Full eBook, All Chapters. Enjoy...

By Santosh Jha

**

Copyright 2014 Santosh Jha

(Revised & Updated 2021)

**

License Note

Thank you for downloading this free eBook. Although this is a free eBook, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Thanks for your support.

**

Table Of Contents

Prologue

The Core Issue, The Central Stupidity

Mechanism Of Populism

The Contemporary Indian Scene

Why This Stampede?

Diagnosis Of Real Troubles

Parbatiya’s Vikas Model!

The Missing Idealism

A Possible Alternative Model

Accept My Gratitude

About The Author

Other Titles By Santosh Jha

**

Prologue

ENERGIES ARE CATASTROPHIC, if they are not streamlined and channelized properly. More so, if extreme reactiveness shapes them, and when they lend gratuitously to charged up emotionalism. This is a common knowledge of humanity; probably no need to overemphasize it, as long history of humanity has already witnessed and realized this. It is also nothing new to state with renewed vigor that the most potentially calamitous energy happens to be ideas, which humans have innate tendency to engender in plenty and then foolishly become victim of it. Even best of ideas become a source of major calamity if they are not understood and accepted in non-reactive and holistic perspectives. Tragic realism is, energies are usually reactive, not receptively assimilative; probably that is why, they prove ineffective to human society. There is no blame game here; just an acceptance of the realism of the mechanism, as it is.

In contemporary India, since long, a virtual stampede of ideas has been set to unleash tumultuous causalities, as the multiplicities of obsessively espoused ideas are roaming without proper channelizing mechanism and streamlining structures. There is a stampede of stupidities pervading Indian societal milieu and the potential outcomes are nothing short of calamitous, even if euphemized by another set of energies of high-sounding and media-sugared ideas. Moreover, the term stupidities, as used here is more in lovingly simple sense, not meant for any reactive utility.

There still is nothing new, which one can be specifically worried of, as this scenario is global and the happenings are only innovatively repetitive, if viewed from historical perspective. It is not that this stampede of stupidities could be patented to India and its contemporary mode and mood. All over the globe, the energies of ideas of youth, neo-youth, activism, the populist nomenclature of common man and the generally embedded force of rejection of status quoist realisms are active players of the stampede. And, there are embedded reasons for it.

This phenomenon too is cyclic in history of time and space on this earth. Energies of ideas for change, guided by the gradient and gravitation of rejection of status quo are basic cyclicality of cosmic evolution and human societies are just a small part of the macrocosmic arrangement, though, in reactive consciousness, we all fail to understand and accept it.

So, why is there a need to talk about it and be overly cautious? Why should we need to call it a stampede and a stupidity and discuss it? Is there a need to talk about it all, if what is going on is just fixed and endemic mechanism of all societies in course of evolution in time and space?

Yes, there is a big need to do it. The express requirement is to deal with the intrinsic issue of evolutionary energies of societies and its mechanisms with an objective, holistic and non-emotional perspective. This integrative and assimilative perspective shall ensure that all players and participants of change, who in their emotional positioning of consciousness and microscopic viewpoint, fail to see the objectivity of the entire mechanism of societal changes, could understand the processes and mechanisms of change in its widest possible spectrum. This shall definitely weed out loads of aggression, ill will, chaos and conflicts out of the contemporary global societies, which are on the threshold of or amidst major socio-political and cultural changes. This shall surely be helpful in supplying the much needed sanity and serenity in the contemporary stampede of stupidities, which pervades India and many other nations.

At the very outset, I wish to make it very clear that the purpose of writing this long essay is surely not to ridicule or belittle any idea, activism or initiatives, which contemporary India as well as different other societies are witnessing. It needs to be reemphasized that all energies are not only endemic in societies but also very beautiful and powerful means of societal changes, which themselves are essential and intrinsic in evolution of humanity and their societies.

What I wish to bring about in this essay is; how and why energies of changes need to be viewed in holism and totality and why problems and solutions too need to be viewed in holistic and assimilative perspectives. The initiative is to speak of how it is very crucial to understand the dynamics of the mechanisms of the overall causality (cause-effect cycle), which ultimately energizes all changes in all societies and how all energies need to be properly channelized and objectively streamlined to instill the essential elements of sanity and serenity in changes. This is important, to weed out the chaos and conflicts, which usually most societal changes are prone to, especially in contemporary times of media-overdrive, reactionary consciousnesses and communication-obesity.

The very affectionate and compassionate idea of this endeavor is to present a case of sanity amidst the milieu of contemporary societal changes, without making anyone a villain and others a hero. All ideas can be wonderfully fruitful and all participants of energies can be catalytic in shaping brilliant changes, if the entire idea of change and its mechanism is understood and accepted in holism and in a non-reactive and receptive causality.

I am taking up the contemporary Indian chaos of 2013-14 as a case study of societal changes in this book and it needs to be emphasized that though, the scenario and ground realities in USA or Egypt can be different from India, the operating mechanisms of societal changes remain the same. I am talking about broad issues and ideas of system’s operational mechanisms and as all societies have very similar structures and functions, there has to be big commonalities in energies of societal changes that are troubling most societies in contemporary times.

**

The Core Issue, The Central Stupidity

What is a stampede? A large group of people, when marching towards one singular direction, queued up in an orderly manner and with firm resolve towards the idea they profess to establish, is a beautiful and powerful procession. The same people, when they start frantically moving and running in all directions, breaking up the pattern of a queue or orderly line-up, with individualistic resolves to lead things to logical end in their own subjective ways, it results in a stampede, which engenders catastrophe.

India has been very fortunate to have witnessed the magnanimity and fruition of the beauty of a powerful and orderly procession under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. This was so effective and universal in its utility that almost all major changes in all societies across the globe imported it and used it in different times, post Indian independence. It was to Mahatma’s credit that he always preferred no energy to a reactive and disorderly aggressive energy. He never patronized the energies of a stampede. This sanity and detachment is missing in Indian participants of contemporary change as most of them hastily succumb to the populist lure of patronizing the energies of the stampede of stupidities for instant or short-term gains.

Societies of nations are huge group of people and they are marvelous agents and participants of change but always a potential of populist presuppositions. Globally, the new idea of liberalism and globalization has resulted in weakening of societies and nations. This has in turn created a stronger and more reactively vocal individual. Probably first time in global history, the common person, the average citizen and a simple voter has become relatively better empowered and emphatic, vis-à-vis the society and governance, he or she lives in.

People of my generation still remember how in India, we as citizens felt alienated and demoralized. Only two decades back, for a simple gas connection to as trifle as few kilograms of low quality sugar, we all had to stand in queues for hours and virtually beg for what were our basic rights. In banks, we were treated like beggars, even when we were drawing our own money. For every little thing, we were dependent on the mercy of state’s services, which were doled out to average citizen as if we were burden on the nation. Now that liberalization and globalization has done away with this state monopoly and now we feel honored and even overly pampered by markets and private producers of quality goods and services, we feel empowered not only as a consumer, but also as citizens. A larger sense of wellness in life and living has taken away the demoralized posture. This has been the scenario for most people in many developing and struggling nations, especially in Afro-Asian societies. In most societies, across the globe, for a larger population, especially the youth, it is a party time!

The new urban and educated Indian citizen now feels empowered and emboldened. He or she has become used to quality services and products. The average citizen knows and accepts that when he or she pays for something, first thing which is delivered to him or her is respectability and then the desired product. This honored and pampered customer is now equally demanding citizen as he or she pays the taxes and loads of it. The governments run the show on their moneys, as few governments have been successful producers to generate enough moneys.

A vociferous citizen and its desire to script changes in societal milieus is the new contemporary reality globally and it has acquired decisive energies from the massive improvement in communication technology and personal media; emboldened by the new culture of openness and liberalization. As an empowered consumer, an average person wants states and its institutions to behave and act in a more respectable way to them and should be approachable to them easily. On the contrary, state institutions and governance behave and act in the old mould and often, they rub the people the wrong way. It is only natural that the new generations of people are in no mood to take this for granted. A change is no doubt a big necessity and this has been procrastinated for long.

The new milieu has troubled all societies and nations across the globe as they have failed to match up with the pace of people’s aspirations and desires of good life. The huge improvements in technologies and sciences have massively lifted up the benchmarks of ‘good life’ across the globe, be it a developing society or a developed one. In that sense, core trouble of USA and Egypt or India is the same. Also similar is the fact that both developed as well as developing nations are facing financial crisis, which has resulted owing to overdrive of governments to appease and fulfill growing desires of average people in contemporary societies, along with other reasons of mismanagement of governance.

