Origin And History Of Cow Slaughter And Beef Eating In India

Those were the times when India was at the peak of Mughal Rule. The rulers of a large part of India were muslims and guess what, they had banned Cow Slaughter in that Mughal Empire. Nobody dared to kill cows and eat beef in that Muslim Empire.

The Mughal Empire and Cow

Babur, who invaded India all the way from Kabul and established the Mughal Empire in India, despite being an orthodox Muslim had banned Cow Slaughter in his empire. All successive Mughal Emperors – Humayun, Akbar, Shah Jahan, Jehangir, Aurangazeb, and then even Ahmad Shah had banned Cow Slaughter in their kingdoms. Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan who ruled the Mysore State in the present day Karnataka had made cow slaughter and beef eating a punishable offence and the crime would be punished by cutting off the hands of the person who committed the crime!

Today in India we have over 36000 slaughterhouses!  How did this massive turn around take place?

Cow and The Hindu Civilization

To understand that first we need to get back to the importance of cow in the ancient Hindu civilization of India. Cows are the most sacred animals to the Hindus and this is not without any reason. In fact the very word Cow in English is derived from the Sanskrit word Gau for Cow.

Hindus believe that all Gods and Goddesses live inside a Cow

One of the most important reasons is that cows have been the backbones of Indian families and the Indian agricultural system ever since the dawn of this ancient Hindu civilization. Apart from the extensively used Cow’s milk which the ancient Indians used to collect only after the calf has had its share, the most important use of Cows was in Agriculture. Without Cow the Indian agriculture in those days was as good as gone, and this was one of the prime reasons why Hindus being nature worshippers also worshipped Cow.

Cows had their own shelters called Gaushalas (large places where the cows lived) which were many a times larger than the homes where people lived. There used to be people exclusively to look after the well being of the cows here and many a times they used to be the cow owners themselves who used to clean the Gaushalas everyday, feed the cows, take care of their health and so on . Every single festival of harvest had cow worship, house warming ceremonies had the ritual of taking the cow inside the house first and then pray to it to make the house prosper and flood with food grains, milk and butter.

Cows being fed at a Gaushala

Note that those were the days when food was grown in a healthy natural process. There was no industrial revolution, no artificial fertilizers, no chemical pesticides and insecticides. The entire Indian agriculture was based on the nature’s best fertilizer – Cow dung, and one of the nature’s best pesticide – Cow’s urine (along with the neem based solutions) were used extensively in the agriculture. Buttermilk again which is a derivative of Cow’s milk was used as an effective fungicide and weedicide.

And not without any reason, the Indian agriculture in those days was extremely productive thanks to the cow products. Farmers were happy, crops came on time, yield was high, prices were low for food crops, kingdoms even used to export their agricultural output, granaries were always filled, milk was abundantly available and so were its derivatives like Butter, Ghee etc which formed an important part of the Indian diet. Every religious institution, big farms, farmers, diary owners all had thousands of cows – the cows which had made the Indian economy rich and healthy.

Even today in African deserts were growing food is difficult and whatever grows must give a rich yield for people to have adequate food, fermented cow’s urine is used as a natural pesticide. Compare this with farmers today who spend thousands and thousands of rupees on artificial fertilizers and chemical pesticides, which not only make the food unhealthy, but also make the soil unproductive over time.

Cow slaughter and slaughterhouses are banned even today in Nepal. In India, very few are aware of the fact that Article 48 of the Indian Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy) says clearly that the government must protect the cow, its progeny and other cattle used in agriculture, not just because the cows are sacred to Hindus but because Cows have been the backbone of Agriculture and milk production in this country ever since the dawn of civilization. To millions of poor families in India, even today Cow’s milk is the only source of nutrient to their kids and babies.

In India states like Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka etc have already banned Cow slaughter (Karnataka being a very recent addition). Cuba banned cow slaughter after its people virtually ate up all the cattle leading to a scarcity of diary products. Even Iran has banned Cow slaughter and note that it was at the request of a non-muslim –Seth Merwanji Framji Panday that Iran – a muslim dominated nation banned cow slaughter. Now compare this with India today where our politicians are prepared to sell anything in return for votes.

British Rule and Slaughterhouses

Both Mahathma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru had declared before Independence that they would ban Cow slaughter in India after Independence. Obviously they didnt impose it. Why? Thanks to Robert Clive who had converted the Indian muslims (who never ate beef till the end of Mughal era) into believing that beef eating was their religious right. Cow slaughter had become a vote bank issue. How? Read below.

