The Various Citizens of India

 The Various Citizens of India

Dinesh Kumar Kapila

We are a highly emotional people with only one distinguishing feature, the degree of emotions can vary. Region to Region. And our media is highly verbose and ready to discuss any issue, for any length of time, the actual news be damned. Talk, opinions, discussions and counter discussions. This only poisons the atmosphere even more. Then we have the guys, seemingly educated, but willing to trust any passing by rumour. Or story without even assessing the facts or reading up.

Just as an aside but more to just bring out this point, we have the ratings of happiness. As per countries. I told my friend, thank you for the forward but first define happiness. Or read the parameters and find out the parameters applied and how were they applied.

Now we know there are many types of Indians but broadly six types have evolved as of now as regards their views on the Economy and our trajectory of development. In any case we are all deeply enraptured with the Economy and espouse views as though we know it all. We treat the transitory ebbs and tides of the economy the way we rate stock markets !! Now the Six types of our fellow Indians, broadly classifying the same are -

1. India is stunningly growing. It’s just too exhilarating and motivating. Just watch, we will even remove the dollar as the currency of international trade.

2. India is stunningly downgrading. We are hurtling to an abyss. It’s all so depressing. Jobs gone, inflation high, another Pakistan in the making! Where will this recession and depression take us.

3. India is performing reasonably well considering the global headwinds. We are self confident about seeing it through steadily notwithstanding the occasional blip. It’s understandable and let us cautiously weave our way through.

4. India is certainly growing, even with ups and downs and is trying to address its multiple afflictions with varying degrees of success. That is how it will be considering our demographic profile and deep rooted afflictions, including community relations and education or rather awareness levels.

5. Then pardon me but the fifth are from a state next to Bangladesh - a category apart with some exceptions and fiercely proud of poverty and being contrarian. From decades they have shown a tendency to glorify poverty and its distinguishing features. At least their writers and artists and those considered intellectually up there. Many exceptions are there but generally the expert afflicted with the poverty only syndrome has the hold. For them It’s just about negativity and it’s wonderful aspects. Sadly so. Many a negative story turning up abroad, check the writers. Coming close is my home state Punjab but fortunately we do retain our sense of positivity. Though it’s certainly under challenge.

(A sixth could be our comrades in Kerala but they are not getting traction).

6. Then we have a huge mass who could not bother either way and just get on with it. They have to do so to survive and move up.

In between all this we forget the lost decades when we crawled at a snail’s pace as regards the economy and our rate of growth got us own identity, the Hindu Rate of Growth. By the way a predominantly Hindu nation by way of population will obviously have a Hindu Rate of growth !! But i digress.

Each decade has contributed its bit in building up the base we see today but the sheer entrepreneurial energy was witnessed in the 1990s and onwards. Till then we sort of trundled along.

The cynicism seen today in many drives itself so deep in some cases (specially category two) that I have had to request some to just sit back and assess their own reality. Some seem despondent and seemingly reconciled to just about living even when they live quite well. This is our paradox and reality. Mixing up the economy and politics and development into one incendiary mix. And then it’s just a step away from cynicism and a hardening of positions.

We are just up there or down there. Where did the middle path go. Or a rational discussion and that is it., There are no shades in between, as they should be, the shades of grays and whites with both undergoing changes in intensity time to time but overall with a positive trend.

We forget that even to move economically and in development and to move with intensity in both we have to inspire each other and keep a positive orientation going. That is the fundamental requirement. What makes scientists in their seventies (I know a few) work on poverty or income projects, they certainly discuss their concerns dispassionately and voice them but then seek to contribute their bit constructively. That is how it will have to be.

Any nation will undergo various stages of development with changes in policies and focus and even the strategy., There is no one way or the one only way as the experience of various nations indicates. We have to understand this. Some will get the backing of the citizens, some will have a mixed response and some may cause concern in certain sections. That is how it is through the process.

When we read a certain international survey do try to read up its parameters, mode, depth of the survey, scope for discretion in assessment and bias. Some will be accurate, some just passing off a bias with some data. Sadly most cannot comprehend this.

My request to a colleague was let us find the rational middle way. Else being focused on too much negativity will only impact our mental health and well being. Argue on facts and certainly point out the flaws but draw the line at crossing over to where cynicism plus negativity seeps in. That is all. Simply.

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