Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site uscvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!uscvax!baparao From: baparao@uscvax.UUCP (Bapa Rao) Newsgroups: net.nlang.india Subject: Re: Jitendra's comments - An addition Message-ID: <167@uscvax.UUCP> Date: Wed, 17-Apr-85 15:59:19 EST Article-I.D.: uscvax.167 Posted: Wed Apr 17 15:59:19 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 20-Apr-85 06:25:12 EST References: <169@telesis.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: CS&CE Depts, U.S.C., Los Angeles, CA Lines: 57 Soap box time: > Course 3 is certainly the most painful since it involves somewhat a > radical rupture with fond assumptions. However it is the most fruitful > and the only way forward for progress. As a start I can think of the > following questions. > > - Democracy in India: what is meaning of this in a country where more > than 70% live below the poverty line wnd where the peasants and workers, > the majority of the population face bruatality daily? I hope we are not questioning the suitability of democracy to the Indian situation. If we are, I would like to ask what are the alternatives? My answer would be we have already seen the alternatives at work, in El Salvador, the Soviet Union, the Philippines, Iran, and so on. I don't think that the masses of these countries are as prosperous as they could be, nor are they free to pursue "happiness" as they view it. We know that it is faddish for third-world leaders to impose phony "democracies" on their people, with the excuse that the people are not yet "ready" for freedom. We mustn't fall into the "guided" democracy trap: when you see the real thing, you will surely know it, regardless of labels. Democracy in India has not been tried in right earnest: witness the enormous centralization of decision making. There are a number of democratic tendencies in the Indian system, as well as well among the Indian people, which all responsible people should encourage and foster. It is a mistake to speak of democracy as though it were a luxury for the spoiled middle class, and what the "masses" really need is some sort of benevolent state control (maintained by the same middle class to whom we are not willing to accord aesthetic luxuries like democracy), suspension of trade unions, compulsory sterilization, or whatever. I think that the key is to stop imposing whatever ideological fad happens to be current on the people from the top down (Socialist Raj, Computer Raj, whatever). Democratic institutions should be fostered at the community level, and those in authority should treat them seriously, and try to help make them work (They don't, in present-day India). I rather like the institution of local populist mayors that I see in this country. Populism at this level cannot survive on B.S., caste, or anything else. The issues are (or should be clear). If the garbage doesn't get picked up, if street crime doesn't go down, if roads are full of potholes, why, throw the rascals out. At present, it is clear that there is no democracy in India at this level(controversial?). Perhaps those of us who profess to care about these things can teach people to demand accountability from their local leaders as a first step. I think that this accountability, power of recall, and public debate on issues, starting at the local level, is the key to give "power to the people", and not just to a bunch of westernized middle class Indians either(note that this despised group are also Indians, sharing the same hangups and responsibilities as the rest of the country. That they are somewhat cushioned from the results of their hangups, and often don't undertake their responsibilities is a different matter). In the long run, there is no way to solve the "poverty problem", the "ignorance problem", and so on without making the Indian village and city communities self-reliant and prosperous. Surely that is the economic aspect of a democratic system, which needs the political aspect to sustain it. --Bapa Rao.