion of human rights, scientific-temper, rational thinking and a humanist view of life. Founder Editor: M.N. Roy Editor: Dr. Rekha Saraswat Contributory Editors: Prof. A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Dr. R.M. Pal, Professor Rama Kundu Publisher: Mr. N.D. Pancholi Printer: Mr. N.D. Pancholi Send articles to: Dr. Rekha Saraswat, C-8, Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India, Ph. 91-121-2620690, 09719333011 E-mail articles at: rheditor@gmail.com Send Subscription / Donation Cheques in favour of The Radical Humanist to: Mr. Narottam Vyas (Advocate), Chamber Number 111 (Near Post Office), Supreme Court of India, New Delhi, 110001, India n.vyas@snr.net.in Ph. 91-11-22712434, 91-11-23782836, 09811944600
Please Note: Authors will bear sole accountability for corroborating the facts that they give in their write-ups. Neither IRI / the Publisher nor the Editor of this journal will be responsible for testing the validity and authenticity of statements & information cited by the authors. Also, sometimes some articles published in this journal may carry opinions not similar to the Radical Humanist philosophy; but they would be entertained here if the need is felt to debate and discuss upon them. 2
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From The Editor's Desk: ANNUAL M.N. ROY MEMORIAL LECTURE – 2013
Venue: Constitution Club; Date: 27th July 2013 (Saturday)
Guest Speaker: Dr. Floris van den Berg Topic: “TOWARDS AN EXPANDING MORAL CIRCLE” Dr. Floris has sent the following introduction to his Lecture: “A fundamental moral question is: Who belongs to our moral club and why? Humanists agree that humans are equal and that all humans should have equal rights, including those whose rights tend to be suppressed in many regions of the world: women, children, homosexuals, ethnic minorities, apostates and free thinkers. In choosing to take the ability to feel pain and pleasure as a moral criterion, not only all humans, but many animals as well fall into our moral circle. In this lecture I will argue that sentience (the capacity to feel pain and pleasure) could be the guiding principle for a just society in which not only all humans, but also animals and future generations are in ‘the moral club’. If we strive for a world with less suffering and more happiness, then there is a lot of work to be done. One way is to rethink our ways of living and see if we can make adjustments to make the world a better place.” [Dr. Floris van den Berg teaching Philosophy at Utrecht University in the Netherlands specializes in Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Development. He is Vice-Chairman of the Dutch Free Thought Association ‘De Vrije Gedachte’ and Executive Director of the secular humanist organization Center for Inquiry Low Countries. He publishes articles on human rights, education, animal ethics and environmental philosophy. His book Philosophy for a Better World published by Prometheus Books was recently released on 4th June 2013. ] PLEASE NOTE: 1) Rooms are being booked at Gandhi Peace Foundation for delegate and guests coming from outside Delhi from 26th to 30th July 2013. Kindly send your consent to me as well as to Mr. N.D. Pancholi (Secretary, IRI) at azadpancholi@yahoo.com and me at rheditor@gmail.com as soon as possible so that we may confirm the number of beds in GPF. 2) Please get your travel tickets booked now itself to have a comfortable and safe journey to and fro Delhi from your respective home towns. Without all of you the program will not be successful. So do come and participate in full strength. With best wishes from the Team of Organizers: · Adv. B.D. Sharma, President, IRI; · Adv. Pancholi, Secretary, IRI; · Adv. Narottam Vyas, Treasurer, IRI; · Dr. Rekha Saraswat, Life Trustee, IRI, & Editor, The Radical Humanist
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thus we have everything for a civilized life in our dynamic constitution. But we know that we have nothing in time of crisis of our life. Our social and political life is endangered by some crisis. This is the voice of the common people of India today. Why is this happening? We top the nation with corruption, violation of Human rights, crimes against women, trafficking of children and women, highest number of educated unemployment. Many of our hopes and aspirations during sixty five years are evaporated. We have our elite groups in the field of economy, politics that are expected to come forward to uplift the conditions of rest of the Indians, but it is not fulfilled; many of them are involved in scandal and corruption misusing their socio-economic and political power in a framework of democratic government. We the citizens are destined to be under bad governance, to suffer in spite of the national resources. We are in the state of crisis in social relationship, political fortune and moral stability. We are citizens of India free from colonial exploitation but till today, the largest number of Indians is deprived of equality and justice. Simple problems are made complex due to some vested interests. Issues are created out of nothing. Nothing comes out into light from darkness. People are puzzled and confused; they drift away from truth of life. Many people do not know the meaning of ‘liberty, equality, fraternity and justice’. Above all, democratic values- the sole property of human society which was earned by a lot of struggles in the history of the world, are not found assured in faith. Those values in the constitution of independent India bears the history of sacrifice of valuable life of the indigenous people of the country. We were fortunate to have some great persons of the world who had immensely contributed for the liberation of India. We have established a National Government with the expectation that it will enable the people to control the economic life and to establish democratic freedom. We have chosen consciously parliamentary democracy among the established alternative constitutions of the world along with the socialistic principles. We pronounced our country as Democratic Socialist State, though lately. In the
Guests' Section:
—From Tripura
[The following Research Paper was contributed by Dr. Anjali Chakraborty, Prof. Pol.Sc., Agartala, Tripura, for the M.N. Roy 125th Birth Anniversary International Seminar organised on 16 & 17th March 2013 by Indian Renaissance Institute at India International Centre, New Delhi]
Socio-Political Crisis in Contemporary Society: A Humanist Approach ‘We the people of India’ have Introduction: made our Constitution to rule the country. We the people are identified with the nationality of India. We have built our nation possessing natural resources, culture and heritage and people with wisdom. We have intellectual property in various fields of fundamental science, social science, Art &literature. Our numerical strength is high that can be transformed in human resource and we can be master of vast manpower. We have a Secular state with Parliamentary form of government, with a socialistic pattern of society, mixed economy, welfare state policy, and foreign policy of nonalignment. We have stepped to 21st century with the dream of excellence in Science & Technology, empowerment of women, de-politicization of education, removal of corruption from all social, political, economic and moral spheres of life. We have had grand call for the Youth since the 19th century to come forward for building a New Bharat-our motherland. We the people have most essential rights including compulsory education of children, right to information for a life of dignity and
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period of decay of classical capitalism, we took no risk but promoted a mixed economy controlled by the state machinery to a large extent. Consequently, a dependent economic and political culture has developed among us. This was not a healthy sign for individual liberty. Under the domination of Government or party rule, individuality was denied .We refused the alternative suggestion of ‘Peoples Government’ which reflects the right of direct democracy and sovereignty of man (M.N. Roy: 1944). Present scenario: After sixty five years of a federal state ruled by the congress and other major political parties of India, real democratic environment is far faced to all. People are suffering from Identity crisis for ethnic cause, for border disputes etc. Party- politics with aggressive political culture has produced distrust in human relationships; man is differentially empowered by political colour; political identity determines the fate of the people to a great extent; human values have no meaning and significance. The crisis in social behavior occurs from double standard morality maintained by the ruling party and other social and political units. Disregard for elementary honesty has become a practice of political life. Political leadership irrespective of sophistication is intolerant to opposition. Academic literacy is increasing but political education of voters does not look hopeful. Very few voters examine programmes of all parties and cast votes intelligently. They do not realize how far these will affect to improve the condition of people. Very few people want to see whether the promises are attempted to the execution level or not. Panchayat system of government is instrumental to decentralization of state power and people are expected to act on their own but in practice, their response is merely mechanical because of party bossing. Man or woman, whether culprit or victim often cannot approach to justice without political backing. The government officials are either rewarded or punished according to their party affinity. Question is why this happens. Is there any discrepancy in the Indian polity from the beginning?
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People in associations, trade union agitate for their rights, attend political rally and meetings holding finger of party and ultimately depending on party direction. Government is run by one party or more than one, but system remains the same. People are treated as immature kids who are to be to be governed by a few elites. Applied Popular sovereignty during the election is never used properly because of many reasons; one of those is the rule of ‘dala-tantra’—the party whip. Panchayats do not turn out as the education centers for people. Adult suffrage does not match with illiteracy and inertia of the people. Man or woman as voter is found politically illiterate because the existing system wants them so. He/she has no role to play but only to follow someone, some party. The youth, the students of college and university are just like the followers of group or party command with understanding of some gains from this. They do not want to read, think or act independently. They like to respond by the instinct of what is called today ‘we’ and ‘they’. They are not carefully educated to be good citizen but carefully converted as ‘party- agent’ by keeping the carrot before them. In the midst of opportunities conferred by the state, only a handful people in our cotemporary India have learnt to live beyond group-ism. Most people experienced that party-ism is the best means to gain something which they usually do not deserve. Thus the people have become ‘party-man’ instead of becoming a social being and show their first and last obligation to the party, not to their fellow beings, not to their country. Patriotism is now a historical word to the present mass and their leaders who prefer to use it for political gain. Our choice of National Government helped us neither to be a national nor international. Cooperation in society -the fundamental bond of human life has become subject of conditions or bargain. All these make people to dip in frustration, to think that they are living in an age of value crisis i.e. degenerated morality, disregard to ideals. So we have to ask ourselves ‘Why this frustration and what is the nature of crisis of our time’? The word crisis thus comes to us often in our daily life now. Has it sprouted recently? Or was it exposed
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from long time back like almost a century? The nation may have some problems but those are not regarded crisis as such. Then, what makes us to think that we fell in crisis? Who can be blamed for it? Is it the governments, or political leaders or ‘we the people’ ourselves? Govt. is ours, leaders are ours. Therefore, we have to ask ourselves—how much are we responsible as individual, as community, as class, as party or group. We are to find out where does the seed of crisis lay, and how is it contaminating Are we sure we can get over all these? Our observation: Crisis of contemporary time is rooted in party- politics. Party, a collective entity is organized for power to fulfill certain political purposes and on that basis it can establish ‘partycracy’, ‘dala-tantra’, sometimes with the help of state machinery. In a country where illiteracy and poverty prevail till this century, politics has turned up as power game. Party rule therefore has not proved itself to be friendly institution for this secular democratic republic state of India. Fight among the parties, between parties and within the party itself is to occupy the state machinery and to establish dominance through muscle power. Who is the beneficiary of this power-gain? The rational persons in the party do not always agree with party’s decision, but they are helpless because of party-ism and self-interest involved with this. Party-politics helps to vitiate the capacity of correct thinking what is potential in human being but to be earned in consistent culture of rationality. Persons in collective entity cannot take unbiased, logical or rational approach to judge the events surrounding them. The biased source of information makes people biased to form opinion. People have lack of interest for persuasion of investigation and verification. They like to believe without any exercise of intelligence. Party-ism is such a strong tonic for this. Nobody can think other way. The right of individual freedom is not questioned till very self interest is at stake. The controlled source of information and interpretation from the single source helps to win blind-obligation from people to the party and its prevarication. As a result, political party suffers from the resources like honesty, capability in worth,
leadership to serve country, to guide members for truth, beauty and welfare. Party Members are busy with constant rivalry with other parties to occupy power. No party acknowledges the merit of the opposition party and does not like to learn and do more from the opponent. Negative criticism irritates each other and makes distance or misunderstanding. As a result, when people refuse one party, they deny the merits belonged to that party. Party politics gives no healthy atmosphere for development of society. In consequence, moral vacuum is created in party rule. But these are all secondary factors responsible for creating crisis. As long as it exists in the mind of the people that party- politics is the only way to democracy, there will be no way of getting over the crisis. Hence, M.N. Roy, an advanced man of human race, had dismissed the party concept. He dismiss the Radical party founded by him because party –politics cannot liberate man who is a truth seeker. Party concept is so much deep rooted in our mind that we have to fight with this right now. We have to go across ‘two psychosis’ i) nationalist psychosis, ii) communist psychosis which stood in the way of accepting new idea or thinking (Roy: New Orientation, 1947) Crisis as a subject is not new in our history. We have seen it in the history of 19th century of India when the priests of renaissance took modernization effort through the meaningful movements. The interest of the colonial power had opposed to this. Crisis was resulted out of these two opponent forces, namely interest of the rulers and the ruled. As a result of the crisis, modernization process could not become complete in India unlike the European countries. Crisis is a product of the period in transition. The post World Wars’ situation witnessed the crisis as a product of conflict between the impact of colonial rule and the practice of liberal politics, economy and philosophy. The post world war situation created a vacuum in the belief and value system of socio-economic life. The impact has carried on the independent India. Crisis exists between two contradictory values: the values based on agricultural economy - the river and greenery based culture, and the values of technology 6
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based civilization, industrial economy and that culture of life. The humanists of India like Rabindranath Tagore and others articulated their apprehension of the misuse of the power of science in the hands of power of politics. Tagore was worried about the crisis caused in extreme nationalism which provokes racial hatred, and makes the base of Fascism. Tagore as well as Gandhi warned about the crisis caused from technology based civilization inviting world wars of the giant national states. M.N. Roy observed that the thinking people in the post War situation, started to re-examine their philosophical moorings and views on social and political problems; they understood that the problems were not as academic as they were critical like crisis indeed. It was one of the recurring stages of history, Roy noted, when man has to look back to his past in order to find out the mistakes leading to such frustration and helplessness. The crisis of that time was the reason of the failure of existing political philosophies including Marxian socialism and communism. So long the socio-political theories have concentrated on the collective man, on their govt. administration and party system but there is a missing link of individual manhuman species-characteristics. These theories were Powercentric instead of Man-centric. Denial of man is the root cause of failure of the existing theories.In the recent history of twentieth century, some educationist and historian, Dr. Nihar Ranjan Roy reminded us the sunny day of educational institutions before Independence. The role of great personalities as teachers and students in higher education during 1920-1940’s did not exist in the decades of 1970-1980s. Gradually, the situation determined the nature of crisis in India. University and colleges are the centers to foster human values in the mind of the younger generation, to develop their abstract or imaginative thinking power and orientation of knowledge. But the institutions being isolated from society cannot survive. It has to compromise with the situation. Gradually, regimented environment in educational institutions has made withdrawal of freedom of speech. The culture of frank discussion or exchange of views is a myth today. In our present
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time, crisis that hampers the social life of an individual may be called social crisis e.g. economic recession, wars among the nations, terrorism etc. Record unemployment, huge inequality may cause social life collapse e.g. Spain. Similarly, crisis that hampers the peaceful administration of the government and all political functions of the state may be called political crisis e.g. disturbance in legislative and executive functions, instability of government, party-faction etc. Ideological distinction, at present, does not deserve to be mentioned for the occupation of power. Removal of poverty, providing the quantity of facilities by the government, scope of employment and development of society are the main issues of politics. The youth voters of India are interested mainly in developmental politics. They hate corruption for power, corruption for money. But they do not know the way to make a corruption free society. They seek a savior- an idol to come across the crisis hindering development. Crisis in 21st century: Before the eve of 2k millennium, our national goal is set towards modernization of this vast land of Bharat, the qualitative change of society in excellence. But the objective condition is not yet ready for this. Rather the uncontrolled and negative uses of technology have caused the crisis in the progress of civilization. How to respond to the Crisis? There are two great choices for us - either to close our intelligencewindow in the party system and indirect democracy, or to open it beyond party system and direct democracy. In this 21st century, we have wealth of knowledge. The availability and scope of practice of the knowledge is very important. We the humanists assembled here can prepare ourselves to get over this. Therefore, there is need of this type of seminars frequently, particularly by the organization like the Indian Renaissance Institute which is the witness of Indian society and politics since its inception in the pre-independence day. This Institute has some advantage for its foundation background by a political philosopher like M.N. Roy who in his long journey from Swadeshi Movement to international Communist Movement presented a new philosophy
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of Man and State based on the latest discovery of modern physics and its unique philosophical interpretation. In his discovery of Radical Humanism/ New Humanism, man is discovered as the maker of history of mankind. Man precedes the mankind. The history of human being is the history of freedom of man; individual is neither a fiction nor his freedom. What man wants? Man wants security of life and property, man wants freedom and cooperation in society. Man in rational characteristics can not want slavery of economic, political or spiritual. It is man who is to discover real security and freedom through faith in himself. The teleological theory of religious revivalism and Marxian theory of economic determinism hinders to this faith in him and freedom of individual. When history is made by the operation of productive forces, man has little to do in it. The Marxian socialistic society as ‘composed of voluntary slaves can never be free except in imagination or propaganda’. Once the contradiction between theory and practice helped to spread of Marxism but this theory, as M.N. Roy noted, has aggravated the crisis of our time. As a ‘scientific’ and ‘materialistic’ theory, Marxism discredited the materialism as antagonistic to moral behavior and ethical values. It recalled Machiavelli’s theory which advocated for politics divorced from moral values- religious values at that time. The behavioral scientists of 20th century in Chicago University propagated for value free politics. But within short time, the post behavioral movement corrected the previous one. They have to recognize that politics as a branch of social science cannot stand without human values/ the moral values. Morality is the cementing force of society. The principle of ‘Means justifies the end’ is a universal law for human society. Both means and end are
important to build the society for human beings. Remarks: Political and economic reconstruction of the country depends on this radical change of intellectual, cultural and spiritual atmosphere of the country. The values of Renaissance persisted in the mind of the people is a direction to this end. We will get over the contemporary crisis crossing the old humanism to new humanism as it conforms to the science and philosophy of 21st century. If we fail to plan, we will plan to fail. The main crisis we are suffering existed in his time and he by his brilliance, noted his experience and observation which is increasingly relevant today to guide our thought and plan of actions. Three kinds of crisis (N.R. Roy: 1977) engulfed the educational institutions as observed by the educationists: 1stly, unmanageable number of students in colleges & university. It was the natural outcome of our welfare state policy and democratic system, outcome of the age of awareness of education rights; 2ndly, syllabus and curriculum did not have conformity with the need of the day—no useable value in the practical life. So it created the demand for technical and professional education instead of theory, philosophy where value is not visible; 3rdly, crisis emerged from the social background of mass students—the first generation learners came to take a certificate of Degree by any means for job to develop the standard of living; they did not come for learning of higher literature, mathematics, philosophy, for research or higher thinking and not for any culture of values. Theses pupils coming from university and colleges are not capable of fulfilling the basic purpose of education—the manifestation of self. …they joined in various fields of works and carried with them this inability and incompletion.
