MB Lal Book 4
46.
Chasing shutterbug dreams – The
Hindu47. "I have A Dream" - Martin Luther King Jr.
48.
In Chhattisgarh, punishment for
rape is jobs in police force– The Hindu49.
Maoist violence registers a new
low in 2012– The Hindu50.
Gandhi, Peace and Non-violence for survival of Humanity
Delhi Delhi
Chasing shutterbug dreams
An exhibition of photographs clicked by the children of Salam Balak Trust in Delhi gives expression to their aspirations as well as deprivation
At a swank showroom of United Colors of Benetton in Central Delhi, few mammoth-sized photographs of lesser privileged children are mounted at rather easily accessible locations. If in one a child is seen carrying loads of enticingsamosas placed in leaf-made bowls with onion rings and green chutney as the topping, in another one a rag picker wearing a torn shirt and jeans balances his steps on a railway track with a sack full of garbage on his head.
In contrast to these is a photograph of a few children taking a splash in style in the water body of India Gate. In some other pictures, shadow photography makes itself prominent.
These photographs are clicked by the children of Salam Balak Trust (SBT) after being trained by Enrico Bosson, a UK-based photographer and the head of Fabrica (UCB’s international multicultural centre) Photography Department. The children shot pictures after a week’s workshop with Enrico.
This was an initiative by Unhate Foundation, a special programme started by the UCB in which the U.K. promotes the acceptance of diversity within the globe.
Mariarosa Cutillo, chief executive officer of Unhate Foundation, said: “I got in touch with SBT through UCB and we selected a few children who were inclined towards photography. After doing a workshop with them, we let them free to shoot under the theme ‘Home’ and what home means to them. That’s why a few kids have shot the trust’s picture and the life they live there (at the trust). We have also taken two children to the U.K. to teach them photography so that they could take it for a career.”
Speaking about his experience with the children, Enrico said: “Working with SBT children, for me, was like entering a new and big family, where everyone has a role and a dream to chase. In that intense workshop week, my little dream was to try to approach them, looking at their faces, at their eyes and to listen and imagine the many unsaid things. My goal was to be accepted not as a teacher — also because I would have had nothing to teach them — but simply as a classmate to whom to show the photos or share ideas and thoughts. During those days to review with them all the photos, trying to identify what was the specificity and uniqueness of each child, made me realise to be in a special place, where there was a lot to learn.”
Strangely though, the photographs despite having ‘Home’ as its main topic, had little defining it except some pictures from the trust itself. Most children squeezed street sides, roads in the topic and came out with some warm, telling photos.
Enrico agreed, “Going to the street to take pictures puts you in a different way, even if you come from that street. During the shooting, I noticed that they were keeping a certain distance from their ‘subject’; they were embarrassed to get closer to their subjects. To help them understand and overcome that distance was the most exciting moment for me. Each of them is the creator of a change of perspective. But at some point, they entered into their everyday life like no one else could do. This fact made me happy as they did an extraordinary work. In their pictures, I saw the pictures I always wanted to do.”
A child from the trust said philosophically, “Holding a camera was a magical experience. Shooting felt like a responsible exercise; after all, we were underprivileged, who aren’t forgiven easily. Taking our own pictures in situations we live isn’t a great feeling but it makes us realise where we have always stood.”
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"I have A Dream"
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Five Years ago, a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation proclamations. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later , we must face tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corner of American society and find himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition in a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash our check. When our architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on the promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked " insufficient funds". But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of the nation. So we have come to cash this check-a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of graduation. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the door of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. It would be fatal for the nation to overcome the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into the physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?' we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where you quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality . You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities. Knowing that some how this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I shall have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal". I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heart of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have dream that state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with the little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the south. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of together, to pray together to struggle, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together , knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning. "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountain side , let freedom ring". And if America is to be a great nation , this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that let freedom ring from Stone Mountains of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountains of 'Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside , let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, " Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. source: Martin Luther King Jr: The Peaceful Warrior, pocket Books, NY 1968)
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Updated: December 29, 2012 04:39 IST
In Chhattisgarh, punishment for rape is jobs in police force
Six years back, he became a rape accused while serving as a Special Police Officer — a crucial component of Chhattisgarh State’s semi-legal operations against the Maoists. Today, he continues to be a rape accused but has moved on to become a constable in the regular police force.
Sipping a glass of water in Polampalli police station, about 15 kilometres north of Shamsetti village in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, Kiche Nanda, told The Hindu that he had been framed — by social activist Himanshu Kumar. “The allegations were concocted by Kumar who paid the women to file the complaint,” he said.
The case against Nanda is that he was among 12 men who beat up and raped four women of Shamsetti in July 2006. Nanda now believes that the survivors of Shamsetti would soon withdraw their allegation. “They [the women] informed us that they had made a mistake as the miscreants were tall men and we Murias are short,” said Nanda, who is five foot nine inches, sports a chiselled moustache and a .9 mm pistol.
Though a warrant of arrest was issued by the court in the serial rape and other similar suits concurrently, Nanda and 11 other accused of Shamsetti case remain free. Some of the accused were even declared absconders a few years back. Nanda and other accused appeared in court earlier this year and took bail, more than half a decade after the serial rape.
Another accused, Kwasi Mangalram, a peon in the Dornapal’s government school, told The Hindu on phone that no one ‘opposed’ their bail. “No one from the women’s side appeared in court,” he said. Denying the allegation, Mangalram insisted that he never had “any filthy feeling about any women” in the village.
SPO-turned-constable, Sodi Bhima, whose name also featured in the women’s petition, said that the accused are all ‘living normally and a few are in government jobs.’ While none of the accused denied the incident, they blamed left-wing political parties — mainstream and underground — for the rapes.
Meanwhile, Himanshu Kumar denied that the cases are “concocted” and said he never knew the accused before the women came for legal assistance. “We never paid anyone. Instead we offered legal assistance as per the law,” he said. Mr. Kumar added that the women and other villagers were repeatedly threatened and discouraged from pursuing their cases. “Isn’t this extraordinary that for seeking justice, people are threatened while the government pampers the perpetrators on its pay roll,” asks Mr. Kumar.
Regarding the allegation that the police shielded the accused, Viswa Ranjan, Chhattisgarh’s erstwhile police chief at the time when the women moved the court, said he has to find out the status of the lawsuits before giving an explanation. “It is not possible to remember all the cases long after retirement,” he said.
Back in Shamsetti, when asked about their expectations from the judiciary, Mr. Sori, whose wife was one of the women raped, whispered: “Let justice be in Delhi, let us live quietly in peace.”
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/maoist-violence-registers-a-new-low-in-2012/article4266329.ece?css=printJanuary 3, 2013 14:18 IST
Maoist violence registers a new low in 2012
Relentless counter-insurgency operations taken up in all left-wing extremism-affected States seemed to have had the desired impact, as Maoist violence registered a record low in 2012.
The downward trend in violence in the last six-year period, could indicate the success of the security forces in pushing the Maoist revolution into a strategic equilibrium stage. Another possibility could be an unannounced tactical retreat from some areas by Maoists themselves to protect their cadre.
The peace secured puts tremendous responsibility on the civil administration to speed up developmental works, though security experts caution that the forces must not slip into complacency.
The success or failure of counter-insurgency operations is gauged by the rise or fall in the number of incidents perpetrated by Maoists. In 2012, there were 1,365 incidents involving Maoists in nine States. Maoist guerrillas killed 409 persons (296 civilians and 113 security personnel). This is a record low in the last seven years with the death toll standing at 611 (2011), 1,005 (2010), 908 (2009), 721 (2008) and 696 (2007), according to statistics of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Interestingly, Jharkhand has overtaken Chhattisgarh in Maoist killings in 2012. Out of 409 killings last year, Jharkhand accounted for 160 deaths, followed by Chhattisgarh (107), Odisha (45), Bihar (43), Maharashtra (41) and Andhra Pradesh (13).
A possible reason for this surge in violence in Jharkhand could be the decision of the Maoist leadership to strengthen base, while maintaining a low profile in Chhattisgarh, where security forces are making inroads in the otherwise impregnable Bastar forests.
“This could mean Maoists are heightening the violence in various other States in a sustained and determined bid to spread security forces thin,” said P.V. Ramana, senior fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).
Intelligence inputs culled from different sources indicate that there is an element of despondency among Maoist strategists with their State units unable to recruit youth into the revolutionary movement. The inputs also speak of the Maoist urban network being disrupted. The current scenario reflects a situation where the security forces are establishing their stronghold in plain areas, while making gradual inroads in the Maoist bastions in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, says a senior intelligence official.
This is the right time for the civil administration to move in and take up developmental works. “Any laxity on this count would be exploited by Maoists, who would change their strategies and tactics to regain control over the areas where security forces are gaining a foothold,” feels another officer.
Gandhi, Peace and Non-violence for survival of Humanity
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It was on 30th January 1948; Mahatma Gandhi fell to the bullet of an assassin. This international Congress is organized in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi. This month also marks the centenary of Gandhi's first imprisonment. It was on 10th January 1908 he was prosecuted for defying anti Asiatic law known as Black Act, and for disobeying an order to leave the Transvaal within 48 hours. This was his first imprisonment for challenging the racist rule in South Africa through non-violent means. Therefore, it is appropriate that we have assembled here in the month of January to discuss about peace and non-violence in the historic Sevagram Ashram where Gandhi lived and worked for many years. I think, Sevagram is the best place in the world to discuss about peace and non-violence. Gandhi dedicated his life in championing the cause of peace and non-violence and Sevagram was his Karmabhomi and a broadcasting station.
