Home Blog Page 403

Regional Benches of Supreme Court in your Homes?

Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
-
0
Regional Benches of Supreme Court in your Homes?

Pandemic is having its say everywhere. When Nation is on Lockdown, Judiciary is no exeption. Judiciary is trying to disrupt the disruption by embracing Videoconferencing. So much so, we have had Senior Advocate Harish Salve appearing in some cases from London and rescuing litigants with interim orders of desperation. It is commendable. Now read what the Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde has to say on the technical tools at play. 

“Eventually, it must settle down to a system which is a combination of the two, the new and the old. There are cases which have to be heard in congregation. One thing is for sure that there is no looking back. We will have to first of all accept the present situation and change our mindset towards the way we look at court proceedings. This system has in a sense virtually brought the court registry into the chambers of advocates. Starting with constitutional courts, the new system will allow lawyers to file cases 24×7, even on holidays, with e-payment facility to pay court fees,” he said.

CJI Bobde alluded to the disposal of the long pending Ayodhya Ramjanmabhoomi litigation and said, “Had Artificial Intelligence (AI) been employed, the 40 days that the SC’s five-judge bench took to go through the case files and render a decision could have been even shorter. E-filing is undoubtedly very significant since it is the basis of a system of AI. We do not have to deal with it immediately, but in times to come we will have to as AI can play a great role in smoothening the functioning of courts, including categorisation of cases and process automation which is a term covering a wide range of activities,” he said.

Justice D Y Chandrachud, chairman of the e-committee joined in to say that the apex court and 19,000 courts in India had successfully experimented with virtual courts and e-filing system, in which technology’s use was driven by the motto— efficiency, transparency and access to every user of justice delivery services.

“Not everyone has access to technology. Our solutions must be inclusive and reach out to those who do not have access. Opening of e-seva kendras in all courts in the country for making e-services available is a step in that direction. We must seek to provide sustainable digitisation and bring about a transformational change in re-conceptualising interactions between citizens, lawyers, the judiciary and the environment with emphasis on trust, empathy, sustainability and transparency (TEST) principles,” he said. 

Be that as it may, this is what Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra has demanded on the practice of E Platforms. “If such practice is encouraged and allowed to continue, there is not an iota of doubt that more than 95% of the advocates of the country will become brief less and work less and the practice of law will be confined to a limited group of lawyers and justice delivery would be badly affected,” Mishra said in a letter addressed to Chief Justice of India SA Bobde.

While reluctantly acknowledging that the resort to Videoconferencing by Supreme Court and High Courts may be the need of the hour, at this moment of time, it ought not to stay beyond a minute of its need. “…are thinking on such a tangent and making such utopian plans as if they are planning upon implementing and executing such ideas for a fully developed nation like (the) UK, (the) USA, or in some country other than India,” Mishra wrote. He warned that 90% of Judiciary, judges and lawyers inclusive, may be technologically handicapped and even access to the tools was not universal for the robed brethren. 

Surely, the existence of Judiciary is not for the profession to thrive. It is meant to pay obeisance and get mercy from the Blind Lady of Justice to the proverbial common man as service from the noble profession. Incidentally ,yes, the professionals make a living. Think of the selfless Covid-19 warriors on the front, middle and back lines. The ultimate cause and the justification for the very existence of Judiciary is the poor and humble litigant and the legal professionals merely play a mediator between him and the high priests on the pulpit. If either the high priest or the service provider appropriate different roles for themselves, the community that needs to be served gets squeezed in the middle, to paraphrase Justice V R Krishna Iyer, from his many sayings.

The BCI Chairman not so indirectly alluded to a possible ‘conspiracy’ by the elite class in the profession, to appropriate the services for themselves at the cost of the vast majority of the common folk .“Our thought process is very advanced, and it should be so too, but we can’t be jumping the gun and foraying into a totally impractical and unworkable world,” he wrote.

Where are we headed? The Law Commission’s 125th report said: “The Supreme Court sits in New Delhi alone. The Government of India on a couple of occasions sought the opinion of the Supreme Court of India for setting up branches in the South. This proposal did not find favour with the Supreme Court. The result is that those coming from distant places like Tamil Nadu in South, Gujarat in West and Assam and other states in the East have to spend a huge amount on travel to reach the Supreme Court. An adjournment becomes prohibitive.”

In addition, the 229th Law Commission report said that one bench each can be set up in the northern, southern, eastern and western regions to deal with all appellate work arising out of orders/ judgments of High Courts. But so far, there has been no forward movement on this issue. At last count, the Full Court of the Supreme Court has rejected regional benches, 7 times. Late Justice M. Srinivasan, from Madras High Court, on the Supreme Court said, “There must be only one Thirupati, Vatican or Mecca”. Whatever the logic or logistics, the clarion calls for easier access to Supreme Court has been on for a long, long time.

Videoconferencing may just be that god given, sorry Virus given opportunity, where a litigant as party in person, can E File and argue his case himself from Kanyakumari to Kashmir or Jaipur to Manipur or an Advocate on Record file the case from New Delhi, and the cause argued by an advocate from Tuticorin or Cuddapah or Kasargode or Mangalore or Digboi in Assam. That, dear reader may be the dream grant of a wish for regional benches Pan India, in your homes, if there could be.

(Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan- Author is practising advocate in the madras High Court) 

साउथ कोरिया में संघ जरूरी क्यों

Hemant Raj
-
0
साउथ कोरिया में संघ जरूरी क्यों

आज के मौजूदा दौर में राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ भारत की सबसे बड़ी सांस्कृतिक संगठन है। जो देश की परंपरा और रीति-रिवाज़ को संजोये रखने और आने वाले नये पीढियों को उनकी संस्कृति से परिचय कराने की काम कर रही हैं। इतना ही नहीं हमारे स्वयं सेवक भाई विषम परिस्थितियों मे देश के लोगों की मदद करने के लिये हरेक प्रकार से खड़े रहते है। चाहे वो बाढ़ मे राहत सामग्री पहुँचानी हो चाहे आपातकालीन स्थिति मे श्रमदान देनी हो।आज ये संगठन भारत मे ही नहीं भारत के बाहर भी फैली हुई है। भारत के बाहर आर॰एस॰एस॰की एक इकाई हिन्दू स्वयंसेवक संघ (एच॰एस॰एस) विदेशों में कार्य करतीं हैं। एच॰एस॰एस॰ का एक मुख़्य उद्देशय भारत के बाहर रह रहे भारतीय लोगों को संगठित करना और उन तक भारतीय संस्कृति को पहुँचाना हैं।

