June 2010 rh

Vol. 74 No 3

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THERADICALHUMANIST (Since April 1949)

JUNE 2010

Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)

The Market Economy & Contemporary Crisis —Amlan Datta Spiritual Materialism–A case for Atheism —Laxmanshastri Joshi Liberty, Terror and National Security State —Yogendra Mankad Supreme Court for Aam Admi? And why not?

483 —B.K. Chatterjee The New Renaissance — Elaine Friedman Global Warming & Development —Shishir Kant Jain Census-2011; Earth Day; Tharoor Episode; Fiscal Stimulus —N.K. Acharya

M.N. Roy

Founder Editor

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The Radical Humanist Vol. 74

Number 3

June 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

Download and read the journal at www.theradicalhumanist.com

—Contents— 1. From the Editor’s Desk: Is Humanism averse to Environmentalism?

—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: Liberty, Terror and National Security State —Yogendra Mankad 7 Supreme Court for Aam Admi? And why not?

—B.K. Chatterjee 13 Global Warming & Development —Shishir Kant Jain 16 The New Renaissance — Elaine Friedman 23 4. Current Affairs: Census-2011; Earth Day; Tharoor Episode; Fiscal Stimulus —N.K. Acharya 25 5. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: Shashtipurthi (60 years) of Secularism in India —Innaiah Narisetti 27 Our Criminal Justice Administration System Needs Drastic Changes —Mahipal Singh 29 6. Student’s & Research Scholar’s Section: Dayananad Saraswati: A Liberal Humanist?

—Harshita Sharma 7. Book Review Section: Edelweiss, Edelweiss …

—Dipavali Sen 8. Humanist News:

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Editorial Note:— Is Humanism averse to Environmentalism?

The three most influential terms of philosophy that shook and changed the modern world were materialism, liberalism and individualism. The three most outstanding phrases that followed these idioms as natural corollaries were humanism, atheism and agnosticism.

The one word that seemed to be missing from this conglomeration was environmentalism. Why? The reason was simple. The need was not immediately felt!

Man began his fight with the ‘tyrant’ to gain control over his own destiny. Thus, came Liberalism. And what followed was Individualism! Man began his tussle with the ‘cleric’ to gain freedom from his control. Thus, came Humanism. And what followed was Atheism, Agnosticism! In both these circumstances man had been dealing directly with another man and not with his environment.

In both the situations the two instincts that man used to conquer over his mediaeval past were his ‘reason’ and his ‘rationality’. But, while on the one hand, these two faculties became his main support in gaining independence from the shackles of worldly authorities that had enslaved him so far; on the other, they also helped him in discovering and exploring the universe surrounding him. His relentless and continuous efforts in investigating his environment to find rational and logical answers to all his questions and curiosities which he had till then tried to quell in faith and superstitions helped him reach this level of enlightenment and progress. Thus, came Materialism. And what followed were Science and its inventions!

And when he tried to apply these two instincts and mental faculties of reason and rationality to his personal and social life what followed was a Humanist code of Ethics devoid of any supernatural intimidations!

So while on the hand, man was trying to first compete and then make peace with his fellowmen realizing well his need and desire to co-exist with them, he was simultaneously trying to utilize his environment to his benefit to the extent that he 1

could. He was neither trying to compete with it directly nor to make peace with it indirectly because he felt that nature would always be there to co-exist with him and he need not make any extra efforts to preserve it and protect it. And thus, he did not find any necessity to formulate an Environmental code of Ethics.

While on one side, human mind invented medicines and medical treatments to prolong human life it polluted the environment, exploiting (non-human) living beings, the flora and fauna, causing their untimely and unnatural death and destruction.

While human intelligence devised technology to bring the whole world-community as close as possible through various ways of transport and communication it destroyed the normal balance of natural resources on this Earth. Man began to use science not to understand nature, but to destroy it, first unintentionally, and later deliberately.

And, because humanists have been accused of selfishly prioritizing human safety and security above every thing else, they became the first and main targets to be blamed in promoting this crime against nature. They began to be misjudged on their loyalty by people like David Ehrenfeld who wrote in his book, The Arrogance of Humanism that humans try to use everything for themselves on this Earth and are indifferent to the needs and security of other live forms causing irreparable environmental imbalance, dilapidation and damage in the process. But, how could humanists, out of all people, support any misbalance in that environment which helped the very tenets of their ideology to develop, survive and thrive? In fact, humanists were the first amongst those who raised an alarm against the torturous use of nature’s resources.

They were the pioneers in campaigning for the preservation of biodiversity and the protection of natural ecosystems in every possible way. All humanists are intrinsically environmentalists because they know that no super-natural power or divine force will come to ameliorate their plight once total damage is done to the natural resources on which they live and flourish. Therefore, for the sake of its own existence, Humanism can never be averse to Environmentalism. — 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).]

The Military Factor: ne special factor which has further complicated the situation in many countries is the growth and persistence of militarism. There is a widely accepted view that trade breeds war. There is some truth in it, but that is not the whole truth. It is not just commercial calculations, but the untamed force of a surviving feudal spirit, which has fuelled militarism and wars even in contemporary history. The major part of the trade of the developed countries is among

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themselves and this trade rarely gives rise to war. It is trade between developed and underdeveloped countries that more usually leads to hostile confrontation. The more developed (and, therefore, the more powerful) country has been often tempted to use force to remove obstacles to trade in the less developed country. Or two developed countries, rushing to gain control over an undeveloped country may fight with each other. Quite often, war so started cannot be strictly justified by cool rational calculations. The trader’s instinct and reasoning would counsel compromise. But history is not made by reason alone. Either “groundless jealousy”, an excess of the animal spirit, or a lingering legacy of feudal aggrandizement and hankering for glory often carry the day. Here again, it will be interesting to consult Adam Smith, who could not be accused of being hostile to commerce.

In the Wealth of Nations, in a chapter on colonies, Smith wrote: “To prohibit a great people from making all that they can…or from employing their stock and industry in the way that they judge most advantageous to themselves, is a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind…those prohibitions…are only impertinent badges of slavery imposed upon them, without sufficient reason, by the groundless jealousy of the merchants and manufacturers of the mother country”. Smith’s stricture, conveyed in the clause “without sufficient reason” should command attention.

In fact, we are confronted herewith a major dilemma of modern economic history. The market economy has promoted enterprise and revolutionized industry. Industrialism has brought within the grasp of man unprecedented material power. The pursuit of power has strengthened totalitarian tendencies, corrupted reason and deformed enterprise. The market economy, unaided by higher ethics cannot cure that deformity. Also a number of other complexities, which deserve separate notice, have overtaken us.

Where do we go from here? It was not the intension of Marx to deny the importance of the economic and cultural achievements of the bourgeois

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civilization. But, in the Third World, Marxism-Leninism, propped up by the temporary worldly success of a particular brand of socialism, helped promote, in alliance often with militant nationalism, a contempt and denigration of those achievements. We have, indeed, to pass beyond the legacy of the past. But we have to learn and preserve what is of real value in that legacy even as we strive to push beyond.

Swearing by a higher form of democracy, some critics of the market economy succeeded only in installing a new brand of authoritarianism, its evident failures now mocking its high pretensions.

We are leaving behind a century of revolutionary illusions and disillusionment. But there is no golden past to which the world can return. In the second part of the essay, we try to look ahead and get some ideas about the nature of the forces that will shape the future.

II Among the major components of the global economic crisis, pride of place should go to the military factor. But it has been further aggravated and complicated by several other forces and factors. Let us see how.

During World War I, the German economy effectively introduced a system of central planning, which John Maynard Keynes specially commented on at that time and the Bolsheviks found worth copying after they came to power. Between militarism and the market economy there has always been a strained co-existence. This is because the militaristic perception of national priorities does not coincide with the normal tendencies of the free market economy. It is true that the state can alter the outcome of the working of the market by massive intervention on behalf of military establishments. But even so additional controls become necessary which the market economy can neither gladly accept nor lightly discard.

At this point, the experience of the Cold War deserves some brief comments. For four long

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decades the super powers and, in truth, many lesser powers too, maintained levels of defence expenditure which are appropriate only to a time of war. But since it was not real hot war except very locally, it was difficult to introduce controls of consumption and make them acceptable to the people. The resulting imbalance showed itself in different ways in different countries.

In Japan, where the military expenditure on the whole was held at a modest level, the strain was not great. In the U.S.A. a stream of innovations, amounting to a new industrial revolution, helped raise labour productivity, and yet the combined impact of high military expenditure and a high tide of consumerism became factors which contributed to budgetary deficits and an adverse balance of payments of a disturbingly large magnitude. For the Soviet Union, the strain of massive military expenditure, unmitigated by a sufficient volume of technological innovations in consumer-goods industries, and, in fact, heightened by the inherent weaknesses of an administrative command economy, became increasingly unbearable.

Third World Problems: In India, a high level of defence expenditure, strong import-oriented consumerist habits rampant among a rapidly expanding new middle class and low levels of efficiency in the public sector particularly have combined to generate an economy of growing deficits and chronic inflation. With present levels of defence expenditure and administrative inefficiency, deficits cannot be removed; with large fiscal deficits, inflation will continue; and with persistent inflation, the market cannot play its proper role. A reduction in the external value of the currency cannot mend the situation if the erosion of its internal value continues unabated. So the basic factors of imbalance have to be attended to. There are problems for which the remedy has to be sought outside the market economy even if the aim is to help the market perform its proper function.

Besides militarism and the cluster of perplexities mentioned above, there are other problems too

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which, though less spectacular, have yet an important bearing on the question of how our society and the economy ought to be managed and organized. Let us now consider some of them.

Looking at the contemporary crisis, one can distinguish between two principal sets of problems.

In one set belong those problems which arise out of conflicting interests within a nation or a group of nations. In the other, belong those conditions which

imperil the common interests of the whole of mankind. The importance of this second set, as we will note rather more fully a little later, is growing day by day more than ever in the past. However, the more exciting and influential theories of the last century have stressed conflicts of interest either within a nation or between nations, between the “haves” and the “have-nots”.

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

Important Announcement Seminar on “Radical Humanism and its Relevance” The Indian Renaissance Institute (IRI) is organizing a Seminar on “Radical Humanism and its Relevance” on 26th June 2010 (Saturday) from 10 am to 5 pm at Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi.

The Schedule is as follows: Morning Session 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

10 a.m. - 11.30 a.m. — Basic Principles of Radical Humanism 11.30 a.m. - 1 p.m. — Crisis of Indian Democracy - Terrorism, Communalism, Maoist Movement 1 a.m. - 2 p.m. — Lunch Afternoon Session 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

2 p.m. - 3.30 p.m. — Crisis of Indian Democracy - Corruption, Growing Poverty, Liberalization and Nuclear Weapons 3.30 p.m. - 5 p.m. — Relevance of Radical Humanism in the present Context Those of you who wish to present papers on any of the above topics may kindly send your papers to me by 20th of June 2010, so that I may make arrangements for their circulation amongst the members and invitees who will be coming to attend the seminar. You may send the hard copies of your papers to me at the following address: N.D. Pancholi, Flat G - 3, Plot 617, Shalimar Garden Extension- 1, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad (U.P.) 201005 or email them to me at: azadpancholi@yahoo.com Kindly come in large numbers and participate in the seminar to make it fruitful. For further information regarding boarding and lodging, please contact me at my mobile 09811099532.

—N.D. Pancholi, Secretary IRI

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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 this month 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

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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.”

Preface (The Original Introduction by the Author) r. Y.G. Joshi had requested me to write a book for the philosophical discussion series on the subject of atheism. I said to him that the discussion on atheism is not of much value without discussing the philosophy of materialism.

Atheism and materialism are two different sides of the same subject. Materialism is the affirmative or positive side and Atheism is the contrary or negative. Therefore, I may be able to write a book on atheism only as the other side of the philosophical discourse. He agreed with me. A negative side depends only on the positive side in any discussion. When the affirmative philosophical tenets of materialism are correctly understood in its definitive descriptive mode, then only atheism lends itself to automatic validation. Once a person who grasps the intellectual position of materialism or the philosophy of science, he will not be able to find the ground for god, in his rational mind. I will have to say that it will be inconsistent, either with

M

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other well-defined thought-systems or it will be only a relic of traditional faith system.

Unless the reader is familiar with the elemental systems of philosophical analysis and scientific methodology, this essay will not be understood well. For example, the first 38 pages are devoted to epistemology. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent or validity. One also needs some familiarity with the Eastern and Western logic which is a study of the principles of reasoning i.e. the methods of reasoning through deduction and induction. If a person has not the slightest background in these subjects, he will not be able to estimate their importance or value in the following discourse. We wish to inform the reader at the outset here that almost 25 pages contain discussions based on the topics of biology and physiology.

