We are not mere subjects of the state

In a democracy, citizens have the freedom to criticise laws that violate their idea of dignity

“It has become a fashion of the day to make a hue and cry about personal liberty,” the Maharashtra government lamented before the Supreme Court in early December. The government said this in response to activist Gautam Navlakha’s plea that his arrest by the State police in the Bhima Koregaon case was without sufficient evidence. The unease of the Maharashtra government with the idea of personal liberty should have caused alarm. Political parties should have critiqued it. After all, does not our system of parliamentary democracy depend on the idea of freedom of individuals to make their own choices independently, without restrictions from any authority? But nothing of that sort happened. There was hardly a murmur in the media. It almost seems as if we agree with the Maharashtra government that individual liberty is a luxury and is at the mercy of state authorities.

Problem with individual liberty

The Maharashtra government is neither the first nor alone in expressing its disquiet with the idea of individual liberty in recent times. Let us recall the argument of the Indian state in the Aadhaar case. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had said in 2017 that individuals cannot have an absolute right over their bodies and that such an idea was a “myth”. He also said that even if you would like to be forgotten, the state will not be willing to forget you. This is clearly a Kafkaesque expression. Not being allowed to get away from the gaze of the state is a surreal feeling, but this is where we seem to be heading. Being remembered is very often confused with being loved.

Even before the arrest of the activists and the Aadhaar case, at a joint conference of Chief Justices of High Courts in 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned judges not to let their orders be influenced by perceptions that are often driven by “five star activists”. Why did he choose to make the idea of an activist elitist?

For the state, every individual has the potential to turn into an anti-state actor. That is the premise of extraordinary laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which criminalises even the intent to indulge in what the state perceives as unlawful. This is an excuse to rob a person of his or her individual liberty.

Let us be honest in our arguments as well. There is no denying the fact that some of those arrested, not to forget Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba who is at present languishing in Nagpur Central Jail, do support Maoist ideas. But that cannot become an excuse to deprive them of their individual liberty. So long as they are not involved in any violent act, they cannot be stripped of their right to entertain and express their ideas. For many, the very idea of a Hindu Rashtra is as dangerous and anti-constitutional as the idea of an Islamic democracy or a Sikh nation, but you don’t jail them for espousing these ideas. India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru rejected the suggestion by R.K. Karanjia that organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh should be banned for opposing the constitutional idea of India as a secular state. Nehru said ideas need to be fought with ideas and not with the coercive power of the state.

Why? Because the state is also an idea or ideology backed by not only arms but also powered by the law. All states claim to have the best notion of goodness and welfare for their subjects. They try to implement laws that are seemingly non-violent and that are framed through consensus. But we know that such consensus is always temporary and can be subject to change.

Democracy and subjectivity

Do I have the freedom to criticise or challenge the idea of welfare and goodness propounded through these laws? If not, I am a mere subject of the state; I have not attained my subjectivity. The journey towards democracy is closely tied with the discovery and realisation of this subjectivity. For Karl Marx, capitalism is bad because it does not allow subjectivity to flourish, or because it deifies hierarchy in subjectivities. For him an ideal state would be one in which human beings self-govern or self-rule.

The objective is to realise the essence of human nature. In this struggle is born the idea of individuality. It is a complex and relatively new notion for us humans who seem to be programmed to think that the standards of human nature are issued from some authority and we are simply its creatures. It is therefore not surprising that the transfer of loyalty from religion to nation is almost seamless. Or, that the nation itself replaces god. The state becomes the sole bearer of the idea of the nation and takes it upon itself to protect it from violators. To criticise the state thus becomes a blasphemous act.

The state seeks to present itself as a living being. But Mahatma Gandhi rightly said that it is not superior to the individual since the state is a soulless machine whereas the individual has a soul. B.R. Ambedkar also unequivocally placed the individual not only above the state but also above society: “The aim and object of society is the growth of the individual and the development of his personality. Society is not above the individual.” Quoting Jacques Maritain, he said: “Man is an individual who holds himself in hand by his intelligence and his will; he exists not merely in a physical fashion. He has spiritual super-existence through knowledge and love, so that he is, in a way, a universe in himself, a microcosm, in which the great universe in its entirety can be encompassed through knowledge.” He added: “Man’s life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self.” Of course, what one derives from this principle is that a noble society can only be a community of free individualities.

