Aug 2010 rh

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Vol. 74 No 5

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THERADICALHUMANIST (Since April 1949)

AUGUST 2010 Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)

485 The Case for God —Dorothy North

Justice and Freedom — Swaraj Sengupta

Abolish Death Penalty —Rajindar Sachar

Changing Character of Kashmir Movement & Revolt of Stone-pelting Teenagers in Kashmir —Balraj Puri

Radical Humanism: Road to Freedom & Happiness-II —Ramesh Korde

Social Security for Domestic Workers —R.K.A. Subrahmanya,

Individual And The State —Tarun Patnaik

Founder Editor: M.N. Roy

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

The Radical Humanist Vol. 74

Number 5

August 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 Amlan Datta 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

AUGUST 2010 Download and read the journal at www.theradicalhumanist.com

—Contents— 1. From the Editor’s Desk: It’s all in the Mind —Rekha Saraswat 1 2. From the Writings of Amlan Datta: The Market Economy & Contemporary Crisis 2 3. From the Writings of Laxmanshastri Joshi: Spiritual Materialism–A case for Atheism 5 4. Guests’ Section: Social Security for Domestic Workers — R.K.A. Subrahmanya 8 Individual And The State —Tarun Patnaik 13 4. Current Affairs: Letter to the Editor —Mandakini Talpallikar 17 Abolish Death Penalty — Rajindar Sachar 15 Changing Character of Kashmir Movement & Not Revolt of Stone-pelting Teenagers in Kashmir — Balraj Puri 18 5. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: Radical Humanism: Road to Freedom &Happiness - II — Ramesh Korde 25 Justice and Freedom 31 —Swarajbrata Sengupta 6. Student’s & Research Scholar’s Section: Capital Inflows: Challenges of Monitory Policy —Mahendra Mishra 34 Social Security of Mumbai Construction WorkersII — Ravi Shukla 35 7. Book Review Section: Collected The Case for God — Dorothy North 38

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From the Editor’s Desk:

It’s all in the Mind of the speakers at the Onerecently held IRI Conference in Delhi was unhappy with the earlier stalwarts of the Radical Humanist Movement who failed to give due credence to the ideal of rationalism in their long span of direct or indirect participation in the activities of the movement. This speaker, probably, was missing a clearly defined and chalked out plan in which the members of the movement should have come out openly on national and international issues linked to blind faith and religious illogicalities.

While Mr. Tarkunde was actively involved in burning political and human rights’ issues in the country and Dr. Indumati Parikh gave the best years of her life working for the emancipation of women; Prof. Sibnarayan Ray was busy in his literary and philosophical meanderings both in India and abroad. It was felt that all the three did not categorically take up problems that arose from religious upheavals. Why so, is a matter of analysis and introspection!

Is the RH philosophy to do something with it? How does it refer to the aspect of rationalism in its 22 Theses? What is the actual thrust of its principles?

Did Roy make atheism an essential prerequisite for the members of the movement to follow, the way the Communists do? No, Roy did not say so in as many words. He talked of an “instinctively rational being” in the 13th Thesis “who is moral because he is rational”. He wanted to attain a social revolution through a “rapidly increasing number of men of new renaissance who believe in freedom, reason and social harmony” in the 16th Thesis. He saw a “new society being founded on reason and science” in the 18th Thesis. He was confident of attaining the ideal of democracy through the “collective efforts of spiritually free men united in the determination of creating a world of freedom” in the 19th and 20th Thesis. He advocated the 1

reconstruction of the world as a commonwealth and fraternity of free men, by the collective endeavour of “spiritually emancipated moral men”.

But who were to be these spiritually free men?

Before proper home work could be done on this aspect he died.

We all know that Roy came to India with a political mission. Most of his earlier associates were those who were fascinated by his kind of struggle for seeking Indian independence. When he shifted his interests towards the wider sphere of redefining and remaking of the individual, his thought pattern, his society and his state, things became quite abstract for them. They were now to re-create themselves before re-constructing their country and their fellowmen.

Roy’s expectations of having “instinctively rational men” in his fold who would learn to be moral through their rational instincts were too much of an asking from them. Till then, they had clearly compartmentalized their lives into the personal, social, economic and political parts. They shared views with Roy on the political aspects.

Now they were expected to redefine and restructure their personal, social, cultural beliefs and ideologies on his lines. They could not transform to his expectations over night. But their sincerities and devotion towards his titanic personality continued.

That is why there are many members in the movement and organisation who are believers of certain religious faiths but still they wish to continue in the association. There is a regular complaint and dissatisfaction amongst some Radical Humanists against them that they have no sanctity of honestly trying to carry the label of Radical Humanism with them.

We need to try to analyze the desire of such people to continue to associate with the name of Radical Humanism. What attracts them to it when they do not agree with one of its most important and basic tenets is a question which may have umpteen answers? We may need to ponder upon them in the next issue .—Rekha Saraswat

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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 serializing the following Lecture since April 2010 delivered by Prof. Amlan Datta on invitation by Rajaji Foundation in 1991. It was originally 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 Neumann Foundation, FDR (a non-profit private institution primarily engaged in the strengthening of democratic and pluralist institutions in the underdeveloped world).] forty years between 1951 and 1991, Inthethepopulation of India grew at a rate of nearly 2.5% per year, while in some other countries of the Third World the rate was even higher. At a comparable stage of the industrial development of England or France growth of population was never as fast as that. For Great Britain in the middle of the nineteenth century, for instance, the average annual rate of growth of population was below 1.5%.

Moreover, Europe at the early stage of development was able to get rid of its surplus

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population which migrated in large numbers to the New World. In the United States of America and elsewhere, with vast sparsely populated land, large numbers of immigrants could be absorbed with ease.

For India today, there is no such outlet for surplus population. Some of our best brains migrate, but that is a different matter. There is one more important difference. The advanced technology of today is much more labour-saving than was the advanced technology of the nineteenth century when the West completed its period of industrial take-off. We have to make use of modern technology in the organized sector of the Indian economy. But however fast the modern sector may be made to grow, it cannot, under the conditions mentioned above, absorb all or most of our large surplus labour force. If providing full employment is a major task, this cannot be accomplished by sole reliance on the market economy geared to industrialization along conventional lines. This should set us thinking. We are, in fact, in the presence of a problem the like of which classical political economy or the Western experience was never called upon to face. Let us, then, dwell on it a little longer.

The Two Sectors of the Indian Economy: The Indian economy has a modern sector and a traditional sector. There are those who say that this duality should go. But should it? And how? The modern sector has come to stay until and unless we are prepared to give up many things on which we depend now. Are we as a nation ready to disband our army and entrust our safety to non-violence?

Evidently we are not. So we have to support the production and supply of arms and defence equipment which in turn presupposes advanced technology and a large cluster of high-tech industries. There appears to exist a kind of national consensus on this subject. The differences here come to be confined to questions of a little more or a little less. There is, to be sure no good reason why South Asia should not move towards phased

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disarmament through mutual agreement. But that takes time. In the meanwhile, we will remain busy keeping continuously abreast of new technology because it does not really make sense to maintain an army and then keep it insufficiently trained and poorly equipped. Beyond defence and the heavy industry and network of advanced transport and communication and supporting research and other essential services it generates, there are other material interests too. We have a rapidly increasing number of managers, engineers, university teachers, bureaucrats, politicians, businessmen and professional people of all sorts.

Limitations of the Modern Sector: How far are we prepared to deprive this new middle class of the comforts and incentives offered by modern consumer goods? Against the pressing imports of consumer and capital goods, we have to arrange a sufficient volume of exports. But we cannot effectively compete in the world market unless we reach certain standards of quality and efficiency in our export-sector activities. All these things add up to a modern sector of some size. This is the sector for which a policy of liberalization and free flow of technology and openness to the world market appear to be required, although adaptation to local conditions must go hand in hand with modernization. It is an error to minimize the importance of this sector for orderly development in the immediate future. Yet a policy of exclusive dependence on this sector will be equally a mistake.

In fact, this is a sector which, to use an alarmist phrase, is historically doomed and can only survive with radical changes for reasons beyond what Marx had foreseen. The transition cannot be made in one great leap. There is no option but to move gradually.

Perestroika and a peace offensive must go together.

This is as true of India as of Russia. For the formal sector of Indian economy, the question of dismantling an elaborate structure of state controls is the main question today. At the time of this writing, end of 1991, the Government of India

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looks resolved to carry through a policy of liberalization. Can this be done successfully? If the climate of Cold War continues to prevail in South Asia, with India and Pakistan in hostile confrontation, a steady progress towards liberalization cannot be achieved. Peace is a pre-condition of liberalization. This, however, is only one part, tough an important part, of our economic problem.

Promoting the Neighbourhood Sector: We have already noted that, in view of the size of our population and the degree of capital intensity of modern technology, the so-called formal sector of the Indian economy cannot provide employment for a sufficient number of people. Supplementing this sector, there must be, therefore, another area of economic activities organized on the basis of quite different principles. These activities have to rely chiefly on local resources and produce for the domestic market, mainly for local consumption.

They need sheltered markets, perhaps reserved areas of production. Such competition as they face will have to come from within their own category.

They have to depend on appropriate technology designed to meet their special conditions. They will need to be sustained by a culture, a life-style, hospitable to them and other institutions of local self-help and self-government, inspired by the same culture. It is not quite clear what name one should give to this sector. The word ‘traditional’ does not exactly fit as in some ways the underlying conception is quite radical. Appropriate technology is not the same as traditional technology; in many ways, it will have to be enriched by new science, knowledge and experiments. One may call it the small neighbourhood sector, as it will have a strong preference for small units of production and decided orientation towards the local community or neighbourhood, without however, ceasing to be hospitable to others in a true neighbourly spirit.

While the modern market economy has historically led to the disintegration of traditional communal ties, the small neighbourhood sector will help reintegration.

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For reasons which hardly need elaboration, the small neighbourhood economy must have its base in rural areas and centre on consumer-goods and services for the common people. However, this does not mean that its underlying principles lack application elsewhere. To understand the full significance of the alternative economic order

based on the small neighbourhood, rural poverty in the Third World provides us with a good starting point, but we have to go beyond. There are wider perspectives which command attention and can no longer be ignored.

Contd.......

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Dear Friends, Please do not send articles beyond 1500-2000 words. Also, inform whether they have been published elsewhere. And, please try to email them at rheditor@gmail.com instead of sending them by post. You may post them (only if email is not possible) at C-8 Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India. Do also email your passport size photographs as separate attachments (in JPG format) as well as your small introduction, if you are contributing for the first time. Please feel free to contact me at 91-9719333011 for any other querry.

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Spiritual Materialism – A case for Atheism — by Tarkateertha Laxmanshastri Joshi Translated by — Arundhati Khandkar [The book Spiritual Materialism – A case for

Atheism, A New Interpretation of the Philosophy of Materialism written by Tarkateertha Laxmanshastri Joshi has been translated by his daughter, Arundhati Khandkar, who was formerly Professor of Philosophy at S.I.E.S. College, University of Mumbai, India. He passed away many decades ago but his contribution in building up the philosophical base of Radical Humanism has been no less. Roy acknowledged it in his life time and the followers of the philosophy continue to do so. I had requested Ms. Khandkar to translate her father’s major works from to Marathi to English for the benefit of the contemporary readers of RH. And to our pleasant surprise she informed that there is already the above mentioned book in English done by her. It is being serialised in The Radical Humanist June 2010 onwards. She has also promised to send us in English, gradually, more of his Marathi literature.

Laxmanshastri wrote this essay with the title Materialism or Atheism in 1941. How meaningful and necessary it is, even now, 70 years later, can be understood by the following paragraph given on the cover page of the book.

—Rekha Saraswat] “That religion more often than not tends to perpetuate the existing social structure rather than being reformist and that it benefits the upper classes. They perpetrate the illusions and are used for impressing the weaker sections of the society.

Many taboos which might have had some beneficial effects are given a permanent sanction and these put a fetter on further progress. The argument that religion promotes social stability and 5

social harmony is examined and rejected. Without the dubious benefit of religion various secular worldly values have been developed and they have benefited mankind more than the vaunted religious values. With no sops of religious men have laboured hard and the finest admirable qualities of men’s spirit have been developed inspite of religious influence – the scientists and the reformers are examples. The humility that should force itself in the presence of the infinite and the unknown is more to be seen with the scientist, the philosopher than the religious leaders and often this drives them to fathom the depths of thought in the quest for truth. Rarely does religion explain the how and why. These have become the preoccupations of people in secular fields. With a sense of self-reliance and self-confidence guiding him, man has dropped the earlier props of religion.

In India too, the social order was seen as embodying moral values.”

Introduction Atheism in modern India was not accompanied by a philosophy of materialism. One of the earliest manifestations of this was in Calcutta in the 1830s and the educated adolescents in the city were influenced by Thomas Paine and their teacher Derozio. They began to denigrate the traditional gods of Hinduism but this was an adolescent daring and a flash in the pan.

In 1857 we hear of a Hindu Freethought Union established in Madras and it published a bilingual Tamil English weekly under the editorship of P. Murugesa Mudaliar. But nothing is known of its impact. It does not appear as though there were atheistic centers in Maharashtra during the late 19th Century.

