Slave's Distance
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| Image from World Future Fund |
Technology
is offering us more and more means of coming closer. There are chat sites,
friendship sites, messaging apps; moreover, phone calls have become cheaper
than ever. Has the distance between persons decreased, however? On the
contrary, it seems to be increasing.
The
reasons for this are complex like in any social problem. I would like to draw
your attention to one aspect of that complexity: increasing totalitarianism in
government. Through a lot of means like the Aadhar, the government has taken over
a tentacle-like grip on citizens. Do you know that every single bank account of
yours is open to government surveillance? The government can, if it wants,
monitor your internet usage, your phone calls, and even your personal life if it
comes to that.
On
top of that intrusion into our personal affairs, the government is feeding us
with a lot of lies and distortions. Already the textbooks in many North Indian
states have been modified to teach a new history according to which the freedom
fighters who were heroes hitherto have now become villains or insignificant while
erstwhile villains are glorified.
Many
leaders belonging to the ruling party, including the Prime Minister, keep
uttering falsehood in their speeches. The latest example is that of Bhagat
Singh mentioned by the PM in a speech.
TV
channels and other news media are also employed by the government machinery to
propagate a lot of falsehood.
There
is a method in this insanity. The motive is to create a theocracy in which
there will only be one religion, one culture, one language. Consequently many
people get labelled as antinational and are under attacks of various kinds. In
such a situation people begin to mistrust one another. You don’t know when your
best friend will become your worst enemy just because of your religious or
political affiliations.
The
solution lies within each one of us. We need to rise above the falsehoods
propagated by those in power. We need to challenge them in whatever capacity we
can, however diminutive that capacity be. We need to uphold humanity as best as
we can. There is no other way if we wish to forge ahead as a great nation of
variegated people with umpteen cultures and languages.
A personal note: I have noticed that the tendency to treat people as slaves is spreading to certain educational institutions too. Recently the education board under which I work ordered teachers to report for examiner duties under threat of a massive fine of ₹50,000. The Regional Officer of that Board has been issuing more and more intimidating messages as well as orders in the last two months to teachers. I wondered again and again why teachers should be treated with so much indignity. I guess the totalitarian disease is contagious.
Absolutely true
ReplyDeleteNice to see you here.
DeleteNice sir ..
ReplyDeleteThanks, Aditya.
Deletenice article
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI agree with you on this !Not only do they intrude in our privacy, the communal hatred that they have promoted sometimes scares me..
ReplyDeleteThat communal hatred is the real poison. All the rest can be seen as part of normal life. But this communal identity and hatred are gifts of the new dispensation and very dangerous to our continuance as a nation.
DeleteIt is interesting how our faith and trust shifts. There was a time, in the time of our parents and grandparents, when they trusted the government with all information. They never trusted any private business or company.
ReplyDeleteToday, it is just the opposite. We will rather trust all our personal information with a private enterprise rather than with the government.
And the biggest irony is that, if anything goes wrong, people generally blame the government (whom they don't trust), and not the private guys (whom they seem to trust).
Something to ponder over!
Yes, it's something to ponder over, no doubt. But do people really trust anyone nowadays? I think people are waking up to the nastiness of the whole thing after people looted the country and left the nation with the loot. Today people know that certain private players are in cahoots with the government in swindling us lock, stock and barrel.
DeleteBold and strong writing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jyotirmoy.
DeleteI like the way you veered the original topic given in the 'Inspire' to suit the subject you have written about. I fully agree with you that the present government is so insecure that it doesn't allow dissent and when dissent isn't allowed can we call it a democracy? Insecurity stems from the lack of confidence in oneself. When the government has spoken so many lies in the past can it be a confident/secure government?
ReplyDeleteThe government continues to propagate falsehood. However, the reluctance of the PM to give interviews is a sign of insecurity indeed.
ReplyDelete