The tension between the state or any authority and individuality will remain. A democratic state is not a citizenry which only has the freedom to elect lawmakers. It is more than that. It is one where citizens have the freedom to criticise and disobey laws that they find violating their idea of dignity and goodness.

In a democracy, I attain my individuality by first recognising this right and then by expressing it. I don’t hand over my judgment to authorities. If the state seeks to restrict me, it becomes my holy duty to resist the state. Only by doing so can I proclaim my individuality.

Apoorvanand teaches at Delhi University

Source: The Hindu, 20/12/2018

Belief without truth

Religion and superstition are mirror images. Superstition can, therefore, pass for religion, especially when the people know only rituals and practices — all priestly inventions — and are ignorant of the ethical and philosophical principles embedded in scriptures.

In an age of religious decadence, when godliness departs from popular outlook, there will be innumerable discussions about religious issues. In such exercises, considerable time and effort is wasted in disputing minute physical details of issues: Spiritual principles and norms will find no mention. So much has been said about Sabarimala. But the question remains: How and why has a temple become a spot of social turmoil? Why is it that people fail to reckon even obvious and familiar truths?

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The purpose of religion is to ennoble human beings so that they transcend selfishness and pettiness and live together in harmony and kinship. True religion, or spirituality, is the foremost resource we have for liberating individuals from their narrow-mindedness and aggressive pursuit of self-interest at the cost of social harmony and individual integrity. Yet, popular religiosity of all kinds lends itself increasingly to the very opposite. Why?

It is customary to damn religion per se. This is simplistic, and illogical. If religion or what is assumed to be belief is making human beings behave worse than beasts, it only means that what they practice is not religion, but something else. The danger is that this “something else” resembles religion and, to that extent, disarms discernment at the popular level.

Religion and superstition are mirror images. Superstition can, therefore, pass for religion, especially when the people know only rituals and practices — all priestly inventions — and are ignorant of the ethical and philosophical principles embedded in scriptures. Superstition is to religion what carbon monoxide is to oxygen. Both resemble each other insofar as they are colourless and odourless. But one sustains life, while the other destroys it.

The mayhem unleashed by vested interests in Sabarimala is being legitimised as solidarity with “believers”. To believe, per se, is nothing. I may believe ardently in a set of superstitions. That wouldn’t make me a believer. It would make me only an obscurantist. I may believe passionately that those who practice a religion different to mine are infidels. But that would only make me a bigot. This is because what I believe has no bearing on truth. Belief without truth is not only useless, it is positively dangerous. It is this sort of belief that is being politically promoted today.

While Christianity identifies God with love and Buddhism with compassion, the Vedic faith identifies God with truth. Gandhiji went a step further. He said: “Truth is God.” To compromise truth ever so little in respect of God is to be atheistic. Maintaining the appearance of being a believer doesn’t help.

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Superstition is the most dangerous manifestation of untruth in religion. Superstitions are dangerous because they resemble articles of belief. Superstition is, in other words, deceptively religious. It passes for religion, but corrupts the very soul of religion. It stands to reason, therefore, that wherever superstition sways popular religiosity, the “believers” remain woefully vulnerable to manipulation by unscrupulous elements out to exploit people’s religiosity for ulterior motives.

