Dictatorial Democracy

As I came out the lane where I stay, I saw two lanes of the road were blocked and a pandal was erected leaving just two lanes for the traffic. I stopped by to enquire and was told that a local leader’s sister was getting married (on the street?)and the pandal was for celebrations and to accommodate the guests. Imagine the inconvenience that must have caused to the vehicular traffic for couple of days apart from the noise pollution due to loud speakers and bursting of fire crackers ignoring supreme court ruling. But that is the privilege of the local leader, you may call goon if you like. Cursing the system and apathy of local police and municipal officials I headed towards the highway. As usual the lane I was in was the slowest, but after a while there was no movement. I got out of the car to check what’s going on. I noticed a beggar; yes a beggar owning C class car was arguing with a low paid toll booth employee for payment of the toll that was equivalent to the cost of 300 ml of petrol. He claimed to be a social worker and insisted that he is not supposed to pay the toll. The cost of petrol that the car had consumed was much more than the toll that he would have paid, but it’s the bloated ego that created the ruckus. More than anything else I felt sorry for the chap and volunteered to pay on his behalf, so that at least the traffic will move and time & fuel will not be wasted. I tried to take my mind off such horrific instances in a democratic nation where the so called leaders consider themselves above the law.

My calm was short lived. One day I saw on the TV news some CCTV footage of a toll post where an elected leader was brandishing gun at the poor toll collector for having asked him to pay the toll or show the ID. In another incidence a dynastic youth leader, son of a minister ordered the toll booth to be vandalized as the leader was not allowed cross the barrier without payment of toll. In yet another incidence an elected member of state assembly threatened to disrobe a female employee of “All Women” toll post. And the list of such shameful incidences is endless.

We always talk of democracy and take pride that we are the largest one. But what kind of democracy is this where such elements are our leaders and rulers? We get what we deserve and that is what we have. We have the same constitution since republic, except few amendments, but the fundamental principles are almost unchanged. Then why this change in the society has taken place? Are we getting more tolerant to rouges, unscrupulous elements, cheats and goons? Or we are scared of them or both. With changes is morality our culture has changed or you may say that the change in culture has affected our morality. The laws though unchanged do not take the kind of cognizance as it was in the past. The justice is delayed and the punishments are not deterrent. The attitude to abide the law is changing and this is seen across the board. Right from jumping the traffic signal to multibillion dollar scam no one takes the law seriously. Everyone feels that they are above the law and worse is they take pride in breaking the law and dictate terms. This is extremely dangerous situation in a democratic country. We are creating cluster of small size dictators. And these dictators grab political immunity and are above the law to loot the country and docile population. This is a new breed of politicians that is grooming. These fellows get into the main stream from sideways to push their nefarious designs further. They contest and win the elections often resulting in fractured mandate. Then coalitions are formed and that is the end of good democracy. Where on the earth a democracy functions well with minority government? Political parties with as little as 11% votes can also rule the nation. Is this a democracy?

Political parties accuse each other for their political ideologies. The other day I saw in a TV talk show a hardcore Congress supporter claiming that the country is stable under Congress rule because his party is centerist. If any other party with rightist or leftist views comes to the power then the country will collapse. The statement is as stupid as someone saying if I move then earth will lose the balance and the North Pole will shift. Centerist, rightist, leftist are all politically motivated ideological creations of the political parties for the niche marketing. Everyone has hunger for power; all that these guys are doing is to market themselves projecting some ideologies. End result is same whatever path they choose. None of these ideologies are perfect and can be universally applied. The parties just look for larger segment to grab the votes, come to the power and ………….

