Resistance to equality in India

Equality is the cherished dream of mankind. "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" was what led to the great French revolution. But the inherent nature of human being, the self interest and the individualistic aspect of human nature which has been glorified by the the western idea of rights would not let the equality come to all. It would remain only in theory and not in practice what F.W. Riggs called the formalism would continue to be the order of the society. The idea of equality is conditional. when a class, a group wants to be equal to a class/group which is higher than itself in the social or economic aspects but at the same time it wants to elude the people of the lower stature socially or economically to be equal to it. The so called middle caste Hindus fight for moving up in the social ladder and demands to be treated as equal by the caste Hindus in India's rural areas but they commit atrocities against the Dalits and underprivileged lower caste Hindus if the former assert their right to equality and life with dignity. How can we then call this a universal right may be it is a conditional one, something which one can assert when somebody claims to be superior and forget it while claiming their own superiority. This thinking is so much ingrained in our minds that our political and economic systems and even the education system propagates it and does not allow the equality to become a universal principle. Second important factor which is a nothing but a wrapper of cunning self interest is the consumerism, the so called material prosperity that has been gifted to us by the globalization. Capitalism by nature propagates the inequality. The sheer purpose to gain more and more profit leads to the exploitation of the masses, and those who benefit from it then by their economic power controls the political system of the country which makes such policies which increase this divide by benefiting the already rich and pushing the rest in the poverty. The example of tribal people in India shows that how a category of people are systematically displaced from their properties for the benefit of other classes. Be it between urban or rural, tribal or non-tribal the equality is  difficult to find while the differences of treatment are evident. In the name of development and facades of health and education facilities, employment the tribal are being pushed into non-skilled labor market and then exploited. The government who claims to represent all the people living in the territory of India is facilitating this gross injustice done to its own people. Here the idea of equality changes, and the people who have resided for ages in the forests and forced to sacrifice their livelihood for the people who lives in city for the progress of India which they are part of, but who does not care for them, who exploits them. More often than not they ask themselves and others are they the only one who has to sacrifice ? have city people living in Delhis and Mumbais ever sacrificed anything for them who becomes their countrymen only when they needs minerals ?

Work

"Work is Worship" is an age old saying which implies the importance that has been given to work. As per Geeta without Karma (work) the world cannot exist.But what this work mean ? Work in modern world mean any activity that consume physical or mental energy for the production of some goods or services is called work. But the concept of work has not been same all the time. the number of  activities and theier type and their nature has constantly changed from premodern world to the modern world.The other aspect of work is who works on what activities for example we have many
activities to be done in our society, some produces food, some processes food, some make crafts, others work on factories etc.The type of work also affects your social position and economic wellbeing. sometimes the choices are forced and sometime an individual is free to choose the type
of work depending upon is ability. We may cite here examples of dalits who despite availablity of other jobs are forced to do the traditional job which their caste has been doing the the priviledged caste hindus. work determines the economic relations between people and thus the social relations. Even the matrimonial relations are affected by work. A prestigious family would not marry their son to the daughter of working class family or a upper class family girl would find difficult to marry a boy who is not earning sufficient or the kind of job he is doing.

In ancient India work division was done on the basis of birth, people who were born in a particular caste had to do the work that people of that caste have been doing for all his life. He had no choices. the type of work was very important as people who were doning manual work were througt
to be inferior while those engaged in non-physical work like teaching, fighing, governing wre treated with much respect and awe. they commanded higher position in the society like brahmins who were the teachers and the kshatriyas who were the governors.Its the work and birth to a caste(which
defined work to be done) which led to the expoitation of the lower caste people who were engaged in menial jobs.

but after the advent of industrialization and urbanization there were many new kinds of works generated. The new factories needed workers in large numbers, and many lower caste people got the chance escape the stigma attached with thier work, to move up in the ladder of heirarchy in the society.Industrialization also brought change in the ownership of work. In contrast to the earlier practice of working at home, in fields people now worked on workshop. they did not own
now their creation but they sold their labor. This marks the dismissal of ownership a worker had on the product he produced which was now transferred to the factory owner. There has always been values attached to the work that a person do. this value could be prestige of guilt.
We see in today's world that a white color job is treated as a prestigious job, a government job is a prestigious job on the other hand working as a washerman, a shoe mender has a negative sense attached to it. In India there has always been a contempt for the physical labour.
which is not true for all cultures for example in Judaism physical work is respected more than the non-physical work. Such values also have impact on the values of work and on the lives of people who do these jobs. thus we see the work affects every aspect of a person's life and also society as a whole.

