The companies these days strive hard to lower the costs and improve the quality of their products and services in order to attract their customers. This happens because there is competition in the market and as a result, the companies, in order to serve the customer better and keep the costs down they adopt variety of methods and strategies; minimising inventory, innovating various manufacturing strategies; make to order, assemble to order, lean manufacturing, using six sigma tools for process improvement and quality control etc. The retail companies are calculating revenue earned on the basis of per sqft of area and so utilise every inch of the show room.

Consequently, the companies that were managed by thousands of employees are now serving the customer better with almost half the staff.

The innovative use of technology has enabled the companies to achieve all this not only to manage just one factory or one office but hundreds of offices spread over the country and even globe.

Ironically, when these companies are changing and looking to improve things on daily basis, our Govt and the politicians who run the Govt are working on - More the Merrier concept.

Colossal Machinery.

To Govern the country, they have recruited huge number of employees. Central Govt has approx. 30 lac employees and State Govts(28 states) have approx a crore employees and on top of them there are politicians ; 4000 MLAs, 552 MPs in Lok Sabha, 250 in Rajya Sabha and lacs of Parshads and Sarpanchs, who have No yearly Goals to achieve and No accountability.

If we leave aside the Govt employees as they provide continuity to the administrative system its perplexing as to why we have shied away from asking following;

What are they (Politicians) supposed to be doing?

What are their deliverables?

Are they really delivering what is being expected from them?

Do we really require so many of these politicians as our representatives in these modern times, when companies are using various management tools to keep their costs down.

What hurts the most is that all these Politicians are being paid heavily, most of them are Crore patis and many of them are criminals / anti-social elements and have risen to this height surely not because of their competence.

MLA/ MP; WHAT DO THEY DO ?

There are 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, each constituency has One Member of Parliament, 7-9 MLAs, hundreds of Parshads, Mayors of cities that are part of the constituency. For a layman it basically means that each Lok Sabha constituency is divided into 7-9 MLA constituencies which further have Municipal bodies for managing urban areas, and are divided into Wards represented by Parshads. Thereafter, a Lok Sabha constituency also has thousands of permanent employees in terms of; Collectors, Commissioner, additional collectors, assistant commissioners, tehsildars, block development officers, Police officials and hundreds of engineers, doctors, teachers to maintain law and order, manage infrastructure, manage hospitals, manage schools, etc of that one Lok Sabha constituency.

The Govt employee provides continuity in administration and are selected through various competitive exams, whereas, a Member of Lok Sabha (MP), Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Parshads of Municipal Wards are people’s representative, elected by the voters of a constituency. This implies that the voters of a Lok Sabha constituency numbering approx. 15 to 30 lacs citizens have almost 70- 80 politicians (MP, MLAs, Parshads, Mayors) as their representatives. For instance, Indore with a population of approx. 30 lacs has One(01) Member of Parliament, Nine(9) MLAs and Sixty Nine (69) Parshads.

The Municipal Corporations comprising of 60 odd Parshads are responsible for almost everything that happens in a city; land use, town planning, social development, fire services, slum improvement, street lights, provision of urban amenities like gardens, parks, play grounds etc.

However, the irony is despite having 80 politicians representing us, the common man has to still run around for redressal of grievances and he finds his cities in mess, has to dig borewells and hire water tankers to get water, has to get an inverter for 24x7 electricity supply, has to send his kids to private schools and take his sick to private hospitals, because all these politicians and employees put together can not manage anything ; neither schools, nor hospitals, nor electricity boards, nor PWDs …..

In addition to above, law making which is the most important function of the legislature i.e MPs/MLAs, we have politicians who hardly have any idea of it and seldom seen to be discussing these issues seriously. Most of the times during question hour, zero hour, when serious issues related to law and order, Police reforms, irrigation, agriculture, local governments, public health, etc on which they are supposed to make rules, being discussed we find the parliament and assembly vacant. This clearly indicates that MLAs and MPs do not even take their primary function seriously.                            

What is most hurting?

Now despite not delivering and having no accountability the MLAs in India earn approx. a Lac per month and Govt spends approx. 2.5 lac per month on each MP. This implies that country is spending 40,00, 00,00 per month on MLAs and 2,40,60,000 per month on its MPs and all this amount is being paid from tax payers’ money.

The perks do not end here; they earn pension as well and get subsidised lunches at canteens in Lok Sabha, and we should not forget that behind these 80 elected politicians in a constituency there are thousands of politicians and Irony is that all these thousands of politicians are being paid from our pockets and we are told that if we do not vote our democracy will be in danger and we must use our right.

In addition to this, they have numerous opportunities to earn money over and above their salary. If one notices their income declarations during elections, one would wonder as to how their income has multiplied 4-5 times in a span of one tenure as MP/MLA.

Questions that Need to be asked?

Yes, we need to exercise our democratic rights and need to elect our representatives who can exercise control over the executive, but we need to ask following ;

Do we really need so many of them after all Numbers/ Quantity do not lead to Efficiency and Effectiveness ?

Should the Govt not take a cue from the Big Companies and start using technology and innovative methods to reduce the number of Political representatives and thereby reduce the cost?

