Odisha’s vicious cycle of Mal-governance and Poverty

On July 16, 2014 one Shyama Chandra Rao and his wife were arrested on the charge that they had sold their one month old baby for five thousand rupees. They admitted to have sold two of their children earlier. Family, relatives and neighbors were aware of all these sales. These events happened in Bhubaneswar, state’s capital and a few kilometers from the citadel of power, the state secretariat. Three sales would mean that for the last five years this had been happening and in the complete knowledge of the locality. How distant is our government from the poor? Geographically the distance was barely a couple of kilometers, but in reality Government remains light years away from the people. In more remote areas, Government is as distant as the stars in the sky. One of the Cabinet Ministers of the State Government admitted that this is a shame for the incumbent Government. But, such self-abnegation does not reduce the gravity of the situation. Such is the level of deprivation among the poor, despite tall claims and expensive propaganda by the ruling elite that parents are selling children not merely in remote rural areas, but even in the heart of the state’s capital.

In December, 2013 henchmen of a labour contractor chopped off right hands of two workers Nilambara Dhangada Majhi, 35 and Pialu Dhangada Majhu, 30, both adivasis in Bolangir district. Recently Supreme Court passed some scathing remarks at the goings-on in the state and wondered if the state is in dark ages. Migration of labour for survival or higher wages, particularly during non-agricultural seasons, from KBK region is widely known and yet the state government failed either to create jobs to prevent migration or stop criminal gangs from turning this economic event into an opportunity to sustain a new form of barbaric slavery and illicit trade of humans as cattle. The savagery in this instance is only an indication of perpetual violence, coercion and unfavourable terms of contract under which a new form of bonded labour perpetuates itself right under the nose of the state government. 

In the last few months police have unearthed illegal kidney transplant rackets. But, the suspicion is, what has been discovered, is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. There are many willing people in Odisha to trade organs for making some money. Of course this is a problem that the state shares with many other parts of the country.

Last week a minor girl was rescued from Goa. Again smuggling of girls or flesh trade is not unique to Odisha and is a global problem. But, basically what is unique to Odisha is a convergence of the worst manifestation of poverty and malgovernance; children being sold, bonded labour and forced migration under coercive contractual terms, sale of human organs, smuggling of young girls. It should not be forgotten that Odisha has the highest level of hunger and malnutrition in India comparable to sub-Saharan Africa. Put all these together and the picture that emerges is utterly depressing.

The national media and elite is hardly interested in any of these and in Odisha if you raise these issues you can be criticized for painting the state in bad light by ignoring the spectacular development under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik. After all he recently received endorsement of his 15 years rule. In fact, my understanding is Naveen Babu’s success is an indication of an extreme poverty and backwardness. People do understand the malgovernance, lack of industrialization and job opportunities. But, the problem is in a state with such high level of poverty, depravity and hunger Naveen Patnaik has found magic potions like the one rupee rice scheme. If people are willing to sell their children to live another day or sell themselves in the bonded labour market, they will certainly be beholden to a leader they perceive to have given them 25 Kgs of rice. They are concerned about their immediate survival and Naveen Babu has craftly used money of the Central Government to take advantage of peoples desperation, hunger and depravity.

The poverty-line debate may produce different statistics regarding the number of poor who need immediate attention and targeting. But, as the Raghurajan Committee report found, Odisha continues to be the most backward state in the country. Nabeen babu has remained in power for 15 years and has been claiming that poverty is getting eradicated rapidly except that his success and continuance of poverty are closely inter-related. The problem in the political success of an inefficient administrator is that poverty becomes a necessity for success. Once people are out of their desperate conditions they will seek employment, better infrastructure, improvement in agriculture and then they will find that the present Government has cheated them all along.

I am surprised how muted is the response of the national media to the story of the Rao couple selling three of their children right in the state capital. The national media wants to cover big news; human depravity of the sub-Saharan standard lacks high TRP in the Indian middle class homes. The national media is happier projecting the smiling face of Naveen Babu with the sound bite of his impeccable English; much better visual and sound bite than the agony of the Rao’s admitting to selling children or the cry of the two workers whose hands were chopped off.

