Personal Honesty and Corruption

“The World is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don’t do anything about it”.

  - Albert Einstein

In India, we are now in the middle of an animated debate on what need be done to tackle the rampant corruption that has permeated all facets of Indian life. Anna Hazare, seen as a selfless saint by majority of Indians, is leading a non-violent movement for institution of laws (Jan Lokpal Bill) and structures to take on the perpetrators with an iron fist. On the other hand government seems to be in favor of status quo, trying hard to hide its ineptitude in doing anything about corruption, by talking about constitutional provisions, procedures or plain stonewalling. The ruling party’s dirty tricks department has even tried to discredit Anna (the famous quip about the Gandhian being engulfed in corruption from ‘head to toe’, and insinuating that he is an army deserter, which turned out to be blatant falsehoods) and muddying the waters by talking about the supremacy of the parliament, sanctity of democratic processes and also by bringing in many other inheritors to the discourse with alternate bills and thoughts.

All this for making sure that Anna Hazare does not walk away with the sobriquet of a ‘The second’ Gandhi.  And of course to make sure that the ruling party keeps enjoying all the trappings of power without having to worry about someone asking them any uncomfortable questions.

The Indian populace has been more or less a mute spectator to this continuing spectacle of arrogant misrule and self aggrandizement, having no leverage to alter the intent or actions of the ruling elite, i.e. politicians and the bureaucracy.  Indians as an aggregate have faired badly in electing good representatives. We have voted for caste, religion, reservations, but never for higher rate of economic growth, investments in social sector and/or good governance.

Consequently, challenges facing the nation are multiplying but the political leadership continues playing petty politics. Also, we are at an epoch in history that can catapult us into the developed country league. The alternate scenario (not progressing at a fast pace) could lead to India falling back to the third world status again. We need to get economy to the next level of growth for the sake of our future generations.

But is our political leadership capable of leading us to our destiny?

The Jan Lokpal bill is a test case for the efficacy and thought process of governance. So far, it does not inspire confidence. But more than the inability or ‘lack of will’, it is the justifications that are a cause for concern.

The biggest bloomer being heard these days is that the people at the helm of affairs are personally honest. So is the personal integrity sufficient even if you fail in all your duties?

Was Nero right in playing his flute, when Rome was afire?

Or should the Prime Minister’s desk have a tablet announcing “The buck stops here”.

Do we just let the ogre of corruption roam free?

Do we let inefficiencies, bad governance, horrible policies continue unabated, because some people are personally honest?

I guess, I will prefer my leaders to wear courage/sagacity/responsibilities as their

 ‘Medals on the chest’,  rather than personal integrity and dereliction. 

AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT CORRUPTION AND ROADBLOCKS THWARTING THE PROGRESS OF INDIA

For motivation, I look up to Edmund Burke and Teddy Roosevelt.

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All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

                                                              Edmund Burke

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"I would rather try and fail than be with those cold and timid folks that

know neither victory nor defeat" paraphrased                      

Teddy Roosevelt

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God, the Merciful Giver

This is a story from my flying days in Indian Air Force, a transport squadron folklore.

A set of aircrew was flying a tiring transport routine popularly known as the ‘milk run’. You go from one place to another, loading and unloading small loads of cargo. You return after flying many mission segments during the day. The task is boring and you spend much time waiting on the tarmac, under the shadows of aircraft wings waiting for ground crew to do the needful for cargo and fuel. In summers, it could be a killing tour.

One such crew landed at a remote airfield on a Sunday, where everyone else seemed to be on a weekend. They were at the end of their tether and rather baleful about the world in general. Cursing their fate for living such a life, said one “Even the Lord cannot do anything to change our luck”

Suddenly, there was soft music, a whiff of cold air and they heard “Yes I can”

There was a circle of light and in the midst, Lord Vishnu appeared in all His glory; and said “Make three wishes and you shall have them”

Immediately the most harried of them blurted out “Hang the ‘ bloo..’ flight commander. He is the cause of all our troubles”

And there the ‘flight commander’ was, right in the middle of the tarmac, hanging on a stake, wriggling and begging with the crew to understand his constraints. Said he ‘Please don’t blame me for your travails, it is the ‘local commander’, who should be blamed for this situation today”

The crew immediately seized on the cue and cursed, “Hang the local commander too”

And now there were two stakes side by side.

