Democracy and fabricated values

By Manik Raj. Dated: 11/16/2017 11:11:52 PM

Morals and emotional appeals should not be the basis of Public policies

Finance minister Arun Jaitley defended demonetisation as a step that was "morally and ethically correct" and hence "politically correct". If morals can be justification for public policy then democracy is no longer a rational premise than to value based judgements.

Democratic setup is a rational premise. In today's form of democratic setups, governments are instruments (means) to achieve this end which need to be check through public consciousness, if subverted. It is obvious that any governmental policy has a moral and ethical dimension, but can it be a basis of justification for any public policy?
Finance minister Arun Jaitley defended demonetisation as a step that was "morally and ethically correct" and hence "politically correct". If morals can be justification for public policy then democracy is no longer a rational premise than to value based judgements. Democracy itself becomes a riddle under such circumstances. Whose ethics and morals are going to be the basis of public policy?
It is quite easy for regimes to govern on the basis of morals and values. To govern on scientific and rational ground one need to justify big policy decision on empirical basis, which are hard to obtain in any unequal system of governance. Empiricism denies anything linked with demagogues, spurious and hubristic. The Constitution of India is one such empirical and rational basis where everything is defined and so is the case of judiciary. The judiciary cannot (usually) go beyond the scope of an act because there is a defined limit. But there is no limit of anything based on moral and values.
For instance the term 'nationalism' is not defined in the constitution. There can be n number of interpretation each with different values. Of course the spirit of constitution convey a message for the kind of nationalism but it is not defined anywhere in the constitution as such. Another instance is the disclosure of information by the paradise papers which are based on empirical proofs. How far the government will take action over it is another story. Similarly other than nationalism these arguments can also be extended to the recent witnessed incidents of cow vigilantism, the debate of intolerance and caste atrocities etc.
It is seen that there has been an increased inclination of government towards moral based justification of large governmental policy and practices. 'Nation' has been a buzz word for such moves. It is similar to the connotation of a similar phrase that 'wars being fought on the name of peace'. JNU has witnessed the manipulation of such abstract morals. The 'JNU message' was lesson of 'fabricated values' of national versus anti-national. Also this kind of values got appeal from identity based politics and therefore one can see that recently identities are sharper than ever. It may be because the medium of mass communication (TV) are more advanced and more controlled than ever. It seems like these mediums are trying to create a 'new reality' may be an 'Incredible India'. But again people have already witnessed 'Shining India'. In this reference, in 1930s, Germany appointed a propaganda minister especially for this purpose.
Heading towards such a kind of democratic setup will end up with a paradox where populism is synonym to democracy. Big gatherings decide right and wrong in national interest. Mob rule is celebrated and lynch men exonerated. As said by Ashutosh Varshney that 'A conflation of mobs and democracy only leads to frequent vigilante violence, an undermining of the press and judiciary, and a weakening of law-based governance'. Would that be good for a country?
There is no doubt that hunger, health, unemployment, poverty etc has an objective base. The world wide uneven economic distribution of wealth too have an objective base. Whereas states across the world have failed to address this objective base problems. They do not have a justifiable answer to this problem and therefore populist politics cover-up the space. Identity and populism based politics has an inherent tendency to cover this objective base by creating a virtual reality based on moral and ethical appeals as advocated by Finance Minister.
Democracies based on identity appeals cannot survive long. Identity appeals do require empirical evidences to survive longer. No doubt, democracy as a form of government is a young concept but it cannot be survived on the basis of fabricated values. It requires a scientific and rational basis. Therefore public policies to promote moral agenda always meet fate of poignancy like demonetization.
*(The author is a Research scholar, Dept. of Public policy and Public Administration, Central university of Jammu)

 

Video

The Gaza Crisis and the Global Fallout... Read More
 

FACEBOOK

 

Daily horoscope

 

Weather