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Why is it that the government of India does not have any desire to implement selected recommendations for urgent administrative reforms? Surely, the challenges and excitement of being at the helm of governance of one billion plus people are to be able to deliver goods and services that no other government had attempted to do? It is that which will make one stand apart from the others and command the respect and admiration of the people of this benighted, neglected and exploited nation. We have a prime minister who does not have to ‘play’ politics or to pander to contentious political demands because he does not hail from any ‘constituency’ except one — that of the people of India. He can be candid about what motivates and inspires him. He can initiate what he stands for regardless of petty political consequences because the people of India will embrace all correctives from the government.
If the alliance partners and the disgruntled operators within the Congress dissuade him from doing what is correct, he should carry on regardless and win the support and admiration of Indians. Why did he get thwarted by politickers and manipulators, those men with superficial ideas? India is yearning for decisive action committed to rearranging the patterns of governance. The bureaucracy has, over the decades, got corroded. It has ceased to be the support system of this democracy. It has been corrupted by illegalities, in tandem with its ‘masters’ currying favour and forgetting the fundamental values and rules of administration. It is a profession that is no longer respected. The best and the brightest are no longer sitting for the IAS. Instead, failures and dropouts, looking to ‘make good’ without hard work or discipline, without commitment to build a better India, are taking over those spaces and determining our future.
Brand India
Sadly, the same seems to be happening at the political base. ‘Nothing to do, join politics’, seems to be the message and the reality. At the top, men and women from ‘political families’ have been put in senior positions, with some exceptions. There is nothing wrong with following the ‘family profession’ but it is imperative that the ‘family profession’ be developed to handle the changing realities of this new age of information. Connecting with the people at many different levels using the media and other means could change the priorities and make these people far more inclusive and sensible.
The political class in India does not ‘connect’ with any other class. It is utterly incestuous and therefore out of sync with the changes happening all around. It comes across as being ‘scared’ to deal with what is happening ‘outside of the box’. It cannot comprehend this new age that compels transparency and so has buried its head in sinking sand, deceiving itself by believing that the status quo will save it. It is suicidal to mark time and not to take the plunge.
This said, someone has to bell the cat and lead from the front. It has to be a person who has a passion to achieve what seems to be unachievable, and with a determination to break out of the constraints that have suffocated the political movement in this country. The fear of failure to deliver must be drowned in a gutter, if only to save India from an anarchy that could become very violent. Do we not have at least one leader who feels for the country? Are there no leaders who can compare with the founding fathers of this nation whose fire and dream continue to light our lives at dismal moments such as these? Nowhere on the political horizon can one see such a person. Playing politics and fiddling about buying and selling this and that do not make for innovative change and growth. Where is the luxury of ideas? Why is Luxury Brand India not being resurrected?
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