Editorials by Kanchan

Ideas and knowledge from India have spread across the globe, from time immemorial.

People of Indian origin have traveled across the seven seas for centuries - to share knowledge, expertise and to trade, before the ultimate downfall of India, which happened around 1700s.

Gone are the days when ‘made in India’ was what people desired. Consider this - Alexander the Great’s father King Philip’s grave has many artifacts which came from India. Indian steel and more specifically, the sword made of this steel boasts of being the best quality in the world. Muslin was one of the finest textiles the world had ever seen - a 20-yard by 1-yard piece could pass through a finger ring! Indian ships were the best in the world till the period of European renaissance. So many other goods from India, that were of high demand for rest of the world, cannot be listed here and, so many of those have indeed been forgotten!

When the British colonists came to India, they saw a great opportunity to exploit the people. They destroyed age-old indigenous industries, which were close to man and nature, and replaced them by systems dependent on machines - which sometimes harmed both man and nature.

After the industrial revolution, materials made in Europe became a hall-mark for quality and innovation. German machine tools were the best. Then followed America, Japan and Korea. Who is next in line? Many say China. But the big question is - why not India? What does India lack?

Can India take a challenge to compete with Chinese and Western Multi-nationals in major sectors including oil & gas, manufacturing, technology and health-care industries? Yes, India can and will, only if the right leadership is in place.

India needs visionaries now, to compete globally in every possible field. In science and technology, Indian minds are shining everywhere. Indian businesses also are flourishing on the global scenario. But, where is the vision to position Indian made products globally and compete with global players?

Indian consumers are now getting more used to the global market quality; gone are the days when few could afford ‘foreign’ goods. It is abundantly available in India, now. But, what about the status that goods made in India enjoy? Well – there is a struggle between ‘Indian made’ and ‘foreign made’ goods in India. Will the big Indian manufacturing houses give up?

As we all know, only too well that the population in Europe, America, Japan and many other countries is hitting an age bracket, where they won’t have enough productive man-power left for the near future. Only few countries are really ‘young’ in that sense. And, India is that ‘young’ nation today, which will supply far more man power, than it did when it provided software engineers to the world! A huge exodus of great talent in all fields may occur, in order to meet the man-power demand of the globe. Even China is getting old!

Yet, India’s internal demands are more important. India needs entrepreneurship, skill training and education for opening up jobs of tomorrow. India can provide the needed knowledge, creativity, production and service both to the whole world and for her own needs.

It will need a visionary approach with a definitive mission and true leadership. Rest will fall in place. India awaits a global leader and the re-awakening as a nation.

Sri Aurobindo had predicted that by 2025, India will find its own glorious position in the comity of the nations. But, can things happen automatically? No. All people related to India - in India and outside will have to join hands and contribute - in order to make it truly, proudly ‘made in India’ again in this century!

Welcome 2014! Welcome India! It’s Homecoming time once again! Excitement kicks off in New Delhi on January 7 with the inauguration of the 12thPravashiBharatiya Divas event. It is indeed, time to celebrate, to rejoice and to get engaged.

In the good old days, people from around the globe flocked to India for both knowledge and wealth. The ancient Indian centres of learning - Universities of Takshashila and Nalanda and travelogues of numerous travelers from Greece, China and Middle East are testimonials of that rich bygone era. Always a safe haven for the world’s persecuted communities – including the Jews, the Persians, the Tibetans and, more recently, the refugees from Bangladesh, fact is that Indians have traveled across the globe sharing knowledge and trading its prime products. In fact, the entire world has been deeply influenced by India – in the knowledge sector, language, culture and so on. Almost everything known to mankind in the area of science, maths, medicine, metaphysics and astronomy came out of India, thus making it a land of bounty, with far-reaching impact.

Even well-known American historian Will Durant admitted: "India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all".

Today, in over 100 countries, people of Indian origin are significantly contributing in all spheres of life, which also includes heads of several states. Millions of so-called ‘indentured laborers’ from India and their children have actually built various nations.

Unity in Diversity – that is the central theme of the Indian civilization. The reason is that globally, it is very unique and has never suppressed any voice. India has more than a dozen and half major languages and thousands of dialects. Each region and state of India has distinct characteristics, which are very hard to find anywhere in the world. Yet, the whole country is united in one idea – India, Bharat. To many, it is motherland, to others it is ‘punyabhoomi’ or sacred land where the Himalayas, the sacred rivers, the sacred pilgrimage places adorn the country and make every dust particle on the Indian soil - sacred. People of varied faiths, following myriad paths have been living together for centuries, along with the atheists. Science and spirituality have co-existed here for millennia by enriching our lives and our civilization, in every possible way.

