Thought for the day
"Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was
born in another time."
—Rabindranath Tagore (Indian, 1861-1941)
Word for the day
Blinkered (adj)
Narrow-minded and subjective; unwilling to understand
another viewpoint.
Malice towards none
Would we be scared off Imran Khan in the second innings
also or the times have changed?
First random thought this morning
ataH kutarkairdhIrastatra na muhyati|
Therefore, by perverted arguments, "the intelligent one is
not deluded."
The door is half open means the door is half closed. Therefore, the
door is fully open means the door is fully closed! Or: God is Love. Love is
blind. Therefore, God is blind!!!
Do you find this kind of sophistry acceptable? Because, the
employment generation logic of the Prime Minister in his recent speech in the
Lok Sabha, was nothing but Sophistry of most blatant kind.
Farm sector: social reforms
As I highlighted in one of my
earlier post (see here) the notion of "farm loan" is materially
different from "farmers' debt" in today's context.
The disproportionate rise in
aspirational consumption; distortion of social customs (especially marriage,
death, birth) for the sake of vanity, ignorance, and misguidance; rise in crime
and litigation expenses; rise in cases of chronic diseases and hence
prohibitive healthcare expenses form an overwhelming part of "farmers'
debt". This debt usually has nothing to do with farming activity.
This is in fact true for a large
majority of urban poor and lower middle class people also.
To cure this problem on
sustainable basis, it is important that economic reforms are implemented with
social reforms.
The social initiatives like focus
on cleanliness, cooking gas connection to BPL families are commendable. But
what we need is a social renaissance. Small correction and incremental
improvement might not be enough given the serious nature of the problem, in my
view.
I am not a social scientist. I may
therefore not be an appropriate person to suggest the steps that could be taken
within the Indian sociological framework. But this does leaves me at freedom to
throw some thoughts that may not belong to the box. For example, consider the
following:
(a) The government should take strong affirmative steps to eradicate
social distortions that have crept in over a period time in our social,
religious and cultural events.
To begin with the government
should totally nationalize the religious part of the birth, death and marriage
ceremonies.
The government should appoint
qualified religious persons (QRP) who can perform these ceremonies at the
designated venues established by government in every Block of the country . All
the expenses like salary of QRP, cost of performing the rituals, food offered
to QRP, cost of feeding upto 25 close relatives of the person performing for
whom the rituals being done, etc. should be borne by the government.
Special officers may be appointed
to supervise all such ceremonies and issue certificate (Birth, Death, Marriage)
on the spot.
The government should actively
discourage profligate spending on the social part of these events. All expenses
on marriage & birth related parties and social functions relating to death,
shall be taxed @100%. Meaning, if anyone wanting to spend Rs10,00,000 on
marriage party of his/her child, shall be required to pay an equivalent amount
as tax. This money may be used exclusively for performing the religious
ceremonies stated above.
(b) A dignified birth and death shall be made fundamental right of
every citizen.
In case of birth, the government
should assume responsibility of the child from the conception stage, for upto
two children for each parent. This includes good diet for mother, medical
tests, medicine, delivery expenses and immunization of the child. This should be
done on a global standard basis not the way typical government medical facility
is run by the government.
In case of death, the final rights
of the deceased should be performed in a dignified manner, as per his/her
religious traditions.
This should apply to all unclaimed
and unidentified bodies also.
The insurance companies may be
directed to make the claim payments on the spot when the final rituals are done
on 13th, 17th or 40th day as the case may be, in cases where the deceased's
life was insured, either individually or under some government group scheme.
The corporates may be required to
fund this initiative under their CSR obligation.
(c) All regular visitors to the holy shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in
Jammu, who are more than 50years of age, would vouch that the assigning the
administration of the shrine to an independent Board in 1986 has led to dramatic improvement in the
management and infrastructure in and around the Shrine. No one's religious
feelings have been hurt and the number of pilgrims visiting the holy cave has
multiplied exponentially.
The government may consider
constituting an autonomous constitutional body like Election Commission to take
over the management and administration of all places of worship in the country
This may put an end to rampant cases of exploitation, mismanagement, money
laundering and other disputes, encroachment of public land, environment
degradation, and promote secularism, brotherhood, tolerance etc.
A separate assembly of religious
leaders, holy men for each religion may be formed. This assembly may be given
the task to reevaluate all Holy Scripture, and find if there is any need to
reinterpret the scriptures in the light of modern day circumstances and
realities. The religious leaders should be requested to weed out the
redundancies and misinterpretations, so that no one manipulates the religious
sentiments of the people in the name of scriptures and divine mandate.
The assembly should also frame a code
of conduct for all people responsible for helping people with their religious
ceremonies and duties.
For example, the Hindu assembly
may want to ban flowing the last remains of dead people in holy rivers to save them
from dying. The ashes may be used for making bricks that can be used to build
places of worships and houses for the poor.
It may also encourage people to
use electronic or gas based cremation, instead of wood pyres. Alternatively,
each family member of the deceased may be required to plant two trees each and
take care of it till it grows to become self-sufficient.
(d) Distinguish between "education" and
"learning". Nationalize and standardize all education. Learning may
be imparted by private citizens volunteering in nation building. (See here for a detailed presentation of this thought)
These steps, if taken, may make
the life of poor (both rural and urban) materially comfortable and
substantially increase the happiness quotient of the country, in my view.
These thoughts and suggestions are
nothing new. I have been presenting this to the concerned authorities and to
the readers (through this post) frequently. I promise to keep pressing with
this in future also, till I see some progress on this.
Readers' comments and views are
welcome.
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