The Dev Samaj established in 1875 by S.N. Agnihotri (initially a theistic society) became atheist in 1895. Har Narain Agnihotri, the son of the founder is credited to be the first atheist in modern India and was active in propagating the creed in the Punjab and the North. From 1905, a journal called ‘Science grounded Religion’ was being published,

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propagating atheism. The proponents of atheism in their tours of propaganda had to face the wrath of the believers all the time. A family dedicated to education, the Kanals propagated atheism in the North; their influence seems to have been restricted.

More famous has been the name of E.V. Ramaswamy Naickar, known as Periyar who mounted a campaign for atheism from the 1930s and promoted a movement for propagating this. For nearly twenty years he was able to direct this and it appeared as though the south would go atheist. In fact, the first atheistic conference in the country was held in Dec. 1933. As one-time close associate of Singaravelu Mudaliar delivered providential address. He was also active in popularizing science and printed Tamil pamphlets on science. But its reach and penetration was found to be illusory and was more theatrical than popular. It was not to be abiding. For instance, when the Chief Minister and matinee idol M.G. Ramachandran was in his last days, the anti-religious sentiments could not prevent the springing up of 27,000 temples on the roadsides of the towns and cities to propitiate the gods and spare the lives of the beloved Chief Minister.

Gora, another propagator of atheism was active in promoting the creed and he paid heavily for this both in his personal life and professionally.

However, his persistence paid for his Atheistic centre founded in 1940 in Andhra is one of the most successful of institutions, conducting seminars and conferences addressing public meetings and publishing pamphlets.

Compared to these we do not find in Maharashtra any militant movement propagating atheism. What has been influential has been the Satyashodhak Samaj which concentrated on fighting wrongs on the lower orders and a call for social justice than on atheism.

Though Indian religion is regarded by and large as other-worldly, yet at the grass-root level we as a people have cherished life-affirming values. Artha and Kama are not looked down upon but regarded as important in their own spheres and younger people are expected to enjoy life to the full and not

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turn to the other-worldly things. Yet the written tradition has not emphasized this. It is the oral, folk-lore elements that refer to this in terms of approval. The dominant literary traditions have extolled vairagya than bhoga. We have hardly any books extolling Epicurean or Hedonistic views. Yet in spite of this, there is no disapproval of the bhakta only as an amused tolerance of him as any reading of our classical plays would reveal.

Modern India has seen expressions of atheism in fits and starts. However, it is a matter of historical coincidence that in 1941 both M.N. Roy and Laxmanshastri Joshi wrote books on Materialismone in English, and the other in Marathi. Roy’s work is both historical and analytical. Joshi’s book is strictly analytical. It is short and barely 60 pages in length and the latter part is on atheism for he explained that any treatment of materialism is incomplete without a discussion of atheism. The editor of the series Mr. P.V. Gadgil was a distinguished Marathi journalist who in his time pioneered in familiarising Marathi leaders with the ideology and philosophy of Marx, Marxism and Socialism. This book originally titled as Jadavada or Anishwarvada formed part of a series designed to generate discussion on philosophical topics.

The present translation of Shastriji’s book is valuable for introducing to the non-Maharashtrian readers an analytical essay on this theme.

There are many unique things about Shastriji which need to be recalled. Like M.N.Roy, he was ‘a restless Brahmin’- both traversed across a wide continent of ideas and experimented with many philosophies. While Roy’s deep involvement in Marxism remained to the very end, but it was later tinged by humanism, a characteristic of the Marx.

Shastriji’s deep commitment to the philosophical traditions and culture of India was to be abiding but overlaid with other intellectual influences. He was not to forget the tolerance that characterised Indian religions heterodoxies and cultural expression which has a place for heterodoxies and disputations. But he also saw the need for continually debating and contesting the indefensible obscurantist elements that had overgrown and almost choked the pure sparkling 6

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springs of this ancient culture.

One of the striking characteristics of modern India has been the resilience of the centres of traditional Sanskrit learning, in the gurukulas which were to meet their most severe challenges during the last three decades of the 19th Century. They were seen as irrelevant in a modern world to those who could send their boys to schools where the modern education was imparted. However, being

connected with Hinduism and its rituals they survived though many were under severe disabilities. The great religious establishments sustained then as did the Zamindars and the Maharajas. In spite of dwindling income and students they continued.

Continued.....................

Friends, please register yourself on the RH Website http://www.theradicalhumanist.com ¨Please log in to it to give your comments on the articles and humanist news which are uploaded from the world over on the Website almost daily. ¨You may also send in news and write-ups from your part of the land for uploading on the Website. ¨Please send in your views and participate on the topics of debate given in the debate section. You yourself may also begin a debate on any topic of your choice in this section. ¨Please suggest themes for the coming issues of The Radical Humanist, discuss them in the Themes Section of the Website; the content of which may be later published in the RH journal. ¨It is your own inter-active portal formed with a purpose of social interaction amongst all Radical Humanists as well as Rationalists and Humanists from different forums also. ¨Do make it a practice to click on the RH Website http://www.theradicalhumanist.com URL daily, ceremoniously. ¨Please utilise the RH Website to come closer for the common cause of ushering in a renaissance in our country.

—Rekha Saraswat, (Editor & Administrator RH Website)

Letter to the Editor: Respected Madam, The Radical Humanist (July, 2010) is a feast to the mind and heart.

Your editorial reflects the play of darkness and light in the present society, Amlan Datta, the Bertrand Russell of India, was a prolific writer, whose penetrating insights astonish and educate. L.S. Joshi’s title of the book, though an oxymoron explodes the myth of materialism’s association with hedonism.

Balaraj Puri’s essay is one of the best articles on Materialism. Erudition and loyalty to facts lend grandeur and charm to the essay of J.S. Chandra Sekhar Rao. On the whole, the entire magazine attracts, inspires and enlightens the reader.

—Bhagwat Prashad

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Guests’ Section:

R.K.A. Subrahmanya

[Sri R.K.A. Subrahmanya, was AG in Assam Orissa, Tamilnadu and Kerala. He was Chairman of the CBT of the EPFO. He represented the GOI in the Int. Labor Conferences held in Geneva for 4 yrs. He was member, ILO Committee for studying the future of social security in developing countries. He was member, Bureau of the Int. Social Security Association. After retiring he became the Coordinator of a Research Project called Simplification Rationalisation and Consolidation of Labor Laws at the National Labor Law Association where he was largely responsible for the production of the book India Labor Code 1994. He has been the Secretary General of the Social Security Association ever-since it was formed in 1991. ssanantha@yahoo.com ]

Social Security for Domestic Workers Helpage an international Introduction: NGO “helping older people claim their rights, challenge discrimination and overcome poverty in order for them to lead dignified, secure, active and healthy lives” in a recent appeal for donations has said: “Poverty and destitution are faced by over 19 million elderly women in India.

Their fate is much like that of Amma, who worked

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all her life as a maid and now finds herself without family or financial support. Apart from fulfilling her own household duties, she did the washing and cleaning in 11 homes every day. Earning just enough to feed her family. But to day at 84, she has no savings to fallback upon. Her own family has turned her out. Living in the street, she is sick, hungry cold and lonely. Helpage India supports women like Amma…” Amma described by Helpage is a typical domestic worker. There are millions like her in India requiring support. Several voluntary organizations have come up to help them.

But considering the magnitude of the problem it may not be possible for the voluntary organizations to look after all the people who are in need for all time. Social security has been designed to provide assistance to such people. It is the responsibility of the society or the State to provide social security.

Voluntary organizations can only supplement State efforts. It is said that the society has the obligation to provide the means of livelihood to every one through work and if a person is not able to work he is to be provided the means of livelihood through social security. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights there are two rights, among others, which are basic to human life, namely, the right to work and also to social security. These are complementary rights.

Ordinarily a person earns his livelihood by work. It is the primary duty of the State to ensure that everyone who can work has a job or employment. If a person has an employment he may maintain himself and his family out of his earnings from that employment. He may also be able to put aside some money for any contingency that may arise in the future. He will be self-sufficient. But there are people who because of age or other reasons are not able to work. Even those who are able to work may have interruptions in their employment for any reason. Their income from the employment being insufficient they may not be able to make provision for such interruptions. Social security is meant for such persons and for such occasions.

Contingencies: Some of the contingencies when a 8

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person may need social security are as follows: 1. Unemployment: Let us assume that there is a person who is able to and willing to work but he/she has no employment and therefore no work. In such a case there should be an institutional arrangement to provide that person with work whereby he or she may be able to earn the means of livelihood. The National Commission for Women has proposed the setting up of State and District Boards for performing a variety of functions relating to domestic workers. If such boards are set up they may also function as employment agencies for domestic workers so that if the domestic workers are registered with them and those households who are in need of domestic help approach them the workers who are in search of work and the households who are in need of domestic help may be brought together and an employment contract may be executed. The Boards may also determine the terms of employment so that the domestic workers are not exploited and in the event of a dispute the boards may also function as a dispute settlement machinery.

2. Sickness: A person may fall ill during the period of his employment. He/she may not be able to go to work during the illness. The person concerned will need medical treatment for his/her illness and also some cash for his/her expenses during that period.

Social security schemes provide for medical care and for payment of a cash benefit called sickness-benefit for the duration of the sickness subject to some limits. The Government of India have introduced a Scheme called Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana. This is a health insurance scheme for which a premium has to be paid subject to a maximum of Rs. 750. 75% of this premium is paid by the Central government and the balance 25% is paid by the State governments. The administrative cost is also borne by the State governments. The scheme is applicable to persons below the poverty line. Central to the scheme is the provision of a smart card which would make the benefits portable. The total sum insured would be Rs. 30,000 for a family of five a year. It would be 9

cashless transaction involving primarily public health care system and partly private hospitals wherever possible. All the preexisting diseases will be covered under the insurance. The beneficiaries have to pay Rs. 30 each for making a smart card and its renewal every year. The scheme covers hospitalization, surgical procedures, which could be provided on a day care basis, transport allowance of Rs.100 a visit and pre and post hospitalisation expenses for one day prior to and five days after hospitalization. About 15 million people have been registered under the Scheme so far within a period of about two years since its inception. Domestic Workers may be covered under the Scheme: 3. Employment injury: A person may be injured by accident while at work which may incapacitate him/her for work temporarily or permanently as the case may be. Such a person would need treatment for the injury and compensation for the loss of income during the period of his treatment or if he/she has been incapacitated permanently, for life.

It is called the Employment Injury Benefit.

Ordinarily, it is the responsibility of the employers to pay such benefits but if the liability is insured the insurance company will pay the benefit. A person may be incapacitated for work by an injury caused by an accident outside the area of his work. Even in such circumstances the person will need to be compensated for loss of income due to the accident and it is called invalidity benefit. The Central government have introduced a Scheme called Janashri Bima Yojana for payment of such compensation. This scheme is applicable to rural and urban poor persons below the poverty line and marginally above the poverty line. It provides for the following benefits: In the event of normal death Rs. 20,000. In the event of death by accident or partial or total permanent disability due to accident the following benefits will be payable: (i) On death due to accident Rs. 50,000. (ii) Permanent total disability due to accident Rs. 50,000. (iii) Loss of 2 eyes or 2 limbs or one eye and one limb in an accident Rs. 50,000. (iv) Loss of one eye or one

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limb in an accident Rs. 25,000. In addition the children of the insured persons studying in classes 9th to 12th standards will be entitled to scholarship at the rate of Rs. 300 per quarter for a maximum period of four years. (This benefit is restricted to two children only.) This is an insurance scheme for which a premium of Rs. 200 per member is payable and this amount is shared as under: 50 % of the premium to be paid by members or nodal agency or State government at the time of submitting proposal and subsequently on each annual renewal date. The balance 50% of the premium will be borne by the Social Security fund set up by the government and placed with the LIC. Domestic workers may be insured under the scheme.

4. Maternity: Afemale worker may become pregnant and she may not able to work during the advanced stages of pregnancy and for some time after child birth. The loss of income arising out of the pregnancy will be replaced by social security.

That is known as Maternity Benefit. The GOI had introduced a national scheme called National Maternity Benefit Scheme. Under this scheme the pregnant women were entitled to payment of a maternity benefit of Rs. 500 per delivery. This scheme has since been replaced by a new Scheme called Janani Suraksha Yojana. While the National Maternity Benefit Scheme was linked to provision of better diet for pregnant women from BPL families the Janani Suraksha Yojana intergrates the cash assistance with antenatal care during pregnancy period, institutional care during delivery and immediate post partum period, in a health centre by establishing a system of coordinated care by field level health workers. Domestic workers are eligible for coverage under this scheme: 5. Oldage: Oldage benefit is the benefit which persons like Amma whose case was cited by Helpage requires. This is a very important social security benefit. When a person is unable to work due to oldage he/she is paid a pension which enables him/her to subsist without having to go to work or being dependent on any body else. The GOI have introduced a Scheme called Indira

Gandhi National Oldage pension Scheme. Under this scheme a person who is of the age of 65 or more will be entitled to a pension of Rs. 200 from the Central government which may be supplemented by an equal or higher amount by the respective State governments. This benefit is available to all persons who are below the poverty line and domestic workers may also avail of the same.

6. Survivors’ benefit: In case of death of the breadwinner the surviving members of the family will be at a great loss. In such a situation the family will have to be supported by social security. The GOI have introduced a scheme called Indira Gandhi National Family Benefit Scheme. Under this scheme a sum of Rs.10,000 is paid as an one time assistance to the surviving family to tide over their immediate difficulties arising out of the death of the breadwinner. This benefit is also available to all persons who are below the poverty line and domestic workers may also avail of the same.

