Radical publications 172

Vol. 76 No 1

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THE RADICAL HUMANIST (Since April 1949) Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)

Founder Editor: M. N. Roy

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The Radical Humanist Vol. 76 Number 1 April 2012 Monthly journal of the Indian Renaissance Institute Devoted to the development of the Renaissance Movement; and for promotion of human rights, scientific-temper, rational thinking and a humanist view of life.

Founder Editor: M.N. Roy Editor: Dr. Rekha Saraswat Contributory Editors: Prof. A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Dr. R.M. Pal, Professor Rama Kundu Publisher: Mr. N.D. Pancholi Printer: Mr. N.D. Pancholi Send articles to: Dr. Rekha Saraswat, C-8, Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India, Ph. 91-121-2620690, 09719333011, E-mail articles at: rheditor@gmail.com Send Subscription / Donation Cheques in favour of ‘The Radical Humanist’to: Mr. Narottam Vyas (Advocate), Chamber Number 111 (Near Post Office), Supreme Court of India, New Delhi, 110001, India n.vyas@snr.net.in Ph. 91-11-22712434, 91-11-23782836, 09811944600

Please Note: Authors will bear sole accountability for corroborating the facts that they give in their write-ups. Neither IRI / the Publisher nor the Editor of this journal will be responsible for testing the validity and authenticity of statements & information cited by the authors. Also, sometimes some articles published in this journal may carry opinions not similar to the Radical Humanist philosophy; but they would be entertained here if the need is felt to debate and discuss upon them.

—Rekha Saraswat

APRIL 2012 Download and read the journal at www.theradicalhumanist.com

- Contents 1. From the Editor’s Desk: Remembering Roy —Rekha Saraswat 1 2. From the Writings of Laxmanshastri Joshi: Spiritual Materialism: A case for Atheism 2 3. Guests’ Section: On Inclusiveness: Challenges of Inclusive Society, Economy and Polity in India —Sukhdev Thorat 6 The Need for Death Sentence for Capital Punishmment —H. Suresh 10 A book left open —Amitabha Chakrabarti 13 Six Characteristics of Resonant Organizations —Madhu Dandavate 16 Deconstructing Indian History: The Roots of Dalits —B.P. Rath 20 4. Current Affairs’ Section: U. P. tops in punishing those committing crimes against Dalits —Avatthi Ramaiah 23 Profit for me and debt-slavery with abuse for all —Rakesh Manchanda 27 5. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: We need to make our society a just & equitable one —Kiran Nanavati 30 6. Teacher’s & Research Scholar’s Section: K.S. Duggal: Grand Auteur of Punjabi Literature —Ashok K. Chaudhury 31 7. Book Review Section: Foot Prints on the Sands of Time —Dipavali Sen 35 8. Humanist News Section 38

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From the Editor’s Desk: Remembering Roy!!

More than sixty years ago Roy, very honestly, wrote, while explaining about the essence of the twenty two theses of Radical Humanism, that there was nothing altogether new in the system “it being deduced logically from the far-reaching implications of modern scientific knowledge and the world-wide lessons of recent experience. To coordinate the philosophy of nature with a social philosophy and ethics in a monistic system is the central purpose. It is humanist as well as materialist, naturalist as well as rationalist, creativist as well as determinist. It deduces a humanist social philosophy and positive (non-relative) ethics from a mechanistic cosmology and a materialist metaphysics (Physical Realism).”

The words may sound abstract but the meaning is simple. He was trying to elucidate to his friends that a humanist society would be an ultimate natural result of the evolution of scientific knowledge and thought and its logical use through various technological devices, instruments and facilities by human beings in the years to come.

The present world society has sufficiently proven his contention. Although, the concepts of socialism and humanism are neither the objectives nor the ideals in the context of science but the latter has always been the source of their outcome in direct proportions to its progress. The competitive advancement in the ways and means of life through the use of latest technologies has opened the doors of egalitarianism to the weakest and commonest inhabitants of this earth because science and its applications do not recognize the man-made money-wise, caste-wise, or status-wise segregations of various societies. This fact has gradually brought to the surface the realization that neither mystic powers nor deeds of their past lives have been the cause of their present predicaments.

And that the reason lies elsewhere! They have begun to recognize the culprits and are now increasingly showing their annoyance, anger and

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opposition to the man-made systems of exploitation, suppression and isolation.

Roy was making an effort to impress upon his friends that a humanist society was possible without the transcendental fears created by the seers. He wanted them to come out of the labyrinths of the super and supra natural forces and identify and unravel their needs and problems on the basis of reason and rationality.

He tried to explain to them that every line of thought was an after-effect of a chain of this-worldly actions and reactions. And that they should find the motives and solutions behind them on this material surface only which is physically around them. He talked of the existing system of formation of Parliament in various countries with the lofty purpose of ushering in democracy and how the very definition of democracy was being belied in the process! He discussed the adverse role of political-parties in representing the demands and expectations of the people in the governments and how the parties’ leaders were usurping complete powers in the name of the people and besmirching the extra-ordinary ideal of people’s own governments! He had warned us, much in advance, that if social and political ethics were to depend upon metaphysical foundations wars and terror, corruption and sleaze would always have variegated pretexts as safe havens to rely upon.

It was our misfortune that after propounding such an all encompassing philosophy he could not deliberate at length upon its cardinal principals due to his untimely sad demise and therefore, a clear line of thought could not be defined and developed with proper metaphors and similes for us all to understand, follow or propagate. It is an irony that while celebrating Roy’s birth anniversary we seem to be shying away from his precepts and ideas. We are not trying to invite intellectual luminaries to sit with us to complete or at least to carry forward the unfulfilled task of associating the unattended and neglected doctrines of his ever-contemporary theses with today’s political, economic, social and cultural problems to prove our point!

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From The Writings of Laxmanshastri Joshi: Continued from the last issue.........

Science describes three relative hierarchical layers of scientific perception or understanding of objects.

The concept of god does not fit in any of these categories.

1) The first top hierarchical layer in scientific perception includes the following. The knowledge of objects established through definitive observations and experiments and founded on Laxman S. Joshi mathematical validation falls in the first layer called demonstrated truth. Examples of this layer are 103 atomic elements in physics and the Spiritual Materialism – A case countless compounds discovered and also newly for Atheism formulated in chemistry. No scientist has yet been Translated by —Arundhati Khandkar able to establish a laboratory for measuring god’s properties.

[The book Spiritual Materialism – A case for 2) The attributes of the middle hierarchical layer of Atheism, A New Interpretation of the scientific perception are as follows. This layer of Philosophy of Materialism written by knowledge includes the necessary and appropriate Tarkateertha Laxmanshastri Joshi has been concepts about objects not proved through translated by his daughter, Arundhati observation or experiment. It fits in the perceptual Khandkar, who was formerly Professor of layer called hypothesis, meaning knowledge Philosophy at S.I.E.S. College, University of obtained through inference. Examples of this type Mumbai, India. He passed away many decades of knowledge are evolution in biology, force of ago but his contribution in building up the gravity in physics, primordial nebula in astronomy, philosophical base of Radical Humanism has etc. These inferential concepts or objects offer been no less. Roy acknowledged it in his life time support to those in the first hierarchical layer, and the followers of the philosophy continue to do proven by experimentation and observation. so. I had requested Ms. Khandkar to translate her Scientists construct these concepts with the help of father’s major works from to Marathi to English those concepts that belong to the first layer. for the benefit of the contemporary readers of RH. Frequently, concepts of this middle hierarchical And to our pleasant surprise she informed that layer either find a place in the top layer after there is already the above mentioned book in accumulation of substantial evidence or are English done by her. It is being serialised in The discarded after falsification through the Radical Humanist June 2010 onwards. She has accumulated evidence to the contrary. Planets like also promised to send us in English, gradually, Herschel or Neptune were first thought to exist only through inference. Later, their factual discovery more of his Marathi literature.

Laxmanshastri wrote this essay with the title they entered into the first category of knowledge.

Materialism or Atheism in 1941. How The concept of ether in physics became meaningful and necessary it is, even now, 70 unnecessary after the discovery of the theory of years later, can be understood by the following relativity by Einstein which treated space as paragraph given on the cover page of the book. space-time continuum.

3) The third and lowest layer of hierarchical —Rekha Saraswat 2

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perception is characterised as follows. The layer includes concepts considered to be only probably true. For example, the concept of dual mind in modern psychology. Some psychologists speculate that man probably possesses two minds, one alert and clear and the other mysterious and subconscious. Many psychologists, however, do not feel the need of such a concept of two minds.

The concept of vital force in biology belonged to this lowest layer of perceptual hierarchy. In each and every science there exists a few theories which are not fully acceptable to many experts in that field. some scientists formulate the concepts but to establish their credibility and verifiability is very difficult. The theories two minds and vital force are highly debatable. The biologists of the old generation had been postulating the independent existence of vital force, the new generation, however, has never accepted it.

God and Triplex Hierarchy of Knowledge The concept of god, does not fit at all as mentioned earlier, in the triplex hierarchy of knowledge in sciences. It is true that the early twentieth century physicists such as Eddington, James Jeans, Whitehead, etc. were inclined to accept the validity of the concept of god. This is because, the body of evidence for the existence of god presented in the books written by the above physicists did not pass the test of the scientific logic. They think that god exists on the strength of their emotions and faith.

Their religious upbringing compels them to believe in god’s existence.

Science and Logic It is a fact that the twentieth century physicists have raised the question during scientific investigations of elementary particles, whether the fundamental theorems or rules of logic contained in the usage of linguistic connectors such as And, Or and Not are valid or not. Such questions had arisen out of certain discoveries in quantum physics. As a result, the twentieth century physics gave rise to multiple branches of logic with application to a specific physical phenomenon. The Aristotelian logic is

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now only a branch of the giant tree of logic in the twenty-first century.

Max Planck and Einstein were two researchers responsible for those discoveries in physics which raised these questions. They, however, say that those who think that the theorems of logic at the root of physics are failing must have developed some kind of misunderstanding.

Some Scientists do misunderstand Science Max Planck in his book ‘Where is Science Going?’ has given a clear warning that the advancement of science is impossible without its dependency on the two theorems of logic : X) The law of causality and Y) The existence of the universe outside. At the end of that book, the editor of the English translation has presented a dialogue between Einstein and Max Planck. In this Einstein states that even if the writers such as Eddington, James Jeans and others are great scholars, their books about god are good only from the point of view of literature. These books cannot be given much value from the point of view of physics. According to Einstein, the justification of god’s existence is only an indulgence in literary speculation and not a single concept therein, passes the test of pure reason. It has been shown earlier in this essay, that neither biology supports the vital force theory nor physics supports the concept of god.

Philosophy of Physicists Quantum mechanics (qm) of Max Planck and the theory of Relativity of Einstein have produced radical changes in physics. Therefore, Eddington opines at the beginning of his book, The Philosophy of Physicists that one urgently feels, after the re-examination of new physics, that there is need for a different formulation of the principles of physics, deemed until the present-day to be fundamental. Eddington thereupon tries to establish his own theory for the existence of god based upon qm and relativity. Therefore, we have quoted above the opinion of both Planck and Einstein. Scientists like Heisenberg, Schlick and others have made additional contribution to qm and

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relativity through their own discoveries of uncertainty-relation or indeterminism. Heisenberg has proven that Man will have to face for ever, the difficulty of simultaneous and exact determination of speed and position of electrons and atoms.

Eddington infers from indeterminism that there must exist an independent will-power that induces the atoms to move. The spasticity displayed in the motion of electrons or atoms is the indicator of the independent will-power. The freedom in human will-power must lie at the root of movement of electrons. Children engrossed in play suddenly change their mind and disorganise everything. We too change our plans that seem to be running smoothly. Similarly, it is felt that there is some whimsical power that controls the activities of the universe. This argument by Eddington is weak because indeterminism meaning uncertainty in the simultaneous determination of position and speed of elementary particles does not suggest that their motion is not governed by the laws of causality. It only shows that instrumentation necessary for research in its minutest details contain inadequacies. At the most, we can say that the law of uncertainty has exposed only a human weakness.

Indian Philosophy: Soul and Supreme Being We have presented hereinbefore, the fundamental objection to the concept of god from the point of view of physics. The soul richly endowed with knowledge, will and creativity is of course by definition, god. But it cannot be proved that the soul is independent and separate from the body. If the principle that ‘Within a living body resides a separate and an independent soul’ can be demonstrated, then only some little support is available for the proposition that there exists at the source of the universe a supreme being, the Paramatman. We say here ‘some possibility’ because the Sankhya philosophers, the dualists of India, in spite of their acceptance of the separate and the independent individual soul, did not accept the concept of the supreme being. On the very basis of the concept of the separate and independent soul, man has invented the idea of supreme being, the

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soul of the universe. Not only this, but if the concept that there is inside a body an omniscient soul living separate and independent is proved false, then the concept of the soul of the external universe, the supreme being also falls apart automatically. The concept of god is dependent on the concept of the personal soul only. And we have also said before that there is no powerful evidence of either experience or logic that will justify the independently existing soul.

From Microcosm to Macrocosm Man of critical mind has formulated the concept of god, in order to explain carefully the mysteries and uncertainties of the human body and the universe at large. It is a big surprise, however, that a theist fails to understand that he is committing a huge logical or an intellectual blunder, in such thinking concept.

The blunder lies in the fact that the theist has resorted to another exceedingly deeper mystery, for the purpose of solving a given mystery. There is an important law in logic called the law of parsimony or Occam’s Razor that forces resolution of a mysterious or a doubt ridden problem using only concepts, precise and clear. Otherwise, it will look like a situation in which a man born blind is guiding a man with defective eyesight. As it stands, it is impossible to make sense of the concept that the soul richly endowed with will and knowledge can be separate from the body. Under this situation, the concept of the omniscient soul at the origin of the cosmos also turns out to be indefensible. It is for this purpose that a clear statement of admission has been offered by a great philosopher of India, the great visionary Adya Shankaracharya that human experience or logic alone cannot provide a straight and simple explanation for the concept of the supreme being as the source of the cosmos!

