The Rich India, The Poor India.
I have seen many people
speaking of pluralism when they speak of India. Though my views are not very different,
I would like to express few of my own views in this regard.
How many of us are competent
enough to differentiate a Marathi from a Mallu without asking their
surnames??..... How many of us are competent to differentiate a Manipuri girl
from an Assamese girl? How many of us are competent enough to differentiate a
Haryanvi from a Punjabi except for some of my Sikh friends who could be
identified because of their turban. Since the foreigners who invaded India at
various points of times also failed like us, they for the easiness of
references started calling us by names north Indian, south Indian or north
east.........
I pity for the fact that though
the divide and rule followed by the British failed to take away the tag of
Indian form a noth, south or northeast; though not forgetting the wounds
inflicted by us in the partition. When it comes to the unity I would like to
refer to the comments made by Mr.Shashi Tharoor regarding the pluralism and
unity. It is nothing but there is more resemblance between a tamil Brahmin and
a tamil muslim than that of a Haryanvi Jhatt though both the Brahmin and Jhat
are believing in the same faith.
These resemblances might have
donated us the additional stratification of north, south, north east etc. But
when it comes to various other facts which may be disgusting to a greater
extent we Indians remain the same in lots of our practices. Go to a railway
station and see around...... in any part
of India the railway lines remains as an answer to the comic question posted by
someone in face book.... world’s longest open air toilet.... When I saw the
last Sherlock holmes movie – A game of shadows, I don’t know how many of us
have noticed that in a sequence where Mr.Holmes disguised as a lady was trying
to use the lavatory in a train in which Mr and Mrs. Whatson was travelling, he
was stopped by the railway ticket examiner telling that he cannot use the
washroom when the train at the station. I believe that the director of the
movie Guy Riche has done enough homework to ensure that it was not an
anachronism in an 18th century movie. But it is hard for me to believe
that any such practice is here in our country even in this 21st
century. We Indians remain the same in our washroom habits except for a nominal
population of elite class. Go to any Indian road, we can see lots of waste
materials thrown out of household piled up except for few of the so called posh
localities like Chanakyapuri of our capital city....... I could hardly
differentiate the MG road of Bangalore from the MG road of Kochin in kerala
when I am walking on these roads looking down or on the sides. Go to any liquor
shop in east west north or south of this subcontinent, the music played and the
lighting and the sound and the spirit remains the same.... Let me be clear that
I am not talking about “that Spirit”....
Then go to any star rated clubs
or bars or pubs in India, the subject of discussion remains over there remains
the same all over the country and may be the world. Take the lifestyle; the
elite crowd which contributes to 3% of the population and 40% of the GDP
numbers which is not so rare breed across India since they are spread across
all the metros because of their property holdings in the prime locations across
the subcontinent have similar looks and are using similar brands and leading a
similar lifestyle. Go to the poorest of poor they also lead the same life style
may be the materials use may differ but they resort to the cheapest of the
locally available goods and have the least nutritional diet and use the same
locally available ‘desi’ liquor. They may be different in their dressings when
you consider a landless farmer of Haryana with that of Tamilnadu; but the smell
of the sweat remains the same. The basic fundamental rights drafted by the
framers of our constitution remain distant to them even today. These kinds of
discriminations bring another major classification to us; the rich Indians and
the poor Indians. Keeping the income as a basis we may be able to classify the
entire human race, but I am concerned only about my country. Though my thoughts
may sound wrong in this era of universal brotherhood and global village, I
believe in clearing the crap around my locality before venturing for the whole
of the world.
Major question remains, what
created this rich Indians and poor Indians from the earlier existent
stratification based on the directions of compass. When was it created? Who is
responsible?
Let me start with a story. It is
not long back, it was in 1980s early days. A marriage was being solemnised in a
prominent family of the village. The local doctor of the government hospital
and the prominent illiterate business man were in the guest list. The business
man was fortunate enough to reach there before the doctor though both of them
were travelling in their respective cars, two Hindustan Motors Ambassador Mark II
cars. The business man received a warm welcome and he was all in his charm.
Then came the doctor. The persons who were welcoming the guests immediately
turned their attention to the most respected person in the village, known for
his selfless service to the society and helping the poorest of the poor in the
village. The business man was told to give way for the doctor who is not even
1/10th of his net worth. The time passed and it is this 21st century 2012. The scenario remains the same the local doctor and the business
man and the marriage. But the world around has changed a lot. They are
travelling in the modern cars. Doctor came in one of the most sold models of
Maruthi Suzuki a white swift. The business man has gone places but he is also
attending this marriage came in a brand new BMW 5 series. Because of the bad
traffic the business man was a little late to reach the venue and fortunately or
otherwise our doctor managed to reach there before him. Though he was welcomed
but this time the clamor of money has its better charm. This time the doctor
was asked to give way for the business tycoon. Though illiterate he was
manifolds richer than the poor doctor who has only goodwill as his bank
balance. The business man has learned the value of education from his previous
experience also ensured that his son is getting an admission for a medical
degree in management quota from one of the famous private institutions in the
country though it will not make a big dent in his kitty. His business acumen
has taught him that the health care is going to the next “in – thing” in this
country.
