beijingwalker
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What price India’s democracy versus China’s dictatorship?
March 16, 2018, 3:49 PM IST Jug Suraiya in Juggle-Bandhi | India | TOI
Thirty years ago, the Chinese economy and that of India were at par. Today, China has far outstripped India in economic terms, and is set to overtake the US economy, the world’s largest, within the next ten years.
Though India recently reclaimed its lead over China by once again becoming the world’s fastest growing economy, it’ll take decades for us to catch up with China in economic terms, if we ever do.
However, we seek consolation, and take pride in, the fact that we are a democracy – the world’s most populous – while China is a dictatorship, ruled over by ‘Emperor’ Xi who has just been declared his country’s leader for life.
But what price our much-vaunted democracy vis-a-vis China’s dictatorship?
After more than 70 years of Independence, our country is still mired in poverty, with hundreds of financially distressed farmers being driven to suicide every year.
In terms of health, nutrition and infant mortality – particularly for females – India ranks among the lowest in the world, including other countries in South Asia and several African nations.
A large swathe of the country, from north to south, has become a ‘Red Corridor’ of so-called naxal extremists where the writ of the State does not obtain.
In other parts of the country, people are lynched on the mere suspicion that they are smuggling cattle for slaughter, or are eating beef.
Despite the entrenched system of reservations, which has led to often violent inter-caste conflict, dalits continue to suffer the most brutal oppression.
Though secularism is one of the cornerstones of the Constitution, today the country is more divided than ever along communal lines.
Politically, India is riven by the seemingly unbridgeable rift between so-called ‘Modi bhakts’ and their ‘sickularist’ opponents who are branded as anti-national traitors.
Rationalists and those accused of the ‘crime’ of being ‘intellectuals’ face murderous attacks in several parts of the country by right-wing fanatics.
‘Dynastic’ politics, institutionalised by the Nehru-Gandhi family have become a commonplace, exposing our democracy to the feudal system which underlies it.
Various supposedly autonomous organs of the state – from the RBI to the bureaucracy, from the police to the judiciary – are subject to increasing political pressure and control.
Multi-crore scams have become literally a daily affair, with their perpetrators seldom being brought to book.
There is little or no transparency or accountability in radical decisions taken by the government, such as demonetisation, about which even the finance minister was supposedly unaware till the last moment.
Yes, we are free to express our views – as evidenced by this blog – which Chinese citizens cannot do. That is not something little, it’s a lot.
And it should be, considering the price we’ve had to pay for our freedom. Which often reminds us of the words of the song:
“Freedom is another word for nothing left to lose.”
https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatim...-indias-democracy-versus-chinas-dictatorship/
March 16, 2018, 3:49 PM IST Jug Suraiya in Juggle-Bandhi | India | TOI
Thirty years ago, the Chinese economy and that of India were at par. Today, China has far outstripped India in economic terms, and is set to overtake the US economy, the world’s largest, within the next ten years.
Though India recently reclaimed its lead over China by once again becoming the world’s fastest growing economy, it’ll take decades for us to catch up with China in economic terms, if we ever do.
However, we seek consolation, and take pride in, the fact that we are a democracy – the world’s most populous – while China is a dictatorship, ruled over by ‘Emperor’ Xi who has just been declared his country’s leader for life.
But what price our much-vaunted democracy vis-a-vis China’s dictatorship?
After more than 70 years of Independence, our country is still mired in poverty, with hundreds of financially distressed farmers being driven to suicide every year.
In terms of health, nutrition and infant mortality – particularly for females – India ranks among the lowest in the world, including other countries in South Asia and several African nations.
A large swathe of the country, from north to south, has become a ‘Red Corridor’ of so-called naxal extremists where the writ of the State does not obtain.
In other parts of the country, people are lynched on the mere suspicion that they are smuggling cattle for slaughter, or are eating beef.
Despite the entrenched system of reservations, which has led to often violent inter-caste conflict, dalits continue to suffer the most brutal oppression.
Though secularism is one of the cornerstones of the Constitution, today the country is more divided than ever along communal lines.
Politically, India is riven by the seemingly unbridgeable rift between so-called ‘Modi bhakts’ and their ‘sickularist’ opponents who are branded as anti-national traitors.
Rationalists and those accused of the ‘crime’ of being ‘intellectuals’ face murderous attacks in several parts of the country by right-wing fanatics.
‘Dynastic’ politics, institutionalised by the Nehru-Gandhi family have become a commonplace, exposing our democracy to the feudal system which underlies it.
Various supposedly autonomous organs of the state – from the RBI to the bureaucracy, from the police to the judiciary – are subject to increasing political pressure and control.
Multi-crore scams have become literally a daily affair, with their perpetrators seldom being brought to book.
There is little or no transparency or accountability in radical decisions taken by the government, such as demonetisation, about which even the finance minister was supposedly unaware till the last moment.
Yes, we are free to express our views – as evidenced by this blog – which Chinese citizens cannot do. That is not something little, it’s a lot.
And it should be, considering the price we’ve had to pay for our freedom. Which often reminds us of the words of the song:
“Freedom is another word for nothing left to lose.”
https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatim...-indias-democracy-versus-chinas-dictatorship/
