Hope for India are its leaders

It was on August 15, 1947 that India got Independence from more than a century of British rule. India and many other countries that were colonized suffered severe economic, cultural and spiritual decline. The British used all tools to break the back of the spirit of the colonized people. In their drive to exploit and maintain economic and racial superiority, they have destroyed all life supports of the colonized people. As I read the autobiographies of Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, I realized how generations of people suffered racial discrimination and unfathomable suffering.

Economically India had a fine fabric and cloth industry before the British occupied.  The British would export all raw cotton from India to England and then sell the finished products to India in return making huge profits and killing the local industry. All kinds of injustices were levied. The people have borne all these suffering for a hundred years and at last under the leadership of great leaders selfless like Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak, Nehru and many others, the country got independence. This was only sixty years back. Just imagine the jubilations on the independence day and the aspirations of the people of free country. I am sure every one aspired for a country where inequality and other injustices will somehow end and people will come to realize their brotherhood and humanity and reject communal-ism and other narrow mindedness.

On this momentous day the first Indian Prime minister Nehru asked,"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.

It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again.

The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?"

We have made great strides in science and technology, revived many life streams for proper functioning of the country. We have a proper functioning democracy where people are free to choose their representatives and hope to see their aspirations and hopes realized. But the culture and the spirit of the people which was deeply injured could not revive soon. For a culture to revive we need good education and government services that can kindle and empower the spirit of the people. Still India is poor. Vast majority of people do not have access to any education and health care, which are available and free in western nations.

The burning desire for free India and emancipation that was in the hearts of the freedom fighters has evaporated with the travel of time. Having the freedom, people no more think of the country or of social good. They have become self absorbed, It was a natural consequence after independence for the people were devastated by the economic policies of the British. People had to find and revive a way to live and fend their families. The government was not strong enough. Leaders were hostile to the idea of capitalism after experiencing the exploits of the colonizers. Nehru was more inclined towards socialism which promised equality and class 

extinction. Unfortunately, this did not create a favorable climate for private investments and competition. The state owned industries made major investments and employment. However, this was not enough for the vast majority were unemployed and also killed private competition. 

When people are scrambling for money, they become corrupt. Each family thinks of itself, to survive and see the next day. Let us not forget that during the British rule millions died in famines. It is sickening now even to think of a situation like that. Whatever the conditions were, Indians have become self absorbed after independence. The spirit of Nationalism is diverted to communal ism and joyfully exploited by some politicians. 

Now politicians promise televisions and free dinner in return for votes. Corruption, rowdyism and whole breed of indecent behavior, blaming each other regional parties has become the new norm. No one takes responsibility. To the rich man of India I ask this question: Is it good for your son or daughter to move in a rich car and live in a rich neighborhood surrounded by 

children that live in shanties and walk bare foot and beg and live in dire straits? All the money that the rich and powerful hoard for their children will only be a false security. When people all around us are unhappy how is it possible for us as humans to be happy. No matter how apathetic we are, there is a always a small part of us that is unhappy about the surrounding and people who are suffering. 


Cultural Amnesia

Culturally too, India has hit a new low after the Independence. With vast majority in poverty, how can the poor man think of society? But now that the country is reviving economically, it is imperative that at least some take this opportunity seriously. India should be a new light and people in this country should bring new hope for the world. This country that is the mother to two great religions, Hinduism and Buddhism should revive its past glory. We have to bring to India  pragmatism of the west with the wisdom of our eastern philosophy. 

We humans forget the past and with poor education, the youth loses touch with the lives and  histories of its great leaders. Each generation needs new leaders who can be examples of purity and sacrifice. India is in need of such great leaders now. It is when the majority feels safe and comfortable and forgets the responsibility, that a keen leader shows thorough is example of purity and sacrifice and knowledge that our mission has not been accomplished. our mission has not been accomplished till the poor of India get good education and health care, till our culture is not revived and till the distinct character of the nation is not expressed completely in the world. 

Now we see rampant corruption, crime and lawlessness and brutality of the politicians. Hoarding of money to win the next election and inciting majority against the minority and divisive politics has become the norm. We need a leader who can  bring unity to its peoples.

