7th August 2010
Why RTI is NOT the solution to India’s problems
I was having a conversation with someone by email, and clarified why RTI is not good enough, thus:
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Dear Mr XX
I thoroughly commend your work on RTI. That's something I've commended heartily wherever I could. I am 100% committed to this approach. So that's well and good.
But now let me suggest just one thing to you: RTI is (metaphorically) like applying a small water filter to remove muck from a wide and deep, dirty nullah that flows from the Himalayas. The TOP of India's leadership is the source of this dirty nullah that now irrigates the entire nation. You can do three things:
a) Drink dirty water
b) Leave India and go to a place with clean water
c) Filter the water and then drink (e.g.RTI)
d) Remove the SOURCE of dirty water.
I prefer (d). If that doesn't work, I'm 100% committed to (b). I am not interested in (a) or (c), although I strongly commend (c) rather than (a).
India's problems are VERY EASY to solve once the people are determined to solve them. Then they will rise and lead. There needs to be clarity on the path (strategy), the process (tactics), the outcome (the vision). Once that is there, nothing will prevent the source of this dirt from being removed and buried permanently, the ultimate cause of this muck being Nehruvian socialism.
Regards
Sanjeev
===ADDENDUM===
In my usual tearing hurry while writing most emails, I think I mixed the order of things. It ought to be:
a) Drink dirty water
b) Filter the water and then drink (e.g.RTI)
c) Remove the SOURCE of dirty water (or try desperately hard to do so).
d) Leave India and go to a place with clean water.
This order would be more consistent with my views in DOF, where exit comes last. Note that I have spent considerable effort in doing (c) and hence am mentally ready to permanently leave India (d). Just one more attempt – through FTI. If Indians want a good decent society, I'll put my shoulders to the task. Else I'm permanently out. First priority MUST BE ONESELF AND FAMILY. At all times.
Addendum
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rti-not-a-tool-for-oppressing-public-officials-sc/832395/
Respected Sanjeev jee,
I fully agree with your views on prevention of corruption and role of RTI. I like your "Remove the source of dirty water".
However, I am very skeptic of your sentence "India's problems are VERY EASY to solve once the people are determined to solve them". May be you are right, but I guess very very few are determined, and most others prefer to go along the stream and try to make hay when the Sun shines.
A strong coordinated movement is necessary to create awareness in each and every Indian. We can't presume the awareness will come on its own. Even if the person in the highest office is determined to wipe off corruption, his own colleagues will not support him. There is a need for an agency to awaken citizens and coordinate their protests in a large scale so as to put continuous pressure on the government to take up fool proof measures to eradicate corruption.
So instead of planning to enter into politics, I urge you to start an NGO to work full fledged in this direction. In the prevailing situation, you can not reach the highest office with fair means. If you reach, by chance, you will not be allowed to work as per your ideas. You'll be dictated by many compulsions, and again you'll become like any other politicians our country has witnessed so far.
Dear Hasan, FTI (http://freedomteam.in/) is already an NGO in this area. It aims to find and build the right kind of leaders.
Re: steps to solve India's problems, these are outlined in detail in BFN (http://bfn.sabhlokcity.com/), but a summary of the steps is provided in my latest blog post: http://sabhlokcity.com/2010/08/clear-headed-thinking-needed-not-confusion/
Re: "In the prevailing situation, you can not reach the highest office with fair means." I disagree. I think that once the people of India want change, they will vote for it. The voter is ALL POWERFUL. Let's not underestimate the power of democracy to bring about change.
Re:"If you reach, by chance, you will not be allowed to work as per your ideas. You'll be dictated by many compulsions, and again you'll become like any other politicians our country has witnessed so far."
As you'll notice I'm not a politician. I don't seek your vote. I will ONLY enter politics if YOU are desperate for change and want to give my a chance. If that is the case then clearly you will support what I (or the Freedom Team) has offered. Else why vote? Don't vote if you don't want change. Just live with Congress/BJP and total corruption! Your life. Your choice.
I AM NOT A POLITICIAN. I am an ordinary human being willing to offer myself as your representative if YOU WANT IT. I am very happy the way I am and don't need to be into politics in order to remain happy. I do, however, know exactly how India can be transformed. If you want to try out those ideas, tell me. Else please live in your own muck.
Hi Sanjeev — This is a very insightful post. You've explained it really well. I do, however, want to comment on one particular statement you made in the end:
Note that I have spent considerable effort in doing (c) and hence am mentally ready to permanently leave India (d). Just one more attempt – through FTI. If Indians want a good decent society, I'll put my shoulders to the task. Else I'm permanently out. First priority MUST BE ONESELF AND FAMILY. At all times.
