india: in search of solutions
TRANSCRIPT
India: In search of solutions
01 January 2017 Public Debate
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Problems are plenty and widely know Over past many years, I have noted a perceptible degeneration of the popular narrative in the country. I find the current public discourse generally pessimistic, almost flirting with cynicism.
Deewar syndrom almost an epidemic
Everyone I hear or read on media appears to be suffering from, what I call, "Deewar Syndrom". (In this blockbuster Hindi movie, the protagonist is a smuggler and his younger brother is a police officer. When they confront each other, the younger brother asks the elder brother to confess his crimes and surrender. To this the elder brother tells him to first get the confession of all those people who pushed him into the world of crime, before he makes any confession.)
These days, it is common to hear even tall leaders shielding behind "I'm lesser evil than my opponent" argument. Vehement demands for "Eye for eye" type of justice are being publically applauded. "Why me first, go reform all others and then come to me", is what you commonly hear in answer to any righteous advice given to anyone, even school going children.
Everyone is part of a problem
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver famously said "You either have to be part of the solution, or you're going to be part of the problem."
Everywhere, from the confines of drawing rooms to the expanse of social media, I hear only problems. No one appears to be offering or willing to discuss solutions. Even the administration is often seen trying to solve trivial problems by creating bigger problems.
Let's find solutions
I feel the narrative needs to change urgently.
We need to debate solutions, not problems.
This is a discussion paper that aims to initiate a wider public debate on some critical topics concerning the socio-economic conditions in the country.
The author has collected the thoughts presented in the paper over three decades of exploration of the treasure, commonly known as India.
Many of these thoughts may appear Utopian and completed unassimilated to the common perception. That is OK.
The idea is not to impose. The idea is just to start a discussion without any prejudice.
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...tell me a solution There is a famous fable I like to keep reminding myself rather frequently. It goes like this:
Once the king rodent called a general assembly of all rats to ponder over the rising feline threat. Everybody was bothered and concerned about the menace.
After a long deliberation, it was unanimously agreed to appoint a strategic consultant to advise on the matter.
The consultant so appointed studied the problem in great detail and came out with this famous and voluminous report, that primarily highlighted that cats are far more powerful, wise and smart animal than mice. Therefore it is extremely difficult for the mice to put up a credible defense against the menacing felines.
The only way to counter the threat, the report egregiously suggested, is that all rats should become cats.
The rodent populace was extremely thrilled to receive the report and instantly went jumped into a celebration.
The celebrations was however halted abruptly when a tiny mice raised his hand and asked the king - "O' My Lord without an iota of doubt it is a great moment in the perennially miserable life of ours and we must celebrate it. But if you pardon my naiveté, may I ask Sir - would it not be appropriate to first find out how do we all become cats?"
Pushed into serious contemplation, the King called the consultant to ask the question "How"?
"Well, Sir, I am afraid that I may not be of any help in this regard. Your Lordship will have to figure it out himself", the consultant replied promptly.
Sustaining a 8% growth rate for a decade
Doubling the tax GDP ratio;
Increasing the size of financial system by 5x;
Doubling farm income in five years;
Providing housing for all 125cr Indians in 8yrs;
Developing 100 smart cities in 5yrs;
Meeting millennium development goals in time;
Meeting climate challenges at par with developed economies
Well! these are extremely noble and highly desirable thoughts.
But the moot question is how do we achieve this?
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Current model may not be sufficient The few and scattered indications of the new model on growth that are available in public domain suggest that the new model is definitely a capital intensive model involving huge capital investments in long gestation infrastructure and manufacturing projects.
With this model achieving higher growth rate (7-8%) would take many years.
The problems are that:
The huge unemployed and poor youth population needs jobs today morning;
The capital needed to implement this model is not available within the country and foreign capital is likely to become scarce, choosy and expensive in following years;
This model adopted by China has raised serious sustainability concerns;
With huge spare capacities available cheaply across the word, the financial viability of new general manufacturing revolution in India could be doubtful; and last but not the least
People may not be willing to give the government those many years.
It is also pertinent to note that—
(a) The incentivized investment in past three decades has mostly resulted in misallocation of capital as well as inefficient use of funds.
(b) The household savings rate has shown a consistent declining trend in recent years. So has the real wage rate.
(c) In recent quarters global deflationary and disinflationary tendencies have supported RBI in maintaining an accommodative policy stance. Under such circumstances expecting serious rise in household financial savings would sound little unreasonable.
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We are running away from problems I vividly remember attending my uncle, who was admitted to hospital for treatment of peptic ulcer, 33years ago. In that one week more than 25 groups of people (relatives, friends, well wishers and business associates) visited him in the hospital. Almost every visitor offered multiple suggestions to the uncle. The suggestions often related to the alternative treatments, post operative care, preventive measures, food, spirituality, yoga practices, et. al.
In that one week, this impression got firmly ingrained in my young mind that my fellow countrymen have solutions for every problem. Many have solutions for things that are not even problems by common standard. Most are eager to offer solutions, even though they do not understand the problem either fully or partially. I felt proud of being Indian. I was convinced that we are invincible, since we have solution for all problems.
That confidence thrives, no longer. I find the popular narrative generally pessimistic and full of cynicism. The people attending and visiting the patients these days focus more on discussing how they, or someone they know, too suffer from similar problems; and how doctors and hospitals are crooks; how the food we eat and air we breathe is killing us; and how very young people are suffering from the diseases usually considered age related. Anyone who tries to intervene by suggesting yoga and organic food as a solution is shot down immediately by the arguments like "expensive", "inaccessible", impractical".
I feel the narrative needs to change. We need to debate solutions, not problems.
..and telling unassimilated ideas to "go away" Normally your mind says to these ideas, “Go away, I’m busy,” but that attitude is deadly to Quality. —Robert Pirsig (Lila, 1991)
Falling in love with the status quo is a usual human behavior. In our resistance to change, we do not like to be disturbed in what we are doing, thinking or believing. Overwhelmed by our fears and inadequacies, we hide behind the maxim "The known devil is better than the unknown angel".
Any thought or idea that seeks to challenge the status quo is instantaneously told to "go away".
This attitude perhaps the biggest challenge in finding solutions to our problem.
Most people, I have interacted with, want solution to emerge from the problem itself; like the body cells rebuild when we sleep. This does happen many a times. But not in case of the cells suffering from malignancies.
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The rise of radicals, may not be entirely undesirable Try and imagine a situation where a post graduate class of literature is given a question paper of quantum physics to solve within stipulated three hours with no outside help.
It would be fair to assume that most students will leave the answer sheets blank and leave the examination hall, distraught.
Some may try to test their ingenuity and offer literary solutions to the complicated problems, still hoping to score zilch.
