Reflections on the 2008

In this article I am proposing a need for reclaiming the Indian dream that appears to have been fragmented in the social, cultural and political complexities of Indian society.

 

The first version of this article was written for a political audience. After completing the article I recognized that designers often insulate themselves from the reality that our minds directly or indirectly respond to the political environment around us and trying to insulate our work from political influence only limits our opportunities to influence the life of the people we want to touch with design. The purpose of the article is to help the design community in India recognize the constraints imposed on our imagination by some of the psychological baggage that we have carried for a long time. This article will also confront some of the contentious political issues that have held India from harnessing the creative potential of our minds.

 

Design is a product of a mind yearning to transform an idea into a real world experience. At the heart of design is a restless exploration of scenarios of the future in one’s imagination. I believe that while individual motivation for design may be intrinsically driven, the inspiration for design is deeply embedded in a designer’s relationship with and engagement with the community for which she must design. To have a lasting impact on life, therefore designers must draw upon the collective imagination of the society. In order to design with India, one must create conditions conducive for India to reclaim an Indian Dream, which today stands fragmented.

 

When India fought against the British rule, the dream of freedom gave every Indian a sense of purpose. The idealism of the leaders of freedom movement, gave the nation a sense of direction and a value system against which the integrity and the decisions of the political leadership could be benchmarked. During the years following India’s establishment as a republic, there was a national consensus on many issues across the political spectrum - establishing an economy that was self reliant, building a path to progress that harnessed the talents of people who were mainly dependent on agriculture, cultivating a grass-roots level political leadership of integrity, building an egalitarian society and removing poverty. These key issues, and the people’s consensus formed key elements of the Indian dream at the time. However, as the generation of Indians who staked their lives for the freedom movement gradually fades away, India faces the challenge of re-examining its ideals and redefining its “Indian dream”.

 

Today the Indian dream is fragmented on both economic and social fronts. While one section of Indian population perceives a promising future for India, the other section of Indians, especially the poor both in rural and urban India, is excluded from India’s progress and is losing hope. Those on a fast track do not seem to have anything in common with the dreams of the less privileged who either feel sidelined, ignored, or incapable of riding the juggernaut of globalization and liberalization. The youth in rural India are dismayed by their alienation from the economic progress and are increasingly drawn to underground revolutionary communist groups who are engaged in armed guerrilla struggles (commonly referred to as Naxalites). The Prime Minister of India has recently suggested that the Naxalite movement, now having spread to 116 districts of India, is the single biggest internal security challenge for India. On the other hand, Judith Vidal-Hall, the editor of Index on Sensorship, suggests that the Naxalites control an estimated one fifth of India's forests, and are active in 160 of the country's 604 administrative districts. While mainstream media around the world focuses on the prosparity of India, it is dangerous to ignore the divisions in the Indian society that are increasingly becoming sharper and need urgent attention.

 

Another indication of the fragmentation of the Indian dream is in the failure of the political leadership, especially those belonging to the more privileged echelons of the Indian society, to credibly champion the cause of the socially deprived population. India has a rich history of social reformers such Raja Ram Mohan Roy, B. R. Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, and Savitribai Phule, who invited the wrath of the social orthodoxy as they fought against the inequities in Indian society.  They recognized that the dream of modern India could be achieved only when the Indian mind was liberated from the prejudices that came from an oppressive social order. Today, the socially deprived sections of the society are losing hope of being included in the emerging social order by the present political leadership. This is evident from the increase in influence of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) headed by Mayavati who has galvanized her followers from the lower castes to rekindle their Indian dream. Historically Bahujan Samaj Party cadres have been used to a more confrontational approach, implicit in the slogan popular amongst the activists of the Dalit Soshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (Popularly referred to as DS4, the organization formed by Kanshi Ram, the founder of the BSP, before transforming it into a political party): “tilak tarajo aur talwaar, inko maro jhoote chaar”. Kanshi Ram also gave slogan “Brahmin, thakur, bania chhor; baki sab hain DS4,” which meant except for the Brahmins, thakurs and banias, the rest belong to DS4. (Newstrack India, April 8, 2008). It is noteworthy that Mayavati, who inherited the leadership of the BSP after the passing away of Kanshi Ram, has cobbled together an alliance with the upper castes during the recent assembly elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh- a tacit recognition of the need to project an Indian dream that cuts across social divide. Only time will prove whether Mayavati’s partnership with the upper castes is a genuine recognition of the need to build a socially inclusive alliance or an opportunistic arrangement to attain power.

