Shared Responsibility or Janata Darbar?

How much weight can you lift? If you are strong, you may lift 50-100 Kgs. Even Hossein Rezazadeh  of Iran who holds the world records for lifting weight could lift only  472 kgs. Now suppose you wish to lift a weight of a ton (1000 Kgs) or may be a hundred tons? If you commit the mistake of lifting the entire weight alone, you are likely to be totally crushed under the weight.

Yet any amount of weight can be lifted if you have the support of a large number of people and you have the powerful machines like cranes with you for assistance.

Sometimes, political leaders, in order to reach to the people try to lift the entire weight of the administration  on their shoulders which is other held by thousands of people in the Government.  Recently, Arvind Kejriwal government organized ‘janata durbar’ (public hearing) on the streets across the Delhi Secretariat where many thousands people gathered to submit their complaints to the Chief Minster directly. The result was a scene of utter chaos with uncontrollable crowds thronging the venue. The Chief Minister had to disappear on the advice of the Delhi Police, leaving his Cabinet colleagues to handle the swelling crowd. 

 Great works can never be performed by a single person. An old Hindi song says “Sathi hath badhana. Ek Akela Thak Jayega, Mil Kar Jor Lagana” (Friends extend your hands for support. One person will get tired. Let’s all work together).

However, in order to ensure many people to work together, you need trust. If you believe that other people are not trustworthy,  corrupt and inefficient; you can never take them along with you and perform great task. A Chief Minster (CM) is supported by a large number of officers and staff and many of them are competent and willing to work with the CM for the welfare of the people.

It would be better that each person is made responsible for his job and each Head of Department must take responsibility of his/her department. They may conduct public meetings every day or every week to listen to grievance of the people. They may be directed to solve the problems within stipulated time of say 15 days- 1 month. If the problems are not solved within the period, the aggrieved public can appear before the public meeting of the concerned Minister. When even Minister is not able to solve the problem, then the citizen must approach in the Janata Darbar of the Chief Minister. In the process, it should be ensured that the officers/staff who deliberately delay the work or refuse to do the work as per the law are punished severely.

A prudent approach is required to solve the problems of people, which is enormous. It may be dangerous to increase the expectation of people to a level which can’t be met by any human effort.

Why Politics is more Complicated than the Rocket Science?

"To run the government is not rocket science. If you have clear intentions, you will have solutions to solve the problems. Only if you are not one of the beneficiaries, you solve problems." said Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) recently.

He is not alone in thinking that politics is an easy task. Apparently, politics looks so simple that even an illiterate and uneducated think that he can run the government better than the present regime. However, the illusion is broken when even the most difficult person has to administer the people who have elected them to be their ruler.

You can not know the people accurately unless you know yourself clearly and accurately. Knowing the self is the most difficult job as J Krishnamurthy,  one of the greatest philosopher of twentieth century said, “You know, it is comparatively easy to go to the moon and beyond-as they have proved. But it is astonishingly difficult to go within (to know the self)”. Hence most of us do not know either ourselves well nor the people whom we are going to govern and hence fail miserably.

In reality the running of Government in a democratic is far more complex than the rocket science. It is because rocket scientists know the laws of nature which are eternal and does not change with every rocket while men changes their colour every moment and there is no law that governs all men. They are not same inside what they seems from outside. They say something and do something.

It is for this reason that when the greatest scientist Albert Einstein when offered the Presidency of Israel humbly refused saying, "I know a little of science, but nothing about men."

Come to think of the difficulty of governance in democracies like India. Leaders have to go door to door to poor people, middle class people and beg for their votes to "serve them" and promised them all they want in exchange of their votes. Then they have to rule the same people.

Once they are elected to power by the people, they have to change side and become from "Aam Aadmi" to "Khas Aadmi". Many of voters may be living in unauthorised colonies, many would be defaulter in payment of their bills, many are unemployed, and many are temporary employees who want to have permanent jobs. A politician has often taken so much credit/responsibility from the people for their vote, that fulfilling those may take a lifetime. But people have no patience. They all want their promises to be fulfilled immediately. 

Those people think that they have purchased the leader by their vote and made the Chief Minster (CM) and now he must serve them irrespective of his compulsion. How can he now take action against them and put them behind the bars for violation of law which he himself defied along with the people at the time of agitation against the then government?

It is extremely difficult to play the role of both servants of the people as well their ruler which is inevitable in democracies.

Politics, is thus far more complex and difficult than rocket science.

Why Security is Needed for Leaders?

In the year 2004 while doing my PhD, I visited Infosys Campus in Bangalore. What strike me most was the security arrangements there. The Security In-charge made a photo ID Card, talked to the GM -HR, did thorough search etc. before allowing me into the campus of Infosys. In every building the photo ID card was must for everyone. 

