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UNIT 1 UNDERSTANDING GLOBALISATION AND ITS RAMIFICATIONS-I
(ECONOMY AND TECHNOLOGICAL)
Structure
1.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
1.2 Genesis of Economic Globalisation
1.3 Decelerating Global Economy and its Ramifications
1.4 Globalisation of Science and Technology
1.5 Summary
1.6 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Historically, globalisation is a flight of the development process of human civilisation
from an isolated socio-economic formation of primitive society to present satellite stage
of global interaction of economy and technology across the globe. As Amiya Bagchi puts
it, “Globalisation, in its proper sense, is the sense of ordinary human beings experiencing
and being enriched by influences emanating from all over the world, is coterminous with
human history. Human beings probably originated in Africa and then spread throughout
the globe. They invented language, and languages spread in all kinds of ways. Then
human being domesticated plants and animals, and agriculture and animal husbandry
were invented. These technologies, wherever they might have originated, in ancient
China or in ancient Mesopotamia or, in Central America – also travelled throughout the
world. Other technologies such as metallurgy also travelled. In this sense, globalisation
has been there through all known phases of human history.” Also, “in the sense of
peoples of all continents or regions becoming aware of one another, and trading objects
and commodities, plants and techniques with one another – in that sense, globalisation
has been with us only since the sixteenth century.” This term became popular with the
process of global economic reforms, i.e., liberalisation of provisions of public sector,
privatisation of public sector and relaxing national restrictions for global interaction.
Therefore it is also known as crossing national boundaries, internationalisation,
universalisation, etc. Bagchi has also distinguished current phase of globalisation from
the globalisation of sixteenth century. “Free trade and free markets have become mantra
of the current devotees of globalisation”. Marx and Engels considered Free Trade as
Freedom of Capital which will necessarily result into sharpening antagonism of capitalist
and wage workers. The process of integration has gradually been faster than ever before
with the experiences of world economy, polity, institutions, technologies, societies,
cultures, markets, etc. Thus, globalisation has acquired important place and has been a
centre of debates in social sciences. Expert opinions have been mixed and divided on the
consequences and ramifications of globalisation.
Many of them have advocated
globalisation as panacea for all sorts of crises that the humanity is facing today but it
could not do so because of the absence of proper reform process. However, there are
other experts with contrary views which considered present streams of globalisation
harmful for poor and marginalised and hardly sustainable. Now the world economy is in
the trap of global meltdown which is potentially greater than that of Great Depression of
1930s. This Unit intends to understand the processes, challenges and ramifications of
globalisation with respect to economy and technology.
Aims and Objectives
After reading this Unit, you would be able to understand:
·
The concept and meaning of Globalisation.
·
The genesis of economic globalisation and its ill-effects.
·
The globalisation of science and technology.
1.2
GENESIS OF ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION
At the level of organised thought if one attempts to deal with the process of economic
globalisation through history of economic thought if not earlier than mercantilism, one
could trace that the trade was considered as the most important factor to acquire precious
metals as wealth for which the state was the powerful mechanism to exploit colonies,
promote exports and restrict imports during the sixteenth and late seventeenth centuries.
However, Physiocrats advocated lessez fair economy free from all restrictions, i.e. a true
sense of globalisation. Eighteenth century, with industrial revolution, reinforced restricted
globalisation and politics of dominance. Even the limited scale of industrial production in
developing countries under colonies was destroyed systematically to capture hinterland
for their industrial products and raw material for their industrial requirements. Trafficking
of indentured labourers from colony to industrialised country was another dimension of
globalisation of enslaved people. As Maddison says, “this is not for the first time that the
world has experienced globalisation. At the end of 19th century massive migration took
place from Europe and Asia to Australia and North and South America. Between 1891
and 1900, more than 3.5 million immigrants landed in the United States, 8.8 millions
more followed in the next decade. The 19th century also witnessed an enormous
expansion in trade. Globalisation of arms and domination resulted in two World Wars
towards relocating control and hegemony. Great Depression was another dimension of
globalising crises which emerged in the experiments of industrialism and clash of
interest. The Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels reveal that: “The need of a
constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole
surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connexions
everywhere” (Marx & Engels, 1888, p.46). He further emphasised that “The bourgeoisie
has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character of
production and consumption in every country” (ibid). Various dimensions of
globalisation emerged since industrial revolution. “All old established national industries
have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They are daily being dislodged by new
industries, whose introduction becomes a life and death question for all civilised nations,
by industries that no longer work up indigenous raw material, but raw material drawn
from the remotest zones; industries whose products are consumed, not only at home, but
in every quarter of the globe” (ibid). Capitalism emerged with stronger imperialist
approach in due course which created keen competition among them. As Lenin observed,
“ The more capitalism is developed, the more strongly the shortage of raw material is felt,
the more intense the competition and the hunt for sources of raw materials through out
the whole world, the more desperate the struggle for the acquisition of colonies”. Gandhi
was equally sensitised about the expansion of capitalism. He argued that if India has to
grow on the path of industrialism, she had to find races and places for exploitation
(Gandhi, 1926, p.348). Gandhi was not against globalisation per se but his concept of
global village reflects altogether an alternative paradigm of development with selfcontented villages, still interdependent on each other with harmonious relations and away
from the exploitative globalisation of industrialism, capital and finance. Therefore it will
be an erroneous, to link the Gandhian concept of global village, as many policy makers
do, and find similarity and derive strength for the present globalisation. The leading role
in development of modern industrialism in the world was played by Europe, which
basically focused on the development of physical force in order to exercise control over
non-renewable resources and market which in turn led to competing conflict. Clash of
interest among the capitalist forces led to two World Wars and losses of lives and
property of the people.
The consequences of the First World War in 1914 followed by cut throat competition and
cheap prices, the Great Depression of 1929 and later the Second World War resulted in a
series of mechanisms of the World Governance. Emergence of welfare state was a logical
culmination and it was found necessary to counter the evils of growing unemployment.
Emergence of United Nations and international financial institutions – International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) popularly known as the World Bank and
International Monetary Funds (IMF), United Nations Council for Trade and Development
(UNCTAD), General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), World Trade
Organisation (WTO) and many such international institutions are the examples of new
mechanisms of control and governance in the hands of dominant players of the world.
These institutions are cartels of developed nations in order to operate in the global market
and particularly for sharing developing world market and gain control over nonrenewable natural resources. However, the international welfare agencies (for example,
WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc.,) are the by-products to project and cover welfare
posture of the capital from uninterrupted expansion and growth in the global market.
Therefore, globalisation of market and control is the culmination of the politics of control
initially through war technology and later through welfare mechanism, policies and
development loans.
Analytical framework was even sharper when Gandhi emphasised that development of
modern industrialism requires exploitation of races and places. He says: “Industrialism is,
I am afraid, going to be curse for mankind. Exploitation of one nation by another nation
can not go for all times … And if the future of industrialism is dark for the west would it
not be darker for India?” (Gandhi, 1931). He further added: “In fact, India when it begins
to exploit other nations-as it must if it becomes industrialised, will be a curse for other
nations and menace to the world”. Despite having altogether different worldview, the
Gandhian critique on industrialism comes closer to Bolshevik colonial thesis
conceptualising imperialism as a necessary development stage of capitalism. Further
elaboration and refinement of this concept can be seen in the analysis of development of
the centre at the cost of periphery (Frank, 1967, p.313) and imperialism as permanent
phase of capitalism (Ado, 1986). Thus, regional disparity and unequal development is
inevitable in the capitalist approach of development in which industrialism necessarily
means exploitation of one region and people by another. The advantages of accumulation
have historically been in favour of the developed countries.
1.3
DECELERATING GLOBAL ECONOMY AND ITS RAMIFICATIONS
In order to generate employment and income for the workforce, growing economy is one
of the essential conditions. Therefore, growth scenario of the world economy may
provide basis to understand world employment and their regional distribution. Lo
ong-term
view o f real growth rates of the world economy suggests that global economy has been
growing with declining rates except in 1940s and 1960s as shown in table 1. The world
economy, which grew by 1.3 per cent in 1930s, was rescued through government
initiatives enunciated by Keynes in his General Theory. The world economy grew by 5.8
per cent in 1940s, which was highest and considered as golden age of capitalism. But this
could not be maintained later and in 1950s growth rates declined to 4.1 per cent which
witnessed marginal recovery to 4.4 per cent in 1960s.
Table 1: Growth in Real GDP during 1930 - 2007
Decade
Average Annual (%)
1930s
1.3
1940s
5.9
1950s
4.1
1960s
4.4
1970s
3.3
1980s
3.1
1990s
3.1
2000-07
2.6
Source: Foster and Magdoff (2008, p.16)
There had been consecutive decline in growth rates of 1970s at 3.3 per cent and 3.1 per
cent in 1980s, which, in 2007, came down to 2.6 per cent.
Reegional disparit y in growth is also very sharp. A quick look at the balance sheet of
market driven reforms and development in the last one decade suggests that most of the
developed nations could not exceed annual growth rates of GDP more than 2.5 per cent
(Table 2). According to the data available from International Labour Organisation (ILO),
the annual growth rate during 1993-2003 suggests that the world has grown by 3.5 per
cent. Highest growth rate was registered by East Asia (8.5 per cent) followed by South
Asia (5.5 per cent). South-East Asia registered growth rate above the world average rate
of growth i.e., to the tune of 4.4 per cent. Middle East and North Africa is exactly at par
with world (3.5 per cent). Growth rates of Sub-Saharan Africa (2.9 per cent) and Latin
America and the Caribbean (2.6 per cent) are although much lower than that of the world,
they are still above than that of the industrialised economies (2.5 per cent). The transition
economies have registered almost stagnating growth rate of 0.2 per cent. This shows
unevenness of distribution of growth in the world as Dr. Diwakar says. The declining
growth rates have necessary implications as lower resources at the disposal of humanity
potentially results in lower investment and lower employment, lower demand, further
aggravating crises of industrial development leading to a syndrome of structural violence
(Diwakar, 2007).
Table 2: Region Wise Growth, Employment and Productivity in the World
(1993-2003)
_______________________________________________________________________
Region
Annual
Growth
Rate of
GDP
Change in
Employment
Population
Ratio
Annual
Labour Productivity
Growth
___________________
Rate of
Annual
Percentage
Labour
Growth
Change
Force
Rate
____________________________________________________________________________________
World
3.5
-1.06
Latin America and
the Caribbean
2.6
0.0
East Asia
8.3
-1.92
South East Asia
4.4
-1.32
South Asia
5.5
0.0
Middle East and
North Africa
3.5
2.20
Sub- Saharan Africa
2.9
0.61
Transition Economies
0.2
-9.01
Industrialised
Economies
2.5
1.26
Source: World Employment Report, 2004-05, p.27.
1.8
1.0
10.9
2.3
1.3
2.4
2.3
0.1
5.8
2.0
3.3
1.2
75.0
21.6
37.9
3.3
2.8
-0.1
0.1
-0.2
2.3
0.9
-1.5
25.4
0.8
1.4
14.9
Scenario of emplo yment too is not encouraging as the emplo yment populat ion ratio of the
world has declined by 1.26 per cent (i.e., fro m 63.3 per cent in 1993 to 62.5% in 2003).
Annual growth rate of labour force has increased by 1.8% and labour productivit y by 1%.
Except ions apart, most of the economies have witnessed eit her declining rate of change in
emplo yment populat ion ratio or remained stagnant. Even East Asian countries wit h
robust growth rate of 8.3% have registered declining rate of change in emplo yment
populat ion ratio. Although, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and
industrialised econo mies have registered positive rate of change in emplo yment
populat ion ratio, scenario of labour productivit y is very disappo int ing. Growth rate and
rate of change in labour productivit y remained negative in case of Sub-Saharan Africa,
possibly because o f highest growth rate of labour force. Declining rate of change in
emplo yment populat ion ratio is sharpest in case of Transit ion economies. On the who le
the world is heading towards a syndro me of jobless growth.
Despite 3.5% growth of GDP of the world, data also suggest that there has been addit io n
in unemplo yed lot. Rate of unemplo yment has increased fro m 5.6% in 1993 to 6.2% in
2003 (Table 3), even after addit ion in people in work and emplo yment. Unemplo yment
rate is highest in the Middle East and North Africa (12.2%) followed by Sub-Saharan
Africa (10.9 per cent) and Lat in America and the Caribbean registered 8%. Exceptions
apart, unemployment has been rising. Unemplo yment rate even in the industrialised
countries is 6.8%. Although unemplo yment rate in South Asia remained stagnant, most of
the regions o f the world wit nessed rising unemplo yment in the 1990s. Out of 2.85 billion
people in work at the end of 2005, 1.4 billion people still do not earn above the US$2 a
day poverty line – just as many as ten years ago. Among these, 520 million lived with
their families in extreme poverty on less than US$1 a day. Nearly every fifth worker of
this world has to face the most impossible situation of surviving with less than US$1 a
day in 21st century of acclaimed progress of industrialism.
Table 3: Region Wise Distribution of Unemployment Rate and Poverty in the World during
_______________________________________________________________________________
Region
Unemployment
Working Poverty Share
Rate
_____________________________________
US$ 1 per day
US$ 2 per day
___________________________________ ___________________ ________________________
1993
2003
1980
1990
2003
1980
1990
2003
_____________________________________________________________________________
World
5.6
6.2
40.3
27.5
19.7
59.8
57.2
49.7
Latin America and
the Caribbean
6.9
8.0
15.6
16.1
13.5
41.2
39.3
33.1
East Asia
2.4
3.3
71.1
35.9
17.0
92.0
79.1
49.2
South East Asia
3.9
6.3
37.6
19.9
11.3
73.4
69.1
58.8
South Asia
4.8
4.8
64.7
53.0
38.1
95.5
93.1
87.5
Middle East and
North Africa
12.1
12.2
5.0
3.9
2.9
40.3
33.9
30.4
Sub- Saharan Africa
11.0
10.9
53.4
55.8
55.8
85.5
89.1
89.0
Transition Economies
6.3
9.2
1.6
1.7
5.2
1.7
5.0
23.6
Industrialised
Economies
8.0
6.8
Source: World Employment Report 2004-05, p.24 and 27.
Working condition of the workers even in the industrialised countries remained inhuman
added with long hours and one third of minimum wages (Yates, 2006). Cross country
analysis suggests that unemployment has direct relation with poverty (H
Hansda and Ray,
2006). Table 2 suggests that the world constitutes 19.7 per cent of working people in
extreme poverty at US$ 1 day. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest concentration of
poverty (55.8%) among working people, followed by South Asia (38.1%) in terms of
extreme poverty line of US$ 1 a day. Taking US$ 2 a day for international poverty about
49.7% among the working people are poor. About 89% of Sub-Saharan Africa and 87.5%
working people are poor. The proportion of working poor in Sub-Saharan Africa
remained almost unchanged during the last thirteen years (1990-2003). Spread of poverty
among working poor in South East Asia and East Asia was to the tune of 58.8 and 49.2%
respectively. Although the chances are bleak, if the volume of poor are reduced to the
halves by 2015 as per United Nations Declaration, there will still be 900 millions people
living in extreme poverty, 826 million people undernourished and nearly one billion
people will still lack access to improved water resources (Human Development Report
2001, p.22). FAO reveals that about 850 millions are malnourished, 9 million human
being die because of hunger, out of which 5 millions are children, loss of 220 million
human years of productive lives, out of 850 million undernourished, 815 are from
developing countries, 28 millions in transition states and 9 millions in industrialised
states (FAO, 2005).
Around 2.5 billio n people of the world are living on less than $2 a day and process o f
reduction in povert y has slowed down in recent years part icularly in 1990s. In such a
situation, possibilit y of co ming out of poverty syndro me with the present development
paradigm and growth structure, need to be examined. ILO considered IMF est imated
average GDP growth rates for last one decade (1995-2005) and pro ject ion thereo f for
required growth rates to meet MDG targets. Projection suggests that the world, except the
industrialised econo mies, has a possibilit y to achieve halving US $1 a day working
poverty but there is remote chance to achieve halving US $ 2 a day working poverty
(Table 4). Regio n-wise analysis suggests that East Asia has fair chance to achieve targets
and South Asia has alt hough potential to achieve halving US $1 a day working povert y
target, there is no possibilit y to cross US $2 a day target.
Table 4: GDP Growth Rates Required to Halve Working Poverty (MDG) by 2015
____________________________________________________________________________________
Region
IMF Average GDP
Growth Rate Required to
Growth Rate (%)
Halve working poverty/day
______________
__________ ___________
1995- 2005
US $1
US$2
_____________________________________________________________________________________
1.
World
except: (a) Industrialized economies
5.0
4.7
10+
(b)East Asia and industrialized economies
3.8
5.3
10+
2.
Transition Economies
3.3
4-5
8-10
3.
East Asia
7.9
3-4
6-8
4.
South East Asia
4.1
4-5
10+
5.
South Asia
5.8
5-6
10+
6.
Latin America and the Caribbean
2.4
3-4
4-6
7.
Middle East and North Africa
4.0
4-5
8-10
8.
Sub- Saharan Africa
3.7
8+
10+
____________________________________________________________________________________
Source: World Employment Report 2004-05, p.27
Thus, MDG is not going to be achieved wit h this jo bless growth syndrome (ILO, 2005).
However, these project ions have subject ive elements of present intensit y o f povert y
reduction wit h 1 per cent growth rate, which implies that policy changes may have
significant impacts on results. If the trend is any indicat ive, the result may lead towards
worst kind o f structural vio lence.
Foster and Magdoff (2008), analysing the US economy, suggested that there was falling
tendencies in ratio of wage and salaries to national income and rise of profit and
inequality. Wage of non-agriculture worker per 8 hours was $71.92 in 1972 which came
down to $65.92 in 2006. Household consumption expenditure increased from 60% of
GDP in 1960s to 70% of GDP in 2007. There was decline in saving and investment and
increase in credit economy delinked with real economy. Household debt increased from
40% of GDP in 160 to 100% of GDP in 2007. Household private debt GDP ratio has
gone up in USA - in 1959 it was 151% and in 2007 it became 373%. Household debt
servicing has increased. Net investment in the economy declined from 3% to 2%.
Retrenchment and downsizing remunerations have become the order of the day for any
and every country. In order to save industries, industrially advanced nations started
bailing-out packages to rescue their economy from financial crises, which is inconsistent
with the logic of market reform. When market needed open space free from state
regulation the argument forwarded that state should not intervene and let the market
forces decide.
Table 5: Bail Out Package in a Few Select Countries
Country
Bail Out Package
Country
USA bn dollar
$700
Germany
Japan
$716
EU
China
$586
Canada
Australia
$28 bn
France
Source: Financial Express dated 11.02.2009.
Bail Out Package
50 bn Euro
$260 bn
$30 bn
$18 bn
The tax payers’ money is being given as bail-out package to rescue the corporate world
from financial crises as shown in table 5. Developing nations have also not been spared
from the heat of global meltdown. For the developing nations, bailing-out has been
difficult and impacts negatively on the living conditions.
1.4
GLOBALISATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
In the stage of primitive social formation, the human being was completely subordinated
to nature in absence of development of productive forces, i.e., technology and skills. With
little scope for wider interaction and therefore technological and geographical limited
knowledge, the isolated society remained almost insurmountable stumbling block until
human being could learn to make pointed tools of stone, to use fire and melt metal
particularly iron. The accumulation of material resources for livelihood paved the way for
inventing tools and arms for hunting and wars in order to control over means of
production. Invention of compass was perhaps the most significant scientific
breakthrough of the time to expand geographical knowledge and access to and control
over resources.
History suggests that a society could achieve a higher level of consciousness and comfort
through practice and accumulation of knowledge. Subject to natural and uninterrupted
flow and transmission from one region to another, this accumulated knowledge has
always contributed to reduce hardships of society. The unfolding laws of nature by
various scholars provided scientific flow to progress. For example, discovery of counting
of one to nine by the Arab and Zero by the Aryabhatt in India made the counting easier
not only for the world of Mathematics but also for the daily life of the human society.
Discovery of the Law of Gravitation by Newton, Theory of Density by Archimedes,
Theory of Relativity by Einstein, discovery of dialectical materialism and class struggle
as the laws of nature by Marx and numerous such discoveries and inventions
revolutionised the society and the world of Science and Technologies and contributed
enormously to ease the hardships of society. Development of handicrafts with science
and technology resulted in Industrial Revolution. Invention of steam engine by James
Watt, steam locomotives by George Stephenson and aeroplane by Wright brothers
revolutionised transport. Development of machinery and technology empowered human
beings to subordinate nature to greater extent. Medical Science and Technology has
increased life expectancy and quality of life. Space Research Satellites have made
revolution in the world of Information Technology and stretched human limbs from one
part of the globe to another. Since the days of the introduction of iron, agriculture was
revolutionised for minimising the risk of the vagaries of monsoon, quality of seeds,
fertiliser and pesticides, mechanisation, storage, marketing, etc., and world production in
agriculture has scaled an appreciable heights. The question of food insecurity has been
addressed in a better way. However, there is a long way to go. Thus, globalisation of
knowledge and technology has made the life easier and comfortable subject to equity and
access towards serving humanity.
Gardner (2002) observed that Transfer of technology on an international basis is critical
for sustainable development in the twenty first century, and requires a techno-cultural
shift from the current models for technology transfer that are driven almost entirely by
the domestic economy. The twenty-first century model for technology transfer must
incorporate the latest in information technology and utilise the global marketplace. He
argued that under an open exchange of technology knowledge: i) efficient technologies
will benefit both industrialising and industrialised economies, ii) an open approach to
technology commercialisation will benefit emerging and existing technology-based
economies. Mayer (2000), investigating Central Europe and East Asian countries, found
that an important determinant of the benefits which low-income countries can reap from
globalisation is that they can ignite a simultaneous increase of technology imports and the
skill level of the domestic labour force. He further emphasised that the coordination of
such efforts is crucial because investment in human capital alone will lead to diminishing
returns of skill accumulation, while increased technology transfer alone is unlikely to be
enduring and might have negative developmental effects from rising income inequality.
Lessons from the East Asian development experience suggested that rapid
industrialisation and skill accumulation were achieved by the expansion of the education
system in conjunction with a step-by-step upgrading of the skill intensity of economic
activities. Doing so not only reduced the technology gap with advanced countries and
raised the demand for educated labour, but also provided the training and experience
needed to realise the economic potential of educated workers. The difference is that in
low-income countries this upward spiral does not necessarily need to occur in skillintensive manufacturing activities but depending on the specific sectors in which a
country has a competitive edge might need to be based in primary sectors, unskilled
labour-intensive manufacturing, or services where this diversity reflects the heterogeneity
within the group of low-income countries, to the extent that these efforts imply increased
budgetary spending. The low-income countries are at a disadvantage because the problem
of mobilising additional government revenue is likely to be most acute in the poorest
countries and especially difficult without external sources of finance.
Moreover, these developments of productive forces could hardly remain class neutral and
away from the diplomacy of hegemony and control and hence restricted to the benefit of
dominant stakeholders. However, many civilisations could grow and flourish across the
globe with remarkable achievements, a parallel world of deprived paid their cost and
could hardly taste the fruits of development and modernity, as beneficiary of scientific
and technological control emerged powerful to enslave, colonise and exploit them. Thus,
the world has been divided between the developed and otherwise. Colonisation and
subordination of territory, society and economy are another process of globalisation of
power and control of the dominant players. Moreover, hazards of technology have also
been globalised. Nuclear power has posed a global threat which devastated Nagasaki and
Hiroshima of Japan. Fast communication of dreaded diseases like AIDS reached
developing nations and drug addiction has been swallowing youths.
Gandhi had an alternative framework of science and technology which was essentially
people-centric and problem resolving. He rejected an uncritical application of big
machines where small machines could serve the purpose and also improve the efficiency
of labour. He was in favour of technology for need-based production for masses instead
of mass production for competition, marketing and profits through industrialism. Gandhi
warned against the fall out of industrialism. He was, however, not sure about the
appropriate technology but he had in his mind a framework of technology like sewing
machine which could make an individual efficient without aggravating unemployment.
Symbolic evidence was his advocacy for Charkha, for which wood, carpenter, cotton,
weavers, end users, etc., all are available from the surroundings of villages. He was not
against the use of technology as such but vehemently opposed to such technology which
could deprive workforce from employment. Uncritical development of technology and
gaps in its access and application has posed serious challenges and consequences also.
Globalisation of war industry and completion of acquiring war technology to the extent
of atomic weapon has brought the world to the verge of destruction. There is massive
malnourished population who are unattended but billions of dollars are spent on the
defence and war technology. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
(SIPRI) estimated that global military expenditure was to the tune of $950 billion in
2003, which was an increase of 11%, out of which high-income countries account 75%
with merely 16% of population. The combined military spending of these countries was
slightly higher than the aggregate foreign debt of all low-income countries and 10 times
higher than their combined levels of official development assistance in 2001. On the one
hand, there is a large gap between the allocation for military means to provide security
and maintain their global and regional power status and on the other, to alleviate poverty
and promote economic development. The US tops the list of countries with significant
military spending.
Carbon emissions have precariously disturbed the ozone equilibrium and resulted in the
growing global warming. Globalisation and technology are two prime drivers of the
global economy. High rates of innovations, globalisation of research and development,
and the emerging markets are becoming source of low-cost research and development
initiatives. These markets need technology for maximising profit, which is necessarily
labour saving. Thus, technology developed for industrialism and market can hardly meet
the challenges of unemployment and poverty. This demands an alternative technocultural development paradigm to address this challenge where Gandhi needs to be
recalled and suitable technology is to be reinvented to make the lives of society
comfortable with sustainability.
1.5
SUMMARY
Globalisation is coterminous with human history but now it is referred to in terms of
trade and commerce. However, the current phase of globalisation is different free trade
and free markets have become prominent factors. Globalising industrialism has brought
the world economy to the syndrome of recession and has become further vulnerable after
global meltdown. The world is fast heading towards jobless growth, as distribution of
growth rates and employment has not been able to address the question of rising
unemployment and poverty. Development of technology did reduce the hardships by
increasing production but has been slow in generating employment to masses which have
definite implications on demand and ensuring access of technology to common masses.
Gandhi warned humanity long ago about the underlining fall out of industrialism. The
need of the hour is to work out an alternative development paradigm and consistent
labour intensive eco-friendly technology for sustainable development of global society
for peace.
1.6 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What do you understand by globalisation? Trace the origins of economic
Globalisation.
2. What are the ill-effects of economic Globalisation?
3. ‘Globalisation of science and technology has brought about progress and
development’. Discuss with relevant arguments.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Ado, H., Imperialism A Permanent Phase of Capitalism, United Nations University,
1986.
Bagchi, Amiya K., Rich Men’s Globalisation, in Bhattacharya, M., (ed.)
Globalisation, Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2004 (in association with Jadavpur University).
Diwakar, D.M., Exploring Satyagraha against Global Structural Violence, Gandhi Marg,
Vol. 29, No. 1, 2007.
FAO, (2005): State of Food Insecurity in the World.
Foster, John Bellamy, and Fred Magdoff., Financial Implosion and Stagnation: Back to
Real Economy, Analytical Monthly Review, Vol. 6, No. 9, December, 2008. See also No. 12,
2009.
Foster, John Bellamy, and Fred Magdoff., The Great Financial Crisis, Monthly Review
Press, New York, 2009.
Frank, A.G., Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America, Monthly Review
Press, New York, 1967.
Gandhi, M.K., Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Publication Division, Government
of India.
Gandhi, M.K, (1926): Young India, October 7.
Gandhi M.K., (1931): Young India, November, 12.
Gardner, Philip L., The Globalisation of R&D and International Technology Transfer in
the 21st Century, Paper presented at International Conference of Management of
Innovation and Technology (ICMIT'02 & ISMOT'02), Hangzhou City, October 18–20
April 2002
Hansda, S.K, and Partha Ray., Emplo yment and Poverty in India during the 1990s,
Economic and Political Weekly, vol.41, no.27-28, July 8-21, 2006.
ILO, (2005), World Employment Report 2004-05, Geneva.
ILO, (2009), Global Employment Trend 2009, Geneva.
Lenin., Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, progress Publishers, Moscow,
seventeenth printing, 1978 (originally published in 1917).
Maddision, World Development Indicators, 1995.
Marx, K, and F. Engels., Manifesto of the Communist Party, Reprint by Peoples
Publishing House, New Delhi.
Marx, K, and F. Engels., Collected Works, vol.6, Progress Publishers, Moscow.
Mayer, Jörg., Globalisation, Technology Transfer and Skill Accumulation in LowIncome Countries, UNCTAD/OSG/DP/150, August, 2000.
Patnaik, P., The Retreat to Unfreedom, Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2003.
Stiglitz, Josheph E., Making Globalisation Work, Penguin Books, London, 2006.
Stockholm
International
Peace
Research
http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/BigBusiness.asp
Institute,
Yates, Michael D., Capitalism is Rotten to the Core, Analytical Monthly Review, vol.4,
no.2, May, 2006.
UNDP, Human Development Report, 2001.
UNIT 2 UNDERSTANDING GLOBALISATION AND ITS RAMIFICATIONS-II
(SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL)
Structure
2.1
Introduction
Aims and Objectives
2.2
Understanding Social and Cultural Globalisation
2.2.1 Socio-Cultural Ramifications of Globalisation
2.3
Understanding Political Globalisation
2.3.1 Political Ramifications of Globalisation
2.4
Introspective Reflection from Indian Realities
2.5
Implications of Globalisation
2.6
Summary
2.7
Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
2.1
INTRODUCTION
Globalisation, in general parlance, is defined as the process of integrating society, economy,
polity and technology through time and space and widening horizons towards getting global.
Understanding globalisation and its ramifications through social, political and cultural lenses is
equally important as dealing with economic and technological dimensions. Generally, it is
difficult to dissect each one of these dimensions as they are closely interconnected. Moreover,
they have interactive correspondence amongst themselves in which every component has its
contribution in reinforcing or determining other’s contribution. Therefore, even if one considers
trade/commerce and wars as important dimensions for geographical expansions and control,
globalisation has various implications on day-to-day lives of society, culture and polity. History is
full of factual evidences which suggest that productive organisations determine social, cultural
and political forms of the world society.
Aims and Objectives
After reading this Unit, you would be able to understand:
·
The meaning of socio-cultural Globalisation.
·
The concept of political Globalisation.
·
The ramifications of the globalisation in socio-cultural and political perspectives.
2.2
UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL AND CULTURAL GLOBALISATION
There are two categorical streams of thought towards understanding globalisation. One deals with
the institutional dimensions in which gradual expansions of social, political and cultural
interactions from local to global are reckoned with. Gidden defines globalisation as an
“intensification of world wide social relations which links distant localities in such a way that
local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa.” This concept,
of globalisation may be traced back from the primitive interactions of the society till date.
Explaining his concept, Adam has provided many examples of expanding social relations across
the globe such as mission related activities, conversion of religion since Middle Ages and later by
Christians, wars, colonisation, etc. Under this framework, globalisation is not a new phenomenon.
Religious influences of various sects and religions also come in the purview of globalisation.
However, it is very difficult to isolate economic influences on starving communities in the garb of
illiteracy and their unhygienic conditions. Besides institutional dimensions, there has been another
stream of understanding globalisation with contemporary personal experiences. Defining cultural
globalisation, Adam writes: “we can speak of a globalizing culture when people as private citizens
are tied into global process and consequently have the potential to be concerned about global
issues and the capacity to get personally involved in social, cultural and ecological matters from
across our earth.” Socio-cultural exchange and interaction has been revolutionised by technology
and created a faster pace of globalisation process.
2.2.1 Socio-Cultural Ramifications of Globalisation
Isolated society has its own speed of development, but connected with other social and cultural
formations either in terms of institutional arrangements or subjective contemporary experiences,
has its compounding effects. In a globalising world, it has created many spaces for social and
cultural expansion. Sharing information has become the strength of information technology but
has created market also which recognises capital intensity. Capital has found space in the
patenting of culture. This has direct bearing over shaping social and cultural-present and future.
Universalisation of culture and social customs has electrifying effect in this integrated world.
Development of technology and integration of Media played an important role in the globalisation
of culture. Visual Media travelled fast in the arena of socio-cultural ambiance.
Magnetic Compass revolutionised geographical expansion of trade and commerce. While
analysing impacts of trade relations on social and cultural lives, there are many assertions of
social and cultural dimensions that have imposed significant bearing on daily life of the colonial
history. In India, for example, when Portuguese came for trade they brought papaya, potato,
cauliflower, tomato, tobacco and host of other things, which is now integral part of Indian society
and we think them indigenous. As Amiya says however these have originations in America
(Bagchi, 2004, p.5). The industrial revolution in England was a great breakthrough towards
technological development which has brought revolutionary change in people’s social lives
particularly in terms of clothing, health, hygiene, sanitation, housing, transport and
communication, etc., subject to the level of access to such development and modernisation. This
development and integration have broadly two streams. One side represents those who could
participate (target groups of affluent minority) and included with varying degrees of those who
have been excluded (deprived majority) in this process.
Gupta has presented an exclusive account of inclusion and exclusion contextualising global
culture (Gupta, 2004) where she has brought Martin Barbero (1993) and Morley and Robbins
(1995) in the discussion to buttress her argument that globalisation of culture has forced the
excluded towards going back to cultural roots. Globalising media has contributed in promoting
the capitalist consumerism and distorted cultural balance. But understanding the ramifications of
the current phase of globalisation routed through freedom of capital has many undesirable social
and cultural bearings also. Mitra points out increasing cases of AIDS have been a matter of
concern for the culturally sensitive people and society (Mitra, 2004, pp.16-17). Human
Development Report (HDR) 2001 confesses: “Globalisation has created many opportunities for
cross border crime and the rise of multinational crime syndicates and networks” (HDR, 2001,
p.13). Global financial crises led to the retrenchment and the resulting growing marginalisation
has compounded the possibilities of electrifying multiplier effects of the expansion of crimes.
There is stark inequality across the globe. A quick look at the balance sheet of human
development suggests that about 24 per cent of the population in the developing countries are
living below the poverty line. If they are reduced to the halves by 2015, as per United Nations
Declaration, there will still be 900 millions people living in extreme poverty, 826 million people
undernourished and nearly one billion people will still lack access to improved water resources
(HDR, 2001, p.22). However, region-wise poverty suggests that 1199 millions people are below
the income of less than US$ 1 per day. In the preceding Unit, sufficient evidence has been
provided regarding the poverty levels in different regions. The World Employment Report of the
International Labour Office provides alarming picture of increasing unemployment rate of
selected countries of the world economy.
Addressing the delegates of World Economic Forum, the then Secretary general, Mr. Kofi Annan
warned a note of caution to the world citizens: “None of us, I suggest, can afford to ignore the
condition of our fellow passengers on this little boat. If they are sick, all of us risk infection. If
they are angry, all of us easily get hurt.” There is general view among the development experts
that globalisation has bypassed the poor. As the Human Development Report (2000) indicates,
"many of the poorest countries are marginalised from the growing global opportunities. The
income gap between the poorest and the richest countries are widening" (HDP, 2000, p.82). The
hard realisation resulted into a resolute goal and declaration by UNO toward reduction in poverty:
“The leaders of the summit adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration recognising their
collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at global
level.” The declaration envisaged to reduce the poverty levels by half by 2015 (HDR, 2001, p.21).
Mr Annan also echoed “The general perception among many is that this is the fault of
globalisation and that globalisation is driven by global elite, composed of at least represented by,
the people who attend this gathering.” (Krishnaswamy, February 5, 2002). Thus, the fruits of
globalisation are shared by the elite and the expectations of sharing universal social and cultural
values have been raised through demonstration effects amidst poverty and inequality. This
penetrated a dent into harmonious relations and privacy and threatened local socio-cultural
ambience.
2.3
UNDERSTANDING POLITICAL GLOBALISATION
Politics and its transforming superstructures have created significant divide across the time and
space. Transformation of power structure leading to the emergence and globalisation of the
modern state is a landmark development in the area of political power and authority. According to
Paritch, in the institutional framework analysis, discourse of political globalisation can be traced
to the emergence of so-called laissez-faire state during the rise of industrial capitalism. Now it has
attained the status of monopoly capital state. Patnaik suggests that with the changing nature of
capital the nature of state changes and in turn changes the relationship among the states which
decide the patterns of international politics (Patnaik, 2003, p.89). The collapse of the USSR led to
unipolar world power and the consolidation of international finance. Policies imposed on the
Third World have accentuated their poverty and dependence towards the rolling back of their
sovereignty and independence. Resistance to this imperial masters sometimes took extreme forms
which, the super state powers, most of the times, handled authoritatively (ibid, pp.102-3).
Another dimension of politics has contributed in reshaping the state and authority even more
significantly. Three great revolutions – French, Russian and Chinese- contributed enormously in
reshaping and globalising politics. Interestingly, France could strike balance between two
contradictory propositions, i.e, equality and liberty but in America inequality has been tolerated
with liberty (Amin, 2005, pp.56-58). Industrial revolution could bring technological breakthrough
and emergence of welfare state was a logical culmination of bourgeois capitalist development to
contend the resentments of the people of the home country and colonial expansion as hinterland.
Competition for hegemony and relocation of capital created global conflict for acquiring control
over non-renewable resources, trade and commerce among the capitalist forces, which led to the
World Wars, losses of lives and property of the people. The leadership mantle of the capitalist
government after the Second World War was taken by the US. A cartel of capitalist countries was
formed in the Bretton Woods Conference, which laid the foundation of International Financial
Institutions – International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD), popularly known as The World Bank as a platform to pursue the agenda of
capitalist power. While these two institutions regulated politics through finance, the United
Nations emerged with global platform for world communities for policy interaction and
democratic development of polity. Concerted mobilisations against colonial exploitation resulted
in gradual liberation of the countries followed by installation of democratic governments, which
could create more space for public sphere. Thus, people’s movements could achieve a certain
degree of civil rights through legislation, parts of which were implemented and others were kept
on the backseat. With the gradual development of capital, the nation-state provided space for
market and friendly institutions through various legislations; the capitalist agenda got a dominant
space, mostly at the costs of people’s interest. Gradually the role of state, as a welfare state, has
minimised. Finance Capital came in a big way through globalisation, liberalisation and
privatisation. New cartel emerged out of GATT as World Trade Organisation (WTO) to care for
Multinationals and Trans National Capital in the name of providing level playing fields.
It is argued that deeper international economic integration and globalisation of finance has
reduced significantly the capacity of national governments to manage their economies through
fiscal and monetary policies, labour and welfare legislation, and variegated regulatory regime for
business which included extensive public ownership (Radice, 2006, pp.157-8). Further, “It is
precisely in conforming to the agenda of business – transmitted through markets as well as
political processes – that states have restructured themselves away from their Keynesian and
welfarist goals” (Ibid, p.167). It may be worth mentioning here that the creation of political
structures, broadly under the US hegemony, brought many transnational inter-state governments
mostly through bilateral trade and finance. The Washington Consensus brought almost an end of
protectionism in the world markets through states. Interestingly the developed nations brought
markets of developing nations in their free trade regime. Undoubtedly national economies have
been significantly integrated but in this process national governments have lost their autonomy.
Even the interest group politics encountered rough weather. Trade unions in the organised sectors
have lost their edges in the process of labour reforms what they enjoyed after acquiring through
struggle. Contractual labour, hire and fire, golden handshake, exit policy, etc., were introduced
which have hardly any consequential resistance. Therefore, the globalisation of politics
empowered industrially advanced nations through which they could cope with their deepening
crises and impose their interest as universal forms of governance and development. Developing
nations were subjugated through new imperial politics clubbed with conditional development aid
in the dependence syndrome of economic and political controls.
2.3.1 Political Ramification of Globalisation
The spill over effects of development in general and technological development in particular
played an important role in reducing the hardships of society. However, it has created challenges
before the humanity as well, because the technology has never been class neutral in history. In the
process of development of authority, power structure and State, development and use of
technology have been biased towards the ruling class. When the society was ruled by the feudal
state, the technological development was mainly towards making warriors efficient. If the society
is governed by the bourgeois democracy initially through welfare state, and later through Trans
National Capital, the benefit of technology is generally harvested by the capitalist agencies and
society. Competition to harvest profit has been undermining the interest of the common masses of
the world and resulted in the development of unequal world with wider unemployment, poverty
and misery of the humanity. Labour-saving technologies and jobless growth dominated the
society of the world at large irrespective of region-specific requirements and transitory
exceptions.
Access to democratic institutions to certain extent could be possible for the common people.
Many constitutional provisions were achieved for their welfare and parts of them were
implemented also. However, democracy is still functioning as an oligarchic institution and yet to
become meaningfully participatory. Therefore universal independence is yet to be attained.
Gandhi wrote about the idea of universal independence as early as in 1940s: “Isolated
independence is not the goal of the world States. It is voluntary interdependence. The better mind
of the world desires today not absolutely independent States. The consummation of that event
may be far off. I want to make no grand claim for our country. But I see nothing grand or
impossible about our readiness for universal independence” (Narayanan, 2003, p.23). Moreover,
the use of the word 'participatory democracy' emerged as an efficient sailing coin suggested from
every nook and corner of the political sphere. Participation has been co-opted by the capital
controlled states and their agencies. Therefore, there is an imperative need to take care of the state
sponsored slogans of participation.
Ideological resistance has contributed in incorporating values of liberty, equality and fraternity as
emerged from the French Revolution. Mobilisation of people against colonial exploitation
resulted in a gradual liberation of the countries followed by the installation of democratic
governments. But History suggests that democratic institutions have also been ignored if they did
not serve the purpose of capitalist expansion. Reducing the subsidies and opening of the markets
of developed nations for the developing countries and the recent attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq,
inconsistent with international laws, serve as prime examples. Thus, one ought to be careful while
forwarding arguments in favour of democratic human face of globalisation. However, globalising
dissent is another dimension of globalisation of politics. Seattle and Hong Kong Rounds of WTO
have ample evidence of global resistance of civil society organisation.
The speech of the then Secretary General of the United Nations- Mr. Kofi Annan- in a summit of
the World Economic Forum in 2002, reflected the realisation of the “The reality is that power and
wealth in this world are very unequally shared and that far too many people are condemned to
lives of extreme poverty and degradation.” (Krishnaswamy, February 5, 2002). Though the
upward mobility and expansion have created many avenues, it is also found that they are not free
from demerits. Therefore, the challenges before the world in general need to be comprehended
carefully in view of the history of progress that the world has witnessed.
2.4
INTROSPECTIVE REFLECTION FROM INDIAN REALITIES
Modern India has been very much the part of global trade, commerce and politics – initially under
the colonial power and later in the cartel of democratic global governance through the CommonWealth Nations network. Integration of India with global politics of finance capital became faster
after adopting ‘New Economic Policies’ in 1991. The ruling class was toeing the line of the World
Bank despite resistance from different corners of the academics, politics and civil society. The
developed world, under the hegemonic role of the USA, could successfully transfer their crises to
developing nations through these policies. India suffered on many counts – for example, growing
unemployment, inequality, dictates and political subordination because of development approach
that it adopted. Moreover, farmers’ suicides, workers’ retrenchments, and free lunch for Special
Economic Zones, financial institutions, etc., occurred simultaneously. Even the global recession
has affected it in some way. These events have compounding effects on socio-cultural dimensions
of Indian society. Development of information technology brought significant changes in
educational orientation, art and culture and political arena. Electronic media penetrated into rural
areas which greatly disturbed the rural theatre culture. However, this dependence syndrome did
not emerge only in a few years.
Before independence India was subordinated and deprived through colonial exploitation leading
to transfer of resources from India to Britain. After independence, it has been analysing the
hangover of the colonial rule and persistence of its policies; therefore, exploitative resource
transfer mechanism continues in a sophisticated policy framework. This hypothesis has been
debated at length and became sharper with the emergence of neo-colonial strategies and
institutions pursuing liberalisation and market-oriented development strategies as solutions to all
forms of deprivations. Now, the results are coming up in clearer terms that the poor has been
bypassed in this process of development. “The blame for the poor performance on the
employment front is usually apportioned on our choice of technique of production which has been
failing to take into account the nature of resource endowment in the country. This is partly correct
and may not be the whole truth. Our slow but steady movement toward dependence paradigm
which is reflected in increasing foreign collaboration not only seriously undermined our self
reliant growth strategy but is also to be squarely blamed for increasing unemployment in recent
past” (Prasad, 1991).
Since Independence, the country has been making various efforts towards development to
improve situation of employment and eradicate poverty for better quality of life. The mixed
economy model with coexistence of public and private sectors was accepted for development.
Planned and community development were initiated, and the main concern of the policy makers
remained infrastructure building as facilitator of development through public sector, keeping it
away from the purview of profit motives. With a higher GDP there has been substantial
improvement in the infrastructure and decline in Poverty ratio. The percentage of per annum
growth of employment has declined (Government of India, 2002, pp.158-60) and the incidence of
rural unemployment has been increasing in the 1990s (Government of India, 2002, pp.161-63).
Rural employment programmes have almost failed to create sustainable opportunities of rural
employment for absorption of labour (Radhakrishna, 2002, p.245). Official documents also
suggest that income gap between urban and rural has widened from 1:2 to 1:6 (Government of
India, 2000). The rate of decline in rural poverty, which was 2.75 per cent in 1970s and 1980s has
decreased to merely 0.73 per cent and hence rate of decrease in poverty is lower than the rate of
increase in rural population (Radhakrishna, 2002). Despite all these depressing indications, the
official data claimed a sharp decline during poverty in 1999-2000. The methodology adopted for
this calculation remained controversial (Vaidyanathan, 2001; Sundaram and Tendulkar, 2001;
Sen, 2001). The official documents of the Planning Commission of India have also
acknowledged, “it has yet to meet the challenge of generating sufficient employment
opportunities to ensure that all its people have the purchasing power to obtain the food they
require. Gainful employment is one of the most essential for food security and economic security”
(GOI, 2003, p.57).
As early as in 1925, Gandhi wrote that “Idleness is the great cause, the root of all evils, and if that
root can be destroyed, most of the evils can be removed without further effort” (Gandhi, 1947,
p.463). He further emphasised that “Unless poverty and unemployment are wiped out from India,
I would not agree that we have attained freedom” (ibid). These statements reflect deep rooted
vision and the meaning of freedom towards which India was to move with a comprehensive
package of initiatives. Thus, political freedom in Gandhian framework was not away from
economic and cultural freedom. Increasing number of farmers committing suicide speaks volumes
of untold misery of the farmers. Today the state is shying away with its responsibilities and
gradually adopting contradictory market-oriented policies, which have narrowed the base of
employment opportunities; with the current global financial crises it has aggravated further.
At the outset of planning just after independence, India set a goal for reconstruction of the
economy, polity and society with the basic objectives of growth with social justice through a
combination of planning and community development strategies. As the First Five Year Plan
document clearly emphasised, “It is no longer possible to think of development as a process
merely of increasing available supplies of material goods, it is necessary to ensure that
simultaneously a steady advance is made towards the realisation of wider objectives such as full
employment and removal of economic inequalities. Maximum production, full employment, the
attainment of economic equality and social justice, which constitute the accepted objectives of
planning under present day conditions are not really so many different ideas but a series of
selected aims which the country must work for … even the limited objectives of increased
production cannot be achieved unless the wider objectives of social policy are constantly kept in
mind and steadily pursued” (GOI, 1960, Ch.ii, p.25). This spirit was lost in due course. During
1990s the economic liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation emerged as dominant policies
to address the problems of unemployment and poverty. The results have never been encouraging
but are contrary, in terms of employment. The state has been withdrawing from the
responsibilities of providing employment contrary to the commitment of our national leaders who
had a dream of self-reliant development and growth with distributive justice. The Socialist
approach to growth has been replaced by market-oriented growth. The world market has been in
the trap of financial crises and mass scale retrenchment from jobs in the world could not leave
India isolated. The tall claims of post modernism have failed to bring about positive
developments.
2.5
IMPLICATIONS OF GLOBALISATION
Globalisation has definite implications and the international community has accepted its potential
threats on national and local identities and emphasised on diversity and pluralism through
multicultural policies. One of the Human Development Reports indicates that “Globalisation can
threaten national and local identities. The solution is not to retreat to conservatism and isolationist
nationalism – it is to design multicultural policies to promote diversity and pluralism.” (UNDP,
HDR, 2004, p.10). But the question arises as to how this can be achieved with the same policy
and polity which have destroyed them. One has to look into an alternative development paradigm
potentially destined to such goals. Globalisation has mainly been universalising the values of
capital and creating uniform structure of polity which necessarily need social and cultural backup
to sustain such polity.
Broadly there are two dominant streams of development practices in the world- one, capitalist
path of development, which includes liberal reformist also and the other is communist experiment.
The former, despite its tall claims, is breathing its last amidst internal contradictions of
stagnations, deflation, unemployment, poverty and now global financial crises; and the latter,
Communist practices, which collapsed in USSR after catering almost full employment for nearly
seven decades which itself is a record and still exists in many countries with higher growth rates.
China and Vietnam could be a few examples among others. In India there has been mixed
economy with a hangover of Gandhian overtone and socialist touch, which has now lost its
nominal current. The market oriented development has been gradually replacing all the egalitarian
overtones in development processes of India. Interestingly United Nations has recognised NonViolence amidst globalisation as a safety valve.
Gandhi had an entirely different world view of polity like oceanic circle, mutually interdependent
yet independent. In his world view, “Independence must begin at the bottom. Thus, every village
will be a republic or Panchayat having full powers. It follows, therefore, that every village has to
be self-sustained and capable of managing its affairs even to the extent of defending itself against
any onslaught from without. Thus, ultimately, it is the individual who is the unit. This does not
exclude dependence on and willing help from neighbours or from the world. It will be free and
voluntary play of mutual forces. Such a society is necessarily highly cultured, in which every man
and woman knows what he or she wants, and what is more, knows that no one should want
anything that others cannot have with equal labour.
“In this structure composed of innumerable villages there will be ever widening, never ascending
circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an oceanic
circle whose centre will be the individual always ready to perish for the village, the latter ready to
perish for the circle of villages, till at the last the whole becomes one life composed of
individuals, never aggressive in their arrogance but ever humble, sharing the majesty of the
oceanic circle of which they are integral units. Therefore, the outermost circumference will not
wield power to crush the inner circle but give strength to all within and derive its own from the
centre” (Harijan, 28-7-1946).
2.6
SUMMARY
The adverse effects of globalisation, in all its forms, can be effectively countered. There is a silver
lining, which has emerged through the 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution of India.
Panchayat Raj Institution (PRI) is coming up with a new sense of assertions. Particularly, the dalit
and women participation in PRI extends hope for better rural leadership and change. Initially there
might be some inconsistencies but in the long run this may result in an effective participation of
rural poor in development process. No policy has been the result of the benevolent behaviour of
the ruling class. For every initiative, mass resistance through different forms and contents have
forced them to legislate and implement those policies. It is also worth mentioning here that
wherever, resistance has been stronger, the implementation of programmes has been qualitatively
different and better. People’s resistance enables them to check exclusion and work out new
institutions and strategies to address the issues. The consolidation of politically conscious
organised democratic forces and their uncompromising resistance help in reducing the ill-effects
of market-oriented policies. Ultimately the questions of basic issues of livelihood, deprivation and
discrimination cannot be left unaddressed for long time if the society has to progress and live in
peace and harmony.
2.7
TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What do you understand by socio-cultural globalisation? What are its ramifications?
2. Discuss the meaning and essence of political globalisation. Examine its ill-effects.
3. What are the effects of globalisation in the context of India?
SUGGESTED READINGS
Adam, B., The Temporal Landscape of Globalising Culture and the Paradox of Post Modern Future in
Adam, Barbara & Stuart Allan., (Eds), Theorising Culture, UCL Press, London, 1995.
Amin, Samir., The Liberal Virus: Permanent War and Americanisation of the World, Aakar Books,
Delhi, 2005.
Bagchi, Amiya K., Rich Men’s Globalisation, in Bhattacharya, M., (ed.), Globalisation, Tulika
Books, New Delhi, 2004, in association with Jadavpur University.
Blanchet, K., “Participatory development: between hopes and reality”, Indian Social Science
Journal, (Blackwell, UNESCO) 170, 2001, December.
Gandhi, M.K., (1921), English Learning, Young India, June 1, in CWMG (ed), vol. 20,
Publication Division, Government of India, New Delhi.
Gandhi, M.K., Harijan, 28.07.1946.
Giddens A., Consequences of Modernity, Polity, Cambridge, 1990
Government of India (1960) First Five Year Plan.
Government of India (2000), Mid-Term Appraisal of Ninth Five Year Plan, Planning Commission, New
Delhi.
Government of India (2002), National Human Development Report, 2001, Planning Commission, New
Delhi.
Government of India (2003), Report of the Committee on India’s Vision 2020, Planning Commission,
Academic Foundation, New Delhi.
