Dear fellow citizens,

Our democracy has become an object of ridicule. Only if we become active and put our heads and shoulders together we can save our democracy.

YES.  WE CAN.   If we believe in this and act with conviction.

In doing so with conviction, let us be guided by the following thoughts also:

1. Have vision: A blind person asked Swami Vivekananda: Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?"   He replied: "Yes, losing your vision!"

2. Be bold: “Boldness has genius, power and magic in it” - Goethe

3. Learn from history: “Never forget that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; it is the only way that ever does.”  -  Margaret Mead

4. Make efforts: “There can be efforts that fail but there should not be a failure of efforts”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Anonymous

5. Have an ethics of care: “Developing an ethics of care for the suffering millions will not clash                with your legitimate self interests and will make you happy.” -  Anonymous

I am reproducing below the first article in a series of 22 articles entitled “Let us think and Act with an open mind to Develop a Vibrant Democracy” which draw attention to 30 obstacles which cause a distorted and ineffective democracy and possible solutions for these. You can help to save democracy by making as many people as possible aware of these obstacles and possible solutions, through e-mail and social media like face book and twitter so that we can have healthy debates and arrive at some innovative ideas to save our democracy.

Making use of some of these innovative ideas, I intend to finish this series with two more articles - Articled 23 will spell out the basic principles which will guide formulation of the reformed system of democracy and Article 24 will outline the reformed system of democracy for public debate to arrive at a consensus.

A citizen who cares

Note: Evolving ideas to save democracy after debates on these 22 articles will take some months. To immediately save democracy to some extent, I hope you will actively support the two suggestions given at the end of Article 1 for voting during 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Let us think and Act with an open mind to

Develop a Vibrant Democracy – Article 1

SRB

Introduction: I have identified thirty obstacles which cause a distorted and ineffective democracy and possible solutions for these. Because very few people have time / inclination to read long articles, these are presented in separate brief articles for pointed attention and easier assimilation. I hope this will lead to spreading of awareness and facilitating point by point debate on each of these for saving our democracy.

(Please keep these articles within easy reach for referring back till the series is completed.)

Eligible voters: For good reasons, only adults are allowed to vote in elections to Parliament, Assemblies, Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samithi, Zilla Parishad and Municipalities / Corporations (the pillars of our democracy). But this leaves out a large percentage of our population which unfortunately includes many teenagers who are (unlike in the past) more capable of balanced thinking and energetic action to safeguard democracy than a much larger number of adults, particularly among lakhs of illiterates. Lack of balanced thinking among most eligible voters is forcefully brought out by the Press Council of India Chairperson Justice Markandey Katju’s statements: “Ninety percent Indians vote in droves like sheep and cattle”,…many are ”voting along caste and religious lines.”….many say “I won’t vote because my vote is meaningless.” (Deccan Chronicle dated 31-03-13, page 6). What is worse, many voters are only interested in selling their votes and making a mockery of democracy. This has been emphasized by the anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare: “It often happens that after facing injustice, people decide to teach [parties] a lesson in the elections. However, they forget to do so after being treated to a party at a dhaba or after getting Rs.200 or a Rs .500 note.” (The Hindu dated 18-03-14)

A large proportion of educated adults do not vote probably because their votes are meaningless in the context of the overwhelming 90 % who vote in droves or sell their votes without any intention of safeguarding  democracy.  Callousness or laziness may also play a part. Further, there are errors in voters’ lists (both human and manipulated) which distort elections. Sad to say, effective attempts have not been made to overcome this dismal state of voting, even after about 65 years.

Absence of the truly democratic and sensible right to reject all candidates when none are suitable had swelled the group of uninterested voters.  The NOTA option recently allowed by the Supreme Court (SC) order may not change the situation. Those who do not vote because they feel their vote is meaningless (because of the reasons explained above) or out of callousness or laziness may not come forward to exercise the NOTA option. They cannot be blamed because the SC order does not lead to rejection of the election even when NOTA voters form the majority!! In other words NOTA option, which should have been respected as peoples’ voice, has become meaningless. Only a guarantee from the Election Commission that such a clear expression of peoples’ rejection of all unsuitable candidates  by  majority of voters will lead to fresh election in which the rejected candidates cannot take part will help to get over the feeling of meaninglessness of NOTA. 

It is pertinent that while the non-voting group may or may not exercise NOTA option, those who vote in droves or sell their votes will not exercise the NOTA option because they are influenced by other factors and are not at all bothered about safeguarding democracy. The fact is that both these voting groups together form a large proportion of actual voters and will vitiate the aim of elections even with NOTA provision.

To sustain a vibrant democracy, quality of voters is much more important than extent of coverage of multiform adult population.

Inability to confine voting to only voters who are interested in safeguarding democracy and to make them vote is the first obstacle which has resulted in a distorted and ineffective democracy.

[Note: Since information about elections to the three tiers of Pamchayat Raj institutions is not well publicized, the above remarks about proportions may not be fully relevant for these.]

