“Thou hast wronged me………………Verily, I would be even with thee, if I had only the power.”

Achilles to Apollo







Let us empower the powerless in this country to make this country great. We have the National Human Rights Commission which is doing its work with diligence. Most literate people seem to know their rights and some of them know only their rights, but very few people in this country seem to know their obligations (duties) to society or to their fellow human beings. They go about their daily work as if the whole world belongs to them to use and abuse even at the cost of their fellow citizens. Under the circumstances we urgently need the NHOC. In many respects this is of greater need than the NHRC. Only one example is sufficient to drive this point home before we go into the need to have the NHOC. Let us take the police in J&K or the Punjab of the olden days when militancy was at its height there. I do not think any one of us, least of all the members of the NHRC would want to be at the firing line of the militants exposing them to near death situations. If we get into the shoes of the defenders of our rights even for a minute, as they are also human beings with the same emotions and passions, we would soon realize that they might make mistakes as all human beings are fallible. Per chance, they make any mistake, even they realize and apologize, and we still seem to be wanting to send them to the gallows. We do not utter a word about the militants and their abettors forgetting their obligations to society. Militants could do anything and get away with it but the police and the army personnel are at the receiving end from the politicians, the public and the law of the land for minor lapses on their part. I am not for minute condoning excesses, but only pleading on behalf of those that guard our borders and our lives against all kinds of terror in the name of nation, religion, race, region, language and what have you. It is time that society stands up and speaks the truth on behalf of those human beings who have to leave their loved ones far away and be alert on our behalf all through the day and night. They have to be successful one hundred percent of the times but the militant has to be successful only once. Even if the defenders of our safety let their guard down for a few minutes they are running the risk of losing their own life and that of their unsuspecting countrymen. That is a great risk they are taking.



Human Obligations Commission must have enough powers to see that the defaulters are brought to book and punished adequately. The defaulter might be an ordinary citizen, a minister, a public servant, any one that lives on the tax payers’ money or, even a jurist-judges of higher courts not excluded. No legal immunity to any class should apply to an offence under the NHOC act. Judges should come under the jurisdiction of the NHOC as all human beings are fallible. The fact that one happens to be a judge does not make him any different. All should be equal in the eyes of the law. No one in the country should be above the purview of the NHOC. Obviously, the people who man the commission must be people of impeccable record of goodness. They should be human and humane. They need not be jurists or bureaucrats. They should be sworn humanists whose heart would bleed at another’s sorrow. The people chosen to man the commission should have an open hearing about their integrity and moral caliber-social humanism. Before they are being interviewed for the job their details must be published in national dailies for the common man to submit any documentary evidence against them. The membership could be limited to ten to begin with: one among them, by turns, becomes the chairperson. The appointment committee of the members of the NHOC should include the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India, in addition to three other eminent citizens whose credentials are perfect. The idea of having three non-officials in the appointment committee is to see that the officialdom does not have any special say in the ultimate choice.



That said, I must hasten to define humanism. Humanism is an ambiguous word and needs an explanation lest it should be mistaken in the above context. It is a very scholarly expression, first introduced into the official language of the French University in 1808 by Pierre de Nolhac, the author of Petrarch and Humnaism, in his course of lectures at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes. Up until that time the term humanist was only being used by a group of people who called themselves by that name in the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Humanism does not confine itself to this narrow definition of a humanist. “The name humanism can be applied to an ethic based on human nobility. Turned towards both study and action, it recognizes and exalts the greatness of human genius and the power of its creations, opposing its strength to the brute force of inanimate nature. What is essential remains the individual’s effort to develop in himself or herself, through strict and methodological discipline, all human faculties, so as to lose nothing of what enlarges and enhances the human being,” wrote Michel de Montaigne in his celebrated book The Essays. It is akin to the philosophy of Goethe of “reaching towards the highest form of existence.” Humanism is against anything that neglects humanity. In this context the word is very apt to be applied to the new concept of the NHOC. This latter must strive to get the best for all citizens of the country- real humanism, nay social humanism.



A quick survey of what happens in this country would make the reader realize the urgent need to set up this commission. A microscopic minority of us pays the income-tax. Most of us would want to cheat others, if possible forgetting the great Indian culture of not doing anything that one does not want the wide world to know. The powerful take the voiceless for a ride in the name of adult franchise; professionals take the common man up the garden path giving him all kinds of false assurances about his welfare-be it the medical, legal or any other profession. Business community does not spare any opportunity to get bigger profits even if they know that their efforts are harming humanity at large-alcohol, tobacco and, the pharmaceutical lobbies are at the forefront in this effort. False claims are made about most of the day to day consumables by the industry which is driven by only one motto-make hey when the sun shines. The unions take on the employers while the latter ignore their basic obligations to their workers. Students are misused by politicians to better their prospects resulting in students losing out on their studies. Rampant corruption has eaten into every single arena of human effort in our country which has the dubious distinction of getting the second rank among Asian countries for corruption! Education has been transformed into a business by the unscrupulous to make money. The so-called educationists are the biggest looters of the country next only to the politicians and their henchmen. All these and much more could come under the purview of the NHOC to be set up. This might not be the final solution to the problem of man forgetting his obligations to society. May be we will have to change our primary education system to inculcate these humanistic values to the young minds for a brighter India of the future. I have contributed my small part in writing two small booklets for the children in primary schools which effort has been blessed by pour President, HE APJ Abdul Kalam, a great humanist himself.



“Say not, this is the truth.”, rather say “this is a truth,” wrote Kahlil Gibran in his celebrated book, The Prophet. NHOC may not be the truth but it certainly looks like a truth for the present world to change for the better. Time is running out and we will have to look into various options to bring man back into his true self of living for others on this planet: “Paropakaaraartham Idam Shareeram.” Incidentally, this aspect of human behavior has been found to be the basis of good health by even modern medical research. Live for others-live and let live-you will live happily as long as you live is the motto for good health. It is not what we do or eat that kills at the end of the day, but it is what eats one (your negative thoughts) that kills. Let us strive to make this world a better place to live in and replace the present scenario of man eating man to that of man loving man. Biologically every cell in every living organism would want to fuse with other cells of all organisms as a large single cell mass-the syncitium but for the immune system given by Nature to every species to keep us apart. Let us work together with love to make this world GREAT PLACE TO BE in. We need not go to the moon or mars to live. Let us try and go over to our neighbors’ drawing room with a genuine smile on our face and sip a cup of tea there. That will be a great day indeed. That needs every one of us to know our social obligations.