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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (116096)	10/3/2003 11:13:36 AM
From: k.ramesh	Respond to of 281500

So it is now Squalor. Really, One could argue that our squalor is better than your squalor. Third world squalor is mostly biodegradable, refuse animal and human poor drainage etc. Not styrofoam and PCB’s and frankenfoods. Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent has really worked well! The debate in the west spans from we are always right, greatest and bestest on the right ( see Jacobs 8 myths yesteday) to the left saying, maybe we should not have dropped the bomb,killed the natives etc, but really a complete belief in the western definition of progress - that it is really self evident, and the only way. Hence, when the western mind looks at India, they see squalor, religious strife etc, and shed loads of uncalled for pity. If you start from the assumption that there are no absolutes, only points of view, as the Jains do, you might get around to conceding that the western mold of progress may not be appropriate for the whole world. This is not about saying that Iraqis cannot handle freedom or poor people cannot choose religion – It is about a billion plus people who have only 2.4% of the land mass. The parameters for measuring progress have to be different. And if you look around the planet, India is one of the few countries not completely co opted, that can possibly muddle through to its own future. India has its own intellectuals and institutions, at least a few of whom are not beholden to corporate interests, who can challenge Western verities on progress. It has a holistic and assimilative ethos that can take what is necessary from the west in science technology and democracy and governing and come up with its own blend. For examples, a few days back I posted about Vandana Shiva and her organic seeds movement called Navadanya at navadanya.org. In Bangladesh there is a similar movement called nayakrishi – or New Farming, which rejects chemical feritlizers, and GM seeds. In Delhi there is the Center for Science and Environment that questions whether piped water, and flush toilets are appropriate for rural India – given the huge quantities of fresh water that have to be piped purified, with centralized sewage plants etc. On the Reliance Industries website, the largest company boasts about its contribution to the tax receipts and hence the common good. At Infosys, the CEO takes the value of human resources very seriously and leads a simple life. Kerala has high scores in Human Development index on a pitiful GDP. Progress is about making the best of what you have, not about a mad rush to some predetermined pot of gold _ that is funny coming from India, also the home of fatalism. But then India’s assimilation is about AND not the appropriation of either or. BTW: Oct 2 is Gandhi's birthday.