Pune Travelogue – April 2015

The Pune trip was filled with history and heritage. We visited several forts, read and heard great stories of the Great Maratha Shivaji Maharaj.

It was not the best of the weather. It was summer & dry, but it wasn’t too hot to dampen our spirits. The best time to visit would be the monsoon or post monsoon.

We visited the following forts:

-          Raigad fort

-          Shivaneri fort

-          Pratapgad fort

-          Sinhagad fort

There are 100 s of forts along the Sahyadri ranges, which Shivaji Maharaj captured, constructed and ruled during his reign. His forts are mostly strategically located atop some of the most dreaded hills. He built few sea forts also in islands. He probably is the first Indian ruler to envisage the importance of building Naval force & built it. He is considered as master strategist, Yugapurush, Visionary to reinstate the Hindavi Swarajya. At a time when Vijayanagara Hindu Samrajya had a spectacular fall, Mughal Shahi ruling the north, Adil Shahi, Qutub Shahi ruling the deccan, it seems Shivaji literally rose from the ashes of the Hindu dust. The story of Shivaji is one of adrenaline rushing, roller coaster ride for someone interested. You can hold full attention of the kids telling his story of raise, fall and raise.

Raigad Fort

This was the second capital of Shivaji and this is where he died his natural death when he was around 50 years age. It is about 130Kms from Pune but takes more than 3hrs to reach by car. We have to go through some of the most scenic ghats. There is a river which makes a beautiful pearl necklace turn around a hill on the way. While returning it was full moon day and it dazzled under the moonshine in the surrounding dark hills creating a beautiful contrast. I was too wonderstruck to take a photo.

The fort is built on a flat surface of about 100 acres above the top of a hill. We have to reach the top via a rope way. The other way is by about 1500 steps. The guide tells, it was a very rich capital during those days. There is a super market street in ruins where they used to trade jewelry, exotic metals, minerals, pearls. The durbar hall is very large and they have installed a sculpture of Shivaji sitting in Veerasana on the throne. We paid respects to the great ruler there. Shivaji ruled from here in his last years for about 12 years. His throne had about 1280kg of gold. The British after winning over the Maratha kingdom looted and burnt the palace. The palace is believed to have burnt for 11 days.

Why British Looted and Burnt Down the Royal Riches of the Maratha?

Even in Sinhagad we heard the same story. That the British brought down a magnificent palace there. The loot is understandable as a barbaric loot of wealth. But why burn down the palace? Was it piercing their ego? Or was it a standing symbol of Swarajya (Self Rule) which might raise Swathanthrya (freedom) consciousness amongst the masses? Did they strategically burn it down to make them feel pitiful? Why did they not do the same in Mysuru, Bengaluru or Royal Rajasthan palaces? Was it because they were friendly & accepted their superiority & paid rich tributes?

Shivaneri Durga

Shivaji was born here. Shivai Devi temple is there atop the hill after whom he believed to be named after. Jijabai, his mother played crucial role in raising the Swathanthrya, Swarajya consciousness in the young Shivaji. He grew up under able guidance of the highly experienced aged warrior called Dadaji Kondadev here. There is a bronze statue of Young Shivaji with his mother here. We pay tribute to the great mother to have given a great son to the Swarajya. Her own story of sacrifice moves ones heart with great pride in the story of Shivaji.

We visited the Junnar Caves near by the fort. The caves are typical of the buddist style. During the later years it has become a piligrim centre for Hindus as one of the Ashta Vinayakas is installed and worshipped in one of these caves. The central hall is very large about 300ft width and 200ft depth. It is very cool inside as it is carved right in the middle of large mountain.

Pratapgad Fort

This is the fort where the real valour of Shivaji was first witnessed by the world at large by how he killed Afzalkhan. When the young Shivaji became a rebel to the Bijapur kingdom, capturing many forts and declaring Swarajya in the surrounding villages of the Sahyadris, they sent their best general to quell the rebellion. The story of killing of this ferocious general gives the glimpse of Shivaji’s tenacity, tactics, patience, ultimate bravery of taking upon directly on the barbaric general. This episode established the young Shivaji as a force to reckon with in the Deccan.

This fort is very well maintained privately by the kin of Shivaji Maharaj. This is a living fort with the guides, poojars, shop keepers living inside the fort based on tourism. The fort is in the Mahabaleshwar hills. So it is an easy visit for those visiting the exotic hill station. There are beautiful view points in the hill station. The various facets of the rugged Sahyadris is breath taking and beautiful.

The fort is built by Shivaji himself in straight 2 years in this strategic place. It is a fine example of his project management acumen. All the neo jargons of management viz., person day effort, shift based round the clock work, minimum input maximum output, sustainable product with minimal maintenance are standing examples there. You got to see it to believe it. Government has gifted one magnificent bronze mounted statue of Shivaji which is installed at the top of the fort.

Sinhagad Fort

This fort is just at the outskirts of Pune. There is NDA (National Defense Academy) out here. You get past a beautiful large lake at the base of the hill and climb one of the toughest climbs even in car. The story is that of Tanaji Malasure here. He died a martyr while winning the fort in a fiercely fought battle. The story depicts the sacrifice & great valour of the Mawal warriors of the region willing to win over the swarajya & provide unstinting support for their benefactor Shivaji Maharaj.

Lokamanya Tilak bought a house at the top inside this fort & lived here for some time. I wondered what made him take this tough decision. It is a very tough climb to reach here from Pune. It is very treacherous lonely living. The British had already made this place a hell by destroying a palace and other fortifications. Tilak is understood to have used it as his summer residence and wrote Geeta Rahasya. The trip album is here: https://plus.google.com/photos/110449838432121172507/albums/6137186002538111777 Read through the comments and captions for more information

Other places of interest we visited are:

• Lonavala – Near it we visited the Lohgad Fort & Pawna Dam
• Dhom – There is a Lakshmi Narasimha temple just behind the Dhom dam. Dhom is a small quit village off Mahabaleshwar road near Wai. The serenity of the temple with little pond with ducks, Thirtha coming from Gomukha, connects us with nature. The temple history dates back to the Pandavas period. Dhaumya maharishi’s abode is there inside temple premises.
• Siddhagiri Matha Museum or Kaneri Matha at the outskirts of Kolhapur – Exceptionally well set up Grameena Jeevana in beautiful Wax tableaux. It is very good to learn the old traditions & introduce them to the kids. It has good set of figurines of ancient Rishis and their contributions to the world of science. 

Large Vs The Small

India had a glorious past. A walk through our heritage sites, temples, forts will evidence that. The rich literary heritage, classical, colloquial also indicate the freedom the society had, how it executed its freedom with much grace & responsibility. India’s geography, its valleys, forests, the Himalayas, the Vindhyas, the Sahyadris, the Nilgiris are unique for such a large country. These give raise to mineral rich perineal & seasonal rivers. The population is generously developed with so much rich fertility of the land. And it also coexisted with equally thick animal and plant population. The bio diversity of India is one of the best and unique in the world.

