EKKENTROS FORUM
The Matter: Report of the proceedings of the discussion held on
14-10-08(Tuesday)
Venue: Residence of Prof. P.M.Sankarnkutty
Coram: Eight members attended and participated in the discussions. Prof. Mohanan Nair could not attend
Dr. Md.Abdulla: We have discussed here several aspects of the Government and Governance in general and that of our country in particular. Drawbacks and shortcomings of governing have also been mentioned and highlighted. But the most important of all viz. the governed, the citizens of the country, who bear all the brunt and burden of any bad governing, has not yet been touched upon. Nobody has yet commented on the ‘ruled’. So I propose to discuss that now.
It is time that we, the ruled, introspected. Do we observe the laws of our country? Do we as good citizens of the country follow the prescribed rules and regulations laid down by our own legislatures? The answer has to be ‘no’. People drink and drive with impunity, never bothering whether it is illegal or not. They smoke in public places. The roads are littered all over.
Sri Kunhikrishnan: That is because no body bothers much about civic sense.
Dr. Abdulla: It is lack of consideration for the laws made for the public good, and disrespect for law that creates all the criminality and violence. We fight against the law made by ourselves. Any law is objected to and fought against by the political parties when in opposition. People do not have any definite opinion or stand about anything. They cannot form any opinion because things are made controversial politically and argued upon endlessly even after the court gives a ruling. Every law inconvenient to some is fought against even if it may be for the good of the majority.
Dr. Babu Ravindran: The rights are stressed, not the responsibilities.
Dr. Abdulla: The failure of any government is because of the non-cooperation of the ruled.
Prof.Sankarankutty: The average citizen has the civic sense, he has a face. But a group or gang is faceless, and loses all sense when emotions are whipped up by politicians.
Dr. Abdulla: Violence is a way of showing superiority. The party in power wants to exhibit superiority. Police indulges in violence to show that they are powerful and superior. The opposition wants to capture that superiority by fighting and indulging in counter violence. It is a vicious circle.
Prof.Sankarankutty: Governance is an art. And the art of governance is idealistic. It is a product of culture and not politics alone. But in actual practice it has deteriorated into capturing power and retaining power.
Prof. Richard Hay: Mine is a continuation of the point put forward by Dr. Abdulla. The relevance of the people in governance and government. Let us take the outcome of elections in our country. In actual practice twenty or thirty per cent of the total votes enable a party to rule the centre as well as the states. The party who gets the largest number of votes, and not necessarily who gets more than 50% majority, rules, either by coalition or by outside support. It is always a minority that rules by manipulations. Who is actually responsible for this sort of situation? The citizens themselves. The people get the government they deserve.
Governance is not confined to government alone. All institutions are ‘governed’ by governing bodies, or governing authorities. Organizations like N.G.O.s, political parties and others have their own methods of governance. Certain private sectors may be governed by individuals. In all these forms of governing there will always be an ethical grounding for governing. Public accounting and transparency is the most important of them all. The test of good governance is its respect for rule of law. Good governance will be based on strict rule of law and at the same time, relying on the principle, ‘one who governs the least governs the best.’ Society expects a clean, transparent, open, accountable, corruption free administration. And it is for this purpose we change governments by elections. That way India is not a banana republic. But still we do have criminals as members of parliament and representatives of state legislature. What recourse, what remedy is there to correct the situation? In advanced countries they have the best management institutions and universities like Harvard to take up leadership training to create good leaders. The resources of the country should be entrusted for management only to people of high principles and talented knowledgeable leadership. Sustainable human development is essential in this regard.
Good governance can always show good results. The experiences of third world countries like Malaysia and Singapore are examples that show results in the matter of economic advance within a very short time.
It is necessary to identify what actually perpetuates poverty in the country. If one looks deeper it can be noticed that it is the incompetent political leaders who are actually responsible. Unqualified and unprincipled and inefficient political leaders entering the legislatures and parliament have interfered with not only the political system but also in the social, civil and legal institutions to infuse inefficiency, nepotism and corruption. The remedy would lie only in evolving an intelligent political guidance system to create and sustain competent and principled legislators.
Broadly the purpose of government and governing can be said to be for,
Protecting individual rights,
To provide stability,
Maintenance of public order and security,
To provide economic and social security,
And to promote environmental security.
At present we find that for all this there is no political consensus on development issues.
* * * * *
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
government and governance
EKKENTROS FORUM
The Matter: Report of the proceedings of the discussion held on 26-8-08(Tuesday)
Venue: Residence of Dr. Babu Ravindran. .
Coram: All nine members attended and participated in the discussions.
Subject: Government and Governance (Con’td)
Dr.Babu Ravindran: Governance simply means the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented. The word governance is derived from the Latin origin ‘gubernare’ that suggest the notion of ‘steering’.
A government is the apparatus through which a governing body functions and exercise authority. It is the authority to make laws, to adjudicate disputes, and to issue administrative decisions to ensure harmony in society.
The fundamental purpose of Government is the maintenance of basic security and public order without which individual cannot attempt to find happiness. The philosopher Thomas Hobbs figured that people, as rational animals, saw submission to a government dominated by a sovereign as preferable to anarchy. Politics is the process by which group of people make decisions that affect other’s lives. Politics consists of ‘social relation involving authority or power ‘, and refers to regulation of a political unit and to the methods and tactics to formulate and apply policy. The government is formed according to the group when policy is accepted by the majority.
The left-right politics originated during French Revolution, when those members of the National Assembly who opposed the monarchy sat on the left and those who supported it sat on the right. Broadly it can be said that the right wing is often linked to the moral and social conservation, law and order and religion, while the left wing is often linked with redistribution of wealth and resources to the poorer or less successful section of society. The right wing is more often linked to the idea of social equity, and the left to the idea of social equality.
Some of the earliest governments in history are that of Sumer (5200BC), Indus Valley civilization (3000BC), Ancient Egypt (3000Bc), Yellow river civilization of China (2000BC). When we examine the types of government, they are,
1. Anarchy - Absence or lack of governance,
2. Democracy - Rule by a government where people as a whole hold the power,
3. Despotism - Rule by a single leader who considers all his subjects as his slaves.
4. Dictatorship – Rule by an individual who has taken over or wields full powers over the country.
5. Monarchy - Rule by an individual who inherited the role and is expected to bequeath it to his heir.
6. Oligarchy - Rule by a small group of people who share similar interests or by a group of family relatives.
7. Plutocracy - A Govt. composed of the wealthy class.
8. Theocracy – Rule by religious elites.
We have also seen that some countries have hybrid form of government like, for example,
Iran – a combination of democratic and theocratic institutions.
Netherlands – with monarchy and democracy.
The role of a Government includes, Military defense, Economic security, Social Security, and environmental security
Democracy is a system of government by which political sovereignty is retained by the people and exercised directly by the citizen. In modern times it has been used to refer to constitutional republic where the people have their voice though their elected representatives. The word democracy is derived from the Greek word demokratia, meaning ‘popular government’. Demos means people and kratos means rule or strength.
There are two principles that any definition of democracy should include. The first is that all members of the society have equal access to power and the second is that all members enjoy universally recognized freedom and liberty.
Democracy has its origin in Greece. However other cultures have significantly contributed to the evolution of democracy, such as ancient Rome, Europe and America. Democracy has been called ‘the last form of government’, and currently there are 123 countries that are democratic.
In parliamentary democracy there are legislature, executive, and judiciary which are complementary to each other and independent to some extent. Legislature is to form laws, executive for implementing it, and judiciary to see that every thing is done in order according to Law. Police, Revenue, Health etc. are various wings of execution. For the effective functioning of all, it requires honesty and integrity to be maintained.
From time immemorial philosophers have attempted to comment about Governance, Politics, and Government, e.g., Confucius (551 – 471BC), Plato (428-348BC), Aristotle (384 – 322BC), Thomas Hobbs(1611), John Lock, John Stuart Mill (19th century), and Karl Marx. Confucius said that Rulers should learn self- discipline, should govern his subjects by his own examples, and should treat them with love and concern. He links politics to a great extent to personal ethics and morality. In the epic Ramayana, Lord Rama has been depicted as the solid example of good governance. He had shown how a king or Ruler should live for his subjects.
In this background it will be interesting to analyze the Govt., Politicians, and Governance of our present time. Appeasement politics has become the order of the day. According to the democratic ideals of participatory governance, good governance is where no one ruled and no one is ruled over. Now political executions fall under the sway of influential groups. Those with money, political clout, caste supremacy, and communal support continued to call the shots. Others, the poor, the honest, and the down trodden are dumped in no man’s land. The bureaucracy, the only constant factor in the ever changing democracy remains pliant, to unquestioningly toe the line of their political masters. Instead of anchoring the political executive in constitutional values, it played along with the whims of politicians.
Since honesty was looked down upon and complicity rewarded, there was enough incentive for the bureaucracy to turn a blind eye to the shenanigans of political executives.
And of late what have we witnessed on 22nd of July 2008 – the day of Trust Voting in Indian Parliament? The cynical horse trading of MPs and the display of bundles of currency notes showed us to what low level our democracy can sink. These highlight that democracy involves a lot of money and there is a close interplay between money power and political power. And we also notice that criminals are elected as MPs, and criminal Members of Parliament were released from jail to participate in the voting.
Independent police is a forgotten entity. There is no proper maintenance of roads. Supply of electricity and drinking water are erratic or non-existent, and waste management is not considered at all. While smoking is banned, political prisoners in the jail are given special sanction to smoke beedis in prison. To top it all one is surprised to see government sponsored harthals and bandhs!
Arrogance everywhere is the order of the day. Courtesy and concern for others, the society seems to have forgotten.
It reminds me of an interview late Rajiv Gandhi had with JNU students. When the students were asked what they wanted to become, there was none to opt for politics. He asked why, when politicians are ruling the country why nobody wanted to become a politician? They answered they hate politics, and politicians are dishonest, corrupt and criminally minded. He explained to them, ‘when you people are not opting for politics, the corrupt and criminals will have an easy walk over others, and you will be ruled by them’. I feel that educated and intellectual youth should enter politics and clean it up for future good governance.
Sri K.V.Kunhikrishnan: And, in the process they may get killed instead of politics getting cleaned.
Prof. Sankarankutty: Theoretically correct. It is a vicious circle when politics is controlled by musclemen.
Dr.Babu Ravindran: Youngsters should be motivated to take up the challenge to save politics.
Prof. Sankarankutty: As it is, arrogance is the quality required to be a politician, and daring to commit crime is qualification enough.
Dr. Thomas: Governance in India had been as per the prescription in the great epics, and some of the ancient texts and scriptures, where the methods and conventions of good rule are elaborated. Dynastic rule was prevalent till the Moguls came. Theocracy was followed in their rule, but it got watered down when benevolent kings deliberately took Hindu wives and diluted the theocratic practices. Peace prevailed for quite some time making it possible for art and philosophy to flourish.
