Breakdown nation: The cost of weak
leadership
"In
any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best
thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing"
-Theodore Roosevelt
No one can imagine the
country which was being hailed as the breakout nation has become the breakdown
nation in short span of time. One really wonders, what are the reasons for such
debacle?
Well, I think answer is
pretty simple; this great country of ours, the land of opportunities has
everything right except strong, transparent and decisive Leadership.
Its seems that economist,
Investors and academicians have took into account only the positive factors in
to account while pronouncing, India as next economic superpower like Domestic
market size, Demographic dividend, Investment, infrastructure growth however I
really doubt anyone has consider the prime mover of the all theses things and
that is strong, clear and decisive leadership to move the nation in right
direction.
Let’s take look at
state of illusion we believe in:-
v Largest
democracy with Worst Governance
v Huge
domestic growth with very High inflation and very few Indigenous Brands to
cater to this high domestic growth
v Huge
Demographic Dividend but where are job for millions getting in job market every
year?
v Large
agricultural sector which is having only 35%
agricultural land under irrigation, and every year 1000’s farmers
suicide/year
v Huge
IT sector which is almost dependent with no real global IT product
v Huge
infrastructural growth which is hardly moving ahead due to complete policy
laps, and bottlenecks at each step
v Great
entrepreneurial spirit however huge obstacles in starting & doing business
(70 Licenses are required to start
new business in some of the cases)
v Great
strategic location but unstable & volatile neighborhood with no real trust
factor within these countries like Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh…
v Strong
manufacturing sector which is recording sluggish growth or stagnant since last
few years.
Can every problem be
sorted out immediately? May be not……however
all these issues can be address to great extent…..As I believe current state of
Indian economy has every thing right except the leadership. The current
leadership has failed to win the confidence of the investors, have failed in
giving clean and transparent governance to the nation. Even now, as we have
entered in pre-election mode, the current leadership have relied more on
populism over rational decision making similar to decision making in
pre-election phase of 2009.
Current state of
decision making (Populism over
Rational):-
1
2013 ( Pre-Election Year) , “Food Security Bill” instead of
designing mechanism to provide employment opportunity for masses to earn the
food………….( what happened to GARIBI HATAO since last 60 years) Its classical
case of looting tax payers ( who usually don’t vote in large numbers) to benefiting non tax payers (who vote in large numbers)
2009 (Pre-Election Year) , Government
designed loan waiver scheme to farmers costing 60,000 Crore to the nation
One
really wonders, If farmers need loan waiver or
Irrigation facilities?
(Only approx. 35% land is irrigated after 60 years of Independence)
Continuity in electricity
(One of the most developed states Maharashtra has failed to provide electricity
for half a day continuously in rural area)
And
even after the scheme is offered there are some crucial questions unanswered
like:-
Did
loan waiver schemes reach to real beneficiaries?
Did
it solve the farmer’s problem for lifetime?
What about the accurate forecasting from MET department? Do they get that?
Is
there any improvement in supply chain mechanism for farmers to get fare price?
In this phase, the
nation needs a leader who believes in Great Indian Dream, Who can sell Indian
Story to the world, He must not be just honest but can give good governance in
functioning of entire government. He
must reach out to nation and understand the public sentiments; He should rise
above the religious and sectorial politics and should take rational and logical
decisions rather than popular decisions, and above all he should be able to
break the shackles of policy paralysis and make things moving.
If we look back to the
history, every nation which has attained the new heights & prosperity had
great deal of leadership to steer them in right direction with their wits and
wisdom.
I think we are due for
one such leadership since long time…..hope to get one soon………………………………………till
then expect the large number of welfare schemes, inaugurations and illusionary promises coming our way for next half year.......
Yogesh Baviskar
