Indian Society

         This article in not a critical analysis of the entire Indian society. Rather, I have a limited aim of portraying one of its features. My view may not be entirely correct given the huge diversity of our society. But, this is what I have experienced particularly in my own village and within my community.
         In our society, what is the purpose of education? Is it to lead a good social life by adopting good values? Or to lead a good life in materialistic sense? Of-course, both these form a part of our education.
         However, there is one more perspective found in low income groups. We educate our children to lead a "safe life" by getting a job with the available skill.
         Someone, the other day told me that in foreign society (I have no proof of this however), a child is given free hand to decide what he wants to do with his life. However, there are ample number of cases in my knowledge where our society has made one's life difficult if he/she chooses to do something which is not easily achievable.
        One of the examples that comes to my mind like a flash is of a Uttar Pradesh student Govind Jaiswal. His father was a rickshaw puller. With limited education, it was expected out of him that he takes up something in his life which pulls his father out of the clutches of poverty. But, against the tide and due to some kind of social discrimination, he decided to go for an unpredictable career option- IAS.
       It so happened that once his father fell ill. Govind could not visit him on time due to the load of preparation. As expected, the neighbourhood people got opportunity to speak up their mind-  "Baap yahan mar raha hai, beta Delhi mein aish kar raha hai" (the father is suffering here and the son is enjoying there in Delhi).
       The only way out of this situation for Govind Jaiswal in this situation could have been to take up any job that came in his way. However, Govind survived the scare. But, everyone is not Govind.
      What is the consequence?  Many deserving students who are born to do excellent in his/her life become the victim of this society and finds a safe way in life (excellent here does not mean only by being an IAS, but in any other field of his/her interest).
     When I look at the "Breaking News" to see that an Indian has become the CEO of Google, I do not know whether to be happy or not. This is because I am not sure if they could have recognised their abilities had they been here. Not only this, recently, I came to know that Silicon Valley has so many Indian entrepreneurs who are doing exceedingly well. Sometimes, I wonder if they could have made big in their life had they been cruising with their innovative ideas in India. I would not be entirely wrong if I say that it is the societal attitudes and values which promote such talents and gives them the opportunity to rise. (Well, I know in this example of entrepreneurship, it is not only society but the market regulations, tax structure_ but this is not the aim of this article).
     Let me explain this with an example: Once me and one of my friends were discussing something with a professor regarding what to do in life. "What is your goal Mr. X" asked the professor to my friend. He replied "I want to find a job at this time to secure my career". My professor replied "I heard that students of this institute are job providers and you are so eager to get a job. It is surprising to me". Even though it was not at all surprising to me. And I know with full certainty that my friend was so brilliant that he could have done something extraordinary in life. But, he also chose the "safe side" of life. (I know opting for job is not a bad thing at all. But, there is a reason why I have taken this example. My friend in question was working on a novel idea. But, as he got the placement offer, he dropped his start-up idea and played safely. His reason was: my parents are expecting me to take up job).
    I think it is because of these reasons that Indian students prefer to go abroad to pursue their career. One of my friends in my institute once said to me "if given a chance, most students from our institute would like to go abroad". I do not know the amount of truth in this statement, But, I do sometimes think what made him say this.
   Looking at such cases, I think we as a society need to recognise the unique ability every student poses and must provide him/her full opportunity to grow (offcourse if other factors support). The modern society needs differentiation with respect to skills so that an individual is at the position best suited for him/her. This would make the society functional and efficient.

    P.S:  I have only shown one sided view. There is a positive side too in the same context if we look at the new generation.     

Why Government?

Always thought what is the purpose of having a government? Can't there be a society with no government? The answer to the second question was provided by Karl Marx in his theories. He predicted a future with no state and class in the society. Everyone will have equal access to resources to fulfill his/her needs. The world has, however, proved him wrong. No society emerged on the lines as predicted by Marx. Infact, the capitalist society has not witnessed great proletariat revolutions even with the persisting exploitation to some extent.

       In a sense, the world has emerged to a stage where the question of existence of governments have gone unquestioned. It has continued to exist. Only the role of governments may have shifted from being a regulator to a facilitator in some countries depending upon the stage of development.

          Well, the reason for such structure is not hard to determine. Governments are required to maintain and regulate the society so that it perform its functions within a definite set of rules and regulations. Otherwise, an anomic situation may thrive. As a society advance economically and intellectually, the regulatory role reduces. People in such society come to a stage where they internalise the DOs and DONTs of the society.

         Having deliberated upon the question of existence of government, the next question that comes to mind is: For whom the government works and for whom should it work?

            World over there are variations with regard to the basic functioning of a government, In Socialist countries like India, Venezuela, China (not Communist exactly) etc the State aspires to work for those who "need" its help. It aims to create an equitable society (well, that is what the Constitution of these countries say in letter) so that gaps can be filled with respect to access of resources to lead a dignified life. The Capitalist society, on the other hand, gives free hand to individuals to gain and utilise resources according to their capability. The Western Countries are predominantly capitalistic.

        India presents a good example for a researcher interested in economic nature of society. On paper, India wants to create a socialistic economy. However, as globalization is unfolding, it cannot be said with certainty that India is on its stated path. It is true that the State has been adopting principles which is expected to reduce the gap (measured by the Gini Coefficient).

         However, there is an interesting thing to be noted here. India, as a nation, claim that the middle class has increased to an unprecedented level. Unfortunately, without any proper definition for the so-called middle class, everyone in India calls himself/herself as belonging to middle class.

         Mr. Harsh Mander, in his recently launched book, has stated that this middle class is basically the top 10% of India. The majority of population (may be close to 50%) live below or close to the poverty bracket. The idea we are following is that instead of investing directly for the welfare of those at the bottom, economic growth will percolate to the lower levels of the strata. This has been the arguement since independence. It is debatable if the middle class has emerged out of the poor class, or has been the product of factors like increasing population (this leads to the increase in actual numbers). This is particularly important because we have probably not significantly reduced the poor class (both absolute number and percentage). This can be said because the official data has always been disputed. Other researches have provided with data that vary widely with the official data.

         Even if the official arguement is accepted that poverty has reduced since independence, it is not sufficient. The Preamble of our Constitution mentions that every citizen should lead a "dignified" life. It is disturbing to guess how can a person lead a life of dignity with resources sufficient just for survival.

           This situation demands that the government may change its strategy and the point of focus to fulfill its constitutional mandates.