-103-

The Way Forward

The way forward obviously needs to be a multi pronged effort over a long haul, for India moving forward at a reasonably good pace in a sustained manner. Some of the maladies, li e corruption, are pretty old and a part of life for many of us. !ven though it may seem difficult to ma e a significant dent on some of these deep rooted problems, it is not impossible, given a wider understanding of the malaise and moving away from unproductive finger pointing. It can be done. It must be done. "ur potential is huge. #hy must not the remaining few crores of our citi$ens be able to lead a more decent life with access to better nutrition, health and education in the near future% This chapter outlines some common sense approaches, some of which are derived from the analysis in the earlier chapters , that I believe will provide the momentum needed. We the People WE NEED TO BECOME BETTER CITIZENS #e have aimed at presenting a balanced picture of India on the move. #e have scanned in depth our achievements & the Indian democracy, the macro level economic performance from 1'(0 onwards, uplifting crores of our citi$ens out of e)treme poverty, better airports, better roads in cities and in the rural hinterland, the *avoday Schools , the creditable performance in the information technology sector and the telecom sector, rural Indians using mobile phones going up from 3.+, to (-.3,. proportion of households with thatched roofs declining from //, to 1(,, technology improving public interface facilities li e income ta) refunds, issue of passports, not only on-line boo ing of railway tic ets, but also spotting the progress of the train you are waiting to board etc. 0oo ing at the other side of the coin we have tal ed about the absent teachers in rural government run schools and absent doctors from government health facilities, the wide spread phenomenon of to enism, our poor performance in "lympics and how some

-10-sports records get doctored at the national trials, the poor 1uality of electric power supply, the shoddy performance of our 2i3li 4itran *igams stringing electric cables over head in varying curvatures 5 hanging electric meters on the electric poles at all odd angles and the swinging dangling wires ma ing our colonies loo ugly , various facets of our wide spread corruption problem & how some of its tentacles are centuries old, trash heaps ne)t door to Ta3 6ahal, filth and e)crement spread all over, whole villages being plastic waste lands, the phenomenon of 7al-faeda8 , many of us not paying 49T 5 Sales ta) etc. :o all these loo to be the problems caused by only the politicians and the bureaucrats alone or are there a few elements that are being contributed by 7#e the people8. :r 9bdul ;alam, our e)-president in a speech delivered has rightly wondered as to why most of us would behave very responsibly while in Singapore or 0ondon or *ew <or , but do not hesitate at all in littering or spitting all over in our own country. #e need to become better citi$ens & ta ing care of various irritants that have been highlighted so far. #e have to focus on the adult population today, to ma e them aware, to educate them. 9nd to eep on doing it repeatedly. There will be some progress. =owever, my five decades of career as =>: professional focusing in helping people develop has strengthened my belief that by the time a person comes as an adult on the 3ob mar et in his 5 her twenties , the nature and nurture have done their 3ob and the person is a finished product , each with a different set of 1ualities, abilities ? traits of personality and it is rather difficult to change him 5 her at a deeper level. Some change will come, but the pay-off would be rather limited. Therefore it is paramount that we significantly enhance the development focus with immediate effect on the young right from school age, starting with students in10 th or 1/th classes, when their minds-sets are more amenable to be shaped in a positive direction. 9part from learning two plus two ma ing four. it should be possible, with some help from behavioural scientists, to ma e reasonably sure , for e)ample, that the young man 5 woman stepping out of the school system is a well evolved human being & free from

-10(pre3udices related to colour of s in, gender, religion, language, food habits, caste , community etc and firmly believing that each human being should be assessed on his 5 her own merits and not to be stereotyped and discriminated on that basis.

@an you visualise a dialogue between father and young son 3ust fresh from school, A :ad & =ow does it matter if she is a woman and from a dalit family. She is competent. 0et us employ her. A The outline of , Sadharan dharma vs. , swa-dharma so brilliantly brought out by Shri Burcharan :as needs to be part of this agenda, both at the adult and more so at the school level initiative. Cust to restate the concepts as understood and interpreted ? supplemented by me D Swa - Dharam

6e and my family first Eniversal for all, broadly covering D

>espect for 0aw >espect for Feople as individuals, irrespecti e !" !nes c!#!$r !" s%in, re#i&i!n, caste, c!mm$nit', #an&$a&e, "!!d ha(its, &ender etc) >espect for their right to practice religion of their choice as well as respect for their right to e)press dissent. >espect for honoring commitments made Integrity @ollaboration & wor in neighbourhood groups displaying team spirit. O$r Resident We#"are *ss!ciati!ns tend t! spend &reater ener&' in "i&htin& am!n& themse# es than with the &! t) a&encies) 4oting at elections !mpathy for the under-privileged,

Sadharan - Dharam -

+!w man' !" $s, "!r e,amp#e, &i e wee%#' !"" t! the d!mestic he#p, as a matter !" ri&ht -

