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Religious Associations and Development in India: a Study of the Ramakrishna Mission Sumedha Dutta

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Religious Associations and Development in India: a Study of the Ramakrishna Mission Sumedha Dutta Journal of Social Sciences – Sri Lanka 96 Religious Associations and Development in India: A Study of the Ramakrishna Mission Sumedha Dutta Abstract India has had a relatively long tradition of religious associations providing autonomous spaces of power, social and civic activism, which dates back to the birth of Buddhism and Jainism, followed by the medieval Bhakti and Sufi movements, through the plethora of socio-religious associations that had cropped up during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, until the ones that have emerged in the post-colonial era. Notwithstanding the fact that the fundamentalist and divisive politics of certain religious associations has led to several gory riots and the very partition of the country, many of them have played a pivotal role in ensuring that development remains inclusive, although, their role continues to be undermined in academic writings. Again, with the onset of the „LPG era‟ in India by the 1990s, that saw a roll back of the state mechanism, and the phenomenon of development taking a „participatory‟ turn following the 74th Amendment Act of the Indian Constitution, the gaps which evolved in service delivery are increasingly being filled up by civil society associations. In this context, the proposed paper seeks to analyze the contribution of one of the most prominent religious philanthropic associations in India, the Ramakrishna Mission, in the field of development. Using the purposive and snow ball sampling techniques, the study interrogates the members of the Ramakrishna Mission, apart from the beneficiaries of some of its projects and a few state officials, to elucidate as to how a „traditional‟ association negotiates its existence within the paradigm of a „modern‟, bureaucratic and „secular‟ state. The study observes that through its emphasis on Practical Vedanta, the Ramakrishna Mission has made colossal contributions in the field of education, health, relief work, rural and tribal development. In the ultimate analysis, the proposed paper compels one to rethink the relationship which religious associations share with the nebulous concepts of „development‟ on the one hand, and „civil society‟ on the other. Key words: Religion, religious associations, development, Ramakrishna Mission, civil society Journal of Social Sciences – Sri Lanka 97 Introduction The concepts of „development‟ and „civil society‟ are projected in the dominant (Eurocentric) discourses, as the exclusive domain of „modernity‟. The basis of this modernity is provided by numerous sets of dualisms, prime amongst which are that of the opposition of „modernity‟ to „tradition‟, just as the „sacred‟ is opposed to the „secular‟, „fact‟ is opposed to „value‟, „Nature‟ is opposed to „Society‟, with some other dualisms being that of „non-humans‟ and „humans‟, the „global‟ and the „local‟, „knowledge‟ and „power‟ etc. (Latour, 1993; Uberoi, 2002). In this milieu, the entity called „God‟, is completely sidelined to a remote sphere since he no longer has anything to do either with the natural laws, or with political laws; nevertheless, He remains “effective and helpful within the spirit of humans alone” (Latour, 1993). Following from this argument therefore is the urge to dissociate any association or organization that has anything to do with „God‟ from the concepts of „development‟ or „civil society‟, since the latter are considered a product of the „Modern Constitution‟, to use a Latourian phrase, or that which seek their origin from a Durkhemian „organic‟ world based on „specialization‟, or the Weberian „rationalized‟ and „disenchanted‟ world, that has undergone the process of societalization whereby different spheres emerge, each with their own logic of development, and hence autonomous of other spheres to a certain degree. These Western inspired distinctions and institutional boundaries between the political, economic and the religious have been found to be spreading across the world, and even to places where previously other overlapping or incommensurable distinctions were made (Gellner, 2009). However, one may note that India has had a relatively long tradition of religious associations providing autonomous spaces of power, social and civic activism, which dates back to the birth of Buddhism and Jainism, followed by the medieval Bhakti and Sufi movements, through the plethora of socio-religious associations that had cropped up during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, until the ones that have emerged in the post-colonial era. It may be observed that these religious associations have contributed greatly in India, to relief and rehabilitation measures after natural