Discrepancy between Philosophy and Theology According to philosophy, the rise and decline of knowledge, desire and emotion are dependent on their proximity or contact with objects. The very idea that these inhere in god is devoid of meaning.

According to theology, god has created objects

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such as beauty, taste, smell, etc. If this is true, then the inference that their existence was not needed by god for knowledge, desire and emotion is inescapable. The theological proposition that god created the objects such as beauty, taste and smell is inconsistent with the primary philosophical principle that knowledge, desire and emotion depend on proximity to objects.

A further question also needs to be posed. Are knowledge, desire and emotion in respect of god, permanent or impermanent? It will be impossible for anyone to explain how it can be that these attributes of god are permanent. If they are impermanent, it is automatically proven that their existence is object dependent. And it follows invariably that god endowed with attributes such as, knowledge, desire, and emotion is constrained by objects just like the soul of a human being. The kind of god, theists wish to prove is not ‘the god’ bound by the objects. Their god is free. If it is proven that god is constrained by objects, no reasonable man will seek salvation from that god.

One who himself is bound cannot free another. The very concept of independent god is devoid of significance, is inconsistent and is flawed.

Once the concept of god is described, it cannot be fitted in the framework of pure and consistent reason. God is the product of a collection of concepts, disconnected, disorganised, unclear and inconsistent. Sculpture of god erected by common naïve believers can at least stand in full view in

front of our mind’s eye. Even if the picture of god composed by poetic imagination is false, it does attract our intellect and charm our mind. Similar is god’s picture and biography narrated by believers with hearts filled with devotion. That is, however, certainly imaginary. The subtle god of the metaphysicians, of the mahatmas and of the saints, during analysis turns out to be also similarly imaginary, intangible and non-existent. Finally, all what is left is the body of evidence enough to convince rational men that god does not exist.

Visionary Philosophers of the East Men of gentle mind and men of impeccable character such as Kanada, Kapila, Buddha, and Charvaka who also acted as the path finders for mankind, did not go on the path towards god. They have left the world with the message, not to go by that path. By means of their spiritual character and noble ideology, they have demonstrated that for the cultivation of pure character and behaviour, there is no need for the concept of god. There is also no derth of selfish people, in the world and in its history, who while exploiting the ideas about god, lead mankind down the path of degradation. From here to eternity, the theistic doctrines of the other world, spiritualism, and mysticism will not only help socially and personally, the Ascent of Man, but will hinder it!

Concluded.......

Appendices continued in the next issue...............

Dear Radical Humanists, We hope you will organise meetings & lectures or informal get-togethers wherever you are, in India or abroad, to acknowledge M.N. Roy’s contribution to modern Political Philosophy and participate in the celebrations of his 125th Birth Anniversary Year. Please send us the reports and pictures of the programs so that we may publish and post them in the RH & its Web Portal regularly in Roy’s entire Birth Anniversary Year.

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Guests’ Section:

Sukhdev Thorat

[Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat, Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), delivered the following M.N. Roy Memorial Lecture on the occasion of Roy’s 125th Birth Anniversary at Indian Law Institute, New Delhi on 24th March 2012.]

On Inclusiveness: Challenges of Inclusive Society, Economy and Polity in India I feel honored to have been invited to deliver the 2012, M.N. Roy Memorial lecture by the Indian Renaissance Institute and Indian Radical Humanist Association. M.N. Roy was a great visionary, thinker and a visionary with a particular vision for India. Everybody knows about his contribution and vision.

I wish to use this occasion to reflect on the vision of “Inclusive India”, - our efforts to develop a more inclusive society, which ensures equal and due share and participation to all sections and groups, in the governance of our economy and polity and in the fruits of social and economic development in the country.

I wish to address this issue in the contemporary context. I shall discuss the meaning of social exclusion, the consequences of social exclusion

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and as to why we should be concerned about social exclusion, the insights from theoretical literature for remedies against discrimination and for inclusive society and application of these insights to the Indian situation.

Social Exclusion and Need for Inclusiveness Before we discuss the issue related to exclusion in Indian society it is useful to get insights on the concept of social exclusion in its general term. In social sciences literature there is general agreement on the core features of social exclusion, its principle indicators, and the way it relates to poverty and inequality. (Mayara Buvinic 2005).

Buvinic summarizes the meaning of social exclusion as “the inability of an individual to participate in the basic political, economic and social functioning of the society, and goes on to add that social exclusion is “the denial of equal access to opportunities imposed by certain groups of society upon others”. (Mayara Buvinic 2005). The definition captures the three most distinguished features of social exclusion namely, that it affects culturally defined “groups”, that it is embedded in social interrelation, (the process through which individuals or groups are wholly or partially excluded from full participation in the society in which they live), and that its outcome is the deprivation, low income and high degree of poverty of the excluded groups. (Arjan Hann 1997, Sen Amartya 2000).

Consequences of exclusion thus depend crucially on the functioning of social institutions through network of social relations, and the degree to which they are exclusionary and discriminatory in their outcome. Social exclusion has sizeable impact on an individual’s access to equal opportunity if social interactions occur between groups in power/subordinate relationship. The groups focus recognizes that people are excluded because of ascribed rather than achieved features, beyond individual agency or responsibility. (Mayara Buvinic 2005 , Amartya Sen) draw attention to various meanings and dimensions of the concept of

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social exclusion (Sen 2000). Distinction is drawn between the situation where some people are being kept out (at least left out), and where some people are being included (may even be forced to be included) - in deeply unfavorable terms, and described the two situations as “unfavorable exclusion” and “unfavorable inclusion.” The “unfavorable inclusion”, with unequal treatment may carry the same adverse effects as “unfavorable exclusion”.

Sen also differentiated between “active and passive exclusion”. For the casual analysis, and policy response, Sen argued “it is important to distinguish between “active exclusion”-fostering of exclusion through the deliberate policy interventions by the government, or by any other willful agents (to exclude some people from some opportunity), and “passive exclusion”, which works through the social process in which there are no deliberate attempts to exclude, but nevertheless, may result in exclusion from a set of circumstances.

Sen further distinguishes the “constitutive relevance” of exclusion, from that of “instrumental importance”. In the former, exclusion or deprivation have an intrinsic importance of their own. For instance, not being able to relate to others and to take part in the life of the community can directly impoverish a person’s life, in addition to the further deprivation it may generate. This is different from social exclusion of “instrumental importance”, in which the exclusion in itself, is not impoverishing, but can lead to impoverishment of human life.

Within the social science literature more precise elaboration of the concept of discrimination has come from the economics in the context of race and gender (Darity 1995). The mainstream economic literature throws more light on discrimination that works through markets, and non market transactions and develops the concept of market discrimination with some analytical clarity. In the market discrimination framework, discrimination of a group may operate through restrictions on the

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entry in market, and/or through “selective inclusion”, with an unequal treatment in market and non-market transactions, which is similar to Sen’s concept of unfavorable inclusion.

The labour market discrimination can occur in hiring when two persons with the same employment experience, education and training but differing in some non-economic characteristic face denial in hiring. The differences are generally correlated with certain non–economic (racial, ethnic or religious) characteristics of individual.

The occupational discrimination occurs when business persons from a group are faced with quantitative restrictions to enter into the occupation of majority group, or face differential treatment in acquiring access to factors and services necessary for production and business activity.

To summarize the development in social science literature, the concept of social exclusion thus, essentially refers to the processes through which groups are wholly, or partially, excluded on the basis of group identity from full participation in economy and society in which they live. It involves two crucial dimensions namely the “societal interrelations” (causing exclusion), and their “outcome” (causing deprivation).

For understanding the nature of exclusion, therefore the insight into the societal interrelations and institutions of exclusions is as important as the outcome in terms of deprivation for excluded groups. It is also necessary to recognize that in “Group Exclusion”, people are excluded because of their group identity and not because of individual attributes. Therefore, we need to recognize distinction between exclusion of an individual and exclusion of a group. Exclusion of an “Individual” is different from “Exclusion of a Group”.

Individuals often get excluded from access to economic and social opportunities for various reasons specific to them. An individual often gets excluded from employment due to lack of required education and skills. An individual also gets excluded from having access to higher education due to lack of minimum merit. Similarly people get

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excluded from access to input and consumer markets due to lack of purchasing power. The exclusion of an individual has no connection with his or her social and cultural identity. In case of exclusion of group, however individuals with certain social and cultural identity such as social origin like caste, ethnicity, religion, gender or colour are excluded from having access to sources of income, employment, education civil rights and other social needs .Thus Group exclusion is based on social and cultural identity of persons, irrespective of the attribute of individuals within the social/cultural group.

This has important policy implications .While in case of “individual exclusion” the pro-poor policy will have to be focused on the individual capabilities, in case of “Group Exclusion” the focus of the policy will be targeted on the group as a whole covering all individual in the social/cultural group.

Caste, ethnicity, religion and Social Exclusion This theoretical literature and the insights from it are quite relevant in understanding the exclusion in the Indian situation. In India, exclusion revolves around the societal institutions that exclude, discriminate, isolate, and deprive some groups on the basis of group’s identities like caste, ethnicity, religion, gender and others.

The nature of exclusion associated with institutions of the caste system particularly needs to be understood and conceptualized as it has been the basis of reservation policy for scheduled caste and tribe and for other backward caste and there is growing demand to extend it to similar groups like religious minority such as Muslim and low caste converted to Islam and Christianity.

Theoretical attempts in social and economic interpretation of caste system recognized that caste as a system of social and economic governance is determined by certain customary rules and norms, which are unique and distinct. (Akerlof 1976, Scoville 1991, Lal 1988, Ambedkar 1936 and 1987). The economic organization of caste system

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is based on the division of people in social groups (or castes) in which the economic rights of each individual caste are pre-determined or ascribed by birth and made hereditary. Entitlement of economic rights is however, unequal and hierarchal. The economic rights are unequally assigned and therefore entitlement of rights get narrower and narrower as one moves down in caste hierarchy from high to low caste. The system also provides for a community based regulatory mechanism to enforce the system through the instruments of social ostracism (or social and economic penalties), and reinforces it further with the justification from some philosophical elements in Hindu religion such as theory of Karma and rebirth based on the notion of eternity of soul. (Lal 1988, Ambedkar 1936 and 1987).

The caste system’s fundamental characteristics of fixed social and economic rights for each caste, with restrictions for change implies “forced exclusion” of one caste from the civil, economic and educational rights of other caste. Exclusion in civil and economic spheres thus is internal to the system, and a necessary outcome of its governing principles. In the market economy framework, the occupational immobility would operate through restrictions in various markets such as land, labour, capital, credit, other inputs, and services necessary for any business and education.

This interpretation of caste system implies that in its original form, unlike many other human societies, the caste system does not recognize the individual and his/her distinctiveness as the center of the social purpose. In fact, for the purpose of rights and duties, the unit of the Hindu society is not an individual (even the family is not regarded as a unit in the Hindu society, except for the purposes of marriages and inheritance). The primary unit in the Hindu society is caste, and hence, the rights and privileges (or the lack of them) of an individual are on account of him/her being a member of a particular caste (Ambedkar first published in 1987). Also, due to the hierarchical or graded nature of the caste system, the entitlements to civil, 8

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economic and educational rights by different castes become narrower and narrower as one goes down in hierarchical ladder in the caste system. Various castes in their rights and duties get artfully interlinked and coupled with each other , in a manner such that the rights and privileges of the higher castes become the causative reasons for the disadvantage and disability of the lower castes, particularly the untouchables and other backward caste located at the bottom of caste hierarchy. In this sense, a caste does not exist in a single number, but only in plural (Ambedkar 1987 first time).

Castes exist as a system of endogenous groups, which are interlinked with each other in unequal measure of rights and relations in all walks of life.

Castes at the top of the order enjoy more rights, at the expense of those located at the bottom.

Therefore, the lower castes, such as former

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untouchable and other backward castes located at the bottom of the caste hierarchy has much less economic, educational and social rights.

The caste /untouchability and ethnicity based exclusion thus reflect in inability of individuals and groups like former untouchables and other backward caste and other similar groups to interact freely and productively with others and to take part in the full economic, social, and political life of a community (Bhalla and Lapeyere 1997).

Incomplete citizenship or denial of civil rights (freedom of expression, rule of law, right to justice), political rights (right and means to participate in the exercise of political power) and socio-economic rights( right to property, employment and education) are key dimensions of impoverished live.

Continued in the next issue.......................

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H. Suresh

[Justice H. Suresh (retd.) delivered this lecture on the occasion of M.N. Roy 125th Birth Anniversary celebrations by Centre for the Study of Social Change (CSSC) at M.N. Roy Human Development Campus, Centre for the Study of Social Change, Mumbai on 21st March 2012]

The Need For Death Sentence For Capital Punishmment ago, we had a campaign against Years Death Penalty. It is unfortunate that this campaign seems to have dissipated in recent years.

At the same time, we are witnessing strident demands (largely political) for early execution of death sentences of those convicts who are languishing in jail for several years. The Courts also display a certain amount of certitude that death is the only apt solution in such cases.

The United Nations, on the other hand, has long advocated abolition of death penalty, and, in the interim, restrictions on it use, including moratorium on execution of death sentences. From 1997 to 2005, the former U.N. Commission on Human Rights adopted an annual resolution on the question of death penalty calling, inter alia, upon all States that still maintained the death penalty to establish a moratorium on execution. On 18th December 2007, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions. India, however, was one of the few

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countries that abstained from voting. It is interesting to note how the trend to abolish death penalty has grown. When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted in 1948, the number of countries that had abolished the death penalty stood at eight. In 1977, just 16 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. In 2007, that figure stands at 90.