With so much natural richness India today is stooped in poverty. Rural migration to urban areas is steadily increasing. More than half the population is living in unhygienic conditions. The child deaths due to malnutrition, diarrhea, malaria, cholera are indications of our poverty. Even the child trade, child labor is rampant despite legislations against it. These are not one off incidents rather regularly occurring that it is no longer news items for new papers. That means it is systemic in nature. Even if it is one off incidents in some good states & areas the root cause is the systemic failure and not by fluke.

That means with so much rich geological diversity for life to thrive have we created a system of failure for a large population? Is this poverty due to nature fury or is it all man made? Has all that rich biodiversity been privatized by the rich? Or is it all polluted? Has it all become unhygienic, unlivable? Why are the rural population driven to cities to live in slums?

The answer lies in the Large Versus the Small. In the glorious past, India had a large number of smaller kingdoms. They were completely self-reliant and independent. The population was well spread across the geography in villages. And these villages were also almost completely self-reliant and self-governed. The basic needs of food, water, shelter & clothing was taken care of by the population of a single village however small it was. All of them hard worked for their living & still had time to create great assets for India in the form of literature, art, sculpture, artecrafts, great monuments etc., They stand tall even today in a large number of villages across India.

But modern civilization assets have a life of not more than 100 years. Be it any factory, city sky scrapers, large dams, fast moving cars, high flying Airplanes. Factories will last as long as they can suck the raw materials around. Cars and Airplanes ply for not more than a decade or 2. Every cement building, edifice, dams have its life. And they all serve only the rich and few medium classes. For the poor nothing of these luxuries is available. The rulers of the country argue and believe deeply that these are the harbinger of progress, wealth, upliftment of the downtrodden. And they are able to sell that dream to all people very well. The learned people, middleclass like us also believe that this is indeed the Holy Grail. The poor and the downtrodden aspire for it.  

The funniest argument is that these will provide the daily bread, clean water, and clothing for all across India. But the hard truth is that, exactly these modern luxuries are the reason and root cause of pushing India into poverty.

But where lies the answer? The answer lies in Gram Swarajya. Every grama has to become swavalambi (self-reliant). Today the government is in the business of promising distribution of grains & water to all. The government should GIVE less and enable people to produce & live by themselves. Government should only protect their harmonious living. But government today snatches their land & water to promise them to give them clean water and food. What an irony.

Public Distribution System (PDS): Concentration of Grains for distribution to the poor

The PDS aims to serve entire India. This is one very very large system. The Punjab wheat has to come to Karnataka Villages, Andhra rice needs to go to Rajasthan villages. So it is a very complex mesh of procurement, transportation, storage & distribution of grains across India. There are a dozen central departments and a dozen state departments involved in this entire complex system. The government itself admits to about 25% pilferage in this system.

Almost none of the quality grains reach the final intended beneficiary. The best quality will be replaced by the rejected worst quality on the way. At many stages they get into private mills, malls, and food processing units, industries at pittance managed by the mighty and powerful. The intended grain for the poor finally ends up in McDonalds burgers or Star hotel plates.

PDS also pushes for large production of same thing in an area. That is called mono culture. That is if Punjab is rich in wheat production, the government procures only wheat from small farmers & nothing else. So in desire of money they grow only one grain. But for healthy living they need multi grain. So government says I’ll give through PDS procured from elsewhere. The earth also becomes weak with mono culture. The farmer also becomes slave of government procurement of his produce as well as consumer of what government gives. Independence fully lost.

Large land Farming Vs Small land farming

While this is happening in the distribution system, what happens to the society of producers & beneficiaries? Are they getting rich? Not really. The farmers suicide is an indicator. The father of Green Revolution for India M Swaminathan now advocates Small Land holding, Family Farming, multi crop farming, organic farming in this paper: http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/107/12/1970.pdf

The green revolution was launched to curb world hunger. He got recognized and rewarded for his great research enabling the rice & wheat revolution in India during 80’s. Now he is shunning his own propositions. Within his life time he realized that this had detrimental effect and increased poverty and is not sustainable. So he has presented several papers to UN in favour of small land holding and family farming which he says as ‘Ever Green Revolution’. But is government listening and caring? They still push for subsidies to chemical farming, factories, polluting air and river.

The chemical farming will lead small farmers into long term debts. Debts will lead to suicide or giving up their land for big land lords. Then become their slaves.

Big land lords want subsidies in chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The chemical factories will lobby with the government for fast and high productivity per acre through chemical farming. Politicians succumb to their lobby money. Politicians are people leaders and they know very well the problem and the solution. But still since they succumb to lobby money, they paint the picture to small farmers to get loan, take subsidy, and assure them that their government will protect them. So the vicious circle starts.

The education about organic farming is slowly but steadily growing. I hope a day comes when people will vote out a politician who promises subsidies and vote to power someone who gives them freedom from subsidies to chemical farming. And hence leading to shut down of these chemical factories.

Large Dams: Concentration of large amount of water for distribution to Arid regions

Here again Government believes in Concentration of Water Wealth of equity distribution to all. It is a myth. Whole lot of movements in India & the world has happened against the large dams. In many cases government has dropped the idea. But still in north east there are more than 100 large dams sanctioned and in various stages of implementation even now. The UPA, NDA are all same when it comes to adopting modern civilization of earth destruction and humanity destruction for the benefit of few.

Typically a large dam submerges very large fertile land, usually forest land. The benefit is for some 5 to 10 times larger area if properly executed in the plains. So cost benefit looks good & stops on paper only. Beyond this only problem, issues, destruction, arise.

Typically the dam construction is first step. But the benefit is realized only after canals, sub canals, sub-sub canals are constructed reaching every acre of the plains that is planned. But rarely that happens. Even in KRS, in one of the ambitious overhead canal they left water recently first time after its construction after so many decades. Funnily they immediately shut it because of leakage. They never attempted to leave water again in that canal. So many kilometers of cement canal, pillars are standing as mute reminder of our failure. While on way to Mysore from Bangalore you can see that overhead canal cross over the highway even today.

Recently, Deve Gowda our beloved former Prime minister was booked for not implementing Benne Hole canal after a very large sum of money was sanctioned and spent when he was PWD minister. But he successfully argued that it was constructed and got out of it. How? Because the canal needs maintenance. So he argued without maintenance mud swept over, bushes, grasses grew. So the canal vanished.

The answer lies again in small tanks construction and maintenance. The ancient system of linked tank (Kere, Kunte, Yeri, Pushkarani, etc.,) system brings up the water table. All the districts in India had linked tank system. Even in the arid plains there used to be tanks. A tank typically used to be life line for surrounding 3-4 villages. And 4-5 linked tanks used to irrigate all agriculture done by those 15-20 villagers. Some of the old & famous surviving tanks have some inscriptions of that day’s king or paleygar who commissioned it. For example, Chitradurga’s Chandravalli tank has Mayura Varma of Kadamba’s inscriptions. That means it served several generations life for almost 1500 years now. Can you compare it with our Benne Hole example!?!