-10G"ne sure way therefore, to my mind, is to ma e it a very important part of our school curriculum. In *@!>T boo s today some aspects of the sub3ect of citi$enship is being covered, but the thrust must be enhanced tremendously on top priority basis . It wor s. "ne has to only see the vigour with which youngsters these days get after the elders to give up smo ing. It must be the attitude orientation developed in our schools and supplemented by the T 4 medium. <es, in its drive be a great service to the nation. The investment would pay off handsomely within a decade or two . 9nd what is a decade or two in the life of a nation. 9nother weighty contribution needed from all of us & the .nd pr!n& "r!m We the /e!p#e- is to insist on paying 49T 5 Sales Ta). 9nd refuse to buy from such establishments who would not. It would send a very powerful message not only to the trading community to change, but also to our ne)t generation. BETTER WOR0 ET+IC #e need to improve our wor ethic & both in public ? government sector and private sector, more so in the former. Biving Huality product and Huality service demands adhering to the Standard "perating Frocedures, without resorting to any short cuts. 0et us loo at our information technology IITJ sector as an e)ample. Indian young men ? women have earned a name for them selves in the world, motivated by a desire to succeed professionally as well as financially, supported by a positive wor ethic learnt from their parents and reinforced by the hard wor academically. "r for that matter let us loo at the success story pioneered by 6r Sreedharan for the :elhi 6etro rail, with a group of professionally 1ualified people supported by a culture of a positive wor ethic. =e did not hesitate to part company with a few whose ethical standards loo ed doubtful. It can be done. they had to put in to succeed to become more responsible, let the T4 media adopt this , 7 Sadharan Dharam as outlined above as an agenda. #ould

-10K0et us scan few of the achievements of :elhi 6etro >ail @orporation. !ven though for the 1st phase of the pro3ect for (G ms of metro rail system in functioning mode, the target for completion was set for 10 years. but 6r Sreedharan and his team decided to pare it to K years, against the advice of some professionals, on the plea that :elhi cannot afford to wait for 10 years and went ahead to complete it in seven years and three months. Today on the average // lacs people ride on the metro daily in /'0 plus trips. @an you imagine what would have been the traffic chaos in :elhi without it. It is estimated that around one lac additional vehicles would have been on the road today% #or ethic in some of the government agencies is surprisingly wea . In my pursuit of water supply problems in our colony with =E:9 I=aryana Erban :evelopment 9uthorityJ it comes out that they have a very fu$$y is no revised target date ,there is no vigorous follow up and things drift. In what ever sector we wor the practice, introduced by 6r Sreedharan, of each department 5 each agency having a cloc running bac wards, showing number of days left for completion of wor as per commitment made for delivery to the ne)t in the value chain, seems a very good idea. 0ord 6ountbatten followed a similar practice of calendars running bac wards, showing 7*umber of days left for Independence to India on 1(th 9ugust 1'-K8, supplied to all concerned , who tore off a page every day. >eal improvement can only come when we as a people change our mindsets. S ills is not the problem. S ills can be learnt comparatively more easily. target date for completion of a pro3ect. "nce that is missed, which happens more often than not, there

TR1T+ IS STR*N2ER T+*N 3ICTION 4 3*CT B*SED *//RO*C+

This is one adage that we ought to remember and not be ever ready to accept a hearsay, a guesstimate by some one, that we see on our T4 screens each day, as gospel truth.

0et me illustrate with a comparatively fresh incident.

-10+In our housing colony, called Breenfield colony, there is problem of inade1uate supply of water by the =aryana Erban :evelopment 9uthority I=E:9J. 9 strong conviction among the general public was that =E:9 supplies much larger 1uantity of water to another ad3acent colony of roughly similar habitation, which they manage to get through underhand means, due to the same being a privately managed colony against ours being run by a government agency. So I thought of see ing facts under the >TI I>ight to InformationJ 9ct. :o have a loo at the reply received D A "ffice of the !)ecutive !ngineer, =uda division no /, Laridabad To
6emo *" G(1G The re1uisite information is as under D

4 ; Sharma
:ated & //.0K./010 =E:9, Laridabad

Sub3ect D <our applicationunder the >TI 9ct /00( to SFI"-cum-S!

#ater supplied in ;0 5 month to 6onth Can -/010 Leb- /010 6ar- /010 9pril-/010 6ay-/010 @harmwood 4illage, !ros Barden 13G00 ;0 1(000 ;0 1-000 ;0 13-00 ;0 13000 ;0 Breenfield @olony 1G000 ;0 1-000 ;0 1+000 ;0 1((00 ;0 /3+00 ;0

I Total M G',000 ;0SJ

I Total M +K,300 ;0SJ

Sd5!)ecutive !ngineer

So, it is worthwhile to remember the adage, 7 Tr$th is stran&er than "icti!n) It is 1uite evident that no partiality has been there in distributing the available water. "ver the si) months, it is we who got better supply of water..

-10'Some effort at verification, where ever possible, would be desirable. 0et us learn to loo for facts. Ta%e /!#icin&. #e are all very critical of the sub-standard performance of our

policemen, including lac of courtesy, which is by ? large true. =owever, have we ever tried to understand the facts about the wor ing conditions under which they perform, the ind of demands made on them and how well we loo after them. =ere are the 7facts8 as learnt from a very senior retired honest police officer D The average wor ing hours over seven days of the wee of a police constable are around /0. +!w man' !" $s w!$#d (e a(#e t! per"!rm we## and sta' p!#ite, i" &ettin& !n#' three t! "!$r h!$rs !" s#eep per da', wee% a"ter wee%Interestingly, when I 1uestioned the same retired police officer, 7 =ow come the police were so thorough and also polite during the @ommon #ealth Bames%8 =e laughed, 7 #e had ta en care to give proper rest to that lot, apart from some training.8 The average current remuneration of a police constable, including allowances, is around >s /0,000 pm. There is no overtime for e)tra hours put in beyond + hours per day. Is this 3airThe S=" IStation =ouse "fficerJ has instructions that he can visit home not more than / 5 3 times per wee . Interestin&5 T!da's newspaper st!r' 6 7 Circ$#ar wants S+Os !n d$t' .8,9 4 The De#hi +i&h C!$rt has as%ed the De#hi /!#ice t! re#!!% at circ$#ar iss$ed (' the C!mmissi!ner !" /!#ice, which as%s the S+Os t! (e !n d$t' .8 h!$rs, with!$t an' #ea e and ta%e a

-110h$mane appr!ach t!wards the matter)

IIndian !)press, 6ay 1G, /013J

Transfers among the officer cadre are fre1uent. Supreme @ourt guidelines for a minimum tenure of two years at one location are hardly followed. 2y the time the officer gets to understand the problems of his area, transfer may happen any time, at the whims of political higher ups.

