Today being the birthday of the man, Mahatma Gandhi, who people claim to be responsible (undermining contribution of various others like Bose, Sardar Patel and even Shastri who shares his birthday with the Mahatma) for today's Independent India, lets try to see where India of his dreams is at present. Is it really growing as suggested by the sugar-coated figures or is it in utter shit!! Does India really make use of its resources ( both natural and human intellect) or is it only used to fill the coffers of some people at the mercy of common taxpayers?
Never known to be good in academics, these mind boggling growth estimates and high deficits make little sense to me. Not because I doubt its authenticity - I have no case to doubt it but because for the world India maybe growing and will be among the top-3 by the end of next decade but for an ordinary Indian (or as Naseeruddin Shah puts it, the stupid common man ) its nothing more than tears. The Aam Aadmi - I hope Arvind Kejriwal likes this - is suffering and crying (read high onion prices) and the rulers of India, the very same people elected by the people for their well-being, are laughing their way to the Swiss Banks. When someone like Ashok Khemka talks against the "National Daamad" he is transferred or when Ms. Durga rightfully orders demolition of an illegal wall, the mafias boast of a "41-minute suspension act" and the reason by the much hyped CM is that it would have caused communal disharmony. So much for minority politics eh? The government is so skeptical of such mafias that it mooted an ordinance for safeguarding tainted politicians against criminal cases in the backdrop of an averse Supreme Court order. It took an immature prince to go against it and order temporary withdrawal and for the first time he receives some pat.
While I would not be commenting much about the pre-2000, the past decade and half have been painful if not worse. And a single party cannot be blamed. Each and every party is responsible for the mess and the condition that has led to us being ranked only 2nd to Russia in major nations in terms of corruption. The BJP led government tweaked rules for a big corporate house only to provide mobile licenses from fixed line licenses. Rumors doing the rounds were that the then telecom minister received millions of shares at just ₹ 1. Is that democracy or capitalism? Since then the number of scams have been more than the number of clothes girls purchase ( no offence please, it is your birthright to buy clothes in abundance). From the 2G scam to the Coal scam, from the brazen loot from Air India ( one of the better airlines by personal experience) by a certain Gujju minister to the CWG scam the figures have been astounding. It would take double or maybe triple checks even for a CA who deals with numbers day in and day out before writing the actual figures in rupees. Even the defence forces and the ISRO are not spared by people at the helm. And the last two are considered to be of utmost importance for any country.
So in spite of having natural resources in abundance we are suffering. Oh! talking of natural resources, the illegal iron ore mining in various states to benefit a few companies also should be counted. Corruption is high and so is security of the stupid people and women in particular. Rapes are a common thing now and the police seem to have no clue to stop it. So the blame shifts to the dressing habits of women and as Kalki Koechlin puts it " Its the women's fault" after all. A country like India where the police force knows about each and every small happening and at their will solve cases within hours cannot ensure the security of it people - hard to believe right? All this because our beloved politicians want control of each and everything, from natural resources to cash to the police force.
To add to the woes, no single party has a majority at the Centre to form policies. One or the other coalition partners will threaten to withdraw support if their demands are not met. And the ego each of these partners carry is phenomenal. The cow belt region parties don't see eye to eye yet support the same coalition at the centre. In such a case how can they come to a consensus on an issue. And those that no longer matter like Lalu Prasad or P.V. Narsimha Rao are later chased by past cases and ensured that they don't rise in politics to threaten the ruling government. And yes, the CBI is used effectively for this purpose. Wasn't CBI involved to ensure safety in the country? Well, the CBI might now say that it stays true to its name - Central Bureau of Investigation - it investigates for the central government in any case, just the purpose being different.
And before I forget, politicians have ensured India never rises in sports. A country having the second largest population rejoices on winning a single Gold in the Olympics - Sad. Or be it the case of BCCI ( Board of Corrupt and Careless Indians or Intellectuals if you like) which is the richest board and has politicians and corporate bigwigs to loot the money. By the way it is a not-for-profit organisation and does not pay taxes or come under the ambit of the RTI.
