What makes Indians flourish despite obstacles like corruption, brain-drain, poverty, and population crisis?

Question

Everyone continues to be amazed at how Indians survive & flourish, despite obstacles like corruption, brain-drain, poverty, inflation and religious and lingual diversity. There is something very unique about us 'Indians' and our social tolerance levels. What is that 'INDIAN' factor that keeps us motivated? Could it be something we inherited? Could it be something handed down to us over the ages? Is it something that we 'happened' to retain in us, despite several invasions? Perhaps, the key to India’s 'fast-track' progress lies in the discovery of this hidden 'Indian' factor within us! Your answers could inspire and motivate the Indian youth to nurture, nourish and 'flourish'!

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Thnks for the question.
We the Indians are highly elastic genetically, implying that our shock absorber is highly adaptable to socio-economic changes. As an earth scientist, I do not wish to say that India was the only nucleus from where all other races or civilization spread across the globe, making us the oldest race of people. Life evolved on this unique planet more than some 1500 million years ago inspite of the planet coming into existence some 4,600 million years ago. I am talking of Life forms manifestations of our perceptions – mono cellular to poly cellular. Man is a very late entrant in this arena, he came just 2 million years ago. In between period life evolved in its most dramatic and prolific dimensions with extinctions and exterminations of which we know very little. Giant rulers like dinosaurs came and vanished much much before man and his co-genitors could come on this planet. What I am trying to highlight is that it is the survival of the fittest and that is through natural selection , I call it Darwin’s truth. It is valid even today on day to day basis on individual scale or community scales and even in the corporate world. The Indians are gifted to stand out as the fittest to survive. The adaptability to a situation calls for “vision” for the progeny and the Indians have it in plenty. This is the reason India is a land of multicultural old and new value systems existing side by side.

This “vision” is the cutting edge that each Indian possesses. This provides him ability of tolerance, assimilation, integration and an instinct to survive against all odds. The multiple invasions and plundering could not destroy this ethos, so unique to Indians, which can be seen frozen in time in our monuments and heritage. We are so heterogeneous in our socio-cultural behavior like beads of different colour but, forming a beautiful necklace. We as Indians have a high order of resilient capacity that makes us move forward and progress. Yes we have progressed a lot through the ages, hundreds of years BC to over 2000 years AD. Our rate of progress has been low in the contemporary world mainly for two reasons : (1) We as a nation are just 60 years old – we are just infant against some of the giant countries against whom we are pitched often for comparison. (2) Low literacy rate that suited the agenda of common politics. Literacy brings knowledge and light for vision. It is the “ Öjha” like mindset that has put the literacy programmes on low gear to create darkness around the common citizen so that he or she remains deprived of liberty to use his/her full potential and capability of reasoning. The same people shines on leaving the Indian shores in all spheres of skills and activities. Being Indian is not confined to the generation of post independence only, India is older than any definition of Indianness. It is this Indianness that created Mahatma Gandhi out of a practicing barrister, it is the same Indianness that gave us Mahatma Budh, emperor Ashoka, and Akbar. It is hard to believe we had Harshvardhana an emperor who use to ritually donate his all possessions at the bank of holy Ganga. We had Mahrishi Dadhichi who gave away his skeleton even for others use…… Can we say these are legends only, if yes, then may be the coming generation would consider the satyagraha of Mahatma Gandhi a piece of fiction one day. But, I am very optimistic, our heritage remains in our hearts and by natural processes it is passed down the line to the generations, our attire has changed and so has the permissiveness. The increase in permissiveness has enhanced our tolerance towards what was a taboo earlier. An Indian is not identified by what religion he or she practice or what language he or she speaks but, by his belongings to this land of diverse culture and heritage of which he or she is a bonafide owner and carries it forward progressively. I feel there is nothing hidden to be discovered about Indianness, as I said earlier, we as Indian are highly elastic and are amenable to change with time and space.
Thnks

Source(s):

I am a working geologist in the Geological Survey of India. The views expressed are necessarily not of the organization.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

I thank you all for your answers, comments and proactive criticisms. Most answers do hint about the ‘Indian factor’, so it was extremely difficult to pick the best. Yet we need to reward efforts and so, the Best Answer. May we be inspired to flourish!

Answer 2

That's a little bias, but I suppose if you refer it as the entire race over histories, there "may" be some truths to it. I don't even know which indians you are talking about.

