All hands on deck

I am writing this article from my flat in Mumbai adjacent to the Oberoi Hotel. I have been confined to the flat for the past 48 hours or so and done little else than watch with mounting horror the unfolding tragedy of Mumbai.

I am writing this article from my flat in Mumbai adjacent to the Oberoi Hotel. I have been confined to the flat for the past 48 hours or so and done little else than watch with mounting horror the unfolding tragedy of Mumbai. I have witnessed fires; I have listened with numbing helplessness to the cries of those trapped in their rooms many of whom were perched on edges outside to escape the billowing smoke. And I have wondered with a mix of anguish, impatience and anger why the fire department was taking so long. It has been a cathartic experience and not one that lends itself to the penning of an article.

These past few days have triggered conflicting thoughts. I have marvelled at the extraordinary courage of individuals. The stories of how the staff of the Oberoi and Taj hotels protected their guests even at considerable risk to themselves is supremely humbling. The NSG, army and the police are clearly comprised of men of dedication, determination and discipline. At the same time I have wondered at the state of our public institutions. I do not have the facts and it would be harsh to draw conclusions on the basis of visual experience. It was at least two hours after I saw the fire that the engines arrived and another hour before they pumped water into the by then charred lobby of the hotel. I am sure there are good explanations for this delay but from the vantage point of my bedroom and with the cries of the guests ringing in my ears, I could not then think of one.

The Mumbai tragedy made me ask once again the perennial question. Why it is that the performance of government-controlled entities is so often less than the sum of its component individual parts? Is it lack of leadership? Is it fragmented decision-making structures that fog the lines of responsibility and accountability? Is it the political system that vests 8216;hard power8217; in elected officials who are simply unable to accept short-term pain for longer-term gains? I contemplated this question not so much to find an answer 8212; the explanation has to do with all of the above and more 8212; but because with every passing hour one saw evidence of the gap between the promise of public service and its delivery. And the tragic human and material consequences of this gap.

The captain of a ship that is caught in the eye of a storm has a two-fold priority. First, to steer his ship into calmer waters and second, to ensure that whilst doing so the ship is not blown totally off-course. The captains of the Indian ship of state are currently caught in the vortex of several overlapping storms. The Mumbai tragedy threatens the fabric of our society. Terrorism has to be contained but stability and communal harmony has also to be ensured. . The financial crisis has weakened the props of our economy. Recessionary forces have to be checked but in ways that do not circumscribe productivity, efficiency and innovation. The energy problem is off the front pages because of the slump in the international price of oil. It is however, still very much with us. The calm of low prices must not distract us from the longer-term dangers of constrained supplies and global warming.

The Mumbai tragedy, the financial crisis and the energy problem highlight one fundamental. The criticality of ensuring that the captains of our ship of state do not continue to give short shrift to the 8216;truly important8217; task of reaching the shores of a prosperous, equitable and sustainable society in their pursuit of the 8216;seemingly urgent8217; objectives of political survival and personal self aggrandizement. The consequences of letting the 8216;seemingly urgent8217; take precedence over the 8216;truly important8217; can be enormous. The Maharashtra government, I am sure, has an emergency response system. It would be egregious if they did not given the number of times Mumbai has been attacked. But the system, clearly, is not effective. Could it be that the government created the system but then ignored the 8216;truly important8217; task of testing it because of other 8216;seemingly urgent8217; preoccupations? The Central government is under pressure to reduce the price of domestic fuels. This despite the fact that the oil companies are still in the red and the subsidy mechanism is known to be faulty. The captains of our energy policy may of course achieve the 8216;seemingly urgent8217; objective of gaining political brownie points but the price of enhancing the likelihood of triggering further storms in the shape of rising sea levels, extremes of weather and price volatility.

The challenge of the future is to secure a better balance between the 8216;seemingly urgent8217; and the 8216;truly important8217;. If the latest tragedy is anything to go by, this will not be met if the task is left entirely to our elected representatives. All hands must come on deck 8212; corporates, NGOs, academics, the media etc. This will not be easy. Our political framework does not offer space to anyone other than the 8216;elected8217; on to the captain8217;s deck. It is not however insuperable. The soft power of public opinion should not be underestimated. Were eminent citizens like Ratan Tata, N.R.Narayana Murthy, Dr Abdul Kalam, Dr. R.K. Pachauri to come together on a common platform, the weight of public opinion could well prise open the captain8217;s door.

The writer is chairman of the Shell group of companies in India. The views expressed are personal.