Poverty isn’t just about money. Its also about thought and beliefs. The monetary measure of poverty is but one of the factors of poverty.
As long as we witness appointments from top to bottom on the basis of Caste, Religion, Regionalism and so on, the competence of the whole country will suffer. That is why the Founding Fathers had inserted the quota system in the constitution as a temporary measure for just 10 years.
But it was successive governments that have extended it to perpetuity. The reasons for why these self cantered, selfish & myopic politicians did this is very easy to spot: Divide and Rule, a British era legacy suits these politicians even more than it did the British!
Blaming the politicians alone is also unfair. After all, they’ll do what’ll get them votes. Which means the people are the ones perpetuating this sectarianism.
So who can compete on the basis of class, creed & religion? Only those who have nothing else to show will want quotas and selection on the basis of their birth, instead of their skills & talents!
This leads to the Command & Control culture. We can see it at every level of governance, starting from the lowest & powerless in the hierarchy – the so called Residents Welfare Associations.
The real battle before India is:
- The Command & Control Culture Vs the Empowerment Culture
- The Speed Breakers Vs The Prime Movers
The unfortunate part is that with the decades long Patriarchal Culture Indians have been subject to, those who are prime movers move away to other countries that promote them to dizzying heights as we see in the USA and more recently in Europe.
Where will it leave India? You be the judge!
@jsvasan