Towards a competent, capable, and compassionate Bharat
India that is Bharat has been throbbing for the longest time, as the most enduring living civilisation in the world. “There is no language older than Vedic. Then, who wrote the Vedas? They were not written. The words are the Vedas” - Swami Vivekananda.
Bharat of the Ages must now seek immemorable Shakti (the fundamental cosmic energy) recovering her deepest self, lifting her head higher towards the supreme source of light and strength, and turning to discover the complete meaning and a vaster form of Dharma – Sri Aurobindo.
Our highest goal has not been God but liberation, which means living life ‘here’ in full intensity. In this civilizational state, Dharma (a framework of rules/laws that are fundamental to our existence) has been the inclusive anchor for the mass application of the science of well-being, and the larger vision has always been Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – ‘World is One Family’. Bharat’s civilization has predated any organized religion or race or group identities because it sought equality with the nature of intelligence or consciousness.
It is time to strengthen Bharat and raise educated conversations on public governance across Economics, Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Urbanization, Industry, Trade, Financial Services, Taxation, Technology, Environment, Energy, Internal Security, International Relations, Defence, Laws, Administration, and so forth in an encompassing way. The endeavor must be to transform Bharat within the next 20+ years, fulcrums on 25 thousand years of its civilizational and timeless values, supported by effective governance processes, and global best institutions – underpinned by Dharmic principles.
Governance is the way rules, norms and actions are structured, regulated and sustained. The profoundness of experience and the impact of one’s actions are the two most essential things in the process of governance. A minimalistic state for maximum governance is encapsulated in Artha stra: The root of happiness is dharma (ethics, righteousness), the root of dharma is Artha (economy, polity), the root of Artha is right governance, the root of right governance is victorious inner restraint, the root of inner restraint is humility. Governance requires the pursuit of ‘Yogakshema’, the welfare of all its citizens through righteous conduct strongly predicated on empirical soundness.
From Sarvodaya (economic and social development of the community as a whole) to Antyodaya (rise and development of the last person in the society) is only possible through dharmic governance (where ‘state’ administration runs with meritocracy built on public accountability, unity of command, business rules, and coordination which creates predictability and equality before law; “The fundamental principle of economic activity is that no man you transact with will lose, then you shall not” – Artha stra).
Democracy, though about vote and voice, is about ideas at play, animated and flighted vision, and the humility of players. Those at the helm of policymaking must have a larger sense of life and identity to ensure better governance and outcomes. Since democracy is a participatory process, simplifying laws, and delivering justice equitably, quickly, and cheaply is fundamental to making society inclusive. Bharat, though described as a union of states, is quintessentially a union of Jana Padas and Maha Jan Padas - sub-regions and local bodies - and it is the well-functioning grassroots level democracies that help strengthen governance. Meanwhile, Bharat must strengthen – building gravitas, and internationalism, setting minimum standards across a range of governance parameters, specialism, nudge management, and promoting Brand Bharat.
In Bharat’s pluralist tradition, freedom of expression comes with voluntary restraint and a corresponding sense of responsibility. Bharat’s ‘secularism’ is all about spiritual and dharmic traditions, and not ‘no religion’ since Dharma is not ‘religion’. But the British not only constructed the Hindu religion, they made caste a religious, rather than a social, reality of India, and gave every Hindu a caste and varna (social class with occupations, based on Guna and Karma), by force-fitting and strait-jacketing Jati (one’s birth community) into the Varna theory. The present birth-based caste system is a distorted merger of Jati and Varna. Its attendant societal discrimination, and its ever-expanding remedial footprint, through quotas and reservations, further underwrites the cruel anomalies. True meritocracies tend to create hierarchies of talent and productivity, not hierarchies of power. It’s time, therefore, to end reservations. The caste menace can only be fought through economic resurrection for the Bottom of the Pyramid. Bharat is ready for the simultaneous pursuit of justice, equality, and excellence. Similarly, there ought to be no scope for ‘majorityminority’ syndrome based on ‘majoritarianism’ war cry without a concomitant case of unconstitutionality.
