Vol. 74 No 1
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THERADICALHUMANIST (Since April 1949)
APRIL 2010
Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)
The Market Economy & Contemporary Crisis —Amlan Datta Freedom-Questing Knight in Humanist Armour —Bagwat Prashad Rath Lohia: Methodology of Social Sciences —K.S. Chalam 481 Learning The Lohia Way —Nandana Reddy Parliament’s 1st. Priority – Women Reservation Bill —Rajindar Sachar Women Reservation —Mastram Kapoor M.N. Roy Himalayan Glacier Melt Founder Editor —N.K. Acharya Savitribai Phule: A Rebel Social Reformer —Mandakini Talpallikar
THE RADICAL HUMANIST
The Radical Humanist Vol. 74
Number 1 April 2010
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 Contributory Editors: Professor A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed Justice R.A. Jahagirdar (Retd.) Dr. R.M. Pal Professor Rama Kundu Editor: Dr. Rekha Saraswat 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 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 In favour of: ‘The Radical Humanist’ 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 2010 Download and read the journal at www.theradicalhumanist.com
—Contents— 1. From the Editor’s Desk: Who is a Radical Humanist? —Rekha Saraswat 1 2. From The Writings of Amlan Datta: 2 The Market Economy and the Contemporary Crisis 3. Remembering Prof. Amlan Datta: A Freedom-Questing Knight in Humanist Armour —Bagwat Prashad Rath 5 3. Guests’ Section: Ram Manohar Lohia: Methodology of Social Sciences —K.S. Chalam 9 Lohia: A World Thinker - Part II —B.P. Rath 13 Learning The Lohia Way - Part II —Nandana Reddy 17 4. Current Affairs: Parliament’s First Priority –To Pass Immeditely Women Reservation Bill —Rajindar Sachar 22 Women Reservation —Mastram Kapoor 24 Presidential Elections in Srilanka; Himalayan Glacier Melt; Judge of its own Cause —N.K. Acharya 26 5. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: Political History of Andhra Pradesh —N. Innaiah 28 Savitribai Phule: A Rebel Social Reformer and Modern Poetess —Mandakini Talpallikar 31 6. Teachers’ & Research Scholars’ Section: Art: A Doctrine Of Emotion —Alka Chadha 32 7. Humanist News: 36
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From the Editor’s Desk: Who is a Radical All those who are able to guide their emotions through reason and are perfectly aware of their occasional Humanist? illogical outbursts and are later able to rationalise and a guest in our Once Ahmedabad Study
Camp said that there are innumerable Radical Humanists all around us and we need not feel dejected if they are not formally enlisted in our organisation. They simply are Rekha Saraswat not aware of the fact that their line of thought is exactly like ours; similar to what is described in the New Humanism philosophy. When I quoted him in the camp’s report in The Radical Humanist later on, some very disconsolate friend wrote to me that he was bewildered by this statement when he himself could actually count the remaining Radicals on his fingers. He lamented that the number of members was dwindling fast as the old ones were succumbing to the pressures of life’s finite journey and new ones were not joining the league. (A past political party’s psychological back-drop, I suppose!) My friend was true as far as the organisation’s formal strength is concerned. But our guest at Ahmedabad was also true as far as the broadly followed ways of life adopted by the people, in general, are seen, in the contemporary world. Let me begin with the litmus test here— All those who place the individual prior to the group by testing the society’s progress through the facilities enjoyed by each one of the individuals living in it are Radical Humanists. All those who are not fooled by the rhetoric of Political Parties and take them as the lesser evils to be borne with till their real representatives are able to arise from the grass-roots are Radical Humanists. All those who feel that the Government is a tool to their betterment and not vice versa; and that Parliament needs to be built from the base to the top where each citizen is able to participate in its functioning from the premises of his own working place are Radical Humanists. All those who are not swayed by the whimsical definitions given by self-proclaimed saints and priests of the outer and inner space in the cosmos are Radical Humanists.
channelise their emotions are Radical Humanists. All those who have a scientific approach towards their existence and are not bewildered by the unexpected happenings in their lives and around them are Radical Humanists. All those who have empathy for the sufferings around them and are compassionate in their behaviour towards the lesser privileged in the society are Radical Humanists. All those who stand by and support the rights of those groups which are lesser in number are Radical Humanists. All those who meet, associate, make acquaintances and friends with people due to common interests, hobbies, habits or may be similar goals without bothering about the colours of their skin, the sir names they write, the places they belong to or the faiths they accept or reject are Radical Humanists. All those who realise that national boundaries may be good for managing the countries’ affairs but tend to become liabilities when kept above human-beings’ interests are Radical Humanists. All those who continue to believe that wars were never inevitable but have been forced upon people as a result of the competing inflated egos of the heads of nations are Radical Humanists. All those who agree that economics is, although, an important factor, but not the only one, in influencing human life and its survival are Radical Humanists. All those who are worried with the imbalance created by man upon nature and environment and want to undo it are Radical Humanists. All those humble and honest people who strive for freedom to pave their paths with the small truths of life to define their own harmless happiness are Radical Humanists. The name plates may be missing but the houses are intact and the residents are on their right path! Radical Humanism is that logical thought-process which develops and comes naturally to all sensible minds! Need we worry then, about its extinction? Or about taking its credit? I suppose not!!
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From the Writings of Amlan Datta:
Amlan Datta
The Market Economy and the Contemporary Crisis— A discussion on the future of public economics, markets, individual freedom and democratic values. [The RH is serialisng the following Lecture which was delivered by Prof. Amlan Datta on invitation by Rajaji Foundation in 1991. It was orginally published, with copyright to Rajaji Foundation, in December 1991 by the Project for Economic Education (a non-political non-partisan programme established with the objective of enlightening the intelligent layman on economic issues) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, FDR (a non-profit private institution primarily engaged in the strengthening of democratic and pluralist institutions in the underdeveloped world). A special word of thanks for Mr. Ugamraj Mohnot, our senior Radical Humanist who sent its copy to me.] 1955 an international conference was held in InMilan under the auspices of the Congress for Cultural Freedom on the exciting theme of the Future of Freedom. Over the preceding decade there had taken place an impressive accession of strength to the so-called socialist bloc of countries. The Soviet economy looked strong and growing fast. In the Third World and elsewhere there were many who came to be firmly persuaded tha the ultimate victory of socialism was only a question of time. As we enter the last decade of the century, we find that the perspectives have spectacularly changed. The Soviet economy is no longer a serious contender against
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capitalism. But the thoughtful people are yet uncertain if they know the way to a sustainable world economy. The present moment is, in many respects, particularly well-suited for a broad review of some of those vital issues of economics and politics, of questions relating to capitalism and socialism, and finally, of hopes and fears concerning the future of human society, which have been passionately debated all over the world for a major part of the twentieth century. Criticism of capitalism is as old as the industrial revolution itself. However, the nature and thrust of that criticism has changed with time. At first, it was articulated chiefly by visionaries and utopian socialists, an expression of an outraged conscience rather than a firm indication of what was to be done. A determined attempt to achieve industrialisation by an alternative route came much later. Administrative Command Economy: Towards the end of the 1920s, a system of central planning was introduced in one of the largest countries of the world, comparatively less developed by European standards, under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the avowed aim of “catching up with” and then “surpassing” the capitalist economies of the West. What followed in that country came to be commonly regarded as the socialist path of economic development, an alternative to the capitalist path. From being a mere vision, a utopia, socialism found a terretrial home and became an unfolding reality. The Great Depression which hit the World in 1929, spread gloom in the leading capitalist countries. At the same time it raised hopes of clear and unqualified victory for socialism in the competition between two rival systems. For the faithful, it became heresy to question thathow that certainty. Generations to come will be at a loss to explain how that mood of unbounded faith and high optimism in the socialist camp survived the monstrous atrocities perpetrated by the Stalinist regime in those same years. The Failure of Socialist Planning: As the Soviet Union emerged victorious from World War II, socialist hopes got a fresh lease of life. But it was a lease that did not last long. Victory in war had given the Stalinist leadership a kind of unquestionable glory. But the new generation that grew up after the war was soon disenchanted. A contradiction developed between the
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promises made by the centrally planned economy and its actual performance. Far from surpassing the advanced capitalist countries, the Soviet economy performed disappointingly and lagged behind and the disparity kept widening. After nearly sixty years of socialist experimentation, the competition between the rival sstems ended, with the leaders of the Soviet Union and the eastern European countries accepting defeat. The Soviet system of central planning, or the administrative command economy, is no longer held up as a model, least of all by those who grew up under that system.It is worth noting that the Soviet model of socialismwas wrecked not by an attack from outside, not by defeat in war, but by a manifest incapacity to satisfy the urgent demands of the people in terms of both material goods and social justice and freedom. Capitalism, or the market economy, has also experienced many problems, including severe periodic disturbances, but it has as yet shown greater resilience and capacity for management of crises over a much longer period of evolution. Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations: This should set us thinking fundamentally on the role of the market in social and economic development. At this point,, we will not allow ourselves to be detained by temporary controversies of an ephemeral character. To gain distance and persppective, we will take Adam Smith as a backdrop to our reflections. Industrialisation may take place under alternative systems, but everywhere it has certain common characterstics and requirements. In all cases, it involves rapid changes in methods of production, a technological revolution, so to speak; a process of capital-formation at a noticeably higher level than what is common in pre-industrial economies; and a change in the scale and manner of mobilisation of resources ans organisation of production. These formal conditions of industrial growth look much alike in all cases. Where does then the distinctive role of the market come in? In the capitalist economies of the West, there was a long period of expansion of commerce, partly preceding industrialisation and partly accompanying it. How do these things link up? For Adam Smith, the principal link between the market and economic progress is simple. It consists basically in the opportunity that an expanding market provides for
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increasing specialisation and division of labour. “The greatest improvements in the productive power of labour,” wrote Adam Smith, “seem to have been the effects of the division of labour”, and “the division of labour is limited by the extent of the market”. As the extent of the market widens, so does the division of labour. Further, with the progress of specialisation, there is now greater scope of mechanisationof production, which contributes again to an enhancement of the efficiency of labour. Mechanisation brings greater dependence on capital goods, it also makes methods of production more round-about. The net effect is to increase the importance of both fixed and circulating capital in the process of production. Accumulation of capital becomes a key factor in economic development. Thus, Adam Smith provided a historic account of the progress of the wealth of nations in which trade and the extent of the market, division of labour and specialisation both within and among nations, mechanisation and the growing importance of capital, are all interrelated in a simple and obvious way. It is a source of both the strength and weakness of the wonderfully simple account of the “progress of opulence” presented above that a good part of it is extremely general and in an abstract form applies equally to industrialisation under capitalism as well as socialism. In either case, there is a movement away from the earlier household economy towards increasing division of labour, specialisation and mechanisation, and a decided accent on “accumulation” or rapid capital formation. For a proper appreciation of the distinctive role of private enterprise annd rise of the market economy, attention must be drawn, therefore, to phenomena of a different kind and an attempt has to be made to answer some questions of a more special nature. The Liberating Influence of the Market Economy: We start with the question, what was the specific contribution of the rise of the market economy to Western society and culture, and ultimately to world culture? It is common knowledge that trade - was the single most important factor that marked the end of the Middle Ages in Europe and course of time shook the foundations of feudal society. As the market towns grew in number and size, serfs, who had so long been tied to land, had a chance to run away and become part of an urban crowd. A German proverb, declaring that “city air
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makes free”, thus summed up the leading experience of an important phase of social history. The trader, for whom freedom of movement and association was an essential prerequisite of the practice of his profession, created the social conditions for a freer life not only for himself but for many others. These same circumstances promoted the ideas of individual freedom. Along with that came a recognition of the multiple potentialities of the individual and the importance of experiments and inventiveness for meterialising hidden potentialities. The “bourgeois revolution”, as Mrxists call it, produced not only a reorganisation of political power, a shift of politics in the direction of modern democracy, but also a deeper change, a new orientation of culture. As we will see later, this new orientaion had mixed effects. The point to note here is that the weakening of feudal authoritarianism is something that we owe to liberalism, the ideology of the bourgeoisie. Liberalism, critics allege, has not gone far enough in securing and strengthening individual freedom. But nowhere has socialism performed that task at all well. On the contrary, the glorification of collective entities and the centralisation of state power, so easy to promote in the name of socialism, have done great harm to the idea of liberty in our century. The modern age is distinguished, among other things, by its characterstic spirit of rationalism, a rather limited kind of rationalism, but significantly different from medieval traditionalism. The market economy helped in no small measure to form that new spirit. We will give
some passing indications of how this came about. In the household economy of the pre-industrial age, techniques of production as well as patterns of consumption were largely fixed by long-standing tradition which tended to harden into rituals, resistant to innovation. The necessity of adjustment to a changing and expanding market produced a pragmatic and utilitarian attitude marked by a rational and individualistic calculation of costs and benefits. It also promoted a new attitude towards time and an exercise of foresight of a special kindand this for a simple reason. An act of investment under uncertain conditions always involved an attempt to look into the future when the fruits of that investment would materialise. All these constituted one way the market economy helped develop the rational spirit. But there was also another. The market brought distant regions and communities into touch with one another. Each of these communities had rules and customs of its own. But for settling disputes or framing agreements between persons coming from different communities, it was necessary to have a conception of justice and a body of laws which made an appeal to reason, a universally acceptable principle, rather than to customs which differ from place to place. Commerce cannot do without contracts. As contracts rather than customs came to prevail over an expanding sphere of life, the rule of law rather than antiquated tradition or arbitrary dictates of the sovereign came to gain recognition as the most reasonable basis for ordering the greater part of transactions in large and complex societies.
