Essays - 3 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

From Being to Becoming

Mahatma Gandhi went to South Africa as a lawyer to fight a case for his client Dada Abdullah. The visit was in his professional capacity of a lawyer. But on his way, he had a firsthand experience of racial discrimination during train his journey. Later, he was moved by plights of Indians in South Africa. 

• He decided to fight colonial power for securing the rights of Indians.
  Initially, he resorted to constitutional methods. But realizing power of masses, he experimented and developed techniques like Satyagraha, Civil Disobedience, etc. and gave tough fight to colonial power. He successful fought against Transvaal Immigration Act, Poll Tax Act, Registration Certificates Act etc. Thus, Mahatma Gandhi form being a lawyer, ended up becoming a mass leader from South Africans. On the other hand, Hitler was a leader of Nazi Party in Germany. He was moved by humiliation faced by Germany because of Paris Peace Treaty post World War I. 
• He aroused nationalist feelings of Germans. He blamed Jews and Weimer republic for vagaries of Germany. He went from a leader to becoming a dictator and threw the entire world in devastating World War 2. Thus, Hitler from being an ardent nationalist, ended up becoming an architect of World War 2.
• These stories show that every individual exists has some being and ends up becoming something. It is their personality, intentions, attitudes, values, morals which give shape to their evolutionary trajectory. What is true for individual, also applies in larger context of city, nation or the world.

This essay analyses various perspectives on ‘being to becoming’ at levels of village, city, nation and world. It tries to look up at qualities and circumstances that shape the evolutionary of the same.

• First, what it means for an individual transition from being to becoming? It is said that individual is product of nature and nurture. Everyone is born with some inherent capacities and the process of socialization further molds the personality of individual. Everyone has certain goals in their life. And hence she attains knowledge to achieve it. The ultimate aim is to gain selfactualization. In the process, individual transforms from being to becoming. This is what is highlighted by the journey of Gandhiji and Hitler.
• Similarity, societies, states or countries also evolve. Change is the law of nature and one who fails to adopt is left behind. Every institution or nation at large has certain vision and in the process of attaining it, transforms from being to becoming.
• Consider the case of a village named Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra. It was a drought prone area where even drinking water was a luxury. The agricultural productivity was incredibly low. Menace of alcoholism was growing and youth was forced to migrate to other cities for employment.
• But then came a leader in the form of Anna Hazare who changed the destiny of village. Ralegaon Siddhi from being impoverished village ended up becoming flourished village. This was made possible by leadership of Mr. Anna Hazare. He led the community efforts towards watershed management, mobilized the youth, formed village samitis to fight against social ills. Today, Ralegaon Siddhi is one of the prosperous villages not just in Maharashtra but the country.
• Similarly, in Swachh Survekshan, Indore achieved a remarkable feat by becoming cleanest city fifth time in a row. Earlier it used to be a city having garbage dumps, stray cattle, poor sewage infrastructure and disease ridden. But now it is cleanest city of India. From being a city of dumpyards to becoming cleanest city is an inspiring journey.

How is it possible? It was a muti-pronged strategy.
Municipal corporation of Indore led the effort by arranging infrastructure. For door-to-door waste collection, NGOs were roped for spreading community awareness, private sector was involved for recycling of waste. The most crucial contributors were citizens whose participation was essential to make these efforts a success story. Thus, Indore is model for the governance where multiple actors coordinate and contribute to achieve the mission.

• Now, if we enlarge the scale and look outside India, we can easily find a success story in our neighborhood, i.e., Bangladesh. In the 1970s, Bangladesh was one of the poorest countries. From being one of the poorest to becoming fast growing economy with improved human development indices indicates an outstanding achievement.
• After Independence, Bangladesh built its indigenous model of development. It stressed on textile sector which is labour intensive. Its Gramin Bank model of microfinance is also notable one. It also focused on capacity building of citizen and these efforts fructified. All this has resulted in Bangladesh transitioning from one of the least developed countries to becoming part of developing countries such as India.
• Even at world stage, we can witness the evolution from being to becoming. Till the first half of the Twentieth Century, colonialism was a reality. The world witnessed World Wars among great powers to control the previous colonies. These wars devastated global economy, took large toll of human lives and suffering.
• But post World War 2, need was felt for stable world order. League of Nations established after the World War I failed to prevent the next crisis in line. Hence a new organization, called United Nations Organisation was created. UNO pioneered the efforts towards world peace. Individual countries contributed in the efforts. Today the world order has changed from being conflict ridden to becoming rule based and peaceful order. All this highlights how a village, city, country and the world evolved on path of progress. But then the question arises. Is evolution always positive? Is the ‘becoming’ stage always better than ‘being’ stage

Let us take few more examples to throw light on this perspective.