In the chapter on atheism, we have given an eight part synoptic overview of both the Western and Eastern arguments in favour of the existence of god. It is possible to include a few more or a few less arguments. In connection with the nomenclature used by us to name these arguments, we should mention that different philosophers have

used various other designations to name them.

This essay is kind of an introduction to the theory of materialism. The theory of materialism is extensive. Even for a succinct presentation of the theorems of mutual relationships between matter and energy and life and soul, one is required to take into consideration all the disciplines of knowledge, man has developed. Competent individuals adequate for this task have not yet begun formulating such discourses in Indian languages.

This fact is an indicator of our ignorance, which is extensive and dense.

Our progress in India is facing obstacles in the absence of the philosophy of materialism. Unless materialism makes its entry into our field of thinking and literature, our mental sluggishness will not vanish. Intellect that cannot comprehend materialism is frigid. Theoretical materialism alone is capable of ending slowness and blindness in our social intelligence and action. Theoretical materialism gives a powerful support to the creative actions and thinking oriented by knowledge. Without it, social injustice and human bondage concealed under the beautiful cover of theism will not face judgment before the court of pure reason.

To be continued..............

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Guests’ Section:

Yogendra Mankad

[Prof. Yogendra Mankad retired from the Dept. of Political Science, Gujarat University. His area of interest is Western philosophy since the Enlightenment and recently he has completed an eleven part audio-video series on Enlightenment for the UGC for post-graduate students for its country-wide classroom programme. Since his retirement in 2004 he is involved in free-lance teaching and writing. He may be contacted at B/1, Pushpam Flats, St. Xavier’s College Corner, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad – 380 009; Phone: 079–26444410]

Liberty, Terror and National Security State as to whether liberty comes Thefirstdebate or security is perhaps as old as the beginning of organised human life itself. However, historically speaking, there appears to be a consensus on the part of most people in favour of security vis-à-vis liberty. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the unlamented demise of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe marked the end of the struggle for ideological supremacy between America and the Soviet Union since the end of the Second World War. The changes that have occurred since have been so profound in terms of content and issues and the global configurations of power and politics have undergone such twists 7

and turns that this debate is made to look, as it were, more and more irrelevant as security has become both an overriding value and concern.

The post-Soviet world has thrown up a most bewildering variety of problems, one of them being a sustained onslaught on liberty in the last few years. The whole debate on liberty and security, therefore, has rekindled the old dilemma because of the happenings in the last two decades or so At a time when talking about security in critical terms might be interpreted as a sacrilege, some of the ideas in support of liberty perhaps, would seem to swim against the prevailing view about it according to which when it comes to the question of security of a state or a nation, everything else should be sacrificed at its altar. In this context there is also a need to bring into discourse the notion of what has come to be known as the “National Security State” and the argument is that if states with a claim to being liberal democracies were to succumb to the pressure being externally generated by violent acts of terrorism and if that process were to continue uninterrupted, there is a distinct possibility of liberal polities morphing into national security states with all the sinister implications. It is symptomatic of the times we are living in; in that what was until recently believed to be largely a settled issue in regard to liberty for a long time has suddenly become a matter of intense debate. The important question is: regardless of the eventual fate of terrorism, is a national security state a desirable state of affairs? Given its infinite capacity to steamroll everything that comes in its way into conformity, a national security state, as is known, by its very nature is a great ‘leveler’ and its working can spell all kinds of problems in terms of preservation of the most cherished liberal value of liberty along with equality, justice and human dignity. These constitute both the ethical core and cover of a liberal polity and as a cluster these values represent its immune system. It also has to be said that the world is passing through extraordinary times, even exceptionally troubled times as a result of the changes that have taken place in the last two

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decades or so and the challenges they have thrown up are world today whose central value, among other almost unheard of before. These problems, inter alia, things, is liberty are under severe pressure of facing

include the problems of climate change, the ever intensifying problem of ever depleting non-renewable sources of energy, the divisive effects of globalization in terms of its beneficiaries and losers, the almost intractable problem of social justice and so on. However, in terms of sheer reach and complexity of it all, the problem of global terror has perhaps no parallel in history. But it’s not just the horror of it all that everybody is most concerned with. That concern, perhaps, is something which is being shared by all in equal measure. The point is that from the point of view of its possible implications for liberal values like freedom of thought, speech, expression, dissent and so on – in short what is being understood by the term Liberty – it is of vital importance.

It is also equally important to note that the modern world is passing through times in which some of these time-tested values that have shaped visions of a civilized society are being subjected to the severest possible test today. As we are all aware, taking recourse to extreme forms of resistance to perceived injustice is not something new. History is replete with examples of individuals and groups resorting to different forms of violent resistance including armed rebellion and revolution to get justice. However, what sets the modern-day terror especially the Islamic terror for instance - apart is the fact that (a) it is both ubiquitous and nebulous (b) it claims to offer or represent an alternative vision of society, culture and politics and (c) by its very nature it is both atavistic and exclusionary.

Other forms of terrorism like Naxalism in India for instance, are driven by ideology-born utopia. The all important purpose behind this, however, is to undermine and if possible, throw overboard the existing system and replace it with a system that is believed to be more just.

II In the context of the topic mentioned above the main argument is that most liberal societies of the

up to the threat of terror both from within and without. From the liberal perspective there are two dimensions to this: (a) in western liberal democracies there exist groups that seek to undermine the system either under the pretext of preserving their cultural identity or religion or both while enjoying or taking full advantage of the protection that the liberal system affords them as rights-bearing citizens. (b) The second type of pressure is externally induced by international terror groups like Al-Qaeda and allied outfits that look upon the west as the ‘hated other’.

The most disquieting thought is that the concerned liberal governments also tend to think that the best way to deal with terror is by dismantling some aspects of civil liberties.1 Now, we all know that civil liberties exist to protect individuals and groups from arbitrary use of state power or illegitimate coercion by the society at large.

Unfortunately the fact of the matter is that in almost all liberal democratic countries, governments have found civil liberties to be a source of great inconvenience, if not outright impediment at times, to say the least. One possible reason could be that the task of dealing effectively with potential perpetrators of terrorist violence – monitoring, arresting and prosecuting – becomes difficult because of the existence of civil liberties. However, it is equally important that civil liberties be given due respect, both in theory and practice because it is also the duty of a government to protect people most of whom are essentially law abiding citizens.

As a matter of fact this is where a non-democratic/non-liberal (authoritarian or a totalitarian variety) state differs from a liberal democratic state.

Phenomena like Auschwitz and Gulag immediately come to mind.

The sinister implications of this for liberty are quite clear.

The most important fact to note, however, is that the liberal societies the world over are facing a wholly different kind of challenge and this 8

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challenge/tension comes from within: it is, in a basic sense, self-inflicted. As mentioned before, this challenge from within is externally induced through violent acts of terrorism which, according to an extremely influential opinion has assumed the status of an outright civilizational war. In this context, the most prominent is the Huntingtonian thesis2 that there exist what he calls civilizational fault-lines between civilizations because of the values they espouse and at some point a conflict between them is inevitable. Accordingly, there exists a basic incompatibility between western Enlightenment modernity, especially the humanist liberal values that it gave birth to on the one hand and the Islamic values on the other and the clash between the two is inevitable. Huntington also predicted that if a clash to the finish were to take place, it would be between Christianity and Islam.

Similarly, Late Prof. Bat Ye’or extends this thesis further and maintains that these fault-lines lie within Europe itself!3 Her argument is that Europe, by wittingly or unwittingly making compromises with the legacy of time-tested Enlightenment values is slowly hurtling towards a geopolitical reality characterized by cultural Islamization of Europe instead of secularization of Islamic groups or communities. As a matter of fact there is a strong body of opinion which firmly believes that what is happening in the middle-east and elsewhere is nothing but concrete manifestations of the civilizational clash. The debate over this is still raging in world fora. Besides, whether or not this is true would depend on one’s perception about religion, culture, ways of life and so on but the point to note is that it is not terrorism per se that matters as much as the pressures exerted by different forms of radical conservatism which are in polar opposition to liberal social values. This is characterized by violent fundamentalism which represents the avant garde of the `anti-liberty current blowing across the globe at present, so to speak. However, one of its possible objectives is to weaken or even inflame moderate opinion at home into greater activism. In fact most religious 9

fundamentalists know that they cannot overthrow a liberal democratic system no matter how hard they try. Their strategy generally, therefore, is to cause as much damage as possible to the system and attempt to drive it to a point so as to completely undermine the legitimacy of the system itself. The horrendous incidents of 9/11, London underground bombings, Madrid train bombings or attack on Mumbai and various other places in India are a case in point. Prof. John Gray4 mentions a very perceptive point in this respect. He refers to Konrad Lorenz’s novel “Secret Agent” in which the Russian agent is asked to destroy the observatory at Greenwich because the cherished belief at that time was science - in this case physics - and the observatory represented the most visible symbol of it. Today it is perhaps economics. Therefore when Al – Qaeda attacked and destroyed the twin towers of WTC and Pentagon, it actually tried to destroy three most cherished American beliefs – universality of American capitalism, ubiquity of American power and domination and its self-proclaimed invincibility. The chief aim of a terror group is to attack the ruling myth of a society that is either historically inherited or one that has emanated from its presumed achievements. In this case it is the myth of the universality of western modernity. Destruction of Buddha statues in Bamian in Afghastanistan is another case that exemplifies this. Obviously no civilized society can accept this. But it is equally important that the liberal dispensation is defended which militant fundamentalism by its very nature opposes.

III That terrorism is a very serious threat and needs to be effectively countered hardly needs to be debated. But from a liberal point of view, more worrying is the fact that as far as the pressures are concerned, the chief culprits seem to be governments and security apparatuses of the democracies with claims to being liberal democracies themselves. As a matter of fact, as is known, some western governments have even undertaken military adventures abroad in the name

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of improving security at home. The attack on Iraq by the US and the UK is a case in point where in the name of destroying the weapons of mass destruction purportedly possessed by Saddam Hussain and making democracy a liberation theology, western security interests were sought to be protected.

Now, from a liberal point of view, one of the significant implications of this so-called `war on terror’ is increased surveillance and control of society in general in the name of preventing crime and catch the criminals more efficiently. A mere Mention of some of the terror-related laws in US and UK for instance would demonstrate this.

Anti-terrorism laws in U.K. since 1997 include:(1) Terrorism Act 2000 (2) Anti-terrorism and Crime Act 2001(3) The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (4) Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 (5) Terrorism Act 2006 (6) Identity Act 2006 (7) Counter-terrorism Act 2008.5 Civil liberties and U.S. “War on Terror”: (1) From 2002 onwards millions of US citizens were assigned a `terrorism risk score’ without their knowledge. In the later part of the year AT&T began construction of secret surveillance facilities, closed to all but authorized staff, at its main operation centre.

(2) The Congress was informed in December 2002

by Assistant Attorney General William Moschella of the government’s illegal use of data-mining electronic surveillance. Moschella justified it on the ground that the country was facing an emergency.

(3) In October 2005, President Bush signed an Executive Order 13388 authorizing the FBI to collect data on US citizens without their knowledge, greatly expanding the US government power to store and collect data on private individuals.

(4) On 6th December President Bush had a conversation with senior New York Times personnel asking them to suppress news story about illegal wiretapping. When this failed, he

acknowledged, on 17th December the use of such wiretapping and accused the press of undermining national security efforts by reporting illegal surveillance.

Another major example of the misuse of surveillance-related footage is the Eugene McCarthy era in the US in 1950s when even a genuine criticism of the government policy was a suspect and such people were constantly shadowed, persecuted, branded and prosecuted. The external stimulus for this was being provided by Cold War that was looming large on the horizons all the time.

Subsequently there was a huge outcry against this and with that a period of veritable witch-hunt came to an end.

India also has had its fair share of such laws like MISA when internal emergency was imposed on the country in seventies, In the 1980s it was POTA and subsequently we have anti-terrorist acts like MCOCA and GUJCOC which is yet to receive the presidential assent and so on as it, that is India, also is a also perceived to be a victim of domestic and externally abated terrorism.

This is not all. The government’s task is greatly facilitated by unprecedented and breath-taking advances in technology related to surveillance.

