Let us fasten our seat belts

23 February 2015, New Delhi, Pankaj Sharma

Nine months of non-delivery by the Centre leaves our economy in a precarious situation

The wave of expectations has begun to dip. Cracks are appearing only nine months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which many saw as a definitive mandate for two terms. Nobody expected the first nine months of the ‘Modi Sarkar’ to be as unproductive as it has been.

 It is a serious commentary on the present dispensation, when only nine months after Modi became Prime Minister, industry leaders begin to bemoan the lack of discernible action on the ground. The present dispensation has been rather lucky though, with global oil prices down to $50 per barrel from around $120 in June 2014. There has, however, been no change on the ground and no improvement in the ease of doing business.

The Indian investment climate is passing through a critical phase. Growth is facing a negative trend. Most private business entities are under stress. Many companies have reported a sharp fall in profits for a third straight quarter, which ended in December. Prime Minister Modi convinced the country during his campaign for the general elections that here is a man who has the capacity to deliver the unimaginable. Nine months of governance under this “man of action” tell us that none of his promises have translated into greater revenues for industry.

Modi’s promise to push India among the top 50 countries in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index has shown no signs of attaining fulfillment.  Only in October 2014, India notched up its worst-ever ranking in the “Ease of Doing Business” index compiled by the World Bank, slipping to 142 out of 189 countries. Financial experts have begun to raise doubts over the success of Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, since many feel that the Centre has failed to fast track the process of decision making.

Manipulating data related to the growth in GDP figures for any given quarter by switching the base year of calculation cannot hide indicators that point to continued slack. Statistics should never be given to political manipulations. Unless we stop judging our economy by GDP figures, we cannot develop real capabilities. This is not to say that growth is unimportant. Growth is very important for a country like ours, which is still battling against malnutrition, illiteracy and social deprivation. In this regard, however, until now, the BJP-led government at the Centre has a very disappointing record.

We will have the first full-year Budget of the Modi-led government in a few days, the outcome of which will indicate its seriousness in continuing the foundation of sustainable growth laid down by the Congress-led UPA regime. Although India needs economic reforms, the Centre cannot ignore social welfare schemes. To smoothen the road for industrial growth, the present dispensation cannot leave the agriculture sector to its own fate. Any such move would be harakiri. Although the government needs to streamline a raft of laws to induce greater foreign and domestic investment, leaving millions of employees in the organised sector at the mercy of one sided contracts is not right. The Centre must also spare a thought for the plight of those workers in the unorganised sector.

Nine months of the BJP-led government tells us that the Prime Minister has been unable to walk the talk. In the name of cleaning up India, he picks up a broom instead of implementing time-tested policies. It is better for Modi and his party to realise that you cannot spoon-feed your audience in the 21st century by merely waving symbolic flags.

By redrawing the contours of social expenditure, encouraging states to formulate policies that kill public sector power companies, encouraging high-level fraud in the irrigation sector and ignoring the farce done in the name of increasing exports, the present dispensation is bound to harm the basic roots of our socio-economic structure. 

There are reports that Modi-led government is planning to cut the agriculture budget by Rs 16-22,000 crores. Reports have also suggested that the government has slashed spending on MNREGA. There has been no policy to free the education sector from the private mafia’s clutches. There has been a phenomenal increase in the price of life saving drugs in the last nine months. The Modi-led government is succumbing to pressure from US President Barack Obama’s desire to kill the Indian generic medicine sector. The BJP’s desire to somehow form a government in Jammu & Kashmir with the Peoples Democratic Party is being conducted at the cost of political ethics. The way the party tried to play its game in Bihar by extending hidden support to former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has also raised several questions.

I am afraid that if this is the beginning of Narendra Modi style of political grammar, which will push the nation through rough weather. This is a time when the country should fasten its seat belts.

Author is editor and CEO of News Views India

Make the Congress dodder-free

The party must get rid of those preoccupied with their personal interests

16 February 2015, New Delhi, Pankaj Sharma

I

n one year the Congress party has lost 10.65 lakh voters in Delhi. In the 2013 assembly elections, the party had secured 19,32,933 votes, with 8 seats out of 70. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress secured 12,53,078 votes with zero out of seven seats. Losing 7.69 lakh voters within few months was a serious loss. Nine months later, however, the party lost a further 3.86 lakh votes.

