Editorial 1: We have failed Tagore
Context:
- Recently, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s birthday was celebrated across the country. PM Modi said, "From art to music and from education to literature, he has left an indelible mark across several areas."
About Rabindranath Tagore:
Known to be the first non-European Nobel laureate in Literature and first Asian to win a Nobel prize[for his collection of poetry ‘Gitanjali’] in 1913, Tagore was also a playwright, composer, philosopher, painter and reformer. His thoughts on justice and equality shaped India’s worldview while his timeless works provided the intellectual foundation for the freedom movement. Tagore remains a visionary poet and beacon of light. He was a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. Referred to as "the Bard of Bengal".
A Bengali Brahmin from Calcutta with ancestral gentry roots in Burdwan district and Jessore, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old.
- As a humanist, universalist, internationalist, and ardent critic of nationalism, he denounced the British Raj and advocated independence from Britain.
- As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance in 1905, he advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs;
- Tagore rejected violence from the British as well and renounced his knighthood after Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.
- His legacy also endures in his founding of Visva-Bharati University.
- He had spoken at the World Parliament for Religions in the years 1929 and 1937.
- His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's "Jana Gana Mana" and Bangladesh's "Amar Shonar Bangla". The Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work.
- Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) and Nationalism are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation.
Key ideas of Rabindranath Tagore:
In recent times, rising narrow nationalism in India necessitates recalling his ideas:
- “Freedom” does not simply mean political freedom from the British; True freedom means the ability to be truthful and honest with oneself otherwise autonomy loses all of its worth.
- Anti colonialism should not be rejecting all things British but actually should consist of incorporating all the best aspects of western culture into the best of Indian culture.
- Universal Religion: Tagore advocated the religion of humanity. A person must live by one’s dharma. True religion is love, harmony, simplicity. “While God waits for his temple to be built of love, men bring stones.” He also wrote against idolatry, superstition, and religious fanaticism. We must go beyond all narrow bounds and look towards the day when Buddha, Christ and Mohammad will become one.
- Internationalism: Tagore was an ardent prophet of world unity. He believed in world brotherhood. Tagore’s Internationalism was built on the spiritual underpinnings. Tagore’s humanism led him to universalism. He warned that war was caused by the demons of nationalism, characterized by the imperialistic greed of wealth, the lust of the power, selfish materialism, mad competition and ruthless cruelty perpetuated on the weak, exploited & vanquished nations of the world.
- Freedom of speech and conscience: He followed Voltaire and agreed to disagree with Gandhiji on many issues yet he addressed him as “Mahatma”.
- Humanism: Tagore was a humanist, a prophet of love, sympathy, fellow feeling and cooperation. His humanism was based on spiritual foundations, the Transcendental; he believed that God lives in man. He believed in the unity of human society, regardless of religion, sect, nationality, gender, race, colour, caste and creed.
- Communal Harmony: He said that it will be in the benefit of the Hindus if Muslims are complete equals of Muslims in status, dignity and education.
- Social Philosophy: Tagore did fight against the evils of his society such as poverty, superstition, untouchability but did not find the West to be the source of all evil. He welcomed Western science and Western beliefs in individual worth, freedom, and democracy.
- Education: His educational ideals promoted the development of physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, social and international understanding apart from ability to adjust. He founded Viswa Bharti University at Santiniketan where he promoted an international culture of unity in diversity through synthesis of the east and west.
- Sustainable Development: He definitely endorses lumenarchy and cosmocracy, which is a socio-cultural system focusing on the virtues of light which helps to construct a new, happy, vibrant and sustainable world, in which all living beings will exist in perfect equilibrium with harmony and peace and happiness.
Tagore’s Principles of Education:
- Principle of freedom of child’s own experience and activities
- Principle of Creative self-expression
- Active communication with nature and man
- Education as Enlightenment
- Education as a Developmental Process
- Education according to Tagore, is an all-around development of human faculties for the attainment of a full life
- Education as a Harmony
- Mother tongue, the medium of Teaching
- Principle of Internationalism
Objectives of Education for Tagore:
- To develop interest to serve humanity.
- To introduce and to develop peaceful co-existence among human beings in this world.
- To Cherish and follow the universal values to promote harmony and spirit of common brotherhood amongst all human beings.
- To strive towards Excellence in all spheres of individual and Nation, so that it can rise to higher level of endeavour and achievement.
- To enhance language skills with power of imagination and power of creative & critical thinking with 21st century skills.
- To explain the concept of universal brotherhood, international relations global peace & understanding.
Editorial 2: The out of place people
Context:
- Recent demands for Scheduled Tribe status by Meiteis in Manipur. However, issues of tribal communities must be understood in a proper perspective.
Status of Scheduled Tribes in India:
- The tribal population in India, though a numerically small minority (8.6 percent), represents an enormous diversity of groups. In the post-Independence period, sincere efforts were made for the social, economic and educational development of tribes. There are about 744 recognised STs in the country.
- As per Article 366 (25) of Constitution of India, the Scheduled Tribe is defined as:
- "Such tribes or tribal communities or part of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to the Scheduled Tribes (STs) for the purposes of this [Indian] Constitution".
- Certain tribes have been characterised as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) (earlier known as Primitive Tribal Groups) on the basis of their greater ’vulnerability’ even among the tribal groups. There are 75 such tribes in India.
