The voice of the people is the voice of humbug

It was the day when Jesus Christ was to be crucified. Thousands of Jews had gathered at the Calvary to witness the scene. Incidentally the day also happened to be one on which the governor used to release one prisoner with the consent of the people. When they were asked to choose for this act of mercy between Jesus and a dacoit, with one voice they voted for the dacoit. They plumped for a common felon in preference to the holiest, the greatest and the noblest of men. The voice of the people is not the voice of God but the voice of Satan. Carlyle divided mankind into two classes, the unwise many and the wise few, and the wise few cry in the wilderness. People in the mass are swayed by the lowest common multiple of their intelligence. Any unscrupulous orator, be he a monomaniac like Hitler, a megalomaniac like Napoleon or a man-monster like Idi Amin, can play on their hearts as an expert musician can play on his instrument. They would deify him and kow-tow to him. Let but a few years pass and they would fake the same delight in killing him as they did in applauding him.

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Millennium Development Goals and India

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Economic development of the Third World countries is a matter of concern not only for the developing countries but also the developed West. With almost one-third of the total population of the developing countries still languishing under abject poverty, with per capita income of less than 1 US dollar per day, the need has become even more pronounced. World community thus has a major role to play in enabling the Third World countries achieve reasonable levels of development with equitable distribution of the wealth and economic resources.

The world community has expressed its grave concern at several occasions about the issues relating to equitable and sustainable growth in the developing countries. In addition to various other steps like grants-in-aid and actions through various country specific development agencies like the USAID, DFID and AUSAID, the United Nations is playing a major role in assisting the Third World countries develop primarily through various organizations like WHO, UNDP, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNESCO etc. It was in 2000 when the United Nations resolved to adopt Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for taking care of the deprived sections of society in the world. Having a time frame extending mostly up to the year 2015 (2020 in a few cases), the millennium development goals are among the major instruments to coax the developing world to achieve some fixed targets.

The MDGs are eight in number and there are eighteen targets within the MDGs which are sought to be achieved by the year 2015. The targets are not uniform in terms of a particular benchmark to be achieved over the given period of time but are general in terms of percentage reduction or increase to be achieved in the developing countries. The World Bank and the UN have agreed to 48 indicators to monitor the progress of the MDGs in the developing countries. The MDGs are aimed at reducing hunger, deprivation, illiteracy, gender inequalities and the incidence of disease in the developing world and providing the people in these countries with better life.

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Essay: Is Modern Life Making Children Unhappy?

There is a growing consensus that modern childhood today is in a somewhat parlous state. Experts world over contend that the fast-moving, hyper-competitive modern society is damaging children mentally and emotionally. Growing children confront the tyranny of consumer and moral choice. The society at large, however, appears to be ambivalent on the issue. “Our children are in danger, fattened on fast food, corrupted by commerce, traumatized by testing. And, other children are dangerous…., chaotic in the classroom, bestial in the bedroom”, according to an analyst.

We need to look hard into the changing consumerist environment that surrounds the growing child today. The electronic media is held as a corrupting influence on modern childhood. We cannot ignore the fact that the imaginative life of children is full of violence. A visit to a playground any time will uphold this perception. But the adult world’s concerns generally are about the proliferation of technology, particularly in the home, and the challenge to adult authority that it represents.

Surely, children’s access to media, and the prevalence of sex and violence in such media, has vastly increased. Research has been documenting for years the nexus between electronic media and a medley of developmental horrors. Though some analysts believe that these studies are flawed in as much as they take violence as an objective category and fail to investigate what audiences themselves define as violent.

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Essay: Multinationalism and Democracy

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When we speak of a country or State, we assume that it has only one nation. In fact, in some languages, the country implies nation. Thus, when we say Hindusthani, literally it would mean the one who belongs to the country called Hindusthan. But, rare are the countries that contain only one race of people or have a completely homogeneous populations.

In a democratic country or State, the ‘diverse population’ phenomenon assumes a multifarious significance. The relationship between demography and democracy is becoming politically important. After the collapse of the Soviet
Union, borders of every country are softening and migration, legal or illegal, is going on apace. The Majority’s will as the deciding principle in a democracy is becoming ambiguous.

Minorities are becoming highly visible and vocal and gaining special rights. Multinationalism was a distinctive feature
of the USSR and Yugoslavia that were not considered democratic States. They were not liberal democracies, any way. Currently, the question of multinationalism has to be discussed within the context of liberal democracy.

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