IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Tathagata Bhattacharya analyses the decline and fall of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
It's an irony that we have to compare Karnataka and Maharashtra,
home to Bangalore and Mumbai, showpieces of a new India that according to US President Barack Obama has already 'emerged', to Bihar which until recently was a metaphor for bad governance, corruption and utter breakdown of law and order. This points to the ability of the Indian political class to even bring states that represent the nation's software prowess and industrial-financial might to the brink of disaster. In Karnataka, they have of course been ably supported in this endeavour by the Reddy brothers and the Baldota Group whose mining riches dictate the terms even inside the state Legislative Assembly. In Maharashtra, specially in the Mumbai-Pune belt, the real estate developers' and builders' cartels have lent their helping hands.
Tushar Gandhi, grandson of the Father of the Nation, says, “Once upon a time, Maharashtra used to rank on the top in terms of businesses that made Mumbai the nation's financial hub. It was a model to be emulated by other states of India. But now, the parameter, means and meaning of development have changed. Corruption has become the principal means of development. Politicians and bureaucrats are the main culprits for such a situation. In case of the Adarsh Housing Society scam and other such instances, politicians as well as bureaucrats are equally responsible. Basically, it is a nexus of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and builders.
Down South, Devnooru Mahadeva, the prominent Dalit writer from Karnataka, says, “What is happening here is basically an ego war between the Baldotas (a mining group), the Reddys and Santosh Lad. Rest of the leaders are their puppets. All the three major parties – the Congress, BJP and JDS have completely failed to deliver the minimum standards of governance.”
Allegations of governance failure also ring out from Maharashtra. An activist lawyer and the founder of Sahyog Trust, Asim Sarode, says, “It's not an issue of corruption alone but one of bad governance. Considering that good governance is an integral part of fundamental rights, the latest scams which have hit the state are violations of the same. It's misuse of authority by the politicians. They are committing a breach of the trust reposed in them by the people. We are still missing the mature participatory aspect of a full-fledged democracy. The laws against corruption are very weak. One has to prove everything against the accused. The burden is on proving guilt and not on absolution of the same. The approach in running schemes needs immediate change. The government is not doing the citizens any favour by launching these schemes. It is right of the citizens and the government is supposed to serve the people. The politicians in India need to learn to behave as trustees of national property instead of using them as their personal possessions.
The communal atmosphere in Karnataka has crossed all limits, feels writer Vaidehi, a Sahitya Akademi awardee. “Development initiatives have lost their track and security of women is at its lowest. Even if the voices of flood victims reach their peak, nobody is there to listen to them. The recent governments have been blinded by the lure of power and money. The mining lobby is snatching the state's resources and wealth,” are her pointed words.
Journalist Jatin Desai attributes Maharashtra's industrial decline to poor governance and lack of planning and implementation. “Nowadays, entrepreneurs maintain a safe distance from Maharashtra and they don’t want to invest more for commercial purposes. Electricity has become the biggest problem with 6 to 8 hours of power cuts every day. The GDP growth rate has also come down. Look at Gujarat. In the past, there was shortage of electricity but the situation has improved by leaps and bounds. The state has reached the top slot as far as GDP is concerned. Narendra Modi had personally contacted Ratan Tata and offered him the required support for the Nano project. Could not have Maharashtra done the same,” the angry scribe asks.
Information Technology and manufacturing & trading have brought boons and banes for both Karnataka and Maharashtra. While they have brought riches and international laurels to Bangalore and Mumbai, the abject poverty of the Bijapur area and farmers committing suicide in Vidarbha have brought disgrace. Inequalities have increased manifold and almost 20 years after the nation started opening up its markets, the trickle-down effect is still mentioned in future tense.
The state governments have been unable to see through these problems. But in these regard, the lack of foresight of Central leaders, blinded by the mirage of the success of the Neo-liberal model of growth, also needs to be factored in.