Soon the crew was aware of follies of their thoughts and actions.

Unable to bear the pain of their comrades, who had just been trying to do their jobs, they invoked the third wish. “O Lord, let these gentlemen go”

And gone they were in a jiffy. And so were the three wishes.

Moral of the Story: The almighty always gives without fail.

But do we know what to ask”

There is the transport crew in all of us. Would you agree?

Let me just look up a few recent demands

1. We want candidates from our community to be our leaders. The almighty grants that. But it so turns out that they are not the ones who knows how to bring in prosperity or improve administration.
2. We pray to God for more money. We seldom ask for happiness. We get loads of money and much more unhappiness.
3. We seek the blessings of the almighty for getting ahead of others and not being with others.
4. We seek hegemony over others for boosting our egos. The rebound aggression causes conflicts that go on between nations, societies or individuals for generations.

How about asking for,

Peace

Happiness

Wisdom

Brotherhood

Kindness

Stereotypes

Stereotypes, the dictionary meaning is something or someone, who is like or is akin to something/someone already known. Or it conforms to an oft believed description.

The term evokes negative connotations first. It means something/someone who has no original content or personality or style…usw.

However, you ask a software developer, the person would talk of stereotypes with respect, sometimes reverence, if she/he is an expert on ‘Object Oriented’ programming.

But my thoughts today are not on whether stereotypes are good or bad. I am only looking at the possibility of stereotypes outnumbering the normal (original) people or (to be cruel) people with original thought.

When a child, I believed that my parents were the best people in the world; that the police (or any uniform of similar hues) are to be feared because they catch people and Bapu Gandhi’s dictum to speak the truth is truthfully followed by all human beings.

As a adolescent, I believed that cramming school books was the only way to grow into an adult and that after graduation in commerce (B Com preferably), a bank job was the ultimate salvation for any human being. Becoming a doctor was a pious achievement in the service of mankind and if you become an engineer, you will finally land up doing nuclear research.

Nearing ‘settling down’ after I had spent about five years as an air force officer (that by the way is a strong stereotype showing that I am patriotic), I expected the most accomplished girls to line up in front of our main door as the astrologer predicted. When I finally got married (thank God for that girl, who came over), I was not sure whether I was accomplished enough.

Life has rolled along for many years. We have seen many a changes of Governments in power at the Center and state. It was believed that the people who make up these governments are called ‘Leaders’, that means that they know more than us, the lay people and they ‘lead’ us to whatever the right place for us to be in. We also knew that when you wear a ‘Gandhi’ cap. That means that they will live frugal life like ‘Mahatma’ and follow his tenets too.

I could have gone on. But I am already struggling with reconciling the above-said beliefs to reality I see today.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. Not the world. I am talking about my beliefs in the stereotypes.

So why would I be handed over wrong beliefs by all those well meaning people like grandparents and parents.

Let me try a hypothesis. Initially, a child learns by copying. The child copies parents or other family members, then peers and teachers at school. So it is useful to be handed over readymade well defined models (our stereotypes) to copy. This is the necessary first easy step before graduating to the more sophisticated though tedious learning by written or spoken word.

However, most of us refuse to grow up beyond stereotypes. It is easy and does not require intellectual effort of logical thought for each situation and endeavor.

Unfortunately, in the topsy-turvy world that we live in, stereotypes do not suffice. The problems and challenges are not like what they were 25 or 50 years back. I don’t want myself to limit myself to any behavioral ‘recipe’ books or standard political ointments. I want me and my country to be progressive and innovative.

I refuse to be led up the garden path any more. No stereotypes political, economic and social patterns or beliefs for me. Innovation, free thinking, effective education, economic freedom and social support are what I recommend for all my fellow countrymen or countrywomen.

Are we Rich and Stupid?

No don’t take out your stilettos, guns or barbs. I am not the one saying so. I intend to be the one who will discuss the insinuation with you and we will reach a cool headed logical inference.

Do you mind if I respond to this first? Come along and let us see how it develops.