#hat ind of family life can they have under these circumstances, including education of their children% *re the' entit#ed t! s!me "ami#' #i"e -

Branted that changing this system is in the hands of the state and the politicians, but are we even aware of the situation on the ground% 9re we showing serious concern on these issues and building pressure for a change% I have not seen any of our bold, vibrant and aggressive T 4 9nchors organi$ing a debate on police reforms needed. This is not meant to be a character certificate for all policemen. "f course , there are some undesirable characters there. Our Corruption Problem :E*RN 3ROM * NEI2+BO1R 9n important step to my mind would be to learn from an *sian nei&h(!$r & Sin&ap!re) I was standing in front of my bed room window, ready to 3oin the conference in a few minutes. #hat I noticed below was very interesting. In the plot ne)t to our hotel construction wor at the foundation level was in progress. 9nd a dumper with a full load approached the gate and stopped there. Lour men rushed with hose pipes to wash the dumper tyres clean so that the road outside does not get dirty. I was highly impressed with this high sense of good

-111citi$enship behaviour. 2roaching the sub3ect with a local delegate, he e)plained that if the tyres are not cleaned, the company will have to pay a heavy fine N dollar one for each lug mar on the road. That for sure would be a huge sum. 6y mind was in1uisitive to find out if that does not promote corruption among the police, who have to enforce the fine. 9nd my informant laughed. 7@orruption in our country has been ta en care of by our Frime 6inister, 6r 0ee ;uan <ew, by setting a very strong e)ample a few years ago. 9fter that it has been smooth sailing. 9pparently the F6 came to now that a senior member of his cabinet was on the ta e. The concerned person was counseled to resign from his position, which he refused to do. Thereon the F6 charged him and he was put on a public trial and then dismissed.8 Such a high profile e)ample would certainly help in our case too. :E2IS:*TION 9n effective :O0/*: BI:: is certainly desirable ? It ought to have some essential features li e those covered under the act getting investigated ? punished without prior clearance from the government. =owever, as our discussion so far has brought out, that this step alone cannot handle such a deep rooted problem. 6oney collected through corrupt practices becomes B:*C0 MONE; and one of the important channels to put it to use, is to invest in real estate, where a good chun of the deal is in cash, it is reported. So one very useful step can be to reduce substantially the @apital Bains Ta) and the >egistration charges. The efficacy of this step can be assessed by the e)ample of Income Ta) rates having been slashed substantially some years ago in the 7dream budget8 presented by 6r @hidambaram, leading to much higher of ,age of population becoming willing payers of Income Ta) and to much higher overall collections. So once the temptation level is brought down, I believe , blac money in property may come down significantly. 9nd as said earlier, one very effective step would be for all of us to start insisting on paying 49T.

-11/Our State "ut of our under-performing areas discussed so far, many are related to the government or its agencies & be it water supply 5 electric supply 5 maintenance of roads. or be it renewal of driving license or be it the registration of a purchase deed for immovable property, or be it the lethargic speed at which government clearances are given relating to a policy laid down etc . So the issue broadly is the Huality of Bovernance. I firmly believe that such changes in old established institutions like the state, with many members having a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, can come only through structural surgery . Some suggestions are outlined below: 2O<ERNMENT 3OC1SED ON 2O<ERN*NCE ON:; The most important part is that the government ought to focus on governing only and was getting out of directly or indirectly being involved in production and delivery of manufactured by a government run public sector underta ing. goods and services to the society. Some would remember the time when bread in :elhi Bovernments are not designed for that ind of role. It has not wor ed any where in the world, as we have illustrated in depth earlier. 9nd one focus of governance should be to eep on the statute boo s only the laws that are to be implemented, that are to be enforced with $ero tolerance. =ere is an insightful mention of the scale of the problem in the boo by ShrI Burcharan :as, entitled, 7 India Brows at *ight.8 7 O they did not now how bad things were until 2ibe :eb >oy, an economist who headed a pro3ect in the ministry of finance in the 1''08s , discovered that the bac log in the legal system was more than /( million casesOO. 9nd it would ta e 3/years to dispose of the bac log at the current rate of disposal. =e also concluded that 1(00 out of 3(00 central laws are obsolete and needed to be scrapped and half the 30.000 state laws as well.8 Thus, here is ample scope for improvement by scrapping the obsolete laws and mandate $ero tolerance for laws that remain on our statute boo s. 9nother ma3or focus of governance needs to be to set up systems supported with appropriate technology to create a climate conducive to wealth generation through

-113mar et and competition based approaches in an ethical and ecologically and socially responsible manner . The thrust needed then is to devise appropriate policies ? mechanisms for distribution of wealth for the welfare of the populace ta ing care of the underprivileged sections of our society, for defense of the country, for home security , for infrastructure as well as for helping other emerging and developing nations, to the e)tent we can. The prime focus has to be on regulation of the economy to see that the selfinterest motive, the engine of growth, does not degenerate into greed, into profiteering & while ta ing care that the word profit is not maligned. In our imperfect world, profit so far is the only valid measure available to see that the resources of the society are being productively being utili$ed and not getting wasted. To achieve that would be no easy tas . To ma e it a success there would be need for attraction of still better talent of the country into government and ensuring that the talent already available is deployed on high pay-off areas listed above and is not being wasted on things li e running buses in a city. O1R :E2IS:*T1RES 9 common sense suggestion given below arose from a conversation with one *>I, a friend from the engineering college currently running a civil engineering firm employing G0 plus employees in *ew <or state. It appears that in many towns across the Enited States of 9merica, they have institutions li e the School board, the Sheriff, the local council etc which are elected bodies 5 positions with a tenure of only two years. 9nd as an e)ample he mentioned that in his school board funds were collected for improving the school infrastructure from the community. 9nd since the implementation was not done effectively, the board members were thrown out by the public in the elections after two years.