Large Conglomerates: Reducing jobs, eliminating large number of small players; eliminating competition; reducing quality

During last UPA regime due to the concerted efforts of the opposition they shot down the FDI in retail. It is a good thing. We are already under so much poverty by embracing modern ways of things. To top it if we bring in foreign investment also they’ll release us only after sucking out all blood. British rule already taught us before. But we don’t seem to learn from bad experience of recent past nor from good example of ancient times.

Large conglomerates are entering simple retail industry. The large conglomerates will have the financial muscle to arm twist the government and banks to sanction large loans. Then they ensure the direct farm to shop delivery of farm products. This will give raise to large farming, contract farming & eliminate small farmers or make them slaves. Then in the procurement & transportation, there a number of small business owners who get eliminated. Then in the distribution it will eliminate the stockists and the small shop owners. The small petty shop owners will be generally all family members involved. And all of them will need to find new jobs or get enslaved. So in this entire process, the job loss will be more than 50% of the jobs originally held. The consumer hopes to get the benefit of those channels removed. But do you really see that? All the profit get pocketed handsomely by the corporate but still show losses in the books somehow for tax avoidance. So government also looses by tax collection at various stages by the small businesses.

So the net effect is whole lot of job loss and hence increasing poverty; Increasing wealth of the wealthy creating a greater divide between the rich and the poor; the government loses tax revenue.

Final Conclusion

So through these examples, it is clear that Small land farming, Small tanks, Small businesses create harmony, independence & interdependence, fosters innovation, sustenance for generations, quality. Most importantly it creates wealth, job sustenance, it eliminates poverty. It creates freedom to live. After all that’s what our forefathers fought freedom for.  Why do we give it away to another set of goons? 

Why NO Dharmic Education in our Indian Basic Education?

Krishna in Srimad Bhagavad Gita says “A Dharmic Life is necessary for purity in mind”.

It is such a simple thing. There is no dispute in that. We need pure mind with love for the world and no hatred for anyone and anything. A dharmic life will give that. Now how do we develop dharmic life? By developing children through dharmic education.

I feel we Indians are so stupid. We just ape the west! We are such a rich nation of religions, philosophies, diversity. We have given raise to such varied thoughts. So many religions co-exist peacefully here. It is so pervasive in our life. Our names are after our gods & prakrithi. But still we keep Dharmic education out of our primary education. Why?

Our society values are deteriorating. Child abuse, women abuse is rampant. Society is very corrupt. We care less for nature. Powerful people don’t care for lesser sections of the society. Economic disparity is all time high. There is no equality. We show pity but no empathy for the poor. We give alms but snatch their land & water.

Aren’t these a sign of deteriorating morals in the society as a whole? Should we not seriously debate to include Dharmic education in our primary education? We have made education as birth right. Almost every child in India goes to school now. Nook & corner of India has schools. Government infrastructure is good, not bad at least. School education covers basic maths, science, English & some language. It equips a youth to get a job & earn his living. But most important for life is goodness in life. Should we not impart that as an education to children of our country?

If we have taken in so much from western culture, should we also not take some good culture from our own ancient Gurukula system of education? In ancient education only Dharmic education was there as primary education. The Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavad Geetha was primary education. The Shastras, Smrithi, Vedas, Upanishads, Kavya, Alankara were advanced studies. The maths, science, art, architecture, astrology, medicine, law were higher education depending upon interest evolved by the youth.

We got independence from British. But not from their education system. When are we actually going to get Independence then? Lord Macaulay architected an education system for Indians to neutralize the society of its pride & self-esteem & primarily to make them slaves. It makes the child bland, prideless of its culture.  In his own words the intention of imposing the British education system on the Indian largesse is:

“

to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect

“

His topics in his parliament paper presentation depict his intentions clearly:

19. 7. INDIANS CANNOT BE EDUCATED BY MEANS OF THEIR MOTHER-TONGUE: ENGLISH IS THE LANGAUGE

19. 13. EXPENDITURE ON SANSCRIT AND ARABIC LEARNING IS DEAD LOSS

The paper he presented to the British parliament in full text is in the below link:

http://www.languageinindia.com/april2003/macaulay.html#minute

Whatever his narrow minded intentions were, it has made a significant damage to our self-esteem across the nation, lasting for nearly 200 years now. Isn’t it time we open our minds and debate genuinely loss or gain by bringing back Moral Value Education back into our basic education?

When we debate the inclusion of Dharmic education in our primary education, several questions come up. Lets take a dig at it.

1.       Why Dharmic Education? Let it stay out of Basic Education. Let it be in Mutts, Temples only.

Answer: Why not? What is wrong with it making it universal? It builds up a good character in an individual. It teaches what is good and what is bad. It will bring out the inquisitiveness in individuals of determining what is good and what is bad. It teaches society living in harmony. It teaches ‘Be good, Do good’, ‘Speak the truth’, ‘Respect elders, women, children’, ‘Help the needy’, ‘Don’t hurt others’ ‘Don’t discriminate another human’ etc., It teaches these basic goodness through simple stories and ballads. The stories and prayers will imprint well upon the child’s mind. When they grow up and come across bad actions, situations, their subconscious mind will lead the person to tread the righteous path.

The mutts & temples are there for certain lucky sections of the society. And not all go there. And even those who go there ask God not education but results.

But the Indian government education is for all. It is common for all. It is basic. Dharmic education should be part of basic education. It should be made compulsory for all. Many institutions in India today teach Bhagavad Geeta recitation, Yoga, Pranayama as part of their curriculum. Ramayana, Mahabharata teaching and exams are conducted by certain institutions across India. But they are not under the ambit of Government’s basic education curriculum. By making it common for all, India should hope to build everyone as Dharmic citizens.

2.       What makes up Dharmic Education? There are too many scriptures. There is no end to it. What about language of teaching?

Answer: There is no end to anything in this world. But can we stop studying because of it. We must start somewhere. The scope, syllabus will all come out if there is a will. If we all ask for it, then the government is by the people for the people, so they’ll make a committee and do it.

Language should not be a barrier. At least for learning good way of life people should choose their mother tongue. I prey in god some pride prevails about our mother tongue in our mothers and fathers.

3.       What about Christians & Muslims? They’ll demand their holy texts to be part of it. Then it becomes religious education & not Dharmic education.

Answer: Fine. What is wrong? They are Indians. Their texts also teach Dharma. They have good texts, ballads, stories even if they are foreign. They can be taught in respective mother tongue. They should also form committee to recommend their syllabus. There are 100’s of sects and religions in our India. Jains, Veerashaivas, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsees etc.,. So let there be options to choose. Let Government form committees who recommend syllabi for all 10 standards of our basic education for each of the options.

