Is India Fighting Back?

On 6 November 2013, I wrote on Facebook’s “What’s on your mind” the following: “PDP government, better be good at hedging our bets. If not, we do not need to second guess the consequences. Nichey rajniti hava palat nahi rahi hai kya (Isn’t the political wind changing direction down there)?” I was talking of “rajniti hava” (political wind) not in terms of NaMo  for Narendra Modi vis-à-vis RaGa for Rahul Gandhi (Indian press acronyms, not mine), not even  Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) against Congress. I was talking of bottom-up politics sprouting inclusive growth and governance in place of top-down politics of corruption, handout and populous policies. It is more about politics of truth and sincerity upsurge, the change in the political conception of the country. You do not believe me? Feel the ground pulse. Even those who have been promoting and encouraging caste-based politics are now  talking of politics on secular platform.

While 70% of India’s population live in rural areas, the urban India accounts for almost 70% of the country’s GDP. While the votes are in villages, the money is in cities.  The top-down politics with the power of urban money to influence rural votes did not consider in the past that the people are an economic asset. They mattered for votes only, and were out of mainstream development process once the elections were over. The countryside was essentially the venue for legitimizing power and authority. Without their participation in development, inclusive growth is far from reality.

If you come up with the economic growth model that has politically mandated objectives and spell out tasks ordained by such peripherals, it cannot be inclusive. For inclusiveness, the growth has to be owned by citizens of the country through equality of opportunity. It now looks like it is going to be no more integration of old-fashioned political intelligence and perception. It will be different. It would be naïve to underestimate the power of word-of-mouth that travels with the help of digital devices and social media in a lightning speed, with Bollywood to Yogi Ramdeo playing fair share in corruption-bashing trend.  The Indian middle class, comprising about 30% of 1.2 billion populations living in urban areas, champion the art. They are seen as young, aspiring, idealistic and ambitious. Otherwise, how could Arvind Kejriwal, mechanical engineering graduate from my college, IIT Kharagpur, be crowned as the Chief Minister of Delhi?

“We face issues such as unbalanced, uncoordinated, unsustainable development. There is no strong capability in technological innovation. There is a gap between urban and rural development. Many problems and issues affect interest of the masses such as education, employment, social security, healthcare, housing, environment, food and drug safety, workplace safety, social order, law enforcement, and judicial issues. There is too much formalism and bureaucratism. The anti-corruption situation is still grim. The crucial thing in resolving these issues is to deepen reforms.” If you think it is a statement about India. It is not. It is an extract from the document issued by third plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in November 2013. But it is true for India and most of it true for any other country. Every country faces these problems, the difference is the country’s capacity, the determination and the resilience to deal with the problems.

That capacity, determination and resilience comes from the country’s model of governance. Mr P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister of India, says  “I find that there are three distinct models of governance. In every democracy there are three institutions: the executive, the legislature or parliament, and the judiciary. Countries which have struck the right balance between these three institutions are the countries that seem to go forward. Countries which have a strong executive are China, Malaysia, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico. Those are the countries which are recording the highest rates of growth. Countries which have a strong legislature or parliament are the US and all the European countries. Countries where the judiciary has an upper hand are India and some others.” Is India’s middle class about to change the Indian governance model? Time, I mean 2014, will tell.

I will leave it to you to comprehend which model will bring about inclusiveness better. It is pretty obvious, not rocket science. The inclusive growth cannot take place if a huge section of the societies are not taken into confidence. They feel left out and could not care less to participate in the country’s affairs. They participate just for the sake of participation, superficially. There is no ownership. So, the growth suffers. The economic development is weak and fragile. The country suffers from policy paralysis. The policies swing like a pendulum, from end to end, in dark. How can such a development be sustainable when major section of the population is left behind and helplessly watching from the side-line? If the economic assets sit idle, they are no longer assets. Simple as that!

Reinhold Niebuhr says, " Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become." India clearly needs to see in 2014 what she could become for surrendering what she is. If inclusiveness with transparency and integrity of the highest order -- the foundation stones of the governance -- is not there, the commitment to serve the people with zest sounds empty.