-1149nd that brings 9@@"E*T92I0IT<. Cust to chec if such practices are still in vogue, I too help of the internet. Flease see the resultD The genius of America s system of local control of education is that local boards are directly accountable to the communities they serve. !ffective boards engage in continuous assessment of all the conditions affecting education. Kansas School Board Elections School board elections are held the first Tuesday in April of each odd-numbered year. A primary election must be conducted if more than three people file for the same school board position. Primaries must be held on the Tuesday five weeks precedin the eneral election. The filin deadline for office is typically the latter part of !anuary in the election year."

The ten$re !" "i e 'ears "!r !$r #e&is#at$res is t!! #!n&) Once e#ected the press$re t! per"!rm !n the e#ected representati es s#ac%ens)

If not two years, let us ma e the term of our legislatures, 6unicipal @orporations as well as that of Fanchayats for three years. 9dditional effort and money spent by the !lection @ommission would be very much worth while in terms of Enhanced *cc!$nta(i#it') 0i e the provision in the ES9 that an individual as Fresident can hold office only for two terms, #et $s seri!$s#' c!nsider #imitin& the term !" a p!#itica# part' h!#din& !""ice !n its !wn !r in c!a#iti!n t! tw! terms !n#')

That should substantially reduce the desperation on the part of opposition to disrupt proceedings. productive. Farliament and state legislatures can then run smoothly and be

-115-

=ere is a thought in support of above from 9le)is :e To1ueville, the famous Lrenchman who wrote 7 :emocracy in 9merica8, in 1+(3. 7 Othe desire to be re-elected dominates the thoughts of the Fresident. that the whole policy of his administration is directed toward this end, his every action bent to this purpose . and that, particularly , when crisis looms his own individual interest supplants the general interest in his mind. 9t such a time the Fresident see ing reelection, prostrates himself before the ma3ority. he governs less in the interest of the people than his own. and the whole e)ercise, tends to degrade the nation8s political morality and to substitute shrewdness for patriotismO. 9 president who did not have to worry about re-election would have been accountable to the people without being dependant on them. =e could steer a smoother course between the ma3ority will and good sense , not having to bend so obviously to the former. The notion of essentially having to whore for votes greatly distracts from the dignity of the office.8
I/-J

#hat we somewhat respectfully call, 74ote 2an Folitics8, 6r To1ueville has termed it as whoring for votes. 4ery interestingP

WHY

NOT

ABOLISH THE UPPER HOUSE, THE RAJYA

SABHA, IN INDIA In /011 we were in #ellington and during a conducted tour of the *ew Qealand Farliament =ouse, the group entered a large empty chamber and the guide announced, A This used to be where the upper house used to meet, until it was abolished .R "n my 1uery, as to why it was abolished, the reply was straight forward, A 2ecause the laws were not getting passed.R Sounds familiar PPP

-11G-

RED1CTION O3 DISCRETION*R; /OWERS !" 2O<ERNMENT DE/*RTMENTS = MINISTERS

<ou only have to recall as to how much of corruption got slashed as soon as in the 1''1 budget announcement the need for getting licenses for starting 5 e)panding industrial units was done away with. So the direction of reduction of discretionary powers on the part of government desirable step. 31NDIN2 O3 E:ECTIONS =ow about ma ing some headway in our core area where corruption is firmly entrenched, the area of political parties funding election e)penses. This simple proposal is not e)actly for funding of elections in India, but should reduce the need for funds and thus hopefully minimise the need for raising funds using departments and ministers would be a highly

unethical ways. Frimarily it has the potential of improving the election climate by the public being better informed about the contending parties. 9ssuming the date of election to the parliament is announced G0 days in advance. 0et one of :oor :arshan channels offer - hours per day of prime time, free of cost, from G.0 pm to 10.0 pm each day , e)cept wee ends of Saturday and Sunday to avoid any undue benefit to any one. That comes to 1KG hours of viewing time over a period of two months. 0et this time be divided e1ually between the party in power and the principal opposition in the e)isting parliament, after allowing 1( minutes for each independent candidate to ma e his pitch. The political party can utili$e this time for ma ing Fower point presentations on their manifestos or organi$ing debates with opposition parties or holding Locus Broup

-11K-

discussion with general public. In other words giving them a free hand as to how any party desires to use the allocated time. If the e)periment proves worthwhile, it can be e)tended to the state legislature elections. I understand that both 9ll India >adio and :oor :arshan have been doing this for more than three decades. =ad you heard about it% I had8nt till today when I read it in the news paper. The reason is simple. It is a very low ey affair. 9 party getting only two 1( minutes slots before the elections. 9nd that too under the supervision of 9I> and 5 or !lection @ommission. "ur recommendation is to ma e it I1KG hours of viewing timeJ much more vibrant with lots of time for debates, focus group discussions, FowerFoint presentations and the li e. 9nd no supervision . 0et there be only a few guidelines , which if not followed , the party gets penali$ed by cutting their time fully or in part.

