Heroism of Taj Staff

Mumbai Terror attacks! We all know how terrifying it was. Over 300 people were killed in that episode. 

Terror attacks are not new to India. We have been experiencing this menace since our independence. 

I have already discussed that the terror attacks are not only the terrifying attacks by some aliens. It includes the internal disturbances (like Maoists, Secessionist forces, Religious riots-Hindus and Muslims) and most importantly Maladministration. 

Let us talk about the topic.

The Harward Business school is researching on the behaviour of the Taj staff at the crisis hours. A dozen employees died in their heroic action of protecting their guests. Jeopardising their safety, the staff stayed in the Hotel to save their guests. The HBS students could not understand the psychie of the staff. Neither the senior managers of Taj. It is the natural instinct to flee out. Isn't it? 

Stop here! 

1. Would the Taj employee have helped some poor man who was an employee in the same hotel-was being assaulted-at his last moment? 

2. Would they have helped a man at his last moment who had not been a guest because of no vacancy in the hotel?  

3. is it right to presume that you should be rich to get yourself saved in your last moment?

AM I THINKING NEGATIVE? AM I WRONG? 

I adore the sacrifice of the Taj staff. But am I wrong in asking my above questions? 

  

Hi People

It's been a day since we met. I may not be updating my blog for the next one week. I may upload some if any important events take place. Bye! For Now! Temporarily!

RSS and Hindutva Terrorism

The arrest of swamy Aseemanand throws light on the terrorist links of Rashtriya Swayamsewak sangh. It revealed the RSS links with the bomb blasts in Malegaon, Mecca Masjid, Ajmir Sharif and the blast in Samjhauta Express in February 2007, left 68 dead.

Swamy Aseemanand alias Sandeep Dange alias Paramanand alias Ramchandra Kalsangra alias Vishnu patel (Phhrrr… Breathless) holds prime position and responsibility in the RSS. The movement was formed as a Child organization of Hindu Mahasabha in 1925. We can say that RSS is the militant wing of Hindu Mahasabha. It preaches Hinduism, and hatred towards other religions particularly Islam. The spread of hatred messages mostly indirect in nature, and at the event of tensions, frontally.

RSS preaches for consolidation of varna system. It is a narcistical organization. You can notice some kind of pleasure on the face of any member of RSS when they utter the word ‘terrorism’. Because in the next sentence itself, you may notice, he will use the word ‘Muslim Terrorist’. He finds pleasure when linking Muslim people with terrorism. When speaking about varna system, initially they may seem to be against it. But they will end up in justifying in Varna system. This is the character of 99.999999% of RSS members. No doubt this is because of the speeches and preaches in the RSS meetings.  (I don’t deny that the hidden hatred teachings in madarasas also,Though).

The other accused Ashok also has many other names. Amit, Prince, Sunny, Ashwini, Ashwini Chauhan etc. The National Investigation Agency have come to picture for investigating the crimes.

The RSS have many educational institutions, tuition centres, coaching centres etc. In all their institutions hatred teachings on other religions, particularly Islam and on dalits within the Hindus are disseminated directly or indirectly. If we tape the sessions of their classes in each of the institutions secretly, we will come to know.

When I was in studying in Delhi, a group of Hindu eccentrics were my classmates. They use to dress, and wear hindu symbols openly. They claimed themselves to be extreme RSS sympathizers.  When our results were declared, 5 out of the group cleared the exam and they are in key positions in the Government. I hope, they still do not continue showing their sympathy to RSS. But, I don’t believe they have come to normal. 

Stealth is a technology of invisibility. The stealth technology is very important in military. The first stealth aircraft, ever commissioned in the world, is the F-22 Raptor of United States of America. It is a dream technology. The flight is the fifth generation one, ie, with supersonic speed and of course, with stealth technology.

China, yesterday has announced its first successful flight of its stealth aircraft CHENGDU J-20 and its probable induction into air force in next 8 years.

