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Role of religion in world peace
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Diversify agriculture to avoid imports
Food security, a challenge Profile Diversities — Delhi Letter
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Role of religion in world peace AN international conference on world peace recently held at Edmonton in Canada, organised by John Humphrey Centre, deliberated on the role of religion and human rights. While I almost completely endorsed the view that human rights substantially contributed to the world peace and without minimising the values of rich debate on world peace, I had reservations about the way religion was projected for making similar contribution to that
end. The concluding statement of the conference, for instance, declared that “it brought together representatives from many faiths and cultures: Aboriginal, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim”. Apart from the fact that the participants included many agnostics and atheists, the followers of different faiths that were mentioned also belonged to a number of identities other than those of their religions. For multiple identities alone can satisfy human urges. An exclusivist identity is hardly possible without fanatic attachment to
it. The use of religion, even with a liberal interpretation to combat growing cult of religious militancy, might tend to become self-defeating if it encourages an exclusivist attachment with one’s religious identity. Multiple identities, on the other hand, cut across one another and provide links to every individual with many others, beyond his/her
religion. How denial of a non-religious identity can make it less tolerant would be best illustrated by what happened to the Pushtoon community, the ethnic base of the Taliban. Divided by the Durand Line between Afghanistan and Pakistan, it was one of the most ardent followers of Gandhi. Pushtoon-led Afghanistan was the only country that had opposed Pakistan’s membership of the United Nations Organisation. It retained most friendly relations with India till 1979 when Soviet army entered
Afghanistan. India, on account of its cold war compulsions, favoured Soviet action. That caused great shock to Afghanistan, in general, and to its Pushtoon community, in particular. The resultant emotional and political gap was filled by Pakistan which, with the help of the US, provided not only arms but also ideology of militant
Islam. American policy makers were convinced that an Islamic ideology was the most effective antidote to Communist ideology. The strategy was applied in many other Muslim countries as well. By now it should be obvious that wherever Muslim communities had or have attachment with supplementary identities, their behaviour was or is far more moderate. This applies to other religious communities also.
The inter-faith movement is supposed to counter clash of civilisation theory of Huttington. While dialogue within and between religions is certainly welcome, it cannot effectively counter Huttington’s theory unless it exposes his fatal assumption that civilisations are synonymous with religions. All great civilisations of the world — Chinese, Indian, Arab, Persian, Greek and Roman — were non-religious. Even though the bulk of the population of the West is Christian, it is the inheritor of a number of non-Christian civilisations. Inter-faith movement in the West has created special problems for the Indian diaspora. Instead of treating Indian settlers in the Western countries as Indians, they are identified as members of their respective religious communities. In particular, Hinduism is facing a serious crisis. To enable its comparison and dialogue with other major religions of the world, it is being subjected to a process of standardisation and semitisation.
Unlike Judiaism, Christianity and Islam — the conflict between which is the main cause of international tension today — Hinduism was not revealed on a single day, by a single prophet and through a single book. Essentially, it has been an evolutionary religion which has been influenced by and influenced other religions, indigenous or
imported. Buddhism, for instance, started as a revolt against all scriptures, gods and goddesses of the time in India. It was eliminated from the Indian scene not by physical liquidation of its followers but by absorption of teachings of Buddha into religious thought of India and acknowledging him as an incarnation of God. Jainism was treated more or less in a similar way.
It is rarely realised how Islam and Christianity interacted with Hinduism. Both had first reached on the South coast of India perhaps during the lifetime of their prophets. A great genius like Shankaracharya, born in a predominantly Muslim principality namely Kalhindi in present-day Kerala, updated the philosophy of Vedanta according to which God, soul and inanimate objects, were expressions of the same
identity. In a way, it accommodated and transcended monotheism of Islam. Likewise, Shankaracharaya was the first missionary who roamed around all over India like a Christian missionary. In fact, Christianity has influenced Hindu thought much more than the number of Christians in India will
indicate. Again, India is the only country in the world where Muslims have ruled without converting majority of its population and have shared power with Non-Muslims during the Muslim rule as also after Independence. In fact, the mutual impact of Islam in India (undivided) and Hinduism deserves a deeper study which would provide vital clues to their uniqueness.
