December 2007  Edition

SOUTH ASIAN VOICE

News analysis and analytical perspectives from India and the sub-continent

A Report-Card on the Sonia-Manmohan Government

The present UNPA government assumed office in somewhat unusual circumstances in that it inherited an economy that was growing more rapidly than has been the norm for India. Investments in national highways and rural roads were beginning to pay off leading to a period of remarkable economic buoyancy. Under such circumstances, the new government was not obliged to make any significant policy changes or tackle any pressing economic or political crises.

It is perhaps for this reason that all manner of retrograde steps by Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh have gone relatively unnoticed and unpunished by those experiencing some degree of upward mobility in their lives.

Colonial Sycophancy
Very early on, Manmohan Singh shocked the nation when he lavished praise on colonial rule - ascribing to colonization virtues that were in actual fact buirdens to the nation. Few in the Indian intelligentsia were alarmed by this display of sycophancy that one would normally associate only with colonial quislings, not elected leaders of great independant nations. The British administration system that Manmohan Singh appears to so admire was designed to rob the Indian people of their wealth and deny them the sort of modern infratructure that every developed nation boasts of today. It was a system in which only the colonial masters enjoyed the benefits of modern conveniences. They lived in exclusive zones where the natives were mostly excluded.
Corruption thrived so that all manner of colonial criminals could get away with theft and murder but patriotic Indians had no place to hide.

Those who wanted to do anything for the progress of the country had to run from pillar to post - while those who were idle or incompetent thrived. While the working masses lived in the most derelict slums, even the middle classes had to make do with the very minimum of urban amenities.

That is the real legacy of colonial rule. A legacy in which only 11% of British India could read and write, in which famines and malnutrition were the order of the day. That the Prime Minister of India needs to be taught such a basic lesson in history speaks of how the Indian National Congress has decayed and how the Indian masses have become so politically ignorant or indifferent that they didn't immediately call for the recall of such a political quisling. Rather than talk about how the colonial legacy needs to be dismantled - how colonial era laws that don't serve the people's needs need to be discarded or overhauled, the Prime Minister chose to endorse this oppressive legacy.

Nuclear Surrender
Of course, it is no surprise that in London and Washington, Manmohan Singh was immediately showered with praise. Described as a gentleman and a statesman, it is no surprise that he quickly became an advocate of nuclear surrender. Although the nuclear ageement with Washington has been touted as an agreement that will liberate India from its energy shortages, it is in fact a nuclear surrender, and opposition leaders such Yashwant Sinha, Jayalalitha, and former Prime Minister Vajpayee were amongst the first to allude to that. Former foreign minister Natwar Singh who drafted the original memorandum of understanding has also spoken out against the final form of the agreement that Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi have aggressively defended. But again, popular opposition was muted because the English language press behaved as little more than dumb cheer-leaders - accepting Manmohan Singh's deceptive defence of the agreement.

At a time when US prestige was at an all time low, there was an opportunity for India to assert itself and demand greater equity in the international energy trade. In South America, a series of  small nations have made serious atempts to stand up to the US. Rather than learn from the examples put forth by Venezuela, Bolivia or Ecuador, the Sonia-Manmohan team has instead chosen to behave like the tin-pot dictators that are no longer tolerated even in the smallest of African nations. Whereas it has been routine for Pakistan's leaders to pay homage to their US masters, at least they do so only after they recieve billions of dollars in aid. The Sonia-Manmohan team hasn't even struck that sort of a bargain.

Even as many US allies are reconsidering their blind support of US imperialism, the Sonia-Manmohan team has been championing a pathetic stand in all international fora where Indian national interests are at stake.The truth of the matter is that the Sonia-Manmohan team is beholden only to India's RNIs (Resident Non-Indians). India's RNIs have little loyalty to the country of their birth and citizenship - so they are little bothered by such sellout leaders.

But it is not only in the arena of foreign policy that the Sonia-Manmohan team has revealed its indifference to the larger public good.

Rewarding the Criminals
Residents of Delhi may recall that soon after the acquittal of Jessica Lal's known murderer, the judge who acquitted her killer received a quick promotion to the High Court. Although a massive and unprecedented public outcry forced the government to back off from interfering with the High Court case, the promotion of the earlier judge had already revealed the true colors of the government. Judges who let off well-connected criminals could now count on speedy promotions. Throughout the country, the Sonia-Manmohan team has been promoting the most venal and spineless administrators and judges. Well-connected Congress loyalists such as Salman Khan have routinely escaped jail terms for crimes against people and  protected wild-life.

