Over the next few weeks, we will begin to ramp up an initiative that has been in “stealth mode” for the last few weeks. This new idea is “इंदौर-PAC”. “PAC” stands for “Parivartan Aur Chetana” . Or if you prefer, “People for Awareness and Change“.

Together with the “Sone ki Chidiya“ movement, इंदौर-PAC is the next defining phase in my activism and the next logical step in the journey that began many years ago…

We are still putting the building blocks together but the broad skeleton is now in place. We hope to make इंदौर-PAC the nodal organisation in Indore when it comes to governance related activities and civic matters. We hope to make it the hub of an informed & active citizenry – and a successful model of how voters and citizens can interact, work with and collaborate with local government & elected representatives to come up with solutions to a range of developmental challenges – be it public transport, water, roads or deficiencies in civic development of specific localities.  Our objectives include (among others):

• promoting and sustaining good governance practices and policies
• promoting a good quality of life for all citizens of Indore city
• promoting integrity and transparency in all arms of the government

And our planned activties will involve

• Checking of Voters List data for completeness and integrity
• Comparison of Party Manifesto’s with reference to specific issues
• Proposals and ideas for development in Indore
• Encouraging initiatives like http://ipaidabribe.com/ which we believe will help in sensitizing the bureaucracy towards corruption involved in day-to-day administrative and civic activities
• etc.

इंदौर-PAC is distinguished in one important way from other fledgling political or developmental efforts. We will consciously stay focused on “solutions” rather than problems – and our style will be collaborative instead of confrontational when it comes to addressing the governance and development challenges in Indore. Ideologically, we are strongly aligned with the “Sone ki Chidiya” movement.

While most of our activities/efforts will be on the ground in Indore, there are many tasks for which we can do with some help. Please do let me know if any of you have the time to volunteer for this so I can include you on our Google group.

And pl do share with your friends, family or colleagues from Indore so that they too can participate, share their ideas and make their voice heard on matters that are going to affect their city.

We are in the process of setting up the legal entity, opening a bank account & other such things. But the initial work has begun – including the soft launch of our facebook page! It is time to roll up our sleeves now, once again!

P.S. Pl note I am travelling intensively over the next few days so there may be some delay in responding to and/or moderating your comments.. Thanks for your patience and support, as always.

Before I tell you the answer, here is a story. A few days back while driving on the Indore bypass, I noticed a strange thing. At the approach to an adjoining village, I noticed not one but two speed-breakers. I also noticed a zebra crossing – and there may well have been a traffic light too. While Indians excel at having multiple speed-breakers at all sorts of unexpected places, the 2 speed-breakers on a not-so-busy stretch of the bypass were puzzling. I could not stop thinking about it through the rest of the day. Late evening, the pieces finally fell in place.

This is what must have happened (is my guess): When the bypass was constructed, the villagers suddenly found themselves being placed right in harm’s way, thanks to the speeding traffic. An obvious answer was a zebra crossing (since there would not be too many villagers criss-crossing the whole day). Of course in India, zebra crossings are a joke. Forget humans, even a zebra would think twice before venturing to cross one. Realising that this was not really helping and no car or truck would stop for the villagers who wished to cross to the other side, the government must have installed a traffic signal.

Now, in most parts of India, a traffic signal on a heavy traffic road without a policeman (or two) in attendance is simply a light that alternates between red and green. It has very little meaning beyond that. Contempt for niceties such as traffic signals and traffic laws is endemic across India – best illustrated in this recent experience of Delhi Police: “Cameras set up to monitor traffic movement at select parts of the city revealed 4500 violations within a distance of 400 metres, in a span of mere 8 hours” - that is more than 560 violations every hour within half-a-kilometre!

What explains this contempt? The fact that there are no consequences and the fact that “rule of law” is a phrase without teeth. No wonder the zebra crossing and the traffic light proved ineffective in slowing the traffic. The government must have then decided to add a speed-breaker. That should have worked. Or so you would think.

Within weeks of the speed breaker being put in place, the flow of traffic had created a nice detour along the side of the speed-breaker – and the trucks and cars were almost back to their usual speed.  In desperation, the bright guys in urban planning added a second speed breaker – within a close distance of the first one. And that is how this small village at the edge of the bypass in Indore not only got a zebra crossing, but also a traffic light and two speed-breakers – all because of a “band-aid approach” to the fundamental problem of unenforceability of the rule of law.