Hall, S., The Local and Global: Globalisation and Ethnicity in King, A., (eds.) Culture, Globalisation and
World System, Macmillan, London, 1991.
Krishnaswamy, Sridhar., Power, Wealth, Shared Unequally, The World Economic Forum, New York, The
Hindu, 06.02.2002.
Panitch, Leo., Globalisation and the State, in Panitch, et.al. (ed.): The Globalisation Decade, Aakar
Books for South Asia, 2006.
Patnaik, Prabhat., The Retreat to Unfreedom, Ch. Globalisation and the Emerging Global Politics,
Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2003.
Narayanan, K.R., Sharing Democracy, Mainstream, December 27, 2003.
Prasad, P.H., Roots of Political Struggle, Economic and Political Weekly, February, 1991.
Radhakrishna, R., Agricultural Growth, Employment and Poverty : A Policy Perspective, Economic
and Political Weekly, January 19, 2002.
Radice, Hugo., Taking Globalisation Seriously in Pantich, Leo, et.al (eds) The Globalisation
Decade: A Critical Reader, Aakar Books for South Asia, 2006.
Sen, Abhijit., Estimates of Consumer Expenditure and Its Distribution : Statistical Priorities after
NSS 55th Round, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.35, No.51, December 16, 2001.
Sundaram, K, and S.D. Tendulkar., NAS-NSS Estimates of Private Consumption for Poverty
Estimation : A Disaggregated Comparison for 1993-94, Economic and Political Weekly, January 13, 2001.
UNDP, Human Development Report, Oxford University Press.
Vaidyanathan, A., Poverty and Development Policy, Economic & Political Weekly, May 26, 2001.
UNIT 3
LIVELIHOOD/CULTURE/LIFESTYLE AND
ENVIRONMENT
Structure
3.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
3.2 Indian Culture and Environmental Values
3.3 Debate on Lifestyle vs Environment
3.3.1 Social, Economic and Cultural Dimensions
3.4 Impact on Environment
3.5 Is Sustainable Consumption Possible?
3.6 Gandhian Alternative
3.6.1 Voluntary Reduction of Wants
3.6.2 For the Greatest Good of All (Sarvodaya)
3.7 Summary
3.8 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The modern economics is based on the models of consumption and on the
concept of economic globalisation that introduced many a nation to the neoliberal economic patterns. The concept of globalisation encompasses the
exchange of ideas, thoughts, processes, people, transfer of technology and
knowledge across the boundaries of a state. Unfortunately, the liberalisation
policies in developing countries, including India, have led to the glaring
inequalities between nations and people, their consumption and livelihood
patterns. Taking into consideration India’s growing demands in consumption
levels, requirements and patterns, there is an imminent need to review and
develop sustainable consumption methods and alternatives. It is pertinent to
note that the liberalisation of the economy is solely not responsible for the
already reigning inequalities; the most alarming component has been the
change in the perception and adoption of a consumerist lifestyle that directly
reflects on the over-use of the existing resources. Taking into consideration
the current trends adopted and pursued by the world in general, and India in
particular, introspection is necessary as to why the humankind chose to stay
away from the logical and ecological way to sustainability. Almost all the
nations on this earth are confronting new form of western thrust on the
world, with high consumption levels, encouraged not only by the
multinational companies (MNCs) but also the national governments
themselves. This Unit deals with the livelihood, culture, lifestyle and
environment that are undergoing change primarily due to consumption
patterns and change in values. It has kept these two factors in view in order
to interpret the current mode of life all over the world.
Aims and Objectives
This Unit would enable you to understand
· The globalisation and its effects on culture, lifestyle and livelihood
· Impact of unsustainable consumption on environment
· Gandhian alternative to the above-mentioned trend.
3.2 INDIAN CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES
Paul Harris rightly argues that ‘environmental values are seldom divorced
from other values. While we can philosophise and contemplate the wonders
and beauty of the natural environment per se, nature almost always suffers
when there is conflict between it and other values… many people may want
to live in harmony with nature, but almost nobody does’ (Harris, 2004,
p.146). While the pro-development proponents do believe that natural capital
could be retrieved and revived, there are contrasting opinions regarding the
reverse. Further, it has also led to a contradiction between the developmental
and environmental values, especially in the developing world.
The ancient Indian civilisation greatly propounded the dictum ‘live in
harmony with nature’. The Vedic texts like Vedas, Upanishads, Manusmriti,
Shastras and Dharmas have categorically prescribed a life free of wants and
desires, and perpetuated the doctrines of compassion and love towards other
living beings. The worship of earth, water, sky, air, sky, plants and animals
were regarded as sacred and any harm to these was considered as a sinful
act. The natural calamities like drought, floods, lightning and earthquake
were taken as violent forms of anger manifested by the gods and goddesses
(Shastri, 2005, p.2). Vasudaiva Kutumbakam (All the creatures of earth are
one family), Ahimsa Paramo Dharma (non-violence is the best form of
duty) and vriksho rakshati rakshitah (save trees, the trees will save you) are
some of the preachings that demonstrate the ancient values towards
environment. The Vedic texts have also condemned and prohibited the
cutting of trees, polluting water, air and land as acts of impurity and dreadful
sins.
The religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism have greatly
propounded the environmental values through non-violence and love to
other beings. Many of the values like tolerance, equity and compassion
towards other beings were intricately combined with religion and rituals that
had profound impact on the people and their livelihood mode. These values
greatly determined their behaviour towards other living beings with utmost
reverence to nature.
The legacy of these values continued to dominate the way of life even in the
early 19th and 20th centuries till industrialisation and mechanisation made
inroads into the life and activities of people. The Chipko (Hugging the trees)
movement of the 1970s by the women in the higher ranges of Uttarakhand
state (Himalayan region) in India speaks volumes of the prevalence of the
environmental values. One can find an echo in similar sacrifices made by the
Bishnoi Community (of Rajasthan state in the western part of India) in
protecting trees and animal species. Devoid of these strong environmental
ethical values, the contemporary political and economic factors, including
state and non-state actors, have been explicitly promoting a non-negotiable
consumerist lifestyle that have placed enormous stress on the natural
resources.
3.3 DEBATE ON LIFESTYLE VS ENVIRONMENT
Consumption based on the western values promotes materialism, acquisition
and promotion of consumerism. Free trade or neo-liberal economics is the
theoretical base of this policy and involves the role of the state in promoting
consumerism for obvious economic reasons, while at the same time talking
of sustainable consumption alternatives. Taking a cue from the Gandhian
philosophy in this context, it is worth remembering what he pointed out,
“God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of
the west. If an entire nation of 300 million took to similar economic
exploitation, it would strip the world bare like locusts” (Collected Works of
Mahatma Gandhi, CWMG, vol.38, p.243). Gandhi detested the classical
economic model that promoted the faulty logic of resource exploitation and
resource intensive technologies. Bahro remarked that ‘We are eating up what
other nations and future generations need to live upon’ (Bahro, 1984, p.184).
Gandhi further added that the distinguishing characteristic of modern
civilization is an indefinite multiplicity of wants, negating the spirit of
restriction or regulating of these wants (CWMG, vol.38, pp.417-18).
The process of development in India is characterised by major income
inequalities that is reflected in the lifestyle of its people. More than the
growth of its population, it is the adoption of consumerist lifestyle based on
western model that has raised alarming concerns. Ramachandra Guha,
India’s leading environmental historian and writer, remarks that “India is in
many ways an ecological disaster zone, marked by high rates of
deforestation, species loss, land degradation, air and water pollution” (Guha,
2006, p. 232). He elaborates further that for over the past few decades, the
men who ruled India have attempted precisely to make India look like
England and America. The creation of a western lifestyle would
automatically lead to a quantum leap in the per capita consumption of
resources like water, electricity, greater usage of electronic gadgets like
refrigerators and microwaves. According to some estimates, ‘the per capita
cost of creating westernized urban infrastructure is $ 1200-1,500; pollution
of air and water, unscientific techniques of garbage disposal, overuse of
groundwater cause huge economic and environmental damage and loss. The
slow moving vehicles and traffic bottlenecks alone result in a wastage of 10-
15% of our petroleum fuels and the losses even run into not less than Rs. 10,
000 crores a year’ (Pandit, P.N., 2005. see URL).
This consumerist culture is further reinforced by the presence of
multinational corporations and their wide range of products that often lure
the consumers into further spree of acquisition. The MNCs ‘use the media to
manipulate people into being merely their employees or consumers of their
unnecessary products and they create a sense of lack in people who no
longer interact nor live in natural surroundings but instead, are conditioned
to their meaningless jobs, just to be paid, conditioned by television boxes or
computer screens to live in the unreal world of consumption’ (Sivaraksa,
2002, p.3). The advertising for a consumerist product also erodes ethos and
values that exist in a culture. Harsh elaborates that ‘consumer culture is not
just a phenomenon by which we all buy more than we ought to. It is a
specific mentality and a way of thinking that invades life at nearly all levels.
It is a national creed and condition of all living. Its detrimental effects must
be viewed in terms of possible alternatives so that we can have a better idea
of whether the creed of consumerism warrants change’ (Harsch, p.593).
Harsch argues that while consumption for the basic needs makes it necessary
and inevitable, consumption beyond the basic needs to fulfill psychological
yearnings has a negative impact on the ecological resource management. If
consumer behaviour is the result of our need to create a comfortable
existence for ourselves, or of our need to be happy through fulfilling
psychological longings, then a discussion of reducing overall consumption
for the sake of the environment must take into account the disbenefits that
would result from such a reduction in human comfort and happiness. He
further argues that those in consumer culture utilize goods and services for a
number of reasons unconnected with need, comfort or even the improvement
of a psychological state (Harsch, 1999, pp.556-557).
3.3.1 Social, Economic and Cultural Dimensions
India’s economic policy was a mixed one and for long, it remained closeted,
content with whatever results it had produced. The domestic economic crisis
that sprung in the early 1990s led to the opening up of its economy and ever
since, it has been undertaking reforms in various sectors at a much faster
pace. The globalisation process opened up new vistas and India was exposed
to a variety of goods and products, services and technologies at an
unprecedented level, never witnessed before. The setting up of business and
manufacturing units by the multinational companies also led to its economic
boom. India’s success in Information Technology (IT) has inspired it to
offer its services in other sectors and areas too. Employment opportunities in
the IT sector, MNCs and other private and business houses led to a higher
per capita income and offered a better standard of living that eluded the
previous generation. Along with the economic growth, grew India’s
consumption needs -both national as well as household. Within a decade and
half, the globalisation process has changed the face of India to a great extent.
So much so that today’s younger generation of the nation has grown up
along with the globalisation phase, oblivious to the demerits of excessive
consumption. This is not to blame the younger generation alone, but the
active pursuit of a luxurious lifestyle of different sections of society. Added
to these are the government policies that had greatly facilitated
modernisation of various sectors, increasing foreign direct investment,
mushrooming of shopping complexes in every nook and corner at the
expense of environmental degradation. Interestingly, this new culture
simultaneously co-exists with the millions of people who continue to cope
up with bare necessities. Their per capita consumption patterns do not
exceed more than two dollars a day. Therefore, the process, which was to
facilitate an overall growth and well being of the nation, has thus failed to
mitigate the poverty levels and has in turn, given way to gross inequalities.
Consumerism, of late, has acquired an extensive social dimension in India.
The emergence of a consumerist society, encompassing the possession of
products from all over the world, has reached higher proportions. At a social
level, it has come to signify an individual’s better purchasing capacity,
lifestyle and new prosperity. Consumption has enormously changed the
livelihood patterns of people around the world. While the developing
nations- though slow on economic growth and providing adequate human
development needs, are enjoying the prosperity bestowed on them by free
market economies, the developed nations self-sufficient in their basic
requirements continue to reach higher levels of consumption index. It is
rightly pointed out that ‘the population in these societies had for the most
part been adequately housed, clothed and fed; now they expressed a desire
for more elegant cars, more exotic food, more erotic clothing, more
elaborate entertainment’ (Guha, 2006, p.220).
India too is facing an enormous population growth. According to the official
figures, 300 million people in India are below the poverty line. But, are these
people, in anyway, benefited by the process of globalisation and consuming
a large amount of resources? While the answer is emphatically in negative,
the current trends of higher consumption are witnessed more in the middle
class of the nation. For, the populations below poverty line can ill afford this
new prosperity. Infact, the UN Reports have put the region as scoring higher
on maternal and infant mortality rates. India scores a dismal 127 in the UN
Human Development Index. Inspite of this bleak representation, the
consumption levels are high.
Though the population having access to the above-mentioned items continue
to be a minority till date, the easily available credits and loans from the
commercialised private banks with a minimum rate of interest, increasing
per capita income and the urge to possess the products have brought about
significant changes in the consumers’ mindsets.
Corresponding with this, India’s decade and half old liberalisation process
had definitely witnessed a sweeping change in the consumption patterns.
With the higher per capita income, consumption levels continue to rise,
despite certain sections of society being excluded from the maddening
pattern of consumerism. But on an average, the middle class now has a
higher income and a higher standard of living and has unlimited access to
products from world over, ranging from cosmetics to cars. Along with this,
there was a rise in the nuclear families, disproportionate with higher
consumption of energy and water. More per capita waste is also being
generated with unhygienic methods of disposal, thus leading to adverse
impact on the environment. Increasing number of telephone connections,
cell phone subscriptions, Internet users and use of other electronic gadgets
are now becoming the yardsticks to measure the development patterns
leaving behind the utmost necessities like health, education and hygienic
sanitary conditions. The ownership of as many electronic gadgets as possible
like I-pods and digital cameras is not only leading to the individual’s
expression of the self in terms of social status but also a personal freedom
and choice regarding the lifestyle. Some of the factors that contributed to
this culture include the economic liberalisation, prosperity of the middleclass, eroding ethical values of the new generation, increasing urban
settlements, revolution in retailing sector, promoting affluent culture and
thoughts.
3.4 IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT
Few questions posed by Guha ascertain to a great extent the impact of
consumerism on the environment and relegating to the background some of
the environmental values. He queries, ‘can the world as a whole achieve
American levels of car ownership? Can there be a world with four billion
cars, a China with 700 million cars, an India with 600 million cars? Where
will the oil and gas to run them come from? The metals to build them with?
The tar to drive them on? I take the car here as merely indexical of a certain
style of consumption’ (Guha, 2006, p.237). Global estimates suggest that
current levels of consumption and production are 25% higher than the
earth’s ecological capacity with the richest 15% of the world population
accounting for 56% of the world’s total consumption, whilst the poorest
40% account for only 11% (Report of the European Commission, 2002, p.1).
The European Commission’s statement as given above bails out the
developing nations. Assuming it so, if a minuscule proportion can wreak
much damage on the environment, what would be the impact if, for example,
600 million Indians start pursuing a higher standard of livelihood? The
impact is obvious. By increasing the per capita consumption, there is not
only an enormous waste that is being generated but also indirectly
contributing to the increasing environmental problems such as pollution of
air, land and water. The dependence on the automobiles/personal cars is
leading to increasing air pollution, congestion on the roads and extensive
energy use. The absence of responsibility in giving due respect to the
environment by littering of waste, even by the educated citizens is leading to
worsening environmental conditions. Increase in the usage of washing
machines, refrigerators, freezers etc. for a comfortable spell of life is also
increasing the undue usage of energy resources and pollutant effects in the
domestic vicinity. The unsafe disposal methods of domestic waste via drains
are leading to clogging of the drainage system. The promotion of mindless
consumerism is also leading to glaring inequalities between those who can
enjoy the material comforts and those who can ill afford them.
There is also a wide gap in the development of rural and urban areas with the
latter getting undivided attention in development projects and the former
getting perennially neglected. The lack of a low cost modern infrastructure
that can minimise the problems related to urban slums has rendered the areas
ineffective for further development initiatives. Lack of sense of hygiene in
addition to the lack of proper sanitation system has not only led to the
environmental degradation but also imposed on the slum dwellers various
health hazards. The felling of trees and other green areas for enhancing real
estate business has resulted in the lack of open spaces, increase in the
climate variations, destruction of natural landscape and setting up of
industrial units that emit toxic materials that are harmful to health. The
generation of e-waste caused by frequent disposal of electronic waste, floppy
disks and compact discs and other electronic gadgets that are unusable cause
environmental hazards. These are non-recyclable and their dumping in the
open sites is producing damaging effects on human health and environment.
3.5 IS SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION POSSIBLE?
‘Sustainable Consumption’, as defined by the Norwegian Ministry of
Environment, ‘is the use of goods and services that respond to basic needs
and bring a better quality of life, while minimising the use of natural
resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life
cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations’.
It is ironic that along with the environmental awareness, the urge to consume
more has also witnessed a relative growth. The spreading of awareness of
environmental degradation and how to use our available resources
judiciously by minimum levels of consumption has made little impact on the
public, especially in the developing countries. One can witness an inherent
contradiction where the state speaks voluminously on its commitment to
saving the environment on one hand and on the other, encourages
investments and allows the industrial and business groups in promoting
consumption as a source of economic growth and revenue generation. For
obvious reasons, it is clear in the Indian context that years of self-denial due
to a rather closed economy has not exposed the consumer to the worldwide
range of products. The barrier that was broken with the opening up of the
economy has resulted in massive indulgence and consumption, which seems
rather highly irreversible. The fifteen years of reforms have already
displayed negative effects and the consequences of current rate of
consumption without sustainable means needs no special analysis. For
sustainable consumption to be effective there should be coherence between
sustainable development policies and a market economy management. India
needs to implement stringent measures to avoid further damage to its natural
wealth. Inspite of higher levels of knowledge about the debilitating effects of
environmental damage, there have been few attempts by the state to translate
into practical methods. For example, the government of Delhi initiated the
method of household waste disposal for the purpose of recycling and reuse
but failed to garner enough public knowledge and support to implement the
same. The contradictory policies create confusion among the public and thus
fail to achieve desirable results. The use of energy effective electricity
gadgets that involve a minimum level of energy consumption is yet to gain
publicity. It is only in recent times that the government official complexes
are setting an example by introducing such cost and energy effective devices
but they are yet to find place in a massive way.
The technical improvements in the energy saving options may be considered
for household gadgets like refrigerators that consume minimum energy
levels. The promotion of effective means of transport in place of personal
cars/vehicles would help in the decongestion process. Restricting the
ownership of automobiles/private cars, a stringent system of permits for
parking for avoiding the inconveniences caused to the residents are some of
the methods that are unlikely to work in India unless the government deems
it necessary. It is least likely to do so considering the backlash from the
consumers as well as the manufacturers who are mostly MNCs. A
moratorium on the sale of the automobiles for a time limit may yield positive
result but the chances are rather bleak to take up such measures. Nonetheless
an attempt to move in this direction may prove to be beneficial.
One important measure would be to give due powers and finances to the
local agencies/ associations to develop solid waste management, energy
effective devices and instruments that help in managing the environmental
decay and urban woes. At an individual level, measures could be taken to
ensure a cordial co-existence between the nature and man. These include
using:
(1) recycled wastewater for non-potable use;
(2) the paper judiciously as the use of more quantity of paper means
more felling of trees, and also using recycled paper;
(3) disposable waste for recycling purpose;
(4) organic food for improved health
(5) public transport instead of private vehicle or car pooling, which is
much more cost-effective and, which also ensures less congestion and
pollution on the roads;
(6) sustainable energy resources
3.6 GANDHIAN ALTERNATIVES
Keeping the fact that this course pertains to Gandhi in the 21st century, it is
necessary to interpret the above-mentioned issues in the context of Gandhian
alternatives and whether re-interpreting Gandhi would find for us answers to
some of these most important issues. It is necessary to note that the longterm consequences of consumerism are bound to push us on the verge of
utter dissatisfaction and as Sivaraksa pointed out, ‘no amount of
intellectualism and social engineering can liberate us from suffering’
(Sivaraksa, 2002, p.11). What we need today is an alternative strategy of
long-term socio-economic well-being keeping in view the welfare of human
beings and environment. If Gandhi could visualise this alternative almost a
century ago, it would definitely not be an uphill task for the ruling regimes
of today to adopt this approach. Economic decentralisation through
sustained agro-industrial units reconstructed on a permanent basis would
meet the local, rural and national requirements to a large extent, thus
fulfilling developmental as well as environmental needs. Guha aptly remarks
that, ‘governments are compelled to pursue policies which are popular
enough to win or retain office. The social needs and demands of the
economy have to be made consistent with the natural constraints of ecology
and both have to be harmonized with the political imperatives of democracy.
To effectively and sustainably resolve these conflicts require us to truly
think through the environment: think through it morally and politically,
historically and sociologically, and not least economically and
technologically’ (Guha, 2006, p.249).
To this we can add a ‘spiritually too’ dimension taking a morally
predominating stance in order to prevent further damage to the survival
system of the mankind and the planet. We have a feasible solution in front of
us i.e. to reduce our wants voluntarily. Voluntary reduction of wants, as
propounded by Gandhi, may not be acceptable or seem impractical to the
present and future generations, but the reduction of wants would definitely
yield positive results in promoting sustainable patterns of consumption,
without which we might be engulfed by the moral, social, economic and
ecological tribulations. Consumption is not an end in itself, but the values
associated with its promotion have deemed it to the present status. Since
consumption is promoted on the premise that it leads to a better and happy
life, the social and cultural values that are typical of particular cultures have
taken a retreat in the process.
3.6.1 Voluntary Reduction of Wants
The voluntary reduction of wants requires each and every one of us to
voluntarily curtail our endless wants and desires. This serves two purposes.
While on one hand, it leaves much of the resources at the disposal of others
for their consumption, on the other hand it leads to the awareness of
spirituality and to view with equanimity the necessities of other living
creatures of this earth. Many argue as to the need for withholding one’s own
wants and desires for the good of the humanity as most of the time the world
operates on the dictum of ‘survival of the fittest’. Gandhi’s advocacy
towards voluntary poverty is often a much debated and discussed topic and
many often its practicality especially in today’s world where affluence
means everything towards individual progress and development.
3.6.2 For the Greatest Good of All (Sarvodaya)
Gandhi did not subscribe to the view of ‘greatest good of greatest numbers.’
Rather, he firmly propounded the good of all (Sarvodaya) and progress of
the man, till the last man (Antyodaya). To him that progress did not appeal
which catered only to the welfare of a few. Gandhi’s concept of Sarvodaya
has already been familiarised to the learners, hence we would not delve deep
into the subject in this Unit. Gandhi also advocated trusteeship and
decentralisation to realise the goal of Sarvodaya. Only when one thinks of
contributing to the society, one’s own wealth would be put to use for a noble
or collective societal cause. Decentralisation would enable the equitable
distribution of the resources as everyone thinks of the welfare of the others.
This would lead to the realisation of the goal of Sarvodaya as envisioned by
Gandhi.
3.7 SUMMARY
Harsch attaches secondary value to the consumption and appends a superior
position to a morally worthwhile life characterised by ‘the ability to relax,
and enjoy friendships and family relations, to engage in hobbies or to
appreciate nature, and to find stimulation in things that challenge one, are all
elements contributing to a happy life without making the consumption of
goods a central feature of activity’ (Harsch, 1999, p.598). If the present
consumption levels and patterns dominate the lifestyles in India, the effects
on healthy human and ecological life are bound to be detrimental. Though
much of the onus lies on the government to regulate economic policies in
tandem with ecological sustainability, it is preferable that people arrive at
that conclusion on their own and adjust their behaviour accordingly (Harsch,
1999, p.579). How the government and the public in India respond to the
emerging environmental concerns and help mitigate the problems is indeed a
contentious issue but a conscious move towards inculcating the
environmental values would help in addressing many of the above concerns
and in promoting a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. It is in this context that
the views of Gandhi hold much relevance and show us answers to many
pertinent issues confronting the world in this 21st century.
3.8 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What are the values appended to the environment in the Indian culture?
2. What are the implications of globalisation on the socio, economic and
cultural milieu of a society?
3. Write in your own words the debate related to environment vs lifestyle
choices.
4. What are the alternatives shown by Gandhi to mitigate the ill-effects of
greed and excessive consumption patterns?
SUGGESTED READINGS
Bahro, Rudolph., From Red to Green Interviews with New Left Review,
Verso, London, 1984.
Brown, Lester R., Eco-Economy-Building an Economy for the Earth, Orient
Longman, Hyderabad, 2002.
Guha, Ramachandra., How Much Should A Person Consume? Thinking
Through the Environment, Permanent Black, New Delhi, 2006.
Harris, Paul., ‘Getting Rich is Glorious’: Environmental Values in the
People’s Republic of China, Environmental Values, Vol. 13, 2004, pp. 14565.
Harsch, Bradley A., Consumerism and Environmental Policy: Moving Past
Consumer Culture, Ecology Law Quarterly, vol. 26 , 1999, pp.543-610.
Kurup, G.Radhkrishna., ‘Gandhian Alternative to Globalisation’. Institute
for Studies in Developing Areas Journal, vol. 16 (1&2), pp.157-179.
Pandit, P.N., Urbanites, The Resource Burners, Businessline, June 03, 2005
(www.thehindubusinessonline.com/2005/06/03/stories/2005060300300900.
htm)
Rao, V.K.R.V., Sarvodaya, Trusteeship and Gandhian Socialism, in B.C.Das
and G.P.Mishra (ed.), Gandhi in Today’s India, Ashish, New Delhi, 1979
Rivero, Oswaldo., The Myth Of Development: The Non-Viable Economies of
the 21st Century, Zed Books, London, 2001
Shastri, S.C., Environmental Law, Eastern Book Company, Lucknow, 2005.
Sivaraksa, Sulak., Applying Gandhi for Alternative to Consumerism,
Visakhapatnam: Gandhi Centre, Gandhi and Modern World Series, vol. 5,
pp. 1-12, 2002.
UNIT 4
GANDHI’S VISION OF A GLOBAL ORDER
Structure
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
Introduction
Aims and Objectives
The Treaty of Westphalia: Reasons and Ramifications
State Sovereignty and Global Order
The Call for a Global Order
Global Order and Gandhi
Gandhi’s prescription for Order in the Globe
Summary
Terminal questions
Suggested readings
4.1 INTRODUCTION
… [I]n all times, kings and Persons of sovereign authority, because of their
Independency, are in continual jealousies, and in the state and postures of gladiators….
----Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, p. 105
There are no common rules…, if such rules exist, they are not significant factors in
international relations because they give way as soon as vital interests appear to be
threatened, and therefore govern activities of marginal importance in the pursuit of
security and power.
----Terry Nardin, Law, Morality and Relations of States
The quotations above refer at once to (a) the perilous order in the world, (b) the principal factors
responsible for it, and (c) the major factors resisting its overhauling. The rise of the modern state
system that evolved after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 grants sovereignty to every state.
However, two factors impede the development and effectiveness of a global order, the state of
anarchy in the international domain and the centrality of the pursuit of national interest not
simply in terms of security but also in terms of access to resources vital for development and for
ensuring people’s well-being. States enjoy equality of status, but they are unequal in wealth and
power. They exist within a shared environment without the benefit of either a common
government or a commonly agreed upon set of rules. To consolidate of their sovereignty and to
strengthen their power base, states have often resorted to armed conflict thus disturbing a
peaceful order.
Though attempts have been made to install some kind of global peace and order, the instituted
mechanisms have not succeeded in keeping peace mainly for two reasons. The collapse of
Christian universalism in the sixteenth century resulted in the loss of a shareable commonality;
which reinforced the state’s predisposition to seek power and pelf. This does not allow any
institutional mechanism for keeping peace and order in the world a chance to work effectively
for long. Also the denial of authority and power to such a mechanism for settling differences
between states peacefully proves highly debilitating. Therefore the setting up of a world
government is proposed, based on the model of nation-state. Since nation-states, time and again,
have created the problems facing the world, the prospects of a world government appear bleak. It
is in this context that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s vision of global order assumes
importance.
Aims and Objectives
After reading this Unit, you would be able to understand:
§
§
§
§
The factors leading to the Treaty of Westphalia;
The rise of the modern state system;
Search for world order and its futility; and
Salience of Gandhi’s vision of order.
4.2 THE TREATY OF WESTPHALIA: REASONS AND RAMIFICATIONS
The falling apart of Christian universalism snapped man’s connection with God. This meant the
inflexible insistence on sovereign rights and pursuit of individual and group interests without
regard to the possibility of the destruction of order. It saw the rise of a new man, a self-defining
subject, who finds his fulfillment in the satisfaction of his ordinary life needs involved with the
acquisition of wealth, power and prestige. It also divided the population of several European
monarchies into antagonistic religious camps. Lack of religious tolerance led to the outbreak of
the Thirty-year Religious Wars and restoration of peace after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.
This Treaty also confirmed the fact of the rise of modern states intimating the beginning of an
entirely new pattern of inter-state relations confined, for a long time, to Europe. This pattern
speeded up the process of globalisation, which subsequently promoted interconnectedness of
states and threw up forces that have proven inhospitable to the solution of the problems created
by it. The vigorous pursuit of national interest tends to disturb peace, which, in turn, necessitates
the creation of a trans-state mechanism for maintaining peace. Towards this, the Treaty treated
European nation-states as the “society of states,” and the nation-state as “the supreme principle
of the ‘political organization’ of human kind”. The ‘society of states’ recognised equality of
status to states even while they were unequal in wealth and power.
A set of rules was formulated to curb the self-aggrandising tendency of nation-states. These
rules stipulated legitimate use of forces by a nation-state when it faced external aggression to
promote national security and development, and to facilitate cooperation between states.
Agreements between states for mutual advantage were to be treated sacrosanct and the
promotion of cooperation between states to facilitate political, strategic, and social and economic
domains was felt necessary. These rules were expected to make the society of states a selfregulating system.
4.2.1 Dynamics of Change in Inter-state Relations
The society of states as a self-regulating system proved unworkable mainly for two reasons. One
was the unbridled pursuit of national interest backed by force, if necessary, which was
encouraged by the existence of small states. Inequality of power reinforced the tendency towards
self-aggrandisement by powerful states. Two, there was the recurrence of spiritual and
ideological movements in different parts of Europe, which frequently proved destabilising.
Threat to stability resulted in the mobilisation of traditional forces in opposition. Thus the way
for wars was paved. When the warring forces exhausted themselves, peace was restored.
This is exemplified by a series of treaties, such as Westphalia (1648), Pyreness (1659), Oliva
(1660), Utrecht (1710), and Restatt (1714). Once the situation stabilised, the other factors came
into operation with vengeance. Spiritual and ideological movements disturbed peace, prompted
war, and exhausted themselves in peace. Every such cycle was paralleled by attempts to forge
some kind of world order that could prevent war. Both these tendencies operated together to
make the society of states extremely volatile. With every outburst of such movements and
restoration of peace, the political situation grew more complicated because none of the
universalisms represented by each of these movements could triumph and mould the structure of
world politics in the way it envisioned. Also, sentiments aroused by succeeding conflicts and
institutions created in their wake became additional factors in the situation to cope with.
The recurrent cycle is clearly exemplified by (a) the French Revolution followed by Napoleonic
wars and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 giving rise to the idea of the Concert of Europe and
alliance system; (b) the Marxist movement after the termination of World War I as well as the
creation of the League of Nations; and (c) Fascist and Nazi movements spearheaded by the rise
of lower middle class leading to World War II and the establishment of the United Nations
organization (UNO). Two other factors were added to complicate the situation: colonisation of
non-European parts of the world and the expansion of economic activities across state borders
that gradually assumed a planetary scope.
Colonisation meant exploitation of natural resources of the colonies for raw materials and for
opening new markets for finished goods. It also concealed a civilising mission aimed at civilising
colonial populations whom the colonial masters considered primitives; to civilise them, the
colonial people had to be made worthy of establishing and administering a republic that is
legitimate by “human and civil” standards. For this, “primitive’ men in the colonies were to be
cast in the image of Western, Christian man as the model of humanity. It underlined that it is the
self of the Western, Christian man that constituted the centre of experience. As such “every one,
every where ought to believe in the same scientific truths, follow the same moral guidelines,
endorse the same god or gods.” Also, all societies should entrance liberal institutions of
economic and political life and relations, as they exist in the West.
The phenomenon of the economy of planetary scope is consequent upon the rise of economic
man, making reliance on technologically induced economic growth for satisfying the ever
proliferating material needs of the people inescapable. This pushed up the requirements of raw
materials and markets. The resulting colonisation extended modern economic activities to
countries where the availability of required raw materials was high and cost of production low.
Trade and commerce boosted the expansion of economic activities across national borders. This,
in turn, was instrumental in intensifying inter-connectedness between states.
Operation of these factors impacted inter-state relations and the possibility of a durable global
order deeply. Innovations in the socio-economic and political domains, underpinning the long
historical process since 1648, affected world politics deeply; they also subtly changed the tenor
of inter-state relations. Also, they created new problem for the establishment of an effective
instrument of global order. In Europe, for example, states notably absolutist to begin with later
turned democratic, witnessed significant changes in class composition and in the pattern of the
distribution of power and paved the way for mass politics. Add to it the increasing salience of
market economy and inter-penetration of national economies. Resultantly, the distance between
domestic and external affairs was vastly reduced making it possible for developments in one part
of the world to affect other parts.
Complex changes, both within and without European states, involving religion, philosophy,
population growth, demands for self-rule followed later by the termination of colonialism
transformed inter-state relations into inter-civilisational relations, creating new problems for
global order. However, a period of comparative peace and stability prevailed in Europe between
1815-1914 due to the persistence of the Euro-centric order buttressed by European hegemony
under British leadership. The large degree of consensus among European powers, based on the
norms of respect for territorial balance of power, the principle of self-restraint and mutual
consultation in the event of possible conflict, made stability possible. What cemented this
consensus was the understanding among major powers to carve out zones of influence and actual
control in the non-European part of the world. This was necessary for them to facilitate the
process of modernisation in their societies; this required natural and other resources from
elsewhere to keep them moving on the path of progress.
In the crisis-prone post-Westphalia, Euro-centric order stability was supposed to be maintained
by the fragile principle of balance-of-power. It signifies a process marked by the natural
tendency of states to mobilise a counter-balancing force to checkmate the possibility of
aggression of any power. This process is set in motion by the unintended consequences of
actions of states aimed at ensuring their security by enhancing their power through augmenting
their arsenal of war, conquest or alliance. Once set in motion, it is expected to produce both order
and change. However, once the balance is upset, war may ensue. But it proves brittle when a
state treads the path of aggression threatening the security of other states. It forces the states to
strengthen their ramparts and marshal their military might. “This is exemplified by Napoleonic
wars which disturbed the balance of forces, led to war and culminated in the birth of the Concert
of Europe initiating a new pattern of inter-state relations of alliance and counter-alliance”.
4.3
STATE SOVEREIGNTY AND GLOBAL ORDER
The state system has undoubtedly proved a limiting factor for the emergence of a global order. It
puts hurdles in the path of orderly conduct of inter-state relations in a manner that transcends the
politics of sovereign states. The society of states, tolerating as it did, inequality of power,
induced “great powers” to use and sacrifice smaller states for promoting their own objectives.
Consequently, these changes led to nationalism, raising demands for redrawing state-boundaries
to open the way for self-rule. The Balkan crises and the breaking apart of the Austro-Hungarian
and the Ottoman empires exemplify this.
At the root of the destabilisation lies, as Held notes, two features of the way modern nation-states
have been consolidated- hierarchy and unevenness. Hierarchy stands for the structure of political
and economic globalisation in which a constellation of nation-states is concentrated in the West.
Here lies the seed of North-South contentions later. Unevenness denotes the asymmetrical effects
of political and economic globalisation upon the life chances and well-being of peoples, classes,
ethnic groups etc., especially in the countries of the South. It is correlated with poverty and
deprivation. These two features greatly affect the capacity of states to mobilise necessary
resources for security and development. It is the position of a state in the hierarchy of states that
determines its place in international division of power and labour; it also determines the support
the state can muster from a world body divided into competing nations committed to protect and
promote their own separate interests.
The role of nationalism and economic universalism can be better appreciated against the
background of these two features. The latter was counterpoised to the former as well as state
intervention for correcting the anomalies thrown up by the working of free market and for
reasons of national security, economic rivalry and the pacification of domestic unrest. In short,
the dynamics as well as the limitations of the nineteenth century system in Europe was that
Interdependent markets were created for each, and these were formally (although
artificially) separated from political authority. The national capitals of the rival
imperialist states competed with each other. Thus military-industrial competition
(partly due to the attempt to build strategic industries for national security
reasons) was a key driving force in developing the productive powers of the
system, as well as its horrific destructive capacity for total war.”(……………….)
Interplay among these dynamic factors created the conditions for World War II; the world after
the World War II was bedeviled by the Cold War due to its division in two warring camps, one
led by the United States and the other by the Soviet Union. It also saw the birth of a new global
order under the auspices of the United Nations Organization and other Bretton Woods
institutions. The emergent global order evolved from and built upon different variants of what
Robert Cox calls the “welfare-nationalist” form of order. The motivating force behind them was
the internationalisation of the New Deal. In contrast, the Soviet Union sought to paint the whole
world in Marxist hue. With the collapse of the Soviet system, the heat of the cold war subsided.
Also, pan- Americana received severe jolts because of the humiliation it experienced in Vietnam
and elsewhere. Retreat from economic universalism reflected in the narrow view of its national
interest made these jolts more severe. Add to it the finance-oriented American economic policies
with a view to shifting the costs of war to others. Also, the efforts by Nixon to build regional
power centres harmed the American claim to world leadership.
These developments adversely affected the laboriously established balance between different
dynamic forces acting on the world scene. This produced a crisis in leadership deepened by the
emergence of two other factors. One, the attenuation of state sovereignty under the press of the
globalisation of economic activity intensified global interconnectedness. This went a long way to
erode the autonomy of the state in policy formulation, on the one hand, and democratic
accountability, on the other. The proliferation of transnational and global functions and
organisations, inter-governmental agreements, and cooperation in cultural economic and political
affairs have the effect of eroding the distinction between internal and external affairs, and
between domestic and international policy. As such, the state has become a fragmented arena for
policy making. As policy formulation goes beyond the reach of the state government, democratic
accountability is eclipsed. Consequently, the idea of a “national community of fate,” a
community that rightly governs itself and determines its own future—an idea that lies at the heart
of modern liberal state—is today deeply problematic.
The end of the Eurocentric global order and colonialism added to the diversity of the world
community, now characterised by a plurality of ethnic groups, differences of economic growth,
and variegated forms of political functioning. The expected integration of different people and
culture through globalisation has been frustrated. Instead, it has engendered the awareness of
vital difference in life-styles, belief systems, value orientation, and socio-economic status. A
plurality of frames of cultural and political history in the making has become manifest. Political
conflicts fostered by ethnic, cultural, economic and political differences and claims are
symptomatic of deep-lying civilisational malaise. It is widely felt that something is wrong with
the world as it is socio-culturally, economically and politically constituted.
4.4
THE CALL FOR A GLOBAL ORDER
Can the ills of the world be cured by installing a world state? It is argued that when the world is
moving towards integration and the idea of the global village seems eminently realisable, the
division of the world into nation-states, with their particularistic and divisive concerns, nationstates poses a serious barrier to the emergence of a unified, cohesive world community. With
economic activities assuming planetary scope, regional and global functions and organisations
having proliferated, nation-states make for inefficiency and delay in the performance of these
functions. Nation-states show hesitation in cooperating when the performance of these functions
vitally affects their national interest.
The proliferation of transnational and global functions and organisation has created necessary
and sufficient conditions for the emergence of a global order backed by a world state. The
process of globalisation can neither be halted nor reversed now. The conversion of the society of
means-into the society of ends requires the subjugation of the pursuit of national-interest to the
common interest of all the states. It is supposed that the world state modeled on the nation-state
can achieve this conversion. It is assumed that globalisation creates the necessary condition for
a world state and the modern nation-state offers an appropriate model for it.
However,
globalisation does not necessarily lead to global integration. The globe has truly shrunk, but it
has also magnified the awareness of differences. The nation-state, as a model of world state, is
questionable as it is at the root of the problems facing world order. It is the depredations of the
nation-state that make a world state necessary. Moreover, the argument that the world state
would engender the necessary normative compulsions is dubious. The instrument of the state is
law and law does not assure the triumph of justice.
The jealously protected sovereignty of the nation-state hampers the installment of a world state
that would further curtail the autonomy of the nation-state to formulate policies. In such a
situation, a global order, as Waltz argues, has only two guises: US hegemony, that is, panAmericana, working through a revitalized United Nations to promote justice and well-being and
a system of collective security or the emergence of global order through the redistribution of
power across states. However, the likelihood of any of these guises becoming real is doubtful
and if one of these becomes real, it will prove detrimental to global order. In the meantime, the
world sees no let up in dissatisfaction, unrest and turmoil caused by separatism and terrorism
adding to the prevalent civilisational crisis. This is evidenced by the fact that more than 166 local
and regional wars have been fought since 1948.
4.5
GLOBAL ORDER AND GANDHI
World state may be necessary for global order but Gandhi did not see any merit in it. He
favoured order in the world. The modern nation-state consist of the natural man who finds his
fulfillment in what Gandhi calls “bodily comfort.” For such a man, society and nature constitute
the potential means for realising his self-determined purposes. Avarice becomes the pivot of his
life activities. In consequence, conflict becomes endemic and the divine in man is totally
eclipsed. Man loses “the faith in his own value when no infinitely invaluable works through
him.” Since divine connection is cut off, man experiences several splits: split in his interior,
between man and man, between man and society, and man and nature.
The split between soul and body is reflected in the reduction of man’s being into a life of passion
alone, taken over by calculative reasoning, which becomes the handmaiden of his passions.
Devoid of spirituality, man suffers psychological malaise and manifests anomie and alienation.
Commitment to the pursuit of interest puts one individual against all individuals because they all
compete for an access to societal resources for realising the dream of the good life of modern
conception. And men fight not because they are different, but because they are the same. This
introduces mismatch between the good of one individual and the good of all individuals
endangering cooperation and harmony.
When man seeks felicity, or bodily comfort, the process of objectification takes over. Both
society and nature become objects to be exploited for realising man’s purposes. This turns
society into a mechanical aggregate of self-defining subjects, further meaning that society has
lost its educative and prescriptive role and is no more capable of turning the natural man into a
social man with the capacity to rise above his own interest and serve the common good. Nature
too is objectified leading to its unbridled manipulation inviting the danger of eco-disaster and
destruction of man’s natural habitat.
These splits signify the lifting of all controls, both internal and external, that curb man’s
tendency towards being on the right path. Discrimination between what is good and bad, and
right and wrong is lost; needs begin to proliferate and man becomes the slave of many mad
masters, that is, passions. The effort to satisfy proliferating needs in a situation of scarcity
breeds intense competition; and competition in the absence of moral sensibility is invitation to
social conflict.
With endemic competition and conflict, the individual experiences
powerlessness; this restricts his freedom of action since he has to act in a situation not of his own
making, a situation that is the outcome of many persons acting for themselves.
Man’s helplessness congeals in his dependence on the state. The primary role of the state is to
stimulate and speed up the role of economic development as a necessary condition of man’s
well-being; this has adversely affected his freedom and has institutionalised “a new type of state
despotism” which is popularly elected, as Alexis de Tocqueville notes. The steep rise in the
people’s aspiration fed upon the promise of plenty for all and the tendency to emulate affluent
life-styles have set into motion what Tocqueville calls “permanent social revolution” signifying
that all section of society seek to have more than they have. When success eludes, they turn to
the state to get their aspirations satisfied. This is especially true of democratic political systems
where the arithmetic of votes requires the government to please and appease the people. As a
result, the ideal of freedom is replaced by the goal of government-assured well-being.
Thus the state intrudes into different areas of people’s life and rules over the destiny of the
people. It perfects its techniques of control, makes itself less odious and loathsome in the eyes of
the people. If transforms citizens into passive subjects, who invest their trust in its “benevolent”
power and busy themselves with the chores of their humdrum life, the life of everydayness. This
results in the inability of people to resist injustice, exploitation and oppression and encourages
and helps achieve a greater degree of concentration of power at the apex of the political system.
The local communities lose the capacity of self-rule and prevented from emerging as the
“community of fate.”
All these factors have, in their dynamic interaction, rendered man a “broken totality.” The state
is the natural outcome of the single-minded pursuit of interest and is a natural outcome of this
pursuit. To install a world government as the nation-state writ large is to replicate a similar
situation at the level of inter-state relations and give a fillip to power drives of powerful states
frustrating the hope of harmony and peace in the world and reinforcing the ineffectiveness of any
institutional device for maintaining global order. The UNO illustrates this well.
4.6
GANDHI’S PRESCRIPTION FOR ORDER IN THE WORLD
The point of departure for Gandhi’s prescription for order in the world is the demonic industrial
civilization “which has grown as possible as a world through its hunger for wealth and its greedy
pursuit of worldly pleasures.” It saps all vital energy out of man’s body and soul. The concern
for bodily comfort, Gandhi notes, “takes note neither of morality nor of religion”. Discipline of
morality or religion wilts; violence becomes an easy option and the maxims of “might is right”
and “the survival of the fittest” come into operation. Gandhi would prefer peace and harmony
instead of discord.
The discontent, the unrest and the violence pervading the world have helped the monolithic state
to rise and reinforce the claim for a world government. The causes for this, Gandhi insists, must
be uprooted, if mankind is to enjoy peace, harmony and benevolent order. This cannot be
assured by changing the institutional arrangement of society insofar as it is the neglect of the
spiritual or moral dimension that is the source of the problem. This neglect causes disorder in the
soul; soul’s disorder spreads out and reappears as social disorder. At the root of it is the loss of
shareable commonality. The only foundation of order can be found in the aggregation of private
valuations of the individuals who compose it.
True well-being of man needs to be grounded in the feeling of brotherhood, which is assured by
pulling down the props of the industrial civilisation to facilitate the advent of a new age in the
world marked by a propitious order. Towards this, the tendency of drift must be reversed.
Gandhi calls for the restoration of the divine connection snapped by the loss of shareable
communality that is God. This requires the attunement of the soul to the divine ground of being
signifying the acceptance of the suzerainty of the in-dwelling God and become what
Chhandogya Upanishad calls swarat, that is, a self-governing person. As a swarat, he rises
above moral conflicts and is able to link himself with the larger order that envelops him.
To link with the larger order is to have samatva (sameness), an active consciousness of oneness
of life. It also engenders a firm commitment to truth and non-violence. Coupled with the
awareness of the plurality of perspectives from which reality can be viewed helps develop the
attitude of refraining from imposing one’s own vision of truth on others. Samatva is the
foundation of non-violence, ahimsa and a central value in life for Gandhi. “The principle of
ahimsa is violated by hurt, by every evil thought, by undue haste, by lying, by hatred, by wishing
ill of anybody. It is also violated by our holding on to what the world needs.” For Gandhi, the
knowledge of the highest truth is the aim of self-development. Gandhi does not deny the reality
of the world here and now; what he rejects is immersion in the phenomenal world, the life of
everydayness. He disfavour losing the sense of reality and finds it intolerable. Nor does Gandhi
tolerate the development of individuality through willful conquest of others. He underlines the
necessity of harmonising oneself with an ever-enlarging network of relationships that makes
society a network of extended selves. Consequently, humanity comes to be located in a highly
complex need of inter-dependency, cooperation and harmony. To be an active member of this
network is to treat the world as a family (vasudhaiva kutumbakam).
For Gandhi, truth and non-violence are the necessary foundations of a “global village.” Selfless
action especially to those who are depressed and deprived nourishes this value. It instills in man
the awareness that one should not have what the poor do not or cannot have. This helps in the
minimisation of wants and the acceptance of a simple life style that obviates the need for big
machines for producing goods and services cutting at the root of industrialisation.
Instead of the present system of mass production, it would promote production by masses
reflecting a heavy reliance on simple technology as well as locally and nationally available
resources. Gandhi does not prefer equalisation of possession; instead, he calls for curbing the
tendency towards possessiveness, which trusteeship can promote. A social order based on truth
and non-violence must reflect interdependence informed by the principle of swadeshi. That is,
that the most effective organisation of social, economic, and political institutions and functions
must follow the natural contours of the neighbourhood.
These are the props that sustain the search for satya and ahimsa as well as the foundation of selfgovernance. Unless humans are essentially self-governing beings, there can be no case for selfgoverning societies. The institutional structure of a self-governing society, for Gandhi, must be
the local community comprising one or a group of villages that is self-governing democratic
republic endowed with necessary powers and authority to manage its own affairs. The village
republic must reflect individual freedom informed by social responsibility.
Complete
decentralisation not only in the economic field but also in the political realm must be the basis of
village republic, the locus of real democracy.
The village republic, replacing formal, representative democracy, will reflect the ideas of microvariability and micro-vitality of local communities thus combining information with power,
power with responsibility, and responsibility with sympathy. Gandhi envisages a democracy
where the village community provides the primary building blocks of self-reliance and selfsufficiency and the higher tiers of the system will be entrusted with functions that cannot be
performed by the lower tiers. In the village republic, every individual will have the inner strength
to resist tyranny and oppression. The socio-political organisation that Gandhi visualises will
represent an oceanic circle signifying a particular structure, where life will not be a pyramid with
apex sustained by the bottom but will be an oceanic circle whose centre will be the individual
always ready to perish for the village, the latter ready to perish for the circle of the villages, till at
last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals, never aggressive in their arrogance but
ever humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units. Therefore
the outer circumference will not wield the power to crush the inner circle but will give strength
to all within and derive its own strength from it….No one… (will) be the first and none the last.
The syndrome of ideas advanced by Gandhi is constitutive of swaraj, that is, self-rule based on
self-control, a necessary condition for spiritualising politics. This swaraj is what Gandhi calls
the “square of swaraj” characterised by political independence, infused by morality and sociality.
Gandhi thus assigns the utmost importance to the spiritual renovation of man and to the reversal
of power to the base; this allows self-governing local communities to flourish. For Gandhi, selfgoverning communities, at whose heart stands the spiritually awakened individual, will
safeguard order in the world. This necessitates reorganisation of the political order in a way that,
moving from the bottom travels through various intermediate levels to the national level, with
each subsequent level enjoying only residuary power and responsibility depending on the
substantive areas of functions it is concerned with. With local communities managing their own
affairs, the overriding importance of national government will be greatly reduced.
4.7 SUMMARY
As Gandhi said, a dynamic democracy can grow only out of meaningful relations and
spontaneous organization that springs among people, when they come together at the local level
to solve their basic problems by cooperation among themselves.
In such a community,
achievement of self-sufficiency and security by neighbourly cooperation engenders a strong
scene of local strength and solidarity and the individual’s sense of responsibility to the
community and concern for its welfare at their highest. The question of world government is, for
Gandhi, of only secondary importance and relevant only to the extent that the emergence of
certain global functions would require coordination and management at the international level. If
a world government is needed, it must be constituted by fully independent nations and be more
than a voluntary organisation eschewing the distinction of small and big nations. It must stand
for common good and achieve general disarmament; disputes must be settled peacefully; and it
may have a small international police force to maintain order in the absence of universal belief in
non-violence. It is this perspective that becomes constitutive of a real tradition, the tradition that
gives a particular meaning to political action. It finds expression in elaborate symbols that
communicate the fundamental consensus of society and shapes the institutional life and public
and personal lives of the people. It forms the belief structure, which is the distinctive foundation
of association in society, and also shapes the essential humanity of the individual members of the
society by supplying meaning in their existence as participants in a reality, which they
experience as transcending merely private existence. This is the foundation of order in the world
according to Gandhi.
4.8
TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
With the background of the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), point out the essential
features of the emergent modern state system.
Describe the factors that prevented the “Society of States” from keeping peace
and order in the world.
“World government modeled after the modern state is anathema to Mahatma
Gandhi”. Give reasons for or against this statement.
What does Mahatma Gandhi prescribe for creating and maintaining order in the
world?
SUGGESTED READINGS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Hedly Bull., The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, The
Macmillan Press, Ltd., London, 1977
Richard Falk., Legal Order in Violent World, Princeton University Press,
Princeton, 1986
Stephen Gill., “Reflection on Global Order and Socio-historical Time,”
Alternative, 16, 1999.
David Held., Democracy and the Global order, Stanford University Press,
Stanford, 1995)
Terry Martin., Law, Morality and Relations of States, Princeton University Press,
Princeton, 1983
Ramashray Roy., “One True World or Many,” in Captive Vision: Ideas as
weapon (Delhi, 1993), Self and Society : A Study in Gandhian Thought, Sage
Publications, Delhi, 1985
Eric Voegelin, “Inter-polity Relations,” in Religion and the Dise of Modernity”,
Collected works of Eric Voeglin, ed by James Wiser (University of Missouri
Press, Columbia, 1998, Vol. 23.
