A Discriminant Analysis

There have been debates on net neutrality. Net, that has an abysmally low penetration in India. This article is not about the digital divide, but an artificial, deeper and more critical demographic divide.

Following are two articles of the Indian Constitution:

[Art. 29(2)] – There shall be no discrimination against any citizen on the ground of religion, caste race or language, in matter of admission into educational institutes maintained or aided by the State.

[Art. 16(2)] – There shall be no discrimination against any citizen on the ground of religion, caste race or language, in matter of public employment.

Doesn’t it then become clear that the unreserved category is being clearly discriminated against, when they are being given very limited opportunities for education and employment in the name of upliftment of the reserved classes? A very contradicting and illogical article can be found in the constitution, which supposedly ‘takes care’ of this issue.

[Art. 15(4)] – If special provisions are made by the State in favour of members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, other citizens shall not be entitled to impeach the validity of such provisions on the ground that such provisions are discriminatory against them.

So isn’t it quite self-contradictory and dictatorial? You are biased against and you can’t even oppose! Had the people of India been fond of such restrictions, we would all have chosen dictatorship!

Now there has been frequent additions of more and more ‘castes’ into the list of ‘backward’ category. How many have been removed from this list? Didn’t get to hear any community coming out? So either it’s the fact that reservation isn’t helping at all, or it’s an irreversible step taken under political motives to increase vote share. If you remove a community, there goes your vote!

The reservation quota percentage is also, in a similar fashion increasing with the passage of time.

The above two increments: number of communities falling into backward category and the reservation percentage begs the answer to the question: is India becoming increasingly backward that more of it requires more of reservation to thrive?

As it is the skill development and deployment structure on India is on life support, these provisions are only slowly pulling the plug. It’s not saying that certain castes perform lower. Not at all. But it is quite logical, and let’s face it: whenever a reservation system is put into place, the performance benchmark will be lowered. A very visible example is the lowered eligibility cut off scores for employment in public sector or admissions to government colleges and institutes for the reserved categories. Output levels for such organisations are bound to fall.

According to the latest economic data from NSSO, despite more access to education, better household amenities and increased incomes, the economic gap between upper castes and tribal communities continue unchanged. So what purpose is the preferential treatment trying to achieve?

The only feasible and seemingly logical way out is to identify the financially weak and provide financial support to these individuals, not the entire category of people. If a person is say BPL, no matter which category, he/she should be provided education at lower rates. After completing his education, he/she is at an equal level as others, so he/she should not need any quotas for job.

Let there be level playing ground for everyone, irrespective of their caste, race, religion or language. Doesn’t it correspond with what the fundamental principle of equality speaks of?

Unhealed wounds

Finally she is at peace. After more than four decades.

Aruna Shanbaugh was another victim of rape and the terrible state of people’s mentality. The worst wasn’t over, the society had planned out more for her. Her family abandoned her when she needed them the most. For a person who had always loved the idea of caring and helping others and for the very reason became a nurse had no one left to care for her, except the other nurses.

Her death, though is a sad shock, has highlighted a lot of questions that has laid in our midst since long, and have been chose to be conveniently ignored. We have bigger issues like invention of selfie sticks, and the detrimental impact of the court proceedings on our beloved‘Bhai’. So for once ignoring these critical issues, let us look at the ‘trivial’ ones.

Rape: Too much has been said (including girls should pray to not get raped), lot has been analysed and suggested, and nothing has been executed. Hope that happens someday soon.

The victim led a terrible life for 42 years and died recently, while the perpetrator served a two concurrent seven year sentences. The case filed was not even of rape, it was of mere robbery and attempted murder. (At present, this person is living a normal life, working for a Delhi hospital).

Euthanasia: More of a GD topic, only sometimes the members of the GD may not be the usual students, but from a panel of experts on NDTV.

“On behalf of Aruna, her friend Pinki Virani, a social activist, filed a petition in the Supreme Court arguing that the "continued existence of Aruna is in violation of her right to live in dignity". The Supreme Court made its decision on 7 March 2011. The court rejected the plea to discontinue Aruna's life support”.