This Congress will examine a number of key questions relating to the past, present and future of non-violent action. Many conferences have been organized throughout the world on questions relating to justice, peace and non-violence. Such conferences are small but significant steps contributing to the global effort to create a more peaceful and just society by serving as an experience sharing forum and the development of useful global non-violent networks. They also add to the morale of persons engaged in peace activism. It is hoped that the key issues we will discuss in the Congress will be brought to the notice of international community and international organizations including the United Nations. This conference is the result of concrete efforts of people who are engaged in non-violent action and working or peaceful and just society forum. It is hoped that the Congress will herald the beginning of a global movement for non-violence with strong Gandhian orientation. The issues taken up for discussion in the Congress are crucial for the survival of humanity. The several problems which we are facing today were not in existence when Gandhi was alive. Therefore, we cannot have any readymade solutions for the problems which we are facing today. We have to find our own solutions. I hope the deliberations in the Congress will help us to understand the problems in the right perspective. Understanding the problem is beginning of the solution. We have to take a holistic approach in analyzing the problems in order to find the solutions. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 as the International Year of Planet Earth. This declaration is basically to increase awareness of the importance of earth sciences for the achievement of sustainable development. We have to respect the mother Earth. Community control over livelihood resources is essential for sustainable living. In the globalised patent regime, the farmer lost control over seeds. It will not be an exaggeration, if I say that farmer lost control over agriculture itself. In fact, we have to develop strategies for restoration of people's control over their lives in this globalised world. I need not have to emphasize the importance if Gandhian approach to sustainable living. Gandhi said, life should be need based, not greed based. Gandhi wanted that a person who needs the thing should get it, not the person who can purchase it. Initially when the civilization first started, it was the big fish which was surviving by eating the small fish. The second stage was live and let others to live. Gandhi's idea of non-violence was to live and help others to live. Helping others to live mutual respect should become foundation of our life. We are living in a society, where violence and terrorism have become the order of the day. Weapons of mass destruction stockpiled by many countries place a real threat to the survival of humanity. America realized the importance of non-violence only when the world trade centre was demolished. On 9/11, the then American President George Bush remembered Gandhi. The paradox is that America advised others about the non-violence but never follows it. A question was asked to Martin Luther King Jr. 'what do you expect from the white man to solve the problems of black men'? His reply was 'give a white man a white heart'. Therefore, a bright and white thought is the necessity of the day. Civil society initiatives to challenge threats of war and violence need to be emphasized. Building and strengthening of civil societies to work for peace and justice is an important activity that peace lovers should take up. We have to find out ways and means by which civil society interventions can be carried out in different contexts and issues including war and terrorism. I am sure that civil society actors can play the role of countervailing forces to predatory states and transnational corporations. We have to identify the roots of violence and to address them instead of declaring global war against violence and terrorism. The futility of this war is evident from the statistics of increased violence in the countries where it is going on. We have to learn from the experience of non-violent actions/resistance from a global perspective. I want to ask a question to myself, and to everybody, that, in a corner of our heart are we not, harboring terrorism in the name of caste, creed, religion, language and even in the name of states or nation? If that is so then can we say that we are absolutely, violence free people? In my view much depends upon our attitude and behavior towards the problem. Education is an important tool for promoting peace and non-violence. We have to recast the curriculum of present education in order to incorporate peace education and conflict resolution practices. Non-violent parenting is another important area. The institutions of higher education can play an important role in training the youth for non-violent action and conflict transformation. I'm not elaborating much on questions relating to peace and non-violence because in midst there are lot of personalities who have dedicated their lives for the cause of peace. The spirit of Gandhi will guide us in our deliberations.
From the book, Contemporary Perspectives on Peace and Non-violence, published in 2010 by Institute of Gandhian Studies, Gopuri, Wardha
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/delhi-architecture-student-alleges-ragging-by-seniors/article4272149.ece?css=print
January 4, 2013 10:48 IST
Delhi architecture student alleges ragging by seniors
It all happened on September 2; FIR on December 30 after victim’s father approached Jharkhand High Court
A Bachelor of Architecture first year student at the School of Planning & Architecture here was allegedly ragged by some of his seniors in the hostel causing him injuries. A case has been registered at the New Friends Colony police station in this connection.
Though the incident took place this past September 2, the First Information Report (FIR) was registered on December 30 after repeated complaints to the institute officials did not evoke any response and the victim’s father, a resident of Ranchi, approached the Jharkhand High Court.
According to the FIR, the victim was in his hostel at Taimoor Nagar when some students of Bachelor of Architecture (II) tortured him mentally and physically causing injuries to his knee.
“His seniors called him along with his classmates to the terrace and began roughing them up. They put bricks on his back and asked him to do push-ups and hurled abuses at him. He was then asked to place his hands parallel to shoulders and hold bricks on them. It continued for almost six hours till 4 a.m.,” said the victim’s father, claiming that the seniors were in large numbers and his son knew five of them by their names.
The victim told his father about the incident over phone on September 3 and reached his hometown a week later.
His father then wrote to the institute seeking action, but there was no response. He then filed a writ in the Jharkhand High Court on November 26.
“The injuries inflicted on my son have not just caused him physical and mental pain, but also caused loss of studies as well as he will be under treatment for more than three months. It also caused financial burden on the family,” said the victim’s father.
A case has been registered under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code.
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Economic Reforms and Social Degradation
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 Over the last two decades, India has witnessed series of economic reforms through various policies and promotional efforts from the government. Private industries, corporate and traders have seen a drastic changes in the way they operate their business and dramatic effects so long been considered as dreams. The nation’s economy has witnessed gradual growth in terms of increased GDP and PCI with the lowering of inflation. The produces in the agricultural and industrial sector has reached the top levels with more of exporting prospects and higher prices in the domestic market. Globalization facilitated people to connect and work beyond their reaches improving their economy and standard of life. They could have access to internationally acclaimed products and services, processes and technologies allowing them to replicate the same in their domestic manufacturing and processing. The execution of reform policies and plans gets enveloped with shape and character, form and figure through proper training and methodologies as the younger generation at the proletariat levels effectively put them in use. Today, villages have access to satellite communication, wireless, Internet technologies, world-class schools, colleges and educational facilities besides playing an important role in hosting their large vacant lands for setting up of multi-national companies and factories. The economic reforms have boosted the wages and salaries at the local level with a special consideration to the earning potential and income of the farmers and agriculture-based workers. Even the middle-class, hitherto deemed as an all-time thorny class however creamy it is, sees this economic development as much-awaited boon that brings various fortunes in the form of enriched jobs and diversified business opportunities. As a whole, an average citizen of India has little to worry about what has happened at the economic front and to the money he has pocketed out of same, yet sophisticated work he has been doing all these years.
Believe it or not, economy has nothing to do with society, as many perceive. The commercial aspect of economy has little to do with the customer’s life as many economists believe that it generally has its implications only on their purchasing behavior and capacity. At the superficial point of view, one may not immediately distinguish the serious damage that has been caused at the social level due to economic restructuring. Indeed, people have no time to assess the situation as defiantly as in the days of closed economies and tighter jurisdictions for conducting day-to-day business. It is neither noticed how the society oversees these reforms nor the impact on social connections that were so long held morally and traditionally. One has to think over the increasing concern over the role of economic reforms, which had been enjoyed over the last few years, in social deformity and erosion of cultural values? Not that this apprehension be discussed in the perception of westernization factor that has involved in these economic reforms but the alterations occurred in the inherent social structure, values and belief existing in the society. This article is to discuss the modernization and transformation of ethics which had a tremendous impact on human relations and values in the society.
India in the past, even as a poor country and without any major reform activities, has withstood the economic recessions and financial deficits. It relied on its home productions which could fetch a high yield despite various external pressures. Not so long ago but only before a decade, it sees a sound economy, with global economic terms and trade balances showing positive numbers meeting our internal expectations. There is no scale to weigh the gains of such sudden twist in the economic activities which boosts the affluent image of the nation and the people as well. India and its people have entered in to top of the charts in the world’s leading destination for trade with newly budding multi-billionaires. However, the critical analysis from social activists pointing the declining of ethical values and social principles has put a blockade on developing such an image. They are more bothered about the impact of economic activities on the conventional morality of the people.
For instance, when Tatas wanted to establish their plant in Singur, West Bengal, a remote village off 300 kilometers from Calcutta, it was the traditional value of the land that came into controversy. The benefits such as economic growth, standard of life, job opportunities and modernization of the area were taken least for consideration by the local people. It is not the value of the land in rupees that mattered but the moralistic worth and cultural heritage of the land that stood with the sons of the soil which came in the middle of that economic reform. Industrialization in remote villages, so long been left as arid land used for nothing, is considered as a reformation and renovation of economy. But the society that is carved in and out of that industrialization merely reflects a large gathering of lives settled for work, food and enjoyment in spiteful ways. In real terms, it is not a society at all. It is a way of life newly created which might have no value of civilization, culture, tradition or ethnicity.
Today we see in our country many such “settlements”, not societies with social order. These “settlements” exist out of the need of those settled and who drove the people to settle on a temporary basis. The cultural and moral part of the society comes in to their homes as just winds blow in through one window and go out of another window. The business and economic conditions in such areas are far too pitiable to describe by any norms. It is much more dismal that these settlements are taken as examples to study and evaluate socio-economic progress.