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Remembering Prof. Amlan Datta:
A Freedom-Questing Knight in Humanist Armour —B.P. Rath the essay ‘Western Intellectual Tradition’ InJacob Bronowski and Bruice Mazlish write, “In the five hundred years since Leonardo, two ideas about man have been especially important…….The unfettered development of individual personality is praised as the ideal, from the renaissance artists to the Elizabethans and through Locke and Voltaire and Rousseau….The second of the two great formative ideas which this history displays is the idea of freedom”. Human freedom is life breath of the first idea. Human creativity cannot blossom in any field, if freedom is not available. Amlan Datta in his numerous essays discusses freedom with uncommon depth of reflection and crusading zeal. Most people think that the majority rule is sufficient for the establishment of democracy. Amlan Datta disagrees and asserts, “……If in a fanatical community the majority decides to gag the voice of all minorities the system does not deserve to be called democratic merely because its undemocratic activity has the approval of the majority.”1 Datta discussed both the freedoms, negative and positive (Isiah Berlin) and almost embraces the Anarchist’s position of minimizing of the state powers. Like Gandhi, M.N. Roy, Tagore, J.P. and Lohia he advocates decentralization of political and economic power so that human personality blossoms to fruition in a face-to-face community. He is realistic enough to heed Ambedkar’s criticism of the present villages. But, like Tagore and Gandhi, he expects them to be removed through suitable educational and cultural means, utilized by dedicated volunteers. Though he endorses the right to material security, like Berlin, he gives the right to freedom of thought and expression the primary place in ‘an ultimate and instrumental sense’. ‘Man does not live by bread alone’ is true in the real sense. Datta is aware that human creativity is both an individual and social phenomenon. Civilization advances because
of the discoveries, the creative works and the innovative ideas of gifted men. The world will be poorer if their freedom is denied by a regimented society which is guided either by a dogmatic ideology or by an intolerant religion. He condemns the totalitarian state in strong language. To quote from his essay (Democracy and Freedom of Thought) “Said the ruler of a totalitarian state, with great cogency, “the labour of those, deprived of liberty is being used by us on… communal and highway tasks…. This is profitable for society.” Why totalitarian, even democratic states use the methods of incessantly propagating fear of imaginary enemies amongst its citizens. In ‘Democracy and Freedom of Thought’ Amlan Datta writes, “The greatest enemy of democratic way of life is fanaticism. Fanatics are rarely guilty of lack of idealism, what they lack is tolerance.” Here, a deep thinker may recall the following statement of Voltaire (Voltaire said that he was prepared to stake his life for upholding the freedom of expression of a man who vehemently opposed Voltaire’s ideas) and put the question “Can we blame Voltaire who fanatically expresses his belief in the democratic right of freedom of expression?” We cannot condemn fanaticism indiscriminately. Still, this important revealing statement of Datta needs more discussion. Psychology teaches us that man is more an emotional than a rational animal. What emotion dictates, man rationalizes. That is why fanatics are more effective, either for good or evil, than liberals. In the words of W.B. Yeats, “The best lack conviction/while the worst are full of passionate intensity”. Fanatic attachment to ultimate ideals without caring for the rightness of methods has brought misery to humanity as proved by the behaviour of Marxists leaders in Soviet Russia. Fanatic attachment to right means (humane methods and human values) for any good cause that stresses tolerance, love and non- violence can utilize the powerful motor of emotion (passionate intensity’ as visualized by W.B. Yeats) to create a charismatic personality who guides humanity in the proper direction. Voltaire was not a solitary figure. Gandhi, too, was a fanatic believer in the ideal of non violence. He suspended the first non co-operation movement, marred by a violent incident at Chauri Choura. He devoted many
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years after that debacle to building congress as an organization of non-violent workers. It is a known fact that Gandhi behaved undemocratically with M.N. Roy and Subhash Chandra Bose. Why did do so? Probably he was afraid that these two independent–minded powerful personalities might influence the all India congress organization and steer it in the direction of violence for attaining India’s freedom. Gandhi was aware that very few congress leaders accepted non violence as a creed. Gandhi declared and also behaved like a dictator in the struggles launched by him. As truth and non–violence were accepted as his creed by Gandhi, not only his life, but even lofty values like democratic principles were dispensable entities for him. This single-minded devotion amounting to fanaticism enabled him to prove to the world, that non-violent mass fights (Satyagrahas) are not utopian ideals. The philosopher, C.E.M Joad, appraised Gandhis’s personality in his essay, ‘the Gandhian way’. To quote C.E.M Joad, “To combine non-attachment to the self with the passionate apprehension of certain truths and the disinterested attachment to certain principles is to generate what I take to be the most distinctive virtue of humanity –moral force… Another expression of the same virtue is the combination of a fixed resolution in regard to ends combined with a maximum adaptability in regard to means.” The saint predominated in Gandhi’s fanatic attachment to his creed and the politician had the upper hand when it was a matter of strategy. His amenability to any reasonable suggestion in the realm of strategy earned him a reputation of being a wily politician in all negotiations. Few thinkers in the world have analyzed the role of non-violence in preserving human values, as Amlan Datta had in many of his essays. Samaren Ray writes, “Jawaharlal had recorded in his book, ‘Towards Freedom. The Autobiography 1941: 43’ that Gandhi told a meeting of the Muslims early in 1920, “So long as you choose to keep me as your leader, you must accept my conditions. You must accept dictatorship and the discipline of Martial Law’. Roy, on the contrary, believed in the right of dissent within a political organization.2 Roy wrote to Gandhiji, “I must confess that I have been rather perplexed by your insistence of tracing the root of every evil to the absence of a living faith in non-violence
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in thought, word and deed”. Gandhi’s letter clarified his stand. “It (The congress) is a democratic organization in peace time. It becomes a non-violent army in war time…Every unit has to tender to him (its general who-ever he may be) willing obedience in thought, word and deed. Yes, even in thought, since the fight is non-violent.”3 Roy’s rejoinder to Gandhi’s letter was equally forceful. He wrote, “The life of the congress should not be stifled in an atmosphere of moral coercion and non-violent fascism.” Who can find fault with the lofty sentiments expressed in his letters by Roy? Both the personalities were exceptionally great ones. Sometimes comes such rare moments when two great thinkers espousing two opposite views prove to be right in their contexts. The Nobel laureate in Physics, Richard Feynman writes, “…every theoretical physicist who is any good, knows six or seven different theoretical representations for exactly the same physics. He knows that they are all equivalent…” Prof. M. Sivaramakrishna, while reviewing Amlan Datta’s book “Transitional Puzzles” has written “It was Scott Fitzgerald, the chronicler of the American Twenties (the Jazz Age) who said: “ the test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to maintain two (apparently) opposed ideas in the mind and yet retain the ability to function.” It is this rare talent, which underlie this easily the most remarkable and enduringly provocative collection of Professor Amlan Datta’s essays.4 That the opposite view points of M.N. Roy and Gandhi stand the scrutiny of rightness is an example of the above remarks. Historical hindsight gives the palm to Gandhiji. Roy’s statement after Gandhi’s death exudes his appreciation for a great figure in world history. Roy wrote, ‘except is some quaint details, the moral codes preached by the Mahatma are unobjectionable. As a moralist, he followed the foot prints of the religious teachers of the past and therefore his codes were bound to appear dogmatic in the rationalist atmosphere of our time. Instead of rejecting them on the specious plea of practical political pragmatism, we should provide them with a secular and rationalist sanction’. How changed was Roy’s tone? Real greatness consists in expressing such noble sentiments about some body’s policies and actions which had angered him in the past.
THE RADICAL HUMANIST Datta was a great thinker who reconciled Roy’s universal humanism with Gandhi’s Ahimsa or cult of non-violence. Echoes of M.N. Roy’s statement on Gandhi can be heard in the words of Datta. “…. Political parties, either in power or in opposition parties, even when they call themselves revolutionary, tend to be, like all large organizations, essentially, conformist. Creative leader ship comes from exceptional individuals…….It is impossible to lay a firm foundation for this new morality (The opposition to the use of violence even by the state or society in a good cause) without combating a whole tradition, to which Plato and Machiavelli, Hegel and Marx, Lenin and fascists, all contributed in their respective ways. To muster courage to oppose tradition so powerful and sanctified is not easy. But, it is, perhaps essential. And for those, who will make up their minds, there is the other tradition from Christ to Gandhi, though possible with discrimination, for support and inspiration. From this tradition, one may gather those elements of wisdom, which combined with the spirit of rational enquiry, promise to show a way out of the crisis of our age”.5 To discuss all the aspects of Datta’s thought requires volumes of writings. Almost all the problems and evils of the present world came under the scrutiny of his sweeping mind. Technological centralism, consumerist suicidal craze, climate change hazards to humanity: all have been subjected to deep explorations by Datta who has suggested proper alternatives to each of them. His penetrating insights in these matters are full of gems of thought that can guide and inspire every radical humanist. Coming from Tagore’s land, Amlan Datta is a votary of aesthetic mysticism. Cosmic mysticism is anther field where Datta shares his sentiments with Einstein, though he deplores Gandhi’s religious mysticism which was used as a weapon in Gandhi’s struggle for India’s freedom. Mysticism is a field where too many dangerous mines lie buried. The philosopher Simon Blackburn criticizes cosmological and cosmic religious mysticism which he dubs as ‘Astronomical Fatalism’ in his Radhakrishnan memorial Lecture, 1995. Ethics is different from aesthetic or religions mysticism and can only make our lives better-governed socially as well as individually. We can be more free and worthy human
APRIL 2010 beings. Aesthetics has its independent value and makes life happier because of the free use of creativity but it may or may not touch the field of ethics. Patriarchy is one of the great evils that haunt human society in all the periods of recorded history. I wish Amlan Datta’s fecund mind had taken up arms against this unhappy episode that distorted the process of natural evolution. Like M.N. Roy he dreamt of a renaissance in India. “This then is to be the unfinished thought of India’s Renascence: to carry through a scientific criticism of our religious heritage, to recognize the positive value of the individual and his participation in social life, and on this basis, to evolve that fuller concept of social justice, to the absence of which a valiant, if sometimes embittered line of thinkers from Phule to Ambedkar has drawn the attention of a curiously apathetic Indian Society.”6 In today’s world every community-oriented cult, including Marxism, stinks of sectarian violence. The thinkers of renaissance, to avoid reactionary regionalism, must have a global range. Fortunately, Datta’s inspirers Gandhi, Tagore and M.N. Roy have each succeeded in having broadened visions of the local embedded in the global. Roy and Tagore are well known globe trotters, Roy, more so, than even Tagore. Gandhi’s global vision comes out in the essay ‘The Emerging Global society ‘written by S. Radha Krishnen. “Gandhi, even when he was fighting for India’s Independence, warned us against the reactionary character of nationalism. He (Gandhi) said, “A fallen and prostrate India cannot be of help either to herself or the world. I want my country to be free that one day, if need be, she may die that humanity may live. It is in self-surrender that we fortify ourselves”. It is unfortunate that this tall intellectual Amlan Datta, like almost all the reputed historians and philosophers of India, is unaware of the glory of pre-Vedic philosophy Anwikshiki, much praised by Kautilya. India, mainly because of its unique Geographical features (Prof. S. Ratnagar), developed a woman-based (Sharad Patil) contemplation- oriented civilization (men and women had equal status and enjoyed equal rights in all the fields including that of sexual freedom, in pre-Vedic India). This civilization was free from species exploitation (slaughter). I doubt if any other civilization in the world gave so much importance to the value of
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‘non-violence’ No Indian renaissance- seeking philosopher can afford to ignore Lokayat, whose principal philosopher, Charvak, was wrongly characterized as a hedonist in spite of strong evidence being available against such a biased view, deliberately preached by the Lokayat-hating Vedantist philosopher Madhwacharya. Anther essay is needed to point out the true nature of Lokayat philosophy subjected to false propaganda, that blurs the contours of the culture of the great Mahenjodaro-Harappa civilization which flourished without kings and Gods (Archeology). Mahabir, Buddha and Gandhi, though great thinkers and doers in their own fields, could not transcend the Patriarchal bias that partly colours their consciousness. The great cultural stream (nonPatriarchal) milked by them consciously or unconsciously, remains undiscovered, as long as we ignore the evidences provided by Kautilya, Megasthenes, the Mahabharata, Buddha and Janina writings. The world crisis can only be resolved if the
famous historians and thinkers of India shed their western thought – frame work - bias and explore the lost world of Anwikshiki, (the atheistic, materialistic and rationalist philosophies of Lokayat, Yoga and Samkhya in their original form) which got purposely distorted by the Orwellian warrior – priest – dominated caste – untouchability – ridden society dominated by greedy and power – hungry Vedic priests and warriors. In this age of Globalism, exploring these non-nationalist thought systems based on the values of non- violence, truth and Aparigraha (Minimizing the wants) only can usher in a global renaissance. References: 1. Democracy and Freedom of Thought. 2. M. N. Roy and Mahatma Gandhi. 3. M. N. Roy and Mahatma Gandhi. 4. A Finer Humanism. 5. Ends and Means. 6. Hinduism, Reason and justice.
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Guests’ Section:
K.S. Chalam [Prof K.S. Chalam is Member, UPSC, New Delhi. Earlier he served as Vice-Chancellor, Dravidian University, Kuppam, (A. P.) for a brief period. He has served as Prof. Economics in Andhra University. He was the first Director of Swamy Ramanandtirtha Rural Institute, Bhoodan Pochampally during 1997-98. He is known as the pioneer of the Academic Staff College scheme in the country as the scheme was strengthened by UGC on the basis of his experiments in 1985. He became the first founder director of the Academic Staff College at Andhra University in 1987. He was actively involved in the teachers’ movement, secular and rationalist activities and served as the national secretary, Amnesty International during 1984-85. He has so far published 90 research papers in reputed journals and more than 200 articles in Telugu. He has published 20 books in English and 6 in Telugu. Some of his books were also translated into Telugu and other languages.]
