God Vs Man

God has shared some of his prerogatives with man which include intelligence and    ability to design and create. But a lot still remains beyond the realm of man, such as-

   i) foreknowledge of things to come. Man doesn’t know what the next moment is going to bring;

  ii) universal / natural phenomena like day & night, rain or draught, floods, quakes, , air, sea & water;

iii) birth or death

 iv) accidents;

   v) serious illnesses  to which man is prone and can cause death

 vi) replication of mineral products e.g minerals, metals, fossil fuels as also agricultural products. Can exploit but not replicate.

This has ensured that man remains in awe of God.

2 However,  a very significant function that God has assigned to man is limited control and management of human societies which has enabled man’s rule over man. This must have caused serious distress in primitive times when tribal chiefs ruled over contemporaries and practiced serious cruelties, privations and even death when their commands and wishes were not obeyed. As things evolved , enlargement of communities and greater awareness among men of their rights, times of kings arrived with more refined techniques of governance, which might have seen lesser cruelties and arbitrariness. In modern times, the powers and rights of rulers have been considerably tamed and subjected to written laws and rules ensuring dignity of man in general and minimisation of arbitrariness. The mandates to rulers also require the rulers to ensure equality of all men before law, fair distribution of wealth and elimination of extreme poverty but with traits of selfishness, greed and acquisition including hoarding being strongly ingrained in human nature, the implementation of these  mandates has remained elusive.

3 A comparison of how God dispenses his Will with how modern human societies regulate human affairs makes an interesting reading. Some examples that come to my mind:

   i) when there are several claimants to a product or service, man generally imposes the first come first served rule or makes priority or seniority lists to ensure transparency No such rule is followed in matters in God’s domain. There is, for example, no transparency in how a man’s turn to die is fixed.

 ii) Whenever human organisations undertake work involving damages to or demolition of properties, prior notice is given to the population of the area to relocate so as to escape any injury or loss of life. No such prior notice is forthcoming in the case of natural calamities like earthquakes, cloud bursts, storms etc. with the result that heavy loss of life and property occurs.

iii)Human institutions evolve transparent criteria for award of penalties and punishments including death (by hanging).But in divine dispensation some people are ordained to suffer extremely serious, painful and prolonged  illnesses leading to death all the time crying out to God “Why me” and “What I have done to deserve this” etc. No answers are forthcoming.

4 Atheists use such grey areas to argue to support their lack of faith in God. But believers are not deterred by such considerations having based their faith  on solid and unassailable evidences. They just concede that such arrangements are devised by God who in His extreme wisdom decided that it should be so and these are ultimately in the best inIterests of humankind. In fact, man’s capacity and ability to observe, understand and judge bear no comparison with God’s.

Probable Root of Crime of Rape

A prominent Hindi newspaper carried a spine-chilling and concience -shaking report 2 days ago (December 24th).The report said that a hardcore criminal knocked at the door of a family in his neighbourhood late at night in a small town callled Jhajhar in India’s Haryana State. He requested the house-holder to escort him to his house as he was feeling dizzy. Not having the guts to refuse, the house-holder accompanied him. After some time, the criminal returned to the house, leaving the man of the house somewhere else. He started molesting the lady of the house who managed to escape from the house leaving behind her two children, a son aged 7 and a daughter aged 5. Soon, the lady saw her husband returning and joined her to their house. On reaching the house, they found that their daughter had been carried away by the criminal.They rushed to the criminal’s house and found it bolted from inside. They knocked & knocked but the door was not opened. Instead they could hear the heart-rending cries of their daughter. The lady ran to the Police Station picking up on the way th son of a former legislator. The police men refused to entertain their compaint and asked them to beat it The two then went to the house of the Police Supdt. who ordered the staff to do their job. The police men had to enter the house of the criminal by climbing the roof of a neighbouring house and broke the door of the room in which the criminal was ensconed. The girl was found dead after having been sexually assaulted brutally and the criminal was still lying on the bed. He was ..ofcourse arrested.

