Letters: Technology vs tradition

Apropos Kanika Datta's column, "Technology, the god with clay feet" (October 8), Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of Digital India is indeed beset with hurdles. While technology is a double-edged sword capable of yielding decent or deleterious results, depending on the purpose, India continues to be essentially a tradition-bound country, despite the spread of education and exposure to modernity. Even the technology-savvy - like Modi - are anchored in rituals and customs.

A major hurdle in breaking away from incongruous old ways is the hold family values and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have on politicians and the masses. Dowry deaths and honour killings are taking place even in rich and well-educated households.

A discipline-based organisation, the RSS has not been at ease with changes taking place the world over in social, economic, scientific and religious spheres, considering them a threat to national culture. Assimilation of different cultures has been one of the strengths of Hinduism, which has enabled it to survive the onslaught of foreign rulers. But RSS leaders refuse to see the reality.

Y G Chouksey Pune

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