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) had secured 26,04,100 votes in the 2013 Delhi assembly election, with 31 seats out of 70. In the subsequent Lok Sabha elections, it won 38,38,850 votes and all 7 parliamentary seats. The party witnessed a huge spike of 12.34 lakh votes. In the recent assembly elections, however, this count went down to 28,91,510 votes with only 3 seats. The number of votes dwindled by 9.47 lakhs, in comparison to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The Aam Aadmi Party won 28 seats in 2013, with 23,22,330 votes in its kitty. But in the subsequent Lok Sabha elections, the party could not win a single parliamentary seat in Delhi. The party, however, secured an additional four lakh votes in spite of the general anger against the AAP for resigning after 49 days in office. In the recent assembly elections, though, the party secured a phenomenal 21.56 lakh additional votes in nine months. The Congress has been passing through a critical phase for last few years. The party has lost more than half a dozen important states apart from facing a rout in the last parliamentary elections. Most political commentators spared no hopes for the Congress in the recent Delhi assembly elections too. It could have managed to hold onto its previous tally of 8 seats under the best circumstances. With zero seats and a loss of more than one million, the party is looking down the barrel. Things are, however, even worse for BJP after one million Delhi voters transferred their trust away from it.

The jump of 12.34 lakh votes in favour of BJP in Delhi between 2013 assembly election and 2014 Lok Sabha election was representative of the electorate’s desire for change. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sold that desire in a spectacular manner. Similarly, a jump of 21.56 lakh votes in favour of the AAP between Lok Sabha elections and the Delhi assembly polls was an outcome of the electorate’s quest to find an alternative, an idea that Arvind Kejriwal sold. Both outcomes were based on emotion rather than hard reason. Kejriwal has also made big promises during his campaign, knowing full well that it would be difficult to fulfil them.

The Modi-led government’s inability to deliver in nine months has turned the wave of sentiment in favour of AAP because the Congress could not present itself as a viable alternative. Wait for nine months though. The AAP government’s inability to deliver on its promises will also compel people to look for a pan-Indian alternative. At that juncture, the Congress will find an opportunity to fill the vacuum. But that moment will only arrive if the Congress can present itself as a viable alternative. The party will have to work really hard to recover lost ground.

In the past few years, the Grand Old Party has seen a significant rise in dodders (cuscuta reflexa). These dodder-like leaders have nothing to do with the basic ideology of the Congress, hold no commitments to Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi and are busy protecting their own personal interests. They flourished by sucking the life blood out of the party’s hard earned credibility and reputation. Those in the top leadership, who were implementing the party’s agenda without a personal motive, can be counted on one’s fingers. The rest are still in the business of grabbing positions, creating pressure groups and furthering their cross-party interests. They don’t work for the party. The party organisation works for them instead. These leaders do not follow the agenda set by Rahul and Sonia. These dodders do not add anything substantial to the Congress party.

I would now like to make an unfashionable observation. Both Sonia and Rahul are very compassionate. While many see it as a weakness, true compassion is a characteristic that converts knowledge to wisdom.  Good political leaders use compassion to understand the needs of those they lead and determine the course of action that would best suit its party workers. It is do or die situation for the Congress now. This is the time to act firmly come what may. This is the time to change the Congress party’s story once and for all. Politics is a tough vocation, which requires distinct areas of expertise. One of those areas is to master the art of getting rid of dodders as soon as possible from all levels of the organisation.

The ever-changing political scenario will present an opportunity to the Congress party in years to come. The party, however, has to prepare itself for that moment. Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. By failing to prepare, one is set to fail. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend first four sharpening the axe.” I hope the Congress party’s fourth hour will come to an end immediately after the upcoming Budget session of Parliament.