It may however, be recalled that Iqbal, the greatest influence on Muslims of the subcontinent referred to the unique potentialities of Indian Islam the growth of which was stunted due to the influence of what he called Arab imperialism.
Sikhism is another illustration of synthesising process to which religions in India were subjected. The opening words of its scripture Aikam Onkar aptly translates monotheism of Islam in Indian Idiom. Guru Granth Sahib incorporates poetry of Muslim Sufi and Hindu Bhakti saints. Referring to Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism, till a century ago, Harjot Oberoi doubts if “such clear-cut categories actually found expressions in the consciousness, actions and cultural performances of the actors they describe”.
There was indeed a more useful discussion on dialogue of civilisations at the Edmonton Conference; though it could not precisely define what does civilisation mean. However, if India aspires to play its proper role in world affairs it must pursue the idea of dialogue of civilisations for which it is best equipped instead of falling into the trap of inter-faith dialogue currently being tried in the West which, according to Roger Ballard, “promotes a unitary vision of what religion is all about” and “seeks to reduce all religions to centralised issues.”
The writer is Director, Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs, Jammu
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On Record
PARLIAMENT passed the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill last week. As it awaits the President’s assent, Shankar Gopalakrishnan, secretary, Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), maps out important landmarks of the struggle which has resulted in the passage of the Bill.
The CSD is a federation of tribal and forest dwellers’ organisations from 11 states that has been fighting for forest rights. An activist with human rights’ groups and tribal mass organisations, Mr Gopalakrishnan belongs to the hill areas of Tamil Nadu. In an exclusive interview to The Sunday Tribune, he describes some of the provisions in the Bill as “betrayal” of the promises made by the
Centre. Excerpts: Q: Forests and tribals have coexisted for centuries but of late tribals are being alienated and being sucked into a vortex of violence. What are the
reasons? A: Conflict in forest areas has its roots in our forest laws which were framed by the British for the purpose of utilising timber resources for industrial purposes. These laws aimed to keep out local communities and ensure that forests could be “scientifically managed” for timber yields. The provisions for recognising local communities’ rights were, therefore, ignored.
Indeed, 82 per cent of Madhya Pradesh’s forest blocks have never been surveyed to determine who lives there. As a result, millions of tribals and forest dwellers of this country found that their homes, lands and livelihood are all declared illegal. Official policy sees these people as criminals and tries to remove them where ever possible, though now in the name of conservation. The “guns and guards” model of conservation has failed. A “vortex of violence” is an accurate description; the Tiger Task Force called it “a war within”. Q: Since 1987, there has been a promise of a National Policy on the Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Tribals. Why the
delay? A: The basic approach of both colonial and independent India has been to treat tribals as non-citizens — worthy of “welfare” and “uplift” but not of rights. For five decades, independent India has promoted scheme after scheme of tribal welfare while trampling on the fundamental rights of tribals over their own lands and forests.
Q: Now that Parliament has passed the Bill and it is about to get the President’s ascent, how far will it address the concerns?
