Fissure in castle America: Openness, extreme freedom, excessive rights, discord in society – these will un-make America

 

Images of a lighted city across the river Hudson with its glowing in the night high-rise and vivacious get-up-and-go might lead some viewers in New York that it is the happiest and the best place in the world. Unfortunately, this is not true. See, Shanghai another same type of city, Whangpoo river flowing through the city, very peaceful and almost no crime. It was July 1921, the mighty Communist Party of China was formed in the presence of the charismatic, Mao Zedong. In the following 100 years, Shanghai and the Party saw each other rising. This year, amid a worldwide China Covid-19 pandemic, the two remain safe and sound,  whereas New York and its glamour failed by the waves of the pandemic and deaths.

The Communist Party of China will complete hundred years of its birth and enter into its second century of foundation, next month. Nobody can deny its greatness but its leaders never claim it so. Nobody can challenge it at the centre of the world superpower.

China had a GDP of $14.72 trillion in 2020 and by 2025 its projected GDP will be $22.481 trillion, almost near to the world leader, the United States. In military power also, nobody can challenge it and by 2035 it will be the world leader. Its diplomatic influence is also rising due to its increased capacity to offer capital and technology to the world. It can be contrasted with the inter-war period of America of 1914-45.

The American economy roared and her global power increased, while European countries almost exhausted themselves torn between two world wars. However, the influence and economy of China have increased drastically. While America wasted much forces and wealth dealing with the repercussion of the Cold War and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and investment in rogue nations like Pakistan. It also wasted huge wealth on useless NGOs and senseless human right and environmental issues.

China Covid-19 pandemic has hastened China's growth whereas American and European nations are still ruining their nations in the name of human rights, environment, equality, minority rights, migrants' rights etc. Huge money is wasted on NGOs who are using taxpayer's money on subversive activities. That day is not far when the rioting and hate-mongering by some so-called oppressed groups and minorities will be declared as human rights, freedom of dissent and expression. China is completely free from such suicidal waste of resources. 

Contrasts may be repulsive but serve a point. America's ascend as universal hegemony was evident by its thriving economy and military power, but it was also flawed by internal conflicts.

Modest politicians like Truman, Nixon, Carter, Obama and Biden assumed the presidency post-war era. They encouraged freebies, freeloading schemes and unhindered migration from Mexico, African, Gulf and Islamic nations. On these illegal migrants, the government of America spent a huge amount in the name of human rights and equality. Millions of NGOs were financed worldwide aimlessly.

On the contrary, the politics of China was straitjacketed. The strict laws and tough regulations never allowed such disruptive and obstructive elements and ideas to enter China. In the name of purgation and rectification, China cleaned or wiped out such negative forces. The Communist Party is the only power centre and the only determinant for everything in China.

Another issue that troubled America, the post-World War II, was the issues of race, human rights and voting rights that empowered the migrants, Africans, Islamists living in America. The Civil Rights Acts (1957, 1961 and 1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965)  empowered the blacks, migrants and Islamists as a very powerful and polarized vote bank. They became very powerful vote banks in the political mainstream, thereby weakening the nationalist forces as they have divided loyalty for America. Their main concern was to grab the maximum benefits without doing anything.

On the other hand, China has no such problem of ethnic or minorities activism. It has very peacefully tackled the extremism and radicalization of Uyghur Muslims. China follows secularism and equality in word and spirit. China does not want the likes of Rosa Parks of China or Martin Luther King. The objective of China is stability and progress.

Allowing large scale immigration has created more problems than gains in America. Now, immigrants have become a big problem in America. Recently, BLM activists, Antifa activists, NGOs working for migrants, the African-American community and Islamists created big law and order problems. There was large scale rioting and vandalism at so many places. Security personnel were literary on their knees. Not only this, these elements even demanded to disband the police force. China has no such burden as China's Communist Party do not allow migration from any country.

