Essays - 5 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

Silence of good is more dangerous than action of evil

Sunday morning, when he overheard screams and moaning coming from Sachin’s house. Sachin and Rohan have been friends since their childhood, and Sachin was recently married to Ruhi. Rohan immediately understood that the screams were from Ruhi, who might be a victim of domestic violence at the hands of Sachin. Rohan was shocked and immediately informed his wife, Rachna. Rohan wanted to call the police, but Rachna stopped him saying that they should not get involved in this case as it is their personal matter. What should Rohan do now, should he call the police or stay a silent observer of a wrong being done? Even if the evil is Sachin, will keeping silent right on Rohan’s part? If he remains a mute spectator, will Rohan be any less guilty than Sachin?

It is said that the only condition necessary for victory of evil, is for good men to do nothing.

The above situation highlights many such instances in life, where a person has the choice to speak against the injustice or turn a blind eye against it. It requires courage and high moral standards to overcome such situations. Ideally, Rohan must gather courage and inform the Police, fulfilling his duties as a citizen, a neighbor and a human. Remaining silent will not just make him an accomplice in the crime, but also have a bigger impact on the social fabric of the Nation built on the ideals of justice, equality and fraternity (Preamble). 

Speaking truth to power!
Injustice caused to an individual, is an injustice to the entire society. If an oppressor, criminal or aggressor is not but behind the bars then he/she is a threat to the society. Even though a witness is not a perpetuator of the crime but by remaining silent only makes him/her a‘helper’ or accomplice in the crime.

• It is often seen that in such situations, witnesses often get scared, wooed by money, or intimidated by power. At times there exists threat to life as well. However, if a witness to the crime realizes the importance of breaking the silence, he/she would get the right moral direction to act.
• Speaking truth to power request unflinching integrity, courage of conviction, and a sense of fraternity, to own that responsibility of doing the right thing for the society. For instance, Edward Snowden became a whistleblower against America’s CIA, just on the belief of doing the justice to the people and protecting their rights. He knew he had to leave his country (currently living in Moscow), but he found himself liable to inform his fellow citizens about the extent of breach of privacy happening in the name of ‘State Security’. He had the easier choice of letting it go and live his individual life in peace. But he chose the difficult path just because he realized the need to speak up.

Looking at the bigger picture!
The impact of keeping silent in the state of adversity has impacts which are not limited just to an individual’s life (Ruhi’s life in our anecdote), but it has wider and larger impact on the society, state, and the world at large. 

• For instance, S. Manjunath blowed the whistle against the corrupt practice of mixing lead in Petrol by some top  officials of Indian Oil Corp. Although unfortunately, Manjunath had to lose his life, but his courage to speak had a lasting impact – end of corruption by mixing lead as leaded Petrol was harmful for the environment, sense of distrust among citizens, the state had to strengthen the regulatory framework, shareholders of the company lost confidence, and the image of a PSU got tarnished at a global stage.
• Another line of argument in favour of calling out the wrongs, is related to the duty of citizens and doing your part even when doing it gets hard. Stress needs to be put on the fact that silence of a ‘good’ citizen affects the entire society, when compared to the actions of an evil, which affects an individual victim. For example, an active citizenry can highlight the nexus of politicians with criminals and check the ever-increasing criminalization of politics.
• In pursuit of creating a conducive environment for the people to come out and speak, without any fear of life or property, the state must play a much bigger and more active role.

State as an enabler!
There have been many cases in India’s since Manjunath’s courageous story where hundreds of witnesses have absconded from giving evidence, witnesses often do not turn up at the time of court hearings due to fear or greed of money. This reflects that the Indian state has failed to provide a protective environment for the innocent (yet very important) witnesses or whistle blowers, to come up and speak truth to power. Although, the whistleblowers (protection) act has been passed, it has not yet been notified. It is high time now that the Government notifies it and implement it in letter and spirit.