Eleven other countries have abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes, and retained the death penalty for exceptional crimes, such as crimes under military law, or crimes committed in wartime. Our own neighbours, Nepal and Bhutan, are amongst these abolitionist nations. A further 29 countries can be considered ‘abolitionists in practice’, as they have not carried out any execution for at least 10 years. That brings the total to about 130 countries out of 192 U.N. Member States that have effectively abolished the death sentence.

What is important is to note that there is a continuing trend towards abolition, suspension, or the imposition of a moratorium on executions. One of the first countries to abolish the death penalty was the United Kingdom, in 1965. Now Europe is virtually a death penalty free area. The continent of Africa is largely free of execution, with only six out of 53 countries having carried out executions in the year 2006. In some countries, death sentences are being commuted to life imprisonment. In the Asia Pacific region, about 25 countries have not carried out any executions since about 2006. In China, where regular executions take place (in 2010, roughly about a thousand), they have now introduced a compulsory review of death sentences by the Supreme Court. In Latin American States, even though they have large incidences of crimes and armed resistance and terrorism, they have abolished capital punishment.

Even in the United States of America, there is a move to abolish death penalty. In the State of Montana, the Senate voted to abolish the death penalty in 2001. In New York, the State’s highest Court, in 2004, found the State’s death penalty

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statute unconstitutional. The State of New Jersey in 2006 appointed a Commission to study all aspects of death penalty. The Commission in its report in 2007 recommended the abolition of death penalty. In most of the Countries, even though there has been no abolition of death penalty, virtually no execution has taken place for the last several years.

I am referring to this trend and momentum to end capital punishment in all regions of the world, only to lament upon what we have been doing in raucously demanding the execution of the ‘Rajiv Gandhi killers’ and Afzal Guru, in particular, and in continuing the death penalty provisions, in general, and in expanding and including the same in certain other laws which are, at present, outside the scope of death penalty provisions. It is depressing to note that while nearly two-thirds of all countries recognise that the death penalty cannot be reconciled with respect to human rights, we are not even prepared to announce a policy of moratorium on execution of death sentences.

In India, the law, as it stood before 1955, was that the Court was required to give reasons if it chose not to pass a death sentence in a case where the offence was punishable with death. Section 367(5) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.) 1898 stood: “If the accused is convicted for an offence punishable with death and the Court sentences him to any punishment other than death, the Court shall in its judgement state reasons why the sentence of death was not passed.” During that time, death sentence was the rule and the lesser punishment of life imprisonment could be given only for special reasons.

Section 367(5) of the Cr.P.C. was amended in 1955, and after that the judges were left with the discretion to give either punishment.

The Legislature dropped that part of the sub-clause which made it necessary for the courts to state the reasons for not awarding the sentence of death.

However, now S. 354(3) of the Cr.P.C. 1973 provides that in all cases of murder, life

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imprisonment should be given, unless there are special reasons for passing the sentence of death.

This means that the extreme penalty of death sentence could be awarded only in exceptional cases.

How do we determine exceptional cases? Where do we draw the line? The criteria for awarding life sentence when death sentence was the rule and life sentence the exception, fundamentally differs from a situation where life sentence is the rule and death sentence is the exception. In the former situation, the crime having being established (whatever be the manner of committing the crime), the Court would take into account the factors that relate to the criminal – the man – his general background, his age, his family members and their dependence on him, his general behaviour towards society, etc. On the other hand, when life sentence is the rule, and death penalty the exception, the criminal – the man – becomes irrelevant and the gravity of the crime becomes more important. In the former case, the Court could be legitimately induced to invoke its humane approach, whereas, in the latter case, the Court could regressively tread into the inhuman situation where life could be taken away. That is the crux of the problem, and the only genuine solution is to eliminate death penalty altogether.

The Supreme Court, in its anxiety to circumscribe the parameters for imposing death penalty, came up with the solution of ‘rarest of rare cases’, where the death penalty could be awarded (Bachan Singh 1980). The very concept shows that the case – the rarest case – the crime – becomes more important than the criminal – the man. The Judges posed the following questions: is there something uncommon about the crime which renders sentence for life imprisonment inadequate? Are the circumstances of the crime such that there is no alternative but to impose death sentence? The emphasis is on the facts and circumstances surrounding the crime and to take a balance sheet of mitigating and aggravating circumstances.

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Following this approach, the Supreme Court has, from time to time, laid down various criteria for awarding death penalty. The Supreme Court has repeatedly stressed that the manner of commission of murder is an important factor. Whether murder is committed in as “extremely brutal, grotesque, diabolical, revolting or dastardly manner so as to arouse extreme indignation of the community?”

Whether the motive indicates “extreme depravity and meanness…?” Whether the crime is anti-social or can be considered as socially abhorrent in its nature? Whether the crime has aroused ‘social wrath’? What is the magnitude of the crime – such as multiple murders or murder of all the members of a family? What is the personality of the victim of murder? Is he a public figure – such as Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, etc.?

It is difficult to appreciate whether these could be considered as proper guidelines for imposing death penalty. The facts and circumstances surrounding the incident may be relevant for determining whether a crime has been committed or not. How would they be relevant for prescribing any sentence?

The Court itself realised the difficulty in laying down any standardised guidelines, because such guidelines “leaves little room for judicial variations in culpability…. It tends to sacrifice justice at the altar of blind uniformity. Indeed, there is a real danger of such mechanical

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standardisation degenerating into a bed of procrustean cruelty.”

This led to a series of cases in which judges evolved their own criteria of “rarest of rare cases”, so much so that Justice Aftab Alam, in the case of Swamy Shraddhananda (2008) observed: “The question of death sentence is not free from the subjective element and the confirmation of death sentence or its commutation by the Court depends a good deal on the personal predilection of the judges constituting the bench.” The learned Judge refers to a report called “Lethal Lottery, The Death Penalty in India” compiled jointly by Amnesty International and the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), which is a study of death penalty cases from 1950 to 2006, showing lack of uniformity and consistency in awarding death sentence. He then refers to Article 14 of the Constitution which should apply to the judicial process at the sentencing stage. He finally observes : “In the ultimate analysis, it serves as an alarm bell because if capital sentences cannot be rationally distinguished from a significant number of cases where the result was a life sentence, it is more than an acknowledgement of an imperfect sentencing system. In a capital sentencing system if this happens with some frequency there is a lurking conclusion as regards the capital sentencing system becoming constitutionally arbitrary.”

Continued in the next issue.......................

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ARTICLES BEYOND 1500-2000 WORDS. Dear Friends, Also, inform me whether they have been published elsewhere. And, please try to email them at rheditor@gmail.com instead of sending them by post. You may post them (only if email is not possible) at C-8 Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India. Do also email your passport size photographs as separate attachments (in JPG format) as well as your small introduction, if you are contributing for the first time.

Please feel free to contact me at 91-9719333011 for any other querry.

—Rekha Saraswat

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Musings from France

Amitabha Chakrabarti

[Prof. Amitabha Chakrabarti is M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from Kolkata University and Doc.ès. Sc. from Univ. of Paris, France. He first worked at National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi and later entered C.N.R.S. and joined Centre de Phys.Théor. (CPHT) of Ecole Polytechnique, France in 1965. He still continues to work there. Apart from a large number of papers on varied problems of mathematical physics in various scientific journals and conference proceedings he has published a series of articles (covering scientific, philosophical, historical and other cultural aspects) in Bengali in ‘Jijnasa’ (edited by Prof. Sibnarayan Ray).

These have been collected in a recently published book by Renaissance Publishers. A few articles in English have also appeared in the earlier issues of The Radical Humanist.]

A book left open delightful anecdote in Aubry’s “Brief ALives” describes the first encounter with Geometry of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) at the age of forty: Being in a Gentleman’s Library, Euclid’s Elements lay open, it so happens, on the page demonstrating Pythagoras’ theorem. “By G – says he (he would now and then swear an emphatic oath by way of emphasis) – this is impossible!” He reads the demonstration and finds that it refers to a preceding

theorem. So he reads that one, which again refers to a preceding one. He continues thus to move backward till he is satisfied. “This made him in love with Geometry.” Possibly T.H. continued to move backward until he arrived at the starting point — Euclid’s axioms.

The story “beautifully captures the force of Greece’s most important contribution to mathematics, the deductive method” writes John Stillwell in “Mathematics and its history”. “Thales (624 BCE – 547 BCE) is thought to be the originator of this method, and by 300 BCE it had become so sophisticated that Euclid’s Elements set the standard of mathematical rigor until the nineteenth century.” (Stillwell) Bertrand Russell wrote (Autobiography, Vol.1): “At the age of eleven, I began Euclid … This was one of the great events of my life, as dazzling as first love … I had not imagined there was anything so delicious in the world.”

Ancient Greece was certainly not steeped everywhere in clarity and logic. When Thales and a few others like him lived and thought, many more were carrying gold and varied treasures to Delphi, hoping that the Pythia would answer their questions and provide omens. One story told by Herodotus is both funny and pathetic: Spartans, planning to attack their Tegean neighbors, solicited the Oracle. The answer was, as almost always, involved and ambiguous. Spartans somehow interpreted it to mean their certain victory and attacked. Thoughtfully, the invading army brought a supply of shackles to bring back Tegean slaves. They lost. Many Spartans were carried away fettered with those very shackles.

Some of those shackles decorated for centuries a Tegean temple of Athene.

Did the Spartans lose faith in the Oracle? Not at all.

They continued to carry loads of treasure to Delphi and to prostrate themselves, asking for other answers.

Possibly, I have started to think about Greek science and religion as an evasion from the present

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reality. It is difficult not to think about Greece with the media daily reporting on the desperate present situation. Television screens show Athenians rioting, the police charging, wielding batons from behind transparent shields, tear gas shells bursting everywhere.

The European Union lends more money (172 bn euros), cancels more debts (100 bn euros) but imposes yet more austerity measures. Minimal salaries, so low (for Europe) to start with, are again reduced twenty to thirty percent. The Orthodox Church (massively wealthy, owning vast properties, paying no taxes) has at last started to distribute food. Hungry men, women and children stand in queues.

The film Director Costas Gavras appeals “It is not a message, but a prayer: Do not humiliate the Greek people any more. They have suffered so much, specially the poorer ones.”

A thoroughly corrupt administration has brought the country to the brink of ruin. Tax evasion had become a way of life. (Is the stench familiar to Indian noses?)

I think of my Greek friends, brilliant physicists, who also teach me how to pronounce correctly the famous names of ancient Greece. I think of the country I have travelled in. Anastasia, you who were our guide on a tour and said that I reminded you of your father who also likes mathematics —-how are you? You were thinking of marrying and settling down, but you were worried. You said to me in a low voice “If I am so often away, guiding tourists, how can that be possible?” What are you doing now?

I may as well take shelter in less troubling thoughts.

But are they really so?

Somebody (I do not remember who) wrote that the Greek gods, so callously unconcerned with justice to human beings, so obsessed with sex, are a joke.

The fact that one cannot take them seriously possibly liberated the Greek mind, opening it to rational thinking. I do not think that the conclusion necessarily follows. But indeed the terrible wail of 14

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blinded Gloucester: “Like flies to wanton boys are we to th’ Gods They kill us for their sport” (King Lear) is a banal situation in the Iliad. According to their whimsical spites and sympathies, the Gods take sides —-Athene for the Achean Greeks, Ares for the Trojans, and so on. Smugly safe in their immortality, they enjoy the “sport”. They also indulge their mutual hatreds. Athene guides Diomedes’ spear for a savage thrust in the belly of Ares. Howling with pain, Ares flies back to Olympos. There, Zeus treats him with contempt.

Such is the Olympian milieu.

Does such a pantheon necessarily, as a reaction, help rational thought bloom? I do not know. But some achievements of the Greek miracle are indeed exalting.

Long before Copernicus, Aristarchos of Samos (310 –230 BCE) gave the first heliocentric model of the solar system. He also gave the first (though quite approximate) estimate of the distance Earth – Sun. The idea behind the method is of awesome simplicity. On day when just the half of the lunar disc and the Sun were both visible in the sky, Aristarchos took two sticks and, holding them before his eyes, pointed one to the Sun and the other to the Moon. He measured the angle between the two sticks. That gave him the distance Earth -Sun! The Greeks had already estimated the distance Earth –Moon. The method was again conceptually simple and a triumph of the human mind. To make things short, let us assume that distance to be known and come back to Aristarchos. From his heliocentric model, he knew that when just half the lunar disc is visible, the lines Moon -Earth and Moon –Sun must be mutually perpendicular, subtending a right angle. So, after measuring the angle between the two sticks, he knew two angles and one side of the triangle Earth - Sun - Moon. So he knew the triangle completely and hence the distance Earth – Sun. His estimate was not very accurate numerically, but the geometry was correct!

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Aristarchus's 3rd century BCE calculations on stopping the outflow of water. Before anyone the relative sizes of (from left) the Sun, Earth noticed, however, the crucial time passed and the wedding had to be called off. The hapless Leelavati never married.” (Stillwell) Advances made by Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, and others were transmitted to Europe in a diluted form

by Arab mathematicians such as Al Khwarizmi, who thus became famous. They also transmitted the system of decimal numerals.

Stillwell writes “Brahmagupta’s work … much more advanced... predated Al Khwarizmi and very likely was known to him. Why then did Al Khwarizmi’s work rather than that of Brahmagupta’s become the definitive “algebra”?” and Moon, from a 10th century AD Greek copy Quite different was the role of Al Biruni. He entered India in the wake of an invader —Mahmoud of Ghazni. But he stayed. He learned I learned about the achievement of Aristarchos Sanskrit and Hindi. He travelled widely, met and from a television program on a Sunday morning. I discussed with philosophers, mathematicians and was alone in the room. But I rose up and cheered other scholars. Then he wrote his celebrated work like a football fan in a stadium. I distinctly heard “Hindustan”. hundred thousand fans cheering with me.