7. Family Benefit: Persons with large families will require financial support for education of their children and other expenses. Such assistance is called Family Benefit. There are several schemes framed by the Central Government as well as State Governments under which children’s allowance are paid to poor families. Midday meals schemes also come under this category.

Welfare benefits: These are the Conventional types of social security benefits. In addition, certain schemes provide for payment of certain welfare benefits such as assistance for: Education of children; Marriage of children; Construction of houses etc. These welfare benefits are of secondary nature; whether provision should be made for any or all such benefits and if so the quantum thereof are matters to be decided depending upon the resources available.

Financing: There are different ways of financing social security and welfare measures. The most preferred way of financing social security is social insurance. The alternative is social assistance.

Social insurance schemes are contributory Under

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such schemes the workers, employers as well as Governments are required to make contributions and the benefits would be proportionate to the contributions. Social assistance schemes are financed by the Government out of the general revenues without any contribution from the workers or employers. There are variants of these methods. For instance, insurance schemes are sometimes subsidized by Government or other agencies. Janashri Bima Yojana is a subsidized insurance scheme. Under this scheme a variety of benefits are provided on payment of a premium of Rs. 200. Of this premium the beneficiary is required to pay only Rs. 100 and the balance is paid by the LIC itself out of a Fund created by Government and placed at the disposal of that Corporation. Even the Rs. 100 payable by the beneficiary is sometimes shared by the State Governments and other organizations like the KVIC. One way of sharing the cost of social security is that certain minimum benefits are provided by government at its own cost and higher benefits are provided by contributory insurance schemes. These are known as complementary schemes. For instance, the World Bank had advocated a system of pension schemes consisting of three tiers. The first tier would be a public pension scheme available to all pensioners under which a minimum amount of pension required for ones subsistence would be paid by government at its own cost. If a person wants a higher amount of pension he would have to join a social insurance scheme for which contributions would be made by the beneficiaries as well as their employers and/or Government. This would be the second tier. If the person wants a still higher amount of pension he would have to pay for a voluntary insurance scheme for which the beneficiary alone would be making the contribution. This would be the third tier. The Second Commisssion on Labour had recommended a four tier system of social security of which the second tier would be a subsidised insurance scheme. The Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2009 requires the Government 11

to frame schemes for providing a variety of social security as well as welfare benefits to the workers in the Unorganised sector. Under this Act the Central Government is responsible to frame schemes for social security relating to: life and disability cover; health benefits; old age protection or any other benefit that will be decided by the Central Govt. The State Governments have been made responsible for framing welfare schemes which would include: (a) provident fund; (b) employment injury benefit; (c) housing; (d) educational schemes for children; (e) skill upgradation of workers; (f) funeral assistance; and (g) old age homes. Domestic workers are covered under the Act and will be entitled to the benefits that may be provided under the schemes which are being framed.

Delivery mechanism: The Unorganised Workers Social Security Act does not specify the delivery mechanism for the various benefits provided for under the Act. It is perhaps left to the National Advisory Board to specify in the schemes it is required to frame. The initial drafts of the Act envisaged the establishment of Workers Facilitation Centres for this purpose. It may be necessary to establish such centres. Whether provision should be made for social security in the proposed bill to regulate employment and conditions of service of domestic workers. Before the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act was passed there was a long debate whether it should be a comprehensive bill providing for regulation of employment, conditions of service as well as social security. The initial drafts were all on that basis.

The National Commissison for the Unorgansed Sector recommended separation of social security from the other aspects of the proposed legislation.

Accordingly the Unorganised Workers Social Security Bill was drafted and finally was passed by Parliament. Now a proposal to have a legislation for regulation of employment and conditions of service of unorganized workers has been revived.

In this question a question has arisen whether the legislation should be common to all employments

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in the unorganized sector or whether there should be separate legislation for each employment.

Considering that draft legislation for regulating employment of domestic workers has been drawn it seems that the current thinking is to have separate legislation for each employment. As each employment has its own special features it seems

better to have a separate legislation for each employment instead of one law common to all employments. As however there is already a common law for social security it does not appear that provision for social security should be made again in the proposed bills for regulation of employment etc. This is however a matter for discussion among experts.

AN APPEAL For Donation to The Radical Humanist The Radical Humanist, a monthly journal devoted to the values of freedom, democracy and human rights, is now in financial difficultly, since its income has been reduced materially because of the sharp fall the rate of interest in recent years.

The journal was started in 1937 by the late revolutionary leader M.N. Roy as a weekly called Independent India. After India became independent, its name was changed into The Radical Humanist. It became a monthly in 1971. The journal has been published regularly since 1937, a period of 73 years. At present Dr. Rekha Saraswat is its editor. We earnestly appeal to you for financial help to this valuable journal by either becoming a life subscriber or giving a generous donation. The life subscription is Rs. 1500.00 Cheques should be issued in the name of Indian Renaissance Institute and be sent to the following address : “Indian Renaissance Institute B.D. Sharma Ch.111, Supreme Court, New Delhi” Yours Sincerely B.D. Sharma Chairman

N.D. Pancholi Secretary Indian Renaissance Institute A-12, Neeti Bagh, New Delhi – 110049 12

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Tarun Patnaik

Individual And The State is an engineer by qualification passed out in 1993 from IIT Kharagpur, after a short stint in corporate for three odd years, resigned to study social science varying from philosophy and psychology to economics and management. Currently he is a resident in Rayagada, Orissa and engaged in free lance research.]

[Mr. Tarun Patnaik

[The individual and his relationship with the state has inspired thinkers ancient and modern with the same fervor and intensity. Many theories and reflections have been proposed and articulated by a broad spectrum of social scientists and philosophers. Only now with the advent of neuro-biology that the human mind has found some consensual clarity and authentic interpretation.

Traditionalists and rationalists have speculated on whether the human is basically good or bad! Here we propose a simple study of origin of power and try to put some light on human nature so that, his relation with the state can get clarity and the purpose and necessity of the state can have a theoretical basis.] this world the individual came first. He Tosoon found society among his fellow human beings where he sought companionship and with whom he joined for mutual security and saw a

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bond in having a common end. And slowly the human community grew from clan to tribe to village to a country, the latest evolution being the nation state.

The first community sustained it self through hunting and gathering. Here the man learned to share and to cooperate with each other. The first thing that belonged to man was his food – the first form of property or possession. The first form of relationship was conjugal. Though initially women belonged to the community, later families started to be constituted where children could be cared for.

This was the formation of the primitive society, where man entered into association with his fellow human beings and soon there was a hierarchy of powers and governance was deemed necessary.

The size of the community grew through contests and conquests through taking of slaves and also from the enlargement of families.

Then came the period of cultivation and settlement when man evolved from nomadic species into habitation and civilization. The village was formed where the community shared the economic resources.

It was the first form of communism. Individual right was limited, infringed upon at will and pleasure by the stronger. The system of governance so far as it existed was delivered by the stronger chiefly through coercion. And as the village attained relative stability and some common understanding was established with regard to individual behavior, we can say, a primitive law was developed which of course existed at will and pleasure of the ruler.

If we study the history of individual freedom, we will note that as long as man had not entered into society, he was free but as soon as he formed associations, he surrendered to power and a hierarchy was established supported by brute strength and force.

The ruler who came to power through strength was later revered and when his rule extended over many villages a monarchy was established.

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Primitive religion was originated when man was overwhelmed by the forces of nature and started worshipping objects which he thought to be powerful, beyond his immediate comprehension.

With all other Gods, the monarch who was initially the symbol of strength soon got associated with divinity and divine sanction. From open contest for domination hereditary monarchy came to fore from the divine association of the king and his family.

The king ruled and exercised power through his clan and extended family – a form of tribalism.

In some communities when death was not comprehended, and considered exotic, ancestor worship took origin.

So much for the history of power in political association of man. Actually it was strength and a sense of security which was the foundation for state and human community and not common understanding and delegation of authority as proposed by “social contract” of Rousseau.

The basis of modern emancipation of man with the rights for freedom and liberty can be traced to the Magna Carta for its origin and the French revolution and its contemporary bill of rights in the American constitution for its culmination.

How free is the individual, how disconnected is he from his society, how private is his life?

In the era of globalization a person enters into chiefly five types of relationships.

1.Family relationship 2.Social relationship with his friends 3.Participating in virtual society of the internet 4.Professional relationship for economic sustenance 5.Political association for protection of rights.

In every type of relationship, he surrenders part of his independence and freedom to obtain understanding and cooperation. He agrees to observe certain values and virtues. The restraint his virtues put on him should not suffocate his independence and volition – this is the test of the quality of compromise he makes.

The contest of virtues and volition should not burden the man heavily. And this will be so when virtues are inculcated by him through the process of growth into society – they are learned by him to be owned by him completely of free will coming from his inside without external imposition.

When the virtues seem to be imposed, they curtail the independence of the individual and to that extent his freedom is sacrificed.

In today’s world when resources are scarce and human want is almost unlimited, (Man being an economic entity (Karl Marx)) there is bound to be contests among men for acquisition of resources but man must enter into such competition with observing some common equitable rules applicable to all parties.

To follow these rules then becomes a value. And one must discipline one self to internalize such value lest it weigh heavily on his freedom.

The more such value is part of human nature; the better it is for the well being of man.

The civic values of some different political systems are listed below.

1.Modern capitalistic democracy as in USA – a)competition among unequally capable people to pursue their happiness restrained by law B) agree to limited progressive taxation C) accept freedom of expression of others 2.Communist society as in China – A) Tolerating and cooperating with the state which governs as per the communist party acting for national security and economic growth.

B) Submitting freedom of expression and association in favor of a totalitarian state.

3.Theocratic state as in Iran – a) Observing a pious life as dictated by the state religion 4.As per the Anarchist philosophy – a)Since the state is absent, individual virtue must ensure protection of rights.

5.Gram Swaraj by Mahatma Gandhi –

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a)Submit to the rules framed by his village Now we must consider, what of all the above values is one coincident with human nature and what is contrary to it and this will tell us, which type of system is most in accordance with the philosophy of liberty and freedom.

We may note here that, man left to himself will contest with others to acquire resources for his comfort and pleasure (which seems quite true considering the consumerist nature of man), this is also to presuppose that man is greedy and will become jealous of another’s prosperity though in the past there have been societies where man was content and satisfied with having minimal need and had a sharing character. This type of behavior is seen in some tribals even now-a-days.

We come to a basic question, is man by nature greedy and jealous or these are social contribution.

Indeed what is man’s primordial nature and what is the social and cultural contribution?

Some philosophers like Plato think that reason can take man to know good and to know good is to be good and virtuous.

Emerson and Thoreau the transcendentalists think that man’s conscience develops naturally to such an extent that one can be “self reliant” for determining what is good and virtuous.

Follower of Confucius Mencius thought that man is primordially good and society has just to support his good nature while some others like Hsun-tzu maintain that Man is by nature evil and society must by its rules make him behave. Both however contend that desire is a basic character of Man. This debate has continued up to the modern times when Thomas Hobbes a political philosopher considers man to be vile and wants the state to discipline him to behave, while others like John Locke considers man to be good by himself and wants the state to only preserve this state of nature.

Gautama Buddha has advised to choose detachment as a life long value for avoiding sorrow in life for to desire is basic to human.

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Lord Krishna has asked man to do his work or duty but non desirous of the fruits of his action.

Ancient china had a society where Confucius the great social philosopher said that man thinks, what is good is what is advantageous or profitable and not what is good by its own merit, so he advised people to “act for nothing” or to act or do for no reward but that the action is morally good or as per the ways of the sages which is a guide to the decrees of heaven. This is in contrast to Plato when he says that to be good, is to know good.

What Confucius has prescribed here is as per what lord Krishna says in Bhagwat Gita i.e. to do only for the sake that it is good to do it and it is one’s duty to do it.

One thing is true as per modern sociologists that man in different cultures behaves differently. That man is malleable and subjected to cultural conditioning is capable of learning and adaptation.

So education which is the induction of man to society is important in shaping one’s behavior. And man gets educated at home, at school and among society.

The influence we have on our younger generation is immense though as one grows one applies reason an d newly found knowledge, new discoveries and inventions to chalk out for one self, what is good for him.

No one in this world has perfect knowledge in all perspectives so there arises a question, “Is reason which is limited and guided by knowledge capable of determining what is moral or ethical or virtuous or good.”

Historically Man has been guided by tradition and wisdom as per past, through mythology and classic literature, but the revolutionary claims to know better, by the application of reason and (the creative minority being the agents of change ) so there comes a break with the past..

The communist revolution was one such. (When people thought good of civic duties and virtues), Thoreau was a theorist and Gandhi was a

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practitioners in civil disobedience by peaceful means, which was revolutionary.

Tracing the thread to Plato and Aristotle, through Marx and up to the modern neuro biologists (who have studied the brain and come to the conclusion that), Man is a “social being.” This characteristic gives him love, affection and compassion. Man’s individualism tries to make him free from society in the quest for freedom, clashes with his search for society and companionship and social conformance.

We from the above discussion come to the conclusion that man is a economic being and a social being. So self interest and social learning

through culture both play an important role in determining his behavior. The discussion is limited for want of space and in later articles we can explore further the subject in more depth. For the time being, it may suffice to say that, ethics has to be learned and society is necessary for this and man also craves for society and learns by nature.

So the existence of state primarily for protection of rights is a necessity for without it with the current population density and extent of poverty, a class war only waits a charismatic leader from the creative minority in the absence of the state.