The state of affairs in Odisha is a result of leadership failure across professions and political divide. Hardly are our intellectuals willing to voice dissent or hardly do I find Odish’a economist publishing research papers exposing the Government. When I meet political leaders, retired professors, retired civil servants, seasoned media persons I find a clear recognition of the debilitating effect of the BJD rule. But, most are cynical and express helplessness. “What do we do if people are voting for Naveen in such large numbers”, asked one. Of course there are a few, though really very few sensible people, who are still willing to endorse the regime and mostly for securing personal favours from the regime. Despite his political success Naveen Babu is left without many supporters among the thinking class in the state, though they remain silent against the torrent of majority votes. One wonders how does the state come out of this level of pessimism and cynical acceptance of misrule, if so many opt to just keep mum. One senior journalist compared BJD rule to the last years of the left regime in West Bengal. Fortunately for Bengal a strong political opposition emerged giving people an alternative. Bengal intellectuals, many of them left-leaning, supported the change despite their general support for the left ideology. They realized and accepted that political stability had made the state a moribund society and people had lost their creative energy to go forward. Odisha also needs a strong political alternative and a more vocal intellectual class if the state is to be taken out of the quagmire of mal-governance and stagnation.

Transforming Indian Politics: ‘Personality Cult’ vrs. Systemic Reform

Interview of Sri Rahul Gandhi to a TV channel has become a major talking point in conventional as well as social media. No one should forget that Congress has been in power for the last ten years and if Shri Rahul Gandhi had wanted he would be Prime Minister today. I am not sure if anyone else would have given up the opportunity to be India’s PM. Why PM, we would not wink an eyelid to settle for much less?

 

By all reckoning Shri Gandhi had a tumultuous childhood. He saw power from very close quarters when his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi were Prime Ministers. Equally, he remembers how Mrs. Gandhi was jailed and finally assassinated and Rajivji was called names and killed. I am not surprised that he has not got the thirst for office characteristic of the Indian political class and he is not desperate like many. He has seen it all. Both his grandmother and his father were great patriots, served the nation with utmost sincerity and yet they were consumed by the vicissitudes of unkind Indian Politics. After all that he has experienced in life why should he be scared of anything or anybody? As he rightly said one has to look deeper into his life’s circumstances.

The young leader is deeply conscious of the basic unfairness in Indian society and believes that unless there is fundamental reform in the structures and processes of Indian politics, people will not be empowered and public policy will be lopsided. Currently, the doors of political office are not open to talented youth unless they come from political families. Once someone becomes MP or MLA he or she dominates the constituency for a long long time, at times for as much as half a century. A vacancy occurs when a leader is no more, only to be filled by the late leader’s kith and kin. Even at the state or central levels a few individuals decide who will contest for political office. An aspiring MP or MLA needs money to nurture a constituency, build a cadre base and organize political activities and then there is a huge additional cost in contesting elections. Most young men and women stand no chance. Also, the MPs and MLAs by tradition have to do the work of local self government rather than be judged for the purpose for which they are elected, i.e. law making. Major political parties and their leadership lack the courage or the conviction to make basic political reform the focus of public discourse. They want to market a few dreams and somehow occupy office even if for a few months, often they appeal for an opportunity to be in office at least for a few months. What Shri Gandhi is saying is that India has seen many Governments, but the political system remains innately unfair and closed and unless we can change the system there is no escape from unfairness, nepotism and corruption. He continues to be driven not by any chair, but by the desire to expand and deepen democracy. I thought his argument was matured and sophisticated and should be understood with an open and progressive mind. If he is not waving a magic wand, it is out of basic honesty and depth of understanding.