Sabarimala has, over the years, succumbed to an avalanche of superstitions. For illustrative purposes, consider the following. It is ridiculously irrational and superstitious to assume that God, who is omnipresent, is confined to a particular spot. God cannot be partial to Sabarimala or to any mountain. Partiality is a human weakness, and it is scandalous to taint God with it. Secondly, it is a puerile superstition that God’s celibacy — if there is such a thing at all — can be threatened by women’s biological conditions, when it is God himself who ordained these conditions. Third, it is stupid to think that a tantri, or any priest or pope, has any special equation with God. Most priests, including tantris, are spiritually inferior to ordinary people. If they pretend to be otherwise, they are hypocrites and there is no truth in them. Fourth, it is shameful to spread and sustain the canard that by visiting this temple or that human beings can snatch special favours from God! It is even more superstitious to deceive people into believing that one temple is more potent for this purpose than another.

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There is nothing in the literature pertaining to Lord Ayyappa that supports the superstitions surrounding Sabarimala. Yet, they flourish, and more and more people are seduced by it. This superstition-driven swelling of misguided masses awakens the covetousness of opportunistic politicians. If the annual attendance at Sabarimala were less than a thousand, no political party would have shown any interest and there would have been peace in the shrine.

The pattern at work here needs to be grasped. Superstition fuels popular fervour. This swells the crowds. Crowds attract politicians like vultures to corpses. Politicians reach these sites because irrational religiosity robs individuals of the capacity to think. These “believers” can, hence, be led by the nose. God is sidelined. Naked commercial and mercenary interests install themselves in the vacuum. Being an unnatural state, this breeds conflicts and upheavals. True believers suffer. They, unlike those blinded by superstition, are spiritually sensitive. They discern the abomination shrouding the sanctuary of the sacred. They are anguished, whereas the slaves of superstition get possessed by the hysteria of the political drama.

The message emanating from Sabarimala is the need for the society to wake up to the danger of superstition corrupting religion and religion, as a result, becoming a sanctuary of the unscrupulous.

The writer is a Vedic scholar and social activist

Source: Indian Express, 20/12/2018

The besieged sanctuary

Wildlife Institute of India wields great authority. It must exercise it with care. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has effectively paved the way for at least two mega hydel power projects in one of India’s richest biodiverse zones.

In December 2012, villagers of the Idu Mishmi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh spotted three tiger cubs in the Dibang Valley. They reported the sighting immediately to the forest department. A three-year-long study followed and, earlier this month, it revealed the presence of 11 tigers in the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary. Unfortunately for them as well as other flora and fauna in the region, “development” has come calling, meaning they might soon have no place to call home.

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The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has effectively paved the way for at least two mega hydel power projects in one of India’s richest biodiverse zones: The Etalin hydel project to be jointly developed by Jindal Power in Dibang Valley district and the Arunachal government and the Lower Demwe hydel project in Lohit district.

The Demwe project is dangerously close to the Kamlang Wildlife Sanctuary and environmentalists have already voiced fears about the adverse impact the power plant will have on the flow of the Lohit river. It will also jeopardise the habitat of the Gangetic river dolphin. A 2014 study of the site by Asad Rahmani, director of Bombay Natural History Society, revealed that the project would also end up submerging parts of the Parshuram Kund Medicinal Plant Conservation Area, home to “globally significant medicinal plants”. The Etalin project paints an equally grim picture.

It entails large-scale forest diversion and the felling of approximately 2,80,000 trees, besides impacting 18 villages. Both are instances of what has become a predictable arc of environmental and ecological disruption. In November, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari flagged off several road development works in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra. The Tadoba tiger reserve is located close by and about 100 km of roads will cut through tiger corridors. In Karnataka, in July, the road ministry called for the state’s consent to lift the night-traffic restriction on NH 766 passing through the Bandipur National Park, furthering fears of more roadkills.

In this context, the role of WII assumes great significance. The country’s premier institute on wildlife and forestry, its recommendations often decide if the ministry will grant or deny project clearances. For the Dibang Valley project, the environment ministry modified a recommendation from its Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) to carry out an environment impact assessment.

Taking it further, the WII initiated a study to assess how the project’s wildlife impact can be minimised. In the past, too, the WII has waded into controversy. At a time when, globally, environmental issues are increasingly driving policy, the WII must be more mindful of the responsibility it is vested with.