 

The Indian dream will not emerge until the hypocrisy in the political discourse is removed. There is a clear contradiction between the pre-election political rhetoric and post election public policies pursued by the mainstream political parties.  The need for securing votes has driven political parties to make promises to the economically and socially deprived. However, once the elections are over and a government is formed, most coalitions of the recent past have reverted to pursuing market-driven policies. This glaring contradiction between the socially responsible rhetoric and market driven public policies becomes even more obvious as the time for national elections approach and the parties in power again make an about turn from the market focused policies they pursued during the life of their government and make promises that resonate with socially and economically deprived voters. Frustrated by this blatant political hypocrisy, Indian voters have consistently exercised the only option available to them in the democratic system- voting against the party in power who repeatedly fail to deliver on their promises. Since 1977 not a single party or a coalition has received people’s mandate to form a national government a second time. It is obvious that there is a disconnect between the promises made before elections that help parties secure votes and the actual policies parties pursue upon being elected. The public policies need to be aligned with a vision of modern India that resonates with people across different strata of the society.

 

Today there is a dearth of leadership that can articulate a vision for modern India—one that can inspire people across social, political, economic, religious and cultural segments of Indian society. Political parties that promise people a share in the power structure based on their economic, social, or religious status are creating more divisions than unity. They are further fragmenting the Indian Dream. Additionally, market-driven public policies are leading to the perpetuation of a meritocracy that is consistently displacing people of marginal or outdated skills to the fringes and denying them the opportunity to participate productively in the life of their community. There is an urgent need for finding innovative ideas to educate people and prepare them to participate in the economic and social life of the society.

 

Ivan Illich, an Austrian philosopher and anarchist social critic, In his thesis, Tools for Connviality (Illich 1973) makes a fervent argument against the present trend of building systems that make people the slaves of the tools that are supposed to serve them in the first place. Illich brings focus on, “the need to develop new instruments for the re-conquest of practical knowledge by the average citizen”. He believes that,

 

“modern science and technology can be used to endow human activity with unprecedented effectiveness.” Illich believes,  “This reversal, would permit the evolution of a life style and of a political system which give priority to the protection, the maximum use, and the enjoyment of the one resource that is almost equally distributed among all people: personal energy under personal control. He argues that we can no longer live and work effectively without public controls over tools and institutions that curtail or negate any person’s right to the creative use of his or her energy. People need new tools to work with rather than tools that “work” for them. They need technology to make the most of the energy and imagination each has, rather than more well-programmed energy slaves.” (Illich 1973)

 

Illich has emphasized that he is not against modern technology, and that he is only suggesting giving people equitable access to the tools of livelihood. Every human being has the right to dream of a better life, to aspire for a job that will enable him/her to prosper. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that an individual’s social, cultural, gender, economic or religious status does not get in the way of her opportunities for providing for her family. Unfortunately, instead of creating a level field for all, there is evidence of increased provocation of chauvinistic emotions for political greed.

