2. India since Independence

The latest United Nations Development Programme’s report has ranked India l27th among 177 countries surveyed on the composite index of a long, healthy life, literacy and gender equality. It is indeed a shameful record of independent India.

The report said that one in every 11 Indian children dies in the first five years of life.One in four girls and more than one in ten boys do not attend primary schools.

Although the rate of India’s economic growth from the 1990s has gone up to 6 to 7 per cent, the report said it has not translated into a commensurate decline in poverty. Moreover, as per the 2000-05 growth trends, "it will still the India until 2106 to catch up with high-income countries."

India’s population comprises roughly one-sixth of humanity but the country contains one-third of world’s absolute poor. India has the biggest illiterate population in the world although there was institutional commitment to abolish illiteracy by 1960.

Nearly 220 million have no safe drinking water. Nearly 600 million lack basic sanitation, creating constant threat of massive health hazards.

Nearly 130 million people have no access to basic health facilities. Deprivation is endemic, especially in rural areas, where three quarters of the population lives. The poor are low-caste, tribal, disabled, widowed. Most are landless and without assets.

The percentage of people living below poverty line, which in India means virtual destitution, is around 25 percent, it is claimed. Set against the population explosion - as 10 millions people are added every year - some improvements here and there mean little in absolute terms and the number of poor goes on increasing. India’s record would not look so bad were it East and Southeast Asia, starting from a similar stage of economic development have achieved much more during the same period.

All this is in spite of the substantial economic growth during this period in the major spheres of agriculture and industry and in spite of the technological and professional capabilities available in the country.

Economically, there are still two India’s, not one. About 15 to 20 per cent of the population have benefitted from the progress and the middle classes have swelled their ranks. But the vast majority has been bypassed by such social and economic development, as is evident from the prevailing unacceptable national levels of illiteracy, ill-health and poverty.

To enable and empower this vast submerged segment of our population to come up is the first aim and priority of socialists. Delay or failure to do so will not only cause further disillusionment of our people but also disruption and violence in the society.

Democracy and socialism are not ends in themselves. They are the necessary means to create the social-economic-cultural conditions in which the individual may develop in freedom and equality, rise above his or her own self and voluntarily act in terms of the good of all.

Without freedom there can be no socialism. Socialism can be achieved only through democracy. Democracy can be realised and fulfilled only through socialism.

These truths can be translated into reality only by the people acting together out of a shared consciousness.

The ideals of socialism is not founded in any dogmatic belief of a philosophical, religious or scientific nature, but rather in shared political objectives ,resting on common basic ethical principles. These basic principles are: freedom, equality, justice and solidarity.

4. Freedom

5. Equality

The principles of justice is the method to make real the freedom of every individual. It means preferential opportunity for the traditionally deprived and oppressed.

As a social right, justice makes sure that the jointly achieved social product is shared equally, bringing about a dynamic social equilibrium among the different groups in society.

The oneness of humanity is the accepted value of socialism.

Human solidarity, therefore, has to be consciously striven for, and not just assumed.

Solidarity expresses the belief that people can live together humanely, freely and as equals only if they feel responsible for, belong to and serve one another. It does not stop at national frontier and has a universal meaning and purpose.

Socialism gives institutional shape to solidarity, but at the same time recognises not only that individuals have to be socially responsible but also that the community is responsible for the well being of its members. Socialists reject individualism in the sense of each individual being solely responsible for his or her own welfare.

It is only through a feeling of responsibility towards the community, through compassion for our fellow human beings and through assistance rendered to those who are weaker than ourselves that the interpersonal relationships which form the basis of social democracy, can develop. Solidarity is also the strongest force in the struggle against injustice.

8. Combination of Basic Principles.

The basic principles of socialism provide a frame of reference for making public policy. The aim of policy must be concurrent development in all realms of human endeavours.

Democracy requires the right of more than one political party to exist and the right of dissent and opposition.