मैं विग़त 8 महीनो से साउथ कोरिया में रह रहा हूँ। यहाँ भारतीय लोगों की संख्या क़रीब 13 हज़ार हैं। पर एच॰एस॰एस न होने के आभाव में मैंने महसूस किया है, कि भारतीय लोग संगठित नहीं हैं। और संगठित नहीं होने के कारण लोग अपनी संस्कृति से दूर जा रहे हैं। ना ही कोई सांस्कृतिक कार्यक्रम ठीक ढंग से हो पा रहा हैं, और ना ही लोग ठीक ढंग से भारतीये पर्व को मना पा रहे हैं। मैंने कुछ भारतीय मूल के बच्चों से बात करने की कोशिश की और उनसे भारतीय पर्वों के नाम पुछे पर दो-तीन बच्चों में से एक ही बच्चा होली- दीवाली के अलावा दूसरे पर्वों के नाम बता पाया।फिर मैंने उन बच्चों से होली और दीवाली मानने के पीछे का कारण पूछा तो कोई बच्चा संतोषजनक जवाब नही दे पाया। और मैंने ये भी पाया कि बहुत बच्चे हिंदी ठीक ढंग से बोल नही पा रहे या फिर जिन्हें आती है। वो बोलना नही चाहते। आधुनिक होने का मतलब ये नही हैं, कि हम अपनी भाषा और सभ्यता छोड़ दे। और दूसरे की सभ्यता में खो जायें। वही दूसरी तरफ़ मैंने देखा है, कि भारत में रहने वाले इज़रायली और बाक़ी इस्लामिक देशों के लोग अपनी भाषा और सभ्यता को ले कर कितना जागरुक हैं। यहाँ मेरा बस इतना ही कहना है,कि विश्व के किसी भी कोने में रहे पर अपने भारतीय होने, हिंदी और हिन्दु होने पर गर्व करे। और आधुनिक बने पर संस्कृति को बचायें।

अगर कोई पेड़ की जड़ कमज़ोर हो, और तना कितना भी मजबूत क्यों ना हो। वो पेड़ एक दिन ज़रूर गिर जाता हैं। उसी प्रकार आप कितने भी सफल क्यों ना हों, अगर आप अपने समाज से नही जुड़े हैं, तो अपना पतन एक दिन निश्चित हैं। और वहीं दूसरी तरफ़ कोरोना वैश्विक महामारी के दौर में संघठित नही होने के कारण लोग बहुत ही अकेलापन महसूस कर रहे हैं, और घबराए हुए है। एकता में बल होती है। ये बात उन्हें समझ आ रही हैं।बहुतो के पास जॉब नही है। किसी के पास इण्डियन रेस्टोरेंट और इण्डियन ग्रोस्री की बिज़्नेस है, पर इंडीयन कम्यूनिटी में अच्छी पकड़ नही होने के कारण परेशानियों का सामना कारण पड़ रहा है। यहाँ हम 13 हज़ार भारतीय हो कर भी अपनी संस्कृति को आगे बढ़ाने में विफल होते नज़र आ रहे है।ख़ास कर के हमारे युवा पीढ़ी जो यहाँ पढ़ाई और नौकरी के तलाश में आये है। वो कुछ ज़्यादा ही दिशाहीन नज़र आ रहे है। और उनलोगो पर पश्चिमी सभ्यता हावी होती हुई नज़र आ रही है।

पश्चिमी सभ्यता की ओर झुकाओ उन्हें अपनी भारतीय सभ्यता से दूर ले जाती हुई नज़र आ रही है। उनके हाव- भाव बदले नज़र आ रहे है। उनकी रुचि अपने पर्व को मानने से ज़्यादा पश्चिमी देशों के पर्वों को मानने और पश्चिमी खान- पान और भेष-भूषा में हैं। यह भटकाव आज नही पर आने वाले दिनो में उनपर भारी पड़ेगा और उनके आने वाले पीढ़ी पूरी ढंग से भारतीय सभ्यता से कटी हुई नज़र आयेगी।हम कभी विदेशों में जा कर यह बताने की कोशिश नहीं करते हैं, कि हमारी सभ्यता और साहित्य कितना विशाल हैं।हम ये नही बताते कि हमारा इतिहास इतना समृद्ध था, कि विदेशों से लोग नालंदा विश्वविद्यालय में पढ़ने आते थे। हाँ पर विदेशों में जा कर ज़रूर विदेशी साहित्यकार और सभ्यता की तारीफ़ कर आते हैं।मेरे दृष्टिकोण से भारतीय संस्कृति के महिमा को समझने का, चितन करने का एवं एकजुट हो कर भारतीय संस्कृति के मूल सिद्धांतो को अपनाने का समय आ गया है। और मौजूदा समय में इस कार्य के निर्वहन के लिये साउथ कोरिया में एच॰एस॰एस की स्थापना अतिआवश्यक होती हुई नज़र आ रही हैं।

Why is China so aggressive?

Adv. Gaurav Chaubey
-
0
Why is China so aggressive?

“Success only feeds the appetite of aggression” as was noted by American President Lyndon B. Johnson (Statement at White House News Conference on July 28, 1965) some 60 odd years ago, however, the true connotations of it have been understood properly by over by a billion strong Indians since past 60 odd years. Of course the aim of author is not at Pakistan for how it could have an appetite born out of success? Success here spoken of, is of the People’s Republic of China- who since Mao’s bloody revolution has marched on ahead to the tune of Yìyǒngjūn Jìnxíngq(their national anthem) under the 1978 economic reforms of it’s earlier Paramount Leader – Deng Xiaoping, to eventually become an Economic Success story like never seen before (or so is at least believed by Leftists, Progressives, Democrats, Communists, Maoists, Urban Naxalites, etc. world over). So how does this success transfer over to the aggressive actions – both overt and covert – of the Red Dragon? Well contrary to popular opinion, it is not simply the expansionist beliefs of the Chinese but instead it stems from one of the most basic needs of existence i.e. need of self-preservation. Obviously not self-preservation of China as a nation but that of the Communist Party of China (hereinafter referred to as CPC).

To first understand how the CPC maintains its power in China by being aggressive on foreign lands and oceans, one must – like a good inquisitor must always – look at history for answers. As is the history of Bharat, China too was an old, mostly peaceful, civilization focused on knowledge and high standards of living, which too like Bharat, never went around carrying large scale foreign invasions. It was hard as it is to maintain peace, order and most importantly stability, considering the massive population which China has always had. In fact China has long held the title of most populated, and even as far back as 1820 it could boast of containing more than 380 million citizens, which was more than six times the combined populations of Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States at that time. Therefore, more than one in three people alive in 1820 were Chinese. [Why did China’s population grow so quickly? By David Howden and Yang Zhou, The Independent Review, v. 20, n. 2, Fall 2015, ISSN 1086-1653, pp. 227-248] Such a massive population needs a massive amount of food, solution: extremely fertile floodlands in Eastern China of two rivers: the Yellow River (Huáng Hé) and Yangtze River (Cháng Jiāng). However, it all changed on that one rainy day when came the devil (or Communism as you may know it).

