Whom Are We Fooling?

Whom are we fooling?

One city of China, Shanghai has performed better than India. Forget about the cities of other developed nations. Awake – India Awake!

1. Shanghai has received $60 billions in FDI compared to India $59 billion since 1991,
2. In 2005, Shanghai’s foreign trade was $350 billion while India’s total trade is only $241 billion,
3. Shanghai port, the world’s largest, handled 443 million tones of cargo in 2005 compared to total cargo handled by 12 major ports of India 423 million tones,
4. Shanghai GDP in 2005 was $110 billion and has grown to a double digit rate for 14 consecutive years while India’s GDP is about 700 billion and has grown at an annual rate of about 6 percent for the past 10 years,
5. 430 of the Fortune Global 500 companies are present in Shanghai while only 220 of these companies have office facilities in India.

How pathetic it is for the poor? The poor hardly understands these statistics because no body has given them chance to grow to this level. But thanks to digital power, information is available on line. Leader need to be cautious. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised to make Mumbai as Shanghai long back just after he became took office. But promise is promise and they are made to break. Prime Minister must have forgotten that promise when he addressed recently in Delhi and made headlines in almost all the news papers of India. He asked private sectors to opt for reservations. Was it a compulsion of economy, development or simply state level elections? The biggest sufferers are those who do not have even the basic amenities in one of the fastest growing economy of the world. Can India compete Shanghai through reservation?

Azim Premji is vocal to object this kind of reservation at this crucial juncture of Indian economy. Can we ensure GDP growth in two digit with such lose talk and casual policies? As an economist, Prime Minister needs to have guts to issue the policies which are required to ensure the growth for the poor and common man. If we maintain 6% GDP growth, we will take almost more than one generation time to become developed. When Ahluwalia talks about more FDI and higher growth in two digit, they talks sense to ensure that we achieve developed status in less than one generation. Hello, Prime Minister, Learn from your counterpart – George Bush, who teaches his school children to learn math to ensure their value addition for the top jobs. Why are you talking such rotten and trivial issues as reservation? Reservation will never be able to make Bill Gates of India. And today we need one. Dear Prime Minister, please look ahead to empower your common man. Provide basic infrastructure to the poor. Then only we shall be able to compete with the world.

The recent poll conducted by Times group shows that 85% people are against reservation. You are Prime Minister of a democratic country, just think over whom are you fooling around? The common man has to pay heavy price for this democracy. The upsurge of common people in Nepal is the lesson for the future for entire world. The people will keep quite till they do not know much about democracy, deprivation and exploitations. The rulers will not be able to fool the people of this 21st century. Even undemocratic country like China can not take chance. That is how, I feel, Chinese President Hu Jintao has to praise Bill Gates for his magnificent creations of Microsoft. Who does not need Microsoft? Who is going to develop another Microsoft in this world? Chinese President is using operating system produced by Microsoft everyday. Can we fool even common man easily?

Western values which we generally recognize as democracy, human rights, free speech, rule of law etc, remain very confusing to normal citizens of the developing world. It is an other story that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev says, “These are after all values that belong to the whole of humanity”. How many are ready to accept this? Timothy Garton Ash in his book “Free World” says, “Freedom is elusive, difficult, risky, hard to define, let alone to achieve, but those who are unfree, know exactly what unfreedom is.” I do not agree with that perception being a part of developing world. What is elusive in freedom? Freedom is freedom. Those who are unfree will never know neither will they have any way to know about freedom, unless educated or liberated. The person living like slaves, living in poverty and deprivation, as child labour, ladies living in veil and so on are living in a world where they know no freedom to understand freedom. They would never understand the free in freedom. That’s how literacy becomes one of the prime objects of a civilized society. Literacy of an open nature, not dipped with biased or religious bent could possibly show the meaning of freedom to the people of free world. We need to make the mind a fertile ground, fertile garden rather than dust bin or scrap-drain. We have to stop using mind as a drain and make a boon of the opportunities.

Timothy concludes wisely, “We (people of develop world) can, and should, offer a tool box of experiences in all aspects of transition, from how to write a constitution to how to deal with a difficult past.” It is a great gesture from the people of the developed world for the deprived lot of the developing world. Certainly, it could be possible to help in writing a liberal democratic constitution. It may help us to spread democracy, human rights and concept of free world. They may educate us to be and know about freedom and free. However the main question arises, how the westerners going to help us to deal with a difficult ‘past’, which they are, neither even their last few generations, nor have ever witnessed nor experienced. The life of the twentieth century has given as a glimpse of development to the people of the developed world. They have experienced richness across the board. They have enjoyed all the privileges and materialism of the world for the last two-three-four generations. But can we ever imagine the past of the people since last 2-3 generations of developing world? They have not only faced deprivation, they are not only forced to live in deprivation, they are not only preached to and convinced to live in deprivation, they are deprived of basic amenities. At the same time, they have seen the rich; they have seen the abundance of resources available to human beings. Also, they don’t have basic amenities in their huts or slums, but have seen the luxury of palaces, apartments and hotels, not only they have been able to earn a mere livelihood, they have seen billionaires and making of billionaires in front of their eyes and so on. They are not only illiterate, but they are being forcefully humiliated by literate. They can stand on a road crossing in metro cities of the developing world and witness the future. The past is not only frustrating but humiliating too. It may not be very easy to deal with the past even for the wisest people of this earth. It would be a traumatic event. They are not ready to deal even with their past. It is a challenge to growth of human civilization of the unfree and developing world. It is a challenge to deal with the past.

India needs progress. India has advantage that its citizens have witnessed and enjoyed freedom. India has advantages over other Asian countries including China and Pakistan. At least 30-40% Indians has experienced freedom. They are enjoying freedom. Indians are experiencing social, political and economical freedom. Indians are lucky. That’s how India is thriving to dominate the world. Indians are more conscious than ever before. Thanks to the brain drain of 60s and 70s. Indians have consolidated in developed land. Few of them are back here to motherland and they are going to make difference. Indians are here now with their billions. They are going to make difference. Prime Minister must understand these aspirations of growing Indians. Prime Minister must understand that he is the Prime Minister of a free country. He can not make fool to these conscious people. Prime Minister of India must be constructive to empower common man.