Chinese Whispers and the State

Have just returned from a walk with Atul...as usual, our discussion centered around science, politics, and State - its culpability and accountability.

There are two important observations that Atul made that I would like to share:

1. The whole issue of land re-distribution is reversed since India's independence. Soon after independence, State took responsibility for redistributing land of large owners to the poor. Now the State is involved in systematically divesting the poor of their land, resources, and funneling these upwards towards the wealthy, especially the corporates...and it does all this in name of development.

2. The operational mechanism for sanctioning wrong is via Chinese whispers - small incremental suppression or distortion of facts add up to a substantially different version of truth or reality which is then used to validate wrong policy and or false action by the State. Now some of you might feel this has shades of the recently familiar? Hint: Remember the Bt story?

Freedoms...

I am still thinking about the issue of freedoms, and what I would like to be free from. Top freedoms I seek are:

Freedom from Fear,
Freedom from prejudice,
Freedom from constraints
external or self imposed...
Freedom from hate
Freedom from greed for
more-
possessions, experience, knowledge
..well, let me take that back..
I am not really ready to be
free of greed.

and yet, in striving for all these freedoms, I hope I remain anchored within compassion - compassion towards others' fears, others' prejudices, others' constraints. Let me be rooted with grace in such conscious compassion towards all living.
----
20 minutes later...
Was chatting about this with Atul and he said after a "Freedom from Need...maybe that covers everything" - surely food for more thought.

---
next day..
Surely freedom from anger
is another important one for me...

also, Freedom from Pride??

Gosh, never realised so many boundaries before!

Breaking Boundaries

Yesterday, I attended ' Love Across Boundaries' organised as part of
Bengaluru Pride 2010. I was then reminded of a friend's perceptive comment a few years back. He had said that we are molded by society's conditioning and shaped by its constraints. The act of growing is, in bits and pieces, breaking these constraints. This takes up rest of one's life - we never become fully free.

'Love across boundaries', addressed issues of loving across gender/transgender, class, caste, religion, and across all those various and imaginary lines of separations that we draw amongst ourselves - needlessly. It deliberately sat with the politics of loving, patriarchal systems of marriage and its implications. I sat in silence amongst those freer-er than me, or at least more engaged with the question of this freedom - to love. I realised then that I was completely out of my depths, but, that was ok too. This discomfort was part of my breaking boundaries - my invisible march towards some unknown freedom.

Sometimes I resonate with this song

What Should the Media Do?

It bothered me during the incidence of pub attack in Mangalore...and it is now again in the forefront of my conscious thoughts....I am referring to the assault on Br Philip in Bangalore recently.

"What Should the Media Do?" When a section of uncivil, communal elements get together and stage a show, live, for the media channels, TVs roll, cameras flash, and journalists have a hay day at a field trip, a scoop for their media houses, a story to catch the interest of their disenchanted readership, or apathetic audience. Was the incidence news worthy? Surely, when some girls get beaten up or a brother of Holy Cross...the public is interested and news should be reported. However, in the both these incidences, the question is " What should the Media REALLY have done?" Is there no possibility of thinking outside their hat, and question what and why of right action? Do they realize there were other options open to them - i.e. other than rolling their films, flashing their cameras? A most straight forward option was to help the victims-or atleast try? What should the foremost concern be of a human being? To assist another in dire and helpless need, or further one's own career goals? Did this not occur to any of them? Did they really not realise, that without media's attention, there would be no story, therefore no reason to assault, beat up, commit human rights' violation?So the second option was to just leave the spot, or not report - just be bystanders - but NOT encourage either the hooliganism or the cheap thrills for their audience with "TV Live".

What vultures have we become, to monetise grief? to revel at such tragic-live-entertainment? Have our media people completely abandoned humane-ness, righteousness, and courage to stand up against tide? have they forgotten their dharma? Why? Oh Why?

Equity for Tribals?

I have just read the latest inspired offering from GoI to the tribals sitting on the mineral rich belt which the state cannot wait to get its hands on. In the usual manner of dealing with those whom force, violence, rape cannot dispose, the latest strategy is to just buy-em-out! The GoM met recently in Delhi to discuss the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act which proposed a 26% equity for tribals of the region. The general 'public' response to this bill seems to be 'positive' - i.e. people who care about tribal rights feel that it is high time that they - the tribals - got a piece of their own pie, worth upto 2 lakh per year income for the tribals. And...I would agree, that the tribals should at least get a piece of their own pie.

However, I object to this way of operating on several grounds...primarily the bill seems far from fulfilling a necessary condition which the GoM does not even address - that of prior sanction for mining rights in tribal territories. Only in case of 'minor' minerals does the bill propose a consultation with those effected. Secondly, the present government seems to be in unacceptable hurry to exploit the nation's major and non-renewable mineral reserves within the present generation - or in its present term in office. This pace of exploitation will leave no scope for either the environment or the cultures residing within to adjust or attempt equilibrium with their changing situations. Thirdly, I am deeply concerned about the role that large financial compensations will play in largely non-cash based cultures...in case the promised equity actually reaches all those effected - a scenario that can hardly be taken for granted in India!
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.....I wrote this a while back and do not remember why did not post it. I reread it now and find what I've written somewhat incomplete, although still 'perfectly reasonable' :)

So I am posting it!

Manmohan's Economy

Some times, the most severe, and irreparable damage comes from most innocuous of acts. I am referring to how a single, gentle, educated, and seemingly reasonable and harmless person by the name of Manmohan Singh became visible on the national platform, then acceptable, and finally the leader of a potentially great democracy. He did this by a promise to deliver on an idea...and the damage this did to the potential of who we, the nation, could have become was irreparable, terminal.

And this is what he did. By 'opening' India's economy, he actually opened doors to that easy evil that slumbers within us all - he legitimised greed, promoted rampant consumerism, and in doing this promised us an Utopia with unprecedented national growth and prosperity for all. It was a seductive dream to buy...and the intelligentsia succumbed to this sales pitch readily, greedily. It was a panacea for national grief - while also appeased the conscience of those yielding to its marketable pleasures. The educated, middle class bought into this, by closing their faculty, shutting their eyes and plugging their ears to their own voices of reason.The new generation of adults were allowed, no..encouraged to shop more, buy more, consume more because we were told, these very hedonistic activities would somehow provide jobs, alleviate poverty, and take us into a glorious era for a truly independent, free and developed India.

We did not pause to question how much trickling down would be required from the consumers, and over what time scales, to alleviate the 70% or so of our BPL into a market economy of shopping for their own TVs or refrigerators...for that is what was implicitly promised, wasn't it? We just did not sit down to work out some basic numbers - and we still refuse to do it. We do not confront the sordid fact that no amount of IIT building or adding Business Schools, inviting MNCs to mine, manufacture or employ is ever going to fulfill, for all, the basic goals of food security, access to health, rise in literacy and such, that we need to define our real development.

The Manmohan paradigm has failed its lofty goals of inclusive development - and maybe it was naive to assume it was ever meant for the masses. It was a notion sold to that small fraction who were visible, vocal and in-charge of a majority share of our pyramid economy. Manmohan economy continues to attract the comfortable class, with international salaries, tax benefits, swanky shopping malls - all those who take pride in saying "now we can buy everything in India"

So what do we do with the most of the rest of the Indian nationals - who do not fit? Who build our roads, malls, homes, resorts? We vacuum them away under a cosmopolitan, secular, glitzy rug into slums, bastis, and beggar homes, eliminate them via Salwa Judums or operations Green Hunt or make them a part of our constantly displaced population - a fallout of our big dams, big mines, big projects, big Dreams of BIG People.