Decoding 7%+ growth: Is development catering to the voiceless 90% of India

By Dr. Kallol Guha

There is lively discussion in the mainstream media about 7% + growth rate of India which apparently is higher than that of China. Any individual of a nation would like to see their country develop and its benefits being transferred into his or her daily life. Karl Marx summarized this fact in one of his famous statements: "Mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing before it can pursue religion and ideology".

Importance of people

One does not have to be an economist or have multiple university degrees to understand that the single most important element of meaningful, sustainable, inclusive growth and development are the people of the nation. High quality factories, numerous flyovers, showy metros, large casinos and resorts most definitely do not promote a nation's sustainable development. It is the quality and conditioning of human resource that ensures security and defense, development of culture, extent and quality of contribution to science and technology in the world. Hindi vocabulary "Janta Janardan" in fact reflects the core element of national development.

Population in any given nation has to be conditioned and trained to participate in inclusive national development. Essence of that training is meaningful education that induces sense of self-respect and pride in their indigenous culture and heritage. However, "Good Schools" in India forbid students to speak in Indian language while on campus.

The Chinese experience

Long before Communist leadership of China came to power in 1949, world knew that one of the most effective weapons that Chinese leadership had was their large population and the way their leadership intended to condition and engage (indoctrinate / brainwash) that population for nation building.

That was precisely what politicians of the West were afraid of. back in 1949, when Chairman Mao proclaimed People's Republic of China in Beijing saying in his inaugural speech "China has stood up". He also declared "Gone forever are the days when Chinese will be called yellow devil and barbarians" (adjectives coined by British and American media during the early 20th Century to emphasize their superiority).

In response, the US Presidency of that time fiercely accused Chiang Kai-Shek and held him responsible for "losing China". What did the West mean by "losing China" ? Is it possible that they lost opportunity to dominate Chinese mass media and under the pretext of "Freedom of Expression" and "Freedom of Press" make people believe that technical education in a foreign language was more practical for the Chinese, considering their ethnic diversity.

Did they intend to develop a system where knowledge of vernacular would not allow access to higher education and decent living? Condition people to have white skin by rubbing Fair and Lovely and thus subtly indoctrinate them with idea of white supremacy? Condition them to respect western culture, language, values, way of life and look down upon all things indigenous?

In brief, convert birds of nature into caged ones, programmed to recite borrowed vocabulary.

There is no doubt that overwhelming majority of the Chinese people are involved in the process of national development that is planned, initiated, and managed by the government. In fact all the countries, be it in West Europe or in Asia where development has or is taking place, their mass participation and conditioning of general population has been made possible through careful design. In the case of India, whatever development has taken place- it is not because of, but in spite of the Government. The brilliance, entrepreneurship, patience, and incredible perseverance of Indian people are causative factors of that development.

What is the real significance of 7% growth?

Socioeconomic development of India, under the present circumstances, is mainly contributed by those (Anglophonic population) with some degree of schooling in science and technology. This means about 10-12 crores of Indian population (10%) is contributing meaningfully to the process of national development. The talent and productive forces of rest 112 crores remains under or not utilized at all, because they are not Anglophones. It follows that exclusion or under-utilization of 90% of the population can't possibly make meaningful development in a nation of 125 crore.

Let us transfer this scenario to another context. How would the state of development be if 10% or 8 million out of Germany's 80 million population were say, Francophone and only French was the language used for education beyond secondary schooling ? Could 10% German population bring about overall development of the nation? Situation in India is exactly like that.

The mainstream media may not highlight these brutal facts, politicians may not be enlightened or literate enough to grasp this limitation in India's development, others may be consciously and deliberately be silent because they may have a hidden agenda. However, intellectual circle of the world is very well aware of this fact. Hence, India is considered a potential competitor, a potential world power, a potential industrial nation. For now it is not to be taken seriously. Because there is nothing to indicate that 90% Indians who are not Anglophones will be given access to technical training and education beyond secondary schooling and there is no mechanism in this universe that will teach English to 90% Indians and create a large scale Trinidad and Guyana. Comparison may be made between a natural tiger and a tiger of circus ring. Both are tigers nevertheless.

Postscript

As of now these statistics may have academic values but in practical terms they mean little. However, there is a possibility that a leadership may emerge in the Indian scene that will make full use of the Indian brain power and condition the entire population to engage in real growth. In that event first sign and symptom will be that the Western leadership will start overt and covert negative publicity against India since they will not like to see another formidable competitor emerging in the world market. In another possibility, rule of 10% Indian anglophones over 90% will continue under traditional leadership. Media, Bollywood, "Good Schools" and other type of publicity will continue to preach "Freedom" and make the population accept the system as "Largest Democracy" for another sixty years. After all Indians have a long tradition of accepting minority rules for centuries! There were Afghans (Alauddin Khilji), Turks (Sultans of Delhi), Mughals, British, and now 10% Indian anglophones over 90%.