JANATA, MarchEstablished 20-27, 2011 1946 Remembering Dr. Lohia PricePrice : Rupees : Rupees Twenty Five1 Vol.Vol. 6566 No.Nos. 8-9 41 BackRammanohar to Agriculture Lohia MarchJanuary 20-27, 23, 2011 2011 There is little to be excited about the conclusions of the deliberations of the high level meeting that discussed the steps to be taken to control the Unbreakable Stranglehold prices of food grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs etc. Nothing new came S. Viswam out, all the old steps taken recourse to in the past were repeated. The only thing a bit new was setting up of an inter ministerial group (IMG) under Basic Ideas of Dr. Lohia : Kaushik Basu, the chief economic adviser to the Finance Ministry. Perhaps SelectedBlasphemy Writings Law the IMG, if it functions seriously, will tell us, the government, when to ban Asghar Ali Engineer exports and when to import the items that are scarce and also identify the steps that are necessary to mitigate the situation and the steps will be taken a bit early or in time. Not a great advance. A little reflection will tell us that what is happening is the result of a long term neglect of our agriculture. It SomeTony Blair’s Historical New LabourLetters D.K. Giri started early in our history. Barring the first plan when we took a few steps to augment our agricultural production, in our anxiety to imitate the western model of development, we neglected – deliberately - agriculture. Were we Satyagraha for RTE and After not told that for industrialization, some sector has to sacrifice and that sector Bhai Vaidya was agriculture. If this neglect started early, it became worse with the Some Documents reforms – neo-liberal policies. In the past twenty years, we have only and compounded the folly. It was not that that there were no voices to warn us, K.G. Kannabiran, 1929-2010 to tell us, that we should do something for agriculture, but we ignored these. MenakaDebates Guruswamy The flurry of activities that was seen in the mid-sixties to free ourselves of the ship to mouth existence, did not become our guide for the future. Perhaps, we deluded ourselves into believing that we can always import what is in Agriculture our culture! short supply as other countries will have enough to help us along. Though Sankara Narayanan this thinking was proved wrong again and again, we learnt no lessons. We single-mindedly pursued growth, growth which benefited only the rich, and hoped that the new prosperity will somehow help us tide over such temporary Guest Editors : setbacks. It hasn’t worked out that way. The entire growth strategy is Anand Kumar coming unstuck and yet we are bent upon following the failed path. No one QurbanEditor : Ali in power is likely to believe, if you say that a disaster awaits us if we stick G. G. Parikh to this growth path. But there are a whole lot of alternatives that can save Editor : G.G. Parikh us from the disaster. D-15, Ganesh Prasad, NaushirD-15, Ganesh Bharucha Prasad, Marg, Coming back to agriculture, the first thing we should underscore is that NaushirMumbai Bharucha - 400 007. Marg, we can neglect agriculture at our peril. In a country like ours there is no other fate possible. Then we should also underscore that we should look at Mumbai - 400 007. Email : [email protected] any given problem in a holistic manner. To discuss agriculture without its Email : [email protected] March 23, 1910 - October 12, 1967 JANATA, March 20-27, 2011 Remembering Dr. Lohia 3 Remembering Dr. Lohia Janata family feels proud to publish this special number to mark the birth centenary of one of its founders Dr. Rammanohar Lohia (23rd March 1910- 12 October 1967). Gandhian Socialist, Dr. Lohia, was one of the founders of Indian socialist movement who gave dynamism to socialist thought and action beyond the doctrines of Marxist and Fabian schools. He propounded a new philosophy of human history (Itihas Chakra) and integrated programme of seven revolutions (Sapta Kranti). He preached and practiced non-violent militant action through civil disobedience. He was imprisoned 24 times in a four decade long public life including arrest by the governments of British India, Portugal, Belgium, Nepal, post-colonial India and the USA. He also perfected the power of ballot and art of parliamentary politics for socialist cause and accelerated politics for change through the national elections from 1952 to 1967. His contribution as parliamentarian has been published in sixteen volumes as ‘Lok Sabha Main Lohia’ (Lohia in Lok Sabha) though he was a member of Lok Sabha for just four years. Lohia presented a new methodology beyond the dichotomy of ballot or bullet through a three dimensional approach to create peoples’ power for socialist transformation in the world by judicious combination of vote, jail (Satyagraha) and spade (constructive works). His theory of social change for making a better world beyond poverty, exploitation and inequalities recommended the programme of ‘preferential opportunities’ for the backward and depressed sections of societies and such regions of the modern world system. He wanted educational opportunities for all without any difference of caste and gender but preferential opportunities for the backward sections in the fields of jobs, leadership and public life. He was a great advocate of use of people’s languages in the affairs of state and culture. He considered use of English language in offices, courts, media and legislatures as perpetuation of mental slavery and denial of democratic rights to common people. It resulted into a new orientation about the challenge of creating a casteless and classless society since Independence. He contributed towards political awakening among peasants, workers, students, intellectuals as well as women, the backward classes, and other marginal groups. Lohia’s interpretation of Indian icons, myths and traditions attracted creative writers, artists and thinkers for fresh thinking. His genius was demonstrated in his 4 Remembering Dr. Lohia JANATA, March 20-27, 2011 commentaries about Ram-Krishna-Shiva, Draupadi and Savitri, Indian architecture, languages and scripts and history writing and university research. He believed in civilizational unity of the people of India as well as common destiny of the people of the world. He felt betrayed and demoralized by the partition of India and criticized the leadership of Indian National Movement for being unable to prevent the communal blood bath between frenzied mobs of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and others and remained relentless campaigner for Content healing the wounds caused by the fractures and ruptures in the name of religion and culture. Basic Ideas of Lohia : Selected Writings I Lost the A.I.C.C. ..................................................11 He was confident that there is no turning away Opposition to Gandhiji ...........................................12 from the quest for freedom, democracy, justice, peace and cooperation after the defeat of imperialism and Fifteen-Point Note on Congress and colonialism. He rejected the claim that the world has The Socialist Party .................................................16 to choose between the models of Ford (capitalism) Lohia Outlines The Goal of Socialists ...................18 and Stalin (Soviet communism). Because both were Lohia Draws Picture of Socialist Regime ..............19 products of Eurocentricity, capital intensive big machine and greed based economic forces which were irrelevant Acharya Narendra Deva’s Defeat ..........................20 for people of Asia, Africa and Latin America. He was a Khoj Parishad .........................................................20 proponent of small scale intermediate technology and Programme to End Poverty ....................................22 decentralized state based communitarian democracy The Will to Power ..................................................24 and world government. His inspiring speeches and Preferential Rights for Women ..............................27 writings are collected in nine volumes in Hindi and nine volumes in English. Caste .......................................................................28 Principles of Parliamentary Behaviour ..................40 Rammanohar Lohia died early at the age of 57 India, China and Our Borders ................................43 years. But his legacy has continued in the political, The Issue of Skin Colour .......................................44 intellectual and cultural spheres of people’s lives. He is remembered as one of the most original thinkers On Hidden Imperialisms ........................................49 and most dedicated mass leaders who gave his all for Revolution Arrested ...............................................51 the cause of freedom and socialism. There has been UPSC Examination ................................................58 celebration of his birth centenary from Banaras to Elite and Expenditure .............................................59 Berlin through seminars, conferences, publications, and workshops by a variety of individuals, organizations, August Revolution: Twentyfifth Anniversary ........60 institutions and movements. We hope that this special To be Somebody ....................................................61 number of Janata will be one of the memorable publications in honour of one of our greatest icons who Some Historical Letters to: motivated millions of men and women to get confidence Prof. H.J. Laski ......................................................65 for fight against injustices