India and her states
India is a vast country and within the vastness of its boundaries, there co-exist a huge number of different cultural and religious groups. But I always thought that nationalism would conquer any differences, but I was wrong.
Seeing the issues on Telangana,Gorkhaland and other such voices of dissent I do wonder what happened to the broader issue of sharing the same country and the corresponding pride in one's nation, the feeling to aim for progress for our country. Instead we see the rising dominance of regionalism and communalism.
What will a Telangana or Gorkhaland ensure? Perhaps preserving language and a way of living? But why must there be a separate state, a separate region for practicing one's cultural norms, why cannot a person be a Gorkha while living in Delhi? When people move to, say The Netherlands, they practice their religion and culture. To a certain extent a state can guarantee preserving language and culture, of promoting it. But a state cannot be burdened with its sole responsibility, culture and religion and language are the equal responsibility of parents and family. Many of us went to schools which may have been run by Christians or Hindus where the practices of those religions were taught to us, how many of us still follow them? Many people I meet today, of my age group, who live by themselves, do not celebrate most festivals. Many of us go to schools where the course is in English but that does not mean we forget out regional language.
Why do people feel so insecure? Or do they feel marginalized? Or will it actually be better for the country if there were numerous states each managed independently? If you start feeling insecure in your own country then it certainly is a sorry state. Is there a proper reason for these feelings or is it just paranoia fed by unscrupulous elements? I really wonder, if today Indians could boast of a developed country where there were job opportunities in the most backward states as well, no one would have the time or even bother about segregating according to culture and language.
India is a huge country and to date our government has been ineffective in imposing law and order along its breadth and width. I still firmly believe that if development is encouraged and education and professional training is provided along with an equal increase in job opportunities and controlling the increase in population, we might still be able to salvage the situation. Otherwise I sometimes wonder, for how long will there be an India....
Seeing the issues on Telangana,Gorkhaland and other such voices of dissent I do wonder what happened to the broader issue of sharing the same country and the corresponding pride in one's nation, the feeling to aim for progress for our country. Instead we see the rising dominance of regionalism and communalism.
What will a Telangana or Gorkhaland ensure? Perhaps preserving language and a way of living? But why must there be a separate state, a separate region for practicing one's cultural norms, why cannot a person be a Gorkha while living in Delhi? When people move to, say The Netherlands, they practice their religion and culture. To a certain extent a state can guarantee preserving language and culture, of promoting it. But a state cannot be burdened with its sole responsibility, culture and religion and language are the equal responsibility of parents and family. Many of us went to schools which may have been run by Christians or Hindus where the practices of those religions were taught to us, how many of us still follow them? Many people I meet today, of my age group, who live by themselves, do not celebrate most festivals. Many of us go to schools where the course is in English but that does not mean we forget out regional language.
Why do people feel so insecure? Or do they feel marginalized? Or will it actually be better for the country if there were numerous states each managed independently? If you start feeling insecure in your own country then it certainly is a sorry state. Is there a proper reason for these feelings or is it just paranoia fed by unscrupulous elements? I really wonder, if today Indians could boast of a developed country where there were job opportunities in the most backward states as well, no one would have the time or even bother about segregating according to culture and language.
India is a huge country and to date our government has been ineffective in imposing law and order along its breadth and width. I still firmly believe that if development is encouraged and education and professional training is provided along with an equal increase in job opportunities and controlling the increase in population, we might still be able to salvage the situation. Otherwise I sometimes wonder, for how long will there be an India....