India everywhere, govt nowhere

It has been more than 10 years now that I have attended the World Economic Forum8217;s annual meeting in Davos and never have I seen India ...

It has been more than 10 years now that I have attended the World Economic Forum8217;s annual meeting in Davos and never have I seen India better represented or look as good as it did this time. Not on account of unusual effort on the part of the Government of India or because of any improvement in the quality of the politicians we sent but due entirely to the efforts of a group of big Indian companies that sponsored a campaign called 8216;India Everywhere8217;. The campaign brought not just the impressive achievements of Indian industry to this snow-covered ski resort but the glitter of Bollywood, the inimitable sound of Hindi filmi music and the varied scents of India8217;s cuisines. It was such a seductive mix of magic and modernity that many of my foreign friends promised they would come to India this year, no matter what.

When I landed at Mumbai airport I thought of this with trepidation. What would they think when they landed? Would they think they had been cheated and take the next flight out or would they try and look beyond the first, filthy impression that India creates? I landed in the middle of the strike that the government8217;s Marxist 8216;8216;supporters8217;8217; organised against privatisation, so Mumbai airport was even more squalid than usual. Garbage lay uncollected in the corridors and the smell of dirty toilets pervaded the baggage area, making first-time visitors sniff nervously at the stale, dusty air. The carousels that brought our luggage creaked and groaned with age and on the drive into the city I saw India Everywhere as she really is.

The endless expanse of slums and shanties that constitutes the first glimpse of India8217;s commercial capital, the pools of stagnant water in which children bathe, the exposed sewage pipes and the dilapidated buildings that look as if they have not been painted since the British left.

After the order and beauty of European cities our own come as a terrible shock and it has less to do with poverty and more to do with municipal neglect, appalling infrastructure and an inexplicable incomprehension of urban planning.

Leftist commentators have written in outraged tones about how wrong it is for the 8216;8216;rightist media8217;8217; to be more concerned about India8217;s international image than the striking workers. As a representative of the rightist media I am outraged that they are not more outraged by the appalling conditions in which we are forced to live because the state will neither relinquish its hold on urban planning nor do a better job. If the Prime Minister really does have an urban renewal mission in place it is time we started to see some results. If city governments cannot keep our cities clean then it8217;s time to replace municipal services with private ones. If PWD Public Works Department city planners are unable to understand the needs of modern cities then let us kick them out and get private developers on the job. If state governments are unable to change the obsolete laws that control municipal governance and urban planning then it is time that we as citizens demanded better.

It took me a few days to get used to the squalour of being back in Bharat Mata and then came the experience of going to a government office to get something simple done. I had an appointment and arrived 15 minutes ahead of it to ensure that I did not waste a moment of the high official8217;s valuable time. He turned up an hour and a half late and then a matter that would take less than five minutes in a more developed country took me more than two hours to sort out. Meanwhile, I had time to study the mountains of dusty files, the lackadaisical manner in which officials sat around doing nothing in particular, the cheap furniture, the filthy windows and the unkempt garden outside. It does not matter which office I describe because all government departments look this way.

This is the Government of India everywhere and nothing has changed in aeons. Economic liberalisation has transformed those areas of India that the state does not control but done nothing to improve the functioning of the state. This is leading to a real disconnect between the very real achievements of the private sector and the equally real stagnation in government.

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When Dr Manmohan Singh became prime minister he acknowledged in his very first press conference the need for administrative reform. What has happened since? Why do we not see even the beginnings of change? Sorry to sound so gloomy but returning to the motherland after travels in more civilised countries is a shock from which it always takes me a while to recover. Hopefully, I will be in better cheer next week.

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