About Me

If I can just give to the world more than I take from it, I will be a very happy man. For there is no greater joy in life than to give. Motto : Live, Laugh and Love. You can follow me on Twitter too . My handle is @Raja_Sw.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Late-night random State of the Nation thoughts

  1. (Originally posted on Storify on 4th July 2013)
  2. Last night I got into one of those contemplative moods, reflecting on where we are as a society, compared to the India that our founding fathers fought so hard for. It was an entirely unplanned - and very random, non-hashtag - thought process. In other words, quite typical of me. :-)

    Since most of my followers are India-based - and it was probably 2.00 a.m or so in India, if not later - I didn't feel I was inconveniencing them at that hour with this near-monologue. I might have been wrong in a few cases - I apologise to them for spamming their TLs.

    I thought I'd storify the series of tweets, for anybody interested. There was a fair amount of rambling - from founding fathers, to the environment-vs-development debate,  to PPP (public-private-partnership), to integrity.

    I did get the odd response (no, not odd in the "strange" sense).

    As the ever-insightful @meetasengupta put it - "Trust. When trust is lost, all is doom."

    Just think about it.

    Who do we trust today? Our government? Our media? Our corporates? Our banks who hold our money?

    When we give our personal info to an entity in full confidence, how do we know where that data is travelling and how it will be used?

    Do our communities trust each other today, 66 years after independence, when old wounds should have normally gone through the healing process?

    We need to restore that trust in society urgently. Things don't have to be so bleak. But the solution has to be found from within ourselves. Only we can change our mindsets.



  3. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Everytime I think abt it, everytime my respect for our founding fathers only increases. The odds they faced ! And how they managed!
    8:50 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  4. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Communal tensions, very high rate of poverty, 500+ princely states...the West did not even expect India to survive as a country in 1947-48.
    8:53 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  5. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Yet the founding fathers believed in India,built the nation, through all the crises. They'd sacrificed a lot personally to see a free India.
    8:56 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  6. Raja@Raja_Sw

    They might have had personal differences, maybe egos too. But the idea - and needs - of India were bigger than all their own differences.
    8:58 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  7. Raja@Raja_Sw

    There was a junoon, there was a sense of purpose...even the songs reflected that. Hum laaye hain toofan se kashti nikaal ke...
    9:04 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  8. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Though there was mass illiteracy (very few were highly educated), there were some strong values. Like "work is worship". People worked hard.
    9:08 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  9. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Today we have millions of more educated people. So much more technology.Life has become easier in many ways. But still SOMETHING's missing.
    9:10 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  10. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Of what use is all this education if it still doesn't make man respect man?Rather, our education seems to accentuate divides in society!
    9:12 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  11. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Education is supposed to increase enlightenment. Take people out of darkness. Presumably darkness is cause of hate.
    9:14 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  12. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Some of our hate-mongers are highly educated. And even respected. When I see Subramaniam Swamy spouting hatred regularly, I have to wonder!
    9:17 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  13. Raja@Raja_Sw

    It's everybody for himself now. Maybe times have become SO competitive - and greed so universal - that this was a natural consequence.
    9:21 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  14. Raja@Raja_Sw

    When did EVERYTHING in life boil down to money, money and money alone? I don't recall it being like this 30 yrs ago. Maybe I didn't notice.
    9:24 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  15. Harish Anand T@TheSharck

    Replying to @Raja_Sw
    @Raja_Sw I blame people like your infamous namesake.
    9:29 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  16. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Replying to @TheSharck
    @TheSharck My namesake is only a symptom, the disease is much more deep-rooted. :(
    9:38 AM - Jul 4, 2013
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  17. Raja@Raja_Sw

    My dad used to tell me "In matters of learning, look at people who have more than you. Aspire to be like them". +
    9:26 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  18. Raja@Raja_Sw

    He used to say "In matters of money, look at people who have less than you. Be thankful for what you have, there are many worse off".
    9:27 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  19. Raja@Raja_Sw

    When did aspiration for money become the most coveted-for-aspiration in life? Define our "aspirational" society...How did this happen?
    9:30 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  20. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Not suggesting that everything was great in the past.Of course, it wasn't. Many things are much better now.But the obsession with money...
    9:34 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  21. Raja@Raja_Sw

    The obsession to have more and more...in a country short of land, with millions homeless, buy more and more land/flats...
    9:36 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  22. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Our crisis of land/water shortage is only getting exacerbated with rising population. There will be more profiteering. Ppl see only $$$$$
    9:39 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  23. Raja@Raja_Sw

    What sort of society are we then moving towards? How many more beggars will we create? This time begging for water...
    9:42 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  24. Raja@Raja_Sw

    And we continue to fight over petty things like who said what to whom when. Fights between the haves.The have-nots don't have time to fight.
    9:45 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  25. Raja@Raja_Sw

    The have-nots are eking out a daily existence, working day and night. Just to survive. How unequal has our society become!
    9:47 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  26. Raja@Raja_Sw

    The biggest loss in any society, IMO, is a loss of basic human values. If this doesn't exist, the society is doomed.
    9:49 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  27. Raja@Raja_Sw

    We need to restore these basic values in society. It's not a zero-sum game. We can be economically vibrant AND have values in society.
    9:52 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  28. meetasengupta
    ✔@Meetasengupta

    Replying to @Raja_Sw
    @Raja_Sw trust. When trust is lost, all is doom.
    9:50 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  29. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Replying to @Meetasengupta
    @Meetasengupta Very true. There's no trust anymore. In anybody, in any institution...they've all sadly been seen to have feet of clay.
    9:54 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  30. Raja@Raja_Sw