Well-known literary critic and progressive thinker G.Rajshekar thinks, “There is a constant attack on the livelihood of poor people. The recently passed ill-conceived Prevention of Cow Slaughter Bill would take away the right to food from poor people. Secondly, one can gauge how the establishment is least concerned about the people by the way the government has treated flood victims. It was a well-orchestrated effort to portray the bureaucracy in positive light and nothing more. Thirdly, the scandalous privatisation of education and health sectors has put these out of the reach of the poor and the marginalised. The state of government schools is such that nobody sends their children even for mid-day meals. Fourth and most important, Karnataka lacks a vibrant democracy.”
Kodihalli Chandrashekar, farmers’ leader and the president of Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha, is a voice of the poor and the marginalised. This is what he has to say about the state of affairs in Karnataka, “People who are involved with the granite, land and sand mafia are ruling the roost in Karnataka. This trend started with the BJP-JDS government . In the 1970s and 80s, we used to look at states like Bihar and say that Karnataka was much better in terms of law and order . We never thought we would go down like this. This is the reality today.”
Professor Sangita S. N. of the Institute for Social and Economic Change agrees. “The politicians are busy resolving their own issues and have no time to dedicate to governance. Therefore they fail to keep a check on the bureaucracy as well. Taking the advantage of the situation, the bureaucracy hardly performs or delivers its duties on time. The mining lobby is the king here,” is her opinion.
If one needs to find a ray of light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's for the sake of feel-good journalism, a possible silver lining is how Nitish Kumar has changed the perception of Bihar. Bihar today is no longer lawless, gone are the days of caste massacres, the recent Assembly elections have been as peaceful as they are in the most tranquil states of the country.
In a world of constant change, Bihar is moving up the ladder and both Karnataka and Maharashtra are slipping fast. It will only be a matter of time before the latter two replace the former as the new standards of bad governance, corruption and breakdown of law and order. The onus is on the Indian political class to mend their ways and secure the state of the nation.
(With inputs from B.S.Manjunath, Rakesh N.S., Danish Riaz and Shruti Murkutkar)
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Tathagata Bhattacharya analyses the decline and fall of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
It's an irony that we have to compare Karnataka and Maharashtra,
home to Bangalore and Mumbai, showpieces of a new India that according to US President Barack Obama has already 'emerged', to Bihar which until recently was a metaphor for bad governance, corruption and utter breakdown of law and order. This points to the ability of the Indian political class to even bring states that represent the nation's software prowess and industrial-financial might to the brink of disaster. In Karnataka, they have of course been ably supported in this endeavour by the Reddy brothers and the Baldota Group whose mining riches dictate the terms even inside the state Legislative Assembly. In Maharashtra, specially in the Mumbai-Pune belt, the real estate developers' and builders' cartels have lent their helping hands.Tushar Gandhi, grandson of the Father of the Nation, says, “Once upon a time, Maharashtra used to rank on the top in terms of businesses that made Mumbai the nation's financial hub. It was a model to be emulated by other states of India. But now, the parameter, means and meaning of development have changed. Corruption has become the principal means of development. Politicians and bureaucrats are the main culprits for such a situation. In case of the Adarsh Housing Society scam and other such instances, politicians as well as bureaucrats are equally responsible. Basically, it is a nexus of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and builders.
Down South, Devnooru Mahadeva, the prominent Dalit writer from Karnataka, says, “What is happening here is basically an ego war between the Baldotas (a mining group), the Reddys and Santosh Lad. Rest of the leaders are their puppets. All the three major parties – the Congress, BJP and JDS have completely failed to deliver the minimum standards of governance.”
Allegations of governance failure also ring out from Maharashtra. An activist lawyer and the founder of Sahyog Trust, Asim Sarode, says, “It's not an issue of corruption alone but one of bad governance. Considering that good governance is an integral part of fundamental rights, the latest scams which have hit the state are violations of the same. It's misuse of authority by the politicians. They are committing a breach of the trust reposed in them by the people. We are still missing the mature participatory aspect of a full-fledged democracy. The laws against corruption are very weak. One has to prove everything against the accused. The burden is on proving guilt and not on absolution of the same. The approach in running schemes needs immediate change. The government is not doing the citizens any favour by launching these schemes. It is right of the citizens and the government is supposed to serve the people. The politicians in India need to learn to behave as trustees of national property instead of using them as their personal possessions.
