Remembering Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh you are my hero. What you learned at a young age of 23 was exceptional, outstanding and examplary. You inspire me every moment of my life to view life from a lens of compassion, empathy, equality and greater good. Although what you stood for is always relevant but sadly you have been made into a mere slogan. The ideals you gave away your life for are considered outlandish in the current times. I firmly believe that many more of us would learn that a more sustainable way of life must be in tandem with nature and not in its exploitation. It would eventually be a necessity to rise up and be mindful of our individual responsibilities to build a literate and aware world order. The struggle for a just and equal society however continues and shall be achieved one day! Inquilab Zindabad 💪🏼✊🏼

Modern World: The Dilemma of Mental Health

We as a species have evolved and come a long way from food gatherers to the modern times. Our quest to evolve is tremendous and inevitable. It is in our nature to continually look for changes that give us happiness and contentment. At the same time, we must concede that we live in a very unequal world.

The most peculiar thing about the humans is the possession of brain which is superior to any other living being. It is through our brain power that we have come of age. Although we are all born equal but in our pursuit of gratification of desires, we over time, have made a lot of walls of differentiation. The walls that divide us on race, religion, gender, wealth and so on. The unequal world that we have come up to has many systemic problems. One of the most prominent of these is mental health.

Considering the complexities of human anatomy, the way we think and perceive things depends on a variety of factors. The walls that seem to divide us have a significant affect on how we grow up to be. Being a thinking species we have our good and bad sides. Knowing and accepting that, and sometimes not, we go about our lives. Living in a society, adhering to the prevalent traditions is generally the founding principle. Nevertheless, humans rebel, sometimes to go forward and at other times not. This is how we have evolved and shall continue to do so.

It seems that mental health issues are more to be seen in our urban setup. Psychiatry deals with mental health problems in a scientific way. The system we live in is highly demanding for all to keep themselves in the race. Recognizing differential in human acumen and behavior not everyone can catch up with the crowd. Right from infancy till one's end we are constantly supposed to be either conformists or be a step further. There is hardly any place for the left outs. The high level of aspirations and those not being accomplished is one of the prominent reasons of various psychiatric problems. Materialism and consumerism take a heavy toll on mental health. The social relations have become materialistic and ones worth is decided by the material possessions one holds. Since the system pushes us to pursue our goals based on our materialistic desires the real goal of self actualization is left far behind.

In order to treat psychiatric problems, medical science has made tremendous progress and offers good treatment. The irony however is that since medical profession is no different, the compulsions of the system drive it as well. Vested interests of the medical profession and the profit seeking pharmaceutical corporations create a make-believe world where medication to treat mental stress is inevitable. The stress that has been created by the system itself. In my personal opinion, many a time the behavioral problems can be handled without medication but more often than not the will to do so has to come from within. Any external help becomes futile and any medication just a habit. People often turn to spirituality to treat mental stress. Spirituality, I think, is capable of healing upto a certain extent. It just might help one become as selfless as possible. But again, once you step out in the real world you must enter the mad race or be ready to be meted out cruelly! It is time we call this system out and tread on the path of self actualization for not only our own good but for a greater cause as well. It calls for struggle within ourselves but we must take it to make a better world. I bet you call me a utopian, a day dreamer, so be it. I still urge you to consider the idea!

A Perspective for a New World Order

Troubled by the gross unfairness of Capitalism I have often dived in search of a better world order. An ecosystem which emboldens the core constituents of the universe in a balance so as to give each a fair place to shine. We soon realize that it is more often than not the human interference that disturbs the gifts of nature. We must strive to develop a system which works without exploitation of humans, flora, fauna and all the world around us. A sustainable way of life where there is continual development to raise standards of living for an all-encompassing population. This can certainly not happen in Capitalism which drives on greed and profit maximization through exploitation.

 Socialist communism as presented by Marx is no dogma as widely propagated and believed by many. It is a scientific way of looking at shaping a more equal world. It leaves a lot of scope for innovative thinking to evolve a world order driven by human power for collective good in harmony with nature. Communism where ever implemented has been able to achieve a lot of good things for a mass of population.

 Communism as we have seen it lacked true representative democracy and was/is authoritarian. By true representative I mean what Marx defines as the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. It calls for a society where there is an equal say for all and though they might have different views but at the core of the society must lie a feeling of greater good and not selfishness. We as human beings shall have to rise above our wants and desires. It is indeed possible because I have absolute faith in our species on the basis of our history and evolution that we can achieve anything if we want. It is just a question of mindset!