It will all take few years to iron out what should be there. But right now there has to be a healthy debate for inclusion of Dharmic Education in our basic education. That is an absolute necessity. This is India. We should be tolerant. We should show the world the right way. We should develop tolerance to learn various tenets of all religions of the world.

I believe Dharmic education is different from Religious education. Religion is associated with specific God or Gods. Whereas Dharma is basically Manava Dharma teaching the basic essence of ‘Be Good & Do Good’ & what are our duties as world citizens.

Different religions give different names to God. And impart the Dharmic education in the name of that God. So it becomes difficult to differentiate and make a single syllabus. This is my feeling. But if we can crack it for our India, then it would be phenomenal. And we should make a sincere attempt.

4.       But some of the holy texts in some religions have hatred for specific named sects; Idol worshippers as non-believers; Hatred & Discrimination based on various differences in living. That will create hatred in the society. So it is equivalent to Government creating hatred groups through systemic education?

Answer: Those sections of hatred should be removed. It is that simple. But then there would be uproar by the custodians of that religion to edit & interpret their holy text. There should be open debate on why they support hatred by faith, way of life, way of worshipping. Such people should be alienated while creating the prescribed syllabus. The committee should hold responsibility to bring out moral value education through these religious texts to build up a good society by education kids in the right way.

5.       What about the infrastructure? Teachers? Equipping & training them? Exams, evaluation?

Answer: We already have much of infrastructure in place. This is just an additional subject. Of course it will have options. Many options. So accordingly the schools have to provide options as much as possible. According to the locality, demographics, teachers available in the village/ area, the schools will need to be equipped accordingly.

It is similar to how we are handling language options. World’s all languages are available as options to our kids in the curriculum. But not all schools can afford to give all that. But they do give local language for sure depending upon the demographics of that region.

Exams and evaluations need to be evolved slowly. Not necessarily it has to be made a compulsory passing subject. However the oral recitation should be given importance. I had written previously on the importance of Time & Memory: http://npraveer.blogspot.in/2014/09/time-memory-character-building-in-child.html

Also another unfortunate thing is parents are not caring for their mother tongue. So for example in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bangalore, there is no option for any of the Indian languages other than Hindi & Sanskrit.

In Kumaran’s a prestigious school in South Bangalore, 50% of the school kids choose foreign language at the cost of losing their mother tongue or local language. It is their parent’s choice that they grow up indifferent & ignorant of their own culture & richness of their mother tongue or local language.

6.       So the chances are that even in the Dharmic subject choices, the parents will choose different subject than their own religion?

Answer: That’s possible. How can we control that? It is upto parent’s intellect.

7.       What about default option? In rural, remote areas there will be limitations for multiple options?

Answer: It has to be localized. The villagers have to decide and implement what is good & feasible according to their demographics.

8.       They say State & Church should be separate. So they say Religious education should not come into universal primary education. Religion is personal and should not be enforced upon all.

Answer: This concept of State & Church is separate is a western concept. It should be properly debated. Should we follow blindly what the west says? Should we not look at our ancient times how well we prospered in peace? How did our society give raise to so many philosophies which is in practice today? How the different faith practitioners coexist peacefully and respectfully even today as they did yesterday? None of those saints who proposed alternate theories were hanged or crucified. It is a tolerant society yesterday and today.

So we should not be afraid of religious education giving raise to dogma as in the west. In fact we should oppose such education which will say only this text is holy, nothing else. That is what caused much friction in western world declaring finally State & Church are separate. Our holy texts should be allowed to be thoroughly questioned and explored. For example in India, as much we regard Sri Rama as Maryada Purushothama, we question his decisions from the first to last. Putting him to test and putting ourselves into exploring what is Dharma? Why did he kill Tadaka taking up Sthree Hathya papa? Why did he side with Sugreeva to kill Vali from back? There are 1000’s of such questions that our philosophy poses and answers convincingly. 

Our education should blossom a child’s mind, expand it and let it explore. We should bravely adopt this for the good of the society.

So my point is the implementation details will open up lot more questions and difficulties. But the educationists, policy makers have to seriously attempt to introduce Dharmic education in the universal primary education. It is the need of the hour. Dharma should be given equal importance if not more than Maths & English. 

A Tribute to Tribals of India

Tribal way of living is the most primitive type. In any part of the world the tribals represent the Indigenous culture of that region. They represent the most independent way of life. That means the tribal living requires very less dependency on each other. There is no large society structure. Every family is independent. Every family hunts or gathers their own food & water. They make their own clothes. For dwelling they take little help from other families. For entertainment they get together and develop indigenous culture, tradition, language, ballads. Their religion will be generally simple. If a mountain is their life line, they worship it. In desert they worship sand, cloud, water etc., In forest they create forest goddess, or worship various animals, plants, trees etc., which they feel are their lifelines.

Just to give a comparison with our life, let’s take an example of a small family of an engineer, teacher and their kids in a city. They would not grow vegetables, pulses. They don’t fetch water.  They don’t build their house by themselves. They don’t grow cotton nor make clothes. They get all that by paying money. How they get money? There exists a complex system. It is a societal structure. Money plays complex role in this structure. In this complex structure the family head works for money and feeds the family with the basic needs like food, water, clothing, shelter & security. He works in a small part of that complex system which provides these basic needs for seemingly all. 

So anthropologists who want to understand the human evolution study tribals to know how society evolved? Because that’s how man existed in ancient times. Then they look at how man evolved? Why society evolved? Who defines that structure? How? Who protects that structure? How kingdoms came up. Why it requires such large complex structure? Etc., The more you like to know the murkier it gets. The tribal way of life is the epitome of simplicity.

India must take some pride that we have NOT wiped out tribal way of life completely. Several tribes still persist with semi tribal way of life with little interaction with modern civilization. Some tribals who are completely untouched by civilization in Andamans, Orissa are being declared UN Heritage and being given state protection.

Compare it with the rest of the world. In whole of Europe, north and south Americas, most of Asia, Australia the tribal way of life is completely wiped out. The European imperialists with their invention of steam engine, fast transportation, navy, increased their fire power, gun power and went about ruling the entire world. The religion which plays key role in shaping society also was more taunting and oppressive rather than self-exploratory. The Imperialistic religions like Christianity and Islam slayed their indigenous way of life & self-exploratory life style. The new religions brought new way of worshipping, new theories, new gods. But unfortunately they focused equally ferociously on killing the old faith. The Pagan religious culture of Europe, The Mayans of Americas, The Egyptians, The Mesopotamians, Various indigenous Arabian tribal cultures are all completely wiped out today.

