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© 2012 Sanjeev Sabhlok's revolutionary blog
Thanks to Bindu for linking to this video:
I've been broadly aware of Arvind's model of governance in the past. Let me now elaborate on some issues that Arvind touches upon in this video, and I'll send this blog post to him for his information as well.
STRONGLY AGREE WITH ARVIND ON THESE ISSUES:
a) Strong local government
I agree with Arvind that decentralisation is crucial for any system of good governance. In BFN I've strongly advocated local government – and provided examples of how this can be done.
The idea of direct democracy, though, is unrealistic. Referenda should be held only on one or two issues per generation. I'd like the new Constitution of India (to be drafted) to be approved through referendum. There is a huge risk that through such models of "direct" democracy, that elites and particularly those with plenty of idle time on their hands (and SIGNIFICANT foreign funding, like Arvind?) will gain control over the national agenda. [Btw, Arvind, you MUST tell the people clearly that you have been significantly funded by foreigners. And now that you are actively participating in POLITICS, please assure the people that you will never again accept funds for your work from foreigners.]
b) Decentralisation of power
On this I'm entirely with Arvind. There is NO reason why a government should dabble in anything apart from defence, police and justice. All other things should be done by the people themselves, whether as a cooperative, private agency, or any other model. Let there be a thousand local experiments. 80 per cent of the powers of state governments should be devolved to local bodies, and departments of education/health purely act as regulators, not as direct providers of services.
STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH ARVIND ON THIS:
c) Anti-free trade position
I notice that Arvind made some very strong (and significantly ill-informed) comments re: the role of foreigners in India, in particular against trade. But trade that is voluntarily engaged in, is the essence of democracy. Since Arvind cites ancient Indian kings let me assure him that Chanakya was a great votary of trade, and also, that India DOMINATED world trade till around 1750.
On this matter – of economic policy – Arvind needs to go back to the drawing board at once before uttering one more word – for he is making comments that are seriously at odds against liberty.
IT IS CLEAR THAT ARVIND ONLY PARTLY UNDERSTANDS THE MEANING OF LIBERTY
Let me say this clearly: Arvind you NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF आज़ादी.
Arvind needs to internalise the concept of liberty.
Arvind, please be clear: India only had an independence movement. It NEVER had a freedom movement. So if we never had the first freedom movement, we can't possibly have a "second" one. Can we?
Arvind, please also note that in BFN the highlights of ALL world-best policies (not only in the field of democracy but in the fields of public administration and economic policy) have been suggested. Nandan Nilekani's Imagining India must also be compulsory reading for Arvind.
Arvind, assuming you are SERIOUS about the outcomes you seek for India (and not in it just for the sake of petty awards from foreigners) you will benefit by paying attention to the findings of those who (like me, for instance) have spent (over 30, in my case) years thinking and practicing public policy. And yes, there are many others whom Arvind can read and benefit from. Start with Hayek, then read Friedman, Demsetz, and Masani.
Team Anna should not harangue the parliament. It should, instead, contest elections and BOOT OUT these ruffians.
It is pointless to tell a thief that he is a thief. He simply won't change. You've got to PUNISH him.
I disagree with Arvind Kejriwal's approach of criticising MPs WITHOUT undertaking any corrective action to fix the problem. He should contest elections and offer to DIRECTLY lead India.
But he is WELL WITHIN HIS RIGHT to criticise the parliament.
The parliament is not a protected organisation. There is, indeed, NO protected organisation or religion or entity in India. Nothing above the citizen. The CITIZEN IS SOVEREIGN. All constitutional bodies are subject to criticism, and are SUBSERVIENT to the citizen.
In this case there is overwhelming evidence that the parliament is nothing but a bunch or rascals and crooks. There is NO doubt in anyone's mind about that. The data speak for themselves.
Arvind should do more to fix the problem, but he is NOT doing anything wrong by speaking his mind. He has the FULL LIBERTY to say what he likes. And in this case he has provided EXTENSIVE evidence of the parliament's corruption and criminality.
The idea of issuing privilege notice on Arvind is shameful.
I call on the entire parliament to resign and hand over the governance of India to the President, to order fresh elections.
In these fresh elections, I hope that Arvind will contest elections. Else he would be a mere rabble-rouser, not a leader.
