Independence Day, 2047

How old is our country? A toddler, at best.

This long rambling post is where I weigh in on “India at 60″, a day late so that I can spring a surprise on my unsuspecting readers (assuming there is more than 1).

So anybody who knows me knows that I tend to take the optimistic view on this country. Lots of people have listed the achievements, then added a “BUT”, and then concluded with a “things are still precariously balanced, and hopefully the future will be positive”.

I put no BUTs in my post. This is simply because none of the BUTs are new ones. We had poverty in our country 20 years ago. We had poverty in our country 10 years ago. We have poverty in our country today. We will have poverty in our country 10 years from now. We will have it 20 years from now.

Replace the word poverty with discrimination or corruption, build up a lather, rinse and then repeat.

Here comes my BUT:

Ye Olde India-China Debate…

*Pats self on back*
There is a publication, that this Voice has always admired, and turned to as a source for most of its information, called the Economist. Started, in late 19th century London by a Walter Bagehot, to promote Democracy and Capitalism, it has quite a few followers (recent circulation figures have just crossed 1 million, with 500,000 of those in USA). I respect it simply because it makes out a very objective case for the two systems, and is very objective in its news reporting (although it did support the Iraq War II ). Anyway, The Economist makes a case that this Voice has been screaming about forever.
It is this - that although it seems that India is way behind China currently in the race to become richer, India is going to win out in the long-haul. Some excerpts from the India-China (”Tiger in Front”) survey, from the 5th March Edition:

HOME to nearly two-fifths of humanity, two neighbouring countries, India and China, are two of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The world is taking notice. In December, a report by America’s National Intelligence Council likened their emergence in the early 21st century to the rise of Germany in the 19th and America in the 20th, with �impacts potentially as dramatic�.

That India is an open society and China is not is one of the most glaring differences between the two. Some people in both countries are tempted to use it to explain another: that China’s economy has grown much faster. This survey will argue that this view is simplistic and misleading.

Some of the main reasons for China’s better performance have nothing to do with the political system. When China started its reforms, in 1978, it was poorer than India. Part of the gap now is due simply to that earlier start.

India is often portrayed as an elephant: big, lumbering and slow off the mark. Now investment-bank reports are beginning to talk of it as a new Asian �tiger�.

According to the World Bank, 87% of adult Chinese women are literate. The equivalent figure in India is 45%. Many things follow from educating girls: better health and education and longer lives for the whole family; more productive workers; and a boost to industrialisation and urbanisation. �An educated child�, says Asian Demographics’ Mr Laurent, �does not want to plant rice.�

The other consequence of smaller families has been a sex ratio strongly skewed in favour of boys. In China there are 118 boys for every 100 girls born, compared with a natural ratio of 105 to 100. India’s figures are also skewed, but to a lesser extent. The most recent census, in 2001, showed 108 boys under the age of seven for every 100 girls.

The foreign-investment boom in China was started by overseas Chinese. From 1985 to 1996, two-thirds of foreign investment in China came from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. There China has, close at hand, some 30m ethnic Chinese, many of them with close ties to the mainland. Moreover, these places specialised in labour-intensive manufacturing industries for export. Wage costs were rising fast, so, in effect, they exported their trade surpluses with America to coastal China. They were made very welcome, for political as well as economic reasons, and paved the way for the big multinationals.

Overseas Indians, in contrast, are scattered around the world and across professions. There are a number of global tycoons, tens of thousands of software engineers who powered Silicon Valley’s dotcom boom, and millions of others. It is not surprising they have played a different role to that of the Chinese diaspora.

Except for the brief interlude of �emergency� imposed in 1975 by Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, Indian democracy has stuck. It may have seemed an improbable experiment in such a poor, ethnically divided and hierarchical society, but it has proved resilient and deep-rooted. Turnout at elections is higher than in many developed countries�and it is the poor who vote in large numbers. The system may not deliver economic growth rates of 9-10%, but nor has it imposed Mao Zedong’s murderous millenarian lunacies.