Sexual assualt on infants and their murder are not a rarity in these or other parts of India but the modus operandi in this case was a novelty. The policc behaviour was reminiscent of the way police used treat ordinary Indians during British rule though this is still prevalnt in some way-side locations in India. This is reflectve of the functioning of democracy in India over 70 years after it won independnce from British rule. Never-the-less, Indians by and large are becoming more and more assertive of the power of vote and political leadership and administrations are taking note for their own survival.

It was after an unprecedentedly violent case of a gang rape of a 23 year old woman in a moving bus in Delhi involving 6 men that resulted in extreme outrage in the whole country in 2012 and resulted in a stringent legislation prescribing death sentence and trial in fast tack courts in rape cases. The stringency of the legislation gave rise to hope that it will have a salutary effect in bringing down the incidence of rapes in the country. But the hope was belied. Instead the reports of rapes and gang rapes continued and the methods employed became more .cruel. The incidence of rapes of infant girls also became more and more frequent. Rapes of infants usually lead to their murder by the rapist or death during treatment. Obviously, the authorities are at their wits ends in trying to stop such caes.

It is a moot point whether the failure to make an impact on this crime is due to a failure to make a corrrect diagnosis of the cause of the malady. The present thinking appears to be that a propencity for criminal behaviour leads individuals to commit this crime and hence severe punishments will cause deterance. The reults seem to show that this thinking may be faulted and there is need to rethink. Complaints of rape against men of high social standing with no known propensity for crime are not all that rare. A person who has once induldged in crime may, however, commit his sex crime with greater bravado

It appears that this issue has the power of sex at its root. Sadhguru Jaggi has commented in some context that hormones hijack a person in his youth. I think this is true for a larger range of age. The power sex exercises over the sanity and behaviour control of a person seems to be determined by the quantity of the relevant harmone secreted by his body glands. I think it is time this aspect receives attention of authorities controlling law and order in the contexr of sex crimes. There is need for a team of medical experts to examine this issue and suggest if medical science can provide some remedies for this malady.

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“Political Hindutava”

Pavan K. Verma , author, politician and a former bureaucrat, while speaking on his new book at the Times Lit. festival in Delhi on 02.12.2018 stated that “the political manifestation of Hindutava is aggressive, exclusionist  and opposed to Hindu philosophy and thought”. He added that those practicing the muscular form of Hindutava were moving away from the true form of religion.

2. I do not dispute that certain recent developments in India lend  credence to Mr. Verma’s observations. But I feel that Mr. Verma would have been more just to  his narrative if he had devoted a small part of his speech to the circumstances leading to the evolution of what he calls “political Hindutava” and its aggressive face. It was in 1947 (71 years ago) that India won its freedom from British rule. In the process of attaining freedom, India got truncated with Muslim majority areas  of United India choosing to cede to form a separate country , a theocratic Muslim state called Pakistan. However, the rest of India, having over 80% Hindu population, practicing what Mr. Verma calls the”true form of (Hindu) religion” chose to remain a secular state with equal space, rights and opportunities for all religions and continues to live by and practice  this choice till date despite what has been called “political Hindutava”. While Pakistan has since managed to drastically reduce its Hindu population that chose to stay in that country after partition to a negligible level, the Muslim population in India has only increased. There has even been migration of Muslims from some parts of Pakistan to India.

3. India became a democracy. With 80% population, Hindus could rightfully  expect that governance would be impacted by their concerns and aspirations and centuries .long oppression suffered by them at the hands of foreign rulers, which included  rule by Muslim invaders, would be mitigated. Nevertheless overwhelming bulk of Hindu population continued to politically stand by secular formations specially the Indian National Congress who continued to get voted to rule the country uninterruptedly for about 60 years after independence. 