• If we look at evolution of human being, we see that human being used to live in harmony with nature. In the Mesolithic paintings of Bhimbetka or Indus Valley Civilization, nature worship or harmony with nature was quite visible. But as human beings progressed, advances were made in field of science and technology.
• Exploitation of nature started. Today, the world is witnessing climatic change. Extreme weather events are rising in frequency. All of this is a fallout of human greed for natural resources. Thus, from being a nature lover to becoming nature exploiter is a devastating path that humanity has taken.
• Similarly, industrial revolution was one of the milestone events in history of humanity. Britain was the first country to experience industrial revolution because of its political stability because of availability of natural and human resource, quest for rationally and technological advancements. Industrial revolution has eased the life of people but Britain from being industrial power ended up becoming an imperial power. Its search for cheap raw material and markets for finished goods encouraged territorial expansion and colonization of world. Same can also be said about China in current context.
• From being one of the fastest growing economies, it is becoming an expansionist power threatening the world order. Its debt-trap diplomacy and claims of sovereignty over 9-dah line in the South China Sea, Belt and Road initiative, frequent incursions in India’s territorial domain, etc. are testimony to its changing nature.
• Naxalism was started as a small movement for peasants’ rights but today it is one of biggest internal security threat for India. Communalism whose seeds were sown during colonial rule had caused great damage to India. India from being religiously diverse and united country ended up becoming partitioned country on the lines of religion.
• Thus, from being to becoming is journey fir every individual, nation or world at large. For any individual to progress on positive trajectory, it is essential to have a vision. And then consistent efforts in that direction can help him achieve success.
• But as said by Mahatma Gandhi, means should be pure, only then one can become ethical. It is very essential to have moral values like values of equality, honesty, fairness, tolerance, empathy, etc. to achieve successful journey of from being to becoming. Similarly, for nation or world, it is community partnership, leadership of state, collaboration with multiple actors like private sector, media, NGOs, etc. can bring about transformation being to becoming. International Cooperation on the values of ‘5s’ i.e., Sahyog (Cooperation), Shanti (Peace), Samman (Respect), Samvad (Dialogue) and Samriddhi (Prosperity) is very essential for peaceful and stable world order.

From ‘being is becoming’ is a journey. It is the path that we take which decides course of evolution. It is the same journey that can create mass leaders like Mahatma Gandhi or dictators like Hitler. It is same journey that can make Bangladesh prosper or create an expansionist power like China. 

Is too Much Democracy Hampering its India's National Interest ? 

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for lunch.” This quote succinctly but uncharitably highlights the peculiar problems associated with the democratic form of government, and the way it often acts to the detriment of both the individual and the whole.
However, the fact that this quote comes from Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the oldest democracy in the world reveals that this story is only one side of the coin, and thus merits a closer look into the multi-faceted interaction between a democratic government and the concept of national interest, especially in the context of the largest democracy in the world -- India – its past, present and future.

