Both Guha, Nilekani are others are correct in saying that though the
Indian Democracy has >problems, it has sustained itself, and will do
so in the future and in the end succeed.
*** Should hasve added: "And those who are left holding the bag ought
to have patience'. After all "bhukute' koltw nopoke' nohoy".
The NE states are still fighting double-digit unemployment,
*** But it is their own damn fault, isn't it?
At 11:07 AM -0600 5/9/07, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
I haven't read the book. However, over the last few years, there
have been writeups to books that have essentially captured what both
Nilekani & Guha suggest. Tom Friedman got a lot his ideas from
Nilekani for the"World is Flat'.
Both Guha, Nilekani are others are correct in saying that though the
Indian Democracy has problems, it has sustained itself, and will do
so in the future and in the end succeed.
Yesterday's Sentinel also had another editorial - ie. about
Pakistan, and why, having started at the same time has failed in
'Democracy'.
These are my feelings though:
As far as Assam/NE are concerned, the need to benefit or percolate
from any successes of democracy in B'lore or Pune, major roles have
to played by both the Center and the NE states.
It often seems that some success or the other happens in B'lore or
Mumbai - it almost seems 'foreign' and so far removed.
While IT has affected many states, the NE states have by and large
have not been able to capitalize on it and that gravy train is fast
pulling away.
The insurgency has had a profound affect on the pyche of the people
in the NE - and I mean negative. There are those who feel that they
have a better shot (alone) than India in this experiment, and there
are others who feel the insurgency has bogged them down.
The people who feel they can develop Assam/NE independently don't
take ever take ground realities.
The NE states are still fighting double-digit unemployment, poor
infrastructure, power shortage etc etc. Corruption and mismanagement
of funds are yarns by themself. Today's AT reports that the DONER
ministry coughed-up Rs 275 Crs or something. Assam was expected to
put up its share of 25%. When that didn't happen, it was lowered to
15% - even that did not happen.
It is very difficult to imagine, that the state cannot even garner
its share - why? because its tax-base is weak, and most of what is
collected is stolen with impunity.
In the end - India should be able to boast of a true democracy, when
even remote NE areas can also claim, that they too have benefitted.
For that to happen - the leaders and thinkers in the NE must involve
the states in all facets of the greater Indian successes as opposed
to finding weak areas to whittle away at the behemoth. That does NOT
help the NE, its people and nor does it help India as it moves
forward.
--Ram
On 5/9/07, Dilip/Dil Deka
<<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
A little more on Guha and Guha's book from the TOI. Apparently the
book is brand new.
=====================================================
Guha hails Indian democracy
[9 May, 2007 l 0333 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
BANGALORE: Two people from entirely different quarters of life
upheld and appreciated India's liberal democratic credentials
despite the numerous divisions that characterise it. Ramachandra
Guha, and Nandan Nilekani, who launched Guha's book, India After
Gandhi on Tuesday, said if there was anything to admire about India,
it was its rumbling and robust democracy.
Nandan said India's democracy was the foundational basis for its
current progress. He said India's strength lay in an institutional
framework of democracy, in its adoption of English as a global
language, in its capacity to adopt technological change and in its
gradual movement from a limited access system to an open access
system.
Nandan, describing Guha's book as lucid, detailed and highly
readable, saluted the pioneering efforts of Ambedkar, Gandhiji,
Nehru and Sardar Patel. He said the book exhibited extraordinary
scholarship on India's political foundations and was a
non-ideological, non-partisan must read.
Guha recalled the history of India's democracy from the 50s to the
current times and described the nation as an "unnatural nation and
an unlikely democracy". He hailed India's success in managing myriad
castes, religions, classes and communities and of course its
capacity to hold and organise regular elections.
Guha also recalled the efforts of one of India's finest civil
servants, C S Venkatachar, who, he said, played a major role in the
conceptualisation of the book, a result of eight years of research.
He narrated how he compiled the book beginning from a "mythical
history book".
Guha described the pioneering efforts of Gandhiji, Nehru and Sardar
Patel. He said it was necessary to write biographies of some of the
greatest personalities of Indian democracy.
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