LITERATURE-LIGHT AND DELIGHT
73.PARALLEL KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS
Parallel Economies
Most of us have heard of the expression 'parallel economy'. It refers to the activities financed by black or unaccounted money. Its size and significance are variously estimated- usually understated by the authorities, and exaggerated by the critics. But no one is sure about what exactly it is and its magnitude. It has been joked that economists are trying to measure something, without knowing what exactly they are measuring.
But there is a parallel economy we know. In any city in India, we have the regular, glittering shops, selling branded ware, usually at dollar prices. This is one market. Just a few yards away, you get shops selling local brands, at much cheaper prices. This is the second market. Then on the platforms and in small shops in the corners, you get unbranded, cheap stuff. In Bombay we had another layer. In the Fort and Fountain areas, there were some good tailors with small shops. They stocked a limited range of good quality cloth from reputed mills. You choose the cloth, give your measurement and model- they would stitch your shirt and pant exactly to your measurements on the same pattern. It would cost roughly half of the branded stuff. This was another layer. These also represent a type of parallel economy.
Then we had some markets in some cities variously called Burma Bazaar, National Market , Singapore Shopping Centre,etc where you could get the 'phoren stuff' - whose authenticity no one could vouch for. This was another layer of the same phenomenon. Except the last one, all others were genuine, though quality varied.
While in Ahmedabad, I noticed another phenomenon. In the textile area, most mills had their own retail outlets. But most of the things there were stamped "seconds" or "sub-standard". I used to wonder. And shirting, suiting would be mostly in pieces cut to standard lengths , ready for stitching. Sarees would be in two pieces- selling at less than half the regular price. Later on, I came to know that these were the tricks of the trade, to tackle the usually corrupt excise dept.This is yet another layer of the parallel market.
And in Surat, I noticed another phenomenon. There were very good, big cine theatres, duly air-conditioned. But they usually exhibited old Hindi movies to thin houses. ( I saw Mother India, a 1957 movie, in one such theatre in 1979) I came to know that this was a method of converting black money into white: show a full house, pay the entertainment tax, and the proceeds become white! When the rulers become unreasonable, victims become ingenius.This is better than revolution. Of course, it is an open secret that the cine industry, like real estate, thrives on black money. The link is organic.
Thus we know several layers of the parallel economy. Like in many other things, we can trace the origin to a venerable Rishi- Visvamitra, no less. Once he was snubbed by Indra who denied entry to Swarga to his protege in his physical body. Enraged, he started creating a parallel universe. Somehow things were sorted out, but the things he brought into existence still survive: garlic and palm fruit are the two prime examples. Our authorities should have known- if you provoke intelligent people or govern them in stupid ways, you risk parallel systems. In any country, the people are more intelligent than the rulers.
Parallel knowledge streams
Like in governance, so in education. The establishment is dominated by vested interests. They spread their wings everywhere, plant their people everywhere. They ensure that only the officially sanctioned books and ideas are accepted. In the Catholic church, any religious book on their doctrine must have the 'Imprimatur' stamp of the authorised representative of the Church. So is in the great educational establishments of the West, and following them in India. Harvard, Chicago, Princeton- each has its own distinct line. In India, the Delhi School of Economics is leftist, our History depts are leftist ,etc.
But outside the universities, scholars debate and generate new ideas. Evolution is the accepted official doctrine in the universities. While one line of opposition to it comes from the Christian religious groups ( called Creationism, based on the Bible), another line is equally scientific and explore and expose the gaps and deficiencies in the official Darwin line. But such scientists are considered outcasts. They are not allowed to hold positions in the universities dominated by the orthodoxy. They are not even allowed to participate in seminars and allowed to express their views freely.
Parallel Economics
The same system prevails in economics too. Here the dominant official doctrines are either the so called market economics or the competing socialist economics. Both converge on the same basic ideas: massive exploitation of non-renewable natural resources, military-industry nexus, ever-expanding consumption, manufacture for transience,etc. The only difference is in respect of whether the govt or pvt capital will control resources, and whether people will be allowed to retain their income and spend on their won, or the govt will tax them and take off their income for their own expenditure. Today, technology is such that socialist systems cannot survive.