 Another problem as I see is the ironic use of Capital although controlled by the State. However, this has to be evaluated in the backdrop of a continuous antagonism of the Capitalist and Imperialist west. Moving on, Capital as is its nature does eventually lead to exploitation. It exists only because it can create surplus value which can be derived from the one and only variable, labour power. Hence, what I suggest is a system which is self-reliant and is able to establish a society which can then be emulated elsewhere. Although Soviet Union was a good opportunity but it succumbed to its internal and external resentments. It doesn’t mean it is the end of it all. We can learn from the experience and the quest of a more equal society must go on.

 Establishment of a socialist society is the first stepping stone. There are some prerequisites for the same which can be achieved as mentioned earlier to rise above our selfish wants and desires. This goal can be achieved by education and open the minds of masses to think beyond self. Health care is another essential requirement. A healthy mind in a healthy body, as they say! Private property must also not exist. It must be realized that things take their own time and giving up is no solution. However, the right direction must not fade away.

 A socialist society accepts inequality which exists by virtue of individual effort and acumen and provides a level playing field for genuine competition. It envisages fair remuneration for the labour power and keeps it as its driving force. Although Marx himself was quite antagonistic to the idea of religion but that needs to be seen in light of the socio-political conditions of his times. The main standpoint for his opposition to the idea of religion was it being used by the capitalist in connivance with the state and clergy. I think it is not difficult for us to connect with this in contemporary times. However, religion if kept personal for spiritual upliftment can be helpful for some. This calls for great amount of self-control and understanding which in my view might be achieved by scientific education. Nevertheless, society must be formed where all opinions should matter but of course not hindering the common goal of greater good. The hope for a better and just tomorrow lives on…….

Misery: The root cause

I've always grown up wondering about disparity, the haves and the haves not. It has always haunted me. Like most of us, I've heard about destiny, karma, fortune et al decide our life. Not quite convinced, I've tried to question further. Organized religion hardly helps to answer the question on hand for it has more to do with rituals and has limited space for spirituality. Exploring spirituality what I can make of it is that it can make a person a better being but still doesn't help manage the phenomenon of inequality.

It was now time to question the system that drives the world around us. Fascinated by the works and ideas of Karl Marx, what I could make out of the worldly transactions be it social or comercial, money was the driving force, whose possession was critical to survive. It is acceptable till the time money is utilized to survive but the problem arises with its accumulation and its investment to accumulate more. That we see decides our worth! It seems to make what we are as humans. Our success and failure is measured by the yardstick of accumulated wealth. This stimulates a rat race and that too one which doesn't let everyone enter. The game is run by the mighty and the powerful who sell the dream to all the rest that they can be one of them. They name it competition, a scam that justifies annihilation of culture, morality and environment to achieve wealth. That is what is at the core of misery it seems.

The idea of socialism and communism as presented by Marx provides a viable alternative. The world has seen its implementation but not quite, as it worked to a limited extent. For many the idea has been done and dusted. However, I think, with the dearth of ideas to reinvent the system, shrinking profits, growing inequality, destruction of environment, climate change time seems to be nearing for Capitalism to die its own death. Let us make no mistake to think it has already come for we might have to go through a lot of hardships for the times to come. 

Nature Reclaiming its Dwelling

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  With the world facing the COVID-19 outbreak, a lot is unfolding each passing day. With so many

  people infected and deaths still counting, many are still either not serious or are busy

  condemning China for allegedly manufacturing the virus. Dr Li Wenliag, a thirty-four-year young

  Ophthalmologist from Wuhan Central Hospital tried to raise the alarm in the early days but it fell

  on deaf ears. It’s just like Catastrophic theory. What if the virus was detected at the initial

  stages? Instead, why not to stand united as one planet & work unanimously to fight it.

  As of now, it is indeed a question of existence of humankind! To stand together is the need of

  the hour.

  We can see scenes of scarcity of necessities all around due to hoarding and panic buying. The

  so-called developed countries of the world generally projecting themselves as superior stand

  exposed by their unruly behavior. The continents which have always claimed to be the most

  superior in cultures & mannerism are behaving the most uncivilized. Hoarding more than it is

  required, not thoughtful of even Senior Citizens. This is nothing but sheer insatiability to reserve

  more & more. It seems we've still not heard nature's message. This world order just doesn't

  support times of distress as making profit cannot be the only aim of human life. It seems,

  humankind's priorities need to change!

