yes india is really shining

1. s India Shining?
Summiya Yasmeen finds critical opinion has focused understandably on disparities that mark India's progress,
and the nation's young people too are keenly aware of this.
March 2004 - It’s widely being hailed as the masterstroke which will sweep the major constituents of the ruling NDA
(National Democratic Alliance) coalition — and particularly its largest party, the BJP — back into power in the
general election scheduled for April. The ubiquitous multi-media India Shining advertisement campaign which sports
the distinctive finger-prints of BJP master strategist Pramod Mahajan, has received widespread acclaim in the media
as a trump card which will help the BJP break the electoral bank.
But then the media would acclaim — and find reasons to acclaim — this unprecedented media blitzkrieg. It is an
estimated Rs.400 crore richer for it. Never mind the small detail that the nation’s legal (and illegal) taxpayers are
paying for it. The central theme of this massive Rs.400 crore media blitz is that all sectors of the Indian economy —
agriculture, industry, services, education, roads, health etc — have recorded unprecedented growth and progress
during the past five years that the NDA has ruled in New Delhi. In short the people of India have never had it so
good, is the message.
Undeniably there’s some substance in the government’s campaign. Annual GDP growth has averaged 6 percent
plus during the past five years and is nudging 8 percent this year; the country’s foreign exchange reserves have
risen to the highest ever $106 billion; India is emerging as a force to reckon with in IT, steel and automotive
ancillaries markets overseas; telecom density has risen from 20 to 40 million connections; and perhaps most
strikingly (according to one India Shining campaign ad), against 11 km per year during the past 50 years, national
highways are being constructed at the speed of 11 km per day. Shopping malls, multiplexes, five-star hotels, luxury
spas and sleek automobiles apart from a dazzling array of luxury new products offer citizens a never-before plethora
of goodies.
But considerations such as the taxpayer being made to foot the India
In India’s case, there are two
Shining campaign apart, there is growing disquiet about the self-
nations. One is ‘India Shining’,
congratulatory, conspicuous consumption tone of the ad campaign and in
which the government keeps
particular about its fudging the issue of the NDA government’s (the BJP is
harping about, but the other India
widely regarded as a middle class traders’ party) poor rural development is one where even basic human
record. Increasingly Mahajan & Co are discovering that the clever India needs are not being met. While
Shining campaign is a two-edged sword. With liberal India’s formidable Indian officials have been touting
intellectuals beginning to question the premises of this glaringly expensive last year’s 8 percent economic
feel-good ad campaign, there is sudden fear within the BJP that it may blow growth, during the same year
up in its collective face. 1.25 million children below the
age of one died, around 50 million
"India is only shining for a small section of society, for the posh middle class children were out of school and
strata and above. The incomes of these people have risen, while for the vast half of India’s children were
majority unemployment is growing. Many new private/ NRI funded hospitals malnourished."
have sprung up but conditions in public hospitals are abysmal. Government
schools remain neglected while a growing number of luxury private schools - Salil Shetty
offering foreign certification are sprouting across the country. There are new Director, U.N. Millennium
cars with a whole array of safety and luxury features, but public transport is Campaign, and former chief
still terrible. Most public services remain neglected and the majority of executive, ActionAid.
citizens don’t have access to basic amenities like clean and safe drinking
water. Given these vast glaring inequities, how can one say India is
shining?" asks Dipankar Gupta, professor of sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru • Govt shining, media mining
University, Delhi. • The feel good factory
Prof. Gupta’s observations are supported by the United Nations advocacy group U.N. Millennium Campaign which
recently opined that shining India will be hard-pressed to meet any of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to
which it is committed, by 2015. The goals include eradicating extreme poverty, achieving universal primary
education, combating HIV/AIDS and reducing child mortality.

2. "In India’s case, there are two nations. One is ‘India Shining’, which the
government keeps harping about, but the other India is one where even basic
human needs are not being met. While Indian officials have been touting last
year’s 8 percent economic growth, during the same year 1.25 million children
below the age of one died, around 50 million children were out of school and half
of India’s children were malnourished," says Salil Shetty, Millennium Campaign
director and former chief executive of ActionAid, the well-known London-based
non-government organisation. Shetty has been particularly critical of the Union
government spending $800 billion per year (a 50 percent under-estimate) on
defence, when $900 billion (Rs.40,000 crore) annually would ensure the
achievement of the MDGs.