Robert Clive – the so called Founder of the British Empire in India who was twice the Governor of Bengal too – on entering India was astonished and amazed to see the success of the agricultural system here. He went on researching the reasons for the success of the Indian agriculture and discovered the root – The Holy Indian Cow. The entire hindu life style revolved around this animal, not just religiously, but socially. Cow was an integral part of a Hindu family as was any other human member in the family. He even found that in many places the total number of cattle was more than the number of humans living there.

OK, so he decided, to break the backbone of agriculture in India – the holy cows have to be targeted. And thus was opened the first slaughterhouse of cows in India in 1760 by Robert Clive at Kolkata. It had a capacity to kill 30,000 cows per day. And anyone can guess within a year’s time how many cows would have been killed. And within a century India had very little cattle left to sustain its agricultural needs. And Britain as an alternative started offering artificial manure, and in this manner urea, phosphate etc started getting imported from England. Indian agriculture had started becoming dependent on west invented artificial products and was forced to give up home grown natural practices.

Guess what, till 1760 most of India had banned not only cow slaughter, but also prostitution and drinking wine was banned as well. Robert Clive made all three legal and removed the ban.

Now the British had hit two birds with a single stone by this move. The first was to break the backbone of the Indian agriculture ie making cattle not available for agriculture. And the second?

Well, obviously Hindus did not work as butchers at the slaughter houses opened by the British. And of course the British were well known for their divide and rule policies which they practiced throughout their colonial kingdoms then. So what did they do? Well, they hired muslims as butchers and this was done in almost every slaughterhouse they opened. And this slowly pushed the muslims into believing that beef eating was their religious right.

What the Mughal empire had banned had been turned into a practice by the British empire. What Babur and Akbar termed as a crime was converted into a norm by Robert Clive. And today the soil of India is filled with artificial fertilizers and pesticides while the holy Cow cries in the slaughterhouses. While there were over 70 breeds of cows in the country at the time of independence, today we have only 33 and even among them many breeds are facing extinction.

Guess what happened to the man who started all this? Robert Clive became a opium addict and later committed suicide by stabbing himself with a pen knife after being unable to withstand the pain caused by the illness that had resulted from opium addiction.

Seven sisters of india

The Seven Sisters of India are the seven relatively unexplored and isolated Indian states -- Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh -- which for many years was closed to foreigners. This land, better known to the world as the North-Eastern region of India, borders China, Tibet, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. India's remote northeast, the area comprising the seven states stretching from Tibet in the north to Myanmar (Burma) in the south, among them Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Assam. In this area, rarely visited by foreigners, peoples scarcely known to the Western world continue a way of life steeped in ancient ritual.

Extensive, complex patterns of violence continues in the seven states of northeastern India. The main insurgent groups in the northeast include two factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in Nagaland; Meitei extremists in Manipur; and the all Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) and the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) in Tripura. The proclaimed object of many of these groups is to break out of the Indian union, creating new, independent nations.

Their stated grievances against the Indian Government range from charges of neglect and indifference to the endemic poverty of the region, to allegations of active discrimination against the tribal and non-tribal peoples of the region by the center. The oldest of these conflicts, involving the Nagas, started with India's independence in 1947. The insurgency was eventually quelled in the early 1980s through a mixture of repression and cooptation.

Only after Independence and re-organisation of the States was a semblance of real Government authority and administration brought into these far-flung areas. This was strongly resented by the newly educated elite of the tribal societies, who construed the efforts of the Government as an encroachment on their tribal way of life and freedom. Thus, on the basis of racial, cultural and religious differences from the majority stock of the plains, insurgency in the NE India came into being.

Issues of ideology were by and large irrelevant to the insurgency movements of the NE region. The single predominant factor that has withstood the test of time in this regard is either ethnic (such as in Assam and Tripura) or tribal as in Nagaland. It has also been seen that, within a particular State, insurgency by one set of tribals raises its head, finds roots and spreads and then dies with an agreement with the Government. Thereafter, in the same geographical area, another lesser tribe/sub tribe undergoes the same cycle.

