by John Elliott
It is, of course, possible to put a positive spin on India’s way of doing things. Shivshankar Menon, Manmohan Singh’s national security adviser, tried to do this in his November 2011 lecture on foreign policy. Answering a question about the turmoil in Indian politics and government, he said: ‘We love arguing about it [India’s problems]. We love bringing ourselves down ... that’s up to us. It’s part of the way we do our business. We make a huge amount of noise ... I tell my Chinese friends, “We do in public everything that you do in private – all the arguing, all the policy making”. At the end of it, after getting to all the extremes, we come somehow to the middle and we find our way through, and we normally find a good solution, so I’m not worried by turmoil – turmoil is creative, tension is creative, and it works.’
The second part of the editor’s remark raised a more vital point – that powerful vested interests do not want India’s problems to be tackled and therefore impede effective government. The elite, I suggested in the article, had shuddered since 1947 at the prospect of the poorly fed and poorly educated half of the population rapidly entering mainstream society. That elite has expanded massively in recent years to include the newly rich and powerful, who have their own vested interests in resisting change. Sooner or later, I wrote, the electorate would tire of non-performing governments. Then a new grouping would emerge, led by younger politicians ‘probably involving the Congress without Sonia Gandhi in the lead’. India would then move forward again, as it always does. Quite possibly, a national crisis would suddenly trigger change and help to set the country on a new course, as had happened in 1991. I thought, however, that the dominant picture would continue to be the dichotomy of a country that was becoming internationally important in geo-political and economic terms, but whose democracy was becoming anarchic. That was not the India I had seen when I arrived in India in the 1980s when newspaper headlines and politicians’ speeches were peppered with phrases saying the country was ‘poised for take-off ‘ and ‘on the springboard for success’.
The question now is whether India has reached that point when it will move forward. Certainly, the government of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi has led people to ‘tire of non-performing governments’. There is a generational change in prospect with Rahul Gandhi, 42, emerging at the top of the Congress party to challenge Narendra Modi, the 63-year-old controversial and abrasive chief minister of Gujarat who is the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. But they are both being challenged by a popular movement that started with the country-wide anti-corruption protests three years ago and led on to the mass demonstrations over rape and the treatment of women at the end of 2012. Out of this emerged the Aam Aadmi Party, led by Arvind Kejriwal, 45, which has provided a platform for people to become part of a movement that could be an alternative to self-serving and corrupt national and regional political parties. India’s middle classes – especially the young – are not (yet) cohesive enough to be mobilised to fight collectively for change, but they are angry enough to spread the AAP’s presence. How far Kejriwal can go, having conquered New Delhi and become chief minister, is hard to judge. The AAP’s best chance of making a difference would be to grow as a minority party that maybe forces established politicians to change the way they behave.
In his independence speech in 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru used the memorable phrase ‘tryst with destiny’. India is now facing its tryst with reality, not just over immediate problems of economic growth and a weak government, but over its long-term failure to tackle mounting problems in the way that democracy functions. On my first visit to India in 1982, my driver from the Taj Hotel in Bombay had gone up the wrong side of a central reservation on the road to Pune. When I asked him why, his charming reply was, ‘Don’t worry, sahib, both roads go same place’. That, I had soon learned, was a metaphor for the way India likes to work, but it is no longer apt. There are choices to be made about which way India will go – whether democracy will continue to provide a cover for the country’s inequality, injustice, corruption and appalling governance, or whether new and younger political leaders and a more vocal expanding middle class will ensure that India, with all its advantages of history, culture, brain power and aspiration, avoids the risk of implosion.
Notes
1. Examples of Manmohan Singh using the phrase are here http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/i-am-not-blocking-deal-jpc-says-pm-750 and http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/upa-government-bows-to-allies-mamata-banerjee-m-karunanidhi/1/178501.html
2. Vikram S. Mehta, now chairman, Brookings India, in conversation with JE, and in an article, ‘Dimming of Brand India, Indian Express’, 2 September 2013, http://m.indianexpress.com/news/dimming-of-brand-india/1163302/
3. JE, ‘A BMW kills six, no questions asked. India has become ungovernable. But who cares? Good government might threaten the elite’, New Statesman, 22 April 2002, http://www.newstatesman.com/node/142790?quicktabs_most_read=0
Index
Aadhaar biometric identification scheme
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
Abdullah, Farooq
Abdullah, Omar
Abdullah, Sheikh
accountability
Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL)
Adani Group
Aditya Birla Group
administrative problems
Advanced Radio Masts (ARM), Hyderabad
Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA)
Afghanistan
Afro-Asian Games
Agni
AGNI V
agricultural credit and finance systems
Ahluwalia, Isher
Ahluwalia, Montek Singh
Ahuja, Gautam
Air Deccan
Air India
Aiyar, Mani Shankar
Aiyar, Swaminathan
Akash surface-to-air missile
Akbar, M.J.
