Crusade India

By K C Agrawal

politically and spiritually and make it one of the most powerful and flourishing nations in the world in the coming decades Authored by a committed and inquiring researcher, it analyses the factors responsible for the ramshackle state of affairs in the country as a result of many a malaise – mis-governance, corruption, industrial failure and dwindling economy, to name a few. Taking up various areas for focused study, like India's resources, political administration, economic growth, development programmes at various levels and impact of globalisation, it examines the mistakes made in the past partly because of Ignorance and partly because of selfish motives in approach, strategies adopted, execution of plans and programmes and evaluation.
Giving vital facts and figures garnered through intense research, the work points out how and why India lags behind in rural development, population control, reform of education, water management, disaster management, power generation, tourism, environmental issues, reform of police and judiciary and of defence services, and presents insightful and thought-provoking suggestions on how the situation can be remedied. It has also attempted to provide solutions to addressing problems in the NE states and the Kashmir issue.
Owing to the nature of the subject here discussed and the authors unique holistic approach and original perspectives in addressing Issues, the book will interest a largo range of readers keen to watch India progress. They will feel as if the author is talking about them and is concerned for their well-being. Its fluent style of writing makes the approach all the more realistic and interesting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Point Six Technologies Pvt Ltd
• Release date: Oct 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9789390266173

K C Agrawal

K.C. Agrawal, an electrical engineer and senior member of IEEE, USA, has over 33 years of experience in different capacities – in academics, PSUs and multinationals, and then running his own industries for 24 years, manufacturing switchgears. Some 20 years ago, greatly moved by the country’s highly deplorable condition and the sight of poverty-stricken people, he pledged to do something for the nation and steer the people out from their sombre plight to a glorious future. The present work is the next step in the furtherance of this cause.

Book preview

Our Mission

1

To Our Countrymen

Let’s not only praise our superfluous prosperity,

we should feel its truth also.

1.1 Introduction

Do you know that about 68% of our population are those who live on or below the poverty line (items 1 and 2, Column 3, Table 5.5)? Of the 68%, 45% are those who languish under stark poverty and deprivation, leading a life no better than animals (item 1, column 3, Table 5.5). Many of them live on grass, plant roots and mango kernels or commit suicide. Not only this 23% of our population are disabled and 10% destitutes (Table 4.1).

In the past 60 years our system of governance has not only failed to address these problems, it has also established a deep-rooted kleptocracy in the society. In this period we have been dragged to rags, sorrows and deprivation, but our leaders have emerged as the most authoritative, wealthy and powerful class in our country. We did not aspire for this kind of freedom where only a few enjoy and the rest suffer! It has belied our hopes and shattered our aspirations. We have discussed this issue with many people from different walks of life and all are of the firm belief that this system must be made to go for the good of the people, however difficult it may be to do so.

Noble laureate Dr. Hargobind Khurana could not get an opportunity in his own country but brought laurels home when he got an opportunity in the US that provided him an environment to do valuable work and excel in his field. Outside our country we get a lot of opportunities, exposure and freedom to excel. It is unfortunate that what we don’t do for our people in our own country, others do in their’s and allow our people to excel in competition with their people. Look at the sea of difference in the two attitudes!

As individuals we have succeeded in other countries

but have failed in our own.

This brings home the fact that human behaviour and approach as also his intellect depends largely upon the system and environment built for him in which he lives, thinks and works. In the process, it is only the propriety of our system that needs to be questioned rather than the role of an individual who is just a part of it. A person’s attitude, actions, behaviour, deeds and thoughts are influenced by the system. The criticism of a system is therefore no aspersion on an individual.

1.2 Our democracy

We gifted ourselves a democracy empowering ignorants to elect ignorants to run the country ignorantly. Before this massive ignorant majority, the educated class is a dwarf and has for long been marginalised. Our polity is then supported by an equally ignorant and unprofessional bureaucracy. The result is a highly dilapidated state of the country and sorry condition of its masses. It surely is the logical outcome of the illogical system that we created for ourselves. Our leaders and bureaucrats have often praised our democracy that has stood by ßthemû for 60 years. But it has been good only for them as they are able to ramshackle the nation to their whims and drive the people to stark poverty and deprivation. Poverty, illiteracy and backwardness is not the success of our democracy, rather its failure. The legacy of our system bestowed on us by the constitution continues unscathed even today. The only way to come out of it is to change the system to a totally professional one through a prudent leadership as concluded at the end of the book.

