Struggle for the future

The struggle for the salvation of the suffering masses of India is some thing which bothers me a great deal.

I have used the word salvation in the opening sentence. What is meant by that? Who are the suffering masses of India?

To me salvation has the following meaning. Create self reliance for the individual so that he is not dependent on others for the fulfillment of his day to day sustenance needs. Empower him to an extent that he is able to resist exploitation from others and also educate him so that he in turn does not become an exploiter of those who are weak. That to me will best describe the salvation of the suffering masses of India.

Now to answer the second question, who are the suffering masses of India?

The answer to me is simple. It is those people who are economically not free. Who are not educated about their rights as enshrined in the Indian constitution. Who as a result of their economic un-freedom and lack of education about their rights are being exploited by their fellow citizens. Ie an absence of swaraj for the Individual. That is the Gandhian way to describe things. Having said that How to go about doing that??

I feel that there are better qualified persons then me to answer that question. However, I can still try to answer it.

The best way to go about doing that will be to create institutions that are pro India and are filled with a passion of doing things for the country. And have schools staffed by competent teaching staff who are attending schools on a regular basis. I don't care if the school doesn't have fans or desks or even a building . What I do care about is that it must have a good teacher. Who is present every day to teach the pupils. So that the schools are functioning

The second major point of empowering the Indian nation will be to create functioning Panchyat Institutions. Which will transfer power to the village level. Allowing them to have functioning local administration and remove the dependence on the block level towns and making the village level panchyat autonomous. Thus weakling the hold of the bureaucrats that is so stifling to the Indian peoples.


The third major point will be to make the judiciary & police responsive to the needs of the Indian population as justice delayed is justice denied. Justice in India is denied to people by a great extent. The police is seen a predators and not as protectors by a great majority of the Indian population. Unless the individual can approach the police without fear of them and the police functions without interference from the politicians the society cannot be truly be free.

The electoral system may need reform as per some people. But I think, that, it is the Indian society that needs reform in the way it thinks. The mindset of Zero sum games, I.e, the win for some one else is a loss for me. That has to end. What needs to happen is that we create a positive result game where every one wins. This can only be accomplished by having a new social contract in the Indian society. Where the citizens are thinking about the entire society rather then their own small social groups. Even if they are thinking about their own social groups then they should do so in a way which is not in conflict with another social group. Unless this happens we cannot have have social and politically empowered systems. Ultimately the social coalitions have to emerge for the nation to prosper. It has been happening in small measures over some time but the process has to be accelerated by a great extent. For it to be effective and the change to be visible.

Of the above mentioned points the last is the most difficult to accomplish as the political livelihoods of the politicians is at stake and it will face the most resistance from them.

Once you have resolved the above mentioned problems then the next step is to move to full economic liberalization of the nation. Where an individual can start any enterprise where ever he wants it. And can do so without fear of extortion form different interest groups.

All the above has to be accomplished keeping the Indian Pluralism unchanged. As a country as diverse as India we have no space for an absolutist ideology whether it is religious or political or social.

Not an easy task by any measure but it is a task which was entrusted to the Indian nation by the freedom fighters and the social reformers of the last century. It was their firm belief that it could be accomplished by seeking coalitions and having discussions with and amongst different social groups. That faith and goal must be kept in sight of at all times by the Indian nation if we are to progress.