Let us discuss about Stealth technology. The stealth aircrafts evade detection by RADARs. RADARs, normally use the cosmic radiation, or micro waves to detect the flying objects over a particular geographical area. The obstruction caused by the flying objects on the path of the microwaves, cause the waves to reflect, and the reflection is observed by the ground station of the RADAR.  With the time duration of the wave reflection, we can calculate the speed of the flying object, altitude, its path etc and accordingly we can initiate our defence mechanisms.

The objects with stealth technology evade the RADARs by not showing any obstruction in the beam of waves. Is it possible? It is actually impossible because, to evade the detection the aircraft should be transparent, like glass. If the flying object absorb all the radiation, still it may look like a dark spot in the RADAR monitor. 

Therefore the outer walls of the aircraft is covered by micro bumps. (like you find them, when you purchase a Fridge, or TV, as it is covered by plastic sheets with air bumps). The bumps will scatter the incoming radiation, so that the ground station may not receive the obstruction signal. The bumps are designed so that to scatter the incidental waves upwards.  The outer wall is coated with a special paint which absorbs some of the radiation.

But these technologies are not sufficient to achieve stealth. It is completely achieved when he flying object sways at supersonic speeds. These days, USA is researching on stealth of earth movers also, Tanks. 

India, also claims that it has achieved 60% of stealth of flying objects. We may reach this feet very soon. Anyway, let us congratulate China for its first successful stealth flight. 

Chinese Threat along line of Actual Control

It has been reported that the Projects of BRO and other public works were stalled temporarily upon Chinese threat along the LAC. The Border Roads Organization along with the paramilitary forces is engaged in building roads along the Indian borders.

The problem of LAC, occupation by the Chinese army of Aksai Chin has a history of 60 years. When it was reported the then Prime Minister Nehru persuaded Mr. SuEnLoi, the then Chinese premier for the eviction of Chinese troops from Indian lands, which Mr. Loi accepted. But, the army was never removed from our land. On the Chinese efforts of occupation of Tawang monastery, Arunachal Pradesh, Nehru gladly offered the Aksai Chin province stating that the land is not worth of a single blade of grass.

Aksai- Chin is very important to China because it provides route from Tibet to Xin xiang Uiygur. There is no other connectivity to Uiygur.

The territory of Jammu and Kashmir according to the instrument of accession signed by maharaja Hari singh includes Aksai Chin province also. Therefore, the claim of china on Aksai chin and the enclaves of middle sector is unjustifiable. Around 38,000 square km. of Aksai Chin is in possession of China. The Indian New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) covers the complete territory of India including LOC. It is believed that the mineral wealth of Aksai Chin is enormous. India cannot afford to give up the Aksai chin province to China. The territorial disputes, at least Aksai chin and the middle sectors should be resolved purely bilaterally. Sooner the wisdom, better it would be. 

Spectrum-Issue Renewed.

We have seen the papers yesterday. The Minister for Telecommunications Mr Kapil Sibal refuted the CAG report. He says the loss to the exchequer is actually nil.

When we discuss about the Spectrum issue, I use to tell my friends that this issue will be backfired at the CAG himself. The backfire begins now. Mr. Sibal states that the estimate of the loss by the CAG is based on the prices of 3G spectrum. CAG report itself has been audited by the Ministry. So the loss is a presumptive loss. That is the loss is calculated based on the prices of 6.2 Mega Hertz bandwidth. This is the 3G bandwidth. The actual bandwidth of 2G is 4.4MHz. That’s how Mr. Sibal arrives his decision that there has been no loss to the exchequer, even if it is, it is meager.

If that is true, what is the cost of the defamation of the government? What is the reimbursement for the expenses of one full parliament session? What is the cost of the defamation done to Mr. Raja by the Oppositions, especially by AIADMK? Okay! Done is done! Bygones be bygones. But even today, the opposition successfully suppress the statement of Mr.Kapilsibal through their medias.

Very sad!

Telenganaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The demand for separate Telengana state is 50 years old. Telengana region is not well bestowed geographically. It is situated in the leeward side of the western ghats. The Telengana receives less precipitation from the reversal of monsoon also.