The produce of the agriculture was enough for the Chinese since centuries but not enough for the ambitions of present day CPC. And soon the overcautious CPC realised that their agricultural prosperity was at the mercy of a tiny weak country – Tibet, as both these rivers originate from the glaciers at Tibet. Thus, to the CPC it was unacceptable that a weak country like Tibet with practically no army was keeping the entire China at it’s mercy. Moreover, there was always the risk that Bharat could take over Tibet (even if not overtly than by becoming an ally of Tibet) and in case of war with China, block the water or poison the water of the two fertile rivers. To the foreign media and it’s own citizens Mao gave the ‘casus belli’ of Tibet being an integral part of China historically (same reason Hitler gave for conquering Yugoslavia). The same could not be farther from truth as: Tibet had always been an independent kingdom; and, to close the argument, the Tibetans are ethnically different from the mainland Han Chinese. However, the real reason for the conquest and genocide of Tibetan people was for the aforementioned agricultural autonomy reason and to secure itself from future Bharatiya conquest by using the natural barrier of Himalayan mountains which would slow down terribly an advance of Bharatiya army towards it’s mainland. (In retrospect the reasoning of CPC was highly flawed as Bharat was at that time being ruled by the most ineffective, morally corrupt and cowardly leader in history bar none.)

Now that the present day China came to be on a political map, the next task for CPC was to ensure it’s stability. As we all know the prime reason why Communism doesn’t work is because it makes people too poor and as a corollary corrupt (ex. Venezuela, USSR, North Korea) which rots the Communist governments from within; eventually leading to a total collapse as people with empty stomachs protest the loudest. But here is where the devil transmogrifies to become a worse Capitalist than even the worst Capitalists (author is not Amartya Sen or any of those “learned” economists who regularly cry & crib on NDTV; hence, no explanation as to intricacies of the 1978 economic reforms will be offered). This wiseness (hypocrisy?) of the CPC has allowed it to not only remain in power but also grow stronger and stronger. However, as is the nature of things, there is a price to be paid for everything, even economic progress, which in this case is dependency on foreign imports.

Many know that China is world’s largest exporter, but few know that China is also the world’s second largest importer, primarily importing oil and minerals which inturn fuel it’s industries and allow it to be world’s largest exporter. To give a small instance of Chinese dependence on imports – recently Chinese MNC Huawei which draws annual revenues of well over a 100 billion USD, went on “survival mode” (as said by Guo Ping, Rotating Chairman, at Huawei’s Annual Analyst Conference) after USA tightened it’s policy on exporting semiconductors; and this as we know is only the beginning of the world’s backlash at China for having exported Wuhan Virus.

To get back to eternal leery attitude of the CPC leadership, it has a history of using People’s Liberation Army (hereinafter referred to as PLA) and grabbing territory both on land and water inch-by-inch from other nations lest those territories be ever used against them. China has always wanted to use the Himalayas as a natural barrier to protect its otherwise geographically vulnerable mainlands. The Aksai Chin and Sino-Indian war were an attempt by China to wrest control over the entire Himalayan region. However, thanks to the bravery of our jawans, China realised that winning the war won’t be a possibility, so it chose to quit while it was leading the race and took over a large portion of Kashmir into itself. Thereafter, recently China again decided to give it’s people a show by picking on a Bharat they thought weak and feeble. The CPC leadership acted prematurely and thereafter again got scared when it witnessed that Bharat wasn’t going to sit silently over it’s transgressions on border.

Furthermore, international pressure also started to mount up against China with even typically anti Bharat establishments like Al Jazeera singing India’s tune. Thus, even though China invested billions in Military and buying out lackeys like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan, Rajdeep, entire NDTV and Congress; still it was defeated by India’s superior diplomacy in establishing strategic alliances with powerful nations like Russia, USA, Japan, Israel, UK etc, built on friendliness of a cult of personality aka Modi. Of course the Red Dragon will be back.

But this is not the end of CPC’s evil designs – it’s transgressions on South China Sea are known to all. Chinese Navy has almost taken exclusive control of the South China Sea by pumping billions to build a formidable Navy and thereafter aggressively stationing those ships & submarines in the South China Sea. (Similar attempts to deploy Naval fleet was also done in Indian Ocean but the Brave Indian Navy countered the evil design of China). As can be seen from the words of Cpt. James E. Fannell (Retd.) who worked for 30yrs in US Naval Intelligence:

“China has spent billions of dollars on a military that can achieve the dreams of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
………
Under the CCP, the PRC is an expansionist, coercive, hypernationalistic, militarily and economically powerful, brutally repressive, totalitarian state.
…Beijing chooses to spend its precious resources on military force buildup. Much of that investment has gone into the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The momentum created by the PLAN’s rapid advances in the maritime domain threatens to do for the rest of the world what the Communist Party has done for China Proper and its neighbors (Xinjiang and Tibet, Cambodia and Laos), establishing military, political, and economic domination, to varying degrees—as the PRC pursues what President Xi calls his China Dream.” [Fanell, James E. (2019) “Asia Rising: China’s Global Naval Strategy and Expanding Force Structure,” Naval War College Review: Vol. 72: No. 1 , Article 4.]

However why is China so aggressively claiming the entire South China Sea? Well the answer is simple it’s eternal leeriness. As earlier said it is the world’s largest importer, and how do these imports reach China? You guessed it by ships. Hence, CPC understands that if a warlike situation arises the NATO (which is allied with almost all nations present in South China Sea such as Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, etc. and has several Military bases in those ally countries) could cut it’s supply lines and cripple the entire China. As anybody with common sense would tell you, easiest way to win a fortified castle is to cut its supply of food and essential items whereby starving the people inside. This way you defeat the enemy even without fighting the enemy. And this is precisely what keeps up senior officials of CPC at wee hours of night.

Given the anti-China sentiment running amok to the world, the moot point is that China realises better than the author or you, that the backlash is coming. CPC knows of the impeding Economic doom of China when all the countries will put out their investments from their country. One need not imagine the situation then. China’s biggest asset – its population, will become its biggest liability as unemployment will be at highest and people with nothing better to do often devote themselves to destructive tasks, and whose destruction will these unemployed, unhappy, financially desperate citizens dedicate themselves to then? The source of their problems i.e. the Communist Party of China. Hence, to avoid that horrible outcome, and moreover, to instill faith in the common citizens, China is taking special care to not appear weak to both – the foreign nations and it’s domestic population. It is taking harsh steps using it’s expert-at-bullying military (The same military which had run over peacefully protesting student with tanks in Tiananmen Square).

It is cracking down on Hong Kong to give Chinese middle class hope that country is acting tough against those who have it better than regular Chinese (similar to modus operandi of Pakistani govt. in the way it keeps attacking Bharat so that the citizens of Pakistan get taken over by the fervour and do not wake up to realise the hell-hole they live in). Moreover, Hong Kong people do have Google and basic human rights, a luxury regular Chinese middle class can only dream of. All the moves CPC is taking are simply directed towards calming the population and keeping it occupied so the Chinese people don’t realise what they are going to face because of the the CPC. Border skirmishes with Bharat too played a similar role. Meanwhile we are mistaking the action for the cause, the cause is to keep the people busy, and the action is to feed the Chinese populace a fervour of realising the “China Dream” as envisaged by Mao and Xi Jinping.