DE/:O;IN2 TEC+NO:O2; "ne hears that in the state of =imachal Fradesh LI> can be filed on-line. I am sure that it would help in a big way to curb corruption on the part of some members of the 0aw ? order agency. So also land records getting computeri$ed, first pioneered by Shri @handra 2abu *aidu in 9ndhra Fradesh, can be a big positive step. Initiative of EI:, now called 9adhar, will be a very useful in this struggle - more so for poor people. So deployment of technology wherever possible can help a great deal. +12E B*C0:O2 IN >1DICI*: C*SE 9t one time the law and order situation in *ew <or was pretty bad. *o dar corner was safe from getting mugged. #hen 6r Builiani too over as the mayor of *ew <or , the first thing he did to sort out this poor law and order problem, was to call a discussion meeting with many

-118senior police officers of *<F: and as ed them to share fran ly their assessment as to what the problems were and how could these be tac led. 9mong many issues that emerged from these deliberations, one item stood out which Builiani thought was having high pay off potential. It was reported that one ma3or problem was 3udicial delays in prosecution , which encouraged the crime and the delayed punishment did not serve as deterrent enough. If a criminal was caught on a Lriday, he could only be produced in the court on ne)t 6onday and that too in the usually long 1ueue. The remedy tried out was 1uite innovative. Instead of criminal to the court, it was court to the criminal. It appears that new magistrates were hired and put on shift duty

/-)K in mobile vans. The police could re1uest any available magistrate to come to scene of the crime, or where the accused has been apprehended. It is reported that this step resulted in dramatic improvement in the situation. "ne wonders, as to why such a step should not be tried out in India. Lresh magistrates 5 3udges can be hired, we are said to be short in numbers on rolls in any case, with /-)K duty on mobile vans as a condition of service. "lder hands may not welcome such a change. Investment in such an initiative can have a 1uic payoff and serve as a deterrent to the potential criminals. Spread Optimism, not gloom The need also is that in our day-to-day inter-actions we do not spread gloom. It is not 3ustified. "ur right to critici$e is there and is sacrosanct. 2ut who prevents us, when voicing five criticisms to also share one or two positive aspects of the sub3ect under discussion. 9 sense of balance maintained, would help a great deal. -11'To such pleadings, the denunciation brigade is li ely to say, 7 #e now all this. "ur aim is to eep the government and the ma3ority party wide awa e as Cawahar 0al *ehru said and to accelerate the corrective action.8 Line. =owever, in absence of a balance, do they reali$e the danger of turning a large chun of our population cynical.
S 7 men who say that democracy cannot be honest and efficient - Lran ling : >oosevelt 7 #ebster dictionaryT ,

more so the younger generation, our hope of tomorrow, who have not e)perienced our 3ourney 1'-K onwards. 9re we not nudging them towards a dictatorial setup. :o we really want that % #hich dictators have proved beneficial to the people at large in the long run% =itler % 6ussolini % <ahya ;han %

Our land Reforms and land productivity

In our country, agriculture on small farms seems to be the main source of livelihood, for a large chun of our population. Lor a number of reasons the land reforms intended
I land to the tiller, rhetoric of the pre-independence daysJ

have actually happened only in a

few states li e =imachal Fradesh and ;erala, and the result is there for all to see, there are hardly any poor people. Sunil ;hilnani in his 7 The idea of India8 e)plains this lacunae . 7 In ac nowledgement of @ongress8s dependence on the landed upper class of rural India
Ito win electionsJ,

the constitution limited the centre8s ability to alter the rural

property order S the promise to do this had been a loud part of the rhetoric of some within the pre-independence congressT. It left the matter of social and economic reform, whose significance 9mbed ar had underlined and *ehru understood, to regional legislatures, where the landed elites could bring local pressure against redistribution moves.8 In a very interesting relevant comment on us as 7#e the Feople8,
I1(J

-1/0AO. 2etween 1'-( ? 1'(0 primary membership of the @ongress party grew from (.(

mln to 1K mln and by early (08s the regional and district congress boards had been captured by conservative elements composed of large land owning castes ? urban businessmenO. >egional politicians, far from cooperating with *ehruvian center to push reforms, were competing with centre for control of state resources for powerOR
from , 7 4ishnu8s crowded temple8 by 6aria 6isra. I+JT. S e)cerpt

The point to note is that this phenomenal 3ump in

membership did not happen as a result of some drive for membership, but these people sensed well before 1'-K which way the wind was blowing and 1uietly too advantage and became members of the @ongress party. That is what Shri >a3 6ohan Bandhi has described , as reported earlier our great s ill of , 7 al-faeda8.

F 4 *arasimha >ao, in his boo , 7The Insider8 relates his personal frustrating e)perience to bring about such a change in 9ndhra Fradesh as its @hief 6inister, and failed for the same reason. This corrective step needs to be enforced, so that landless group is reduced to the absolute minimum. =ow and when it may happen , is beyond my comprehension, eeping in view the dominance of similar classes as the ruling elite in the states. "ne wonders, why Srimati 6ayavati, who ruled Ettar Fradesh as last @hief 6inister with clear ma3ority did not or could not ta e steps in this direction. 9nd the small farmer would need help in terms of technology, information about better practices and resources to ma e it viable. =owever, infusion of technology and better practices if left to government alone would again not be an efficient ? effective process. 9llowing selected few private firms & Indian or multinational , some of whom are already helping farmers improve output ? 1uality of potato farming would be a desirable step. Talented persons from Bovernment or academia can certainly devise some innovative safeguards so that interests of farmers are well protected. >ecently another useful alternative came to my notice & an *B" in the name of :igital Breen is using video technology and Information technology and telecom technology in helping farmers adopt better farming practices. They focus on -1/1-

