Political shenanigans have clouded the fact that honest wages, for honest day’s work, across the board, is the only key to national development and not any number of political promises.
Dr H.C.Pande
Bernard Shaw had stated that a government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul. In a democracy, it is the people’s support that keeps a government in power, therefore, Paul, normally denotes the people in general but, at times, it can be, a group, or, a community. So also, Peter need not be a businessman, an industrialist or a corporation, it can be the national treasury as well. Robbing an individual or a corporation is a noisy affair, as an individual can kick up a ruckus, and the chambers of commerce can activate their lobby in the parliament and ignite the media. The no sweat option, therefore, is raiding the treasury. It is a noiseless operation, hardly making a ripple. It is bloodless for the government, but bleeds the nation to death, albeit slowly.
15th August 1947 heralded independence for the country, and, armed the people with the freedom to resurrect India, and, build anew its political, social and economic structure.
For a country coming out of centuries of neglect, loaded with problems across the spectrum of development, with limited resources, and, even more limited skilled manpower, the priorities had to be identified, firmly stuck to, and, acted upon within clear boundaries. The freedom here, spelled bondage, to stark realities, and, liberty meant limitation, not free will. This is where the things went wrong!
We were free to draft and adopt our own constitution, free to frame our own rules of executive business ,civil & criminal laws, code of conduct and the rest for good governance ,but certainly not free to neglect our duties, not free to violate the laws in force, and, not free to shelve our social responsibilities. And, to top it all, certainly not free, for financing free- loading, or, freely financing the freebies. For a nation, struggling to stand on its own two feet, the focus has to on collective good and not on individual benefits.
A joke has been around for quite sometime, the gist being, that Americans fall for adventure, Britons for honor, Germans for law, Japanese for order and Indians for freebies. This perception about us, is an insult, but, is not quite untrue. It is necessary to add that this impression has roots in the behavior of the well fed & well shod class, ever on the look-out for concessions, deals, discounts and freebies. The general mass of the uneducated, uncultured,and underprivileged, still untouched by the modern civilization, however, looks for honest day’s work and not doles.
Honesty, is no longer the best policy, and, the recent political developments prove the point.
In the last Delhi elections the AAP party came up with a politically brilliant, and, economically busted, theory, that, the taxes are in fact people’s money so let it be returned back to them by supplying free electricity, free water and giving them free rides on city’s buses and metro. Apparently the IIT graduate can invent the perpetual motion machine, producing power, and, powering itself as well. AAP promises to this effect, brought the party tons of votes, but, did not generate a single unit of electrical power or produce a drop of diesel oil. Since electricity can not be generated at no cost, and, the buses have to run on diesel oil, the state exchequer has to foot the bill on these items. AAP, cannot be given the credit for inventing this free, free theory as the credit belongs to DMK which led the way with TV sets. Well, TV sets to the poor, what’s wrong with that you would say. Everything, because his need is work and fair wages, whereas, you are corrupting his work ethic with doles. This is akin to offering, the proverbial apple, causing fall of Adam from grace. Political shenanigans have clouded the fact that honest wages, for honest day’s work, across the board, is the only key to national development and not any number of political promises. Freebies and free loading is the fast lane for a free fall of the economy. But then like a dog’s tail, you can not make a politician think straight. He has to generate votes and not development.
The battle cry for winning the elections would change, sooner rather than later, from the ‘Right to work’ to the ‘Right to wages,work or no work’. This would be the ultimate El dorado, what more can you ask. (The views expressed are personal)
(Dr H C Pande is Vice Chancellor Emeritus, BITS, Mesra)