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

M.N. Roy Memorial Essay Writing Competition 2010 on “International Co-operation - Financial & Cultural” Word Limit 2000 in Hindi or English. 10 marks for Bibliography. Put your biodata on a separate sheet.

Send to rheditor@gmail.com or at D-90 A-Krishna Marg, Bapu Nagar, Jaipur, 302015, Raj. by 31.10.2010

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Letter To The Editor: Dear Dr. Saraswat, was delighted to read in May issue of the IRadical Humanist in which you have raised question whether a section, “The description of successful ways to educate people about New Humanism” could be started. It is a good idea as the Radicals engaged in educating people about New Humanism could see whether they could understand the principles underlying successful description of educating people and increase their knowledge and skills required to motivate people to accept new ideas.

Further I would like to make some more suggestions for spreading the philosophy of New Humanism. First since Mr. Kumar Ketkar, the editor of the newspaper, ‘Loksatta’ is appreciative of the relevance of Roy’s ideas to the present day troubled situations in the world can you not request him to allot some space in the Saturday and Sunday issue of Loksatta in the supplementary sections Chaturang and Lokrang respectively wherein the R.adicals would write about Roy’s ideas which would be read by large number of people.

Secondly, prior to the last general election, there was a news in the Times of India that few professionally qualified individuals had got together and formed a Professional People’s Party and they had even applied to the Election Commissioner with necessary documents and a picture of a flag and requested him to register their party so that they could participate in the elections.

I was delighted to learn that the professional individuals who generally kept themselves aloof from politics had decided to participate in it. I wrote to the individual whose name was printed at the end of the news (which I forget now) and sent it to him at Times of India address. Neither the gentleman replied my letter nor did I hear anything more about the party. Do you think it is possible for you to find out about this party and understand their point of 17

view and educate them to see the sagacity underlying Roy’s New Humanism?

Thirdly, while I was working as a Family Planning Worker to promote acceptance of family planning among the villagers in Thane District, I decided to apply the principles underlying interview techniques instead of talking straight away about family planning. First I tried to find the problem of the villagers’ concern which was about their agriculture. I asked them whether the agriculturists facing such problems could gather together and try to solve the problem by exchange of ideas among themselves and I shall direct their discussions. This would help them understand that I am really interested in their welfare and thus help them develop relationship with me.

While I was working in these villages of Thane District one day, another couple arrived to educate the same villagers and they asked them not to listen to me. This made me feel that the Radical Humanist Association should select a group of villages where nobody would visit to interfere while they educate the villagers to improve their living conditions and gradually the philosophy of New Humanism could be introduced when they would have developed faith in the Radical Humanists; and the Radical Humanists also would have had opportunities to test out the effectiveness of their educational methods and thus increase their knowledge and skills required to help people to accept new ideas and change their way of thinking.

I have been a trained social worker and Health Educator from India and USA and spent my whole life as a social worker working in different fields; I can describe any number of successful and unsuccessful incidents. But I would stop now. Can I expect a reply to this letter?

Thanking you in anticipation and with kinds regards.

Yours sincerely, Ms. Talpallikar

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JULY 2010

Current Affairs’ Section:

Balraj Puri

[Mr. Balraj Puri is an authority on Jammu and Kashmir Affairs. He is Director, Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs, Karan Nagar, Jammu-180005;Phone numbers:01912542687,09419102055 www.humanrightsjournal.com]

Changing Character of Kashmir Movement consecutive summers, Kashmir Forhasthree been on a boil. In 2008 protest started jointly by all separatist parties over allotment of 100 acres of government land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board which its Chief executive officer wrongly said was purchased permanently. The land was to be used for construction of pre-fabricated huts for langars and other facilities for the yatries. It was interpreted by the leaders of the agitation as a conspiracy to change demography of Kashmir.

The government withdrew the allotment. It triggered an unprecedented agitation in Jammu for 63 days with various ups and downs against what was called discrimination by Kashmiri rulers against the region 60 years of independence. What further caused protest in Kashmir was blockade call day during essential supplies to Kashmir by the Sangarash Samiti, which was spearheading the agitation in Jammu. I was able to get it withdrawn after speaking to LK Advani and the Prime

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Minister. But a chain reaction continued for some time more.

In 2009, trouble started over alleged rape and murder of two young women in Shopian in South Kashmir. Finger of suspicion pointed towards the police. After some administrative action, a judicial enquiry by a retired High Court also confirmed the suspicion. But a CBI enquiry reversed their conclusion. It gave a fresh lease of life to the popular agitation. Significantly the unity between the separatist parties was lacking this time.

In 2010, the current phase of agitation is started by groups of teenagers. It is not being run by any group of the Hurriyat but was triggered by the killing of “seventeen year old Tufail Ahmad Mattoo on June 11, who as his parents say was playing cricket when a teargas bullet struck his head. Thereafter a vicious circle was set, killing of a boy was followed by protest demonstrations an clashes with police and CRPF in which another boy was killed which led to anther protest by the boys till by June 29, eleven boys lost their lives.

As all the troubles happened in summers, which is a tourist season, the main source of income for Kashmiris, no well wisher of Kashmir could have planned them. So the theory that the current agitation was sponsored or pre-planned by any agency does not hold good.

Thus when Union Home Minister P Chidambaram blames LeT and other outside agencies for the present trouble he has to explain why they choose the present season. And could not they have supplied better weapons than stones to the teenagers and how did they contact them or their leaders when they are not known to the state government.

Further the fact that the character of the agitation and its leadership changed every time in the last three years shows that specific issues that agitate the people are no less important. The common factor could be lack of trust in the state or the Indian government.

Therefore chief minister Omar Abdullah’s

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understanding of the current situation seems to be partial when he made a plea to work together towards a lasting peace, as per the aspirations of the people. He suggested to work to “facilitate a dialogue between India and Pakistan as well as one between the centre and various shades of opinion in the state.” Till that happens, shouted all the problems of the people be held in abeyance? The National Conference contested last elections and sought votes on the promise of development and good governance which now he says cannot assuage the aspirations of the people.

Has he done full justice to the agenda on which he has sought votes? Why people of every region and every district are complaining of discrimination in the development of their area? Why are they denied a say in the process of governance? Why there is no pachayati raj in the state? Even when panchayats will be formed under the state panchayati raj act, they will be more an instrument of centralization and regimentation than institutions of decentralization and empowerment of the people at the grass roots.

Before proper status for the state is sought through Indo-Pak dialogue, it is important that it acquires a composite and harmonious personality. One must be clear that is it a solution for the Kashmir valley that is being sought or also for other two regions and non-Kashmiri communities. But is there a consensus even within the valley?

As far the stand of the National Conference, which stands for autonomy fo the state, is its present leadership aware that Pandit Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah agreed in July 1952 with my proposal for autonomy of the state within India and autonomy of the regions within the state? And the All Parties State People’s Convention, representing the entire spectrum of politicians of the value, minus Congress, which was convened by Sheikh Abdullah in 1968, unanimously adopted draft constitution for the state with autonomy for the regions and devolution of power to districts, blocks

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and panchayats, and that is provided in the party’s manifesto New Kashmir as revised in 1975?

Moreover will the autonomous state accept jurisdiction of the Union autonomous institutions, which curb the powers of the Union executive to encroach into the affairs of the state, like Supreme Court, Election Commission and Auditor and Comptroller General? It may be recalled that if Supreme Court’s jurisdiction extended to the state in 1953, Sheikh Abdullah could not be dismissed and detained.

As far as complaints of regions and district are concerned, the repeated commitments of the present government in 1998 to ensure equal development of all areas of the state is meaningless without an objective and equitable formula for allocation of funds. The State Finance Commission is supposed to be working on this task for the last several years. But nothing is known about what it has done and when it will submit its report.

Meanwhile the formula that I proposed in my report on regional autonomy submitted to the state government as head of the Committee set up for the purpose may be considered. It suggested an eight point indices to determine the stare of each region and district. It consists of area, population, share in state services, share in admissions to higher and technical institutions, road connectivity in proportion of area, female literacy, infant mortality and contribution to state exchequer. The formula can be put to a computer to determine the share of each region and district. This is a basis for a further discussion and arriving at a consensus. At present allocation of funds is done on subjective, arbitrary or political considerations which does not inspire confidence of all sections of the people.

And should we wait for dialogue between India and Pakistan or between the centre and parties in Kashmir to prevent human rights violations? Why Machail fake encounter which killed three innocent civilians could not be entrusted to a judicial commission instead of the police? And why no

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enquiry has been held in the killing of Tufail Ahmad which triggered the present movement.

Finally, but most importantly, the character of the protest of the teenagers protest has to be understood. As Umar Farooq points out “the baton of the present movement is in the hands of the new generation.” Why is it disillusioned with the older generation? A group of stone pelters told the media that “the pro-freedom leaders have failed to take up the issue of the detained youth seriously and remained silent over their plight.” They demanded release of all youth who have been arrested as the condition for withdrawing their movement. It is important to know who are their leaders and what exactly are their grievances. A dialogue with them need not wait till Indo-Pak dialogue or centre-Kashmir dialogue.

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Revolt of Stone-pelting Teenagers in Kashmir current turmoil in Kashmir Theattracted more attention of

has the politicians, commentators and the media, both national and international, than usual. This is the third consecutive summer that the valley has witnessed such turmoil. Though some long term causes may be same, causes and character of each time were different, which requires specific study.

In 2008, trouble erupted over allotment of government land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board and divergent reaction to it in Jammu and Kashmir regions.

Blockade call of road transport, given by Jammu leaders, which carried essential supplies to Kashmir created sharp reaction in Kashmir.

Though blockade was withdrawn in a few days, after I sought intervention by the BJP leader L K Advani and the Prime Minister, rumours continued to feed protest in Kashmir for some time more. The essential character of the trouble was regional tensions which have added many complications to the Kashmir problem. The agitation lasted for 97

days in which 70 persons lost their lives.

In 2009, trouble started over alleged rape and murder of two sisters in law and the manner the government handled the situation. While a judicial commission held some local police officers and doctors, who conducted the autopsy, to be guilty of the crime, a CBI enquiry called it a conspiracy to defame the security forces and made complainants to be accused. The agitation last for nearly two months.

The difference between popular agitation on two occasions was that while in 2008, the separatist leaders were able to mobilize masses on a large scale, in 2009, they were clearly divided.

In 2010 summer, none of the separatist parties took the initiative to organize the agitation. It started with the killing on June 11, of 17 year Tufail Ahmad Mattoo, a class XII student, who was not a part of the protest procession, which was throwing stones on the CRPF and police, Mattoo was killed by a tear gas shell by the forces. An autopsy confirmed that he was killed by a smoke shell.

Thereafter a vicious circle started. Every killing was followed by protest of stone pelting boys which in turn killed another boy and the chain reaction continued throughout the month of June.

Till date the vicious circle of stone pelting and tear gas shells by the CRPF and police has taken a toll of seventeen young lives. It started on June 11 and is still continuing.

As the three successive troubles in Kashmir happened, in summer months which are months of the tourist season here and principal source of income for Kashmiris, it is unlikely that any one of them was pre-planned. Each had a specific and different cause as well as different character.

The new phase of revolt has baffled politicians and political commentators. The main opposition of the state People’s Democratic Party expectedly has started a ceaseless campaign for resignation of the Chief Minister for failure to prevent killings of innocent civilians. Secretary Union Home Minister had the audacity to put the blame on the PDP. Senior National Conference leader and a minister in Omar Abdullah’s government, Ali Mohammad Sagar condemned CRPF for killing civilians and defying the state government. Party MP, Mehbood

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Beg demanded revocation of AFSPA and accused the government of India for not starting dialogue with separatists for resolving Kashmir problem.

Union Home Minister PC Chidambram blamed Lashkar-e-Toiba’s hand in the trouble.

The entire debate—among politicians and in the media—helps very little in understanding the current situation in Kashmir. It is true that anti-national elements in Kashmir and militants across the LoC are trying to exploit the situation or to give some direction to it. But there is not enough known evidence to conclude that they organized or initiated protests by teenagers. If the militants across the LoC had started the trouble, would not they have provided some better weapons to the boys than stones and how did they contact the protest groups whose leaders are unknown even to the state government.

Similarly how is AFSPA, whatever be its shortcomings, relevant in the present trouble which is being dealt with by the CRPF and the State police to which this act does not apply. Moreover, CRPF, as its Director General clarified, is entirely under the discipline of the state government and acts wherever the state government needs its help. The Deputy Commissioner Anantnag where three teenagers were killed has ruled out firing by the CRPF and held police exclusively responsible for dealing with the situation. In Sopore also the CRPF state chief stated that not a single shot was fired by it on the day when two boys were killed. It acted only, he added, when its bunker was attacked, in sheer self-defence. Whatever he the truth will be known after the judicial commission comprising justice Syed Bashir-ud-Din, chairperson of the State Human Rights Commission submits its report.

A magisterial enquiry has also been ordered into killings in Anantnag. But why this ad-hoc manner of ordering enquiries? Why no judicial or magisterial enquiry was ordered when the first boy, Tufail Ahmad Mattoo, was killed on June 11 which triggered the entire process of protests and killings.

The most conspicuous factors in the current revolt are firstly that it is in the hands of teenagers and secondly stone pelting is their weapon of protest.