After Jawaharlal Nehru became independent India’s first prime minister in 1947, his Congress party enjoyed three decades of uninterrupted rule, most of them with a large parliamentary majority. It took the chance on offer to make radical choices and changes. It is not democracy’s fault that many of them were the wrong ones.

Well there you have it… of course, I have given you just a small taste of it. Obviously I can’t give more, else I’ll probably be sued. Do check out the latest copy of the Economist and see for yourself. I, in the meantime, shall wander around cyberspace, smug in the knowledge that the Economist agrees with me, rather than Deeshaa.org… it is simply a matter of time, before I will have to change the title of my blog… the sooner, the better.

No More Laloo??

One more victory for Indian Democracy
It’s official folks, The Rastriya Janata Dal (or National People’s Party) has lost the Bihar state elections. Ummm, ya, that means that Laloo’s wife is no longer running that state…. how can this be? Isn’t India corrupt? Aren’t Indian politicians corrupt goondas? Shouldn’t the hopeless situation in Bihar have perpetuated Laloo’s rule for eternity? Shouldn’t his goons have kept the general populace subdued forever?

What’s that you say? The other side was more corrupt? Their co-ercing tactics were better? Their threats were more scary?

Of course, I mean Bihar is the richest state in the land. I can just see all the politicians fighting to have a piece of the action. They must have all teamed up and threatened to shoot the masses if they voted for Laloo, as they were so desperate to loot the state’s treasures, by hook or by crook …We all know Bihar to be the land of Milk & Honey.

on the other hand, I heard this “bullshit” story that the people of Bihar FINALLY got fed up of being robbed, raped, looted and having their kids kidnapped, and decided to do something about it.

Yes, yes, all the greybeards, and wannabe greybeards will tell me that only a naive fool would believe that something like “People power” is at work. After all, these cynics are experienced politicians, out in the field everyday of their lives, working hard, hand-in-glove with the general populace, and thus have the pulse of the nation at their fingertips, right?

In other news, my sworn Arch Enemy, Deeshaa.org writes about the NASA exam publicity stunt, and of course uses it as some sort of example which proves that all of us Indians are gullible idiots, morons, with inferiority complexes. I mean no other country has gullible people in it…. Heck, you could tell the Indian Public there were WMDs in Iraq, and they’d believe that too right? Oh no, no other country is guilty of being gullible….Oh, by the way, did I mention the author of Deeshaa.org is prejudiced against Muslims? I recall some quote about how the Islamic religion spreads violence and hate….interesting, I always thought it was a certain breed of human that incites violence and hate, and not any Holy Book written milennia ago and open to lots of interpretation. But then, that’s just me, a lowly Voice From A 2.5-World Country, attempting to challenge the might of an “IndiBlog” award-winner who “Tells It Like It Is”, LOL.

Delusion of Grandeur

Unity in Diversity, why not?
Ok, well it’s another slow news week, so slow in fact, that people’s comments in blogs are already being labeled “Worst Comments of Year”, which is pretty funny considering how early into the New Year we are.

Anyway, after reading one of Akshay’s older Posts (see the link to Trivial Matters in my External Links Section) on an India-Pakistan re-unification, I decided to document the idea on my blog, for future reference. The idea of an India-Pakistan re-unification is an old one, nothing new there. But I’m suggesting a South Asian Union, or a United States of South Asia (USSA anyone? :-p).

Ok even that idea is pretty old (and new - people look to the EU for inspiration..). But nobody seems to pursue it. Since cynicism seems to be a trait inherent in South Asian genes, most people probably envision the idea, decide that it will never work and then carry on with their lives.

However, since my life is currently in limbo (when isn’t it?), I decide to not “move on” and preserve the daydream in a blog entry.

So here are contents of my daydream:

Kashmir & Eelam and the 7 Sisters
A United States of South Asia, consisting of the following countries:
India (of Course), Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Kashmir.