According to Lokur Committee (1965), criteria for Scheduled Tribe included
- Indications of primitive traits
- Distinctive culture
- Geographical isolation
- Shyness of contact with the community at large
- Backwardness.
Problems of Tribes:
- They had been subjected to various forms of deprivation such as alienation from land and other resources. Tribal women, in particular, had also been facing deprivation of various basic amenities like- health issues, water availability, primary education, etc.
- According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report 2017-18, literacy rate for STs is 67.7%, thus nearly 33 per cent of the tribals are illiterates.
- Development led displacement has been mostly borne by the tribal population. The tribal pockets of Chhotanagpur region, Orissa, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh suffered the most. This has caused various movements like Narmada Bachao Andolan, movement by Thakkar Bappa, movement against Vedanta by Odisha’s Dongria Kondh tribe.
- High prevalence of disease, like malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, diarrhoea and jaundice, problems associated with malnutrition like iron deficiency and anaemia, high infant mortality rates, low levels of life expectancy, etc. According to Tribal Health Report 2013, Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) among tribal people is somewhere between 44 to 74 per 1,000 live births.
- According to the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2014, the tribal infant mortality rate was 38 per cent, more than "others" (other than ST, Schedule Castes and Other Backward Classes), it said.
- Problem of Identity and Cultural Alienation: The problem of cultural alienation occured due to issues like inmigration of outsiders and pressure of development. For instance, Niyam Raja of Niyamgiri Hills was a deity of Dongria Kondh tribes of Odisha. However, mining in the hills distressed the tribe and led to a movement against Vedanta. Similarly, Pathalgadi movement of Jharkhand is also to protect tribal identity of the people.
Steps taken:
Constitutional safeguards: There are vast provisions for safeguarding Scheduled Tribes through affirmative action and protective provisions:
- Article 244: - Clause (1) Provisions of Fifth Schedule shall apply to the administration & control of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in any State other than the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura which are covered under Sixth Schedule, under Clause (2) of this Article.
- Article 275: - Grants in-Aid to specified States (STs&SAs) covered under Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution.
- Article 164(1): - Provides for Tribal Affairs Ministers in Jharkhand, MP and Orissa;
- Article 330: - Reservation of seats for STs in Lok Sabha;
- Article 337- Reservation of seats for STs in State Legislatures;
- Article 334: - 10 years period for reservation (Amended several times to extend the period.);
- Article 335: Claims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to services and posts
- Article 243: - Reservation of seats in Panchayats.
- Article 350: - Right to conserve distinct Language, Script or Culture; Instruction in Mother Tongue.
- Article 371: - Special provisions in respect of NE States and Sikkim
Legal Steps:
- Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 has been enacted, in order to prescribe punishment for the preaching and practice of “Untouchability” for the enforcement of any disability arising due to it.
- Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (Amended in 2015) has been enacted, in order to prevent the commission of offences of atrocities against the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, to provide for Special Courts for the trial of such offences and for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims.
- Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 has been enacted, in order to provide for the extension of the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution relating to the Panchayats to the Scheduled Areas.
- Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 has been enacted, to recognize, record and vest the forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who have been residing in such forests for generations.
Schemes:
- Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana 2018 (Ministry of tribal Affairs): Under this scheme, the Van Dhan Vikas Kendras are constituted that provides skill up-gradation and capacity building training and setting up of primary processing and value addition facilities. TRIFED, the nodal agency for the scheme has set up target of sale of Van Dhan products to Rs. 10000 crores by 2023.
- Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojna (Ministry of Tribal Affairs): It aims at transforming villages with significant tribal population into model village (Adarsh Gram) covering about population of 4.22 crore (About 40% of the total Tribal Population).
- Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY) (Ministry of Tribal Affairs): It aims at overall development of tribal people with an outcome-based approach, which would ensure that all the intended benefits to the tribal people through various programmes/schemes actually reach them by way of appropriate convergence.
- Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS)(Ministry of Tribal Affairs): EMRS started in the year 1997-98 to impart quality education to ST children in remote areas in order to enable them to avail of opportunities in higher education. The schools focus not only on academic education but on the all-round development of the students.
- Scheduled Tribe Component (STC): Tribal Sub-Plan came into existence in 1974-75 as a strategy for the development of areas having tribal concentration. After merger of Plan and Non-Plan, the TSP was renamed as Scheduled Tribe Component (STC) by Ministry of Finance.
Way Forward:
- Despite these herculean efforts, there is still a lot to be done to improve the conditions of Scheduled Tribes through higher fund allocation, autonomy of Tribal areas, implementation of rights to the tribes and ensure dignity of life for them as guaranteed by the constitution. There is a need to modify the development approach in line with Nehru’s Tribal Panchsheel for holistic development of tribals.
About Tribal Panchsheel:
- Non-imposition: People should develop along the lines of their own genius, and the imposition of alien values should be avoided.
- TribaI rights in land and forest should be respected.
- Teams of tribals should be trained in the work of administration and development. Introducing too many outsiders into tribal territory should be avoided.
- Minimum Administration: TribaI Areas should not be over administered or overwhelmed with a multiplicity of schemes.
- Focus on Outcomes: Results should be judged not by statistics or the amount of money spent, but by the human character that is evolved.