With power comes responsibility and in a democracy when power is misused their should be mechanisms to curb them. If there are none, new leadership with the help of tireless lovers of democracy should bring that change so that no minister or powerful person can use his power indiscriminately and irresponsibly and go unpunished.  

Indian economy is reviving but the underclass has no support. The government has to do a better job of bringing equality in the population. We need good schools and health care access for the poor. We need a government that works for the poor and not for corporate welfare. Naturally, the failure of the capitalistic economy is that the powerful and the rich have control over vast majority of resources in the society. They have great influence over commerce, business and politics. This is where new great leaders can bring a change. New leaders with the help of new uprising can put pressure on the politicians to bring about changes for the good of the people and not the corporates. Of course, corporates are also a part of national life. But

policies should not be inclined in making the rich richer and poor poorer. In the long run

this calamitous even to the corporate interests for the poor will one day riot the corporates if all their needs are neglected. 


Capitalism and its drawbacks

Capitalism encourages creativity and it has its place in economics of the nation. But it has its limitations. Welfare economics and role of government is also essential. Equality cannot be brought about only with capitalistic system. The countries that are most equal are the Norwegian countries where they have a huge safety net for the people. The role of government is huge in India. But at the same time one has to be weary that a corrupt government cannot bring about the necessary changes to education and health services. It is imperative that 

the government has to be cleaned of its corrupt practices. No corporate has the money or the willingness to bring changes to the educational system in the country. The corporate have  to show profits to their owners. Their job is not to bring clean water, good health and education to the people. It is only the government that can bring these changes. 


Politics is a complicated and rival game. Man is ruthless when it comes to acquiring and maintaining power. But love of our country should override party politics. Politics should not be a weapon to divide people. No matter who the creator is, we all have the same one and what religion we follow does not make a difference to the creator. Divisive politics should end. 
To be more specific, I would like to comment on the BJP party. Recently their have channeled their energies towards teaching a lesson to the separatists in Kashmir. Knowing the history of disputed area from more than half a century the BJP leadership is playing divisive politics to gain more votes for the next election. This kind of politics are most injurious to the country now. If BJP wants to rule the country and come to power, they have to follow and obey the constitution of India and respect the right to live and choose for all peoples of India. They have to stop this bullying the people of other religions. India is a secular state and they should refrains from all these useless activities. This kind of aggression only brings bad rap for the whole hindu religion, which always was open to other religions and to a pluralistic society. 


New leadership needed

I am very hopeful that new leaders will emerge and also with the help of selfless people will bring about the policy changes in the functioning of the government. No matter who it is, if one is corrupt and misusing ones freedom, the right place is the jail. One cannot be free and also 

bring harm to the society. All are equal citizens. No human can empower and suppress others. 

For the good of ourselves one has to do everything in ones means to help these selfless workers and leaders for the future of our children is depended on a clean government. The future of our children is not dependent on how much money we hoard of them. What is life  when there is poverty and suffering all around us and we alone live in a golden castle.  
At the same time our leaders should know our people and their religion. Since India is a vastly religious country, our leaders have to know our people and their culture. All the great leaders of the independence movement knew and revived the culture with the help of religion. Although a secular country, there is still a place for religion that is pluralistic and open to other religions. 

I agree that there are limits for what an individual can do for the society. No matter what the limits there is some responsibility of every citizen to care for the society. After all the society is also our extended family. We have to revive the burning spirit of the selfless freedom fighter who fought during hostile and adverse situations. Let us not forget the great sacrifices of thousands of unnamed citizens who gave everything for our freedom. Let us live up to their aspirations. 

Thoughts on Death and construction of new society

All our plans, desires and aspirations for ourselves and others come to an end with the death of the body. Death is like a dead end to the long road of twists and turns, ditches and smooth rides.  We live for a certain amount of time on earth and we do not know what happens to us after the death of the body, unless we have knowledge of any other worlds other than our earth. Our short life for us is the most important experience. No one wants to be unhappy and no one aspires and plans to be unhappy. From where does this drive come from to be happy?

