RECREATE THE POWER OF THE ASIAN MIND
Jagmohan
Minister of Culture and Tourism

We must understand the overall environment, the milieu in which the literary artists of the SAARC region are functioning. What are the political, social and economic forces that affect them? Unless we understand that, we will not be able to ensure that their creative writing, their creativity influences the course of events in this world.
Let us look at the world. What are the main features of the world today? One of the main features of the present-day reality is that the world is becoming smaller and well-knit. We can speak to anybody, anywhere in the world in a matter of a few minutes. Fine views, beautifully packaged, can be beamed all over the world in a short time. Few of us realize that human knowledge has doubled itself in the last 10 years. The power of computer is increasing after every one or one and a half years – it is doubling. So is the power of internet. All this has become possible because of the information technology, telecom technology, space technology, and by the convergence of these technologies. When the world is becoming so well-knit, so small in certain ways, where do identities – national identities, regional identities, local identities – stand? They are being bombarded by a particular beam. In this process, homogenization of culture is taking place. All these identities are pushed into a particular melting pot and they take a particular shape.
Whereas this is happening at one level, at the other level petty, unviable sovereignties are being encouraged. The result is that the world, especially our part of the world, has become a melting-pot of conflicts rather than of convergence of cultures. So much of violence! So much of conflict! We have not given sufficient attention to this kind of development.

Similarly, who is controlling the power structure? Who is monopolizing the world economy? With the tremendous advance in science and technology, selective affluence and global institutions like the UN, though consumption levels are 6 or 7 times more than what they used to be about 30 years ago, poverty has not declined. In fact, all this is really creating a structure in which the rich are becoming richer, the strong are getting stronger and their views are controlling the world. During the last 10 years, the division has become sharper. Even the global institutions are controlled by a particular set of forces. Have we the power to change that course of events? This is what we have to consider. Even if the Foundation’s venture is a ‘mad venture’ – as Ajeet Cour prefers to call it – let us give it a try. Sometimes even dreams come true if sustained efforts are made to realize them. This is the challenge that creative writers of the region have to accept. You have to pool all your creative energy and fight the common set of forces, which are creating the situation in which we are finding ourselves powerless to influence things. With the instrument of literature, you have been influencing the course of social development here and there. But these peripheral attempts will not do. You will have to deal with the central issues.