Yes, I’m counting Kashmir as a country in this daydream, and so, solve the Kashmir problem in one fell swoop (I am soooooo amazing…). See, instead of belonging to India or Pakistan (which is a zero-sum scenario presently), if Kashmir was a separate State of South Asia, it would a) be part of both and neither of the countries at the same time, and b) give the Kashmiris the autonomy that they’ve always wanted. The same applies to the Tamil Eelam - instead of being a small chunk of Sri Lanka, the new Tamil homeland would be the (former) Indian state of Tamil Nadu, clubbed with Jaffna (Sri Lankans, I apologise, I don’t know if that offends your sensibilities. Bear with me, it’s just a daydream at this point…)
Finally, “The 7 Sisters”, the 7 states of India which lie beyond “The Chicken’s Neck” which are also continuously fighting for a separate Bodoland and Nagaland - they can get that too. If we look at present day, Nagaland for example would be a NEW country carved out of an existing one -however, if all of the surrounding countries are part of larger union, nagaland/bodoland/Eelam all just become autonomous provinces part of the greater whole…again the extremely naive optimist in me believes this is the ideal solution for all the Sub-Continent’s territorial disputes…Saying Kashmir is a part of India will always piss a Pakistani off. Saying that we’re all citizens of the USSA? Does that rankle in the same way? Well..not to me…

Leadership, Governance & Laws
I envision the Union to be a loose federation, having a rotating presidency like the EU. So this is kind of how I see it: There is a Governing Council, which consists of the leaders of all the 6/7 countries/states, and one of them is the President. his presidency rotates every 3 years? 2 years? 4 Years? by country, which is the only fair way to distribute it, in my opinion.
Every member union must have a democracy in place, either presidential or parliamentary. Monarchies, dictatorships have no place in this union. This is because this voice has lots of faith in Democracy as the best form of government. The other reason all of the countries need to be democracies is so that they can follow a somewhat common set of laws. Each country would be able to implement the lowest common denominators for example on Human Rights, protection of Minorities e.t.c. Hell, this union would consist of so much diversity, that legislation for preventing discrimination would have to be pretty broad.

Travel & Trade
Of course, travelling within the Union should be free (i.e. without the need for a passport). This free movement is necessary for the union to be a success economically, and politically.
Trade of course will also be completely free (i.e. a Customs Union, like the EU) . Again, this will require that all the union members follow the same basic legislation …

“A Grand Army of the Republic”
Heh, to rip off a line from Star Wars Episode II, just think of the sheer size of the armed forces of the USSA. Of Course…in Star Wars, the 1000-year-old Republic’s Grand Army was just a precursor to formation of The Empire…hey I can live with that But it would be nice if India and Pakistan didn’t have their missiles and nukes pointed at each other. Further, think of the pooling of resources and cost-savings. We’d be the only Defence force in the world which had both F-16s and MiGs!! (As far as I know, anyway!)

“The #1 Cricket Team in Universe”
Contributed by RTD2 (see comments)
Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag, Jayasurya and Inzy’s batting, Shoaib and Murli’s bowling, and the rest (please no flames on who I have left out or ignored. Cricketing debates require a separate blog altogether!) Of course, this would also take away one of Cricket’s fiercest rivalries, but what to do, we United South Asians would be Like That Only! Note to World: Please ignore result of Asia XI vs Rest of World XI played recently….

Ok, these are just some of the visions that I’ve been having recently. Some people will ask, at this point, WHY? Well, some reasons are already mentioned above

- Solves the Kashmir problem (in my view, of course)
- Will go a long way towards enriching the inhabitants, especially the smaller members - as an Arrogant, Pompous Indian, I think Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka would benefit from having free access to a large Indian and Pakistani market
- Resolves a few border disputes, and integrates the sub-continent in a way that Indians (like myself) are always fantasising about
- and other reasons which, when they occur to me, will be added to this post

Of course, there is milennia of mutual distrust, and a fear of loss of identity and culture that may come with such a union, not mention all sorts of other disputes (Do we allow Indians to freely settle in Pakistan/Nepal/Bangladesh and vice versa? Can they own land? Won’t they steal each other’s jobs? Will the Caste System spread or be destroyed? Will 300+ Muslims vs 800 Million Hindus, make the infighting even more bloody, or will it reduce polarisation, like in the pre-British era?)