Dear Friends, Please email your articles at: rheditor@gmail.com. Send them by post (if you are not able to email them) at: C-8 Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India. Please try to keep them within the limit of 1500-2000 words. You should also inform me whether they have been published elsewhere. Do email or post your passport size photographs as separate attachments (in JPG format) along with your brief introductions, if you are contributing in the RH for the first time. Please feel free to contact me at 91-9719333011 for any other querry. —Rekha S.
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From San Francisco, U.S.A.
Uday Dandavate
[Uday Dandavate studies people, cultures and trends worldwide and uses the understanding gained from such studies to inspire people centered innovation strategies. He heads up a design research consulting firm called SonicRim in U.S.A. He frequently writes and speaks on topics related to people centered design and innovation in international journals and conferences.]
The Mind And Momentum this article I will discuss concepts in Inphysics to explain the parallels between a mind in action and an object in motion. Moving a static object requires the impetus of an external force. Likewise an idle Mind requires the force of curiosity, aspirations, ideas, or an attraction in the environment to trigger action. Newton’s 1st Law revealed that a mass in motion will stay in motion unless acted on by another force. The reason it requires a force to keep an object in motion on Earth is because there are dissipative forces like air resistance, gravity and friction already working on most objects. Just as the pull of gravity and other causes of friction slow down an object in motion an active mind seeking new information or fresh perspectives faces resistance from the forces of status quo or winds of preconceived notion that work against the direction of the action.
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Another concept from physics is relevant to understanding the parallels between an active mind and a moving object. Momentum is defined as a property of a moving body that is equal to the product of the body’s mass and velocity; broadly a property of a moving body that determines the length of time required to bring it to rest when under the action of a constant force or moment. Some people describe momentum as strength gained by motion. I propose that “wisdom” is to an active mind what “momentum” is to a moving object. Kinetic energy is the energy of an object in motion. Kinetic energy is gained during acceleration and the object maintains the kinetic energy unless the speed changes and kinetic energy is lost when the object enters a state of rest again. Any object when it is travelling or moving has kinetic energy. Kinetic energy can also be transferred from one object to another through collision, such as in the case of billiards, where the cue ball transfers kinetic energy from itself to another ball. We learn and innovate and act regardless of the forces of status quo when our mind is experiencing kinetic energy. On the other hand, potential energy is the energy that an object has when it is at rest due to the position of the body. Potential energy is said to exist whenever an object, which has a given mass has a position within a force field. It is force of an object that is still and not moving. Potential energy is also known as restoring energy of an object such as spring or gravitational force. Energy is converted into potential energy, when a moving object stops. I equate wisdom with kinetic energy and knowledge with potential energy. Those of us involved in helping individuals and organizations cultivate capacity for continuous learning, as a key competency for survival, growth and innovation would benefit from the parallels between a moving object and an actively learning mind.
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Current Affairs Section:
China Adamant on Border you forgotten the punishment we gave “Have you in 1962 after you had violated our
From New Delhi—
borders?” This is what a retired top army general asked me at Beijing nearly a decade ago. I recalled his warning when India was shaken in the midst of China’s inroads into our territory. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese premier Li Keqiang, on visit to Delhi this week, have discussed the subject at length. But the victory by Beijing has not let it feel differently and it continues to ride a high horse. China argues that normalcy can prevail if the border issue is sealed. This means it continues to occupy our territory it has usurped. Our Prime Minister is correct in maintaining that “no peace and tranquility is possible” without the settlement at the border. I do not know whether people on both the sides are really familiar with the border dispute between India and China. When the 1962 war ended with our defeat, China unilaterally ceased fire and then indicated the ceasefire line as the possible border. But the line, despite India wanting the delineation of a firm one, was not acceptable to China. It changed its mind and declared the actual line of control as the border. China advanced its troops on its own. This line violated the traditional border both in the Ladakh and in the northeast on the Arunachal side. Even these borders were not sacrosanct for Beijing. The Colombo powers intervened after the 1962 war to ask both India and China to withdraw their forces by 26.5 meters behind the lines where they stood. India withdrew accordingly. But China did not. Even the lines its forces have occupied at present are haphazard and favour it all the way. Beijing’s intrusion (our PM prefers to call it an incident to keep tension down) at Daulat Beg Oldi sector in Ladakh is in the area which it has not allowed to be demarcated. In fact, it has treated the entire disputed area under its overall control without negotiating with New Delhi or even indicating specifically which area belongs to it. Nor has China offered any explanation for staying in India’s territory
Kuldip Nayar [Kuldip Nayar is a veteran Indian journalist, syndicated columnist, human right activist and author, noted for his long career as a left-wing political commentator. He was in Indian Foreign Service a diplomat and also nominated as a Member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament in 1997. He is also a human right activist and a peace activist. He was a member of India's delegation to the United Nations in 1996. He was appointed High Commissioner to Great Britain in 1990 and nominated to the upper house of Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha in August 1997. He writes columns and op-eds for over 80 newspapers in 14 languages including The Daily Star, The Sunday Guardian, The News (Pakistan), Express Tribune (Pakistan), Dawn (Pakistan). Every year since 2000, Nayar has been leading peace activists to light candles on the Independence days of Pakistan and India (14/15 August) at the Attari-Wagah India-Pakistan border near Amritsar. He has been working to free Indian prisoners in Pakistan and Pakistani prisoners in India, who have completed their sentences, but have not been set free. He has also authored 15 books, including “Beyond the Lines”, “Distant Neighbours: A Tale of the Subcontinent”, “India after Nehru”, “Wall at Wagah, India-Pakistan Relationship”, “The Judgement”, “The Martyr”, “Scoop” and “India House” kuldipnayar09@gmail.com.]
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(Despang) for 23 days and pitching tents inside India. Beijing wants to tell the world that it owes no explanation to anyone for going into its “own territory.” China has made it clear that it is not in favour of having a firm border because an un-demarcated border gives it leeway to lay claim even on Arunachal Pradesh. For example, no information is forthcoming why a separate visa is issued to people from Arunachal Pradesh and J and K. The real issue with China is Tibet. Beijing may not say so but it links the border issue with the future of the Tibetans who have taken shelter in India in thousands under the leadership of the Dalai Lama. Beijing did raise the issue at the India and China conclaves but kept quiet when it was told that the Dalai Lama was a religious leader, nothing more. Whatever be Beijing’s wishes, New Delhi is in no position to reopen the Tibet issue. Buddhism is one of the religions which the Hindus profess. It should not be expected that for the goodwill with China, India can dare play with the sensitivities of Hindus who are 80 per cent. Even otherwise, the two countries, India and China, are giants and any clash between them is bound to have stirrings in South Asia and the rest of the world. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, after the 1962 hostilities, warned the world leaders through a personal letter to each one of them that the two nations represented different traditions and conflicting ideologies. India is a democratic country while China a dictatorship. South Asian countries would be interested to know which of the two emerges successful. From economics point of view, China has beaten India. But political problems have been solved through dictatorship in China. Can that be the lasting solution when India, compared to China, has kept the society open and given an opportunity for a free play of different points of view and different ideologies? Only time will tell. Yet one thing that is clear is that India will have to accelerate the economic growth which is now 4.6 per cent as compared to a little over 9 per cent three years ago. And there is an axis between China and Pakistan. There is the allegation that China is trying to surround 11
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India by having close relations with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Even if a war is ruled out, the pressure on India’s security forces will be immense. India need not treat the border as an obsession. China has seen to it that New Delhi does so. This is its weakness. India should talk to China about the Tibetans who are a millstone around China’s neck. Even otherwise, the word Tibet is a bugbear for Beijing. It is too late in the day to question its authority. It is under China because of its suzerainty over Tibet. But there is a difference between suzerainty and independence. However, the issue of Tibetans’ human rights is a point which India can take up. It is strange that none in the world has taken notice of dozens of Tibetans who have burnt themselves in the name of freedom and liberation. India’s determination to increase the bilateral trade with China is welcome. But economic cooperation is not synonymous with people-to-people cooperation which does not exist. If the problem is solvable in the lifetime of the Dalai Lama, he is willing to accept autonomy of Tibet inside China. The youth is not in favour of the Dalai Lama’s formula but cannot oppose him because he represents Tibet as long as he lives. The enunciation that both sides would not attack each other is like what the late Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai told Prime Minister Nehru. Beijing never kept its word. There is no assurance that it would do so in the future.
Quiet Changeover of Sajjan Kumar, a Congress Theleaderacquittal from Delhi, was bound to create a furor because he has come to symbolize the anti-Sikh riots in 1984. Even though 29 years have lapsed since the killings, the anger has not lessened because the demand by the Sikhs to punish the guilty has not been met. Some way would have to be found to alley their hurt. When the black and the white were at the point of clash in South Africa, a commission for law and reconciliation was appointed. The purpose was to
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have the truth out without pursuing the cases endlessly. Some such way in India may not meet the demands of the Sikhs, but may bring the real purpose of rioting out. A conciliation committee should not be after punishment but to find out the reasons for the crime. True, the Sikhs will not be satisfied with the mere commission but without conciliation the truth may escape us. In the meanwhile, Karnataka goes to the polls. There is no electoral wave sweeping through state, either in favour of the ruling BJP or the Congress. Nor is there any pollster willing to bet his last penny on the mood swings of the electorate. There is disconnection between people and the political process, suggesting that the anti-incumbency factor has been fast catching up with the BJP, allowing the Congress more than a foothold—and say—in the state. Yet irrespective of the outcome, the Karnataka results could well be the yardstick the two main parties would use to assess the atmosphere in the country with the talks of mid-term polls looming large. Even otherwise, they will put on red alert the Congress and the BJP before the four states—Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi—go to election later this year and that of the Lok Sabha, due in 2014. In fact, the timing of the assembly election in the southern state is such that it will even keep the voters in the rest of the country guessing. They would be too keen to know what the state electorate does, divided as it is between Lingayats and Vokkalligas. It seems even the caste factor will come to play a crucial role in most assembly seats in the state, as seen in the past, with the minority votes becoming the clincher. And, as in every poll, money will play a crucial role in Karnataka. There will be no doubting about the link between the assets of a candidate and the victory. The last assembly election in the state saw as many as nine candidates winning their seat on sheer money power. One candidate has declared Rs. 690 crore as his assets. There may not be any difference this time. Even a cursory look at the candidates’ list in Karnataka tells the story of how more and more rich people are being roped in by the parties to contest elections. From liquor lobby to mining barons to real estate owners, 12
all have been distributed tickets by both the parties. At least 10 of those candidates, belonging to both the Congress and the BJP, have more than Rs. 100-crore worth of assets. This only strengthens my belief that in spite of the Election Commission’s efforts money factor has been steadily rising. We have seen this trend for more than a decade now and I will be surprised if more such businessmen not join the ranks in the future. The Muslim electorate will still count. Understandably, all top political party leaders have hit the campaign trail. The Congress had their star campaigners in Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while the BJP paraded leaders like party president Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and L.K. Advani to garner votes for their respective parties. The BJP has fully unleashed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on the scene. His chauvinistically Hindu speeches are polarizing the state and sending such messages to the rest of the country. The anti-BJP sentiment is a problem the ruling party will find difficult to contend with. Even otherwise, the party’s reputation was clouded by corruption and criminal cases during its entire tenure of rule, besides the internal bickering which led to former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa quitting the BJP and forming the Karnataka Janatha Paksa (KJP). The wily politician may not win many seats but can certainly make a dent to the chances of the BJP. Similarly, another former minister H.D. Kumaraswamy who has been out of power for the past five years has his strong support base in the Hassan district, dominated by the Vokalligas. He is capable of making deep inroads into both the Congress and BJP vote banks. Kumaraswamy has played a sharp card by accommodating those political “migrants” who were denied tickets by other parties. Yet, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the clout of Kumaraswamy are restricted to the old Mysore region. What is shocking is that I have not seen any worthwhile issue being raised by any political party, major or minor. Instead what we hear is the dole packages, including cheap rice, laptops to students and farm loan waivers. This has become a fashion of sorts before every assembly election to woo the
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voters. But to get a simple majority of 113 in the 224-seat assembly will be a dream come true for both the Congress and the BJP. They may have to bank on the bits and pieces parties like the Reddy brothers’ BSR Congress and the fledgling Loksatta as well as those “rebel” independent winners to form the government. Kumaraswamy could emerge as the kingmaker. By a quirk of fate the Congress, with its nose ahead at this stage, may well be the one to occupy the Vidhan Soudha. And if the Congress does manage to form the government, it would be an achievement of sorts because Karnataka has almost always gone against the national political currents, voting to power such parties that were not ruling at the centre. This was the pattern followed by the electorate in the state since the emergency in 1975. We are, perhaps, in for a surprise to see the reversal of that trend.
