NAMO : THE HARRIED POTTER REMOULDING INDIA

FROM A LAND OF PLENTY TO PELTING OUR LIFE SAVERS

OUR JOURNEY AND THE WAY AHEAD

Written by: Wg Cdr Abhishek Matiman (Retd)

        To me - 'Bharat', my nation that I have given my blood and sweat to, always stood as a unified identity. Thoughts, even remotely patriotic that come to one's mind are born out of a sense of belongingness that one has to his / her Nation. The Nation, to all those who think about it, represents people who belong to it and all the rest that mother nature has endowed the particular piece of land with. That, in our case amounts to a whopping 1.37 billion human lives concentrated in an area of 3.28 million square kilometres of land.

    Any rational person would readily concede that ensuring peaceful coexistence of contentment for 17.74% of the world's population living off barely 2.4% of the world's total land area would entail an extraordinary administrative effort. In addition, the unmatched diversity on account of caste, creed, colour, culture, language, religion or even as regards natural factors viz...topography, weather, climate, flora and fauna - make my Bharat truly 'unique' in every sense of the word.

        Having had a quick realisation of what size and scale we actually talk of, while casually mentioning the word 'India' every now and then - let's shift our gaze now, to the humongous complexities involved in running efficiently something as big as Bharat.

        It doesn't take much to safely assume what our forefathers had on their minds while laying out our constitutional framework post independence - obviously, a harmonious coexistence and broadly, a life of contentment for all Indians. In line with the Constitutional provisions, we started on our march to progress being 'Federal in form but Unitary in spirit'. Perceptibly, just the right formula to ensure local needs / aspirations peculiar to every different part of our vast expanse were taken care of, by the States. These States in turn, were held firmly together despite differences, by an elected government at the centre.

     Indian people, at the dawn of independence - largely exploited, underprivileged and undernourished, looked forward to quality of life rapidly getting better under the long awaited 'sushaasan' of 'swaraaj'. Things did move, and the nation started progressing in the right direction. Albeit slower than expected, but it did, for sure. We eventually managed to join the league of 'developing' nations with some great feats achieved in certain areas - the scientific field in particular.

      In a race to eventually match up with developed nations, governments made five year plans, at times even longer term perspective plans in some fields. One major aspect, however, that remained largely ovelooked despite all the planning through the decades was - Population Explosion.

       Infact, a family planning policy was conceived just four years after independence. Sadly though, all we ensured was, that our women delivered better in homes and hospitals than our governments did, in policy implementation. We were roughly 345 million Indians at the time of independence. Most startling is the fact that while the world took over 450 years to grow from a similar figure to 01 Billion (early 14th century to mid 18th century), our productivity on that front made it happen in 52 years flat.

        This rapid growth ensured, whatever was done, wasn't ever enough. Little wonder then, we finally sought solace in belying our failure at checking the menace. So much so, that in the 21st century we started hearing of our very population being cited as our biggest advantage in an age of consumerism. Whilst perception management in this age of Information Warfare is sure to accrue some short term economic dividends in the form of accelerated FDI inflows, there's much more to address than meets the eye. The last man in the que, largely untouched by our perceived growth story (now very popularly synonymous with 'GDP growth' to every urban household), however, remained neglected. Whilst the ones seemingly better off in the cities, found solace browsing through figures varying anywhere between 6% to double digits, arrived at by each source, through meticulous manipulation of statistics, in line with self serving interests - the Rich-Poor divide continued to widen.

        We have all along been playing catch-up, trying to produce more and more for our ever burgeoning numbers. Its but basic logic, that a container with a hole is a whole lot more difficult to fill. Needless to say, greater the outflow (consumption), larger the supply required. Until of course, you reach a point wherein the hole (outflow) under pressure dilates to an extent that the supply technically just isn't capable to cope up any further. Similar is our case, we have actually been trying to gobble up resources to meet demands without any credible attempt to check the growth of population. Many a times, in the process, paving the way for unethical practices leading to substandard, adulterated produce reaching our consumers. No doubts, we used to be a 'land of plenty', lest we forget - that is a bygone era, when the numbers that our beloved Motherland had to feed was far less. Natural resources were actually in abundance when our colonial masters took control of all that rightfully belonged to us.