Author is the editor and CEO of News Views India

For the sake of true democracy

Political parties and the current system of 

representative democracy must undergo reforms

Pankaj Sharma

9 February 2015, New Delhi

It is evident that the political system in our country faces a number of challenges. Political parties have weakened their ideological orientation and commitment to the welfare of the masses. Recent electoral campaigns in different states have shown that power is concentrated within the hands of a few in some parties.  As a result, many are not hesitant about promoting factionalism within their own parties. Many leaders, across the political spectrum, are affected by communalism, caste, community or religious biases, besides possessing close links to criminal elements.

Changing one’s party is endemic to almost all the political organisations. Even those leaders, who’ve benefitted immensely from a certain party, are willing to defect at the drop of a hat. Parties make and break political alliances to maintain their influence within the party and government, with the sole aim of keeping rivals out. Most factional groups posses no ideology and have no vision for the greater good of the people.

Most parties face organisational issues, especially those related to maintenance of discipline, defections, elections within parties, and factions. Raising adequate funds for political parties by legitimate means and their appropriate and effective utilisation during non-election and election season is a perennial concern.  Criminalisation of politics and the maintenance of public ethics is another area of concern with respect to party functioning.

Some areas of reform in the political system should be of immediate concern. Institutionalisation of political parties is one such area. There is a need for a comprehensive legislation to regulate party activities. Less focus on structural and organisational reforms in various parties at national, state and local levels has already done a lot of harm to Indian political system. We must now understand the need for regular inner-party elections, recruitment of party cadres, socialisation, development and training, research and policy planning activities within parties to strengthen intra-party democracy.  Problems’ surrounding funding to political parties is also a serious area of concern and it needs strong legislation. Maintenance of regular accounts and auditing should not be a mere formality. 

Unless these audited accounts are available for public scrutiny, we will not be able to live up to our reputation as the world’s largest democracy.  

Are democratically elected governments the real representatives of our people? Most often, they’re not. Our electoral system has produced a government at the Centre with a clear majority after a quarter of a century, despite the fact that more than two-thirds of India’s voters rejected the ruling party. Isn’t it the time that we gave serious thought about electoral reforms, since they could pave the way for the establishment of a true representative democracy? Do we need to change the system of single member constituencies to a mixed system or proportional method of representation, along with the simple majority system?

There is a strong need to check the criminalisation of political parties and take steps to curb the role of caste and religion. There is also the need to address the problem of the proliferation of independent candidates and strengthen anti-defection measures. Restoration of values and morality in public life is another area that requires remedy. A number of academic and research institutions, political observers and analysts, committees and commissions appointed by the Government of India from time to time have made many proposals to reform the political party system in India. Despite these suggestions, very little progress has been made.

Some proposals, given from time to time, have suggested that our democracy adopt the German model of preferential voting to insure proportionate representation of parties in Parliament. Since most political parties work in tandem with unscrupulous business lobbies and criminal elements or use state power to determine poll outcomes, another proposal has been to check these trends for better governance. Political parties should have bare minimum principles for forming a coalition government rather than forge alliances only to be in government.  Unprincipled political alignments should be discouraged by law, urging political parties to be more homogenous in their endeavour of running a coalition government. Support to any government from the “outside” should be legally barred.  Only a party that possesses at least 25 per cent of seats in the Lower House of Parliament or Assembly should have a chance at forming the government.

Some proposals have also suggested that no government should be removed from office, if those involved in toppling it fail to come out with a clear alternative arrangement. The kind of coalition arrangements that parties make should be clear before they form the government.  Developments so far show that the big parties themselves prefer to play second fiddle to regional and smaller parties, whose immediate interests are determined by ‘regional and parochial’ issues rather than long term national interests. Parties need to strengthen their managerial and crisis management capacity.  If party organisations are better managed and democratised, their efficiency would increase.  More autonomy to all layers and greater inner-party democracy would help circulate leaders on the basis of their qualities.  The criterion of achievement rather than ascription should be accepted by all parties.  Unless these parties are broad based in accommodating all segments of society, they will continue to be status-quoist, exclusivist, regional and sectarian. 

It is true that we live in a world, where politics has replaced philosophy. Ignoring the underlying philosophy of politics, however, might take India to a direction that might prove disastrous. We still have time to collectively give these issues the required focus.

