Munnabhai, Gandhigiri and India’s GDP
Published by manish October 5th, 2006 in Analysis.October 2nd was Gandhi Jayanthi , the 134th birth anniversary of M.K Gandhi, India’s father of the nation. However to my knowledge never was Gandhi or Gandh’ian ideals talked about so much as is being talked about today. Everyone from kids to college students to the elderly seem to be greatly influenced by Gandhi’s preaching’s and his ideals. So what brought about a sudden transformation. Well the reason was a new movie by Vidhu Vinod Chopra called Lage Raho Munna Bhai.
There were some who didn’t appreciate the movie (at least initially) and some who really loved it and then some who connected with it. The Washington Post , in an article talks about Gandhi being the new pop icon of the country.
From the article.
Last week, dozens of people including academics, doctors and lawyers in the northern city of Lucknow marched to the office of the district administrator to give him roses after he reportedly criticized the “Gandhigiri” of some student protesters.
In the southern city of Hyderabad, Shweta Polanki was reported to have dumped her boyfriend when he made hissing noises to catch the waiter’s attention at a restaurant — a sign of disrespect for a worker according to “Gandhigiri.”
“Gandhigiri” also touched Babloo Srivastava, an alleged real-life mafia don, who decided to distribute dozens of roses and talk about love and peace at a Lucknow court where he was brought from jail for a hearing in one of the many cases that link him to murder, kidnapping and extortion.
Now how does all of the above relate to India’s GDP. To my mind it seems that Gandhigiri could be the cure to India’s corruption. According to a World Bank report India ranks 47th on the list of 213 on the corruption index. If India needs to sustain it’s GDP it should control corruption otherwise we are most likely to trip and fall headlong.
Now that is a startling statistic. Startling because India’s GDP (See graphic, Courtesy: rediff.com) growth Year on Year has been 8.9% (as of Q1 06-07).
Manufacturing has streamrolled the GDP growth in this quarter, but what about Electricity, Construction and Agriculture, where there is a negative growth or actually no growth. These are the industries where corruption is still rampant. How many times have you found a road which was newly built being reduced to tatters when the first rains strike (Reason: Sub-Standard quality of materials at standard prices) or realized that increased transmission and distribution costs in your electricity bill (Reason: Electricity theft which is becoming more prevalent).
These are just stray instances to my mind but the point I am trying to make is , if “Gandhigiri” is brought into practice in our daily lives, then some (if not all) exponents of corruption can be negated automatically. The net result will be a more positive growth in the traditional industries and ethical consumerism. An 8.9% rise in the GDP is excellent to say the least, but you never know, with films like LRMB effecting India’s psyche next quarter could be even more healthier.
Noble thought. Maybe Munnabhai-3 will further educate us on Gandhi.
bole to ekdum sahi bola.Gandhigiri follow karne ka tab puri duniya apun ke saamne mamu lagega.
Gandhigiri ke saath what lagne ka sawaal aich nahi.
Bolo Gandhigiri Zindabad
Bole to circuit ek dum fultu right baat bol rahela hai. apun ko vinamr rehne ka hai aur jyada fighting nahi karne ka hai. wo pension waale uncle ke maafik koi rishwat maange to uska shameful karne ka hai. samjha kya mamu?
If you really want to understand “Gandhigiri” then read Gandhi on “Trusteeship”and refine your concepts of GDP growth.Whatever is available to you on planet earth is not of your making.For example Crude oil has already been deposited below the earth. Now for a particular year if you take out more (I mean more than what you actually need) and waste it in your cars and or power plants, should we include this extravagent activity in calculating GDP growth and pat ourselves that GDP growth has gone up.Similarly steel production (Iron Ore),cement production (lime stone) copper, Zinc, Silver, Gold , you name it and excess production of all these material should not get you credit.But 90% of GDP growth includes all these activities.So what is the desired GDP growth for sustainability because the life on planet earth has to go on for millions of years to come.Do we take/ realise responsibilty for our future generation,and this may also include you in your next reincarnation.Infact BMKG wanted to teach us all this and more.Present day GDP growth is “greed” based and not need based.And greed brings along with it corruption and corruption pollutes our minds and polluted minds can’t trust others and therefore there is no way that we can get nearer to understanding trusteeship.But we must try and may be take a lesson from Bill Gates and Warren Buffet who by their noble actions of donating billions of dollars have shown to the world that even today some people do care for the downtrodden and havenots. They are willing to share their wealth.That is the first concept of Trusteeship.
Thanks for the comments guys.
Gaurav: Lets see what MunnaBhai-3 has in store,but I am quite certain it will not be about Gandhi.
Circuit and Murli Sharma Ji: What an honor to have you comment on this blog post, certainly all the publicity I needed. Thank you so very much
Dad (Ashok): Yes you are quite right, I am quite sure the production is not need based entirely, but greed based, and a right balance needs to be sought. I hope that further Philanthropical acts by BillG and WarrenB, lead to making significant progress on alternatively sources of energy other than fossil fuels. It’s sad to say that nothing has come of this in the past 10-12 years that we have been discussing this.