The Equality Chimera

Democracies invariably turn chaotic when economic power is decentralized but political power is not. This situation arose in India in 1991 and we are experiencing its natural aftermaths. In the above scenario, Capital (crony) surreptitiously beds with The State to exponentially increase its power. It is a fact that mere physical power makes one a ‘laborer’ and mere capital makes one a ‘businessman’. It is when the businessman buys labor, he transforms into an ‘industrialist’, and if he goes on to buy Intellect, he attains absolute power. 

Capital + Labor + Intellect = POWER.

Another fact is that in western countries where resource to population ratio favors the former, artificial energy (AE) is labor complimentary. In the Indian context where the converse applies, AE becomes labor substitute. The way out of this quagmire is simple. Either ensure high labor remuneration, or hike AE costs so that labor can more or less become on par with capital. Enforcement of the former policy is well neigh impossible in an India which is unable to even protect its women from a basal crime like rape. So, sane people should set aside their chauvinism and seriously ponder over how best to ensure that the latter solution is worked out. Else, the present sad state would continue wherein capitalists will grow at the velocity of an airplane, intellectuals will grow at the speed of an express train & labor/farmer will grow at a snail’s pace. This skewed pace of development is the genesis of present day chaotic India.

Here’s a simple alternative: Why not provide an ENERGY SUBSIDY of Rs 2100/- per month, per person be given to all those who are being covered under the present “Food Security Ordinance”, ie. about 70% of the population. Meaning Rs 350 per day for a family of five with one earner (govt’s baseline). This amount is arrived at to ensure 2400 calories of energy intake per day per person (UN accepted norm). This massive amount is to be generated by the State by hiking Artificial Energy (AE) costs. In this scenario, the labor/farmer would be reimbursed for the highly priced AE he uses, whereas production costs for capitalists would go up forcing them to hire labor. The counter argument of economists that this would mean ultra high inflation is negated by the fact that it will be but one massive “currency readjustment” exercise in place of the present perpetual inflation. The impact would be a strong Rural Economy, profitable agriculture, rich proletariat, penalizing wealth, and a conserved Ecology (due to costly conveyance & high production costs).

The above very strong and logically sound alternative is a humble challenge by this writer to armchair academics of India who devise policies. Any policy doc needs to be an implementable idea taking the capability quotient into account & not a moral science syllabus book with juvenile writ large in which no consideration is assigned to “capability enhancement prior to picking up newer assignments”.

Prior to 1991, India was on a Nehruvian model & post 1991 it has taken the wrong highway of crony capitalism. Instead of regressing back to turning back the clock and revisiting the same Nehruvian model, shouldn’t just an elimination of ‘crony’ from the present model be solution enough?

For academics, decentralization means that the Union government ‘generates’ revenues & then disburses it in downwards - whereas worldwide accepted definition of decentralization is -power should rest with the ‘basic’ unit and only those tasks which the basic unit ‘voluntarily’ abdicates automatically goes to the jurisdiction of the next level unit and so on till the Union government. In short the right perspective sees decentralization as “unitary autonomy to all units” whereas if activists are to be believed it would mean an upper unit unilaterally trespassing onto a basic unit’s jurisdiction.

As proposed by Late Prof Thakur Das Bang, Why don't the intelligentia of this nation simply declare that they will help to carry out the following constitution amendments: Under Art 246, delete “Concurrent List” and insert “Local Bodies List” which will vest constitutional rights & tasks to gram/nagar sabhas? Why don't they state that they will strive to delete the word “not” from Article 37 which would make Directive Principles of State Policy “enforceable” by the judiciary –which isn’t the case presently. (www.lokswarajmanch.blogspot.com)

Any model that creates a monolithic government is inimical to self-rule or Swaraj concept propounded by Gandhiji. Swaraj limits the State’s role to “Guaranteeing ALL its citizens Security & Justice”. Evolved democracies worldwide believe that people are competent enough to frame policy for themselves at their local level. (Issues transcending localities like Defense, Telecom etc, automatically go up to the next logical upper unit) If from 1947 to 1991, a massive Indian public sector could not deliver to a smaller population, it is naive to suggest an identical public sector will deliver it in the 21st century.

Lastly, equality is a chimera; no two entities are equal or can be made equal. Only a policy of “equal opportunity warranty” can be adopted. The academia of this nation suffer from this massive lacuna as they launch their equality theory with a premise that ‘equality’ is achievable. They should instead work towards a more sensible “Security & Justice for All” its place.