Now let me come to my take in
this story. In the pre-liberalisation era though the difference between this
rich India and poor India did existed in the books, there were no evident
testimonies for these book values. But in this post liberalised world there are
clearly conspicuous. The rich is having the opportunities to flaunt the wealth
like never before though I am not forgetting the fact that the ultra rich of
the pre independent India flaunted their richness even by importing these
products of the western culture which we consider as “better lifestyles”. But
the options were limited. But in this post liberalised era the brands compete
for the attention of the prospective buyers giving hoards of opportunities to
satiate the needs, wants and desires. In 80’s the society could not perceive
the richness beyond a limit as it was not so conspicuous so they respected the
services and the knowledge. In 80’s the rich and the so called middle class
travelled in the antiquated models of ambassadors and had only few options like
the vimal and the Bombay dyeing to wear. But in today’s world the difference
between the rich India and poor India is clear and conspicuous in black and
white. The rich are having the options from bugatti veryon to Audis, Merks and
BMWs to travel and Armani suits and designer wear to dress up and clearly
distinguish them from others. The rich are having options to “purchase” the
degrees and leaving no stones unturned to question their positions any time in
near future. In the past there were lots of people who went for higher
education from poor families and it never came in the news, because it was a
very common thing. But today if something like that happen the media and the
virtual social world like facebook celebrate it with 1000s of likes and shares.
Is it because of the fact that it is not so common? My logic makes me doubt so.
We don’t celebrate day and night but we celebrate if there is a meteor shower
in the sky because it is not happening on a daily basis. We have a tendency to
celebrate the things which are not so common.
I do and strongly believe in one
thing that the maintains the homeostasis of the economics; the talent of
individuals. Otherwise the rich remains richer and the poor continue to remain
poorer. Look back in history; a blacksmith’s son was bound to be a blacksmith
and he cannot be a teacher or a writer. Are we going back to that vedic and
pervedic era? Take the case of money minting bollywood or kollywood in the
south or any film industry across this subcontinent. How many of the new actors
do not bear a legacy tag? How many of the new faces have come and gained
stardom without having a strong filmy family background? How many CEOs in this
country are from poor or middle class families? If some are there, then we
celebrate it. I believe that the only exception to a greater extent is sports.
Say cricket for example. I do respect Sachin Tendulkar for his talent like any
of my fellow Indians. But I could see that he is equally respected for the
money he earns with his skills. It is his talent which made a kid from an
average Indian family to a rich Indian. But how many are there like that; the
elite 11 cricketers of the Indian team? Then what about athletics, football and
our national games hockey. Don’t you think that still our athletes run for a
railway or police job or for winning a government quarters as told in the mega
hit movie Chakde India?
We may say that liberalisation
has given us lot of entrepreneurs who are venturing to conquer the world but
not to forget that the companies which we proudly proclaim as Indian companies
like the Infosys, the reliance and the wipro were the start-ups of our
pre-liberalised era. Now we see entrepreneurs who create a company and want to
sell it off to the might of multinational giants. I still remember a
conversation with one of such IT entrepreneurs who reluctantly admit that he is
building a company so that he can sell it for a fortune to some xyz MNC giants
in future. I read a statement in similar lines form Mr.Kishore Biyani the
retail king of India very recently. Now we can also see that the rich Indians
are also conquering political sphere. How many of the companies are there is in
this country without a politician attached to it? Spice get, Vasan eyecare, sun
network, Cafe coffee day, Oh no.... the list is too long.
Are we not curbing the only way
to maintain the economic homeostasis though we preach a lot of financial
inclusion and inclusivity these days? I think so. By reducing the opportunities
for talent to flourish, we are truly curbing that. The enhanced ways to curb
the talents through nepotism and the right to purchase anything to everything
in today’s market place is ultimate contribution of liberalization. Few days
back I read in news papers that our finance minister telling that the managers
who refrain from taking the educational loan applications will be punished
after the Indian Banking Association coming up with a suggestion to restrict
the educational loan applications in fear of NPA. So from now on I can expect
that the bankers will queue up in front of the houses of the poor requesting
them to go for higher education. But don't you think that it is just a
political game to con the poor, so called fooled citizens? I am not being
political at any point because, I don't see a difference in any political class
whether they are wearing the so called woven Khadi or the saffron or the red. I
subscribe to the school of thoughts that irrespective of the colour of their
cloths, all roads leads to Rome.... oh sorry.... not Rome the Swiss constantly putting their
earnest efforts to break their own records in Scams. I believe they are also
planning for an index to consider the inflation to project that the scams they
do are not so serious when we consider inflation.
Then what we need? Will we be
satisfied with a silent Prime Minister controlled like a puppet or by a
prospective one who could befriend all those business tycoons forgetting his
hands coloured red by the relics of past communal violence? I think we need to
think of options beyond that to break this “Berlin Wall” which divides India
into rich and poor.
Here I am not championing the pre-liberalization era or the license raj. But before we venture in to the depths
of liberalization we must think once whether it in-Toto is good for us or not.
Before venturing into something like the foreign direct investment in
multi-brand retail and aviation it is always better to give a second thought.
The experiments world over has once proved that communism is good in theory but
a failure in practice. Likewise the liberalized world is sinking across the
globe. The great USA, the Greek or the Europe as a whole. So it is high time to
give a second thought whether the liberalization is completely good for us or
not. We should not be doing a mistake in this regard like the escalation of
commitment or measuring the depth of the pond with both feet at this moment. But
it will always be wiser enough to apply brakes before reaching the tip of the
cliff.
