Government with a difference!

The difference has started showing within two days. For the first time in the history of the republic, we have a Prime Minister who plays on the front foot, who has clarity on the direction the country should take and the measures that would need to be taken to propel the nation towards prosperity and development.

Inviting the heads of SAARC nations for the historic swearing in served twin purposes – first to convey  the message that the country wants good relations with its neighbors and second that India is emerging into a nation that cannot be messed around with. Our heads swell with pride at the bold assertion of the nation’s sovereignty and self respect.

The setting up of a special investigation team for bringing back black money stashed in safe havens abroad clearly shows the will of the new government to eradicate corrupt practices. The missive in the form of an advisory to the members of his cabinet to abstain from nepotism in all their dealings and also not to splurge on improving offices and residences is akin to long awaited music to the ears. 

His message is loud and clear. Gone are the days when we had a reactive chief executive, we are now in an era where the top guy knows what needs to be achieved, how it needs to be achieved and believes that the conduct of those in the business of governance has to be exemplary and above board. The conduct of the government in the first two days gives me ample confidence that the slogan “Acche din aane wale hain” was not merely an exercise in creating a feel good factor.

I am absolutely certain that the message would also have traveled right across the bureaucratic spectrum and would be giving shivers in the spine of the corrupt, especially those who were brazenly indulging in corrupt practices and also exploitation of the government machinery for their personal gains. Yet fixing the bureaucrats would indeed be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack given the chameleon like traits that are widely prevalent in this tribe. Most of the tainted bureaucrats would have already dumped their old masters and would be busy attempting to attach themselves to the new guy in the chair.

The last ten years in the life of this nation displayed the worst that is possible to showcase in the arena of governance. The series of scams – with CWG taking the cake for brazen corruption and accompanied by the likes of 2G, 3G, Coalgate, Railgate, Chara and Adarsh to name a few had jolted the collective conscience of the nation. Open corruption at apex levels inspired the hoi polloi also to partake of the loot whenever they found an opportunity. It is indeed sad that our nation had emerged as an entity where each and every single interaction of the ruler and the ruled was invariably laced with graft. Apparently the book on ethics was thrown out of the window at the first opportunity.

Corruption is an issue, the biggest issue that now stares at this nation, yet it is merely a symptom of a much deeper malaise in governance, in the complexity of our decision making and contractual processes. Why a system designed for the british to rule over Indians is being continued even after sixty seven years of self rule, I wonder? The large number of thumb impressions that are required both for decision making as well as contracting provide a convenient shroud for the corrupt as well as the waster, and unless this realization dawns in, the republic would never get cleansed of this malaise.

Yet for the first time, we the people of India have great expectations, that have a fair chance of being realized and therein lies the ray of hope, the first ray of a rising sun that has started falling on this land, mercifully.

The search begins!

The nation searches for a leader.

In a Loktantra governed through Prajatantra and therefore an overall dismal failure so far, the search for a leader is once again center stage. With the ruling dispensation projecting the royal heir apparent and the opposition rooting for Modi, the guy who turned around Gujarat, the populace would once again have to make a choice between two commodities, both of which have their obvious pluses and minuses.  It however is undeniable that the Modi wave has taken the nation, almost by storm.

It is true that Modi has found favor amongst almost all the sections of the society. The rickshaw wala, the panwala and the small time grocer, all are rooting for Modi and rightly so, if he has proved to be the messiah for Gujarat, he has the potential to be one for the nation too.  The brightest ray of hope is apparently visible.

Since the last over six decades, the gullible public of this nation has been bending over backwards to place on the pedestal anyone who appears inclined to take the nation forward. Yet its hopes have regularly been belied as the nation has rapidly proceeded downhill and at the same time provided ample opportunities for loot by the cohorts of the chosen guy. Bofors, disinvestment, 2G, 3G, CWG, Chara, Coalgate, Adarsh and many others, the loot that has perpetually been on has picked up speed during the last couple of years. The gullible public in its heart of hearts sincerely wants someone at the helm who will stem the rot and take the nation forward, and that someone as things appear now is either Rahul or Modi. A progressive young heir versus a man of integrity and conviction who is steeped in deliverance. The battle is indeed going to be exacting and interesting.

It is indeed a turning time for Hindustan. The previous year witnessed the maturing of a nation, the constituents of which inspired by the clarion call against corruption started turning out on the streets of many of its major cities. For the first time ever, the average Indian moved out from the comforts of his home to the streets, heeding an undeniable call of conscience.

What is going on presently cannot be allowed to go on perpetually. The various scams are indeed a blot on the collective conscience of the nation. An operation clean up is the need of the hour and the first step in this direction has apparently been taken at Panaji yesterday.

May God pull this nation out of the morass it has brought itself to!

India whining!

We would ultimately get what we deserve, despite exhortations to the contrary.

