I am getting tired of the to-and-fro between the ruling combine and the opposition armory, amongst the elements of the UPA itself, and between TA and the UPA on the Lokpal Bill/Act (if and when the Bill does become an Act). The issue ain’t dead, but if you ask me (and, you haven’t), it is time to give it a decent burial.
Why am I so definitive on my recommendation? It is because I know nothing about this whole Lokpal stuff. Check that. I know what Lokpal means. It is a protective shield for the Lok, the people. To be precise, the measure is to protect the public from the machineries of the government and the machinations of politicains and bureaucrats.
By my reckoning, there are other regressive forces galore in the society and the citizens of India do require protection from them also. I want a new movement, towards protecting the public from the government, from industry, from capital, all at one go. The current Lokpal will be a stillborn no matter how strong it is. And, no one ever got protection from a stillborn.
I was thinking (does not happen very often) – why did TATA and Reliance hire the services of Niira Radia? Both corporate entities wanted to promote themselves, one might say when in a charitable mood. However, one has to also admit that the corporates were seeking protection from the government and against the public. Adani has been fingered, and so are the Jindals, not to speak of Anil Ambani. Satyam is seriously down, at least corporate image-wise. Essar is sailing under rough-sea conditions and Swan Telecom is finding polluted communication airspace. I do not know what is happening behind the Kingfisher/UB scenes, but I will not be surprised if it is bailed out, by the government; all those free tickets to the F1 Grand Prix event must be working in the background. Laksmi Mittal has the Indian government in his grip. If you think of it, it must be surprising that Nanden Nilekani, the ex-boss of Infosys, is the chief of UIDAI. Indeed, it may not be too wrong to hint that his appointment is close to being scandalous.
Then comes the logic of Lokpal II. The people, the Lok, have to be protected against the double edged sword of government and industry/capital, working hand in hand. If we blame only the government, the other edge of the blade not only goes scot free, a blame game between the government and industry/capital ensues, ironically to the benefit of both! Time delay gets built in.
Here is the conundrum – capital cannot survive, not to mention flourish, without government support (no matter what free marketers say) and government cannot survive without the support of capital. Please understand that popular support does not feed the political group sufficiently; it has to suborn capital (particularly the media) to mold public opinion to its advantage, “manufacturing consent”.
This is what I look far in Lokpal II. And, Hazare is most ill-suited for this, unless he offers to go for a double-header – a fast, a cup of orange juice and then, another fast!
Is there another doubly un-hungry stomach amongst us?
Raghuram Ekambaram
4 comments:
yes we can identify bad people in govt,politics easily.. but we need protection from good people. parliament has turned down 30000 crores for uiad..thank god.. Nandan is an honorable man.. is he working for the people. govt or sw industry or himself. Everyone knows that he is doing a favor to us by spear heading UIAD(for a poor country like us,that is definitely the priority!) and we cry foul when a politician makes couple of crores..but how do we even make out that we need protection from good men...
DS sir, I was not casting aspersions on NN ... I was merely pointing out that naming a sw industry insider (even now he is that) as the head of UIDAI introduces the possibility of conflict of interest. UIADI may be essential for an intractable country like ours but then it has to be kept simple enough that it can be questioned. Why our paper-less electronic voting system works when it seems to have raised enough questions abroad is something to ponder. In our case, there are no networks; each unit merely spews out the numbers (as I understand); there are no "middle-men". But UIDAI is bringing in a complicated system to a rudimentary population without doing the groundwork (which is not in the interest of the sw industry). This is the reason, I entered UIDAI in the argument.
I am not absolving the politicains and bureaucrats. I am saying, let us cast our nets wide and one will see how nearly herculean the task will be.
I know you are not opposed to the crux of my position. I merely felt like taking this opportunity to explain my position more specifically.
Regards,
RE
Ultimately capital rules the roost. The Govt can make a rule to pre-empt Anna's fast in a particular maidan by raising the rent. Anna can raise the capital by asking for donations. The poor (literally poor) will donate thinking that their intersts will be protected.
But the poor will remain poor. On the Christmas Day, let me repeat what Jesus said 2000 years ago: "The poor will always be with us." The govt, the Lokpal, just anything will keep everbone doubly hungry (poor)!
Matheikal, ironically, the hungriest will be the ones whose plate is full, like Mukesh and Anil Amabanis, Cyrus (the new Tata Sons head-designate), and others of that ilk! yes, the poor too will be hungry, but they are used to it - no problem!
RE
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