Too many of contemporary India’s politicians seem to believe the practice of democracy is about enforcing majority opinion when actually it’s about protecting minority rights and sensibilities. Such erroneous thinking is behind the rise of right-wing Hindu fundamentalism propagated by the powerful cultural organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). During the two decades past, BJP has emerged as the principal opposition party in Parliament and may well sweep to power in the General Election scheduled for next summer. Neither majoritarian politicians, nor their growing army of lemmings-like followers seem to be aware that in a multi-religious and multi-cultural society, crude majoritarianism is a prescription for civil war or low-intensity civil insurrection of the type post-independence India has experienced in Jammu and Kashmir and the north-east.
Regrettably, ill-informed and myopic politicians practice crude majoritarianism not only in politics but in education as well, inflicting huge damage on individuals and the economy. A case in point is the linguistic chauvinism being practiced by successive governments in the state of Karnataka since 1994. Under a state government notification of April 29, 1994, all primary schools — government and private — promoted after that date are obliged to teach all subjects in the state’s majority language Kannada or in vernacular languages. Although it’s common knowledge that all segments of society aspire for English education for their children, until 2009 teaching of English even as a second language was banned in government primaries (classes I-V).
The fig leaf rationale of this legislation prompted by regressive sub-nationalists and supported by small-time vernacular textbook publishers and printers, is the not entirely proven theory that in early childhood, children learn best in their mother tongue. But given the pressing public demand for English-medium schools and steady flight of pupils from government primaries, this law has been practiced more in the breach than observance with government-appointed inspectors easily persuaded to look the other way.
Eighteen years after this plainly anti-national law was enacted in Karnataka, the state government’s appeal finally came up for hearing on July 5. But stating that “the issue involved in this case concerns the fundamental rights of not only the present generation but also the generations yet to be born,” a two-judge bench of the apex court referred it to a five-judge constitutional bench. Among the issues framed by the two-judge bench for the constitutional court is whether parents have the right to choose their children’s medium of instruction; whether government can impose the medium of instruction on private unaided schools; and whether the state government can insist upon linguistic minorities being taught only in their mother tongue. To these posers, it should have added one more: Will the state government pay compensation for the blighted lives of an entire generation condemned to low-end jobs within state boundaries because they were denied the chance to learn the language of national and international business and trade? That’s the price of linguistic majoritarianism and sub-optimal democratic practice.
Man-made disaster in Uttarakhand
Torrential rain, floods and landslides in mid-June have transformed the Uttarakhand tragedy into one of the worst natural disasters to hit independent India. However, the big question is whether the death and destruction this tiny state (pop. 10 million) suffered was because of nature’s fury or a man-made tragedy in which the state government is culpable for unplanned development in complete disregard of the fragile ecosystem of the Himalayan foothills. The responsibility of the Uttarakhand government is greater because four major pilgrim centres are located within its boundaries — Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. These holy sites attract almost 1 million pilgrims every June/July.
A report prepared by the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) released on July 14, has indicted the state government for dereliction of duty. It’s plain that neither the Central nor state government took into account that Nature has been behaving erraticly in recent years, not just in India but around the world due to global warming and climate change. Glaciers are receding at an alarming rate. Indeed, looming above Kedarnath, one of the most heavily flood-affected towns, there’s a lake sited at an altitude of 13,000 ft with an average depth of just 9 ft. But due to a melting glacier that fed it, its depth rose to almost 100 ft forcing it to burst its banks and surge downwards, visiting death and devastation.
Poor governance and negligence undoubtedly made matters worse. The country’s exploding population, for instance, has led to relentless cutting down of forests, to increase arable land and housing spaces. Moreover, over 70 hydro-power projects which require the construction of dams have been commissioned in two rivers of the state, ignoring the warnings of environmentalists. Deforestation of steep hillsides has facilitated rain water run-off unimpeded by trees and vegetation, resulting in flooded rivers and silted dams.
Contrary to popular perception, environmental sustain-ability and balance don’t need to be at the cost of industrial and business development. Uttarakhand needs both.
Over a quarter of Uttarakhand’s GDP is generated through tourism. But to protect the fragile ecology of the Himalayas, economic development needs to be carefully planned and executed. Unfortunately, there’s a mountain of evidence indicating a corruption nexus between politicians, officials and builders which permits housing and hotels to be built unchecked on river banks, sometimes even on the beds of rivers which have changed course. The Central government’s meteorological department is also guilty of providing belated and insufficient warning of heavy rains, while the disaster management mechanism seems to exist only on paper. With Mother Nature’s moods becoming increasingly unpredictable, the Central and state governments need to become more vigilant about protecting the populace from its vagaries. But that’s a responsibility of which the Uttarakhand — and indeed most state governments — seem wholly oblivious.