Ram Manohar Lohia and the Methodology of Social Sciences most of our Pre-independence leaders Unlike like Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar and others, Ram Manohar Lohia was trained in a non-Anglo-Saxon environment. Though some of the great thinkers like, Hegel, Marx and even Schumpeter come from this tradition and have enriched the European Intellectual tradition, there is something unique to Germany, Austria and some other countries that suppose, they are not part of the Anglo-Saxon tradition. Ram Manohar Lohia was
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trained in this tradition as an economist and social scientist. He had obtained his PhD from Berlin University. Therefore, it is expected that he must have developed a methodology of his own which could be different from others. This makes him distinctly different from others. I have been searching for an indigenous thinker and a non Anglo-Saxon intellectual who tried to establish an independent methodology to understand the unique character of India. I am of the opinion that several intellectuals and scholars who have critically examined India and its traditions have followed the Anglo-Saxon methodology. Naturally all of them have come to similar conclusions. It is now well established that the conclusions reached by scholars or Scientists largely depend upon the approaches or methodology of enquiry. When I started examining and trying to understand the European writings on our social institutions like caste, family, beliefs etc., I found that they were trying to translate whatever that was encountered here in to their native thinking. One example is that of studying caste. They have translated ‘caste’ as a form of class which was a reality in Anglo-Saxon world. Even today the American and English scholars and their followers in India use the same concepts. Recently, I had an occasion to speak to scholars in JNU, Delhi on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of Thurston E, who was one of the earliest to record castes in South India. I have realized after interacting with the scholars, that the same writings are repeated even now. Interestingly, Thurston himself seemed to have recorded the details from the Brahmin and upper caste investigators and translators who narrated the institution according to their beliefs. The European Investigator translated them into his own categories of classes as understood in his native country, England. There are now several works available to show the nature of these distortions by scholars like Trautmen. In this context, leaders like Ram Manohar Lohia who had reflected on our social institutions seem to have followed a unique approach to study India and the world. In fact, the methodology used by Lohia appears to be different from all others who were trained in the west. Apart from his activist role as a statesman, Lohia has extensively written and or lectured on all important issues of the day both in English and Hindi. Lohia was educated in Germany. He was a scholar at Berlin University doing PhD on Salt ‘Satyagraha’ and
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returned to India in 1932(3). It appears that he was influenced by German Scholarship and Intellectual tradition which was then and even today is different from American and English traditions. I find that there is a similarity in approach between Joseph Schumpeter and Ram Manohar Lohia. Joseph Schumpeter was an Austrian Economist settled in USA. Among his disciples, we come across Samuelson, Leontiff and Paul Sweezy. The striking similarity is found between Lohia and Schumpeter in their writings particularly in the popular book of Schumpeter, “Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy”, published in 1942, and went into several impressions after the third edition in 1950. Ram Manohar Lohia has published several books and pamphlets. I consider his book, “Marx, Gandhi and Socialism,” published in 1963 is his magnum opus. The book contains some of his lectures with an elaborate 50 pages preface in 1963, was published in Hyderabad. It is in this preface that Lohia has explained his 7 revolutions. This can be considered as the concluding part of his intellectual endeavour. This book contains 23 chapters discussing several important issues. Both Schumpeter and Lohia started their studies by elaborating on Marx. Even today students of Economics who wanted to learn about Marx refer to Schumpeter’s book along with his classic ‘History of Economic Analysis’. Lohia like that of Schumpeter examined the Economics of Marx and Marxism and Socialism in the book. He has touched several issues under the overall methodology which he has explained in the chapter on ‘Abstract and concrete’, ‘Materiality and Spirituality’ and the ‘meaning of Equality’. I was very much impressed by these chapters and consider that they are the unique approaches of Lohia to study Indian Society. Abstract and Concrete: The chapter ‘Abstract and Concrete’ reminds one about the Hegelian dialectics. It was Hegel who made a distinction between concrete which was understood as the singularly perceived individual objects and phenomenon, while abstract was considered as a product of mind. The Marxist philosophy has adopted it and further elaborated in bringing the relation between these two in the analysis of dynamics of history. Ram Manohar Lohia seems to have been influenced by this tradition in Germany. The uniqueness of Lohia here is that he has applied it to Indian conditions by drawing analogies from Shankara Advaita. In this process, he has pointed out the weakness 10
of the Indian mind. He has introduced the concepts of; thought and action, precept and practice as binary concepts and linked them with the abstract and concrete. In the process, he has brought out the dichotomy between these. He said that the, “ideal appears in the human mind in two shapes, one is abstract and the other concrete. An abstract idea has a concrete shape although it remains ideal still....In order to convey a meaning an idea has to have its forms, the abstract and the concrete. The abstract idea related to general desires. Democracy, justice, equality and the ending of exploitation by man are such general ideals. They have powerfully motivated human minds. They are purely abstract and eternal, although the content of these abstractions has been changing from time to time”. An ideal remains as an abstract of the human mind and suffers in its transition to practice. Lohia goes on explaining the difference between precept and practice and to what extent we can give allowance for the difference. He said that as long as man lives in his body there can be some allowance due to the human nature. It is due to human emotions like greed, selfishness, anger etc that influence our thinking action that result in ‘errors of emotions’. But, we cannot simply attribute all the differences to these errors of emotions. Here Lohia tells us that there is another kind of error that arises from the “incapacity to discern the fulfillment of a general principle”. The irony is that man is aware of his errors of emotions, but is not aware of his “errors of understanding”. It is nothing to do with the character of the person as the person can always correct it and repents for it, if he knows about its wrong path. But a faulty understanding has no mode of correction and is dangerous as it keeps on rolling till it leads to a disaster. At the same time, Lohia pleaded that we cannot tolerate bad habits and they are to be weeded out and human character should improve. He has also explained the fallacy of the idealization of the actual. Many social Philosophers including Hegelians, Marxists, capitalists and Gandhians are vitiated by this method of understanding, one should not identify what is, with what ought to be. There are people who accept an ideal without understanding it. Therefore, the ideal is accepted by such people in speech but not by the critical faculties of the mind. It is recognized that only when the ideal appears in a concrete shape human action is motivated. The concrete examples are generally
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drawn from history and experience. We have the concrete examples of French and Russian revolutions that have changed the course of history. This concrete example translated from the abstract ideal has provided the standards for measuring current reality. It is here that Lohia had drawn examples from Indian experience. He said that the Laws of Manu and Yajnavalkya at one time have given life and concrete meaning but later froze to become general principles. Once they became general principles, they stopped all movement of thought and society. The frozen particular becomes a generalized principle in India. There is no effort to think of concrete examples and there is unconscious hypocrisy everywhere talking about socialism, equality, non-violence, decentralization and democracy. It is here that Lohia sordidly says, “The beatific smile on the faces of such saints and swine is similar to, I believe the readiness with which their bleary eyes water. To end this cheating or senility, the Indian mind must in every single instance learn to trace back and forth a statement to its more generalized principles at one end and its more concrete form at other”. The consistent interplay of the particular and the general must become a habit of the mind to come out of this muck. Precept and Practice: The gap between precept and practice will never disappear in human society. But, we should be very careful about our understanding of the situation. The European mind has tried to deny the gap between precept and practice. But in India, a complete divorce of the ideal from the actual can be seen in the Indian mind. “Shankaracharya truly represents the Indian mind. In a stupendous sweep of the mind, he differentiated between worldly truth and absolute truth, and thus made it possible for the human mind not only to distinguish a stone from a man but also a man of one caste from a man of another caste, and yet to believe in the Advaita, the undifferentiated absolute. He endowed the Indian mind with the capacity of diverting the actual from the ideal and of doing almost anything in the name of the ideal”. Elaborating further on this, Lohia drew the attention of the socialists to the concept of Equality. He said that socialism has tried to put a meaning into it by way of income ceilings, restricted land holdings and the like. Socialists should seek to achieve equality by achieving the specific and definite concept that they have about equality. In order to achieve general, we have to start from with the particular. The general concept
may be eternal, but it will have a varying particular from age to age. Without the particular, the general becomes a fraud, while the particular also without the general may end in rigidity. Therefore, interplay between the general and the particular must go on. The Europeans have achieved the ideal with actual. The Indians have totally divorced from this. “Here in lies the crisis of the human mind today”. Though, Lohia said about it in 1955, it is more than true in our lives in 2010. You can see this every day in the media, in the intellectual discourse of scholars and in our parliamentary procedures blatantly exposing this naked dual behavior without shame. This may be alluded as an Indian character inherited from Advaita as pointed out by Lohia. Mode of production used as a Method: Lohia has also tried to make a distinction between Marxism and Socialism. Though I have not been able to make a distinction between his concept of socialism from that of scientific socialism and social democracy with the limited literature available with me, I found that Lohia was aware of the mode of production as a method of understanding the dynamics of society. He said that if we were to make a distinction between Marxism and Socialism, it is in the area of destruction of capitalist modes of production and relations of production. He says that a genuine socialist would have to think in terms of destroying both the capitalist relations of production and the capitalist forces of production or at least vastly remodeling them. In the case of communists, Lohia says that they carry only one task, the destruction of capitalist class and there is no end to this. Lohia analyses Marx as a democrat because of his theory of capitalism and the nature of his mind. I think both Lohia and Schumpeter came to similar conclusions, though Lohia has pointed some weaknesses in the assumptions of Marx, having regarded the world economy as a single entity. But he considers that there is the inner and the outer categories of economy in the world. This analogy of Lohia was found elaborated by Neo-Marxist scholars as centre-periphery imagery in Central America. Lohia was of the opinion that as per Marxian analysis, the crisis of capitalism in terms of immeserisation, increasing poverty, reserve army, should have taken place in the capitalist west. But, on the contrary, it was in Asia and in a few pockets of Central America, the Marxian class struggles took place. Despite of the lacunae, Lohia says that the greatest achievement of Marxism is abolition of
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private property and it is to be recorded. Out of several experiments of Gandhi, Lohia has recognized only the idea of Civil disobedience as an individual habit and collective resolve as a gift to the mankind. He was also critical about some of his ideas which were not practical in application. On Equality: Lohia was perhaps one of the earliest thinkers to recognize the problem of inequality in its totality. He said that, “equality is perhaps as high an aim of life as truth or beauty. But his aim has not been investigated in serenity. It’s direct and immediate repercussions on day-to-day life, on property and income and the general ordering of society, are deep and many.” He was very clear about the ideal of equality. Abstract equality for instance must continually be brought into relationship with concrete equality, and other generalizations must be treated similarly. Otherwise, the “tongue will continually spin the charkha and hands will as continually set up textile machines. The tongue will sing of non-violence and equality and hand will practice inequality and use the gun”. This speaks about the hypocrisy in our public life which Lohia abhorred. Though, I could not lay my hands on other important works of Lohia (I got some thanks to Ravela Somayya) before, I have used similar approach of dichotomy as a method in my forthcoming book on ‘Economic Reforms and Social Exclusion’. I have developed an approach to study the dichotomies on the basis of the metaphysical and empirical duality of Indian mind and system. Lohia has explained the meaning of Equality much before scholars like Amartya Sen who examined it with a neo-classical and Anglo-Saxon approach. He has derided the so called ideas of the West, such as “the fatherhood of god and brotherhood of man”, saying they are mere exhortations. They have no foundations with emotions of man particularly in the practices of an Anglo-Saxon. Giving an example of how a European expresses shock at the idea of humans pulling rickshaw, but he does not think twice before riding it. Lohia has elaborated the concept of equality in Indian situation. He has made a distinction between legal equality, political equality, economic and descent based equalities. He has used the methodology to understand the concept of equality. He said that, “the primary issue is to feel the joy of being one with the universe, of being
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equal with everything in it. Such a spiritual and emotional kinship appears to be the main quality of equality as a high aim of life. In family, the kinship obtains its foundation built on an almost total material equality. No matter what the earnings of individual members may be, or if they do not earn anything at all, as in the case of children and old parents, the family is, in food and dress, a compact unit, and the requirements of its members are equally met. An unblemished kinship must reign in the family”. This idea of bringing equality as Kinship feeling appears to be more sublime than the Rawlson’s idea of fairness as justice to bring equality. After an elaborate discussion on the concept, both in its abstract and concrete terms, Lohia has provided a philosophical meaning to it. Man must feel an inward equality between contrary conditions of pleasure and pain, heat and cold, victory and defeat. Bringing the ancient Indian wisdom of inward equanimity and outward equality as two sides of a coin as ‘Samata’ and ‘Samatvam’, Lohia has pointed out that they are already ingrained in our society. Finally, he has concluded his piece on equality as equality must therefore be grasped in all its four meanings. “Material equality must mean the outward approximation among nations as well as the inward approximation within the nation. Spiritual equality must mean outward kinship as much as it means inward equanimity. Only an integrated concept of these four meanings of equanimity, kinship, material equality within the nation and among nations is worthy to become a supreme aim of life and its purpose”. Thus the methodology adopted by Lohia to study the Indian conditions and the ethos to formulate a theory of development based on equality is found to be genuinely original and Indian. The writings of Lohia are now available in print. It is necessary that scholars and activists of Lohia legacy should interrogate these writings from the non-Anglo-Saxon methodology which Lohia has developed and used in his writings. He has developed certain concepts and ideas to point out the fact that the western world has a sway over our lives. This total control of the west over our lives according to Lohia has taken place because of the Anglo-Saxon or European approach to study social issues in India in particular and in Asia in general. It is in this context that Lohia will continue to be relevant in our traditions of Social enquiry in the years to come.
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B.P. Rath
[Mr. Bagwat 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]
Lohia: A World Thinker continued from the previous March 2010 issue......... tells us about the Kathopanishad incompatibility of the two values SREYA and PREYA. Lohia does not recognize the dichotomy and this dichotomy was absent in the pre-Vedic age. A priest-warrior led Patriarchal civilization (the Vedic society) cleverly separated SREYA from Preya. Going against the natural instincts ‘love’ and ‘sympathy’, that bring calmness and happiness to the mind, Upanishadic priests in the spirit of the warrior societies subjected young people to the austere initiation ceremonies in the name of following ‘SREYA’ (ragging in the top educational- institutions of India is intended to tame the spirit of the young people so that they unquestioningly obey their seniors and terrorize to submission their juniors) Today, the elite society wants its young to
become good robotized soldiers or labourers whose consciences sleep permanently. Lohia was not less zealous than any genuine leader of any camp in combating inequality and exploitation, but he recognized the evil effects of violent fights. Neither victory nor defeat of such elements can introduce the humane culture, in which the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity are concretized. Fidel Castro, speaking at the University of Venczuala in 1999 roared” ….. Their (the capitalist society’s) whole ideological strategy is based on this (that man is an animal moved only by a carrot or when beaten with a whip)….. We have discovered a powerful weapon, “man thinks and feels”. Castro quoted Bolivar and Hose Marti and emphasized that a revolution can only come through culture and ideas. Cuba is an island where a short violent struggle was sufficient to bring to power Castro and his comrades. In a big country like India where the military machine is pretty strong and an affluent middle class numbers in terms of crores, there is little chance for a violent revolution to succeed. If it succeeds, the long period of bloody battles will brutalise the commoners and the leaders of the emancipating brigade. Such a society becomes unfit for democracy. A violent revolution marginalizes women and strengthens male’s dominating characteristics that are detrimental to the functioning of the civil society. In Algeria, the freedom fighters fought a fierce battle with the French, and wrested the control of the country from their unwilling hands. The society got brutalized in the process and today democracy does not exist in Algeria. A violent fight in Latin America balkanized the country even though one religion (Christianity), one language (Spanish in all the countries except Brazil), one culture (a mixed one of Europeans, Indians and muleteers) could not unite the people. Latin America broke into several states, some as small as Bolivia (6 million people live here). Octovio Paz praised Gandhi for succeeding in keeping India whole (minus Pakistan). Patrice Lumumba, who managed to keep Congo undivided (whole) must be turning in his grave at the sad plight of the present Congo, where two third of the country’s women have been raped already. P. M. Sweezy, a Marxist, an economist and ideologue, blames the militarization of society during the civil wars for the evil that overtook soviet Russia. Military commanders, party men and bureaucrats jointly formed the privileged elite