Thus in Mizoram, once Lushai insurgency came to an end, the Hmars were up in arms. In the same manner, the Naga insurgency once spearheaded by the Semas passed into the hands of the Konyaks in Northern Nagaland and the Tangkhuls in Southern Nagaland and NE Manipur with the once dominant Semas and Angamis relegated largely to the side lines. Similar to the Bodos, the Karbi Anglongs of Assam are showing all the signs of the itch to raise yet another movement. Thus it is evident that even if, at the point of origin ideology had any role to play, in the long run it is the ethnic and tribal perceptions that truly matter.

The insurgency in the NE states first manifested itself in Nagaland and thereafter mushroomed to other areas. The insurgency in Nagaland has thus, in a sense, been an umbrella for all other insurgencies in the region. It is essential to know the historical context leading to these insurgencies. The map of the NE has been altered with new lines drawn to recognise new political and administrative realities. The names of these entities have changed; the Naga Hills has become Nagaland, the Lushai Hills has changed to Mizoram and the North Eastern Frontier Agency, still known to many simply as NEFA, has become Arunachal Pradesh.

The jungles of SE Asia sweep down from Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh across seven other nations - Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Kampuchea, Malaysia and Vietnam-spanning political boundaries regardless of physical frontiers. Ethnic coalitions, oral traditions and lifestyles based on respect for nature have mattered more in these regions than frontiers. Here men and women, with common origins but different nationalities, share a racial, historic, anthropological and linguistic kinship with each other that is more vital than their links with the mainstream political centers, especially at Delhi, Dhaka and Rangoon, or Yangon, as it is known today.

It is this affinity that has played a role in the unrest and insurgencies that have long troubled the NE of India. Affinity and Identity; these, more than any other factors, have represented the principal compulsions that triggered the Naga, Mizo, Meitei, Tripuri and Assamese affirmation of separateness from the non-Mongolian communities that dominate the India subcontinent.

India's NE is a misshapen strip of land, linked to the rest of the country by a narrow corridor just 20 kms wide at its slimmest, which is referred to as the "Siliguri Corridor". This region has been the battle ground for generations of sub-national identities. The anthropological composition of the inhabitants of North Eastern India presents a kaleidoscopic variety. Descendants of Aryan and Dravidian stocks co-mingle with the Indo-Burmese and Indo-Tibetan strains. Owing to its geographical isolation from the rest of India and the relative primitiveness of the tribal societies existing here, the region remained virtually cut off from the rest of India. From time immemorial till the near eclipse of the British Raj, and even to this day, this situation of isolation has continued in one form or the other.

To give a fair account of the feeling of non-"Indianness" of the tribal peoples, it is essential to understand that the phenomenon is more or less reciprocal with the rest of India being largely ignorant of the problems and privations of the peoples of NE India. One striking example of the psychological aloofness of the Indian people from this region is the massacre at Nellie in 1976. This incident in which over 3000 men, women and children were slaughtered in one go, could engage Indian media attention for barely two weeks.

There is now a perceptible change in attitudes. The sheer scale and intensity of the ongoing political violence in Assam and the resultant continuous media coverage has brought about a situation where the rest of India is now aware of the existence of the region. Similarly, the opening of roads and related means of communication in the region has served, in conjunction with the spread of education, to bring about an awareness of the rest of India. The veritable flood of Hindi movies and their popularity in the region have also assisted in no small measure in this slow but sure process of absorption in the Indian mainstream.

In October 2002 a dozen underground organizations of the North East India constituted a platform to carry forward their armed struggle together. The organizations had consolidated their bases in a common area of Burma -- which they call "Liberated Burma" -- with the help of Kachin Independence Army (KIA). An area of Burma bordering Nagaland of the North East India has been occupied by the militants, in which they have reportedly set up as many as 20 camps to provide training to their cadres. A stretch of Burma opposite of Mon District of Nagaland in the North East has been occupied by the militant groups, but the Burmese government cannot take action against them.

Bhutan on 15 December 2003 launched a military crackdown on three Indian separatist groups - the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the Kamatapur Liberation Organization (KLO). The three groups, fighting for independent homelands, had set up well-entrenched bases inside the dense jungles in southern Bhutan. The ULFA and the NDFB are rebel groups from the border state of Assam, while the KLO is from West Bengal. Bhutan claimed it had smashed all the 30 rebel camps, but admitted the militants were still holed up inside the kingdom.

The Seven Sisters of India are relatively untouched, unexplored and isolated states of north east India. North East states are heavily forested and land of tribes peoples. These states are full of natural beauty,exotic places and wide variety of beautiful wild animals like rhinoceros, elephants and numerous species of birds. North east region consist of seven contiguous states Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Northeast India is ethnically distinct from the other states of India. Assam is the gateway through which the seven sister states are connected to the mainland. Sikkim and some parts of North Bengal is also come under the north east India. India’s Northeast is one of South Asia’s hottest trouble spots.These seven sister states has major population of tribes peoples in India.