We want to maximize our enjoyment as much as we can during the limited time on earth. Each being that is alive including trees, insects, animals and humans have a power that they can exercise on each other. Man is an exception. He is the most advanced being who has a power to will and scheme independent of external natures complete control. Each being exercises its power according to the knowledge and power it has and tries to experience happiness by repetition of the act of happiness in the limited time on earth.

One the level of the society, the independent acts of individuals when they interact on each other become complex motives and ideologies. There is a drive to exercise to wield power of one group of people over the other. Politics in the real sense must bring equality, justice and a sense of order in the society. But politics is always a fight of one set of people against the other. There are people who want to come to power only to
control the society and experience the power slot. They do not care about justice and for the good of the society. These are the people who do not see death in its eyes. As long as they have power in their hands
they use it for self-aggrandizement and vanity. Death is waiting and it is inevitable. It is a folly that the human being when exercising his powers in life forgets that he is completely dependent on the body, to exercise his will and enjoy the power position. With the death of the body all his plans end. It is a hilarious end to mans hubris and ego.

We set our life around the unpredictable death. Death is like a step brother/sister we did not meet yet. Though we have a faint knowledge of it from hearsay we have never met it with our own eyes. It is powerful enemy we do not want to meet and accept its victory. Death is fear and the antonym of our happiness;death ends all our plans of everlasting happiness. Body is a like a used car that get more and more repairs as it get older. Eventually it is exhausted. Who is the person who drives this body?

It is hard to change the rules of the game on earth. To bring justice to an unjust society is a slow process. One needs to educate the people first about the importance of justice. One has to change things from bottom up. Any kind of lasting change can only come from bottom up. A few good people at the top can bring opportunities for the rest but they cannot change the whole set of rules of the game on earth. Every being has to learn to exercise their powers for the good of the society.  Education is a great tool that makes people aware of their power to change themselves and the society.

Once certain lousy rules start to take over a competent society, the society become corrupt and  nonchalant. It is hard to change such a society. Though individuals live for a short time period, the corrupt practices and mentality remains on earth. They do not die with the individual. People with powerful positions, those who are wealthy leave their power to others(family and friends). There is an uneven distribution of power within certain families on the society even though members of those families decease. They are the ones who control and decide the fate of the society. If these privileged people are good natured, something good happens to the society, but it seldom happens. The rich usually never step into the shoes of the poor. There is limited time and we have only one life. We do not want to experience the pain of hunger or any of the poor mans ills.

What is out of sight is out of our mind.We are always experiencing our own life separate from others. Our thoughts and desires drive us all the times. We can only love our family, because they are within the loci of our mind and body. Others who do not live in our house are strangers. We somehow cannot love them as our family. We want to leave the best things for our family and friends after our death as if they are going to live on earth forever. We have a complete misunderstanding of death. Death does not come to everybody at once. It consumes each at a different time.Each wants to leave the powers one acquires on earth before death to people who are like minded. We want to give the powers to the ones who think like us or who are genetically related to us. We cannot see the rest of the society. We can only see what our eyes show us. We are limited by our senses.

Unless power relationships change and power concentration is dispersed there is little hope for any positive  change in the society. Democracy allows such a change to some extent. We can elect nominees who are prudent and have a will to change the society. Human nature the way it is does not want to leave power slots once it gets the taste of manipulating power. It is ready to sacrifice wealth, time, morality in return for everlasting power. To be powerful among fellow humans boasts the ego. Probably it also gives happiness.
But elected officials who do not care about the state of the people are stalemating progress and better conditions on earth. They are wasting resources that should be used for the welfare of the people.


Even if within sight and within mind, we do not care unless some one is in our love zone. And the love zone is usually our primarily family and secondarily friends. This is the human limitation that hinders growth of the society. How does one care for everybody just like our family? How is it possible? Is it related to the knowledge of death of body and the liberation of consciousness from the epicenter of the body? Yes, indeed if our sense of identity becomes detached from the body and identifies with the consciousness, we no more include our family in the love zone but every conscious being on earth. Of course, we  have to follow a different set of rules for expediency for different levels of conscious beings, still our love zone has significantly
increased and cares for the society.


