Fictitious rights
Arvind P. Datar
A comparison of India and China is often made in the media. China has overtaken India in most indices of human development but it is miles behind India in key areas like law and order and the actual existence of Fundamental Rights.
China’s official book of fiction is its Constitution. Chapter II of the Constitution sets out the Fundamental Rights and duties of citizens and, believe it or not, Article 34 gives all Chinese citizens, above 18 years of age, the right to vote and stand for election. Article 35 makes it amply clear that the horrors of Tiananmen Square are wild and wicked stories published by the bourgeois Western media. This notable Article guarantees all the Wangs, Hus, Dengs and Xiaos of China “the freedom of speech, of the press, of Assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration”! Did you know that Article 39 prohibits an unlawful search or intrusion into a citizen’s house because the “home of a Chinese citizen is inviolable”?
Indians can be justly proud of their daily newspapers, the 100-plus TV channels, the right to go on strikes and the right to travel throughout India. I would not trade this freedom for all the economic progress that China has made. It is easy to forget the tragic consequences of the one-child policy and the unspeakable injustice meted out to millions without any legal redress.
But I wish that we acquire the vision, ambition, discipline, and national pride of our neighbour. A mixture of these ingredients with our freedom is a recipe for India’s enduring greatness.
Arvind P. Datar is a senior lawyer, Madras High Court

China’s success is overrated
Subhash Kashyap
India’s political system, its Constitution is something that you and I will not like to forego at any cost. On any given day, one would like to be in India rather than in a place where there is authoritarianism. We have rule of law, democracy, freedom of speech and expression and the freedom of press. These things just don’t exist in China.
Essentially, the comparison with China has begun because it has apparently succeeded on the economic front. But the fact is that deep down there is also corruption and poverty. China’s success, I would say, is overrated. I have been there and I can say with considerable confidence that we are much better off. Of course, we have our own problems. Our democracy needs more discipline. But the freedom to be able to say anything, at any place, at any time — within the ambit of law — is something we will always cherish.
Subhash Kashyap is a constitutional expert and former secretary-general of Lok Sabha
As told to Prashant Pandey

We create CEOs
Devi Singh
The guiding principles on which the Indian higher education system was founded were scientific temper and focus on research. The excellence in our education is a by-product of this focus. Our oldest universities like Nalanda were pioneers in the global education systems and attracted students from across the world. Chinese universities were founded on more conservative parameters and focused on creating strong traditional roots. However, they now have forward-looking policies that encourage educational fervour and international cooperation.
The trend of globalisation saw an amalgamation of cultures and the most adaptive, succeeded the most. The robustness of the Indian education system can be gauged from the fact that globally, a large number of CEOs across industries are the products of Indian business and technical schools and are recognised the world over as change managers and business leaders.
India wins hands down in student exchange programmes as our main business language is English and students from the West don’t face any communication issues. Today, most global businesses look at Indian managers to lead them and are sending more and more of their people to intern with us.
Our educational system is poised for a vast change and if we focus on research and providing our academic faculty the best facilities and sops, we won’t just come out on top, but create visionaries and leaders.
Dr Devi Singh is director, IIM Lucknow
As told to Rai Umraopati Ray

Proudly democratic
Jayanthi Natarajan
In India, it is always the best of times… and the worst of times. In our vibrant, cacophonous, dramatic democracy, we are eternally in the throes of both achievement and crisis. Thus, while our scientists pulled off the incredible coup of Chandrayaan-I, finding water on the lunar surface, some parts of our country were reeling under unprecedented drought. Karnataka and Andhra, on the other hand, were felled by the worst floods seen in recent times. Thus, there was never a cliché more true, than the one that talks about unity in diversity — that is India. This is our greatest strength. A vast and richly diverse geographic spread, a tremendous range of culture and language, climatic extremes, and a surging population have not prevented India from being a proud, united and integrated country.
We, therefore, celebrate our unique nationhood, which is unparalleled in history.
We are equally proud of our triumphant democracy. Despite the great challenges of poverty and violence and a host of other developmental problems, our democratic spirit remains unshaken. And, at the end of every cycle, we continue to hold free and fair elections, reiterating once again that our constitutional values are alive and well. Our parliamentary democracy is, thus, our single greatest achievement.
Jayanthi Natarajan is a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha and AICC spokesperson.