In particular the NDA government and the India Shining campaign gloss over the low priority given to education in a
nation in which 500 million citizens are below 19 years of age. According to the Economic Survey (2004) statistics,
for the first time in recent memory the aggregate national (centre plus states) outlay for education has dipped below
the 3 percent of GDP threshold, plunging from 3.6 percent in 1996-97 to 2.8 percent of GDP in 2003-04.
Not surprisingly the NDA’s (actually BJP’s) solitary advertisement trumpeting its educational record — unlike other
sectoral ads which bristle with numbers and statistics — is long on hype and conspicuously silent about numbers.
"For India’s students these are brilliant times with rapidly rising literacy, more schools, new colleges, globally famous
IITs and IIMs and a vast spectrum of IT, media, film and fashion institutes, life is radiant with new opportunities...
Build your dreams, spread the enthusiasm and make India stronger and shine even better," says the education
component couched in generalities of the India Shining campaign.
Meanwhile the ground reality is that the Union HRD ministry’s ambitious Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) or Education
For All (EFA) programme launched in 2003 following the passage by a unanimous voice vote in Parliament of the
86th amendment to the Constitution of India, which makes it compulsory for state governments to provide
elementary education to all children between the ages of six-14, has proved a non-starter. According to the National
Alliance for the Fundamental Right to Education (NAFRE), an umbrella organisation of 2,400 NGOs, of the Rs.9,800
crore committed by Parliament to SSA (to be matched by state governments), only Rs.1,500 crore has been
allocated.
Consequently even positivists within the tribe which teaches the dismal
"This campaign is unethical in its
science that is economics who believe that the contents of the glass half-full
timing. The government is using it
need to be appreciated and celebrated, tend to be lukewarm about the
to derive electoral advantage
national rollout of the unprecedented India Shining advertising blitzkrieg.
which is not right. Apart from this
Comments Ashima Goyal, professor of economics at the Indira Gandhi I see nothing wrong with it. In
Institute of Development Research, Mumbai: "The Indian economy is fact after all these years of the
recording consistently higher economic growth than in the past and this country being run down, I feel
needs to be celebrated. But I do feel this campaign is unethical in its timing. that it’s good to praise ourselves."
The government is using it to derive electoral advantage which is not right.
Apart from this I see nothing wrong with it. In fact after all these years of the • Progress by any measure
country being run down, I feel that it’s good to praise ourselves."
Yet even as pundits debate the merits and demerits — and timing — of the Rs.400 crore India Shining campaign, in
the cacophony boosted by strident electoral campaigning for the general election scheduled for April, the voice of
young India — the other half of this billion-strong country — has been drowned. Despite the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) to which India is a signatory specifically stipulating that the views of
children be "given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child" (Article 12 (1)), their opinions on
subjects of national importance are seldom solicited. To ascertain the views of young India, EducationWorld
correspondents across the country interviewed the head boys and head girls of independent and government
schools to elicit their opinions about the India Shining campaign.
The questions put to the youngsters were:
Do you believe India is shining? How optimistic are you about the future?

3. Critics of the India Shining campaign say that rural India is totally neglected.What’s your comment?
What do you think needs to be done to make India truly shine?
The answers received are as follows:
Mixed response
Saurabh Kumar (16), class X head boy of Bombay Scottish School, Mumbai
The India Shining campaign is justified in some ways, in others I feel it isn’t. India is shining in many fields
especially science and information technology, but things like the CAT exam paper scam, political
interference in the fee structure of IIMs and the Telgi stamp paper racket involving top police professionals
and politicians are a blot on the country’s progress. Political interference in the management of education
institutions like the IIMs is wholly unjustified. I also feel that while agriculture is progressing, the farmers are
not being given their due.
Rural neglect
Aishwarya Ramakrishnan (16), class X vice-captain of Bombay Scottish, Mumbai
Rural India is being neglected. I agree that we are doing well in many fields, especially sports, IT and
science and to that extent I think this is really a good time to run the India Shining campaign. India is shining
in many ways but the government should use these good times to improve the condition of rural India and
farmers who have been, and are still neglected. Much more needs to be done for them. Unfortunately
education has also been sadly neglected and this is an area which the government should urgently address.
