The Partition - Another Perspective.

The Partition - Another Perspective.

The publication of the book, Jinnah – India, Partition, Independence,
by Jaswant Singh, the former Foreign and Finance Minister in the NDA (
National Democratic Alliance) government, has created a storm in
India. While BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) has expelled him for
praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah and denigrating Sardar Vallabhabhai
Patel, the first Home Minister of Independent India, Congress
supporters have not liked the description of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
and Sardar Patel as the main architects of partition. However, many
politicians and journalists in Pakistan have appreciated Jaswant
Singh's effort to be fair to  Jinnah  – a secularist who was forced to
demand Pakistan as Muslims were not given enough 'space' by the
Congress in the pre-independence negotiations.

It would be premature to judge the book without reading it. However,
after going through the main points which have been made known to the
public by the author at the release of the book and his interviews to
television and newspapers, one gets a fair understanding of the
arguments presented in the book.

The main ground on which Jaswant Singh blames Congress, Nehru and
Patel for partition was that -  they  favoured  a centralized polity
while Jinnah was asking for a loose federation where Muslim provinces
will have certain autonomy. Apparently, the author has not considered
the historic back-ground as to why the Congress leaders were keen on a
form of government where the centre has more powers than the states.
India had numerous kingdoms before the British and other European
traders came to India and fought among themselves to carve exclusive
zones and later, the British out-witted them and the kings to occupy
India over a period of time. India is culturally one for more than two
millennium but politically, religiously and linguistically diverse.
While the Congress leaders were concerned about all the people of the
country, the Muslim League was concerned only about Muslims. We all
know the unifying role of Sardar in bringing into the Indian Union
some 700 kings, small and big, with an appeal to patriotism and some
persuasion. Only three held out – Hyderabad, Junaghad and Kashmir.

The Partition – dramatic personae.

In India, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel are the architects of Indian independence while
Mohammad Ali Jinnah is the creator of Pakistan and the villain of
partition. In Pakistan, it is the other way round – it is Jinnah who
wrested Pakistan, as a homeland for the Muslims of the Indian
sub-continent, from the unwilling hands of the Congress and the
British. This is the accepted version of the blood-soaked partition.

If we go through the long drama from 1906 when the Bengal Province was
divided ( and it was annulled in 1911 by the King) till 1946 when the
Muslim League gave the call for 'Direct Action' which led to the
killings of hundreds, all the leaders of the Congress and the Muslim
League and the rulers, the British, were tested and unfortunately
found wanting. Everybody was so sure he had the right solution for the
future of India that the talks between the three parties were more
like the dialogues of the deaf than between the normal human beings
with different perspectives who could compromise and find a solution.
The Congress always felt it represented all the people of India
including the Muslims while the Muslim League argued that the minority
Muslim interests would be safe only if there is a reservation in every
public sphere for Muslims.

The British, the past-masters in 'divide & rule' policy, like the
monkey which was given the right to divide the butter between the two
cats, always played one against the other to ensure its commercial and
strategic interests in the Indian sub-continent were intact. The
British adopted a 'carrot and stick' policy in India. They had
stringent laws to curb violence but at the same time allowing Indian
participation in the local and provincial democratic institutions. The
aim was to have a responsible government within the British Empire.
The British devised many ways to delay Indian independence and secure
their interests. The British over reaction which resulted in the
Jallianwalabagh tragedy in 1919 can only be explained by the constant
fear of the people that they were ruling. A religious congregation was
fired upon and hundreds were killed. The very fact that the British
allowed all kings the right to decide on the future relations between
them and the two dominions, after 'the lapse of  paramountcy', is an
indication of their intentions – an opportunity to those kings who
want be independent and a challenge to the leaders of the two
dominions.

It has been said by some observers that Nehru's talk of socialism and
land distribution after Independence was one of the main reasons for
the rich Muslim Zamindars in UP to support the League. The other
reason is the refusal of the Congress to share power with the League
in spite of an understanding between them before the election in UP
provincial election in 1937 which the Congress won.