Diverse, secular and free
Indresh kumar
India symbolises “unity in diversity”. It is a land of cultural diversity, where every culture is given prominence. You can live in any part of the country and follow your own distinctive culture. No one will stop or question you.
India is a secular country where all religions are given due importance. But in China, only few major ethnic groups dominate. The recent clashes in Urumqi region are an example of how the Chinese government is against freedom for all.
In India, foreigners are free to visit any place, whereas the same cannot be said about China. Tibet is one such example. Foreigners come to India because there is so much to learn — our centuries-old traditions, thousands of dialects, the food palette. And the best thing about India is that it symbolises democracy whereas in China, communism rules.
Indresh Kumar is national executive member, RSS
As told to Yojna Gusai

‘They dress like robots’
Ravi Bajaj
You can never compare Indian fashion with China’s. If I were a designer in China, I would only be copying Western designers, without using any creativity. The Chinese cannot be imaginative, but they execute well. They pick up trends from Western countries and copy them aptly. Except for Shanghai and Hong Kong, fashion in China is monotonous and dull. In fact, while rural India is full of colourful cholis and ghagras, traditional Chinese dresses have boring colours like black or red. The Chinese dress up like robots. Their sense of fashion is the “assembly line” dressing up.
Modern India is adhering to the “world uniform”, as we all want to look like global citizens. Also, we keep our traditional sense of style alive and don’t follow global fashion blindly.
Ravi Bajaj is a well-known fashion designer
As told to Shruti Badyal

Cyrus Broacha
One of the biggest issue few people seem to be talking about is this — Indian Chinese food trumps Chinese Chinese any day! See, Indian Chinese does not resemble what they call “real” Chinese food at all. But it still tastes a hell of a lot better than the so-called original. It’s a great thing that the Chinese are celebrating 60 years of communism with such fanfare, but, come on, we’re definitely better off living in India.
Try to live in China and chances are you’ll be arrested on the very first day itself for heinous crimes like talking too loudly.
Another thing that makes us better is our humility — we never say we did something or take credit till some Western country goes ahead and tries to claim it.
Cyrus Broacha is a comedian

Ashok Pandit
We are the best Asian country, not China. In a way, films are a good measure — cinema is a reflection of society and ours is great. Chinese cinema may have made inroads into world cinema, but ours is technically superior. We have excellent filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Madhur Bhandarkar and Ram Gopal Verma who have taken the quality of Indian cinema to an international level.
I am proud to be an Indian. We are far more special in many ways. We have lots of problems but also have the will to fight those problems.
Ashok Pandit is a filmmaker
As told to Shama Bhagat

If God asked me to live in China...
S. Krishnaswamy
People in India have absolute freedom. There is perhaps no other democracy in the world where people enjoy so much of freedom. It is a completely different society and system from what we see in China. Despite the achievements of China, even if God were to ask me whether I would want to be a Chinese citizen, my answer would be, “No”. I think that would be the answer of every Indian citizen. Perhaps, a person will truly realise what it means to have democratic rights only when s/he no longer has these. Despite the many problems we face, the fact is that there has been so much progress in all spheres and there is much more awareness in the Indian society.
S. Krishnaswamy, former IAF Chief
As told to Sridhar Kumaraswami

We dream. Chinese don’t dare to
Shobhaa De
Our first “guide” on a recent trip to Shanghai was female, 30, single and still a virgin (her version). Our second guide in Beijing was female, 30, single and a virgin. Our third guide at Xian was — you must have guessed — ditto ditto. That made me wonder whether the tourism board hired ladies who met the same set of criteria, or whether, like everything else in China, this too was a part of the Official China Story.
The word “propaganda” has a whole different connotation in that part of the world, since the average person does not know the difference between what the top bosses want them to know — even about themselves — and what the truth is. Talking to these earnest young women, who continued to live with their parents and were not “allowed” to date, I found myself comparing their repressed lives to the lives of our urban women back home. These Chinese ladies were so totally fire-walled from the outside world, they had absolutely no idea of life beyond their province. Their existence is dominated by some “shadowy” bosses they lived in abject fear of. Clearly, their brief as guides was to stick to a parroted spiel that gave the impression they were fluent in English. This mechanical hard-sell came apart swiftly if the questions went even a little beyond their brief.
I felt rather sorry for these lovely ladies, who spent most of their measly income on fairness creams, believe it or not, and wore sun hats to protect them from the sun (read: tanning). They were like programmed mice, scurrying around doing their jobs... Their parents’ lives were even worse — they had endured the Cultural Revolution... just about survived the purge. With no money and no education, they were dependent on the one child the state had permitted them to bear. It was worse, far worse, than anything back in India. For the construct of their lives was based on a huge lie engineered by the state — to keep them perpetually servile, like obedient worker ants whose sole purpose was to ensure the future of the “Great Country”.
Frankly, I see a very grim future for China. For, not being a worker ant, I dare to dream. As do one billion Indians. The idea of China is so vastly different from the idea of India, that it is inevitable we will clash one day. And that day may not be too far. Today’s China relies on illusion to project its greatness to the world. Nothing is as you see it — not even the “booming” economy, with all those manipulated figures. Our fault lines lie elsewhere. But at least we don’t feel the need to hire bright-eyed virgins as tourist guides, “conversing” in a language they don’t know and telling those who ask about Tiananmen Square with a straight face that “nothing happened.... it is all Western propaganda”.
And yet, before you step even a 100 metres from your hotel room in Shanghai, away from the watchful eyes of those virginal guides, you are instantly surrounded by teenage pimps offering “girls, boys, drugs... any shape, any age, any kind”. Will the real China please stand up?

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