During the British rule we had social stratification based upon caste whereas in Briton it was based on class. In last sixty four years we have combined both. The dimensions might have changed but magnitude has increased. Now the divide between the societies is both as per the caste as well as class. The neorich with the help of money power have acquired the muscle power and this combination has given them political power. Criminalization of politics is one of the side effects of such a potion. This is a deadly potion for the society that can dictate terms for the democracy. Dictatorial democracy is also a form of democracy. The elected members of Panchayat can dictate terms. We have started accepting corruption, lawlessness, unethical activities and many other ills as part of our life, as a part of our society, as part of our republic. This has to change. And we alone have to change it. It cannot be done overnight, it’s going to be long drawn process. There is no school that teaches patriotism, it has to ignite within. One person has to motivate other and this chain has to be open ended. We are left to ourselves, we have to shape our destiny, we have to change. No political party will do it because politics is a game of compulsions. In this game politicians emerge as the winners and public is the loser. Bring about the change, the rules of the game will change and thus the results.

Resolve today, it’s a question of your future and future of your children and grandchildren.

Happy Republic Day.

Nurturing Laziness

The political parties are bent upon providing food grains at subsidized price to those under BPL. In fact the limit of income of less than Rs.27/- can itself be challenged. But that is another story. The intriguing questions are, how one can ride a bike and get a BPL card for himself, or how a female may find some time in between her two favourite serials and rush to get the BPL card.

The media has reported that the government might call a special session of Parliament to pass the National Food Security Bill. The ruling UPA claims that it will solve the hunger crisis on the other hand its critics are certain that it will only increase corruption, and that the public distribution system must be wound up and replaced by cash transfers. The corruption in PDS will never get eliminated and on the other hand the cash transfers will open up new avenues for corrupt officials. Today’s print media has advertisements announcing the launch of similar scheme in Madhya Pradesh, making rice available for Rs.2/- per kg and wheat for Rs.1/- per kg. Making food available at such a low price is big threat to the nation. I am not talking economics but conditioning of mind. Out of the basic needs of Roti, Kapada and Makan, government has taken care of Roti by providing food at near zero prices. Governments in many states provide a piece of land and the cash assistance to build the house. The Makan is also taken care of. Kapada is not of great significance and the same is available, either as new or used one at reasonable price. Apart from this the RTE helps in education, various schemes for minorities offer lot of assistance, healthcare, mother and childcare are also taken care of. Incentives for going to government dispensaries for prenatal check up and delivery are already available. Everything provided by the government to its subjects in communist country is understandable. In communist nations a “common man” cannot influence the politburo and cannot change the government. Situation is different in democratic countries. Such schemes are more for creating a vote bank rather than the consideration for welfare state.  If the governments are of different political ideologies at center and at state level then there are chances of competition. One may offer greater benefits than other to appease and this will lead to rat race. There is no end to it. Now the question that bothers me is simple. If one gets everything from government, than why should people work? What is the motivation? Getting dole can be motivation for those above BPL to fall in to BPL. This is not done. Jobs need to be created and fair wages paid so that the citizens can buy the needs form their earnings. Dole, if I can call all these schemes so, makes one lazy. This is not acceptable. India with largest youth population should not be pushed to be lazy nation. If jobs are difficult to create, which can be debated, then entrepreneurship needs to be encouraged. Let people work and earn then spend rather that subsidizing, or giving free. That is bad for the economy and the nation.

Create real jobs. Not jobs on the paper. Fictitious job creation is still more dangerous. I know a sad story of a person who was in fish farming. The labour intensive activity went on for years till one day he found workers abandoning the job on his project. In few months he had no worker to work and was forced out of the business. His enquiries revealed that his ex-employees are on pay roll of some scheme, that provides wages and sad part was the workers may not work if they share the wages with certain individuals and make money even without stepping out of their home. If these kinds of jobs are made available then who the hell will go in for a hard labour on a fish farm? Are we not making the productive population lazy? Work has no substitute. A Latin proverb says, “If there is no wind, row”. Wind will induce lethargy, nobody will row. If one has to reach somewhere, one has to row. Let there be no wind of cheap food, free housing and lots freebies, nobody will row, this will induce lethargy and nation will depend upon the few who work. To ruin the nation nurturing idleness is enough, you don’t need enemies.

The need is for good governance, transparency and no subsidies. The need is to make the population work and not depend upon government dole. If India has to prosper then the politicians have to realize this ground reality. They should strive for the growth and not for just coming to the power.