EQUALITY AND JUSTICE CALL FOR SENSE OF SERVICE

          I was born four years after the Father of the Nation fell to an assassin’s bullets. With my growth I saw in my family, society, school and work-places the deified status that he enjoyed for decades afterwards. The rituals associated with Gandhi Jayanti were religiously observed all around. Even after more than six decades of Gandhi’s martyrdom, I am still astonished to find how blatantly we continue to do with our nation the things that he would have disapproved of. Gandhi was the one who told us about simplicity being a life style to be enjoyed and not suffered. He also reminded us what our ancient texts had passed on to us as time-tested wisdom: that of ‘anaskti yoga’, or the Gospel of Selfless Action. In an essay about the teachings of The Gita Gandhiji says: “The author (of Gita) makes Krishna say: ‘Do not entrust this treasure to him who is without sacrifice, without devotion, without the desire for this teaching and who denies Me. On the other hand, those who will give this precious treasure to My devotees will, by the fact of this service, assuredly reach Me. And those who, being free from malice, will with faith absorb this teaching, shall, having attained freedom, live where people of true merit go after death.” Gandhiji is possibly alluding to the treasure of knowledge here. Attainment of Him is most certainly through a path of knowledge. So any society which seeks to bring about equality must address the need for the spread of knowledge. Education must be made available to the most deprived sections as well.

          India’s emergence as an independent nation after centuries of foreign rule was the beginning of a historical trend. Many other countries drew from India’s example to similarly rid themselves of foreign rule, and started to establish their own identities as nation states. One of the major challenges before all these countries was to establish their economies in a manner which aimed at substantial, if not complete, freedom to choose their own policies. Post World War it was a given that a country was with either with the US model of capitalistic economy, or was inclined towards the left to follow the pattern established in the Soviet Union. There was little or no scope to choose a third option, mainly because the newly independent countries were dealing with extreme poverty and little by way of capital investments in ventures that would address both a micro and a macro level of development.

          The onus of developing an Indian model based on geopolitical and economic realities of India fell on the first government of free India, led by Jawaharlal Nehru. On the one hand the nation was dealing with the prevailing internal political situation which demanded the unification of princely states into the Indian union and, on the other, with the question of establishing an external policy for dealing with other countries. The latter had a direct bearing on how the uphill task of economic development of the nation will be addressed, there being the near compulsion of seeking foreign aid for requirements of capital, knowhow and making national security a reality in a country whose unification did not appear to be a foregone thing. Apart from the Princely States’ belief that they should enjoy their own freedom to rule the way they wished, and their lack of belief in viability of a federal government being astute enough to bring them all under one Constitution, we were witness to one of the bloodiest partition of the country on the basis of religion. The unnatural division of the geographical entity that was pre-Independence India into two different nations on the basis of pockets of Muslim population had in it the seeds of distrust and violence in the years to come. And, indeed, we have seen the worst results of this in the way the history of free India has unfolded.

          The coming of India’s Constitution had aimed at, among other things, the creation of equality. This was a laudable objective in a society which had many walls separating different sections. There was a huge hiatus between the rich and poor. Caste was a serious issue that had a very telling impact on the way the fruits of democracy were distributed. Education, among other things, was not accessible uniformly to all sections of the society. The divide between the haves and the have-nots was thus further aggravated. The denial of the best education to all the stakeholders in the social milieu of the country led to a situation where the most meritorious seekers of education were not necessarily provided entry into liberal and professional education where they could have excelled, and thus also erode the divisions based on class. The class which already enjoyed a status of economic and social dominance showed traits of self-protection. Selfishness and greed dominated their attitudes. Service of the society and the backward classes was far from their thoughts. It was therefore necessary to adopt a system of governance which aimed at softening these attitudes, and bring about a level playing field for all to have their share of the national pie. It was indeed a matter of great far-sightedness that the Constitution recognised these requirements and made a very serious effort to address them with honesty and commitment.

          The creation of pockets of wealth has, however, brought about rapid urbanisation of the country. The idea of creating self-reliant rural agglomerates which Gandhiji envisioned is now a thing of the past, even-though the Panchayati Raj concept has been rejuvenated after a Constitutional amendment and elections to local government bodies. The government is looking at growth figures in terms of GDP and the creation of massive urban facilities. The tragedy is that the so-called development is creating even greater inequalities and a more disturbing social scenario where the wealth of the rural areas is being gobbled up as the urban areas expand recklessly. The rural population looks at shopping malls, multiplexes, educational institutions housed in vulgar architectural monsters as the things to be desired. This is, unfortunately, the situation when we cut to 2013. Let us look at some disturbing realities: India is ranked 136th in human development index (HDI) among 186 countries according to the Human Development Report 2013 released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This is a sad commentary on the composite measure of life expectancy, access to education and income levels in the country. What is worse, the report placed India at nearly the bottom of countries which have reached 'medium development'. India’s index stood at 0.554 for the last year, which exhibits that we have miles to go to meet countries like top-ranked Norway with an HDI of 0.955. It has to be agreed that there are critics of the concept of (HDI). It is, however, considered a better measure of a country's progress than mere income growth or GDP.

