What Is The Problem With India ?

[hameed]

Just felt like asking this broad question, not to myself, but out there.. to the minds that are ready to ignite and hearts that are ready to ride the tide....Tomorow will be a nation that we will make...we will be both its leaders and its inhabitants, So is'nt it fair...that we debate the issues that plague this nation?

What Is The Problem With India ?

Its been more than six decades since we said goodbye to the British, we replaced one set of rulers with another, one set of beurocrats with another, one set of ailments with another. Once we were united against the white man from the far west, but now, we just climb the ladder to nowhere, each by himself, each for himself.

If we are a nation that cares for its villages, why are there fewer and fewer of them every year? Why do we payback the farmer who carried us out of the struggle filled 60s by driving him to suicide? 17,000 farmers committed suicide last year alone. The war on terror was launched as a result of 5000 deaths, and yet we do nothing.

If we are a nation that is proud of its resources, then why do we raise dams that would benifit a few whilst destroy the environment around us?

If we are a nation that respects its armed forces, then why are so many ex-army men treated so badly? Why are param veer chakra recipients living like orphans in this nation that they treated like their mother?

If we are a nation that unites a thousand races, then why do we have stock markets blowing up in mumbai, trains burnt in gujrat and mosques brought down in Ayodhya? Why are pregnant women raped and priests set of fire? Why can't a man travel into a prosperous state to make hi living? Why has religion, language and region torn us apart?

If we are a nation that is growing economically, why then are the poor getting poorer? Is it because the rich cant stop getting richer?

If we are a nation that is not militarily ambitious, then why are we the region's biggest weapons amaser, why do Israel, France and Russia compete to sell us weapons, and why are we increasing our militarty budget whilst the north-east could do with more development?

If we are a nation that looks to educate its masses, why then do we not see the merits in having 1000 primary schools for the cost of one IIT or 1 IIM. Why do we let the mid-day meal scheme be hijacked by caste driven leaders who want reservation even in the cook's position?

If we are a nation that has its roots in the honesty of great leaders like the Mahatma, then why are we so corrupt that nothing good can begun without paying out someone. Why do we need a Rang de basanti or Munna bhai to inspire us? How shallow can we get?


What Is The Problem With India ? And What do we do about it? Where do we even start?

Rock on!
hameed

[vinsdome]

Hi,
Interesting post with a lot of questions that prick.
True. We as a nation seem to have failed on a lot of counts.
But then, it is in our hands to sort out the mess. More so for our generation bcoz we are probably the most blessed in terms of opportunities to grow n lead a good life in our own country.

We have the advantage of being literate,of having monetary resources,of being young.
The youth seem to hold the key to our nation's growth but u dont find them except in the colleges n universities and a handful of IT companies.
We need to take greater initiatives and support each other. That way a lot of us can work their way up the ladder in more fields of the society.
At the end of the day, economic n social prosperity are both essential to the making of a great nation.
And for both we have to learn to make sacrifices and work hard. At the end of the day, if an individual can lead a good life then the chances of him turning violent are less. Let's try to play a role in that.
Entrepreurship is difficult but there are more opportunities now.Those who work hard in their bschools n colleges, those who show a sense of observation n understanding will see opportunities. One person's initiative can provide livelihood to so many others.

As for corruption, i think we are moving fwd in terms of eradicating it. But then, the most powerful way of doing away with the problem is by asking questions.
If you cant ask a question when something wrong is about to be done, then it doesnt make a difference aft the wrong is done. The media is so powerful today. It should be used wisely.

And last but not the least, there is no nation in the world which is prosperous n happy without its ppl working hard n honest. the onus in our case is on the youth,i.e. us.
And i believe it is possible to succeed.

[kbipul]

I dont think that there is any problem with INDIA as such. The problem is in the Indians. We never miss even the slightest oppurtunity to fight over petty matters, be it religion,caste, creed , and now another hot topic-'Region'.

The politicians try their best to provoke us and we people follow them without trying to find any reason. Result - Devastation, riots, hatred.

When will we grow up? its difficult to answer. India has everything to become a world super power and for that we have just to contribute one thing - thats our noble intention.