A: One has to see this legislation in two aspects. On the one hand, this is the first time in India’s history that there is a law recognising the rights of tribals and forest dwellers. We now have a law that explicitly states that millions of people have been living under constant threat of eviction...in constant fear of harassment and subjected to brutal and inhuman injustice. It explicitly acknowledges that people have a right over their traditional
resources. Moreover, they also have the right to protect and conserve them. In that sense, this is a huge step forward. But unfortunately this is only true at the level of principle. For, the government has, through a manipulation of parliamentary procedure, ensured that amendments to the law were moved at the very last minute and thus neither the parties nor the MPs had any time to respond. Those who objected were then presented with a Hobson’s choice of either accepting the law as it is or postponing the measure to the next
session. This was a tragedy as these amendments constituted a kind of legal sleight of the hand that systematically sabotaged the operative parts of the law. The law as now passed excludes the vast majority of both tribal and non-tribal forest dwellers by requiring that they should live “in” forests — which will be interpreted to mean living on areas recorded as forest land while the vast majority of forest dwellers live on areas technically recorded as revenue lands while cultivating forest land and using forest
resources. By this clause alone, 90 per cent of the rights holders will be left out. Moreover, it contains clauses that would increase abuse of power and corruption in deciding on rights. It even has sections that seem aimed at creating legal confusion and inviting arbitrary interference from the courts and the authorities. This is nothing short of a betrayal of the cause of lakhs of people who have fought for this law.
Q: How far will it address growing violence? A: Violence in forest areas has many causes though the denial of forest rights is indeed a major one. To the extent that this law fails to address the concrete needs of forest dwellers in this country — and in its current form it will indeed fail in most cases — it will largely fail to address these conflicts in any meaningful way.
Q: Will it help check the sense of alienation among the forest dwellers? A: To answer this let us look at the broad picture. By accepting the situation and instituting at least some of the principles of forest rights into law, this legislation is a step forward for the struggle of forest dwellers. At the same time, it exposes the ugly face of the government and the massive vested interests of the private companies and the Forest Department.
The legislation amounts to an admission by the government that the demands of the forest dwellers and the forest movements are entirely just and legitimate, but it then goes on to deny them their rights. Whereas earlier the autocratic control of the Forest Department (and the implied ability of the government to sell or destroy the forest at any time) was justified in terms of conservation or the “national good”. Now, the government has no such excuse since by passing this legislation it has confessed that the current system is achieving neither.
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Diversify agriculture to avoid imports CURRENTLY, a debate is on regarding the diversification of agriculture. It is a commercial proposition and the family’s livelihood is dependent on its farm holding. Every farmer would adopt the cropping pattern where his comparative gain would be
higher. A number of sugar mills were installed throughout India in the sixties and seventies. As the cane price was higher, the farmer could realise it only after selling it. That was his income between the period of Rabi and Kharif crops. Subsequently, a large part of land in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra came under sugarcane
cultivation. The sugar production was so high that India exported sugar. However, after 2002-03, the sugar mills run only for a brief period in the year. Though the sugarcane prices were higher and its sale was easy, in all the states, the payment for cane got delayed compared to wheat and paddy. As a result, farmers turned to wheat and paddy instead of
sugarcane. Sugar is the item of daily use and foreign exchange can be earned easily. However, because of the delayed payment, the sugar output declined in every state. Though India produced 61.64 lakh tonnes in 2002-03, after two years, it came down to 22.29 lakh tonnes. Uttar Pradesh with 117 sugar mills once produced 58.74 lakh tonnes. Now it has fallen to 50.32 lakh tonnes.