The court, which made passive euthanasia legal in India, did not do so in Aruna’s case. (Passive euthanasia involves removal of life support systems for the affected. Active euthanasia, which involves use of a lethal injection to end life, is still illegal.)

The “right to die”, when put very roughly, is in direct reciprocation to right to live. The life Aruna had after the incident was no life at all. She lost most of her senses, couldn’t eat or even move herself. Every person has a right to live with dignity and die with dignity.

Wasn’t it something practiced by people dependent on animal meat to kill the prey if it was still alive and struggling? Wasn’t it the practice even among warriors to kill the enemy with a clean stroke to end their pain? It was a simple gesture of being human (don’t go by the now diluted meaning of ‘being human’ here). Why can’t we do the same to ourselves, what we do even for the enemy?

They right to die is very pronounced in the case of Aruna.  Why, or for whom would she have loved to live? Taking even the most optimistic scenario that she would have come out of her coma (although she was there permanently), who would she have liked to see when she recovered? Her family, who chose to forget her? The patients whom she once took care of, but who never came to see her? The country, which was busy worshipping Ammas and praising Aam Aadmis while she struggled day after day for 42 years with numerous ailments?

For this and similar tragic events, It’s time we put to task people responsible– oursleves.

The Complete Man

People today are quickly and blindly adopting western attitudes, those that are not in many ways apt for our society. And for the actually imitable attributes, there is resistance.

We have pubs where young people of both sexes meet and drink but we haven’t accepted sex education. We have the big shot foreign companies here to exploit the domestic market, but no job-ready workforce, owing to the still ‘unpractical’ education system. Knowledge is being quickly replaced with data. We change the Facebook cover picture to the national flag on one day of the year, and forget the country for the rest of it. We have guided missiles and misguided men. We are readily sharing our selfies taken in malls and multiplexes on Instagram, but are still bound by caste marriages.

The lack of understanding on sensitive issues like the concept of religion, faith, modernity and social setup is still stark, as India struggles to achieve its 2020 goals. A lot of effort is required to take the social framework to the next level. Anyone working towards this goal in any field deserves appreciation. Someone who did this when faith was misguided and intense, and social work wasn't a trending hashtag, deserves a lot more.

Imagine the scenario more than half a century ago. Let’s go back to that time.

Bacchu Singh is another youth among the many despising the foreign rule. What makes him different from the others is that he acts to bring about the change, and the fiery passion to achieve that in his eyes. He joins the extremists in their untiring efforts to uproot the alien rule. In the process, he faces all the hurdles that the colonialists could erect to stop him and his co-revolutionists. He has to disguise himself, carry secret information against the rules and avoid arrests that could lead to severe punishments.

One day, he gets arrested. He is penalized with the infamous ‘Kaala Paani’, and sent to the cellular jail in Andaman. The cells are of such size that you can’t lie down straight in it to maximize the discomfort, among the many other inhuman restrictions. There, in the company of other revolutionaries who are from different backgrounds, he gets insight into the society outside.

Upon release, he comes out a wiser man.

He soon picks up social causes, and enters into married life. He is equally open in encouraging his wife, another revolutionary person, to pursue further studies, and letting her go away for the same in times when communication was a major issue. Later he motivates her to go for a job. Women, even today, are expected to be on the move along with their husbands, take up transferable or non-permanent jobs, and focus on the family. He has the rationality to give her all the freedom a woman deserves.

When the couple is blessed with a daughter, people come to him say that the girl would cause his downfall. They suggest him to throw the child away. He becomes furious and throws these people out. He takes his daughter into his arms and names her ‘Kranti’, or ‘revolution’. Not only does he keep her, but also stays a caring father to her, educates her. He is delighted to have a son and another daughter a few years later. He infuses his values and rationality into his children. After all, change begins at home.

