To paraphrase what Pandit Nehru wrote many years ago in The Discovery of India and to apply it to the present context at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century, India is a beleaguered economic entity and a geographical entity that has serious stability problems due to internal dissensions. It is still a bundle of contradictions, but the strong and invisible threads that Pandit Nehru talked about are not really tangible to anyone who cares enough about the fate of the country to not remain in a state of denial about the seriousness of the challenges facing it. The nation's political establishment, however, which has understandably been in the business of advertising its successes and downplaying its failures, has now crossed all bounds as far as not owning up to some of its gargantuan mistakes goes. The list is endless. Languishing GDP growth in the rural and agricultural sectors for two decades while the government advertised large overall growth rates arising mostly from service sector growth, serious environmental challenges, probably the most crippling scale of poverty faced by any modern nation in recent history, the largest number of illiterates in the world, a trade deficit as a percentage of GDP that looks like the trade deficit problem of the United States even though the country lacks several basic strengths that the US economy had when it embarked on a high trade deficit trajectory and a political leadership mired in controversies about corruption or human rights violations are only some of the problems that set India in a class of its own as far as socioeconomic stability goes.
To consider just one of the myriad problems that make the country look like a socioeconomic dystopia, the government's failures in tackling the problem of pollution in the country's most famous river, the Ganges, casts serious doubts about the ability of the current political dispensation, with its mechanical rigmaroles in the areas of democracy, to solve the nation's critical problems in a timely and efficient manner. In fact, so bad does this problem make the country look that the entire science and technology policy of the government and the entire environmental policy of the government needs to be examined with a tooth-comb in order to ensure that environmental problems do not assume the dimensions of health catastrophes or economic catastrophes in the future.
The Ganga Action Plan, which was launched with much fanfare by the government headed by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s, was a pathetic failure when it came to implementation. It was a case of haphazard and halfhearted implementation without the requisite scientific expertise materializing at the right time. Several problems have been pointed out in connection with this project. The use of technology more suited for rivers in temperate countries than in tropical countries, the presence of a specific chemical that rendered one of the waste treatment plant ineffective and the lack of regular supply of electricity needed to run some waste treatment plants resulted in an utter failure of the plan. About twenty years after the plan was launched, a different government, this time headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh, has declared its intentions to get the river cleaned up by the year 2020. However, the past record of the political establishment in India does not inspire confidence about these kinds of projects. How does this political establishment intend to avoid repetitions of the kind of mistakes and omissions that were made in the past ? Does the country have the required scientific expertise to study the problem with the seriousness it deserves in order to justify another round of expenditure of scarce money ?
From the mid 1980s to 2020 is 35 years. By any stretch of the imagination, that is too long a time to clean up the most high profile river in the country. The past record indicates an abject disregard for the country's environmental health, a risible lack of scientific sophistication and a dismaying lack of administrative will and administrative skills. In fact, this fiasco reminds me of the character Lou Mannheim in the movie Wall Street, where he says, “ Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss. “ India is looking into an abyss as we speak. The political leadership, irrespective of party affiliations, seems hopelessly overwhelmed by the country's problems and yet it does not display the willingness to acknowledge its failures and to bring a sense of seriousness to the solving of the country's problems. This kind of lackadaisical attitude bodes ill for the country's future. That part of the relevant scientific establishment of the country that truly cares about the nation's stability and the nation's image needs to proffer its advice, offer its expertise and needs to warn the leadership about the pitfalls of a haphazard approach to a problem that is as significant as the cleanup of the Ganga. India is looking into an abyss. She is in serious need of a social and political renaissance. While there are some positive movements, the forces of negativism, cynicism and reaction are too well-entrenched to lead to hopes of easy solutions. The democratic framework is moribund as far as responding to the exigent challenges of the country goes. The country needs to find its character in time to avoid disaster. Whether or not India is able to move to a new paradigm of responsibility and seriousness about its problems will decide if the country is able to avoid some major potential human rights disasters in the future.
To consider just one of the myriad problems that make the country look like a socioeconomic dystopia, the government's failures in tackling the problem of pollution in the country's most famous river, the Ganges, casts serious doubts about the ability of the current political dispensation, with its mechanical rigmaroles in the areas of democracy, to solve the nation's critical problems in a timely and efficient manner. In fact, so bad does this problem make the country look that the entire science and technology policy of the government and the entire environmental policy of the government needs to be examined with a tooth-comb in order to ensure that environmental problems do not assume the dimensions of health catastrophes or economic catastrophes in the future.
The Ganga Action Plan, which was launched with much fanfare by the government headed by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s, was a pathetic failure when it came to implementation. It was a case of haphazard and halfhearted implementation without the requisite scientific expertise materializing at the right time. Several problems have been pointed out in connection with this project. The use of technology more suited for rivers in temperate countries than in tropical countries, the presence of a specific chemical that rendered one of the waste treatment plant ineffective and the lack of regular supply of electricity needed to run some waste treatment plants resulted in an utter failure of the plan. About twenty years after the plan was launched, a different government, this time headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh, has declared its intentions to get the river cleaned up by the year 2020. However, the past record of the political establishment in India does not inspire confidence about these kinds of projects. How does this political establishment intend to avoid repetitions of the kind of mistakes and omissions that were made in the past ? Does the country have the required scientific expertise to study the problem with the seriousness it deserves in order to justify another round of expenditure of scarce money ?
From the mid 1980s to 2020 is 35 years. By any stretch of the imagination, that is too long a time to clean up the most high profile river in the country. The past record indicates an abject disregard for the country's environmental health, a risible lack of scientific sophistication and a dismaying lack of administrative will and administrative skills. In fact, this fiasco reminds me of the character Lou Mannheim in the movie Wall Street, where he says, “ Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss. “ India is looking into an abyss as we speak. The political leadership, irrespective of party affiliations, seems hopelessly overwhelmed by the country's problems and yet it does not display the willingness to acknowledge its failures and to bring a sense of seriousness to the solving of the country's problems. This kind of lackadaisical attitude bodes ill for the country's future. That part of the relevant scientific establishment of the country that truly cares about the nation's stability and the nation's image needs to proffer its advice, offer its expertise and needs to warn the leadership about the pitfalls of a haphazard approach to a problem that is as significant as the cleanup of the Ganga. India is looking into an abyss. She is in serious need of a social and political renaissance. While there are some positive movements, the forces of negativism, cynicism and reaction are too well-entrenched to lead to hopes of easy solutions. The democratic framework is moribund as far as responding to the exigent challenges of the country goes. The country needs to find its character in time to avoid disaster. Whether or not India is able to move to a new paradigm of responsibility and seriousness about its problems will decide if the country is able to avoid some major potential human rights disasters in the future.