To conclude, the proof is in the pudding that CPC is a very insecure and leery political organisation, which is why it is so scared of Google, Twitter, naval blockade, Bharat, Tibet, NATO, drought of Foreign Investment etc. So the overwhelming dependency on foreigners with a fearful attitude of all things foreign, creates a powerful bully who like an angry Ox sees red everywhere. As per the informed assessment of the author the Chinese Ox is in the China shop destroying China itself with it’s desperate attempts to fool it’s citizenry, and one way or other this will not end well for China. The author predicts keeping in mind the age old adage “the bigger they are the harder they fall,” that China will soon get rife with citizen unrests and within next 15-20 years the China as we know under the CPC will cease to exist and like it’s predecessor and idol USSR, will fragment into tiny pieces of autonomous states.

Media: A stain on democracy

Kaustubh Kumar
-
0
Media: A stain on democracy

As after reading the title above you already came to know in this article, I am going to criticize all forms of media viz. printing, electronic, etc. I want Indian Youth or any layman, who is intellectual enough to distinguish between right or wrong, to think from this perspective too.

On 24th March 2020, an unprecedented lockdown was unleashed by Indian government on its citizen which was the necessity of that time to deal with the pandemic. After that media emerged as the only mode from where every common man shall access the information about ongoing crisis and the plight of migrant workers. Government was trying hard to came up with new innovative policies to help them but transmission of information to every person became a Herculean task for them. Reporters, sitting in the air conditioned studios are debating and giving information about the policies, it is a question of common sense for everyone that the stranded persons are not holding televisions or mobile phones (that shall provide information) in their hand by which they shall know everything, but as we know common sense is not common to all.

Reporters deployed on ground to report about the ongoing situation also not worked up to the mark. They are questioning workers about how they are, since when they are travelling travelling. After their reporting got over even they do not bother to tell them about the policies that government is implementing to help. But what they done is to famous their report and videos by spreading it across the globe through every possible medium. Social Media got hoarded with fake images and videos of lockdown problems. Coercive reporting was the another method adopted by reporters for instance a video from NDTV reporter asking migrant worker to do again what he was doing before, so that he shall show it on his news channel. Is this what they learn in media courses in colleges if yes, then there is an immediate need to start some ethical subjects there.

At last but not the least if media houses (considered as fourth pillar of democracy) really want to help migrant workers they should have done that and this crisis was got resolved till now, but what they worried for is just only for their so-called “prime time show reports”.

पंथ, समाज शास्त्र और अर्थशास्त्र

Abhimanyu Rathore
-
0
पंथ, समाज शास्त्र और अर्थशास्त्र

भारत एक पंथ निरपेक्ष राष्ट्र है। सेक्युलर शब्द भारत के संविधान में जुड़ा, उससे भी कई वर्षों पहले भारत एक पंथ निरपेक्ष राष्ट्र था। सनातन का सत्य जान कर कई रीतीं रिवाज जुड़ते और भुलाए गए पर ये पंथ निरपेक्षता हम पर किसी ने थोपी नहीं। आप किस तरह ईश्वर में आस्था रखते हैं वो पूर्णतः आपका निजी मामला है। भारत वो देश है जहाँ सनातन संस्कृति में कई पंथों ने जन्म लिया और लोग अपनी स्व: इच्छा से इनसे जुड़ते गए। क्योंकि सनातन ने ये आज़ादी सभी को हमेशा दी की आप अपने पंथ को व्यक्तिगत तरीके से चुने।

सनातन का सबसे पहला पंथ था जैन सम्प्रदाय जो ऋषभदेव से शुरू हुआ। इस सम्प्रदाय में 24 तीर्थंकर हुए, जिसमे अन्त में भगवान महावीर का जन्म हुआ। पर इस सम्प्रदाय के लोगों को आपने कभी किसी को धर्मांतरण की बात करते सुना? भारत का सबसे पुराना संप्रदाय, सबसे कम जनसंख्या के साथ अपना जीवन जीते जा रहे है पर कभी धर्मांतरण करते नहीं देखे गए।

ठीक ऐसा बुद्ध भगवान के बाद हुआ।

गुरु नानक की समय आते आते समाज मे काफी बदलाव आ चुका था पर फिर भी गुरु साहब ने इसे किसी पर थोपा नहीं। वो सत्य बताने गए और लोग अपने विवेक से उनके बताए मार्ग पर चलते रहे। ऐसा ही जमबेसर महाराज, जुलेलाल और कई महान पूजनीय लोगो ने अपने तरीक़े से विचारों को समझाया और अलग अलग पंथ यहाँ फलते फूलते गए।

फिर जबरन धर्मांतरण क्यों होता दिखता है वर्तमान परिपेक्ष में। इस सवाल का उत्तर किसी भी रूप में समझने के लिए पंथ, संस्कृति और धर्म को समझना जरूरी है। अखण्ड भारत का संस्कृतिक रूप देखे तो पूर्णतः एक जैसा ही है। आप किसी भी पंथ के मानने वाले हो ये आपका निजी मामला है पर सांस्कृतिक रूप से आप एक जैसे ही है। बदलाव है तो सिर्फ अनुष्ठान स्तर पर जो उन महान जन ने अपने जीवन के तप से सीखा उसी परिपाटी को लोगो ने आगे बढ़ाया।

संस्कृति एक होने का अर्थ है आप किसी भी पंथ के मानने वाले हों सांस्कृतिक रूप से आप एक ही है। इससे ये बात का भी अनुमान लगाया जा सकता है की पंथ निजी मामला है और पर संस्कृति ही तो समाज और सभ्यता को बनाये रखती है। जबरन धर्मांतरण आपकी सांस्कृतिक बनावट पर एक तरीके से हमला है। क्योंकि जो इस को बढ़ावा दे रहे है वो ये जरूर चाहते है की समाज में फैले सांस्कृतिक ढांचे खराब किया जाए। उसका सीधा असर सामाजिक अर्थव्यवस्था पर पड़ता है। इसी बात को आगे ले जाये तो जाति तक स्तर पर बात होगी। भारत मे जाति व्यवस्था को लेकर कई प्रकार के धारणाये है कोई इसे सही मानता है तो कोई इसका पूर्ण रूप से खंडन करता है। पर मूलतः कोई इस पर ये बात नहीं बोलता की ये बना बनाया अर्थव्यवस्था का एक ढांचा है जहाँ समाज अपने कर्म से बंटा है। जिस मांग और आपुर्ति पर आधुनिक अर्थशास्त्र लिखा गया वो भारत के कर्म प्रधान समाज में सदियों से चल रहा है। हमने आधुनिक भारत मे जिस भी जातिय परिवार में जन्म लिया हो और अपने परिवार में पूर्वजों की ओर देखे तो हम ये पाएंगे की वे किसी ना किसी कला में निपुण थे। संगीत, शिल्प, कृषि, शस्त्र, शास्त्र या और कोई भी सामाजिक कर्म। विश्व के बाकी देशों के साथ इस कर्मकांड को किसी भी पैमाने में रख कर देखे ले औए हम गर्व के अतिरिक्त कुछ महसूस नहीं करेंगे।