calamities, during melas, plagues, in the field of health, education, rural and tribal development etc. The philanthropic activities of these organizations are performed in the public sphere, and in many cases, without reference to the client‟s religion. In this context, it becomes essential to interrogate as to whether religious associations in India, which are often used as a synonym for the „sacred‟ and „traditional‟, are completely opposed to civil society and to the phenomenon of development which are used synonymously with „modernity‟ and „secularism‟, or is there a possibility of their coexistence in a symbiotic relationship with each other, not only in theory, but also in practice. This would be done by specifically focusing Journal of Social Sciences – Sri Lanka 98 on one such religious philanthropic association that has significantly contributed towards humanitarian activities and development in India, since the late nineteenth century, namely, the Ramakrishna Mission. The Ramakrishna Mission and the Dictum of Practical Vedanta: The Ramakrishna Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) on 1st May, 1897, with the help of his brother monks and lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, in Kolkata, while the Ramakrishna Math was founded in January 1899. Ramakrishna (1836-1886) was the mystic priest at Dakhineshwar Kali temple in Bengal, and is deemed responsible for the transformation of Narendranath Datta to Vivekananda, whom the latter considered his Guru. Seven years after the demise of Vivekananda, the Ramakrishna Mission came to be registered in May 1909 under the Act 21 of 1860, and its management was vested in a Governing Body consisting of the trustees of the Belur Math; Belur being the headquarters of the Order (Buddhananda, 1994). Over a hundred years of its history, the Ramakrishna Mission has been able to establish itself as a significant religious philanthropic association that has been making vital contributions in the field of education, health, disaster management and relief to victims of natural calamities, man-made disasters etc. in India and has also become noted globally for such activities as well as for the spiritual guidance and counseling that it provides to seekers across 19 other countries of the world. Although there have been many studies on the Ramakrishna Order, most of them focus on the epistemological underpinnings and philosophical orientations of the Mission, and those few studies which do highlight the service aspect, do so only in the manner of description. Some sociological studies have focused on how the Mission has contributed to development (Watt, 2005; Jodhka and Bora 2012), but they have done so without any attempts at drawing relationships of these philanthropic activities to the concept of civil society, which the proposed study attempts to interrogate. Thus the following sections of the paper seeks to give an account of the range of philanthropic activities engaged in by the Ramakrishna Order in the public sphere, and thereby to interrogate into the relationship which can be drawn between such „traditional‟ and „religious‟ associations and the concept of „civil society‟ and „development‟, that are exclusively seen and related with the processes of „modernity‟ and „secularism‟. Health related measures undertaken by the Ramakrishna Mission: The Ramakrishna Mission has been significantly contributing to the field of health and well-being especially of the poor and the needy, ever since the setting up of the first Sevashram at Varanasi in the year 1900, through its hospitals, dispensaries, mobile medical units, medical camps, awareness Journal of Social Sciences – Sri Lanka 99 programmes, immunization drives, besides imparting training to nurses, etc. During 2010- 2011, the medical and allied units under the Ramakrishna Mission were as follows: Table 1: Medical and Allied units under Ramakrishna Mission in the year 2010-2011 Units No. of Units No. of beds In-patients Out patients Inmates/ Students Hospitals 15 2269 96,045 32,77,876 - Dispensaries 129 - - 31,75,507 - Mobile medical 60 - - 10,99,847 - units Medical camps 1038 - - 1,74,122 - Old age homes 5 - - - 184 Nurses training Institutes Colleges 2 - - 279 Schools 5 - - 470 Institutes for Post graduate Studies 2 - - - 136 and Research Institutes of 1 - - - 83 Paramedical Courses Total 1257 2,269 96,045 77,27,352 1,152 Source: „Medical Services‟, in The General Report of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission (2012): 22 Educational measures undertaken by the Ramakrishna Mission Education has been a very important field of operation of the Ramakrishna Mission, and it has made very vital contributions in this field, both in the sector of formal education as well as non-formal education. The following is a list of the educational institutes operating under the Ramakrishna Mission during the year 2010-2011. Journal of
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