Indian Environment the Changing Scenario Essay Example

Indian Environment: the Changing Scenario Paper Objectively India has been, for ever, a region wherein diversity of beliefs, faiths and ideologies have poured in from all over the world. Thus today India is one of the largest combinations of faiths, languages and customs. No other nation in the world has so many current languages and customs as India has. No other country boasts of a larger number of faiths and ideologies without coercive forces demanding uniformity. To this objective fact there exists a diversity of responses. The lines of responses of all alien perspectives find this multiplicity and diversity an unmanageable and bewildering liability. In the nineteen forties the West had predicted a disintegration of India into smaller countries within 20 years of finding Independence from colonial rule. In this line of thinking the fact of India remaining one nation IS a matter of mystery. The second line of response to the objective fact of multiplicity of our society is to search for anunderlying unity. The underlying unity lies in India being a culture state as opposed to the concept of nation state which has defined national boundaries (for instance) in Europe. In a nation state political ideology and processes of power distribution remains reasonably uniform vying rise to a national identity. Historically however India has been a culture state in which although many different political entities have flourished in the form of countries with a monarchy, the dominant elements of their culture have been uniform. This basic framework was demonstrated also in medieval Indian imperialism in which Indian culture was potent fountainhead and helped design societies in the far reaches of South East Asia. We will write a custom essay sample on Indian Environment: the Changing Scenario specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Indian Environment: the Changing Scenario specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Indian Environment: the Changing Scenario specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer These countries were all politically independent but had institutionalized processes which had their origin in India. Thus, there was no central seat of power in India that determined governance of say Kampuchea but the Kampuchea people revealed in the Ramadan, Inhabitant and Buddys teachings. For their social organization they held in value, ethics and living processes based on Indian philosophies. Following its own course of development, civilization in India took a path in which militancy and military capabilities were neglected and allowed to wither away on a large scale. Intellectual and spiritual pursuits flourished however and are being continuously rediscovered by researchers. Indian society was deeply devoted to the generation of philosophical insights ND treatises were written on them in great detail with a bewildering span of topics. In all this a core belief was that man is an expression of nature therefore aggression and violence were devalued, even in their universally accepted form of military prowess. This rendered the country vulnerable to foreign aggression. Earlier foreign aggressions were marked by a subsequent process of absorption and integration. The hallmark of the process of this absorption and integration were institutions which encouraged dialogue and recalibration of social, political, intellectual and religious norms for people to employ and follow. Box 1 The social design of the classical period in India postulated the institution of Rajas/ Dharma Yoga. The institutions could be activated through a call issued by a King to intellectuals of different persuasion of a region or the country to assemble for dialogues. A time and locale were Set. The assembled intellectuals would be invited by the King to take stock of the social phenomenology, educationalists, deviances and deviations which had cropped up, dislocating the structural and interpersonal coding conventionally held as legitimate. In the allocated time the dialogue loud crystallite recommendations which would legitimate some of the deviances and deviations. The assembly of intellectuals 6 would also recommend structural modifications to create new space and identity for ethnic groups who had entered the area or had come into existence due to carriageways across the groups. The institution of Rajas/Dharma Yoga was a potent instrument in maintaining the process ambiance of the society. Its constructive function was to recalibrate the correspondence, congruence, convergence and coherence of the human psyche of the era with the social design. The institution kept alive the silence of the social design to cultural identity with a diverse ethos. The dialogue organized and integrated the experiential elements into new configurations of structural and interpersonal codes. It helped the individual to sustain his relatedness with the society instead of becoming an outsider. (From key note Address of Puling K. Gag, International Conference 1 986 TRANSIENCE AND TRANSITIONS IN ORGANIZATIONS, Indian Society for Individual and Social Development) This hallmark institution provided Indian society the strength to review and recalibrate new inputs thus never creating he forces Of majority versus minority, preventing the rise of fundamentalism and leaving society to continuously balance psychological