As regards Kerala, Travancore and Cochin remained princely states ruled by kings even when the British ruled the country. They were fairly well administered. One other state that was well ruled was Baroda. Europeans actually wanted trade and for that purpose peace also. Finally the British won and exercised power over the kings. Residents were appointed to collect taxes. The kings were not powerful enough to resist the mighty British. Swathi Thirunal of Travancore who tried to confront Col.Munroe, finally died of depression. But he was the king who made his subjects learn English. The kings were benevolent and good administrators. Highly learned and efficient Diwans ruled for the king. The two states were ruled by the kings for over twenty-five to thirty years. Because of this long duration a sort of continuity became possible and permanent structures, institutions, and establishments could be built in the two states. Main income was from rice. A sort of barter system prevailed then in the sense that even wages were given in quantities of rice. The hierarchy was, village officer, Adhikari, Peshkar, Diwan Peshkar, and then the King. Whatever happened in the state, the King was never blamed or considered to be responsible. He was above reproach. Responsibility was with the Diwan. The last Diwan, C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer, although extra efficient, turned out to be very cruel, siding the British in the freedom struggle. He was ‘dethroned’ and thrown out by the idealist people of the state under the leadership of people like Pattom Thanu Pillai.
In India, Javaharlal Nehru was a great leader and administrator. He belonged to an aristocratic family and had great financial backing. He had British education. He lived at the time of great happenings in the world like the world wars and Chinese civil war. He could become an international politician. Mahatma Gandhi also had financial support of his own. Indira Gandhi was lucky to have a good background. But yet she was democratically ousted at the later stages. Deve Goeda had only some local clout in a particular area of the country. Yet he became Prime Minister due to some peculiar circumstances. In the national stage, it is difficult for people to accept local chieftains. Therefore he could never come back again. Rajiv Gandhi became PM too early and also got killed too early. In Kerala at present we lack people of some maturity to be leaders and to govern. The left is divided. There are divided opinions everywhere. Confusion prevails. But confusion protects also in the sense that no body can do harm by themselves alone. From the confusions something good may emerge. Society gets new concepts from the chaos. Kerala is a governing crucible in which different ideas are interacting.
Prof. Sankarankutty: Things have changed. People shout at police now. And the policemen are helpless. Jobs are not available. Even small jobs like weaving straw mats, and bamboo baskets have been usurped by the plastic industry.
Dr. Thomas: Only elections are looked forward to and to nothing else by those who are entrusted to govern. Citizens get killed in the process of vote catching.
Dr.Babu Ravindran: The bureaucracy is also to some extent responsible.
There is an interesting article in to-day’s Indian express titled ‘When callousness Rules’ by Seema Musthafa, a political commentator. Among other things the author points out how our citizens behave now. To quote, “Take the people on the road. They litter, they pee, they drive like maniacs, they abuse each other, they shout at cops, they break all conceivable laws, they pay bribes when checked, and they show scant consideration for the ‘other’ on the street”. It highlights almost all the ills that our country is afflicted by. The article is very much relevant to our discussion here, and suggests that perhaps the solution lies in bringing about a change of the mindset apart from providing for practical measures.
(Dr. Babu Ravindran then read out the article.)
The Matter: Report of the proceedings of the discussion held on 26-8-08(Tuesday)
Venue: Residence of Dr. Babu Ravindran. .
Coram: All nine members attended and participated in the discussions.
Subject: Government and Governance (Con’td)
Dr.Babu Ravindran: Governance simply means the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented. The word governance is derived from the Latin origin ‘gubernare’ that suggest the notion of ‘steering’.
A government is the apparatus through which a governing body functions and exercise authority. It is the authority to make laws, to adjudicate disputes, and to issue administrative decisions to ensure harmony in society.
The fundamental purpose of Government is the maintenance of basic security and public order without which individual cannot attempt to find happiness. The philosopher Thomas Hobbs figured that people, as rational animals, saw submission to a government dominated by a sovereign as preferable to anarchy. Politics is the process by which group of people make decisions that affect other’s lives. Politics consists of ‘social relation involving authority or power ‘, and refers to regulation of a political unit and to the methods and tactics to formulate and apply policy. The government is formed according to the group when policy is accepted by the majority.
The left-right politics originated during French Revolution, when those members of the National Assembly who opposed the monarchy sat on the left and those who supported it sat on the right. Broadly it can be said that the right wing is often linked to the moral and social conservation, law and order and religion, while the left wing is often linked with redistribution of wealth and resources to the poorer or less successful section of society. The right wing is more often linked to the idea of social equity, and the left to the idea of social equality.
Some of the earliest governments in history are that of Sumer (5200BC), Indus Valley civilization (3000BC), Ancient Egypt (3000Bc), Yellow river civilization of China (2000BC). When we examine the types of government, they are,
1. Anarchy - Absence or lack of governance,
2. Democracy - Rule by a government where people as a whole hold the power,
3. Despotism - Rule by a single leader who considers all his subjects as his slaves.
4. Dictatorship – Rule by an individual who has taken over or wields full powers over the country.
5. Monarchy - Rule by an individual who inherited the role and is expected to bequeath it to his heir.
6. Oligarchy - Rule by a small group of people who share similar interests or by a group of family relatives.
7. Plutocracy - A Govt. composed of the wealthy class.
8. Theocracy – Rule by religious elites.
We have also seen that some countries have hybrid form of government like, for example,
Iran – a combination of democratic and theocratic institutions.
Netherlands – with monarchy and democracy.
The role of a Government includes, Military defense, Economic security, Social Security, and environmental security
Democracy is a system of government by which political sovereignty is retained by the people and exercised directly by the citizen. In modern times it has been used to refer to constitutional republic where the people have their voice though their elected representatives. The word democracy is derived from the Greek word demokratia, meaning ‘popular government’. Demos means people and kratos means rule or strength.
There are two principles that any definition of democracy should include. The first is that all members of the society have equal access to power and the second is that all members enjoy universally recognized freedom and liberty.
Democracy has its origin in Greece. However other cultures have significantly contributed to the evolution of democracy, such as ancient Rome, Europe and America. Democracy has been called ‘the last form of government’, and currently there are 123 countries that are democratic.
In parliamentary democracy there are legislature, executive, and judiciary which are complementary to each other and independent to some extent. Legislature is to form laws, executive for implementing it, and judiciary to see that every thing is done in order according to Law. Police, Revenue, Health etc. are various wings of execution. For the effective functioning of all, it requires honesty and integrity to be maintained.
From time immemorial philosophers have attempted to comment about Governance, Politics, and Government, e.g., Confucius (551 – 471BC), Plato (428-348BC), Aristotle (384 – 322BC), Thomas Hobbs(1611), John Lock, John Stuart Mill (19th century), and Karl Marx. Confucius said that Rulers should learn self- discipline, should govern his subjects by his own examples, and should treat them with love and concern. He links politics to a great extent to personal ethics and morality. In the epic Ramayana, Lord Rama has been depicted as the solid example of good governance. He had shown how a king or Ruler should live for his subjects.
In this background it will be interesting to analyze the Govt., Politicians, and Governance of our present time. Appeasement politics has become the order of the day. According to the democratic ideals of participatory governance, good governance is where no one ruled and no one is ruled over. Now political executions fall under the sway of influential groups. Those with money, political clout, caste supremacy, and communal support continued to call the shots. Others, the poor, the honest, and the down trodden are dumped in no man’s land. The bureaucracy, the only constant factor in the ever changing democracy remains pliant, to unquestioningly toe the line of their political masters. Instead of anchoring the political executive in constitutional values, it played along with the whims of politicians.
Since honesty was looked down upon and complicity rewarded, there was enough incentive for the bureaucracy to turn a blind eye to the shenanigans of political executives.
And of late what have we witnessed on 22nd of July 2008 – the day of Trust Voting in Indian Parliament? The cynical horse trading of MPs and the display of bundles of currency notes showed us to what low level our democracy can sink. These highlight that democracy involves a lot of money and there is a close interplay between money power and political power. And we also notice that criminals are elected as MPs, and criminal Members of Parliament were released from jail to participate in the voting.
Independent police is a forgotten entity. There is no proper maintenance of roads. Supply of electricity and drinking water are erratic or non-existent, and waste management is not considered at all. While smoking is banned, political prisoners in the jail are given special sanction to smoke beedis in prison. To top it all one is surprised to see government sponsored harthals and bandhs!
Arrogance everywhere is the order of the day. Courtesy and concern for others, the society seems to have forgotten.
It reminds me of an interview late Rajiv Gandhi had with JNU students. When the students were asked what they wanted to become, there was none to opt for politics. He asked why, when politicians are ruling the country why nobody wanted to become a politician? They answered they hate politics, and politicians are dishonest, corrupt and criminally minded. He explained to them, ‘when you people are not opting for politics, the corrupt and criminals will have an easy walk over others, and you will be ruled by them’. I feel that educated and intellectual youth should enter politics and clean it up for future good governance.
Sri K.V.Kunhikrishnan: And, in the process they may get killed instead of politics getting cleaned.
Prof. Sankarankutty: Theoretically correct. It is a vicious circle when politics is controlled by musclemen.
Dr.Babu Ravindran: Youngsters should be motivated to take up the challenge to save politics.
Prof. Sankarankutty: As it is, arrogance is the quality required to be a politician, and daring to commit crime is qualification enough.
Dr. Thomas: Governance in India had been as per the prescription in the great epics, and some of the ancient texts and scriptures, where the methods and conventions of good rule are elaborated. Dynastic rule was prevalent till the Moguls came. Theocracy was followed in their rule, but it got watered down when benevolent kings deliberately took Hindu wives and diluted the theocratic practices. Peace prevailed for quite some time making it possible for art and philosophy to flourish.
As regards Kerala, Travancore and Cochin remained princely states ruled by kings even when the British ruled the country. They were fairly well administered. One other state that was well ruled was Baroda. Europeans actually wanted trade and for that purpose peace also. Finally the British won and exercised power over the kings. Residents were appointed to collect taxes. The kings were not powerful enough to resist the mighty British. Swathi Thirunal of Travancore who tried to confront Col.Munroe, finally died of depression. But he was the king who made his subjects learn English. The kings were benevolent and good administrators. Highly learned and efficient Diwans ruled for the king. The two states were ruled by the kings for over twenty-five to thirty years. Because of this long duration a sort of continuity became possible and permanent structures, institutions, and establishments could be built in the two states. Main income was from rice. A sort of barter system prevailed then in the sense that even wages were given in quantities of rice. The hierarchy was, village officer, Adhikari, Peshkar, Diwan Peshkar, and then the King. Whatever happened in the state, the King was never blamed or considered to be responsible. He was above reproach. Responsibility was with the Diwan. The last Diwan, C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer, although extra efficient, turned out to be very cruel, siding the British in the freedom struggle. He was ‘dethroned’ and thrown out by the idealist people of the state under the leadership of people like Pattom Thanu Pillai.
In India, Javaharlal Nehru was a great leader and administrator. He belonged to an aristocratic family and had great financial backing. He had British education. He lived at the time of great happenings in the world like the world wars and Chinese civil war. He could become an international politician. Mahatma Gandhi also had financial support of his own. Indira Gandhi was lucky to have a good background. But yet she was democratically ousted at the later stages. Deve Goeda had only some local clout in a particular area of the country. Yet he became Prime Minister due to some peculiar circumstances. In the national stage, it is difficult for people to accept local chieftains. Therefore he could never come back again. Rajiv Gandhi became PM too early and also got killed too early. In Kerala at present we lack people of some maturity to be leaders and to govern. The left is divided. There are divided opinions everywhere. Confusion prevails. But confusion protects also in the sense that no body can do harm by themselves alone. From the confusions something good may emerge. Society gets new concepts from the chaos. Kerala is a governing crucible in which different ideas are interacting.