1.3 Our message

In view of our enormous resource-availability and inherent unbound potential as researched by the author and discussed in Section 4, our lone motto is to make optimum use of them and build our nation to be amongst the mightiest and most prosperous in the world and that is possible as deciphered in part III of the book.

When we see the fabulous buildings, shopping malls, roads and recreation avenues of the affluent world or their well-dressed and satisfied people, school-going children, fun and frolic, we also feel that our common people should also enjoy like them. We assure you that one day we will also enjoy. To achieve this we will have to work hard. In the following pages we have tried to unfold how this can be done. The finer tuning will be done with the experts in the various fields. This will then become our model plan. It is rare that such exhaustive research work has ever been conducted or blueprints drawn to reconstruct a whole nation. Executing the blueprints will eradicate the existing ills of our country, transform the villages, the rural poor, underprivileged, backward classes and also disabled and destitutes for all times and place our nation amongst the mightiest and the most prosperous nations in the world. To accomplish this we propose to proceed as below :

•Guarantee jobs to 100% workable hands within one year, not by way of charity or gratis but by doing actual developmental works (Section 12.4),

•Make optimum utilisation of our talent and expertise and the mammoth human resource available with us,

•Make judicious use and conduct extensive R&D on our natural and non-renewable resources, keeping future generations in mind so that we consume only as much as is our legitimate share,

•Improve the Primary sector (agriculture) by about 7-10 times (Section 11.2),

•Improve Secondary sector (industries) by 3 to 4 times (Section 21.5),

•Improve Tertiary sector (specially tourism) by about 100 times (ultimate target is 1000 times) (Section 19), and

•Plough bulk of the black money back into the economy (Section 9.6).

All this will raise our present GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by at least 6-8 times (Table 12.2) and so also the individual income. All of us shall become prosperous and start leading a dignified life in just 5-7 years.

•Improve the ecosystem and cleanse the environment (Section 18.7).

•Put a stop to droughts and floods (Section 15).

•Make illiteracy, ignorance and backwardness, things of the past (Sections 12 and 14).

•Rehabilitate the old, the disabled and destitutes and gradually eradicate disabilities and destitution for all times.

•Exercise population control and bring down the same to the level of about 60 cr (Section 13).

•Make each of us breathe freedom and progress as we wish.

•Make everybody work for the nation and care for the fellow-beings, family and parents more than ever before.

•And then (after 5-7 years) we shall begin the construction of our nation through city centres (Section 12) that will, in another 7-10 years, transform the villages, the villagers, rehabilitate disabled and destitutes and thus transform the whole nation like a dream come true.

•Cities are already over-built and sprawled haphazardly and awkwardly. Nothing much can be done for cities at present, but their living conditions will improve gradually and substantially as the rural migrants, industries and business centres will shift to city centres. We will then modernise the cities also as much as possible.

•Our faulty system of governance has distorted our individuality and has made us meek and selfish. But we will discard our old habits and imbibe humility in our stride. We will build a nation that is humane in character where no one is despised and suffers no conflict of caste, creed, religion, language or race and is capable of taking care of every citizen until the last. We should not forget that together only we stand and can face all challenges. Divided we become weak and vulnerable. Greatness is in togetherness, not in separation. All religions teach us this. If we do not rise above our old deeds, liberation from deprivation and miseries of lives will always remain a distant dream.

•We will build a system which besides being highly progressive will also be committed to taking care of each individual and will be sensitive to every incident of terrorism, extortionism, extremism, hatred or ill-will, suicide or even an accident. Each such victim will be a matter of worry and concern for the new system. The government will own responsibility and take measures to tackle such menaces and overcome the same as much as feasible.

You may ask the time required to bring about this transformation! Well what has been plundered and destroyed for a thousand years no wand of magic can retrieve it overnight. We have to persevere and slog hard. To transform the whole nation and make it stand amongst the mightiest and the most prosperous nations in the world, may take 20-25 years, but we can begin a dignified and comfortable living within 5-7 years as noted above. This is not day dreaming! All this will be achieved according to the philosophies and thoughts presented through this book. All plans have been made and all these shall be executed in letter and spirit. These proclamations are not mere words; they have a meaning and are backed up with intense research and analysis. Each of us will become a part of nation building and contribute our might to achieve these goals.