My wife Michelle and I were touring Uzbekistan Turning to India one finds that great mathematical with a group. To my surprise, I found Al Biruni’s talent can coexist with convictions which some work has still a high prestige there. Presumably (including myself) would consider as superstitions. very few read it. But the aura lingers.

Bhaskara was the greatest mathematician and The historical little city of Khiva has still towers astronomer in twelfth century India and head of the and a rampart (and also a fine reclining statue of Al observatory of Ujjain. His most famous work, Khwarizmi). We bought tickets giving access to the Leelavati, was named after his daughter — to rampart. Michelle presented them to the lady console her! collecting tickets at the foot of the stairs leading to “The story goes that Bhaskara used his the top. Taking the tickets, pointing to me, she astronomical knowledge (which in those days asked Michelle “Uzbek? Uzbek?” Michelle replied included astrological “knowledge”) to choose the “No, Indian.”... “Hindustan!” exclaimed the lady. most propitious day and time for his daughter’s Respectfully she bowed to me twice. Feeling like wedding. As the time approached, one of her pearls an impostor, I bowed in return. fell into the water clock as she leaned over it, “I told the sun that I was glad, I'm sure I don't know why; Somehow the pleasant way he had Of shining in the sky, Just put a notion in my head That wouldn't it be fun.

If, walking on the hill, I said "I'm happy" to the sun.”

— John D.

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Reflections from the U.S.

Uday Dandavate

[Mr. Uday Dandavate studies people, cultures and trends worldwide and uses the understanding gained from such studies to inspire people centered innovation strategies. Uday Dandavate heads up a design research consulting firm called SonicRim. He frequently writes and speaks on topics related to people centered design and innovation in international journals and conferences. uday@sonicrim.com]

Six Characteristics of Resonant Organizations concept of “disruptive innovation” has Thebecome a buzz word, a silver bullet for business survival. Businesses are turning to creative professionals to conceptualize the ideal product that will increase competitiveness in a marketplace depressed by economic downturn. But I would like to offer an alternative to this popular notion—instead of focusing on revolutionary products or services, businesses should focus on nurturing resonance.

Building a business is like raising a child. You cannot hope to nurture character, conviction, and survival skills in a child just by giving them occasional gifts. The popular proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” best clarifies why resonance is the key requirement for building a thriving business. How much the stakeholders are tuned into each other and into the changing market conditions will determine the health, vitality and growth of the business. In turn, the entire value chain will be inspired to innovate. In this article, I propose that a company can thrive in a fast changing marketplace only by turning itself into a resonant organization.

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Marc Van Der Erve, the author of the book “Resonant Corporation,” suggests that “the art of creating business is in finding characteristics that reinforce one another or resonate.” He does not want business leaders to be blinded by revolutions; rather he suggests that businesses should “focus on changes inside and outside your organization which might reinforce one another.”

The idea of resonance is borrowed from the field of Physics. It refers to sound that is produced or increased in one object by sound waves from another object. Resonant organization therefore means an organization in which people have cultivated an instinctive ability to understand each other’s perspectives, sense and respect each others’ emotions and to learnand grow from the deep connection they have developed with each other and with other stakeholders within their value chain. I have identified six characteristics of a resonant organization: creative curiosity, sense of purpose, synchronicity, empathy, mentoring networks, and sense of self.

Creative Curiosity: The responsibility for innovation often falls on professionals trained in creative thinking skills. Companies commission celebrity designers or well-known design firms to create disruptive designs. However, the secret behind the creativity of design professionals lies in their ability to observe, interpret, and be inspired by their surroundings. Creative individuals approach mundane moments of life with a childlike curiosity and an opportunistic attitude.

Leo Burnett, founder of Leo Burnett Worldwide, once said “curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people,” Curiosity opens minds to new ideas and directs our perceptions to things that escape our attention on a normal day. This curiosity can be directed through an opportunistic lens.

When an individual or an organization is driven by a sense of purpose in pursuing one’s curiosity, it can be termed as creative curiosity. This creative curiosity can be directed at solving a problem,

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interpreting a natural phenomenon, or in discovering the truth. And when an entire organization activates its curiosity to track the environment for opportunities, the chances of breakthrough discoveries increase exponentially.

Sense of Purpose: In order to direct the creative curiosity of its work force, leadership must provide clear messaging to communicate the purpose of its existence in the marketplace—both from the perspective of the company and its customers— just as Steve Jobs told his stakeholders to “Think Different,” John F. Kennedy mandated NASA to put a man on the moon in ten years, and Gandhi inspired an entire nation with a simple call for the British to “Quit India”. In all these instances, leaders inspired their followers to use their imagination and curiosity to find their own ways to develop appropriate response to a broad framework laid out by their leader.

Your employees and trade partners will be motivated to independently apply their imagination to creating, communicating and delivering innovative ideas to the market if they have a clear sense of what your company stands for. If your stakeholders perceive a sense of purpose in your vision and relate to it, they are more likely to use their experience, relationships, and creativity to generate ideas that are guided by that purpose.

Simon Sinek, in his popular book, “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action,” says, “The goal [of a business] is [or should be] not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe." The purpose of a company may be clarified through a mission statement, a tagline, or an evolving conversation with stakeholders about the company’s relevance in the marketplace and its dreams for the future. A good leader, therefore, is one who provides a sense of purpose to the company through projection of his or her vision for the future.

Inspired by the TED talk of Simon Sinek and challenged by the questions of our employees, the partners of SonicRim conducted rigorous consultations last year on why SonicRim should exist and what the relevance of its services is. These questions led us to create a new website that reflected our clearly defined sense of purpose. As a result of this exercise, we find a renewed enthusiasm among our employees to write regular blog posts for the site. This exercise also led the partners of SonicRim to seek out new ways of approaching potential clients with the message that “together we can make the world a better place.”

Synchronicity: An organization that is clear on purpose and keen on fostering a culture of learning needs to implement programs and create spaces within its premises that allow for cultivation of synchronicity between its employees and other stakeholders.

Informal socialization and participation in activities that have meaning beyond work help generate a sense of synchronicity between people. For example three years ago, we brought together our employees and their families to plant 5000 trees in rural Ohio. Sweating in barren land for hour to plant trees, helped inculcate a sense of connection to a larger ecological cause that both the employees and their families believe in.

The concept of synchronicity was first introduced

by Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology Carl Gustav Jung as “meaningful coincidences.”

In his view, the idea of synchronicity refers to the relationship between minds at abstract level. These relationships are a more profound connection between people which, cultivated over time through shared memories, values and purposes, can manifest as simultaneous occurrences that are meaningfully related. An event that brings people together on a platform that is meaningful to them allows synchronicity to grow between them.

Empathy: Most organizations suffer from lack of empathy between people who are separated by distance or culture. Lack of empathy for people

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working in unfamiliar contexts often creates bottlenecks in learning. Organizations need to cultivate two types empathy: internal empathy and external empathy. People within an organization need empathy for colleagues (internal empathy) to foster respect for the diversity of perspectives that exist within the organization. And they need empathy for your trade partners and your customers (external empathy) in order to best understand the cultural and psychological frameworks that guide the thoughts, ideas and feelings of people from different backgrounds. Cross-cultural empathy can help tap into the wisdom and insights of people who have a stake in the success of your organization, and help them come together to drive innovation and bring imagination to life. Often seeds of breakthrough innovation reside in the wisdom, ideas and local knowledge of regional teams in global companies, which gets lost due to lack of empathy between corporate and regional teams, and between executives and creative teams.

To help cultivate external empathy, organizations often conduct segmentation studies and develop persona caricatures of their target customers and trade partners. However, this exercise is not an effective as a tool unless the organization—especially the leadership team— goes through an experiential learning process to understand the lives of their target audience. This is important because empathy Is formed through direct immersion in shared experiences, and through genuine efforts to understand each other.

Empathy cannot be gained from reading persona profiles depicted in PowerPoint presentations or by reading personas displayed in corporate corridors.

Organizations must also use similar methods to develop archetypal profiles of people within their organization to help employees develop empathy for each other.

Mentoring Networks: Every organization has resource limitations on how many people they can employ. At the same time rapidly expanding social networks are enabling people to learn from people

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and sources outside the confines of their organization. As a result, new forms of mentoring networks are being formed on Twitter and Facebook. Organizations can develop their human capital by harnessing the potential of social networks in expanding people’s opportunities for growth through internal exchanges and mentorship from people outside of their organization.

SonicRim researchers Chris (L) and Isha (R) presenting their collage.

At SonicRim we have formed a new initiative called “Engage”. The sole purpose of “Engage” is to bring together the community of design researchers and clients of design research in an open-source learning platform. We have established a monthly whiteboard meeting where design researchers— even those who compete with each other during their day jobs— meet to ask questions, share ideas, and enjoy time together.

Tamara Christensen from Portigal Consulting, said after a recent Whiteboard session, that “[the Whiteboard session] spoke to my head, touched my heart, and nurtured my soul!” Her reflection best articulates the value of efforts in building an open source network for learning.

We are also launching a SonicRim Book Club, in which we open up our company blog to reviews from professionals in our field. This platform will help practitioners in the field consume the knowledge from a range of resources while also conserving their limited time, effectively creating an opportunity for design research professionals to enrich themselves and create new value within the field.

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Sense of Self: Finally, the most important aspect of a resonant organization is the importance of sense of self, and its impact on an individual’s work. At SonicRim we have learned that people have greater sense of self-esteem and a positive self-image when their experience of work is synchronous with their values and aspirations outside of work. We have developed a method for helping employees reflect upon the alignment between their aspirations for life and job through a collage activity. By asking people to select words and images that represent their ideal life and job, we help them to examine their evolving aspirations and realities, and understand the symbiotic relationship between their ideal job and ideal life outside of work. The collage serves as a framework for understanding one’s sense of self as the conditions at work change, and also helps the employer understand how experiences from within and outside the organization to can create a sense of fulfillment.

During the times of recession, when employees feel frustrated by lack of external motivation or inspiration, a resonant organization plays a greater role in providing meaning and a sense of purpose for innovation. British macro economist John Maynard Keynes, best summarized the current context for building resonant organizations: “The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied by our real problems: the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behavior and religion."

The point is, we can no longer afford to obsess about the recession and simply wait for consumer confidence to return. Resonant organizations will use the period of economic downturn to inspire their employees to focus on applying their imagination to serve their customers in meaningful ways.

Important Announcement

Encyclopedia of the Radical Humanists To be loaded on the RH Website (http://www.theradicalhumanist.com) Dear Friends, This is to request you to send in your personal details, contact numbers etc. (along with your passport size photographs) as well as a brief account of how you got associated with M.N. Roy/Radical Democratic Party/Radical Humanist Movement directly or indirectly through the philosophy of New Humanism.

This is also a request to all those friends, whose deceased parent/parents were involved in or were sympathetic with Radical Humanism and its Movement, to send in accounts of their parent’s/parents’ association (as much as they can recollect and recount). This will be a loving and emotional tribute to their memories from your side.

All this effort is being made to form an encyclopedia of the Radical Humanists right from the days of the beginning of M.N. Roy’s social and political activities in India and abroad.

All this information will be uploaded and permanently stored on the RH Website in the Profile section for everyone to read and come in contact with one another.

This will be a historical check-list to connect with all the crusaders who worked or are still working for the human cause on the humanist lines.

—Rekha Saraswat

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B.P. Rath

[Mr. Bhagwat Prashad Rath, who calls himself a heretic, is a Gandhian socialist. He built educational institutions, got elected as a chairman of a Panchayet Samiti, resigned and worked as a lecturer in English. A believer in Lokayata philosophy, he is an editor of journals—Vigil-English, Sarvodaya-Oriya. He is also a writer of several novels, poems (in Oriya) and essays (in Oriya and English). He has often been subjected to police harassment, false cases and threats from anti-socials due to his association with people’s movements and connection with human rights organizations. Presently, he is researching upon the works and literature on ancient Indian culture. bagwat_prashad@rediffmail.com]

Deconstructing Indian History: The Roots of Dalits his essay ‘Exploring the Historical InConsciousness’ published in the Social Scientist (221-22); Ravinder Kumar Wrote, “As I traversed the gallery of art, it became obvious that it took Canadian artists about two generations to record faithfully the characteristics of the landscape that stood before their eyes……..The problems of visual perception that confronted early Canadian artists illuminate the dilemmas of historical writings in Third World societies”.

Ravinder Kumar’s remarks are relevant in the context of exploring the roots of Dalitization in

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India. The unique dismal nature of the problem comes out in the writings of Swami Vivekananda.

In a letter to his young admirer Alsinga in Madras, he wrote, “No religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism and no religion on earth treads upon the neck of the poor and the low in such a fashion as Hinduism”.

Vivekananda’s heart-felt remarks find powerful expression in the writings of Ambedkar. “The existence of these classes (The Criminal Tribes, the Aboriginal Tribes, the Untouchables) is an abomination. The Hindu civilization, examined in the light of such social products (Untouchables) can hardly be called a civilization. It is a diabolical contrivance to suppress and enslave humanity. Its proper name would be infamy”. The untouchables: Preface. (B.R. Ambedkar’s writings and speeches vl.7) Many sordid episodes narrated in the Jataka stories indicate how degraded the position of the Chandalas was in ancient India. “……. The sight of Chandalas was inauspicious (Jat-377), and daughters of a sresthi and priest washed their eyes after having accidentally seen a Chandala because he was not fit to be seen. They were considered low by caste (Jat-498)”. Beyond the Four Varnas: Identification, Rejection and Segregation (Prabhati Mukherji).

No wonder, Dalit intellectuals mince no words in condemning Brahmin-dominated Hinduism in India.