     To put things in perspective, India's share in the world economy was around 20% and steadily increasing at the beginning of the 19th century. By the time the English left, we were left tottering at a measly 4%. Our Bharat, that pre-colonisation, enjoyed a worldwide market for its manufactured products was systematically reduced to a mere supplier of raw materials now widely known as 'India'. Deliberately introduced restrictive policies by the British ensured as much as half of Indian foreign trade was restricted to Britain. Even the raw material exported from India was processed in British factories and imported back as finished consumer goods. As a matter of fact, there was a huge export surplus generated by way of milking the Indian natural resources by the British. This export surplus, however never benefitted India because it was primarily used to meet the war expenses of the British and for imports to benefit our colonial masters. But then of course, there's hardly any use crying over spilt milk, wasn't that exactly how colonisers always ruled ?

      What actually failed us, was our own lack of vision at the dawn of 'swaraaj'. Our leaders failed to make a holistic assessment of our needs vis a vis obvious  challenges at the very starting point, when we wrested control from the British. This oversight of a SWOT analysis when most needed, saw our population rising by 1.5 times and over, every 25 years since 1947.

       Eventually, by the time we entered the 21st century, unmindful exploitation of resources in a bid to acquire material wealth had started taking its toll. In an effort to match-up, we fell prey to propaganda by developed nations desperately trying to revive their decelarating economies by dumping their goods in our billion strong nation. What followed consequently was, a nation of nature worshippers went on a spree laced with corruption, to exploit nature - slowly but surely transforming our culture and society towards one of materialism, exploitation and violence.

       What we see today only just popping its head up - is the tip of the iceberg we are on course to hit shortly. Till recently, having  adopted an ostrich like approach to imminent catastrophe, the rumblings of which have now started shaking us up, its time we started taking corrective action on war footing without wasting a moment. Problems on all fronts, have now assumed mammoth proportions necessitating immediate redressal.

    When decades after gathering dust in 'sarkaari' record rooms, files on the proposed 'Interlinking of Rivers' were reopened in 1999, there came a glimmer of hope. Sadly though, only for a brief while, before being dumped back in without moving an inch. Water woes continue to grow despite climate data clearly indicating much reduced rainfall in times to come with an imminent reduction in agricultural produce. This, despite the ever increasing percentage of population struggling for drinking water even in our biggest urban centres. Rivers and reservoirs continue to dry, with those that exist, rendered unfit for consumption by unchecked influx of toxic industrial effluents.

        In the year 2015, the Delhi government perforce had to devise the 'odd-even rule' as a last resort, to ensure, traffic didn't come to a grinding halt in the NCR. Hoping, in the bargain, that air pollution levels too would come down. No concrete sustainable action, however is in place till date. Recent data places air pollution levels in all our major cities / towns at alarmingly high levels, but this too doesn't appear to have been bothersome enough to coax the system out of it's slumber.

       Forest cover continues to deplete due to mindless chopping of trees under ill conceived plans for industrial growth to provide employment opportunities. Our urban centres are bursting at the seams. Flora and fauna stretched to limits with numerous species being pushed to extinction. Untreated urban waste assuming tall proportions, has today manifested itself physically in the form of mountains of garbage at the outskirts of every city, growing several feet every passing year.

         In a nutshell, it's been a sordid saga of plans aplenty with negligible execution. Be it Land, Water or Air, we have been at our exploitative best. We have made an idelible mark of our unmatched greed, accentuated by total lack of regard for anything we were naturally endowed with. With a lopsided growth story, we now figure amongst the top few in the world when it comes to harming mother nature on any count. All in all, the fact remains that we are more precariously poised than ever before, when it comes to providing unadulterated, even the basics needed for a healthy living. The devastated natural wealth of our great Nation of nature worshippers simply isn't able to cope up anymore.

        By virtue of having been a land of the enlightened, we never lacked on planning. But our bane without a doubt has been, the utter lack of commitment to execute the good plans. Implementation indeed has been our waterloo all along.

       To me, delivery / implementation of plans so as to benefit the populace is the primary responsibility of public servants. If there wasn't something to be delivered to the people, they don't need to exist in the first place. It's hilarious to see, when a common man struggling to make ends meet blames the 'system' - these very public servants who constitute the 'system' unabashedly join up to blame it for their own incompetence and apathy.

