Top 3 Problems That Can Topple India

We have a huge list of problems. I don’t have to be innovative to list them down. Whether I include or not, they are going to be the same. They feature in every similar article or poll. But, what perhaps matters here is that the way in which a problem is being looked at by an individual and the way they are being prioritized. Many intellectuals even opine that the prioritization is our biggest problem.

Looking at the number of issues, I am afraid if I would be able to make my posts smaller as mentioned in the previous post. Let me check if grouping multiple related issues into one and choosing only the top three from that list would help.

Do I have solution for each problem? No. It would be madness if I say ‘Yes’. If a common man sitting in the outskirts of Bangalore has solutions for all the national issues, then why would we have governments, elections, politicians, bureaucrats, and millions of other people who are paid by the government and are meant to do this in their own tried and tested ways.

At the max, we could discuss about possible solutions, but what is more important for ordinary people like you and me is to keep discussing about them so that we become more aware of such problems. It is these discussions that keep us aware of things to whatever extent we are today. What is the point in just being aware? It would just take us collectively to the next level. It does help in many ways.

The first and foremost benefit is that it helps us do our bit to our society or nation, or align our actions in a way that doesn’t conflict with the larger interest at least. The second one is that it helps us identify the right people and elect them based on their background and their stance on the issues. The other “not so practical but can’t be ruled out” reason to keep reminding about such things as a society is that someone somewhere in a corner would come out with a surprising solution some day. This has been the mother of all inventions, always.

If you say “don’t talk about it if you can’t solve it”, then I can assure you no problem would ever get solved by anyone. If we should only be worried about our daily routines and weekend outings, it would take us nowhere as a society. All bad things would get worse. Someday, we may have to stop doing everything else and just talk about these things that we failed to talk about.

OK. Let’s get started.

Corruption
This is the biggest obstacle to any initiative that we take to address any of our problems. ‘No corruption’ would not have solved all problems. But, less corruption would have surely helped us handle them better. Things would have been prioritized properly and done in a streamlined manner. It is like a neurological disease in human body, like short circuits in electric lines, like infrastructure problems in our highways and like big fishes eating small fishes for food. They are cracks in the life line. Nothing reaches the place they are intended to. It is a very basic problem to be fixed before talking about anything else.

It is part of politics all over the world. It is there in all governments across the world. But, how much is allowed is the question. A milkman can add water to milk but not milk to water. Will you pay the price for it? Actually, he will pay the price for it. How to fix it? It is only in the hands of electorate. The argument of educated entering politics doesn’t help here. They can only enter. But, the voters have to support them. They should at least reject the worst so that the next in line would have some respect for the democracy.

I am reminded of a small story about a dialogue between a north Indian MP and a south Indian one. The former asks the latter when they meet in the latter’s housewarming function “hey, why is that flyover not completed?” showing an incomplete flyover in vicinity, to which our man replies “the rest of the flyover is this house!” Next time, when our man goes there, his friend asks proactively “hey, do you see a flyover there?” Our man surprisingly says, “No, I don’t see any flyover there. Something wrong with my eyes…”! There comes an answer with a grin, “No my friend, you can’t see that. Because, that is this beautiful house”! Please don’t look for an opportunity to create a south-north fight here. All we want to convey here is that we are okay with incomplete flyovers for now until the ‘no flyover’ guys are eliminated. If we keep electing them for meaningless reasons like caste, color (the colorful campaigns they run) and cash (note for vote stuff), there is no way that it could get better.

Poverty, Hunger and Unemployment
Poverty, hunger, unemployment are obviously the next major areas that any government has to take care of on priority. To put it simple, all economic issues! We are surely on the right direction though slow. Compared to few decades ago, the poverty is certainly on decline, at least in our part of the country.