An opportunity lost it or not, the Supreme Court gave the Believe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) an opportunity to be independent in one of the matters before it, asking the agency why it was not independent. Yet the CBI failed to grab the chance with both hands. It had a foolproof case against Law Minister Ashwani Kumar when he amended the report on the coal blocks allotment scandal. The government’s blatant interference resulted in a “corrected draft,” exactly the way the Law Minister wanted the report to be. The Supreme Court said that the CBI had “shaken the system” and it expected the agency to give its independent verdict on the probe. But it did not because the agency realized that it would have meant opposing the government. Apparently, it was the failure of both the CBI and the government. They could have seen to it that the agency would have its own say. Now that it has lost the chance to be viable, the way out for the government is to make the CBI independent. The present bill pending before Parliament falls short of giving the CBI independent character. It looks that
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both major political parties, the Congress and the BJP, do not want the agency to have teeth. I do not know how far other parties want the agency to be independent. In any case, the CBI has lost the opportunity to become viable. Corruption still gets most attention in Indian politics. The present government at the centre beats all records in scandals. Never before did the CBI have so many eyes riveted on it and what comes out again and again is the inadequacy of its powers. The reason, simply put, is that the CBI realizes the extent of independence it can exercise in the present set up. The law minister’s argument that he has not committed any wrong by vetting the report as his ministry has been the authorized legal adviser of the agency sounds hollow. However, every time a scam tumbles out of the government’s cupboard, there is a familiar exercise that follows. The CBI is asked to conduct a probe. But when the agency remains a department of the government and part of the system, doubts about its functioning cannot be brushed aside. Several former director of the CBI have written articles and books to show how they were given instructions from above to decide a case in a particular way. In the entire scenario, it is difficult to say whether or not Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been briefed. Because of his clean record in public life, we come to infer that he did not know. It is probable, if not possible, that such a situation did obtain and that Manmohan Singh knew what was happening under his nose. But then you expect some heads to roll when the scams come to light and particularly when you can spot out the officials in the loop. Why has no one been punished till today and why has nothing concrete emerged after practically every investigation? This doesn’t surprise me at all. The party has confronted with several such situations before and had weathered them all without much ado or damage to its existence. Yet what the Ashwani Kumar and, of late, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, episodes have brought to the fore is that even before one controversy dies down, there is another one waiting to catch the administration on the wrong foot. No government since independence has been as badly
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battered and shattered as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s has been. But there is a certain pattern to the CBI-law minister controversy. As was to be expected, the Congress first dismissed the accusation and then issued a perfunctory explanation before finally admitting that the law minister did go through the report and suggest some changes to it. But for the three-judge bench, which ordered CBI director Ranjit Sinha to file an affidavit, the actual behind-the-scene activities would not have come to light, although we know the agency always functioned under the influence of the government of the day. Hence, the confession by the CBI director before the Supreme Court that “the investigation agency does not exist in isolation” is no revelation. However, Sinha’s admission has let the cat out of the bag. We knew that institutions like the CBI have been devalued over a period of time. And it is the government which has its last word on a charge-sheet because of political power. Even with the Supreme Court breathing down its neck, there have been several instances where the CBI’s investigations have remained questionable. In fact, political parties have their own views and positions on ways and means to improve the efficiency and accountability of the CBI. But no government has been ever willing to give up its administrative controversy over the agency. Take the case of the BJP, the main opposition party. It did create a ruckus in parliament over the issue, demanding the resignation of Ashwani Kumar. So did the other parties with their leaders baying for his blood. But we have not seen anybody making concrete proposals to insulate the CBI from government interference. In a way, it is good that the apex court is seized of the entire matter and is determined to liberate the agency from the clutches of the government. But it remains to be seen what structure it would recommend to give the CBI full freedom. Unfortunately, the government does not seem to be even sorry for what has happened to revive faith in governance. Some ministers try to explain things “in proper perspective.” Yet what the Manmohan Singh government does not realise is the yawning trust 14
deficit: none of its claims is accepted, none of its explanation is considered credible and none of its action is taken seriously. It is thus the loss of faith which has put a question mark against every segment of the administration.
Naxalism versus corruption liberal friends tell me to understand the MyNaxalites, not to condemn them. I wish I could follow their advice. But how do I reconcile the difference between the Nexalites, who killed this week some 25 Congress leaders at Chhattisgarh, and the two Nigerians who beheaded a British soldier a few days ago at London in public. For me, both are terrorists, fundamentalists, the first from the left and the other from the right. And does the ideology mean anything when the brutalities of one are no different than those of the other? Probably, it happens when ideologies lose their content and purpose. The followers do not know the way as happened at Chhattisgarh, the Nexalite Bastar belt. But what right do they have to call themselves pro people, the protector of the oppressed when they kill the innocent in the same way as any criminal does. What I have not understood, after following the Nexalites’ activities for several decades, is the point they are trying to make. True, they do not have faith in democracy, although they cry hoarse in its name. But when they kill at will, they convey the mentality of dictatorship and do not in any way help the egalitarian thesis they expound. Their massacres and acts of oppression suggest only terrorism. A set of committed people have come together and want to dictate the nation’s fate according to their belief. They do not care for the people’s wishes and have taken upon themselves the task of leading the nation using the gun. The ballot box has no meaning in their life. Whether some families at Chhattisgarh were dictatorial in their dealings or whether tribals were killed by the non tribals are important considerations to reach the conclusion that they contributed to the
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deterioration of the atmosphere. But the point at issue is to find a solution to the wrongs committed. Violence cannot find it. A democratic way is far better and more lasting. It is strange that some people still believe in the archaic philosophy of violence. The world is moving towards conciliation and is trying to rule out the use of weapons altogether. The Naxalites, whatever their commitments to a welfare state, have first to win people to their point of view. They cannot shoot their way through the opposition. The defence which they have offered for their carnage does not in any way mitigate their crime. The Nexalites will continue to proliferate when disparities are blatant and the state oppression unrelenting. But violence cannot act as magic wand. It aggravates the problem as has taken place over the years. The menace has to be eliminated. All political parties and the right thinking people have to come together to end violence as a method to rectify the wrongs. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rightly said that Naxalism is a challenge to democratic way, India’s ethos. Violence will weaken faith in democracy and the rule of law. The Chhattisgarh incident has renewed the debate on the futility of violence. The subject is so important that the nation, absorbed in scandals and scams, has diverted its attention and has started talking about Naxalism apart from corruption. The sacking of two chief ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal (Railways) and Ashwani Kumar (Law) has eclipsed other things and brought integrity to the fore. Congress President, Sonia Gandhi wanted a concrete, convincing action. After winning the state election in Karnataka, where the Bellary mines scandal became an issue, she has adopted honesty as the plank for the Congress in future. She does not want to do anything which would lessen the image of being an honest party. Rahul Gandhi too has announced that the Congress will not put such candidates who are tainted in any manner. It is comical that the two central ministers wanted to resign when they heard about their dismissal. But
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Sonia Gandhi wanted the message to spread that the party would not compromise on corruption and would even go to the extent of sacking its ministers. And she did. Both ministers were reportedly close to the Prime Minister who is said to have assured them that he would let them quit if the alternative was dismissal. Apparently, the Prime Minister who is known for his personal integrity, failed to prevail upon Sonia Gandhi. She was right in her thinking that the dismissals gave a sterner message than the resignations would have. And there is no doubt that it is having a chilling effect on the party. There is the realization that whatever have been the acts of omission or commission in the past, the party has generally turned a new leaf and would not tolerate any more of the scams which have been tumbling out of government’s cupboard at regular intervals. In fact, many Congressmen, who are out of office, are now putting pressure on Sonia Gandhi to “clean up” the stables in the states. In such a scenario, some allegations are bound to be exaggerated but on the whole the development is healthy. The problem she faces is whether she can open the Pandora’s Box and keep the fallout within limits so as not to allow further smearing on the face of the Congress. That the matter ultimately rests with the Congress high command (the same is the case with other political parties) has a reassuring effect. Personal animosity will not count. Yet the fact remains that it is ultimately Sonia Gandhi, the all powerful, will decide. This may not turn out to be a bad idea. She has kept away herself from the government’s scandals. However the morale of Congress leaders may be low; they may not have the kind of self-confidence which they had before the dismissals of Pawan and Ashwani Kumar. A proposal whispered around is that some type of standing committee should be constituted so that Sonia Gandhi is armed with all the information available to her, and could embark upon a fight against corruption.
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Rajindar Sachar
[Justice Rajindar Sachar is Retd. Chief Justice of High Court of Delhi, New Delhi. He is UN Special Rapportuer on Housing, Ex. Member, U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and Ex-President, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) India.]
Quality of Mercy: Death Penalty and Human Rights of death penalty is once again Thethemorality subject of public discourse in the aftermath of the latest Supreme Court judgment that has rejected Devender Pal Singh Bhullar’s plea for mercy. I am against the death penalty as such for anybody. But politicians like Parkash Singh Badal, M. Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalithaa only invoke mercy to suit their political exigencies. Badal is obviously under pressure from the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee and extremist elements in the Akali Dal. If not, why doesn’t he also ask for mercy for all prisoners on death row? If Badal is sincere and his plea to the Centre is not a political ploy, why does he not amend the penal code and abolish death penalty in Punjab by invoking Article 254(2) of the Constitution? If he can do so, there will be no more hangings in Punjab, including that of Bhullar. The same course of action can be followed in Tamil Nadu where Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi almost compulsively opposed to each other are asking for mercy for the same set of accused. Legislative initiative alone will reflect the genuine concern of Punjab and Tamil Nadu legislators against hangings. Bhullar’s plea was first rejected in 2005. But the file was sent to President Abdul Kalam, who sent it back 16
to the Home ministry seeking certain clarifications. The file got stuck in the ministry till P Chidambram took over as Home Minister and re-sent it to the President in 2011. However, this long gap did not result in presidential mercy. The Supreme Court has affirmed the President’s decision though many are of the opinion that because of some of the earlier judgments and the number of cases which may be affected by this order, the matter would have been better clarified had it been heard by a Constitution Bench. The court has accepted the argument that prolonged delay in carrying out the execution may be one of the grounds for commutation of death sentence to life imprisonment. However, it has ruled that the same argument cannot be invoked for offences under TADA or similar statutes. These persons “do not show any respect for human lives, the terrorists do not think even for a second about parents, and dear ones of the victims … the families of those killed suffer the agony for their entire life”. The court has rightly condemned the acts of terrorists, which must evoke universal anger and condemnation. The court has made observations against the human rights activists by ignoring the self-imposed rule of restraint wisely imposed by courts on themselves in “not making any remarks or observations with regard to those who are not before them”. The Bench cautioned that “sweeping generalizations defeat their own purpose. Many others join the bandwagon to espouse the cause of terrorists involved in gruesome killing and mass murder of innocent civilians and raise the bogey of human rights.” The judgment unfortunately seems to have ignored the concern expressed by defenders of human rights and possibly did not have the relevant material before it. With respect, it repeated the usual refrain about those who advocate the abolition of capital punishment by observing that they are doing it under “the bogey of human rights.” With respect once again, these observations ignored the fact that established human rights entities such as the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) have unequivocally condemned the killing and taking of hostages by terrorists, whether in Jammu & Kashmir or by the Army under the Armed Forces Special
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Powers Act or in the North-east or for that matter the Maoists. At the same time, it emphasized the culpability of State agencies. Every activist feels the pain and anguish of the family, friends of victims of the terrorists, and will agree that terrorists are the worst specimens of humanity. But then the State, which is the ultimate repository of the law, cannot deviate from the path of civilized and humane conduct. Certain principles of humanism and legality even in the case of the worst excesses by terrorists have to be dealt with under the law. It may be relevant to note that in the USA, which is also the target of terrorists, there is no move to restore the death penalty in those states where it has been abolished. The judgment also ignored the previous decisions of the Supreme Court which had expressed its anguish against violation of human rights even while upholding TADA “It is heart-rending to note that day in and day out we come across news of blood-curdling incidents of police brutality and atrocities alleged to have been committed in utter disregard and in all breaches of humanitarian law and universal human rights as well as in total negation of the constitutional guarantees and human decency.” Similarly, the court iterated its concern even when upholding POTA “The protection and promotion of human rights under the rule of law is essential in the prevention of terrorism. If human rights are violated in the process of combating terrorism, it will be self-defeating. The lack of hope for justice provides breeding grounds for terrorism. In all cases, the fight against terrorism must be respectful to the human rights. Our Constitution laid down clear limitations on State actions within the context of the fight against terrorism.” It needs to be emphasised that when activists oppose the death penalty, it is the larger principles of human rights, which must be applicable to all cases. In support of the human rights activists’ plea against death penalty, it would be useful to recall the observations of some of the greatest leaders of our country. Mahatma Gandhi had said: “I cannot in all conscience agree to anyone being sent to the gallows, God alone can take life because he alone gives it”. Dr
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Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, had said, “I think that having regard to this fact, the proper thing for this country to do is to abolish the death sentence altogether”. And in the words of Jayaprakash Narayan, “death sentence is no remedy for such crimes.” Instead of inflicting the death penalty, let all killers be sentenced to imprisonment for their entire life and even without parole. Many discerning persons would consider such a life term to be more severe than even death penalty.
