Adbication of Governance

That there have been bombings in 2 major cities (Bangalore and Ahmadabad) and scores of bombs found in Surat, which did not go off because the device did not work rather than vigilant security officers comes as no surprise. With a dysfunctional government and unscrupulous politicians at helm this is a natural consequence.

For last 5 yrs there has been a India hype where India was placed alongside China in world's cross hair and was lauded as the next big power. The sad part is that many in India also got blindsided by this euphoria and ignored some fundamental aspects that contribute to growth of a nation (economically as well as socially). Entrepreneurs started believing or at least posed as they believe that governance was not that important and India Inc, can fuel GDP growth and sustain it even as people's representatives in parliament are working to pull the rug from under their feet.

They underestimated the nuisance value of people like Prakash Karat and Arjun Singh and ambivalence of Manmohan Singh and the murky political landscape in all the states, and just assumed that things will get sorted out in evolutionary manner. Everyone believed that just as Indian enterprises transformed and evolved owing to effects of globalization, Indian politicians too will evolve into better statesmen or at least human beings as we ride the growth wave.

Unfortunately this evolutionary cleansing It did not happen and today we are faced with a heightened security threat from homegrown and international terror groups and reduced GDP/Industrial growth.

To create a sustainable economic model and a secure society there needs to be a vision and ability to articulate and assess opportunities and threats and act in the interest of nation, which can only happen when people governing the nation have some basic skills and attributes. It is highly unlikely that people who have bloated their assets by being career politicians with a dirty track record of divisiveness and criminality will transform overnight into statesmen and visionaries, at best they can become pretenders like Lalu (successfully). [Interestingly Lalu has been credited with turnaround in Indian Railways and have been on whirlwind lecture tours in B schools giving lessons in management, no one seem to question why same Lalu pushed Bihar in being a derilict state where there is no power, no roads, no electricity, rampant corruption, high crime rate in 15 yrs he ruled the state. The simple answer is that he always focused on Bihar as primary arena and largely ignored the Indian Railways, where seeds of transformation was sowed by his predecessor and McKinsey was already in helping the executives there. Moreover people fawning over him forget that he was actually sent to jail for blatantly looting money from state exchequer and later resorting to criminal bullying when order was passed to arrest him and send him to jail. He bartered his freedom and exoneration from all his crimes for support to the current government]

India sorely lack such politicians and is unlikely to see any major change as the source does not have stock of this kind of inventory. The process of becoming an MP or legislator itself ensures that most corrupt and criminals climb up faster and better than anyone with honest intentions and skills. This stems from the way local self governing bodies are elected where people whose life is affected most don't give a heck as to who is elected and how, as they consider themselves above such slimy process. The other supply source is the family and relative inc., where progenies jump the ladder owing to family connections, where you may not be ridden with a criminal (if you are lucky) but certainly with and incompetent fool with no ability to lead and inspire. Indian middle class, companies and the critics of the governance hardly make an effort to invest in alternative source and unless they take an initiative to farm and nurture statesmen we will continue to have unpredictable and crappy politicians. So do not wonder when the GDP growth slows and when we are attacked by terrorists, since we have created a conducive ambiance for them.