Plagued By Diversities
Sizeable populations of some 7 religions; 1600 dialects besides 22 official languages; several regions each with distinct culture and traditions ; and numerous castes and sub-castes. All of these huddled together form the tottering nation that India is. Quoting such statistics with aplomb might win an Indian candidate a world beauty pageant title. But are these a source of pride or the cause of a myriad grave problems that plague India ? What have we gained out of such diversities except that impression of a giant surviving despite having a million bleeding wounds? Would the absence of literature in a dozen languages and half-a-dozen mini-film industries have hurt too much when there would have been peace instead?
I have often wondered, how different a place would India have been had their been just one language, one culture, one religion, no castes and sensible people. Perhaps just like any other nation? There would not have been so many easy methods for us to divide and get divided, to exploit and get exploited. Corrupt politicians or terrorists (whoever you perceive as major threats to the country's well-being) flourish only because it is possible to take advantage of the bigoted attitude we have when it comes to these social variables. Fortunately the differences of castes and languages have not resulted in sanguinary riots. This is because unfortunately only religion gives us the drive and purpose to commit such offences.
Groupism is an abhorrent case when people cease to think or desire like individuals and instead try to assume the assumed qualities or responsibilities of a particular group they think they belong to. It is either some people thinking they are superior to some others and despising or competing with them. Or it is some people feeling despised, deprived and oppressed by some others and therefore, happy to have company amongst themselves. One would think it is the poor literacy rate that is responsible for the absence of goals of individual excellence and for the groupism to prevail. But I have sensed such feelings even amongst those called "the cream of the nation". If the highest education can't kill such narrow-mindedness , what can? And for governing such people, politicians who are supposed to encourage excellence at an individual level naturally resort to tactics that will help one group feel superior or not inferior to another. The stress here is on pulling back those in front rather than pushing the laggers ahead.
Recently there has been much hue and cry over the proposed reservations for the OBCs in IITs and IIMs increasing the seat reservation to 49% (some idiots on TV have talked about reservation infact being decreased to 51% for upper castes!!). Having finished my degree a couple of years before this disaster has been planned, I am not going to be directly affected. But my heart bleeds for that struggling student who would be the sufferer. The anti-reservation protests have made me happy about the youth of India willing to fight injustice. But I also wonder how many of these protestors would have refused to reap the benefits themselves had they been amongst the beneficiaries of this poisonous scheme intended to divide the society further. Most of them would not have complained. In that event, how just or unjust can any such act by politicians be called if the people themselves are clueless and blinded. The setup and our refusal to shrug it off are just as unjust.
Our claims to opportunities for individual advancement ought to be combined with a pledge of indifference to all these shackles and barriers. We have proved in recent history that we can do nothing constructive with them. If castes were for division of labour we have used them as a tool for despisal and abuse. If religions were to show us the path of God, we have used them as motives for violence and bloodshed. The coming August, we shall proudly celebrate yet another anniversary of Indian independence. Let us also be aware that the struggle of excellence for freedom from these shameful fetters paralysing the country is far from over.
I have often wondered, how different a place would India have been had their been just one language, one culture, one religion, no castes and sensible people. Perhaps just like any other nation? There would not have been so many easy methods for us to divide and get divided, to exploit and get exploited. Corrupt politicians or terrorists (whoever you perceive as major threats to the country's well-being) flourish only because it is possible to take advantage of the bigoted attitude we have when it comes to these social variables. Fortunately the differences of castes and languages have not resulted in sanguinary riots. This is because unfortunately only religion gives us the drive and purpose to commit such offences.
Groupism is an abhorrent case when people cease to think or desire like individuals and instead try to assume the assumed qualities or responsibilities of a particular group they think they belong to. It is either some people thinking they are superior to some others and despising or competing with them. Or it is some people feeling despised, deprived and oppressed by some others and therefore, happy to have company amongst themselves. One would think it is the poor literacy rate that is responsible for the absence of goals of individual excellence and for the groupism to prevail. But I have sensed such feelings even amongst those called "the cream of the nation". If the highest education can't kill such narrow-mindedness , what can? And for governing such people, politicians who are supposed to encourage excellence at an individual level naturally resort to tactics that will help one group feel superior or not inferior to another. The stress here is on pulling back those in front rather than pushing the laggers ahead.