UNIT 5
GANDHIAN IDEA OF MAN
Structure
4.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
4.2 Views on Man
4.3 Man, The Resident of Two orders of Existence
4.4 The Idea of Man: Two Views
4.5 How Gandhi Views Man?
4.6 Elaboration of Gandhi’s Idea of Man
4.7 Man, Society and Cosmos
4.8 Overview
4.9 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The Sense of “I” is at cross roads, it has a double reference. It shares at once
two orders of being, the conditioned and the unconditioned; it is at once a
universalizing as well as a particularizing tendency. It can work as much for
liberation as for bondage; it can work non -lingingly as well as clingingly.
----Nagarjuna
Without a reference to “who man is” no definite understanding of any social phenomenon
can be gained, it is necessary to firmly elucidate what we mean by the term “man”.
Several terms are used to denote man. For example, such terms as “I”, person, self, man,
are commonly used to refer to man. All these terms have double signification. Man can
mean both a spiritually awakened person and a person who is sunk deep in materiality.
This is also the case with terms that are commonly used to refer to man as an entity. For
example, according to Jacques Maritain “…the human being is held between two poles: a
material pole, which in reality does not concern authentic personality, but rather the
material condition and the shadow, as it were, of personality; and a spiritual pole, which
concerns personality itself”. Maritain is not alone in making this distinction; even M.K.
Gandhi concurs with this characterization of man. Also the quotation from Nagarjuna, the
greatest philosopher India has produced, too, emphasises this distinction, that is, the
particularistic and the universalistic tendencies. Nevertheless, characterisation of man as
individual has not wilted in want of supporters. As a matter of fact, with the breaking
apart of Christianity-inspired civilisation, the view of man as a material being, nothing
more than a bundle of desires, emerged as the dominant characterisation. In India, too,
materialistic characterization of man is linked with Charvak.2 When contrary viewpoints
about “who man is” compete for articulation, ascendance and control, it is necessary to
pin point the exact sense in which Gandhi understands man. The idea of man and his
relationship with the external world are subject to varying interpretations. If spirituality is
emphasized as the central quest of life, then there exists the danger of man becoming
completely detached from the world and worldly affairs. If man’s materiality is
vigorously asserted, then there is the possibility of man becoming completely engrossed
in material life and becoming indifferent to the claims of his soul. Gandhi’s idea of man
becomes significant not only because Gandhi puts a great stress on man’s spiritual nature
but also because he conceives of man’s relationship with the external world not in terms
of exploitation but nurturance.
Aims and Objectives
This Unit would enable you to understand
·
Two referents of man’s existence and the Idea of man: scientific and creative
·
Gandhi’s idea of self-development; and
·
The quest of the Absolute: Truth and non violence.
4.2 VIEWS ON MAN
The question what a person stands for becomes important for very good reasons. First,
the characterisation of a person has an important bearing on how humanity is itself
defined. True that man, as a member of the animal kingdom, is subject to the laws that
operate in nature and determine the behaviour of and relations among beings in the
world. As such, man’s behaviour is as causally determined as that of living beings, in
general. However, man is different from other living beings. This difference lies not in
the fact that consciousness happens to accompany man’s behaviour because it does so
even in the case of a few other living beings. What distinguishes man from other living
beings is the way man uses his consciousness to come to a certain understanding,
judgment and conclusion about what he is and what kind of relationship he has, or should
have, with the external world. It is the manner in which the role of consciousness is
defined, concretised and given specific content that goes into the definition of human
person and humanity.
Second, the way human person is defined has a great deal to say about what constitute
specifically human needs, aspirations and relationships. But the delineation of what
humanity consists in is just the half of the story. It focuses primarily on the human
condition of individuality or how the individual thinks and acts. The other half of the
concept of humanity pertains to the relationship between the self and the external world.
Individuality has no meaning if there are no other individuals. The presence of others,
however, means that one has to come into contact with others, interact with them,
compete with them for access to societal resources and collaborate with them for
transforming resources into consumable goods and services or for appropriating what one
needs or defending what one has. The pattern of interaction that develops and gets
crystallised into institutional arrangements, both with regard to man and man relations
and man nature relation, is necessarily based on some notion of what is good or what is
right. In other words, to talk of humanity or human condition is also to talk of certain
norms, standards or criteria that regulate and give content to the idea of man, which, in
turn, yields standards for man – man and man nature relationship.
4.3 MAN, THE RESIDENT OF TWO ORDERS OF EXISTENCE
Man is a resident of two orders of existence: (a) material aspect and (b) spiritual
orientation. Max Scheler talks of the confluence of two factors, material and spiritual; but
real efficiency, he insists, lay in the realm of material conditions whose inner workings
are fateful for humanity. However, even while material conditions are necessary for
human life, they are not utterly fatal. The elements of the spirit also develop
independently out of their inner tendencies. However, two limitations, one biological and
the other material, both, govern their growth and extension refining the parameters of the
possible scope for spiritual development. And “should spiritual goals exceed the limits of
the possible, the contradiction in biological and causal laws of matter, they will remain
mere utopias that…bite on granite and disintegrates”3.
The spiritual nature of man, as one of the referents of man, constitutes the first order of
his existence. The second order of his existence is constituted by the phenomenal world,
the world of his pragmatic affairs in which he finds his temporary home. By virtue of
this, man has, at one and the same time, to relate himself with his fellow beings as well as
the natural world, which provides his succour and sustenance. This relationship is both
competitive and cooperative depending on the belief system, under-girding a particular
society. It should, however, be noted that a society which installs competition as the
central tenet of social life reduces man to the level of porcupines who, suffering from the
cold in the winter, must huddle together; but when they huddle together, their thorns
prick each other and they have to move away. In other words, in such a society the
individual must compete but cannot survive if he does not collaborate with others. But
such collaboration is simply functional that lacks the warmth of love.
It is clear from the discussion above that the notion of humanity or human condition
comprises at once of two elements: description and evaluation. It describes what is meant
by specifically human, that is, it describes those attributes that constitute humanity and
that distinguish human beings from all other living beings. At the same time, it also
prescribes certain norms with reference to which man can be judged as having or lacking
in necessary human qualities. The description is not only a specification of what is
uniquely human but also an exhortation for living up to the idea contained in the notion
of humanity. It is at once a pointer to an actual situation that conforms or fails to conform
to what is truly human and a demand for restructuring the deviant situation.
In short, the notion of humanity takes note of man as belonging to the realm of living
beings but striving to be human. This implies that man is not irretrievably caught in the
web of nature and that he can and must free himself from its deterministic, causal laws.
The notion of humanity is, therefore, concerned not only with the empirical phenomenon
of being human but also with the idea of man’s perfectibility. Thus man is a resident of
the realm of necessity, which denotes not only his dependence on nature for survival but
also subject to its deterministic laws. He is, in addition, also a creature who seeks to rise
above the bondage of nature and engage into the quest of freedom. This quest, when
successful, places man in the realm of freedom, Since man lives in society and society
itself has a strong bearing on how man develops and what he becomes, and strives to be
human in the process of his becoming, the notion of humanity also carries, by
implication; the idea of the perfectibility of human society too. 4 Thus, to be truly human
is to make a definite transition from the realm of necessity.
4.4 THE IDEA OF MAN: TWO VIEWS
In order to enter into the realm of freedom, it is necessary to break the thralldom of the
realm of necessity, that is, to conquer the animality in man and achieve what is
distinctively human. This further means that there are two distinct ways of viewing what
substantively the term “man” means. One of these views takes man as a body-mind
complex; mind, in this perspective, is equated with a mechanical mind. On this view, man
is subject to laws of matter and life; he is simply a natural man. As a natural man, he
must treat the phenomenal world and its structure as the only reality confronting him as
well as others. Enveloped by this reality, man makes use of his freedom for pursuing
worldly concerns. The individual must then be guaranteed freedom, which he can use
without, of course, jeopardising the pursuit of freedom by others. Freedom, in this
perspective, consists in the absence of constraints on whatever one wishes to do provided
it does not put the freedom of others in jeopardy. Such a perspective is rooted in an
outlook that has two attributes of far-reaching consequences. In the first place, this
perspective breaks the link between man and the divine insofar as the idea of man is
restricted to the body-mind complex alone. The element of soul as the seat of divine has
been left out. The consequence is that the phenomenon of commonality that was provided
by everyone sharing in the splendour of the divine has been jettisoned. With this man is
reduced to a mere fragment of totality of his being. He is a peasant, a businessman, as
Indian or a worker, etc alone; he is seldom a total man enjoying the full panoply of his
attributes.
In addition, such a perspective is rooted in an outlook that treats human beings as
separated from each other; it sees an absolute dissociation of every individual person
from every other. It projects happiness as the primary concern of every person. Happiness
lies in the satisfaction of desires; satisfaction of desires becomes the instrument of man’s
fulfillment insofar as it helps in the articulation of hidden potentialities and the realisation
of creative urges; with this, man is said to ensure his perfection by developing his moral
and spiritual sensibilities. Thus, by satisfying one’s own need by exercising freedom,
man is said to promote collective good, and push mankind on the path of progress. These
concerns arise from man’s existential conditions, which can be realised in this world.
This requires that man controls and transcends his primitive nature in some ways, on the
one hand, and he builds a society that ensures the satisfaction of man’s need, on the other.
On this alone, it is claimed, depends man’s self- identification and self-realisation.
What becomes central in this perspective is the pursuit of self-interest. The pursuit of self
interest or what Adam Smith calls “augmentation of fortune” functions as the imperial
governor of passions.5 Rationality is supposed, in this perspective, to help the pursuit of
self-interest in choosing the least costly and most rewarding means to realising particular
ends. The pursuit of self-interest so helped and supported by rationality is, then, supposed
to open the way for self-realization and to yield benign results for society and promote
collective good. Thus the pursuit of self-interest is claimed to hold the key to individual
happiness and collective good.
However, the hope of personal felicity paving the way for personal development,
collective good and civilisational progress–-all these prove illusionary. Personal
development is eclipsed by man’s externalisation, that is, his attachment to external
objects that attract or repel him. As a result of man’s externalisation, there occurs a split
between rationality and emotion, between matter and spirit, between man and man and
between man and nature. Freedom means freedom for man’s totality of being and
therefore self-control as the precondition of self-determination. Self-determination
becomes the instrument of the expressive unity and fullness of life. If this does not
happen then man’s entry into the realm of freedom is blocked. Phenomenally, every
individual has to identify with something and ‘belong’. The roles a man plays in the
world do not constitute his real self. To be completely identified with and get immersed
in one’s worldly roles, playing the drama of everydayness, is, therefore, to negate the
claims of his real self, that is, the soul as the sensorium of divine, the imperishable entity.
To define the totality of a person exclusively in terms of his phenomenal roles is thus not
conducive to the full flowering of man’s essential personality. Fulfillment can only come
by discovering one’s real self. This requires detachment, if not complete withdrawal from
the world. To be detached is to be free from the attractions and allurements of the world.
Herein lies the distinctive dignity of man that inheres in his capacity of becoming a really
human being. This capacity enables him to gain the competence ultimately for looking on
himself and the world in a new light. By discovering his self, man becomes free and
develops a nurturant altitude towards the external world. He can, then, develop his soul
force to successfully resist and defeat the forces that try to bend him to the will of others.
The two polar views of man sketched above compete for ascendance. As a matter of fact,
the view of man as merely a body- mind complex is in ascendance today. It is against this
background that we must ask: Where does Gandhi stand in relation to these views?
Gandhi offers a very distinct view of man; he emphasises the quest for salvation as the
primary end and insists that this end must not be pursued in some cave far from the
madding crowd; it must be pursued in this world of here and now. Gandhi accepts the
reality of this world as given, however, man has, in his view, to transcend it to
successfully resist its overpowering attractions. What is the nature of this transcendence?
What factors are necessary to make this transcendence possible? What should be the
nature of man and what conditioning attributes are necessary for safeguarding and
preserving the personhood of Gandhi’s conception? These are some of the questions that
are dealt with below.
4.5 HOW GANDHI VIEWS MAN?
One of the stories in the Panchatantra illustrates Gandhi’s view of man very well. A tiger
cub had fallen among goats that brought it up. The cub learnt the language of the goats,
adopted their voice, that is, the gentle way of bleating and displayed all the attributes of a
goat as any kid of the flock. One day a fierce tiger attacked the herd of the goats. All the
goats fled; the cub remained where he stood, devoid of fear. On being asked by the tiger
as to what it was doing among the goats, the cub only bleated its pitiful response. The
tiger then seized the cub by the scruff of its neck, and took it to a nearby pond where it
was shown its similarity with the tiger. It was then carried to the tiger’s den where it was
forced to eat a bleeding piece of raw meat. Just as the cub was to protest it tasted blood.
The cub was amazed and reached for more meat. And as the meat reached its stomach it
felt a transformation. As if waking from a night of deep sleep, the night that had held it
long under its spell, the cub stretched its form, arched its back, extended and spread its
paws. The tail lashed on the ground and suddenly from its throat burst a terrifying
triumphant roar. Watching with satisfaction, the tiger observed, “Now, do you know what
you really are? And added, “Come, we shall go now for a hunt together in the jungle”.
The story illustrates the process of self-discovery and underlines the fact that there is the
self or the soul in everybody enveloped by materiality. As long as this covering of
materiality remains intact, the soul remains hidden, unmanifest, and suppressed. It is
therefore, necessary to pierce the shell of materiality. But the question is how? Gandhi
recognises the brute in man, but he also believes that man can attain perfection, if he so
chooses. As he says, “We are perhaps all originally brutes. I am prepared to believe that
we have become men by a slow process of evolution from the brute”.6 He is also willing
to concede that it is very easy to remain a brute. He notes that “man must choose either of
the two courses, the upward or the downward, but as he has the brute in him he will more
easily choose the downward course than the upward, especially when the downward
course is presented to him in a beautiful garb”7. For Gandhi, modern industrial
civilisation does just that.
Gandhi believes that man is the maker of his destiny8; he must strive to become perfect.
But complete perfection is possible only after the dissolution of the body since the bonds
of his flesh limit man. However, man has still to try to elevate himself, to lift himself up
from the brute state because he is “a special creation of God precisely to the extent that
he is distinct from the rest of his creation.”9 For Gandhi, perfection in life time means a
continuous, ceaseless striving towards knowing one’s true nature. This becomes
incumbent upon man since he is different from a brute because he is a moral being. And
to stay at the moral plane is to recover one’s leonine nature. But what does discovering
the leonine nature means and how is this discovery to be made?
4.6 ELABORATION OF GANDHI’S IDEA OF MAN
Gandhi makes a distinction between external freedom and internal freedom. He notes that
a thousand laws enacted to protect man’s freedom would fail to do so if man remains a
slave internally, i.e. to his passions and appetites. He rejects the notion that external
freedom can be the means of ensuring the freedom of the soul within. For Gandhi, it is
swaraj (self-rule or auto-control) that guarantees internal freedom. It is “an inward
change…it is the transformation of the heart…and that absolute transformation can only
come by inner prayer and a definite and living recognition of the presence of the mighty
spirit residing within.”10 When this radical change is effected, the outward form takes
care of itself; without inward radical change, the outward form is like a white sepulchre.
The inward radical change/ inner transformation, turns away from the phenomenal, to be
sure, but it does not imply that a man becomes a law into himself or rises above the law.
If men were to act according to their “lawless law”, there would be chaos. Gandhi deems
it necessary to have laws for controlling the brute in us whenever it becomes active.
Gandhi is certain that man-made laws do not make men free; if anything, they frequently
prove to be shackles. If Gandhi looks at man-made laws with distaste, he also condemns
reason if it is devoid of morality. He does recognise the eminence of reasons in
discriminating human from the bestial, but he would not accept it as sufficient ground for
effecting deliverance from the laws of nature. Reason can discriminate, compare and
relate means to ends. But it cannot produce the force that can lift man up from the
bondage of nature. Moreover, reason has only a limited scope and fails to reach many
vital areas of decision, effort and concentration. He pleads “not for suppression of reason,
but for a due recognition of that in us what sanctifies reasons itself11.
This something that sanctifies reason itself is the object of Gandhi’s quest. It is the
transcendental centre, which, according to Gandhi, must be the primary concern of every
person. This transcendental centre is God, “that indefinable something which we all feel
but which we do not know”, a mysterious power that pervades everything” but defies all
proof. The process of the discovery of the transcendental centre does not mean retiring
from this phenomenal world, the world of here and now. Gandhi steers clear of the two
opposite extreme dangers. These are totally abandoning the world of everydayness for
pursuing the quest of the transcendental centre and strict adherence to varnashrama
dharma. The former, for example, the Vedant or the Yoga of Patanjali, emphasises the
ideal of transcending the sphere of action and duties and rising to a level where one gives
up all one’s activities, mental or physical. The other, emphasising the necessity of
preserving the social order, argues that an individual is a functioning component of the
complex social organism. His concern must, therefore, be to become fully identified with
the tasks and interests of his social role, and even shape to this his public and private
character.12
Gandhi rejects both of these extremes. He recognises the importance of both the polar
views, however, rooted firmly in the stream of Indian classical thought, Gandhi believes
in pursuing the quest of the transcendental centre along with the performance of worldly
roles. For him, “coming face to face with God” or “coming nearer to one’s own maker”
constitutes the supreme goal. As he says, “Man’s ultimate aim is the realization of God,
and all his activities, social, political, religious, have to be guided by the ultimate aim of
the vision of God”.
13
Gandhi treats truth as the sovereign principle and it stands as a
surrogate for God. He therefore declares that “devotion to truth is the sole justification for
our existence….Without truth it is impossible to observe any principles or rules in life”14.
The realisation of absolute truth is not always possible. Gandhi says, “as long as I have
not realized this absolute truth, so long must I hold by the relative truth as I have
conceived it. The relative truth must, meanwhile, be my beacon, my shield and
buckler.”15
To hold on to relative truth as a means of realising the absolute truth implies acceptance
of the phenomenal world, and the recognition of the importance of the vital concerns of
life. And since the notion of relative truth may vary from person to person and from time
to time, conflict may raise its ugly head. Gandhi recognises the eventuality of the
occurrence of conflict. He would, however, like to resolve conflicts non-violently since
non-violence is the other side of truth. And the test of truth is in action. But action must
reflect a commitment to absolute truth without which it is prone to embrace either a
relativistic or the absolutist horn of the dilemma.
Truth, validity, actuality subsist only in action, in the unremitting play of enlightened
consciousness on the fact of daily life as expressed in the decisions made from
moment to moment, in the crises of sacrifice and laying hold, the acts of Yea and
Nay: only in the work, that is to say, wrought by a being in whom enlightenment is
continuously alive as a present force”.16
Action, for Gandhi, is then not only the hearer of truth but also a means of self-disclosure
as a precondition of discovering truth. Action in this sense cannot be based on anything
other than ahimsa (non–violence) since violence destroys the organicity of the situation
in which self-disclosure proceeds. But what does the pursuit of truth in society mean?
What should be its focus and objective? How can we serve God when we do not know
God? Gandhi’s reply is clear: “We may not know God, but we know his creation. Service
of his creation is the service of God”.17 Service of God does not come naturally. It comes
when one recognises that man is a part of God, a spark of the divine flame, and treats
others also as partaking of the same essence. To put it differently, the individual comes to
love his fellow men through the love of God.
Service to the creation of God presupposes a belief in unity of all life and, as a
consequence of this belief, the treatment of all beings on an equal footing. To quote
Gandhi:
I believe in the rock bottom doctrine of Advaita (non violence) and my interpretation
of Advaita excludes totally any idea of superiority at any state whatsoever. I believe
implicitly that all men are born equal. All have the same soul as any other. And it is
because I believe in this inherent equality of all men that I fight the doctrine of
superiority, which many of our rulers arrogate to themselves.18
To identify with others is, for Gandhi, to identify with the suffering of others. It is this
awareness of the existence of widespread suffering and the necessity of sharing in and, if
possible, alleviating the suffering of others that Gandhi would like everybody to embrace
as a sacred duty.
4.7 MAN, SOCIETY AND COSMOS
Gandhi’s vision of man underlines the need to vanquish the brute in us by a conscious
effort for self-development as the basis of self-knowledge. The attainment of selfknowledge is to attune our soul to the divine ground of reality. This attunement makes
possible a radical inward change. This radical inward change produces two benign
consequences. The first consequence concerns the awakening of nobler feelings in man,
which express themselves in treating all life as a unity, service to the creation of God,
especially those who stand at the lowest rung of social hierarchy, the Daridranarayan and
the last man, and treat everybody with the attitude of samatwa (Sameness). Thus
envisions a spiritually awakened person who exercises auto-control and reinforces it by
undertaking of Vratas (disciplining engagements) and Yama–Niyamas (principled living).
Such a person evinces strict discipline by minimising his wants, even going to the
extreme of not having anything that the poorest of men cannot have.
The second consequence is to forge a very intimate and strong bond with the environing
social order. It is in society that a person has to live and interact with others for survival
and for the quest of freedom in the spiritual sense. A disordered society does not easily
allow a person to get rid of his own disordered interior. Thus it is necessary to achieve
compatibility between the needs of a spiritually awakened person and the structure of
society. This means three different but interlinked factors. Firstly, if the environing social
order manifests certain deficiencies, they must be removed not violently but peacefully
without damaging its prescriptive and cooperative structures. Secondly, the individual
must develop sociality so that he eschews the altitude of superiority and aloofness. And,
thirdly, an identity between individual and collective good must be sustained.
But the source from which these three factors can smoothly flow out is the development
of morality. As he says:
First of all, we shall have to consider how we realize the self and serve our
country…for realizing the self, the first essential thing is to cultivate a strong moral
sense. Morality means the acquisition of virtue such as fearlessness, truth,
brahmacharya (celibacy) and so on. Service is automatically rendered to the country
in the process of cultivating morality. 19
Given the very intimate relationship between the individual and society, Gandhi
considers this relationship as that which obtains between the ocean and the drop. To
quote him again:
The ocean is composed of drops of water; each drop is an entity and yet is the part of
the whole; “the one and the many”. In this ocean of life, we are little drops. My
doctrine means that I must identify myself with life with everything that lives, that I
must share the majesty of life in the presence of God. The sum total of this is God.20
The sharing in the majesty of life concretely means dealing with others on the basis of
truth and non-violence, practising swadeshi, and celebrating life in a completely
decentralised political system undergirded by democratic decision-making.
4.8 SUMMARY
Gandhi’s conception of man embraces the notion of man’s perfectibility. To be fully
human means the mounting of a conscious effort to cultivate morality through the process
of self-development. The cultivation of morality must take place in the phenomenal
world. This signifies not the acceptance of the world as it is but to improve it through
reforms so that it serves the existential needs of spiritually awakened person. The real
purpose of life is to get release from the world and achieve a situation of non-action.
However, action is necessary for the preservation of the cosmic order and the sustenance
of the lived world. Selfless service is the principal means of Lokasamgraha, that is, the
maintenance of the world. It presupposes the interconnectedness of man, society and
nature. It emphasises the necessity for disciplining action by morality in order to prevent
the world from sinking into physical misery and moral degradation as well as to make
common life decent and dignified. Gandhi insists on the development of detachment as a
step forward to becoming sthitaprajna (to rise above pain and pleasure). Gandhi
considers detachment as negative; he therefore insists on selfless service. For Gandhi,
detached selfless service is real purushartha (objectives worthy of man’s purushartha).
All this enables the individual to develop the capacity to resist exploitation, oppression
and fight tyranny.
4.9 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. Critically examine the statement: “Man is nothing more than a body mind
complex”.
2. Analyse critically Gandhi’s view of man.
3. Would you say that the vision of man that Gandhi holds is impossible to attain? If
so, why?
SUGGESTED READINGS
1. M.K. Gandhi., Hind Swaraj, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1938
2. M.K. Gandhi., An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth in
Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. (ed by Shriman Narayan), Navajivan
Publishing, Ahmedabad, 1968, vol. 2
3. Ramashray Roy., Self and Society: A Study in Gandhian Thought, Sage
Publication, Delhi, 1984
4. Tu Wei–Ming., Humanity and Self-cultivation: Essays in Confucian Thought
Asian Humanities Press, Berkeley, 1979
5. Jacques Maritain., Challenges and Renewals: Selected Essays, Eds. James E.
Evans and Leo R. Ward, The University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, 1966
6. Joan V. Bondurant., Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict
Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1958
7. Krishna Chaitanya., Gandhi’s Quest of Being in Becoming, Gandhi Peace
Foundation, New Delhi, 1977
End Notes
1. Jacques Maritain, Challenges and Renewals: Selected Readings; eds. Joseph and
Leo R. Ward (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966), P. 285.
2. He is attributed with saying that “Yavatjivet, sukham jivet; rinam kritwa ghritam
pivet; bhastmibhut sharirashya, puaragaman kutah. (Live happily as long as you
live; take loan and drink ghee; there is rebirth of the body, which ultimately turns
into ahes.)
3. Max Scheler, Max Scheler on Knowing and Feeling ed. Harold J. Bershady
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), p.29
4. See Kalidas Bhattacharya, “Nature and Freedom,” in F. Mcleod, ed. Man and
Nature (Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 104
5. On this point, see Hirschman, The Passions and the Interests: Arguments for
Capitalism before its Triumph (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977)
6. Harijan, April 1938
7. Harijan, January 1935.
8. Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing
House 1958), Vol. 2, P.202
9. Selected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (to be herein after referred to an SWMG) ed,
Shriman Narayan, 6 vols. (Ahmedabad: Navjivan Publishing Houses, 1969), vol.
6.
10. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG), 100 vols. (Delhi: Government of
India, Division of Information and Broadcasting,), vol, XXXIV, p. 506
11. SWMG, vol. VI, p.12
12. Heinrich Zimmer, Philosophies of India, ed. Joseph Compbell (London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1952), p.151
13. SWMG, VI, p.114
14. CWMG, VI, p.40
15. SWMG, VI, p.95
16. Zimmer, op. cit, p. 176
17. CWMG, LXIII, p. 253
18. Ibid, XXXV, p.1
19. Ibid, X, p.70
20. SWMG, VI, p.109
UNIT 6
DEBATES ON THE NATURE OF STATE
Structure
6.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
6.2 Nature of Modern State: Hegel
6.3 The Pluralist State
6.4 Debate on Advanced Capitalist State
6.5 Easton on Political System
6.6 Conclusion
6.7 Summary
6.8 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
6.1 INTRODUCTION
The state is a central concept in political theory and is the pivot around which politics
revolves. The word ‘state’ is derived from Latin which means a situation or state of being
(Sartori 1987, p.278). Machiavelli is the first to use the term but did not define what it is.
The state is used to convey a historical or philosophical idea, an eternal form of political
community, which is a specifically modern phenomenon (Forsyth, 1987, p.503). A state
is defined as a political entity that possesses people, territory, a government and
sovereignty. A government is a concrete reality of the state, which is an abstraction.
Governments change structurally and can be removed without entailing a change in
states. A government is the policy deciding body that makes, declares and enforces a law.
It can exist and does exist without a state as history and anthropology reveal. An
administration is a set of persons and bodies that work under the direction of government
to discharge the ordinary public services. A government is the political executive while
administration is the permanent executive. Furthermore, the modern state is highly
differentiated, specialised and complex upholding the difference between the private and
the public space. As a modern phenomenon the state develops with sovereignty as its
distinguishing trait. The concept of sovereignty reinforces the public-private divide and
also between one body politic and another. Concurrently with the idea of sovereignty—
and partly in opposition to it—grows another idea that distinguishes the state as a modern
phenomenon, namely the idea that it is the people as a single entity who rightly decide
and constitute the form of rule within the body-politic. This idea was carried further by
the American and French Revolutions that established representative institutions and also
developed the idea that the proper end of the state is primarily protection of individual
rights. The emphasis on 'pursuit of happiness' as proclaimed by the American Revolution
and the notions of liberty, equality and fraternity as declared by the French Revolution
answer the willing obedience of citizens to political authority. 'The state as a modern
phenomenon may, thus, be defined as the institutional representation of the people's will,
enabling it to act effectively in both the normal and extreme situation to secure the
defence and welfare of the whole and the rights of the parts—together with this very
activity itself’ (Forsyth, 1987, p.506). The political apparatuses of the modern states are
distinct from both rulers and ruled, with supreme jurisdiction over a demarcated
territorial area, backed by a claim to a monopoly of coercive power and enjoying a
minimum level of support or loyalty from their citizens (Skinner, 1978, pp.349-58;
Giddens, 1985, pp.17-31, pp.116-21).
Aims and Objectives
This Unit would enable you to understand
·
The nature of the modern state
·
The concept and meaning of pluralist state
·
The debate on the advanced capitalist state
6.2 NATURE OF THE MODERN STATE: HEGEL
Hegel describes and analyses in detail the nature of the modern state. The state, for him,
represents universal altruism synthesising dialectically the elements within the family and
the civil society. It functions in a manner that the interests of everyone are furthered and
enhanced. It represents the universal tendencies within the civil society, thus giving rise
to the notion of citizenship. It is 'absolutely rational' with a 'substantive will' realising
itself through history and is, therefore, eternal, 'This substantive unity was its own motive
and absolute end. In this end freedom attained its highest right. This end had the highest
right over the individual, whose highest duty in turn is to be a member of the state'
(Hegel, cited in Bondurant, 1967, pp.212-13).
Hegel perceives the state as an end in itself; it is Mind realising itself through history. He
emphasises the public nature of the state, but does not distinguish between the private and
the public spheres. The indispensability of the state is demonstrated by the fact that the
individual qualities and potentialities of good life can be realised only through the state. It
is divine will, 'in the sense that it is mind present on earth, unfolding itself to be the actual
shape and organization of a world'. It is the most sublime of all human institutions, the
final culmination which embodies both mind and spirit deriving its strength from a
synthesis of the individual interest with that of the state. If there is a conflict between the
two, the citizen would identify with those of the state rather than pursue one's own
interests. The state is the individual writ large.
Hegel examines the different components of the state like the rule of law, the
bureaucracy, and the monarchy. Rule of Law is one of the key formulations in the
Philosophy of Right (1821). Hegel does not see law as a hindrance to freedom but as a
characteristic of freedom. He espouses a broad and a narrow conception of law. In the
wide sense, it is one of the instruments for realising social cohesion with law not as a
code but one that reflects ethical values which governed cultural life. In this holistic
concept, justice is linked to the institutional ordering of the entire society. In the narrow
sense, law is linked to positive legal justice. The emphasis on the conventional principles
of law makes him reject a conception of higher or natural law, for modern civil codes are
becoming more rational and public. Laws must be universally applied based on
impersonal and universal values recognising every person as a legal entity entitled to
dispose the objects, which are his property. The quantity of that property is a question of
legal indifference, for what matters is the legal authority to acquire, use and exchange
property with others based on the principle 'be a person and respect others as persons'.
An interesting aspect of the Hegelian legal system is its lack of the idea of 'command'
normally associated with Hobbes. The determining characteristic of a legal norm is its
form, which has its basis on practical rationality. The embodiment of a rule is more
important than command, for that gives meaning and shape to the rule of law,
distinguishing itself from arbitrary power. In an important distinction between command
and law, Hegel asserts that commands and orders are specified purposes for identified
people, whereas the ambit of law is wider as it addresses a larger and unknown audience
and is equally applicable to all within its jurisdiction. Command is from a superior to an
inferior while the sanction of law is its rational authority. He rejects the ancient notion, as
exemplified by Aristotle, of the purpose of law, being the realisation of human excellence
or full development of human capacities and leaves it to the individual's private
discretion. In contrast, the modern rule of law consists of a few necessary features that
are common to all and is established by the rationality of free individuals. Laws have to
be impersonal, rational, intelligent and written for people to conform and consent. He
rejects Burke's appeal to tradition and custom as such attitudes result in ill-feeling and
hatred for all laws and legislation.
The Universal Class is the bureaucracy, an important component of the Hegelian State,
because of its commitment to impartiality. Unlike the other groups of the civil society,
who are primarily interested in their own progression or business, the civil service
performs the stupendous service of supervising the entire societal apparatus, which Hegel
calls the public business. This class of people will not be recruited from the nobility but
from the modern middle class symbolising 'the consciousness of right and the developed
intelligence of the mass of people'. For this reason, it becomes 'the pillar of the state so
far as honesty and intelligence are concerned' (Hegel, 1969, p.190). It is 'knowledge and
proof of ability' and not hereditary that is the criterion for recruitment (Ibid, p.190). In
developing this philosophy of the civil service, he differentiates the modern constitutional
state from the polis and oriental despotism as the bureaucracy is relatively impersonal.
The constitutional state retains its independence from its ruling groups by mechanisms of
free institutions and a civil service. The state is not the personal property of an individual
or a group and institutional constraints define and limit the power of governments which
do not depend on the virtues of statesmen or citizens. This is because modern
constitutionalism is suspicious of the abilities of persons in power to control their
passions and prevent abuse of power by the rulers. Rule of law and not rule of men reflect
the concern of modern societies enabling the modern constitutional state to act
impartially. The civil service, like Plato's Guardians, has the interests of the
commonwealth in mind. Hegel is categorical that the bureaucracy shall be open to all
citizens on the basis of ability and citizenship. They shall have fixed salaries so that they
can resist the temptations of civil society. Unlike Plato's guardians, the universal class
functions within a framework where the special interests expressed themselves
legitimately within the Assembly of Estates and autonomous corporations.
The Monarchy, for Hegel, is a functional requirement of the modern constitution based
on separation and division of powers. He goes to the extent of saying that the division of
power guarantees freedom. Hegel differentiates between the doctrine of the separation of
powers from his own innovative theory of inward differentiation of constitutional powers,
dismissing the former as a false doctrine as it supports total autonomy and independence
of each functioning category. His model portrays all these categories as mutually
supporting aspects of the same totality. His supreme concern is to find a method that
secures the unity and integrity of the state. Absolute separation of powers either leads to a
stalemate or causes the self-destruction of the state. To avoid this, Hegel prescribes
legally differentiated spheres for the crown, the executive and the legislative body, each
cooperating with the other to guarantee freedom to its citizens. Interdependence and
harmony of the three important branches are the precondition of continuance of the
sovereign state with the monarchy at the apex, signifying this unity. Hegel opposes the
idea of an elected monarchy or the American-style President, for, even though it may
express the popular will, it still represents a small portion of the constitution, while the
monarch embodies, in his view, the whole constitution. Hegel's defence of monarchy has
to be understood on the basis of his philosophical framework to find out rational
arrangements within the existing institutions. It does not descent into mysticism as Marx
thought. He was not interested in finding a philosophic ruler as Plato nor was he trying to
depict a future based on human emancipation within a framework of true democracy like
Marx. Such ideas were a negation of the entire approach of Hegel, which was based on
the assumption that the real is rational and that the immediate present and not the future is
the concern. The Hegelian conception influenced British idealist school in the later part
of the nineteenth century, especially in the writings of Bosanquet who exalted state
authority. Hegel considers the state as a supreme community because of its
comprehensive membership and competence as compared to other associations. It is not
only physically supreme but also morally preeminent among the social institutions! It is
necessarily right and its opinion will prevail when there is a conflict between its opinion
and that of a citizen.
6.3 THE PLURALIST STATE
The Pluralist view of state is based on the idea that the government intends to serve mass
interest, even though in practice, it may not do so always. The idea that people will
collectively determine the laws that should govern them is traced to antiquity yet for a
long period of time divine law defined relations between individuals, including who
should and how they should be governed (Carnoy, 1983, p.11). With the breakdown of
divine law as a result of the rise of capitalism there were important changes in the old
social formations by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the throes of political
changes taking place in England, Hobbes and Locke developed their political ideas. The
theory of the liberal state based on individual rights and the State acting in the common
good developed.
Schumpeter criticises the aforesaid classical and liberal assumptions by pointing out that
there is no such as common good as to different individuals, common good is bound to
mean different things. The notion of common good is misleading and dangerous, as there
rarely exist an agreement among individuals and groups among ends and even if there is
one, there will be disagreements about the means to be employed for the realisation of a
given end. In modern societies that are economically and culturally diverse there are
bound to be different notions of common good. Citizens are rarely informed or interested
in political issues except for those that affect them directly and economically. Within this
critique, Schumpeter comes up with an alternative model of how the modern democratic
capitalist state does and should function. Reversing the notion of the classical theory that
power resides in the people who chose their representatives to represent their intereststhe general will, Schumpeter makes the deciding of issues by the electorate secondary to
the election of representatives who are to do the deciding. The electorate is left with the
power to decide which set of leaders it wishes to have carry out the decision-making
process. Schumpeter compares the power of vote to that of money in the market.
Dahl argues further that even though elections rarely reflect the will of the majority, they
are ‘crucial process for insuring that political leaders will be somewhat responsive to the
preferences of some ordinary citizens. Power, according to Dahl, still resides in the voters
even though this power is not expressed as majority versus minority ‘will’; rather each
issue calls forth those voters interested enough in the issue to vote for the politician on
the basis of that issue. Political parties held in translating the diverse political demands
and help in forming stable governments which equilibrates demand and supply. Both
Schumpeter and Dahl argue that individuals function through multiplicity of groups. Dahl
points out that power is distributed and shared by many groups in society representing
diverse interests and they defend their particular interests through government, creating a
proclivity towards ‘competitive equilibrium’ that benefits the citizens in the long run.
Citizens exert control over leaders through regular elections and political competition
among groups, parties and individuals. The rule by a series of minorities, called as
polyarchy function within the boundaries stipulated by consensus with none being able to
dominate but all having a space for their manoeuvre and bargaining. This emphasis on
consensus is in contrast to Schumpeter’s view of democratic politics, as managed
ultimately by competing elite. The competition among groups is the safeguard of
democracy, as the latter does not establish the sovereignty of the majority but a rule by
‘multiple minority oppositions’. The more is the presence of competing interest groups,
the more secure is democracy.
Marcuse is critical of the democratic pluralist defence of advanced capitalism. He points
out that though it is generally conceded that the welfare state has lessened inequalities to
a considerable degree by improving standards of the poorer sections, it is acknowledged
that far from any indication of the withering away of classes it continues with in-built
cleavages giving considerable validity to the Marxist analysis of these societies.
Mills criticises American pluralism by arguing that far from being an independent arbiter
of national interest, the state is dominated by the power elite of politicians, military and
corporate bosses who shape public policy to suit their own ends. Mills' theory involves a
three level gradation of the distribution of power. At the top level are those in command
of the major institutional hierarchies of modern society—the executive branch of the
national government, the large business corporations and the military establishment
controlling political power, means of production and death, respectively reinforcing
Eisenhower's conception of the military-industrial complex. The pluralist model of
competing interests, according to Mills, applies to the middle level—the semi-organised
interplay between interest groups and legislative politics that the pluralists mistakenly
assume as the feature of the whole power structure of capitalist state. At the bottom exist
the politically fragmented masses (1956, pp.167-68). Mills' account explains the close
nexus between economic elite and governmental elite: the corporate rich and 'the political
directorate'. He asserts that the growing centralisation of power in the federal executive
branch of government is attended by a declining role for professional politicians and a
growing number for 'political outsiders' from the corporate world (1956, p.235).
Notwithstanding this, Mills declares that it is misleading to consider that 'the political
apparatus is merely an extension of the corporate world, or that it had been taken over by
the representatives of the corporate rich' (1956, p.170). He tries to distinguish his position
from that of what he terms as 'simple Marxian view' that holds economic elite to be the
real holders of power and therefore uses the term power elite rather than the 'ruling class'
for that implies too much economic determinism (1956, pp.276-77). He also asserts that
his analysis is compatible with the Marxist view. Furthermore, he also maintains that the
political, military and economic elite are considerably autonomous, often in conflict and
rarely act in unity.
Miliband thinks that there is no room for debate about details in Mills' account but the
background thesis is reasonably satisfactory. Dahl criticises the analysis on the grounds
of insufficient data. He notes that a theory, which cannot be converted to empirical
evidence, could not claim to be a scientific theory. The burden of such a proof has to be
provided by the theorist and not by his critics. The argument that 'A is more powerful
than B' is both ambiguous and meaningless without specificity. No comparison is actually
possible when two actors are performing different and not identical functions. Any ideal
of political equality is Utopian and the absence of political equality does not mean that
there is a ruling elite. Parsons praises the copious data of Mills and agrees that Mills has
put it to good use but rejects Mills' claim, as the data is not enough for sufficient
empirical grounding. He argues that Mills ignored two very important developments:
first, the dynamics of a maturing industrial society; and second, the altered position of the
United States in the world in the context of the relative decline of Western Europe, rise of
the Soviet power and independence of colonies. The combination of all these factors has
led to enormous enhancement of American power in a short time and with their profound
repercussions, old political institutions have disappeared. In an essentially non-political
society and localism this increase in relative importance of government and its power, has
created a great degree of tension in a society where Jeffersonian individualism places
primacy in economic values of production. Ignoring these important developments, Mills
makes large generalisations on the basis of short-term experience. Parsons argued that the
structure of American political leadership was far from settled. Mills provides for a very
selective treatment of a complex problem. Without dismissing power to be illegitimate,
one should accept it as essential and a desirable component in a highly organised society.
However, it is clear that power can be abused and needs many safeguards and controls. In
Mills there is no explicit position except that he is partly pre-liberal, anti-capitalist and
pro-socialist within the Jeffersonian tradition, but such loose identities are no longer
enough for serious model building. Sweezy finds the greatest merit in the book in its
graphic description of those who ruled America. He considered it to be an authentic voice
of American radicalism. However, he also criticises Mills for blurring class relationships
in the light of the dynamics of the class system in areas of the process of co-option and
the loss of high-class status. In short, even the admirers on the left like Miliband and
Sweezy did not consider Mills' account to be rigorously worked out and empirically
verifiable thesis of power in contemporary United States.
6.4 DEBATE ON ADVANCED CAPITALIST STATE
Gramsci rightly points out that an advanced state rules by perfecting the ideological
apparatus rather than through repressive measures like force and terror. The state consists
of two elements: (1) the coercive apparatus comprising of the police, army and judiciary
that uphold the authority of the ruling class through force and (2) the other includes
various institutions of civil society such as media, church, schools, clubs, parties and
trade unions, the instruments of hegemony, the means by which the ruling class secures
spontaneous adherence of the rest of the society to comply to its rule. Hegemony allows a
ruling group to hold on to power long after it has ceased to be the dominant class. For
Gramsci, the tenacity and strength of societal forces within advanced capitalism make it
possible for the capitalist class to assert its hegemony. In the process it renders a genuine
communist revolution as a virtual impossibility unless carried out in the Leninist manner.
The democratic pluralist view provides the most popular defence of advanced capitalism
as a viable and relatively just system. Its major emphasis is that within advanced
capitalism there is equality of opportunity, for most, if not all the people, and because of
this crucial factor, the concepts of a ruling class, power elite and class politics are largely
irrelevant. In these systems 'all the active and legitimate groups in the population can
make themselves heard at some crucial stage in the process of decision' (Dahl, 1965,
pp.137-38). Since 'the fundamental political problems of the industrial and political
citizenship have been solved, conservatives have accepted the welfare state; and the
democratic left has recognized that an increase in overall state power carries with it more
dangers to freedom than solution to economic problems' (Lipset, 1963, p.443). This
theory of classlessness within advanced capitalism has obvious limitations. Though it is
generally conceded that the welfare state has lessened inequalities to a considerable
degree by improving living standards of the poorer sections, it is acknowledged that far
from any indication of withering away of classes, it continues with inbuilt cleavages. In
other words, the Marxist analysis of these societies still retains validity to a very
considerable degree.
In recent times, one of the most penetrating class analyses of the welfare state has
emerged in the writings of Ralph Miliband, who in his The State in Capitalist Society
(1969) makes a detailed critique of the pluralist view by asserting the superiority of the
Marxist analysis. He begins by examining the concepts of ruling class or the power elite,
which the pluralists totally ignore. Advanced capitalist countries are highly industrialised
and a large portion of their activity is under private ownership and control. Miliband
points out that there is state intervention, of varying degrees, in the economic life. Their
economic base is identical, resulting in notable similarities within their social structure
and class distribution. A relatively small number of people continue to own a very large
and disproportionate share of wealth deriving their incomes from ownership. This class is
the ruling class in the Marxist sense. Despite 'all the instances of growing or achieved
'classlessness' . . . the proletarian condition remains a hard and basic fact in these
societies, in the work process, in the levels of income, in opportunities or the lack of
them, in the whole social definition of existence' (Miliband, 1969, p.16).
These affluent societies also carry with them large sections of people who live in misery.
Managerial capitalism is not a selfless neutral institution but maintained definite class
interests. They appeared social in character but exist largely for private purposes. The
social origins of this managerial class are similar to people with large incomes and
ownership of property. The elite recruitment is mostly hereditary. Education is very
important to rise in the ladder, though the elite institutions are usually accessible to upper
and middle classes. The working class students do not get better jobs. The differences
among the dominant classes are confined within a given ideological framework. The
property owners control the state system. For instance, a very small percentage of the
American army officers come from the working class background. It is the same case in
Sweden and Japan. The main purpose of the government is to further the interests of
capitalism for it, 'genuinely believed in the virtues of capitalism, and . . . have accepted it
as far superior to any possible alternative economic and social system' (Ibid, p.70).
Contrary to the general belief, the higher civil service is also not neutral. The military
maintains close relationships with large-scale business houses. The government appoints
judges who, in turn, appoint conservative judges. All these factors combine to create an
imperfect competition. In different ways this process is legitimised. For instance, the
bourgeois political parties are in a position to spend more money than the working class.
Miliband also points out that the most significant political fact of advanced capitalism 'is
the continued existence in them of private and ever more concentrated economic power.
As a result of that power, the owners and controllers in whose hands it lies, enjoy a
massive preponderance in society, in the political system, and in the determination of the
state's policies and actions' (Ibid, p.265). The basic fact in these societies is that unequal
economic power produces unequal political power.
It is the capitalist context of generalised inequality in which the state operates which
basically determines its policies and actions. The prevalent view is that the state in these
societies can be and indeed mostly is the agent of a 'democratic' social order, with no
inherent bias towards any class or group; and that its occasional lapse from 'impartiality'
must be ascribed to some accidental factor external to its 'real' nature. But this too is a
fundamental misconception; the state in these class societies is primarily and inevitably
the guardian and protector of the economic interests which are dominant in them. Its 'real'
purpose and mission is to ensure their continued predominance, not to prevent it (Ibid,
pp.265-66).
Miliband’s instrumentalist view argues that the capitalists use the state as a means for
domination in society. The Structuralists like Althusser (1969) stress the ideological and
structural mechanisms that help the ruling class maintain itself in power using both force
and consent. Elaborating on Althusser's basic formulations, Poulantaz (1973) relates it to
the major function of capitalism, namely the reproduction of the capitalist society in its
totality. The state along with maintaining the political interest of the ruling class also
performs the functions of ensuring cohesion and equilibrium in society in a manner that
blurs class divisions. As a result, social relations appear competitive and individualbased. Any notion of class and class struggle disappears in that situation. The competitive
party system concealed the contradictions, factions and disunity. It does not allow
hegemony of any particular class, including the bourgeoisie. Since the state is not the
instrument, as Miliband assumes, of a dominant class, it is a relatively autonomous and a
stabilising factor. The Structuralist view, like the instrumentalist one, does not deal with
the mechanism of change or the essential reasons for the continuance of the capitalist
state.
Marcuse accepts the fact of inequalities in advanced capitalism and its irrationalities; yet
he concludes that there is no probable escape from it because there is some rationality in
these irrationalities which are cherished and valued by all, irrespective of class and status.
One of these is the prevailing false consciousness in an overwhelming number which
allows disguised violence of the state to continue making the state look legitimate to the
majority of the people.
6.5 EASTON ON POLITICAL SYSTEM
Easton rejects the use of the term state both historically and in its contemporary use. It is
not an analytical tool and comes into frequent use only since the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, and developing fully in the nineteenth century. In between, it
served two important functions: (a) universalistic claims of the Medieval Church and (b)
rivalries and competitions of local feudal lords. To combat these two challenges “the state
concept became a crucial myth in the struggle for national unity and sovereignty. It is
both vague and imprecise because of the many conflicting claims and interpretations
which cannot provide the basic tools of a scientific analysis”.
The concept of the state has no utility for empirical work and “its importance lies largely
in the field of practical politics as an instrument to achieve national cohesion rather than
in the area of thoughtful analysis”. The use of the concept of the state has three serious
limitations: (a) it does not allow any distinctiveness of the political science analysis from
the other social sciences; (b) it does not help in working out a satisfactory definition and
(c) it concentrates on particular episodes rather than emphasising on the general
characteristics.
The basic limitation of the concept of the state is that it concentrates on the specific and
the particular rather than on the general framework which will allow study of a wide
variety of institutions. It does not allow study of formations where the state does not
exist. The state is just one form of political institutions and not the only one as social
anthropology has established. The universality of the political is restricted by the state
and the fact remains that the state originates only in some specific historical setting.
In this effort at broadening the meaning of political participation, Easton includes all the
political activities that affect the entire policy making process, the cumulative effect of all
these factors forms the political system. Political system, with its unique characteristics,
would be different from other systems like the economic system. There concepts become
crucial in comprehending this differentiation and identification, policy, authority and
society. Policy means allocation of values. It has two parts, formulation and execution of
a policy. Policy is much wider than a formal or legal decision-making process. Political
science is not concerned with all value allocations but only “with authoritative allocations
or policies”. The distinctiveness of political research lies in identifying the values that
influence and affect authoritative allocation.
The concept of authority is linked to obedience. The societal basis of authority is the
notional concept of universal application, though a particular policy normally affects a
small segment of the entire society. The data for political research is broadly
differentiated between the situational and the psychological. Within the situational data
there are three different categories: (1) the physical environment (2) the non-human
organic environment and (3) the social environment as a consequence of social
interaction. The basic distinction between the situational and psychological data leads to
the adoption of the idea of political behaviour, which makes the departure from the
traditional approach, which ignores this distinction. However, moral framework is also
essential for a constructive approach both for rational enquiry and in formulating a
systematic theory. For elaborating on this moral framework of research, Easton makes a
critical assessment of value premises of traditional political theory based on historical
research.
6.6 CONCLUSION
The wide diversity that is reflected in the various theories and practices of the state
indicate the extreme complexity of dealing with this important concept. Today the debate
is within the framework of liberal democracy, between the individualists and
communitarians. Owing to a larger consensus between the pluralists and the Marxists, a
convergence in broad terms is also visible in the theories of the state, with emphasis both
on structure (Marxist-elitist preference) and agency (the pluralist emphasis). However,
one major inadequacy of the theories of the state, more in the case of pluralists and less in
that of the Marxists, has been its lack of comprehension of the international impact of
globalisation, which makes these theories locally dated. In this age of globalisation, a
theory of the state must reflect both, on its relative autonomy and subordination in a
world where most of the decisions are emerging from centre, beyond the jurisdictions and
control of the individual nation state.
6.7 SUMMARY
The state is a central concept in political theory and is the pivot around which politics
revolves. The word ‘state’ is derived from Latin which means a situation or state of
being. Machiavelli is the first to use the term but did not define what it is. The state is
used to convey a historical or philosophical idea, an eternal form of political community,
which is a specifically modern phenomenon. The wide diversity that is reflected in
various theories and practices of the state indicate the extreme complexity of dealing with
this important concept. Today the debate is within the framework of liberal democracy,
between the individualists and communitarians. Owing to a larger consensus between the
pluralists and the Marxists, a convergence in broad terms is also visible in the theories of
the state, with emphasis both on structure (Marxist-elitist preference) and agency (the
pluralist emphasis). However, one major inadequacy of the theories of the state has been
its lack of comprehension of the international impact of globalisation, which makes these
theories locally dated. Today’s theory of the state must reflect both on its relative
autonomy and subordination in a world where most of the decisions are emerging from
centre beyond the jurisdictions and control of the individual nation state.
6.8 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. Define the state and what are the distinguishing features of the modern state?
2. Critically dissect Hegel’s analysis of the state
3. Explain the debate on the advanced capitalist state. What are its criticisms?
4. What is a pluralist state? Explain with reference to the views of Schumpeter and
Dahl.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Block,F., Revising State Theory: Essays in Politics and Postindustrialism, Temple
University Press, Philadelphia, 1987.
Bondurant, J., The Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict,
University of California Press, Berkeley, 1967.
Carnoy, M., The State and Political Theory, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ,
1983.
Dahl, R.A., A Preface to Democratic Theory, University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
1965.
Dunleavy, P, and B.O' Leary., Theories of the State, Macmillan, London, 1987.
Entreves, A.P.D., The Notion of the State, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967.
Forysyth, M.G., ‘State’ in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Political Thought,
(ed.,) D. Miller, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1987.
Giddens, A., The Nation State and Violence, Macmillan, London, 1985.
Hegel, G.W.F., Philosophy of Right, Trans. T.M. Knox, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
1969.
Hoffman, J., Beyond the State: An Introductory Critique, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1995.
Levine, A., (ed.), The State and its Critics, Edward Elgar, England, 1992.
Lipset, S.M., Political Man, Doubleday, New York, 1963.
Miliband, R., The State in Capitalist Society, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1969.
