A Christmas beyond Santa Claus

Merry Christmas! Christmas carols, goodies from Santa Claus, sumptuous dinners, interminable shopping and keeping up with the Joneses in the exchange of customary gifts have become the hallmark of Christmas celebrations. Asia, with few Christians, but whose economic prosperity has boomed in recent times, takes a lead in merry-making. Fun and frolic, concomitants of economic prosperity, are legitimate. In all this, however, we have moved away from the abiding values of Christianity. It is this which prompted British theologian, Don Cupitt, to remark: ?Christmas is the Disneyfication of Christianity.?

Among its more enduring values are forgiveness, tolerance and compassion. Tolerance is not another name for indifference, because discarding EM Forster?s view that ?it is a dull virtue, which is boring and, unlike love, it always had a bad Press,? it has rightly been described as the greatest gift of the mind; ?it requires more effort of the brain than to balance oneself on a bicycle.? As India?s economic prosperity also gathers momentum, it is appropriate to enquire if we are building a more tolerant and compassionate society.

We have a long history and tradition of tolerance and inclusion of different religions. This is manifested (notwithstanding some unforgivable aberrations) in acceptance of modern, cultural and linguistic diversity. In short, there is acceptance of differences and understanding of differences. There are, however, many other areas where tolerance can hardly be justified. Such as, say, rising income inequality and, more important, in opportunities between rural and urban areas, within cities, between men and women, boys and girls, upper caste and lower caste. The social barriers to economic egalitarianism impedes progress and compromises national dignity. So what has been our record?

Our record in bridging the chasm between these ?unforgivable tolerances? has been a mixed one. While economic growth is an essential requisite for improving life quality, it may not be adequate to usher a more egalitarian order. However, social engineering beyond a point may result in constantly redistributing a cake whose size remains static. In the end, there is no substitute to pursuing growth, while mindful that its fruits and gains also percolate to the poor and the disadvantaged. In recent years, we have certainly moved to a new growth trajectory, almost taking for granted that over 6.5% a year is in our pocket and happily talking of 8-10%, which should double per capita income in less than a decade and substantially wipe out poverty.

So far, however, our economic divides can hardly be overlooked. The per capita income of the country was Rs 11,799 in 2003-04 (1993-94 prices), but inter-state variations are dramatic?the per capita income of Haryana is Rs 15,721, which is four times more than that of Bihar, at a meagre Rs 3,707. The disparity between rural and urban income is also stark. The average monthly per capita expenditure in rural India is Rs 485, while in urban India it is significantly higher, at Rs 854 (NSS 55th Round, 1999-2000).

And, the disparity in per capita expenditure among different social groups continues to be significant. It is only Rs 387 monthly for scheduled tribes in rural areas, and a little more for Scheduled castes, against an average of Rs 577 for ?Others.?

The urban-rural divide on education is also a sharp contrast. The literacy rate in rural areas is 66% and in urban areas, close to 80%. The gender inequality on education remains significant. Male literacy in rural areas is 67.8% and the female one is 43.4%. The contrast becomes sharper for SCs and STs.

The contrast remains the same on other parameters of human development indicators, such as infant mortality rate, expectation of life at birth or the number of doctors per one lakh population. In fact, inter-state inequality, both on a critical human development indicator or infrastructure availability, also suggests widening differences. Per capita health expenditure in India is Rs 214, compared with a meagre Rs 76 in Bihar or Rs 91 in Uttar Pradesh. The overall per capita domestic consumption of electricity is 70 kwh, but a mere 34 kwh for the eastern and north-eastern regions.

Certainly, poverty has come down from the appalling levels of over 55% in the 1970s to a, still unacceptable, level of 26%. While the Gini coefficient of inequality suggests that inequality within rural areas has come down, it has increased in the urban pockets. Overall, levels of poverty re-main unacceptably high and, what is worse, there is sharp accentuation in regional divides.

Does our policy matrix suggest requisite compassion to wipe out these intolerable differences? More, is there civic involvement, volunteering and a philanthropic culture deep enough to evoke an adequate response? State initiatives like job reservations, education quota and unemployment guarantees which upset the ?merit order? to mainstream the disadvantaged are not an abiding substitute for overall societal response. We are reminded that ?No one is without Christianity, if we agree on what we mean by that word. It is every individual?s code of behavior, by means of which he makes himself a better human being than his nature wants to be, if he followed his nature only. Whatever its symbol?cross or crescent or whatever?that symbol is Man?s reminder of his duty inside the human race.? To nurture tolerance than apathy and evoke compassion than pity is a daunting challenge. A challenge that goes beyond the Santa Claus culture. It is always easier to keep holidays than commandments.