I have come to believe that the best and easiest way a particular system gets exploited is using the exact same principles on which that particular system is based. This does not apply only to political systems, but in general.
For example - Exams. Either percentage based systems or CGPA based systems.
If you think about it - coaching classes folks used and exploited the system of exams by using exact same foundation on which it was based. A persons marks in an exam should be representative of the amount of knowledge that person has in that particular subject/course. So essentially if I get 85 marks Maths, I know 85% of the Maths I am suppose to know. Now you all know that, I merely succeeded in solving problems worth 85 marks out of a total of 160 on the given day and on given set of questions. So what coaching classes will do is found of optimum set of questions that I should be able to answer and then make sure I learn only that much.
In political situations democracy is based on the foundations that majority of the people will take decisions which are good for everyone ie for 100% of the population.
Now currently lets first try and understand what majority means in current implementation of democracy.
It essentially means that if there are 100 people in the world, and 51 decide to do a certain thing in a certain way then all 100 should I agree to it.
Now how it has been exploited is - certain political parties will make logical divisions in this group and try to pamper these groups so that they vote for this political party. For example Congress has always pampered Muslims, Shiv Sena - Marathi Manus, BJP - Hindus and so on. Also political parties will decide which regions they want to focus on (Hindi belt, South India, Easter India and so on) and will make sure that if they get into power they will focus on pleasing their vote banks.
So the politics which was based on creating majorities, is now actually based on creating minorities and exploiting these minorities. And the way this game is being played out I think in next 20-25 years this division based politics will actually become so micro level that there will be eventual divisions in cities etc. And this will be a forced division and all forced divisions have always resulted in enormous amount of violence.
The way this can be stopped is by accepting natural divides when ever those divides are felt. Instead of allowing politicians to create minorities, we should be working towards a system which creates majority with in the minorities.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Boundaries - II
Continuing from previous post.
Consider an example-
About 10,000 people in Srilanka wanted a separate country for them. 10,000 people is not a small number. What we did. We crushed these 10K people. We killed them. We tried to talk to them and when they were rigid about choices they wanted to make, we just killed them and celebrated peace.
It breaks my heart when we celebrate peace after 10,000 people have been killed.
If a democracy cant give something to a group of 10K people, how can I believe it will give me freedom as an individual?
What I would have done if I was given power to talk to these people is -
I would have talked to them about how it is beneficial to stay under one government. How it is a win-win solution for each of us who will be affected because of violence. If these talked would have failed - I would happily create another nation in proportion to the population and be happy with it. I would have taken a independent vote of all Srilankan Tamils on the issue. Even if one person wanted a separate state, I would have said, yes you can give it. We will give you exactly space that each person is entitled to (area/population).
My only point of view is - even if one person wants something so much for him/herself that he is ready to die for it, he should be given that as long as it does not really affect others.
Consider an example-
About 10,000 people in Srilanka wanted a separate country for them. 10,000 people is not a small number. What we did. We crushed these 10K people. We killed them. We tried to talk to them and when they were rigid about choices they wanted to make, we just killed them and celebrated peace.
It breaks my heart when we celebrate peace after 10,000 people have been killed.
If a democracy cant give something to a group of 10K people, how can I believe it will give me freedom as an individual?
What I would have done if I was given power to talk to these people is -
I would have talked to them about how it is beneficial to stay under one government. How it is a win-win solution for each of us who will be affected because of violence. If these talked would have failed - I would happily create another nation in proportion to the population and be happy with it. I would have taken a independent vote of all Srilankan Tamils on the issue. Even if one person wanted a separate state, I would have said, yes you can give it. We will give you exactly space that each person is entitled to (area/population).
My only point of view is - even if one person wants something so much for him/herself that he is ready to die for it, he should be given that as long as it does not really affect others.
Boundaries
I had a detailed discussion about boundaries on Google Buzz and this post is follow up of that. http://www.google.com/profiles/bidwai.sushrut#buzz
Also for new readers of this blog, this post refers to my earlier posts on Democracy here and here . Please read those post for continuation if you havent. Thanks.
I thought and wrote about boundaries on the buzz discussion. I will like to elaborate on that before continuing.
Some of the boundaries which are already there in India.
1. Article 370 which gives restrictions on who can buy land in Kashmir and other special privileges to Kashmir, which is a state of India.
2. Lack of common civil court. Which gives special privileges to Muslims in India. They are not bound by same social laws as rest of the population.
3. If a rape victim is from a specific caste then it is a non-bailable crime otherwise it is a bailable crime in India. There is no mention about rape by a female on male or by male on male or by female on female in Indian constitution. So we have divided population in males females and also in castes as per constitution. India is only country where rape related laws are dependent on not only amount of physical abuse but also social status of the person.
To be frank - I am completely in support of lack of common civil court. I dont care if it is for Muslims for hindus or for some one else. Basic idea is a group which is identified by certain common factor or demographic should be allowed to given certain power to choose its own identity. Special courts for Muslims should not be taken as an exception. It should be provided for each such group.
What I meant is - brahmins should be able to decide what is good and what is bad for them. Mumbaikars should be able to decide what should be good or bad for them and so on.
Democracy does not mean that we need to have a unified government to control us. Democracy is a tool which should be used to empower people to empower groups of people.