Similarly, in Punjab, the produce of sugarcane reduced to 3.37 lakh tonnes from 5.11 lakh tonnes. Same was the case in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttaranchal and Bihar. The declining trend is continuing mainly due to the shortage of raw material. This has adversely affected the workers employed in the sugar mills as also the farmers’ income as they remain idle in the period between Rabi and
Kharif. Clearly, the area under wheat and paddy should not decline and efforts should be intensified to increase the per acre yield. As extensive cultivation in India is difficult, we must increase the output through intensive cultivation. Even for the sake of diversification of agriculture, food products like maize, jowar, bajra can be tried. Before going ahead, the farmers should assess the pros and cons of the crops along with unit
production. Marketing is a major problem especially in areas like diary, poultry, fruits and floriculture. All these activities can enhance the period of employment. As big capital is needed to start these activities, the government sponsors “self-employment schemes”. However, farmers cannot sustain these due to “uncertain marketing”. If the government-patronised departments, cooperatives and industrial units buy these products, it will generate employment and provide the basis for
diversification. Food products should be given priority in the diversification plan to avoid imports. The alternative food products should have more comparative gains, assured by attractive prices and marketing. The writer is a former Professor of Agriculture Economics, Khalsa College, Amritsar |
Food security, a challenge ENSURING nutritious and safe food to people has been a big challenge to the bureaucrats, planners and leaders of all nations. Food security has to be attained at the household, national and global level. According to Dr M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman, National Commission on Farmers, sustainable food security depends upon three components: availability in the market, which is a function of production; Access to food, which is related to purchasing power and hence to jobs, or livelihoods; and absorption of food in the body, which is determined by access to safe drinking water, environmental hygiene and primary health care. Food insecurity is linked to several issues such as poverty, unemployment, famine, gender discrimination, starvation, food and nutritional practices, human growth, political elements and nature calamities. Poverty has been recognised globally both as cause and consequence of food insecurity. Most poor families in the world spend almost 80 per cent of their income on food, leaving little for housing, health, education or the management of natural resources. Why does hunger persist on such a large scale? The first cause of hunger and malnutrition is poverty. People fail to eat enough food because they cannot afford to produce it or buy it. Prof Amartya Sen says, “what causes hunger in India currently is the wide prevalence of poverty and the inability of a large section of the population to buy food or (more generally) to establish entitlement over an adequate amount of food”. He further points out that though India has achieved self-sufficiency in the availability of food grains by the mid-seventies due to the remarkable success of the green revolution, while assessing this in the light of limited purchasing power of the Indian masses, it is very low. Around 50 per cent of India’s population do not have adequate purchasing capacity to have proper food. In low income countries, vulnerable sections continue to remain unprotected despite being self-sufficient in food. Presently, the crop yields in India are quite low compared with developed countries and many developing countries in Asia. The natural resources, which have direct influence on food production, are under gross neglect and underutilised. Efforts must be intensified to exploit these resources fully to boost agricultural production. We must blend traditional wisdom and technologies with modern science and technology. Agriculture is a technical and scientific undertaking. To be profitable, it must be guided by modern researches. Besides, agriculture trade liberalisation can help reduce poverty and food insecurity. It contributes to food security in a number of ways, by making up the difference between production and consumption needs, reducing supply variability featuring economic growth, making more efficient use of world resources and by permitting global production in those regions more economically suited to it. There is also the possibility of increased production and a resultant increase in rural labour demand and rural real wages. This will help reduce the food insecurity problem by increasing economic access to food. Further, reliance on trade to bridge the shortfall between production and consumption is not free from risks like uncertainty of supplies and world market price instability. Access to global market in terms of food security requires access to the required foreign exchange. Given the past level of export performance and the projected global economic conditions, a sustained export performance for most developing countries including India, appears to be a chimera. The challenges of producing more food from less land and water can be met by developing and spreading integrated farming system, which requires agricultural intensification, desertification and value addition. Given adequate support for research designed for public good, it will be possible to promote an ever green revolution in agriculture. Improving agricultural productivity tends to increase on and off farm employment and provides an important stimulus to the overall economy. This will help increase total household income and will ensure better nutrition. We must increase the cultivable land and productivity of agriculture through evolution of high yielding varieties. Countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea and Thailand which have done well in agriculture have all experienced a radical decline in rural poverty and have improved food security. These countries have followed broad-based economic development with high levels of investments in agriculture, education and infrastructure and have succeeded in increasing food security and drastically reduced poverty. So, we need policy reforms to expand investment in rural infrastructure, education, health, agricultural research and improved food production technologies and credit to increase earnings and enhance food security and nutritional status of the poor. In addition to expanding human resource capabilities, increasing food storage facilities and strengthening the public distribution system, there is need to revamp the employment programmes. The Centre and the states have initiated a number of poverty alleviation programmes with a view to empowering the rural poor to enable them to participate in agricultural growth. These include both wage and self-employment programmes in rural areas. Field studies have indicated that only a marginal segment of the sample households were able to find work under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana. Because of widespread illiteracy, there is no awareness among the people about government programmes. Adequate awareness needs to be created among rural masses so that they could benefit from these programmes. We have to strengthen the condition of women labour and farmers because they contribute a lot to the well being of the household. Food security policies and programmes need to be built on comprehensive assessment of inter-related national, community and household food security problem and on evaluation of these problems at various levels. Increasing food production and productivity as also management of natural resources, social, economic and market price stability and nutritional security through the creation of multi-employment opportunities are all important. In this task, the international community, government and NGOs have to promote human resource development and environment.
