Note:
- I have assumed that people following "My life my rules" principles have an Individualistic bent of mind contradictory to collectivism.
- Though many groups work for the social welfare of the Bodos, only ABSU is mentioned.
Dissection and attributes of this style of thinking
Technically speaking, this ideology advocates full
independence of personal thought process and freedom to choose and set the path
and direction that an individual
perceive to be the best and most natural way of accomplishing his/her economic,
educational, social or spiritual/religious pursuits and aspirations. The DNA of
this line of thinking can be traced back to western philosophy. In the Indian
context, the ethical and moral justification of such ideology is fair and good
as far as it remains a constructive social phenomena where questions of
social/moral degradation seldom come to the picture, but as this philosophy boils down to
individuals its inherent flaws become conspicuous. Because, individual may not possess
the complexity in his/her thinking process to deal with social/moral issues pragmatically.
To incompetent and simplistic individuals, it would only mean access to
short-term euphoria and freedom from responsibility. It will basically
contradict the very purpose for which individual freedom is granted. In a
nutshell this philosophy upholds only in society where education and skill has
already reached its zenith. Hence, taking into account the Indian educational
and social development scenario, "Our life, Our rule" can serve the
purpose much better.
This school of thought can be attributed to the western capitalist model
of socioeconomic development where individualism is valued over collectivism. Incessant
bombardment of campaign for individual freedom and independent thinking by
western as well as domestic media seems to have paid off and has shaped various
social and personal aspects of contemporary Indians as well as Bodo society.
Competency level and economic affluence has the biggest role to play when it
comes to shaping individual career growth which in turned determines the
dynamics of every society. However, India has the mixed socioeconomic
structure in which both the Individualism and collectivism ideology has a role
to play.
Personally, I believe that the decision and choice in terms of economic,
educational or religious inclination of an individual should be given full
autonomy and respect. However, when it comes to decisions pertaining to
morality, family and social values, the indigenous/domestic social framework
should get the upper hand. The dichotomy emerges because of misalignment of
western ideology with the cultural values and tradition of the Indian society. It’s
like mixing oil and water. Since, the Bodo society has affinity towards
Indianness, Indian standard of morality should be regarded as the benchmark.
That would not include revival of evils practiced during the dark times of
Indian history which was plagued by caste based disparity and some form of misogyny.
Due to globalization, there is proliferation
of western culture and it has penetrated each and every aspects of an
individual's personal life. Western culture is good as far as it endows us with
competence and skillset to challenge this competitive world, but it comes with
a price. That price can be gauged in terms of loss of indigenous local culture.
In order to cope up with the advent of superior western culture, there is the
trend among local culture to assimilate with western culture. It is noteworthy
that it is never the case that two cultures cannot be reconciled and merged
into a hybrid culture that can be appealing to youths because of its modernity
and at the same time retains some of the ancestral traits. However, problems arises only when there is invasion of culture, be it real or perceived.
Prevalence of collectivism in the Bodo society
Since time memorial, the greatest industries
of the Bodos have been the agriculture. It can rightly be attributed to as the
backbone of the Bodo economy. In order to optimize the agricultural harvest,
the Bodos developed a unique social system in which all the members of the
village engaged themselves into the work upon the plot of land owned by a
single household. This process is repeated from one plot to the other until all
the plots entitled to the village are harvested. This system of engaging entire
workforce at a single plot at a time is known as "Hal Jangkra".
Henceforth, there is a formal social gathering and merry making called the
"Sauri-Janai" which is accommodated by "Jow" or rice bear.
This mutual co-operation co-opted by the Bodos eventually lead to advancements like
construction of embankments for the purpose of irrigation. The Bodos because of
their ingenuity in their social system could flaunt all-season availability of
water in their paddy-fields. All this is the testimony to the tendency of collectivism
among the Bodos, without which the Bodos certainly won't have achieved its
current stature. It won't be wrong to assume that collectivism works best in
case of Bodos. In the 21st century context, some elements of collectivism still
prevail among the Bodos living in both rural as well as urban areas. In-fact,
it is instrumental in maintaining cohesiveness among the Bodos. If this cohesiveness
did not have existed, Bodos in terms of cultural and economic integrity would
have been exposed to the brute and formidable often merciless forces of Darwinism,
i.e., survival of the fittest. A mere century would have been sufficient to
obliterate Bodo culture and identity to oblivion. This prediction was in-fact
given by Rev. Sidney Endle almost a century ago. However, contrary to the
belief of Rev. Endle the Bodos set a different course for themselves and it can
be rightly attributed to collectivism spirit among the Bodos.
Ground swelling of Individualism among the Bodos and its repercussions
Though it can be said that Bodo society still
largely adheres to collectivism, but due to factors like cross-cultural
interaction, advent and appeal of western culture among the educated Bodo
masses, collectivism spirit is dwindling among the Bodos and individualism is
gaining its momentum. I may reiterate once again at this point of juncture that I do
not advocate that collectivism among the Bodos should be preserved in its
purest and antique form. However, collectivism of softer version should be
imbibed in our culture. Softer version in the sense that decisions related to tricky
social/moral issues that are subjective and intricate in nature and of course
decisions on issues that has long-term implications and relevance to the Bodo society should
be taken collectively.
The rationale behind inapplicability of western concept individualism in
the Bodo society is that Bodo society is on its transition from a
backward agricultural community to Industrialized society and this transition is
still on its nascent stages. Sudden and aggressive proliferation of western version of individualism
will destroy the integrity of our social structure and social bonding amongst the Bodos and hence, exacerbate the ongoing socioeconomic and political imbroglio of the region. Organizations like All Bodo
Students Union have been playing a very significant role in watch-dogging the
"Abuse of privilege" among the Bodo youths in the name of individual
freedom.
Conclusion
India accommodates and protects the economically weaker section
of the society by granting special rights and privileges to them, which is actually the fallout of the socialist ideology where
preference is made on the basis of "according to need" rather than
"capacity/ability" in the capitalist model. The Bodos are not even
able to fully capitalize on the benefits of reservation and quota systems
facilitated by the Indian government. The Bodos will be overwhelmingly
disadvantaged if India were to abolish its reservation policy because Bodos are
numerically insignificant. After all, competition would be reduced to the game
of numbers and we would be at the receiving end. Bodos represents merely 0.02%
of 1.2 billion total Indian populations and it would have been a ridiculously
unfair competition anyway.
It should be well understood that the current position we hold is due to
the combined and mutual efforts among the Bodos which would logically call for
collectivist bent of mind which in turn would essentially limit Individual
freedom in certain sphere of decision making. We Bodos would have to think as a
group not as an individual when it comes to certain areas of decision making.
And while doing so, we must reduce our own intra-group barriers in the name of
religion and political affiliation. It is worth mentioning that some form of
demarcations still exists among the Bodos themselves. Individualism accepted
without being able to fully comprehend its implications or understanding its
pros and cons could lead to social chaos and uncertainty among the Bodos.
Giving full individual freedom would make the
moral/social monitoring bodies like ABSU irrelevant. However, any sensible Bodo
would be able to point out what catastrophe would befall upon the Bodos if such
organizations were to be dissolved.
Possible negative fallout of cent-per-cent
grant of individual freedom among Boros are-
- This could lead to flocking of Bodos in thousands to metro cities and engaging in flesh trade,
- Aggravation of alcoholism among the youths,
- Stagnating of educational standards,
- Social chaos.
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