Click to play videoNew Delhi: Growth in citizen power and civic consciousness has changed the way the Indian middle class functions. In 2006, India witnessed that the middle class frustration finally found articulation, thanks to two relatively new forms of technology: the satellite news channels and the SMS.
The great Indian middle class is also now bigger and more prosperous than ever before and believes that it is the engine of India's progress. The class believes that India is the world's largest democracy only because they subscribe to liberal values.
Be it "justice for Jessica and Priyadarshini" or "punishment for the Mumbai blasts accused", in the last one year, India has seen how ordinary citizens have come together and made a difference to the society.
India 360 focuses on how the citizens of the financial capital of India - Mumbai - make a difference in the way they live.
From traffic snarls to bad roads, it's citizen power that has solved problems for Mumbaikars and for people around the country. The question that was raised on India 360 was: Is the middle class the prime mover of civic activism?
On the panel of experts to answer the question were DG, Bureau of Police Research and Development, Kiran Bedi - someone who has contributed a great deal in arousing civic consciousness; Member, National Campaign for People's Right to Information, Shailesh Gandhi; and author of The Great Indian Middle Class Pavan K Varma.
Till about last year, the middle class was looked upon as a class that was very happy to continue to suffer. They would raise their voice occasionally, but it was not as if they were interested in taking their voices beyond a certain point. So what is it that has changed now that this class has adopted an aggressive stance?
To this Pavan K Varma said, "First we must understand that traditionally, the middle class in India has been exceptionally insular, not particularly noteworthy for its social activism, certainly oblivious to any issue beyond it's immediate interest. Now, however, a change has come about. What is important is to assess what is the quantum of change. How much has changed and whether we are moving towards a new form of euphoria which overrates the civic activism that we have seen till now and are we assessing it objectively for what it;s worth."
He said that in his view, the middle class had changed in its reaction to issues which immediately are part of its world. He said that aiding the middle class in this was the communications revolution and the media revolution.
According to him, these revolutions had managed to bring the middle class together on some issues which had caused instant and enduring outrage.
Is the middle class facing a lack of leadership?
So far, the class was quite content to see maybe Rajya Sabha members talking about relevant issues but somewhere on the ground, the difference that was supposed to be made by these so-called leaders was not really apparent. Is that the reason that India is increasingly seeing the coming together of ordinary citizens to make a change in the way that they live?
To this Kiran Bedi said, "I do believe that there is a disconnect between what the political leadership is saying and what the middle class really wants. Because of this disconnection, the middle class is finding its voice as they are feeling that their grievances are not being aired with a sense of urgency and a sense of passion, which they desperately need."
She added that the leadership was getting more democratic when it came to citizen power. She said that this was a great thing that she agreed with Pavan Varma when he says that there has been a huge communications revolution, better quality of education, better awareness - all which has got transmitted to the middle class.
"The Right to Information has played a remarkable role in this," she added.
Are the issues that people have tried to raise going to make a difference on the ground, what with the upcoming BMC elections?
To this Shailesh Gandhi said that he believed they should. "I would only say that this is no longer a middle class issue. It's an issue of the very rich versus all the rest. Unless we take care of the poorest people in the society, we cannot progress. It's a misnomer to talk of the middle class. We have a higher class, which just doesn't care and then there are the rest who are completely being dislodged from the whole economic agenda and the national agenda as well."
Are we being uncharitable to other classes?
We have created a situation where we talk about only the middle class not being given its due. Are we forgetting the other classes - the lower class and the poorest of the poor?
To this Pavan K Varma said, "Well, the middle class wants to become very rich, but those who are very rich find that they don't need to agitate. The middle class find themselves today no longer in the driver's seat as far as the Indian polity and society goes. Democratic empowerment in the last 13 general elections has empowered the unwashed masses below it, so the middle class has to jostle to gets its due."
He said that the middle class was so agitated about Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Mattoo because these were people amongst them. He said that this was a great positive step forward because at least the middle class was now talking.
Are the educated and the rich also coming out on the streets and raising their voices against all the things that are wrong with Mumbai?
"I think that the elite and the rich have found ways of getting far far more than their fair share. I say that about 50 per cent of India's population is poor and out of this 25 per cent is below poverty line. This large mass of population is now beginning to stir," said Shailesh Gandhi.
He added that unless we start looking after the weakest, this country cannot survive.
But the fact is that in a city like Mumbai - where often big buildings and small shanties live in a cheek by jowl manner - have the middle classes now come to a comfortable living equation with the poor people of the city?
To this Shailesh Gandhi said, "Most of the middle class has the conviction that if we neglect the majority of the people - poor people - in India, we cannot have a sustainable situation in the country."
Premature euphoria?
However, Pavan Varma disagreed saying that India needed a reality check. "The middle class is quite oblivious to the poverty at its doorstep, the filth around the corner and the illiteracy that constitutes half the slums in the cities in which these people live. Lets not over estimate the activism that we see now."
"What we see now is a renewed vigour to react to issues in an organised and effective manner, to the issues which belong to their world. But to see them now as emissaries and messiahs to the poor is probably going too far," he added.
To this Kiran Bedi responded saying that we are generating euphoria to this a bit too early. "The middle class is coming together in a very segmented manner. Only doctors came together at the time of reservations, students coming together for the cracker campaign - but see, nobody came together as the middle class for Nithari. So yes, I think that the euphoria is a little early. Unless all these groups one day really come together for a cause, we cannot call it the force of the middle class."
The important point that came out in all the debating was though that there were groups of people that were taking up important issues and somewhere along the line, some points of difference do seem to be emerging on the ground.
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