What is then the stupidity in all this new worldview? This stupidity is very subtle and as it is on the side of the teeming majority of common people, it is not being recognized and accepted. This needs to be understood. Since long, despite differences among political philosophies about individual liberty and sovereign rights, the nation-state always prevailed over individual liberty. This started to change at the end of the last century, when cold war politics ended and the rigid and oversensitive idea of nation-state, sovereignty and nationalism started to wane. The major wind of change was globalization and opening of economies.

The definitive change however has been brought by massive surge in cutting-edge technologies, especially in communications. All these ensured that nations and governments running them, became growingly less powerful, as one singular identity and desire has begun to take center-stage – individual self-gratification. The individual has now been emboldened by markets. The markets have given a common person a new identity of a consumer, who is now the most pampered entity in contemporary societies. This common person has growingly started to demand services and facilities from governments as it has become used to getting high quality services from private companies.

The impact of consumerism on common man’s attitude and worldview has not been rightly assessed and accepted by state and societies. They still believe in old philosophies of their natural superiority. The liberal and open market economy has given the common person a disastrously deep-rooted habit of demanding and having options. The common person, especially the young, now thinks of himself or herself as consumer of political productions and services. The markets have pampered him or her with so many choices and options that it surely suffocates him or her to find that the political and administrative system is so hugely non-performing and poor service provider with almost no or so little options.

In the modern age of choices, nothing seems like permanent and durable for long term. The common person now has the scary mindset of being impatient and deeply reactive. Psychologists admit that this impatient and reactive common person, pampered with choices and options, has already started to view and accept even relationships as products. The societies all over the globe are facing troubles, as people do not want to live a life in a no option milieu. When people are not willing to drag even in a relationship, as choices and options are available in good measure, how can they be expected to carry the burden of an option-less social or political system, which they perceive as non-performing and a big drag! This attitudinal change in average person’s mindset and worldview has come up fast and societies and nations have not kept pace with it.

The governments all over the globe are struggling as they have since long prospered on the age-old premise that ‘citizens should not think of what nation gives to them but what they give to nation’. The masses are now empowered and pampered consumer, they want governments to become smart, performing and facilitative. There is nothing wrong and troubling in this aspiration of people. The trouble is; nations cannot be private companies.

Nations and governments are not some detached entity like a company, which some people run and which produces and markets a commodity. Nations are cooperative ideas, where people are part of the entity and responsible for its good working and delivery of services. Being a citizen is definitely not like being a customer, though a citizen has every right to good delivery of services by a political system.

The problem, which defines contemporary chaos and conflicts in global societies is; the common man and woman want everything from society and nation but they have little idea as what as a citizen, they need to extend to the society and nation, they live in. The cherished idea of democracy, which worked on the golden principle of people’s participation in governance, has now become identified with a scary populism. Be it governments, political parties, activists, corporate and media; everyone is on an overdrive of populism, pampering the common man and woman.

This pampered common person, emboldened by its newfound empowerment as consumer and game-changer in societies, wants good life and it is very much justified. What creates trouble is this common person often fails to accept its responsibility and culpability. It is sufficient for a customer to pay the money and demand everything else from the producing company. However, as a citizen, he or she is not only a customer but also an equal producer of the services. As a citizen, one cannot say that as he or she has paid taxes, he or she has no responsibilities and duties and he or she should in turn get every facility. Governments are not producing companies and citizens are not consumers.

There cannot be denial to the fact that democratic societies needed an aware and highly informed and disciplined citizenry for its success but the sad realism is that dysfunctional populism and irresponsible common men and women have brought all democratic societies into a veritable chaos. There is a complete imbalance of rights and duties of common men and women towards societies and nations.

The stupidity lies in the fact that major trouble rests with an irresponsible and undisciplined common men and women, still, governments, political parties, corporate, activists and even media are in an overdrive to pamper the common men and women, never ever daring to tell them what is expected of them for the good life they fight for.

The contemporary stampede of stupidities is the result of everyone; the governments, political parties, corporate, activists and even media, doing different things in different ways, professing to doing all these for good life of the common man, even when it is apparent that what they profess is only populist propaganda.

Taking the case of India, I shall endeavor to elaborate how and why it is just only populism and this overdose of populism is the core energy behind this stampede of stupidities.

**

Mechanism Of Populism

Let us understand populism and the harm it does to general wellness of a nation and society, with a day-to-day life example. The food we eat is felt until it stays up to the throat, even while the enjoyment stays only till it remains in the mouth. After that the body mechanism, which continues to work upon the food, is not felt. The mind has 100 billion neurons and billions of other supportive neurons are working incessantly. We can feel and understand only a fraction of its operative mechanism. Rest is mysticism for most.

This is our design. However, the real Hero is a person, who does not divert his or her attention and focus from the food, even when it is past the ‘felt-zone’ of throat. We all need to be aware of and receptive towards the journey of this vital food down the tracts till its last processing. If not, we are bound to compromise with our wellness.

Doctors have been warning us. They say, “Own the onus of the food your mouth shoves to the body, as you are not just your tongue, but the entire body”. The idea is to convey the fact that usually, in our restrictive consciousness, we eat in loads what our mouth, especially tongue likes. It is true that the taste buds are restricted to tongue only and as the food goes down beyond it, we do not wish to remember and care about.

However, we are not only our mouth. Our body is an intricate and huge mechanism. There are long food canal, liver, pancreas, kidneys, heart et al and together there are millions of functions that go on within our body, which we do not consciously register. However, they are crucial for our survival and general well-being. The mouth is our conscious mind but rest of the millions of complex functions are handled by our unconscious mind.

A truly rational and receptive person, cannot restrict its responsibility and attention to just the miniscule conscious part. The subconscious is also our onus as it is the larger domain, which essentially handles our basic health and survival. The rational person shall always know and respect the ‘details’ of the entirety of the ‘body-mechanism’ and shall own the responsibility of the wellness and success of all parts, not only one part.

The conscious-mind in we all, which is restrictively concerned and knowledgeable about only a ‘part’ of the entire complex mechanism, is essentially the ‘Populist Self’ in us. However, a truly empowered person shall definitively be aware and responsible towards the ‘whole’. The holistic, assimilative and integrative perspective towards the ‘mechanism, it its entirety is the hallmark of a true person. It is where, many of us fail.

We cannot blame ourselves. It is our mechanism too! The conscious part, the mouth, gives us tangibles as instant utility and fruition. The mind consciousness is bound to register the immediate advantage of ‘taste-satisfaction’ and extend instant thumbs-up. We eat a huge and rich creamy cake and feel so happy. The tongue gives us a huge thumbs-up as it registers big bonus on satisfaction-scale. However, the burst of calamitous sugar, which goes inside the food tract and gets big disapproval and thumbs down from liver and pancreas, is not registered on the satisfaction-scale. These organs are rather neutral. The mouth is a vocal and populist showman. The liver however is the silent worker.

The ‘Populist Consciousness’ within all of us, has this tendency of giving in to populism. However, the real person shall always have the poise and perspective to see the picture in entirety as the rational person understands and accepts the ‘mechanism’ not in ‘parts’, but in holism and assimilation. The rational and empowered person shall never be swayed away or blown out by populism, as it has the holistic perspective to understand that ‘success’ is not in pampering the mouth with all it ‘wants’, it is rather in ensuring the larger health and wellness ‘needs’ of the whole body. The rationalist understands, “Success is not in having all that we want for instant joys, it is rather in the prudence of having what we actually need for persevered satisfaction”.

The nation and society is also like a person. Populism is only one part of the existence of this body. Politics has over the years become concerned only to the tongue and mouth. As people have become very reactive and restricted in their consciousnesses and as a consumer concerned only with instant-self-gratification, they too basically demand populism. It is only natural that politics as well as markets have become huge suppliers of tangy populism. But, this populism only suits the taste buds of mouth and unleashes calamitous side effects on the other parts of the body. A nation is whole body, not only mouth. Populism is catering only to the mouth, without caring for the wellness of the whole body. It is like enjoying tobacco and liquor. The mouth gives a huge thumbs up to all these but the liver and other organs suffer silently. Finally, the body is taken ill and dies.

No doubt; everyone has equal responsibility in a democracy. The political parties and politicians need to rise above the politics of populism as this harms the wellness of the nation. However, the larger onus always lies with people as the people are the sovereign in a democracy and political system does what they delegate it to do. The people are the masters and political system is there to serve them. The servant shall always do what the masters would say. However, if the masters themselves demand and wish populism, servants cannot be overly and exclusively blamed for populism.