With our joint efforts we shall turn the tide and check the degeneration of our country. Let’s gird up our loins rather than resign like caged lions to the false dictates imposed on us. Now is the opportunity when we can demolish this cage and liberate ourselves from these self-inflicted boundaries. We appeal to all our countrymen to give these ideas a serious thought. Let us not overlook the sad realities of our present lives. Unless we act now conditions will worsen more rapidly and become more harsh and unbearable in the times ahead.

Note

There are many NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) and individuals working relentlessly to bring about some reforms in the present system of governance, but cosmetic changes are not enough. Let us hit at the root causes responsible for what we have become. We are not for any reform or cosmetic treatment in the present system, for nothing shall work other than a total change of the system itself. Constitutional amendments and reforms on which many NGO’s are working is meaningless. It shall only push us from one rut to another. We earnestly request all NGOs and individuals engaged in the upliftment of the nation to join `Crusade India’ and strengthen our hands so that together we may bring about the desired change.

The present book is an attempt to analyse reasons and causes for such a dismal progress of our country and the miserable plight of its people, even when all, that was essential for making a nation prosperous was and is still available with us. We have tried to analyse the evils from different angles that have besieged us, and have arrived at the remedies to demolish the same. If we can hear this loud, there is no reason why we should not become what we have dreamt. We have done the analysis of our country and the people in four parts, viz.

- What we are,

- Why we are,

- What can be done, and

- How it can be done.

A discussion on the problems in J&K and the North- Eastern states and their possible solutions is also given. We have also touched upon nuclear explosions, their relevance, utility and repercussions in the changed world scenario besides giving an overview of CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty), WTO (World Trade Organisation), open market conditions and their influences on our industries, trade and economy.

This analysis shall ignite in us the fire that has long lost its fury, to determine our self-being and the purpose of our existence. Should we let our existence melt away with every moment we live and watch it happen helplessly before our eyes or should we rise to the challenges and thwart away the self-inflicted miseries and sorrows of our lives. It is unfortunate that the system we built for ourselves after independence had short-sighted and ill-conceived philosophies which with time have proved disastrous and have pushed the whole nation to such a disarray.

Past is dead but let’s pledge not to allow our present slip out of our hands to at least make our tomorrow better. Nothing is impossible if we have determination and a will to conquer all hurdles. Napoleon said, ßdifficulties disappear before an unswerving resolution.û This book is just a step for a leap tomorrow. Let us dedicate and resolve to realise our dreams. We have enormous latent strength. Let us awaken this strength from self-inflicted long hibernation, to turn the tide towards that glorious tomorrow where beyond the horizon we can see the new dawn of a bright day and rays of hope and prosperity for all. Remember, we are amongst the largest human resource on earth and must prove its worth, not by its quantum but by its mettle and perseverance. Arise dear lions of this mother soil, arise to this occasion which may not come again and let us construct a tomorrow of our dreams.

Read through the book unto the last and surely you will also be convinced as we are that we can do it. It will infuse in you a zeal, fresh vigour and a rejuvenated energy to dedicate yourself to this cause. This work is more an analysis to argue why most things are in shambles or happening so awkwardly. Once we are able to diagnose the causes, it will be easy to address their effects. We have tried to maintain brevity yet derived the conclusions clear and distinct enough to decide the next course of action. We are sure you will know your country more closely and much more than ever before.