When I met the GM-HR, I asked why the security in Infosys is so high-even higher than the security of North/South Block where so many top ministers including PM sits. He explained that they have so many well known people like Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani etc who were working there in the campus and moving freely in the campus with other employees. They are their most valuable assets for the company. If someone harms them or kill them, the company is ruined as stock of the company shall be reduced to less them half in no time and their shareholders and nation shall lose thousands of crores rupees.

We have learned the dictum that prevention is better than cure. The number of lives that good security of the leaders (or officers, businessman, actors) saved is not known and counted and remain unknown to the common people. In our hatred for the political leaders, we have forgotten how much security is important for them and the lives of their family. A good security to important people helps them taking bolder decisions which may influence many vested interests adversely.

Once you have chosen or become a VIP/Extraordinary person (Like PM/CM), unfortunately you have to lose few of the privileges of an ordinary men like anonymity and moving freely without getting noticed.
You can’t be ordinary and Extraordinary at the same time.

Security is not a luxury but the cost the leaders and celebrities have to pay for being public personalities.

Why People Hate Lal-Batti on Government Vehicles?

There was an army jawan who was in the habit of getting drunk regularly. He faced suspensions and other punishments but did not improve and his drinking habit got worsened. Everyone gave up.

One day a kind hearted Army officer tried to reform him and he called him to his office and said very kindly, "Dear Friend, you have suffered so much in your life due to your habit of drinking. If you can only give up, you can one day become a Colonel."

The Jawan saluted the officer smartly and said, "I know that Sir. But when I am drunk, I do not consider myself less than a General."

Such is the power of intoxication which blinds men from seeing the truth. Men are strange specie. They get intoxicated by not only alcohol (which any other specie would become) but they can get intoxicated by such symbols of state like Uniform, Medals and Lal Batti (Red-light) on the top of the vehicle. Since these things are not allowed to ordinary citizen, these symbols become invaluable. People can give their lives for such symbols which distinguishes them from others. They feel superior.

What is the status of a Government officer in our country? Even the top-most Government officer (Cabinet Secy.) gets less salary than many newly appointed IIM Graduates. The top salary of CEO of India would be 100 times more than the cabinet salary.

Yet even the best minds often try to come to Civil Services and in Politics for the lure of this external symbol which represents power. When they sit in a old Ambassador with Lal Batti, they  do not feel inferior than a businessman who is sitting in BMW costing ten times more. They can talk to them as equal without feeling inferior. Thus a thousand Rs Lal Batti enhances the value of car many fold.

In reality,  the contempt of people for lal batti is not due to the lal batti but for the man who sits in the car with lal batti. If bureaucrats/politicians perform and respected in society, lal batti (red-becons) may become a symbol of respect and admiration. No one raise any finger when (police) vehicles are fitted with red lights in Western Countries. If bureaucrats are hated they shall be so even after they have no lal batti. They will also not become more efficient once lal bati is gone.

All that Glitters is not Gold

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fulfilled yet another promise of starting an Anti-corruption Helpline. They are also training people to carry out sting-operations themselves and help catching the corrupt officials. So they have empowered  1.5 Crores people of Delhi as Anti-corruption inspectors. No doubt, this move has been applauded by media and by common people alike. This is a popular move and we are a democratic society which is a game of number. Yet, everything that is ‘popular” is not ‘right’ because if majority of the people of any society  would have been right, they would have been happy and successful. We must, therefore, wait and see if such an action is indeed a wise move.   

Sometimes, our children who do not focus on study as they enjoy playing, spending time on Facebook and internet, talking to their friends on phone and many other activities. So when their performance dips, we are quite angry with them. We want them to improve for their own benefit. We often shout at them, criticize them for their poor performance and scold them before others including their friends. The result is that whenever the children see their parents, they open their book and pretend to study while his mind is elsewhere. Parents are happy as they see their child studying. Yet his performance dips further and that unnerve the parents. Now they know that the child is only acting to study. They ridicule him, threaten him and shout at him even more. They even punish the children by withholding their pocket money, cancelling their picnics and even physically beating them. Yet that does not improve the performance of child.

Gradually the communication between the child and the parent is broken. Then one day the child rebels and tell his parents that he shall not study and that they can do whatever they want.

We all know this and hence we handle our children with love and care.  We try to understand them, argue with them and persuade them to do the right work.  We show patience as we know the change is gradual. Punishment is used only as a last resort only when everything else fails.

The present approach of AAP Govt is likely to result in reduction of the instances of bribe taking and may even ensure their coming on time to avoid punishment. Yet can it insure that they work what they are paid to do? Can it ensure that RTO inspector give the driving license rather than rejecting him many times in the test? Can it ensure that police would curb the crime and nab the criminals which involves risk of their own life?

Their anger against the government may have to be borne by the citizen only by their legal but unfair judgments.

What if the work itself stops and Government officers strictly go by the rules which are so archaic that one can always find reject to say “No” rather than “Yes”.  

Can you replace all government officials?

Can you replace your erring child with a child who is more disciplined?