Communal harmony

Neeraj Dubey
There is hardly any other country in the world than India which has a great diversity of culture, religion, language, tradition, community etc. People live and think in terms of their respective religions, faiths and tongues, and seek to serve their selfish ends without thinking of the national good. Such thinking is dangerous and is bound to lead to the disintegration of the country in the long run. The need of the hour, therefore, is to fight the forces of dis-unity and dis-harmony and to work ceaselessly for the achievement of national harmony and peace. Learning to live in peace and harmony is a dynamic, holistic and lifelong process through which mutual respect, understanding, caring and sharing, compassion, social responsibility, solidarity, and tolerance of diversity among individuals and groups (ethnic, social, cultural, religious, national & regional) are internalized and practiced together to solve problems and to work towards a just and free, peaceful and democratic society. Communal harmony is the coming together of all the communities of the country and living together with a sense of brotherhood and equality, irrespective of their caste, creed, religion etc. Communal harmony does not only mean an absence of communal tensions, strife’s and riots. It is something deeper, something emotional. Communal harmony implies mutual understanding, peaceful co-existence, cooperation and coordination among all the constituents of a community. Harmony means proper conformity of the parts to one another and to the whole. Our country is passing through turbulent times and faced with numerous challenges – communalism being the most serious one. We should sink our personal differences in larger interests of the country and adopt a common approach to national problems if we want to achieve the laudable goal of national integration and communal harmony. Let us all be proud of our beloved nation. We all have to collectively strive to make India vibrant, strong and supreme. However, is it necessary to talk about nation-building in this age of liberalization and globalization? What are the foundations – the pillars of a nation-building? Is Communal/social or religious harmony the most important requisite for the progress of a nation? If yes, then what are the fundamental measures to foster and maintain this communal harmony?
Loving and nurturing our motherland – our nation is as essential as loving and worshipping our own mother. Every nation has its defined parameters in terms of political borders, its language, its culture, its history, its people. They have emotional integration as land and its history belongs to its forefathers. A bigger unit than a nation is neither sustainable nor desirable. We won our independence after paying a huge price and unprecedented sacrifices in the hope that we, as a nation, will be politically, socially and emotionally integrated. But, unfortunately in the last 60 years we have been witnessing and encountering the secessionist and dissipative tendencies, movements and insurgencies through the length and breadth of this country. From J&K to Kerala, the North-East to Gujarat – we have been facing communal riots,
insurgency,  naxalism and now terrorism.
In the post-independent era, we have made so many strides in the fields of science, technology and engineering that India is already the second largest reservoir of skilled manpower in the world. It produces nearly 3 lakh engineering graduates, 15000 law graduates, 2 million English-speaking graduates and about 9000 Ph.Ds. every year. We have been able to launch our own ‘Chandryan’ to carry the Indian flag to the moon. On the other hand, the cancer of Communalism is developing within the nation. Its spread is serious. Our policy makers and intellectuals have to admit that all our policies, efforts and programmes starting from the National Integration Council and National Foundation for Communal Harmony at the Government of India level to the Peace Committees at the district level have not given the desired results. It is not only the increased number of incidents of communal tension and riots but the more serious misunderstandings, mutual distrust and ill-will among the different communities especially between the Hindus and Muslims. And it has adversely and colossally affected our nation-building efforts.
According to philosophers & intellectuals there are 6 pillars on which Nation-building can be erected & sustained. :-
* Education and Experiments through Education; Science, Technology, Engineering.
A good education is the foundation of a successful human life, education is the harbinger of social progress and education provides the building-blocks of a great nation. There must be a free Compulsory & quality education for all. A true education must inculcate/educate the following among its students, i.e.  knowledge righteousness & control of mind civilization.
* Safety & Security: – Safety & security of society and nation must be strictly enforced.
*  Prosperity – (Economic Development & Absence of Complacency) – Through generation     of sufficient power, creating infrastructure through trained efficient, honest, healthy labour-force, human Resource Development and through advanced agriculture, business, trade,  manufacturing     industries.
* Health & Clean Environment of the Society – A healthy population is a happy population and that leads to a healthy nation.
* Entertainment – Let us have the Development of arts, crafts, music, dance, drama – all     varieties of fine arts and creativity. However, we have to remember that economic development leads to a better life – luxurious life – involving arts & music. Excess of it leads to luxury, lethargy & laziness; inertia and inactivity. If it is allowed to develop, to set in, it follows with the beginning of downfall.
* Harmony & Hope: – Social Harmony is the bedrock of democracy. It is the essence of prosperity and the harbinger of justice. Without harmony among the different sections of society, neither knowledge proceeds further nor the economic prosperity. Justice & protection is denied to unprivileged people.
The present day India is getting increasingly susceptible to an environment of social tension, insecurity and violence. After the Mumbai terror attack of 26th November, 2008 the concern for a safer society is getting more and more intense from individual to family and from society to entire nation. The communal situation in the country during the recent past has shown signs of serious strain. An indication to this is the increasing volume of violence and communal strifes and quite frequent terrorist strikes in big vibrant cities, resulting in colossal loss to life and property. Communal violence has not remained confined to specific areas which were either known as sensitive or hyper sensitive but has affected almost all parts of the country. The cities as well as rural areas are both experiencing, and are being tormented by communal disturbances. Harmony is natural, dis-harmony is man-made. There is cosmic harmony in the universe and organic harmony in a living body. When this harmony gets disturbed in a body, it becomes sick and when natural or ecological harmony is broken, it leads to disasters. Cost of social dis-harmony or communal conflicts is enormous – in social, economical or political terms.
(The author is Asstt. Professor-GCET- Jammu)

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