7modulari$ing agricultural and related practices in short +-10 minute segments. The videos feature local farmers on topics including testimonials and demonstrations of improved techni1ues, mar et lin ages and government schemes. The videos are shot by the members of the community using poc et video cameras. The videos are then vetted by the domain e)perts of each partner and are distributed on memory cards for playbac on battery-operated , pico pro3ectors in each village. Small groups of 10-/0 farmers , li e self help groups, participate in wee ly screenings of the videos, which are mediated by service providers from the community.8

It is already operating in the states of 9ndhra Fradesh, 2ihar, Char hand, ;arnata a, 6adhya Fradesh, "rissa and Ettar Fradesh. They claim that their approach has been, ten times as effective for the money spent, in converting farmers to better farming practices than classical approaches to agricultural e)tension. 9nd this *B" is wor ing in partnership with various governments. Intra-Generation and Inter-Generation !uity" =ere is one more crucial element of governance. It is the government alone that can ta e care of intra-generation and inter-generation e1uity. The word e1uity is sometimes misunderstood as e1uality. !1uality will never happen as Bod did not bestow e1ual amount of Talent and intelligence among all of us. =owever, can it be accepted that crores of our citi$ens should remain under-nourished and do not have access to reasonable standard of healthcare, sanitation and education. @ertainly not. Inter-generation e1uity has along term perspective. Is it acceptable that current pursuit of growth and profiteering by some can be allowed to degenerate our environment , to the detriment of the generations to come. In fact a good chun of the wealth generated must be invested in research and pro3ects for this purpose. The essence is to balance this in a pragmatic manner so that growth of our economy, the engine of wealth generation, does not suffer.

-1//In Conclusion The theme of this boo is 7 India on the 6ove 7. That India could have moved faster, that India should have moved faster is conceded. That India could have had 5 should have had better facilities, better law ? order, better security for women, better education, less corruption, much less poverty by now, is conceded. 2ut what has been in fact been achieved on the ground over the last si) decades, is not marginal, is not negligible.

It is s!methin& t! (e pr!$d a(!$t) 0oo at the figures below D C!mpared t! ?@A? #e e# 6 "ur B:F
current prices

has multiplied

+3/

times
at

1' times
at constant prices

"ur B:F per head "ur Loreign !)change >eserves

has multiplied have multiplied

(.3 times
at constant prices

1(- times 1+1 times

Icompared to 1'-KJ

Installed capacity for power generation has multiplied Linished steel production "ur Lood Brain Froduction "ur Fopulation "ur 9verage 0ife !)pectancy "ur Foverty reduction has multiplied has multiplied has multiplied has multiplied

+3 (

times times

3.3( times /.1/ times

Lrom about -G, in 1'+0 to about //,

9nd can we forget that the beginning si) decades ago was not normal % =ere are a few lines from a letter the Frime 6inister Cawahar 0al *ehru wrote to all the @hief 6inisters, soon after partition. -1/3A 6y dearOOOO 1(.10.1'-K

OO I doubt if people reali$e & particularly in those provinces which fortunately have not felt the impact of the Fun3ab tragedy & the gravity and full significance of recent events. If the disturbances had not been halted in the western part of EF
FradeshJ, IEttar

they would eventually have spread east wards right up to 2ihar and #est

2engal and whole of *orthern India would have been in chaos. *or could the forces of

disorder have , in that case, been confined to *orth India. #e would then have faced, 1uite apart from the butchery of innocent lives and the destruction of property, wholesale disruption of communications, disorgani$ation of food supply and the spread of epidemic diseases. #e would, in fact, faced complete chaos in the country and the destruction of all constitutional governments. #e have overcome the danger. Enceasing vigilance is still necessary . #e have still many grave problems confronting us, but I feel I can tell you that we have turned the corner and are in a position to face the future with confidence. A #e then had the momentous challenges of settling down lacs of refugees, who had gone through horrendous e)periences, conse1uent to the partition of the country and ensuring that after many centuries India with its multifarious diversities in terms of languages 5 ethnicity 5 food habits 5 religions 5 caste system etc stays as one united nation. *ot 6any gave India a chance of survival as one nation. 7 Si hs may try to set up a separate regime. I thin they probably will and that will only be a start of a general decentrali$ation and brea up of the idea that India is a country, whereas it is a sub-continent as varied as !urope. The Fun3abi is as different from a 6adrassi as a Scot is from an Italian. The 2ritish tried to consolidate it but achieved nothing permanent. *o one can ma e a nation out of a continent of many nations.8
I Beneral Sir @laude 9uchinle , e) Indian army, @ In @, 1'-+J I3/J

-1/-7 The Indianness outlined in the first two decades after 1'-K was an e)tempori$ed performance, trying to hold together divergent considerations and interests. O. It tried to accommodate within the form of a new nation-state significant internal diversities . to resist bending to the democratic pressures of religion. and to loo outwardsO. It did not reassure itself by relying on a settled image of the culture, nor did it try to impose one. That was its most important traitD it did not monopoli$e or simplify the definitions of Indianness . Lor all the political ve)ations visited upon it, it could claim a success D India, an ungainly, unli ely, inelegant concatenation of differences, after fifty years still e)ists

as a single political unity. This would be unimaginable without *ehru8s improvisation.