Roads are becoming more important in deciding country’s economic progress. As a part of economic rebuilding, around 5000 Kilometers of Indian roads have been widened, re-laid with the use of modern technologies to meet international standards. New inter-connecting roads have been laid to support the high ways. Bridges and flyovers came over in and around the cities in support of this reformation of road system. The Department of Highways established toll booths to collect fees from the users of these roads to maintain them. Such a complete over-hauling and restructuring of roadways is seemed to be the most important reform India has done ever since her independence in 1947. Commuting and travel has become a larger by-product business as a result of such massive road constructions. Does anyone ever care of the underlying social impact these roads and bridges have made in people’s lives?
At the least one out of hundred road workers die out of injuries for every hundred kilometer length of road construction. At the least one construction worker dies for every five bridges and flyovers. As minimal as ten workers, get injured for every hundred kilometer of construction. These statistics are just approximation. But, if we come to know about the cause of such damages and deaths, we could measure the actual amount of loss in such incidents. The main reason is the ignorance, indifference and inadequate training in handling of modern machines and technologies used for construction purposes. Many unskilled workers are engaged into construction work, showing indifferent attitude towards the intricacies of work. They are not given proper training in the specified job skill and for the efficiency. Lack of adequate knowledge in the underlying minds that involve in such construction works is never considered as a prerequisite by the government and the builders as well. Had they, the killings due to collapse of bridges and flyovers in major cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai would have been prevented. Unfortunately, no social welfare organizations have seen these catastrophes as a social damage and degradation in spite of many protests been launched for seeking compensation for the health and safety of the workers. The associations and unions meant for road workers too work for commercial purposes rather than social causes of the unfortunate road workers. The poor workers do live a normal life; they travel long distances, from one state to another leaving their families and children causing a kind of social turmoil. Some of them, who take their entire family with them for work live on the roads, settle down even after completing their term of work thus becoming road-side dwellers. We could see such families living on the roadsides of India’s major cities. One could think of this condition as a simple example for how economic reforms degrade the social environment.
Economies built on the code of ethics alone can serve the society. As Mahatma Gandhi emphatically noted, “Commerce without morality” is a sin. The economy that resulted out of such unfair trade and commerce practices might surely be considered as a social evil rather than been acclaimed as a social upliftment. Free schemes announced by the governments are no less than such a sinful practice which creates a social disorder. Things like bi-cycles for school children, bus pass, kitchen utensils including stove and gas, computers and laptops, medical assistance etc. are some of the items and services which are offered free of cost or at subsidized prices to the public. Such schemes are announced by the governments whenever it feels that the state’s economic condition is marginally better. It is a known fact that not all the hundred percent of the downtrodden is addressed by any free or non-priced commodities offered through such plans. Again, it must be comprehended that it abets “social inequality” in terms of “have’s” and “have not’s” between those who “gained” and “not gained.” This bitter divide among the public is a direct outcome of a free offer for improving or ushering economic conditions of a common man. The social divide can also be perceived as a hidden political agenda of a ruling party which gather votes according to those who benefited.
Many researchers and political observers remark on such phenomenon as a political pest instead a trend that gradually degrades the social equality and harmony. The whole nuisance happening in ration shops, government offices and Panchayat or Municipality outlets in acquiring a scheme of things has so long been considered as a symbol of poverty but only very few observe it as a barrier for social equality. It also raises their eyebrows whether the economic reforms have really reached the masses at the grassroots. There is no relation between such social inequality and enmity cause due to the “forced divide” and the issues of social disparity, suppression of low caste and class etc. argued at various platforms. It is a micro-level menace being triggered out of economic compulsions and economic restructuring to certain extent.
Electronization is another by-product meted out as a means for economic growth and globalizing our economy. As a part of economic reforms, Information Technology has become a relevant means for performing our business processes and commercial activities in an efficient manner. IT enabled industries and sectors have mushroomed changing the way people live and work. Yet, it is not the concern. The underlying social structure, family values and individual conduct have largely been transformed into a neo-cultural, complicated façade of social web which could not be classified as under any known formulation or folklore. The beliefs are slowly withering away as the values are disregarded in the process of mechanization of life and work. Machines do all the work and social minds get occupied with the superfluous manipulations on money, mankind and markets. Social gatherings and person to person contacts have diminished to become a more simple form of networking through computers. Citizens have become Netizens. The touch, feel and sensual relationships have become twittering and chatting, merely reflecting a war of words most of the times. Literally, mankind’s’ century old, civilized socialization have become a illusory and intellectual warfare exchanging missiles of text, images, photos and videos over the net causing a social enigma among the classical thinkers and social reformers. Fairly enough, a reform needs to adhere to the principles of social ethics with a modern approach. But, the psychological and social alterations caused due to economic reforms through e-revolutionizing the society has barely been appreciated at large. Its despicable effect has started emerging slowly at certain quarters in the fields of economics, commerce and computers.
Jobs are getting scattered every where. People are relocating and moving hither and thither chasing the pertinent jobs they could sustain. The close bonding within the close relations and families are getting withered away, so as the reputation and status one upheld for years. People learn new habits and lifestyle leaving their routine way of life. New places and strange connections startle them shortly yet get to be ignored due to lack of time for thinking about it. People get used to the new environment embracing new social atmosphere. Altogether, it is all a new beginning. A beginning for building a new economy for their own, forgetting their social conscientiousness!
If there is any scheme that hinders the social harmony in multiple ways, it must be FDI. Remote controlling the business environment in multi-national companies by foreign companies and investments have laid a basis for bringing FDI into small scale sectors. The success rate seen by the MNCs may not repeat in SSIs. Unlike MNCs, Foreign Direct Investments in small scale industrial sector deprive the rights and pride of an average Indian businessman. It leads them into a den of all sorts of illegitimate, unethical actions if not he is prepared or equipped to direct the investments in a moralistic manner. The argument that only 49% of the stake is owned by foreign parties might be economically or financially right. But in practice, such an arrangement would not be ideally running without bothering the social ethics of both the business and its environment. FDIs might build economy at micro-levels, but there is no guarantee that monetary transactions would happen only in legal ways. Produces out of FDIs still need to come to local market only, not the International market. Above all, indigenous capital for any business alone can determine the sales, profit and stability of the business. That is the basic business mantra.
Economic development has hit the educational institutions as well. Ever since the British occupied India, education in this country is semi-modern and stereo-typed as many modern educationists believe. The economic power attained by radical reforms allows us to see education through modern eyes filled with lots of dreams and exuberance. Education has increasingly become smart and internationalized. Globalized education allows us to learn what is required to “do” rather than what is required to “live”. The new system claims to be covering all forms of child education, spiritual, physical, mental and psychological. The attractive schooling and gorgeous class rooms continue woo the people to experience the new methodologies but it hardly fit in to our socio-cultural patterns. Not many people have looked this modern education as a plus as they began to wonder how and where it would lead their children when it grows. Some of us have already become stranded within our society due to transcendental shuttling of work and education under various, contrasting conditions. Society and Education were intermingled and complementary to each other in those days. Today, schools are established out side the town, external to the social environment in remote lands. Every student travels at least 5 to 10 kilometers per trip a day to get his school education. We are lost in our own world. We don’t see the “Indian” brand among the school children. We are engulfed with the enhanced hunger for economic power that frantically drives us all around such rationalized, neo-modern educational institutions and workplaces, with no honest awareness on the un-societal smoke engulfing around the individuals and families. As a result, education has slowly become a demoralized trade compelled upon every child from its very nascent age.
Gandhi’s economic vision was aimed at the removal of exploitation, economic inequality and a world order based on war. He conceptualized the ideas of cooperation and sharing, universal participation in physical labour, voluntary limitation of wants, decentralization of economic activities, a new technology called “Swadeshi” in consonance with the new goals, and the transformation of private ownership into trusteeship. Our economic reforms are no inferior to these tenets put forth by Gandhiji. Yet, there exists a huge difference between those in terms of social contribution. While Gandhiji was criticized for wanting the people in the state of perpetual poverty and demanding self-disciplined austerity from them, today’s economic reforms put us in a state of spurious prosperity and communal disorderliness. His economic policies were in line with the social desire for freedom from the British Raj and were part of the freedom struggle movement. Today’s economic policies are at the behest of international pressures and the common man finds no need for them. Gandhiji wanted to build social justice and welfare amalgamated with economy where as today’s economic policies dictates terms on its own, not evolving out of any social means but for political pragmatism.
Economic restructuring is a welcome process, which forms a part of globalization. It demands us to relinquish our age-old practices and faiths. It can’t be defied at its very beginning. Every individual has got their own hard times in facing this new economic order. One needs to sacrifice something to see a positive change in their lives. This common belief runs into the lives of billions of Indians who experience the economic reforms in practice. It is the collective impact and the magnitude of damage it generates in the society as a whole must be appraised. It would be more appropriate in all aspects to judge and weigh the effect of economic reforms during the current, post-globalization era. A decade of shift in our economic activities is an ample period for assessing the social perspective of the economy. With all the ups and pros, society has still hold a discontent and frustrated living in certain quarters. The “common man” might have shut his voice while muddling through changing economic strides as gentle as before but with a dubious conviction. The success of the economic reforms is challenged thus. And, the society defies it strongly in terms of sustaining its integrity and values.
