"Nothing happens to any
person but what was in his power to go through with."
—Marcus Aurelius (Roman,
121-180)
Word for the day
Beatinest (adj)
Most remarkable or unusual.
Malice towards none
My friend came! He charmed
everyone! I sold him drones!
First random thought this morning
While the people remain busy
with movies and cricket, the country is silently becoming a relevant global
force in space technology, automobile, tennis (doubles) and badminton.
Wrestling, archery, shooting
etc. are much talked about, but results have not been any spectacular.
Which category you want me to
put political ?
Time to do it is Now
Prime Minister Modi has proudly promised Indian Diaspora
in US that his government will strive to make India a developed country like
US. In past also many political leaders have aspired to make India like China.
One former chief minister of Maharashtra promised to make Mumbai like Shanghai.
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi wanted to emulate the manufacturing model of
China and manufacture toys and watches in India.
If we eliminate the political
rhetoric out of these assertions made in the heat of the moment, what we get is
a constricted vision of the future of India. Regardless of the posturing, our
political establishment appears mostly lacking in innovation, self-belief, and
faith in rich cultural & economic legacy.
The right wing politicians claim
to have pride in India's glorious past. Their sole ambition is to restore
India's stature as world leader (Vishwa Guru). However, when it comes to
implementation, they suffer from cognitive dissonance.
They seem unable to think beyond
highly exploitive and authoritarian Chinese model of development. The tragedy
is that they want India to become like US by following Chinese model and
enforcing parochial social agenda that has no Vedic sanctity!
There is no meaningful left party
in the country. The left wing politics is now limited to violent and exploits
of handful Naxals and Maoist.
The academics and elite that
subscribe to left ideologies appear mostly too pliable and dependent on state
favors to make any difference.
The traditionally strong center
and left of center parties have mostly degenerated to become feudal lordships.
Their vision of India appears to begin and end with their vested political and
economic interests.
The tokens like secularism,
socialism, equality and justice are blatantly used to camouflage the
vicissitude of their ideologies.
Under these circumstances, finding
a sustainable solution for farmers' plight seems like a impossibility.
Given that over two third of the
population is directly or indirectly dependent on the farming and allied
activities, their political importance can hardly be overemphasized. It is not
surprising that the structure of policy framework is such that farming should
continue to remain an unviable activity, so that the farmers always remain
dependent on political establishment and submit to their exploits in lieu of
petty concessions.
In my view, imagining India as a
developed (or even a middle income) country is meaningless unless some radical
structural reforms are implemented in the rural sector. The incremental changes
would never be sufficient to cure the deformities developed over past two
centuries in the sector.
The recent farmers' agitations
across many states are a reminder that things needs to be done immediately,
before it is too late. In next couple of days, I would be sharing my somewhat
utopian (but not impossible) solutions for initiating a wider discussion on the
topic.
No comments:
Post a Comment