akhara (sect of Hindu Sadhus)
Aksai Chin
Alcan, Canada
Alcatel, France
Alcatel-Lucent
Alfred, King
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
Alpha Technologies
Ambani, Anil
Ambani, Dhirubhai
Ambani, Mukesh
Ambanis
Ambassador car
Ambedkar, Bhim Rao
Amethi, Uttar Pradesh
Anand, J.S.
Anatronic
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Andhra Pradesh: business communities, corruption scandals, economic growth, irrigation in the 1800,s
Andhra Pradesh Beverages Corporation
Anne, Princess
Antony, A.K.
appropriate technology
Arab Spring uprisings
Araku Valley
Arcelor Mittal
Arjun battle tank
Armellini, Antonio
Army jeep scandal
Arora, G.S.
Arunachal Pradesh (North-East Frontier Agency): Chinese excursions
Asian community in America
Asian Games (1982)
Asia-Pacific region and China, American initiative
Association for Democratic Reforms
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Atlas Cycles
Augusta Westland Company
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aurobindo Pharma
Austin-Morris Mini
authoritarianism
auto industry
automated logistics systems and warehousing
Azad Kashmir
Baalu, T.R.
Badal, Prakash Singh
BAE Systems
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
Baijal, Pradip
Bajaj in autos
Bajpai, K. Shankar
Bajpai, Kanti
Balwa, Shahid
Bandaranaike dynasty
Bandra–Worli Sea Link
Banerjee, Mamata. see also Singur and Nandigram
Bangladesh, Awami
/>
League, dynastic rivalries, liberation war (1971). see also Pakistan
banking and insurance regulation
Bansal, Pawan
Barak missile systems
Baru, Sanjaya
Basu, Jyoti
bauxite mining
BBC
Beant Singh
Bedi, Rahul
Beejna, Panipat, Haryana
Bennett Coleman group
Bentley
Bhagat, Chetan
Bhagavadgita
Bhalla, Surjit
Bharat Carpet Manufacturers
Bharat Dynamics
Bharat Earth Movers (BEML)
Bharat Electronics
Bharat Forge
Bharathi Cement
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led coalition
Bhargava, Jitendra
Bhargava, R.C.
Bharti Airtel
Bhartiya, Shobhana
Bhaskar group
Bhaskar, Uday
Bhattacharjee, Buddhadeb
Bhattacharya, Ranjan
Bhopal gas tragedy
Bhushan
Bhutan, and Indo-China relations dynastic rule to democracy, Gross National Happiness (GNH)
Bhutto family
Bhutto, Benazir
Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali
Bihar: lack of governance
Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
biotechnology regulations
Birla, Aditya
Birla, Kumar Mangalam
Bissel, Bim
black-marketing of construction material. see also corruption and bribery
Blackwill, Robert
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
Boeing
Boeing Lockheed Martin’s aircraft
Bofors gun corruption scandal black listing unbanned agents
Bosch
Bose, Sumantra
Brahmaputra river
Brahmo missiles
British Morris Oxfords
Brookings Institution
BT brinjal (genetically modified version of vegetable)
bureaucracy: and companies, nexus, corruption, hierarchy, politicization, tendering processes
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System
Bush family
Bush, George
business class in India
Business Standard
business transformation after reforms
C& C Alpha Group
Cambodia
Cameron, David
capital dislocation
capitalism
Carmel Asia Holdings
cash compensatory scheme
Cass, Alain
caste system
Castro, Fidel
cement prices, decontrol
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
central government and states, clashes
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)
Chaddha, Win
Chander, Avinash
Chandra, Naresh
Chandrashekhar
Chaudhary, Rahul
Chautala, Ajay
Chautala, Om Prakash
Chawla, Kalpana
Chellaney, Brahma
Chemon group
Chennai Superkings
Chidambaram, P.
child motality
China, aggression in East China Sea biggest weapon importer till Communist Party, corruption, Cultural Revolution, (late s), defence capability, economic development, economic reforms, has encircled India and Indo-US relations Pakistan, relations/military aid to Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) State Grid Corporation, Tiger farms
China and India, relations: Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility (1993), border disputes , business security risks future contours Himalayan struggles Panchsheel Agreement war (1962)
Cho Soung-Sik
Chou en-Lai. see Zhou Enlai
Choudhrie, Sudhir ‘Bunny’
Churchill, Winston
civil services and judiciary, undermining
climate change
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, Hilary
Coal India
coal, coal mines, corruption and bribery, Coalgate and development projects and environmental clearances, freed from industrial licensing production management, crises. see also mining, illegal
coalition governments, compulsions
coastal development guidelines
Cohen, Stephen P.