Answer 3

We aspire for the greener pastures on the other side.

Answer 4

CULTURE AND CUSTOMS

Source(s):

INDIAN

Answer 5

Hey ! This sounds like a question asked by a celebrity. Are you one? I think for me the key word is tolerance which we have developed for historical reasons. But lets not be ostriches burying our head in the sand. This 'tolerance' is fast fading as depicted in movies like 'Parzania' which is not being allowed to screen in Gujarat...where it is most required. After seeing this movie I didn't feel too great about being an Indian ( from the subcontinent)

Answer 6

Tell me a nation which is PERFECT?So what if there is corruption... it seems you have not heard of an IAS officer Mr.Chandrashekhar who wherever posted has changed the face ot the city (Thane and Nagpur) and at the cost of umpteen SUPARIS for him.Brain Drain in age of Infosys - Narayan Murthy seems to be in lil suffocation.Poverty is there but hard work , faith and social community in that class is sustaining their lives.Population...well again it represents lot of love only:)
Jokes apart what keeps India flourishing is the HARD WORK.Dont you know recently teachers in US are threatening kids to improve on Maths and science else Indians will rule them someday?
Jai Hind.

Answer 7

Well, according to Jared Diamond, you got a head start over most of the world. If you want to read a good book about it, try "Guns, Germs, and Steel."

Answer 8

Basic human psychology is to desire aspire and achieve.
If succeeded one feels himself as God
If failed leads to despair, agony, anger, frustration.
Over centuries, the tradition followed and the practises made taught every Indian how one should conduct himself and view the situations dispassionately. This is the factor that keeps an Indian hail and healthy both mentally and spiritually. despite all odds.

Answer 9

well, India has not attacked any country for the past many decades.And therefore God's grace is always there with us....

Answer 10

Their strong WILL POWER.

Answer 11

First of all i am very glad to be an Indian....
The capability of tackling any kind of problem through spiritual ideas, mental maturity comes right from the age of 8 in Indians...
So I think despite poverty,diversity in various categories of our country we are able to withstand it and our culture also gives us a strong foundation which amazes all foreigners...!

Answer 12

India is a land of thousand traditions, cultures different kind of people living happily though there is a lot of corruption, brain-drain etc. Indians have a habit of helping each other whether they are friends or foes when they are in danger. Poorest of poor Indian will give all he have to save others at time of danger. Corruption in India is declining since a decade due to sting operations and also some other factors like public and media pressure, movies like 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' and many other.
Brain-Drain : It was a problem of 5 years ago time. Now due to enrollment of huge market giants like Reliance, TATA etc. Indians are interested in their own nation.
Poverty: I dont have any words to talk about this.
P.C. : It causes only a problem of shortage of homes and food. But nowadays, it is also been resolved at higher rate by government and private sector boTH.
No country is perfect. If you say US, CANADA are perfect, then remind you that they got independence about 200 yrs. ago but India only 60 years. India is adeveloping country. All Indians know this fact thats why they are proud to see the development of their country.
That is the reason they flourish proudly in India despite CORRUPTION, BRAIN-DRAIN, POVERTY AND POPULATION CRISIS.
Jay Hind.

Answer 13

Sir, I beg to differ to some degree
Indians in general are very smart and talented maybe it is the genes, upbringing. The few who rise (after attending western education) are very succesfull financially.
However in aping the west, we have lost our soul.
The india today is nothing but a selfish, dog eat dog, not eco aware, or friendly, not empathy for the poor and forgotten.
The rich indians are the re-incarnation of the raja sahibs and the british rulers. Look at our country... it is being raped again economically by the western economy... tell me why are the farmers in india commiting suicide and yet you see the likes of ferrari and Rolls Royce on the road, you see a wastage and corruption in govt and all levels down under including god men.
there is growing economy because of FDI, and yet an average man cannot buy a house because the interest rate has gone high (the banks want to make a fat profit).
There is something fundamentally wrong.. i am not saying nehru was right totally or the western capitalism is totally the evil here.
We need to re-instate the soul of India and make it great and be a role model ... we need to go back to the basics.
When was the last time you put a smile on the less fortunate, or were you too concerned to feed your dog with imported dog biscuits.
When was the last time you stopped for a pedestrian and allowed him to cross, when did you actually mean I love you to your spouse and not making plans to copy the western trend of extra-marital affairs and sex binge
I asked the young bright ... what has India invented or produced, except taken the minial dirty work from the corporations of the world. And now what we see are the Brown barrons the likes of Ambanis, Mittal, Tatas.. refering to TOI article the cost of acquisition of steel company is enough to build major infrastructure projects in India!
The message is this: I will paraphrase from JFk, ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for the people ie the country.
The thousand mile journey starts with the first step... so you and I need to make the step right from the doorstep.
Giving to RedCross does not relieve the spirtual and moral burden.
IF WE DONT BOOTSTRAP AND CHANGE WE WILL BE THE COOLY NATION TO BE DISCARDED WHEN NEXT THE BOSS FINDS A CHEAPER PROVIDER

