Looking back, and ahead

Gurbachan Jagat

It’s time to look into the past. For our generation, it means to look at the dawn of Independence when we were children, not knowing the full impact of what freedom meant. We grew up in the aftermath of that dawn and in its glow. We heard from our parents what changes had come in their workplaces and in their lifestyles. The overt and covert discriminations had ended in official and social spaces and Indians were in charge of their own affairs. Democracy, freedom, liberty, equality are best experienced and understood by people who either didn’t have them to begin with, or have had them taken away. As schoolchildren in the late Forties and early Fifties, we were brought up on stories of the recently achieved Independence and Partition. World War II had just ended and it was the beginning of the Cold War. Atomic weapons had been used for the first time and they brought with them the dread and fearsome might of the American and Soviet armies. Yet, there was also a sense of freedom as the old colonial powers, their energies and youth spent in the destruction of war, withdrew and one by one the flags of freedom and democracy went up around the world. Along with this came the alternative ideology of communism, with Russia, China and eastern Europe falling under its spell. What followed is history, but suffice it to say that the two competing ideologies did lead to most of Europe, the Commonwealth countries and North America following the model of the welfare state.

It was in this backdrop that our age group was getting educated and subsequently, looking for employment. We were bred on strong patriotic feelings and there was a desire to follow in the footsteps of our forefathers. As such, the choice of career was not difficult. After completion of matriculation, those with an armed services background opted for the National Defence Academy; for those with other backgrounds, the choice was between the medical and engineering streams, and you got into these colleges on the strength of your marks in the intermediate examination. Some of us opted for the humanities and the subsequent career options of the civil services or academics. It’s important to mention here that the number of educational institutions was limited, as was the number of people with the background to seek higher education. The population of the country then was roughly 34 crore (compared to 140 crore now) and mostly rural, with access to little or no education. As a result, almost everybody who had access to a decent education settled down by getting a government job. Early on, the public sector was not in play but gradually, as it came up, professional and skilled labour had this option also. The private sector was limited to a few metropolitan cities. Medium-scale industry started mushrooming in smaller cities and towns and quite a few of the engineering and management graduates got absorbed. The hospitality sector was a major attraction. The cities and towns were still manageable because the exodus from the rural areas had not started. Agriculture was the mainstay and even people with small holdings stuck on because it was the only skill they had and it still provided a livelihood. Agriculture supported farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons and unskilled labour. All of them put together worked as a unit in the village and were paid by farmers in cash or kind at the time of sowing and harvesting crops. The barter system still existed. I do not wish to draw a picture of some kind of utopia, but the extreme disparity we see in society today didn’t exist. There were no urban slums and ghettos. There was a simplicity to life not driven by consumption and though there were people of different economic strata, there were no vast inequalities.

The Green Revolution gave a fresh impetus to agriculture but it did not last long as the population growth far outpaced the farm productivity. The fact of reduced farm holdings and incomes became more apparent by the day. Villagers started seeking jobs in cities, which led to large-scale migration. Unskilled workers were the first to move out and seek jobs in factories. Semi-skilled workers followed in their wake and the urban areas were awash with rural folk, some of whom got jobs while others did not. The numbers increased as rural life became harsh with the loss of landholdings and the city infrastructure could no longer cope with the influx. The combined effect of a booming population and urban migration led to slums coming up, increase in crime, spread of disease and the ugly face of poverty and de-humanisation appeared. These folks in turn became hostages to political parties for purposes of elections and were used as vote banks. The educational infrastructure did not keep pace with the requirements, especially in rural India. Institutions should have been built to not only produce skilled professionals, but also infuse in students the ability to think. What followed was the creation of cram schools and a plethora of below-average institutions (there were and are a few exceptions). This holds good today also. For this change to happen, there have to be teachers who can bring out this aptitude in children. Our universities should have top-rate faculty and research facilities. A large number of Nobel winners are from the universities of the developed world, as also top executives. When I was in the UPSC (2002-07), I was informed that there were 30 per cent faculty vacancies in the IITs. Today, with the increased number of IITs, I am sure the position would be worse. What can the new IITs achieve without adequate faculty? Similarly, a universal health system has to be assured.

So, where do we go from here? The massive population ceases to be a demographic dividend when even the basic staple ‘food’ has to be doled out to over 50 per cent of the population. How do we move to being a middle income country? The answer is in education and health. We will not be able to raise hundreds of millions out of poverty by increasing the dole, which is the current flavour of the season amongst all political parties. The answer lies in realising the full potential of our youth, combined with the experience of our business leaders. Till the majority of our youth continue to look to foreign shores, our leadership fails us, the brain drain continues and we continue to flounder. The modern economies of the G-7 countries have been built on a foundation of the world’s best educational institutes and in their ability to attract and retain the best talent. We try to appropriate achievers abroad but fail to understand that it is the educational system, research facilities and work environment which have made it possible despite their being immigrants.

Why is it that the young entrepreneur continues to be mired in red tape? Why does he still have to wait endlessly for ‘the licence’? The government’s role is meant to be of a facilitator, shouldn’t the bureaucracy and political leadership encourage and help build the requisite environment? It doesn’t need any budgetary allocations, just the will to do good work. Youth is the bedrock on which countries are built and that bedrock is built on education, health and encouragement. The other day, when the CEO of a major semiconductor production facility in Taiwan was asked about the secret of their country’s success, his one-word answer was: ‘education’. Education from the school upwards. After reading this, go and visit the government schools in your vicinity and you will have the answer to the reason for the exodus of the undergraduates.

GDP, forex reserve figures are empty words for the unemployed, educated or illiterate youth. For a new India, we have to have a new vision of an educated, healthy and enlightened youth that will take us to our rightful place on the world stage. We must have detailed plans for education and health, along with an ambitious plan for national-level infrastructure which would provide millions of jobs and a great leap forward on the path of development — something on the lines of FDR’s ‘New Deal’. Like FDR said: “We can’t always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”

— The writer is ex-chairman of UPSC, former Manipur Governor and served as J&K DGP

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