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Krishna Kumar, a well-known educationist, foresees the quality
of rural leadership will rise with an increase in the access to
education. This is likely to enhance the empowerment of women.
Religion and caste are likely to gain more power, unleashing
violence sporadically, but its scale and pattern will depend on
how those who manage democracy respond to it.
Bina Agarwal in
her forceful plea for gender equality attaches more importance
to woman’s share in property than education and employment
opportunities, which have their own importance. She stands for
equitable sharing of domestic work, childcare and care of the
elderly within the family. The male sharing every burden of the
spouse is a pre-requisite for gender equality.
Rustum Bharucha,
while delineating the role of culture in social life, stresses
that culture is not just what we are born with. This organic and
biological reading of culture risks becoming exclusionary, if
not racist. Culture mediates among individuals, groups and
communities. This aspect of culture needs to be strengthened if
the new millennium is to be made meaningful and socially
productive. Bharucha seeks a more questioning and interactive
culture for the new millennium. The knowledge of those cultures
that have been ruthlessly marginalised is also necessary.
Dipankar Gupta
still finds India largely untouched by modernity and hopes that
the new millennium will unleash it by placing the individual at
the centre as contrasted with the present situation when one’s
status by birth, caste and community matters more than
individual merit and achievements.
Gopal Guru in his
passionately argued piece on Dalits in pursuit of modernity
treats the sense of equality and self-respect as normative
grounds for the Dalit pursuit of modernity. This aspiration has
been foiled both by the state and the Hindu civil society. The
policy of reservation in government services and other
affirmative actions have led to the emergence of a tiny Dalit
elite that is rootless and alienated from its community. The
impact of globalisation is likely to be adverse for Dalits who
are going to be further ghettoised. The 21st century will see
greater assertiveness of Dalits who may join hands with forces
that have a genuine stake in transforming the present iniquitous
social system. Javed Alam in his piece on Muslim minority,
another underprivileged section, rightly refers to the
activities of the militant fringe in the Muslim community that
are likely to have disastrous consequences. It will be good if
Muslims join the struggle for human dignity, empowerment and
emancipation.
Prabhat Patnaik in
his prognosis on the future of Marxism finds this revolutionary
doctrine still relevant for humanity in spite of all the jolts
received by it. "Marxism has a future because mankind has
no future without it," asserts Patnaik. Whether it is a
realistic appraisal or not depends on one’s ideological
predilections. Kaushik Basu, another economist, predicts higher
rate of economic growth in India accompanied by greater
inequality. N. R. Narayanana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys, and a
pioneer in computer software, traces the history of computing
and information technology in India over the past 25 years. N.
Ram in his elaborate piece focuses on emerging trends and issues
in the field of media.
What this reviewer
finds missing in an otherwise excellent book on prognosis is a
critical analysis of the present socio-political scene in India
and its likely impact on future. Jayaprakash Narayan launched a
movement against the authoritarianism of Indira Gandhi’s rule
and made it bite the dust. V. P. Singh started a nationwide stir
on the issue of kickback in the Bofors deal and overthrew the
government. The alleged commission in this deal (Rs 64 crore) is
peanuts compared to a series of other gigantic scams running
into thousands of crores of rupees. Yet there is no all-India
stir. It seems as if the masses have surrendered. The poor are
too disorganised to pose any challenge.
P. Sainath, known
for his seminal work on poverty in India, finds that "rural
India seethes with struggle". It is difficult to agree with
his assessment. Undoubtedly, there are struggles but of
localised and sporadic nature. There is no all-India movement
that can pose a threat to status quo.
Is it a lull
before a storm or is the despondency and a sense of resignation
a far deeper phenomenon? The shape of the Indian society in the
new millennium depends a lot on the answer to this basic
question to be provided by history.
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TIME
is a continuum. It flows like a stream. The manmade division of time
into past, present and future is for our convenience and the same
has no rationale in nature that admits no such divisions. The
question mark after the subtitle (Another Millennium?) of the book
under review is a pointer to this. Mankind has entered into a new
millennium with the end of 20th century. However, what is
"another" or "new" about this? Yet the division
has its utility in terms of evaluating the past that provides a
springboard to peep into the future and make hazardous guesses about
it.
