23. Modi's Missteps
"While all other sciences have advanced, government is at a stand; little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago."
So wrote John Adams , America's second President to Thomas Jefferson on 9 July 1813 [This quotation is from : Barbara Tuchman: The March of Folly From Troy to Vietnam. Sphere Books Ltd, 1990.] Sciences have advanced even further in the two centuries since this was written; however, govts seem not only to stand still, but run backwards. And where they act, they jump into disaster.
Questionable Science
The advance of science itself has had questionable consequences on human welfare: science has actively served politicians and promoted warfare, leading to a stockpile of deadly weapons to destroy the world several times over. The technology it has spawned has destroyed the environment, deeply disturbing the four elements necessary for living: air, water, earth and the atmosphere. No one except a nut will place blind faith in science now.
Perhaps, it is wrong to blame 'science' as such. For , science is but what the scientists do. And scientists do what they are told or paid to do! These so called scientists , most of them, are but paid mercenaries of the govt or corporations, ready to serve the highest bidder. They do not care what the project is, or its consequences. They are amoral, ethical considerations removed from their reckoning. This is because while European science was guided by humanities and philosophy, American science is directed by pure rationalism or "scientism". This applies not only to pure sciences but to social sciences as well. As American scholar Michael J.Strada has pointed out, Americanisation of the sciences has meant:
"ignoring subjective phenomena such as emotions, applying rigorous research methods, and remaining neutral on ethical and /or public policy questions"[ Through the Global Lens: An Introduction To The Social Sciences, Prentice-Hall, 1999 , chap.3]
Perhaps, it is more accurate to talk of 'science establishment' than of science or scientists. Science is more about power and money now, than about the quest for truth and search for knowledge. Where there is no prospect of immediate gain, military or commercial, the prospects of funding for research are bleak.
Science distorts the mind-
Technology destroys the environment.
Industry has adopted those aspects of science and technology which result in quick, short term profit for the few. The gap between the rich and the poor in every country has widened. Poverty, hunger, disease plague all countries, while medical care is proving beyond the means of most. Every country faces the problem of unemployment while companies fatten themselves, and their executives draw astronomical remuneration. One recognised method of boosting profit is reducing the work force or downsizing!
Science has thus become a handmaid of wily politicians and wicked businessmen. ( Sorry, we can no longer speak of our industrialists as entrepreneurs.)
Problems fertilize our politics!
In a country like India, there are special socio-economic problems. The govts survive by them! This may look strange but it is what happens. The problems become sources of slogans for elections [ poverty, inequality, backwardness, unemployment, the grievances of select groups, etc] and provide sustenance for the politicians! There is not much beyond slogans in our politics.
While the problems persist, the legislators have no shame or qualms in promoting their own salary and perks. They are closely followed by the equally shameless bureaucrats, who do not solve a problem, but miss no chance to promote their cadre interests. And they have perfected an automatic system to revise their salaries and perks periodically! It is as if the country exists for their welfare!
Hazardous E-Waste
Outwardly, our govt has taken many measures which seem to be 'progressive'. The Modi govt is hell-bent on adopting IT for every conceivable use- as if this technology is a solution to all our ills.It wants all payments made or received through electronic means as if this will eliminate corruption and black money. As if this is fool-proof!
[ By the way, what steps have been taken to ensure the safe handling and disposal of the enormous e-waste that is generated by the IT segment? This waste is dangerous to human health.]
Electronic scrap components, such as CPUs, contain potentially harmful components such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants. Recycling and disposal of e-waste may involve significant risk to health of workers and communities in developed countries and great care must be taken to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations and leaking of materials such as heavy metals from landfills and incinerator ashes.From: Wikipedia.
Picture: Greenpeace. Thanks
Destruction of Agriculture
Even more disturbing is the way the Modi govt is destroying our agriculture and compromising food security. GMO crops are sought to be promoted, ignoring all the warnings and caution urged by scientists and knowledgeable public all over the world. In the developed world , there have been vehement opposition to GMO crops- these are actually "manipulated" crops, designed to ensure corporate monopoly and loot, and deprive the freedom of the farmers. And they do pose a threat to the health of consumers. Their long term effect on human health is not yet clearly understood.
Rosalee Yagihara from Vancouver, Canada.
CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Modern Agriculture : March of blunders
It can be shown that almost every single step taken by the Govt. of India since Independence in the name of modernising agriculture has resulted in disaster: big dams, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, hybrid seeds, monoculture, mechanisation of farming, import of foreign cows, etc. Every one of these has been proven to be harmful, and enlightened groups are reversing them: promoting local varieties, renovating local water resources, organic farming, diversifying crops, rediscovering the merits of indigenous methods of farming, etc. This is the trend all over the developed world.Yet the Modi govt chooses to miss the bus! Indian political culture is such that our govts will not listen to sober voices or non-violent protest. And our people who gather in huge numbers to watch silly film stars. or senseless cricket matches can neither understand nor do care for such vital issues.
Tens of thousands of people marched in cities across the world on Saturday to protest against the American biotechnology giant Monsanto and its genetically modified crops and pesticides.
The third annual March Against Monsanto – begun by the Occupy movement – was held in around 400 cities in more than 40 countries from the Americas to Africa and Europe.
About 2,500 people staged anti-Monsanto protests in the Swiss cities of Basel and Morges, where the company has its headquarters for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
[ Basel has a population of about 1,70,000. and Morges, around 14,500 ]
From a report in The Guardian, UK.24 May, 2015
Make (Misery) in India !
Modi govt is embarking on another misadventure/disaster. This is the "Make in India" idea: that India should manufacture things for export. This is probably copied from what China has done, and smaller countries like Korea. But this ignores the fact that in the process, our natural resources will be exhausted fast, and this will result in terrible pollution. Foreign investment will hurt indigenous enterprise. Recent initiatives by the US under Trump to promote American self-interest (not wrong in itself) should open the eyes of Modi to the risks inherent in making our economy dependent on foreign markets, or in encouraging foreign companies to assume greater share (control) in our economy, while we have adequate indigenous capacity. The practice of measuring progress in terms of some index like GDP or in monetary terms is idiotic and dangerous, like attempting to cross a river by measuring its average depth.
The real problem is that Modi govt is a prisoner of past thinking. It has absolutely no idea about the nature of the economic problem today, or the clue to its solution.
Towards a new disaster
Independent India followed the Soviet model of total socialist planning which ended in disaster in 1991. The policies pursued since then are preparing us for another kind of disaster: dictatorship of the corporates - especially foreign corporates. Can Modi govt deny water to Pepsi or Coke companies at concessional rates, while our own citizens pay for clean drinking water at higher rates? Let Modi touch them, and he will know what is corporate power.
Cover of the book by Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2015.
Capitalism today is planning for Corporate loot!
It is not Free Enterprise.
Whether centralised planning by govt, or private capitalism, which is planning by the greedy and usually unscrupulous private sector, both are equally imperfect and idiotic. Both attempt to promote a society based on unlimited material consumption on the assumption or as if the resources are going to last for ever, and without regard to the serious pollution that such scales of production and consumption entail, engulfing the whole world. While science and technology have promoted production and consumption, they are so far ineffective in dealing with world wide pollution, and the consequent progressive poisoning of the globe.
Tirupur, Coimbatore and other places where dyeing and bleaching units are located are highly polluted by the effluents discharged from them. There are hundreds of such units generating highly toxic effluents which are polluting water bodies and particularly the Cauvery River and its tributaries.
Agricultural lands damaged
Thousands of hectares of agricultural lands have been damaged badly and agricultural production has been greatly reduced as per the finding of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the Loss of Ecology Authority.
Report in The Hindu, 15 January,2015Gandhian alternative
Mahatma Gandhi gave us an alternative model of economic life. During his own lifetime, Gandhiji showed us that it was workable. He did not hold any office, but worked constructively reviving village industries, taking employment and income to where people lived. But Nehru discarded that model, and people deserted villages and flocked to towns and cities in search of employment. The exodus still continues, but regular employment is proving elusive. And the spread and hold of modern industry is such that what income is generated in the rural areas is sucked by the cities and towns! Rural income does not generate rural employment or occupations! Everything is urban oriented!
We have put Mahatma Gandhi on our currency. And we have put his economic ideas out of our mind. This is how we honour his memory! Typical Indian hypocrisy.
There is no shortage of ideas. Or slogans. What is missing is a philosophy. Modi is navigating without a compass.
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