The revolt is a manifestation of the disillusionment 21

against older generation of leadership, both of mainstream and separatists, the causes of which need to be studied thoroughly. Secondly stone pelting was initially disapproved by the separatist leaders, particularly after two unintended innocent persons became its victims. In Baramulla the bus in which a lady was travelling with her sick child whom she was taking to hospital, was attacked by stone pelting mob which killed the child.

Thereafter, the boys in Baramulla announced that they will not use stone pelting.

In the second incident in Srinagar an employee of the Education Department who was going to his office in a bus was hit by a stone which killed him.

There was a strong reaction in the Valley after these two incidents. But over time, this receded in the background when killings started. A group of young boys, with their faces covered, addressed the media in Srinagar and expressed their disillusionment with the entire separatist leadership, who due to their mutual rivalries and changing attitude of the Pakistan government which patronized one group after another alternatively, were losing ground. In a way the vacuum was sought to be filled by the younger generation, most of them born after the start of the insurgency in Kashmir in 1989.

But what exactly motivated it, what are its frustrations what is their network and do they have any hierarchy of leaders? Not much is known about these questions. It is total failure of the intelligence of the State, without which no effective police, administrative and political measures can be taken to deal with the situation. Along with this measure, the State police needs proper training and equipment for mob dispersal with least physical damage. Apart from using tear gas without hitting demonstrations at their head, use of smoke guns, water cannons, chilli sprayers and other appropriate methods can also be tried and police and CRPF trained in using them.

Last but not the least, the reaction in Jammu region needs to be watched. The chain reaction on regional lines that started during row over land allotment to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board in 2008 had disastrous consequences. It is again the yatra season which will continue form July 1 to August

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24, Slight harm to a yatri, actual or rumoured, can repeat the experience of 2008.

A rumour, for instance, spread in Jammu, on the eve of the start of the yatra, that a Shivalaya in Anantnag was damaged by the demonstrators. But on verification it proved to be false. Similarly a minor skirmish between a truck driver and somebody in the demonstration led to the call of strike by the 700 truck drivers who used to supply petrol and other fuel to the valley. However the situation was immediately handled by the administration and the truck drivers called off the strike, before it started, after assurance of security and some compensation to the injured driver. As Jammu is the only supply line for all essential goods to the valley, all necessary measures needs to be taken to keep it open, learning lessons from the experience of 2008, including its failures.

Fortunately, the Bandh call given by BJP sponsored Sangarash Samiti, which had spearheaded the agitation in Jammu in 2008 over the land row, was a total flop this year. So far over two lakh seventy five thousand pilgrims have performed the yatra to the holy cave of Amarnath smoothly. They have returned with pleasant memories of warm hospitality extended to them by the Kashmiri Muslims. Earlier 40,000 Kashmiri Hindu migrants came to the pilgrim of Kheer Bhawani on June 19 during the height of the agitation and had received warm hospitality from local Muslims. This was the biggest congregation of Kashmiri Hindus after their mass exodus in 1990.

Absence of regional and religious tension—during pilgrim to the Amarnath Shrine and Khirbhavani—are plus points in the current situation. More important than a dialogue with separatist leaders and between India and Pakistan, as suggested by the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, a dialogue with teenager leaders—and who have become more important than the two faction of Hurriyat may be more relevant in the present situation to study the causes of their frustration and desperation.

While external and long term aspects of the Kashmir problem need not be ignored, specific and immediate causes of the trouble demand equal

attention.

Trying to learn the reasons for the current turmoil, Omar Abdullah did some loud thinking. Among other facts, he believes a greater contact was needed with the people throughout the state and address even small gatherings to understand and solve their problem on the spot. But instead of taking up the responsibility of trying to deal with all problems of all the people at all places, would not it be better to create institutions at all levels to handle them? In addition to be a more effective way, this would satisfy the basic human urge of empowerment, lack of which feeds popular discontent.

J&K state is the only state of the country which does not have panchayati raj institutions. Even the law, under which the election to these institutions is proposed to be held by the end of the year, provides for more centralization and regimentation of the system due to provision of nomination at all levels.

Some systemic reforms are also needed to ensure equitable share of political power and allocation of funds among regions in the most multi-ethnic state of the country. Proposals mooted by Nehru and Abdullah in 1952 and at the all party state People Convention in 1968 convened by Sheikh Adbullah and attended by all parties of Kashmir, including the separatist parties, except the Congress in this respect and incorporated in the National conference manifesto New Kashmir should be considered for implementation.

Similarly there is no justification for not extending the jurisdiction of the National Human Rights Commission to J&K State.

Jammu and Kashmir is, in many respects, a unique state with many kinds of diversities. Apart from learning lessons from institutions that ensure a democratic system and empowerment of the people and protect their human rights in other states of the country, some special systemic reforms are also needed for a state like Jammu and Kashmir which can prevent tensions between regions and communities. These tensions are also cause of periodic troubles in the state.

The new situation provides an opportunity for a fresh thinking on multiple problems of the state.

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Rajindar Sachar [Justice Rajindar Sachar is Retd. Chief Justice of

High Court of Delhi, New Delhi. He is UN Special Rapportuer on Housing, Ex. Member, U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and Ex-President, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) India.]

Abolish Death Penalty call of former President Dr. A.P.J. TheKalam to the government of India to hold public consultation on the desirability of retaining death penalty has not received adequate media attention. This is unfortunate because we can no longer play hide and seek game with the straightforward question of abolition of death penalty.

Great leaders of the world have voiced their opposition to death penalty. Thus Gandhiji said; “I do regard death sentence as contrary to ahimsa.

Only He takes it who gives it.”

Freedom fighter and Socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan said, “To my mind, it is ultimately a question of respect for life and human approach to those who commit grievous hurts to others. Death sentence is no remedy for such crimes.”

- 2 - Dr. Ambedkar during the constituent Assembly debates said, “I think that having regard to this fact, the proper thing for this country to do is to abolish the death sentence altogether.”

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour called the death penalty “…..a sanction that should have no place in any society that claims to

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value human rights and the inviolability of the person”.

President Eduardo Frei of Chile said; “I cannot believe that to defend life and punish the person that kills, the State should in its turn kill. The death penalty is as inhuman as the crime which motivates it.”

Apart from human right there is pragmatic and practical wisdom which dictates against retention of death penalty. Our people are usually talked into silence by the pro capital punishment lobby that it is only in “rarest of rare cases” as decided by the Supreme Court that death penalty is given, suggesting as if since the law propounded this restriction, number of execution have been considerably reduced. Unfortunately facts belie this.

- 3 - Ironically, after the rarest of rare doctrine was propounded in 1980 Supreme Court confirmed death penalty in 40 per cent of cases in the period 1980- 90 whereas it was 37.7% in 1970-80. For the High Courts the figures confirming death sentence rose from 59% in 1970-80 to 65% during 1980- 90.

The vociferous opposition to abolition of death penalty springs from myth that it can lead to increase of murders. Facts show otherwise. Thus, in 1945-50 the State of Travancore, which had no death penalty, had 962 murders whereas during 1950-55, when death sentence was introduced, there were 967 murders.

In Canada, after the abolition of death penalty in 1976, the homicide rate has declined. In 2000, there were 542 homicides in Canada – 16 less than in 1998 and 159 less than in 1975 (one year prior to the abolition of capital punishment).

- 4 - A survey conducted by the United Nations in 1988 concluded that research has failed to provide any evidence that executions have a greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment.

In 1997, the Attorney General of Massachusetts (USA) said, “there is not a shred of credible evidence that the death penalty lowers the murder rate. In fact, without the death penalty the murder

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rate in Massachusetts is about half the national average.” international treaties providing for the abolition of

A survey released in September 2000 by The New York Times found that during the last 20 years the homicide rate in the states with death penalty has been 48 per cent to 101 per cent higher than in the states without death penalty.

The death penalty has been abolished since 1965 in U.K. The membership of European Union is dependent on having no death penalty. This has been done obviously in the confidence that murders do not get automatically reduced by retaining death penalty.

- 5 - The South African Constitutional Court unanimously ruled in 1995 that the death penalty was unconstitutional as it constitutes “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

The grievous danger of irreversibility and innocents being executed is no panic reaction considering that 500 people have been executed in the United States since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Since 1973, 123 prisoners have been released in the USA after evidence emerged of their innocence of the crimes for which they were sentenced to death.

Baldus report prepared in the United States found that if a homicide victim was white, his or her killer was four times more likely to get the death sentence than if the victim were black. The same disadvantage will occur in India in case of Dalit and the Poor.

- 6 - This very question was asked of the Home Ministry in 2005 by President Dr. A.P.J. Kalam – why all those on death row were the poorest of the poor, remains well known but officially unacknowledged So far 133 countries, from all regions of the world, have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice and only 25 countries carried out executions in 2006, a recorded 1591 executions compared to 2105 in 2005.

The community of states has adopted four

the death penalty. The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights provide for the total abolition of the death penalty but allow states wishing to do so to retain the death penalty in wartime as an exception.

- 7 - “There are no exact figures of executions having taken place. However in 1989 the Attorney General of India informed the Supreme Court that between 1974 and 1978, 29 persons were executed.

The government announced in Parliament that 35 executions had been carried out in the three years between 1982 and 1985. And in 1997 the Attorney General of India informed the UN Human Rights Committee that between 1991 and 1995, 17 executions had been carried out.

On 29th November 2006, in a response to a question in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) of the Parliament, the Minister of Home Affairs reported that at present mercy petitions of 44 persons were pending before the President of India, a number of which had been pending since 1998 and 1999.” (vide Lethal Lottery Publication by Amnesty International India & PUCL – Tamil Nadu and Puducherry - 2008) - 8 - The last execution took place on August, 2004.

Even in a judgment in 2006 in Aloke Nath the Supreme Court when it candidly admitted that the so called rarest of rarest case for imposing capital punishment was too vague and stated “No sentencing policy in clear terms has been evolved by the Supreme Court”. Is that not enough reason for abolishing the death penalty because otherwise vagaries and fancies will determine the Sentencing.

World opinion is now almost wholly veering round to the abolition of death penalty. Is it not embarrassingly shameful that our land of Lord.

Gautam Buddha, Lord. Mahavir and the apostle of Non violence, Gandhi should present such a negative face against Human Rights which embody Right to life.

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IRI / IRHA Members’ Section:

Ramesh Korde

[Mr. Ramesh Korde is a Radical Humanist of 83 years age, associated with the Radical Humanist movement since 1950. The following article is based mostly on the writings of M.N. Roy. He has used the terms Radical Humanism, New Humanism, Scientific Humanism and New Renaissance interchangeably. He may be contacted at: 91-79-26745389; 09879545 389 The article is in two parts; first is being published here and the second will come in the next August 2010 issue.]

Radical Humanism: Roads to Freedom and Human Happiness II Radical Humanism’s Relevance to the Present Situation: before Indian society is a Thematterchoiceof choosing between an open society and a close society. According to Erich Fromme life has an inherent tendency to grow, to expand, to express potentialities. Life has an inner dynamism of its own to grow, to be expressed, to be loved. If what Erich Fromme says is true and it is true, the obvious choice for Indian Society is to opt for an open society. It is the open society that will promote the full expression of man’s intellectual, sensuous and emotional potentialities while close

society will be thwarting these tendencies. And if these tendencies of life is to grow, to expand, to express etc. are thwarted the energy directed towards life undergoes a process of decomposition and changes into energies directed toward destruction.

An open society not only promotes individualism, but it will also promote freedom for entire human race. In an open society man is free and yet not alone. He is independent at the same time he is an integral part of mankind. He is aware that he can attain freedom by respecting the freedom of his fellow beings. The open society will remove all the obstacles that retard the growth of individual. This is called negative freedom. It will also promote positive freedom means the full realization of the individual potentialities and to live actively and spontaneously. Question is, the theoretical foundation supplied by the philosophy of Radical Humanism expounded by M N Roy give support to an open society. The answer is ‘Yes’. The main object of Radical Humanism (as I understand) is to promote the growth and happiness of an individual and that should be the purpose of culture and it should also be the purpose of culture to unify the entire human race. At the same time, it does not want to lose any of the fundamental achievements of modern democracy. It wants not only to preserve it; it also wants to expand and develop it further.

The philosophy of Radical Humanism, call it new Humanism or Scientific Humanism is not a speculative philosophy. It has not built its castle in the air. It was founded on naturalistic, based on concrete discoveries of science. It has explicitly rejected speculative philosophy because it will not lead to knowledge and truth but to dream and illusion and denying the very existence of the reality. Radical Humanism is founded on materialist philosophy (subsequently in the light of new physics Roy renamed as physical realism).

Materialism insists upon dealing with concrete and real things and does accept any hypothesis that can be verified by subsequent empirical knowledge. It is unlike religious metaphysic that is based on

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assumption and unverified hypothesis. To borrow Roy’s phraseology, the materialist philosophy (Physical Realism) is the only plausible philosophy because it maintains that physical universe is accessible to human reason and knowledge acquainted through reason, helps to rebuild harmonious and happy social relation. While religious philosophy binds man to illusions and unverifiable beliefs that enslaves him and thereby kills the instinct of curiosity - a foundation of knowledge. The instinct of self-preservation, curiosity and exploratory drive are means to acquiring knowledge and these are the main governing factors of the entire process of the evolution of human society.

Late Ellen Roy and Late Sibnarayan Ray wrote in their joint venture ‘In man’s own Image’ that Radical Humanists consists in recognizing man’s potential ability to reshape his circumstances in considering the happy and harmonious development of the individual as the final aim of human activity, in recognizing science and reason as the most dependable means for the attainment of that aim and for the realization of his creative potentialities. In considering institutions, morals laws and social constructions as no more than instruments to ensure maximum freedom and welfare to larger and larger members individuals.