Back in my school days, we learnt that the rule of law must always be respected. And violating it can have severe consequences. 30 years later, I am wiser. The “rule of law” in India exists only in text-books. Partly because the “enforcers” are busy with something else – usually “protecting” a VVIP. How many of you knew that while there is just 1 cop for 355 citizens in Punjab, there are 3 cops for each VIP in the state?!

Instead of ensuring that those who violate traffic signs and zebra crossings pay a stiff penalty, out hard-working, lowly-paid cops are busy protecting VVIPs – including billionaires who can easily afford a small army.

Why?

Because the “law” does not allow a billionaire to have guards with weapons more sophisticated than .12 bore rifles! So how does our hard-working billionaire protect herself/himself against baddies out to get her/him? S/he requests the government to allow her/him to hire security guards with AK-47s, right?.

“No way”, says our Sarkari Babu. “The law does not allow you to keep an AK-47. Only ISI agents, certain Bollywood stars and misguided youth are allowed such weapons…”. The nervous billionaire, now seriously worried, pleads with the Babu, “Sir, Kuch to karo..”

“Accha..aapke liye thoda adjust kar lete hain. We cannot change the law but we will do one better. We shall offer you Z-category security!”

The “band-aid approach” at work again!  At the heart of the saga around Z-category security, the zebra crossing, the utter contempt for rules and the unenforceability of laws lies one thing – a broken system. A broken system in which there is no fear of consequences, a broken system in which there is no “rule of law”; a broken system in which the government finds it easier to offer Z-category security than to ensure policemen on the street; a broken system which finds it easier to circumvent a law than to amend it. A broken system in which it is easier to cover the wound than go for chemo-therapy.

This broken system is the common link between double speed-breakers in Indore and the Z-category security for VVIPs. Next time someone comes to you to seek your vote or “support”, please ask them what have they done to ensure you and your family can remain safe – and how many policemen are protecting their own family – at your expense.  Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

* The use of the term “band-aid” and “band-aid approach” in this post is not intended to damage or cast aspersions on the “Band-Aid brand” or reputation of the “Band-Aid brand” products. It has been used in a generic sense to describe a temporary fix.

Somewhat Related: Rs 386 crores, 5 people and some “special” security  

Cross-posted at ToI Blogs

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*** Interview Begins (edited for brevity) ***

Q. What is your stance towards economic reforms, incl. FDI in Retail?

I am pro-economic reforms. But there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ here…Reforms that worked in other economies might need substantial changes before implementing in India.

…There is one sector which has been generally left without much reform – Agriculture. Labour from the agriculture and other rural sectors are moving to urban areas for employment opportunities. Retail FDI in agriculture especially, agri-business, could provide the incentive to farmers to go back to their farms and to improve productivity by using new and scientific farming methods. With a considerable percentage of produced food being wasted, packaged food industry needs to grow 100 folds now. Large inflow of investment would in turn force an improvement in infrastructure and in the quality of products. To ensure that local producers are not affected, the Government must ensure through policy that the retails giants only source local products from within the local economy and include a price-control and anti-hording mechanism. But arguments against FDI is that local retailers, small-time traders will lose their market in the price wars that retail giants can unleash by accessing low-priced products from the world market and by employing sophisticated marketing tactics. Another sector also fears repercussions from FDI in retail. Many of the displaced labor from manufacturing and from agriculture that now live in cities are self-employed in the retail service sector. Foreign retailers could push this unorganised sector into unemployment.

Let me write few sentences of other key sectors needing reforms. Before FDI in retail, there is an urgent need to reform our manufacturing sector. We need to grow our production capacity and capabilities to meet sourcing standards of retail giants. Opening up of defense equipment manufacture is also required. This would generate employment and has direct effect on defense expenditures. FDI in higher education is a need of the hour too. We need quality and quantity of higher education universities which will boost innovation.

Q. What is your position on campaign finance? Corruption in elections/vote-rigging?

Campaign financing needs to be more transparent. There are many good people in politics who need money to contest an election. We can’t be in a position where only rich can practically contest elections. I am building my campaign on micro-donations from general public with regular publishing of detailed expenditures in my website. Please visit my website (http://www.shanthaladamle.com/) for more details. I need more support from people like you.

