।। ত্রিতাপহারিণী ২০২০।। T3 শারদ সংখ্যায় Falguni Ghosh

MODERN WELFARE STATE

It is an obvious truism that our civilization is progressing. But how far the progress is being conducted we feel the very pulse of it. Civilization in modern times is anthropocentric. Man came out from the mysterious and unscientific theocentrism and established his own superiority over the vague belief in the concept of powerful God. Renaissance started its journey in about 14th century in modern Europe and in the growing escalator of time it spread its wings in the entire Europe.

Though the ancient abode of culture was in Athens of Greece, but that was very limited. And also the Greeks believed in mysterious power of God what we have read in the 5th and 4th century B.C tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. But the journey of the modern started actually after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, when all the scholars in various regulations and study had gone and scattered in the different parts of Europe.

So the nucleus of civilizations changed time to time—-Athens to Rome or Constantinople, Rome to Paris, Paris to London, and now London to NewYork. So what is the determining factor of being the nucleus of human civilization? Simple to say—-factor of modernity. But what is meant by the concept “Modern”?

The word “modern” comes from the Latin word modo means just now. So we can assume that this present times. So as modern indicates this present , and this present holds the urbanity. Urbanization is the be all and end all of modern civilization.

Now we come back to the thought of Welfare State in modern times.
Rural world becomes bit by bit urban. Most of the European countries are based on urbanization, while still the Asian African and third world countries are much of ruralness. All right—–but a welfare state must provide or be conducted by 5 most modern essential things properly. Those are Fooding, Clothing, Lodging, Health and Education. How far these objects a State or country can fulfill for its citizens —on that parameter the yardstick of development is determined. Europe and USA can do that more than most of the Asian, African and Latin American countries except some like Japan or Singapore.

In the present times—it is an obvious belief of the people and of the State power that good urbanization is the actual process of making a sound welfare state.

We may think that a modern welfare state can be possible in reality in terms of making people well educated by providing the people a competent work force and employment. In Europe that was possible after the industrial revolution. People or common mass gathered in the cities and towns and getting jobs for the upliftment of their living status. No longer they lived in villages. They earned money and become well to do in the urban systems. Thus a middle class people emerged from the rural common mass.

Now in this perspective modern times political scenario is mostly democratic and republic gaining a vote system to elect the rulers of the State. Rulers of the democratic republic has the supreme responsibility to provide all the 5 criteria said already. But unfortunately most of the politicians in our country are corrupted and power mongers. They income money and wealth in their particular ruling terms. Here lies the problems. Ethics and morality guided by particular superior ideology is very much felt a big vacuum for the last 20 years here in India.

In this modern scenario money rules supreme instead of ethics. Money helps to dislodge the entire sane and sound system in all the steps of our existence.

So a modern welfare state is becoming possible when the inequity and disparity between rich and poor, between illiterates and educated, well fade and ill fed, rich home gainers and homeless can be decreased or removed. May that be an el dorado but still we hope in the growing passage of time.