China is completely free of foreign influence and interference. China's business and economy is controlled by the Party, as the collapse of Jack Ma and Ant Financial lately shown. In the name of a transparent process, antitrust laws in the US are misused.

Countries take aids and help from America but they abhor American hegemony and it failed to translate cordiality, generosity and goodwill for America and Americans. Even Pakistanis do not like American hegemony and its influence.

China is least bothered about its relationship with its neighbours and with other countries. The Belt & Road Initiative in Pakistan and other countries are only for the interest of China in the long run. It is not at all bothered about any reason to mistrust.

The stability and development of China are enviable to the world. Democracies, secularism, human rights, minority rights failed to give anything positive to the democratic nations. Rather these concepts have become big problems in democracies. Chinese people love the Chinese Communist Party and China without any democracy. Now, the Chinese model is the best in the world. Democracies should follow the model of China's Communist Party, of the significance of firm socio-political grip and understand that differences of opinion or dissent of ideas as threats to the nations.

There is a very popular saying that insiders breach the fortress, from the inside, it does a very valid point to the fears about the feebleness and fragility of the democratic system regardless of their superficial show of democracy, secularism, human rights, equality and minority rights. The world has witnessed the fall of the mighty empire of Great Britain and the USSR.

President Xi Jinping very rightly declared at Davos this year that the world is moving forward and changing very fast. The world may not go back but we have to learn from history.

Nobody can deny that the next century will be the 'Chinese Century'.

Cut the freebies and waste of money

 All are worried to strengthen the economy on the one hand and the other helping the people by reducing pressures on them.  But again the rhetoric is on the same beaten pattern --- Free vaccination for all, unemployment allowance,  job programmes and freebies for the poor, GST and tax cut on consumer products etc.

They, again and again, fail to understand that Indian people have remarkable power to sustain and stand even in the most adverse situation. Whatever the drawing-room economists claim, the Indian economy will again come back to life and brace itself for positive results. These self-claimed economists and columnists have just been exaggerating the problems and spreading panic and negativity.

In March 2021 the positive news of the recovery of the economy of 1.6% GDP growth has been shown but the second wave of China Covid-19 halted it. Different surveys have been showing the depressing situation. One such is by CMIE, showing the rate of unemployment in May rose sharply by 3% points to 11.9%. Consumer future index, according to RBI, since March, the expectations index has by 11%. JP Morgan is showing the composite index dropping by 15% in April and May in comparison to March. 

All these institutions are doing their job and business. But what are the citizens getting by these studies? They are just claiming people are afraid about their future, people are losing their livelihood, people are dying due to the failure of the system, the economy is going down etc. Even some are speculating about the actual numbers of infections and deaths in the second wave are much higher than the official figures. 

One question comes to mind. What will the nation get by the claims and the surveys of the economists? Only fear and depression? Have they done anything to reduce the costs of treatment and increase the healthcare facilities? The answer is a big NO! Instead of depending on the government for dealing with the lost or reduced income people should be suggested for going for the self-work like agriculture, horticulture, dairy farming, poultry business, vegetable and fruit business and skilled work. It has become a big agenda of opposition leaders and economists to instigate the people to demand reservations, quotas, freebies and economic packages from the governments. This is very bad economics and immoral politics and making citizens crippled.

Only those families that have lost their main earner should be given reservation and quotas in education, employments with other economic benefits. Their safety, survival and employment should be the main concern of the governments. Even Delhi has no beds in hospitals, no ICUs, no ventilators, no oxygen, no ambulance,  no medicine and no injections. All the shocked to witness when dead bodies were not getting honourable cremations. Delhi has a tremendous shortage of even crematoriums.

Governments should act fast and cautiously for building good hospitals and healthcare facilities in the rural areas and small towns and give employment to the local people to stop the mindless migration to big cities. This pandemic has proved that the system of big cities has completely collapsed due to vote-bank politics. Political parties should stop this huge waste of taxpayer's money on vote banks on freebies, freeloaders, free-electricity, free-water, free-bus passes, loan waving, caste and communal budgeting. This is a criminal waste of money and resources.

