Hold on! Your thoughts just got censored

Censorship was invented by a devil who did not want others to see the tricks up his sleeves. Clearly, the government of India is acting like the devil in description. Over the past one week, there have been numerous television debates and open-editorial pages discussing that we are moving back to 1975- the days of the emergency. There are numerous theories on why the emergency was imposed. That shall remain as the reference for democracy-going-wrong in times to come. But amidst the dim of Assam Riots and the Mumbai Azad Maidan riots that happened in quick succession, the government clueless as it always is blamed it all on a few twitter handles and web pages and its all time favourite Pakistan. It dint stop at that. It censored them a.k.a banned them from accessibility. On the face of it, it appears the government is entitled to block mischief in its capacity. True, but had it curtailed the riots or the people operating the account, it would have been worth the effort. What it transpired into was more rant against the government and some mind-numbing description of free speech. This shall remain as the reference for hypocrisy disguising as democracy. 

The intent of Free-Speech 

Noted television journalist Sagarika Ghose writes in Outlook magazine, arguing the difference between free speech and hate speech. Most of the hate speech in question here is of self proclaimed right wing extremists who spew cuss on the slightest dissent. In her weekly debate named- ‘We The Tweeple’, another TV journalist Barkha Dutt says we need to encourage free speech but curb/monitor/censor hate speech. This roughly gives the definition of free speech as the talk which everybody wants to hear, the way diplomats talk. Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts, says a French scholar and diplomat Charles de Tellyrand. 

To the commoner, free speech is telling whatever he/she thinks. If its hate that somebody thinks, hate shall be spoken. The article 19 of the constitution basically entitles that. The interpretation has gone horribly wrong, the same as we have done with world religions. All religions basically preach peace but we have altered the very definition of it and killed fellow human beings. That is totally new territory here, but I think is relevant for comparison. Basically things go wrong due to misinterpretation of the stated fact due to prejudice. Instead of blanket banning hate speech we need to think on what is it that is causing people to spew hate anonymously online. It sure is a difficult prospect. But this is not hypocrisy as the media stalwarts propagate searching for the middle ground. Free speech includes hate speech and if you stand for free speech you got to stand for hate speech too.

This is not to encourage hate speech. Nobody, especially no female journalist would like to be anonymously asked- 'Kitne congressiyo ke saat soyi hain tu?' Hate mongers need to be curtailed and brought back to their senses. How? There are legal ways for that. But there comes the real obstacle. How many Indians believe that they can get justice delivered in their country in a timely manner? Some anonymous person sitting in some part of the world writes derogatory tweets or blogs, how do we bring him to justice in India? That is hard to imagine. Yes, this is where we need to collectively work on. NDTV filed its law suit against a rating firm in New York, because it sure knows nothing worthwhile will happen to its peititon in India if it were to be filed here. This basically differentiates us from the free world in the West. While we constantly try to imitate their free life style, their growth, what we specifically and intentionally ignore is their approach toward freedom. 

This is where the populist media, the government and the concerned citizens should debate on. If an Arundhuti Roy, a Syed Shah Geelani can get away with derogatory, hate speech against the country under the guise of Free Speech, every citizen is entitled to his opinion. No matter what. 

Censorship and India: 

We Indians are used to censorship right from the time we are born. Our ethos themselves are so very confused that we see censoring as the genuine way to prevent. No parent in our country talks to their children about sex, social prejudices or try to explain why things are the way they are? All we know is that it is being followed from time immemorial and we dumbly accept it. The questioning ability in every child is curbed by giving the same answer- “Everybody does the same”. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has come out with another blooper saying no ‘A’ rated films on TV. The objectivity and the method of rating by the CBFC is itself very shady. And we happily accept it under the name of much clichéd- “Indian Culture”. 

Dealing with the Censor Monster: 

Henry Adams, an American journalist once said- “What you do speaks so loudly that I can’t hear what you are saying”. The high-handedness of the government, and the hypocrisy of noted journalists and politicians has created a ruckus that the original idea itself has got lost. Comparing one riot to another and measuring its intensity is a foolish act which only a creepy mind can come up with. Ever life is equally worth. Whether its lost in Kokrajhar or Kutch or Kandahar, the value is the same. We cannot ruin the essence by our foolish and prejudiced deductions. Hate speech needs to be curtailed by a mechanism called- ‘The Rule of Law’ not by censoring and exposing our intellectual impotence. Censoring the internet will only create bigger monster like the licence Raj did by creating the underworld and smuggling mafia. 