परन्तु जब समाज आँखों पे पट्टी बांध अपने कर्म प्रधान ढांचे को नहीं देख पाता तो वो सामाजिक स्तर और अर्थव्यवस्था पर हमला करता है, वो ढांचा जो समाज को चलाने के लिए महत्त्वपूर्ण है। जिस भी समाज के अंग को हम कम आँकने लगते है वो हमसे छूटने लगता है और धीरे धीरे सामाजिक रूप से पिछड़ता जाता है। सदियों से सीखे हुनर की कद्र कम होने लगती है वो भुलाई जाने लगती है। हमने सामाजिक रूप से जिसे भी पीछे छोड़ दिया उसे जीवन में कोई भी सहारा दे तो वो उसके साथ चला जाता है। ठीक इसी के चलते कभी कभी जबरन धर्मांतरण, समाज का कुछ वर्ग को तोड़ देता है, कभी हमारी वैचारिक गलतियों का हवाला देकर या कभी अधिकारों का हवाला देकर। पर चराचर समाज मे माँग और आपूर्ति फिर भी बनी रहती है और उसे पूरी करने के एक दूसरा वर्ग तमगा तैयार हो जाता है। वर्तमान परिपेक्ष में इसको कई उदाहरण देखने को मिल जायेंगे।

आज के परिपेक्ष में कही जाने वाली अनुसूचित जाति में कई ऐसे वर्ग है या तो हमारे समाज से विलोप्त हो चुके है या अर्थिक हालात से झुँझ रहे है। बुद्धिजीवी समाज की अनदेखी ने इन्हें इस स्तर पर ला खड़ा किया जहाँ उसे धर्मांतरण के अलावा कुछ रास्ता दिखता ही नहीं। एक कर्म प्रधान वर्ग आपसे अलग हो गया क्योंकि समाज ने कभी उनके कर्म को प्रधानता नहीं दी। इस पूरे वर्ग के कर्मकांड पर ध्यान दे तो पाएंगे कि ये वर्ग एक ऐसे कर्म में लिप्त है जो आम जनमानस के बस की बात नही पर फिर भी पढे लिखे समाज की अनदेखी से उसे समझा ही नहीं। ऐसा ही मत अनुसूचित जनजाति के रूप में है जिसका कर्म प्रकृति संसाधनों से जुड़ा है।जहाँ हम 600 से 1000 sq वर्ग में घर लेकर अपने आप को बड़ा आदमी समझते है वही ये वर्ग समस्त जंगल के मालिक के रूप में जीवन वियापन कर है वो भी स्वछंद रूप से। जब इस वर्ग को पैसे का लालच दे कर जबरन धर्मांतरण की तरफ से धकेला तो हमने अपनी सांस्कृतिक ढांचे से प्राकर्तिक संसाधनों के रक्षक खो दिये।

अर्थव्यवस्था को आप पैसा के आईने से देखे तो शायद ये बाते गलत लगे पर कर्म से जोड़, माँग और आपूर्ति के नजरिये से देखे तो बहुत चिंतन का विषय है।एक ओर हम आत्मनिर्भर भारत की बात करते है और दूसरी तरफ समाज मे बने बनाये अर्थशास्त्र के एक कामयाब ढांचे को समझ नही पाते तो हम भी तथाकथित उदारवादियों की दुगलेपन वाली भीड़ में शामिल हो जाते है।

अगर हमे अपनी अर्थव्यवस्था की चिंता है तो सारे दरवाजे खोलने होंगे, सबसे पहले मन में पनपी कुरूतियो और विचारधारा के। जब ये दरवाजे खुलेंगे तो शायद हम अपने आप सांस्कृतिक जीवन में छुपे अर्थशास्त्र के इस ढांचे को समझ पाये।

ऊपर लदी थी प्याज की बोरियां,नीचे थे गौवंश, वाहन में आपातकालीन ड्यूटी की स्टीकर लगाकर की जा रही है गौवंशों की तस्करी

Rahul4india
-
0
ऊपर लदी थी प्याज की बोरियां,नीचे थे गौवंश, वाहन में आपातकालीन ड्यूटी की स्टीकर लगाकर की जा रही है गौवंशों की तस्करी

झारखंड में झारखंड गोवंशीय पशु हत्या प्रतिषेध अधिनियम 2005 लागू होने के लगभग 15 वर्ष पूरे होने को हैं। इसके बावजूद प्रशासन की नाक के नीचे प्रतिबंधित पशुओं की तस्करी लगातार हो रही है। गौ तस्कर तस्करी के नए-नए तरीके अपना रहे हैं। यदि आप सोच रहे हैं कि लॉक डाउन का इन तस्करों पर कोई प्रभाव पड़ रहा है तो आप बिल्कुल गलत सोच रहे हैं। ये इतने चालाक और शातिर हैं कि लॉक डाउन के दौरान जारी किए जाने वाले इमरजेंसी ड्यूटी स्टीकर को हथियार बनाकर तस्करी की घटना को अंजाम दे रहे हैं।

गुरुवार को गौ तस्करी का एक ऐसा ही नया मामला झारखंड राज्य से सामने आया। दरअसल गुरुवार को झारखंड के गिरिडीह जिला अंतर्गत जमुआ-कोडरमा मुख्य मार्ग पर तेतरआमो गांव के समीप आपातकालीन ड्यूटी का स्टिकर चिपकाए प्याज की बोरी लदे एक टाटा अल्ट्रा कंटेनर से 26 गौवंशों को बरामद किया गया। हालांकि इनमें से 4 की मौत हो चुकी थी। बताया गया कि संबंधित वाहन का गुल्ला टूट जाने तथा टायर फट जाने के कारण ही यह मामला सामने आ पाया और आप भी जानते हैं कि ऐसे मामले अक्सर कुछ न कुछ हादसे की वजह से ही सामने आते हैं। हालांकि गुप्त सूचना के आधार पर भी पुलिस कुछ मामलों का उद्भेदन करती है।

गौवंश लदा वाहन

दरअसल गुरुवार की सुबह तेतरआमों गांव के पास वाहन के टायर फटने की आवाज सुनकर कुछ ग्रामीण सड़क पर पहुंचे। यहां उन्हें एक वाहन दिखाई दी जिसके टायर फट चुके थे। वाहन के आगे शीशे पर “आपातकालीन ड्यूटी Covid-19 खाद्य सामग्री हेतु” लिखा हुआ स्टिकर चिपका हुआ था। कंटेनर के ऊपर प्याज से भरी बोरियां लदी हुई थी। लेकिन कुछ ही देर में कंटेनर से मवेशियों की आवाज आने लगी। मवेशियों की आवाज सुनकर लोगों को संदेह हुआ।इधर वाहन दुर्घटनाग्रस्त होते ही वाहन के चालक एवं खलासी फरार हो चुके थे। इस बात ने लोगों के संदेह को और बल दिया। लोगों ने मामले की सूचना पुलिस को दी।सूचना मिलते ही खोरी महुआ एसडीओ धीरेंद्र कुमार सिंह,जमुआ के प्रखंड विकास पदाधिकारी विनोद कुमार कर्मकार,आरक्षी निरीक्षक विनय कुमार राम, जमुआ थाना प्रभारी संतोष कुमार सदल बल संबंधित स्थल पर पहुचें तो देखा कि कंटेनर में गौवंश लदे हुए हैं। पुलिस टीम ने कंटेनर से 26 गौवंशों को बाहर निकाला। इनमें 4 की मौत पहले ही हो चुकी थी जिनका पोस्टमार्टम करवाकर उन्हें दफन कर दिया गया।

