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 ?
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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.
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.
Friday, March 8, 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
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.
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.
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