Recently there has been much hue and cry over the proposed reservations for the OBCs in IITs and IIMs increasing the seat reservation to 49% (some idiots on TV have talked about reservation infact being decreased to 51% for upper castes!!). Having finished my degree a couple of years before this disaster has been planned, I am not going to be directly affected. But my heart bleeds for that struggling student who would be the sufferer. The anti-reservation protests have made me happy about the youth of India willing to fight injustice. But I also wonder how many of these protestors would have refused to reap the benefits themselves had they been amongst the beneficiaries of this poisonous scheme intended to divide the society further. Most of them would not have complained. In that event, how just or unjust can any such act by politicians be called if the people themselves are clueless and blinded. The setup and our refusal to shrug it off are just as unjust.
Our claims to opportunities for individual advancement ought to be combined with a pledge of indifference to all these shackles and barriers. We have proved in recent history that we can do nothing constructive with them. If castes were for division of labour we have used them as a tool for despisal and abuse. If religions were to show us the path of God, we have used them as motives for violence and bloodshed. The coming August, we shall proudly celebrate yet another anniversary of Indian independence. Let us also be aware that the struggle of excellence for freedom from these shameful fetters paralysing the country is far from over.
posted by Sindhu Verma | Wednesday, June 28, 2006
5 Comments:
Excellent!!! Now I can imagine how much you are hurt with this reservation policy.....I totally agree to your points and support your feelings.
Great stuff!! I also feel very stongly about this reservation issue, specially when you know it will not change the life of an ordinary OBC, it will definitely help their creamy layer though. Those who are already rich in the so called "backward community" will become richer...and who cares for the poor anyway?Now, who goes to IIT? One who completes his primary education definitely...and what percentage of OBCs finishes that? A meagre percentage! And who goes to an IIM...one who apart from finishing graduation, is convent educated, a suave person who can think and speak in good English...and the OBC candidate ought to be having a good background if he can do all that! Then why should he avail this privelege? It will undermine the quality of professionals rather than creating opportunities for the underpriveleged. If the goverment really wants to do something for them, they should work towards imparting better eduation in school, by coming out with innovative programs to increase the literacy penetration, by making them more capable to compete...and not by snatching away the seats from more capable people. Please give them the weapons to fight instead of making them the objects of violence.
"Plagued by Diversities" is something which does not appeal to me. We are plagued by "lack of political will" coupled with "tardy judicial syatem". Rifts can be created even if you have a uniform society which is casteless and follows the same religion.Religion and caste don't divide, it is the set of influential people who moot the idea that it can divide. You can always have another set of people in a uniform society who can be instrumental in rupturing it in some other way!
We, as Indians, are a deprived lot. This sense of depravity and insecurity has been instilled in our minds since the time India lost its status of "The Golden Bird". And this psyche is displayed by us even if we are well educated. It is very easy for the politicians to strike this "insecurity chord" to their advantage. Pakistan was born because of this, Punjab problem, Tamilnadu's assertion in 1960s,Bodo issue,Kashmir problem; all are a result of unwanted "political will". If we can change the political landscape, I still feel there is hope!
thanks mohan and priyam. completely agree with what you say about the sickening reservation idea. The average indian...educated or uneducated,is but a plaything in the hands of these politicians. but then he is also the weapon and pretext. Don't you think even otherwise, the people here are very keen on proving themselves above others in some way or the other? I have so often heard north-indians and south-indians speak vehemently against each other, punjabis speak against bengalis , bengalis speak against biharis and so on and so forth. Whose political interests inspired these ppl who can be kids on the road or ordinary adults or IIT grads ? I think it is something about the Indian mentality. We have so little to be proud of as individuals (the govt. does little to help that anyway) that we tend to use these divides to feel good abt ourselves. We have grown up listening to all that trash. Just another day, a poll was being conducted on radio mirchi asking people why the PM believes Bangalore is rude. And someone had this to say..bangaloreans are polite but the north-indians make it rude !! and then the north-indian shoots back with another bitter comment. The divide is just everywhere and in many cases those with power can milk it to their advantage. The typical politician may be asinine and thoughtless but so are the people he represents. It has been really painful to learn that the average indian also loves the divide but that is the truth. I feel our country is this difficult to manage because of the numerous differences that we don't seem to forget.
True. But, folks, it isn’t that bad. There is hope and we deserve better. In fact, Shashi Tharoor discusses similar themes in his book: “India: From Midnight to the Millennium”. The first chapter begins with the following paragraph:
“India”, Winston Churchill once barked, ‘is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the Equator.’ And yet, India is more than the sum of its contradictions. It is a country held together, in the words of its prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘by strong but invisible threads about her there is the elusive quality of a legend of land ago; some enchantment seems to have held her mind. She is a myth and an idea, a dream and a vision, and yet very real and present and pervasive.”