I1(J

There was also that big challenge to nurture the delicate plant of "ur :emocratic System, eeping in mind that the same plant in some of our neighboring countries is not in good health. 9nother letter from the Frime 6inister to the @hief 6inisters throws interesting light on this. A 6y dearOOOO. 1(.0G.1'(/

OOO.. 9s the strength of the opposition in the Farliament has increased and there are representatives of different schools of thought, the debates are a little more lively than they used to be. I thin we should welcome this. Indeed an effective opposition is desirable from many points of view. It may and it does , delay in disposal of matters. It may occasionally prove somewhat irritating. 2ut nevertheless, it tends to eep the government and the ma3ority party wide awa eOOO <ours sincerely, Cawahar 0al U

7 There was undoubtedly an element of self-persuasion to thisD for instance in his I*ehru8sJ resolution to treat the leaders of tiny non-congress parties in parliament opposition as if they were genuine opposition leaders, in order to instill the habits of parliamentary democracy in India.8 I1(J

-1/(9 very thought provo ing analysis on the nature of our democracy from well nown young historian Shri > @ Buha is very much worth a serious loo through D 70i e Indian democracy, Indian secularism is also a story that combines success with failure. 6embership of a minority religion is no bar to advancement in business or the professions. The richest industrialist in India is a 6uslim. Some of the most film stars are 6uslims. 9t least three Fresidents ? three chief 3ustices have been 6uslims. In /00K the Fresident is a 6uslim, the prime minister a Si h, and the leader of the ruling

party a catholic born in Italy. 6any of the country8s most prominent lawyers ? doctors have been @hristians ? FarsisOOO Some western observers & usually 9mericans & believed that this profusion of tongues would be the undoing of India. 2ased on their own e)perience , where !nglish had been a glue binding different waves of immigrationO.. 0inguistic states in India have been in e)istence for (0 yrs now. In that time they have deepened ? consolidated Indian unityOO=owever pride in one8s language has rarely been in conflict with broader identification with the nation as a wholeO. =ad =indi been imposed on the whole of India, the lesson might well nationsOOO.. In India the sapling was planted by the nation8s founders, who lived long ? wor ed hard enough to nurture it to adulthood. Those who came afterwards could disturb and degrade the tree of democracy but try, as they might, could not destroy or uproot itOOOO. The economic integration of India is the result of its political integration. They act in a mutually reinforcing loop. The greater the movement of goods ? capital ? people across India , the greater the sense that this is, after all, one countryOO 6ore recently, it has been the private sector, if with less intent, that has furthered the process of national integration. Lirms head1uartered in Tamilnadu set up cement plants in =aryana, doctors born ? educated in 9ssam set up clinics in 2ombay. 6any of the engineers in =yderabad8s IT industry come from 2iharOO In 1+++ Cohn Strachey wrote that he could never imagine that Fun3ab and 6adras could ever form part of a single political entity. 2ut they didOOO -1/GThere is one more state in this country , and that is =indi cinema , says Caved 9 htar. This is a stunning insight which as s to be developed further. 0ines from film songs and snatches from film dialogues are ubi1uitously used in conversations in schools, colleges, homes and offices and on the street. =indi cinema spea s its own language that is understood by all others OO.. have beenD one language. Twenty two

2ac

in 1'K1, at the time of 2angladesh crisis, when India found itself

simultaneously at odds with @ommunist @hina, Islamic Fa istan and 9merica. one Indian diplomat captured his country8s uni1ueness in this way D India is regarded warily in the west because she is against the concept of imperialism and because she invented the third world. India is loo ed upon with suspicion in the third world because of the Ssubversive T sentiments for democracy, human rights etc. The 6uslim world is wrathful because of our secularism The communist countries regard India as insolent & and potentially dangerous & because we have re3ected communism as the prime condition for progress. "ne might thin of Independent India as being !urope8s past as well as its future. It is !urope8s past, in that it has reproduced , albeit more fiercely and intensely, the conflicts of a moderni$ing, industriali$ing and urbani$ing society. 2ut it is also its future in that it anticipated, by some fifty years, the !uropean attempt to create a multi lingual, multi ethnic, multi religious, political and economic community. 7
IIndia after Bandhi8 by > @ Buha, page K(1 onwards & published in /00KJ I3/J

0et us conclude by listening to 6att >idley, an optimistic macro-view for the world as a whole, in his recently published boo called, 7 The >ational "ptimist.8 7 9 counterblast to the prevailing pessimism of our age, however much we li e to thin to the contrary, things are getting better. Fessimists have had have all far the more headlines & even been -1/Kinterest things writing groups through in are ? pessimism. getting *o how charity *o in disaster the ever was raised less of money the by front saying page right. There is immense vested though optimists

better.

3ournalist ever media search glimmers

got

a story about most

li ely. Fressure even doom.

their customers

cheerful statistics for

"ver 10,000 years ago there were fewer than 10 million people on the planet. Today there are more than G billion, '' per cent of whom are better fed, better sheltered, better entertained and better protected against disease than their Stone 9ge ancestors. The availability of almost everything a person could want or need has been going erratically upwards for 10,000 years and has rapidly accelerated over the last /00 yearsD calories. vitamins. clean water. machines. privacy. the means to travel faster than we can run, and the ability to communicate over longer distances than we can shout. <et, bi$arrely, however much things improve from the way they were before, people still cling to the belief that the future will be nothing but disastrous O. . :onVt be browbeaten dare to be an optimist.8

In this original, optimistic boo , 6att >idley puts forward his surprisingly simple answer to how humans progress, arguing that we progress when we trade and we only really trade productively when we trust each other. The >ational "ptimist will do for economics what Benome did for genomics and will show that the answer to our problems, imagined or real, is to eep on doing what we8ve been doing for 10,000 years & to eep on changing. 6att >idley8s The >ational "ptimist is a history of progress based on a simple but unpopular ideaD that speciali$ation and mar ets are the prime movers of progress. A I33J So let us regulate mar ets, :o not fear them. :o not try to do without them, since they are the engine of growth. *othing better has been found yet. -1/+-