* Founder & Primary Consultant, The Centre for Information Technology and Gandhian Philosophy of Nonviolence and Peace, Mettur Dam – 636 402 Salem District, Tamilnadu, India
Email Id: bbmurali_2000@yahoo.com and citgpnp@gmail.com
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Political Corruption, Its Reactions and Gandhian Resolution
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By M. Balaji,
Research Scholar, Dept. of Philosophy,
Pondicherry University,
E-mail: Philobala@gmail.com
The contemporary world gives full of awareness to the people and their utilization such as socio-economic, political, material, and spiritual. This awareness were commonly used in the primitive stages. As time passes in the name of civilization, the human beings concentrated on the powers for their own fulfillment. The practice of fulfilling the desires results in luxuries life. With the fear of future, the creed towards luxuries life ends with the evil of corruption. It is the age old phenomena; it has the deep roots in earliest history. In India Kautilya has pointed out in his Arthasastra that “just as it is impossible not to taste the honey or the poison that finds itself at the tip on the tongue, so also it is impossible for a minister or a government servant not to eat up at least a bit of government revenue.” (B. Venkatappiah, ‘Misuse of Office’ in David L. Stills (ed), International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. II, The Macmillan Company and the Free Press, U.S.A., p. 272.) It is the psychological factor that rested on the human mind, the desire for more than our needs motivated by creed, leads to corruption. It is a social evil against the peaceful life. Corruption means the misuse of the power for the sake of more benefits, which may be material or non-material. In our day today life, we have been experiencing and witnessing about corruption. Most of the civil servants misuse their power and authority in order to obtain an extra income from the public. It is a kind of exploitation done through their position or post or power and also dangerous to the civil life. The abovementioned issues are the most common phenomenons of the corruption, particularly in the field of politics it is getting more coercive violent nature. Political corruption is the corruption done by the political actors or politicians for their own betterment life or career. By nature it is more effective than other forms because it affects the national life in policy making, implementing and experimentation. For example: if the minister of the certain ministry is corrupted, he can not work for the public, instead of that he should do favors for the money givers. In this context, in this paper I wish to analyze the political corruption, it causes, effects and also some valuable suggestions against corruption in respect of Gandhian appraisal.
Political Power
Generally Politics is the organized dispute about power and its use, involving choice among competing values, ideas, persons, interests, demands. Political power means the capacity to regulate national life through genuinely elected national representatives. Political corruption is caused by the misuse of political power by the national representatives. Political power is the best means to attain the political as well as the social ends. In addition to that, our politicians tainted towards this power gain their own economic benefits. They are using this as the more profitable and easiest route to attain wealth and rich. In the corruptive institution the political power is subordinated for the political value in order to achieve the economic ends. That means fundamental principle of politics is not an act to attain the publics aims but only for the promotion of the selfish ends. Thereby Gandhi said “Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today.” This implies the meaning of our system of government: the democratic government is basically good but our politicians by losing morality, they are liable to corruption. The moral empowerment of the politician is necessary factor to act as the genuine representative of the people. It only can promote their mental maturity in the proper manner that lead them to proper policy-making and implementation. Gandhi had rightly said I have derived my politics from ethics… It is because I swear by ethics that I find myself in politics. (M. K. Gandhi, Harijan, 03-10-1936). Similarly along with Gandhi, Rousseau said that the operating principle of the community is moral and a man in his moral pursuit works in the interest of fellow citizens. It is a fact that the political power is always liable to corruption. Thus to preserve the country and also the ethical empowerment in politics it is necessary to take the measures. It is not only for the politicians and also for each and every citizen of India to uphold and protect themselves from corruption.
Reasons
Basically corruption is an universal evil, it not specific only for certain countries. It is the longstanding problem of the world. The causal argument says that ‘without cause there is no effect’ that means each and every effects presupposed by the cause. Thereby we can say the effect of corruption must have the cause. What are the causes? It is the unavoidable question rise here. The answers of the question are 1. Creed in order to enjoy the luxuries life, 2. Fear for future in order to protect dignity, 3. Concentration on the both political as well as economic power in order to maintain their domination. Among these three causes, the first one is the very basic level and also it is most common for all people. Because human beings are basically the seekers of the better than present, in the field of politics, the politicians have more possibilities to do so. In minimum level it not that much dangerous but in the next level it will affect the national life. The second cause is: the desire of the chair. In this case most of the politicians in India and around the world, they do want to leave the position. When once he has occupied, he will seek for better position and ultimately it will lead to the family politics. For example in India, the Nehru family dominating the congress party and also the government. Whenever they come to the position, they will govern the ruling party. Similarly in Tamilnadu, DMK party and their government is also the best example. In it, most of the party as well as the government power rested only in M. Karunanithi (party head and former chief minister) and his family members. When Karunanithi was in the ruling position, he had given home minister post to his son Stalin with his alliance influences on the congress government got minister posts for his another son Azhakiri, his daughter Kanimozhi and his grandson Dhayanithimaran in the central government. At same time aforementioned Karunanithi’s family members also having the important positions in DMK party. It is the kind political corruption called as Nepotism. The Santhanam Committee says that “There is widespread impression that failure of integrity is not unlnown among ministers and that some ministers, who have held office during the last sixteen years, have enriched themselves illegitimately, obtained good jobs for their sons and relations through nepotism and have reaped other advantages inconsistent with any notion of purity in public life….” (Santhanam Committee Refprt, Published by the Government of India, 1964, pp. 101-102.) The third cause: concentration of the political as well as economic power is the cause as well as effect, as cause leads to centralization of power in the hands of one or few, which is the starting point to political autocracy and economic capitalism. As the effect it is the result of the second cause: the fear of future and saving their position for the better than now.
Effects
 It is the pathetic condition of India; today that the people are compelled to give bribery for the right action in the right time. Actually it was done for only the wrong actions in the earlier periods. It is prime achievement of corruption to change the public attitude towards the corruption as an unavoidable social practice, that is to say “It has now become almost a way of life.” (K. S. Padhy, P. K. Muni, Corruption in Indian Politics (cited), Discovery Publishing House, Delhi, 1897, p. 34.). The political corruption makes the close connection bureaucracy, politics, mafias and criminals. For example; the lobbyist Nira Radia recently suspected by the CBI in the 2G Spectrum allocation case. On criminalization of politics N. N. Vohra, Union Secretary (1995) said in his report, a network of mafias is virtually running a parallel government pushing the state apparatus into irrelevance. There has been a rapid spread and growth of criminal gangs, armed senas, drug mafias, smuggling gangs and economic lobbies in the country, which have over the years developed and intensive network of contacts with bureaucrats, government functions at local level, politicians, media persons and strategically located individuals in non-state sector. Some of these syndicates have also international linkages including the foreign agencies. The political corruption leads to corrupt of the judicial and administration, thereby the most of our Indian politicians charged with criminal cases but most of them did not accused and the cases are pending still now by their political influence and our inept, slow judicial system. But at the lower levels robbery, Pick pocketing to fulfill their lively needs done by the poor are immediately accused and punished by the court. Our sincere police department poster their images in the public places with caution at the same time behind the billionaire corruptive politicians they are saluting and getting the urgency to open their car door. For some time they will be in prisoned, after that our judicial system allows them to get the luxuries life even in jail. In this way we should feel proud of our country as democratic. Reduction of economic value: As far as Indian situation is concerned politics has been always liable to corrupt the economy of the public sectors. The rampant economy of the nation is saved in the foreign banks as the block money by the politicians. For example, 2G Spectrum Scam Rs, 1.76-lakh crore worth, Commonwealth Games Scam, Telgi Scam, Satyam Scam, Bofors Scam, Fodder Scam worth Rs, 900 crore and Hawala Scandal $ 18 Million bribery Scandal etc. These all are done by the politicians especially ministers and their supporters. This shows that the politicians have control over the national economy by corruption. Thereby poverty and economic inequality takes place in these circumstances. Millions and Crores of people are suffering for their lively needs of food, shelters and dresses and at the same time very few people are possessing thousands of crores in their hands by the corruption. India has very close similarity with United State of America in practicing one of the models of democracy in the world but in the economic development it is behind United States of America. It is a fact that political corruption is the most crucial reason for our economic instability. The citizens have very few means to protest against corruption in the present existential system.
Reactions
The present Indian condition made us to think that Newton has failed in his third law that “to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction” in the respect of corruption in India. Because we can not find any proper reaction against corruption in India still now. Never corrupted politicians and ministers properly punished here, most of them after accusation of their corruption remains same as before in their positions, no equal opposite reaction take place here. Partially in the dramatic manner Indian government forming the enquiry committees against the corruption but recommendation of the committees did not fully practiced. Reaction on political corruption has two dimensions, the first dimension lies from side of government, the second is public side. Before the prominent Gandhian follower and the social activist Anna Hazare’s mass movement for anti-corruption, we never find such a protest on it. He proposed the appointment of a Jan Lokpal, an independent body that would investigate corruption cases, complete the investigation within a year and envisages trail in the case getting over in the neat one year. The Lokpal Bill drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde : the former supreme court judge and present Lokayukta of Karnataka, Prashant Bhushan: the supreme court lawyer, and Arvind Kejriwal: the RTI activist. This Bill claims to establish the independent system where a person found guilty would go to jail within two years of the complaint being made and his corrupt property will be seize. It also claims power to the Jan Lokpal to accuse the politician and bureaucrats without government permission.
