Thought for the day
“Democracy is a
device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.”
-
George Bernard Shaw (Irish, 1856-1950)
Word for the day
Columbine (adj)
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
2014 elections are all about poison and blood.
Would elections mark the end of it or just the beginning.
Utopia: State of the union
This is to initiate a
larger debate on the desirable social, political and economic order for the
country. The author had been accumulating some thoughts on this for past couple
of years. We are presenting these thoughts in an open source like series from
which you may pick whatever you like, debate it, improve it and introduce back
in the stream.
It is important to clarify that we do not claim any
proprietary rights over these thoughts. The author claims to have liberally and
unabashedly plagiarized the thoughts of various common and eminent people;
published wisdom; and his own experiences. We acknowledge all the rights of people whose jargon, thoughts and ideas have been incorporated in this series.
I have been wandering through mesmerizing landscapes of India
for past couple of years. This was certainly not my first journey to discover
the country.
In past three decades the nomad hidden within me had coaxed me
to many journeys. I would travel mostly aimlessly; enjoy various manifestations
of the divine Mother Nature; acquaint myself with various people; appreciate
their way of living; admire their culture; collect some souvenirs, recipes,
anecdotes and came back into my cocoon -
relaxed, happy and little wiser.
In the process, I could develop appreciation for a variety of
people - their varied customs & appearance - and usually felt comfortable even
in a cross cultural environment. Subconsciously, more effort was spent on
identifying how other people are different from my own ways, rather than
discovering the points of convergence. (If someone alleges that this is an act
of racism – well I admit it certainly is.)
But certainly this time it was distinctly different. For the
first time I am confronted with serious doubts about the “Indianness” of
“India” and “Indians” as we understand these ideas in common discourse.
Deriving from my discussion on social, political and economic
conditions with people of various regions, I am in doubt that the idea of
“Indianness” perhaps only exists in films, army manuals, national holidays (26th
January and 15th August), political speeches and patriotic songs. The
compositions my children write describing “Unity in diversity” now appear
mythical to me.
I have discovered that after 66years of becoming a geopolitical
union, India still remains merely the one. It is far from becoming a
socio-economic union and even further from becoming a socio-political union.
I find a national approach to anything is conspicuous by its
complete absence in general public discourse. People have strong dogmatic allegiance
to their caste, religion, locality, region and state, generally in that order. I
saw little evidence of any effort being invested by the system - local
politicians, teachers, social workers, police or administrators - in developing
an “Indian” identity of people.
The failure of national economic policy in recognizing this
regional diversity is perhaps the primary reason for sub-optimal outcome of our
efforts. No special efforts are needed to discover that most of the states,
regions within states and communities within regions have diverse
socio-economic behavior. Hence, their needs and requirements are also distinct.
A blanket policy for all is therefore least likely to succeed in meeting its
objectives.
The post 1947 political organization of the country on lingual
basis appears to have outlived its utility. It is high time that our political
and economic order should recognize this diversity and be re-designed.
In my view, an incremental approach (creating more states and
districts) will now work. We need to begin from the beginning without any
prejudice or reference.
In coming days, I shall
present my thoughts on an alternative political and economic order.
(vijaygaba.investrekk@gmail.com)
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