Philosophy of New Humanism is organically related to day-to-day endeavors of common man for better social life. It will never become academicals and soon gets attenuated. New Humanism is a cosmopolitan commonwealth; as such it will not be limited by the boundaries of the national state.

New Humanism appeals to an individual and not to crowd or mass. Because man in crowd or mass behaves as if he has taken a large doze of intoxicated drug and he becomes a victim of hard poisoning. Such man will never appreciate finer points of liberating ideas that emancipate him. New Humanism wants to dissect mass or crowd into individuals so as to make him aware that he is a

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thinking human being.

The Radical Humanist is the founding member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Its Board has defined humanism as a democratic, non-theistic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have rights and responsibilities to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It rejects supernatural views of reality.

Roy had defined the Radical Humanism as an effort to create condition under which true democracy is possible. That there must be conscious and integrated efforts to stimulate among the people, the urge for freedom, the desire to rely upon themselves, the spirit of free thinking and the will never to submit to any external authority by exchanging their freedom for the security of the slave. A New Renaissance, based on rationalism and cosmopolitan. Humanism is essential for democracy to be realized. Such an atmosphere will foster intellectual independence dedicated to the cause of human values triumph. Man should never become just a marionette of the forces of Providence. He is an archetype of society because he has an inherent potential capability to evolve new social pattern.

Individual can unfold his inherent potentialities with the cooperation of other individuals.

Therefore preservation and evolution of society are necessary for that purpose. This individual freedom is not incompatible with social responsibility.

Radical Humanism is democratic and scientific humanism being based on natural science, by its very nature is an unfinished and undogmatic philosophy, which is certain to be improved by succeeding generation in the lights of their experiences and new discoveries of natural sciences. It is dynamic and is in continuous process of becoming. This will never stagnate. The chief object of it is to work for the happiness of human life on this earth and within the boundaries of nature, which is his home. It shows truth can become operative in the affairs of man, help to close the gap between thinkers and doers, between

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theory and practice.

While expounding the philosophy of new humanism, Roy categorically rejected all forms of the supernatural as myth. Regarded nature is the only reality, constantly changing system of matter and energy, which exists independently of any human consciousness. It is drawing especially from the laws and facts of science, believes that man is the product of biological evolution, as such part of nature and has no survival after death. It has ultimate faith in man who has the potentialities to solve his problem, through reliance primarily upon reason and scientific method. It rejects all theories of predestination and predetermination and believes that man possess genuine freedom of choice and action, of course subject to objective condition, he is master of his destiny. It holds that man has but one life to lead and should make the most of it in terms of creative work and happiness.

New Humanism’s ideal man is a universal, delighting in every kind of earthly achievements, natural beauties and enjoying his full life in this world.

Radical Humanism affirms that science is the only source to reach truth. The authority of science prevails solely by its intense appeal to reason. It is a piecemeal and partial authority. It does not like the body of religious dogmas; lay down complete system, covering human morality, hopes and past and future history of the world. Science pronounces only on whatever, at the time appears to have been scientifically ascertained. There is yet another difference from religious authority, which declares its pronouncements to be absolute certain and extremely unalterable. The pronouncement of science are made tentatively, on the basis of probability and regarded as liable to modification.

This produces a temperament open to new progressive ideas to be absolved.

Radical Humanism desires a stable social system is necessary but it must ensure that it does not hamper the development of exceptional person’s merit.

Roy founded IRI, whose main intention was to incorporate and associate Research Scholars and original creative thinkers from outside and from his colleagues to take up the task of elaborating comprehensive cosmopolitan humanist philosophy. Roy had visualized New Renaissance as revolution in the thinking of man and woman, changing their attitude in life.

To bring Renaissance, religious mode of thought must be replaced by scientific mode of thought and should never surrender themselves to opportunism and expediency. Secularism and democracy are the values by themselves to be cherished in day-to-day behavior. It must become innate part of one’s character not superfluous demonstration and exhibition.

Objective of Radical Humanism is to make people conscious of the urge for freedom, encourage their, self reliance and awaken a sense of individual dignity, inculcate the values of rationalism and secular morality and spread the spirit of cosmopolitan humanism.

Radical Humanism subscribes to the views expressed by Browsky that we are scientific civilization and it means that civilization in which knowledge and its integrity are crucial, for science is the only other name for knowledge. He had further said that man is a singular creation. He has set of gifts, which make him unique among animals, so that unlike them, he is not a figure in the landscape; he is a shaper of the landscape. In body and mind, he is explorer of nature, ubiquitous animal, who did not but has made his home in every continent. Radical Humanist also affirms that any further progress towards happy world lies in the hands of man.

Radical Humanism does not subscribes to the views that our ancestors had the superhuman vision and absolute knowledge for all time to come, made all provisions for all future age, not subject to change even though it has become undermined by scientific discoveries. Concept of freedom according to New Humanism has a wider

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connotation. It is not limited to political restrain. It includes freedom from economic want and insecurity, freedom form restriction imposed by unfair social customs. However freedom can be sustained if larger and larger majority of the people cherish in their day-to-day life the basic values of freedom, equality and fraternity. Prerequisite to achieve this is mental freedom.

Freedom of a society is to be measured only by the amount of freedom actually enjoyed by its individual members; to what extent are they in position to unfold their potentialities. Progress should be measured to what extent the change has helped the individuals to unfold their potentialities.

Individual is an end himself and society is the means. Progress should not be measured by technological development because it will amount to effacement of the sovereign individual.

Philosophical revolution envisaged by new humanism is the consumption and not the repudiation of greater cultural tradition. It repudiated merely the conservative and conventional dogmatic conception of tradition.

Faith in the supernatural does not permit the search for the causes of natural phenomena in nature itself.

Roy had rightly said, in India battle between religion and science, superstition and reason, faith and knowledge still have to fight. Radical Humanism has taken up this cudgel to lay the foundation of scientific humanism where there is no intermediary between science, reason, knowledge and religion, superstition and faith.

Scientific humanism affirms that the truth could be found out by observation, experiments and coordination. These are the attributes of scientific knowledge. Science is a living thing. Living thing always develops.Numbers cannot decide truth. If it were so, mankind would still be living in caves. It is thanks to heretics and inconoclast individuals who helped mankind to come out of caves.There is fantastic growth of knowledge whose large part of it is lying unused. New Humanism has tried to integrate this knowledge into fruitful concepts and

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to bring into relevance to human life to solve its problems of existence.

New Humanism asserts that freedom is the essence of existence having traced to the process of biological evolution. Therefore society ought to offer the safeguard of free thought, free speech, and free inquiry and tolerance to protect the originality and independence of truthful man. According to Julien Huxley biological evolution has reached a limit and new advance can be brought by psycho-social evolution and it is primarily cultural.

In this phase the human plays the most dominant role and becomes captain of this phase. This confirms the Radical Humanist beliefs that man is the maker of his history.

Roy said evolution from savagery to civilization is not biological but social cultural progress by application of knowledge acquired through human experience, interpreted and regulated by human reason. In this man could not avoid playing a dominant and decisive role and becomes the master of his destiny and he is the chief agent for any further advance. Even survival of all other species depends on what human do and do not do. This includes ecology.

The physical universe is expanding, therefore knowledge would always be imperfect and truth becomes evolutionary always subject to new discoveries of science and human experience.

New Humanism never gave freedom a collective meaning because only individual human can experience life experiences. Only free individual can be free and can form free and moral society.

New Humanism affirms that man is the only biological animal who possesses the creative power and it operates through individual. For them reason is the only guide that will free him from obscurantist attitude.

Humanist never underestimates the capability of common man. He also desires to know, to understand his surroundings and in his own limited means available try to improve his living condition.

Radical Humanism is for the global ethics and all of

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us have a stack in developing a universal moral awareness that will establish harmonious human relation among the entire human race and for it outside nature and man, there does not exist anything.

Burning problem of our time is the problem of lack of morality in social and public life. Therefore, crying need is of moral individuals who can infuse moral sense in public and social life. Historical truth is that external coercive forces like religion and penal code have failed to develop moral sense in human. The question is, can man be moral by himself. As Roy said unless the sanction of morality is found in man himself, the cry for a return to rationality and moral behavior in public and social life will be a cry in the wilderness. New Humanism has established that man can be moral by himself.

New Humanism says that reason can be the only sanction of morality. Because all biological processes and evolution takes place in the context of the physical process, man being evolved during the process of biological evolution, as such he is an integral part of nature, inherits determinism (reason in nature) and thereby reason becomes the property of human being. Rudiment of reason, the ability to connect cause and affect experience is found in lower animals. It can safely be inferred that it must have highly developed in highest biologically evolved human being. Only reason can distinguish what is good and what is bad and regulate the social relations.

Morality emanates from the rational desire for harmonious and mutual beneficial social relations.

Moral values can be traced to biological evolution.

Moral values like mutual aid, cooperation, acquiring knowledge of objective environment, compassion kindness must have been produced during the process of biological evolution because in their absence species would never have survived.

Reason is the property of biological human being developed during the process of biological evolution by interacting with its environment to

strengthen his survival. Morality results from the man’s intellectual response to his surroundings.

Therefore it can be deduced from his innate rationality. Morality has to be normative. Reason alone can lay down norms of morality. Behavior tempered by reason is always consistent. Therefore reason is the only sanction of morality. This is how man can be moral by himself without reference to supernatural or mundane authority. Present scenario – political and economic does not have even potentialities to eradicate exploitation of man by man and his alienation from himself and society.

Eradication of these is the pre-condition for all round growth of man.

Present economic system is based on expanding production for profit. This does not enhance happiness of common man. Again humanist opposes capitalist economic system because it cannot work without alienation and dehumanization of man of flesh and blood.

Alternative suggested by new humanism is economic democracy in all the economic activities.

To achieve this economy has to be cooperative.

Radical Humanism believes that the cause of conflicts would disappear along with poverty, starvation and ill health, if natural resources are managed wisely and distributed fairly among all nations and individuals within nation.

Simultaneously it is to control the tremendous increase of population.

Radical Humanists have eschewed from scramble for political power because this activity cannot prosper without debasing man merging him in masses. Not the crowd but an individual can grasp the basic tenets of humanism. In India we have a fake democracy because of vast unbridgeable distance between rulers and the ruled. To prevent democracy reducing to mobocracy and mockery, democratization of knowledge is the crying need.

Only knowledgeable citizen will help to develop true participative effective democracy. The welfare development and dignity of human individual is the only yardstick by which socio-economic and

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political progress should be measured. It should now be regarded as immoral to leave any human individual below certain physical and material welfare and developments.

Under representative democracy, the individuals are atomized. This has increased their helplessness and insecurity. However it does provide freedom of expression and therefore it should never be destroyed. It needs to be developed into organized democracy based on pyramidal structure advocated

by Roy. This amounts to decentralization of state political power that will facilitate people to participate effectively in administration of state.

It is a historical fact that neither religion nor nationalism has developed a common code of behavior and standard of human values to unify the entire human race. On the contrary they have divided human race into antagonist religious faith and national identity and poured deadly poison of enmity into the veins of human race, thereby unity of entire human race become next to impossible.

We therefore, must turn to science of biology and biological evolution only means available to us to unify entire human race. Biology indicates race feeling is not genetic. It is acquired habit and can be discarded by acquiring knowledge of biological evolution.

All living organisms are of the same species because they are evolved continuously from single ancestor that was the first living cell. In support of this Fritgot Capra in his book ‘Turning Point’, wrote that life on earth began around 3.5 billion years ago and for the first two billion years the living world consisted entirely of microorganisms.

During the first billion years of evolution, bacteria – the most basic forms of life – covered the planet with an intricate web metable processes and began to regulate the temperature and chemical composition of the atmosphere so that it become conducive to the evolution of higher forms of life.

Plants, animals and human are latecomers on earth, having emerged from the microcosm less than one billion years ago.

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According to E.G. Nesbot, one of the central discoveries of molecule biology is that all organisms are related. Almost all organisms built proteins out of the same ominoacid and all the organisms have the same code to translate their information stored in nucloicid into proteins. This code is universal genetic code shared by all life.

The implication of this is that all life descended from a single organism.

The universality of genetic code is important evidence that all life shares single origin. The fossil record also supports it. Despite many variations that exist in different regions, all human beings share almost identical genetic inheritance.

Biological evolution suggests that we all share common distant ancestors. From this it can safely be inferred that only the idea of biological evolution is the only available means to unify the entire human race inhabiting our planet. Therefore, it should become a key subject in educational curriculum because biology is the necessary basis for understanding us nature and man’s place in nature. Why biological evolution to become the central core of any educational system, because it is the biological evolution that links inorganic nature with organic life.

In short New Humanism wants man to be the Captain of his ship and every man is an absolute end in him and it is a crime against human dignity to use him as mere means for same external purpose. The ideal of Radical Humanism is not something to be realized in distant future but it is to be lived here and now and to be growingly approximated and to educate people by example.

New Humanism maintains that the world in which we live is not a vale of tears and devilish. It is the scene of beauty, intense living and feeling happiness without recoiling in supernatural beings and divine authority. One and all must have an opportunity to develop their inherent potentialities.

Radical Humanists are heretics and iconoclasts and also atheist. Only this line of thought will save India from obscurantism.