Prof. Sankarankutty: Things have changed. People shout at police now. And the policemen are helpless. Jobs are not available. Even small jobs like weaving straw mats, and bamboo baskets have been usurped by the plastic industry.
Dr. Thomas: Only elections are looked forward to and to nothing else by those who are entrusted to govern. Citizens get killed in the process of vote catching.
Dr.Babu Ravindran: The bureaucracy is also to some extent responsible.
There is an interesting article in to-day’s Indian express titled ‘When callousness Rules’ by Seema Musthafa, a political commentator. Among other things the author points out how our citizens behave now. To quote, “Take the people on the road. They litter, they pee, they drive like maniacs, they abuse each other, they shout at cops, they break all conceivable laws, they pay bribes when checked, and they show scant consideration for the ‘other’ on the street”. It highlights almost all the ills that our country is afflicted by. The article is very much relevant to our discussion here, and suggests that perhaps the solution lies in bringing about a change of the mindset apart from providing for practical measures.
(Dr. Babu Ravindran then read out the article.)
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Governance And Government report july 08
EKKENTROS FORUM
The Matter: Report of the proceedings of the discussion held on 24-7-08(Tuesday)
Venue: Hotel Malabar Fort, Good Shet Rd, Tellicherry, hosted by Dr. Sadanandan. .
Sri. K.V.Kunhikrishnan: A Government generally has to have certain essential characteristics. First it must be legitimate, in the sense that it is recognized by its citizens and a majority of other states/countries as a de facto government. Secondly it should have a definite area over which it has jurisdiction. Thirdly it must have sovereignty over such area in the sense no other government should have any rights on its area. Fourthly it should have its own Rules and Regulations to govern, something like a constitution. Fifthly it must be able to establish law and order in the area of jurisdiction. Without all these a government can not function properly with any amount of authority.
We can take the analogy of a computer to understand the government. Computer works on a system. It is a system, and it is a machine. The mechanical part would require repairs, replacement and maintenance for smooth running. It would require also well thought out soft-wares for it’s efficient functioning. Once set up it would work automatically to do particular tasks and would not tolerate interference. If interfered with, it would become corrupt. Otherwise it is precise in its operations. A government is therefore somewhat similar. It is a set of machinery that is supposed to operate according to well thought out rules and regulations. If the rules and regulations are not followed correctly it becomes corrupt. It requires maintenance and replacements. It should normally be precise in its operations.
Governance is not only the operation of the Government but also the supervision of the operations as well as laying down the rules and policies of the operation. Setting up the rules and regulations like programming for a computer is part of its function. In short, a well thought out software for the machinery is built by it. Managing and operating the Government machinery is its function. Repairs, replacements, and maintenance of the Govt.Machinery is essential. Defects are to be found out, located and mended. The media, the members of legislature, and the public serve as peripherals of the computer to feed data as well as to receive the details of the output. The end result of the operations, viz. the welfare of the society has to be watched vigilantly to monitor the achievements. Complains of inadequate results have to be looked into for rectification. Targets of end results have to be laid down and necessary methods to follow up have to be established. Proper budgeting has to be planned and action taken to execute them by using the machinery. It has to be assured that the machinery is never misused.
Those who are in charge of governance have to look up also towards the basic system that gives them the mandate to rule, viz. the legislature. The legislature prescribes the Law. Once law is laid down, the authorities who govern has no flexibility in law to sway from what is prescribed therein. The rulers authorized to rule, the Ministers, have to follow the Law strictly as much as any other citizen, whether they like it or not. But they have the right to recommend change of the Law, to the legislature/legislators.
Nepotism and corruption can ruin both the government and the Governance. Politicians, legislators and Ministers have actually no powers to deviate from the Laws, the Rules, and Regulations of the state, let alone breaking or going against them. If they want to do anything which is contrary to the Law, they have to first get the Law amended with the help of the Parliament of the country or the legislature of the state. When a minister rules according to his whim, it is nothing but show of illegitimate power.
The employees of the Government have actually no power to govern as such. They are obliged only to do their duty. In doing one’s duty there is no visible power or satisfaction to his ego. Power is visible when the Rules are apparently broken by the law enforcing employees or authority..
Ideal governance is therefore a social service and an ideal Government is the machinery to strictly perform the duty of governance in order to achieve the purpose of that social service
Power of the Government, if at all, is only to help people who need it but do not get their legitimate rights and dues.
Prof. Sankarankutty: The topic to-day is too big a fish to catch and swallow. Everything connected with it has controversies and criticisms. Powers that governed were there right from the time human society started evolving. The concept of a sort for governing prevailed among tribal groups also. Only, the tribal leader was a Law unto himself. He created the law, he executed the law, and he punished. As the society evolved religion also became an integral part of the system of government. To some extent even now this continues in large parts of the world. Religion was all along one of the pillars of governing. It was the door through which manipulation of governing could be done. The ruling power could look after both the ‘here and hereafter’ by bringing in religion and ruling to a single person. Often the Priest was also the healer and the ruler. The ruler- priest wielded enormous power because the sources of power fused into him.
Sometime in the course of the evolution of human society, slowly physical might gathered the upper hand. Divine right then had to give way to physical power to a large extent.
Dr. Thomas: For manipulation of governing we have a concrete example in Pakistan. President Musharaff has been a master manipulator who has managed to survive in power so far.
Prof.Sankarankutty: Manipulation for governing is a psychological phenomenon. Hunger for power is inherent in human nature. From all situations a manipulator tries to derive power to control others. According to Plato an ideal ruler is a philosopher statesman. A philosopher shuns power. He has no need to control others and therefore no need to manipulate the governing. But a king or a politician craves to dominate others.
Dr.Thomas: But Musharaff’s actions have led him to a power struggle in Pakistan. Although he is still in place as president he is riding a tiger.
Prof. Sankarankutty: Man acquires power and tries to consolidate it. Ordinary rulers fail to consolidate. Epics like Ramayana and Mahabharatha prescribe how to govern without that craze for power. Here the king is always the sufferer sacrificing his own needs and himself for his subjects. The problems of his subjects are suffered by him. He is invariably a lone traveler. And his journey is long. Each epic is a story, may be a myth, created to give out a great truth.
In the path of the evolution of the human being, sometime someone becomes great combining governing with wisdom. Cyrus the Great was one example. It was the time when power and wealth played all politics. Later great idols like Alexander came up with all power. Statesmen and philosopher were in opposite poles at the time. Although political power is for service of the people, service became only incidental to the execution of power. If we look at the evolution of power structure we can see that when somebody is given the power to rule his governing becomes the Government. Adding religion to power the power to govern is then consolidated. The evolution that way is now total, global. Originally the relationship between kings and subjects must have also evolved the same way. Actually the Mahabharatha war must have been just a small skirmish, but suggested on a macro level to drive home certain great truths.
Prof. Mohanan Nair: Cant we say that Asoka was an example of a Philosopher King?
Prof. Sankarankutty: Asoka became one only after a devastating war. He was a cruel conqueror who caused enough suffering. He had inflicted terrible suffering on the people by waging wars before he learned his lesson. On seeing the suffering he became compassionate.
Prof. Mohanan Nair: His greatness was in relinquishing his kingdom after winning a war, very rare in history.
Dr. Babu Ravindran: The Kings of the epics had great power. But at the same time their kingdoms had good structures for governing. The kings had wise advisors (Rajagurus) and a team of experts and other important citizens (Raja sadass) to help them rule.
The Matter: Report of the proceedings of the discussion held on 24-7-08(Tuesday)
Venue: Hotel Malabar Fort, Good Shet Rd, Tellicherry, hosted by Dr. Sadanandan. .
Sri. K.V.Kunhikrishnan: A Government generally has to have certain essential characteristics. First it must be legitimate, in the sense that it is recognized by its citizens and a majority of other states/countries as a de facto government. Secondly it should have a definite area over which it has jurisdiction. Thirdly it must have sovereignty over such area in the sense no other government should have any rights on its area. Fourthly it should have its own Rules and Regulations to govern, something like a constitution. Fifthly it must be able to establish law and order in the area of jurisdiction. Without all these a government can not function properly with any amount of authority.
We can take the analogy of a computer to understand the government. Computer works on a system. It is a system, and it is a machine. The mechanical part would require repairs, replacement and maintenance for smooth running. It would require also well thought out soft-wares for it’s efficient functioning. Once set up it would work automatically to do particular tasks and would not tolerate interference. If interfered with, it would become corrupt. Otherwise it is precise in its operations. A government is therefore somewhat similar. It is a set of machinery that is supposed to operate according to well thought out rules and regulations. If the rules and regulations are not followed correctly it becomes corrupt. It requires maintenance and replacements. It should normally be precise in its operations.
Governance is not only the operation of the Government but also the supervision of the operations as well as laying down the rules and policies of the operation. Setting up the rules and regulations like programming for a computer is part of its function. In short, a well thought out software for the machinery is built by it. Managing and operating the Government machinery is its function. Repairs, replacements, and maintenance of the Govt.Machinery is essential. Defects are to be found out, located and mended. The media, the members of legislature, and the public serve as peripherals of the computer to feed data as well as to receive the details of the output. The end result of the operations, viz. the welfare of the society has to be watched vigilantly to monitor the achievements. Complains of inadequate results have to be looked into for rectification. Targets of end results have to be laid down and necessary methods to follow up have to be established. Proper budgeting has to be planned and action taken to execute them by using the machinery. It has to be assured that the machinery is never misused.
Those who are in charge of governance have to look up also towards the basic system that gives them the mandate to rule, viz. the legislature. The legislature prescribes the Law. Once law is laid down, the authorities who govern has no flexibility in law to sway from what is prescribed therein. The rulers authorized to rule, the Ministers, have to follow the Law strictly as much as any other citizen, whether they like it or not. But they have the right to recommend change of the Law, to the legislature/legislators.
Nepotism and corruption can ruin both the government and the Governance. Politicians, legislators and Ministers have actually no powers to deviate from the Laws, the Rules, and Regulations of the state, let alone breaking or going against them. If they want to do anything which is contrary to the Law, they have to first get the Law amended with the help of the Parliament of the country or the legislature of the state. When a minister rules according to his whim, it is nothing but show of illegitimate power.
The employees of the Government have actually no power to govern as such. They are obliged only to do their duty. In doing one’s duty there is no visible power or satisfaction to his ego. Power is visible when the Rules are apparently broken by the law enforcing employees or authority..
Ideal governance is therefore a social service and an ideal Government is the machinery to strictly perform the duty of governance in order to achieve the purpose of that social service
Power of the Government, if at all, is only to help people who need it but do not get their legitimate rights and dues.