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in Russia and the common man’s resentment grew till it burst its bonds. Sweezy wanted a paradigm shift of KUNHIAN type to save Marxism from its demise which happened in Russia, china and other communist countries of the world. 7 “Without Socialism, Barbarism will invade our human societies,” said Lohia. How prophetic was his statement. No essay on Lohia can be complete without a peep into his monumental piece of work ‘Wheel of History’. Marx’s ideas of linear determinism and Lohia’s ideas of circular determinism have both failed to enthuse modern historians.Writes Eric Hob swam “Both evolutionary science and the experiences of the 20th century have taught that evolution has no direction that allows us concrete predictions about its future social, cultural and political consequences”. 8 Explaining the view of history of Raymond Aran, Shamlal says in his essay ‘The Meaning of History that Aran warns us of looking for any method in history. Shams Lal writes, “Even the more sophisticated Marxists disown the theory of historical inevitability and admit that the future depends on ourselves as much as on the means and relations of production”. In his essay ‘Interrogating the Past’ Sham Lal writes that the historian Michel Vovelle studies not from the vantage point of ideologies but mentalities present in the form of religious beliefs, superstitions, and attitude to life and death. Like Marx’s study of history based on the dialectical interactions in the field of production, Lohia used class and caste to reveal the cyclical movement of history. Both are partial truths. No historian is in a position to explain the totality of factors that guide history. Chance and creative individuals play, no less a decisive role, in shaping the history of mankind. Between Gandhi and Lohia, though Gandhi was Lohia’s mentor to a great extent, and also the discoverer and inspirer of the non –violent movements that span the 20th country, Lohia is the more acceptable ideologue to the modern man. For them Gandhi’s declaration that he is a Sanatani Hindu, his intuitional certainties and his reinterpretation of Gita as a book of non-violence, look pretty mysterious. Gandhi’s lack of respect for the so-called fallen women stands in sharp contrast to Lohia’s categorizing them as honourable. Lohia’s characterization of history as consisting of ages concentrating on partial efficiency and nature’s mode of reaching the end of history through total efficiency, finds identical echoes in a book written by seven leading 14
world thinkers (including Norm Chomsky and Michel Albert). They isolated four important fields where humanity must shed its prejudices and rise to new heights. Marx’s class war, the feminist’s quest for equal status with men, the anarchist’s suspicion of state power, avoiding the craze for collective selfishness (National, religious, cultural or racial fanaticism) leading to genocides; all have been integrated in the book ‘Liberating Theory’. This book vindicates Lohia’s vision in toto. The revolutionary mentality prevailing among the mainstream parties has been described by Michel Vovelle as ‘a notional system carved by terms such as vigilance, plot and legitimized violence swarming with words like destroy, crush… annihilate exterminate’. Lohia’s principle of immediacy is violated by the mainstream revolutionaries. No wonder their success leads to utopian dreams of Marx, Lenin, and Mao ending in nightmares bringing untold misery to millions of people.Lohia’s advocacy of decentralization of polity and economy is the only way to keep the democratic spirit alive among the commoners Now-a-days, state leaders who swear by democracy actually sell their souls to the fabulously rich transnationals. No centralized big state can function democratically. Decentralization of power and economy to the local level is the only way to preserve democracy. Satyagraha at the local level, too, can not be denied as a potent weapon. People should abhor any sort of violence at the local level. Women and men should be equal participants in the polity and economy, both locally and federally. The party units should enjoy autonomy at the local level. Marxism had its rise when the idea of material abundance was reigning in the minds of intellectuals. ‘ To each according to his need’ is the Marxist maxim which becomes unrealistic in the present world, plagued by resource constraints Lohia is in a much better position because be advocated ‘a decent standard of living for the whole of mankind’. It is doubtful whether that too, is possible in the world where climate change, limit – less consumerism and unrestrained population increase are causing fast depletion of natural resources. Carolyn Baker is a professor of history. She is also a psychologist and practicing psychotherapist. She has written the book ‘Sacred Demise. Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization’s Collapse’. She used the term ‘Toxic Triangle’ to explain the relationship between Peak oil,
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climate change and economic melt down. She said “… the real issue is that collapse is not a future event, it is happening as we speak. She says that the industrial civilization is disconnected from the real world (the natural world) in favour of a synthetic creation that exists to create wealth, and give power to the latest people who crawl their way to the top of the global hierarchy.” She expects water riots in near future. Lohia wrote in the essay, ‘Some Fundamentals of a World Mind, “until peace and non violence can be convincingly correlated to freedom and growth, it is an expensive exaggeration to speak of a European Gandhism”. Now many leading thinkers are advocating zero growth, as growth has cancerous effects on human society.When Lohia visited the US, the American society was more egalitarian. Now-a-days more than forty million people in the US cannot afford even ordinary medical aid. In 2001, the top 1% of families in the US enjoyed 33.4% of the net wealth of the country. The bottom 40% had to content themselves with 0.3% of the net wealth. With in these years, the yawning disparity must have increased exponentially. If he had lived today, and visited Europe and the US, the compatibility of prosperity with egalitarian features of a society, would not have received his commendation. Appropriate technology as advocated by Lohia still stands correct in the present age. This is not because of lack of capital in the third world (Capital has become global) but because of providing employment to all and preserving the autonomy of the local people. Today speculative capital is dominating the world. Hedge funds can break a country’s financial system easily. A leading finance capitalist, George Soro’s forced England to devalue its currency. The Prime Minister, John Major, had to beat a retreat after resisting Soro’s maneuvers for a short period. The president of France, Mitterrand was warned by financial capitalists of France to give up his attachment to his manifesto that advocated socialist policies. He succumbed to their pressure. In today world, finance capitalists and major banks dictate to states what policies to adopt. Inequality is increasing in geometrical progression every year among and between nations. Keeping full control over the country’s currency to preserve the sovereignty of the nation is the need of the hour. Otherwise the bad effects of one mismanaged economy can plunge the whole world in to a severe economic melt down. The effect on the poor countries
will be the worst. If the highly consumerist elite of any country has the final say in the field of economy, we must say good bye to the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. Writes Eduardo Galeano in his essay ‘Rule of the Few’, “Every day sees the further shrinkage of the already limited maneuvering room of local politicians, and the people look at the decisions taken in their name by governments ruled by global institutions”. Latin American radical thinkers have blazed a new path keeping in mind the criticism of Galeano. Instead of thinking of capturing state power, they are keeping alive big social movements of people. The MST movement in Brazil and the Zapatista movements in Mexico avoided enjoying state power; though their cultures, institutions and personalities influenced the ethos of the elected representatives in their areas. They decided to leave the ultimate decisions to the elected representatives of the area and not to their military which played the role of preventing government forces from entering their territories. Lohia’s ideas of constructive work and resistance through Satyagraha tallies with their activities. A group of socialist thinkers not prepared to face the ordeal of elections may devote their time and energy to improving the moral character of the populace, through persuasion and becoming role-models, to deepen democracy. J.P.’s idea of recall is another shot in the arm of democracy. With human survival at stake, the masculine culture that is savaging humanity will get more brutalized in future. In the coming age of scarcity, the class divide, between the East and the West will defy any solution because the class-leveling global ideologies like Marxism and Democratic Socialism cannot enthuse the majority of Western people. They cannot sacrifice or lower their living standards to provide basic necessities for the commoners of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The time has come when humanity has to choose between the truth based on destructive emotions like greed and violence and truth based on the motherly attitude nurturing the values of non-violence, Asteya and Aparigrapa. Gandhi’s ideas filtered through Lohia’s cogitations, transformed in consonance with the changed reality and thought contents of the present world, can prove relevant in the present context. There is poverty of thought plaguing the present world. Nihilism has invaded the philosophies and Cynicism waits in the wings. Post modernism, as Prof. Frederic Jamesm says,
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is only ‘the cultural logic of late capitalism’ which stinks of decadence and burning flesh. Lack of democracy dogs Marxism that wades its way through brutalities, violence and fanatic faith in the infallibility of its leaders and creeds. In ‘Wheel of History’, Lohis’s great idea of cultural and functional approximations (one world idea, both internals and external) based on the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity, stands in contrast with the current idea of globalization that benefits a highly parasitical class. Where is Lohia’s grand vision and where is the present night mare of capitalism’s illusory finance that is wrecking nations and distributing hunger and destitution particularly among the weaker sections of all communities. Indian materialism (Lokayat) is far away from hedonism which muddies the ideas of materialism of the West. Non-violence or non-exploitation of any species of being, was advocated by Anwikshiki in pre-Vedic India. In the Western sense, Lohia advised a combination of materialism and spiritual values. Pursuing the supreme value of non-violence, angry Charvak clashed with the Vedic priests who merrily ate the flesh of animals in
sacrifices. In those days when men and women were considered equal, sexual freedom of women was considered a natural phenomenon. Vedic scholars whose minds were polluted by Patriarchal values later criticized Charvak; who had a healthy attitude towards sex. Vedic Aryans declared chastity and celibacy as great values and relegated non-killing of animals to an inferior domain in the world of values. Wars and raids were common and considered praise-worthy in all Aryan and Semitic societies of the world.A paradigm – shift in the thinking of the Western and Westernized Third World elite which makes them explore the thought worlds of Gandhi, Lohia and the ancient Vidya of Anwikshiki, of which Lokayat is a part, is essential for saving the living world from sure extinction. Patriarchal society must give way to a society where motherly values find a place of prominence in private and public life. If we can not abolish war and limit less consumerism and wealth seeking in our lives, all living beings inhabiting the earth will vanish with in a short period. References: 7. A Crisis in Marxian Theory from the book Post – Revolutionary Society). 8. The Last of the utopian Projects.
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 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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Nandana Reddy
[Nandana Reddy is a political and social activist working on issues of democratic decentralisation, human rights, civil liberties and children’s right to self determination. She was born into a socialist family and was closely associated with Dr. Lohia who was a frequent guest in their house.]
Learning The Lohia Way continued from the previous March 2010 issue......... is fundamental and inseparable from Learning engagement in the world. Knowledge is integrated in the life of communities; learning is how people gain membership and participation in community. Learning is an act of membership; motivation in learning lies in the intimate relation between the desire for participation and the role of new knowledge in enabling that participation. Knowing depends on engagement in practice, but in the classroom knowledge presented in the abstract. Engagement is inseparable from empowerment and the failure to learn is the result of exclusion from participation; people denied membership with the right to contribute in the creation of meaning cannot sufficiently engage to learn easily. Children question society and social structures for good reason. Working children feel that society has rejected them, that they have been pushed out of the class triangle, relegated to live on the periphery, marginalised and ignored. They have no reason to trust us because we have given them no cause to do so and they tend to build protective walls around themselves in an attempt to insulate themselves against the oppression and exploitation they are subject to in their daily lives. 17
The children of Bhima Sangha, a union for, by and off working children feel that education should help them to be brave, to have the courage to face life and improve their situation. It should encourage them to question and seek solutions. It should facilitate them to integrate with their communities and live with their families. It should teach about occupations and enable them to gain respect and recognition. Education should inform them of their rights and show them ways of using political structures and processes to realise these rights.. For these reasons the socialisation of the child cannot be an unconscious or uncritical process, separated from reality and governed by the paternalistic attitude of adults. It cannot be compartmentalised into tiny unrelated boxes. The ideal would be to aim for a process of socialisation that fosters interdependency; an integrated approach that interweaves all facets of life [crafts, arts, politics, economics, social science and culture]; a natural symbiosis between adults and children, especially senior citizens and the environment ‘mother earth’. And most of all education should be as Lohia believed, the fearless exploration of the unknown. This should be enabled without hampering or pushing the child’s development and should contribute to children attaining a sense of self-esteem and security. Breaking the Chains of Caste, Class and Gender: As a child there was always the strong presence of Lohia at home, and not only when he stayed with us during his visits to Madras (Chennai). He was a constant factor and an integral part of my childhood and growing up. At home there were no separations between our politics, my parents’ careers in theatre and film and the way we lived our lives. In my world there was no dichotomy between Lohia presenting my mother with a costly and exotic gift of perfume and discussing strategies for liberating the majority from the shackles of poverty and powerlessness. My mother would stop in the middle of the street to protect hapless cyclists from abusive policeman and I saved stray dogs and wounded owls at school. We agonised over the plight of women and the state of electoral politics; discussed literature and the arts; and enjoyed rare family treats from the proceeds of the sale of old newspapers. Ours was an open house filled with artists, writers, actors, film makers, political activists and politicians
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from India and abroad and we entertained endlessly, experimenting with Italian, Spanish, French and a multiplicity of other cuisines. There was a seamless integration between all this. Home was so exciting, a living school, that formal school was drudgery – a sterile environment within four walls where information was presented in the abstract with no connection to real life. Many years later, inspired by Lohia and my work as a trade unionist in the informal sector, I helped found a private development agency, the Concerned for Working Children (CWC), to work in partnership with child workers. CWC decided to enable and empower child workers by providing an education that was liberating and enabled them to find new solutions to old problems - discover better ways to organise society and build a better world. We realised that this education could not be confined to the four wall of a school and so we designed an Appropriate Education Pedagogy (AEP) that we call ‘Education for Democracy’ and with the village as the school. Through this, the learning arena of the child is expanded to include other social institutions such as the home, the Panchayat, the world of work, culture and spirituality. Grand mothers tell children stories, children do projects on cultural and environmental history; grow their own food, run their own post office and bank; they collect information on resources and plan their dream village. Let us see how this impacted on Prema. After her disastrous experience in school, Prema joined Bhima Sangha. She began attending our extension school and benefited form the Appropriate Education Programme. She acquired both knowledge and skills. She was able to share her problems and frustrations and gain great strength from knowing that there were others like her. Collectively with other children she began to find solutions to the problems they faced and Prema’s self confidence grew. Self Determination: However the children were not satisfied with this. They wanted to interact with the Gram Panchayat (Local Government) and for this they felt the need for all the children of an area or village to come together. With our help they set up the ‘Makkala Panchayats’ or children’s local governments in five districts of Karnataka. Prema was elected to the ‘Makkala Panchayat’ in her village and she became the President. At this time all the
children decided that they needed more information about the causes of child labour and the resources available in their communities if they were to influence their local governments to take corrective action. They decided to do a house-to-house survey in 12000 households and asked for our help to design this piece of research. Prema supervised the survey in her cluster of villages. During this process Prema had to interview her old teacher and his family. She was also the one to present the findings to the adult ‘Panchayat’ and argue for the demands made by the children, her electorate. She managed to get all the demands accepted and many of them have been effectively addressed such as the implementation of a more appropriate and quality education, full day child care centres, easy access to fuel, fodder and water, the construction of foot bridges and more freedom for girls. Her moment of glory came when her old teacher stood up in a ‘Panchayat’ meeting and honoured her. He said that he was amazed at her capacity to handle the complexity of the survey and her presentation skills. He apologised for what he had said when she was in school and praised her intelligence and leadership. Ambassadors of Change: Prema is now a respected and proud member of her community. She not only reads and writes, but also represents her constituency in national and international meetings. She has travelled to many countries. She made a big impression on the children of Japan who have as a result initiated a Children’s Rights Movement there. Prema now stands tall. Her dream is to become the president of the local government – a dream that is more than likely to come true. We live in a paternalistic society - a society that is controlled by the minority elite that in order to protect its interests suppress the majority, where the body politic uses structures to marginalise the weaker and less fortunate. Most of all we ignore our children, the future generation - the title-holders of the new millennium. State structures, the judiciary and parts of civil society all collude to keep vast groups of people at the bottom of the socio/economic and political triangle – and children have no place at all, no voice, no strength and no control. In most cultures, children and youth are kept away from ‘politics’ as it is considered ‘bad’ for them until they are 18 years old. At the dawn of this biological milestone,
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they are expected to attain sufficient civil and political maturity to participate in direct democracy as members of the Grama Sabha or in indirect democracy as the electoral constituency of various levels of State. Just as the environment influences the child, the child can also influence its environment. The relation of the child to reality cannot be marginal and devoid of contemplation or questioning. Children, from an early age, should be encouraged to gradually further their capacity to learn, question and transform a reality that is not capable of upholding the legitimacy of their rights. This should be enabled without hampering or pushing the child’s development and should contribute to them developing a sense of self-esteem and security. Language: A universally accepted principle is that children should be taught in their mother tongue. Countries like Norway are mandated to provide instruction in the language of the child even if the language is that of a remote African tribe. When Lohia reviewed my first book of poems in Mankind, he speculated at how much better it would have been if I had written in an Indian language. It is clear that he was against English, but his motives need to be put in perspective. I feel that Lohia’s position on language has been grossly misunderstood. He was not a ‘Hindi’ fanatic – his primary concern was that the English language was the tool of dominance. He felt that “…... English (had) made the Indian people feel inferior. Not knowing English, they think they are no good for any kind of public activity and they abdicate. It is precisely such abdication by the mass, which is the foundation for minority or feudal rule”. This is as relevant today as it was in the 60’s - the majority of Indian children, especially rural children, studying in schools where the medium of instruction is the official language of the State (Kannada, Tamil, Telegu, Oriya or Bengali) suffer from two disadvantages. First, for many, the language of the State is not their mother tongue and is as alien as a foreign language; and secondly after they have completed 12 years of schooling in the State language they find that English is the passport to prosperity!