इस बाबत जमुआ थाना प्रभारी संतोष कुमार ने बताया कि बरामद 26 में से जीवित बचे 22 मवेशियों को मिर्जागंज-खरगडीहा स्तिथ गौशाला भेज दिया गया है। गौ तस्करी के तहत मामला दर्ज करते हुए आगे की कार्रवाई की जा रही है।

बरामद किए गए गौवंश


आपको बता दें कि इससे पहले 20 मई को तोपचांची थाना क्षेत्र के दुमदुमी से सब्जी ढोने वाले वााहन के माध्यम से पशु तस्करी का मामला सामने आया था। दैनिक भास्कर की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार बिहार से धनबाद की ओर जा रहे मवेशी लदे वाहन का पिछला चक्का टूट गया था। जिसके बाद पशु तस्कर छतिग्रस्त वाहन को सड़क पर छोड़ ठीक उसी अंदाज में फरार हो गए थे जैसा अक्सर इस मामले में ड्राइवर करते हैं। मामले की जानकारी के बाद पुलिस ने वाहन को जब्त करते हुए वाहन में लदे 6 मवेशियों को बरामद किया था।

भास्कर की ही रिपोर्ट के अनुसार 20 मई को ही ऐसा ही एक मामला कोडरमा जिले के चंदवारा थाना क्षेत्र से भी आया था।पुलिस ने यहां 3 मवेशी लदे ट्रकों को जब्त किया था। इनमे ठूंस ठूंस कर गौवंश ले जाए जा रहे थे। तीनों वाहनों में क्षमता से काफी अधिक संख्या में मवेशी लदे हुए थे। इनमें से आधा दर्जनों की मौत संभवतः घुटन की वजह से हो गई थी।ट्रक के ऊपर चावल की बोरी रख दी गई थी और पूरे ट्रक को तिरपाल से ढ़क दिया गया था। एक ऐसा लगे कि इसमें चावल ढोया जा रहा है।

Tablighi Jamaat was a creation of Islamic orthodoxy and intolerance for Hindus and other pagans/non-believers

Nivan
-
0
Tablighi Jamaat was a creation of Islamic orthodoxy and intolerance for Hindus and other pagans/non-believers

The Tablighi Jamaat has recently become a sensational news topic for their catalytic role in the spread of COVID-19 in India. The Jamaat was founded in 1926 by Muḥammad Ilyās ibn Muḥammad Ismā‘īl Kāndhlawī Dihlawī when he noticed that neo-Muslims in India were subscribing to Hindu culture and traditions, and weren’t being easily enchanted by the orthodox and inappropriate Arabic traditions that Islam preaches. 

Kandhlawi, in his tour to the Mewat region of Harayana, noticed that the Indian Muslim adherents were following certain traditions of the rich Hindu culture. Infuriated, he decided to create his own branch of the Deoband sect (a further classification of the Hanafi branch of Sunni Islam) that would attempt the inculcation of foreign Arabic practices and traditions Indian Muslims. As per Kandhlawi, those Muslims who were being inclusive and following the traditions of the locals weren’t “real” Muslims. His idea of “real” Muslims were those who followed the traditions of their Prophet Mohammed, who lived 1400 years ago.

The Tablighi Jamaat has been active in the “othering” of Muslims from the local Hindu population. They choose to follow what their Arabic counterparts discarded years ago to be more ritualistic and orthodox (in a bid to follow “real” Islam). This branch of Islamic adherents have regularly been involved in rioting, communal hatred and instigation of terrorist activities. The convicted terrorists involved in the 7/7 London bombings that shook the United Kingdom were also believers of this sect. 

The United States and United Kingdom’s intelligence agencies too are concerned over the use of Tablighi Jamaat members as sleeper cells for the dreaded terror organisations such as Al Qaeda and other Islamic terror outfits.

As per a Wikileaks report, the known terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda used the Jamaat to procure visas for their operatives. The Jamaat follows an extremely violent and orthodox version of Islam, which sympathises with Radical Islamic terror outfits and calls for the exclusion of “non-believers and their sympathisers”. The Jamaat has on numerous occasions proved to be breeding ground for terrorist sympathisers, and used for recruitment purposes by terror groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS. 

The branch is hostile to any reform in Islamic society, including the criminalisation of Triple Talaq and a very aggressive supporter of the imposition of Sharia law in countries where Muslims are in majority.

The Ministry of Home affairs has also been suspicious of the group and advised the Ministry of External affairs to not give visas to those who intend to participate in missionary activities from foreign countries. There’s also a separate investigation being conducted on whether the Tablighi Jamaat receives any funding or favours from banned Islamic organisations.

COVID-19 and education

Sauro Dasgupta
-
0
COVID-19 and education

The Educational Sector has been affected adversely by COVID-19 globally. Different schools and colleges have started taking online classes. In India, different news channels are also arranging classes for Board Examinees, where eminent teachers are coming and teaching different topics and clearing doubts of students. Teachers are taking online classes on Zoom/Google Meet or recording their teaching videos and are uploading them on YouTube. But, often the students and teachers are not able to hear each other due to connectivity problems. This virtual process is helping students to continue their studies in this crisis period but this is not effective for all. A lot of students don’t have smartphones or internet connection in rural areas.

Again, a lot of students mainly within the age limit of 2-5 years are very excited to do online classes. Usually they play games on smartphones. Now they are using phones, laptops etc for study purpose, they can see their teachers even sitting at home and they are very eager to do online classes.

However, the online mode of communication is not safe at all. In fact, the Union Home Ministry of India had issued an advisory highlighting Zoom’s safety issues and how to tackle them.                              

Lockdown has paused the exam cycle. Different institutes conduct exams and entrances during this time period, but all those exams are postponed or are being conducted online. Many faculty and support staff of educational institutions  may receive salary deductions and recruitment of new faculty and staff may be delayed. Closure of educational institutes has put forward numerous issues affecting access to education due to lack of classes, as well as broader socio-economic issues such as the technology divide between the rich and the poor in the Educational Sector.

We are determined to prevent the education system from losing its strength. The teachers and parents are doing their best to ensure that each student is getting enough support to continue their studies. Let’s hope that we overcome this crisis soon.

About the author: Sauro Dasgupta is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a specialization in International Relations at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. He is interested in reading, writing, public speaking and his writings have been published in many important magazines, journals and newspapers.

