Abhirup Pal: A decade and a half ago the story begun.The project of providing cooked food to primary school children has just started then. In response to a petition filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties , the Supreme Court on November 27, 2001, directed all State governments and the Union Territory Administration to provide immidiately cooked food to the students. Meanwhile, the first draft report of Economist Amartya Sen by his own organization called Pratichi Trust, was published on 7 November 2000 with a demand of mid-day meal. Extensive public discussion in association with government departments to mobilize mass organizations, including teachers' unions, started.As usually happens in our country like that,several steps were taken.Different meetings were held.It was 2005,Santiniketan Boniyadi School such a meeting was organized and a real problem came forward.The higher class students denied to eat in the same batch with the lower caste classmates. Even after so many years of independence, this type of untouchability even in Westbengal embarrassed almost all of the attendents of that meeting.What a shame it is,isn't it?
But do you know shame has its own strength? While the meeting was going on in the village of Birbhum, an elderly farm worker said,"My grandchildren eat at school at noon, so the portion of their food survives and we have a little more alliance at night".Professor Sen's embarrassment at that meeting gave an important indication.Should we not be ashamed of such a cruel attempt by human beings to survive biologically? Can there be a sense of decency in a time when there is a great cry for food among the citizens of our own society? Is it not our duty to arise an uncomfortable conscious emotion among us?
According to Gautam Buddha, shame is the basis of morality. But can we understand that shame is very important in our society too?Hesiot wrote, Society collapsed when the goddess of shame, Idas and the goddess of righteousness, Nemesis, left the earth and climbed the Mount Olympus.In fact, shame is an emotion which a person is constantly building up in himself to be a human being.In a letter to Arnold Rouge, Karl Marx said, "I'm telling you, if anyone doesn't even feel the pride of the nation, he must feel the shame of the same"
The veil of liberalism has fallen off now.The whole world is witnessing the most heinous form of dictatorship. The world has observed centuries before or after the epidemic.Then why don't we understand how hollow this patriotism really is? How perverted the nature of our State is? You can say that whatever comes of it? Revolution does not come from emotion.But I would say that a revolution is formed by combining the emotions of many. Shame itself is a revolution. We have to accept it with pain that there is a famine of shame all over the world now.
Inhumane lust for power is trying its best to discredit mankind by taking advantage of the ups and downs of history.A long era of humiliation is prevailing over Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, America India and throughout the world. Take our country for granted and look how we have been made spectators. The worldly dreams of the people have been defeated by a cruel patriotic fantasy.What used to be a nightmare is now a toxic reality which forces man to dance like a monkey.
Whether it is lockdown in the name of corona resistance, demonetisation ,persecution of dissidents, snatching human rights, rape, price hiking or life-threatening attempt of tribals, who remain outside the power circle, is very common scene to us now.On the name of patriotism, destitute people have to walk along the railway line, they have to give their lives in the line infront of banks, educated youths have to sit idle or to spent their life in protest movement to get a job or people have to stand in the line of vaccination,is it our destiny?What could be more shameful in a State where discrimination of people is done based on wealth? Isn't it a sin?
We may have taken up the Mid-Day Meal or ICDS project seeing child's malnutrition from a shame but they are also blowing somewhere, somewhere closed, somewhere irregular.To get rid of the shame of illiteracy in which country atonce Right to Education Act was enacted today there the basic education is ousting now without any hesitation.People are being reminded that what was his right,is now the gift of kings.The government is allocating monthly stipends to women, but the level at which people are being brought down to get that money is a reversal of the 'Kangali' phase.When Power commands to burry the shame of the heart in the core of heart, perhaps it is the utmost shame to expect comfort from them.We have to accept that we still have time to recover from that great terrible shame.We have to only feel the shame of the powerless as our own which was the achievement of humanity. Shame must be rebuilt. That is our duty and primary duty for now. Isn't it?
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