[Apurv]

Originally Posted by hameed

Just felt like asking this broad question, not to myself, but out there.. to the minds that are ready to ignite and hearts that are ready to ride the tide....Tomorow will be a nation that we will make...we will be both its leaders and its inhabitants, So is'nt it fair...that we debate the issues that plague this nation?

What Is The Problem With India ?

Its been more than six decades since we said goodbye to the British, we replaced one set of rulers with another, one set of beurocrats with another, one set of ailments with another. Once we were united against the white man from the far west, but now, we just climb the ladder to nowhere, each by himself, each for himself.

We are all worried about the nation as we should be. The concern in your post is nice but the specifics are what I think "general cribbing" based on "feeling". Forgive me, but at some level I also think they are naive and you could have done better . Don't take it personally, but I don't think we're doing anything good to this country with general cribbing based on notions flying in the air. No good action comes out of it, except general armchair discussions that just make people who are doing it feel good generally. The only time it is helpful is when you're either someone who's seen India's problems at close quarters (and by close I mean really close... visiting a village twice in your life as part of your company's CSR visit doesn't qualify) and knows the intricacies involved OR you are someone who is ready to step out and take action.

If we are a nation that cares for its villages, why are there fewer and fewer of them every year? Why do we payback the farmer who carried us out of the struggle filled 60s by driving him to suicide? 17,000 farmers committed suicide last year alone. The war on terror was launched as a result of 5000 deaths, and yet we do nothing.

There are fewer villages because villages don't want to be villages anymore. It's really that simple. We show them cable TV, we show them Aishwarya Rai, heck, we show them Hollywood translated into Hindi on Star Gold channel, we give them mobile connectivity, we give them Tata Nano, we help eradicate polio and smallpox in them, why would they then want to remain villages?

Think from another perspective... why shouldn't the number of villages decrease? Why shouldn't there be prosperity for them, of the same kind that we city-dwellers have? Who are we to decide what they want and limit their urban aspirations?

As for farmer suicides... it's a complex issue. I come from a village in the absolute hellhole of Maharashtra and I have known my own distant relatives commit suicide. I know that the suicides that have taken place there have nothing to do with "farming" as such. This is why suicides happen at least in Vidharbha - farmer takes Rs 10 lakh loan for daughter's marriage, spend more on liquor than is within their means, then find themselves in deep trouble because they can't payback loan. He sells land, sells everything, still there is loan. The problem is with the lifestyles and nothing to do with farming. However, the nobody talks about it because if the problem ceases to be about Monsanto and farming, loads of NGOs will be out of business. The English media reports on suicides like twice a year. How much will a reporter learn about farmer suicides if he travels to that place for like just 2 days a year?

I don't know if the suicides in Andhra are because of the same reason, but I don't they would be very different.

If we are a nation that is proud of its resources, then why do we raise dams that would benifit a few whilst destroy the environment around us?

See, I think we make a choice here. Either we want to live in cities that have 24 hour power, where we can run your AC in office and at home also, and have sprawling malls with huge power requirements. Not to mention all the industries that produce all the good that we like... gadgets, fast food, cars, this, that. *OR* we decide that we do not need all this and live a simple life without the technicolor goodies of globalization.

However if we choose the first option, it sadly needs a whole goddamn load of electricity. Coal and natural gas is diminishing. Nuclear and Wind energy cannot be mass sources for a nation of 100 crores as they are designed today. Solar is too expensive for anyone to afford. The only thing that comes cheap then is Hydro-power. Another thing - Hydro-power is the only source of power where changing capacity can be met instantly, and power can be produced exactly in tandem with the peak and non-peak time-cycles of an industrial setup.

It is very easy to generally crib for us about dam catchments getting displaced without having any alternatives at hand and a population of 1 billion to serve.

If we are a nation that is not militarily ambitious, then why are we the region's biggest weapons amaser, why do Israel, France and Russia compete to sell us weapons, and why are we increasing our militarty budget whilst the north-east could do with more development?