He read a lot of books, which gave him immense knowledge in fields like sociology and religion. Being a BHU graduate awarded with the title of ‘Shastri’ (the most coveted title at that time, given to very select people), and endowed with the knowledge from the books, he set upon the task of penning down his own perception of the world. He wrote few books deep on insight and reflecting upon the thinking of people at that time, what it was, and what it ought to be. He shared his perception on social relations, religion, politics and socialism among others in these books.

Here’s what Ramvriksha Benipuri, a Hindi literature virtuoso, had to say about him and his work ‘Ab manzil door nahi’:

“My friend Bachchu Shastri had actively participated in the do or die movement of 1942 and I am happy that he has given his experiences a form of a play. Not only this, he has also shown us the direction in which society will move in future based on the incidents of the movement. There is a poem by Rabindra – the sun was setting, world was stunned, who will now give light; even stars and moon were afraid. The small ‘diya’ then came up – till then this burden on my small shoulders. This creation of friend Bachchu jee must be seen in this way.”

Despite the lack of government’s support to freedom fighters and of the society to social workers, he got some accolades under his name. The most recent being felicitated by the CM of Jharkhand for his dedicated and valuable support to the freedom struggle. However, the best reward he got was the smile on faces of people he helped and seeing small changes taking place in the society for the better.

He was a freedom fighter, a social worker, a writer, a revolutionary, a patriot and an inspiration.

In the month of November, 2012, the revolutionary breathed his last. The family mourned, the society suffered a loss. He was put on the pyre covered in national flag, honored in his death, as in his life.

I am fortunate to have grown up under his aegis. I had the opportunity to see his legacy at work. I am lucky to have his blessings with me. I am proud that I had such a grandfather.

For a ‘Jharkhand shining’

Long before Telangana, Jharkhand was cut out from Bihar, with the justified expectation that an area geographically and demographically different would be administered and served better if separated. Now, years on, the state of both the parent state and the new one is the same. Jharkhand, just as Bihar, has limped on ever since. Rampant corruption and backwardness has plagued the state bestowed with resources, as development and growth stands stymied. Tending to one problem alone is neither sufficient nor entirely possible. What is needed is a multi-level solution spanning across different sectors.

Naxalism and literacy

These are two things that need prime and undivided attention, and are highly interlinked. These two problems need to be attended simultaneously. The most pressing concern for the state of Jharkhand is naxalism, which is affecting more than 75% of the districts it has among a host of other vital activities. One of the prime reason for new entrants into naxalism is improper or no education and lack of employment opportunities. Both the problems can be diluted to a good extent through education to the marginalized section of the society, a section whose plight is very conveniently concealed in the average literacy level of the entire state. And of course, educating people without tackling naxalism is evidently failing. Thus, a holistic and dedicated effort is required at this juncture.

Employment and opportunities

To prevent people from returning to anti-social career alternatives, employment opportunities needs to be provided. This can be done by allowing some of the private sector industries who are willing to capitalize and invest in the remote areas to do so. Allocation of resources to the correct people on the basis of efficiency and optimum utilization instead of lobbying would be the first step here. The plants and offices set up would provide remunerative sources of income, thus pouring in money (liquidity thus achieved at the base of the income pyramid would go a long way in feeding back returns to the state). Tourism, a major potential sector for Jharkhand might also be helpful in providing opportunities to the locals.

Financial inclusion

Bringing everybody under the umbrella of banking and fiscal policies quickly by removing implementation bottlenecks will be very fruitful. It would help in micro-credit financing, putting money into the right hands, and in this way pulling them out of the vicious cycle of poverty. It would also ensure proven advantageous measures like micro-saving, micro-insurance, and so on. Using technology to leverage an efficient execution will ensure that money comes directly to the poor and doesn’t pass and gets retained in the hands of middlemen. The bank-at-your-doorstep plan of the Govt. is proving to be quite helpful in this aspect, apart from generating employment in banking.