Mahatma Gandhi mobilized public opinion for Swaraj through agitations
such as in Champarn in Bihar and Kheda in Gujarat  for the rights of
the poor peasantry. He also launched Non-cooperation Movement and Salt
satyaraha to take the message of freedom to the people. He awakened
them through his simple living – he lived the way they lived - and he
invoked religion to get through to people with his talk on 'Rama
Rajya', singing of 'Ram Dhun' and 'Ishwar, Allah tero nam' and his
prayer meetings. However, many intellectuals, including Mohammad Ali
Jinnah, were not happy with his agitations and religious talk. They
ignored the fact that these activities attracted millions to him and
to the cause of Swaraj. Mahatma also supported 'Khilafat' agitation to
indicate Congress' concern for Muslim interest which strengthened the
fundamentalist streak of Indian Muslims and alienated many Hindus as
it led to Hindu-Muslim riots, especially in Kerala where many Hindus
were killed during the Mopla Riot.

After the failure of the 1857 War of Independence, many Muslim leaders
like Sir Syed Ahmed  Khan were of the opinion that Muslims should take
to English education and support the British to promote Muslim
interest. He started Mohammedan Anglo-Indian Oriental College in 1875
which became the Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. Aga Khan led a
Muslim delegation to Lord Minto, the Governor-General, for separate
electorate, in 1906, and later in that year the Muslim League was
formed. The British government agreed to this demand  in the
Minto-Morley Reforms act in 1909. This was the thin end of the wedge
that finally resulted in partition. Muslim League never participated
in the freedom struggle and co-operated with the British for mutual
benefit.

Though Mahatma Gandhi through his unique way of mobilization of people
created  mass movement, there were many who felt that the British
would not give up power without an armed revolution. These
revolutionaries carried on many militant activities against the
British and some of them embraced martyrdom  -  that roll of honour is
long and a few have to be mentioned - Khudiram Bose, Vasudeo Balawant
Phadke, Bhagat Singh,  Rajguru,  Sukhdev, Madan Lal Dinghra,
Chandrashekhar Azad, Batukeshwar Dutt, and Udam Singh and many others.
They and the other great revolutionaries such as Veer Savarkar and
Netaji Subash Chnadra Bose have contributed immensely to weaken the
will of the British to continue their rule in India. INA trial in
Delhi, the RIN mutiny in the Navy along with the decline of the
economic and the military power of UK after the Second World War and
the success of the Labour Party in the election after the war also
contributed to the decision the British to leave India.

The final act.

The decade between 1937- 47, was crucial for the Indian independence
as also for partition. The provincial elections were held and Congress
came to power in all provinces except in Bengal, Punjab and Sindh. But
it resigned after the British declared the Second World War on behalf
of India without consulting it. This left the field open for Muslim
League to come closer to the British. The 'Quit India' movement put
all Congress leaders in jail. Then came the Cabinet Mission with an
offer to give independence after the war which Gandhiji said that is
like  ' a post-dated cheque on a crashing bank'.

The Cabinet Mission offered a federation with limited powers to the
centre. After the war, Lord Louis Mountbatten came with a mandate for
a federation or a partition. When the interim government was formed,
Muslim League was given the finance ministry which presented a budget
which penalized  all industries and businesses which are mostly run by
Hindus with high taxes. The call for 'direct action' given by the
Muslim League when thousands were killed and maimed was the last straw
for the Congress. It felt there was no point in trying to run the
country with the co-operation of the League and it agreed for
partition. The worst fears of the Congress came true. In his
frustration, no wonder that Pandit Nehru observed that it is better to
cut the head to get rid of the headache, as mentioned by Alan
Campbell- Johnson, in his book, The Mission with Mountbatten.

Lord Mountbatten was in a hurry finish his mandate. The North-Western
Frontier Province under the leadership of Khan Abdul Gaffer Khan,
well-known as Frontier Gandhi, voted to be with India but it was
passed on to Pakistan. The provinces such as Bengal and Punjab were
divided as Hindus and Muslims were almost in equal numbers. Radcliff
who was asked to divide these provinces could not give proper justice
to the task. The Radcliff line was arbitrary and divided families and
houses as Sir Cyril Radcliff was given five weeks to divide these
states. The chaos created anarchy and many people were killed,
kidnapped and hounded out first on the Pakistani side which in turn
led to the killings on the Indian side.