Good and rational persons, societies and nations never fall for populism. Occasional populism is not bad as life is also about fun. However, the primary need is the survival and health of the body. If the body is unhealthy, the mouth loses its taste and joys. India as a nation has since long indulged in the fun and fantasy of mouth populism. It is only showing up very bitterly, as how nation’s overall health has gone down drastically.

The stampede of stupidities are all about not registering this problem and still looking for solutions in populism itself. The problem can never be a solution, though it clearly hints at where solutions can be. The contemporary India is in such reactive and restrictive consciousness that it cannot see its wrongs and that is why, there is little hope for solutions.

**

The Contemporary Indian Scene

The slogan that ‘customer is the king and the voter is wise’ is probably the first line of stupidity, which has its larger than life manifestations in India’s politics. It is more evident, whenever India goes to polls. The stupidities of all shades start blossoming like flowers in spring. It is important to list these stupidities.

The first major stupidity is the idea of ‘common man’. The generalization of the label called common man is a major issue as this creates a picture of a reality, which is conveniently virtual, having little grains of realism. Moreover, this label has been used for the convenience and utility of political players, not the people. Election time is the golden period for average voters, the so-called common man. Everyone is out to pamper the voter and as this pampering goes on, the first stupidity is coined.

The perception is made out that the common man is a victim of political and administrative corruption and everywhere, this common man and voter is in deep agony and crisis. The template, which emerges is, there is a fixed idea and a variable idea. The fixed idea is that common man or voter is a good honest person and he knows what is good and what is not good for the country. Part of this fixed idea is that voter is a victim and everyone else are villains, responsible for his plight. The variable idea is, the opposition says, the ruling party is villain and responsible for plight of common man. The ruling party defends that it did most for common man and only it can do more and more better things for him.

This is cyclic as an opposition party may later or somewhere in states becomes the ruling entity and the current ruling outfit may land up in opposition but the accusations shall remain the same, as the slogans are inter-changeable. The activists say, both are fooling the common man as they are two faces of the same coin; meaning, they both are villains. The activists are out to make the common man believe that they alone can make common man happy and well. Both ideas, fixed and variable are stupidities and hypocrisy at its best.

Let us first take the first stupidity of the fixed idea of the good, honest and ‘know-all’ common man, which everyone in the political community is projecting and promoting to suit their interest. There is a philosophical hypothesis on which the empire of hypocrisies of politics, economics as well as culture presides and thrives. The hypothesis is –

“A human being is born rational and is equipped with an innate general will. Therefore, it intrinsically knows what is good for him and what is bad. The wearer knows where the shoe pinches and if he does not know it, nobody else has the business to tell him where it hurts him.”

This hypothesis, especially the more populist shade of the hypothesis, on which democracy and societies work has no scientific and objective basis and that is why, both societies as well as people are troubled and socio-economic and political systems are flawed. The sad realism is; often, an average person seldom knows what is actually good and bad for him or her, in the long run. Also, few know and realize that what is good for him or her, may not be equally good for the society and nation. This missing realization is the sad premise of all populism.

Therefore, cigarettes, liquors and tobacco products are sold with impunity as the responsibility of health and wellness is with so-called rational common man with so-called inborn general will. Similarly, democracy comes with a hypothesis that common man knows what is good for him and therefore, he shall act responsibly and intelligently while making his choices. Everyone knows, how many people, the common men and women pose themselves intelligently and responsibly towards intoxicants and democracy!

The fact remains that a nation’s population has men and women in broadly eight different consciousnesses and each one is antagonistically disposed towards other. The millions of people, comprising the singular notion or label of ‘common man’ or average voter are divided in mutually conflicting socio-economic and cultural identities too, apart from being in different shades of consciousnesses. Within this singular label of ‘common man’, there are groups of people who are also corrupt, oppressors and inimical to others, in the same label. Unlike the populist hypothesis, the common man label is not a homogenous identity and certainly not singularly intelligent and responsible.

It is political convenience and a populist hypocrisy to say and believe that all poor are one common label. It is not. Within one common label of ‘poor’, ‘downtrodden’ or ‘rich’, there are individuals as well as groups, who battle with each other. Precedents prove that intra-class conflicts and clashes are no less than inter-class conflicts. In all societies, across the globe, population of a country is a mix of intelligent and stupid and for sure, most of them have little idea and inclination to understand and accept how democracy and its important institutions work.

In India, majority of people, even in urban and well off population pockets, have little knowledge about the Constitution of India, the system of governance and their expected duties towards democratic institutions. Majority of people do not know what a federal mechanism is and how Indian federal system faces major challenges. Majority of people, even well educated youth and higher income group people do not understand the parliamentary form of democracy and separation and balance of power between executive, legislative and judicial wings of government. Vast majority of people are foolishly unaware of the mechanism, structures and functions of public administration in India. Sadly, the core idea and true spirit of governance is a rocket science for most people either in common man nomenclature or in elite label.

As a result, even when they vote for electing a member of parliament, the average voter believes that a good candidate is one who gets roads repaired and sewerages clean. The issues of national elections, state elections, local body elections all get muddled up. They cannot accept that an ideal member of parliament is one who has abilities, experiences and personality orientation to become a good lawmaker, who has a vision for larger issues of nation’s welfare. Thankfully, no one asked Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, to get roads repaired and streets cleaned in his constituency, as he would then never have won an election!

Globally, it is now believed that elections in India are now free and fair. Still, every time nation goes to polls, large number of tainted and corrupt people get elected. Can the common man label not be blamed for it. Should only politics be blamed for it. In this case, people say, what people can do? There should be law, which could debar such people from contesting. When there shall not be anyone with dubious and wrong credentials, the people shall automatically elect right persons. This populism is always lapped up, as it suits the masses, making the onus shift away from them. However, if this is accepted, why tobacco and liquor are not banned? If people cannot be made responsible for not electing a wrong person, how can they be relied on that they shall use intoxicants rationally? This hypocrisy is the basis of most populisms. Globally, it is accepted that any government, which shall completely ban tobacco and liquor, shall fall the next day. Many governments in developed nations are even legalizing some popular intoxicants, believing, people have the rationality and will to discern what is good and what is bad for them. This hypocrisy suits all. Though, this golden trait can be there in many people, this cannot be accepted that average people or everyone in this label of common man is such discerning.

Globally, tobacco and liquor are not ‘debarred’ because then it is said, ‘average adult are rational and they can effectively use their discretion’. Why then the voters not blamed for not using their discretion and rationality, when it comes to not electing a corrupt and criminally inclined politician? It is a sad reality but fact remains that tobacco and liquor are killers still, many find utility and satisfaction in them. Many find the same in drugs too. Similarly, tainted and criminally inclined legislators and parliamentarians are killers of democracy still, huge number of people find utility and satisfaction in them as they are either ‘good’ for particular ethnic group of people or their own voters.

The fact remains that, in many parts of India, especially in non-urban areas, voters willingly elect a strongman with dubious record, as this man happens to help them in their personal matters. This man gives them money and protection and stands for them in their need. This man may be the worst candidate for the position of being a parliamentarian but he is there for people’s personal needs. Importantly, if this man has some criminal cases against him, it becomes his extra qualification as he is safely labeled as ‘powerfully endowed’ politician.

Only few decades back, in some trades like transport, petrol pump business, cinema halls, hotels, bars, private security and many other trades, those men would be given priority in recruitments who had criminal cases against them. If they were accused of murder, they would get extra salaries. Suitability is natural to all professions. Even in modern world, this ‘preference’ for strongmen exists. Politics cannot be exclusively blamed for it. Everyone does this and adds to the hypocrisy by accusing others for doing it. Even today, most private companies would prefer young guys with no family or those, who are less sentimental about their family needs, even when their recruitment policy shall talk of high idealisms. Even big companies discourage young women, who want to get married and start family. This of course is unofficial.

It is easy to understand how personal benefits usually stand above general morality and social good. In large parts of India, still when a father of a girl goes to look for a groom, the father of the groom convinces him that his son is in secure government service and has a very peaceful and leisurely life because there is little work in government jobs. His salary may not be very high but he has more than enough ‘extra’ income from his job position as he has good political connections and always gets ‘good’ and lucrative postings. The father of the bride is very happy that his daughter shall be in a good life situation with such a man. His would be son-in-law may be corrupt and non-professional official, but he is happy that he earns well and can give good life to his daughter. Most people happily extend priority to personal utility and satisfaction over societal and national good. This corruption of mind and attitude is global and India cannot be blamed for its high incidence. This is however, purely a socio-cultural issue, not an exclusively political one.