Hold on. Just give it a thought before it gets censored. 

Elitism, Education and the Crass

The Supreme Court in its historic judgement 3 days ago upheld the Right to Education (RTE) act. By doing so it has ordered all schools in the country to admit 25% students from the poorer sections of the society. This has led to a twitter storm, innumerable television debates fuelling the minds of the people with crass that is irreparable on their psyche. The educational system of any country should empower the masses irrespective of their race, religion or colour but not create islands of intelligentsia. Education should act as an enabler of dignified life but not kill the instinct half way. This sadly is misinterpreted and misunderstood. I make an attempt here to offer my understanding of the RTE and more particularly of the spoilt Indian psyche.

The RTE and the concept of Elitism:

The RTE was passed by the Indian parliament in August 2009 and enacted into a law in April 2010. Hailed as one of the greatest achievements of the UPA-II government it received widespread accolades both locally and internationally. By making education a fundamental right, India entered a league of select countries in the world where every child gets free and compulsory education up to a certain age. In India it is up to the age of 14. The constitution of India has put education under the purview of the states. Thus the act makes the states and the management of educational institutions accountable for its implementation. This is but obvious. The central government cannot monitor the implementation in far away Kutch or Kanyakumari sitting in Delhi. The states passed on the buck to private school managements without a framework to which they revolted against. In India any responsibility is considered everyone’s responsibility and thereby making it nobody’s responsibility. This is what that has happened to the RTE now. The central government says elementary education is not under their supervision, the states say they have given autonomy to private managements and the private managements in turn say the act itself is unconstitutional. Bravo! We of course are world champions in passing the buck.

Down the decades it was we who pampered the private schools and made them into demigods of education. It was we who certified private schools as schools for the privileged and the elite. And that has become their war cry now. You can’t challenge a system with hypothecated beliefs. It is understandable when the management of the private schools say they will fall short of funds if they admit 25% of their students for free. The constitution clearly says running an educational institution should be out of charity. All education in the country is not for profit. But who cares!? Baba Saheb is long dead, right? But the self bracketed ‘elite’ in our country feel if their child studies along with their bai’s (maid’s) child, it will push their child to mediocrity! I read a tweet that has gone viral and has been re-tweeted by thousands of people- “RTE may be well-intentioned, but it will effectively drown #India’s few islands of private excellence in a sea of mediocrity.”  By assuming that diversifying a classroom will lead it to mediocrity; you are branding yourself a paranoid! I would offer the same argument for assuming that the poor child cannot pick up studies in a rich school. If we accept and design the system in a conducive manner, nothing will stop us from achieving a 100% literate and an intellectually mature nation. But as always the bad things flow out faster and reach to more number of people. Now the parents too have joined the anti-RTE brigade without giving a hoot about what it does to the overall education of the country. They want their bai to clean their toilet but not her child to study along with their child.

Education: The True Enabler

The RTE is just not about free and fair education. It’s about bringing the poor to the mainstream society through the means of their children. It’s about enabling the country’s education system where even the government schools become accountable to what they do. From a tender age the kids learn to get along with each other without the society planting notions into their head. This I see leads only to an India which is more tolerant, dignified and where every man has his respect sanctioned and quantified. But sadly, this hardly is visualised and noticed. The managements are behind the money and the parents in their cocooned feudal mindset. Nelson Mandela in his presidential address to South Africa said- “Education is the only force through which you can change the country”. And change, they brought. Today South Africa is one of the fastest growing nations in the world. Coming out of Apartheid and the civil war, they have built a great country out of their own ruins. While India was feudal even before the British came. Even today we are the same. The only difference being the British made us intellectual slaves of the west.

Losing our individuality is another case altogether but do we really need to oppose educational reforms in the name of elitism and money? Who is elite in India? HD Devegowda was once a sweeper and now he owns half of Bangalore! Will we forever be each other’s obstacles? I hope we will join hands one day or the other.