Politics in the Tragedy of Death great men sickened by the way the Many contemporary society behaves have been exasperated to give vent to their harshest feelings, Author Samuel Johnson remarked “Patriotism is the last refuge of a Scoundrel”. I had thought that Johnson was unfair to over whelming number of ordinary citizens who were in true sense patriots. I was willing to concede that if he had used the word “Politics” instead, I might have gone along with him, especially when I read what V Lenin said “There are no morals in politics there is only expediency. A scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel”. Colloquially scoundrel conjures up a ruffian type of a person, but scoundrel is defined in Oxford dictionary to mean an “a dishonest or immoral person” which could apply at any level of hierarchy in the society. The crises however arises for us in India (and especially for the older generation) who have lived with Gandhiji teaching “that politics without morality is a sin”. The ugly manifest of this thinking is the way how Sarabjits death in Pakistan has been so cynically used by politicians ignoring completely the damage that has been done to future Indo Pakistan relations. The undoubted facts are Sarabjit, who according to his family while inebriated strayed into Pakistan Borden in 1991 was however arrested in Pakistan as being Indian spy. He was tried by courts in Pakistan and Supreme Court rejected his appeal. He was sentenced to death, but before it could be executed relations between India and Pakistan eased somewhat, and efforts were being made to persuade Pakistan authorities to commute his sentence with the welcome
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especially the indefatigable effort made by Pakistani lawyer Awais Sheikh and Pak human Rights activists. And then this sudden tragedy happened – his being beaten by co-prisoners resulting in his death. It was natural to expect that this would cause anger and disappointment in India and lead to some protests. But vested interest or small time politicians thought that it was a fertile moment to spread anti Pakistan hatred. So some TV, newspapers and politicians with vested interest went amuck shouting treachery by Pakistan, and even suggesting India should break off diplomatic relations with Pakistan. The result has been a near crazy sentiment being fuelled up against Pakistan. Some reckless politicians even provokingly spread the reckless news that Sarabjit had been deliberately got beaten at the instance of Pakistan authorities. And then started the cavalcade of big circus, Prime Minister of India described him as a Brave son of India obviously accepting that he was a Indian spy (what more delicious news could Pakistan have hoped than that India admits it sends spies to Pakistan.) The Punjab government to score a point against Central government and to claim that it was more patriotic announced a reward of Rs. 1 crore for Sarabjit. He was also given State funeral – a rare honour reserved normally for army men who die in battle field, further giving material to Pakistan to blame India for sending spies. But so much was reckless thinking that Punjab irrespective of party affiliation competed, the farce – when Punjab Legislature unanimously passed a resolution terming Sarabjit as a national martyr. Such was the atmosphere that Congress flew Rahul Gandhi specially to attend the funeral in the purported belief that not to do so would be electorally damaging. Alas what small thinking. Please do not misunderstand. Full sympathy to Sarabjits family at his unfortunate death in the circumstances is natural. But what is worrying me is that behind this was the jingoist political symbolism against Pakistan being highlighted as if patriotism in the country has to be judged by the extent of how anti Pakistan you project yourself. What an ill-fated policy and lack of sense of reality. And then when the political parties were bathing in this short-lived limelight nature struck a
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blow. We had the unfortunate incident of a Pakistani prisoner Saninullah in Jammu in jail being seriously injured by an Indian co-prisoner – his condition being such that he had to be flown to Chandigarh PGI for further treatment. This exposed our hollow chant which Indian politicians were making that in Lahore jail Sarabjit could not have been beaten by Pak co-prisoners on their own but must be at the instance of Pak officials. Would the Indian politicians apply the same logic at what has happened at Jammu and blame Indian officials. If not, why the double standards. It is puerile and politically dishonest to ignore the loud condemnation of Pakistan government of Sarabjit case by Human Right Commission and other intellectuals, of Pakistan. Rajasthan Congress Chief Minister facing State elections has carried jingoism to the limit by publically for bidding Pakistan pilgrims to visit the holy shrine Ajmer Sharif, as he expresses his inability to maintain law and order in the after math of Sarabjit case. If this is his mind, nothing but his resignation is called for. Both the Central and Punjab government by their shortsighted partism manner of handling Sarabjit case have done immeasurable harm to the intelligence agency of India. The extraordinary blow up of Sarabjit case by the government has led to large number of Indian spies who had come back to India after having spent 20 to 25 years in Pakistan Jail, go public and complain as to how they have been neglected all these years and they have not been given their dues which were promised them when they were recruited. I hope their public cry will now at least reach the ears of Central government. There are in both countries large number of prisoners who continue to be in respective jails even after their sentence has been completed. Can one hope that in the sober sequel to Sarabjit and Saniullahs case, both the countries will take immediate steps to send back these prisoners to their respective countries. This is not only a humanitarian but a legal demand. India and Pakistan are like Siamese twins. The pain and tribulation of each will get reflected in the other. Accept that bleeding of either will bleed the other too. In this approach only the welfare and prosperity of both countries lie
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[Prof K.S.Chalam, former Member, UPSC, New Delhi, former Vice-Chancellor, Dravidian University, Kuppam, A.P., is known as the pioneer of the Academic Staff College Scheme in the country the scheme was K.S. Chalam as strengthened by UGC on the basis of his experiments in 1985. He became the first founder director of the Academic Staff College at Andhra University in 1987. He was actively involved in the teachers’ movement, secular and rationalist activities and served as the National Secretary, Amnesty International during 1984-85. chalamkurmana@gmail.com]
Unequal Distribution of Demographic Dividend: The final census figures of the country are officially released now. The size of the country has not substantially changed except that a population of 376151 are added to the provisional figures of 1210193422, announced about a year ago. But, we have different categories of demographic data sets that are useful to analyse the impact of population on development and vice versa. We may remember here the internationally reputed scholar and former Union Minister of Health and Family Planning Sripati Chandrasekhar (born in Rajahmundry), for his contributions to demography and population control. However, his generation of demographers did never look at the numbers as an advantage as do the present scholars who consider that the opportunities created by globalisation are beneficial to the populous third world countries like India. The country is beaming now due to demographic dividend with increased number of young people. India is shining! Demographic dividend is a position where the decline in fertility rates would help reduce the dependency ratios in a country that benefit a generation through; 1. Increase in the productive labour supply, 2.increase in savings due to less dependents, 3. Opportunity to invest in human capital (education, health etc.), 4. Increase in domestic demand due to the rise in GDP,
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and 5. Foreign remittances of young migrants. This thesis has been made popular by scholars ever since the idea of market globalisation and the active involvement of India in the process Vis –a-Vis China. Generally, the projections given by IMF and the US census bureau are cited indicating that India would surpass China by 2025 with young working age population .India would reach 1.692 billion by 2050. Some of our economists are trying to convince people that we need not worry about the Malthusian challenge as we will have more openings through market and global advantages as the largest supplier of labour in the World. Is it true? How the dividends are distributed and who are the beneficiaries? The euphoria about the dividends reminds us about the phase of chattel slavery introduced by the colonialists and the export of humans from Africa to USA and other European nations during 17-18th centuries. Repeat of this phenomenon in the British colonies, particularly in the India through the method of ship loads of so called indentured labourers to other colonies was found to be not involuntary. This flight of people was not just a chance factor as it involved the exodus of the so called socially and economically depressed castes who suffered indignities at home. But, the modern body shopping in the name of ICT jobs to the Anglo-American and other countries is considered as dividend, may be due to change in our attitudes or the composition of the emigrants ( castes). In fact, if the country boasts of its diaspora and its pravasi bharat , it was due to the first generation of migrants. But we do not recognise this. We have observed recently that the Telugu pride is paraded in Malaysia without the representatives of Kalingadhra from where they migrated. The UNDP has published figures relating to the educated migrants in its Human Development Reports and found that India was ranked as number one in certain indicators. It is noted that the largest number of migrants are in USA (28.4lakh). Interestingly, equally good number of migrants is in the Muslim countries like Malaysia (24 lakh) and Arab Emirates (about 45lakhs). The remittances from NRIs are estimated to be $ 66 billion in 2011-12 raised from 8.8 per cent in 1996 to 22 per cent out of $294 billion invisibles. Though the
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remittances have never crossed 5 per cent of our GDP, they were considered as crucial for our dependent development. In fact, China has the highest amount of foreign reserves amounting to $3310 billion and our reserves are the lowest amongst the BRICK. The Middle East contributes 33 per cent; North America 30 per cent, Europe 20 and the rest of our reserves are derived from others. The remittances received in Kerala are equal to 22 per cent of SDP (about Rs 59000 crores). In other words, the so called benefits from Anglo-American globalisation are not as large as the low paid workers contributing from the Middle East. It may due to the high per capita value of remittances from USA that our scholars call it demographic dividend. In fact, our out migration to the Middle East took place before 1990 and from relatively backward regions like Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala etc. We are referring to NRI remittances here though the active population could contribute to the domestic economy also. But, much depends on their productive use in employment, and the present elation of DD re-counts remittances, made us to comment in relation to the external sector. Let us look at the 2011 demographic details. Most of the states particularly the South Indian states have passed the third phase of demographic transition where the birth rates dropped due to use of FP methods, increase in wages and impact of reform movements ( Chalam K S-Dravidian Marvel). There is a clear shift in the transition from the year 1981. The trend seems to have influenced the age structure of the productive age group of 15-59. The proportion of population in the group was 54.1 % in 1981, 58.1 in 2001 and 62.5 in 2011 and it would go up to 65.2 if the working age is raised to 64. The rate in the urban areas is little higher at 66.6 % under 15-59 age group. We have different nomenclatures to call the same phenomenon differently with the change of ideology or power structure. We used to call the out migration of educated labour force as “Brain Drain” just before globalisation as all of them were educated by the state. Now we call the same group as “Brain Gain” as they send remittances. In fact, the opportunity cost of the educated labour force for the development of the country is not taken care of in the estimates of dividend. The monetary value, mostly the devalued rupee is taken to estimate the gains and not the 20
damage done to the nation (brain crippled) and its independent future? Scholars like C.P Chandraseskhar warned that the employment figures indicate the absorption of youth in to the labour force is not as high as one would expect (2006). This can be seen from the work force participation rates given by census. It was 39.1 in 2001 and marginally changed to 39.7 in 2011 and female rate dropped from 25.6 to 25.5. How the jobless growth with the surge of informalisation of labour at 85 % and reduced TFP in Agriculture, would result in dividends? Studies by scholars have indicated that the
rate of growth of employment in the service sector is not very promising as it has already reached its optimum. The manufacturing sector is in trouble and in certain months of the year we have seen negative rates of growth. The savings and investment ratios are becoming a cause of concern for policy makers. Then where do we get the jobs for the growing and frustrated youth? This may lead to several movements and street fights. Already the civil society activities in metros witnessed swelling of youth brigades. Some of the activities as alleged by some, might be utilised by vested corporate interests, but they would soon become portend of disquiet for the state. The epithets like dividend, hidden wealth etc, would further hasten the crisis. We have already witnessed turmoil in the so called social democracies in Europe (not yet subsided) that have subscribed to globalisation and yet not liberated from economic hegemony? Further, the NRI remittances and favourable age structures are confined to few states. Bihar, Jharkhand, M.P, Odissa, Rajasthan, U.P and even Kerala do come below the national average of favourable working age population 15-59. The advantages of high savings and GDP growth as theorised by demographers are now shattered. The savings as proportion of GDP has substantially declined from 36.8 in 2007-8 to 30.8 in 2012-13 and growth rate plummeted at pre-liberalisation period at 5 per cent. Liberalisation has facilitated growth of urban agglomeration with 25 per cent living in slums, the highest being 54.6 per cent in Mumbai, 32.48 in Kolkatta, 18-20 % each in Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad. What kind of dividend do they enjoy? The management and policy experts in their contributions to this debate consider that every individual is a customer and he/she needs to be
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exploited to the optimum level to reap dividends when they are in active age group. There seem to be subtle allusion that the productive population of the third world countries like India should serve the old and dying advanced countries that live on the pension funds invested in a globalised world. But, there is no guarantee that the dividend that the third world get out of their service would evenly be distributed in a democratic state where individuals at a particular age are considered as citizens with different needs. They want remunerative employment to make use of their human resource and not doles. It is also necessary to look at the exploitation of resources in the native country with western levels of consumption (income) and the depletion of resources with pressure of population. This would gloss over both the natural resources and the hard earned savings of the nation that might land the next gen in perpetual underdevelopment. The data sets made available by the census might be useful for some experts to demonstrate their theories in select regions of India but, may not help to substantiate the thesis of Demographic Dividend as of now.
