HVK Archives: Leadership to blame for nation's ills
Leadership to blame for nation's ills - The Free Press Journal
M.V. Kamath
()
September 10, 1998
Title: Leadership to blame for nation's ills
Author: M.V. Kamath
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: September 10, 1998
Some time ago the Leslie Sawhney Programme organised a seminar
dedicated to the fragrant memory of J. R. D. Tata and the theme
chosen discussion was: The Indian Dream of 1947 - What went
wrong? Why? The chairman of the Programme, the distinguished
lawyer and businessman, Nani Palkhivala inaugurated the seminar
whose remarks were hardly meant to enthuse his listeners.
Palkhivala said that those who had lived through the earlier days
of free India could not but look upon the present times with deep
anguish and distress. He said that the six fatal mistakes in the
past fifty years which had brought India to its present sorry
state were: (a) adult franchise (b) failure to check population
growth (c) failure to spread literacy (d) insulation of people
>from their ancient culture (c) failure to develop a sense of
national identity and (f) failure to inculcate a sense of duty
and responsibility among our people, particularly the elected
representatives. Freedom without responsibility and without
norms, said Palkhivala, could lead to decadence and even
disintegration.
To further stress his disenchantment, Palkhivala quoted Nirad
Chaudhuri, the Anglophile-who ran away to Britain rather than
stay with this countrymen to share their problems, as saying that
like the two earlier periods of decadence viz, the one for about
two hundred years before the Muslims conquest in the 12th century
and the second, in the 18th century after the fall of the Moghul
Empire, we might be entering the third such period of decadence
unless the nation did something to rectify our mistakes. All this
is taking a highly pessimistic view of the current situation in
India which, admittedly, is not very bright. But are conditions
in the country all that bad? Have those istakes' that our
elders willingly or unknowingly committed really been 'fatal'?
Consider adult franchise. There was a time when we were most
boastful about it. We prided ourselves on the fact that we are
the largest democracy in the world. We might have added that we
are the most varigated democracy in the world also, and we do not
have to be apologetic about it. Yes we are divided by language.
Some twenty plus languages are officially recognised. But so
that? People still communicate with each other, Bollywood, more
than any other institution, has served to bring people closer
together as never before. Whether it is Madhuri Dixit or Sharuk
Khan, they are known in the far corners of the country.
Or take cricket. There could he hardly anybody in India, even in
the remotest part of the country who hasn't heard at least of
Sachin Tendulkar. And adult franchise may have its shortcomings -
casteist voting is a most regrettable thing - but even the most
illiterate voter has shown a maturity at the polling booth which
is outstanding. Wasn't it the illiterate voter who drove out
Indira Gandhi out of office after the end of Emergency? For that
alone he needs to be congratulated. Adult franchise is not all
that bad. An illiterate man is not necessarily and unwise man.
And the Indian voter has shown his essential political wisdom in
abundant ways in the last fifty years. Palkhivala identifies the
second atal mistake as failure to check population. On the
surface, that is a valid criticism. But what was responsible for
population growth? In the first place soon after the war many
new life-saving drugs like penicillin, streptomycin came in large
quantities in the market. The availability of DDT helped to a
large extent in eradicating malaria which in, earlier decades was
a major killer.
It is not realised how steeply life expectancy increased from
before independence to our present times. Today the average life
expectancy is around 65 up from around 26 in 1947. Presently we
have a large percentage of old people in the country. It can be
argued with some justification that failure to spread literacy in
the country has been a severe drawback. It is true that we have
not yet concentrated on primary education, especially in the
villages.
Literacy is a valuable tool in raising standards of living.
Palkhivala has a point there. His reference to insulation of
people from their ancient culture and heritage is significant,
but here we come across prejudices that are not easily overcome.
Any effort on the part of the government to get people to
understand their ancient culture - which, strictly speaking, is
basically Vedic or Hindu culture - would, in all probability be
misunderstood, especially by the minorities. That should could
not be, but we cannot escape from ground realities. This has led
to failure to develop a sense of national identify. What is our
ational identify"? Our secularists will stoutly insist that
this should be .secular" whatever that means and not Hindu. But
for fifty long years it has been dinned into Indians that they
should not think in terms of a religious or cultural identity but
should rather insist on secularism as a way of life. This has
introduced an element of confusion in the Indian mind. The Hindu
- at least the educated, 'enlightened' Hindu - would be willing
to embrace a secular identity at least in politics, but the
Muslim, it seems, is incapable of welcoming secularism. In a
multi-ethnic, multi-cultural country such as ours, it is not all
that easy to develop what can be said to be a 'national identity'
that cuts across all religions. Such an identity could be
developed over the years, but one has to be patient and
understanding. Rome was not built in a day and a national
identity is not all that easy to burst forth in half a century.
And yet an Indian is an Indian no matter where he goes. For if
he is not an Indian, what else can he be? The Pakistani, living
as he does in an artificially created state may have problems
with having an identity, but not an Indian. India is a natural
state; it has clearly defined boundaries; it has a fairly wide-
spread culture which cuts across languages, religions, castes and
creeds. As the poet might have said, and Indian is an Indian is
an Indian. He has no problem with his national identity. One does
not have strenuously to work at developing a national identity.
It already exists and has long been accepted.
But what shall one say about inculcating a sense of duty and
responsibility among our people? Looking at the people from one
angle, they do indeed have a great sense of duty and
responsibility, but strictly it the personal level. Respect for
the old and towards the elderly, respect for womanhood, respect
for teachers etc. are almost inborn and part of Indian culture.
This does not mean we are living in an ideal society. Rapes do
occur; women surely suffer from many handicaps. The elderly are
not always taken care of. But for all that, certain cultural
values visibly remain and are to be admired. What is to be
regretted is that urbanisation and unequal distribution of wealth
has contributed towards cultural destabilisation and it is to
this that we must give our attention.
Yes, values in politics have fallen steeply, but one believes not
irremediably. The fault lies in our leadership. Palkhivala speaks
of happier days in the early part of free India. He is right in a
way. But adult franchise had just come into existence and
memories of the struggle for independence were still fresh for
casteism to be a major factor at the polls. Industrialisation had
just begun and the influx of surplus population from rural to
urban centres was at the preliminary stage. Had the Nehru
government heeded Gandhian values of village self-sufficiency
perhaps India today might have been significantly different. But
Nehru was in a hurry to industrialise the country. He took a
calculated risk. He can't be dismissed as entirely wrong in his
prognostications. But it is true that along with
industrialisation have come degraded life styles and crime that
Nehru could have foreseen.
But does all this mean that we are on the slippery path of
decadence from which there is no escape? That simply isn't true.
To predict that the next two hundred years will be on par with
the two hundred years prior to the invasion of India by Islamic
forces is to ignore social dynamics. Nirad Chaudhury is a proven
cynic who did not have the strength to stay on with his fellow
countrymen and help them build a new India. He was the one who
ran away. Distance does not lend objectivity to the viewer.
Rather it encourages cynicism. Chaudhury has necessarily to
predict doom to India if only to prove to himself that he is
right. His views are suspect and unacceptable. There is nothing
wrong with India that cannot be set right. India is on the road
to progress and greater glory, though the path is sometimes
strewn with thorns and going becomes a little hard. But there is
no cause for cynicism and despondency. The ship of state having
weathered so many storms is on its way to set itself right and
sail towards a bright and happier future. Palkhivala's pessimism
not withstanding,
Back
Top
|
