Seminars
Wednesday January 12 2005 08:27 IST
By Karmayogi
Many people are
genuinely sorry about wasteful seminars at the national and international
levels. Surely there is more than a grain of truth in it. It is often treated
as an academic holiday. The success of a seminar attendance sometimes depends
upon the holiday resorts close to which it is arranged. Still, it is a fact
that all the ruling ideas of the world today originally came out of such
seminars. Or
they gained currency because one such seminar endorsed them. Though the
greatest of world wars were fought in the 20th century, military generals
'ruled' de facto in the previous 19th century. No major idea was
evolved in the 18th or 19th century in a seminar; it was given to the world by
men of action as a precipitate ACTION.
Gender equality, sustainable development, job-led growth, human rights, rights
of the invalid, civil rights, Food Security, population control, right to
water, conflict resolution, and a host of other ideas now rule the world. Each
of them owes its birth to a notable seminar or a caricature of it. There was an
international conference on education in Bhubaneshwar recently where 18 nations
participated. Many progressive ideas were discussed in the various sessions.
Some exchange of gifted students was arranged. One idea this conference considered
with approval was self-education, otherwise known as home schooling. Already
this idea and practice are popular among those progressive parents and
promising students. Should it come to stay as a way of education later, this
seminar would have played a seminal role in it.
Every movement is preceded by an IDEA; every revolution was given birth by an
IDEA circulating in the world. Right to food is one such idea. By advocating
this idea, the sponsors of it are unaware they are sowing the seeds of a Revolution,
the scale of which the world has not witnessed. Right to food and right to
water are catchy slogans already. By implication, they are voicing the Right of
MAN, the individual. Man has the right to vote, he has the right to liberty,
right of assembly, right to express his opinion and enjoy many other rights.
Still, he does not have all the rights that are his due. There are rights
granted to him by the government or society as a concession, perhaps in the
spirit of condescension or charity. Only when he emerges as an individual,
asserts his presence, comes forward to TAKE his rights as his birthright, not
as a matter of consideration, will he come into his own RIGHT. And such an idea
will be born in one of these meaningless seminars.