The Still Small Voice Within

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                                          The still small voice within.

The UPA has been roundly attacked for its dismal record particularly in the year gone by. In the first two years after it was voted to power in 2009, it managed to cobble up a few positives, though nothing to be over the moon. But the last twelve months have unearthed scam after scam though neither the PM nor his trusted deputies in the Ministry were indicted except for the DMK minister, Raja. But the PM strangely remained a mute spectator to the goings-on hampered by what he termed as coalition dharma.

The Government’s dilemma, personified in our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reminds me of Sophocles’ eponymous play Philoctetes, who is a powerful Greek leader blessed by the demi-god Hercules. Ulysses is compelled by the Greek soldiers to abandon Philoctetes who suffered a stinking wound though Philoctetes alone possesses weapons of Trojan destruction that will secure victory for the Greeks. Ulysses asks young Neoptolemus, another Greek warrior to befriend Philoctetes and seek his sympathy with a lie that he had also been a victim of the Greeks’ caprice and thereafter discreetly secure the latter’s weapons. Neoptolemus, known for speaking the truth is horrified that he should lie to win Philoctetes’ trust. But Ulysses persuades him in the larger interest of the Greeks with a promise to help him win the reputation of being valiant and wise. Neoptolemus hesitates to speak a lie:

          Rather much rather I would fall by virtue/ Than rise by guilt to certain victory

but Ulysses persuades him saying:

         We need not blush at aught/ That may promote our interest and success.

Neoptolemus’ ethical crisis as to how shall he act mirrors Manmohan Singh’s dilemma- to speak the truth or to remain silent to ensure the continuity of his coalition government. He could not jettison Raja who was fishing in muddy spectrum for fear of losing out the support of DMK, the coalition partner.  He could not speak out against Mamata’s barks lest he should lose her TMC’s support. He would rather put FDI in retail, aviation, banking, insurance into cold storage than risk Mamata’s displeasure. He would sacrifice a futuristic railway Minister and accept Mamata’s minion in his place.  Against Mamata’s belligerence , he would not table Lokpal Bill nor bring NCTC into operation as a decisive measure to counter terrorism.

Manmohan Singh prefers silence to (in)action. I recall Shakespeares’s Richard II, where the poet-king, a man of words is contrasted with Bolingbroke the usurper, a man of action. Richard abdicates his crown in favour of Bolingbroke. But Manmohan Singh, unfortunately has been neither a communicator nor an actor. He does speak- and speaks wisely like a world statesman on foreign soils. At home he is neither seen nor heard. To the cacophony of shouts and jeers both from within his party and from that of the opposition, he remains stoically silent almost saying “what do these poor mortals know about the compulsions of coalition?” Can his deafening silence to save UPAII usher in UPAIII in 2014?

Time for PM to listen to his inner voice and act even if he wishes not to speak. The Arabian proverb ( quoted in TOI) “A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain” should galvanize our PM to take bold and strident steps to pull up UPAII from the mess it has landed itself through compulsive inaction. Let him implement the following bold measures that he knows deep within are the right actions. Let our PM, a man of conscience follow Mahatma Gandhi who said: “The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within”.

·         No roll-back on Petrol prices. The price rise can be borne by the wealthy car owners while it can act as a deterrent to the Middle class to wheel their cars and thereby save this scarce commodity. Direct the Ministry of Transport to galvanize public transport to provide comfortable and affordable travel as it is in UK and USA. Delhi Metro and Delhi buses have already green flagged easy transport for the rest of the country to follow.

·         Subsidize fuel for trucks that carry fruits, vegetables and essential goods so that the aam admi may be spared  price hike on account of price rise on petrol and diesel. The government has to ensure adequate supplies of essential food items by opening more fair price shops. Let it implement a new slogan ‘middleman hatao’ and make quality essential products available to the common man all over the country.  The good work being done by Amul and Mother Diary can be replicated everywhere to ensure quality products at affordable price.

·         Call for consultative meetings of Chief Ministers and the opposition parties before announcing policy decisions like FDI, NCTC, GST etc. Even if the Centre has a right to frame such policies, it will be prudent to accord importance to state CMs who are bursting in their own manufactured arrogance. If the non-congress states with egoistical whim do not agree to Centre’s policies and allies like Mamata oppose them in order to leverage more funds for her state, the government in power still stands to gain by exposing the hollowness and narrowness of their opponents’ vision .

