Revolution without Ideas

(This article was published in the Times of India, 1st August, 2012 as the main editorial page article, with minor editing to reduce the word count. However, the article's title was changed by them to 'Revolution without Ideas' from the original 'The Hunger of Anna Hazare'.)

Anna or some of his team members are expected to again sit on a hunger strike in Delhi to press for enactment of an effective Lokpal Bill to curb corruption among the top echelons of the Indian Establishment. In a country where millions of people go hungry every day out of compulsion without attracting any special notice, remaining hungry voluntarily for days and weeks at a public place to press a public cause has always attracted great public attention and adulation.  But fasting with such frequency and with such vehemence to press the noblest of all causes today – prevention of corruption – has seldom been witnessed in Independent India before.  No surprisingly, it has attracted unprecedented attention and well-deserved public adulation. 

However, while undertaking repeated fasts for enactment of an effective Lokpal Bill underlines the unwavering commitment and courage of team Anna, it at the same time highlights certain other facts. It shows that they are not trying to  build a parallel mass base on the strength of a constructive program that would catch the fancy of the nation and its people, as was done by Gandhi. The weapon of fasting is the last weapon in the armoury of a non-violent movement, and its too frequent use tends to blunt the edge of the weapon. While Gandhi, the creator of this weapon, used this weapon on many occasions, he had many other weapons in his armoury, especially his constructive programme. The Anna team does not seem to have in their armoury any other weapons of mass mobilization or social reconstruction. Resorting to frequent fasts highlights this fact. Fasts, undertaken by whosoever - and this does not exclude Gandhi - have an element of drama and suspense in it, and therefore they do attract a lot of public attention. But getting the nation's attention frequently in this manner alone poses a danger for team Anna: the team might ultimately be reduced in public image to the status of a brave drama troupe of a very high order, and they might finally look, in nature if not in magnitude of impact, like a street-play group that has very good intentions of inducing social change and creating social awareness. While all such groups are highly laudable, all of them need to go beyond street-plays, if they are really serious about social change and about national reconstruction.

On the JP movement of the seventies, Naipaul wrote in ‘India: A Wounded Civilization’: “The revolution was an expression of rage and rejection; but it was a revolution without ideas. It was an emotional outburst, a wallow; it would not have taken India forward...” Though harsh in tone and tenor, the comment conveys a certain point. The JP movement, which was without doubt the most powerful protest movement that took place in Independent India, left important lessons for the posterity of revolutionaries and reformers that wanted to bring a macro-level change in the country. JP once himself wrote that for a revolution to succeed it required a revolutionary leadership as well as a revolutionary organisation. JP forgot to mention that it also required a revolutionary program of action.  In the case of the JP movement, only one component was present: a revolutionary leadership. There had been no attempt to build a revolutionary organisation to assist the leadership and no revolutionary program of action put together in a neat accessible document which could possibly have taken the form of a manifesto or a book on Total Revolution detailing a broad roadmap for change. It was not therefore surprising that the movement failed. 

After JP’s, Anna’s is the second powerful movement of a Pan-Indian nature that seeks to bring about a macro-level change in the country in a non-violent manner in the post-Independence India. However, it needs to learn a good deal from both the Gandhi-led movement before Independence, and the JP-led movement of the seventies. While being entirely laudable for its persistence, commitment and courage, Anna’s movement suffers from many pitfalls which it must seek to address. If Anna’s group had projected itself just a pressure group for fighting corruption, these pitfalls would not be evident. However, Anna’s hunger seems to be wider. After breaking the August, ’11 fast Anna said he was hungry for nothing less than a total revolution, which put his group in a different perspective, whetting the nation’s appetite for more and more.