When over 2000 Residence Welfare Associations in Delhi went to court to put a stop to illegal land use and uncontrolled land grabs by the land mafias, the Congress government chose to side with the  law-breakers. It chose to align with the liquor lobbies and liberalize the sale of liquor in residential areas.

Likewise, families who attempted to seek justice in the Uphaar Fire case (where all manner of fire safety precautions had been wilfully ignored by Municipal Officials and the Ansals management) were sidelined and received no help in their fight for public accountability.

Neglecting Infrastructure and Public Welfare
Although the government has been announcing its rural welfare schemes with much fanfare, subsequent surveys have shown that implementation of such schemes has been least adequate in the Congress-ruled states. In fact, the Congress record in improving public infrastructure has been especially wanting. All manner of schemes are announced but with little planning and no follow-through.

For instance, suddenly the Congress government appears to have woken up to the problems faced by Indian universities and the weaknesses in the tertiary education system. But rather than tackle the real problems, the government first came out with the utterly misguided scheme for increasing reservations. It has since announced the launch of several new universities. But naturally, few of these announced projects will actually materialize since the biggest hurdle will be to acquire land for these new universities. In fact, the manner in which the government has come out with its grandiose pronouncements shows that the government has absolutely no grip on the real issues confronting India's universities and affiliated colleges.

First, there is the false notion that there is a huge shortage of seats at the undergraduate level. In fact, if one considers all the seats available at the affiliated colleges at the undergraduate level, that isn't the main problem at all. The main problem is that in the undergraduate private engineering colleges, there are too few experienced teachers with PhDs or post-graduate degrees. In the science colleges, labs and physical infratructure hasn't been upgraded in years. Faculty positions are lying vacant for one reason or another. The need of the hour is to improve what exists - to rehabilitate and upgrade the existing institutions in a phased and planned manner rather than build new institutions only to neglect them later. In some cases, the problem lies in the university management or in undue political meddling or politcal stalling. Unless these issues are seriously addressed, one cannot expect much from launching new institutions.

As it is, we already have too many inadequately funded small institutions - unless there is a will to adequately fund scientific and technological research - there is no point in building new institutions that will be mismanaged or not given adequate funds and autonomy to excel.

In any case, the primary emphasis needs to be to enhance the provisions for post-graduate education - particularly in the sciences and in engineering. Moreover, there needs to be a massive increase in funding for research (not just at some new universities that will take years to come up to size), but at existing universities where research is already taking place but needs to be augmented or brought up to date.

At the same time, there needs to be a massive modernization of the social studies departments. Economists and social scientists need to graduate with a better grounding of geography - particularly resource geography and environmental geography. As India's interaction with the world increases, international studies departments need to grow and become more sophisticated. We need better town planners and managers who understand how to deliver basic civic amenities to the masses. The study of Indian history needs to be rescued from the quacks whose view of Indian history has been colored more by the perspective of India's invaders and colonizers.

At the primary and secondary level, more attention needs to be paid to ensuring basic infrastructure in rural schools. In particular, rural schools need better math and science teachers, and teachers who actually show up to teach.

In the cities, urban sanitation, efficeint mass transport, provisions for low-income housing, rehabilitation of slum-dwellers and controlling illegal land use by the property sharks ought to be the priority.

The SEZ Give-Away
But instead of focussing on the pressing inadequities of urban infrastructure and controlling haphazard and anarchic urbanization, the Sonia-Manmohan government has taken the unconscionable step of encouraging land grabbers.

While a case could be made for SEZ's in the most backward districts there is absolutley no case for SEZs to be located near the booming metros. One could understand if an SEZ were located in Maharashtra's Beed district, or Bengal's Purulia or Cooch Behar districts, or anywhere in Eastern UP, or Bihar or Western Orissa. But there is absolutely no justification for SEZ's to be located near Mumbai, Pune, Delhi , Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad , Goa, or Chandigarh. These cities are already growing very rapidly, and there is a grave shortage of land for public use. Most of these cities have infrastructure deficiencies. Industrial development needs to be decentralized and spread away from these already saturated metros.

