Neeraj Gupta
Winston Churchill once rightly said “The price of greatness is responsibility.” We wouldn’t be wrong if in today’s scenario, the word “Accountability” is also added in Winston Churchill’s quote. Therefore, accountability and responsibility is the price that a nation must pay to achieve greatness. But the tragedy of India is the tragedy of waste – waste of national time, energy, manpower and waste of taxpayer’s money. Traditionally, India has always shied away from accountability and responsibility but a country cannot shy away from the consequences of dodging its responsibilities. Therefore, it is high time for India to wake up from its deep slumber and realise the damage that is being caused by lack of accountability and responsibility in the system.
We live in the largest democracy of the world, but we live in a hazard. Democracy involves the co-operation of all citizens in the active work of running the country. Democracy means payment to the nation, not only in taxes but in time and thought. When new dangerous tremors are working their way through the subsoil of our national life, it is only the character and dedication of young generation that can ensure the survival of independence that our forefathers achieved by laying down their lives. But freedom cannot be inherited in the bloodstream. Each generation will have to defend it and fight for it – then alone will it survive to be passed on to the next generation. In this regard, Justice Felix Frankfurter has rightly said, “Democracy is always a beckoning goal, not a safe harbour. For freedom is an unremitting endeavour, never a final achievement”. Therefore, young generation can play a vital role in ensuring that the freedom of India remains sacrosanct by demanding more accountability.
The most odious creatures of modern world are professional politicians and India is full of them. Our nation has already paid heavily for its folly in leaving the governance of this country entirely to them. To save our country from these professional politicians, following five steps should be taken urgently:
* No political party should be recognized by election commission unless the party is willing to maintain audited accounts of all its receipts and expenditures. At present, the greatest source of corruption in public life is the total immunity of political parties from accountability.
* Some minimum qualifications should be set for those who seek election to the parliament. One needs years of training to run a machine or to build a bridge or to assemble parts at the assembly line but to steer the lives and destinies of more than a billion Indians, a politician is not required to have any education at all. This is a paradox and of all the countries, this paradox can be found only in India.And it is this paradox which is hindering India’s growth by pushing India on the backfoot.
* PrimeMinister should be allowed to select a minority of ministers from outside the parliament, who wouldn’t be required to get into parliament at any time. The advantage of such system will be that it will enable the Prime Minister to have in his cabinet, some of the best talent available in the country. When government roped in Nandan Nilekani in a cabinet ranking position, for heading Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), it was a small step in this direction. More such men of great ability and wide vision should be brought in to take positions of responsibility at the centrallevel as well as at the state level.
* Likewise in France, a system should be established in India whereby a Member of Parliament, upon his appointment to the cabinet, should be required to resign from his seat in the parliament. In this way, a minister will be able to concentrate on the task of governing the country and all his energies would not be dissipated in politicking and discharging his time consuming duties as an MP.
* There should be a provision for sending representatives to parliament who would not be elected on the basis of voting but would be elected byprofessional bodies, universities, minorities and other significant sections. This would enable their voice to be heard in parliament.
If the corrupt and inefficientadministration is to be toned up, it can only be done by ministers with integrity, ability and knowledge who are well versed in the art of management.If poverty is to be banished, it can only be done by men of vision and by practical understanding of the ways in which the real wealth of the nation is created. Our bureaucracy without purposeful leadership at ministerial level operates only as a guarantee of social inertia. The irony of India is that our government keeps the nation’s most outstanding men out, standing. As a result nobody expects politics to be synonymous with ethics. From 1950s to 1980s, we had many eminent men in public life who were every inch a gentleman. From 1980s to 2000s we had many public figures who were every alternate inch a gentleman. Unfortunately in 2015, we have an unacceptably large number of politicians who are no inch a gentleman.
Today, these Member of Parliament have become like herds of sheep driven away by the party orders in any direction chosen by the party high command.No mature nation can afford that a Member of Parliament or State Legislature, mortgage his vote, surrender his judgement and sell his conscience to his party. But alas, this is what is happening in India today. Another area where these MPs need to be directly accountable to public is Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). Just as we have quarterly performance reports of companies and some government departments, there should be some periodic performance report of MP/MLA-LAD scheme’s funds and it should be subjected to social audit by making it available to public on the websites of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.
The contrast between the culture of ancient India and that of modern India seems sufficient to disprove Darwin’s Theory of Evolution upwards. Recent happenings in India have moved us many steps backward. There are four crises which India is facing today and without resolving these crises, full accountability and responsibility can never be achieved. These four crises are as follows:
Crisis of Character
With our incredible progress, we have reached a stage where the only threat to a man is man himself. Man, today has worn a mask of selfishness which does not allow him to help fellow humans. Unfortunately, man today has lost its character.
A nation with a future has to be a nation with a character. Therefore, it is this character possessed by men of a particular nation, which helps a nation to grow. Only the men with unruffled character can bring accountability and responsibility to the system, which in-turn is vital for a nation to grow.
Crisis of Identity
How can India grow when almost every issue today boils down to caste? The poisonous weed of casteism has spread across the length and breadth of the country.We have enough religion to hate one another, but not enough to love one another. Another division which is holding India back is the division of states. Today we have a million Punjabis, a million Bengalisand a million Tamils – but very few Indians. The only known solvent of casteism and state based division is the change in national consciousness: Social intermingling and harmony among people from different castes, creed and states. Only when Indians can stand united, they can participate in the process of demanding accountability.
Crisis of Underutilization
Most of the economic ills of the country are the direct result of underutilization of human and material resources available in the country. There had been a clear failure in bringing the limitless economic potential of the country to fruition. There is a painful contrast between India’s tremendous potential and depressing reality. The situation will not improve until the nation has talented technocrats in government. When India became a republic, the citizens of India forgot that freedom was like alcohol – it must be taken in moderation. Today, we have discarded the old norms of discipline, decorum, dignity and decency. And all this has happened because of lack of accountability and responsibility in our country.
Crisis of Inadequacy
The country is facing an inadequacy of leadership and administration. We need men of great vision, integrity and honour to lead our country. Only these men can bring accountability and responsibility in our country and in our system. Today India needs in its leaders – the selflessness of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the revolutionary instincts of Subhas Chandra Bose, the young blood of Bhagat Singh, the fearlessness of Chandra Shekhar Azad, the perseverance of Lala Lajpat Rai and the wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi.
In conclusion, following steps should be taken to increase accountability and responsibility in India:
* First thing that should be done to increase accountability and responsibility is to bring younger people in public life. Our nation will get a new lease of life when younger people with well-equipped minds and with the ability to make a brighter career outside politics, take to public life as a matter of national service.
* The time has come when people of India must wrest the control from professional politicians and from political parties and insist upon men of knowledge, vision and character being chosen as candidates for election.
* There should be a “Citizen’s Council” in every constituency, consisting of impartial non-party individuals who would appraise the candidates and recommend the right ones to the voters.
* Indians must shed the divisive tendencies that split the voters on the lines of caste, creed and region. Only then accountability and responsibility can be achieved in the truest sense of these words.
* Indians must cast off the shackles of political feudalism. The best way to achieve this is by introducing Presidential form of government in India, which is better suited to Indian conditions than the cabinet system. There would then be no need to have the deadwood and undesirables as our ministers.
India can be brought back to its golden days provided the people of India break the tradition of being collectively foolish despite being individually intelligent. Only when people of India start participating in the process of demanding accountability, India can leverage its independence in true sense.
(The author is a Management Consultant working for the consulting arm of a Big 4 firm. The views expressed are personal.)
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