In the absence of any fundamental change in our identity, human being remains aloof from others suffering. It is up to certain enlightened and caring citizens to lead the troublesome path of establishing dharma and replacing the old, corrupt anachronisms. Every one has to die. The sinner and the saint dies. The only way to have
lasting change on society is to build institutions that can deliver proper functioning of the society. Some individuals together can build good institutions to do the same. The next generation has to keep up to the promise of the original intentions and make progress accordingly.Therefore knowing our limitations and the truth about death and the ultimate good of the society, we should act for lasting peace, prosperity and healthy functioning of the society.

The people in power slots like the politicians often want their family to escape suffering and like to send them abroad to foreign countries where they can enjoy the hoarded illegal wealth. The soul becomes corrupt and lives in a fairy land devoid of death. Man becomes a megalomaniac and boasts his powers even though death is waiting for him near his doorsteps. This is the state of affairs especially in developing countries that have lax rules and generally corrupt. One generation of corruption leaves another generation of corrupt. Although individuals die their legacy of corrupt behavior does not. The next generation of greedy and self centered people happily fill the slots. It is usually the members of the same family who have a privileged power advantage. These are the people who own large resources in the society. They own large areas of land, wealth and many factories that are necessary for the general functioning of the society. So, it becomes very difficult even in democracy for a good intentioned person to become a elected member of the society without
resources to fight the privileged members of society.

Power changes a man. Power makes a man have great control over other men. And for a soul that is ignorant about the truth of the body, it uses its privileged power to satisfy its desires on earth for happiness. It tries to trespass moral rules of conduct to satisfy its body pleasures. It becomes self --centered and the love zone constricts to oneself.  When this condition is wide spread in the society and the knowledge of happiness, there cannot be any lasting change in the society. No wonder people are corrupt because they care ignorant about
 what really can give lasting happiness. When a man taste a little power, he spends all his time thinking about how to exercise that minuscule power for his satisfaction rather than doing good justice of the society. Every one has to act and we act according to our knowledge of ourselves and the society. Since every human being
has certain power, wrong knowledge about our identity and purpose can disrupt the good functioning of the society.

People who realize and care for the society need to change their identity from our body, our family and our near and dear and enlarge our vision and bring every one into our care and love zone. One has to always think our existence on earth as temporary and act for building lasting good on earth. There is too much sickness, suffering and hopelessness. We need to be the beacon amidst darkness. Education of the youth is a great tool to care for the next generation and conditions on earth. Not the education to exploit and plunder the resources of earth but to care for it. We need an education that teaches us how to care our mother Earth.
We need an education to use our power for creating happiness on earth. We need an education that teaches us to protect ourselves from adverse attacks from ignorant and self-centered people. We need an education to be heroes and be a saving grace for the future.

We need an education that is diverse and multidimensional.  A large set of the youth in India are encouraged to get into engineering. Most of them do not have any idea why they are doing it. All they will get trained to operate some machines and earn a modest living. But this will not change the conditions of our corrupt society. Our youth is misled and they are diverted away from becoming active players in changing the power structure of the society. The power still lies with a few powerful families. Most of the youth does not know anything about economics( knowledge of power of wealth) or the politics (knowledge of power of  managing human resources). Hence, we end up being operators of machines and living a shameful life under corrupt
and meaningless hegemony. Unless we learn the skills of power manipulation there is no way the society can change. The wealthy families teach their children the skills of wealth management , so do the political families about politics but a large section of the youth has no idea of the importance of politics or of economics in their lives. This is a disaster for the democratic society where eventually power needs to be distributed from a few hands for justice to prevail. This has not been happening in India and also in developing countries.

Public money is deliberately diverted from education and processes the bring power sharing into the wallets of few corrupt families. There is a fear among the powerful that education of the masses may eventually lead to their peril and to their position in the society. Man fears the loss of power. He can do anything to stop that from happening. He hoards the money illegally for his family and love zone. Not being educated the youth has become handicapped. It is as if only a quarter of their brain is functioning. As the powerful few steal our tax money we have no idea what they are doing in front of us. We even sometimes encourage them to do so since we have no knowledge of the power play. We are manipulated, cheated and rendered useless and impotent. We are have become impotent organs of our society. The few privileged make all the decisions for us. Even though some of us may have a faint idea of the widespread cheating we lack the knowledge to fight it.

