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January 30, 2004
Hyderabad Presents a Panorama of Progress and Change
I returned to California some ten days back from a 15-day visit to Hyderabad, the place of my birth, breeding and education in South India. This was my second visit to the Andhra State since my migration to Pakistan within weeks of its invasion and occupation by the Indian army in September 1948. In the five years since my first visit, the State has undergone a peaceful revolution in several walks of life - all for the better.
To a foreign visitor to Hyderabad, the State presents a panorama of progress in many walks of life except one. While the economy is registering an upward swing, at almost the same pace as the rest of India, its attainments in the digital technology sector and in laying down the infrastructure stand out by any standard. Educational facilities abound, health care institutes have increased many folds, but they are still inadequate for a burgeoning population.
Overpopulation struck me as the main drag on the forward march of the society. No matter which way you turn and travel, you encounter people teeming and swarming everywhere. Roads are loaded with all kinds of vehicles from bullock carts to SUVs, from people on foot to youngsters, both boys and girls, on motor bikes winding and twisting through narrow streets dodging with an uncanny skill the awe-inspiring buses, formidable farm tractors, monstrous jeeps and bullock carts overflowing with sugar cane. I could not but marvel at the skill of drivers in avoiding collisions by literally an inch or two. Some times I was so scared that I had to close my eyes to avoid witnessing a bloody accident. Surprisingly enough, I did not see a single accident during my daily travels in the 15-day sojourn.
Forty years back on a visit to Beirut, I had noticed the taxi drivers rushing through the narrow lanes at break-neck speeds. When queried, a driver remarked: “All the incompetent drivers, prone to accident, have already died. You find now only the good drivers with fast reflexes”. The situation in Hyderabad proves a good parallel.
That was not the only surprise awaiting me. There appeared to be a tacit understanding among the drivers to share the narrow space amicably. There was no exchange of even hot word, what to speak of a fistfight. The drivers had developed a language or code of hand gestures. Everyone appeared to speak and understand these code gestures to avoid collision, remonstrate, apologize and request permission to pass. I missed the display of swagger on the streets of Karachi and Pindi. I also missed the presence of over-fed policemen, with twirled up moustaches, their eyes reflecting the arrogance of power, and who would keep whistling constantly and waving their hands in all direction and confounding the confusion of a traffic jam.
Socially and economically, the old feudal structure is fast yielding to a new order where the intrinsic value of an individual counts more than his birth and family tree. This is having a salutary effect on the obnoxious caste system. Gunnar Myrdal, the eminent economist and author of Asian Drama (1968) had referred to the traditional way of economic activities as having been embedded in a social organization that regulated the economy and worked as a “tremendous force for inertia” .
This force for inertia is fast being reduced by the rationality of big business. The economy has been released from political influence and regulation as much as its release from the clutch of customs. Caste homogeneity is no longer a pre-requisite for engagement on an assembly line. Generally speaking, social structures are no longer resistant or immune to change.
While foreign big businesses and corporations are making inroads into the economic life of the State, the prevalent pattern of indigenous businesses is essentially family based. These family businesses are structures of hierarchical authority. Age and seniority in the family tree is accorded respect and authority. But skills of a family member are being now recognized for giving him authority. Marriages and alliances are carefully controlled to create and protect the resource flows crucial to capital accumulation. Women continue to have generally a low status owing to lack of earned income, the cost of dowry and the demand for male family members in the business. The situation is, however, fast changing owing to the emphasis laid on female education, and the will of the educated girls to be able to earn a living independent of their husbands.
I noticed a good number of girls working in Department stores. One store, I noticed, was crowded with customers, and it was owned and manned by two sisters. They were earning money hand over fist.
Although the economy is making remarkable strides, it continues to be susceptible to inclement weather being vastly agricultural. In the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2003, Indian growth rate fell down to 4.4 % from 5.6 percent a year earlier due to a drought-induced drop in agricultural output. The Asian Development Bank forecasts a growth rate of 6% in the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2004. Hydrabad too had experienced an unprecedented drought last year that claimed 1200 lives in the state. Efforts are now being made to build water tanks to conserve as much river water as possible from flowing into the sea.
A network of highways is being built to provide the infrastructure for trade and commerce, Economic progress may be gauged from the fact that Andhra had 567 banks in 1969. By the end of 1999, the number shot up to over 3,600.
India has now some 80 companies, some located in Andhra that can be termed as excellent from international standards. There are many times more manufacturing units whose products leave something to be desired. India has to focus, like China, on design development, innovation and quality. Authorities in Andhra are grappling with these issues.
The outstanding quality of the people of Andhra is their unmatched tolerance. Even during the era of Nizam’s rule, the amity between Hindus and Muslims was exemplary. The eminent poet, Sirojani Naidu had said, “Hindu-Muslim amity outside of Hyderabad is just a myth”.
Caste system, particularly the treatment of the Shudras, the Dalits, was much better in Hyderabad than in the rest of India. Although “untouchability” was abolished under India’s constitution in 1950, its practice continues overtly or covertly throughout the country. The humiliation inflicted on this caste, that claims a substantial chunk of the population, has caused the conversion of many to Christianity, Communism or to the Naxilite movement. The ferocity of these movements is felt much less in Hyderabad owing to the spirit of tolerance permeating the society. The recent attack on the Chief Minister may be regarded as an exceptional event.
Hyderabad glitters at night with floodlights on numerous historical monuments, with decorative fairy lights adorning the trees on both sides of major roads. Above all, it is a city as clean and sparkling as Singapore where I had spent two days before reaching Hyderabad.
Credit for bulk of the attainments of Hyderabad goes to the Chief Minister, Chandra Babu Naidu, a dynamic leader who has been at the helm of affairs for the past nine years and is likely to win again in the next elections,. He is a visionary with an exemplary drive. He has set a new precedent of democratic accountability that I admired most. He appears periodically on the TV in the “Call The Chief Minister” program. He appears with members of his cabinet and all Secretaries. Any one can call and point out to him any issue that needs attention. The concerned Minister/Secretary has to respond. This has solved many problems in a hurry. The people of Hyderabad are justly proud of this go-getter, dynamic and visionary leader.
(Arifhussaini@hotmail.com January 22, 2004)
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