The tragedy.

The partition was a tragedy of many dimensions. Indians and Pakistanis
have still to come to terms with it. They share many things in common
– language, dress, history, customs but differ only on the ways of
worship. A new India could have been built on the foundations of
equality, liberty and fraternity, which are the basis of all religions
– brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God -,  forgiving the old
wounds for a better future for all. Why the partition became
inevitable is the gulf between Hindus and Muslims which the leaders
could not bridge.

Hindus could not forget the atrocities of medieval Muslim rulers who
killed Hindus and destroyed their temples. Muslims were afraid of the
retribution on them in the future. The Indian leaders missed the
wisdom of the South African leader Nelson Mandela who constituted the
truth and reconciliation commission which prepared the moral ground
for his country's future. No retribution and no reservation but
equality and brotherhood. Accepting and understanding the past and
preparing for a new future together. Kshama or forgiveness is a
religious virtue of both Hinduism and Islam. It blesses him who gives
and blesses him who receives. Hinduism accepts and respects other
faiths. Islam says there is no compulsion in religion. This wisdom
should have been used to face the facts of the past and chart a course
for the future together on the basis of brotherhood. As Maulana Abdul
Kalam Azad pointed out Hindus too are 'the people of the book'. The
Congress missed this opportunity to uphold truth and start a new
chapter for the country. The Muslim League did not want to confront
the truth and wanted an escape in the form of Pakistan. The dilemma
between the two communities continues as conflicts between the two
states now.

If the leaders had come to the conclusion that Hindus and Muslims
could not live together as brothers, they could have parted as
brothers but without violence. However, the suddenness of the decision
to partition the sub-continent by the British and stringency of the
cry, ' Islam in danger' by the Muslim League made it inevitable to end
in a bloody separation. Hindu Mahasabha had suggested exchange of
population in an orderly fashion but it was over-ruled by the Congress
as it was abhorrent to their secular belief. However, exchange did
take place with a massive violence. It was no less than a civil war.
All the leaders who took part in the decision to partition the Indian
sub-continent in a hurry have to share the blame and the major part
goes to the British who claim to be democratic and just, and Mohammad
Ali Jinnah, a secularist and a constitutionalist in the beginning  but
ended as the creator of a theocratic state. If the leaders have no
vision, people suffer for generations!

August 30,2009.

*******.

Indian Professionals Abroad- Can they empower India ?

I do agree with Mr.P.V.Hariharan that there are many problems with the politicians and the bureaucrats. In spite of these problems, industry has flourished in India especially after the liberalisation of Indian economy in 1991. What I was suggesting was that the government should take initiative to harness this resource, Indian professionals abroad, like the Chinese government.

Since India is a democracy, Indians and NRIs have the opportunity to take up initiatives in education - primary, secondary, college and university - at all levels. This will empower India, especially the younger generation. Let us remember that in China, only the government take initiative.

Corruption and poor governance are the reasons for most of India's problems. This could be tackled only by people themselves. NRIs can join the efforts.Transparency is the key and computer/internet/software have the potential to curb them, if not abolish them.

Many NRIs are helping education and health in many ways. It would be better if they form an association to become more effective and also bring it to the notice of the people.

I remember that the idea of connecting rivers was mooted during the time Dr.K.L.Rao was the water resources minister. If efforts were initiated at the time, our water problems would have been solved by this time. Floods and droughts are the recurring themes of Indian economy. If enough water is made available to our farmers, India could be the food basket of the world. If a programme of connecting rivers in a small way was undertaken, it would have given us the confidence to do it all over India. It would have created employment to a large number of people and given boost to agriculture. It is not too late even now.

India and Indians have to be bold and ambitious. We have the physical resources and skilled man-power. But we do not have a bold leadership.