There is one point that is better not forgotten. Mahatma Gandhi once said that fasting might not succeed against ‘tyrants’. Team Anna will do well to understand that they are up against people who are no less than ‘tyrants’, who perpetuate the tyranny of compelling millions and millions of Indians to languish in abject poverty year after year and decade after decade by siphoning of tons of public money day in and day out, thus making a farce of governance and development. This is not to say that the tyranny of the powers-that-be does not have to be dealt with resolutely, and no fasts have to be undertaken. But the strategy to deal with these tyrants, who are bent upon postponing the creation of an effective anti-corruption watch-dog body, has to be redesigned. This redesigning would be impossible unless certain fundamentals were understood clearly. These fundamentals are that the movement has to be made more holistic, there has to be a larger vision and road map for the country set forth and made public to give it a sound theoretical foundation and respectability, a concrete country-wide and on-going constructive programme has to be undertaken, and a revolutionary organisation has to be created that is trained in non-violence not as a policy but as a creed. In addition, the onslaught has to be not against one party or individuals aligned to one party but against all parties that are besmirched in corruption. Selective onslaught has made the Anna movement appear to many like a partisan and political movement designed to damage the political prospects of one party, and to benefit another almost equally corrupt party, which has some of the world’s most corrupt governments today in certain Indian states. This perception, if it grows further, is bound to take away much of the moral quality of the Anna movement which initially made it the darling of the masses and the youth, when Anna undertook his historic 12-day fast in Ramlila Maidan in Delhi in August, 2011. In addition, the organisation that carries out the movement does not have to acquire the perception of being led by a coterie: it has to be broadened with fresh inductions on the basis of merit and a transparent system, and organisational elections based on democratic principles. The closest example is the Indian National Congress of the olden times, which was founded and controlled by a British civil servant – A.O. Hume – in the beginning, but which was gradually allowed to evolve into a vehicle of revolution and mass participation, allowing different capable people to take up leadership at different times based on democratically conducted organisational elections. The sooner this is understood the better for team Anna and, perhaps, the country. 

Anna Hazare and Company

Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal's campaign against corruption, and for the Lok Pal, is without doubt laudable,  and needs the country's support. It underlines their commitment, perseverance and courage. However, it also highlights certain other facts. It shows that the are not trying to build parallel  mass base on the strength of a constructive program that would catch the fancy of the nation and its people. The weapon of fasts is the last weapon in the armory of a non-violent movement,  and  its too frequent use tends to rob the weapon of its impact. Gandhi, the creator of this weapon, used this weapon very sparingly, as the last resort when everything else failed. This 'everything else' was important to Gandhi as he had may other weapons, the most powerful being his constructive program. The Anna team does not seem to have in their armory any other weapon of mass mobilization or social reconstruction. Resorting to frequent fasts highlights this fact. This is pathetic. Fasts, undertaken by whosoever, and this does not exclude Gandhi, have an element of drama and suspense in it, and therefore they do attract a lot of attention. But getting the nation's attention in this manner poses a danger for team Anna : the team might ultimately be reduced in public image to the status of a drama troupe of a very high order, and they might finally look, in nature if not in magnitude of impact, like a nukkad-natak or street-play  group that has very good intentions of inducing social change and creating social awareness. While all such groups are highly laudable, all of them need to go beyond street-plays, if they are really serious about social change and national reconstruction. I propose to write at length on  this subject, but for now, no more.

Total Revolution or Sampoorn Kranti vs Integral Revolution or Samagra Kranti

Integral revolution or Samagra Kranti is a simple concept. It consists of two interrelated concepts: integral and revolution.

 We must first understand what a revolution is, and how it differs from evolution and development. Revolution, like evolution and development, is change. It is, however, rapid change. If the country achieves in 60 months what it achieved in the past 60 years, it would be called development, or, more appropriately, rapid development. If, however, what could not be achieved in 60 years is achieved in 60 weeks, it can legitimately be called a revolution.

Evolution of homo sapiens sapiens from homo erectus took billions of years. During this long course of evolution spanning milliions of years, Nature essentially worked on enlarging the brain of the two-legged species from three centimeters to around nine, adding many functions to the brain that were not yet available to other species, like self-awareness and logical reasoning. If, in the next ten years, through genetic engineering and other artificial means, further functions are added to the brain, like extra sensory perception that includes knowing events taking place at a distance, it would be a revolution. It is possible that natural evolution might have added this function in the normal course of evolution in another million years. If this course of change is made to shrink to a decade, it is without doubt a revolution.