The writer is Professor & Head, Department of Post Harvest Technology, Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni,
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Profile
Some CPM leaders feel that her concern about returning to the state’s political center-stage lies at the root of the anti-car project agitation. Ratan Tata, whose project has run into trouble because of Mamata’s fast, was generous in his comment — “the lady means well and is simply concerned about the people”. Comments of the Marxist leaders and Ratan Tata notwithstanding, her deteriorating health has become a matter of national concern. Many images of Mamata conjure up as top leaders including former Prime Minister V.P. Singh and West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi try to persuade 51-year-old Trinamool Congress leader to give up the hunger strike. Remember how she burst into limelight having defeated then CPM stalwart and present Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chaterjee in December, 1984 Lok Sabha elections? She was only 29 then and Rajiv Gandhi had handpicked her to face the Marxist leader but never expected her to defeat Somnath da. Mamata had indeed performed a feat and many Congress leaders were heard saying, “she has bearded the lion in his own den”. Even when she was a minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government, she staged a dharna in front of Chief Minister Jyoti Basu’s chambers in Writers building in Kolkata. She was demanding justice for a poor deaf and dumb girl who was allegedly raped by certain persons owing allegiance to the CPM. Ministerial office did not suit Mamata’s style of functioning and she quit the Rao ministry within a few months. Like the late Socialist leader, Raj Narain, Mamata also clashes with the police if it comes in her way. No leader has been assaulted by the police and Marxist cadres as many times as she. She was seen on the small screen groaning with pain in hospital bed and raising her plastered hand in the Lok Sabha. A slogan coined by her supporters those days said: “Mamata thy name is struggle”. In 1997, when the Congress plenary session under the presidentship of Sitaram Kesri was held in Kolkata, Mamata raised the banner of revolt against his leadership. She organised a parallel rally, near the Netaji Indoor Stadium where the plenum was being held. Her rally turned out to be a roaring success while that of the Congress proved a flop. Sarcastically, she described the Kesri Congress as the “indoor Congress” and her rally as “the outdoor Congress”. Octogenarian Kesri ignored the defiance and in a bid to placate Mamata described her as “my daughter” but she retorted: “I don’t need a father like this old bandicoot”. In April 1996, even though a Congress member, she dubbed the party as “a stooge of the CPM”. Claiming that she was the lone voice of protest and wanted a “clean Congress”, she wrapped a black shawl round her neck at a public rally and ventured to commit suicide. Her loyalists came forward to save her. On the day of presentation of the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha in February 1997, she threw her shawl at the then Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. In the winter session of Parliament in December 1998, Mamata held a Samajwadi Party MP, Daroga Prasad Saroj, by the collar and dragged him out of the Lok Sabha’s well to prevent him from protesting against the Women’s Reservation Bill. On August 4, 2005, she hurled her resignation paper at the Deputy Speaker, Charanjit Singh Atwal. The provocation was that Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had earlier rejected her adjournment motion on illegal infiltration by Bangladeshis in West Bengal. As Union Minister and, even when she held the Railway portfolio, she did not change her style of living. She wore rubber slippers and simple cotton sari. She did not move to the ministerial bungalow but continued to live in the modest MPs’ flat in the multi-storey building in New Delhi’s Baba Kharag Singh Marg. In November, this year, Mamata was forcibly stopped on her way to Singur for a rally against Tata Motor car project. She reached the West Bengal Assembly and squatted in protest as Trinamool Congress MPs damaged furniture and mikes in the Assembly.
