Vijay Kumar Gaba

 As we celebrate the 74^th anniversary of our independence from the British rule, we appear to be even more resolute in our persistence to deny some of the unpleasant facts, that allowed Europeans to conquer and brutalize ancient and wealthy civilizations, such as ours. We refuse to accept the answers and explanations to the uncomfortable questions, that are relevant today, more than ever. For example, consider the following:

1.         How did Europeans, whom we believed to be primitive, become so powerful in the Middle Ages, especially 14^th and 15^th century, that they were able to conquer and enslave ancient civilization which had mastered art, science, mathematics, and philosophy?

Most of us refuse to acknowledge, it was the Renaissance, total break from the past dogmas and acceptance of a new paradigm, that helped Europeans reinvent themselves as a great political, economic, and scientific power that shall rule the world for many centuries and continue to materially influence it even today when their physical rule has ended.

It was the resolve to, inter alia, confine the power of the Church to the matters of religion; bring the art out of paintings on tall walls of Churches and Palaces on the street, in the realm of common people, by constructing larger than life liberating sculptors on the “ground”; add hitherto prohibited colors to the art; allow students to question the teachers; liberally welcome and adopt the knowledge from foreign cultures, including number system developed by Hindus and evolved by Arabs; venture into far off seas; allow the women equality that unshackled the Europeans and allowed them to conquer the world.

2.         Why, even after 74years of the end of, what was one of the most exploitive and brutal colonial rules, the legacy of British rule is not only surviving but thriving in India?

The policy makers and businessmen in India still prefer the same colonial economic model which British used to enrich their less endowed lands at the expense of richly endowed colonies; our politicians prefer to act and behave in the same manner as the European feudal lords would do in 16^th Century; and divide and Rule is still the most preferred political strategy.

3.         Why do we as a society appear to be suffering from a bi-polar disorder?

On one hand we aspire to be the great power that once dominated the global civilization through indigenous industry, art, literature, science, philosophy and spirituality for a significant part of the human civilization; while on the other hand we prefer to emulate the relatively nascent western cultures in every aspect of our life, including governance, education, culture, food, etiquettes and even personal relationships.

We cannot even accept that formal attires of Europe (Jacket, Pants, Neck Tie, non-cotton skirts and blouses etc.) and Central Asia (Long coats, Sherwani, overall cover ups like Burqua) is suitable for extreme climates and is mostly unsuitable to Indian climate. Adopting this as our formal work place and social attire we may have created avoidable demand for millions of tonnes of air conditioning, and added to warming of overall temperature.

I regret to note that today my social media timeline is full of signs that indicate to our dismal state of denial. It highlights that freedom is something that we really may not be wanting.

The government has notified 14^th August as “The Partition Horrors Remembrance Day”, on the 75th Independence Day. This is a clear signal that we do not want our predominantly youth populace to be free from the pain, misery and failures of the past. It is pertinent to note that less than one third of the Indian population directly suffered the horrors of the partition. One must be at least 5yr old in 1947 to remember the horrors suffered during partition. I am sure only a few thousands of those who are 80yr old and suffered or witnessed the horrors of partition may be physically alive today. Why do we want to enslave 1.4bn people to the thoughts of the horrors of partition, is beyond my comprehension!

A judge in the Indore Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Courts, recently observed in a rape case that "India are a conservative society, it has not yet reached such level (advance or lower) of civilization where unmarried girls…indulge in carnal activities with boys just for the fun of it, unless the same is backed by some future promise/assurance of marriage”.

#BoycottRadhikaApte is trending on Twitter. Radhika, a young film actress has essayed some critically acclaimed roles. She is globally acknowledged as a good actress. Radhika famously acted in a nude scene in a movie few years ago; and recently acknowledged in a media interview that she finds acting in nude scenes liberating.

“Fifty Shades of Grey”, a bold movie, with abundance of nudity and sexual conduct, has been trending in top 10 watched movies in India, for past more than 4months at least.

A society, in which a senior judge would decide on the carnal desires of all the young women, and public supports the call to boycott a brilliant actress for acting nude, while repeatedly watching a near pornographic movie, is certainly not Free.

