Political Thought
Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every man has a right to knock him down for it. - Dr. Samuel Johnson English author, lexicographer
Saturday, September 27, 2008
RELIGION AND POLITICS
1) Liberty and freedom of religion
2) Citizenship, and the right to equality and non-discrimination and
3) Neutrality and the separation of state and religion.
The first two principles have posed little controversy in the Indian context. Rather, the right to freedom of religion and the right to equality and non-discrimination are generally recognized as important constitutional values in their own right as well as a foundation of Indian secularism. The third principle i.e. relation between religion and politics, is the main cause of problem. To understand the relation between religion and politics it is necessary to understand the concepts of Toleration, and secularism/communalism.
TOLERANCE: The principle of Toleration is derived from the cultural traditions of Indian society. One of the major issues in the understanding of Indian history is the manner of cultural development and assimilation of various sections in cultural stream. The second is the nature of the state in India during various historical phases. As far as the first is concerned, two ideal prototypes have been put forward – first, the alleged assimilation of Dravidians into Aryans culture, and second, the assimilation of the Scythians, Huns, etc. in the Hindu fold later on. The whole situation changed significantly after the arrival of Muslims in India. In the words of Dr. R.C. Majumdar, “Muslims did not merge themselves into the pattern and the form with Hindus as single type of homogeneous culture.” For him both the communities were permanently divided into two powerful units, which did not prove amenable to a fusion or even any close permanent co-ordination. In the words of M.K. Gandhi, “India cannot cease to be one nation because people belonging to different religions live in it. The introduction of foreigners does not necessarily destroy the nation; they merge in it.” Though the statement given by the legend that it is impossible to assimilate the two religion is somehow, true but still the framers of Indian Constitution of India found the alternative of this problem i.e. Secularism. The Indian concept of secularism is different from Western one because it includes the concept of toleration as another important ingredient. Toleration has been cast as the characteristic of the Majority Hindu Community. Concept of Toleration needs democratization. This requires the delinking of Toleration with that of majoritarian and religious foundation.
SECULARISM: Secularism is the pressing issue in the contemporary Indian political system. In the multi-religious society like ours, secularism cannot be merely explained and understood as the separation of politics or the State from religion. It can neither be understood as an alien, intolerable, and modernist imposition of the Western concept of secularism on the Indian society. The Indian Constitution requires the State to equally tolerant to all religions. The Indian model of secularism, as envisaged by the founding fathers of neither supports the theory of ‘wall of separation’ advocated by Western oriented critics of secularism nor it stands for the theocratic fundamentalism approach or orientation of the statecraft. It is indeed an assimilation of the Nebruvian concept of a democratic state and the Gandhian politics of satya and ahimsa. An ethico-political approach to the statecraft is the need of the hour. A creative synthesis of the basic tenets of religious values and the western democratic norms and outlook can alone reinforce a sense of human solidarity and a common commitment to the core values of human civilization such as respect for life, liberty, justice, and equality, mutual respect, caring and integrity, what Gandhi calls a climate of creative co-existence.
GLOBALISATION AND THE INDIAN ECONOMY
Globalization is a process which draws countries of their insulation and makes them join the rest of the world in the march toward a new world order. It means the growing interconnectedness of the modern world. The increased ease of movement of goods, services, capital, people and information across national borders is rapidly creating a single global economy.
Globalization has witnessed a phenomena expansion in international trade flows and is characterized by the growth of transnational companies which now account for about a third of world output and two third of world trade.
Managed wisely, the new wealth being created by globalization creates the opportunity to lift millions of worlds’ poorest people out of their poverty. Managed badly, it could lead to their further marginalization and impoverishment. Neither outcome is predetermined; it depends on the policy choices adopted by the government intersociety. It developing countries like India are to effective systems of government and action against corruption, they need to ensure respect of human rights, and to promote security, safety and justice for all violent conflicts. Violence must be prevented and markets made work better for poor people.
Globalization gives added urgency to the tasks of strengthens government systems in developing countries.
Private capital is highly mobile and will go to where business can be carried out safely and where it can make the best return. Weak and ineffective states, with problems of corruption, inadequate structure and cumbersome bureaucratic procedure are not attractive destination for that flows. By contrast, those countries that apply rules and policies predictably ensure law and order; invest in human capital (particularly education and health) and protect properly rights, are likely to attract higher level of inward investment and trade to generate faster economic growth.
To successfully globalize, India has to shepherd its economy along two dimensions, building a world scale domestic market by opening its economy to upgrade itself. Both aspects of globalization require an active interaction with industrialized societies and multinational corporations.