In general, there is a need of electoral reform of which financing is a big piece. Other current key issue with election corruption is ‘paid news’. ..Candidates like me and parties like Loksatta need to work hard to spread the awareness about clean political candidates and to motivate people to exercise their franchise.

With the efforts of Loksatta, laws have been amended to regulate fund-raising by political parties during elections. As a result, within the boundaries of law, parties can raise funds from individuals and institutions and these donations are entitled to income tax exemption.

..There are still problems with mismanagement of voters’ lists which prevents citizens from voting and they need to be addressed. The bigger problem now is about ‘paid news’. It is a much bigger monster to tackle as fourth pillar of democracy itself is into dirty practices. I believe transparency of expenditures and a crowd-sourced vigilant mechanism of news-monitoring by election commission would check this problem.

Q. What are your views on reservations in education, jobs, promotions, private sector (and reservations on the basis of caste, religion, socio-economic measures?

Reservations are a necessity for some sections of our society if we want to set right the imbalance of centuries of subjugation. But, a better system needs to be put in place because not all the downtrodden sections of our society have benefitted from the present reservation system. The most backwards classes and castes need to be provided with access to good school and college education. Beyond this, training and employment opportunities should be improved and increased for the most downtrodden. Having said this, there is also a need to check undue benefits of reservations to households who do not need. I do not support repeated reservation for the creamy-layer.

…Unfortunately, the reservation issue is used by politicians to pacify different communities with an eye on vote banks. Instead, the quality of resources and opportunities offered to these communities should be addressed. ..To ensure that the balance is maintained in our society, reservations should taper off over time.

India has a huge private sector and this sector focuses mainly on acquiring the best talent. There is a need to sensitise this sector towards the social needs of the downtrodden communities. Forcing them to follow reservation might not go well. I believe strong improvement of education and training facilities for backward communities would indirectly force private sector to hire…

Q. Views on taxes – should there be an infrastructure tax?

Taxes are necessary evils. There is no need of an additional tax, but for tax code improvement. We should be reducing the tax rates while increasing tax collection. Using technology to check tax fraud, simplify collection at source and transparency in use of tax is required. We need to have a strong economic policy to account for the plan and use of tax money that the Government collects from citizens. One important step towards transparency would be to seek an outlay plan for all budget allocations and compare it with the outreach of these funds at the end of each year at both the central and state level. This is important in plugging leaks in the system and rooting out corruption.

Increasing the transparency and ease of paying taxes, increasing tax slabs and widening the tax net through voluntary compliance for tax defaulters will help the government widen the tax base. Tax benefits and incentives to SEZs and to sectors like IT that have contributed greatly to our economy should be provided.

Apart from this, several other reforms like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the Direct Tax Code (DTC) are necessary. …

Q. Views on the parallel economy: how do you see the problem and who would you deal with it?

The nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen is the main cause for a parallel economy in India. According to some reports, 70-80 billion USD goes out to the parallel economy. If we did not have this unaccounted (also known as “black”) economy, India’s economy would be 9 trillion US dollars. There may be conflicting claims on how big is this parallel economy, but it is certainly a big portion of GDP India would have been a middle-income country and not a poor, developing country. ..Unaccounted cash in the market clearly has direct effect on inflation, especially on real estate market and food inflation.

…The first way to solve this problem is to clean up our political system. Electoral reforms to bring more transparency in campaign financing, reforming anti-defection policies and voters’ ability to recall candidates are required. Important requirement for this to happen is that people with a clean background starting to participate in the political process. Next in line are police and judicial reforms…

Q. Views on “criminalisation” of politics and views on banning people with criminal convictions from standing for elections?

I strongly believe that the people with proven criminal convictions should be barred from standing for elections. That is the case today as per law – but we have hundreds of people “accused” of crimes – of the magnitude of murders and rapes as well as financial crimes like money laundering, bribery etc. Using options like fast track courts, all the convictions related to aspiring public representatives should be resolved very quickly. If high-court and above convicts someone, such people should be barred from contesting for 6 years unless apex court clears their name.