Rich is a person who has more that her/his needs and some moolah to spare.

Stupid is a person who always makes bad choices and fritters away whatever she/he has.

we in India qualify as both?

Are we Rich?

India has a surfeit of resources. There are so many jokes about someone from another country asking the almighty about his munificence for India, while many others are starved of natural resources. (We will leave out the second part of the joke where God says “don’t worry I will compensate……..)

So let us take a stock of the situation. India has,

1. Natural resources in abundance
2. Rich ecological diversity
3. Abundant water resources (pure too, before we started polluting each one)
4. Awesome weather pattern, both from viewpoint of agriculture and also for human life-experience, till we denuded all forests and started other forms of ecological hara-kiri in gay abandon.
5. Sunlight, divine rivers (for hydro power, irrigation, fish and other river produce) till we have silted away each of these.
6. Exceptional people, till we devised the effective instrument of ‘divide and rule’ and made them exchange some human attributes with some belonging to animal kingdom (referring to ‘dog eat dog’, instant gratification without worrying about Maslow’s upper hierarchy of needs etc)
7. Land of Riches. Indians were a quarter of the world’s monetary assets in the year 1600. ‘Sone ki Chidiya’ was the description of India those days. It was looted by outsiders till it was left with 2% of the world’s riches. It is growing again to its former glory, but this time, the danger is being looted by insiders.

A very clear inference is that India is indeed rich, despite the plunder and loot by humans, invaders or natives alike.

Are we Stupid:

Well, a country cannot be stupid, but its inhabitants can be. So the issue to be examined is, Are Indians stupid (With deference to a lot of sons of soil who are torch bearers for humanity, we examine whether Indians as a group are intelligent or stupid. The scientific purists would call it examining the ‘stochastic behavior’ of Indians).

1. Though we as a society are weaned on ‘peace and kindness’ philosophy, we conduct ourselves in exactly the opposite manner. We are in general discourteous (downright obnoxious if you hold a position of power), we practice one-upmanship, and disregard others rights and conveniences scrupulously. We have no awareness that this results in lowering the quality of life for everybody.

2. We have a great appetite for ‘instant gratification’. We prefer ‘short term’ to ‘long term’. There are no takers for becoming ‘better’ or ‘respected’. There is a mad race for becoming ‘richer’. The scramble has spawned ‘Yen, Ken Prakenen’ (by hook or by crook) mindset, and has vitiated the character of many a generations. ‘To be there’, or ‘To have arrived’ has become the sole aim many a bright minds. Their acumen and brilliance is employed not in making great waves, but to make big money. So we have every kind of corruption (moral, monetary) and a whole plethora of institutions to contain it (though CBI, IT and others are themselves becoming the carriers of the disease). In the long term, it is the snake eating its own tail. Are we intelligent if we are subverting our own future and that of our children?

3. We don’t mean what we say even in political context. And it applies equally to elected and the electorate. The leaders will promise 20 Kms road built everyday and after five years have nothing to show for it. The electorate will bitterly complain for lack of infrastructure, education, jobs and security…and then go and vote for the sorriest candidate because he is of a particular caste or son of someone or sometimes because he is as backward as they are. How can a country which considers itself a cradle of human civilization (and recently a knowledge power) foist upon itself such a sorry bunch as their reps election after election?

4. We have to be stupid to have monumental patience. Americans even recall their inefficient leaders. We reelect them. We accept exploitation by government servants, village thugs, even bus conductors. We do not even appreciate the ones who stand up for citizens rights. We let thugs molest women, beat unarmed citizens and loot public property and we keep standing there watching the fun, till it is our own turn. ‘Menu Ki’ till you are victimized and then shout hoarse about nobody supporting you. Can you be wise if you are ready to be exploited and still want to worship the exploiters?

Phew….. Doesn’t speak too well of us Indians. We indeed are hurtling down the path of being looted like earlier centuries. It is no consolation that perpetrators are of our own ilk.

Pretty rich but stupid, aren’t we?

1. We need to build our national character.

2. We need to weed out corruption

3. We need to elect good leaders

4. We need to recreate ethos of mutual respect and consideration as enshrined in our culture and religion.

If we don’t get rid of our stupidities and elevate ourselves to the ethos of a good society soon enough, we will indeed deserve to be labeled ‘Rich and stupid’.