Thanks to these advances, ubiquitous CCTV cameras and monitoring of mobile phones, biometric identity cards, email or other such electronic traffic, bank-account transactions, it is lot easier for governments to today to keep a constant watch or keep under microscope movements and activities perceived as inimical to security interests while the government itself remains in the background.6 In this context, one is reminded of Foucault’s Theory of Surveillance: the Panopticon. The Panopticon (“all-seeing”) functioned as a round the clock surveillance machine. Its design ensured that no prisoner could ever see the `inspector’ who conducted the surveillance from the privileged central location within the radial configuration. As Foucault says in his

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book “Discipline and Punish”,7 “The purpose of the Panopticon is to induce a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. The apparatus is meant to create a power-relation independent of the person who exercises it. This power should be visible and unverifiable. Panopticon is machine for dissociating the see/being seen dyad: in the peripheral ring, one is totally seen, without ever seeing; in the central power, one sees everything without ever being seen.” As he said famously, “One of the functions of power is to create docile bodies and normalized subjects.” This is sought to be achieved through a panoptic system of CCTV cameras, biometric card and so on.

IV There is no denying the fact, as mentioned earlier, that the problem of terrorism cannot be underestimated and yet curtailment of liberty perhaps is not the best way to combat it. It is a known fact that the terrorists try to frighten their victims into self-repression, making the victims do their own work in the process, namely, force the powers that be to get a different kind of orthodoxy imposed.8 So curtailment of liberty in the presumed self-defence amounts to handing over the victory to terrorists on a platter without any further cost to them. The cruel irony of it all is that the money for all the technologies required for this new and universal system of surveillance and tracking has to be coughed up by those who could also be its potential victims.

The claims of security are too readily allowed to override those of civil liberty. So much so that as Benjamin Franklin had said “the means of defence against a foreign danger historically have become instruments of tyranny at home.”

There is another important fact which must be noted in this respect. Many governments the world over are seriously considering the idea of introducing what are known as biometric card system which presumably would enable a government to keep a tab on `undesirable’

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elements. There is commercial angle to this also.

Obviously there are powerful business interests at work who hope to make billions out of it. As mentioned earlier, this is precisely the kind of situation that a national security state would be most happy about. A word, therefore, as to what is a national security state is like is as follows : National Security State It must be stated in the beginning that a national security state is not a theocratic state in which the legitimacy of the system comes from religion.

Neither is it an ideological state in the sense of being either a communist or a fascist one as both were, as systems, pathologies of modernity. As a matter of fact a national security state may or may not be a pathology because it functions within the trappings of a constitutional polity but it often titters dangerously and precariously at the edge of a liberal dilemma of being forced to opt for an illiberal instrument for protecting liberty. A national security state, therefore, generally lacks accountability of law enforcing agencies.

Secondly, there is a progressive lurch towards expanding the jurisdiction of executive with a resultant judicial atrophy. Thirdly, secrecy in its operations becomes slowly and imperceptibly more pervasive and often attempts are being made to nudge media into falling in line with the state’s dictat. Besides, under a national security state the line between patriotism transmuting itself into national chauvinism is very thin. Similarly a national security state is more prone to mobilizing national resources for perceived security threats rather than development that would benefit people.

It is noteworthy that religious denominations of various hues maintain a convenient silence when it comes to taking a critical stand over values in public life. This perhaps is more pronounced in India than in the west. This a strange kind of neutrality which causes more harm than good as far as public domain is concerned. A national security state seeks to drill only one idea into the public consciousness that the country is in a mortal danger of being overwhelmed by a perceived enemy – in

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this case terrorist groups - and the country is at war with him. American “war on terror” clearly demonstrates this. The logical corollary is that the state targets individuals and groups who, rightly or wrongly are suspected to have been indulging in activities that are perceived to be “inimical to the security interests” of the state. No wonder this is sought to be dealt with through ever intensifying and expanding surveillance.

The central point is one of principle: it has to be constantly borne in mind that the freedom of the individual is a precious and hard-won value against religious orthodoxy, dead weight of the tradition and authoritarianism which these measures corrosively attack. That there is not enough awareness about it at the level of civil society should be matter of concern for us.

References:

1. Grayling A. – Liberty in the Age of terror – Bloomsbury – London – Berlin – New York – 2009 2. Huntington Samuel – Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order – Simon & Schuster – 1998 3. Ye’or Bat – Eurabia : The Euro-Arab Axis – Fairleigh Dickinson University Press – 2005 4. Gray John - Al-quaeda and what it means to be modern - Faber & Faber - 2003 5. Grayling A. – Liberty in the Age of Terror – Bloomsbury – London- Berlin – New York – 2009 6. Ibid.

7. Foucault Michel, - Discipline and Punish, the Birth of the Prison – Vintage Books – New York – 1991 8. Grayling A. – Liberty in the Age of Terror – Bloomsbury – London – Berlin – New York

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B.K. Chatterjee

[Mr. Bimal Kumar Chatterjee is Senior Advocate & Barrister and Chairman, Bar Council of West Bengal, India.]

Supreme Court for Aam Admi?

(Common Man) And why not?

Judicial process and its accessibility: One of the most fundamental cardinal socio-legal principles of any civil society is that one must not take recourse to remedying his grievances against others on his own taking law in his own hands. And law means a code of conduct established and enforced by the sovereign authority of the country binding all equally. He is thus expected to have faith in and obedience to the ‘judicial process’ irrespective of how just is that judicial process.

Judicial process must mean and include a legal process available and accessible to all equally through which one can seek redress to his grievances which is to be made available by the sovereign authority. Existence, availability and accessibility to judicial process is a sine qua non (precondition) to any true democratic political set up which must be easily accessible to each and every person living temporarily or permanently under the said sovereign authority. And that is why since our independence one of our constitutional jigirs (vow) has been that our socialist sovereign secular and democratic India at any cost must make the judicial process accessible to each and all easily. The expression ‘easily’ must also 13

necessarily mean and include least effort and expense. With that object in view the constitution of ours has in its Part V Chapter IV and in Part VI Chapter V and VI made provisions for establishment of Supreme Court as Union Judiciary and High Courts and Subordinate Courts as State Judiciary to dispense with justice through judicial process. Besides Supreme Court, High Courts and Subordinate Courts the sovereign authority in its judicial prudence has from time to time established large number of tribunals which are nothing but courts assigned to deal with specific kind of disputes. In addition there are also gram-nayalay etc. to deal with petty disputes arising in village. All these courts, tribunals etc. can be bracketed as ‘adjudicating authorities’ and the Supreme Court from the point of judicial hierarchy is the apex judicial body to supervise the judicial works of all other in the country. It is the last resort of all aggrieved litigants. And that is why the Supreme Court is said to be infallible as there is none above to supervise its judicial work.

The Constitution of India has made the Supreme Court the last judicial appellate authority i.e.

(Article 132, 133, 134, 134A). It is the last resort of all those remaining aggrieved of any injustice said to have been meted out to them by adjudicating authorities subordinate to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court however has also certain areas of original jurisdiction meaning thereby that there are certain proceedings which can be first initiated before the Supreme Court (Article 131).

Proceedings either in its appellate jurisdiction or in its original jurisdiction in the Supreme Court can be fairly and substantially divided into two categories e.g. (a) Constitutional matters involving issues of constitutional provisions and their interpretations to decide the conflicting rights and obligations, and (b) non-constitutional matters involving mostly disputes arising between two or more private parties without involving or involving considerably less interpretations of constitutional provisions.

In Supreme Court statistically non-constitutional matters far outnumber the constitutional matters

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and that too because of the provisions of Article 136 of the Constitution which empowers the Supreme Court to exercise discretion in granting special leave to appeal from any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any court or tribunals.

And because of disproportionate number of special leave petitions under Article 136 delay in dispensation of justice in Supreme Court has become inevitable. Hearing of the appeals admitted by the Supreme Court for adjudication take back seat causing alarmingly huge backlog of pending cases. Being dissatisfied with the result of the adjudication by any High Court (highest court of the State) the aggrieved litigants approach the Supreme Court for grant of special permission to appeal to Supreme Court. The enormity of the number of such special leave petitions may also have a legitimate reflection on the quality of adjudication made by the highest courts of the states. Irrespective of quality of the adjudication a party may nonetheless be unhappy with the order of adjudication. Accessibility to the judicial process must necessarily include the accessibility to the Supreme Court as well. It is true that none is denied from such accessibility but what is for all practical purposes being denied is easy accessibility. But unfortunately the seat of the Supreme Court exclusively remaining in Delhi (Art 130) a litigant of Trivandrum, Kerala being dissatisfied with the adjudication order of the highest court of the State may not be financially and circumstantially in a position to pursue his remedies before the Supreme Court in Delhi by reason of sheer enormity of costs and expenses involved. In addition availability of time is no less a factor involved standing in the way of easy accessibility. From costs of travelling to the costs of high fees to engage a Supreme Court lawyer has caused a very serious deterrent effect on otherwise aggrieved litigant. It is not that the people in India are litigants by nature and there may also be genuine cause or causes of grievance. But circumstances prevent him from approaching the Supreme Court as a court of last resort.

Circumstances favourable and unfavourable have created an unintended classification of litigants e.g. those who can afford to approach the Supreme Court and those who cannot. An undesirable but inevitable classification of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in justice administration system is being experienced in the country. For “Aam Admi” (the common man) the Supreme Court has for all practical purposes remained inaccessible.

Some alarming statistics: It is said that in 1950 only 1215 cases were instituted in the Supreme Court out of which 1037 were admission matters of all kinds and 178 regular matters. In the same year only 525 (491 admission matters and 30 regular matters) matters were disposed of leaving 690 matters pending. In 1989, 1990 and 1991 the pending cases crossed over one lakh. In 2008 only between January and April as many as 28,007 cases wee instituted. Inspite of disposal of 28,559 matters (more than those instituted) 46,374 cases were pending in the Supreme Court showing accumulation of cases pending disposal. The Chief Justice of India informed that as on 1st March, 2007 there were 41,078 pending cases. And this is so inspite of the number Judges being increased from bare 7 in 1970 to 31 in 2009 The way out: Then What? The justice administration of the country has not remained oblivious to the issue.

The issue has from time to time been addressed both by the Law Commission as also by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice.

Law Commissions are constituted from time to time by the Government of India, Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs to make recommendation to face and improve the justice administration system. The Tenth Law Commission in its 95th Report made a proposal in 1984 recommending that the Supreme Court of India should consist of two Divisions namely, (a) Constitutional Division entrusted with matters of

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constitutional law and (b) Legal Division entrusted with other matters. It was also recommended that the judges are also appointed to a particular division.

The Eleventh Law Commission in its 125th Report (1988) recorded that although the Government of India on couple of occasions sought opinion of the Supreme Court of India for setting up a Bench in the South but the proposal did not find favour with the Supreme Court. The Commission suggested that if the Supreme Court is split into Constitutional Court and Court of Appeal or Federal Court of Appeal, no serious exception could be taken to the Federal Court of Appeal sitting in Benches in places North, South, East, West and Central India which will considerably reduce costs.

It is not the Law Commission alone but also the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice has in its very many reports {2nd, 6th, 15th, 20th, 26th and 28th (2008)} repeatedly suggested that in order to promote speedy justice being made available to the common man Benches have to be established in Southern, Western and North Eastern parts of the country. The Parliamentary Standing Committee also in its various reports expressed its dissatisfaction with the persistent opposition for establishing such Benches. The Committee’s recommendation is based on the fact that it is not possible for the people living in far-flung and remote areas to come to Delhi for seeking justice.

The Eighteenth Law Commission was constituted in 2006 appointing the Hon’ble Dr. Justice A.P. Lakshmanan as its Chairman which in its Report No.229 submitted on 5th August, 2009 has once again recommended that: [1] A Constitution Bench be set up at Delhi to deal with constitutional and other allied issues.

[2] Four Cassation Benches be set up in the Northern region/zone at Delhi, the Southern region/zone at Chennai/Hyderabad, the Eastern region/zone at Kolkata and the Western region/zone at Mumbai to deal with all appellate

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work arising out of the orders/judgments of the High Courts of the particular region.

The Tenth Law Commission in its 95th Report had opined that for effecting its recommendations amendment of the constitution would be necessary.

The Eighteenth Law Commission has recommended that in order implement its aforesaid recommendation if it is found that Article 130 of the Constitution cannot be stretched to make it possible the parliament should enact a suitable legislation/constitutional amendment.

The implementation of the recommendations of the Eighteenth Law Commission has been opposed by the highest law officer of the country, the Attorney General Vahanvati and also by the Chief Justice of India for reasons best known to them. There is also an opposition in the air put up by the vested interest, namely, the Supreme Court lawyers. The Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal affairs has not yet expressed its views, nor has taken any step to implement the recommendations. Although both the Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Chairperson of UPA Government Hon’ble Smt. Sonia Gandhi have expressed their grave anxiety for the need of speedy justice delivery but till date neither has come forward to impress upon the concerned who must all participate to implement the above recommendations for serving the Aam Admi better and more effectively. It is not too late in the day for all concerned to resolve to take concerted action to remove the impediments that stand in the way of implementation of the recommendations which action has been pending since long to the utter detriment of the poor people at large. If the recommendations are implemented most of the great disparity between ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’ will be redressed in justice administration and delivery in the country. The implementation of the recommendations may not bring the judicial process at the door step of ‘Aam Admi’ but may be made available in their neighborhood.

