Thursday, January 12, 2006

Eastern faith and cultural practice are not preoccupied with equality

Western imposition Prafull Goradia The Pioneer Saturday, November 26, 2005
Constitution making was, essentially, a Euro-American technique that, when transplanted in India, was like a glove knitted for the left hand but being used by the right. For example, one way to judge people's psyche, within the Euro-American practice of drafting bureaucracy, is to understand faith. However, a majority of western religions functions on deductive logic and on a premise of absolute faith. Hinduism and its offshoots have, by contrast, the character of inductive logic, wherein the reasoning leads to an open-ended conclusion that allows space for many deviations and derivatives.
The people of Western faith are amenable to state intervention, whether it be welfare, as in France and Germany, or socialism, as in Yugoslavia under Marshal Tito, or totalitarianism, as in the former Soviet Union. The Hindu psyche is tuned to individual salvation whether through self-realisation, offered by Sri Aurobindo or by total bhakti, like Ramakrishna Paramhansa practiced. In eastern ethos, excessive state intervention is not welcome.
India, therefore, needs a minimal state that maintains law and order, ensures justice, protects the country's frontiers and creates an infrastructure for national development. Further reason for constitutional amendment is that eastern faith and cultural practice are not preoccupied with equality. The Christian West believes that God made men equal and the community should do what it can to achieve equality. On the other hand, the Hindu ethos is inspired by the liberty to fulfil as many good karmic cycles as possible.
What India needs is a trimurti model of presidents or governors. This triad of governance should be directly elected by universal adult franchise in present in each State. The three governors should then take on all executive State decisions. The function of MLAs should be confined to making laws, debating public issues and voicing people's grievances. The voting power of each chief executive within the trinity would be according to the percentage of votes he/she polled in the election. Their term of office, furthermore, should extend to six years, after which they cannot stand for re-election within the State; this would avoid populism. After having been directly elected, the governors should appoint appropriate persons, from any walk of life, as ministers representative of an inclusive India. Such procedures would reduce corruption and improve the decision-making quality of ministers who would also be able to devote more of their time to bureaucratic work. Former MP, Rajya Sabha

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