Gods must be crazy in Plachimada too! The Debate!

My purpose of previous writing titled Gods must be crazy in Plachimada too was to critically look at the conflicting contemporary practices rooted in some narrow theoretical constructions that invariably produce catastrophes like Bhopal, Plachimada, Global Economic Crises, and so on. It gives me an immense pleasure to learn from your critical comments that my writing has conveyed the purpose to a reasonable extent.

We are taught in universities that academic honesty lies in the practice of duly acknowledging others’ contributions and help. Our existence becomes meaningful only if we practice the good education we received from the universities. Hence, I take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank you all for having taken time amidst your busy schedule to read my reflection and especially thank those friends who have put in additional efforts to come out with their enriching critical comments.  Some of you have commented on this web page itself and a few have argued with me in emails and in the link I have posted in my facebook page. I have sorted them out chronologically and responded accordingly.

Your comments and my responses in this page titled Gods must be crazy in Plachimada too: The Debate that I intend to share with everyone would perhaps invite further debate involving opposite views.  I am hopeful therefore that you will appreciate this effort in the true spirit of historical dialectical process which, in my understanding, would help us evolve as conscious individuals collectively.  With this hope and confidence, I invite you to read the following comments and my responses.   

Mr. Santosh John Samuel, currently based at Kottarakkara, Kerala

Santosh was the first person to read the article and respond.  I have taken his prompt and sharp email remarks in the sense it needs to be taken.  As a professional editor, he has also suggested some changes in my style that I would duly consider from next writing onwards.  Thanks so much Santosh!

Dr. Vinoj Abraham, Faculty, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala

Interesting thoughts SV Manickam….enjoyed reading this.

Me:

It feels very good to see you as the first person to have posted comments!  Although your prompt response is of few words, it indeed carries its own weight. Thanks Vinoj! But from next time onwards please do add some critical remarks which you are very much capable of making.  That will definitely enlighten the little people like me!    

Mr. Kiran Kumar, M.Phil Student, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala

I thank Kiran for having taken special interest to read my piece and for circulating it among his co-students in CDS.  Also thank all other friends in CDS for having read it.

Santosh Mohan, Research Scholar, JNU, New Delhi

A wonderful analysis and comparison. Aftermath of India's New Economic Policy, development has been made only for the elites not for the people like in Plachimada. Keep blogging... All the best!

Me:

Absolutely Santhosh! I am happy indeed for those wonderful words of endorsement, motivation, and for reiterating the aftermath of India’s new economic policy that has in fact reinforced class differences in our country which we the sensitive souls are concerned about!

Vinay, Research Scholar, JNU, New Delhi

What a wonderful comparison!

Me:

Vinay, your admiration is my motivation.  Thank you very much!

Rajesh Venkateshvaralu, Computer Scientist, Singapore

While suggesting that I should not write books when writing for blogs implying that my writing needs to be much more precise, he wanted to know what solution and action I would consider fit for those problems highlighted in the blog.  

Me:

I completely agree with your suggestion Rajesh and will try to follow it from next writing onwards.  As far as your question of solution is concerned, yes, you are right. What is the point in talking about the problems without looking for solutions and actions?  I am equally concerned.  However, what I had in my mind when I wrote this piece was ‘the people’ who may be looking for or trying to understand the forces/reasons behind human sufferings in the modern mechanical materialistic life. Hence I thought highlighting the problems may help them in raising some serious questions in the direction of seeking solutions that would perhaps provide an alternative model of development. Most of the solutions in the past were actually dictated from the top and were largely bereft of the concerns of people of different culture/ethnicity existing in our diverse society. Therefore I strongly feel that the solution must evolve through collective process of dialogue ‘by the people’ rather than individuals dictating them. 

Saravana Coumar, The Hindu, Pondicherry

Over a telephonic conversation, he appreciated the theme and creativity of my writing and felt that the arguments could have been much more crisp and sharp.  Thanks Saravana.  I understand and will try to do so from my next writing onwards.