4. This  support by Hindus, despite reservations about treatment of Hindus, presumably lulled the Congress to believe that they could take Hindu support for granted due to the community’s genetic inclination to tolerance and inclusiveness, and what  the party needed to perpetuate their dominance was to woo the 15%Muslim vote. The Congress rule was thus marred by what is perceived as Minority appeasement. Over time this appeasement acquired blatant dimensions gradually alienating large sections of Hindus.This alienation, building up over decades by incidents like India being the first to ban Salman Rushdie’s book  “Satanic Verses”. reversing of Supreme Court judgement in Shah Bano case by Parliamentary enactment,  terming of raid on Batla House  terrorists  by Delhi Police as fake by some Congress leaders etc.  was climaxed by(i) an attempted legislation by UPA government seeking to pin entire responsibility for communal incidents on majority community and (ii) former Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’ s statement that the minority had the first claim on the nation’s resources.The alienation of a large majority of  Hindus  following the persistent minority appeasement not only resulted ultimately in the humiliating defeat of the Congresss in 2014 general elections but also in the   emergence of what Mr. Verma calls “Political Hindutava” , the  “aggressive face” being due to some overzealous individuals or sections  among Hindus taking undue advantage of the situation and giving expression to their pent up frustrations.

5. The concept of”agressive Hindustava” seems to have acquired currency due to incidents of lynching or killing of persons  allegedly  indulging in cow slaughter or trade and recent murders of some “liberal” writers/journalists etc. and other such stray incidents. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already clarified that those indulging in criminal activities in the name of cow protection are not genuine political or religious workers but are motivated by mercenary considerations. Murders of people with different thought orientation are works of fanatics which do not justify tagging a religion with “aggressive” label.

 

Thoughts provoked by PM’s article on Mahatma Gandhi

I have read today an article captioned ‘How Bapu United India’ contributed by our Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi in Sunday Times on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of the late Mahatma. The article provoked several thoughts  and I have felt compelled to put them down in this blog.

2. The PM says: ” Mahatma Gandhi connected India, in letter and spirit, in thought and action”.  The article’s caption implies that the Mahatma united India. I  thought about it. Did he or did he not?  My conclusion: He did not but he did just in one respect. In fact, he succumbed to the division of  a geographically united India He fought all his life to instill  virtues of non-violence but succeeded only partially. While he managed to keep the struggle against the British for an independent India largely peaceful, he could not persuade the Indian people to avoid violent riots causing loss of life and arson from time to time. Ultimately he lost his own life to violence. As is evident from from the Indian scene today,  his success in persuading the Indian people to forsake casteism, hatred or separatist tendencies  on religious grounds was not an unqualified success.

3.  But he did succeed resoundingly and to the amazement of the rest of the world in uniting India on one issue: freedom from foreign rule . He succeeded in convincing Indians that freedom was the the overriding priority and it could only be attained if Indians united keeping aside differences on other counts including religion, caste, class, language . He also succeeded in convincing Indians that the fight against the powerful foreign power had necessarily to be non-violent. The Indian people united on this issue and won.

4. The thought that presenting the people with one single issue and convincing them that it has over-riding priority requiring every other issue to be kept aside made me wonder if there is an issue in today’s context that can achieve this end of uniting the people in the endeavor. There is one issue: raising all Indians above the poverty line and eliminating hunger and deaths from hunger altogether.