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Diversities — Delhi Letter THE conviction of Manu Sharma, Amardeep Singh Gill and Vikas Yadav in the Jessica Lall murder case by the Delhi High Court has been in focus the entire week. Needless to put in details of the verdict and the offshoots. But, yes, it has brought into immediate attention a few important aspects. If a case is pursued by the media and the public with all possible might, it does get justice and the rich and powerful cannot get away so easily. But one question that arises in the average man’s mind is whether a case such as this would have attracted the same attention and coverage had it occurred in a small town or city. Jessica was murdered in the Tamarind Court of the high profile socialite Bina Ramani. If it had taken place in the mango grove tucked away in some nondescript locale of the country, one knows how the case would have been ignored. Incidents of rape, torture and killings have been on the rise in the countryside. As these are far away from the media glare, they get hushed up or buried under the carpet. One cannot overlook cases of the state- unleashed atrocities with the backing of the political-bureaucratic nexus at work. Facades and more facades are put up to justify killings of those who raise a voice of dissent or have the conviction to rebel and cry out against state repression. Not to be overlooked is also the fact that in certain sectors if A kills B, its C who has all the chances of being implicated under a whole lot of fabrications at work. Seminar on human rights It may sound ironical but this week itself whilst attention was in full swing on this particular case, there was a three-day meet in the Capital City (Dec 20-22) on the theme, “Human Rights and the Rule of Law: Mob Terror,State Terror and Bomb Terror”. Organised by Citizens for Justice and Peace and Communalism Combat, speakers ranged from Javed Akhtar to Arundhati Roy to Teesta Setalvad. The highlight, if I may so put across, was that the actual victims from several turmoil-stricken parts of the country gathered here. One after the other, they spoke of how victimised they live. The two eye witnesses in the Khairlanji case where members of a particular Dalit family were murdered, with the girls raped before the killings, had also come from Khairlanji in Maharashtra’s Bhandara district. Rajendra Gasbir and Sidharth Gasbir said that they were under threat and they feared for their lives. Rajendra said that the investigating authorities have told him to move out of the village. He said, “I know I will be killed because I was an eyewitness to the murders and rapes of that Dalit family but I am not moving anywhere; determined that I am to teach a lesson to these politicians whether they are from the Congress or the BJP.” Activist Milind Fulzele from Nagpur spoke of the police atrocities on Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims and added that there seemed such striking similarity that the victims should come together on a common platform. As this convention saw groups and individuals from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka talk of the injustices taking place, the big question that kept looming large is where is the justice for the common man. With many more than hinting that the police is hand in glove with the political forces, there is helplessness and anarchy. Sanjoy Ghose awards Srinagar-based journalist Afsana Rashid has been awarded the Sanjoy Ghose Humanitarian Award. Other journalists selected for the awards are Jehangir Rashid, Dinesh Manhotra, Mir Ehsan and Samarna Farooq. Three women journalists from Jammu and Kashmir — Afsana Rashid, Kavita Suri and Prakriti Gupta — bagged the Sanjoy Ghose Media Fellowship for 2006-07 for highlighting the problems of women in conflict hit region.
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MAMTA Banerjee is one leader who will never say die. Once she takes up a cause, whether justified or not, she will never give it up. She is now on an indefinite fast, demanding that the West Bengal Government should give back to farmers the land “forcibly” acquired for the Tata Motor project in Singur. One wonders if by blocking the car project, she expects the economic condition of the people in and around Singur or, for that matter, in the Marxist-ruled state to improve.