All political parties need to set their own standards above the minimum required by law. They should not allow people with criminal cases to stand for elections on their platform. Before 2002, it was not necessary for the contesting candidates to declare if there are any cases against them. Due to Loksatta’s efforts, along with other civil society groups like ADR, PUCL, Supreme Court pronounced a landmark order in 2002 and in 2003 requiring candidates to file an affidavit. Thanks to this order, voters can now at least know about the cases – and have an opportunity to reject them all. When candidates with criminal cases begin to lose, all political parties will begin to allow people with cleaner records to contest elections. Active participation of clean people in the politics gives opportunity for voters to select best from the lot. So, it is imperative that more and more people take active part in politics. After all, work begins at home first!

At Loksatta, we call upon only those individuals that share our principles and a commitment towards clean politics to join the party. Our candidates are required to completely follow the Election Commission’s directions regarding campaign finances and donations. These non-negotiable conditions are deterrents for the ‘wrong’ candidates to join us. ..

Q. What is the single biggest problem in Indian politics today? Is it corruption? criminalisation? lack of competence? fragmentation of electoral base – along casteist, religious, regional lines? something else?

Corruption is the biggest problem to our political arena today. For a long time, corruption was a symptom rather than a cause. But corruption has become a serious problem now. Be it Fertilizer or Fodder, Spectrum or S-band, the monster has touched every sector and every aspect of our life. ..One might think that criminalisation is the bigger problem, but both feed on each other. There are instances where criminalisation has entered terrorism crossing certain lines. But I clearly believe that if we are able to check corruption, criminals loose the platform completely.

..Apart from poverty, political corruption breeds all kinds of other problems – law and order issues, economic and social divide – all resulting in lack of economic growth. Today, every area that we lag in has been the direct or indirect result of political corruption.

Transparency and accountability, which are the pillars of good governance, are almost non-existent today. Citizens have to depend on political connections or bribes to get even basic things done. India lacks a strong legal or judicial system to keep the political system in check…

Q. What is the most important “social” issue facing our country today?

Poor public health is the most important “social” issue facing our country today. There are several other social issues – discrimination based on caste-color-etc, ‘jugaad and chalta hai’, entitlement-hungry population, religious radicalism, apathy towards political process etc in our society today. I consider those to be a social issue which can be solved only with social transformation. ..

The problems are all connected, so also the solutions. Somewhere we got to start fixing it. I have picked reaching good health among all the citizens as my goal. Owing to poor budget allocations, with misinterpreted correlations and lack of good infrastructure, I believe health services have failed to reach common people as well as it should have. It has simply reduced to opening new hospitals. But public health is about preventing health problems before they occur. Ensuring good Government hospitals, well-equipped ambulances, health awareness campaigns, making sure standards are maintained in all the health facilities and investment through public-private partnership to bring the latest medical innovations to our people will help our society become a healthy one. But this is not just enough. Improving hygiene mindset and increasing awareness about sanitation facilities are more important from a social angle.

Q. What is the most important “economic” issue facing us today?

Lack of basic infrastructure – be it road or power or water supply is one of the biggest “economic” issue. Corrutpion is equally an important issue hampering our growth, but I have already talked about it in my earlier answers. Other issues like poverty and unemployment have direct relation with lack of poor infrastructure.  There are other issues like poor labour policies, worsening fiscal deficits etc which obviously need to be tackled.

…There is a need to foster, sustain and increase huge network of entrepreneurs around us. The culture of self-employment has to grow. This requires less investment but more encouragement from government. Providing the opportunities for self-employment through vocational training and facilitating SME startups will go long way in our economy. Focusing on indigenous innovations and R&D facilities will improve opportunities for India at many levels including employment and poverty reduction. ..Power generation capability, I believe, is in the same arena as ability to produce entrepreneurs. With improved infrastructure, a larger portion of poverty will be tackled. Developing better irrigation facilities or ability to transport fresh produce at a faster rate to markets is quickly going to make agriculture lucrative.

With road, prosperity drives in! Power brings power! Community grows!

*** Interview Ends ***

Other Interviews in this series:  Nehaa Patil, Nisha Singh, Deepak Mittal, Ujjwal Banerjee and Geeta Gokhale