Retributions  

Stay invested in the state. It matters

In the post-economic reforms India, there has been growing tendency, especially among the affluent, to divest from the state. Dysfunctional water supply: rely on water tankers. Electricity shortages: Invest in private gensets. Unreliable police: Call in private security guards.

Now, private water and electricity suppliers may actually be a good thing–if they were accompanied by fundamental reforms in India’s municipalities. Instead, the rich and the increasingly the middle class have migrated from the state to a virtual parallel economy. Instead of demanding that political leaders fix these fundamental issues, a growing segment views the state as immaterial virtually assuming that their lives would not be fundamentally altered whether the government functions well or not. Naturally, the same segment is dismissive of democracy–not bothering to vote in elections under the pretext that it really makes no difference. India’s crumbling education system ensures that the newer generations grow up with little understanding of economy and public policy: witness the almost non-existent demand for economic reforms even from sections which have directly benefited from them.

The Mumbai terror attacks should serve as an eye-opener for them. As Nitin Pai eloquently puts it, a ”government which cannot protect us from rainwater cannot protect us from terrorists.” Governance matters. Short of raising an infantry force equipped with the most sophisticated arms money can buy, the targets of the dastardly attacks in Mumbai could have done little to protect themselves. Private security still cannot replace the Army and special forces.

So South Mumbai and South Delhi, please vote in the next elections. And then demand governance from those you elect: Better water supply; paved roads and yes; security.