The main reason for including uninterested and unsuitable voters is blind enforcement of the adult franchise requirement, even when all adults are not interested in voting or are not capable of making proper independent choice. To overcome this, while preparing voters’ lists, it should be ascertained from each adult whether he / she wants to exercise his / her night to vote or not, after the responsibility of a voter is explained to him / her. Those who do not want to vote should be considered ineligible for voting by their own choice and asked to sign an affidavit in a prescribed form as a record of their voluntary rejection of their right to vote. A copy of the affidavit should be given to such persons to avoid doctoring of the list. However, chance should be given to withdraw this affidavit during any subsequent revision of voters’ lists.

The remaining interested voters with confirmed eligibility should be told that voting is not only their right but also their responsibility to elect suitable representatives and that if they do not perform their responsibility without valid reasons their right will be withdrawn. Similarly, if there is sufficient reason to believe that a voter has “sold” the vote or has voted in droves, he / she should be educated about the harmful effect of this wrong action and warned not to repeat it.  In both cases, the relevant fact should be entered in the list and his / her signature obtained. In case they repeat either of these twice (i.e., the third time), their names should be deleted when revising the voters’ lists. However, they should be given a right to appeal to safeguard against misuse or genuine mistakes.

The above modifications are based on two principles: (1) no right can be thrust upon an uninterested person and then blame him if he does not exercise it and (2) no right is absolute and can be withdrawn if the responsibility arising from this right is not fulfilled or the manner of exercising the right invalidates the reason for giving this right. However, any voter should have the truly democratic and sensible right to really reject all candidates when none are suitable (not notionally as per Supreme Court judgment). Till then non-voter’s name should not be deleted.

As stated earlier, confining eligibility to adults only will exclude a large number of younger persons who are capable of balanced thinking and energetic action to safeguard democracy because of modern (technological) advances in education and knowledge environment. To reduce such illogical exclusions, eligibility should be extended to all those who have completed 15 years of age (United Nations, World Health Organization, China and Australia have fixed the lower limit of age for youth as 15 years.) A better alternative is a lower limit of 14 years because a child is defined as below 14 years for child labour. Among the so defined age group (15+ or 14+), eligibility should be confirmed only for those who have expressed their interest in voting, after the responsibility of a voter is explained to them.

It is a pity that even after more than 65 years, most voters do not have the bend of mind and capacity to use their franchise independently and effectively  to develop a sound democracy (resulting in 90% voting in droves or large numbers selling votes – see paragraph 1 of this Article). Most likely, they will not be able to develop these capacities for many more years, in the absence of any mission to rectify matters. Therefore, should we not seriously think with an open mind about other options for exercising peoples’ voice effectively? This aspect will be further explored in later articles.

Amendment of the Constitution will be necessary to introduce these changes in the system. Meanwhile, we can save democracy to some extent if voters apply their mind to the following aspects before casting their vote during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections:

Expertise required to win an election is different from that needed for good governance. Moreover, while the former needs capacity only for one hectic effort, the latter needs capacity for sustained efforts for many years. Another aspect is that politicians who help to win elections by mesmerizing voters by their oratory and false promises are unlikely to be effective in governance. The above lacunae explain why experts in winning elections have often failed even to make good use of a reasonably good administration system to provide good governance. An efficient voter has to watch out to prevent being duped by experts in winning elections. They should demand for facts about their capacity for good governance and merely blaming others and hate speeches should be considered as disqualifications.

All voters interested in saving democracy should use the NOTA option during the coming Lok Sabha elections as told by the anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare “if they did not find a right candidate with character and clean image”(The Hindu dated 18-03-14). They should insist on fresh elections after excluding all present candidates who have been rejected by majority of voters by NOTA option. Those who want to save democracy should not only consciously use NOTA option in the coming Lok Sabha elections but also educate and motivate others to do so. During the coming election, a responsible voter should reject even right candidates if they belong to a political party which is observed to  be giving money incentives or has sponsored candidates with criminal background elsewhere. This is very important because, after election, even these “right persons” will be forced to support party interests at the cost of peoples’ interests, for example give support to the party in not punishing those who are corrupt or have misused their power to help vested interests.

Comments (especially those which point out errors or deficiencies, if any, in this article and thereby help to improve it) and other suggestions to overcome this obstacle are welcome. Please send these to StartRemovingBlocks@gmail.com. I shall make use of all befitting suggestions to prepare the last two articles of this series – Articled 23 will spell out the basic principles which will guide formulation of the reformed system of democracy and Article 24 will outline the reformed system of democracy for public debate to arrive at a consensus.