The vision for a Developed Bharat by 2047 requires granularity, with clarity and balance: Ramping up Bharat’s contribution to more than 18% of the global GDP since Bharat is home to 18% of the humanity; $ 20 thousand+ per capita; Top ranking in the world Human Capital Index (Boosting our human capital – whether people (poor, youth, farmers, women) or sectors (especially education and healthcare); Global Best Institutionalisation / Digitalisation / Formalisation / Financialization / Rule of law; Completely eliminating multidimensional poverty along with addressing income poverty involving 500 million poor; Removing regional disparities –
North/east Vs South/west; Ensuring the virtuous circle of relationship between the middle class and the State; ‘Urbanising’ Bharat beyond the ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ binary, and working on Bharat’s public finance to include all three levels of government the Union, States, and Local Bodies for fulfilling broad development goals, and for setting minimum governance standards; Meeting with global risks head-long, whether climate through adaptation, terrorism, disinformation and polarisation threats through smart combination of collective action and technology via installing an institutional risk management function; Making artificial intelligence (AI) overcome the limitations of the human intelligence, and letting Bharat additionally leverage Sanskrit (it’s syntax, morphology, and semantics provide ideal foundation) for the future to become the world leader in AI; Emancipating and financially including women through education and public policy - eliminating the debate on gender mainstreaming will bring forth the beauty and synergy of masculine-feminine; Further building on the technology first approach to diffuse innovations across all sectors of the economy since Bharat’s digital public infrastructure operates on open standards and allows third parties to build on top of it, leading to real-life actionable outcomes; Tackling urgently the issue of “orphaned, abandoned or surrendered” (OAS) children in Bharat whose numbers are possibly as high as 4 per cent of all children, potentially running into millions; Tackling disparities, and the inequalities; Joining Internationalism where foreign economic policy is one of the many important keys, especially the reconfigured global trade and the current globalisation bringing together a system where policy levers are controlled by governments, but FDI and trade happen between private companies - in any case, the world is still round, but it must increasingly become our Oyster; Working, through public policy, not public finance, on the labour-intensive technologies and more employment; Working on Taxation which is less taxing; Tackling consciously the geography of unequal growth through relentless focus on education and skilling; Requiring a market-based economy with a green blueprint, not a market-based society, along with an industrial policy with minimal of trade barriers with strategic intent, juxtaposing the combined strength of manufacturing, services, and the agricultural sectors (the performance of agriculture and the rural economy is paramount); Promoting Shaastra (we need, among other things, global best universities as they along with the government help build industries) and Shastra equally as part of National Security Strategy. All this and more will fully reconnect with the Sanatana Bharat, and groove again to the spirit of seeking, inventing and renovating, since we have been an ideational state and not an ideological state.
True Atmanirbharta (selfreliance) must be understood as locating our efforts in the context of an open and globalising economy, and the key drivers are R&D, human and physical capital. Supplementing It is equally important through internal globalisation, and making the economy completely interoperable. The Western upstream control of narratives around many levers should force us to strengthen our ecosystem for technology, research, innovation and inclusion by renovating our underlying industries - Universities, Government schools, and Think Tanks.
The biggest challenge for Bharat in securing transformative prosperity for its citizens by 2047 is the suboptimal utilisation of its resources. This is therefore the time for an epochal transformation to become a competent, capable, and compassionate Bharat. Collaborative governance displays zero tolerance for corruption and blends the wisdom of Artha stra, the ideals of Ram Rajya (the land of dharma - Truth, Justice, Compassion, and Charity, and a realm of Peace, Harmony, and Happiness, and a shared Universal Consciousness), and the essence of being a Vishwa Guru, will transform Bharat. Being a Vishwa Guru to the world means an embrace. The important thing is to have the power to include everyone and make them want to be part of the whole. The essence of being a Vishwa Guru does not signify a ‘teacher of the world’ but who thinks the whole world is my teacher. This is the humility our Dharmasastra have talked about.