Controlling Citizen's Food Habit is to Undermine Democracy

The obsession of RSS and BJP in controlling what citizens are allowed to cook in the kitchen continues to play it out. The latest notice is this regard is the order that says cattle can only be purchased for agricultural activities, and not for slaughter (for food). The order is applicable throughout the country.

In 2015 the BJP led Maharashtra government imposed a ban on possession and consumption of beef, going beyond the usual criminalisation of cow slaughter. This would mean even if someone had purchased from a neighbouring state and had brought the meat in, this would invite a criminal case against the buyer. The BJP led Haryana government also followed suit in implementing complete ban of beef. Thankfully, the High Court struck down the Maharashtra's government order saying it cannot control citizen's food habit as it violates citizens' rights.

Since its electoral victory in 2014, Modi's government has been exploring ways to protect cows. The rationale for honouring cow is that it gives milk, and therefore it has to be honoured as “our” mother. Past experience has shown that a direct ban on beef consumption would be struck down by the Court. Therefore, this time it devised a subtle way to protect the cow by allowing cattle to be purchased only for agricultural activities. How many millions of rupees will the government spend in setting up such an infrastructure that will facilitate such selling and buying requires serious examination specially when there are 35 farmers in the country who commit suicide each day. However, let this inquiry be reserved for another day.

One of the side effects of making laws to protect cows is the harmful effect it engenders on human lives. Every now and then in the name of cow, people are being slaughtered. Since these humans are slaughtered in the name of cow, the government that makes laws to protect cows failed to prosecute the criminals as if prosecuting these criminals will impede their agenda. Corruption, usually understood, is taking money to hijack justice. In this case, however, cow is the token used to hijack justice for those murdered. Whether it is money or cow, anyone hijacking justice is a party to corruption.

But there is also another dimension that makes the whole agenda undemocratic. Is controlling citizen's food habit a democratic exercise? Defenders of cows argue that beef consumption hurt their sentiment, and therefore beef consumption needs to be banned. The irony in this argument is that these people do not seem to care for the sentiments of those whose relatives have been murdered in the name of cow. But to respond to the question, one may need to raise a counter-question: How much of my liberty will you curb to restrain me from hurting your sentiment?

Food habit is about basic aspects of our lives. Food consumption is a very essential aspect of our animality just as breathing air is. This liberty is thus the most important liberty of all liberties. This is the reason why in the name of sentiment, curbing this aspect of liberty is wrong. This is the kind of liberty that engenders entitlement, or rather fundamental rights. Imposing ban on food choices by the state in the name of honouring someone's sentiment is to place democratic value upside down. Since democratic states are built on the pillar of liberty, undermining liberty is to undermine democracy; and undermining democracy is dangerous.

In a state like India that is composed of diverse ethnicities, religions and historical narratives, to impose a homogeneous cultural pattern from the top is to invite resentment and destructive forces to emerge. If cow is an endangered species, like tiger is, then its preservation is a moral obligation and the state has reason to ban beef consumption. But in the absence of such a reason, curbing someone's food choices in order to nurture someone's sentiment does not sit well with how democratic state should make laws.

NB: This article appears on The Hornbill Express on 2nd June, 2017.

SHG as Loan Shark?

In the absence of a robust formal financial institution, the non-formal money lenders that charge around 5% – 20% per month are filling the vacuum to meet the need of those struck by unwanted circumstances causing tremendous hardship to those already burdened. Sometimes, these lenders could even be a Self Help Group.

Loan shark refers to a money lender who charges extremely high interest rate. Observing the current interest rate that money lenders charge in different places in the North East, it seems appropriate to use such a term.

In almost all districts of Arunachal Pradesh, either Self Help Groups or private lenders would give loan at 10% per month or rather 120% per annum. In fact not only in Arunachal Pradesh, the same practice is found in Mon district of Nagaland, Sonitpur district of Assam and in other parts of North East India. In Senapati district of Manipur it is comparatively lesser i.e. 5% per month or 60% per annum.

Since the government has not criminalised such practice, loan sharks consider it morally okay to charge such extremely high interest rate. The demand by those who are in dire needs of money possibly because of illness in the family or for children’s education or similar pressing reason made the loan sharks justify that they are coming in only to fill the gap.

Filling the gap is required, but the problem arises when it turns exploitative. If it is to fill the gap and to meet the demand of the needy, and not to exploit the needy, the interest rate should be much lower. Interest rate that is higher than 2.5% per month or 30% per annum cannot be justified because a high interest rate imposes back breaking burden on the needy. Such high interest rate deprives a needy family the chance to recover from economic instability within a reasonable time span. Taking loan on high interest rate breaks the economic backbone of those who are already crippled by circumstances.

“Human wants are unlimited”, says our school textbook. It is natural to want to get richer and richer. To work harder to improve one’s economic condition is not bad in itself. But when the desire to get richer is actualised through exploitation or taking advantage of someone’s helpless condition, it turns into greed – a negative quality that is responsible for so much of world’s problem throughout human history.

Charging 10% or even 5% per month for loan given to a needy is an expression of greed and selfishness. Whether it is an individual or a group of individuals that give loan at such rate must cease. Even if the legal system does not criminalise loan sharks, the larger social and political community needs to maintain a moral norm to set the prevailing condition right. And this moral consciousness has to emerge from within a small community to become part of the public consciousness.

To address this pressing social exploitation, government also must work towards widespread establishment of formal financial institutions. Compared to the interest rate charged by the current money lenders, banks charge far less interest rate. Whether it is private banks or otherwise, the interest rate may be kept not more than 18% per annum, though there are different rates for different reasons for borrowing money. Micro-finance companies may charge around 28% per annum, at the most.

Thus the gap between the formally established financial institutions and the private run lending system is too wide. Given the tremendous hardship borrowing money by needy families from private lenders elicits, charging of high interest rate must be addressed by the concerned authority as well.

(Apilang Apum is a PhD Candidate, Economics Dept, Rajiv Gandhi University and while Jeremiah Veino Duomai is a PhD Candidatem Philosophy Dept., Delhi University)

Link: http://www.arunachaltimes.in/self-help-group-as-loan-sharks/

On Capital Punishment

Maintain Dry Status, Please

Political leaders in the state have been deliberating on the pros and cons of lifting dry status in the state. As per the paper report, there is no sustained argument in support of maintaining status quo. Instead the policy makers appeared to support lifting of dry status and make alcohol consumption legal. Given that the impact felt on the larger society will be tremendous, there requires sustained debate on the subject involving law makers, civil society, religious leaders, researchers etc. One of the MLAs stated that removing of dry status will ensure production and availability of only quality-controlled liquor to the public. This kind of reasoning is without empirical support. The empirical support would rather point to the opposite direction.

Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and other states legalise alcohol consumption. But even in these states there are plenty of 'toxic' liquor available, and thriving. Just last month – June, 2015 – in Maharashtra 104 people died after consuming illicit alcohol, and over 40 continued to remain hospitalised. In January, 2015, in Uttar Pradesh at least 25 people died after taking local made liquor, and over 100 hospitalised. Prior to that over 40 people died in the same state after consuming local made liquor during a religious festival. Few years before that 130 people died after consuming illicit liquor in West Bengal, with dozens more landing in hospital. In 2008, 180 people died after taking local made liquor in Karnataka. These are small samples of deaths caused by country-made liquor. It is reported that in Maharashtra in certain areas, within just one Ward – let alone district – death through alcohol poisoning occurs every month.

Given that people in the state are equally money minded, if not more, illicit liquor will thrive. State machinery will find it impossible to ensure the quality of alcohol being brewed by the local vendors. If dry status is lifted, the state will have thousands of local brewers, and the state machinery will never be in a position to monitor the quality. When the state machinery is unable to effectively check petrol adulteration, can it monitor and regulate the quality of possibly thousands of local liquor brewers? Empirical findings prove that illicit liquor thrive so much more in states where liquor is legalised compared to dry states. The MLA is mistaken to believe that removal of dry status will engender quality-controlled liquor.

