Living in a democracy, we have to
gradually democratise all the institutions in the society, including our
political institutions, so that all of them in which we are involved will be
able to function sincerely and exclusively for social development and human
development; and not for any other motives. Though a product of Society, we
find that historically the State which monopolises force and Power, has not
always been entirely working for social development and human development. The
reason for this is that those who operate the state develop vested interests
and resist complete democratization of all its organs. Hence, the citizens
should always keep in mind the distinction between the state and the society;
and watch that state does not dominate the society and does not use the
citizens as cannon fodder or pawns to implement any other objective, policy or
ideology or for the glory of its operators. Further, we should also watch that
all actors on behalf of the state behave democratically and work in the interest
of the society only.
What is a Society?
A Society is a honey web, a
comprehensive organization of all kinds of relations among all those people who
are living together in families and communities. A society is a permanently
evolving self-adjusting system of relationships naturally evolving with norms,
usages and moral codes of behaviour, as well as customs and traditional
practices, at all levels- individual, family, community, neighbourhood,
regional, national and international levels. These relations form its culture
and civilization. The purpose of a society is to harmonise all social,
economic, cultural, political, moral, religious, and all other relations of the
persons living in that community, which otherwise are not necessarily
harmonious. Since each human being is unique and human groups are very diverse,
constant challenges and changes are inevitable. The changes should be in an
orderly manner in an open society and the society should not allow any of its
institutions or groups to suppress the individual and collective rights of the
people in it. Though there have been ups and downs in Indian societies during
its long history, the Indians brought up in such a culture are able to manage
very well their integration into any other tolerant society in the world.
What is a State?
The state came into existence by an
implicit contract or agreement or by tolerance by the members of the society,
with the power to exercise force to ensure the safety and security of the
people in a given territory from the internal disorder as well as from external
threats. It is a political organization with a government and permanent
employees such as police, army and officers. In order to do its mission
effectively, it claims sovereignty which means absolute power over the life and
death of the people within the territory. It is normally concerned with the
external human behaviour of its citizens, only when the laws and rules are not
respected, and is expected to use force in case of their violation. When the
relations with other states are bad, it is expected to prepare itself for war.
The Problem:
Thus, there are clear-cut and identifiable
differences between State and Society in their purpose and objectives. But,
there has always been a growing tendency on the part of the state to encroach
upon many aspects of the society in the vested interests of its operators.
There has never been a state till, now, that faithfully reflects and represents
the total interests of the whole society in developing countries. However,
there are some liberal social democratic states in developed countries that
come close to our aspirations.
We must admit that this has been
happening right from the beginning of human social history when a chief of the
tribe is accepted and later the kings came to enjoy these opportunities and powers of the state. Some parts of the territory and the people in it are
disposed of as they deemed fit. Some parts of its territory are lost to another
powerful king or on the contrary others' territories are annexed. The people in
it were also transferred ipso facto and paid taxes to the new authority,
without much resistance. Thus, the existing boundaries of most of the states
have no sanctity. The life and death of the people living in those territories
are dependent upon the new ruler and all national or sub-national groups in it
are identified with the states. Most of
the kingdoms in India claimed divine right to rule, except a few self-governing
republics during earlier times. However, by and large, in ancient India, the
state with political activities and the societies with all its civil, civic,
economic and cultural activities have co-existed with varying degrees of
success. That was the reason why most of the indigenous rulers in India lost
almost all the wars they fought, as they were not people's wars. People shared
only the suffering that followed the defeat, as the invaders looted, demolished
and killed.
Well-structured model states are
formed during modern European history. Some became nation-states which were
completely obsessed with three Gs: for Gold i.e. to enrich the state, or for
propagating the God of the choice of the state, or for the Glory and expansion
of the power of the state. Thereafter, the world is clearly divided into states
and colonies and at the end of the 2nd world war, and after de-colonisation,
the totality of the world is divided into nearly 200 states on this earth.
Since then, the society's progress
is exclusively directed by the state in many aspects. Various revolutions
starting from the French, Russian and Chinese have become essentially
political, even though their original reasons were social, economic and
cultural. The state has imposed itself as the transforming agent of the whole
society. Though the Socialist revolutionary ideas that were expressed and
experimented with for the first time in the world wanted to uphold the primacy
of the social organization and envisaged even eventual withering away of the
state ultimately. This has never happened; and on the contrary, all political
changes ended in the dictatorship of the state. One party eliminated all other
parties and one man eliminated all other rivals in that party. As consequence,
the state has been swallowing and absorbing the society. The Communist Party of
Chinese is the latest example of such a logical process. Some states continue
to fall into the hands of dictators backed by religion or the military, after
experiencing the disorder caused by the politicians in parliamentary
democracies. Some states turned totalitarian backed by communist or fascist
parties. Among the developing countries, claiming to be a welfare state, the
leaders, sometimes elected, abuse power to deny basic human rights of their
people and even carried out massive elimination of tribes, ethnic cleansing,
genocide, etc. Even today, at least one-third of the world's population is
living in the states qualified as 'failed' states. The lives of the people in
those countries have no social progress. Some states treat arbitrarily their
own people and minorities and claim that no other state should intervene in
their internal affairs, not even the UN. In most countries, where there is only
formal political democracy, the elected party nominees and the bureaucracy of
the state promise, unsuccessfully, to take care of the whole of the human life
and welfare of the whole of the society, though they are, not all, equipped to
accomplish it.
The States in the
World:
The League of Nations was the first
to attempt, in vain, to put order into the aggressive behaviour of the powerful
states. Only at the end of the 2nd World War, the United Nations and its
Charter for the first time in humankind's history could proclaim that the
people have to be liberated from the arbitrary acts of the states and be
protected from their war-mongering behaviour. Thus, for the first time, mankind
has announced its vision for humanity on this planet, for which in India, we
have been since a long time praying for: "vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.' But, the
five dominating states that have formed the Security Council, are preventing
the UN General Assembly from doing its best. Emperor Ashoka's example had not
inspired many, not even in India. The Indian state is sparing no efforts to
join them as one of the permanent members with Veto power. The UN Organisation
is not able to assert itself as an impartial over-powering body to intervene
even when there is a blatant aggression by one state against another state. It
is not able to impose dialogue, negotiations and arbitration as the only way to
solve inter-state disputes, and establish peace, understanding, friendship and
cooperation among all peoples, setting aside the control of the states. The
present boundaries of the states are arbitrarily fixed and are not ideal units
for the development of their societies. The states are still continuing to
deploy all human and material resources to fight wars and destroy others'
resources, without realizing that all natural resources and all cultural
heritages in the world belong to the entire humankind, as we are living in an
interdependent world.
. The current situation is that
despite all, the states continue to play the politics of Balance of Power. Many
irresponsible states also have acquired nuclear arms and inter-ballistic
missiles to carry them to anywhere in the world, ready for mutual destruction
of their peoples. Elite career diplomats are negotiating among themselves i.e.
among the ambassador of the same rank, to defend the interests and powers of
their respective states. External Affairs are a closely-guarded secret in which
not many people's representatives are involved, let alone the people. Their
primary objective has never been promoting people-to-people friendships and
cooperation.
Conclusion:
Therefore, we need to understand
that the state and the society are two different entities. Mankind’s future
would ultimately depend upon the development of our societies and not the
development of political states. In the European continent, the Europeans are
considering their European Union as a union of regions and not of sovereign
states. In liberal democracies of the occidental civilization, during the last
three to four decades, many people, especially youth have protested against
many of their states’ policies, like colonisation, racism, imperialism and
nuclear arms build-up. They protested against Apartheid, and the war in
Vietnam, demanded the implementation of the Helsinki Accord, participated in
the Spanish civil war and fought against dictatorships in Portugal and Chile.
They demonstrated and denounced the dictatorships of Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi
Amin dada, Mobutu and many others in Haiti and African countries. Now, similar
atrocities against humanity are being committed by some new power-mongers in
some new states around us. Many countries which are democratic in form only are
developing authoritarian tendencies. In the name of human solidarity, we have
an obligation to be vigilant about the conduct of not only our state but also
of other states in the world. We should work together in cooperation with NRI
organisations. Above all, we should directly participate in global activities
thanks to the access provided by the UN bodies and its numerous Agencies, in
which many Indians are already present.
Governance of the state should not
be left to the politicians alone. All citizens of all walks of life should
participate, not only in voting once in five years but also be vigilant and
watchful that our services, sacrifices, our patriotism and our tax money are
used only for the welfare of the citizens. Only glorious citizens make a state
glorious. Citizens should join civil society associations and professional associations
in various fields, and not political parties to serve the society.
Political parties are not a solution
to human problems, as it cannot improve human relations. Only non-political
actors in society can provide the software for Human Development, which
consists of a culture of peaceful and cooperative attitudes towards others. The
operators of the state, handling political power cannot create harmony in human
relations. It is not the state but the society that can provide every
individual adequate physical, psychological and social conditions so as to
permit him or her to find fulfillment in one's life, without being dominated or
overpowered by anybody else. All dynamic persons who excel in serving society
in any field like business, management, education, health, research, sports or
culture have to be encouraged and admired in exercising their soft power of
influencing people around them. This should be done without craving for hero
worship.
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