Distributed growth

Generally, rural people move to the cities either for job opportunities, or when they get better-off, and hope to live the urban life. If proper employment is provided in the rural areas itself, along with all basic amenities like good education and healthcare, the problem of cramming and overpopulated cities would be resolved. Growth in rural areas would also be an obvious by-product. As for primary education, the government’s effort will be bearing fruit in the long run, but for healthcare, some amount of strategy revamping is required. Registered doctors could be made to go to a rural area of their choice for a month every two years. There, they would train the local medical personnel and paramedics. This would ensure that the locals are under more professional care even in the absence of the visiting doctor (the doctor will be needed to be aptly remunerated for this task). Tourism would also be helpful in distributed growth, as most of the untapped, natural and attractive tourist hot-spots are in the rural areas, and focusing on tourism in these areas will not only provide income generating jobs to the locals, but also generate local revenue to be reinvested there.

The road ahead

For this, the government needs to focus less on populist measures and more so on growth-oriented measures. For this to happen in turn, people need to favor the political agenda of development instead of merely voting for the divisive politics and short term or personal gains. And here again, actual and proper education would help, for example people should be aware that non-merit subsidies have a negative impact on the economy and its members, the people. Jharkhand has 40% of the mineral resources in India and is home to the most hard-working tribes apart from peace loving people. Shouldn’t development be obvious in the long run?

A stick of peace

Some men threw him out of a train, he threw their entire empire out of his country. And it was not revenge.

I came upon people who didn’t believe in the Gandhian principles and have the misconception that the emergence of Gandhi was not a positive sign for the country and her independence. This is an effort to justify the fact that in fact we needed more men like him.

Non-violence has been claimed by some to be a factor with a retarding effect on independence. Violence could have gotten us a quick independence. It’s quite logical that it was in no way that violence could be used to overthrow one of the most powerful regimes of the world at that time. An unarmed man, however courageous and determined, cannot win another with a gun.

In every situation, the British were simply looking for an excuse to use force against the protestors, and enforce laws that would further limit their freedom. And a violent action provided just that. Gandhi obviously realized this and thus stuck to the path of non-violence. It’s evident in history that whenever there has been a case of violence, the government dealt with the ‘perpetrators’ with an iron hand. Violence also created an environment of aggression that was much undesired at a time when communal hatred was at its tripping point.

Non-cooperation was considered by many to be a passive protest. Nothing could be farther from truth. In Gandhi’s words, “it would be impossible for a few thousand Englishmen to control millions of Indians if they refuse to cooperate”. The non-cooperation movement was accomplishing just that, till the Chauri-Chaura incident (again an unthoughtful act of violence). Gandhi then had to put the movement on a hold, and the British got the excuse they were so desperately looking for.

The non-cooperation movement had another hidden motive, one to strengthen the state of affairs for the Indian craftsmen and the general economy. Gandhi encouraged self-reliance, and refusal of foreign goods as a part of the movement. This lead to an increased demand of Indian goods, strengthening the country at her grassroots. He had devised then, what it took economists longer to comprehend. The country’s economy is built from bottom-up and not top to bottom. You can find it in his statements “a country will develop only when its poorest citizen does.”

When he was arrested for leading the non-cooperation movement that brought down the British administration to its knees, he was taken to the court, were he advocated for himself (quite obvious for a barrister). The judge was willing to cut his sentence short, when for his defense Gandhi said: “I am here, therefore, to invite and submit cheerfully to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime, and what appears to me as the highest duty of a citizen.”

He stood for peace and honesty along with hygiene and sanitation at his ashram, some of things most required for development in the true sense. Exactly these factors, among others are used to determine development today through Human development index (HDI).

                                                                                        

He kept protesting in a non-violent manner again and again, despite repressive measures by the foreigners, and after every blow he got, he would say “I won’t cooperate”. And as it is said “it’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward”.

That’s the reason why India has numerous streets named after him, the reason why his face is watermarked on every currency note, why he is called father of the nation, why his picture is hung in government offices, why just a stick and glasses are enough anywhere to denote the Mahatma.