Source: Indian Express, 20/12/2018

DU plans entrance test for all college admissions in 2019

From the coming academic year (2019-20), Class XII marks may not be enough to land you a seat in a Delhi University college. The university plans to introduce entrance exam-based admissions for all its undergraduate courses while also giving fixed weightage to Class XII scores. While the details of the entrance-based system are yet to be ironed out, the varsity is hoping to introduce it in the 2019 admission season. “The admission committee is going to take up the matter of entrance exams with regard to the admission process of 2019-20. The committee is an independent panel that has education experts, college principals and faculty as members,” DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi told TOI. The DU admission committee had discussed the issue last year as well but could not reach a consensus. While problems relating to holding of entrance exams was one of the reasons for deferring the plan, it had also met with resistance from faculty members in the admission committee. The panel this year intends to determine whether the entrance exam can be outsourced to the National Testing Agency (NTA), which has recently taken up the responsibility of holding national exams like NET and JEE from CBSE. Asked if the university would consider a role for the NTA, Tyagi said the admission committee would consider that possibility. DU currently conducts computer-based entrance tests for nine undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, while admissions to a majority of undergraduate courses are determined through the aspirant’s scores in his/her best four subjects in the Class XII exams for the arts and commerce streams, and best three subjects for the sciences. In 2017, DU had tentatively reached out to students, especially those in Class XII, for feedback on the proposed switch to an entrance-based admission policy.

Source: Times of India, 20/12/2018 

What is 'overperception bias' in Psychology?

Also known as the sexual overperception bias, this refers to the tendency among people to overestimate the level of sexual interest that others have in them. It is believed that men are more likely to overestimate the interest level of women. On the other hand, women are said to underestimate men’s interest level. This is attributed to the fact that the evolutionary cost of underestimation is relatively high for men when compared to women. The overperception bias is considered to be a corollary of the sexual underperception bias which refers to the tendency among people, mostly women, to underestimate the interest level of people of the opposite sex.

Source: The Hindu, 19/12/2018

India must climate-proof its rural and urban infrastructure

We must take action to reduce its vulnerability to weather extremes using latest climate science and modelling simulations.

The Paris Rulebook adopted at the climate negotiations (COP24) in Katowice on Sunday is an opportunity for India to set its house in order. The Rulebook states that under Article 7 of the Paris Agreement, all signatories have to submit and update an adaptation communication periodically to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Adaptation essentially means anticipating the impact of climate change and making cities and villages resilient in the face of a 1.5 degree rise in global warming over pre-industrial levels by the early 2030s. The warming can be as high as 2 degrees for many parts of Asia, including India. India must use this opportunity to climate-proof its rural and urban infrastructure by adopting strategies that reduce the impact of droughts through forestry; use crop diversification with a focus on resilient varieties; promote and deliver agriculture and climate insurance: and adopt flood- and heat stress control in cities. India has already proposed using the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to conduct drought-proofing and afforestation activities and the move has been applauded by climate scientists as it is expected to reach the most vulnerable populations across the country.

The Rulebook has also established a system to ensure developed nations deliver climate finance to developing countries. At COP24, parties agreed that new finance targets will be established from 2025, over the current target of mobilising $100 billion per year by 2020 to support developing countries. Developed countries have the choice to include all kinds of financial instruments— loans, grants, aids from public and private sources — to ensure the flow of funds, which has so far been slow and unpredictable. According to a report of the UNFCCC standing committee on finance, the total climate specific finance flows from developed countries in 2016 was $38 billion — less than 40% of the target. Money apart, countries such as India need to draft a strategy to use funds effectively to minimise the impact of climate change; In India, the Kerala floods of 2018, and the 2013 flash floods in Uttarakhand were both extreme weather events caused by climate change .

The India Meteorological Department recently acknowledged that the country is facing climate change-led aberrations in long-term meteorological trends, with a sharp rise in ‘extremely heavy rainfall’ events and the number of ‘dry days’ in the past few decades. Instead of wearing blinkers like the oil-rich nations that include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and the US did at COP24, India must take action to reduce its vulnerability to weather extremes using latest climate science and modelling simulations.

