"That man is not truly brave who is afraid either to seem
or to be, when it suits him, a coward."
—Edgar Allan Poe (American, 1809-1849)
Word for the day
Intrapreneur (n)
An employee of a large corporation who is given freedom and
financial support to create new products, services, systems, etc., and does not
have to follow the corporation's usual routines or protocols.
Malice towards none
Trust me, if Priyanka Gandhi was a political force in UP
(outside Amethi & Rai Bareilly), Congress would have used it many elections
back.
First
random thought this morning
Budget 2017: Make service tax paid by individual Assesses having
total income upto Rs10,00,000, as deductible from the income for calculation of
tax payable on such income.
Going Nowhere
About two decades back, I
had a chance meeting with a group of visitors from Pakistan. Most members of
the group had their ancestral roots in Delhi and nearby areas. During
discussion, I asked them why is it that despite being so rich in natural
resources, favorable geography and brave & enterprising people, Pakistan is
not able to grow to its potential. The answer was thought provoking.
They said, "The feudal nature of politics has made the
society ominously unequal. There is huge trust gap. The gap is rising with
every flight going out of the country, as it carries few good people, who would
probably never come back to their homeland. With all educated people capable of
thinking without prejudice; capable of innovating; capable of promoting
enterprise, moving out - the country is left with few feudal lords who have
captured all the resources and therefore need not leave the country, and ‘the
vulnerable’ who could add little to the growth - economic or otherwise."
Trust me, I find the conditions in UP and Bihar no different
today. I do not have statistics to support my argument, but anecdotally I know
that even middle class parents do not want their children to stay here. The
routine education of children has therefore become a mission for all middle and
rich class families. People want their kids to get good degrees and migrate
from these places, to never come back.
This is in contrast to the southern states, Gujarat and Punjab,
where people are keen on migrating to foreign shores but stay connected to their
roots. They yearn for returning someday. Here, it is not only foreign shores -
Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai are equally desirable destinations. Once
out, no one thinks of returning back to or even investing some money in their
birthplace. The remittances are usually limited to the support money for old
parents and renovation of house.
By highlighting the present day condition of the holy city of
Kashi, the point I am trying to convey is that perhaps the direction and
paradigm of development we have chosen needs to be reviewed.
In my personal opinion, the present model of growth may not be the
appropriate one, for two simple reasons:
(a) It completely ignores the sustainability concerns.
(A homeopathy doctor in Kashi told me that the noise pollution in the city due
to chaotic traffic is making more people sick than anything else. The worst
part is that no one is bothered about this.)
(b) The present model is bound to fail, as it mostly ignores
the strengths of Indian society and economy.
The development model adopted by us seems to be mistaking the
means for goals. Electricity, roads, bridges, motor vehicles, communication
network etc. should be used as means to improve the quality of human life,
minimize socio-economic inequalities, and enable people to work for evolution
of mankind. Mistaking means for the goals, takes us nowhere.
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