Rail's ways

I was at a station that holds a record. I saw railways staff of the day-shift go home, and I saw them come back to work the next day. I witnessed a dawn and almost the previous dusk. All the trains of the country through that station passed by, two of them twice. About a thousand passengers came and went. It was like men may come and men may go, but I stay on forever.

Yeah, my train was late. Historically.

Some people have the habit of walking as they wait for something or somebody. Likewise, I walked 5.1075 kms waiting – there’s not one meter of exaggeration here. I took 3 strolls from an end to another, each 1.7025 km. this length is what makes the kharagpur station world’s longest. You can imagine my desperation that took me to such extreme lengths (5.1 km to be exact).

Many long hours later, confusion wreaked havoc. My prudent train was numbered 18615. They announced 18616, same name, different direction (down train) – at a platform far away. It took me moments (many) to gather the truth that it wasn’t the train I was waiting for, it was the one I came in a day ago.

Limits had been crossed. The meaning of the word patience had been put to test. Rekindled hope named ‘hatia-howrah’ was splashed with a tank full of water, over and over again.

I realized, I was setting off for the kharagpur station when this down train left from ranchi. I was still in kharagpur, when this train travelled all its way to from RNC to KGP. Limits had been crossed. Now, the limit tended to infinity.

There’s a Hindi saying ‘dene wala jab bhi deta hai, chappar phaad ked eta hai’. I observed that the inverse is also true. True-er.

Staying awake was a losing battle against the ever invincible drowsiness. I had limited weapons. Walking- I had used (to an excess). Talking to anyone, even someone at the platform meant waking him up, everybody was asleep.

Yes, people at the platform waiting for a train were asleep- no announcements were missed, as none were made whatsoever. And over that, people were hopeful, that the train won’t arrive while they slept. [Later, I found that the railways stood up to their expectations. It arrived much after daybreak, when the sun was blazing and the birds were already tired of tweeting their larynxes out.]

I took out the last weapon. Blaring music was being played inside my earphones, and even through that, I caught a sleep or two. It was then that I saw god. I usually don’t believe in god. But it changed. he was sitting inside a mechanical engineering marvel now obsolete. He was dressed in light blue shirt and black trousers- the driver of the train. I would have leapt at his feet, had I not been intimidated by the size of the contraption that the engine was.

I felt relief once inside the train. Momentary pleasures are the best. AC was on, and the sheets that the catering endowed me were wet. Not damp, but wet. I didn’t allowed shiver to get better of me, and wrapped my thin self like a cocoon with the only dry thing, that brown disgusting blanket. Despite all, I slept. After all, I had slept only for 4 hours in the last forty. Momentary pleasures, as I said, are the best. A demon of a woman had brought a kraken of a baby. You can imagine the events that followed.

The train crept as if hell bent on breaking all records of being incredibly late. It slugged like a tricycle, halting at every insignificant station for an hour or so. I could have eaten at the restraunts and dhabas of all the town/village the train stopped at, within the halting interval. Had these areas not been naxal affected, that is. And financial constraints, of course.

Now it gives great pleasure to my eyes to see lush green hilly areas, reminding the fact that hometown isn’t far off. Yet, the speed of the train scares the sh*t out of me.

As of now, I am waiting with bouquet of flowers and that ruddy blanket to honour those delegates of Guinness and Limca records organizations who would be arriving soon to check the credibility of the fact that this train has set a new record for being late. I am their unfortunate witness.

Over adjusting?

Seven were already inside the auto rickshaw. There are always many of these autos at an auto stand, but somehow not many to hop in. An auto stand is more of a central area of a busy roundabout; it can be any area where the auto-wala feels comfortable to park his ride, sometimes even allowing other vehicles to use the road! Anyhow, being the eighth wonder inside the auto. Back seat loaded (better, overloaded) with four mammoth sized and bull shaped arguing aunties and the elegant front seat occupied by the country’s foremost luminaries, and founders of the Utopian societies.