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Shishir Kant Jain

[Mr. Shishir K. Jain is M.Tech. (Synthetic Drugs & Fine Chem.), IIT, Kharagpur; Ph.D. (Chem.), Dept. of Chem. Tech., Mumbai Univ. (1966). He performed his post doctoral research work at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio for Prof M.S. Newman (1966-67) and Prof M.L. Wolfrom (1967-69). He was responsible for setting up a bio-gas plant on commercial scale, based on the distillery waste, for the first time in India at Pungaon. He retired as Chief Executive (Tech.) of Cellulose Products of India Ltd, Ahmedabad. He worked on the electoral reform and municipal solid waste management at Centre for Civil Society, New Delhi (2003). shishirkantjain@rediffmail.com]

Global Warming & Development over the world are worried Theaboutpeopletheallharmful effects of global warming which may assume a catastrophe in the near future. The melting of arctic sea ice and shrinkage of glaciers on the Himalayas are alarming signals. The arctic sea ice and the glaciers are considered to be the natural thermostat that controls the temperature of the earth from rising.

Many scientists believe that if the earth surface temperature were allowed to increase by 3 degree C there would be one-meter rise in the sea level. If this happens it is not difficult to visualize that it would result in disappearance of hundreds of sea

island nations and flooding of world large seaports, affecting millions of people. Moreover, the global warming would affect the climate adversely. The weather would become erratic and events like cyclones, storms, droughts etc would be more frequent in the coming years. The agriculture would suffer and yields would be poor resulting in great misery and suffering of the people and animals.

Green House Effect & Global Warming: The atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet earth that is retained by its gravity. The atmosphere protects life on earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases.

Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor which is on average around 1%. The global warming is attributed to the growing concentration of the green house gases (GHG) in the atmosphere.

GHG are gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydro fluorocarbons, per fluorocarbons and sulphurhexafluoride. Out of these gases carbon dioxide and methane is the main contributor to global warming. Water vapours and clouds also have a very high percentage of green house effect. However the green house effect of the clouds is mitigated by the changes in earth’s albedo. According to NASA the overall effect of all clouds together is that the earth surface is cooler than it would be if the atmosphere has no clouds.

Water vapours can change its phase to liquid or solid. There is cooling as water evaporates and kinetic energy is released when it condenses. For example, the release of latent heat by formation of rain drives atmospheric circulation, clouds vary albedo levels and oceans provide evaporative cooling that modulates the green house effect down from estimated 670C surface temperature.

Greenhouse effect is a warming of the lower

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atmosphere and surface of a planet by a complex process involving sunlight, gases, and particles in the atmosphere. This effect is enhanced with the upcoming of modern industry in mid-1800. The greenhouse effect is so named because the atmosphere acts much like the glass roof and walls of a greenhouse, trapping heat from the sun.

It is believed that the atmosphere reflects toward space about 30% of the energy of incoming sunlight. The atmosphere absorbs about another 30% and the remaining nearly 40% reaches the earth’s surface. The earth’s surface reflects back towards space about 15% of the solar energy it receives. The remaining energy heats the lands and seas. The warmed lands and seas then send most of the heat back into the atmosphere, chiefly as infrared rays and in evaporated water. When the rays from the land and sea strike certain substances in the atmosphere, such as greenhouse gases and particles, those substances absorb the rays. As a result, the gases and particles are heated. They then are cooled by sending out infrared rays of their own. Some of the rays go into space. The remainder radiate back toward the earth’s surface, adding to the warming of the surface layer of air. Without the natural greenhouse effect, the average temperature of the earth’s surface would be about 330C colder than it is now.

The greenhouse effects that are caused by human activities are known as the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. This is contributed mostly by increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Carbon dioxide is produced by fossil fuel burning and other activities such as cement production and tropical deforestation.

Carbon dioxide concentration has increased from about 313 ppm in 1960 to about 383 ppm in 2009. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the concentrations of most of the greenhouse gases have increased. For example, the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by about 36% to 380 ppm, which is 100 ppm over modern pre-industrial levels. The first 50 ppm increase took place in about 200 years, from the start of the industrial 17

revolution to around 1973; however the next 50 ppm increase took place in about 33 years, from 1973 to 2006. The elevated carbon dioxide levels contribute to additional warming.

The nature has provided a balance of concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Human and animals breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide while plants use carbon dioxide in the presence of sunlight and release oxygen. As long as this balance is maintained, there is no problem. However, when the fossil fuels like coal and petroleum products are burnt, carbon dioxide is released. Since emission of carbon dioxide by burning the fuel is immediate and its absorption by plants is a slow process, the equilibrium in the nature is disturbed and the concentration of carbon dioxide is increasing in the atmosphere day by day.

The demand of the fuel is increasing to an alarming proportion and there are not enough plants and vegetation to take care of the released carbon dioxide. Moreover, the enormous quantity of carbon dioxide is also produced by burning of agricultural waste, wood, twigs, leaves, paper, cotton and other organic compounds. Both carbon dioxide and methane are emitted from municipal solid waste dumped in the landfills, municipal sewage, rice paddies, animal and human excreta on the open land etc. Since cattle and sheep form a very large population in the world, they contribute significantly to GHG emission. The carbon dioxide is emitted from industries, transports, cooking and powerhouses etc. The emission of carbon dioxide is in a way index of development or standard of living. A larger per capita emission of carbon dioxide indicates a higher standard of living. It also indicates that developed countries are more responsible for the air pollution and global warming. A handful of 30 rich countries accounts for nearly half the global emission. Just to give an idea, the per capita emission in tons per year, for the year 2004, for USA and India are 20.6 and 1.2 respectively.

Besides the solar energy a significant amount of heat energy is generated by human activities in

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every day life round the clock. It is produced by burning of fuel in powerhouses, transports, industries, cooking etc. It is also produced in accidental fires, forest fires, fire in oil depot, lightening of fire works, explosives, rockets, running of motors and compressors, house hold electrical and electronic gadgets, electrical bulbs, candle light etc. Even the tip of lighted cigarette is about 550C. The heat is produced by mechanical friction e.g.; the car tyres get heated up when it runs on the road or the railway track when a train runs on it. In fact it is difficult to count the events by which heat is produced. They all contribute to the rise of temperature of the earth. It has significantly larger effect locally. Therefore there is always extra heat in the atmosphere and on the earth that has no time to cool off immediately and in the meanwhile it affects the life of people around the source of heat energy. The carbon emission and the amount of heat generated by the human activities are directly proportional to the population of a country and their standard of living. Therefore the retention of heat energy will increase with these factors. It is desired by all the nations to improve the standard of living of their people and in order to achieve cooling, the growth of population should be stopped or reversed specially in the highly populated countries. This is one of the ways of reducing GHG. Carbon dioxide is the most abundant GHG in the atmosphere and is used as a basis to describe GHG emissions. Its effect on health of living beings and plants are more significant and require a more thorough study.

In order to reduce the global warming India endeavours to reduce its carbon emission intensity by 20-25%, USA has committed 17% reduction and China has committed 40-45% reduction by the year 2020 from the level of 2005. The EU has offered to reduce its emission by 20% by 2020 from 1990 level. Carbon intensity or emission intensity is the carbon emission of a country per unit of its GDP. In mathematical terms, the carbon intensity is the total carbon dioxide emission in a year, divided by the country’s GDP in US dollars. It is generally

measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide emission per 1000 US dollars.

In the developing countries like India which are low in carbon intensity at present would require a huge amount of energy in the future for the development and for providing basic amenities to the people e.g., electricity. In India about 400 million people are still without electricity and around 150 million people burn twigs and leaves for cooking. India has to devise methods to reduce the emission without affecting the rapid development plans.

Green Electricity & the Waste Management: Green electricity is defined as power produced from renewable sources. Renewable sources include wind, solar, hydro and waste. All these sources should be fully exploited. Particularly the municipal waste and other forms of waste require more attention as they have been neglected so far.

Landfills have been a standard practice for disposing of the municipal waste. The collection, transport and disposal of waste are not a waste management but a waste mismanagement. Besides wasting a vast piece of valuable open land, the contaminants in the waste leach into the ground water, the gases like methane and carbon dioxide emitted by degradation of waste cause environmental damage. The foul smell, emanating from the waste, spreads all around to far off places in all directions spoiling the atmosphere of the surrounding areas. Moreover it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes and pathogenic bacteria, which are hazardous to the health of the people.

The waste should be regarded as a valuable source of energy, a fact that is often ignored. If the energy is not recovered and the waste is allowed to degrade on the open land it would emit GHG like carbon dioxide and methane any way adding to the carbon intensity. On the other hand if it were utilised to produce electricity, it would save equivalent amount of fossil fuel, save a large sum of foreign exchange and would not contribute to an additional green house effect.

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The waste is a permanent source and is generated in the higher amount in an affluent society. The waste varies from 1 to 3 kg per person per day depending upon a country. Therefore India with a population of roughly one billion generates about one billion kg (or A million tons) of waste per day on a conservative estimate. The waste in most communities can provide up to 1/3 of their total power requirement.

Various technologies and equipments are available for generation of electricity with varying efficiency, economy, costs and environmental impacts. The selection of technology is very important. The author has an access to one of the best technologies available.

The sewage can be treated biologically in an anaerobic digester and can be converted into biogas. This could either be used as a fuel in cooking or be converted into electricity. This again would not have any additional green house effect.

Utilisation of Waste from Forest: A huge quantity of leaves, flowers, pine needles and other plant material are shed from trees in a forest all the year round and particularly during the autumn season. If these are allowed to remain on the ground, they degrade to produce mostly carbon dioxide and methane. This biomass is a valuable source of energy. They should be collected and either briquette or converted into biogas by anaerobic digestion. This could generate a large employment opportunity to local people; give them a cheaper fuel and electricity. The forests could also be cleaned and saved from fires.

Sea Weeds: A very large quantity of weeds is present in the sea and wasted when they are destroyed in strong under current. Apart from their usage as food and in the manufacture of chemicals like agar-agar, sodium alginate etc, they could be used for generation of biogas and electricity. Similarly biogas could be generated from weeds present in rivers, ponds etc.

The rivers and ponds could also be cleared of weeds this way.

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Bicycles: India requires bicycle friendly roads. A large number of people desire to use bicycle for the daily activities such as shopping and going to office.

Even if 20% of population starts using bicycles, it would save millions of litres petrol per day. It will ease the pressure of motor vehicles on the roads and in the parking lots. It will reduce sizable amount of carbon emission. Some 54% of Dutch use bike for the daily activities and a person pedals on an average 866km per year. It is also a good exercise and burns around 550calories per hour.

Rise in Sea Level & Yields of Crops: There are conflicting views regarding rise in sea level, adverse affects of higher concentration of carbon dioxide and melting of glaciers. The recent estimates of an international commission on sea level changes put the figure at somewhere between a rise of about 20cm and a fall of about 10cm.

Moreover in the allegedly threatened Maldives the level has actually fallen. According to one report the rise of sea level is undulating in nature. It would come and go in a particular coast and phenomenon would not be uniform across all the seas. With regard to increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere some scientists believe and seem to be logical that this may result in the increased yields of the crops like wheat, rice and clover etc. Carbon dioxide is a heavier gas and its concentration is more near the earth due to gravitation. With the increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere its concentration near the earth will be higher. This would result in higher yields of crops. However it might affect human beings and animals adversely. The global vegetation density seems to be benefiting as the net gain in growth across the whole planet, since the early 1980s, has been observed. Even the tropical forests and the Amazon are reported to be growing more luxuriantly.

However, the perceptible changes with regards to melting of arctic sea ice and adverse climate changes towards warmer side cannot be ignored.

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According to a report, during the past century the global temperature has increased at the rate of 0.050C per decade and this trend has accelerated to 0.160C per decade in the past 30 years. The last 10 years are recorded to be the warmest years.

According to 2007 report of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) there is a consensus of the world leaders to cap the future temperature rise to 20C above 1990 level.