 

That leads to an important precondition for reclaiming the shared Indian dream. A shared Indian Dream will emerge only when Indians willingly understand and embrace the concept of secularism. In recent years the idea of secularism has been demonized as “Pseudo Secularism” in India. This campaign has helped put a message through to the majority population that the majority does not have to compromise its pursuit of happiness, by appeasing to the minorities. There is a need to dispel the campaign against the secular thought by bringing focus on its true meaning and value. It is important to communicate to people that a secular mind is one that thrives in the midst of diversity and adversity. Contrary to the widely held perception, secular thought does not advocate atheism. It only prescribes respect for diversity. While the concept of secularism refers primarily to religion, I propose that a secular mind is better equipped to deal with diversity of all kinds, such as social and cultural diversity.

 

Kosmin A. Barry of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, in his essay Hard and soft secularism: An intellectual and research challenge, represents the view of the soft secularists.

 

“the human intellect was inherently fallible and that the distinction between knowledge and belief was not absolute.  The attainment of absolute truth was impossible and therefore skepticism and tolerance should be the principle and overriding values in the discussion of science and religion.  We characterize the variety of positions that arise from this tradition by the term “soft secularism”.  So in light of the fallibility of human judgment propositions of faith should be respected along with others.”

 

Alongside this view, Barry also presents the view of the hard secularists:

 

 

No matter which secular thought one prescribes to (hard or soft), the need for secular thinking in India has to be viewed within the context that Indian diversity is a product of the country’s long history. The fact that plurality and diversity lead to innovation and creativity has been established from numerous researches in the field of sociology and psychology. India needs to discover the limitless opportunities that lay in our future to harness the power of diversity. Only a secular mind will create conditions conducive to the creative transformation of India.

 

In European laicism, it has been argued that secularism is a movement toward modernization, and away from traditional religious values. Belief in secularism helps freeing of a citizen’s mind from sectarian thinking. Austin Cline, Regional Director for the Council for Secular Humanism, in his comments on about.com, dispels the common myth that separation of church and state is anti-religion, with a counter argument,

 

 

India cannot be oblivious to its role in the world. Some of its main problems today require global perspective and collaboration. For example, poverty, healthcare, education, cultural conflicts and sustainable utilization of earth’s resources are issues that require such a mindset. The real challenge is to connect the Indian dream with the issues that face humanity.

 

For the past ten years, as a part of my professional work as a researcher of people, cultures and trends, I have had the opportunity to travel around the world and talk to hundreds of families in their homes about their dreams for the future. From these conversations I have learned that the younger generation is becoming increasingly appreciative of global issues. Thinking about a sustainable planet has become the ideology of the youth around the world. Leaders such as Al Gore, businessmen such as Bill Gates and artists such as Bono have gained respect of the youth by addressing issues that cut across national boundaries. There is also a renewed interest in the ideas of Gandhi around the world, especially as they relate to non-violence and his views on environmental issues. There is an opportunity for Indian leaders to rise above the old ideologies and focus on issues that matter to the youth. Rather than re-packaging old ideologies they should sensitize themselves with ideas that inspire the younger generation. The seeds of the Indian dream can be found in the minds of the younger generation, who are eager to play their part in the cause of humanity.

 

To summarize, immediate goals for redefining the Indian dream are: developing appreciation for secular thinking as a pre-condition for harnessing the potential of diversity, making a commitment for building an economy that engages the imagination and labor of people of all skill levels, and educating those who need to upgrade their skills to be able to contribute productively to their community. The Indian dream will emerge when the political parties are able to resolve the contradiction between the people-centered promises they make before the elections and market-driven policies they pursue after forming the government. They need to tune into the aspirations of the youth around the world who want to dedicate themselves to the issues that affect humanity.

 

In order to play our part in India’s future transformation, designers need to embrace a mindset that is conducive to change and free from prejudices that bind us to the past. We need to align our expression with ideas and dreams that cut across the diversity of India. Solutions that work in more developed and culturally, socially and economically more homogenous parts of the world will  not work in India. We need to first discover the Indian dream and work towards fulfilling it.

 

 

Modified from the original article written for the Radical Humanist.

Reclaiming the Indian Dream

Author: Uday Dandavate