Indian civilization is not without its share of glories that dazzle the world. India gifted two of the greatest world figures to human history. They were the Buddha and Gandhi.

Amartya Sen writes, “Schopenhauer added, “That in contrast with the old, the new testament ‘must somehow be of Indian Origin: This is attested by its completely Indian ethics, which transforms morals into asceticism, its pessimism and its Avatar (i.e.

The person of Christ)”. The Argumentative Indian: Indian Traditions and the Western Imagination.

Suniti Kumar Chatterjee writes in his Bengali

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Book. Indian Culture, “I consider three values foundational to Hindu culture: integration (Samanwaya), search for truth and non-violence”.

In India, how could the horror co-exist with the glory? How could atheistic rationalist India of the Buddha, Mahavir and Charvak coexist with the Pseudo – Dharmic India of Dalit and Mlechha – haters? No other country contains so many books written by atheists and agnostics. Amartya Sen writes, “Sanskrit (including its variants Pali and Prakrut) has a larger literature in the atheistic and agnostic tradition than exists in any other language (Greek, Roman, Hebrew or Arabic)”. The Argumentative Indian : The Indian identity.

Andre Betelle made a telling comment to illustrate the paradoxical nature of Indian Civilization.

“But the growth of Indian Civilization was based on a very distractive pattern of accommodation which the noted anthropologist and writer Iravate Karve described as accretion. She observed, “…the historical process is one of continuous accretion.

There does not seem to be a stage where choice was made between alternatives, a choice involving acceptance of one alternative and a definite final rejection of the other” India’s Identity. The Bhagavad Gita illustrates these contradictions co-existing in the culture of India. D.D. Kosambi has rightly observed, “Practically anything can be read into the Gita by a determined person” ‘Tolerance of diversity’ or in Vivekananda’s words ‘acceptance of diversity’ has preserved the unity of India. But structural inequalities must be combated to preserve healthy diversity.

To quote the historian R.S. Sarma, “Untouchables are not found in any other country. But in India they are as old as 400 B.C” Rethinking the Past: Problems of Members of Lower Orders.

Why did this abomination occur in India? Dalit intellectuals have the right to be heard with attention in this matter.

Thus say Dalit intellectuals: “From the beginning till today, Brahminism has established its hegemony over land, resources and people; Dalits 21

reject any such hegemony…. Since the caste system has been firmly established in India, Brahmins claim to be superior to all other castes and have been pressing the Dalit oppression through millennia.”

Dalitology: Introduction: Most of the upper class people believe that because of bad deeds (Karma) in previous lives, people are born as Dalits, but Dalits believe that their present degraded status is due to some historical accident or trickery played on their ancestors. (Suvira Jayaswal).

Dalitization and Brahmin dominance (Brahmans occupying the highest rank in society) are two sides of the same coin Without Brahmins becoming religious law- makers in Indian society, their efforts of social ostracism would not have succeeded. Why did the warriors submit to the hegemony of Brahmins? No Aryan society accepted the supreme status of the ritualizers. The supreme status was that of the warriors. The cattle raiders were the sword arm of Aryans. The priests sang the praises of warriors for Dana and Dakshina. In the book ‘From Lineage to State’ Ramila Thapar writes.

“At the core of the Jana, the substantial division was the bifurcation of the Kshatriya and Vis. In the initial structure of the varna system, both the Brahman and the Sudra could have been as it were addenda” Lineage Society.

S.C. Malik writes in the Book ‘Understanding Indian Civilization, “Early Rig- Vedic period: two types of social categories, the nobles or the Kshatriyas and the tribesmen or vish. But sometimes a third category of poct-priest ‘Brahman’ was added.” Structural Elements and Formation.

Describing the unique nature of Indian civilization, Louis Dumont writes in the book Homo Hierarchicus, “In ancient Egyptian or Sumerian kingship, or in the king ship of the Chinese empire, the supreme religious functions were vested in the sovereign, he was the priest par excellence”.

Appendix –C: In India separation occurred.

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Kingship was secularized. Only priesthood was sacralized.

That Yogi Chiefs (later categorized as ‘Brahmins’: The Mahabharata, Shantiparva), ruled pre-Vedic non-Aryan societies cannot be doubted. In the Bhagawad Gita (4th canto), it is written that Rajarshees who ruled India in the past were Yogis.

Then for a long time, Yoga remained unknown.

Evidently, Rajarshees lost power and the new rulers, the Vedic nobility, fond of sacrifices, had no interest in Yoga. The Mahabharat (Canto-232) reveals that in Satyayuga, there was no sacrifice, no Vedas: there was only Yoga or Tapa (Santi Parva Canto-79 explains Tapa as non-violence, truth compassion and control of senses which are the values of Yoga, Tapa had nothing to do with any type of torture of the body as believed in later days).

‘Namuchi appears to be noble (R.V. 10.73.7: ‘Asura’ by W.E. Hale). Non-violent chiefs like Vritra and Namuchi could easily be killed by Indra without any war. Ramila Thapar writes in her essay ‘Some appropriations of the theory of the Aryan Race and the Beginning of Indian History’, “The question of theory of Aryan invasion arose from the paucity of archeological evidence suggesting such an invasion”. Death of their key leaders led to the flight of the indigenous city people from their habitations. (R.V.1.30.12; 1.33.6.7; 1,51,5,1.53.8; 1.101.1; 1.117.2; 1.149.3; 1.15.4; 6.27: Oroon Ghosh’s Bengali essay ‘Aryavijaya, KuruPandab and Krishna’). Ramila Thapar writes, “It would seem that most of these cities were in the Sarawati and Punjab region. It is stated that the dark inhabitants fled and migrated. This would agree with the archeological evidence” (Her above –mentioned essay). Both Vritra and Namuchi, prominent Dasa Chiefs (Rajarshees) were killed by Indra and Rajarshee Bali was exiled. Indra had to suffer because of Brahmahatya (Brahmin – murder). The Mahabharata (Shanti Parva) also tells about Indra’s killing of a large number of Brahmins (Canto-33). In Prof. R. N. Dandekar”s felicitation volume ‘Amritdhara’ H.W Bodewitz writes, “Being ascetics, (non-violent), the Yatis cannot be

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killed by Indra with weapons. Therefore they are surrendered to the wolves or hyenas (Sala Vrikas).”

Yatis (called ‘Brahmins’ in the Mahabharata) were forced to accept Vedic rituals performed in Uttara Vedis (Sacrificial place) to save their lives. To quote Bodewitz. “…. Bhrigu, according to Satapatha and Jaimininya Brahmans only became a ritualist after he had seen some horrible visions……” Pre-Vedic nobility, the Yogis’ (Yatis) accepted sacrificial rituals because of threat. To make them join the Vedic Brahmins, Aryan leaders had to make the compromise of making sacrificial rituals bloodless. A myth of the Mahabharata makes it clear.

Once a quarrel took place between Devas (deities) and Rishis. Devas wanted the killing of animals in sacrifices. Rishis disagreed. Both the parties made King Uparichara Basu the mediator. When he sided with the Devas, Rishis became furious and cursed him. Ultimately the killing of animals in sacrifices was abolished. This myth shows that Vedic priests had to accept the dictates of the Rishis (Yogis) who dominated pre-Vedic Indian societies. Both Deva power and Kshatriya power proved futile in the presence of Rishi power. Rishis got absorbed in the Brahmin community because they accepted sacrifices as their Dharma.

Regarding the prevalence of animal killings in sacrifices, in Irfan Habib-edited book ‘The Growth of Civilizations in India and Iran’ K.M. Shrimali writes, “Amongst hunting cultures, small but symbolically parts of animals slain during hunt is offered… . Slaying has the twin objectives of not only maintaining the cosmic order, but also furthering the cause of material sustenance.” Further Srimali writes, “Sacrifice of both male and female animals, including Gav (Cow including bull) was practiced at all these shrines (Parsi shrines in Iran). It was only after the visit of Manoj Hatji Hataria, the first emissary of Parsis of India who came to Persia in 1854, that the sacrifice of cows at Banu Pars was stopped”. ‘The Rigveda and the Avesta’.

Continued in the next issue........................

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Current Affairs Section:

U. P. tops in punishing those committing crimes against Dalits —by Avatthi Ramaiah [Dr. Avatthi Ramaiah is a Professor at the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.] he growing number of crimes against Dalits (Scheduled Castes) in recent years particularity in Uttar Pradesh has become a major issue of concern and debate among human right defenders, politicians and academics. “Uttar Pradesh, which has the distinction of giving the country its first Dalit woman Chief Minister, also tops the list of states with highest number of cases of crime against Scheduled Castes”, reported the Times of India, Delhi on 4.5.2008. “Despite being run by a Dalit Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh is among those states where the percentage of atrocities on Dalits is ‘much higher’ as compared to other places in India” said P. L. Punia, the Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Castes on January11, 2011 at Varanasi town in the state of Uttar Pradesh (Website-1). These are some of the frequently voiced views of the popular Indian media (both print and electronic) in general and the State-sponsored custodians of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) from parties other than the Bahujan Samaj Party. Moreover, the recent decision of the Mayawati government not to register complaints of crimes against Dalits (SCs) under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989 (POA Act) unless they are of serious nature such as rape and murder has also been criticized vehemently to have undermined the spirit of the law and seriously affected the interest of the Dalits. What do all these views reveal and what do they hide? The primary objective of this paper is to bring to light, relying mostly on the data1 provided by the National Crime Records

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Bureau (NCRB), not only the nature and magnitude of crimes committed against Dalits in different states but also to identify the state that has taken a lead in punishing those violating the rights and dignity of Dalits/Scheduled Castes (SCs) through the existing legal measures. The recent NCRB data reveal that prior to the year 2003 Uttar Pradesh (UP) did not rank even third among the states known for high percentage of crimes against Dalits in India. In 2003 it was Madhya Pradesh (MP) that ranked first with 5507 (21%) incidence of crimes against Dalits, followed by Rajasthan with 3559 (13.6%) and Andhra Pradesh with 3559 (13.6%).

But in 2005, UP took the first position with 4397 (16.8%), very closely followed by MP with 4356 (16.7%) and Rajasthan with 3795 (14.5%). UP continued to remain at the top also in 2007 and 2009 with 6144 (20.5%) and 7522 (22.4%) respectively as the state with highest number of crimes against the Dalits in India. While Rajasthan rose from third position in 2005 to second in 2007 with 4174 (13.9%) crimes and remained at the same position in 2009 as well with 4985 (14.8%).

What may be noted from these data is the fact that there has been a steady decline over the years in the percentage of crimes against Dalits in the case of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, but a steady increase in the case of UP: 10.7% in 2003 and 22.4% in 2009. The other states that witnessed a noticeable increase over the years in the percentage of crimes against the SCs include Bihar (6.7% in 2003 increased to 11.4% in 2009) and Orissa (4.4% in 2003 increased to 5.1% in 2009). Even in brutal crimes such as rape and murder, the percentage share of UP and MP is very high. While the percentage share of rape cases that Madhya Pradesh accounted for was as high as 29 in 2004 and 2005, 27.5 in 2006, 25.4 in 2007, 24.5 in 2008 and 23.8 in 2009, the percentage share that Uttar Pradesh accounted for was 22.3, 19.1, 18.8, 23.6 and 25.7 respectively, and it was 10.9, 11.6, 10.8, 11.3, 10.5 and 12.1 respectively in the case of Rajasthan. The above analysis at the first instance seems to give a negative picture of UP. But if we

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care to ask as to (a) why crimes against Dalits in UP is on the increase and (b) what has been the state response in punishing those committing crimes against the Dalits, we would get a different picture.

(a) Reasons for increase in crimes against Dalits: The most important reason of all is the growing intolerance among caste Hindus towards Dalits.

There are more than one reason for it. First, the Dalits have become increasingly conscious of the value of their votes which has resulted in their leader Ms. Mayawati capturing and holding the post of Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh since long.

Second, the Dalits have become conscious of their self-respect and dignity and have also been attempting to replace their caste-assigned stigmatized untouchable identity and ultimately their caste itself with an unstigmatized, secular and dignified identity against the wishes of the caste Hindus. Third, the Dalits have also been attempting to disassociate themselves from the caste based stigmatized dirty occupations like sweeping and manual scavenging and occupying position of power and dignity in bureaucracy, politics and in other spheres which are traditionally not permitted to them. Fourth, the relative improvement that they achieved in their educational and subsequently economic status and their access to bureaucratic and political power through various protective, legislative and developmental measures guaranteed in the Indian Constitution have themselves become a major cause for the growing intolerance among the non-SC/ST members towards Dalits. Fifth, the kind of impact the limited Dalit elites created in the minds of ordinary Dalits, resulted in more and more Dalits aspiring for such coveted positions without taking the support of reservation policy, and inspired them to fight for their rights and dignity with high hope and confidence. Sixth, although the SCs/Dalits alone account for over 16 percent of total Indian population, they constitute too small a number in each village. And yet, they tend to muster enough courage to fight back their oppressors or to take the support of police and judiciary to punish them. This too causes much

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anger and enmity among the caste Hindus. In the light of these reasons, it is logical to conclude that the increase in the number of crimes against the Dalits reflects nothing but the caste Hindus’ intolerance towards Dalits’ assertion for their due rights and dignity as citizens of India. Indeed, such an assertion is to be taken positively as it leads to the realization of the ideals of Indian Constitution: liberty, equality and fraternity. “No crime” does not always mean “no crime”. The state with “no crime” or “less crime” against Dalits may also mean that the Dalits in such states do not dare to fight back or confront those violating their rights and dignity. In most of the states, particularly in villages, the Dalits are left with no option but to accept meekly their pilloried and inhuman condition. They do so, fearing dire consequences from the caste Hindus.

When the Dalits do not revolt, the scope for crimes against Dalits becomes very limited. This in fact reflects that the Dalits in such states have lost confidence over the state. They no more think that the state would come to their support whenever they would assert their rights as citizens of India.