Answer 14

I will take one by one. Corruption. Corruption comes into picture only to expedite the things. So naturally one is bound to flourish by expediting things. Brain drain brings money to the country from abroad. The money earned is transferred to India which makes India develop. Poverty makes the people to work for their food and other requirements and so people starts earning and develop the nation. Inflation to certain extent is good to the nation as per economists. Naturally the country has to flourish. Religious sentiments are there for doing things in a right manner. No religion has directed for destroying things. Population is a great things. You might have noticed that though we have lot of religion in our country, we do not say that this is a great religion and others are worst. This sentiment help us living in Harmony and develop the nation in its own way. With this population, we have lot of man power and the labour is cheap. Naturally multi nationals are after this Country. This makes the nation to flourish. One ore thing which is contributing is the mental fear for doing wrong thing ie, morality. In developed nations, this is lacking. All these things put in India in development mode.

Answer 15

Continuous humiliation, exploitation, poverty, diseses laiden body, frustration, disregard, social and political neglect and insignificant worth and zero assets,.....everything contributed in evolution of obedient slaves...typical common man here. They need just adulterated eatables in meagre quantity to survive with their fragile bodies and u nkow.. such fragile bodies can protest only at the cost of their little bit movements.

Answer 16

I am able to appreciate your point. But, you cannot attribute certain qualities to all the Indians; there are some pockets which remain backward socially, intellectually and have not progressed despite the negative impeding factors. But, by and large, what you say is true. The reasons for this as I could see are as follows:

1) As Naipaul vouches for it, India has a long tradition of learning. From the ancient time, learning was an important part of person's life. Gurukula system is as ancient as the history of India is. Hence, Indians take to learning to learning as a swan takes to water. It is well recognised by all thawt for Indians mathematical skill is instinctive.

2) Hard work, is another quality which is embedded in your psyche. Despite the hardship in the society, we can see the parents struggling to ensure that their wards get proper education. When the opportunities are shut to them in India, they explore the possibilities of sending them abroad for education, tightening their belt. The importance they give to education of the children is unparallelled.

3) They never get bogged down by suffering and privation, perhaps because of the deep faith in the theory of karma. They are determined to put up with whatever befalls them and get along with life, doing their duty.

Answer 17

Never say die attitude, Will Power and 5,500 year old Hinduism

Answer 18

Unity inspite of cultural difference,and most important thing is the youth strength of our country!!

Answer 19

This shows that factors listed above have nothing to do with flourishments. very good question.

Answer 20

It's the culture of the India that is making India flourishing despite after the obsacles like corruption, brain-drain poverty and population crises. I want to ask you that is there any state country such type of conditions does not apply. We have U.S.A where there is lot's of corruption, China full of poverty, Japan full of population,etc. but what is that is still making India better, it is nothing but culture. So my message to this new generation is that plzzzzz protect, respect and save our culture as it is the only asset of our country and it is the only hidden "Indian" factor that is within us.

Answer 21

our very culture is like that. We have been taught thro epics like the RAMAYANA & the MAHABHARATHA that life is never easy and that we must brave through difficulties.We have the fighting spirit in us and that is the reason why we have stood united through different invasions of our country right from the Moghuls to the British.It is in us to be clever like Chanakya, tolerant like GANDHI,analytical like Dr.ManmohanSingh and to be brave like Chandrasekar Azad.LONG LIVE INDIA AND ITS CULTURE!

