Today I share with you the essentials of our argument or rather conflicting viewpoints. Here am I, reaching middle age, a developmental banker, with access to a host of data on our nation’s development and policies as also insights. Then my dad, a retired senior army officer, 83 years, very aware and has written four books also on Military History and Strategy. His latest book, Flashpoints In South Asia, deals with India’s standing in the region. Incidentally, he is a social worker also and runs The Institute of the Blind at Chandigarh in an honorary capacity for the last 25 years – it’s rated A class.
Now the conflicting viewpoint, I say that India is not progressing as the wealth is not trickling down to the poor, the rural infrastructure is horrendous in most states, 240 million Indians go hungry poor every day and 2 million children die at birth annually due to malnutrition etc. Then we have the disparities in wealth which are increasing rapidly, only thing being we pretend that all this poverty being essentially tucked away in the states of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, MP, AP,Orissa etc, the mind of our well to do just looks away. In any case the mind set of the rich / corrupt officers etc is more attuned to the cities of New York / New Delhi than Indian developmental issues. I concede progress is there but await a broader, inclusive and more rapid pace. I also concede there has been a very rapid pace of development in some sectors and regions but then imbalances exist which can create an over hang and then the Naxalite / Maoist violence issue and terrorism cannot be brushed aside.
Now Dad, he discusses, steel production, coal and production, foodgrain production, infrastructural development, etc and feels we are scaling up, filtering down of wealth would take place as in all economies as has happened earlier in Japan, Korea, Malaysia etc. He concedes that he threw stones as a serving army officer (Battalion Commander – Lt Col in the 1960’s) in Nagaland at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner and allowed bullets to be fired over his house so as to scare him into venturing out and doing some developmental work but that over the years developmental issues have gained importance though the bureaucracy requires a real make over as also the police to enable better governance. He feels that we were slaves for over 800 years, it impairs our administrative functioning but all the same post independence we are progressing and learning the nuts and bolts of good governance as also evolving.
Then we discuss and differ on military might, my point is simple – it’s no use having all the military might in case you are unwilling to use it or rather have a mindset which allows your core of timidity to always prevail over national pride. Dad states that the nation must have a strong military – which I concede – but states that gradually our leaders would learn the art of realpolitik. He does agree that even Indira Gandhi failed to trade off J&K for 90000 prisoners in 1971 but overall the state has learnt to project its ambitions somewhat now. My point of view remains that our mindset is the weakness – which causes us to lose face in the world and allows China to play around just to keep us on tenterhooks. Military might is OK but a weak mindset cannot allow it to function effectively.
Dad is the eternal optimist for India, he has worked hard, fought four wars and counter insurgency, says we as a nation shall overcome all obstacles in due course. I am a committed hard working officer, am committed to development, am positive minded by nature but on developmental issues still feel that we have a long way to go before we claim to be really on the path of progress.
I am sharing these issues as I thought it would be interesting to read them and to react.
Now the conflicting viewpoint, I say that India is not progressing as the wealth is not trickling down to the poor, the rural infrastructure is horrendous in most states, 240 million Indians go hungry poor every day and 2 million children die at birth annually due to malnutrition etc. Then we have the disparities in wealth which are increasing rapidly, only thing being we pretend that all this poverty being essentially tucked away in the states of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, MP, AP,Orissa etc, the mind of our well to do just looks away. In any case the mind set of the rich / corrupt officers etc is more attuned to the cities of New York / New Delhi than Indian developmental issues. I concede progress is there but await a broader, inclusive and more rapid pace. I also concede there has been a very rapid pace of development in some sectors and regions but then imbalances exist which can create an over hang and then the Naxalite / Maoist violence issue and terrorism cannot be brushed aside.
Now Dad, he discusses, steel production, coal and production, foodgrain production, infrastructural development, etc and feels we are scaling up, filtering down of wealth would take place as in all economies as has happened earlier in Japan, Korea, Malaysia etc. He concedes that he threw stones as a serving army officer (Battalion Commander – Lt Col in the 1960’s) in Nagaland at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner and allowed bullets to be fired over his house so as to scare him into venturing out and doing some developmental work but that over the years developmental issues have gained importance though the bureaucracy requires a real make over as also the police to enable better governance. He feels that we were slaves for over 800 years, it impairs our administrative functioning but all the same post independence we are progressing and learning the nuts and bolts of good governance as also evolving.
Then we discuss and differ on military might, my point is simple – it’s no use having all the military might in case you are unwilling to use it or rather have a mindset which allows your core of timidity to always prevail over national pride. Dad states that the nation must have a strong military – which I concede – but states that gradually our leaders would learn the art of realpolitik. He does agree that even Indira Gandhi failed to trade off J&K for 90000 prisoners in 1971 but overall the state has learnt to project its ambitions somewhat now. My point of view remains that our mindset is the weakness – which causes us to lose face in the world and allows China to play around just to keep us on tenterhooks. Military might is OK but a weak mindset cannot allow it to function effectively.
Dad is the eternal optimist for India, he has worked hard, fought four wars and counter insurgency, says we as a nation shall overcome all obstacles in due course. I am a committed hard working officer, am committed to development, am positive minded by nature but on developmental issues still feel that we have a long way to go before we claim to be really on the path of progress.
I am sharing these issues as I thought it would be interesting to read them and to react.
Development is happening as is evolution though at a snails pace in our environment. While on the Earth we are unaware of the Earth's movement either on its own axis or around the sun, similarly we are unaware of our progress that is happening -nothwithstanding all the adverse circumstances. I am totally with your dad - foolishily, happily optimistic - every step we take forward counts no matter how many steps backward the corrupt, disoriented and the insane megalomaniacs may take.
ReplyDeleteIndia has come a long way in all spheres - positive and negative. Where on the one hand the number of riots and the devastation by natural and other disasters has wrought havoc, I am heartened to see the middle class come out of its fastidiousness, picl up its pace and partake its justifieable share of amenities of health, education and welfare. Better health facilites - more and more people accessing them - may be not to total or satisfacory level but definitely in larger volumes and more rapidly. Yes the earlier underdogs or the so called BIMARU [a pet Ashish Goshism] states too have seen this progress - floods and droughts notwithstanding.
So what if Pulse Polio has become plus polio - adding decades to its life after it was to be eradicated - atleast the guy in the village can say with disdain - 'Oh another polio drops campaign' Atleast we are more aware - 'Tam so ma jyotisgamaya' or lead me from darkness to light sure is happening - but we have to open our eyes and not sit like the proverbial pigeon under threat of the cat.
Thus the argument is not so much a conflicting one but a reflection on the ethos of our times - may the dialogue build up!
R.Lamba
Regards