India welcomes all - the PIOs, the NRIs. The people of India get a chance during the PBD to re-unite, to interact, to share and to create new bonds with others and India.

India is poised to become one of the top global powers with the largest number of young population; and reportedly, will soon be overtaking China in terms of maximum population inhabiting any country. India has many great things to share with the world today, yet it has its own share of challenges. In challenge, lie opportunities. Indian-origin people across the globe must explore these opportunities to make a difference.

PravashiBharatiya Divas is thus the best possible place to make this happen.

We wish you along with all our regular readers, well-wishers and patrons a very prosperous year 2014. Let us keep connecting, exploring and sharing. New Global Indian is your platform and we thank you for being part of this great mission.

No mean task –handling health-care of 1.2 billion peoplefor any country or government. Health-care services in India have undergone a vast change over the last few decades. The industry is expected to supersede China by 2030 in terms of population expansion.

India has a curious mix - a mixed healthcare system - public and private. Public health-care is used mostly by the less affluent people and also for emergency services. There are ‘super-facility’ hospitals–mostly for the rich and affluent, locals and foreigners. These create headlinesin India’s economic progress stories that claim to provide health services at par with hospitals in developed nations.

Lack of accountability and quality in government health centers are not new. Even in private hospitals,the question of accountability is raised; the records of patient care, death count, re-admissions, hidden cost etc. are yet to be properly regulated. India needs a tough health-care monitoring and overseeing bodywhich does not cow down to powerful groups, who own these facilities.

India needs many more health care centers, doctors and health workers. Medical tourism is a fascinating business proposition. And, yes, India has capabilities at par with many developed nations. But how many Indians can avail ofthese limited, expensive facilities is not clear.

While Americans are dependent totally on private health care system and health insurance, it’s a mixed bag in India. Few Indians have health insurance, but that should significantly increase in the coming decade as health-care cost rises and more people try to move up the ladder to opt for the expensive private hospitals.

India must not follow the US model of complete privatization and dependence on Health insurance. Yet, India’sless fortunate must not suffer. The poor, middle-class and rich - all must have access to proper health-care system which they can afford.

India is fast becoming hub of many diseaseslike diabetes, heart-related ailments and cancer. India also has one of the highestscore as far as road-side accident casualties go. Primary reasons for these are - lifestyle-related and lack of education.

In order to succeed in creating a truly healthy society and country, preventive health care, training and education is the keyfor India. Countries like America banned many artificial food ingredients including saturated fat, high-sugar beverages etc, and developing countries like India must follow suit. Usage of pesticides, hormones and other chemicals in agriculture, dairy and meat industries are major concerns that India is yet to address.

Backed by the rich heritage of Ayurveda and Yoga, it is unfortunate that India has to take lessons from the West to go back to the natural, organic way of eating and living. India can do better to reach a balance and reducedependency on modern medicines, which are expensive and also add many side-effects to the patients’ health– granted the professionals are properly trained with a fair degree of accountability.

An unhealthy person will havean unhealthy mental state and will have an unhealthy way of living which will affect satisfaction and productivity. This affects not only the health of the person himself, but his family, society and entire nation.

In any case, India needs a lot of catching-up to do inhealth-care services, quality, accessibility, affordability, prevention, correcting lifestyle and spreading education.

Two sectors in India have limitless potential to grow – education and health. Indians globally can join hands with people in India to get it right.

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The founders of ancient Indian civilisation chose to use language as key criteria. And hence, most states grew to be identified with one language. This saga continues with the government giving the nod to Telangana… but India should take pride in its multiplicity. 