I have played with friends that couldn’t afford to have food all three times in my childhood. I have heard a lot of stories of successful businessmen who struggled for food when they reached their dream city in pursuit of their dreams. I don’t see or hear that kind of a problem these days. It is not just because I have changed my place or friends. Actually, my place also has changed and my friends also have changed in last two decades. I mean, things have really changed for them in last two decades. Thanks to the globalization. There is large number of opportunities for everyone to take care of their basic amenities. Today, the rich and poor are divided more based on the luxuries they could afford; not based on whether they could afford the basics or not.

Even then, I can’t deny the fact that economy is still a major problem. It can’t be denied that all forms of terrorism are gaining ground due to the widespread economic issues like poverty, hunger and unemployment. If everyone had a job in hand, wouldn’t it become little more difficult (if not impossible) for those who recruit militants? So, poverty is not just a problem but a root cause of many problems. Considering that, it certainly needs immediate attention.

May be, we are growing as a country but that growth does not mean anything to our cousins in the country side. What we need to ensure is a more inclusive growth, which is the tougher phase of globalization. If we don’t handle this carefully, we are in for a major trouble. But, I am more than sure that these issues would be solved faster than we think. At least, faster than the previous issue and the next one!

Internal and External Security
Both internal and external (state-sponsored or otherwise) security issues have become a major cause of concern in recent times. What is more worrying is that even the victims of terrorism are giving them too much room (place for hideout!).

The external religion based terrorism (though there is sizeable internal component in this as well, let’s call them external for more clarity sake) is not just an issue for India but for the whole world. Ours is a country whose majority is a minority in the world and our minorities are the majorities in the world. And, ours is a secular state. So, we will continue to be a soft target and we can’t align with anyone based on religion. We have to remain secular at all costs. We have been more secular than required most times than any other secular country could have been, except in case of two major incidents.

But, if they want us to run our country the way they want, it is just not possible. They have to win elections here then, which is simply not possible for those who are involved in faceless anti-national, anti-people, and anti-religious (no religion on earth teaches to kill innocent women and children in fight against the states) crimes.

If the state or a particular group of people harm you, it is simple commonsense that you should attack only those who did it in retaliation. Instead, if your retaliation targets innocent people, who don’t even know why they are being killed, it is not justified. It is truly cowardly. It doesn’t have any end, too. You just can’t have any discussion with them. It sounds so basic that the political issues have to be dealt with politically. A sword or gun can never be the solution. But, how do we make them understand? I am short of ideas.

The terrorist organizations are being run so professionally like governments (better than governments in many senses) all over the world. They are not at all ready to discuss anything. They may think it is not worth talking to these people. But, do you achieve your purpose by killing innocent people? They may say yes. They wouldn’t listen even if their god comes and tells them not to kill people. They are just obsessed with killing people more than anything else. They are just sadists or perverts (need a better word) who enjoy doing it. I don’t think they have any demand. Their only demand is to kill innocent people and lick their blood.

Will we be able to put an end to it? I am doubtful. Where is the end? To me, it seems like end of the world is the only end. Like day and night, light and dark, good and bad, we are going to have this new form of evil with us for centuries to come. We just have to handle them from time to time as required. There is no question of eradication, which means wiping off something completely without trace. If that has to happen, there has to be huge losses from both the sides. Something like a world war!

Relatively, the internal groups like Maoists seem to be an easier lot to handle. They at least have specific demands. If a good negotiator (someone who is liked by them) is put on the job, we might get somewhere instead of nowhere. Unlike the other group, these guys think a lot and have some amount of reasoning ability. If persuaded hard, they would come to the table. But, they may not move even an inch initially. How can you make someone listen when he is not even ready to listen or when he has decided not to listen? What is lacking may be the trust. The government has to find out how to win that.

But, even their style of mass killing is getting worse by the day. I keep hearing from people that they have a well-laid plan in place to capture the country in so and so years. They have actually captured a good part of it already. If that is their plan, how do we handle it?

We also hear a lot about them being pampered by the neighbor who is surrounding us in all directions. If superiority is the only thing that China wants to maintain, how do we handle it? We may need some radical change in the way our external affairs is being managed. But, will it surely cure? Not sure!