Parliament disgraced it self yet again. The statement of the PM on the economic situation was a welcome window into the minds of the policracy. Perhaps it is the Shatrughan or Babbar effect, but may of the honorable members believe that they magnify their own self image by copying a fiery, rightious Bachan, a braggart Sanjay Dutt or a stylishly, thughish Pran, If we wantd to see imitation actors we would watch movies instead. Pity none of them can dance though. It would have been good to see Manmohan deliver his economic sermon break dancing to a Hritesh number. The nearest any member comes to this is the redoubtable Rajiv Shukla who vitrually goes into an attarctive “wave” dance the minute the opposition shouts at the PM. It was not clear what the government wanted to achieve yesterday. Statements made in the house are assurances of delivery (promises) which are monitored. No new promises were announced by the PM. He merely repeated what Chidambaram had already assured the house. Worse the manner in which he read the speech out had less credibility than the assured delivery style of the practised lawyer, Chidamram. The opposition oddly thought it necessary to shout down a “maun” PM. Possibly they have become so used to not hearing him at all, that that the merest squeak out of him is tantamount to an aggressive barrage. Yes unbridled corruption is a mjor failing of the present government but that is the election plank of the Aam Admi party which is invisible in Parliament. Only those in power can be corrupt. The UPA is in. The BJP is out, so we can’t compare apples and oranges. Corrupt sons and sons in law are not a chink of the Congress alone. I wish the opposition had cornered the PM on the three key constraints to unlocking growth and good governance. One is the recent sense of “entitlement” of the “policracy” to massive corruption. The potential and many would say the impunity, to be corrupt, erodes the possibility of shrinking Delhi in economic decision making and the transfer functions and finance to the States. On corruption it is only the record of the left parties which is relatively clean but unfortunately, unlike their brethern in China, they join the populist bandwagon here and shed crocodile tears for the poor, with little regard for the disastrous economic outcomes of populism. In fact the left is very much like our PM….honest but ineffective and the new India does not endorse that. Second, we need to correct the extravagant spending on defence of around 20% of the budget. This is a major drag which comparative developing countries in East Asia (excluding China), Latin America and Africa do not face. Since the defence sector is notoriously non transparent, little is know of how much public finance leaks…..but the growing political clout of arms dealers makes it apparent that it is they, who are king makers and not the other way around. Third, the dynamic economic record of some state level leaders (Modi, Nitish, Patnaik etc) has a major medium term constraint. ALL of them follow the centralised Delhi model of not devolving functions and finance downwards, to where the real action is, at the local level. That is the third quiet revolution still to happen in India but is completely ignored by all parties. India does not lack economic or technical expertise in the public sector, skilled labour or private entrpreneurship. What we lack is a honest, formally endorsed leader at the national level. The best cooperatives, like Amul, grow because of honest, pragmatic and enigmatic leaders, like Kurien. If INFOSYS today needs to recall Murhty, to rescue it, shouldn’t India also reach back in time and get an oldie (albeit preferably, one without a child-in-waiting), who has the experience, the rectitude and the fire in the belly to lead? India is a young country but sometimes, it is only the exprienced who can deliver what the young want.
Posted on: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 08:32:01 +0000
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