As these imperial religions expanded, they did nothing to imbibe any good things from other religions & regions. They are very rigid. They forced their theory upon people they came to rule. For example in Christianity, the individual aspirations for material needs are much appreciated. Every individual has the right to aspire for material needs & luxury life. Control over ones desires is not wise according to them. Where as in eastern religions like Hindu, Jain, Buddhism the importance given to abstinence, contentment, simplicity, yogic way of life not just for saints but for householders is very high. If as society we don’t control our material desires then it is not sustainable. We all know that. We have to look inner for happiness, satisfaction, god!

Indian freedom struggle has got much aid from tribals at various stages of history. Maharana Pratap Singh, Shivaji the Great, Chandrasekhar Azad the revolutionary freedom fighter are few examples of many in India whose life is greatly shaped by the tribals of India. 

Maharana Pratap Singh & Mewar Bhils 

The Bhils of Mewar had special relation with the Maharana Pratap. These tribals protected the great king and their family during the 13 long years of exile in forests. They shifted him safely from place to place in harshest of the conditions.

The tribal leaders lent a great help in the great battle of Haldi Ghati. Why did they put their life in danger for the great leader? Why so many tribes risked their life to protect him? When Akbar’s army was scouting the mountains for the traces of the Maharana why did they sacrifice their life to protect him?

Since his childhood days he regarded the Mewar Bhils with respect. He roamed around the Aravali hills understanding the geography and people. He vouched for protecting their habitats, their independence. He encouraged their skills, culture & tradition. He trained and played warfare with them in their way.

When Akbar’s army backed off, Maharana was reinstated on the throne. The Bhils of Mewar wanted nothing material in return. No big edifices, no big forts, no highways. They got their life of freedom, a life of self-exploration, a life of harmony with nature, a life of harnessing nature, a simple beautiful livelihood.

The Raja protected their living rights. And they laid their life for him.

Compare it to today’s Raja = The Indian Government = Praja Rajya = Large business houses + Middleclass demands. That’s all. All others are scums.

60% of Indian tribals are displaced from their dwellings. Mostly due to dams & mining. Did they ask for mining & dams? No. State asked for it. Who is state? Is it people protector? Or is it people destructor? These tribals are called internally displaced. They are illegal occupants of land wherever they go. So they have taken up arms. They have become Maoists. They are called naxals. They have become anti nationals, violent & bloody.

Shivaji the Great & Mavalli Tribals 

Shivaji grew up playing earthly games with the Mavalli tribes. Most of his child hood friends were from these freedom loving tribes. Under the watchful eyes of Dadaji Kondadev, these free spirited boys wandered around the hills & forests of the Great Sahyadri range. They grew up to become Shivaji’s trusted generals in building up his empire.

Baji Prabhu Deshpande laid down his life protecting Shivaji at the mouth of Panhalaghad. Tanaji’s sacrifice while capturing the Simhaghad for Shivaji’s mother’s wish is very famous in the folklore of Maratha region.

Why these people did willingly laid down their lives for the kingdom? Shivaji built new forts and fortified old ones in toughest of the Sahyadri hills. Why did they help him? Did he enslave them? Or Entrust them? Did he snatch their livelihood? Or did he give them status?

What can our today’s tribals do for us? What their strengths are? How can we utilize them for nation building? Are they good archers? Are they good artisans? Artists? Builders? Naturalists? Do they know the forest landscape? Do they have knowledge of the flaura & fauna? Should we not care today? Are they just illegal occupants of the world!?

The India’s Freedom Struggle & Tribals

Till the British rose to the power no government or king had disturbed the various tribals living across Indian mountains and forests. The need for coal, iron, for railways, brought the need of modern civilization in direct conflict with the tribals. The traditional community land rights were challenged. Also the British craze for coffee & tea guzzling and exporting cleared pristine forests for monoculture and enslaved its inhabitants in large estates.

Birsa Munda a young tribal leader lead an uprising in the Chota Nagpur forest areas. He became spiritual guru also. He lead a great armed rebellion against the British. Similarly there were, many uprising against the British misrule by the tribals across India especially in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand regions.    

How can we protect Tribals today? 

We still have about 8% tribal population in India. They are peaceful people. We should let them live where they are & however they are. We need to learn from them. We need to engage with them humanely. Entrust and empower them to protect the forests, mountains, rivers. Utilize their archery, physical strength in sports, army, police. Utilize their naturalist knowledge.

We are aping too much of western culture. We must know civilization thrived well even before coffee tea were discovered. We must get back to roots. Why not? Baba Ramdev sells simple alternatives. Our own elders used to do many alternatives from simple things grown in backyard. We must get back to that.

Too much of carbon footprint by each and every family. We are growing our material needs. We don’t even realize it is causing so much stress on government to acquire forests and come in direct conflict with the tribals.

Do we know that we are the cause of Naxalism? Our life style is the root cause of Maoism? We demand high lifestyle. Government in order to provide it, cuts forests, drills mines, bring down hills. Where do people living there go? For them state is a terrorist organization. For them we are all terrorists.

If we have to remove Naxalism we have to be ready to remove consumerism. We have to adopt ancient ways of simplicity. We have to gain confidence and love of the tribals. Yes. That is possible. Then they themselves will help us build Submarines, Fighter jets, Mars Mission Satellites. Those are necessary for us. Not individual luxury like, granite flooring, leather jacket, luxury high speed car. We need to build community assets like our ancients built beautiful long lasting temples, lakes, tanks, forts. Like the way the tribals built formidable forts for Rana Pratap & Shivaji, they can help us build today’s defense. Provided we ask them. Provided, we tell them why they should sacrifice. And how we can rehabilitate and empower, train them to contribute for such feats! If we directly displace them without even asking for Car manufacturing, Paint manufacturing for meeting someone’s luxury needs, then they obviously revolt.

We should let them live. We should let them fight to retain their forests, hills, rivers. We should recognize their rights to live. At least in theory if we support their life, then it translates to some austerity in our life. In practice to bring in much austerity is difficult. But if we give them right to protect their environment, then we force ourselves for simple living. It can be however gradual.

Some of my friends say when I pick a subject I don’t stick to the line of that subject. I go all around. Like in this example, Tribals – Religion – conversion –  freedom struggle - materialism – simplicity – Maoism etc., But as you see they are all interconnected. Each of it is not standalone & sacrosanct. I wish our policies were as people oriented as our ancient times than today’s mad economics based. 

Increasing Child Abuse Incidents

Bangalore woke up to the shock of series of child rape incidents recently. For the tolerant cosmopolitan nature of Bangalore the child rape incidents have marred its image. Parents across the city gathered for protest. Candle light vigil was held. Government was blamed for lethargy. School authorities were blamed for indifference. The culprits were arrested. Police commissioner was changed. But the incidents continue to occur. Elsewhere in the state another incident of child abduction and rape happened on close heels of these incidents.

It seems like people just like to fix the problems in a jiffy. Just blame the system, government, police, school, all things around us, make a spark protest and move on. People believe this is a quick fix solution. But is there any long term solution at all?  There is. But multitude of things should come together for it.