The Lokpal Bill is not a new one to India; it is 42 years old. The Gandhian activist Anna Hazare says that “On as many as eight occasions, the Likpal Bill was introduced in Parliament but nothing happened. Now some people say this is blackmail. I will continue to indulge in such blackmail till I am alive because this is for the people’s good.” (India Today) The government of India could not pass this Bill in its eight attempts, all the time all the governments still now ruled, pushed away from the parliament in the dramatic manner which mentions some irrational reasons. This time our government is showing the reason of the inclusion of the Prime Minister and the higher judiciary under the domain of the bill as danger of the governing process and it will lead to instability of the government. The most important debate is, inclusion of the Prime Minister under the bill whether it is good or bad. While these discussions are going on with Anna Hazare and Bill drafting committee, the yoga guru Baba Ramdev started the hunger strike and it was stopped by police with the force of the government. On this incident, the press releases were bring news such as Baba Ramdev is stimulated by RSS and Siva Sena, his property value is now Rs, 5000 crore and he did not get proper permission to organize in Ramlila ground and so on. With the questions of how Ramdev earned this much money and whether it is black money or not? His dramatic wave is rested. But the real follower of Gandhi Anna Hazare with the truthful mind, in a non-violent way and rightful claims still today striving on anti-corruption and try to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill.
Gandhian Resolution
Mahatma Gandhi is the Indian born great personality of the world. He was the social activist, political thinker and leader, eminent economist, prominent moralist and most basically he was the humanitarian. Under his leadership Indians got freedom from the foreign rule, in the same way his follower Anna Hazare’s leadership on the anti-corruption movement raised this much deep discussion than previous time. According to Gandhi “Corruption will go when the larger numbers of persons given to the unworthy practice realize that the nation does not exist for them, but that they do for the nation. It requires a high code of morals, extreme vigilance on the part of these who are free from the corrupt practice and also have influence over corrupt servants. Indifference in such matters is criminal.” (M. K. Gandhi, Harijan, 01-02-1948.) Gandhi’s socio-economic, political and moral principles have been more relevance for finding solution to corruption. For example his moral principles of Non-possession and Non-stealing are based on the belief on Truth and by the means on Non-violence. Non-possession and Non-stealing say that holding more than our needs implies stealing and it is the social evil. Thereby Gandhi suggested the economic concept of Trusteeship, it says that the person, who has more than his needs should be kept as the trustee of the property and he must spent that property for the sake of social welfare. Politically there is a best means in Gandhism to eradicate the political corruption, which is his concept of political decentralization. The concept of political decentralization in a democratic system is called as democratic decentralization and it is practiced in the form of Panchayat Raj system. It deals with central government power devolved towards the village government, in the same manner the system of Lokpal will devolve its power to the local body of its own. It is better to establish the district level Lokpal institution to control over the village governments and officials in its region, as the independent body only acts effectively against corruption in all the departments in a district. The state level Lokpal institution will have control over the district and deal the unresolved cases of the district level. The national Lokpal institution will have the control over the state institutions and resolve the cases which are unresolved by the state body. The three levels of the Lokpal institution work with assistance of the vigilance. Each is independent from the judicial and deals only the cases of corruption and each has the sufficiency of its own in taking the decisions according to the laws of the Bill. According to Gandhi “the best and the only right course would be for the public to prevent actual corruption from taking place by maintaining a sleepless vigilance, and for the servant to keep the public on the qui vive.” (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, P. 312.) These three levels of Lokpal institutions will be the sleepless vigilance as Gandhi said.
The necessary of including the Prime Minister, who is the higher level representative and judicial personality, becomes controversial. The answer with the Gandhian appraisal will be yes because, he said that we are the sparks of the God. Whether Prime Minister or mere voter all should be treated as same in the society. In the present circumstances of today, it is most important to be more conscious on their responsibilities. As people’s representative and also as a head of the ministry, the Prime Minister has the control over other Ministers and their actions. It is not impracticable because he has the sufficient officials even if he wants he also can appoint some more. In the case of political corruption not done by the single Minister instead of that it is the activity of the group of Ministers. This fact is evidenced from the recent 2G Spectrum corruption. In it Former Ministers A. Raja and Kanimozhi are accused formerly and now Former Minister Dhayanithi Maran loses his minister post by the suspect of CBI. 2G Spectrum is one for just example as recent one there are many more in our Indian politics. Thus the inclusion of Prime Minister is not sufficient to eradicate political corruption. The Lok pal Bill must include the ruling party head and its alliance party heads also. Because for the party ideology and its working plan only people are voting its candidates thereby they have the obligation to be truthful and be sincere to the voters. And if there is any possibility, the party head has to participate in the corruption indirectly by their Ministers. In this circumstance the corrupted Minister will be only the tool. Actually the corruptive activities are usually done by the direction of the head of the party. So it is necessary condition to enquire the party leader under the law and order. In the case of inclusion of alliance party heads, the corrupted Minister and his party head must be included for the direct inquiry of the Lokpal institution. Because the party has to been the responsibility to its candidate’s activities. Here the party head may participate in corruption through his candidate. One more thing is that, people did not vote for that individual. They have the impression about the party. So the party has to bear the responsibility of control over its subjects from the corruptive manner.
The Lokpal Bill in its prolonged struggle now gained the serious discussion on it by the Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare. Every time it is pushed back by the politicians. In order to eradicate political corruption, the politicians must practice the Gandhi’s moral teachings, these are more helpful them to purify their character and attitude. The politicians must have the realization of the responsibility of votes. In Lokpal Bill, the inclusion of the Prime Minister and other higher officials and also ruling, alliance party heads is the necessary condition to vanish the political corruption from India. The district and state level Lokpal institutions should be establish in a simplest and also in an easiest process and reduce the burden. It will make the proximity of the people with the institution. The Lokpal Institution will decentralize its power with its constituent parts of district and state level institution with the direction of its own.
Reference
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Localization and Globalization
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By Dr. Y. P. Anand
(Paper read by Dr. Y. P Anand on 19 August under the ‘GANDHIRAMA 2012’ Programme (17 to 22 August, 2012)
organized by Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR) at JNU, New Delhi)
Introduction
From early times, human beings have tended to conduct their numerous activities at varying levels of aggregation, such as at individual, family, community, country, or cross-country levels. ‘Globalization’ may be defined as the process of integration of communities/ nations/ countries through cross-country flows covering various economic, social, cultural and political aspects. Thus, ‘globalization’ has been an ongoing process from the very beginning of human civilization, its progress moving in tandem with the progress in technological means of communication and mobility, with the corresponding progress in travel, trade, social structures, and politico-economic processes, structures and controls. Imperialism, colonialism and the widening scale of wars were among the manifestations of growing ‘globalization’ during 17th to 20th centuries.
‘Globalization’ is not a value-neutral phenomenon. The post-World War II era of growing ‘globalization’, which has tended to reduce the earth to a ‘global village’, too has its distinct gainers and losers, its own peculiar characteristics of inequitable progress and exploitation, and it has significant social and ecological costs.
As a reaction such adverse impacts of the on-going globalization process, a counter-emphasis has been developing for ‘localization’ in diverse forms in different parts of the world. Here, ‘localization’, essentially means an economy of neighbourhood and self-reliance, particularly in respect of more basic needs, as a means to ensure freedom and to protect the rights and interests of local/ weaker sections and communities against exploitation by the globalizing forces, particularly the ‘free market’ economy. In the Indian context, the whole idea of ‘localization’ has been embodied in the comprehensive and well-known Gandhian concept of ‘Swadeshi’, which had been developing in India as a reaction to ‘global’ exploitation since the colonial rule itself. It denotes the ideology of whatever ‘localization’ would mean in its positive aspects, such as decentralization of economic controls and decisions, appropriate levels of self-reliance, concern for fulfilling basic needs of all, and protection of natural resources.
The concept of ‘swadeshi’ is not only an agenda for cooperation, sharing and concern within each community but also engenders development that grows outwards from each ‘local’ unit into a system of widening ‘concentric circles’, each circle giving strength to its inner circles and growing in harmony with its outer circles. Hence, the right course of ‘globalization’ can only proceed on the foundation of the Gandhian concept of ‘swadeshi’ as applied to the situations evolving in today’s world. This is the thesis of this Paper.
This Paper has three main parts. The first part gives salient features of the Gandhian concept of ‘Swadeshi’ relevant to the present process of ‘Globalization’. The second part discusses the Contemporary Approach of ‘Globalization’ and its essential deficits and shortcomings, and the third part gives why ‘Globalization with Swadeshi’ for a sustainable social-economic order, is the only right form for ‘Globalizaion’. The Paper ends with a brief ‘Conclusion’.
Gandhian concept of Swadeshi
The idea of ‘swadeshi’ had entered the Indian freedom struggle well before Gandhiji in mid-19th century itself, as a reaction to the ruination of the artisan-based Indian industry and local economy, and the resultant widespread poverty and famines under the colonial rule. Swadeshi as a mass movement arose first during protest against the Bengal Partition (1905-11). Its scope included, apart from the political agenda, setting up of Indian industries and enterprises and revival of national education, arts, science and literature. Sister Nivedita’s message: “Believe in your organic relatedness. Imagine a life in which all have common interests, common needs and mutual and complimentary duties”---summed up the message.