These two streams represent the economic orthodoxy which has captured and which controls the commanding heights of the academic world, and through it the political systems. However, they have not exhausted the economic wisdom of the world.
These orthodoxies rose in the 18th century. They are based on mere theoretical works, without any scientific foundation. They uprooted all earlier insights and arrangements, riding on the wings of industrial revolution and imperialism. But perceptive thinkers were aware of the deficiencies and bad effects of the system. If Scottish moral philosopher Adam Smith inaugurated modern economics with his "Wealth of Nations" in 1776, another Scottish philosopher and historian Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) for instance called economics"the dismal science"! He said famously: "Teach a parrot the terms 'supply and demand', and you have got an economist." Then John Ruskin (1819-1900) criticised the industrial capitalism and utilitarian theories and dissected the theories of Adam Smith,Ricardo, Mill- the rising science of political economy and pointed out how it adversely affected society's bonding. This resulted in a book of severe indictment, Unto This Last (1860) showing how this orthodox economics made large sections of the people suffer. This problem has not been solved yet! Mahatma Gandhi was greatly influenced by this book, and this inspired his own Sarvodaya movement- the welfare of all! The British Labour Party acknowledged him ( and not Marx) as the source of the idea of the Welfare State! However such voices were drowned by the rising tide of expanding industrialism and colonialism.
Orthodox economics is based on materialism- called by Gandhi worship of mammon, and utilitarianism. Both these bases have been shown to be hollow and harmful in the 20 the century, especially in the later half. First great philosophical and academic work was done by serious thinkers, and then great scientific work was done in several disciplines. It has been conclusively shown, on entirely scientific lines and bases, that indefinite growth based on non-renewable resources is impossible and an absurdity in a finite world. The disastrous ecological consequences have also been documented, not just speculated. The truly scientific minds now speak of sustainability, not growth as measured by fancy indices.
But it is the orthodoxy which still controls the establishment. The enormous amount of incontrovertible scientific work and impeccable philosophical-academic work is still treated as untouchable in the official circles and there fore available only through alternative sources such as the Schumacher Institute or the Herman Daly foundation.
This is how free the free countries are, and how free their universities are! Our own Amartya Sen is their stooge! Orthodox economics is not only dismal-it is disastrous, and idiotic.
Eurocentric View of History
It is well known that the conquerors write history. That is, they distort things to suit their own interests.
When Christianity rose and spread, it started as a secret society, with a limited following and were persecuted. But when they converted the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century A.D, it became the state religion, Constantine's army even adopting the cross as its symbol. Christians then started not only persecuting but eliminating all other faiths of the ancient Romans, calling them Paganism.They rewrote history to suit them.
This has been the standard since then. Wherever Muslims went, they converted the local people, eliminated the local religions. When the Spaniards and Portuguese went to South America, they massacred the local Indians and converted the rest, and destroyed all historical records and monuments. Only the ruins are left. The other colonial power- English and their descendants in North America did the same. Wherever the English went, they consolidated politically and the work of conversion was left to the missionaries, while all the facilitating groundwork - such as administration, education, economic adjustments, etc was done by the colonial powers.
In India this took the form of fabricating our history. They did not understand our scripture or its language or its chronology. But they engaged half baked scholars like Max Muller - who did not understand spoken Sanskrit- to translate our sacred books, with the view to vilifying them. They then believed that the world was created by God at 10 AM on 23 October 4004 BC! So all our dates were fixed by them on that basis.
They then did one more atrocious thing. Without any archaeological, literary, historical etc evidence they propounded the theory of Aryan Invasion, and arbitrarily assigned to it 1500 BC. They could not say where they came from but they came from abroad! Since they controlled the educational system, this theory was taught as the official truth. The free Indian govt has shamelessly followed this fabricated falsehood as established wisdom.
