“The front page of every newspaper is flashing the news of India overtaking France to be the 5th largest economy in the world in terms of GDP. The Sensex is racing to the top. The investors’ confidence is palpable. India is beaming with pride. At the same time, the brutal butchering of Pehlu Khan of Rajasthan by a mob for illegally transfusing cows catches attention. Killed for transferring cow!! Welcome to the land of great paradox i.e. India. We have ventured to Mars through Mangalyaan in air first attempt we entered into the elite club. We are nearing to land on the far side of Moon, never attempted before by anyone through Chandrayaan 2. We can shoot down satellites today in space through Mission Shakti. But we still kill people for eating food of their own choice (beef ban). We still kill people for marrying outside caste (honors killing). We still kill (or brutally attach) People if they fail to chant Jai Shri Ram. We still beat up people (to be read as lower cast) if they ride a horse on their marriage day. How can he? He is a ‘lower caste groom”. As if the horse is aware and may be offended!!
Since time immemorial, India has attracted invaders because of its immense wealth such culture luxurious artifacts. It was known as the ‘golden bind’. It had one of the most advanced civilization in the world Indus Valley civilization where all lived in harmony (attest the excavations says so). Advent of Aryans and gradual setting down. Mauryan and Gupta rule unified India. It was the advent of British which cultivated the notion of nationalism among Indians.
To counter the growing affinity of countrymen, they resorted to divide and rule policy, carrot and stick policy, dash of communities etc. This resulted in rise of divisive forces of caste discrimination, communalism regionalism Independence saw the worst form of communalism. The bloodshed, the rampage was heart rendering. 73 years of Independence being celebrated by India, but still this ugly menaces refuse to die down. Rather they have garnered more steam to further damage the nations credentials.
Casteism and India:
Early Vedic period was characterized by Varnashrama, which was functional division of labour in society. The later Vedic period saw the rise of caste discrimination. Caste become an ascribed status, closed system of stratification. Notion of poverty and pollution developed. Religious, social segregation of people, Untouchability practiced. This system continued till the advent of Britishers and modern esoteric education.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Idwar Chandra Vedyasager, Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi all played an important role in weakening or eliminating caste discrimination with industrialization, urbanization, caste identities have weakened.
But at the same time casteism has strengthened caste based identity is being exploited politically for votes. The deaths of Rohith Vemula, Payal Tadvi remind how caste still creeps underneath unseen.
Communalism in India:
Communalism is a gift of the Britishers to India communalism is an ideology wherein a group of people with similar religious belief think that they even have similar secular beliefs (political, economical) And the secular beliefs of other group are antagonistic to them and hence cannot be accommodated. Communalism is a clash to appropriate the scarce resources and to establish dominance.
Initially, fanned by Britishers by adopting divide and rule policy between Hindus and Muslims, it slowly got strengthened. Independence of India saw its worst form in terms of the partition.
India is home to one of the largest muslin populations (14% of India’s population). Today they are more Indian, than Muslim. They have assimilated but still the demolition of Babri Masjid unfolded a series of violence Godhra riots (2002), Mumbai pasts, 26/11 attack in India, Muzzafarpur riot, Hasimpaus massacre are gross reminders of lurking communal ideology.
Regionalism and India:
India was never a monolithic state. Starting from being ruled by rajas of Janapadas, it was united under various empires Samudragupta, Akbar etc. When British arrived, they saw a country with numerous individualities. By the time, Britishers prepared to leave India, it had nearly 550 princely states. It was the ardent hard work and dedication of Sardar Patel which resulted en unification of the princely states with India.
But, the vast diversity of India in terms of language, culture, food habits, beliefs existed. They were not pacified by the unification. The death of Potti Sriramulu culminated in the organization of states in linguistic basis. It pacified many states for a long time
But lack of development in certain areas led to call for creation of states such as Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and recently Telangana. The north eastern states (Nagaland specifically) demand reorganization of states to together all Nagas.
Regionalism is an ideology wherein a group places more importance on the region/state he belongs to rather than the Nation. The recent incident of separate flag for Karnataka, fiasco for terms of reference to 15th Finance Commission has renewed the debate on regionalism.
Impediments to India’s development:
Casteism, communalism and Regionalism Though correspond to different fields but they all have similar impacts on the progress path of India. They are divisive in nature. They create hatred. They led to breaking down of ties, bonds of trust. They are obstacles. They break the growth momentum.
In the economic sphere they lead to loss of national growth. Sequent infightings, riots due to communalism, strikes (regional demands) is a loss to the exchequer. Riots, strikes leads to loss of nationals property. Wastage of scarce resources is a big impediment for a developing country like India.
Legal issues like Ayodhya temple care takes up a substantial time and resources of government – and judiciary which could have been utilized for resolving more pressing issues. With such a prank’s ease of doing business, India’s judiciary needs to be fired up to look into more calling issues.
The killing of numerous people (especially youth), radicalization of youth is a loss of Indies’s demographic dividend. It further decelerates India’s growth sentiment, Fearing risk to their investments, investors may not want to put their money in India. For being a $ 5 trillion economy, India needs huge private investment as noted by Economic survey 2018 – 19. Such a unstable environment may not attract investment.
Violation of human rights (killing of lower casts people, religious intolerance) may dissuade certain big companies who have strong ethical principles. This would be a loss to the country. Frequent resorting to violence also hampers smooth functioning of states apparatus – Political, economical etc. Hence retards state’s growth. Regionalism may result in state going away or not aligning its goal with national goal. This may result in slowing down India’s growth.
In the political sphere, the casteism, communalism, regionalism leads to