An India within an India

About a year back, when India celebrated it's 59th year of Independence, there was a feeling that things in India were changing for the better. And indeed, when you look at the development that the country has achieved after Liberalization in the 1990's, there is a sense of Optimism. But, wether this development is for the good of the country is doubtful. I say this because of an incident I witnessed during the Independence Day celebrations here in my Society in Bhopal.

The traditional Flag-Hoisting ceremony was taking place, and all the members of the society were invited. But, the Workers in the society, namely the maids, the Gardeners, the Garbage collectors and the Cleaners were all excluded. For me, that was a sign that the poor still are not free as the rest of the country percieves. This interpretation may vary from place to place, but for me the incident that took place indicated that there is a visible class difference in India, and thus there is an India within an India.

For the poor, Independence has still not come to them. The India that they visualize in their life is different from the India witnessed by the elites. The age of Liberalization, so far for the past 15 years, has had mixed fortunes for India. The Haves have got the majority of the benefit, while the Have-Nots have furthur degraded. India's agrarian base is almost on a state of collapse, the proof being the increasing number of Farmer suicides in many regions. The Naxal menace is dangerous for the very fact that the poor will now carry arms. With a new Peasent uprising, the social tranquility of the country will be at stake. Class barriers in the heartland of rural India exist and this furthur alienates the poor sections from moving forward in their socio-economic conditions. The poorer have gotten poorer in today's India, and thus it is leading to a whole new situation.

Due to the failure of the Agrarian base in the rural areas, Migration to the major cities in India is on the rise. The surge in the immigrant population is causing the Infrastructure of the cities to crumble as wll. The case of Mumbai is the prime exampe, with shanty towns in every third street of mumbai, as well as high rates of Crime. The poor people who migrate to the city have to live in inhuman conditions. They have to do work like cleaning streets, Toilets at homes of the rich, as well as wash utensils and clean houses for a living. Inspite of the fact that the majority of people see this discrepency of poor and rich, they just ignore it as if it is invisible. The apathy of the rich and the elite furthur aggravates the poor sections of society and this leads to a disruption in the normal functioning of society.

All this while when this situation exists, India celebrates its independence and shows off to the world that it is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Many elitists have gone on to say that the year 2007, where India celebrates 60 years, will be it's time. There are clearly Two Indias: One India which touches the Sky, and another which is barely able to jump off the ground. Will the people of India realize this or will they continue to be ignorant? The answer to this could lie with the people themselves. There is perhaps a limit as to how much people can be ignorant of the severity of problems that plague our country. The problem is there is no determining factor to that Limit.