Source: Hindustan Times, 19/12/2018

We must give our girls the chance to dream big

Good steps are being taken, but in pockets. The situation calls for a concerted national campaign, like Swachh Bharat. It is time we all got involved: parents, schools, media, and donors.

The physical and emotional well-being of India’s adolescents (10-19 years) needs urgent attention. India has 243 million adolescents, which is 21% of the entire population. There are only 920 girls for every 1,000 boys and these 8% of ‘missing’ girls are emblematic of the bias against the girl child that prevails in many parts of India. Nationally, more than 50% of women are anaemic, and 23% have low body mass index, issues that have their roots in adolescence. All data cited is from recent government sources, unless specified. Lack of knowledge about menstrual hygiene also contributes to adolescent health problems.

Younger teenage girls I meet through my work with the Antara Foundation in the villages of Rajasthan, speak animatedly of stepping out from the village, going to college, becoming teachers or joining government services. However, these girls also deal with pressures at home. They must balance school work with household chores; care for younger siblings; deal with parents who want them to drop out of school and get married. They have few opportunities to cultivate friendships. With these kinds of pressures, life can be intolerable, and suicide emerges as the leading cause of death among adolescents (The Lancet).

There is no reason why this tragedy should happen. The most obvious remedy is to delay the age of marriage. Almost 27% of girls in India are married before they turn 18, and that figure is as high as 35-40% in states like Bihar, Rajasthan and West Bengal. India has the maximum number of adolescent pregnancies in the world, resulting in malnourishment of both mother and child. A married child also faces more marital violence. State governments can do a lot, and West Bengal’s Kanyashree Prakalpa, to prevent early marriage, is a good example. Through it, there are awareness programmes in school, and parents get a financial incentive for delaying their child’s marriage by a few years.

The second step is keeping girls in school. School education broadens horizons, inculcates health-seeking behaviour, and provides opportunities for peer interaction. In India, 32% of adolescent girls do not attend secondary school (ASER). Long distances and lack of safe transport are key reasons. Bihar came up with a popular and effective solution — giving away cycles to young girls. There was an increase in the enrolment of girl students in class nine, from 1.5 lakh to over eight lakh. Improved education levels result in increase in the age of marriage — and there is no better example than Kerala, with a women’s literacy rate of 97.9% and early marriage prevalence at 7.6%

The onset of menstruation with puberty is a major reason why adolescent girls miss school days. Those five days of each month become an ordeal because girls have no ready access to sanitary napkins. States such as Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have introduced wonderful programmes to provide sanitary napkins in government schools, as one step towards keeping girls in school. The Hindi movie Padman (2018) contributed in its own way to normalising safe menstrual hygiene. In some schools, boys are being educated about menstruation, developing a heathy respect for women at an early age.

There is also a near term solution: involve girls in community activities. Some states have introduced sports programmes for girls, to provide a boost to self-esteem and assuage feelings of loneliness. In Rajasthan, my foundation is involving adolescent girls as health mobilisers in their local mohallas. Adolescent girls’ involvement in community kitchens in Peru has been instrumental in combatting malnutrition, and empowering women.

National programmes directed at the well-being of the adolescent are essential. The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) is a great example, with innovative elements such as peer educators, dedicated adolescent health days and sex education. The Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) introduced in 2012, provides iron and folic acid supplements to over 100 million adolescent girls and boys, through schools and Anganwadi centres. Such programmes and many more are required to assist the adolescent girls of India through their transitional period with care so that they have a happy and healthy future.

Good steps are being taken, but in pockets. The situation calls for a concerted national campaign, like Swachh Bharat. It is time we all got involved: parents, schools, media, and donors. Give our girls the chance to dream!

Ashok Alexander is founder-director of the Antara Foundation, and author of ‘A Stranger Truth: Lessons in Love, leadership and Courage from India’s Sex Workers’ (Juggernaut 2018)The views expressed are personal

Source: Hindustan Times, 19/12/2018