But instead, the Congress has been pushing ahead with the SEZ legislation without regard to the tax losses, or the inordinate pressure that will be placed on an already inadequate infrastructural base. India needs more jobs in states like Bihar and Eastern UP - not more jobs in Mumbai or Bangalore where many new workers will in all likelihood end up living in slums. It would be one thing if there were requirements for adequate low-income housing and transport facilities placed on the new SEZs. But the SEZ's have been asked to fulfill few (if any) social responsibilities.

As things stand, the government's SEZ policy will only lead to more unbalanced and lop-sided development - a mindless recipe for more chaos and stress in the future.

Phony Secularism
Of course, one reason that the Sonia-Manmohan team has survived thus far is its supposed obeisance to the notion of "secularism". But it is now quite abundantly clear that the Congress's adherence to "secularism" is utterly opportunistic and phony.  Many well-meaning Indians are deeply moved by the  plight of Taslima Nasreen, and are either disenchanted or disgusted by how supposedly "secular" politicians have failed to adequately defend her, or worse, even chastize her. A genuine secularist should have nothing but admiration for Taslima. Rather than berate her for critiquing the religion of her birth, which she has every right to do, she ought to be held up as a model for secular humanism and gender equality. A genuinely secular goverment would have given Taslima citizenship, perhaps appointed her as advisor to the social welfare and education ministry so she could make suggestions as to how India's Muslim women could become better educated and more capable of earning a decent living.

Although some have compared Taslima Nasreen's plight to that of M.F. Hussein, it might be observed that while India's honest secularists do oppose the needless harassment of painters like M.F. Hussein, they are not unaware that there is no license for any painter to depict the Virgin Mary or Jesus or Moses or Mohammad in the nude. In fact, it is quite likely that many of India's Marxists would find naked depictions of Marx or Lenin offensive, as might Naxals a nude sketch of Mao. It perhaps speaks of the maturity of the Indian culture that most Hindus have not found M.F. Hussein's Durga sketch objectionable.

But time and again, when it comes to secular practice, the crass opportunism and blatant hypocrisy of the Congress and its allies has come to the forefront. Whereas the Congress and its allies have embraced all manner of critics of Hinduism (including those who have been wilfully biased  and/or engaged in very disingenuous intellectual practices), even honest and well-meaning critics of Islam have been treated like pariahs or hounded like criminals. Misogynistic tendencies amongst Muslims have been deliberately veiled under the garb of "respecting a community's religious sentiments" - as though women do not constitute a part of that community. In any case, when backward or reactionary aspects of Hinduism are exposed, there are many Hindus whose sentiments are also hurt. But social progress requires the defence of the oppressed, not the defence of medieval idealogues or oppressors unwilling to change their behaviour. Equality of treatment is a very important clause in the Indian constitution. The cause of gender equity cannot be hijacked by those who use their religion as a tool for political blackmail or social intimidation. Politicians who would sacrifice such basic and elemental features of the constitution cannot hope to keep the trust or respect of the people.

Sincere secularists cannot take kindly to such blatant religious favoritism - especially that which is meted out towards the sentiments of a very reactionary faction of a particular religious community. Those who use reactionary Muslims as vote banks can hardly be taken seriously when they criticize others who might use conservative or radical Hindus as vote banks.

It must  also be emphasized that "secularism" cannot be twisted to justify mindless sectarian terrorism.

Since the Sonia-Manmohan team has taken charge, there has been an unprecedented surge in terror attacks by Islamic fundamentalists throughout the country. In Assam, there has been a massive increase in attacks against immigrant workers, and disputes between tribal and non-tribal communities have ended up taking violent turns. Attacks by ULFA have multiplied. This has occurred because of the complicity of Congress politicians and their allies.

The truth of the matter is that on issues where the government could or should have played a positive role, it did not. Notwithstanding the growth in the economy (which has occurred in spite of the government - not because of it), the Indian people need to realize that not since colonial rule have the people of India elected such a duplicitious or incompetent team to lead the nation. The UNPA government has been fortunate that the opposition has (as yet) failed to adequately expose the many betrayals and shortcomings of this government. Sadly, this government deserves little more than a D-grade on most counts, and a failing grade on many key issues of national importance.