Shameless in Sitapur Part One

Shameless in Sitapur Part One

We Indians, recent events seem to suggest, need to scrap and jettison a lot of laws and rules before we are totally overwhelmed by them. This notwithstanding the large and voluble efforts of anti-corruption activists such as Mr. Arvind Kejriwal. His erstwhile mentor, Mr. Anna Hazare may be advising him to stick to one scam at a time but there is such an avalanche of them that Mr. Kejriwal is likely to be swamped no matter which strategy he adopts.  

The Government and its allies, along with the worthy Opposition, are equally comfortable maintaining their illusions and self-importance. They are also very sure that they have the answers, even if no one else seems to be sure.

 But by way of contrast, very few talk of corruption in the tiny Emirate of Dubai where the Commercial Law can be contained, without exaggerating too much, on one side of A4 paper in double-spacing.

It is no real wonder that Dubai is beloved of the flashiest robber barons money can attract. Because there, they can go about their business both unhindered and unlabeled. The catch is that the emirate is very small indeed, and the “re-export” business to Africa, India and Iran is no longer what it used to be.

This is not to say that the citizens of Dubai are essentially any more virtuous than Indians. But there are some important differences in the way the Emirates are organised politically, and what constitutes a wrong-doing there. Also, any whisper of or about corruption in the UAE  constituted of Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah, is likely to be considered treasonous, as all large enterprise has links to the one or the other Emir’s Secretariat.

And the Rulers with their families in the confederation own a sizeable piece of almost every worthwhile pie being baked in the Emirates. Also, they are very big on law and order over there, enforced by impressively armed and trained para-military forces that police the populace. The local media, as may be expected, is tame, polite and self-censored as a company newsletter.

But here in rambunctious India, it is the seemingly eternal battle royal between laissez-faire, as in the good old days of the John Company aka the East India Company, and the hugely Socialist inspired Licence-Permit Raj. The Indian instinct and ingenuity, illustrated perhaps by the delightful jugaad phenomenon, is to operate without fetters. That is why we tend to do well whenever and wherever we re allowed to be ourselves. But, sadly, and somewhat paradoxically, in our own country, we are free to be ourselves as long as, and only, if we are prepared to make short work of the law.  

And of the latter we have a profusion. We have laws, codicils, principles and guidelines, so many, so confusing, and subject to so much interpretation. They are tentacular, all encompassing, layer upon layer, with never a rule or law apparently scrapped since the time of Manu the Law Giver!  

But despite their sheer number and complexity, we are not good at formulating them, as most are badly drafted and riddled with loopholes, and lead to ever further corruption. Nor, alas, are we any good at enforcing them perhaps out of sheer lassitude in our hot tropical climate. Which makes us possibly the most law-riddled  but free do-as-you please country in the world. We live in a legal gridlock. So bypassing the hurdles has become a national habit.

Most law-enforcers on their part would have to back-pack the equivalent of a now largely extinct 21 volume encyclopaedia to cope. To have it all memorised by heart is a near impossibility, and a woeful waste of talent for the few who may be up to the task. Besides the powers-that-be know that it is the very laws, God bless them, that enable them to enrich themselves.

So there are the ever shifting sands of internal guidelines on how to interpret the rules, with varying emphases and exceptions added periodically, providing yet other continent size ambivalences and the opportunities in their midst.

As far as the wrong-doers go, as is observed quite frequently now, they can brazen it out more often than not, determined to be totally shameless. The political classes are almost uniformly compromised, so there is little embarrassment between pots and kettles when both are quite sooty. The bureaucratic babus and the private business types are not exactly lagging behind in this chorus either.

Almost everyone has fallen foul, voluntarily or not, of some regulation or the other. It is almost impossible to be totally honest/law abiding in this country and still be alive and functional. The situational evidence seems to suggest that in order to operate at all in India one must break some rules.

And some feel that if they must break some, they might as well break some profitable ones and make a lucrative job of it. After all, it is necessary to carry people along if one is going to flout laws. A little baksheesh here, an incentive there, a fat bribe sent around discreetly, an enormous audacious killing to catapult oneself into a bigger league, all have become acceptable.

The other glaring issue is the sheer size and heft of our Government, the author and guardian of our lawfulness. Apart from being the largest employer in the organised sectors, it has grown both gargantuan and extremely expensive to maintain. And there is no likelihood of it shrinking or ever going on a diet. In fact, it grows larger every day. 

And all of this awesome edifice is supported by the taxes levied on quite a small proportion of the overall population which is forced to pay all the direct and indirect taxes. Most states have little left over for growth and development after all the salaries and benefits have been paid. Ditto the Centre, and being thus over burdened by its own needs, the Government also refuses to let in much foreign capital for fear of losing its monopoly on power. A power built on denying the concessions it would be required to make.

Besides, being enormous and inefficient, the Government of India is almost singularly unaccountable, even to itself. Like a very long queue, nobody quite knows where it begins or ends anymore. It is the nearest approximation to infinity the Indian mind can devise. And so we have to congratulate ourselves for devising a political entity to resemble our ancient philosophies of an unbroken continuum that goes on lifetime after lifetime evolving as it progresses. Don’t worry, there is no conclusion to be drawn. It would be so un-Indian to do so.

  

(1, 106 words)

October 30^th, 2012

Gautam Mukherjee