[PDF]India My India

INDIA



S ?Laksfimifnimar



India: MY India



INDIA: MY INDIA


S T Lakshmikumar



Publication





Published by The Author


Copyright (C) 2014 by S.T.Lakshmikumar
Ah Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means including information storage and
retrieval systems without permission in writing from the author.


s tlakshmikumar @ gmail .com


Contents


Acknowledgments

INDIA : MY INDIA 1

MY INDIA: THE PAST 6

1857 7

British In India 12

1947 20

Hindu Renaissance In British India 26

Why Hindus Never Won 33

Oral Tradition:The Beauty And The Burden 38

Jantar Mantar 46

Dravidians,Aryans And Indians 52

Hindu Temples In Muslim India 64

Leave The Past Well Alone! 71

MY INDIA : THE PRESENT 75

The Gun, The Bandh And The Fast 76

The Angry Young Man, Personal Revenge And Law 82

What Rights Are Fundamental? 86

Is Every Desirable Thing Possible? 92

The Quest For "Just Laws” 96

Social Justice:Demands And Implementation 106

Wealth:Creation And Sharing 116

Undisciplined Individuals And Reluctant Democrats 127
MY INDIA : THE FUTURE 134

The Preamble 135

On Being The Right Representative 141

Shouldering Responsibilities 149


Contents (Contd.)


Economic Policies l:Clearing Socialist Deadwood 155

Economic Policies 2:No Subsidized Luxuries 163

Economic Policies 3:The Social Safety Net 169

Economic Policies 4:Maximizing Tax Revenue 173

Social Policies 1: Reservations 181

Social policies 2:Supporting Secularism 187

Social policies 3:International Interaction 191

The call 197




Acknowledgements


I am deeply indebted to
everyone who helped me learn
through

teaching, discussion and argument.


Sarad Mohan through discussions covering literally the entire
universe has been the most important contributor to the organization
of my thoughts that lead to this book. It would not surprise me if an
objective, independent assessment identifies many of the important
ideas as his. In penning these few words of acknowledgment, I am not
really doing justice to his contribution.

S M Shiva Prasad, P N Vijay Kumar, R S Arora, S Dwivedi,
and T D Senguttuvan are prominent among friends who in recent years
helped me organize my views through conversations, made suggestions
and corrected mistakes. Many of the earlier contributors, including
members of my own family remain unnamed. I have not included a
bibliography, something I feel is redundant in the “google era”. I
humbly apologige for inadvertent, unacknowledged paraphrasing of
ideas if any and for any perceived slight, fault, failure or hurt sentiment.


The views presented here regarding my motherland, its past,
the present and possible future are subjective. The first of these largely
independent vignettes explains what the work is all about. I do not
know if these views would be useful or palatable to anyone else but
hope the final product is coherent and presentable.

S T Lakshmikumar

March 2014
New Delhi

stlakshmikumar@gmail.com


INDIA: MY INDIA


These are a series of mostly independent vignettes or short
essays on subjectively chosen facets of India, which have been strung
together to create my personal advice to "MY India". The temerity to
address diverse areas reflects my philosophy that both in personal and
societal decision making, highly precise enquiry by experts leads to
intellectual satisfaction but does not offer useful guidance for action. I
had argued, hopefully coherently and persuasively, in my earlier
books 1 - 2 , that one need not be bamboozled by complexities of advanced
science or of theology. In many areas of human endeavor, more complex
and sometimes more quantitative analysis leads only to intellectual
gymnastics and not conclusions which can be used by individuals with
confidence. This is as true of the choice between capitalism and

1. How Well Do We Know It? Print on demand publication, http://
pothi.com/pothi/book/s-t-lakshmikumar-how-well-do-we-know-it

2. On Walking The Knife Edge Of Science And Religion. Print on
demand publication, http://pothi.com/pothi/book/s-t-lakshmikumar-
walking-knife-edge



INDIA : MY INDIA


socialism as of science and theology. I feel that it is within the capacity
of every individual to assess the strength and usefulness of the
knowledge offered by the experts even if one cannot participate in
creating such knowledge. The present effort is an attempt to demonstrate
the utility of this approach to help the society in which I live.