• Indian Police as well as Judiciary must take measures to provide safety to the witnesses in cases, where they are likely to face threats. This will ensure community policing, where the citizens can act as the eyes and ears of the Police. This will also fasten the judicial proceeding and reduce case-closure rates in lower judiciary. India can also learn from innovative Global examples like in Germany, where Police has installed emergency alarms in every street, which the citizens can push on witnessing any crime being done to any person (known or unknown).
• In conclusion, it is a moral duty of every individual to speak up against any injustice, because as Dante said, “The darkest places in hell, are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis”.
• Not just at the Individual level, but also for the Nation, it is important to raise voice at international forums against the oppressed and suffering states. For ex. India’s stand against violence in Myanmar after Military coup, or Human rights violations by Taliban in Afghanistan.

Hence, keeping silence is cowardice, and breaking the silence is a moral act of integrity and displays courage of conviction – acting as a strong force against the evil.

Tolerance is the only way to a ‘Peaceful Society’

Shane Warne recently passed away. He was one of the greatest spinners of his times. One interesting fact about his career is that he was at loggerhead with his captain and coach. Yet he took 700+ wickets, this was possible due to the on-field tolerance displayed by both Shane Warne and his captain. It was this ‘tolerance’ that created peaceful cooperation in the team, and it became the best cricket team for a decade.

• Tolerance is the ability to entertain contrasting viewpoints without believing them. It also helps avoid anger. It is a wonderful virtue that can help solve various societal, political, environmental, economic and other issues.
• India has a diverse society, with diversity comes diverse beliefs and viewpoints. These viewpoints sometimes become unnecessarily conflict against each other. The Mob lynching of Pehlu Khan, is a case in point. If people believed that Pehlu was carrying ‘cow meet,’ then they should have shown tolerance and patience. They should have taken the legal route. Intolerance led to death of an innocent and a scar on the secular fabric of India. 
• This incident and others like this led to creation of binaries between various religious communities in Indian society. This kind of intolerance is visible also in other facets of society. For ex. The recent controversy over Hijab ban in educational institutions in Karnataka is a case in point. The Indian republic allowed Sikhs to wear pagris and carry kirpan, a religious obligation in public sphere.
• However, similar large heartedness and acceptance has not been shown towards Muslim females who demand that they be allowed to educate themselves while wearing Hijab. The Hijab ban will result in many females from minority communities dropping out of schools. Intolerance is often visible in educated people as well.
• For example: People with a scientific bend often ridicule traditional knowledge and humanities subjects. There is a belief that not being scientific makes them less worthy. Gandhiji rightly said that intolerance is the enemy of correct understanding. Humanities help us in being humane and better understand emotions. Traditional knowledge has often been a source of many modern medicinal discoveries.
• Climatic change has already started, and we have breached the 1.5^oC limit. This was mentioned in the IPCC’s recent report. Climate Change is causing irreversible changes in weather patterns, increase in the sea water level etc. These changes are affecting the humanity in a negative way, particularly the poor who are most vulnerable.
• The only reason behind this is our intolerant behaviour towards nature and our greed to dominate nature. We kept filling nature with dangerous pollutants and now nature is retaliating. During Covid-19 lockdown, nature was healing and reviving. This shows if we are tolerant towards nature and use its resources judiciously, we might solve the issue of climate change.
• During the pandemic, many businesses were shutdown and people lost their jobs. It was the tolerant attitude of RBI and government that allowed for loan moratoriums helped business cope up with the loses and gave people higher levels of state support even when revenues were low.
• Political scenario in our country have seems to have become intolerant. This can be seen by the ruckus created by Parliamentarians in Rajya Sabha during passage of controversial farm laws. The spirit of dialogue which is a basic ethic of democracy was missing from the party in power and opposition. Farmers whose lives were to be most affected by these controversial legislations were not adequately consulted. The bills were passed almost undebated. This incident reflects poorly on our democracy. The farmers left in the lurch mounted one of the largest protests in history of the country, which forced the government to take back the law. Politics should be founded on cooperation, inclusion and dialogue, only then politics can improve the lives of people.

The recent Russian – Ukraine conflict is also rooted in intolerance of nations. The Western power were intolerant to Russia’s security concerns, i.e., Russia did not want NATO on its doorstep. Russia too was intolerant; instead of using diplomacy it used military operations Russia declared this action on the pretext of injustice done by Ukrainian government in the Donbas region.