Answer 22

Dear Sir,
We "INDIAN" are fearfull and supressed by so called society and religious rituals. If you compare our population, I will not agreed that we are flourish. YES, we Indian when go out of India, look at them, they are surely flourishing in all fileds. BUT we "INDIAN" in India are way backward compare to all countries on earth.
We have to understand Krishna very well. We have to understand "OSHO" very well. Stop all religion rituals and belief system and start obeying your inner. Then we will really motivate ourIndian youth.

Answer 23

their strong principles...!!! their strong will power.....and yes....Indians are the only ones having an amazing..support system..every indian has a strong support system......

support system as in..people encouraging them...whome they can look back to!!

Answer 24

Any country for the matter of fact flourishes with hard willed people.

India is the best example to it. Be it corruption, or breaking corruption, we outdo the majority.

India stands apart as a perfect exemplary to the Coin which also has a flip side.

The country has no crunch of resources and opportunuties and "the real talent" which scores above the negativities of its people.

No doubt will talent as such we Have Prospered and will continue to prosper.

India Rocks!

Source(s):

Friend

Answer 25

no!!!! how can u say its flourshing?n if u really mean it then it might be the unity in the people of India.but still i wud say India is not flourshing.

Answer 26

Indians are meek and submissive.They adhere to all rules and laws ina flexible manner which suits their interest.They mingle easily and they are ready to take up any work anywhere.They have no egos or problems at work and get along with everybody.They have no vices like the westerners and are very focused on their work.Their sense of their rich culture and the values taught by their parents keeps the going anywhere and everywhere.The Indians love their nation and its values.India is a blessed nation where everything is attributed to God hence the fear of Uparwala keeps the Indian in trim.There is no dearth to the talent and thinking in whicg the Indians surpass the westerners.Their flexibility ,humility and ability is something which no school or institute teaches .It is the teaching of parents.Whom the Indians equate to God!Respect and love for mankind is another factor in which Indians score more marks than others.The Indian of today is young and ambitious and wants to do what his fore fathers could not ! So, why not inspire him to Noursih and Flourish

Source(s):

No source straight from the mind and heart!

Answer 27

Indians are resilient and bounce back soon despite all obstacles. There is corruption all over the world..its not unique to India. We have accepted this as a part of daily routine. One who is strong and determined will face all this and over come all obstacles.

Answer 28

This is purely due to hard work and the inspiration to uplift oneself financially. Main aim of an Indian is that he thinks that he should be at least one step ahead of his neighbour/relative/friend. For achieving this goal, he attempts to corrupt practises as well. But due to our heritage, even though he earns through wrong route, at one stage, he reaches an culmination point and turns to god sense and tries to eradicate the sin of earning through fraudulent way by helping the poor, donating to schools etc., So keeping idle, speaking vedantas, it is better to flourish by some way or other and to improve our country.

Answer 29

the people are so fool that they say that every one will know me and the same happen today a 12 year child knows who is osama bin laden

That's a little bias, but I suppose if you refer it as the entire race over histories, there "may" be some truths to it. I don't even know which indians you are talking about

We aspire for the greener pastures on the other side

CULTURE AND CUSTOMS

Answer 30

'KARMA'.Thats the hidden Indian Factor.Handed down to us over the ages.All obstacles like corruption,brain-drain,poverty,inflation and religous & lingual diversity become soft obstacles in our path due to the catalytic influence of this Karma Philosophy.Hereafter,
our self-belief receives an auto-push inspiring us to make our own 'small' contributions to India's 'fast-track' progress.In a long-term perspective,the 'Indian' will always emerge a winner.

Answer 31

It is right to say that India excels despite many hurdles. This is chiefly because of the thing called PATIENCE. The technique of adaptability adopted by Indians play an important role in this regard. "Let whatever happen, I have my own duty to do", this is the spirit that carries India. Secondly, Indians have the thirst for innovation and creativity that moves them with untiring spirit. Third factor is that Indians are great lovers of God. Whatever religion he/she belongs to doen't matter, they just stick to remember Him whenever they embark for a duty. This give a positive attitude to do that particular work. Fourth, eventhough there are some incidents of human rights, Indians basically respect and understand other mindset easily. This makes them to be humble and patient inspite of whatever incidents happen around them. And Fifth and last, Indians never give-up their spirit despite of repeated failures. Indians know that "Life is not a problem to be solved, it's a mystery to be lived......"

Source(s):

Myself