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Jan222009
Change has come to America. And India?
Two million people braved sub-freezing temperature to watch Obama’s inauguration
Can we imagine this scene in India? This kind of national euphoria over the swearing-in ceremony of the head of state? What a joke! In a country riven by regional politics, overt power-broking, and endemic political apathy. Of course, had this been Shahrukh Khan (an actor who once danced in his underpants at a wedding on a paid appearance) running a contest for one week at his house, the Indian public would have trumped these numbers and more.
Sure, Obama owes, at least in part, the almost religious fervor for his leadership, to Bush. For the indisputable screw-ups that created the the kind of perfect storm national emergency that made many overlook Obama’s color (democratic party: blue; his race: black). But the fall from grace and the growing economic insecurity that spurred Americans towards change are still aspirational goals in India. We hit bottom a while ago, and are now digging ourselves into a hole. The poorest amongst us are living like animals, debased to their lowest physiological and safety needs, and the financially secure Indians overwhelmingly lack sophistication, choosing peripheral self-interest over basic common good, consumption over creation, and frivolous entertainment over real culture.
India *is* in a crisis. Just cause our economy grew at nine percent (or six percent in recession) doesn’t mean that we can continue living in our la la land. Disproportionate growth came through growth came from unproductive bubbles1,2: of passive, uneducated fat men and women sitting on vast tracts of land that suddenly became worth more than the cumulative income of their entire generation; of sensex (bombay stock exchange) going from 15000 to over 21000 in a span of six months (July 07 - Jan 08); of investment banks and private equity firms bringing pay scales hitherto unheard of in India.
There is heartbreak everywhere we turn. Collectively as a country, we have dehumanized the poor. Men dirty, disheveled, with matted hair and vacant eyes line up for handouts, of coarse rice and dal in Chandni Chowk, next to a large open dump. Little children are on the streets everywhere, begging, picking up trash, their innocence discarded, potential trivialized. Old and young men in urban markets lug heavy burden like cattle. To become old on the sidewalks of urban India, away from family for lifetime, saddled with weight - can anything be more sad? And we sit in a stupor, nary an uprising in sight.
We bypass the government, treating it as irrelevant or worse, a hindrance. And it is. Our government is corrupt, and filled with partisan and uneducated criminals. But we the people of India are doing nothing about it! The whole concept of the government is to pool resources for development projects too big for individuals/organizations. But in India, we don’t even seem to know what the govt should do, let alone debate on the how and where. Or we are too busy safeguarding our own narrow interests to care. The ideals of common good are so routinely flaunted, the flaunting itself a cliche. And no, the market economy will not save us. Capitalism is first and foremost self-interest. And a country without an underlying base of equal opportunity (or something approaching it) can’t claw out of the morass of overpopulation, poverty, and pollution through uncoordinated, and discrete vested interests alone.
As a society, we collectively legislate and uphold the need to contribute to the basic infrastructure of the economy. If I as an individual fail to pay my taxes, I can be prosecuted, even incarcerated. If mere resistance to contribution merits prosecution, then what of those who squander and embezzle our collective goodwill and resources? We all know that our politicians are corrupt, yet we repeatedly elect them by vote or default, legitimizing the illegitimate. We need to hold our public officials accountable, for every rupee wasted/stolen, every promise broken.
I propose a public audit of the government funds (state and center): from collection, to allocation, to disbursal. Down to the smallest municipal corporation and gram panchayat. With a complete list of those with spending authority, and authority limits. This information should be available to the public not as the fruits of an RTI (an onerous application process designed to disuade), but as a matter of course. When Amar Singh gives USD 1-5M to the Clinton Foundation, we should be able to identify the source of that money. When a public school is understaffed, the principal/parent should be able to verify the exact point where the money was misappropriated. When we see a Mercedes parked on the street with a GoI seal, we should be able to determine which account that money came from. A public audit will deincentivize those who enter the administration, vested in their own self-interest. Let’s get all the televsion networks, all the newspapers behind this idea, and and push through this change. It’s our money (literally!), and we have a right to know.
1. Overall growth rate of 7.6% GDP over the Q2 of 2007-2008. Sector growth rate (selected sectors): manufacturing: 5%; construction: 9.7%; trade, hotels, transport and communication: at 10.8%; financing, insurance, real estate and business services: 9.2%; community, social and personal services: 7.6%; agriculture, forestry & fishing: 2.7%, Estimates for 2008-2009 Q2, The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
2. Yes, there is slight fallacious reasoning here in my equating “construction” activity with skyrocketing real estate prices etc, incongruous pay scales in the finance industry etc. However, I feel the point holds.
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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Caroline
001
11:02 pm
Shahrukh Khan has never danced in his underwear at a wedding for money.