Aah, A little bit of moral Adjustment

I have had the good fortune of having some very able Gurus at appropriate junctures in life. Their guidance to tide over moral dilemmas from time to time has been worth its weight in gold. The dilemmas sometimes present themselves as deceptively simple alternatives, when all other right choices seem Himalayan climbs. Sometimes the lure of immediate gains (with the clever thought that nobody is looking at you) becomes an overpowering desire under the garb of being practical.

But a Guru of mine (a senior officer in the Air Force, whose many one liners are my treasured possession), would say about these matters, ‘Well, one always has to decide one way or the other. You cannot be partly immoral, like you cannot be a little bit pregnant. Either ‘you are’ or ‘you are not’.

Indian society has come a long way since those times, when people were simple and steadfast in the way of thinking and living. The definition of morality has received many amendments (very much like the Indian constitution, and with the similar purpose, that is instant gratification rather than long term benefit of the society).

Politics:

A little bit of ‘adjustment’ is the order of the day. It is not considered amoral by the politicians to lie ‘a little bit’ during elections and still anoint yourselves as the sole inheritors of Gandhian virtues. A couple of other adjustments in the political lifestyle of today,

1. No need to resign on minor issues. Wait ‘a little bit’ till everyone knows what you did. (You may get intervening years or decades to continue enjoying spoils of war…er.. power.
2. In fact no resigning as long there is a ‘little bit of leeway’. (Considering resigning on issues an old fashioned stupidity, last heard of in Lal Bahadur Shastri days).
3. OK to reserve ‘a little bit’ out of public assets for sons, daughters, in laws or even far relations. (It should not exceed 90% of the whole). Even if, the scheme is called Adarsh (Ideal) society and is meant for war widows, don’t let that come in the way. After all, politicians are fighting a war every day and come from the same species as ‘widow spider’.

The other sections of the society are faithfully “following the leader”, our politicians. Be it business, government servants, general public, households, “adjustment” is the order of the day. No one wants to live by ‘rule of law’, social responsibility or moral obligations. Convenience rather than conviction is the new guideline. Wherever we look around, the examples abound.

Business:

The Indian business have honed the skill of ‘managing’ the legislative and administrative machinery to let them have unfettered monopolies in most areas of business and fleeced the hapless denizens for a long time. Last twenty years of ‘opening up’ have given India more economic growth than the previous forty. The business is finally becoming ‘customer friendly’. But old habits die hard. The ‘QoQ’ profit growth still rules the business strategy. Bending the rules ‘a little bit’, preferring ‘personal gains ‘a little bit’ over the interests of many, seeking political patronage ‘a little bit’ to get ahead of others rather than employ fair competition, ‘a little bit’ laundering of accounts and assets are still the norm rather than the exception. Long term excellence and social responsibility is still a distant dream. Narayana Murthys and Ratan Tatas are outnumbered by Rajus of many hues.

Public Servants:

The most potent group of people holding India back from being ‘Sone Ki Chidiya’ (the golden sparrow) again is the entrenched power brokers, called bureaucracy, who will like to have ‘a little bit’ out of your progress every time. (Sometimes it may be 90%, reminiscent of the 90% income tax levied in earlier days.) These people are supposed to earn their living by practicing ‘facilitation’. Instead they have mastered the art of ‘getting in the way’. Out of the 10 barricades that the society or businesses face in development, 9 are erected by these functionaries. Thankfully, public opinion is now modifying the way these people work. But the nuisance value of Indian bureaucracy remains high and their facilitation value remains abysmal.

General Public:

General public remain mired in low education levels and outdated religious and social dogmas. Indian public is still swayed by caste and religion and is apathetic to development issues. The result is a pin-pong voting in/out of two major parties who do not have any need/desire to move away from playing ‘who will be the next PM’ roulette. ‘A little bit’ of incremental improvement in the lot of populace and ‘a lot bit more’ gain for the politicos continues.