Mills, C.W., The Power Elite, Oxford University Press, New York, 1956.
Oppenheimer, F., The State, Free Life Editions, New York, 1975.
Sartori, G., The Theory of Democracy Revisited, Chatham House Publishers, Chatham,
NJ, 1987.
Skinner, Q., The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, 2 Vols., Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1978.
Vincent, A., Theories of the State, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1987.
UNIT 7
PROBLEMS AND PRACTICES OF DEMOCRACY
Structure
7.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
7.2 Meaning
7.3 Types of Democracy: Liberal, Marxist, Social Democracy
7.4 Practice and Problems of Democracy
7.5 Conclusion
7.6 Summary
7.7 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
7.1 INTRODUCTION
The idea of Democracy can be traced to antiquity while its actualisation is more in the
recent past, in particular, in the post Second World War period. It is with the emergence
of mass democracies, made possible by the extension of universal adult franchise since
the second half of the twentieth century, that democracy has become an acceptable and
preferred form of government. Churchill considered it as a bad form of government but
the others, even worse. Today, it is seen as the best practicable and the best possible form
of government which is in contrast to the earlier perceived view of it being unworkable
and unjust.
Democracy is a composite word of two Greek words, demos meaning people and kratia
meaning rule. It is the people, who are both rulers and ruled, unlike other systems like
monarchy, dictatorship or oligarchy where there exists a distinction between the ruler and
the ruled. In a democracy there are no permanent rulers and all people have equal powers
and are equal under the rule of law. While in ancient times, democracy meant the rule of
people, its modern version coalesces rule of people with notions of individual rights and
limited state power.
Aims and Objectives
This Unit would enable you to understand
·
The meaning of the term ‘democracy’
·
The types of democracy
·
The practices and problems in democracy.
7.2 MEANING OF DEMOCRACY
There is considerable ambiguity about the meaning of people though the overriding
meaning of demos is community assembled in the Ecclesia (Assembly). Sartori (1987,
p.22) points out that people means: a great many, lower class, an organic whole, absolute
majority and limited majority. In ancient Athens, the cradle of democracy, people meant
the adult male citizens of Greek parentage. But with the extension of franchise since the
middle of the nineteenth century, the electorate of today consists of all adult men and
women. Initially, franchise was restricted to the educated and propertied men. But with
the extension of franchise came democratisation of society. This resulted in active
citizenry and brought about a sense of equality that undermined old customs of deference
and subordination, and thus established a link between democracy and equality. Along
with universal suffrage came public education and reforms of electoral systems in the
West. Subsequently, these sentiments spread to the colonial world with its people
demanding rights of self-determination rather than mere self-government. People mean
the electorate, the voting population indicating the presence of a single cohesive body
with common interests. This perception was the basis of the classical theory of
democracy from Locke to J.S. Mill. However, this perception is challenged by the
modern pluralists. Elections, public opinion and Gallup polls are the different techniques
through which the opinion of the people is mirrored. According to Sartori, democracy is
the system in which none enjoy unconditional and unlimited power. Limiting and
restricting power and making it accountable are the key to democracy. Historically, in the
West, liberal constitutionalism precedes democracy. According to Zakaria (2003), the
focus is on the protection of individual’s autonomy by providing a bulwark against any
form of coercion perpetrated by the state, society or church.
Democracy also means government by consent that is elicited through periodic
competitive elections that register voters’ decision in a free and fair manner. Election is
the key mechanical process through which democracy functions but what is more
important is the condition under which a citizen gets the information, for ‘the opinion of
the governed is the real foundation of all government’ (Dicey, 1905, p.3). Easton (1965)
refers to three levels of consensus: (a) consensus at the community level or basic
consensus; (b) consensus at the regime level or procedural consensus and (c) consensus at
the policy level or policy consensus. The first refers to the same value beliefs and value
goals that are shared by a given society. This is a facilitating condition of democracy. The
second with the rules of the game of which the most important is the way conflicts are
resolved. Usually in a democracy, conflicts are resolved through majority rule but if that
is not acceptable then there has to be an agreement (a) on the rules for disagreeing and for
processing disagreements and (b) disagreements within such rules are those that
democracy protects and extends. The level of consensus over policies emerges through
discussion, which, according to Barker (1942, p.67) is the ‘basis and essence of all
democracy’. The second and the third are necessary conditions of democracy and its
presence indicates the beginning of democracy. In defining democracy one has to also
take into account two aspects: procedural and substantive. The former refers to
mechanisms of free, fair and competitive elections by which governments are held
accountable and a constitutional framework that guarantees and protects rights and
liberties. The substantive aspect pertains to socially based value judgements such as
equitable income distribution. Dahl (1989, p.5) points out that the substantive aspect of
democracy gets strengthened only if desirable results can be obtained through ‘collective
decision-making processes’.
The notion of human equality is the foundation of democracy. Equality means equal
intrinsic worth of all human beings in making collective decisions and ‘the good or
interests of each person should be given equal consideration’. It also implies the need to
rationally justify discrimination and preferential treatment. The idea of equality before
law was an established feature of Athenian democracy. Its modern variant is underlined
by the assertion that all individuals have equal and inalienable rights. Equality before the
law means equal rights and equal laws, and after Napoleonic period and the Restoration,
the liberal democratic demand for equality came to include three specific demands: (1)
equal universal suffrage to every adult; (2) social equality understood as equality of
status; of not giving much importance to class and wealth distinction; and (3) equality of
opportunity, of giving achievement and talent as the basis of access to institutions. The
notion of career open to talent is an important consequence of the American and French
Revolutions and set aside ascribed status and favoured acquired status, of opening
administrative and political positions to talent, aptitude and merit rather than birth and
status.
Modern day democracy is representative or indirect in nature as people elect their
candidates through a process of elections for a constitutionally stipulated period of time
and the representatives in turn mirror the views of their constituency and act as link
between the people and the government. Representative democracy is most suited for
present day mass democracies. The idea of representative democracy, in its embryonic
form, exists in the writings of Locke but its full-fledged meaning becomes clear, as a
result of spread of franchise and institutionalisation of democracy procedures and
practices in the nineteenth century, in the works of later liberals like Bentham, James and
John Stuart Mill. Representation is through various means, from proportional
representation followed in many European and Scandinavian countries to the first-pastthe-post-system that exists in Britain and India. Representation is secured through an
effective and viable two or multi-party system. It is the acceptance of the party system
and with it, the plurality among individuals that distinguishes modern liberals from the
classical liberals for whom factions and parties represented divisions. Political parties
became important with the extension of franchise to the larger sections of the population.
Parties as mediators between the people and the state offer direction to government and
steer the ship of the state. It functions as agents of elite recruitment of candidates for
public office, serve as agents of interest aggregation by transforming a multitude of
specific demands into more manageable ones as proposals. It filters various demands and
decides which one should go through.
Ancient democracy was direct or participatory with citizens participating, unmediated
continually and directly, in the tasks of the government. Direct democracy does not
distinguish between civil society and state. Its modern variant is participatory democracy
with a subtle difference that participation need not necessarily carry the implication of
ultimate decision-making power. Techniques such as referendum/plebiscite are
frequently used to elicit people’s views and opinion on some political questions directly.
Switzerland follows this practice (since the sixteenth century).
7.4 TYPES OF DEMOCRACY
Modern representative democracy began as liberal democracy. Historically, the
establishment of the liberal state that emerged from the ashes of absolutism in the late
17th century paved the way for a secular and national system of power with fixed
territory, control of the means of violence, impersonal power structure and legitimacy as
its characteristics.
The transition from absolutist to modern state systems with
governments deriving their legitimacy and consent from people was brought about by the
two revolutions, the English (1640-88) and the French (1789).
Liberal Democracy consists of two interdependent ideas: liberal component signifying
limits to political power and democratic component for people’s rule, participation and
representative institutions. As Sartori (1995, p.102) puts it succinctly, liberalism stands
for ‘freeing the people’ and democracy for ‘empowering people; demos-protection
meaning safeguarding people from tyranny and arbitrariness, and demos-power meaning
the implementation of popular rule. The liberal state started as a constitutional and
limited state before it became a democratic one. There could be formal democratic states
like the post Revolutionary Iran, according to Fukuyama (1992, p.44) without being
liberal. Liberal democracy, in course of its evolution, developed from protective to
developmental notions democracy (Held, 1987).
Locke furnishes the bases of a liberal state with the concepts of limited state, consent –
direct and tacit- as the basis of government, legislative supremacy, individual rights as
prior to and independent of government and the principle of majority rule. Montesquieu
elaborates on Locke’s suggestion of separation of powers and makes it the institutional
requirement of government to curtail the highly centralised authority and ensure virtuous
government through checks and balances. The American Constitution of 1789 is the first
liberal constitution that created a republic based on representative institutions. The early
liberal vision, in course of time fused with democratic elements of participation and
representation through the widening of franchise, establishment and growth of political
parties and interest groups paved the way for a liberal democratic state. Individual rights
till the early part of the 19th century meant rights of the propertied male individuals
making franchise and participation oligarchic and patriarchal. In Britain, only six percent
of men had the right to vote prior to 1832 Reform Act bringing about a wide gulf
between theory and practice of democracy.
The English Utilitarians- Bentham and James Mill- played an instrumental role in
pleading for making suffrage universal as that would make governments accountable and
less whimsical. Bentham specifically points out that good government is possible only
with ‘democratic ascendancy’, by granting people the power to select and dismiss their
rulers. He drafts a complete scheme of parliamentary democracy pleading for secret
ballot, annual elections, equal electoral districts, annual parliaments, a scheme for
elementary, secondary and technical public education, election of the Prime Minister by
the parliament, abolition of Monarchy and the British House of Lords, unicameralism,
checks on legislative authority and rejection of plural voting. The Utilitarians defend
representation of people, for each individual has to be represented and therefore should
have the right to vote. Bentham defends women’s right to vote but tactically rejects it
subsequently so as to not jeopardise the cause. James Mill defends representative
government as the best option. John Stuart Mill, taking a cue from Tocqueville, insists on
the need to defend minority rights and specifies and limits the powers of legally elected
majorities. Mill defends representative democracies but believes these would work
successfully in small and homogenous states. Post J.S. Mill liberals, like Green, revise
liberalism by making common good and positive freedom rather than private gain as the
chief function of the state and that the latter must intervene to ensure the wellbeing for
all, an essential precondition for a liberal society. Keynes advocates state intervention to
ensure full employment and control of trade cycles. The acceptance of Keynesianism
was first reflected in the New Deal in the US in the 1930s and then in the Beveridge
Report of 1942 in Britain that inaugurated the welfare state at the end of the Second
World War. Public opinion was for state regulation of the markets but some swam
against the current and the most noteworthy was Hayek.
Classical liberal democratic theory is criticised by the Marxists and the Elitists. The latter
point out that in every society it is the elite rather than the people who rule. The strength
of the elite varies: psychological reasons for Pareto, organisational abilities for Mosca
and Michels and technological expertise according to Burnham. Schumpeter tries to make
democracy and elitism compatible. He points out that classical theory sets impossible
high standards by stating that it knows the will of the people assuming people to be
homogenous whereas in all societies there is multiplicity of conflicting wills. Another
fallacy is the assumption that it depends on a high level of rationality. Schumpeter
defines democracy as a political method to arrive at political, legislative and
administrative decisions. Democracy is competition among governing elites and
establishes an analogy between political behaviour and market behaviour. Pluralists
accept diversity and contend that the modern liberal state is too complex for any single
group, class or organisation to dominate society. Politics is the arena for resolving
conflicts between different groups who represent the divergent dominant interests of
society. Pluralist democracy or polyarchy, according to Dahl, does not establish the
sovereignty of the majority but a rule by ‘multiple minority oppositions’. Dismissing the
concerns of Madison, Mill and Tocqueville about the tyranny of the majority is misplaced
for a tyrannous majority is impossible because elections express the preferences of
different competitive groups rather than the wishes of a strong majority. Democracy is
different from dictatorship which is a government by minority. The preconditions for a
functioning polyarchy are consensus on the rules of procedure, consensus on the range of
policy options and consensus on the legitimate scope of political activity which act as a
bugger against oppressive rule.
Marxist Democracy offers a critique and an alternative to liberal democracy. It criticises
the formal conception of equality offered by liberal democracy on the grounds that
political equality would be farcical in the absence of economic equality, the latter existing
as a result of the institution of private property. For democracy to become a reality, a rule
by the people, the non-propertied, there is a need to abolish private property and
capitalism. This would be possible when the working class, the true creators of wealth
overthrow capitalism and create an alternative, the socialist democracy. Marx and Engels
envision a majoritarian socialist revolution led by the working class wherein the
proletariat is raised “to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy”.
Socialist democracy would be a true one since for the first time, the proletarian majority
would rule whereas, all along states have been ruled by a minority, representing the
interests of the small but dominant and powerful possessing class. The proletarian
revolution will destroy the capitalist state machinery and in doing so, the state ceases as
an organised power of one class oppressing another. In 1850s, Marx and Engels invoke
the Babouvist-Blanquist conception of educational dictatorship by an enlightened
minority as a tactical compromise slogan against the Anarchists and the reformists
justifying the need for dictatorship to fill the vacuum as a result of the destruction of the
old order and till the creation of the new order. The 1871 Paris Commune is described as
‘the glorious harbinger of the new society’ that Marx and Engels portray and
subsequently, Engels identifies the Commune as the prototype of the dictatorship of the
proletariat, a controversial and ambiguous phrase in Marxism. In 1872, Marx and Engels
also point that in countries like England, Holland and the US which has witnessed steady
progress of democracy and the widening of suffrage socialism could be attained through
peaceful means but this thesis never moved to the centre-stage of their analyses, and they
continue to maintain that socialism would be attained only through a revolution.
However, Marx failed to provide for institutional safeguards against arbitrariness and
misuse of power. Bakunin, the chief theoretician of anarchism prophetically points out
that the Marxist utopia- the dictatorship of the proletariat could become dictatorship on
the proletariat.
Lenin reiterates Marx’s core arguments on the need for revolutionary violence and the
rationale for the dictatorship of the proletariat and the two-phased development to
communism but introduces the idea of the vanguard of the proletariat, the revolutionary
party, as he too like Bernstein came to view the proletariat as having lost its revolutionary
zeal. While Bernstein uses it to formulate the credo of democratic socialism, Lenin
reaffirms the Marxist vision that revolution is the only way to realise socialism. The
Leninist vision is criticised by Kautsky, Luxemburg and Trotsky. For Kautsky, socialism
and democracy as inter-dependent and any attempt to introduce socialism minus
democracy would degenerate into a dictatorship. He describes the Bolshevik revolution
as a coup d’ etat as it was a minority revolution. Luxemburg too was worried that
elimination of representative institutions like the Constituent Assembly in USSR would
paralyse public life as “freedom is always and exclusively the freedom for the one who
thinks differently”. Both Luxemburg and Trotsky feared that the dictatorship of the
proletariat would eventually become dictatorship of the party, and within the party
eventually of a coterie and one single person. This became true with the rise of Stalin to
power.
Social Democracy accepts the capitalist free market as the most efficient system but
insists on the need for wise stewardship of public agencies to ensure common good. As
articulated by the 1959 Bad Godsberg Programme, it includes political liberalism, mixed
economy, welfare state, Keynesian economics and equitable and free society. It rejects
the idea of revolutionary transformation of capitalism and believes in the simultaneous
realisation of both socialism and democracy as capitalism had undergone substantive
structural changes since the late 19th century with the rise of the middle class of salaried
persons and technocrats. Lassalle and subsequently, Bernstein were its main
theoreticians.
Social democracy builds on the institutions of liberal democracy-
constitutionalism, rule of law, free market, property rights and civil liberties with human
visage with the aim of ensuring growth, efficiency, competitiveness, equity and just
reward within a democratic framework.
7.5 PRACTICE OF DEMOCRACY
In the last quarter of the twentieth century democracy has triumphed over different
shades of authoritarianism, both of the right and of the left. This development was made
possible by the defeat and collapse of the two important rivals to liberal democracyfascism and communism. Fascism, with its anti-theory stance, had no democratic
principle and its objections to democracy were total. However, the claim of communism
was different as it proclaimed that its version of democracy would be truer and fuller than
liberal democracy. This claim turned out to be false. The core idea of the communist
variant of democracy was the idea of collective equality and not individual freedom. It
was first established in Russia in 1917 and was then extended to Eastern Europe, China,
Cuba, Vietnam and few other countries over a period of time in the post Second World
War with stress on full employment, universal state-sponsored education, elimination of a
privileged economic class which is inevitable in capitalism and people’s democracy with
only non-antagonistic contradictions surviving. However, in this idealised version, three
crucial elements constitutes the essence of democracy: (1) participation that is free and
not coerced; (2) competition between different political parties for power within a
framework of a constitution with the victors not in a position of enjoying total power and
the defeated not obliterated altogether and (3) enjoyment of liberty that includes rights of
free association, free speech and to own property. In the evolution of constitutional
democracy three different inputs, each with its own distinctiveness have surfaced
providing three models of democracy as it is practiced today and these are (1) liberal
democracy as it originated in Britain and practised in Australia, Canada, New Zealand
and the US (2) social democracy and (3) mercantilism.
Within liberal democracies there are variations. Britain has witnessed two opposite
frameworks of libertarianism and collectivism providing two alternative models of good
political and social order. Libertarianism has emphasised the existence of natural
harmony in society without any need for state mediation, and advocates self-regarding
action. It cautions against dangers of concentration of power and points out the
importance of the rule of law. In contrast, collectivism has denied this emphasis on
individuality by propounding a social philosophy that highlights the importance of public
good, need for social justice and of proper organisation of society. The US is committed
to free market but did see in the 1930s the beginning of state regulation in the form of the
New Deal and then in the mid 1960s, the Great Society Programme to tackle poverty, and
provide for social security. Despite these measures, regulations are much weaker and
social expenditure and taxation is much lower in the US than in other industrialised
democracies. This is because most Americans believe in the virtues of capitalism and are
sceptical of state power. The ethical support to capitalism emerges out of puritan ethics,
which means acceptance of competitiveness, hard work, thrift and charity. The working
of American capitalism teaches us that unbridled economic power of capitalism can be
controlled by the will and force of legal and political institutions and by a societal
sanction of capitalism. In the 1980s, in both Britain and the US, the welfare measures
were reversed in the wake of the rise of the New Right.
Liberal democracy is inseparable from free market and property rights. However there
are instances where the economy could be the freest but with restrictive democratic rights
as in Singapore. Interestingly modern Singapore’s architect and the first Prime Minister
and now a senior Minister, Lee Kuan Yew dismisses the British welfare state model as
entailing unlimited liability with devastating economic consequences. Singapore has a
system of health, education, housing and welfare organised around compulsory savings
and the principle of personal responsibility. Critics do point to the asymmetry about the
co-existence of free market with political repression. In real world capitalism and
economic development do co-exist with authoritarianism but the question is for how
long, as there is a belief that the former will undermine the latter. The failures of
capitalism also led to rise of authoritarianism as it happened in Germany in the 1930s. In
the wake of galloping inflation, which wiped out savings the middle class’ concern was
economic security as that threatened their wealth rather than who wielded political
power. To sustain political democracy the majority must “feel a concern for their rights
and the rights of others and are ready to defend them” (Grenville, 1980, p.247) and this
was not the case in Germany that time. This led them to support authoritarian rule. The
post-war consensual basis of politics in all the four democratic countries with a strong
liberal heritage proves that well-established democracies can create their own safety
valves to blunt the edges of major contradictions in society and politics.
Social Democracy with its commitment to private property and the market along with
state intervention, as unregulated capitalism leads to inequality and concentration of
wealth. To maintain social equilibrium the state intervenes to create positive social rights.
Individual initiative is balanced within a framework of collective equality.
Though
public ownership is inevitable in any kind of economic management, the social
democracy state ownership is more extensive as compared to liberal democracies and (3)
mercantilism (Mercantilism refers to policies designed to keep the state prosperous
through economic regulation and that national trade is best served by increasing exports
and collecting precious metals in return. It was a policy that most European states
followed between 1600 and 1800).
or the developmental states or the late industrialising nations in non-Western
democracies. It is a statist philosophy for which the domestic economy is built around the
requirements of the state rather than service to the people. Wealth generation is linked to
national identity and pride, power and sovereignty as the entire structure of political
power is directed for national consolidation and economic weakness is perceived as a
manifestation of national weakness. In the context of national consolidation most
European nations were mercantilist and even colonial expansion was an extension of this
philosophy of extending protectionism overseas. Even in the modern context,
mercantilism is an important economic system, which is followed by a number of
nations. A mercantilist nation achieves economic power through a great deal of state
initiative with priorities fixed on key industries and accompanied by policies pertaining to
taxation and subsidies. Like social democracy it advocates total or partial state ownership
of specific industries but with a key difference as mercantilist state spends much less on
welfare as compared to a social democratic one. Both private property and markets play
an important role but the administration of the state in a mercantilist state.
Mercantilism, in the modern context, is a necessity for the late industrialising countries,
which because of colonial interlude missed the first modernising revolution, the Industrial
Revolution. This is the primary reason as to why mercantilism is important for
democracies like Japan, South Korea and India in the non-European world. There are
many critics of mercantilism including the capacity of the state to set proper priorities and
achieve the target. Limited competition also creates a fertile ground for waste, corruption,
red-tapism and bureaucratisation resulting in what C. Rajagopalachari, the leader of the
Swantantra party and the first governor general of free India, aptly called ‘permit-licencequota-Raj’. However, the critics fail to provide an alternative to mercantilism where
capitalism is inherently weak and as such without state intervention the basic
infrastructure for capitalist expansion and productivity becomes impossible to conceive.
The successful mercantilism of Japan and South Korea vindicate the correctness of such a
policy, whereas its relative failure in India is a reminder that it need not be fully
successful everywhere. The present day mercantilism is not the extreme form of yesteryears, which was linked to colonialism and fascism though mercantilism had an
authoritarian connotation; but within the specificities of the newly emerging nations after
the Second World War and post-war transformation in Japan, the mercantilist interlude
has led to successful consolidation of democracy.
It means the consolidation of democracy is possible with a wide variety of economic and
social systems except for the communist model of management of modern societies. The
communist philosophy rejects in Toto the twin institutions of free market and private
property for human liberation and in providing a true basis of egalitarian democratic
order. Private property leads to domination of a few over the vast property-less multitude
and an increase in their gap would lead to a revolutionary situation resulting in the
abolition of property which, in reality, means state control of property. Similarly market
is eliminated as all kinds of private transactions are banned. It is a total negation of
Smith’s formulation of the invisible hand of the market and an acceptance of a highly
centralised decision-making process which was expected to rationalise economic
decision-making process that would benefit the entire society and doing away with the
problems of a market economy. Lenin with his utmost conviction about the highly
centralised decision-making process as the defining characteristic of communism
distinguishes Marxism from Anarchism on the grounds that the former believes in
centralisation, while the latter in decentralisation. However, this highly centralised
decision-making process could not compete with the decentralised market either with
regard to efficiency or innovation reminding us Popper’s succinct observation: ‘who
plans the planners’. Inefficiency and highly lopsided and wasteful decisions ultimately
led to the crumbling of a system that rejects all the important components of liberal
democracy. Kennan pointed out in 1946 that the ‘Marxist dogma’ was the fig leaf
covering the brutal realities of the Soviet policy, the origin of that brutality could be
traced back to the originators themselves. As such this one clear alternative to liberal
democracy after the Second World War failed to provide a credible option to liberal
democratic economic and social arrangement. In sharp contrast to this rigid and
monolithic model, in the present context liberal democracy, social democracy and
mercantilism represent three different models of democratic governance in the
contemporary world.
7.6 CONCLUSION
Today constitutional democracy has become universally acceptable and preferred form of
government and common to all its three variants are four essential pre-requisites: (1)
property as it provides a sense of ownership and responsibility, (2) voting, (3) ruleadministration and (4) the law. All the four provide bulwark against both anarchy and
despotism and even if one is removed the whole edifice begins to erode (Usher, 2003).
The strength of democracy is derived from the desire of freedom, one of the strongest and
the most enduring desire of all human beings as identified by Aron. The universal and
liberating force of constitutional democracy has dwarfed all its opponents with
manoeuvrability limited to the fringe and has come to occupy the centre-stage and this
will continue to be the case in the near future also. Rather, the choice is no longer
between capitalism and socialism but between authoritarianism and constitutionalism, the
rule of law and independence of judiciary (Ash, 1990, p.21). It is about the ability of
democratic regimes to manage their economies so as to provide for growth, protect their
environments, safeguard the welfare of the disadvantaged and help other struggling
countries to feed their people and find some viable path of development (Bell, 1990, p.
187). In the present age of quick change marked by continuous technological innovations
individual choice has expanded in practically all areas of human endeavour and this
makes a democracy a necessity for the complex modern societies that we live in.
Medvedev (1982) captures this succinctly when he asserts that democracy today has
become as much a necessity for economics as it is for politics and implies that
governments have to ensure economic productivity, rough economic parity, and civil and
political rights. The experience of last five decades in the developing world also
demonstrates that an acceptance of constitutional democratic order is a priori to both
development and social justice (Kothari, 1971 and 1988). It is in providing proper
machinery for governing complex mass societies of our times that democracy has become
more and more universalised, to the extent that the other variants have become exceptions
and transient. Critics of constitutional democracy have been unable to provide a better
working formula to the one that constitutional democracy provides, with its commitment
to the rule of law, accountability, and limited authority with a flourishing civil society.
7.7 SUMMARY
The idea of Democracy can be traced to antiquity while its practice is more in the recent
past, in particular, the post Second World War period. It is with the emergence of mass
democracies made possible by the extension of universal adult franchise since the second
half of the twentieth century that democracy has become an acceptable and preferred
form of government. It is the people, who are both rulers and ruled, unlike other systems
like monarchy, dictatorship or oligarchy where there exists a distinction between ruler
and ruled. Modern representative democracy began as liberal democracy. Historically,
the establishment of the liberal state that emerged from the ashes of absolutism in the late
17th century paved the way for a secular and national system of power with fixed
territory, control of the means of violence, impersonal power structure and legitimacy as
its characteristics. Liberal democracy was criticised by the Marxists as being formal and
unequal. Other variants of democracy were Marxist democracy, social democracy and
democratic elitism. With the defeat of fascism and the collapse of communism,
constitutional democracy has triumphed. There is no just one variant of constitutional
democracy but many. Broadly, three variants exist in today’s world and these are: liberal
democracy, social democracy and mercantilism.
7.8 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. Define Democracy and distinguish between the different types of democracy.
2. What is liberal democracy? Identify its features.
3. Distinguish between Marxist and social democracy.
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Fukuyama, F., The End of History and the Last Man, Penguins, Harmondsworth, 1992.
Held, D., Models of Democracy, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1987.
Hunt, A., Marxism and Democracy, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1980.
Kothari, R., Political Economy of Development, Orient Longman, Bombay, 1971.
------., State against Democracy:In Search of Humane Governance, Ajantha, Delhi, 1988.
Lijphart, A., Democracies, Yale University Press, New Haven CT, 1984.
Macpherson, C.B., The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy, Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 1977.
Medvedev, R., ‘USSR after Brezhnev’, Marxism Today, September, pp. 15-27, 1982.
Mouffe, C., (ed.), Dimensions of Radical Democracy, Verso, London and New York
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Pennock, J.R., Democratic Political Theory, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ,
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Phillips, A., Engendering Democracy, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1991.
Pinkney, R., Democracy in the Third World, Viva Books, New Delhi, 2004.
Plamentaz, J., Democracy and Illusion, Longman, London, 1973.
Sartori, G., The Theory of Democracy Revisisted, vol.1: The Contemporary Debate and
vol. II: The Classical Issues, Chatham House Publishers, Chatham, NJ, 1987.
-----------------., ‘How Far can Free Government Travel’, Journal of Democracy, vol.6,
no.3, July, pp. 101-11, 1995.
Saward, M., Democracy, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2003.
------------ (ed.) Democratic Innovation, Routledge, London, 2000.
----------------.,The Terms of Democracy, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1998.
Usher, D., Political Economy, Blackwell, London, 2003.
Zakaria, F., The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at home and Abroad, Viking,
2003.
UNIT 8
GRAMSWARAJ TODAY
Structure
8.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
8.2 India lives in villages
8.3 Rural underdevelopment
8.4 Gandhian Model of Village Development
8.5 Village Reconstruction
8.6 Gram Swaraj: Meaning and Content
8.7 Basic Principles of Gram Swaraj
8.8 Gram Swaraj: A Complete Republic
8.9 Gram Swaraj: Contemporary Context
8.10 Summary
8.11 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
8.1 INTRODUCTION
Gandhi laid great emphasis on the need to revitalise the village panchayats and
establish village swaraj in the country. This was because he firmly believed that India
lives in its seven hundred thousand and odd villages and that India had no future worth
the name unless these villages play their proper part in the life of the country. His
scheme of such a village swaraj comprehended every department of rural activity
which went to make each village self-governing and self-contained as regards the
essential needs of its inhabitants, so that on the solid foundation of a vast network of
such little republics peacefully cooperating with one another for mutual benefit, the
life of the nation could be broad based. Village sanitation and hygiene, nonviolent
rural economy, trusteeship, Khadi and village industries, basic education, panchayati
raj are some of the basic means through which village development could be achieved.
Village swaraj is man–centered, non-exploitative, decentralised, simple village
economy providing for achieving self–sufficiency in its basic requirements of food,
clothing and other necessities of life. This Unit helps in understanding the various
dimensions of gram swaraj. It also highlights the importance of rural India and
analyses the causes and consequences of village destruction and how gram swaraj can
become a reality.
Aims and Objectives
After going through this Unit, you should be able to understand
·
the importance of rural India and the reasons for its underdevelopment
·
what constitutes a village republic
·
the importance of village in Gandhian model of development
·
the basic principles of Gram Swaraj and its relevance today.
8.2 INDIA LIVES IN VILLAGES
India lives in villages. Rural areas currently are home to nearly 70% of India’s
population and have historically accounted for more than half of Indian consumption.
Even with increasing urbanisation and migration, it is estimated that 63 percent of
India’s population will continue to live in rural areas by 2025. In terms of economic
output, rural India accounts for almost half (48%) of the country’s economy, and the
rural markets have the potential to reach $500 billion by 2020. Thus rural areas will
continue to remain vitally important to the Indian economy. However, it is unfortunate
that a large percentage of this population lives in high risk and unpredictable
environment. Large section of the population lacks even basic services like education,
health, drinking water, sanitation and employment. Providing rural India with better
access to services, technology, education and health care will reduce inequality,
alleviate poverty for hundreds of millions of India’s citizens and add an additional
engine of growth to India’s bulging economy.
The model of development that we adopted has not been able to alleviate the
sufferings of the rural population. The problem is further compounded with the
declining contribution of agriculture in India’s GDP. Agriculture’s share in the GDP in
1951 was 65%; it declined to 54% and is currently at 24%. The agricultural growth
rate has remained at around 1.4 % in the last two decades. The condition of the
growing number of small farmers in the country is appalling, with lack of support in
terms of investment, technology, markets, and rural infrastructure. Small and marginal
farmer households account for 84% of all farm households. 57% of India’s total
employment and 73% of total rural employment comes from this sector. Farming in
our country still is the backbone of the livelihood security system for a majority of our
population. A mere 5% of the population still controls 25% of agricultural land. The
remaining land is broken up into very small family plots, thus becoming uneconomic
to cultivate. The land reform measures following independence have rectified some of
the problems and inequalities in the system; however, not surprisingly, the large land
owners still wield political power and have effectively blocked all attempts to
reapportion of agricultural land.
8.3 RURAL UNDERDEVELOPMENT
When we look at the question of poverty in terms of access to work opportunities and
basic needs, the rural parts of India are in far worse situation. Self-reliance which
made rural people meet their basic needs in the most adverse circumstances stands
totally destroyed. Governments, which professed and promised to uplift the rural
masses from the miserable living conditions, have failed to do much, if the records of
the last six decades are to be seen. The implementation of the rural development
schemes scores much less.
Rural underdevelopment has produced a vicious circle of poverty and unemployment.
Today the small and marginal farmers are committing suicide as they are in severe
debt. They have very little options left; a few migrate to over crowded cities. Not less
than 30% of the rural people of India live below the poverty line. These are the people
without food security, who cannot afford to send their children to schools, who have
no money for health care, who hardly have a roof over their head; and who are
partially or completely dependent on government’s direct or indirect support. Apart
from these the public service delivery mechanism is also very poor. The rural
community is so fragmented that they do not depend on each other for help and
support. Sectors like education, health, environment, sanitation and infrastructure
continue to be neglected. Gender discrimination is another area of concern. Even in
prosperous states like Punjab and Haryana, the sex ratio is declining.
The reasons for rural India’s underdevelopment in spite of sixty years of Independence
need to be analysed and understood. Poverty, unemployment, hunger, subsistence
agriculture and poor public services are the hallmark of our rural development
policies. Let us examine as to where we went wrong and how we can revitalise the
rural community. It is important to understand the Gandhian model of village
development as it provides a number of solutions to the problems faced by the rural
community today.
8.4 GANDHIAN MODEL OF VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT
The problem of India for Gandhi was not merely political or economic but, in fact,
multi-faceted. People needed courage and self-respect to disentangle themselves from
slavish mentality developed over centuries of bondage. If these conditions were to be
changed, then politics, educational, social reform, economy and technology had to suit
the genius of the society. Gandhi was intensely concerned about poverty and wanted to
utilise the energy of the vast army of rural unemployed to produce more goods for the
nation and some wealth for themselves. Progress was to be measured in terms of
human happiness and he wanted a social order that would secure the greatest good of
all so that a society could be built in which every man would have equal opportunity
and freedom to develop.
There is a perception that Gandhi was against modern machine. However, as early as
1936, Gandhi observed that there would be no objection to villagers using even the
most modern machine and tools if they can make and can afford to use. He was against
the exploitation of villagers by the cities. He always had the common man in his mind
and visualised electricity, ship-building, iron works, machine-making and the like
existing side by side with village handicrafts. Industrialisation was planned so as to
destroy the village and village crafts but under his scheme, nothing would be allowed
to be produced by the cities which could be produced by villagers. The proper function
of the cities was to serve as clearing houses for village products. However, Gandhi
preferred to replace large-scale manufacture by cottage production. He believed that
only cottage and village industries could bring prosperity back to India. He did not aim
at eradication of all machinery but only at its limitation. The political and economic
compulsions of the time forced him to take a rigid stand against heavy industries. The
British had totally ruined Indian village economy and Gandhi felt that in case India
went in for heavy industrialisation, the poorer sections of society could never recover.
Therefore his concern for the rural masses moulded his ideology.
The cities and towns did not find a place in Gandhi’s swaraj. According to him, the
prosperity of the city people has become possible by sucking the blood of villages. The
poor villages are exploited by the foreign governments and also by their own
countrymen- the city dwellers. The villagers produce the food and go hungry. The half
a dozen modern cities serve the evil purpose of draining the life-blood of the villages.
The cities with their insolent torts are a constant menace to the life and liberty of the
villages. Gandhi regarded the growth of cities as an evil thing, unfortunate for
mankind and the world and considered their growth as only a symptom of the malady.
The cities are capable of taking care of themselves. It is the village we have to turn to.
We have to disabuse them of their prejudice, their superstitions and their narrow
outlook. The task before every citizen is how to prevent the decay of the villages or
how to reconstruct the villages of India so that it may be as easy for anyone to live in
them as it is supposed to be in the cities. The village movement is as much an
education of the city people as of the villagers. Workers drawn from the cities have to
develop village mentality and learn the art of living after the manner of villagers. The
cities must realise the duty of making an adequate return to the villages for the strength
and sustenance which they derive from them, instead of exploiting them. Exploitation
of villages is itself organised violence. If swaraj has to be built on non-violence, then
the villages should get their proper place. Therefore there is a need to reconstruct the
villages and establish village swaraj.
To be self-sufficient is not to be altogether self-contained. In no circumstances would
we be able to produce all the things we need. Though our aim is complete selfsufficiency, we shall have to get from outside the village what we cannot produce in
the village. We shall have to produce more of what we can to obtain in exchange what
we are unable to produce. Thus, Gandhi spoke of collective inter-dependence and in a
way asked for barter if it helped the community as such.
Gandhi was of the view that if the villages perish India will perish too. He constantly
reminded all that India is to be found not in the few cities but in its 7, 00, 000 villages.
Gandhi greatly understood the real India. His role was crucial in awakening the most
dormant and stagnant sector of Indian society, i.e. Indian village. Constructive
Programme for rebuilding the life in the countryside became an integral part of the
total programme of Gandhi. In fact, to build the Indian villages was his main mission.
The prevailing situation could be changed with the active participation and cooperation of the villagers themselves. The blue-print that he gave was unique,
provided the real essence of the programmes was understood. Gandhi wanted a society
in which every man would have equal opportunity and freedom to develop. For him
the villages were the nerve-centers of India and if India were to develop and prosper it
should not copy the European model of development but evolve a model that would
suit its millions.
8.5 VILLAGE RECONSTRUCTION
Gandhi was completely devoted to the cause of village reconstruction, to uplift the
standard and quality of rural life through the active participation of people themselves.
Since he spoke in their language and lived like them- a life of utter simplicity, he
succeeded in enlisting their participation in the freedom struggle. Gandhi held that the
individual was of supreme importance and believed in the inner development of man.
Accordingly man must pursue truth and non-violence in life if he wants inner
contentment. Purity of means was more important than the desirability of the end. If
the means were pure, one was bound to reach the goal. As far as possible any
imposition or curtailment of individual freedom should be avoided. Equality which is
the basis of economic independent must be achieved through peaceful and non-violent
methods. Perhaps Gandhi’s attitude to violence makes his message of special
significance to the modern age. For him personal liberty was of great value.
Behind Gandhi’s insistence on village economy was his grand design of the new
civilisation based on sustainable development in the real sense of the term. He wanted
the human intrusion into the functioning of the biosphere to be minimised by closing
man-dominated systems such as cities, and industrial activities to the point where their
net effects on the biosphere approximated those of the natural systems they have
replaced. No other system of human settlement can achieve this except the village.
Gandhi attached great importance to education and insisted on good education; he
advocated free and compulsory education up to the final basic course. Special
importance was attached to women’s education especially relating to health and
hygiene. He believed that if every activity was conducted on a cooperative basis, there
would be no caste as we have today. The village Panchayats would act as major
popular agencies involving only the village people. In his structure composed of
innumerable villages there would be ever-widening, never-ascending circles. Life
would not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it would be an
oceanic circle whose centre will be an individual always ready to perish for the circles
of villages till at last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals never
aggressive in their arrogance but ever humble sharing the majority of the oceanic
circles of which they are integral units. Therefore, the outermost circumference will
not wield power to crush the inner circle but will give strength to all within and derive
its own strength from it. None will be the first and none the last. In the final analysis,
the unit of society should be a village or a manageable small group of people who
would be self-sufficient as a unit and bound together in bonds of mutual cooperation
and independence.
The basic principles that formed his idea of rural reconstruction were: communal
unity, removal of untouchability, prohibition, use of Khadi, promotion of village
industries, upliftment of underprivileged classes and women, full employment,
promotion of economic equality and self-sufficient village economy. Above all he
preached a simple life and for the development of moral values in society and
conceptualised an integrated rural development programme that would serve the
Indian needs best.
8.6 GRAM SWARAJ: MEANING AND CONTENT
Swaraj generally means self-governance or ‘home-rule’. It lays stress on governance
not by a hierarchical government, but by self-governance through individuals and
community-building. The focus was on decentralisation and Gandhi thought it
necessary to evolve a mechanism to achieve the twin objectives of empowering the
people and empowering the state. It was for this that he developed the twin-pronged
strategy of resistance (to the state) and reconstruction (through voluntary and
participatory social action).
Although the word Swaraj means self-rule, Gandhi gave it the content of an internal
revolution that encompasses all spheres of life. At the individual level, swaraj is vitally
connected with the capacity for dispassionate self-assessment, ceaseless selfpurification and growing self-reliance. Politically, swaraj is self-government and it
means a continuous effort to be independent of government control, whether it is
foreign government or national. Economically, swaraj means full economic freedom
for the toiling masses. Since achieving swaraj could not be possible without the
elimination of all forms of dominance, Gandhi undertook a number of constructive
activities aimed at reducing the dependence of Indians from the British and
simultaneously making them self-reliant.
Gandhi was not only a man of ideas but also a person of great practical wisdom. He
worked out meticulously the details of a wide variety of practical things which were
vital to building a graceful village life.
Gandhi’s conception of village was not
anchored on the modern (urban-industrial) notion of development but on the postmodern perspective of quality of life. His main emphasis was on the quality of life and
his ideal village would contain intelligent human beings, where they would not live in
dirt and drunkenness as animals… There would be neither plague nor cholera, nor
small-pox. No one would wallow in luxury and everyone would have to contribute his
quota of manual labour.
Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj was not the resurrection of the old village but the formation of
fresh independent units of villages having a self-sufficient economy. He clearly spelt
out the political and economic relations that ought to exist in the village. For him Man
was supreme. The end to be sought is human happiness combined with full mental and
moral growth. Self-sufficiency in basic needs was one of the fundamental conditions
of Gandhian village reconstruction. Food, clothing and other basic necessities should
be produced at the village level itself, leading to full employment and the employment
of almost each able-bodied person, which would prevent rural-to-urban migration in
search of employment and better opportunities.
His main mission was to make villages a “thing of beauty” as his ideal village would
be so constructed as to lend itself to perfect sanitation. It would have cottages with
sufficient light and ventilation, but of a material obtainable within a radius of five
miles of it. The cottages would have courtyards enabling the householders to plant
vegetables for domestic use and to house their cattle. The village lanes and streets
would be free of all avoidable dust. It would have wells according to its needs and
accessible to all. It would have houses of worship for all, a common meeting place,
common pastures for grazing its cattle, a co-operative dairy, primary and secondary
schools in which industrial education would be the central factor and it would have
village Panchayats for settling disputes. It would produce its own grains, vegetables,
and fruits and its own Khadi. Gandhi not only visualised the development of the
village but the community as a whole. He propagated a theory of interdependence and
co-existence which would lead to overall growth and development.
8.7 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF GRAM SWARAJ
In Oder to grasp the essence of Gram Swaraj we need to understand the basic
principles of gram swaraj. These are as follows:
1.
Supremacy of man–Full employment
2.
Body–labour
3.
Equality
4.
Trusteeship
5.
Decentralisation
6.
Swedeshi
7.
Self -sufficiency
8.
Co-operation
9.
Satyagraha
10.
Equality of religions
11.
Panchayati raj
12.
Nai Talim
Everyone needs to have basic necessities of life. The economic constitution of any
country should ensure that no one suffers from want of food and clothing. Everyone
should get sufficient work to earn his income. To ensure this, the means of production
of the elementary necessaries of life must remain in control of the masses and
monopolisation by a country, nation or an individual would be unjust. Destitution is
due to the neglect of this basic principle.
Every man has an equal right to the
necessaries of life. Any plan which exploited the raw material of a country and
neglected the potentially more powerful manpower was lop-sided and could never tend
to establish human equality. Real planning consisted in the best utilisation of
manpower of India.
Gandhi opined that God created man to work for his food and that those who ate
without work were thieves. A man who does not do body labour has no right to eat. If
all laboured for their bread and no more, then there would be no over-population, no
disease and no misery. Such labour would be the highest form of sacrifice. As far as
equality is concerned, economic equality would be the master key to non–violent
independence. Working for economic equality means abolishing the eternal conflict
between the capital and the labour. It means the leveling down of the few rich in
whose hands is concentrated the bulk of the nation’s wealth on the one hand and a
leveling up of the semi-starved millions on the other. True economics stands for social
justice; it promotes the good of all equally including the weakest and is indispensable
for decent life.
At the root of this doctrine of equal distribution lies the principle of trusteeship. The
wealthy should not be dispossessed of the wealth by violent means but by non–violent
way. The rich should be left in possession of their wealth of which they would use
what they would reasonably require for their personal needs and would act as a trustee
for the remainder to be used for the society. Land was one of the main concerns of
Gandhi and he argued for collective ownership and to be operated collectively.
Decentralisation was another important principle of gram swaraj. If India had to
evolve on nonviolent means, it has to decentralise as centralisation cannot be sustained
and defended without adequate force. Non–violence cannot be built on a factory
civilisation but on self-contained villages. The rural economy eschews exploitation
altogether and exploitation is the essence of violence.
Gandhi was against the overthrow of the landed class; instead, he advised the
zamindars that they should give their tenants fixity of tenure, take a lively interest in
their welfare, provide well-managed schools for their children, look after the sanitation
and in a number of other ways, make them feel that the zamindars are their true friends
taking only a fixed commission for their manifold services. Gandhi wanted the
zamindars to change their hearts and own only so much as they really needed and
become trustees and trusted friends of the entire village community. This would pave
the way for a non-violent society. It is here that the economists have greatly disagreed
with Gandhi’s concept of Trusteeship. By nature man is property-conscious and it
would be difficult to agree in practical terms that without State intervention the upper
class would relinquish major part of its property and more so in a capitalist society
where property relations and exploitation are best evident. A feeling emerges that
Gandhi did not give a major role to the peasants and saw them as passive people and
advised them to wait for a change in the zamindar’s heart. In fact, to an extent, Gandhi
diluted the effects of Marxism through his theory of peaceful co-existence, nonviolence and Trusteeship.
Swadeshi found an important place in his gram sawaraj. The swadeshi doctrine
would enable every village in India to be self–supporting and self-contained unit,
exchanging only such necessary commodities with other villages which are not
locally producible. Every village had to be self-sustained and capable of
managing its affairs even to the extent of defending itself against the whole world.
The unit of society should be a village or a manageable small group of people
who would be self-sufficient in matters relating to their vital requirements as a
unit. As far as possible every activity would be conducted on a cooperative basis
and this cooperation should be based on non–violence. Non–violence could be the
sanction of the village community in which every religion would have its full and
equal place.
The government of the village would be conducted by the Panchayat of five persons,
elected annually by the adult men and women possessing minimum prescribed
qualifications. The Panchayat would be the legislature, judiciary and the executive
combined together. It would be expected to attend to the education of boys and girls in
its village, sanitation, medical needs, the upkeep and cleanliness of village wells and
ponds and the upliftment of and daily wants of the so-called untouchables.
A
Panchayat should have no criminal jurisdiction; however it may try civil suits if the
parties to them refer their disputes to the panchayats. No panchayat should have any
authority to impose fines, the only sanction behind its civil decrees being its moral
authority, strict impartiality and the willing obedience of the parties concerned. A
panchayat that fails without just cause to attend to the requirements of the villagers
within six months of its election, or fails otherwise to retain goodwill of the villagers,
or stands self-condemned for any cause, may be disbanded and another elected in its
place.
Village sanitation is important in the scheme of gram swaraj. The things to attend to in
the villages were cleaning tanks and wells and keeping them clean, getting rid of dump
heaps as the village tanks were promiscuously used for bathing, washing clothes and
drinking and cooking purposes. Many village tanks were also used by cattle and
buffaloes were often seen wallowing in them. However in spite of this sinful use of
village tanks, the villages were never destroyed by epidemics. Lanes and streets had to
be cleaned of all the rubbish, which should be classified. There should be portions
which can be turned into manure, or have to be simply buried or can be directly turned
into wealth. Rags and waste paper could be turned into paper.
To achieve gram swaraj, education was of prime importance. Accordingly literacy was
not the end of education or even the beginning and only one of the means whereby
man and women could be educated. Education should draw the best out of the child
and man-body, mind and spirit. A new concept of education was offered wherein head,
heart and hand could be trained to work in unison and give rise to creative human
beings and this was nai talim or New Education. It was new because it was completely
different from the Western model of education in vogue. Nai talim laid great stress on
pupils’ contact with nature through manual work and on the concept of unity of life.
8.8 GRAM SWARAJ- A COMPLETE REPUBLIC
Illustrating his idea of Gram Swaraj, Gandhi emphasised that it should be a complete
republic, independent of its neighbours for its vital wants, and yet interdependent for
many others in which dependence is a necessity. Thus the village’s first concern would
be to grow its own food crops and cotton for its cloth. It should have a reserve for its
cattle, recreation and playground for adults and children. If there is more land
available, it would grow useful money crops, thus excluding ganja, tobacco, opium
and the like. The village would maintain a village theatre, school and public hall.
There would be no caste with their graded untouchability. Nonviolence with its
technique of Satyagraha and non-cooperation would be the sanction of the village
community. There would be a compulsory service of village guards who would be
selected by rotation from the register maintained by the village. The government of the
village would be conducted by the Panchayat of five persons annually elected by the
adult villagers, male and female, possessing minimum prescribed qualifications. They
would have all the authority and jurisdiction required. Since there would be no system
of punishment in the accepted sense, the Panchayat would be the legislature, judiciary
and executive combined to operate for a year of office. Any village could become such
a republic without much interference, even from the present government whose sole
effective connection with the villages was the exaction of village revenue.
The purpose was to present an outline of village government where there is perfect
democracy based upon individual freedom. The individual is the architect of his own
government. The law of non-violence rules him and the government where an
individual and his village are able to defy the might of a world. The law governing
every villager was that he would suffer death in the defence of his and his village’s
honour. Thus, Gandhi’s conception of the village was based on the post-modern
perspective of quality of life.
Keeping aside his theory of Non-violence and Trusteeship even his close associates
and friends failed to understand the meaning and significance of the Village Society
that he had advocated. Most of his close associates were people influenced by the
European thought and way of life. In a letter to Pandit Nehru in 1945 he wrote, that he
was convinced that if India had to attain true freedom and through India the world also
sooner or later, the fact has to be recognised that the people had to live in the villages,
not in towns, in huts not in palaces. Crores of people would never be able to live in
peace with each other in cities and palaces. They would have no recourse but to resort
to both violence and untruth. Without truth and non-violence there could be nothing
but destruction of humanity. Truth and non-violence could only be realised in the
simplicity of the village life and the simplicity could best be found in the Charkha and
all that the Charkha connotes. He did not fear if the world today was going the wrong
way and it may be that India too would go that way and like the proverbial moth burn
itself eventually in the flame around which it dances more and more fiercely. However
he thought it to be his duty to his last breath to try and protect India and, through India,
the entire world from such a doom. The essence of what he said was that man should
rest content with what are his real needs and become self-sufficient; if he does not
have this control, he cannot save himself.
8.9 GRAM SWARAJ: CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT
Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj in fact aimed at individual’s development, character-building
and adherence to basic human values for the development of the community as a
whole. But the way our Panchayati Raj system in its present form addresses to these
problems remains a question of debate and inquiry. The 73rd Amendment Act was
brought about to confer a constitutional status on the panchayats but except in a few
states, the situation remains unchanged. People’s participation in the development of
the villages is missing as the gram sabhas rarely meet to discuss the village
development plans. No doubt due to reservation of seats a large number of women and
members from the deprived class have come to occupy positions in the panchayats, but
their role in decision-making is very limited. The concept of service to the community
or ‘shramdaan’ appears alien in our system of village development as the dependence
on government has increased to a large extent. The Gandhian concept of rural
development is more of a people’s movement than a system of regimented
governance. Unemployment is increasing, environment degradation is a major
problem, village community is fragmented, people do not participate in development
process and due to break down of village and cottage industries and migration to the
cities has only aggregated the problem. The answer to some of these problems lies in
adopting the Gandhian model of village reconstruction, where every village will be
self-dependent and self-sufficient to meet its basic needs and the individual will have
enough to lead a life of contentment .
The development of villages was not considered by Gandhi as an end in itself. He
thought of the villages not in their isolation but as a starting point in the crusade for a
better and peaceful world order. If we do not go back to the ideals of Gandhi as
envisaged for the uplifement of the rural population, rural India would continue to
suffer as a result of evidently super-imposed process of development. During the last
six decades we have seen that the Gram Sabhas and village Panchayats that formed a
part of Gandhi’s political philosophy got relegated to political dormancy. But as
Gandhi recedes into history he appears more and more a decentralist, even localist and
less and less nationalist. In the Gandhian model, village is the central and not the
peripheral source that would generate forces of social transformation. The goal of
Gandhian action is attainment of a truthful human society and not the creation of a
powerful, albeit just state. We shall be deluding if we believe that the recent attempts
to revive Panchayati Raj Institutions are not an incarnation of the structural elements
of state power. They will derive their legitimacy and authority from the state and not
from society as such as is being projected. In the present form, the system of rural
governance will only perpetuate the ‘Raj’ further where the ruling class would
continue to dominate. By the time the nation rediscovers Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj, it
may be too late.
