Chart a new course

The Maoist attack in Dantewada has brought out two opposing arguments.One argument focuses on a savagely unequal socio-economic reality where State neglect and exploitation have spawned a fearsome response.The other view argues that unless the State forcefully stamps out the Maoists ,all attempts at addressing development are futile .Yet there is a third view distinct from the noblesse oblige of a welfarist  argument that places charity at its centre and theBismarckian blood-and -iron argument of those who believe in matching militancy with militancy .And  that  is the argument of reform.The revolution of the poor is calling for reform  from the rich .The Naxal challenge ,however criminalised and politically motivated it may be ,is calling to us create a new social  contract based on a  partnership of the rich and the poor.
     The word "reform" so far is sadly identified with finance markets and the industrial sector.Instead,if we are to reinvigorate the idea of India ,we will have to widen the definition of liberalisation to mean a liberalisation of government,police,and a liberalisation of the way we think and live.Without reforming  the mind ,genuine liberlisation cannot succeed.How should an elite visualise itself in a country of the poor?As cornering the benefits of real growth for themselves and throwing sacks of grain or a few threadware alphabet books at the servants"?That's the attitude of zamindars,not democrats.