Cold War
colonization
Commonwealth Games (2010) inefficiency, bad governance, shoddy work and corruption Swiss firm’s contract for the games
Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee
Communist Party of India (CPI)
Communist Party of India (Marxist) {CPI(M)}
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and RTI
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
Congress, and Andhra scam, corruption, defeated in Delhi (2013), dynastic politics (families galore), and Rahul Gandhi Sonia years split, and Telangana issue, won general elections (1991) (2004), Youth
Conran, Terence
Constitution of India
consumerism
Continental Resources, United States
Controller General of Defence
Accounts (CGDA)
Controller of Capital Issue
Cooper, Ken
Corbusier, Le
corporate taxation laws
corruption and bribery, and loss of architectural and cultural legacy in bureaucracy, Commonwealth Games (2010), on defence contracts in democracy and dynastic ambitions, and environment, and plunder of land, of public institutions, protests and pressure against, and unauthorized colonies, see also right to information
Corus
Cotton, Arthur Thomas
counterterrorism policies
Crate & Barrel
cricket match-fixing scandal
Crown Corporation
Cuban missile crisis
current account deficit
Czechoslovakia
Daewoo
Daiichi Sankyo
Dalai Lama
Dalmia
Damodaran, Harish
Darshan,
Das, Tarun
Dasgupta, Rana
Dasgupta, Sunil
Dassault of France
DB Realty
Deccan Plateau rock landscape,
decision-making and execution
defence: capability deals, use of agents and payment of commission development and production programmes, equipment India, the largest buyer, graft, foreign manufacturers and suppliers being blacklisted public failings public sector units (DPSUs) , purchasing procedure (DPP) (2011)-(2013), research and production corporations Russia-assisted missile programme
Defence Research and Development Authority (DRDO)
Delhi restrictions on development
Delhi class destroyer
Delhi Development Authority (DDA)
Delhi gang rape case (Nirbhaya): brutal policing a frightened government punishment to rapists a repressed patriarchal society waves of protest
Delhi-Gurgaon project
Delhi-Jaipur highway
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)
Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project
democracy and political dynasties
demographic disaster
demographic dividend
Denel company
Deng Xiaoping
deregulation
devaluation
developers and governments relationship
development: and displacement and land scams, opportunities waste
Devi, Rabri
Dhar, P.N.
Dharavi, Mumbai
Dharma, Odisha
Dhawan, R.K.
Dikshit, Sheila
disaster aversion and management
discretionary powers
distrust in public life
D
ixit, Mani
DLF (Delhi Land and Finance)
domestic controls over production
domestic manufacturing industry
domestic priorities
Dongriya Kondh tribals
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory
Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK)
Drèze, Jean
dual-use technologies
Dubey, Suman
Dwivedi, Janardhan
dynastic surge, dynastic politics
East China sea
ecological security
economic and social changes
economic development and growth, impact of reforms
economic performance, decline
economic reforms China and India, comparison Gandhis’ blockage to impact on economic growth lessons and debate Manmohan’s over-stated role political viability second generation, eak
consensus for
Egeland, Jan
election(s): campaigns, cost, and corruption
Election Commission
electoral politics
electricity reforms
electronic voting machines
Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL)
Emergency (1975–1977). see also Gandhi Indira Gandhi, Sanjay
Enforcement Directorate (ED)
English language advantage with India
Enron
environment, loss of, versus development, neglect
environmental clearances
environmental laws and regulations
Ericsson
Essar
Etisalat of Abu Dhabi
Eureka
Eurofighter
European Economic Community (EEC)
export-import controls
Fab City, Maheshwaram
Fabindia
Facebook
facilitation payments
family bonds, breakdown
farm houses
fatalism and inevitability of chalta hai
fatka
fault lines
Federation of Mining Industries
Fernandes, George
Fiat
FICCI
financial crisis
Financial Times
Finmeccanica helicopters’ corruption allegations
fire safety
fiscal deficit