Author is editor and CEO of News Views India

Much brouhaha over nothing

Pankaj Sharma

2 February 2015, New Delhi,

Strong ties between India and US have neither been one sided nor recent, despite undue excitement over Obama and Modi’s new-found ‘bromance’

Let’s celebrate the fact that our 17th Prime Minister  publicly addressed the 57th President of the United States, the most powerful person on planet Earth, by his first name. Those making a hue and cry over it must understand that the chemistry between both leaders was probably more important to the present dispensation than the hard physics of policy outcomes. After all it is the prerogative of the person.

Obama took oath as the 56th President of the United States of America on January 21, 2008. India was thrilled to have witnessed a new chapter in American politics, where a non-white was finally at the helm of affairs. The first half of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had only with four months left before the next general elections. UPA-II took shape after the elections and erstwhile Prime Minister Manmohan Singh secured his second tenure. Almost six months after he took office for the second time, Singh went on a state visit to the US. He was heading a fragile coalition, unlike the overwhelming majority that Narendra Modi enjoys today. 

However, when Singh reached Washington, he never addressed Obama by his first name, despite of an age gap of 29 years. His aim was not to create any personal chemistry, but a positive outcome for India in areas of global security, counter terrorism, trade, agriculture, education and health, besides climate change.

During a state dinner at the White House, Obama welcomed Singh with a traditional Hindi saying, ‘aapkaa swagat hai’. During this visit, Obama told Singh that India’s contribution to their partnership will and always be immense. Both India and the US have taken different paths to arrive at this moment of great friendship. It’s the story of two proud people, who struggled to break free from an empire. Both nations are bold experiments in democracy, with constitutions that begin with the words, “We the people.”

Obama paid his first visit to India in 2010. Again, the erstwhile Indian prime minister worked hard to promote greater chemistry between both nations and not get lost in personal equations. The talks focussed on export controls, partnership for an evergreen revolution, counter terrorism cooperation, civil space cooperation, climate change, clean energy, cyber security, and strategic matters such as the situation in Afghanistan.

During President Obama’s first visit, Washington had developed a strong shift in its Pakistan policy. The joint declaration at the end of this visit clearly stated that success in maintaining global and regional security required the elimination of safe havens for terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Condemning terrorism in all forms, both sides agreed that all terrorist networks, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, must be defeated. The statement also called upon Pakistan to bring justice to the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Building on the Counter Terrorism Initiative  they signed earlier that year, both leaders announced a new Homeland Security Dialogue between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security. Both leaders also agreed to further deepen operational cooperation, counter-terrorism technology transfers and capacity building. Obama also addressed the joint session of the Indian Parliament during the visit, where he said, “With India assuming its rightful place in the world, we have an historic opportunity to make the relationship between our two countries a defining partnership of the century ahead.” 

Answering a question at the joint press conference that was later held at Hyderabad House, Obama said, “The relationship with India is extraordinarily important to me. Don’t just take my word for it, look at our actions. Obviously this trip has been of enormous significance.  It’s no accident that this is the longest time that I’ve spent in a foreign country since I’ve been President.” 

“This is a belief that is shared by Republicans and Democrats in the United States. It’s evolved over the last 15 to 20 years -- you had President Clinton, a Democrat; President Bush, a Republican; and now me, another Democrat -- each of us reaffirming in a steady, committed way, because the U.S.-India relationship is so important,” Obama added.

It was around eight months before India’s last general elections that Manmohan Singh visited the US. It was past midnight in India, when Singh left the Oval Office after long-drawn talks on September 28, 2013. US President Barack Obama personally walked down to the White House portico to see off India’s prime minister. Next morning, members of the American media and those familiar with strict White House protocol said that this gesture by the President was very rare.

The need for strong ties between India and US have neither been one sided nor recent. Both nations have been working towards strengthening their relationship with maturity for the past two decades. Therefore, we should not get unnecessarily excited by the recent ‘bromance’ that was on display between Prime Minister Modi and US President Obama.  

Author is editor and CEO of News Views India