Background

Ever since the state reorganization in 1956, Telengana people have been demanding separate statehood. They feel that they are culturally different from Telegu speaking Andhrapradesh. Yes. This is right. One can find the difference in the dialect and the composition of population. Concentration of Tribal population in Telengana region is remarkable, particularly The Gonds and The Kuvis.

The people feel that they have not received the benefits of the government programmes, may it be infrastructure, welfare programmes, drinking water, irrigation etc. They accuse the government that its programmes benefit only the southern region of Andhrapradesh, particularly the Krishna-Godhavari delta.

Moreover, the elites-the people in power continuously since independence are not from their region. The people only send members to their assemblies. Of course, development of Telengana in all spheres is a big question mark. So the ultimate questions of the people are these.

1.    Why should we run together with the people with apathies?

2.    Why should we stay with the people different from us?

3.    Why not we can have a separate state and look after our own administration?

The state reorganization act was enacted by the union for separation of states on linguistic basis after wide spread protests. Potti sri Ramulu died of fasting for the separate Andhrapradesh demand. Telengana issue also witnessed protests with the same degree except a fasting death.

Now

Telengana issue caught fire last year after the indefinite fasting of Sri. Chandrasekar Rao of Telengana Rashtriya Samiti. The Union government responded to wide spread protests, and appointed a commission under Sri. BN Shrikrishna, a Supreme Court Judge to look into the issue of separate Telengana state. There had been anti-protests also against division of the state. Many people were killed in police firing. Students of Universities (Osmania) were dragged to streets to protest for separate Telengana.

At last, on 31^st December 2010, Sri. BN Shrikrishna has submitted his report on the issue. The report is yet to be publicized. It is under the Home ministry’s consideration.  Military and para military forces were called for maintenance of law and order when the report is publicized.  In the either case, social unrest is very possible.

Constitutional provision

India is an indestructible Union with destructible states. (Art.3).The Parliament is empowered to join, divide, alter the boundaries of the states and can alter the names.   The Parliament have to pass the resolution in both the houses in simple majority present and voting. It is a simple resolution that Parliament can easily solve this issue in no time. But the government is hesitating for such demands, because approving the separate statehoods indiscriminately may result in preponderance of such demands. States will end up in of district size. This may encourage the power hungry politicians.    

Opinion

Not only Telengana, there are more than 30 separate statehood, invariably from all states. Three from UP, Two from Maharashtra, one each from Gujarat and Rajasthan, one from Orissa, one from Assam and so on.   

It is nothing wrong to grant separate statehood for the reason of administration. With only 250 million of population, USA have 50 states. With more than a billion population, India have only 28 states. We cannot deny that ‘More the administrative units, better the administration’.   

But we should be keen in watching both, the power hungry eyes and genuinity of the demands. Personally, I am against the borders of any nature. Be it national border or state border-See the blog title. But we may compromise for the better administration and better development. 

Death by Stoning

      Sakineh Mohammedi Astiani- an Iranian woman had been sentenced to death by stoning. Is it right? May whatever be the crime-can this barbaric act by a government be allowed by the international community?

There are various types of punishment and its clemency. India have the both the utilitarian and retributive punishments. The highest punishment we have in India, is the Capital punishment. That is the denial of the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the constitution.  

After the court convicts the defendant and sentence to death, even then the defendant has a ray of hope. ‘Judicial review’ is the element of basic structure of the constitution. After have been proved guilty at all the stages, the convict still have chance to live. The president of India may commute the death sentence or even pardon. This is the judicial powers vested with the Indian President.

Globally, movements and against protests against capital punishment is gaining strength these days. Amnesty International is the notable one in this regard. They oppose capital punishment because it is the only punishment, from which the defendant cannot be brought back alive, if the conviction is proved wrong later.

