By Jaya Arunachalam
The globe is currently facing series of unprecedented challenges like terrorism, religious and ethnic conflict, environmental degradation, poverty etc. Under the circumstances, it is a positive augury that the United Nations has thought to cite a quote from the ancient Indian Vedic Verse ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ meaning the world is one family. The verse stresses not only on avoidance of global conflict but also underlines the need for world peace. The quote is found in Upanishad in chapter 6, verse 72. It’s evidently clear that the world has become quite mechanical and profit oriented. This new culture has actually created a gap between haves and have-nots leading to several inequalities.
The thought of this ancient Indian verse, meaning one world order, has great significance currently as the entire world is facing diverse problems. In India the concept of Vedas had originally preached a way of life i.e., the occupational pursuits but this eventually and slowly gave way to many caste divisions and conflicts. Therefore, other religions emerged on the concept of this one world order for the welfare and peace in the living communities. Buddhism, Jainism and later Islam and Christianity found its way to India to preach the same though with skepticism. However Buddhism travelled to East i.e., East Asia and Jainism survives in India in a small way among the business communities. In the Middle East emerging on either sides of rivers Tigris and Euphrates, Islam and Christianity significantly made their presence in larger parts of West Asia, Europe and US. Despite their larger coverage they could not lay strong emphasis on one world concept and the welfare of the people suffered everywhere and its beyond expectation of the people whether in Asia Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe or Australia all have passed on a confused/selfish degrading heritage to their posterity. The result we are witnessing today is gender insensitivity, violence, terrorism and lack of solidarity leading to inhuman actions resulting in violent, explosive crumbling societies. Resultantly we also witness ecological crisis, population explosion, poverty, hunger, violence and in total the economically imbalanced world is increasing expenditure on armaments leading to unquestionable arm race towards human disaster.
Coming back to the present scenario, as newspaper or TV news that make headlines everyday are incidents of girl child being killed in a heinous manner. Despite several efforts both by civil society initiatives and governmental action like passing the new laws to save the girl child/women and to punish the perpetrators of violence against women and children, the girl children continue to be a victim of all kinds of violence. As we see every day they are harassed in schools, college girls are mostly targeted and oppressed by their own colleagues and faculties and many more atrocities that one cannot deny. The country was shaken up by the Nirbhaya case few years back and similarly now the Swathi and Jisha cases have shaken up the existence of normal life among young women these days in the country. Do women and girl have no right to survive? Why do they target young women and children alone? Looking in to the incident of Swathi, is there any justification to kill just because she has not responded positively to a romantic overture ? This is nothing but demonstration that society is moving towards savagery to barbarism.
Who is responsible and who is to be blamed for this situation and action? Can we blame the parents for the failure to inculcate in their children moral values and for not treating both boys and girls equally? Is it not that the education system too has failed in imparting/moulding children (boys and girls) with proper behavior, building of character at an impressionable age. It’s no surprise that the educators/faculties themselves are indulging in despicable behaviour from elementary school to higher education level and so on.
Despite growing work options the grave unemployment situation still warrants young men join terrorist groups attracted by the big resources offered to them by such groups. Isn’t this the failure of the Government to create more employment to meet the requirements? Also it’s shocking information that the young criminals are mostly from the political/influential families who have the power to do and undo things and indulge in worst crimes without fear or favour. Politicians come to power spending enormous resources and to earn back the money by hook or crook, they facilitate the groups towards criminal activities in their countries. As we are writing this, a terrible attack has happened in Bangladesh, our neighbouring country and its even more shocking to hear that a local minister’s son was part of the attack doing immense damage in claiming over more than 20 lives.
Examining these incidents it could be observed that one can live in harmony with each other when each individual changes from within accepting the famous quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson and of Pericles- “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” Therefore, in the fitness of things, the UN is currently concerned about the highly disturbed global situation and has thought of this Indian concept ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ that offers a message/hope for the one world order.
(Mrs Jaya Arunachalam- a Padmashree is credited with setting up Working Women’s Forum in 1978 to develop the human resource potential of very poor female workers in the informal sector.)