Vetrivel Shanmugasundaram, Computer Scientist, Singapore

Good read. Though I understand where you are coming from, I think a bit (maybe a byte more) of optimism and innovative thinking should be able to address the problems at hand. My opinion is that the many of the core issues we are facing are more implementation/compliance related than issues that are to be attributed to the development model itself. Lets us not think of throwing baby out with the bath water.

Me:

Thanks Vetri for the appreciation and your views stressing the non compliance aspect.  There are two important components of any development model viz., the scientific basis of the model and the effective implementation of it producing positive result of overall wellbeing of the society. Failure to implement is as good as failure of the model itself.  We have problems at both the levels.  As far as my understanding of the development models is concerned, they did not fully take the aspirations of different sections of people and environmental concerns into account.  Whatever goodness these models were expected to bring about was nullified by the non compliance by the vested interest groups.  Ironically, the bureaucratic machinery, which is supposed to ensure the compliance, grossly failed despite having the authority vested in them by the Constitution. This throws open a question as to why the bureaucracy failed to carry out their constitutionally defined duties and who stopped them from doing so?  I am sure probing this would bring to light disquieting truth about how our country is badly managed. 

Certainly Vetri, we cannot and should not think of throwing the baby out with the bath water.  However, if the water is contaminated beyond limit and the efforts to clean it up failed miserably then we either remove the dirty water from the tub and supply fresh water or take the baby out and put it in fresh water.  I think we the people of this country are now forced into a similar situation which demands us to decide quickly whether to allow ourselves to continue to live in contamination or find an alternative.  I do have faith in our people that they will decide what is good for the overall wellbeing of our society.  I am an optimist even at times of adversities! 

Dr. Gilbert, Political Scientist, currently based at New Delhi

An interesting reflection on the virtues of being primitive and the vices of being modern. The write-up also indicates the universality of the human condition from Kalahari to Plachimada and so also with the moderns.  If we consider development as transcending the determinations of nature, the primitives do not transcend. They only adapt and live in the lap of nature, being one with it. The moderns do transcend but modernity is not of one kind. The modernity of Marx and the modernity of Nehru, the pioneer of big dams as the modern temples (displacing the lowest rungs of society, as did the old temples deny access to the Dalits) presents a sharp contrast. (Citing both B G Tilak, the pioneer of Ganesh chaturti in Maharashtra for the consolidation of Hindu identity and Ambedkar who was totally opposed to this line presents another contrast in the piece.) Marx held that human being is a ‘natural being’. But he also said, ‘Human labour is a force of nature acting on nature’. The struggle between human beings and nature under capitalist development is dictated merely by ‘instrumental reason’ with a view to manipulate and control nature in order to subserve the ends of the dominant classes. But 'work', in a Marxian sense, expresses human creativity with a view to realise the as-yet-unrealised in nature (J M Foster 2000). So modernity is not one homogenous whole.  In a lighter vein, to speak of the apologists of the capitalist modernity in the Plachimada case, in a book on Plachimada by K Narayanan Nair, et al from Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram had scientifically observed that there is no evidence that it is because of the water exploitation by Coca Cola that there is water scarcity at Plachimada. The reason they cited was that there are also so many bore-wells in the area used by the locals for irrigation purposes. They had also done some quantification. But what their scientific thinking missed out was the simple common sense that water used for irrigation remains within the local ecology whereas the water bottled by Coca cola is taken out of the local ecology! Coca Cola had initially chosen Plachimada as their site because of the abundance of water here. But now drinking water is being supplied there through tanker lorries!

Selvam, I was also impressed by your last two names: 'Velangani Manickam'.

Me:

Thanks Gilbert for having brilliantly reflected and captured what I have said between lines! Absolutely, Modernity is not one homogenous whole!  Ignoring this noble truth by the ignorant rulers and their attempt to homogenize the diverse globe is certainly the root cause of many conflicts in the modern world.  The history of men is history of conflicts as far as the historical dialectical process goes and hence presenting the contrasting personalities revealing their conflicting ideas and their attempts to realise them is very well within the spirit of freedom of expression and dialogue. There are always two sides of every human being-the virtue and the vice.  While I tried to appreciate the virtue of the men I have cited, I also contest some of their acts that interfered with the existence of other human beings living at the lower runs of the society.  In other words, I am totally opposed to some of the things Tilak tried to do in the later part of his life and Nehru’s attempts to construct modern temples meddling in the lives of aboriginals. 

