832 There can be no place for pretentious chivalry, when circumstances turn awkward and perilous

Above photo shows the extent of damage which the badly planned and badly implemented Demonetization has landed the Indian Nation. The photo is not just a stray case. There are print/electronic media reports from all over the country that poor people are undergoing hardships. There can be no place for pretentious chivalry when circumstances turn awkward and perilous. When things go wrong, there is nothing wrong in accepting that "something went wrong", (we cannot always see what is on the other side of the mountain, until we reach the top and look down), climb back down, and take a different route either on the left or the right side, to circum-ambulate the mountain and reach our destination. What is more important is, that we should reach our goal, without succumbing in the middle. Such strategic withdrawal may , sometimes , lead to the performer becoming a laughing stock. Well, that will be the price, which we have to pay, to save a billion people from unpredictable hardships.

In spite of our best efforts / analyses / logic / reasoning , sometimes, unforeseen things may happen.

We shall start with an article by Ms. Antara Dev Sen, editor of Little Magazine, published in DeccanChronicle.Com. Date: 16.11.2016. Print Edition Page 11 (OP-ED). The title of the article is "After notes, will our rights vanish too?". Download Link: Click to go to Antara Dev Sane's Article in DeccanChronicle.com.

Question: WHY are you giving a link to somebody else's article, when you yourself ought to have written something? Why do you feed us with second hand material?

Ans: It will be a waste of time to reinvent the wheel. She has written, almost everything, which I myself wanted to write. I do not wish to waste resources, which are scare. I can use the time, to add something more. First one or two quotes from the article of Ms. Sen.

"...The question is: did the PM have a right to do this? Does the government have the right to deny ordinary people access to their own money? To suddenly make their money vanish? Without access to money, one cannot access food, medical care, transport and other essentials. Doesn’t this impinge on our fundamental right to life and liberty? ..."

"...After five days of utter chaos, in which the elderly died of heart attacks and stress standing in snaking queues for their own hard-earned cash, and parents saw their children die as hospitals refused their cash, the PM returned to address us on the matter. Give me 50 days, he said in a dramatic speech, choking up as he talked about himself: “Even if you burn Modi alive, Modi is not scared.” . Who is he talking to? Who could possibly burn him alive? He, with his multi-layered security? Why does our PM, the lawfully-elected head of a respectable democracy, go on as if there was no rule of law in his own country? “Hang me in public!” he had said earlier, inviting us to the barbaric act if we could prove his involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots. ..."

"...Women who scrimp and save from household expenses and secretly squirrel away some money for their children or the future. These are people who can’t go to the bank and exchange their notes. And they have been hit the hardest. Does Mr Modi have the right to make their legitimate money vanish? In his speech, he seemed thrilled about it. He even wiggled his thumbs to mock the family that had a wedding coming up and no money at home. Does Mr Modi know the country he is ruling? How can he take away the fundamental right to life and liberty of Indian citizens? ..."

"...What is clear, however, is that our basic rights and dignity guaranteed by the Constitution can suddenly vanish like the Rs 500 note. Unless we raise the most obvious questions. Since raising questions is now deemed to be unpatriotic in public discourse, let’s raise them at least in Parliament. ..."

WHAT YB-A-DONKEY wishes TO ADD to what has already been written by Ms. Sen

My humble impression is that this country has got overheated during the last one week. When a Nation overheats, things may go out of control, in spite of best efforts by the Governments.

1. Banks have started downing the shutters of their ATMs as people have shown tendencies to throw stones.

2. BJP MPs who did not get sufficient inkling and opportunities to whiten their monies, may be purchased by industrialists, and the with the help of the Opposition, overturn the Modi Government, notwithstanding what is contained in Representation of People's Act. Of course, such steps by unhappy MPs, may raise people's sympathies towards Mr. Modi, and if a Mid-Term Election takes place, Mr. Modi may cry at the top of his voice, shed tears, and get another five year term.