Realizing this, many countries have deleted capital punishments from their penal laws. We can’t blame the countries like India, because capital punishment serve as a deterrent to the likely offenders. This may minimize the crime rate in a country. But this may prove in the opposite. (The crime rate was less in Travancore state before introducing capital punishment and more after that).

NGOs like Amnesty International is against the barbaric punishments like ‘Blows on back’, stoning, hanging in public, handicapping etc on the grounds of reformative and rehabilitative justice. Punishments should be aimed to reform the offender. Punishment is to the wrong-doer only for his wrong-doing, but not to him as a human personality.

Except capital punishment, all the punishments in India are retributive and reformative in nature.

Sakineh Mohammedi Astiani is accused of killing her husband in 2006 and adultery. The lower court sentenced her to death by stoning by the public. She has a son born to her deceased husband. In the efforts to commute her punishment, the international human rights protestors-two Germans- met her son and made him give an interview on his mother’s innocence. Now Ms. Sakineh gave an appeal to the international community not to interfere into the trial and warned the two Germans about a possible prosecution.

People!

 Do you think the statement of Ms. Sakineh is natural? Definitely not! It is the voice of Iran to the protesting community.

Okay! which century are we all living in? What are these laws? It is stated that these laws are based on Shar-I-ad laws. These laws are gender insensitive. It needs four male witnesses for a woman to establish her rape. It says a female witness is considered as half of the male’s witness. It never punishes polygamy. How countries can function with such a penal code? With such a penal code how a country can develop?

Only one thing is clear. Justice is equal for men and women. Equal for haves and have-nots. No one is above law and law is equal to everybody. These are the modern notions of Justice.

I don’t know how Ms. Sakineh’s judicial probe was conducted. I don’t know she is guilty or not. Every country has different notions on punishments. After all she is a human being belongs to the planet earth. It is not her fault having born in Iran. The punishment should not be a capital one. Taking life is not the answer/justice for the life taken. It is better to conduct a re-trial, a de-novo trial. I strongly condemn the barbaric punishment-stoning to death-and I’d welcome if the punishment is commuted to other than capital punishment, if she is found guilty.

I would also welcome, if Iran punishes all the treacherous men, screwing women other than their wives, in its land.    

Theories of Punishment

   Governments have several theories to support the use of punishment to maintain order in society.

Utilitarian and Retributive. The utilitarian theory of punishment seeks to punish offenders to discourage, or "deter," future wrongdoing. This is also called as ‘Deterrance Theory’. The retributive theory seeks to punish offenders because they deserve to be punished.

Under the utilitarian philosophy, laws should be used to maximize the happiness of society. Because crime and punishment are inconsistent with happiness, they should be kept to a minimum. Utilitarians understand that a crime-free society does not exist, but they endeavor to inflict only as much punishment as is required to prevent future crimes.

The utilitarian theory is "consequentialist" in nature. One illustration of consequentialism in punishment is the release of a prison inmate suffering from a debilitating illness. If the prisoner's death is imminent, society is not served by his continued confinement because he is no longer capable of committing crimes.

Deterrence operates on a specific and a general level. General deterrence means that the punishment should prevent other people from committing criminal acts. The punishment serves as an example to the rest of society, and it puts others on notice that criminal behavior will be punished.

Specific deterrence means that the punishment should prevent the same person from committing crimes. Specific deterrence works in two ways. First, an offender may be put in jail or prison to physically prevent her from committing another crime for a specified period. Second, this incapacitation is designed to be so unpleasant that it will discourage the offender from repeating her criminal behavior.

Rehabilitation is another utilitarian rationale for punishment. The goal of rehabilitation is to prevent future crime by giving offenders the ability to succeed within the confines of the law. Rehabilitative measures for criminal offenders usually include treatment for afflictions such as mental illness, chemical dependency, and chronic violent behavior. Rehabilitation also includes the use of educational programs that give offenders the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the job market.

The counterpart to the utilitarian theory of punishment is the retributive theory. Under this theory, offenders are punished for criminal behavior because they deserve punishment. Criminal behavior upsets the peaceful balance of society, and punishment helps to restore the balance.