We are Equal

We are around 1.2 billion of human being in India, of which half are women. Traditionally women has been respected in the society and home as mother, sister and wife. Our religious scriptures call lady of the house as lakshmi (Godess of good things). But it is also true that behind this well decorated facade, she is oppressed, harassed, dominated and made dependent. These have been happening from centuries and male domination over women is a truth of history of the world. But today things are changing, there is a new awakening among women and they are fighting for their rights. When people demanded equality the did not think about women, she fought shoulder to shoulder with men for the class equality, equality between lords and serfs, between peasant and zamindars, blacks and whites and so on so forth. But women soon realized that these struggles would not give them equality, for that they have to fight their own struggle against their oppressor which is male dominance spread across the classes. Thus she rose, fought and slowly gaining her true place in the society. She has shown that she is no inferior to men in any sense but the irony is despite women like Rani Lakshmi Bai,Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale who are praised across the world, condition of common women remained deplorable. She is still treated as property, to be fought for, to be protected as if she has nothing of her own. She cannot get the equality guaranteed to her by the constitution of all nations (except few) unless the mindset of society about her changes. There is need to treat her as individual just like society treat men. Allow her the to live the way she want to , groom her , make her capable of making decision, no special treatment but just as its done for the male child. If she can give birth to men she can never be inferior to him. Scientifically a child owes half of its trait to his mother and other half to father who in turn has half of his mother's trait. So a man's capability is derived from a women's capability, doubting which is foolishness.

If women are provided equal opportunity not only in material sense but in terms of grooming her thoughts and mindset, she could be as strong as a man. She would no more be dependent, as has demonstrated by women today. Equality has to come from the root level, all beliefs and tradition which stop us from giving this fundamental right to women should be changed. For example the desire of male child is a much accepted practice in India and the world. The reason for that are many. A girl child has to be protected, she has to be married to a man for which a heafty dowry has to be given. She is not educated properly, she is not fed properly because ultimately after marriage she would not be with the family so why to invest in her so much ? On the other hand a male child would bring dowry, would lead the family, would take care of parents in their old age and thus investing and loving him seems but natural. Behind all these reasons lay the sheer selfishness, which is human nature. Taking one example, from our cow we expect a female calf which would one day become a cow and give us milk. We don't want a male calf in this case, because he is of no use to us, tractors and other agricultural machinery has taken over his job and he is useless. There are many such examples which shows that human beings choose between male and female for their benefits.

In the modern world when there are no frequent fights, no hard jungle dwelling, no hunting gathering which needed strong physique males to do jobs for the family, can we not expect ourselves to shed this mindset of requirement of male for leading a family ? Taking example from previous paragraph, dowry is one such ritual practice which puts women in a disadvantageous position. Think if nobody has to pay money for their daughters marriage just like they don't have to for their sons, wouldn't it decrease their desire for not having a daughter ? after all human being are rational economic animals.
Similarly practice of a girl moving from her parents home to her in laws' home makes her less attractive to be desired and loved by her parents who cannot divorce themselves from this general mentality of the society. If this practice is slightly changed and even women are allowed to lead family, to be with their family, to help them in need, things would drastically change. And this has started happening at least in upper strata of society. If it is assured that she would also take care of parents just as the men is expected to, she would become more equal to men in the eyes of her parent.

Another major reason for not wanting a girl child is a responsibility to protect her, she is made the family honor and if her modesty is outraged, family honor is gone and thus protecting her is a big responsibility. On the other hand male child causes no such concern. In the modern world this medieval belief should be done away with. Women should be relieved from this burden of being honor of the family. She should be treated just like any other human being any violence against her or sexual violations should be treated as a crime not against women but society. There should not be any discrimination and this taboo of relation between sex and honor should have no place in modern society. In a civilized society like ours it is the responsibility of government to protect citizens. If government plays its role properly then even this obstacle in giving equality to women could be removed.