3. Though we have sufficient safeguard arrangements in India, to prevent military coups, such safeguards will work only in NORMAL CONDITIONS and NOT IN OVERHEATED CONDITIONS. It will, therefore, be prudent to withdraw Demonetization, and start afresh with more fool-proof methods.

a) All airport boardings will have to be carefully watched to prevent suspects fleeing the country.

b) There is also a need to plugin loop-holes in foreign outward remittances, and payments for imports. Customs Houses have to be alert about under/over-invoiced imports, and under/over-invoiced exports.

Clear distinctions are to be made in definitions of different types of monies. Examples: 1. Hard-earned monies on which taxes, individuals may try to avoid, OWING TO HIGH RATES OF TAXATION + PENALTIES FOR OMISSIONS. 2. Monies earned through cheating and corruption, on which taxes are paid regularly. 3. Moneys earned through corruption/cheating, on which taxes are not being paid. 4. Windfall monies which are earned when Share / Real Estate / Gold /Diamond / Commodity Markets go up, resulting in speculative profits. This type of profits even innocent persons can make, on which Capital Gains Taxes will have to be paid. 5. Persons who are stuck up with demonetized notes for no fault of theirs, while they may not be in a position to prove how they got them.

ADDED on 19/11/2016: Supreme Court of INdia News

"...NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court warned on Friday that people standing in long queues for hours every day for scarce cash could turn riotous, as it asked the Centre to take urgent measures to end their ordeal. "It is a serious issue. This affects the entire population. You (the government) cannot deny there is a serious problem. There could be riots," a bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice AR Dave said, drawing a sharp retort from attorney general Mukul Rohatgi. ..." To read this report in full, click this link: Click to go to TimesofIndia.IndiaTimes.com.

This part I shall continue later, as this article is getting too lengthy. It will be worthwhile for us to have a quote from the play "Arms and the Man" , by George Bernard Shaw. Analysis following the undernoted quote is from: Click to go to gradesaver.com to see this quote, and more quotes

"...I’m a professional soldier! I fight when I have to and am very glad to get out of it when I haven’t to. You’re only an amateur: you think fighting’s an amusement. Captain Bluntschli, Act III pg. 63 ..."

After being challenged to a duel, Captain Bluntschli brusquely explains the difference between his own professional attitude and Sergius’ romantic attitude towards fighting. In proposing a duel Sergius believes he can win or demonstrate honor. Bluntschli approaches the duel from a practical standpoint, calculating how best to keep both participants unharmed. Fighting holds no romance for the captain; it is a business and a brutal one at that. Though Sergius interprets his reluctance as a sign of moral weakness, Bluntschli is not cowardly, unwilling or unable to fight. He only knows the destruction fighting can cause all too well. On the other hand, Sergius has faced far fewer battles and fights and is still largely ignorant of the meaning and consequences of violence.

yb-donkey: Withdrawing when necessary for minimising risks to a billion people, also requires 'moral courage'. Let us hope that Mr. Narendra Modi will display that moral courage, instead of adamently sticking on to his ill-timed and ill-executed decision.

Our Indian rulers love Forbes.com so much. Here is a quote-of-the-day from their website http://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/.

"If you make a mistake, own it and move quickly to fix it.”

--Tooey Courtemanche.

We should add two more adverbs before "to fix it": move quickly, wholeheartedly, sincerely without grugeful reluctance, to fix it.

To continue. सशेष. ఇంకా ఉంది.

814 (Part 3/100) of Lenin X Gandhi Comparisons, George Bernard Shaw, Future of Global Communism, and Indian Communism

George Bernard Shaw was one of the analytical expounders of Fabian Socialism (Gradualist Socialism). After the two world wars, his perspectives seem to have changed. He seems to have started supporting dictatorships. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia.org:

"...His appetite for politics and controversy remained undiminished; by the late 1920s he had largely renounced Fabian gradualism and often wrote and spoke favourably of dictatorships of the right and left—he expressed admiration for both Mussolini and Stalin. In the final decade of his life he made fewer public statements, but continued to write prolifically until shortly before his death, aged 94, having refused all state honours, including the Order of Merit in 1946. ..."

ybrao-a-donkey's humble comments. वैबीराव एक गधे के विनम्र राय . వైబీరావ్ గాడిద వినమ్ర వాణి. You have every right to differ with me. I respect your right. आपको मेरे मत से भिन्न राय रखने के संपूर्ण हक है। मै उस अधिकार को परिपूर्ण रूप से गौरव देता हुँ. మీకు, మీ భిన్నమైన అభిప్రాయాన్ని కలిగిఉండే సంపూర్ణ హక్కు ఉంది. దానిని ఎంతో నేను గౌరవిస్తాను. However, pl. examine this donkey's views also. परन्तु एस गधे के दृष्टिकोण को भी अनुशीलन कीजिये. కానీ ఈ గాడిద దృష్టికోణాన్ని కూడ ఓర చూపుతో కంటజూడుమీ, క్రీగంట జూడమీ.