The common man may not be entirely blamed for this but the realism is, the average person in this label of common man is a bigger opportunist than anyone else, be it politician, bureaucrat, activist or corporate. It is different thing that this opportunism may be justified or forgiven on the plea that life of a common man is very tough and he has to resort to opportunism and some retail debauchery for his bare survival.

The fact remains that, more powerful and endowed a person, more insecure he is about his survival. A politician has larger and deeper questions of survival, as his career is short, susceptible to whims and fancy of voters. He may claim more justification and compassion towards his opportunism. Everyone does it. There are so many wrongs and ills taking place everywhere and the doer always justifies it on some pretext. There shall always be loads of people who would show compassion towards rapists, blaming women for it, in some way or other. It is a great artistry of populism that most people would blame their wrongs to cultural ills. Nobody wishes to accept the unpopular reality that culture is nothing but collective and cumulative summation of different individual’s attitude and behavior. Opportunism is the mother of loads of ingenious logic and justifications. Using this, when it is suitable to self, condemning when not, is populism. For everyone, it is a question of survival and as they say; everything is fair for survival, there is always an excuse for all wrongs.

There is a famous story, which speaks of how people have an innate consciousness to justify wrongs, if it suits them. A person said that he would not make his son honest, till everyone else in the world becomes so. The procrastination of small and part virtues, till that situation of universal and perfect idealism, is a smart license of all wrongs, which people always do and this attitude often gets a huge support from political system as it benefits from the populism.

The issue of corruption is similar. If everyone says, he or she shall not stop corruption till others do it, the problem can never end. What politics does is become a party to this attitude of corruption and become soft on the issue. This populism suits everyone and that is why, it never ends. Corruption in India and also everywhere else, is not diminishing and probably can never, because, it suits everyone.

The simple reality is, the populist idea, which presents a highly generalized and romantically shaded picture that common man is a victim and all political parties and politicians are villains is a huge stupidity and hypocrisy and in contemporary India and this stupidity is unleashed as stampede.

**

Why This Stampede?

In India, we are at a stage, where troubles have reached an unprecedented high for middle class and lower middle class and on the other hand, large numbers of people, especially the young have become far more empowered and demanding. It is only natural that majority of people in India have become far more reactive and aggressive about their troubles and seek instant solutions. As popular voices express a major dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs in India, the opposition political parties and media have all the reasons to enhance the clamor about nation’s troubles and the blame game. Be it politics, markets or media; everyone loves to ride on the wave of populism and even stoke it for personal gains. Reactive energies and emotionally blurred worldviews have overpowered rational and assimilatively holistic realisms. Solutions are not reactive and singular; therefore there is little talk about it. The stampede has the energy of reactiveness against status quo and it is easy for everyone to be part of the stampede.

There is a popular anecdote in India that a successful lawyer is one, who is brilliant at confusing the judge about the case and evidences against his client. This always wins cases for him, making a culprit a free man. Similarly, a political party can successfully win an election if it makes the voters confused till they go for vote. The same is true with media. The mainstream media, especially the more impacting visual media is great catalyst in adding pent up energies to the stampede of stupidities, already high in the layers of populist belief system. The stampede is always a definitive corollary of the confusion of large masses of people at any stage or situation. A stampede always has the energy of stupidity, which a confused state of mind almost invariable engenders.

The voters and the so-called common man is not your obedient student of a college classroom where you can lecture him of the nuances of a subject in lengthy details. An average voter is an impatient and reactive mind, which wants solutions from politics and governance, for whatever troubles he has in life; personal or socio-cultural; and that too in quick time. In a scenario, the nation is and in the current charged up, reactive and aggressive mood the common man is, he or she has a tendency to wield his vote not as a tool for larger well-being of the nation but as a weapon to show his anger and frustration against what it conceives as his or her enemy. The opposition parties find it easy to cash on the negative votes of this populism as they too do not have easy and quick solutions.

Therefore, it suits the political parties to say to common people that their troubles are because of a particular party and the solution lies in kicking it from power. Every party also tells the voter that it alone has the solution of their troubles. In their anger and reactive energies, the common people never care to know what alternative solutions the opposition parties have. They just feel, this one was not good, better kick it out. Once they do it, it is only natural that others shall sneak in into power. The voters usually do not choose a party, they rather dump one and as a natural corollary, an opposition comes into power. This also suits an average voter as this common man usually lacks the calm, receptive and holistic perspective to patiently understand, what actually are the causes of the troubles of the nation, of which his or her troubles are also an inseparable part.

**

Diagnosis Of Real Troubles

No doubt, a big country like India, with its uncontrollably burgeoning vast population and historical diversity has problems not only political but largely social and cultural. However, the major stupidity with average voter and common man is that it considers most of its troubles as a result of political problems and that of governance. This perception has been deeply ingrained in him by political parties themselves, as they portray each other as villains in the lives of the common man. The bigger stupidity is added by activists who make the common man believe that he is in trouble because politicians are happy. The popular media cannot be far behind in adding spices to this stupidity.

This stupidity is not new in India or in the world at large. Such a generalization as populist slogan and politics has been a hit and shall always remain a tested formula for success. Many years ago, some parties told the poor and marginalized that they were poor because some others were rich. No doubt, this has some element of truth. Inequality of resources and income aggravates poverty but this slogan is reactive and larger than the truth. Many in India are still poor not because some are rich. There can be many other reasonably viable causes of someone’s poverty. This is a dangerous slogan as this slogan bred huge amount of violence and counter violence in the past and continues to do so. The poor fought taking sides of some groups and the rich retaliated by creating their own private militia. The same sloganism of debauch populism was created when some parties said, the dalits are in trouble because the upper caste-men were oppressors. They too added violence and conflict in society. Over-simplification of realisms and extreme idealisms are worst genre of populism and Indian voters have always consumed overdose of it.

In India’s short history after independence, one singular thing, which has done more damage to the democracy and nation than any other thing, surely looks like the opportunism and debauchery of populism for short-term political gain. After independence, it was a cherished goal of Indian political system to spread the democracy and its institution to the grassroots levels. Political participation of the common man on the last rung of society was a major goal to attain for the success of democracy. This goal of political participation of everyone justified politicization of ethnic divides and even class divides. However, the ideals of involving people in governance and politics somehow got sacrificed at the altar of opportunistic populism. No doubt, if one looks at the history of last 60 years of politics and elections in India, one can easily see that only politicians cannot be blamed for all the troubles. The people and voters also have their shares of blames and mistakes. Everyone in its innate intelligence, presented its most clever faces and in turn added loads of reactionary populism in the system.

The golden rule for success of a democracy is an aware and disciplined citizen. Indian voters cannot be expected to stand vindicated in the test of this benchmark. It is a reality that in the long-run, in any walk of life, only a rational and empowered person shall be in a better position to judge his or her wellness.

The best example in India is the issue of women and their welfare. After a long and very painful struggle, the female population of India is now beginning to get its fair share of respect and equality. It has not come overnight and surely, this big change has not come from reactionary and aggressive postures of Indian women. Millions of women had to sacrifice their lives or struggle for their entire life to get the current generation of women in India to get what they are getting now. Things are still not good for them but they have improved drastically.

The same can be said about the plight of a common man. Their lot has also improved a lot but they still have to go a long way to get what they rightly deserve. The women of modern India have risen to respectability and equality amid all odds. They could do so because their immediate families supported them and they took every chance that was thrown to them, without resorting to reactionary stupidities. It was always the family and society that respected and helped the cause of their girl child initially. Only later, when they became socially and culturally empowered, the political system and governance has started to yield to their cause and have now begun to extend them respect and equitable chances. The same cannot be said about the idea of common man and its resolve. The family always comes first, whenever a major change takes place in a society. The girls rose to excellence as their families supported them and their initiatives were gradually praised by society at large. Corruption is also an issue, which can be eradicated only at family level first. If families back up honest sons and daughters and oppose corrupt ones and later society and popular cultures do the same, the menace of corruption shall go away in few decades.

The level of awareness, objectivity and discerning rationality is still not the hallmark of average man and woman of India. Large part of urban population still does not care about its political duties and its constitutional role as a citizen. A vote is a major power in the hands of a common man but for its use and utility, the common man needs to empower it with knowledge of the working of Indian constitution and political system. The rural voters have larger troubles.