The paper reported that the government expects to make Rs. 300-500 crores through alcohol related business once dry status is lifted. This needs critical evaluation. Tripura, whose population higher than that of Manipur, makes around Rs 124 crores out of alcohol related business last year. It is highly unlikely for Manipur Goverment to generate revenue 2-4 times more than Tripura by removing dry status. If such a monetary figure is to obtain, it can do so only if a significant percentage of population is driven to drinking. But with more drinkers, social cost increases. At present Supreme Court normally directs government to pay Rs. 5 lakhs as compensation for undue death. Placing monetary value on a person's life is problematic. Despite the problem, if one takes this figure, it would take the death of 600-1000 people that government must compensate to neutralise the monetary gain of Rs. 300-500 crores. In a small state, such number of death is unlikely. And God help us that such thing never happens! But even if dozens of death occur in, say, a far flung village in the hill, the chance of the event not being reported is so high. Media coverage in the sate is far below the desired level. And with many villages several miles away from the nearest police station, there is no measure the state government will step in to investigate the disaster and prevent further incident of such sort.

Once dry status is lifted, more men will come home and beat up their wives and children. Domestic quarrelling and beating are much more common in homes where the husband drinks compared to those where no one drinks alcohol. Poor productivity in offices and field will be more widespread. Local fights between drunkards will be common scene. Drunk driving will increase manifold resulting in higher number of accidents and increasing medical care cost to the injured. But the cost for such hospitalisation is not born by the 'bad' boy himself; the cost falls is born by the entire family. Kidney-liver damage will rise substantially, adding financial pressure on the wife specially. With more illicit liquor brewers thriving than it is under dry status, more families will fall under the spell of alcohol related illnesses. It is not just the money spent to buy one drink, which in many cases would have been earned by the wife selling vegetables on the roadside, but the physical abuse on the wife that gets more frequent and the tense environment in which the children are raised which is followed by apathy towards children's education and moral progress. Hundreds of homes will get wrecked by removing dry status. The big question is: Has the government calculated such social cost and converted them in monetary value? What is the net monetary difference between the gain and the loss?

State exists for the flourishing of the citizens. And given this function of a state, it is high time that it cracks down on alcohol business prevailing under dry status. Lifting dry status will rather be going towards the opposite direction the state ought to pursue. Instead of facilitating and developing the skill and excellence of a human person, by removing dry status the state will impregnate the health and minds of the citizens with illness and darkness. Policy makers have moral obligation not to lead the citizens toward such dark abyss. Therefore, maintain dry status, please.

(This article appears on The Herald on 11th July, 2015) 

In Defence of Dry Status

One of the repeatedly stated reasons for lifting of dry status is that the prohibition is not really effective as it was anticipated when the legal provision kicked in. Reason such as this, however, requires further inquiry. In any given decent society, actions like murder or rape are criminalised with heavy penalty. However, no political society has been able to curb such criminal actions with cent percent efficiency. This does not entail that murder or rape can now be legalised because the state machinery has failed to effectively prevent such actions. It rather implies that the state needs to wake up from its slumber and get to work. True, alcohol consumption is unlike rape or murder; after all there is no apparent violation of anyone's right by one's liquor consumption as it is so with rape or murder. However, the given reason that dry status is not quite effective in curbing drinking is not a valid reason for lifting of the dry status; if at all it must imply a lesson, then it is that the state machinery is a failure. Given this factor, maintaining dry status or otherwise would have to depend on the social benefit or social cost that alcohol consumption elicits.

If there are black marketers today making profit from the business, at the expense of the general public, it is not proper for government to fit into the shoe of these black businessmen. With legal provision, government can indeed make black money white. Yet, the moral reason remains; and therefore, the so called white money may not really be white. There are black businessmen making hefty profit for selling heroin, ganja, pseudoephedrine and other tablets. State cannot be venturing in to fill the shoe of this thriving black market and make these businesses legal.

The reason why government had introduced dry status in the first place was due to social cost, and even today if government is to lift dry status, this factor must determine its course of action. Public health experts everywhere are unanimous in voicing that social cost is far higher than the social benefit that the state can dole out through revenue that it generates from liquor business. Kidney-liver damage, poor parenting, accident from reckless drunken driving, local fights, spouse quarrel, lower work productivity etc. are going to be rapidly increasing with far more easy access to liquor. If the state machinery is helpless in effectively maintaining prohibition, to consider effective monitoring of import-export and prevent further social degeneration it is not being realistic.

On behalf of the citizens, political leaders must legislate and pursue a wide range of goal that includes health, education, social harmony etc. Political goal is not about making more money, but about human development and therefore human flourishing. It is not state's business teaching husband how to express love to his wife, but it must be of state's concern if husband would come home drunk and beat his wife and children. If the state needs more money to ensure protection and care of its citizen and also its infrastructural development, it must explore other measures to generate revenue – the kind of measure that will not damage human development. Tourism may serve a fine example for such measure. Any measure that will radically increase physical abuse, health hazard, social tension etc. ought not to be pursued. The state has a moral obligation to steer clear of such policies by virtue of the moral ideal upon which the state is based and also has envisioned for its citizens. The state is not an amoral institution and ought not to be one because human being is an inherently moral animal. Therefore lifting of dry status which certainly will have massive social cost ought not to be considered at this point of time.

What good is money if its pursuit results in damaging human lives?

Civic Sense as Common Sense

With health comes wealth; without health goes wealth – goes the saying. If children are ill, parents would be in hospital with the kids rather than go for work. Taking children to the hospital is to spend money. So instead of being able to work and earn money, parents would rather be spending money in the hospital when children fall sick. However, when everyone is in good health, one can work better and there is no additional financial constraint at home. With financial constraint all kinds of problems arise at home. Health is vital for a happy family!

Sanitation or the lack thereof plays a key role in human health. Drainage system which gets clogged specially during rainy season will serve as a perfect nest for mosquitoes and other insects to breed and multiply. Open defecation by humans and animals specially in human settlements contribute to typhoid, cholera, malaria and other diseases.

Throwing around plastic bags and bottles create bottlenecks that prevent free flow of water of the drainage system. The result is that drainage water then spills onto the road and even onto the backyard of many houses. Animals can eat discarded plastic bags specially when the plastic bags have leftover sweets or food items. Such animals can die a painful death. If a sheet of paper or a piece of clothe is discarded in the forest, they will eventually degrade and waste away in few years time. But this not happen with the polythene/plastic bags. The nature of plastic cover or bag is such that even after hundreds of years, they will not degrade and waste away. It possibly takes a thousand year for a plastic bag to photo-degrade – the chemical agents breaking away into microscopic granules after ultra violet light from the sun hit on it. Given this nature, it is best if the plastic bags can be recycled. However, in the villages and smaller towns where there is no possibility of recycling the material, there are certain measures that must be devised to dispose off these objects as safely as possible.

It is not such a difficult task to responsibly to keep our environment clean. But to keep our environment clean, one must bear in mind certain civic sense. To that end there are certain dos and don’t s. One does not have to wait for the rest of the people to apply common sense before one applies it himself or herself. Even if the rest of the people do not act now, what matters is that you act from now onwards. Chances are that if you begin to act now, and consistently do that, more and more people will begin follow your example. After all mankind is essentially imitative!

Instead of throwing around water bottles or plastic bags or cover of sweets or waste paper near the roadside or the market, one should try to find a dustbin to discard them; and until one could fine a dustbin, keep them in your bag or pocket. For example, those who have purchased a paan wrapped in a paper should keep the paper in their pocket, even after the paan is put into the mouth, until they can put the paper in the dustbin or the kitchen fire. Better idea is for the shopkeepers to use a piece of banana leaf to wrap such small items and tie it with a thread! Leaves are biodegradable and are more environment friendly. Plastic bags or bottles can be buried by digging a pit in one's own garden if there is no dustbin around.