Corporate cultivation ‘a la Cooperative farming: India being a third world compliant country for experiments of the advanced nations, targeted for innovations in the farm sector. There seem to be a proposal may be a policy decision, to introduce corporate farming in the country if it is not already in force in a different garb. It is not only in agriculture sector; in all areas of the economy, society including political process is now under the direct ideological manoeuvring of liberalisation. Therefore, one need not be surprized to get a regime of corporate farming in the country when the government is in crisis. It seems important administrative resolutions are taken in the country whenever the governments are in disorder during the last two decades. If the past record of events is of any use for prediction, corporate farming seems to be certain. There are farm and business lobbies with intellectual inputs from experts in the field to substantiate the need for corporate farming. Why not? It is demonstrated by scholars and Management experts that small farms and fragmentation of holdings are a bane of Indian agriculture as they are unviable and economically disastrous. This is supported by data that the marginal 21
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holdings of less than one Hectare of land on an average have remained at 0.4 at the national level and in Andhra at 0.44 Hca. The proportion of such holdings in the total holdings in Andhra has slightly increased from 61.59 to 63.59 during 2005-2011. Therefore, it is sensible to go in for corporatisation of farming in states like Andhra Pradesh where the proportion of marginal holdings is very high. There is also an argument that the marginal farmers have failed to bring in technology and innovations to improve the productivity of agricultural operations and as a result the farmer remains poor and underdeveloped. What is the harm if the small bit of holdings is given to a corporate body that brings technology, investment and remunerative prices through access to international market? The above argument seems to be not supported by productivity data. For instance, the productivity of rice was 3011Kgs per Hca in 2003-4 and has increased to 3148 by 2011-12 in Andhra. The productivity of Jowar an important crop in the state was 1102 KGs in 2003-4 and has substantially risen to 1749 in 2011-12. If the farmer is not getting remunerative prices, it is not due to the unviable nature of his holdings but other economic and policy related constraints. In fact around a century ago, economists had reminded that it is not the size of the holdings but the amount of investment made on the piece of land that is to be taken in to consideration in measuring productivity. Arthur Lewis, later Ranis-Fei, Hayami and other economists have reasoned that the supply of food and labour to the sustenance of industry are important that would not only create demand for the industrial goods but also in getting foreign exchange through agricultural exports. India is not USA or Japan to reduce the role of agriculture to less than 5 per cent of GDP as 60 persons of every hundred depend on it. The role of industry in creating jobs is not encouraging (NSS survey) to throw away the babe along with the bath water. Notwithstanding the arguments of some economists, the policy makers and economic managers have introduced sufficient policy packages to encourage corporatisation of cultivation in a phased manner. We should never doubt the intelligence and planning of some of our policy
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makers as far as their commitment to privatisation is concerned. Therefore, it is well planned starting with contract farming, FDI in retail trade, rescinding tenancy reforms, allying with political class and crony capitalists to introduce policies that would help make corporatisation in farm sector imminent. In fact, a variant of the commercialisation of agriculture was already in place in the form of contract farming. This is a kind of vertical integration of farmers to supply a given quantity and quality of products at an agreed price to the buyer, mostly involving the corporates in retail trade. There are 10 top corporate Houses like Tata, Ambanis, Bharati, Agrigold (AP), IEEPL apart from MNCs that are in this business quite for some time. They are very powerful and are lobbying for corporatisation of farming and linking it with FDI and international cartels. Let us look at the experience of contract farming, a prelude to corporate farming. Harish Damodaran in one of his reports in Business Line in June 2012 reported that the corporate ventures in agriculture are failing. He has given a case study of Tata Chemicals in the area of fresh fruits and vegetables in Malerkotla, Punjab where it shut its operations for non-achieving the planned scale of operations. Economies of scale are a prerequisite of corporatisation. The intriguing part of the policies of the government is that while corporate farming is implicitly encouraged, the macro management and legal provisions in the form of licensed cultivators in states like AP are made. They work in cross purposes. Further, XII plan approach paper hinted that leasing out of land to “others� be permitted for inclusive growth. A cursory look at the subsidy and support schemes of the Government show that there are around 13 categories of subsidies for mechanisation that goes up to Rs 30000 per unit. Some schemes are processed through NABARD and the subsidy goes up to Rs 40 lakh for seed production, compost creation etc. The traditional institutions like share cropping have been discouraged and in Andhra it is confined only to 7 per cent as majority are leasing out land on cash rent. Yet, crisis prevails in the farm sector. The recent study on impact of a half-baked Act (of licensed cultivators) in AP shows that the stake
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holders are unaware of it and the land owners do not trust the lessees. In other words, most of the so called reforms in the farm sector are not reaching the so called beneficiaries but the budget allocations are exhausted. What could be the secret behind this? In this context, we may for a moment look at the ideology of cooperative farming whose ideological genesis rests with Robert Owen and the subsequent Cooperative credit Society Act 1904 in India. The ideal behind the movement was to develop the spirit of mutual help and social harmony, equity and empowerment. Though it was confined to credit and the expansion of sugar, milk and a few other areas in the agriculture sector, it has provided the necessary impetus for the development of innovations under the guidance of the state. It is reported that there are 5.5 lakh cooperatives (PACS) with a membership of 22 crores. We may attribute the limited success of the so called First Green Revolution to the spirit of public interest imbibed by the cooperative spirit. Interestingly, the central government has brought the 97th constitutional amendment and added 43B to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning and democratic control of cooperatives. The government has also enacted the multistate cooperatives Act in 2002 to facilitate interstate operations of agricultural cooperatives. We have yet to see the impact of the initiatives of the state on the economic efficiency and social upliftment of the farmers. Billions of rupees are invested in the development of infrastructure including public irrigation, technology, KVS etc. Then why the sudden shift in the policy towards privatisation and corporatisation of the farm sector? Whether the subsidies would decline or go in to the coffers of corporates? If private sector and FIIs are considered by some experts as efficient why should they be allowed their operations in areas not covered by cooperatives and low technology zones. Let them bring capital and technology without encroaching on the public resources and improve the welfare of farmers without repeating what they have done in Brazil, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania and other third world countries?
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mean we condone all their acts of using the state administration to intimidate people. Many of these leaders were highly unpopular because of their action but they had their huge followers too. The audacity of
IRI / IRHA Members’ Section:
V.B. Rawat [Vidya Bhushan Rawat is Director at Social
Development Foundation, a non religious secular human rights organisations working on the issue of Dalits, tribals and other marginalised communities particularly on the issue of hunger, starvation, land rights and rights over natural resource. www.thesdf.org]
Arms Response To Political Issues: A Threat To Secular Democratic Forces top leadership of Congress party in TheChhattishgarh came under a well-coordinated attack from the Maoists in Darba Ghati in Sukma in the southern part of Bastar region. The Congress leadership had been campaigning in the state as part of their ‘Parivartan Yatra’ as Chhattishgarh goes for polls during the year end with many other states. Those who were killed are leader of opposition and a well-known Aadivasi leader Mahendra Karma, president of Chhattishgarh Congress Committee Mr Nand Kumar Patel as well as his son, some other senior leaders of the party. Former Union Minister Mr Vidya Charan Shukla suffered from four bullets and is battling for life in a hospital in Delhi while Ajit Jogi too survived as he flew from Sukma to Raipur. The leaders after finishing their rally at Sukma were going to Jagdalpur when the Maoists ambushed their caravan resulting in killing of over 29 party workers including senior leaders of Congress Party. Let me explain here that when we condemn the attack on the political workers does not
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this attack has rightfully shocked the nation. The enormity of the assault on the political structure was so high that the top leadership of the Congress Party had to discuss the issue in an emergency meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence and their Vice President Rahul Gandhi reached Raipur in the late night and met those injured. The Prime Minister and Congress President has just visited the state capital and expressed solidarity with their party workers. Now, there are two important aspects in the entire incident. One that those who were targeted were political people and not the paramilitary forces or the local police and hence it is an important issue of deliberation and must be discussed with candid way as why the Maoist did so and whether they want the same reaction from the security agencies to eliminate their top leadership? What Chhattishgarh and Baster in particular lacked was the politicization process in which aadivasis must be made part of the democratic structure The state apparatus remained contemptuous towards the aadivasis and hence they went to Naxal for basic support like getting their issues resolved through the ‘Jan Adalaits’ which are Kangaroo courts and do not place in any civilized society but because of ‘instant justice’ they instill fear in the small population who then have no option other than following the ‘sarkar’. The government of Chhattishgarh remained in Raipur with read beacons and politicians using mining to strengthen their pockets and here Maoists were engaged in their propaganda of ‘state’ as people’s ‘enemy’. Corruption, exploitation all those things which we are romantic of explaining could be best used by the ‘revolutionaries’ after all we get frustrated with a system only when we face corruptions and delays and this gives rise to ‘victimised’ mindset. One victimized mindset is completely developed then the radicalization process start and it is also true that we start believing that our ‘world’ is just around us. We stop to see the world in bigger sense. The propagandists will always speak in terms of ‘speaking’ for ‘people’. They will always claim a bigger representation from people. The fact is that
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Maoists have people’s support in those regions but whether this support is due to fear or without it does not matter. It only reflects that our governance structure is completely collapsed in Chhattishgarh and it needs special treatment. It need serious thought while violence must be handled with great caution, it is important that innocent people do not become victim of this ‘collateral damage’ as military ‘experts’ always claim. It need to
be understood that Chhattishgarh still has high number of investment and companies and other mining giants are still functioning in the state in spite of the so-called Naxals. Then we have religious gurus who have big ashrams in Chhattishgarh and no attempt have been made to respect the aadivasi identity. In fact the whole project of Hindutva is to ensure that Aadivasis remain as part of the Hindu system and there has been no effort by the so-called Maoists or Naxals to ensure that resulting in the continuous oppression of aadivasis by both the religious thugs as well as economically powerful people. Chhattishgarh and Jharkhand today are dominated by the outsiders. They have procured land and there is no stoppage to it. All the government schemes cannot function without those who are ‘dominating’ the area hence a basic question how are these outsiders able to work so independently who are fighting against ‘foreign domination’. It is also a well-known fact that aadivasi areas have been without any road links, hospitals, schools and other basic facilities. Our system has not reached them and there is no participation in administration and political structure. Bastar’s issues cannot be resolved from Raipur and it is important that an independent Bastar Zone should be created with assurance of aadivasi control over mining and other natural resources. If the government had taken proper care and helped aadivasis to acquire space and not to strengthen aadivasi middlemen in the region, they would have not faced this scenario. Today, there is so must of mistrust that any action of the government is taken as an attempt to intrude in aadivasi zone. In the crisis of mutual trust, it is the Maoists who dominate and their propaganda work hence to maintain their hegemony they bring threat, intimidation and different stories of government efforts to control the 24
natural resources. It was time for sincere thinking where government could have sought to talk with aadivasi leadership in the region. Who are the aadivasi leaders who government can speak? Did the government ever call for a meeting of Aadivasi social activists, academics, leaders, panchayat leaders from different part of the country including Chhattishgarh to discuss their issues? You do not do and the result is today aadivasi leadership in all these ‘revolutionary’ Zones is in the hands of non aadivasis and if we see their track record they have systematically eliminated all those leaders who differ with them and were a challenge to them.
To say that Naxals or Maoist ‘revolutionaries’ are isolated bunch is ridiculous and therefore we need to look into the political aspect of these killings. Simply because the killings are done by Naxals or Maoist does not make it beyond political conspiracy. There are chances of these killings are political as Naxals or Maoists are too smart and take part in the political activities. They know well who to eliminate and who to protect and politicians across spectrum need them and that is the only reason why they are surviving. The failure of political leadership and the criminalization of our political structure actually help the Naxals very well. It is true that the aadivasis seek their help to get justice and protection but what is the alternative they are providing? Is the ‘Jan Adalat’ not like Khap Panchayat which provides instance justice to the people through various torturous ways in which people are killed. Our crisis is bigger as those who are voices of reasoning are not liked. These are times of pamphleteers and mouthpieces and those writers and academics who live in their one particular worldview and anyone who differ is anti-people or anti national. Indians are experts in tagging people whenever they differ. Human Rights defenders have to face the worst. This is also a fact that today human rights have also become instrumental or frontal organizations for those who have no faiths in rights at all. Whenever we condemn the violence by extra state actors, we are told that you are a ‘state’ agent. Whenever a poor aadivasi is killed, he is termed as a ‘state’ agent. My question has been how come a poor aadivasi who want his right and protection from people become a state agent if he participate in
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NREGA or speak to a political leader. Why the Maoists want to stop my choice to vote to politicians of our choice. If they were true to their beliefs, we should have seen the best politicians in Telangana, Andhra, Odisha, and Chhattishgarh but some of the most corrupted politicians who are hand in glove with business and corporates, who exploit poor, who amassed huge land and other natural resources, still hail from these regions. Why these regions most of the people remain highly apolitical and no independent Dalit aadivasi leadership is allowed to develop so that it could contest elections. So, terming anyone who differ with you, stand in front of you become a state agent. And I have a simple question that in India extra state actors are more powerful. India is run through the constitution of Manu in reality. Here we see how the right wing Hindutva brigade targets the Dalits, Aadivasis and Muslims through administration, media images and social oppression. In 2002 Gujarat massacre happened and the murderers came to power and became ruthless in isolating the minorities particularly the Muslims. They got the benefit of communalization and nationalization through the Ayodhya movement too. Today the same leaders are having free time in Chhattishgarh, Maharastra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh. It became their laboratory and we could not stop them. Big companies have come there and exploited people and we are witnessing the lethal cocktail of capitalism and brahmanism. Where are the revolutionaries? How many times they took on the right wing Hindutva nationalism which is a big threat to the country and today our corporate and business are ready to thrust those forces on us and such incidents only strengthen them. No, they
won’t speak against communalism as it is not their issue. They will call for poll boycott and what is the result of these poll boycotts. Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh are gone to non aadivasis and Hindutva forces? What have they done for stopping this? How can the top leadership of the Maoist speak against migrants’ leadership when their top leadership itself is exported from Andhra Pradesh? Speaking against Indian state is easier than challenging the brahmanical system which is the ‘extra state actor’ in India and root cause of our evils but then when the top echelon of the Maoist leadership hail from the brahmanical customs then what to expect from them.
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If over 200 districts of India are under Maoist influence then who stops them to form a political party and contest elections. If they think they have the people’s support without the intimidation of their AK 47 then why not influence the political process. But once you pick up guns don’t expect the state to respond to you with roses. And this is the most troublesome part. In that they have killed a generation of tribal who should have grown to participate. Yes, the government is responsible, our political parties are responsible and like the tribal of Bastar we all are victim of this system and need to clean it. We need to do so but what way? I have no sympathy with those in power. They have failed us. They have used the bogey and used the Naxals. The doublespeak of Hindutva gangs and their sympathizers in media is visible. Everybody is busy with the Indian Paisa league and the amount of corruption in it. Why has the loudmouth in the TV chat room kept quiet on the issue? Will he ask question to Chhattishgarh government and its abject failure to protect the political opponents? The ‘future’ of India tweeted that ‘we must fight this battle together’. The Ayodhya Sarathi said he is pained and we have to fight together. Everybody wants to fight against it. All of them will enjoy this in the forest but it is the common secularist who faces the intimidation from state. It is they who are victimized in their daily lives and human rights become dirty word. Why are we silent? A few years back, I happened to meet a general in a conference who said that the Maoists are ‘our own people’. And that explain the things and mindset. What do you mean by ‘our own people’? Why are the Kashmiris not our ‘own people’. Yes, if this big operation was done by some Hizbul or any XYZ organization in the name of Islam, do you think, we should be watching or debating IPL or satta bazar on our TV? Do you think that we would have been these subdued responses? The entire country would have been tense and every Muslims would have been asked to show ‘Vandemataram’ on his chest. This is a reality. Since a majority of the leadership from Naxals are ‘well educated’ and hail from ‘good’ upper caste families hence they are our own. Their biggest certificate is that they are not ‘Muslims’ and their name is not ‘Khan’ hence the state apparatus in India protect them. It
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protects them for political purposes. Political leaders settle scores through them and therefore tribal or aadivasis are just a tool, they are sandwiched between the brahmanical Indian state and brahmanical Maoists, both don’t want solution. Indian state want to handover tribal land to big industries and the Maoists want to continue with it. If both are true to resolve the issue
then the Indian state must begin with a complete moratorium on the land dealing or forest resources from Chhattishgarh first. Let the Maoist surrender with their arms and let the government promise to rehabilitate them and later let the government withdraw paramilitary forces from the region in the name of operation green hunt. Let all the tribal who are arrested in the name of being Maoists be released. Let Indian state show its sign of magnanimity by announcing some non-military measures in specific term and time bound programme. We have no issue with the issues raised by Maoists and there are people who are fighting for their rights, land and water all over the country and they still have faith in Indian constitution and its apparatus despite all our disappointments. The Muslims in India despite all victimization still believe in the constitution and fighting their battle politically. The Dalits who were
the worst suffers of the brahmanical system are fighting for their rights and have got their space too. Our difference with them is purely on their methodology. The left movement is weakening in this country because they failed to win over the heart of dalits, aadvasis, muslims and others. They did not allow the leadership from these sections of society and hence the space was occupied by the rightwing forces. It is a great challenge. India cannot be handed over to rightwing nationalist. It is battle for all of us to unite and organise politically. The secular space is under severe threat. The Maoist threat and violence will only strengthen the militarized minds in the bureaucracy who will make a war cry. It will strengthen the right wing agenda of political parties and the end result would be that situation would turn more difficult for all those whose rights are violated particularly the most marginalized sections of our society whether it is Dalits or Aadivasis or Muslims and other backward communities. The challenge is bigger and it need a comprehensive political response as the arms response will only give state a right to enter in those zones and kill people in the name of these ideologies. It has happened till date and it will further marginalize the people in these zones.
