E-commerce, market-driven lifestyle damaging human relationships: RSS leader Hosabale

Mumbai: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Tuesday said e-commerce and market-driven lifestyle were weakening social bonds and altering the fundamentals of human relationships.

India has never been a land of rigid ideologies which obstruct independent thinking, he said, speaking at a discussion here on the book 'Integral Humanism: A Distinct Paradigm of Development' by Ashok Modak, published by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

"A market-based, government-oriented life is damaging for society. E-commerce is a glaring example. It has reduced relationships to mere transactions," the RSS leader said.

Explaining his concerns, he said, "If I want to get Modak's book in a village in Tamil Nadu, I can easily order it online. It seems convenient. I pay and they deliver. But is it really that simple? Traditional marketplaces were rooted in long-standing relationships. A farmer would borrow from a trader who knew him and his family for years. Will Amazon ever understand or replicate that kind of trust? It is faceless. We are slowly losing the essence of such human connections." In the United States, "society has practically disappeared", claimed Hosabale, adding that only individuals and the state are left in that country.

"This model of a welfare government and a market-centric life is not sustainable for a healthy society," the RSS leader added.

Hosabale also raised concerns about the modern world's approach to nature and lifestyle. "We can not live without electricity, but we must think about how to generate it efficiently and integrate it into our lives in a way that respects the environment," he said.

Education should focus on imparting values and not just information, he said, adding that "new knowledge must be created to build a cohesive society." Referring to Modak's arguments in the book, Hosabale said, "The Western worldview revolves around individual rights, survival of the fittest, and exploitation of nature. But we discuss a different approach, one based on compassion, concern and compatibility. A human being is part of society, and society cannot exist without nature."

He also lauded Bhutan's 'Gross National Happiness model' as an alternative vision to economic indices. "Human and societal well-being are complementary. Both cannot exist without nature," he said.

"A society cannot live in the past alone. People may draw lessons and inspiration from history, but they must also look ahead to the future and live fully in the present. Bharat has never lived just for itself, it has always existed for the wellbeing of the world," he said.

About the notion that India has failed to produce ideologues in recent centuries, the RSS leader said, "We do not accept this claim made by the West. Western civilisation, particularly in Europe, has been the cradle of ideologies like communism, capitalism and feminism. In contrast, Bharat has contributed philosophy." An ideology is a closed system which can not be changed, Hosabale said, adding that it comes in the way of independent thinking.

"Bharat's contribution lies in philosophy, which offers light and guidance but encourages each person to find their own path. Buddha, Mahavir and Swami Vivekananda were not ideologues, they were philosophers. Bharat has never been a land of rigid ideologies," he said.