Therefore the increasing crimes against Dalits reflect nothing but the Dalits’ confidence and faith over the state power and the state’s commitment to protect their rights and dignity. (b) State action against those violating Dalit rights: Under Article 17 of the Indian Constitution, untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is an offense punishable under law. To realize the spirit behind this and a few other provisions of the Constitution, a special law known as “The Protection of civil rights act, 1955” (PCR Act) was introduced. Realizing that the PCR Act was useful only to address the untouchability issue and it had no provision to punish those committing atrocities against the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes another law, a more powerful law, known as “the scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989” came into operation. A special national and state level commission also became a reality to monitor the working of these special laws. In view of the fact

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that these laws have been in operation since long and yet the number of crimes against Dalits continue, one tends to ask as to “whether or not the state performs its lawful duty in punishing those violating the rights of Dalits” under these special laws. After all, the victims of caste discrimination and violence would be sure that the state would come to their rescue and ensure them justice, only when the state has shown evidences of punishing those violated their rights. Although the increase in the number of crimes against Dalits in UP is usually attributed to what may be called “failure of the state”, the real reasons seem to be different. The “failure of state” here means that the state government could not make its police perform its lawful duty and the judiciary deliver justice without fear of any kind its and judiciary create an atmosphere in the state in which the police and the judiciary could perform their lawful duty and protect the rights and dignity of Dalits earnestly without fear and prejudice of any kind. This is, in any case, not to ignore the caste prejudice that the police and the judiciary is infected with (Ambedkar, 1989: 268-69; Ramaiah, 2007).

However, this is also not to ignore the power and will of the state to make the police perform their lawful duty and to enable the judiciary to ensure justice to the Dalit victims. The performance of UP state in ensuring justice to the victims of caste discrimination and violence could be measured in terms of: 1) the percentage of cases for which the state/UTs could not complete the due trial, in other words, the percentage of pending cases; 2) the importance the state/UT gives in achieving higher conviction rate in special cases (cases registered under the PCR and POA Acts) as compared to the IPC cases which could be measured in terms of: 1. the number of states/UTs with the conviction rate in IPC and special cases higher than that of the national average;

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2. trend in the conviction rate of IPC cases and special cases; 3. States with high conviction rate in IPC cases, but not so in special cases; 4. the States/UTs with high conviction rate in special cases, but not so in IPC cases; 5. states with low conviction rate both in IPC cases, as well as in special cases, and 6. states with high conviction rate both in IPC cases and special cases.

1) State-wise Pending IPC and Special cases: It is a matter of serious concern that on an average over 80 percent of the charge-sheeted cases both in the case of IPC cases and special cases is pending trial in different courts throughout India during 2001–2009 period. In 2001 there was no glaring difference between the percentage of pending IPC cases (82.3%) and special cases (82.6%) and the difference is only 0.3 percent. However, in the subsequent period, a marginal increase in the pending IPC cases (83.3 in 2005 and 85.6 in 2009) and a marginal decrease in the case of special cases (80.2 in 2005 and 80.4 in 2009) is seen. Such an encouragingly declining trend in the case of special cases is seen even at state level. For example, the number of states/UTs with declining trend in the percentage of pending IPC cases were only 4, but the states/UTs with such trend in the case of special cases were as many as 14. However, some states seemed to have shown a very callous attitude towards the disposal of special cases. For instance, Arunachal Pradesh which could dispose as many as 633 IPC cases in 2001 and 569 in 2009, did not dispose even one out of just the 2 special cases it had in 2001; the two cases remained pending even in 2009. Tamil Nadu, which could disposed as many as 112171 IPC cases in 2001 and 109547 in 2009, disposed only 1317 special cases in 2001 and 817 in 2009. West Bengal is no different. It disposed as many as 20373 IPC cases in 2001 and 23758 in 2009, but only 2 out merely 6 and 2 out of 26 special cases it had for the respective periods.

Delhi disposed as many as 32422 IPC cases in 2001 and 20353 in 2009, but merely 10 and 3 special

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cases for the same period. Same is the case with Puducherry: 2964 IPC cases in 2001 and 2368 in 2009, but merely 11 special cases in 2001 and 13 in 2009. Chandigarh responded the same way with its disposed IPC cases being 1405 and 1420, and its disposed special cases being 0 for both 2001 and

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2009 period. However, the increase in pending cases among special cases in states like Rajasthan (the increase from 77.1% in 2001 to 85.1% in 2009), Puducherry (from 65.7% in 2001 to 75.5% in 2009) and West Bengal (from 90% in 2001 to 92.3% in 2009) is a matter of serious concern.

To be concluded in the next issue......

Dear friends, Here are 8 more books of M.N. Roy on the following RH Web portal now for you to download and read directly on your Computers: (www.theradicalhumanist.com) They are: 'Revolution and Counter-Revolution in China', 'Science and Philosophy', 'Memoirs', 'India's Message: Fragments of a Prisoner's Diary', 'Materialism', ' 'M.N. Roy: Philosopher Revolutionary', 'Reason, Romanticism and Revolution' Volume I & II You may also download the following earlier uploaded books of Roy from this website: 'New Orientation', 'New Humanism', The Russian Revolution and the Tragedy of Communism', 'Politics, Power & Parties' 'Men I Met' 'Historical Role of Islam' and 'From the Communist Manifesto to Radical Humanism'.

You will be able to read the entire collection of Roy's books on the RH Portal soon.

It is gradually being uploaded there.

Happy reading of the above mentioned books till then!!!

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Rakesh Manchanda [Mr. Rakesh Manchanda is an Activist, Independent Journalist, Capacity Builder and Business Consultantant both in Africa and India.

He may be contacted at B-5, Gharonda Apartments, Shrestha Vihar, Delhi-92. Phone: 011-22145369, 00919560630404. rakeshmanchanda65@gmail.com]

Profit for me and debt-slavery with abuse for all: Debt-Slavery lessons from Greece me a firm place to stand and I shall “Give move the world.”- This Archimedes’s philosophy with “lever concept” application in modern industry helped civilizations to multiply and produce wealth faster. Shame! A nation who gifted lever principle and a world class shipping industry to the planet is today deliberately pushed in debt slavery. Greece production is competitive but EU market now with rest of the world is not firm. Greece in ancient times had been a magnet of wealth, lender of money, jobs, new skills and nation of learning and sharing. Magnus - a shepherd in whose name we see the invention called Magnet is a famous Greek folk tale of human growth. Today, Greece is losing its independent Magnetic Powers and culture just because its

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modern rulers took a decision to accept a monster called loan without the approval of its people.

Decisions were taken without bothering to see if purchasing, saving, spending power of the majority and pay-back support of the market was sufficient to clear the debt in future or not.

We all grew up hearing the heroic stories of Greece.

Trojan Horse in ‘Helen of Troy’ story unfolds the alert Greek fighters and war negotiators.

Superiority of Alexander Army with horses scored over the Indian king’s army with slow elephants.

After World War-I, the Horse Battalion in military lost its relevance and export sale to modern tanks.

Export list of modern Greece like fruits, vegetables, olive oil and so on is going down along with its shipping industry. Competition, recession and less saleability are basic reasons. At times, good quality indigenous products fail due to inferior market brand. Consumers in Greece as in any market buy branded products from Germany, France, UK or USA. Free Market showcased as a ‘God’ has no Patriotic mechanism to support a weak brand having good quality. Extra income of the people went straight to consumer goods that were imported from abroad leaving goods made in Greece unsold. Why should EU protect Greece imports at the cost of losing business? To apply protection Greece has to come out of the EU which powerful countries enjoying easy profit in Greece market do not want.

Problem increases when shrinking money in the squeezed pockets which was kept fixed is unable to match the price rise. Tourism, Greece’s largest money magnet industry is in red. America, the biggest visitor country opting annual holidays to Greece is no more favourable perhaps because of recession and its own debt pain. It is estimated that after the bailout dust settles and sacrifices of few private lenders are included the alarming Greece debt cycle shall fall down to 120% of GDP. A chance of Greece recovery on its own is impossible because its debt slavery is profitable for 1%.

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Greek people in majority are against forced sacrifices like severe cuts in social sector spending combined with increasing working hours, increasing VAT, increasing retirement age, four times lower wages, five times less pensions.

Increasing unemployment and falling consumption is another challenge. Work format from top to bottom is designed to have no link with productivity. More than one million people were seen agitating on roads of Athens in recent months. The motive of Government appears not to save Greek economy and living standards of millions but to protect the nexus of handful cronies engaged in protecting the interests of lenders. In response to people’s pressure Greece was forced to expel 43 lawmakers, reducing their majority in the 300-seat parliament from 236 to 193.Not a single, guilty in Greece, till today, is prosecuted in high value corruption. Selective media points out how Germany forced Greece to buy expensive German submarines, which it doesn’t need, at a price twice as high as Turkey had to pay for them; or France, which forced Greece to buy wildly expensive fighter planes in return for its ‘aid’.

In the modern world ‘loan’ does not rescue ‘the needy’ but helps to make few handful cronies richer and powerful. The trick in modern debt cycle starts when the money flow is controlled by the Corporate-bankers-government ruling nexus. Governments, as usual, fail to consult the majority people before fixing loans and laws. In 2004 Greece was given a rosy picture which was the venue for successful Olympics. All credit goes to the clever borrower-lender divide; the proud nation in 2004 with 98% literacy rate was forced to pretend that clearing debt was nobody’s responsibility while hosting Olympics is everyone’s duty. How Siemens, a German based MNC bribed its way to win monopoly position in Olympics emerged later.

When Euro in 2002 was accepted as a collective family currency, Greece was already suffering with debt which was far less. Thanks to the recession now the loan driven myths are getting shattered.

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Family of 17 nations has now emerged clearly divided on the weak fundamentals. No one in EU family in the past bothered to anticipate the future of Greece on the basis of competiveness, less productivity, senseless high rise in salaries, and more spending & less income as the easy reasons of a spoil sport. Euro currency with unequal fundamentals was given the ‘magic’ key to fetch happiness for all. Many today point out that if Greece’s condition is pushed further back why there was a need for this single key and one currency experiment? In a capitalist system the dirty picture of debt survives on city-slum and town-village divide. It is normal and natural that countries like Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain are called PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland (included after 2008) Greece and Spain) or abused as a bottomless pit .Weak economies ‘get used’ by other growing countries with strong fundamentals.

Match-fixers and Greece fence-sitters continue to hide their loot and divert attention by calling majority as lazy-bums. Governance today is driven by a hidden message: Profit for me and debt-slavery with abuse for all.

Majority in Greece, today demand that the debt myth should be waved off and Greece should have a separate currency and self control on its market.

Loan wave-off is not a new phenomenon as happened in Ecuador or as forced by America in Iraq invasion after the killing of Saddam Husain.

Greece today needs to come out of this slavery and the ugly shadow of ‘Debtocracy’. Only a holistic initiative of increasing living standards of majority can help repair the lost pride of Greece.

“There has to be clear strategy on loans”- is the alarm Greek-crisis gives to the entire world. In India, where people need a school they are given a hospital. When farmers need cold storage facility they get lots of fertiliser. When irrigation is a problem the GM research gets funds to convert agriculture slowly to pharmaceutical-culture. All this gets approved at the top supported by loans.

Loan is waved off most of the time in a project if a

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crony corporate fails. If the loan is big than the accountability is slowly relabelled as a sovereign loan and the entire nation is held guilty of no recovery. In India, the loan slavery has been the cause of millions of suicides.

Unequal earnings sow the seed of a loan. Loan in the past had never been an unending abuse.

Acceptance of people and the knowledge as to

where to use the funds and calculation on fast return is a must.

Ancient war trainers like Alexander helped their restless horses to remain calm and not to fear their own shadow during crisis and war. Debt and the ‘shadow’ of fear should be kept separate. For a safe participatory nation there should not be any debt at all. If the national debt is there it should not cross a safe normal limit. Loan utility should be as per people’s need.

BOOKS BY M.N. ROY PUBLISHED by RENAISSANCE PUBLISHERS, INDIAN RENAISSANCE INSTITUTE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS and OTHERS 1. POLITICS POWER AND PARTIES 2. SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

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3. BEYOND COMMUNISM

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4. THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF ISLAM

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5. MEN I MET

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6. INDIA’S MESSAGE

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7.MATERIALISM

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8.REVOLUTION AND COUNTER REVOLUTION IN CHINA Rs.250.00 9.REASON, ROMANTICISM AND REVOLUTION

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10. NEW ORIENTATION

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11. ISLAAM KI ETIHASIK BHOOMIKA (IN HINDI)

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12. HAMARA SANSKRITIK DARP (IN HINDI)

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13. NAV MANAVWAD (IN HINDI)

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14 .SAMYAWAD KE PAAR (IN HINDI)

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Rs.45.00

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IRI/IRHA Members’ Section: [Mr. Kiran Nanavati, a veteran Radical Humanist delivered this lecture at Indian Renaissance Institute’s All India Study Camp, held in Murshidabad, West Bengal.]

We need to make our society a just and equitable one Friends, It is heartening to see the young faces in majority here and I desire to address them.

Till the time of independence we were very vocal and used to verbalize opinions on rights and wrongs of the government. This nature of participating in the processes our nation followed stopped suddenly in post-independence era. We started accepting whatever government offered or did not offer.

Over a period of time the psyche of social fabric has changed too. We observe that poor has been marginalized and have been becoming more and more invisible from our society. In earlier days, poor people used to be part of our daily life. It used to be natural that the haves will feel responsible for have-nots. Social customs were imbibed to involve poor around your house, office and other activity places and extend a helping hand to them. Such customs have been diminishing and on the other hand sad to note that religious rituals have continued and becoming more pompous.