• This episode should come as a teaching for Indians in resolving our border issues in North and North-east. Government of India should try to bring peace in the region by accommodating the aspirations of the people.
• We need to bring development in the region to create a welfare state. Establishing a welfare state will help in building trust among people and make citizen accept and tolerate government decisions.

How to inculcate tolerance?

• Tolerance is a virtue, and any virtue can be internalised through practice and education. Tolerance can be propagated through the spread of knowledge about the benefits of tolerance. When people are educated, they beware aware of multiple viewpoints and lifeways. Helen Keller rightly said that the highest result of education is tolerance.
• Tolerance at societal level also increases when society gives high value to tolerance and keeps tolerance at a high pedestal. There must be collective responsibility on families, educational institutions and other social actors to build tolerance among our family members, peers and citizens at large. It should be understood that tolerance is a virtue associated with strong people and not as virtue of the weak.

But is tolerance the only way for a peaceful society?

• No tolerance is wrong when we tolerate injustice, violence and intolerance to others. For example, India would have never been free if our freedom fights keep tolerating the cruel rule of British. It needs to be highlighted, that when we oppose an unjust act, it should be through truth, reason and non-violence as was the case with India’s freedom struggle.
• Also, tolerance often leads to callousness and soft approach. Gunnar Myrdal criticised India of being soft state which was not capable of taking and implementing decisions and had tolerance towards corruption. For true peace along with tolerance, we also need justice as it is rightly said, “True peace is not just absence of violence but presence of justice.”
• India has been a tolerant country. All major religious dominations of the world whether Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism etc. flourish here, this itself highlights the presence of tolerance in our country. Even our constitution was formed on the bedrock of tolerance. Constituent Assembly represented all major lines of thought and entire spectrum of Indian nation. Fundamental Rights are available to all and protected by the highest court of the land. This is the reason people from different religion and caste live side by side in harmony.
• Despite a bloody partition in name of partition, millions of Muslims continue to thrive in our country. However, this spirit of tolerance, togetherness and Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam is today facing issues of religious fundamentalism, extremism and regionalism. Our leaders and citizens at large must sit down and make a collective resolve to tackle these issues through dialogue and tolerance. This will make India a beautiful bouquet. 

Save water today, otherwise tomorrow you will have to pay 

It is not uncommon sight in India to see young mother walking in the scorching heat, with a child perched on her hips and a pot in one hand, to a hand pump or stream miles away from her home to scoop up a meagre amount of water meant to meet her family’s needs for the day. It is also not uncommon to see the reckless wastage of life-giving water by people who experience no shortage of it, whether it is through long showers or by simply leaving the tap running while brushing or washing the dishes.

• These contrasting episodes teach us two important lessons. Firstly, that water is the most important resource and those who lack it will go to any end to get it and secondly that if some people have enough water resources at their disposal, they don’t value it and tend to waste it.
• To truly understand the crisis of water, we must therefore understand and confront both these facets. We must realise how crucial water is and how we must rid ourselves of our myopia when it comes to using wisely.

Water: Foundation of Life and Existence Perhaps there is no greater symbol of the importance of water than our constant search for it outside the confines of our planet. This is because, water is intrinsically linked to life itself. Life cannot exist as we know without water and where water exists, life must as well. When it comes to our own species, it is commonly known that 70% of the human body, is composed of water. Naturally, this water is acquired from our surroundings, forming a part of our diet, both as a liquid and solid food we consume.

• The agricultural sector is the largest consumer of water, consuming close to 80% of water in India. 90% of this water comes from underground aquifers. Paddy, a stable crop is many parts of world including India and China requires anywhere between 4,000 to 5,000 liters of water per kg. Animal sources of nutrition such as meat and dairy take even more water.
• Apart from the obvious needs of water to drunk and consume food, the role of water in maintaining the lifestyle of an average human being is overlooked. Water is used in large quantities by thermal powerplants to produce electricity, by construction activities to build our houses and by manufacturers to produce everything from tanned leather to semiconductors.
• Clearly, water is not just the biochemical foundation of life, but is central to our way of life and the existence of everything from the lowly mosses to the greatest of civilizations.
• Despite this keystone like position of water resources, it is often ignored in terms of conservation efforts since it is considered a limitless resource, continuously replenished through the water cycle. But is this true?

