Incredible India - Way Ahead

Today is our last in India... we are staying in New Delhi... Connaught Place... one of the up-market shopping areas. Our travel agent chose this hotel... probably thinking we may need shelter from the 'real' India. Although we are enjoying the quietness and cleanliness of the hotel... we would prefer to be downtown in Old Delhi... with its heaving mass of humanity... spicy smells... vivid colours... and boundless energy.

Today, Connaught Place was the starting point for an anti-government protest... that had the permits required to march up the street to Parliament House. I think very few people turned up... no special police presence... the only excitement came from local ladies trying to find space on the suburban buses. (Given my experience with the Amalfi Coast scrums... I was tempted to offer advice to some ladies on how to improve their scrumming techniques... but thought better of it.)

As you know, India is the world's largest democracy... and undoubtedly the most complicated. Just to recall... there are 520 historic princely states that have significance in how people identify themselves... this is overplayed with the complexity of the old caste system... it's being replaced by the 'class' system. You have three or four major religions... the divisions within the one religion are usually more important than the differences between the major religions. Within one religion (Hindu) you have 3 million gods worshipped with a high degree of fanaticism. You have multiple languages... and the accents within any one language means people from different countries have difficulty communicating. Within each of the 26 official states, you will have up to 3 different scripts for writing. Fortunately, there is only one official currency... although at the tollway booths on the highways, we did see lollies being used as the preferred currency for small change. Anyone who claims to know India will acknowledge that it is impossible to know how it works... but it works... in a fashion... Indian style.

In Australia, when we spot something not quite right with our society we say, "Why doesn't the Government do something about fixing it?" We all think we could do a better job than 'that lot in Canberra'! I suspect none of us would want to be a politician in India... you'd be on a hiding to nothing. The fact that anything works is a miracle.. a mystery.

On our tour bus, we played a game... how would you spend $1 million to most benefit the community we were passing? There were lots of imaginative suggestions...

:-/ Kerbing and Guttering... feeding into reticulated water storage

:-/ Solar photo voltaic panels with batteries to replace wood burning

:-/ R&D into affordable stoves that require less fuel

:-/ Funding to complete abandoned civic projects

:-/ Better controls to catch those kids who are slipping through the government's excellent programs for child education

:-/ Housing projects buit under the elevated highways that by-pass a lot of villages

:-/ Investment in factories to compete with China in the component manufacturing export trade

Our guide listened patiently to all our suggestions....then pointed out that for every initiative there would be unexpected consequences... and in a democracy... government cannot ignore unexpected consequences.
It is tempting to conclude there is no use trying... the problem is just too complicated. Still, you can't help feeling that India is achieving a critical mass that will... quite soon... unlease growth comparable to the Chinese experience. China has achieved an early start by authoritarian rule... ignoring individual rights and smashing communities that represented the soul for most people living in those communities. Draconian! India has not chosen that path... it has chosen to remain a democracy... a much slower path to wealth.

So, you be the judge... should India sacrifice a generation to provide accelerated growth for younger generations?
My opinion... for what it is worth... its that India offers a unique insight into an alternative set of values that may... one day... prove vital to civilisations throughout the world... in living in a world with populations that stretch resources beyond the riches currently enjoyed in current Western civilisations.