Important thing here is that every thing positive or negative comes from the mindset of people, the mindset which has been inherited from ages by the society as a whole. If there is anything that could change it , it is education alone.Our education system does not give importance to social and moral values, It only teaches importance of money, and makes a person a money craver, who is ready to do anything and everything to gain money, this is what he has learned from his education inside and outside school. This man is the one who does not even spare his own children and chooses between son and daughter.

Unity in Diversity is Our Speciality

Surrounded by the countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan etc. which boasts having a state religion, India is the beacon of secularism in the region and in the world.
Indian secularism does not mean anti religion but means treating all religions alike. This secular fabric is threatened by the irresponsible and venomous speeches by political leader and somewhat biased coverage by media.There has been numerous cases of muslim youths being arrested often without any substantial proofs by the police after any major terrorist attacks. These youths have to spend many years of their life in prison only to be released by the court in the absence of evidences. It is nothing but pressure from the public and general belief prevalent in the country which associates Islam with terrorism, which forces police to arrest sometimes innocent youths to show thier action. Recent case of arrest of a DRDO scientist Ejaz Ahmed Mirza for allegedly involving in helping terrorists has again raised the question about the biased nature of public in general and media and police in particular. In is very common to listen to TV anchors shouting Muslim names after each terroris attack. Even before any thing is clear about who is behind the attack. This kind of irresponsible attitude has led to the isolation of one community from the rest and is not good for Indian republic which is based on equality and secularism.Terrorist leaders who use religion as an instrument for brainwashing the youths in Kashmir and other regions are often benefited by such callous attitude of media, in painting whole of India as anti-Muslim. There is a need to be more responsible specially in the part of media which affects the mind of the people and is treated as showing collective consciousness of the society. We have to be careful in showing the hate speeches by the political leaders who wish to cash on the religious agenda.With the advent of social networking site and penetration of internet even in the rural areas things have become vulnerable. Along with the good things these technological revolutions have also taken bad things to common people. It is now easier to communicate hate messages to large population by uploading hate videos or publishing morphed pictures which insults any religion.Such facilities are now also available to the anti-social people who are making full use of it, which is evident from the choas generated among the people from north east India living in southern cities.But regulation of Internet may not be the answer, what is needed is a proper administration of internet and making people aware abou the harms that it could do to the country if not used responsibly.These are the new generation challenges that India is facing and it must find the new ways to deal with these kind of threats.

Entertainment A New Disease

Entertainment which was once thought to be a small break from one's work has now become an individual task in itself. Its importance can be gauged from the fact that today people seek entertainment in everything, despite of giving regular time to it in the form of movies, IPL, TV, web etc. This new tendency of being entertainment centric has its own disadvantages. The most important one is that we could not concentrate on the work which is ought to be done as our duty and responsibility if it does not offer any entertainment. "The goal of all education is to train a person to do what should be done and not only what one likes to do" is a quote from an anonymous writer, but it clearly shows the importance that had been attached to Karma. Today large sum of money is spent on entertainment, the scale is so large that it is capable of sustaining a whole new separate industry called Entertainment Industry. Similarly a large part of time is spent on getting entertained and very less part is left for the useful work. It seems as if people take break from entertainment to do work so that they can sustain their entertainment further. People seek entertainment from everybody , gone are the days when love was the basis of relationship, today entertainment has crept in this domain too. Love is now being compared to being entertained and capable of entertaining others. "Mom is boring , Dad is boring.. wife is boring . .husband is boring.. " are quiet frequent cries one hear among teenagers as well as adults.