After 1915, under Gandhiji the concept of swadeshi acquired newer dimensions: under it one owes the first care to one’s neighbours, the area of concern growing gradually in “ever-widening, never-ascending circles” till it covers the world. He defined swadeshi in the broadest terms as an ideology: “Swadeshi is that spirit in us which restricts us to the use and service of our immediate surroundings to the exclusion of the more remote. Thus, as for religion - - - I must restrict myself to my ancestral religion. That is the use of my immediate religious surroundings. If I find it defective, I should serve it by purging it of its defects. In the domain of politics, I should make use of the indigenous institutions and serve them by curing them of their proved defects. In that of economics, I should use only things that are produced by my immediate neighbours and serve those industries by making them efficient and complete where they might be found wanting.”1
Swadeshi engenders brotherhood and co-operation. It means economics of neighbourhood, self-reliance, and mass employment. It is a gospel of decentralized economy, of economic revival of villages and communities. As Gandhiji said, Swadeshi is “the only doctrine consistent with the law of humility and love. It is arrogance to think of launching out to serve the whole of India when I am hardly able to serve even my own family.”2 His concept of swadeshi is based on a holistic view of human society and is integral to his philosophy of swaraj and sarvodaya.
Gandhiji lived his life with the Gita as his universal guide. The Gita says [in verse III.35], “One’s own dharma though imperfect is better than the dharma of another well-performed.” He takes it as a message for swadeshi: “Interpreted in terms of one’s physical environment this gives us the law of swadeshi. What the Gita says with regard to swadharma equally applies to swadeshi also, for swadeshi is swadharma applied to one’s immediate environment.”2a
Swadeshi helps in improving the range and quality of local production and in reducing costs due to the use of indigenous skills, resources, manpower and technology, and the lesser need for transport, packaging, storage and marketing. Thus, he had selected ‘khadi’ on sound economic considerations as no other alternative could have provided productive work to the idle masses.
His thinking of how swadeshi becomes the basis of a global co-operative social order, is expressed thus: “Our first duty is that we should not be a burden on society, i.e., we should be self-sufficient. That means self-sufficiency by itself is a kind of service. After becoming self-sufficient we shall use our spare time for the service of others. - - - Even if we succeed in realizing complete self-sufficiency, man being a social animal we shall have to accept service in some form or other. That is, man is as much dependent on others as he is dependent on himself. When dependence becomes necessary in order to keep society in good order it is no longer dependence but becomes co-operation.”3
In this context, the Gandhian approach to technology/ industrialism is also relevant. He supported ‘machinery’ when it saved “time and labour not for a fraction of mankind but for all” as he wanted “the concentration of wealth not in the hands of a few, but in the hands of all.”4 Machinery became “an evil when there are more hands than required for the machine”5, or when people tend to lose “one’s individuality and become a mere cog in the machine”6, as these are attributes of an exploitative order. He accepted use ofheavy machinery for works of public utility or works not possible by human labour, but rejected “all destructive machinery”7. Similarly, he opposed ‘industrialism’ that led to exploitation of ‘colonies’ for raw materials and as ‘markets’, unemployment and even wars (such as the present wars for control over oil and gas resources). He said that the “mania for mass production was responsible for the world crisis”. He wanted “the machinery reduced to the terms of the masses.”8 He also insisted, “An industry to be Indian must be demonstrably in the interest of the masses.”8a
He advocated use of local produce, skills and resources to the extent reasonably possible: “I have never considered the exclusion of everything foreign under every conceivable circumstance as part of swadeshi. The broad definition of swadeshi is the use of all home-made things to the exclusion of foreign things in so far as such use is necessary for the protection of home-industry more especially those industries without which India will become pauperized.”7 Hence, too: “To reject foreign manufactures merely because they are foreign and to go on wasting notional time and money to promote manufactures in one’s country for which it is not suited would be criminal folly and a negation of the swadeshi spirit. A true votary of swadeshi - - - will not be moved by antagonism towards anybody on earth. Swadeshism is not a cult of hatred. It is a doctrine of selfless service that has its roots in the purest ahimsa, i.e., love.”9
Thus, swadeshi is not a chauvinistic or exclusive concept of self-centred economics but one of decentralized, employment-oriented, need-based economics. Gandhiji asserted: “An individual’s service to his country and humanity consisted in serving his neighbours - - -. He could not starve his neighbour and claim to serve his distant cousin in the North Pole. That was the basic principle of all religions and - - of true and humane economics.”10 His patriotism too was not exclusive but worked for the optimum good of all. He said: “My patriotism is not an exclusive thing. It is all-embracing and I should reject that patriotism which sought to mount upon the distress or the exploitation of other nationalities. The conception of my patriotism is nothing if it is not always in every case, without exception, consistent with the broadest good of humanity at large.”10a
His concept of swadeshi easily evolves into a concept of positive inter-dependence and universalism. It harmonizes local and global concerns as long as it does not mean an external control over a society’s judgments and decisions. While defining ‘True Swadeshi’, he clarified: “Any article is swadeshi if it subserves the interest of the millions, even though the capital and talent are foreign but under effective Indian control.”12
Gurudev Tagore had expressed serious reservations when Gandhiji had started his movement for Khadi as the core of his swadeshi programme. In response Gandhiji had written in 1921 what remains valid today also: “Economics that hurt the moral well-being of an individual or a nation are immoral and therefore sinful. Thus the economics that permit one country to prey upon another are immoral. It is sinful to buy and use articles made by sweated labour. It is sinful to eat American wheat and let my neighbour the grain-dealer starve for want of custom. Similarly it is sinful for me to wear the latest finery of Regent Street, when I know that if I had but worn the things woven by the neighbouring spinners and weavers, that would have clothed me, and fed and clothed them. - - - Nor is the scheme of non-co-operation or swadeshi an exclusive doctrine. - - - Before, therefore, I can think of sharing with the worlds I must possess. - - - India must learn to live before she can aspire to die for humanity.”12a By and by Tagore was deeply inspired by the Gandhian vision of swadeshi, and had written: “We have for over a century been dragged by the prosperous West behind its chariot, choked by dust, deafened by the noise, humbled by our own helplessness and overwhelmed by the speed. We agreed to acknowledge that this - - was progress and progress was civilization. - - - Of late, a voice [Gandhji’s] has come to us to take count not only of the scientific perfection of the chariot but of the depth of the ditches lying in its path.”12b
GLOBALIZATION: The Contemporary Approach
Globalization, like ‘technology’, can take varied forms, which may either serve or harm human constituents. Its negative aspects usually result from letting the market forces subjugate the good of humanity and/or of the earth. It is then that it must be challenged with an alternative constructive vision, such as the swadeshi/ localization approach to it.
In modern age, the first round of globalization took the form of ‘colonization’, started in the 18th century and based on the philosophy of mercantilism. After World War II, came the Bretton Woods organizations, viz. IBRD (World Bank) and IMF, followed by the birth of GATT in 1947. Then followed rounds of Multilevel Trade Negotiations, leading to the Dunkel Treaty (1993) requiring reduction of tariffs, physical trade controls and domestic and export subsidies, market access to foreign agriculture products, TRIPS, free movement of capital and of services across national borders, finally leading to the setting up of the World Trade Organization (1995). It was in this context that the present era of globalization may be said to have started in 1980s, spurred by the end of Cold War, fall of the Berlin Wall, and the ‘Washington’ Consensus’ of Bretton Woods institutions affirming the primacy of the ‘market’ in 1990s. The earlier forms, driven by forces of greed and racism, led to pillage, slavery, oppression, and imperialism. The present wave of globalization is a product primarily of increase in international trade in goods and services and global investments by trans-national companies (TNCs), and explosion in financial and exchange transactions, all these leading to global markets for booming profits and consumerism.
Now, capital, goods, information, culture, and pollution increasingly flow across national boundaries without developing countries like India being able to bring their national authority, judgments and values to bear on the incident market forces. While energy security, food security, and water security are becoming basic needs, national governments have been losing effective control over global economic processes and in such matters. Greed and consumerism are overtaking basic needs, and self-aggrandizement is taking over national control over the economy. Existing international institutions are not competent to manage an integrated global economy, much less safeguard the interests of the poor and the weak. Countries like India are caught in a dialectic of supra- and sub- nationalism, that of the WTO versus the 73rd and 74th Amendments.
Non-traditional threats, such as terrorism, drugs-trafficking, organized crime including human trafficking, have grown alongside those of alienation and widening disparities, financial-economic crises and ecological disasters. A well-governed state must have both peace and prosperity. Sustainable prosperity means inter- and intra- generational equity and justice.
Modern economics treats a human being primarily as ‘economic man’/ homo economicus and not as homo ethicus. The struggle for survival gets converted into a race among selfish beings driven by greed/ profit motive in the neoliberal capitalist market economy. It leads to exploitation of both ‘man’ and ‘nature’, and to violence as it accepts economic Darwinism. Objectives of efficiency and productivity are not taken along with those of equity. Today, hegemonies, replacing the earlier imperialistic exploitation, tend to control globalization. Production and consumption goals do not include that of distribution. Modern globalization tends to rest on the ideologies of hedonism and egoistic individualism as justification for limitless acquisition and consumption, with the state itself becoming an instrument in the service of homo economicus.
The conventional economic theory of international trade is based on 'comparative advantage'. It is preoccupied with profit maximization rather than mutual need, cooperation, employment and equitable distribution of gains. It means free trade among unequals and in the interest of those having purchasing power for unending wants and luxuries. Such international free trade would mean exploitation of weaker economies by the stronger and of the rural poor by the urban elite.
Some of its immediate adverse consequences are local/ weaker societies losing control over production and resources, and TNCs achieving competitiveness by lower real wages, and reduced job security, and locating hazardous industries so as to minimize compensation for accidents and deaths. Developed countries had 30% of world population and 66% of its income in 1945, and by 1992 they had 15% of population and 79% of income! In 2007-08 came the anti-climax, the ‘great recession’. It was fed by sub-prime lending, bank failures, credit collapse, market uncertainties, and stock market crash.
