A couple of decades back, there was a great degree of relish in getting Mangoes from Malda, Litchis from Dehradun or Almonds from Srinagar. Each region and sub region in India was distinct and known for it's own local culture, dialect and flavours. Since connectivity and transportation were limited in reach and availability, people spent most of their time in a limited area leading to evolution of the region's uniqueness in most aspects. Each region's unique produce was valued as an exclusive item in other regions. Diversity was a way of life. Be it production of food and goods, or irrigation and water storage, things happened in a distributed and sustainable pattern. Local problems found local solutions with local laws and local adjudication.
The effect of industrialisation and Western way of life was to create a homogeneous and connected nation where anything could be produced anywhere in identical manner and transported to any place quickly. People migrated, cultures mixed and regions decreased in pre-eminence. Local culture got replaced by the ubiquitous media and city culture in the newer generations. Large, central projects became the order of the day at the cost of regional capabilities and knowledge, be it power, irrigation, education, healthcare, production of goods or delivery of services and governance. The control over the destiny of a regions populace shifted from local bodies to central bodies. Central systems and control superceded local systems and autonomy.
Along with this change characteristic of industrial age came the attendant problems of failures of central systems affecting large areas simultaneously, thus overwhelming mitigating capabilities and resources. An influential coterie had to capture power at only a few points of power to gain control over the lives and destiny of a large number of people. Mega scale of doing things led to mega disasters and amplified risks. The mega employment centres caused large migration from vast rural areas to a few urban centres with limited space, leading to a struggle for existence and rising crime. The reason was centralisation of resources.
It was recognised by the intellectual community that the answer for better human existence lay in geographic decentralisation of powers and resources so as to reach the regions and sub regions of the country. The regional communities had to be empowered to flourish at home and only move by choice. They had to be economically empowered by means of better physical and electronic connectivity to extend the reach of their produce , goods or services, globally. A former President of India even named and supported a Government initiative called PURA - an acronym for Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas. This kind of society 'Distributed' in form yet 'Connected' in practice can effectively find it's own innovative solution to every conceivable challenge, individually or collectively.
We hope this insight is available constantly and consistently to every responsible citizen so that our collective actions make this challenging aim a reality. Let us take our minds back to political slogans to which India actually connected - Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan and even Jai Vigyan. The aspiration of any citizen does not lie in getting the most, it lies in being treated equally with equal access to opportunity. When this is accepted by the nation's leadership, we would have moved closer to our tryst with destiny which commenced on 15th of August, 1947.
The effect of industrialisation and Western way of life was to create a homogeneous and connected nation where anything could be produced anywhere in identical manner and transported to any place quickly. People migrated, cultures mixed and regions decreased in pre-eminence. Local culture got replaced by the ubiquitous media and city culture in the newer generations. Large, central projects became the order of the day at the cost of regional capabilities and knowledge, be it power, irrigation, education, healthcare, production of goods or delivery of services and governance. The control over the destiny of a regions populace shifted from local bodies to central bodies. Central systems and control superceded local systems and autonomy.
Along with this change characteristic of industrial age came the attendant problems of failures of central systems affecting large areas simultaneously, thus overwhelming mitigating capabilities and resources. An influential coterie had to capture power at only a few points of power to gain control over the lives and destiny of a large number of people. Mega scale of doing things led to mega disasters and amplified risks. The mega employment centres caused large migration from vast rural areas to a few urban centres with limited space, leading to a struggle for existence and rising crime. The reason was centralisation of resources.
It was recognised by the intellectual community that the answer for better human existence lay in geographic decentralisation of powers and resources so as to reach the regions and sub regions of the country. The regional communities had to be empowered to flourish at home and only move by choice. They had to be economically empowered by means of better physical and electronic connectivity to extend the reach of their produce , goods or services, globally. A former President of India even named and supported a Government initiative called PURA - an acronym for Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas. This kind of society 'Distributed' in form yet 'Connected' in practice can effectively find it's own innovative solution to every conceivable challenge, individually or collectively.
We hope this insight is available constantly and consistently to every responsible citizen so that our collective actions make this challenging aim a reality. Let us take our minds back to political slogans to which India actually connected - Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan and even Jai Vigyan. The aspiration of any citizen does not lie in getting the most, it lies in being treated equally with equal access to opportunity. When this is accepted by the nation's leadership, we would have moved closer to our tryst with destiny which commenced on 15th of August, 1947.
