Back to blogging after a long time! Past one year has been one of immense vicissitudes for me personally. Working in the Private Banking industry whose fortunes are so closely linked to the performance of the stock-markets is never easy. Especially during times when the markets are going nowhere. From being the toast of every foreign investor, India has suddenly become a pariah. It all started last year with the Radia tapes. And soon "2G" became an indelible component of every informed Indian's psyche. A bevy of scams tumbled out and the equity markets got spooked. The Arab Spring followed, a terrible tsunami hit Japan and the Euro area collapsed. And if all this was not enough for a year, Indian middle class angst found a new messiah: Anna Hazare.
In my 35 years of existence as an Indian, the Indian middle class (IMC) has seldom done anything worthy of respect. At most times, the IMC is content trying hard to make more and more money whether by hook or by crook (not to deny the existence of many honest upright members of this class but progressively they are becoming statistically insignificant). The uprising against the monster of reservations unleashed by the V.P. Singh government was one of those movements for which I have great admiration. While that movement failed to bring any justice to the aspirations of the "unreserved" IMC, as a young boy growing up in the 80s in a nation that was at most times colorless and mundane, the anti-reservation stir was extremely exciting. While concerns of an increasingly difficult future caused a few anxious moments, largely my friends and I were more than happy with the extended school vacations we got due to the movement.
The late 90s and the new century has been a much more exciting time. However, nothing can be compared to the spectacle that came to the fore especially with the huge participation of the IMC in the Lokpal movement lead by the inimitable Anna Hazare.
However, this latest muse is not about this movement. What I have lately been pondering over is whether the Lokpal, the supposed panacea of all the ills plaguing Indian administrative system, really going to have the desired impact on India 20, 30 years from now?
As history shows, decisions taken by a nation or its leaders to be more precise have huge long term consequences. Nehru's decision to adopt socialism, took India back by decades before we were forced to throw open our doors to capitalism. The Kashmir issue is still festering and millions have lost their lives due to the "enlightened diplomacy" demonstrated by Nehru. Don't get me wrong. I am largely an admirer of Nehru and these decisions I believe were taken by him with the best interests of the nation in his mind. However, the harsh truth remains that key decisions taken by a nation's leaders, affect the lives of billions of humans. If so, then what should be the guiding factor for leaders while taking any decision? In my mind, every such decision needs to be subjected to one simple test: "What is the sub-conscious force underlying the implementation of the decision?"
For example: the implementation of the reservations bill generated tremendous discontent within the part of society whose dreams of making it big in life based on merit got crushed by the bill. Over the long run, was this decision healthy? Did it move our society towards one where "true" freedom prevails? In my mind what this bill did was create tremendous divisions within the Indian society. It gave birth to a new monster: "caste based politics" and ensured more and more deserving and talented youth gave in to despair and left the shores of the country to seek greener pastures abroad. Fortunately though the debilitating impact of the bill was cushioned to a large extent by the mushrooming of the Indian private sector in the new century. But the fact remains that the sub-conscious currents generated by the bill were against the ideals on which India as a nation was built and may still go on to have horrible consequences for the Indian society at large.
Using the same benchmark, is the Lokpal the best way to tackle corruption? Ultimately, the success of Lokpal would depend on one thing: the extent of "fear" it generates in the heart of the government employees. Corruption is a manifestation of the impulse of "greed" within the human heart. Would the impulse of "fear" generated by Lokpal be stronger than the impulse of "greed". In the final analysis that is what would matter.
And finally as a nation, do we want "fear" to be our guiding principle? Or do we as a society want to create a frame-work where the impulse of greed is countered by a much more fundamental and positive impulse?
The choice is ours. This may just be another of those moments of "Tryst with our destiny"!!
In my 35 years of existence as an Indian, the Indian middle class (IMC) has seldom done anything worthy of respect. At most times, the IMC is content trying hard to make more and more money whether by hook or by crook (not to deny the existence of many honest upright members of this class but progressively they are becoming statistically insignificant). The uprising against the monster of reservations unleashed by the V.P. Singh government was one of those movements for which I have great admiration. While that movement failed to bring any justice to the aspirations of the "unreserved" IMC, as a young boy growing up in the 80s in a nation that was at most times colorless and mundane, the anti-reservation stir was extremely exciting. While concerns of an increasingly difficult future caused a few anxious moments, largely my friends and I were more than happy with the extended school vacations we got due to the movement.
The late 90s and the new century has been a much more exciting time. However, nothing can be compared to the spectacle that came to the fore especially with the huge participation of the IMC in the Lokpal movement lead by the inimitable Anna Hazare.
However, this latest muse is not about this movement. What I have lately been pondering over is whether the Lokpal, the supposed panacea of all the ills plaguing Indian administrative system, really going to have the desired impact on India 20, 30 years from now?
As history shows, decisions taken by a nation or its leaders to be more precise have huge long term consequences. Nehru's decision to adopt socialism, took India back by decades before we were forced to throw open our doors to capitalism. The Kashmir issue is still festering and millions have lost their lives due to the "enlightened diplomacy" demonstrated by Nehru. Don't get me wrong. I am largely an admirer of Nehru and these decisions I believe were taken by him with the best interests of the nation in his mind. However, the harsh truth remains that key decisions taken by a nation's leaders, affect the lives of billions of humans. If so, then what should be the guiding factor for leaders while taking any decision? In my mind, every such decision needs to be subjected to one simple test: "What is the sub-conscious force underlying the implementation of the decision?"
For example: the implementation of the reservations bill generated tremendous discontent within the part of society whose dreams of making it big in life based on merit got crushed by the bill. Over the long run, was this decision healthy? Did it move our society towards one where "true" freedom prevails? In my mind what this bill did was create tremendous divisions within the Indian society. It gave birth to a new monster: "caste based politics" and ensured more and more deserving and talented youth gave in to despair and left the shores of the country to seek greener pastures abroad. Fortunately though the debilitating impact of the bill was cushioned to a large extent by the mushrooming of the Indian private sector in the new century. But the fact remains that the sub-conscious currents generated by the bill were against the ideals on which India as a nation was built and may still go on to have horrible consequences for the Indian society at large.
Using the same benchmark, is the Lokpal the best way to tackle corruption? Ultimately, the success of Lokpal would depend on one thing: the extent of "fear" it generates in the heart of the government employees. Corruption is a manifestation of the impulse of "greed" within the human heart. Would the impulse of "fear" generated by Lokpal be stronger than the impulse of "greed". In the final analysis that is what would matter.
And finally as a nation, do we want "fear" to be our guiding principle? Or do we as a society want to create a frame-work where the impulse of greed is countered by a much more fundamental and positive impulse?
The choice is ours. This may just be another of those moments of "Tryst with our destiny"!!
Good point!
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