Recently the Supreme Court of India upheld the Right to Education act's requirement that all private schools reserve free seats for students from the neighbourhood who cannot afford to pay tuition fees. The middle class which proudly calls itself the face of the nation disliked the idea of having their kids share social space with poor kids. After living in an egalitarian society for three quarters of a year I cannot help but feel ashamed of the actions of the middle class. Surprisingly these actions come from people who, while growing up have been taught the notion of equality of class and creed.
My despair is shared by Mihir Sharma in this article. You can clearly see the evidence of his frustration when he uses the choicest of words to rebuke and criticise the middle class. He goes on to call India the most elitist, unequal, exclusive and stratified country in the world. He may be right given his observations and experiences and on some terms, I agree with him.
In one of his best lines in the article, he says, "The Indian elite confuses its tiny, mediocre incestuous world of networks and inherited advantage with true merit, the one that comes from striving upwards when the circumstances are unfavourable". I truly appreciate the sentiments behind his scathing attack on the Indian middle class.
More such attacks will be needed to truly imbibe in the new generation of Indians, the values of social equality. De-fragmentation of the society is essential before the divide breaks our society into two irreconcilable halves.
When we switched to a free market economy in 1991, we still decided to retain the word 'socialist' in the preamble to the constitution and maintained that India still was a SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, the word SOCIALIST standing for equality of status and opportunity.
I hope we as a country realise the importance of an undivided meritocratic society soon.
My despair is shared by Mihir Sharma in this article. You can clearly see the evidence of his frustration when he uses the choicest of words to rebuke and criticise the middle class. He goes on to call India the most elitist, unequal, exclusive and stratified country in the world. He may be right given his observations and experiences and on some terms, I agree with him.
In one of his best lines in the article, he says, "The Indian elite confuses its tiny, mediocre incestuous world of networks and inherited advantage with true merit, the one that comes from striving upwards when the circumstances are unfavourable". I truly appreciate the sentiments behind his scathing attack on the Indian middle class.
More such attacks will be needed to truly imbibe in the new generation of Indians, the values of social equality. De-fragmentation of the society is essential before the divide breaks our society into two irreconcilable halves.
When we switched to a free market economy in 1991, we still decided to retain the word 'socialist' in the preamble to the constitution and maintained that India still was a SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, the word SOCIALIST standing for equality of status and opportunity.
I hope we as a country realise the importance of an undivided meritocratic society soon.
1 comment:
Nice post bro! Agree with everything that you wrote here
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