Leaders need to deliver growth

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised healthcare for all through a programme announced by his government. This is welcome because India has a long way to go. India ranks 158th among countries for its expenditure in education and healthcare, below Sudan. The heartening news is that India is far ahead of Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan, which is a lowly 188. Despite Prime Minister Modi working without rest or pause or even a half-day vacation since he took office on 26 May 2014, to this day Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives rank above India in this crucial human development index. However, the distance yet to travel is seldom mentioned by the country’s political class. For them, “every day in every way we are getting better and better”. This is the message heard from myriad politicians in towns, cities and even villages across the country. Certainly, it is an undisputed fact that the leaders of significant political parties are enjoying a standard of life that their ancestors could not even have dreamed about. Their families go on shopping and fun vacations to pricey locations in Europe and the United States, while at home the (for them) humble SUV has given way to the latest class of Mercedes or Bentley sedans. Political office has evolved into an heirloom that can get passed on from one generation to the next, each of whom rises up the income ladder.

Although Mahatma Gandhi preached austerity and the leaders of the Congress Party swore adherence to his ideals, within hours of British colonial officials vacating their sprawling bungalows in Delhi’s Lutyens’ Zone, there was a frantic rush by the self-proclaimed followers of the Mahatma to occupy them. A Union Minister in India has personal and official staff far in excess of that available to ministers even in much richer countries such as Singapore or Denmark. Glowering, black-robed Special Protection Group commandos swarm around VVIPs, protecting them from any risk of coming close to ordinary citizens. They access commercial flights (in those cases where special flights are not resorted to) through lines separate from that of the rest of society, often embarking or disembarking at the very doors of the aircraft via limousine. The Viceregal Palace, with all its size and pomp, has from the beginning of freedom been the residence of the President of India, thereby creating an immense distance between the Head of State and the lives of common citizens. Small wonder that television screens get filled with prominent faces, who reel off one achievement after the other to individuals to whom merely surviving is often the only achievement. Repeatedly, the leaders of the country even since 1947 have prevented the poor from enjoying the benefits enjoyed by the better off. An example is the English language, l earning which i s prized amongst the population. However, while their own children, almost without exception, study in English-language schools and colleges, several abroad, political leaders deny the poor any knowledge of the international link language, in the name of “protecting culture”. If they were correct, it would imply that the leaders of the Freedom Movement, almost all of whom were fluent in English, were less than fully Indian just because they spoke that language. Looking at the dismal statistics, the people of India wonder when the country will achieve the double digit growth that alone can lift hundreds of millions of the desperately poor from want. What is needed is less talk and more work on making India grow through innovative policies that trust civil society, rather than continue the colonial tradition of hoarding power with the civil service.