Union minister for panchayati raj Mani Shankar Aiyar at a speech at the University of Stanford:
“And why are we stuck somewhere in the 120s on the UN Human Development Index? In 1994, we stood 134th on the UN HDI. Ten years later, as the NDA government yielded to our government, we had inched our way up to just the 126th position. On the UN HDI for the year 2005, published last year, we actually sank from 126th to 128th position.
“True, as Prof. T.N. Srinivasan of Princeton was quick to point out to me, this was largely because the downward revision of death rates from AIDS of children in Botswana catapulted Botswana ahead of India � but surely in an era of accelerating growth we ought to depend less than we seem to do on infant mortality in Botswana to determine India’s place in the sun?
“Because our democracy flowered at the highest branches, unlike the developed democracies where democracy was nurtured at the roots, our democracy has followed not the path of evolution from the grassroots but devolution to the grassroots.”
Read the full text: Political framework for inclusive growth
Also read: Rising India’s share of the poorest is growing
Never ask where on earth Gabon is
Link via Nikhil Moro
Tags: HDI, Human Development Index, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Princeton, Stanford, T.N. Srinivasan, UN, United Nations, University of Stanford
11 June 2008 at 4:35 pm
What an intricately constructed argument in favor of fascism. Democracy percolating from top to bottom. I think many of us already knew that we walk on the sky and the earth is our roof. Good to see a Congress stalwart proclaiming this in the land of the almighty dollar. We need to keep reminding the world that our is a land of miracles, of over one billion, to be exact.
11 June 2008 at 6:50 pm
Once again Mani Shankar Aiyar proves that he is a moron.
:)
11 June 2008 at 6:57 pm
First of all it is Stanford University (THere is no such university as University of Stanford).
Also, Mani Shankar Iyer did not make it to Stanford, apparently he only sent a written speech to be included in the proceedings.
11 June 2008 at 7:03 pm
There are scientifically constructed arguments that rely on relevant facts, tried and tested theory, and deduction. And then there is rhetoric that aims to move you by force of logic (which can be completely unscientific) or simply glibness and oration. Aiyar has no use for science, or else he would not confuse cause and effect. The HDI rank is simply a dependent variable in a statistical model. What Aiyar seems to be confused about is cause and effect. The current state of Indian democracy – its devolving state – is the result of certain other actions and policies that guide them, chiefly the shortsighted Congress itself of which Aiyar is a part. Not having himself worked at any level finer than that of an MP, how would Aiyar know whether democracy is evolving or devolving? Pulikeshi is right cent per cent. The Congress’s fascination for pomp, the grandiose, and fluff over substance is the stuff of fascism. Aiyar seems to have been talking to a herd of sheep. Why is no one asking him about that one overriding element in India’s post 1947 history? the Congress party. Every decision and every policy that we have followed has been its. That is where our problems lie. To deny that is to evade, cover, and act innocent.
11 June 2008 at 7:22 pm
Typical rambling from a crashing bore! I am sure Sonia will say, “I don’t know what Iyer is trying to say but it looks good because he has worked in NDA to give them a bad name. Next time I will ask him to include Kangress Paarty and its achivements.”
12 June 2008 at 3:32 am
This guy usually speaks nonsense. His linking of HDI to democracy is just that. However, his assessment on where our democracy comes from is correct. Our local communities (cities, villages) don’t have anywhere near the autonomy that the ones in developed democracies do.
12 June 2008 at 7:04 am
Where and when in the world have feudal systems volitionally conferred power on the lower classes? Look at our neighbour Nepal.
Fascism thrives on the ignorance and reflexive behavior of the lower economic classes. That is the way Hitler mobilized Germany, and, unfortunately, how our own Indiramma made us her slaves for three years.
Why do I mention fascism so often? The language of fascism drives our infatuation with the rich and the powerful. Thus, a politician without any sense of life comes to be called “Dore” even by newspapers which pretend to pander to the literate. “Dore thanaka dooru, holethanaka neeru,” etc. The fatuous, violence prone, drunk voters are our “mathadaara prabhus.” Officials in our democratic India are still “Saahebaru.” D group workers are addressed in the singular by their overseers. Many high placed officials do not let those who work under them use the word “neevu.” The preferred word is “thaavu.”
Whoever wrote Iyer’s speech definitely thought that his audience–readers or writers–would be thrilled by his claim that democracy in India was cradled by patricians, those who did not have to labor for a living, like that extraordinary combination of Americans who opted to be free of the oppression of the British. Gandhi is our Washington, Nehru our Jefferson, and so on.
Now let me not hear about the poor boy from Hope, Arkanasas who became president of the United States. We are talking about India. I think we need to find a new term for the exploitative system that our politicians practice. “The Devil take the hindmost?”
The world’s largest democracy–the words sound nice. That is all the validation we need. Teach our people to read and write. Just how many of them know what “prajaasaththe” means? A society in which the jaathi concept thrives can never be a democracy.
12 June 2008 at 4:47 pm
Pulikeshi,
The Kaangress has become a patrician party because almost every one of its leaders and the entire “youth brigade” are scions of prestige and pomp. Not one of them has risen through the ranks, at best they have made a lateral move into the party from the bureaucracy. The Commies are not any different. Their leaders are all lateral imports from JNU and the like. It is in the BJP you find leaders who have risen through the ranks. Almost everyone of note has fought against the Emergency or spent time in prison.
13 June 2008 at 9:05 am
Kaangeya–
You are many anti-emergency activists spent time in prison in cells meant for criminals. Not all of them belonged to the BJP. They were imprisoned by an Indian government for insisting on respecting the Indian constitution. The Janatha Party had the power to inscribe the future of India then. It blew it because of internal dissension and plain lack of decency. Do you remember everybody wanted to be PM then? Chaudhuri Charan Singh said that every citizen in India should aspire to be PM.
The BJP needs a workshop to learn how Indians in general see it instead of bragging about its commitment to India. Might become a stronger party as a result.
I surely hope that patrician politics is dying.
13 June 2008 at 9:06 am
Kaangeya–
You are right. Many anti-emergency activists spent time in prison in cells meant for criminals. Not all of them belonged to the BJP. They were imprisoned by an Indian government for insisting on respecting the Indian constitution. The Janatha Party had the power to inscribe the future of India then. It blew it because of internal dissension and plain lack of decency. Do you remember everybody wanted to be PM then? Chaudhuri Charan Singh said that every citizen in India should aspire to be PM.
The BJP needs a workshop to learn how Indians in general see it instead of bragging about its commitment to India. Might become a stronger party as a result.
I surely hope that patrician politics is dying.