The age of indifference

Faint stirrings of post-reform India

SO this session of Parliament is finally over, the Opposition’s had its fun pillorying the government on Tehelka, Telecom, and a few other Things, but what was achieved? The fact that 33 Bills were passed in 32 hours — some like those on plant varieties took just a few minutes, with few MPs present — only underscores the point about the sheer apathy of our parliamentarians.

This newspaper, along with others, has been detailing RBI reports on the very poor shape some of our top financial institutions (FIs) are in. A few days ago, we also carried a report stating the RBI found that one of every 10 co-operative banks was weak, a potential disaster like Madhavpura or Krushi — by the way, the RBI pointed this out to the state governments last year as well. You’d think the MPs who shed tears over how millions had lost their trust in UTI would have hauled the government over the coals. But, perhaps because the same industrialists who’ve looted these banks are also funding their parties, our honourable MPs decided not to bother about what could well lead to a financial crisis of south-east Asian proportions here.

Sadly, instead of being a forum to get the government to focus on policy issues/lacunae, Parliament’s become a mere debating hall, where the emphasis is on scoring points and rubbishing the opponent. So, the government wants a debate on UTI or Tehelka in Lok Sabha where they have the numbers, and the Opposition wants it in Rajya Sabha. The problem is that our MPs, and that includes those in government, have absolutely no clue about just how bad things are. Our beloved prime minister, who blithely told the Planning Commission he wanted them to target a 9 per cent growth in the 10th Plan period — such is his oratory, he made the target sound like the growth had been assured — of course leads the pack in terms of his innocence.

A 9 per cent target sounds good, but does he know that growth in the first two years of the next Plan is largely dependent on the investments that have already been made? So, the only hope of upping growth in the 10th Plan is to sharply up savings and investments over the next 3 years. A planning commission estimate shows savings rates will have to be increased from around 25 per cent now to a whopping 43 per cent in 3 years, and investment rates from 27 per cent to 46 per cent! For that, you need to woo investors, change labour laws immediately, completely abolish subsidies ...

Similarly, our MPs were quite happy to rubbish India in comparison to China, and even tiny Vietnam, but as Planning Minister Arun Shourie points out, these MPs are the very reason why India is in such bad shape. Investors love China, Shourie told MPs last fortnight, because it has no trade unions in special economic zones, and workers can be fi–red at a month’s notice — we marvel at China, but the same MPs won’t allow flexible labour laws in India. Losses of electricity boards have gone up from Rs 4,000 crore a decade ago to Rs 22,000 crore today, but when a Chandrababu Naidu hikes tariffs in Andhra Pradesh, the BJP and the Congress go on a protest march.

Vietnam taxes local firms at between 32 and 45 per cent, but foreign firms pay just 10 per cent, and 16 per cent of foreign investment in Vietnam since 1988 is in agriculture, a banned area for corporate investors (forget about foreign ones) in India. Plus, as Shourie points out, the real issue is governance — 53 per cent of PDS grain, and over 40 per cent of power gets stolen even in Delhi where the Union Government resides, but no one’s really worried about it. The list goes on.

There’s this story of how when, as editor of this newspaper, Shourie wrote something about President Giani Zail Singh, he was very upset and asked Shourie to see him. Yet, when Gianiji met Shourie, he hugged him very warmly, and exchanged all manner of pleasantries. A somewhat exasperated aide then reminded Gianiji that he had to rebuke Shourie. To which Gianiji replied, ‘Aanu likhne do, padhda kaun hai?’ (let him write, who reads?).

And when no one reads, how can anyone be bothered? The age of indifference. And, a logical corollary, of indifferent performance.

Postscript: Last month, this column as well as a front-page story by this writer, referred to how the country’s pink press had, in the past, given glowing reports of Cyberspace Infosys. (This is the company UTI lost Rs 32 crore in later.) The idea was to show how the media also contributed, somewhat mindlessly, to the ‘new economy’ hype. Since then, thanks partly to prodding by T.N. Ninan who edits Business Standard which was one of the papers mentioned, I’ve reviewed what I wrote.

And while I still stand by the broad conclusions I made then, I concede Ninan’s point that it was unfair not to get his point of view first — I didn’t think it essential then, as the piece was on already-published stories, but getting the other view, even if you don’t agree with it, is a journalistic must-do. It’s also true that while the BS story contributed to furthering the Cyberspace myth, it wasn’t anywhere near the hyperbole dished out by more illustrious rivals. So, clubbing BS with them was unfair, but then BS’ credibility is so much higher isn’t it?

Earlier Columns