RE: why no Indians from India ?

[Shrikant Sundaram <shrikant.sundaram@tatainfotech.com>]

I have been on this list since almost it's beginning and have been =
following up with almost what everybody has to say/is sayin out here.
I somehow have not been able to understand what happenned to the few RIs
=
who were on the list and were contributing pretty well(IMO)? Have they =

signed off or something?=20
>From what I observe regd. Sri's reco about asking RIs to pitch in, the
=
situation might be a bit too gloomy for that as rightly pointed out by =

Arvind. There are places where connection is still a problem, and those
=
who get connected are probably ones who are using someone else's account
=
and password to surf the Net for their own vicarious pleasue(?) / =
activities and this is a fact.
Primarily, I can quote situations wherein people from the DoT who have =

their Net accounts which are not audited for expiry, give away their =
passwords to their kith and kin, and then these people hog the line  - I
=
could provide a very menial comparison fr such people but that would'nt
=
serve any purpose at all here.

So, as the matter stands, people find the VSNL charges too exhorbitant =

for the time that they are provided and so they prefer using corporates'
=
accounts which have been signed for a longer duration.
I for one have a connection for myself, but that is being used in a =
different part of the country and thus I contribute from my office =
e-mail account - as we don't have a dedicated link for ourselves here.

Now in this kind of a scenario, please imagine how many people would =
think of participating and contributing to some discussion on a topic as
=
insipid as 'Improving India's Status' when they are making merry in the
=
given situation!!! Moreover, due to the kind of infrastructural =
difficulties (read a dead man walking situation!!!), I feel that the =
people whose contribution is worthy here can hardly afford to spend time
=
on these matters. Probably they have other urgent / personal matters to
=
tend to as having an argument with the local grocery guy for charging =
extra and weighing less, or for that matter being mentally and =
lace to the other.

There can be several other reasons, about which I may not be aware, that
=
prevents RIs to participate in such debates.=20
For that matter, we now have certain Talk-shows on the various Indian =
channels where some govt. official is called in for QnA and there is =
this 'studio audience' to question. I wonder how many of them are =
present there for genuine reasons. I have heard of people/agencies which
=
hires people (or something to that effect) to participate in these =
shows. I may not be completely correct in my observations/conclusions, =

but obviously, there is some element of truth to this.

So if at all the NRI community is contributing to this debate and it has
=
in the participative sense an NRI debate, it is true. As long as we =
don't have a participation as sought after in any chat room, India =
Policy Debate would remain an elusive NRI debate.
=20
Can't each of the NRI participants in IPI actively recruit at least 10
others residing in India to come and join us in these discussions? If we

do not do this, I am afraid that it is going to be very difficult for
whatever we create to be accepted as truly "Indian" document or a
people's manifesto. If Prof.Roy gets this opinion even after having the
opportunity to
participate in the discussions, I am sure a lot of others in India will
get a similar opinion. I am going to right away try and recruit at least

10 people living in India to subscribe to this and try to actively
participate, I urge all of you to do the same, better late than never!
Can I also urge other Indians in India who are already participating to
come up and voice their views on whether they support the view that the
discussions here are alienated and "NRI oriented" (whatever that may
mean!)?

Sri




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