In Blog Post No. Click to go to post No. 813 at this blog , I have given a quote from Lenin's telegram to his associates to arrange for hanging of 100 kulaks, not because I wanted to find fault with Lenin's methods of working, but because, I have some reservations about 'killing' as a 'corrective-mechanism' for ills of society. In that post, we have also made a note that Indian Maoists went on killing/maiming presumably innocent people calling them informers or traitors, and went on being killed by the Police in (1) Genuine Encounters and, (2) Fake Encounters. The Maoists and their supporters called the State Killings as 'rAjya himsa' (Violence by State), and their killing of informers 'prati himsa' (Retributive or Compensatory Violence). Analyses of the State Violence vs. Retributive Violence, we shall take up later.

What we ought to note, in a longer term perspective, is Killings and violence delay the advent of True Socialism, because a deviation of efforts takes place. Focus will shift. Misdirections take place. There will be heat and explosions. But starving and the suffering millions will not get the amelioration and relief they need and deserve, RIGHT NOW.

We shall, now, take up the captioned quote of George Bernard Shaw, which can also be seen in the above image:--

Socialism means equality of income or nothing... under socialism you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you like it or not.

If it were discovered that you had not character enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live you would have to live well.

Back to yb-donkey's views:

About "Socialism means equality of income or nothing" : -Somehow this quote omitted "equality of wealth", "equality of dignity", "equality of distribution of menial work (physical and hazardous labor)", "equality in distribution of essential goods and services", "justice in preferential order and the design of ladder of distribution (This DESIGN OF LADDER OF DISTRIBUTION AND PREFERENTIAL ORDER requires a thousand blogposts to introduce, explain, and layout pros and cons), etc. While it is true that PERFECT EQUALITY is not possible, at least EXCELLENT EQUALITY should be achievable.

About "You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you like it or not.", this is the noblest thing in socialism. No human, worth his salt, will normally on his own volition (exceptions: some Jain traditions) abstain from food, clothing, shelter, education). Our Capitalist Economies and Political Administrations also do not OVERTLY advise or force people to abstain from FLESCOH (My favorite acronym for Food, Liberty, Education, Shelter, Clothing, Old Age Security and Health Care).

We can see how Donald Trump and Ms. Hillary Clinton are making competitive promises, and allegations and counter-allegations, about these things only. Actually, these promises, and some half-hearted follow-up actions on the part of the bourgeoisie parties, have punctured the truck of True Socialism. It is because, either people have started thinking that "something is better than nothing", or because they have reached a situation that they cannot wait even a day for the fantasy of true complete socialism.

Some Telugu language proverbs are relevant here:

1) parugetti pAlu tAgE kannA nilabaDi nILLu trAgaTam mElu. English: It will be better to drink water while standing, instead of running marathons for drinking milk.

2) majjiga lEvurA magaDA anTE, peruguki cITI vrASADuTa. English: Context: A wife asked her to bring butter-milk from outside. The husband responded by writing a chit (slip containing an order) to send curd (yogurt). Here, buttermilk is the minimum survival immediate need. Curd-yogurt is a distant fantasy. People do not oppose curd. They will be delighted to relish it, but they are not prepared to wait.

3) bratikunTE balusAku tinaccu. English: If a person lives, he can survive by eating 'leaves of the balusu plant'. In drought areas of India, there were large number of days, there are some days even now, where people ate/eat leaves of the 'balusu plant' and survived/survive.

4) Upiri unTE uppu kallu ammi bratakaccu: English: If we have breath, we can survive, even by selling salt. (Selling salt = eking out livelihood by street-vending salt taking it on a cart to houses).