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Teacher's & Research Scholar's Section: [The following Research Paper was contributed by Bhaskar Sur a former teacher and an activist for the M.N. Roy 125th Birth Anniversary International Seminar organised on 16 & 17th March 2013 by Indian Renaissance Institute at India Bhaskar Sur International Centre, New Delhi. He is the co-founder and the present president of Bibartan, a popular science organization dedicated to the promotion of scientific outlook health care and environmental security. He is also a civil right activist since his student days.]
Rereading ‘The Historical Role of Islam’ A response to ‘Rampant Communalism’: The world is suffering from an Islamphobia. It is as much a product of media manipulation as symptomatic of a deeper crisis in Islamic societies. Malise Rulluen begins his books ‘Islam’ (1997) with the following words ‘Open almost any newspaper, turn on the radio or television, and there will be stories about Islam. Many of these stories will be accompanied by images of violence—as in Kashmir, Bernia, Algeria, or Palestine. The vision of Islam emerging from newspapers and television screens is often that of a hard, uncompromising faith whose adherents will resort to violence in defense of their principles in order to impose their will on others’’. When M.N. Roy wrote his book in jail more than eighty years back, the perception, at least in India among Hindus, was not much different: it was either a cold indifference or active hostility. He wrote with much honesty and anguish. For the orthodox Hindus who constitute the great Majority of the Indian population, the Mussulman, even of noble birth or admirable cultural attainments is a ‘malechha’- impure barbarian - who does not deserve a social treatment any better than accorded to lowest Hindus’’ (H.R.I.-P2-3). He further noted, ‘No civilized people of the world is so ignorant of Islamic history and 27
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contemptuous of Moahammedan religion as the Hindus” [H.R.I.-p3]. In this atmosphere of mutual misunderstanding and hatred ‘Roy’s symbolic action revolved around crossing the cultural divide” and ‘he sought to critique the nation of continent, linear civilizational divides that underlay much of regnant majoritarian and minoritarian Indian political discourse” (Mamjapra 135). However, as we shall find, though Indian politics was the immediate context of his text, his vision went further: to recognize the role of religion in social transformation and to trace, what was behind the stagnation of Islamic societies—from a critical Marxist point of view. Marxist attitude to Religion: Here we shall pause to consider what Marx and some other leading Marxists like Kautsky thought about religion. Contrary to general belief, Marx reflected deeply on the nature of religion and how it was related to social dynamics. A child of the enlightenment, he saw religion as a “false consciousness” having almost a narcotic effect on the beliefs. In his Theses on Feuerbach (4th Thesis) he pointed out that while the liberal critic of religion recognized its early roots, he failed to understood that it could be uprooted only by reorganizing society. In the last section of The Capital he said that religious delusions have no other function than to cast a veil on the irrationalities of the production system and would naturally come to an end when men will enter into a rational relationship with one another. Engels came to deal with the subject with greater depth and thoroughness in “Peasant War of 1524-25”. He found that the so called ‘religious wars’ were not about theological controversies but involved class-struggle regarding competing material interests. Karl Kautsky, one of the most erudite and orthodox followers of Engels, directed his vast learning and analytical power to present a materialist interpretation of the social foundations of Christianity. In opposition to the prevalent circular view of history, Kautsky boldly offers, the materialist conception: “…..There is a conception of history that does not confine itself to observing social ideas, but looks for their causes in the deepest foundation of society. In this search it always comes up against the mode of production,
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which in turn depends on the status of technology in the last analysis, although by no means exclusively” [Kautsky XIV 1952]. In his approach to Islam Roy, must have at the back of his mind, both the precious studies—that of Engels and Kautsky—which he applied creatively to interpret the rise of Islam, its role and it’s the cause of its exhaustion and decline. Basic Postulations: The basic postulation on which Roy raises his arguments is that Islam was not a religion as such, but a social revolution and Mohammad must have been ‘by far the greatest of all prophets, before or after’ (Roy: 4). As one looks back on the historical perspective, the magnitude of the revolution and its achievements becomes compellingly evident: “Nowhere was there a vestige of an Arabian state or a common political ambition…..a hundred years later, these obscure savages had achieved for themselves a great world power’ straddling three continents. One of the best ways to study history is to raise pertinent questions: How did this Mirabel happen?” In chapters: ‘The Mission of Islam’ and ‘The Social and Historical background of Islam’ he seeks to provide the answer. Islam brought about sweeping changes both in the material foundation as well as in the super structural domain including not only legal and political structure, but the most important of all, a wonderful intellectual efflorescence preparing ground for the European Renaissance. In his own words “the revolt of Islam saved humanity”. Islam as a Religion of Peace: Islam, far from being a violent religion has been a religion of peace not so much on spiritual as on practical ground. The pre-Islamic Arabian society was ridden with conflicts and frequent violence among different tribes competing for pasture, water or over the control of trade routes. The most significant fact in the mental development of Mohammad seems to have begun when he in Khadeja’s employment began to travel in the northern cities in the Byzantium or Sassanid territory and came in contact with different peoples and cultures. He also became keenly aware of what hindered or helped trade activities. If, Islam was a religion of peace, it was mainly because traders wanted it, as trade could thrive only under peaceful
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conditions: “Since decayed and degenerated religions bred the germs of continued wars and perennial revolts their destruction was a condition for peace”. The spirit and interest of the Arab traders determined and directed to the policy of the Islamic state. While in the old civilizations trade was regarded as an inferior vocation and any productive labour was looked down upon, Arabs appreciated and extolled it: “With them trade was an honorable and lucrative occupation of a free man”. Trade was free and as much noble a profession as was state craft, war, letters and science. It is also interesting that many of the early Caliphs were originally traders: “Most of the Arab Philosophers and scholars came from the opulent trading families”. The laws of Koran and later, Hadith revolutionized social relations revitalizing trade and commerce, and along with it, a new intellectual life. It must also be admitted that, compared with Judaism and contemporary Christianity characterized by intense doctrinal dissention and persecution, Islam was a tolerant religion allowing the People of the Book i.e. Jews and Christians to live in an Islamic state peacefully by paying a token tax. “Usually, the attempt to understand, faculties of observation, freedom from prejudice and a strong practical sense are acquired by the traders in the course of their business activities which in turn, lead to the making of a philosophical outlook ‘originated in a society ruled by aristocracy engaged in trade. The city states of the Ionian Greeks were therefore the birth place of philosophy”. For the same reason Islam could not have indulged in the senseless slaughter of the artisan and peasant masses as it would go against its interest or ‘mission’. The Arab Philosophy: The greatest contribution of Arabs in history is to preserve the rationalistic and humanistic legacy of the classical philosophy, to eagerly learn from the ancient civilization of Byzantium, Iran, China or India they had overrun or came in contact with, synthesize and pass it on to Europe and the rest of the world. Greek philosophy was almost bat under the intolerance and superstition of the Christians. It might be recalled here that the Emperor Justinian ordered the closure of the last remaining school of Greek philosophy and the
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philosophers under ban had to seek refuge in Nishapore in South-West Iran, which in those days was famous as a safe haven for philosophers, scientists and skeptics. Roy remarks “Had it not been for the Arabs, it would have been irreversibly lost [P58]. In the opinion of Humboldt, the Arabs are to be considered the true founders of physical sciences. Names like Al Kandi, Al Farabi, Ibn Rushd are remarkable not only in Arabic history but in human culture itself. In the words of Roger Bacon ‘Nature was interpreted by Averroes’ (Ibn Rushd). Caliphs sent competent scholars to different parts of the Greco-Roman now Christian world to collect Greek and Latin manuscripts of Plato, Aristotle, Galen and others and have them translated into Arabic, the language of the new world’s religion and learning. In the early centuries of Hegira calendar, neither the Caliph nor the religious teachers so much minded the rational or heretic elements in the Greek philosophy. Caliph Mimun, (son of Harce al Rashid) had only high praise for the scholars, ‘They are the elect of God, his best and useful servants, because they are devoted to the improvement of the rational faculties”. There are not many instances in history when a head of the state and religion encourages the improvement of the rational faculties. According to Jim al-Khalili, Al Ma’mum was the oral hero of the Arab Renaissance: “Al Ma’mum was not only the Caliph to support scholarship and science, but he was certainly most cultured, passionate and enthusiastic. He created on environment that encouraged original thinking and free debate as no other Islamic ruler before or since (Al-Khalili 4, 2010). The preservation of the Greek Heritage: The works of the sages of ancient Greece were not only carefully translated but carefully edited with scholarly commentaries. Authors like Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Apollonius, Ptolemy Galen and others were avoidable to Europe only in their Arabic translation. The science of astronomy that ‘widens the horizons of the mind and reveals before it the mechanism of the universe’ was zealously studied and developed by the Arabs. Al Khalili reminds us that most of the stars we see in the night sky have Arabic names. Arab geographers acquired the exact knowledge about the
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circumference of the earth and the position of the number of planets. Although Algebra was invented by Diaphantus of Alexandria, it did not become the object of scientific study before the rise of Arabic learning. Similarly Botany though founded by Dioscorides, it was properly speaking, developed by Arabs mainly for medicine. The best known Medicine was Avicenna (980-1037) or Ibn Sina whose books served as the set texts in the famous medical school at Salerno and elsewhere.In his well researched book, Khalili brings out a number of defining features of the Arab science. Arabic science during its golden age was inextricably linked to religion; indeed it was driven by the need of the early scholars to interpret the Koran’. For the early scholars of Bagdad mostly influenced by Mutazilite movement, there would have been no conflict between religion and science. In this they were influenced by Koran which motivated them to study the skies and the earth to vindicate their faith. The prophet himself had asked his followers to seek knowledge ‘from the cradle to grave’ no matter how far the search would take them: ‘he who travels in search of knowledge, travels along Allah’s path to paradise. It is also interesting that ‘not all scientific advances were carved out by Muslims’. The greatest of the translators of Bagdad Hunayn ibn Ishuq was a Nestorian Christian. Similarly the astronomer Yahya ibn Mansur and the physicians Jibril ibn Bakhtyashu and Ibn Massauriya were also Christians. There were eminent Jewish philosophers and scientists such as translator Sahl al Tabari, the medic Ishaq ibn Amran, and astronomer Masha’ Allah who made valuable contribution to culture and science. In other words, though the intellectual pursuits were encouraged and patronized by an Islamic state, it was not an Islamic science alone. Most of the early scientists were pathfinders and “Arabic scientists were experts in something very close to modern scientific method in their reliance on hard empirical evidence, experimentation and testability of their theories’. Monotheism of Islam was an attempt to rationalize various tribal beliefs with their innumerable deities presiding over Natural forces. Lange the historian of materialism approvingly remarked, “The third of the great
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monotheistic religions, Mahammedanism is more favorable to materialism”. It is therefore not surprising that many of the Arab philosophers, extolled reason as a more reliable guide to truth then revealed faith. Averroes openly stated that rationalistic method was superior to dogma. When the emperor indicated that he found some parts of Aristotle’s work obscure, Averroes obliged him by writing commentaries on them which were greatly admired both by Jewish and Christian scholars. Averroes however incurred the wrath of the theologians or mullahs and had to leave Cordova and became an itinerant scholar travelling and teaching around the Arab world which had advanced to its late youth. Two centuries earlier, Ibn Sina in central Asia had laid the basis of study of Logic, Science, Philosophy, Politics and Medicine. Lesser known figures like Al Kandi, Al Farabi, or Al Hassan all contributed to the development of scientific methodology and scientific knowledge itself. Al Kandi was one of the early rationalists of Bagdad who set it down that philosophy must be grounded in Mathematics and not on mere speculations. Al Farabi’s commentaries on Aristotle were studied for centuries both in the Islamic and Christian lands. Besides philosophy, he was also an authority on medicine and Mathematics. Al Hassan studied optics and corrected many of the errors of the Greeks. By the study of Mathematics and physiology, he correctly arrived at the conclusion that the light travels from the object we see. Most probably he influenced Kepler who was a man of sixteenth century. However, by a strong oversight, Roy fails to mention the introduction of Arabic numerals without which theoretical science of Galileo, Descartes, Newton or La Plus would be impossible. Again, it was Arabs who learned the technique of paper-making from the Chinese and passed it on to the West. It is highly probable that they also somehow, transmitted the concept of the printing press from China. The Causes of Decline: In his book Roy only suggests but does not clearly spell out, why Islam by 14th century had ‘played out’ its role though remained a revolutionary force as far as the ‘hierarchal, deeply divided Indian society was concerned. In the last
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chapter ‘Islam and India’ he refutes the Brahminical historiographers such as Havel to show that Islamic conquest was achieved through the active support and collaboration of a large section of the oppressed outcastes of society who were greatly impressed with the organizational skill and prowess of Islamic i.e. Turk-Afghan forces. But more than that, they were attracted by the concept of spiritual equality, a remnant of tribal society, and the opportunity for upward social mobility. Even Havel is compelled to admit: “(It) made the Sudra a free man and potentially a lord of Brahmins. Like the Renaissance in Europe it stirred up the intellectual waters, many strong men and some men of striking originality of genius like in the Renaissance, it was essentially a city cult….” How else can we explain the making of great literatures in the court language Persian and vernaculars, marvels of architecture, a highly organized system of administration and the following of Bhakti cults? Roy clearly implies that the devastating Mongol invasion and the movement from the scientific quest and cosmopolitanism to religious orthodoxy are chiefly responsible for the stagnation of Islamic societies everywhere including India. He called upon the radical Muslim youths to revive not obscurantism but the spirit of Islamic renaissance. Bernd Pflug, a German anthropologist working in India, aptly remarks ‘I have consulted a few works of recent scholarship and found, apart from details, Roy’s interpretation conformed (Pflug: 70,2010). An inescapable question remains: ‘Why almost around the globe, are Muslim societies caught in a trauma of modernization and responding mostly with retrogressive politics, even violence? There are many like Seyyed Hossian Nasr, Jariq Ali or Pervez Hoodbhoy who have sought to answer that question from the literal humanist point of view. Tariq Ali, the Pakistan born radical writer puts it on three causes: First, a thirty year old sectarian war between Shias and Sunnis just before the Crusades proved to be immensely wasteful; second, the savagery of the Crusades which were thrust upon a tolerant Middle East by the aggressive Christian zealots; and finally, the devastating Mongol invasion. When Islam stabilized under the Ottomans, they took every care to
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resist new technology, ideas and private ownership in the countryside which might have led to capital accumulation and industrialization. Arabs were drawn to science and adopted or innovated new technologies but Ottoman ruling class, under the influence of the Ulemas, was psycho phobic. The Ulema blocked the possible channels of information and when the Sultan was all set to import a printing press, they opposed. ‘Remember Martin Luther’ the Quadi reminded him and the plan was abandoned. Though it may sound incredible, they also fiercely opposed the import of clocks. “When five namazees are there to remind us of time, what’s the need to import those useless gadgets? Tariq Ali in his essay ‘Mullahs and Heretics’ comments that the mullahs, particularly of the rural variety, since, the 14th century have been an obscurantist, reactionary force stalling all progress to retain their hegemony and privileges. Another outspoken Pakistani secularist Pervez Amirali, also a renowned nuclear scientist, has the same views. In an interview posted on February 18, 2010, he made the following remark, “About seven centuries ago, after a spectacular Golden Age that lasted for four hundred years, Islam and Science parted ways. Since then they have never come together again. Muslim contributions to pure and applied sciences—measured in terms of discoveries, publications and patents and processes—have been marginal for more than 700 years”. Hoodbhoy here seems to be echoing what Stephen Weinburg had to say two decades earlier “Much of the weakening of religious certitude in the Christian west can be laid at the door of science… But this has not happened to anything like to the same extent in the world of Islam. One finds in Islamic countries not only religious opposition to specific scientific thought process as in the West, but a widespread hostility to science itself…… In the areas of science I know best, though there are talented scientists of Muslim origin working productively in the west, for forty years I have not seen a single paper by a physicist or astronomer working in a Muslim country that was worth reading. This is despite the fact that in the ninth century, when science barely existed in Europe, the Greatest centre of scientific research in the world was the House of