Nature’s Gift of Cooling the Planet: The nature has provided us a wonderful gift of cooling the planet by way of evaporation of water. When water evaporates, it takes away latent heat of evaporation from surrounding, thereby cooling it. This happens irrespective of green house gases that are present in the atmosphere. This is the principle of desert coolers that are widely used in India in the summer. Water evaporates all the time at all temperatures from sea, rivers, ponds and other sources of water and contribute to cooling in a big way. This requires no extra energy as in a refrigerator. The surface moisture of ground is another big factor that contributes to the cooling of earth. The surface area of earth is very large. The larger is the wet surface the larger is the cooling.

With rapid urbanization of large area of land the open green covered land is disappearing. The tarred roads and concrete houses and buildings have no moisture in them. Therefore the advantage of natural cooling by evaporation can’t be achieved.

Due to the poor town planning there is no provision of large open grounds at regular intervals and practically any water fountains. In 1940s Delhi roads were sprayed with water, by tankers in the summer. The roofs of the houses used to be cooled by spraying water on them. Now there is a shortage of water. Groundwater makes up about twenty percent of the world's fresh water supply, which is about 0.61% of the entire world's water, including oceans and polar sea ice. Global groundwater storage is roughly equal to the total amount of freshwater stored in the snow and ice pack, including the north and south poles. This makes it an important resource which can act as a natural

storage that can buffer against shortages of surface water as in during times of drought. Groundwater is a highly useful and often abundant resource.

However, over-use, or overdraft, can cause major problems to human users and to the environment.

The most evident problem is a lowering of the water table beyond the reach of existing wells.

Wells must consequently be deepened to reach the groundwater; in some places e.g., California, Texas and India the water table has dropped hundreds of feet because of excessive well pumping. In the Punjab region of India, for example, groundwater levels have dropped 10 meters since 1979, and the rate of depletion is accelerating. A lowered water table may, in turn, cause other problems such as subsidence and saltwater intrusion. Groundwater feeds soil moisture through percolation, and many terrestrial vegetation communities depend directly on either groundwater or the percolated soil moisture above the aquifer for at least part of each year. Due to the substantial lowering of ground water table the natural surface moisture is fast disappearing from the ground. The surface moisture could provide continuous cooling in the natural way as it is replenished by ground water through percolation. This way cooling could take place on a very large area of the earth. A proper attention has not been paid to the water management. Except in a few states rain harvesting is hardly carried out. The rivers are becoming stagnating drains. The rivers are being polluted by municipal solid waste, untreated sewage, industrial and household waste. The water is full of excreta and pathogenic bacteria to alarming high level. The water is neither fit for drinking nor for bathing. It is an irony that millions of people take holy dip in these rivers to purify themselves. A proper water management to clean the rivers and to replenish the ground water is urgently required.

The total quantity of water remains practically the same on the earth. It keeps changing the forms like liquid, solid or vapours. This is again a gift of the nature that enables to purify the polluted water in the form of rains and snow on such a large scale,

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which is humanly impossible. It is unfortunate that we are not able to store them properly to our advantage. If ground water from all over the earth is replenished by rain harvesting or other means it will cool the earth in two ways, first it will provide ground moisture continuously as it evaporates and secondly it will absorb a significant amount of heat from earth. This ground water storage has another big advantage that it will help to maintain the sea level, which is of the greatest concern to day. It is imperative that this water can be used if drought condition exists in a particular season. It will also help to increase the vegetation on the earth and reduce the desert area.

Research Work Desired: In order to reduce water consumption and to reduce water pollution it is desirable that certain research projects are undertaken urgently by the national or private research laboratories. One such project is to find substitutes of soap and detergent. Millions of tons of these products go down the drain daily polluting rivers and the sea. The detergents contain a small percentage of active ingredients and rest are inorganic salts, which don’t take part in cleaning. In order to reduce water pollution more effective and environment friendly products are needed which can be used in smaller quantities.

Regarding economical use of water, a novel technique is desired that could reduce the consumption of water per kg of clothes. Leeds University, UK, have developed a new technology that saves water up to 90% used by the conventional machines and saves power up to 30%.

The washing machine works by replacing most of the water by thousands of tiny reusable nylon polymer beads. The machine is yet to be commercialised. Such type of research work could lead to saving of a large quantity of water.

Summary: The people all over the world are worried about the global warming, which may assume a catastrophe in the near future. The global warming is attributed to the growing concentration of mainly carbon

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dioxide and methane gases in the atmosphere. A global effort and particularly from the advanced countries is required to reduce the carbon intensity.

The developing countries like India require a huge amount of energy in the future for development and consequently the emission of carbon dioxide would also increase. In order to overcome this problem the green electricity should be generated from the waste biomass that is available daily in millions of tons as municipal solid waste, sewage, shed leaves from trees and particularly from forests, weeds from sea and rivers etc. The waste if not converted into energy and allowed to degrade would emit carbon dioxide and methane any way contributing to the carbon intensity in a big way. On the other hand if that is used as a source of energy there is no additional carbon intensity. The technology for generation of electricity and biogas is available.

The selection of technology is very important. This will generate new employment opportunities and save a substantial amount of foreign exchange.

The emission of GHG is directly proportional to the population of a country. In order to reduce carbon intensity the growth of population should be stopped or reversed. All renewable sources including solar energy should be fully exploited.

India should provide bicycle friendly roads in order to save petrol.

The earth receives solar energy daily and gets heated up. It cools down by reflecting back or radiating the infra red rays to space. The earth also cools down by evaporation of water from all sources of water like sea, rivers etc. The cooling also takes place by evaporation of surface moisture from earth. Due to excessive pumping of ground water around the world the surface moisture has dried up. This is affecting cooling of the earth.

There is an urgent need to replenish the underground water by rain harvesting or other means. It will not only help to cool the earth but also can be utilised at the time of drought.

A large quantity of water is used up in washing clothes. Research work is required to develop a

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new system of washing that could reduce water develop a new type of detergents and soaps that can consumption. Leeds University claims to have be used in smaller quantities and are environment developed such a machine in which consumption is friendly. reduced by 90%. Research work is also required to RENAISSANCE PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED 15, Bankim Chatterjee Street (2nd floor), Kolkata: 700 073, Mobile: 9831261725 NEW FROM RENAISSANCE

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The New Renaissance —by Elaine Friedman [Mr. Elaine Friedman is the editor of Humanist Network News, the weekly e-zine of the Institute for Humanist Studies. This article is taken from one of his columns published in HumanistNetworkNews.org.]

doing research for an upcoming While article on transhumanism, I realized that I could not discuss the topic without the understanding of the anticipated scientific advances that will enable the concept to become a reality.

Transhumanism is defined as “an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of new sciences and technologies to enhance human mental and physical abilities and aptitudes, and ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition.”

It is the convergence of four technologies — nanoscience and nanotechnology; biotechnology and biomedicine, including genetic engineering; information technology, including advanced computing and communications; and cognitive science, including cognitive neuroscience — that will bring the great advances transhumanists are waiting for. This is not science fiction; current stem-cell research is just one of the many technologies that may herald great advancement in the human condition.

Of the four “NBIC” technologies (nano-bio-info-cognitive), I was least familiar with nanoscience and nanotechnology, so I attended the Nanotechnology 2006 conference at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last year.

Nanoscience seeks to manipulate matter at the molecular scale, when it begins to exhibit novel properties. (“Nano” means “billionth,” which refers to working with matter at the billionth-of-a-meter scale.)

What surprised me most was the number of fields 23

investing in nanoscience; not only are the expected fields of information technology and material science excited about the great advances in computing and consumer products that will be brought about by nanoscience, but the medical, environmental and (scarily) defense industries hope for great advances from their nanoscience research and investment.

The following are some of the anticipated benefits from nanoscience 10 to 20 years in the future.

Individuals and teams will be able to communicate and cooperate across barriers of culture, language, distance and professional specialization The human body will be more durable, healthy, energetic, easier to repair and resistant to many kinds of stress, biological threats and the aging process.

Machines and structures of all kinds, from homes to aircraft, will be constructed of stronger materials that have desired properties, including the ability to adapt to changing situations, high energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.

The ability to control the genetics of humans, animals and agricultural plants will greatly benefit human welfare, in accordance with a widespread consensus about ethical, legal and moral issues.

Agriculture and the food industry will greatly increase yields and reduce spoilage through networks of cheap, smart sensors that constantly monitor the condition and needs of plants, animals and farm products.

The NBIC sciences are called “converging” sciences or technologies — in order to advance in one of the sciences you must understand and work with the others. You cannot design a computer that responds to human speech without understanding how the brain works. You cannot clean up the environment without understanding the behavior of pollutants at the molecular level.

In other words, we are entering a new Renaissance in scientific and social research.

The hallmark of the Renaissance was its holistic quality, as science, engineering, art and culture

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shared the same open spirit and many of the same intellectual principles. Creative individuals were schooled in multiple areas, and one might be a natural scientist one day, an engineer the next and a writer the day after that. Two exemplars of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci and Filippo Brunelleschi were masters of several fields simultaneously.

However, as the centuries passed and institutions such as universities, corporations and government agencies grew, the holism of the Renaissance gave way to specialization and intellectual fragmentation. Indeed, while it is becoming increasingly necessary to work across fields simply to work within one’s own, it is very difficult to

acquire the knowledge to master more than a part of a specialization.

It is hoped that the convergence of the sciences can initiate a new Renaissance that enables a holistic view based on a unified understanding of the physical world from the nanoscale to the planetary scale. Just as humanism heralded the first Renaissance, humanism is important to the full development of the new Renaissance. We must protect the scientific and technological developments that will make life better for all of humanity from irrational interference while keeping a wary eye on developments that may threaten our future.

The New Renaissance needs us, the new humanists.

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)

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Current Affairs’ Section: [Sri N.K. Acharya is an Advocate, Columnist and Author of several books on law. He was formerly Secretary of Indian Rationalist Association and had edited the Indian Rationalist, then published from Hyderabad on behalf of N.K. Acharya the Association prior to its transfer to Madras.]

I—Census - 2011—Census - 2011 is important for the reason that a National Population Register is being compiled simultaneously with the preparation of a report on the number of people residing in India, by gender, religion and occupation. No caste will be mentioned. Prior to independence census were prepared mentioning caste and sub-caste. That system was given up after India became free to assert that caste differences should not be highlighted. Census operation commenced in 1872 and is conducted once in every decade. Thus, the present Census is 15th.

National Population Register covers all people above the age of 15 years. They all will be photographed and fingerprints obtained. It is proposed to thus create for the people of India a bio-metric data. The details proposed to be included in the bio-metric data include ownership of mobile phones, computers and use of internet. It also refers to such particulars as regards the facilities relating to drinking water as well as user of banking services. The number of districts in India covered by census enumeration is 640. The number of Tahasils covered is 5,677. The number of towns and villages covered is 7,742 and over 6 lakhs respectively. The enumeration of census covers and will be in operation for one year from 1.4.2010 to 5.3.2011. The census operation takes into count all those residing in India both men and women and not those foreigners who are on a

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temporary visit to this country. The population includes all those refugees of other countries residing in India and all those Indians residing in other countries. Foreign missionaries and the foreigners working in India either on temporary basis or as long-standing residents will also be enumerated though they are not citizens. They are separately listed and registered separately. Census operation covers Jammu and Kashmir State also and it does not cover the areas under the wrongful occupation of Pakistan and of China (claimed to have been ceded to China by Pakistan).

II—Earth Day—Earth Day is celebrated every year on 22nd April. Since the day is being observed since 1970, this year’s Earth Day is the 40th.

People, all over the world reflect how to protect the Earth from pollution and from heating up. Pollution arises from the use of fertilizers in agriculture and the use of coal, oil, gas and chemicals in industry.

To prevent their excessive use, is the object of the Earth Day. It is on record now and confirmed by the experts that the heating up of the Earth is resulting in the melting of ice in Arctic and Antarctic regions and also the melting of glaciers on the top of mountains, the consequences of both are grave. If the sea floods, it is likely that some of the islands may disappear and the coastlines are altered. If the glaciers melt, the source of water to the several rivers may dry up resulting in large extents of land otherwise fed with river waters becoming arid.

Such consequences may not be imminent but they are sure to occur in the course of a century or two.

To prevent these fundamental consequences which threaten the existence of human life, the Governments are called upon to see that the carbon emissions emanating from industry must be reduced to the level which prevailed over two centuries ago, by using alternative sources of power, such as air, sun, hydro and atomic sources replacing the current use of coal, oil and gas. The people on their part must reduce the use of chemicals and chemical products which pollute the air. In India, the courts are very sympathetic to give effect to these measures. Supreme Court has

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recently directed that no polluting vehicles should be used for transport. The Supreme Court also directed that all those polluting industries located in residential areas should be shifted to the areas earmarked for the industry. The Court also evolved a rule that the polluter must pay for damage he causes and similarly he must bear all the losses and consequences he had to incur in shifting the establishments and controlling the pollution.