needs and social organization. But following the expansion of Islam the attacking forces chose to convert the populace rather than integrate with the existing culture. The newly entered crusaders for Islam became a ruling minority, they were then followed by the British, who too chose not to integrate but remain the ruling minority until 1947. The Muslim and the British brought with them a fresh look at the social organization then prevailing in India. They brought an outlook more vigorous and egalitarian than which existed earlier. This provided a significant impetus to question some of the pathologies of the society such as intractability, caste and rigid brainchild dogmas where institutional values had long ago disappeared. Until these new earnings from the Islamic and Christian beliefs could get integrated even freedom from foreign rule was difficult. Vegetarian, Deanna, Ramekins and finally Gandhi became the beacons who showed how this new learning could be integrated. As a society thus India has withstood for nearly a full century receiver state pressures to convert into religious which have had their beginnings in other cultures and cellmates Near about 10th century the need to protect indigenous culture from state pressure to convert, turned the vibrancy of the earlier society dormant and created a society which reflected all signs of turning moribund, as if the social Lana energy and vibrancy had been put in a kind of cold storage and all processes and institutions of re-vitiation renewal and change having been put under house-arrest. Later, Amber attempted a degree of integration by reactivating illegal and religious eclecticism but with no success with his Eden-e-Allah movement. The Suffix also tried integration through dialog processes. Sabas attempt failed completely and Rearrange put the Suffix behind bars. The decay and disintegration of McHugh power was an opportunity which was seized quickly ands efficiently by the British to assert their supremacy and governance. British governance drew its principles largely from the church and military ethics. These appeared to some degree non-partisan and fair. The British however retained the firm belief that they were civilizing an uncivilized country. To this end Indian history was re-written by the colonizers to convey this point to the Indians who were learning English and to the rest of the world. Box 2 Time has come when an attempt should be made to write the history of India purely from the historical standpoint, untrimmed by any Imperialistic or European point of view, wrote Proof. R. C. Mazurka in 1927. He goes on further, referring to the then most popular historical work which was used as a textbook in the following words. While V. Smith seems to take great pleasure in thus describing at length the Greek inquest of India which demonstrates, to his satisfaction, the inherent weakness of the greatest Asiatic armies when confronted with European skill and discipline, he has not a word to 7 say about the political or military greatness of India as exemplified/by her colonial empires in Asia. Again, in describing the political condition of India after the reign of Marsha, he seeks to give the reader a notion of what India always has been when released from the control of a supreme authority, and what she would be again, if the hands of the benevolent despotism which now holds her in its iron grasp should be withdrawn. These sentiments, which are echoed in other books, are not only, uncalled for and misleading, but are calculated to distort the vision and judgment of modem readers. Those who cannot forget, even while writing the history of ancient India, that they belong to the imperial race which holds India in political subjection, can hardly be expected to possess that sympathy and perspective of ancient Indian history and civilization. European scholars have rendered most valuable service by the Way Of collecting material for ancient Indian history and civilization, and Indians must ever remain grateful to them for their planned pioneer work. But they would hardly be in a position to write the history of India, so long as they do not cast aside the assumptions of racial superiority and cease to regard Indians as an inferior race. (From R. C. Major in Preface to ANCIENT INDIA) 1. 3 THE DUAL HISTORY OF INDIA India began its new history as a political entity a nation state for the first time in 1947 with two streams of history which appear somewhat contradictory. A history of glorious accomplishments and repeated failure to assert, A history of a vibrant society, one of the oldest in the world, unique in its understanding of man and nature, spiritually highly developed. Box Just as in the period of the deflation of the revealed gods of the Vided pantheon, so today revealed Christianity has been devalued. The Christian, as Nietzsche says, is a man who behaves like everybody else. Our professions of faith have no longer any discernible bearing either on our public conduct or on our private state of hope. The sacraments do not work on many of us their spiritual transformations we are bereft and at a loss where to turn. Meanwhile, our academic secular philosophies are concerned rather with information than with that redemptive transformation which our souls require. And this is the reason why a glance at the face Of India may assist us to discover and recover something of ourselves. (from Heimlich