5. Mahatma Gandhi was a leader by virtue of the moral authority he commanded. Mr. Modi has the added advantage of being a powerful head of a government. In his latter capacity, the P.M has introduced several reforms such as swatch Bharat and schemes to uplift sections of the populace, such as free cooking gas, toilets in all homes, electricity in all homes, housing for all etc. These are, however, not aimed at uniting the people.  In the context of cleanliness, the PM has observed in his article that Gandhiji “cleaned his own toilets ensuring clean surroundings”. This makes the point that, as an individual, one’s responsibility is to keep his own place and surroundings clean and this does not extend to  cleaning the litter elsewhere on the roads or in gutters or other public places for which purpose every citizen pays taxes. It appears to me that the Swatch Bharat mission has not paid sufficient attention to  make the publically funded machinery to contribute its  might.Similarly, 71 years after independence, civil services in the field and the police are not attuned to serving public needs and aspirations as Bapu would like them and like they do  in progressive democracies.Tales about public utilities like hospitals in India makes one hang his head in shame.These are areas where the PM’s authority needs to be exercised effectively. . The PM’s words that “we must live for the nation  and do everything possible  to build the India our freedom fighters envisioned ” ispire hope.

 

 

 

 

Whither Indian Businesses?

Where are things headed for for the ordinary citizen in India?

2.The mounting  greed, the dwindling respect for and fear of the law of land and ability   of the resourceful to get away with high handed behaviour vis-a-vis their victims has emboldened some unscrupulous businesses to ask their clients who have invested lakhs with them trusting their past record, to sign away their legal rights in their favour on pain of jeopardizing the investments or having to undergo tortuous legal processes involving expense of huge amounts of money and years of their life.

3. It is a universal every day practice that when a purchaser intends to buy a manufactured or constructed product, the seller offers guarantees of good quality and undertakes to repair or rectify or even replace the product free of cost during a specified period of warranty if the products fails on the quality test. If satisfied with such assurances, the buyer pays up and gets possession of the product. A renowned builder in India (namely DLF India ) obviously unsure about the quality of products it offers in its project DLF Valley, Panchkula,  has come up with an innovation unworthy of an ethical entity. It offers products, say residential flats, realises full money for them before completion and when ready and after realising every penny of his cost (and more) invites the customer who had trusted him with his money and patience over the  time taken to build, to take possession of the product but – here is the twist – only if he is ready to sign an indemnity on a stamped notarized paper saying that:” I confirm and acknowledge that I am completely satisfied  with respect to the overall construction quality and amenities/facilities provided by the company in the said colony and the flat and  shall not have any claim against the company in this regard”. Now, if the purchaser is not satisfied with the quality of construction and does not want to sign away his rights, he is denied possession of the property he has paid for and waited to own for years.I can state from personal experience that not only  written requests of such a purchaser for relaxation of the condition for signing the indemnity  are not taken cognizance of, he is kept bombarded with notices that since he is not taking possession of his property, he is liable for further penalties like imposition of holding charges , cleaning & maintenance charges etc. In other words, the dissenter not only gets stuck with his investment for an indefinite period but is also threatened with other extortion. Many of the customer who are more worried about the immediate impact like loss of immediate possession and  having their investment blocked for an indefinite period, sign on the dotted line. But, in the process they not only encourage such malpractices by sellers but also  help further loosen the moral fabric . They also suffer many personal irritants & even financial losses arising out of their voluntary surrender of their right for legitimate  claims.

4. It is a matter of amazement how a company can dare to enact a rule like this for its customers in a country like India where law making authority is a preserve of the legislatures. One reason may be that it is not within the purview of any administrative authority to act in the case of such aberrations. Courts of law are the only resort – to the great consolation of the offending Companies because of the excruciatingly time consuming legal processes which deter citizens from approaching courts unless absolutely necessary. The Government ought to nominate an administrative authority to act in such cases when brought to its notice. Such authority and the  courts ought also to take suo moto cognizance of such company framed regulations which make a mockery of consumer protection laws. If some such steps are not taken immediately, more and more companies will feel encouraged to frame self-serving regulations leading to ultimate demise of trust in Companies.

 

 

 

The Theory of Evolution

Shri  Satyapal Singh, ex Police Commissioner of Mumbai and presently  minister of State in the Human Resources Development Ministry in India’s Central Government made a statement  at an event  in Aurangabad the other day that “Darwin’s  theory of evolution is scientifically wrong. It needs to change  in school and college curricula”.

