Freedom of choice without options

India is the largest democracy in the world. We elect our representatives through voting as democracy gives us freedom to choose. But freedom of choice is meaningful only when we have options to choose from. In theory Indian democracy seems perfect but its actual functioning has left much to be desired for.

Various candidates mostly belonging to different political parties contest elections and get elected. As representatives of their area they are voices of people. But the truth is they tow their party line. In India political parties are undemocratic and opaque where dynastic politics and despotism is rampant. There is even a constitutional law popularly known as anti-defection law (inserted through 52^nd amendment in 1985) that kills the democratic spirit.

The provision of this law states: “A member would incur a disqualification under paragraph 2 (1) (a) when he “voluntarily gives up his membership of a party” and under 2 (1) (b) when he/she votes (or abstains from voting) contrary to the directive issued by the party.”

As the name suggests the law is supposed to deter defections by elected representatives (MPs and MLAs) who had earlier given their support to form the government. This is to maintain stability in the government. But the law has put the power in hands of party hierarchy. Provision 2(1)(b) stated above is applicable not only to confidence vote but also to any other decision/law/debate matter.

Do we vote for individuals as our representatives or a political party? Even if we do vote for a political party, is the political party system in India democratic? NO! The political party system in completely opaque, power is concentrated in the hands of few elites who run the show. This breeds dynastic politics and despotism leaving Indian democracy without substance.

Major electoral reforms have long been pending now. There has been talk of bringing right to recall. Right to recall gives the power in the hands of people whereby they can remove their elected representative before the term has ended. This would be an extreme measure and cost of re-elections would be huge. And even if we bring this reform, whom would we re-elect? Does, undemocratic anti-defection law leave us any choice? Yes we do have freedom of choice. Alas, no options to choose from.

Flawed Priorities

It is widely accepted that GDP growth cannot be a measure of a country’s development. Measuring development is very complex but there are certain accepted measures, one of them being Human Development Index (HDI). Human development Index combines three dimensions – A long and healthy life (Life expectancy at birth), Education Index (mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling), a decent standard of living (per capita GNI). India is ranked 134/187 in this index. Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Iran, Sri Lanka and Thailand are some of the countries that are ranked above India in this index.

If we look closely at the HDI of various states in India the findings are more shameful. If Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were independent countries, they would be ranked 5^th and 12^th in terms of population respectively & 148/187 and 161/187 respectively in HDI’s. Eight of India’s least developed states (BIMAROU states +Assam) constitute 47.62 % of India’s population with their combined HDI lying in the low HDI zone. I can safely say that India is an under-developed country.

India is a socialist country as mentioned in our constitution. It can be argued that the policies India have adopted since 1990s have been of capitalist nature but in truth those steps were means and not the end. The end was to generate sufficient income for the country, boost employment, and increase revenues of the government which could be utilized for development. Distributive justice is important component of socialism whereby government undertakes measures to tax the rich and spend on welfare of the poor.

But Indian spending priorities are flawed. While the ultra rich drive their SUVs on government subsidized Diesel, the government keeps financing the losses of Air India which has no utility for the poor. Spending Billions on enriching the infrastructure of metropolis and comparatively well off states has lead to more migration and unplanned urbanization which has created greater problems. Most of the developmental subjects (health, education etc) are in the state list but governments of the poor states have very less funds at their disposal. Further, expenditure from central quota is based on discretion of the central ministries which are mostly politically motivated.

In recent years, India has increased its defense spending. India has become a donor to some under-developed countries. India also organized the CWG games to showcase itself to the world. It can be argued that these spendings are of strategic concern. But the truth is – India chose these ahead of other pressing needs.

One half of India booms and other is under-developed. The priorities of the Indian development story are flawed.

Sailing against the wind - 2

Previously: Sailing Against the Wind; Majority Wins

My name is Nadia Kumar Singh. I am a doctor and I work at the government hospital, Nala. Nala, which is a fairly large village is situated in Jamtara district of Jharkhand. This hospital at Nala was built three years ago to cater to all the surrounding villages in the block. Government spent sufficient money to build state of art facilities at the hospital. Nine doctors were posted to this newly built hospital. The village people were very happy who earlier had to travel two hours to Jamtara or Asansol. 