A Bleak Tomorrow

• Much need not be said about how the water cycle returns whatever water is used and released back into the environment. What needs to be considered instead is that natural processes operate on their own rhythms and frequencies. If we draw more than what the Earth can replenish, a shortage in inevitable. The hardship and suffering experienced by the people of South Africa during ‘Zero Day’ when they ran out of their water budget, is a stark reminder that nature too has a limit to its patience.
• The fact that we cannot remain where we are is also driven home by the phenomenon of climate change. Anthologically driven climate change spells doom for what little water we have. Higher temperatures leading to greater evaporation of surface water, sea level rise threatening to trigger ingress of saline water to surface and underground freshwater reservoirs and rapid melting of glaciers in the ’Third Pole’, set to all but disappear by a third by 2100 all ring alarm bels that must be headed.
• What we do today, echoes in eternity. The repercussions of this crisis will fall squarely on the shoulders of those who come after us. Our sons and daughters will feel the sting of water stress more acutely than we will. This principle, called ‘intergenerational parity’, an important component of sustainable development as defined by Brundtland Commission casts a responsibility on the current generation to thus act as trustees of the planet and its resources, holding it is trust for future generations.

To avoid a bleak tomorrow, we must take stock of where we are and act today. This is doubly true for India, as the bleak future seems to be knocking at our door.

India- At the edge of cliff

• India is home to over 16% of world’s population. But it is meagerly blessed with only about 4% of the world’s water resources. Predictably, India is the 13th most water stressed country in the world with close to 600 million people facing water stress daily as per the NITI Aayog. While the natural lack of water resources commensurate with the large population, we have ourselves exacerbated the issue with unwise policy. 
• A combination of perverse subsidies offered by the MSP regime and the free hand provided by the easement act and power subsidies; our agriculture is famously water intensive. Irrigation efficiency hovers around 30-55% with an already distorted cropping pattern focused on rice, wheat and sugarcane grown in water stressed areas. Combined with an Agri-export policy encouraging water intensive crop exports, water starved India is ironically one of the greatest exporters of groundwater in the world.
• The often-highlighted unwise use of water at individual levels comes to the fore at the urban centers of our country. Twenty-one cities are expected to run out of water by 2022, including mega metropolises such as Mumbai, Bengaluru & Chennai. Chennai for one already faced an acute shortage in 2020 with neighbouring states offering to transfer water by train to meet the crisis. 
• Energy and industry in India are no stranger when it comes to unwise utilization of water either, 40% of our thermal power plants are in water stressed locations. While industry does not use quite as much water as agriculture, it pollutes surface water at a prodigious rate. The picture of worshippers celebrating Chhatth puja in the toxic foam filled waters of the Yamuna a few weeks ago is the most recent reminder of the way we treat what little water we have. With climate change entering the picture, India as the 5th most vulnerable country in the world, we are standing at a precipice. And at the edge of a cliff, progress is a step backwards.

Stepping Back

• The importance of moderation and conservation has not escaped our policymakers. This is amply proved by the initiatives already enacted by the government.
• PM-Krishi Sinchai Yojana along with expanding the supply of water, also intends to improve water use efficiency through the ‘Per drop more crop’ vertical. The Atal Bhujal Yojana focuses on groundwater water conservation. States like Haryana seek to correct the skewed cropping pattern through schemes like ‘Jal hi Jeevan Hai.’
• The overuse of water resources by the industries is sought to be controlled through new groundwater abstraction rules aimed at discouraging overuse through a water conservation free. India has positively engaged with countries like Israel to use techniques of grey water recycling to make water as productive as possible. The Samagra Shiksha Jal Suraksha Program aims at spreading awareness of water conservation among school students.
• The recently published Central Water Management Index published by Niti Aayog has shown positive results, with 80% of states showing improvement in their management of water resources. However, it also warns us that progress is not sufficient with significant stress remaining in population dense, breadbasket states.
• While the road ahead is still long, we have charted a course and documents like the Niti Aayog’s strategy for water resources, light the way ahead. The effective implementation of these policies and sincere behaviour change will prove crucial to avoiding the water crisis that waits just around the corner. We must all remind ourselves of the most salient lesson that Gandhiji gave us “The Earth has enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed”.