On Thu August 17 2006 3:02 pm, Udhay Shankar N wrote:
> I have no particular axe to grind in this particular discussion - I'm
> genuinely curious as to what prompted this outburst.
Most of the stuff I have to say on this is probably not relevant on a list
such as this. But I will try and be brief and sum up my thoughts:
1) Terrorism in India, and indeed deaths from automobile accidents and a whole
lot of other things prevail at their characteristic frequency at least in
part due to very poor governance, in which a self serving polity actively
foster bribery, corruption and nepotism at every level over the entire
spectrum of government and judiciary.
2) The only group who can possible do anything about this are Indians
themselves, but Indians themselves tend to be pessimistic ("things can never
change") or fatalistic ("chalta hai/adjust maadi") about these things and
either do not know, or do not believe that things can be changed, or how to
go about it. There is even a mystifying sense that Indians are somehow
stronger/superior or more resistant/resilient to human suffering because of
these attitudes. How convenient for a corrupt polity.
These attitudes are possibly understandable in the uneducated (about 60% of
Indians), but their presence among the educated is indicative of a fairly
deep malaise in which information, or at least removal of misinformation will
play a large role.
One of the problems as I see it is the tendency for educated Indian to
recognise the superficial similarities between more efficient Western
democracies and India and fail to note fundamental differences. At least part
of the problem lies in the basic lack of education (and lack of transparent
information) regarding the functioning of Indian government and bureacracy at
the school level.
Any changes that come about IMO wil have to come from education and awareness
among educated Indians.
shiv
