Celebrating 60: Sixty years on, a very mixed bag
One of India’s most respected political commentators, veteran journalist <b>Inder Malhotra</b> takes stock of a nation that has prospered economically and survived as a great democracy. But he argues that there is a disconcerting darker side to all this.
To draw up a balance sheet of India at 60 is a difficult task because of the
country's record, bewildering complexities, and even more because the record
is rather mixed. Come to think of it, in 1947 many were certain that India
would not survive as a single entity. According to them, our survival itself would
be a major achievement. But we never had any doubt on this score.
A far more creditable attainment of ours is that all through these 60 years,
except during the 19 months of Indira Gandhi's Emergency in the
mid-Seventies, India has been a functioning and lively democracy. It will
doubtless remain so because the Emergency proved that India would be
governed democratically or not at all. Of course, Indian democracy suffers
from many flaws, some quite serious. Yet it compares favourably with what American
democracy was in 1836, sixty years after the United States became free.
It is also to India's great credit that despite several grim challenges, it
has maintained and sustained the secular, inclusive and tolerant character
of Indian society in which all citizens have equal rights. It has kept at
bay, as best it could, religious and other forms of extremism, and preserved
its multicultural, multilingual and multiethnic attribute.
In the 17th and early 18th century, India -- like China -- was a country more
advanced economically than Britain and other European nations. At the end of
British rule in 1947 it was among the poorest! After Independence too, we have had several ups and downs, for example, the grievous food shortage brought about by the savage drought in the mid-Sixties. We did not have the foreign exchange to buy food. Lyndon Johnson, annoyed with this country because of its policy on the Vietnam War, put American wheat supplies on a very tight leash on deferred rupee payment. Consequently, India lived almost
literally from ship to mouth, and with every morsel of food, we swallowed a
little humiliation. Within three years, however, we had the Green Revolution.
The foreign exchange crisis of the Sixties was nothing compared with that in
1990 when India had to pawn its gold to save itself from defaulting on loan repayments. Today the foreign exchange reserves have risen to a whopping $ 140 billion and are rising further. This surely has much to do with the liberalization of the Indian economy and integrating it with the global pattern. The unleashing of entrepreneurship and the quantum leap in IT industry have pushed up the annual increase in GDP to 9 per cent or three
times what used to be disparagingly called the "Hindu rate of growth".
All this must be applauded. But there is the darker flip side of the picture. While industry is booming, the rural sector has suffered – in many sectors grievously. There has been no reduction in the rural population; despite the high rate of urbanization its contribution to GDP has remained stagnant. Suicides by farmers in several states cannot be overlooked. Worse, inequities across the country have grown exponentially. The prosperous and expanding middle has never had it so good. Yet, at the same time close to 40 per cent of Indians go to sleep hungry.
The list of shattered dreams and unrealized ambitions is long. The first fond notion to collapse was that, with the departure of the British, the Hindu-Mulsim conflict would become a thing of the past. Our confidence that in independent India corruption would be rooted out has met the same fate. Today, bribery and graft have become a galloping cancer without cure. Sadly, the curse of dowry persists and has indeed acquired alarming proportions.
Other blots on India's face include persistence of untouchability, occasional occurrence of sati, and massive exploitation of women, especially widows. Shocking beyond belief is the rising incidence of "female foeticide", the murder of the girl child before birth now that the gender of an unborn baby can be determined easily.
The Mahatma wanted caste to be abolished instantly. Instead, it has become the most potent political force. Because opportunist and populist politicians are united in reserving more and more jobs for backward castes, social groups have started agitating, often violently, demanding that they be moved lower down the social ladder rather than upwards!
The infrastructure of the Republic has begun to decay. No wonder violence and insurgencies of various types are on the increase, and in many areas the writ of the Indian State does not run.
On the other hand, the wide world has taken note of the rising India. Its economic surge and military prowess have made their impact. There is general agreement that India, like China, would soon be a superpower. It is not for nothing that the US has been anxious to make India a "strategic partner" while China has made no bones about its worry on this score. The Indo-Soviet nuclear deal has evoked strong opposition in both countries. But in this noise, let us not forget that the deal means an implicit acceptance of India as a nuclear weapon power.
(The author is among India’s foremost political analysts and commentators.)
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E4M Our strategy is to target younger audiences through Sports: Rajiv Dubey, Dabur
The Head of Media at Dabur India spoke exclusively to exchange4media on the World Cup, associating with Indian Idol, the company’s digital spending and much more
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The 140-year-old company is going big on key sporting events, World Television Premiere (WTP) movies and reality shows. It is now gearing up to become the title sponsor of popular talent show ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony TV for the first time, shared Rajiv Dubey, who leads the media strategy at Dabur.
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ShareSwapan Seth's new book 'COOL' is out
The book is a reflection of the author's 'eclectic taste across categories'
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COOL has been published by Simon & Schuster India and is available on Amazon.
Seth is an ad veteran with a long and illustrious career in the industry. He became the youngest-ever Creative Director at Clarion at age 24. He was VP at 26 at Trikaya Grey. Two years later, he started his agency Equus.
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Disney Star signs 9 sponsors for Asia Cup PAK
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As per the information available with exchange4media, Disney+ Hotstar has three sponsorship tiers-- co-presenting (Rs 30 crore), powered by (Rs 18 crore) and associate sponsorship (Rs 12 crore). The broadcaster is offering an estimated reach of 120-140 million for co-presenting sponsors, 90-100 million for powered by and 60-70 million for associate sponsorship.
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Sorted 360 wins creative & social media mandate of Reliance Mall
The agency will manage offline and online campaigns for Reliance Mall
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KlugKlug onboards Hemang Mehta as Country Manager for Indias
Mehta was most recently Head of Agency Relationships at Network 18 Media & Investments
KlugKlug has appointed Hemang Mehta as its Country Manager for India.
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Hemang Mehta expressed his enthusiasm about joining KlugKlug, saying, "I am thrilled to be a part of KlugKlug, a forward-thinking platform that is reshaping the influencer marketing landscape. As much as I look forward to collaborating with the exuberant team at KlugKlug, I am super excited to interact with the brands to deliver powerful data-backed Influencer solutions that will guarantee business outcomes."
Commenting on the appointment, Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug, stated, "We are excited to welcome Hemang Mehta to our team as the Country Manager for India. His extensive experience in digital media sales and marketing will be instrumental in driving our efforts to provide influencer marketing solutions to our clients. We believe Hemang's leadership will be key in scaling our operations and expanding our reach within the Indian market."
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