Simmer, PHILOSOPHIES OF INDIA) On the other hand a modern history in which internal forces and the very people themselves seemed to have turned against their own country and repeatedly done damage to it, in short a history to be ashamed of. The shame of this history is further reinforced by looking at Indian society purely with Western criteria of technological achievements and economic prosperity. Objectively in the world order of today only those nations which were militarily active and aggressive in the last three centuries are the ones which are also now technologically advanced and economically powerful, Objectively also it is true that the technologically advanced nations consume per capita many times over the resources, that the individuals of less developed countries consume (including food and energy). The duality of Indians history is important from a managerial perspective in that, the thinking and rational processes are guided by Western beliefs while emotional processes of affiliation and risk management are guided by the Indian experience, The shame, induced by Imperialist doctrines of the west and partly by Indians having let themselves down, time and again, has created a large-scale losing team syndrome in our contemporary society. Thus, all rational thought processes are guided by Western beliefs but the feelings associated while engaging in converting plans to action-an Indian in their structure and values. It is impossible thus to expect Indian managers to 8 bring in spectacular results in comparison with Germany or Japan. Indian however when convinced and determined can bring in excellent results which are brilliant in their own rights. The green revolution is only such example. Perhaps such revolution can spread a managerial revolution or work revolution in organizations. It as is well known nothing succeeds like success, a society which has lost its pride invariably finds it difficult to even recognize its own success. We have come a long way since the ass and 80. The challenges that organizations face today are very different from the yester years. Let us look into some of the concerns. 1. 3. 1 Pace of Change Toffee in his classic book Future Shock has said, As interdependency grows, smaller and smaller groups within society achieve greater and greater power for disruption. However, as the rate of change speeds up the length of time in which they can be ignored shrinks to near nothingness. Change has affected all aspects of our lives, social, cultural, political and economics. Never before in the history Of mankind has change been so rapid, intense and widespread. In the last five years alone the Indian market has been flooded with consumer goods and new services resulting in wider choice for consumers. Suddenly organizations in India find themselves in an environment of stiff competition. Organizations are vying with each other to increase their market share by providing value for money and variety of promotional packages. Organizations have come to realism that in the current scenario either they excel or they perish, thereby leaving no room for complacency. The fast pace and complexity of change has resulted in increased uncertainty in the world of business. It is becoming more and more difficult to predict the developments in various spheres of human endeavourer. Due to the increased interdependencies amongst societies and nations in the world change in any one field or any one corner has far reaching impact on the global economy. One might recall the event of September 1 1, 2001 in which the World Trade Centre in New York was destroyed by a handful of people and subsequent events in Afghanistan and Iraq. The impact of these episodes on global economic order was so devastating that economies of molly nations are yet to recover from the repercussions: Organizations thus have to prepare themselves to survive in a turbulent, orderlies, chaotic and complex environment. 1 . 3. Liberations, Appropriations and Globalization (ALP) The Indian economy was sheltered and protected with very little competition until around July 1991 , due to the serious financial crisis as also the then emerging trends in developed and developing countries all over the world, India chose to introduce economic reforms with a view to opening up its economy. The open inning up of the Indian economy has posed numerous challenges and has also provided Indian organizations enormous possibilities of an unlimited global market. Liberations was aimed at easing barriers to entry and exit of businesses and other sectors of economy through regulation of market and doing away with the license raja in the early ass. Before economic reforms it was the government that decided what people would eat, drink or drive. Gone are the days when the consumer was left with little or no choice. De-regulation now lets the consumer decide on what will sell. A favorable climate for foreign direct investment minus the license hassles has helped create a better business environment. Domestic firms also have made entry in variety of economic sectors and in sizeable numbers. Deregulated markets have contributed to lowering of prices and quality improvement particularly in consumer products and services. 9 Appropriations meant transfer of assets of public sector undertakings by the government to private hands through the process of outright sale or disinvestment of equity by the government.