Positive News Rarely Makes the Headlines : India’s Cup of Progress Is Both Half Empty, Half Full

India makes news because of the turmoil there. The popular image is that of a desperately backward country, steeped in mysticism, corrupted by materialism and torn by religious violence. It is a land where cows are sacred and human beings are cheap.

The headlines are familiar: The Golden Temple attack, Sikh terrorism, political assassination, religious conflict, child labor and bride burnings for lack of dowry.

From Punjab in the west to the remote northeast, India is racked by separatist movements, religious and caste feuds and guerrilla warfare.

But India remains a Tower of Babel that still stands, a conglomeration of former princely states, at least 15 official languages, dozens of competing religions and ethnic minorities. All coexist in a state of tension but not disintegration.

Question Asked Again

The question of India’s Balkanization--the breakup into small, weakened states--is being asked once again but Indians have heard it all before. There is a saying about this land of computers and fortune tellers, spacemen and swamis: The existence of India is proof of the existence of God.

India’s viability derives from a common commitment to democracy shared by all its disparate states. A commitment to nationhood since the independence struggle binds the union together. No state could exist alone as a viable unit, and all fare better in a loose confederation.

But the positive news about India seldom makes headlines.

An Indian astronaut has vaulted into space, Indian satellites are in orbit, Indian scientists explore Antarctica and probe the ocean floor seeking lost cities. India is entering the computer age. Its growing middle class is buying Indian-made electronics and video cassettes and demanding more.

Good News, Bad News

There’s so much good and bad news in this nation of 750 million that both optimists and pessimists can argue their views convincingly. In a nation more populous than Africa and South America combined, the absolute numbers of both the better-off and the wretched are staggering. Both are increasing in number and the disparities are widening.

In India the cup of progress is both half-empty and half-full.

There is virtual food self-sufficiency, overflowing granaries and exports to famine-stricken countries in Africa. At the same time, there is widespread malnutrition because of an inadequate distribution system and because the poor cannot afford to buy grain. In India the wheat of the “green revolution” is rotting on the ground for lack of storage.

There is overall improvement in livelihood, especially for the middle and upper class of about 100 million. National income rose by 8.5% last year compared to 1.8% the previous year.

360 Million Eat Poorly

But 48% of the people, 360 million, don’t get a square meal a day, according to government figures. That is about the total population at independence 38 years ago.

There is widespread police brutality, detention without trial and suspension of civil liberties, alongside a relatively independent judiciary and civil rights groups that file class- action law suits for the oppressed.

There is oppression of the untouchables--the lowest of the low outside the constitutionally abolished Hindu caste system--alongside the world’s biggest affirmative-action program. The constitution sets quotas in government jobs and colleges in all states to help the disadvantaged. But the practice has sparked bloody riots between upper and lower castes.

Today, however, untouchables can defy ancient customs and drink from the village well.

Rising Aspirations

Social ferment reflects the rising aspirations of many groups. The low castes, tribals and women no longer accept their traditional, menial roles.

In 38 years India also has become an economic success story, making impressive gains on many fronts and demonstrating its resilience in the face of worldwide economic troubles.

National income is rising modestly, exports increasing, the trade deficit falling and the gross national product maintaining a steady growth rate of 5% a year.

The liberalized economic policies of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi have inspired hope of an economic takeoff. He has eased regulations on industry, relaxed import restrictions on computers and other goods and ordered the lumbering socialistic public sector to show higher profits or face closure.

Drinking Water Lacking

Some economists question whether Gandhi’s thrust into the computer age is the best strategy for a country where the average annual per capita income is only $260 and where a third of the villages lack pure drinking water.

India remains one of the world’s poorest countries, and statistics are both encouraging and disheartening.

Life expectancy increased from 43 years in 1960 to 52 in 1981, still far behind the 70 to 75 years for developed countries. Adult literacy jumped from 28% to 36%. That still leaves 270 million illiterates--more than the combined populations of Britain, France, West Germany and Italy.

India has preserved a democratic parliamentary system. It has a fiercely independent and ruthlessly critical, if sometimes self-censored, press.

Grievances Aired

People from all walks of life--peasants, academics, doctors, lawyers, textile workers, taxi drivers and students--take to the streets at the slightest provocation to demand justice, higher wages or to air grievances.

Although India is a virtual one-party democracy and dynasty of the Nehru family, opposition parties from Communists to Hindu revivalists are outspoken. They take the government to task both inside and outside of Parliament, and the government is bound to answer them.