State of nation offers reasons to rejoice, worry
Lessening of inequalities in Indian society is the big takeaway from journey so far though the marginalisation of minorities in public affairs is disconcerting
What, I ask myself, gives me the greatest satisfaction as our Republic turns 75? My answer, after some reflection, is the following: The ability today of tens of millions of Indians who work at the bottom of the heap to interact daily, via their phones, with loved ones living far from them, children, parents, spouses, whatever. In January 1950, when I was 14, even privileged or rich Indians couldn’t do this. Today, thanks to a leap in connectivity, everyone, including people we speak of as Dalits, Adivasis, and Other Backward Castes (OBC) can look at physically distant family members every day and exchange notes about how they are, how their day has gone, and what lies ahead. Add this to the value in our democratic Republic of everyone’s vote, and the sum you get reflects a new dignity for Indians at the bottom of the heap. It is an indication, one may assert, of a lessening of Indian society’s legendary inequalities.
Financial inequality may grow year by year, and in innumerable strongholds where the media’s light and the nation’s laws are not allowed to enter, the powerful may continue to oppress the weak, without inviting punishment. Even so, if we take out one major exception, India’s society in 2025 will not witness the brazen assertions of superiority that were the norm on our streets in 1950. In short, our Dalits, Adivasis and “low” castes are more confident now than they were then. We are entitled to celebrate this advance. We can also celebrate the influence — in some instances the dominance — of Indian talent in countries around the world. People migrating from India, or born to first-generation immigrants from India, today enjoy power or prestige or both in many of the world’s most important places. A man of Indian origin earned the keys to Number 10 Downing Street; counterparts headed governments in Portugal and Ireland; a woman born to an Indian mother came close to occupying the White House; and the roots of some of President Donald Trump’s core team, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) chief, are undeniably Indian. Almost as often as “mother” or “father”, the word “Google” is now uttered by our world’s millions — and it is people of Indian origin who seem to run the Google company.
The around-the-world presence today of these People of Indian Origin (PIO) should be set against the United States (US) Supreme Court’s decision of 1923 in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind that “Indians were ineligible for citizenship”. Now, 102 years later, Indians are in demand in the US and almost everywhere else, whether for medicine, space research, the study of genes, or almost anything else, not to mention yoga. We’ve made the world our home.
Planet Earth’s demographic pattern in the year 2025, radically different from what it was in 1950, gives prominence to Indians. Who should get the credit for this prominence is a silly inquiry. Our world’s evolution is a subject for minds, not for egos.
One feature of Indians’ current bulge on the world scene, and especially in the field of IT, is that it is largely formed by our “upper castes”. This will probably change with time. Despite the impressive enrichment in recent decades of India’s middle class, a large percentage of India’s youth remain unemployed. As all of us know, competition for the limited number of available jobs is frantic, feverish, and suicide-provoking. Joblessness may be the most troubling feature of India 2025. We haven’t been innovative enough in this all-important field. Government jobs, the Army and openings abroad cannot possibly absorb the millions in the queue. Fresh and courageous thinking is called for. Since our people (and people elsewhere in the world) are hungry for an education fit for our changing world, don’t we need an immense number of capable teachers? And since our people (and people elsewhere) need an immense number of nurses, doctors, and other health carers, should we not plan, in 2025, to prepare our young women and men for these necessary tasks? Our people and the world would likely finance such undertakings.
Bids to regain the confidence of neighbouring countries could be another agenda item for 2025. Here a comparison with 1950 can only sadden. India’s relations with Pakistan, Burma, China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan (there was no Bangladesh at the time) were a good deal better then than they are today. Unhappily, these countries and their inhabitants don’t even enter our minds or media, except when there’s a conflict.
My final point is about “the major exception” to which I referred at the start. Unbiased observers know (or will find on studying the question) that India’s Muslims, today numbering around 225 million, do not figure among the great many who feel more cheerful or confident today than they or their parents felt in 1950. Indifference towards a particular minority, or even disdain for it, has become a feature of the 21st century in country after country, and India is no exception.
Wonderful in so many ways, our contemporary world also offers a set of bewildering challenges. When we face these, it is tempting to conclude that not all of us but “they” are responsible for the difficulties. Because of their demotion in India’s national life, because of the failure of India’s legal, judicial and political institutions to give them due justice, and because of the refusal of India’s mainline media to note their hardships, our Muslims will not find it so easy to rejoice on the 75th anniversary of Republic Day.
Rajmohan Gandhi is editor,www.weareonehumanity.org.The views expressed are personal