Brooming one's own courtyard is a good culture, but brooming other's courtyard is never in our culture. And since we do not broom other's courtyard/backyard, it is also against the culture to litter and dirty other's courtyard/backyard. This culture of keeping private property clean must go beyond to include the street and the roadside as well – one should never litter and dirty the street and the roadside. Just as we respect other's private property by not littering and dirtying it with waste material, we need to respect public property by not littering and dirtying it with waste materials. Out of respect if we can keep other's private property clean, we can definitely respect public property and keep it clean too. A civilised culture will respect public property. Let us keep our town, street, road, backyard and the environment hygienic and safe!

Christianity: A Too Other Worldly Religion?

From time to time there has been those who say that Christianity is an other worldly religion, a religion that focuses on the life to come (or rather heavenly life, singing on the clouds playing harps! ). Such view of life thus fails to take adequate consideration of the life here on this earth, goes the argument. For example, two centuries back Rousseau levels such a charge against Christianity. Another contemporary philosopher Martha Nussbaum also says something to this effect. Reading Christianity this way may partly be blamed on Christian community itself given that there are also those within the community who have little or poor understanding of what authentic Christianity is. Yet, authentic Christianity is a religion far way from being such an other worldly religion that has nothing to do on this earth!

One of the most popular lines of the Bible is -- love your neighbour as yourself. The line itself acknowledges that one is to love oneself; and just as one loves oneself, one loves the neighbour. Loving oneself is not always easy specially when one has been as an ass or been unwanted. There are those who refuse to love oneself occasionally, and thus inflicts harm on one's own person. However, it is generally the case with everyone that most often we love ourselves. Because I love myself, I eat food that will be good for my health and not cause dysentery or cholera. Because I love myself, I groom myself well. Because I love myself, I value my properties as their being stolen would hurt me. These are various actions one performs because of one's love for oneself. But the biblical line also tells me to do similar things for my neighbour just as I do for myself. And this is hardly a too otherworldly outlook!

Christianity has two aspects to moral injunction as it is so with many other moral teachings. One aspect is to avoid doing bad deeds. This aspect underlines that one must avoid doing this action and that action because so and so actions are bad. To do such action is to be morally wrong. On the flip side, there is also this injunction to do good works. Do this or do that and the Lord will commend you. Failure to perform such good actions is also to be morally wrong. Looking at both of these aspects, one will realise that the injunction to perform certain actions or to avoid doing certain actions are both about social relationships. Whether it is good works or bad works, it is between human beings that our actions are played out. Given this nature of moral outlook, as Christianity presents itself, it is very much a this worldly religion.

But what Christianity teaches is that our actions have bearing not only in this earthly life, but beyond this three dimensional world that we know. Christianity teaches that a person is finally accountable to God and our decisions and actions now or the lack thereof determines the prospect of one's future life. This is like the story of a student who would pass or fail later depending on what she does now. If she works hard now, she will pass later; if she is laid back now, she would fail later. Thinking about the future must propel her to work hard now. In St. Paul's most detailed writing on the future hope as recorded in 1 Corinthian 15, Paul concludes by exhorting the audience to labour now here on this earth. If you have a vision to pass, you will have to necessarily work hard now; in the same vein, if you envision heaven, get to work now. This is hardly a view that teaches us to withdraw from the world.

Throughout history there have been Christians who have laboured for social and political justice because of what their love for their neighbour and the promise they look forward to. Earliest Christians used to pay from their own earning so that slaves would get freedom. Christian monk Telemachus travelled miles to put an end to gladiatorial sport in the Roman empire. William Wilberforce and Martin Luther King Jr. campaigned for social and political rights for the enslaved and the marginalised because of their view of God and humanity. Mother Teresa cared for the poorest of the poor because of her devotion to God. Jesus does indeed call people to him, and to those who come to him, he gives them a new life and a new vision to go out to the broken world and serve the weary and the hungry. Loving Jesus must necessarily lead to loving the people here and now!

Is There Life After Death?

We all have near and dear ones who have left this world for good. There is none who is spared. But the more sobering fact is that we all would face death someday. None will be spared again. Rich or poor, young or old, every one will face death. Death is the greatest leveller, they say! My father-in-law passed away few days back after battling cancer for over a year. Of all the people I have known, I would remember him – Nank Kishore Sanghi – as the one person who has the purest heart. (Infants do have pure hearts, but I am not taking them into consideration now.) He was a hard working scientist and an honest person! The ethical excellence he strives for, in thought and in deed, was marvellous. There might have been such people or better people in the past, and there may be still be such people or better people around. But I do not know anyone who is like my father-in-law. He does not claim perfection. But verbally and through action, he teaches those around him to strive and strive and strive for moral excellence.

If there is one person who could earn salvation by good work, he would qualify to be one of those individuals. But he would say that his good work is not sufficient to earn him salvation. Salvation is only for those who are morally perfect or for those who are forgiven. And he thought that he is not morally perfect. He thought so because moral perfection is just too high a standard for a human to achieve. He has weaknesses and shortcomings and therefore he is far from being morally perfect. And so the only way to get salvation is by way of forgiveness; by being pronounced 'not guilty' or 'not blameworthy'. And he believes that only through Jesus Christ could he receive forgiveness. He arrived at this conclusion after years of inquiring how one's own iniquities could be cleansed. Being born into a family that knew not Christ even in remotest sense, it was a long journey. Yet at certain point in his adult life, he arrived at a conclusion that apart from Christ there is no forgiveness of sins .

Jesus Christ was put to death on the cross by the Roman authority while he was in his 30s. His disciples claimed that on the third day after being put to death, he came back to life. They claimed that they have seen the resurrected Jesus Christ, touched him, ate with him and been with him. They claimed that Jesus has conquered death. He is resurrected from the death, they say. But the fact that he would come back to life after being killed have been told in advance by Jesus himself to the disciples. The disciples found it hard to believe until it really occurred. The entire Christian community all over the world that is there yesterday and today and will be there tomorrow hangs on this story – Jesus is risen. The implication is that if Jesus is truly risen, life does not end with this physical death. And based on the words that he had said, there is also the hope for life beyond this three dimensional world for all those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and God; that this death is not the end of the story.

My own father is no more. Yet there is the hope that I will see him again along with my father-in-law in future. This hope is based on the historical claim that Jesus Christ is risen from the death. Whether the historical claim and therefore the hope is based on historical evidence or not is open to critical examination. On my part I have applied academic rigour and intellectual honesty to examine the claim, and I have found the case to be very convincing. Christianity is a religion that can be rendered meaningless, if this claim can be proved to be wrong. But if one examines the case and found it convincing, it could be life-transforming. Whether to critically examine the claim or to dismiss it as fiction without examination, God has left the choice open! 

Is Cheating in Exam Good?

From High School till College, it has been known that cheating in exam is a worldwide practice. From United States to Netherland to India, it is there. Even in India it is there in Delhi, in Bihar and in Manipur. But using unfair means is unfair, wherever it is. Cheating is cheating, East or West. The individual student, parents and the concerned authority must all acknowledge that cheating in exam is wrong. To be declared pass is to acknowledge that a student has possessed the requisite knowledge required of a person at such a stage of learning. But clearing an examination by cheating and copying betray the degree the person possesses. A student who clears the exam by cheating deceives himself or herself, cheats the authority and the society at large.