A few would however contend that being students of literature, they are naturally the only genius around. These few would confidently offer detailed literary explanations which may not make any sense to the conventional students of physics or literature; and still insist that the solutions offered by them are the best. Hoping to pass with distinction, they might also take this opportunity to ridicule the students of physics and celebrate their superiority. This small group is popularly referred to as "The Radicals".
I am inclined to view the present day world as the examination hall described above. Almost none of the participants (economists, bankers, administrators, politicians, regulators, traders, borrowers, lenders, consumers, producers, et. al.) seems to have much clue about the correct solution to the problem they are trying to solve.
Absolutely clueless most may be about solutions, they can apparently read the problems. And that is precisely what they are doing day and night - reading the problem; sometime in hush-hush sounds; sometimes raising the decibel to the maximum; sometimes in the secret chambers and sometimes in front of the mammoth crowds; sometimes with audacity and sometimes with jitters in their spine.
The Radicals are the one who are offering solutions. Totally unassimilated, these solutions naturally do not appeal to the conventional mindset. These solutions are therefore mostly liable to be rejected as hazardous, for these seek to rattle the status quo. These are also condemned to the derision of the conformist and purist, as they approach the problem from a completely unexpected tangent.
Admittedly, these solutions may very well fail to solve any of the problems, global economy is facing today; or even exacerbate the problems. Although this cannot be known today. As Shakespeare would tell us “There are many events in the womb of time which will be delivered.”
What matters today is to make an effort, howsoever radical or unassimilated it may seem. That is what is needed to administer a sense of calm on the stressed nerves of the common people, who are finding the current conditions unfairly severe to them.
On my part, therefore, I am trying to assimilate what the Radicals like Trump and Modi are doing or may try to do. I would like to wait what the time delivers, before I judge them.
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The current state of affairs
"Like man, like state". "Governments vary as the characters of men vary; states are made out of the human natures which are in them"; the state is what it is because its citizens are what they are. Therefore we need not expect to have better states until we have better men; till then all changes will leave every essential thing unchanged. "How charming people are -always doctoring, increasing and complicating their disorders, fancying they will be cured by some nostrum which somebody advises them to try, never getting better, but always growing worse. Are they not as good as a play, trying their hand at legislation,and imagining that by reforms they will make an end to the dishonesties and rascalities of mankind-not knowing that in reality they are cutting away at the heads of a hydra?"
“…democracy ruins itself by excess-of democracy. Its basic principle is the equal right of all to hold office and determine public policy. This is at first glance a delightful arrangement; it becomes disastrous because the people are not properly equipped by education to select the best rulers and the wisest courses”.
"As to the people they have no understanding, and only repeat what their rulers are pleased to tell them";
“to get a doctrine accepted or rejected it is only necessary to have it praised or ridiculed in a popular play. Mob-rule is a rough sea for the ship of state to ride; every wind of oratory stirs up the waters and deflects the course. The upshot of such a democracy is tyranny or autocracy; the crowd so loves flattery, it is so hungry for honey, that at last the wiliest and most unscrupulous flatterer, calling himself the‘protector of the people’ rises to supreme power.” (Plato as quoted by Will Durant in “The Story of Philosophy”)
Democratic states evolve in phases Evolution of a free democratic society occurs broadly in three phases – empowerment of people, enablement of people and engagement of people.
Empowerment
In the empowerment phase people are empowered with constitutional and legal rights so that they could construct the social and economic organizations they would want to live in. The political organization is largely derived from the socio-economic organization of choice. In modern world, parliamentary democracy is the most popular political organization for societies choosing to organize themselves in a free and capitalist economy.
The transition from an aristocracy or oligarchy to parliamentary democracy is often a chaotic process because the people might not be properly equipped by education to select the best rulers and the wisest courses.
Enablement
In the second, enablement phase of evolution the so empowered people are enabled through a mix of variety of endeavor so that they could pursue the socio-economic path of their choice.
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Social equality, economic equality and gender equality are some key desired outcome in this phase.
Wealth redistribution through taxation, welfare schemes and legislative provisions (like land ceiling, currency elimination, restrictions on business and asset ownership etc.), inclusion of economically poor, socially oppressed and women in government and economic activities are some of the major efforts seen in this phase.
The conflict between the wealthy & powerful (landlord) and the poor & oppressed during enablement phase often causes civil unrest. The inadequacy and inefficiencies of institutional framework to supervise the wealth redistribution process invariably leads to rise in instances of corruption in public life.
Unfortunately, in many cases it is also seen that some intended beneficiaries become too powerful and appropriate power and resources meant for their peers. This creates division and mistrust in the society and elongates the process of enablement.
Engagement
In the last phase of the evolution, the empowered and enables people take part in the building of strong economic institutions and free market by engaging themselves in the growth and development process. This is usually the golden period for any democratic society that has chosen free market economy as their preferred socio-economic organizational setup. In this phase a large part of the population participates in the virtuous cycle of higher earnings – consuming – saving – investing – earning leading to sustainably higher consumption and investment demand.
Where do we stand on evolution chart? In Indian context, our constitutional framework envisaged a democratic social organization with free market economy. The people were constitutionally and legally empowered from day one of constitution coming into effect on 26 January 1950. (Interestingly, the United States of America took almost 200years to give full and equal rights to all its citizens through The Voting Rights Act of 1965).
However, in practice the empowerment process was delayed by at least three decades.
The Indian National Congress (INC) which was the primary vehicle for freedom movement transformed itself into a political party. The transformation ensured that the Congress Party which was dominated by the feudal lords and elite class at the top became overwhelmingly dominating political force in the country leaving little for the dissent or competition.
The policy making thus focused on retaining control of most resources and activities with the government (by proxy with Congress party) and providing for just the elementary necessities to the common man.
All the voices who spoke for social justice, empowerment and enablement were forced either to fall in line with top echelons of the party or quit.
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The opposition to the Congress thus mostly came from communist/socialist forces which mostly survived on parochial support base amongst some caste, community or region. The empowerment and enablement processes were thus hindered to a great extent.
1980s' saw beginning of empowerment and enablement phases
It was in 1980’s when first time a nationwide movement took shape to seek empowerment and enablement for common people of the country.
The enablement process started a decade later with government slowly giving up control over resources and economic activities.
Given that the process of enablement has so far mostly been involuntarily and heavily influenced by electoral considerations rather than social-economic reality, it has been marred by large scale irregularities, corruption, and inefficiencies.
The socialist movement in the country has gained momentum in past 3 decades. These forces have won many elections and ruled many states and often play a critical role in formation and running of the federal government. However, for the lack of a credible and wise leadership, these forces are often seen degenerating into hands of a few vested interests at regional level.
