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Delhi
fails the Nation
The great betrayal
The
holy epic Ramayana tells of amnesia caused by worldly pleasures. The
Lord Almighty Himself is the victim. After His divine nuptials, the
Lord was taking it easy. Or so thought the folk in outer space. The
Lord forgetful? Of his mission? To bump off the ogre. Who stopped
their free lunch.
Taking no chance, they sent sage Narada to the Lord. With a gentle
reminder. Narada did his job. And the Lord set forth on His odyssey
the following day.
The ruling parties in Delhi do a Lord Ram. Whether or not they swear
by Him. The tall promises of clean rule remain just so. Rolled in
capital comforts, amnesia (here something more) takes hold. The law
and its rigid
ways are there. As a handy excuse. For inaction.
Luckily scribes are scribes. Assuring a ring-side view. Within
rules. A couple of
feature articles (in THE INDIAN EXPRESS and OUTLOOK) are tell-tale.
Unlocking the sub-culture of the ruling elite. Even those intoning
the 'dalit' mantra are in the trap. Night clubs and all. One hired a
copter to reach Delhi in time. For a sip of tamarind water.
Dr.Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's prime minister, called US democracy
a sham. Ignore the White House. And the political parties. He said.
For the shots are called by lobbies. With a more durable mechanism
in place.
The Delhi work style is the same. Vested interests design, re-design
and bend economic policies. To give the scoff-laws a soft touch.
VDIS (take three) is just one example. We all saw power coming out
of the gun barrel. In Delhi's economic lexicon empty stomachs are a
must for growth.
For the J&K move, handcuff the centre. Delhi has lost the feel
of the masses. And that emboldens all. Its spokesmen defend the
indefensible. Rogue FIIs cart money out. But are sacred cows.
Match-fixing drains a cool $12 billion. Every year. Even so,
dismissed as minor crime. By a minister who knows the law.
The pattern is set. Delhi gets away with its 30 pieces of silver.
The state governments face the mob fury. Often without notice. Time
for a change. As it is, the autonomy demand has its fearsome echo.
Delhi has fallen from the pedestal. And the rulers, past and
present, owe the people of the Republic of India a word of
explanation. For their dereliction of duty. To put it mildly.
The old slogans are back. Regional autonomy, re-drawn boundaries
etc. With a shrillness rare earlier. As an echo of the failings of
the central governments. And not a product of unschooled politics.
Or cheap regionalism.
To be sure, they sound jarring. Coming while every other country
warms up for a borderless world. True, the Eeelam demand spills
blood in Sri Lanka. But far off Europe is a melting pot.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia, just out of divorce court, are on
flight to the European Union. Germany and France, bitter enemies for
generations, have a single currency. Sweden and Denmark, age-old
rivals, are now reunited, thanks to a 16 km bridge. Wales and
Scotland gained regional autonomy. But Great Britain, on the whole,
is fast forward to Brussels. On the train are a host of countries
including a few from the old redbloc.
The US is high and mighty. But in a hurry to cut trade deals. With
countries far and near. Beijing spits fire. While on its toes to
sign up for the WTO. Asean, Latam and ACP (African, Caribbean and
Pacific) countries are also on way to shedding their identity.
Why then does sub-nationalism snake up in India? Blame Delhi. It let
the nation down. Only the rulers are elected? Otherwise the
government is under the thumb of tax evaders and commission agents.
Fixers in modern parlance. Who script economic policies. Like
cricket matches. For several years now.
Let us be fair. The BJP-led government is not alone in the dock. The
rot set in much earlier. Post-independence, Delhi evolved into a
state within a state. With imperial trappings. No concern for the
miseries outside.
It can't be different. So long as the rulers are willing to play
Judas. For a few pieces of silver. Paid directly or to kith or kin.
Proof aplenty. It works even after two millennia.
What did we all hear recently? An IT official puts the government
(in Delhi) to shame. We learn that VDIS was a fraud perpetrated on
the people. A finance secretary was out to please a brood of
criminals.
The government had a fair idea of the black money volume. The VDIS
accruals came up to the expectations of P Chidambaram. Who launched
it. Revenue intelligence did not fail. Only, the political will was
not there for drastic action. And they chose the easy way out. As
usual. That was to flog and re-flog the silent majority.
Worse. The government can't release the list of people who took
refuge in the VDIS. The law comes in the way. But extortionists have
the list. On a platter. And how is also known. The criminals do a
roaring business. And they benefit both ways.
The present finance minister also comes out in dim light. Defending
FIIs that pay no tax anywhere in the world. Most of them collect
their pabulum from laundered cash. Even the OECD is worried. Not
Mr.Yashwant Sinha. The treasury's loss is personal gain. What if the
masses suffer?
Often, major policy decisions reflect that attitude. The amount lost
in each of the two lapses is mind-boggling. More in the VDIS. A
fraction of it was enough to bail out subsidised food and fuel. But
nobody thought on those lines. The examples are only illustrative.