Government – Should bring in a strong deterrence for erring individuals

Society – Should develop a community culture of good assimilation of different cultures

Individuals – Should dedicate some time for the society and involve in community bonding

Education – Should give equal weightage to Society Value building. Dharmic education should be brought into the primary education compulsorily. 

Parenting – Should spend quality time every day with children for their good upbringing.

The Government

The Government is just a reflection of the society. After sometime the people forget the incidents, leaving the victim’s kith & kin to fight for justice alone. The media will have some other flash news to chase. The Raja (government) will forget the Raja Dharma of protecting the Praja (common man). Instead he will become accompli with the powerful perpetrators and forget the common man.

This should not happen. There is a constant threat to the upright officers in Government. Government heads (politicians) should support & empower upright officers. They should let them perform their duty and bring the culprits to the books.

Government should enact stricter laws for such heinous crime & implement it strictly. It will become a strong deterrence for repeat offenders.

The Culprit

We think the culprit is a Psycho. But one of the victims is a family man with wife & kid. So what drove them to such heinous crime? In all cases, the easy access to the filthy scenes on mobile, internet, etc., made them addict to it. They share it with friends and enjoy the vulgarity. Female becomes an object of lust. It can happen to anybody. The individual has to resist such wrong temptations. Individuals having some good upbringing (Sanskara) will have a subconscious guilt for such wrong deeds & resist such temptations. A weak person succumbs to temptations & enjoys it. A hapless girl child in school becomes the victim.

Child crime by an adult is the most heinous crime. He should be dealt with the strongest possible sentencing by the law of the land. It will deter a criminal from repeat offense.

But can we prevent such crimes altogether in the society? For that entire society needs to create a good upbringing environment. Can we create that environment?

  

The Urban Society

The biggest responsibility lies on society as a whole. But who is society? It is boils down to individuals. Every Individual has to become vigilant & caring.

The individuals in Urban society are increasingly becoming indifferent. We are becoming too much aloof. We are always in a hurry. We are losing connect with the society. We fear talking to strangers. We don’t take any elders advice. We don’t stay with elders. Our only form of entertainment is TV, Gadgets & Mall. Those make us individualistic. The entertainment is also material & money based. Simple chatting with neighbors & saying a hello to the passersby, is a thing of the past now.

Everyday thousands of people migrate to cities. For Bangalore kind of city, people come from all over India. The city becomes a melting pot of cultures. But instead of taking in all the good culture, the society is becoming indifferent or intolerant to the different cultures. So the easy way out is to take to Individualistic culture viz., TV & Mall Culture.

The urban society should reconnect with the roots of our social culture. The apartments, colonies should encourage daily community gathering. It may be for any good purpose. It could be for charcha, pravachana on any social topic, or, group singing, Bhajans, Satsang etc., All people should get a chance of participation. It need not be for religious purpose only; it could be for any social topic like Kannada Sahitya, Filmdom, Drama, Cricket etc., Let it not be current affairs as it leads to another TV kinda debate without much depth and only rhetoric. If it leads to some constructive society and community bond building that would be the best. As much it reduces the TV & Mall culture that much is good. It may not remove it altogether, but it should reduce.

People at their locality should come together for intermingling and appreciating each other’s culture and diversity. It is not busy life which prevents it. But it is our ego. We must become conscious of our ego and try to overcome that. The society bonding will kill that ego if we step out of ourselves and mingle with different people.

The Education

In the current education, value education is missing. Full focus is on skill building for bread earning only. In ancient India, the basic education was Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Bhagavad Geetha. Skill building was part of the process and not the main aim. The value building was the main purpose of education.

But today bringing in Bhagavad Geetha into basic education will face toughest resistance as; it is termed religious education by intellectuals who don’t have time to understand Bhagavad Geetha. So people must find their own solutions for it & not leave it to Government to decide what is best for the kids. People must contribute time & energy to build simple Balabharathi, Bala Gokula classes for community education. Through Shloka recitation, Veer Katha, Geeth, understanding local culture, local deity, we develop a sense of pride & patriotism & good values of life.

The general public should demand “Dharmic” education as part of the primary compulsory education in the system itself. Let there be healthy debate on how to introduce it. How to make it plural considering so many different religions, class, caste, language, creed etc., But it must be debated rather than shunning it as unnecessary crap. It is a NECESSITY for building a good society.

As the child grows up as adult, this value education will deter him to become a pervert in the society. He will also become alert of such perverts around and take necessary action to curb it. And as a child also awareness is created & if he sees something wrong happening around, he’ll raise alarm.

The Parent

The important thing is both parents should bring up their children. Both must dedicate some quality time every day for the child upbringing. They must impart values in the child’s life. They must sacrifice their TV time for some face to face time with the child. Bed time story reading, singing songs together are some good & fun time pass one should adopt. Parents should encourage children to participate in sports. It will bring up basic value education of team bonding, healthy competition, rules adherence, etc., in children. It will also teach the children the good touch, bad touch aspects of life. 

Is Godse a Patriot?

Certainly he is not.

A certain MP Sakshi Maharaj made a controversial statement recently. It created a lot of ruckus in parliament and outside. It put the government on embarrassment situation floating a fleet of apologies and PM warning BJP MP s to better behave etc.,

This controversy is certainly uncalled for. But this controversy in India is alive since it happened, and will live on for long. There are people who defend Godse. There is a play on Godse, there are books and materials available on this which basically state the facts. The facts as stated, creates opinions in people’s minds. And they take sides.

But my opinion is: taking sides on Godse is harmful for the society. Giving him such a title like Patriot is obnoxious for our society. Bharath has no dearth of brave Patriots who have laid down their lives for the good of the country. We must choose right icons for country to become a beacon of light for righteousness. 

Who is Godse?

Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi in point blank shoot out when Gandhi was going to his evening prayer meeting. Godse had high regards for Gandhi. His statement in court is available in public domain. His statements are clear and unambiguous.   

Then why he killed Gandhi?

Gopal Godse wrote a book on why his brother killed Gandhi. Gandhi took some actions which are seemingly Muslim appeasing during the 1947 bloody partition.

-          The Hindu’s from Pakistan side were coming in hordes and occupying the Delhi outskirts in shanty sheds. The cold winter was punishing them severely. Their hatred for Muslims was burning. They pushed them out of their dwelling and occupied their houses and mosques. Gandhi took to Satyagraha in support of the Muslims in India to be protected and not be sent to Pakistan. The authorities listened to his appeal and arranged for their protection and retention in India. While they scrambled for providing decent dwelling for the Hindu victims thrown out from Pakistan. Due to Gandhi’s intervention, this happened throughout the boarders in Punjab and Kolkata apart from Delhi.

