“Americans are fed up of Washington”says President Obama, a sentiment strikingly similar that of the Indian people in regard to New Delhi. In two of the world’s largest democracies citizens are distraught, with the way their countries are being run.
More than 6 decades ago we began our tryst with destiny. Our rulers left us the legacy of the four pillars on which our democracy was to be built, the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the media. In 66 years, a number of ills, corruption being the most significant one, have led to a virtually complete decay of these four pillars.
The leaders that we elected were expected to govern the country with the aid of tried and tested institutions like the CBI and the CAG with the CVC ensuring that the functioning of the government was above board. These institutions have been misused and maligned. The perception is that the premier investigating agency functions as an arm of the government, ministers discredit and question the CAG and the appointment of the CVC is under a cloud.
People look at the judiciary as their saviour. I do not believe that courts can substitute either the elected legislature or the bureaucracy. To illustrate, in a recent phenomenon in a public interest litigation filed for the non-grant of tax deducted at source to tax payers the Delhi High Court gave directions and the CBDT issued circulars. Despite this, has the situation on the ground materially changed? The answer is an emphatic no.
What then is the problem, people who man the system or the system itself? I think it is both. On account of the fact that those at the helm of affairs suffer from a lack of vision, they tend to gloss over the root of the problem and take short term measures. For those few who have the foresight and do take decisions in the long-term interest of the people, the bureaucracy mired in red tape does not let them function.
Our country is facing problems of great proportions. There cannot be any immediate solutions. What is required is a surgery, however painful it may be. Let us take the problem of affordable housing in the city of Mumbai and consequential proliferation of slums. Merely shifting cut-off dates for free housing for slum dwellers from 1995 to 2000 or the next date is a cruel joke both on slum dwellers and tax payers.. One needs to have three pronged strategy with a long-term perspective to tackle this problem. Firstly, MHADA, the authority that is vested with the responsibility to construct affordable houses needs to construct quality homes with the needs of those for whom they are meant in mind. Secondly, tenancy laws need to be restructured and administered in a manner so that dilapidated structures get rebuilt and finally, one needs to ensure that the fruits of development are equitably distributed all over the country so that forced migration gradually reduces and ultimately stops. The need is to address the cause and not the effect.
To conclude, it is necessary that the systems that have failed us need to change. Electoral reform is probably the right point to begin. The process will be long drawn and may cause substantial turbulence. The youth of our country dream of India as a land of opportunity. I see hope in the youth of this country. They are desperate for a change and they have the energy to carry out movements which will be a catalyst for change. Those who are the leaders of these movements need to focus on certain priorities, rather than spread themselves thin. In the hands of these young people lies the future of incredible India!