It can be debated that in India, where literacy, education and general socio-economic status of a common man is weak, it is more a responsibility of the political parties to discern between good and bad. This idea however is a misnomer. For any political party, the first instinct is to win elections as only after that they can deliver any good to citizens. Moreover, for a large and diversified population, the singular idea of good and bad is never available. This ambivalence and dichotomy ensures that political parties seldom rise above populism. Nobody wants to lose in elections and that is why, no political party or politician dares to implement anything, which is not populist.

Often, good governance requires tough and somehow unpopular decisions, which in a weak and indecisive democracy like India, no political party or government wishes to take. Look at the plight of Indian railways, which is stark symbol of how political populism corrodes even the best of resources and institutions. Indian railways was bled and made to rot, with much needed supply of major investments choked, as most governments chose not to raise fares, as per the needs of railways. That is why, the Indian railway system has now become a nightmare for all types of passengers and symbol of how politics of populism compromises with core health of nation. Over the years, railways was starved for resources, which it could itself generate, but not allowed as governments were unwilling to take the unpopular decision of raising the fares and service charges. The same was done with regard to such valuable institutions like police and lower judiciary.

Not only politics, the markets too add to the already overdose of populism. Both politics and markets behave in a way, which suits the public taste as their survival depends on them. The best window to peep at this populism is Indian films. If a person has to make a movie, first thing which comes in his mind is what would sell. It is a tough ask, as the audience is not a homogenous grouping. This audience is a huge congregation of people with different tastes and different preferences. If one makes a movie of particular genre, only a segment of audience watches, the movie loses money. Nobody wants to lose money. That is why, we are having absurd movies, which stupidly packs almost all possible ingredients of entertainment, so that everyone likes them. Naturally, the content quality of movies is very poor. The similar is situation with political parties. Politics is either populist, or it is a big flop as people, the cherished notion of common man is not a homogenous entity and demands from people are also conflicting and competing.

The Indian audiences have always followed stardom and that is why, even when a movie is impossibly bad, if it has a big star, it is a hit. People love absurdities and abstract ideas and that is why, the super-hit Indian movies have loads of them. The hero punches a villain and the villain flies off and lands fifty feet away, a miracle only possible in Indian movies. The hero is made to do all impossible stupidities and more he does them, larger hit the movie is as people love these absurdities. Why then any moviemaker would venture a sensible movie on a real issue with real scenes.

The same is the scenario with political parties. People want stardom and that is why, they stupidly choose for larger than life branding of singular hero, either a Narendra Modi or a Rahul Gandhi or Arvind Kejriwal. The reality is, even when parties project them as super heroes, performing impossible stunts and miraculous acts, it is actually the larger structure of a political party, which can make any difference. No individual leader can do good for a nation. It happens only in movies, not in real life. But, nobody does effective branding of party. The party is sacrificed for branding super heroes and people love it. Populism is option-less!

This is happening in all forms of media. The worst hit of populism is contemporary literature and books. More and more people love abstractions and virtualism and that is why, literature has shifted its content far away from realisms of society and culture to populism. The most popular genre in fiction is fantasy, paranormal, dystopia, sci-fi, erotica etc. The pop themes are massive abstractions and they are loaded with negativity, wild imaginations and destructive characterization as well as plots. The realistic and academic non-fiction genre has almost lost readership. That is why, everyone is writing what people are lapping up in loads. The markets and politics are always and shall always remain populist. They shall serve what people want. Tragically, everything else is also falling prey to stupidities of populism.

The print and electronic media have also indulged in cheap and naked populism. They proudly believe that they have their figure on the pulse of people. In the age of reactionary and aggressive consciousness of average people, no media risks its survival by serving some semblance of sanity and serenity. The media in India, especially the electronic media has become hugely skilled in slicing up the realism and presenting them as whole truth, after dexterously mixing it with abstract virtualism. People love to watch and read thrillers and dystopian slices of so-called truths and media ensures that they always have constant and over supply of it.

People usually have this attitude of seeing and accepting only the part truth. Media also does the same. People of India, as well as political parties often compare Indian growth rates with that of China, which has similarities with India. However, what they often fail to reckon is that China does not have democracy and its single party government has taken unpopular but growth-oriented decisions, without the fear of being ousted from power. Chinese government could take even such a disastrously stern decision as ‘one-child policy’. In India, no government could dare to introduce a simple and much-required population policy, which could make it mandatory for families to avail government subsidies and benefits only if they observed two-child family norm.

No party shall like to go for huge investments in infrastructure in India, at the cost of curtailing spends in other sectors as people do not have the rationality to wait and watch for a goodness, which bears fruits after 20 years. They want instant value. The Chinese government did this and now they are reaping the harvest of superior infrastructures. People love it when a political party promises free colored television, food at stupidly low prices, waiver of loans and such other populist schemes, which drains the exchequer and diverts funds from infrastructure investments. Political parties also enjoy such schemes as they always open big gates for administrative corruption and pilferage.

In India, as opposed to China, we have extremities of populism. State governments in India would usually spend most of their little and precious resources on populist policies which ultimately leads to the common man being more dependent on state funds and schemes. This in turn ensures that political parties have millions, who shall always be slave to the governmental freebies and subsidies.

Over the years, a country like India, with its in-built contradictions, conflicts, problems and underdevelopment, needed strong governments with a political will towards welfare of nation as against the short-cut success of populism. It is easy for people to blame politicians and political parties for the troubles and problems India and its population faces. However, this itself is the denial of true understanding of the functioning of Indian democracy.

**

Parbatiya’s Vikas Model!

It is important to share with you a real story, which speaks of how Indian core troubles are aggravated by high doses of populism. There is a woman who works as maid in houses. She hails from the poor state of Bihar and migrated a few years back to a relatively rich state of Uttrakhand. She migrated to Dehradun, the capital of Uttrakhand, with all members of her family as some of her distant relatives were already working here as laborers. Her daughter-in-law, who lives with her, also works as maid in houses. Their family income is around rupees thirty thousand. Her son drives a tractor. This income is very high for a household as everyone knows, millions of poor in India earn less than three thousand rupees a month.

The household income of this woman is not the only good news. She has availed over forty thousand rupees from government, as part of the money meant for Indira Awwas Yojna. However, she did not make her house and instead bought land in her native village. Her daughter-in-law also did the same. This woman has seven children, four of them sons. Her daughter-in-law had two daughters and last year, she opted for another pregnancy to have a son. Luckily, she delivered a boy. This year, she is pregnant again as she felt it would be better to have two sons. The chances are, if she delivers a boy, she shall go for another pregnancy next year as she would then be ‘well off’ to take a ‘risk’ for another daughter. This family has availed benefits of all possible government schemes of freebies and subsidies. They have bought good amount of lands from these government moneys, earned with political-administrative connivance.

The trouble is, as the household has ten members to feed, they continue to live a tough life. The male members are habitual boozers and spend most of their moneys on liquor and personal enjoyments. This is a reality even when all the children get free education and free meal from the government school. If this household had opted for family planning and had only two child, their life would have been great. The male members having almost no education, they do not understand the troubles their wayward lifestyle creates for the family. If they had small family, kids would have got good education and nutrition. They are not and it is sure that the children would be taken out from school and employed as laborers and maids in next few years. The government would have been justified in restricting their family if there was a policy, which would debar them of government freebies and subsidies, if they opted for more than two kids. No government would like to do this, as essentially, this layer of population is their true voters. The upper and well off classes of India seldom vote. These poor people do vote and they matter to political parties. It is evident that most poor people in India now earn reasonably well but are still in loads of troubles as they are poorly educated, have cultural troubles and unproductively large families. There troubles are not political; rather, they benefit greatly from the political and administrative corruption and inefficiency.

The reality is, If India had half of the population it has, India would be a power to reckon with in the world. Just think of it; most of India’s current troubles would be solved if India had just half of people it now has. India is a huge country with ample and diversified resources. It is our massively over population, especially in the above-mentioned layer of society that has landed India in the troubles it has. However, the populism shall never allow the population to get controlled. India cannot be China and it should never be. However, India must be what it could be, if it opts for a roadmap of growth and evolution, devoid of stark and ugly populism.

Apart from the issue of populism, which makes India’s political and economic system underperform, other major trouble is federalism, as it has turned out to be in India. The makers of Indian constitution considered federal system of Indian governance as most suited to Indian geographic and demographic needs. However, once again, populism made federalism a major trouble for India.

The Indian government at Center is made responsible for almost everything that goes wrong with India as a whole but the fact remains that India is primarily administered by respective states. India is a big country and even after 67 years of governance, it is believed that effective and empowered administration and governance has reached only to half of India. Half of India, in peripheries and remote areas remain beyond effective governance.

