The Hindu Business Line : Thirty years on

For about 30 now, there has been a stock set of aphorisms that politicians and top level administrators keep mouthing as mantras for the common man. Some of these are:

Science should serve the common man.

Our education system is outdated.

We should do something urgent about population.

Religion and language should not divide us.

Terrorism must be put down at any cost.

All long-standing issues should be settled by negotiations.

Export of Indian goods should be increased.

Corruption should be eliminated.

We should stop the brain drain.

We should save energy.

Patriotism is vanishing in the younger generation.

Friendly relations with neighbours should be strengthened.

We shall teach a lesson to our enemies.

Conditions in slums must be improved.

We will maintain Freedom of the Press at all cost.

Villagers should not migrate to cities.

Doctors should go to rural areas.

Even now, more than 60 years after Independence, millions remain poor and illiterate and the same aphorisms are being heard. Will it be different after the next 60? ?

V. S. Venkatavaradan Salem

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