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Why is India ranked among the least peaceful nations in the world?
INDIA, July 29, 2011 —
The Australian Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) has placed India among the ‘least peaceful’ nations of the world. Out of 153 countries examined for the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2011, India is ranked 135th, which puts us in the dubious "top 20" position.
Violence in one form or other is nothing new to Indians. We are used to it in our families, burning our brides alive over dowry disputes. We experience it in property disputes, female infanticide, and widespread child labor. Cruel, sometimes fatal, “college ragging” brings it to our places of learning. We exalt our macho movie stars. Our politicians often indulge in violence and we periodically kill each other for the sake of religion.
The density of our billion-plus population has something to do with it; we know that overcrowded rats turn on each other. The rat race in India is fierce in almost every aspect of our lives. This may be the main reason we won’t let go of our vile caste system – not the religious cover up that is conveniently used to justify its continuing existence.
Thinking Indians need to understand something quickly: The enemy at home is far more dangerous than any on our borders. A disintegrating Pakistan is not our biggest problem; it is the hydra of religion-politics-corruption that is India’s biggest challenge.
In all three areas India needs significant change.
People like Gandhi were open to spiritual truth wherever they found it. In his Nobel Prize winning masterpiece Gitanjali, Tagore wrote, "Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls."Even early social reformers like Swami Dayanand Saraswati recognized India’s social unsustainability. In his famous discourse at Mumbai on January 29, 1875 he declared:
“I will only instruct you in the same way as I teach others, and this much you should keep clearly in mind: My beliefs are not unique, and I am not omniscient. Therefore, if in the future any error of mine should be discovered after rational examination, then set it right. If you do not act in this way, then this Samaj too will later on become just a sect. That is the way by which so many sectarian divisions have become prevalent in India: by making the guru’s word the touchstone of truth and thus fostering deep-seated prejudices which make the people religion-blind, cause quarrels and destroy all right knowledge.”
Gandhi (Image: Chris John Beckett (Flickr))
He added, “That is the way India arrived at her sorry contemporary state, and that is the way this Samaj too would grow to be just another sect. This is my firm opinion: even if there be many different sectarian beliefs prevalent in India, if only they all acknowledge the Vedas, then all those small rivers will reunite in the ocean of Vedic wisdom, and the unity of dharma will come about.”
Swami Dayanand’s fervour for the Vedas is well known; I share a similar conviction for the biblical scripttures. Think about it — the Vedas, the Quran, the Guru Granth Sahib and the Bible need not divide us. They can motivate us all to pursue learning. Wherever the Truth is to be found, it is not to be feared.
We must ask, "who or what divides us and why is India listed among the least peaceful nations on earth?"
The threat of terrorist attacks and the likelihood of violent demonstrations are the two leading factors making the world less peaceful in 2011, according to the 2011 GPI. The GPI measures domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society, and militarisation in 153 countries, taking into account 23 separate indicators.
According to Steve Killelea, founder and Executive Chairman of the IEP, “The fall in this year’s Index is strongly tied to conflict between citizens and their governments; nations need to look at new ways of creating stability other than through military force. ... Our research identifies eight social attitudes and structures required to create peaceful, resilient and socially sustainable societies.”
The eight structures Killelea refers to are: well-functioning government; sound business environment; equitable distribution of resources; acceptance of the rights of others; good relations with neighbours; free flow of information; high levels of education; low levels of corruption.
Except for debatably high levels of education and a peculiar democracy, India cannot claim a worthwhile performance in any of these areas.
To avoid controversy, the 2011 GPI has not measured one key factor in its social sustainability assessment – the role of religion. It only refers to violent street demonstrations. But religious ideology is the underlying cause inciting upheaval in many of the ten least peaceful countries: Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, North Korea, DR Congo, Russia, Pakistan, Israel, Central African Republic.
Historians note that Rome was in decline for 400 years before the Roman empire collapsed. Caesar worship after Julius Caesar’s death was the one religion which spanned the entire empire. India and the Middle East would do well to heed that lesson and seriously examine the role of religion in undermining a country’s social stability.
Every religion has had its self-appointed "champions" with blood-stained hands, ready to murder and maim innocent lives to sate their religious pride and keep their hold on power. Regionally, groups and factions perpetrate the violence. Hence you have various Islamist splinter groups (possibly led by Al Qaeda) in Pakistan and the Middle East; the IRA in Northern Ireland (dormant but alive); the Hindu fundamentalist BJP party and its rivals in India. There are smaller factions, but none can match the private armies of these larger groups, operating under the very nose of the governments in India and Pakistan.
Under India’s federal constitution, law and order are mainly the responsibility of state governments; their record is dismal.
India’s ruling India National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) recently proposed draft legislation titled, "Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill 2011." INC spokesman Abhishek Singhvisaid he was shocked at the BJP’s reaction and emphasised, “It is part of our party’s belief system, conviction, and ideology and a highly necessary piece of social welfare legislation.”
The proposed Bill is being fiercely opposed by the BJP, which believes that though the draft Bill ostensibly prevents and punishes communal violence, its real objective is the opposite. Opposition leader Arun Jaitley wrote on the BJP website, “It is a Bill which if it is ever enacted as a law will intrude into the domain of the State, damage a federal polity of India and create an imbalance in the inter-community relationship of India.”
It is laughable for the BJP to imagine itself as the rightful custodian of the country’s inter-community relationships, when there is a more basic imbalance rooted in the heart of its fascist Hindutva philosophy.
In his book, In Spite of the Gods, Edward Luce, former South Asia Bureau Chief of the Financial Times, describes his meeting with Manmohan Vaidya, the head pracharak (a full time volunteer) of the RSS (the National Volunteer Organization, or Sangh) in Ahmedabad. After Vaidya described his life of celibacy – no alcohol, no meat, no cigarettes and an existence bound up entirely with the cause – Luce shrewdly observed that such a life sounded tough and self-denying. “Apart from vegetarianism,” he observed, “you seem to have quite a lot in common with the Islamic fundamentalists.”
Vaidya was startled, then laughed, “We are very dedicated. I suppose you could say we have some things in common, but they are very superficial. We are Hindus."
"Just Hindus," Luce asked, "or Hindu fundamentalists?"
"We are not fundamentalists, we are nationalists," Vaidya stressed. "There is a big difference."
Will that difference cement India's position at the top of the least-peaceful-nations list, or will it bring it down a few notches?
Luce notes, “The BJP could well govern India again. It is much too soon to write its obituary.”
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Frank Raj is based in the Middle East where he has lived for over three decades. He is the founding editor and publisher of ‘The International Indian’, the oldest magazine of Gulf-Indian society and history since 1992. Frank is listed in Arabian Business magazine’s 100 most influential Indians in the Gulf and is co-author of the upcoming publication ‘Universal Book of the Scriptures,’ and author of ‘Desh Aur Diaspora.’ He blogs at www.no2christianity.wordpress.com
Read more of Frank's work in No 2 Religion, Yes 2 Faith in the Communities at the Washington Times.
Sign his petition at: www.gopetition.com/petition/44506/signatures.html
