Freedom from ineptness

INDIA at 71 has come a long way from 1947. But the defining spirit and mood of its governance and administrative structures still reek of ineptness. A sustained spell of rain in Himachal Pradesh has snapped transport lifelines and left commuters and Army supplies to forward posts stranded. That six national highways were among the 923 affected roads in Himachal Pradesh tells a tale of misgovernance and graft that allowed unabated encroachments and denuding of forest cover since the late ’60s. The saving grace is the semblance of post-disaster and humanitarian assistance machinery that helps people pick up pieces of their disrupted lives.

Kerala prides in benchmarking its development indices with Europe. It has built an intricate network of dams in the Western Ghats for flood control and hydro-generation. Yet, one sustained spell of rain and the simultaneous opening of sluice gates left some Kerala districts looking like Brahmaputra-ravaged Assam. For the people of eastern India, especially, there has been no freedom from the uncertainty of dislocation and disruption during every monsoon with the concomitant breakdown of public services. Even under the new dispensation, the zeitgeist of a rapidly changing India is lacking. One the immediate emergency has been clumsily tackled, the ball is kicked off to the corner to wait for the next season of misery when the wheels again fall off. 

Throughout our journey in Independent India we have been handed out narratives that remain unfulfilled. This is not about unfocused resentment or lack of resources. The plain truth is that people of India have not got a decent bag for their tax bucks to liberate them from the seediness of inner cities or to deliver a fair law and administration system and provide decent and affordable healthcare and education. The grand ascendance from being bullock capitalists to citizens of a state that honours its social contract with the citizens still remains a far cry.