If Renaissance was ever needed more, it is in India today. We need to bring out the traditional liberated Indian Idea about a just, equal and evolved society from the walls of the temples and ancient revered texts to the ground and exhibit it on every street and crossing.

To attain freedom, we need to reinvent ourselves as a new progressive society that is free from all legacies of slavery and bitterness of the past; encourages children to ask uncomfortable question; avoids dogmas and promotes pragmatism; true to itself and to the world.

On the eve of 75^th Independence Day when you buy a plastic Tricolour from a young child on the traffic signal, would you (a) pause to think that this flag may be of Chinese origin, (b) buy with the idea of helping the poor child; or (c) just buy to demonstrate your feeling of patriotism?

In the post-independence period, the Indian economy has been persistently suffering from a variety of deficits. Though in the financial market parlance the twin economic deficits, viz., current account deficit and fiscal deficit, have been discussed most, these could be the least of worries for Indian economy in the current circumstances. Some of the most worrisome deficits, in my view, include:

·         Growth capital deficit

·         Advanced technology deficit

·         Skill deficit

·         Trust deficit

·         Compliance deficit

·         Governance deficit

·         Productivity deficit

·         Social infrastructure deficit

·         Employment opportunity deficit

·         Demand deficit

On the eve of 75^th Independence day it is important to appreciate that to successfully achieve the objective of self-reliance, as being popularly understood, we must first bridge this multitude of deficits.

Not many people may like hearing this, but the fact remains that in recent years China has been helpful in bridging many of these deficits, especially growth capital, technology, productivity, employment opportunities and demand deficits. Chinese investors have invested millions of dollars in Indian start-ups by way of risk capital. Chinese have supplied affordable solutions in the areas of energy, transportations, chemicals, healthcare, etc. Affordable Chinese consumer imports have created huge employment opportunities for millions of self-entrepreneurs, traders, street vendors, and aided in creation of demand, especially consumption demand. Of course, all this has not been gratuitous on the part of Chinese enterprise and administration. Nonetheless, it has helped to a great deal.

We must pause here and assess that since due to legacy issues we always have a wide and deep trust deficit with China, was it advisable in the first place, to let Chinese and Indian economic interest intertwine so much?

Keeping the jingoistic nationalism aside, we must also consider that the non-essential toys, plastic decorative items, small appliances & tools which are more visible and talked about items, constitute a miniscule part of the total imports from China. The imports are dominated by electronics, engineering products & components, agro chemical, specialty chemical, medical equipment, precious metals and Iron & Steel. Our main exports to China include Cotton, gems & jewellery, copper, ores, organic chemicals. China is therefore present in our entire value chain.

Disengagement with China in markets therefore has to be equally strategic as in case of borders. We cannot and should not do it overnight by taking some whimsical, but popular, decisions. We need to have a strategy to fill the deficits by alternative means and render China redundant before disengaging ourselves. Self-reliance in this context would mean, building capacities in the fields of advanced technology, raising the level of skill, compliance and governance to attract adequate amount of growth capital, raising productivity to enhance savings potential for domestic funding of growth; and bridging the trust deficit between the people and the administration.

This endeavour would inevitably include bringing India into a state of equilibrium by removing social, and regional, economic imbalances, e.g., through-

·         Industries and businesses who have thrived historical on government largesse and not necessarily on the enterprising abilities of promoters giving back to society by way higher taxes, higher voluntary CSR spending, technology upgrade for better resource utilization, etc.;

·         Regions like Gujarat and Maharashtra, which are economically more developed despite not being endowed richly with natural resources, acknowledging that a part of their development is due to imperial designs of British regime and share their wealth with exploited regions like Jharkhand and Odisha;

·         Caste and communities which command ownership of the major part of economic resources and occupy most of the social space, voluntarily vacating some space for the historically oppressed and downtrodden;

·         Populace which has grown to be non-compliant by habit, not necessarily by intention, changing habits like spitting on roads, violating traffic rules, encroaching on pavements in front of their house/shops, exploiting domestic helps and child labor etc.;