On economic front, steps like financial inclusion through banking access (Jan Dhan) and credit access (MUDRA), social security through universal and crop insurance schemes, expansion of digital footprints, platform for young entrepreneurs (Skill development, stand up and start up etc.) have been taken to enable the populace. But these are still early days to judge the impact of these steps.
Engagement is yet to occur
The true engagement happens when an emerging economy has enough number of people who are earning, saving, consuming and investing to sustain a higher and faster rate of growth. We would need at least 50% of population enabled enough to afford electricity, water, roads, health, education, transportation, etc. at market determined rates.
In past few years efforts have begun to engage the empowered and enabled people in the process of socio-economic development process.
Emphasis on higher compliance, subsidies rationalization (including calls for voluntary renunciation of entitlements like LPG and railway subsidy), wealth redistribution through higher taxation (e.g., cess for social projects), market related pricing for utilities, etc. suggests that a proactive effort is on to engage a wider spectrum of people in the economic development process.
I would also see the current drive to replace the old high denomination notes, as step in this direction. The government has tried to engage each and every person in the country to achieve certain objectives.
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Step one: Define the problem “For indeed any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war with one another; and in either there are many smaller divisions, and you would be altogether beside the mark if you treated them all as a single State.” (Book IV, The Republic, Plato)
A few months back, a group of self claimed righteous people started a new political movement. These people had been part of the India against corruption movement of Anna Hazare and its offshoot Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The leaders of the movement mentioned that to them dynastic politics, women safety, corruption in public offices, electoral malpractices, inequality and social injustice are the key problems that India faces today.
I liked their ideas & intent and expressed my desire to join them, provided they tell me how they propose to solve these problems. For last two months I am waiting to hear from them.
I am not signaling anyone out here. I am just highlighting that in an environment where everyone is just talking about problems, we need people to start discussing solutions.
Focusing on the symptoms, not on the problem itself The other point I want to highlight is that most of the problems people are highlighting may just be the symptom of the problem and not the problem in itself. Beware that in finding solutions, we would need to focus on the underlying problems and not merely the manifest symptoms.
For example, in an electoral democracy son of a politicians contesting and winning election should not be a problem. After all it is the people who have elected the son to a public office, just like anyone else. Especially when no one is complaining about poll rigging etc.
The true problem here is the unequal opportunity. And this problem is not limited to politics but to every sphere of the life - education, law, medicine, art, business, religion, etc.
All those complaining about the dynasty in politics fail to provide a solution because they are scared of addressing the underlying problem, which pervades deep into our family, economic and social lives.
To my mind therefore it is critical to define the underlying problem before any attempt is made to find the possible solutions.
For example, in my view, the political problem in India is to develop a political organization that fully assimilates the aspirations of the people, addresses specific local problems, promotes mutual trust & harmony, bars incompetence and knavery from public office, and insures that the best is selected and prepared to govern for the common good.
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The political problem
Missing idea of "Indianness" I have been wandering through mesmerizing landscapes of India for past three decades. The nomad hidden within me had coaxed me to many journeys. I would travel mostly aimlessly; enjoy various manifestations of the divine Mother Nature; acquaint myself with various people; appreciate their way of living; admire their culture; collect some souvenirs, recipes, anecdotes and came back into my cocoon- relaxed and happy.
In the course of my various incursions, I could develop appreciation for a variety of people - their varied customs & appearance - and usually felt comfortable even in a cross cultural environment. Subconsciously, more effort was spent on identifying how other people are different from my own ways, rather than discovering the points of convergence. (If someone alleges that this is an act of racism – well I admit it certainly is.)
On numerous occasions during my various journeys I have been confronted with serious doubts about the “Indianness” of “India” and “Indians” as we understand these ideas in common discourse.
Deriving from my discussion on social, political and economic conditions with people of various regions, I am in doubt that the idea of “Indianness” perhaps only exists in films, army manuals, national holidays (26th January and 15th August), political speeches and patriotic songs.
I have discovered that after 69years of becoming a geopolitical union, India still remains merely the one. It is far from becoming a socio-economic union and even further from becoming a socio-political union.
I find a national approach to anything is conspicuous by its complete absence in general public discourse. People have strong and mostly dogmatic allegiance to their caste, religion, locality, region and state, generally in that order. I saw little evidence of any effort being invested by the system - local politicians, teachers, social workers, police or administrators - in developing an “Indian” identity of people.
The failure of national economic policy in recognizing this regional diversity is perhaps the primary reason for sub-optimal outcome of our efforts. No special efforts are needed to discover that most of the states, regions within states and communities within regions have diverse socio-economic behavior. Hence, their needs and requirements are also distinct. A blanket policy for all is therefore least likely to succeed in meeting its objectives.
The post 1947 political organization of the country on lingual basis appears to have outlived its utility. It is high time that our political and economic order should recognize this diversity and be re-designed. In my view, an incremental approach (creating more states and districts) will not work. We need to begin from the beginning without any prejudice or reference.
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Poor level of awareness Talking about the political problems in the country, I feel at country level the regional socio-economic disparities and cultural differences are well highlighted. These are indeed popular ingredient of any political and cultural marketing campaign in India. However, the awareness about the differences that exist within a state is relatively poor.
To a common person living in Mumbai, Bangaluru, Chennai or Hyderabad, the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) may not mean much more than – Taj Mahal, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kebab, taxi drivers and construction labor. Very few residents of the western and southern states appreciate that UP is as diverse as India itself. Various regions of the state, i.e., Awadh, Brij, Rohillkhand, Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, and Doab, have distinctly identifiable history, food, dialect, customs, deities, and problems.
People from Bundelkhand and Doab regions in particular have been agitating for a different political identity for themselves since long. These regions also differ in terms of caste, community, and religions dynamics. Differences in terms of weather, water and electricity availability, crop patterns, flood-draught cycle, political influence, urbanization, physical infrastructure, income disparities and other social indicators are also rather stark. Same holds true for many other states also.
Unjustifiable socio-economic disparities amongst various states and regions within states, materially different socio-economic status of various castes and communities in different states, have frequently led to demands for new administrative units (states and districts).
The legislatures have been mostly unsuccessful in developing and adopting a consensus framework for federal structure of the country (Though some attempts like Sarkaria Commission have been made). Certainly there has been a marked improvement in state-center relationship in past 25years, but this could be more due to political compulsions rather than any structural change. This has been the period when regional parties have played critical role in government formation at the center. The strains in center-state relations have reemerged as soon as a single party government got installed at center in 2014.
It would therefore not be unreasonable to say that the post independence political organization of the country designed primarily on lingual basis may no longer be relevant in the current context. Moreover, the tradition to appoint by nomination rather than purely on the basis of election has killed meritocracy in politics and promoted inequality.
The political problem therefore is to develop a political organization that fully assimilates the aspirations of the people, addresses specific local problems, promotes mutual trust & harmony, bars incompetence and knavery from public office, and insures that the best is selected and prepared to rule for the common good.