What is this "MY India" which I am addressing? India is the
name derived from the Greek name "Indos" of the river we now call
Sindhu in Indian languages. But this river is now largely in Pakistan!
While the constitution of India begins with the words, "India that is
Bharat...", today many refer to the modern, economically advanced
urban segment of the country as India and the poor, traditional, agrarian,
rural part as Bharat. A democratic government elected by the free
citizens of India exists. But many residents of the Kashmir valley and
some North Eastern States consider that they have been included in
this democracy by force. The Maoist guerrillas in the forests violently
refuse to accept the democratically elected government of India and
seek to fundamentally alter the society which elects the government.
Complementing these are the Non Governmental Organizations
(NGOs) and other individuals who are not willing to grant complete
legitimacy to the existing system. They exaggerate the conflict between
India and various disadvantaged groups in Bharat, denounce the system
for permitting the inequality and dismiss the concept of a single "MY
India".


So, I have to define it for myself. "MY India" is the society that
seeks to acknowledge itself as a part of the worldwide human society
and leam from common human experience. It questions and evaluates
all of accumulated human knowledge without being emotionally
committed to either "ancient wisdom" or "any specific modern
ideology". It does not ignore or hide reality, even with the best of
intensions. Most importantly, it is unique in not being bamboozled by
experts. Secure in the knowledge that fundamental theories are far too
weak, it holds that personal and societal decisions can be guided by


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INDIA : MY INDIA


self acquired approximate understanding. "MY India" has the
confidence that those alienated from itself can be persuaded to join by
arguments and plans. It is confident in the plans it outlines as a
framework for self improvement. It rejects the dominance and
dictatorship of one ideology or another and seeks for itself only a
practical program for alleviating alienation and creating progress. It
does not recommend correction of historical injustices. It will not seek
reparations for criminal acts of the ancestors. However, it accepts the
social responsibility to compensate for present handicaps.

These claims made for "MY India" are very ambitious. A call
for critical examination is in itself no novelty. Every one likes to think
that personal views held passionately have been critically examined
and defended. The most important content of religion is the belief in
something that is "nonphysical". Despite this, every religion builds a
sophisticated theology to critically examine the claims of not only other
religions but of all knowledge. Many swear by Marxism, as the only
rational explanation of human history. For them, Marxist scholars have
demonstrated the truth of Marxism and failure of all other ideologies.
In addition to the Marxist, the environmentalist and the free market
fundamentalist, among those feeling alienated from "MY India" are
people lamenting the loss of a "golden era". Some of them blame the
British imperialists for this loss, others blame the Muslim invasion
and still others the Aryan invasion. Each of these believe in their own
identification of the "true malady" of India and their own cure for it.
Similarly, all ideologues are convinced of their ability to transform the
society.


However, the claim regarding the limited utility of expert advice
is unique to my effort. This grand claim requires the present small
volume to be largely self sufficient. The analysis in my two earlier
books mentioned above is essential but cannot be repeated without
disturbing the continuity. Whenever absolutely necessary, the reader
is directed to the relevant chapters of these books through a footnote.


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INDIA : MY INDIA


But for these, I have not included any suggestions for further reading
or references to the vast storehouse of human knowledge. Again, in
the interests of continuity, I have tried to make the pieces largely
independent. This has resulted in sometimes repeating the same idea
in multiple essays.

The short, independent essays have been grouped into three
parts, "The Past", "The Present" and "The Future". "The Present" deals
with "MY India" as I see it, particularly, the defects and the problems
in the contemporary society. It will, to the best of my ability be an
objective description of reality of both Bharat and India as differentiated
above. "The Future" contains, very specific and practical suggestions
to transform the present and achieve "MY India" in all its glory. I can
hope that the objective exposition of contemporary reality may be
convincing. I can also dream that the logic of the plan for the future
may be convincing.

But the very concept of discussing "The Past" without any
expertise might appear foolish and may even be counterproductive.
After all, the past is not a matter of contemporary experience. The
recent history of human civilization is constructed by scholarly
historians studying ancient texts and archaeological evidence. Surely
amateurish dabbling in these matters could be pathetic and may even
tarnish the other sections of the monograph namely "The Present" and
"The Future". So why bother with the next few pieces which deal with
the past? Partly personal vanity of thinking that these views are original
and unique. Partly to show the limitations of the experts and their
scholastic knowledge. Partly because I feel genuinely that lies told
with good intentions are counter productive.

