LO AND BEHOLD THE SMART INDIANS (2009)

INDIANS : WE GET WHAT WE DESERVE

Is there a national strategy? Grand Strategy? Heaven only knows. I was just wondering how the people, who matter, the Bureaucrats at the top and more importantly the politicians, plan the nation's progress. The thought started as I was reading the newspaper today and I carried the thought to a lecture I got to hear of an eminent economist on Budget 2008. We are often misled by what the newspapers write. The fact that today’s newspapers speak barely anything of the developmental aspects towards govt policies tells us a few things. Firstly, our planners are myopic. Nobody seems to be aware of and / or concerned of the national task at hand, or so I would believe given that we seldom get to hear of what is on with a particular govt project. If anything we get access to the verbal diarrhoea of our parliamentarians, anything but specifics on the project at hand. Just try to follow any project, say the Bharat Nirman for instant and you will know what I mean.

Secondly, our media does no better than to cover - who raped whom, who committed suicide. Where is the update on national projects? But all we read gives a rather gloomy picture of India. If this is true do we actually deserve a permanent seat in UN Security Council? The issues covered reflect also on what the common Indian likes to read. I think the papers ought to cover issues seen in periodicals like CSR etc. they should be of concern not only for IAS aspirant but to the common man as well.

But why is this so? Surely the literate bosses of the society are not blind. Just that they seem to have become rather insensitive to the need of the hour. Another aspect points to our national character. Take a look at the theme of the Indian movies and you will know what I am talking about. They give us what sells in our nation. They also show us a mirror – what the common man thinks, how he behaves and the more I think of it the more disgusted I feel for taking birth in such a country.

The root lies in education, awareness, and focus of the average middle class Indian that needs to change. This in turn is not possible without removing poverty. Poverty cannot be truly tackled till we tackle population - the root cause of all our worries. Do I hear a ‘that will make little difference, for, the psychology of the common Indian and his attitude towards life and society is something that will never change’?