• An Examination of  ’Democracy’
  • A Democracy is often described as government of the people, by the people and for the people. This implies that the government is chosen from among the people themselves, by their mandate, to serve their larger interests. In India, this facet of democracy is reflected in universal adult franchise guaranteed under Article 326 of the constitution which forms the foundation of our ‘Representative Democracy’.
  • However, apart from this political concept of democracy, there are other aspects of a democracy that often do not get adequate attention. A true democracy guarantees not just political participation but also social and economic democracy, implying that an Indian must not only be part of the process of choosing the men who lead the country, but also have a reasonable stake in the social and economic systems that move the country forward.
  • Indeed, India’s aspirations towards social and economic democracy is writ large in the Directive Principles of State Policy which prescribes a policy framework to attain a truly democratic vision of the nation. It is with this holistic vision of democracy that we must evaluate the level of democracy in India and what ‘National Interest’ truly means.
• Democracy of National Interest
  If a nation is a community of people with shared interests, cultures, geography and other social characteristics, and a democracy is an aggregation of the will of those very people, it seems natural that the goals of the nation will be automatically served by the expression of democracy.
  • However, wider political discourse and current events disprove such simplistic a hypothesis, raising the seemingly oxymoronic question of ‘how much democracy is too much democracy?” Why does this question arise?”
    The concept of natural interest is a malleable one, where different sections of society having different priorities, driven by their unique circumstances, have different conceptions of what is in the interest of the nation at large.
  • For instance, grassroots democracy and protection of human rights may be considered as being in national interest for a resident of Kashmir, whereas suspension of the same due to perceived threat to territorial integrity and national security may be the best way to serve national interest, to others.
  • In a similar vein, individual voters may not be able to assess adequately the complexities involved in prioritizing and formulating national policy, fending themselves at odds with measures taken in their best interest. This narrative is relevant in the governments’ justification of the farm laws.
  • An even more fundamental problem lies in the minds of the true guardians of democracy itself – the voter. Winston Churchill famously remarked that the greatest argument against democracy is a conversation with the average voter. This may hold true in India as well, with voters uninformed of political issues, easily swayed away by parochial interest of caste of religion and motivated by promises of doles, subsidies and freebies rather than by true national interest.
  • In all these cases, where the expression of democracy, appears to act to the detriment of natural interest as assessed by the democratically elected government, it is often considered an overreach of democracy. The response is often to curtail the expression of democracy in the name of national interest.
  • Thus, it seems a rationale exists to argue that democracy must be curbed at times to enable the singular pursuit of national interest, manifesting as a prosperity to curtail protests, reduce consultative governance and curb crushing voices of dissent, consultative decision making and restrict transparency, over centralize and even occasionally suspend democracy through acts like AFSPA.
• Too Little Democracy – An Alternative Perspective
  • However, before drastic measures are taken, an alternative perspective must be considered. Considering the holistic perspective of democracy as an economic, social and political framework, does the Indian system at present have democracy in excess or is there in fact a dearth of it.
  • The same incidents we have already discussed can be reassessed through this lens. The problems of Kashmir are not just a question of territorial integrity but also one of deprivation of political participation, meaningful economic participation and opportunities and prevailing social tensions along communal lines. In summary, there is no democracy, political, economic or social.
  • Similarly, farmers in Punjab & Haryana faced a threat to their livelihoods from an act of legislation that was passed with little political consultation or participation. Regardless of whether the acts are effective in their stated intent or not is undercut by the perceived lack of a democratic attitude which prompted the protests in the first place.
  • Apart from these instances, where democracy itself seems to be lacking, the lack of quality in certain facets of Indian democracy are also a result of shortcomings in our understanding of democracy. Vote bank politics and freebies reflect the lack of social and economic democracy in India. Social inequities and the lack of meaningful economic participation thus also have a deleterious effect on political democracy.
  • This re-assessment thus opens the window to a new outlook. That perhaps is not an excess of democracy but a shortage of it that must be remedied. But to truly judge which of these outlooks to rely on, we must look to the past with an eye on the future.
• A Vision for India Extracted from its Past
  • Perhaps there are none better to judge the value and extent of democracy India requires and what it means for national interest – than the men and women who fought and bled for creating the modern Indian nations. Bal Gangadhar Tilak famously proclaimed that Swaraj was his ‘birthright’, signaling not just a cry for sovereignty but also for democracy. The singular vision of the Congress as a movement was aimed at introducing responsible government and expanding franchise to create a representative government.
  • Mahatma Gandhi himself advocated for an extreme version of a decentralized democracy envisioned as an oceanic circle.
  • The ultimate vision of National Movement and its understanding of the National interest is also writ large in the Preamble of the Constitution where it guarantees justice, equality and liberty to all Indians. Thus, national interest lies in serving the interests of the people and in that respect, the question of overreach of democracy does not arise.
  • The glorious vision for a democratic India thus requires a deepening of democracy, where every citizen is informed, educated and socially and economically equipped to handle the responsibility of political democracy. Suspension and restriction of democratic tendencies are counterproductive to a vibrant democracy and is reflected in the poor performance of our country in indices which highlight the quality of our democracy such as the ‘Freedom in the world’ Report which describes the largest democracy in the world as ‘Partly Free’ and other reports which refer to India as a ‘electoral autocracy’.
  • It is said that human being’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but their inclination for injustice makes it necessary. In keeping with the vision of our founding fathers and the aspirations of our people, it is only reasonable to conclude that this justice is the ultimate national interest, and deepening democracy is thus not just possible but necessary.

Educating the Mind without Educating our Heart is no Education at All

• “Education without values, as useful as it is rather seems to make a man a clever devil.” The above phrase of C S Lewis comes to mind when one thinks of what education as a process ought to achieve, and more importantly what it ought to avoid. As a nation approaching a narrow window of “demographic dividend” set to expire by mid- 21st century, this concern becomes more crucial. The right kind of education will surely allow us to capitalize on our budding population of young men and women. But the wrong kind of education will just as surely turn our dividend into a disaster.
• Thus, it is with the interest of the world, our nation and society in mind that we must tackle the question of “What is education?” and perhaps more importantly, what is not education.

Education vs. Information

• Education is often considered to be merely limited to training students and providing them the information necessary to eventually attain a job. This often manifests as a competition among students and their parents to score higher marks in competitive subjects like mathematics or science with no consideration for subjects that cannot be adequately reduced to a number on a report card.
• ‘Education’ is thus relegated to a transfer of information. Focus and emphasis has been purely on spoon-feeding as much information as possible to build the aptitude of a student to become an eventual employee. Naturally this implies that topics like arts, sports, moral education, and socially useful and productive work take a back seat. Not only does this tendency rob children of their natural development and turn them into automatons that merely absorb and produce information, but also distorts their own viewpoint of what an education implies. To them, it begins and ends in school, except for the few for whom it ends with a degree in college. 
• Einstein, one of the most learned men in the world in his time, famously remarked ‘once you stop learning, you start dying’. When education is limited to information transfer, this ‘death’ is untimely and robs a citizen of his true potential and a nation, of its most valuable resource. Education as information thus improves a man’s aptitude but does nothing to improve his attitude. This alone is no education at all, for it is attitude and not aptitude that determines one’s altitude, and this altitude can be improved, and attitude can be improved only by taking a more holistic view of education.