Democracy can be strengthened by democratic pluralism - through political parties, trade unions, consumers’ associations, communication media, trade bodies and other forum of public information, opinion and action.

The existing overlapping hierarchies of castes and classes, which compound social disability with economic deprivation, can be eliminated only through conscious promotion of a pluralist society with a distinct emphasis on equality, justice and solidarity.

The political system must increasingly make for participation by the people in the decision-making process and progressively lead to economic democracy. Participation, however, is not possible without power. A necessary condition for the politics of participation is the dispersal of political power. Its concentration in the hands of a few is characteristic not of democracy, but of rule by national elites, with or without the help of the military or foreign agencies.

Only when all the people participate in decision does it become morally binding on all.

Nothing enhances democracy and efficiency more than the release of local initiative by decentralising effective power. New and higher forms of local government and industrial democracy must be introduced and nurtured as political inputs for a participatory society and for preventing a bureaucratically-dominated society.

There is now a dual demand for increasing autonomy for regions within nations and also for widening cooperation between nations. Both these trends should be promoted as a supportive measure for participatory national and world communities. In a socialist society the autonomy of constituent states does not imply the weakening of the federal centre.

Socialism is international as it aims at the liberation of all human beings and recognises that no nation can solve all its economic and social problems in isolation.

The world movement of socialism has global obligations in the context of resource – sharing and working cooperation. These need to be defined and discharged through dialogues within the world community of socialists.

Equally, socialists recognise the maintenance of regional and world peace as a task of the utmost urgency. But the struggle for the preservation of peace is bound up with the struggle for freedom.

Socialism seeks to replace capitalism by a system in which the public interest takes precedence over the interest of private profit. It aims at substituting, through a process of public discussion and steady structural changes, the selfishness of capitalist profit- making by an attitude that comprehends economic activity as a deliberate service rendered to be community.

Socialists recognise the importance to step up the rate of economic growth, particularly in a low-income country like India, but they see equal sharing of the product not only as a cardinal principle but also as a stimulus for higher production.

The immediate economic aims of socialists are full employment through appropriate technology, higher productivity and production, a rising standard of life for the poor, social security and an equitable distribution of incomes and property.

The market economy dose not guarantee just distribution of income and wealth. Rather, income and wealth are distributed unjustly - due largely to economic and fiscal policies that have favoured large incomes and accumulation of capital in the hands of the few and have made it difficult for those without capital to acquire it.

Socialism would like to ensure:

- assured minimum incomes for all.

- upper limits to personal incomes and assets.

- equitable distribution of resources.

- greater public participation in and control of the use of technology.

- Wider dissemination of economically relevant information and knowledge.

Socialism upholds the principle of social ownership of means of production. The form of ownership in each situation should be determined by the need to restructure the economy in the interest of whole of society. The central problem is not only the form of ownership, but the total environment of work, the role of common worker in factory or firm and whether they are able genuinely to participate in the decision-making processes in the interest, not of the few, but of all.

No country has completely solved the problem of concentration of effective power, of decision rights, in relations to the means of production. However, some lessons can be learnt from the experiences in this country and also from abroad:

One of the first tasks of socialists is to make public enterprises yield the expected results, like meeting people’s needs, being a model employer and generating a net surplus.

The processes of domination in all their dimensions must be reversed to give work and production the character of a cooperative social activity.

The process of production must proceed on the basis of consultation and agreement at all levels. Productive work must lead to personal and social development. The role of workers in production must be radically redefined and they have to be properly educated to take appropriate decisions.

The social role of the means of production must necessarily extend to farming. It should be possible to achieve it through peasant holdings linked in a cooperative system of operation. This transformation must be preceded by effective redistribution of land assets.

The process of development becomes meaningless without a human focus. The implication of this in terms of social policy is that the first task of public funds must be to meet the manifold social needs of the vast deprived segments of the people - to assure their physical and mental well-being. In developing human potential of the country, the first priority should be the children and the youth. The proportionate outlays on education and health must increase many times the present depressing levels. Public policies in these sectors should aim at preventing ignorance, disease and disability, as well as alleviating the conditions of those who are already victims of these through poverty or by accident.