Prof. Sankarankutty: The topic to-day is too big a fish to catch and swallow. Everything connected with it has controversies and criticisms. Powers that governed were there right from the time human society started evolving. The concept of a sort for governing prevailed among tribal groups also. Only, the tribal leader was a Law unto himself. He created the law, he executed the law, and he punished. As the society evolved religion also became an integral part of the system of government. To some extent even now this continues in large parts of the world. Religion was all along one of the pillars of governing. It was the door through which manipulation of governing could be done. The ruling power could look after both the ‘here and hereafter’ by bringing in religion and ruling to a single person. Often the Priest was also the healer and the ruler. The ruler- priest wielded enormous power because the sources of power fused into him.
Sometime in the course of the evolution of human society, slowly physical might gathered the upper hand. Divine right then had to give way to physical power to a large extent.
Dr. Thomas: For manipulation of governing we have a concrete example in Pakistan. President Musharaff has been a master manipulator who has managed to survive in power so far.
Prof.Sankarankutty: Manipulation for governing is a psychological phenomenon. Hunger for power is inherent in human nature. From all situations a manipulator tries to derive power to control others. According to Plato an ideal ruler is a philosopher statesman. A philosopher shuns power. He has no need to control others and therefore no need to manipulate the governing. But a king or a politician craves to dominate others.
Dr.Thomas: But Musharaff’s actions have led him to a power struggle in Pakistan. Although he is still in place as president he is riding a tiger.
Prof. Sankarankutty: Man acquires power and tries to consolidate it. Ordinary rulers fail to consolidate. Epics like Ramayana and Mahabharatha prescribe how to govern without that craze for power. Here the king is always the sufferer sacrificing his own needs and himself for his subjects. The problems of his subjects are suffered by him. He is invariably a lone traveler. And his journey is long. Each epic is a story, may be a myth, created to give out a great truth.
In the path of the evolution of the human being, sometime someone becomes great combining governing with wisdom. Cyrus the Great was one example. It was the time when power and wealth played all politics. Later great idols like Alexander came up with all power. Statesmen and philosopher were in opposite poles at the time. Although political power is for service of the people, service became only incidental to the execution of power. If we look at the evolution of power structure we can see that when somebody is given the power to rule his governing becomes the Government. Adding religion to power the power to govern is then consolidated. The evolution that way is now total, global. Originally the relationship between kings and subjects must have also evolved the same way. Actually the Mahabharatha war must have been just a small skirmish, but suggested on a macro level to drive home certain great truths.
Prof. Mohanan Nair: Cant we say that Asoka was an example of a Philosopher King?
Prof. Sankarankutty: Asoka became one only after a devastating war. He was a cruel conqueror who caused enough suffering. He had inflicted terrible suffering on the people by waging wars before he learned his lesson. On seeing the suffering he became compassionate.
Prof. Mohanan Nair: His greatness was in relinquishing his kingdom after winning a war, very rare in history.
Dr. Babu Ravindran: The Kings of the epics had great power. But at the same time their kingdoms had good structures for governing. The kings had wise advisors (Rajagurus) and a team of experts and other important citizens (Raja sadass) to help them rule.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
human rights
Prof. Mohanan Nair: Human Rights means the rights that belong to an individual as a consequence of being human. It is a term deriving from the doctrine of natural rights, associated with the Greco-Roman concept of ‘Natural Law’ since the end of the Middle Ages. The term came into wide use after World War II. It holds that individuals, by virtue of their humanity, possess fundamental rights beyond those prescribed in the Law. It was first formally incorporated into the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776). The General Assembly of the U.N. adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 followed in 1953 by the European Convention of Human Rights. In the late 20th century ad hoc international tribunals were convened to prosecute human rights violations and other crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. ‘The International Criminal Court’ which came into existence in 2002 was empowered to prosecute crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, and war crimes. U.S. which has been indulging in war crimes since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki conveniently withdrew from this. Many European powers followed suit and the court, as I understand, is dormant now.
However, the violation of human rights is a process that began from time immemorial and continues till the present day and may continue in the future. In ancient times it was the monarchy that annihilated human rights. In ancient cultures the killing of a human being or the substitution of an animal for a person was regarded as an attempt to commune with God, and to participate in Divine Life. It was common among the agricultural races for increasing the fertility of the soil. In ancient Egypt and elsewhere in Africa slaves and servants were killed or buried along with dead kings in order to provide service in the afterlife.
Coming down to the 15th, 16th and 17th, 18th centuries we find religion and colonialism as persecutors of human rights. Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, and Joan of Arc were all victims of religious persecution. Joan was burnt at the stakes and the others were either tortured or threatened with torture for speaking out what they believed to be the truth. And the colonial powers blatantly violated human rights by establishing colonies all over the world and indulging in slave trade. A slave was considered as a property and was deprived of the rights of human beings. In U.S history there were laws governing the status of slaves, called the “slave Code”. Slaves had no legal rights. In the court their testimony was inadmissible in cases involving the whites. They could not make any contract or own any property. They could not be away from their owner without permission. They could not be taught to read or write and above all they were not permitted to marry. Offenders were subjected severe punishment including whipping, branding, imprisonment and death. However, Britain abolished slavery in its colonies in 1833 and France in 1848. During the Civil War slavery was abolished in the US by the Emancipation Proclamation ordered by President Lincoln in 1863. However, slavery continues to exist in many parts of the world, though not officially recognized by any government.
Again in the 20th century we find the most atrocious violations of human rights during the two world wars and during the post-war period. The genocide of the Jews by a megalomaniac, the systematic rape of women, and the brutal killing of children will remain for ever as the blackest chapter in human history. I would rather like to dwell on the atrocities committed on women and children by a so called civilized society.
Women’s equal dignity and human rights as human beings are recognized by the international community. This is evident from the United Nation’s charter on the endorsement of the equal rights of men and women to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the subsequent International treaties and declarations. It is clearly stated that the protection of the rights of women are Central to our vision of a democratic society. But the fine words of these documents and of the Vienna Declaration in 1993 and the Declaration of Beijing in 1995 stand in sharp contrast to the daily reality of life for millions of women. The majority of world’s refugees are women; female illiteracy is far higher than male illiteracy. Women and girl children are treated as commodities in prostitution rackets and the pornography industry. Women in every country are regular victims of domestic violence. Women’s social and cultural rights continue to be neglected. Gender based inequalities continue to haunt millions of women throughout the world. They live in abject deprivation and attacks against their fundamental human rights for no reason. They suffer from systemic and systematic discrimination which results in deep patterns of inequality and disadvantage. The gender based division of labour with women being primarily responsible for reproduction work and work related to the family, and men for productive work, also contribute to the perpetuation of gender based inequalities.
The gender based inequality is evidently present even in the so called literate society of the west. In the U.S., voting right was won by women after prolonged struggle in 1918, after World War I, but it was limited to women of 30 or above. In England it was not until 1929 that women over 21 achieved the right to vote. Even in the 21st Century it is an undeniable fact that American Voters are not yet ready to accept a woman as their President. It exposes the hypocrisy of a nation that boasts of having liberated women long ago. Even the media, the so called American ‘Free Press’ was indulging in cheap personal attacks against Hillary Clinton.
It is not surprising that the U.S is also in the forefront regarding violence against women. The journal ‘Violence against Women’ reports that from 25 to 31 percent of American Women are being physically or sexually abused by a husband / boyfriend at some point in their lives. Drawing on a survey date the “National Research Council” reports that one in every six US women has at sometime experienced an attempted or completed rape. Annually more than 3 lakhs women are forcibly raped and more than four million are assaulted.
Another crime that violates women’s right to live, is committed during war and during post-war period-namely organized rape. Rape during war appears to have gone through three stages.
1. In ancient times rape was a reward for the victor. The Hebrew Scriptures [OT] describe the rape of the women of conquered tribes as a routine act.
2. In more modern times random rape by soldiers was a common phenomenon, particularly when there was a lack of army discipline.
3. In recent times systematic, organized rape is used as a tactic of war to terrorize the victims. It was a weapon of terror when Germans marched through Belgium in World War I: Gang rape was practiced in the beginning of the Nazi campaigns against Jews. It was used as a weapon of terror when the Japanese raped Chinese women in the city of Nanking during World War II. The Americans made rape in Vietnam “a standard operating procedure aimed at terrorizing the population into submission.”
Sri.Kunhikrishnan: What the Japanese did to the Chinese women is graphically described by Pearl S. Buck in Mother Earth, her Nobel Prize winning Novel.
Prof. Mohanan Nair: Numerous recent cases have also been seen, mostly in religiously motivated wars.
1. 1991-1994 Serbian military and paramilitary troops used rape systematically as a tactic to encourage Bosnian Muslim Women to flee from their land. It was reported in “News Day”, that each night the policemen selected ten or more Muslim women, led them at gun point to some nearby house and raped them.. The site of these crimes known as the Partizan Sports Hall was in the Centre of Foca, a small predominantly Muslim town in Eastern Bosnia. It was then used as a transit facility for women and children about to be deported from the town. But for two months in 1992 it functioned as a rape camp holding fifty women. Partizan was only one of the several rape camps in Bosnia.
2. In 1994 Rwanda Hutu leaders ordered their troops to rape Tutsi women as an integral part of their genocidal campaign.
3. In 1997 secular women were targeted by Muslim revolutionaries in Algeria and reduced to sex slaves.
4. In 1998 Indonesian security forces allegedly raped ethnic Chinese women during a major spate of rioting.
5. In the late 90s Serbian military and paramilitary units systematically raped ethnic Albanian Muslim women during the unrest in Kosovo.
It was Jawharilal Nehru who said “You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”. So what is the condition of the women in India?. The Indian constitution grants women equal rights with men, but strong patriarchal traditions persist with women’s lives shaped by customs that are centuries old. The origin of the idea of appropriate female behavior can be traced to the rules laid down by Manu in 200 B.C. According to ‘Manusmrithi’, in childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, and in old age to her sons; a woman must never be independent. Accordingly in many Indian families a daughter is viewed as a liability and she is conditioned to believe that she is inferior and subordinate to men. Sons are idolized and celebrated.
In India,
1. Women suffer malnutrition consequent of the inequality between men and women. Hence they are in poor health. Surviving through a normal life cycle is a resources-poor woman’s highest challenge.
2. India’s maternal mortality rates in rural areas are among the highest in the world. This is due to reluctance to seek medical aid during pregnancy.
3. The tasks performed by women are usually those that require them to be in one position for long period of time resulting in premature and still births. (e.g. Rice transplanting in July – August)
4. Women end girls receive far less education than men due to social norms. Consequently girl children are married off at an early age.
5. Women work for more hours than men and their work is more arduous. Still men report that “they like children, eat and do nothing”. This means that their work is rarely recognized. Wherever technology has been introduced in areas where women worked, women laborers have been displaced by men, [ e.g., threshing grain by automatic threshing machines operated by men] thus losing an important source of income.
6. Women are kept subordinate and are even murdered by the practice of dowry. Dowry exists even to day though the Dowry Prohibition Act has been in existence for about half a century. Despite every stigma dowry continues to be the signature of marriage.
7. Maintenance rights of women in the case of divorce are weak. Although the Hindu and Muslim law recognize the rights of women and children to maintenance, in practice it is rarely set at a sufficient amount, and is frequently violated.