A close look at our democracy

SRB

Eligible voters: For good reasons, only adults are allowed to vote in elections to Parliament and Assemblies (the pillars of democracy). But this leaves out a large percentage of our population which unfortunately includes many teenagers (unlike in the past) who are more capable of balanced thinking and energetic action to safeguard democracy than a much larger number of adults, particularly among the large number of illiterates. Moreover, a large proportion of adults are not interested in voting. Sad to say, attempts have not been made to ascertain the reasons for this. Absence of the truly democratic and sensible right to reject all candidates when none are suitable has swelled this group. What is worse, enormous number of voters is only interested in selling their votes and making a mockery of democracy. It is pertinent that both these groups, which are not at all bothered about safeguarding democracy, form a large proportion of voters and vitiate elections. Further, there are errors (both human and manipulated) in voters’ lists. To sustain a vibrant democracy, quality of voters is much more important than extent of coverage of multiform adult population. Inability to confine eligibility to all suitable voters only and to make them interested in voting is the first drawback which results in a distorted and ineffective democracy.

Elections: Let us assume that, at best, an average of about 70 % of eligible adults votes during elections. Most elected persons receive much less than 50% of the total votes cast. Therefore, at best, most elected persons represent less than 35% of adult population, often much less. This proportion will be substantially decreased further if we exclude votes of those who do not really contribute to a fair choice of representatives because of their interest in selling their votes. This grossly inadequate and perverted representation of people is the second drawback which results in a distorted and ineffective democracy.

Cost of elections: Governments have to spend enormous amounts of money to organize elections even though they fail to a throw up a fair choice of representatives. Huge amounts of public money are wasted because the main purpose of ensuring true democracy is not achieved (as explained earlier also). Candidates for election and political parties who sponsor them also have to spend enormous amounts. They are happy to do so only because the system gives them unfair opportunities to amass wealth. This attracts criminal mafia also to get elected by using money power or intimidation. Thus, the system of elections not only fails to achieve its aim of ensuring democracy despite the huge cost but also is the root cause of unlimited corruption and control by mafia. This is the third drawback which results in a distorted and ineffective democracy.

Representation through political parties: None of the political parties generally secure majority of even the votes cast let alone majority of adult population. Moreover, a sizeable proportion of even the votes received might have been bought. Therefore, the claim of being representatives of people is hollow even when they mange to form governments. Further, vast majority of elected persons are not free to express their opinions frankly to support the needs and feelings of people whom they represent because of being subservient to their party leaders and use of whip while voting. Subtle threats to curb dissent are also not uncommon. The resultant combination of subservience and fear psychosis has led to some sort of dictatorship within political parties. Hardly any political party has effective internal democracy. This shows their lack of respect for democracy. Further, party interests get much higher priority than national and state interests.

Callousness about national and state interests has led to many serious consequences. While number of millionaires and extravagant spending by many thousands of people to show off wealth are shooting up, poverty and hunger continue to be alarming. India has a very low ranking (134 out of 167 countries in 2011) in UN Human Development Index, which highlights our abysmally low socio-economic level unlike the misleading GDP. The situation is actually more alarming because there has been deterioration from the earlier rank of 122 out of 170 in 2010 (a fall of 12 points instead of improvement wrongly highlighted by GDP growth).  Further, in the Multidimensional Poverty Index complied by UN for 109 countries India ranks highest.  These show beyond any doubt that the rich poor gap has widened further despite the misleading GDP growth. A World Bank report ranked India a lowly 134^th out of 183 countries for ease of doing business and world’s second worst for enforcing contracts. A recent survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has shown that 15-year old Indian students fared 2^nd worst among 73 countries for reading, mathematics and science.  Malnutrition is widespread and alarming. According to World Health Organization, 50% of Indian children are either underweight or stunted. Foeticide to get rid of girl child is ridiculously high. Even in information technology, which gives pride of place for India and boosts employment and income, its use for e-governance has fallen from an already dismal rank of 119 to 124 in 2012, as shown by a UN e-government survey!

It is likely that there are many more of such deplorable situations waiting to be highlighted. Have any of our political parties bothered to think about all these manifold shameful situations, let alone take any action? Have any questions on these been at least raised in Parliament? It is a pity that instead of hanging their heads in shame, political parties assume airs of superiority and feel smug and exhilarated. No wonder, people have lost respect for politicians and even Parliament and Assemblies.

On the other hand, there is no shortage of talented persons in political parties. If only they were encouraged (or at least allowed) to think and act giving more priority to national interest than to party interest, India’s position would not have been so shameful in so many aspects. A pertinent example is that when Dr. Manmohan Singh was allowed to think and act in national interest, he boldly saved the country from disgrace by the reforms he brought out. Unfortunately, it seems that he is not in a position (or mood) now to give priority to national interests and boldly bring out further reforms in peoples’ interest (e.g., rooting out corruption, controlling inflation and reducing inequalities etc.). Most elected leaders (including brilliant ones) are puppets in the hands of a coterie within parties. The former do not bother about this as long as they are able to amass wealth or retain their position of importance.

The aspects discussed above constitute the fourth (may be the most serious) drawback which results in a distorted and ineffective democracy. We have to seriously ask ourselves whether having political parties helps or hinders democracy!

