You are our only Hope

Dear Respected Prime Minister Manmohan Singhji,

Our nation is going through turbulent times and therein lies an unprecedented opportunity for you to set things right. These problems are opportunities and the current situation can be viewed as a curse or an unintended “gift” for you to respond in a manner that will enable you to establish your legacy as the “Lion of Punjab”.

Your accomplishments are many; to note a few:

-          The chief architect of the Economic Reforms

-          RTI

-          Nuclear Deal

-          Aadhaar (UID)

-          NREGA

You now have the opportunity to:

-          Introduce legislation to throttle corruption

-          Embark on more economic reforms that facilitate jobs

-          Push for legal and land reforms.

You have said so on many occasions and undoubtedly, you are pushing for these reforms to take place. What is needed is tying all these together with the appropriate PR and bi-partisanship with the express intent of Nation Building.

Liberalization unleashed the entrepreneurial and business talent in our country and changed the nature of the game without equipping the nation to deal with the unintended consequences. It is like asking a boy who is very good at gully tennis ball cricket to go play hardball cricket without pads, ball, gloves and proper protective equipment. As a result of this “game change” the Nation’s resources were sold for a pittance with the middle men raking in the profits. Mining and 2G scams are instances. Land acquisition is another.

At the risk of digressing, bad news can be turned into good by expedient responses. There are many instances of this in the commercial world. When a single instance of tainted Tylenol was discovered, the company recalled all the outstanding stock and introduced a new tamper proof bottle. The New Coke and Classic Coke episode is another example. Intel too faced a problem with an initial version of the Pentium and did a total recall. In all these instances, the companies emerged stronger with a more loyal customer base.

You have indicated that “coalition compulsions’ and putting up with “coalition politics” imposes limitations. However, it is not a license for the coalition partners or for that matter, party men, to indulge in corrupt practices.

While you have said that you are "dead serious" about punishing all wrongdoers in the various scams exposed by the media, you have to ensure that your administration will conduct the investigations unfettered by political, bureaucratic or other vested interests.

Your personal integrity is unquestionable and at most as you yourself have stated, it could be said that you have erred in some issues. These lapses are easily forgiven. The need of the hour is pursuit of truth and let the chips fall. Recent events are indicating that you are holding to your commitment. This is the time to make a clean sweep of things.

The initial reluctance for a 2G JPC could be attributed to “coalition politics”, but with the relentless barrage from the Opposition and Media, your administration’s relenting on this is admirable. Let it include the NDA era as well. This will take the wind out of the Oppositions sail and bring them under the investigation process as well. 

The situation India faces is akin to the cold war situation that Reagan faced when he was President. He upped the ante by increasing defense spending to a point that Russia couldn't cope and they had to capitulate. When Reagan initially proposed Star Wars, people laughed. When the Russians realized they would loose their first strike advantage, it became a negotiating point and ultimately the Cold War ended.

In India's case corruption has increase to such a level and there is such a hue and cry that this is time to enter into bipartisanship and institute strong anti-corruption laws that throttle corruption. This has to be an all encompassing reform that can be effectively executed and is easy to communicate and be understood by the masses.

For instance:

-        An independent body of outstanding citizens should be formed that cannot be meddled with by politicians, bureaucrats and vested interests. Citizens like Kiran Bedi, Santosh Hegde, Gurcharn Das etc. should be nominated after a confirmation hearing that scrutinizes and validates their standing.

-        In future cases strict penalties based on the number of proven offences and the amounts involved should be specified. Jail terms that would be from days, to weeks to life imprisonment, based on specific quantifiable misappropriations. Multiple small offences would lead to longer incarcerations. Corruption has to be tackled at all levels.

-        Easy to report cases where the identity of the informer is kept confidential for their safety and prevent "hostile" witnesses.

-        A special court set for such cases.

-        Disproportionate assets escrowed till case is pending and confiscated if proven guilty.

-        An amnesty clause a la Presidential Pardon can be included to give relief to some individuals after serving part of their sentence.

Besides corruption which is a cancer and a bigger threat to the country than terrorism, there are other key things to do. Dear PM you have nothing to loose and India has everything to gain. You can pretty much push hard for the next three years. 

Regarding your style of leadership, that is being criticized, I beg to differ. The TOI commentary on you today was rather biased and it does not grasp your inherent and intrinsic nature.  Unlike Andy Grove, who had a very aggressive and assertive style of leadership, that I had the opportunity to observe while I was at Intel, you are calm (too calm) and meticulous in your follow through and very persistent in getting your key agenda items pushed to fruition. Unfortunately, this is not perceived that way by the public because you articulate your intentions in a very unemotional and dispassionate manner. The lack of PR compounds this perception. What is lacking is coming across as a visionary. 

Your intent to implement the necessary reforms has been reported numerous times by the Press.  What is lacking is the PR and the sense of urgency needed to rally the nation and the opposition to support these initiatives in the interest of Nation Building. These are:

-        Economic reforms that will accelerate Job creation. The focus should be Jobs, Jobs and more Jobs. It is easier for people to move to jobs than the other way around. There needs to be a holistic policy that makes it easy for a villager to procure a job and relocate. NREGA is an excellent stop gap program. Development can only occur with expedient Urbanization such as SEZs to take the pressure of current Cities.

-         Legal Reforms that expedite the judicial process. Today our legal system is stacked against the law abiding citizen. It is more efficient to break the law and let the legal process take its time. Things like enabling people to exercise their ownership rights and evict encroachers should be expedited and executed.

-        Land reforms that protect the usage of the land as opposed to who can buy what. Currently, this is the biggest money spinning machine for politicians and bureaucrats.

-        Marginal Farming is dead. Small farms could be productive if properly managed, when supplemented with non-farming income. But the small farmer in India is ill equipped to deal with the current situation. One major medical expense or crop failure wipes them out. Not to mention getting a daughter married. The farmer today has to be an astute entrepreneur. More so now, than ever. Not everyone is capable of being an entrepreneur. With successive partitioning of farmland over generations, some families cannot support themselves through farming and are giving it up all together. Only changes in our land acquisition policy can save this situation that is heading for catastrophe. 

Dear Manmohanji, I have been peppering you with suggestions since 2009, ever since I found the feedback section on the web site.

These communications are in a blog:http://msgs2pm.blogspot.com/.

I am not sure if my communications have reached you. Nevertheless, I am happy to see that progress is being made and despite the gloom and doom that is being projected I am optimistic that the future holds great promise and that you will lead our country through these troubled times on the path of righteousness.

Sincerely,

How long are you going to look the other way?

Dear Prime Minister Singh,

The overwhelming perception is that you have looked the other way while there has been gross misappropriation of public money. If these allegations are true, then those who are in the know and in a position to do something about it and don't are spineless, gutless individuals with no morality whatsoever. And those who are profiting from these misappropriations are traitors to the country whose Patriotism is questionable.

Disappointingly Yours,


Author's Note: This was dashed off to the PM in a moment of extreme frustration. I was unaware of his interaction with the press on TV on the previous day. It appears the Press and Talking heads are more concerned with form and delivery rather than content and substance. In his Press Interaction the PM explained very clearly the pitfall of Coalition Politics and also that he was resolute in investigating corruption and prosecuting the guilty parties. It takes a certain amount of intelligence to understand the PM, which appears to be lacking in the Press and Talking Heads who are intent on sensationalizing the negatives rather than focusing on the positives.