And coming to ‘Gods own Country’ we come across shocking realities. Education and employment have not played the transforming role expected of men & women. Gender based violence particularly domestic violence mental health or manifestly increasing suicide and the growth and spread of dowry related crimes compel us to look at family relations in a different way. Some one said that Kerala homes are theatres of violence. Sexual harassment of women by the big and the powerful has become a common thing in Kerala. Sooryanelli, Kiliroor, Kaviyoor, Poovarani, etc are known to everyone in Kerala. And the protagonists Nadar, Kunhalikutty, P.J. Joseph and the latest entry the saint SanthoshMadhavan and a Church Father, are all more familiar to us than popular Film Stars. Partly power or partly fame-o-maniac mothers are responsible for the sex rackets. Bureaucratic laxity due to political interference is another reason for these.
Gender equality is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting development and building up a healthy society. This recognition is currently missing in India. We have to recognize women’s contribution to every aspect of society; in politics, industry, commence, education, agriculture, and at home. Changing the social discrimination against women must be given top priority. Efforts must be made to improve the social and economic status of women. For which women must receive greater education which will help them to earn more money. This they could spend for better education and better health of their children unlike men. As they rise in economic status their social standing will improve Moreover education and economic status will help them to make stronger claims to their entitlement & rights. This will help them to overcome the condition of son preference and thus put an end to dowry. This will encourage families to educate their daughters & the age of marriage will rise. They will be healthier, more productive and give birth to healthier children. Only through action to remedy discrimination against women can the vision of Indians Independence - an India where people have the chance to live healthy & productive, be realized.
Prof. Richard Hay: A recent survey showed that 68% of the women in India are illiterate and hardly earn more than Rs.20 a day. That itself amounts to a violation of Human Rights.
Prof. Sankarankutty: Various aspects of Human Rights have been elaborately presented here. Exploitation of women and children is a sort of practice of slavery. In spite of the UN Declaration of Human Rights as well as the various conventions and treaties, violations continue with immunity. All democratic countries have adopted the declaration. The application of The Declaration has now been an index to measure the efficiency of any Government. Yet even leaders of the democratic countries like U.S. and U.K have been brought to book for violation of Human Rights. The approach of almost every country towards Human Rights is superficial and insincere.
Whether knowingly or unknowingly, we follow certain values in present day life. And there are several forces in which we believe, but which impinge on the rights of others. Capitalism is an example. We believe in the system which we have now adopted. But it affects the rights of many. It is absolutely clear to everyone that child labor is prohibited and is against Human Rights. But in several industries children are employed in order to make profits, or even to survive in a competitive market. People and Govt. close their eyes on this. Children are freely employed in the garment and other industries. We can see them toiling in shops and domestic establishments.
Prof.Mohanan Nair: The latest are the reality shows in which children are made to rehearse the dance and music performances without going to school or college.
Prof. Sankarankutty: That is slightly different. Deep seated human greed is working there. And, as mentioned earlier, ‘Fame o-mania’ as well.
As regards child exploitation, enactment of labor laws and dignity of labor are only on paper. Violations go on deliberately unnoticed by Law. Laws in such cases are mere pretensions.
Almost every day we read about farmers committing suicide. It is not correct to say that they are lured by money lenders into a higher standard of living and thus fall into money traps. Govt. policies and the overall situation are actually responsible for farmers’ suicides. They do not get any safeguard for obtaining a reasonable price for their produces. Finance Minister is supposed to have written off loans. But there is no guarantee that the benefits will reach the real farmer. With the rampant corruption and nepotism nothing reaches the farmer as the people in Govt. themselves often admit. The man who actually till the soil and produce food for you to be alive, is never assured a decent life. He is deprived of a legitimate, dignified existence.
Violation of human rights should not be seen as merely something that is happening to women and children, or tribals etc. The man next door, the farmer who toils on the land to feed the humanity should be protected from penury and suicide. We see so much written in the media about women’s rights, tribal welfare etc., but nothing much about the poor farmers. We do not realize that the whole of farmer communities are suffering and that every 30 minutes a farmer in this country is pushed to the level of killing himself. These are not things which are merely looked at in the academic way quoting statistics. The reality has to be seen
For anything and everything we have to legislate. Problems are supposed to be solved by legislation. But nothing would happen in reality unless the government approaches to the root of the problem in real terms. The need to legislate arises because we are not cultured. A cultured society cannot tolerate a next door neighbor, a man who feeds the society, the farmer, being exploited.
Therefore we can say that Human Rights actually exist only in the beautiful pages of the Declaration. It is only an ideal (Aadarsh) to be talked about. In truth it does not take effect. It is only of decorative value. Human rights or no human rights, the Human Nature persists. The basic human nature thirsts for power. Look at the countries like Myanmar. The dictatorship is afraid even to accept help to its citizens in times of misery like an earthquake. One has to look at the eyes of truth. The human nature has to be therefore tackled to make people more cultured if Human Rights are to be established.
Dr. Sadanandan: The way we live on this earth is far from right, and on the contrary, is terribly wrong. The whole movement is a struggle for existence. In this struggle, on exercising one’s freedom, another’s right for freedom to live is completely ignored.
We are promoting a highly competitive existence. Each and every individual wants to reach on top, somehow or other. And, in the process we are all becoming violent human beings. Violence includes every other bad emotion like jealousy, envy, greed, anger ambition and ill will. Of course there is violence when we compromise, compare and control. In this movement the individual does not bother to consider the rights of another to pursue his interests. This imbalance manifests over the whole of human existence. Conflict is there between individuals, between social groups, between religions, between nations and in all organized human endeavor.
How to contain and overcome this evil should be a major concern of all serious minded people. We do not know what to do. We have invented many forms of control. We have rules. We have legislations. We have constitutions, deals, creeds, laws and punishments. And it is an irony that the executor himself often breeds violence. Should we hope and depend on governments, democratic institutions and leaders to find a solution? Can revolution transform society and human relationship? Can social change effectively transform the individual? Is it that individual is an instrument for social purpose, a puppet in the hands of masters for social cause? Does the individual serve the society or society is for the individual? Relationship between the individual and society should be smooth and harmonious without any problems. Whatever revolutionary, drastic changes are forced on to the society, the society would remain static if no transformation is taking place in the individual. Transformation of the individual may be the only key available to uproot the evil of violence from human relationship.
If the individual is to change or transform, the question would be, how? We live in relationship. My life is depended only upon the fact how I am related to my kith and kin, to the people around, to the society to which I belong, to myself, to the various ideas, to the events in my life, to the situations in life, and to the whole universe. How am I related with each of these, or to all? Is there jealousy? Is there ill will? Is there greed? Is there no concern for the other? Instead, is there competition and cruelty? These are all reflected in the mirror of relationship. Does one use the other for his own pleasures, gratifications and comforts? Do I hurt anyone? Do one’s actions cause inconvenience to others? If I am concerned about this it is imperative that I should be aware of my relationship with others. But we don’t see this. We are not interested. We rather drift fully immersed in our own seclusions.
Is there any other way of relationship? What is missing and what is hindering our relationship from blossoming into goodness and harmony? Why are there no cheer, no happiness and no serenity?
What is love, and where is it hidden? Is there love in any of our relationships at all? How different things would have been if there was love and understanding in our relationships! That could have transformed the whole society and the world, - the only revolution.
Dr.Babu Ravindran: The reason why one should be concerned about Human Rights can be summarized by the statement by Martin Weimuller, Pastor of German Evangelical Church;
“In Germany, the Nazis first came for the Communists, and I did not speak up, because I was not a communist. They then came for the Jews, and I did not speak up as I was not a Jew, then they came for the Trade Union, and I did not speak up because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and then they came for me, and by that time there was no one to speak up for any one.”
Advance in technology and changes in the social structure had rendered war a threat to the continued existence of the human race. Large number of people in many countries lived under the control of the tyrants, having no recourse but war to relieve them from often intolerable living conditions. Unless some way was found to relieve the lot of these people, they could revolt and could become a catalyst for another war on a wide scale and probably one that was nuclear. For, perhaps the first time, representatives from majority of Governments in the world came to the conclusion that basic human rights should be protected not only for the sake of the individuals and countries involved, but also to preserve the human race.
That was why Albert Einstein said, ‘I know with what weapons the III rd world war will be fought, but world war IV will be fought with stick and stones.’
The concept of Human Rights has existed under several names in European thought for many centuries. When King John of England violated a number of ancient laws and customs by which England had been governed, his subjects forced him to sign the Magna Carta which mainly enumerates human rights.
In the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe many philosophers proposed the concept of ‘Natural Right’, right belonging to a person by nature and because he was a human being, not by virtue of his citizenship in a particular country or religion or any ethnic group.
In 1700 two revolutions occurred which drew heavily on this concept. In 1776, many of the British colonies in North America proclaimed their independence from British Empire in a document which still stirs feelings and debate, the U.S. Declaration of Independence. i.e.
“ We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.”
In 1787 the people of France overturned their monarchy and established the Free French Republic, out of which came the “Declaration of the Rights of Man”.
But the term ‘Natural Rights’ slowly fell into disfavor. Henry David Thoreau was the first philosopher to use the term ‘Human Rights’, and does so in his treatise ‘Civil Disobedience’. The work influenced great men like Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. It is said that Gandhiji developed his ideas on nonviolent resistance from this work.
Other proponents of human rights were English philosopher John Stuart Mill (Essay on Liberty) and American political theorist Thomas Paine (The Right Of Man).
The middle and late 19th century saw a number of issues take centre stage, which we now consider as human right issues. They are slavery, serfdom, brutal working condition, starvation wages, and child labor. In the United States, a bloody war on slavery came close to destroying a country founded eighty years earlier on the premise that ‘all men are created equal’. Russia freed it’s serfs the year the war began. But neither the emancipated American slaves, nor the freed Russian serfs saw any real degree of freedom or basic rights for many more decades.
For the last part of 19th and the first part of 20th century human right activism remained largely tied to political and religious groups. Then revolutionaries pointed their fingers at the atrocities of Govt. and showed it as proof that their ideology was ideal to end the Govt. abuses.
The labor unions brought about the system of granting workers the right to strike. The women’s rights movement succeeded in gaining for many women the right to vote. National liberation movements in many countries succeeded in driving out Colonial Powers.
In 1961 a group of lawyers, journalists, writers and others, offended at the sentencing of two Portuguese college students to twenty years in prison for having raised their glass in a toast to ‘freedom’ in a bar, formed the ‘Appeal for Amnesty,1961’. The Appeal was announced on May 28th of that year in London Observers Sunday Supplement. The response to the appeal was larger than any one had expected. The Amnesty International and the modern Human Rights movement were both born.
The early years of modern human rights movement were rocky. The Organization dropped Nelson Mandela, a black South African Anti- Apartheid activist in jail at the time, from the list of adopted prisoners on a trumped up charge, because of his endorsing a violent struggle against apartheid.
These concerns led to the formation of different Regional Human Rights Watch-dog groups like the Helsinki Watch in 1978.