The economic policy of full employment and redistributive justice must be summoned to subserve the social aim of human development.

Large sections of the Indian people continue to believe in age-old superstitions and pseudo-religious customs. The country is still divided on lines of castes and sub-castes, religion and denomination, language and dialect, region and community. On top of all these are the continuing problems of inequality of women, dowry, slavish imitation of the trivialities of other cultures.

Some of the effects of this cultural degradation are:

- attributing higher value to man’s relations to things than his relations to other human beings.

- damage to authentic national cultural norms.

- Manipulation of cultural life for commercial purposes

- Making people superficial and passive.

- disregard to nature and its sustainability.

Socialism seeks to overcome the alienation of man in all spheres of life and to encourage self-fulfillment by building up a new and just society.

India having entered the industrial age, new forms of alienation comes on top of the old, particularly in urban-industrial complexes.

The principle means of this cultural transformation is educational.

In socialism, the equality  of educational opportunities and the wealth of options for self-fulfillment will create a variety of forms of cultural expression.

The principles of socialist education policy are:

- equal right to education for men and women of all social strata.

- equal value of physical and mental work.

- education towards social involvement, solidarity and emancipation.

- promotion of a scientific approach to problem-solving.

- education as a means of continuing education for everyone with differing talents and potential.

- meaningful relationship between general education and vocational training, between education and production, between school, workplace and community.

- preferential encouragement for all those who lack educational opportunities, particularly those who are bodily and mentally challenged.

The socialist idea, imaginatively interpreted and sensitively applied to the mind-numbing injustices of India, can provide the engine for a change in the present situation, where socioeconomic rights are in evident danger and when corruption, crime and social disintegration are very much with us. The way forward is socialist ideas and ideals and to put those into practice.

The rapid pace of globalisation is making the world smaller and more integrated. This has resulted in three important developments:

- no country in the world today can aspire to solve its diverse economic, social and political problems in total isolation and on its own.

- there are many lessons to be learnt from the experiences of other countries and to avoid the repetition of mistakes committed elsewhere and - there are some problem which cannot be solved without international cooperation.

The central international issue of our time is globalisation.

Two fundamental causes for globalisation are: a) the end of the cold war between the United States of America and the Soviet Union in the early 1990s resulting in the dismantling of two power blocs and the creation of one world and b) the international economy’s response to spectacular scientific and technological developments·

The globalisation of information, the economy, commerce and capital movement bring completely new opportunities with far-reaching implications.

The most notable features of globalisation are:

- The globalisation of information together with the radical changes in communications and the drastic reduction in time and distance has made it possible for instant contacts to be made to any part of the globe on any matter.

- The globalisation of the economy and trade is substantially altering the dimensions and structures of companies, markets, industrial relations and investments.

- Productivity is increasing, technology is breeding redundancies in existing jobs, while creating new ones, surpluses can be distributed unfairly, and the traditional concept of employment is changing.

- The globalisation of the financial system has brought about the exponential increase of short term capital movements, without an effective regulatory framework that would make them predictable.

- Since the 1990s, entire countries and regions have been subjected to a series of crises which threaten to spread and seriously curtail growth, earnings and employment in the areas affected. These financial crises clearly expose the detrimental deficiencies of neo-liberal doctrine.

The great paradox of this historical development is that never before has mankind had more possibilities of fighting the traditional problems such inequality, hunger, disease or lack of education.

Yet these opportunities are currently being used to increase and not urgently necessary to reverse this trend and thus put globalisation to work in the service of human progress.

In the neo-liberal and neo-conservative ideologies, consequent on globalisation, the fulfillment of universally accepted right such as the right to education, or health are no longer considered as political obligations. The public sector not only withdraws from direct control of industry, it further questions the responsibility to satisfy these recognised rights.