The people of this country struggled for freedom for 350 long years (East India Co. came here around 1601 AD). We won the struggle but our ignorance and illiteracy dragged us from one rut to the other. We were timid and miserable then, we are timid and miserable now. In terms of living conditions it makes little difference to most of our populace as to the slavery of then or to the freedom of now. We must therefore liberate ourselves from this debilitating bondage and loyalty to the present system that is fattening and swaggering on the sweat and sufferings of its poor masses. The true battle for liberation from poverty, illiteracy, ignorance and backwardness shall begin now. Today most of us toil for our bare survival. For that matter even a stray dog or a cattle is able to survive. Let us not live like animals. God has made us human beings, let us not yield to unmanliness (referring to our living conditions and watching destitute children and grown-ups feeding on the same garbage or leftover food with the dogs, pigs and stray cattle of the locality). Think of those who are forced to commit suicides under great compulsions of deprivation and destitution. Those who have seen our villages, towns and cities closely where poor people live and also those 23% disabled and 10% destitutes, can realise this description with regret and remorse. Let us put up a brave fight, this time to uproot those who were supposed to be our guardians and care for our well being but have turned fratricidal and marginalised our populace leaving them to live on their own sweat and miseries. Let us prove worthy of the freedom realised for us by our fathers and forefathers so dearly. Dear countrymen, we are hardworking and sincere but opportunities have eluded us and we have failed to build a nation of our dreams. Here is a chance to do this. Let this not slip out of our hands. There is nothing great in living for ourselves. Live it for others and yea, we will have lived our lives. Let us dedicate ourselves to this cause wholeheartedly. Remember every one lives his life only once. Derive pleasure by working for the fellow countrymen than living for our ownselves.

Let us unite and stand together. You will soon see the effects of our joint efforts. We are committed to bring back that smile and happiness on our faces and the lost dignity of life that has long vanished. Today most of us go to bed worried with uncertainties of tomorrow and wake up worried with problems of today. `A poor life this if, full of cares, we have no time to stand and stare’ (W.H. Davies). And so we languish our precious lives and watch it melt down helplessly before our own eyes and relinquish it one day in distress. Let us work together to make these worthless lives little more worthy and fill the encircling gloom with some fragrance of hope and happiness. Let us rejuvenate our depleted morales and lowly spirits to attain the goals we are setting for ourselves.

1.4 Nothing is impossible

Behold! Ahead the light of tomorrow Ý a reincarnation of our souls long dead and an era of rejuvenated beginning to reconstruct our shattered dreams. History will be rewritten in golden letters that the people of this land fought yet another brave battle this time for their true liberation and emancipation from long drawn poverty, illiteracy, backwardness, wants and never ending miseries of lives and they emerged victorious. The approach is not theoretical. I am not producing a textbook for the students to study and prepare for exams. The purpose is true emancipation from long drawn sufferings, miseries and woes of life.

To some it may look impossible, lofty, imaginary and unachievable. May be your first reaction is `it can’t be done’! All new ideas that are revolutionary in nature meet such reactions. But what I have said is logical and together we can make it happen. Therefore consider this as a mandate to build a nation of our dreams. I have no doubt that we can solve our problems in entirety and emerge as one of the mightiest and most prosperous nations in the world.

Amen!

2

About Myself

A few residential quarters of a princely estate named Balarampur in Lucknow were rented out to a few baboos (mostly) of UP Government. Every morning I would sit down on a small rug in the veranda of our one-room tenement to do the home work allotted to me by my mother and watch school children pass through our lane. DAV college was close by and ours was the connecting lane passing through the colony constructed on both sides of the road. Much of it has now changed but a few houses still stand out reminding me of the reminiscence of a melting past.

My father was a small employee in UP Government. Behind our one-room tenement where we lived with a family of seven, was a huge open garbage compound. Around this compound dwelt hundreds of families comprising scavengers, sweepers, shoe shiners, rickshaw pullers, milkmen, daily wagers, domestics and their kind. I watched them and often played with their children. My childhood has therefore witnessed poverty closely. I had a question in my young mind even then Ý –Is our country not very poor?’ I had an inkling even then that something was wrong, and whatever was happening was not good. We could surely be better. And now when I look back it indeed was the truth.

I am one of those who didn’t go to school in their early childhood. I started my schooling from class six. Thanks to my school drop-out mother who taught me at home. She also imbibed in me a rich culture, a sense of understanding and respect and consideration for others. It was her teaching at home that got me admission in a primary school in class six. I was an ordinary student all through my schooling. But an unfortunate incident proved a blessing in disguise and changed my life’s course. I was debarred for two years in class XII by the UP Education Board, for helping another child in copying, which I confessed before the enquiry commission. Two years later this incident proved to be a blessing and since I was still too young it didn’t matter. I continued going to school and studied the same subjects for three consecutive years. This helped me memorise most of my books by heart. After three years I knew my subjects so well that I stood meritorious in the Board exams. This got me a direct admission to the engineering college at BHU, Varanasi in the second year.

