English Society

For a person of my background coming as I do from India, the English Society seems to be established on strong foundations. The society has definitely learnt a lot from its history of conquests and world wars and utilized it in building a robust foundation for the modern society it now lives in . The process of learning seems to have paralleled the vagaries of war, be it with the French, Spanish or the Dutch.

The need for proper education must have been strongly felt around that time. The first Public school was started in Winchester as far back as in 1382, the school in Eton in 1440 and in Harrow in 1571. This period coincides with ‘The Renaissance’ which swept the European continent from the 14th to the 17th centuries. England’s political status also underwent a change during the later half of the 17th century from monarchy to the present parliamentary system. Parliamentary democracy entrenched strongly on robust foundations by the first half of the 18th century giving the country the distinction of being referred to as the ‘mother of parliaments’. The price paid for by Oliver Cromwell and others did pay great dividends. My idea in tracing this part of history is to emphasize the intense exchange of ideas that has taken place during that period among the intellectually as well as physically powerful (armed) groups of the countries. One of the offshoots of this exchange was the realisation that education is absolutely necessary for acquiring, assimilating and spreading knowledge to the people, for their economic development.

The early 18th century saw the growth of the presently world- renowned educational institutions, which helped people by providing them with keys to open the hitherto closed doors of the universe in search of solutions. The Industrial revolution happened. As destiny would have it, technological inventions like steam engine, development of machinery etc., almoost replaced manual labour and heralded an era of automation in the manufacture and transport industry.

The result was the fantastic development seen in most of the western world including England. England’s transformation from kingdom to constitutional monarchy with parliamentary democracy resulted after a lot of turbulent struggles and is a testimony to the spread of knowledge obtained through an educated populace which constantly kept questioning the rulers on their self- serving claims of ‘born to rule’.

As I watch their parliamentary sessions being broad cast live on TV channels; I can not but praise the MPs of the ruling and opposition parties and ministers for the sincerity of purpose, mutual respect and commonness of cause displayed in their discussions in the houses of commons and lords. They do not display one- up- man ship by suggesting unwieldy alternatives if any sensible proposals are made by either an opposition or a ruling party MP during the course of a discussion. Above all, they really care for the public to whom they owe their positions by not deliberately disrupting the proceedings in the houses.

These practices are worthy of emulation in India. The Indian legislators are an antithesis to their counterparts in England. With the exception of a few stalwarts including the present and previous prime ministers of India and a woeful minority, others have neither a vision for the nation nor a patriotic love for their constituencies. Their only interest is in perpetuating their position as a means to grab a major chunk of the cake.