The challenge presented by the sanctification of the market as against its utilisation to serve the public interest, generates increasing problems in unregulated privatisation of the sectors delivering the traditional public services, such as communications, telecommunications, energy, transport thus generating inequalities of opportunities.

The optimisation of profits must not replace political obligations. The public authorities must promote an efficient market economy, while guaranteeing equal opportunities to their citizens, satisfying their universal rights, defending consumers against the monopolistic market trends. While making the social market model sustainable, There should be the possibilities of redistribution.

To abandon public monopolies wholly for the sake of private oligopolies whose only aim is to maximise corporate profits, could lead to serious inequalities which are starting to show in many countries, including India.

The fundamental issue we now face is not whether there will be further changes in future years, but rather who is going to control it, and how.

The socialist answer is that the people of the world who should exercise control by means of a more advanced democracy in all aspects of life: political, social and economic, providing greater equality and justice around the globe.

The challenge of global change opens up enormous possibilities:

- The widespread access to information and new technology can, if brought under democratic control, provide a basis for a world society, better suited to cooperation. It is obvious that a world family is no longer a utopian dream, but increasingly a practical necessity.

- The technological revolution can and should be used to preserve the environment, create new employment and provide the means to liberate people from routine work.

- On the basis of suitable humane democratic structure, freedom, equality, security and prosperity can be achieved within the framework of a democratic world order today. However, many current trends also give rise to unprecedented threats:

- Proliferation of technologies of destruction promotes a precarious balance of terror where there are inadequate guarantee for the security of human kind.

- The physical conditions for life on the planet are threatened by an uncontrolled urban and industrial expansion, the degradation of biosphere, and the irrational exploitation of vital resources.

- Hunger, famine and death threaten whole regions and communities in the South, even though the world has enough natural and technical resources to feed itself.

The rapid process of internationalisation and interdependence in the world economy has given rise to contradictions within existing political, social and national institutions.

This growing gap between the international economy and inadequate international political structures has been a contributory factor to poverty and underdevelopment of the South as well as to mass unemployment and new forms of poverty in many areas of the North.

A critical and fundamental challenge worldwide dimensions is the crisis of the environment. In both the North and the South the ecological balance is jeopardised. Every year animal and plant species are being exterminated while there is increasing evidence of a depletion of the ozone layer.

Since environmental destruction extends across national frontiers, environmental protection must be international. Renewable energy Sources and decentralised supply structures should be encouraged both in North and South. Moreover, there must be an international early warning system to identify environmental threats and catastrophes which cross national frontiers.

Without multilateral assistance and cooperation, poor nations cannot face these problems and solve them. Therefore, a substantial transfer of resources through development aid is essential.

The technological revolution through micro-electronics, robotics, weapon technology, bio-engineering is changing the circumstances of both of the individual and the structure of society in the world as a whole. Therefore, it has to be brought under social control in order to use the positive opportunities offered by new technologies for human kind and to minimise the risks and the dangers of uncontrolled development and to prevent socially unacceptable technologies.

What is needed is technology appropriate to different conditions, experiences and levels of development prevailing in the North and the South.

Experience has shown that while nationalisation in some circumstances may be necessary, it is not by itself a sovereign remedy for social ills.

Likewise economic growth can often be destructive and divisive, especially where private interests evade their social and ecological responsibility. Neither private nor State ownership by themselves guarantee either economic efficiency or social justice..

Modern socialism continues to advocate both socialisation and public property within the framework of a mixed economy.

It is clear that the internationalisation of the economy and the global technological revolution make democratic control more than ever important. But social control of the economy is a goal that can be achieved through a wide range of economic means according to time and place, including:

- democratic, participative and decentralised production policies; public supervision of investment and protection of public and social interest;

- self-managed cooperatives of workers and farmers;

- public enterprises with democratic forms of control and decision-making;

- democratisation of the world financial and economic system to allow full participation of all countries;

- international control and monitoring of the activities of multinational corporations, including cross-frontier trade union rights within such corporations.