Revolution, therefore, is very rapid change.

Both revolution and development imply change. However, in both cases, this change is in a direction which is considered by a vast number of people desirable and positive.  

Thanks to the quality of violence to attract attention, historians have been prone to portraying with greater vividness and interest such revolutionary changes that took place in human history as were induced by violent means. Due to the way the text books of history are prepared, it has often been presumed that whenever there is a revolution or a very rapid change in a desirable direction, it could only be through violence. The French Revolution was a product of violence. The Russian Revolution was also a product of huge organised violence. China underwent a revolution that changed the course of the history of nearly one-fifth of humanity again through violent methods. No wonder the word revolution is found carrying with it the odour of violence.

Till the 1940s, the average life expectancy of the people in most parts of the world was around 20 years. After the discovery of penicillin in the year 1926, combined with further developments in the medical sciences and health services, the average life expectancy has risen to 67 years in India, and around 90 years in Europe, America and Japan. What could not happen in several millennia has happened in a few decades. This is a revolution, a silent revolution, not induced by violent methods, but by application of human mind, and organised systematic endeavor. It may be said that technology is more amenable to peaceful revolutions than culture. However, there are instances in which great cultural changes have been induced through methods other than violence. The hierarchical caste system in India is one such instance. For more than a millennium the lower castes of India had to put up with lack of vertical mobility in social status, and, in certain cases, untouchability. In less than a century their social conditions have undergone a sea change. This has been partly because of social reform movements in India in the 19th and 20th centuries, stringent legal provisions against untouchability, and legal empowerment of those castes and communities. A similar revolutionary change can be seen in respect of apartheid in the USA. All this is nothing less than a revolution. And this cultural revolution did not come about through violence. Many historians would still insist that political domain is seldom amenable to revolutionary changes through non-violent methods. Such historians need to look into the vast political changes brought about through non-violent struggle in the not-so-distant past in India, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. Political changes do certainly need struggle, sometime intense and protracted struggle, but struggles need not necessarily be violent. The negative social cost of violent revolutions is very high. The Russian and Chinese revolutions claimed millions of lives. The women, children and parents of the ‘reactionary’ people killed, or the members of the bourgeois class butchered, survived only to suffer an intolerable existence full of depression, agony and multiple deprivations. Violence always arouses both among the perpetrators of violence and the victims of violence intense negative emotions that sap happiness and breed misery. True that Russia and China progressed a good deal after the violent revolutions, but India is not very far behind. The USSR, which forcibly cobbled together through revolutionary violence various nationalities into one union, has already crumbled. It is to be seen how long China is able to suppress freedom and democracy through violent means. In the long run violence as the agent of change may prove counterproductive. Ahimsa has been one of the principal norms set by all religions of Indian origin, and it is not surprising that the Indian civilisation is the only ancient civilization the flow of history of which never dried up through the millennia that it traversed. It has repeatedly proved it resilience, and its capacity to bounce back.

The point that is sought to be driven home is that revolutions can be non-violent. This platform for integral revolution, called the Samagra Kranti Manch, intends to bring about a non-violent revolution in India in the days to come. It seeks to bring about a change in months and years that could not happen in decades and centuries.

The Samagra Kranti Manch also intends to bring about an integral revolution or a Samagra Kranti. A Samagra Kranti or integral revolution is a rapid change across the gamut of human affairs, including the political system, economic affairs, the state of society, poverty, education, religious and spiritual consciousness, and all other important spheres. It envisages a revolution in the conditions of the minorities, the Dalits, and the scheduled Tribes. This cannot happen unless there is also a revolutionary change in the consciousness of the majority community.

