But then one wonders whether the parameters of economy, probity in public life, toxic foreign policies, crumbling law and order  are the only ones that determine whether a state has failed by its people.

What about failed Social values and norms.

When the founders of the USA established and centered the newborn nation firmly on human liberty and freedom, little could they ever imagined that future generation Americans would take the concept of liberty way over the lines of personal responsibility.  When the founding fathers of the American constitution made the belief in God and family values as a pillar of American society  and law, little they would have even imagined in their wildest scenario that these very concepts, twisted in the name of unbridled personal freedom, would lay waste time honed family institutions and values as has happened today in the USA.  And if one fast forwards to today, one can see the devastation in actuality in terms of broken marriages and families, high divorce rates, single-parent families, and a vast other social ills that come as secondary consequences.  The libertine seeds sown by the baby-boomers in the 1960s is now reaping a bitter harvest and the writing is on the wall that...

America is a failed state:

Yes, the USA and indeed much of the West has dismally failed in this regard.  It is a shocking conclusion indeed if one looks at it from that angle.  How can an advanced and prosperous society at the helm of technology and economic prosperity, with relative probity in its public institutions and governance, be labelled a failed state.   And many Bharateeya denizens of the West may vehemently disagree that their current homelands are failed states.  But the counterpoint is that it is impossible to label those societies that have crumbling family values as anything but a success.   In fact, during the very recent economic crisis, when the USA came close to joining the ranks of economically failed states and somehow bailed out of from the brink of the bottomless bankruptcy well, thanks to the mercies of China and Europe, this very collapse in the family values was indeed at the core of defaulted home loans maelstrom. Some leading economic brains have alluded to this point of view.

 But whom are we in Bhaarath so blindly emulating:

One constantly is faced with this question when it comes to our own Bhaarath.  And this is quite a relevant question to ask going by the mindless and blind aping of the West (esp America) by Bhaarath in almost every walks of life.   The Baby-boomer libertine revolution of the 1960s that ignited the total destruction of the backbone of American family values; those same libertine values are now raising their collective ugly heads in Bharath, thanks to blind aping of Hollywood by our own Bollywood.  Yes, Bollywood, other than that evil culture swallowing monster of globalization,  is a big villain here and its forcible ramming of Western values down the throat of our impressionable youth is causing colossal destruction of our ancient ethos.  Little thought is given that these Western values are ill-suited to our societal norms here.  If there is open kissing in Hollywood flicks, then Bollywood should have it.  If libertine gay values, fast divorces,  scanty clothes, open marriages, collapsing values are the norm in Hollywood productions, then it has to happen in Bollywood, thanks to misguided pseudo-intellectuals like Karan Johar and his likes that run Bollywood these days and thrust these values on our hapless youth.

Little wonder then if things maintain their trajectory made this far, we in Bharath will reap the same bitter family values harvest in a couple of decades, the same bitter harvest that the West is reaping.  And we are already a failing state when it comes to the parameters of corruption and probity in public life.  And when we fail in family values also, it will be a tragic double whammy faced by our posterity.

A tale of needlessly frittered opportunities:

Post independence Bhaarath's trajectory is a litany of missed opportunities and misguided decisions.  The founding fathers of our Samvidhaan (constitution) had a golden opportunity to completely jettison alien English and Western societal norms and embark on a pure Bhaarateeya trajectory, whereby Sanskrit could have been made our official language akin to ancient Hebrew in Israel.  Had Sanskrit been given this very apt and deserved honor, Bhaarath and its society would have been in an entirely different dimension today.  Had Sanskrit been our national language instead of English, our youth would have had the capability to understand the richness in our epics, Gita, Upanishads and the immortal Vedas.  Alas, it was not to be and English maintained its hegemony and today our pseudo-Bollywood-fed-Westernized youth feel completely out of place when confronted with our ancient heritage.    Even the slave name given by our former British colonial masters, INDIA, was retained by the founding fathers of our samvidhaan instead of the ancient name given by our proud seers and Rishis; BHARATH.  And as the great Hindi orator, Rajiv Dixit briliantly espouses in Hindi in his Bhaarath Swaabhimaan speech series, Yeh badi durbhaagya aur vidambana ki baat hai aur bahut hi dukh deta hai.. when even our name is redolent of our past slavery to the English. 

The other significant golden opportunity to minimize this very cultural devastation was missed in 1991 when the genie of globalization was unleashed on Bharath without even a shred of regard for its societal and cultural consequences.  It was rather unfortunate that the then political masters gave in to international financial blackmail (our foreign reserves had plummeted to an all time low) and set free the globalization genie under duress.  This genie has become an uncontrollable monster now and which has completely anglicized everything.  It is unfortunate that no other measures that could have had a more benign effect on our culture were conidered at that time (1991).

(Had Sanskrit been our official tongue there would certainly have been much less foreign exchange reserves in the coffers of RBI today and less BPOs, but the spiritual and cultural capital reaped and the interest earned would have been priceless.  All the money in the bank minus our rich culture is nothing but bits of waste and worthless paper.  Even the globalization genie could have been more tractable in that scenario if , as they say, globalization was indeed inevitable.)

But all is not lost:

Even now all is not lost and there is that proverbial light at the end of that dark tunnel.  So what can be done?

First of all: WE NEED TO BE OURSELVES.. PROUD BHARATEEYAS, PROUD OF OUR HERITAGE AND ANCIENT ETHOS and the we includes even those pseudo-western-intellectuals that run our media and our entertainment industry.  We need timely legislation and political will to ENFORCE Sanskrit as our national language irrespective of the hue and cry made by various pseudo-secular and libertine forces.   Sanskrit should be made MANDATORY all the way.. Even in University, in professional colleges like Engineering, Medical etc, Sanskrit should be a compulsory subject.  This measure would certainly have a terrific impact on the intellectual and most importantly moral development (of which there is a dire need) and shaping of the characters of our youngsters.  By mastering Sanskrit, they will also have at their hand the rich ethos of our epics and Vedas.

SO COMING BACK TO THE QUESTION:  ARE WE STILL EMULATING A FAILED STATE??? 

Dr. Shiva IYER

Sarvam Shri KrishnaarpaNam