India - The Largest Democratic Nation on Earth. Really?

I find I have a huge bee in my bonnet, I would rather qualify it as much bigger, maybe an ostrich in my bonnet when it comes claims that we are a democratic nation. I find myself, once again, ready to render a didactic exposition on democracy. The “why” of this essay is not hard to guess – a heated exchange with some colleagues and a recent read which had the author gushing about the so called greatest achievement of India – democracy.

I reiterate that I am not prejudiced for or against any particular system of governance, democracy or any other. That said, I find myself clinging on to the seams of my seat whenever an enthusiast gushes forth proclaiming the superiority of democracy. Going physical wouldn’t solve problems and no amount of logic and reason can convince a believer. Let me therefore rant out in the air; I don’t need another source of bottled up frustration. I only hope that the shrill wail of mine doesn’t convince you that I am a basket case.

Let me put one argument to rest straight away – most of the people whom I hear rooting for democracy root for it since they feel only democracy grants freedom of press. Free press in any place is a myth – especially so in India. And I am convinced of this because free press sources itself from freedom of expression; I don’t think lack of executive supervision qualifies any institution to be termed "free" - if one cannot express his opinion freely, free press is just a slogan. The funny part is that democratic principles (terms like public good, sentiments of the majority etc etc) are used to curtail individual expression when it is contrary to mob opinion. Ask Hussian – not that I am a big fan of his, but hounding a person out of his home just because his opinion is different from another’s cannot be condoned. So much for freedom of speech and expression, so much for freedom of press. You can have a truly free press in a dictatorial regime and a horribly shackled one in the biggest of democracies.

My next pet hate is reservation. To me, it represents the perfect case of misallocation – of manpower, of resources and of energies. Reservations were intended as a short term remedy for social inequities, not to create newer and more long lasting ones. The architect of the constitution and dalit champion, Shri Ambedkar, had intended the reservation to be done with in 10 to 15 years. And yet somehow everyone bats for the “downtrodden” while a deserving top achiever, many times with as much as 20% difference, is denied a job posting, a seat in a stream in the college of his choice. Social backwardness is a reality but it cannot be done away with by reservation, at too at levels such as IAS. And with women now getting 33%, the odds against a male in general category are so highly stacked that brain drain remains the only option.

Democracy is but a system of governance, the principal need of governance being the need for a single authority; one person to look to incase of conflicts and at times of doubt. The governing person must be like the biggest bully on the school field, his writ running large and unquestioned. Whether the system is just or not is a different question, it must be effective. An effective bad system can be made an effective good system with some change of heart and strength of mind but an ineffectual system remains just so. Maoism would have failed in a true democracy or a total authoritarian state. A true democracy would have ensured that the complaints of the weak and the meek were heard before they were forced to arms and an autocrat would have made a Tiananmen Square of the Maoist movement.

Here I am struggling with a million words portray the true picture of our pseudo-democracy, and I have just realized that a picture is worth thousand words. As I struggle for the suitable pictures (again the struggle is due to profusion rather than paucity), the doyen amongst our legislators and executive have come forward to present me with the best of the pictures to substantiate my claims.

Thank you Ms. Mayawati andMr. Narendra Tomar – such an ostentatious show of opulence would be derided even in a monarchy. Its easy to end my rantings - all I request, my dear fellow citizens, all I need is an acknowledgement from you that 1) we claim to be a democracy but we are not and 2) We have much bigger and greater achievements to our credit than our system of governance. Acknowledge this and I would rest my case.

The Toolkit

My life has been most heavily influenced by one particular practice, which I later learned is one of the most important tools in any MBA’s analytical toolkit, the 5-Ys tool. Veterans in management field tell us in grave voices that any problem gives you the right solution when you ask it 5 whys – like why is the problem a problem? Why is the why of your problem, a problem and so on… By the time you reach the 5th why, the problem would be so bugged up that it would unravel itself to you. You see, the 5-Y test was never designed as a test of reason; it was designed as a test of endurance, something similar to the eternal war between the eroding water and resisting rock. But why am I rambling? Let me narrate my story now.

When I was young (you can include sentences like the world was green, the grass smelt new etc etc), I was driven by the thought that I must pursue the path of scientific discovery all my life. Nothing in my imagination could be more romantic than spending the entire day in abstruse discussions and finger tingling experimentation. To be a scientist seemed to be the pinnacle of existence. And then came along this weird habit of mine. I didn’t know then that it had been christened 5-Y, nor did I know that it was the favored practice of the management profession; had I known, I would have gone to the exorcist.

I committed the blunder, I asked the first why – Why do I want to be on the path of scientific discovery? I asked myself. Its only now I realise that there was a meek little voice in my head that said, “Is it necessary to know why you are interested in something? Isn’t the fact that you are interested a sufficient reason to pursue the chosen path?” But what was a meek voice against the roar of the 5-Y that deafened my ears? Not even aware of any dissention in my intellectual ranks, I honestly answered the first why – “I want to pursue science because it gives me the quickest path to my dream – awards, and maybe even the Nobel Prize.” And glad that my objective was clear I continued on the path, now no longer looking at the path but eying the goal.

What I wanted was distant, and I didn’t notice what was nearby – the glorious path that I was traversing; a path beautified by the devout hands of the greatest minds. The lack of joy, of wonder and rapture caused the second why to spring forth – “Why is it I want the Nobel Prize?” I asked myself. A lot of rumination on the said question led me to an uncertain reply – Nobel Prize and such awards are the door wardens to the realm of fame and wealth. The answer did not appeal to me, I had never thought of money and fame to be my primary drivers; but the chain of reasoning was unquestionable, the methodology universally accepted and practiced. “Further”, I said to myself, “this is an objective, scientific evaluation. It must be better than any subjective analysis I can undertake.” Taking the result of the analysis to be true (against my better judgment), and considering this in context with the fact that the goal was too distant, I began looking for alternatives and shortcuts.

Imagine, when to my consternation, the first image to rattle in my head was the image of a successful management graduate; the effect of noticing too many a career discussion was evident. I fought against this idea tooth and nail, but the intersection of the result of the 5-Y test and my newly discovered disillusionment with science was too narrow to fit any other idea. So off I went in search of greener pastures in the management domain.

Money entered, but the disquiet didn’t make an exit. That’s when I asked the fourth why – “Why do I want money and fame?” Pat came the answer this time – “Happiness”. And I started looking for what makes me happy. Now you know the reason why I am blogging with vigour, why I am reading with renewed vengeance (of course you don’t know that I read, let me take this opportunity to tell you that currently I spend a lot of time reading).

And you know what; I now greatly fear the fifth why. If four whys could change me from a man of science to a man of literature, wonder where a fifth one will take me.
I presume it is the application of the wrong tool that has me in these straits; a five force model rather than 5-Y would have set me firmly on track.
There was a time when I had all the tools, but didn’t know the application. Now I know the application, but my toolkit is lost. And the few tools I managed to retrieve are rusted due to disuse.