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The political solution “It is Swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves. It is, therefore, in the palm of our hands. But such Swaraj has to be experienced, by each one for himself. One drowning man will never save another.”
“I believe that you want the millions of India to be happy, not that you want the reins of government in your hands. If that be so, we have to consider only one thing: how can the millions obtain self-rule?”
[M. K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj]
Align the social and political structure Over the past seven decades, the political structure has taken the shape of a pyramid form, whereas the social structure in the country continues to be in a ladder form.
In a pyramid structure, the space at the top is limited. The people are continuously at struggle with each other. Those who have reached the top, fight with each other to stay there. They have also to fight with a multitude of other people who are trying to reach the summit. To survive at the top, you need to push all others down. The concepts such as mutual trust, harmony, cooperation, equality, justice, etc. have little relevance under this structure. The laws of the jungle prevail - the strongest survives and his interest is accepted as justice. This intense and consistent struggle to survive, seldom allows the leaders at the top to bother about the people below.
To the contrary, traditionally the Indian society is structured in ladder form. The ultimate goal is well defined as salvation from this material world. The space at the top is unlimited. There is no competition there. Mostly people wish that the person ahead of them moves higher, faster so that they could also move up. It's like a queue in the temple. You want the people ahead of you to move forward faster, so that you could also get to worship the deity sooner. No one pulls anyone back. Everyone pushes the others forward.
Gandhian idea of Swaraj is still relevant
I have been highlighting since ever that one of the best things India has got in past 150years is Mahatma Gandhi. And the most unfortunate thing to occur since independence from British rule in 1947 is brazen desertion of Mahatma Gandhi by Indian politicians. To my mind hanging his pictures in government offices or currency notes and naming roads after him is even more contemptuous given the blatant irreverence for his principles and ideas.
Mahatma Gandhi understood the Indian society as no other Indian leader in modern India did. Based on his understanding, he suggested the model of Swaraj (self rule). Trust me, the Gandhian idea of Swaraj could have been proposed only by a person like him who had experienced India so intimately.
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M. P. Mathai explains the Gandhian idea of Swaraj as follows:
“Although the word swaraj means self-rule, Gandhi gave it the content of an integral revolution that encompasses all spheres of life. “At the individual level swaraj is vitally connected with the capacity for dispassionate self-assessment, ceaseless self-purification and growing swadeshi or self-reliance".
Politically swaraj is self-government and not good government (for Gandhi, good government is no substitute for self-government) and it means continuous effort to be independent of government control, whether it is foreign government or whether it is national.
In the other words, it is sovereignty of the people based on pure moral authority. Economically, poorna swaraj means full economic freedom for the toiling millions. For Gandhi, swaraj of the people meant the sum total of the swaraj (self-rule) of individuals and so he clarified that for him swaraj meant freedom for the meanest of his countrymen. And in its fullest sense, swaraj is much more than freedom from all restraints, it is self-rule, self-restraint and could be equated with moksha or salvation."
In one of his letters to Leo Tolstoy Gandhi explained Swaraj as follows:
“Independence begins at the bottom. A society must be built in which every village has to be self sustained and capable of managing its own affairs. It will be trained and prepared to perish in the attempt to defend itself against any onslaught from without. This does not exclude dependence on and willing help from neighbors or from the world. It will be a free and voluntary play of mutual forces. In this structure composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever widening, never ascending circles.
Growth will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose center will be the individual. Therefore the outermost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner circle but will give strength to all within and derive its own strength from it.” (as cited in Wikipedia)
Thus, the individual is the sole basis of Swaraj. Swaraj is unfathomable without dispassionate self-assessment, ceaseless self-purification and growing self-reliance at individual level; and sovereignty of moral authority, as against the political authority.
Swaraj encompasses fiercely competitive free market, moral duty to be free, fearless, truthful, fair, just, self reliant, nationalist, and religious.
This Swaraj, many argue is Utopian in current context. Some argue that it is desirable but we have traveled too far down the road we took post independence from British rule; and it is too late to go back and begin again.
In my view, this defeatist and fatigued attitude is unwarranted. What we need is a zero base discussion on the subject and solutions will emerge that would lead us to the desired goal of making 1.3bn people free, fearless and happy. An incremental approach howsoever sincere might not yield the desired results.
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With this in mind I dream of a free, fearless and fair socio-political organization for the country."
Communalism is core of Indian society
During my various visits to the hinterlands of the country, I found strong evidence of numerous democratic assemblies within various communities and localities. From my experience I know for certain that most Indians not only feel comfortable working with the members of their own community, but are usually most productive & honest when operating within the network of their “Own people” or "Community".
This “communalism” is arguably a key strength of Indian society. Therefore, in my view, the social ecology model suggested by author and activist Murray Bookchin which advocates a “stateless, classless, decentralized society consisting of a network of directly democratic citizens' assemblies in individual communities/cities organized in a confederal fashion” appears relevant in our context.
...and pre-requisite to keep it secular
Unfortunately, our politicians and social activists have dissipated the term “communalism” to mean intolerance and hatred towards other religions, especially amongst Hindus and Muslims. This debauchery has introduced many distortions in our socio-political order. In my view this needs to be corrected as pre-condition before we begin working on any course correction.
Religious fundamentalism (which is usually referred to as “communalism” in Indian context), is mostly a political problem in India.
A secular political system, as envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi and incorporated in the soul of our Constitution, would automatically weaken these miniscule elements leading to their eventual extinction.
Dynasty is an integral part of Indian culture
Dynasties are an integral part of Indian culture, traditions, history and even religion. It would be unreasonable to expect it not to be part of politics. Dynasties exist in almost all professions, e.g., legal, medical, accounting, cinema, music, art, religious discourse, etc. Many large businesses in India are also owned and managed by dynasties.
In fact, dynasty should be more acceptable in politics than in business; because in electoral politics the patrons could only ensure that their protégée is nominated to contest election. The protégée however has to win enough popular votes to get elected and get a public office every five year. This is not usually the case with dynastic inheritors of business.
My solution to the political problems being faced by our country is predicated on our ability to build a political structure based on strong communities that live in harmony with nature and each other. Mutual trust, equality and sustainability are naturally at the core of my utopia.
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The wave must begin from the center of ocean A wave that emanates from the center of the ocean travels all the way to the shore and completes its journey. A wave that emanates from the shore, travels a few meters and gets lost.
I may now present the broader contours of my utopian socio-political structure.
Some may want to draw prima facie similarities with the Communist State and reject it outright. But trust me it has nothing to do with a Leninist, Maoist or even Marxist state.