The path of development that we have chosen for the Panchayats to trek upon will lead
us nowhere near to Gandhi’s gram swaraj. In the years to come it will only complicate
the rural scene further leading to greater migration to the cities in search of
employment. The solution lies in promoting cottage and small-scale industries so as to
hold back people form flooding the cities. Employment has to be generated within the
confines of the village boundary. The Gandhian approach to rural development should
be understood. Gandhian concept of gram swaraj does not really answer only one
aspect of development, i.e. economic, but it is a way of life to be practised by a
developing, over-populated and rural-based country like India to solve its multidimensional problems. Our present development model has no answers to many of
these questions.
8.10 SUMMARY
Gandhi is perhaps the only great thinker of this century who could foresee the social
and ecological consequences of the exploitative model of development and offer an
alternative model. Gandhi was not only a pioneer but also very original as he was not
an academic theoretician, but a man of unparalleled wisdom. The gap between this
man of wisdom and the men of knowledge that this century has produced in plenty still
remains unabridged. The nonviolent struggle launched successfully against the
mightiest colonial power of the time was emulated elsewhere too but it has yet to make
a major dent in the war machine of the world and the war mentality of the people. He
demonstrated how a very high level of culture and civilisation could be evolved
without destroying the environment, and without exploiting nature and fellow humans.
Gandhi’s philosophy offers a practical way to a peaceful social revolution to improve
the quality of life. What he preached was not only for the Indian masses but for the
entire deprived people of the world. His message was not for a particular time but for
the future of the mankind, especially his theory of non-violence and peaceful coexistence. But his immediate concern was the Indian masses, especially in the
countryside. In fact people needed courage and sense of self-respect to enable them to
come out of the slavish mentality developed over centuries of bondage. In his view if
these conditions were to be changed, politics, education, social reform, economy, and
technology had to suit the genius of the society.
8.11 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. India lives in Villages. Discuss
2. State the basic principles of gram swaraj.
3. What did Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj aim at?
4. Define Gandhi’s views on modern machine.
SUGGESTED READINGS
1. M .K. Gandhi., India of My Dreams, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad,
reprint 2004.
2. M.K. Gandhi., Village Swaraj, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad,
reprint 2002.
3. M.K.Gandhi., Panchayati Raj, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, reprint
1966.
4. M.K. Gandhi., Towards New Education, Navajivan Publishing House,
Ahmedabad, reprint 2001.
5. Suresh Misra., Gandhian Concept of Indian Village in R.P.Misra, (ed),
Gandhian Model of Development and World Peace, Concept Publishing
Company, New Delhi, 1989
6. Neera Chandhoke., The Assertion of Civil Society against the State; The
Case of the Post Colonial World in People’s Rights (ed) Manoranjan Mohanty
et al, New Delhi, 1998,
7. http//en.wikipedia.org/wike/swaraj (accessed on 27.2.2010)
8. http//www.mkgandhi.org/articles/swaraj.htm ( accessed on 29.2.2010)
UNIT 9
SARVA DHARMA SAMABHAVA
Structure
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Gandhi’s views on Religion
9.3 Religious Pluralism and Secularism
9.4 Humanism and Universalism
9.5 Impact of Gandhi’s Secularism on India
9.6 Summary
9.7 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
9.1 INTRODUCTION
“Sarva Dharma Samabhava” is a unique concept of Indian secularism which emerged
in independent India under the impact of Gandhian thought, rooted in Hindu culture
and tradition. The term ‘Sarva Dharma Samabhava’ in Hindi, India’s dominant
language, means literally equal respect for all religions. It evolved in the course of
state formation in postcolonial India and is often taken as an Indian philosophical
contribution to political thought. The idea is quite distinct from the western concept of
secularism, which advocates the total separation of state from religion in place of
treating all religions equally.
While in Yervada Jail in Pune in 1930, Gandhi often dwelt upon the concept of
“Sarva Dharma Samabhava” in his letters to the inmates of his Sabarmati Ashram,
Ahmedabad. Always inclined towards the goal of Hindu-Muslim unity and peace,
Gandhi relentlessly sought ways for achieving such unity. His problem was how to
generate a secular social space in a society where religion constituted a basic part of
mass belief and behaviour (Rao,1989).
Aims and Objectives
This Unit would enable you to understand
· Gandhi’s views on religion and his respect for all religions
· The nature of religious pluralism and secularism in India
· The impact of Gandhi’s secularism on India.
9.2 GANDHI’S VIEWS ON RELIGION
Gandhi’s attitude to religion holds a key to the understanding of his life and thought.
Gandhi believed that the function of religion was to unite rather than divide people
Gandhi’s strongest bond with Hinduism came from the Gita which he called his
“spiritual dictionary” and which had the greatest influence on him (Nanda, 1995,
p.13). Two fundamental influences on him from the Gita came from the words
aparigraha (non-possession) and samabhava (equability). However, Gandhi had a
strong rational and sceptical streak which made his religious philosophy, though
grounded in Hinduism, deeply humanist and cosmopolitan. Gandhi’s Hinduism was
captured in a few fundamental beliefs: in the supreme reality of God, the unity of all
life, and the value of ahimsa (love) as a means of realizing God (Nanda, 1995, p. 17).
He believed that the real test of spiritual progress was the extent to which one could
translate one’s beliefs in workaday life. What cannot be followed in day to day
practice cannot be called religion.
In his days in South Africa, Gandhi had made a comparative study of religions
whereby he was impressed by the underlying unity of all religions. From thereon he
continued to emphasise the need for co-existence and tolerance between the adherents
of different faiths. The various religions were ‘as so many leaves of a tree’; they
might seem different but ‘at the trunk they are one.’ God, Allah, Rama, Narayan,
Ishwar, Khuda were descriptions of the same Being. God’s grace and revelation were
not the monopoly of any race or nation; they descended equally upon all who waited
upon God. He held that no religion was absolutely perfect. All are equally imperfect
or more or less perfect.
In his article ‘Why I am a Hindu’, written in 1927, Gandhi wrote that he found
Hinduism to be the most tolerant of all religions… Its freedom from dogma gives the
votary the largest scope for self-expression. Not being an exclusive religion, it enables
the followers of that faith not merely to respect all the other religions but… to admire
and assimilate whatever may be good in other faiths. Non-violence is common to all
religions, but it has found the highest expression and application in Hinduism…
Hinduism believes in the oneness not of merely all human life but in the oneness of all
that lives (Young India 21 October 1927, quoted in Nanda, 1995, p.21). While he
stressed individual judgement and conscience, he- at the same time- stressed coexistence and toleration in relations with the followers of other religions.
Gandhi believed that all people had a right to practise any religion they chose to
identify with and that form of worship should not be dictated by the state. Himself a
staunch Hindu, he believed that different faiths represented different paths converging
on the same point, Truth. There is a religion which underlies all religions. Hence in
the event of conflicting counsels from different religions, Gandhi held that Truth is
superior to everything, and that which conflicts with it is to be rejected just as what
conflicts with non-violence should be rejected. Similarly that which conflicted with
Reason must also be rejected. Thus Truth is the religion which underlies all religions.
Rationality of thought was paramount for Gandhi. He envisioned a non-violent
society in which all decisions were based on consensus, arrived at by rational
discussion in which each strove to look at the subject in question from the standpoint
of others. This underlay his belief in religious pluralism and mutual respect and
toleration which was the core of his secularism. He believed that in a multi-religious
society, toleration is bound to be the guiding principle for all organised religions. This
was the core of the Gandhian perspective of Indian secularism, that of ‘Sarva Dharma
Samabhava’ meaning ‘equal respect for all religions.’
In this sense, Gandhi was a deeply religious person who was ardently devoted to the
search for truth which to him was the religion which underlay all religions.
Experimentation and religion combined in his thought and life. It was this
combination of religiosity and modern humanistic outlook in him that was constantly
reflected during the course of the struggle for independence and won him the support
of the masses. He tirelessly called for a Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Christian unity based on
a pluralistic theism with the core concept of Truth as ultimate and one.
9.3 RELIGIOUS PLURALISM AND SECULARISM
Gandhi acknowledged the multi-religiosity and cultural diversity of India when he
stated in Hind Swaraj that India cannot cease to be one nation because people
belonging to different religions live in it. It was the religious pluralism which Gandhi
advocated, than anything else, that greatly affected the development of secularism in
India. Gandhi’s religious pluralism is well expressed in his own words: ‘My position
is that all religions are fundamentally equal. We must have the same innate respect for
all religions as we have for our own’. He advocated not only mutual toleration but
also equal respect. It required that Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians be willing
to respect all religions as equally right. It is pluralism, which regards all religions as
the same and all gods as variations of the One, which underlies his concept of
secularism.
It could be said that Gandhi spoke of secularism from the perspective of religion, and
religious pluralism in keeping with polytheistic Hinduism. Thus, it can be said that
Gandhi played a very important role in transmitting a pluralist picture of secularism
among the Hindus. Gandhi’s religious policy, therefore, was different in the sense that
inter-faith relationships and religious harmony were based on the equality of all
religions rather than a separation of religion from the state. Within this framework, to
be secular in politics was not to abjure one’s religion altogether, but only to abjure the
religious use of political, legal institutions like the government (Rao, 1989, p.33).
Gandhi’s religious quest not only moulded his personality but also shaped his political
techniques with which he confronted racialism in South Africa and colonialism in
India. While Gandhi’s advocacy of mutual tolerance and respect between different
religions originally arose from his study of comparative religion, it had a practical
aspect too which found expression in his leadership of struggles against racial, social
and political injustice with adherents in these struggles belonging to all the major
religions. Gandhi was aware of the gulf between the Hindus and Muslims, the two
major communities in India and the great need for toleration. However, Gandhi’s
secular perspective has not been non-controversial. He has been accused of exploiting
religion to rouse the masses or of using Hindu symbols which eventually contributed
to the communal polarisation leading to the division of India.
Religion and Politics
Gandhi was often accused of mixing religion with politics. But he repeatedly clarified
his meaning of religion thus: “Let me explain what I mean by religion. It is not the
Hindu religion, which I certainly prize above all other religions, but the religion
which transcends Hinduism, which changes one’s very nature, which binds one
indissolubly to the truth within and which ever purifies. It is the permanent element in
human nature which … leaves the soul restless until it has found itself.” (Young India,
12 May 1920, quoted in Nanda, 1995, p.24). Thus he spoke of religion which was not
the Hindu religion but the religion which transcends Hinduism, which changes one’s
very nature. He alone is a true devotee of God who understands the pains and
sufferings of others. The divinity of man manifests itself according to the extent he
realises his humanity, i.e., his oneness with his fellow men. Thus Gandhi’s religion
was almost akin to humanism.
Gandhi claimed that his religion was his politics and his politics was his religion.
While affirming that for him there was no politics without religion, he explained that
this was ‘not the religion that hates and fights, but the universal religion of Toleration.
In 1940 he reiterated that ‘religion should pervade every one of our actions,’ but
added, ‘here religion does not mean sectarianism. It means a belief in ordered moral
government of the universe… This religion transcends Hinduism, Islam, Christianity,
etc. It does not supersede them but harmonizes them’. Thus Gandhi’s concept of
religion had little in common with that which generally passes for organised religion:
dogmas, rituals, superstition and bigotry. Gandhian religion was simply an ethical
framework for the conduct of daily life which included not only the domestic and
social spheres but also the political sphere. Gandhi did not and could not accept the
commonly accepted view of politics as a game of expediency taking precedence over
morality. Satyagraha, Gandhi’s non-violent mode of struggle for fighting against
social and political oppression, was rooted in morality and had no place for untruth,
secrecy, hatred and, above all, violence. It supported suffering at the hands of the
oppressor rather than inflicting on him based on the abiding belief in the possibility of
a change of heart of the enemy.
Gandhi saw the basic strategy of a non-violent struggle as different from that of a
violent one. It was not about the use of a superior force or of overwhelming the
enemy by the force of numbers but to generate those processes of introspection and
rethinking that would make it possible to arrive at a readjustment of relationships
between the contending parties without generating hatred and violence. Non-violence
was the central issue and it was not to be compromised at any cost. Utter failure rather
than a compromise with non-violence was preferable. It called for the utmost
discipline of non-violence.
9.4 HUMANISM AND UNIVERSALISM
Gandhi’s religious outlook was thus imbued with deep humanism and universality.
His concept of ‘Ram Rajya’ which he occasionally used to describe the goal of Indian
freedom struggle, was simply a concept of an ideal polity free from inequality,
injustice and exploitation.
In furtherance of his belief in religious tolerance, Gandhi’s prayer meetings were held
not in temples but in the open symbolising religious harmony in that they included
recitations from Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Parsi and Buddhist texts. Thus while
Gandhi used the Hindu symbols and the saintly idiom, his message was always moral,
humanist and cosmopolitan.
Gandhi’s steadfast opposition to the Partition was well known. While personally he
was deeply religious, he said that he would have opposed any proposal for a state
religion even if the whole population of India had professed the same religion. He
looked upon religion as a personal matter. Gandhi gave his whole hearted approval to
the resolution on fundamental rights passed by the Karachi Congress which affirmed
the principle of religious freedom and declared that ‘the State shall observe neutrality
in regard to all religions’, a doctrine which found a firm place in the Constitution of
independent India even after the bitter partition of the country based on religion
campaigned for relentlessly by the Muslim League. Thus despite his wholly religious
grounding in Hinduism, Gandhi worked to establish a secular State (Fischer, 1951,
p.430).
Gandhi tried to invoke his religious values into Indian nationalist politics without
letting it descend into communalism. However, despite being wholly opposed to all
forms of communalism and partition his use of the Hindu symbols and saintly idiom
has raised doubts about their having unwittingly contributed to both. Thus Gandhi’s
political practice of combining Indian nationalism, with the pluralistic and religious
features of the Indian society and culture has not been entirely free of problems and
controversies.
His openness towards other faiths no doubt underlined his belief in the policy of
religious tolerance He was a strong votary of building trust between different
religions. In this context he even believed that it was important that Hindus gained the
trust of Muslims by backing their sectional demands. This led him to support the
establishment of separate electorates for Muslims in 1909 and later the Khilafat, the
secular credentials of which has been controversial in that it has been seen as a
support to the Muslim clergy which was reactionary and divisive alienating Muslim
secularists like Muhammad Ali Jinnah. At times Gandhi also courted Hindu
nationalist organisations like the Arya Samaj and the Hindu Mahasabha though he
was a staunch opponent of the institution of untouchability.
Thus Gandhi’s attempt to forge communal harmony in his style has ironically not
been without contrary effects. Despite his indisputable belief in secularism and
equality of all religions, communal divide continued and remained rooted in post
colonial India (Hardiman, 2003).
The Gandhian view of secularism stressing sarva dharma samabhava tried to achieve
simultaneously the retention and abolition of the religious category. It tries to retain it
insofar as it accepts the religious commitment of individuals and groups at the level of
privatised behaviour but it expects at the same time the suspension of this identity in
so far as public domain of inter communal community is a political necessity of a
multi religious nation (Rao, in Shakir, p.30).
9.5 IMPACT OF GANDHI’S SECULARISM ON INDIA
The Constituent Assembly was unanimous in that India was a secular state. However
there were conflicting views and perceptions about what ‘secular’ meant. One view
was that secular meant that state should have nothing to do with religion. Another
view was that all religions should be treated with equal respect approximating to the
Gandhian view of ‘sarva dharma samabhava’. However, despite these differences of
the way ‘secular’ should be understood, there is agreement on the view that the state
should be secular and not based on any particular religion while at the same time it
does not deny the place for religious faith in the country. The view of equal respect
for all religions is different from the European view of secularism which is
independent of religion.
The Gandhian secular perspective is clearly reflected in the Indian Constitution
founded on the principle that a secular state should not support any particular religion.
But at the same time citizens were free under the Constitution to receive spiritual
education of their faiths. Thus a secular state did not necessarily mean that it is anti-
religion. Secularism has meant that all citizens of the country are free to follow and
propagate their faith. In practice, it has meant equal respect for all religions and
freedom for all religions to grow.
Indian secularism based on Gandhi’s concept of sarva dharma samabhava thus found
a unique shape in the Indian Constitution and polity. As D.E.Smith put it, “To most
Indians secular means non-communal or non-sectarian but it does not mean non
religious.” It is not a separation of state and religion but rather not privileging any
religion, a ‘no preference doctrine’ which, in political practice, meant that no special
privileges be granted to any one religion. This translated into equal treatment of all
religions and at the same time a separation of state from religion in that the State does
not have any religious identity.
The complexity of the political practice of such a concept is reflected somewhat in the
Indian Constitutional provisions for the freedom to practice and propagate one’s faith,
and the right of the religious minorities to establish and manage their educational
institutions. The retention of religious personal laws has further added to this complex
nature of Indian secularism. This has led to the charge of pseudo-secularism and
minority-ism against the Gandhi-Nehru concept of secularism.
The idea of a secular state based on the concept of the equal treatment of all religions
with a minimalist policy in regard to religious affairs internal to a community took
shape in the course of the nationalist movement under the influence of Gandhi. The
political practice of secularism in a multi-religious country like India, however,
suggests the theoretical possibility of secularisation and religious toleration
conflicting with each other sometimes. While the separation of the state and religion
has been recognised in the Indian Constitution which clearly states that there shall be
no official state religion, no religious instruction in state schools and no taxes to
support any particular religion; in practice however, the State has become entangled
in the affairs of religion in numerous ways (Chatterjee, 1997). In political practice,
the politics of post-independent India made it easy to combine the advocacy of
secularism with the practice of communalism.
Thus the Indian Constitution reflected a Gandhian position on secularism as not a
divorce of religion from the State but one that gave equal treatment to all religions.
The Indian concept of secularism meaning equal respect for all religions is a
combination of liberalism and tolerance. This was a product of the Indian freedom
struggle which was a struggle for democracy based on equality of all citizens without
discrimination including on the basis of religion. The Indian Constitution guarantees
such equality without discrimination through Articles 14, 15, 16 and 25. While
Articles 14, 15 and16 guarantee equality and equal treatment without discrimination,
Article 25 provides equal rights to all citizens to follow or propagate any religious
faith and freedom of conscience. Thus the Indian Constitution provides for equal
opportunities and equal protection under the law for all citizens and is against
religious discrimination. It guarantees equal status and equal opportunities for all
citizens irrespective of their religion. This is further amplified in Article 29 and 30
which recognises and guarantees the right of religious minorities to establish and
manage educational institutions.
Thus the secular state in India is premised on the principles of liberty, equality and
neutrality. The principle of liberty is reflected in the constitutional position on the
freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion of one’s choice. The principle
of equality implies that the State not give preference to one religion over another. The
principle of neutrality requires that the State not give preference to the religious over
the non-religious and that the state not involve itself with religious affairs or
organisations. However, the political practice of this concept of secularism has not
been free of contradictions and anomalies. A glaring example of this is the
contradiction between the principle of equality and uniform civil code and the
retention of religious personal laws (Chatterjee, 1998, p.362). Similarly, the
separation of state and religion in that there shall be no official state religion, no
religious instruction in state schools, and no taxes to support any particular religion
has also been compromised. The state has become entangled in the affairs of religion
in numerous ways under Article 25 of the Indian Constitution which permits extensive
state intervention in matters connected with religion in the interest of social reform.
The relationship between religion and politics and its linkage with communalism has
been an abiding issue in Indian politics and it has been both the cause and effect of
what could be called an Indian version of secularism. Despite being a devout Hindu,
Gandhi was essentially secular and struggled for Hindu-Muslim unity all his life. His
secularism was sought to be an effective bulwark against communalism and
fundamentalism and its practice was sought to approximate to secular ideals of
justice, equality and humanist universalism in a pluralist society and culture as that of
India. However, such a concept of secularism is seen to have unwittingly contributed
to an unanticipated assertion of communal identities during the nationalist movement
sometimes bordering on communalism. The quest for a new national identity during
the colonial phase often found expression in the appeals to religious loyalties such as
in the political practice of Swami Dayanand and Tilak. Gandhi’s use of religious
symbolism like that of the ideal of Ram Rajya could be perceived to have sharpened
the religious divide though not intended.
Gandhi viewed Indian civilisation as not only plural but pluralist where plurality was
a desirable end. Intolerance had no place in Gandhi’s secularism which was inclusive
and was based on pluralism. No religion contained all of the truth. All religions were
a way of approaching the truth and truth could be found only through religious
tolerance. He applauded the Indian folk culture which was inclusive and in which one
could see the sharing of each other’s cultural and religious life (Parekh, in Copley,
p.378).
The politics of post-independent India made it easy to combine the advocacy of
secularism with the practice of communalism, so much so that some began to view
secularism and communalism as two sides of the same coin (Beteille, 2000, p.198).
On the whole, secularism is still an unsettled issue. There is disagreement about what
the secular state implies—whether it implies a severe aloofness from religion, a
benign impartiality toward religion, a corrective oversight of it or a fond and equal
indulgence of all religions. But there seems to be general agreement that public life is
not to be guided by religious doctrines or institutions (Galanter, 1989, p.237).
On the question of whether or not Indian nationalism was compromised by the
presence of large numbers of Muslims in India, Gandhi stated in Hind Swaraj that:
“India cannot cease to be one nation because people belonging to different religions
live in it…If the Hindus believe that India should be peopled only by Hindus, they are
living in dreamland. The Mahomadens also live in dreamland if they believe that there
should be only Muslims in India” (Gandhi, Hind Swaraj, Collected Works of
Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.10, p.270. Quoted in Hardiman, p.159). Conflict based on the
hatred of one religious group for another was considered by Gandhi as a negation of
all that he defined as ‘religion’.
He paid special attention to the two issues that affected Indian nationalism most – the
Hindu-Muslim conflict and the linguistic conflict. Gandhi sought to adapt modern
nationalism to two principles of Indian Civilisation—Unity in Diversity and
assimilation of disparate elements which he believed would make India a genuinely
multi religious and multilingual nation (Parel in Baxi & Parekh,1995, p.76). In an
effort to free religion of the evil of sectarianism, Gandhi made an important
distinction between religion as organisation and religion as ethics and spirituality.
Underlying all organised religions there is a universal ethic and spirituality which
teaches the unconditional love of God and the neighbour. At the same time religion as
organisation is a means to retain identity and as such is legitimate. But it follows that
organised religions ought to practice toleration towards each other. Hind Swaraj
teaches that there are good religious reasons for practicing toleration (Parel, 1997, p.
iv)
While Gandhi’s life was dedicated to Hindu-Muslim unity towards achieving a
secular political practice, paradoxically he fell victim to Hindu-Muslim
communalism. Gandhi never lost faith in reason and humanity of the common people
who he believed readily shared in each other’s religious and cultural lives. However,
the sense of difference among the religious communities bordering sometimes on
communalism did not disappear after Independence despite the policy of sarva
dharma samabhava, equal treatment of all religions. On the other hand the post
independence political process seemed to only strengthen the difference and divide
(Beteille, 2000, p.197).
9.6 SUMMARY
The concept of sarva dharma samabhava found its apt advocacy through Mahatma
Gandhi. It was his humanistic and pluralistic approach that made Gandhi see the
merits in all religions and preach to the mankind the efficacy of respecting others’
faiths. Gandhi’s ideas were not understood in the right sense and it is this narrow
minded approach that made him a victim of communal divide and difference. To
reiterate what Parel said, Gandhi genuinely wished that India should emerge as true
multi-religious and multilingual nation with harmony and tolerance. In this age of
deep communal divide, Gandhi’s ideas are worth revisiting and inculcate some of the
moral and spiritual values he stood for all through his life. Sarva Dharma Samabhava,
in this context, is the need of the hour not only for our nation but also across the
world.
9.7 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What are the views of Gandhi on religion? What did religion mean to him?
2. ‘Religion is pluralistic and humanistic’. Analyse this statement in your own
words in the contemporary universal context.
3. Gandhi’s secularism had a profound impact on the post-independent India.
Discuss at length.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Beteille, Andre., Chronicles of Our Time, Penguin Books India, 2000
Chatterjee, Partha., A Possible India, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1997
Chatterjee, Partha., Secularism and Tolerance in Bhargava, Rajeev, Ed. Secularism
and Its Critics, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1998
Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Publications Division, New Delhi
Copley, Antony., Gandhi’s Secularism Reconsidered in B.R.Nanda, Ed. Mahatma
Gandhi: 125 years, Wiley International, New Delhi, 1995
Fischer, Louis., The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, London, 1951
Galanter, Marc., Hinduism, Secularism and the Indian Judiciary, in Galanter, Marc,
Law and Society in Modern India, 1989
Hardiman, David., ‘Fighting Religious Hatreds’ in Gandhi: in his time and Ours, 2003
Karlekar, Hiranmay., (Ed.), Independent India: The First Fifty Years, Oxford
University Press, Delhi, 1998.
Nageshwar Prasad., (Ed), Hind Swaraj: A Fresh look, 1985
Nanda, B.R., Gandhi and Religion, in Mahatma Gandhi:125 Years, Ed. B.R.Nanda,
Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Wiley Eastern Limited, New Delhi, 1995.
Parekh, Bhikhu, Colonialism, Tradition and Reform: An Analysis of Gandhi’s
Political Discourse, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1989.
Parel, Anthony J., Ed., M.K.Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and Other Writings, Cambridge
University Press, New Delhi, 1997, p.iv (Introduction)
Parel, Anthony, J., The Doctrine of Swaraj in Gandhi’s Philosophy in Baxi, Upendra,
Parekh, Bhikhu, (Eds), Crisis and Change in Contemporary India, Sage, New Delhi,
1995.
Rao, K.Raghavendra, Religion and Secularism in, Shakir, Moin, (Ed.), Religion State
and Politics in India, Ajanta Publications, Delhi, 1989
Smith, Donald E., India as Secular State, in Bhargava, Rajeev, (Ed), Secularism and
its Critics, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
UNIT 10
CULTURAL DIVERSITIES
Structure
10.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
10.2 India and its Cultural Diversity
10.3 Gandhi on Religion and Cultural Diversity
10.4 Inter-Faith Dialogues
10.5 Assimilation of Cultures
10.6 Unity in Diversity
10.7 Summary
10.8 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
10.1 INTRODUCTION
The need to have a stable identity, a cultural belonging and at the same time the desire
to maintain difference lies at the core of human culture. The link between identity and
recognition and the distinction between uniformity and diversity is the defining
feature of cultural diversity.
The meaningful exercise of human choices depends crucially upon a cultural context.
It has been argued that people must have the right to develop and bolster the culture
on which human capacities and their distinctly human identity depends (Bhargava,
1991).
Evaluation of what constitutes the essence of identity and difference in relation to the
other varies, however, not only from one culture to another, but also at different
points of time in the same society. Such shifting cultural concerns are reflected in
nuanced discourses on cultural relativism, cultural pluralism, or multiculturalism.
Recognition and acknowledgement of the worth of many ways of life, not one, is an
affirmation and acceptance of the values of each culture and this underlies the social
discipline that comes of mutual respect for differences. ‘Pluralism is the conception
that there are many different ends that men may seek and still be fully rational, fully
men, capable of understanding each other and sympathising and deriving light from
each other. Intercommunication between cultures in time and space is possible only
because what makes men human is common to them, and acts as a bridge between
them’ (Isaiah Berlin, quoted in Madan)
Aims and Objectives
After reading this Unit, you would be able to understand
·
·
·
The concept and meaning of cultural diversity
India’s cultural diversity
How Inter-faith dialogues and assimilation are linked to diversity.
10.2 INDIA AND ITS CULTURAL DIVERSITY
There is hardly any country in the world today which is not marked by cultural
diversity. India is among the most diverse societies with a plurality and diversity of
cultures which marks it out as perhaps the largest multicultural society in the world.
People from all the major religions in the world—Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs,
Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians (Parsis) constitute its vast population. Although
Hindus constitute the majority of the population, India is home to the second-largest
population of Muslims in the world. The diversity is coupled with enormous cultural
diversity that is based on such factors like language, caste, and ethnicity. According to
the 1991 census, there are 114 spoken languages in this country; of these, 22 were
spoken by more than one million people. The state lists 630 communities as
Scheduled Tribes. There is diversity even among these groups and many of the
identified communities are said to be internally heterogeneous, comprising several
smaller different tribes. But the issue of identifying these groups is far from complete
and many other smaller groups continue to be included from time to time. There is a
vast religious and cultural diversity in the country. When India attained independence
in 1947, the political leadership and the framers of the Constitution kept this diversity
in view while deliberating a framework that would provide for an amalgamated yet
culturally a diverse nation-state that is based on the principle of unity in diversity.
The multi-religious and multicultural character of the Indian society is deeply rooted
in history from the pre-independence period. The Independence movement against a
colonial regime sought to unite the nation through its culturally diverse people
together towards a nationalist goal. It was a struggle for acquiring a national identity;
it sought to unify the groups belonging to various religious and cultural groups within
a nationalist fold. Though, during the course of the nationalist struggle many
culturally diverse groups were jointly and gradually consolidated on a nationalist
platform, there emerged sharp differences between the Hindus and Muslims that
increasingly got projected as antithetic. Quite often the issues of religious identity and
the politics of difference between the two communities came to the fore; the other
cultural differences of various groups were active but not so sharply projected.
During the course of the nationalist movement, it was one of the challenges that
Gandhi was perennially engaged with. The problem of the Hindu-Muslim unity was
one issue that he foresaw as the main area of extremely divisive implications which
needed both short-term and long-term Redressal. Inspite of herculean efforts, this
issue remained unsettled and the heart-rending partition of the country signalled the
difficulty of unifying both these communities. Gandhi’s unifying project was thus
relegated to the background and the challenges, even after independence, continue to
face the Indian polity and society.
It was not religion alone that captured India’s attention. There were other issues like
caste, language, tribe that proved to be equally challenging. Gandhi engaged himself
with the question of mitigating differences based on caste and removal of
untouchability which he unfalteringly opposed and the eradication of which he
ardently pleaded. Nevertheless, these issues still continue to throw as many challenges
that test the cultural diversity and multiculturalism in the post-independent India.
10.3 GANDHI ON RELIGION AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Gandhi considered religion as an integral part of the cultural structures of society.
Religious diversity, therefore, is not incompatible with cultural diversity in other
domains of society. Gandhi often used religious idioms for conveying his social and
political messages as these made sense to most Indians to whom a language of
modernity remained as foreign as the English tongue. Gandhi’s ideas showed the way
in which deep genuine religious beliefs could be combined with genuine belief in
cultural diversity and multicultural democracy (Bagchi, 1999 in Bhargava, p.226).
Gandhi firmly believed that every religion has its full and equal place. This could be
said of culture also. His view of the composite religion and culture accorded a full and
equal place for each and respect for the other. This in his view characterised the
compositeness of religion or culture. “We are all leaves of a majestic tree whose trunk
cannot be shaken off its roots which are deep down in the bowels of the earth”
(quoted in Parel, 1997).
Gandhi believed that pluralism and cultural diversity based on such equality of space
for each culture leads to composite oneness which is the test of composite culture. But
such composite oneness is symbiotic rather than relativist. It does not mean the
inclusion or acknowledgement of cultures in a hierarchical order. Such a hierarchical
accommodation of other cultures would only result in benign insularity based on
respect for cultural distance, or an empirical togetherness that would not stand the test
of tenacity under pressure (Madan).
Gandhi understood the logic of religious pluralism better than anyone. He stated in
Hind Swaraj that India cannot cease to be one nation because people belonging to
different religions live in it. Himself a staunch Hindu, he believed that different
faiths represented different paths towards Truth. He believed that religions are
different roads converging on the same point. He however described Hinduism as the
‘most tolerant of all religions’ because it enables one ‘to admire and assimilate
whatever may be good in other faiths.’ Who is to judge such ‘goodness’? Gandhi
rejected the authority of tradition even when it is regarded as revealed as might be
claimed by different religious groups. Ultimately, the only guide is moral reason or
the inner voice, or to be true to one’s ‘eternal self’. Gandhi maintained that the
religion that he considered the source of value was not Hinduism or any other known
religion, but one that transcended them all, that of Truth, Reason and Morality. He did
not name it, but one could describe it as universal, spiritual and humanistic.
As a sincere believer in the worth of all religions, Gandhi acknowledged the
enormous influence of the moral content of Christianity as depicted in the Sermon on
the Mount on his own thinking in which, he declared, ‘Jesus has given a definition of
perfect dharma.’ Similarly, he considered Islam as having been supremely influential
in the making of ‘India’s national culture’ through its emphasis upon the ‘oneness of
God’ and ‘the brotherhood of man’. His moral sensibilities were deeply influenced by
the tenets of Jainism which is well documented in the biographies and other studies.
Thus the key idea in Gandhi’s religious thought is ‘participatory pluralism’, and it
overcomes the limitations of the hierarchical model. (Madan). This idea found vivid
expression when he stated in Noakhali in 1946 when he told one of the small
gatherings: ‘I am a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh... and so are you all’. He tirelessly called
for a Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Christian unity based on a pluralistic theism that was tied to
the concept of Truth as ultimate and one. Rationality of thought was paramount for
Gandhi. He envisioned a non-violent society in which all decisions ‘were based on
consensus, arrived at by rational discussion in which each strove to look at the subject
in question from the standpoint of others.’
10.4 INTER-FAITH DIALOGUES
Gandhi’s inclusive philosophy was not a passive acceptance of religious and cultural
diversity, but a well reasoned and active engagement with it. Gandhi always examined
and made a critical reflection about other positions, critical self-reflection of his own
position involving normative evaluations and judgements. The Gandhian
philosophical orientation provides the possibility of keeping the dialogue open,
possibilities of reaching out to the others, and cooperation through critiques,
judgements, interventions, resistance, presenting constructive alternatives and many
other ways towards transformation. Thus Gandhi’s activist philosophy integrated both
theory and practice with a high relevance for the concerns of the contemporary times.
In his focus on religious conflict arising from his chief concern of Hindu-Muslim
unity, Gandhi was perennially engaged with the quest of how to achieve inter
religious dialogue in a multi religious setting as in India. Inter religious transformative
dialogue is possible only with goodwill and respect for other religions which is an
essential feature of religious pluralism. The acceptance of freedom to interpret one’s
own truths while accepting the possibility of the truths of others underlies such
pluralism and it challenges the position of dominant religions in the early 21 st Century
(Allen, 2008, p.xiii).
Gandhi was convinced that inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue helps to get to
know the other better and fosters mutual understanding making it possible for
working together giving each an insight into how others think. Gandhi earnestly tried
to promote the spirit of inter-religious dialogue in both thought and action. Gandhi
acknowledged that religion provokes opposite passions which get articulated
divisively but he was certain that this is not inherent in religion and it can be
reformed. Whatever form the religious belief in the divine power might take, it is
subject to the test of reason and experience. For Gandhi there is truth in every religion
but none represents the Absolute Truth. All religions represent relative truth. This is
because Gandhi held that the culture remains the point of reference for every religious
belief and this influences their points of view. They remain embedded in culture and
their experiences and insights are articulated in local cultural idioms which are
inherently spatially limited. Every religion has an inescapable, local, historical and
cultural basis. This is because they occur in an inherently imperfect human language
which can never fully express transcendental truths.
All religions therefore represent the relative truth, presenting a particular point of
view which, for that reason, is necessarily limited. Since no religion or culture is
perfect in representing the truth, it benefits from a dialogue with others. Such dialogue
gives us access to the great treasures of other religions and cultures, deepens our
understanding of God and human life, and facilitates a less relative and more
universal religion and culture. It sensitises us to the very different ways in which
human beings seek to make sense of the world and thus to the rich diversity of human
thought and practice.
To Gandhi, truly religious persons hold all religions dear for three important religious
reasons: their love of God whose grace has made all religions possible and whose
expressions they are; their love of their fellow human beings to whom their respective
religions mean much; and because other religions contribute to their own spiritual
growth (Parekh, 2008, p.8). For Gandhi religious plurality is based not merely on
tolerance or respect for other religions out of a feeling of resignation or condescension
from a distance and relative indifference but is based on ‘sadbhava’ or goodwill
towards them and is based on a genuine feeling for them to flourish. A truly religious
person, therefore, delights in religious plurality as an important ingredient in one’s
own spiritual growth. Similarly, a culturally diverse society is an expression of the
acceptance of the literary and artistic creations of other cultures based on sadbhava or
goodwill and not merely tolerance.
Gandhi also stressed the need for freedom and integrity within religious and cultural
groups. Every religious community should respect and accommodate within itself
unresolved differences for the sake of freedom and integrity. Every religion should
have the freedom to interpret its central truths and borrow what is valuable in others.
Since no religion represents the whole truth about God, it should be open to a
transformative dialogue with others in a sense of genuine humility failing which it has
the danger of becoming dogmatic and self-righteous. This, in turn, arrests its own
growth, breeds intolerance and violence. A religion that encourages violence against
others is guilty of ‘sin against God’. The greater the scope for compassion as a way of
life, the more religion it has. This is not just a moral and political necessity but also a
religious requirement. This will enable all religions to see each other as partners in a
shared spiritual quest with the ability to live in peace and goodwill towards each other
and help them to cope with misguided religious rivalries and conflicts.
Every religion should be open to the acid test of reason and universal justice if it is to
have universal assent. Gandhi rejected any religious doctrine that did not appeal to
reason and was in conflict with morality.
Thus Gandhi’s plea for inter-religious dialogue, understanding, and goodwill was
socially oriented and stood on pluralist grounds which is made possible because of the
common concerns of different religions and which is necessary because they represent
particular and limited visions of God which will benefit from a creative interaction.
This is because all interpretations are humanly mediated, and communicated in
inherently inadequate human languages articulated in particular historical and cultural
contexts which are bound to be partial and limited. Religions and cultures are thus not
rivals but partners sharing fundamental interests. Gandhi’s religious pluralism
respects both the individuality of each religion and creates deeper bonds between
them. “Just as preservation of one’s own culture does not mean contempt for that of
others, but requires assimilation of the best that there may be in all the other cultures,
even so should be the case with religion” (Iyer, 1987, Vol.1, p.451).
Such composite thinking was reflected for instance in Gandhi’s stand on the national
language issue involving the controversy on Hindi, Hindustani and Urdu when he
stated that “It cannot be Persianised Urdu or Sanskritised Hindi. It must be a beautiful
blend of the simple forms written in either script.” (Gandhi quoted in Krishna Kumar,
1991). His plea for Hindustani however did not sustain and faded out from the affairs
of the state in the years following independence (Krishna Kumar, 1991, pp.188-189).
10.5 ASSIMILATION OF CULTURES
Gandhi stated that no culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive. What is important
is that cultures should blend with each other with utmost freedom and benefit from
interaction with each other. Preservation of one’s culture should not mean contempt
or destruction of the other. As in the case of religion, so is the case with culture.
Different cultures are like so many leaves of the tree. Cultural diversity and their
growth enrich human existence. Hence cultures should rejoice in each other’s
presence and progress. In his autobiography, Gandhi stated “I do not want my house
to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all
lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off
my feet by any” (Gandhi, The Story of My experiments with Truth).
Gandhi also relentlessly worked for the uplift of the dalits, adivasis, and poor peasants
with his life long concern for ensuring dignity and fairplay to these communities.
However, his views and political practice in this sphere have been somewhat
controversial. Particularly his fight against untouchability and his attempts to reform
Hinduism from within, on the caste system front has not been without controversy. He
staunchly and unconditionally opposed untouchability. His views and political
practice on this issue left no doubt about Gandhi’s stand. However, those in the dalit
movements had their reservations on Gandhi’s viewpoint. The contours of these
discontents were projected in the growing distance between Gandhi and Ambedkar
during the course of the national movement though it never became too pronounced
openly then (Nagraj, 1993, p.2). His use of the term ‘Harijan’ for the ‘untouchables’
has been subjected to severe criticism in the post-independence period. His use of the
religious idiom and symbols of Hinduism during the course of the struggle for
independence likewise have been quite controversial (Hardiman, 2003, pp.123-155).
Gandhi’s post modern vision of nationhood is one based on decentralized local
control, assimilation and tolerance of cultural differences and above all non-violence.
(Nicholas F.Gier, 2008 in Allen, p.126). Gandhi showed that the existence of deep
religious beliefs is not incompatible with cultural diversity and multicultural
democracy.
The quest for self identity was an important component of the vision of independent
India and this was expressed in both progressive and sometimes regressive ways. An
identity as such is not something sacred, a value in itself – its real life situation may
have all kinds of negative, ugly features within that limit or diminish human beings
struggle against which has to be a part of the larger struggle without (Randhir Singh,
1991, p.116).
While on the one hand Gandhi spearheaded the movement for independence bringing
together diverse streams of thought and binding together the culturally diverse groups,
the very same quest for self-identity and cultural diversity found expressions in the
negative features of the revivalist movements during the course of the national
movement. The events of independence and partition brought a near-complete
marginalization of Gandhi and Gandhism (Omvedt, 1994, p.226).
10.6 UNITY IN DIVERSITY: INDIA’S APPROACH
India’s experiment with creating political unity out of unequal and diverse social
order has not been without problems. The establishment of a democratic political
order in India after independence was indeed a major achievement and it was
premised on inclusion of all and exclusion of none. But it was accommodative rather
than homogenising and assimilative seeking to reconcile the identity of the new nation
state with the culturally diverse groups constituting an overarching national identity.
Moreover the perceived gap between formal democracy and substantial democracy
due to the glaring inequalities in society has increasingly led to unrest and tension in
society in general. The spread and deepening of democracy is not considered as
uniform for all the groups and communities with the resulting erosion of faith in
institutions of the state (Kumar Suresh, 2005, p.33).
In the post-independence period the identities of language, religion, caste and tribe
have been used and appealed to increasingly for the mobilization of political support
so much so that these diversities have acquired a sharp political presence and have
become instruments of adversarial politics (Beteille, 2000, pp.161-165). In order to
make a political claim, cultural identities have often been created or revived while
drawing on cultural traits of an earlier historical phase but assuming specific forms.
The changing contours of cultural assertion articulated in the political arena have
often led to what could be characterised as the ‘politics of cultural diversity’
(Mahajan, 1995, p.361).
Historically the community identities are prior to our identity as political citizens of
India. It is pointed out that Indians see themselves first and foremost as members of a
caste, tribe, village, and religion. These community identities constitute people’s selfunderstanding and shape their social and political choices. Even after so many years
of independence, social and political conflicts around the issues of religion, caste and
tribe based community identities have not diminished. On the other hand, social
conflicts have increased and so have incidents of communal violence. Ethnic, regional
and linguistic identities have asserted themselves pro-actively and caste continues to
be the most important variable covertly and overtly. There is a demand for caste
census and caste-based Khap Panchayats are active in some states. All these pose
tremendous challenges to our polity and society.
10.7 SUMMARY
It is to be noted that the above-mentioned developments, however, do not in any way
diminish the legacy, relevance and influence of Gandhi. Gandhi’s thought and actions
are significant, relevant and urgently needed for addressing problems of the twenty
first century (Allen, 2008, p.viii). Gandhian philosophical orientation relates to major
twenty-first century concerns, of the need to empathise with and understand the
religious, philosophical, ethical, cultural, economic and political views of others
including those considered as irrational, immoral, enemies, threats, terrorists or evil
elements. Gandhi’s philosophical approach such as pluralism, inclusiveness,
tolerance, empathy, compassion, non-violence, and respect for the diverse approaches
and views of other philosophical, religious, political and cultural orientations are seen
as remarkable, relevant and urgently needed characteristics for possible solutions in
the conflict ridden present day world. The contemporary world is besieged by
dominant, religious, political, economic and cultural divisions defined by their
absolute anti-pluralist, exclusivist, intolerance of others’ views, lack of empathy and
compassion, justification of endless violence and ethnocentric lack of respect or
contempt for the diverse approaches of others. Gandhi, and Gandhian ideas and
political practice show the way but call for a resolute commitment to the cause of
truth and the readiness to face the challenges therein.
10.8 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What are the characteristics of cultural diversity? Has India been able to tread on
this path successfully?
2. Elaborate your views on Gandhi’s thoughts on religion and cultural diversity.
3. How important are inter-faith dialogues to maintain the cultural diversity of a
nation?
SUGGESTED READINGS
Allen, Douglas., (Ed.), The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi for the Twenty First
Century, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2008 ( p.viii, p.xiii)
Bagchi, Amiya Kumar., Multiculturalism, Governance and the Indian Bourgeoisie, in
Bhargava, Rajeev Et al, Ed., Multiculturalism, Liberalism and Democracy, Oxford
University Press, New Delhi, 1999
Baxi, Upendra, and Parekh, Bhikhu., (Ed.), Crisis and Change in Contemporary India,
Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1995
Betteille, Andre., Chronicles of Our time, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2000
Bhargava, Rajeev., Et al., (Ed), Multiculturalism, Liberalism and Democracy, Oxford
University Press, New Delhi, 1999
Bhargava, Rajeev., The Right to Culture, in Panikkar, K.N., (Ed), Communalism in
India, Manohar, New Delhi, 1991
Chandoke, Neera., Religion, Culture and the State, in Shakir, Moin., (Ed), Religion,
State and Politics, Ajanta, Delhi, 1989.
Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad, Vol.77, 1958
Gier, Nicholas F., Non violence as a Civic Virtue in Allen, Douglas, (Ed), The
Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi for the Twenty First Century, Oxford University
Press, New Delhi, 2008.
Hardiman, David., Dalit and Adivasi Assertion in Gandhi in His Time and Ours,
Permanent Black, Delhi, 2003.
Hardiman, David., Gandhi in His Time and Ours, Permanent Black, Delhi, 2003
http://www.india-seminar.com/1999/484/484%20madan.htm, date of access:14 May
2010
Iliah, Kancha., Why I am Not a Hindu: A Sudra Critique of Hindutva Philosophy,
Culture and Political Economy, Samya,2005
Iyer, Raghavan., (Ed), The Moral and Political Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, Oxford,
Clarendon Press, 1987, Vol.I.
Karlekar, Hiranmayi., (Ed), Independent India: The First Fifty Years, Oxford
University Press, 1998
Krishna Kumar., Hindu Revivalism and Education in North – Central India, in
Panikkar, K.M., (Ed), Communalism in India: History, Politics and Culture, Manohar,
New Delhi, 1991
Kumar, Suresh., Multi Cultural Imperatives of Good Governance, in Majeed Akhtar,
(Ed), Federal India: A Design for Good Governance, Manak Publications, New Delhi,
2005
Madan
T.N.,
Perspectives
on
pluralism
http://www.indiaseminar.com/1999/484/484%20madan.htm(Date of access: 14 May 2010)
Mahajan Gurpreet., Negotiating Cultural Diversity and Minority Rights in India
http://www.idea.int/publications/dchs/upload/dchs_vol2_sec3_4.pdf, (Date of access:
10 May 2010)
Mahajan, Gurpreet., Cultural Embodiment and Histories: Towards Construction of
Self, in Baxi, Upendra and Parekh, Bhikhu, (Ed), Crisis and Change in Contemporary
India, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1995.
Majeed Akhtar., (Ed), Federal India: A Design for Good Governance,
Publications, New Delhi, 2005
Manak
Nagraj, D.R., The Flaming Feet: A Study of the Dalit Movement in India, South
Forum Press, Bangalore, 1993
Nanda, B.R., Gandhi and His Critics, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1985
Omvedt, Gail., Dalits and Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit
Movement in Colonial India, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1994.
Panikkar, K.M., (Ed), Communalism in India: History, Politics and Culture, Manohar,
New Delhi, 1991
Parekh, Bhikhu, and Pantham, Thomas., Political Discourse: Explorations in Indian
and Western Political Thought, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1987
Parekh, Bhikhu., Colonialism, Tradition and Reform: An Analysis of Gandhi’s
Political Discourse, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1989
Parekh, Bhikhu., Gandhi and Inter religious Dialogue, in Allen, Douglas., (Ed), The
Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi for the Twenty First Century, Oxford University
Press, New Delhi, 2008
Parekh, Bhikhu., Gandhi’s Political Philosophy, London, Macmillan, 1989
Parel, Anthony J., (Ed), M.K.Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and Other Writings, Cambridge
University Press, (Foundation Books) New Delhi, 1997.
Randhir Singh., Communalism and the Struggle against Communalism, in Panikkar,
K.N., Communalism in India, Manohar, New Delhi, 1991.
Roy, Ramashray., Gandhi: Soundings in Political Philosophy, Chanakya Publications,
Delhi, 1984
Roy, Ramashray., Self and Society: A Study in Gandhian Thought, Sage Publications,
New Delhi, 1984
Rudolph, Loyd.I, and Rudolph, Susan,H., Post Modern Gandhi and Other Essays,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2006
Shakir, Moin., (Ed), Religion, State and Politics, Ajanta, Delhi, 1989
UNIT 11
SOCIAL INCLUSION
Structure
11.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
11.2 The Contemporary Policy of Social Inclusion
11.3 Social Inclusion as a Historical Process
11.4 Exclusion and Kinds of Exclusion
11.5 Forms and Experience of Inclusion
11.6 Gandhian Ways of Social Inclusion
11.7 Impediments to Inclusion
11.8 Summary
11.9 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
11.1 INTRODUCTION
Development and democracy are the two key concepts that have captured the human
imagination during the last two centuries. While developmental processes have tried and
brought prosperity and economic well being to people, democracy has been instrumental in
assuring that the result of development is widely distributed among diverse groups. In recent
years, large number of people, communities and families across societies has been facing the
threat of dislocation from their habitat, economy and even families due to the skewed manner
in which either development is taking place or its results are being distributed. Anger against
such exclusion and dislocation have found articulation in wide spread protests against
economic policies and political oppression which backed such policies from across the world
in recent years. One of the ways in which the effects of this large-scale economic dislocation
is sought to be mitigated is through what is termed as policy of Social Inclusion.
Aims and Objectives
This Unit would enable you to understand
· The meaning of social inclusion and its different kinds
· Social inclusion in historical and contemporary context
· Gandhi’s efforts towards evolving social inclusion.
11.2 THE CONTEMPORARY POLICY OF SOCIAL INCLUSION
Increasing reach of larger economic interest to even smaller economies have led to breaking
down of local economies, patterns of consumption, societal mores and values and large-scale
use of natural resources. Consequently, there has been increasing homogenisation of the
economies and societies at the cost of the richness of life in the hitherto non-integrated
societies. There is an obvious sense of loss of diversity and autonomy. In the current phase of
development there has been the loss of social place or habitat by large multitude, through
large-scale extraction and use of natural resources. The dams, the mines, plantations or cash
crops cultivation have also been the economic activities which also led to quite skewed social
and cultural impact leading to the marginalisation and exclusion of hundreds of communities
whether they are the forest dwelling tribes in Amazon or Congo, or the tribal population in
Orissa or Southern Africa, or the plantation economies in western Africa or in northern and
southern India. Precisely, it has led to a kind of homogenous development at the cost of
human and biological diversities. There have been political and social movements protesting
against marginalisation and exclusion, demanding a more inclusive society. Multilateral
institutions like World Bank, and a large number of non-Governmental organisations have
come up with packages of projects collectively referred as Social Inclusion policy. The
rationale for advocating such is to thwart the criticism of the developmental paradigm within
capitalism that apparently pushed a large number of people and groups to the margins of
economy and society.
11.3 SOCIAL INCLUSION AS A HISTORICAL PROCESS
Socially a more inclusive society cannot be created merely through policy packages. In fact
in human history, social inclusion as a policy instrument comes up only in recent times with
the advancement of democracy and new phase of capitalism. It has otherwise been rare that
the political ruling groups would adopt a policy of social inclusion. It would sound strange as
most political system were based on social division and the ruling groups thrived on divided
social fabric. On the other hand, however, there have been attempts from within the societies
to usher new ways and principles of accommodating individuals, communities and groups.
This accommodation proceeded both horizontally as well as vertically. New groups, or
foreign elements either migrating from other locale required horizontal inclusion into
societies. Indian society has been a very good example where principles and processes to
assimilate, or include and accommodate groups or people have been in operation for
centuries. Many tribal groups, for example, Sakas and Hunas, from central and west Asia and
beyond came and settled in different parts of India. Society, over the time, absorbed them
through different mechanisms. There were new terms coined to regulate the social interaction
with these new groups. Mlecchas was not only the term for the foreign elements but also
signified the code of relationship that was designed between the native and the foreign
elements. In the course of time, the foreign elements lose their traces and become part of the
local community. The medieval history too witnessed such incorporations by different
groups.
In the nineteenth century the British writers and administrators thought that the Indian society
was immobile and non-change was its defining characteristic. The ‘unchanging village
community’ with its ‘self-sufficient economy’ was thought to be the example par excellent of
this. Theories about caste, religion, etc., by many foreign scholars were based on these
assumptions. In reality, however, there were very dynamic interactions between institutions
and human groups and this relationship transcended villages, regions and quite often had
continental dimensions. Pilgrimage sites were of such interesting networks. Many groups
and ideas and values had their entry into the societies in this horizontal interaction.
