Friday, August 13, 2010

PERFORMING Vs. NON-PERFORMING INDIA

There was a time when India was considered to consist of India and Bharat. India was the prosperous urban segment and Bharat was the poor rural segment. It was fashionable for the coffee-guzzling or whisky-downing intellectuals to shed copious tears for Bharat.

However rural prosperity in some parts of India has changed the situation. The divide now is Performing India Versus Non-Performing India. Roughly speaking, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka are the performers. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, the North East and Tamilnadu are on way to becoming performers. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Orissa and Jammu & Kashmir are the Non-performers.Opinions may vary on who are performers but this is my perception.

The Non-performing have a thousand reasons for not performing. Some others call them excuses. They are however very high on proclaiming the values that they hold very dear to to them such as Socialism, Secularism, Quotas and dependence on Sakar Mai-Baap and so on. Speech is more important to them than action except of course, for negative actions that bolster their non-performance. The Non-performers do not know how to prioritize their values. Performers, on the other hand have only one aim - to perform. They spend more time and effort on finding a way of coping with roadblocks in their path than on grumbling about them. They do not bother much about ideologies such as Capitalism, Communism, Socialism or any other or for that matter systems of governance such as democracy, monarchy or any other. They merely change their strategy to suit the prevailing circumstances. If the buzz word is socialism, they enthusiastically put up public sector factories, if it is free enterprise, then they make way for the private sector and if co-operatives are the fashionable flavour, they develop factories, housing, agro-industries and so on in the co-operative sector. They are not bothered with "isms"or "cracies". They take them as methods or systems or tools -not masters.

Performers are, increasingly dumping political parties wedded to dynastic, populist or agitational approach as witnessed in the last assembly elections in Gujarat and Karnataka. They believe more and more in self-reliance and less and less on a narcotic otherwise known as Subsidy. They realize that subsidies keep them chained to an inefficient and ineffective Government mechanism. It is as difficult to kick the subsidy habit as it is to kick the drug addiction. The experience with petrol and diesel prices in the face of spiralling crude oil prices is an example. Those who shed tears for the poor are the ones who keep them rooted in poverty by their actions. If the poor are not kept in poverty, what happens to the vote-bank of the populist and the agitational politicians? Our governments appear to have a vested interest in keeping the people poor. At least, their actions seem to suggest so.

The wiser people among the non-performing parts of India migrate to the performing parts of India. They brave the taunts of the locals,suffer (?)the lawfulness of the local populace, try their wayward ways back home in the new place. Some succeed in their waywardness only to find a general dislike for their entire creed on account of the actions of only a few of them.

In fact, this phenomenon is quite on par with the one on the global scene. People from under-developed and developing countries flock to the developing world to hunt for greener pastures. They live on the sufference of the locals.There are movements to control their inflow. Enoch Powels arise in England while Thakerays arise in Mumbai. Powels have a fleeting existence in history. Thakerays will have a comparatively more enduring existence due to the difference in the maturity levels of their peoples.

One interesting phenomenon is that there is a faster social transformation among the performing population even if it is not their stated aim than among the non-performing ones. The depressed classes are less depressed among the performers than among the non-performers. This explains perhaps the lesser success of parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party or Mulayam's Socialist Party or for that matter of the even the leftists in the performing parts of India. The performers instinctively realize that inclusive growth is essential for growth to be sustainable.

We can leave it to social researchers to go deeper into the differences between the performers and the non-performers. Let us instead turn to the subject of remedying the situation. Should the performers cease to perform till the non-performers catch up with them? Indira Gandhi, the self-professed daughter-in-law of Gujarat ( at election time ) or the earlier dispensation - call it by any name you like - did so in the name of a balanced growth of the country. What happened was only the "Hindu" rate of growth.

Should the performers be insulated from the non-performers? Is it wise, even if it were feasible?How much of our energy in prohibitory or reactive actions than in pro-active solutions that result in a win-win situation? That does not mean that the likes of Thakerays are totally useless. They can be used to weed out the unproductive or lawless elements among the migrants, without forgetting that the likes of Thakerays are only a fleeting phenomenon in the sands of time.

Once again let us look at the global scene. Migrants from undeveloped and developing countries made themselves rich while enriching their hosts. Migrants, by and large, have a greater motivation than the locals. They can view the situations more impartially and spot hitherto undetected opportunities. When the reverse brain drain takes place, the homing migrants bring with them much needed capital, even more needed ideas not to speak of the zeal to transform their native places. ( If Amitabh Bachchan tried to do it in Uttar Pradesh, so be it! ).

The developed world gave initially, grants-in-aid or loans to the undeveloped countries. Some countries, the wiser among them, made use of this aid judiciously while striving to become self-reliant so as to dispense with aid and along with it the bad taste that aid was leaving in the mouth. Certain other countries preferred to continue being client states while continuing to chafe under it and transforming the bad taste into terrorist activities. The same or similar thing can and is perhaps happening in India as well. Naxalism proliferates while their people continue to beg for the largesse of the Sarkar Mai-Baap. Naxalites would not allow any productive activities to proliferate, nor would they bring prosperity on their own except perhaps in a few pockets. Now there is one more reason for the non-performers to not perform. How can they perform when there is no law and order.

The biggest problem is one of "Group Think" as the behavioural scientists would say. We need to transform this unproductive group think of the non-performers. Rahul Gandhi appears to be doing a good job of it in his constituency. People have to realize that all factors of production viz. the capital, the capitalists, the financiers, the labour, the government, the supply chain, the service industry,the civl society around and most importantly, the customer (for whom all the economic activity is undertaken), gain equitably (not necessarily equally). It is only then that the non-performers can begin to perform. The malls are a beginning in serving the most depressed of Indians -the customer. It is noteworthy that the non-performers by and large reject the malls.

An important feature of the non-performers is their stout resistance to any change. While mouthing revolutionary slogans, they are ones who resist change. Be it Singur, be it Nandigram, be it SEZs, be it mining or be it any activity that threatens to better their lot. I am beginning to understand why the Orient was considered to be the white man's burden. We resisted abolition of the Sati, eradication of thuggy,modern education and the inculcation of the scientific temperament. We even eulogised the Tonga as compared to a bus as witnessed in the film "Naya Daur" starring Dilip Kumar. It is still fashionable to berate the West while harbouring jealousy towards it.

The fasterb we shed the ideologies and practices not relevant to our times and circumstances and adopt means that work, the faster shall we progress. It is in the self interest of the performing Indians to bring their non-performing brethren on par. Let us do it even if by fits and starts. Saam, Daam, Dand, or Bhed, every trick of the trade has to be tried.

No comments:

Post a Comment