-          The financial partition was done on paper. In the meantime, the Pakistan irregular army invaded the Kashmir against the spirit of the Kashmir accession accord. This angered the Indian authorities. Sardar Patel argued, the money of partition is spent on war rather than rehabilitation by Pakistan. So India withheld the money to be given as part of partition to Pakistan. Mountbatten in typical British style approached Gandhi. Gandhi took up Satyagraha again for the release of the money.

These were the major tipping points for Godse to take up such heinous action. Of course there are other Muslim appeasing actions by Gandhi in the history. Like when Kolkata was burning due to a call of “Direct Action” by the Jinna’s Muslim League to butcher Hindus on the streets, Gandhi was pleading Hindu’s in deep Bengal, Naokhali to give up hatred. Similarly his stand on Cow Slaughter, Partition based on religion, supporting Khilafat movement, giving up NWFP to Pakistan when it was Hindu majority ruled by Khan Abdul Gafar Khan willing to join India etc., While we as a nation worship our Motherland in our song Vande Mataram, the educated Muslims opposed it in Congress to adopt it as national song. And Gandhi supported their ‘Sentiments’ instead of honoring our indigenous roots & culture. All these actions by the Mahatma developed strong sentiments against Gandhi amongst many Indians at that time.   

Gandhi was supporting Muslims who were killing our Nations’ roots and culture? Then may be Godse did the right thing?

No. He was wrong. Gandhi was doing it all in peace through dialogues and debates. He took majority into his stride. People who opposed should have made a mass appeal as he did to become a big force to reckon with Gandhi. There were no political opponents at all. Veer Savarkar & Hindu Mahasabha made several appeals to the Congress and Gandhi on several of these issues. RSS made several delegations. There was a lot of dissent within Congress against Gandhi on some of these decisions. But none prevailed. The majority accepted his accord. Why? Was he a messiah? Or was he right? Or majorities Indians are stupid? I know the answer but you must explore it yourself.

But one thing is sure. If Gandhi was winning his decisions through democratic peaceful means, one must counter him through peaceful means only. If he was gun totting dictator then one must counter him by gun.

Having shot him by gun did not do any good for the country nor makes Godse a patriot. He was a coward. He was an eccentric. Patriot is not a synonym with these characters. 

But Godse loved his country. His statements, writings give ample evidence. So he is a Patriot?

Everyone calls oneself a Patriot. But who do you call a Patriot? Sitting in one corner and thinking about India will not make one a Patriot. A patriot should be an Icon for kids & youth. They should be able to bravely and convincingly choose his laden path. Godse might have had great thoughts and few good deeds, but creating havoc by killing an Icon of the country makes him a dangerous person to follow. Making him a patriot for our Kids and Youth will take our country to disaster. It will be filled with hatred and develop gun culture. It will lead to Pakistan/Iraq way only. 

Did his action create any adversity?

Oh Yes! It created a disaster for decades to come. In the short term violent mobs hit and killed many of his Brahmin community in Maratha region. They were caught clueless.

The long term worst thing it created is the Nehruvian Secularism on to the Indian masses. Nehru strongly believed that National Pride, Cultural Pride is the cause of hatred and violence. He did everything from then on to bring out his version of Secularism to suppress everything that brings out any national, cultural pride in the masses.

The killing of Mahatma up surged Nehruvian Securalism which created some of the following:  

-          The first victim is the primary education. Our ancient education system was fully value based education. The skill development like Maths for commerce, Science for exploitation was secondary. But that is primary and only thing taught in school now. Ramayana, Mahabharatha was taught in schools. Those who don’t go school learnt it in their family profession. Be it a sculpture, artisan, jeweler, potter, farmer, home maker, he was completely rooted to values through simple ballads, plays, rituals based on Ramayana & Mahabharatha. But now the education system corrupts every child. Every parent thinks, school education is final and all pervasive. That, they don’t need to give any further education. That is sufficient to develop a child to stand on his legs. But is that building values to becoming good human? No one cares.

-          Second victim are the Intellectuals. All who denigrate the Hindu or ancient culture are given rewards, awards, recognition, university heads, committee heads. They decide what grants to research, where to research. Anything to do with ancient science, sociology, culture, will create National Pride and Cultural Pride which create hatred & violence. So no grants for it. UR Ananthamurthy before he died wrote a book called Hindutva. I thought finally he came to senses. But that book on Hindutva is only about vilifying Modi and Savarkar. Is that Hindutva? Such people easily get Gnanapeeth puraskara. Because such thinkers only have pervaded all universities and committees now.

Now although there is a change in central politics, the rot created over 6 decades will take that many decades to clear, provided the Hindu pride comes back & stays for long with sensibility & not hegemony. So let’s identify and worship right Individuals as our Patriot sons of the Nation. 

‘Make in India’ a call by PM Modi: What’s your view?

Our PM Modi is certainly doing great in selling the Image India abroad. His ‘Make In India’ is a call upon international companies, NRI s, manufacturers, businesses, countries to come & make long term investment in India. This will certainly boost the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment).

The FDI comes to India in 2 ways. One, through investment instruments in stock markets. Second is through companies establishing their businesses, manufacturing here. Both are important and good. But the first one creates a greater volatility. They pump in and pull out depending upon various speculations. That creates a panic situation and market mayhem quite often draining lot of energy in assuaging it.

The call for Make in India is more strategic. The companies which Make in India will have to make long term investment here. They have to look at India as a strategic partner in both low cost, high quality manufacturing but also as a hub for marketing in Asia. They are also likely to look at India as a great domestic market.

For the urban educated Indian this is certainly a sexy appeal. This makes us proud Indian. The foreign investment will lock into our soil on a long term basis. This will boost Indian economy. This will boost jobs in manufacturing. The FDI pull out is that much more difficult for companies.

Economic Score is like Exam Score: Only answer to Questions & Need not know entire subject

Make in India is a call primarily to boost Indian Economy. The economic scores are represented by GDP, GNP etc., It is very easy to score that. 3 primary things will score that:

1.       Produce a lot: most efficiently, with very minimal input and maximum output

2.       Consume a lot: Keep changing cars, keep changing upholstery, keep buying more clothes, shoes, gadgets, packed food, movie tickets, sports tickets, plastics, steel, everything; Buy more pay less

3.       Move Money a lot: If above 2 keeps happening unhindered, then local banks upto world bank have a simple formula to keep disbursing more money. There is no limit binding to the concept of money. It can be millions, billions, zillions. You just need to prove that you produce a lot & push it down consumers. Then money will be disbursed to the producer as loan.

In our current education system, the exam score represents the excellence on a subject. For exam scoring, if you solve last 10 year question papers you are assured of good score. Without knowing the depth of the subject by scoring in exam you can claim excellence on a subject.

One important aspect in our education system is each subject is in isolation. An economics student doesn’t need to know sociology. A sociology student doesn’t know legislation. A law student doesn’t care manufacturing. And it goes on.

The current education system develops skills in isolation. It just equips a person to earn his living. It doesn’t teach holistic value system for harmonious living.