Some members of the scientific community in India have taken  umbrage to the minister’s statement saying that the “minister’s lack of knowledge is shocking”.

In my view as a layman, the strong reaction of the scientists betrays a lack of scientific temper. Science does not command blind following.

The theory of evolution, in fact, has never received universal acceptance. No religion supports it and few thinkers in other fields of human thought have been enthusiastic about it. It remains a theory which has not been scientifically disproved.  It finds a respectful place in scientific literature including school and college text books without any organised challenge by other schools of thought.

Any scientific finding has to succeed on certain established parameters which include observation, research and experimentation. This theory cannot be experimentally tested. Observation no doubt shows various species co-existing , one seemingly an improved version of the other, such as monkey and man,  but it cannot be conclusively stated as to whether the improved version is the result of unguided mutations or evolution, or a deliberate different version to satisfy different needs or purposes. In ordinary human endeavour, when an improved version of any product is successfully developed, the older version of the product is allowed to go defunct. But that has not happened as part of evolution. The newer versions continue to co-exist with the older ones and have their own independent  roles. Wherever any species has become extinct, it was not because a newer version had been evolved. Nature cannot be accused of being wasteful and developing multiple versions unnecessarily.  Or do the scientists think the universe is a developing anarchy?

Another feature of this theory is that it finds no practical application in life. So it does no harm and is not seriously questioned. But the over enthusiastic Indian scientists must give some space to those who have different ideas.

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. New India

 

The resounding win of his party in the elections to the largest State in the heart of India, Uttar Pradesh, made the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi  revive the talk about a New India. In a radio talk on Sunday, March 26, the Prime Minister said: “It is neither a government scheme nor a political party’s manifesto nor a project. It is the essence of  the emotions of 125 crore Indians wanting to come together  and create a magnificent India” He further added “when there is talk of New India, its criticism, its analysis and its counter views  are natural…… But it is true that if 125 crore Indians resolve, the dream of New India can be fulfilled in our life time”.

2.  I wish to state that as far as the people of India are concerned, the yearning for a new India has always been there. They fought the battle of freedom from Britain and made all the sacrifices for a new India. When the country won its Independence in 1947, the people naturally hoped that a new India would emerge. But the people were badly let down by those who inherited political power from the British. Not only the same administrative structure was continued, there was no attempt to change the mind set of those manning the structure. There  was so little palpable change that people  in the course of time brought themselves round to accept the reality  that only colour of skin of the rulers had changed and new India  would remain a dream. The situation has persisted for the past 70 years though the people have tried to extract some positive outcomes during the years through the power of voting. I do believe that Narendra Modi is one such positive outcome.

3. The Prime Minister has said that New India is not a government project nor a party manifesto. Yet it appears to me that from the common peoples’ point of view, the first pre-requisite of a new India has to be the installation of an administrative (including police) structure that cares and works for the people. The present set-up is practically unresponsive to peoples’ needs and aspirations.. This is obvious from the thousands who turn up at the Janata Darbars held by various Chief Ministers, Ministers and representations in hundreds of thousands received by the Prime Minister daily. When Mr. Arvind Kejriwal tried to hold a Janata Darbar on  taking over as Chief Minister of Delhi in 2015, there was virtual stampede with hundreds of thousands turning up. The adminstrations are also not upto their primary task of securing compliance with laws for whatever reason. It turns out, for example, that abattoirs shut down in UP on taking over   of the  new BJP Government were functioning illegally for years. Other illegal activities also continue under the nose of the administrators and the police who obviously wait for political signals before  doing what their duty otherwise calls for.

4. Another pre-requisite for a new India is delivery of justice in reasonable time. In this regard, the less said the better as far as the present situation in India, after 70 years of Independence is concerned.It can be no body’s case that mere resolve of the people can solve this problem. Only a concerted effort by the Government and the judiciary can do so. The same can also be said about the problem of corruption in services and by politicians. In fact, the emergence of new India calls for a host of other endeavours  by the Government, like the creation of infra-structures, reform in education, pro-growth economic policies that a mere resolve by the people cannot bring about.