        Our hospitals don't seem to be able to cater to the burgeoning number of patients. Our Doctors in government hospitals already stretched to limits, battling cumulative physical fatigue, are now faced with an added fear of being manhandled by the kin of the ones they treat. Most shameful being the recent stone pelting they faced from unruly mobs under the patronage of ill intentioned politicians (fortunately on the downslide).

          Our schools still don't appear to have got a grip on the quality of education and food they serve to our children after years of policies being formed and seemingly implemented.

       

         The administrative  machinery comprising 'civil servants' needs to take onus or be held accountable. Political leaders, in our country are under scrutiny round the clock and always in the line of fire from people and media alike. Add to that, they are at the mercy of people every 5 years - a stark contrast to these civil servants behind the 'iron curtain', employed and paid to administer. These are the men and women equipped with the knowledge, authority and outreach to make the right changes. Assured of three decades apiece of plush offices with people at their mercy and accountability never heard of - this is the section of government employees, high on calibre and low on drive that the political leadership needs to optimally utilize any which way.

          Someone once suggested and not without reason - make it compulsory for the children of government servants to study in government run schools and the education system will automatically be revamped.

        While accountability brings in a sense of responsibility, fixing of accountability acts as a deterrence. Public servants who themselves constitute the 'system', over the years - have coolly tweaked the 'system' so as to absolve themselves of both. Thanks to the self serving political leadership, that, in the yesteryears, never were pushed hard enough to look into the nitty-gritties of something as mundane as supervising / running the 'system'.

        Recent turn of events, wherein, after a long long time, the government has acted upon some of these unbecoming public servants, is definitely a welcome step in the right direction. If the news about instructions to weed out the corrupt and incompetent from all departments is anything to go by, we must consider ourselves blessed. Periodic cleansing / purging of the 'system' by invoking constitutional provisions that always existed (seldom used), should infact have been a regular exercise akin to military exercises undertaken regularly to keep the 'system' well oiled and efficient. So what if the lives at stake in this case aren't own but that of fellow countrymen who they pledge to serve.

         Subjects of public interest affecting daily lives, most frequently discussed across sections of the media these days like - attacks on Doctors, condition of hospitals, water scarcity, rainfall deficit, environmental pollution, traffic congestion, are all extremely worrisome and present a very grim picture of the times ahead. The silver lining in the cloud however remain, the recent indicators. The government appears to be alive to it all, is responsive, ready to take the onus, doesn't shy away and most of all - visibly willing and eager to outperform itself with hard work and a sense of responsibility. Not to take away credit that must go to our media for the crucial part they play in rightly highlighting problems and seeking accountability.

        

         No wonder, 'system' inefficiency induced by prolonged government apathy had brought us to the threshold of disaster. What soothens the nerves now, is that they appear to be under scrutiny for a change and on a path to resurrection. Again, an overview of the plethora of grave problems that stare us in the face today, reveals that they all have but one thing in common - a direct link to overpopulation.

        Whilst corrupt practices and lethargy can be curtailed by way of adopting strong measures as part of the much delayed civil reforms, population growth needs to concurrently be brought under control to ensure these good intentioned changes fetch us the desired results. That brings us back to the analogy of the 'container with a hole'. We undoubtedly need to plug the hole.

      The present leadership's unprecedented connect with the masses, must now be used to bring about awareness about the ills of overpopulation. The first five years of this government, saw over 9 crore toilets being built under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Making people aware of family planning methods and their advantages, simultaneously introducing policies to incentivise keeping small families, in the next five, would certainly do the trick with far less capital outflow in comparison.

   A multi pronged, synergised effort based on policies with a time bound approach incorporating checks and balances to guage actual outreach / implementation is the need of the hour. Armed with a mandate that's the envy of leaders across the world and with the reputation of being hard task masters, the present leadership of ours must act firmly and with a sense of urgency. Whilst the government has its work cut out for the long haul, the citizens too would need to play their part well, being mindful of the fact that - from the juncture that our beloved Bharatvarsh now stands - we actually need to turn the tide, not merely weather the storm.

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 *The writer has regularly been writing for mainstream newspapers, he also appears on TV news channels in debates pertaining to Defence, Aerospace and Geopolitical affairs.