Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our
achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but
we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a
self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such
achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures
and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was
the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken
place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the
picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his
desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that
everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths,
were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.
In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are
we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed
with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We
want foreign technology.
Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that
self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this
lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her
what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed
India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You
must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly
developed nation.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline
is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute
pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay,
Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the
streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said.
'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the
authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect
the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the
pressure in his bowels?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the
job. Same in Japan.
Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to
choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do
everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect
the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage
all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece
of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide
clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of
bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and
toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least
opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service
to the public.
When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women,
dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations
and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole
system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my
sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?
What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of
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