5.The political parties have not covered themselves with glory in the matter of transforming India . The responsibility for  failure to reform the administration and the  police can be safely laid at the door of the politicians. It is to be hoped that the 2014 election to Lok Sabha and 2017 election to UP assembly will prove the turning point.The intention of the Prime Minister in transforming India cannot be doubted. It is to be hoped that the purification of political parties will get a push and the rest will hopefully follow.

 

 

 

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mmam in 2015 on taking over as Delhimanifesto.

Discrimination hits all

An unfortunate suicide by a   Jawaharlal Nehru University scholar,  named Muthukrishnan, was reported on Monday this  13th March. His being a Dalit  revived memories of another suicide by a Dalit scholar, Rohith Vermula, in another University  over a year ago. But while the latter (Rohith) had been involved in various controversies,  agitations and confrontations with the University authorities and rival student union for more than a year,  the former (Muthukrishnan)  had (happily, it seems) participated in Holi celebrations that morning and later departed for the residence of a friend  to have lunch.  On reaching his friend’s house , he complained of sleep deprivation having worked on his assignment till late at night, latched into a room ostensibly to have some sleep but was later found hanging to death.

2.  His being a Dalit was initially held to be a coincidence by his fellow hostelers , students and teachers. His fellow students even appealed  that the matter be not politicized. However, his father, suspected foul play (not discrimination) due to the position of his son’s body and wanted a case to be registered invoking provisions in the SC/ST Act  A student’s Union, BAPSA, also  jumped in claiming that the deceased faced casteism wthout giving any concrete instances.The police did register a case and are investigating it from all angles.The politicians and some intellectuals did not fail to perform their act and hit out at the authorities for the happening giving the issue a Dalit hue.

3. Muthukrishnan’s life story is nothing short of being inspiring the way he, in spite of being born to very poor parents,  battled/ struggled relentlessly to educate himself. He raised money by doing menial jobs, “saving like ants”, even went hungry on occasions and ultimately managed to qualify for the PhD course in JNU  after facing repeated failures in his post graduate exams and admission tests to JNU. During all these struggles, he must have faced various kinds of discrimination. But obviously, he was not the one to give up. Obviously,he did not go through all this to one day end his own life when he was very near his goal. The police have, therefore, done well to decide to investigate his death from all angles.

4. Casteism is a fact of life in India. Not only Dalits but all castes suffer discrimination in one form or the other socially.However, discrimination against Dalits was the severest historically.  They were even treated as untouchables. However, on attaining independence, India took vigorous steps to put the situation right. Not only was any kind of discrimination against Dalits made unlawful and severely punishable, the Constitution of the country also provided for reservations in government jobs and in institutions of higher education for Dalits to accelerate their economic advancement.Apart from reservations, eligibility conditions were also relaxed in their favour.  Dalits have been enjoying the benefits of these provisions for well over 65 years and have in the mean-while reached high positions in governments (like  Ministers and high officials) and in all other spheres. We now have Dalits in high positions in all spheres like judiciary, medicine, education, engineering, science etc. They are also enjoying benefits of reservations in institutions of higher education equipping them for good status in life.

5.  Yet whenever any thing untoward happens to a Dalit  in an individual capacity in  government service or in an educational institution, attempts are made to politicise the issue and make it appear that the problem has arisen just because the individual is a Dalit. We are presently having a very extra-ordinary case of a High Court judge . Justice Karnan, who, faced with issues of his functioning as a judge, has accused Chief Justices of Madras and Calcutta High Courts and seven judges of Supreme Court of acting against him because he is a Dalit. This is a  practice that many Dalit persons adopt when sought to be  proceeded against for  any individual lapse. This attitude is, however, likely to weaken the legislation intended to protect Dalits as a class.

