Critique on Indian Middle and Elite Class

Hi,

I have been out and busy with many a work. However, I still take time out and do my bit of reading, without which there are hardly any chances of my survival... lol :-)

Jokes apart, I recently read a book by the name "The Great Indian Middle Class" written by Pavan K. Verma. It's a very compelling book I must say.

Pavan K. Verma has been a member of IFS (Indian Foreign Services) and has worked at Romania, Bulgaria and also at New York at the United Nations. He's done his graduation in history and then obtained a law degree in Delhi.

Talking about the book: the central idea or the underlying idea of this book is a critique (quite insightful and powerful) on the attitudes and behaviors of the Indian middle class. In this critique, the author has shown how and when the contemporary middle class of India emerged, and how it evolved over time, especially during the 50 years after India's independence. (this book was written in 1998). He has shown how the middle class, guided by self-interest alone, has subverted the goal of an egalitarian society or say, a more just society where the gap between the rich and the poor is minimum; how, over the years, its commitment to democracy and the electoral process has declined; and how economic liberalization (after 1991) has only heightened its tendency to withdraw from anything that does not relate directly to its material well-being.

He hasn't talked about the size and structure of this middle and what kind of income-earning people constitute it. A general idea is that it is a class of people who are neither so poor that they can't have 3 times of meal a day or send their children to school nor are they so rich (like capitalists or business tycoons) who own large multinational corporations like Ambanis, Birlas, Tatas, or CEO's of top notch companies. They are somewhere in between these two extremes, but their aspirations are always to be with those few elites on the top.

Pavan Verma has divided his book into 5 chapters: The Relevance of beginnings, The Age of Hope, The End of Innocence, The Inner Landscape, and The Writing on the Wall. Each chapter depicts a major shift or phase in the evolution of this class.

Let me give you a brief extract from the book which I feel, sets the tone of the book. It's the first part of the very first chapter:

It was the night of 14th August 1947, hot, muggy and full of the dense moistness that comes with the rains at this time in New Delhi. It was not an ordinary night. For, at the stroke of midnight, India was to become a free country, putting an end to two centuries of British rule. All over the country, through its vast and sprawling plains, its verdant coastlines, and in the towns and villages nestled amidst its mountain ranges, ordinary people, largely illiterate, ill-clad, and mostly malnourished, waited with a sense of heightened anticipation for the fruition of an even long fought for and awaited. In the bigger cities, specially the capital, Delhi, animated crowds milled around, hugely excited by the imminent event. Again, these were ordinary people, aware of the momentousness of the event, but still a little fuzzy about what it would mean for them in real terms in the years to come. They were there to celebrate, and to hear their beloved leader Jawaharlal Nehru speak to them. And, at the stroke of midnight hour, Nehru spoke. In English. [emphasis mine]

'Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny,' Nehru said. ' And now the time has come to redeem our pledge...' He spoke with passion and feeling and a transparent sense of destiny. He was heard in rapt silence by the representatives of the Indian people.... Unfortunately, the elegance of his prose and the content of his speech inspired only a minuscule number of Indians, mostly from the middle class, who had access to a radio and, more importantly, could understand English. For, to the overwhelming majority of Indians... English and the way of life of which it was both a symbol and an instrument were incomprehensible and alien.

The question that arises then, quite logically, is why Nehru, who had spent a lifetime struggling against British colonialism, and who had, indeed, acquired the stature of an icon in the Indian freedom movement even in the estimation of the masses, choose to speak to them on such a momentous occasion in language they did not comprehend?

The answer to this question provides the key to understanding the nature of the impact of British colonialism on India, the genesis and content of the Indian national movement, and the emergence, as a result of the interaction of these processes in decades leading up to 1947, of the Indian middle class.

Perhaps, now you can get an idea of the kind of critique and analysis you can find in this book, and also understand its relevance and importance.

Finally, the author argues that the project of 'secession of the successful' is as dangerous as it is unrealistic in a country like India. For, if the middle class remains insensitive to the needs of the vast number of Indians who live in extreme poverty and not to mention, with the least opportunities, it does so at the risk of considerable political instability which will militate against the very prosperity that it desires.

I don't want to write much in this post. I hope people reading this post would take some time out and try to read the book. It's just 200 pages long and would cost around 250/-, available almost at every book store in any mall.

I will mention some important points in every chapter that the author has written to give you an overview of the book, but that would be in my next post.

Au revoir!