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© 2012 Sanjeev Sabhlok's revolutionary blog
A commentator wrote that India is running on "autopilot".
Indeed, it is.
After independence India continued with almost all systems designed by the British rulers of India (e.g. civil service established by Lord Cornwallis, laws – at least the penal code – established by Thomas Macaulay, and democracy established by John Simon of the Simon Commission – which created the India Act 1935).
Then came Nehru and damaged many of these systems – so that even whatever little used to work during colonial rule started breaking down.
Indians did not THINK about why these systems were so designed by Cornwallis, Macaulay and Simon. The underlying economic and theoretical analysis behind these institutions was beyond the capacity of most Indians, it would appear (except a few like Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, and Rajaji).
Since they couldn't understand the theory underpinning these institutions, they lacked the capacity to reform them. All they could think about, in their childish socialist way of thinking, was how to degrade and damage these institutions.
So, even though significant improvements were made across the world in the institutions of governance, India remained on autopilot.
Luckily for India, these underlying institutions established by the British were so strong that it somehow survives intact even today. Without the work of Cornwallis, Macaulay, Simon (and many other THINKING Britishers), one shudders to think what would have happened to India.
Despite its BILLION strong population, India still lives off the mental output of its British rulers. Its own people never internalised the foundational idea of freedom.
The day the "educated" classes of India start understanding why the British gave it a strong bureaucracy, strong laws, and strong democracy, they will begin to develop the MENTAL capacity to reform and modernise these institutions.
That day, however, is still very far away.
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- Introduction of English in India was inevitable for decades. Macaulay merely confirmed it.
- Both Macaulay and Dadabhai Naoroji attacked Malthusian arguments against population
- Reviling Macaulay is India’s favourite pastime now, it would appear
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Yes, India is on autopilot – that was set by Cornwallis, Macaulay and Simon http://t.co/DH3c7UD
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What could be the reason why Indians do not understand liberty and are not able to see the root causes of problems. It has always been a mystery to me.We have spread all around the world- run corporations. But when it comes to governance of India why do we fallback on to Ramdev and Hazare? What is it in our genes that allows us to be so good in many other fields but when it comes to governance we simply fail.
Vishal
Thats why I think that it would have been better if India had broken into pieces after the British left. That way each smaller, more manageable state would have had to think about governance issues a new. They would have been forced to do so.
I fail to realize that what great benefits India has for having the hotchpotch union of various regions that dont even speak the same language.
I saw one hilarious clip on TV (unintentionally hilarious) where a leader from South India was campaigning in Bihar and was addressing primarily rural peasant crowd in English which was translated by another person on stage. What kind of leader doesnt even speak your own language??
What makes Manmohan Singh a leader of Assam?? He doesnt live there doesnt speak their language and doesnt even vote in local elections and he is supposed to be a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam. How ridiculous is this setup??
Can you give me one advantage of the union?? Why it is worth preserving?? This is a serious question by the way. Most people do not bother with critical thinking and as a result never have questions. I want to raise questions that others are not.
Dear Vishal
That’s a very good point. As I look back at my own personal life, I find that Nehru’s influence was so huge that everyone basically started talking in his voice. Institutions, universities, journalists, everyone.
Even BJP started copying him (e.g. Upadhyaya – as I’ve explained here.
When EVERYONE thinks like half-baked socialists, then there is simply no possibility for rational discussion in society. Even today, FTI members are reporting the same problem, and indeed on this blog the majority of commentators simply refuse to re-think their ideas.
It is not a gene thing. It is person thing. If BOTH the major political forces (Congress/BJP) talk the same language then someone who tries to show that they are wrong is simply ignored. We need a person with great political capacity to influence a change in mindset. So far except Sharad Joshi for a brief period, India’s parliament has not heard anyone oppose socialism. We need to change that, but as they say, the hardest thing is to move a train (India). If we can start with a large number of leaders many of whom get elected, then we have a chance of changing the mindset.
RC, no question is beyond asking. Let’s always ask.
I guess there are significant economies of scale in the expense of national defence if you have a larger than smaller nation. Then there is the large internal market – a union stronger than the EU, which means people can quickly set up shop anywhere within the nation (although Indian states have put many barriers to that). In India’s case undoubtedly there has been a common culture as well – unlike in Europe with its fragmented sub-nationalities. Indians have always thought of India as one (e.g. the 4 tirth sthaans across the 4 corners of India).
The design of the constitution was balanced between a strong centre and just slightly less strong states. Overall, the system has worked, supported by the underlying institutions and laws designed by the British.
Why not break up India into many states? Well you can’t change history and counter-factuals are hard. The question should therefore be: Is there any advantage in breaking up India into, say 30 countries now? My guess is that there will be overwhelming opposition to that idea. Breaking up India doesn’t make sense from any angle now – at least to me. What makes a lot of sense is to reform its governance and ensure greater liberty. That’s why my focus is on preserving India and reforming its governance. Why not get the best deal – a major free nation in the world that is a force for the good of the entire world?
Good read…..
Even though we remained on autopilot & refused to think, India could have done itself a lot of good by atleast putting in strong frameworks for efficient Execution of the laws like IPC & others..The british era laws, although outdated would have been still more effective than they actually are today..
Unfortunately we lacked the mental capacity to even making the blindly copied laws more effective, leave alone reforming them…
Shekhar
As I indicated (and have explained at length in BFN), Nehru’s socialism actually degraded the government machinery and unless we reverse the socialist path, India’s governance will remain in shambles.
S
I have spent some time thinking through this issue, and my fundamental insight was there are two factors:
The first factor is a heritage factor – we are taught to always respect our elders, to never question them, take what they say as the gospel truth – thus, from childhood we are indoctrinated (by our families and teachers) to not question. This may be the genetic feature that Vishal was searching for.
As a general rule, we, Indians, despise/hate the westerners, who question their parents, their elders and their teachers, even it the questions themselves are framed respectfully and with a genuine desire to either learn or to point out a fallacy. The Guru-shishya parampara of ancient India has degenerated into rote and blind obedience (much like the caste system became a birth based system, from an occupation based system, I am told)
The second factor is our education system – it builds upon this blind obedience, and then takes it further into rote learning (actually, memorising, rather than learning) and an emphasis on grades and ranks. And, the size of our population and the intense competition in India creates a vicious cycle where very few parents are willing to move away from this cycle, instead encouraging their kids to do what they like, learn what they want and to do it at their own pace.
I will give you a couple of examples:
1. My niece who is in the first grade in the US does projects virtually all the time – you choose a topic, you RESEARCH it and then you make a presentation to your class – can you see how you are being taught to be self-driven, independent thinking and problem solving from such an early age? OTOH, my kids in first grade had a pile of 12 textbooks that they had to memorise and regurtitate in the exams? So what are they teaching in India? To become dictaphones.
2. The British built the drainage systems of Mumbai and Kolkata some 150-200 years ago – these drains, even today with the population of these cities having increased over 100x, probably 500x, work quite comfortably in taking out the sewage water from these two cities, except in exception circumstances? Can you see the vision at work here? They built systems that are still capable after 200 years. OTOH, we have the examples of Bangalore and Chennai, which became metropolises much later under Indian "administration", essentially having no drainage system worth the name, so much so that even 2cms of rains will flood these cities.
Both of the above factors are fairly complex factors and complex systems, with no easy solution – except the passage of time, I guess, and greater exposure of Indians to the "systems of western civilisation". People who stay in India AND do not read experience the West only through Hollywood and Britney Spears, I guess.
Cheers
Supratim