Assam: The gateway of seven sisters is surrounded by other six states. Assam is one of the richest biodiversity zones in the world and consists of tropical rain forests, grasslands and numerous wetlands ecosystems now protected as Kaziranga and manas national parks. It is also know for its beautiful dark green tea gardens, Deep forest of Sal trees. Assam is the home for one-horned Indian rhinoceros, along with The Royal Bengal Tiger and numerous species of birds, it also provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant. Assam and other states offers so many big festivals like Bohag Bihu,Cheiraoba and Losoong.

Arunachal Pradesh: Land of the rising sun has many undiscovered places to attract tourist form many parts of the world. Tourist attractions include Buddhist monastery in tawang, Sela lake near Bomdila with its bamboo bridges overhanging the river and undiscovered scenic beauty of tuting. Rafting and trekking are also main attractable sports. Namdapha National Park located in Arunachal Pradesh, is one of the unexplored national park of India, It is also home for some of the giant animals, the great Hornbills and Red Giant Flying Squirrel.

Manipur: “The originator of Polo game” is lies in an oval-shaped valley surrounded by blue mountains. There are four major river basins in Manipur and all the rivers in the valley area are in the mature stage. Manipur may be characterized in two distinct regions – Outer area of rugged hills and narrow valleys and the inner area of flat plain. The climate of Manipur is largely influenced by the topography of this hilly region. The valley region has a number of hills and lakes, The Loktak lake is an important feature of vally.

Meghalaya: Meghalaya means “The Abode of Clouds”. Meghalaya lies in strip of hills in the eastern part, one third area of the states is forested. Meghalaya forest is also know for its biodiversity of mammals, birds, and plants. There are several falls around Shillong. The Shillong peak is highest in the state and is good for trekking. Meghalaya is the wettest place on earth, annual rainfall as high as 1200 cm in some areas. Cherrapunji holds the world record for most rain in a calendar month, while the village of Mawsynram, holds the distinction for heaviest yearly rains. The Langshiang Falls at Meghalaya is one of the largest waterfalls in India.

Mizoram: Also called “land of the Mizo people” Mizo means “highlander”. Mizoram is a land of rolling hills, valleys, rivers and lakes,it has the most varicolored hilly terrain. Blue Mountain is the highest peak in Mizoram. These hills are separated by rivers, these rivers created deep gorges between the hill ranges. Hilly regions gives it a mild climate all year. Mizoram is rich in flora and fauna and many kinds of tropical trees and plants thrive in the area. The Palak lake is major attraction and it is the biggest lake in Mizoram.

Nagaland: Nagaland is the one of the smallest as well as largely mountainous state of India. Mount saramati is the highest peak of Naga hills in state. Nagaland is rich among all other states in flora and fauna and in evergreen forests. The Great Indian Horn-billis one of the most famous birds found in the state. Naga tribes also found in most of the sister states, There are total 15 recognized tribes in the present state of Nagaland.

Tripura: Tripura is a landlocked hilly state with many rivers including the Manu River which originates here. Tripura has a rich cultural heritage of music, fine arts, handicrafts and dance. Music is an integral part of the tribal people of Tripura. Tripura is rich in flora and fauna and many species of trees and plants. Dance is an important to the tribal in all states of north east.

Things I hate about India

Before you start sending me hate mails after just reading the title of this hub, let me make it very clear that I am also an India and no less patriotic than anybody else. I love my country and I am very proud of being an India. However being an Indian its my duty to find the shortcomings in society of India, its culture and its people so that we can collectively correct that and make this a better country for our future generation. The list I am going to produce is not about little problems, but these are the problems which have kept us from progressing from a third world to a developed one. These are the iron chain in the legs of every Indian who want to sprint and catch the rest of the the world.

I just don't want you to read this list and move on. I want you to think about it, find a solution and fix it.  So here goes the list of 10 things I hate about India..

1. Corruption

This is the biggest curse to this country which is wiping out all the hard work of common man. From being a part of the system in 60's and 70's, it has become the system now. Everyone starting from politician to a peon is corrupt.