6.  The need is for all concerned to act responsibly. Every issue should be dealt with on merit.. Dalits should realise that discrimination is a part of life and does not affect Dalits alone.Suicides have also been committed by other students e.g.in Kota.  Come to think of it, do the reservations in favour of Dalits not constitute a kind of discrimination against others? Every thing has to be considered in the context of its effect on and in the interest of the Society and the country as a whole.

 

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Is Democracy Divisive?

India is the largest democracy in the world. The country has a bewilderingly multifaceted  demographic profile. The country  is peopled by followers of several religions including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism & Jains.  While Hindus constitute over 80% of the population and Muslims over 13%, the followers of other religions too have significant presence and political relevance in pockets. While this religious  divergence has its political dynamics, the situation is made more volatile by the division of Hindu society into thousands of castes and sub-castes.. Of these , certain castes, listed by the Government as scheduled castes are historically oppressed and deprived due to  social discrimination. These constitute a little over 16% of the population. Then there are scheduled tribes comprising a little over 8% of the population who are also historically backward. The Indian Constitution, recognising the need for special measures for accelerated economic and social uplift of these historically deprived classes, provided for reservation in government jobs (at recruitment stage) and in higher educational institutions roughly in proportion to their component in the population viz. 15% and 7.5%.for a period of 10 years from 1952. This period, however, proved to o little and has been extended from time to time and the reservation continues till now.

2. Apart from the division into religions,castes and communities, the country is also divided on linguistic basis. Boundaries of different states in the Union have been determined on a linguistic basis. Language has become an important factor in Indian demographics. People become emotional as much on issues of language as on issues of religion/caste/community.

3. It is expected that each religious, caste and linguistic group will have its own special or unique interest, some times in conflict with the interests of other   groups. The multiplicity of groupings and their interests in India occasionally manifests itself in conflicts, localised or pan-India. The conflict over Babri Masjid and construction of a temple  for Hindu Lord Ram at the same location, for example, has,   persisted for several decades and has given rise to several bloody riots and disturbances at several places in the country. Economic issues have also been at the root of major upheavals with significant segments of population facing each other.

4. Unemployment being  a dominant and distressing problem in the country, some major conflicts have centred around this issue. Taking a cue from the constitutional provision for reservations for scheduled castes and tribes, various caste groupings started raising demands for reservations in governments jobs on grounds of being backward. With struggles assuming law and order  dimensions and a Commission, named Mandal Commission,   . recommending reservations for some castes termed as ‘other backward castes’, the Government conceded the demand. and thus opened flood gates for similar demands from more caste groupings, such as Jats in Haryana , Uttar{Pradesh & Rajasthan and Patels in Guajrat.(which were not included in the original OBC list)  The agitations by Jats and Patels , who are viewed as relatively prosperous groups, claimed reservations on grounds of being backward, caused huge law and order problems, claimed a number of lives and huge destruction of public property.

5.Times when people were exhorted  to ask “not what the country can do for you but what you can do for the country” are long past. The democratic nature of governance perhaps encourages people to think that it is for the government to sort out and solve all problems. What is worse, people demanding solution of problems do not even wish to compromise and make space. Examples are river water disputes in the country. Punjab pledges to spare not a drop of water for Haryana, never mind how Haryana will manage. Similarly,  various caste groups demanding reservations do not care whether any thing is left for those not entitled to reservations.

6. But are the people to blame or their leaders? I think the leaders have a greater responsibility since they know that people are emotional when it comes to matters of religion, caste, language or state. In fact most leaders exploit this fact.  The leaders in the government, who have it in their power to take decisions on demands raised, also represent particular party or parties,  have to safeguard interests of their own party by ensuring not only that the continuance of their party government is not threatened  but is also ensured in the next election. Decisions  taken with such factors in mind are not necessarily in overall interest always. This is why the judiciary has had to step in several times to reverse the decisions of the elected governments.