About "If it were discovered that you had not character enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner;" :-- 1) Who will decide that a particular person, or some particular persons do not have the required character? If he becomes adament / biased / corrupt / despotic ? There must be a fool-proof State mechanism to prevent injustices, and a efficient-genuine-honest Grievance Redressal Mechanism.

2) What is this "executed in a kindly manner" ? Executions should not either be resorted to at all, or if they are absolutely unavoidable, they should be the LAST RESORT, after zillion alternatives fail.

In my last birth, incarnation as a Bank Employee, I used to have a Bank Manager boss, who had two sons. They used to approach him smilingly, taking with them some chocolates or laDDus, fall on his feet in perfect obedience and obeisance [In Bengali novels of late Saratchandra Chaterjee (popularly called Sarat Babu), we come across a practice called 'pAda dhUli' (taking a little dust at feet and keeping on head, as a token of reverence)]. Then, they used to sit one each on his laps, and then climb up to his head, shuffle his hair with all love and affection, and then finally blurt out "Oh Father, we love you. But we shall fire you with this (toy) pistol, etc.". In real life, there will be no toy pistols. Where will, we can find this "KINDLY".

We can only find persons of the type of Shri Kind Kaluvakolanu Chandrasekhara Rao, present Chief Minister of Telangana State, who want to do some "karru kAlci vAtalu" (brand people he hated, with hot irons). Or we may find some Great Leaders like Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who will want their opponents to be struck with footwear (ceppu tIsukoni koTTanDi in Telugu language). Or we may find persons like his rival politician Shri Nara Chandra Babu Naidu, who will call critics 'unmAdi' (lunatic). So, this idea of Executions in "Kindly manner" or "cruel manner", or whatsoever manner, have to be erased from the Concept of Socialism.

About "but whilst you were permitted to live you would have to live well." : This is the noblest part of what Shaw said, in the above quote. Reason: Today, in this Great Great Great Capitalist Economy, millions of people are living under sub-human conditions, not only have been deprived of their basic needs of FLESCOH, but also denied of their self-respect. For proof, I can give any number of real life examples of this monstracity of Capitalism.

But, one crucial question, still remains about: "whilst you were permitted to live". This question is important, because humans existed even before societies evolved. That means Human is 'primary' and Society should be 'secondary'. 'Human' is like dog's head. 'Society' is like dog's tail. Head can survive without tail. But, tail cannot survive without head. I believe that society does not / cannot have an authority to determine whether a person SHOULD BE / SHOULD NOT BE PERMITTED TO LIVE. (NOTE: Capital Punishments through Courts of Law, for ghastly proven rarest-of-the-rarest offences, are exceptions. They are neither norms or parameters or standards in day-to-day functioning of the society.)

Here, it is worthwhile to quote a verse of Telugu poet Late SriSri, from his collection 'mahA prasthAnam' (Great destiny/destination).

మనది ఒక బ్రతుకేనా (Is our life, a life?!!! )
కుక్కల వలె నక్కలవలె (Like dogs, like foxes)
మనదీ ఒక బ్రతుకేనా (Is our life, a life?)
సందులలో పందులవలె (Like the pigs in dirty lanes)

It is this sort of life which True Complete Socialism does not want people to lead /live. However, "should live well" cannot mean "live with all comforts and luxuries". Here "live well" refers to "intrinsic worth of life", and not to "extrinsic worth of life".

Though from the Wikipedia quote given above, we find that Shaw seems to have in his later years "... often wrote and spoke favourably of dictatorships of the right and left—he expressed admiration for both Mussolini and Stalin. ...", we do not know the circumstances and situations which had led Late George Bernard Shaw to shift his stance. I do not contribute to the idea of "Shaw had become an opportunist".

To continue. Subject to further editing to remove anything illegal/unlawful. सशेष. సశేషం.