The current situation in Andhra Pradesh for separate Telangana and Rayala Seema is causing political and social instability leading to distress among people. Given the current situation, it is the best, if the Government forms a secondary advisory committee, address the issues of separatists and settle them on a mutually coordinated basis. Dividing Andhra Pradesh leads to a greater loss to the Telugu community, not only local but also across the world with more corruption, overhead expenses for the redundant state infrastructure, lack of peace of mind, disputes on distribution of natural resources, disruption of life styles, more poverty, agony to common people, diluted attention towards AP progress because of lack of focused attention on priorities side tracked by vested interests of multiple political parties and administrative bodies, fighting with each other in the selfish motivations rather than people's best interests. Let us save Andhra Pradesh from these political disasters and bring unity with diversity. Let us think of Andhra Pradesh future for the long term benefits of the state, rather than the misleading myths of separation, by restoring and safeguarding the unity and integrity. This division of Andhra is triggered by some vested interests of a few political party leaders taking advantages of the Telangana people's sentiments and setting up mind state for AP separation, which is causing agony among the common people, including the Students, who are being affected with more sufferings. Arguments in favour of keeping the State United: Proponents of the Samaikyandhra Movement argue that a division of the state will be detrimental to the other regions as majority of the state's income comes from the capital Hyderabad and the implementation of welfare programmes would not be possible in other regions if the state is divided.g Students feel that in case of a division, educated youth of other backward regions like those in Rayalaseema will be denied employment opportunities. Further, due to the division, many top engineering colleges under the purview of Osmania University will become unavailable for students of Andhra & Rayalaseema regions. Engineering graduates fear that several government and private institutions for training in job-oriented courses are located in Hyderabad and if the state is divided the residual state will not have any of these institutes. They also feel that losing a software hub like Hyderabad will cost a lot to the students. Medical students also fear that since 85 per cent of super specialty course seats were allotted to colleges in Telangana, students from other regions may not be able to pursue important PG courses like cardiology. They also believe that the demand to carve out a separate state of Telangana is unreasonable, since far greater development took place in many towns and cities of Telangana region while other parts of the State were lagging behind in many aspects. This was validated by the Srikrishna Committee in its report. Similarly they also feel that the myth that smaller states develop faster is wrong, since many states are currently facing a whole lot of problems because of lack of sufficient resources and exploitation. They demand that a proper survey needs to be conducted to establish the backwardness of each region before taking a decision over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. They feel that all the areas of north Andhra region barring Visakhapatnam city would come under backward area. Division of the state, they argue, would also result in water problems in Andhra & Rayalaseema since Telangana was on the upstream of Krishna & Godavari rivers. Farmers & water-users associations express fear that division of the state would render upland areas in Krishna delta into a desert and force farmers to migrate as daily wage earners. People in Andhra & Rayalaseema regions express worries about the safety of their friends and relatives who have settled in the state capital, Hyderabad and the fear that they would be considered ‘non-locals’ in their own state. They also opine that they are not ready to lose Hyderabad since they had contributed more for the development of Hyderabad. Several people also mention that small states would lead to problems of Naxalism. Eminent Journalist Kuldip Nayar also felt that small states do not necessarily bring about prosperity. He went on to say that the people in Punjab are now realising that bifurcation of the state was a big mistake. India's social activist and anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare said that creation of Telangana state will not only encourage the demand for newer states, but also new districts which will weaken the country. Sri Krishna Committee Report: The five member committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna toured all the regions of state extensively and invited people from all sections of the society to give their opinion on the statehood. It received over one lakh petitions and representations from political parties, organisations, NGOs and individuals. It also held consultations with political parties and general public while also factoring in the impact of recent developments on different sections of people such as women, children, students, and minorities, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In a report submitted to the Home Ministry of India on 30 December 2010, the committee favored the option to keep the State united and providing for creation of a statutorily empowered Telangana Regional Council for socio­-economic development and political development of Telangana region Options suggested: The Sri Krishna Committee submitted a comprehensive 461-page report after their detailed across the state which included consultations with various political as well as social groups. The Committee's report suggested 6 options. 1. Maintaining Status Quo - Keeping the Andhra Pradesh State as it is with no change in the Telangana, Seemandhra and coastal regions. 2. Bifurcating the state of Andhra Pradesh into Seemandhra and Telengana regions with both of them developing their own capitals in due course of time. Hyderabad to be converted to a Union Territory - This proposal was similar to the Punjab-Haryana-Chandigarh model. 3. Dividing Andhra Pradesh into two states - One of Rayala-Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital and second one of the Coastal Andhra Pradesh 4. Dividing Andhra Pradesh into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad Metropolis as a separate Union Territory that will be linked geographically to district Guntur in coastal Andhra via Nalgonda district in the south­east and via Mahboobnagar district in the south to Kurnool district in Rayalaseema 5. Bifurcation of the State into Telangana and Seemandhrâ as per existing boundaries with Hyderabad as the capital of Telangana and Seemandhra to have a new capital. This was the second most preferred option according to the report. 6. Keeping the State united and providing for creation of a statutorily empowered Telangana Regional Council for socio­-economic development and political development of Telangana region. This was the most preferred option. Considering the current situations and the past history of Andhra Pradesh social and economic conditions, it is best to go for the option-1 which is to stay united and continue with the status-quo. The more we continue with this separate Andhra movement, the more inconvenience it causes, leading to unrest and distress among students and common people disrupting their life styles. Check http://www.AndhraPradeshNRI.org for more details. (Author is an IT Professional living in New Jersey)

Kanchan Banerjee urges each and every India to be an agent for change on the eve of the 67th Independence Day

August 15 – the day India broke free from colonial shackles-- has come again. This is the 67th year. A new India was born out of the old with the image of a modern nation, and guided by a Constitution which is largely British inspired till date. But asking question about Indian Constitution’s effectiveness for the people may not be a politically correct act. Although the Greeks are given credit, the idea of democracy originated in India, even the celebrated American historian Will Durant noted!