III—Tharoor Episode—In the Court language, if one acts for another or in the name of another, he is said to act benami. When such benami transaction is intended to defraud another or to secure some benefit for himself such transaction is prohibited and the transaction itself becomes invalid. For example, if one bids for property at a court auction in the name of another he must take prior permission of the Court to do so. If one sells away the property to another nominally to avoid the property being sold to clear the debts due to genuine creditors, the transaction of nominal sale will be declared as invalid. To act as a benami or to enter into benami transaction is an offence under the Benami Transaction & Prohibition Act. In business, there are several ways in which the transactions are carried on by one in the name of another and for the benefit of that other. Further, if one earns profit or income, in the name of another, the person for whose benefit, the profit is made, and the person to whom the income really belongs is taxed. In the context of the above legal position, what Tharoor has done is certainly objectionable.

Here, is the allegation is that he has misused his high position as Minister of the Centre in securing the IPL (Indian Premier League) business franchise in the name of Rendezvous Enterprises and further secured the benefit in the shape of “sweat equity” amounting to Rs. 70 crores in the name of his friend, a resident of Dubai. That he has a role in this murky affair is not disputed. That he has some higher motives in doing this business is irrelevant.

(He claimed that he has secured IPL franchise for the purpose of encouraging sports in his native state, Kerala). What is questioned is that he

manipulated things for his own benefit. Here, an instance may be recalled. It is related to the former Chief Minister of Bombay, Mr. A.R. Antulay. He granted exemptions to several rich persons under the Urban Land Ceiling Act for a consideration which is paid over to a Charitable Trust named after Mrs. Indira Gandhi. His plea that what he had done was for public good was not countenanced. He was required to go and he did vacate his office as Chief Minister.

IV—Fiscal Stimulus—Fiscal Stimulus is a recent jargon. In the context of the world economic depression which needed deliberate efforts on the part of the Government to promote greater production of goods and services there arose the need for providing stimulus to industrialists. These efforts are called fiscal stimulus. Since, they relate to only financial matters, they are called fiscal stimulus. Fiscal stimulus is proposed to be achieved through two methods; one, by providing incentives to manufacture by reducing excise duties, and, second, by making more funds available to the industry. The latter, is proposed to be achieved by reducing the deposit of cash reserves to be kept at the Reserve Bank by Commercial Banks. This enables the bank to lend more funds to the entrepreneur. The Reserve Bank of India also reduced the rate of interest on the loans to be advanced by banks to the industry. Those two measures, it is said, have achieved their purpose of maintaining and increasing the production and also the levels of exports and imports. The industry is now proposing that these measures should be continued for one more year notwithstanding the world depression has receded. Some others argue that since the measures of fiscal stimulus are costing very heavy to the exchequer to an extent of about Rs. 81,000/- crores, they should be dropped.

The Economic Survey for 2009-2010 which preceded the presentation of the Budget and the Budget (2010-2011) which are presented on 24th and 25th February 2010 respectively, being silent on this subject, it is understood that the stimulus measures will be continued for one more year.

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IRI / IRHA Members’ Section:

Innaiah Narisetti [Dr. N. Innaiah, Director, Centre for Inquiry

(CFI), India, did his Ph.D on Philosophy of Modern Science. He may be contacted at—A 60 Journalist colony, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad 500033, India.

Ph: 91-40-23544067. http://innaiahn.tripod.com (without www)]

Shashtipurthi (60 years) of Secularism in India Continued from the last issue....... law officers and the police Similarly, should not exhibit their personal faith openly. Holy persons who indulge in criminal activity get away with the support of police devotees. These things are happening continuously in India. Religious crimes also are crimes. There should be no exemptions to spiritual and religious persons so far as crimes, misappropriation of funds, and sexual abuses are concerned.

The practice of untouchability, casteism, child marriages, burning of wife when husband dies, oppression of minorities, discrimination against women, and child labor should not be tolerated.

In the field of education, scientific method should be inculcated from the primary level. Religious instruction should not be included in texts and curriculum since it belongs to faith and belief.

Holy loafers should not get any exemption from law, answerability, and accountability.

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Rights of minorities so far as religion is concerned should be confined to the personal level. This includes prayer, holidays, dress, food habits, and civil law. They must not be brought to the streets.

Religion has encroached into politics and public life. The religious belief system has vitiated the moral life of the people.

Religious morality should not be confused with values and ethics. Religious values and morality are strictly confined to divine laws and the supernatural realm. There is no verification or proof for religious belief systems and religious values including moral faith. They should not be confused with human rights, human values, and human morals.

Secular values are moral and human. Secular values are not in any way connected with supernatural and para-normal systems.

Human rights and religions often don’t go together.

When human rights and values emphasize that all are equal and that men and women have the same rights, religions don’t accept. That is the crux of the point. In such cases, religions wish to follow their holy texts like the Gita, the Koran, and the Bible, which preach inequality between men and women.

Secularism stands for sincere equality and genuine practice of human rights and values.

India needs secular practices in all walks of life.

All State and Central governments can observe secular holidays leaving the religious holidays to those who observe them. That will make a good beginning for practice of secularism in India The fighters for Dalits, depressed groups, and Scheduled Castes think that temple entry on equal footing with Hindus will solve the problem. Some reformers mistakenly think that making Dalits temple priests and marriage performance priests will uplift them. They are mistaken. In fact, they are landing blindly into the Hindu caste system and the gradation method and into accepting the Karma theory! Exactly that is the reason why B.R. Ambedkar wanted the Dalits to leave Hinduism so that they can bid goodbye to untouchability and caste degradation. Temples, priesthood, and

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religion will not uplift the Dalits and suppressed classes. On the other hand, those deceitful practices lure the weak minds to accept suppression.

Religions defy even Supreme Court orders. All religious prayer halls use mikes and cause noise pollution. People object but the establishment never cares. At one stage, the Supreme Court ordered that all mikes be removed from prayer halls of all religious places. But it is observed more in the breach. Similarly, religious constructions obstruct traffic in cities. When the Government tries to remove them, there is an outcry.

Secular practices with human dignity, human values, and human morality alone guarantee a great future.

Role of Media: There are alarming trends in the electronic and the print media. There are several anti-secular trends, which are distressing. They are encouraging

unscientific beliefs, superstitions, and blind religious practices and giving publicity to religion-oriented horoscopes, astrological predictions, alternative pseudo medicine, gem therapy, stone therapy, beads, pyramids, and music therapies. The Government of India has banned some of these unscientific religion-oriented medical practices and cures. Yet the press is encouraging them through advertisements and preaching. With business practices gaining upper hand, the media is ignoring ethical values, human dignity, and secular morality. The Center for Inquiry and Humanist, Rationalist Organizations has appealed to the media to carry the scrolling, “nor proven scientifically,” across such items but the media has turned a deaf ear.

Secularism has to go a long way in India but there is no alternative to it if it were to have a bright future.

Important Announcement

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

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

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

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

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

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Mahi Pal Singh [Mr. Mahi Pal Singh is the President of Indian Radical Humanist Association (IRHA) of the Delhi Unit and Gen. Secy. of Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Delhi-unit. C-105, D.D.A. Flats, Sindhora kalan, Delhi-110 052.

Mahi_pal_singh@yahoo.co.uk]

Our Criminal Justice Administration System Needs Drastic Changes has a democratic Constitution and India Fundamental Rights of the people enshrined in it form an integral part of it. They contain the Human Rights of individuals as well as of groups of people, known as religious and cultural rights, in conformity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) made by the United Nations on December 10, 1948 and the two Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and the other on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights passed by the UN and signed and ratified by most of the member States. The Supreme Court of India is the custodian of the rights granted under the Constitution.

Thus, as per the Constitutional scheme, India is a country where people enjoy all kinds of rights and civil liberties and the country is governed by the rule of law, meaning thereby that an individual’s liberties cannot be abridged except in accordance with the procedure established by law. This presents a golden picture of the human rights scenario in the country but, unfortunately, only thus far. When it comes to the ground reality, the situation turns ugly. And we are not as yet talking

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of the Economic and Social Rights as enshrined in Part IV of the Constitution under the title ‘Directive Principles of the State Policy’, which were not made enforceable through the Courts by the founding fathers of the Constitution, and their implementation was left at the mercy of the State, though they are supposed to be fundamental in the governance of the country.

Some time ago a man named Om Prakash was released from the Mainpuri jail in U.P. after 37 years of imprisonment without any trial after the intervention of the court. He was arrested on charges of murder. His father, in order to save his young son from the arrest (Om Prakash was less than 20 years old at the time of his arrest), took upon himself the responsibility of the crime and confessed to have committed the murder. But both were arrested and the father died in the jail after a few years. Had the trial taken place and Om Prakash even proved guilty of murder and awarded the maximum punishment of life imprisonment, he would have come out of jail a quarter of a century ago. But during the last 37 years the trial did not even begin. The trial could not take place because the police could not trace the papers of the case.

And for this serious lapse on the part of the police, no action was taken against any police official.

However, Om Prakash languished in jail without trial for 37 long years and came out of jail as an insane person because his long confinement had turned him insane long ago, and at the time of his release he did not know who he was. Of course, there is no question of his recognizing his 80 years old mother, who was still happy to receive back her son in whatever condition he was at that time, a victim of gross state negligence pure and simple.

Raja Ram, aged 70, who spent 35 years in Faizabad jail and Varanasi mental hospital without being proved guilty was freed earlier on a personal bond.

But his freedom was short-lived, as he could not trace his home in Torabganj in Gonda district. The SI of the Torabganj police station said that his village did not exist. His village was not on the map of the area. The Police Inspector said that Raja Ram

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could not locate his house. How could he, after 35 years’ absence from his house and that too coming back in an insane state of mind? One can be reasonably sure that even Raja Ram did not know why he was sent to jail?

What crime had he committed? He told a newspaperman, “I am not a thief. The real thief ran away and the police arrested me,” as reported in The Hindustan Times.

In yet another case reported in the same newspaper – 70-year-old Jagjivan Ram languished in prison for 36 years because his records were missing.

These few instances indicate that if there were thorough investigation across the country in different jails, there would be many more under-trial prisoners languishing in jails without being convicted.

In a different case pertaining to foreigners, 17 Pakistanis, who were found guilty of various crimes by the Courts, including that of entering the country without valid documents, were sentenced to imprisonment for various terms. They were in jail during the trial period because they could not be granted bail for obvious reasons. So far so good.

But after the completion of their jail terms they should have been deported to Pakistan within a reasonable time. However, there were some who were awarded only six months of imprisonment by the Court, and yet they were kept in the Foreigners’ Detention Camp, Lampur, Delhi for periods ranging from one year to more than four years after they had undergone the awarded jail term, without the sanction of the law and in gross violation of their human rights. The plea of the Central Government in such cases that ‘these prisoners could be released only in return for an equal number of Indian prisoners languishing in Pakistani jails’ was rejected by a bench of the Supreme Court of India, consisting of Justices Markandey Katju and R.M. Lodha on March 9, 2010, and they were ordered to be deported within two months. 14 of the 17 Pakistanis detained in the Camp were deported to Pakistan on 25th March 2010. But nobody was held responsible for his or her grossly illegal over-detention in the country and

of course there is no provision for compensation in such cases.

There are still 12 Africans detained in the Lampur Camp and Nari Niketan, Hari Nagar, Delhi who were caught on various charges, spent between 4 to 8 years in jail during the trial period, and were declared ‘not guilty’ by the Courts. However, instead of being deported to their respective countries, they were also dumped in the Detention Camp and the Government is said to be planning to file an appeal in the High Court against their acquittal. This means that they will be spending another 5 to 10 years in the Detention Camp (because they cannot be sent back to Tihar jail once they have been acquitted).

The question is that if the Government has enough and conclusive evidence against the accused, why did it not produce it before the trial court. And if it has none, then what is it appealing for? And if after considering the appeal of the Government the High Court too does not find any merit in the Government’s case and acquits the accused, who will be responsible for this long incarceration of these innocent people? Or will they be compensated for it? The answer is a big ‘NO’, as it was in all the above-mentioned cases. And is the appeal in the High Court only a ploy to further harass the accused persons for the prosecution’s failure to get them sentenced to further imprisonment.

It is because of filing of such Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) in the higher Courts that the Supreme Court recently observed that it should not be burdened with unnecessary SLPs causing rush of cases and avoidable delay in justice administration.