The Union government cannot expect to reach these areas without the states becoming more powerful and effective but also be in excellent cooperation and partnership with Union government. However, over the years, the political compulsions of populism have ensured that states and Union are in almost conflicting and competing mode. The cooperation between states is something almost non-existent. For Indian democracy to be highly effective and its governance to become more impacting, Indian federalism needs to be smooth, complementing and cooperative. This is a dream and elusive realism as no political party has ever worked for strengthening and effectiveness of Indian federal model.

It seems, nothing much shall change in near future. This issue of India’s federal troubles needs more and detailed explanations and analyses but I am not going into that to avoid the focus being shifted from the core issue. The idea, which this essay is trying to bring forth, is the realism that India and its trouble are not as simple as political populism makes out to be. Also, it is stupidity to enter into a blame game for the multiplicity of troubles India faces. It has to be accepted that India is a big country and its troubles have historical as well as socio-cultural elements and factors. The troubles are not purely political and even this political problem cannot be solved by the overdose of populism, which all political party, activists as well media are resorting to.

**

The Missing Idealism

There is a popular idea in political philosophy, about which it is important to talk here. There always was debate over the utility and role of state over people in a society. After loads of discussion over the centuries, an idea was coined which said, ‘the state is a necessary evil, which is essential for the short-run and it shall vanish when people shall become self-regulated’.

It is relevant to remind that Mahatma Gandhi had also emphasized on the need of self-regulation of citizens, which shall be possible by taking democracy to grassroots level. The experiment of Panchayati Raj system was a model to instill the idea of localized self-governance and self-regulation of societies but we have not seen its success. The larger blame for it goes to the label of common man. The broad idea is – politics and governments are friends of people when they are aware and disciplined. A self-regulated society shall automatically weed out every social, cultural and political ill.

In India, just the reverse has happened over the years. From early seventies, when political influence of dominating Congress party waned, all governments started to succumb to larger doses of populism. As the governments at Union and states embraced suicidal populism, administration and policing started to become soft and pliable. The authoritative state institutions, which in time should have evolved towards larger and better acceptance and assimilation among the masses, were made subservient to populist policies and personal political gains. The populist streak calamitously ensured that everyone, be it politicians, the power brokers, the entrenched classes and even common man, created bypasses and diversions into the system’s highway of linear functioning.

This ensured that subsequent governments and administration became weak and pocket institutions of the few. The current trouble of India, be it corruption or non-performing mediocrity, stems from constant weakening of state institutions. No doubt, India needs big changes in the way politics works here, or state machinery at all levels operate. All aware citizens of India, especially the youth know this simple fact that the major Indian trouble is a deep-seated non-performing and paralyzed system of governance and administration. It is only natural that they want someone, at the top of government, a prime minister who is proactive and aggressive in intent, who could not be made to succumb to either populism or systemic sense of calamitous practicality of political survival.

The tragedy is, India’s problems are not this simple as anyone, a prime minister or some minister could solve in some months or years. Delivery of goods by the political system would need an overhaul and inputs not only in political-administrative system, but also in the socio-cultural system. This is a long haul and not only politicians, but millions of those involved in administration would also be needed to respond positively to changes. This is tough.

The activists are very right in their talks and intent about big attitudinal and structural changes in Indian political and administrative culture but they fail to entertain the reality that a system, concretized over 50 years shall not respond positively overnight. Attitudinal and cultural changes in mindsets cannot be brought about in days or months. The fact remains that we all are dealing with our own people. The millions of men and women in political and administrative system are not external enemies. They are very much Indians and our own people. They cannot be treated with disdain and violence like enemies. Patience and perseverance alone shall pay as things shall definitely change but in the long run. The greed and thrill of populist short-term gains shall derail the current energy of change.

The current stampede of stupidities may not be as bad as it seems. It at least has energies, which threaten to break the status quo and gloom of procrastination. Beyond this contemporary stampede of stupidities, India can think of having a better and streamlined channelization of these energies if the participants and protagonists of change emphasize on the crucial and cardinal need of self-regulation and self-discipline as number one requirement for any meaningful and positive change in Indian system of politics and governance. Reactionary and instant-solution mindset has never won things and it shall never.

Indian history is full of precedents where many reactionary energies of change failed to make any significant impact. Often, such reactionary initiatives not only lose their energies soon, rather they lend empowerment to those elements of opportunists, who use the energy to further weaken the nation.

In the years to come, if India has to survive as a successful nation, the common man label has to improve drastically. Average Indian has to be more aware, empowered and self-regulated as globally, states and its institution are on the abdication mode. The continued march of liberalization and open market economy norms are gradually making larger areas of governance and administration going to private hands. Today, the common man complains of corruption and administrative non-performance of government machinery if he or she does not get enough electricity supply. Few years down the line, government shall come out of the power production and it shall be fully in private sector. The power tariff shall not be subsidized and as government shall no more be a player, there shall be no accusation of political-administrative corruption. However, the power shall become costly and it shall then be on every individual to practice self-regulation, if he or she has to make his power budget within limits of his pocket. Finally, the struggle shall shift to markets, from politics. The battle shall remain with common people.

**

A Possible Alternative Model

There are broad issues in India, which need to be handled with political consensus, without susceptibility to populism. It is evident from experiences that any political party, even if it wins elections with big majority, does not dare to take such measure and decisions for welfare of nation, which go against populist demands.

Nobody wants to lose the next elections. That is why, it is important that these issues are taken care of either in a non-political set up, or someone rises above populism and dares to do them, with his own personal initiative.

The larger trouble with India is socio-cultural and for their solutions, the nation needs a renaissance, which politics and economics cannot bring about. This issue of cultural renaissance is a huge issue and needs to be handled separately. No doubt, this renaissance shall have an innovative mix of scientific objectivity and neo-spiritual subjectivism. However, the details of it need separate treatment. Here, in this essay, we focus only on politics and governance issues.

The trouble with politics and governance in India is two faced. First, there is already a broad consensus among the true policy makers and intellectuals of India about a national agenda of a modernist and empowered India. However, this agenda is always sacrificed at the altar of populist politics of political parties. Secondly, there is never an acceptance of what structural and functional changes the current system needs for enhancing the efficacy of implementation of this agenda. It is evident from the functioning of Indian political system and political parties so far that the national agenda and systemic changes cannot be brought about by the contemporary political system. India shall need an innovative solution of its current problem.

It is not a bad idea to have a ten-year moratorium on political governance at the Union level. Parties may continue to contest state elections and form governments in states on current format. However, at the Center, India can have a national government, without political affiliations. For ten years, an elected president of India, without party affiliation may be allowed to select a team of expert from the fields of science, economics, academics, jurisprudence and administration to formulate good and desirable policies on the core areas. The states shall be made responsible for implementation of the policies. The legalities of this innovation can be set up.

Following core issues, relating to India’s overall wellness can be assigned to this national government for ten years:

A definitive and strong population policy, which is largely deterrent in nature as compliance to it shall be ensured by withdrawing government facilities, tax benefits and subsidies. In some cases, there may be some fines.

Decision on quantum and procedures of reforms in the following sectors:

• Electoral

• Police, bureaucracy and media

• Economy and markets

• Taxation regime

• Zero tolerance policy on culture of societal and community violence.

• Major improvement and investment in education and health sector infrastructures. These two sectors have virtually made life hell for average citizen. Investments in infrastructures cannot be compromised.

• Major improvement in justice dispensation system.

It is a dream that a prime minister of India, in near future, shall rise above political compulsions, guided by his higher consciousness, and be generous and proactive to take initiative towards building consensus on the above-mentioned core issues. It is a dream that someone on top of political echelon shall have the courage of conviction and moral will, to go beyond political compulsions. He shall take up talks and consultations with all parties and involve all in the process to work out a consensus for these core issues so that India in coming decades becomes a country of strength and empowerment.

This is something, every rational mind sees beyond the stampede of stupidities in all times of history. There has to be hope and dreams beyond this stampede of stupidities, otherwise, the energies, which cyclically travel a dialectic path, shall have no utility.

All stampedes leave behind a trail for future sanity. It is a hope that someone, somewhere in political horizon shall track the trail of sanity and lead India to wisdom and wellness. If not, no nation can stand the weight and impact of series of stampedes of stupidities. It is a no-option situation.

