All truths need not necessarily be palatable. There are bitter truths that stare at one’s face, one too often, and more so in these difficult times. A reference here is to what has come as a hard-edged, no-holds barred criticism of India by China’s official media this week.
It said in specific terms that Indians can only talk big and not do a thing; that India is a corrupt country; that India has money but that is locked entirely in the hands of its corrupt politicians and bureaucrats; and that its people are a lazy lot.
Under these situations, it would be “advisable for the Chinese businesses to avoid investing in India. Lots of Indian businessmen are coming to China to ship goods to India, so why go and set up shop in India,” was what Global Times said in an Op-Ed write up.
Indians might have been taken aback by this crude comment, mainly as India is one of China’s largest markets; something that has brought Indian manufacturing sector to a disastrous downward dive in recent years.
But, there clearly is truth in what China has said, and anyone who closely watches the Indian scenario cannot but say these observations from China are hundred per cent correct, and right on the dot. Our political class and more so the bureaucracy across the board is known for inefficiency, lack of sincerity to people’s causes, and being shamelessly corrupt. The nation is facing the ills in multiple ways.
Nothing today moves in bureaucratic circles unless the palms of officials are greased. Uncouth officials are dime a dozen, office after office, in this country. The good officials are few and far between and get drowned in the bad deeds of the larger number. So also in the political turf.
When neighbour China starts talking about bureaucratic and political corruption plaguing India, one can imagine how deep the rot has set in and how shameful is this scenario today.
Laziness of Indians is legendary. This is the land of the proverbial lotus-eaters, and the lack of initiative of most societies is a matter of serious concern when set against the highly publicised ambition of this nation to be a superpower of the future.
History shows such rise of nations is made possible by the spirit of enterprise and hard work of their peoples, be it the Great Britain of the 19th Century, the US and Europe of the 20th Century, and China of the present times. Instead, a sense of despondency is all too evident in the way Indians think and work.
At the time of Independence, first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said, “Miles to go before we sleep”, a line borrowed from poet Robert Frost. But, it did not take long for complacence to set in. The only field in which many are active now are in looting the exchequer, be it bureaucrats or the rest of the ruling class.
This is not going to take the nation any further, and the talk about fast-paced economic growth is selective, corporates-oriented, and its benefits are not reaching the wider spectrum of the general public.
The disparities are growing between the 20 per cent rich and the rest 80 per cent of the population, as is also evident from the recent Global Hunger Index that put India at 97 in a ranking of 118 nations. This put China at a high of 29.
China has now held a mirror to India, and irrespective of its intentions, obviously bad, it is for Indians to take a look at it with a positive frame of mind. China’s observation has sent the right signals for India to take stock of the flaws in its social and developmental patterns, eschew the wrong tendencies and work for a better India.
It is time for Indians to change their mindsets, collectively push the growth engine and reduce the sway of corruption in public life and governmental endeavours. It is time now to learn and reflect on what has come as a taunt from the Chinese, because that is how the world perceives us.
There is also no point in blaming China because, as a nation, we are incapable of stopping all trade with that country and rather suffer our miserable existence without minor comforts such as inexpensive mobile phones and cheap power plants.