Some Adjustments that the general public lives by,

1. ‘A little bit’ of reservations, by caste, ‘son of the soil’ preference, political connections, or plain threatening the decision makers.
2. ‘A little bit’ of encroachment of land, public utilities, public money or positions of power by other than fair means.
3. ‘A little bit’ of evasion of responsibilities by avoiding taxes, not declaring obligations and/or surreptitiously transferring obligations to others.
4. ‘A little bit’ of ……………

Indian Family:

The home scenario is no different. Parents routinely tell their kids to answer the telephone call, and tell inconvenient callers “Papa/Mama is not at home”. Thinking that a little bit of ‘smartness’ can save them the inconvenience of having to answer the callers’ queries. The lessons learnt are practiced by children to use this ‘smartness’ for bunking schools, and sowing wild oats, while parents blissfully dream about their children being ‘pure honey’. Most social problems have their genesis in skewed upbringing by these ‘worldly wise’ parents. A little bit of ‘moral adjustment’ turns into a ruinous social debasement.

I guess, to turn the tide against present day ruinous social depravation, we need to go back to the old-time values of truth, compassion, mutual respect and service. Mahatma said it in so many words.

Are we listening?

The civil Society Conundrum

[Statutory warning. This write up is ‘Tongue in cheek’. Please spare the brickbats. I have neither any political agenda nor any capability to articulate points of view]

In the recent past, I have been keenly questioned about ‘Civil Society’. Actually it is my mother. She would want to know about what ‘society’ the TV channel fellows are talking and arguing about. And with the latest crackdown (and numerous climb downs thereafter) , her curiosity has only increased bringing more insistence that I answer the question.

Now that really gets my goat….er, please pardons my semantics that have been rendered ‘beyond repair’ during the practice of abbreviated natter of flying operations during my air force days. But you see, I am a true blooded Indian. I want to work hard during the working hours (as long as these are a sub-set of 9 to 5 routine), and then come back home and sprawl on the sofa with a nice cup of tea (green label added for flavor) and watch TV. I love those Hindi soaps where someone or the other bangs her/his head against something and loses memory. Wow, then you keep wondering whether the memory will come back or the person will keep making a fool of herself/himself for the benefit of your entertainment. Isn’t losing memory an Indian specialty? Maybe much reviled separation during ‘Kumbh ka Mela’ is our DNA trademark. Personally, I have nothing against it, rather I will like to forget ‘office’ after 5 PM, and when in office (and with my jovial colleagues) I don’t let the thoughts of family back home spoil fun and frolic.

Getting back to the topic, I told my mother that our society is divided into two parts, rather three. One is called civil society, the second uncivil society (popularly called Government for ease of addressing), and the normal society (which is also the majority). The whole political drama consists of the normal society intelligently voting to choose the government, which then assiduously gets down to getting the country on the path of progress. The civil society is supposed to a bunch of practicing intellectuals who infrequently write philosophical matters that the normal society can not understand and the government does not care to read.

These forces are supposed to be at equilibrium in the bliss of democratic environment and supposed to keep doing what they are supposed to do. The problem arises when they don’t.

Firstly the normal society is supposed to vote intelligently. (Even the politicians proclaim that ‘Janata’ is the wise). However looking at the kind of politicians that we have been choosing for the last fifty years or so, that intelligence is as much sure as the existence of the unicorn.

Government is supposed to enable India to take her rightful place in the comity of nations. Going by recent performance, the various political ensembles look more like the Hindi film villain trying to punch holes in the hull of the boat.

The civil society has kept busy with issuing high sounding rebukes from time to time, from the air conditioned confines of their drawing rooms.

But that was till Anna Saheb came along.

All of a sudden every one is inconvenienced. The government is not being allowed to work, the PM is supposed to be cornered so much that he is not be able to perform (????), the parliament is not able to pass any bills (including the recently tabled ‘Thuggery Protection bill’ that said that MPs and higher ups are exempt from even oversight, not to talk of prosecution). And biggest of it all, I cannot enjoy my TV serials and have to explain the civil society and its genesis to my mother.

The next question from my mother, “ Why cant Indian society be all civil”. Now that is a rather obnoxious query and I am not going to answer that on behalf of PMs, CMs, Ministers, spokesmen, SDOs, JEs, IASs and many worthies, who decide what is good for us, the society.