#####

Call Of New Millennium – You Must Rise…

There is a long history of humanity, which tells us categorically how humanity has passed through unimaginably tough and disastrous times and situations. Every one of us living and surviving, must always remember very humbly the 4 million year long trail of tragedies, pains, disasters and struggle, which billions of our forefathers had to undergo, before it could come to what we are enjoying and taking for granted in 21st century. The humanity could survive and progress because it always kept the collective Quantum of Compassion high enough to limit the calamitous causalities of all entropic elements. This collective quantum of compassion was high enough because it essentially is the design of human consciousness, unless vitiated by an ill-intentioned social-political-religious culture. It seems; average individual, in its own personal capacity, held compassion as core element of human life-living. This compassion; expressed in Collective Will to ensure the optimal sustainability of Survival instincts, was innate and entrenched in collective unconscious for millions of years.

The biggest repository of compassion probably was the ‘family system’, which could survive and prosper only because of this single major resource of mutual compassion. If humans evolved as social being, it was because millions of years of evolution had witnessed its utility-fruition and therefore entrenched in the very body-brain mechanism of humanity. The collective and its compassion-cover preceded humanity since millions of years in mammalian animal world. Compassion, in its elemental holism is the most powerful Causality of cosmic Reality. Humans are only the happy and evolved extension of this primeval and transcendental utility-fruition. The Causality of Reality plays its best and most beautiful expressions through the ‘Media’ of human consciousness. This repository of compassion, however is in major crisis and like the denuded forest cover on Earth, compassion has denuded from families as family system itself is deeply stressed under contemporary expression of stupidities and hypocrisies of individual liberties.

No doubt, there always were many, especially those who wielded power, authority and wealth, who consciously or subconsciously worked against compassionate life-living, but they too could not subdue the compassion in consciousness of average person. The human history is too long and varied but still, it seems that there was this single uniform element of Compassionate Community Living at grassroots levels in all histories of all geographies primarily because life-living in general and especially for average population was tough and therefore, compassion was instinctive in the part of average individual for survival and wellness needs. This seems to have changed in contemporary times with life-living becoming reasonably easy, as humanity reached new heights of growth and development. The instinctive compassion seems to have given way to evolved smartness and ingenuity of competitive individual. Individual growth naturally weakened the instinctive bond of compassionate community living. The chaotic-conflicting contemporary milieus surely do not anyway help the individual rationalize its competitiveness to lend more space to compassion.

In contemporary human world however, there is an emergent realism that politics and economics have gained predominance over familial and societal live-living and the former have occasioned themselves as the largest annihilators of compassion. It suits their profitability plexus. Democracy and market economy mechanism and processes seem to have changed radically the old world foundation of life-living. The individual, who banked on the family and society for compassionate support, now looks up to state, government and politics for the same. The later however, has craftily made a dirty commerce out of this ‘dependence-shift’ by successfully creating a master-slave mechanism, where the citizens are doled out their own endowments as alms by the state and governments. The family was compassionate and accountable to society but the politics and governments are brutal, unaccountable and autocratic.

The competitive and growingly ‘exclusivist’ individualism that stood to gain in the new polity and economy, by detaching itself from societal fabric of compassionate bonding, may well be accepted as the 20th century evolution of modern humanity. This in turn has eroded the quantum of personal and individual compassion. Naturally, the contemporary world with ever diminishing quantum of compassion is conditioned stage for entropies to go out of hand and thus kill the possibility of sanity in human world and collective life-living. The profitability plexus of politics and economics always stood up with enough ‘activism’ to embolden and empower the individualistic exclusivism!

It has to be understood not in philosophical or psychological terms, rather with utmost singular objectivity of science and its measurable logic. The subconscious mind states are where the innate and entrenched instincts are wired and have their algorithmic expressions. It is therefore a designed and evolved reality of billions of years that subconscious is always probabilistic. This probabilistic subconscious means; every human being is wired to accept the innate vulnerability of self and all other elements in external milieus. Mortality is deeply wired in subconscious, which innately creates the antithesis of survivalist collective instincts; leading to the synthesis of compassion. That is why God and all faith processes come natural to all humans as they are common expression of the probabilistic subconscious and compassion needs. All religions are core expressions of compassion. This also ensured that average human was compassionate, accommodative with ‘Others’, as his or her own deep sense of vulnerability installed it.

The conscious mind states however, have the evolutionary design of antithesis – hence conscious mind state is broadly deterministic; heuristic in expressions, at least in constant competitiveness to challenge the probabilistic subconscious. It is also a dimension of compassion needs of humanity. It is here the politics and economics enter as ‘catalyst of chaos’, for the institutionalization of profitability plexus.

A compassionate familial-societal order is a domain that essentially ensures a self-regulated milieu. As the elements of system and order are internal, there is no need and utility of external mechanism and process of ‘control’ and ‘authority’. This is the killer for politics and economics. Naturally, politics and economics play their crafts with conscious mind states of humans. They devise all ingenious symbolisms and processes, which essentially embolden the deterministic propensities of the conscious mind. Like, an average man or woman today is more concerned about his or her life and health insurances, rather than changing the ‘wrong’ lifestyle and food habit. They also focus more on more money and not good family-friend bonding for safety and surety of future life-living. The innate and embedded compassion need has entered the dubious domain of commerce and institutionalized trade off. This conscious insistence on deterministic life-living choices engenders a subconscious, which is more brutally competitive and exclusivist; more aligned to ‘individualistic empowerment’ than collective strength. This dualistic and chaotic subconscious mind humanity is ideal situation for politics and economy. They happily, even criminally schematize to embolden it.

This deterministic insinuation is the mother of all exhortations for elements of control and authority in myriad shades. Politics and economics are always upfront in nourishing the elements of control and authority like a pampering father, by kindling the dormant yet monstrous instinct of ‘Identity’, ‘Egoism’ and ‘exclusivism’. Consumerism is the most effective tool of personal power to individual, standing in powerful and authoritative competition with ‘others’ and collectivity. The growing demand of ‘power’ and ‘authority’ in consumerized individual is happy news for politics and economics. It validates the autocratic and oppressive power and authority of the state, government and politics over people in subconscious mind states of common people.

Therefore, individual men and women alone can make an enterprise to restore compassion, allow liberties the less competitively conflicted milieus to enhance possibility of personal sanity, even as collective space has lost it. It is for the aware and empowered men and women to strike a golden poise and equanimity between the dualistic urges of probabilistic and deterministic consciousness. This restoration process of individual as well as collective compassion may begin by every individual consciously attempting to align more of his or her individual aspirations with collective ones and side by side become less intensely attached with polity and economy. The family and society must get back their due and innate superior situation and position in human life-living, compared to polity and economy. It has to be accepted that because of our very body-mind design, family and society is internal to us and polity and economy is external. We therefore have to align ourselves more with what is internal and innate to us rather than what is external and synthetic to our design.

Every individual has to question the very utility and fruition of contemporary politics, governments and economics. The polity and economy induced competitive individualism with exclusivist propensities must accommodate compassionate community life-living elements to make them breathe easy and fine. It is a call of the millennium. We are not living in old and archaic stupid and hypocritical world of philosophies and faith mysticisms. The new and contemporary age is the Age of Scientific Reason, based on objective, logical, measurable, replicable and irrevocable knowledge of Reality. We all need to be in perfect linearity with Reality.

If we look at journey of humanity so far, we may say that probably, the worst mistake humanity has done is not that it has not understood the Reality or the core trouble humanity has because of this innate nature of Reality. Rather, the single largest trouble for humanity is that even while it had and still has rather sound and singular knowledge and wisdom about its core trouble and possible solution, humanity has always failed in inducting this wisdom into the mainstream of life-living practices and functions. Not to have something is bad but have it, squander it and not utilize it for any worthwhile purpose is worst. Humanity seems to have excelled in squandering all precious wealth of knowledge and wisdom of the past and even present. This has to change or we get extinct!

Even in contemporary human world, the modern science has acquired indisputable knowledge that somehow reiterates the transcendental wisdom humanity could decipher many millenniums back. Yet, humanity seems oblivious of them and it still seems, this scientific knowledge is meant only for labs and handful of researchers. Moreover, the contemporary Media goes a long way to ensure that when they reach science to common men and women, they get reduced to ‘Pseudo Science’, causing more confusion. Politics just loves it!

If we look at the contemporary world situation and attempt a correction of everything that have gone wrong and in reverse direction of sanity and system, we can easily see and accept how impossible the task is. The magnitude of human population that shall require upside-down change by a new mindset training and persistent education, a hugely powerful, corrupted and mindless lobby of politicians, corporations and money-lords who profiteer out of the contemporary insanity of the system and overall, the deeply ingrained and embedded sensitivity of ethnicity, religious dogmatism and nationalism along with many other small factors make it impossible for even start of any step towards sanity.