Everyone blames other of being corrupt but they themselves don't miss any chances of taking bribes. It started when we were blindly following the communism in our early days of independence with tight regulation, red tape ism and license raj. However now it has spread it roots so deeply in the society that even though we are now more open economically corruption is getting bigger and bigger. Recent 2G, common wealth scams and lot others are so big that they are comparable to GDP of some small countries. Billions and billions are money are being looted in daylight and we have now simply stopped reacting. It may be deep rooted in our society but if we don't find a solution to this problem soon then it will not take much for us of being slaves again.

2. Deep rooted casteism

India with largely Hindu population is plagued with deep rooted casteism which has been a part of society for more than 5000 years. Hinduism is one of the most beautiful religion on this earth and I feel proud of being a Hindu. However as all other religions, Hinduism is is also not free of its shortcomings.

 Hinduism broadly divide people into broadly 4 categories based on the work they do. Brahmin does all the worshiping, teaching and rituals, Kshatriya were warriors, Vaishya were merchants and Shoodra were people who used to serve others. But these divisions were never meant to discriminate anyone. However these divisions got more finer and finer, Shoodras got discriminates and exploited and Indian society were a mess till we got independence. In current day modern Indian society, that discrimination and exploitation has not almost gone, but the caste divide is as strong as it was before. Modern day politicians use this caste divide to rule us and hide their ill doings. For example, even a most educated person will not vote for a honest person if he is from different caste but will vote for most corrupt person from his caste. Election tickets are not distributed based on competencies but on caste equations. From marriages to elections to friendships, everything is based on caste. Unless this casteism is uprooted from its very base, a real growth in terms of social equality and harmony cannot happens

3. Regionalism and Languagism

India is a country full of diversity comprising many religions, culture and hundreds of languages and dialects. In some way it is good for the country but in current scenarios its proving to be more harmful and giving any benefits. We talk about unity in diversity but that unity is nowhere to see. As if caste divide was not enough, regionalism and langaugism are also adding to the misery of Indian unity. I will give you an example of how it works. A person from Maharashtra will hate a person from North Indian especially from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. This same person will hate a person from Maharashtra itself if this person is Maratha and the other person is Brahmin. And the same person will also hate another Maratha if this person is from Mumbai and the other Maratha is from Nagpur because Mumbai generate most of the taxes which gets distributed among the whole state and the divide goes on. The list of diving factor goes on and on. Non Hindi speaking states don't consider Hindi as their national language but they don't respect other regional language as well. and if you mix politics into it then the mud gets more murkier. Tamil Nadu is a classical example of that where hating Hindi is a political status.

4. Soft Target Image

India is probably one of the few countries which never invaded any other countries but were itself invaded hundreds of time. We were ruled my Moguls for 1000 years and then by Britishers for another 200 years. Even after independence, Pakistan attacked us 4 times (49, 65, 71 and Kargil) and China in 62. Its hard to imagine a country like Pakistan which had no real army and no money at all captured one third of Kashmir in 1949 and they kept attacking us after every 15-20 years. We had terrorist attack on Parliament and then on Mumbai and still we didn't fire a single bullet even though we know who has done it. Whats the use of having nuclear bombs and missile. Its looks like Pakistan is using the threat of its nuclear bombs better than India and they do these nuclear attack every now and then and are assured that India will do nothing fearing a nuclear war. Can Indian politician answer how they punished Pakistan for planning such a bloody attack on our financial capital. Last time I heard was that Pakistan is yet to start court cases against the suspect picked up. The conclusion is that we are a very soft country and we have no self respect left for ourselves. These attacks are not the last on our country and there will be many more unless we shed this soft traget image.

5. Sense of Laziness in our attitude

We all remember how Japan was totally destroyed after the World war 2 and we also know how it gathered itself from the ashes of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and established itself as the world's second largest economy within 30 years. Till 1980, China and India were at the same start line of economic state and looks how far China have left India. And the examples are countless, from Singapore to South Korea to Taiwan and Malaysia. All these countries except China are much smaller in size, less fertile land much smaller populations. Only reason why they have moved past us is that they have worked hard and harder to make sure that their future generation will not face the hardship that they have faced. While our people were taking a nap in offices, they were working day and night to build their nation. I currently work for a leading bank in United Kingdom. Even a country like Uk where they have all the luxury, peple come to office at sharp 9 AM and work without taking break till 5 PM and leave. On the other hand, people from my company come at 10 AM, keep working till 9 PM but 10 breaks in between and then complain of overwork. What I mean to say is that we as a nation are not doing enough to make ourselves competitive against Chinese, Korean or Japanese. If we want to see our country at the top we have to work like Japanese where CEO of a company comes first and goes last.