Everything was perfect to begin with but three months later, three doctors got themselves transferred to some urban location. The vacancies created were not filled. Some of us put in extra shifts to cater to the numbers. The situation deteriorated further when two more doctors stopped coming. Only four of us were left now. Our repeated pleas in the health department went unattended and situation stayed as it is. The free government medicine outlet in the hospital started running short on key medicines. The administrative guy in our hospital said helplessly - "The strings are pulled from above, I can not do anything. As far as possible please prescribe only those medicines that we have." The health department had become deaf by now. One of the educated residents in Nala tried to approach the local media but learnt that media got their share of the public pie from the top to keep quiet.

A few months later our salary stopped coming. On approaching the Registrar at the district we learnt that we need to give 5% of our salary as bribe to get the salary regularly and on time. This was the final nail in the coffin. Three others left and I am the only doctor at Nala hospital. Now, I work in the hospital for as long as I can apart from seeing the emergencies whenever called for. 

The doctors who left earlier were wise and those who did not bother to join government service and go abroad were wiser. I don't know what keeps me hooked to Nala. I don't know why I want to stay foolish.

Epilogue: Government spends billions on developing infrastructures like schools, roads, hospitals etc. but is least bothered in running and maintaining those properly. Why wouldn't an IIT or AIIMS graduate join a private firm or leave for greener pastures abroad?

Open letter to Finance & Law Ministries

Dear Sirs,

Through this letter I would like to highlight the prevalence of a special kind of hidden economy in Indian cities that is causing huge revenue losses to the government and can be dealt with adequate legal framework. At the same time it can clear up a huge backlog of cases pending in the lower judiciary.

There are numerous commercial and residential properties that were rented long back before 1990. The rental amount agreed was based on the land value prevalent during those years. Situation has changed dramatically since the economic reforms began in 1990s. The depreciation in the value of Rupee, rise in inflation and rise in the value of land has left the agreements obsolete. Today, new agreements are standardized with a definite timeline-11 months, 6years, and 9years etc. but agreements in the past did not have a definite timeline.

Taking the example of a commercial property in a buzzing market of a city having an area of 1000 square feet. A rent agreement was signed in 1975 with the rent amount agreed to be Rs.200 per month. Taking in account the increment provisions of the agreement, the rent amount today is Rs.1200 per month. A similar property in the same area currently pays Rs.100000 per month as the rent amount based on a recent agreement with a fixed timeline of 6 years. Government not only earns service tax but also income tax revenue from this recent agreement. At the same time this amount is reflected in the GDP calculations. There are numerous similar small and big cases in every corner of India.

Moreover, from the point of view of the owner, he feels helpless. The legal recourse to get his property vacated is a very complex and time consuming process. Only on the grounds of personal necessity can one get his premises vacated. How is it the owner’s fault if he could not visualize the government policies of the 1990s that left his agreement obsolete?

This phenomenon also highlights a flaw which can be exploited to generate black money and revenue loss for the government. Suppose, the owner and the tenant agree to a rate on paper that is much below the actual market rate to save on the service tax and income tax through extra-legal agreement. There is no way law can catch this.

A mechanism exists to deal with similar fraudulent agreements in land deals, whereby the land revenue departments at district level decide the circle rates. A similar mechanism with modifications can be initiated for rent agreements also. Moreover there should be standardization of rent agreements to prevent seepage of revenue and generation of black money. There are numerous cases related to vacation pending in lower judiciary for years. An appropriate government policy could help clear this up. A possible measure could be a law that declares old agreements void after December 2014. This would give sufficient time to the tenant as well. The law and finance ministries should work together to bring forth a policy framework to deal with this serious issue.

Yours faithfully,

Nikhil Kumar

1^st December 2011

(I sent this letter to the respective ministries via email mentioned on the government website but there has been no reply to date.)