Government formation: Selection of Prime Minister (PM) / Chief Minister (CM) is often influenced by hero worship on the one hand and fear psychosis on the other. Moreover, the method of selection does not have even a semblance of democracy. A coterie of most influential leaders of the party (or parties) which form government makes the selection and a farcical election is conducted to give pretence of democracy. As a result, the PM and CMs do not have firm majority support and are not able to function effectively. They have to even support ministers who are corrupt, inefficient or acting against national / state interest, instead of taking action against them. PM / CM and the coterie of influential leaders then select ministers and allot portfolios to them. Experience and efficiency in carrying out required functions are supposed to play a part. But in reality there are number of extraneous considerations and power play which are not conducive to running an efficient government in a democratic manner. Non-government members of the coterie exercise powers without accountability. All these actually result in a type of subtle and invisible dictatorship rather than democracy. This is the fifth and serious drawback which results in a distorted and ineffective democracy.

Political leaders: An important aspect of present day leadership is that higher the level of leaders in the hierarchy the more distant they are from people. Moreover, from leaders they rapidly transform themselves into bosses and feel smug and exhilarated. They start dictating to other elected leaders, civil society leaders and professional experts rather than patiently listening to them to ascertain problems and their views. They distribute favours and / or money to sustain bossism and increasingly tend to believe that favours and money can buy any thing. Sad to say, they rarely fail. When they do, they join together to curb disagreement. Another bossing strategy is to cleverly manipulate creation of caste and regional conflicts as well as cliques and other favourable conditions to safeguard their interests and to promote dependency among people, rather than sincerely helping them to have a reasonably good quality of life, besides enjoying peace and freedom. Higher their manipulating efficiency the stronger and dictatorial they become. They are openly delighted when people go to them with “begging bowl” or at least hang around them (often with garlands or tempting offerings) and worship them. Modesty, humility, simplicity, sincerity of purpose and an ethics of care for aam admi steadily decrease with their ascendancy in power. They tend to forget that true respect from public has to be earned and cannot be bought or made to order. This is the sixth drawback which results in a distorted and ineffective democracy.

How Parliament / Assemblies work: The callous and interrupted manner in which these institutions work is notorious and has resulted in loss of respect for these institutions, besides huge wastage of public money. Attitude of members and their actions often show that they are more guided by their party’s interest than by national and state interests. Disruptions and walk outs are so common that lot of time and public money are wasted. Moreover, because of absenteeism quorum is often lacking. Shameful “photographic” exposures of members sleeping or watching porn during sessions speak volumes about their lack of desirable character, dignity and sense of responsibility. All these show absence of both accountability and interest in the work for which they have been elected by people. Yet, they quite often greedily and shamelessly vote without conscience to increase their remuneration and perquisites (which are already high), forgetting that they have neither fulfilled their responsibilities to ensure development and peace in the country nor acted sincerely to reduce suffering of lakhs of people. Instead of helping the poor and down trodden, they have repeatedly helped the richer classes to become richer. Such undemocratic and inhuman practices also have led to the abysmal fall in respectability of Parliament and Assemblies and their members and have given room for stinking remarks like the following (for example): “…..the glaring tale of how a handful of companies are becoming abnormally wealthy by amassing an obscene amount of land and natural resources, that too at throw away prices, thanks to the dacoits running this country in the garb of politicians” (page 12, Deccan Chronicle, Bangalore dated 13-04-12). How many of the MPs / MLAs have at least frowned about the manifold shameful situations faced by the country (pointed out in this and earlier paragraphs)?

On the other hand, there are highly talented and principled persons in Parliament and Assemblies. If only they were allowed to talk freely, these institutions could have witnessed excellent healthy debates on topics of national / regional / state interest, which could have ensured respect and credibility for themselves and these institutions.

Since attempts to stem the suicidal rot in these institutions, which are the pillars of democracy, are sadly lacking, disillusionments, antagonism, cynicism, intolerance, hostility and violence have already crossed danger levels in many areas (e.g., Maoism, separatism, attempts at disintegration, manipulated violent protests, ethnic violence and disgruntled or intolerant groups taking to the streets and burning vehicles at the drop of a hat, in many areas) and more are likely to follow. This is the seventh and very serious drawback which results in a distorted and ineffective democracy.

Definition of democracy: Democracy is defined as: “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” Justice Santosh Hegde said: “Instead, it has become of the elected, by the elected and for the elected.” Even views of all elected representatives hardly come into the picture. Therefore, “Government of some elected, by some elected and for some elected” represents the reality better!

Mahatma Gandhi, “Father of our Nation”, who had fought for freedom, dignity and democracy throughout his life would be most unhappy if he were alive today. But how many of our present leaders, who glorify him on Gandhi Jayanthi day, really care? It is pertinent that the government has been sitting for more than 7 years on poll reforms suggested by the Election Commission. Therefore, it is naïve to depend on government to initiate even electoral reforms, let alone save democracy. It is high time we ask ourselves: Are we happy with the present distorted and ineffective democracy which is more like a subtle invisible dictatorship? Is not the present pseudo democracy against the spirit of our Constitution? Can we depend on the government or political parties to really take interest in bringing in reforms which are suicidal to the greedy and selfish interests of some influential political leaders? Should we not wake up and act in a peaceful manner to usher in true and vibrant democracy? Many more crucial questions can be added!

