Investing in Identity

DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT culture may be hollow. Development with cultural moorings can be holistic. It may not be a development guided by immediate needs but create long-term capital in society. The Western mode of development mostly doesn’t care about the relationship with culture but in the Eastern mode, especially in the context of Asian societies, the linkages of culture may produce lasting developmental inspiration. To understand this complexity of development Prime Minister Narendra Modi often emphasises the cultural ecosystem of development.

Inspired by the prime minister’s ideas, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently attempted to link development of Odiya society with its culture, identity, and local knowledge. While speaking at the inauguration of a new centre at IIT Bhubaneswar, Pradhan explained his vision of Odisha’s development. According to him, the sense of Odiya identity needs to be strengthened by new research on Odiya culture and heritage, history and literature, which could work as a catalyst for creating long-term developmental capital in Odiya society. Indeed, cultural capital inspires social confidence and aspiration as ‘societal intent’, which may be transformed gradually into a developmental psyche for the grassroots people of Odisha. In fact, Odisha needs a horizontal developmental resurgence that can reshape its future. Pradhan also said that the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) inspires us to be multidisciplinary, to undertake innovative research on knowledge traditions of the societies in which institutions like IITs, IIMs, and universities are located.

Conceptually speaking, it is an effort to link identity with development and, in a broader sense, culture with development. In India, regional cultures, identities and their knowledge traditions are ingrained in individuals and the collective psyche. If we are able to activate and transform these identity bhavas into a positive resource, it can erode social inertia and produce social energies to cultivate its development and growth. Regional identities as ‘growth capital’ may play a huge role in transforming these societies. In this process, history, heritage and community memories also play important roles. History and heritage may be researched and retold again and again to reactivate a society. Kannadiga, Tamil, Bangla, Odiya, Gujarati, etc are, in a way, ‘homo symbolicus’ identities which may be used to inspire the communities to attain higher forms of development.

These societies have their own peculiarities in terms of natural and economic resources, such as forest, coastal zones, sea-related developmental potential, etc. By specific research in these societies, we may formulate region-based developmental schemes. Through leading research in such specific centres, we may also understand local knowledge, traditions and resources that may make these societies ‘vocal for local’ as conceptualised by Prime Minister Modi.

This conceptualisation of development and society in Odisha is a little different from the idea of development promoted by Naveen Patnaik and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which is mostly directed by immediacy and electoral necessity. The Patnaik-led development has missed the connection between culture and development. When I use the word culture here, it doesn’t mean museumising culture but making it a vision, an inspiration, and a life-value that may reshape state-led development. It lacks a vision for preparing Odiya society for long-lasting development. How Pradhan is visualising the development of the state is mostly inspired by Modi’s and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) vision of development in which cultural and civilisational inputs are pertinent. Modi is constantly trying to evolve an enduring developmental psyche among people which could make the Bharatiya samaj of the future and for the future. When Pradhan visualises a developmental bhava among the Odiya people by reactivating their culture, identities, and heritage, it may be seen as an effort to prepare Odiya society for the future and of the future. This is an Eastern mode of development as termed by eminent sociologist Radhakamal Mukerjee, which is quite different from Western forms of development and may be found in many Asian societies like Japan, China, Singapore, etc. This reactivating of a positive identity through knowledge may also expand the political class in Odisha that could lead to a deep-rooted transformation of society, economy, politics, and culture.

IITs, IIMs, universities, and other research institutes may indeed develop such region-specific centres focusing on where they are located. It will help us in two ways—first, in developing region-specific developmental paradigms; and second, by paying back the local communities. Such efforts may prove the relevance of academic knowledge in creating a new developmental paradigm not only in Odisha but all over India.

culturedevelopmentidentityNarendra Modi