The government’s chase of economic score is similar to our education system. There is no depth of analysis. There is no interrelation with the aspects of the society like sustainability, culture, social harmony, ecology etc.,

Social Impact of Mindless focus on Economics

Economics looks at written records on books of money inflow and outflow. Everything is measured in terms of the money. For example if India produces 1 million plastic bottles, the economics will calculate the input costs, selling worth of each bottle, calculate the revenue & profit and records in the books. That bubbles up at the country level to calculate various economic numbers.

One of the main input materials is water for any industry. And that is not correctly costed. It cannot be. If it is rightly costed then everything becomes unviable. Factories are put up where Water is rich. What is counted in books is pump/bore well cost and a bit of arbitrary environment charges if any government department cares.

The costs of water that are not counted are:

-          The local lake that gets dried up rendering rural population poorer by water

-          The river bed drying up making downstream villages for 100s of kilometers go dry

-          The industrial waste release rendering the downstream river lifeless and poisonous

These will have major social impact for harmonious rural living. Rural population migrates to urban slums in search of living. There will be jobs generated for factories along a river in thousands. But lakhs along the downstream river will become water poor. They will be forced to migrate.

Lets try to simplify this phenomenon. We are producing cars in India. The number of cars produced is directly proportional to the economic strength of India. That means the more the cars we produce the more the India becomes rich. It will fill India’s coffers. That is correct. It means Indians will become rich? That is not correct. Indians will become poor.

How much ever cars, motorbikes we produce it is afforded by only 25% of the urban population (Car is afforded by only 8% of urban population) & about 1% of rural population. Urban population is about 40% of India. That means the Car/Bike as a richness Indicator for which we go ‘Make in India’ will never be able to service more than 10% of India’s population. Rest will remain poor? That is correct. The sad thing they become poorer. They don’t just stay poor by Car/Bike indicator but poorer by clean water. Access to clean water, air, land which was so much in plenty in rural will become extremely dearer in their new dwelling in urban slums & apartments.

Simplifying further. One car will service one lucky family for 2-3 decades. For that multiple families have to be uprooted permanently from their ancestral villages.

Because, one car production is not just one Car production. But it is producing whole lot of iron, steel, aluminum, plastic, rubber, wood, electric power which means coal. All of which will displace families permanently from their ancestral forests, hills & river side villages.

USA Model: Consume but not Produce: What is good? What is bad?

In the US, industrialization rapidly happened during 18^th, 19^th century. Slavery happened. Then the citizen awareness grew. Equality and rights were fought for by the oppressed. Oppressors also heeded to the oppressed gradually. Today, we have one of the best examples of Citizen Liberty in that country.

The GE, Walmart stories will tell how exactly, the Americans have transformed from Industrial nation to only consumers & traders country today. Jack Welch of GE moved ground up from Plant Manager, Regional Manager to CEO. During his early tenures, he spent hell lot of money (law suits) and time fighting against citizen rights for clean water, air & land. When he became CEO, he vehemently pronounced China is a reality. We are going to offshore every damn unviable production to China. If it means closing down plants and joblessness so be it.

Walmart pushed consumerism to heights. Where a family needed just clothes, it sold double, triple it needed for less. We Sell For Less is their tag line. It demanded very high production from its vendors. Newyork, Chicago were industrial hubs producing clothes, could not sustain the demand. They looked offshore to supply in plenty. Now everything comes from Asia to America. Nothing gets produced there.

USA produces only WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction), Technology Innovations, IPs, Patents.

The basic needs like food & clothing is consumed so much that they cannot produce so much “Sustainably”. So they have offshored their basic needs production. Even basic food is imported. Is it good or bad?

So what transformed industrialized country to become only traders and consumers? Is it good or bad?

What lesson to take away for India? My lessons are:

-          Good lesson is we need to raise Citizen Awareness and support the rural when they fight for their basic rights, water, air & land

-          Bad lesson is not to go for converting basic needs into greed by raising & praising consumerism. Buy more, change more, eat more, wear more is very bad for the country

China Model: Produce at the cost of Individual Rights

China has become the producer of the world. Some of the basic things like safety pins, are no longer produced anywhere else in the world! It is raising its production so much at the cost of exploiting earth that it is finding fewer consumers now. So it is pushing mountain dwellers, tribals to urban jungles to become consumers! It is a baffling phenomenon! How long will this go? Where will this end? It will flood its cheap produce everywhere across the world. India used to be equal trade partner with China few decades ago. Now it has pushed India down so much that it will take centuries to recover. Similarly it will push its product across all countries.

So how is it able to produce so much? Is the earth so much rich there? Are the citizens not affected? What about water to produce so much?

Earth is rich everywhere. Every country can produce a lot by the land ratio. But Citizens will raise voice & protest. And usually, countries care for citizens. In China citizen voice is curbed. They got to do what they are told to do by the autocratic state. Even peaceful living citizens on mountains who ask for nothing from state are told to vacate and come to cities! Even state also doesn’t want their earth and land. But the state wants them to consume its produce. They cannot protest. Those who protest will be silently culled.  

What about water? China captured water rich Tibet. There are huge dams & canals built to carry across water to the main land from the Himalayan high lands very easily through gravity. When the citizen unrest will grow exceeding the current available water what will china do? Kashmir & Arunachal Pradesh is also water rich which will come to its use by next century if there is no resistance from India!

So what lessons for India?

-          Care for citizens; Don’t curb their rights to live

-          Strengthen security to secure its borders, states & its citizens

-          Increased Industrial production will not solve India’s hunger.

What is India’s Indigenous Model? Gandhiji’s Gram Swarajya is the Answer

India must look for producing locally for self-sufficiency in food and clothing needs. These needs should not be allowed to become greed. Industrialization of food production, packaged food production, large scale farming, industrialized farming, food security bill etc., should be curbed. Local food production & consumption should be encouraged. What is excess should be traded out. Producing only to trade out will make even growers go hungry. The mad chase to cash crops is driving farmers’ suicide.

Packaged food, tetra pack, stale juice factories should be discouraged. Consumers should accept packaged food become costly. Fresh farm items should become easy & cheap. Local food items according to the current seasons should be available in the market. Non season foods, imported ones should become unsustainably costly. China is ready to dump even milk down our throat.

Clothing also should become localized production. One Thirupur producing for entire world will get consumed only by the urban middleclass. It pushes excess clothes to only 25% population. It makes rest go clotheless. Cottage industries must be encouraged. Large industrial production should not be subsidized. The water taxation should be brought in appropriately for them or water should not be given to them so cheaply.

Make In India and sell anywhere else will make “production by very few people for consumption by very few people in lot of excess”. It will extract our earth then manufacture sucking away our water and sell the produce to very few people. It serves no purpose for largesse. It will fill India’s coffers with a lot of money. But it will make a large populace poorer of their basic needs.