So wanting to have a toilet in the house instead of crapping on the riverbank, a tv / fan instead of village dappankoothu performances and palm leaf hand fans, electric grinder rather than stone hand grinder is materialism?
-- srs (blackberry) -----Original Message----- From: ashok _ <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:55:36 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [silk] aqvavit On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan <[email protected]> wrote: >> The deferring of debt repayments - it happens anyway, even without >> loan waivers. Agri loan restructuring is given a wide berth by the >> RBI. What happens is that these people go and borrow from moneylenders >> who are not part of the formal system, and the lenders twist arms. The >> Microfinance world tried to plug that gap but it turned out to have >> issues (though I think that is the real solution, expanding access to >> cerdit). > > Farmers make money once or twice a year during harvests, and then need > to spend the money wisely during the rest of the year without > spending it all on a wedding or feast. They are trapped between two > lifestyles - one that wants to continue the traditions and ways of the > past and one that wants to live in the selfish individuality of the > future. > > There are deep sociological issues here that a country of the east > like India embracing the economic ways of the west needs to consider. > Carlos Fuentes wrote a lot about his home country Mexico in the > context of living next to the large successful North American > neighbor, India would do well to find its Fuentes. > > I agree with your sentiments about things being bad. But it is also a fact that a large majority of people want "western" ways and consumerism. I dont know if i want to even call it "western" since indian society is actually very materialistic - who doesnt want a television or a mobile phone ? heck - in tamil nadu home grown politicians (without any western education ) have been giving aways televisions, grinders , tablets etc (it could be entirely possible to argue that some people have benefited by using these freebies and so giving it away was in fact a good thing -- fundamentally, if people get something for free even a hand-kerchief and you ask them if they benefited from it, they will say yes ). giving money away (as a debt waiver or as a free television) is at best a short term solution, and the same politicians who are giving it out are hiding behind that to make up for failures in other basic provisions like providing potable water , transport and communication infrastructure etc - because thats more difficult to achieve and show as a return in the electoral cycle.