In societies structured in this fashion, and committed to genuine economic and social equality, markets can and must function as a dynamic way of promoting innovation and signalling the desires of consumers through the economy as a whole. Market should not be dominated by big business power, and manipulated by misinformation.

The concentration of economic power in few private hands, must be replaced by a different order in which each person is entitled -as citizen, consumer or wage earner - to influence the shaping of the means of production and the conditions of the working life.

This will come about by the involvement of citizen in economic policies, by guaranteeing wage earners an influence at their workplace; by fostering open and accountable competition both domestically and internationally and by strengthening the position of consumers relative to producers.

The market system alone can never ensure the attainment of social goals of economic growth. It is the legitimate function of democratic economic policy to promote development which opens up future opportunities, while improving the quality of life.

To achieve these objectives on a global basis, it is imperative to establish a genuinely new international economic order. This must reconcile the legitimate interests of both industrialised and developing countries. A more equitable international economic order is necessary not only for reasons of solidarity, but also in order to create a more efficient, productive and balanced world economy.

The priority in the case of international debt must be to write off or capitalise the debts of the poorer countries. Institutional arrangements are needed to stabilise both the terms of trade and the export earnings of the countries of the south by stablising internationally supported commodity funds. The North must open its markets to the products of the south, and end its policy of subsiding exports from the North.

Employment should be created by investment in social services and in environmental reconstruction, as well as by public spending on the development of new technologies and on improving infrastructure.

The international challenges today is nothing less than the beginning of a new, democratic world society. We cannot allow economic or political blocks, or nations and private corporations to shape the political structure of the world as a mere by-product of their own self-interest.

Strengthening the United Nations is an important step in the direction of this new democratic world order. The UN specialised agencies like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UN organs like United National Development Programme (UNDP) and UNICEF have demonstrated that the governments and citizens of various nations can work effectively together in pursuit of common international goals.

It is unrealistic to assume that justice and peace can be legislated in a world of fundamental inequality where many millions barely cling to life, while a favoured few enjoy a standard of life beyond the dreams of most of their fellow human beings. Struggles in the original capitalist countries made gains in welfare and solidarity. Likewise the work of abolishing international inequality will be a crucial step forward on the road to a democratic world society.

The strength of socialist principles, the force of its arguments and idealism of its supporters will contribute to shaping a socialist future in the 21st century. All men and women around the world have a role in this transformation.

Netaji wanted to establish a socialist system in India which would serve the economic, social and political interests of the overwhelming majority of our people. At the same time, he wanted a world order based on the principles of equity and justice.

In the last fifty years of independence India has no doubt made considerable advance in many spheres of life and she is now considered as a significant force in world affairs..

However, it is still a long way to go create on India based on Netaji’s dream. It is our task, in collaboration with all like-minded parties, institutions and individuals, to make the arduous and uphill journey to transform India into a socialist society. It would require a lot of fresh thinking combined with countrywide organisation and relentless struggles in different spheres of our lives. What better slogan can we have today than what Netaji had coined: Unity, Faith and Sacrifice - unity among all sections of the Indian people for a common cause of socialism; unshakable faith in India’s destiny to make the most important contribution to world civilization and culture and the spirit of sacrifice for the cause of Indian people.

What could be a better mantra than ‘Jai Hind!’ - victory of India - which is not just a form of greeting, but is a goal - the victory of the Indian people.

Netaji said that "the highest virtue is to battle against inequity, no matter what the cost may be. The fight against injustice and inequality which stalks our land after fifty years of independence badly needs Netaji’s uncompromising spirit.

Only a revolution can change the current dismal situation - a revolution first in thinking, then in feeling and then in action. In all these spheres - in thinking, feeling and action - Netaji’s life and inspiring activities can provide guidance.

It is the right time in India for Netaji’s "ideas, ideals and dreams" to incarnate in thousands of Indian lives to initiate a fresh journey towards a new India, which will be based on, as Netaji wanted, on the principles of justice, equality, freedom, discipline and love.