Entertainment was not like what it has become today. It was more than just giving few moments of relaxation. It was also a mode of education, of imparting values and ethics to the people. But today in the name of freedom of expression and faith in the capacity of people to decide what is good or bad, anything which could fetch money is being served. Even media and news channel have now indulged in this industry of entertainment and virtually left their duty and responsibility of presenting news, bringing awareness and educating people. Our films are full of violence, vulgar jokes, sex and frustration. In the name of modern idea of freedom and equality between men and women,  our films have painted women as eye candy, an entertainment object, one wonders what kind of  freedom and empowerment is this giving ? Most of the advertisements irrespective of the product they promote, features women being sought by men as if there is nothing else left in life to do. Whatever is being shown on TV is taken as reality in India and people start imbibing and emulating it in their daily life. The negativity that is being spread by entertainment industry including media channels has a disastrous effect on masses. But the responsibility is ignored, till they make money its none of their concern. Our censor agencies have failed to avoid the negative effect. Literature which was thought to be mirror of society is busy in entertaining and money making. Today it shows what they think could be sold, they have nothing to do with the underprivileged majority people who does not have money to buy food.


They target only that section of society which could pay. The urban educated people which should be the harbinger of modern ideas, development of thought, social reform, eradication of miseries of their unprivileged countrymen are busy in entertaining themselves. They seldom get time for even their families. Time and money which is wasted in entertainment if invested in the development of our country could transform the life of millions. One should feel happy in helping the needy people and contributing as much as one can to the society of which one is an integral part. Its an irony that peoples' life weighs less than a cricket match.

Matrimonial sites and Internet is keeping caste system alive in educated India

Gandhi ji described India of his dream as ”India in which poorest shall feel it is their country…. an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; ..There can be no room in such an India for the curse of Untouchability…”.India after independence did work, to make his dream a reality. Practice of Untouchability has been abolished by Article 17 of our constitution and Article 21 gives right to live with dignity to all Indians. India also introduced a system of reservation to empower these underprivileged people politically, economically, educationally and to bring about a social upliftment.  While these measures, along with changed outlook of the society have resulted in betterment of lives of this larger part of our people, even today they are harassed because they belong to a caste which has been historically treated as lower by the privileged caste people. Such cases have been reported even in high offices like Judiciary.

Why even after 65 years of independence we are not able to defeat caste system and give our people, right to live with dignity?  It’s because the ideology of caste system has been passed from one generation to other. Earlier this was done by parents who used to teach their children which caste they belong to, and which is higher and which is lower. Along with teachings like respect for elders and teachers, they were taught not to touch or even go near low caste people. Thus caste system was engraved in their permanent memory right from the childhood and it was made as sacred as God’s worship and mothers love. Similarly the low caste parents made it sure that their son does not go near high caste people and serve them from a distance; this was the education he used to get. In the name of Karma and Dharma, underprivileged castes were forced to keep a low profile and serve others. Thus the theory of caste system survived and prospered through ages.

But today things have changed due to rapid urbanization and spread of education. Parents don’t have time to teach caste ethics to their children and children are busy with their syllabus, Bollywood and cricket. Parents do not care about caste till their son/daughter reaches marriage age. Suddenly they are concerned about the caste; because they want to marry their son/daughter in their own community. And here begins the business of matrimonial sites. Caste takes the centre stage, new generation which never cared about caste, which used surname only to differentiate between two similar names, are reminded of the importance of caste and its legacies. Today the pattern has changed and the responsibility of keeping casteism alive is taken by matrimonial sites and internet.

   
Matrimonial sites introduce you to all the castes available in the country and thus creating a curiosity in knowing these different categories of people, you start thinking about the caste of your friends, co-workers and acquaintances on the basis of their surnames. Interestingly these sites in the name of helping their customer to find a soul mate act as a means for survival of caste system. They do not differentiate between Hindus/Muslims etc. they proudly display a drop down box where you have to declare your caste which would be boldly displayed on your profile as if it is your most important qualification or identity. They even ask sub caste, gotra etc , and make sure that you never forget the intricacies of caste system. In case of underprivileged castes, these sites often tend to write the name of caste profession which the ancestors practiced, which without a pinch of doubt is derogatory and infringes their dignity. While so called upper castes feel pride in reading Thakur/Brahmin, it becomes a matter of insult for the underprivileged castes who are branded as chamars,nais,dhobis,khatik etc. They may be doctors, engineers, scientists or even Judges, but they are looked down as if they are still doing those petty things, just because they belong to that caste and use that surname. These sites violate their fundamental right to live with dignity and equality. It promotes inferiority in SC/STs, underprivileged castes and superiority in upper caste people and shatters the dream of social equality.

