Hi Fred, my response is marked R for reply....... --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Gilbert, It's interesting how issues get all mixed up, above. 1. Hindutva is not a religion, as you seem to suggest. It's a politicised ideology. Believing otherwise is like treating anti-Semitism, Zionism or the Ku Klux Klan as a religion. R: Agree, but neither is Hinduism. I refer to it as a buzzword used by hardline hindu fanatics who are now trying to equate it with nationalism. 2. "What's wrong in working as a coolie, if the pay is good..." This is an argument we often adopt for *others*. Would you like your children to get jobs as coolies? I wouldn't. If it's not good for us, it shouldn't be justified for others. R: I believe in the dignity of labour. Praful Bidwai has used the term in a derogatory manner with reference to IT workers. Why bring my children into the debate? 3. Can the "pay" be "good" for jobs like this? Even good is a relative term? How many people in the West would like to remain as "coolies" if they got a chance to move out of that occupation? Do we opt to forget what indenture labour meant to a previous generation of Indians, and under what conditions they were taken there? A: How on earth can you compare an IT worker who has gone abroad to work, as an Indentured labourer of the last century? We do not forget the harsh conditions they faced at that time, but don't forget that their offspring have become Prime ministers and millionaires in countries like Mauritius/ Fiji. So maybe it was not such a bad thing after all! 4. If you're a taxpayer back in India, it makes eminent sense to agree that tonnes of money from the state's exchequer shouldn't go into a highly subsidised tech-education system that produces some of the best engineers in the world, but of whom upto 80% leave India for greener pastures abroad. If they want to leave, by all means. Let them pay for their highly-subsidised education and leave. Should Indian money go to subsidise the already-affluent West by way of providing them top class skills for free? A: Their skills didn't come for free. I say this from personal experience, although I agree that their education was subsidised. We can debate about the brain drain until the cows come home, but Ill leave it at that as this has already been debated a lot in the past. What is the *tonnes of money* you refer to? The percentage of GDP spent on education in India is a disgrace. I prefer to spend money from the exchequer on any form of subsidised education, than on the thousands of other wasteful ways it is being done right now. Have you seen the Govt. security being provided to VHP and top Shiv Sena leaders who are non Govt. people. Who pays for it? PS: BTW, did you study in India? I did, am grateful for it, and am still paying back the debt... There are a hundred-and-one ways to do this. A: Yes I did. And there was no debt involved. I have paid Income tax for 35 years and the Govt. is my debtor because I have not received the social security returns one would expect from being a good citizen for such an extended period. A citizen has rights and obligations, but he also expects some social returns from the State. Sorry to say, these have been found to be wanting. Buts that's another story. Cheers, Gilbert. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
