Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Naxalism & India

Naxalism, which is announced by our honorable home minister, as the most important security problem, seems somewhat misinterpreted & prejudiced statement from a responsible minister of a socially & economically democratic country like INDIA. Actually naxalism is the reflection of prevalent socio-economic & political condition, though dangerous & disorder in shape & form. We all know about the varied form of inequalities; social & communal stratification; grim condition of poverty & deprivation specially in remote & tribal areas; level & degree of unemployment; ineffective public machinery in delivering basic amenities & welfare measures; rampant corruption everywhere; general degradation of moral & ethical values from every aspect of social life; etc, we all know about how in a country, which claims to reach the highest rate of economic growth by 2014, people strive of square meal, basic level of medical facilities, safe drinking water, social security & justice, where 25% of world's hunger reside, where around 50% of children in the age group of 0-5 years suffer from malnutrition; we all know about the administrative apathy & callous attitude towards the most needy people, how they behave as an instrument in the hands of powerful, how often they indulge in anti social activities themselves in the lack of proper disciplinary deterrent & grievance redressal mechanism in the system;..........even then if we outrightly reject the struggle of naxals then we are behaving somewhat selfish keeping only the interest of so called rising urban middle class in mind. Don't misinterpret me, i am definitely not in favour of any kind of protest which is using arms & violence as their means. But if you are agree with me about the above specifying problems in INDIAN society & system of governance, then you wouldn't definitely equate naxalism with terrorism. In simple terms, i believe that naxalism is like cholera & terrorism is like, say, swine flu, ie, like cholera & other water borne diseases, which is induced because of bacteria prevailing inside our country, naxalism is a internal problem (got impetus from socio-economic inequalities, in the same way like cholera spreaded because of the presence of contaminants in the environment)....while terrorism is generally a outer product(external), which uses the communal & ethnic stratification to flourish, in the same way swine flu is alien which strike upon diverse immunities differently. Now its upon you to make your own opinion about naxalism & its spreading wing. I just want to say that they are part of our society, since it has its root well rooted in socio cultural realities. And every cause developed a vested interest in some quarters after a long period of time. Same way naxalism now couldn't be treated equally as tribal & peasants uprisings at the time of colonial India. But some sensitiveness in our understanding could find an alternative solution to this problem in place of present emphasis on war like strategies. Think about it..........

Monday, April 5, 2010

Poverty & Hunger


These days poverty & hunger again picked up its due credit in political & administrative circles in particular & public in general.Though they are hot issues ever since the creation of civilization , it became a responsibility, to reduce poverty & hunger since the coming of modern government, infused with democratic principles, in political spheres. Whatever, it is a fact that peace, harmony & social order could be dreamed of only, when everybody get livelihood freedom beside social & economic one. Dignified life is the part & parcel of right to life & personal liberty, enshrined in the constitution .And dignity could only be maintained when each, & every people got equal opportunities to build its capacity in its fullest potential. Which in turn need much more than square meals, clothes & shelter. Affordable quality education(from bottom to high level), public health care system, non discriminatory employment, effective judicial system, honest public delivery system, etc, are some of the important components of quality life, which is the right of every citizen of a country like INDIA. So enacting Right to education act, & proposal of Food security bill ,aren't enough to solve long pending problems of human deprivation on the one hand & societal shame on the other(like death related to malnutrition, debt related suicide , infant & maternal mortality , drinking water infected with poisonous contaminants , to name a few).Even then it is a positive step forward in a right direction. Besides some policy level issues in both food & education bills, which need a wide ranging public debate before its finalization, it is very important to set up a proper mechanism to monitor the implementation & evalution of these policies in letter & spirit. Beside political & administrative will, active participation of people at each & every stage is pertinent to actually realize the benefit of these legislative enactments. We must ensure that, this time these initiatives won't be marred by corrupt intents engulfing the whole system from top to bottom, and the benefits reach the deserved millions. Lets hope this affirmation wouldn't become mere suggestion in the shape & form of legislation.