Sunday, February 6, 2011

Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Kahan Hain Woh?

Friends,
This thought provoking story in Sunday magazine of The Hindu of 6th Feb will probably stir the conscience of many of us who are still not numbed by the totalitarian factory that,sadly, passes off for the educational system in our country. On the one hand there are many who are beguiled by the idea of India as a Superpower.Such elements are the upwardly mobile elites comprising a certain kind of Corporates who brazenly bribe Ministers,bureaucrats and the Media to influence policies wholly unsuited to our needs and genius,heavily influenced by the soul-sapping and environmentally untenable model of development pioneered in the West.
On the other side are the almost 50% of the poor who earn less than a dollar a day whom this "development" model has totally passed by.The number of poor in India exceeds the number that lives in the whole of Africa. And in this age of instant communication it will be difficult to argue that India will remain immune to events happening in the rest of the world,including Egypt.Therefore, it's time we citizens took charge of the situation instead of depending on the Govt or the Corporates. We'll never hear the bad news in the popular media because, for the most part,it is owned by the same Corporates who believe there is nothing vulgar living in billion dollar homes when the majority of our countrymen live in slums.
If our ambition is to have the same lifestyles as our profligate elites,it may be a very small ambition indeed.Nor, do I think,it is possible given the fragile eco-system that all of us share.Therefore it's high time that we see the larger picture and get wedded to the larger Idea. Not of India as a superpower, borne out of a brittle self worth of the super elites, but that of a life of dignity for All Indians.For we are all entitled to equitably share the fruits of our same Mother Nature.

Best regards,
Avinash
http://poshaning.blogspot.com/