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Wisdom in Bagdad” [quoted by Pflug]. In his opinion the Ulema is a problem but a much bigger one is the process of steady Islamization: ‘Whenever and wherever religious fundamentalism dominates, blind faith clouds objective and rational thinking. If such forces take hold in a society, they create a mindset unfavourable for critical enquiry, including scientific enquiry, with its need to question received wisdom”. Such an answer, however begs questions. Islamic fundamentalism is a relatively recent phenomenon. Why then, is the scientific enquiry dead for so many centuries? Is it to be sought in some unresolved contradictions in Islam itself? A Plausible Answer: One answer is that Islam has, broadly speaking, two layers: one, the tribal Bedouin Core with very strict codes relating to day to day religious observance and two, a splendid civilizational outgrowth which is cosmopolitan, wonderfully rich and accommodative—a borrowing from other civilizations. The outer layer of Islam has successively been dented by the assertion of inner tribalism and more importantly, owing to the collision with the west-first in the form of the Crusades, then, western imperialism of the 19th century and finally, by the American intervention and Israeli occupation of the Holy land. Tariq Ali has put it succinctly and persuasively: “It was the discovery of Black Gold’ underneath the Arabian desert that provided the old religion with the wherewithal to survive its culture while Britain created new Sultans and Emirs to safeguard it economic interests and supported the most backward, despotic and reactionary survivals of the past, helping to defeat all forms of Secularism. As we know the story is unfinished”. It is America which still supports Saudi Arabia, one of the most reactionary regimes of the world; installed Genal Tiall Haque who in turn embarked on a course of a brutal Islamisation and funding of the Taliban. As Islam is a world religion with a global stretch, the problems of any particular country like that of Indian or Pakistan, cannot be understood in isolation. Half-way Between Marx and Weber: When Roy wrote his book in 1932 that revolutionary and progressive movements were sweeping over the Muslim world he was silent on the dark undercurrents
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of the society. The “Historical Role of Islam” nevertheless is significant for several reasons. It is the first time a non-Muslim leader and an atheist at that was writing a book to situate Islam in the main current of civilization and dispel misconceptions about it. The other ‘apostles’ of Hindu-Muslim unity such as Gandhi or even socialist Nehru never felt the need to know about Islam or tell their countrymen about its great contribution to modern civilization. For Gandhians secularism consists in ‘respecting other religions’. When it comes to Islam they appease the mullahs, the self-proclaimed defenders and interpreters of the true faith and thereby condemn the society to perpetual backwardness and turning it into a gullible voting bloc in a cynical power game. Roy on the other hand, proposes the secularization of the society which alone can enable it to cope up with the challenges of modernity and democracy. The task eighty years on, appears more formidable even though some Muslim nations, most notably countries like Malaysia and Bangladesh, are steadily moving into that direction. In this connection Bernd Pflug’s observation is worthwhile that “What is important in Roy’s essay is not only its objective interpretation of Islam in a climate of growing communalism in India of the 1930’s, but also his humanist attitude as the basis of this interpretation” [Pflug 79 2010]. Another remarkable aspect of the book is that its Marxist methodology is significantly tempered by Weber’s influence. In his Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber tried to demonstrate that the Puritan ideals of asceticism and frugality have led to ‘the development of a capitalistic way of life’ (Weber p 25). Roy shows that pure monotheism of Islam was a social requirement and so far as he is a Marxist, but when he indicates how this religion has quickened a new economic life in the conquered territories, he is certainly following Weber. In the words of Bernd Flung this is ‘the recognition of religion’ as a means of social change. Finally, the book can be taken as a forward argument against such recent publications as Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations which presupposes the existence of discrete civilizational brooks along deepening fault lines. Roy’s book goes on to prove that there has never been any ‘pure’ or
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discrete civilization much as there never was any so called ‘pure race’. A civilization is always a syncretic thing in which so many elements from different times and cultures come together and get fused. In this context, two conclusions became inevitable. First, there is a crying need for a critical engagement with the Islamic tradition to bring out not only what is still living but also, what is dead, and to be discarded. This will involve initiating a sincere inter-religious dialogue. To Quote Roy ‘Unless radical change of attitude is brought about by a sober sense of history, the communal question will never be solved.’- [p88]. Second, to stand firmly for secularization and democratization of Muslim society or societies is the only way to raise it from abysmal poverty, degradation and a continuous threat of violence from within and without. Notes:1.By ‘tribalism’ we mean the subjective awareness of one’s sense of belonging to a group and identifying oneself with its ways to enjoy a sense of security associated with ‘we’ group. The sentiment derives its strength and vitality from the contrast and conflict with ‘the other’ or ‘they’ group. Needless to say it is characterized by an extremely narrow outlook, uncritical credulity and a hard instinct.2.Indian ‘secularism’ as enshrined in our Constitution and as practiced by various secularist parties is rather a misnomer, an apology for ‘secularism’. It is a continuation of the colonial policy of not offending the sensibilities of any community even as an affirmative action test lest they turn ‘hostile against the Raj’. The secular and democratic Indian Government retained Muslim Personal Law which had already been abolished in Turkey. Not only is it against the spirit of the Constitution but blatantly patriarchal. For winning elections the secular parties have shamelessly yielded to the fundamental pressure as in Shah Banu case or banning of Satanic Verses but not un-often, do they carry the appeasement policy in an unsolicited manner, for garnering votes. The recent policy of the Trinamul Government in West Bengal to provide monthly allowance to Mullahs and Muazzins is such an example. This has not only harmed Muslims but provided Hindu fundamentalists with new arsenals. Reference:1.Pflug Bernd(2010) Renaissance Calcutta. 2.Manjapra Kris(2010) M.N. Roy: Marxism and colonial cosmopolitanism Routledge, Delhi.3.Khalin-Al Jim- Pathfinders: the Golden Age of Arabian since 2010, Allen Lane London. 4.Kausky Karl- Foundations of Christianity [1925, 1952] SA. Russell, New York.5.Roy. M.N. -Historical Role Of Islam[1939,1990] Ajanta N.D.
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Book Review Section: Patel is Director, Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy & Head, Department of Economics, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai. Following is her Review article based on UN HABITAT Reports] [Vibhuti
Vibhuti Patel
Indian Youth at the Crossroads of Arab spring showed that youth Thecanevents be a powerful social force. Recently, the UN HABITAT published 2 extremely important reports: State of the Urban Youth Report 2012-2013-Youth in the Prosperity of the Cities: Overview and Summary of Findings and State of the Urban Youth in India, 2012: Employment, Livelihoods and Skills anchored by Dr. Padma Prakash, Director Research wing of Iris Knowledge Foundation and Editor of web portal esocialsciences in which team of 40 scholars, researchers, activists and students made valuable contribution with rich database and analytical rigour. These reports make efforts to answer the following mind boggling questions: How are youth coping with the strains and stresses of drastic changes in the economy and society due to globalization of 21st century? What are their livelihood opportunities and for acquiring skills that will ensure secure and safe employment in the years to come? What determines these opportunities? Are governments in the state and the centre aware of the issues? Have there been policy changes in the area of industrial growth, employment, skill upgradation and livelihoods to address youth challenges? Do young people have a relevant say in the plans and policies that are determining their urban futures? What can be done to assure comfortable livelihoods, secure sustainable urban futures for today’s youth? What can 33
be done to ensure that they are the ones who will determine and design these futures? What combination of policies works best for youth? What lessons can be learnt from other country developments? What are specifically Indian initiatives on ensuring sustainable urban futures for youth may be replicable elsewhere? What role do and can bodies like the UN and its agencies play without interfering with the natural and grounded development processes in India? The first report closely looked at the condition of the major urban centers in the 4 developing countries Accra (Ghana), Sau Paulo (Brazil), Bangalore (India) and Cairo (Egypt) which have reported the fastest growing numbers of youth unemployment. Young people in various surveys stated that they want equity and equal opportunities for better shared prosperity for both themselves and the cities. Demographic Dividend: Since the 1980s India’s growth of labour force about 2 per cent per annum can be attributed to the growing working age population. The youth population in the age-group 15-34 years is expected to increase from 353 million in 2001 to 430 million in 2011 and then continue to increase to 464 million in 2021 and finally to decline to 458 million in 2026 (Government of India, 2012a). India is undergoing demographic transition and it is gaining economically from the changing age structure with southern and western states being first to experience this gain and the lagging states are soon going to catch up. Youth population (15-32 years) comprises 35 per cent of the urban population and 32 per cent of the rural population. (Aiyar and Mody, 2011). In urban areas, youth belonging to the others category are the most numerous followed by Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Caste across age groups. In rural areas the highest proportion are from those of Other Backward Class (ranging between 41-42 percent) followed by Others (ranging between 24-25 per cent) and Scheduled Caste (ranging between 22-23 per cent). (Government of India, 2010b & 2012c).Overall three-fourths of young urban men and women are educated up to middle and secondary levels of schooling, though there are variations across states. India could take advantage of the
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‘demographic dividend’ resulting from this demographic transition over this decade where the large working age population could potentially contribute to economic growth if demographic investment in terms of education, skills and employment are guaranteed (Government of India, 2013). Youth and Employment: Employment is one of the most important factors in the urban world as it helps in eradication of poverty. The Report of Global Employment Trends for Youth (2012) calls for attention to a major youth employment crisis a result of global economic slowdown and recommends that high priority be given to youth employment policies. The report states that global unemployment rates will range between 5.4 percent and 6.1 percent in 2012 (projected). Within this, youth unemployment rate, which is more than double the adult unemployment rate will range between 11.6 percent in 2007 and 12.7 percent in 2012 (projected), respectively. The youth unemployment rate has remained at 12.6 to 12.7 percent after 2009. Between 2000 and 2016, the projected youth unemployment rates will range between 13.5 percent and 16 percent for developed economies and the European Union. In East Asia, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa there will not be much change, 9.3 percent in 2000 and 9.8 percent in 2016 (projected) for East Asia, 10.1 percent in 2000 and 9.8 percent in 2016 (projected) for South Asia and 12.9 percent in 2000 and 11.4 percent in 2016 (projected) for sub-Saharan Africa). Even in India, unemployment rates are rising. This can largely be attributed to a failure of the agriculture sector that forces workers to migrate and be part of the unorganized Sector. (Kundu, Amitabh, 2006). Employment opportunities in the manufacturing and service sectors growing are not growing. In India, young people are withdrawing from the labor force for the sake of the education. The population projections from 2001 census show that between 2001 and 2026 population of those between 0-14 is going to fall from 35 percent to 23 percent, those between 15-59 is going to increase from 58 percent to 64percent and those over 60 are also going to increase from 7 percent to 12 percent The working age
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population forms a substantial and crucial proportion of the total population but in the next 14 years it can be expected that this population increases by only 1.7 percent (62.6 percent in 2011 to 64.3 percent in 2026). Fewer children between 0-6 years and 0-14 years indicate that the window of opportunity for India to benefit from the ‘youth bulge’ may be fast shrinking. (Government of India, 2012c) The National Sample Survey Organization’s (NSSO) survey on employment and unemployment conducted in 2009-10 has focused on the characteristic of the youth in India and provide a brief description of how youth are distributed across place of residence, social groups, household types, marital status and level of education. By place of residence, youth population (15-32 years) comprises 35 percent of the urban population and 32 percent of the rural population there are greater rural-urban differences among those between ages 0-14. This youngest age cohort makes up 32 percent of the rural and 26 percent of the urban population. Youth population characteristics by social groups and divides the youth group in to three categories (15-17, 18-24 and 25-32). In urban areas, 40- 43.7 per cent of youth belong to the others category followed by Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Caste across age groups. In rural areas, the highest proportion are from those belonging to Other Backward Class (ranging between 41-42 percent) followed by Others (ranging between24-25 percent) and Scheduled Caste (ranging between 22-23 percent). The NSSO data (66th Round) characterizes households based on means of livelihood of a household during the 365 days preceding the survey for which net household income from economic activities is taken in to account (NSSO 2011). In urban areas households, could be of self-employed, regular wage / salary earning, casual labor and others. In rural areas households could be of self-employed in non agriculture, agricultural labor, other labor, self-employed in agriculture and others. It becomes ever so important for policy makers to ensure than that policies have a youth focus and employment opportunities are made available to this group. The Eleventh Five Year Plan aims to increase productivity
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of the agricultural sector, increase non-farm employment and encourage private sector to create jobs in the organized sector especially for the educated youth (Government of India, 2008). In addition, investments in schooling, health and other infrastructure should be determined by the age structure of the population. Such investments have implications for the ability to reap the demographic dividend Youth and Unemployment: A Global Scenario: Employment is a source of eradication of poverty and a very important step towards the social integration. It is been seen that youth population increases faster than youth unemployment. In countries like up, Japan, Netherlands and the USA, 60 percent of unemployment is concentrated in urban areas. And the same is with the developing countries. The data also shows that 52 percent of respondents, economic growth in their city do generate youth unemployment. Various large infrastructure projects with good transport networks had been put in place or were underway; as for education and health, these countries were approaching or surpassing their national and urban Millennium Development Goals. However, communities in the Upper Nile, or Libyan and Tunisian country sides were worse off than their urban counterparts. While urban areas were relatively prosperous. This Report also finds that youth employment is a special challenge in cities around the world because of their youth biased demographic structures. The global economic crisis has exposed the particular vulnerability of young people in the labor market. Youth who fail to become integrated into the world of work after leaving school risk long-term exclusion from productive engagement. Young people are also more likely than adults to be among the working poor in informal jobs. An unemployed youth represents a colossal waste of resource, a social hazard and a burden on families or the government social support schemes, where any. Being forced into precarious livelihoods by intense poverty and lack of social protection is a lost opportunity, since these young might otherwise attend school or college and acquire
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the skills and abilities that could raise their future productivity and earnings. A well developed city provides the whole population, with adequate housing and decent basic services irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status, facilitating equal access to social amenities, public goods and sounds environmental Conditions. The phrase “quality of life” broadly defines the overall well-being of individuals or communities. The concept has been applied several times and particularly in international development, for instance the Human Development Index (HDI) and more recently the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which have been jointly developed by scholars, politicians and policy-makers. Quality of life is qualitatively different from standard of living, which derives largely from income; the measure quality of life includes proxy statistics for wealth, employment, the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and sense of social belonging., both objective and subjective measures are now broadly used in the development by various decision makers, practitioners and policy-makers in a solution to address the challenges they face. For instance, politicians and economists have used quality of life measures to assess the livability of a specific city or nation. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Mercer’s Quality of Living Reports combine both subjective and objective proxies as determinants of quality of life. For the purposes of this Report, the pursuit of quality of life is considered as one of the essential factors behind urban prosperity. The main variables include access to education, health, employment. On top of these defining features comes a non-discriminatory social environment, one where every citizen feels welcome and safe. Young people, or particular groups thereof, may be discriminated against. Personal attributes such as ethnicity, gender, religion and place of residence may feature in employers’ decisions about recruitment, promotion and retention. Specifically, personal characteristics may affect employers’ decisions in various .In various surveys it has been seen that Equity does not
