The forever unfulfilled rights and beginning of the "responsibility" tamasha!

Have you heard this buzz of citizens' responsibility recently in the development sector? Take a careful look at who are ones who talk about them. Who are these people? Which strata of the society they come from? And you may be left wondering why these well-paid, well-fed (and in my true foot in mouth style, not necessarily well bred, in terms of social manners) people who demolish rights at every opportune/inopportune moment love to talk about responsibility!

I grew up in Bengal in the 1980s. Group Theater movement was still very strong at that time. It was actually stronger in suburban areas and industrial townships than in the sahar Kolkata (Calcutta that time). A group named Smarak from Durgapur steel township was fortunate enough to be mentored by an extremely talented play-write and director named Gopal Das. One of his critically acclaimed play was named, Rakkhos (The demon). In this play, troopers of a circus sang a song "jader roj roj table e sajano thake asto murgir thyang/mosto haaN e hamba kore gile gile khan/ ei obhajon der sokal sondhye ei shikkhya dyan/ tomra beshi kheyo na ko olpe te dao dhyan". Now let me make a lame attempt at translating this: "The ones whose tables are loaded with delicacies/ the ones that gulp these with much ease/ they are the same ones that advise us the hungry beings/ to not to eat much and focus on small helpings"! I can only recite the poem again and again by looking at these bellies oops! the belles I mean.

 The last time I heard in the social context of this responsibility word was in the context of Bhoodan movement. The noted Gandhian, Vinobha Bhave believed that landholders will give the land to the tillers, willingly. So little happened after Vedre Ramachnadra Reddy of Pochampalli that it is not even mentioned in general conversation that hover around land in India. By 1957 we forgot all about it. After all it is not the rich man's responsibility. I agree with this one point though, it is not the rich man's responsibility it is the poor man's right. We, however will remain confined to responsibilities and not digress into (God forbid!)... rights. As one of the crusaders of "responsibility" said, "It is terribly out of fashion"..and I agree, yeah! it is. Since 1957...

Now lets look at a framework for this responsibility. We may derive it from the Duties of individual Citizens of India, have been laid out in Article 51A, Part IVA of the Indian Constitution, as ‘Fundamental Duties’. However, these were not mentioned in the original version of the Constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly. They were inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act passed by the Parliament in 1976 (mark the year). It says: 

It shall be the duty of every citizen of India –

a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and National Anthem;

b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our National Struggle for Freedom;

c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;

d) to defend the Country and render National Service when called upon to do so;

e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;

f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;

g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures;

h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;

i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;
j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the Nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement. 

Lets now try to understand what is this responsibility is all about and why does it have to be a poor man's burden (again!!)? After all we can not expect that these vociferous crusaders of "responsibility" will ask Mr Narendra Modi why does he not take care of point (e) of the Article 51 A. Or for that matter to Mr. Ambani, why does he not follow the point (g) while acquiring coal mines in the name of power plants? (Oh! And that reminds me, have you heard any one of the plants start functioning anyway?). Why? Aren't they equally vocal about their own rights. Mr Modi surely is at every forum. But, they are not the targets, you see, for very practical reason.Targets are poor of BIMARU (now O, Ch and Jh too) states, because they are the captive audience. 

The targets are women who are fighting the menace of liquor tooth and nail (fighting traditions) while the Government pushes liquor selling with all its might. They are the ones asked why can't they stop men from drinking liquor! You really think they can? Is it possible to  It is the typical capitalistic argument! I will promote greed. My economic model will be based on greed. You are lauded when you are greedy and acquire one car after another, but, the moment you slip, it is you who I will blame. How convenient! 

On the other hand, have not we put enough responsibility on the poor of this country already? They are to do development planning (the will never get sanctioned), they have to make sure the schools function in their villages (while the teachers take a huge packet home) and they are expected even to take part in community policing (and then be killed by both Naxals and the Police). And on top of that while thrusting the responsibility of preventing liquor, promoting social harmony, being the torch bearers of honesty we conveniently overlook that all the stories of responsibility so far received are from this section of the humanity, who are still the farthest from their very basic rights. The vice versa of the other class is so well known that I do not even want to mention it. 

This responsibility of the poor of India, I somehow doubt that it is just the opening act of a long drawn circus, unless someone calls the bluff!