  Humankind has come a long way in its evolution. We are an extremely intelligent species who

  must rise above selfish interests, work together for a greater good and sustainable development

  in tandem with nature. The current pandemic has a very special message for us. It gives us a

  chance to ponder upon the way we want to live or else nature has its own ways to show its

  might. A question ponders me every time I open social media with alarming news of Corona

  Pandemic. I wonder if we, ‘human species’ will change our ways after saying final goodbye to

  this deadly virus. Will we behave like responsible citizens of this globe in future? Or as they say,

  ‘Old habits die hard’. In these difficult times, we need to retrospect about the obliteration we

  have caused to Nature but have we stopped the blame game?! Are we still not trying to score

  the brownie points? Do we not try to prove with statistics that a particular country has better

  preventive measures & the medical-aid?

  The total sphere has been frozen by the Coronavirus but it has taught us to behave like human

  beings. We are back to basics-home- cooked food, doing errands at home, exercising, praying

  & respecting nature. Those who would mock over the trivial issues of casteism, of hiring maids

  as washing toilets was below their dignity are cleaning the pots & basins themselves.

  Corona has played a positive role in binding people across nations. Communities are working

  together to help people raise their Oxytocin. Social media is playing a key role bind people

  together. World Economic Forum has launched the ‘Songs of Comfort’ Campaign to help people

  cope during lockdown. It is a platform for singers worldwide to help people cope with anxiety

  caused by Coronavirus. Similarly, fitness, food, health, beauty & a lot more pages are available

  on social media to help people use their time judiciously. Thus, there is a consistent effort by the

  human race to help each other in these tough times.
• We have now learnt the biggest lesson of sustainable development which no formal lectures or

  books could teach us. Judicious usage of resources is clear to human race, but for how long?

  We leave one bad habit and cling to another. To while away our time, we mindlessly overuse

  internet. Let’s learn from this pandemic. It’s not only an opportunity to reset the Earth but also to

  reset our goals, aspirations, desires and thought process. May good sense prevail!

  Shehnaz Gujral & Amandeep Singh

Understanding World Order: In quest of a just one

I have always been intrigued and appalled with the inequality in the world. Since time immemorial, efforts have been made to propose to justify the existing inequality as also to change it. The efforts are still on and hence this small effort to understand the subject.

Human beings having evolved out of animals have many instincts from lineage.  Since humans have better mind skills than all the other animals, they have tried to live in societies that share common behavior, rituals, customs etc. In times that life was simple, where living meant, mere existence, there was this animal instinct of getting the prey before anyone else could get it. The prey could then be shared by the immediate family. This feeling of proving better than the contenders is innate.

In order to calm down their behavior, humans have tried many a thing. One of the most important things that humans devised was the fear of the super natural. It took various manifestations, religions being their most explicit outcome. Since religions of the world came at different times in history, they have also tried to enforce their way of practice and spirituality to be better than the existing ones. Not contending the spiritual aspect of religion, religions have also been guided by the innate human nature of being one up! The effort of religions to calm down and channelize human behavior cannot however be denied.

Humans have flocked together in form of tribes, kingdoms, dictatorships, democracies et al to organize themselves and be governed by a few others, either with force or voluntarily. Human beings have come a long way from exploring civilizations to exploring the outer space. In the process we have tried to change the status-quo to bring about a change, sometimes gradual and at others sudden. A very important milestone in human development was the Industrial Revolution of the mid 18^th to 19^th centuries. The way things were produced, made available and consumed transformed dramatically. New factories with mechanized mode of production led to creation of jobs and eventually improving standards of living. Around the same time, Britain was experiencing the Agricultural Revolution which further provided impetus to the industrial growth. With the requirement of more and more raw material arose the need to explore new shores to suffice it.

The rising demands of new industries in Britain and other European countries led to colonization of countries in Africa and Asia to bring in slave labor and rich resources. Simultaneously, the industrial revolution gave rise to the elite industrialist class, the middle class and the working class. With the ruling class already asserting itself to defend its hegemony over other social classes led to making a very complex ecosystem. The ecosystem of exploitation for maximum profit thus came into force creating conflicts of interest. This was the beginning of the capitalist era. Though capitalism started of great providing much required elevation of standards of living for the common good of all, it soon led to greater inequalities. A new world order was in place dependent on industrial might and capabilities of countries. This world order was further augmented with the military capabilities of the countries.

