There was a time prior to the 21st century when Great Britain, now mostly known as the UK, was really great. The same was true about the US and most of Western Europe but the current century has unveiled a different reality; Western countries are still far richer, but Asia, particularly India and China, are indisputably future world leaders. With falling birth rates and an iron safety net, few young men and women in Europe or the US are interested in working to their full potential, most work only to fund their next tropical holiday.
The intellectual advantage of the West vis-à-vis Emerging Market Economies is almost negligible now; while the West still leads in pure sciences, adaptation of new knowledge is now an Asian monopoly. Digital public infrastructure created in India is being replicated the world over; after Aadhaar and UPI, the latest example is adoption of Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) Number model by the National Health Service (NHS) of England. Yet, this is not the time to crow about our achievements. We are facing similar manpower issues as the West, but in a different form.
A dismal employment scenario points to the fact that our manpower potential is not being utilised fully. Add the number of underemployed (which does not figure in Government statistics), particularly in the agricultural sector, and you will have an idea of the tremendous waste of manpower in India. Manufacturing was supposed to provide jobs to Indian youth; Make in India and Production Linked Incentive Schemes, had been launched by the Government, for this very purpose. However, after spending lakhs of crores of rupees, we find that additional jobs generated in the manufacturing sector are almost negligible, since most advanced manufacturing processes are now automated.
Sadly, unable to earn an honest living, a sizeable number of the educated unemployed find their calling in small crime and digital frauds. Computerisation of offices and automation of processes in India could have been a force multiplier, but due to lack of intelligent assimilation, we find computers replicating manual processes, with poorly paid outsourced workers unthinkingly feeding data into their laptops, and public delivery still remaining poor. Additionally, very few Government departments have developed the capability to analyse and translate the terabytes of data in their systems into intelligent information. However, we have not been slow in adopting the latest Western addiction social media which is fast emerging as a tool to trigger social unrest.
To recapitulate: most of the riots in the recent past in the UK and US were started and nurtured by social media, the most recent example being the anti-immigrant riots of August 2024 in UK, which were triggered by false viral posts accusing a Muslim migrant of stabbing children. These riots led to attacks on mosques, injuries to protestors and polic emen, and general mayhem. Earlier too, Facebook posts had led to the storming of the US Capitol in January 2021. Concerted looting during the UK Riots of 2011 took place after discussions on Facebook. True, the UK has a long history of anti-immigrant atrocities starting with anti-Semitic riots in York (1190), in London (1263); and on the sea coast (1290), yet social media has to take the blame for most of the riots of the last decade and half. In India, innumerable manhours are wasted daily on social media, with many users unashamedly promoting extreme religious views, prejudices and hate speech.
Daily slanging matches in WhatsApp groups and on sundry TV channels would easily convince one that Indians have degenerated from being peaceloving, rational beings into some species of Angry Birds spewing venom, always at each other’s throats. Leave alone the unlettered, who unashamedly take extremely aggressive religious stances, applaud police ‘encounters’ and the razing of people’s homes; unseemly belligerence has permeated the minds of leaders of society who abuse their rivals in public, equating them with asses or propose to send them to Gaza, Pakistan or Afghanistan. Also, hate speech has spawned a new and opposing set of people: those who feel perpetually outraged. Both categories are interchangeable; often those who are outraged today become outragers the day after. Current events suggest that there are a number of people waiting patiently for opportunities to get outraged. Unfortunately, for the country, the politics of outrage has shifted public attention from bread-and-butter issues like runaway inflation and rampant unemployment.
Resultantly, to the exclusion of hunger, poverty and joblessness, current public discourse is steadfastly focussed on religious and cultural differences between communities, and other similar divisive topics. The dangers of such a narrative are manifest; the communal genie, once out of the bottle, can wreak havoc and reduce our country’s stature to that of its neighbours. Also, we would be faced with radicalisation of minorities ~ the problem presently facing Europe ~ probably because Europe had done nothing to prevent attacks on religious beliefs as a result of which Europe has a very real problem of religious terrorism on their hands.
Another category of WhatsApp warriors is that of the ‘historical charlatans’ who try to re-write history and attribute all current problems to mis-steps by their bête noirs, who are mostly liberals like Jawaharlal Nehru. Such people are perpetually in conflict with more rational individuals. More dangerously, lessons of history like the need to remain united will soon be lost, if we refuse to admit that our great civilisation was subjugated by invaders because our erstwhile rulers were not competent enough and busy in feuding amongst themselves. Increasing instances of hate speech have lowered our prestige abroad.
Some years ago, intemperate comments against the Prop het made by a BJP spokeswoman, in a TV show snowballed in a major international controversy. In no time, the warm welcome accorded to the Vice-President, who was on an official visit to Qatar, turned frosty and the Indian ambassador had to submit an abject apology. Another spokesman, who had seconded the spokeswoman, drew similarire. The Government had to apologise for him also. In a weak defence, the Government attributed the statements to ‘fringe elements,’ not acknowledging the duo as spokespersons of the ruling party.
It would seem that unacceptable and untenable views, previously expressed furtively, now appear in mainstream discourse. Another instance is the downright abusive language used during the recently concluded elections, when with the eyes of the world on us, top political leaders crossed the limits of decency in their diatribes. Many have been the instances where the Supreme Court was forced to take note of the malaise of hate speech. In one case, the Sup reme Court observed: “Is the State impotent? Can’t it take timely against hate speech mongers? If it can’t take (timely action), why do we have a State at all?” The un – answered question before ordinary citizens is: “Whether our public discourse should be so crude and unacceptable that the Indian Government has to apologise to tin-pot sheikhdoms and sundry banana republics?
Is it not the duty of every citizen not to bring ignominy on the country? Uniformed forces are exhorted to lay down their lives for the country, but is it not our politicians’ concomitant responsibility to avoid words that promote strife within and outside the country?” Probably, the anger vented on social media is the result of unhappiness of a perpetually dissatisfied people; Aristotle’s ‘eudaimonia,’ when people are prosperous, healthy, and pro-social, seems to have eluded us. Briefly put, a high degree of inequality and lack of quality education and decent heal thcare are the bane of our society. One can still say that education, health and prosperity are long-term goals, and in the shortterm, to augment happiness, the Government and society can promote good social behaviour.
But the opposite seems to be the goal of politicians who nurture vote banks by creating divisions in society, through language and religion ~ promoting a ‘we’ versus ‘they’ narrative. The path of vasudhaiv kutum bkam and sabka sath sabka vikas, taken in its true spirit will definitely stop the hatred spreading in our society. This is not difficult, as Nelson Mandela had said: “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. Let us eschew hate and work for peace and harmony.”
(The writer is a retired Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax)