What does India really need for Transformation ? Electoral Politics Or Live Sources for Self-Motivations of Masses

Editorial

Vivek Umrao Glendenning MCIJ
International Journalist, the Chartered Institute of Journalists, London
Member, Wikimedia /Wikipedia Australia
Member, International PEN
Member, International PEN Sydney Centre

For the past 20 years more or less, I have been in touch (active or passive), have been working or have worked with various known Social Personalities, Media Celebrities of Social Activism in India, known/ unknown Ground Activists, International Awardees, Mainstream Political Persons, RTI/RTF/RTE/ NREGA Activists, Activists of Gandhi's Ideology, Organizations of Gandhi’s Ideology, Groups/Individuals of Ideology of Violence and others in India.

Generally for the past one decade, I have been spending an average 6 months or more per year in remote areas of different regions. I try to spend a minimum 1 to 2 months in a region continuously being active with local people. By doing this I get opportunities to understand various types of persons, their views, their understandings, their problems and their reactions to ongoing systems. I feel that there are different layers of worlds in India and they are not mutually related, are not mutually understood and are not known to others.

I feel India needs fundamental changes in various systems with ground understandings of society and her segments. I feel that without completing the basics, actions such as running in Parliamentary Elections cannot be tools for the changes India needs.

India needs to understand why have her political systems been moving towards failures? Until the fundamental causes of failures will not be explored, India cannot move towards changes or transformation.

Social changes or Transformations always need lot of works, sacrifices of Individual Identities and egos, also cannot be done with shortcuts. It is like planting a tree; the tree needs care, water, sunlight, soil, nutrients and time then it starts to give fruits.

India needs to understand the holes in her Electoral, Political, Executional, Judiciary, Media and Constitutional systems. The changes need self-motivated movements from the masses of India and the masses can be motivated only by live sources of motivations. Live sources of motivations cannot be generated by Media. Even a responsible and social accountable media cannot generate live sources, the media can only support to strengthen live sources.

Individuals, who project themselves in Media as representatives or sources of motivations for changes/transformations in India, should be analyzed carefully not being biased and above of vested interests.

India needs fundamental changes in her social, economical and political systems. These changes should not be made or projected by markets or corporate bodies. Currency should not be the base of economy.

After political independence from Britain India always needed/ needs/will need to form an economy based on villages and basic structures of Indian society. India continued to use British execution systems and has been using, which were made to rule on India. Because of these major mistakes major percentages of common India do not enjoy freedom or independence.

Changes were made to show Sovereignty of India but basics of systems were not changed. Efforts were made for political powers in name of Independence. It was pre-assumed that with political powers everything will be changed and India will be better for all, but it never happened. In India people still think that only political powers can make fundamental changes thus they do not make efforts or explore possibilities other than electoral politics.

Since independence India could not form better needed systems because concentrations were/are only on political powers and electoral politics. By these mistakes, gradually the political power centers are being empowered continuously. The common person and public of India have become increasingly weakened even though Political independence was joint efforts of and for people of India.

Political independence was achieved after slavery of centuries thus social institutes and social education systems should have been formed parallel to the efforts for political independence.

These parallel efforts were not made because India had a tendency that everything can be done/changed only by political powers, still India has this tendency.

India could not form better systems even in many decades of independence by political power because political powers are strengthen in the cost of common people of India thus common people of India are weakened increasingly.

Jai Prakash Narayan led a movement for Total Revolution (known as the JP Movement) but again the same mistakes on the peak of movement were done - political powers as centers of Social changes and Transformations and a movement for Total Revolution was ended with formations of short term central governments. Did those governments transform any change? No.

Seeds and visions of a historical mass movement that could lead towards Total Revolution were damaged by historical mistakes and again unaccountable power centres were strengthened.

Power centres became more unaccountable for common people. These things have been weakening Democracy in India. Power centres do not feel fear from public and mass pressures, they are being increasingly unaccountable for the common public of India.

There is an emerging trend in India- Changes, Transformations, Revolutions all are being done in, with and by Internet. Even though in the virtual world of Internet it seems that too many efforts are occurring to change in India but things are being increasingly worse on ground. Internet is being misused by youth as medium for expressions of their reactions without doing sincere actions on ground.

In India it is easy to generate various pseudo power centers by projecting virtual illusions. Thus knowingly or unknowingly these illusions motivate people to move into electoral politics. These moves cannot change systems in India towards social accountability because they do not have bases of self-motivated real masses.

India needs decentralization of powers by empowering local civilian councils as policy making bodies and should have higher status than government officers and employees. India needs strong social institutions for policy researches, making and implementations.

Things should be done where they are needed, should not be done by projection or plantation of needs or by following others blindly.

India needs sincere efforts with long-term vision, sacrifice, unbreakable social commitment and ground understanding.