Yet every subsequent piece of discovery in every field has been disproving this theory! It is now admitted by most historians that there was no evidence of invasion at all! The much tom-tomed Mohenjodaro-Harappan Civilisation has been shown to be a remnant of the earlier,vaster Saraswati civilisation. The course of the Saraswati River, now dried up, has been photographed by satellites. Hundreds of ancient sites have been excavated on its banks! The causes of its disappearance have been determined to be geological and tectonic changes, resulting in the change in the courses of its tributaries- Jumna and Indus! The ancient and original city of Dwaraka has been discovered under the sea off the coast of Gujarat, and it has been established that it was submerged under sea by a tsunami-like phenomenon, exactly as written in Bhagavatam, Mahabharata and other traditional sources. The date, as determined by the marine archaeologists also tallies more or less with the traditional dates- around 3000 BC! Yet our govt, which has proclaimed SATYAMEVA JAYATE- TRUTH ALONe TRIUMPHS as the state motto does not dare to get these facts reflected in our history books but continues with the British lie and concoction! So this knowledge too is only available through parallel sources.!
The same position prevails in respect of religious studies- especially relating to Hindu religion.Every religion is interpreted by its own acknowledged, learned and trained scholars who are the actual followers. But in regard to Hinduism, there are any number of paper scholars who write about and interpret. Unfortunately, while many so called foreign 'scholars' at least know some Sanskrit, even if their knowledge is not complete or perfect, and their motive is suspect, most Indian writers do not know Sanskrit at all, have not studied the original sources but only the translation by foreign scholars!
The same position prevails in respect of religious studies- especially relating to Hindu religion.Every religion is interpreted by its own acknowledged, learned and trained scholars who are the actual followers. But in regard to Hinduism, there are any number of paper scholars who write about and interpret. Unfortunately, while many so called foreign 'scholars' at least know some Sanskrit, even if their knowledge is not complete or perfect, and their motive is suspect, most Indian writers do not know Sanskrit at all, have not studied the original sources but only the translation by foreign scholars!
Compensatory and Complementary Education
In a country where education is controlled by the govt and people are enslaved to it by its linkage with employment, and where that system of education does not reflect latest truths and findings, the only practical course open to enlightened citizens is to explore alternatives of voluntary education- what i have been calling compensatory and complementary education.
It may be that there is as yet no consensus among scholars on many issues. This is not unusual- even in the established orthodoxy. For instance, though evolution is taught now, it is not as Darwin explained it all through. There have been many variations, additions, amendments. And yet there are gaps. Perhaps there is complete agreement only on one thing - the name evolution! And scientists know that IT IS STILL ONLY A THEORY, NOWHERE CONCLUSIVELY PROVED!
In the same way, ARYAN INVASION WAS A THEORY WITHOUT PROOF!
If we have been teaching theories so far, why can't we say so openly and allow alternative theories also to be mentioned? This is what happens in every discipline. Is sound wave or particle? Are trade cycles due to psychology or sun spots? Both theories are found in economics! Is inflation caused by hoarding and speculation or are hoarding and speculation triggered by inflation? Should budget be balanced? Should food subsidies cut or be continued? In every such matter no two economists will agree- in fact they do not agree on most things and all theories and possible explanations are taught. Then why is the govt afraid to adopt the same stand in respect of our own history?
In determining our religious festivals we do not consult the govt. In tracing our true history from traditional sources why should we depend on the govt? In our Sankalpa for religious functions we recite our traditional history!
But we should do it professionally. This is where we fail. The orthodox circles use scientific jargon to promote and sustain untruth. We must adopt the same scientific jargon to establish truth. Mere sentiment or wish or good will will not do.
At least those of us who are not in need of govt. employment should become free of govt schooling. We have to create parallel facilities. Has not Visvamitra shown the way? Where is our new educational Visvamitra?
