Law and order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered. --BR AMBEDKAR
Dr. John Mohan Razu
As citizens of India it’s such a great news to listen to and highly soothing to internalize when our PM Modi says that we live in/ moving towards building a ‘New India’. But, the data that comes from the Oxfam survey released on the 22nd of January, 2018, states that 1% of Indians had cornered 73% of the nation’s wealth does make many sad and furious. The very next day (23rd) global Environmental Performance Index (EPI) rankings released on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meet in Davos, Switzerland, saw India figure in the bottom five performers in a list of 180 countries. It simply means that India slipped to 177th position in green ranking from its 141st position two years ago. The report brought out by the Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the WEF, noted that the low ranking of the emerging economic like India reflects the strain population pressure and economic growth impose on environment. Economy, population and environment are closely linked realities. If anything goes wrong in one sector, it impinges on the other and thus brings about consequential impact. Similarly other segments are also integrated and closely webbed with each other. Over and above, years of globalization has not brought about any change nor narrowed the gap within and between countries. For example, if one percent of Indians control 73% of the India’s wealth, it clearly indicates that the forces of globalization have enabled the super-rich to amass at the cost of the majority of people. As a consequence, wealth is concentrated within the hands of 1% of Indians. Hence, it is a proven fact that after years of globalization the world is still divided. Our PM Narendra Modi, addressing a gathering of the global elite at the opening session of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, exhorted that “Come to India if you want wealth and wellness. Come to India if you want health and wholeness. Come to India if you want prosperity with peace …” Nevertheless PM Modi subtly cautioned: “Many societies and countries are becoming self-centered. It seems that globalization, as opposed to its definition, is shrinking …” De-coding further, “India has always believed in values of integration and unity, ‘Vsaudhaiva Kutumbakam’, which means the entire world is one family. It is relevant to bridge distances.” PM Modi made a forthright and direct reference to the shrinking globalization and some major countries are resorting to ‘protectionism’ and closing their borders. It is abundantly clear that after years of globalization the world is increasingly divided portraying that it has not been integrated and showing deepening inequality within and between countries. Rhetoric such as ‘vasudhaiva Kuttumbakam’, ‘one human family’, ‘borderless world’ so on so forth remains just a mirage—a maya, an illusion. The super-rich and the big global corporations enjoy and squandering the wealth of the world and controls majority of people. For the global investors India has become the destination of wholeness and wellness and a hub for amazing wealth and maximizing profits. Global capital is important for employment, transfer of technology, technical know-how and earning foreign reserves. But, how much profit should be repatriated and reinvested country should be clearly spelt out—not outright squandering. Our world is not a level-playing ground. The rich and the developed countries dictate dos and don’ts. The crony capitalists and crafty protectionists have totally altered the political and economic landscape to suit their projects. The world is increasingly being driven and dictated by the rich and the powerful. During elections the politicians talk about the poor and once they get elected hardly we see the governments working for the poor. The classic example is India. In Davos, PM Modi reiterated and envisioned that by 2025 India would be a $5 trillion economy with Indian innovators becoming “job givers” as opposed to “job seekers”. 2025 is a long way to go. How about the present? Millions of youngsters are seeking jobs for their livelihood and the backlog keeps increasing. PM Modi in 2014 at the time of parliamentary elections promised 10 million jobs. His government is going to complete four years in May, 2018 and in 2019 the Lok Sabha is due. Has he fulfilled his promises especially the jobs he promised? Futuristic vision is important and needed, but evading the present intentionally or deliberately shows something may have gone wrong or those that are yet to be unfilled. By all means, it should be taken into consideration, but without the present, the future cannot be visualized. What then is the present, Modiji, please spell it out? The socio-economic, political-religious terrains, raise serious questions such as: What kind of India we live in? Our PM Modi all the time trumpeting about ‘New India” and ‘Make in India’. What is that ‘newness’ in ‘New India’? Please spell it and give the details to the citizens of this country Dear PM. Conspicuously, BJP-RSS on all fronts has polarized and keep polarizing the Indian society. India is moving towards ‘regressive India’ and certainly not ‘shining’ and yet you talk about the ‘new’. PM Modi quotes and invokes Gandhi, Tagore and others in the international forums reiterating that India is an open and inclusive country and firmly imbued and thus believes in values of integration and unity. Yes, in principle and spirit, we used to cherish and practice those values in our day-to-day life. But, what’s happening now? Increasingly, our society is getting fractured and becoming fragmented. The rich continue to make money and the poor is becoming poorer. Politics is all-about perception—how one is connecting with the people, the promises made and executed. Dreams and aspirations of the electorates, and the ways with which one captures and articulates, eventually delivers, makes someone to win elections. The electorates believed in 2014, particularly a huge chunk of young India—aspirational young India. This is the segment that firmly believes that their India should be different, new, progressive, inclusive and prosperous. Will the politicians live up to their expectations? People and data do matter.
