"Chaos is inherent in
all compounded things. Strive on with diligence."
—Budha (Indian, 563-483BC)
Word
for the day
Imprimatur (n)
Sanction or approval;
support, e.g., our plan has the company president's imprimatur.
Malice
towards none
Kapil Mishra (AAP)
and Naseemuddin Siddiqui have added a new manifestation to the phrase Coming
Out
First random
thought this morning
I am not sure about how the pet project of PM Modi, viz.,
Make in India is doing in industrial sphere. But the hype created by it has
certainly helped making a grand rally in Indian equity market.
Perhaps for the first time in more than two decades,
domestic investors are more enthusiastic about Indian equities than foreign
investors. Consequently, the market are moving higher despite intermittent
selling by foreign investors.
Believe what you know
I have written on this many times earlier.
Regardless, I find it important to reiterate my observations and thoughts on
this once again.
I have been wandering through
mesmerizing landscapes of India for past many years. 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 come back into my cocoon- relaxed, happy and
little wiser.
Nonetheless, in the process, I
have developed a great appreciation for a variety of people - their varied
customs & appearance - and usually felt comfortable even in a cross
cultural environment. Subconsciously, I have invested significant efforts in
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.)
Most of these journeys have been
fulfilling and contributed positively to my thoughts. However, one thing has
always bothered me. Many times, I have been 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
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” appear somewhat mythical to me.
I have discovered that after
70years 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 not work. We need to begin
from the beginning without any prejudice or reference....to continue
Read with the following
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