An underlying pattern of violence against individuals, communities, nations and nature is inherent in the present form of globalization. Economic institutions deliver economic and political power to the ruling elites, dividing the society into ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’, and engender a variety of conflicts that keep all insecure and unsatisfied.
Power and resources are not shared equitably so that the growth in GDP does not ensure parallel growth in human development and environmental quality. It bestows more benefits to the rich and powerful, such as in access to education, health, opportunities, travel, etc. GDP indicators are best served when individual greed is pursued in the ‘market’ unfettered by governmental regulation for social good. Hence, poverty, social conflict, oppression, slums, and exploitation co-exist with prosperity. In 1994 itself, top five MNCs had a total corporate sale of $871.4 billion while South Asia with a quarter of world's population had a GDP of only $451.3 billion. The situation has moved further inexorably in the same direction since then. Globalization is shifting patterns of consumption in countries like India and thus heightening disparities and deprivation by undermining the production of ‘basic’ goods on which the poor rely.
Globalization without well-defined goals of human development and equity can only mean an attack on the poor, the weak and the environment, while the elite come together and prosper. Economics devoid of its social basis (such as co-operation, brotherhood, sharing) is not humane, as inequality, unequal ‘competition’, exploitation, alienation, corruption, crony capitalism, and non-transparency tend to predominate. Under prevalent globalization, terms such as competition and ‘free market’ tend more to denote corporate totalitarianism, and monopolistic controls. Liberalization of trade, capital and investment is not coincident with the liberalization of people.
Globalization also ignores the problems inherent in determination of ‘property rights’. In India, most of the tribal areas still have ‘unregistered’ common rights over water, forest, and land resources [Jal, Jungle, aur Jamin]. The root cause of the whole ‘Naxalite Problem’ in nearly a fifth of our land area is primarily due to the forces of ‘globalization’ operating without the ‘swadeshi’ concerns. Millions of people from forest and rural areas of India have been uprooted and made homeless or thrown into city slums or other marginalized neighbourhoods because of the State functioning more as an agent of such globalizing interests.
Under the current wave of globalization, the role of trade unions too has diminished. In India today, about 93% of the workforce is in the ‘unorganized’ sector, with little provision for security of jobs, work conditions, or wages. Thousands of farmers commit suicides every year as they are unable to perform in the free market system. On the other hand, transactions worth trillions of dollars are done daily in the world stock markets, mostly speculative.
The primary issue has become: ‘Globalization’ of what? And, for whom?
‘GLOBALIZATION with SWADESHI’ for a Sustainable Economic-Social Order
With growing globalization whereby economic controls become ever more remote and less accountable and profit motive [as greed] seeks to colonize the whole earth, the concept of swadeshi becomes ever more relevant. Ethics, social good of all, peace, prosperity, ecological concerns, co-operation and brotherhood cannot be globalized without the concomitant of swadeshi. For example, it was highlighted in the Human Development Report (1997) that globalization is “proceeding largely for the benefit of the dynamic and powerful countries.” It also advised states like India to manage trade and capital flows more carefully, invest in poor people, foster small enterprises, manage new technology and provide safety nets. All these steps mean standing firmly up to globalizing forces under the concept of Swadeshi.
Gandhian concept of swadeshi and self-contained independence is not a case for shrinking into some form of negative localism, but it easily grows and merges into the concept of positive interdependence, universalism and globalism. He opposed centralized forms of production-cum-distribution as centralisms in production and power reinforce each other and the economic privileges. As he said: “Centralization as a system is inconsistent with the non-violent structure of society.”21 He saw “no incompatibility in the idea of decentralizing to the greatest extent possible all industries and crafts, economically profitable to the villages of India and centralization or nationalizing the key and vital industries required for India as a whole.”22 Only a swadeshi approach can lead to a decentralized and equitable economic order.
The Gandhian approach would be that of Sarvodaya, the good of all, through Unto This Last, the good of the ‘last’ person. This is best expressed in his talisman to the new rulers on India’s independence (August 1947): “Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and yourself melting away.”16
Apart from Gandhiji’s above talisman, we also need to be guided in ‘globalization’ by his definition of ‘True Economics’ and of the right economic ‘motive’, as under, as otherwise economics tends to become a ‘dismal science’:
Globalization with swadeshi would engender co-operation and not dependency. As Gandhiji said:
“There is a feeling of helplessness in dependency. Members of a family are as much self-dependent as inter-dependent, but there is no feeling of mine or thine. That is why they are called co-operators. Similarly when we take a society, a nation or the entire mankind as a family all men become co-operators.”19
Spread of foreign culture over indigenous cultures too is a major issue under present globalization. Here too, the Gandhian approach is the way out: “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. I refuse to live in other people’s houses as an interloper, a beggar or a slave.”20
Globalization must not proceed on the basis of greed and exploitation. That can only lead to conflicts and not a peaceful social order. Gandhiji’s dictums that, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed”, and, “Excessive greed for anything is the root of all evil”, provide the key. Globalization must mean concern for a decent life for all. It must echo the thesis presented in JC Kumarappa’s book, ‘Economy of Permanence: A Quest for a Social Order Based on Non-violence’ (1945), which Gandhiji in his Foreword to it described thus: “This is Plain Living and High Thinking”. It classifies five types of economy in nature as well as in human society: in increasing order of social good, peace, and permanence, these are ‘Parasitic’, ‘Predatory’, ‘Enterprising’, ‘Gregation’, and ‘Service’. Globalization, in order to be sustainable, must not allow any economic activity which can be termed ‘parasitic’ or ‘predatory’.
Following in Kumarappa’s and his successor, Devendra Kumar’s, footsteps, T. Karunakaran had written in a recent publication from Wardha that ‘survival’ needs should be satisfied in the closest neighbourhood subject to the constraints of nature. Further, the ‘entropy’ minimizing objective will dictate that items involving energy intensive transportation should be produced in the nearest feasible areas. Between the chauvinistic philosophy of total self-sufficiency and unbridled globalization, the concept of ‘global swadeshi’ provides the golden middle. It means regional self-reliance and ‘goods-sharing’ so that the principles of both good neighbourhood and minimum entropy are respected.20a
Economics of peace go together with that of a sharing global community. The Gandhian concept of ‘Trusteeship’ must underlie ‘globalization’, with much greater role for Corporate Social Responsibility, Welfare State, and taxation and pricing policies ensuring socio-economic democracy along with political democracy.
Under the present ‘globalization’ process, power, wealth, and amenities tend to concentrate in metropolitan societies and areas in a pyramidal form. This is seen clearly in the Indian context where rural and tribal areas having 2/3rd of the population, function practically as ‘colonies’ for the benefit of urban elites. Rural industrialization and development need a ‘swadeshi’ approach to globalization, a bottom-upwards instead of trickle-down approach.
The issues of ‘global warming’ and ‘climate change’ are very much a product of the present globalization approach. As stated earlier, globalization needs to co-opt the concept of entropy as a measure of disorder by putting necessary costs on emissions of carbon dioxide and wastes, on avoidable transportation and packaging, on centralized production leading to large-scale migration of workers, and other avoidable wastages. This will mean a much more decentralized production leading to a much wider satisfaction of needs.
Production levels judged primarily by GDP indices are immune to social good, exclude the output of the non-monetized economy (especially production by women at homes, the vast ‘barter’ and ‘constructive work’/ voluntary sectors), and also the growing scale of negative external and long-term social and environmental costs. Hence, methods of evaluation of GDP must be changed to include the ‘product’ based on networking, sharing, caring, self-provisioning, nurturing and other such non-monetized activities, and to subtract the costs of ‘negative’ externalities and other anti-social ‘product’ such as accidents and war effort.
Under present globalization, production of ‘non-basic’ goods tends to rise faster as their income elasticity of demand is higher than that of ‘basic’ goods, and it is subsidized indirectly through infrastructure, tax shelters and other fiscal measures. Under swadeshi based globalization the character of production “will be determined by social necessity and not by personal whim or greed.” Marketed ‘exchange value’ covers not only the ‘needs’ but also superfluities, harmful goods and services, and terror and hazardous production. Under swadeshi, exchange value and use value tend to converge, as the aim then is to supply socially determined ‘basic’ goods and services in preference to the insatiable wants of an acquisitive consumerist society. The latter make the poor more insecure but also the rich insecure in their race for luxuries.
There are enough guidelines available even in the usually ignored strands in academic economics, which can indicate the right approach to globalization. For example, writings of Adam Smith (taking his ‘Wealth of Nations’ along with his earlier work ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments’), Karl Marx, E.F. Schumacher, Amartya Sen, and John Rawls can us show the right approach. These broadly endorse the swadeshi view that economics must operate as if the people mattered, primarily for social good of all, and particularly ‘the last’ person.
Wendel Wilkie (1892-1944), the Republican Presidential candidate (1940), had written a book, ‘One World’ (1943), which too would indicate the direction for an ‘inclusive’ globalization process. He noted that World War II came because of the failure to ensure that peace followed World War I. And, “if peace, economic prosperity and liberty itself were to continue in this world, the nations of the world must find a method of economic stabilization and co-operative effort.” He insisted that, “Economic freedom is as important as political freedom.”