What, however, is more intricate is the basis and processes of inclusion vertically. Historians,
for example, pointed out that in modern times colonialism produced the most intense unequal
relationship between societies, between the one which was colonial and exploited the
resources of the colonised societies through various instruments. The colonial system, in its
turn, legitimised this unequal relationship on the basis of race, technology or civilising
mission. Delving deeper into the working of both the colonial and colonised societies, one
soon discovers that the unequal relationship was based on the unequal ownership of the
factors of production which historian Bipan Chandra had first pointed out as ‘colonial mode
of production’. It was further argued that this inequality characterised even the pre-colonial
social order in the colonised societies. Historian Irfan Habib, for example, showed how the
Mughal Empire and economy was an exploitative economy so far as the poor were
concerned. Later day historians showed how the contemporary society remained anchored on
unequal relationship and perpetuated this unequal economic order, locally, regionally,
nationally and globally. It is generally argued that it was very significant that bases of this
unequal order be understood properly so that appropriate response can be created.
11.4 EXCLUSION AND KINDS OF EXCLUSION
Economic and political exclusions are very significant as they not only are the grounds on
which social and cultural exclusion are legitimised but they also prevent efforts to crate
inclusive society. For example, mining and other industries located in the province of
Jharkhand and Orissa in India is monopolised by big business groups from outside the
province. People whose habitat is used for mining neither have economic nor political clout
to impose better economic terms for the land that have being taken away from them quite
often with the connivance with the officials siding with the rich and powerful. One can see
globally how the multinational companies and the countries backing them, fight to retain their
hold over the mining areas in Africa, South America and Asia, and have inflicted some of the
worst violence in the region. The decade long agitation to save Narmada River in India has
shown how the economic planning quite often ignores the lives and arguments of the
economically and politically marginal people and destroys their lives, economies and culture.
Thus, location in the economic hierarchy leads to marginalisation. It is this trend which one
sees is getting exacerbated in the recent times.
Bases of Exclusion
We saw that economic inequality quite often creates the basis of unequal society. But the
basis on which exclusion from economy and polity is legitimised historically and in
contemporary times have been ideas like that of colour, gender, language, religion and
ethnicity and caste.
(A) Race: Race or in some sense colour, has been a significant marker of difference and has
been the basis for excluding people from economic, political and cultural power. One of the
most intense examples in the modern times has been the way the black population in many
parts of North and Southern America has been denied some of the basic civic rights. Not long
ago the anti-Semitic feelings were mobilised in a systematic way by the Nationalist socialist
party in Germany and excluded the Jews from all affairs. It finally led to the six million Jews
being killed. Roma (Gypsies) people in the central and Eastern Europe live an abysmal life
of exclusion, political, social, cultural and economic, and discriminated precisely on the basis
of race. There is an unsaid division in the world between the white races and the non-white
so far as the control of resources is concerned. Thus, rich versus poor division also quite often
reflects racial division. There are insidious ways that it works. Within the nations which has
multicoloured population the racial division and discrimination is widespread. Quite often
the racial division reflecting as it does, the economic division, requires an attack on the
economic basis of the exclusion. In Latin America, for example, the whole of mining and
plantation economy has been the monopoly of the erstwhile white colonialist and their creole
descendants while millions of indigenous as well as the black population and the erstwhile
indentured labourers from India, China and other places lived a life of subsistence. The
global financial/ governance institutions too are controlled by more or less by developed
countries and an element of racial division is quite often obvious.
(B) Gender: Gender, the division of the people and social exclusion on the basis of sex has
been there for centuries and it is the most obvious discrimination principle which creates an
ideology of patriarchy to legitimise and support it. It is one of the oppressive ideologies and
needs careful and intense critique. The Feminists movement that emerged in the west
attacked this exclusionary principle by arguing for equality of men and women. Later in the
1970s and 1980s, one also found that the stronger opposition to the gender discrimination
began adopting a position that men and women are biologically different and the fight for
equality should not undermine this difference. Simultaneously, the protest movements across
the world reflected the adverse impact of the developmental processes on women. Scholars
like Arturo Escobar emphasised argued that an inclusive development should be a gender
sensitive development.
(C) Class: A careful perusal of human history also indicates that societies have been divided
in relation to the ownership of factors of production. The surplus that one section extracts on
the strength of its location in the production process determines its location in the society.
Therefore classes which are extracting surplus also determine the way the society organises
its value, ideological and political organisation. The capitalist society today has, for example,
the capitalist class which also is the ruling class. Arguably, any inclusive society means that
there should be change in the way productive relation and productive system is organised and
surplus is extracted. This is a tall order and thinkers have called for revolution to bring such a
change.
(D)
Aboriginals in many societies, particularly in the settler societies, are excluded from
political, economic and social order. For example, the way the aboriginals from the Northern
America and South America survived the onslaught and still live an excluded life
demonstrates this. In other older societies too aboriginals are pushed out of the mainstream of
existing social-political-economic order. The Veddas in Sri Lanka, Ainus in Japan are some
examples. In India too, a large number of tribal population has been living the existence of
seclusion and their seclusion often makes them an excluded part of population.
(E)
Religion has also been quite a powerful tool of exclusion in the human societies. Even
today in most part of nationally organised communities, it is religious demarcation that
defines the principle of exclusion. Religious minorities are excluded in many societies from
many areas of public life. The Hindus, the Ahmadias and the Christians for example do not
have the same access to public space in Pakistan, a predominantly Islamic state. Similarly in
many countries non-majoritarian public space is also small. In Sri Lanka for example the
Tamils were excluded from many public offices precisely because the language and region
began to be the sole criterion for accessing public offices and spaces.
(F) Caste: In India caste has, for long, defined the hierarchical and exclusionary social order.
Discrimination has been practiced at many levels on the basis of caste. The worst sufferers of
the caste-based exclusion had been the untouchables in most parts of the country where they
were excluded from even the normal village existence and they could come to the village for
food and other things only by announcing their arrival so that the other caste could save
themselves from getting polluted by going away from the public spaces. Public spaces were
denied to them which included the village well, or village temple or pond. Centuries of
exclusion had created manifold disadvantages.
The contemporary global capitalist formation is also bringing new phenomenon like human
trafficking, environmental refugees, forced displaced people, and many groups which are
victims of exclusion in the society they take shelter.
11.5 FORMS AND EXPERIENCE OF INCLUSION
As we know the process and the basis of exclusion, we understand the way inclusion
principle works. Interestingly, there has always been very powerful movement to protest the
state of exclusion, thereby making the society more inclusive of the diverse communities, and
groups. However, in a society defined and divided by caste, it was always very difficult to
include people without defining their exact location. In 1941, N.K.Bose talked about the
Hindu ways of absorption and how different tribes have been absorbed within Hindu society
by accommodating them as a group practising the particular specialised crafts. This was a
significant mode of inclusion that was historically obtained. Historians have pointed out that
the most significant process of inclusion, both vertically and horizontally, for centuries, had
been through assumption of particular jati name and become part of the large pantheon of
Indian society. Many have suggested that with Conversion to another religion one has
introduced a new element and organisation principle but a careful observation would suggest
that even after conversion many groups have retained their previous jati identity to preserve
its domain and space in the larger social frame.
With the widening of the Indian national and social horizon, new elements like, for example,
Naga, Mizos, or other tribes from extreme East came under the national rubric who were
socially not part of the erstwhile socio-cultural setting based either on jati or dharma. The
ethnic variety from north-eastern part brought a fresh new component and was to be
accommodated in the social horizon. It remains an extremely significant issue as to what
facilitates inclusion of the new groups into a new national space coming to life during the last
100 years or so. The idea of a nation in India, with its distinctive inclusive appeal, has helped
to bring many groups and people to a common world of economy, polity and in many cases a
cultural dialogue. The democratic template provides this new nation with its distinct
inclusiveness. The modern base of the nation in the Indian setting in fact allows one to avoid
two particular extremes, i.e, identity-based exclusive nation and second, the exacerbation of
the primordial identity to the exclusion of all others.
Historically, religious movements like Bhakti movement in the 8 th to 12th and later during 1517th centuries provided strong critique of the principle of exclusive and orthodox social order.
The Veersaiva movement in the South and Nanak, Kabir, Ravi Das, provided strong
indictment of the existing social order and brought a new social philosophy of openness.
Coming of Islam, with its strong emphasis on a new social order based on equality, too
brought openness which was further advanced by the Sufi orders which went far and beyond
to bring many groups into close proximity a prerequisite for a sense of togetherness. Social
reforms were integrally connected with religious reforms. That is why when in the nineteenth
century social reform movement phase came, the reformers clearly attacked the religious core
of the legitimising principles inherent in social inequalities. It is significant here that the
attack on the Hindu social order and its practice of exclusion of lower castes by the Christian
missionaries since the nineteenth century, an attack which is continued even today by the
evangelists, provided one of the major thrust for the religious and social reformers to work
for removing inequalities from the Hindu social order. It is no wonder that from 1820s
onwards, many intellectuals and social leaders like Raja Rammohun Roy, Jyotiba Phule, Sri
Narayan Guru, Ayothiadas, Dayananad Saraswati, Dadabhai Naoroji and others saw the
urgency of changing the existing social order. In this they all attacked caste system and
practices like untouchability prevalent in India. Raja Rammohun Roy, for example, attacked
the prevailing social division based on caste as antagonistic to any new vision of a new
world. It was later when the Indian Social Conference was set up with the efforts of the great
reformer of India, M.G.Ranade, N.G. Chandravarkar, etc., that a dedicated modern
movement to change such practices came into mainstream. In the meantime, however,
individual efforts to empower groups and communities were carried on by individuals and
groups with tremendous zeal and sacrifice. Jyotiba Phule in Maharashtra, for example,
opened school for women and through his writings, carried on campaign to attack the basis of
inequality. When the Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, it took up a social
change agenda but soon it realised that it can take up social issues only at the peril of its
political plank of bringing people together and became cautious. However the social
conference had very close cooperation with the Congress and it held its annual session along
with the Congress session when the new and aggressive section led by Tilak led to the ouster
of the Social Conference from the Congress session. It also signifies a complete divorce
between the political movement for freedom and social movement for changes in society. It
was only with the arrival of Gandhi that the agenda of social reform got entwined with the
political vision.
It is this integration of social and political with a modern vision that defined the social vision
of Indian nationalism. The formation of a large space in India with nation as an abstract but
assemblage of values has helped evolve a very powerful inclusion principle. The national
space evolving in opposition to colonialism was in fact imbued with a strong notion of justice
and equality. The idea emerged when the middle class intelligentsia in Bengal, Maharashtra
and other provinces began to give shape to the territorial idea of a nation. This was the time
most of the North east and many other parts were not part of India as such. Assam, for
example, became part of the British India only after 1826. The level of ignorance about many
parts of India was widespread. Notwithstanding this ignorance about territory, large numbers
of people have been coming under the fold of the Indian nation to realise their democratic
ideals.
The creation of this space began during the national movement for freedom. The Indian
national movement was the largest mass movement and this led to its acquiring its
democratic, open and inclusive character. In a mass movement people join the movement
breaking all boundaries of class, caste, region etc. As Visalakshi Menon opines, during the
non-cooperation movement and civil disobedience movement a large number of women had
come out in public breaking the gender prejudice and went to jail. Similarly, different shades
of the communist and socialists who tried to mobilise the peasants, the working class during
the national movement helped in brining large sections of the marginalised people into the
democratic mainstream of the nation.
11.6 GANDHIAN WAYS OF SOCIAL INCLUSION
Gandhi’s intervention has been truly phenomenon in the realm of social inclusion. His
success in bringing people of all hues to the national movement and thereby enlarging the
space of further extending the frontiers of freedom was enormous. By bringing up the social
issues to the centre of his movement, he provided that space with a social conscience. This
defined the democratic order later. He brought issues of untouchability and Hindu-Muslim
divide at the highest priority level and did not prioritise freedom from colonial rule at the cost
of these issues. He argued that freedom from foreign rule is meaningless unless accompanied
by freedom from our own ills.
The Anti-caste movement led by Gandhi can be said to be unique in the history of
movement for a human society based on the principle of non-hierarchical arrangement.
Gandhi personally led the movement to mobilise public opinion for such a society and
particularly against the prevailing practice of untouchability. In 1924-25 and again in 193435 he toured the whole country to mobilise opinion against untouchability- a practice which
saw a major chunk of humanity being treated as beyond sub-human level.
The thrust of Gandhi was that the savarnas or the upper caste who perpetrated the treatment
should own up the responsibility for their acts of omission and commission and take initiative
to end the practice in such a way that the fundamental principle behind the exclusion is wiped
out. He argued that it was the idea of hierarchy that underlies the practice of untouchability.
Once this principle is wiped out of existence, the caste system can be said to have purged of
this principle. He therefore considered other practices as a symbol or symptom of the disease
while the disease was the idea of hierarchy. One of the areas that symbolically attacked was
the temple entry movement in Guruvayur and Vaikom. Gandhi wanted the upper caste who
practised discrimination to change and invite those who were denied admission. Thus he
wanted the social inclusion to take place not on the basis of the right but of acceptance
because he felt that right-based approach does not endure but the change of heart and mind
would.
There were famous temple entry movements in Kerala, one in Guruvayur and the other in
Vaikom. The congress and many other Satyagrahis marched to open the doors of the temple
so that the deprived sections too could gain entry. The movement aroused the whole of the
country and had Gandhi’s blessing. Though there were moves by the Maharajas’ government
to resist it, the movement remained non-violent and aroused the conscience of the society
against the practice of untouchability and exclusion.
Gandhi made the Hindu Muslim divide a major political plank and advocated that the divide
needs to be broken and both begin to respect each other’s religion and live like brothers. In
Noakhali, which was affected by riots, he asked the Hindu women to make the Muslim
women literate as this not only brings education but also brings down the walls of separation.
He negotiated with Jinnah and resigned to the fact of partition, which he felt, was not to be
based on the Two-Nations theory as that would have been exclusionary.
On the issue of the dalits being converted to Christianity, he attacked the idea of conversion
as he thought that was a wrong way to address the issue. He argued that it shows disrespect to
other religion as it privileges one religion over the other. It does not address the question of
correcting the aberration if any that has crept in any religious practice. In practice too, one
found that conversion- instead of creating a more inclusive principle- brings a new
exclusionary base to come into operation. This also meant that the process of inclusion
should be without violence. However, what is unique in the Gandhian approach was the
attack of the very foundation of the principle of exclusion. Mandela adopted this approach
during the anti-apartheid struggle. Martin Luther King had approached the issue of blacks in
the US similarly.
Democratic inclusion: Gandhi’s idea of inclusion through non-violent means also foresees a
democratic system to operationalise it. He was in favour of broad-based democratic order
reaching up to the villages. Non-violent inclusion was in some way coterminous with the
democratic ways of inclusion. This interestingly was also the basis on which most of the
Indian leaders fought for inclusion, including Nehru who wanted a socialistic order,
Ambedkar who wanted the current caste-based exclusion to be eliminated, and many others.
Democracy and development seemed to all of them to be the guaranteed way to bring
inclusion without violence and in the most effective way. The idea of justice and equity was
to be prioritised over anything else. Interestingly the critique of internal social order was not
delinked from the critique of external social order as it was realised by the leadership in India
that the exclusionary principles in the world are all related and legitimise each other. For
example, the racial understanding of society at the global level gives credence to racial
theories at home and similarly class-based discrimination abroad also legitimises class-based
exclusion at home. Therefore, from the beginning, at the international level, it argued for nonracial organisation of the world institutions and polity. India was the first country to raise the
voice of anti-racial and anti-colonial world.
A very critical component was the tradition and traditional institutions like community, caste
etc. were found to be legitimising the social order based on discrimination. It is here the role
of the education and educational institution was most critical. The public institution has done
the most effective inclusion throughout the world and the independent India tried to imbibe
socially inclusive educational policy. There are heavy roadblocks as nearly 40% of Indian
school going children do not go to school. Experiments involving millions of children by
groups like MV Foundation in Andhra Pradesh have found that it is not poverty but wrong
policy that prevents children from going to school. Thus education remains the most
significant inclusive agenda as it not only brings different social groups onto a single
platform but it also fosters modern ideas of democracy, gender equality, justice which would
sustain the inclusive ideas for the generation. Ambedkar for example argued that Hindu
religion legitimised castes and untouchability; the communists argued that communities
based on religion hide the fact of internal exploitation based on gender or class. The template
of modernisation was adopted along with development so that the idea of citizenship is
developed and idea of justice and democracy takes deep root.
11.7 IMPEDIMENTS TO INCLUSION
Some movements for inclusion adopted the right-based approach and argued that as
individual and community and nation, it is the inalienable right to be treated humanely and
with dignity. Ambedkar for example insisted that the depressed classes have to be given their
right not by changing the heart of the upper castes but with attacking the basis of the
exclusion, i.e., that legitimised the caste discrimination. Ambedkar’s theory is the most
modern right-based approach and in fact he was also one of the key figures who helped
Nehru to use legal angle to change the laws detrimental to women. Interestingly it is the legal
and right-based approach that the women’s groups have demanded as a means to create space
in public. In fact modern Indian state has tried to employ fundamental rights as guarantee for
socio-cultural diverse groups and communities to come into the national fold without losing
their particular tradition and religio-cultural traits.
Certain Modern Political Processes and phenomenon have become impediments to an
inclusive society. In the international context racial ideas are still the biggest impediment
against the vision of inclusive society. Till recently it was very difficult for the Jews to get
socially acceptable paces due the entrenched anti-Semitism in many places in world including
in America. In the Indian context, the phenomena of communalism and caste are major
impediments. Both refer to a process that began in the late nineteenth and first half of
twentieth century whereby the people of one particular caste or religious community is
invoked in achieving certain political goals and the group is defined in terms exclusively of
its primordial identity and its secular interests are seen completely in variance as well as
antagonistic to the caste and religious community. Now the communal political mobilisation
in the 1940s led to communal violence of large scale and finally led to the division of the
nation. Thought it was based on the issue of religion, it could not bind the country and the
issue of language led to the division of the state into two, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Inside
India, the communitarian mobilisation around the idea of Language led to the demand of
linguistic states. It led to lot of passion and consequently agitation and violence. From 1952
to 1956 – state reorganisation commission which toured the country, and recommend the
division of many areas, have helped the passion to subside only to come up again in the
forefront in the 1980s when regions like Vidarbha, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Darjeeling etc.
began to demand separation from the states. This was in addition to the demand of separation
of various groups in North-eastern part of the country. In 1972 with the creation of
Meghalaya and other states in North-east, the Indian government had tried to scotch any
further inter-ethnic antagonism. Currently the demand for the greater Nagaland has been a
major problem for an inclusive society as it has created very strong feelings between Nagas
and Manipur and the later felt they are forced to accept something against their collective
wishes. The affairs in the North-east bring together the issue of tribal and non-tribal
inclusion, inter-tribal issue, and intrusion of foreign agent into the country. On the other hand,
economic inclusion has taken place with the Indian market becoming larger and bigger. This
has led to the Marxist formulation that the capitalism stream rolls all diversities and creates a
homogenous society. The Indian democracy too has worked to bring substantial classes into
the Indian political, economic and educational system. However loss of diversities might
create the demand for cultural tightening. It creates cultural systems like, for example, the
new inheritance law for the Khasi women in Meghalaya where women who married outside
their community are deprived right over property.
11.8 SUMMARY
There have been contradictory processes taking place in the world today. While there has
been serious efforts to create one large society called European Union by including many
nations of Europe, many nations are in the meantime breaking up releasing ancient hatred and
prejudices that has led to brutal ethnic cleansing and wanton massacre in many such parts,
i.e., Yugoslavia, between Serbian, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims, between the
erstwhile communist and the non-communist, the developed west and the east Europe.
Similarly while there has been need for immigrant labour, the same immigrant labour lives an
excluded and marginal life in all such societies. Similarly, at the intellectual level, while the
new globalisation is invoking the inclusion of all the societies into one world order, the
practice of the neo-colonial economy is excluding many communities from the political and
economic order. One the most prominent trends within the new liberal order is invoking
fragmenting rather than connecting, exclusion rather than inclusion in its correct sense. The
core of the neo-liberal intellectual exercise has been that there are fragments and that there
must not be inclusion into any whole and rather fragments should hang around. Nevertheless,
empowering individual and communities has become the core principle for the new ideas of
inclusion. The origin or the source of empowerment however has not been very apparent.
Quite often it is from a source outside the individual or community, i.e, outside, from World
Bank, or from international agencies. It is again here that a critique of “state” emerges as an
agency. Thus all arguments which bring state into picture are discarded as non-empowering
principle. However, a close appraisal would show that the state and nation are some of the
key agencies that still play a very crucial role in bringing communities, individuals and
groups together by removing many of the exclusionary ingredients in the society.
11.9 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What do you understand by social inclusion? Trace the historical background for the
emergence of this concept.
2. Discuss at length the bases of exclusion.
3. Analyse the Gandhian methods of social inclusion.
4. What, in your opinion, are the impediments to the process of inclusion?
SUGGESTED READINGS
Jayaswal, Suvira., Caste In India, Delhi,1996
Habib, Irfan., Agrarian system of Mughal Empire, Bombay, Delhi, 1963, 2000
Chandra, Bipan., Essays on Colonialism, Delhi, 2000
Chandra, Bipan., India’s Struggle for Independence, Delhi, 1989
Batabyal, Rakesh., Penguin Book of Modern Indian Speeches, Delhi, 2007
Batabyal, Rakesh., Communalism in Bengal, From Famine to Noakhali, Delhi, 2005
Kosambi, D.D., Introduction to the study of Indian History, Bombay, 1956
Sharma, R.S., Sudras In Ancient India, Delhi, Third revised edition, 1990
Omvedt, Gail., Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society; NonBrahmin Movement in Western India,
1873-1930, Bombay,1976
Chandra, Bipan., Aditya Mukherjee, Mridula Mukherjee, (eds), India after Independence, Delhi,
2000
Desai, A.R., Social Background of Indian nationalism, Popular Publishers, Bombay, 1946
Menon, Visalakshi., Women and Nationalism, The UP Story, Delhi, 2004
UNIT 12
EMPOWERING WOMEN
Structure
12.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
12.2 Gandhi’s Idea of Woman as Mother
12.3 Influence of Women Public Figures on Gandhi
12.4 Gandhi against Gender-based Discrimination
12.5 Gandhi and Empowerment of Women
12.6 Gandhi on Women’s Contribution
12.7 Relevance of Gandhian Legacy for the Contemporary Women’s Movement
12.8 Summary
12.9 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
12.1 INTRODUCTION
‘Woman is more fitted than man to make exploration and take bolder action in nonviolence’.
‘There is no occasion for women to consider themselves subordinate or inferior to men’.
‘Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacity’.
‘If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior’.
‘If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with women’.
‘Woman, I hold, is the personification of self-sacrifice, but unfortunately today she does not realize
what tremendous advantage she has over man’.
These are some of the most famous quotes from Gandhi’s writings and speeches. Gandhi believed that
India’s salvation depends on the sacrifice and enlightenment of her women. Any tribute to Mahatma
Gandhi, the Great Soul, would be an empty one, if we were to take no cue for our own guidance from
his words and from his life; for him ideas and ideals had no value if they were not translated into
action. He saw men and women as equals, complementing each other. If then, men and women work
together selflessly and sincerely as equals with a faith like Gandhi’s, they may indeed realize Ram
Rajya, the perfect state. Traditionally, woman has been called abala (without strength). In Sanskrit and
many other Indian languages bala means strength. Abala means one without strength. If by strength
we do not mean brutish strength, but strength of character, steadfastness, and endurance, she should be
called sabala, strong. His message almost six decades ago at the All India Women’s Conference on
December 23, 1936 was: “When woman, whom we call abala becomes sabala, all those who are
helpless will become powerful.”
Aims and Objectives
After studying this unit, you will be able to understand
·
Gandhi’s contribution towards Empowerment of women
·
Gandhi’s Efforts at Enhancing women’s Dignity within private and public realms
·
Gandhi’s role in political participation of women in the Freedom Movement
·
Gandhi’s views on man-woman relationship
·
Relevance of Gandhian Legacy for the Contemporary Women’s Movement
12.2 GANDHI’S IDEA OF WOMAN AS MOTHER AND “MOTHER INDIA”
In the formative years, Gandhi was influenced by his mother Putlibai, who imparted in him strong
sense of personal ethics and compassion. Gandhi said: "The outstanding impression my mother has
left on my memory is that of saintliness. She was deeply religious. She would not think of taking her
meals without daily prayer. She would take the hardest of vows and keep them without flinching.
Illness was no excuse for relaxing them." He got his mother's permission to go to England for studies
by taking an oath: "I vowed not to touch wine, women and meat." These three vows shielded him
throughout his stay in England.
Gandhi married at the age of thirteen to Kasturba and lost no time in assuming the authority of
husband to lord over her life (emphasis added). At the time of conjugal conflict, Kasturba used the
weapon of passive resistance of “fasting”; from this, Gandhi got inspiration to start Satyagraha in the
freedom movement to resist the British Regime. Kasturba became his active partner and supporter in
all his activities. She was a devoted wife, who was content to live in the shadow of her illustrious
husband, and was fiercely independent.
Gandhi’s devotion to women began with his devotion to his mother and Kasturba, most particularly to
women as mother. Motherhood became increasingly his model for liberation of India and his own life
for he envisaged that unless we have a selfless devotion for our motherland many countries will be
lying in wait to crush us down. He saw no hope for India's emancipation while her womanhood
remained un-emancipated. In the course of his social reform work, the realisation came to him that if
he wanted to reform and purify society of the various evils that had crept into it, he had to cultivate a
mother's heart.
He learnt the fundamental aspects of his soul politics from his mother and his wife but women's
influence on him was not limited to his family. The bhadra mahila (responsible or new women),
created in nineteenth century by Indian social reformers, became the model for Indian women on the
nationalist era. Women in late 19th and early 20th century created organisations such as All India
Women’s Council and Bhagini Samaj, founded predominantly among the upper-middle class in urban
centres. Although many associate the ideals and organisations of the "new woman" with Gandhi, as
Elise Boulding indicates "well before Gandhi was calling women to practice Satyagraha, the
grandmothers, mothers, wives and daughters of the educated classes in India were forming
organizations providing educations and action-training for other women, in order to re-build an Indian
society freed from colonial structures."
12.3 INFLUENCE OF WOMEN PUBLIC FIGURES ON GANDHI
Gandhi was profoundly influenced by Annie Besant, a British militant feminist, Theosophist, Sarojini
Naidu a trusted Gandhi's co-worker; Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya, a fiery Satyagrahi; RajKumari Amrit
Kaur and Pushpaben Mehta. Geraldine Forbes examines the model that Sarojini Naidu developed in
her speech as President of the Indian National Congress, “a model with India as the "house", the
Indian people as "members of the joint family and the Indian woman as the "Mother". Naidu, Gandhi,
and many other advocates of women's and national liberation agreed wholeheartedly that women and
India would advance together to the extent this new familial model for India was adopted by the
women and men of India.
Gandhi believed that women could do much to transform India on all levels. He believed that equal
rights for women and men were necessary but not sufficient to create a more just social order. Also
having equal rights is no good if we are divided within ourselves and unable to attend true unity with
others.
In a letter written to RajKumari Amrit Kaur from Wardha on 20-10-1936, Gandhi opined that, "If you
women only realize your dignity and privilege, and make full sense of it for mankind, you will make it
much better than it is. But man has delighted in enslaving you and you have proved willing slaves till
the slave and holders have become one in the crime on degrading humanity. My special function from
childhood, you might say, has been to make women realize her dignity. I was once slave holder myself
but Ba proved an unwilling slave and thus "opened my eyes to my mission."
Gandhi further said: “I began work among women when I was not even thirty years old. There is not a
woman in South Africa who does not know me. But my work was among the poorest. The intellectuals
I could not draw ... you cannot blame me for not having organized the intellectuals among the women.
I have not the gift... but just as I never fear coldness on the part of the poor when I approach them, I
never fear it when I approach poor women. There is invisible bond between them and me."
The mass of poor women were those whose dignified upliftment he craved. Poor women understood
what he was saying because he spoke in the religious pantheon and referred to the facts of caste and
gender. Some times highly progressive, other times conservative, he created an empathy with his
audience through this cultural fine tuning. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, echoing this aspect of Gandhi's
personality, stated that “We found him not a "Bapu" - wise father, but what is more precious, a mother,
on whose all embracing and understanding love all fear and restraint vanish.”
12.4 GANDHI AGAINST GENDER-BASED DISCRIMINATION
Gandhi was totally opposed to gender discrimination. He disliked the Indian society's preference for a
boy and a general neglect of a girl child. In fact, in most cases she is not allowed to be born or her
survival is not ensured. She is subjected to neglect, does not get respect and the status she deserves
equal to that of a boy. Gandhi described discrimination against women as an anachronism: "I fail to
see any reason for jubilation over the birth of a son and for mourning over the birth of a daughter. Both
are God's gifts. They have an equal right to live and are equally necessary to keep the world going.”
Gandhi called women as the noble sex, weak in striking, but strong in suffering. Gandhi described;
"Woman as the embodiment of sacrifice and ahimsa." He further states: "A daughter's share must be
equal to that of a son. The husband's earnings are a joint property of husband and wife as he makes
money by her assistance.”
Gandhi firmly believed that if a husband is unjust to his wife, she has the right to live separately. He
averred, “Both have equal rights over children. Each would forfeit these rights after they have grown
up, and even before that if he or she is unfit for them. In short, I admit no distinction between men and
women except such as has been made by nature and can be seen with human eyes.”
Gandhi preached and practised sharing of housework by both men and women of the family. He
encouraged women to do intellectual work and men to help in cooking, cleaning and caring,
conventionally ‘women’s chores’. Gandhi expounds further, ‘more often than not a woman's time is
taken up not by the performance of essential domestic duties, but in catering for the egoistic pleasure
of her lord and master for her own vanities. To me this domestic slavery of woman is the symbol of
our barbarism mainly. It is high time that out womankind was freed from this incubus. Domestic work
ought not to take the whole of women's time’. His policy of empowerment was that man must
participate in the housework and reduce the drudgery of women's home work.
12.5 GANDHI AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
Gandhi was not only a great political leader but also a passionate enthusiast of humanity and an
implacable enemy of all injustice and inequality; he was a friend of the lowly and the downtrodden.
Women, the poor and the deprived sections commanded his most tender attention. He had almost an
instinctive understanding of women and their problems and had a deep abiding sympathy for them.
The oppressive custom of dowry too came under fire from Gandhi. He preferred girls to remain
unmarried all their lives than to be humiliated and dishonored by marrying men who demanded dowry.
To him, dowry marriages are "heartless". Gandhi wished for mutual consent, mutual love, and mutual
respect between husband and wife. He decried that marriage must cease to be a matter of arrangement
made by parents for money. The system is intimately connected with caste; he opined that the girls or
boys or their parents will have to break the bonds of caste if the evil is to be eradicated.
For the fight against foreign domination, women by the thousands rallied to Gandhi’s call for civil
disobedience. Women set aside their traditional roles, came out of seclusion, cast off their purdah,
entered the public domain along with men, offered Satyagraha, remained undaunted by police beatings
and extreme hardships in prison. Even illiterate tribal women from the forests joined the freedom
movement. Though pre-occupied with heavy responsibilities his views in this regard were clear and he
tried to educate the public to accept women as equal partners. He further asserted: “I am
uncompromising in the matter of woman's rights. In my opinion she should labour under no legal
disability not suffered by man. I should treat daughters and sons on an equal footing of perfect
equality.” Also he said that “To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is a man's injustice to woman.
If by strength it is meant moral power then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not more
self-sacrificing, has she not great powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man
could not be. If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with women.”
Women could play a significant part in the freedom fight under his inspiring leadership, his fostering
care and loving guidance. According to Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, of all the factors contributing to the
awakening of women in India none has been so potent as the field of nonviolence which Gandhi
offered to women in his "war" against British domination of India. It brought them out in their
hundreds from sheltered homes, to stand the furnace of a fiery trial without flinching. It proved to the
hilt that woman was as much able as man to resist evil or aggression.
Gandhi was deeply pained at the impact of poverty on women that deprived them of even basic
necessity like clothing. He took to spinning so that every poor woman could be clothed and he
promoted production of khadi as an economic activity.
12.6 GANDHI ON WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION
Gandhi had profoundly said that the woman is the incarnation of Ahimsa: ahimsa means infinite love,
which again means infinite capacity for suffering. Who but woman, the mother of man, shows his
capacity in the largest measure? Let her transfer that love to the whole of humanity, let her forget she
ever was or can be the object of a man's lust. And she will occupy her proud position by the side of
man as his mother, maker and silent leader. She can become the leader in Satyagraha which does
require the stout heart that comes from suffering and faith.
Citing an example of the bravery, which a woman showed, during child birth by not taking
chloroform, which would have risked the child's life and undergoing a very painful operation, he
further says: "Let not women, who can count many such heroines among them, ever despise their sex
or deplore that they were not born men.”
Feminist researchers differ widely in the assessment of Mahatma Gandhi's theory and practice of
women's emancipation during the Indian Nationalist Movement.
Madhu Kishwar asserts that "Gandhi saw women not as objects of reforms ... but as self-conscious
subjects who could, if they choose, become arbiters of their own destiny. In this way Gandhi
represents a crucial break from the attitude of many of the leaders of the reform movements of the late
nineteenth century... The main contributions of the Gandhi to the cause of women lay in his absolute
and unequivocal insistence on their personal dignity and autonomy in the family and society."
It took several years for Gandhi to overcome the forms of sexism, classicism, and racism that he
internalised as a young man. But from the perspective of social feminism, he made enormous progress.
The new women (women engaged in feminist movement) respected Gandhi because he spoke their
language, he did what they wanted men to do, and encouraged other men to follow suit. Given the
stark contrast in Indian society between men and women's cultures, broadly speaking, where man is
more bellicose, rigid, controlling culture while woman is more relational, egalitarian, fluid, open,
peace-loving culture, it is not surprising Gandhi chose the latter. The extended family, even with its
patriarchal modes of dominance, gave many women a wide scope of expression than either the British
or the Indian public spheres. Gandhi's effort to model Indian public life on the joint family brought
thousands of women into social and political institutions of the nation.
Gandhi had advocated three distinct levels of women's participation in the national movement.
First, women who had familial responsibilities such as care of children and the aged, were to fulfill
only their primary duties which were not to be given up for the sake of the national movement.
Second, a group included women from whom he expected a sacrifice of the pleasure of house-keeping
and child-caring. If already married these women were expected to remain celibate for the sake of the
nation.
Third, full time workers were expected to stay single and dedicate themselves entirely to the struggle
for independence.
12.7 RELEVANCE OF GANDHIAN LEGACY ON THE CONTEMPORARY WOMEN’S
MOVEMENT
Contemporary feminists’ analysis on empowerment of women includes not only of sexism but also of
racism, classism and imperialism as determining factors in shaping women’s status in the private and
public realm. This development seems consonant with Satyagraha which for Gandhi was an inclusive
quest to find creative solutions for all forms of oppression. In India and elsewhere, there are healthy
movements of Gandhi's followers, and there are more moribund Gandhians who speak in Gandhi's
name but also subvert the power of his theory and practice by failing to be open to new movements.
Feminists and other women are engaged in many forms of action that Gandhi may not have
anticipated. We have much to learn from Gandhi's theory and practice, but not to the exclusion of
modern ideas and movements.
Mahatma Gandhi's vision of Swaraj, in all its facets and perspectives, has permeated the discourse on
India's contemporary history. As the most towering figure in India's freedom struggle, Gandhi's role
remains unchallenged and the imprint of his moral philosophy as a workable political ideology has
been particularly indelible. Gandhi's views on social, political and economic matters are transparently
evolutionary, a continuing examination of reality, the human condition and truth. Gandhi's attitudes
towards women were as much shaped by his innate sense of comparison and justice as they were by
the patriarchal albeit benevolent conservatism that was the sheet anchor of his cultural and social
discourse. The contradiction between his liberal feminist pronouncements, his egalitarian, loving and
respectful concern for women, his belief in their role in politics and in society are sometimes difficult
to reconcile. Yet Gandhi, more than anyone else, struggled with these paradoxes in the existing social
milieu. Comparing his vision of women with the current status of women and the ongoing struggle for
women's empowerment will provide a measure of what has been achieved.
Gandhi was able to devote himself to such a mission and formulated views on all aspects of a woman's
life, political, social, domestic and even the very personal or intimate. He was able to do this by
liberating himself from the sexual desires that identify the difference between man and woman and
thereby positioned himself well above the feminist, becoming instead a reformer of humanity. While
this gave him the right to demand far-reaching changes in the attitudes of society towards women and
the attitudes of women about themselves, he rooted his views on distinctly Indian soil. It was also for
the "non” Intellectual among Indian women. Poor women understood what he was saying because he
spoke in the idiom of Hindu religion and culture, religious pantheon and caste and gender.
This is particularly clear in his response to a question asked of him as to "What would determine a
woman's varna? Perhaps you will answer that before marriage a woman would take her Varna from
her father; after marriage from her husband. Should one understand that you support Manu's notorious
dictum that there can be no independence for woman at any stage of her life ...?" In his reply Gandhi
analysed the prevailing social situation and went on to state an ideal objective and finally reiterated the
reality embedded within the question. He says: “ .....owing to the confusion of varnas today, the varna
principle has ceased to operate. The present state of Hindu society may be described as that of
anarchy; the four varnas exist today in name only. If we must talk in terms of varna there is only one
varna today for all, whether men or women; we are all shudras. In the resuscitated varna Dharma, as I
conceive it, a girl after her marriage, would naturally adopt her husband's varna and relinquish that of
her parents. Nor need . . . any such change... imply a slur since...the age of resuscitation would imply
absolute social equality of all four varnas" (Harijan, October, 1934). Not only does Gandhi
automatically accept the secondary status of the woman vis-a-vis the social identity of her husband or
father but he goes on to say, "I do not envisage the wife, as a rule, following an avocation
independently of her husband."
It is indeed interesting to note that, in a letter to Rajkumari Amrit Kaur in answer to a question about
the religion of children in mixed marriages, Gandhi reveals his patriarchal bias: "I am quite of opinion
the children of mixed marriages should be taught in the male parent's religion. This seems to me to be
self obvious for common happiness and interest. That the instruction should be liberal goes without
saying. I am considering merely the question of choice of religion. The children cannot profess two
religions. They must respect the female parent's religion. If the female parent has not that much
discretion and regard for her husband's religion, the marriage becomes superficial." One sees Gandhi
grappling with what is just and moral at one end with the necessity to assert the paternity rights of the
father at the other. In reality, even if there was no respect, and the marriage was not a true meeting of
minds, the father's religion still prevails, seems to be the unsaid part of the answer.
While adopting a high moral and often conservative position, he could- the next moment- seemingly
abandon if for a more fruitful and dynamic postulation that brings him to the forefront of extreme
liberalism. Typically, Gandhi was able to step out of his traditional attitudes through the medium of
education. When asked to write a primer for school children by Kakasaheb Kalelkar, Gandhi did it in
the form of a mother teaching her child in which she explains to her son that housework was good for
both mind and body and helped in character-building. This was part of his efforts to build a wholly
new society, without which he believed it was not possible to make an appreciable difference to
improve the lot of mankind with the cultural discourse of society as it was, and he never shied from
providing direct and practical methodologies to achieve his goals. From feminist ideas in a text book
to spinning the charkha for swaraj, he always came up with a constructive proposal to bring women
out of their traditional mental fetters and into a more dignified life.
In describing the woman's role as householder and housekeeper, he goes even further in stressing the
need for man and woman to "do the duty for which nature has destined us”; by finding it "degrading,
both for man and woman, (if) the woman should be prevailed upon or induced to forsake the hearth
and shoulder the rifle for the protection of that hearth. It is a reversion to barbarity and the beginning
of the end. In trying to ride the horse that man rides, she brings herself and him down. The sin will be
on man's head for tempting or compelling his companion to desert her special calling. There is as
much bravery in keeping one's home in good order and condition, as there is defending it against
attack from without." The contemporary argument for wages to be calculated for women's work at
home and the need for economic independence for them to be truly able to act in their own interest
overtakes by far Gandhi's traditional perceptions. Today's liberated woman would find his position
almost totally unacceptable. They would argue that while women's special calling may be child
nurturing, peace-loving and preservationist, they are capable of performing all tasks hitherto left to
men.
But Gandhi revealed a deep understanding of the pulse of society, and reflected its rhythm. He offered
spinning and the salt agitation as nonviolent ways for women to join the political movement for
swaraj. By 1940, he had provided modifications to his earlier more generalised approach to women's
contribution to public life. Despite a change in attitude he seems to have the middle class woman
rather than the poor one in mind, and adheres to the position that a woman should be able to order her
household duties in such a manner as to complete them and yet have enough time for public work
were she to abjure vanities. The onus is still on the woman. However Gandhi was always willing to
modify his own stated positions. He simply resolved his contradictions by responding instinctively and
practically to a situation as he saw it.
Liberation of woman, as Gandhi saw it, was linked to a deep-seated malaise. Dr. S. Muthulakshmi
Reddy wrote a long letter to Mahatma Gandhi as far back as 1929, in which she raised some
fundamental issues concerning social reform. She also questioned him as to why the Congress, which
was fighting for the freedom of every nation and the individual, should not first liberate their women
from the evil customs and conventions that restricted their healthy all-round growth. Indian women,
with a few exceptions, have lost the spirit of strength and courage, the power of independent thinking
and initiative which actuated the women of ancient India, such as Maitreyi, Gargi, Savitri and even
today activate a large number of our own women belonging to the liberal creeds like the Brahmo
Samaj, Arya Samaj, Theosophy, which is only Hinduism freed of all its meaningless customs, rites and
rituals? Although Gandhi agreed with her in a rather perfunctory way, he was not prepared to tackle
the issues of social and religious customs so directly at that point of time and centred his response
thus, "Men are undoubtedly to blame for their neglect, nay their ill use of women, and they have to do
adequate penance, but those women who have shed superstition and have become conscious of the
wrong have to do the constructive work of reform. The question of liberation of women, liberation of
India, removal of untouchability, amelioration of the economic condition of the masses and the like,
resolve themselves by penetration into the villages, reconstruction or rather reformation of the village
life."
Mahatma Gandhi believed that Satyagraha was the most powerful weapon in a nonviolent struggle,
which involves defiance, the willful, peaceful, and breaking of unjust laws. Since women were the
most nonviolent and ardent lovers of peace, it could be sharpened and extended as a weapon in
women's struggles for justice and equality. To him the ultimate ahimsa and Satyagraha was when
women, in vast numbers, rose up to put an end to the destructive aspects of male dominance in society.
Had the momentum of freedom struggle not been slowed down, such mobilisation could have attracted
many more women into public life. Political activity geared towards the transformation of society into
the holistic, integrated entity as Gandhi had visualised has not yet crystallised. Satyagraha is now just
a word, a mere symbol, that serves no purpose for the academic or the elite, or even the middle class
feminist whose dialectic emerges from a theoretical background far removed from Gandhi's poor
women who act because they have no use for words to explain themselves.
The anti-liquor movement of Andhra Pradesh built up gradually in the minds of poor and illiterate
women who, for long years, suffered the ill-effects of alcohol consumption by their men folk. For
families steeped in poverty, for women who were subject to domestic violence related to alcohol, for
wives who had nothing material to lose by rebelling because they had nothing to lose, they fulfilled
Gandhi's wish of deciding no longer to be slaves of the situation. "No one can be exploited without his
or her willing participation" said Gandhi. Gandhi said that women "strengthen my belief in swadeshi
and satyagraha....if I could inspire in men devotion as pure as I find in the women, within a year, India
would be raised to a height impossible to imagine. As for swaraj it was the easiest thing in the world."
The superior qualities of women and the intrinsic difference between man and woman was something
Gandhi kept highlighting. He believed that women could bring about swaraj better as they were the
very embodiment of nonviolence, greater soldiers and beneficiaries of his swaraj campaigns. The three
famed spearheads of these campaigns were the manufacture of salt, boycott of foreign cloth and
shunning of liquor which he said "were specially meant for the villages and the women would benefit
especially."
Somewhere along the way, however, the issues close to Gandhi's heart have been largely left by the
wayside by women who became part of the power structure as well as by the emancipated women's
groups. Organisations involved in trade union work, social reform and development issues have in part
or in whole addressed the issue of prohibition; but women, as a group in parliament or through
institutional structures, have not raised this demand loudly and effectively. Prohibition is not accepted
when it is presented as a moral issue alone and therefore the argument has to include developmental
priorities, revenue collection, and budgetary allocations to social welfare, health and other sectors
which rural women are unable to do.
The salt satyagraha and boycott of foreign cloth emphasises the indigenous, but the feminist
movement has not associated itself with the swadeshi movement except for the Gandhian elements
within the various groupings. The wearing of khadi and handloom among the younger activists is more
as the badge of a progressive liberal rather than as a commitment to the foods of indigenous
manufacture. These are no longer taken up as issues of struggle although many women are part of the
wider movement against the neo-colonial pressures of the new world trade regime which destroy both
sovereignty and national resources.
Many institutions and organisations representing women's rights have a high visibility in the
cosmopolitan arena and have effectively expressed their concerns. Further, their members have
decisively moved far ahead of Gandhi's vision of fearless women. Alert, active and bold, they engage
in constant discussion and introspection for genuine equality.
While middle class women were visibly active side by side with Mahatma Gandhi, wearing khadi,
going to jail, organising resistance on the British in some creative and selfless way, the socially
conscious middle class woman of today has largely shunned direct political activity, preferring to seek
more secure ground in funded social work through voluntary organisations. A growing number of
emancipated, educated, young women are being diverted by market-oriented consumerism in the name
of modernity and liberation. They become packaged products for the marriage, beauty or fashion
markets, a professionalised catering to "the vanities" that Gandhi spoke of. This depoliticises them to
such an extent that the cream of young women students are unavailable to articulate the needs of their
underprivileged sisters. This results in a wider cultural and social divide emerging between the rural
and urban woman. It also demonstrates that emancipation does not mean empowerment in the
Gandhian sense if women move away from involvement with the more deep-seated problems facing
India.
Compared to the momentous work of stalwarts like Sarojini Naidu, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Dr
Muthulakshi Reddy, Lakshmi N. Menon and Annie Besant and organisations like the All India
Women's Conference, the Arya Samaj and many others during Mahatma Gandhi's time, the collective
or individual work of women in the political arena in the post-independence era has been
unremarkable. Some of the organisations are fine examples of Gandhi's ideas put into practice but lack
political power to influence change in the society around it. The appalling number of women at the
helm in the decision-making levels of the administration shows that there is a long way to go before
gender parity is achieved.
While in some spheres women have accepted Gandhi's words about shedding their role as slaves and
facing patriarchal challenges, women have largely slipped away from the paths of political action that
Gandhi had opened out for them during the freedom movement. For instance, women from the middle
classes have achieved remarkable prominence in fields such as aviation, science and space technology,
administration, education, literature and the arts. Unfortunately, the women of the rural classes are
subjected to the same oppression as before, not only by the men within their caste but also by other
communities. Inspite of the policies and legislations favouring women, and adoption of universal
franchise before many other nations, India remains far behind in achieving social and gender justice.
With the increasing criminalisation of politics and the use of vast sums of unaccounted money and
ugly muscle power by different groups and with both caste and gender groups perpetuating traditional
and modern divisions, the mission of Gandhi and the dreams of women are yet to be fulfilled.
12.8 SUMMARY
Gandhi taught us that empowerment of women without sharing our material, financial, intellectual
resources with the poor women is not possible. No other leader has done as much as Gandhi to bring
out masses of illiterate women from the four walls of their houses. A few talented women were spotted
by him who worked shoulder to shoulder with him, like Midas touch, anybody whom he inspired
became vibrant and active soldier of movement and not a lifeless idol of gold. No one can double the
efforts made by Gandhi to empower women. He had attracted many millions of literate and illiterate
women without the power of state, without the modern information technology and offering in return
only sweat, toil, and pain, which is an exceptional feat! His insistence on Women's education is the
first step in right direction. We still have miles to go to achieve our cherished goal to empower
women.
12.9 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. Describe Gandhi’s contribution towards empowerment of women.
2. Critically analyse Gandhi’s views on man-woman relations.
3. How did Gandhi make thousands of Indian women to join India’s freedom movement?
4. What is relevance of Gandhian legacy for contemporary women’s movement?
5. Write short notes on:
a. Gandhi as mentor of women freedom fighters
b. Women’s Awakening in Gandhi’s era.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Bhatt, Ela and Renana Jhabvala., “The Idea of Work” , vol. 39, no.48, November 27 - December 03,
2004
Gandhi, M.K., Hind Swaraj-Indian Home Rule, Navajivan Publications, Ahmedabad, 1908
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, Govt. of India, New Delhi, 1994.
Homer, Jack.,(ed), The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings, Grove Press, New
York, 1956.
Gandhi, M.K., An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments With Truth, Navajivan Publishing
House, Ahmedabad, 1940, 2nd edition, p.xii, p.404.
Kapadia, Sita., “A Tribute to Mahatma Gandhi: His Views on Women and Social Change”,
Journal
of South Asian Women Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, November, 1995, Asiatica Association, Milano (Italy)
Jha, Sadan., “Charkha, ‘Dear Forgotten Friend’ of Widows” Economic and Political Weekly, vol.39
no.28, July 10 - July 16, 2004
Kishwar, Madhu., “Gandhi on Women”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. XX, no. 40, October 5,
1985.
Websites:
http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/Gandhi.quotes.html#WOMEN
http://www.gandhilibrary.org
http://www.mkgandhi.org/swarajya/coverpage.htm
UNIT 13
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Structure
13.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
13.2 Science and Technology in Ancient and Medieval India
13.3 Science and Technology in Colonial India
13.4 Science and Technology in Post-Independence India
13.5 Status of Science and Technology in India in 21st Century
13.6 Gandhian Vision of Science and Technology
13.7 Summary
13.8 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
13.1 INTRODUCTION
Science and technology have played a pivotal role in the development of
human society. The human beings from prehistoric times had curiosity to
observe and understand nature so that they could control and manipulate
nature for their benefit and welfare. As a result of collective involvement of
large number of people in scientific and technological enterprise all over
the world, the twentieth century witnessed a tremendous progress and
development, which has brought enormous benefits to humankind. Long
and healthy lives, economic prosperity, faster and newer modes of transport
and communication, pleasant and convenient life-styles, reduction in
human drudgery due to large-scale use of machinery have resulted from
technological progress based on advances in scientific knowledge. However,
at the same time, these advances in science have also given rise to
development of tools such as biological and nuclear weapons, which have
brought the world to the precipice of destruction. In this unit, we will
briefly discuss the developments in science and technology in India from the
ancient to the present times and try to examine them in the light of Gandhian
perspective of science and technology.
Aims and Objectives
This Unit enables you to understand
· The scenario of science and technology in ancient and medieval India
· Its development in the modern India and
· Gandhi’s views on science and technology.
13.2 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL
INDIA
India has a glorious culture of education, science and technology from
ancient times and had made significant contributions in the field of
astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, metallurgy, Ayurvedic system of medicine
and surgery. The Indian scholars had developed geometrical theorems much
before Pythagoras did in sixth century BC. A detailed description of these
theorems and axioms is found in an ancient text called Sulvasutra, which
dates back to around 600-300BC.These sutras were used for making intricate
devotional altars in Vedic times. Apart from this, Sulvasutra describes
construction of geometrical figures, combination and transformation of
areas, measurement of areas and volumes, squaring the circles and vice
versa, making of similar figures with different areas, and a host of other
related problems. Sulvasutras contain several examples of addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division and squaring of fractions. Quadratic
equations, indeterminate equations, permutations and combinations also
appear in Sulvasutras. The concept of zero and the place value concept in
the decimal system of numbers reached Europe from India through the Arab
world. Starting from Rig Vedic period, great strides were made in the field
of astronomy by tracking the motion of heavenly bodies. The priests gave
division of time in days, months and years and drew up calendars which
were required for sacrificial ceremonies. Aryabhatta, a great astronomer
born in 476 AD, believed that earth revolved around the Sun. He also gave
an explanation for the occurrence of eclipses and constructed trigonometric
tables. He developed formulas for the sum of arithmetic and geometrical
series. Carak Samhita, considered to be the main Indian treatise on medicine
and the surgical text, Susruta Samhita are generally estimated to have been
originated around 600BC. By the 500 - 400BC the Indian metalworkers had
attained a high degree of perfection in iron and steel making. The 4th century
AD famous iron pillar near Qutab Minar in Delhi, known as the rustless
wonder, is testimony to the art and science of steel making in ancient India.
The Indian technology of extraction of zinc predates by a couple of centuries
that developed in Europe.
