"There are two Indias in this country," Amitabh Bachchan said in a commercial for the TOI. Although the advt ‘India Poised’ is meant to awaken people for future but to me it always remind of the good India and bad India full of zip.
Now in our 60th year as a free nation, the journey has brought us to the edge of time's great hollowness. One India is looking down at the split, uncertain and unsure. The other India is looking up at the sky and saying it's time to fly. One India is in good spirits, cheerful and optimistic the other is gloomy, doubtful and wary. Hundreds of thousands have broken faith with the institutions of India's democracy. The veil of the country has fallen out.
As India celebrates another Republic Day, with an air of euphoria about its Economy growing at 8%, it is crucial that we do not ignore the pained reality that the country is still very much underdeveloped. There is an “other” India which comprises about 400 million people, or about 40% of the population. The other Indians live in villages, small towns or city slums. They are a much deprived and helpless lot. About 250-300 million of them are mostly illiterate and live below the poverty line. Unfortunately, the provision of livable homes, potable water and electricity for most of these citizens exists only on paper. They offer a grim picture of administrative inattention, disregard, neglect, deception, hoax and corruption. Who will take a charge of the smoke and mirrors?
Who will ensure fairness for other India? Which India will choose optimism over pessimism?
Who will hope in despair and in optimism? Who will keep the faith?
One India control and run in advantage, the Other India chase, trail and pick the tidbits some not even the morsel .But who is the monitor? These trades are on the rise.
With each passing day, more and more people from the Other India are swapping the India I love.And quietly, while the world is not looking, a pulsating, dynamic, new India is emerging. We, the people of India could not root out our three basic problems. These three problems are (1) illiteracy, (2) unemployment and (3) poverty. If we go deep we shall come to the conclusion that the first problem is the base of all our problems.
I wonder what advice Gandhi Ji would have given to the other India.
Now in our 60th year as a free nation, the journey has brought us to the edge of time's great hollowness. One India is looking down at the split, uncertain and unsure. The other India is looking up at the sky and saying it's time to fly. One India is in good spirits, cheerful and optimistic the other is gloomy, doubtful and wary. Hundreds of thousands have broken faith with the institutions of India's democracy. The veil of the country has fallen out.
As India celebrates another Republic Day, with an air of euphoria about its Economy growing at 8%, it is crucial that we do not ignore the pained reality that the country is still very much underdeveloped. There is an “other” India which comprises about 400 million people, or about 40% of the population. The other Indians live in villages, small towns or city slums. They are a much deprived and helpless lot. About 250-300 million of them are mostly illiterate and live below the poverty line. Unfortunately, the provision of livable homes, potable water and electricity for most of these citizens exists only on paper. They offer a grim picture of administrative inattention, disregard, neglect, deception, hoax and corruption. Who will take a charge of the smoke and mirrors?
Who will ensure fairness for other India? Which India will choose optimism over pessimism?
Who will hope in despair and in optimism? Who will keep the faith?
One India control and run in advantage, the Other India chase, trail and pick the tidbits some not even the morsel .But who is the monitor? These trades are on the rise.
With each passing day, more and more people from the Other India are swapping the India I love.And quietly, while the world is not looking, a pulsating, dynamic, new India is emerging. We, the people of India could not root out our three basic problems. These three problems are (1) illiteracy, (2) unemployment and (3) poverty. If we go deep we shall come to the conclusion that the first problem is the base of all our problems.
I wonder what advice Gandhi Ji would have given to the other India.
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