Fortnightly for rural women bags UNESCO prize

Fortnightly for rural women bags UNESCO prize

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VALENTINE DAY & LIBERALISATION IN INSTALLMENTS

      

Celebrations of V-Day apparently reel under clouds and dictums of vanguards ofBharatiya sanskriti after the recent macabre at the Mangalore Pub which has  renewed interest of dhartiputras of India towards cultural soverignity  in agora of issues that face the nation.

I am not using the space to be judgmental or attributing values to either group, both have their own reasons and beliefs which differ starkly as both belong to opposite paradigms.

This piece is an attempt to observe the issue from a public policy lens.  Whether the incident is an isolated one or a spontaneous outrage of some jilted people who mix concoction of tradition and religion in the beaker of poverty and resourcelessness or is it the entropy of an intricate development model which has widened the resource gap, bred inequity and inequality. 

What has been flashed on TV and computer screens and print media recently could be attributed to the “sequel of economic liberalization” coupled by a large divide of "Haves and Have nots" that has evolved into cultural conservatism colored into religion and tradition.

Now let’s have a look at this ---------

Around 3 per cent of the India population falls in “middle class” category, which means around 30 million people [which is approx. 10% of the total population of the USA]: The class is "reinvention  mode" and "harbinger of socio cultural transition and economic change" ----  vibrant face of  post structural modern India and darling of  capitalistic liberal West .

A study by Navdayna -- a Delhi based NGO suggests that on Purchasing Power parity basis this 3 per cent of population in India spend around U.S $ 30,000 per capita per  annum on consumption (including consumption of entertainment, Pubwala ), On the contrary there are 

nearly equal (27% approx) number of Indians who live below poverty line (BPL), which loosely means they do not consume more than Rs 12/Day  (as per 1994 base price).

With this picture on canvas, it should not be an utter surprise if V-Day and “sequels of economic liberalization and globalization" would be under fire from disgruntled majorty who fall in the spheres of have nots or have little to celebrate.

Branding Senas of Rama or Siva as zealots , violent militia and questioning their mandate  or bashing late night outings of vivacious Gen X in the name of culture or tradition  in print and electronic media will definitely help in increasing TRPs and circulation numbers  of publications but not the issues that the people face in real life.

Ther is   need of an open discussion to delve into the causes for anger and violence and the options that policy can offer.

But this cannot be the last word as India is complex beyong Comprehension so is the culture.

Your comments are welcome.

Yeh Hai Mumbai (Indiya) Meri Jaan.

But.......What about the left outs?
Those who have no hope and exist amid of a crowd of gifted ones in India?
Unequal growth patterns within the society : A fast growing babu bashing aspirational upper middle class – a breed of tech savvy Masters of Business Acumen MBAs ---The money minting human machines; Snail pace generation of sarkari karmchais and babus of lower middle class and a sea of unnoticed Proletariate who have a perhaps meagre hope left to move up in the ladder . Yet all are interLINKED ----------- one way or the other.

Who will fine tune these (im) balances—State or Trade or Both? And where these imbalances will lead to; Terrorism, Naxilism or.....................God Knows?
Access to means to meet at least physical comforts in life if not development (which itself is a debatable ) seem to be elusive for a particular group of population in the country as suggest by Mr Justice Sacchar in his report. The consequence?
Groping of the new breed into despair and they see no incentive being part of THE SYSTEM and the booming capitalistic mode of development; The G-R-O-W-T-H.
What interest does the left out have if telcom majors launch One India Plan for its customers? Or TATAs pulls out of Singur, Nano is not sold at Rs 100,000? , Mr.Mittal takes over another iron ore mine or Ranbaxy sells out its shareholdings to Japanese Pharma major or ................

India wins one gold and two bronze medals in Olympics? The “economic growth” or cheap Drugs or getting nuclear power for India is just NOT ENOUGH BUT the point here is to be reckoned is the issue of Inequality (which is again debatable) but what is important ---- the policies that promote hopeful Inequality; Inequality may be considered good if it leads to hope but the same is dynamite RDX if it kills hope. Whether the lowest rung left outs will opt for Kashmir style Gun Culture or follow a path of development will depend upon the quality of Policy makers and nature of Public Policies and not merely on Mall manic, tech savvy money minting MBAs or Sarkari babus who have little incentive but to maximise their rational self interest..
Access to inclusive and economically equitable patterns of growth, may be by the way of access to potable water, quality education or healthcare of really poor. Incentivising socially excluded and economically left outs is perhaps the Real Growth. If business and trade is ladder to growth then it cannot go with a selected privilege few. It has to be expansive and out of box.
Perspective towards the Bottom of Pyramid(BoP) has to be changed, BoP not solely as a lucrative, scalable market which the marketing guru C.K Prahlad propounds, but BoP needs to be made a partner in trade and access thru trade be the mantra for hopeful inequalities.
Modern cinema like recent one “Mumbai MERI Jaan” has raised some banal questions which are commendable but what is certainly not appreciable is attitude and mindset of most of the weekender money minters for whom the cinema is merely a good piece of work and a paisa vasool time pass.