INTELLECTUAL CRUSADES

INTELLECTUAL CRUSADES For a Better Society W HAT has gone wrong with India? Before Independence, everyone had high hopes of freedom, but now they feel that something more is required to fulfil their dreams. Our most pressing need is to discover this missing element and re-plan our strategy accordingly. This is the most urgent task before us. The genesis of the problem is that we failed to differentiate between pre-Independence and post-Independence India. The failure in recognizing this situation is the basic cause of all our problems. We are the victims not of any kind of internal or external conspiracy but of our own misguided planning. In pre-Independence India our struggle was based on our political rights rather than on our social duties. The whole struggle was centred on rights-activism. This strategy made the whole society a rightsconscious society, while a better society is one whose members are duty-conscious. In the pre-Independence period, the equation was between Indians and foreign occupiers. At that time, rights-based action seemed to be a valid form of activism and therefore, it worked naturally. But in the post-Independence period, the equation was between Indians and Indians. Now it has become essential to change our strategy from being rights-based to being duty-based. But, in this regard, we have failed completely. No single movement has produced duty-conscious people. The Constitution of India was drafted by India’s best brains. When it came into effect all its clauses were about rights: no single clause referred to duties. There is no use in blaming others; it is better to blame ourselves. Now is the time to launch a new struggle, under the banner of ‘intellectual crusades’. By intellectual crusades, I mean educational crusades, not in terms of formal education but in the sense of informal education. Formal education is not going to help us with this, because it is totally based on professionalism. Anyone who seeks formal education In pre-Independence India our struggle was centred on rights-activism. This strategy made the whole society a rights-conscious society, while a better society is one whose members are duty-conscious.