Political arena has not missed to en-cash poverty by floating slogans ranging from garibi hatao (eradicate poverty) of Congress to India shining by Bharatiya Janta Party. Humans have varieties in abilities and that will form a relatively stronger and relatively weaker human, may it be by physical or psychological strength or intelligence. This will form a hierarchy in economic as well as intellect status. It remains at the will of the people at higher strata to share what they have with others. I would certainly not like to see any nation, region or

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section of people having not enough food to last even a day. We need not muse over seeing days that will have nobody as poor. Even if there are sections under poverty, they should always have ample food in house for entire family.

To understand the need of a poor in our society, it is required to experience what they are going through.

We look at their condition from our point of view that might be very different from their perspective of actual needs. In winter, we may think they will need warm clothes and they certainly will, but clothing may not come as top priority when they do not have enough to feed themselves leading to malnutrition and health hazards. There are people living in posh bungalows, in apartments, in chawls, near railway tracks, in tarpaulin huts on footpath, under the sky on pavements, platforms etc. Lives of each of these are different and have varied outlook towards society. This it is important for us to realize the unmet needs of poor from their own perspective.

The prevailing development have been harping on beautification of cities whereas poor people dwelling in and around this ‘beauty’ are being pushed away; all these under the garb of “development”. This is proof enough for society’s lack of concern about lifting poor out of misery, and they do not want to even see them around their day to day life. Making them invisible contends them with “if you don’t see, it doesn’t exist”.

We cannot change things overnight. There is no magic wand that government can have or society can wave. Important thing is to take them all into our social fold and make them part of our life.

We have made progress. We see a visible progress in education, health etc; schools have reached to remote areas; we have been able to reach out to many for giving good health services. There are such bright spots that we can look back and feel happy about. We just need to take those developments a little further to make our society a just and equitable one.

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Teacher’s & Research Scholar’s Section:

Ashok K.Chaudhury

Kartar Singh Duggal Grand Auteur of Punjabi Literature (1917-2012) Continued from the previous issue.......... is next novel Nahun te Mas (Nails and HFlesh, 1950), later merged into Ab Na Bason Eh Gaon (No More will Live in this Village), depicting the plight of the refugees from West Pakistan is a story of Muslim-Sikh family amity set in the strife-torn period of the Partition of the country on eve of Independence. It starts with the struggle for freedom and ends with the announcement of general election by Indira Gandhi after the Emergency. Since then he penned several trilogies: Haal Muridaan Da (Plight of the Disciples), Ma Pio Jaye (Born to the same Parents), and Jal Ki Pyas Na Jaye. The first part of the trilogy titled Haal Muridaan Da, being autobiographical in essence, depicts the boyhood, youth and years of maturity of a sensitive soul. In the first part, sex is dominant followed by love in the second part, and in the third it depicts the conflict between man and wife, as they unwittingly become the playthings in the hands of political forces. It relates to conditions in a typical Punjab village after World War 1 with the British Rule tightening its grip but at the same

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time inspiring the nationalist forces to give a determined fight for freedom. Haal… ends with the British relenting but deciding to divide the country with the creation of Pakistan. The Hindu-Muslim who lived amicably all these years is estranged.

Neighbours and friends, who would sacrifice their lives for each other, are torn apart. Maa Pio Jaye, the second trilogy, written in an epic scale, portrays the terrible days of Partition when thousands of families fled Pakistan. The novel attempts to agglomerate the flux of time by visualizing the course of events, not from one angle but from multiple angles. It tells the story of refugees and their rehabilitation, culminating in the liberation of Bangladesh when a life is given to the two-nation theory of the advocates of Pakistan. It is, in fact, a saga of political upheaval on the Indian sub-continent that brought in its wake many clashes of loyalties: individual, social, and otherwise.

Duggal painted numerous canvases and placed them in close juxtapositions as to present an integral design. The construction of the Maa… has been musicales. He showed several people falling in love, or dying, or praying in dissimilar ways. The third trilogy, Jal Ki Pyas Na Jaye, attempts at depicting a new India, with waves of foreign influence coming in. It portrays the nation of the present, in the throes of development, and also buffeted by the winds of change, blowing in from the outside. Jal… also depicts the story of Emergency and how the people voted Indira Gandhi out of power as a punishment and then, having been disillusioned with the alternative, voted her back to power in a sweep as it were. The locale is Delhi, and the central character is Mira Behl, a modern woman whose sources of pain are different but as much intense.

The yeomen service in portraying the Sikh point of view are his pre-90s trilogy: Nanak Naam Chardi Kala (Blessed are those who Remember God, 1989), Tere Bhane (As willed by you), and Sarad Punian Di Raat (The Night of the Full Moon, 1970), proposes to tell the story of the Sikhs’ in search of their identity from time of Guru Nanak to

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the present day. Nanak Naam Chardi Kala conveys the period up to the 4th Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das. Tere Bhane carries the story up to Guru Tegh Bahadur. And the third volume Sarad Punian Di Raat is devoted to Guru Govind Singh. Sarad… is the story of a mother who spells disaster for her daughter on account of her own wrong doings.

Duggal explained how a woman spends a night of full moon in the arms of her lover, but in the morning her young daughter becomes victim of flaunts of the folk around, since theytook the daughter for the mother. In a moment of utter despair, the young girl commits suicide. The Biblical adage- ‘the sins of the father are visited upon the children’- constitutes the main theme of Sarad…His other notable novels are Man Pardesi (Alienated Heart, 1981), the story of agony of the Muslims in India, divided after the Partition and because of which even their loyalties are suspect; Phulan Da Saath (Company of Flowers, 1986), a tender love story of the Khalistan movement in the Punjab. However, his Dil Darya is the story of his childhood in which, as a sensitive child and adolescent, he exposed to the passion of men and young women. As a fiction writer, his aim is to portray the pleasure and pains of life and to interweave the story in such a way so as to present a true picture of the individual and the society. In post-Bhai Vir Singh generation, Duggal ushered modernity which epochs a crusade against the old exhausted feudal values and the orthodox morality for which sex was a taboo. Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia says, “The spatio-temporal particularity of characters and events constitutes the essence of the novel form. Short story in a sense is an expression of atomistic experience happening in atomistic time. Because it is the experience in a flash of moment, so it has all the spontaneity looked up in that moment when it appropriates to itself the totality of time. Spontaneity and intensity- these are the qualities of Duggal’s artistic experiences which have ensured him top position that he enjoys today”.

Besides novels and short stories, Duggal was an

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established playwright. Widely known as a Radio and TV playwright, he wrote 7 full-length plays and more than 50 one-act plays. He indulged in old experiments in technique. His plays are close to his stories, both in theme and style, and are examples of contemporary problems. His full-length plays are: Puranian Botlan (Old Bottles, 1954), Mitha Pani (Sweet Water), Kohkan (Breaker of the Mountain, 1958), Shaur Te Sangeet (Noise and Music), Budham Saranam Gachhami (I came to Budhha’s Protection, 1957), Ik Akh Ik Nazar (One Eye Remains Unprejudiced, 1980), Mian Meer, etc. Among these, two plays stand apart and deserve special attention: Mitha Pani and Kohkan.

Mitha Pani tells of the fate of an Indian peasant family that has left the part of Punjab given over to Pakistan and have come to settle in India. They abandoned all their property and land to start life anew on a plot that used to belong to a Moslem peasant who in his turn had abandoned his accustomed place and moved to Pakistan. The hero Jwala Singh and his wife Jwali cannot dismiss the memories of their deserted home, and of the sweetness of the water in their old well. But their son Baldev disapproved of this new soil, which is good too, all it needs is water! Unexpectedly Sakina, the daughter of the former landlord appears who has strayed from the family and is now forced into hiding since she is a Moslem. As she begs for shelter Jwala and his wife decided to accept Sakina as their daughter, who later falls in love with Baldev. In Punjabi Literature (1968), I. Serebryakov writes, “Duggal depicts life in a Punjabi village with amazing realism. The emotional tension, the psychological subtlety of each image, the poignancy of the issue touched upon, renders the play outstanding in Punjabi drama. The language is excellent, succulent and vivid, close to daily speech…”

In Kohkan the influence of tradition is even more strongly felt. The time of action is the present, the place- a farm on the eastern fringe of the Punjab, 70 km west of Delhi. His one-act collections for Radio broadcast are: Dia Bujh Gya (The Lamp is Blown

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Out), Ik Cipher Cipher (1x0=0, 1943), Oh Gae Sajan Oh Gae (They Goes My Love), Tin Natak (3 Plays), Saat Natak (7 Plays, 1955), Naun Natak (9 Plays). However, his best play Dia Bujh Gya set in the village of Kashmir, in which a mother, in order to save the valley from invaders, kills the treacherous son. Its poetic language fills the play with vigour. The play has been translated in book form in Urdu, Hindi and English and staged in various languages in the country. Dia… won him the ‘Ghalib Award’ for Urdu drama in 1976.

Duggal’s work of dramatic genre shows the ability on the author’s part to respond to the most vital problems of the peasant, and a capacity for broad generalization. However, he played a historic role in the developing years of Indian broadcasting. He once told, “Most important, my contribution to the Indian broadcasting was my emphasis on the sound aspect as the vehicle of the dramatic in scripts written for Radio. I wrote model plays in which the plot hinged around sound as a factor. I developed monologue as a genre for Radio…” He also showed his creative talent in producing his outstanding autobiography. Though Punjabi literature has produced some remarkable autobiographies like Meri Jiwan Katha by Gur Baksh Singh, Aap Beeti

by M S Randhawa, Rasidi Ticket by Amrita Pritam, Nange Pairan Da Safar by Daleep Kaur Tiwana, Duggal’s Kis Peh Khohlan Ganthri (Whom Shall I Tell my Tale, 1985), a voluminous work of 618 pages, is, probably, the lengthiest work in this genre in Punjabi, which was initially serialized in three important dailies of Punjab simultaneously on a weekly basis for about three years in the original Punjabi and its translation in Hindi and Urdu. But in Meri Sahitik Jewani (My Literary Career), commissioned by the Punjab University, Duggal narrates his travel as a writer. For Sahitya Akademi’s Histories of Indian Literature series, Duggal, along with Sant Singh Sekhon, a grand old man of Punjabi letters, wrote A History of Punjabi Literature (1992), the first authoritative chronicle of its kind. The volume is also a recapitulated and accurate profile of the ethos of Punjab along with 33

major themes of its writers from the earliest to the present day with a rare sense of involvement and commitment. He translated, for wider readership, his own stories into Hindi, Urdu and English, and thus, has a tremendous reach as a major voice in Indian literature. He rendered a fine translation of the holy Guru Granth Sahib in English in tune with the spirit of the scripture. His works also have been widely translated.

His contribution to the world of letters has won him several awards and honours: ‘Man of Letters’ (1962) by the Government of Punjab, and by the Delhi Administration in 1976; ‘Ghalib Award’ for Urdu Drama (1976); ‘Soviet Land Nehru Award’ (1981), in recognition to his services to world peace, humanism through creative writing; ‘Fellowship’ by Punjabi Sahitya Academy (1983); ‘Bharatiya Bhasa Parishad Award’ (1985), for Novels; ‘Bhai Mohan Singh Award’, for his Autobiography; ‘Padma Bhushan’ (1988) by Government of India, for totality of his contribution to Indian literature; ‘Parman Patra’ (1993) by Chief Minister of Punjab; D.Litt. (Honoris Causa) by the Punjabi University in 1994; ‘Sarva Srestha Sahitkar Award’ (1994) by Punjab Academy. In August 1997 he was nominated to Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament. Duggal was selected for Nishan-I-Khalsa (Order of the Khalsa) on the occasion of the Tri-centenary of the Birth of Khalsa in 1999. On the occasion of World Punjabi Conference in 2001, Duggal was conferred ‘Waris Award’ for his contribution to Punjabi writing. The Governor of Punjab decorated him with ‘Punjab Ratan’ in 2001. In 2004 he was elected as permanent President, Punjabi Sahit Sabha. Widely traveled, Duggal attended several international conferences and seminars, representing India and leading Indian delegations. He was associated with many literary and social welfare organizations: Punjab Sahitya Akademi, Hindi Samiti (Government of India), Zakir Hussain Educational Foundation, Indian Institute of Social and Economic Growth, Afro-Asian Writers Association. Besides, he was the Founder-Member

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of RRRLF, Institute of Social and Economic Change, and Zakir Hussain Educational Foundation. Throughout his life he worked to encourage and promote literature and arts. He wass a grand presence in Punjabi literature and enriched it through his versatile creativity and considerable output. In conversation with this writer, Duggal revealed that he was switched over to poetry, the genre with which he had started his literary journey

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in early 1930s, and was busy in finalizing his unfinished works, as well, revising his pre-‘90s trilogy. But his death left behind an indelible mark in Punjab and Punjabi literature.

— Concluded Dr. Ashok K. Choudhury, a postdoctoral scholar & lit critic, is with Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.

Declaration of ownership and other particulars regarding The Radical Humanist Place of Publication: Periodicity of the Publication: Printer’s Name: Citizenship: Address:

New Delhi Monthly N.D. Pancholi Indian S-1 Plot 617 Shalimar Garden Extension I, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad-201005.

Publisher’s Name: N.D. Pancholi Citizenship: Indian Address: S-1 Plot 617 Shalimar Garden Extension I, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad-201005 Editor’s Name: Rekha Saraswat (Controls the selection of the matter published in the journal (as per the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1857) Citizenship: Indian Address: C-8-Defence Colony Meerut 250001, U.P. Name and Address of the Individual who owns Indian Renaissance Institute the journal and partners and share holders of more A-12-Neeti Bagh than one percent of the capital: New Delhi, 110049 I, N.D. Pancholi, hereby, declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Dated: 1st April, 2012

N.D. Pancholi Publisher

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Book Review Section

Dipavali Sen [Ms. Dipavali Sen has been a student of Delhi School of Economics and Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (Pune). She has taught at Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, and various colleges of Delhi University. She is, at present, teaching at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Delhi University. She is a prolific writer and has written creative pieces and articles for children as well as adults, both in English and Bengali. Dipavali@gmail.com]

Foot Prints on the Sands of Time [BOOK: Towards Twenty First Century Renaissance, edited by Ramesh V. Korde, published by Sudesh Korde and printed at IMAGE, Ahmedabad, 2011, Hardbound, pp 329, price: voluntary contributions] book preserves footprints on the This sands of time, footprints that lead towards a twenty-first-century renaissance.