A society is usually like an organic entity. Its different organs and systems are interrelated, and clearly influence each other. In the human body, a hand can move forward ahead of the body, when the body walks. But the rest of the body has to catch up before the hand can move further forward. The same applies to the body of the society. One organ of the society cannot move forward too far, leaving behind the rest of the body. If it does, serious anomalies and problems arise. In the case of India, naxalism is such a problem, which has arisen due to a section of Indians moving too far ahead without the rest of the Indians, especially those in the rural areas, catching up with them in the march of progress.

India has been moving in slow motion. It has to gain momentum. It has two switch modes – from evolution to revolution, from stagnation to rapid change. But if there is rapid change in one sphere, leaving other spheres and changed, serious anomalies and problems will arise. The only way to prevent these anomalies and problems is to aim at integral revolution, a revolution that encompasses all important domains and spheres of Indian life.

Total Revolution is sometimes understood as complete change in all spheres. In this sense, it is important to bear in mind that there is a significant difference between integral revolution and total revolution. Total revolution, in the sense of complete change, is sheer impossibility. At any time there cannot be a complete change in a culture or civilisation. Nor is it desirable. For any change to happen constructively, it has to be managed properly. Change without proper change management can be disastrous. A civilisation cannot be simply uprooted from its history and ethos. Whatever the pace of change, and howsoever great the pace of change, a civilisation has to grow from its roots. If it does not, again serious anomalies and problems may arise. This is already evident at this juncture of growth of Indian civilisation, which, under the impact of the West, appears to be crumbling under confusion of systems and values. Not that the Sitar and the Guitar cannot come together to produce good music. But they have to be closely synchronized.  Or else, shrilling noise may be the result. In any case the guitar cannot take away the beauty and depth of the Sitar’s serene notes.

Integral revolution is not total revolution in the sense elaborated above. It is huge change, great change, but not complete and total change. But it is integral change, a change integrating and encompassing all different spheres and domains.

Erasing the Poverty Line in 2 years: The Story of the Quest: Part 2

    I recall the day in Wakefield, England when I was waiting at the bus station for a boarding a bus to London. That was 1996. A Briton sitting next to me, who was also waiting for his bus, asked me which country I was from. “India”, I replied. He looked at the sky trying to recall where the country was located. After a few seconds, he was able to vaguely recall the country with some difficulty. “India.. that poor country?”, he murmured and then looked at me. I did not know precisely how to respond, since until then I had great ideas about my country. I had always thought the country must be known abroad as one of the oldest civilisations, which produced all marks of human advancement including poetry, mathematics, health sciences and surgery, music, a developed religion and philosophy much before today’s advanced  nations and the Greeks woke up to the light of civilisation. It was a rude shock to me to find that the most important thing about my country to mention was its poverty. Soon I realised that it was a matter-of-fact statement, not one inspired by malice, even though the questioner’s country itself was largely responsible for colonising, and impoverishing India.

    This incident instigated me to probe the issue of Indian poverty a little deeply when I returned to India after one and a half month of stay in England. Since then, seeing India poverty-free became one of the missions of my life. However, my interest in the phenomenon of Indian poverty was less academic than practical: it consisted in finding the action blueprint that would lead to making India free from poverty. Yet, there cannot be a solution to a complex problem until the problem is understood in detail, and in its various dimensions. Hence, I began the study of poverty in general and Indian poverty in particular.

    Before returning to India, I had been to a jail in West Yorkshire to see how the prisoners were trained for earning a living when they left the jail. The arrangements were remarkable; as remarkable as any arrangement based on common sense would be. They were, for example being trained in wall plastering. The plaster styles created by the prisoners were better than the ones found in five star hotels in India. Not that the prisoners themselves created it; they were given the right material and training for creating the styles. They were told about the best practices, and the bad practices; the all the do’s and don’ts. The plasters from the walls were regularly taken off, and fresh plastering done by new prisoners. The training to prisoners was expected to be such as would give them an edge when they went out in the open market to compete with other plaster-masons. That was the real training to help them with a profitable livelihood. In Indian jails, or elsewhere in India, I have seen nothing of the kind. Not that the technologies were not available in India: the Indians did not have the right attitude towards excellence in vocational training. 