“The important thing is not to stop questioning”  Albert Einstein

Without further waste of time, people with vision among our social activists, legal experts, the media and younger generation ought to take keen and sustained interest, study these aspects thoroughly and suggest alternate systems for ensuring a true and vibrant democracy, before violent protests spread widely and rock the country. These should then be debated thoroughly with the help of media to arrive at a consensus and adopted, if necessary, by making changes in our Constitution. This is the peaceful way to save our democracy and prevent a violent revolution, similar to what is occurring in some countries, which may not be far off otherwise. If we do not make such joint efforts now posterity will blame us for our callousness which led to anarchy and violence.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”

Edmund Burke

       “There can be efforts that fail but there should not be a failure of efforts”

     anonymous

I have made some mistakes

SRB

In my earlier article “Ravi needs our help and support”, I have made some mistakes. Because of the simplicity and humility reflected in Ravi’s thoughts and actions, I told you that he is a common man and needs our help and support. However, I am not upset by this mistake because there is hardly anyone who has not made mistakes. What matters is the urge to correct mistakes. Only a small proportion have this urge even after mistakes are pointed out and still smaller proportion to realize the mistake on their own and correct it. I wanted to belong to the second category.  But Ravi did not give me a chance and I had to drop to the first category.

Ravi appeared during my dream and revealed that He is the Sun God who removes darkness and brings light everywhere in this world, besides giving the warmth neded for existence. He was traveling incognito to understand realities in India.  He was shocked to find  that we are often distracted and engrossed by fancy ideas like growth rate, copying the west etc. and do not pay attention to simple solutions to help common people in many ways. I told Him that we shall respect His message of having a national script for all Indian languages, which indeed removes darkness and brings light to people of India. He smiled even more brightly and told me that he considers a national script as an intermediate goal only and our real goal should be a global script for all languages which will remove darkness and bring light all over the world, as he is accustomed to doing every day, with a bright smile. He expressed the wish that all Indians will carry out persistent efforts as a team, with smile and determination, to make the national script a reality, instead of being trapped a Babel tower approach and thereby set an example which will motivate others around the world also to avoid a Babel tower approach and work hard together, with smile and determination, to make global script a working reality.

Let us listen to this message

from one who removes darkness and brings light everywhere

and act together with smile and determination

until we succeed in having a national script.

RAVI  NEEDS  OUR   HELP  AND  SUPPORT

SRB

Ravi is a common man, intelligent and educated. He is proud to be an Indian and has great respect for Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation, and his philosophy. He has genuine concern for aam admi.

Ravi was keen to meet fellow Indians living in other parts of his beloved country, experience the delight in mingling with other cultures and enjoy the varied beauty of Nature. So he decided to travel to other states.

He started with a bus journey. He was to reach his destination by next morning. So, he woke up at dawn and was looking out of the bus window to find out where he was. But all the signboards he passed were in a script that he could not understand. He reminded the conductor about his destination and had a shock when he was told that he had passed it. The conductor told him by which bus he could get back to his destination. Ravi got down and waited. He stopped each bus that came by because he could not read the signboards on these buses, which were written in a script unknown to him. The bus conductors shouted at him for not looking at the signboard and wasting their time. The passengers in these buses and those waiting with him mistook him for an illiterate villager and laughed with contempt. He felt ashamed and lost in his own country. Ultimately, he got into the proper bus and got down at his destination with help from a co-passenger. He looked around for a place to eat. A kind gentleman gave the name of a hotel and the road in which it is located. But all road names and signboards were in an unknown script and he again felt lost in his own country, besides feeling very hungry. He could not do anything without help from others! Even this posed problems because only few could understand him. He continued to have such problems and frustrations wherever he went, in his own country.

During his travels through many states, Ravi felt unhappy when he saw vast expanses of wasteland after wasteland. Being idealistic, he decided to buy some wasteland and develop it as a model farm to demonstrate use of waste lands. The sale deed was in an unknown script and he had to seek help to check whether his name, area of land bought, survey number and other important details were correctly mentioned in the sale deed. He went to a bank to take a loan for developing his land and was asked to sign some forms in a language that he could not read.  When he went to the post office to authorize his local manager to receive mails in his name, he was asked to sign a form that he could not read. He had similar difficulties in many other offices also. When he sent his man to buy things, he returned with a cash bill that he could not read. He had to face many such problems of different types. Then he decided to learn the local language. Being intelligent and observant, he realized that learning the script was the most difficult and uninteresting part of learning another language. After learning the script, it was not difficult to attain a working knowledge of any language.