Make no mistake about it; we need to keep this myth alive. We can’t afford to lose hope and give up the fight. We have the richest and most admired history in the world. Recent setbacks notwithstanding, our history provides evidence of deep secular foundations. From Ashoka to Akbar’s Din-i-Elahi to Mahatma Gandhi, secularism and pluralism have been India’s forte. Post independence, as Shashi says in the following passage, we have maintained our impeccable record.
"Throughout the decades after independence, the political culture of the country reflected these ‘secular’ assumptions and attitudes. Though the Indian population was 82 percent Hindu and the country had been partitioned as a result of a demand for a separate Muslim homeland, two of India’s first five presidents were Muslims, so were innumerable governors, cabinet ministers, … When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi traveled abroad in the tense months before the 1971 Bangladesh war with Pakistan, the council of ministers was chaired by a Muslim, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed; during that war, the Indian Air Force in the northern sector was commanded by a Muslim, Air Marshal Latif. The war was a triumph for Indian secularism as much for the force of arms; the army commander was a Sikh and the general flown to negotiate the surrender was Jewish. "
The present Indian Prime Minister, President and Leader of Congress Party do not belong to the majority community. The Indian sport teams have always been a melting pot—Md. Azharuddin, Farookh Engineer, Syed Kirmani, Md. Kaif, Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Pargat Singh, are some of the names which show that we aren’t religious bigots. The movie industry’s pluralistic traditions are well acknowledged. Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan didn’t marry in their community. By crossing the line, they rose in our esteem. Dilip Kumar, the Khans, Diya Mirza and Shabana Azmi are admired across the length and breadth of the country.
Gender Inequality? Amartya Sen, in his book, ‘The Argumentative Indian’ writes the following:
‘But even in national movement for Indian independence, led by the Congress Party, there were many more women in positions of importance than in the Russian and Chinese revolutionary movements put together. It is also perhaps worth noting that Sarojini Naidu, the first woman President of the Indian National Congress, was elected in 1925, fifty years earlier than the election of the first woman leader of a major British political party(Margaret Thatcher in 1975).’
The trend hasn’t stopped. Lakshmi Bai, Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Medha Patkar, Najma Hepdullah have played significant role in Indian politics in last 50 years. In contrast, US never had a black or a woman president since their independence, on this date in 1776.
Corruption, integrity and freedom are other issues close to our heart. USA and UK have lied to their citizens and maimed thousands of Iraqis. We haven’t. In China, dictators have enforced one-child rule and the concept of sibling has been wiped off. Even Google, the epitome of boundaryless cyber infrastructure, has been censored. Media can’t report about ‘sudden incidents’ (like SARS). They must have the consent of Chinese czars in Beijing. Mumbai might not look like Shanghai and we wouldn’t like to trade its freedom for anything.
We aren’t perfect. We won our independence fifty years ago. In last few years, we have floundered couple of times. Emergency in 1970s, Bombay riots in 1992 and Godhra in 2001 readily come to mind. But who hasn’t? Nazis still exist in Germany. Ethnic cleansing was the norm in Balkans in the last decade. We have the second largest Muslim population but we don’t fight civil wars like the Iraqis. Czech ministers exchange blows in public. Racism thrives in Australia, UK and USA. Paris has seen violent racist protests in last few months. In comparison, we are in a far better shape. Our achievements in science and technology are common knowledge. Given this, we do have the right to put on our rose-colored shades, ignore the HRD minister, and exchange misty-moisty tales this Independence day.
Agree wholeheartedly. Infact, the past few days actually showed me a very strange apparition. It showed the lack of logic that is being touted from both sides of the reservation-war-of-words.
Firstly, the anti-quota guys use certain phrases like "dilution of quality", and on being questioned on how they are of better quality, they were not quite forthcoming. They talked of "level playing ground", but when I informed them about the law that states that what they call general-seats are actually open-seats, i.e. filled as per merit, regardless of community, they actually were vociferously for reserving the general-seats for general.
The other side has its own kind of rhetoric. The story of "centuries of oppression". But on being asked of the applicability of that to progeny of IAS cadre parents and/or the completion of IIT and such like degrees, which normally makes you automatically as "have's" rather than the "havenot's"... I was subjected to a socio-political lesson on the amount of disrespect, which must be redressed by preferential treatment.
May be what all of us really want is a totally un-level playing ground... in our favor. And we want all to think and proclaim that this wish of ours is totally fair.
By the way, does anybody else think that the present situation is pushing back the psychological scene of caste-lines back a few decades just by making impressionable minds subject to such strong rhetoric... from both sides.
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