If this is stopped, this money can be invested in generating employment and improving healthcare services. Similarly, tax-net can be widened by bringing more institutions under tax-net. There should be an expansion of the tax net. There is no constraint for tax space. The government should impose a tax on NGOs, temples, mosques, churches, dargahs, gurudwaras, religious missions, charitable institutions etc. This is very necessary for a fiscal boost for the market and economy. The government should reduce its spending, like wasting money on routine transfers of the employees and subsidies which has no positive outcome.

The usual strategy response to such a difficult situation is the same--given freebies, economic packages, loan waving in the shape of government support to people and incentives to boost the economy and industry. However, nothing is still there to improve healthcare services. The economists and reformists have nothing new to suggest. 

The government should shun wasteful expenditure, privatization, disinvestment, outsourcing, PPP model, sale of PSUs, and reducing the number of government employees. The governments should stop low profits public loan. This will control the fiscal deficit. Ministries like Minority Affairs Ministry, Minority Commission, Caste Commissions etc should be disbanded. Government financing to minority institutions should be stopped to control the expenditure.

Due to high public debt, the fiscal deficit is rising. High inflation is also a big hindrance to fiscal expansion. Barring some recent increases in prices, surprisingly, the consumer price index has remained almost under control. This is the surprising sustainability of the Indian market and economy. This is a big hope for fiscal expansion. It is the best hope for the Indian economy and the people. The governments should stop the fiscal softness. This may lead to an economic slowdown, price rise and unemployment.

The governments should revise the budget in light of the China Covit-19 pandemic conditions and plan on a major fiscal discipline of the economy. Barring defence, health, research, roads and transports additional expenditure should be curbed. The governments should arrange public-funded health services for all at affordable costs. This will build people's confidence. 

Next, urgent needs are rural unemployment which is forcing the mindless migration to cities, resulting in the urban infrastructure collapse. Rural people are highly vulnerable since they have neither wealth nor access to state-funded schemes. Instead of wasting resources on MGNREGA, infrastructure like hospitals, schools, colleges, universities, roads, banks should be opened and build in the rural areas and give reservation in jobs to the rural people and local people. This will stop migration, cities will be less burdened and create employment for local and rural people.

The Indian defence sector has a huge capability to support the people. The government should fill up all the vacancies in the defence sector. This will provide incentive and livelihood to people. The changes in lending and interest rates have almost no effect on the economy. Such measures by RBI does not have any positive effect. So the governments should move very cautiously in restructuring the economy.

Yoga-Divine Healing

 Control the untamed ideas,

Nobody has to do untamed pleas,

Nobody has to be on knees,

The pain of hundred miles cures,

A mild pang of Yoga conjures.

 

Let drive my breathing song,

To soothe mind and body throng,

Gather all vibes and senses belong,             

Makes empathy, poise strong;

Wipes out polluted and dirty wrong.

 

Removes the darkness around,

Blesses the inner strength abound,

Opens the ancient caves round,

Heavenly grace comes in command,

Flees the temptations out of mind.

 

Grips inner strength to channelize, 

Enthrals the being and mesmerize, 

Symphony of inner orchestra materialize,

To relish glittering aura realize,

To behold health, happiness galvanize.

 

To build an empire of healthy wealth,

To create a 'harem' of strength,

Helps to live eternally length,

Likes of Ram, Krishna, Shiva in mirth,

Happens with the Diving Grace of Yoga breath.

Yoga and Life

 

Drives the whole world crazy,

Vigour rests upon your flight,

It does not seem but does,

Cosmos dances with you.

 

Ecology of zeal and romance,

Shuns worries and fears,

New ideas, tales and skills,

Creates a whole new aura.

 

Sun moves with you,

life revolves around you,

Best is quiet and still,

Shines in grace and light.