It is nobody’s case that the police should abdicate its duty to catch and prosecute law-breakers and criminals. It has, however, been seen that even in cases of abduction and extra judicial killings the guilty police officers go scot-free and even the most innocent victims suffer for their acts of omission and commission. There should be proper, accurate

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and scientific investigation and gathering of real evidence, not concocted one, to sustain the case before the trial Court.

However, what is most essential to make justice administration system transparent and corruption free is to devise a system of accountability wherein the prosecuting officers should be held responsible for causing unnecessary and illegal detention of the accused, and punished, and the detainees should be quite adequately compensated for the physical, emotional and social loss caused to them and their families, including the cost of litigation which is also exorbitantly high, though no compensation can really compensate for the loss of their liberty and separation from their families and the resultant suffering caused to them. Mere cosmetic police and judicial reforms cannot cure our decayed justice

administration system. It is high time that our legislators and Courts, which are the guardians of the Fundamental Rights granted by our Constitution, considered these issues and took decisive and drastic action to ensure the un-encroached enjoyment of Human Rights of all individuals in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution and the UDHR. It is the millions of common men and women whose liberties have to be sincerely and judiciously protected to ensure a just and democratic society.

Justice is too serious and sacrosanct a matter to be left at the mercy and whims of the police. The recently constituted Law Commission should consider these questions in detail and form its recommendations accordingly.

General Body Meeting of Indian Renaissance Institute IRI is holding its General Body Meeting on 27th June 2010 at Gandhi Peace Foundation, (223-Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, New Delhi, 110002) between 2.30 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Following Agenda will be discussed: 1. Confirmation of the minutes of the last General Body Meeting held on 26th July 2009.

2. Presentation and consideration of the Secretary’s Report.

3. Information about the status of Court Case regarding 13 Mohini Road pending at Dehradun and Uttaranchal High Court.

4. The publication of The Radical Humanist: how to make it financially viable and fruitful for the Radical Humanist Movement.

5. Publication of Humanist Literature and M.N. Roy’s Selected Works.

6. Other programs and activities of the Indian Renaissance Institute.

7. Any other matter with permission of the Chair.

All the members of IRI and special invitees are requested to attend the GBM so that necessary decisions may be taken.

Limited beds are available at Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi @ Rs. 200/- (per bed per day).

Those who desire to stay there may kindly call me up on my mobile at 09811099532 or write to me at N.D. Pancholi, Flat G-3, Plot 617, Shalimar Garden Extension-1, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad (U.P.) 201005 or email me at azadpancholi@yahoo.com.

Immediately after the GBM, meeting of the Board of Trustees will take place at the same venue to transact any emergent business.

—N.D. Pancholi, Secretary, IRI

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Teachers’ & Research Scholars’ Section:

Harshita Sharma

Dayananad Saraswati: A Liberal Humanist? people can face the future boldly who Noneglect ‘History’ i.e. the study of their own past. It is only by understanding the thought of the forefathers, their fears as well as their dreams and aspirations that people can hope to make further progress. By 1921 the British rule in India had established in all parts of the country and with it had spread the western ideas which brought about revolutionary changes in peoples’ attitude. The ideas of ‘democracy’, ‘sovereignty of the people’, ‘rationalism’, ‘nationalism’ and ‘humanism’ helped people to think in a new way. The Hindu Renaissance of the nineteenth century was not only a religious movement it had wider socio-political ramifications. The authority of the scriptures was questioned with a view to liberate the common people from the bondage of arbitrary and tyrannical social customs and superstitions. Once the religious and social fields were pervaded by the enquiring mind, the political field was also penetrated by the same ideas and spirits.

Swami Dayanand represents the Indian Renaissance on the socio-political and cultural aspects. “He was the first Indian in modern time to lay stress on the point of national regeneration”. He was the initiator of Renaissance in India and was responsible for giving new dimensions to ‘Modern

Indian Political Thought’. He should be regarded as the arch prophet of freedom in India because he initiated a powerful movement of social reform through Vedic revivalism.

The study of nineteenth century India and the struggle for freedom would not be complete without a proper assessment and evaluation of Swami Dayanand’s political ideas. He was one of the prominent builders of modern India who had a clear bent towards liberal humanism like a true ‘Radical Humanist’; yet with a difference. While Roy studies and used the entire world’s modern science (may it be from the East or the West) to arrive at his philosophy of ‘New Humanism’ or ‘Radical Humanism’ Dayanand tried to be completely free from the Western influence to prove and justify the superiority of India’s Vedic past. He tried to build a reformed India which could not only be free from the British yoke and gain political independent, with a national government, but also from social evils. Although he stood for ‘Swaraj’ and ‘Swadeshi’ and his appeal was to ‘Back of Vedas’, it was with a clear mind to free India also from all the religious prejudices and atrocities done upon its people in the name of blind faith and out-dated traditions.

The philosophy of ‘Dayanand Saraswati’ inspired the Indians to take pride in the past great culture and civilization of India and asked them to revive the “pristine purity of Vedic Hinduism”. This effort of his led to the development of political extremism towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the twentieth century. Indians were inspired by a new sense of self-conscious nationalism with devotion towards past Indian rational traditions and culture and a sense of pride in being Indian.

A proper study of his views reveals his originality and his ‘democratic’ bent of mind.

Dayanand’s political ideals were found in his concept of Vedic Swaraj: Although Dayanand had tried to find a close relationship between religion and politics (because

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politics and religion, according to him went together as religion arranges the ground where politics functions) but his definition of religion was based upon the radical and rational concept of the Vedas. And thus his political principles were also grounded on the substance of reason and science.

Dayanand was very much interested in the regeneration of nation. According to him the most important feature of Indian “nationhood” was its orientation on the basis of Vedic values which constituted the central theme of all socio-political thought in India. “Dharma” which according to him was a sum-total of ancient Indian social-cultural dictates, was the whole ideological foundation of Indian nationhood in ancient times. He was in favour of the ancient Indian political tradition. The ancient Indian Vedic tradition was democratic and republican. He envisaged a democratic form of Government based on Vedic scriptures. The machinery of state consisted of a king working on the advice of the assemblies. They jointly would exercise sovereignty on behalf of the people and with the consent of the people.

His views on monarchy were thus not in keeping with the Divine Right Theory. His king was constitutionally restrained by the elected People’s Councils, (something resembling the People’s Committees of Roy). Though it can be said that Dayanand’s ideas regarding democratic government were not in keeping with the political realities of the century, his concern for a just socio-political order and the welfare of the people stand out prominently. Though monarchy was functioning, it was limited and was subject to the law of Dharma (social-cultural dictates) and was advised by the Council of Ministers, the elected representatives of the people. He was not in favour of centralization of powers with any single individual.

Dayanand propounded a theory of nationalism based on spiritualism but his spiritualism laid stress on moral and mental improvement, neither on religious chauvinism nor on material prosperity.

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With the help of his new nationalism he wanted to change the character and tastes of the people which had degenerated due to the impact of the grossly materialistic western civilization and culture on the one hand and the purely religious bigotry on the other. As a result of the impact of Dayanand’s new kind of spiritual nationalism, Indians started taking pride in the culture and intellectual heritage of India.

In Dayanand’s scheme of Government, Dharma, public opinion and assemblies occupied great importance and they served as checks on the power of Raja. The king was to exercise his authority in accordance to ‘Dharma’, public opinion and the law, formulated by the assemblies elected by the people, as stated earlier. The real ruler was not the king but Rajniti based on ‘Dharma’ which for Dayanand meant ‘rule of law’. He had clearly stated that if the king would rule in accordance to Dharma his followers would increase but if he neglects Dharma, he himself could be rejected. If the Raja failed to perform his duties or neglected the welfare of his subjects and ruled rudely he could be removed from his office by the people. The king who would take taxes from the people without protecting them would soon and definitely be destroyed. The king whose subject were harassed by wicked people, the king who was himself mean, violent like a falcon, foolish like an animal, whose army behaved like robbers, such a ruler’s down fall was certain.

Secondly, the most important contribution of Swami Dayanand to modern Indian political tradition was his actual thought of ‘Vedic Swaraj’.

Swaraj, in its technical sense means self rule.

According to Dayanand, Swaraj was a spiritual conception. It was a universal idea. Dayanand was a democrat in the true sense. He had a strong belief in democracy He stressed that democracy is an old form of rule. Getting the ideas from Vedas and Manusmriti, about democracy, he opined that democracy was most suited for India.

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But he had categorically stated that the democratic ideas would be brought up only through social institutions. The Arya Samaj of Dayanand was established on Democratic principles. He propounded a comprehensive theory of the Indo-Aryan polity. Defining the ends of the state, he said that the state should secure independence, enlightenment, piety, sound education and prosperity for the citizens.

Dayanand was against the despotic or absolute rule of one person. He was of the opinion that the king should be elected by the Sabhasadas (the members of the assembly) and should maintain friendly relations with them. The king should rule only with the help of advice of the sabha. In the ultimate analysis, Dayanand gave the supreme power to the people and according to him both the king and the Sabha were accountable to the people. Thus, Dayanand propounded a unique theory of check and balances even while accepting the ancient theory of monarchy. He discarded the British rule and demanded Swarajya, much before the Indian National Congress accepted this ideal in 1906. He therefore, categorically stated that good government was no substitutive for self government.

Thirdly, Dayanand had stressed on the principles of liberty equality and fraternity through the concept of Vedic swaraj. He talked of individual rights and equal rights for men and women.

Thus in his scheme of Government people are given importance. He considers the consent of the people necessary for the appointment of the Raja.

In his commentaries on Vedas, he says that the proyajana or the people are to choose the ruler but he does not clearly lay down the procedure by which the people are to choose the ruler or as to who forms the electorate. We are in doubt whether by people he means the people as a whole or only the wise and learned? Does he mean that the people as a whole directly and on the basis of adult franchise choose the rulers, as is done is modern times or indirectly? In his commentaries he

mentioned at various places that the wise and learned members of the assembled are to elect the best among them as a Raja or Sabhapati. But there is also uncertainly. Whether the members of the three assemblies would get together and choose the ruler or only the Raja Sabha.

Without indulging in these uncertainties, we may safely conclude that according to Dayanand the people are to choose the members of the three assemblies & the assemblies are to choose the Raja.

The educated and learned members of the Sabhas are to elect the most meritorious and highly qualified and trained person as the Raja.

Thus he describes in detail, the functions of an ideal kingdom and the ultimate power of the assemblies and of the people. His interpretation of the Vedas, Manusmriti and other ancient scriptures reflects his ideas on ‘Democracy, public accountability etc.’ It was also opined that the moral and intellectual foundation of Indian independence was laid by Dayanand. The Vedic concept of ‘Swaraj’ was revived by him but he was criticized for his uncompromising Vedicism; although his political ideas have great relevance even today. His emphasis on governmental paternalism; the need of morality and virtue in politics; public accountability; the ultimate power in the people to remove the rulers if they fail to perform their duties; trained and qualified politicians; check on unrestrained power are the need of present time also.

References: 1. B.C. Singh, “The teachings of Arya Samaj”, p.p.

248.

2. Ibid, Op. Cit, pp.250.

3. P.B. Rathod & Vimla Rathod “Indian Political thinkers”, Common Wealth Pub., New Delhi 2006, pp.21.

4. Adi, H.D. “Political thinkers of modern India”, pp.76.

5. PB Rathod & Vimala Rathod, “Indian political thinkers”, Common Wealth Pub., New Delhi, 2006, pp.13.

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6. Ibid, pp. 21.

7. Saraswati, Dayanand’ “Rigveda Bhashya”, Ramlal Kappor Trust, Amritsar (Rigveda: 4.4.9) p.

375.

8. Ibid, (Rigveda: 3.4.7.4.) p. 346, 347.

9. Ibid, (Rigveda: 4.3.8.5) p. 414 10. Singh N., 8, 461-62.

11. P.B. Rathod & Vimla Rathod “Indian Political thinkers”, Common Wealth Pub., New Delhi, 2006, pp-15.

12. L. Munshi Ram and Ram Deva, “The Arya Samaj and its Detractors”, 12.

13. Dayananda, pp.1, 6.

14. Jawaharlal Nehru, “Recent Essay”, August, 1934, 48-49.

15. Ibid, (Rigveda: 2.18.4.3.1) 16. Jawaharlal Nehru, “Recent Essay”, August, 1934, pp. 50.

Ms. Harshita Sharma is a Research Scholar, in the History Deptt. at D.A.V. (P.G.) College, Muzaffarnagar. Mob: 9410607044

Center For Inquiry To Accept Paul Kurtz Resignation Center For Inquiry Board Statement: Amherst, N.Y. (May 18, 2010)—The Board of Directors of the Center for Inquiry, the world’s leading and largest organization promoting humanism and skepticism, issued the following statement today: The board will accept Dr. Paul Kurtz’s resignation as chairman emeritus and as a member of the board.

