Bengaluru: “The world is looking for alternative model and it is in India,” said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Kshetriya Sanghachalak V. Nagaraj.
He was speaking at the inaugural function of ‘Swaraj – Native Models for Self-Governance’, held in association with ICCR, Prajna Pravah, Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University, Karnataka and the Central Government, at the auditorium of the Karnataka Higher Education Council.
Speaking after the inauguration he said, “Swarajya has been going on since vedic times. Shivaji Maharaj used it and said ‘Hindavi Swarajya’. Mahatma Gandhi and Yogi Aurobindo also had a very deep discussion on this issue. When we talk about ‘Swarajya’, we are talking in the same way as the West. These Western models are ‘anthropocentric’, that is, anthropocentric thinking, where there are no life-centered thoughts. But India is a life-centred subject,” he added.
“But recently we have slowly moved away from life-centered thinking. That’s why we are stuck in all these troubles. The world is also trapped like this.The world is looking for alternative models – it is in India. India already has an old ready-made model for this, which needs to be adopted,” he said.
Further he spoke and said, “The 1951’s United Nations Report called upon third world countries to come out of their cultural patterns and adopt Western models. But as a result of that, the world is caught in problems. It is looking at India without finding a way out of it. In 2010, the United Nations reconsidered it again.”
Governance must be combined with all the aspirations of the local people. This Conference is taking a step in this direction. Not only that, it is also heartening to note that this conference is being held in five dimensions namely Panchabhuta, Dharma, Abhyudaya, Surajya and Swasthya.”
Speaking on the occasion, National Co-ordinator of Prajna Pravah Sri Raghunandan said, “In the word ‘Swaraj’, the word ‘Swa and ‘State’ are basic. When it comes to the state we generally think that it is from the king, where there is no ruler there is only a rule. Self is my own self. Everyone has their own acquired emotions and skills. The basic purpose is its upgradation. It is not the intention that everyone becomes the same, but rather that it is a natural process for everything to evolve in its own way. In that way evolution is energy. That is self. It exists somehow for the individual, both for society and for the country,” he added.
“It was on this basis that nature was created in India. It is manifested in yo6ga or any other way. Along with this, there has now come the thought of indulgence. There have also been capitalist ideas that consume the resources within us. The effects of globalisation are increasingly taking place. We are talking about ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’,” he asserted.
Further questioning he said, Who was protecting the water bodies of our village earlier? Who is now? What was its condition in the past? How is it now? In the past, there was a panchayat system for such community work and its caretakers. It was happening as a work of respect. But after the nation states came into existence, these kinds of Panchayati models were erased under pressure . This ruined our Panchayat systems. Today modern systems have increased, happiness has increased, but the quality of life has decreased.The ideas of capitalism and socialism talk about ownership of ‘resources’,” he opined.
The idea of ‘Narajyam’ is not the anarchy of the West. D.V.G., speaking of the Constitution in his Political Science, says that just as it speaks authoritatively when it comes to rights, so it has to be done in order to enforce the observance of duties that are to be done on the basis of duty. In this context, Fali Nariman says that a man needs the fear of sin.”
“Parivar, society’s first self-governing system. The system by which we govern ourselves can be found in all strata of society. The intelligentsia needs to think about how to make these systems into age-friendly systems in the society. The conference has been organised to bring together scholars and experts from all walks of life to discuss and deliberate on how to shape the structures of the society according to the situation, both academic and experiential,” he said.
IRMA Director Prof. Umakant Das spoke and said that, “Earlier there was a very high system in our country for governance or administration but for the sake of colonialism, everything had to be lost. But that is not the case now. We have now come to the point where we can look in the eye and talk. Now our Universities have also started talking about it. All those of us who read about this are being sent to rural areas. Young professionals with the experience of samaka are getting ready. It successfully conducted an experiment in Gujarat several decades ago, beginning with the first White Revolution and then growing exponentially,” he added.
Further he said, Swaraj means treating values, humanity and respect. To achieve this, we need to work not only at a seminar on AC halls, but also on the way it works in villages. Here, along with the institutional structure, the role of the society is also very important.”
Speaking on the occasion, KSRDPR University Vice Chancellor Vishnukanta Chatapalli, who presided over the function, said, that “There is a huge gap between learning and reality in rural development. It is sad to see the impact of where all the financial and resources that have taken place in the last 75 years have been utilised. In order to rectify this, our Panchayat Raj University is being designed not just for classrooms but also for engaging in work, he added.
“We called for a ‘Swagram Fellowship’ and planned to expand its work in just 75 villages, but more than 1,000 applications have been received for the same. This is indeed a positive move. Many people who work in rural development remain anonymous. The conference is being organised as a platform for all of them to discuss India’s ideas on Swaraj. Earlier, people used to ask for research and academic records on Yoga. But after doing Yoga, the world has accepted it. Now the same will be the case in terms of Swaraj.”
Former MLC, and Former Vice-Chancellor of Odisha Central University P. V. Krishna Bhat, Vice-Chancellor of Nrupatunga University Srinivas Balli, Former Vice Chancellor of KSRDPR University Thimmegowda, Chanakya University Registrar Sushanth Joshi, Higher Education Council Chairman Gopal Joshi and other dignitaries were present at the meeting.
