India Money and 2030
Ancient India was called “sone ki chidiya” or a golden bird. Naturally blessed with beautiful weather and fertile plains, inhabitants of the sub-continent never had to really struggle to fulfill their basic needs. And this over thousands of years gave rise to a culture that never gave a lot of emphasis to money and its pursuit. Infact the merchant class or the baniya as they were called never got the respect in society that the warriors and the brahmins got. For knowledge and skills were primary. Wealth was a by product. The greats were all those who shunned wealth and its pursuit -Lord Rama, Buddha, Mahavir, Gandhi, Tagore -greatest of men who never focused on the mundane things of life. The ideal was that of a wise “fakir”.
Now why am I writing all this? Because since early 90s -once economic liberalisation was undertaken -India’s relationship with money has changed. We have adopted Capitalism and the blind pursuit of money has become the new Dharma of the nation. However, this is resulting in a lot of imbalance in society. Who is the new ideal today? The man with the wealth it seems has the whole society in its grips. Money today is needed for everything. In politics it can buy you allies. In Business it smoothens all paths. In a country with creaking and inadequate infrastructure, money buys good health and education.
Hence the adage most appropriate for todays time seems to be -”baba bada na bhaiyya sabse bada ruppaiya” viz. “neither father nor elder brother, biggest is money”. Now while all this may seem perfectly logical, this post is more about what this thinking is doing to the changing milieu of the nation. Given our cultural ethos -at some level, money or its brazen display is not considered right. And yet the majority sees a lack of money as the key challenge in their life. Naturally, the focus then shifts to a desire to get this money by hook or by crook. And this change in thinking can be destructuve for a culture as ancient as ours and for a nation as populous and large as ours. As a sense of injustice sets into the poor all it needs is a few smart politicians to exploit this feeling. A few whatsapp forwards. A few viral videos.
So is this what we are seeing in India today with the echoes of our socialist past which demonised capitalists coming back to haunt the current government? Or more than capitalism -is it crony capitalism which surprisingly has become even more prominent despite large multinationals setting up base and flourishing in our nation now? What lies ahead for a nation which is struggling under the “reset” applied by our “visionary” PM and the once in a century virus? Are we headed the way Mao’s China went from one crisis to another manufactured by a “rustic” leader with maybe the right intent but lack of understanding of the way things work at scale?
Whatever it may be -the times ahead are going to be tough. India today is a nation that has tasted success. It has seen a sudden spurt in lifestyles backed by easy credit in the first decade of this century. Will we be able to take on “stoically” the challenges we as a nation would be forced to take on in the next few years? From Y2k to 9/11 to 26/11 to global financial crisis to taper tantrums of 2013 to demon, IL&FS collapse, GST and covid, India has been through a lot! And a nation trying to break free from the shackles of conservatism and a deep colonial hangover has today become angry, assertive and demanding. Managing 1.3 bn dissatisfied people is no joke. 2021 in many ways is the most crucial year -and would determine how the next decade takes shape and how India as a nation evolves. Will we become the India – Gandhi, Nehru and Bose dreamed of? Or will we devolve into a chaotic Hindu Rashtra -with wide inequalities and assertive majoritarianism? What do you feel?