My utopian structure does allow equal opportunity to all, but through "democratic elections" and not by "arbitrary nomination". Moreover, commitment to community (communalism), culture (religion & traditions), and reverence to the Mother Nature (sustainability) are the core and non-negotiable elements for me, whereas in a communist state these are mostly redundant.
The primary governance unit — Local Council
(a) The primary unit of the country should be a democratic assembly of people in a town or village (Town or village council).
(b) Each town or village should directly elect a suitable number of representatives on a periodic basis. The winning candidate must win at least 51% of the eligible votes (not just the votes cast).
(c) Every adult citizen domiciled in that town/village for at least 10years, should have an equal opportunity to get elected for a term of 3years. No person shall be elected for more than 3 terms.
(d) Election expense of all candidates who could show support of at least 10% of eligible voters should be funded by the state. Other candidates may be required to fund their own expense. The spending limit may be fixed, say Rs10, per eligible voter in the constituency. All expenses should be paid through the designated State office only.
(e) The performance of each Local Council member should be evaluated on annual basis by an independent agency. A member failing to score the passing grade should be barred from politics for a period of 6yrs.
(f) The chairman of the Local Council should be elected by the members elected by the public, through a transparent secret ballot. The winning candidate must have a minimum of 51% of elected Council members supporting him/her. Each such Chairman should constitute an advisory board of local experts to advise him on governance matters. Members of the advisory board should not be paid any remuneration.
(g) Primary health, education, scientific research, art, culture, law & order are governed exclusively by the Local Council. All local civil disputes must be first resolved through mediation at the Council level only.
(h) All citizens are accorded a right to uniform education and primary health services, to be implemented by the Local Councils. Private, for profit, investment is allowed only in technical education, and specialized health services.
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The secondary governance unit — District Council
(a) Town and villages with largely homogeneous demographic characteristics should be grouped in various Districts. Each District should have an independent governing council. All such District Councils should be empowered to impose & collect direct taxes; frame rules for engagement with other District Councils in the country, including exploitation & sharing of natural resources; movement of labor & capital etc.
(b) Local Councils falling within a District should elect from amongst their present and past members, who have served at least 2 complete terms, to the District Council.
(c) The number of members representing each Local Council should be in proportion to the population, area and social indicators of each such Local Council. Areas with stronger social indicators get to elect few extra members. This should promote healthy competition amongst Local Council to improve the social indicators.
(d) The district council should have a fixed term of 6years, with half the members retiring by rotation every 3years. No member should be elected to the District Council more than once.
(e) The performance of each district council member should be evaluated on annual basis by an independent agency. A member failing to score the passing grade should be barred from politics for a minimum period of 10yrs.
(f) The chairman of the District Council should be elected by the representatives elected by Local Councils, through a transparent secret ballot. The winning candidate must secure a minimum of 51% elected representatives members supporting him/her.
(g) Each such Chairman should constitute an advisory board of experts to advise him on governance matters. Members of the advisory board should not be paid any remuneration.
The third tier — National Council
(a) Each District Council should elect members to the National Council, in proportion to population, area and social indicators.
(b) Districts Councils should elect from their best performing past and present members who have served at least one complete term on the District Council.
(c) The Chairman of the National Council should be elected through a transparent secret ballot. The winning candidate must secure a minimum of 51% elected representatives members supporting him/her.
(d) Each such Chairman should constitute an advisory board of experts to advise him on governance matters. Members of the advisory board should not be paid any remuneration.
(e) The National Council shall deal only with common matters of national interests, such as foreign relations, national defense, etc.
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Understanding the economic problem We have adopted a lot many things from the Europe and US in past one century - ranging from constitution, administration practices, language, food, fashion, TV shows, technology, education system, legal system, architecture, system of medicine, accounting practices, taxation practices, profligacy, violence, and intolerance to music, art, movie plots etc.
Many of these imports violate the conventional concept of Indianness, and many have since been abandoned by the originators themselves.
Our exports to the western cultures include yoga, spirituality, classical dance & music, food, tolerance, non violence, frugality, and altruism.
This trade deficit is blunderous, just like the proverbial gorilla in the room that no one is talking about.
Indian markets and economy have always surprised the experts and investors alike. Many investors are attracted towards the fabled India story, given the favorable demography and abundance of natural resource. But most of them fall short of their own expectations.
Despite showing resilience to many external shocks; many rounds of liberalization, stable democratic administration, consistent and positively evolving policy framework, Indian economy has not been able to enter the orbit of sustainable high growth.
Though many things have changed dramatically in past one decade, but we are far from rising above the colonial setup - in which we supply cheap resources (now notably skilled workers) to the global markets and provide a large captive market for their final produce. We welcome polluting industries of developed nations and happy to lower our compliance standards for a few dollars more.
Before discussing anything about economic solutions, it is therefore important to assimilate the economic problem of the country.
Agriculture mindset Have you ever wondered:
Despite having a rich culinary tradition for centuries, millions of connoisseur consumers, and thousands of great eateries – why we could not create a McDonald, Dominos or Pizza Hut in India?
Despite having over 2000yrs of rich tradition of fashion, fabric manufacturing, dress designing and abundant raw material availability why no Indian textile or fashion brands figures prominently in global fashion and textile industry?
Coke quit India in 1977-78, leaving behind all manufacturing facilities, customers with taste for soda based drinks, distribution and marketing channel and sales infrastructure. For 14yrs Indian manufacturers had no competition whatsoever, till Pepsi and Coke re-entered India. Why did Campa cola, Parle and Duke not survive the competition from Pepsi and Coke even for a decade?
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Despite being one of the oldest civilization, tradition of living and networking in communities, spending considerable time in chaupals and doing Adda till late night, availability of tremendous IT skills – no Indian thought of creating Facebook – an e-chaupal with over US$340bn in market cap.
Despite slavery of many centuries, why we still depend on those very foreigners for supply of equipment, arms and ammunition for our armed forces?
Why failing to win an Olympic gold medal is a subject of national shame; failing to get nomination in Oscars is subject of national disappointment, but not getting a single Nobel for mathematics, science or literature post independence does not evoke any regrets or discussion? Remember, we always proudly claim ourselves to be pioneers in fields of mathematics, physics, astrophysics, metallurgical & medical sciences etc. Why we derive pride from the success of emigrated Indians who quit their motherland to take foreign citizenship?
Despite being the largest producer of milk, and huge surplus food grain stock, why India is bracketed with some poorest third world countries in terms of child malnutrition?
Why an average Indian male feels proud in being sexist when our religion, culture, and traditions propound supremacy of feminine power (The Mother Supreme)?
Why an average Indian feels proud in being racist when our religion, culture, and traditions preach universality of human (Vasudeva Kutumbakam)?