The younger generation should never forget Ambedkar’s contributions during and after India’s freedom struggle. During the freedom struggle, when the mainstream political forces were fighting to free the nation from foreign rule, Ambedkar was relentlessly struggling to set the house in order by advancing the cause of untouchables and disadvantaged sections which he considered essential if the country were to be set on the true foundations of equality once independence was attained. For him it was a dual role of fighting the forces of oppression of foreign origin and the domestic divisive forces of religion, caste and class so as to set the country on a true foundation of equality.  Although he could succeed in establishing political equality through drafting the Constitution, his dream of bringing about socio-economic equality remained a dream and still eludes the country even after sixty three years of independence.

I understand and accept your comments on Narayanan Nair’s study from Centre for Development Studies in the sense of logical empiricism.  Since doubts are raised about its findings and CDS believes in the practice of positivism, this study is subject to verification, if not Popper’s falsification.

Dr. Panchanan Bhoi, Philosopher, based at New Delhi

Three Cheers. Good piece of writing!

Our Contemporary society’s torch bearers’ feelings:

There is No God, only Godism-an organized profiteering crime, collecting billions from offerings. Education and Religion severely diminishes people’s intelligence and mentality, instituting oneness of Evil by making them educated stupid. It gives a feeling that our Wisdom is Awesome. It’s like in a soccer match: hit the player not the ball. Religion is just like academia which is an accreditation of real stupidity-deadly to all humanity.

God bless!

Me:

Precisely Pancha! It appears to me that our education system has miserably failed to cultivate scientific spirit, rational, and critical thinking in people. As a result, religious superstitions and fundamentalism continue to divide and rule the minds of people across the world.  The education system, instead of helping the minds to acquire knowledge and convert that into wisdom towards serving the cause of humanity with sympathy for the fellow beings, teaches us as to how to acquire information and how to be competitive.   This tendency has only reinforced the existing hierarchy and inequality in society. Rabindranath Tagore wrote in “My School” and I quote, “We may become powerful by knowledge, but we attain fullness by sympathy…But we find that this education of sympathy is not only systematically ignored but it is severely repressed”.

Lakshmi Narayanan, Research Scholar, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi

I was initially interested to write only after seeing the film. But I never got the adequate time so far. The definition of development is different for different people. From meditation to education, everything today is a commodity. In this context, the value addition of good or bad will naturally be decided by the invisible hands of the market.... In a country where thousands of people died due to the avoidable human errors in Bhopal, one needs to wait for 3 decades to get bailable jail sentence. Given this social reality, any comments on the criminal wastage of the natural resources will be ridiculed by the ecological elitism. Nothing is going to change where the Darwinian law preceded everything. Because ours survival depends on our fitness...

…..Life goes on and we have to "accept" the injustice in our day-today life. No other way.........because life outside JNU only is real where the survival struggles along with livelihood constraints poses a greater challenge!

…I wish to cite today’s newspaper items in support of my positions…

Karuna Nundy in The Hindu (09/06/2010), “By reducing the Bhopal disaster to the equivalent of a traffic accident, the prison terms for the crimes of Bhopal was brought down from 10 years to two years” (p. 11).

Jan Breman in The Hindu (09/06/2010), “Receipt of the conclusive NCEUS report was not even acknowledged, let alone taken up for further action” (p. 10). “Built into the economic dogma of growth first is the ingrained notion held by large segments of the nation’s elite that the fabric of inequality is meant to remain unimpaired” (p. 10).

Me:

Thanks Lakshmi for having read my article and come out with your thoughts.  I sincerely appreciate your consciousness and concern for the problems that the contemporary world is facing. The very same concerns arose in me when I was exposed to independent learning and thinking in my college days exactly twenty years ago. Such learning and critical thinking process was further strengthened and sharpened by subsequent education in universities especially in JNU.

