What is our Cultural Ethos?

Mr. Kapil Sibal says that social networking sites are allowing posts which are against our cultural ethos and hence should be banned, if the posts are not removed. He raises the bogey of religious sentiments being hurt and character assassination taking place through such posts, though I have not heard of any such protest to date. All social networking sites have “report abuse” buttons, which once clicked enable the site administrator to take necessary and appropriate action. Politicians and other public figures are the butt of jokes of cartoonists and spoof artists all over the world, as they provide the best fodder with their brilliant behaviour. Case in point BBC TV serials lampooning politicians – “Yes Minister” and “Yes Prime Minister”, which are all time hits.

Somebody needs to explain to our Honourable Minister that the only thing which is against our cultural ethos is the behaviour of Parliamentarians whose egos expand the moment they are elected by the people, thereby forgetting the people who elect them. The moment they are elected they are inaccessible to the ordinary man for five years – they get vehicles with red beacons, they get armed guards as escorts who follow the minister in a convoy – which stops the traffic so that this so called elected VIP gets to pass. I seriously do not understand why politicians need security the moment they are elected – are they afraid of the people, or is it the case that they know that they will not work and want protection against public angst – see what happened to Sharad Pawar! The reaction of his supporters was to vandalise public property in Pune, Baramati and Mumbai – that is our cultural ethos, I guess!

Parliamentarians do not perform the basic function for which they are elected – which is to legislate. The norm is disruption of Parliament, no healthy debate, jumping into the well of the House in protest, preferably by uprooting mikes and shouting at the top of their voices or walking out in protest – this best suits our cultural ethos I guess. The Lokpal bill has yet to see the light of day for the last 43 years. After Anna Hazare’s agitation, the Parliament has decided on a weak Lokpal Bill, even though the nation wants a strong bill – now protecting the vested interests of Government and their babus is our cultural ethos, is it not Mr. Sibal?
Crores of rupees of tax payer money is spent on building roads and national highways, which end up increasing maintenance cost of vehicles, now that is our cultural ethos! The common man has to bear the burden of increasing prices, heavy indirect taxation for which the government does not provide any service – that is our cultural ethos!

Corruption has become the national pass time with 99% of the public indulging in it. Many who do not want to be corrupt end up paying bribes, as without that nothing happens in this country! The aam aadmi suffers from basic level corruption from low level government functionaries who have been excluded from the ambit of the Lokpal Bill. We might as well say, “chalta hai @#$%^&&” and forget about – because that is our cultural ethos.

How many political families who own sugar factories and big business houses who take loans from co-operative banks and nationalised banks respectively actually bother repaying the loans. The sugar factory owned by our country’s President owes the banks crores. Patil, in 1973, had set up a co-operative bank named Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank, to empower women. The license of the bank was revoked in 2003 by the Reserve Bank of India for alleged financial irregularities. According to reports, one of the reasons listed by the RBI for cancellation of the license was the faulty loan policy of the bank and waivers on loan interests given, among others, to Patil's relatives. The nationalised banks latest NPA report indicates NPA’s of over Rs. 40000 crores. This from business houses whose promoters are filthy rich! This is definitely our cultural ethos.

In India majority religion bashing is the norm and pandering to others is the flavour – now introducing muslims in the other backward class category for government sops and subsidies. When will such cultural ethos change? Can we not abolish reservations by have an economic criteria introduced for support of the poor – based on merit and not on religion or caste. But that would then be against our cultural ethos, I suppose.

Nepotism and dynastic rule has become the norm in this country – every politicians, husband, wife, brother, sister, etc wants to come into politics to loot the nation. Nobody says “ask not what the nation will do for you, but what you can do for the nation”. But I think our politicians and bureaucrats have found an answer to the second question – it is simply loot the nation and make hay while the sun shines! That has become our cultural ethos.

This Government, instead of using growth to lay a secure foundation for the future, and create conditions where the scourge of poverty can be removed, has undermined the prospects for growth. We have high inflation, worrying public debt, slowing growth, uncertain currency prospects, falling investment, crushing interest rates. Not a single one of the big-ticket items the country needs has progressed. Centralisation of governance remains endemic. There is no serious progress on GST. There is an energy crisis looming. With the exception of RTI, there is no meaningful administrative reform. These will not happen without serious investment of political capital. Government processes from finance to environment smack of more discretion than before. Agriculture, except where states have taken an initiative, remains stuck. Corruption is endemic. Evasion of responsibility remains the norm. Every single institution, from the office of the prime minister to the cabinet, stands weakened. The capacity of the system to negotiate conflict and grievances is declining. Bills are languishing in Parliament. The use of state power by the Congress has been ruthless, the corrosion of public discourse unconscionable, and the anti-intellectualism mind-boggling. This I guess is our cultural ethos.

Mr. Sibal talks about cultural ethos when his party is ruled by a foreigner!

Wake up Mr. Sibal before it is too late. Start tackling real governance issues rather than trying to convert India into a police state to satisfy your insatiable ego by trying to achieve the impossible.

Ref:"Tomorrows Battles by Mr. Bhanu Pratap Mehta in Indian Express"