I just wanted to get the ball rolling, and hopefully get lots of input from anybody who passes by this blog….

<!– –>

More on Defending India…. Part 1

Indian democracy is something to be proud of
OK, there’s not much new happening in my world. Haven’t been blogging with much frequency lately, but then this voice is giving that blasted GMAT exam so as to get into ISB and push my own standard of living up…but that is neither here nor there. Since there’s not much new stuff happening, I’ll harp on some old stuff.

Ok first off, you know your country has moved up in the world when it stops appearing in the political section of the Economist, and moves into its Economics section. Being an avid subscriber to the Economist, I’ve been noticing this gradual change occur over the past 4/5 years. But with greater publicity comes greater criticism. Especially when one makes the statement China is way ahead of India, in terms of development.

MYTH - Democracy is what is holding India back. As Arun Shourie, the ex-disinvestment minister put it (as a reason for why nothing gets done) - “In India, everybody has a Veto”. I would just like to state for the record that this is bullshit. There is a strong voice within and without India, that respects the “order” and “discipline” with which China functions. I’d like to tell all of those people that if it wasn’t for Indian democracy, they wouldn’t even be able to freely make that criticism. China has a nice way of dealing with dissent - it’s called Jail (and some extreme cases, Death). Yes our population is out of control. But as Indians, we believe in reproductive rights - this means that a woman will NOT have a her ovaries removed by hospital staff after her first child-birth in India. Even though Human-rights violations MAY occur on an almost daily basis in India, they are not mandated as a part of the foundation of our Country. They are unconstitutinal, illegal, and the perpetrators CAN BE brought to justice - the framework for all of this exists, and works more often than the media and Cynical Indians would have you believe.

Here’s a another critical point - Women. Yes, there are still a gazillion atrocities committed against women. Yes, it’s still unsafe for women to walk the streets alone at night (Although I would like to state it wasn’t much safer for the women who were attacked in the Wharton School bathrooms by a rapist - TWO YEARS IN A ROW). Anyway back to my point - the biggest proof that democracy works in India is the number of women in power. Are these women repectable, the epitome of Morality, or even woman that I like? Nope. Still, here’s the list:

Vasundhara Raje - Chief Minister of Rajasthan

Uma Bharti - Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh

Jayalalitha - Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

Sheila Dikshit - Chief Minister of Delhi

Mayawati - Ex-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Low-Caste (and also stupid enough to try and secretly construct a Shopping Mall next to the Taj Mahal - reason she was kicked out of power).

Mamta Bannerjee - Head of Opposition in West Bengal

Sushma Swaraj - ex-Health Minister

Honorary Mention - Indira Gandhi - ex-Prime Minister (deceased)

Sonia Gandhi - Congress Party President
Behind every great man there is a woman….She’s not the leader of India - but she damn well could have been. First time I’ve EVER heard of anybody renounce Prime Ministership! Yes she got where she did only because she married a former leader…but before you point your finger repeat after me: SON OF A FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE USA.

All of these women were in positions of power. Influential positions. As much people would like to believe that these women probably got here through their connections or whatever, the fact is that they got voted into power. I voted for Sheila Dikshit myself and am a fan of hers…And after they got voted, they were (and are) accepted by most of the public. For a country as “backwards” as India, this is a big step. I could draw a parallel with a 200-and-something year old democracy which is YET to ELECT a woman into a position of significant power (Currently 8 of the 50 states have a woman governor)…but I won’t…

<!– –>