{"id":647,"date":"2016-06-09T12:12:38","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T12:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=647"},"modified":"2016-06-09T12:12:38","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T12:12:38","slug":"2016-bob-dylan-amartya-sen-india-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=647","title":{"rendered":"India, Notes From the Bright Side"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span>t\u2019s that time of the year again. As 2016 slips into twilight, several of us are glad to see the back of this year. It has been a year of historic upsets and disruptions, some global, some local. We\u2019re likely going to see the aftershocks in the years to come \u2013 and I haven\u2019t even started thinking about <\/p>Bob Dylan<\/a> yet.\n\nI gather this sense of apocalypse-now pessimism will endure into the first few months of 2017. In India, this doom and gloom is countered by the shrill, extra-cheerful noise of nation-building initiatives like demonetisation. It\u2019s difficult to maintain a sanguine outlook, especially when even\u00a0 Amartya Sen, declares that he is \u201cmore pessimistic\u201d<\/a> than he has ever been. Couple that with disruptions in parliament and the utter lack of clarity in the media around government decisions or the economy, and you\u2019re completely blinded to the long view.\n\nBut maybe, a long view is just what we need \u2013 of a future that is guided by the past. Maybe what we all need is a shot of enthusiasm, powered by a cautious sort of optimism.\n\nIndia will always have some laurels it can rest on. These are our reasons to celebrate rather than keep berating ourselves. Very few countries, especially with the size and complexity of our social and economic fabric, have been able to handle large socio-economic transformations in a relatively peaceful fashion. (And I say this with full awareness of the various violent incidents that have happened since Independence.)\n\nThink about some of biggest transformative shifts that we have witnessed after the Partition. We accomplished the integration of the states in the \u201950s, inaugurated the green revolution in the \u201960s, or the nationalisation of banks in 1969, without erupting in all-out civil war. Even the wars<\/a> with our neighbours or dark phases like the Emergency came and went without the country falling into total chaos. If at all, the democratic frameworks and institutions of this country started getting stronger, save a few dark years in the \u201970s. I think we can safely congratulate the people of India for that.\n

Imagine implementing the world\u2019s largest rural employment guarantee scheme or biometric identification \u2013 a ready setup for failure \u2013 and still accomplishing it.<\/blockquote>\nSimilarly, economic liberalisation, the telecom revolution and IT boom, all pretty much job-creating as well as job-destroying moves, have come to be accepted as a gradual and phased shift to capitalism. All this without the notorious opposition that afflicted several erstwhile socialist countries from making this transition. I know you\u2019ll think of China as a beacon of transformation, but remember that it is, well, China. A country with a terrible human rights track record.\n\nIn comparison, India\u2019s power centres are a little more well-respected. We have a relatively independent judiciary, a thriving private enterprise, and a relatively functional bureaucracy. We have also attempted to keep our media free-ish. We can question the quality of all these transformations, but the fact that we have not faltered as a nation is something worth commending \u2013 even though it all looks chaotic on the surface.\n\nImagine implementing the world\u2019s largest rural employment guarantee scheme or biometric identification \u2013 a ready setup for failure \u2013 and still accomplishing it. Imagine attempting to change education and healthcare (though much remains unfulfilled here), and the right to information without getting into trouble with the economy or politics. Imaging trying to unify the states with all their religious and linguistic divisions without segueing into riots. Imagine even the attempt to raise 500 million people out of abject poverty in a generation. Imagine creating a road, rail, and air-connectivity network that is accessible to a significant part of India\u2019s billion-plus people.\n\nThese are not small achievements by any standard. Even as we pursue these tough national goals, a lot of the softer aspects of our society, like the focus on family, have not been totally relegated to the dustbin despite the emergence of nuclear set-ups.\n\nMy belief is that we are already well on our way to becoming a middle-income nation. Instead of chasing after the elusive dream of turning into an overnight superpower, instead of turning our cities into Shanghai or Singapore, that\u2019s something to aspire to.\n\nIn the next decade or earlier, I estimate that our per capita income will cross USD 5-7,000 per annum. This will be the spark plug that accelerates the completion of many unfinished civil society projects. Be it less corruption, better implementation of infrastructure projects, a fairer law and order machinery, or better civic sense \u2013 the things that make us look like a mess on the surface. We have a history of handling real backbone-level changes and transformations with alacrity and a sense of acceptance. The next phase of changes, with the groundwork already in place, is hopefully going to be easier.\n\nSo as we head to the close of another year, as we enter our 70th post-Independence, it\u2019s alright to be a little generous to ourselves. We\u2019ve come a long way without falling apart. That is deserving of at least a pat on the back.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pessimism pervades the end of 2016. But as our resilience during large-scale transformation in the past indicates, the future won’t be awful. All we need is some cautious optimism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[1198,1199,1200,19,1201,1202],"class_list":["post-647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-1198","tag-amartya-sen","tag-bob-dylan","tag-india","tag-shanghai","tag-singapore"],"yoast_head":"\nIndia, Notes From the Bright Side<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pessimism pervades the end of 2016. But as our resilience during large-scale transformation in the past indicates, the future won't be awful. 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