Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Tuesday said e-commerce and a market-driven lifestyle adversely impacted basic human bonds and relationships. He was speaking at a book release function held in Mumbai.

According to him, the e-commerce and market-driven lifestyle were detrimental and weakened social bonds, altering the fundamentals of human relationships.

The senior RSS functionary was speaking at the launch of the book Integral Humanism: A Distinct Paradigm of Development by Ashok Modak, published by the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

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According to Hosabale, “A market-driven, government-oriented life was damaging for society as it adversely impacted human equations. E-commerce is a glaring example. It has reduced relationships to mere transactions.”

While underlining the seriousness of such lifestyle and its overall impact on the individual, family and society at large, 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? Earlier, traditional marketplaces were rooted in long-standing relationships. It has special connected. A human bond. Which evoked sentiments. In the past, a farmer would borrow from a trader who knew him and his family for years. Now, such things are unimaginable. Everything is personal, individualistic.”

He added, “Will Amazon ever understand or replicate that kind of trust? It is faceless. We are slowly losing the essence of such human connections.”

Hosabale cited how in the United States, society has practically disappeared. Only individuals and the state were left in that country. This disconnect and lack of emotions is worrying.

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“This model of a welfare government and a market-centric life is not sustainable for a healthy society,” he said.

The senior RSS functionary raised an alarm about the modern world’s approach to nature and lifestyle, highlighting changes in living standards, which have over the decades become essential aspects.

“We cannot 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,” Hosabale said.

Another significant point he made was that education should focus on imparting values and not just disseminating information.

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“The new knowledge must be created to build a cohesive society,” he stressed.

Referring to Modak’s book, Hosabale said, “The western world view revolves around individual rights, survival of the fittest, and exploitation of nature. A human being is part of society, and society cannot exist without nature.”

The RSS leader lauded Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness model as an alternative vision to economic indices. “Human and societal well-being are complementary. They cannot exist without nature,” he said.