Congress Party has decided to hold primaries for selection of candidates in 15 Parliamentary Constituencies for 2014 elections as a proof of concept. So, not the High Command, not the PCC, not the Pradesh Election Committee, not through lobby, but by direct voting people of these Constituencies will choose their own candidate. This is the biggest experiment in political reform since independence that is being attempted. True, a baby step, but extremely significant. I find it strange that the media is hardly keen on such substantive issues. Because the political structures in countries like the Unites States of America are open that a Black academic from Harvard, Barack Obama is today the President of the most powerful country in the world. He was nominated not by a few Washington insiders, but by the cadre of the Democratic Party, though he does not belong to any political family. A time will come when party tickets for any constituency will be decided not by Delhi or Bhubaneswar, but by the party supporters of that constituency.

Such radical and fundamental reform will in no way be easy to implement. Firstly, those dominating politics will not easily relinquish their position and influence to make way for talented youngsters. Secondly, all political parties have to start a similar process of reform to open their doors because ‘winability’ may work more in favour of established players. Thirdly, instead of voting on merit local considerations of caste and community can derail the process of creating a meritocracy. What Shri Gandhi is expecting is that there will be debate among potential candidates and the best will be chosen by majority vote like in the United States. But, leaders who are established would also have nurtured the cadre and end up becoming candidates even in the new selection process. Moreover, there has to be a redefinition of the power and responsibility of MPs and MLAs. Today they are encroaching upon the powers of local self-governments. They have to yield to functionaries in the Panchyat Raj Institutions and Municipal bodies and focus on law making; effective control over the executive, particularly through the legislative committees. But, India will have to bring about radical reform in the political process if we are to expand and deepen democracy and build a system based on fairness and justice. The way Indian democracy is functioning is not exactly the way it was conceived or anticipated. Many distortions have crept in that need a course correction to avoid the twin threats of autocracy and anarchy.

In the American System the President, no matter how talented or popular, can have only two terms, which comes to a maximum of eight years in office. In India, like in many other developing countries, once elected, PMs and CMs build a huge personality cult. A bunch of self-serving sycophants surround these leaders and sing paeans to create illusions. Those who were three years old when Naveen Patnaik came to power in Odisha have now become voters. Those who were taking their matriculation examination may by now be 30 years old. Since childhood, they have remembered the name of Naveen Patnaik as part of general knowledge. So, the name Naveen Patnaik dominates in their conscious self and reinforced consistently by huge billboards, cutouts, advertisements, media coverage and populist freebies; all telling them that Naveen Babu is pro-people, has developed Odisha and will soon make the state prosperous. Once there is such a huge personality cult hardly is there any scope for debate on public policy because many have already made up their minds. So, I am not surprised when these young men ask if there is any comparable alternative leader. The whole situation is convoluted and bizarre.

Just to avoid emergence of a ‘personality cult’ our constitution makers had after long deliberation selected a Parliamentary form of Government, despite the fact that India is a federal country like the United States and a Presidential System looked a more attractive proposition. Unfortunately, the principal opposition party in the country BJP has decided to go for a Presidential style election campaign. In my opinion it is the duty of every citizen to respect the Constitution and it would have been wrong on the part of the Congress Party to announce a PM candidate disrespecting laid down constitutional process. If Shri Gandhi  was desperate to become PM, he would already be PM, why announce his name. But he has his eyes on larger issues of democracy and public policy making. Leaders can always avoid substantive questions of democracy and resort to rhetoric using Bollywood-Style dialogues of 56 inch chests converting political discourse to a populist soap opera. After a while people will realize that they were cheated by clever marketing, but crucial opportunities to initiate substantive reform would have been lost once again. The focus on personality and the focus on reforming the system are two divergent ideological positions.

The Congress and the BJP represent two distinct ideologies and not two individuals or personalities. Shri Gandhi  believes that unless we are able to reform the system, governments will come and go, but the basic unfairness in the system cannot be eradicated. Leaders will promise many things to the people, but after a while the basic unfairness will catch up, system will be unable to deliver and ultimately in frustration people will reject one set of leaders in favour of another, but not before feeling disillusioned and cheated once again.