Political Cultures.

The Political cultures of Developing and Developed Countries.

The concept of political culture was developed by American scholars like G. Almond, Sydney Verba etc. to analyse the political process of newly emerged developing countries after the Second World War. The concept of political culture refers to the values, belief and emotional attitudes of people towards various aspects of political system. Developing countries are those countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America who got independence from colonial rule and were on the process on socio economic-development. Though, these countries have adopted formal political institutions of developed countries or their colonial masters, their political culture displays distinct patterns in comparison to developed countries. First, according to Almond, developing countries have paroachial or subject political culture, where roles and structures are not diversified and citizens are more concerned with the output aspect of the political system. On the other hand, the political culture of the developed countries is a participant political culture. Second, in developing countries, as distinct to developed countries, the political culture is the mixture of modern values like democracy, rule of law, liberty and equality and traditional affinity of caste, race, family and religious values. In other words, the political culture of developing countries is not secularized to the extent of the political culture of developed countries. 

State politics in India.

Importance of State politics in INDIA

India has opted for the federal form of Government, in view of the size of the country and the nature of regional and cultural diversities found in India. At both the center and state levels, the parliamentary form of democratic set-up has been adopted. A historical overview of the operation of this arrangement shows that the congress, being the party of national movement, was a ruling party at both center and the states, till 1977 with few exceptions. However, since then the hold of Congress party has been weakening at states and regional or state parties have gained ground gradually; which imparted new dynamics in the state politics. This tendency has become more pronounced in late 1980s, having deep bearing on the national politics also. Some of the following points will explain the importance of state politics:- Rise of state parties and weakening of National parties. The practice of coalition politics at national level, where state parties have become king maker. Increasing tendency of regional identity based politics leading to demand of new states. The growing practice of bargaining between the state/regional parties and national parties.

Mercy Killing or not ?

EUTHANASIA:

“ Euthanasia means an action which aims taking the life of someone at his expressed request, it concerns an action of which death is the purpose and the result “. This definition applies only to voluntary Euthanasia and excludes the non-voluntary or involuntary euthanasia, the killing of a patient without patient’s knowledge or consent. Some call this “ life –terminating treatment”. Euthanasia or “ mercy killing ” is directly intentional killing of a patient with either their consent (voluntary), without their consent when impossible (non-voluntary), or without consent but not sought (involuntary). Many patients are in immense suffering and may be led to choose death as the answer by these ‘doctors’, friends or relatives. The culpability for the patient, in these cases may be lessened, but, this action of killing can never be justified. These patients, whether having an incurable disease, being elderly or suffering in other ways, are crying out for help and love. As humans we cannot always see the answers and for that reason, it is not we to decide about the death of a human being, GOD has not given us this authority. We must also ask ourselves concerning euthanasia, where it will end ? If we allow the elderly or the incurable to be assisted in suicide, what other groups will be given this ‘right’. Will the handicapped or mentally retarded be the next ? Will teenagers, who are the leading age group of suicide, also have this ‘right to die’ ? The answer rests in our hands, if we continue to disrespect human life and it’s creator, GOD, the we will destroy ourselves. A right is a moral claim and since we do not have a claim on death, which itself has a claim on us we cannot act for the right we don’t have. Perhaps Mother Teresa was right when she said that “ if a mother can kill her own child, what is there to stop you and me from killing each other ”.

Liberalisation in India.

LIBERALISATION

India’s serious efforts at economic reform had started in 1991, when Rao government initiated a fresh wave of reforms. Since July 1991, it devalued the currency and made it partially convertible; reduced quantitative restrictions on imports; reduced import duties on capital goods; cut a number of subsidies, including that on fertilizers; progressively liberalized interest rates; abolished production license for most of the industries; ease restrictions on repatriating dividends and royalties; established a partial tax exemption on profits from export sales; allowed a partial sale of shares in selected public enterprises; reduced restrictions on foreign trading companies; revised the system of personal income tax and so on. The years of reform showed creditable progress with the country recording a fast recovery from a deep macro-economic crisis. The growth rate of Gross Domestic Product recovered to 5.3% by 1992-93 from the abysmal 0.8% in 1991-92. In the next few years the growth rate averaged at around 7.5%--close to that of powered performers of East Asia. We in the year of 2006-07 became the second fastest growing major economy after China. Exports recovered and exports earnings increasingly paid for the major part of imports. The foreign exchange reserves achieved a respectable look. Encouragement to the foreign investment resulted in foreign direct investment increasing at the rate of nearly 100%.

          So far so good ! But how have the reforms affected the people? the masses? The ‘ average citizen ’ ? Critics of the reform, most of them from the Left, charge that the process being followed is anti-poor, that it helps only the rich to get richer. The major challenges before Indian economy are to increase the agricultural and industrial strength of the country. Beyond all these lies the character of the country, its people; our attitude to change and to work. Economic reforms cannot merely be a matter of policies nor can economic efficiency be an automatic product of the right economic policies. If India has to forge ahead, the power of vested interest and the resultant corruption in every field including--education--must be curbed.