By 6th century BC, the Taxila university gained prominence and several
foreign scholars from different parts of the known world visited and studied
there. Nalanda, Kanchi and Vikramshila came into existence in 5th and 6th
century AD. Up to about the middle of the 16th century, Indian science was
at the same level as science anywhere else in the world, particularly
European science. But then prevailing social conditions in India could not
sustain it. There was considerable economic prosperity and social stability in
which religion and caste system had a hold in the society, which contributed
to reconciliation with fate and social hierarchy. Therefore, science and
technology in India declined. On the other hand Renaissance, Scientific and
Industrial Revolution led to the emergence of modern science in Europe,
which made big strides forward and left Indian science way behind in the
period that followed. The British, who came as traders to India, subjugated
and colonised the country on the strength of their superior science,
technology and industry. India’s scientific culture and educational system
suffered considerably.
13.3
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN COLONIAL INDIA
The British were primarily interested in strengthening their political and
economic domination over India. They exploited India’s resources to the full
and developed only a nominal scientific infrastructure which met for this
purpose. They gathered maximum possible information about India, its
people and resources thorough knowledge of geography, geology and botany
of the area under their control. They invested in these areas and hoped to get
direct economic benefit. Education and research in chemistry, physics,
medical and other sciences were thus ignored.
With the creation of the Supreme Court in Calcutta in 1774, Hindus of
Bengal became eager to learn the English language. With the support of Sir
Edward Hyde East, Chief Justice, Supreme Court, Hindu College, Kolkata
was started on January 20, 1817 for giving liberal education to the children
of the members of the Hindu Community. Increasing realisation of the value
of English education made Hindu College a coveted destination of scholars
from all over India. In October, 1853, the Governor of Bengal suggested
that a new general college should be established at Calcutta by the
government and designated ‘The Presidency College’ which should be open
to all youth of every caste, class or creed . On June 15, 1855 the Presidency
College was formally established. In 1855, The Presidency College, Madras
was also started, followed by setting up of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai,
Fergusson College, Pune, St. Stephens College, Delhi etc.
With the demand for higher English education gathering momentum, in
1857 the Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were set up on the
pattern of London University. Initially these universities supervised
education at undergraduate level; post-graduate courses were started much
later but research in these fields was almost impossible.
The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science was established in July
1876 at Bowbazar Street, Kolkata by Dr. Mahendra Lal Sircar, a
philanthropist, and Fr. Eugene Lafont, Rector and Science Professor at St.
Xavier’s College, the activities at the Association in the very early years
were supported by generous public contributions. The Association came up
in the backdrop of the great cultural and intellectual awakening of the 19th
century Bengal and was intended to be an institution ‘solely of the native
and purely national’ to cultivate science advancement by original research
and apply to the arts and comforts of life. Many distinguished scientists of
modern India had carried out research there, for example, Sir C V Raman
did his work on Physical Optics leading to the discovery of the Raman
Effect, which won for him and India the first Nobel Prize in Physics. Several
eminent Indian scientists including K S Krishnan, S Bhagavantam, and M N
Saha also worked here and enriched the research culture of the Association
in the early decades.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore was conceived as a
‘Research Institute’ by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata in 1896 with the aim of
advancing the scientific capabilities of the country. The constitution of the
Institute was approved by the Viceroy Lord Minto and the land and other
facilities for the institution were provided by Shri. Krishnaraj Wodeyar IV,
the Maharaja of Mysore, Government of India, and Tata himself. IISc is
considered as the premier institute for scientific research and study in India,
and is ranked higher than any other Indian university in world university
rankings. Shri.Homi Bhabha conceived the idea of the Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research (TIFR) and an Atomic Energy Programme while
working in the Department of Physics. Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of
India's space program was an alumnus. Following his premature death, the
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was built by the farsighted
leadership of Satish Dhawan, who simultaneously held the position of the
Director of the Institute with the greatest distinction. The first Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kharagpur was established by J.C.Ghosh,
who was the Director of IISc in the period 1939-48. Notable scientists
include G.N. Ramachandran, Harish Chandra, S. Ramaseshan, A.
Ramachandran and C.N.R. Rao.
Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha realized the importance of atomic energy in the
development of the country and requested financial assistance from Sir
Dorabji Tata Trust for setting up a scientific research institute. With the
support of J R D Tata, then Chairman, of the Tata Group, Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai was founded in 1945 and Homi
Bhabh was appointed its first director. After independence, in 1949, the
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) designated TIFR as a
centre for all large scale projects in nuclear research.
To meet the requirements of colonial India in agricultural research, the
Imperial Council of Agricultural Research was established in 1929, with
emphasis on plantation research, experimental farms for introduction of new
varieties and problems related to cash crops – cotton, indigo, tobacco and tea
which were exported to England.
With the first stirrings for freedom from colonial rule and demand for selfrule, the Swadeshi Movement provided further impetus for promotion of
education with special reference to science and technology and for
industrialisation of the country. The outbreak of the Second World War and
the interruption of direct sea route between India and England made it
necessary for the colonial government to allow development of greater
industrial capability in India. Therefore a Central Research Organisation
began, which eventually led to the establishment of Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research, New Delhi in 1942. Its objectives were:
·
·
·
·
·
·
promotion, guidance and coordination of Scientific and Industrial
research in India,
establishment or development of institutions and assistance to
departments of existing institutions for specific study of problems
affecting particular industries and trades,
establishment and award of research fellowships,
establishment, maintenance and management of laboratories,
workshops, institutes and organisations to further scientific and
industrial research,
collection and dissemination of information in regard not only to
research but also to general industrial matters, and
Publication of scientific papers and journals.
CSIR has been striving to achieve generation of new knowledge and new
products, processes and technologies in diverse areas ranging from
chemicals and drugs to materials and electronics; from safe drinking water
and food technology to aerospace; and from environment protection and
toxicology to petroleum processing. It has grown to span a very wide S & T
base and has emerged as a national organization with its 40 laboratories
spread all over. CSIR has always strived for the development of indigenous
technologies and optimum utilisation of indigenous resources.
13.4 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN POST-INDEPENDENCE
INDIA
During the course of freedom struggle, Gandhi campaigned for an economic
development based on cottage and village industries. He was against heavy
industries. While luminaries like P C Ray held the view that general progress
was through elementary education and traditional industries, people like
M.N. Shah and others criticised Gandhi. Pandit Nehru had a great faith in
the power of science and technology as tools for solving the problems being
faced by the country. Addressing the Indian Science Congress held in
Kolkata in 1937, he observed:
“It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of
insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening of custom and
tradition, of vast resources running to waste, of a rich country inhabited by
starving poor…Who indeed could afford to ignore science today? At every
turn we have to seek its aid, and the whole fabric of the world today is of its
making….the future belongs to science and those friends with science.”
When India achieved Independence in 1947, the national consensus was in
favour of rapid industrialisation based on foundations of modern science and
technology, and a planned socialist model of development of the country.
Pandit Nehru’s initiated a strong and diversified industrial base. He set out
the goal of rapid agricultural and industrial development of the country,
expansion of opportunities for gainful employment, progressive reduction of
social and economic disparities, removal of poverty and attainment of selfreliance. This led to the passage of Industrial Policy Resolution of 1948
followed by Industrial Policy Resolutions / Statements of 1956, 1973, 1977,
1980 and 1991.
The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1948 emphasised the importance of
securing a continuous increase in production and its equitable distribution,
and pointed out that the State must play a progressively active role in the
development of Industries. Besides arms and ammunition, atomic energy
and railway transport, which would be the monopoly of the Central
Government, the State would be exclusively responsible for the
establishment of new undertakings in six basic industries-except where, in
the national interest, the State itself found it necessary to secure the
cooperation of private enterprise. It emphasised the expansion of production,
both agricultural and industrial; and in particular on the production of capital
equipment and goods satisfying the basic needs of the people, and of
commodities the export of which would increase earnings of foreign
exchange. The rest of the industrial field was left open to private enterprise
though it was made clear that the State would also progressively participate
in this field. Specific priorities for industrial development were also laid
down in the successive Five Year Plans.
The first five-year plan of 1951addressed the issues of agrarian sector,
including investments in dams and irrigation. The total planned budget was
allocated to irrigation and energy, agriculture and community development,
transport and communications, industry social services, land rehabilitation,
and other sectors and services. The state’s role was justified at that time
because post-independence, India was facing basic problems like- deficiency
of capital and low capacity to save.
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) established in 1905 as the
Imperial Agricultural Research Institute was recognised as a 'deemed
university' in 1958 by an act of Parliament. It is financed and administered
by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which is an apex
body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in
agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire
country. The first state agriculture university was established in 1960 at
Pantnagar. With 45 agricultural universities and over 90 ICAR institutes
across the country, it is one of the largest national agricultural systems in the
world. The ICAR has played a pioneering role in ushering Green Revolution
in 1970s and subsequent developments in agriculture in India through its
research and technology development that has enabled the country to
increase the production of food grains by 4 times, horticultural crops by 6
times, fish by 9 times (marine 5 times and inland 17 times), milk 6 times and
eggs 27 times since 1950-51, thus making a visible impact on the national
food and nutritional security. It has played a major role in promoting
excellence in higher education in agriculture.
The 1956 Industrial Policy Resolution gave primacy to the role of the State
which was directly responsible for industrial development and classified
industries into three categories. The first category comprised 17 industries
(included in Schedule A of the Resolution) exclusively under the domain of
the Government. These included railways, air transport, arms and
ammunition, iron and steel and atomic energy. The second category
comprised 12 industries (included in Schedule B of the Resolution), which
were envisaged to be progressively State-owned but private sector was
expected to supplement the efforts of the State. The third category contained
all the remaining industries and it was expected that private sector would
initiate development of these industries but they would remain open for the
State as well. Consequently the planning process was initiated taking into
account the needs of the country. The second five-year plan focused on
heavy industry. The Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the
Constitution of India state that
“The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and
protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social
economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life.”
The adoption of the socialist pattern of society as the national objective
required that all industries of basic, large-scale and strategic importance and
public utility services should be in the public sector. The State had to assume
direct responsibility for the future development of industries over a wide
area. Therefore, the Public Sector got a great push.The plan followed the
Mahalanobis model, an economic development model developed by the
Indian statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in 1953. The plan
attempted to determine the optimal allocation of investment between
productive sectors in order to maximise long-run economic growth.
The success of industry depends upon its access to technology and skilled
manpower. At the time of independence opportunities of education in
science and technology education were very limited. The higher education
system inherited by us in 1947 had only 18 universities, 5 post-graduate
engineering colleges, 22 medical colleges and 496 colleges catering to about
1,50,000 students with enrolment of 5,996, 905, 1076 and 959 in B.Sc.,
M.Sc., B.E. and M.B.B.S. degrees., respectively. A 22 member committee
headed by Sri N.R.Sarkar, in its report in 1946, recommended the
establishment of four Higher Technical Institutions in the Eastern, Western,
Northern and Southern regions, possibly on the lines of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, USA, with a number of secondary institutions
affiliated to it. These institutes were intended to produce undergraduates and
those engaged in research, producing research workers and technical
teachers as well. As a result of the recommendations of the Sarkar
committee, the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) was established in
1950 in Kharagpur. Subsequently IIT, Mumbai was started in 1958,
followed by IIT Kanpur and Chennai in 1959 and Delhi in 1961.The number
of IITs has now increased to 14. The importance of science and technology
in national developed was emphasized in the “Scientific Policy Resolution”
by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and adopted by Indian Parliament in
1958:
“The key to national prosperity, apart from the spirit of the people, lies in the
modern age in the effective combination of three factors: technology, raw
materials and capital, of which the first is perhaps, the most important, since
the creation and adoption of new scientific techniques can, in fact, make up
for a deficiency in natural resources, and reduce the demands on capital. But
technology can only grow out of the study of science and its applications.”
The Government of India decided that the aims of the scientific policy
resolution would be to
· foster, promote, and sustain, by all appropriate means, the cultivation
of science, and scientific research in all its aspects – pure, applied, and
educational;
· ensure an adequate supply, within the country, of research scientists of
the highest quality, and to recognise their work as an important
component of the strength of the nation;
· encourage, and initiate, with all possible speed, programmes for the
training of scientific and technical personnel, on a scale adequate to
fulfill country’s needs in science and education, agriculture and
industry, and defence;
· ensure that the creative talent of men and women is encouraged and
finds full scope in scientific activity;
· encourage individual initiative for the acquisition and dissemination
of knowledge, in an atmosphere of academic freedom; and
· Secure for the people of the country all the benefits that can accrue
from the acquisition and application of scientific knowledge.
A chain of research laboratories were established under the Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to promote development of
indigenous technology to help industry. The Indian Council for Agricultural
Research (ICAR) and also the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) have been established. The Atomic Energy Act was
enacted in 1948 and Atomic Energy Commission was established. Similarly
to organize research and development in the field of space, Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) was established and the Space Research Act
was enacted in 1956.
The University Grants Commission was set up in 1956 by an act of
Parliament to take care of funding and take measures to strengthen the
higher education in the country. The Third Five Year Plan (1961-66) laid
emphasis on the development of education.
Twenty-five years after adoption of Science Policy Resolution of 1958, the
Government of India Issued a Technology Policy Statement with the
objectives to
a) attain technological competence and self-reliance, to reduce vulnerability,
particularly in strategic and critical areas, making the maximum use of
indigenous resources;
b) provide the maximum gainful and satisfying employment to all strata of
society, with emphasis on the employment of women and weaker sections of
society;
c) use traditional skills and capabilities, making them commercially
competitive;
d) ensure the correct mix between mass production technologies and
production by the masses;
e) ensure maximum development with minimum capital outlay;
f) identify obsolescence of technology in use and arrange for modernisation
of both equipment and technology;
g) develop technologies which are internationally competitive, particularly
those with export potential;
h) improve production speedily through greater efficiency and fuller
utilization of existing capabilities, and enhance the quality and reliability of
performance and output;
i) reduce demands on energy, particularly energy from non-renewable
sources;
j) ensure harmony with the environment, preserve the ecological balance and
improve the quality of the habitat; and
k) recycle waste material and make full utilisation of by-products.
13.5 STATUS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA IN 21ST
CENTURY
The Government of India encourages higher education system that has
grown into one of the largest in the world. In comparision to just 18
universities and less than 500 colleges catering to only 1,50,000 with
enrolment of 5,996, 905, 1076 and 959 in B.Sc., M.Sc., B.E. and M.B.B.S.
degrees., respectively. in 1947, India now has a network of more than 500
universities – 42 central universities, 259 state universities, 130 deemed
universities and 70 private universities, 21000 colleges, 14 Indian Institutes
of Technology, 13 Indian Institutes of Management, 20 National Institutes
of Technology, 6 Indian Institutes of Information Technology, 6 Indian
Institutes of Science Education and Research and 3000 private engineering
and management institutes and 314 medical colleges located in different
parts of the country. The Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institute
of Science, The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and some of the
central universities are among the finest institutions in the world and made a
name for themselves. Facilities for higher education in all fields of
knowledge are available in the country and the Indian higher education
system is the third largest in the world. India also has the second largest pool
of scientists in the world. India excels in software development. Excellent
Healthcare facilities for treatment of all kinds of ailments and diseases are
available in the country at highly competitive rates and a large number of
foreign nationals travel to India every year. All this is in spite of the fact
that only 11% of 18-24 year age group has access to higher education, which
is to be enhanced to 15% by the year 2012 and to 30% by the year 2020 so
as to meet the requirements of a growing knowledge economy. According to
Mr Amod Kanth, Chairman, ‘Delhi Commission for Protection of Child
Rights’ six crore children in the 6-14 age group are out school in the
country. To provide them free and compulsory elementary education,
Government of India had enacted Right to Education Act in 2009.
India has made tremendous progress in science and technology coupled with
economic policies pursued by the Government, more so after economic
liberalisation in 1991. It is also an emerging nuclear power but harnesses its
nuclear energy for peaceful purpose and to use it as a deterrent. India
produces 4% of its total electricity requirement from nuclear power plants,
which is to be increased to 10% in near future so as to reduce its dependence
on scarce fossil fuels. It has developed a one hundred tonne annual capacity
spent fuel reprocessing plant essential for the country’s closed–fuel-cycle
three stage nuclear programme. It is amongst a select group of nations,
which can place satellites in space, and is the fourth country after USA,
USSR and China, to place its flag on Moon through its unmanned lunar
probe named Chandrayan-1.
With a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $3.75 trillion (by purchasing
power parity), India is the fourth largest economy after the United States,
China and Japan. By 2020, assuming current annual growth rate, it is
expected that the Indian GDP at $8.00 trillion will be the third largest. In
2009, India’s 100 richest persons had a combined net worth of $276 billion,
almost 25% of the country’s GDP. In 2010, the top 40 Indian’s collective
worth stood at $243 billion, up from $229 billion in 2009. At the same time
a staggering 800 million Indians live on Rs 40.00 a day. According to
Human Development Report for 2010, India ranks at 119th of 169 countries
measured on Human Development Index (HDI), which is a composite index
measuring progress towards a healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent
standard of living. According to a forecast released on January 07, 2011 by
the consultancy group, Price-Waterhouse Coopers, the Indian economy will
register the second fastest growth between now and 2050 and emerge as the
second biggest economy in the world by the middle of the century.
Research and developments in the field of agriculture have made a visible
impact on the national food and nutritional security. India is producing more
food grains than it can store properly. In 2010, India had a record foodgrains
production 218 million tonnes, some of which had to be stored in open
yards, leading to its rotting. However, the per head food availability (152
kg in 1950 per head per year) has not improved much despite all this
development (155kg per head per year 2010). It is not surprising that
according to Global Hunger Index for 2010, India ranks at 67th among 84
developing countries, and out of 925 million hungry in the world, about 50%
live in India alone. Also according to this report, India is home to about 42%
of the world’s underweight and undernourished children. At the same time,
according to a report of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
(SIPRI), expenditure on arms purchase between 2001and 2009 by India
doubled from $1.04 billion to $2.10 billion. As both China and Pakistan are
both stockpiling arms, according to corporate analyst KPMG, India would
spend $112 billion on capital defence expenditure between 2010-2016, one
of the largest (possibly second largest) in the world.
13.6 GANDHIAN VISION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Gandhi was not against science and technology per se as is commonly
perceived; he had strong views against their misuse- be it weapons,
vivisection or machines. He observed:
“Modern civilisation, far from having done the greatest good to humanity,
has forgotten that its greatest achievements are weapons of mass destruction,
the awful growth of anarchism, the frightful disputes between capital and
labour and the wanton and diabolical cruelty inflicted on innocent, dumb,
living animals in the name of science, falsely so called (CWMG, vol.1,
pp.189-91). The boast about the wonderful discoveries and the marvellous
inventions of science, good as they undoubtedly are in themselves, is, after
all, an empty boast (CWMG, Vol.3, p.414).”
When asked by a scientist who wished to know what men of science were to
do if they were asked by the Indian government to engage in researches in
furtherance of war and the atom bomb, Gandhi replied categorically:
“Scientists to be worth the name should resist such a state unto death.”
Gandhi strongly opposed practices like vivisection practiced by modern
scientists. He wrote; “vivisection in my opinion is the blackest of all crimes
that man is at present committing against god and his fair creation. We
should be able to refuse to live if the price of living be the torture of sentient
beings.” According to Gandhi, vivisection had not added an inch to our
moral height, he said:
“I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. I detest the unpardonable slaughter
of innocent life in the name of science and humanity so-called, and all the
scientists' discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no
consequence. If the circulation of blood theory could not have been
discovered with out vivisection the human kind could well have done
without it. And I see the day clearly dawning when the honest scientist of the
west will put limitations upon the present methods of pursuing knowledge.
Future measurements will take note not only of the human family, but of all
that lives and even as we are slowly but surely discovering that it is an error
to suppose that Hindus can thrive upon the degradation of a fifth of themselves or that peoples of the west can rise or live upon the exploitation and
degradation of the eastern and African nations, so shall we realise in the
fullness of time, that our dominion over the lower order of creation is not for
their slaughter, but for their benefit equally with ours. For I am as certain
that they are endowed with a soul as that I am (CWMG, Vol.29, pp.25-26)”.
Gandhi felt that Ayurveda and Unani had maintained a relation between
science and religion, body and soul, but had not inculcated the spirit of
research that fired modern science. In 1921, inaugu- rating the Tibbia
College at Delhi, Gandhi expounded his views on modern and traditional
medicine:
“I would like to pay my humble tribute to the spirit of research that fires the
modern scientists. My quarrel is not against that spirit. My complaint is
against the direction that the spirit had taken. It has chiefly concerned itself
with the exploration of laws and methods conducing to the merely material
advancement of its clientele. But I have nothing but praise for the zeal,
industry and sacrifice that have animated the modern scientists in the pursuit
after truth. I regret to have to record my opinion based on considerable
experience that our hakims and vaids not exhibit that spirit in any
mentionable degree. They follow without question formulas. They carry on
little investigation. The condition of indigenous medicine is truly deplorable.
Not having kept abreast of modern research, their profession has fallen
largely into disrepute. I am hoping that this college will try to remedy this
grave defect and restore Ayurvedic and Unani medical science to its pristine
glory. I am glad, therefore, that this institution has its western wing
(CWMG, vol.19, pp.357-58).”
Gandhi was against indiscriminate use of machinery to save labour and
maximize profit. He said in Hind Swaraj, first published in 1908:
“It is machinery which has impoverished India. It is difficult to measure the
harm that Manchester has done to us. It is due to Manchester that Indian
handicraft has all but disappeared…..Machinery is chief symbol of modern
civilization; it represents a great sin….If the machinery craze grows in our
country, it will become an unhappy land. It may be considered a heresy, but
I am bound to say that it were better for us to send money to Manchester and
to use flimsy Manchester cloth than to multiply mills in India. By using
Manchester cloth we only waste our money; but by using by reproducing
Manchester in India, we shall keep our money at the price of our blood,
because our very moral being will be sapped, and I call in support of my
statement the very mill-hands as witnesses. And those who have amassed
wealth out of factories are not likely to be better than other rich men. It
would be folly to assume that an Indian Rockfeller would be better than an
American Rockfeller. Impoverished India can become free, but it will be
hard for any India made rich through immorality to regain its freedom.”
He further wrote:
“Machinery is like a snake-hole which may contain from one to a hundred
snakes. Where there is machinery there are large cities, there are tram cars
and railways; and there only one see electric light. English villages do not
boast of any of these things. Honest physicians will tell you that where
means of artificial locomotion have increased, the health of people has
suffered...He further opined that “the mind is a restless bird; the more it gets
the more it wants, and still remains unsatisfied. The more we indulge our
passions the more unbridled they become. Our ancestors, therefore, set a
limit to our indulgence. They saw that happiness was largely a mental
condition. A man is not necessarily happy because he is rich and unhappy
because he is poor. The rich are often seen to be unhappy, the poor to be
happy…. It was not that we did not know how to invent machinery, but our
forefathers knew that, if we set our hearts after such things, we would
become slaves and lose our moral fibre. They, therefore, after due
deliberation decided that we should only do what we could with our hands
and feet. They saw that our real happiness and health consisted in a proper
use of our hands and feet. They further reasoned that large cities were a
snare and a useless encumbrance and that people would not be happy in
them, that there would be gangs of thieves and robbers, prostitution and vice
flourishing in them and that poor men would be robed by rich men. They
were therefore, satisfied with small villages.”
Replying to a question whether he was against all machinery, he said:
“How can I be when I know that even this body is most delicate machinery?
The spinning wheel is a machine: a little toothpick is a machine. What I
object to is the craze for machinery, not machinery as such. The craze is for
what they call labour saving machinery. Men go on ‘saving labour’ till
thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of
starvation. I want to save time and labour not for a fraction of mankind but
for all. I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of a few, but in
the hands of all. Today machinery merely helps a few to ride on the backs of
millions. The impetus behind it all is not the philanthropy to save labour, but
greed. It is against this constitution of things that I am fighting with all my
might….The supreme consideration is man. The machine should not tend to
atrophy the limbs of man. For instance, I would make intelligent exceptions.
Take the case of the Singer’s Sewing Machine. It is one of the useful things
ever invented, and there is a romance about the device itself.”
According to Gandhi machinery existed for man, and not vice-versa, and
must be made subservient to the well being of the people and should not be
allowed to become their master. Gandhi opined that the use of machinery
should not result in unemployment or exploitation of the poor. He said: “I
have no objection if all things required by my country could be produced
with the labour of 30,000 instead of three crores. But those three crores must
not be rendered idle or unemployed.”
Gandhi was against the rapid industrialisation, but he was for village
industries: “it is industry that has caused the development of large cities with
their smoke, dirt, noise, bad air, lack of sunshine, and outdoor life, slums,
disease, prostitution, and unnatural living.” Based on such view Gandhi
argued- “if future of industrialism is dark for the west, would it not be darker
still for India.” He further said, “Industrialism is, I am afraid, going to be a
curse for mankind.”
Industrialisation is a means to achieve mass production which means
production by fewest possible numbers through the aid of highly
complicated machinery. By mass production, Gandhi meant production by
masses. He asked “if you multiply individual production to million times,
would it not give you mass production on a tremendous scale?” Gandhi
asserted that he was against large-scale production only of those things that
villagers could produce without difficulty. He held that machine is harmful
when the same thing can be done easily by millions of hands not otherwise
occupied. He wrote, “Mechanisation is good when the hands are too few for
the work intended to be accomplished. It is an evil when there are more
hands than required for the work, as in the case of India.”
13.7 SUMMARY
In this unit a brief survey of status of science and technology in India since
the earliest times to the present day was given. India had made great
contributions in the past in the field of astronomy, geometry, mathematics,
metallurgy, Ayurveda and surgery. Till the mid sixteenth century, science
and technology in India was at the same level as any where else in the world.
There was economic prosperity and social stability in which religion and
caste system had a hold in the society, science and technology declined in
India and the country was colonised. After independence, India adopted a
socialist and planned model of development based on modern science and
technology and has made great progress emerging into a great economic and
industrial superpower. In the end we have presented in brief Gandhian vision
of science and technology, his views on machines and industrialisation that
hold relevance in this 21st century.
13.8 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What is the contribution of ancient Indians in the field of metallurgy?
2. Describe the developments in the field of education in colonial India.
3. India has made a great progress in the field of science, technology and
industry after Independence. Comment.
4. Gandhi was justified in his opposition to the use of machinery in mass
production. Comment.
SUGGESTED READINGS
1. M.K.Gandhi, Hind Swaraj, Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad, 1938
2. D.M.Bose, S.N.Sen, B.V. Subbarayappa,(Ed)., A Concise History of
Science in India, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi,
1971.
3. Rais Ahmed, (Ed), Foundation Course in Science and Technology,
New Delhi, Indira Gandhi National Open University, 1988.
4. Ramjee Singh, Gandhi and the Modern World, New Delhi, Classical
Publishing Company, 1988.
5. M.P.Mani, and K.S.Bharathi., Foundations of Gandhian Thought,
Nagpur, Dattsons, 1987.
6. Shambhu Prasad., Towards an Understanding of Gandhi’s Views on
Science, Economic and Political Weekly, 29 September, 2001,
p.3721.
7. Feroz Ahmed, and Suresh Garg, , Scientific Humanism: Repositioning
Indian Education, Viva Books, New Delhi, 2010.
UNIT 14
MEDIA
Structure
14.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
14.2 Importance of Media
14.3 Gandhi and the Media
14.4 Media in the Contemporary World
14.5 Significance of Media Ethics
14.6 Summary
14.7 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
14.1 INTRODUCTION
As an effective tool of communication media today is an integral part of our day-to-day
life. Beginning with the print format, moving on to the audio and later the visual form, it
has made significant inroads into the homes and minds of millions of people. The
powerful impact of the media is felt in every walk of life, including the moulding of the
entire thought process of the nation. For the simple common man media is one of the
most entertaining aspects of his existence; for an intellectual, it invokes thoughtprovoking ideas. The media, in its various forms, does a commendable work and service
by exposing the maladies in the system and by highlighting issues on the national
platform. On the other hand, sensationalism today has become the hallmark of the media,
where in the name of news, sordid details and crime hold the nation enthralled into the
wee hours of night. But, media helps in promoting the right values, besides exposing the
negative aspects lurking into the societal system. A courageous media helps people to
realise their own potential and fight against injustice in all forms. For being one of the
most powerful tools of imparting information to public, the media has been assigned the
status of the fourth estate. In democratic systems, media assumes all the more a powerful
role for its ability to mould public opinion and influence the public policy.
Aims and Objectives
After reading this Unit, you would be able to understand
·
the importance of media
·
how Gandhi used journalism for a greater cause of political and social importance
·
14.2
the current state of media in India and the need to adopt ethical approach.
IMPORTANCE OF MEDIA
Media has a highly constructive role assigned to it. By focussing upon the social issues, it
makes people responsible citizens and provides valuable service to the cause of nationbuilding. These social issues include poverty, violence, corruption, violation of human
rights, gender discrimination, inequality, lack of education, laxity in moral values and so
on. The media becomes a strong weapon to combat these by exposing them and giving
people the moral strength to fight them.
Media is an effective catalyst in the process of development, an agent of change that
mobilises people for an all round development of the nation. As the renowned
communication journalist Bourgault puts it, “The goals of development journalism are
to promote grass-roots, non-violent, socially responsible, ecologically sensitive,
personally
empowering
democratic,
dialogical
and
humanistic
forms
of
communication”. Media, by imparting information on the economic, educative, social,
and cultural issues, enables an interactive process, thereby leading to awareness,
responsibility, growth and development. Thus media plays a highly significant role by
creating awareness and a sense of responsibility. It wields an enormous hold over people,
and if channelised in a positive and constructive manner, it helps in creating a better
society and nation.
In sum, media performs two important functions:
1. It influences the policymakers by giving a feedback on important issues by the
public, civil society, educationists, journalists, workers and others from all section
of society; and
2. It pressurises/ compels the policy makers to take into view people’s response
before formulating policies and programmes and act in the interest of public.
The media is invariably intertwined with the public opinion and in this age of
globalisation and advancements in technology, it acts as the medium to assess the
strengths and weaknesses of the system. With the beginning of changes in the
information and communication technology, its reach has become wider. It is no longer
confined to the print media but is accessible through radio, television, and internet and so
on. Even the governments are now depending on the internet sources to impart
information to the public and expanding the area of its accountability.
The Communication theorists like George Garbner, who worked on Cultivation Theory,
describes the media as ‘moulders of the society’. He explained that media has subtle
effect on people’s perception and believed that media acts as the cultivator of dominant
image patterns due to persistent exposure.
14.3
MEDIA IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Media today is a very significant aspect of our existence and therefore has to do a very
delicate balancing act in presenting news and views. It has become a medium of bringing
out truth, educate people about their rights and duties, expose the wrong and highlight the
rights. While its role is to uphold the tenets of faith, it has also become hasty and
judgemental time and again. The reason may be attributed to the innumerable number of
newspapers, television channels and multiplication of radio stations that are continuously
engaged in imparting information to the public. In this context, competition and the
urgency to be the first to present the news, media has been going overboard to
sensationalise even trivial issues. In the present day world there have been multiple
instances of misrepresentations by media and it would do well to keep in mind what
Gandhi said in this connection “To be true to my faith, therefore, I may not write in anger
or malice. I may not write idly, I may not write merely to excite passion… Often my
vanity dictates a smart expression or my anger a harsh adjective. It is a terrible ordeal but
a fine exercise to remove these weeds”. He adds, “The duty of the journalists is the same
as that of the historian – to seek out the truth, above all things and present to his
readers… the truth as near as he can attain it”.
Today besides news, the larger portion of the media is covered by a barrage of
advertisements, both good and bad. Gandhi rightly said that “It is the duty of every
newspaper to exercise restraint in the matter of advertisements”. The growing
influence of the market forces on media is a matter of grave concern as many a time it has
taken precedence over truthful presentation of facts and or even at times, hamper it. Profit
has taken over good sense, morality and ethics and thereby has come to lower the
standards to a considerable extent.
Media is a great social catalyst as it reflects upon the good and evil prevalent in society. It
is through information that awareness comes to people and public opinion is formed. This
is where the social responsibility of media assumes importance. When Gandhi took to
writing in newspapers, he covered various socio-economic-political cultural aspects of
life and wrote extensively on the merits and demerits in our system. He covered health,
sanitation, poverty, rural-reconstruction, Swaraj, education, diet-reforms, religion thereby
providing holistic journalism.
This is the requirement today. Media should play a very significant role in social-reforms,
cover issues of national importance and present an unbiased picture of matters to people.
A great believer in the freedom of the press, Gandhi was right in saying that “Freedom
of the press is a precious privilege that no country can forego”. Today the media is
mostly the over-imposing upon the minds of unsuspecting public which becomes
insensitive when surrounded by all kinds of insignificant news. As Gandhi says “The
newspaper should be read for the study of facts, they should not be allowed to kill
the habit of independent thinking”.
Gandhi belonged to an age when the media began to emerge, though not in a significant
manner, as an effective tool of communication and information. But it was confined
mainly to the print media though audio and visual media occasionally were made us of.
Inspite of this, Gandhi’s method of reaching out to public was outstanding. He, through
his journalistic writings, created an indelible impact on the minds of the Indian masses.
The following section elaborates on this aspect and depicts as to how Gandhi used the
print media to communicate to the public.
14.4
GANDHI AND THE MEDIA
The most unique among men, Gandhi was a prominent leader in the freedom struggle of
India who realised the significance of media and used it in the most constructive manner.
He was a journalist par excellence. His foray into the world of journalism began in
England as a young law student and came across the world of varied ideas through
writings and newspapers. Having become a member of the Vegetarian Society, he
contributed regularly to the Society weekly ‘The Vegetarian’. Although a shy orator, he
turned out to be a prolific writer expressing his ideas in a simple, heart warming
language. These early articles were based on the concept of vegetarianism, and Indian
way of life particularly its customs, traditions, religions, festivals and food habits.
It was the ‘dark continent’ of South Africa that provided Gandhi the energy to take up
Journalism as a medium to fight racial injustice. This was his first step to challenge the
British might and expose the pitiable plight of the Indians working there to eke out a
living. The world’s most effective journalistic journey had been embarked upon. The
young lawyer, a direct victim of the racist regime, realised the plight of the thousands of
Indian immigrants working there as bonded labourers. He devoted all his energy towards
their cause, and journalism became a very strong weapon for him to expose the racial
brutalities. The initial friendly newspapers through letters and interviews soon turned into
newspaper to meet the magnitude of the daunting task. The Indian Opinion launched on
June 4, 1903 was answer to this need, since he believed in the mission and service as the
twin goals of journalism.
The Indian Opinion heralded the advent of Gandhi on the journalistic scene. It became
the voice of countless millions subject to abject poverty and racial abuse. Through it,
Gandhi guided and unified the Indian population in South Africa. It reflected the basic
qualities of the founder editor with an unshakable adherence to truth, pursuit of public
causes and objectivity in presentation. His writings are lessons to all journalists to fight
injustice without offending rulers.
The Indian Opinion made its first appearance 4th June 1903, and the first editorial written
by him is elegant, simple and eloquent “we need offer no apology for making an
appearance. The Indian Community in South Africa is a recognized factor in the body
politic, and a newspaper voicing its feelings, and specially devoted to its cause, would
hardly be considered out of place; indeed, we think it would supply a long felt want…”
In his own words “Indian Opinion was certainly a most useful and potent weapon in our
struggle... It was a mirror of part of my life”. It was in its columns that he expounded the
theory and practices of Satyagraha. It continued to be the foundation stone for Gandhi’s
contribution to journalism after his return to India in 1915.
Gandhi realised that an Indian newspaper is necessary to educate the immigrant Indians
and by controlling the press, he helped create public opinion. In an age when radio was
new and television nowhere in sight, he used the medium of newspaper for his powerful
‘Soul communication’ which unfailingly entered the hearts of his people and moved the
world as well. Gandhi’s journalistic career reached its peak with the Young India,
Navajivan and Harijan, which he utilised for the ‘Outpourings of heart and soul’ reaching
every nook and corner of the country. His ‘Hind Swaraj’ is a reflection of his journalistic
bent of mind, written as a dialogue between the editor (himself) and the reader
(representing the youth preferring violence to attain India’s freedom).
Through his writings, he became one of the most powerful communicators of the century.
In simple uncomplicated language he wrote for change creating awareness and unity and
harmony among people and proved beyond doubt the power of a true pen over the minds
of people. The Indian Opinion brought forth the human rights crusader; The Young India
saw the emergence of the rebel and the Harijan gave us the social reformer in him. The
motto of the Gandhian ethics of journalism was to serve and educate people. According
to Gandhi, journalism is a noble profession and should therefore follow the basic
guidelines of truth and transparency. He gave valuable lessons in this field, to constantly
strive for a better society and nation.
Gandhi also started Young India and Harijan to sensitise the public on issues of general
importance. He awakened their conscience through his prolific writings. The Harijan
carried his social message forward and brought in some of the sweeping changes like the
entry of untouchables in to the temples, forging a unified stance in the fight against
colonial rule, changes in the health, hygiene and sanitation conditions of the villages, and
so on. Gandhi successfully initiated social regeneration apart from extending political
inspiration to the vast millions of this nation. Gandhi’s writings highlighted the
importance of Swadeshi, Charkha, communal harmony, non-violence, role of vernaculars
and many other aspects necessary for the all round development of the nation.
In the face of severe repression and suffocating laws he came up with the publication of
hand-written news-sheets in the face of governmental obstacles in their printing and
publishing. To him ‘Swaraj’ meant “the restoration of free speech, free association and
free press.” His writings were often branded as ‘seditious’ by the British rulers and he
faced imprisonment and charges of disobedience to the government quite often.
Harijan was managed by Gandhi during the time of his imprisonment in the Yervada Jail
and he was released on May 5, 1933. Writing in the paper on May 13, he tells us “All
should know that even though I am supposed to be a free man, Harijan will continue to be
edited as if I was in prison. It will still be solely devoted to the ‘Harijan’ cause and will
scrupulously exclude all politics”.
Bidding goodbye to his readers, he wrote in the November 10, 1938 issue of ‘Harijan’ : “I
shall miss my weekly talks with you, as I expect you, too will miss them… The
suspension must, therefore continue while the gagging lasts… It constitutes a
Satyagrahi’s respectful protests against the gag”. It was during a break in ‘Harijan’
publication that he wrote a 25 page booklet ‘Constructive Programme’, a handbook for
Indian’s all round development. The Harijan resumed publication on January 18, 1942,
but the governmental repression continued on the Indian newspapers.
He also made a special request to fellow journalists “…. A word to the journalists. I
congratulate you on the support you have hither to given to the national demand. I know
the restrictions and the handicaps under which you have to labour. But I would now ask
you to snap the chains that bind you. It should be the proud privilege of the newspapers to
lead and set an example in laying down one’s life for freedom. You have the pen which
the government can’t suppress…. You may declare that you will give up writing under
the present restrictions and take up the pen only when India has won her freedom… If
you do this, you will have changed the atmosphere before the fight actually begins”.
Gandhi very well knew the reach of the media and he successfully used it during his Salt
March that was widely covered by both the national and international media. During the
non-cooperation, Quit India Movement and the proceedings of the Second Round Table
Conference too received wide coverage in the media. Perhaps no other leader found the
media as useful as Gandhi did. He never used it for commercial advertising; for him, it
was a medium of service- service to the nation- in the task of attaining independence in
its entirety. Gandhi’s approach to using the media, as is the case in his approach to other
issues, was highly ethical. His emphasis on morality extended even to his use of media in
furthering the cause of the non-violent freedom struggle.
As summarised by Murthy, Gandhi’s journalism concentrated much on values, language,
objectivity and truth telling, and brought forth issues like public service vs profits, facts
vs comments and so on. Boyer (1981, cit in Murthy, 2010, p.27) also identified certain
elements as necessary for objective reporting like balance and even-handedness in
presenting different issues, accuracy and realism of reporting, presentation of relevant
points, separation of facts from opinion while at the same time, treating opinion as
relevant, minimising the influence of writer’s own attitude and avoiding slant, rancor and
devious purpose. Unfortunately, the present day journalism has taken to biased reporting,
scandals, sensational reporting, feeble and irrelevant issues.
14.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDIA ETHICS
As has been already mentioned media has, of late, taken to sensationalism in a big way.
There have been instances of exposures of corruption and scams where its role has been
highly lauded; at the same time, it has also raised the issue of unwarranted intrusion into
many a matter. Thus the role of the media, time and again, has been facing contradictory
situations. Some of the concerns expressed by all sections of society are the growing
influence of sensationalism, manipulation, commercialisation, invasion of privacy and the
entry of big-business houses in to the field that makes the competition tougher. In today’s
world, it is highly unimaginable to think of imposing restrictions on media. What can be
worked out is the setting of certain standards and regulations in imparting information. In
this context, some ethical perspectives need to be taken into consideration.
Before we talk about media ethics, let us first analyse as to why ethics is important.
Ethics requires us to determine as to what conduct is good or bad or as to what could be
approved and disapproved. It is defined as something that determines as to what is
morally right. Now-a-days, the importance of ethics is being realised and called for
everywhere- in personal conduct, in social behaviour, in communication process, in our
attitude to our natural environment popularly known as environmental ethics, and ethical
standards in trade and commercial relations. Unfortunately, ethics or its synonymmorality- is viewed as having subjective connotations. What is ethically right in one
person’s perception need not necessarily be so with the other. This leads to a clash in the
interest, perception and ultimately behaviour/conduct towards others in our social life.
The subject of media ethics comes under the rubric of applied or practical ethics. Since
the immediate objective of the profession is the responsibility to the client, it calls for
following certain ethical standards. As K.M.Shrivastav says, ‘the major problem of
professional ethics arises when this objective fails of attainment or when it is
incompatible with public interest’ (in Media Ethics, p.12). Unprofessional approach is
highly perilous and may lead to social disturbances and distortions. It is also apt to
examine the observation of Vilanilam that ‘the old journalism of the Gandhian era, of
journalists with noble goals, motivated by the need for social change in India, has
disappeared, yielding to the journalism of the pocket book, of the purse in short-of pure
greed. Journalism as service to society has been replaced by journalism aimed at profit
and affluence for media promoters and media workers’ (Vilanilam, 2005, p.89).
Since the duty of the press is to collect and disseminate information, the code of ethics
emphasised all over the world is given as follows: (a) honesty and fairness (b) reply to
critical opinions (c) objectivity in reporting (d) prohibition to receive gifts (e) respect for
privacy (f) distinction between fact and opinion (g) not to inflame hatred (h) not to use
dishonest means to obtain information and (i) general standards of decency and taste (cit
in Murthy, 2010, pp.24-25). But, at times, the media seeks absolute freedom to discharge
duties by violating certain norms like public accountability and privacy of individuals. As
Gandhi said, ‘Freedom of the press is a precious privilege that no country can forgo. But
if there is, as there should be, no check save that of the mild character, an internal check
should not be impossible and ought not to be resisted’ (Young India, 12-5-1920).
Keeping the violations in view, some countries have regulated their press through press
freedom, right to reply, privacy/libel/defamation/slander, access to public information,
censorship, pre-condemnation-court proceedings, responsibility of the publication, source
protection and minors (Murthy, 2010, p.25).
In the 1980s, the UNESCO reiterated the importance of ethics related to public policy. In
the year 2009, it has also published ‘A Handbook for Television and Radio Practitioners
in Countries-in-Transition’ under the title ‘Media Management Manual’ (by John
Prescott Thomas). These, in a way, help in formulating guidelines in maintaining a
balance especially for the media.
In the realm of media ethics, Shrivastav opines that ‘the transformation of the press did
not change the very essence of ethics but increased the problems connected with it.
Faithful conveying of truth remained an ideal but this aim began to move away both
metaphorically and literally…the selection of the fact and its description are most
important for truthfulness and objectivity. They determine the basic shape of information
qualified by the abilities and the honesty of the journalist’ (p.20). He explains that in
many contexts, the governments themselves have been responsible for the deformations
(of the facts).
14.6 SUMMARY
Gandhian journalism emphasises on four different criteria of news namely culture,
probity in public life, peace and development, though he did not explicitly speak of these
values. A renowned journalist besides being an extraordinary leader, Gandhi spoke with
great authority defining good journalism “The newspaperman has become a walking
plague… A newspaper predicts that riots are coming and all the sticks in Delhi have been
sold out. A journalist’s duty is to teach people to be brave, not to instill fear into them”.
Media today has its positive side too. It has great and enthusiastic writers, fearless
reporters, sincere editors and it is our own discretion which helps us see things in their
right perspective. The growth of Indian journalism is remarkable and it is necessary to
remind ourselves to keep to the right path, exercise control and restrain and devotedly
serve and educate people. There are visible signs of progress and vigour in the world of
media, and despite the systemic pressures, is conscientiously performing its duties. In
today’s world, where people, cultures and religions are being greatly misunderstood and
misinterpreted, media assumes greater responsibility. The onus of creating goodwill,
faith, tolerance and respect and also facilitation of such measures is invariably on the
media. For it is the carrier of information from one part of the globe to the other.
Therefore, the Gandhian Journalism plays an important role here and it is time that we
realise the need of responsible and ethical journalism and make it into a reality.
It would be most appropriate to conclude with Gandhi’s immortal words, “The
newspaper is a great power, but just as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole
countryside and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If the
control is from without, it proves more poisonous than want of control. It can be
profitable only when exercised from within… The useful and the useless must, like good
and evil, go on together, and man must make his choice”.
14.7 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. Highlight the importance of media and its role in the contemporary world.
2. How did Gandhi educate the masses through his journalism?
3. How did the Indian Opinion, Young India and Harijan mould the public opinion in
India?
SUGGESTED READINGS
1. Gandhi, M.K., An Autobiography or my Experiments with Truth, Navajivan
Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1965 edition.
2. Gandhi, M.K., Satyagraha in South Africa, Navajivan Publishing House,
Ahmedabad, 1950 edition.
3. Natarajan, S., The History of the Press in India – by S. Natarajan, Asia Publishing
House, Bombay, 1962 edition
4. Pyarelal., Mahatma Gandhi : The last Phase, Navajivan Publishing House,
Ahmedabad, 1956 edition.
5. Bhattacharya, S.N., Mahatma Gandhi : The Journalist, Asia Publishing House,
Bombay, 1965 edition.
6. Homer A. Jack., (ed), The Gandhi Reader, Evergreen Books Ltd, London, 1961
edition.
7. Bhattacharya, Bhabani., Gandhi, the Writer, National Book Trust, New Delhi,
2002
8. Murthy, D.V.R., Gandhian Journalism, Is It Relevant Today? Kanishka
Publishers, Distributors, New Delhi, 2010.
9. Shrivastava, K.M., Media Ethics, Veda to Gandhi & Beyond, Publications
Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 2005
(New Delhi).
10. Murthy, D.V.R., Development Journalism, Dominant Publishers, New Delhi,
2001.
11. Murthy, D.V.R., Mass Communication: Concepts and Issues, Olive Green
Publishers, Cochin, 2002.
12. Sawant, P.B., Accountability in Journalism, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol.18,
no.1, 2003, pp.16-28.
13. Bhargava, G.S., The Press in India: An Overview, National Book Trust, New
Delhi, 2005.
14. Boyer, J.H., How Editors View Objectivity?, Journalism Quarterly, vol.58, no.1,
1981, pp.24-28.
15. Galtung, J., Peace Journalism as an Ethical Challenge, Global Media Journal
(Mediterranean Edition), vol.1, no.2, 2006 (Fall), pp.1-5.
16. Vilanilam, J.V., Mass Communication in India: A Sociological Perspective, Sage
Publications, New Delhi, 2005.
UNIT 15
TERRORISM
Structure
15.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
15.2 Defining Terrorism
15.3 Religious Connotations
15.4 Case Studies
15.4.1 Jammu & Kashmir
15.4.2 North-East
15.5 Naxalism
15.6 Implications of Terrorism on Human Rights
15.7 Gandhian Method to Counter Terrorism
15.8 Summary
15.9 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
15.1 INTRODUCTION
In the 21st century, among the most menacing problems in the world, terrorism finds a
definite place. It is recognised as an essentially political phenomenon that needs political
strategies to resolve this problem. It is carried on to gain the political ends and in a
manner that is extremely violent in nature. Since the basic aim is to terrorise the public as
well as administration for political ends. The international organisations like United
Nations reiterated the need to fight this problem by addressing the deeply felt grievances
through promotion of good governance and sustainable economic development.
Terrorism has been felt all over the world and continues to affect the peaceful
environment. There are now debates whether nonviolence, as propounded by Gandhi,
could effectively counter terrorism. Whatever may be the answer, there is a consensus
that it should be countered to achieve sustainable peace.
Aims and Objectives
This Unit would enable you to understand
· What is meant by terrorism and why it is resorted to;
· Case studies of the regions affected by terrorism;
· Problems encountered through naxalism; and
· Gandhian approach to solving the problem of terrorism
15.2 DEFINING TERRORISM
There has been no consensus on the definition of terrorism among the official agencies or
the academia. The recent report on terrorism produced by the Second Administrative
Reforms Commission of India (SARC, 2008) reproduces the definitions given by various
official agencies including the UN and produces its own. It also provides the definitions
used in anti-terrorist legislations in India. However, definitions are different from
utilisation and impact.
Terrorism is often seen as low intensity warfare by one state against another. The SARC
report, mentioned above, approvingly cites the UN’s longish ‘academic consensus
definition’ that terrorism is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action,
employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic,
criminal or political reasons whereby, in contrast to assassination, the direct targets of
violence are not the main targets. The immediate human victims are chosen randomly
(targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a target
population, and serve as message generators. Threat and violence-based communication
processes between terrorist (organisation), (imperilled) victims and main targets are
used to manipulate the main target audience, turning it into a target of terror, a target of
demands, or a target of attention, depending on whether intimidation, coercion, or
propaganda is primarily sought’ (Schmid,1988). The short legal definition proposed to
the UN Crime Branch (1992) was that the Act of Terrorism=Peacetime Equivalent of
War Crime. Schmid himself wondered, after listing out 109 different definitions of
terrorism in his monumental survey ‘Political Terrorism: A Research Guide’, whether the
list contained all the elements necessary for a good definition.
The SARC report provides a brief history of terrorism and its types such as ethnonationalist terrorism, religious terrorism, ideology-oriented terrorism, state-sponsored
terrorism and narco-terrorism. After examining the definitions prevalent in the US, the
UK, France, Canada and Australia, the report examines the position in India.
Terrorism as an offence does not figure in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as amended
periodically. The first special law which attempted a definition was the Terrorist and
Disruptive Activities (prevention) Act 1987, followed by the Prevention of Terrorism Act
2002 (POTA), which was replaced by the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA),
2004.
The means of terrorism are attacks on persons and property using weapons, bombs,
Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), grenades, landmines etc. hostage taking, hijacking
and forcible takeover of buildings, especially government and public buildings. These are
conventional means of terrorism. Other means include resort to suicide attacks and
kidnapping, use of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, biological), cyber
terrorism and environmental terrorism. Increasing cases of suicide terrorism include the
assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi carried out by the LTTE on May 21 1991,
the attack on the J&K legislative Assembly Complex in October 2001, attack on the
Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, and the storming of the Akshardham Temple in
Gujarat in 2002.
An Indian counterterrorism specialist states that while there may be differences over what
constitutes ‘terrorism’, there can be no doubt about what constitutes a ‘terrorist act’
(Raman, 2008, p.327). Acts like the hijacking of an aircraft and other means of public
transport for achieving an objective through intimidation, blowing up a civilian aircraft
midair, the use of IEDs against civilians, throwing hand grenades and firing mortars into
a civilian crowd or establishment etc. constitute ‘acts of terrorism’ and organisations
indulging in such activities, irrespective of motives, should be dealt with as terrorist.
‘Terrorism’ simply means deliberately and violently targeting civilians for political
purposes (Richardson, 2006). It has seven crucial characteristics: (1) a terrorist act is
politically inspired; (2) if the act does not involve violence or threat of violence, it is not
terrorism; (3) the point of terrorism is not to defeat the enemy but to send a message; (4)
the act and the victim usually have symbolic significance; (5) terrorism is the act of substate groups, not states; (6) the victims of the violence and the audience the terrorists are
trying to reach are not the same; and (7) the most important characteristic of terrorism is
the deliberate targeting of civilians.
Richardson distinguishes between terrorists, guerrillas and freedom fighters. A terrorist
‘is neither a freedom fighter, nor a guerrilla. A terrorist is a terrorist, no matter whether or
not you like the goal h/she trying to achieve and no matter whether or not you like the
government h/she is trying to change’. Richardson identifies two key variables for
understanding all terrorist groups: the nature of the goals they seek and their relationship
to the community they claim to represent.
Richardson says that the causes of terrorism lie at the individual, national and
international levels. The emergence of terrorism ‘requires a lethal cocktail of three
ingredients: a disaffected individual, an enabling group and a legitimizing ideology’
(p.40).
Terrorism is a tactic employed by different groups in different parts of the world in
pursuit of different objectives. The causes of terrorism must be sought at a number of
levels: at the individual level, the terrorist organisational level and the sponsoring state
level. At the level of society, socio-economic factors reveal causes; at the trans-national
level, the causes can be found in religion and globalisation. Many of these causes are
interconnected. In terrorist organisations, leaders tend to be different from followers,
often more educated and from better socio-economic backgrounds.