My analysis of what we are and why we are in such a condition has its roots in my childhood. And then I have first hand experience of working with various government and semi-government organisations, academies, multinationals and PSUs. I have observed closely others working and then I ran my own industries for 24 years, employing more than 400 persons. All this has given me tremendous exposure and an analytical bent of mind to search out for solutions to varied problems.

I started my career as an Assistant Engineer with UP State Electricity Board (UPSEB), Lucknow and watched the deterioration and degeneration of our power sector (also see Section 8.6). Now most of the power stations in the country under government control are sick, under high debts, operate at low to very low PLFs (Plant Load Factors) and are a picture of despondency and despair and we wish our villages electrified and a strong industrial base flourish, while at homes in cities we look desperately when the power comes and stays for a while.

I left the Board after a year and joined Government Polytechnic, Lucknow (UP Government Technical Institute) as a lecturer, where I had a first-hand experience of the erosion and dishonour of our educational system. This too I left after two years. When I left the Polytechnic, I was so frustrated with the education system that I sent a 35 page typed note to the Director of Technical Education, Minister of Education and Chief Minister of UP. What happened to my note I have never known, for I left Lucknow and came to Delhi and never followed up with them. It was in the year 1968/69. Then I worked for NGEF, a Government of Mysore undertaking in collaboration with AEG (West Germany) that manufactured excellent products (motors, transformers, generators and switchgears). I shall always remember having marketed their products. At that time the Technical Directors and the Production Incharges were all Germans but the Chairman was a bureaucrat who would change every one or two years. Even today, as was then, it is the same strange practice of our government to run its establishments in this manner. This is how they make sure that none of the bureaucrats is ever responsible for the well-being and successful functioning of such establishments. It is not surprising that with time all such public sector undertakings (PSUs) gradually became sick and gave rise to perennial inflation, unabated corruption, lethargy, unaccountability and arrogance. Even engineers and managers relented and this style of government’s working became order of the day. This culture permeated to the entire workforce. The Government units that were supposed to support the industrial and economic base of the country soon required financial support to meet their expenses. Like others NGEF too has become sick and is now up for sale.

After leaving NGEF, I set up my own industry and I ran it for 24 years against many odds and uncertainties. Today it seems to be a nightmare. I had to slog for long hours just to keep the factory going. Due to meagre finances I had to fight with my bankers who would always despise me. Visiting them every day was a routine, as if I was a culprit on parole required to report at the police station every day. Besides this, I had to encounter with dozens of inspectors and their regular policing and fleecing like hungry wolves and also regular unrest and abuse by labour besides the market adversities. It was a great frustration, not possible to narrate in words (see also Section 10). Thus I have direct experience of degeneration of power sector, deterioration of education system, destruction of PSUs and an overall destruction of our industrial base and the economy of the country as such.

I am therefore not simply an author but also a victim of the system just as everyone else is. What I have analysed and expressed is not only my experience but the experience and suffering of most of us over the years, at the hands of a system that is barbaric, insensitive, callous and incompetent and has assumed enormous powers and authority in its stride. It has trampled the people of this land like insects and ants. My studies and research on the problems afflicting our country and its people have shown me ways as to how we can come out of our sombre past and build a nation of our dreams. Dear Countrymen, please give me your wholehearted support and let us together construct our tomorrow with fragrance of prosperity and happiness for all.

PART I

WHAT WE ARE

3

Our Cowardice

3.1 Our history

Our country has always been known as a golden peacock as we had enormous riches in gold and precious stones, diamond, pearl, ruby and other gems. But they were all plundered¹ by the time we got independence. This and our rich art and culture should have induced in us the courage, the strength and the ability to protect our riches from the onslaughts of invaders and plunderers. But this was not to be and what remains is a weak and a tragic past of our country. The earlier invaders (other than British) came, killed and looted only a particular area. While their loots were enormous, their operations were localised. The British did the same but they were spread all over the country and therefore slowly and gradually they looted the most Ý and for nearly 200 years. Their plundering must be the worst. But the country still possessed enough to become prosperous once again. It had wealth of rich art and culture, natural and primary resources, massive manpower and strategic geographical location as discussed later. Unfortunately, during post-independence era too, the country has been ransacked and plundered. This time by our own guardians and custodians. They have been ransacking us now for the past 60 years.