We also need more politicians like Chandrababu Naidu. Under his leadership Andhra Pradesh has
progressed rapidly, and we are really lucky in our president Dr. Abdul Kalam. We need more people like
them.
Money can be better spent
S. Thrivikraman (17), class XII head boy of P.S. Senior Secondary School, Mylapore, Chennai
I do believe India is shining. But do we need to spend Rs.400 crore to get the message across? The money
could have been used to set up more schools and hospitals or for laying roads in areas where people have
not got the benefits of the India Shining campaign. However the future of India seems bright. Great progress
has been made in different sectors of the economy, but it must reach everyone, especially people in villages
who only get to see TV advertisements of shining India.
Rural India is progressing but it will take time for progress to reach every section of the country. So the pace
has to be speeded up. This is where constructive criticism of the opposition is useful. It keeps the
government on its toes. To quote Max Mueller, "the heart of India is in its villages". From Operation Flood to
the Green Revolution, rural India has, is and will always be, a big part of India.
To make India truly shine we have to overcome our religious and caste differences, strive for the betterment
of our one billion brothers and sisters, make our country 100 percent literate, cleanse our political system
and restore public faith in democracy, help our neighbours in times of crisis, root out corruption and most of
all be proud to be Indian. It wouldn’t hurt if we won the next cricket World Cup also!
More needs to be done
Siddharth Shankar Shukla (19), class XII captain of S.V.S.Vidyalaya, Kolkata
Yes, I believe India is shining because the standard of living of the common man has definitely improved.
What was considered a luxury for a select few merely five years ago can now be easily afforded by middle-
class Indians. There is greater awareness among the people now, as well as greater connectivity and the
future does appear brighter. Yes, the expenditure to promote a shining India has been too much but to say

4. that progress has been minimal is not true. The incentives given to the common man in the form of loans —
educational, personal, home, etc — are plenty and suggest that the critics are over-exaggerating.
A lot more needs to be done. A large percentage of the population still lives below the poverty line. The
taboos that still exist in society in the name of religion and tradition need to be done away with and this calls
for a combined effort from citizens and the government.
Yes, India is shining!
Nidhi Dokania (17), head girl of Ashok Hall Girls’ High School, Kolkat
Yes I do believe that India is shining. The facts and figures — GDP growth rate this year has been
astronomical, the sensex is shooting and foreign investors are taking an interest in our economy — all this
indicates India is shining. The number of people living in poverty has also declined, though marginally. I
firmly believe that in ten-20 years from now, India will be one of the leading nations of the world.
No, I don’t agree with the critics because they are just anti-BJP politicians out to bad-mouth the party before
the elections. It is undeniable that the quality of life everywhere — urban and rural — has improved during
their term in office. Loans are easily available to farmers and students.
To make India really shine, the sociological and ideological mindsets of people at the individual level have to
change. Also corruption in public life needs to be curbed.
Waste of money
Neha Mathur (17), class XII student of the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Delhi
This ad campaign is a big waste of money. It would have been better if the money used on this campaign
had been diverted to rural areas. In any case, I feel citizens are responsible for the progress India has made
thus far, not government schemes. At the same time, I think the government has brought about some
positive changes. Reducing the fees in IIMs is a good step. So far, only the rich could afford to go to IIMs.
Now, many more will be able to afford it. Some progress has been made in rural areas, such as the
installation of telephone lines and availability of mobile phones. But yes, basic inequalities are still there.
We have a lot of resources and qualified people in India. But for India to shine, all citizens have to be
encouraged to join together to take the country forward. Instead our politicians are dividing people.
Pay attention to environment and corruption
V. Dhanalakshmi (17), class XII head girl of Children’s Garden Higher Secondary School, Chennai
India is shining only in certain areas like industry and health, not on all fronts. We have very low literacy and
lack the basic infrastructure essential for all-round progress. There is, however, hope for the future as India
has made great headway in fields ranging from agriculture and dairy production to space research and
communication.
I look at the India Shining campaign as a mere advertisement that’s unrealistic and an election gimmick
meant to influence voters. Farmers are shown to be smiling happily in these ad campaigns but in reality they
have massive problems. So many of them commit suicide everyday because of drought, lack of credit,
cheating by government servants etc. Most of the rural population is denied basic amenities like drinking
water, clothing, shelter and education and live miserable lives below the poverty line. Proper roads and
electricity are unheard of in some rural parts of India. India is shining only in certain parts of urban India.