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Swaraj Sengupta

[Dr. Swaraj Sengupta is a celebrated author, editor and linguist from West Bengal. His latest book is— ‘Nationalism, Rabindranath Tagore & Manabendranath Roy’ published by the Renaissance Publishers, Kolkatta]

Justice and Freedom communities may exist to realise Different different values, and states too may be based on a variety of values. But states are necessarily concerned with justice and freedom, and to that extent are restricted in the decisions they may take.

We can contrast the ideals of justice and freedom with that of democracy, from another perspective; they are complementary, and indeed almost constitutive of it. Decisions may be taken democratically not only in virtue of who takes them but of how they are taken and in what frame of mind. A democratic decision is one taken after full and fair discussion in which all sides of the question are examined and everyone with anything to contribute has been allowed to have his say. And again, a decision is arrived at democratically if those taking it have taken into account what had been said and are trying a reach a reasonable consensus with which everyone can agree. The ideals of justice and freedom are thus not only inherent in the concept of the state but also crucial to our being able generally to identify with the decisions taken by the state. We can scarcely be said to participate in decisions merely on the 31

grounds that they have been reached in conformity to the canons of justice and freedom, but we are willing to acknowledge them as ours on these grounds alone. Only thus in a large modern state can the bulk of the decisions be deemed democratic in the original sense of the word. And the more the decision-procedures conform to the requirements of justice and freedom, in a substantial sense, by the people concerned.

Justice and freedom are both concerned with the individual, but in different ways. Freedom addresses itself to the question- Who shall take the decisions? And answers- “The person most concerned”, whereas considerations of justice apply not to the question of who should take the decisions but to how they should be taken and in what frame of mind. The definitions of justice given by Justinian and Aquinas- a long-term steady determination to give each man his due- attempt to characterise the frame of mind; the practice of lawyers has been more concerned with the procedure: they insist that both sides of the case be heard, and that decision against anybody’s central interests- deprivation of life, liberty or poverty by way of punishment- be reached only in virtue of some definite laws being clearly applicable by reason of indubitable proof from firm evidence. In reaching decision there should be a certain dispassionate tenderness towards individuals.

Decision contrary to the interests of members of the community shall not be taken unless … How we fill out the ‘unless….’ depends on the sort of decision being taken and the sort of objection being made.

For an issue of justice to arise, the objection to the decision has to be based o nits adversely affecting some interest, of a more or less exclusive kind, of some assignable individual or corporate body.

We can see why we need justice. Each of us has interests of great concern to himself, but not normally or naturally of great concern to other people. A few may sympathise if they hear that my life or my job is in jeopardy, but they will not bestir themselves very much. And therefore, in the absence of special provisions to the contrary,

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interests of exclusive or primary concern only to isolated individuals, however much they mean to the persons concerned, will be swamped by public indifference. But, since we all are vulnerable, we all understand the danger. Since each men’s interests are important, some vitally important, to him, and since interests are what each man can assume other men to have, we have good grounds for a rational, sympathetic concern with the interests of each. In our present culture, we almost instinctively coalesce to ensure that the life and liberty of each of us is given the protection of judicial process. We identify with other men, which is easy to do since we all have an idea of what life or liberty means to a man, and we are wise in so doing, because we all are better off if nobody is unjustly treated, even though it may cost us a certain amount in blood-pressure or effort in making other men’s interests a matter of common concern.

We think of justice as being rational, and so it is, but only imperfectly. It needs to be rational, because only so are we justified in harming another man’s interests, and only so can we hope to reconcile him to our adverse decision. But often, as elsewhere in practical reasoning, there are weighty arguments on either side, and it is a difficult matter to decide where the balance lies, or to pick on any one as sufficiently compelling to justify deciding against an individual. But we must decide one way or the other. If we are to be able always to reach a decision, and will decide only for cogent reasons, then we must enhance the cogency of some arguments by enshrining them and attributing to them peculiar strength. We therefore use legalityrespect for conventions properly promulgated- to eke out justice, remedy its unclear parts and ambiguities, and enable it to serve its social purpose of always yielding definitive decisions in disputes. Although we may differ, and there may be no way of resolving our differences, so long as we are considering only the merits of the two sides of the particular case in isolation from everything else, we do not consider only them. Life is not lived in a vacuum, and although it is a requirement of justice

that case should be decided on their merits and not for some extraneous reason, yet the cases are, and must be, construed in context, and given specific content in the light of current assumptions and previous decisions. The rule of precedents, that like cases should be decided alike, not only is a formal requirement of rationality, but also constitutes a material supplementation for the decision of individual cases. Once it is known that we have struck the balance between one man’s right and another’s in a particular way, it defines the right and gives it more specific content for the future.

Rights need to be specified. We have to specify how far they extend in the face of conflicting claims by others, and lay down, in many cases, where there is right on both sides, which shall prevail. People then know where they stand. Within wide limits any arrangement is just provided it is clearly understood and freely accepted. Within the range of different arguments from justice, we may agree to give priority to one, and override others. And this agreement or convention not only acquires a certain utility but, because it is independent of the parties to a particular dispute and is publicly ascertainable, has some of the marks of justice too. Convention, either involved in the course of deciding particular cases or explicitly adopted by legislative process, can specify, and even sometimes constitute, justice.

Many modern thinkers have gone much further and made out that justice is nothing but convention.

That cannot be true. Some decision can be seen to be flagrantly unjust without any appeal to other cases or special enactments.

Laws themselves can be criticised as unjust. And, in deciding, how laws, themselves generally unobjectionable, should apply to particular cases, we are constantly appealing to general considerations of justice. We should not see legality as supplanting justice, but as supplanting it.

We need conventions, in questions of justice as well as elsewhere, because we are imperfectly rational agents operating in conditions or imperfect information. Laws give us the guidance we need.

But not any laws. Some laws could be downright

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unjust, and many are less apt than they need be for the job of specifying how justice is to be achieved.

Much as authority generally is valuable because it gives definition to political action, but does not itself constitute the political good, and can be criticise, or even in extreme cases rejected, if it fails to serve the welfare of the community, so legality is valuable as giving practical definition to our ideal of justice, without thereby replacing it. it imports a certain rigidity into the law, and can lead to harshness or unfairness. But the general principle of specifying justice in the form of specific rights is fair enough, and is the only way in which those ideals can be realised in a world of finite and fallible human beings.

Justice engenders one form of participation.

Although, as we have seen, it is not always specified in the procedural principle that those whose interests may be affected have a right to be heard, it commonly is. Only by giving a chap the chance to challenge the case against him do we manifest a real reluctance actually to decide against him. Hence, as we shall see in the next chapter, it is on justice that one of the best and most insistent arguments for participation is based. Often, in practice, these arguments shade into ones based on an appeal to freedom. This is because many of the more peripheral interests of an individual are difficult to identify or characterise under an exclusive description. Even at the extreme, however, where a man is simply interested in politics, and has some opinions of his own public affairs, issues of justice arise, which have a bearing on how decisions should be reached and in what frame of mind we should take them. We owe it to each man as an individual to respect his right to think for himself, we should be doing him an injustice, as well as denying him political liberty, if we forbade him to ventilate any views on politics, or systematically and invariably shut our ears to them. Our concern for the rights of minorities is founded partly on the principle of justice, and we import this concern into our understanding of the word ‘democratic’, which requires not only that the 33

people shall decide, but that they shall do so only subject to certain procedural safeguards and only in a certain frame of mind.

There is some opposition between the ideals of justice and freedom, but not an absolute one. It is not an absolute one, because freedom is more about who shall take decisions while justice is about how, and in what frame of mind, they should be taken.

Freedom and justice can be combined, if the decisions are made by those immediately concerned, as required by freedom, and if they make the decisions in the right manner and in the right frame of mind, as required by justice.

Justice, although important, is not enough. It manifests concern for the individual, but is too impersonal to give scope for the full development of the personality. If individuals are to fulfil themselves as individuals, they need freedom. And freedom, as much as justice, is an ideal to which the state is necessarily to some extent committed.

Freedom is a great ideal, but an exclusive one. It is of central importance because we are autonomous agents who have values we want to translate into action, both individual and corporate. Freedom is a necessary condition of moral activity, and indeed of being a rational agent. Only if the state has some concern for the freedom of its subjects can they be expected to identify with the state or feel beholden to obey its edicts; and we impute to the state an obligation to cherish freedom on the same basis as we impute to subjects an obligation to obey the law.

We therefore believe that only a free society is a good society, and that it is the function of law and political activity generally to enable people to be as free as possible. But, while we are very sure that freedom is a good thing, especially when we do not have it, we find it very difficult to say exactly what it is, or to give positive examples of when we really feel that we are free. Some thinkers respond to this by concluding that freedom is altogether illusory, others by defining freedom in a certain way and standing apt on that definition.

Contd......‌

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Teacher’s & Research Scholar’s Section:

Capital Inflows: Challenges of Monitory Policy

By Mahendra Mishra* has come a long way ThesinceIndianit Economy adopted the policies of

Also, capital inflows impact upon domestic money supply through accumulation of net foreign currency assets with central bank. Rising liquidity situation forces central bank to follow high tight monetary policy which leads to credit starvation of domestic productive activities. High economic growth and resultant flow of funds in to the country put pressure on domestic currency to appreciate.

Thus, excessive capital inflows may adversely affect exports and lead to rise in imports, and thereby rising current account deficits.

In the emerging scenario of large and uncertain capital inflows the choice of instruments for sterilization and other policy responses have been constrained by a number of factors such as the openness of the economy, the depth of domestic bond market, the health of financial sector, the health of public finance, country’s inflationary track record and the perception about the credibility and consistency in macroeconomic policies pursued by the country.

Thus capital inflows create several special problems for the conduct of monetary policy. The sizable capital inflows in India in the recent years have caused currency appreciation. The Reserve Bank of India has been intervening in the foreign exchange market for buying foreign exchange. It has been sterilizing money supply by selling bonds.

This has increased interest rate on domestic assets and thereby given rise to a “Quasi Fiscal Cost” These are some of the important issues in the conduct of monetary policy in India in current context. Management of capital inflows poses important monetary policy challenge of managing the current transition of Indian economy to higher growth path, while containing inflationary pressure and macroeconomic imbalances along with financial stability.

liberalization, privatization and globalization at the beginning of the 1990s. There has been an impressive increase in growth rate along with low inflation rate. Further, policies have been designed to reduce fiscal deficit. There has been impressive improvement in the health of the external sector, since the balance of payments crisis of early 1991.

It is this strong underlying macro economy that is attracting global investment in India.

The sharply rising capital inflows are, however, causing major concerns in Indian economy under liberalized foreign exchange transaction regime since 1990-91. There has been significant change in the composition of capital inflows. Dependency on aid has reduced, while foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign portfolio investment (FPI), external commercial borrowings (ECB) and non resident Indian (NRI) deposits dominate the capital inflows.

External capital can supplement domestic savings and stimulate economic growth. International borrowing and lending enable countries to neutralize fluctuation of income and attain growth with stability. This improves welfare. However, for developing countries the impact of capital inflow depends on the volume and type of capital inflows.

Excessive increase in foreign portfolio investment causes currency appreciation and contraction in output. Similarly, an increase in foreign direct investment may lead to increase in income, if it also leads to technology transfer and if crowding in Dr. Mahendra Mishra is Assistant Professor in Economics, Dept. of Economics, K.J. Somaiya effects is strong enough.

College of Arts & Commerce, Vidyavihar, Mumbai- 400 077.

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Ravi Shukla

Social Security of the Construction Workers in Mumbai Contd. from the previous issue.....

Political Status: Politically they are insignificant for any political group. A large number of them are immigrants came from Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, West-Bengal and other states. Hence they are not formally registered as a voter. Therefore, unlike other caste and religion based communities, they are not treated as a vote bank. It is a mockery of democracy, that the group which does not represent any vote bank is always ignored by the political parties and politicians eyesight, including Communist parties. Therefore, these workers should be given right to vote at construction site only. Their participation in local politics will leads to their political empowerment. Even, famous philosopher J.S. Mills has also talked about “Qualitative representation.” That, minority, scholars or such persons who are very useful for the society and polity, should be given nationwide representation. People across the nation can vote for them to substitute their minority status. In Mumbai over 90% of construction workers are rural migrants, and over a third of all rural migrants work in construction. The construction industry is not only particularly important, but is also different from other industries in its pay and labour recruitment practices. In common with other rural workers, construction workers have been suffering

from various problems, including delayed payment of salaries and exclusion from urban social security schemes, and lifestyle. The rural construction workers in Mumbai are exposed to all sorts of problems from not being paid for their work in time to miserable living conditions, from having to pay for their own healthcare to no savings for old age (Bingqin Peng) Social Security of Women Labourers: Women are the most vulnerable class in India. In the Indian constitution, Article 23 and 24 (i.e. right against exploitation, trafficking in human beings), which are under the heading ‘Fundamental Right’ and Article 39 clauses (e) and (f) (that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength; and that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment).

Article 43A Participation of workers in management of industries: The State shall take steps, by suitable legislation or in any other way, to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, establishments or other organisation engaged in any industry. The heading ‘Directive Principles’ of State Policy are covering the rights of women and children. To understand the reality more authentically, it is worthwhile to examine briefly the numbers of women employed in construction and the conditions under which they are employed and their career promotion etc. The number of female construction workforce is given below: [In the year 1961 there were 3.00 lakhs female and 17 lakhs male in 20.00 lakhs total construction workers.