·         Having been the pioneer and architect of Economic Liberalization, re-wire the Liberalization policy to get in foreign investments to generate more jobs in the country. Rationalize the FDI policy and get your administration to take decisions rather than defer to save Indian economy.

·         Boldly table the Lokpal Bill after consultative exercise and accept reasonable amendments. Even if Anna Hazare terms it a weak Lokpal, you can show that your government has taken the first step against corruption. Get your spokespersons ( if you wish to remain silent) to elaborate on the virtue of the first step- a small and yet a giant step.

·         Demand implicit compliance to your orders. Ministers and bureaucrats who fail to deliver should be decisively shown the door. This is the way schemes like NREGA and other Welfare schemes can be implemented without delay and corruption. Start showing the red eye when necessary to inculcate honest work ethics in your government. The Unique Identification ( Aadhar) is already in place and with Micro finance Bill to enable opening accounts with MFIs by the hitherto financially excluded group (numbering nearly 600 millions), it is possible to achieve financial inclusion to a large section.

·         Make Right to Education and Right to Health a top priority. Engage Public-private partnership in their implementation. It is easy to frame policies, but difficult to make them a reality. Get your Secretaries and administrative officials to ensure implementation.  This means Zero tolerance of corruption, unethical work practices and tardy implementation of government policies.

·         Better roads, schools with good infrastructure, water, power and sanitation should be given top priority rather than acting on inane issues like cartoons in textbooks.  Good roads connecting the cities to the villages should be taken on a war footing so that village produces can easily reach the cities and boost up small scale industries.

·         Don’t be afraid of seeking referendum on controversial issues- like the formation of Telengana and other new states. There is no point looking dithery and deferring action. Whatever be the outcome of the referendum, accept it as it is the collective majority that decides.

·         Teachers in classrooms, doctors and nurses in all health centres( and not just city hospitals), babus of all cadres in their respective desks will ensure better governance. Get your IAS officers to be in districts and taluks rather than seek plum postings at the capital secretariats.

·         As stated earlier, the fulfillment of the promises made in 2009 should transform the dark clouds into life nourishing rain.

·         In foreign policy matters specially related to Pakistan, remember Polonius’ advice to Laertes:

                                                   Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;

Our gentleness and politeness often get mistaken for weakness and timidity. As the PM of a nation of 1.2 billions, stand up to be counted and speak the truth. Without sounding cocky as the King of spades, be bold to call a spade a spade.

·         Last, but not the least, you have an admirable team with a really enviable triumvirate in Pranab Mukherjee, Chidambaram and Antony. There are many good and intelligent ministers in your cabinet. Exhort them to work unitedly. Ask them not to look for short gain and back out of taking bold and even unpleasant decisions. With your scholarly understanding of how economics works in the international market, explain to them the virtues of administering a short pain that will in the long run prove a big gain.  You have to groom one of your competent ministers- young or old- to take over the reins from you. Someone who is honest, well educated, suave and polite like you and at the same time firm, decisive and articulate. There are quite a few in your present cabinet and it is time, you tell your party to free itself of the cow and calf symbol and look for the right person schooled in realpolitik and understands the aspirations of a new India.

          Mahatma Gandhi wrote :  “There are moments in your life when you must act  even though you cannot carry your best friends with you. The 'still small voice' within you must always be the final arbiter when there is a conflict of duty.” PM, kindly listen to the still small voice within you.
 

Sound and Fury Signifying Something

                                         Sound and Fury Signifying Something

By the time this article sees the light of the day a lot of words would have flown through the bridges of Media- the social, print and electronic expressing disgust and outrage that our elected representatives lack both humour and tolerance towards criticism. The clamour for withdrawal of toons from text books has provoked vexatious response from many who wish to be counted one among intellectuals known for their modern, liberal and catholic views. Since they are not the subject of the cartoons, they enjoy humour at the expense of Parliamentarians who, they feel are many notches below their intellectual level.  Is this a smug sign of intellectual tolerance or intellectual arrogance?