( A response to Mr.P.V.Hariharan's sad and bad experience of Indian professionals who returned India who were not able to contribute because of political and bureaucratic indifference in karmayog.com).

August 23,2009.      

Village development.

I entirely agree with Mr.P.V.Hariharan that Indian state has not done enough for the development of villages. When Mahatma Gandhi said India lives in villages he knew what he was saying. In spite of all economic development, it is only some towns and cities have benefited. Since development has taken place only in these places, villagers flock to towns and cities giving rise to slums and shanties.

Gandhiji had constituted khadi and village industries development programme even during the freedom movement to employment. He used to say that if anybody who can grow two blades of grass where one grew before,he would be a great benefactor of mankind. If Indian government had taken measures to improve agriculture and other village industries, our villages would have been presented a better picture. We would not had to depend on American wheat during the 'fifities and 'sixties I still remember that S.K.Patil had to go to USA to get wheat from USA under PL 480 programme in what is called " ship-to-mouth" existence during those days. The Green Revolution can later after the great Bihar famine.

Our villages were small republics with a village panchayats and almost self-sufficient. They could withstand many invassions without much damage.

Our villages could still be made livable on the model suggested by our former President Dr.Abdul Kalam - Urban faciliites in rural areas with many connectivities -  physical ( roads),elctronics(telecom), knowledge (agriculture and agro-based industries) leading to economic connectivity. While keeping a window to the world, a village could be self-dependent with wind power/solar power/bio-gas power, tanks and wells to store water, primary health-care centre and primary school. If our villages could be empowered with these facilties, few would like to go to the cities and towns to live in unhygienic conditions.

The only problem with villages is the orthodoxy and conservatisim inbedded in it which Dr.Ambedkar had pointed out. With modren ideas of equality which is also to be found in our religion - brotherhood of mankind - this could be overcome in the coming decades.

Dr.Kalam's vision of PURA ( providing urban facilities in rural areas) is just a updated version of Mahatma's village panchayats. This has been successfully implemented in few areas. Our NGOs, NRIs and philanthropists can expand it many more villages. Our think-tanks can take it to the political parties to be adopted as a national plan.

( A response to the suggestion of Mr.P.V.Harirahan in karmayog.com)

August 23,2009. 

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"The greatest fantasy of our century"

"The greatest fantasy of our century"

 

Communism had attracted a number of intellectuals in the 20^th century as it offered a better society – a society of the free and equals – " … free development of each is the condition for the free development of all" as the Communist Manifesto put it in 1848. It even offered a vision – withering away of the state.

 

However, many sensitive intellectuals were soon disillusioned during the Soviet Rule in Russia. Collectivization of agriculture could be enforced only after a large number of farmers were killed. Dissenters were made to 'confess' errors and later imprisoned and 'liquidated'. Leon Trotsky, a prominent dissenter, a votary of 'permanent revolution', was hounded out of Soviet Union and was killed in Mexico.  

 

The earliest Indian intellectual who expressed his distaste for the totalitarian regime which suppressed all dissent and freedom of speech was, Minoo Masani, who founded the Swatantra Party along with C.Rajagopalachari and N.G.Ranga to oppose the socialist pattern of society adopted by the Congress Party in its Avadi session in 1955. Masani had written his famous essay, 'Socialism Re-considered' in the 1930s. With his characteristic clarity, he used to say that he opposed not the aims of socialism but the methodology of socialism – concentration of all power in the hands of the state, which means the ruling party or the ruling faction. The Congress adopted socialist pattern of society and the results are there for all to see – average 3.5% GDP growth from 1950 to 1990, permit-license raj till Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao ushered in liberalization of Indian economy in 1991 through Dr.Man Mohan Singh, his Finance Minister, who was an academic and later a bureaucrat of the Indian state or the UNO.    