The recent uproar against corruption needs to be viewed in its true perspective.  Yes the CWG, 2G, Adarsh, Coal G, DLF and the disabled, all purported scams of an impressive order rightly highlighted by the recent crusades have brought corruption center stage in this nation that has always silently accepted a customary greasy interaction of the masses with the sarkari tantra. Customary because it has almost become a custom in this nation for sarkari mulazims to seek payment for services rendered and silently because the practice is so deeply pervasive that even a thought of deviation appears sacrilege. The sarkari tantra therefore is seen by the populace as machinery meant to rule not serve and therefore any service by it is regarded neither a right nor an obligation.

Why this great national aspiration for political or bureaucratic careers, the fundamental components of the tantra? During the initial years post independence, the aspiration was to serve the nation and the political or the bureaucratic route was obviously the only one available. For Nehru, Patel, Shastri and many other politicians of that era, a position was merely a means to serve the nation, a nation that they indeed served selflessly. Such high levels of dedication and commitment are unfortunately now passé. The bureaucrats of that era were also full of nationalistic zeal and fervour that vanished in a few decades. The times have indeed changed and an impeccable conduct on the part of a politico or a bureaucrat is now generally considered out of the ordinary.

Many would hold the system responsible and rightly so, though it is a system that we had the liberty to design and evolve. Yet we miserably failed if the yawning gaps in almost all sectors are any indication. Perhaps our misdirected efforts that veered us away from providing a sound educational system to the nation led to the current morass and a sound national character never got built. The political arena that earlier witnessed the entry of only highly committed and principled citizens slowly became more and more difficult as well as costly to enter. With passage of time many started viewing politics as an enterprise where an initial investment leads to hefty benefits in the long run. Mere commitment and the desire to do something for the nation were slowly proving to be inadequate reasons and this shift is the root cause behind the massive indulgence in corrupt practices and muscle power by politicians in connivance with bureaucrats, few exceptions apart. 

Simultaneously, the bureaucracy also miserably failed in sticking to the high ground that its forefathers had set at the onset of a free nation. The growing rut that the bureaucratic system steadily witnessed ensured that a sarkari job started being looked upon as the best route for a comfortable existence in a nation plagued by shortages and a worsening economic scenario.  

With few exceptions that can generally be counted on fingertips, power and money have now emerged as the sole motives for entering the political or the bureaucratic arena. An extremely unfortunate scenario for a nation that after over six decades of existence as a free nation is still bracketed as developing, a situation that displays no signs of abetting in the foreseeable future!

Both India and China gained independence at almost the same period, yet China has emerged as an economic powerhouse with an infrastructure at par with the best in the world and India? India is still grappling with basic issues of sanitation, roads, power, water and housing and above all abject poverty and deprivation, issues that unlike other developing countries are amply visible even in the capital city of Delhi.  The situation in the villages and towns in the back of the beyond is beyond perception of the cocktail crowd. Many would however argue that China being a communist nation could do things that a democratic India could not.  Partly true but the rapid prowess of Germany and Japan in almost the same period after their almost thorough demolition during the second world war would appear inexplicable to most of us. And Japan is a nation that has a much higher population density than India. A high population turned to an advantage through able governance. Yes, the excuses that most of us trot out for the glaring failures of the nation may appeal in isolation, but would fade away if viewed with a global perspective.

It is primarily a directional failure. When India came of its own in 1947, it had no real infrastructure except perhaps the railways built by the british, yet what it had in plenty was a burgeoning population that unfortunately displayed symptoms of poverty and deprivation. The only way the abject poverty and deprivation could have been tackled and the country placed on a growth path was through education, education that would have enabled the citizens to get jobs and indulge in enterprise. Unfortunately it was not to be. If we were really educated, we would have appreciated that the only thing that can take a nation forward is delivery, delivery that leads to generation of wealth for economic growth. We would also have appreciated that our sincerity towards the nation can only be assessed by our own actions and mere pontification would not take the nation anywhere. We have also failed to realize that the only way we can contribute positively to nation building is by ensuring that all our actions lead to enhanced production of goods and services. The very fact that all of us, including those in the service of the sarkar look upon the government to somehow, through a sleight of its hand, take us out of the morass we are living in, speaks volumes about the national mindset.  

Nations do not rise sans toil and sacrifices of its constituents and merely achieving consumer goods in plenty can by no stretch of imagination be regarded as the sign of a nation having arrived. Nation building takes decades of concerted efforts and mere rhetoric can at best give false expectations. That there is no alternative to a sound educational system either is a thought that needs to go deep in the psyche of the government machinery to enable true development, not merely marginal spurts and pockets of delivery and excellence that can be showcased only for taking the world for a ride.   

Perhaps the will is there but the flesh has always been weak. If only wishes were horses!