The human world has now sort of institutionalized insanity to such powerful and impregnable structural excellence that any voice of sanity and change shall be eliminated at very inception. The profit empires of a handful of only five percent of humans are so massive and deep rooted and they have acquired so much clout and control over most structures of power-authority in contemporary world that it is almost impossible to even initiate any change that essentially has to be against the status quo. More importantly, the contemporary politics and governments have become so autocratic and corrupt that it simply does not allow a narrative, which could harm their empire. The entire 20th century has so successfully worked out and strengthened such symbiotic structures of greed between politics and economy, that in 21st century, as the realism seems to stand today, the human world is a theatre where only five percent humans are controlling the lives of rest of 95 percent humans, relegating them to the status of slaves and puppets in their hands.

The agenda is clear, singular and common to all. Knowledge of Reality alone can Give Us The Crown Back. The monster of politics and government shall automatically be tamed and made to be accountable and just. It is your crown, our crown and together we can and we do Get The Crown Back…!

‘You’ are alive and in good knowledge of everything that happened to this universe and all lives on Earth, in the past 14 billion years. So, ‘You’ are aware of Reality of everything but, it happened because ‘You’ were born and ‘You’ happened to have a body and mind. Billions of lives and deaths happened, trillions of things happened and infinite events happened but ‘You’ didn’t see, experience and remember anything. ‘You’ saw and experienced everything only in the last few years of Your life, as ‘You’ happened, Your body-mind happened. Also, billions of lives and deaths shall happen, trillions of things shall happen and infinite events shall take place after Your death and ‘You’ shall not see, experience and know them. Reality, whatever it may be, is continuous and non-contextual in its holism; only ‘You’ happen in between at some tiny ‘dot’ in the infinite continuation as some ‘Media’ and ‘contextualize’ the reality, as per the design of Your body-mind media.

Reality had and shall play out infinite shades of things but ‘You’ as a temporary ‘Media’ come and go, without having any substantial role in past and future of the cosmic Reality. Almost infinite aspects of the Reality of universe and lives in it are now available for ‘You’ and they exist as ‘You’ exist. As they exist now, ‘You’ are aware of the past 14 billion years and can also imagine about next 14 billion years. However, as ‘You’ die, all realities disappear. Nothing ‘exists’ anymore. Realities end! It is because the ‘Media’ of ‘You’, which was the ‘context’ of the Reality to play out and express itself, is dead, disappears and is not there.

Realities are infinite as ‘You’ as media is alive. Realities are zero as ‘You’ as media is dead! Realities as it is or as it might be, exists and still plays out in infinite shades but only through different ‘Media’ of individual ‘YOUs’, presenting ‘context’ to Reality. Therefore, for all practical purposes, only the ‘individualistic’ and ‘personal’ reality exists and even the collective reality stands as the summation of assimilation of all personal realities. This also is the primary basis and validation of the hypothesis that sanity of collectivity is actually a misnomer; it does not exist as some entity on its own. Only the possibility of sanity of individual and personal exists. Therefore, nothing in this universe is more important than an individual and its consciousness as it is the primary constituent element of all Realities. Nothing has meaning, purpose and realism without ‘You’. Universe has no meaning-purpose of its own; infinite shades of meaning-purpose happen, as ‘You’ happen…

Reality may look like a continuous and singular entity, irrespective of whether ‘You’ are or other ‘YOUs’ are alive or dead but, this seems so only because of the continuity in ‘Media’ and ‘context’ of ‘YOUs’, which have a common body-mind mechanism. Therefore, if Reality is ever a singular and continuous realism, it is not because what it is but because of what ‘You’ are and because the commonality of mechanisms and processes of all ‘YOUs’. This is the singular secular Reality and everything else is variegated mix of hypocrisies.

The universe has no meaning and destined purpose. Lives on Earth or if elsewhere too have no purpose and meaning. Reality itself is nothing and unworthy of any utility. All meanings, all purposes, all realities start and end with ‘You’, or Self. The universe, the Earth, the lives have only those meanings, purposes, utility and worth what ‘You’ or self assigns and accepts. Therefore, if ‘You’ are in Sanity, System, Order, Righteousness, Goodness and Wellness, then only the universe, the Earth, the lives are. It is ‘You’, the Self that matters and has any utility. This is the singular notion installed and elaborated 3000 years back in ancient Indian philosophical traditions of ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ (I Am God).

The consciousness has the continuity and it is the element, which Reality always has. Reality is deciphered because it engenders Causalities. Causalities find expression and intent through Consciousnesses. The ‘Media’ of ‘I’, ‘You’ and ‘They’ might come and go; extend a subjective feel to continuity of consciousness for a Time as irrelevant as zero but ‘it’, in its objective expression, was, is and shall always be there, if Reality has any meaning and purpose. In the famous Indian holy book Geeta, Krishna awakens Arjuna about cosmic consciousness and says, “When was the time when ‘I’ was not there and, when shall be the time when ‘I’ shall not be.” The continuity of ‘You’ is immortal; only the ‘Media’ of ‘You’ changes and takes subjective expressions.

It must be reiterated with all possible humility and sincerity of consciousness that contemporary humanity must see, understand, accept and internalize that in our civilizational and cultural march to modernity of institutional and organizational life-living, we have almost dumped the primary reality of human life-living. This primary reality, which thinking minds and philosophers of early humanity listed out with strong conviction, is that the individual, the person, an average man or woman is the everythingness of all somethingness that social and collective living can design and execute for sanity of system.

It is tragic and decisively the biggest and worst hypocrisy of humanity that now this individual or person is nowhere in picture in scheme of things of society, culture, economy, markets, politics, religion and even scientific and technological advancements. Rather, personal sanity and personal dignity gets more degraded and emaciated as collective efforts for so-called ‘betterment’ of life-living of common men and women go up. The most glaring example of this worst hypocrisy is how globally, human education system is being majorly shaped, designed and devised to generate ‘Efficient Workers’ for economic activities, which in turn create handful of billionaires and reduce the majority of average men and women as ‘machines’ and slaves. This machine is also growingly being replaced by ‘artificial intelligence’ (robots). Human education is no more designed for enhancing and improving personal sanity and system of individual because, it shall create men and women with a strong sense of liberty, purpose and direction. This shall be trouble for politics, governments and businesses!

If an individual is the sole ‘Media’ of all Reality; if ‘I Is God’, none and nothing else can and should take away the ‘Crown Position’ from ‘You’; the individuality and Your Liberty to be ‘You’. This acceptance is option-less! The mounting and huge hypocrisies of contemporary human world and culture, by which state, governments, politics, economy, commerce, religion et all are reducing ‘You’ and personal spaces as slave to their nefarious agenda, must end. They must bow down to the Real and True Sovereign – ‘You’. For this to happen, the ‘You’, the individual must rise and insist – Give Me My Crown Back…!

**

** Do kindly read the deep perspective eBook on new millennium humanity, society, culture and politics by the author titled, ‘Give Me My Crown Back’. Like all 47 eBooks of the author, it is available for unrestricted download. Thanks.

***

Accept My Gratitude

Writing something is a daunting task as there is always a lurking apprehension of it not being in utility for some readers. I however feel at ease, because of my faith in magnanimity of readers. I am happily sure; you shall forgive if my efforts could not be up to your expectations. Thank you so much for being with me and allowing me to share with you. Big thanks for your precious input in my charity, as all proceeds from my book sales go to charitable initiatives. Wish you an empowered life; with the prosperity of the consciousness.

**

About The Author

People say, what conspire to make you what you finally become are always behind the veil of intangibility. Someone called it ‘Intangible-Affectors’. Inquisitiveness was the soil, I was born with and the seeds, these intangible-affectors planted in me made me somewhat analytical. My long stint in media, in different capacities as journalist, as brand professional and strategic planning, conspired too! However, I must say it with all innocence at my behest that the chief conspirators of my making have been the loads of beautiful and multi-dimensional people, who traversed along me, in my life journey so far. The mutuality and innocence of love and compassion always prevailed and magically worked as the catalyst in my learning and most importantly, unlearning from these people. Unconsciously, these amazing people also worked out to be the live theatres of my experiments with my life’s scripts. I, sharing with you as a writer, is essentially my very modest way to express my gratitude for all of them. In my stupidities is my innocence of love for all my beautifully worthy conspirators!

**

Other Titles By Santosh Jha

Non-Fiction:

**

Fiction:

**

Do Write To Me.

sjwrite@gmail.com

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 28.08.2021

Alle Rechte vorbehalten