The dedication itself deserves mention. The book is dedicated to friends – Dashrathlal Thakkar, D.M. Trivedi, H.B. Shah, D.P. Desai and Muljibhai Sharma — all united by a common bond of conviction, Radical Humanism.

The Introduction by Jayanti Patel says that this compilation by Ramesh Korde fulfills the need for 35

easily accessible basic literature defining the philosophical and scientific foundations of Radical Humanism as well as the renaissance movement( p III).She calls it “a manual of humanism” (p VIII).

The compilation is of twenty-four essays, gleaned from The Radical Humanist and other sources, twelve of them being by M.N. Roy. The remaining fifty per cent is constituted by Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Ellen Roy, Paul Kurtz, Eric Fromm, Julian Huxley, Edward Banes, Sibnarayan Ray, Lakshman Shastri Joshi, and V.M. Tarkunde.

As Jayanti Patel has mentioned, Ramesh Korde, the Editor, has been with the Humanist movement in Gujarat since the 1940s.

This book is indeed the product of his profound familiarity with the basics of Humanism. He has used it to select relevant articles from various sources, with an orientation towards the possibility of a 21st century Renaissance.

The collection begins with Sibnarayan Ray’s article ‘The Need for a Global Culture and a Universalist Approach’. “…no approach to the specific problems of India or for that matter, of the problems of other countries can hope to be fruitful in our time without a Universalist Weltanschauung and global culture” (p 1) … Ray’s voice had rung out in 1998.

In the second article ‘Our Responsibility to Humanity as a Whole’, Paul Kurtz has discussed new technological realities and global ethics. He strongly feels that ethical principles should figure high on the agenda of the world humanist movement.” We need to convince our fellow human beings about the imperative that we work together in creating a new global consensus in which preserving humanity as a whole is our supreme obligation. What nobler mission for us to embark upon as we enter the twenty-first century.”(p 23) This is followed by five fundamental treatises by M.N. Roy in 1940-52: ‘Science, Philosophy and Politics’, ‘origin of Life’, ‘Biology and

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Materialism’, ‘The Rhythm of Cosmos’ and ‘Materialism in Indian Philosophy’.

In continuity with the fifth of these, the article that follows is ‘Rise and Development of Indian Philosophy’ by Lakshman Shastri Joshi Tarkateertha. It ends by saying that Hindu philosophy contains much material on ethics, logic, psychology and epistemology, but it must not be taken as a matter of faith or mysticism, and used in an anti-intellectual, revivalist spirit (p 146).

Then there comes a set of five articles (spanning 1948 and 1955) by M.N. Roy: ‘Human Nature’, ‘Indian Renaissance Movement’, ‘Indian Renaissance’, ‘Renaissance Movement’, ‘Renaissance and Radicalism’ and ‘Ethics and Politics’. They are timeless words of wisdom, relevant more than fifty years later.” We must draw inspiration from the past”, wrote M.N. Roy, “but traditional ideas must be subjected to criticism and their positive essence brought up to the standards of modern knowledge. Old values must be revaluated.

That is Renaissance.” (p203).

As if in continuation to this, Sibnarayan Ray wrote his article ‘A New Renaissance’ in 1998. “As we near the end of the century our civilization seems to be racing almost inexorably towards a global catastrophe” (p 214).This “calls pressingly for a positive response from men and women of conscience and understanding. That response, if it takes place on a noticeable scale, will constitute a new renaissance. It will require a global perspective and involve a restructuring of society and a radical reorientation of contemporary political economics; most important of all it demands a creative reformulation of the priorities of civilized living.’(p 237) The next (and the last by M.N. Roy here) article, ‘New Humanism’ defines the scope of this `social philosophy’. In the past too, Humanism has proclaimed the sovereignty of man. But man was thus an entity not scientifically explained, and so men had resorted to mysticism and religion to explain his essence. Modern science has dispelled

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all mystery about the essence of man and explained him as a product of evolution. New Humanism also proclaims the sovereignty of man but it does so, on the authority of modern science. It maintains that a rational and moral society is possible because man, by nature, is rational and can be moral on his own (pp 250-1). It advocates a reconstruction of the world as a commonwealth and fraternity of freemen, by the cooperative endeavour of spiritually emancipated moral men (pp 252-3).

Ellen Roy in 1948 had spoken in the same vein in the piece here excerpted as ‘Man’s Place in Nature’. “Man is the archetype of society, the content which shapes its form in society” (p 254).

At the M.N. Roy Commemorative International Seminar, December 1987, Bombay, V.M. Tarkunde and elucidated the basic principles of Human Radicalism. It forms the next piece, ‘Radical Humanism: An Outline’.

Radical Humanism is both a personal and a social philosophy, drawing its social character from its personal one. V. M. Tarkunde has analysed five characteristics or features.

A cultural revolution is a precondition of social revolution.

The State should function through Organized Democracy, i.e., decentralized local committees.

Politics should not be on Party lines. Spiritually free individuals should practice politics for the power of people rather than power for themselves.

Instead of revolution coming from above in the form of a party coming to power, it should come from below.

The economy should be run on a co-operative system instead of either capitalism or State ownership of the means of production.

After valuable discussions under each of these heads, Tarkunde draws attention to the fact that a Humanist revolution will necessarily be a long drawn effort spread over several generations and requiring a large number of Radical Humanist colleagues (p 286).

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A most pertinent observation: The next piece is by Albert Einstein, and entitled ‘The Law of Science and the Laws of Ethics’.

Scientific as well as ethical principles are rooted in human genius, mental and moral. (p288).

Two pieces by Bertrand Russell follow: ‘The Faith of a Rationalist’ and ‘The Values of Human Individuality’. Russell announces that if human society is not to stagnate, it must contain individuals who think and act independently and sufficient tolerance for such individuals to exist in an effective way (p 298).

Edward Banes in ‘Nationalism and Humanism’ discusses how in the post Second-World-War scenario, art and literature should be used to guard the inviolability of human rights. (p 307) Eric Fromm in ‘May Man Prevail’ urges “all men of good will or, rather, all men who love life” to “form a united front for survival, for the continuation of life and civilization” (p 320).

The last piece is by Julian Huxley and argues for man to fulfill his “destiny” as “the agent of the evolutionary process” by developing his “individual human personality” (p 328).

Of the inestimable value of the articles the covers of this book, nothing need be said. The sequence of arrangement too is logical. The editor has not clubbed all articles by M.N. Roy together, but arranged the articles in some logical sequence. That is why articles 8 and 15 (by Lakshman Shastri Joshi and Sibnarayan Ray) have been placed in between articles of M.N. Roy. Brief sketches of the lives of the authors would however have been useful for the new generation of readers. Short paragraphs could have done, or at least the salient dates in some chronological order.

Of course, in the Introduction, Jayanti Patel did pay a tribute to M.N. Roy. But more information could have been provided, for Roy as well as others.

A Subject and/or Name Index would also have been useful.

Typographical and even grammatical errors could easily have been corrected.

But the ideal that this book has is too great to be diminished in any way by such mundane shortcomings. It does help to keep the footprints of Radical Humanists from getting washed away, and take its readers towards a Renaissance.

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Humanist News Section: I Commemoration of 125th Birth Anniversary of Radical Humanist - M.N. Roy by Periyar Movement: The Rationalists’ Forum, Tamil Nadu, India, organized for a function to commemorate the 125th Birthday of the renowned Radical Humanist - M.N. Roy and to celebrate Dravidian Movement Centenary Thoughts on 21st March 2012 at Periyar Thidal, Chennai, India. Dr. K. Veeramani, President, Dravidar Kazhagam, unveiled the portrait of M.N. Roy and addressed elaborately about M.N. Roy and his association with Periyar, reminiscing the sequence of related events in Dravidian Movement, focusing the support through the views of M.N. Roy for the cause of the Movement.

Dr. K. Veeramani, President, Dravidar Kazhagam unveils the portrait of M.N. Roy. Prof. A. Karunanandam and V. Kumaresan of The Rationalists’ Forum are present “The inherent thirst of humanism in M.N. Roy is unequivocal. He toured different parts of the globe, dwelled in various countries associating with Communist Party in its international arena. He was in close association with Lenin and rendered his service in Eastern Oriental University in Soviet Russia, as its Vice-Chancellor. He was unable to compromise with the strategic approach adopted by the leaders of Communist Movement and

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disassociated from it. After coming back to India, he joined Indian National Congress, felt disgusted about its approach and at last came out from its fold. He formed his own political organization viz.

Radical Democratic Party. Ultimately he concentrated on the propaganda of Radical Humanism by forming Renaissance Movement.

During 1940s, he came in contact with Periyar E.V. Ramasamy and was impressed about the cause of Dravidian Movement and the nature of strategic approach to achieve it. He was amazed looking at the stature of public life of Periyar. When he addressed in Chennai in 1941, under the Presidentship of Periyar, he emphatically pointed out that nationalism in South India will be meaningless without the participation of non-Brahmin population. Justice Party commenced the movement of non-Brahmins organizationally in 1916 which ruled the then Madras Presidency of British India. In late 1930s, the leadership of Justice Party was vested in Periyar. The joint endeavours attempted by Periyar and M.N. Roy were not paid due coverage in print press media which was dominated by Brahminical hegemony. The initiatives and efforts made by both the leaders were victimized by the ‘conspiracy of silence’ an instrument of oppressors as per the sayings of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Until M.N. Roy remained in Congress, the original Brahminical party, he was popularized in press media. Later, his contributions were masked. All such historical and ideological journey of M.N. Roy with Periyar must be unearthed and be made known to the current contemporaries and the posterity. The mission of Periyar and M.N. Roy on humanism was alike.

The ideological advocacy of M.N. Roy was identical with the core philosophy of Dravidian Movement. Because of that identical convergence, the stalwart of social justice of Dravidian Movement, Muthiah Mudaliar (instrumental force through his role as Minister in the cabinet of Madras Presidency in 1930s to bring communal G.O. which facilitated employment of non-Brahmins in government jobs) became

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functionary at a later time in National Democratic society was made exclusive, personal and distanced Party founded by M.N. Roy.

Dr. K.Veeramani speaking The core life style of leaders like Periyar, M.N. Roy did not signify by their mere leading in public life.

The major element of ideological advocacy dominated rather than their identity with the organizations, they had associated then and there.

Periyar expressly ventilated thus: “Never I served as a party man, though my life stood for principles and ideology.”

To conclude, we have to affirm to ourselves to bring back afresh the ideological propaganda of M.N. Roy and the cause for which he lived. The final phase of his life reflected uncompromising adamancy in advocacy of Radical Humanism. The commemoration of 125th Birth Anniversary of M.N. Roy is not ceremonial. It is recommencing the journey in the ideological path, treaded by M.N. Roy. Let us salute the great humanist stalwart M.N. Roy!” Prof. A. Karunanandan, Secretary of Dravidian Historical Research Centre, addressed uncovering the contributions of M.N. Roy to Communist Movement and the disparities in the prevalence of social environments in Europe and India for the spread of communism.

“In European and other countries, the role of religion became dismal and its significance in the

Prof. A. Karunanandan speaking from the political and economic map. The contradictory social position between capitalist employer and employee was crystal clear in revolutionized industrial environment. But, in India, religious influence prevailed everywhere.

Industrial revolution had not taken place. The leaders who took up the cause of labour were religious minded. The contradiction between the capital and labour was converted as conciliation and adjustment more in favour of the capitalists.

The Congress Party in British India fabricated philosophy of communism. The Communist leaders in British India and later in independent India strategized their movement by imitating the style of Russia. M.N. Roy was intellectual ideologue as well as activist in the philosophy of communism. He experienced enormously with the functional approach of Russian Communist Party internationally and its supportive perception about the Indian Congress leaders who were against British Imperialism. M.N. Roy also subjectively experienced with the functional style of Congress Party. Both the international and indigenous political experiences enabled M.N. Roy to expose the faulty approach in the name of facilitating socialism- a pre phase to reach communism. The basic commitment to humanism made M.N. Roy to get released from the folds of disguised progressive

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forces and it resulted in his culmination as a Radical Tamil Selvan and Dravida Puratchi, functionaries Humanist. This was the final message of M.N. Roy of the Forum discharged their roles of introduction and proposal of vote of thanks respectively. to the mankind.”

Versatile audience comprising of humanists, educationists, scholars, political functionaries, cadres of Periyar Movement assembled and were attentive to the proceedings of the meeting.

Greeting Messages were received for the commemoration of 125th Birth Anniversary of M.N. Roy from the humanist fraternity. They were Dr. Lakshman Tamil of Periyar International, Texas, USA, Dr.G. Vijayam of Atheist Centre Vijayawada, Prof. Narendra Nayak of Federation Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA), Swami Manavatavadi from Kurukshetra, Haryana, R.G. Rao alias Somu of Goa Science Forum and Prof.

A Section of the Audience Malathi of University of Delhi. The greeting messages were read at the function.

V. Kumaresan, General Secretary of The —News sent by V. Kumaresan, Rationalists’ Forum welcomed the gathering with a General Secretary, brief note that anti-Brahminical approach of The Rationalists’ Forum Tamil Nadu, India Periyar Movement is founded on humanist e mail: rationalistforum@gmail.com approach and not with any deliberate hatred. R.

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