A sham masked as legitimate

Statement after statement emanating from 7 Race course road or the Congress headquarters speaks of the virtues of parliamentary supremacy and traditions, and how it is absolutely necessary to uphold them in the face of every vindictive attempt to drag their name into ignominy. There is a popular maxim in Hindi which goes like- Naach na jaane, aangan teda. Essentially, it means that if you fail at something, you try and find faults with the system which plays only a secondary role in your success. This is exactly what is going on in the ensuing drama between the government and the civil society leaders on the contentious subject of the Jan Lokpal bill. Many of us have been watching with bewilderment the brazen manner in which this current government, perhaps also one of the most corrupt and spineless in recent Indian history, is trying to stifle public opinion and protect the parliament's 'supremacy' over all matters related to national policy. Can you please get to the real issue?

As educated Indians, we are all in consensus that the parliament is indeed the seat of our vibrant democracy and a place for a billion people's voices to be represented in an organized manner. But any attempt to bypass those billions and forcing an oligarchic view of things that a group of parliamentarians see as legitimate, is rubbing salt into the wounds of the already hapless common man. Let's face it, irregardless of the reports from the IMD or the World Bank or McKinsey, Indians are facing an uphill battle to protect their right to a decent living right now. The poor are already overwhelmed; their misery cannot be sufficiently described in a blog post or a news channel debate. However, with rising inflation and all-pervasive corruption strengthening its hold on the system, even the middle class is starting to feel the brunt of government's inaction and blunders. All of us have had our tryst with corruption, while most of us await our tryst with destiny. It is a malaise that spreads like a cancer and preys on the minds of the corrupt and the corruptor.

And what exactly is this sanctity of the parliament that we are trying to protect. Last year, an entire session was wiped out due to a stand-off between an united opposition and an obdurate government. 2008 saw bundles of currency notes being displayed in the parliament as if it were a badge of honor. Scenes of disruption are an everyday sight. In fact, the government respects the parliamentary traditions so much that it objected to permission granted to the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha to speak on the issue of the Lokpal. Please, stop fooling us, stop this drama. Get on with business, or quit. We are more than capable of voting in a new government, albeit with a mandate of aspiration and transparency. Laissez faire can't go on anymore!

A better way

As I sit here in my living room, watching Watchmen, I cannot help but think about Dr. Manhattan's words-"The world is changing, and this new world is going to be hard to adapt to." The world is indeed at a precipice, where old ideas are being chucked out more rapidly than ever before. Therefore, it is prudent to identify the positives out of this as well as understand how some things are still unchangeable.

The first idea which springs to my mind is the communication revolution. Now much has been said and writers have waxed eloquent about the ever changing face of communication and its implications for the globe. I would like to go more basic than an optical fibre facilitated enhancement. 20 years ago, chances are that if you wrote a letter to a person in the next state, it may or may not get delivered. May or may not! That possibility was greatly supplemented by the fact the there was no tracking mechanism to check on the port-to-port delivery. So if I were to apply for a PhD in the United states 20 years ago, there is the possibility that I might have missed my shot due to a sorting error. Therefore, it is safe to say that manual errors are slowly becoming redundant. The era of the machines is here, or almost.

What are the other ways in which the world is changing? Ironically, the communication revolution and the detriment of barriers was supposed to unite the world into a more harmonious place. Yet we have seen more wars and insurgencies in the last 50 years than any documented time in history. The way I see it, with information being so easily available, it abets a nation to secure its interests in ways that were unheard of earlier. So you have things like cyber attacks on a country's information database, which is slowly replacing the conventional warfare as a more potent weapon. This is stuff of science fiction for now, but with the way technology is seeping into our daily lives, it is not ludicrous to believe that the future might be significantly different for the future generations. Once thing is for sure, education is going to be the currency of development, and investments will be earmarked for the national intellectual wealth.

And then, to the part which has remained static. The right to expression, our ability to speak our mind, has remain untouched, or rather, has been bolstered by the availability of tools both scientific and rational in nature. People today want to study tiny archaea, because they believe the answers to significant questions about life lie in there. And they go about doing it like nobody's business. The fact that basic science has braved the storm of application and commercialization is a fact oft overlooked. We as global citizens are also more empowered today, mostly because every vote is documented and every opinion is recorded. Dissemination of ideas is easier, and their harnessing is slowly becoming more inclusive. There is no single ownership to any idea anymore, a fact well illustrated by the IP wars being fought around the world.

So the changes are there to be seen and exploited. The end user will not care, the proprietor does not exist.

The Who and their generation!

Hello PM! Welcome to the orientation

Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh, I formally welcome you to your orientation as the prime minister of the Republic of India. I understand that you have not just assumed office, but surprisingly, have been at the helm for more than 7 years now. Therefore, as the famous maxim goes- Better late than never, we have decided to conduct an orientation for you to bring you up to speed with the fabrics of Indian democracy and parliamentary system. Well maybe we can leave out the latter, since that is all you and your cabinet seem to be adept at. But in our deliberations, we have concluded that it is of utmost importance that you also take some time out from your frantic consultations with Rahul baba to refresh your class 9th History & Civics.

Let's get started. So dear PM, it seems that you believe anything can only be done efficiently if it is completed in a time bound manner. Of course, your well grounded research of macroeconomic theory and your time at the helm of the Reserve bank of India can be attributed to have led you to this cementing of principles. Unfortunately, economics seems not to work that well in real life, as is evident from the runaway inflation plaguing the country at this moment. You also want to abrogate any attempts to impose pre-conditions on others, especially those who intend no harm to the country and are simply exercising their rights. You remember a certain man known as Mahatma Gandhi? He did it all the time, and the british, as gentlemanly as they were, never resorted to anything more than to arrest him and his followers. Yes sir, that is your government's prerogative, though you might want to balance it out considering we are an independent nation now.

Also, when you say that it is the parliament's prerogative to formulate policies and draft laws, you could not be more correct. But dear sir, as you must have been trained to do in your days as a grad student, you need to incorporate ideas to make them more effective. Your version of the Lokpal bill appears to be a portmanteau of what Raja would like and what Anna would dislike. You can't possibly be taking on two strong personalities, one who loves to taint his cabinet and the other who loves to serve his country. That is simply bad PR! And also, when you are giving important speeches, for example the national address, you must understand that you are not sitting in an auditorium of 50 people, all over 60, who came to discuss some deep lemma in the Keynesian model of economics. You need to show that you are the man in the driver's seat. For reference, check out Atal Bihari Vajpayee's speech on the Kargil war. You'll understand what I am talking about. And please, don't be shy of the media. They've made your party men stars, there is no reason you should allow your generosity to encompass the PM-public contact.

I hope that this session has been fruitful. The next session will be on how to keep a leash on the disruptive elements in your party, who like to have their foot in their mouth all the time!

Peace out.

PS: Arun jaitley shows Abhishek Manu Singhvi who's the boss.