That the issue of ‘localization’ as the right basis for ‘globalization’ is exercising the thinking minds in the West also, may be seen from the essay, ‘The Idea of a Local Economy’ written by Wendel Berry (2001)20b in the US. Some extracts from the essay are given below:
“We have an "environmental crisis" because we have consented to an economy in which by eating, drinking, working, resting, traveling, and enjoying ourselves we are destroying the natural, the God-given world. - - - -
Communism and ‘free market’ capitalism both are modern versions of oligarchy. In their propaganda, both justify violent means by good ends, which, always are put beyond reach by the violence of the means.
- - - - by false accounting. It substitutes for the real economy - - - a symbolic economy of money - - -. And so we have - - unprecedented ‘prosperity’ and ‘economic growth’ in a land of degraded farms, forests, ecosystems, and watersheds, polluted air, failing families, and perishing communities. - - - -
The idea of the global ‘free market’ is merely capitalism's so-far-successful attempt to enlarge the geographic scope of its greed - - - with a new colonialism without restraints or boundaries. - - - -
The ‘law of competition’ - - - is a simple paradox: Competition destroys competition. - - - is the law of war. - - - -We live, increasingly, in a condition of total economy - - in which everything—‘life-forms,’ for instance, or the ‘right to pollute’—is ‘private property’ - - is for sale. - - - critical choices that once belonged to individuals or communities become the property of corporations. - - - A total economy is an unrestrained taking of profits from the disintegration of nations, communities, households, landscapes, and ecosystems. It licenses symbolic or artificial wealth to "grow" by means of the destruction of the real wealth of all the world. - - -
- - - only one way, and that is to develop - - the idea of local economy - - - beginning with the idea of a local food economy. - - to shorten the distance between producers and consumers, - - - to make this local economic activity a benefit to the local community. - - - to give everybody in the local community a direct, long-term interest in the prosperity, health, and beauty of their homeland. - - - the inherent instability of a production economy based on exports and a consumer economy based on imports. - - - And cheap long-distance transport is possible only if granted cheap fuel, international peace - - and the solvency of the international economy. - - - -
- - the idea of a local economy rests upon only two principles: neighborhood and subsistence. - - - -
This kind of protection is not ‘isolationism.’ - - - The ‘free trade,’ which from the standpoint of the corporate economy brings ‘unprecedented economic growth’, from the standpoint of the land and its local populations, and ultimately from the standpoint of the cities, is destruction and slavery. Without prosperous local economies, the people have no power, and the land no voice.”
Conclusion
As in all other aspects of human society, ‘globalization’ too should be normative and holistic, a means to the building up of a non-violent, egalitarian, collaborative and sustainable social order. Gandhiji as well as other advocates of swadeshi/ ‘localization’ reject the currently accepted basis of ‘globalization’, i.e. the concept of ‘economic man’, as it separates economics from ethics or social good. The swadeshi approach provides an ethical direction to the economic choices and makes conservation, sharing, and self-provisioning as the basis of a humane social order. The Gandhian dictum that “The good of the individual is contained in the good of all”23, and not in selfish accumulation of wealth and luxuries, must underlie the globalization process. The concept of globalization with swadeshi is best expressed in Gandhiji’s description of what constitutes ‘Independence’:
“Independence must begin at the bottom. - - - This does not exclude dependence on and willing help from neighbours or from the world. It will be free and voluntary play of mutual forces. - - - -
In this structure composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever-widening, never-ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose centre will be the individual always ready to perish for the village, the latter ready to perish for the circle of villages, till at last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals, never aggressive in their arrogance but ever humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units. Therefore the outermost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner circle but will give strength to all within and derive its own strength from it.”24
We must have more of ‘globalization’ but it should be based on the concept of ‘swadeshi’, which embodies best the concept of ‘localization’. In this, as in other such areas, as Gandhiji would say: “Let it be the privilege of India to turn a new leaf and set a lesson to the world.”25
References
1. Sp. on Swadeshi at Missionary Conference, Madras, 14.2.1916, CWMG 13:219. [Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 1 to 100, New Delhi: Publications Division, Govt. of India, 1954-1994; quotes from these referred here and hereafter as: CWMG vol. no.:page no.(s)]
2. ibid, CWMG 13:224.
2a. The Law of Swadeshi, Young India (18.6.1931), CWMG 46:256-57.
3. Answers to Questions, 29.11.1945, CWMG 82:133.
4. Discussion with G. Ramachandran, 21/22.10.1924, Young India (13/20.11.1924), CWMG 25:251.
5. Village Industries, Harijan (16.11.1934), CWMG 59:356.
6. Discussion with Maurice Frydman, on or before 1.1.1939, CWMG 68:266.
7. Some Knotty Points, Young India (17.6.1926), CWMG 31:12-13.
8. Interview to Callender, 16.10.1931, Harijan (2.11.1934), CWMG 48:163, 167.
8a. Indian Industry, Young India (23.10.1937), CWMG646:270.
9. The Law of Swadeshi, Young India (18.6.1931), CWMG 46:256-57.
10. Speech at Public Meeting, Godhra, 14.8.1919, CWMG 16:29-31.
10a. Speech at Public Meeting, Rangoon, 9.3.1929, Young India (4.4.1929), CWMG 40:109.
12. NOTES, 20.2.1939, 20.2.1939, Harijan (25.2.1939), CWMG 68:431.
12a. The Great Sentinel, Young India (13.10.1921), CWMG 21:290-91.
12b. Rabindranath Tagore, Crisis of Civilization, Collected Works (1961), Vol.18, Shantiniketan.
16. A NOTE, August 1947, CWMG 89:125.
17. Primary Education in Bombay, Harijan (9.10.1937), CWMG 66:168.
18. Interview to Khadi Workers, on or before 24.8.1934, Harijan (21.9.1934), CWMG 58:353.
19. Answers to Questions, 29.11.1945, CWMG 82:133.
20. NOTES: English Learning, Young India (1.6.1921), CWMG 20:159.
20a. Dr.T.Karunakaran, Rural Economic Zone: Economy as if People and Planet mattered, Wardha: MGIRI, 2010.
20b. From ‘In the Presence of Fear: Three Essays for a Changed World, by Wendell Berry, published by The Orion society. The essay originally appeared in the Winter 2001 issue of Orion Magazine (www.oriononline.org).
21. Hand-spun as a Measure of Value, 13.1.1942, CWMG 75:215-16.
22. Interview to P. Ramachandra Rao, <19.6.1945, CWMG 80:352.
23. An Autobiography, Part IV, Ch. XVIII, CWMG 39:239.
24. Independence, 21.7.1946, Harijan (28.7.1946), CWMG 85:32-33.
25. Speech at Meccano Club, Calcutta, 28.8.1925, CWMG 28:127.
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Street vendors of Delhi unite to protest against “police terror”
Demand institution of murder charge against the Mumbai ACP Vasant Dhoble
Nation-wide campaign:Hawkers demonstrating at a rally in the Capital on Sunday demanding institution of murder charge against a Mumbai Police officer.– Photo: V. V. Krishnan
The street vendors of Delhi launched a nation-wide campaign against “police terror” on Sunday, demanding that the police be made accountable to the public.
Under the umbrella of the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), they formed a human chain at Parliament Street to demand institution of murder charge against the Mumbai Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Vasant Dhoble.
A street vendor named Madan Jaiswal had died during the anti-hawking drive carried out by the ACP in Mumbai after which he was transferred pending a CID inquiry.
The protesting vendors also demanded that the Maharashtra Government immediately pay a compensation of Rs. 25 lakh to the family of the deceased and threatened that if their demands were not met, the hawkers and vendors from across the country would assemble in Delhi to march to the Union Home Ministry.
NASVI national coordinator Arbind Singh said the death of the fruit vendor was not a natural one as the police and the medical authorities tried to project. “Rather it was a death due to the shock and awe created by the Dhoble brigade. The establishment treats tragedies according to its convenience. When a constable Subhash Tomar dies in Delhi during people protest, the police establishment gets outraged, but when a poor vendor Madan Jaiswal dies in Mumbai during police action, the agencies and the authorities do not feel ashamed.”
Addressing the street vendors, Mr. Singh called upon the vendors and hawkers to get organised and form unions in every market to safeguard their interests. “After every incident, accident and outrage, there are talks of the country needing police reforms. Police reforms essentially mean making police accountable to the public, accountable to the citizen, accountable to the working poor and accountable to the civil society. It is really disturbing that the police in even cities like Mumbai and Delhi are not accountable to the public.”
Describing the transfer of Mumbai ACP as an “attempt to shield him and an exercise to hush up the incident of police crackdown which triggered the death of the street vendor,” he demanded that “the charges of murder be filed against the ACP and he must be sacked.”
Highlighting the importance of street vendors as professionals, who facilitate vigil on the public space, the NASVI statement said: “We make markets and public places safe and secure. If we are not at railway and bus station premises, the areas would be prone to loot and crimes. We serve people, help local economy grow and make cities inclusive and dynamic. In spite of this the police and municipal officials exploit us financially and when we refuse to entertain them, we face threats, harassment and forced eviction.”
As part of the “police-terror” campaign, NASVI affiliate Azad Hawkers Union would organise a huge vendors/hawkers rally at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on January 24.
Besides, the street vendors’ organisations in northern and southern States would organise week-long protests and would send protest and demand letters to the Union Home Minister, Union Home Secretary, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Maharashtra Chief Minister, Maharashtra Home Minister, Maharashtra Director General of Police, Mumbai Police Chief as well as the National Human Rights Commission.
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