The reality of the Veer Savarkar’s mercy petition to the British government; was it really voluntary or out of compulsion?

Nivan
-
0
The reality of the Veer Savarkar’s mercy petition to the British government; was it really voluntary or out of compulsion?

Whenever there’s a discussion on Veer Savarkar’s legacy, followers of the left wing bring up the mercy petition drafted by the pioneer of Hindutva to the British government for pardoning/shortening his sentence.

What most Left Wing supporters fail to realise is that Veer Savarkar’s prison wasn’t a hotel styled luxurious “prison” which Nehru was sent to in his mid political career. In fact, there was a stark contrast between the prisons of the both the leaders. 

Picture taken of the infamous Port Blair- Aerial view.

The prisons of the Cellular Jail in Port Blair/Kaala Paani were indeed horrifying to say the least; from cramped prisons with multiple inmates, to torture inflicted by the wardens and prison authorities. 

Surveillance was intended to be the key foundation at the jail which derived its name from the small, individual cells that housed prisoners. Each of the 693 cells were of 4.5 m x 2.7 m dimension, with a ventilator at a height of 3 m on the back wall. 

A picture of the prison cell in which Swatantrayaveer Savarkar resided in Port Blair.

The front corridor of each wing faced the back wall of its adjacent wing, so that prisoners could not communicate in any way at all. Of the three-pronged strategy of hunger, torture and isolation, it was the third that was intended to be the harshest punishment.

The inmates such as Veer Savarkar were treated horribly, food served to them was filled with dust and grass while the water given to them was unpurified rainwater. Inmates were forbidden from interacting with each other, and were whipped if found to be chatting.

Tedious work was given to the inmates, they weren’t allowed to sit from sunrise to sunset. Even protests were met with fiercely; in 1933 when prisoners decided to protest against the inhumane conditions of the prison, they were forced to drink milk during a hunger strike which lead to the death of two young men from Punjab. 

Under such circumstances, it was inevitable to give in to the British authorities for some mercy. The walls of the jails echoed with the hair raising screams of the inmates it housed. 

Savarkar, tired of such conditions, decided to draft a mercy petition to the British so that he could be spared from such treacherous attempts by the British government to punish political prisoners who had called for Swaraj.

Now, we should compare these conditions to that of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru who was given a luxurious cell all to himself with an armchair, desk, rocking chair, and window. 

The prison cell of Jawaharlal Nehru

Nehru never faced the same cruelty which Savarkar faced. Being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he had family connections with the British authorities, and was friends with them; this spared him from most forms of cruelty. 

The conditions faced by the two leaders dramatically differ, it’s not fair to compare their struggles simply because Veer Savarkar had faced a lot more resistance than what Nehru ever did. 

One nation one language: An accident waiting to happen

Sahajveer baweja
-
0
One nation one language: An accident waiting to happen

One nation one language is termed to be an Elysian ideology in a democratic secular country. Here in India, where minorities have equal rights as opposed to majoritarianism, the concept of utilitarianism is considered to be a fascist idiosyncrasy. The protection of minorities and their individuality is the fundamental essence of the Constitution. Article 29 of the Constitution[1] clearly spells out that any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.

India which has been moulded on the roots of linguistics cannot be asked to compromise their uniqueness for the purpose of acquiring national identity in the form of one language for the nation. What is required is to appreciate the diversity & beauty of the many mother tongues that dot this land. The history remains the eternal evidence of how our Indian was cocooned from the stage of Imperialism to a country hosting 28 states and 9 union territories which are deeply rooted on basis of vernacular semanticism.[2]

Factually, India after its independence followed by the gruesome partition was left broken consisting of 571 disjointed princely states.[3] In 1947, the frailing mother of 360 million citizens[4] had been assigned the toughest task to reorganize itself and harmonize the imbalance that was created due to British colonialism and the divided lines that rushed between India and Pakistan. Issues arose as to what should be the criteria of reorganizing India; whether linguistic or on the basis of religion or the historical considerations should be the driving force?  Although the consensus ushered on the grounds of political and historical considerations rather than on linguistic divisions but this arrangement succumbed with time and stood out to be only temporary in nature.

With repeated failures, the public demand escalated the pressure to reorganize India on a linguistic basis. This led to appointment of SK Dhar commission and JVP committee in 1948 which determinedly ruled against the reorganization of India on the linguistic basis and favoured historical and geographical considerations as a matter of administrative convenience but their concrete endeavours remained futile and unfortunately, in 1953, Andhra Pradesh came out to be the first state to be formed on the linguistic basis dominated by Telugu speaking citizens.

Finally, the national leaders submitted their will to the gross demand of reconstruction of India linguistically and to substantiate the public demand, Fazl Ali commission was brought into power which recommended India to be reorganized into 16 States and 4 Union territories. Initially opposing the decision of the commission, unison was developed to divide the country into 14 states and 6 union territories under the State Reorganization Act, 1956 which had the linguistics as the impacting ground for divide.[5] The breakdown was stitched with the act but only for a fraction of time. Disruptions enraged with a demand to divide the already formed states to be further sub-divided to accustom every lingual community. On this foundation, new states were formed where Bombay was bifurcated into Gujarat and Maharashtra on the linguistic lines, Punjab being home for the Punjabi speaking people and Haryana was carved out on the collective consonance of Hindi speaking people. The unrest and the continuous demand of citizens brought India divided into 28 states and 9 union territories.

In the realm of altering traditions, there is a significant need to protect the culture from being ostracized. Uniting the language will not serve as a catalyst to harmonize the state relations. It will only complicate the intra-national relations. Subscribing to this concept will not promote Indianism but would only signify the adaptability to the ideologies of European nations. The concept of one country one Language is an adamant notion of the Western world. Surrendering to such notions will be a step backward towards colonialism.

Language can unite the culture in those countries which don’t have a long history to recite. India that is known as Bharat is a cluster of cultural variables. There is no particular element that can represent the entire culture of our republic.[6] Even if we unify the language in the interest of cultural harmony, precedents are already set out which had led to the examples of recurring failures. Did the Urdu language able to unify Pakistan or Did the Russian language was enough competent to unite Russia? Answers to these questions are merely understood through the deep silence that has been resulted due to the concurrent fiascos marginalizing the interest of minorities of the country.

The direct effect that will cause due to impanelling the ill-thought concept might outburst on the minorities of the nation. It will not only attack the sovereignty they enjoy over their culture but would also poison there fundamental right to protect their minority character.  Federalism is the basic structure of the Constitution of India [7] and the Constitution only provides the guaranteed freedom to practice their own language and culture to every individual living out in the nation. With the implementation of one nation one language, the color of Hindutva would eclipse the color of Secularism. It will lead to a big threat to the ethnic individuality of minorities, ethnic groups and all non-Hindi speaking states of Bharat[8].

