Superb insightful commentary, as usual Vinod. But the crux of the matter is that our govt. does not want to identify the fifth and sixth columnists amongst us and render them incapable of inflicting further damage, because of the demands of electoral politics. Would we have been better off under a dictatorship?
You too are sounding despondent now, Vinod. Perhaps you too have realized that the current social and political setup needs to be completely overhauled, It is either the Maoists or the Khaoists.........
Vinod, you will be missed. Wishing you all the best.
Great post as usual Vinod. There can be no co-existence is a reality we better get used to.
Strange, isn't it? An earlier Akbar became an apostate of Islam and tried to establish Din-e-Ilahi. This Akbar finally shed his sheep's clothing and showed himself to be the wolf that he really is. Time to recognize that there can be no co-existence and accept the inevitable.
I agree with you Vinod, because it would be stupid on our part to try to keep re-inventing the wheel whenever we face obstacles, whether economic or governance related. We should not hesitate in adopting world-best practices in these matters and if I recall correctly, Dattatreya even established a dog as his guru, because the dog could teach him something. And then there is a sanskrit subhashit which says that a little jealousy is good because it drives you to do better than your neighbor and helps you in improving your lot in life.
I think the issue has roots in the fact that Bharat as an idea, has not really taken root among the common people. It is a jungle out there and everyone is trying to better their own lives and the lives of those connected to them. Think of this as a series of concentric circles. Your sense of responsibility towards someone decreases, with an increase in distance between the concentric circles that you respectively occupy. With an intangible like the idea of Bharat lying at the very outermost ring, you don't really feel any responsibility towards it when weighed against more immediate concerns. If you really think about it, it feels as if the job of nation building remains unfinished and democracy was thrust upon a people with a feudalistic mindset who were not yet ready for it.
Superb analysis, Vinod. I agree with everything you have said in this post. War is inevitable between China and India in the future,and it may take place not only on the shared common borders, but in distant lands in pursuit of mineral resources and commodities. Because both giants will be in intense competition for the same resources to feed their burgeoning economies.
We are so used to non-performing political appointees in ministerial posts, that someone even marginally competent is like a breath of fresh air. I wonder if Chidambaram will be able to quell the festering naxalite-maoist insurgency. Because of the past six decades of indifference and incompetence from politicians both in the states and at the centre, this has become not just a law and order issue, but is turning into a civil war.
Cities worldwide are the melting pots of civilizations and cultures. Caste based discrimination, deprivation and differentiation is more pronounced in rural areas then in cities. Urbanization is one of the paths that will lead us towards a better, educated civil society which will gradually move away from casteism. Let us hope that today's and tomorrow's dalit leaders when they achieve political power, think about bringing their deprived masses and improving their lot into an urban setting, instead of trying to bring urban benefits to their villages which has proved futile in the last six decades. What the socially and economically deprived masses need is a hundred new singapores and shanghais built from scratch.
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