7. In India, particularly since independence, political parties have tended to be formed  around religious, caste, linguistic or regional lines apparently as it was found that the sectional interests are better safeguarded, served and promoted by having parties on these lines.      This approach has thrown up many  narrow minded leaders and divided people into fragmented groups. Parties aspiring to form governments have to  do a lot of tight rope walking to win the support of as many sectional groups as they can and do a lot of balancing acts after they get elected. A lot of fire fighting has also to be done to curb or contain sectional conflicts which continue to flare up from time to time.

8. While democracy in India has thus resulted in some divisiveness among  people it goes greatly to the credit of people at large that the federal character of the country has been maintained . This underlines the over-riding nationalist mind-set of the people which involves keeping the country united even while keeping alive some conflicts of sectional nature. However, these sectional conflicts cause considerable damage to life and property and what is required is to revive the spirit of give and take and to revert to ” ask what I can do for the country rather than what the country can do for me.”.

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2. Democracy is essentially a game of numbers. Those who command the support of majority

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Pitfalls of Democracy

We in India take pride in the country being a democracy though some aspects of how it works in our country also shame us. We have political parties, each of whom is supposed to have a political ideology based on which they are supposed to have their cadres, or grass root workers and memberships culminating in executives and controlling leaders at the apex.

2. Pursuit of power (which they prefer to refer to as service to the people) through elections held periodically to form the government, is the avowed purpose of the political parties. Political activity during the interregnum between two elections is kept abuzz by those in opposition through organising protests/agitations/demonstrations against policies and actions of the ruling party while those in the ruling party organise counter demonstrations to defend the policies and actions of the ruling party. In organising such demonstrations/agitations, the cadres and members of the parties concerned play an active part in mobilising support of the public at large. The cadres and members thus play a vital role in sustaining public support for the respective parties.

3. Naturally and obviously, all cadres aspire to share the pie if and when their party comes to power in return for the hard work they put in for sustaining support for their parties. But unfortunately, their leaders who have it in their power to reward them, have other ideas and at the root is their own instinct for self preservation or promotion.. They too want to retain or win electoral support for their parties but promoting their cadres is not their primary concern and, in fact, they are all too ready to dump the cadres or members if they perceive that the party’s race for power may be better served by favouring those who may not be normal sympathisers of the party but just eyeing it to better their own prospects by siding with what appears as the winning horse.

4. Come election time and there is a feverish run for party tickets to fight election. Some who have tasted power, or have an irresistible urge to taste it, want a party ticket by hook or crook and to satisfy this desire, they do not mind jumping parties, joining even those whose professed ideologies are diametrically opposite to what they have been professing so far. Such people are dubbed turn- coats and to the dismay of people at large,this does not hurt them. This may be understandable but what is surprising and even shameful is the willingness of the parties they are seeking to join to welcome them, some times even at the cost of their loyal cadres or members just because they perceive that such turn-coats have a greater chance of winning the election than their own members. All some of these turn-coats have to offer is their muscle and money power. Thus parties without exception give up all pretense to principles or ethics and have no compunction about being seen as brazenly running for power.

5. Five states in India are due to have elections to their State assemblies between February and April, 2017 and the country is witnessing an unseemly spectacle of candidates jostling for tickets. Ambitious people are changing parties like they change their clothes and some are being welcomed for doing so. Admission of turn coats into the new parties is giving rise to rebellions by old faithfuls of those parties. This is causing distress and even shame to the people at large who are equally disdainful of the turn-coats and the parties who accept them. Because this goes to show that power is the sole objective of those pursuing politics and service to the people a mere ploy. Voters do punish the turn-coats and their parties by not voting for them but they also take into account the over-all composition of the party they chose to vote which some times results in even the turn coats winning.

6.Democracy would be much purer if such pitfalls were avoided. The only alternative is that parties should not encourage turn coats and stick to their principles and ideologies at all costs.