Some of my comments about history may appear to be anti-
Muslim, anti-Christian or even antisocial. One ghost has to be laid to
rest once and for all. I, a member of the brahmin caste and male am
neither responsible for the crimes committed by my great-grandfather


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INDIA : MY INDIA


on dalits and others “lower castes” as he would have considered them
nor by contemporary men on women. Nor do I claim reparations from
the current British society for the acts of omission and commission
that caused suffering to my forefathers during the colonial rule.
Similarly, Muslims or for that matter, anyone presently living in India
share no blame for historical crimes, if any committed by others of
their caste, community or gender, whether in the distant past or the
present. We are all responsible only for our own actions.

A huge problem remains. The megalomania of an individual
without any halo of greatness in any area, making such grand
pronouncements will probably be held against the advice. An ancient
Sanskrit saying springs to mind. "The fate of wise people is similar to
that of fragrant, white “malati” flowers. They either adorn (rule) the
heads of all people, or dry up in the forest unnoticed (scorned and
ignored)". So be it with my writings. I leave it for the reader to judge
and decide if the advice is wise. A poetic saying from my mother tongue
Telugu laments "Of what use is a shining full moon in the forest (there
are no lovers there!). True! But must the moon care?

Does "MY India" include anyone other than myself?

Maybe it will.

Will the advice be acceptable to anyone except me?

There is always Hope.

Hope, that the opinions will at the very least be read to the end.


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MY INDIA: THE PAST


1857


The conflict during 1857-58 between the British East India
Company, which by then largely controlled most of the Indian
subcontinent and several native rulers is called the “First War Of Indian
Independence” in every school text book in India. Nana Sahib, Laxmi
Bai, Mangal Pandey and Bahadur Shah Zafar who fought with the
British are venerated Indian heroes. If one follows the scholastic
analyses of historians, there are as many facets to 1857 as there are
historians. To some British historians, it was a mutiny by the Indian
soldiers employed by the East India Company. These Hindus and
Muslims rebelled since they were forced to use cartridges which were
allegedly greased with fat of cows and pigs. To some others, the conflict
was a reaction by the princes and sultans whose adopted children were
denied “pensions” by the company due to the new “principle of lapse”.
Some historians highlight the localization of the fighting to north India.
Others view it as a nascent peasant or people’s rebellion reflecting the
unconscious reaction to imperialism. For some others, the participants
aimed to restore a pan-Indian empire and this constitutes the emergence


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MY INDIA : THE PAST


of a nationalistic spirit. For many, the brutality of the British in
squashing the rebellion triggered the Indian independence movement.

Each of these theories will be supported by historical evidence
since they are all the results of scholastic study. One can leave arguments
of the relative strength of the various views to trained historians. Even
without being expert historian, one can realize that many of these claims
are possibly true. There are strong religious reactions, even in
contemporary India to events such as the publication of cartoons of
Prophet Mohammad in Europe or the depiction of nude Hindu deities
in art. It stands to reason that Indians in the mid nineteenth century
were even more religious. They would have been easily offended by
the story about cartridge grease being the fat of pigs and cows. Among
the major combatants on the Indian side, Nana Sahib was an adopted
son and Laxmi Bai was fighting on behalf of her adopted son. Many of
the native rulers had accepted “annual pensions” and stopped fighting
the East India Company which actually ruled. The policy of stopping
pensions to adopted children of native rulers (the principle of lapse as
it was called), could have led to the conflict. While Indian historians
highlight the brutality of the British, the British press reports of the
period emphasized the brutality of the Indian participants. In any case,
modem humanitarian ideas were far into the future. At the time of the
conflict, slavery was not universally abolished, the International Red
Cross was not even conceptualized till 1863 and the Universal
Declaration Of Human Rights was a hundred years away. I for one
would expect nothing other than brutality on all sides.

Rather than try to evaluate and reconcile these complex issues,
I would highlight the contribution and legacy of Indians who did not
participate in this conflict. These individuals include Dadabhai Naoroji
(1825-1917), Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, (1820-1891), Bankim
Chandra Chatterjee (1838-1894), Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-
1886) and Mahatma Phule (1827-1890). As far as I know, none of
them ever regretted not participating in this conflict, even while they


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1857


severely criticized the colonial rulers. “MY India” is the current society
built on the foundations of men such as these and their successors.

Most Indians would not question their legacy. Be it, modern
education, female literacy, contemporary literature, opposition to
inhuman social practices, reformation of the Hindu religion or
democratic transformation of the country, the impact of these great
personalities on modern India has been enormous. Even a revolutionary
who is committed to ushering in a Marxist society and rejects the agenda
of these reformers as inadequate has to recognize and respect their
attempt to learn from common human heritage. Nonetheless, many
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