What does a cartoon signify? It is basically intended as quiggly drawing for satire, caricature and humour in a newspaper or magazine especially about politics or current events. Shankara Pillai, the doyen among political cartoonists exposed many of the top leaders for their hypocrisy and doublespeak while Laxman’s Common Man as the silent spectator of the politics and current events is a welcome visitor in every home.  The newspaper cartoons of the day are not frowned upon by our politicians (with the odd exception of Mamata Di). The political class that is the cartoonist’s delight has accepted the daily dosage of contempt, cynicism and ridicule in the cartoons . So why this hullaballoo now on 40 year old toons in texts?

The sharp riposte of our ‘intelligentsia’ to the Parliamentarians’ criticism of cartoons in school text books does not factor in the latter’s broad acceptance of newspaper cartoons.  But text books meant for schools are different from newspapers. Cartoons that are essentially satirical reflect the bias if not the ideology of the cartoonist. Everyone agrees that a single cartoon speaks more than a thousand words.  Professor Yadav’s defence that the text toons enhance students’ perception, if they are viewed along with the text is in fact adding grist to politicians’ disapproval. If adult politicians do not read but view the cartoons in isolation, can we expect the 14-16 year adolescents to read and understand the text that enlarge upon the cartoon’s message? These text books are not meant only for elite students who go to elite urban schools where the reading of the cartoons is a joint intellectual exercise by the teacher and the taught. With rampant teacher absenteeism in a large number of government schools, students uninitiated into the art of reading anything including textbooks, will view and interpret the cartoons wrongly and develop cynicism and disrespect for politicians and democracy.  Yadav says since students view cartoons on the net and in the newspapers, it will facilitate their understanding if cartoons are re-printed in the books along with explanatory texts. This argument assumes that children are avid readers of newspapers and internet news and have developed sensibility to view satirical cartoons. Yadav clarifies that the texts are intended only to correct the misreading of the mocking and irresponsible images inherent in a few cartoons. But how many even among the urban elite students read the newspapers (except for sportspage and Page3) or even look at the cartoons and form their opinions about serious political issues? It is no doubt a laudable effort on the part of the writers to write textbooks that may counter the wrong impressions the children may pick up from the world of cartoons. But reproducing those cartoons in the texts and developing a new strategy of cartoon-in- education will only deepen their half baked biases instead of offering them newer insights into the issues under discussion.

Cartoons are for mature people who have learnt to distinguish between reading and viewing, between interpretations and misrepresentations so as to be wary of monumental optics that gives a macroscopic perspective to something that is ordinary. They are not for impressionable youth who have not been sufficiently educated to read between the quiggly lines. Cartoons in newspapers enhance our mature, political and intellectual awareness while cartoons in textbooks are more likely to distract the young minds from pursuit of serious study.

There can be no neutrality in cartoons and it can result in narrow minded approach to issues if the students fail to read them correctly. Moreover cartoons cannot be without human content. Preoccupation with human content- offensive or not- is incompatible with serious reading. This concept is well illustrated by the Spanish writer Ortega Y Gasset. If one looks at the garden through a window, the eye directs its vision towards the garden, disregarding the window. One can also disregard the garden and detain the vision at the window and view a confused mass of colour.  “Hence to see the garden and the window pane are two incompatible operations which exclude each other because they require different adjustments.”

All this sound and fury need not be for nothing if NCERT reviews the cartoons, delete the offensive ones and retain those which are interesting, informative and add value to students’ perception.

The 13th President of India

‘                                       The 13^th president of India

The countdown has begun for the nomination of the 13^th President of India. 13 is not a taboo number for Indians as it signifies the ushering in of a change of guard in family affairs after a 12 day period of loss and mourning. India that has in the last few years witnessed unprecedented moral and ethical demise needs a new dynamic leader at the helm of affairs. It is anybody’s guess if there will be a consensus among political parties for the new Indian President cutting across all ideological (or even whimsical) barriers. Quite a few names are being circulated by different political groups (and by the omniscient Media) just to test the waters before the nomination is announced unanimously or for a contest.