Why we Indians love to celebrate our Jugaad mindset, which reflects poorly on almost every aspect of the socio-economic life in India. This has severely impacted the pursuit of excellence, a hall mark of Indian art, culture, engineering, architecture, industry till 19th century, at least. Today, “Quality” is something India and Indians are not particularly known for globally. This ‘jugaad’ mindset has also doggedly constricted the vision of an average Indian entrepreneur. Except for a handful of Indians, most of whom have the benefit of studying and/or working overseas, not many have thought about scalable business models. Even a large number of so called knowledge businesses and modern retail are blatantly modeled on the popular global models.
Almost all the popular realty TV shows; an overwhelming proportion of music scores; and popular cinema is poorly and blatantly copied from the west.
These are some of the inquisitions that may help us in understanding the economic behavior of Indian population and also highlight the contours of our economic problem.
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The perception of economic well being is not universal Before we discuss the India's economic problems any further and begin exploring for solutions to these problems, I would like to narrate a short story.
It was a beautiful afternoon. Spring had just handed the baton out to summer. Farmers fresh from celebrating their harvest were preparing the fields for sowing the next crop. Everything seemed perfect.
A young man was lying idle under a banyan tree when a wise man passed by. He wondered why such a young man is wasting precious time when everyone else is working in the fields.
He approached the young man and queried “why are you sitting idle?” The young man countered with an assuring grin on his face “what am I supposed to do?” “Do not waste time. Go, find yourself some productive work”, the wise man suggested. “Why should I do that?” the young man asked nonchalantly. Taken aback a little, the wise man continued “you could earn some money, buy means of comfort and luxury, feel comfortable, be happy and rest peacefully”. “That is exactly what I was doing before you came here”, the young man answered exasperatedly and dozed off again.
This is an old bedtime story, which most of us would have heard or read. Various people derive different inference from it. My conclusion is that each individual or group of individuals have different social, psychological and physical needs and therefore respond differently to similar economic conditions.
Complacency and altruism are ingrained in Indian psyche For some, money beyond a point becomes a passion. For some other, it completely ceases to be a motivator beyond the same point. Yet for some others, it becomes a negative stimulus beyond the very same point.
From my experience gained through my extensive travels through hinterlands of India, I understand that many Indians, due to a variety of religious, social, cultural, historical, traditional, behavioral and/or economic reasons are akin to the young man in our story. Most of these are hard working, intelligent, and complacent. For many accumulating “excess” wealth is a sin. Passion for money had long been an urban upper and upper middle class phenomenon. Though in recent past it has possessed many youth in the hinterlands.
When asked “why don't you expand your business?” many SME owners, traders and shop owners, responded “what will I do with more money?”
The roots of this detachment with money, in my view, could be traced to agrarian culture and traditions of India. All our religions proscribe accumulation of excess money as sin and strongly advocate sharing of wealth with society.
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Work hard and pray to god for rains
The agrarian mindset makes most of us work hard and pray to God for rains; wish only for a good crop so that we get enough food and seeds for next crop. We consider growing good healthy crop as our pious duty. We treat the land on which crop is grown, river and clouds that irrigates the land, and mountains and woods that make the conditions conducive for cultivation as sacred deities. Altruism, socialism, austerity, and concern for environment are at the core of Indian ethos.
Youth views it differently
However, it cannot be denied that a there are significant number of youth, especially those who were born in late 80s or later and have not seen long queues for kerosene, cement, food, two wheelers, telephone connection, LPG etc.; who could get forex easily to travel and study abroad; and who have worked in developed countries as engineer, manager, banker and not as construction labor, driver and nurse.
These young people have a mindset different from the traditional agrarian mindset. These are easily able to think in terms of billion dollars, global businesses and comfortable factoring "high leverage", "failure", "bankruptcy" and "default on repayment obligation" in their business plans.
Some of these young people have done well for themselves. But since the most follow business models & ideas which are poor copies of the existing businesses in the developed countries, and lack originality and innovation - I am hesitant in accepting it as a sustainable trend as yet.
In my view, any economic model that violates the core principles of the Indian society is mostly unsustainable in Indian context.
The Industrial development model adopted post independence era, which is mostly an extension of the exploitive colonial model used by British Empire, has promoted inequalities, injustice and unsustainability. And that is the economic problem we need to address first and foremost.
The root of the economic problems of India could be easily traced to the continuation of the exploitive colonial economic model post independence. We have consistently failed in exploiting our strengths and allowed outflow of precious resources both natural and human.
Even after 69years of independence from British rule, India continues to be mostly an exporter of raw material and cheap labor and importer of technology and end products. Though in recent past we have excelled in a few areas like automobile, pharma and space research, still most of our industry is built around arbitrage opportunities available in terms of natural resources and abundance of cheap labor.
Consequently, a strong structural base for the Indian economy is yet to evolve. We have not been particularly successful in the areas such as technological advancement, productivity gains, innovation and localization and mostly continue to be an economy largely dependent on labor & resource arbitrage and trading.
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Too much focus on weaknesses
In my view, we have focused too much on our weaknesses and tried hard to overcome these weaknesses by importing technology, energy, intellectual property, capital and consumption patterns.
As noted Swadeshi economic thinker S. Gurumrthy highlighted in one of his writings, the primary cause of structural imbalance in trade account appears to be humongous capital goods import in past decade or so rather than gold or oil import as widely believed.
Major mistakes of Indian economic model In particular the following five “mistakes” have created many structural problems for Indian economy, in my view:
(a) “Feudal ownership” of resources in the garb of “public ownership” has led to criminal waste, misuse and misappropriation of scarce resources.
(b) Neglect of sustainability concerns in developing industry has led to concentration of economic power and therefore political power. Besides, the accelerated environmental degradation has caused serious damage to the ecology and livelihood of millions.
(c) Lack of a holistic education and training policy has created serious demographic distortions. On one hand we have a huge pool of unemployed youth, while on the other hand entire industry is facing shortage of skilled workers.
(d) The colonial mindset has destroyed the traditional knowledge and skills. Lord McCauley still successfully rules the education system, making India a perennial importer of technology and other intellectual property.
(e) A faulty approach to urbanization has created immense inequalities. The famous India and Bharat divide is now part of folklore in international studies. Instead of providing civic amenities to the quintessential Indian village that was center of traditional industry, the industrial policy has caused destruction of rural economies causing large scale migration.
“History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.” —B. R. Ambedkar
Reforms don't mean the same thing for all During my various road trips, I have always tried to assess the views of the common people about economic reforms – relevance, need, direction, perceived benefits etc.
If I have to cite one reform that could change maximum number of lives in the country - it would be guaranteed provision of drinking water to each household.
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We discussed with numerous people to find out (a) what has happened in past decade or so that has made difference to their lives (for good or worse); and (b) what would they want the government to do immediately to improve their lives.