The communal atmosphere in Karnataka has crossed all limits, feels writer Vaidehi, a Sahitya Akademi awardee. “Development initiatives have lost their track and security of women is at its lowest. Even if the voices of flood victims reach their peak, nobody is there to listen to them. The recent governments have been blinded by the lure of power and money. The mining lobby is snatching the state's resources and wealth,” are her pointed words.
Journalist Jatin Desai attributes Maharashtra's industrial decline to poor governance and lack of planning and implementation. “Nowadays, entrepreneurs maintain a safe distance from Maharashtra and they don’t want to invest more for commercial purposes. Electricity has become the biggest problem with 6 to 8 hours of power cuts every day. The GDP growth rate has also come down. Look at Gujarat. In the past, there was shortage of electricity but the situation has improved by leaps and bounds. The state has reached the top slot as far as GDP is concerned. Narendra Modi had personally contacted Ratan Tata and offered him the required support for the Nano project. Could not have Maharashtra done the same,” the angry scribe asks.
Information Technology and manufacturing & trading have brought boons and banes for both Karnataka and Maharashtra. While they have brought riches and international laurels to Bangalore and Mumbai, the abject poverty of the Bijapur area and farmers committing suicide in Vidarbha have brought disgrace. Inequalities have increased manifold and almost 20 years after the nation started opening up its markets, the trickle-down effect is still mentioned in future tense.
The state governments have been unable to see through these problems. But in these regard, the lack of foresight of Central leaders, blinded by the mirage of the success of the Neo-liberal model of growth, also needs to be factored in.
Well-known literary critic and progressive thinker G.Rajshekar thinks, “There is a constant attack on the livelihood of poor people. The recently passed ill-conceived Prevention of Cow Slaughter Bill would take away the right to food from poor people. Secondly, one can gauge how the establishment is least concerned about the people by the way the government has treated flood victims. It was a well-orchestrated effort to portray the bureaucracy in positive light and nothing more. Thirdly, the scandalous privatisation of education and health sectors has put these out of the reach of the poor and the marginalised. The state of government schools is such that nobody sends their children even for mid-day meals. Fourth and most important, Karnataka lacks a vibrant democracy.”
Kodihalli Chandrashekar, farmers’ leader and the president of Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha, is a voice of the poor and the marginalised. This is what he has to say about the state of affairs in Karnataka, “People who are involved with the granite, land and sand mafia are ruling the roost in Karnataka. This trend started with the BJP-JDS government . In the 1970s and 80s, we used to look at states like Bihar and say that Karnataka was much better in terms of law and order . We never thought we would go down like this. This is the reality today.”
Professor Sangita S. N. of the Institute for Social and Economic Change agrees. “The politicians are busy resolving their own issues and have no time to dedicate to governance. Therefore they fail to keep a check on the bureaucracy as well. Taking the advantage of the situation, the bureaucracy hardly performs or delivers its duties on time. The mining lobby is the king here,” is her opinion.
If one needs to find a ray of light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's for the sake of feel-good journalism, a possible silver lining is how Nitish Kumar has changed the perception of Bihar. Bihar today is no longer lawless, gone are the days of caste massacres, the recent Assembly elections have been as peaceful as they are in the most tranquil states of the country.
In a world of constant change, Bihar is moving up the ladder and both Karnataka and Maharashtra are slipping fast. It will only be a matter of time before the latter two replace the former as the new standards of bad governance, corruption and breakdown of law and order. The onus is on the Indian political class to mend their ways and secure the state of the nation.
(With inputs from B.S.Manjunath, Rakesh N.S., Danish Riaz and Shruti Murkutkar)
Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
GIDF Club of IIPM Lucknow Organizes Blood Donation Camp
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
Dr Malay Chaudhuri, Founder Director IIPM, tells TSI why the IIPM Awards are in a league of their own
Bollywood's No.1 Mum Kajol: Step ahead MOM!
Katrina Kaif: A British Indian Actress Born on July 16, 1984
IIPM Professor Arindam Chaudhuri on 'OBAMA and OSAMA'