Plans for development have to be implemented. It’s not enough to write plans and forget about them. All
people have to participate and prosper if India is to shine and progress. Right now India is only a ‘prostar’,
which in astrophysics means a collection of inter-stellar matter. If we can root out corruption, make our
environment pollution free and work to change ourselves, India can become a shining star.

5. Government shouldn't take all credit
Uday Raj Anand (17), class XII student and general secretary of the Student Executive of Sardar Patel
Vidyalaya, Delhi
Yes, there have been some successes and achievements in India. We have a very dynamic education
sector, there is a big rise in foreign exchange reserves, the telecom industry is booming, there is reduction of
pollution in Delhi where roads have improved.
It isn’t fair to deny any credit to the government. The recent peace initiative with Pakistan has given Indians
confidence and hope. However all the credit shouldn’t be given to government. There are a lot of private
players who have contributed to India’s development. For example in the education sector, many private
institutes have introduced interesting new programmes. Today a school-leaving student has so many more
career options to choose from. I believe the changes in India are the result of a long-term process, not just
the result of one government’s efforts.
There is general apathy towards rural India. Even the media tends to play up events only in urban India —
like the IIM debate, the grading system in schools. But issues like the Naxalite movement and terrorism in
Jharkhand are never highlighted, as these things don’t affect people living in cities.
Financial allocations for primary education in village schools haven’t really risen. Not enough is being done
about the needs of rural India, although it’s true that the President’s efforts in Chhatisgarh have done a lot to
improve the level of awareness in villages, as have NGOs.
Keep the fiscal deficit down, GDP up, foreign exchange reserves high, and hope for a good monsoon.
Infrastructure investment in the rural sector — both agricultural and social — has to be increased constantly
for growth and to keep India shining. All the taxpayers’ contributions shouldn’t be grabbed by the cities.
We need to maintain a focus on values. So many NRIs keep coming back to India because of our value
system. Sardar Patel School follows a curriculum focussed around Indian values and ideals — these things
are important to India. Some of the policies of the present NDA government contradict these values and this
is damaging efforts to maintain sustainable progress, growth, and development.
Huge rural-urban divide
Sandeep S. (15), class X head boy of St. Joseph’s Indian High School, Bangalor
No I don’t believe India is really shining. The taxpayer’s money used for advertising India’s so-called
achievements could have been better utilised in building schools and hospitals in rural areas. Everyday
there are reports of financial scandals in the newspapers. Corruption in public life has become so common
that these scandals have stopped to surprise us. But India does have a good future because it’s abundant in
natural and human resources. We just have to learn to use both of them effectively and efficiently.
I agree that rural India has been totally neglected. There is a huge rural-urban divide. Whereas in urban
India there are new shopping complexes, expensive hotels and pubs coming up everyday, in rural India
people don’t have even clean drinking water and electricity. If they don’t have a supportive infrastructure,
how can we expect them to become productive members of society?
It’s true progress is only in certain corners of India. You just have to walk down any of Bangalore’s roads to
see beggars, many of them children. These children who should be in school are begging on the streets.
This is certainly not India shining.
The government must give top priority to education and rural development. There’s an urgent need for a
national campaign against corruption. President Dr. Abdul Kalam should head this campaign.
No change in living conditions

6. Raghvendra S. (16), class X head boy of Jain Vidya Niketan School, Kanakpura district, near Bangalore
India may be shining for 25 percent of the population which lives in the cities, but not for us who live in
villages. Sure, our country has a good future, but it can only become a powerful country and shine if there is
development in the villages.
The critics are right. There hasn’t been much change in living conditions in rural India. The roads are bad,
there is no drinking water, power supply is erratic, water for irrigation is insufficient, and the public
transportation system is very unreliable. For us far away from the cities, we can only observe the progress
from a distance; we don’t enjoy the fruits of that progress. Those joys are only for city children, not for us. I
wonder how many years it will take for us to enjoy the progress of the cities in our own villages?
India can really shine if there is progress in the rural areas where 70 percent of Indians live. We depend on
agriculture for our livelihood. Unless there is development in the agricultural sector and farmers’ welfare
becomes the No.1 priority of the government, there is no future for the majority of our people. ⊕