If one has decided not to cheat, yet must pass the exam then the only option is to work hard. I have heard wise parents say, 'pass' or 'failed' is a different matter, but as a student hard work is a must. If you work hard and you failed, the problem is not yours. But if you refused to work hard now, and you failed later, the problem is yours. A child needs to be reassured that if he or she fails to do well in studies despite hard work, the parents will be there to understand the matter and stand with him or her. A hard working child need not fear the parents or the future. Fear of the parents, rejection by the society or a bleak future is one factor that gives rise to cheating in exam. Just as a child needs reassurance, he or she also has to be taught to be responsible for failure that may arise due to his or her laziness. To do away cheating in exam in a community responsible parenting is a must.

As one goes up the academic ladder, it gets more embarrassing to be corrected for the mistakes which one should not have made in the first place. Grammar, arithmetic, basic science etc. are all taught in High School. This is about laying the foundation in order to prepare the student for higher learning in various disciplines later. If a person is cheating at this level, he or she will struggle at the Bachelors. If he or she is cheating at the Bachelors level, the same person will struggle at the Masters level or even when one has got a job with the Bachelor's degree. At that stage, because of the learning you are supposed to possess at 15, but then refused to do so when you are young, life is difficult when you act stupid. However, if one has learned what must be learned at a younger age, one need not face embarrassing moments later.

It is always better to learn what is to be learned at that stage. Going back in time is not easy. As age catches up, different responsibilities emerge. Eyes refuse to cooperate; back refuses to support for long and the mind no longer remains fertile as it used to be. One of the first things that I decided when I came to faith in Jesus Christ as a student in 2000 was that I shall not cheat in exam any more. Over the years I have realised that academically this has been much more productive than I could have possibly imagined when such a decision was made. Certain people may try to justify cheating saying that it is better to cheat than to lose a year. But besides being legally and morally wrong, imagine a situation where a person makes such a justification at every stage of his or her life. Or worse, imagine a significant number of people use such justification for cheating! A whole bunch of generation will emerge with a flawed character. This is not good for the person and also for the larger society. Given such an adverse prospect for all, cheating in exam should be put to an end right away– by the individual candidate, the parents and the teachers.

(This article appears on the Hornbill Express on 2nd March 2015)

Freedom Fighters or Terrorists

There is a saying that is often repeated: One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. At the superficial level, there appears to be truth in the statement. However, if one digs deeper there are at least two reasons why the statement is problematic. This is important to be set right because faulty idea such as this can have a life of its own and later on hurt the larger society. Arriving at a globally agreed understanding of what consists terrorism has been elusive for various reasons. However, as of today a credible case can be built that defines terrorism as 'employing terror as a political tool by state or non-state actor in a deliberate, systematic and sustained manner upon non-combatants in order to attain certain political objective'.

From time to time Imphal valley has witnessed bombs being planted in public places by non-state actors, resulting in several civilians being killed and wounded by the bomb blasts. Barring an incident or two – like the one where a bomb was planted at Mini Secretariat, Senapati, recently – bomb culture is largely absent in the hill districts of Manipur or even in the entire Naga-land. This suggests that the principle with which some of those in the Imphal valley and the hill districts operate are different. All the non-state actors operating in the Imphal valley or in the hills would insist that they are fighting for self-determination, for political space where they can exercise political autonomy. One important distinction, however, is the way the different parties pursue their political objective.

Given the frequency of bomb blasts in public places, it is hard to miss the point that certain non-state actors are resorting to terror to achieve their political objective. Even in a full-blown war, maximum restraint has to be maintained to avoid civilian casualties. Gun-fights and bomb blasts that target the rival armed forces will occur in battlefield. Yet a distinction must be observed between combatants and non-combatants. Bombs in public places that target non-combatants is terrorism. This is a poor reflection of a group that is pursuing self-determination. Even when the political objective is just, the strategy to achieving the goal can damage the cause. Planting bomb in public places is just the kind of strategy that will invite international and local outrage – a perfect recipe for political disaster; a freedom fighter having become a terrorist.

The same concept of terrorism applies to para-military forces as well operating in the region. Fake encounter killing is not an unusual story being circulated among the general public. 'Friends of the hill people' undertaking active effort to befriend the hill people get nullified with an instance of fake encounter killing. Given the history in the state or the region, significant number of people grew up thinking of the armed forces as Devil's stooge. With an instance of fake encounter killing, it is so easy to typecast the entire security personnel with the age old impression. Even without any effort to reach out and befriend the hill people, 'friends of the hill people' might as well look within and try to curb any kind of fake encounter killing and harassment of innocent public. This will be more productive in creating a friendly outlook. Yet the more important reasons is because of the moral implication such an action bears and guilt associated with it – or ought to associate with it.

The North East in general has a sense of historical movement which is rather different from the mainstream Indian society in several ways. For example, the mass uprising against the British Raj did not take place in the North East just it happened in other parts of the country in the 1930s or 1940s. This kind of mass movement or the lack has a bearing on the present political scenario. No wonder there is some sort of a political faultline between the North East and the rest of India. Given this reality, the way these different entities – state and non-state actors – respond to the ever evolving society will determine the course of political future and its speed of change. Let no one take the general public for granted!

( For the Hornbill Express for 23rd Feb. 2015)   

Getting Things Right for Marriage

It is better to remain single than to walk out of a failed marriage. Given that marriage involves very deep physical and emotional union, walking out of a marriage is a painful experience. And when a child is already involved in that failed marriage, it adds lifelong issues and more pain to the child, the woman and the man. It is also better to walk out of an engagement than walk the aisle with the wrong person. It is less damaging for both the persons to take different paths, even after engagement, than share the path for a while and split up later or live with the wrong person all of one's life. But if one has got things right in the first place, marriage is beautiful. With the right person beside you, your joy is amplified and your burden halved.

Living with another person as spouse is about, knowingly or unknowingly, unmasking yourself before another person. One's thoughts, habits, desires and other components that are part of the individual are shared with the spouse for weeks, months and decades. And if there are deep and basic differences between the two persons, conflicts will arise. Depending on the issues, the conflicts can be superficial or bad. Conviction on religious belief and moral values are generally more deeply rooted than preference for certain food habit, dressing style etc. A fairly religious believer will find it difficult to be happily married to a person who is fairly superficial – if not anti-religion – with regard church going, tithing etc. In fact, if one person is a fairly committed church member and the other a fairly committed member of a Temple/Mosque, conflict will soon arise. No wonder biblical teaching restrains a Christian from getting married to a person of different religious persuasion. Thus, for a successful marriage, shared conviction on religious and moral belief is the first key point to be noted.

Second key component for a successful marriage is communication. Communication includes the medium as well as the content being communicated. Living together as couple will mean talking about all kinds of issues – from the mundane to the sublime. So when the educational gap is too wide between the two, certain content being communicated across gets only partly taken in or, worst, lost. If such communication gap accumulates over a period of time, chance of conflict between the couple increases. With wider cultural gap, chance of flashpoint increases. Without proper communication channel – medium and how content gets across – marriage will descend into a disaster.

Third key point is about maturity. Legally marriageable age for boys is 21 and for girls 18. But physical maturity does not necessarily follow emotional and financial maturity. Even at 25 a person could be just as old as 15 – irresponsible, dependent and unprepared to build a home. It is physically, emotionally and financially draining for the parents when a child is ill. With much care, illnesses can be minimised; but it is hard to completely prevent it. Without physical, emotional and financial preparedness an unforeseen but likely event such as an illness can damage any prospect of a happy home. Most marriageable Nagas are physically and emotionally stable, but many are financially unprepared. One does not need to begin a marital life with a fat bank balance or a huge asset. However, it is needed to start life with no debt besides having a stable source of income to run the family. Without these three components of maturity in place, it is more prudent to delay marriage.

If these points are essential to take note of, then it is important that one gets to know the person fairly well first before getting into a romantic relationship. Once a person gets into a romantic relationship, it is difficult to maintain objectivity – you refuse to see the negative side of the person. Moreover, to ditch a person after getting to know his/her weakness after being emotionally entangled is not as good as not getting emotional entanglement with such a person in the first place. But to get things right – from preparation to getting married – parents and the child must learn to talk and discuss about such issues. To that end, the culture to talk and talk on all issues between parents and children must be appreciated and encouraged. As an individual and a society, let bygones be bygones; let a new chapter begin for us all. And may God help us all in establishing a stable home and a flourishing society.

(This article will appear on 16th Feb. 2015 @ Hornbill Express) 

Feast of Merit in Marriage

In the ages gone by, our ancestors did not have wealth so much so that sharing a meal with his fellow neighbours was a costly affair. Going to the field was not safe; headhunters from the neighbouring villages might launch an ambush. Nature was harsh, and he did not have medicine to get back his health whenever an illness strikes him; he has to wait and let natural course have its way towards recovery or death. Rivers and monsoon rain were not domesticated and therefore irrigation system was poor. When taken little more of rice beer, that drunken state makes him unfit to plough his field. All of these factors made our ancestors poor. In such widespread shortage of wealthy ones, to have earned the status of a generous man who could feed the whole village was indeed an honour. It was truly a feast of merit.

It seems that the hangover continues; the search for honour lives on. But this times the feast is dished out during marriage. Not every marriage feast is about seeking honour, but not every marriage feast is also about generosity. The individual knows best the motives behind the action. The bigger question, however, that requires reflection is whether marriage feast that is fast developing into a culture merits affirmation or otherwise. Surely, in any marriage guests, friends and relatives specially who come from afar must be provided a comfortable stay. But the idea and practice of marriage feast goes beyond this.

Depending on the size of the groom's village and the of the bride, if she is from another village, the expense varies. Given the general economy of the district residents, anything around five lakhs is a significant figure. Bigger programme would go beyond five lakhs and modest ones below this figure. But the truth is that even one lakh is so high for most of the households. Many families run into debts as they strive hard to provide education to the children or as an illness hits hard one member of the family. Many more are just about sufficient to meet their needs. Most people would be emptying their life long saving if two lakhs get withdrawn from their purse. Only a small percentage would remain unhurt with few lakhs spent to provide a marriage feast. No wonder even long ago feast of merit was such a rare occasion!

A benevolent giver should be affirmed. Seeking honour is not bad in itself. But when marriage feast becomes a pattern such that it begins to create pressure on those who are unable to afford it, then this honourable action becomes questionable. It begins to put pressure on the society at large when a young man or his relatives begins to feel being 'left out' without such a feast. Feast of merit was optional for our ancestors; marriage is not quite like that. Marriage is widespread across different economic strata. Once it begins to emerge as a cultural practice such that being 'left out' is a shame for the family or the groom, the rich ones cannot just shrug it off and say the poor need not follow the cultural pattern. The rich and the poor have both contributed to the emerging culture, and therefore for the sake of the larger society, a different pattern would have to be set by all the parties.

It is time to make marriage ceremony less expensive – particularly without a feast. The occasion is special. Yet what makes it beautiful and joyful is not necessarily the cost. Simplicity has its own charm. Seeking an honour in a pervasive occasion like marriage, and which only a tiny section could achieve it without getting financial hurt is not a desirable path to earning fame and honour. If generosity is the motive, giving on another occasion that will not develop into a harmful culture in the near future is more desirable. In today's age, hosting a marriage feast is not necessarily the most creative way of showing generosity or sharing one's joy. If generosity is truly the reason, why not pay off someone's debt or the school fees of those children whose parents labour hard in the rain? This is unlikely to materialise because generosity may not quite be the single reason or even the main reason – something else too is involved. Yet at the end of the day, given that the emerging culture of hosting a feast in marriage is becoming more of a burden for most families, it would be more appropriate for a responsible citizen to set a different trend. May the tribe of those who are willing to set a different culture increase! 

(This article appears on 9th February, 2015 at Hornbill Express) 

Politicising the Womb

In recent times, there has been an attempt by certain social and political figures to use womb to further the religious faultline that is now reappearing after NDA returns to New Delhi. Sakshi Maharaj, a Member of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh and who was selected by the then General Secretary of BJP Amit Shah to contest the election, had recently said that Hindu women should have four children. It was this same person who had said that Nathuram Godse, the one who murdered Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, is a patriot. VHP working President Praveen Togadia went further by urging Hindu couples to produce 8-10 children each in order to ensure that the religion he adheres to survive for years to come. These two are joined by other members of the Saffron brigades who urge Hindu women to produce more children. Given that the preliminary leak of the Census 2011 report suggests that the Muslim's percentage in India has gone up in contrast to Hindus' percentage having gone down, one should not be taken by surprise if the rhetoric heats up.

It is true that Muslims have higher birth rate than most other religious groups, and that Muslims are more conservative about use of family planning measure and that their children specially the girls get married at an age lower than the girls of other religious groups. However, it cannot be established that the growth is due to deliberate plan to emerge as the biggest religious group in the Indian sub-continent or the world and dominate over the rest; nor is it due to imagine threat or insecurity the community perceived from others. The growth can be mainly attributed to religious doctrine, ignorance, lack of access to family planning measure etc. The point that the sharp increase is possibly best attributed to porous border with Bangladesh, however, cannot be missed here. But this is also unavoidable because right within Bangladesh there are 111 Indian enclaves. The people in these enclaves are Indian, but since they are right within Bangladesh Indian Govt. has not set up Police Station, Post Office, etc. for the people. So legally they are Indian, but practically they are more like Bangladeshi. Similarly, there are 51 Bangladeshi enclaves within Indian states – Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal. These people are legally Bangladeshi but practically more like Indian. Given this kind of situation in the border, strict regulation of crossing the boundary is never easy. If the saffron brigades do not want to see Muslims from across the border coming into India, resulting in Muslims' population increasing, then the more appropriate measure is to tell Modi to settle the border issue quickly. Urging the Hindu women to reproduce more to compete with the religious minority specially the Muslim is more of a crude and irresponsible call.

In sharp contrast, the Pope tells his flock not to produce so many children, but shows responsible parenting. All religions would insist that having so many children is not necessarily wrong. However, responsible parenting requires that you produce children not more than you can raise. Having produced so many children, and yet failed to provide decent education or home for them is not an ideal situation. It is even worse if the untrained and uncorrected children grow up to make life difficult for the parents and the society. There are possibly those who are, due to poverty in training or resources, unable to demonstrate responsible parenting and the result boomeranged on them. But the point that the Pope makes deserves paying attention to across different religious lines.

At a time when communalisation of politics is on the rise, politicising the womb not only disrespects the women but also prepares the ground for polarising the religious communities further. Interpreting the call in the light of what all have been happening – undermining secularism, forceful reconversion to Hinduism, praising assassin Godse, pseudo-scientific remark from Vedic era etc. this is another salvo from the quarter close of the ruling dispensation that tries to threaten the rights of the religious minorities and well-being of the larger society. If RSS and its affiliate are given free hand, our society is doomed. In all of this, one can take comfort in the fact that an idea that is destructive will eventually self-destruct. If politicising the womb is a bad idea, the idea and those who advance it will not be able to sustain it for so long. The larger society will eventually realise the futility and chaos that such idea give rise to. After all sustaining a civilisation and taking it forward requires an idea that does not threaten the rights of the other to flourish.

(This article appears @ the Hornbill Express on 2nd February, 2015) 

Why Platinum Jubilee?

Jubilee comes from the Hebrew word 'yôḇēl' ( ram's horn), which when blasted signals the beginning of the Jubilee year. Leviticus 25 gives the significance of the Jubilee year. The Israelites were to count off seven sabbaths of years amounting to forty nine years, and consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty or release throughout the land. This 50^th year shall be the year of Jubilee. The concept of Jubilee is thus inseparably linked to Sabbath year – the year after the sixth year. In Old Testament terms this Jubilee year is thus to be observed every fiftieth year.

In Luke 4 when Jesus invokes the writing of Isaiah's use of the concept of Jubilee, he sets a paradigm shift about Jubilee. Jubilee is no longer going to be consecrated in a cycle of fiftieth year, but its significance is to mark the lives and character of the church everyday. In Jesus a new day is dawn – the Jubilee year is for every single day. Given this significance, Jubilee year is not really about organising a grand programme once in fifty years. The idea of organising a grand programme called Jubilee on the fiftieth birthday of the church is not quite the most appropriate way to mark the significance of Jubilee. Tagging 'Silver', 'Golden', 'Diamond' or 'Platinum' before Jubilee does seem to make it even less significant. The world has made 25^th anniversary as Silver Jubilee or the 60^th year as Diamond Jubilee. But Jubilee for the Old Testament Israel was meant for the cycle of every 50^th year. Israel then failed to practise it faithfully is a different matter – just as the church today perhaps fails to live up to the significance Jesus taught and demonstrated in his three and half years of ministry.

As given in the Leviticus, the Jubilee year must be a year when the slaves are set free. Bonded labourers, to use a modern terminology, are to be set free and be given a new beginning. The land also must be left uncultivated, and the people are to eat on what grows naturally – trusting in the Lord to provide for their needs. The land sold, say, to due economic hardship is to be returned to the original owner thus setting a pattern for a fairly egalitarian society. Jubilee year thus sets a pattern for the Israelites society to be fairly egalitarian. The New Testament pattern does not specify all the detail but the significance of the Leviticus text is embedded when Jesus pronounces the dawning of the Jubilee year as he reads the book of Isaiah.

Given this theological significance, what kind of envisioning and implementation takes place when a grand programme on Jubilee is being organised by a church in our society? Do we see those who are into drugs and alcohols being released from the bondage to freedom? This is highly unlikely because addiction of this sort generally requires treatment longer than a three-four days of grand Conference. But do we see people being set free from greed and selfishness that often are responsible for oppression of the poor and the helpless? Or to put it differently, do we see through such Jubilee programme the poor and the helpless being set free from their misery? Do we see the sick being healed and cared for as an outcome of a grand event called Jubilee? What kind of changes do we observe in the lives of the people and the larger society through massive spending on an event called Jubilee except for the fact that the particular church hosting the programme is now much poorer? Unless the programme triggers renewal in the lives of the church members, organising Platinum Jubilee appears to be a waste of resources.

The more important point, however, is that Jubilee should not really be about an event; the message of a Jubilee year must become part of our lives. As an individual and as a corporate body – the church – the message of the Jubilee year that releases people from all sorts of bondages – greed, hatred, poverty, sickness, pride etc. – must be practised and be observed in our living. Thus the significance of a Jubilee year is not in organising an event, but in being a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. The resources are worth spent on an event called Jubilee if it helps the people enlarge their understanding of who Yahweh is and become ethically better. The growth in understanding is to enable the person live more beautifully, ethically correct. To that end if an event to remind the people of the significance of the Jubilee year is organised once in fifty years, it makes sense; otherwise, it makes no sense. It makes no sense all the more if an event called Platinum Jubilee is organised 25 years after the last Jubilee without taking into consideration the purpose of Jubilee as taught and showed to us by Jesus Christ.

( This article appears  @ Hornbill Express on 26th January, 2015) 

Work, Rest and Worship

Work is an essential feature of human lives. A person without work is not really living a meaningful life. The nature of work differs from person to person according to age, location, qualification, gender etc. Some drive, some fly, some act, some plough, some teach, some cook – all performing different kinds of work. The immediate outcome of the work differs just as the remuneration for the work differs. For some the work is enjoying; for others, it is not. For some the work brings good health to the person within and without; for some others the work destroys the person within and without. Some work sixteen hours at a stretch and make meagre amount; while some other work for eight hours and make massive amount. The differences notwithstanding, all must work.

The biblical viewpoint on work is that it is God's design. The first human persons were to care for the 'garden'. Caring a 'garden' would involve digging, planting, pruning and so on; and these activities are work. Even today for many people work is not about driving down to the heart of the city and sitting in a climate controlled room before a computer. For most people work would involve physical exertion and sweating. Human life is not just about sleeping and friendship, but also about acquiring hobbies and spending time in recreation. Music, poetry, art, gardening, philosophy, writing, reading etc. are hobbies and recreational activities that enthrall human souls. For the first humans, to care for the garden – or rather, to work in the garden – would have been activities that enthrall their souls. The work was for them God's design to appreciate and enjoy. But with disobedience – the Fall – came the thorns and thistles; harsh life and death. Work would no longer taste sweet and enjoying. However, the message of Christmas brings hope that Jesus came to reverse the effect of disobedience.

The idea of rest and corporate worship on the seventh day is embedded in the Christian Scripture. Six days we are to work; and on the seventh day, take time to rest and also gather together for corporate worship. Work, rest and corporate worship are part and parcel of Christian living.

For an individual Christian, her calling as a follower of Christ is wholesome. Her work and rest that constitute her engagement for most of her time too are part of that wholesome calling. Given that work and rest are God's design, when she performs her work or take rest, she is fulfilling God's design, God's plan. When she drives, cooks, teaches, flies etc., she is pleasing the Lord. For a person who follows Jesus Christ, except for evil deeds, there is no work that is worldly or bad. Shoe polishing, car washing, rice transplanting, bamboo growing etc. are all sorts of human activities that God takes pleasure to see and be pleased. Expression of human worship to God is not only about singing a hymn in the church or to say a prayer for the sick; to worship God includes pleasing God through our work and rest. God takes equal delight in seeing his children come for corporate worship on Sunday and getting back to field the rest of the week.

Take your given work as part of your expression of your worship and devotion to God. If you are a doctor, your spiritual act of worship includes reporting for duty on time and giving treatment to your patients with care; if a cultivator, sowing the seed or harvesting the corn are expressions of one's worship to God; the same principle applies to all sorts activities that we call call as work. Hair cutting may be an activity requiring monetary transaction in certain cities; while it may not be so in other places. Monetary transaction does not strictly informs us what work consists of or otherwise. Activities that are morally good and those that contribute to human flourishing are God ordained and thus please him. Learning to enjoy one's work to please God is as important as learning a hymn to sing to please God.

Increase Spending on Road Connectivity

If the state government employs more people, more money would be utilised to pay salary to the employees. With less number of employees, the government would have more money to spend in other areas. Since public good like roadways and sewerage system are essential to sustainable development, with more money available government can increase spending in these areas. Given this simple arithmetic, government should not employ more than what it requires to run the administration.

One of the twists to the arguments is that those who are responsible to run the administration benefit privately when more people are employed as government servants. Such overcrowding in government departments harm the people in general, yet those responsible for the recruitment get far richer than they used to be. The income of the officials through bribery runs in terms of several millions for many of the recruitment programmes into government service. The rate is 'fixed' for a constable or for a Sub Inspector for the police department and even for a primary teacher or for a graduate teacher in schools. Since private companies hardly invest in the state, and government employment is the considered the only source of stable and decent income, educated unemployed are coerced into paying bribes to get employed. Given the massive amount of money involved in such day-light robbery', those in responsible position are tempted to recruit more than the required number. (This is day-light robbery because it is taking what ought not to be taken during the day as opposed to robbers taking what ought not to be taken during the night.) But this overcrowding of government departments results in harming the larger community. This is a practice that should come to an immediate halt.

Government employment is not the answer to solving the economic bottleneck facing the state. A government employee can at the most sustain his or her family. Since government will never be in a position to provide each individual in a family a job in its different departments, it has to expand its vision beyond providing jobs in the tertiary sector or the service sector. Even when private companies come in, white collar job will never be sufficiently available nor can tertiary sector alone sustains the economy.

To provide jobs in the secondary and the primary sector, and induce overall economic growth in the state, state government in the North East region, notably Manipur, has to increase spending on road connectivity. With proper roadways, those in the hills can provide agricultural produce to those in towns and city at a much cheaper rate. This will benefit both the parties – dwellers in the rural area as well as dwellers in the urban areas. Healthcare providers and teachers will find it much easier to provide services to far flung villages when road connectivity is in place. Inefficient service sector plaguing the rural area is largely due to bad roads. As of today, most cases of medical emergency require dashing off to the state capital. When a patient from a village has to be carried on bamboo stretcher specially during rainy season till pucca road, which for certain villages will be for half a day's walk, it may be too late. To think that a corrupt politician is responsible for the death of such patients every year is haunting! For states like Manipur, Nagaland or Mizoram which is largely composed of rugged hilly terrain, unless government spends in massive amount for road connectivity, much of the hilly terrain will remain cut off from the outside world. Thus, ensuring development and healthcare largely rest with government machinery. This spending can come only from the government; no private individuals will have money big enough to effect change in this respect unlike one can do so in education and healthcare.

A democratic state exists on certain moral principles. And it is a moral obligation of the state that public good such as proper road connectivity is provided to all the villages in the state. More important than employment in the public sector is road connectivity to ensure overall development in the state. For too long government has failed to live up to its moral obligation. To fulfilling this moral obligation, it is high time that government increases its spending on roadway programmes. 

( The Hornbill Express, 29th December, 2014) 

Christmas and Its Significance

It has been well established today that the four Gospels were written to record the life and story of Jesus Christ as biographies. The Gospels fit into the pattern 'bios' of the Greco-Roman civilisation within which the larger Jewish culture of the day was embedded. Scholars like Richard Bauckham, David Aune and Richard Burridge have made significant contribution to this inquiry in recent times. Yet this has been the traditionally accepted position of the church. Besides, the biographies locate the narrative of Jesus birth in the larger scheme of God's work in history in which the birth is presented as the culmination of the salvation plan that God has been orchestrating for the whole world – the living as well as the non-living world. The birth of Jesus Christ inaugurates a new world order!

The birth of Jesus was not taken well by the power structure of the day. The immediate implication of the arrival of the eagerly awaited Messiah is that the wicked and despotic power structure will face judgement; that which is unjust and ugly will be set right. No wonder Herod the Great tried hard to murder Jesus at birth. Herod had massive building projects finished and even served as the President of the Olympic Games in his last days. He was a philanthropic too! However, he was also a murderer so much so that the slaughter of the infants of a small town like Bethlehem was too insignificant to find its place outside of the Gospel records.

Luke records that Mary envisions a new world order – a society where the proud are humbled and the hungry fed. Luke further records John the Baptist's father Zechariah say that the days of holiness and righteousness are at hand. The birth of Jesus raises hope that justice and peace will eventually triumph over sin and death.

When confronted by a just person, unjust rulers and leaders cringe. Wicked rulers are afraid of justice. Jesus did not occupy any political office in his thirty three years of life on earth. However, his speech and actions were often politically and culturally subversive. He confronted the corrupt political and religious leaders of the day. He uses strong words to denounce hypocrisy of the rich and the powerful, yet to the self-confessed sinners and the out-caste, he showed love and mercy. The lost ones were sought and the ostracised given recognition. Those who have been marginalised were taken in as members of his kingdom. His life, death and resurrection usher in a new order!

Christmas brings a hope of a new order in my individual life and also with those I relate. Christ Jesus restores those who are neck-deep in immoral activities and conceited heart if one is willing to come to him. The invitation to be part of the this new order is open to anyone. And this new order is for the whole world. The significance of Christmas is political as much as it is spiritual and social. The politicians, traders, bureaucrats, doctors, students etc. are all invited to come to him, giving up their ungodly ways; and unless their ungodly ways are given up and choose the new order and life offered, destruction is what awaits them. For Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God who is the creator of all. Thus no power or hell can withstand his sovereignty. This monotheistic feature that Jesus is the Lord of all results in Christians attempting to share or sharing the love and lordship of Jesus to every human individual; every domain of human enterprise – economics, astronomy, art, medicine etc. – to be under the authority of the crucified yet risen Jesus Christ. There is no force involved – or ought to involve for anyone to come to Christ; it must all be voluntary. At the most the messenger invites is through persuasion.

St. Francis of Assisi ( 1181-1126) popularises the famous nativity scene where the young and tender Jesus lay in the manger. But the tender baby in the manger is also the Aslan, the lion, of C S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series. If the baby in the manger is vulnerable and tender, Aslan is untamed and powerful. Let this Christmas season remind each one that no forces of the evil one or the Herod or the emperor Tiberius will prevail over the One that is untamed and powerful, the source of all which is good, true and beautiful. The Lord's kingdom is inaugurated, and in his return every knee shall bow! 

( This article appears in The Hornbill Express on 22 December, 2014) 

Religions and Politics in Indian Sub-Continent

One of the repeated calls of Saffron Parivar – RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal etc. – against Christianity and Islam is that they are foreign religion. The objectionable remark made by Food Processing Minister Niranjan Jyoti in Delhi where she tried to polarise the citizens as followers of Ram or bastards (Ramzadon ya haramzadon) points to this. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat statement that all Indians are Hindus, thereby implying that Indians who are not Hindus are foreigners offers another glaring example. The state also perhaps unwittingly reinforces this idea when those from Scheduled Caste lose their entitlements to certain benefit, say, reservation in state/Central scheme, once they convert of Islam or Christianity. Conversion to Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism etc. do not merit losing the reservation benefit. The Scheduled Tribes are exempted from this implication though.

From time to time one hears the rhetoric that the religious majority in India is not allowed to exercise its religiosity openly; that the religion is under siege. This is also the kind of rhetoric emerging from the Buddhist Sinhala community in Sri Lanka. The solution to get out this siege then is to pedestal the religion of the majority above the rest. The proposal by Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to declare Bhagavat Gita as the national holy book of India has to be interpreted as a call for such measure. On the flip side, by associating nationalism with religion, the rhetorical device becomes a perfect political tool to subdue the religious minority and hound them into a ghetto. Religion of the minorities are labelled as foreign and unpatriotic, if not traitorous. In Sri Lanka, Muslims and Christians become the victim of such scheme in the hand of Sinhala Buddhist nationalists. Even in India, during Vajpayee's tenure, religious minority received battering in significant measure specially in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. In Myanmar and Nepal too, such voices emerge from time to time, sending messages of intimidation to certain religious minorities.

With widespread use of modern technology, information of any kind now quickly spreads to different corner of the globe. The demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 at Ayodhya, UP, by the volunteers of Sangh Parivars brought about religious riots between Hindu and Muslims across different Indian cities. The effect was felt in Pakistan and Bangladesh too, resulting in Islamic hardliners destroying hundreds of temples and homes. A Danish political cartoon on prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) evokes sharp response even in Indian subcontinent as well. Nearer home, Christians and Muslims are not in minority in all the states in India. Sangh Parivar violent mischief can backfire in states where these communities are in majority. Given this volatile and complex environment, it is the responsibility of every religious and institutional leader to uphold and instil democratic values. To that end, forceful conversion or attempt to convert others through inducement should be restrained. Those in the government must also ensure that non-Hindus are not pushed to second class citizens of the country.

