The tragedy of commons is nowhere more visible than on our Indian streets. In his book, Games Indians Play, V. Raghunathan remarks that Indians are privately smart and publicly dumb. I have often myself manoeuvred the chaotic systems in our country in ways that are commonly and privately “accepted” but not politically and publicly acceptable – be it the footpath driving to avoid the maddening traffic, the throwing of handkerchief in an overcrowded public transport system, the odd greasing of palms to bypass the never-ending application process or even calling up a friend’s uncle to book a seat in the upcoming cricket match. If and when confronted by one of our morally upright Shaktimaan like friends, we say (we don’t say Sorry Shaktimaan), “This is how everyone works here”, or “Government should figure out a way to provide better”, or in the best case, “oh, I was in a hurry”.
As a socialist nation, Indian since its independence has lifted millions out of poverty. It worked to a large extent as a welfare state. In 1991, it was no longer viable for us to remain a closed economy. With the economic liberalization came newer challenges, more complex problems and increased liabilities across the board. All in all, government as a system, as a structure and as an idea has surpassed time and space. It has also delivered time and again with a reach that no other system can boast of. With a direct or indirect reach to every single person within its territory, governments play a critical role in every sector whether we like it or not. Unfortunately, it does not receive the same support it ideally should. Does it need support?
India’s population has crossed 130 crores while the number of IAS officers (supposed administrators of the nation) is around 4,800, which comes up to one administrator for about 27 lakh people. Imagine you owned a company with 27 lakh people. What would you need at your disposal to even keep people engaged? Hindustan Times ran a story in August 2017 about the lack of doctors in the country. According to the article, there are 10,000 plus people for every doctor in the country and 2,000 plus people for every government hospital bed. The country in total has little over 10 lakh doctors of which only 10% work in the public sector. Were you angered at the Gorakhpur incident last year? Good to hear that. Governments aren’t working? Obviously, no?
India’s total budget in 2018 was over 23 lakh crores, its expenditure was estimated to be over 29 lakh crores. Basic math tells us that outflow more than inflow is loss (results in debt in this case). Since decades, we have been in debt and we will be for a long time. Reduce the outflow? Almost 50% of the expenditure goes into paying salaries to government employees. Reduce the number? Really? Isn’t government job considered aspirational to many? Isn’t a cushy IAS tag motivational to most? Also, we already discussed how low the workforce already is. The real trick with our budget is to manage with what we have. How can we do it best? Well, firstly we have about 30% of our population below poverty line. Now it is highly debated whether it is 30% or 22% or 25% and what not. Irrespective, it is considerably large. Women form almost 50% of our population and yet their contribution to our economy is less than 17% according to a McKinsey report. The same report estimates an increase of 16% in our GDP should these women start working and contributing to our economy. Government should do more to bring them up? Okay, let us spend some more money on it in terms of schemes, programmes etc., to uplift their social and economic status. Now, this goes on and on for other sections of the population too. What is left? The Economic Survey tabled in 2016, said that over 1 lakh crore worth of subsidies, about 40% of the total is misdirected to the rich. What is left, is whatever there is currently!
Where the hell does one even begin to stop this vicious cycle then?
In the past 4 years of my working life, I have come to understand but one thing. We as a nation need to really wake up. Wake up, not in the sense of open our eyes but actually get out of our beds and dirty our hands. For far too long have we been bystanders who shout slogans and light candles. As important as activism is, it leads to nothing if there’s no action. Yes, many of us are now taking to the social sector but there too I see a great amount of hesitation in working in/with/for the government. While everybody “understands” and “accepts” that we cannot wish away the government in the development space, very few of us actually care to take it forward from there. If the government is the biggest influencer in the space, why not make it move? I have met hundreds of people who talk about ensuring sustainability for their projects by making something part of the government process/policy/rules. They cry victory as soon as they see that their project has been now “accepted” by the government. How many of us can actually hand to heart claim that our project will be delivered at top quality forever (or as long as “sustainability” can go).
What we as general public think is government, is actually not. Let me try and elucidate.
Consider this question, what is a government? When someone says, “Government is responsible”, or “government hasn’t approved the proposal”, what does it mean? Who or what is this government? Is it the Chief Minister? Cabinet? The legislature? The political party in power? The bureaucracy? The district collector? Sarpanch maybe?
Consider another question, how does a new policy become the norm? When someone says, “Government has approved my proposal”, how did it happen? Somebody has put it on record, yes? Who? Where? How? When?
Juxtapose your level of surety in these answers with the ones for similar ones in the private sector. Consider any private limited company as an example and ask yourself similar questions.
This brings me to the core of this blog, I have realized that the majority of our population lives in oblivion when it comes to the functioning of the government. Most of us haven’t even made attempts to understand it. Why? Because it is dirty, slow, massive, corrupt and yet all of us expect the same system to have the road in front of our house cleaned and the police officer at the signal not catch us when we are “in a hurry”.
I believe that we are now at a stage where it is critical that as a population, we understand and take ownership of our government. The first step in that direction would be to work with/in/for it. Voting twice a decade isn’t a democracy. That is an election, which yes is a major part of the democracy but isn’t the only one. A democracy functions, as well as its people, do on a daily basis. If on a daily basis people are lethargic and ignorant, so will its democracy be. Why does one see most things become active only when there’s an election coming up? Because that is when everyone is demanding, asking, discussing etc. Why can’t this engagement go on through the year? Have you met your MLA, Corporator etc., even once? Do you know who the DC is in your district? FYI, he/she has the power to call the Indian Army into your beloved town. He/she also has the power to shut down your internet.
All in all, we need to stop talking about governance, politics, judiciary and start doing something about it. Work with it, mold it, and get it to deliver. And this is not child’s play. Yes, the government is massive and there is a lot of chaos but if not now, when and if not us, who?
How? Now we are asking the right question. There are multiple ways. You can do one of the three when it comes to government. You can work
2. For it - involves providing government bodies with services and/or deliver services on behalf of it. For instance, Tata Consultancy Services is working for the government at Passport Seva Kendras.
3. With it – involves governance consulting, joining multilateral agencies (UNICEF, ILO, and the likes), policy research etc.
Each one of these roles come with their own areas of influences and limitations. It is a choice one has to make as they would anyway when it comes to picking a job. Above all, let us first begin by being open and exploring these possibilities, they aren’t all that difficult to understand and work with.
The alternative? Plato once said, “The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.”
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