With investment banks predicting that India will become the world’s third largest economy within two decades and a CIA report forecasting that the 21st century will be India’s, this national self-confidence is spreading fast, says Amelia Gentleman in
The Observer.
“Beneath the headline ‘Empire Strikes Back’, one paper reminded readers that British colonial administrators had repeatedly tried to stifle the growth of the Tata family business in the early 20th century. ‘Corus, the erstwhile British Steel and one of the icons of Her Majesty’s Empire will now fly the [Indian] Tricolour,’ the paper said. ‘It’s the first step towards what we call the Global Indian Takeover,’ a front-page headline promised.
“Travel a few miles outside the bubble of prosperity in Delhi or the financial capital, Mumbai, and this superpower mania can seem bewildering. Beyond the sleek glass-tower blocks that house call-centre offices on the outskirts of the city, and the extravagant, Florida-style apartment complexes (titled with imaginative dishonesty ‘Bayview Heights’ or ‘Heritage Luxury’), the new India suddenly disappears.
“Instead there is a vision of a more troubled India, where around 700 million people scratch a living out of agriculture and some 300 million battle to survive beneath the poverty line. Horse-drawn carts dodge trucks as they drive the wrong way down the national highway, overloaded with leaking sacks of grain. Visibly weak infant children break stones in the central reservation, helping to repair the road surface.
“Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss highlighted these paradoxes in a speech he made recently: ‘India is on its way to becoming a superpower, but unfortunately 50 to 60 per cent of children under three years are undernourished,’ he said. ‘We have the IT revolution, but then we have this pitiful infant mortality’.”
In India there is yet another major crisis on the agricultural front. Many farmers are committing suicide. Says ZNet: “The Indian Ministry of Agriculture admits to the following figures: there were 100,000 suicides by farmers between 1993 and 2003. And between 2003 and October 2006, there have been some 16,000 suicides by farmers each year.
“In total, between 1993 and 2006, there were around 150,000 suicide by farmers, 30 a day for 13 years! The Maharashtra (state) government itself accepts the figure of 1,920 farmers’ suicides in Vidarbha between January 2001 and August 2006. Farmers’ organisations of the district state that there were 782 suicides by agricultural producers. Data for the past three months indicate that on average there was a suicide every eight hours.
“What conditions give rise to a suicide rate of about 30 farmers a day? It is said that the reason for this is indebtedness, but the ultimate reason is the imposition of a completely unsuitable agricultural technology, as much from the economic as from the environmental viewpoint.”
In India there is a major controversy over the introduction of genetically modified crops to “help the poor farmers escape poverty” and to resolve the “problem of hungerâ€?.
Devinder Sharma, India’s leading journalist and policy analyst who has addressed many parliaments and forums in the world on this issue, is leading a campaign at the grassroots level. He states: “At a time when genetically modified crops/foods remains shrouded in controversy, nearly 10,000 farmers from 250 villages (on the Uttar Pradesh side of Chitrakoot) are assembling for a conference on organic agriculture at Chitrakoot.
“These 250 villages are already following organic agriculture as a result of which they remain untouched by the sad spectacle of farmer suicides. These villages have also decided to keep out GM crops/food. They will be taking a pledge with me on February 7 swearing in the name of humanity and sustainable development to keep the GM crops/food out of the villages.
“In my understanding, this is a a very important development and will have serious repercussion for the future of Indian agriculture. By joining the pledge, 250 villages will be making a commitment to remain GM free!”
An article by Devinder Sharma can be read here.
Sharma also wrote on “Genetic Engineering, Globalisation and Food Security”.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.