If I may remind here, there is Pakistan and China as neighbours. And you know what, Pakistan nearly nuked us during Kargil and Clinton stopped it. Know what more? China attacked us by surprise in 1962 and they want the whole of Arunachan Pradesh and Sikkim to themselves. If they succeed, no more eating Chicken Momos in Gangtok for us. I don't think the luxurious option of being militarily ambitious is with us. The joke goes that India got great resources, landscapes but it also got neighbors such as these.

No offence to anyone, but I feel as educated people looking for the best education in the IIMs, we need to speak of these issues in a less naive manner .

Cheers,

[catkiller_first]

well done friends........

so now we come to know that definitely India has some problems.
But can't classify that any of them is biggest??????

If we see at India's problems them it might be classified under three umbrellas

1) Rural India's Problems....
viz....
*Infracture-----electricity,roads,house,disasture management-
draught..flood,medication..hospitals
* literacy
*Unemployment- Government is running illusive Rajeev gandhi gramin rozgar yozana
*Awareness....about human rights,pollitical rights,right of equallity,
* Uneuallity.....on the basis of money,cast,religion

2) Now urban India's Problems....
*Infracture-----roads,house,disasture management,increasing population
* The biggest asset becoming biggest threat -----Youth ...either unemployed or unguided
* Uneuallity.....on the basis of money,cast,religion and on the basis of region like in Mumbai
* Apathy......

3) Now leats discuss about common one.............
*Fuel and other requirements for which we are dependent on Imports---Under threat
*Lack of Pollitical will power and unclear goals and agenda
*Cast based,religion based,reginonal politics
* Terrorism-Groups from withing India... Naxalites and from Outside supported viz.
Pakisatan
*Bully superpowers Like USA

And lot many more.........

*

[murty001]

Like I said in SB in the morning- India is a country, which if in a survey of 500 countries, comes last, the people and media will go ga-ga over the whole issue and celebrate the 'fact' that it is actually the 500th "best" country in the world But no one will care to find out why we came last.

The Problem with India you say?? I will tell you. The problem is the people. Yes, it is not money, not infrastructure, not the wind, air water or anything else under the sun. It is the people. People like you and me. Why you will ask? Because the people here are blisfully ignorant and choose to do nothing. As long as you get two square meals in a day, live in a comfortable home, have a good bank balance, and lead a steady life, hell who cares about what's happening to the country? That is the general idea of 99.9% of the people here. The state of affairs in the country will make good drawing room gossip, give the media a few more shows to air on TV and get their TRP ratings to a new level, and perhaps give some one a reason to start a thread in a forum. But that is all there is to it. No one will go beyond this.

I am not belittling the idea of starting this thread.You might be having a good cause in your mind. But the fact is, talk about this to your peers and they will say "chhod na yaar, apna kya jaata hai, chal ek beer la", you talk about this to your family and they will say "son, just get a decent job and live your life, all this is not our cup of tea". And that is the end of it.

Politicians get away with all the crooked things they do. Why? Because we don't hold them accountable. We can't you will say, cause they are powerful. How can a handful of politicians, policemen and bureaucrats be more powerful than a country full of people who stand united against corruption? But the point is they know the people in this country can be anything but United. Hence the vote bank politics based on religion, race, caste, creed, region, etc etc.

Anyway, I just can't go writing about these things, cause the post will then become the equivalent of an epic . Will wait and see if this thread goes anywhere at all, or just as in the past the discussion dies and the thread is lost somewhere in the database. If something good comes out of this, I will provide my inputs down the line.

Cheers..

