Daily The Hindu Editorials Notes – Mains Sure Shot (10/09/2019) for UPSC/IAS

Note: There was another article on 10th September that was left to be covered titled, ‘Development matters, but so does identity’. We are covering it today.

Question – In the context of Jammu and Kashmir, the revocation of article 370 has unleashed a lot of debates and one among it the debate on identity. Analyse this in your own way.(250 words)

Context – The debate on economic development and peace in Kashmir.

What is identity?

• Identity is basically a ‘sense of who we are’.
• An identity can be of many types: gender identity, age identity, spiritual identity, class identity, national identity, regional identity and personal identity.
• It plays a major role in shaping our behaviour. For example, when we identify ourselves with a particular gender we shape ourselves to that. Or similarly, when we identify ourselves with a particular religion we attach ourselves to it, or when we identify ourselves with a particular region, we feel a sense of oneness with other people belonging to the region and pick up the uniqueness of characteristics.

The case of Jammu and Kashmir:

• It is generally claimed by materialist theories that once ordinary people benefit from economic development, they automatically set aside issues related to their identity.
• Nehru, for instance, is believed to have assumed that as India makes economic progress, religious identity would matter less and communal conflict would disappear.
• Presently,  the government’s claim on Jammu and Kashmir shares the same premise that if the people of Kashmir are given an economic package, prospects of more jobs, better healthcare, high-quality consumption goods and they will forget their specific identity and assimilate peacefully with the rest of India i.e. ‘Development’ shall trump identity.

But is it so?

• Economic development satisfies a person’s material instincts but a man is much more than just that.
• Though man is a biological creature with basic material needs but we are also expressive creatures, image-builders, story-makers, concept-inventors, and so live in a world saturated with images, representations, myths, stories, and philosophies.
• Over thousands of years, multiple imaginary worlds have been fashioned in us, each of which are different for different societies. These imagined narratives shape our needs, for example material needs, making them complex, elaborate and distinct. The worldview of no two societies are completely similar. Similarly, all human beings do not have the same food and sartorial preferences. They design their houses differently. They even use their bodies and tongues differently to communicate with one another.
• So in short our material needs/instincts are also shaped by the imagined narratives that we share by birth with a particular community, region or nation. One person’s material need cannot be the same as another person from another community.
• Moreover, humans also think, they reflect about the world around them and develop a sense of who we are, a sense of where we stand in this world and what stand we take on it. The answers to these questions are shaped by culturally mediated (influenced) material needs that are put into us right from childhood like what we eat, what we wear, the position of women in the society and so on.
• So in short we cannot lead a life merely on economic satisfaction, to lead a proper life we need a proper framework of culture and ethics. And we also cannot live a life without people with whom this framework i.e. the community with which we identify.
• And identity can be dangerous when identity-related issues invoke fear among a group. They are ready to die and kill for it.

Conclusion:

• So the government must be very careful while dealing with issues that relate to the identity of a community. For example, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Bengali, Assamese and so.
• Modern socio-economic conditions require states to take care not only of people’s material welfare but also their identities.
• There is also a thing called ethno-nationalisms that insist on one state for every monocultural identity like ike Bangladesh for Bengalis, Punjab for Punjabis etc. in this scenario, the modern state has to maintain a balance.
• The most viable option for this is a decent federal system that allows a great deal of political autonomy to distinct cultural groups, protects important common (national) interests and enables fruitful encounter of regional cultures. Disturbing this federal arrangement for the sake of a simplistic idea of unity is not a smart thing to do.
• It might pave the way for prolonged conflict and conflict endangers development.

Way forward:

• There is a need to be more sensitive in dealing with identity issues and keeping all aspects in mind while taking any necessary step.