'Chameli Revolution' of India
Tunisia will be remembered in the history for sowing the seeds of a major revolution against corruption, tyrants, dictators, and autocrats across the globe. Non-violent revolution saw the end of regimes in Tunisia & Egypt. Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Algeria are struggling against the strong currents of revolution. Libya is on the boil and seeing worst repression & violence. Perhaps it is matter of time before the change of government takes place there. But the events have sent strong messages across the globe rattling even China. Tunisian “Jasmine revolution” would be recorded as most important global socio-political phenomenon since the collapse of Soviet Union and its aftermath in Europe.
Prima facie India seems to be isolated or unconnected in any manner with events in the Arab world except for the Indian workers there. But a peep into the “Blunderland of Indian Politics” reveals that impact of Jasmine revolution may have triggered timing of an impending revolution in India against corruption, declining value system and poor governance. Bharat Swabhiman floated by Swami Ramdev Baba, the Yoga Guru, has launched a movement against corruption and black money with a big rally at Ramlila Maidan at New Delhi on February 27, 2011 with big response. The personalities like Ram Jethmalani, Kiran Bedi, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Anna Hazare took the stage to address rally. Since this was in offing for quite sometime, I am inclined to de-link Jasmine revolution. Nevertheless due to commonality of the objectives I would say they are off-springs of the same anger against corruption, mis-governance and value deficit. I therefore like to call this desi version as “Chameli Revolution”.
Will Bharat Swabhiman be able to sustain the momentum and build up pressure on the political parties and governments both at the center and in the states? What best can it achieve against its lofty ideals? What should be their focus for achieving a measure of success vis-à-vis objectives?
Indian system of governance has been based on the old British Model and twisted umpteen numbers of times in sixty years to suit the objectives of political class in the power. The legal framework is admirable compared to any of the Afro-Arab and eastern world countries. The governments can come and go but the system can hold on and deliver. That is the inherent strength of Indian democracy. What we need is campaign against the political class for the value system embraced by them and perpetrated over six decades. Rules have been framed with deliberate loop holes or escape routes built in to satisfy people on one hand and to be able to loot them on the other. Any political party is as good or as bad as the other. Shades may differ but ‘spectrum’ is same.
The Indian polity is too thick skinned to bother about morality. Rallies and fast unto death have not achieved much in the past. But what can make difference this time is the support of the masses, aam admi, in huge numbers. Swami Ramdev has demonstrated capabilities to attract as much crowds as any big politician. And perhaps he has traveled to every nook and corner of the country and commands respect of the common man more than any politician. How best he can leverage this aspect would define the path the movement will take. Invariably such movements are in the danger of being hijacked midway which must be resisted at any cost.
What can be the achievable objectives in operational terms and levels?
[A] Constitutional & Judicial Reforms:
(i) Identify and remove the loopholes from legal frame work for speedy trials of political class and bureaucrats.
(ii) Have fast track judiciary system for trials of this class and economic offenders.
(iii) Remove political patronage and insurance cover against any breach of law (immunity) for this class and no approvals should be required for filing FIR/ charge sheet and trial of members of this class(MP/MLA/Governors/Prime Minister/chief ministers etc).
(iv) The members of judiciary, though guardians of the Constitution of India, can not be above any laws and must not have immunity against unethical conduct.
(v) There must be some time limits for concluding judicial trials for certain types of crimes like corruption, embezzlement, hawala transactions, etc. so that governance does not suffer.
(vi) Investigating agency like CBI should function as totally autonomous institution without interference from politicians.
[B] Election Reforms:
(i) Change eligibility criterion for contesting elections for any position from gram panchayat to President of India and weed out corrupt, criminal, and dubious characters. Political parties should not be permitted to field such candidates.
(ii) Introduce the system of Negative vote. If a voter does not find any suitable candidate and he wants to eliminate worst of the candidate, he should be able to cast a negative vote (see my blog on Negative Votes).
(iii) The ceiling for expenses by a contestant in election even after recent revision is paltry considering actual expenditure running into several crores. The elections should be funded by the state to eliminate the very reason for need of politicians for black money.
[C] Economic Reforms:
(i) There should be exemplary and deterrent punishments in cases of corruption, nepotism, tax evasion and any illegal activity to set high standards of political behavior.
(ii) Economic reforms should be undertaken for addressing the issue of black money within India and stashed overseas. Tax havens have come forward to address our concerns and we must be demanding enough to serve our national interests. International Treaties must be renegotiated to safeguard our interests.
(iii) If Indian nationals have illegally stashed black money overseas, their accounts must be frozen, nationalized without compensation and passports impounded. Passports should not be issued to any one with proven hawala transactions. Unless such deterrent measures are introduced, there can be no success in curbing such malpractices. We need to have political will power to enforce such regulations.
Through the “Chameli Revolution”, the people of India should try to change a single most critical dimension of multifaceted and complex problems of corruption, value deficit and poor governance. And that is the political will to manage the transition to cleaner polity, ethical conduct and aam admi oriented governance. Once that is done, the above reforms will be easier to initiate and implement.
We, the aam admis, are not looking for overthrowing a government as in the Arab world. We should be looking at ‘Change Management of mind sets of the polity’ to needs of 21st century suiting a global power in whom the world can trust. This calls for sustained efforts and pressures from the masses. I hope Chameli will not be a one day miracle!
...
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this writing are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of League of India, its Editorial Board or the business and socio-political interests that they might represent.
This article was first published at the author's blog here
About the Author
Vijay M. Deshpande has almost 40 years experience in management of engineering enterprises in public as well as private sector - across more than 35 countries in Europe, Africa, South East Asia, US & Latin America. He has worked as Business Head, COO and Executive Director during last 15 years and specializes in Strategic Management Initiative as a platform for sharing the experience through networking advisory.
No comments:
Post a Comment