Shannon
002
11:33 pm
Who the hell told u that SRK danced in his underpants……….. He’s d most famous man in India and He represents India to the world………. try to respect people and not to undermine them who has earned pride and honour for your country…..
thefiltercoffee
003
12:04 am
You’re right. The government is corrupt; but India is no different in that aspect than the US. The level of corruption is undoubtedly higher in India, but politicians can’t be trusted anywhere in the world. The difference between the two countries is that there are non-partisan pressure groups that hold politicians’ feet to the fire in the US. In India, those who think they “know better” chose to completely disassociate themselves with the political engine of the country. If India’s economy has grown, it has less to do with governmental regulation than it does with the spirit of entrepreneurship in the country. India’s economy grows not because of the government, it grows despite the government. Sure, MMS’s reformation of the economy kicked things off, but India’s growth can’t be attributed entirely to those reforms alone. The government in ‘91 was left with two stark choices - bankruptcy or liberalization. They chose the latter.
meena
004
12:29 am
Shahrukh khan never danced in underpants. Shame on you to use SRK name to get publicity.
Ram
005
4:09 am
In defense of the author:
Those who complain about the author’s mention of SRK is missing the article’s point. The article isn’t about whether he danced in such ‘costume’ or not. Mentioning SRK in a blog is not for publicity, but just to get the point across. Unbelievable.
That said, slightly disagree with the author on the leadership India needs - India doesn’t need / shouldn’t hope for a leader who is an object of cultish following as BHO. BHO wasn’t elected based on his merit or achievements. He was helped in large part by a hypocritical Media with double standards. India already has enough MK, Jaya, Maya etc.
What India does need is a leader who does the right thing as opposed to promising and doing the popular thing. Right thing and popular thing is not the same always.
Otherwise, I agree with everything in this well written article.
Ram
006
4:13 am
And 3 out of 4 comments before my last comment are defending SRK instead of discussing the article’s essence. I don’t like calling names on anyone especially on a public forum like this, but these commentors are ignorant.
almostinfamous
007
8:54 am
dont have too much time to ruminate right now, but i have to commend the author for significantly raising the level of writing here on mutiny, since even the trolls have found nothing to disparage.
Kannan
008
9:20 am
Great post …
I was going through the comments and just realised that people do not get and in fact are not focused about the problem area. We are bothered about what is on the surface and do not deal with the real root cause. Staging protest on your statement about SRK dancing in his underpants was the highlight for few guys, when the gist of the whole story is something else.
This was a great post. It put a mirror in front of our face and the problem is we do not want to face the harsh reality. If it was Sachin Tendulkar becoming prime minister, the hysteria would be at a whole new level. We in fact are not bothered who our leaders are.
Sameeksha!
009
10:17 am
I agree with almostinfamous. Mutiny is looking decidedly better. Thanks to Ruchi.
It seems to me there are many valid points in the post but it is a sweeping, panoramic view. Which is why, ppl seem to miss the woods for the trees, May be we need to focus on each aspect of the malaise to generate a more constructive debate. Just a thought.
chacko
010
2:22 pm
Looks like people are far more interested about SRK’s underpants than bringing change to India.
Doesn't matter
011
7:05 pm
It is easy to take a 30,000 feet view and critique; there is no dearth of commentators out there. One always falls short of proposing what is the practicable thing to do to fix the mess or to improve the quality of public service delivery. Using a wide paintbrush to cover the entire landscape and then to offer and equally gradndiose suggestion is doing no favour. I don;t mean to be critical but the ‘argumentative indian’ needs to start ‘doing’. Sometimes the path to the BIG IDEA is laden with SMALL, MEANINGFUL CHANGES. I have some of these smaller ideas that I intend working on to get things moving. Will write to seek your views/support at some stage.
captainjohann
012
7:30 pm
Hi Ruchi,
You donot even know that they sold the seat which Obama vacated at Illinois.
How many times you stood in the Q and voted.?
Just imagine the ordinary people of Kashmir braving much more cold than in Washington,braving bullets of Jihadies, even disproving the writings of Arundhathi roy and co and voting.
It is IT crowd like you who see everything about US as something great and a country which was under alien rule for nearly 2000 years while the last 250 years under rule of Britishers who never integrated like other invaders but just exploited our natural wealth and after just 60 years we are having a leader like Mayawathi, a dalit woman aspiring to be PM but you cannot see that.We had women leaders like Indira Gandhi when US was talking about first women President. Even today we have a woman as our President while we had a Dalit as President long time back and our Chief justice today is a dalit.
What we have achieved in 60 years, the oldest democracy has still not achieved.It still supports all the despots like Musharaff,marcos,Saudi kings.
Ruchi
013
1:03 pm
This was not a paean to America, or even Obama. I referenced Obama’s inauguration merely to highlight the level of political activism in the US vis-a-vis India. My central point was around government accountability, and the need for us, the people of India to drive this change. I am not discounting the value of “small meaningful changes”, but India has over one million NGOs, and a lot of potential for change falls through the cracks because of the inability to create a cohesive program, where the success of each initiative feeds the other. Illiteracy, poverty, disease, gender bias etc aren’t independent problems, and cannot be addressed in isolation. I truly feel that the scale of the problem requires a large scale initiative, if we don’t want our good intentions and hard work dissipating on the fringes.
Regarding SRK and his underpants: I honestly remember reading about it some years ago. I tried to verify it, and while I did find two people who also seem to recall something similar, I did not find anything in print. The parenthetical aside is irrelevant to the article, and I’m happy to strike it, however, I don’t have edit privileges for published articles on Mutiny.