Parade, flags, children singing ‘sare jahan se achha’, speeches, parties, holiday! Is it really ‘the best in the world’?

What do we really celebrate? Freedom? Liberty? Who has the freedom? Who enjoys it? The bottom of the pyramid, or..?

India has an education system which is till remnants of the old – British. Which Macaulay wanted to create clerks and ‘brown sahibs’.

India has a great healthcare system. Some of the hospital systems are the best in the world. But is the private and public management system best for the people – one may ask.

India has a robust legal and justice system which is old as well. But is justice delivered on time and to the needy?

Millions go hungry daily; millions don’t get potable water. Millions still cannot read. It’s been a long way since 1947. India could do better, and be better. It led the freedom of many nations, the last major one being South Africa. But India as a whole has failed to become a model for development. Many questions are there about India’s development model, which unfortunately don’t have too many illuminating answers.

What about the dedication of the old leaders, who had laid down their lives.

The next generation was expected to build. Alas! It has been almost a royal family ruling the nation, democracy is for them to get the extension to rule.

All nations’ inherent tendency is to call itself the best, akin to kids who consider their mothers to be the best in the world. That’s the emotional part of our being. But what about the rational bit? Where India is and which way it is heading? India has a destiny; it only depends upon her people and ultimately on leadership.

You may ask why I am being negative! If this is the reality, why blow a trumpet about it? Well, it would have been normal not to indulge in self-flagellation. Because writing an editorial like this may not change an iota. But hope springs eternal. That there will be few, who are in leadership position and will listen to some of us and take a call, enough is enough, let us change the status quo, let us change the pessimism, let’s change the expectations, roles and our outlook. Change happens when we change ourselves. So, first, be the agents for change. Let us all say, on the next Independence day, we have begun anew, for a newer nation with happy environment, prosperous and progressive society where development is holistic, where every voice has a meaning, every cry has an empathy, every hungry has food and every potential is at least given a chance to realize it. India needs leadership.

India is crying for such leaders and only the people at the societal level have the power to bring such leadership. Are you ready to make the pledge?

West Bengal has been in the news lately several times – not always for good reasons. And that is the nature of news that are `catered’ to by and large these days all across the media platforms.

‘If it is not negative it is not ‘news’! Yes, there are cases of rapes, some unreported communal violence, missing people in Uttarakhand Nature’s fury, Left Wing Extremists threatening the lives of Chief Ministers and also mundane stuff like growing joblessness, legalities of panchayat polls etc.

Yet, one must see beyond these to understand the state’s current affairs. Compared to many other states, West Bengal is still doing better, given that during the end of the Left Front era, Bengal’s coffer did not have much to spend for development.

Though there are reports of political clashes, which was much worse in the past regime, the state is relatively performing better.

Bengal, especially Kolkata, was synonymous to mindless bandhs. Naxal violence was also daily occurrence only months ago. It appears that this twin curses on the state are greatly abated.

There are several separatist movements like the ones spearheaded by the Maoists and Gorkhaland lobby, yet, it seems that political solution through dialogue is still at works.

After over a decade of decline in creative arts in Bengal – it has seen a great comeback of literature and films. Directors, led by Rituparno Ghosh, brought a change in the way films are made in Bengal after auteurs like Satyajit Roy, Mrinal Sen etc. exited the scene.

Bengal recently got another boost of having the current Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, whose roots are in the state.

Bengalis worldwide takes pride in this achievement of their son from an obscure village in Birbhum, Bengal.

On the surface, the promises of the current administration do not show much. People have plenty of expectations and reasons for disappointment. Development is not an easy task. Leaders like Mamata Banerjee is capable of bringing a political change. Leadership for change movements is not always same as leadership for development. What is expected now that the leader is supported by all and sundry, who can turn the development dreams into reality. People who wish well for Bengal hopes that the Chief Minister puts her trust in truly able people.

We hope and wish that the state is going to show visible growth in the coming years. Global Indians can and should be part of this development. One only dreams that both the Bengali intellectualism and emotionalism brings another revolution in the state– prosperity and peace for every citizen.

India is said to have become a nation-state on 15th August 1947, as if until then there was no idea of what is represented by a modern idea of nationhood. The idea of ‘rashtra’ which has wider meaning compared to ‘nation’ has existed in India from time immemorial. The idea of ‘Bharatvarsha’ is not an 18th or 19th century concept, but for millennia. Emperors Asoka and Chandragupta and even some of the Mughal rulers envisioned one India bound by common history and heritage.