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In the year 1971 there were 2.00 lakhs female and 18 lakhs male in 22.00 lakhs total construction workers.

In the Year 1981 there were 3.60 lakhs female and 32.40 lakhs male in 36.00 lakhs total construction workers.

In the year 1991 there were 4.00 lakhs female and 51.00 lakhs male in 55.00 lakhs total construction workers.

In the year 2001 there were 7.00 lakhs female and 69.00 lakhs male in 76.00 lakhs total construction workers.]

(Source: as per the census bureau of India records noted in, women construction workers Construction workers federation of India) But their class consciousness is very low amidst themselves. The traditional mind set of male domination is very clearly evident among the construction workers. Majority of them are illiterate so the women suffer exploitation everywhere, right from home to the place of work.

It is a matter of shame for this financial capital that, there is no social, economic, physical and political protection for these downtrodden women. First, they suffer within family, where, after working at the construction site these women come back home of temporary shelter very late in the evening.

Unlike women men go to gambling dens and liquor shop while women cook food and take care of the children.

Their earning is taken away by their male family members, who spend it on liquor gambling etc. often these women are sexually exploited by the employers, contractors, local police and goons.

There is no end to their suffering. Their cries fall on deaf ears because they are not significant entities of society and their concerns do not interest a media that craves for celebrity gossip and voyeuristic news.

Literacy Rate: During the field visit pertaining to present study, it was learned that, the construction workers are semi literate or illiterate. The inferences were collected 36

from 100 construction workers from different parts of the city, like Fort, Kalina, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Andheri, and Chembur to name a few. The literacy rate among these workers is as follows: Literates who could read write and and sign were 5%. Semi-literates who could read and only sign in their mother tongue were 76%. Such illiterates who could only sign were 13%. And 6% were complete illiterates.

Source: Based on personal interaction with construction workers at different sites.

Those who belong to the literates’ category often get the job of Meth (chief/ leader) among the workers, rest of the laboureres are totally or partially dependent on him. One such labour P. Durai from Tamil Nadu told that, “Workers have nothing to do with the rules and regulations; it is us (Meths) who mediate and negotiate between the contractors and labourers.� So, here the Meth plays key role, often for his personal gains, he misleads the labourers on behalf of the employers.

Moreover, the social security of the daily wages construction labourers can be understood from their economic, social and political status in the society.

Conclusion: There are number of models of providing social security to the workers in the unorganised sector.

These may be classified as under: Centrally funded social assistance programmes.

Social insurance scheme.

Social assistance through welfare funds of Central and State Governments, and Public initiatives.

To conclude, I would like to stress upon the crux of this problem, that there is a major crisis in the philosophy, the reality, and the very notion of development which, instead of being a process to create conditions for self-reliant, sustainable communities, has become simply a project.

(Kothari, Miloon: 2009.) So if the civil society take up their issue like, pension, house building loan, medical assistance, Children education assistance,

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maternity benefit, accidental Compensation etc. hand in hand, then the real empowerment of this most exploited and weaker section will be possible.

Finally, my paper would deal with the changing social attitudes and dominant value system, which is a key factor behind neglecting the plight of the construction workers. Does civil society ever think, that the houses, roads, bridges they are using have come up due to the efforts laid down by those workers who are still homeless, unsafe, uneducated and without any legal protection from the state?

Annexure. I Source: The notice of minimum wage of the different state Govt. Conunents-minimum wage declared by the State Govt. are not being Paid where there is no Union.

Bibliography: 1. Bingqin Li Huamin Peng: ‘The Social Protection of Rural Workers in the Construction Industry in Urban China’ 2. Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1832), The Principles of Morals and Legislation, Utilitarianism, Publisher: Hackett Pub Co, UK. 3. Construction workers federation of India, 4. Kothari, Miloon(2009): Selected Essays from Development in Practice Introduction A Development in Practice Reader, Series Editor:

Deborah Eade Oxfam GB, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK. 5. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 6.Mill, John Stuart (1861): From Representative Government Chapter VII, “Of True and False Democracy; Representation of All, and Representation of the Majority Only.” Originally published in the February/ March 1998 issue of Boston Review 7.Mumbai Mobile Crèches, 8.http://labour.nic.in/dglw/building_works.html (2 of 3) [09/04/2010 5:58:06 pm 9.Pratham NGO: Children on construction sites, the report published.

10. Sen, Amartya (2000): Social Exclusion, quoting -Silver (1995), p. 60. See also Gore and Figueiredo (1997) and De Haan and Maxwell (1998), Published by the Asian Development Bank P.O. Box 789, 0980 Manila, Philippines.

11. Washington Post (2008): As the New India Rises, So Do Slums of Laborers, By Emily Wax, Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, October.

[Mr. Ravi Shukla is Asst. Professor, Political Science, at R.D. National & W.A. Science College, Bandra (W), Mumbai- 400 050. Mo. No. 9920338468. Email: ravircdd@gmail.com]

Dear Friends, Please do not send articles beyond 1500-2000 words. Also, inform whether they have been published elsewhere. And, please try to email them at rheditor@gmail.com instead of sending them by post. You may post them (only if email is not possible) at C-8 Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India. Do also email your passport size photographs as separate attachments (in JPG format) as well as your small introduction, if you are contributing for the first time. Please feel free to contact me at 91-9719333011 for any other querry.

—Rekha Saraswat

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Book Review Section:

Dorothy North

[Ms. Dorothy North is an attorney and writer living near San Francisco, California. She is the widow of Professor Robert C. North of Stanford University, who, with Xenia , was the co-author of M.N. Roy’s Mission to China, published in 1963 by the University of California Press:— (danorthstanford.edu)] [BOOK:The Case for God, by Karen Armstrong Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, 406 pages, ISBN 978-0-307-26918-8]

The Case for God may be surprised to see a review Readers of Karen Armstrong’s book, The Case for God, in The Radical Humanist. But, as open-minded seekers of understanding of all points of view, it would seem that we have nothing to fear by considering a book which, at first glance, may seem anathema to secular humanists.

The title of the book, no doubt useful for marketing purposes, is misleading insofar as it suggests the promotion of religion. Armstrong does not seek to direct the reader toward any religious belief. To the contrary, she reveals her own profound skepticism about any god-belief. Moreover, she is scathingly critical of religious orthodoxy, and brings legitimacy to her position by the fact that she entered a Catholic convent at the age of seventeen –

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against the strong opposition of her parents. In her 2004 book, The Spiral Staircase, Armstrong describes how the seven years of her convent life left her, if not broken, then profoundly damaged by the stifling narrow-mindedness she encountered in the cloister. She describes herself now as agnostic, and follows no orthodoxy of any kind, other than her scholarship. The Oxford-educated Armstrong distinguishes herself from the run-of-the-mill writer on religious subjects by displaying more than the average layman’s understanding of scientific principles and methods, and by declaring full acceptance of the scientific basis of Darwinism and evolutionary science.

Although The Case for God has been promoted as a counter-argument to books such as Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion, Armstrong does not present it as such; this is a continuation of her investigation into the history of religious – and anti-religious – thought which she has pursued over her thirty-odd-year writing career. Moreover, Armstrong expresses a high regard for Dawkins, referring to him as “a brilliant scholar.” Although she does not devote much space to the subject, it is clear that Armstrong agrees fully with Dawkins to the extent that he challenges the validity of teaching so-called “intelligent design” as the part of any scientific curriculum.

The book lays out the history of religious – and anti-religious – thought from primitive and atavistic practices to present day religious views.

She traces the ascendancy, decline and reappearance of various strains of thought over time. Among these strains, Armstrong includes atheism as a legitimate, recurring theme.

Armstrong argues that at the center of human existence is the desire for a sense of meaning and purpose which reason alone cannot always provide.

The primordial question is: Why is there something rather than nothing? The author suggests that anyone who fails to appreciate the gravity and urgency of this question – or anyone who quickly dismisses it with a glib answer – fails to understand

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the dilemma of human existence and the vast history of mankind’s struggle to resolve it.

Central to Armstrong’s argument is the charge that both Dawkins and his detractors share the intellectual flaw of literalism, which, in the case of the atheist, leads to the assumption that the only legitimate approach to the human dilemma is the logic of the scientific method. This approach rejects what is offered by much of the humanities, including art, literature and poetry.

Likewise, religious practitioners fall into the trap of literalism by failing to appreciate religious narrative through the lens of myth and symbolism.

Another flaw of Dawkins, according to Armstrong, is the assumption that the current strains of fundamentalism seen today are representative of all religious thinking over the centuries, and that fundamentalism is all that religion has to offer. By reference to historical record, Armstrong documents in the history of religious thought a strong element of uncertainty, which acts as a counter to fundamentalism.

Atheism, Armstrong charges, supposes that everything can be explained by reason. This, according to Armstrong, is a naive view of humanity, lacking in historical perspective. She would have us consider that rationality has its own limits, especially when it comes to a discussion of god-belief. To this extent, she rejects the atheists’ assumption that their thinking is the product of a one-way, progressive, goal-driven process, and that god-belief is a mistake of evolution. Armstrong points out that Darwin’s work is based on the assumption that biological evolution is not linear and does not lead to greater good or a higher order.

She challenges Dawkins’s assumption that atheism is “a necessary consequence of evolution” and that the religious impulse is simply an evolutionary mistake, a “misfiring of something useful,” or an unevolved position. The author counters that evolution is simply an adaptation to environmental changes and stressors and that evolution does not move us to anything “better” or “superior.” And

since evolution does not lead in linear fashion to anything inherently better, the proselytizing atheists do not exemplify the precision, objectivity and impartial examination of the evidence that is characteristic of the scientific rationalism they claim to represent.

To the vast majority of people, atheism is, at best, unsatisfying and, at worst, so challenging as to be inflammatory. To this extent Armstrong regards atheism as an elitist concept. Only those of superior intelligence have access to the clarity of thought compelled by atheism. Armstrong also suggests that the new atheists fail to compel readers to face up to the pointlessness and futility that result when people lack the means of creating a sense of meaning. “They do not appear to consider the effect of such nihilism on people who do not have privileged lives and absorbing work.” In other words, her charge is that the impulse to rid the world of all religion is a form of intellectual arrogance.

One cannot declare a truth, Armstrong claims. It has to be demonstrated in terms that touch human experience. In this context, she throws her lot in with the poets and artists, for whom logic and reason are tools that are inferior to symbolism and myth.

No atheist is likely to be transformed into a believer after reading The Case for God, nor will any believer become an atheist after reading The God Delusion. One might then reasonably ask what the point of these books is, other than to generate hefty incomes for publishers and authors.

But here is where Armstrong makes her strongest points, which both believers and atheists alike would do well to take to heart: Choices of religion and atheism are personal convictions with ample historic precedent. But state atheism - as was the case in the former Soviet Union - and state religion - as was the case under Mussolini - are equally flawed concepts. It is a mistake to think that either religion or atheism is an adequate basis for public policy.

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Armstrong also cautions that the harder we push on fundamentalists, the more entrenched they become.

“Our world is already dangerously polarized, and we do not need another divisive ideology. The history of fundamentalism shows that when these movements are attacked, they nearly always become more extreme. The atheist assault is likely to drive fundamentalists to even greater commitment to creationism, and their

contemptuous dismissal of Islam is a gift to Muslim extremists.”

In the end, people want betterment of their condition, not preaching. To quote the French philosopher Jacques Derrida: “Since no absolute certainty is within our grasp, we should, for the sake of peace, hesitate to make declarative statements of either belief or unbelief.”

An Obituary:

Harikrishna Purohit is no more Mr. Harikrishna Purohit breathed his last on 15.06.2010, after bravely facing serious illness for about two and a half years. Throughout his life, he had led a straight-forward, simple but cheerful life, enduring bravely all odds. He was a Radical Humanist and led his life as a true Radical Humanist without making a show of it. From his early childhood, he rose to eminence as a renowned Advocate for the down trodden and the needy by dint of courage of conviction, will to fight against injustice and to lead a righteous life.

He had participated in the All India strike of non-gazetted central Govt. employees for their legitimate demand in the year 1960 without caring for Govt. job he was holding as an employee of Postal Department. During his service as a Govt. employee, he had continued his study and when he had passed M.A. and L.L.B. Examination, he joined Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur (Rajasthan). As an employee of the University, he had continuously been assisting the members of the staff who needed his help. And for his right of promotion, he had to virtually wage a legal war against the University. Even though he had not entered the legal profession by then, he ultimately, after litigation spread over a period of about a decade, succeeded in getting his due be approaching the Supreme Court for his entitlement to the post of Assistant Registrar of the University. His keen study of law and right approach to get controversial issues settled, made him virtually an Advocate much before he formally joined the Bar in the year 1993 or 1994 after he resigned from the University.

He had started taking a keen interest in the Radical Humanist and PUCL activities about the year 1962.

He was closely associated with us till his death on 15.06.2010. In the year 1990, in the month of June, he had taken the initiative of organising a Radical Humanist Conference in which important Radicals of Rajasthan took an active part. He was deeply involved in the Radical Humanist movement, and had attended conferences at Dehradun, Kolkata, Jaipur, Bombay etc. He had been the Secretary of the Radical Humanist Association, Jodhpur, for about twenty years.

On the fateful day i.e. 15.6.2010, when I happened to be at Jodhpur, I just enquired about his health but was shocked to learn that he had passed away only a few minutes before. It will be difficult to fill the void caused by his death.

- B.D. Sharma

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