The retributive theory focuses on the crime itself as the reason for imposing punishment. 

We will see the rationale about the Capital Punishment-and the deterrence of it. We will analyse the death sentence of the Iranian woman Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani in the next essay. 

Democracy-III

          
  We have seen the Indian context of Democracy in the last Essay. As we have seen, democracy is the child of Liberalism which is also the mother of Capitalism. Capitalism is the economic face of Liberalism. Liberalism lacks clear mechanism for the uncontrolled accumulation of wealth. This will lead to the unlimited exploitation and the social divide on economic fronts. Haves and have-nots. Right to property is the molecule of liberalism. John Locke argues strongly for the right to property. In his theory of state of nature, human are sweet. Cool as cucumber. Helping, sacrificing Gandhis.-in the primitive culture when the concept of private property had not evolved. After private property came into being, monetary system was introduced, human started accumulating wealth. But still they were Gandhis.

The Social Contract- as opined by many political scientists is the first government-state. The social contract came into being only on fear. Hobbes, Machiavelli and other classical political thinkers were of this opinion. John Locke differs. Mankind in the primitive culture was sweet. Cool as cucumber. Very funny. His basic assumption on mankind itself is wrong.

Locke’s best contribution to political thinking is the right to rebel. He sanctions the right to upthrow the government in the event of break of promises; ie when the government fails to protect the promised rights. The rights include right to life (in broader sense) and right to life and right to private property (in narrower sense). Because he considers the right to private property as a natural right. It is still practiced in some democracies as we have seen earlier. The recall system exercised by the electorate.

Marxist theory of democracy sounds better than the liberalistic theory of democracy. Marx condemns Liberalism as it promotes capitalism. It divides mankind into cells. Marx opin that right to private property is not a natural right. In the primitive state of nature, everything belonged to everyone. There was no private property. The concept of private property and the monetary system are the culprits for the evolution of the capitalistic world.

First came the barter system. Mutual exchange of goods. They fix the value of the goods and expected goods of equal value on barter. This is still practiced in some tribes of Africa and south America.

After the introduction of monetary system, when men felt uncomfortable in preserving the goods, they sold goods for money and received goods for the money at later time. Commodity-Money-Commodity system. Though the system facilitated their trade and commerce, the capitalist system budded from this point. Hoarding and other malpractices arose in this age.  

The division of haves and have-nots came into being. Marx, in his historical materialism, holds that the division also reinforced and evolved in the pages of history as Masters and Slaves, Lord and seifs and now Bourgeoisie and labors. After the industrial revolution, the division had been reinforced like never before. With increased production, bourgeoisie expanded their industrial empire. With their economic power, they could purchase the political power. The labor-class tried to increase their base by increasing their population which further pulled them into the whirl of poverty.

Therefore Marx denies the right to private property. He holds for even abolition of inheritance. Machiavelli would have rolled in his coffin for this. (Men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony-Machiavelli)

Marx condemns the liberalistic view of democracy as the rule of minorities on Majorities. He states that in the liberalistic democracy, the political leadership is mere puppet of the economic power. The bourgeoisie can bend the laws according to their needs and further their economic power. But the dictatorship of proletariat is the rule of majority over the minority bourgeoisie.

The dictatorship of proletariat is possible only by violent upthrow of the government, a sudden reversal of government by violence. Soon after the assumption of power, the means of production belonged to bourgeoisie will be liquefied. 

There will be hierarchies of bodies, which the lower electing the higher. Every decision will be taken by the highest body in consultation with the bodies and on majority consent within                       (Modification by V.I.Lenin). 

The dictatorship of proletariat is a temporary body-still the concept of state stands. The dictatorship forms the sound base for unification for the state with rest of the world and finally one state will arise. The borders of states will wither away.  That is the world state.