          On the positive side, India's HDI has risen by 1.7% annually since 1980. The UNDP Report lauds India's contribution by way of its spill-over development effect on other countries. For instance, it points out that Indian firms have been supplying affordable medicines, medical equipment and information and communication technology to other poorer countries.

          The 2013 report focuses on the "rise of the south", mapping the shift in global dynamics from the traditional power base in the west to newer emerging countries. The report estimates that by 2020, the combined economic output of the three leading developing countries, namely, India, Brazil and China, will surpass the aggregate production of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

          The idea of creating a level playing field is one which needs to be addressed with a sense of urgency. The ever increasing chasm in the income levels of the few rich and multitude poor is something that will bring movements which debase the very idea of democracy. Naxalism is one such movement. It is a revolution which rejects the development model which has been adopted by the government. While the methods of these Left Wing Extremists are absolutely unacceptable, there is need to understand the reasons that have led to the violent situation we are witnessing. As the industries and urban settlements extend their activities to rural areas, we are creating land areas that are exhausted and ravaged. We can notice signs of fatigue in the patterns of these ‘developmental’ activities. The relentless march of the suburbia and the blight of industry which is destroying existing rural life, have overstretched the available resources. There are industries which feed on the meagre resources available to the original inhabitants of villages and forest areas. The proposal to set up a soft drink plant of a giant multinational company in the rural areas of Dehradun district illustrates this. The area has groundwater deficiency, and this is the cause for a shortage of drinking water. Once the soft drink plant is set up, it will consume large quantities of water, thereby leading to further depletion of the water table. The agriculture will suffer so will the basic tenor of life in the region. It is such developments which further erodes the chances of establishing a level playing field for all to progress and prosper.

          We have seen how local methods of construction are being changed. We now have a situation where the available construction material in the Doon valley is not being used. The builders are creating clones of the monsters that dot our cities. They need to only follow what Gandhiji had told us many decades ago: “the ideal Indian house will be built from material gathered from within five miles of the building site”. Imagine how profitable it will be to consider this very practical option!

          Inequalities force us to build urban settlements in the most skewed manner possible. Those who work in, say, Connaught Place in New Delhi, have to seek a dwelling based upon their income. The largest number of workers will also be the lowest earning ones, while the top earners will only be a few. These millions will be forced to seek cheap properties for living which are far away from the magnificent business district which is a pride of India’s capital. So these multitudes will need means of transport to bring them from trans-Yamuna areas and far-away towns like Hapur and Ghaziabad. They will spend a lot of their time in travelling which could have otherwise been utilised for more productive purposes. They will also spend large amounts of their limited money on commuting daily from far-flung places. Add to that the wastage of fuel and other sources of energy employed for the transport facilities and you will have an even more horrifying assessment of the situation. There is a need to look at all these factors and not be counter-productive by expanding our cities all the time. The need is to minimise the ever-increasing pressure on our cities which is possible only if we address the civic needs of our villages.

          There is no justice if a bright girl is denied the best education only because of her geographical location or lack of financial resources. Availability of quality education at reasonable cost must be the prime concern for a society addressing the issue of equality. We cannot also ignore the sordid reality that our public health standards are so abysmal that they only compare with the most backward countries of the world. To add insult to this injury, we have five-star hospitals which are far away from the reach of the poor sick. Our children suffer from malnutrition which leads to inadequate development of body and mind.

          Social protection is a necessity for all, but it is a crying need especially for the migrant workers. This class of workers are the ones who have travelled far and wide in search of employment, and are very crucial in the scheme of things. Their contribution at the construction sites, especially the basic infrastructural buildings, cannot be over-emphasised. 

          There are programmes that the government has launched addressing most of the concerns mentioned here. What is necessary is that the money is utilised honestly. The projects are monitored for their physical and financial progress so that they are time-bound and costs do not go up due to delays. Most importantly, those who have been given this responsibility must work with devotion, sacrifice and a sense of service. For those who are otherwise inclined, we must have monitoring methods in place. The corrupt and the incapable must be shown their places.

          Gandhiji had said: “The means may be likened to a seed, the end to a tree; and there is just the same inviolable connection between the means and the end as there is between the seed and the tree”. In today’s India, the people want the tree, irrespective of the origin of the seed, and the natural, healthy biological growth of the organism. Therein lies the absence of equality and justice. Therein lies the cause of unquenchable greed.

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Aloke B Lal

(From a paper presented at a seminar on Equality and Justice)