समग्र क्रांति की अवधारणा

(The Concept of Integral Revolution)

व्यक्ति का जीवन और लोक-जीवन दोनों ही एक शरीर की तरह हुआ करते हैं, जिनके एक अंग या पहलू का प्रभाव दूसरे अंग या पहलू पर कामो-बेश पडता ही है. एक अंग में हुई गम्भीर बीमारी तो कभी-कभी पूरे शरीर को नष्ट कर देती है. कैंसर अगर एक अंग में हो जाये, और उसका उचित उपचार न हो, तो सारे शरीर में फ़ैल कर उसे नष्ट कर देती है. आज राजनीति में भ्रष्टाचार का कैंसर केवल लोक-जीवन के एक अंग, राजनीति, को नष्ट नहीं कर रहा है, बल्कि लोक-जीवन के सभी अन्य अंगों को बुरी तरह प्रभावित कर रहा है. चूँकि मंत्रियों में भ्रष्टाचार है इस लिये अफसरशाहों में भी भ्रष्टाचार है. आखिर उन्हीं के सहयोग से तो मंत्री भ्रष्टाचार करते हैं. जब अफसरशाह भ्रष्ट होंगे तो उनके सभी अधीनस्थ छोटे अधिकारी और कर्मचारी भी भ्रष्टाचार के लिये स्वतंत्र होंगे ही. किसी बड़े अधिकारी को उनके भ्रष्टाचार को रोकने का नैतिक बल कहाँ होगा? इसका परिणाम वही होगा जो आज हो रहा है. गरीबी जाने का नाम नहीं लेती. किसान भूखे मर रहे हैं, और मजदूर खून के आँसू रो रहे हैं. जन-सामान्य पेशो-पेश में है.

    मगर सारा  दोष राजनीति को देना उचित नहीं होगा. अगर शिक्षा उचित होती और बच्चों को उचित संस्कार दिये गए होते, तो बड़े हो कर हर  राजनीतिज्ञ भ्रष्ट ही नही  होता, अधिकांश अफसर भ्रष्ट नहीं होते. धर्म और धर्म-गुरु जो लोक जीवन पर इतना गहरा प्रभाव रखते रहे हैं, अपने भक्तों को भ्रष्टाचार के लिये मना नहीं करते.  क्या यह उनका नैतिक भ्रष्टाचार नहीं है? ईश्वर और देवताओं की ऐसी छवि बनाना कि वे भी चढावे ले कर गलत- सही, उचित-अनुचित का विवेक ताक पर रख अपने भक्तों को धन-दौलत और पद-शोहरत दिया करते हैं, क्या भ्रष्टाचार नहीं है? क्या यह बात  जनता को और धर्म-गुरुओं को राजनीतिज्ञोंने सिखाई? नहीं! अर्थात दोष सिर्फ राजनीति का नहीं है. हमारे धर्म और हमारी संस्कृति भी में भी कहीं ना कहीं खोट है. शिक्षा-पद्धति में भी कहीं-न-कहीं समस्याएं हैं.

    कला और साहित्य सभ्यता के प्राचीनतम प्रतिमानों में से हैं. आज उनकी क्या दशा है देश में? देश के एक बड़े साहित्यकार का नाम ले सकते हैं आप? एक बड़े कवि का नाम जानते हैं आप? राजनीति ने माहौल जरूर खराब किया है, मगर सांस्कृतिक पुनरुत्थान की भी सारी जिमेदारी राजनीतिज्ञ पर ही है क्या ? सामजिक और सांस्कृतिक नेतृत्व कहाँ सोया रहा हमारा?

