My point is and was about how Indians are not really united about their vision of India and most in the first place have no proper vision of India. The identity of India that I am looking for is an identity based on core values that have passed onto us since generations. We are gradually losing all that and in that we are aping the west or trying very hard. The general lifestyle tells it all.
How is it related to terrorism? It is not only related to terrorism, it is related to everything against which laws stand. Why are laws formed? Laws are formed, apart from other reasons but mainly because people in general try to do things they are not supposed to do on their own or are supposed to do on their own and they don't. For example, discharging their duties properly. Is it or is not a widely accepted fact that there was prior intelligence of 26/11 and yet because someone or a few in the system did not discharge their duties properly so many Indians were killed, and rest who are responsible for the system only shared crocodile tears.
Those things in India that do not work well, are because of bad systems and processes in place. It has absolutely nothing to do with "ancient core values being lost". BTW, aren't you contradicting yourself when you say on the one hand, that we need to learn how to set up processes from the West, and on the other hand, bemoan "Western values" for everything wrong with the nation?!!
We had severe problems and corruption in railway reservations in the 80s. People used to bribe their way to the "front" of the waiting list. These problems were eliminated due to computerization, and not due to some "ancient core values". Our national highways were single lane dual-carriageway roads for decades, and in bad repair most of the time. That changed due to excellent initiative and administration, not to mention, good growth (which infused money into the system). We had only the ambassador and premier padmini for decades. That changed with good economic policies and good economic growth. Not due to regaining some "ancient core values".
And you haven't really answered the question. Again, you mention something about "ancient core values passed down the generations, but I do not see how we can tangibly improve what does not work, with the assistance of those core values". And really, what are these "ancient core values" that we have lost"??. To fix the issue of corruption, we need more IT-enabled systems, more technology, harsh penalties and harsh enforcement. We need FDI in manufacturing to generate employment, we need centralized databases to track income tax evaders and we need a massive irrigation and interlinking program to solve issues of poor crop yields.
These are tangible, realistic steps that the nation needs to take to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. All this talk of "ancient core values" really doesn't do anything to solve problems on the ground.
You are right now gung-ho about India because, in all probability, you or your near ones have not faced a situation wherein you might have suffered a major loss due to your own countrymen. This is not my idea of India, and when that is the case, I cannot claim that India is much better now or even if it is then the comparison should be with what it ideally should have been.
You don't know what you are talking about when you speak of my suffering losses (or not). As an example, a site that I had purchased has been encroached upon (along with others), and the case is in court, since it is a "civil property dispute". So, what now? According to your logic I should proclaim that I am not proud of India and that things are "getting worse", simply because I have "faced a situation wherein I have suffered a major loss due to my own countrymen" (in your own words). Never mind the fact that I am living a much better life than my father or grandfather were at my age. Never mind the fact that all my friends and relatives live much better lives than their preceding generations. We should not be proud of India, we should all beat our chests and bemoan the fact that India is becoming worse day by day, just because we have all "faced some situation or the other wherein we have suffered a major loss due to our own countrymen".
There are stringent laws in India and US both, why is it then that in the US people discharge their duties well, and not here? The difference is the underlying moral strength of the society, which with all my conviction I can say, is stronger than here. The laws means nothing until those who are responsible to execute them are not of character, and hence neither does the system.
Why indeed? Again, contradictory. Tell me this - these useless Indians who go to the USA and begin to completely "ape" Western values and let go of their "ancient core values" more than ever before, somehow do very well in the USA. "Moral strength" of Indians somehow becomes much much greater in that alien land!!
The US had lots of problems of its own in the 19th century, and in the years preceding (and immediately following) WW2. Please read up about the mining towns in the US and the problems there, Al-capone and the brutal bootlegging mafia there, the way law enforcement officers used to eat out of gangsters' hands and were on their payroll, about the plight of dock workers in the US during those years, about black ghettos, drug addiction and narcotics mafia....
The USA took decades to reach where it is today, and it was a painful process.
They made gradual improvements to their society in increments - bit by bit, they built their society brick by brick. That is why the USA is what it is, not because the USA has some magical "ancient core values" of their own which automatically make their people and society inherently better than ours, which is what your posts imply.
And anyway, what are these "ancient core values" that our nation should grab hold of, due to which we will become a land of milk and honey and get rid of all our issues? Enlighten me.