Educating the Heart

• The best definitions of education are those that recognize education as a process of holistic human development that focusses on developing the character of a student. This view of education is in line with the ethical principles of Kantian Philosophy, that man must be treated as an end in himself. A person is not merely an instrument that must be taught to work.
• This means that a good system of education must have both the heart and the mind. Moral and value education is central to this thesis of holistic education. Education must impart values to students in their formative years when they are most receptive. These values eventually coalesce into beliefs and attitudes that eventually manifest as socially and morally acceptable behavior. From education, thus springs an ultimately moral and productive society.
• Proof of this can be gleaned from the Japanese system of education. In Japan, the first few years of schooling are spent purely on value education and inculcation of manners. Students learn to take care of the surroundings of their school and to respect their elders. What evolves from this is a population that is deeply driven by morality and a desire to excel, which drove a resource starved island nation into the economic superpower it is today.
• Similarly, in Scandinavian countries, care is taken to ensure that young students are taught in the open air and do not bring plastic cover in their school lunch. Born from this educational experience is a population that is deeply environmentally friendly. These countries are also regularly among the happiest in the world, as a testament to the strength of their social fabric. These systems provide a blueprint for India to create its own system of education that focusses on holistic education.

The Indian Experience

• The earliest system of Indian education fortunately created great interest in moral and spiritual teachings.
• The ‘Gurukul System’ of education founded on the GuruShishyas Parampara laid a great deal of emphasis on the development of the character of the ‘Shishyagana’. It was this system that gave rise to the likes of Buddha, Mahavira and Adi Shankaracharya who were masters of both knowledge as well as character. 
• In the medieval era as well, moral and philosophical education sought to build character remained at the forefront of pathshalas and madrassas. This great tradition, however, met its end at the hands of our British colonial masters. With the express objective to create a mindless workforce of government clerks, education was dismantled and crudely assembled into a factory with information as its raw material. Moral science and philosophy were relegated to the back seat.
• Today, the British may have left, but their colonial system of education remains. Schools today mostly serve as information dispensers. Moral science is taught through textbooks and duly ignored by most students and even teachers. While this system may have made us proficient and technically adopt as a workforce, the resulting decay in the character of Indian society is clearly evident. The rise of white-collar crime embodies this phenomenon perfectly. Ketan Parekh, the mastermind who stole millions through the stock market was a brilliant, well-educated trader. Neerav Modi and Vijay Mallya had no dearth of education but nevertheless did not hesitate to commit default on a massive scale. National Security Agencies have highlighted the role of highly educated academics who serve as the overground workers of brutal terror organizations.
• Looking at society at large, despite 70% of the nation being literate, social strife is rampant. Parochial and patriarchal tendencies remain unaddressed. NCRB data shows that over 90 women in India fall victim to rape every day. Many more are subjected to harassment daily. This is very unlike an educated society. Also, damning is the reducing female participation in labour force (Now declined to 22.9%) which reveals that the largest fall is among relatively affluent and educated urban population.

Despite modern education, communal and caste tensions are commonplace In India, making us question the quality of the education that our population receives and whether it truly improves their character as it ought to. The present system of education clearly leaves much to be desired, reflecting the sin described by Gandhiji as ‘Knowledge without Character’.

The Path Aahead
Recelebrating the education system in India is the most quoted item in the ‘agenda’ of almost every past government.

• Most significant effort in this direction at a national scale has been the National Education Policy of 2020. The newly drafted policy places much emphasis on hands on education that fosters the ability of students to think rather than simply absorb information.
  Schools in Delhi have adopted innovative curriculum like the “Happiness Curriculum” and systems like that of “patriotism curriculum which focuses on inculcating values in students to create more well-rounded Indians with moral character that matches their technical aptitude.
• Further, the nation must also capitalize on the success of its athletes. Inspirational athletes like Neeraj Chopra can be cast as role models to propel sporting culture which is central to creating a sense of camaraderie and sportsmanship.
• A revolution in our educational system along these lines in necessary, not just to build the resilience of Indian society, but also to advance the nation forward and propel it into the 21st century as a nation of well skilled and good-hearted people. Such a goal is central and instrumental in achieving the two key objectives of a nation – Internal harmony and international peace. It is not without good reason that Rabindranath Tagore famously wrote- “The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.”