Finally before I close, going back to the second resource I talked about in the opening paragraph - Human intellect. While NRIs and Indian origin people are at the helm of some prestigious organisations across the globe very few actually come back to India. Even those few are not welcome by our rulers (read Arcelor Mittal). And each year thousands of students go abroad for Masters. Can't we have institutes of world fame and people from various countries come to our country and not the other way round? Common sense tells me it would result in huge capital inflows as well. But are politicians are busy looting people by charging hundreds of thousands for primary education and doing nothing for higher education. And yes, they are name obsessed too. So it is very common to find names of politicians with no meaningful contribution to development of country as institute names.
Final nail in the coffin is the reservation system. It is a sin to be a general category engineering student like me. And by criticizing reservation, I would like to clear myself before some local policeman comes with an arrest warrant after me ( well even that won't be produced as it would be entirely illegal to arrest me for practising freedom of speech) that reservation of such proportions where the intended beneficiaries still don't benefit is a waste. The intention was to uplift the backward and downtrodden and change their psyche. But after 66 years of no result it needs serious rethinking. And if not I bet one of our aged politicians (they still claim to be young) to be treated by a doctor who has taken years to complete his MBBS but got admission only because of reservation.
All this has taken a toll on the energetic yet restless youth and when they are asked about a country of preference its a country except India. This should be the final blow to India I suppose. Effectively these politicians are killing the golden egg giving hen themselves.
Under this scenario we are going to elections in less than a year and the candidates being a Prince not interested in the job and another though worthy but yet to be tested at the national level. Though Narendra Modi is officially the hate-boy of Indian politics, people forget that Godhra was not the only riot in India. There have been bigger and nastier riots under other governments as well. But even Narendra Modi has refrained from spelling out his vision for India which is something I don't like of late about him. He still remains the "best among the worst" to lead the country and probably the only hope left.
So while the resting Mahatma might be regretting that his country is ruled by his three monkeys rolled into one and ruled by three masters, there is no clear picture about India. Just hope that India really taps its potential and grows to be in the top-3 countries in the world but at the same time ensures the well being of its "stupid common man".
Never known to be good in academics, these mind boggling growth estimates and high deficits make little sense to me. Not because I doubt its authenticity - I have no case to doubt it but because for the world India maybe growing and will be among the top-3 by the end of next decade but for an ordinary Indian (or as Naseeruddin Shah puts it, the stupid common man ) its nothing more than tears. The Aam Aadmi - I hope Arvind Kejriwal likes this - is suffering and crying (read high onion prices) and the rulers of India, the very same people elected by the people for their well-being, are laughing their way to the Swiss Banks. When someone like Ashok Khemka talks against the "National Daamad" he is transferred or when Ms. Durga rightfully orders demolition of an illegal wall, the mafias boast of a "41-minute suspension act" and the reason by the much hyped CM is that it would have caused communal disharmony. So much for minority politics eh? The government is so skeptical of such mafias that it mooted an ordinance for safeguarding tainted politicians against criminal cases in the backdrop of an averse Supreme Court order. It took an immature prince to go against it and order temporary withdrawal and for the first time he receives some pat.
While I would not be commenting much about the pre-2000, the past decade and half have been painful if not worse. And a single party cannot be blamed. Each and every party is responsible for the mess and the condition that has led to us being ranked only 2nd to Russia in major nations in terms of corruption. The BJP led government tweaked rules for a big corporate house only to provide mobile licenses from fixed line licenses. Rumors doing the rounds were that the then telecom minister received millions of shares at just ₹ 1. Is that democracy or capitalism? Since then the number of scams have been more than the number of clothes girls purchase ( no offence please, it is your birthright to buy clothes in abundance). From the 2G scam to the Coal scam, from the brazen loot from Air India ( one of the better airlines by personal experience) by a certain Gujju minister to the CWG scam the figures have been astounding. It would take double or maybe triple checks even for a CA who deals with numbers day in and day out before writing the actual figures in rupees. Even the defence forces and the ISRO are not spared by people at the helm. And the last two are considered to be of utmost importance for any country.
