I wrote the following piece of writeup exclaiming the non-inclusive growth of Bharat back in 2007 while traveling on a Volvo bus from Bangalore to Mysore. However after Modi sir took over and the links between the bank account and the Aadhar cards were established, the financial benefits were put directly in the bank accounts of the poor hapless people of Bharat, the housing scheme for the downtrodden, and many such poverty alleviation schemes that were taken over by the Modi sir government, Bharat has really changed in front of our eyes. Now Bharat is a major global economy eyeing the fourth position on the global economic ladder.
The lesson that I learned while watching my Mom starting the fire in a clay chulla was that the best practice is not flaming the fire on top of the chulla - but rather absolutely at the bottom of the chulla. Modi sir knew it. So, he started the fire in the belly of our Bharatmata to improve, to rise to the top in the global order - right at the lowest stratum of the society - at the bottom of the pyramid - unlike the previous many Congress govt who benefitted the wealthy people of Bharat and took percentage from their loot through schemes like NPA.
Enjoy the marchpast of Bharat - my latest experience while traveling by Purulia Express train from Purulia - one of the most backward districts of Bharat to Kolkata and feel the change
The Changing Face of Bharat...
The following write-up I wrote in 2007.
Bharat has changed a lot after that
A few days back while I was traveling on the newly built highway of Mysore-Bangalore route on a high-end Volvo bus at a speed of 95 Kmph I was amused by the smooth ride. I started thinking about the progress that we have made after liberalization. The discussion of the open economy which was one of the hottest topics during my student life seemed not to be outdated till today.
But then suddenly the true picture came in front of me when I saw some bullock carts, loaded with huge hey stack and pulled by some tired bulls blocking the free movement of our high-speed vehicle. I started thinking about what kind of growth path my country has taken. Instead of having an all-inclusive growth, what we have got is nothing but a growing difference between the upwardly moving middle class and the people living in abject poverty.
One bengali poem by Rabindranath Tagore came to my mind. It goes like this :
হে মোর দুর্ভাগা দেশ, যাদের করেছ অপমান,
অপমানে হতে হবে তাহাদের সবার সমান!
মানুষের অধিকারে
বঞ্চিত করেছ যারে,
সম্মুখে দাঁড়ায়ে রেখে তবু কোলে দাও নাই স্থান,
অপমানে হতে হবে তাহাদের সবার সমান।
মানুষের পরশেরে প্রতিদিন ঠেকাইয়া দূরে
ঘৃণা করিয়াছ তুমি মানুষের প্রাণের ঠাকুরে।
বিধাতার রুদ্ররোষে
দুর্ভিক্ষের দ্বারে বসে
ভাগ করে খেতে হবে সকলের সাথে অন্নপান।
অপমানে হতে হবে তাহাদের সবার সমান।
তোমার আসন হতে যেথায় তাদের দিলে ঠেলে
সেথায় শক্তিরে তব নির্বাসন দিলে অবহেলে।
চরণে দলিত হয়ে
ধুলায় সে যায় বয়ে
সে নিম্নে নেমে এসো, নহিলে নাহি রে পরিত্রাণ।
অপমানে হতে হবে আজি তোরে সবার সমান।
যারে তুমি নীচে ফেল সে তোমারে বাঁধিবে যে নীচে
পশ্চাতে রেখেছ যারে সে তোমারে পশ্চাতে টানিছে।
অজ্ঞানের অন্ধকারে
আড়ালে ঢাকিছ যারে
তোমার মঙ্গল ঢাকি গড়িছে সে ঘোর ব্যবধান।
অপমানে হতে হবে তাহাদের সবার সমান।
শতেক শতাব্দী ধরে নামে শিরে অসম্মানভার,
মানুষের নারায়ণে তবুও কর না নমস্কার।
তবু নত করি আঁখি
দেখিবারে পাও না কি
নেমেছে ধুলার তলে হীন পতিতের ভগবান,
অপমানে হতে হবে সেথা তোরে সবার সমান।
দেখিতে পাও না তুমি মৃত্যুদূত দাঁড়ায়েছে দ্বারে,
অভিশাপ আঁকি দিল তোমার জাতির অহংকারে।
সবারে না যদি ডাক',
এখনো সরিয়া থাক',
আপনারে বেঁধে রাখ' চৌদিকে জড়ায়ে অভিমান--
মৃত্যুমাঝে হবে তবে চিতাভস্মে সবার সমান।
The English translation goes like the following...
O my wretched country
For each one upon whom you have heaped insult
Through insult it is, one day, you shall be their equal!
Him you have denied the very rights of a human being
Left standing before you, degraded, yet took not into your lap-
Through insult it is, one day, you shall be their equal!
Rejecting their human touch, those you kept afar
It is the divine within that demeaned human you have insulted
By retribution from the Lord of Destiny, at the doorway of famine
Will you sit down to a shared meal, there with the downtrodden
Through insult it is, one day, you shall be their equal!
There, where you pushed them derisively from your hallowed seat
There, too, in stupefying nonchalance, you banished your own power
Crushed under the merciless boot, there they fell to the dust
Come down to that degraded nether world, else there is no salvation
Through insult it is, today, you shall be their equal!
Him that you push underfoot- he shall bind you to the lowest depth
Him that you have purposefully left behind, shall pull you right back.
Him that you heap the blemish of ignorance upon in an obscure world
Covering anything blessed in your fate, he shall create a chasm
Through insult it is, one day, you shall be their equal!
For a hundred centuries a mountain of insults has descended upon them
Yet you refuse to bow before the very Narayana in your fellow Man-
Yet, lowering your gaze, do you see not yet
The God of the insulted and downtrodden has joined them there in the dirt?
Through insult it is, one day, you shall be their equal!
Do you not see, today, the Messenger of Death, there, at the door-
Placing an appalling curse upon your all-consuming racial vanity?
If you do not call one and all to the human pageantry, if you still stay apart
If you still keep yourself narrowly bound in the decrepit world of arrogance
It is in Death, then, in the ashes of your funeral pyre, you shall be their equal!
The gist of this poem is that people left behind will pull back society.
Although this poem was written keeping in mind the social backwardness and the menace called untouchability of our society, the same is true for economic backwardness as well.
If we let the divisions between the haves and the have-nots grow, then Naxalite movements in rural India are bound to happen.
We must remember that the Naxalite movement in West Bengal during the '70s was mainly dominated by the educated students of Kolkata, but the Naxalite movements of modern India are dominated by the penniless people who is left with no other options but to turn to violence for mere survival.
That's why probably we should have been happier reading the news that a major percentage of the Indian population can avail of the basic amenities instead of the news that one or two Indians have made it to the list of the world's richest.
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