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IIT-Roorkie joines the YES+ bandwagon for colleges 🙂 Somehow felt the course got over very very fast. Started another one in IIT-Kanpur yesterday.  Had been a pretty hectic week 🙂 Yet another blockbuster article from Guruji.

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Despite rising threats of religious terrorism, Naxalism and natural disasters, India is moving ahead. What makes India tick? India was born in the midst of religious strife, violence and trauma. Religion has never been a unifying force in the world. What accounts for India’s continued strength in the midst of such religious and cultural diversity?

In this century, China has been held together by force while India has been held together by cultural and spiritual bonding. Though religious fundamentalism, caste violence, Naxalism and natural disasters have rocked India in recent decades, the country’s resilience that is anchored in her spiritual values has become far more visible in the world.

India is married to its principles: Liberty, spirituality and a nationalism that honours universalism. It is one of the oldest civilisations on the planet. When America was not yet discovered and Europe was in its Dark Age, India’s glory was widespread. It was famed for art, architecture, spirituality and trade.

Over the centuries, the country has faced and survived many challenges. On the one hand, India has touched pinnacles of justice and equality, on the other Dalits have been oppressed. India is a country of non-aggressive, humane people, yet practices such as sati have prevailed. It is very difficult to judge India. There is no midway: either people have a high opinion or low opinion about India because it is full of opposites.

For centuries, India’s negative aspects have been projected over the good ones. Fortunately, that’s changing. As a country, divided by language and caste and subjected to centuries of humiliation, it continues to reel in low self esteem. Like an elephant that can uproot trees but is scared of the mahout’s small stick, India can be timid at times. Even the West has called it a sleeping giant.

With one sixth of the world’s population, she could have already played a bigger role. She now needs to take her rightful place on the world stage. For this to happen, her people need to become more confident and take greater pride in their cultural and spiritual roots. We have to harness our spiritual values to fight terrorism and other social evils and to prevent our young minds from turning to violence. The issue of Naxalism has to be addressed at its roots and the misguided youth should be brought back to the mainstream. We have to remain open to learning and innovation, rather than simply imitating Western consumer and material values.