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only enhance economic efficiency, which is needed to raise general well-being in the city; it also creates .Conditions for people to improve their capacities to represent themselves and participate in a more inclusive manner in a city’s cultural and political life. In the State of the World’s Cities 2010/11 report, UN-Habitat laid down a series of practical steps to help cities become more inclusive from equity. Human development perspective is informed by these four steps include: providing universal public services, social protection, targeted action for underprivileged groups, and mechanisms for wealth redistribution. In the surveys the Young people’s views were also sought (on a ‘Yes/No’ basis) on the extent to which economic prosperity is equitably. (Sen, 1999) Urban Youth in Health and Illness: The dominant discourse on the health of youth, which is also the basis for most policies related to health, is a utilitarian view. Since youth constitutes a major portion of the country’s working group population, its good health is seen to enhance the human resources and social capital to improve the political, economic and social well-being of a country as a “demographic dividend”. This perspective restricts the concept of health of youth only to achieving targets such as in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) without looking at young people as a group with special needs. Reflecting the global trends, the picture of Indian youth with respect to health is rapidly changing especially in the last few years. Along with infectious diseases, maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS, suicides and motor accidents are slowly becoming serious concerns among the youth. Specifically in the context of urban India, the rise in the age of marriage, rising education levels, exposure to media, increased migration, rapid urbanization and globalization together with changing lifestyles have affected mortality and morbidity trends Poverty is another factor that determines access to healthcare, informed choices, adequate nourishment, safe water and sanitation all of which influence health outcomes. With one-fifth of Indian urban population living under dollar a day, the access and choices to achieving good health and well being is limited for a
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large section of the youth. Apart from education and literacy, income, gender, availability of health-care services, risk perception, social networks, cultural practices and physical environments all affect the overall health status. Livelihood plays a key role in determining the health outcomes as it directly connected with many of the socio-economic condition (Farrington et al, 2002). Policy Perspectives: India has a long history of recognizing the potential of youth in nation-building. Youth issues have consistently been incorporated in policies. However, programmatic content has been lacking. Encouraging voluntarism as a means of connecting youth to community development too has been incorporated in several schemes notably the National Service Scheme that has attracted to date over 3.2 million youth to community service and development. The evolution of the youth development index is imperative. This will not only enable the monitoring of various programmes and their impact and throw up new directions for youth involvement in development. While some states have youth policies, others need to develop and put into action such policies. These will address the state-specific challenges to youth development. Such policies are even more necessary in states with lower proportions of youth since it is here that youth issues are most neglected. There are various policies which support the youth like Japan’s Youth Policy the Bhutan Youth Policy the Afghanistan Youth Policy (Government of India, 2010a) National Youth Policy, 1988- 1992: In 1985, the International Year of the Youth, the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, initiated an effort to formulate a National Youth Policy. The National Youth Policy was tabled in the two houses of Parliament in late 1988. It has recognized that “the most important component of the youth programme has to be the “removal of unemployment, rural and urban, educated and non-educated.” The policy of 1988 formulated that youth in the country must have access to full education and training. The policy stated that the youth should get “their due share”. But the policy did
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not have a programmatic structure. Nor did it designate an authority to oversee its implementation. The policy was all but forgotten with a few of the programmers such as the India Youth Hostels and the National Social National Programmer for Youth and Adolescent Development (NPYAD) and Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG). Migration for Education and Employment among Youth: More than 110 million youth, men and women in equal numbers, in the age group 15-32 migrate from their places of origin for a number of reasons. A majority of migration takes place within a state and 84 per cent of all rural urban migration is either within a district or among the districts of the state. Some 17 per cent of migration for education is across states. Typically, Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka are the top states attracting migrants from other states; whereas Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan are the main source states of migrants. Karnataka attracts a sizable proportion of migrants who have completed higher secondary and diploma or graduate and above while the states of Punjab and Haryana attracts those who have not completed primary school. In large measure, this indicates the relative development of educational opportunities in these states. Unlike the case of migration for education which was primarily an intra-state phenomenon, 45.6 percent of individuals migrate to work in other states. Moreover, 72.9 per cent of these migrant workers moved from rural areas. Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka receive 64 per cent of the intra state migrant workers in the age group 15-32 years. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh account for 59 per cent of migrant workers. (Government of India, 2010a) Women Workforce: There has been a long history of social movements addressing the issue of girls’ education. And yet, the progress in achieving full coverage of education for girls has been slow. The Gross enrolment ratio (GER) of boys is 44.26 per cent as against 35.05 per cent for girls with a difference of 9.2 percentage points. The GER for students belonging to SC is 34.55 per cent and that belonging to ST is even lower 27.68 per cent; the lowest GER
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being for ST girls at 21.95 per cent. As per the Planning Commission report of Working Group on Secondary and Vocational Education for Eleventh Five Year Plan, the Gross Enrolment Ratio for classes IX –XII in 2004-05 was 39.91 per cent. The data for classes IX and X was 51.65 per cent whereas that for classes XI-XII was 27.82 per cent. Women in developing countries are a ‘flexible’ labor force. Their cheap labor forms the basis for the induction of women into export industries such as electronics, garments, sports goods, food processing, toys, agro industries, etc. They are forced to work uncomplainingly at any allotted task, however dull, laborious, physically harmful or badly paid it may be. A large number of poor adolescent girls looking for work within the narrow confines of a socially imposed, inequitable demand for labor have become ideal workers in the international division of labour. The relationship between the formal sector and the decentralized sector is a dependent relationship. The formal sector has control over capital and markets, and the ‘informal’ sector works as an ancillary. In India, more than 90 per cent of girls and women work in the decentralized sector, which has a high degree of labor redundancy and obsolescence. They have almost no control over their work and no chance for upward mobility because of the temporary and repetitive nature of the work. Another dead-end occupation that has absorbed the highest number of adolescent girls is domestic work in an extremely vulnerable, precarious and hazardous condition reminding us of wage-slavery. The shift from a stable/organized labor force to a flexible workforce has meant hiring women part-time, and the substitution of better-paid male labor by cheap female labor. The new economic policies provide State support to corporate houses that are closing down their big city units and using ancillaries that employ women and girls on a piece-rate basis. Home-based work by women and girls gets legitimized in the context of increasing insecurity in the community due to a growth in crime, riots, displacement and relocation. Sub-contracting, home based production, the family labor system, all have become the norm. This is being called an increase in efficiency’ and
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‘productivity’. The casual employment of urban working class girls and women in the manufacturing industry has forced thousands of women to eke out subsistence through parallel petty trading activities (known as ‘informal’ sector occupations). Adolescent working class girls are multi-tasking. Social Equity: Distributed across social segments of youth in each of the four sampled cities, a substantial majority of respondents in the four cities found that economic prosperity is not evenly distributed across social segments of young people. Less than 40% of youths in all the cities are of the opinion that there is even distribution except in Cairo where less than 1 per cent believes that there is an even distribution of economic prosperity. In other words, a substantial percentage of youths were of the opinion that economic prosperity is not evenly distributed among all groups of youth, whether educated, rich or poor. This is a significant uniformity of opinion among the various groups in the society. Urban Infrastructure: Policies and Institutions: Infrastructure is one the most prime factor for a healthy life ,water, sanitation, electricity, roads and telecommunications including digital technology all this facilities form the physical assets of the city; their availability shows the degree of prosperity of a city; at the same time, they make a major contribution to the productivity or prosperity of urban areas. This Report also examines the extent to which the provision of urban infrastructure is linked to urbanization — higher levels of urbanization should imply more infrastructures. Broader provision of trunk infrastructure for water, sanitation, power and mobility will prevent the formation of slums, which are characterized by lack of such services. Investment in infrastructure can deliver major benefits in terms of economic growth, prosperity, poverty alleviation, environmental sustainability, and health. The cities that have been most successful in attracting foreign direct investment (‘competitive’ cities) are those that have vastly improved the range and quality of their infrastructure. Various benefits of infrastructure development were considered in the survey and opinions were sought on a five point scale, from “Not contributing” to “Fully contributing”. One of the
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important outcomes of a city’s superior infrastructure is improved productivity. Young people in the four-city sample have been asked what they thought was the main impediment to youth productivity in their respective cities. Six such factors were considered in the survey. It has been seen that (42 per cent) of respondents feels that corruption and lack of good governance were the major causes, while to 25 per cent; it was lack of appropriate knowledge and skills development (McKinsey and Company, 2010 & 2012). Across the four developing regions, the UN-Habitat Youth Survey (2012) shows that corruption is the most insidious impediment to equity. Young people in cities in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States rank corrupt practices as the greatest hindrances to equality. Corruption is also very significant in Asia and Latin America, though of lesser consequences compared with the other regions. Next to corruption, ‘inefficient and ineffective government’ is seen as the other major factor behind urban youth inequities. These two factors together are perceived as more significant in Latin America and Africa compared with Asia and Arab States. An active civil society and effective public institutions also have significant roles to play in favor of more equitable cities. On a more negative side, discriminatory practices, lack of democracy and the vested interests of ruling elites also show various degrees of relevance. That is why young people believe that committed, efficient, effective and non-corrupt political institutions and equity are long-term complements in the pursuit of urban prosperity. Markets are not always the most equitable or most efficient means of resource allocation, since they tend to be systematically skewed to the detriment of young people from underprivileged backgrounds regardless of their potential. The functionalities of government, legal systems, regulatory agencies or, indeed, all the institutions that assign and enforce property rights and mediate conflicts among citizens—can be distorted by the distribution of political power (influence, or ‘voice’). Inefficiency and asymmetry of access to these institutions perpetuate institutional structures that protect the
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interests of the more powerful, with scant regard for the rights or even property of the vast majority of the population. A majority of the youths hold the view that their respective cities are ‘committed’ to infrastructure development, and ‘somewhat committed’ to productivity, but a substantial proportion find their cities are ‘not committed’ to quality of life (Government of India 2011). In all four cities, policies promoting the of prosperity are neither ranked ‘poor’ not considered ‘good’ but none of the policies is rated as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ by the young respondents of the four cities. When all the results were combined, it was seen that young people perceive their cities as promoting infrastructure and productivity more than equitable development or quality of life, which points to a misbalanced equity in the city. Policy recommendations: The evolution of the youth development index is imperative. This will not only enable the monitoring of various programmers and their impact but also throw up new directions for youth involvement in development. Each state needs to develop and put into action a youth policy. These will address the state-specific challenges to youth development. Such policies are even more necessary in states with lower proportions of youth since it is here that youth issues are most neglected (UN, 2012). Conclusion: Mainstreaming the challenges and agency of youth is an essential underpinning of the Habitat Agenda for sustainable cities. This calls for strategies that integrate youth concerns and experiences into the conceptual framework, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, projects and programmers as well as youth-led development at the grass-roots level. The policy gap on youth in India’s urban transition is perhaps strongly indicated by a lack of consistent youth-differentiated data on key urban development indicators. Fast-tracking data efforts for the construction of composite indexes on youth development for urban and rural areas, as proposed in the Draft National Youth Policy 2012 (GOI 2012c), would motivate greater youth-inclusion in public policy and in India’s on-going urban transition. References:
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1) Aiyar, Shekhar and Mody, Ashoka (2011). ‘The Demographic Dividend: Evidence from Indian States’, IMF Working Paper WP/11/38, available at:http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2011/wp1138.pdf, 2) Farrington, John, Tams in Ramasut and Julian Walker (2002). ‘Sustainable Livelihoods Approaches in Urban Areas: General Lessons, with Illustrations from Indian Cases’, Working Paper 162, Overseas Development Institute, London. 3) Government of India (GOI) (2008). National Urban Sanitation Policy, http://urbanindia.nic.in/programme/uwss/NUSP.pdf 4) Government of India (2010a). Mid-Term Appraisal of the Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007-2012, Planning Commission, http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/mta/11th_mta/chapter wise/Comp_mta11th.pdf, 5) Government of India (2010b). Annual Report to the People on Employment, http://labour.nic.in/Report_to_People.pdf 6) Government of India (2011). Report on Urban Infrastructure and Services, http://www.niua.org/projects/hpec/FinalReport-hpec.pdf, l7) Government of India (2012a). Census of India 2011: Provisional Population Totals,Urban Agglomerations and Cities, http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-provresults/paper2/data files/India2/1.%20Data%20Highlight.pdf, 8) Government of India (2012b). Second Annual Employment and Unemployment Survey(2011-12), Labor Bureau, Ministry of Labor and Employment, http://labourbureau.gov.in/press_n.pdf, 9) Government of India (2012c), Exposure Draft: National Youth Policy 2012, http://yas.nic.in/writereaddata/mainlinkfile/File1039.pdf, 10) Government of India (2013). ‘Seizing the Demographic Dividend’ in Economic Survey of India,2012-2013. http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2012-13/echap-02.pdf, 11) Kundu, Amitabh (2006). “Trends and patterns of urbanization and their Implications”, in: India Infrastructure Report, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pp. 27-41. 12) McKinsey and Company (2010). ‘India’s urban awakening: building Inclusive cities, sustaining economic Growth’, http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI/Research/Urbanizat ion Urban_awakening_in_India 13) McKinsey and Company (2012) ‘The World at Work: Jobs, Pay and Skills for 3.5 billion people’ http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/employment and growth/ the_world_at_work, 14) Sen., Amartya (1999) Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press, Oxford. 15) United Nations (UN) (2012). World Urbanization Prospects: Revision, http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/index.htm
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