I am glad you started this thread. I did not want to digress any further from the topic on the other thread.
First of all, you need to stop assuming that people who live overseas do not feel for India. India is where I was born and raised. But, United States is where I got my wings. In other words, there will always be a soft spot for India in the hearts of people like me. However, that does not mean that we will not take our oaths of citizenship of our adopted countries seriously. This country has given me a lot. People have been exceptionally warm and welcoming. People like me are expected to and must appreciate their adopted countries nothing less than their other fellow citizens.
You and others should not feel theres anything wrong about that. Trust me, I feel good when I see people like you and others who are so dedicated towards the cause of India's development. Infact, I get periodic newsletters from some secular think-tanks in Pakistan. I admire the way some people are thinking in that country to solve their problems.
From what I have seen is that the problem with India cannot be resolved by a top-down approach. As Lord Acton put it, "Power Corrupts." Corruption may not necessarily be of financial nature. Actions can be corrupt too. People who become leaders and get elected to run countries, provinces, districts or even municipalities, become more interested in making hay while the sun shine and ensure that the sun keeps shining. In other words, elected officials have a vested interest in padding their pockets and/or serving the special interests that played an invisible but influential role that helped them get elected.
People have made careers out of politics. Politics should not be a career. Politics should be a means of serving the country, whereby people get elected for a term or two and serve the interests of the people.
I believe India needs a bottom-top approach. People need to take action at the lower level. Things as little as not messing up public toilets, not relieving yourself on the streat, throwing trash in designated collection bins can have an exponential effect by keeping communal areas clean for everyone to enjoy.
Someone took it the wrong way when I said Indians are generally selfish and self-centered. By that I mean people in India consciously or unconsciously fail to realize the ramifications of their actions on those around them. Just look at the way people rush to get onto a bus. Women, children and older people stand no chance of getting on a bus if all the stronger younger males selfishly try to get onboard.
This self-centered attitude also leads people to be apathetic about what the Government is doing. People are just too busy to think about themselves and their families to care about how small decisions made by the Government which someday could effect their lives in a major way.
When I was in India I was surprized that there was hardly any philosophical debate over whats going on in the country. The most common debates I witnessed were about whats the best car to buy or what laptop or mobile phone to buy. People have vested their happiness and satisfaction in ordinary mechanical devices. What I am saying is evident from how people react when their car gets hit on the road.
These days there is a big debate in the United States over healthcare. People are up in arms and in the streets over an expected change in Government Policy. There is a good chance that the proposed policy is not going to pass in its current shape because of the way people have reacted to it.
The is what I mean by a bottom-up approach. People need to be vigilant activists and serve their role as a citizen by being the watchdogs over Government.
Government officials need to be periodically reminded that we don't work for them. They are the ones who work for us. Ofcourse all this must be done in a peaceful manner. Violence always justifies the wrong side of the debate.
Finally, people must refrain from balkanizing human suffering. Human suffering does not come with a passport. Trust me, images of starving people in India are no more painful than those of the starving people in Africa. Actions should not be merely directed towards ending all human suffering within a particular nation-society. Such actions could come at a cost to human welfare in other nation societies. An example would be the colonial plundering of the resources of Africa and Asia may have helped build the western economies but it came at the cost of immense human suffering in these two continents.
You are right. People should not be lecturing. People need to take action. Actions need not be at a macro level .Actions can be as subtle as how you conduct yourself in your day to day life.
