Dangerous Trends

Over the last couple of years, India has experienced phenomenal growth. The Sensex has moved to all time highs and has made experts euphoric about the future. Thanks to a global surge the economy is growing at a whopping 9%, although those levels are less likely to remain sustainable in the event of a global slowdown triggered by an American recession. In any case India has a great growth story to tell in the coming years.

But what’s worrying is the socio-political drift in the country. Politicians are talking dangerous. Well, what I or a certain section of society sees as dangerous may be welcomed by others. But the Indian political horizon is changing fast by any standards. At the centre of the storm is the very controversial issue of social justice. Well, social equity is certainly a goal for all democracies, yet the way you implement it may make or break you as a nation.

What India is trying to implement and what I find most alarming is ‘Equity by Brute Force’. This essentially means that the Indian state is trying to be an external, artificial agent of change in one of the largest and most diverse demographies in the world.

When you undertake forced change on such a grand scale there are bound to be repercussions. For one, the changes that are being proposed are politically motivated. We would all be kidding ourselves if we said we didn’t know that our leaders are trying to score votes with a certain section of society.

I do not stand for social inequity; I only believe that it cannot be brought about by artificial means. In the 21^st century, the only way of raising people out of poverty and backwardness is through an agenda of economic liberation.

Our politicians need to facilitate poverty alleviation by creating an atmosphere that will allow wealth generation to flourish. The state should not be a direct agent of change. It should allow the forces of Globalization and Free Trade to shape Indian society.

To be more precise and forthright, instead of bickering about reservations and the cost of implementing them, our country should invest resources in building infrastructure (read roads, power, telecom) that will facilitate and attract investment. I believe it is this investment that will liberate the backward sections of society by trickling down to the lowest levels.

When Income levels rise across the board in all sections of society, people will value education and go after it with all the resources that they can expend. This, I believe will create more lower caste scholars than any reservation programme in the world.

Another dangerous trend is the criminalization of politics. Well, individuals may argue that this has been around really long. But the effects felt now shall be greater than ever before. Because now, more than ever before India needs a transparent system of governance to assist in the economic boom. Any factor that destabilizes transparency and security in the country will eventually slow us down-something that we cannot afford at this point in time.

The conflict between the legislature and judiciary has spiraled almost out of control now. It is not a matter of coincidence that the judiciary has moved forward to reign in the excesses of a corrupt legislature. But then, the judiciary cannot go on and on. Who is to say this wanton wielding of power will not corrupt the judiciary? (Remember what Acton said?)

Well, what we need is a more accountable legislature, not an overactive judiciary. Of course, they ought to go hard at crime, but beyond that the legislature needs to make itself more transparent by ensuring that it keeps out criminal, manipulative elements in the first place.

India is at the crossroads. Where we go from here will define us in the next decade. We can either grow into a strong, secure democracy with a wealthy populace or a failed state where economic chaos is the norm. These are interesting times.