After fulfilling the longcherished construction of the Lord Rama Temple at Ayodhya, the next desire of people is for establishing “Rama Rajya” in the country. “Rama Rajya” is a term used to describe the ideal state of society as envisioned by Lord Rama, comprising perfect harmony, justice, dharma and prosperity, where people live in peace and happiness. However, the concept of “Rama Rajya” has been interpreted in various ways by different people. The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, said that for him true Ram Rajya would be, to ensure “equal rights to both prince and pauper”.

Some view it as a utopian ideal, while others see it as a practical model for governance. In modern times, the term has been used by politicians and religious leaders to refer to an ideal society. According to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya will mark establishment of Rama Rajya in the country. The Vice-President of India, Jagdeep Dhankar has asserted that the spirit of Rama Rajya is enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

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Rama Rajya does not mean Hindu Raj. About 25 per cent of the population in India are poor (NITI Aayog). India’s Global Hunger Index is 28.7 and ranks 111th out of 125 countries, a serious issue. Also 215 million Indians are undernourished (World Bank). Over 71 per cent of Indians cannot afford a healthy diet having enough fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. More than 1.7 million Indians die every year due to diseases that can be attributed to dietary risk factors and weight levels (Centre for Science and Environment). 190 million people go to bed hungry daily. About 32.1, 35.5 and 19.3 per cent of children under the age of five years in India are underweight, stunted and wasted respectively (National Family Health Survey). Over 100 million Indians were diagnosed with hypertension in 2023 which is expected to rise to over 124 million by 2045 (ICMR).

A quarter of Indians are at risk of dying from non-communicable diseases such as heart and lung diseases, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. Over 220 million people in India have hypertension (Frontiers in Public Health). India accounts for a significant proportion of global suicides, occupying the 41st rank with 1,53,052 suicides in 2020. Suicides have been rising over the past five decades in the country; financial problems and dowry issues are among the key reasons.

The Legatum Prosperity Index is a tool that measures the prosperity of nations across the world. It ranks countries based on different variables including health, education, personal freedoms, safety and security, and the business environment. India ranks 116th out of 167 countries with a score of 53.5 indicating low prosperity. Happiness Index is a measure of the level of happiness in a country, calculated based on factors like economic prosperity, life expectancy, generosity, and corruption. According to the World Happiness Report 2022, India ranked 136th out of 146 countries with a happiness index of 4.324. The highest was for Finland with 7.8 and lowest of 1.86 for Afghanistan. India’s ranking was lower than the neighbouring countries ~ Bangladesh, China and Nepal. The Global Justice Index (GJI) is a tool that measures the adherence of countries to the rule of law, human rights, access to justice, and other related factors.

According to the GJI report, India ranks 69 on this index. Justice is inordinately delayed in India with 4.7 crore cases pending at different levels of judiciary as of May 2022. About 1.82 lakh cases are pending for over 30 years; the cases on anti-Sikh riots after the murder of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Bhopal Gas Tragedy both occurring in 1984 are still unresolved, the victims yet to receive justice and compensation.

Economic crimes and frauds continue to be a significant challenge for Indian companies, with 66 per cent subjected to them. About 99 per cent of frauds have been on platforms such as financial, social media, goods, services, enterprises, etc. India has witnessed several scams such as the Commonwealth games, stamp paper, coal, and 2G. Several bank frauds were committed by prominent businessmen and industrialists; some of them have run away to foreign countries to escape punishment.

In addition, online frauds such as loan apps, KYC expiry, and e-commerce continue to occur. Different kinds of cheating and deceiving of people happen regularly on a large scale. Violence against women in India is a serious issue that has been prevalent for many years. Nearly 1 in 3 Indian women aged between 18-49 have suffered some form of spousal abuse; and around 6 per cent have suffered sexual violence (National Family Health Survey-5). The reported rate of rapes in India is 1.9 incidents per one lakh people (World Population Review) and in 2016, India’s National Crime Records Bureau reported 38,947 rapes and 3,38,954 crimes against women.

India has an ‘undisciplined democracy’ because people, particularly, the politicians, grossly misuse the fundamental right of ‘Freedom of speech’ by indulging in unparliamentary accusations and criticisms, and misuse of national agencies by governments for political gains. Religions and politics are being mixed. People think laws are made to be broken. During the era of Lord Rama, religion was not an issue, but today, due to the existence of different religions, communal violence and religious fundamentalism and fanaticism have become major concerns of law and order.

One way to measure honesty is through social experiments, where researchers drop wallets or other items in public places and observe how many people return them. According to a social experiment conducted by researchers, there is a 44 per cent chance of one’s wallet containing money being returned in India, and 22 per cent chance of it being empty. Many instances have been reported of passersby removing wallets from the pockets of those injured in road accidents, instead of rushing them to hospitals.

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The CPI score ranges from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). India ranked 86th out of 180 countries with a score of 40 (Transparency International). Society is greedy. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed”. People read or listen to the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita etc, and visit temples, but lack characteristics of dharma, compassion and human values. Lord Rama is revered as “Maryada Purushottam” for the completeness of his character, embodying the highest ideals of morality, duty and righteousness and for upholding the values of truth, justice and compassion. How many leaders do we have with such characteristics? We are living in the age of “Kaliyuga”, the fourth and the worst of the four yugas and the final one.

The features typical to Kaliyuga according to the Shastras are prevalence of materialism and empirical thinking, Famine, disease, overpopulation, extreme animosity among people, cheating, poverty, and it is characterised by moral and spiritual decline, chaos and suffering.

There is a significant amount of poverty, hunger, disease, unhappiness, lack of peace and justice, law and order concerns, communal disharmony and caste and gender-based division in India. It is essential to establish ‘Rama Rajya’ in the country to set things right. But large-scale dishonesty, corruption among people, economic crimes and frauds committed by them and lack of ethical characteristics in society make it difficult to do so. A sea change is required in the mindset of people to establish Rama Rajya in the country

(The writer is retired Scientist, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research)