    संक्षेप में यह कि हमें लोक-जीवन को इतना खंड-खंड बाँट कर नहीं देखना है. राजनीतिज्ञों और भ्रष्टाचार के विरुद्ध लोक-शक्ति आज उठ रही है, संगठित हो रही है. यह एक शुभ लक्षण है. मगर इस लोक-जागरण को हमें  विस्तार देना है. समाज के हर वर्ग को और हर पीढ़ी को इस पनपती हुई क्रान्ति में समेटना है, और समग्र क्रान्ति की ओर मोडना है. हर गाँव में जीवन को उसके सम्पूर्णता में समेकित कर विकसित करना है – समेकित और सामग्र क्रांति करनी है! व्यक्ति के जीवन में भी यही सामाग्र क्रान्ति और सम्पूर्ण निर्माण हमें करना है. इस समेकित क्रांति और सम्पूर्ण निर्माण की रूप रेखा हमें धीरे-धीरे स्पष्ट रूप से समझनी पड़ेगी, और इसमें अपनी भूमिका ढूंढनी पड़ेगी.

आइये इस प्रयास में हम जुड़ें. जुड़ने का पहला तरीका होगा इस संवाद से जुड़ना. समग्र क्रान्ति मंच से जुड़ना.

Ramdev and Congress

रामलीला मैदान में सोये हुए लोगों पर लाठी चार्ज और स्वामी रामदेव के साथ अमानवीय व्यवहार स्वस्थ लोकतान्त्रिक परम्पराओं पर कुठाराघात है. भ्रष्टाचार में आकंठ डूबी हुयी राजनितिक पार्टियां भ्रष्टाचार की पोल खोले वाले अपने प्रतिपक्षियों के साथ ऐसा व्यवहार करें यह आश्चर्यजनक नहीं है. मगर यह निंदनीय है.

मगर बाबा रामदेव के विषय में भी विषय में कई बातें हैं जिन्हें बाबा और सत्याग्रह करने वाले सभी लोगों को समझनी जरूरी हैं. 

अनशन और सत्याग्रह नैतिक शस्त्र हैं. उन्हें करने वाले के पीछे सत्य और नैतिकता का पूरा बल होना चाहिए. व्यक्तिगत विद्वेष की भावना नहीं होनी चाहिए. क्रोध नहीं होना चाहिए. वाचालता नहीं होनी चाहिए. सत्याग्रही को दुराग्रही भी नहीं होना चाहिए. सत्याग्रह नाटक भी नहीं है जहाँ दोनों पक्षों के बीच गुप्त समझौते हो जाएँ और ऊपर से सत्याग्रह का नाटक चलता रहे. 

बाबा रामदेव की बातों से किसी के प्रति व्यक्तिगत विद्वेष की बू आ रही थी. दबाव में पत्र लिख देना और जनता से छुपा कर रखना एक सत्याग्रही के सत्यनिष्ठ और पारदर्शी आचरण का प्रमाण नहीं है. कैसा दबाव और कैसा भय? सत्याग्रही को तो प्राण का भी भय नहीं होता फिर किस भय से दबाव में सरकार को चिट्ठी लिखी गयी? सत्याग्रह स्थल से प्राण के भय से भागा क्यों गया? 

जिस उद्देश्य से सत्याग्रह शुरू किया गया वह मूलतः उचित था. काले धन का राष्ट्रीयकरण होना ही चाहिए. इस सम्बन्ध में सरकार की ढुल मुल नीति से देश अच्छी तरह परिचित हो गया है और यह संदेह गहराता ही जा रहा है कि विदेशों में जो काला धन पड़ा हुआ है उसका सम्बन्ध कहीं ना कहीं राजनेताओं और अफसरों से जरूर है.  मगर इस मुद्दे पर जो सत्याग्रह किया गया उसमें सत्याग्रह की भावना और स्वरुप में  शुचिता की कमी दीखी. यह लगभग सभी सुधी लोग महसूस कर रहे हैं. 

