The State of the State of India
It's hard to know whether official India has the courage of its convictions because it's difficult to discern its convictions. Outside of its ambitions, that is, to be considered an international heavyweight. And its fondness for reminding the world that it is "the world's largest democracy". If being a democracy can be construed as listening to the will of the people and ensuring that fairness and justice prevails, then perhaps more could be done to reflect that democratic sense.On the other hand, it cannot be an easy task to govern the world's second-largest population at over 1.1-billion people of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, let alone the now-unspoken but still resonant class system and cultural practices that do not actually reflect world-class status as an emerging economy, let alone a society still struggling to enter the 21st Century.
India has no lack of brilliant minds, people involved in medical, scientific, business and computer studies and research, second to none anywhere in the world. Yet it remains incapable of building an efficient, reliable civil infrastructure for its cities, and there are still more people living in India even now without resource to medical care and decent sanitation, inexcusably, than not.
Those who govern the country are careful to court countries which will be of assistance to them, and this includes the Islamic Republic of Iran, the pariah of the Western, developed world, for its rogue and threatening nuclear program, let alone its egregious record on human rights, and its oppression of its people. India evidently saw no awkwardness inherent in attending the Non-Aligned Nations summit in Tehran.
Attending a conference in Iran, a country which is under strict economic and political sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council and enforced by the U.S. as well, was no problem for India, since it receives much of its oil from Iran. India saw no difficulty in sitting through excoriatingly nasty harangues and threats levelled against a U.N. member-state, one with which India has amicable social and trade and political relations.
This is a country that proudly announced its intention to launch a 2013 mission to Mars, despite parliamentary opposition critics denouncing the earmarking of millions of dollars for that extraterrestrial mission when the country is in dire need of improved and refurbished infrastructure, and millions of Indian citizens require basic welfare to keep starvation at bay.
The largest democracy in the world is, has been and will continue to be infamously corrupt, at every level of governance. Politicians in India have acquired amazing levels of wealth through endemic corruption. The inequities between the country's minority of wealthy citizens and the vast majority of poor shines no light of social justice on the values of the country.
Violence against women is rampant, as is public harassment of women with men commonly getting away with sexual assaults. Girl babies are considered unwanted and aborted in favour of boy babies creating a gender imbalance that guarantees future problems. The practise of bride dowries, as technically outlawed as class distinctions between the Brahmin class and the 'untouchables', still prevail.
Official India could redeem itself by becoming a world leader in selecting friends a lot more carefully than it has done, accommodating Tehran's purpose-held Non-Aligned summit to ensure that the 120 heads of state attending fortified its assertion of the right to pursue its nuclear program, while threatening to annihilate an neighbouring state.
Labels: India, Iran, Islamism, Israel
posted by Pieface @ Friday, August 31, 2012
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