POINTS TO PONDER ... 1

POINTS TO PONDER ... 1

1. The rich are ignorant of life's higher goals. Hence, they run after wealth. To be rich at the expense of the life-blood of millions is a sin.

2. Hyper-prosperity will inevitably create the classical Marxian class divide. That will invariable lead to eventual violent conflict. Policies must be implemented in a manner that reduces inordinate economic disparities.

3. The middle classes throw up the brightest talents in the world but the rich reap the benefits of their discoveries and the poor serve the rich to maintain their stranglehold on the world's resources. The least talented rich are the most corrupt, heartless and the worst violators of the fundamental principles of civilised cooperative existence. It is these people with a preponderance of wealth that must be taught the lessons of principled living as opposed to whatever constitutes the corruption of privilege that they are used to. Feudal privilege has been done away with and now it is the time to do away with capitalist privilege.

4. There is massive unemployment and even larger disguised unemployment which adds to the sum total of impoverished people in the country. Development alone cannot solve this problem, neither mere growth of the GDP, but pin-pointed emphasis must be laid on efficient and equitable distribution of economic resources and the efficient management of such towards the building up of a vibrant polity where shared responsibility and shared liability are natural to all and the welfare of all is deemed the welfare of one.

Personal prosperity that creates large iniquities in society cannot be considered a virtue but must rather be considered a vice to be abjured. The welfare of an individual citizen must be in consonance with the welfare of the nation as a whole. That alone ought to be considered genuine patriotism, true nationalism, which conduces to both individual and collective welfare. In the nation's overall advance lies the value of individual attainment and the measure of such value must be in national terms as well.

The individual must die so that the nation may live, so that the ancient civilisation of India, rolling down the ages, keeps carrying countless souls towards the destiny of terrestrial evolution -- absolute liberation. But a hungry belly cannot work well, cannot well evolve thus. Hence, national needs must be met through diligent individual labour of love and the output in individual terms added will conduce to collective good. So, may we all make our self-interest subservient to national interest and, thus, bring forth a nation that will show the world the path of peace and well-being, light and love.

Written by Sugata Bose