661 Part 1/100 of a long term Blue-Print for Introduction of Total Socialism into Democracies. भाग १ / १०० प्रजातंत्रों में संपूर्ण समाजवाद , समतावाद, या साम्यवाद को प्रेरणीकृत प्रवेश कराने के लिये एक दीर्घकालिक नक्शा । భాగం ౧, ప్రజాస్వామ్యంలోకి సంపూర్ణ సమతా వాదం, సమాజ వాదం, సామ్యవాదాన్ని ప్రవేశ పెట్టటానికి ఒక దీర్ఘకాలిక ప్రణాలికా పత్రము.

When you are writing about Total Socialism (Total Equalism), you are also making impossible promises. Then why do you criticise Mr. Narendra Modi , or Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu?

Answer:

1. Total Socialism or Total Equalism will be a success, only if bulk of the 1.3 billion Indians get a paradigm shift in their intellectual thinking. Working Class has to educate themselves. They have to get rid of their habits like alcoholism.

2. Changing and upgrading the intellectual thinking of 130 crore people will take at least 130 years, assuming that a crore population is upgraded every year. But, we must remember that people will not live 130 years. Replacement of populations will take place. For example, Mahatma Gandhi brought some changes in the thinking of Indians, when he led Freedom Movement of India. Thousands of people (satyAgrahis) bore blows of police lathis, quite voluntarily. Thousands of people spun yarn on spinning wheels and wore handspun Cloth (Khadi). This continued for two or three generations and lasted about 60 years. Today, there is no Gandhi-ism, though occasionally some interest is shown by some souls, and some pretentions are made.

3. The same Replacement of Populations theory, applies even to Communist Movement. In the days of Freedom Movement, as well as even in the early Post-independent years, Communists were a live force in Indian Society. Communist and Trade Union workers of those days used to be very much attached and committed to their ideologies, so much that for some of them it became a religion of a sort. All those generations died, or attained decrepit old age.

4. In other words, we may have to concede that, not only should intellectual upgradations take place in the Working Classes, but also they should be carried forward from one generation to another generation, like mutation of genetic characteristics. Continuous reinforcement is an imperative need. For this reason only, at least 130 years, or probably even 1000 years may be required for intellectual self-upgradations.

You may be wondering why I am saying "self-upgradations" instead of simple "upgradations" or "motivated upgradations". Reason: A self-upgradation which takes place in an individual after much contemplation and meditation lasts long, whereas imposed upgradations (they are nothing but disguised brain-washings) will either disappear in no time, or may only continue as "name-sake" fantasies, lacking sincerity and courage of conviction.

5. The Socialismw advocated by Pioneers in India like Late Jayaprakash Narayan, Lohia, Madhu Limaye, et al (There were several Socialist Parties of India, with different hues in 1950s and 1960s) were the Plebeian Socialisms, i.e. they aimed at gradualism. These were nothing but, a sort of imitations, of the Fabian Socialism and the Fabian Society of England of 1st half of the 20th Century. Gradualism has not, and will not work. Gradualism is like counting crows on a tree during dawn or dusk. Nehru's experiments with Mixed Economy was either because of his fancy towards the Fabian Socialism / Fabian Society or, a strategic maneoeuvre (व्यूहात्मक युक्ति వ్యూహాత్మకమైన యుక్తి) to consolidate his rule, against the more active Socialists like Lohia, Limaye, Jayaprakash Narayan, J.B. Kripalani, of S.P., S.S.P., P.S.P., fame.

The problem with or the Fabian Socialism / Gradualist Socialism is byy the time we count crows on one branch of a tree, new crows join, and some existing crows leave. When reforms are made in one Sector, decay sets in another Sector. Even if two steps forward and one step backward type of progress, will make a net progress of one step. But that is not the case with the Fabian Socialism as part of Democracy.

6. India's experimentation with "Mixed Economy" failed, because once there is a replacement of Old Generation of Leaders , with new Generation of Leaders, there is a drastic change in their beliefs and values. From 1950 to 1991, we had series of "Nationalisations". From 1991, till date, we are experiencing "Privatisations".

There is an impression that Fabian Socialism or the Gradualist Socialism has produced Liberalist Billionnaires. Our Liberalist Billionnaires like Messrs. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg are just posers, probably to extract more business from bourgeoisie rulers. You cannot expect compassions and sympathies from man-eaters and blood-suckers.

To continue and revise this, with more proof.. सशेष. సశేషం.