My suggestion, therefore is; Have few well paid competent representatives who are responsible towards their voters and are held accountable for the lapses done by executive.

The entire system of governance needs to become effective and for that these politicians managing the system need to understand the difference between EFFICIENCY and EFFECTIVENESS.

Just to remind what few learned people had said about Productivity, Efficiency and Effectiveness;

“Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity.”

“Waste is antithetical to efficiency. You cannot have one while also having the other. In maximizing one, the other will definitely be minimized. In minimizing one, the other will definitely be maximized.”

“It’s important to have an efficient business. But it’s also just as important to have an effective business. Efficiency and effectiveness should be an inseparable pair.”

The Greeks, the Egyptians, The Persians , the Romans , Sumerians, Mayans, Mesopotamians even the Jews and the Indians lost their political freedom at some point of time in history when they started stagnating and became inward looking . When the idea of superiority creeps in, very aptly described by Alberuni ; There is No King better than ours, there is no maths better than ours, there is no culture better than ours that the stagnation and decline starts.

When these kind of people, who prescribe the above thought process start dominating the society , the common man must wake up and challenge them because it is finally the common man who has to suffer the most.

It is very natural that an old civlisation like ours over a journey of thousands years would have developed a few social evil practices like sati, casteism, untouchability , ill treatment of widows etc.

Hindus Have an Inherent Safety Mechanism

But we had an inherent, built in safe mechanism and as result we threw up our own reformers who stood firm, despite the opposition from Brahmins and brought out the reforms. Sati was abolished, widow remarriage was allowed, and a dent was made in the hierarchical caste system. In ancient times we had Gautam Buddha, Mahavira and in medivel times ; Gurunanakji, Kabir etc who helped immensely in eradicating social evil practices.

 Its quite possible that many may still not agree that caste system has disappeared from Indian society but atleast we ourselves to a great extent removed many caste based barriers and We did not have to bring people from outside to do that.

The same goes for Christian world. The church once used to be very powerful and many scientists had to face severe consequences because they took a view contrary to the church.

Thus, when we look at ourselves we find that ours is a society which is open to reforms to a great extent, although, I will not take away the hardships faced by the Reformers, because it was never a cake walk.

Muslims lack this Inbuilt Reformation Process.

However, surprisingly, despite living together for centuries, the Indian Muslims have avoided to  develop this mechanism or learn this skill from their Hindu brothers.

The social evil practices ; like triple Talaq , wearing of hijab or purdah system etc of medieval era have done more harm to their own community than anyone else. And surprisingly,very few reformers from their own community have taken up these issues with the seriousness it deserves. There are handful of them who challenged their priestly class ; The Maulanas. Instead, what we see is that they have rather pushed forward those who want these practices to continue.

Priestly Class thrives on Status quo

The Pundits, the Mualanas, the Padris , the Granthis would always love to maintain status quo and preach the people not only to  adhere to the old norms and customs but also to never  QUESTION those customs , because it suits them. Questioning the norms is an anathema for this class of people.

But, when Hindus and Christians could produce reformers why could n’t the muslims? The educated and influential amongst the muslims need to find an answer to this. And there is no dearth of educated Muslims in India. A democratic and secular India provided them a great opportunity to eradicate the evil practices that have crept into the community over a period of thousand years, its normal.

Eradication of Social Evils is a Diificult task.

Undoubtedly, the eradication of social evils is a wearisome and difficult task, it can therefore not be left to the  poor members of the community to bring about the change and eradicate the evil practices.  It is the job of those who have reached the top and have acquired a status in the society. They need to become Pioneers of Change.

Therefore, they cannot shirk their responsibilities and blame someone else for bringing about the reforms.

If we view the recent social reforms like making Triple Talaq illegal, dispassionately, we would find that what ought to have been done by their own leaders and influential elites from their own community, the current Govt had to do through legislations, because their own leaders and elites were not forthcoming.

Shahbano and many like her could have lived a better life if their own Leadership and the elites had stood firm, instead of succumbing to Maulanas.

Conclusion .

Do the Muslim elites think that Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar or Dr Raja Ram Mohun Roy or Jyotiba Phule or Dr Ambedkar or Mahatama Gandhi who fought for social reforms in our society did not face the anger of Brahmins. They faced! But they marched on relentlessly. 

Have the Muslims forgotten what Galileo had said when threatened by Church, he said “Eppur si muove”(“And yet it moves)”, as if to say that they may have won this battle, but in the end, the truth would win out.

If these above people could rise to the occasion, despite the opposition and brought about the changes why cann’t the Muslim elites stand up and be counted ?

India can progress, only when all its people grow without any discrimination. And it would be much better for the society as a whole, if the social reformation  process commences from within. The Govt can only act as a facilitator and not an initiator. 

 At a cost of Rs 304 crore, the Karam dam was built in Dhar district of MP,  a year ago to provide water for irrigation and drinking to nearby villages, surprisingly the dam could not sustain even the first rains and it leaked. Thousands of villagers had to be evacuated.