Recognition for the Human Rights movement, and the Amnesty International in particular grew during 1970s. Amnesty gained permanent observer status as an NGO at the United Nations. Its press releases received respectful attention. In 1977 it was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for its work. But there were dissents with claims and counter claims that Amnesty was a front organization for Soviet KGB by some and CIA for USA by some others.
The history of Human Rights being such, even now violations of it continue. Only a few countries do not commit human rights violation, according to Amnesty International. In its 2004 report the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, and Costa Rica are the only countries (mappable) that did not violate at least some human rights significantly.
When a Govt. closes a geographical region under its control to journalists, it raises suspicion of human rights violation. Seven regions are currently closed to foreign journalists in the world:
1. Chechnya (Russia)
2. Jaffna (Sri Lanka)
3. Myanmar (Burma)
4. North Korea
5. Papua (Indonesia)
6. Peshawar (Pakistan)
7. Tibet (China)
With the advance of Technology, Medicine, and Human Philosophy, the status quo of human rights thinking is constantly challenged. Certain other human rights are,
1. Water: In Nov.2002 the UN Committee for Economic, Social, & Cultural Rights issued a non-binding covenant affirming that access to water was a human right. It was reaffirmed at the 3rd and 4th World Water Councils in 2003 and 2006. This marks a departure from the conclusions of the 2nd World Water Forum in Hague in 2000 which stated that water was a commodity to be bought and sold, not a right.
2. Fetal Rights: Pro-life people believe that the individual life begins at the moment of conception. So fetus has equal rights as any other person. But some argue that life as an individual begins only at the stage of viability of the fetus.
3. Environmental Rights: Human Rights ultimately require a working eco-system and healthy environment; but the granting of certain rights to individuals may damage these.
4. Future Rights: Future technological advances such as the possibility of mass space travel, advances in medicine and possibility of access to huge amount of information and other such things raise possibilities of new rights.
5.‘Gay Rights’ is a Human Right for the Gays.
However, the violation of human rights is a process that began from time immemorial and continues till the present day and may continue in the future. In ancient times it was the monarchy that annihilated human rights. In ancient cultures the killing of a human being or the substitution of an animal for a person was regarded as an attempt to commune with God, and to participate in Divine Life. It was common among the agricultural races for increasing the fertility of the soil. In ancient Egypt and elsewhere in Africa slaves and servants were killed or buried along with dead kings in order to provide service in the afterlife.
Coming down to the 15th, 16th and 17th, 18th centuries we find religion and colonialism as persecutors of human rights. Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, and Joan of Arc were all victims of religious persecution. Joan was burnt at the stakes and the others were either tortured or threatened with torture for speaking out what they believed to be the truth. And the colonial powers blatantly violated human rights by establishing colonies all over the world and indulging in slave trade. A slave was considered as a property and was deprived of the rights of human beings. In U.S history there were laws governing the status of slaves, called the “slave Code”. Slaves had no legal rights. In the court their testimony was inadmissible in cases involving the whites. They could not make any contract or own any property. They could not be away from their owner without permission. They could not be taught to read or write and above all they were not permitted to marry. Offenders were subjected severe punishment including whipping, branding, imprisonment and death. However, Britain abolished slavery in its colonies in 1833 and France in 1848. During the Civil War slavery was abolished in the US by the Emancipation Proclamation ordered by President Lincoln in 1863. However, slavery continues to exist in many parts of the world, though not officially recognized by any government.
Again in the 20th century we find the most atrocious violations of human rights during the two world wars and during the post-war period. The genocide of the Jews by a megalomaniac, the systematic rape of women, and the brutal killing of children will remain for ever as the blackest chapter in human history. I would rather like to dwell on the atrocities committed on women and children by a so called civilized society.
Women’s equal dignity and human rights as human beings are recognized by the international community. This is evident from the United Nation’s charter on the endorsement of the equal rights of men and women to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the subsequent International treaties and declarations. It is clearly stated that the protection of the rights of women are Central to our vision of a democratic society. But the fine words of these documents and of the Vienna Declaration in 1993 and the Declaration of Beijing in 1995 stand in sharp contrast to the daily reality of life for millions of women. The majority of world’s refugees are women; female illiteracy is far higher than male illiteracy. Women and girl children are treated as commodities in prostitution rackets and the pornography industry. Women in every country are regular victims of domestic violence. Women’s social and cultural rights continue to be neglected. Gender based inequalities continue to haunt millions of women throughout the world. They live in abject deprivation and attacks against their fundamental human rights for no reason. They suffer from systemic and systematic discrimination which results in deep patterns of inequality and disadvantage. The gender based division of labour with women being primarily responsible for reproduction work and work related to the family, and men for productive work, also contribute to the perpetuation of gender based inequalities.
The gender based inequality is evidently present even in the so called literate society of the west. In the U.S., voting right was won by women after prolonged struggle in 1918, after World War I, but it was limited to women of 30 or above. In England it was not until 1929 that women over 21 achieved the right to vote. Even in the 21st Century it is an undeniable fact that American Voters are not yet ready to accept a woman as their President. It exposes the hypocrisy of a nation that boasts of having liberated women long ago. Even the media, the so called American ‘Free Press’ was indulging in cheap personal attacks against Hillary Clinton.
It is not surprising that the U.S is also in the forefront regarding violence against women. The journal ‘Violence against Women’ reports that from 25 to 31 percent of American Women are being physically or sexually abused by a husband / boyfriend at some point in their lives. Drawing on a survey date the “National Research Council” reports that one in every six US women has at sometime experienced an attempted or completed rape. Annually more than 3 lakhs women are forcibly raped and more than four million are assaulted.
Another crime that violates women’s right to live, is committed during war and during post-war period-namely organized rape. Rape during war appears to have gone through three stages.
1. In ancient times rape was a reward for the victor. The Hebrew Scriptures [OT] describe the rape of the women of conquered tribes as a routine act.
2. In more modern times random rape by soldiers was a common phenomenon, particularly when there was a lack of army discipline.
3. In recent times systematic, organized rape is used as a tactic of war to terrorize the victims. It was a weapon of terror when Germans marched through Belgium in World War I: Gang rape was practiced in the beginning of the Nazi campaigns against Jews. It was used as a weapon of terror when the Japanese raped Chinese women in the city of Nanking during World War II. The Americans made rape in Vietnam “a standard operating procedure aimed at terrorizing the population into submission.”
Sri.Kunhikrishnan: What the Japanese did to the Chinese women is graphically described by Pearl S. Buck in Mother Earth, her Nobel Prize winning Novel.
Prof. Mohanan Nair: Numerous recent cases have also been seen, mostly in religiously motivated wars.
1. 1991-1994 Serbian military and paramilitary troops used rape systematically as a tactic to encourage Bosnian Muslim Women to flee from their land. It was reported in “News Day”, that each night the policemen selected ten or more Muslim women, led them at gun point to some nearby house and raped them.. The site of these crimes known as the Partizan Sports Hall was in the Centre of Foca, a small predominantly Muslim town in Eastern Bosnia. It was then used as a transit facility for women and children about to be deported from the town. But for two months in 1992 it functioned as a rape camp holding fifty women. Partizan was only one of the several rape camps in Bosnia.
2. In 1994 Rwanda Hutu leaders ordered their troops to rape Tutsi women as an integral part of their genocidal campaign.
3. In 1997 secular women were targeted by Muslim revolutionaries in Algeria and reduced to sex slaves.
4. In 1998 Indonesian security forces allegedly raped ethnic Chinese women during a major spate of rioting.
5. In the late 90s Serbian military and paramilitary units systematically raped ethnic Albanian Muslim women during the unrest in Kosovo.
It was Jawharilal Nehru who said “You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”. So what is the condition of the women in India?. The Indian constitution grants women equal rights with men, but strong patriarchal traditions persist with women’s lives shaped by customs that are centuries old. The origin of the idea of appropriate female behavior can be traced to the rules laid down by Manu in 200 B.C. According to ‘Manusmrithi’, in childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, and in old age to her sons; a woman must never be independent. Accordingly in many Indian families a daughter is viewed as a liability and she is conditioned to believe that she is inferior and subordinate to men. Sons are idolized and celebrated.
In India,
1. Women suffer malnutrition consequent of the inequality between men and women. Hence they are in poor health. Surviving through a normal life cycle is a resources-poor woman’s highest challenge.
2. India’s maternal mortality rates in rural areas are among the highest in the world. This is due to reluctance to seek medical aid during pregnancy.
3. The tasks performed by women are usually those that require them to be in one position for long period of time resulting in premature and still births. (e.g. Rice transplanting in July – August)
4. Women end girls receive far less education than men due to social norms. Consequently girl children are married off at an early age.
5. Women work for more hours than men and their work is more arduous. Still men report that “they like children, eat and do nothing”. This means that their work is rarely recognized. Wherever technology has been introduced in areas where women worked, women laborers have been displaced by men, [ e.g., threshing grain by automatic threshing machines operated by men] thus losing an important source of income.
6. Women are kept subordinate and are even murdered by the practice of dowry. Dowry exists even to day though the Dowry Prohibition Act has been in existence for about half a century. Despite every stigma dowry continues to be the signature of marriage.
7. Maintenance rights of women in the case of divorce are weak. Although the Hindu and Muslim law recognize the rights of women and children to maintenance, in practice it is rarely set at a sufficient amount, and is frequently violated.
And coming to ‘Gods own Country’ we come across shocking realities. Education and employment have not played the transforming role expected of men & women. Gender based violence particularly domestic violence mental health or manifestly increasing suicide and the growth and spread of dowry related crimes compel us to look at family relations in a different way. Some one said that Kerala homes are theatres of violence. Sexual harassment of women by the big and the powerful has become a common thing in Kerala. Sooryanelli, Kiliroor, Kaviyoor, Poovarani, etc are known to everyone in Kerala. And the protagonists Nadar, Kunhalikutty, P.J. Joseph and the latest entry the saint SanthoshMadhavan and a Church Father, are all more familiar to us than popular Film Stars. Partly power or partly fame-o-maniac mothers are responsible for the sex rackets. Bureaucratic laxity due to political interference is another reason for these.
Gender equality is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting development and building up a healthy society. This recognition is currently missing in India. We have to recognize women’s contribution to every aspect of society; in politics, industry, commence, education, agriculture, and at home. Changing the social discrimination against women must be given top priority. Efforts must be made to improve the social and economic status of women. For which women must receive greater education which will help them to earn more money. This they could spend for better education and better health of their children unlike men. As they rise in economic status their social standing will improve Moreover education and economic status will help them to make stronger claims to their entitlement & rights. This will help them to overcome the condition of son preference and thus put an end to dowry. This will encourage families to educate their daughters & the age of marriage will rise. They will be healthier, more productive and give birth to healthier children. Only through action to remedy discrimination against women can the vision of Indians Independence - an India where people have the chance to live healthy & productive, be realized.
Prof. Richard Hay: A recent survey showed that 68% of the women in India are illiterate and hardly earn more than Rs.20 a day. That itself amounts to a violation of Human Rights.
Prof. Sankarankutty: Various aspects of Human Rights have been elaborately presented here. Exploitation of women and children is a sort of practice of slavery. In spite of the UN Declaration of Human Rights as well as the various conventions and treaties, violations continue with immunity. All democratic countries have adopted the declaration. The application of The Declaration has now been an index to measure the efficiency of any Government. Yet even leaders of the democratic countries like U.S. and U.K have been brought to book for violation of Human Rights. The approach of almost every country towards Human Rights is superficial and insincere.