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To their dismay they discover that the English they have learnt as a second language is barely functional. In State Schools, English, as most other second languages (Hindi, Sanskrit, etc:) are taught with scant respect for the language and its literature. This is probably because most Indians have an inherent aversion to the power and domination that these languages represent. These children, the majority, feel inferior, dis-respected and worthless. Lohia understood this, he knew that; “As long as prestige and power and money go with the English language, it will be foolhardy to expect a parent who can afford it not to give his child an English education”. The pull of ‘success’ proves greater that the primeval need to express ones self in ones mother tongue, a strange dichotomy created by the patronisation of English for all official transactions. Today, in Karnataka alone, more that 850 government schools will be closed this year for lack of students as the children have moved to private schools. One of the main reasons is that these children and their families see the importance of learning English. Lohia’s anger and frustration was against the promotion of English as an administrative language in India. “India is the only civilised country in the world, assuming that we are civilised, with an ancient way of life that refuses to die, which runs its legislature, courts, laboratories, factories, telegraph, railways and almost all government and other activities in a language (English) which 99% of the people do not understand”. Gandhi said that he would refuse to “…put the unnecessary strain of learning English upon my sisters for the sake of false pride or questionable social advantage. I would have our young men and young women with literary tastes to learn as much English and other world languages as they like, and then expect them to give the benefits of their learning to India and to the world, like a Bose, a Roy or the Poet (Tagore) himself…..But I would not have a single Indian (to) forget, neglect or be ashamed of his mother tongue, or to feel that he or she cannot think or express the best thoughts in his or her own vernacular.” There are of course several other issues that require resolution. How do we bring about unity in a nation where that are more than 21 official languages apart from Hindi and English and 1,652 unofficial languages
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and dialects? How do we provide quality education in so many mother tongues? How can English or any other foreign language be taught with respect and depth? When should the other languages be introduced and should this be optional? It is said that it is during the first three of schooling that children have the highest capacity to learn languages and that besides the mother tongue, other languages should be introduced. The mother tongue and the other ‘second’ and ‘third’ should be taught with the same depth and width. Unfortunately, one can see that even the mother tongue and the State language are treated in a very functional and bookish way that does not reveal the vernacular beauty or the linguist vigour of these languages. Most children are unable to speak these languages, can barely read and write them and definitely cannot use them for creative expression. The pressing is need however, is respect and dignity for ones mother tongue – the language of the womb, the vernacular of creativity and expression and this should also be the language that brings with it social dignity and participation. English or any other foreign language should be the language of communicative utility, literary exploration and international mobility. In Conclusion: The role of education in nation building and in moulding the disposition of the citizen of tomorrow was recognised in post independence India and the Viswa Barathi institutions of Tagore, the Kalakshetra schools of Rukmani Arandale, the Besant Schools and the Valley schools of Krishnamurthy were all attempts to do just that. Somewhere along the way we seem to have lost this important mission and got wedged in the morass of the ‘hoary perennials’of education or all that is wrong with system. We must rediscover this mission if we want to make a difference. Education cannot be seen in isolation from children’s lives and the pressures they face. It is only through a holistic approach to solving children’s problems that universalisation of education can be achieved and all children are enabled to benefit from an education that is appropriate, qualitative and at least equivalent to the formal system. We need a ‘learning revolution’. This is no different from any other kind of revolution, and yet it is unique as education strikes at the roots of our civilisation. Education in its broadest sense is the foundation on
which a civilisation is built. It lays down the basic tenants of culture, values, vision and the structures that define the model of development we as a nation adopt. If we can find a way of delivering the very best of education to the majority of our children and enable them to mould structures closer to the ideals of a true democracy we would have achieved two major objectives – the empowerment of the marginalised and the regeneration and preservation of democracy in our country. So let us rededicate ourselves to bringing about this revolution – to rediscovering the secrets of childhood and in doing so let us open the doors of discovery to our nation’s children. Let us together with them build a safer world for them to inherit. Let us no more peer down at these children through our microscopes treating them as mere subjects of our interventions and recognise that children, just like us, want to be the masters of their destiny and wish to shape the world they will inherit from us. We need to shift our paradigm and view the world through the eyes of our children and perhaps even ask them to take our hands and lead the way to a vision of a New World. References: 1.Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, Ballantine Books, March 1972, page 17. 2. See Graham L. Strachan, Globalism, Neo-Tribalism and False Reality, (c) Copyright 1999/7-7-99 3. The Child and the State in India: Child Labour and Education Policy in Comparative Perspective, Myron Weiner, 1991. 4. M.K. Gandhi - Extract from Young India, 1924 5. Please see Education for Empowerment and Children’s Citizenship, by Nandana Reddy, Executive Director, The Concerned for Working Children, Key Note at The National Conference 2001 of The Indian Montessori Centre (IMC) Chennai, February 20001 6. Amukta Mahapatra -Education Consultant 7. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery 8. Martin Woodhead – at the Child Rights Conference, Kathmandu, May 2000. 9. Bhima Sangha is a union by, for and off working children in Karnataka. 10.Extract from the summary of the presentation made by Prema at the IMC, 2001.
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11.A private development agency dedicated to address the problems of working children and enabling all children to secure their rights – Website: E-mail: 12.The Makkala Panchayat (Children’s Panchayat) is a structure recognised by local governments. All the children of a ‘Panchayat’ elect a parallel children’s government through a secret ballot. This election is held by the formal government administration and the secretary of the adult Panchayat acts as the secretary of the children’s Panchayat. A Task Force that is chaired by the District Minister links the adult and children’s Panchayats. Since 2008 Makkala Grama Sabhas have been mandatory by a government order in Karnataka. 13.Kavita Ratna, Director Samvada, The Concerned for Working Children, Children’s Impact on State Gvernance: Over arching issues - August 2009
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14. Ram Manohar Lohia, Language, Rammanohar Lohia Samata Vidyalaya Nyas, 1986 Edition, pg 78 15.Ram Manohar Lohia, Language, Rammanohar Lohia Samata Vidyalaya Nyas, 1986 Edition, pg 62 16. Deccan Herald, Bangalore 8th February, 2010, page 1 17.Ram Manohar Lohia, Quote from Language in Lohia In His Own Words, Lohia Vichar Manch 2002 pg 21. 18. M.K.Gandhi, Young India, 1921 19. M.K.Gandhi, Young India, 1921 20.The Indian census of 1961 recognised 1,652 different languages in India (including languages not native to the subcontinent). The 1991 census recognizes 1,576 classified “mother tongues” - Accessed 9th Feb. 2010 21. A term coined by Geeta Sen Gita Sen, Sir Ratan Tata Chair Professor since 2000 at the IIM.
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Current Affairs Section:
Rajindar Sachar
[Justice Rajindar Sachar is Retd. Chief Justice of High Court of Delhi, New Delhi. He is UN Special Rapportuer on Housing, Ex. Member, U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and Ex-President, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) India.]
Parliament’s First Priority – To Pass Immeditely Women Reservation Bill Punjab we have a telling bewailing Incommentary by old folks when unfortunately a young bride becomes a widow soon after marriage, namely “Poor girl, a tragedy has struck her, even when ‘Mehandi’ has not yet dried up”. I am sadly reminded of this by the looming fate of women Reservation Bill being in danger of being postponed again, soon after it was justly celebrated by all right thinking women and men as a step towards ending the commonly accepted version in India of a woman being viewed just either as mother, daughter or wife but not as an individual with her own personality – the bill is only the beginning of a fight for gender Justice. The passing of bill has generated extraordinary confidence amongst women in the country. That enthusiasm should not be allowed to be frittered away by what one is fearing of political expediency by not passing this bill in the present session of Lok Sabha, but waiting for the next session which will be months away. -2-
Some weak kneed persons in Ruling party may trot out the excuse of danger of passing the Budget or risk in weakening of outside party support. There seems hardly any justification for this gloomy view – Let me remind all of the steadfast insistence of Pt Nehru, J.P. , Lohia in insisting on passing the Hindu Marriage Act. 1952 notwithstanding the country passing through tumultuous times and inspite of the vociferous powerful apposition from stalwarts like Dr. Rajendra Prashad the President of India and some of his colleagues. It is in times like these that the real mettle of leadership is tested. Fortunately a last minute corrective action by the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi, (notwithstanding the shaky advise of their advisers) in insisting on passing the bill in Rajya Sabha was the real knock out blow against the opponents of the Bill. Of course this was made much easier by the open and correct support given by both BJP and the left parties. That support is still available. Notwithstanding the bullying buster by Mulayam, Lallu, Sharad, these die hard obscurantists can not muster any strength nor make a cleavage in the support given by BJP/Left on this issue. May I respectfully remind Yadav Trio to freshen up their Lohia readings – the mentor had clearly opined that reservation for woman was an instrument in social engineering – he never suggested splitting the strength of woman quota by further splitting them in sub-quotas. -3Another fear put forward is that a non confidence move by Yadavs might tempt BJP/Left to make use of this opportunity. I do not see any such possibility. Notwithstanding the cleavage in their political formulations, women electorate as such will never forgive a political party, which sought in any way to trifle the numbers and endanger the passing of Bill in the present session. Surely some kind of via media can be worked out. I know the hike in fuel price is one of the most contentious – each party can projects its own stand, but that can not and should not result in any danger to the stability of government. Could not the fuel price hike differences be sorted out by these three parties by following the Lenins slogan of “two steps forward and one step backward” , say by suspending fuel hike price in the present and taking up this issue in the next session. It may look little anomalous and frustrating but the overall compulsion of passing the Women Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha in this very session is of so overwhelming importance that some kind of adjustment is necessary
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between Congress, BJP and Left parties. -4Let us not forget that half the State Assemblies have still to approve the Bill before it can become law. If the enthusiasm generated is not made use of in this very session I am afraid it may run out to become empty rhetoric and the danger of the bill being caught up in mutual mud slinging with uncertain prospects and might give a near fatal blow to the passing of bill as in the past. The opponents of the Bill are projecting false fears. The argument that the women’s quota will be monopolized by urban women is a red herring. There are very substantial numbers of OBCs in the Lok Sabha. It is stark reality that it is not their public service, but merely the caste configuration that has preferred them. Similar results will follow even after reservation for women. The only difference will be a big chink in the male bastion. That is the real reason for opposition by a section of male legislators. Crimes against urban women are no less heinous than those against rural women. Women as a class cannot be bifurcated in the matter of injustice. The creation of artificial sub-quotas within this suppressed section is a conspiracy of male chauvinism to perpetuate its dominance. -5In my view, provision of a sub-quota for OBC women runs the risk of being held as un-constitutional. Reservation of seats is guaranteed only for SC/STs in
Article 330. The framers of the Constitution did not intend further fragmentation of the legislatures on caste lines. The latest Asia pacific Human Development Report, estimates that the under representation of women in the workforce costs the region about $89 billion each year – roughly equivalent to the GDP of Vietnam. Reservation for women would check the muddy polities that their menfolk have brought about. It would bring social consciousness to political life. It will also help in breaking the criminal-politician nexus – the real danger to our democracy. In my view, the working of this law will unleash a powerful agent of social change, gender respect and social reforms. -6Women are not asking for grace and charity. Their contribution to the cause of nation-building exceeds that of men. An International Labour Organisation study shows that “while women represent 50 per cent of the world adult population and a third of the official labour force, they perform nearly two-thirds of all working hours, receive a tenth of world income and own less than 1 per cent of world property.” Therefore, reservation for women is not a bounty but only an honest recognition of their contribution to social development. Opponents of the Bill refuse to treat women as equals. It is this mindset that is sought to be destroyed by the Bill, which selfish politicians are resisting while pretending to fight for social justice.
Book Release Announcement Dr Prithwindra Mukherjee will sign his forthcoming book on: Thât/ Mélakartâ,A Cognitive Study Of Scales Of Indian Music From The North And The South, written between 1981-2003 at the Departement Of Ethnomusicology, Laboratory of Languages and Civilisations with Oral Tradition /UMR 7107 of The French National Centre of Sciences (CNRS-Paris). Foreword by Pandit Ravi Shankar. Saturday, 27 March 2010 Between 3.00 & 6.00 P.M. at Paris Book Fair Editions Publibook (Stand U 43.) It Has Been Announced Also By The Website Of Dr Mukherjee’s Laboratory: http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/index.htm Dr Prithwindra Mukherjee may be contacted at prithwin.mukherjee@gmail.com
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[Sri N.K. Acharya is an Tamil problem has to be found within that country only
N.K. Acharya
Advocate, Columnist and Author of several books on law. He was formarly Secretary of Indian Rationalist Association and had edited the Indian Rationalist, then published from Hyderabad on behalf of the Association prior to its transfer to Madras.] I
Presidential Elections in Srilanka by the success of the military action Elated against LTTE(Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) President, Mahinda Rajapaksa advanced elections by two years. His slogan was the “Unity of the Nation and National Reconstruction”. Even though, he claims the success against LTTE as his personal triumph, his opponent Sarath Fonseka, a just retd. Genaral of the Army who was adopted as a consensus candidate by all the opposition parties, himself has reason to believe that it is he who actually conducted the field operations by which the entire military outfit of LTTE was eliminated. The opposition’s slogan was a promise to put an end to corruption. The election showed that the margin of votes polled being 17%, the victory of Mahinda Rajapaksa against his rival is significant and decisive and the farmners’ election promise has paid larger dividends. Politically, Srilanka is divided into North-east which is dominated by Tamils and the rest of the country has native Simhalis of whom Buddhists and Muslims are minorities. The total population of Srilanka is 21 millions of whom 12.5% constitute Tamils. Tamils are Indian settlers who went to Srilanka about hundred years ago as indentured labour to work in Rubber Plantations then owned by the British. Several attempts have been made to bring back Tamils to India. There was once a proposal that if Srilanka grants citizenship to a certain number of Tamils the Government of India would receive an equal number to be sent back from Srilanka. That proposal failed because several of those Tamils who came back to India returned to Srilanka in a clandestine manner. As on today, the solution to the
by devising some sort of a political arrangement as was conceived in India under Articles 371 and 372 of the Constitution of India. Since, those articles particularly the article dealing with Kashmir gave rise to certain problems as 1. Separate Constitution, 2. Separate Citizenship and 3. Separate right to property, Srilanka should devise a pattern of its own which may be one or more of the several alternatives provided under Article 372. In Kashmir, we have three problems. The Legislature of Kashmir passed an Act by hich Indian resident living in Kashmir cannot acquire any properties in that State. Even, the spouses of Kashmir citizens if they are residents of India cannot acquire any properties in that State. Kashmir Assembly passed another Act which enabled the state to confer citizenship to all those of Kshmir origin living in Pakistan or Pakistan occupied territory if they migrate back to Kashmir. The validity of both the enactments is pending consideration of the Supreme Court. Therefore, Srilanka is better advised to adopt such a scheme among the several of the alternatives provided under Art. 372, so as to enable the Tamils becoming equal citizens ith rest of the people of that island nation. II
Himalayan Glacier Melt crucial sentence which triggered Theworld-wide controversy on the melting of glaciers as a consequence of hotting up of the Globe is, “Glaciers in Himalayas are receding faster than any other part of the world, and if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing in the year 2035 and perhaps sooner, is very high if the Earth keeps warming up at the current rate”. The author of the sentence is Professor Vijay Kumar Raina, a senior Indian Geologist and it occurs in the Fourth Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, the Chairman of which Committee is R.K. Pachauri. What is meant here of disappearance of glacier is that it is melting faster than the ice accumulating over it. The instances cited here are Gangotri glacier which retreated on average 70 ft. per year between 1934 and 2003 and Siachin Glacier which once retarded 50% of its size. It appears in Laddakh, the people have been adopting certain traditional methods to create artificial glaciers. Having noticed these factors and the findings of Fourth IPCC Report, the Government
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of India has since constituted an Institute of Glaciology hich is designed to ork alonith scientists from China, nepal and Bhutan and another Committee called “Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment” to monitor climate change in this country. The present controversy is not limited to the question whether the glaciers are receding or not. What is of grave concern is the rate of retreat. The finding of the Fourth Report of IPCC has since become controversial and is held to be faulty on the disappearance of glaciers by 2035 because Dr. Raina’s study relates to a few glaciers as against 15000 glaciers existing in Himalayas. However, it is matter of cetainty that Himalayan Glaciers may disappear in about 100 to 200 years from now. Therefore, the warning is clear. The one problem now that has to be faced is what steps should the government take in case the output of water entering into the rivers primarily by the glacier melt, gets reduced and whether it can be replenished by monsoon rains which is also hopefully expected to change for the better or otherwise how to conserve river waters in case the glaciers disappear. The present plan of the Government of India for interlinking of river-basins from Ganga to Kaveri has to be suitably adjusted to meet this contingency. This problem is not easy to solve for as per the present estimate, the water falling into rivers by glaciers’ melt is 40% and that by monsoon rains is 60%. The study of glaciers melt of mountains has one more purpose viz. to convince all those who are refusing to accept the phenomena of climate change and accordingly refusing to co-operate with the developing world in taking measures to reduce the hotting up of the globe even after several of the developing countries have volunteered to reduce their carbon emissions by 25% of 1995 level. III
Judge of its own Cause legel controversy is developing. AnCaninteresting the Chief Justice of India be a petitioner before the Supreme Court? If so, can a Bench of that Court hearing such petitioner be treated as impartial or at least appear to be impartial? The authorities under the Right to Information Act held that the office of the Chief Justice of India is a public authority and it is liable to supply information available
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with it to the seeker of information. Here, the information sought for is, the statement of property details of several judges which are available with the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice contended that information available with him is of confidential nature and is also an information conveyed to him by the judges in personal confidence. And it is, therefore, not liable to be disclosed under Section 8 of the Right to Information Act. When the Central Information Commissioner rejected the claim of Chief Justice, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court. On its discussion, the Chief Justice filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court. Obviously, the petitioner as well as the adjucating authority are one and the same. This position offends a rule that no person shall be a judge of his own cause. It has to be seen hat the Supreme Court would do in this matter. In their appellate and review jurisdictions, the Supreme Court and the High Court often hear and decide the matters earlier decided by the court itself. But, that is a case in which the parties are different. The causes dealt with are not its own causes. In the present cause, the Supreme Court is claiming that it is not liable to supply the information as mandated by the provisions of Right to Information Act. The two issues now which have to be decided are: first, whether the Supreme Court is a public authority to which the Right to Information Act applies; second, whether the information obtained of the properties held by the judges of the Supreme Court and other High Courts is an information held by it in confidence and is of fiduciary nature not to be disclosed by the Supreme Court to the outside public. Delhi High Court held both the points against the Chief Justice. Now, a bench of the Supreme Court has to decide these issues after hearing the pleas of the Chief Justice treating him as a party before it. There is an instance of this nature which arises under Arbitration and Conceliation Act. In Government contracts there will normally be a term which authorises the Government to appoint an arbitrator to decide on all the disputes which may arise between the contractor and the Government. Obviously, the Government as a party in its dispute becomes a Judge of its on cause when this clause is questioned as being arbitrary and one-sided, the courts have held that if the arbitrator appointed by the Government is a very high official, there is no scope for such arbitrator to be partial.
