'STATE BAD, CIVIL SOCIETY GOOD' MANTRA DANGEROUS - PAREKH

[and/or www.mantra.com/jai]

Forwarded post from A. C.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Does not the human rights industry use the same mantra, namely "State
bad, civil society good"?� So, how come there is a sudden waking up
to the 'evils' of civil society?

Re Lord Parekh's comment about film stars of yesteryears not
appearing in advertisements.� One wonders if he is aware that there
is a huge change in the advertisement industry over the years.� I
feel that his comments do not reflect well on him.

- A. C.

'State Bad, Civil Society Good' Mantra Dangerous: Parekh

PTI
Outlook
Saturday, September 3, 2011

Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Indian-origin political theorist and recipient of
Padma Bhushan, today said the new mantra of "state bad, civil society
good" was dangerous, though "understandable".

"State bad, civil society, good -- the new mantra coined by civil
society's movement against corruption is understandable, but
dangerous, because the state is not all bad, and civil society does
not consist of angels alone," he said.

UK-based Parekh, a former vice chancellor of Maharaja Sayajirao
University of Baroda (Vadodara), was here to give a talk on "the role
of civil society in the Regeneration of India', at the invitation of
Federation of Gujarat Industries.

The term civil society was a new entrant in India's political
vocabulary, he said, adding that there was a "legitimate distrust" of
the state, and civil society was expected to provide an answer to its
ills.

"Anna Hazare's fast served a most valuable purpose. I am against
fasts, but desperate times need desperate remedies, and Annaji was
right to launch it. However, I am uneasy with several aspects of it.
It need not have taken place in a public maidan (Ramlila grounds) and
turned into a theatre. Its rhetoric was inflated," he said.

"To say this is a second freedom struggle is to suggest that we have
achieved nothing since independence and to insult the memories of
Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Lal bahadur Shashtri...".

Further, celebrities and Bollywood stars should not have been allowed
to address the gathering when their own record was not clean and they
had very little to say, he said.

"The dignity of Parliament should have been respected, and ultimatums
should have been avoided."

Parekh also pointed out that Hazare's role was limited to fasting,
and the negotiations for Jan Lokpal Bill were conducted by others.
Mahatma Gandhi, on the other hand, negotiated himself, he said.

Before resorting to fasting, other modes of agitation such as
rallies, demonstrations, non-payment of tax, etc should have been
used, Parekh said.� "Hazare's fast served a most noble cause. I
salute him and hope that if he does it again, some of these mistakes
will be avoided."

Summing up the political crisis in the country, he said the system
faced three crises: crisis of political authority as there was no
public figure commanding widespread respect, crisis of political
institutions, and that of political culture.

"Our political culture is weak and lacks agreement on the basic
norms," he added.

Talking about the society in general, Parekh also commented on
Amitabh Bachchan appearing in several advertisements, saying this too
reflected a kind of crisis. Yesteryear's idols like Dev Anand, Dilip
Kumar or Raj Kapoor never appeared in such kind of advertisements, he
said.

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?733483

End of forwarded post from A. C.

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.

Since newsgroup posts are being removed
by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
this post may be reposted several times.