[hameed]

We finally have a discussion brewing

We are all worried about the nation as we should be. The concern in your post is nice but the specifics are what I think "general cribbing" based on "feeling". Forgive me, but at some level I also think they are naive and you could have done better . Don't take it personally, but I don't think we're doing anything good to this country with general cribbing based on notions flying in the air. No good action comes out of it, except general armchair discussions that just make people who are doing it feel good generally. The only time it is helpful is when you're either someone who's seen India's problems at close quarters (and by close I mean really close... visiting a village twice in your life as part of your company's CSR visit doesn't qualify) and knows the intricacies involved OR you are someone who is ready to step out and take action

No offense taken, Forgive me for being so simplistic in my opinion that I have to come accross as naive. But that exactly is our problem, dont you think as a nation we are making light of our pressing issues? Cribbing, I may be, but I think my reasons are genuine. The general "feeling" is a consequence of the circumstances around us today and so are the 'notions flying in the air'. Do we need reminding that the greatest of changes have had their origins in the cribbing of the general public and the grumbling of the unfairly treated? Havent the greatest of ideas found their first mention in an armchair discussion? Shoudnt I be entitled to my share of discussion without having visited a village? I know there are issues, and I am no aethiest who yells "show me and I shall believe" and Shouldnt we all be ready to step out and take action?


There are fewer villages because villages don't want to be villages anymore. It's really that simple. We show them cable TV, we show them Aishwarya Rai, heck, we show them Hollywood translated into Hindi on Star Gold channel, we give them mobile connectivity, we give them Tata Nano, we help eradicate polio and smallpox in them, why would they then want to remain villages?

Think from another perspective... why shouldn't the number of villages decrease? Why shouldn't there be prosperity for them, of the same kind that we city-dwellers have? Who are we to decide what they want and limit their urban aspirations?

My bad, for having been ambiguous in my statement, the issue is the loss of villages to make way for urbanisation - Not necessarily the unrbanisation of its populace. I am talking about displacements. I am talking of the lack of opportunities in the villages, which prompts their migration towards cities and towns that are stretched to their limits. The issue is not the urban aspirations of the village dweller, but the fact that they have to go in search of comforts that should actually be available to them. Mobile connectivity is of no use if they cant pay back their loans, with the rise in fuel prices Tata nano will take them nowhere, we have saved their lives from polio and small-pox only to have them take their own lives.

As for farmer suicides... it's a complex issue. I come from a village in the absolute hellhole of Maharashtra and I have known my own distant relatives commit suicide. I know that the suicides that have taken place there have nothing to do with "farming" as such. This is why suicides happen at least in Vidharbha - farmer takes Rs 10 lakh loan for daughter's marriage, spend more on liquor than is within their means, then find themselves in deep trouble because they can't payback loan. He sells land, sells everything, still there is loan. The problem is with the lifestyles and nothing to do with farming.

There maybe such cases, I take your word on it. But to write them all off on account of the farmer's 'lifestyle' would be irresponsible of us. When Govt launches a load of schemes to fight just these issues and yet they seem to occour defying the cause-effect principle, then a closer look is required. I may not have lived in a village, but I sure do realise that we do not have all saints in our system who pass down all the good of the policies implemented at the national level to the loan taking, liqour drinking, farmer father who kills himself.

However, the nobody talks about it because if the problem ceases to be about Monsanto and farming, loads of NGOs will be out of business. The English media reports on suicides like twice a year. How much will a reporter learn about farmer suicides if he travels to that place for like just 2 days a year?I don't know if the suicides in Andhra are because of the same reason, but I don't they would be very different.

I agree.

See, I think we make a choice here. Either we want to live in cities that have 24 hour power, where we can run your AC in office and at home also, and have sprawling malls with huge power requirements. Not to mention all the industries that produce all the good that we like... gadgets, fast food, cars, this, that. *OR* we decide that we do not need all this and live a simple life without the technicolor goodies of globalization.

However if we choose the first option, it sadly needs a whole goddamn load of electricity. Coal and natural gas is diminishing. Nuclear and Wind energy cannot be mass sources for a nation of 100 crores as they are designed today. Solar is too expensive for anyone to afford. The only thing that comes cheap then is Hydro-power. Another thing - Hydro-power is the only source of power where changing capacity can be met instantly, and power can be produced exactly in tandem with the peak and non-peak time-cycles of an industrial setup.

Choice? Why should it be a choice at all? Cant both the Dams and the alternative settlement of the displaced villages and tribals with proper compensation happen simoultaneously?

