Rent-seekers seeking justice for the marginalised must realise that such justice is not delivered through handouts. Economic development, fuelled partly by enabling Government policies and partly by an enterprising private sector working in a free market, is the only solution
Do you care what caste your Uber or Ola driver isIJ Do you even know the name of the person waiting on you at a restaurant, let alone his or her casteIJ Or the name of the delivery boy who brought hot pizza for you into your houseIJ What about the nurse administering injections to you at a hospitalIJ Unless you are a caste or sexist bigot, the answer universally is ‘no’.
The emergence of the private sector and the growth of the service economy have been the biggest weapons that India has ever had against the caste system and patriarchy. This columnist has argued in the past that the problem some village ‘elders’ seem to have with women carrying mobile phones is that it gives them a weapon against patriarchy.
It is not just village elders, even ostensibly educated college administrators wish to have a set of rules for female students on what they can and cannot wear. These are also the sort of people who would probably defend the caste system in private gatherings.
looking back at the past 25 years, the lifting of the economic sanctions by PV Narashima Rao, placed on India by itself, has been one of the greatest changes that the Indian society has witnessed. Where once inter-community marriage was a rare thing, today, at least among the well-educated, marriages across castes and communities is quite common, particularly in cities where the concept of India is a less fractured one than in the past. The rise of the global Internet and television has ironically led to the rise of regional chauvinists, but change is clearly apparent.
The economic reforms also led to mass migration into Indian cities, which is why one wonders just how accurate Indian census data regarding urbanisation is. A large amount of migration into cities was of lower caste labourers and while undoubtedly urban poverty remains a problem, India’s economic rise in the past 25 years has lifted millions out of poverty and oppression.
However, India has a long way to go. The Chinese economic miracle is not so much about our eastern neighbour finally matching up to Western powers but also lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty.
This despite the ‘concerns’ of many in the Western world who were loathe to see this rise. China’s rise as an economic power threatened the West because several developed countries feared a drop in their living standards. These ‘concerns’ will keep popping up as India begins to rise economically, India’s worst enemies will most likely be her own citizens.
Yes, while it is vital that Indians retain the ability to to protest and speak back to the Government, after all democracy is our greatest asset, it is also vital that those rent-seekers seeking justice for Dalits for example understand that ‘justice’ is not delivered through handouts and the promise of Government jobs or subsidised education.
What good is it if a backward class student makes it to a top-notch engineering or medical institution on quota, but understands little English, the medium of instructionIJ The fix is not remedial English classes or as some language chauvinists would have, a change in the medium of instruction, but better access to primary and secondary education, that is to make the students better-equipped to handle the pressures of higher education.
With due credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he realises that all Indians need economic progress and development. This is because of that ‘demographic dividend’ that he and many other politicians talk of. This ‘dividend’ has the potential to become a timebomb if growth does not come through, a hundred million angry, young people is not what any politician wants.
See what a few thousand unemployed youth did in Kashmir this past summer. These young people, who voted across caste and community lines for Prime Minister Modi in the 2014 general election across vast swathes of India as he was able to break the age-old caste grip on votes have voted for economic progress. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi should note that these young voters have voted for ‘suit-boot’ because that is what they want to become.
It is important that the Government Ministers and bureaucrats who like to micro-manage everything and have a penchant for dipping their fingers into everything should let the private sector operate within a well-framed set of rules.
Unfortunately, it seems Governments wish to over-regulate on minuate but leave glaring holes in the framework. This is apparent in the way some Governments have acted against app-based taxi aggregators. These taxi aggregators have provided employment and jobs to thousands. Governments should focus on better policing and traffic management, but instead they wish to control the discounted fares some operators offer.
The same thing applies to labour laws, while job-security is a major issue in India, there is a need for more liberal hiring laws for factories as well as a change in antiquated labour laws. In the absence of such new legislation, much of India operates with unorganised workers which leads to less employment security, large-scale exploitation as well as uncertainty in the minds of employers.
Economic development will certainly make some people in India very rich indeed, but it cannot trickle down at a slow rate. The taps have to be opened at full-blast and then this talk of ‘delivering justice’ by rent-seekers that include deluded communists and Congressmen will be silenced. Money in the bank after a hard day’s work is the best form of justice.