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Mastram Kapoor [Mr. Mastram Kapoor is a freelance writer and journalist in Hindi. He has written, edited and translated more than 100 books and pamphlets on literature, social and political thought, education and children’s literature including 11 volumes of documents on freedom movement and 17 volumes of collected works of Dr. Lohia. He has had a long association with the socialist movement. His special interests of study are Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Rammanohar Lohia, Jaiprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Deva, Madhu Limaye and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Phone- 91-11-22710479 ]
Women Reservation Reservation in Parliament and Women Assemblies is clear violation of the basic idea of the Constitution, since reservation in the legislature (Political reservation) gave birth to two nation theory when these were given to Muslims in 1909. Our leaders of the freedom struggle fought against this theory. Mahatma Gandhi even staked his life when these reservations were extended to SCs and STs, in the Communal Award of 1932 and forced the caste- Hindus (in Pune Pact) to agree to these reservations for a very brief period of 10years, in some what changed form i.e. with joint electorate instead of separate electorate. India was ultimately partitioned on the basis of this two nation theory, born out of these reservations, resulting in death of about 10lacs men, women and children and displacement of more than 2crore people. These reservations were unanimously abolished at the time of drafting of our Constitution on the recommendations of Minority Rights Committee headed by Sardar Patel. Exception was made in the case of SCs
and STs due to compulsions of Pune Pact, but this too was allowed purely on temporary basis. These reservations being extended to women are therefore clear violation of the basic idea of the Constitution and also a betrayal of the Constitution-makers and freedom struggle. Political Reservations do not empower but make slaves. They were imposed on us by the imperialists to perpetuate their rule and we revolted against them. Even otherwise these reservations will benefit one woman in 6,60,000 women (assuming our total population of women is 60 crores and total number of seats available in Parliament and Assemblies is 1,500). Real empowerment of women will come through social reservations (reservation in services and education) for which no demand is made by any Govt. or political parties and women organizations etc. although Supreme Court has theoretically accepted this in Indira Sawhney case and it needs no constitution amendment. These reservations (social reservations) will benefit all women working in offices, factories, fields, police and defence establishments. To neglect the rights of 99.9% women and hanker for .1% or even less women is sheer hypocrisy. This is perpetuation of centuries old unjust system under which a small number of women were given the exalted place of queens and goddesses and the rest were condemned to slavery like animals. Political reservations have not empowered the SCs and STs. They have only disintegrated and weakened them. Their empowerment has come through social reservations. The reason being that political reservation makes slaves. All MPs and MLAs elected from reserved constituencies with casteHindu votes, become slaves of the Congress party or the BJP. This weakens the movements of the SCs and STs. The same will happen if these reservations are extended to women. Men will cast their votes in favour of slavish women and never for one who will challenge men’s authority. Political reservation promotes caste and patriarchal systems. MPs and MLAs elected by caste-Hindu votes increase the strengths of the casteist parties like Congress, BJP and Communist parties, which eventually strengthen caste system and women elected with men votes will similarly add to the strength of men as is happening in Panchayats and Local bodies and thus
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perpetuate patriarchy. This is, why all those who had If women reservations are passed, the OBCs reservation opposed reservation in services etc recommended by in parliament and legislature cannot be denied on any Mandal Report, has become ardent supporters of the account. political reservation for women. RENAISSANCE PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED 15, Bankim Chatterjee Street (2nd floor), Kolkata: 700 073, Mobile: 9831261725 NEW FROM RENAISSANCE By SIBNARAYAN RAY Between Renaissance and Revolution-Selected Essays: Vol. I In Freedom’s Quest: A Study of the Life and Works of M. N. Roy: Vol. Ill Part-1 Against the Current By M. N. ROY Science and Superstition AWAITED OUTSTANDING PUBLICATIONS By RABINDRANATH TAGORE & M. N. ROY Nationalism By M. N. ROY The Intellectual Roots of Modern Civilization The Russian Revolution The Tragedy of Communism From the Communist Manifesto To Radical Humanism Humanism, Revivalism and the Indian Heritage By SIVANATH SASTRI A History of The Renaissance in Bengal—Ramtanu Lahiri: Brahman & Reformer By SIBNARAYAN RAY Gandhi, Gandhism and Our Times (Edited) The Mask and The Face (Jointly Edited with Marian Maddern) Sane Voices for a Disoriented Generation (Edited) From the Broken Nest to Visvabharati The Spirit of the Renaissance Ripeness is All By ELLEN ROY From the Absurdity to Creative Rationalism By V. M. TARKUNDE Voice of A Great Sentinel By SWARAJ SENGUPTA Reflections Science, Society and Secular Humanism By DEBALINA BANDOPADHYAY The Woman-Question and Victorian Novel
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Prakasam were invited by J.B. Kripalani. Ajit Prasad Jain, Rafi Ahmed Kindwai, Ranga and Prakasam attended the meeting and there the All India Kisan Mazadoor Party was inaugurated. Prakasam, with three others was on the subcommittee to chalk out a programme for the party. Here again Ranga not able to find a prominent place in the new party came out from the party. He started a new party and named it as the Krishikar Lok Party on the pretext that he differed form Kisan Mazdoor party on certain principles. All these parties went to polls in 1952. Leaders and ministers like Kala Venkata Rao, Bezwada Gopala Reddy, Kalluri Chandramouli and Vemula Kurmaiah were defeated. At that time a system of announcing results without waiting for all elections to be completed in other constituencies was in vogue. The defeat of one minister had its impact on the other elections. Sanjeeva Reddy, though the President of the Pradesh Congress, met a similar fate at the hands of his brother-inlaw, Tarimela Nagi Reddy, a prominent leader of the Communist Party. Sanjeeva Reddy had never again contested from his native place Ananthapur. Prakasam too was defeated from Madras. Ranga’s party could win only in Srikakulam, Vizag, Chittoor and East Godavari Districts. The majority of seats were won by the Communists in Circars and the Congress in Rayalaseema. Congress did not have the majority in the combined Madras State. Rajagopalachari was thought to be the best person to guard the State against Communist domination. With a minimum majority, he formed the Government. The Muslims lent their support to him. Prakasam made an abortive attempt to form the ministry with the help of the Communists but the Governor Sri Prakasa did not invite him to do so. Kotha Raghuramaiah was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time from Guntur in 1952. He had just entered politics then. Harindranath Chatopadhyaya with Communist backing won against Smt. Bharathi Devi Ranga in Vijayawada. Ranga also lost in Tenali. No sooner did Rajagopalachari become the Chief Minister, he lured some of the members of Krishikar Lok Party to the Congress. D. Sanjeevaiah, S. Ranga Reddy, S.B.P. Political History of Andhra Pattabhi Rama Rao, M.V. Krishna Rao (Vizag), N. Shankar Reddy were the Ministers in Rajagopalachari’s Pradesh eanwhile, some of the leaders at the Centre cabinet. In a way, Rajagopalachari first patronized party disassociated themselves form Congress defections. In the internal disputes of Krishikar Lok and called a meeting in Patna, to which Ranga and Party, Thimma Reddy, a former associate of Ranga, sought an alliance with Sanjeeva Reddy. This was an act
IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: [M.N. Roy opined that politics should be studied systematically and history must be written in a scientific manner. Following both these principles suggested by M.N. Roy Dr Narisetti Innaiah, chairman of Center for Inquiry India, has come out with a scientific study of the Innaiah Narisetti political history of Andhra Pradesh in the form of a book “Political History Of Andhra Pradesh”. This book with 300 pages covers 100 years of contemporary events commencing from pre-independence days and concludes with 2009 emergence of Mr. K. Rosaiah as Chief Minister. This book narrates how Andhra Pradesh gained importance with the visit of two presidents from USA, namely Bill Clinton and George Bush. Mr. Bill Gates too visited. This happened due to prominence given to high technology. Political parties and their power games, constant defections, hereditary power sharing, and innumerable regional developments, all these aspects are traced in this book. Naxalite movement since 1969 and two turbulent agitations for separate state for Telengana have also been given a panoramic view. How Congress and Telugu Desam parties ruled the state while all other parties remained in opposition and then N.T. Rama Rao dislodged Congress party within nine months during early 1980s and established name for the state in Delhi circles is also discussed in it. CFI India brought out this volume as model study. It is distributed by Akshara. Chapters are divided according to the rule of chief ministers. No sides are taken and the whole presentation is critical and objective. It will be good addition to the institutions, students, libraries. This book is being serialized in the RH, November 2009 onwards.]
M
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prompted by caste loyalty. Sanjeeva Reddy, having been defeated from Ananthapur constituency in the general elections by T. Nagireddy was elected in a by-election from Kalahasti (Chittoor District) in place of Balarama Reddy, who had resigned in his favour. That was the end of the Andhra Politics in Madras. Group politics were in full swing by the time a separate Andhra was formed. The dream of a separate Andhra did not materialize inspite of innumerable resolutions from 1913 onwards. The people of Rayalaseema were, by and large, disinclined towards a separate Andhra. The Andhra leaders tried to convince them by allowing concessions in their favour. During the 2nd World War nobody thought of a separate State. The report of the Thar Commission against the Andhra State created a sensation among the Congressmen. A subcommittee was formed to look into the matter with Jawaharlal Nehru, Patel and Pattabhi in it. The report of the sub-committee favoured the formation of the State provided the Andhras gave up their claim over Madras. The Congress consented to this report. It tried to appease the Rayalaseema people by saying that the State capital should be in Rayalaseema only. An all party meet was called in Madras for the 27th of July 1952, to discuss the formation of the Andhra State. But Sanjeeva Reddy ordered his party-men not to attend the meeting. The Rayalaseema MLAs in a statement, demanded the postponement of the formation of the State. Swami Seetharam (Gollapudi Seetha Ram) started his ‘fast unto death’ on 15th August 1952. He ended his fast after 36 days as the leaders convinced him. His integrity was doubted by several persons. The Andhra students were really concerned over his fasting and feared his death. The delay in the formation of the State, and with the receding hopes of getting Madras to Andhra led Potti Sree Ramulu to start his ‘fast unto death’ in Madras. His fasting was for a separate State including Madras. Though he started the fast on 19th October 1952, it did not attract the attention of many in the beginning. Prakasam and Bulusu Sambamurthy encouraged Potti Sree Ramulu’s idea. The agitation gradually gathered momentum in Andhra. The leaders failed to dissuade Potti Sree Ramulu. Pandit Nehru announced in the Parliament on 9th December that the question of a separate State would be considered if the demand was not made for Madras. Sree Ramulu did not relent and died on 15th December after 55 days of fasting. Andhra 29
fell under the spell of a violent agitation. The Prime Minister had to declare the formation of a separate Andhra, saying that undisputed areas were to come under the State boundaries and the date for the formation of the separate State was fixed for 1st October, 1953. National politics then reflected in the Andhra Politics. Prakasam’s Party and the Socialists merged into the Praja Socialist Party. The Socialists wanted Madras to go to Tamilnadu only. The Centre appointed the Wanchoo Committee. Communists wanted either Guntur or Vijayawada to be the Capital city. Krishikar Lok Party headed by Ranga, proposed Tirupathi as the capital keeping an eye on the buildings of Chandragiri Raja. Congress people as well as Prakasam appealed that Madras should be the temporary capital.Sanjeeva Reddy, Gopal Reddy, Kala Venkata Rao, Kaleswar Rao, Kotha Raghu Ramaiah and T.N. Venkata Subba Reddy formed a Congress Sub-Committee and prepared a list of the places to be included in Andhra and the money it should acquire. Nehru, in his statement on 25th March, said that the Andhras should leave Madrasand the Andhra MLAs should decide about the capital city. When the Wanchoo Committee report was published, provincialism, groupism and party oppositions were rampant. Prakasam was asked to suggest a solution to the problem in a meeting of the Andhra Legislators on 5th June, 1953. He decided that Kurnool should be the capital of Andhra. The rest of Andhra had to reconcile to this decision. The political arena changed place. Sanjeeva Reddy, Lachanna, Tenneti together made a settlement regarding the money that had to be Andhra’s share. Sanjeeva Reddy exhibited a political far-sightedness in his moves. He began to come closer to Prakasam, though it was not appreciated either by Prakasam’s followers or Kala Venkata Rao’s. Prakasam aspiring for Chief Ministership, bade goodbye to the Praja Socialist Party and joined Congress. He was 80 by then- could neither hear nor see properly. Sanjeeva Reddy played a timely game of politics in Prakasam’s name. Praja Socialist Party was not inclined to join the Cabinet. Prakasam left the Party and became the Chief Minister co-operating with the Congress. Though Sanjeeva Reddy was only the Deputy Chief minister, he had full control of the Ministry. Tenneti, Damodaram Sanjivaiah, Peddireddy Timma Reddy, Kadapa Koti Reddy and Pattabhi Rama Rao were in the Cabinet. A little later, Lachanna, from the Krishikar Lok Party,
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joined the Ministry. Gopala Reddy was elected as the President of the State Congress. Alluri Satyanarayana Raju, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, Manthena Venkata Raju, and Alapati Venkata Ramaiah, helped Sanjeeva Reddy in strengthening the Party. Within 54 days of the formation of the Cabinet the Capital issue was raised. The Krishikar Lok Party did not support Kurnool as the capital. Lachanna had to resign from the cabinet and sit in the opposition. Some of the Congress members could not stand the influence of Sanjeeva Reddy in Prakasam’s Ministry and waited for a chance to show their displeasure. The Socialists started Satyagraha in Karivena (Kurnool district) for the cause of ‘Eenam Tenants’. The Sonti Ramamurthy Committee recommended the abolition of the Prohibition Act. The Krishikar Lok Party led the tappers on a Satyagraha under Lachanna, demanding the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations. The Party Chairman, Obul Reddy, did not favour it. Even the Communists joined the movement. The prisons were filled with Satyagrahees. Lachanna and Obul Reddy then had secret meetings in Kurnool with the Congress legislators. Legislators like Madduri Subba Reddy, Venkata Setty, Battena Venkata Krishna Reddy, Chidanandam, B.V. Subba Reddy, Nadimpalli Narasimha Rao were ready to support a ‘No Confidence Motion’ against the ministry. A ‘No Confidence Motion’ was put to vote on 6th November 1954. Meanwhile, Prakasam had come to terms with Lachanna, ready to pass any orders suggested by him. But it was a delayed attempt. Two items of the ‘No Confidence Motion’ were put to vote that day. One could not be passed due to a difference of five votes, Prakasam’s Ministry was overthrown as the ‘No Confidence Motion’ was passed with the two deciding votes of Nayakanti Shankar Reddy and Adusumilli Subramanyeswara Rao, who though in Congress, voted for the Resolution. Prakasam tried in vain to keep up his Government. The Legislative Assembly was abolished. The State came under President’s rule. C.M. Trivedi was the Governor at that time. All the taper Satyagrahees were released from jail. All the parties once again got ready for elections. Katragadda Rajagopala Rao and Visweswara Rao, (the Communists), tried for an alliance with the Krishikar Lok Party but failed. The Communist Party was the first
to release the list of its candidates. They believed that they were surely coming to power. They used the propaganda machinery very efficiently. Makineni Basavapunnaiah, with his speeches, lost the support of the middle class people, but gained that of the workers. The Communists went even to the extent of considering their candidate for Chief Ministership. The Congress leaders met in Eluru and decided to contest without an alliance with any party. The Centre, realizing the means of the Communists, instituted an unified action against them. Ranga was called to Delhi for talks. Balavanth Rai Mehta, Lal Bahadur, Mallayya, Kotha Raghuramaiah, held discussions with Ranga. Even without consulting his partymen Ranga declared from Delhi that his party would join the Congress. Meanwhile, Socialist leader, Mr. P.V.G. Raju and Krishikar Lok Party leader Lachanna came to an election alliance in Srikakulam and Vizag districts. Tenneti, after consulting Nehru in Cuttack, gave his consent to the alliance. Ranga made vain attempts to bring in Nayakanti Shankar Reddy and Adusumilli Subramanyeswara Rao who helped for the fall of Prakasam. The Congress, the Praja Party and The Krishikar Lok Party decided to fight the elections as the United Congress Front. Gopala Reddy, Tenneti and Kandula Obul Reddy, formed a Committee which decided the list of candidates. Sanjeeva Reddy and Kala Venkata Rao gave one list. Lachanna gave another. Raghu Ramaiah, and Challapalli Raja played prominent roles behind the scene. Prakasam was not at all taken into the picture. Unable to draft the election manifesto, they rushed to Delhi for help. It had become a part of Congress culture to seek help from Delhi on each and every occasion. The leaders at the Centre made some changes in the manifesto. Both the Congress and the Communists arranged speeches of top leaders of the country in canvassing. There was a keen contest in all 196 seats. The newspapers supported the United Congress Front. S.K. Patil and D.K. Barua played a prominent role in the elections. The Communists predicted their victory in 100 seats. But the United Congress bagged 147 seats, Congress got 119, Krishikar Lok Party 10, Praja Socialists 13, Praja Party 5, only 15 seats were taken by the Communists, They had 40 seats in the previous Legislative Assembly.