 

After the second world war, many books were written by the ardent supporters of Communism repudiating their faith. One of book was, 'God that Failed', a compilation of six essays by writers and journalists of repute – Arthur Koestler, Ignazio Silone, Richard Wright, Andre Gide, Louis Fisher and Stephen Spender. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, a novel on the repressive totalitarian regime made famous phrases such as "Big Brother", " double- think", and "newspeak". His satire, Animal Farm, is a scathing indictment of freedom and equality in a totalitarian regime – "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than the others". Another book which exposed the Communist rule was by an insider and it was called 'The New Class: An Analysis of the Communist System' by Milovan  Djilas, who was the Vice President of the Federal People's Republic of Yogoslavakia, where he describes in detail how the Communist Party has become a new class with all privileges and perks of a ruling class.

 

I was reminded of the above books when I read the obituary of another disillusioned Marxist, Leszek Kolakowski, who passed away on July 17^th 2009 in the Economist (August 1-7) and Financial Times (23/7). He was a Polish-born philosopher, who fled Poland in 1968 after an anti-Semitic campaign by the Communist Party, with his wife, Tamara, a Jew. Born at Radom, near Warsaw in 1927, but his schooling was interrupted after the German invasion of Poland. After the war, he studied philosophy at the University of Lodz and finished doctorate at the Warsaw University in 1953. He spoke out for greater democracy but his books were banned. Later, he was a professor at McGill University in Montreal and then Berkeley University in California, and finally, he became a fellow at All Souls College, Oxford.

 

His magnum opus was the three-volume study, "Main Currents of Marxism : Its Rise, Growth and Dissolution" where he has demolished the pillars of Marxist thought – the theory of value, the idea of class struggle and  the historical materialism. He described Marxism as "the greatest fantasy of our century", and that the "monstrous tyranny of Stalinism was not an aberration, but the logical  consequence of Karl Marx's call for a vanguard of intellectuals to take charge of revolutionary change". " The only medicine communism has invented," he observed, " the centralized, beyond social control, state ownership of the national wealth and one-party rule, is worse than the illness it is supposed to cure; it is less efficient economically and it makes the bureaucratic character of social relations an absolute principle."  He dismissed the idea of "democratic socialism" as " contradictory as a fried snowball".

 

His distaste for communism did not make him an evangelist for free-market economy. He was too inquisitive, skeptical and irreverent to support any particular doctrine strongly. He was critical of those who relied on science for answers to the big questions about life. He criticized the emptiness of secular materialism. He was convinced that religion, in some form or the other, was a necessary part of human existence.

 

"One of the crucial European traditions is the ability …to look at one's own civilization with eyes of others," he said in an interview in 2005. "We should be able to look at ourselves self-critically. If we are unable to do that, our civilization will destroy itself".

 

One of his best known aphorisms is: "We learn history not in order to know how to behave or how to succeed, but to know who we are."

 

While Financial Times hailed him as the " Latter-day Erasmus inspired overthrow of communism", The Economist said, : " Having spent his youthful years as an ardent communist and atheist, Leszek Kolakowski, one of the great minds of modern era, turned into Marxism's most perceptive opponent, and one with a profound respect for religion".

August 22,2009.

 

*****                        

 

Indian Professionals Abroad : Can they empower India ?

Indians Professionals Abroad : Can they empower India ?

 

Recently, China appointed Yi Gang, a former Indiana University professor, as the head of an institution which manages the country's vast foreign exchange reserves. The appointment of expatriate Chinese experts is a part of a new initiative called "Thousand Person Plan" which seeks to lure Chinese   experts under the age of 55 with doctorates from foreign universities. If they work in state companies, educational institutions or businesses, they are given handsome pay and perks.

 

China is trying lure back its bright and creative professionals from its Diaspora with a red-carpet to help it join the ranks of the developed countries within a decade or so. The 'sea turtles', as these returning expatriates are called in China, are likely to make China a technological society to rival USA.

 

Can the Indian government think of similar plan to entice experts in the Indian Diaspora back to India ?  India has notched up their economic growth after economic liberalization and it did it long after China did. By inviting experts in various fields from abroad, India too would be able reap rich dividend in terms of knowledge pool. If some in the academic field are brought back to our universities, Indian students who seek education abroad would be able to access it India itself saving billions of dollars for the country. If India embarks on a large-scale infrastructure projects ( roads, railways, airways, port and air-ports ) and encourages private sector to expand in all manufacturing ( including defense) industries, there would be no problem in finding good jobs for engineers, software experts, management and financial professionals.    