So in spite of having natural resources in abundance we are suffering. Oh! talking of natural resources, the illegal iron ore mining in various states to benefit a few companies also should be counted. Corruption is high and so is security of the stupid people and women in particular. Rapes are a common thing now and the police seem to have no clue to stop it. So the blame shifts to the dressing habits of women and as Kalki Koechlin puts it " Its the women's fault" after all. A country like India where the police force knows about each and every small happening and at their will solve cases within hours cannot ensure the security of it people - hard to believe right? All this because our beloved politicians want control of each and everything, from natural resources to cash to the police force.
To add to the woes, no single party has a majority at the Centre to form policies. One or the other coalition partners will threaten to withdraw support if their demands are not met. And the ego each of these partners carry is phenomenal. The cow belt region parties don't see eye to eye yet support the same coalition at the centre. In such a case how can they come to a consensus on an issue. And those that no longer matter like Lalu Prasad or P.V. Narsimha Rao are later chased by past cases and ensured that they don't rise in politics to threaten the ruling government. And yes, the CBI is used effectively for this purpose. Wasn't CBI involved to ensure safety in the country? Well, the CBI might now say that it stays true to its name - Central Bureau of Investigation - it investigates for the central government in any case, just the purpose being different.
And before I forget, politicians have ensured India never rises in sports. A country having the second largest population rejoices on winning a single Gold in the Olympics - Sad. Or be it the case of BCCI ( Board of Corrupt and Careless Indians or Intellectuals if you like) which is the richest board and has politicians and corporate bigwigs to loot the money. By the way it is a not-for-profit organisation and does not pay taxes or come under the ambit of the RTI.
Finally before I close, going back to the second resource I talked about in the opening paragraph - Human intellect. While NRIs and Indian origin people are at the helm of some prestigious organisations across the globe very few actually come back to India. Even those few are not welcome by our rulers (read Arcelor Mittal). And each year thousands of students go abroad for Masters. Can't we have institutes of world fame and people from various countries come to our country and not the other way round? Common sense tells me it would result in huge capital inflows as well. But are politicians are busy looting people by charging hundreds of thousands for primary education and doing nothing for higher education. And yes, they are name obsessed too. So it is very common to find names of politicians with no meaningful contribution to development of country as institute names.
Final nail in the coffin is the reservation system. It is a sin to be a general category engineering student like me. And by criticizing reservation, I would like to clear myself before some local policeman comes with an arrest warrant after me ( well even that won't be produced as it would be entirely illegal to arrest me for practising freedom of speech) that reservation of such proportions where the intended beneficiaries still don't benefit is a waste. The intention was to uplift the backward and downtrodden and change their psyche. But after 66 years of no result it needs serious rethinking. And if not I bet one of our aged politicians (they still claim to be young) to be treated by a doctor who has taken years to complete his MBBS but got admission only because of reservation.
All this has taken a toll on the energetic yet restless youth and when they are asked about a country of preference its a country except India. This should be the final blow to India I suppose. Effectively these politicians are killing the golden egg giving hen themselves.
Under this scenario we are going to elections in less than a year and the candidates being a Prince not interested in the job and another though worthy but yet to be tested at the national level. Though Narendra Modi is officially the hate-boy of Indian politics, people forget that Godhra was not the only riot in India. There have been bigger and nastier riots under other governments as well. But even Narendra Modi has refrained from spelling out his vision for India which is something I don't like of late about him. He still remains the "best among the worst" to lead the country and probably the only hope left.
So while the resting Mahatma might be regretting that his country is ruled by his three monkeys rolled into one and ruled by three masters, there is no clear picture about India. Just hope that India really taps its potential and grows to be in the top-3 countries in the world but at the same time ensures the well being of its "stupid common man".
