In Shambles Lay The Freedom Of Expression.

It really isn't a very nice feeling, being ever so flustered at the egregious way your own motherland functions. A week or so back I was taking part in this mock parliament in this fest called Vaayu (perhaps some of you have heard of it?) and I found myself debating a topic that's been rather popular among the cynics and intellectuals for a while now - about the Indian sensitivities and censorship yada yada yada. The educated have closely linked the Salman Rushdie incidents and the Jay Leno incidents and have come down heavily on the Indian sensitivities and perhaps even going to the extent of accusing India of being an abattoir of free expression.
In that mock session I was forced for the sake of participation to take up a conservative argument and support the view that such furtive behavior towards certain impudent opinions was justified and that the authorities only did it in the interest of the citizens at large. Surprisingly it wasn't a very hard argument to construct given the fact that I'd fancy myself more as a part of a more liberal school of thought.
Somehow this Saturday all that came crashing down, and I now come to the reason why I feel all this anger towards Incredibly yours, India. See up until now I could always put up an argument as to why curbing the freedom of expression is bad but I never really felt for it this passionately, in the course of these few days however I seem to have become more angered at the situation.
It all started when I went to the Juhu crossword to pick up my weekly issue of the economist. As uncanny as it was the shelf still had last weeks edition. I asked the ignoramuses that worked at the store but they hadn't a clue as to what was wrong. I quickly rushed over to the Andheri branch only to be disappointed again.I asked a few friends to check a few other outlets, no one in the city had the economist. Strange.
It was while I was talking to a friend who actually subscribes to the magazine that I got to know what the matter really was. This is an excerpt from the mail she received from the economist -

"We deeply regret to inform you that we will not be able to deliver your subscription copy of the February 11th issue of The Economist.


This issue includes a special report on Pakistan and features a map showing the disputed territories. India does not allow us to show the current effective border, requiring us instead to show only its territorial claims. As a result, the issue has been seized by the Indian customs authorities."

Now there is this gargantuan chagrined feeling that I've been having for the last couple of days, but what can one do? Not every one can fast unto death to fix whats wrong like some astonishing and intriguing leaders we have today, nor can we print revolutionary articles in papers like the visionaries Chetan Bhagat or Suhel Seth for example. We cant even go on talk shows and advocate how 'Baapu' would react to get the country back on track like Tushar Gandhi would do. So I have to live with this chagrined feeling although the entire matter sickens me now, repulses me to say the least.  Once again, I present to you Incredible India. 

The Elephant's Dream

Economics is a mystical subject, one that even the greatest minds cannot always get right. The world today is experiencing a paradigm change when it comes to the question as to where the economic power actually lies. People everywhere are announcing the shift of power from the glorious west to the BRIC economies. But how much of this paradigm shift is purely speculation?
While Mr. Schwab and the W.E.F build models about Global Redesign Initiatives and the likes of other eminent western economists harp on tunes of the world working together as a community to restore order in the fragile situation the world economy is in today (refer: Europe and even America a while back), most of us simpletons back home just wonder if India will actually be a superpower in the years to come. For some time now we have been hearing optimists say that India is going to rise to new heights and make its way to a superpower for a while now, but how real is this dream? 
Most economic thinkers back home think it is institutional changes that would set India to this path. But how does one bring about these institutional changes, especially to such a schizophrenic economy that our leaders have assiduously worked to keep in such tangles for decades now.  Maybe the likes of Anna Hazare and his intriguing ideas could work as the disruption that the country needs to bring about many of these changes. But jokes aside, what could we do that we assuredly get that superpower position that we have wanted for aeons now.
One thing that needs immediate attention is for our leaders to get their priorities right. Our political class has been battling the grounds of otiose issues right through the year gone by and at this rate I wouldn’t be surprised if we got back to the Hindu growth rate in a couple of years. India Inc as well needs to get its relations right with our leaders in parliament, the current mud-slinging between the two will get us nowhere.
Somehow it is simply difficult to answer a question about India as ‘Incredible India’ truly has so many forces pulling in so many different directions. Even if we compare India to the other BRIC economies you would see a very many differences. Much to the delight of the capitalists in the west, India seems to very confused about its policy towards privatization as well. Whether it is the recent debacle about 100 per cent FDI or just the general residual Nehruvian Socialistic attitude even after liberalization, India all in all seems rather perplexed.  Last weeks Economist had a special report on how a lot of the rising powers today are using a model of State Capitalism where they bring about the best of both worlds, the very cynical report towards this new model being used in the BRIC countries excludes Indian PSUs calling them leftovers from the Licence Raj. Where does that leave us? Neither are we working at efficient levels on the invisible hand nor on the visible one.
I bring up just a couple of issues here, but there are arrays of such questions that need answering.
As a student of economics still, I can’t conclusively say where the elephant is headed but I sure can tell you that the mahud is giving the elephant a very many mixed signals. Where this elephant actually goes only time can tell.

A Pinch Of Salt.

India truly does bring out the meaning of the phrase 'Unity In Diversity'. I mean in this 21st century the way this exuberant democracy functions remains a remarkable feat.
India does have certain shortcomings though, one of them being the divide on communal lines. A very many people believe that communal issues remains one of the major debacles today in Indian society.I must point out however that such a statement is not entirely true.
India maybe full of people belonging to various religions and communities but over the years our country has assiduously worked her way to building such national unity where an person identifies himself as an Indian first and then from whatever religion he may be. One such quintessential characteristic of an Indian across all religions is their tolerance.
India is a democracy that prides herself over her freedom and after more than sixty years of her existence the people have built this love for peace and tolerance, aah what Gandhians!!
For example the Hindus have learnt to be very tolerant and live in harmony with their Muslim brothers, its a whole different issue that one of them (read: MF Hussain)  decides to paint Hindu goddesses naked, I mean that sort of blasphemy calls for the bajrang dal, no questions asked what so ever. The Muslims too have learnt to be peace loving, they have not picked a quarrel on religious grounds for a while now. We have to give them the leeway of the fact that they threatened Rushdie such that he could have nothing to do with the Jaipur Lit fest, but he is one of their own right? We should have that much freedom such that they settle their squabbles amongst themselves at the least.
The Sikhs are another case in point, I mean for so many years they have been the butt of all jokes and their santa- banta classics have had us in splits. They have been real good sports all this while so we really should cut them some slack when they are ready to go up in arms when Mr. Leno says that the golden temple was Mitt Romney's summer home. As long as you uphold that all Indians are brothers and sisters its okay to have your guard up against Americans with a vile sense of humor making jokes about your religion.
Like I said before India truly has come a long way, *sigh* , Amazing India.