Whether knowingly or unknowingly, we follow certain values in present day life. And there are several forces in which we believe, but which impinge on the rights of others. Capitalism is an example. We believe in the system which we have now adopted. But it affects the rights of many. It is absolutely clear to everyone that child labor is prohibited and is against Human Rights. But in several industries children are employed in order to make profits, or even to survive in a competitive market. People and Govt. close their eyes on this. Children are freely employed in the garment and other industries. We can see them toiling in shops and domestic establishments.
Prof.Mohanan Nair: The latest are the reality shows in which children are made to rehearse the dance and music performances without going to school or college.
Prof. Sankarankutty: That is slightly different. Deep seated human greed is working there. And, as mentioned earlier, ‘Fame o-mania’ as well.
As regards child exploitation, enactment of labor laws and dignity of labor are only on paper. Violations go on deliberately unnoticed by Law. Laws in such cases are mere pretensions.
Almost every day we read about farmers committing suicide. It is not correct to say that they are lured by money lenders into a higher standard of living and thus fall into money traps. Govt. policies and the overall situation are actually responsible for farmers’ suicides. They do not get any safeguard for obtaining a reasonable price for their produces. Finance Minister is supposed to have written off loans. But there is no guarantee that the benefits will reach the real farmer. With the rampant corruption and nepotism nothing reaches the farmer as the people in Govt. themselves often admit. The man who actually till the soil and produce food for you to be alive, is never assured a decent life. He is deprived of a legitimate, dignified existence.
Violation of human rights should not be seen as merely something that is happening to women and children, or tribals etc. The man next door, the farmer who toils on the land to feed the humanity should be protected from penury and suicide. We see so much written in the media about women’s rights, tribal welfare etc., but nothing much about the poor farmers. We do not realize that the whole of farmer communities are suffering and that every 30 minutes a farmer in this country is pushed to the level of killing himself. These are not things which are merely looked at in the academic way quoting statistics. The reality has to be seen
For anything and everything we have to legislate. Problems are supposed to be solved by legislation. But nothing would happen in reality unless the government approaches to the root of the problem in real terms. The need to legislate arises because we are not cultured. A cultured society cannot tolerate a next door neighbor, a man who feeds the society, the farmer, being exploited.
Therefore we can say that Human Rights actually exist only in the beautiful pages of the Declaration. It is only an ideal (Aadarsh) to be talked about. In truth it does not take effect. It is only of decorative value. Human rights or no human rights, the Human Nature persists. The basic human nature thirsts for power. Look at the countries like Myanmar. The dictatorship is afraid even to accept help to its citizens in times of misery like an earthquake. One has to look at the eyes of truth. The human nature has to be therefore tackled to make people more cultured if Human Rights are to be established.
Dr. Sadanandan: The way we live on this earth is far from right, and on the contrary, is terribly wrong. The whole movement is a struggle for existence. In this struggle, on exercising one’s freedom, another’s right for freedom to live is completely ignored.
We are promoting a highly competitive existence. Each and every individual wants to reach on top, somehow or other. And, in the process we are all becoming violent human beings. Violence includes every other bad emotion like jealousy, envy, greed, anger ambition and ill will. Of course there is violence when we compromise, compare and control. In this movement the individual does not bother to consider the rights of another to pursue his interests. This imbalance manifests over the whole of human existence. Conflict is there between individuals, between social groups, between religions, between nations and in all organized human endeavor.
How to contain and overcome this evil should be a major concern of all serious minded people. We do not know what to do. We have invented many forms of control. We have rules. We have legislations. We have constitutions, deals, creeds, laws and punishments. And it is an irony that the executor himself often breeds violence. Should we hope and depend on governments, democratic institutions and leaders to find a solution? Can revolution transform society and human relationship? Can social change effectively transform the individual? Is it that individual is an instrument for social purpose, a puppet in the hands of masters for social cause? Does the individual serve the society or society is for the individual? Relationship between the individual and society should be smooth and harmonious without any problems. Whatever revolutionary, drastic changes are forced on to the society, the society would remain static if no transformation is taking place in the individual. Transformation of the individual may be the only key available to uproot the evil of violence from human relationship.
If the individual is to change or transform, the question would be, how? We live in relationship. My life is depended only upon the fact how I am related to my kith and kin, to the people around, to the society to which I belong, to myself, to the various ideas, to the events in my life, to the situations in life, and to the whole universe. How am I related with each of these, or to all? Is there jealousy? Is there ill will? Is there greed? Is there no concern for the other? Instead, is there competition and cruelty? These are all reflected in the mirror of relationship. Does one use the other for his own pleasures, gratifications and comforts? Do I hurt anyone? Do one’s actions cause inconvenience to others? If I am concerned about this it is imperative that I should be aware of my relationship with others. But we don’t see this. We are not interested. We rather drift fully immersed in our own seclusions.
Is there any other way of relationship? What is missing and what is hindering our relationship from blossoming into goodness and harmony? Why are there no cheer, no happiness and no serenity?
What is love, and where is it hidden? Is there love in any of our relationships at all? How different things would have been if there was love and understanding in our relationships! That could have transformed the whole society and the world, - the only revolution.
Dr.Babu Ravindran: The reason why one should be concerned about Human Rights can be summarized by the statement by Martin Weimuller, Pastor of German Evangelical Church;
“In Germany, the Nazis first came for the Communists, and I did not speak up, because I was not a communist. They then came for the Jews, and I did not speak up as I was not a Jew, then they came for the Trade Union, and I did not speak up because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and then they came for me, and by that time there was no one to speak up for any one.”
Advance in technology and changes in the social structure had rendered war a threat to the continued existence of the human race. Large number of people in many countries lived under the control of the tyrants, having no recourse but war to relieve them from often intolerable living conditions. Unless some way was found to relieve the lot of these people, they could revolt and could become a catalyst for another war on a wide scale and probably one that was nuclear. For, perhaps the first time, representatives from majority of Governments in the world came to the conclusion that basic human rights should be protected not only for the sake of the individuals and countries involved, but also to preserve the human race.
That was why Albert Einstein said, ‘I know with what weapons the III rd world war will be fought, but world war IV will be fought with stick and stones.’
The concept of Human Rights has existed under several names in European thought for many centuries. When King John of England violated a number of ancient laws and customs by which England had been governed, his subjects forced him to sign the Magna Carta which mainly enumerates human rights.
In the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe many philosophers proposed the concept of ‘Natural Right’, right belonging to a person by nature and because he was a human being, not by virtue of his citizenship in a particular country or religion or any ethnic group.
In 1700 two revolutions occurred which drew heavily on this concept. In 1776, many of the British colonies in North America proclaimed their independence from British Empire in a document which still stirs feelings and debate, the U.S. Declaration of Independence. i.e.
“ We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.”
In 1787 the people of France overturned their monarchy and established the Free French Republic, out of which came the “Declaration of the Rights of Man”.
But the term ‘Natural Rights’ slowly fell into disfavor. Henry David Thoreau was the first philosopher to use the term ‘Human Rights’, and does so in his treatise ‘Civil Disobedience’. The work influenced great men like Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. It is said that Gandhiji developed his ideas on nonviolent resistance from this work.
Other proponents of human rights were English philosopher John Stuart Mill (Essay on Liberty) and American political theorist Thomas Paine (The Right Of Man).
The middle and late 19th century saw a number of issues take centre stage, which we now consider as human right issues. They are slavery, serfdom, brutal working condition, starvation wages, and child labor. In the United States, a bloody war on slavery came close to destroying a country founded eighty years earlier on the premise that ‘all men are created equal’. Russia freed it’s serfs the year the war began. But neither the emancipated American slaves, nor the freed Russian serfs saw any real degree of freedom or basic rights for many more decades.
For the last part of 19th and the first part of 20th century human right activism remained largely tied to political and religious groups. Then revolutionaries pointed their fingers at the atrocities of Govt. and showed it as proof that their ideology was ideal to end the Govt. abuses.
The labor unions brought about the system of granting workers the right to strike. The women’s rights movement succeeded in gaining for many women the right to vote. National liberation movements in many countries succeeded in driving out Colonial Powers.
In 1961 a group of lawyers, journalists, writers and others, offended at the sentencing of two Portuguese college students to twenty years in prison for having raised their glass in a toast to ‘freedom’ in a bar, formed the ‘Appeal for Amnesty,1961’. The Appeal was announced on May 28th of that year in London Observers Sunday Supplement. The response to the appeal was larger than any one had expected. The Amnesty International and the modern Human Rights movement were both born.
The early years of modern human rights movement were rocky. The Organization dropped Nelson Mandela, a black South African Anti- Apartheid activist in jail at the time, from the list of adopted prisoners on a trumped up charge, because of his endorsing a violent struggle against apartheid.
These concerns led to the formation of different Regional Human Rights Watch-dog groups like the Helsinki Watch in 1978.
Recognition for the Human Rights movement, and the Amnesty International in particular grew during 1970s. Amnesty gained permanent observer status as an NGO at the United Nations. Its press releases received respectful attention. In 1977 it was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for its work. But there were dissents with claims and counter claims that Amnesty was a front organization for Soviet KGB by some and CIA for USA by some others.
The history of Human Rights being such, even now violations of it continue. Only a few countries do not commit human rights violation, according to Amnesty International. In its 2004 report the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, and Costa Rica are the only countries (mappable) that did not violate at least some human rights significantly.
When a Govt. closes a geographical region under its control to journalists, it raises suspicion of human rights violation. Seven regions are currently closed to foreign journalists in the world:
1. Chechnya (Russia)
2. Jaffna (Sri Lanka)
3. Myanmar (Burma)
4. North Korea
5. Papua (Indonesia)
6. Peshawar (Pakistan)
7. Tibet (China)
With the advance of Technology, Medicine, and Human Philosophy, the status quo of human rights thinking is constantly challenged. Certain other human rights are,
1. Water: In Nov.2002 the UN Committee for Economic, Social, & Cultural Rights issued a non-binding covenant affirming that access to water was a human right. It was reaffirmed at the 3rd and 4th World Water Councils in 2003 and 2006. This marks a departure from the conclusions of the 2nd World Water Forum in Hague in 2000 which stated that water was a commodity to be bought and sold, not a right.
2. Fetal Rights: Pro-life people believe that the individual life begins at the moment of conception. So fetus has equal rights as any other person. But some argue that life as an individual begins only at the stage of viability of the fetus.
3. Environmental Rights: Human Rights ultimately require a working eco-system and healthy environment; but the granting of certain rights to individuals may damage these.
4. Future Rights: Future technological advances such as the possibility of mass space travel, advances in medicine and possibility of access to huge amount of information and other such things raise possibilities of new rights.
5.‘Gay Rights’ is a Human Right for the Gays.
Friday, June 27, 2008
ego's suicide?
The learned spiritual teacher who gave a talk to an elite audience yesterday said that most of the problems and agonies of individuals arise only from their ego. The ‘I’ and ‘mine’, have to be got rid off. Eliminating the ‘I’ is the purpose of spiritualism so as to prepare oneself to approach divinity.
