In Spite of the Gods.

An eminent economist shares his ideas, on what he thinks, has made india such a poor and backward country. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/is-india-trapped-in-lilliput-state-i/565636/0 As usual, the author holds outdated government policies and misgovernance responsible for india's poor show. I am no economist , but i know enough about India, to disagree , on who should be held responsible for india's plight.

Just a few decades back, the typical indian middle class family used to have 6-7 children and just one breadwinner. do you expect such people to be millionaires, or do you expect banks to be overflowing with money in such a social scenario ? Mind you , there was absolutely no compulsion whatsoever , on people to have so many kids with just one earning member.This was not forced, but chosen misery. As far as i am aware , contraceptives or other methods of family planning have been available almost since the time of India's independence. And i guess one doesnt need to have a PhD in economics to understand how this can lead to economic stagnation. There is little any government can do if the people themselves are hell bent on ruining theirs - and their children's lives.

Make no mistake , it is not poor governance in the first place , it is Indian Social Customs which are responsible for making of this mess we call 21st century India. One cannot analyse the economy in isolation ; you have to keep the prevailing social norms in mind. With such self-destructive customs, I often wonder why India's poverty should not be called self-inflicted.
And dont forget , there are still many among the urban lower middle classes and lower classes ,even those below poverty line, that continue to have as many children as biologically possible. The maid who works in our house is in the mid of her reproductive age , but already has 4 children. I wonder what role her children will play in 21st century India ? Perhaps what economists like to call " cheap unskilled labour " !!

One wonders what would compel human beings to adopt such a self-destructive lifestyle, almost sure of ruining theirs and their country's future. But someone even mildly familiar with this country would know what is responsible for this : Outdated social customs , drawing their inspiration from nowhere else but the delusion called G-O-D. For God has ordained his followers to adopt certain customs and lifestyles, and those who dare to defy his wishes will have to bear the wrath of the creator. Apparently god wants his followers to remain hungry and malnourished and malaria and hepatitis-infested. Karl Marx might have been declared irrelevant long ago, but one of his maxims still hold true for the indian people " Religion is the opium of the masses "

But wait !! Havent the mall-hopping , English speaking middle class , liberated themselves from the shackles of religious and social evil ? Far from it , they have instead given it a new flavour - a very convinient but hypocrite flavour. Its no secret that most Indian females simply sit at home and watch saas-bahu serials after marriage, irrespective of whether they hold a BTech , an MBA or a PhD. As if the only purpose of their lives was to find a rich man with a LCD TV and split air conditioner, and only purpose their degrees served was to aid in finding such a man. Many of them were indeed beneficiaries of state-subsidized education or even state-sponsored scholarships . What a colossal amount of money goes down the drain, with absolutely no benefit whatsover ( to the country ) . I intend to meet an economics student sometime in the future and ask him/her a rough estimate of amount of potential GDP India loses due to the fact that half of its potential workforce sits at home ( without any valid reason , other than that this practice is ordained by social customs ) (And oh , i almost forgot , these modern-day parasites do something other than watching TV, they also spend hours worshipping the gods in the temple )

India is a country where people can spend a fortune to appease the gods-- from the idols in Ganesh festival in Mumbai to those in Durga Puja in Kolkata, but rarely ever spare a penny- or a thought for the countless indians who cannot read or write . No wonder , the Tirupati temple is the richest religious institution in the world. Wealthy God reigning over hungry , malnourished illiterate mortals !!!
Today , thanks to these gods, India has more population than entire three continents put together - North America, South America and Australia. Our ancestors did precious little other than giving birth like dogs and cats. Truly , if anything had the potential to destroy humanity, it would be god and religion.

( The title of this article is taken from a best-seller book , which wonders how India has become such a large economy , with such outdated customs and social evils. --- the simple truth is that , if a single country has more population than 3 continents put together, it is bound to have a disproportionate share of the world economy )