Continuing with our second phase of discovering India, we
travelled to Rajasthan in past one week. We drove through 15 districts of the
state, namely, Udaipur, Sirohi, Jalore, Barmer, Pali, Bhilwara, Tonk, Jaipur,
Sikar, Alwar, Bundi, Kota, Jhalawar and Rajsamund.
The most critical learning of this trip was that in a land that
supposedly takes pride in its traditions and history, these things find little
relevance in peoples’ life. People are concerned with their roots (history,
culture, tradition) only to the extent it could be sold to “tourists”. Our
efforts to find people who would wish to keep the traditions alive because they
take pride in this, were totally futile. If we speak in words of famous
American author Mason Cooley “Preserving tradition has become a nice hobby,
like stamp collecting.” It is no longer a way of life.
The key take away of our Rajasthan trip were as follows:
(a)
After speaking with over 800 people across 15
districts, we feel that the generational abyss in this supposedly traditional state
is widening at fastest pace in the history. The young and middle aged who
cannot adopt “history and culture” as viable occupation are totally
disinterested in carrying out their tradition, whereas old still swear by them.
Consequently, the rich tradition and culture is dying fast. The few rich people
however would like to promote traditions with their young ones as a hobby and
mark of distinction.
In our view, this will further increase the income disparities,
which are already very high, as the poor lose their source of income from
traditional arts and handicraft.
(b)
Unlike the neighboring Gujarat, the religious
divide is not very conspicuous in Rajasthan. However, the society remains
deeply divided on caste lines. The politics remains art of managing caste
balance rather than focusing on development. The consequences are there for
everybody to see. The gender bias was also strong.
(c)
Most of the development is consequence of
central schemes like highways, rural roads, water canal, oil 7 gas exploration
etc.
(d)
The employment deficit created by diminishing
illegal mining businesses and automation in textile and agro processing (mainly
edible oil) is being met by booming real estate sector and MNREGA.
(e)
The “self enterprise” is on the decline and
traditional Marwari kids are taking to “professions” rather than businesses.
(f)
The city of Kota (day temperature above 45C) was
buzzing at midnight. The city’s economy, that once depended on mining, textile,
cement, chemical and agriculture and related industries, is now centered around
numerous “coaching centers”. Numerous aspiring IITans weather extreme heat and
cold conditions to pursue their dreams. We wondered why many other places with
good weather and better connectivity could not do this! On qualitative side,
one respected “coach” told us that most aspirants are victims of their parents’
dream and are likely to grow into “frustrated useless unproductive reluctant
workers”. Not a great commentary for ‘Bharat rising’.
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