The debate between the importance of ” state” and ” individual” is too long and controversial in the history of mankind. Some thinkers have given so much importance to the STATE that the people or the individuals have become only tools or of no significance. Some authors have given so much importance to the individuals that values, principles, and institutions became weak and subordinated to an authoritarian ruler.

In fact, I don’t want to stretch much and come to the point on the issue of patriotism and nationalism. I want to analyze and discuss how much ” nationalism” and ” patriotism” is too much and how much it should be there to create a balance between’ individual freedom’ and pursuing the goals of nationalism.

In the recent years, it was seen in the country that people were forced to say something like Bharat Mata Ki Jai or the Supreme Court ‘s recent judgment to play “national anthem” in cinema halls before the screening of every film and everybody should compulsorily stand up when the national anthem is playing. These issue exhibit something unusual and disturbing. Can we be forced to love something?  Someone has said once that love is absent where fear is. And why people should be forced to stand up when national anthem playing?  I want to discuss the futility of the arguments:

1. Even if people stand up for the national anthem, it may be possible that they are not nationalist at all. And who defines what is nationalism? People who are not following traffic rules or having the feeling of hatred towards the marginalized community, they might stand up but are they nationalist?
2. And how the court and the criminal justice system will enforce this order? It is something impossible to enforce when courts and police system are overburdened and they are not able to punish the hardcore criminals.
3. Why only cinema halls and not the parliament or courts or colleges and so many others places where national anthem should be played?

In fact, the point is not that people should not respect our national flag or national anthem rather they must respect and imbibe the feeling of nationalism. But force can lead to resistance and it will be totally futile exercise. There is need to create credibility in the institutions of the state and its representatives of the people so that they can give inspiration and people automatically love the country and its principles and institutions.

I will conclude from where I have stated that it is very difficult to choose between ” people” and ” state”. However, the most important thing in the today’s world is that they exist for each other. Without the state, people feel vulnerable and without the people, the state is of no value. So, there is need to create a balance between the rights of the people and respect for the state/country/nation. Rights and duties for “STATE” towards its people are more and more but ” PEOPLE” also have duties towards the state.

Again, I failed in my redemption. Feeling really sad and depressed. I have given my hundred percent but I don’t know where I missed it. Why this happened  with me always. I always hoped for better and always positive about things.  It was everything for me. Despite facing so many difficulties in life, I never give up. But now I am just totally  feeling hopeless and dejected. There is no way to go for me.

Today I was very hungry because I did not eat anything last night. So after settling down I went outside to eat something but unfortunately the breakfast time was over by then. So I bought some fruits and juice and roamed here and there observing people and came back to hotel room. When Chaitanya came back from office, we decided to go to indian restaurant. So we went again to the Indian restaurant utsav, which is located in West 46 street, times square New York.
So we were just looking to menu book for ordering the food, one guy came to give aloo tiki which was complimentary for the day. And suddenly he asked that do we speak hindi? So, we said yes. And then he said he is hindu from Pakistan. So we were little surprised by hearing that ” hindu from Pakistan. He was the first Hindu from Pakistan with whom I met. He was little sad because he is living in USA for last nine years and he did not go back even single time. He was looking sad which we can see from his face. I asked him why you are not bringing your family here? So he said it is very difficult to get visa in Pakistan for Hindus.
This random talk made me think very seriously about the issue related with India and Pakistan relations. These countries are created for the welfare of its people and the real purpose of politics is to bring about happiness in the life of the people but we can see what is really happening. People are forced to suffer due to the dirty politics of the day. When our leaders will realise that the ultimate aim is to create happiness for the people.
One more thing I experienced from this conversation is that family, friends and your own home, state, country are everything for everyone. These are the invaluable things for anyone. We can not live a happy life without these even if we have lot of money. So , spend time with your near and dear ones because time is running out……

Here I remember the scene of the movie ‘PK’ starred by Amir Khan where he is looking for the “thappa”( the mark) on a new born child. When we come on this earth, we do not have any identities. All superficial identities are pasted on our back by our family, surroundings as well as the whole society. In fact, we proud Indians wear all narrow identities on our sleeves. On the face of it, lets talk about the most talked identity of Indians- the caste and its system.

Indian society is divided into innumerable castes since ancient time. It has gone so many changes as well as intermixing and most importantly reformation also but we do not want to leave our caste identities. It seems that caste has been ingrained in our brain as well as genes. The most tragic part of the caste system is that it provides the power to some sections to oppress and humiliate others. It is not that everyone is like that but a large section persists with all caste biases and prejudices.

To ameliorate the century old caste atrocities and oppression, the Constitution of India introduced some affirmative measures in the form of various concessions and reservations to  bring about positive change in the society. Certainly, these measures brought about positive change in the life of many but there is a long way to go in transforming the mindset of the society. Even after all measures taken by the state, the caste oppression and discrimination persist in the society due to various institutional, structural and systemic failures. Here, we need a deep, systemic and societal reform to bring about the real transformation in the society.

Come to the demand for reservation from various sections of society from various parts of the country every now and then. Now is the turn of Jat in Haryana. Before this kapu community in Andhra Pradesh was demanding quota and the last year, Patel community in Gujarat was protesting and asking for quota in the government jobs. It is very complex to understand why this is happening? In fact, I am really puzzled that the way people are asking for quotas, the day is not far when all forward communities will also demand for quotas. Will giving quota to one community solve the issue? There is already a Supreme Court Judgement regarding providing reservations which should be based on some specific criterion. Certainly, the vote-bank politics is one of the most important reason, which is responsible for these quota demands. Political parties promise caste-based reservations in their election manifestos for winning the election. It emboldens them to go on rampage for demanding reservations. Another reason can be that people are thinking that reservation is the only way to get government job in this competitive environment. Take a example of JAT community. They are the dominated community of western UP and Haryana. They have lot of land as well as they are also politically influential in their respective states. They also have lot of money due to recent selling of lands to corporate sectors. However, they do not dominate the intellectual class as well as officers class. And they are also not that much fluent in English so that they can get job in Corporate sectors. That is why , they think that quotas for them will solve the problem of employment opportunity in government sector.

In fact, there is no end to this issue because  there are so many strands and complexity  present in the issue.In the last, I can only say that we really need non-partisan, accountable, fair and transparent administration and the government system which can bring about substantial reform and transformation in the areas of education and employment opportunities in the country. The role of civil society as well as individuals is also important because the real change can come only by the effort of every individual.

Solutions of the present crisis:

* Do not provide to reservation benefits if three generations of the family have used it to get government jobs.

* Strengthen the “creamy layer system” and make it transparent.

* Provide free world class education to all atleast till 12th class. Develop massive infrastructure and create quality manpower for teaching and training purposes.

* Every human being in India must be treated with dignity and respect.

* Most importantly, create job opportunities for skilled,semi-skilled and unskilled people of the county.

* Root out the massive corruption and unethical behaviour from the country. It is creating insurmountable inequality in the country.  1% Indians have around 80-90 % of wealth of the country. Other 99% are managing with 10-20% of the wealth. It will only create resentment and anger and will lead to disaster for our country.

Our country’s leadership need to work on war footing to solve the pressing problems faced by the country. Discrimination on the basis of caste as well as inequality due to economic reasons  both must go from this land to make it a happy and prosperous country.

Disclaimer: It is my personal view and people have every right to differ and have their opinion.

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/does-gandhi-have-a-caste-4700974/