Mumbai is one hell of a city. You will literally find all kinds of people here. It really is a city of innovators and opportunistic people. No wonder you have thousands of people coming here every day to realize their dreams and ambitions.
If you are looking for an eventful life, Mumbai will definitely not disappoint. There is always something happening that sets your mind thinking.
One day, as I was getting to the station after work, I decided to stop by at McDonalds for some ice cream. I went to the express counter outside the shop and asked for a softie – the one with a hot chocolate layer. As I paid the guy for the ice cream, there was this beggar (typical - torn clothes and partially maimed) who came and stood beside me. I was a bit surprised but not bothered. He told me to take my ice cream and I just stared at him giving him the why u telling me look. I ignored him and I took the ice cream and started walking when …
He grabbed my bag to hold me back and starting pointing to my ice cream. I tried resisting him but realized he wanted my ice cream and he wasn’t going to let go without a fight. Being the docile, peace loving guy that I am, I gave him the ice cream. I didn’t see any point in fighting with a partially maimed beggar, he was definitely very hungry. I left immediately hoping he had a good meal.
I was initially embarrassed but I shrugged it off as usual and boarded the train back home.
Leaving aside how I should have reacted in such a situation, if you look at the big picture there are a hell lot of questions that need to be answered. Are we really developing as a nation in the true sense? Is the growing divide between the rich and poor controllable? Are the left parties right in saying we don’t care for the poor? Are we obsessed on becoming the number 1 country in the world that we neglect the poor?
I am a firm believer in free market policies. The government cannot solve our problems and its only the people who can do it if they have the will to do so. We have seen record growth levels in the recent past. We have seen skyscrapers come up and mnc’s expand tremendously. We have seen a spurt in high pay jobs and suddenly brand India is fashionable and everyone wants a chunk of it. In every major forum world leaders mention India as future super power. If you closing analyze the Indian economy, you will see that our huge middle class fuels the economy. We have a huge market that’s waiting to be captured. Our industries have grown on their own capability and have not depended on the government for support.
But we cant expect the industries to keep growing at the same pace with the government trying to regulate nearly everything. Apart from that we haven’t seen much development in the primary sector. Our farmers are struggling to pay debts and governments have been elected on the plank of preventing farmer suicides but with no avail. In fact their farmer suicide packages have abetted suicides. The food grain production has not kept up with the rise in population and increase in demand for better nutrition. Stop Gap measures like cutting down on exports will not help the industry in the long run. The Big Indian farmers don’t pay taxes and make millions at the expense of the landless farmers and you have people trying to take advantage of this loop hole in the tax law. The primary occupation of top actors like Amitabh Bachanan and Aamir Khans is farming !!! , who can blame them ,everyone tries to evade paying taxes, some more popular than the others.
True development happens when all communities are taken along together on the road to development. Superficial development is easy but we need to be ready to work hard and sacrifice to attain balanced development. We need comprehensive reform in all fields.
Else the above mentioned incident will be commonplace and you will have people joining naxal movements and other violent movements that can only harm our cities like Mumbai where slums and skyscrapers peacefully coexist.
Till then keep your comments flowing.
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10 comments:
Nice post..better and more mature than the last one. Not many ppl who are at the receiving end of such incidents end up introspecting on the economic conditions that lead to it :P
But I dont think your analysis was anything new or extraodinary. Most us are aware of the uneven development in the economy since the late 90s and it is a major issue in present day India.
"True development happens when all communities are taken along together on the road to development. Superficial development is easy but we need to be ready to work hard and sacrifice to attain balanced development. We need comprehensive reform in all fields." Nice word but easier said than done. What would have been more useful is a more fundamental analysis of the problem to understand it better and work towards remedeing it. Dont ask me what that would be..I dont presume to be expert on economic development :P I mentioned it because you seem to ;)
And btw wat kind of internship are you doing tha allows you to post blogs everyday? :P jobless fk
(And before you ask, I am only commenting on ur posts..doesn't take that much time..I am not as jobless as you are)
Markets are down so I ve decided to blog a bit till the markets improve.
This post was intended to be a broad outline.I will post a more detailed plan later(not all that jobless dude).
The problem is the solution is painful and shows results slowly. So most people just passup on such reforms. Plus you need huge political will so its about time people come up with newer innovative methods that depend less on the government.
Its not enough to cribb abt the problem..you have to be a part of the solution as well.
"Plus you need huge political will so its about time people come up with newer innovative methods that depend less on the government."
Again, empty words. What are these newer innovative methods?
I'm eagerly awaiting your more detailed plan(if you actually have one):P
u are jobless. Seems like the tronix internship is getting to you. Wait for my next post.
The markets are moving up now so got to get back to work
I have a feeling I may have to keep waiting. And show some gratitude. I atleast bothered to read your (worthless) blog :P
Your talking about some major economics there. Basic thing is if people are not patriotic enough the country will not improve. Look at China, they don't even want to learn English and aren't they proud of their nationality wherever they go. We on the other hand are just waiting for the next opportunity to go to America, settle down and make money. If anything is to be done about the gap widening, Communist views have to prevail for a while at least.
Anyway on a lighter side, its funny all these nationalistic view is coming from someone who is obsessed about nothing but American Politics :P
All this coming from a guy who is planning to go abroad for his masters.lol.
Patriotism can be shown in different ways. A guy who pays his taxes regularly is far more patriotic than a guy who waves the india flag passionately and dosent pay his taxes. Just an example .
You do not have to wear it up your sleeve.
What an argument. I'm staying out of this one :)
Anyway, nice gesture and post. Good job!
Oi Ponky.Neat job da about giving the ice cram.I would have run away with it. :P
Anyway,about the differences in society,I think what we all would like is a 'socialistic' society,but we are trying and achieving it especially since the 1990s in a capitalistic way.
The war between capitalism and socialism has gone on for years and in fact centuries in their crude forms, and I dont see that changing soon too.The reason for this is that both seem amazingly logical,though dont quiz me deep on them.They have their own ideologies and stuff and work in their own different ways.
Coming to us, we are a billion plus strong.Thats a 6th of the friggin world.Ours is easily a special case and things have to be dealt with almost region-by-region,case-by-case and so on.Sounds impractical?
Well it is and probably why no one has addressed the problems that way.
A central-controlled decentralized organisations,no matter how ironic that sounds is a probable solution.
All I can say is we just cant apply a single principle throughout and thats been happening a lot in such a massive country.
Hey,just a naive solution or approach,but what the hell.What do u think?
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