Temple standing by 1000 years.

BRIHADEESWARAR TEMPLE

Chola regime and its committment to the arts and culture to the dream Temple:

A World heritage site “The Brihadeeswarar temple” standing still with its head high, and is celebrating its millennium birthday in year 2011. This temple is also known as Rajarajeshwaram, located at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, (South Indian state). It is the earth’s prototypal through granite temple and a glorious instance of the leading place achieved by the Cholas in temple structure. It is a gem in the crown of Indian heritage and culture and was built during the dominion of Chola King Rajaraja I (985-1016 A.D) The temple has got more deluxe and sculptures portraying the architectural achievements of the Cholas. There is also a resemblance of the reverend with his Guru, Karur, Thevar. The hulk has quintuplet definite storeys, each marked by a projecting balcony. The ordinal trey storeys are prefab of red sandstone, the 4th and ordinal of sandstone. A stone table inscribed with a lotus on the top has the Navagrahas (9 planets of solar system) sculptured on to its sides. A large Nandi mould constructed of blocks in the front of the pedagogue temple. Brihadeeswarar temple has a height of 65 meters and the tower over the privileged spot rises to a peak of 15 meters. Brihadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur has a 107 paragraph long inscription on the walls of the Vimanam records the contributions of Raja Raja Chola and his sister Kundavai to the Thanjavur temple. The temple stands within a fort, whose walls are later additions built in the 16th century. The towering vimanam is about 200 feet in height and is referred to as Dakshina Meru. The octogonal Shikharam rests on a single block of granite weighing 81 tons. It is believed that this block was carried up a specially built ramp built from a site 6 kilometeres away from here. Huge Nandis dot the corners of the Shikharam, and the Kalasam on top by itself is about 3.8 meteres in height. Hundreds of stucco figures bejewel the Vimanam, although it is possible that some of these may have been added on during the Maratha period. The Shivalingam - Peruvudaiyar, Rajarajeswaramudaiyar - is a huge one, set in a two storeyed sanctum, and the walls surrounding the sanctum delight visitors as a storehouse of murals and sculpture. The long prakaram surrounds the great temple (500 feet/250 feet), and the walls surrounding the prakaram again go back to Raja Raja Cholan's period. The walls house long pillared corridors, which abound in murals, Shiva Lingams and Nandis. The Periya Nayaki temple within the temple is a later addition from the Pandya period, and so is the Subramanyar Temple sung later by the Saint poet Arunagirinathar. Incidents from the lives of the Nayanmars, several of the 108 Bharata Natyam Dance postures, manifestations of Shiva (Aadalvallaan - Nataraja, Tripurantaka, Dakshinamurthi etc.) are depicted in sculptured panels or in exquisite Chola murals. Both the interior, and the exterior walls of the temple, are replete with images of the kind described above. The sanctum, the ardhamandapam, the mukhamandapam and the Mahamandapam, although distinct, form a composite unit with an imposing appearance that awes visitors, forcing one to wonder how such timeless architectural feat was executed about a 1000 years ago. Entrances to the Mandapams and the towered entrances to the Prakarams are majestic. The grandeur of the architecture and the sculptural finesse speaks volumes of the skills of the Imperial Cholas. Inscriptions refer to Shiva as Dakshina Meru Vitankar and Aadavallan. The Nandi, which dates back to the Nayak period, is housed in its own mandapam and it matches up to the grandeur and size of the temple. It is a monolithic Nandi weighing about 25 tonnes, and is about 12 feet high and 20 feet long.

History of Cholas: 

Raja Raja Chola I, was clearly the greatest of the Chola Monarchs. During his reign (985 - 1014 AD) he brought stability to the Chola Kingdom, and restored from obscurity the brilliant Tevaram hymns of the Saivite Nayanmars from obscurity. Raja Raja was a great builder, and the Peruvudaiyar Koyil or the Big Tmeple at Thanjavur was his creation. His son Rajendra Chola (1014 - 1044 AD) was a greater conqueror who marched all the way to the banks of the Ganges. This march was commemorated with a new capital Gangaikonda Cholapuram and another 'Periya Koyil'. Gangai Konda Cholapuram was the capital of the Cholas for about two centuries, although it is nothing more than a village now with this rather well maintained magnificient temple. 35 Kilometers from Thanjavur lies Darasuram, once known as Rajarajapuram - a part of the Chola's secondary capital of Pazhaiyarai. Here is the Airavateeswarar Temple built by Raja Raja II (1146 - 1173). It was during the reign of Kulottunga III (1178 - 1218) that the Kambahareswarar temple at Tribhuvanam was built.