It must be interesting to investigate, why were we so averse to only British who were educated, more organised, resourceful, constructive and were ruling most parts of the world at that time and would have proved better rulers than the previous ones in view of their progressive outlook (see Section 8.3), while we had accepted all alien rulers in the earlier 800 years. One conspicuous reason why Indians didn’t like British and struggled for freedom appears to be their fair skin and language. Until then all aliens who ruled us could easily mix up with us, because of their skin and language that was not much different from ours. It was natural adaptability for those who came from Afghanistan, Mongolia, Turkey or Iran. But to understand English language was a hard nut to crack. Its dialect was totally different from Hindi, Urdu or Persian spoken by other rulers. For us to learn English has never been easy not even in the 21st century when due to globalisation it is imperative for all to know this language. Moreover their overwhelming personality and aristocratic style of living was absolutely averse to Indians who were accustomed to simple living and traditional attires.

The Englishmen thus looked more foreigners than others. For a ruler whose personality was so towering that belittled us before them, a language so foreign and a lifestyle so rich and aristocratic, that a feeling of dislike and contempt for them was natural. They were not wanted, because they were not like us. Another aspect of our aversion to British may be that they never settled in India unlike other rulers and ruled us only from afar. Had they also been from Iran, Mongolia, Turkey or Afghanistan or had they also settled in India, it was quite likely that we had accepted them too and continued under their rule, like we did in the earlier 800 years.

3.2 Reasons of our cowardice

For long we have been searching for a logical answer to the deep-rooted cowardice of our masses who perpetually bear all brunts of life as wish of God but never revolt. From the behaviour and attitude of our populace, most of them illiterate and timid, we have inferred the following,

•There have been infightings amongst the rulers in the ancient and the medieval periods. It was like their pastime, resulting possibly from a feeling of insecurity and lack of communication with the neighbouring rulers. It led to suspicion and this kind of attitude. These infights proved fatal and rendered our country vulnerable and weak, besides exposing it to the external world.

•We have been suppressed for many centuries. From the tenth century particularly, our country was a centre of continuous invasions, lootings and killings and rules by the aliens.

•Everybody in the world realised that we were an enormously wealthy country but highly vulnerable, weak and meek and therefore an easy prey. That is how came the Portuguese, the East India Co. and then the British who plundered and ruled us. The populace of this country remained timid and never retaliated. All these events induced in our people a mindset of fragility and timidity. We thus internalised our subservience and developed a slavish mentality.

•There was a profound separation between communities due to casteism. The scheduled castes and backward classes particularly (constituting the bulk of population), were never a part of the mainstream. They were not supposed to study or participate in wars, but stay ghettoised and stick to activities assigned to them by convention. Victory of one king over the other did not matter them. They remained slaves no matter who was the king. It led them to submissiveness, and cowardice. They were unable to see far and had lost all initiatives and self-being.

•Those in the mainstream also suffered, for they were the warriors and made up the fighting force or did other respectable jobs. Barring a few they too remained subjugated. Most of their children grew up as orphans as their fathers would die in wars leaving behind their families. These families too grew weak, fragile and destitutes.

Old habits die hard, and we are a weak and meek race even today and suffer silently the sorrows of life and excesses by others as the wish of God. We are incapable of raising our voice or revolt. We are habitual of getting kicked and be ruled by others. Deprived and subjugated for centuries we are left with no courage to fight against the excesses. Today also we suffer indignities day in and day out, but do not raise our voice or revolt. The political system has taken full advantage of this situation and has made us grossly over-dependent on them by alluring us with false promises or by doling out incongruous concessions. Despite these crumbs their (community) illiteracy and ignorance remains as before. The political class has surely succeeded in its sinister intrigues and cunning designs. Different communities would support different leaders and/or parties who they consider would care for them. Hence, began the competition between communities of the same society and resulted into a feeling of hatred and contempt for each other. Every community became a follower of some leader or party. Our guardians have played with us the same shameful and sinister game as did the British when they ruled us `by divide and rule’ for 200 years. The utterly non-performing and highly destructive system of our governance thus reigned over us without any deterrence or fear. With time it became callous and insensitive to the sufferings of the same people who voted them to power and for whom our freedom fighters had shed their blood.

