DEMOCRACY IN PRACTICE

A WIDE CANVAS

DEMOCRACY IN PRACTICE

Every age believes in some ideas, which people just accept as  universal truths. Democracy, indispensability  of education and its beneficial nature are two such vital beliefs held today. Our system accordingly grants universal adult franchise and universal compulsory education. But ask people what they mean by democracy or education, and most people would not know- including so called educated people. This is of course not their fault. Democracy has been thrust upon them; education has become a craze.

In all Western societies, democracy developed in stages. They did not begin with  universal adult franchise. In England which is called the Mother of Parliaments, voting rights were granted on the basis of some qualifications, like property, and were gradually extended to cover all. Women got voting rights only in 1928. In the US, they got it in 1920. In both countries women had to organise themselves politically, and agitate for suffrage, often getting jailed and suffering inhumane treatment. The Press did not always support them. In the US, President Woodrow Wilson was a staunch opponent of voting rights of women; women groups picketed the White House when a Russian delegation was visiting, calling Wilson 'Kaiser'.

Women picketing the White House with this banner, January,1917. US National Archives.

One result of the long struggle  for voting rights was that people became well informed  and politically conscious. India being a colony,our people generally got all political ideas from England and here too , voting rights were given in 1921 to both men and women on the basis of property and educational qualifications. On Independence, universal adult franchise was granted. But it came without struggle or agitation; so our people also lost opportunities for public education.

The net result is that people vote without understanding the issues, except the minor or local ones. When the govt. talks of reform or liberalisation, do people understand and vote?  How many people know what WTO means in terms of our economic independence? How many people understand the implications of Foreign Institutional Investment? How many, even among the educated, understand what GM crops imply, or what 'terminator seed' means, and how they affect our food security, or rights of the farmers? 

Citizens agitating against the giant seed company Monsanto, powerful advocate of GM crops and seeds.Amsterdam,2013.
FLORIS LOOIJESTEIJN/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Taken from: news.sciencemag.org. Used here for purely non-commercial, educational purpose.

For instance the following risks have been raised by serious researchers/scientists about GM crops:

• Reduction in genetic diversity, and consequent loss of food security
• Unknown, long-term side effects of genetic modification
• development of monocultures
• Potential gene transfer and contamination of other organisms
• A few companies (biotech/seed/chemical) obtaining control over the world's food production and supply
• Loss of independence of farmers for using their own crop for seed purposes as they have enjoyed over millennia.
• Loss of livelihood for farmers who cannot compete with giant,commercial farmers/plantations, even if they want to continue with organic methods
• Massive increase in use of chemicals like herbicides which are proven to be harmful to health.

Note: I am indebted to various sources for this information. See for instance the writings of Dr. Vandana Shiva.

Every voter is also consumer of food. Do they understand these issues when they vote?

Citizen groups active in Europe against GM crops.

This picture is taken from  www.stopthecrop.org  Thanks.

Is irradiation of food good? Is iodised salt good for everyone? Should people be deprived of choice in a democracy? People hardly understand these vital issues.Most people equate democracy with being able to vote in an election; thereafter, they have absolutely no voice in policy or governance.

 Such is the power of the GM crop lobby that they charged those demonstrating against GM crops in Belgium as "criminal gangs".Fortunately, courts freed them.

This picture is taken from: www.stopthecrop.org. Thanks.

NOTE:

The science "establishment" always works as the stooge of vested interests, whether it is the 'industry-military' complex  or the govt.-MNC-big business nexus,or international bodies, which in turn are controlled by vested interests. Whether it is the health risk of smoking or radiation hazards of nuclear power plants or safe disposal of nuclear waste, science establishment has always supported the powerful lobbies. Only in  unavoidable circumstances, they admitted the risks. The so called "green revolution" has been shown to be economically and ecologically unsustainable. Now, the govt plans a second 'green revolution' based on GM crops. The scientists who work independently and point out the risks are usually in a minority. But history shows them to be right, in the end.

The newspapers and electronic media are dominated and controlled by interested groups who project their own views. They are driven by commercial, big-business advertisement money. The advertisers therefore call the shots.  On no important subject do informed debates take place. In TV debates, more heat and dust are raised than real information. And the fellows conducting the program cut the speakers whose views they do not like. They are not fair. And whatever may be said in the so called manifestos by the parties before the elections, the actual show is run by the bureaucrats. People's voice is not heard or respected by the govt.

Take two recent examples: one national, one state-level. The govt. wanted to reduce the subsidy on domestic gas. First they reduced the number of subsidised cylinders. Then they decided to pay the subsidy to a bank account and linked it with the Aadhaar number. This caused needless hassles, but the bureaucrats and the technocrats and the politicians did not care.

From: betalbatim.blogspot.com


 People then had to approach the Supreme Court to have this Aadhaar requirement quashed. If linkage with bank account was what they wanted, it could have been done directly without Aadhaar! The irony is, the BJP which opposed Aadhaar when it was in opposition, quietly operated it when it came to power! It can be easily inferred that this Aadhaar scheme is run with some hidden agenda, which gives more, hidden power to govt, which the govt is not willing to surrender!  The whole country is now like a prison, where every one can be easily monitored on the basis of the Aadhaar, and the mobile phone.That is why I say all parties in India are opportunists, all are hypocrites.

BJP leaders demanding scrapping of Aadhaar  before the elections! This is from a press meet on 30 March,2014 in Bangalore. Modi as PM has supported Aadhaar! Dr. Swamy in wrong company, again?
From: www.daijiworld.com/news

Then take the state level case- that of  Kannada as the medium of instruction in schools in Karnataka. All sections of the people- except the Kannada writers- are against it and prefer English medium. The Supreme Court had said , after many years of litigation, that the state govt. could not make medium  of instruction compulsory and that it should be left to the people. Still, the govt dragged its feet for several months. The Supreme Court had to reiterate its position once again.

From:www,desikanoon.co.in
2bp.blogspot.com 

If a state govt., which owes allegiance to the Constitution, shows such  open defiance , what is the message they convey to the people? And the very people running the govt themselves send their children to English medium schools! Again hypocrisy , and even perfidy, here. This is how democracy works in practice.

Note: The latest news (27 March 2015) is that Karnataka govt. has introduced two bills in the Assembly making Kannada compulsory!

Today, English is not the language of the colonial rulers. It is not the language of the elite. It is the indispensable medium of modern education. The 'mother tongues' or local languages are only literary languages and cannot serve as medium of instruction in any modern subject. So people do not want them as medium of instruction. They are used by  local political satraps as the instruments of power over minorities.They need language only if they talk sense! Power and money are the only languages they understand. And in the centre, Modi is a Hindi pusher. As if, if they impose Hindi and local languages on everyone, all the problems of India will be solved!

NOTE:
In Tamil Nadu, where local 'Dravidian' and 'Tamil' politicians have been adopting a vehemently anti Hindi, pro-Tamil line in public, they have been quietly educating their own children in English medium, and also making them learn Hindi! When a Tamil newspaper published photographs of some of these children, the offices of the paper were attacked by the party hoodlums!. This again is democracy in India, freedom of speech, right to information, law and order- whatever you will!

People  demonstrating in Japan against Monsanto, the monster seed company, in 2013.
Image from twitter user@wataruohashi

This is people marching against Monsanto in Germany.
Image from twitter user@julia_etc.
In 2013, over 2 million people demonstrated in 436 cities in 52 countries against Monsanto.
Both these pictures are taken from rt.com/news. Used here for purely non-commercial, educational purpose. Acknowledged with thanks.