Shri >amchandra Buha, on page /+ of his latest publication , 7 Fatriots ? Fartisans 7 says, 7 The mar et can promote efficiency and productivity, but not ecological sustainability and social 3ustice. The mar et does not value the needs of poor people who have no money. it does not value the future. and it does not value the right of other

species to e)ist. It is thus in the rational interest of the miners and industrialists to e)ternali$e the costs of degradation and pollution. IThe laws to prevent this e)ist on the statute boo s , but with a few spectacular e)ceptions, are not implementedJ.8
I3(J

"nly partly true. =owever, as we have stressed in the earlier pages mar et and competition based approaches are a must for generating wealth for the country, for the society . deploying that wealth for various purposes including ta ing care of the poor as well as the environment is the 3ob of the government. Secondly, there is a bit of e)aggeration in the above view of Shri Buha. 0oo at what the 1st of the eight 7Lundamental @oncepts of !)cellence8 in the !LH6 I!uropean Loundation for Huality 6anagementJ 6odel of 2usiness !)cellence has to say, which is being promoted actively by @II I@onfederation of Indian IndustryJ through the annual @II-!WI6 9ward on 2usiness !)cellence for now more than a do$en years in India . A Creatin& a S$staina(#e 3$t$re - !)cellent organi$ations have a positive impact on the world around them by enhancing their performance whilst simultaneously advancing the economic, environmental and social conditions within the communities they touch.R

It is,

therefore, important that we do not paint the mar et and competition in

negative light for the general public. They have a very crucial role to play that the government run organi$ations have failed to perform as detailed earlier any where in the world. @an you imagine what would have been the situation today if in the telecom sector was a government monopoly and there was no c!mpetiti!n % *ot only the prices would have stayed at the roof top level
S first charge for a call on the mobile was >s 1-5- per minuteT ,

but it would have provided opportunity to many to indulge in corruption

-129by promising to get you the connection 1uic for a price.

#e have discussed earlier that the basic nature of us human beings is that we are all primarily motivated by self-interest and it is the 3ob of the government to regulate it to see that it does not degenerate into greed and cause harm to the public at large. 2ut illing the pursuit of self-interest has not wor ed loo ing at the massive seven decade long e)periment covering crores of population and many nationalities, that collapsed in 1'+' & the collapse of the mighty ESS> #e saw how decades of high class indoctrination could not change this fundamental and substitute the same with collective interest in ESS> and other socialist economies. So dear reader, we are fortunate to be there today when India is marching on a rare 3ourney of progress after many centuries of sub3ugation and misery. 0et us do our bit, the opportunity is bec oning all. 7 #e have seen how India has moved on from grievance to aspiration, from mere roti, apda and ma aan to
Ifood, clothing and shelterJ

to bi3li, sada and paani

Ipower, roads, waterJ

and now to padhayee, sehat and nau ri accordingly.8

Ieducation , health and 3obsJ.

#e have seen how

leaders see ing the favour of these voters have altered their appeal and message
I Shri She har Bupta in The Indian !)press on 6ay 10, /013, under head & Lor :emocracy ? bi3li, uninterrupted power supplyJ

Lorget despondency, @heer up. Spread "ptimism. India is on the move. India is not about to sin . 6ove out of the cities and observe as to what is happening in the suburbs. 6assive investments ta ing place in real estate, droves of people are moving into new flats. "bserve hundreds of youngsters finding employment cleaning endless lines of cars early each morning. :rive out in the interior rural hinterland and observe what is going on. I have had the opportunity to do so in the villages of 6ysore, Tamilnadu, >a3asthan, 9ndhra Fradesh and Ettar Fradesh in connection with coordinating an 9dult 0iteracy initiative -130-

of the C ; Broup of companies. 9nd what does one observe. The roads that were dirt trac s full of pot holes , slush and mud are today having smooth blac macadam surface, under 7Fradhan 6antri Brameen sada yo3ana8. Inside the villages and town mohallas, in spite of corruption , good chun of 6F 09: funds are helping turning our slushy streets into pucca cement concrete surfaces with drainage channels on the sides. #e have not done badly at all so far. #hat we have achieved so far is worth being proud of, without denying that it could have been done faster and without denying that a great lot remains to be done. The dip in our affairs is temporary and will correct sooner than later. :o not ta e every thing media pro3ects too seriously. They are not always hundred percent correct and ob3ective. :o not allow yourself to be inundated by the flood of denunciations. Ese your 3udgment. #e the people are going through a massive churn, once in a rare while transformation, moving from focus on 7 swadharam weighted down by age old liabilities of a#-"aeda of Shri >a3 6ohan Bandhi B to focus on Sadharan dharma as by Shri Bur @haran :as. 0ot of Bood is going to come out of this churning. 0et us forget, the to enism of 7 dha&a samarpa'ami and offer the needed full piece of cloth to whatever professional Bod we are serving & be it intelligence , be it manufacturing, be it > ? :, be it policing, be it the service of supplying water to the public, be it ma ing policy decisions in the government and erect the temple of your choice on the solid foundation of , 7 +i&h T!#erance t! 3r$strati!n and De"erment !" 2rati"icati!n) Such are the people who are going to become the firm regulators needed in various spheres of our economy, such are the people who should be able to change the functioning of our state , our institutions , it won8t happen by blaming or by merely wishing for it. Bood luc to us. #ith #isdom and 9ction, some 0uc is also needed.
* * * * * * *

outlined

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I3-J 0152 0172 -