India’s experiment with hybrid markets may have created a structural impediment to change. To unleash the potential, the country has to strive to develop a shared mindset and agenda, target some industries for special support, focus on quality as a national priority, allow mergers and acquisitions, allow Indian firms to invest in building , marketing and service infrasture in selected markets, focus on Industrial infrasture accelerate the privatization of the public sector, and pay attention to the political process in industrialized societies. For India to step up growth rates and address problems of poverty and unemployment there has to be strategy and vision. Globalization brings a variety of change, presenting opportunities as well as challenges both in economics and financial systems throughout the world. One fact is quite clear, the undeniable benefits of globalization are only available to the countries that best manage their economies.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Secularism in India
In present day
In 1976, the 42nd amendment of the preamble of the constitution included the term secular to describe the
Indian constitution is framed with extreme clarity of its objectives. Indian being a secular state, according to the constitution, it has to observe an attitude of neutrality and impartiality towards all religions. This concept of a
It should be pointed out that “secular” is a dubious term, capable of diverse meanings. One of its dictionary meanings is “concerned with affairs of the world” as opposed to religious affairs. This has caused much confusion in the study of political science and law advantage of this issue. This chaos was laid to rest by the Supreme Court of India when it stated that “secularism, in India, does not mean that the State should be hostile to religion, but that it should be neutral between the different religions and neutrality of the State would be violated if religion is used for political purposes, as it offends secular democracy.”
Thus, all religions can decide about what rituals and rites are essential to them. However, the court has the right to determine whether a particular right or practice offend public health or morality or contravenes any law of social, economic or political regulations. The constitution hence says that the country upholds no religion as State religion. In addition, every person is guaranteed the freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess, practice and propagates his/her religion.
Unfortunately, some religious leaders have many times, misinterpreted the above law and they have made assertions that the word “propagate” gives them fundamental rights to convert people, by any means. In fact in 1977, a Christian Priest had filed a suit against the Madhya Pradesh Act. This Act made it a penal offence to convert or attempt to convert a person ‘by means of force fraud or allurement.’ The very people whose ire was aroused by it are now using this same method.
Salman Rushdie rightly said, “Secularism in
The Constitution is contradictory in its ways of keeping politics and religion away from each other. In the preamble,
It will be a case of over-simplification to say that
The brand of Hinduism preached by the Saffron Brigade sees only Hindus as essentially Indians. However, their concept of Hinduism also seems to have evolved from the times of Marathas and not from Vedas.
Although, the number of believers may be few, and people like me who wish to be comfortable with their father’s name are a majority though our vocal chords lack strength. Our rebellion to this New Age Hindutva, shows action only in mere sad nodding of our heads and heated intellectual debates. The question that is forced upon us today is, ‘Does being more tolerant, make me less Indian?’ Secularism has been, for a long time now, associated with soft shoulders and warm hearts. Secularism now has to become hard nosed. The need of hour is to insist that law applies to everybody equally. Faith cannot be allowed to undermine the constitution, nor should bigness of heart substitute for letter of law.
India is highly complex organism of many centuries, many languages, many regions, many races, many movements and migrations, the ups and downs of history, the shifts in geography, the rise and fall of governments – complications and contradictions arising from all possible kinds of interactions between the dimensions of space and time. The past has to be perpetually discovered, the present has to be constantly investigated and the future is a receding mirage, never yielding to our optimistic prognostications. We are indeed passing through turbulent times because it is not clear to us what the moorings of our culture are, even what kind of
Golden Quotes
“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice: it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” (William J. Bryan).
“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” (Winston Churchill).
“For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.” (Henri F. Amiel).
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” (Khalil Gibran).
“People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by others.” (Blaise Pascal).
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
CURRENT INDIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT----Nature Of Challenges To Egalitarian And Secular Ideologies
Struggles against inequality and exploitation have been launched in various forms since the beginning of civilization. The rise of religions like Buddhism in northern
However in the developing countries the ideals of secularism and democracy are very nascent. Anti-imperialism had provided the basis for nationhood till the collapse of the
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Letter by a Political Lover
Ruler of my Life
To forget you is impossible as it is for a Democratic state to enclose the space of establishing fundamental rights. This force of Mutual co-operation between us is far stronger than the force of SAARC, because it is not a matter of National Interest. Your suggestions are like the Directive Principles of my policy. Your personality is same of as of charismatic leader, under which the masses of a country mobilize. Your smartness of using power is considerably helpful to you for maintaining sovereignty on my heart. I really need your support for working the Parliament of my life. Let me assure you that I am waiting for you similarly as a Marxist waiting for the Revolution of the Proletariat’s. It is possible that you do not believe in the concept of natural rights but as a citizen of my Democratic heart you should think about your moral duties.
So, awaiting a favorable decision,
Philosophically yours