Why do our SEZs have to come up on land that our farmers depend on? I know of a case in Maharashtra where a union of 1500 farmers have decided to use their collective land for an SEZ where they would be the owners of the SEZ and benifit from its profit. Why should this be an anomaly rather than a norm?


It is very easy to generally crib for us about dam catchments getting displaced without having any alternatives at hand and a population of 1 billion to serve.

Forgive me, but i think this very attitude of ours dooms the lives of many who are affected. How casual can we get? Should we just sit back and be happy just because we are able to flick a switch and see the world?

If I may remind here, there is Pakistan and China as neighbours. And you know what, Pakistan nearly nuked us during Kargil and Clinton stopped it. Know what more? China attacked us by surprise in 1962 and they want the whole of Arunachan Pradesh and Sikkim to themselves. If they succeed, no more eating Chicken Momos in Gangtok for us. I don't think the luxurious option of being militarily ambitious is with us. The joke goes that India got great resources, landscapes but it also got neighbors such as these.

India's defence budget 06-07- Rs 89,000 crore [ an increase of 7.2 % over prev yr]
Pakistan's defence budget 06-07 - Rs 13,000 crore [down by 200 crore from prev yr]

China, I agree has been modernizing its military quite aggressively. We do need to arm ourselves. But I do not subscribe to the view of amasing weapons to keep the status quo. I think our defence budget should reduce with each passing year.
Our latest shopping list [ to be finalized] just from france alone includes -

$3.5-billion on Scorpene submarines
$10.2 billion for 126 fighters.

And france is third on our list topped by Israel and Russia.

Not enough

No offence to anyone, but I feel as educated people looking for the best education in the IIMs, we need to speak of these issues in a less naive manner .

Again, pardon my naivity, but do guide us in having this discussion in a more mature manner

Rock on!
hameed

[andy4u]

I am mighty surprised that no 1 has mentioned that a similar thread already exists

http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/chit-c...conundrum.html (Great Indian Conundrum)

It has an array of splendid posts!!

@Hameed - Don't go by those figures,half of the times they don't tell you even half the story.

[Apurv]

Originally Posted by hameed

No offense taken, Forgive me for being so simplistic in my opinion that I have to come accross as naive. But that exactly is our problem, dont you think as a nation we are making light of our pressing issues? Cribbing, I may be, but I think my reasons are genuine. The general "feeling" is a consequence of the circumstances around us today and so are the 'notions flying in the air'. Do we need reminding that the greatest of changes have had their origins in the cribbing of the general public and the grumbling of the unfairly treated? Havent the greatest of ideas found their first mention in an armchair discussion? Shoudnt I be entitled to my share of discussion without having visited a village? I know there are issues, and I am no aethiest who yells "show me and I shall believe" and Shouldnt we all be ready to step out and take action?

Not in a hell's chance they have. There are people who Talk and there are people who Do. The people who talk are here on this forum. The people who do are found two forums below in the 'Community Service Forum'. They do their bit every week out on the field without making any noise. Those who only talk, create 'great' ideas that have no connect with reality and are brilliant theoretical idle-time wonders. Why? Because since they do nothing to step out and experience themselves the ills of the world they seek to repair, they do not know the right thing to do to repair it. It's a self-serving cycle and good time-pass.

I have seen very rare cases when someone from these threads has crossed over to the Community Service thread and actually done something substantial. Why? Because we can all get away with it. The stakes of coming to a chit-chat thread, cribbing and saying let's do something are very low.

Not to say that this discussion shouldn't go on or anything like that. But if something has to happen, it will not happen within the comfort zone of a forum. It never has, anywhere .

My bad, for having been ambiguous in my statement, the issue is the loss of villages to make way for urbanisation - Not necessarily the unrbanisation of its populace. I am talking about displacements. I am talking of the lack of opportunities in the villages, which prompts their migration towards cities and towns that are stretched to their limits. The issue is not the urban aspirations of the village dweller, but the fact that they have to go in search of comforts that should actually be available to them. Mobile connectivity is of no use if they cant pay back their loans, with the rise in fuel prices Tata nano will take them nowhere, we have saved their lives from polio and small-pox only to have them take their own lives.