After he learnt the script of the local language, most of his difficulties were over. He could read and understand names of places, things, cash bills etc. of common use, even without mastering the language. But, there are so many Indian languages! How many language scripts could he (or any Indian) learn? It dawned on him that these problems could be solved if we have a common script for all Indian languages. How helpful it will be for all Indians! Any Indian can then travel around his country and manage day-to-day requirements, without much difficulty and need not feel ashamed and lost in his own country. A national script will also make it easier for any Indian to learn other Indian languages. After all, a script is only a means to convey ideas and the richness of literature of any language can be enjoyed even when it is written (rewritten) in a national script.

Not being selfish, he wanted to find out whether having a national script will cause problems for others. He contacted a learned professor, who was known to be progressive minded. The latter was full of admiration for Ravi who came to him with a pragmatic solution to the difficulties faced by many Indians and who was deeply concerned to know whether his solution will create problems for others. He told Ravi that out of the total population of 1,027 millions in 2001, only about 562 millions, who were literate, have to learn the new national script also. But, this will not be a vain sacrifice even for them because they will benefit a lot by learning a script used by all languages, as explained earlier. On the other hand, there were 465 million persons who were yet to learn any script. Further, about 220 millions would have been added by now and every year about 20 millions more will be added. Thus, an enormous number of present and future Indians would have to start learning a script for the first time, in any case. For them, learning a national script (used by all languages) will not pose additional problems and will be a great help. The professor told him that having a national script will lead to much more inter-mingling of persons from different states and to mutual appreciation of the literature in various languages of India. This will, no doubt, accelerate national integration much more than any of the steps taken so far. He told Ravi that our efforts over more than 60 years at national integration by having Hindi as the national language had failed partly because the vast majority had to undergo the trouble of learning an additional script – the Hindi script. They also felt that this had given users of Hindi an advantage that they did not have to learn an additional script, unlike all others. Hindi would have been more widely used all over our country if all languages had a common script. Having a national script for all languages avoids these and many other irksome problems and will remove the blocks in national integration to a large extent. This will also help to counteract the disintegrating tendencies that are, unfortunately, spreading their tentacles. Moreover, a national script makes it easy to use computer in any Indian language, without special efforts. He congratulated Ravi for his excellent pragmatic idea.

Thus assured, Ravi is keen to develop a national script to be used by all Indian languages. Being a common man, he alone cannot achieve this worthy goal. He needs support and help from all of us to develop a national script, even if it means little sacrifices on our part, for the good of all our Indian brotherhood. It is important for all of us to realize that by supporting and helping Ravi we are in fact helping ourselves and our future generations to become true Indian citizens.

“Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts, and thoughts into action.”                                                    A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (Ex-President of India)

“Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”  -  Goethe

                                                     LET US BE BOLD ENOUGH TO DREAM, RETHINK AND ACT

Let Us Rethink and ACT: Adopt Multiple Strategies to Wipe Out Terrorism

Let Us Rethink and ACT: Adopt Multiple Strategies to Wipe Out Terrorism

LET US RETHINK AND ACT

OFTEN, WE HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING MANY PRACTICES ONLY BECAUSE NO ONE HAS QUESTIONED THESE. BY RETHINKING AND ACTION WE CAN COME OUT OF THESE RUTS. THIS SITE AIMS TO QUESTION OBSOLETE PRACTICES AND TO EXCHANGE AND DEBATE NEW IDEAS AND REACH A CONSENSUS ABOUT HEALTHY CHANGES NEEDED FOR ENSURING PROGRESS, PEACE AND HAPPINESS FOR ALL. THIS SITE WELCOMES EVERYONE TO POST IDEAS ABOUT COMING OUT OF THE RUT AND TO COMMENT ON SIMILAR POSTS BY OTHERS. INVITING YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN WILL WIDEN THE DEBATE.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008                                                                                                                  

      

LET US RETHINK AND ACT

Very often we do not question some practices that are in vogue for a long time. Only if we develop an approach of rethinking and action can we come out of the ruts in which we have placed ourselves. If we rethink, we will be surprised that we have been blindly following many practices and approaches only because no one has questioned these. The aim of this blog site is to question all such obsolete practices and approaches as well as to exchange and debate new and innovative ideas so as to reach a consensus for joint action for effecting healthy changes and for ensuring progress, peace and happiness for all.This site welcomes everyone to post their ideas (and articles they come across) about rethinking to come out of the rut and to comment on similar material posted by others so that a healthy debate comes up. Inviting your friends to join will help to widen the debate. Once a consensus is reached after the debate, please participate in the discussions about the goal and steps to be taken to implement the consensus as well as to take concerted action to achieve the goals.Actions based on rethinking are essential to have healthy changes, progress, peace and happiness for all.peace.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008

Terrorism has failed!!!

FORWARDING NOTE

The attached article states that terrorism has failed. If you doubt this, please read it.

Para 1 shows that none of the possible aims of terrorists have been achieved.

