Other day I was watching a Hindi song where the main actor dances to the tune of song
JHOPADPATTI ZINDABAD,
MEHNAT WALLE ZINDABAD,
DAULAT WALLE MURDABAD.
meaning...
"Hail to our slums,
Hail to the hardworkers.
Hell to the rich folks."
I have no qualms about praising the hardworkers. But there is hardly anything to be proud about living in slums. Also, nothing wrong in being rich, as long as the wealth is acquired by honest means.
This movie was from 1980s, when it was fashionable to glamorize poverty back home. Politicians, media and some in the movie industry survived on selling poverty. When China was chugging ahead with double digit growth, removing poverty in the process, we were still glorifying it, gloating in the reverie of communism, demonizing the rich.
Indira Gandhi promised GARIBI HATAO in 1971, but nothing tangible happened until 1991, when liberalization set in. Though we could have done better, we still have come a long way from days of "Jhopadpatti Zindabad". Consumerism has set in. As Deng Xiaoping, one of the architects of Chinese growth said, "it's fun to get rich". He wasn't far from truth.
In this context, let me mention about Rajeev Dash, a young entrepreneur operating from Bhubaneswar, a place not known to be conducive towards business. The other day he mentioned about low amount of money being in circulation in Bhubaneswar. To a businessman, it sounds like music when he hears the sound of money circulating in town, a sign of consumer confidence and more money in their pocket. Stagnant money leads to less spending and more unsold inventory, which is a trader's worst nightmare. Our ancient Sanskrit scholars aptly named money as CHANCHALAA (The moving one), which should circulate around, never stay static.
In spite of such bottlenecks, he strives hard, contributing to the economy by generating employment, who would spend the money they earn, continuing the cycle of more money spending, resulting in more employment.
We should be eulogizing entrepreneurs like Rajeev, rather than dancing to the tune of "Jhopadpatti Zindabad ". Otherwise we will forever be stuck with building world class Bullock carts, when China's sells state of the art Bullet Trains.
JHOPADPATTI ZINDABAD,
MEHNAT WALLE ZINDABAD,
DAULAT WALLE MURDABAD.
meaning...
"Hail to our slums,
Hail to the hardworkers.
Hell to the rich folks."
I have no qualms about praising the hardworkers. But there is hardly anything to be proud about living in slums. Also, nothing wrong in being rich, as long as the wealth is acquired by honest means.
This movie was from 1980s, when it was fashionable to glamorize poverty back home. Politicians, media and some in the movie industry survived on selling poverty. When China was chugging ahead with double digit growth, removing poverty in the process, we were still glorifying it, gloating in the reverie of communism, demonizing the rich.
Indira Gandhi promised GARIBI HATAO in 1971, but nothing tangible happened until 1991, when liberalization set in. Though we could have done better, we still have come a long way from days of "Jhopadpatti Zindabad". Consumerism has set in. As Deng Xiaoping, one of the architects of Chinese growth said, "it's fun to get rich". He wasn't far from truth.
In this context, let me mention about Rajeev Dash, a young entrepreneur operating from Bhubaneswar, a place not known to be conducive towards business. The other day he mentioned about low amount of money being in circulation in Bhubaneswar. To a businessman, it sounds like music when he hears the sound of money circulating in town, a sign of consumer confidence and more money in their pocket. Stagnant money leads to less spending and more unsold inventory, which is a trader's worst nightmare. Our ancient Sanskrit scholars aptly named money as CHANCHALAA (The moving one), which should circulate around, never stay static.
In spite of such bottlenecks, he strives hard, contributing to the economy by generating employment, who would spend the money they earn, continuing the cycle of more money spending, resulting in more employment.
We should be eulogizing entrepreneurs like Rajeev, rather than dancing to the tune of "Jhopadpatti Zindabad ". Otherwise we will forever be stuck with building world class Bullock carts, when China's sells state of the art Bullet Trains.
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