I felt so happy to listen to Harsh Mander when he came to Mussoorie to deliver a talk on the topic ‘Justice, Compassion and the Civil Services’. He is a soft spoken person with absolutely no airs about his achievements. He used very simple language, yet, his delivery was very powerful and the message that he conveyed was truly appreciable and relevant for every Indian citizen.
He started by saying that three destructions in the last twenty years (demolition of Berlin wall, the Babri Masjid and the World Trade Center) have greatly altered the way we live and relate to each other in this world. He also felt that there is change in the way we fundamentally look at the role of the state. From being viewed as the protector and benefactor of the disadvantaged sections, the government is now more looked up to facilitate markets and accelerate economic growth. This fundamental change in perceptions about government’s role led to change in public expectations from civil servants as well.
He told that though there is no inherent contradiction between economic growth and human development, the last few years has seen widening divide between ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’. While we can see increasing number of Indian billionaires in Forbes list, there are also the largest numbers of illiterates, malnourished children in India among all the countries. Still, some of these burning issues of deprivation fail to occupy the center stage of political discourse.
Then he went on to dwell in detail about three issues that are close to his heart namely hunger, hate and homelessness. Starting with hunger, he showed short vedios on Musahar and Sahariya tribes and their struggle to get even two square meals a day. They are so desperate for food that they are forced to eat locally available grasses which many a time prove to be poisonous. Harsh Mander told that the toughest lesson that these mothers are forced to teach their children is to manage sleeping with empty stomach.
He told that these tribes adopt survival mechanisms such as psychologically and physically adopting their body to be content with one meal or no meal in a day, eating locally available material like grasses, kernels etc. and forcing their children to take up work to earn few more rupees. Harsh Mander clearly drove home the paradox of coexistence of rotting food grains and starving millions in our modern India. He feels that we seem to have conveniently ignored their desperation while allowing lakhs of crores of corporate tax concessions but delaying to bring out a comprehensive universal food security act. Rather than looking it as a matter of finances, it is our larger moral responsibility to ensure that no one goes hungry in our country.
Then, he discussed the issue of hate i.e. injustices committed in the name of religion during communal disturbances. He showed few interviews of Gujarat riot victims and the deep emotional scars on their minds. He insisted that unless there is active state complicity, no riot can go on beyond few hours. He narrated his personal experience as Assistant Collector when he immediately called upon the army when the collector and S.P. conveniently disappeared from the scene. He went on to stress that riots like in Delhi, Bhagalpur, Gujarat strike right on our firm constitutional belief that all the citizens irrespective of their religion are equal before the law.
He discussed how the law enforcing machinery like the police become active accomplices in these crimes. Firstly, they wantedly withdraw from the scene instead of standing up there for protecting the minorities. Secondly, they let terror reign by falsely putting people behind bars and registering cases against them. The FIRs filed have certain common elements like possible justification for the crime committed (close to eulogy of retribution), anonymous mob as the perpetrator and multiple incidents being clubbed together in one case. There is also systematic denial of criminal justice even later by closing the cases prematurely for want of evidence, filing counter cases to frighten the witnesses, continued detention of people under draconian laws without any trial to weaken the morale of the litigants.
Harsh Mander felt that time has come to make the civil servants responsible for their lapses in checking the loss of valuable life and property. He feels that there is no need of any additional powers as some sincere officers have proven that everything can be controlled with will power and conviction (cited the example of Rahul Sharma in Gujarat who ensured zero loss of lives in his district at the same time). Hence, Harsh Manders supported such Act dealing with communal disturbances which makes it a legal responsibility of the incumbent officer to ensure complete peace. He felt that, ideally it should have been the moral responsibility of the officer and when it does not work, laws become necessary.
He went on to discuss the third issue i.e. homelessness by showing a small vedio on homeless children in urban areas and how they get addicted to drugs and intoxication. He feels that these homeless people are so easily noticeable in urban areas that it reflects the psychological distance that exists between us and the poor. If heHarsh Mander were to describe the present India from a historical perspective in future, he prefers to refer to it as such time period when the poor people have been exiled from the conscience and consciousness of the mankind.
He quotes a Nobel Laureate saying that the absence of love is not hate but indifference. Indifference is the word that Harsh chooses to describe the present societal response to hunger and homelessness in India. These children who grow separately from their parents become rag pickers, learn to do petty crimes and become stiff in their attitude towards society. Still, he is hopeful that with proper care, these children can catch with their counterparts. In fact, he is striving to start hostel facilities in government school premises to bridge the gap through basic courses initially and finally integrating them in the mainstream.
Harsh Mander then stressed that only such economic growth is acceptable in India when we guarantee a basic minimum floor of rights like right to information, education, employment, food and health facilities etc. These legally enforceable rights show us the future direction which all of us need to follow.
He told that there are very few jobs in the world that give young people such tremendous opportunity to directly affect the lives and livelihoods of marginalized sections as in Indian civil services. He exhorted all of us to bear allegiance to none other than the constitution, the cause of the disadvantaged sections and finally to our conscience. He emphasized that the old concept of political neutrality and mindless execution of political orders has become irrelevant. The civil servants now need to be more imaginative and become the true servants of the unheard and the undermined.
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