Without leading them to any specific direction, I kept the discussions primarily centered around their day to day life and future of their children.
The key highlights of the feedback I received from people are quite reassuring, though not surprisingly.
Key highlights:
(a) We found that the social sector schemes have impacted the people lives more than the economic reforms, especially in rural areas.
Despite frequent news of irregularities, people overwhelmingly suggested that schemes like mid day meal, girl child education, NRHM and MNREGA have positively impacted more lives in almost all the states.
Financial inclusion (SHG, MFI, Banking Correspondents) was the only economic initiative they could cite as having impacted their lives directly.
(b) Most people agree that on relative basis the infrastructure situation has improved over past one decade. However almost everyone feels that it is still inadequate. Public health and education was commonly suggested to extremely poor..
(c) PMGSY (the flagship rural roads scheme) is widely suggested as the game changer in many parts of the country.
(d) Mobile connectivity is expectedly cited as the best technological evolution that impacted the rural lives.
(e) In urban areas, metro rail is often cited as the boon that has improved life significantly.
(f) In many parts of the country, fetching drinking water consumes 6-8 man hours every day. Electricity is still inadequate. We estimate focusing on these two could enhance productivity and income potential in rural and semi-urban areas substantially.
(g) We felt that strictly implemented prohibition legislation could bring more prosperity to the states like Haryana and Punjab than any other economic reform.
(h) Most urban residents felt that education and health reforms are more critical than economic reforms.
(i) In semi-urban areas, popularization of Scooty is widely believed as the strongest means of women empowerment.
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The economic solution — Salvation lies within In my view, the sustainable solution for India’s economic problems could be found only by looking within. Borrowing from the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi, economics needs to follow ethics and not the vice versa. The primary consideration needs to be “man” and not “money”.
To achieve this means Gandhi advocated trusteeship, decentralization of economic activities, labor intensive technology and priority to weaker sections.
Many criticize Gandhian economic ideas based on altruism, self reliance, and non-violence as an impractical alternative to free market economics. I believe this criticism is unfair and suffers from prejudice.
Be Indian think Indian I believe borrowing blindly from the western economic models would not work in Indian context. The Indian model will have to be quintessentially Indian. It has to effectively tackle the problems of class conflict, unemployment and poverty while attempting to preserve the lifestyle and values of rural Indians, which are eroding fast with unmindful urbanization, industrialisation and modernisation.
A self-reliant, free, just and progressive society is integral to the idea of Swaraj. Self-reliance in no way violates the need for technological advancement in the areas like healthcare, communication, etc. It just wants the scale to tilt in favor of ethics and ecology conservation if a conflict arises. Self-reliance also does not infringe the idea of free market. It just promotes a non-violent and non-exploitive trade and commerce.
For those who find Gandhi completely irrelevant in the current context, it is pertinent to note that “the literature survey of Gandhian economic ideas gives similar conclusions. 258 thinkers, who have reviewed his economic ideas, have been taken into consideration. Among them, London group of Professionals and The Club of Rome are considered as individual thinkers. Even the opinion of 53 noble prize winners is also considered in this literature survey. 96% of these thinkers admire his economic thoughts. They consider his ideas practical, useful and relevant in the present world.
A growth model for economic development is shown on the basis of Gandhi economic thoughts. This model is applicable to developing economies and India. His ideas are helpful for backward and developing economies in the world. His ideas are also useful for solving problems in capitalist economies. This proves Gandhi as a unique and practical economist of the world”. (see here for more details)
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Sustainability can't be compromised In summer of 2013, the tribal villages of Niyamgiri in Odisha, unanimously rejected the proposal of Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Vedanta group to mine bauxite from Niyamgiri hills and forests under the Forest Rights Act of 2006. The decision was widely hailed as historic.
Two years later, similar situation emerged in the forests of Chhattisgarh. As many as 17 gram sabhas, falling under Hasdeo-Arand coalfield, have passed a resolution opposing the reallotment of coal mines and have written to higher authorities seeking dialogue on the issue.
The entire area was declared a "no-go" zone by the previous UPA regime. However, in October 2014, the Forest Survey of India (FSI), the government's top body for assessing and monitoring forests, carried out a fresh assessment at behest of the environment ministry and recommended that nearly 90% of coal bearing forest areas could be opened up for mining. FSI suggested that mining be barred in just 11% of forest areas with proven reserves of the dry fuel.
Mining was to be permitted in 4,62,939 hectares of the 6,48,750 hectares of coal-bearing forests that were assessed. "India can't afford to keep 30% of its coal-bearing forests out of bounds. We need to increase power generation, don't forget that there are as many as 400 million people who have no access to electricity and power is crucial for industrial growth. As of now coal is the mainstay of the country's energy basket," a senior official said, explaining the need to open larger areas for coal mining.
With the beginning of fresh allotment of coal blocks by the Centre, villagers of North Chhattisgarh, the area which is rich in coal reserves, intensified their protest against the move.
The protagonists of faster economic development are dismissing the protests as yet another mischief of foreign funded NGOs who are allegedly paid to stop India from becoming an economic super power!
The pragmatic ones would ask, what is the fun in faster development if it is not sustainable?
The austere and humanitarian Gandhians would say the goal (faster economic growth to eliminate poverty) is important, but means are equally important.
I say, a key economic reform would be to earnestly hand over the ownership of natural resources to “the public”, instead of few ministers controlling the resources.
The trusteeship of all the natural resources may be vested in the local body of people. The local people should determine how these resources should be exploited. Industry based on these resources if developed on co-operative model with equitable ownership of (i) local people (ii) financial investors and (iii) technical experts who would manage the business, the growth could be fast, equitable, and sustainable.
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Trust, enablement and strengths In short, the economic model of India, in my opinion, should be based on
the following three principles:
(a) It should develop an environment of equality and mutual trust through decentralization.
(b) It should focus on enabling the population rather than merely providing for them.
(c) It should focus on the strengths on Indian economy rather than overemphasizing the weaknesses.
Trust your people
I strongly feel that the most valuable resource for India is her people. In not implementing the recommendation of Balwant Rai Mehta committee (1957) on local self governance, our political system has failed in developing an environment of mutual trust and transparency and thus failed the people of India. Despite, Narasimha Rao government ensuring 73rd constitutional amendment in 1992, the political establishment has obdurately refused to share power with the local bodies and common people.
As per NCAER Devolution of Power Index – only a handful of States have done meaningful devolution of power to Panchayati Raj Institutions - Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala being the notable one.
A series of irregularities that have come to light in past two decades suggest that lack of transparency in government functioning and substantial discretionary powers enjoyed by elected representative in appointments, procurement, resource allocation etc. have been the primary reasons for governance deficit.