But amidst all the buzz going in the Capital, it is unfortunate that no one talks about what qualities are required to be the President of India. The names that are in circulation are limited to half a dozen known political figures - which begs the question about our political chicanery in terms of minority, caste, religion, gender and de facto domicile(from North or South or East or West of India). With the exception of Pranab Mukherjee, all the other names in circulation have been suggested on the basis of some or other discrimination as cited above. Then there is a voice rooting for an ‘apolitical’ person to be the head of state of the sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic Republic of India.  The meaning of ‘apolitical’ is to remain politically neutral. It sounds good in theory, but how can a President remain neutral  and bereft of political ideology (left, right or centre) when  all of the authority vested in the President is in practice exercised by the Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister  (although Article 53 of the Constitution states that the President can exercise his powers directly)? Can the government function if the president and the party in power are at loggerheads on every issue that requires the President’s assent?  The term ‘apolitical’ has the underpinning of political ignorance and falsity. The President must have political awareness and conviction, but in the discharge of his Presidential duties, he has to remain politically correct and unbiased and function in the largest interest of the people. This brings us to the question about what qualities are needed by the President to hold such a position of trust and leadership. 

This is best answered by the four ‘outsiders’ whose names have been floated (by the media, I suppose) and who will ultimately end up as outsiders to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. These four-Gopala Krishna Gandhi, Ratan Tata, Narayanmurthy and Sreedharan- have established themselves in their respective fields as outstanding individuals and are driven by a passion for service without compromising on ethical and moral principles.

Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi on the paternal side and Rajaji on the maternal side has impeccable credentials as a connoisseur of art, literature and culture. He is a distinguished Padma awardee who has donned different hats as a diplomat, a prolific author, an administrator and Governor with consummate ease and finesse. His statement about the stalemate on Lokpal Bill “The passage of the Bill should not be seen as a victory or defeat for any particular party. Parliamentarians should treat this as an opportunity to serve the nation” is a proof of his faith in and commitment to Parliamentary ideals. It is an endorsement of the supremacy of the Parliament, of the responsibility of the Parliamentarians to fine tune the Bill and the need for political consensus on such a vital issue.

Ratan Tata, a name synonymous with ‘the people’s car’ has committed himself to the aspirations of the common man. The proof of his reaching out to the aam admi is the Nano car that “encapsulates the dream of millions of Indians groping for a shot at urban prosperity"^.  Among the many awards that Ratan Tata has received are the Padma Vibhushan, KBE, First award for Responsible Capitalism and the Global Indian Award instituted by NASSCOM for Global Leadership. Educated at Cornell University, he has shown qualities of leadership, business and legal acumen, imagination, honesty and courage and above all compassion.

Narayanmurthy, an engineer and industrialist founded the Infosys, which has become the foundation for the huge success in IT services outsourcing from India. He is one of the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of modern India, known for his ethical management of corporate business.  Among the many laurels he has been bestowed with is his sharing the dais of Asian heroes with Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Dalai Lama who have brought about revolutionary changes in Asian history. He has demonstrated how “leadership is all about courage to dream big” and how to translate that dream into reality. 

Sreedharan , the Metro Man of India personifies commitment, integrity, resolve and responsibility to the society.  His work on various rail projects including the Delhi metro and the Konkan railways stand testimony to his belief that completing projects on time is social responsibility and seeing that public money is spent judiciously is moral responsibility. The four cardinal principles of work culture he has displayed all through his life — punctuality, integrity, professional commitment, social and moral responsibility are qualities of the highest form of leadership.

All the four, distinguished in scholarship, education, empathy and integrity have demonstrated a radically distinctive talent for leadership to bring in a transformation in the personal and professional ethics of all those who worked with them. They have firm faith in the potential of Indian men and women to be the Long Striders.  

Can we expect our politicians to leave aside their personal and party prejudices to look for a President who has faith in our people, in our Parliament, empathy and compassion, honesty and integrity, courage of conviction founded upon social and moral responsibility?  Can they seek a person of erudition and wisdom to bring back a humane society full of moral and intellectual concern for fellow beings?  Indian Republic today needs an active President who will lead the Parliamentarians to replace their present trend of packaging humanity into politics by packaging politics into humanity.

If the ruling party nominates a person of such excellence, it will gain back its credibility and confidence that was manifest in 2009 when it was voted back to power.