With the capitalist world order in place combined with the imperialist tendencies of the powerful countries to maintain their hegemony, various theories were proposed and propounded by scholars around the world to better understand the system and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. In the late 19^th century, one of the most prominent theories was postulated by Karl Marx who was later joined by Fredrick Engels. This theory came to be known as communism. Its first practical manifestation was seen in the establishment of Soviet Union which saw Vladimir Lenin lead the Bolsheviks to form the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic which was later know as USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republic). It was the first time that a system had emerged to challenge the status-quo of capitalist mode of society. It was founded on the premises of socialism and equality with the centralized control in the hands of the representatives of the proletariat (the working class). With centralized control and meticulous planning, the USSR economy made an all round growth and came out to become a major world power. A few other countries like China, Cuba, Laos and North Korea adopted a similar model of governance.

Threatened by the prowess the communist model was gaining, the United States of America and its allies were exerting their influence to halt the process. This led to the formation of the Western Bloc headed by USA and its NATO allies and the Eastern Bloc headed by USSR and its allies. This confrontation led to the period known as cold war. This was the period two different world orders were in place led by two powerful countries. However, there were still many nations not committing to either bloc as well. The cold war continued till finally the USSR was dislodged in 1991. There have been numerous discussions and critiques to evaluate the circumstances leading to the fall of the Soviet Union. The most important critical attributes of the model were its lack of freedom and democracy. Ever since, we are again in a single major world order, the capitalist model or the free-market model.

That the communist model has not succeeded in its pure form is for everyone to see but the failure of the capitalist model is yet to be realized and understood. Never the less, the communist model has given us great results for societal development. The forces of vested interest are doing their best to reinforce the capitalist model to keep the plunder of mankind and nature going alike. As human beings we must imbibe virtues of compassion and empathy for the furtherance of common good. The society we live in is becoming more and more materialistic and self-centered. There is a genuine fear that we are all loosing humanity getting high on the dose of pseudo-freedom.

Let us stop, and think, to establish a new world order which is more equal and less power hungry, a world which is more compassionate and works less on leaving someone behind. It is agreed that competition is very important but let us not forget that we must first make it a level playing field or else it is not a fair play. A system which is fair, having representative democracy empowering the working class and removes the wealth from the hands of a few is the need of our times. Our blind chase to acquire more has already eroded much of the environment and more of our souls! Let us make an effort to make world a better place to live. We have proved time and again that if we want to achieve something, we can do it by coming together. I know it is a dream but we can all make it our goal and work for it in our own unique way. I am hopeful that this dream will come true…………

Demonetization: Feel the heat as it comes

Eradication of black money is a Big Dream for any common man in India, one of the major planks upon which the BJP government came to power in May 2014. Having faced the heat all this time for not doing anything for the objective, the demonetization of higher denomination notes of Rupee 500 and 1000 notes was launched on the eve of 8^th of November by the PM, Sh. Narendra Modi. The appeal was emotional and intended to address the nation to inform that the time had come to fulfill their longstanding dream, wiping out of black money. The action resounded with one and all with a great appeal except those, of course, those who were actually hoarding illegal cash. The markets went into frenzy with hoarders actually trying to dispose off their ill-gotten cash and traders, shopkeepers and jewellers making the best out of it.

Then came the resentment from the political parties in the opposition. It is quite possible that seeing the assembly elections coming, the opposition political parties might have seen the action as an attack on their election campaign funding. Election campaign funding is a dark area which is not under the IT department and is an important area of investigation in the crackdown against black money. However, there were other right reasons too which made the opposition parties protest. The ruling party itself is alleged to have secured its funds prior to launching the scheme.

The first to feel the heat were the people at the bottom of the pan, the poorest of poor who struggle hard to make two square meals a day. Then as the days have passed, other sections of the society like farmers, small traders, shopkeepers and others have started feeling the heat. All this time, the masses are jostling against each other to somehow exchange their defunct notes or withdraw some cash. There are still many who are holding their breath to see their dream come true. Slowly, though for sure, the heat is conducting its way up. It is however, yet to be seen, if people can withstand the heat before they give up.

There are some very prominent questions which need to be answered like, why was the scheme so unplanned that we see so much chaos all around? , what was the need to launch Rupee 2000 note which is not currently acceptable in the market since there is not enough cash to tender change?, how will the big fish be netted in this scheme as they would have means to split their cash and/or convert into other assets and could get away? All these and many more questions arising every now and then will require an answer or else the Big Dream of the common man stands shattered. The stakes are big and so is the task. In all this, what is most painful is, that we have lost virtues like empathy and compassion to feel others pain and that, we need to burn our fingers to feel the heat!