Our Future: March 2006 Archives

It is a paradox that the two most populated countries in the world -- China and India -- which together have some 2.3 billion people, are running low on young women. That's because both China and India traditionally value boys more than girls. Modern technology has made it possible to identify the sex of an unborn child and to abort it if it is a girl. Other female babies are quietly disposed of after birth. That could mean long and lonely bachelorhoods in the near future for millions of men unable to find partners.

By society ordinarily we mean a collective body of men and women, but the innate spirit of the word 'society' is not this. Samája or society in the true sense of the term implies an action of moving together (Samánam' ejate). We come across groups of persons in buses, trams and trains moving together; but this occasional movement cannot be termed society either. Being inspired by a common ideology, when different individuals move towards the common goal and become active for its achievement, this can be called a society. The appropriate English equivalent for Samája should not therefore be society. Social advancement, which is a type of social action, means that the tie of mutual unity among the persons moving together has become strong.

Prout's approach is that the medium of instruction from primary to tertiary level should be in the local language. The sum total of human expression is culture, and language is the best medium to express human culture. While different groups should encourage every language, each unit should use the local language to inspire self-confidence and self-respect amongst the local people. Encouraging a positive cultural identity is an important ingredient in the development of the local area, and is an essential factor in generating a sense of affinity and unity amongst the people.

Every living being has its own inherent tendency to express and symbolise. In the evolutionary process of creation, where higher species have evolved, living beings try to express their feelings by gesture, posture or by some sound. In a general sense, this acoustic expression of ideas is called language.

QUEVEN, France -- Day and night on France's windy western coast, Radio Kerne transmits a bright mix of music sprinkled with local news. It is a new station run by young people for a young audience -- but with a difference. Most of Radio Kerne's operators are volunteers, working with the zeal of missionaries. Their preferred music comes from bagpipes and flutes. And they broadcast only in Breton, a Celtic language spoken for more than 2,000 years that until recently seemed doomed to disappear. "Saving the culture of Brittany is very much on people's minds," said Isig Flatres, who is the manager of the station. "This generation is no longer embarrassed about speaking or being Breton."

While we are all aware why we do not have peace in south asia, there is a paucity of explorations on how to create a better future. The lack of peace defined as both individual peace (inner contentment), social-psychological peace (how we see the Other), structural peace (issues of justice, particularly territorial justice) and epistemological peace (toward a plurality of ways of knowing) are among the major factors contributing to poverty in south asia. Government expenditures in each nation, especially India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka go for military purposes and not for education or health. Every time a positive economic cycle begins, yet one more confrontation sends military expenditures higher. Few, except military leaders and a few corporations (mostly foreign), benefit from this escalation.