 

According to the National Knowledge Commission, 160,000 students go abroad every year, especially to USA ( 104,000),UK ( 97,035) and Australia (25,905). A survey by Assocham ( The Associated Chambers of Commerce) estimated in 2008 that these students spend about  $10/13 billion every year in fees and living expenses. The students go abroad not merely to study but also to secure jobs in these countries as they do not find suitable opportunities in India. The time has come for India to liberalise the educational field as well. The private sector too should be involved in the establishment of autonomous schools, colleges and universities to meet growing need and demand for education. Expansion of educational sector would itself provide jobs for about 10 to 20 million, says Assocham survey.    

 

Since the National Knowledge Commission has identified the need to increase the number universities to 1,500, the government can establish a few universities headed by the expatriate professors who can bring skills, knowledge, and academic network which can make these universities among the top in the world in a few years. These universities should be funded adequately and invested with autonomy that is enjoyed by the universities abroad. Indian businessmen, NRI technocrats and philanthropists should be encouraged to fund colleges and chairs in these universities. An educational revolution has to take place in India to reap the demographic dividend from young Indian population.

 

Economic liberalization has opened many new avenues for expatriates both in China and India. Many Chinese and Indian professionals are returning to their countries. "It is a fast growing trend", says Vivek Wadhwa, a researcher who has done a survey on the subject for Kauffman Foundation of USA. " My prediction is," Wadhwa adds, " that 100,000 skilled workers will return, both to India and to China, over the next five years or so. I call this reverse brain drain."

 

Though recession has slowed down India's economy, it is projected to be about 7 percent annually till 2025. It is expected that the urban middle class would grow to be some 384 million, a population larger than that of USA.

 

Already a small stream of skilled people has started to go back to India. India Abroad, a weekly magazine, published from New York and other cities of USA, has profiles of a dozen people who have chosen to go back to India under the title, "Return of the Native"(July 31,209). "They are 35 years of age, they are highly educated, the majority of them have Master's and PhDs, all of them have been successful here and they are doing better back home" finds Wadhwa.

 

However, their experience has not been very positive and so their plans are tentative.  Their views says it all : " In India for now" ; " Back to stay but you should feel the US is within reach"; " I am going to definitely push myself as hard as I can"; " Settled in India "; " We really are not happy here"; " We want to live in Japan and Germany next" ; " Moved back to US in 2009". Only one is happy to be back in India, two have returned and the others want to keep the option of going back to USA. However, the expatriates who have gone back to South Africa and China are more positive : " I'm just having the time of my life"and " more diverse, tolerant, transparent and materially more abundant compared to what I remembered".

 

Indian authorities have to figure it out why NRI's are less positive than the others from China and South Africa. Of course, Indians missed Scharfen Berger chocolates, olive oil, bagels, cheap beer, peace and quiet, the greenness, the empty streets, work culture, libraries, kid-oriented stuff, lack of change ( same shanties, same sewage) etc. Most of hese things can be changed by the concerned citizens and the expatriates together by taking part in civic affairs.

 

It is not all bleak scenario.There is some appreciation for things Indian as well : " Being with the family"; " kids schooling is great" ;  " Delhi is an amazing city .. It's evolving before our eyes"; " I am much more comfortable than in the US." etc.

 

A Chinese expatriate who returned to China told the Financial Times columnist, Michael Skapinker,  " China has changed a lot, from infrastructure to people's thinking to the government's approach to managing the country". What made her return ? Work opportunities, family, patriotism ? " It is rather more complex than just three factors," she says. There were aging parents, a longing for "country, culture, friends and food" and the feeling that " America had never been the same" since the attacks of September 11,2001.

 

The NRIs do not have the same opinion about Indian economic and political development The Indian political establishment – the government all levels, political parties, bureaucracy, NGOs – should work together to improve our civic life and make our cities and towns livable. Only this can lure our Diaspora back to India to empower the country. Work opportunities, family and patriotism are not enough.