 

Today when world is shattered by communalism, fundamentalism and secessionism, the concept of social equality and unity becomes much more important for our existence as a society and country.

Internet is full of caste information and descriptions, even sites like Wikipedia provides whole genesis, demographics distributions, professions, surnames of various castes and thus keep the caste practice alive. They never let people forget the existence of caste. For a common man, information available on internet is as true as Einstein theory of relativity! Our present generation which searches for all things on internet, are reading about castes and unknowingly imbibing such practices in their mind and this inhuman system of dividing people in high and low categories on the bases of their surname is kept alive.

The menace of caste system cannot be eradicated from the society till this branding of caste system continues on internet. Laws, commissions and punishments are useless if the free propagation of caste ideology is not stopped. All references to castes, profession, and their relationship with surnames should be removed from internet especially from matrimonial sites, so that this inhuman practice cannot penetrate in the mind of today’s educated generation; Like terrorist and Maoist literature, caste literature is equally eligible to be banned on internet because it is also preaches anti-social and anti-national ideology. Efforts of our forefathers will go in vain if we do not stop the propagation through these new and much more effective means.

Let’s help ourselves to forget such practice and accept the people who have lived in misery, dejection and indignity for ages. Gandhi Ji’s dream would come true on the day when an Indian has to search meaning of caste in dictionary.

Using the Power of media for social and moral upliftment of the society

The role of media is not only to inform people about what is happening in the world but to put an objective view of the contemporary world and act as a leader. It can be the most powerful means of educating the masses about social menace, not informing but educating. Today when TV is not a luxury and it is available to all classes of society, what is shown by media has a deep impact on people and their thinking. Media has the power to transform the personality of people watching it, because it deals with ideas,at the same time if it does not understand its responsibility it can erode the intellectual level and moral values. The argument given by media that they show what people want is totally irresponsible and is degrading the media. Media is not an ordinary business that sells daily commodities which people buy and forget, it deals with the ideas which have transforming effect on the people, It has to be more responsible. Today people are busy in entertaining themselves and has very less time to look into the surrounding world and to work for its betterment. Now it is up to media who either can choose to go to that level, perpetuate it and sell its news as ordinary goods or take up the job of uplifting it.If media also act as an entertainment then how are they going to know about their capabilities, role and responsibilities in the real world . The world which includes the fellow humans too. Earlier children used to get social education from their parents,elders , colony and school, today when families are small , parents don't have time for their children and schools are only for syllabus completion media can fill the void created. It can effectively revive the moral values and sense of social responsibility among the citizens but if it is busy in making money by entertaining them, this purpose cannot be fulfilled, and the results are grave. Why is that the people who once fought for freedom and establishment of democracy in our country are not at all interested in it ? Is it not because they have forgotten what they could do with the intellect they have got, their contribution could make a positive tremendous change in the way we live, the problems we face. In fact some problems would just cease to exist one awareness about their causes and consequences are objectively placed in front of the people. For example communalism which is a serious problem which our country is facing, if people are made to understand how it has already caused tragedy of partition and numerous riots, and why it is necessary to be away from such menace and how we can be a more powerful and happy nation without it , they would surely understand. But the reality is that people are busy with sensations,cricket, movies, advertisements,serials etc. and they don't want to watch the documentary on topics like communalism, untouchability, social inequality and in general nation and society ! unless it gives some kind of entertainment. This is where our media grab an opportunity and use this argument knowingly or unknowingly to throw sensational news and debates. Some people who are obsessed with the individual rights of freedom to choose , freedom of expression  may argue that in a free society a person is free to see what they want and state shall not impose morality or anything on him. But are we accusing the commercial advertisements for the same violations ? Their argument is people buy what they want it is just a promotion, but commercials does affect a persons mind, In the same way if media can act as an advertiser for intellect, moral values and social issues it can bring a positive change in the society. And on that day It would fully realize its power and serve its true purpose.

(some excerpts taken from Justice Katju's speech on media leadership)