Our society has now fragmented into umpteen sections. To earn a livelihood somehow has become the basic task of most people. The common man does not try to learn the significance of society, neighbourhood or the nation. His basic aim is to arrange for his livelihood. The day-to-day problems are so insurmountable that these leave little strength in our people to think of anything else. It has led them to timidity and rendered them fragile. They accept sufferings as the wish of God. Reliefs, subsidies, gratis and reservations please them more than anything else. It is enough for them if they are getting reliefs. Most people do not bother to know who caused them these sufferings. They have grown accustomed to these for centuries. In many ways they still live a life they lived in the medieval past.

It is sad that people of our country are incapable to raise their voice. We hear some noises in the cities for some demands by the employees and labour of government or private business houses and industries or by the people of some locality shouting for water, electricity or other civic services, and that is the end of our courage. We have hardly heard the voice of our rural populace. They live almost in hibernation and suffer the miseries of life silently, except for attending ridiculous rallies organised by political parties such as Dhikkar rally, Thu thu rally, Black day rally, Pada Yatras and Rath yatras etc. to name a few. We are accustomed to be misruled and can bear all brunts of life because we lack the courage to revolt against our own system. It is indeed easy to rule us without caring for us. The sole cause of this timidness is our illiteracy, ignorance and lack of self-respect and pride. It is a pity that we are unable to realise the fact that it is our own guardians who keep us illiterate and weak for their own interest and partly because of their incapability to educate us!

3.3 Our illiteracy and backwardness

There were hardly any rulers during the medieval period (from about CE 1000 till about CE 1800) who voiced for education or put up any effort in this direction. We do have a mention of great universities of Nalanda (ruins in Patliputra now Patna) and Takshshila in Sind (now in Paskistan) but that was in about seventh century that basically preached Buddhism. Except for this not much seems to have been done to educate the populace, until at least the British rule. British dwelt on education and opened colleges and universities in the 19th century. (This good act of theirs, however, later proved fatal for their own survival as our educated class began the struggle for freedom and compelled the British to leave us free by 1947.) Even this was too little and only the affluent could reap the benefits of their education system. Nevertheless, it was during this period that education spread and the educated class grew in numbers.

Note

The British system of education produced a class that was Indian by blood but English by culture and lifestyle. Surely they imparted education for their own good. Nevertheless they founded the education system that our country lacked.

Ironically, our post-independence rulers have not been assertive in providing education to the masses in real sense because of their selfish motives, although there has been enough noise by them in this regard. Education, grooming and inculcating habits of good citizenship in the people should have been the first and foremost task of our guardians. But they have failed grossly to perform this basic duty. No concerted effort was ever made to provide quality education to the masses, and make them worthy citizens of the nation except for lip service and false propaganda. Instead they were provided alms, gratis, reservations and some kinds of subsidies. Rather than making them capable citizens to earn their livelihood themselves in a dignified manner they are made to remain illiterate, backward, poor and timid and dependent on handouts. This is the story of our country after independence and reasons of our cowardice and backwardness.

1.Some major plunderers of our riches in the last one thousand years,

a.Mahmood Ghazni - from Afghanistan - (CE 1000)

b.Mohammad Ghori - from Afganistan (he ruled us through his slave Qutabud-din Aibek) - (CE 1192)

c.Changez Khan (non-muslim) - from Mongolia (CE 1220) Halaqu (his son) embraced Islam.

d.Timur Lane - from Turkey (1398)

e.Nadir Shah - from Persia (Iran) (1739)

f.Ahmed Shah Abdali - from Afghanistan (1748-1767)

i.Guardians of Independent India - (1947-till date)

4

Our Basic Resources

Our strength Our youth

- Our countrymen

- Their love for the nation

- The resourcesour mother earth has

provided us

Future of a nation can be seen in

the eyes of its youth.

Sparkling with hope or blank with

despair?

We have compiled some data on our demography and resources which are self revealing. This will give us a glimpse of what we have and what we can achieve with this.