In my Utopian (though certainly not out of the realm of possibilities) view, the following should be done:
(a) The ownership of public resources should be earnestly handed over to “the public”. Instead of few federal ministers controlling the resources in feudal manner, the trusteeship of all the natural resources should be vested in the District Council (see here). The local people should determine how these resources should be exploited, given their sustainability and development requirements. Industry based on these resources should be developed on co-operative model with equitable ownership of local people, the financier and the entrepreneur.
(b) Urbanization (provision of adequate civic amenities and connectivity) and industrialization (employment) should be managed at town/village level instead of further promoting India-Bharat divide. 6,60,000 urbanized villages would be much more productive than 500 smart cities with inadequate infrastructure.
(c) District councils should be empowered to decide appropriate direct taxation structure and incentive formulae to achieve the objective of social, economic and gender equalities, sustainability and development.
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Each local council shall determine which are the minority communities, or socially and economically backward classes in that locality and extend reservation accordingly. Similarly, each local council shall determine the development priorities and allocate resources accordingly.
Given the diversified demographic, ecological and socio-economic profile, efficient policies for energy, education, employment, industrial development, ecology conservation etc could be worked out only at the local level.
Districts with 1% Schedule Tribe population and 89% Schedule tribe population cannot have same reservation criteria.As per the census data, almost one fourth villages in India do not have any Schedule Caste population. In another one third villages the Scheduled caste population is less than 20%.
We have seen a large number of instances in past three decades where the so called upper caste people have protested violently against the reservation formula enshrined in the Constitution.
The litigation on the matter is also endless.
It would only be appropriate and more productive if the issue of reservation is decided at the Local Council (see here) level, in accordance with the socio-economic conditions of that region.
(d) The role of the National Council (see here) should be restricted to managing national defence, foreign relations, Trans District Rivers, dispute resolution, and developing model rules and regulation that may be adopted by the Local and District Councils with appropriate modifications.
Enable youth
The young demography is inarguably the core strength of the Indian economy. My concern is that, if not managed properly this may as well prove to be the nemesis of the fabled India story.
We must accept that despite being one of the fastest growing economies in the world during past decade, we have utterly failed in creating adequate number of productive jobs for the burgeoning workforce. MNREGA has helped to some extent, but it is bound by fiscal constraints, leakages and lower productivity. Besides, disguised/underemployment continue to characterize the India's occupation structure; perennially impacting the productivity and earnings potential.
I have been highlighting that the vast reservoir of youth energy on which Indian economy is sitting presently, could potentially explode if not channelized appropriately. It is therefore extremely critical to evolve an integrated youth policy that include mission scale programs to educate and skill the youth, inculcate enterprise skills in them from early stages, enable them to engage in productive self employment, deal empathetically with their concerns, anguish, frustration and disillusionment.
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The following is the minimum that needs to be urgently implemented, I feel:
(a) Overhaul education system to make it job oriented. Inculcate enterprising skills in students from primary level. It is high time that we do some zero base planning regarding our education rather than just incremental tinkering. Post middle (8th standard) job oriented education, training and skilling programs should be made more popular with active participation of industry. RTE should be amended to provide for a Uniform and Standard education to all the children. Bringing social changes like “respect for work” would be quintessential to this.
(b) The trained and skilled youth should be adequately supported and enabled to engage in productive self employment. The present model of MSME promotion may not be adequate to create massive employment needed, as this model may not be competitive in the emerging scenario where the Indian industry will have to increasingly compete with large global players. Co-operation movement in industry on the lines of AMUL where a large number of trained youth can create, own and profitably manage large globally competitive enterprise should be promoted and encouraged. Giving equity in natural resources to local population would be quintessential to this.
(c) Agriculture and allied activities are still at the core of Indian socio-economic structure. Promoting collective and commercial farming would add significant employment opportunity with better earnings potential.
(d) Success of IPL has suggested that sports can potentially generate large scale employment opportunity if managed in industry like manner.
(e) Last but not the least police reforms are absolutely necessary to manage the agitated & disillusioned youth compassionately and ensuring that they do not stray into prohibited territory of violence and sedition.
Focus on strengths
In past 6 decades we have focused too much on our weaknesses and tried hard to overcome by importing technology, energy, intellectual property, capital and consumption patterns. The root cause of many economic problems, e.g., current account deficit, fiscal deficit, energy deficiency, excessive dependence on external IPR & capital flows, etc. could be traced to this misplaced focus.
In my view, just by focusing on our intrinsic strengths, we can not only conveniently reverse the flow of trade to pre British era but also be successful in achieving our secular goals of sustainable and faster economic growth.
For example, the following programs, if implemented earnestly, could improve the balance of payment and employment conditions, substantially and structurally by 2025 by focusing on our intrinsic strengths like abundant sun shine, large number of middle class youth, amazing landscape, strong and rich tradition (food, religion, etc.) & culture (music, dance, arts, festivals):
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(a) Indians spend more than $25bn annually on education and related overseas travel. Creating 5 Special Education Zones (SEZ) with liberal VISA, forex, taxation and real estate ownership rules, and allowing foreign institutions to freely set up campuses in these zones, could potentially reverse this flow. Students from India, far-east, middle-east and Africa who find it difficult to get VISA for US/UK etc., or find that unaffordable, could also benefit from this. Our politicians have spoken about recreating Nalanda and Takshila. This in my view is the easiest way to do that.
(b) India holds tremendous potential for tourism. However lack of proper infrastructure has traditionally constricted the growth of this sector. On the other hand Indian outbound tourists flow is rising fast. Developing some world class self-contained international tourism centers, e.g., on lines of Macau, Disney, Las Vegas, etc. with liberal VISA, Forex, taxation and real estate ownership rules could potentially reverse these flows.
(c) Vindavan, Tirupati, Varanasi, Gaya, etc. all have potential to be as desirable, venerable and popular destinations as Mecca, Vatican and Jerusalem. Converting these centers of Indian religion and culture into self contained special zones with international airport, adequate lodging facilities and annual event calendar could get substantial forex revenue.
(d) Including sports, music & dance, arts in the main curriculums upto secondary school level, with adequate focus, could annually produce 10x more (self) employable students than 500 higher institution of learnings would do in next two decades,
These projects also have the potential to generate large scale productive employment opportunity for local talent, besides contributing to economic growth and true globalization of Indian economy.
=======================
The thoughts in this paper are presented to initiate a meaningful
debate on the desirable social, political and economic order for
the country.
I have been sharing these thoughts piecemeal with the regular
readers. These thoughts are now presented in a consolidated
format, to initiate a wider debate subject.
Please note that I do not claim any rights over these thoughts. I
admit to have liberally plagiarized the thoughts of the people I
have been meeting during my exploration of the country; besides
the published wisdom. I acknowledge and respect all the rights
of people whose jargon, thoughts and ideas have been
incorporated in the following discussion.