The article also raises some other important points and suggests a multi-pronged strategy to wipe out terrorism, with emphasis on human approach for all round     

1. The aim of terrorists to create fear psychosis among people was a partial success only. Even in this, they werehelped by the imbalanced publicity which unwittingly attached higher value to the comparatively fewer lives lost from terrorist attack as against the much larger numbers lost because of floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, road accidents, collapsing structures etc. We have only to get rid of fear to put the final nail on the coffin of terrorism. Meanwhile, one can expect spurts in violence due to desperate acts when facts about their failures dawn upon the terrorists. [Para 1 (2) on page 2]

2. Ironically, the terrorists suffer more than their targets. While the terrorists have to hide or run for life, their supporters and the entire community to which they belong are under the needle of suspicion and face discriminationand many other problems every day, besides feeling constantly insecure. [Para 1(5) on page 3]

3. One approach is to improve intelligence by augmenting and overhauling the security agencies and organizing people to facilitate and support their efforts. [Para 3 on page 3]

4. While sufferings of the comparatively much fewer people who are victims of terrorism are splashed all over the media, sufferings of much larger numbers who are victims of suspicion are clouded in secrecy. This is an apt case ofcure being grossly worse than the disease. [Para 4 on page 4]

5. The present war against terrorism by even advanced countries has failed. Multi-pronged approaches, including a psychological "war", are needed to wipe out terrorism. [Paras 4 & 5 on page 4] Only a humanitarian approach can permanently banish terrorism and ensure all round peace. It has only winners – no losers - an importantrequirement for all round peace. [Para 2 on page 3]

6. A peace mission is necessary to counteract misinformation among aggrieved groups so that they withdraw their misguided support to terrorists. Fortunately, there are signs that communities are already waking up and reacting against terrorism. [Para 6 on page 5]

7. United Nations ought to declare an ANTI-TERRORISM DAY? [Para 7 on page 5]
For UN to declare an ANTI-TERRORISM DAY, lot of people have to lobby for it. You can help by forwarding copies of this note and the article to world leaders and all your contacts. This will also help to overcome the fear psychosis which serves no purpose at all.

THE ARTICLE

TERRORISM HAS FAILED

HORIZON IS STILL BRIGHT EVERYWHERE!

GET RID OF FEAR:

TO PUT THE FINAL NAIL ON THE COFFIN OF TERRORISM


Terrorists have been active all around the world for years. WHAT HAVE THEY ACHIEVED AFTER SO MANY YEARS? PRACTICALLY NOTHING! They are still struggling to achieve their aims, if they have any clear aims.

1. An objective analysis shows that the net results from any type of terrorism are:

(1) In all the affected places, without a single exception, life became normal after a brief temporary set back. These acts of violence have not at all prevented people from carrying out their normal activities. They continue toenjoy life, as usual. Moreover, such acts have not affected economic growth or destabilized governments.
(2) Another aim of terrorists was to create a fear psychosis among people. They have achieved temporary successin this because loss of life due to terrorist attacks had been followed by a much larger hue and cry than even much bigger losses due to calamities such as floods, earthquake, hurricanes, road accidents, collapsing of structures etc. Thoseattaching such differences to value of life have only unwittingly helped the terrorists in their aim to create fear. However, a closer look reveals that while terrorist attacks have only temporarily inflicted fear in the minds of people despite the imbalanced publicity, they have inflicted more prolonged fear among those dear to the terrorists themselves and even entire communities to which they belong. Unlike the latter which persists, fear in the public mind has invariably faded with time. Moreover, repeated inflictions of fear harden people and develop courage in them. For example, people who live in areas subjected to frequent wars or calamities have become mentally strong. They have realized that fear has not helped to solve the problem but has only worsened it. People have only toget rid of their fear to put the final nail on the coffin of terrorism. Meanwhile, when the terrorists are in the process of getting demoralized by realization of the failure of their aims, one can expect a spurt in violence as desperate acts even after shorter intervals.

(3) Neither have these attacks helped the poor or underprivileged people in whose name these were supposed to have been carried out or the estranged communities which suffer from constant insecurity.

(4) Mostly, only innocent people have died or suffered.

(5) The terrorists have only forced themselves to run for life or hide, away from their dear family and friends!WHAT A LIFE? Their morbid minds have become more morbid, angry and frustrated. Thus, it is an irony of fate that the terrorists themselves are indirect victims of their terrorist acts - not only those who are direct victims of such acts. Moreover, because of the few deranged persons involved in terrorism, entire communities to which they belong have come under the needle of suspicion and have to face discrimination and many other problems every day, besides constant feeling of insecurity. Yet, they are blind to all these realities because of hatred indoctrinated in them by vested interests that have only made use of them as pliable tools to suit their whims. Can these people with hatred and violence in their mind ever find happiness and peace? DEFINITELY NOT not! If these persons wake up and ask their leaders whether they can assure happiness and peace for them and their families, they will realize how badly they have been hoodwinked.

(6) DO NOT ALL THESE DEMONSTRATE A TOTAL FAILURE OF TERRORISM?