Not exhaustive.
Instead, Delhi declared war on the rest of the nation. On these
issues. Calling it all a must. In the name of tight budgets. The
state governments were at the receiving end. Being more exposed to
the starving millions. Some of them covered for the subsidy cuts. At
the cost of development work.
Of late the central ministers were indulging in bluff and bluster
too. As if everyone else had low IQ. Yashwant Sinha again is exhibit
No. 1.
This was before the FII paymasters skewered him. Sinha was on the
offensive. On the food subsidy cut. He made the claim that new
pricing was beneficial. To families taking more than 60 kg a month.
How many need so much grain? Outside Sinha's heavy-weight family?
An X-ray reading of the new PDS policy came from Kerala's food
minister. Was there a sinister bias for an imperfect market? And so
another fraud on the people? Sending the BPL numbers to the
slaughter house? Perhaps Mr.Sinha never thought that his IAS
arithmetic could be so easily decoded.
Delhi is prone to corruption at policy-making levels. The craft
fine-turned over the years. As Mr.Kuldip Nayar noted (in The Hindu
Business Line) it was institutionalised in the emergency days. Those
who followed were happy with such a ready-made outfit. Which is also
fool-proof.
Liberalisation (and globalisation) is unstoppable. Trouble arises
only when it is insisted that privation is its route. The leading
proponent of this view is Dr.Manmohan Singh. He sees the subsidies
as the key to economic disaster. His less viscous economic theory is
silent on how the deficits came.
Dr.Singh was with the government, the RBI and the planning
commission. Before he became Narasimha Rao's paid employee in the
cabinet. Total insensitivity to political compulsions is his
hall-mark and armour. Even so, he should know better. Given his long
stints in senior posts. How came so much hidden wealth in Delhi's
own vineyard? Dr.Singh owes the nation a word of explanation. His
party was in power for a long time.
After all, he was also rehearsing for the prime minister's role.
Till his party realised his real weight as a liability. Throughout,
Dr.Singh, however, was lucky. He never had to account for starvation
deaths. And suicides. His berth in the upper house is safe. Though
he was rejected by the voters. The economic reforms missed the bus.
A clean slate would have ensured a flying start. Dr.Singh was
against factoring in concealed income. Like others. Before and after
him.
States suffer in more ways. The RBI destroys the banking system.
Setting the stage for low regional growth. Such vandalism is
knowingly rewarded by Delhi. Promotion, extension of service or
highly paid post-retirement jobs reserved for favours received. Yet
another way of mocking at the federal set-up.
For years, Delhi had everyone as a captive audience. Including the
state governments. Confusing their loyalty to constitution for
abject surrender.
Tolerance has its limits. The tocsin of revolt rung in J&K tells
of the overdue change. And there is a favourable echo everywhere. In
question is not the unity of the Union. But Delhi's misrule.
Paswan effect
Populism redefined
It has been the standard practice. To brand as populist. Any relief
to the disabled. The negative basket is pretty large. Cane/grain
prices, PDS, old-age pension and even village roads. Not to speak of
wage increases and bonus. A firestorm breaks out everytime. Spewing
shrapnel of advanced economic theory. Putting back the developmental
clock.
On the other side or the divide, it is soft metric. Relief =
incentive. For investments/growth. Every penny counts. From personal
computers to flashy automobiles. How the government (willingly) was
short changed by the telecom imbroglio?. Even hidden wealth is
sacrosanct. Less attention to multiplier effect.
Second thoughts now. On the shape and content of populism. Thank
Ramvilas Paswan for that. A section of the media took up the
cudgels. Calling the bluff. And stressing that the boot is on the
other leg. The lion's share of the exchequer munificence goes to the
one per cent. That owns/controls 75 per cent of the wealth.
Hell broke loose when Paswan offered free phones to 0.32 million P
& T staff. Most outraged was the finance ministry. That winked
at the accumulation of concealed income and wealth over the years.
While the masses were suspended from piano wire. And asked to pay up
for the budget gaps. In typical Nazi style.
It was a disinformation campaign by MoF. The media was fed with
inflated figures. First Paswan was crucified for throwing away $300
million. But the media refused to swallow it in full. Then the
figures were scaled back. As the first round failed MoF dredged up
Paswan's earlier gifts as railway minister. To show him up as an
enemy of fiscal prudence.
The plot soon unravelled. The newsmen raised a slew of embarrassing
queries. The telecom scam was too early to be forgotten. Licences
saved $2 billion in contracted fees. Just on the eve of the last Lok
Sabha polls. Sinha's tenderness for Mauritius based FIIs also came
in question. Also his hide and seek with steel companies. Paswan's
profligacy pales in comparison. Even bracketed with Esops. The road
to bankruptcy lies elsewhere. |