अभी  देश में क्रान्ति की जरूरत है, अहिंसक क्रांति की. मगर इस क्रान्ति का बीड़ा उठा कर जो लोग आगे आ रहे हैं, उनके पास देश के विषय में एक समग्र जीवन दृष्टि की कमी दीख रही है. उनकी सोच क्या है यह ठीक से जानने के लिये उनका कोई साहित्य भी नहीं है. भारत जैसे विशाल बहुसांस्कृतिक और पुराने इतिहास वाले  को एक  देश को एक वास्तविक क्रान्ति के पथ पर चलाने के लिये न केवल भावनात्मक गंभीरता बल्कि वैचारिक गहराई और विस्तार की भी जरूरत होगी. गांधी, नेहरु, राजेन्द्र प्रसाद, लोहिया  का साहित्य और उनका कर्तृत्व इस प्रकार  की वस्तुस्थिति का प्रमाण है. वैयक्तिक और राष्ट्र जीवन के प्रत्येक पहलू  पर गांधी ने सोचा और लिखा. केवल बोला नहीं. नेहरु के 'विश्व इतिहास की झलक' पर महान इतिहासकार  टायनबी ने लिखा कि इतना बड़ा मानसिक फलक एक राजनीतिज्ञ का हो यह विश्वास नहीं होता. भारतीय इतिहास के प्रवाह को मोड़ने के पहले इस प्रवाह को, इसके उत्स को, इसकी दिशा को,  समझने की जरूरत है. चिंतन और चिंतनपरक लेखन से विमुख आज के हमारे क्रियावादी और राजनेता  अगर इस प्रवाह के थपेडों से घायल हो कर इतिहास के  हाशिए पर चित हो  जाएँ तो ताज्जुब नहीं. 

एक लोकतंत्र में आमरण अनशन-परक सत्याग्रह अहिंसा का अंतिम अस्त्र है, ब्रह्मास्त्र है, और इसका अधिक प्रयोग अस्त्र की गरिमा और प्रभाव को कम कर देगा. लेकिन भ्रष्टाचार-निरोध के बहादुर योद्धा निराश न हों. यह एक छोटी हार है. बड़ा युद्ध हम जरूर जीतेंगे! भारतीय इतिहास की धारा मोड़ के कगार पर है. भारतीय  इतिहास की कोख से ही और भी शक्तियां उठेंगी और इतिहास की दिशा को बदलेंगी. 

Erasing the Poverty Line in 2 years: The Story of the Quest: Part 1

Once I went to make a presentation of ‘Erasing the Poverty Line in 2 Years’ paradigm to a government department in New Delhi. A bureaucrat with whom I sat for some time heard about the proposal. He wanted to know if the economists and planners who had been working for poverty alleviation for the last 60 years were all fools that they could not achieve in sixty years what it was possible to achieve in just 2 years. I could see indignation in his eyes. I only told him that I was presenting no mystical formula, and he could join the presentation session to see for himself if what I was proposing was feasible. However, his protest was stuck somewhere in my heart, since it was apparently a valid comment. I myself wondered how the planners and economists missed out such simple recipe while working with various complex recipes for poverty alleviation. I did not get an appropriate answer to this question until, after some time, a read an anecdote about Isaac Newton, the great scientist.

    Once Isaac Newton was working in his lab, absorbed in big ideas. He noticed that a family of mice was struggling to get out of a hole in the wall of his lab room. He found that the mice were many and the hole was one. He felt anxious as to how so many mice would get out through one hole. Therefore, he called his assistant and asked him to make more holes in the wall so that each of the several mice could get out through them.  

    It is not known how authentic the story is, but one thing in the story is very authentic. People, whose minds are occupied with big things, or absorbed hundred per cent in something else, sometimes fail to notice the small and the obvious. It did not strike Newton at that time that all the mice could one by one get out through the same one hole if only the hole was a little widened to facilitate entry of one mouse. Similarly, while the economists and the planners keep themselves busy finding complex recipes to bring prosperity to the nations, they often overlook a few very simple facts, which can help them remove poverty and erase the poverty line in just two to three years’ time. One honest bureaucrat told me that very few of these economists, planners, bureaucrats and politicians were truly in the game of removing poverty. They had their own different games to play. That was the reason poverty lingered on from decade to decade.

   What is then the simple recipe for poverty alleviation that I proposed? 

    Before I came to that simple recipe, I would like to narrate the journey of somebody, who was not a qualified economist, that took him to the destination where he thought he had found the way extreme poverty could be removed within a very short period from the poorer areas of the country and the world.