Marx is very confident about the majority rule as the basis for democracy. Though Marxian theory is mocked as utopian, the ultimate aim behind his theory is genuine. Rule of Majority. Abolition of private property and so abolition of exploitation. The distribution of means of production is pathetic in India as it is just a directive in the constitution. It is not justifiable. The imbalance of wealth is on the rise after the economic fusion of India in 1991.   

We can see the difference between these theories. Right to property is the basis for liberalism where as it is removed in communism. You see- India have removed the ‘right to property’ from fundamental rights and placed under other constitutional rights (From Article 31 to Article 300A) after India having realized its socialist ideals. This constitutional amendment, I am sure, might have angered USA. This amendment shows India’s skews towards socialist camp. Any way, that is history.

  

DEMOCRACY-II

  India is the largest democracy in the world. Democracy is toppled by largest number of population in here. Representative democracy is practiced in India. That is the rule of representatives of the people. How the Indian democracy is closer to real democracy? We will see one by one.

1.    Right to life and personal liberty

Article 21 of the Constitution provides for the right to life and personal liberty. This is the widest interpreted article in India. It includes every fundamental right. Unless by the procedure established by law, Article 21 cannot be taken away,ie.. a citizen shall not be denied the right in normal circumstances. Even the taking away of the right to life and personal liberty is widely protested by many NGOs worldwide.  Almost 90 countries of the world have abolished Capital Puishment from their penal laws.

Indian right to life and personal liberty is not complete in this way.     

2.    Right to expression

It is the funniest part in India. Article 19 of the constitution guarantees the right to expression. But people, this is the most restricted right in India. The restrictions are Sedition, Contempt and Defamation etc. The terms Sedition, Contempt and defamation are not properly defined anywhere in the constitution. You know the ultimate consequences.

Even if the government allows the freedom of expression, it is not easy to exercise it because of the structural problem in India. We can’t express our opinions on religions and castes. Because it is sensitive. But sensitive to whom? To some religious fundamentals, fanatics and hardcore believers. Expecting the rumbles from that wing, the speakers have to shut their mouths. God! Such an intolerance! The religious people have to put their religions to test-it should be open to debate upon. Really religion is an Opium of masses.

Do you really think, my degree of writing is this? No! not really!  

3.    Right to adult suffrage

Indian adult suffrage is excellent-even better than other democracies. With the present EVM system, counting votes is made easier-despite e-waste due to the elections.

4.    Recall system

Recall system is the system that empowers the people to call their representatives back for his poor performance. This is a perfect democratic tool which ensures performance of the representatives. Recall system is not practiced in many countries. It is practiced in USA in all states barring a few. In India, you cannot even dream this system for the next 100 years. If it is brought; the majority caste of the constituency will be the superpower. This tool will loose its genuinity if introduced in India as of now.

Indian population is not civilized yet. They have castes, religions and various other divisions. They cannot get out of this mess for another thousand years. Development can make them civilized. But who is reinforcing religions and castes nowadays? It is only the civilized- educated- political nethas.

5.    Referendums, Plebiscites etc-on government decisions.

This is also a distant dream in India. If these tool were introduced in Kashmir we could have maintained peaceful relations with our northwestern neighbor.

6.    Limited terms in magistracies/ public offices.

Indian constitution have not limited the terms of any of the public Offices.

For a smooth functioning of democracy, it is desired that the citizens are literates. Rather educated. They should know what is happening in the government. They should opin to the government decisions-give ideas-capsize the government when the need arises. They should come to streets against the evil leadership. There should be no lines or less lines across them with lesser population.  

If the desired qualifications are not present in a country, still democracy can work. See how India works. But it is not true democracy. Rather it is the ‘Elitist Democracy’ as Pareto says. We elect only the elites again and again. We have no other choice. This or that. Corrupt or more corrupt. They can also have a deal between them for musical chairing of Power.

This is the global phenomenon. Labour and conservative in UK, Republican and democratic in USA, BJP and congress in India…… everywhere.

THIS IS NOT DEMOCRACY. THIS IS NOT TRUE DEMOCRACY.

We have the international Watchdog for democracy-the great USA. Somebody should advise the American leadership not to interfere in a country’s political philosophy.