6. Lack Of Vision

When Germany was defeated and humiliated in first world war, it decided to take revenge and by the start of Second World War, it reestablished itself as the strongest nation at that time and then almost captured whole of Europe. Whatever Nazis did was good or bad is a different topic for debate. Even after second world war, Germany was again razed to the ground and divided into 2 parts. It again reunited and became a developed nations and world leader in machinery. When Japan was totally destroyed after Second World War, it raised again to become a economic superpower and first developed nation in Asia. How were they able to do it? Answer lie in the fact that they knew what they have to do. They had their vision. Germany had the vision to be strongest nation in the world. Japan wanted to become economically strong. China wants to be the number 1 superpower. What do we want to do? What is our vision? Unless the masses don't know in which direction they have to move, what is their aim, what they have to achieve you cannot expect that nation to progress. People running this country need to give some sort of targets to achieve in short and long term duration. In fact the country vision should be a mandatory part and input to any plan we make in this country. Every single or big decision should be made considering how it will help to achieve the country's vision. Remember the Gandhi's Talisman that we read in our text book in schools. This vision should be used as that talisman to guide people as well as government in the right direction.

7. Following than creating own path

Gautam Buddha was a Prince with a palace, a beautiful wife and a country to rule over. He could have followed what his ancestors had done and live his life peacefully. Yet he choose to follow a new path which he didn't know about. He found his knowledge under the Bodhi tree and created a new religion Buddhism which is followed by more than 1 billion people over the world. Subhash Chandra Bose could have followed the path of Gandhi as he was a part of Congress, yet he chose to walk on a new track and founded Forward block. If he would have not died, he could have probably freed India before 1947 and we could have been living in a different world. There have been hundreds of examples in Indian history where people have chosen an entirely different path and rewritten history. Why cant we have people like them in modern India. Why we always look toward others to lead us. In our population of more than 1.3 billion people, if we can have just one percent of leaders who can create new paths, new ideologies and new thinking to follow, we can have more than 2 millions such leaders. If India have to make its own position in the world, it will need its people to think differently from rest of world. Its time not to follow but make your own way and this can not be possible till India have not just a handful of leaders but hundreds and thousands of them.

If you are not happy with one political party then instead of giving vote to another party which is just slightly less corrupt, start a new party and fight election. Give more option to the people to chose leaders from. Instead of working for Mukesh or Anil Ambani, create your won Reliance. Write your own book, start your own banks, bring another white and green revolution, produce your own electricity and write your own future. Instead of waiting for someone else to do something for you and then blaming them later for not doing those things, do it yourselves. In the process of doing so, you will rewrite the future of India.

8. Worshiping Human more than God

India is a land of millions and billions of God and Goddesses, hundreds of religions and followings. Yet, we have time and capacity to worship human beings as God. Some people in Rajasthan are building a temple of Vasudhara Raje for worshiping. They have already created an Goddess like idol of hers. Although it yet to be found if she have any feature like goddess or even a feature of common human being. Dalits worship Mayawati even knowing she would give a tough fight to even the most corrupt politicians for being the epitome of corruption. Same is the cases with other politicians like Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa, Lalu yadav and so on. Its just not the politicians, people even worship Cinema actors like Amitabh Bachhan, Rajnikanth and cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar. These people may have done a great job in their fields but they have been suitably rewarded for what they have done. Why is the need of worshiping them like God? If we slightly go deeper, we may find the answer in history of India. Indians have always been forced willingly or unwillingly to worship or to see kings like God like figure. From Raja Raja of Cholas to Kushans and from Ashoka to Akbar, all of them were either seen as God or God like creatures on Earth. But these people I mentioned were from the golden age of India where the common mass was happy and content. But today's era is no golden age then why are we still following the same tradition? Its something hard to answer and I am still searching an answer to that