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...........................To be continued.
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Savitribai Phule: A Rebel Social Reformer and Modern Poetess —Mandakini Talpallikar t may not be incorrect if 19th Century is described as a century of socio-educational advancement of the Indian people. Rule of Peshwa had come to an end and the British had begun their rule. It was under this foreign rule that movements for eradication of cruel Indian Caste System, movement against untouchability and improvement of life of women commenced in Maharashtrian Society. The role played by the couple Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule can perhaps provide guidance even in present times. Savitribai was born on Januay 3, 1831 in Naigaum, a village near Pune. She was married to Jyotiba Phule in 1940 when she was hardly nine years years old. It was the efforts of Jyotirao Phule that provided Savitribai with education and encouraged her to be a teacher. Later, she also took teacher’s training under Pharabai in Ahmednagar and Michelbai in Pune. In 1848 when Jyotiba was 21 years old he started first school for girls. Savitribai worked as a teacher in this school when she was hardly 17 years old. Till 1897 i.e. 50 years of her life she spent as a social worker. Phule couple organised three schools, two in 1851 and one in 1852 in Pune. The Poona Observer and Deccan Weekly, News-papers of those times praised their efforts as the beginning of their programme for social reform. Later, they established two organisations— “Native Schools” and “The Society for Promoting Education for Mahars and the Excommunicatees”. And under the auspices of these organisations, they organised several schools near Pune. People were astonished to notice the progress evinced by girls in their education. In the beginning of the 19th Century, the living conditions of the women were very pitiable. They were victims of cruel practices like killing girl child, childhood marriages, marriages between old men and young maidens, dowry system, sati (burning of wives on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands, tonsuring the heads of widows, prohibition of widow re-marriages. Phule’s efforts to organise movements against the low status of women effected great changes in these cruel systems. But these efforts of Phule couple were not
I
limited to solve the social problems; they also tried to change the attitude of men who considered women as inferior to themselves. They believed in women’s freedom in their family lives, social activities, performance of religious practices and also advocated freedom on economic, political and social fields. Mukta who wrote an essay in Gnanodaya in 1855 and Tarabai Shinde who wrote a small book Comparison Of Qualities Of Man And Women in 1882 which advocated equality of woman with man in all work spheres were the products of Phule couple’s movements. While the traditional thought process had denied remarriage of widows among the higher castes, it also insisted on woman’s virginity. They protested to this opposing double thinking. They establised in 1863 a “Home for Prevention of Child killing”. They also adopted a son of a woman who had found shelter in this Home and provided him with medical education and he came to be known as Dr. Yashwant Phule. Savitribai awakened the barber community against the practice of tonsure of widows and inspired them to go on strike against this ugly practice. English women had sent them a letter of compliments for organising such a strike. Savitribai was a regular worker of Satya Shodhak Samaj organisation of Mahatma Phule. The organisation used to celebrate marriages with less expenses, without the help of a priest and not accepting dowry. After the death of Jyotirao Savitribai shouldered the responsibility of continuing the movements of this Satyashodhak Samaj and she was the Chairman of the Conference of this Society organised in 1893 in Sasawad. When relatives of Jyotiba objected to light the pyre of Jyotiba’s dead body by their adopted son, Yashwant, Savitri herself lighted the pyre. This must have ben the first incidence of a wife lighting the pyre of her husband in the history of India. In 1897 Pune experienced Plague epidemic and without being afraid of catching infection, Savitribai attended to the plague patients as a result of which she herself got infected and succumbed to to death. Savitribai was also a poetess whose works did not get due recognition. Senior critic Dr. M.C. Mali of Marathi literature published Savitribai Phule’s entire literature in the 20th Century which can be compared as an equal contribution to the famous Chiphunkari’s literature.
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Teacher’s and Research Scholar’s Section:
Alka Chadha
Art: A Doctrine Of Emotion “There is no reality beyond this reality, except when in our creative process we change the image, then we have created new realities.” —Naum Gabo a work of art Creating is a process full of play of emotions, feelings, ideas, agitations, discomforts and dreams. It is not only working on a chalked out plan, but, in fact, a discovery of a new dimension of being, a new dimension that can only come into being through the creative manipulations of a material, medium, words, tones, melody, rhythm, action, gestures and above all, imagination. The new embodied meaning in the completed artifact appears almost as a kind of magic in which the artist enjoys as a discoverer. To an artist’s eye, his work is a path paved out through various experiences whereas to a spectator it is just a complete being. “The whole picture is a piece of purely visual space. It is nothing but a vision.”1 The presence of forms in space brings forward numerous meanings...... and not to forget, just an exchange of a form here and there can ‘create’ something new. Creation of an art object varies from person to person. It depends on their experiences, interests, perceptions, grasping powers and ways of expressions. The work can
be subjective or objective; direct or transformed representation of nature; ideas borrowed, inspired or original. However, to understand this process of creation and giving vent to one’s piled up feelings and reaction in a perfect way and via appropriate medium, it is very important to educate oneself and gain knowledge from various sources through proper channels. Walden, founder of first German avant-garde art magazine says, “Neither artists nor art forms should be narrowed by definitions. Every definition is unimportant. What is important is to see.”2 Education is a continuous and undivided process. “Its progress, though continuous, is not a perfectly smooth curve, but more like the rhythmic rising of the tide, whose waves begin, and cease, and then again begin. The rhythm of this rising tide, too, and its span, is individually different for each individual; each tide has its small individual moon”3. The rigidities and formalism of a system or any ism on one hand make one distinctive but on the other hand, can jeopardize the whole progress of the growth of an individual. However, the work of art is not only a product of ‘free expression’ but collaboration of the aesthetic elements of the individual and the imaginative gifts by the teacher. The enjoyment of aesthetic moments and contemplation are very precious and potentially of great importance in a self-education which is a never- ending process and goes on throughout one’s life. The teacher, therefore, should be sensitively aware of these significant moments. He should be conscious and careful not to bustle a student who is absorbed in what for him is his own kind of contemplation as this can deprive the student of something necessary to his development at that moment, hard to re-initiate later on if it is not allowed to happen now. “Art education must, as a first principle, initiate the people into what it feels like to live in music, move over and about in a painting, travel round and in between the masses of a sculpture, dwell in a poem by reading and hearing it with understanding. These ‘paradigm’ experiences are the basis of an illumination of much that is beyond them, livening the mind and making it
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hospitable.”4 The critical appreciation should not just stop at discrimination but should open up the pupil’s mind to explore the wide world of culture full of infinite aspects. The aim should not only be on teaching a skill but to catch inspirations from these insights and enter a world of broad possibilities, without confining oneself to a limited area and even without straying from the broad conditions that constitute the nature of art. “Educators have to evolve an understanding of the role not only of the functionally visual but of the inherently humanistic values of art. The difference between ‘things of meaning with no use, and things of use with no other meaning’ has to be clearly realised”.5 Although the number of art schools and colleges has today increased and Fine Arts has been added as a regular subject in educational institutions, the method of teaching is still based on British Royal Academy System of art education. The present system conforms neither to true modern norms, nor does it reveal any assimilation of traditional point of view. The current system needs revision as per the challenges of the outstanding professional achievements. There is a need to look for new relationships and new process of learning and evaluation. Art education should be as unbound as nature, making a person widen his outlook and stand on his feet. The stress should be on developing one’s aesthetic capabilities and responsive abilities and building on such a frame of mind which would enable him to form a link not only with the great tradition of art and culture but also to progress with the need of time. In this world full of stimulating ideas, new experimentation and globalization, its not healthy to bound oneself to any particular school of learning as it can affect one’s appreciation and can to an extent even interfere with the ability to enter imaginatively into the world of the work. Just as a child reacts globally and expresses his thoughts and feelings, in the same way, today’s artist is trying to find freedom from crippling restraints and impoverishing inhibitions without confining himself into self made boundaries. 33
Independence in thought and action is very crucial for giving vent to unceasing striving for finding out something new and expressive spontaneity. The emphasis should not be on novelty for its own sake but rather upon reaching out the original and appropriate manner for expression. There was a time when art works were reflections of exact proportions and details of ‘real’ things. Then with Impressionism came daubs and patches of colour, which needed viewer’s distance from painting to perceive and understand what image the fragments were forming as a whole. Expressionists had the capacity to bare the soul of the body, abstractions giving meaning to the artist’s personal or individualistic experience. Today, spurred by the need to compete with powerful media of communication, with the concept of art becoming flexible, our understanding of the meaning of art gets constantly challenged and extended. Art is going hi-tech. Technology savvy artists are shifting from palette to serial mouse, substituting colours with Corel draw and using graphic paint brushes instead of soft haired traditional art brushes. These drastic new developments have made it hard for an individual to remain separated from them and no exposure to new ideas. Various art forms are successfully forming ‘interactivity’ and ‘interdependence’. Now dripping or exploded paint is considered aesthetically valuable. One can get an essence of transparency, penetrability and mobility, for instance in blend of Installation and Performance art. It is very important to make all these practices part of our teaching practice rather than being endangered of their invading our traditional art. Awareness of roots must be there as then only breaking the chain can have authenticity. Roots are the profound sound foundation. Every ‘ism’ has its own doctrines and every next one breaks free from the previous ones and new ones crop up. In the contemporary set up, everyone has ‘individual doctrines’ as per those which are perfect for taking expression to its peak.
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The concept of ‘Nothing is permanent’ is coming up and more emphasis is on the experience of ‘Aesthetic moment’ and its everlasting impression rather than the artwork being permanent. Interdisciplinary concept has added more to the flavour. For example, while talking of the blend of music and painting, some actively paint with the rhythm of music and some passively keep soothing music in background and work. Instinctive painting or just the splash here and there or exploiting the accidental has its own playfulness and essences. One cannot follow the rigid or conventional rules in it but can surely play with the elements. “The essence of formal order lies in an attitude toward motion and rest….The coexistence of opposite styles appears to be one of the best signs of a free society and healthy culture.”6 One can remain faithful to a style even by exaggerating just one factor or element of the thing. A sharp edge, rough projections, highlighting a particular colour can recreate the retinal image and present a new ‘reality’. According to the Greek, their ideal was the formal order of form and proportion - perfect shape, accurate mathematical proportion and finishing to perfection. These measurements, deliberate calculations and caution can be ideal in following some doctrine with an emotional, intellectual and philosophical thought process but on the other hand can curb the spontaneous expression of a feeling. However, the visible variations and visual accuracy are all superficial as what is important is how an artist shapes his statement into a personal communication and forms a positive correspondence between feeling, form and technique. For instance, Brancusi’s cylindrical figures are characteristic of the ancient art and thighs and trunk of a young man reminds one of the African carvings, which highly influenced Cubism. The designing of Braque’s shapes is more varied and inventive with stress on textural variations. The splendour of colour, decorative details and the essence of Persian art enrich the flat forms of Mattise. One can see a free choice of anything or tradition that suits his purpose of expression. Paul
Klee’s works show linear energy in disciplined lines and scribbles. Simplicity of lines can imply a sun, a flower or a face and make lines alive. Picasso’s work reflects power of geometric shapes. What one needs is a sensitive orchestration of simple forms from reality to create a new reality. It can be a sensory excitement fit into a pattern. One can just say that all the doctrines or rules give us the tools for art criticism but in today’s era of globalization another doctrine should come up as ‘Doctrine of emotion’. This will cover everything under it, where subject matter will just be looked upon as an aesthetic signal and evoke an emotional response, no matter whether it is clear or abstract. The purpose will not be if one likes the thematic or organizational design as aesthetic emotion. It will to understand the roots of visual emotion and their connection to our inner and outer world. It is externalizing the unbearable psychological emotion whether its anxiety or joy. If mind, dream or fantasy can be abstract and a part of reality, so can these unconscious suggestions or mysterious forms be a reality and not far from it. Reality and illusion go hand in hand. Just as alphabets form words, the visual elements: line, colour, form, space and texture create a picture with myriad possibilities where if one focuses even on a part it can give a meaning in itself. One should see through the inner eyes and try to decipher the imaginary dialogue, wrapped in fantasy. But I agree with K.G. Subramanyan when he says, “We discuss endlessly the question of media of education but are careless about its content, we hold forth volubly about virtues of literacy but are callous to what it is vehicle of, we analyze the basic purpose of administration in seminars and conferences but are loth to change the practice”.7 References: Problems of Art, p-28 Sorell Walter, Dualities of Vision, The Bobs-Merrill Company, Inc., Indianapolis, New York, p-279
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Reid, Louis Arnaud, (1969), Meaning in the Arts, George Allen & Unwin Ltd; London, p-271 ibid, p-302 Mago, P.N., (2000), Contemporary Art in India – A perspective, National Book, Trust, India, New Delhi, p-206 Feldman, Edmund Burke, Varieties of Visual Experience, Prentice Hall, Inc., New Jersey and Harry N.Abrams, Inc., New York, 1992, p-162 Subramanyan, K.G., (1978), Moving Focus, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, p-17
Plates: Vivan Sundaram, Installation Alka Chadha, Mixed media, ‘ Then & Now’ Alka Chadha, Mixed media, ‘Time moves on’ Anish Kapoor, Sculpture in Steel Alka Chadha, Mixed media, ‘Love’ Vivan Sundram, Installation [Dr. Alka Chadha is Asst. Prof., Drawing & Painting Deptt., R.G. College, Meerut.]