I’ll tell you this with my two years’ experience in the auto, as I used to go to my coaching (!) classes while I apparently prepared for engineering entrance exams.  There’s no better place to listen to the political rumors than the front auto seats. The views of the people, in almost all cases involving the auto driver are worth listening to. They are just ludicrous! And yes, incessantly complaining of the government, sometimes even unsure what they are complaining about.

But that’s the thing I appreciate about them: they complain, they talk about the corruption, abuse the system and most importantly know more than well-educated young people listening to their i-pods. This is what our society, among various other major elements, greatly lacks. We have stopped discussing the social problems, we have stopped complaining the setup and we have stopped resisting. We have just taken everything for granted, like we pop up a crocin whenever we feel like without even consulting. All the inconveniences and problems we face are a part of our life.

People have started ignoring even front page headings, and the memory is getting short lived. From acts of terror to simpler scandals, we have developed a tendency to ignore it. The twin blast in Hyderabad went past, and so did the myriad of rape cases before the Delhi case. Crime is as easily neglected as common cold.

Political agendas are no more discussed upon. The down-the-sewer education system, or the construction of three dams by china recently. The nuclear project controversy, or the chopper scam. No discussions. I don’t consider the debates (as if they are) on the news channels as discussions; they are heated arguments in an uncontrolled environment, which moves very quickly from ‘what is to be done’ to ‘what the opponent hasn't done’. The only discussions that make it to the minds of people are of Raghu’s slaughter of the auditioners in roadies, and the useless likes.

We have moved ourselves so comfortably into the bubble of comfort, revolving around the concept of not thinking of that what’s happening around. On the issue of the Delhi rape case, a deep analysis was done by a psychological expert. It revealed that most women feel that they won’t be raped because they don’t want to imagine it that way. In a similar manner, you will never imagine your city under bomb threats, unless it is. I can’t imagine a bomb kept at the big bazaar at Ranchi! (Many of us might not know this but one was found at that very shopping mall. Wonder why every big marketing complex in Ranchi has detectors now?)

Just recall how many times in the last ten years have you heard ‘Irom’? No, I haven’t misspelt the name of a metal here (by the way this one is stronger than the metal!) This woman has spent her last ten years on fast, without food or water! And she has a purpose, a very strong one. But people just supported her when she had started her fast. After a few months, the news of the fast was past. People forgot her, but she kept the fast. People outside the seven states kept ignoring the gravity of the situation AFSPA created, and the repercussions it brought along.

Recently, giving up hope on people who had seem to completely forget the person spending ten precious years of her life on fighting for them, Irom Sharmila broke her fast. It was coming. What would have been if nobody would have attended the speeches freedom fighters used to deliver? What would happen if you ignore the person trying hard to help you? The person will eventually stop helping. In this country we have rare few souls trying real hard to help. And the way we encourage these souls, we are going to lose them too.

So why is it that we ignore the daily dose of anti-social and immoral acts around us? Overdose? Yes, the media- print or cacophonic (otherwise called electronic media) has thrown to us reports of infinitely many unwanted events. So much, that even before you ponder and stretch your mind on one, another fresh report comes in. Take a month, like this current month and see how many scams, how many murders and how much corruption captured the screens. In case of scams, it’s like back to back blockbusters I used to listen to when I last saw television (and that was long ago!). 2G scam, 3G scam, Swiss bank scam, Commonwealth games, Tatra trucks, Chopper scam and the list goes on, with money involved chronologically increasing! Many more scams have been overwritten in my memory, again due to overdose!

Of course sitting in front seats of auto won’t help. And sitting in the back seat and arguing definitely won’t. It’s not that if something bad happens regularly, it becomes ‘less’ bad. We were born with a choice of volition but the social environment made us forget this. The government isn't there to take away your choices; it was made to take choices for you. Raise your voices. Heat up debates. Place your demands for a better peaceful society. Or did we forget that we can have a better society?

We have the power in us to change. Lord hanuman was cursed to forget his powers. Of course it’s a story, but it was written to learn from. We all very well know what he achieved when he realized his strength.