Richardson has found that terrorism by definition is the behaviour of sub-state groups but
notes that in the US the idea of state sponsorship of terrorism is prominent. Perceived as
an instrument of foreign policy, terrorism provides many advantages for governments:
relatively low risk, deniability, low cost, easy to deny and difficult to prove with the
potential for a high pay off. Relatively weak states often support terrorists to strike
against their more powerful enemies.
15.3 RELIGIOUS CONNOTATIONS
There has been a significant growth in the number of terrorist groups with religious
orientation over the last few decades. Most religious traditions have produced terrorist
groups and many terrorists have been atheists. In 2004, of the 77 terrorist groups listed by
the US State department, forty appeared to have mixed religious and political motives.
Two characteristics of these mixed groups are that they have been more trans-national
than groups with purely secular motives, and they have exercised less restraint. Religion
plays different roles in different terrorist groups. Often, religious and political motives are
inseparably linked. For many, religion plays a role similar to a political ideology.
Three political events influenced fundamentalist views to become widely popular: the
Iranian revolution in 1978-79, which overthrew the Shah and established a radical
Muslim state under the Shiite cleric Ayatollah Khomeini; the war in Lebanon against US
and Israeli interests by the Iranian-inspired and assisted Hezbollah famous for the
terrorist tactics of hijacking, kidnapping and suicide bombings; and war against the
Soviet union in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
The last was the most important political event in the shaping and the escalation of
Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. The war demonstrated that a superpower could be made
to withdraw its forces and defeated by motivated armed groups. The Soviet Union
invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to prevent the spread of radical Islam emanating from Iran
in its own neighbouring Muslim territories, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Ten years later after the death of over one million Afghans and 15,000 Soviet troops and
the creation of 5 million Afghan refugees, the Soviets withdrew. Afghanistan proved to
be a training ground for militants from across West Asia providing them ideological
unity, international connections and experience in warfare and the use of sophisticated
weaponry provided by the US against the Soviet Union. At the end of the war in
Afghanistan, these radical groups returned to their home countries and joined pre-existing
terrorist groups.
India has witnessed various types of terrorism including religious terrorism in different
parts of the country. Relying mainly on official sources, our examination here is limited
to the situation in three major areas: Jammu & Kashmir; the Northeast and the Central
Tribal Belt comprising several states.
15.4 CASE STUDIES
15.4.1 Jammu and Kashmir
The troubled relationship between India and Pakistan over Kashmir started with
independence in 1947. Major insurgency in the Kashmir valley started in 1989, following
the controversial elections held in 1987. There was an increase in cross-border infiltration
into Kashmir. Resultantly, the Indian security forces were deployed in the state. Ever
since, terrorist violence has been continuing. However, recent official figures (GOI,
2007-8) indicate a decline from 3401 incidents in 2003 to 887 in 2007. The number of
civilians killed has also declined from 795 in 2003 to 131 in 2007. The number of
security personnel killed has declined from 814 in 2003 to 82 in 2007. The number of
terrorists killed declined from 1497 in 2003 to 358 in 2007. However, there is often the
difficulty of separating the terrorists from the civilians. A large number of women and
children have been affected by the death/disappearance of their husbands/fathers.
The nature of the terrorist attacks in J&K has changed over the years. Suicide terrorism
has made its presence felt and the Jammu region has also become a target of attack. After
April 2006, soft targets like minority groups, tourist and migrant labourers, innocent
civilians are becoming targets. Grenade attacks have increased by 49 percent from 20067 to 2007-8. An aggravating factor has been the formation of the United Jihad Council
(UJC), an umbrella organisation of 14 militant groups, equipped with the most modern
weaponry and enjoying support from international terrorist groups.
While trying to tackle the problem with a multi-pronged strategy, the Government of
India has given priority to political dialogue with disaffected groups. Confidencebuilding measures like people to people contact, reunion of separated families, relaxation
of control over movement across the line of control at the border, are some of the steps.
Several internal security steps and administrative steps such as relief for victims of
militancy, encouraging the return of migrants, special concessions for government
employees have also been taken.
15.4.2 North-East
In the North East, the ethno-nationalism of a serious kind has been a prominent feature of
the several states of the region including Assam, the biggest state in the region. The
‘mother of all insurgencies’ in the region, is said to have started in Nagaland in 1955. An
incipient insurgency, it should have been handled wisely but was aggravated by the illadvised induction of the Indian army into the state. A sense of cultural aggression by a
more advanced culture over the more primitive Naga community, led to strong resistance.
The insurgency in the other states was shaped by their perception of injustice towards the
local people by the government of India.
Nari Rustomji, an authority on the Northeast, in his classic ‘Imperilled Frontiers’
(Oxford, 1983) provides a deep insight into the region and its multiple insurgencies.
People, however primitive, resent the imposition of an alien culture and nothing gives
rise to so much anger and hostility as the threat of cultural aggression. Heavy economic
investment is in itself of little avail in securing the goodwill and loyalty of the people of
the frontiers; excessive military presence has created more problems than it solved. While
change is imperative for a community’s healthy development, the pace of change must be
adjusted to the community’s capacity to absorb it without detriment to its essential
values. Sometimes an intense dislike towards officials also plays a major role.
According to recent official reports, violent incidents in the region increased from 1332
in 2003 to 1489 in 2007. It is reported that the number of arrested/killed/surrendered
‘extremists’ has increased from 2192 in 2003 to 2875 in 2007. Security personnel killed
declined from 90 in 2003 to 79 in 2007. Civilians killed increased from 494 in 2003 to
498 in 2008. There has been a considerable increase in violence against women in the
region (Subramanian, 2007). The impact of conflict, terrorism and incidents of violence
in the region has been severe on women and children especially. At the same time there
has been an increase in the number of paramilitary forces deployed in the region.
After independence, government of India has taken a number of steps to democratise and
decentralise the governance and administration of the region. More funds for
development have also been allocated but reports of leakage of such funds are numerous.
Human development and economic development have failed to occur.
Conflicts in the region range from insurgency for secession to insurgency for autonomy;
from sponsored terrorism to ethnic clashes, to conflicts generated as a result of
continuous inflow of migrants from across the border in Bangladesh as well as intra-state
migration within the region. Besides, criminal enterprise aimed at expanding and
consolidating control over critical economic resources have of late acquired the
characteristics of a distinct species of conflict in the region. Violence in the region is also
caused by the failure of the government to provide security. This has led to the creation
of alternative forces of ethnic militia for providing security to the people. In an ethnically
polarised situation the government fails to provide security and the actions of the army
are seen as partisan. Since conflicts in the region are generally more state-specific, it is
necessary to look at the picture state-wise.
In Arunachal Pradesh, the situation is largely peaceful after the ceasefire with the Naga
extremist group NSCN, active in the Tirap district of the state. Disquiet over the
settlement of the enterprising Chakma refugees from Bangladesh has largely subsided.
Income disparities and constricted employment opportunities could be a potential source
of future conflict.
In Assam, the largest and most populous state in the region, a wide variety of ethnic
conflicts prevail including agitations against influx of foreigners, the perceived inability
of the government of India to deport them, tensions between religious and linguistic
groups and escalating conflict among tribal communities seeking autonomy. A number of
extremist outfits in the state operate under the leadership of the United Liberation Front
of Assam (ULFA) which adopts terrorist tactics. Unemployment, corruption in the
government machinery, influx of illegal migrants, dominance of ‘outsiders’ in the
business sector, exploitation of natural resources of the state by the government, human
rights violations by security forces etc., led the youth of the state to support the ULFA.
The ‘anti-foreigners’ agitation from 1979 to 1985 conducted by the ULFA/All Assam
Students Union achieved little success. Large-scale criminalisation of the ULFA cadres
during the 1990s led to its alienation from the public. Besides, ULFA’s perceived links
with foreign elements and its repeated volte-face during negotiations with the
government of India also contributed to its alienation. In the aftermath of the crackdown
by the Burmese army against ULFA activities, the organisation has resorted to
kidnappings, bomb blasts and selective murder of migrant workers. All tribal
communities in the state have created their own militant outfits to execute violent and
terrorist acts arising from the perception that the government of India is responsive only
to violence. The foreigners issue resulting from the continuous migration from
Bangladesh into Assam continues to simmer with allegations of ‘failure’ on the part of
the government of India to deal with the complex situation.
In Manipur, the ‘most insurgency-prone’ state in the region, over fifteen violent outfits
operate representing different tribes and communities inhabiting the state. They indulge
in terrorist activities and financial extortion mainly in the densely populated valley areas
populated by the culturally distinctive Meitei community. Sections of the community did
not favour the integration of the state with India in the late 1940s, which has contributed
to the Meitei insurgency from the 1960s. Tribal Christian communities, comprising Naga,
Kuki-Chin and Mizo groups, constitute about 30% of the over two-million Meitei
population of the state and have their own grievances and hostilities with the Hindu
Meitei groups. Several instances of siphoning off of development funds for terrorist and
disruptive activities have been found (Subramanian, 2007).
The ceasefire between the government of India and the disaffected National Socialist
Council of Nagaland (NSCN) has reduced violence but also given rise to fresh tensions
since 2001 because of the NSCN insistence on the formation of greater ‘Nagalim’ (Naga
homeland) including four districts of Manipur. The Government of India’s assurance to
protect the integrity of Manipur has helped soothe tensions between the Naga and the
Manipuri communities. In the southern parts of the state, the Hmar, Paite and other
communities have been demanding local hegemony and autonomy. Manipur thus
witnesses a situation in which militant outfits virtually run a parallel administration to the
government in many districts and influence the government award of contracts, supply
orders and appointments to official positions. Widespread extortion, parallel courts of
justice and other such phenomena has led to loss of legitimacy of government.
In Meghalaya, which constitutes a transit route for extremist groups in the region and
formerly free of tensions, violence against outsiders has become a regular feature.
Increasing clashes between the state government and the District Council formed under
the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India, covering the whole state; increasing intertribal rivalries; and increasing tensions over infiltration from Bangladesh, especially in
the Garo Hills, are the emerging features.
In Mizoram, the state with a history of violent insurgency and its subsequent successful
resolution in 1986, the only potential area of conflict are i) the emerging income and asset
disparities in a largely egalitarian society and ii) the dissatisfaction of the small non-Mizo
District Councils with the state government on account of issues pertaining to identity
and reservation in government jobs for local Scheduled Tribes (STs).
In Nagaland, the original ‘hot-spot’ of insurgency, after the ceasefire with the dominant
Muivah-Swu group of the NSCN, relative calm prevailed. The minority Khaplang group,
which does not approve of the ceasefire, has remained peaceful. However, the
problematic factors include the lingering issue of a final political settlement on the
demand for ‘greater Nagaland’ or ‘Nagalim’, which has caused tensions in neighbouring
states especially Manipur; the growing competition over utilisation of the limited
resources of the state; and unrest over increasing youth unemployment.
In Sikkim, perhaps the most peaceful state in the region, the success in dealing with the
constitutional mandate of striking a balance between the ethnic groups of Lepchas,
Bhutiyas and Nepalis, has prevented the emergence of conflicts.
In Tripura, population influx after the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 reduced the
tribal majority state into a Bengali dominated state leading to insurgency on the part of
the tribal people who were driven into the forests and hills. The resultant tensions led to
violence and terrorism on a large-scale especially by the Tripura National Volunteers
(TNV), one of the most violent extremist outfits in the region. However, effective
decentralisation and empowerment of the autonomous Sixth schedule District Council in
the state, coupled with better development policy implementation, has led to
establishment of peace. Tribal-non-tribal conflicts have declined though there are
tensions over the tribal people’s freedom to use forest resources and on their fuller
participation in the District Council activities.
15.5 NAXALISM
Naxalite terrorism has become a matter of serious concern in the recent period. It is often
forgotten that the Naxalite/Maoist stream in the Indian left politics is a product of the
nationalist movement. The arena of nationalist politics in India was a ‘site of strategic
manoeuvres, resistance and appropriation’ by different groups and classes, which led to a
‘split in the domain of politics’. Many of these contests are still unresolved. According to
the ‘subaltern school’ of historians (see Guha, 2000), what occurred in 1947 was a
‘passive revolution’. Peasant struggles were co-opted to the establishment of a regime of
‘dominance without hegemony’ by the Indian upper classes and castes. The debate in the
Indian communist movement over the nature of the ruling formation in India, led to a
‘double split’ which saw the emergence of the CPI, CPI (M) on the one hand and the
Naxalites on the other, named after Naxalbari in West Bengal where a radical, but
ultimately unsuccessful, peasant revolutionary movement on the Chinese model, was
started (Banerjee, 1980). Subsequently, the Naxalites themselves fragmented into
numerous groups on ideological grounds. Unresolved agrarian tensions in rural India
after independence led to agonising debate in the communist movement that saw the
emergence of the Naxalites.
The Union Home Ministry, in its first major report on the Naxalite movement in 1969
titled ‘Causes and Nature of Current Agrarian Tensions’, warned that far-reaching
agrarian reforms were needed to forestall the green revolution from turning into red
revolution. A variety of factors, including the tendency of the bureaucracy to function on
the basis of precedents in order to inflict violence, plus lack of institutional mechanisms
for policy formulation, have prevented the Ministry from taking this professional advice.
The Naxalite movement was mishandled politically and was brutally suppressed by the
use of police power. Since the causes which led to the agrarian tensions were not
addressed, the tensions generated by the movement re-emerged in the 1980s. Government
strategy has continued unchanged. The political options were not exercised and the police
were left free to handle the situation as they deemed fit. Militarisation of the movement
has gone hand-in-hand with the militarisation of the State response. Killing and getting
killed has become the norm on both sides. In the absence of a calm consideration and
resolution of the underlying causes of violence, the consequences of the violence are also
not dealt with which can again lead to the recrudescence of violence after its initial
suppression by brute force (Wallace, 2007).
In 1967, the Naxalite movement was active in one police station in one district in one
state, West Bengal. Today, it has spread to over 460 police stations in 160 districts in 14
states. The Union and state police budgets are said to have increased a thousand-fold
from 1967 to 2007. This shows that the use of police power alone is not sufficient enough
to contain the Naxalites. Other methods are needed. The Maoist maxim is that the
disaffected, angry, disgruntled peasantry constitutes the water in which the militants are
the fish which move freely. Government policy must try and reduce the anger of the
peasantry and not attack them by using the police. During the last few years 180, 000
farmers are reported to have committed suicide owing to agrarian distress. These methods
that are needed to address agrarian distress are well brought out in a recent Expert Group
Report (Planning Commission, 2008).
The report, titled “Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas”, makes a
profound analysis of the socio-economic situation in the states comprising the Central
Tribal Belt (CTB) in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and Jharkhand and
comes out with the suggestion that the problem of violence and terrorism resorted to by
some discontented Maoist elements should be understood in the proper development
perspective and handled politically and administratively rather than by using brute police
force. Further, if the cessation of political violence does not deal adequately with the
consequences of the violence and the wounds remaining in the human survivors
and/national psyche and a reasonable degree of ‘closure’ is not secured then political
violence and terrorism can re-appear (Wallace, 2007).
The emergence of the CPI (Maoist) after the merger and consolidation of two major
Naxalite streams in September 2004, the Expert Group points out, is defining the official
understanding of the extremist phenomenon at the state and central government levels.
This amounts to a simplistic law and order face-off between the official coercive
machinery and the radical political organisation. The social consequence results, then, in
the undermining of instruments of social and economic amelioration as well as processes
of democratic exchange to resolve persisting issues, which is the crux of the problem.
Apart from the merger of the CPI ML People’s War with the Maoist Communist Centre
(MCC) in September 2004 to form the CPI (Maoist), which is the focus of official
attention, there are a very large number of Naxalite groups/parties with their methods of
functioning which differ on the extent of mobilisation of the people, role of the armed
underground cadre etc. though they are all at one on the idea that the Indian state must be
overthrown by force as a precondition for revolutionary change in society. Some of them
are represented in elected bodies such as Panchayats and legislative assemblies. Mass
unrest dealt with in the report is not reducible to dramatic incidents of terrorism such as
blowing up of police stations since mass participation in militant protests has always been
a feature of Naxalite mobilisation. The ban on the Maoist party and its mass organisations
and the informal prohibition of such activities by the police in the case of other Naxalite
groups has often rendered such mass activity virtually impossible.
The Expert Group examined the life and livelihood of the people and the failure,
inadequacy or injustice of state mechanisms and institutions which create a space for
Naxalite activities and help generate public support for them. It points out that though the
long-term perspective of the Naxalites is to capture state power by force, their fight is for
social justice, equality, protection and local development. The report thus calls for
political approach to a movement that is essentially political.
The Group demonstrates that the Naxalite movement is a ‘political movement with a
strong base among the landless and poor peasantry and adivasis. Its emergence and
growth need to be contextualized in the social conditions and experience of the people
who form part of it. The huge gap between state policy and performance is a feature of
these conditions. Though its professed long term ideology is capturing state power by
force, in its day to day manifestation it is to be looked upon basically as a fight for social
justice, equality, protection and local development. The two have to be seen together
without overplaying the former. Its geographical spread is an outcome of the conditions
giving rise to it (ibid. p.51). Since the goals of the movement are political, the approach
to address and tackle it should be democratic. The recent peace talks with the Naxalites
were given up on the ground that they did not give up arms and violence. However, this
was not the precondition imposed on dialogue with extremists in J&K and Assam and the
Naga rebels. Why insist on a different approach to the Naxalites asks the report, which
adds that ‘the doors of negotiations should be kept open’.
On the role of the police in this context, the Report states that the ‘methods chosen by the
government to deal with the Naxalite phenomenon has increased the people’s distrust of
the police and consequent unrest. Protest against police harassment is itself a major
instance of unrest frequently leading to further violence by the police in the areas under
Naxalite influence. The response of the Naxalites, at least the Maoists, is to target the
police and subject them to violence, which in effect triggers a second round of the spiral.
The rights and entitlements of the people which give rise to the Naxalite and Maoist
movements find expression in the Constitution, the laws enacted by various governments
and the policy declarations. The administration ‘should not have waited for the Naxalite
movement to remind it of its obligations towards the people in these matters’ (ibid. p. 47).
The Report also says that the weaker sections do not have much faith in the police. They
have no faith that justice will be done to them against the powerful. ‘Often it is as
frustrating an experience to go to the police station as a complainant as it is fraught with
danger to go as a suspect. One of the attractions of the Naxalite movement is that it does
provide protection to the weak against the powerful and takes the security of, and justice
for, the weak and socially marginal seriously’ (p.46). The legal framework for dealing
with terrorist violence has been dealt with extensively in a recent official report (SARC,
2008) and we do not elaborate on it in the present context.
15.6 IMPLICATIONS OF TERRORISM ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Hoffman (2004), while examining the implications of terrorism for human rights, refers
to the so-called ‘war on terror’ launched by the US recently and says that the war
threatens to undermine the international human rights framework painstakingly built
since the Second World War. Writing before the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo torture
revelations became public, he argues that abandoning human rights in times of crisis is
short-sighted and self-defeating. A ‘war on terrorism’ waged without respect for the rule
of law undermines the very values it presumes to protect. The balance between liberty
and security must be restored by reasserting the human rights framework which provides
for legitimate and collective efforts to respond to terrorist attacks.
The six rules spelt out for counteracting terrorism (Richardson, 2006, pp.203-233) are i)
have a defensible and achievable goal; ii) live by your principles; iii) know your enemy;
iv) separate the terrorists from their communities; v) engage others in countering
terrorists with you, and vi) have patience and keep your perspective.
Wallace (2007) emphasises the need for institutionalising efforts to attempt a healing
process for societies such as India that are wrecked by political violence. ‘Closure’
should be clearly identified as to the means and as a core element during the periods of
political violence with the focus on institutionalising human rights especially for the State
and also for the anti-State political movement. He notes that reconciliation is an obvious
element of closure. So is transparency and justice. ‘Closure’ measures include judicial
processes ranging from war crimes tribunals to more informal village level trials. The
major achievement of ‘closure’ is transparency. Setting out the facts, opening whatever
records are available and attempting honestly to answer the questions of movement and
state victims provides a major impetus to healing. It promotes understanding as a first
step to some degree of justice and the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Transparency may be the most lasting result, a willingness to live with the truth. In
terrorism excessive means, sometimes clandestine, are used. Similarly, for security
reasons the state is often forced to become a mirror image of the terrorist movement
holding it necessary to use means that are illegal according to Geneva Conventions.
Recent developments in Sri Lanka are a good example. The idea of reconciliation at the
grassroots level involving civil society participation has figured prominently in a recent
experiment in social intervention (Oommen, 2007).
15.7 GANDHIAN METHOD TO COUNTER TERRORISM
Finally, we may make a reference to a possible Gandhian method of resolving the
problems created by the challenge of terrorism. The discussion above on closure,
transparency, reconciliation and justice to the victims of violence/terror would be very
much in tune with Gandhian thought. However, Gandhi was not an organised theorist
such as Karl Marx. His approach was essentially empirical. The strategies of Ahimsa and
Satyagraha were devised by him to meet the challenge of British rule by using the very
same rule of law norms which the British said they believed in and which they had
haltingly introduced and practised in India. These strategies were successful in the given
situation as encountered by the Mahatma. It would thus be unfair to extrapolate the
Gandhian approach and method from his time to our time. Gandhi was an original
political and social activist who devised his strategies as he went along. It would be
difficult and wrong to try to predict what he would have done had he been alive today.
However, taking up the crucial issue of land, central to Gandhian socio-economic
thought, one must note that it retains its central relevance today irrespective of the party
in political power. The acquisition of land for corporate capitalist development at the cost
of the poor people of India who possess the land has become critical for all political
parties in India today. Naxalite violence, often taking terrorist forms, is directed towards
protecting the people’s basic right to the land for their own use, not to surrender it at any
cost for corporate development. The tribal/poor people are fighting pitched battles under
Naxalite leadership against the land acquisition drive of the ruling parties at the state
level for corporate capitalist development. This process is said to have led to
displacement, disorganisation and destitution of over 40 million poor dalit and adivasi
communities, central to Gandhian political activism during his time. He would have
certainly supported these battles of the rural poor but only through non-violent means. On
several occasions during his political career, Gandhi had shown an ability to be flexible
in his commitment to non-violence as required by the evolving situation in the struggle
against British rule (Namboodiripad, 1958). Ultimately for him, the fate of the
daridranarayan was a fundamental concern.
15.8 SUMMARY
From the sections as listed above, we understand that terrorism or for that matter, any
armed conflict and inflicting of violence is detrimental to the peaceful conditions of a
society. The causes related to these kinds of problems are political in nature and therefore
it is widely acknowledged around the world that the conflict resolution should be political
in nature. Nonetheless, it should not be forgotten that violence takes us nowhere;
nonviolence is definitely a viable means to countering any problem. According to the
Gandhian ideology, all the parties in conflict should be open to an amicable settlement
without which the problem remains unresolved. In this 21st century, when we are
endowed with advancements in science and technology, it is much easy to resort to
violence and destruction. But as the age-old wisdom reiterates, it is the wisdom of the
human beings with a rational approach that provides us answers to many of our
unresolved problems.
15.9 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. What do you understand by terrorism? Trace the causes and effects of terrorism.
2. What role do religion and culture have with regard to terrorism? Discuss with
examples.
3. What role does the Gandhian method play in resolving the problems related to
terrorism and naxalism?
SUGGESTED READINGS
1. Banerjee, Sumanta., ‘In the Wake of Naxalbari, Subarnarekha Publications,
Kolkata, 1980
2. Government of India (GOI), Ministry of Home Affairs, Annual Report 2007-8
3. ----------------------------------- 2008 (GOI), Combating Terrorism: Protecting by
Righteousness, Eighth Report, Second Administrative Reforms Commission
4. ------------------------------- (2007) Public Order, Second Administrative Reforms
Commission, Fifth Report
5. -------------------------------- (2008) Capacity Building for Conflict resolution:
Friction to Fusion, Second Administrative Reforms Commission, Seventh Report
6. Hoffman, Paul 2004 Human Rights and Terrorism, Human Rights Quarterly,
26,4, November
7. ------------------------------------ (2008) Planning Commission Report of the Experts
Group on Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas
8. Guha, Ranajit., Subaltern Studies Reader 1986-95, OUP, New Delhi, 2000
9. Hoffman, Paul., Human Rights and Terrorism, Human Rights Quarterly, 26, 4
November, John Hopkins University Press, 2004
10. Martin John M, and Romano, Anne., Multinational Crime: Terrorism, Espionage
& Drug and Arms trafficking, Sage, London, 1992
11. Oommen, TK., ‘Reconciliation in Post-Godhra Gujarat: The Role of Civil
Society, Pearson Longman, New Delhi, 2008
12. Rand Corporation, Lessons of Mumbai, Occasional Paper, www.rand.org, 2008
13. Raman, B., Terrorism: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Lancer Publishers, New
Delhi, 2008
14. Richardson, Louise., What Terrorists Want, Random House, New York, 2006
15. Rustomji, Nari., ‘Imperilled Frontiers, OUP, New Delhi, 1983
16. Schmid, Jongman., et al, (1988), Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors,
authors, concepts, data bases, theories and literature, cited in Government of
India, 2008 p. 7
17. Subramanian, KS., Political Violence and the Police in India’, Sage Publications,
2007
18. Subramanian, KS, and Arvind Verma., Understanding the Police in India, LexisNexis, New Delhi, 2009
19. Tellis, J Ashley., et al, Lessons of Mumbai, Occasional Paper, Rand Corporation,
Pittsburg, USA, 2009
20. Wallace, Paul., ‘A Grassroots Approach to Healing Terrorism’ in ‘Democracy
and Counterterrorism: lessons from the Past’ (Washington DC, US Institute of
Peace), 2007
UNIT 16
HUMAN RIGHTS
Structure
16.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
16.2 Gandhi on Human Rights and Duties
16.3 The Concept of Human Rights: Divergent Meanings
16.4 Cultural and Religious Roots of Human Rights
16.5 Major International Human Rights Treaties
16.6 Regional Human Rights Mechanisms: A Brief Survey
16.7 Violations of Rights: A Global Phenomenon
16.8 Summary
16.9 Terminal Questions
Suggested Readings
16.1 INTRODUCTION
One of the greatest developments in the annals of human history is that for the first time in
International Relations a comprehensive list of “human rights norms” has been evolved. By the
beginning of the 21st century the United Nations had adopted more than 100 conventions,
covenants and basic principles on different aspects of human rights. Many regional human rights
protection mechanisms also have been institutionalised. Nearly 200 multilateral human rights
treaties exist today.
Similarly, Governments at the national level have adopted scores of
legislations on the subject. All these developments have brought the question of promoting
human rights on the agenda of international and national governance and have removed it from
the exclusive domestic jurisdiction of nation States. Today we have human rights treaties or
legislations on every kind of rights, such as the rights of women, children, refugees, migrant
workers, stateless persons, indigenous peoples, disabled persons, minorities and so on. These
documents deal with the prohibition of torture, social or religious discrimination, slavery; right to
development and peace, rights of workers, etc. In fact, the contemporary human rights law
covers the entire gamut of human relationships. Thus, 20th century can be considered as a century
for institutionalising the concept of human rights.
A statement of Sir Hersch Lauterpatch, a noted protagonist of human rights and one of the most
eminent international lawyers of the 20th century, rightly captures the spirit of modern laws and
functions of the states. He had observed in 1947: “The protection of human personality and of its
fundamental rights is the ultimate purpose of all law, national and international”. Similarly,
Adlai Stevenson of the USA once had remarked, “human rights are at the core of everything we
do and try to do”. These two statements candidly reveal that the concept of human rights has
acquired a significant place in human life / civilisation, as it is true that a large part of our time is
devoted, in the ultimate analysis, to the promotion and protection of human rights. Both the
classical as well as contemporary political theories have affirmed and reaffirmed the significant
principle that it is the “individual” for whom the State (or for that matter, any social or legal
order) exists, and not vice versa. In sum, human rights have emerged as the most powerful
concept of our age. According to Boutros Boutros Ghali, former UN Secretary General, “human
rights constitute a common language of mankind and the ultimate norm of all politics. Adopting
this language allows all peoples to understand others and to be the authors of their own history.
Human rights, by definition, are the ultimate norm of all politics” (Cited in Vijapur, 2010, pp.1617).
Aims and Objectives
This Unit will enable us to understand the following:
•
The importance and divergent understanding of the concept of human rights;
•
A brief overview of Gandhi’s ideas and actions on rights and duties
•
Cultural and religious roots of human rights;
•
International and regional human rights treaties and their implementation
mechanism; and
•
Gross violations of human rights in the world.
16.2 GANDHI ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND DUTIES
Mahatma Gandhi began his public life at the beginning of the 20th century fighting for the rights
of people in South Africa. After his return to India from South Africa his entire political life was
revolved around many political and social movements which had great implications for the
recognition of human rights, such as leading a freedom struggle to end colonialism, fighting for
abolition of untouchability, working towards Hindu-Muslim Unity and harmony, popularising
the use of khadi, advocating prohibition, panchayat system and cottage / village industries,
village sanitation, upliftment of women, new basic education (nai talim) in Indian languages and
using non-violent methods to achieve these objectives. In sum, his mission and action in life was
to promote human rights and duties of all persons in the society. This unit is not an appropriate
place to discuss Gandhi’s ideas on human rights. But it should be acknowledged that Gandhi was
much ahead of times. Human rights came on national and international agenda only after the
adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1948, whereas Gandhi has
been all along fighting for human rights more than half a century prior to the adoption of this
historic Declaration.
16.3 THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RIGHTS: DIVERGENT MEANINGS
Though the concept of human rights is central to social sciences, it is poorly understood. There is
no agreement on its meaning, nature, and content. It is a concept very much contested not only
between East (representing former socialist States) and West (representing liberal-democratic
States) but also between developed and developing countries. Each group of nations has a
different perception of human rights.
The so-called first world countries of the West believed in the supremacy of the individual, while
the communist countries of East focused on the community and the unconditional priorities of
class interest. Hence, the individual benefited from these group rights, as his/her rights were
better provided for, within the community. The former communist States gave priority to
economic, social and cultural rights and insisted that they could not be separated from the class
character of society in which they existed, while the liberal-democratic States asserted the
primacy of civil and political rights. This debate of priority of one set of rights over another
continued to occupy the agenda of national and international governance during major part of the
20th century.
The newly emerging States of the Third World, while adopting the Eastern or Western model of
human rights paradigms in their constitutions, or a combination of both, focused on solidarity or
group rights such as right to self-determination of peoples, including sovereignty over their
natural resources, the right to development, the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced
environment, the right to peace and the right to ownership of the common heritage of mankind.
They also insist on interdependence and indivisibility of civil and political rights to economic
and social rights.
Thus, the modern concept of human rights is comprehensive in its nature and content. It includes
three types of rights: civil and political, economic, social and cultural and the emerging
collective or group rights. Some Western scholars have described these three sets of rights as
first, second and third generation of human rights. In fact, the catalogue of rights is expanding
every day. Moreover, it must be noted that no catalogue elaborating specific human rights will
ever be exhaustive or final. Its content goes hand in hand with the state of moral consciousness,
or development of civilisation at any given time in history.
It is gratifying to note that in general the East is now shifting more towards the West in their
perception of human rights, and civil and political rights are given greater attention than ever
before. The collapse of communism and the end of the “Cold War” suggests that arguments over
divergent concepts of human rights are no longer a subject of mutual accusation and a spirit of
cooperation between East and West is evolving gradually.
Let us briefly define rights and their significance. Human Rights are those conditions of life that
allow us to fully develop and use our human qualities of intelligence and conscience and to
satisfy our spiritual needs. We cannot develop our personality in the absence of rights. They are
fundamental to our nature; without them we cannot live as human beings. To deny human beings
their rights is to set the stage for political and social unrest, wars, hostility between nations and
between groups within a nation-and that denial leads to urgent demands for a better life in larger
freedom. Human rights, far from being an abstract subject for philosophers, political scientists
and lawyers, affect the daily lives of everyone − man, woman, and the child. Rights are nothing
but claims against the State or government or individual persons. They constitute, as opined by
Michael Freeden, “a conceptual device, expressed in linguistic form that assigns priority to
certain human or social attributes regarded as essential to the adequate functioning of a human
being; that is intended to serve as a capsule for those attributes; and that appeals for deliberate
action to ensure such protection” (Vijapur, 2010, p.20).
Rights are also used in a variety of ways indicating differences in ideological and philosophical
perceptions. For some, rights are “normative attributes” that belong to a self-conscious person
who perceives himself as an agent of purposive creative action.
For others, rights are
entitlements to choose from. McCloskey describes rights positively, as entitlements, to do, to
have, enjoy or have done. For MacCormick rights “always and necessarily concern human
goods”, that is, concern with what it is good, at least, in normal circumstances, for a person to
have. Feinberg and White asserted that rights can be “possessed, enjoyed, exercised and claimed,
demanded and asserted”. James Nickel states that human rights aim to secure for individuals the
necessary conditions for leading a minimally good life. Public authorities, both national and
international, are identified as typically best placed to secure these conditions. So, the doctrine of
human rights has become, for many, a first port of moral call for determining the basic moral
guarantees all of us have a right to expect of those national and international institutions capable
of directly affecting our most important interests (Vijapur, 2010, p.20).
It should be acknowledged that rights and duties are two sides of the same coin. One’s rights
impose duties on others. Allegiance to the State, where a citizen resides, obeying the laws of the
State, payment of taxes, exercising right to vote, rendering compulsory military service, parental
duty towards their children when they are young and the duty of adult persons to take care of the
needs of their old parents, etc. are some of the duties which have been recognised in different
countries. In 1976 the Indian Constitution added ten fundamental duties through an amendment.
Rights have not evolved overnight. Great revolutions, events and constitutional, political, social
struggles have contributed toward the continuous evolution of rights. Here we cannot discuss the
history of the idea of rights. However, it should be recognised that contrary to popularly held
Western belief that human rights are of the Western origin, now there is an overwhelming
emerging consensus that every culture / civilisation and nation in the world had some notion of
human rights. Let us describe this aspect.
16.4 CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS ROOTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Every major culture in the world had developed a notion / doctrine of human rights. It is wrong
to subscribe to the view that human rights have been invented by the Western civilisation,
especially after the period of Enlightenment. We can find the roots or seeds of human rights in
all major cultures and religions of the world.
The Greek philosophy had developed the idea of natural law including equal respect for all
citizens, equality before law, equality in political power and suffrage, and equality of civil rights.
The Chinese philosopher, Hsun-tzu, had said in 400 B.C. that “In order to relieve anxiety and
eradicate strife, nothing is as effective as the institution of corporate life based on a clear
recognition of individual rights” (Shelton, 2003, p.1). Mencius (372-289 B.C.), a great
Confucianist, strongly maintained that a government should work for the will of the people. He
said: “People are of primary importance. The State is of less importance. The Sovereign is of
least importance” (Vijapur, 2010, p.58). Chinese concept of human rights is greatly influenced
by Confucianism. It proclaims that harmony and cooperation exist when duty and responsibility
towards others leads to treating all human beings as having equal work and recognising that
“within the four seas, all men are brothers” . The teaching of ancient text, Analects, is “Do not
impose on others what you do not desire.” “If there be righteousness in the heart, there will be
beauty in the character. If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home. If
there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. If there be order in the nation,
there will be peace in the world”.
Similarly, all three Semitic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – have spoken about the
value of human rights. Judaism stresses the sacredness of the individual endowed with worth and
equal value. It proclaims: “undo the tongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free… share your
bread with the hungry, and bring the homelessness poor into your house”. Christianity also
echoes the message of equality: “there is neither Greek nor Jew, nor slave nor free, nor man nor
woman, but we are all one in Christ”. Bible says: “Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you.” Charity or lifting the burdens of those less fortunate is one of the pillars of Islam. The
Quran speaks of justice, the sanctity of life, freedom, mercy, compassion and respect for all
human beings. All races are equal and religious toleration should be guaranteed. Islam provided
the first declaration of religious freedom in the world. It proclaimed that Jews and Christians
shall be protected from all insults and vexations; they shall have equal rights and shall practice
their religion as freely as the Muslims.
India’s heritage with regard to human rights concern and education predates the Western history,
philosophy and law. Its national values of tolerance, non-violence, friendship for all, equality,
respect for the human persons, human dignity and rights confirms this. These values are legacy
of Buddhism. Buddha’s messages of non-violence, non-hatred and friendliness to all were
transformed into reality by Emperor Ashoka. As a devout follower of Buddha, Ashoka became a
great champion of freedom and tolerance. He pleaded for universal tolerance. One of the most
significant contributions of Buddhism was the introduction and spread of secular education −
education for all. Organised Universities came to be established under the direct influence of
Buddhism. According to Hinduism, this universal spirit or soul (Brahman) manifests itself in all
human beings and indeed pervades all creation, as the very first verse of the Isa Upanishad
declares: “God covers all that moves in the Universe” (Vijapur, 2010, pp. 60-63).
Thus the contemporary doctrine of human rights has evolved as a result of hundreds of human
experiences, struggles, revolutions and religious and political treatises.
16.5 MAJOR INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES
With the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations
on 10 December 1948, a new era of human rights began. It proclaimed civil-political and
economic, social and cultural rights. These rights were further elaborated in greater detail in two
Covenants adopted in 1966 – the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). These
two Covenants along with their Optional Protocols together with the UDHR are often described
as the International Bill of Human Rights. The UN Covenants, unlike the UDHR, are legally
binding on ratifying States. Let us discuss briefly the human rights contained in these Covenants
and the methods of their implementation.
The Rights Protected under ICCPR
A detailed list of civil and political rights of the individual are set out in the Covenant which are
obligatory for the States Parties to respect and ensure to all individuals within their territories.
They are as follows:
Article 6 – The right to life.
Article 7 – Freedom from torture and inhuman treatment.
Article 8 – Freedom from slavery and forced labour.
Article 9 – The right to liberty and security.
Article 10 – The right of detained persons to be treated with humanity.
Article 11 – Freedom from imprisonment for debt.
Article 12 – Freedom of movement and choice of residence.
Article 13 – Freedom of aliens from expulsion.
Article 14 – The right to a fair trial.
Article 15 – Protection against retroactivity of the criminal law.
Article 16 – The right to recognition as a person before the law.
Article 17 – The right to privacy.
Article 18 – Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Article 19 – Freedom of opinion and of expression.
Article 20 – Prohibition of propaganda for war and of incitement to national, racial or religious
hatred.
Article 21 – The right to peaceful assembly.
Article 22 – Freedom of association.
Article 23 – The right to marry and found a family.
Article 24 – The rights of the child.
Article 25 – Political rights, such as right to vote, right to contest elections, right to participate in
the governance and to have access to public services.
Article 26 – Equality before the law.
Article 27 – The rights of minorities.
The Rights Guaranteed Under ICESCR
The economic, social and cultural rights protected by the ICESCR are as follows:
Article 6 – The right to work.
Article 7 – The right to just and favourable conditions of work including fair wages, equal pay
for equal work and holiday with pay.
Article 8 – The right to form and join trade unions, including the right to strike.
Article 9 – The right to social security.
Article 10 – Protection of the family, including special assistance for mothers and children.
Article 11 – The right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and
housing and the continuous improvement of living conditions.
Article 12 – The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
Article 13 – The right to education, primary education being compulsory and free for all, and
secondary and higher education generally accessible to all (Article 14 permits the
progressive implementation of this right).
Article 15 – The right to participate in cultural life and enjoy the benefits of scientific progress.
Implementation Procedures under the Covenants
Both the Covenants provide for three procedures/ methods of implementation.
(i) The Reporting Procedure
Both the Covenants require the State parties to submit periodic reports to the monitoring bodies
on the measures they adopt to give effect to the rights contained in them and on the progress
made in the enjoyment of those rights. These reports are supposed to indicate also the factors and
difficulties, if any, affecting the implementation of the rights of these Covenants. These State
reports are critically examined by treaty monitoring bodies—the Human Rights Committee
(HRC) and the Committee on Economic and Social Rights (CESCR). Sometimes the Committee
members seek additional information or reports. This kind of regular dialogue/interaction
between the States and the UN bodies creates a favourable international public opinion for
enforcement of human rights. The reporting procedure, in fact, is a novel system in international
relations/law as it has removed the matter of human rights from the exclusive concern of national
jurisdictions. It should be noted that the only implementation procedure contained in the
ICESCR is the reporting procedure.
Under the ICCPR, the first report should be within one year of the entry into force of the
Covenant for the State party concerned and thereafter at an interval of every five years. Under
the ICESCR, the initial report has to be submitted within two years of the Covenant’s entry into
force for the concerned State. Thereafter a comprehensive report is required to be submitted
every five years.
A cursory evaluation of the practice of treaty monitoring bodies provides some interesting facts
regarding the reporting procedure. Though most of the reporting States generally provide a rosy
picture of human rights in their reports, the Committee members scrutinise the reports in the light
of alternative reports submitted by NGOs. While reviewing State reports, the HRC found that
many reports were too brief and incomplete. Moreover, States parties do not submit their reports
on time.
(ii) The Inter - State Complaint /Communication System
This procedure is provided only in the ICCPR. It is optional and not mandatory like the
reporting procedure. Under this procedure, one state can lodge a complaint of human rights
violation against another state, provided both are parties to the Covenant and have accepted this
optional procedure. Such complaints should be settled to the satisfaction of both the States within
six months. After six months, any party may take the complaint to Human Rights Committee for
mediation and conciliation. This procedure entered into force in 1977, though it has not been
invoked (used) so far for fear of reprisals.
(iii) Individual Petition System
Individual petition system is now provided in both the Covenants but they are optional. It is
elaborated in the First Optional Protocol of the ICCPR (1966) and the Optional Protocol to
ICESCR (2008). The former is in operation since 1977 and the latter has not yet become
operational. This optional procedure is applicable to those States parties who have ratified these
Optional Protocols to the Covenants. Under this system, an individual who claims that any of his
rights enumerated in the Covenants have been violated, and who has exhausted all available
domestic remedies may submit written petitions to the HRC and CESCR for their consideration.
The Committees consider such communications in the light of all written information made
available to them by the individual and by the State party concerned, and forwards their ‘views’
to the concerned individual and the State party. The States normally accept the Committees’
decisions (in fact, ‘views’) and also pay compensation to the aggrieved individuals and/or amend
their laws accordingly. It must be acknowledged that the individual petition systems,
although optional, is a development of extraordinary significance, as it has put the
“individuals” on par with the governments /States before these international monitoring
bodies.
It must be noted that most of the constitutions that have come into existence, after the adoption
of UDHR, have included chapters on human rights and duties. Many States have incorporated
the provisions of the international and regional human rights treaties into their domestic laws. As
a result, the international human rights provisions can be invoked in domestic courts. Thus, now
there is a thin line between domestic and international human rights norms and standards. Many
national and international NGOs advocate the implementation of internationally recognised
human rights.
Besides these two Covenants, the United Nations has adopted during the last 65 years the
following core human rights treaties which have monitoring bodies and implementation
procedures. They are:
(i)
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
1965, became operational in 1969.
(ii)
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979
(entered into force in 1981). Its Optional Protocol, adopted in 1999, entered into force
in December 2000.
(iii)
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, 1984 (entered into force in 1987). Its Optional Protocol (2002) entered
into force on 26 June 2087.
(iv)
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 (entered into force in1990). On 25 May
2000, two Optional Protocols the Convention were adopted. These were: Optional
Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (entered into force on 12
February 2002) and Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and
Child pornography (entered into force on 18 January 2002).
(v)
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families (1990). It entered into force in 2003.
(vi)
International Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional
Protocol (2006). It became operational in 2007. Its Optional Protocol (2006) became
operational on 3 May 2008.
(vii)
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance, 2006. It entered into force on 23 December 2010.
There are many other international instruments preventing genocide, suppressing apartheid or on
the rights of refugees, etc. which do not have implementation mechanism. One can get
information on this by visiting the UN website.
16.6 REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS: A BRIEF SURVEY
There are four regional human rights systems: the European, inter-American, African and Asian.
The first is very effective and the other systems are emerging as significant mechanisms to
address human rights issues at the regional level. These regional mechanisms were inspired by
the UDHR. Let us elaborate these briefly.
The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental freedoms (ECHR), adopted under
the auspices of the Council of Europe in 1950, is the oldest and most effective human rights
treaty in the world. It entered into force in 1953. This treaty enshrines mostly civil and political
rights. Through many Protocols new rights have been added. It has been ratified by both West
and East European states (the latter after the collapse of communist systems there). The list of
rights guaranteed in the ECHR has been expanding over the years. Originally, the convention
recognised right to life, prohibition of torture, prohibition of slavery and forced labour, right to
liberty and security, right to a fair trial, no punishment without law, right to respect for private
and family life, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression, freedom of
assembly and association, right to marry, right to effective remedy, prohibition of discrimination
and right to petition by person, NGOs, or groups of individuals. Subsequently through the
adoption of protocols 1, 2, 6 and 7 new rights have been added, such as right to property,
education, free elections, prohibition of imprisonment for debt, prohibition of expulsion of
nationals and prohibition of collective expulsion of aliens, abolition of the death penalty and
compensation for wrongful conviction. It is gratifying to note that the ECHR has been
incorporated by all 45 States parties, although the Convention does not provide as to how exactly
the States Parties are to implement internally the relevant obligations.
Previously it had two enforcing bodies – the European Commission and Court of Human Rights.
Since 1998, the European Commission has been abolished and the Court has become a full-time
body, and the right of individual petition became automatic (previously it was optional) rather
than dependent upon the acceptance of the State complained against. The individuals can petition
the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg, France, if they feel that their governments
have violated their Convention rights. A huge corpus of human rights jurisprudence has emerged
as a result of judgments by the European Court. In many an instance, it has found States in
breach of their international obligations to protect human rights. Thus, the ECHR has developed
over the last fifty five years into a constitutional bill of rights for the entire continent of Europe.
Besides ECHR, the Council of Europe has adopted the European Social Charter, 1961 (covering
social and economic rights), Convention for the Prevention of Torture (1987), the European
Charter for Regional and Minority Languages 1992, the Framework Convention for the
Protection of National Minorities (1995), European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s
Rights 1997 and Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine 1997. All these are operational
now.
The American Convention of Human Rights (ACHR) of 1969 recognises personal, legal, civil
and political rights, and the right to property. The Convention establishes the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights (1979, San Jose, Costa Rica), which has both an advisory and a dispute
settlement function, but since its jurisdiction is optional, it has had limited effectiveness. In
addition, the Inter- American Commission of Human Rights was established in 1959 to protect
rights under both the OAS Charter and the ACHR. When dealing with States Parties to both the
Charter and the ACHR, it has powers of enforcement through a system individual petition
system on optional basis. But its powers are more limited, to making recommendations for
effective compliance, when it comes to States that are parties only to the Charter. Overall, the
Inter-American system has been less successful than its European counterpart, especially in its
impact on the domestic legal systems of contracting States.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights or Banjul Charter (1981), is unique in
comparison to the other two regional systems. It seeks to protect not only civil and political
rights (first generation rights), but also the economic, social, cultural (second generation rights)
and collective / group rights like right to development, peace, environment etc. (third generation
rights). It also includes duties of the individuals. Thus from a normative perspective, the African
Charter offers considerable innovations over its counterparts in Europe and the Americas. It
provides a reporting system similar to UN Covenants, as well as a largely ineffective and underused Commission to hear complaints. In 1998, a Protocol for the establishment of an African
Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights was signed. The new African Court has advisory,
conciliatory and contentious jurisdiction. The latter extend to any relevant human rights treaties.
However, only States Parties to the Protocol, the African Commission and African
Intergovernmental organizations have direct access to the Court; not individuals, nor NGOs. In
short, in comparison to ECHR and ACHR, the African system has been the least successful in
shaping state compliance with human rights.
There is no regional treaty of human rights in Asia. However, on 22 May 2004 the League of
Arab States adopted the Arab Charter of Human Rights. It has been in force since March 2008.
A number of traditional human rights are provided for, including the right to liberty and security
of persons, equality of persons before the law, protection of persons from torture, the right to
own private property, freedom to practice religious observance and freedom of peaceful
assembly and association. The Charter also provides for the election of a seven-person
Committee of Experts on Human Rights to consider States' reports.
16.7 VIOLATIONS OF RIGHTS: A GLOBAL PHENOMENON
Notwithstanding the adoption of Bills of rights in the national constitutions and ratification of
international and regional treaties on human rights by a large number of States, human rights of
the individuals are violated in almost all countries. Absolute power allows governments to
destroy different communities; it also enables them to infringe on the rights of citizens. Just as
governments can help to institutionalise the concept of human rights and protect them for
everyone irrespective of one’s caste, colour, sex, or religion, they can also use their powers to
violate human rights in the most systematic manner. The 20th century has witnessed enormous
progress in the extension of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in all societies in
the world. However, at the same time core human rights, such as right to life, freedom from
torture, slavery etc. have probably never before been violated on such a gross scale. Millions of
people have lost their lives in political persecution by dictatorial regimes. Millions were also
killed in Nazi extermination camps and during Stalin’s rule in the former Soviet Union. Gross
violation of human rights were seen in China, Cambodia, Chile, Iraq, Argentina, Guatemala and
Haiti, Bosnia - Herzegovina and the apartheid regime of South Africa, although on a smaller
scale. These extreme abuses of governmental power illustrates a dilemma that troubled the
founding fathers of the American Revolution: “the problem of creating a government strong
enough to govern effectively but not so strong enough that it could destroy the rights of those
whom it was so designed to serve.”
16.8 SUMMARY
Promotion, recognition and protection of human rights have become the most important principle
of national and international governance since the establishment of the United Nations. The
UDHR has inspired the inclusion of human rights provisions in many constitutional documents.
It also laid the foundation for the evolution of international human rights regimes and regional
mechanisms. The latter half of the 20th century can be considered as a century for
institutionalising the concept of human rights. The idea of rights has not been invented by the
Western civilisation. Each major civilisation, culture, religion and socio-legal system in the
world had a notion of human rights and they contributed towards the emergence of contemporary
concept of human rights as reflected in national, regional, and international documents. Though
there were differences over the meaning and content / catalogue of rights in different cultures,
the world community’s consensus on human rights is reflected in the UDHR and two Covenants.
Most of the international and regional human rights treaties have implementation mechanisms
and monitoring bodies to oversee the compliance of international human rights obligations by
ratifying States. These treaties have individual and State-to-State (inter-State) complaint system
for redressal of human rights violations. In conclusion two points must be stated. First, in the 20th
century (and this will remain so in the present century too) human rights have become, to recall
the words of Boutros Ghali, a common language of mankind and the ultimate norm of all
politics. Adopting this language allows all peoples to understand each other and to be the authors
of their own history. Second, Mahatma Gandhi was much ahead of his times, as he had been
fighting for human rights more than half a century prior to the adoption of the historic 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
16.9 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1. Examine the divergent meanings of the concept of human rights.
2. Is the notion of human rights a discovery of Western civilisation?
3. Discuss the main provisions and implementation procedures and mechanisms of international
Covenants on human rights.
4. Name the core international human rights treaties.
5. Describe briefly the regional human rights mechanisms.
SUGGESTED READINGS
Baehr, Peter R., Human Rights – Universality in Practice, Macmillan Press Ltd, London, 1999
Brown, Chris, “Human Rights”, in John Baylis and Steve Smith (eds.)., The Globalization of
World Politics – An Introduction to International Relations, Oxford University Press, New
Delhi, 2005
Clapham, Andrew., Human Rights – A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, New
Delhi, 2007
Fagan, Andrew., “Human Rights”, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. This article can be
accessed at: http://www.iep.utm.edu/h/hum-rts.htm.
Freeden, Michael., Rights, Milton Keynes: Open University, 1991
Hannum, Hurst., “Human Rights”, in Christopher C. Joyner (ed), The United Nations and
International Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997
Ishay, Micheline, R., The History of Human Rights – From Ancient Times to the Globalization
Era, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2004; Orient Longman Private Ltd., New Delhi,
2004
Nickel, James., “Human Rights”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2oo6. This article can be
accessed at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/human-rights/ visited on 11-01-2011.
Pogge, Thomas., “The International Significance of Human Rights”, Journal of Ethics, Vol. 4,
No.1-2, 2000, pp. 45-69
Shelton, Dinah., “An Introduction to the History of International Human Rights Law”, Lectures
given at the International Institute of human Rights, Strasbourg, France, July 2003. It can be
accessed at http://www.ssrn.com/so13/papers.cfm?abstract_id_1010489.
Vijapur, Abdulrahim, P., “The Concept of Human Rights: National and International
Perspectives”, International Politics (Tehran, Iran), Vol. 2, No. IV, Summer & Autumn 2009
------, Human Rights in International Relations, Manak Publications, New Delhi, 2010