Dr Binayak Sen was recently granted bail in a sedition case by the Supreme Court, who observed that just as having a book about Gandhi present in a home doesn't make the residents Gandhian, having Maoist literature doesn't make Dr Sen one himself.
He was on a (must-watch till the last second) program on NDTV, and spoke eloquently about the poor, who were statistically in a state of famine, and for the first time in the history of India -- the state was systematically dispossessing them from their means of survival in the name of "development" (which he termed "structural violence").
As India becomes more "globalized" and "liberalized", the rich become richer, the poor become poorer, and worse, are denied the right to survive -- by law. The state is able to ride roughshod over these essentially voiceless people in order to provide people like you and me -- "development".
We would do well to take look at our never ending need for more-more-more and face the real cost of our lifestyles and aspirations -- on the ecology, the environment and most importantly -- our fellow human beings.
It is time to find a better way ...
He was on a (must-watch till the last second) program on NDTV, and spoke eloquently about the poor, who were statistically in a state of famine, and for the first time in the history of India -- the state was systematically dispossessing them from their means of survival in the name of "development" (which he termed "structural violence").
As India becomes more "globalized" and "liberalized", the rich become richer, the poor become poorer, and worse, are denied the right to survive -- by law. The state is able to ride roughshod over these essentially voiceless people in order to provide people like you and me -- "development".
We would do well to take look at our never ending need for more-more-more and face the real cost of our lifestyles and aspirations -- on the ecology, the environment and most importantly -- our fellow human beings.
It is time to find a better way ...
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