Sixteen recommendations given to Neo-Humanists to reconstruct human values in the light of scientific knowledge. 1. Aspire to be more inclusive by appealing to both non-religious and religious humanists and to religious believers who share common goals; 2. are critical of theism; 3. Are best defined by what they are for, not what they are against; 4. Wish to use critical thinking, evidence, and reason to evaluate claims to knowledge; 5. Apply similar considerations to ethics and values; 6. Are committed to a key set of values: happiness, creative actualization, reason in harmony with emotion, quality, and excellence; 7. Emphasize moral growth (particularly for children), empathy, and responsibility; 8. Advocate the right to privacy; 9. Support the democratic way of life, tolerance, and fairness; 10. Recognize the importance of personal morality, good will, and a positive attitude toward life; 11. Accept responsibility for the well-being of society, guaranteeing various rights, including those of women, racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities; and supporting education, health care, gainful employment, and other social benefits; 12. Support a green economy; 13. Advocate population restraint, environmental protection, and the protection of other species; 14. Recognize the need for Neo-Humanists to engage actively in politics; 15. Take progressive positions on the economy; and 16. Hold that humanity needs to move beyond ego-centric individualism and chauvinistic nationalism to develop transnational planetary institutions to cope with global problems—such efforts include a strengthened World Court, an eventual World Parliament, and a Planetary Environmental Monitoring Agency that would set standards for controlling global warming and ecology.
— By Paul Kurtz
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THE RADICAL HUMANIST
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Humanist News Section: I
Report on Conference held on the Completion of 60 years of the Secularist Movement in India. for Inquiry India in collaboration with Center Indian Secular society celebrated the completion of 60 years for the secularist movement in India. A conference was convened at Hyderabad on 14 March 2010. 100 participants actively involved themselves in the deliberations. Dr. N. Innaiah, Chairman, CFI, India presented the work paper on Secularism-India style which was discussed in the conference. Prof. V.K. Sinha submitted a brief paper on secularist thought and need to implement it in India. The conference was inaugurated by Dr. N. Bhaskararao, Chairman, Center for Media Studies, Delhi. He opined that the secularist thought has a long way to go and regretted that the fundamentalist ideas are taking the country backward. Mr. S.V. Raju, Editor, Freedom First, moved a resolution on Prof. Amlan Datta and paid him glorious tributes. The conference stood in silence for a minute in respect of Prof. Amlan. Mr. Kumaresan representing the Modern Rationalist and Dravida Khazagam from Chennai presented the message of Mr K. Veeramani and narrated the growth of rationalist movement in Madras under the leadership of Periyar Ramaswamy. Earlier Mr. C.L.N. Gandhi, the president of Hyderabad Rationalist Association welcomed the conference and stressed the urgent need to preserve the secular values. Prof. Vikram presented power point presentation of magical performance which exposed the anti-secular babas, holy mathas, and similar other ant-social elements who are cheating the gullible public. Mr. G. Veeranna, the Vice President of Rationalist Association presided over the second session and
conducted the deliberations. A question answer session was followed where in the participants actively put forth their experiences. The conference had the joint participation from sister organizations like Manava Vikasa Vedika, Jana Vignana Vedika, India Radical Humanist Association, Indian Renaissance Institute, Abolition of Caste System Society, Journalism School students, teachers from Slate School, and youth from various societies. The day long session went off well with full participation of Mr. Rajendra Prasad, Mr. K.V.R. Reddi, Mr. Suryanarayana, Mr. Sambasivarao, Mr. S.V. Pantulu, Mr. D.G. Ramarao, Mr. Dev Dutt, C. Bhaskararao, Suresh, Tapaswi, Venigalla Venkataratnam etc. Indian Secularist Society is planning to bring out a special issue on the conference with full pictures. Messages were received from Paul Kurtz, N.D. Pancholi from Delhi, Jugal Kishore of CFI, Santi Sri from Pune, CFI leaders from world wide. The conference earlier discussed the origin of secularist thought as envisaged by M.N. Roy in early 1950’s and later developed by A B Shah. News sent by N. Innaiah Director, CFI, India II
Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Remembered party peoples convention was convened Anonall23rd March , 2010 at Mavalankar Auditorium (Rafi Marg) New Delhi, to celebrate the Birth Centenary of the renowned socialist leader and the hero of the 'Quit India Movement' Dr Rammanohar Lohia. The programme was inaugurated by eminent socialist leader and Janata Dal (United) president Shri Sharad Yadav, MP at 3.30pm. Senior socialist leader and thinker Shri Surendra Mohan presides the function. National leaders of all major political parties joined the Lohia Memorial Peoples Convention and paid there rich tributes to Dr Lohia.
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On this occasion CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat called for unification between Communists and Socialists to forge a Third Force in national polity. Karat said the Communists are ready to forge a third force in the country in which socialists should also join and share a common platform. Referring to the erstwhile Congress Socialist Party in the 1930s, which had in its fold socialists like Jaiprakash Narayan and Lohia and also veteran Communist leader like E M S Namboodiripad, AK Gopalan and P Sundariya, Karat said after initially sharing the same platform, socialists and communists parted ways and time was now ripe for them to unite. In today's environment, it is important that a viable political alternative is available; the CPI(M) leader said.CPI Secreatry General AB Bardhan and RSP's Abni Roy also endorsed Prakash Karat's sentiments. JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said, socialists were earlier united but later drifted away and now they can be found in all the important parties. Yadav, whose party incidentally is a key NDA ally, said he has always been a socialist at heart. Incidentally late former Nepalese Prime Minister G P Koirala was also supposed to attend the function, which was planned by Lohias followers and socialist leaders and thinkers, before his death. A message sent by Koirala was also read out in the function. The former Nepalese PM had passed away on March 20. The convention was also addressed by eminent freedom fighter Capt. Abbas Ali, Jurist Rajinder Sacchar and P P Rao senior advocate Supreme Court, Social activist Medha Patkar, Senior Journlist, Ved Pratap Vedik, Naresh Kaushik Indian Railwayman's Federation Chairman Harbhajan Singh and General Secretary Shiv Kumar Mishra and many other intellectuals, Lohia colleagues, and representatives of various political parties and peoples movements. In a separate function inside Central Hall of Parliament, floral tributes were paid to Dr Lohia, by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Speaker Meira Kumar and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on his birth centenary. BJP Parliamentary Party Chairman L K Advani, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal were also among those who paid tributes to Lohia at his portrait in the Central Hall of Parliament House. The portrait of the socialist leader was unveiled by then Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar in 1991.
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The background work for the Lohia Birth Centenary Year was started last year in different parts of India, the south Asian countries, The European Union and USA. It includes a number of public lectures, seminars, conferences, cycle – Yatras, and literature publication. Bringing out the collected works of Lohia in nine volumes and a nationwide Saptakranti Yatra have been two most significant events in this context. The birth centenary related events in the year 2010, are also planned by the Lohia followers in the other parts of India and Nepal including Bhubaneshar ( Rabi Ray), Lucknow ( Mulayam Singh Yadav), patna ( Ramvilas Paswan), Hyderabad ( Ravela Somayya), Trivandrum ( Prof. Vivekanandan), Bangaluru ( Prof. Ananthmurthy). Dr. Lohia was born on 23rd March, 1910 at Akbarpur ( Faizabad, U.P.) and received education in Varanasi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Berlin. He was a favourite and young intellectual of all national leaders, particularly Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, and Acharya Narendra Dev. Nehru included him in his team as secretary of the Foreign Relations Department of Indian national Congress and made him responsible to establish and conceptualise the foreign policy of Congress party. He joined Narendra Dev and Jayaprakash Narayan to lead the Congress Socialist Party in1934 as one of the founder member of CSP. He was one of the leading lights of the decisive struggle for freedom during the August, 1942 call of 'Quit India – Do or die!'. The disagreement on the partition of India and the direction of nation building after freedom led him along with the other socialists to part from Nehru and Patel and the Congress and provide leadership to the different forms and fronts of the socialist movement to build a serious alternative to the Congress approach. He entered the Lok sabha in a by-election in 1963 and made very significant impact through the parliamentary processes and debates till his untimely death on 12th October, 1967. Lohia is remembered not only for his for his ideas and struggles against foreign rule in India, but also his campaigns and Satyagraha for ending the Portuguese Rule in Goa, Chinese occupation of Tibet, Rajshahi in Nepal, repression of Bengalees and Pakhtoons in Pakistan, atrocities against the Nagas and Manipuris, in North East, Racism in USA, gender injustices, colonial continuity of the hegemony of the English language in Indian state system and public life, and the caste system. Several of his writings including Marx, Gandhi and
THE RADICAL HUMANIST
APRIL 2010 News sent by Mahi Pal Singh (General Secretary, PUCL-Delhi)
Socialism, The Caste System, Wheel of History, Language, Guiltymen of India's Partition, India, China and the Northern Frontiers, and Interval During Politics have been considered significant by the intelligentsia.
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News sent by Qurban Ali
CFI Founder (Paul Kurtz) Issues New Statement on Humanism
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Press Release by PUCL:
P
UCL-Delhi notes with satisfaction that 14 of the 17 Pakistanis, who were detained at the Foreigners’ Detention Camp, Lampur, Delhi, some of them waiting to be deported to Pakistan for more than four years, have at last been deported on 25th March 2010 after their cause was taken up by PUCL-Delhi about a year ago. These detainees had been arrested on various charges including non-possession of valid documents and had completed their sentences long ago but were still not being deported to Pakistan in gross violation of their human rights. PUCL-Delhi had sought the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission but without any result. PUCL also filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court. (Justice) Rajindar Sachar, former President of PUCL wrote to P. Chidambaran, the Home Minister, Govt. of India for his intervention in the matter. It was only after the matter was widely reported in the national newspapers like The Hindustan Times, The Indian Express and The Hindu that the Govt agencies became active in the matter and the detained Pakistanis went home, to be united with their families. PUCL-Delhi thanks the newspapers and the media-persons for helping the cause of protection of the human rights of these foreigners. Twelve Africans are also detained in the Camp after being acquitted by Courts for various offences with which they were charged. However, they have already spent four to eight years in Jail during their trial period before being declared ‘not guilty’ by courts. PUCL demands that their cases should also be processed at fast pace and they should also be deported to their respective countries, without further violation of their human rights.
for Inquiry (CFI) founder Paul Kurtz Center has drafted a new statement on the significance and direction of humanism, which he has entitled the “Neo-Humanist Statement of Secular Principles and Values.” The statement can be accessed via this link: . Paul Kurtz is a distinguished scholar and writer, and one of the great leaders of the humanist movement. CFI is pleased that Dr. Kurtz has taken the time to offer his thoughts on humanism. Dr. Kurtz’s statement is not an official statement of CFI or the Council for Secular Humanism, but CFI invites interested individuals to review the statement. CFI’s president & CEO has offering comments on the statement. This blog entry expresses the personal opinion of the president & CEO and is not an official statement of CFI or the Council, but, again, interested individuals are invited to review this blog posting. CFI and the Council are committed to free expression and open and vigorous discussion of all matters of relevance to humanism and skepticism. Dr. Kurtz’s observations on humanism and his contributions to this discussion are always welcome.
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News source: Center for Inquiry, (CFI) U.S.A. News URL: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/cfi_founder_i ssues_new_statement_on_humanism/ V
Narmada Project: A Delegation meets the Governor on World’s
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Water day Press note Date : 22-03-2010 To, Dr. Kamlaji Her Excellency The Governor of Gujarat, Rajbhavan, Gandhinagar- 382 020. Res. Madam, Namashkar, As you are well aware Narmada is dream project of western India and we the undersigned have been struggling for it since almost 50 years. Several shortcomings and failures ware recently noticed in Narmada River Project, including breaches and breaks in branches of Narmada Canals and planning and implementation of Narmada Project. Therefore, at the instance of PUCL and other NGO’S of Gujarat and independent public inquiry committee of nine members was constituted and Shri Justice D.G. Karia, former judge of Gujarat High Court was its chair Person. It has been disclosed during inquiry of the committee that The Narmada Project has not achieved its due fruits and results and that there has been abnormal delay in its implementation, causing undue loss of public funds. The in depth inquiry, public hearings, hundreds of affidavits and material collected by members of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Gujarat Sarvoday Mandal, Janpath, Mozada Parivar, People’s Movement of India (PMI), Saurashtra Kutchchh Lokhit Sangharsh Samiti and All Indian Secular Forum, Gujarat, bring glaring fact about the status of the Project in front of us. The committee interviewed three thousand farmers and thousands of urban citizens of the state. Affidavits and other evidences of the cheating with the public by the State Government have been submitted in the report. This report reflects the demand of the public of the state chronically thirsty. Madam, you are aware that the project has been in the eye of the storm for long long years. Practically every citizen in Gujarat has given unstinted support to the Narmada project. It is rather unfortunate that despite a progressive resettlement and rehabilitation policy and its effective implementation, the work on the project especially the canals has been abnormally
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delayed without any justifiable reason for the last 10 years. The project is behind schedule now for more than 15 year. The full potential of the Narmada project’s irrigation capacity was to be realized by 2007. However, now the State has not been able to reach 30% of the potential. It is not that the project was starved of funds. But it is the callus and inept implementation of the canal project; there have been breaches in the canal ruining the lives and livelihood of hundreds of families. The project that boasted of state of art technology has ended up producing substandard work. We are given to understand that the Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India is likely to commit substantial funding of Rs. 1100 crores to put the project on fast track. We appreciate the concern of the Ministry and we understand that this fresh investment will salvage the sunken capital which has not resulted into productive flow of output in terms of irrigation and drinking water. Nevertheless, we are equally concerned about bad governance and inefficient implementation. We, therefore, appeal that sufficient conditionality is introduced and a pari passu monitoring report and release of funds is institutionalized. Our specific suggestions are as follows: 1. Release of first installment should be accompanied by a white paper on the status of Narmada project and the Govt. of Gujarat’s year-wise specific plan for expending the amount allocated by the Govt. of India. 2. Ministry of Water Resource should appoint a Monitoring Committee involving members from the civil society, independent experts and people’s representatives. This Committee should be requested to submit periodic report which should be reviewed jointly by the State and the Central Governments. 3. Release of additional installments should be based on the recommendations of the Review Committee. 4. There is no compliance of CAG Reports by the State, nor any information in regard to compliance, if any, is available. CAG is constitutional authority and as such CAG’s report can not be ignored and has to be complied with in view of proper implementation of Narmada Project. We request you Madam, to see that CAG’s observation and suggestions should be adopted by the State Govt. 5. You are also aware that the Prime Minister of India is in charge of this inter-state project. All disputes of
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Narmada are to be solved under the Prime Minister. Moreover, the Govt. of India is allocating huge sum of Rs. 11000 crore for the project, then the monitoring of the implementation should be with the Centre under Prime Minister of India. We believe that unless the Govt. of India is stringent on its conditionalities, the objectives of fast tracking of the Narmada Project and building quality infra-structure would be hard to achieve. People of Gujarat have legitimate expectations that the Narmada Project should deliver in time outcomes that have been planned.
Justice Shri D.G. Karia, (Retd.) (Chairperson) Oza Digent (Member Secretary) Gautam Thakar (PUCL) Balendra Vaghela (Saurashtra Kutchcha Lokhit Sangharsha Samiti, Rajkot)
Thanking you.
News sent by— People’s Inquiry Committee C/o. PUCL, Atman, 4, Sanmitra Society, Opp. Malav Talav, Jivraj park, Ahmedabad-380051. Phone : 079-26641353, Mobile : 98253 82556
You are cordially invited to “M.N. ROY MEMORIAL LECTURE 2010” on 6th April 2010 at 5 p.m to be delivered by Mr. Kumar Ketkar, the eminent journalist and editor of Loksatta, (leading Marathi daily) on “Today’s Turbulent World and Relevance of M.N. Roy” to be presided by Shri. Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, Finance Commission of India at Indian Law Institute Opposite Supreme Court of India, New Delhi organised by Indian Renaissance Institute (IRI) New Delhi ******************** Invited by
Mr. N.D. Pancholi, Secretary, IRI, Mob. 09811099532 on behalf of— Indian Renaissance Institute 40
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