A Drowsy Numbness perhaps rooted in Oriental Fatalism seems to have afflicted youth of the nation. According to news reports based on census data and the electoral rolls of Delhi state (national capital region) which will have elected a new government by the time this issue of EducationWorld reaches newsstands, a mere 56 percent of youth in Delhi NCR have taken the trouble to register as eligible voters in the imminent assembly election.

This disinterest in participating in the democratic process to elect suitable MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) who would voice their concerns and address issues of importance to their well-being — education, health, employment, law, order and justice, civic governance, water and sanitation, and women’s safety, among others — is very confusing because while making politically correct noises, youth miss no opportunity to plead for the devolution of leadership of society and the nation upon themselves and their representatives. Yet their lack of interest in participating in the most fundamental processes of democratic practice suggests that like young spoilt brats and princelings of the Congress and BJP, they expect the electoral process to be shaped to their convenience and for leadership to be thrust upon them. That’s vainglorious wishful thinking.

The blame for injecting this curious malaise, cynicism and sentiments of helplessness within the nation’s young who — it should be noted — constitute the majority of the population, has to be laid at the doors of leaders of the major political parties. Instead of practicing inner party democracy, they perpetuate their rule and the status quo by cynically manipulating the entry of their progeny — who have never suffered material deprivation, employment anxiety, the law’s delay, insolence of office, the country’s dysfunctional public education and healthcare systems etc — into state assemblies and Parliament. Gandhi, Scindia, Singh, Dikshit, Hooda, Gowda and Karunanidhi succeed Gandhi, Scindia, Singh, Dikshit, Hooda, Gowda, and Karunanidhi in monotonous succession. Little wonder the more youth leaders come and go, the more things remain the same.

Admittedly this is a depressing scenario and the first impulse is to withdraw from the rude scene wishing a plague on all their houses. But my young countrymen, that’s precisely the trap set by wily political patriarchs hell-bent upon perpetuating nihilistic dynasty rule. Don’t fall into it. The impact of the inevitable misrule of untested dynastic spoilt brats will be suffered by your generation rather than mine. Instead, take the trouble to register as voters and exercise the full power of the ballot to comprehensively reject India’s ideologically and intellectually bankrupt mainstream political parties. Several new political alternatives including the Children First Party of India — led by people with proven track records and purposive development agendas — have emerged from the crucible of post-independence India’s failed socio-economic development effort (see www.childrenfirst.in).

Muster the resolve to sign up with them bearing in mind that the worst we can do will be better than the best Congress/BJP have done. A great opportunity has become available to India’s short-changed and cruelly deprived youth to build a new republic. Don’t waste it.

Defence expenditure could sink nation

The Belated Induction of India’s Massive 45,400 tonne displacement aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya into the Indian Navy on November 16, has been widely welcomed by the media and the country’s chattering classes. The general consensus of opinion is that the $2.35 billion (Rs.14,722 crore) spent for the purchase of this aircraft carrier, which entered service in 1987 and was decommissioned in 1996 as being too expensive to maintain by Russia, is money well spent. The refurbished and completely retrofitted carrier features two runways — one of which is the size of three football fields set end-to-end — and the capacity to host 34 aircraft. Together with the 55-year-old INS Viraat (28,000 tonnes) which is expected to be replaced by the indigenously manufactured INS Vikrant (40,000 tonnes) in 2018, the Indian Navy will have deep strike capability on its western as well as eastern seaboards.

While the augmentation of the country’s naval fleet by INS Vikramaditya and the manufacture of INS Vikrant at the Cochin Shipyards, is demonstration of the country’s technology management prowess, the larger question of the spending priorities of the Union government has been obfuscated by the groundswell of middle class pride. Yet the plain truth is that acquisition of this expensive aircraft carrier is likely to be regarded as unwarranted indulgence by 22 percent of the population which, according to the Planning Commission’s self-confessed data, makes do on a per capita income of less than Rs.33 per day in urban and Rs.26 per day in rural India. Certainly it won’t comfort 46 percent of India’s under-5 children who suffer severe malnutrition and are in danger of stunting and/or brain damage.

It can be — and often is — contended that this line of argument is nihilistic and would rule out all progress. But surely it makes more sense to intensify diplomatic efforts and make peace with our actual and perceived enemies than invest Rs.203,672 crore per year on defence. In this connection, it’s pertinent to bear in mind that the opportunity cost of the INS Vikramaditya is 2,944 RTE Act, 2009-compliant elementary schools (4.6 in each district countrywide) or 4,907 well-equipped primary health centres (7.7). In the circumstances, the wisdom and risk of investing in a deterrent value aircraft carrier which is surely on the radar of every inimical saboteur in our neighbourhood, is questionable.

Curiously, the Indian intelligentsia seems unable or reluctant to make the connection between continuous unrest and belligerence on our borders with the chronic ineffectiveness of the Union ministry of external affairs and diplomatic corps to resolve border disputes and negotiate durable peace treaties. A new genre of leaders and diplomats with capability to negotiate complex foreign policy issues in a spirit of give and take, is urgently needed to end the arms race in the subcontinent and reduce India’s unsustainable defence expenditure. Ironically even as the defence services might secure our borders, uncontrolled defence expenditure could sink the national development effort.