Floodwaters broke through a dam leaving 150 people missing and 26 people dead in the Uttarakhand dam disaster last year.

A guard wall at the powerhouse of the NHPC’s 2,000 MW Subansiri hydro project along the Assam- Arunachal Pradesh border, collapsed due to rising water level in the Subansiri river .

The 275 MW Kopili Hydropower Dam had again faced a major disaster in March 2022. Earlier, the same project had suffered disaster in October 2019.

Within a week of the inauguration of the 296km Bundelkhand Expressway, by PM a part of it got damaged following heavy rains . The express way got damaged at Chhiriya Salempur village in Jalaun near the 195km milestone of the expressway. A few more damages were also reported at other points of the expressway.

And Finally the hanging cable bridge on the Machchhu river in Morbi collapsed on October 30 killing almost 135 people , many of them were children as young as ONE YEAR OLD. The Local Municipal Authorities had given a contract to Oreva Group for its maintenance, which manufactures watches, clocks and E Bikes.

Modiji after the SNAN on the occasion of inauguration of Kashi Vishwnath Corridor had REITERATED his aim to make India Clean.

Cleanliness does not only mean removal of garbage and litter, it also means cleaning the country from Corruption.

However, at all these places where mishaps have taken place THERE has been a Govt for many years, which has been claiming that IT’S A RELIGIOUS GOVT. It is a Govt which builds temples, maintains temples and preserves Hindu’s heritage.

If they cannot clean their own ministers who proudly shout their lungs out of being Sanatani and wear religion on their sleeves , it’s a dismal performance.

As I always say, There are Good Muslims as well as Bad muslims, There are Good Christians as well as Bad Christians and so are Hindus or the Sanatanis.

Moral character has nothing to do with Religion and it has nothing to do with number of temples, churches or mosques you have in your country, city or village.

In each of the cases quoted above, the Politicians who issued Contracts were Hindus, The Contractors were Hindus and finally those who got killed , majority of them were Hindus – Sanatanis and surprisingly those who saved the drowned people , many of them were from a nearby Muslim village.

So, instead of becoming Religious focus on Character and look within the society. 

All the above mishaps have taken place because of the - " YES MEN " occupying top positions and they are both ; Politicians as well as Bureaucrats. 

Sam had clealry warned us of such men. he had said ; 

"A ‘yes man’ is a dangerous man. He is a menace. He will go very far. He can become a minister, a secretary or a Field Marshal but he can never become a leader nor, ever be respected.”

Ayn Rand a renowned writer and philosopher very aptly said for societies like ours ;

“When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed”.

Everything she spoke here makes sense ;

No one has been punished till now for the above mishaps because - Laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you

As per the Govt of India - Political parties have redeemed electoral bonds worth Rs 9,188 crore  since this scheme was implemented in 2018.

The MLAs /MPs who produce nothing & the law enforcing agencies toil hard to protect them from Law, Earn more than a lac per month as salary , in a country where if you earn more than Rs 25,000/month you fall in the bracket of Top 10% in terms of income.

So, We as a Society need to Learn From Sam Manekshaw. He surely has a Solution for our problems.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F1KuikgbWo

Many months ago when the world was facing the challenges of the second wave, I had written Corona is not going to go without leaving a deep impact on the societies , The pandemic is likely to have a multi dimensional impact on the societies ; SOCIAL- POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RAMIFICATIONS as deep as the World War 1 and 2 had. https://www.bharatamrising.com/challenges-features-2/pandemic-will-have-social-eco-and-political-ramifications

Many might not have still understood the full meaning of it as these implications have a gestation period and they take time to manifest themselves in various forms.

One. Corona made nations and societies look inwards. For eg Almost all nations banned the exports of important items that were needed at home for the treatment. They were more interested in first taking care of their own population.

Two. This inward looking attitude led to a disorderly withdrawal of US from Afghanistan, which emboldened many rogue nations to assert themselves and bully their neighbours ; China intruded in Ladakah and now Russia in Ukraine. No one is interested now to intervene on ground so the war is still continuing. No one could have think a year ago that conventional war could go on for more than 15 days. As a result the world is now facing the fuel crisis that would further lead to increase in inflation and increase in living costs.

Three. The lock downs slowed down and contracted the economies and many nations are now going through worst ever economic turmoil ; Srilanka, Bangladesh and many others. Almost all nations big and small are facing the hardships and their economies have still not fully recovered from the two year shock.

Four. The poor and young are suffering because finding jobs has become a herculean task, in a contracted economy. The violence in Bihar, Rajasthan by the students is an indicator what lies in store, if things are not addressed rightly. According to NSSO surveys, India’s premier agency for surveys, had reported that India’s unemployment rate in 2017-18 was the worst in over four decades and if that was the situation in 2018 imagine what would be now.

All the above have a great risk as economists have warned, they believe that the rising unemployment rates is likely to lead to civil unrest, violent protests, and political and economic disputes.

The Political masters have a great responsiility to act maturely. Any short cut taken by political masters to divert the attention of the masses or decisions taken for petty political reasons is likely to boomerang severely at some point of time. The nations need to address the issues in right earnest instead of taking short cuts.