Boots on the Ground

They are not “boots on the ground.”
They are human beings in the killing fields.
Anxious.
They feel pain when injured.
They have kin and friends
who feel that pain in their loss.

And those to be “booted”
are human beings too.

Humanity can span the distances to the Moon and Venus,
Yet cannot overcome the chasms within.
It can look inside an atom,
Yet cannot see another human as human.

A person can connect, face-to-face,
with another anywhere on the planet,
Yet fails to see the other as human.

Why?

Unspoken Objective

What they leave unsaid is that war itself is the objective.

Niraj Kumar Jha

The Silence of the Sane

Madness grips the world, as it did in earlier times, but the absurdity at this stage of human advancement is astounding. It has recurred before, but it remained scattered and sporadic; it is now overarching. It is so disproportionately enormous and strange that it shocks all potential voices of sanity into bewilderment and silence. The voices we hear often partake in the mayhem rather than de-escalate or contain the mindlessness.

Niraj Kumar Jha

Justice without the Veil of Ignorance

The veil of ignorance grounds a flawed conception of justice. It cannot function without introducing a mechanism for control and delivery, and thereby limiting freedoms which democracy is meant to institutionalise.

Second, the idea assumes that individuals are inherently selfish and uncaring, yet paradoxically expects these very individuals to design mechanisms that better serve the most disadvantaged.
Third, a free society is marked by high mobility: opportunities are widely available, and people are generally able to make use of them.

Fourth, secure and free individuals tend, in general, to care for the disadvantaged voluntarily.
Fifth, in a democracy, the disadvantaged are neither voiceless nor powerless. They articulate demands that are often heeded, and at times, under populist pressures, they receive benefits even without explicitly asking.

A Universal Basic Income (UBI) scheme with embedded health insurance and education vouchers would address both long-term deprivation and temporary shocks, as well as the need for fantastic ideas.

 
The crux of the matter is that a free market generates constant social churn; the bottom is not a fixed condition, and, on average, people tend to move upward over time. As a country develops, manual labour or socially devalued jobs often command higher wages than lower-tier white-collar work. More broadly, as prosperity becomes widespread, people tend to look after those left behind without a theoretical mandate.

Niraj Kumar Jha

धर्मराष्ट्र भारत का संदेश

उद्दीप्त प्रज्ञा से उद्भूत
विवेक से सतत परीक्षित
धर्म वही है

 
सत्यान्वेषक
सत्यानुरागी
सत्यानुयायी
संवेदना से पूर्ण
स्वतंत्र चेतना से युक्त
जीव-अजीव के प्रति श्रद्धावनत
धर्मप्राण वही है

 
नकारात्मकता चिह्नित करने को उद्यत
न्याय का पक्षधर
दुर्जनों के प्रतिकार को सन्नद्ध
जो सज्जनहितैषी है
धार्मिक वही है

अंधकार के विरूद्ध अभियान है धर्म
अंधत्व से त्राण है धर्म
जिसकी दृष्टि निर्दोष
मस्तिष्क सजग निष्कलुष
धर्ममार्ग यात्री वही है

 
धर्मानुरूप हों
आस्था के वचन
उपासना की पद्धतियाँ
भारत का संदेश यही है

 
नीरज कुमार झा

ज्ञान : कतिपय स्पष्टीकरण

ज्ञान तभी ज्ञान है, जब उसे धारण किया जाए; यह भंडारण हेतु मात्र वस्तु नहीं है। ज्ञान आचरण में परिलक्षित प्रवृत्तियाँ हैं; सम्प्रेषण की निपुणता ज्ञान-अज्ञान से निरपेक्ष एक कौशल है। ज्ञान संवेदना और सौंदर्यबोध है; यह प्रभुता, धन या यश की प्राप्ति की युक्ति नहीं है। ज्ञान पीड़ा, वंचना, निरर्थकता, नीरसता, अन्याय और संघर्षों के शमन हेतु विज्ञान का संधान है; यह अन्यीकरण की योजना के द्वारा शोषण, दोहन और परपीड़न का उपक्रम नहीं है। ज्ञान, सहानुभूति और स्वानुभूति की क्षमता है; नाटकीय प्रदर्शन या मंचन में दक्षता इसके इतर एक कला है।

नीरज कुमार झा

Technology: The Most Real and Effective Equaliser of Human Beings

If we read human history with care, one of the most powerful forces shaping equality among human beings has been technology. Travel through the past, and inequality appears harsher, more rigid, and more brutal.

The first point I want to make is this: a scientific approach, though developed over time, aligns more closely with human curiosity than mere believing; history, in many ways, reflects this. Technology, as the usable form of scientific knowledge and endeavour, is a human extension and perhaps the most powerful medium of human liberation. Liberation, after all, is about human beings becoming more human.

It is true that technology gives an edge to its discoverers and early users and often remains concentrated for a time. Yet it rarely stays confined. Over time, its usage spreads, adapts, and resists complete monopolisation.

Take mobile phones with all their embedded features. They are among the most powerful instruments of empowerment ever placed in the hands of ordinary people. One only needs to pause and reflect to see this clearly.

One may even think of democratic elections as a kind of social technology, structured methods that make the idea of democracy workable at scale.

The reason for writing this post is that perhaps the most significant technology to enter common use today is artificial intelligence. It has the potential to reduce certain forms of intellectual and creative inequality among human beings by lowering barriers that once seemed immovable. With the help of AI, one can develop ideas into coherent writing, access background without excessive effort, and attempt creative expression such as poetry, art, and more that earlier felt out of reach.

At present, AI may still hallucinate, but with a little discernment, that can be navigated. Even now, it offers valuable ideas and information that might otherwise remain inaccessible.

This could facilitate another surge in democratic participation and expression, though its direction will depend entirely on how it is used.

The key takeaway, however, is this: common people must value science and technology, adopt them with eagerness, and demand more of them. There must be a wider awareness that science is not external to human life but an essential part of being human, and it must be pursued with greater seriousness and energy. This is good not only for the individual, but also for the community, the nation, and humanity at large. At the same time, people must remain conscious of its flipside, and actively think, discuss, and debate how its risks and distortions can be mitigated.

Internationally, the present moment may appear dismal; in reality, it is exposing hidden patterns and long-standing imbalances. It may well be the darker phase that precedes a new dawn. In such a phase, humanity can overcome its imaginative lag and move towards a new world that technology has already begun to foreground.

Niraj Kumar Jha