If I were in your shoes, I would probably do the same thing — leave India for the good, while at the same time, try my best to resolve the prevalent challenges back home. However, I must commend those people who, while consistently being smashed by the hammer of corrupt people, still try to stick to their knitting. These people fight by struggling in the very place that nature puts them. One such person is Swami Ramdev.
Unlike you, Swami Ramdev considers HIS NATION has his FIRST priority. And he encourages his followers to do so as well. Reason? Because it is from the nation's soil that we get our body. We are indebted to our motherland on this basis. PARENTS come SECOND on the list, because they give us birth, make us grow, and nurture us all through. GURU has a second status as well, along with parents — because guru is responsible for our spiritual growth.
Swami Ramdev struggles against corruption in HIS OWN motherland. From scratch, he gradually developed a huge network to combat corruption. Bharat Swabhiman was formed in 2002 (I suppose!). And by now (in 2010) Babaji is already promising (in a do-able way, not just by fake promises) a golden age for Bharat by 2020. Whether he will succeed or not is not the question I am trying to raise.
I just wish we try to recognize such people who struggle for political justice by living in their own motherland. It becomes way easy to stay away (in developed countries) and do things. But it is a different thing all-together to face corruption every moment (in India, every step brings corruption and the resultant headache!), and at the same time, try to combat it. Almost daily, one is suppressed by evil forces. And daily, one needs to prepare himself to face it, challenge it, and combat it boldly. It's not easy, as you yourself has experienced it as an IAS officer.
Again, I reiterate that I commend you for your efforts. But certainly, people who struggle in their own motherland deserve more credit. A gardener knows his plants the best because he lives with them all his life. Not because he stays away from the garden and studies them in isolation. I trust you will understand the point I am trying to make!
Dear Harsh,
Re: “Unlike you, Swami Ramdev considers HIS NATION has his FIRST priority.”
I don’t think you anyone does their nation a favour by giving it first priority. It must always be: yourself, your family, then your nation, and finally the world.
Tthe mystery of enlightened self-interest is at the heart of the modern society. As I elaborate at great length in BFN and DOF, please take care of yourself first and the nation will take care of itself. Let me quote quickly from DOF (draft):
“At each instant, the karma yogi considers options for action for their long term consequences. Freedom of thought leads like an arrow towards moral action. The free man acts with deliberation, aware of the potential consequences of his actions, always committed to being held to account. In advancing his self-interests though responsible action, he contributes to the welfare of mankind and of all life on earth. Note that this self-interest is broad, not narrow. It is competitive self-interest, at times, but is never unethical and does not harm others nor decimate them. It creates, preserves and fosters.”
As they say in an aeroplane: put your oxygen mask FIRST before taking care of others. If someone is so ill-educated that he/she can’t get a job anywhere or contribute to society, then HOW can that person take care of others?
I don’t want to be taken care of by Baba Ramdev when I get sick but by a qualified doctor. So also I want the best policy experts to govern India, not illiterates or semi-illiterates who, by mere virtue of chanting the greatness of India, get some natural right to rule.
DO THE BEST FOR YOURSELF. IN DOING SO YOU DO THE BEST FOR SOCIETY.
And, in addition, be a citizen, and contribute as an EQUAL with others. If others aren’t bothered (as is the case in India), then leave.
Regards
Sanjeev
Do you know what it would mean to treat the nation first? You would have to give your earnings AWAY to everyone else, and only after FEEDING everyone else you could then feed yourself. That would effectively mean you starve, since you could never finish feeding others (1 billion people!) with your earnings.
Second, if you care for the nation first, then you’d not be earning anything, anyway, since everything you do would belong to others. Therefore you would be giving away your labour and expertise to others for free. In both cases you would starve.
This, by the way, is precisely what socialism requires. Hence all socialist nations starve. Your ideology is socialist. It will fail to benefit either you or India. I do not preach such bad ideologies whereby Indians must starve. I preach the TRUTH. I preach competition. I preach success. I preach greatness!!
Dear readers,
To follow this discussion, please to this link: http://sabhlokcity.com/2010/08/look-after-yourself-first/comment-page-1/#comment-1569
The a) …to d) options are a nice framework to discuss RTI.
Meanwhile, do not forget to fight tooth and nail against the Powers That Be trying to weaken RTI.
Today common man is using RTI for mundane things, getting their pension papers in order, tax matters settled etc. This shows the level of misgovernance there is. I think instead of the citizen having to pay for RTI to get these services rectified, the State should pay the citizen for the time and effort expended to get these mundane services rectified.
The sheer volume of such mundane RTI is proof of the sheer dysfunction and “chalta hai” view with which the citizen is being treated.
I hope the RTI system does not collapse under its own weight.
The only long term solution is to strike at the root of the problem. Go to the source.
May you all be effective in that endeavour.