4.1 Our topography

•Statistical data

∴ Usable land area = 31.66 lac km² (details available for 30.49 lac km² (up to 1998)).

a.It lies largely neglected and shall be developed for tourism, flora and fauna, marine businesses and exploration of hidden wealth.

b.Source : Statistical Abstract of India, 2003, showing denuding of forests at a fast pace, 13,500 km² (1.96% of forest area) in just two years.

c.Indicating that forests are getting denuded at an alarming rate because of indiscriminate felling of trees and over-urbanisation.

d.The revenue shown is too meagre and more than that is required for its upkeep and maintenance. It speaks volumes of a grossly mismanaged and highly kleptocratic and dilapidating scenario of our forests. Forestry is a large revenue source besides employment to many — calls for enormous development and care.

•We have large areas of green and arable land which are shrinking rapidly because of over urbanisation (Table 11.3).

•There are also large areas of fallow, unculturable and marshy lands (Table 11.3).

•We have a number of free flowing rivers through the length and breadth of the country. Many of the major rivers originating from Himalayas and other mountain ranges, are snow-fed and rain-fed and flow continuously throughout the year. We have enough water resources, but as 70% of their discharge goes into sea, we starve for water. If we manage them well, we can control the menace of floods and droughts for all times and conserve enough water for human consumption and other needs round the year (Section 15).

•Irrigation facilities are poor and reach out to hardly 40% of the total crop area. Our dependence is still on rains.

•We have a number of hill areas with good climatic and scenic beauty in many parts of the country, but most of them are in shambles. They shall also be turned into lush and lively tourists’ paradises.

4.2 Our demography

Population in (2000) ≅ 100 cr officially. In 2006 we have considered it at 115 cr). This we have arrived at assuming the birth rate until now as 3% and death rate as 0.75% and using geometric progression on the rate of rise of population. Therefore population by 2006 = 100 ≅ 1.0225⁶ ≅ 115 cr.

* Minimum 40% of it (i.e. 11% of total population) are jhuggi or footpath dwellers [as per India 2002 (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India) and Statistical Outline of India]. As per our inferences drawn from Table 5.5 it may be of the order of 45-50%, to be on the conservative side.

Our manpower : We have massive manpower that we have turned into liability rather than strength. Majority of them are illiterate, jobless and lack means of living. Ours is a very intelligent race irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or language. Even the rural youth are capable. Manpower is our most valuable primary resource and we shall make full use of it.

Disability and destitution : A large percentage of our masses are disabled and destitutes. It is not easy to determine accurately the level of disability in our country. Based on different literature available and data collected from different sources, a rough estimate of disability is computed in Table 4.1. According to this data at least one third of our population is disabled or destitute. This is an enormous size and must be a major concern for any country. A country shall remain backward irrespective of its other achievements unless it is able to address this menace on a permanent basis and provide them a respectable place in the society. It will call for

•Better economic conditions

•Education, health care, proper diet, nutrition and medical facilities.

•Curing those who are curable.

•And most importantly eliminate disability right at birth and during rearing of a child.

•Educating and training those who are physically capable of discharging some duties and absorb them in the mainstream for nation building.

Majority of disabled are extremely poor and lack means of living (most of them would be a part of 68% computed at items 1 and 2 in Table 5.5). They are taken care of by NGOs and government rehabilitation centres. NGOs are doing a commendable job but it is not enough until we eradicate this evil from its root which the state alone can do. The rehabilitation of this section will be a major task and one of our priorities. See Section 12.2.

Table 4.1

Level of disability in our country

* It is possible that many destitutes are disabled and accounted for above. Nevertheless the enormity of the situation is so frightening that a percent less or more will hardly matter. Moreover we have addressed the disability and destitution combined at only 30% wherever it is referred to in the book.

4.3 Our resources

The strategic location of our country with coastline on three sides and towering Himalayas on the fourth, rich art and cultural heritage, unexplored hidden natural resources and enormous manpower can make us an extremely strong, healthy and prosperous nation in the world. A thorough study of our resources indicates that we have :

(I) NON-RENEWABLE NATURAL RESOURCES

We have enormous riches of a variety of minerals, metals and petroleum but only a trickle of these reach us because of lack of technology and their unscrupulous handling.