2. We have to repeatedly splash all these facts all over the world to overcome the fear sychosis among people in general and also to help the unhappy and misguided terrorists and their supporters to come out of the rut they have placed themselves in and join the main stream which continues to enjoy peaceful life. Creating awareness of this among these entangled human tools of terrorists will help them to become useful citizens and enjoy peaceful and happy life and also remove the slur on their community. This humanitarian approach to terrorists has only winners – no losers - an important requirement for all round peace.3. This does not mean that we do not have to take precautions. THET ARE A MUST. All intelligence agencies have to be overhauled in both quality and quantity. This involves lot of efforts on recruitment, training, procurement of gadgets of high technology (all three on a large scale) etc. and will take time. Meanwhile, they have to put in their best efforts with a sense of commitment to gathering intelligence. People in every locality should spontaneously come forward and organize themselves to facilitate and support their efforts, instead of shedding crocodile tears and leaving it to government alone. Tendency to spread rumours and hoax calls should be strictly avoided. There should be a sense of fearless alertness all around. Special intelligence agencies have to continuously seek help from the normal police and people after guiding them to be effective supporters, facilitators and baseline scanners so that the former can concentrate their attention on the more likely suspects. New comers to any locality should be watched by the local police and people as well as by the special security agencies (when needed), without infringing on their privacy. Anyone finding any suspicious looking articles lying around in public places should immediately report to thepolice. Hotels and other lodging places should be very alert to spot any suspicious activities of their clients, without infringing on their privacy.

4. A sad fact and a word of caution. Following 9/11, some countries had detained and interrogated thousands of suspects and even kept many of them in prison without trial. Definitely, real culprits formed only a negligible part and vast majorities of them were innocent and had suffered. They and their families had also faced humiliation. What is worse, while sufferings of comparatively much fewer people who are victims of terrorism aresplashed in headlines all over the media, sufferings of much larger numbers who are victims of suspicion areclouded in secrecy. This situation is an apt case of cure being grossly worse than the disease. Abundant caution with a humanitarian approach alone can save this unhappy situation.

5. Some powerful developed countries with easy access to high technology had declared a war on terrorism about seven years back. What have they achieved in seven years? VERY LITTLE! Terrorism continues unabated or has become even worse. Writing on the wall is loud and clear. This “war” needs to be strengthened by using other strategies also. A “psychological war” has the potential to defeat (or at least seriously curb) terrorism which grows mainly on indoctrination of innocent susceptible people. SPREADING THE FACTS HIGHLIGHTED ABOVE CAN BE OUR MOST POTENT WEAPON AGAINST TERRORISM. All security agencies ought to do this widely in a subtle manner. The media should take pains to chip in systematically in an organized manner with investigative stories which expose the sad plight of terrorists and their supporters. These efforts will help in gathering intelligence also because more people are likely to become co-operative. The resulting demoralization among active supporters and their indirect support base among people will make it easier to tackle the remaining isolated hard core terrorists.

6. Another potent weapon is to identify and educate the communities or special groups which have been indirectly supporting terrorists because the latter have successfully misinformed the former that they are sacrificing their lives for a cause near to the hearts of these “groups” also. These “groups” generally feel that they have been marginalized in their own country and terrorists cash in on this situation to successfully distort facts and mislead them to gain logistic support. For example, Muslim terrorists are distorting facts among the aggrieved Muslim communities and getting their support for killing people in the name of Allah. It is crucial to inform and motivate these communities to raise their voice against such anti-Islamic killings. This has become easier because some Muslim religious leaders in India have unequivocally spoken out that such killings are forbidden by Islam. A Dargah Committee with 30 mosques under its jurisdiction covering a vast area in Ullal (South India) has asked Muslims and mosque officials to report details of all newcomers and any suspicious activity in the area to the police. There are also places where both Hindus and Muslims worship side by side or even co-operate in their mutual rituals and help each other. Such pronouncements as well as glorious examples of communalharmony deserve high praise and encouragement on a global scale. All these will scoop the earth from under the feet of terrorists and make it difficult for them to continue with their dastardly acts. Similar actions have to be taken to counteract misinformation among other aggrieved “groups” also in order to dissuade them from supporting terrorism of any kind.

7. United Nations ought to declare an ANTI-TERRORISM DAY. Messages like those given above ought to besplashed all over the world in headlines of all media on that day. Flags with “TERRORISM HAS FAILED”should be displayed all over and people with such flags ought to join in processions, meetings etc. Street plays which carry messages can also be organized. While all such activities on this day should aim at removing fear from the public and to demoralizing the terrorists, these should strictly anavoid creating any feeling of animosity toor victimization of any groups. On the other hand, all these should convey an appeal with a humanitarian message of brotherly feeling and help to the misguided and unhappy persons who have been unfortunately dragged into inhuman activities. It is pertinent that most of them may be waiting to come out if forgiven and assured protection from their revengeful top leaders. Those who come out of this rut should be heartilywelcomed to join the global families living in peace and harmony, as one of them. Such acts of WISDOMand MERCY will help all of us to lead a peaceful life.

An ordinary man with human spirit
who wishes lasting happiness and peace for al