 

The world seems a blissful place, 

Happiness is filled in life bowl,

Existence tosses in happy waves,

Drown in an ocean of joy.

 

Renounce negative vibes

 

Now it is very clear that the Central Vista plan is a reality. It will be a new cultural vista, a new point of name and fame. It will be a new invention of national pride.

 

Barring iconic temple 'Akshar Dham', Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMC), and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)- always in news for wrong reasons, national capital Delhi is nothing to boast about everything Indian.

 

All the buildings, markets and other important places were constructed either by invader Mughals or colonial masters. It is a different matter that Mughals raised all the building after raising the Hindu temples and other iconic buildings.

 

Now, all the petitions have been dismissed to stop the work on the Central Vista project. Still, some serial no Sayers are re-imagining to stop the work, blaming that the Central Vista will lose its cultural attraction and it will be simply a new kingdom of babus. For them, the Lutyens buildings are the most valuable place in Delhi. So they should be preserved. For them, a place, under the control of bureaucrats cannot be a good symbol for Indian democracy.

 

These elements are still chasing some noticeable face to cultural institutions. They are still trying to create some controversy and stalemate in the name of cultural place. Nation has been celebrating Republic Day--like Russia, China and North Korea with military power and cultural identities.

 

However, some democratic nations like the USA, Germany and Brazil have similarly converted their important public places into people's cultural places. In the US, there is the Capitol and government offices on the one side and the other, the famous, the Washington Mall, housing galleries, museums and theaters. the Museum of African American History was also added to it around five years back. Similarly, public places along the Seine river in Paris is also dotted with galleries, museums and gardens.

 

It is time now that the relics of the colonial era and slavery are erased. Russian parade ground aspect can be moved to some other place or maybe at the Red Fort or near to Akshar Dham Temple. Any important place left for cultural institution or pedestrians makes no sense. It has become a growing tendency among some people to misuse such place and they instigate the people for disturbances. Artists, architects, historians, activists, NGOs and many other such groups misuse their clout to foment troubles and riots. The US recently witnessed such unrest where BLM activists, Antifa groups and others engineered mass riots in the US.

 

In India too, such cultural relics are highly misused and taxpayer's money is wasted on them. Valuable parts of history and culture can be kept somewhere else. It is not very difficult to preserve rare artifacts, ancient sculpture, manuscripts, and precious jewelry --currently kept with the National Museum. It can be moved to Noida, Ghaziabad or Khurja. Similarly, the National Archives, the IGNCA and the Archaeological Survey of India can also be moved to some other locations. Khurja has huge beautiful and unused buildings. Those buildings can be used to give these institutions a new address.

 

These old huge buildings can be used to keep the delicate items like leaf and papyrus manuscripts, heavy Pallava stone sculptures and special casings, special hoists and temperature control system can also be arranged for them there. This shifting requires experts and that will also generate employment and new and modern technique for preserving can be used. Those can be properly cataloged, stored and displayed to the people.

 

All this can develop a new township and some population can be shifted to that town. Similarly, it will also help to de-congest Delhi. Central Vista will be a pride of the nation with a new parliament house, houses to PM and ministers. Massive plantation should be done on the central flank between Rashtrapati Bhavan and the space around the India Gate to keep the environment fresh and pollution-free.

 

Now, the capital could be freed from the colonial tag of Lutyens Delhi. Instead of finding fault with the project, all should give the government some positive and constructive suggestions--to preserve the history with a new modern Indian vision.

 

Now, work on the Central Vista project is going fast. Beyond senseless activism and political mudslinging, people should give positive and creative suggestion. Some new addresses should be suggested to house galleries, theaters, museums, music auditoriums, library and other archival structures. New possibilities should be cashed and milked. There must be optimism. Renounce negativeness and generate harmonious vibes or remain silent as they have been remained silent for the last more than three decades on the forcible closure of all the cinema halls, art galleries, theaters, cultural hubs etc in Kashmir valley.