August 11,2009.

 

*****                                    

 

                 

 

The Arab World and Democracy.

The Arab world and democracy.

 

The Economist of London has published a 14-page special report on the Arab world ( July 25/31,2009 issue) which sums up the dilemma of the Middle East, entitled, "Waking  from its sleep'. The various sections in the report give an inkling in the current situation in the Arab world : The world of the Arabs – What do they have in common; Imposing freedom – Well, that didn't work; All change, no change – Mountain above, volcano below;  How to stay in charge – Not just coercion, sham democracy too; The fever under the surface – A silent social revolution; Which way they will go? – A great struggle for ideas is under way in the Middle East. The Arab world has experienced two decades of political stagnation, but there is a fever under the surface, concludes Peter David.     

 

A  fact-sheet from the report :

 

* The 22 countries (including the unborn Palestine) that belong to the Arab League are called, Arab world. This is a heterogeneous agglomeration of some 350 million people ( Maronites, Copts, Berbers, Kurds, and Africans as well as Arabs and Muslims ). Majority of Arabs are under 25 years old.

 

* 60.4 percent of the world's oil (1.3tm barrels ) is in the Middle East and North Africa.

 

* The tension and conflict between Arab countries and Israel since 1948.

 

* Up to a million citizens of the Arab world may have perished violently since 1990 in wars and conflicts ( Darfur, Algerian civil war, invasion of Iraq, war for Kuwait, and Israel-Palestian conflict).

 

* No genuine democracy. Extraordinary degree of repression is used to stay in power by kings and in countries with a single party rule.

 

* The Arab opposition is divided – secular parties and Islamists. The secular parties fear the Islamists more than they dislike the present regimes. The regime offers their supporters the patronage of the state. The Islamists offer their charity and social services through the mosques. The secular parties have no such favours to offer.   

 

* The total manufacturing exports of the entire Arab world is below that of the Philippines. Miniscule number of patents registered by five Arab countries ( 367) in contrast to the huge numbers of South Korea (16,328) and Israel (7,652) between 1980 – 2000. Number of books translated into Arabic every year in the Arab world is one-fifth the number translated by Greece into Greek.

 

* The lowest employment rate in the world and one of the highest rates of youth unemployment, with about one in five young people out of work.

 

* The Arab economy is based on oil, property and tourism.

 

* In a survey of Arab economies published in 2007 by the Peterson Institute for International Economics reported that on fundamental social indicators such as literacy, poverty, and education the Arab countries do as well as or better than most other countries with similar incomes. In 2002, the Economist noted that the six desert monarchies since 1970 had trebled literacy levels to 75%, added 20 years to average life expectancy and created a world-class infrastructure by spending a total of $2 trillion.

 

* The well-managed sovereign wealth funds of Arab countries have added to the financial health of the Arab world and a big force in the world economy as strategic investors.

 

* The 2002 Arab Human Development Report prepared by an Egyptian academic Nader Fergany and published by United Nations Development Programme was extraordinarily frank about the flaws and failures of the Arab world and the urgency of reform. 

 

* America's 'Freedom Agenda' did not go very far. Arab politicians, intellectuals and civil society organizations, meeting under the auspices of Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, a declaration was issued expressing support for democratic reform, freer speech and human rights in 2004.      

 

* In Arab countries, the opposition is divided – secular and Islamic who do not join hands. The secular parties fear the Islamists more than they dislike the present regimes. The regime gives patronage to their supporters and the Islamists offer their charity and social services through the mosques. The secular parties have no such favours to dole out.

 

* Social revolution is underway. Fertility is in decline. More people, especially women, are becoming educated. A young labour force has new aspirations. Arabs know far more than they ever used to know about the world and about each other, thanks to satellite television. Entrepreneurs are playing a growing role in the economy which was dominated by the state. All these has created what Ahmad Galal, a distinguished economist calls " a fever under the surface". This may not be a game-changer, but has some political consequences.