Let me elaborate a few things in the interest of proper understanding of the concerns you have raised.

At the outset, I wish to make it clear to you that I do not have problems with the way different people define development differently but I definitely have problems with any defined development model that goes against humanity and environment. I understand the commodification of everything in the free market neo liberal world where the invisible forces have greater say in the decision making process of the middle class ranging from education to health care.  Also understand that it may not be easy for the unquestioning minds to resist the temptations and compulsions of such forces. However if the learned critical minds also give in to the pressures of free market temptations and get caught in the status quo then I think we only endorse the power of such compulsions  and its domination over the power of our consciousness that we have attained through a great deal of learning in universities.  

We the educated conscious minds are aware of the injustice and the grave problems perpetrated against humanity and environment by the corporate and other organized criminals in connivance with the powers that be in the neo liberal individual centric Darwinist world.  Bhopal or Plachimada or any other catastrophe that our country has witnessed so far could have certainly been avoided had the governments been really sensitive enough and committed to. But it is clear from the historical evidences that the governments have been following a development agenda that mostly promotes and protects the interests of the haves and powerful.  Now the question is whether to rise against such injustices or take shelter in the position that nothing is going to change   which ultimately leads one to believe in the survival of the fittest theory. Such belief breeds nothing but individual centrism in people!  But I am of the opinion that if our conscious does not percolate into action leading to correcting the imbalance then it amounts to killing our ‘conscience’ that we developed through years of learning in colleges and universities.

Obviously life outside JNU or any other university for that matter would be tough as this is India where the problems of humanity are not yet addressed by the development agenda that we set for ourselves. We, from different socio-economic background, go to universities to study and train ourselves in our chosen field and come out to contribute towards addressing the ‘tough’ problems of outside world. I do remember the existence of small section of student community in JNU which never was part of the student movement nor was part of any meaningful action against social injustice, but kept criticizing students’ politics as if they were born only to criticize and command. Fortunately such group of students was never taken seriously by the conscious larger student community. Remember, of all the universities in the country, JNU maintains a very liberal tradition rooted in true democratic values with an approach to create critical minds and it remains a voice of dissent against any form of injustice. I however do recognize that there has been attempt by the powers that be to destroy its character which we the students who tasted the real democratic tradition of JNU are opposed to!

The authors Karuna Nundy and Jan Breman you have cited in your response are very well known activists and I have been following them whenever they come out with their views in support of larger action for social correction in view of the apparent miserable failures of the system. Also, I am very well aware of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector’s excellent job and its findings of the stark naked truth about the plight of vulnerable workers in the unorganized sector in our country. Being a student of Prof R S Srivastava who was a member in NCEUS, I have been following the commissions work right from the beginning. In fact, I did try to initiate some discussion among students on the commission’s earlier reports in CDS when I was there but in vain. Now the government’s refusal to accept and acknowledge its findings and recommendations in the direction of protecting the rights and providing social security to those vulnerable unorganized workers who form the foundation of our workforce is yet another example of the successive governments’ hypocrisy.

Let me reiterate once again that if all the educated people think that the challenges of survival struggles outside the universities are reason enough to be silent, it not only raises serious doubts about our education in the universities but also allows the outside world to continue to be cruel, exploitative and imbalanced forever. Hope you would take whatever I have stated in this response to your comments in the right spirit, understand the crisis of our time, and be part of the collective struggle for change! I am an optimist believing strongly that the imbalance created by the ‘individual centric Darwinist society’ can be corrected through collective struggle resulting in collective welfare. 

Dr. Sudarshan, Sociologist, currently based at Bangalore, Karnataka

I wonder for whom you wrote that stuff!? If you have written it for scholars, I'm sorry...if it is for a "villager" then it is surely not going to attract even a reading... and it is too late for your juvenile enlightenment. Wish if you could change your strategy.

