Modi dares to Dream

Modi dares to dream in a nation that so far has witnessed a plethora of shattered dreams, not of its leaders who have done fairly well for themselves but of the common man.  His arrival after over six decades of existence as a free nation gives hope - the nation appears poised to emerge and occupy its place in the big league, albeit many years later than it should have actually done so.

How does the common man perceive the nation and its ruling class? Despite the inherent faults and there are many, the rapid advent of the multiplicity of channels on the idiot box has opened the vistas for the common man, who till then was totally oblivious of the developments that were taking place elsewhere and not in his own motherland. Now he is aware what civic infrastructure is ought to be and what is meant by service delivery; he also realizes that there is a better life beyond the shores of the country and that if he is asked to lay his finger on the biggest single ailment that the nation is seized of – he will unhesitatingly lay it on the pie of corruption. The idiot box has thus succeeded in changing the awareness levels of the common man living in way off towns and villages.

It is another matter that the common man perceives political leaders and government servants generally in the same league – kings of the present times. Continued existence of shortages and differentiation in social hierarchies has indeed shown him his place – at the mercy of the powers that be. Sadly the common man has abdicated his rights in the favour of the rulers whom he always learnt to fear. And therefore the question of his demanding good governance never arose; he neither expected good governance nor good conduct from those at the helm of affairs, yet within his heart he always castigated them!

It is this perception of the ruling classes, the entire tantra, in the eyes of the common man that needs to change if real change is to be brought about. The widely prevalent yet true perception that all government functionaries are corrupt needs to change, by the emergence of an environment in which interaction between the common man and the sarkar is not laced with graft. The general feeling that India is not for Indians – that it is a country only for the powerful or the rich needs to change for the big change to be really worth its while.

Our biggest misfortune has been the continuance of the british raj in the garb of swaraj. A system of governance based on mistrust and therefore warranting sanctions and approvals for almost anything under the sun is being continued even when the color of the rulers changed from fair to brown.  Our laws, our rules and our processes that the machinery of governance still follows are mostly as intact as they were when inherited from the empire and have miserably failed to meet aspirations.

Changing rules, processes and systems therefore has to be a major focus area. Simplification has to be the buzzword as this perhaps is the only way to achieve quantum growth that can reduce the chasm of difference between the developed world and ours.  

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.