” Our masses will not rise in revolt against a tyrant . That is essentially our character.”

“We must learn to work within the culture of a race”

This is the worst form of racism – the kind that a people direct towards themselves. Instead of examining the issue in a rational manner, seeking refuge in emotional reasoning. “We” do not share a character RD, the only character you can speak of, with any authority, is your own.

I agree with Kothari in that people need to see possibilities. The desire to achieve is human. During my undergrad years between 1996 and 2000, there was a huge shift in the belief system of the student body. When I entered, the proclaimed ideal was to come to the US for higher studies and find a job. By the time I was graduating, we had an incubator for start-ups on campus, and some of the brightest were opting to stay and work hard for their dream of starting something of their own. I think the alumni played a huge role in this change – several alumni, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs themselves (mainly US-based), chose to mentor the students and put money into their start-ups. Many of those start-ups died, which is just how that works. But the mindset has changed forever.

India’s history is complex – People like RD can read twisted interpretations onto our history. It is best to look ahead and live in the present. To not just inspire but provide real possibilities.

As for the question posed – what holds back reform in india ? – i think the main reason is that no political party really believes in it or even understands it. And noone has done a good job of explaining economic reform and its promise to the masses. That has been covered elsewhere on this blog.

Can India reform? Well, it is starting to. Over at the Indian Economy Blog, meanwhile, Amitabh Arora asks What Holds Back Reform in India – Ideas, Interest Groups or Ineptitude? (Hat tip: PSD Blog) But for another perspective on this debate, a new pa…

Amitabh Arora wants to know.Is it interest groups – organized labor, employee unions at electricity boards – that wield political power disproportionate to their numbers and scuttle reform? Mancur Olson has rigorously analyzed the dynamics of collectiv…

The problem is not Congress (though they have a large share of the blame). The problems have to do with India’s legacy of being an incredibly hierarchical society with more minute shades of discrimination and social exclusion than any other country. If you consider how Indian society was organized at the daily level 100 years ago and today you would be amazed at how much has changed (for the better). Unfortunately, there is a long way to go to attain a decent level of respect and social (not income) equality.

India is undergoing a quiet, largely peaceful but thorough social revolution. This is the bed-rock of politics, upon which Mancur Olsen’s theory of interest groups, plus some aspects of the country’s cultural legacy, and just bad political leadership are also doing their damage.

Nevertheless, the miracle is two fold: (1) the idea of one person one vote is actually seeping into all aspects of life and turning everything upside down, and (2) the economy grows at a decent rate despite all these problems. I am not arguing for complacency but just asking you to consider the larger context.

There is however a need to understand that every country has a character which is based on its cultural heritage , religious beliefs, military attitudes and the traits of exploring the world.

India has been and will be a country that has practiced Hinduism for 10000 years or more. Deeply ingrained in which one of us is the concept of Prarabdha and karma. We believe in the fact that what we are born with and where we are born into is a gift from past life and has to be experienced. We do not believe that action alone is the way for creating a life that wish to live . Instead when things go wrong we offer paryaers in the temple. When we win an election even the most erudite scholar like ma Mohan Singh will offer paryers in Amritsar Tirupati and Ajmer.

It is difficult to raise a mass of humanity from this belief and transform them into believing that what we actually attain in this life is the result of actions we take. The politicians aided and abetted by the Heads of religious organisations exploit this ideology and that is why change is slow and incremental. Never exponential.

We are not a warring society and therefore do not seek a contest with others to settle scores .Our legislative processes amply demonstrate the ease with which people linger a case asking extensions on frivilous reasons. Our masses will not rise in revolt against a tyrant . That is essentially our character.

We are not a nation of sea farers who went out seeking better futures when opportunity was limited in the country, except in the case of people who lived in Rajasthan who did travel to other parts of India and the world to seek better fortunes. We have gone out of the country as migrant labour to build plantations, rail roads, airports and now information technology systems. We do not have the spirit of adventure that the Chinese Pirates had or the Scottish seamen had.

Therefore it is wrong to expect that a Chinese or a European or a Japanese model of change will occur in India. We will struggle to sustain above 6 % growth. We will have a very polarised society in which 800 Million people will live at levels from moderately well to obscenely rich. We will close our eyes to the 400 million who are poor or the 48% children who are malnourished because our national character of 10000 years or more has instituted the concept of Prarabdha – destiny – past lives or whatever term you wish to use.

India will grow – with visible poverty to which we will turn a blind eye. The 800 million people will all look forward to enjoying their wealth in some country with better infrastructure and natural or man made amenities. The rest of the world better plan for issuance of millions of travel visa( we can assist them in establishing electronic systems to do this seamlessly) and creating Dosa Idly, Butter chicken ,samosa Poori Bhaji serving restaurants. Else we will even export our own cooks to take advantage of the economic opportunity.

You or I or Man Mohan Singh can not take away the heritage of Upanishads – infact we have realised there is money to be made in even the export of the message of Upanishad and Yoga.

We must learn to work within the culture of a race.

If you are asked to choose between blue widgets and red widgets – would you ever ask for green widgets instead? Most people won’t demand for options that aren’t visible. Thats the problem with masses of India right now. They don’t have options that are visible clearly.

Case in point: Which girl took up tennis in India 2 years ago? But now, because they’ve seen Sania Mirza, hundreds of girls are taking up tennis as a sport.

Show them the options. Make masses believe that they can achieve anything. And success will come at an unstoppable pace.

The question is: how to make people believe in themselves and build a burning desire in peoples hearts? One way is to turn to history. India has such a marverlous history – teach it. Don’t teach world wars and stuff. They do nothing in building up the Indian psych. Instead, teach about Chanakya and Mauryas and Aryabhatta. Teach about the Golden age. The first civilizations. The Aryans. *Teach about how India Prospered* before teaching how India won independence.

Case in point: In 1450′s England was a dump. No person of ambition stayed there. Poor population. No desire. But suddenly in 1450-60s something changed. The peoples hearts changed. And from 1485 onwards, there was no stopping England to becoming a world power. A small worthless island became the first world power. But how? If we trace back, we find that in 1450s, people staying in that small island heard a story. And started believing in themselves. The story they heard was of King Arthur and his Noble Knights. The story about the heroism of an English Knight! Henry VII heard that story and that fueled his ambtion to expand the borders.

But did you know that King Arthur was a fable, a myth created by Thomas Malory while he was in prison? England became worlds first empire because a myth created by a prisoner fueled the hearts of its people.

India on the other hand already has a successful history. No myth making necessary. History is the best tool to create burning desires. Unfortunately, bad history is taught to kids these days. In schools as well as by parents.

Change the history and we will change our futures.

Btw – the implication that the free market had even a secondary role in the great depression is a non-sequitur – there were many causes for the depression but a free market was surely not one of them.