9. Always satisfied with what we have

Somnath temple in Kathiawad of Gujrat was the richest temple in the world in around 850 AD. It was looted several times by Mahmud Gazni and its generals. Not only they looted the temple, they destroyed the whole regions, killed people and took Hindu women with them. And this was mot done once, twice but several times. Its not just one story, India was invaded thousands of time by Mougals and European countries. India must be the only country in the world with all its richness, powerful kings and great army but never ever invaded any part of the world. We were always content with what we had. We always worked hard to create wealth to be looted by some one else. We always have forgiven others for whatever they did to us. At the golden period of Indian history, India used to control more than 25 percent of world's trade, now we have less than 1 percent. Yet we are satisfied. Our politicians loots us everyday in tune of billions and billions of rupees, yet we are satisfied. Nobody want to speak a word as we have accepted this as our faith. If Thomas Addison would have been satisfied with the oil lamp, we still would have been reading this hub under an oil lamp and not the fluorescent light . If Alexander Graham Bell would have been satisfied with letters and wire, then I had to write this hub on a paper sheet and post to all of you as there would be no telephone and no internet. So if you want to revive the golden era of India, you want to live a life as people lived in time of Chaddragupt, Ashoka and Raja Raja, then don't be satisfied. Go and conquer the whole world no matter what path you may have to follow because people remember Alexander the Great as a king who ruled the world but not how he conquered it. If Romans, Mougals and Europeans had their time, then it should be our time. Don't be satisfied!!!!!!!!

10. The way we got our Independence

While writing this hub, I was confused where should I put this point. I wanted to put it on the top but the decided to put this last not because it is the least priority thing I hate about India, my country, but this is something which is a summary of all the problems which our country is facing. I personally just hate the way we got our independence. Looks at the condition of a country when you get independence by begging and when the ruler give it to you because he is tired of beating you. We as a country are so used to be slaves that we have forgotten how to raise our voice. If you want to see the example, look at how United States got their independence. They didn't get it, but they snatched it by beating the hell out of British. Look at the great revolutions of countries in Europe like France, Germany and Russia. People in these countries know what is the meaning of independence because they have earned it and they will not allow any politicians to ruin it because when you earn something by violence, you know its value. If you have shed blood to to earn it then definitely you will shed blood to protect it. But when you are given independence by some one else as the case with our country, then people don't understand the value of it. Look the way politicians are looting our country but we are silent because we are so used to it for more than 1000 years. We were slaves and we will be slaves until we rise do something to protect our motherland.

I personally believe, if we had got our independence not by following Gandhi but by following Netaji Subhash, then not only we could have got our independence earlier but we must have known its value. I also have a great respect for Gandhi ji as he was honest about his thoughts and intentions, but perhaps he thought that next generations of politicians will be as honest as he was. But that didn't happen, and we are now at a place where now we need independence from out own elected politicians. Honestly current situation is not as bad as you might deduce from this hub as we economically growing at a pace of 9-10% per year which is among the highest in the world. However the rate of corruption and inflation is also growing at the same rate. And economically not everyone is growing at the same pace. High economic growth in only for the upper 10% of the population. For the 50% of population which is below poverty line, inflation rate is higher is what they are earning. That means, they are getting poor and poor and rich are getting richer. And if the corruption goes at the same rate then that would means the government will not do sufficient to keep the disparity at manageable rate and one day the fuse will go off. And on that day, same thing will happen in India which is now happening in middle east, public revolt. I might be going too much over the line, but who knows.. I will be happy if nothing of that sort happens which I have written above. But to prevent any possibility of happening such things, we have to do something. From 'We', I means all the young, educated, middle class and all those people who have brains to think and off course all those patriotic people who love mother India and want to do something for our beloved country. Elect correct leaders and if there are none, then yourselves join politics. Don't let corruptions happen near you, support the weaker section of society, stop believing in castism and any kind of religions differences. Save more that you earn, pay taxes, be honest with whatever work you do. Every single act of yourself can make a difference.

Conclusion...........

Conclusion is that India need us more that it ever needed. We as a citizen have same responsibilities towards the country as politicians have. If they are corrupt then we are more responsible then them because we elect them. If we have terrorist attacks in our cities then we are responsible because we are not able to protect ourselves. If a farmer does suicide in Maharastra or Andhra Pradesh then again we are responsible as we have not been able to get farmers their value for their crops and hard work. Anything which happens to our country, good or bad, we are only responsible for that.

So instead of blaming others, we have to start taking responsibilities and fix the problem. Always remember one thing that we cannot ever change our past as past is not in our hands. But we can always change our future and we are responsible of our future and we have the capacity and right to change our future

To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.

In the Tepidarium - Oil painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1836-1912

He was a true artist and passionate perfectionist, living for the beauty and refining

his great talents to his last days, with a warm affection for his family and friends..