    There are still people with integrity out there.Fighting hard not to fall prey to the system.But the system gets more and more consuming.
    10:01 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  31. Raja@Raja_Sw

    I don't want to get into this capitalism vs socialism debate but I cannot accept that we cannot "grow" without destroying our environment.
    10:03 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  32. Raja@Raja_Sw

    I tend to think our definition - and measure - of "growth" itself is suspect.
    10:04 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  33. Raja@Raja_Sw

    We've defined it in a consumption society. The more you consume, the more gets produced to meet the demand. Ergo, more "wealth". +
    10:06 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  34. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Have we put a price on our forests, on our rivers, on our ecosystem that sustains us every day with the air we breathe?
    10:07 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  35. Raja@Raja_Sw

    We haven't- because they are all priceless! Ironically because they ARE priceless, we don't value them. Not if we cannot "monetise" them!
    10:08 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  36. Raja@Raja_Sw

    The argument for a consumerist society (the buzzword is "aspirational") is that it creates jobs through more production to feed consumption.
    10:09 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  37. Raja@Raja_Sw

    I have my own doubts on the input:output ratio (what with increasing mechanisation) but for the moment let me accept ths argument in part.
    10:11 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  38. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Shouldn't a more holistic approach then take a look at ALL resources (incl environmental resources) to see how best to meet aspirations?
    10:14 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  39. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Even the aspirations are mischievously mis-represented to cater to industry groups and their lobbies.
    10:16 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  40. Raja@Raja_Sw

    People don't all want cars. That's an aspiration created by the car industry. They want convenient and quick travel options.
    10:17 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  41. Raja@Raja_Sw

    In our cities, if we had top-class connectivity (incl last mile), would we have SO many cars on our roads? I don't think so.
    10:18 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  42. Raja@Raja_Sw

    In a developing country, investment in public infrastructure is usually very high in the country's list of economic priorities.
    10:20 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  43. Raja@Raja_Sw

    In India, after failing miserably for decades, we've now conveniently passed on responsibility to the magical PPP model.
    10:23 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  44. Raja@Raja_Sw

    As if public-private partnership will suddenly deliver all the public infrastructure that decades of neglect didn't.
    10:24 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  45. Raja@Raja_Sw

    In a country like India, where governance and transparency are already endangered species of good practice, PPP is a cruel joke.
    10:25 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  46. Raja@Raja_Sw

    In theory, PPP is fine. Get the best of govt resources and private-sector skills/practices to develop infrastructure jointly.Yes, in theory.
    10:27 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  47. Raja@Raja_Sw

    But in practice, it is more likely to bring out the worst of both. Govt will blame pvt sector, pvt sector will blame govt.
    10:29 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  48. Raja@Raja_Sw

    So I am rather cautious about PPP in the Indian context.Not the concept, as its implementation in India. And I haven't even talked cronyism.
    10:32 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  49. Raja@Raja_Sw

    As long as the fundamentals (I mean the govt machinery with checks/balances) are not in place, I wouldn't bring in pvt sector into eqn.
    10:35 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  50. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Which begs the question: If the fundamentals ARE in place, the govt shd be able to execute public infra projects on its own, right?
    10:35 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  51. Raja@Raja_Sw

    After all, many of the major public infra projects in the 1950s/60s were all govt projects. Like Bhakra-Nangal Dam.
    10:37 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  52. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Is it competence? Is it that the public sector does not now attract the required talent to execute these infra projects?
    10:38 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  53. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Is it purely a redefinition of government? Defining its boundaries more narrowly, to exclude such projects?
    10:38 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  54. Raja@Raja_Sw

    What is it, I'd like to know. How is it that the govt could execute so many infra projects in the 1950s. And today struggles to lay roads?
    10:39 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  55. Raja@Raja_Sw

    We need to realise first and foremost that this is PUBLIC infrastructure. So the buck stops with the government.
    10:41 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  56. Raja@Raja_Sw

    If it chooses to partner with private parties, that's its choice. But it cannot abdicate responsibility quoting PPP or whatever.
    10:42 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  57. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Look at the mess with gas pricing with Reliance.Look at the coal block allocations mess.Surely the govt shd've first thought it through?
    10:46 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  58. Raja@Raja_Sw

    I don't blame the pvt sector. It will try to maximise profits at every opportunity. It is the govt which needs to define the framework.
    10:48 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  59. Raja@Raja_Sw

    With so many competent people in govt, why was the framework so loose? So open to misuse?I can only speculate that vested interests ruled.
    10:53 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  60. Raja@Raja_Sw

    So it's not (only) competence. It's integrity. Once the economy was "opened up", the country was put up for sale - without checks/balances.
    10:55 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  61. Raja@Raja_Sw

    See, we end up exactly where we started. That word.Integrity.Maybe that's what our founding fathers had more of. Making all the difference.
    10:57 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  62. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Integrity. A word somewhat difficult to describe. But you notice it - because it makes ALL the difference.
    10:58 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  63. Raja@Raja_Sw

    With that, I'm closing this topic from my side for the day. :-) Thank you for bearing with this series of tweets. :-)
    11:01 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  64. CK Gupta@CK_Gupta

    Replying to @Raja_Sw
    @Raja_Sw Yes !!! We are less Indian than before. Freedom struggle did bind ppl irrespective of religion/region/Caste/Social status.
    9:14 PM - Jul 3, 2013
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  65. Raja@Raja_Sw

    Replying to @CK_Gupta
    @CK_Gupta Somewhere, education has failed to make us more open-minded, more accepting of others in society.
    9:39 AM - Jul 4, 2013
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Posted by Raja at 5/16/2018 06:07:00 PM

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