 

* After the al-Jazeera phenomenon Arabs no longer put up with the old tradition of enforced public consensus. They are making their leaders explain and justify themselves as never before. Access to airways and the internet has democratised  Islam. Of course, this is no substitute for electoral democracy.        

 

Democratic future ?

 

It is a mixed picture. The oil wealth has given the means for the growth of Arab world but it has not   enhanced its human resources development – freedom of thought and expression, promotion of innovation and enterprise which the Arab world had centuries ago. Life expectancy has increased, literacy has gone up, educational and medical facilities have multiplied. However, there is a huge scientific and industrial gap.

 

During the Islamic Golden Age, between 8^th and 13^th century, Arab countries were the depositories of knowledge. After the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the Middle Ages, Greek and Roman literature and heritage, were lost to the Europeans. However, they were translated and developed in Arab kingdoms. Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, Istanbul  and Toledo in Spain became the centers of science and knowledge. Art, architecture, literature, mathematics, algebra and chemistry flourished. Koranic injunctions include quest for knowledge such as " Go in quest of knowledge even unto the distant China", " Ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of martyrs" etc.   

 

Islam, a religion which spread far and wide, with the banner fraternity should have been the natural foundation for democracy but has aligned itself with the unbridled rule of dictators and kings. As Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian columnist has observed, Israel is 'the opium of the Arabs' and is also an excuse for the suppression of dissent. The oil money has enabled rulers to give sops to the people and buy allegiance. This does not befit a proud civilization.

 

Of course, change has to come from within. The majority of Arabs are young, educated and exposed to TV and internet and this may stir a new awakening for freedom and democracy. Al-Jazeera television has attracted attention of the people with its fair reporting of the Arab world. There may be a 'fever under the surface', however, it may require moral support ( not war or weapons) from the democratic countries for a democratic transformation in the Middle East. The world has to bear even if democracy throws up some fundamentalist party for the time being. In addition to this, the Arab intellectuals have to highlight the democratic and pluralistic roots of Islam to fight the fundamentalist interpretation of Koran which may inevitably lead to the clash of civilizations. Only this reformation can bring about a renaissance in Islam and allow the Arab civilization to flower and flourish in a democratic polity.

August 6,2009.

 

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Project Gutenberg : An opportunity to disseminate classics of India.

Project Gutenberg: An opportunity to disseminate classics of India.

 

The Gutenberg Project was established by Michael Hart in 1971. It all began when Hart was given an operator's account with $100,000,000 of computing time in it by the operators of Xerox Sigma V mainframe at the materials Research Lab at the University of Illinois,USA.

 

He soon came to the conclusion that the greatest value created by computers is not just computing, but storage, retrieval and searching what was stored in the libraries. Anything that can be entered into a computer can be reproduced indefinitely, what can be called 'replicator technology'. Once a book or any other item (including pictures, sounds and even 3-D items can be stored in a computer) than any number of copies can be made and available for everybody.

 

The mission statement of the project states that it seeks to encourage creation and distribution of ebooks. The project is not powered by financial or political power, but by ideas, ideals and idealism. It is run by volunteers and based on donations.

 

This is indeed a great project which will go down in history as a giant step for mankind to know each other and understand, next only to the printing press which made knowledge available to the common people. More details are available at  www.gutenberg.org       

 

Now the project has 100,000 books mostly classics and other books which are in the public domain for downloading free. Though there are many books published in various world languages in the collection, there are very few books in Sanskrit and Tamil. India's many languages with great literature are not part of the collection as the project is not known in India. India has many software professionals and software companies and they can do a great service to our languages by volunteering to add Indian books to the collection. The linguistic states were created to promote Indian languages, and they can also support this endeavour. All those who love their language can chip in with volunteering.     

 

Then there is www.WorldeBookFair.org which along with Project Gutenberg and others offers almost 200,000,000 books for anybody to download free of charge or for a small fee.

 

Here is an opportunity for Indian languages to reach all literate people in the country and elsewhere in the world if they can join hands with the Gutenberg Project or start their own similar project. This will not only preserve but also disseminate the ancient literature of our languages to all people.

August 2, 2009.

 

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