The board sincerely thanks Paul Kurtz for his decades of service to the Center for Inquiry and its affiliates. The board deeply respects Dr. Kurtz and his work and knows that this organization will always be associated with his efforts on its behalf. Dr. Kurtz founded and led our organization and helped it thrive. Much of CFI’s success is due to Paul Kurtz’s inspiration and leadership.

Our success is also due in no small part to the efforts of CFI’s dedicated staff, its many skilled volunteers, and its generous financial supporters. CFI has never been a one-person operation.

At Paul Kurtz’s behest, CFI began years ago to organize a leadership transition. Moreover, in recent years the board had concerns about Dr. Kurtz’s day-to-day management of the organization. In June 2008, the board appointed Dr. Ronald A. Lindsay president and CEO; in June 2009, the board elected Richard Schroeder chairman, with Dr. Kurtz moving to chairman emeritus. During this two-year transition, CFI continued to hold a rigorous schedule of more than 110 national and international events, to develop its grassroots network, and to advocate effectively for humanism and skepticism.

As a result of this transition, CFI is well-prepared to move forward into the next phase of its institutional life, confident that the organization will remain at the forefront of secular humanism and skepticism.

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Book Review Section:

Dipavali Sen [Ms. Dipavali Sen has been a student of Delhi

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

Edelweiss, Edelweiss ….

[BOOK: The Austrian School: Market Order and Entrepreneurial Creativity, by Jesus Huerta de Soto in Association with the Institute of Economic Affairs; published by Edgar Elgar, Ok and USA; 2008; pp 129; price not stated.]

Edelweiss… the refrains of this Edelweiss, lovely song from the film Sound of Music are what come to me first when someone mentions the name ‘Austria’. But Austria’s role in world politics, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, is (was?) all too well-known. And her role in the evolution of Economics is also well-known in certain circles, though certainly not in general – even among qualified economists.

In the context of Globalization this is rather a lamentable lacuna. This slip paperback – The

Austrian School – takes care of that gap.

Its author Jesus Huerta de Soto is Professor of Political Economy at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain. The first Spanish edition of this book appeared in 2000, in Madrid.

Huerta has worked in association with The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), an established intellectual centre founded in the UK in 1955 to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by studying the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

As one of its endeavours, this book offers an “outline” of the “fundamental principles” (Introduction, p ix) of the Austrian School of Economics.

What goes by the name ‘mainstream’ Economics today is really an American version of an essentially British body of thought. Against this is contrasted the Marxist or ‘Leftist’ approach. Most Indian universities teach both, or at least include the latter in the curriculum while giving the former the pride of place. But the Austrian school is totally neglected, except for passing reference to names like Menger, Mises, Hayek and Bohm-Bawerk.

This seems to be the case not only in India but in European universities as well (p1).

The first chapter (Essential principles of the Austrian school) distinguishes between the Austrian approach and the neoclassical (mainstream) approach. In the neoclassical approach, Economics is a theory of decision-making whereas in the Austrian approach, it is a theory of action-taking, a dynamic process (praxeology). In neoclassical Consumer Behaviour theory, the issue is: given a certain set of preferences and prices, what quantity of the commodity would make the consumer reach his equilibrium? The ‘state of equilibrium’ is not so important in the Austrian approach, in which “man does not so much allocate given means to given ends, as constantly seek new ends and means, while learning from the past and using his imagination to discover and create the future (via action)” ( p 5).

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The second chapter (Knowledge and Entrepreneur) discusses the concept of entrepreneurship. In neoclassical economics, there is the concept of ‘an economic man’ (a rational and calculating creature – a stylized representation of the human being).

Consumer or Producer (Entrepreneur), he is the protagonist – the actor with the ‘main role’. He decides how much of what to consume or produce – he is the decision-maker, using all available information in the most rational way possible. In the Austrian school, he is replaced by the more fallible and therefore human Entrepreneur. His knowledge is more subjective, exclusive and inarticulate. His nature is essentially creative rather than calculating. There is an element of spontaneity in him that is not there in the Producer (Entrepreneur) of neoclassical economics.

The third chapter (Carl Menger and the forerunners of the Austrian school) begins by stating that the Austrian school can be dated by the publication of Carl Menger’s Principles of Economics in 1871. It was a very advanced book for its time and has contributed to the subsequent development of neo-classical ‘marginalist’ analysis in the very heart of Britain – by Jevons! Menger gave great importance to the individual’s small stores of subjective knowledge and his individual preferences. His contribution is path breaking.

The fourth chapter (Bohm-Bawerk and capital theory) is devoted to “Carl Menger’s most brilliant disciple”. Bohm-Bawerk formulated the core of Austrian capital theory that has subsequently been refined and further developed, say, by Ludwig von Mises. Bohm-Bawerk not only criticized the famous British economist Alfred Marshall but Karl Marx himself! For example, in Capital and Interest, Bohm-Bawerk proposed that, contrary to the Marxian position, not all economic goods are the product of labour; natural resources are not. He pointed out several inconsistencies in the `labour theory of value’ and therefore in the theory of exploitation.

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The fifth chapter (Ludwig von Mises and the dynamic conception of the market) is devoted to Mises who, in course of his long academic life, “gave the Austrian school a definitive theoretical push” (p 62). In 1912, far ahead of the Depression of the ’30s, young Mises published his book The Theory of Money and Credit which foretold of inflationary pressures building into economic recessions or crises. Apart from contributing to the theory of business Cycles, Mises also built up a theory demonstrating the impossibility of Socialism. In tune with the Austrian school, Mises’s belief is in the subjective creative capacity of the human action. Any system that exercises violent coercion against this subjectivity and creativity – this freedom of human action – would require masses and masses of information and its processing to make the system work. Such a mind-boggling amount of economic calculation was impossible in reality, and hence, argued Mises, Socialism too was humanly impossible. In Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, he has captured his own ideas, and thereby the most notable ideas of the Austrian school.

F.A. Hayek, 1974 Nobel Prize winner, is the subject of the sixth chapter (F.A. Hayek and the spontaneous order of the market) followed Mises’s lead but made his own contributions to the theory of Business Cycle. He too wrote on the impossibility of Socialism (e.g., in Collectivist Economic Planning and The Fatal Conceit). He was critical of the `equilibrium economics’ of the neoclassical school and belied in spontaneous social process based on entrepreneurship rather than any planned institutional system.

Inspired by Hayek’s thoughts and the increasing failure of Keynesian macro-economic ideas, there has been a resurgence of ideas within the Austrian school, says the seventh and last chapter (The resurgence of the Austrian school). M.N. Rothbard and Israel M. Kirzner in the USA have played an important part in this. In the last 25 years, there has also been a notable rise in the publications of the Austrian school, e.g., The Quarterly Journal of

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Austrian Economics, The Review of Austrian Economics.

International seminars and conferences too have brought Austrian economics and neo-classical (mainstream) economics into

closer interaction. The subjectivist Austrian approach to human behavior (and therefore to all areas of humanities) is increasingly being recognized for its worth.

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

RS. 90.00

2. SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

RS.95.00

3. BEYOND COMMUNISM

RS.40.00

4. THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF ISLAM

RS.40.00

5. MEN I MET

RS.60.00

6. INDIA’S MESSAGE

RS.100.00

7.MATERIALISM

RS.110.00

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

RS.250.00 RS.300.00

10. NEW ORIENTATION

RS 090.00

11. ISLAAM KI ETIHASIK BHOOMIKA (IN HINDI)

RS.25.00

12. HAMARA SANSKRITIK DARP (IN HINDI)

RS.40.00

13. NAV MANAVWAD (IN HINDI)

RS.90.00

14 .SAMMYAWAD KE PAAR (IN HINDI)

38

RS.45.00

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Humanist News Section: I News from M.N. Roy Development Campus, Mumbai: Mumbai Unit of Indian Renaissance TheInstitute organized the M.N. Roy Memorial Lecture on 21st March 2010 on ‘Relevance of

Secularism Today’ at Centre for the Study of Social Change, M.N. Roy Development Campus, Mumbai at 11 a.m.

Prof. M.B. Vanamali, a Fullbright scholar and former Principal, M.V. & L.U. College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Mumbai delivered the lecture.

— News sent by C.R. Dalvi, President, IRI-Mumbai Unit II A Tribute by the people of Narmada valley/ NBA to NBA activist Ashish Mandloi —A tribute to our comrade and leader—

Narmada Ghati salutes Ashishbhai’s life-long struggle for the displaced: ‘Sathi tere sapnon ko ….manzil tak pahunchayenge’ (Friend, We will make your dream come true!) the adivasis, farmers, fish workers, We,potters, labourers, women, men, and children from the Narmada valley and the activists of Narmada Bachao Andolan are deeply shocked and shattered by the sudden and most untimely demise of our dear colleague Shri Ashish Mandloi (Age 38) on the night of 20th May 2010 at his ancestral village Chhota Barda in Badwani district due to a cardiac arrest.

Lovingly called by all the villagers as Ashishbhai and by his family members

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as Babloo, Ashish has immortalized the spirit of a true activist by literally living the slogan Sangharsh hee jeevan hai, until the last moment of his breath. His mortal remains were consigned to flames yesterday afternoon, in the presence of hundreds of the displaced from the plains and hills of Narmada and activist-supporters from Badwani, Dhadgaon, Bangalore, Pune, New Delhi, Indore, Bhopal, Khandwa amidst slogans of “Shaheed Ashishbhai Amar rahe,“ and Jab Taka Suraj-Chaand rahegaa – Ashish tera naam rahega”.

Born and raised in a farmer’s family in the fertile plains of Nimad, after education and graduation, Ashish spent the early years of his youth volunteering for the Andolan, when the struggle against the gigantic Sardar Sarovar Project was at its peak and later contributed his time and energy; full-time to NBA as a key activist in the Nimad and Pahad (hilly adivasis areas). Virtually every family in the affected villages knew him by name and he won over people’s hearts by his unique way of relating to people’s every day issues and problems.

His innate sensitivity, coupled with his extensive networking with the villagers and passion to go into the depth of every single issue at hand – be it exposing the inaccuracies in government surveys and data or unearthing crores of corruption in the rehabilitation of the project affected families, through fake registries or bogus claims of alternative rehabilitation made him challenge many illegalities and injustices.

His investigative efforts, with the help of other farmer-activists, has saved thousands of dam-affected families from being misguided and cheated by the nexus of corrupt officials and their agents. He continued his struggle despite having to face threats from the corrupt agents and touts. It was due to his relentless investigative campaign, that the massive public interest case against corruption could be filed and argued for two-full years before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh and a Judicial Commission of Inquiry under (Retd.)

Justice S.S. Jha instituted to inquire into the various

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aspects of corruption and illegalities. His team of farmers was also awarded the NDTV-PCRF National RTI Award for using the RTI as a weapon to expose corruption. He struggled continuously to keep the Commission working and even in the past few weeks camped in Indore to over-see the entire evidence-recording process.

Ashishbhai also played a prominent and leading role in the recent fortnight-long Jeevan Adhikar Yatra of the thousands of Sardar Sarovar and Jobat oustees, through which, the people issued an ultimatum to the Narmada valley authorities to ensure land-based rehabilitation to the oustees.

Having risen from a context of learning in rural areas and then proceeding to attain the best quality of his work over years with extra-ordinary selflessness, commitment and perseverance, Ashish is and will be an inspiration to thousands of youth across the nation. We deeply thank all of you for standing by us in this monumental moment of

crisis, by attending his last rites from far and wide, sending messages of strength and condolence and by spreading the word of his demise and his valiant crusade against corruption in the rehabilitation process of the Narmada dam oustees.

Over the past one year, Ashish was also fully involved in the construction of NBA’s own office which is being built fully on Jan Sahyog – with wood from the adivasis, bricks from the potters, land received in donation. We plan to dedicate the new office of the Narmada Bachao Andolan to his memory and struggle….

Ashishbhai, you are for us a dear brother and an indomitable fellow-traveler in our collective struggle for equity and justice. We shall continue in the path of struggle that you have tread all your life.

—from all the villagers and activists of Narmada Valley

Read

NAV MANAV in Hindi for Humanist & Renascent Thought a bi-monthly D-98 A, Krishna Marg, Bapu Nagar, Jaipur-15, Ph. 91-141-2621275 Dear Friends, You may email your articles at rheditor@gmail.com and send your passport size photographs as attachments.

Or you may post them at C-8 Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India.

Do include your introduction, if you are sending your write-ups for the first time.

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

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—Rekha Saraswat

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