What is happening right now in India is minorities are getting screwed left right and center. Mumbai is minority it has only 2% of population. So rest of the 98% will decide whats good for them. Homosexuals are again similar minority. I dont know whats percentage of homosexuals are in India, but I will put it between 2-4%. So these people, these 2-4 crore people cant decide for themselves if its okay to have sex with people of same gender.
Shouldnt issues that affect only a certain group, should be decided upon by that group in question?
When I say boundaries i mean exactly this. That is a identifiable group is facing some problem which is completely internal to that group and does not affect other people living with in same geographic region, then such issues should be left alone to be decided by that group.
Purpose of democracy or any organization which is for civilized people is empower individuals to pursue their dreams, their purpose, their destinies in life and to provide a safe environment for me to purse all these things. For me, most important thing is how I live my life. After that how I can enrich lives of people that I meet like my parents, my family, my friends and so on.
Purpose of a democracy in diverse nation like India should be - (along with doing all things mentioned above) how each such groups can protect their identities. How they can live and grow as a group. Purpose of democracy should not be to protect minorities, it should be such that no group ever feels like a minority.
Also for new readers of this blog, this post refers to my earlier posts on Democracy here and here . Please read those post for continuation if you havent. Thanks.
I thought and wrote about boundaries on the buzz discussion. I will like to elaborate on that before continuing.
Some of the boundaries which are already there in India.
1. Article 370 which gives restrictions on who can buy land in Kashmir and other special privileges to Kashmir, which is a state of India.
2. Lack of common civil court. Which gives special privileges to Muslims in India. They are not bound by same social laws as rest of the population.
3. If a rape victim is from a specific caste then it is a non-bailable crime otherwise it is a bailable crime in India. There is no mention about rape by a female on male or by male on male or by female on female in Indian constitution. So we have divided population in males females and also in castes as per constitution. India is only country where rape related laws are dependent on not only amount of physical abuse but also social status of the person.
To be frank - I am completely in support of lack of common civil court. I dont care if it is for Muslims for hindus or for some one else. Basic idea is a group which is identified by certain common factor or demographic should be allowed to given certain power to choose its own identity. Special courts for Muslims should not be taken as an exception. It should be provided for each such group.
What I meant is - brahmins should be able to decide what is good and what is bad for them. Mumbaikars should be able to decide what should be good or bad for them and so on.
Democracy does not mean that we need to have a unified government to control us. Democracy is a tool which should be used to empower people to empower groups of people.
What is happening right now in India is minorities are getting screwed left right and center. Mumbai is minority it has only 2% of population. So rest of the 98% will decide whats good for them. Homosexuals are again similar minority. I dont know whats percentage of homosexuals are in India, but I will put it between 2-4%. So these people, these 2-4 crore people cant decide for themselves if its okay to have sex with people of same gender.
Shouldnt issues that affect only a certain group, should be decided upon by that group in question?
When I say boundaries i mean exactly this. That is a identifiable group is facing some problem which is completely internal to that group and does not affect other people living with in same geographic region, then such issues should be left alone to be decided by that group.
Purpose of democracy or any organization which is for civilized people is empower individuals to pursue their dreams, their purpose, their destinies in life and to provide a safe environment for me to purse all these things. For me, most important thing is how I live my life. After that how I can enrich lives of people that I meet like my parents, my family, my friends and so on.
Purpose of a democracy in diverse nation like India should be - (along with doing all things mentioned above) how each such groups can protect their identities. How they can live and grow as a group. Purpose of democracy should not be to protect minorities, it should be such that no group ever feels like a minority.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Start of democracy in worst possible manner
I am not talking about the riots during division of Hindustan/India/Bharat what ever you want to call it.
I am not talking about murder of Mahatma Gandhi as well. I am talking about death penalty to Godse. When a democratic government formed by a political party which was lead by Mahatma for close to 30 years, decides to throw all his principles to hell and hangs the person who killed him, really did the job of murdering him and not Godse. When we as a country decide to not follow the most important principle taught by our RashtraPita, then we should at least not name him to be so. That particular political party should at least not say they are followers of Gandhi.
I am not talking about murder of Mahatma Gandhi as well. I am talking about death penalty to Godse. When a democratic government formed by a political party which was lead by Mahatma for close to 30 years, decides to throw all his principles to hell and hangs the person who killed him, really did the job of murdering him and not Godse. When we as a country decide to not follow the most important principle taught by our RashtraPita, then we should at least not name him to be so. That particular political party should at least not say they are followers of Gandhi.
Lost Mahatma
This blog is mostly for commenting on various political and social aspects. I have been on all sides of political divide since age of 12. Started of with providing logistics support to a party by putting up posters, campaigning for them on loud speakers etc. Most of my experiences and hence the comments root from the street level politics and social activities I have been exposed to.
Prejudice - I will try to comment with out any prejudice towards individuals, castes, race, religion, gender. But being a human, it is not always possible. It is perhaps not always possible to even understand that certain views are based on prejudice. If you think I have made comments based on such prejudice, please inform me and I shall try and improve myself.
Prejudice - I will try to comment with out any prejudice towards individuals, castes, race, religion, gender. But being a human, it is not always possible. It is perhaps not always possible to even understand that certain views are based on prejudice. If you think I have made comments based on such prejudice, please inform me and I shall try and improve myself.
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