Scientific, Practical, Inclusive, Indic: A Cultural Agenda For The Modi Government 

When Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India, both his supporters and critics were anxious regarding his policies for one sector– education and culture. His admirers monitored the activities of his government with expectations while his opponents scrutinised every move and gesture.

As a result this government has been extremely cautious on that front. This has led to its core constituency blaming the government for inaction and wasting the mandate for a precious three years. Not that the government has not acted, though. It has some very impressive achievements. For example when this writer visited the Keeladi archaeological excavation, the officials there acknowledged that the excavation was made possible because of the pro-cultural activities stand of the present government. An official from the department of state archaeology informed on conditions of anonymity that almost a crore of rupees has been allocated for a single excavation in Tamil Nadu by the Modi government and this is something that even the supposedly pro-Tamil state governments had not cared about.

However with some tactless bureaucratic transfers, the government managed to receive brick bats and bad press instead of the deserved accolades. Another retired archaeologist who had exposed the dubious role played by the leftist cartel in Ayodhya also lamented about the lacklustre activity in the cultural and archaeological sections.

So now, entering the penultimate year of the first term of the Modi government, what should be included in the list of priorities for the government in the fields of education and culture?

1. Promote Cultural Unity Through Linguistic Diversity

The Prime Minister has already pointed out that the state language curricula should promote Indian languages of other states. Talking to the people of Odisha, he spoke about the importance of learning Tamil.

The New Educational Policy paper hints at the need for North Indian schools to promote South Indian languages and vice versa. The government should evolve curricula which promote national unity through linguistic diversity. For example, each state can be given a choice of a regional language curriculum which shall culturally resonate with the state itself. The Central government should create a board of diverse linguistic scholars from all languages in India and make a syllabus of each Indian language for other Indian students emphasising cultural unity. Ideally this should have been launched at the very inception of the government itself. Nevertheless, it is better late than never. Such a curriculum at the school level will promote national unity better than a mechanistic imposition of Hindi.

2. Promote Scientific Reasoning Through Indic Knowledge Systems

Interestingly, during the UPA-II rule, in 2013, the CBSE introduced a new elective ‘Knowledge Traditions & Practices of India’ designed by the Indic scholar Michael Danino. The modules are richly illustrated, thought provoking and are inclusive of the diverse local traditions of India. However, so far no great progress has been made to enlarge the scope of these modules and create greater awareness of such Indic knowledge systems. This is an attempt that has to be distinguished from the vain speaking of past glories. The present government started with a bang when it made the mathematician Dr Manjul Bhargava its knowledge ambassador. After that, if any activity happened in that direction, it is not in the public domain.

Now, with two years to go, the education and culture departments should constitute a high level task force comprising of eminent scientists like Dr Bhargava, Dr V S Ramachandran, Dr E C George Sudarshan, Dr Fritjof Capra and philosopher-academics like Prof Makrand Paranjape, Prof Lokesh Chandra, scholars like Michael Danino etc. This force can create a module on the fundamentals of Indian culture and scientific enquiry. Strictly keeping away from ancient atomic weapons and flying machines, the curriculum should familiarise the student with the six systems of Indian Darshanas, the Buddhist and Jain systems like the Saptabangi etc. This should be created with local variations like emphasising Saiva Siddhanta in Tamil Nadu, Advaitic humanism of Sri Narayana Guru in Kerala etc. Again, this is a tough task with time running short. But if the present government accomplishes this then it would have done Indian culture a great service.

3. Popularisation of Indic Models for Social Emancipation: Sri Ramanuja to Dr Ambedkar

The view promoted by Marxism and colonialism that Hinduism is nothing but an oppressive caste system invented by cunning Brahmins, has become the reigning paradigm today in the realm of social sciences because it has been reinforced in textbooks, stories, op-eds and almost forced down the throats of the students for the last fifty years. The axioms of this view have been accepted almost unquestioningly. To change this, the culture department should challenge these axioms. When Narendra Modi tweeted about the editorial written by Dr Ambedkar on Sri Ramanuja, he did exactly the same. Starting from the Vedic and Upanaishadic times to present day, real social reformers who have provided a harmony-oriented Indic framework of reforms should be highlighted in the history curriculum.

The unquestionable acceptance of colonial and Marxist historical narrative, as in the case of the portrayal of Nadar society in the CBSE syllabus, has resulted in the wrong portrayal of many communities. Indigenous social reformers like Ayya Vaikundar who emancipated their people through Indic spirituality need to be highlighted and their lives and works need to provide the counter narrative. Taking into account the 1000th anniversary of Sri Ramanuja, ‘Indic social emancipation’ can be made as a special subject as part of social sciences curricula in all the states. The regional seers like Swami Sahajananda and Ayya Vaikundar in Tamil Nadu, Sri Narayana Guru, Chattampi Swamigal and Ayyankali in Kerala can be given prominence in those specific state syllabi.

A special ‘Sri Ramanuja Express’ which has an exhibition highlighting the message of abolition of casteism and promotion of universal brotherhood through the lives of saints, can be launched – taking the message specifically to areas suffering from casteism.

4. National Heritage Structures And Artefacts Database

An online database that classifies and records the presence/details of heritage buildings and artefacts of India can be created. This will help in prevention of smuggling etc.

The geography of India is dotted with spots where one can find the symbols of great achievement and advances of Indic architecture, sculpture, town planning, astronomy etc. One reason these are neglected is that beyond their local regions such marvels remain unknown. A national database of such structures and artefacts would ensure two things. More Indians become aware of noteworthy heritage buildings and artefacts outside their local sphere, and because there would be an official record of these in the database, the potential smuggling of such artefacts would become that much more difficult.