On the other hand it is important to take note that Christianity in the sub-continent is almost 2000 years old. If one is to insist that Christianity is of foreign origin because Jesus Christ was born in present day Israel, one must also insist that Guru Nanak of Sikhism was born in present day Pakistan, and Gautama Buddha in present day Nepal; and Parsis came from Iran. Besides, the tribals in the North East have never been exposed to Hinduism. There was no point in Indian history when every individual followed Hinduism. Any attempt to rewrite history that India has always belonged to the Hindus will be based on concoction of history. Christians must resist religious bully with pen and truth.

It is high time that everyone realises that Christianity is here to stay. Jesus Christ was born in a hostile political environment. The Roman empire, however, could not keep him buried in the tomb; the tomb lies empty. Tertullian in the third century says that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. History has proved the words right. Whether it is the might of the state or the jaw of the lion, the church is the kind that does not crack under persecution. The church means no harm to anyone; the church prays and works for truth and peace to prevail!

(This article appears in The Hornbill Express on 15th December, 2015)

Revisiting AFSPA: A Moral Inquiry

Despite Irom Sharmila's silent protest for over fourteen years, the Okram Ibobi Singh governmnet has once again extended Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) for another year in the state. Since its introduction in 1958 to deal with the armed Naga nationalists, the Act has continued to remain controversial because of the kind of power given to the army personnel to even shoot to kill. Shooting to kill an armed combatant that threatens the serenity and political order of the day is different from shooting to kill an unarmed civilian. The Act would not have been considered draconian had every single case of misuse of the Act been investigated and erring personnel been taken to task. Unfortunately, until the judgement of the Court martial proceeding of the army personnel came out on November 13, 2014, for the fake encounter killing of three Kashmiri youths who were lured to work as porters for the military personnel in Macchil, Jammu and Kashmir in 2010, virtually every army personnel who have raped women or killed innocent villagers have been given immunity by the AFSPA. And in a state like Manipur or Nagaland, where there is no vibrant international exposure, army excesses will continue to remain unnoticed and unattended.

Given that AFSPA has been legislated by the state, even if the army personnel kill unarmed civilians with impunity, the act is legally right. However, just because an action is legally right and justifiable that does not necessarily translate the action into a morally justifiable action. There are so many cases in human history where actions have been considered legally right, yet morally unjustifiable and obnoxious. For example, Hitler's Germany banned the Jews from using parks, restaurants and swimming pools. From the legal point of view, any German citizen ejecting a person of Jewish origin from such places would be doing something that is legally right. However, discrimination of such sort based on race is not morally justifiable. So though the act is legally right; morally it is wrong.

The AFSPA has been notoriously devised to include the license to kill even a suspect. 'Suspect' is a highly subjective term. The army personnel can shoot to kill anyone he likes to kill and attribute it to 'suspect'. One does not need a verifiable evidence to justify shooting; mere suspicion is sufficient to shoot. The burden to prove innocence thus lies with the victim, not the one doing the shooting. Given the way civilians have been killed, and the army personnel provided 100% legal protection from any sort of prosecution, AFSPA can legitimately be termed as an oppressive law – a law that should not find a place in a modern liberal political community.

Another notorious feature of the AFSPA is to protect army personnel who commit rape on male or female. The Act nowhere provides legal protection to those who commit rape. However, practically even those who commit rape are given legal protection.

If the AFSPA does not result in civilian casualty, there is no reason to complain against it. The army personnel engaging in a battle with the armed militant or sub-nationalist groups is a fair fight. The fight becomes unfair when unarmed civilians are dragged into the battle and killed and reported as part of the collateral damage. The massive number of civilians tortured, raped and killed for decades is morally not unacceptable. The state may have given legal protection in the name of AFSPA and allowed massive human right violation – even given protection when army personnel acted beyond the authorised limit. However, this does not entail moral immunity. The erring army personnel and the political leadership that authorised such human right violation are morally blameworthy.

The kind of non-violent protest initiated by Irom Sharmila to demand repealing of AFSPA deserves support from the civil society. Not everyone could undertake the kind of challenging task that she has begun. However, understanding the moral nature of AFSPA and expressing solidarity with her in whichever democratic way one could raise voice against the Act is the minimum thing that is required from the political community. Unless the members of civil society continues to raise voice against the Act till it is repealed, a significant number of casualty will continue to be fom the civil society.

(This article is to appear on the Hornbill Express on 8th December, 2014) 

Social Myth and Social Exclusion

Few years back my wife and I were in a village in Senapati district as usual. My wife being a paediatrician was giving free medical consultation to the local population then whenever required. One afternoon a couple brought their child to my wife for consultation. The child was indeed ill. The parents narrated that a spell was cast on their child by a person with an 'evil-eye'. Upon careful examination the child appeared to have chest congestion due to pneumonia. Further examination revealed that it was a case of pneumonia, and the illness had nothing to do with 'evil-eye'.

It is a common belief in our society that if a person from such a family of 'evil-eye' casts a spell in the form of a compliment or something of that sort, the person upon whom the cast is spelled would fall sick. And in certain cases the so-called victim would even die. One of my elder brothers was considered to have been 'attacked' when he was 2 by a person with such 'accursed power' that he remained physically and mentally challenged till his death at 32. If there was such a thing as 'evil-eye' I have a valid reason to consider such people as social nuisance for bringing such hardship and suffering in the life of my parents and their children specially my brother who was the 'victim'.

There is a slight variation between different communities about how 'evil-eye' works; how it is transmitted across generations and how to do away the so-called spell. In the community I come from, it is believed that the 'power' is transmitted from parents to children. And suppose a 'clean' person marries such 'unclean' people, then both of them eventually become 'unclean', and their children will also become 'unclean'. The implication of such belief is that 'clean' people avoid marrying such 'unclean' people. And eventually a kind of caste system prevails in the community. One group is considered clean and the other unclean. This continues to the next generation, and the next and so on thus erecting a wall of social exclusion in term of inter-marriage across different sections of the people.

I have now come to believe that this story that some people possess power to cast spell on others is a myth. If a word or a speech can cast a spell that could make another person sick, how could that power be transmitted from the DNA of the parents to that of the children? This makes no sense at all. But if it is transferred from parents to children like sickle-cell anaemia or HIV is transferred how could it possibly then give power to a person to cast a spell on another person? This too does not make sense scientifically. Someone would counter saying that it is the power of the evil spirit that make such things possible. However, if it is the evil spirit that works then how could the evil spirit possibly be transferred from parents to children? Evil spirit is not in a 'thing' that could be passed on through gene from the parents to the children nor could the power of the evil spirit or any such 'supra-natural' power be transferred from parents' DNA to children's DNA. This belief about the natural transmission of evil spirit from one person to another person is both scientifically and theologically untrue. However, if anyone invites the evil spirit and asks power from the evil one, then of course the issue is altogether different! Otherwise, one can rest assured that a person who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ do not have such power from the evil spirit to cast spell on other people. In Christ there is no ancestral descent that is unclean; all are clean. One does not have to be morally perfect to be pronounced genealogically clean; it is rather the other way round – that once one is cleansed, Christ tells a person to live a morally upright life. And this spiritual journey to be morally upright in His sight continues till death calls a person home. Considering a family lineage unclean – possessing a power to cast spell on others – is scientifically absurd and theologically incorrect.

I believe the traditional story has been passed on from one generation to another. And even today the same story continues about those people about whom the story has been told. And because we typecast such people, we find incidents where it appears that people about whom society tell stories for generations cast a spell on certain people. And in a close knit societies like ours where interaction between members of the community is extremely frequent such 'unclean' people interacting with other members is bound to happen, and when some sickness occurs we just attribute it to such 'unclean' people. And so this story continues in the neighbourhood. However, given that the God of the Bible cleanses all people when anyone calls on the name of Jesus Christ and also the kind of understanding provided by scientific enterprise makes it unintelligible, one can confidently bury such belief about 'evil-eye' as social myth that no longer makes sense in this generation. 

NB: This article appears on The Hornbill Express on 1st December, 2014.