Because you know-Political philosophy is an evolving subject-internationally.

We will discuss a lot about Indian democracy in the forthcoming essays. 

Democracy-I

    Democracy is the form of government which is formed by the People, for the People and of the People. Though there are many definitions for ‘Democracy’ propounded by political scientists, this is the famous one said by Abraham Lincoln. There are many political philosophies in the world. As Winsten Churchil said, “Democracy is the lesser evil than any other political philosophies ever said, and it is the worst one”.

Democracy is the method upon which a government can be formed. The mother philosophy of Democracy is Liberalism. Liberalism has off-springs like utilitarian, democracy, Syndicalism etc. (Of course Syndicalism is the hybrid of Socialism and Liberalism).

Origin of Democracy

It is believed that Marsiglio of Padua introduced democracy in 3000 BC. Since then democracy had been practiced in many city states like Sparta, Troy, Padua, Macedonia etc. It worked well in some city states. But democracy was not a continuous form of government in these states. Democracy had been opined very badly by the philosophers of that age. Aristotle includes Democracy in the list of perverted form of governments.

Till the dawn of 20^th Century, democracy is not recognized worldwide as a perfect form. In 1900s Only 19 countries of the world were practicing democracy. At the end of 20^th century it was whooping 125 countries. How this change occurred? ‘Change’ is such a lowly word to describe the democratic revolution in the world. The conversion of world is on the blood spills of the followers of other philosophy. The politics of conversion has micro-macro facets and a long history. (we will analyse the politics in some other essay)

Philosophies of 20^th Century

Communism, after Marx was considered to be the protean solution for the maladies of the mankind. Half of the globe prayed him as god and the rest cursed him as devil. Communism presumed material is fundamental for mankind. It rejected Hegalian ideological theories. Communism tended to unite the have-nots against the haves. It stood for community ownership of means of production. Communism differed fundamentally with Liberalism- the mother of democracy.

Utilitarianism- the other child of Liberalism gained momentum with ideas of Dr. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Utilitarianism stands for maximum happiness for maximum number of people.

Liberalism, the brainchild of classical political scientists like John Locke, Adam Smith, and Immanuel Kant had been refurbished in twentieth century. Liberalism liberates the citizens of a country from state interference (Laissez Faire) or with minimum interference. It advocates for rights, particularly right to property. Liberalism lacks clear mechanism for the uncontrolled accumulation of wealth by its citizens and protection of the interests of weaker sections. Taxation is a later invented tool which is socialist one within liberalism to control the accumulation of wealth. Taxation cannot be an effective tool in a government because taxation can only truncate the accumulation of wealth, but not distribute it. Liberalism is the philosophy of state of nature. Mighty is the righty.

Leninism and Maoism are only variants of Communism with minor changes. There are few other political philosophies also. Nazism and Facism. They are called political pathologies. They are accidental philosophies arose out of eccentric political leaderships.  

Democracy had been preferred by many states.

What is true democracy?

If implemented, Lincoln’s definition gives the true image of democracy. Democracy as a political philosophy is interpreted in hundreds of ways by hundreds of political leadership. But the true interpretation is only one thing. That is –the ultimate sovereignty vests with the people. The representative democracy is, itself a compromise, considering the population of a country.  Because it is impossible to run a government with all population having the public offices (Magistracies-Aristotle) and it will be chaotic.

With the given compromise, democracy can be a perfect political philosophy with its own tools. Without its tools, practicing democracy is nothing but sheer mockery of it. The tools are

1.    Right to life and personal liberty

2.    Right to expression

3.    Right to adult suffrage

4.    Recall system

5.    Referendums, Plebiscites etc-on government decisions.

6.    Limited terms in magistracies/ public offices.

These are the essential tools for effective functioning of democracy.

You can list the countries with your fingers which incorporate all the fundamental tools of democracy. In this view, Switzerland is the only democratic country in the world.

We will see the Indian context of democracy in our next Essay.