We celebrate and cheer within our love zone and societal impotence. This is our life.  Democracy is a sham in a society where power remains in a few privileged families and bars intelligent people from making choices for the society. Moreover, the elected representatives who are supposed to take care of us forget their responsibilities and thirst after more power or keeping their secure power positions. Though we apparently have a choice to elect and dethrone representatives, the choice is an illusion in a widely corrupt society. The choices given to us are commensurately corrupt. It is time to stand up and contest when the choices given to you are worse then yourself.

One example to discourage this transfer of wealth form one generation to another is to have estate tax, so that some part of the property goes to the state treasury. Usually such laws have loop holes and people in power know how to go around rules. That is what they learn from their heirs to learn to skip taxes and to never share power with others. They transfer stolen money to foreign countries that do not tax. A large amount of time and resources are put to doing illegal activities in these powerful families. What a waste of life? But then it shows results. On the other hand the engineer or the civil servant gets his taxes cut from his pay check directly without his will or participation in decision making.

 We need to empower our citizens with knowledge about ourselves and eventual death of the body. We have to shift our identity from the body to a higher level of mutual caring. A deep commitment among men has to arise for the lasting good of the society. A commitment to leave a legacy of happiness on earth after the death of this body. For this to happen man has to find within himself a greater source of happiness. We need to fight for establishing rules so that a greater power sharing becomes possible. More and more people need to
know about the ill effects of power with the privileged few. We need to become active participants in the working of the society, not impotent but masters of our destiny. We need to work on that all our life so that the next generation of youth can have the advantages we never had. Only then will there be happiness and justice on earth. A single individual cannot do anything but a cohesion of good intentioned individuals can bring a lasting change.

The suppressed classes of India

Injustice towards lower classes from more than a millennium is still pervasive. The idea of superiority is entrenched in the Indian mind. A vast majority of the individuals in India have a strong identity with their caste which in itself is innocuous but with it also comes the token of class hierarchy. An individual by birth falls in this hierarchy that he is tagged to till death and he takes full pleasure in claiming superiority over the lower classes in the hierarchy. There are four classes, they are:
1.the Brahmins or the priestly class,
2. Kshetriya or the warrior class,
3.Vyshaya or the trader class and
4. the Sudra or the labor class.
There is another class called the Avarna or the classless untouchables who are considered the Scheduled class and Scheduled tribes in the present constitution. The lowest of the classes have to take the brunt of this social evil in all relations with the class hierarchy. They are looked upon as dirty untouchables. Although these practices have been banned by the constitution of India, in practice they exist covertly and sometimes overtly.

There are several reasons for the present state of class problems in India even after 60 years of independence. The SC/ST classes are stagnant, poor, uneducated and have not progressed one. One reason I find is that upper classes in India who hold powerful positions in government and politics, do not have an incentive to uplift the lower classes. They feel the threat of competition, fear of sharing power and also losing the privileged social, economic and political superiority in the society. Also,there is not only the fear of the Brahmin class but also the other backward classes above the untouchables in the hierarchy, who control the vast swathes of agricultural land feel this fear. The situation is such that these higher classes oppose government distributing unused land to them.

Untouchability has been cleverly sustained in India through unjust maneuvers and made into the code of law otherwise called as Manu smriti in past millinia. Some part of it is also included presently in the present constitution in the form of hindu marriage law. The Manu smriti has many codes of law based on discrimination of caste. Though Hinduism as religion has given social stability, it also carries the baggage of old customs and discriminations. The form it takes now is a potpourri of various sects in the long stride of time in the subcontinent. The point that I am making is that blaming Hinduism will not solve any problems of the present situation. Every religion of the past has its social evils and as man has progressed morally the social practices in religions also changed. It can also be said the same with Hinduism as a social practice. Compared to other religions Hinduism gave ample freedom for an individual to seek spiritual freedom away from the society. The Bhagavat gita also stresses the realization of the individual as the primary step for the good of the society.

There are a few dalit intellectuals and educated people who want to change or eliminate the caste system that has treated them cruelly. I would like to discuss about some reformations they propose. Firstly, I completely agree that caste system should go and it is one social evil that has split this society and caused great pain to its suppressed people.