Me:

Sudarshan, frankly speaking, I was just wondering if you had renounced your scholarship in sociology and went away somewhere! Nonetheless, your sharp comments not only pleasantly surprised this humble juvenile but also exhibit your presence in the field with all your helplessness to be an instrument of change!  I am sure, as a sociologist you would agree with my view that our contemporary society’s practices are by and large rooted in some narrowly defined conservatism which vehemently opposes and most often forcefully suppresses any progressive attempt arising out of enlightenment, be it juvenile or mature. Even the highly mature progressive sociologists at times give in to the pressures of silencing tactics of the conservative powers that be. Seen in this context, your comments arouse in me a feeling of sorry for your helplessness. 

Juvenile or adult, enlightenment is an enlightenment which calls for action and emancipation.  When I wrote this piece I definitely did not keep those enlightened mature scholars like you in my mind, nor the villagers.  But those modern educated mortals who do not get an opportunity for scholarly exposure in universities like the way you and I did.  They may be looking for or trying to understand the forces or reasons behind human sufferings in the modern mechanical materialistic life. Hence I have modestly attempted to add some strength to their thinking process which might raise some serious questions in them in the direction of seeking solution that would perhaps provide an alternative model of development.  Absolutely Sudarshan, my juvenile enlightenment is too late. But it is better late than never!  Since I am convinced of my current strategy, will duly consider your suggestion to change if the need arises! 

Thank you very much Friends and once again I welcome your critical comments!

Selvam Velangani Manickam

New Delhi

30/6/2010

Gods must be crazy in Plachimada too!

“You are not writing for the university students. Imagine you are talking to a villager. Be sure of your facts. Let your words be clear as daylight.” I am not saying this…

It was Bal Gangadhar Tilak who used to say to his colleagues in the newspaper offices of Kesari and The Maratha which he co-founded and used them as platforms to awaken Indians to fight for their rights and spearhead the struggle for ‘Swaraj’ (Self Rule) from the British Colonial rule in the late 19th century.

Drawing inspiration from his words, I will try to be simple, factual, clear, and logical in this first piece of my writing for this blog. In the modern times of speedy mechanical life and in the era of sms, tweeting, and other faster modes of communication, it will definitely be painful for some readers to read lengthy articles in blogs. Hence I will try my best to be precise as well! After reading this article, if you think that you should teach me a lesson by your criticisms, I would be most delighted to take them in the true spirit of critical writing. I firmly believe that it is through such critical voice we can evolve as a society rooted in the noble ideas of humanity, life, liberty, equality, fraternity, rationality, and justice.

If we read the public life and work of great visionary reformers, we would simply understand that their dream and struggle revolved around establishing such a society. Although the history provides us with numerous examples of such great personalities who were instrumental in changing the course of history, the personalities like Buddha, Jesus Christ, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Abraham Lincoln, Karl Marx, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lenin, Periyar E V Ramasamy, Jawaharlal Nehru, and B R Ambedkar whose sacrifice and relentless pursuit for an equitable society have actually left a deep influence in me.

Yesterday, May 27th 2010, we remembered Buddha and Nehru on their birth and death anniversaries respectively. These two were visionaries of different sort belonging to two different distant periods of time. Buddha lived roughly two thousand five hundred years ago and attempted through his enlightened teachings of eightfold path to remove the ignorance which he considered was the root cause of human sufferings. The other visionary Nehru, the first prime minister of Independent India also known as the architect of modern India, guided by the principle of Fabian Socialism, tried to find solutions to human problems rooted in inequalities through his economic, modern education, and social reform policies. Although the methods these two men used were totally different, they stand in unity with others I cited in the paragraph above in addressing the problem of human sufferings.

I am not talking about these things without reason! Yesterday, the remembrance of Buddha and Nehru and some serious thoughts on the current state of affairs in our country kept me disturbed throughout the day. Hence, I thought I would watch a movie to have some lighter moments. Since I forgot to bring all my collection of movies when was shifting back to Delhi a couple of months ago, I approached my batch mate in JNU who also lives in the same building for some light movies. He readily showed me his collection to pick one or two. When I was searching his collection of movies, this title Gods Must Be Crazy just struck me. Although I watched this movie in the late 1980s when I was in high school and enjoyed the humorous side of it thoroughly, I thought watching it again after decades would be a great fun. But I was totally wrong as the movie rather put me back in the pensive mood and raised in me some serious questions about the development model that we have adopted in the modern times.