Tangling with the affairs of minorities has become a proclaimed instrument for the supporters of pro-Hindutva. They often jeopardise the national integrity of the country on the account of political justification as well as religious satisfaction.  Such wanton majoritarianism robs the trust in the supremacy of democratic essence in a country. It promotes sheer detestation through the tyrannical dictums of the absolute Hindutva mainstream in a secular country. In the pursuit of attaining competence in the language of “commodity” and “enterprise,” many minority languages and even cultures are sometimes sacrificed and instead of creating solidarity, it increases the probability of raising intolerability.[9]

Language is not only a vehicle to communicate, it is also a storehouse[10]. We can be enough proud to have one language celebrated all around the country but we can be more contented when we provide equal space to every multicultural language. “Kos-kos par badle paani, chaar kos par baani” is a very popular aphorism that depicts the multilingual nature of India. These multicultural languages “express the age-long aspirations of mankind, the longing of every human heart of freedom, peace, and goodwill to men, we find in the language of our own people a series of statements so lofty in ideal, so sincere in purpose, and so intensely human in view, as to stand boldly before the world and proclaim; This is what we believe and this what we live for”.[11] The rich culture that India used to boast about is now under a cultural crisis where everything is washed up by the effects of rapid development. 

It is undeniable that one common language will comfort the path to economic development and will promote the Indian industry because the language barrier will be extricated and it will allow the sellers and buyers to reach in person more easily. Nevertheless, the question framed is, at what cost we need such development? Are we ready to negotiate the cultural identity where India governs or are we ready to sacrifice the essence of cultural plurality? Development is a continuous process and is future-oriented whereas cultural preservation involves framing and capturing the history of the nation. Development might be furnished again in the future but once we lost the cultural ethos, it is impossible to secure the status quo.

Already, India has observed that the traditional equilibrium has lost the battle to rapidly adopted modernization. With the influence of modern social forces, the relationship between the conventional and the folk traditions has been in a distressed condition.[12] The political inclination has a major share to contribute to creating an imbalance between cultural variable and political variables. Politics has clubbed them and now the elements of culture are being used as a tool of gaining votes. The instrumental perspective of seeing the culture is a threat to the luscious history of India. Reorganizing the past to complement the present shall stagnate the inquisitiveness of citizens to know their culture. At present, to ensure the survival of multiculturalism, rather than pressing any one language as the nation’s standardized tongue, it makes more sense to capitalise in the development of other provincial languages and thus protect multiculturalism through multilingualism.[13] 

The political agenda to make Hindi as the sole language of India has itself a flaw in it because Hindi like any other language is not a single dialect. Hindi which is known as a language in the late 19th century consists of 49 different dialects that are grouped under the category of Hindi. Although a Hindi speaking person might be able to understand  more than half of these dialects though factually, they have their own grammar and syntax and thus, they have an identity of its own that is not similar to Hindi. So if we go with the figures depending solely on those people who talk in a standardized Hindi variant, the percentage just stops at 26 percent of the population. This means that only 1/4th of the population of India is accustomed to speak the standardized Hindi form and rest 3/4th people have their different language to communicate. Mahatma Gandhi who is deeply connected with the rural world of India and who is himself a polyglot expressed his opinion in his book My Experiments with truth that in all India syllabi related to education, equal importance shall be given to Hindi, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and English, besides this, of course, the local language of the particular region.[14]

The political myth that has been created to nationalize the Hindutva propaganda is a breach to the interest of the citizens. The reliance by BJP on a report that 54 percent of Indians speak Hindi is proved to be false and deceptive because the 2011 census comes with a different figure. According to the 2001 Census, 52 crores out of 121 crore people identified Hindi as their language. About 32 crore people declared Hindi as their mother tongue. This means that Hindi is the language of less than 44 percent Indians and mother tongue of only a little over 25 percent people in India. Still the idea to make it pan-India takes us to question the ulterior motive of the current legislatures who wants to enshrine India as a euphemism of One Nation, one identity.[15] 

Hindi is a language that is not uncommon and has been a greater part of our history and to showcase its credibility, the Constitution drafters have sincerely included the language in the Constitution. The Constitution, however, did not affirm to declare Hindi as the national language; it rather bestowed Hindi the status of official language along with English. Article 343 of the Constitution[16] advocates Hindi as written in the Devanagari script as the official language of the government along with English. The dignity of any group in a society is protected through the capabilities provided to them. Capabilities here mean the freedom to choose and to do what protects the ethnicity of their group. Forcefully introducing the majoritarian regime in a democracy is a sheer attack to the pillars of the Constitution. Political agendas should not interfere with the minority rights and thus maintain the wall between the two different institutes. One nation one language is utopian and a fascist ideology that shouldn’t knock the doors of any person that is breathing the fresh air of equal rights and thus mutual respect for each other’s rights and liberties should be the grundnorm of a secular country.

[1] INDIA CONST. art 29.

[2] Sharan Poovanna, One Nation, One Language: Protests across Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andra against Amit Shah’s proposal, Livemint (14th Sep, 2019) https://www.livemint.com/news/india/one-nation-one-language-protests-across-tamil-nadu-telangana-andra-against-amit-shah-s-proposal-1568451379436.html.

[3] Luke Koshi, Explainer: The reorganization of states in India and why it happened, The News Minute (2nd Nov, 2016) https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/explainer-reorganization-states-india-and-why-it-happened-52273.

[4] India Population, CEIC  https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/india/population.

[5]Mamta Agarwal, Linguistic reorganization of Indian states after Independence, History Discussion http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/linguistic-reorganization-of-indian-states-after-independence/684.

[6] Sowmya Dechamma, Idea of one country, one language was bequeathed to us by colonialists, The Indian Express (20th Sep, 2019) https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/hindi-imposition-one-nation-one-language-6011348/.

[7] Kesavananda Bharati V. State of Kerala, (1973) 4 SCC 225.

[8] BJP’s ‘one nation, one language’ formula direct attack on all non-Hindi speaking states, United news of India (15th Sep, 2019) http://www.uniindia.com/bjp-s-one-nation-one-language-formula-direct-attack-on-all-non-hindi-speaking-states/north/news/1729894.html.

[9] Kamila Ghazali, National Identity and Minority Languages, UN Chronicles (Nov, 2010) https://unchronicle.un.org/article/national-identity-and-minority-languages.

[10] Pooley, Robert C., One People, One Language, The English Journal, vol. 31, no. 2, 1942, pp. 110–120..           

[11] Ibid.

[12]Dr. Binod Bihari Satpathy, Indian Culture and Heritage, Utkal University , DDCE/M.A Hist./Paper-VIII https://ddceutkal.ac.in/Syllabus/MA_history/paper-8.pdf.

[13] Hari Narayan, India, a land of many tongues, The Hindu (7th Aug, 2017) https://www.thehindu.com/thread/arts-culture-society/india-a-land-of-many-tongues/article19445187.ece.

[14]Ibid

[15]Prabhash K Dutta, Hindi as our national language: Myth and reality, India Today ( 3rd June, 2019) https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/hindi-as-our-national-language-myth-and-reality-1541426-2019-06-03

[16] INDIA CONST. art 343.

1...402403404...889Page 403 of 889