I have been hearing this too often. The ego, the culprit, has to be killed! It seems to be there in all the spiritual texts. It looked to me as a sort of extortion to commit suicide! The saying itself is traditional, and by repetition it has almost become a cliché that nobody pays much attention to, as if it is a saying taken for granted in any spiritual talk or discussion.
But for the understanding of the present day minds, there is a slightly different approach to the same idea or fact, which appeals to me. The EGO can never be eliminated. It can only be quieted. Elimination of the ego is suicide. Only when the person dies the ego gets eliminated from the body. Here what is meant by the EGO is the constant feeling of ‘I’ and not the boosting of the ‘I’ with self importance.
‘I’ is necessary in day to day life. Like the mind, and being a creature of the mind, ‘I’ is a useful tool that can be used positively and constructively. Here the user is also ‘I’, activated and identified by the underlying reality.
‘I’ is quiet in real meditation, may be even for a few moments only. But on coming out of meditation, ‘I’ becomes as active and as virulent as ever, unless the ‘I’ is understood while in meditation or otherwise. Every aspect of ‘I’ has to be directly perceived and understood before it can become quiet. When the ego is quiet one can go ‘beyond’ it. Or at least try to feel what is behind it illumining it. Direct perception of the ego in meditation eliminates its virulent negativity and allows itself to be quiet even on coming out of the state of meditation. Attention to all passing thoughts, images, visions, emotions, regression incidents etc. help to perceive and understand the ego allowing itself to be totally quiet until evoked for use.
As an example let us take the ego’s fear of death. Fear of death is part of the ego, the ‘I’. In meditation you either feel or perceive as an outsider, the nature of the fear of death with all the accompanying symbols, images, noises and visions. You notice the underlying fear and understand that there is actually only ‘fear’ underneath and not ‘fear of death’ in particular’ It is the one fear as a single emotion that is projected as fear of death, fear of disease, fear of losing one’s job, etc., etc. On understanding this, the fear, losing its identification with death, becomes quiet. That part of the ego is then quiet even after coming out of meditation, because the knowledge of the nature of fear remains with the ego. Simple fear as a dormant emotion may still be there because of one’s physical chemistry, but its intensity slowly fades.
I have been hearing this too often. The ego, the culprit, has to be killed! It seems to be there in all the spiritual texts. It looked to me as a sort of extortion to commit suicide! The saying itself is traditional, and by repetition it has almost become a cliché that nobody pays much attention to, as if it is a saying taken for granted in any spiritual talk or discussion.
But for the understanding of the present day minds, there is a slightly different approach to the same idea or fact, which appeals to me. The EGO can never be eliminated. It can only be quieted. Elimination of the ego is suicide. Only when the person dies the ego gets eliminated from the body. Here what is meant by the EGO is the constant feeling of ‘I’ and not the boosting of the ‘I’ with self importance.
‘I’ is necessary in day to day life. Like the mind, and being a creature of the mind, ‘I’ is a useful tool that can be used positively and constructively. Here the user is also ‘I’, activated and identified by the underlying reality.
‘I’ is quiet in real meditation, may be even for a few moments only. But on coming out of meditation, ‘I’ becomes as active and as virulent as ever, unless the ‘I’ is understood while in meditation or otherwise. Every aspect of ‘I’ has to be directly perceived and understood before it can become quiet. When the ego is quiet one can go ‘beyond’ it. Or at least try to feel what is behind it illumining it. Direct perception of the ego in meditation eliminates its virulent negativity and allows itself to be quiet even on coming out of the state of meditation. Attention to all passing thoughts, images, visions, emotions, regression incidents etc. help to perceive and understand the ego allowing itself to be totally quiet until evoked for use.
As an example let us take the ego’s fear of death. Fear of death is part of the ego, the ‘I’. In meditation you either feel or perceive as an outsider, the nature of the fear of death with all the accompanying symbols, images, noises and visions. You notice the underlying fear and understand that there is actually only ‘fear’ underneath and not ‘fear of death’ in particular’ It is the one fear as a single emotion that is projected as fear of death, fear of disease, fear of losing one’s job, etc., etc. On understanding this, the fear, losing its identification with death, becomes quiet. That part of the ego is then quiet even after coming out of meditation, because the knowledge of the nature of fear remains with the ego. Simple fear as a dormant emotion may still be there because of one’s physical chemistry, but its intensity slowly fades.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Symbols of terror and fear
Symbols of terror and fear: Behind the ancestral joint family house we were living way back in the twenties of the last century, there was a hill known by the same name as that of my family. It was a hill with naturally terraced slopes thickly vegetated and with wild growth of tall trees like teak wood, jack fruit, mango, and a large number of other jungle wood. There were even a few sandal wood trees. While climbing up one could see hares, rabbits, and wild fowl running about. At night we could hear the howling of jackals, wild cats and the hooting of large owls, known to be an omen signifying death somewhere in the area.
Once we reached the top of the hill we could run on flat plain ground carpeted with green grass stretching from one end on the right to the other end on the left, where there was the famous Siva temple. Portions of the flat plain nearer the temple was rugged with black boulders. During the Onam season we, the group of boys and girls in the house, of eight to twelve years age, used to climb up the terraces to reach the top where there were plenty of bushes on the sides full of flowers of all hues to pluck and gather.
I would run up the first few terraces with all energy and enthusiasm, but would have to immediately slow down breathless while others would happily proceed to move up much ahead. I would feel tired with a sort of heaviness crushing my chest. Stopping for a minute or two, I would attempt to catch up with the others. But a sort of fear and loneliness haunted me then making me afraid of being left alone Yet, I would push myself up, not wanting to be considered unfit to go up.
On the third or fourth day of the first truck up on my being allowed in the team, as I parried for breath, I noticed some newly half burnt and charred logs of wood kept by the side at the edge of one of the terraces. Suddenly, a funny feeling engulfed me making me sad and afraid. Something was eerie there! Other boys told me in whispers that the logs are left-over of the cremation of some dead body. Somebody had died a couple of days earlier. Terror struck me in the pit of my stomach as if it was waiting for a reason to strike. I somehow pretended as if nothing had happened, but while returning made it a point to walk as far away from the logs as possible covering myself from it behind other boys. The fear remained and haunted me at night, the dark, charred logs appearing before my closed eyes.
Thereafter, I felt terror and torment whenever I crossed the charred logs, any charred logs, and sometimes even those which had no connection with any cremation or death. It was as if the terror was always there within oneself waiting for an opportunity to haunt. Charred logs, a symbol of death served as a trigger.
As time passes one wards off from the mind all fearful and uneasy thoughts and symbols to get along with day to day life. Emotional upheavals of everyday life and absorption in work help one to keep aside what is unpleasant and fearful. But they are never forgotten altogether. They come up and surface later on whenever the mood is depressing.
The opportunity for going into the phenomenon came when I suffered a heart problem at the ripe old age of seventy-five years. I had to get an angiograph done. Now I have a CD showing the beating of my heart and the blood vessels supplying blood to my heart. From the time of my birth I have been having an insufficient blood vessel supplying blood to my heart, and I have been living all along only because of a not-so-efficient connecting vessel from one side of the heart to the other known as a ‘collateral’. A sinking feeling, with fear and terror, is part of the problem whenever any exertion is done with an insufficient heart.
Connecting everything together, I came to the following conclusion. The insufficiency of my heart started manifesting itself as soon as I climbed a few terraces of the hill of my childhood. I started becoming breathless, started having the sinking feeling and the fear of death. At that exact moment I noticed the charred logs that had a connection with death, and got mentally fixed to it. A coincidence or not, the insufficiency of the heart, the breathlessness, the fear and terror, the charred logs, cremation, dead body and the natural fear of death, all combined together to create an obsessive fear of charred logs! Does Destiny or Almighty pre-plan such a thing to teach a person an elevating lesson? I wonder.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
blank mind?
When the mind is deliberately kept silent, it is blank with no thought allowed to be present. But it is not naturally silent, not spontaneously quiet. Lurking behind, waiting to erupt out are fears and thoughts not allowed to come up and surface.
What are they? Fears to be tackled, tasks to be completed, disputes and controversies to be settled, problems to be solved, and emotions that are suppressed. When all these are lurking below the surface of the blank mind how can deeper and deeper disturbances lying dormant in the subconscious come up breaking the barrier of the superficial thoughts and fears near the surface?
Therefore what is in the surface has to be first allowed to come up and exhaust itself by directly seeing them and understanding them, if thoughts and emotions lying dormant deep within are to be noticed and tackled. Therefore it is not advisable to try to create a silent mind in order to avoid facing minor disturbances. What is needed is only not to go along with the disturbances identifying with any part of it. Let them come up. Just observe them for what they are, superficial unrealities.
Often when the mind is naturally silent also, it is a blank. Is there then nothing underneath striving to come up? Is it really blank? Yes, and No. Yes, in the sense that no thought or image recognizable at the moment comes up. But No, it is not blank, when you consider the screen before the closed eyes.
There is a screen in front of the closed eyes. The screen then slowly develops pixel dots of different colors. Clouds of different colors move one over the other forming clusters and shapes of no significance. But they are pleasantly bright. As you feel a little relaxed (drowsy), the shapes get meaning and significance. They become people, things, scenes, buildings and landscapes. Sounds appear from nowhere. What is deep down below may come up.
Or may be, one is dreaming or hallucinating! Yet they are from far down within.
But if the mind is in alert attention, although blank, it is a clean slate, a clear color screen with no images or shapes. Such a relaxed state is silent, peaceful and enjoyable. But what has it to do with the power that runs the show?
What are they? Fears to be tackled, tasks to be completed, disputes and controversies to be settled, problems to be solved, and emotions that are suppressed. When all these are lurking below the surface of the blank mind how can deeper and deeper disturbances lying dormant in the subconscious come up breaking the barrier of the superficial thoughts and fears near the surface?
Therefore what is in the surface has to be first allowed to come up and exhaust itself by directly seeing them and understanding them, if thoughts and emotions lying dormant deep within are to be noticed and tackled. Therefore it is not advisable to try to create a silent mind in order to avoid facing minor disturbances. What is needed is only not to go along with the disturbances identifying with any part of it. Let them come up. Just observe them for what they are, superficial unrealities.
Often when the mind is naturally silent also, it is a blank. Is there then nothing underneath striving to come up? Is it really blank? Yes, and No. Yes, in the sense that no thought or image recognizable at the moment comes up. But No, it is not blank, when you consider the screen before the closed eyes.
There is a screen in front of the closed eyes. The screen then slowly develops pixel dots of different colors. Clouds of different colors move one over the other forming clusters and shapes of no significance. But they are pleasantly bright. As you feel a little relaxed (drowsy), the shapes get meaning and significance. They become people, things, scenes, buildings and landscapes. Sounds appear from nowhere. What is deep down below may come up.
Or may be, one is dreaming or hallucinating! Yet they are from far down within.
But if the mind is in alert attention, although blank, it is a clean slate, a clear color screen with no images or shapes. Such a relaxed state is silent, peaceful and enjoyable. But what has it to do with the power that runs the show?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)