There has been a spate of reviews on India, which have attracted telling comments & reactions. This strange love-hate relationship that Indians have, especially the younger generation, has made me write this rather long article. Please read this leisurely and don’t complain of the length!
Some hate India for silly reasons, some love India for sentimental reasons alone. Both lack conviction, because the opinions are not logical, rational, well thought-out & informed. Only when you are able to justify your opinions to yourself, do these become convictions. Without conviction, there is no effective action.<p>
What’s so great about India?:
The people: There are good people, there are bad people, and there are indifferent ones too.
Heroes: I don’t want to talk about Aryabhatta. Susrut, Chanakya etc. How about present day heroes? Arun Shourie, H D Shourie, Arun Bhatia, Khairnar, BabaAmte, Anna Hazare, Medha Patkar, Sunderlal Bahuguna, Kiran Bedi etc, who have been used, abused, misused, targetted, harassed, embarassed, and humiliated by politicians and vested interests? Have they lost hope? Have they surrendered? Have they got lost? NO! They keep on doing the work they believe in. There are countless others, unsung, unknown heroes throughout India, who quietly do their good job regardless. Sometimes a few of them are profiled in “India-today” or “India matters”; most of them remain unknown.
Democracy; For a country subjected to thousands of years of Rajas, Feudalism, colonialism, oppression, subjugation, and suppression..we have become a resilient, largest , functional democracy in the world!However imperfect it maybe, we have democracy. Talk to the people in non-democratic countries of Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and see the amount of respect and reverence they have for Indian democracy! You don’t value it because you have taken it forgranted. Ask the people who suffered in emergency.
Resources: We have everything. Nature has been kind to us. We have not been able to exploit and utilise the resources, but we will!
Judiciary & Legal System; We have a rule of law, and a legal system. Irrespective of the inefficiencies, delays, corruption etc. how many countries can boast of such a system? We have produced Palkivala, Setalvad, HR Khanna, and many such luminaries who are respected all over the world.
Resilience, faith & value system: Countless tragedies and disasters , aggressions, plundering, destruction, killings, …what not have Indians faced? We still go on! We survive , still remain peaceful. In any other country, there would have been umpteen number of bloody revolutions and civil wars, nothing of that kind here.Faith & Value systems right down to the level of humble farmer or a rikshaw-walla, display an uncanny understanding of the distilled wisdom of the Upanishads, Vedas, Geeta etc. which even scholars in west don’t have!<p>
II Why are we in a mess that we are?
Two reasons, first because of many mistakes made, second, the people again!
Mistakes;
Failure to mould a national character: Just when we got independence, the feelings of nationalism, patriotism, selfless service, sacrifice, unity, were running high amongst the masses, our leaders should have harnessed and channelised the feelings and the spirit to mould a national character, instead they let loose an unfettered freedom on people (who had never ever tasted freedom) to do or not to do anything and everything!This was a monumental error, and an opportunity lost forever.
Crowning of Nehru as the PM by Gandhi: Had Sardar Patel been chosen, history would have been different!
Fabian Socialism: Nehru saw the world through his pink glasses acquired at Cambridge(or Oxford?), and adopted the concept of a planned economy which unleashed an era of “licence-control-quota-permit-inspector”raj that wreck havoc on the economy. In the process, we created an unwieldy, gargantuan, bureaucratic set-up, which is draining us of all the resource. A fence that’s eating the crop!
Shastri’s decision to impose Hindi as national language in 1965: This step provoked so much of a mess that it set us back by more than 10 years.
Single party dominant rule by Congress that undermined all the institutions and stunted the growth of Indian democracy.
Kashmir mess; Had Nehru not gone public with promise of a plebiscite, had he maneuvered enough to block the UN resolution, Kashmir issue wouldn’t have been kept alive for so long.
Mandal mess; VPSingh’s opportunism created a mess and divided the country on caste lines. As if we didn’t have enough divisions already!
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People’s inaction:
- There is one set of people, upwardly mobile, ivory-tower, arm-chair critics who launch into a diatribe at the slightest opportunity, criticize everything and everybody, pontificate, and find everything disgusting, but don’t do anything more than this.
Ask them what have they ever done? How many times have they voted? How many times have they taken a stand ? how many times they have participated in a protest march or a rally? How many “letters-to-editor”have they written?How many times have they ever met or written to the Corporator, Councillor, MLA, MP, Minister, Cm, Central Minister or any high official on a public issue? They don’t want to move their sweet batooti even if there is no water and power in their colonies, even if the road in front is all dug up, even if their house is burgled! This indifference and non-participation on part of the potentially influential, articulate, educated, enabled section of the society is shocking and is a serious problem.
- On the other hand, there is a vast majority of people, too busy in their day to day struggle for survival, they blame everything on God, destiny, Karma, and go to sleep. There is a section that creates a mess provoked, misguided, and manipulated by the vested interests & wily politicians.
I agree, there are problems, many mistakes have been made, many opportunities have been lost, but it’s high time to do something!<p>
What do we do?
I wont get into economic policy remedies, fiscal management prescriptions, social reforms etc. There is enough confusion and cacophony already! My suggestions are simple, and they are meant for you and me.
Be a liberal democrat: what’s that? See my personal profile on MS.
Be assertive, be participative, exercise your franchise, and don’t keep quite. Internet is the most powerful and convenient tool now available, use it. Express yourself, write reviews, post views, join debates…do your bit.
Be demanding: On yourself as well as on others. When buying a product, paying for a service.dining in a restaurant, paying taxes, paying subscriptions...be demanding. If you are wronged, don’t just brood and bitch, create a stink, write to everyone, demand action! Believe me it works.
Do your bit, however small it may seem: donate and support NGOs, educate your maid’s/driver’s child, give clothes and food to neighborhood orphanage…there are so many things one can do to make a difference!
Smile a lot, keep your head on your shoulders, don’t lose your cool, be proud of your country, discuss, debate, THINK and raise your intellectual level. Become a better person than what you are, if you can’t be an asset, don’t be a liability either!
This article is to provoke you, make you think, act and react, join the debate. Get going!
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