It was a couple of years ago, in 2012, that the Indian polity displayed sharp reactions to the declining standards of governance. This was the year when the silent and indolent majority was overtaken by the active and responsive citizens. This trend in the right direction strengthened our democratic fabric. Citizens with an involved and clean leadership demanded dialogues with the Government on issues of probity and transparency in governance. This was a move towards a participatory role in ensuring transparency, appropriate policy formulation and good governance. If the meaningful reaction of the citizens, especially from the articulate middleclass, is guided appropriately, it would wipe out the hiatus between “ruler” and the “ruled” and would harbinger a vibrant synergy between the elected Government and the citizen-voter.
There has also been another welcome departure. The armchair commentators among the citizens are moving towards direct involvement and action-oriented participation in public causes. This has, to some extent, provided a new channel of interaction between the Government and the people, leading to a further welcome trend of Government gradually becoming more responsive to relevant public opinions and views. There is an awakening at the grassroots. The average citizen is tending to no longer tolerate non-availability of basic amenities like drinking water, sanitation, power and social/personal security.
Amidst this scenario, persons in very responsible positions have narrated things in a disturbing manner, e.g., a Minister advising officials that it is okay to steal a bit, but one should not loot.
The average or the median age of our country is 25, about 15 years younger than that of the US. This young population is a product of a “flat world”, widely wired and well-networked across geographical and political boundaries. The new-generation Indian has been born in a free India. let us not forget that Prime Minister Modi is born after Independence had dawned. Connectivity and communication facilities have enabled the young Indian react to the rest of the world without moving out of his home, thanks to what was once derided as the “idiot box”, the TV. The young Indian is exposed to President Barack Obama emphasising that democracy involves accountability, and accountability can only come through transparency. The same young and vibrant Indian also knows that Obama rose from rags to be a successful lawyer and, eventually, the occupant of White House for two terms. The same Indian is also responsible to put ‘chaiwala’ Modi as the PM of India. Our vibrant youth sees different leaders adopting new techniques of communication to reach out to the people and establish a bridge for an interaction and dialogue. The challenge before the present leadership is to attract a cross section of this awakened and alert youth to be directly involved in playing a meaningful role in building this nation by influencing decisions and policies.
Much to the discomfiture of the traditional politicians, devolution of power has been to the gram panchayats and urban local bodies. Alongside, the RTI Act has empowered the ordinary citizen to have access to the process of decision-making and its eventual implementation. An interesting international scenario has also emerged. The so-called developed countries have had to deal with economic turmoil and have had to devise rectificatory and corrective measures, many of which may not have achieved their intended goals. Among developing countries, the anxiety has been to generate employment opportunities, prevent any economic downslide and, above all, to fulfil the growing hopes and aspirations of a new generation Indian.
From the 1990s with the onset of economic reforms, the traditional economic development index has been found by the Government to be at an appropriately efficient level. But while the process of liberalisation was implemented, the necessary prerequisite of an appropriate regulatory mechanism had not been put in place. Prior to the introduction of liberalised policies, the regulatory mechanisms are a condition precedent to ensure greater accountability, probity and transparency in governance. This has also to be dovetailed with equitable distribution of resources, inclusiveness in the context of growth and a method of governance that befits democracy and relieves the country from the lingering yoke of colonialism.
One of the early instances of the aberrations that were to come later, one after the other was the Satyam saga. The monetary economists were more concerned with macro management, revenue resources and different nuances of deficit and surplus in accounts. Unfortunately, what was forgotten was that with liberalisation, there had to be a concurrent advancement of corporate ethics. The laws regulating corporate entities were inadequate and the finite resources of the country, as largesse of the State, were distributed without appropriate norms, modalities and obligations on the part of the beneficiary to eventually serve the nation’s interests. The spate of revelations like the 2G saga, the Commonwealth Games, allotment of black gold, i.e., coalmines, slippery gas exploration arrangements and aberrations in civil aviation policy, emerged in a sequence so as to shake the armchair commentator among the middleclass to jerk out of his slumber. The cumulative effect of all this led to critical comments like “crony capitalism” and “policy paralysis”.
To cite an example, we have had textbook cases of cronyism with contracts being manipulated and even rigged. The predetermined cronies will be guided to quote rates so as to ensure that they are the winners at the end of the race. In a typical situation, once such a bid is accepted, the benevolent Government is conveniently persuaded to grant benefits and concessions. This scenario pervaded building of National Highways, setting up airports and other ports, setting up power plants and a heady mix of all this was through PPP contracts. Even essential commodities and scarce resources were subjected to designed mal-governance. Where do these cronies come fromIJ They are not knowledge-banks. They are also not financial giants. Their real capital is in the network of “connections” that they have successfully nurtured and this hidden power can conveniently be used for causing decisions in their favour by the required extent of bending and mending the rules of the game. They can even manipulate obtaining financial credits beyond what they deserve and, very often, go on demonstrative extravaganza befitting a flamboyant corporate giant. It is easy for them to pick up a Rajya Sabha ticket/seat so as to be in the exclusive club, which would facilitate their power-brokering.
The real need of the hour is to strengthen the institutions meant to ensure transparency, probity and accountability and fine-tune them to meet the needs of the hour. Prime Minister Modi’s “Swachchh Bharat” could appropriately be expanded to also include “internal” cleanliness of the Government with no dilution of the present emphasis on the cleanliness of “external” surroundings. To achieve this, the young Indian should, in the interest of his own future, embark upon issue-based dialogues for strengthening institutions, norms, transparency, probity, efficacy, all for a resurgent India. With the present composition of the Parliament, proactive initiatives, which are hopefully visible in the horizon, on the part of Prime Minister Modi would facilitate meeting of the minds of the Government and its makers. This requires a lot of introspection, pursuant resolute action and proper cleansing and upkeep of the inner domain of not “the” Government but “our” Government: the Government needs a cleansing from within. To quote a commercial advertisement: the Government badly needs an “inside-wala snan”. Then only we will have “sampurna swachchhata” as distinct from a cosmetic one. And this concerns us all!
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)