The movie brilliantly portrays two life styles of the humans existing on our very same earth. One is about the life of indigenous people who live far away from the perplexities of civilised world and the other is about the life of civilised men living in cities with all complications. When the civilised man interferes, accidentally or deliberately, in the life of indigenous people, conflicting situations arise which not only takes away the peace of mind of the aboriginals but also can threaten their life is the message I drew from this hilarious movie.

The depiction in the first case is about the indigenous people living in the deep deserts of Kalahari in the Southern Africa who adapt themselves completely to the environment. They live in small families and believe that the gods give only good and useful things on earth. They are not even aware that there are other people living in the world. In their world there is no crime, no violence, no punishment, no laws, no judges, no bosses, no rulers, and most of all no sense of ownership. Despite the nature’s severity like droughts that produce nothing but scarcity of necessities like water, food, etc in the desert region, the people work hard, are innovative in their ways of daily life, and above all are satisfied with what nature has given to them. This opens up our mind to the fact that the nature may look harsh but the same nature has given everything for the life of its children. The only thing is that the children need to work and find the sources of their life in ways that conform to the laws of nature.

The other story in the movie is about the life of civilised men who live in the city which is just 600 miles away from the desert region. The civilised men, with all their determination not to adapt themselves to their environment, built cities, roads, machineries, vehicles, and so on thereby altering the environment to suit their necessities. The sense of greed, possession, jealousy, competition, insecurity, and many more qualities give way for establishment of rules, violations, crimes, violence, courts, and all other complications in the civilised world.

The creative example presented in the movie was the accidental dropping of an empty Coca-Cola bottle from the flight in the isolated habitation in the desert gives joy initially to the family as they could put the bottle to use for many things. But when everyone wants to use it and does not want to share it, a competitive conflicting situation arises leading to fights and loss of peace in the family. The same family was satisfied with whatever they had before the arrival of the ‘so called god sent object.’ Fortunately, they quickly realise that it was a evil thing and needed to be disposed off. The next scenes in the movie are about how the head of the family gets rid of the evil thing and in that process his encounter with the civilised world and its problems with all his innocence.

What came to my mind after watching this movie was the people of Plachimada village in Palakkad district of Kerala and their collective struggle to get rid of Coca-Cola unit that caused environmental pollution and water shortage! The similarity between the story in the movie and the reality in Plachimada is more or less same and striking. In the movie, the empty Coca-Cola bottle-a by product of civilisation-created competition and crisis leading to loss of peace in the aboriginal family, whereas in reality, the bottle filled with Coca-Cola drink that was produced using exploited ground water leading to environmental pollution and drinking water shortage in Plachimada has in effect taken away the peace of minds of tribal and weaker sections of the population of the village. Whether an empty bottle from above the earth or a bottle filled with drink made of water exploited from below the earth seem to generate the same effects, that is, damage to people and environment!

Although the formation of a tribunal recommended by the expert panel might facilitate people’s compensation claim, the compensation can never undo the real damage caused to the environment and the people of Plachimada. Our history is witness to many such unsolvable real effects like Bhopal gas tragedy and its aftermath.

Like Coca-Cola in Plachimada, there could be hundreds of industries in the country with sole profit motive and be flouting the environmental norms and producing much deeper disastrous consequences which might not have come to the fore for reasons of politics or otherwise.

Such a scenario raises some important questions like (1) Whether the development models we have adopted so far in independent India to address the problem of human suffering has really solved the problem or it has aggravated the suffering and alienated people in the process of their pursuit of materialistic happiness? (2) Whether such models take environmental concerns into account or they have been used to promote certain vested interest groups which have no or very little concern for people and environment? My simple observation of our surroundings filled with noises, pollutions, inhuman living conditions, skyrocketing prices, begging, and many other odds tells me that the development process in our country has not yet fulfilled its agenda. I simply wonder where we are heading towards!

Selvam Velangani Manickam

New Delhi

28/5/2010