{"id":26006,"date":"2023-08-04T08:20:34","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T02:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/?p=26006"},"modified":"2023-08-04T08:20:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T02:50:34","slug":"the-diversity-dilemma-by-major-general-rajiv-edwards-vsm-retd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/?p=26006","title":{"rendered":"THE DIVERSITY DILEMMA by Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM (Retd)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"THE DIVERSITY DILEMMA <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

India is frequently referred to as the \u2018Invaders Paradise\u2019. Successive invaders, of which were numerous, colonised India for its enormous wealth and potential. The primary cause of these foreign invasions was the disunity and instability that existed within\u2026of not being able to present a united resistance to the invaders. \u00a0The British in their turn, mastered the art of exploiting the diversity by its policy of \u2018divide and rule\u2019.<\/p>\n

India has been the cradle of many cultures, religions, regions, races, castes and languages. At partition, the decision to not go the Pakistan way was a defacto recognition and respect of this reality. The leaders of the time sought to harmonise the great multiplicity of the country by guarantees of freedom and coexistence, which were embodied in the Constitution of the country. It clearly signaled that Indian diversity is about \u2018differences and not inequalities<\/strong>\u2019. This is also what differentiated India from Pakistan! \u00a0Mahatma Gandhi aptly envisioned that, \u2018our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation<\/strong>\u2019! Today, that decision stands truly vindicated when we compare the chaotic legacy of Jinnah in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

The challenge is not the diversity, but the handling of this diversity per se. \u00a0Every Indian is and must be proud of the positive growth and development of the country in the last 75 years. However, progress of a country is not only measured by economics\u2026it is an aggregate of a large variety of other indices which are intricately linked to the gross happiness index of its diverse population.<\/p>\n

It is debatable whether India is a heterogeneous salad bowl or a multi ethnic melting point.\u00a0 Diversity certainly has its challenges, but what makes a society more or less perfect is the same what makes a dish more, or less tasty!\u00a0 The important thing is that every ingredient put in the pot gives out its essence and taste though being assimilated in the pot. If this is not fulfilled, the dish will lose its significance and distinctiveness. Hence, the relevance of a society is contingent on the fact that it does not lose its identity that is holding together various elements, that there is no harmful reaction among different entities and every entity maintains its essence and identity.<\/p>\n

Diversity is the soul of the Indian Constitution. The success of a country depends on its ability to get along with a diversity of nations. Therefore, it may be presumed that the more diverse a nation\u2019s population mirrors the world\u2019s, the better positioned perhaps the country is, to interact constructively with the world.\u00a0 And, if one is comfortable with the diversity of different nations, then maintaining harmony with the diversity \u00a0within, should be that much easier.<\/p>\n

India is proud to be the world\u2019s largest democracy and as the Prime Minister recently said, \u2018it is<\/strong> in our spirit\u2026it flows in our veins<\/strong>\u2019.\u00a0 Diversity has played a significant role in strengthening democracy in the country. In the words \u00a0of the former Chief Justice of India, Mr. NV Ramana, \u2018\u2026.it is only through democracy that our rich culture<\/strong>, heritage<\/strong>, diversity and pluralism can be sustained and strengthened<\/strong>\u2019. \u00a0The sad fact is that the cultural diversity of India also lends itself to ascriptive identities of religion, caste, region, language etc, which is exploited across the political spectrum. \u00a0Unbridled sectarianism may manifest in outcomes, which are inherently dangerous to the very soul of democracy\u2026. a variant of the deleterious \u2018divide and rule\u2019.\u00a0 Ironically, in our country, some have mastered this art, even better than the British!<\/p>\n

Three thousand years before the British had set foot in India, Chandragupta Maurya had unified Indian heterogeneity. This was perhaps the reason, which facilitated the considerable achievements of the time, to be termed as the \u2018golden age\u2019 of India.\u00a0 The corner stone was the concept of \u2018Yogakshema<\/strong>\u2019, enunciated by the polymath Kautilya in his manual of statecraft, Arthashastra. It dealt with \u2018the equal treatment and welfare of citizens<\/strong>\u2019 with the \u2018svadharma\u2019 or duty of the ruler to \u2018protect the life<\/strong>, property and territory<\/strong>\u2019 of his people <\/strong>and kingdom<\/strong>.\u00a0 This was the justification for the high office and the ruler was expected to create such an environment in which every citizen could achieve his goals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation and every possession, a duty. The Constitution of India while conferring certain fundamental rights on all citizens, also enjoins them to comply with certain rudimentary standards of democratic behavior. These fundamental duties are moral obligations of every citizen, irrespective of their identity, and are necessary in order to strengthen society.\u00a0 Having said that, it is equally true that even handed governance is a catalyst for \u00a0responsiveness of\u00a0 the denizens\u2026.in that sense both are complementary.<\/p>\n

The distressing and sorrowful state of Manipur today is a symptom of the disease which ails our system. Conflicting narratives, packaged and peddled on the social media have blurred fact from fiction. The \u2018tu tu mein mein\u2019 and the \u00a0exuberance to take sides seems to have gutted our sensitivity to the sufferings of the population of Manipur\u2026the brutal internecine killings, the wanton destruction of sanctified buildings and the most horrific assault on women. Not only the East, each and every region of the country needs to be \u2018embraced and assimilated<\/strong>\u2019 with purity of intention and single mindedness of the larger good! \u00a0Power is the prize of responsibility; accountability is its price! \u00a0The collective consciousness seems to be defaulting. \u00a0We appear to have forsaken reason and good sense at the altar of an inexplicable naivety. It is for the citizens of this great civilisational Nation to decide which \u2018heaven of freedom\u2019 they want India to awake\u2026\u2018where the mind is without fear and the head is held high\u2019 or the one, \u2018which has been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls\u2019!<\/p>\n

Strength lies in differences, not in similarities. Unity in diversity essentially implies \u2018unity without uniformity<\/strong>\u2019 and \u2018diversity without fragmentation\u2019<\/strong>. We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Diversity is the mix and inclusion is making the mix work. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. India is on the cusp of greatness\u2026let us not miss our date with destiny. Remember, those who do not learn from history are apt to repeat it!<\/p>\n

JAI HIND<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM** (retd) is a historical researcher and commentator on social issue. He is apolitical. Views expressed are personal)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE DIVERSITY DILEMMA India is frequently referred to as the \u2018Invaders Paradise\u2019. Successive invaders, of which were numerous, colonised India for its enormous wealth and potential. The primary cause of these foreign invasions was the disunity and instability that existed within\u2026of not being able to present a united resistance to the invaders. \u00a0The British in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ferozepuronline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}