It is true that on a social scale Hinduism has not been able to
create an egalitarian society based on religion like the Islam but has become fixated in caste distinctions based on birth and labor. Caste is the remnant of old society that are still hard to eliminate because of the hard shells it has formed around each class and deep social disease ingrained in all citizens of class identity and hierarchy.

There are some dalits who say that all of Hinduism is false.I argue that within Hinduism it is known that teachings of scriptures like the Bhagavat gita are catholi and hold true to all of humanity irrespective of caste, nationality,race, sex and birth. The gita very clearly emphasizes that spiritual realization is possible to all individuals irrespective of their class. So we can see a clear distinction in the voice of the Manu smriti and
the Gita. Hinduism has sacred scriptures which celebrate the equal latent potentiality in all human beings to realize their higher consciousness. Hence, it is important to distinguish between the teachings of scriptures and critique accordingly. All scriptures in Hinduism do not carry the same importance and it is ridiculous to go by the manu smriti as the only scripture representing Hinduism.

Some give the solution of an atheist society as an alternative as if the dalits( untouchables) themselves would discard their customs and traditions steeped in their religion. It has to be agreed the religion of dalits and higher caste hindus has co-evolved or probably shared some myths and stories. Therefore, I feel atheism is an unpractical solution for a country like India where religion has played an important role in the culture and lives of people in all their live activities.
And three are some who prefer the complete conversion of dalits to Buddhism. It is true that dalits had to bear atrocities by the upper classes but are these alternatives really viable?

This problem is obviously complicated. No particular solution can offer a complete remedy. The change I feel should come from all quarters of the society. The upper castes should learn to understand their own important scriptures where all humans are treated as equal and give an opportunity for social mobility of the lower classes. They need to recognize that scriptures like Manu smriti are not valid in this modern era and those scriptures are based on discrimination and a shame to human dignity.

The government has tried several plans and programs for the uplifting of the lower classes. One move in this direction is the reservation of seats in higher education for the lower classes. This provision has been scathingly successful. The problem is that the students of lower classes do not get adequate education to get into a higher institutes even if the cut out mark has been deliberately lowered. So it becomes incumbent to focus on primary education for the poor and the lower classes.

The problem in India in its failure of primary education is because of several factors. One of them is that the upper classes who hold the power politically do not see any incentive for proper administration of primary schools and education of the lower classes. It only adds to their disadvantage if the poor educate and complete with the upper classes. The political leaders of upper classes fear they loose their credibility and support of their own respective classes in case they go out of their way in helping the other castes. So the vision of nation building has been reduced and narrowed to uplifting their own caste. In a situation like this the lower classes need to become politically active and have representation in the electoral process, so that there are leaders of their classes who have an incentive to educate them at least as a ploy to get elected again. So, basically they have to become politically active and have more leaders representing them to share the piece of pie along with the rest of the society. Sometimes they may have to come on the streets to protest the
inequality in the society.

This activism by the lower classes has been presently viewed by the upper classes as a rebellion against the age old tradition of caste system. Some upper class citizens also claim that there is no more any class distinction in the modern world and do nothing to engage in straightening the unseen malady. For them, if the problem is not visible to their eyes campus it does not exist. Untouchability is true and rampant today and man does not like to share power with the deprived unless he is forced to. For example, most of the rich do not like to pay taxes for the welfare of the poor. They would like to see the society dying when they pile more money for themselves.

The government whose job is to give a minimum welfare to all citizens has to
take care of the poor and marginalized classes of the society. If social mobility is not allowed due to lack of education and land reform, the democratic society
will be rejected by its poor citizens who will take arms or change their ideology to other dangerous paths like the Marxist movements that are already on the rise in India.

In conclusion, this serious problem has to be addressed immediately and due measures taken for the uplifting of the lower and marginalized classes of Indian society to prevent
farce democracy. This change has to come from the upper classes through proper education of their own sacred scriptures that hold all human beings as equal and reject the caste system as a malady of the past; lower classes with political activism and the government by taking due measures for a welfare state for the support of the poor and social mobility from the bottom up.