Before I talk about my meeting with Arvind Kejriwal let me affirm that IAC has indeed made a significant contribution to India. Gurcharan Das, whom I met last evening, had many positive comments about Team Anna's movement, particularly in awakening the Indian middle class. If for nothing else, Arvind Kejriwal, the brain trust of Team Anna, deserves credit for making a real difference to India.
But there is MUCH MORE WORK ahead! And the conversion of our aspirations for India into reality is a much harder task.
So let me now talk about my meeting with Arvind. I will also send this blog post to Arvind so he can read this and get the opportunity to recapitulate some of the comments I made to him in the meeting.
As many of you aware, senior FTI member Somnath Bharti has represented Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi in their court case against CWG corruption. This case was very successful and led to 14 cases of corruption being filed by CBI.
Both Somnath and Arvind are IITians (along with a few other FTI members). Somnath also respects Arvind deeply, and believes that Arvind's integrity is totally beyond question. Given my presence in India, Somnath organised a meeting between me and Arvind, held yesterday (22 Feb) at 12 noon in Arvind's office in Kaushambi (on the way to Ghaziabad).
The meeting was very short: only 20 minutes. Arvind was very busy. Anna was coming to Delhi just a little later and Arvind was being constantly interrupted by people even while he was talking to me. Names like Hegde and Kiran Bedi were being bandied about. Anna's flight was slightly late so that was discussed. And so on.
There was no time for niceties or getting to know each other better. People were swarming around us. I had to cut to the chase.
Introductions
I introduced myself briefly, with the LBSNAA as link, a place where I had taught in 1994 and Arvind had passed through as a fresh civil service recruit in 1992. Harsh Mander was our common friend.
I outlined to him (in short-hand!) why, after so many years in the IAS I decided in February 1998 to change India. There was no one else willing (or capable) of bringing about the change. I had no choice but to do it myself. I then gave him an outline of the three failed political efforts I made in this regard. Then told him about FTI and why FTI will succeed.
Lack of liberty: the root cause of all problems in India
I pointed out the mess outside his office, about the miserable poverty that is experienced by hundreds of millions of Indians. That is the main problem in India: the total waste of our people's potential.
In this context, while asking Arvind which countries he had visited, he mentioned (among others) Korea. That was an excellent hook. I therefore spoke to him about the key difference between North and South Korea – which I have discussed in detail in my book, Breaking Free of Nehru. The difference is all about liberty.
I explained that good governance, underpinned by the principles of liberty, is the best way to remove corruption and bring unprecedented prosperity to India (such as to the people who live in misery just outside his office). I explained how some of the world's best academics such as Alasdair Roberts (who has taught at LBSNAA) have vetted my book. We therefore need to understand and follow world-best models of governance in India.
Our job is to ensure the kind of governance that will enable our poor to create wealth. This will AUTOMATICALLY eliminate both poverty AND corruption.
I added that corruption is a symptom, NOT the cause of India’s many problems. Corruption is like malarial fever while the cause (malarial parasite) is lack of liberty and bad policies. Even Anna, Arvind admitted, agrees that Lokpal will only act like a band-aid and more fundamental reforms will be needed. We need not just the enforcement of rules (or stronger punishment to the corrupt), but the right kind of rules.
Arvind should offer his leadership to India and DIRECTLY change India
I pointed out that in order to change the lives of our desperately poor people, we must not provide mere band-aids or a patchwork of "solutions" unrelated to any fundamental principle of governance. We must provide a comprehensive solution based on the principle of liberty. And the only way to do this is by directly providing political leadership to India through the parliament.
I mentioned that all his IAC work will make not the slightest dent in India's governance. What is needed is to take over the government and directly provide the governance that India needs.
I mentioned that the Director of the Academy in 1984 (IM Puri) used to tell us that if we really want to change India we have no choice but to enter politics. And when a probationer from our 1982 batch asked Indira Gandhi in 1983 (during a meeting in the PM’s house) why there was so much corruption in the Congress party, she challenged the probationer thus: If you can do better and remove corruption why don’t you do it yourself?
That same challenge remains today, 30 years later. Let us not preach nor exhort others to do things for us. In our free democracy, we are obliged to directly do it ourselves. I have taken up that challenge in February 1998. And I want all the best leaders of India to take up that challenge.
Why is it that we have such high quality people in India and such low quality results? The time to complain is over. Now it is time to DIRECTLY do the job.
I added to Arvind that I’m interested ONLY in him – personally – and not his group. I’m looking PURELY for high quality young leaders for tomorrow's India. But in addition to being honest these young people must understand the right policies.
That means Arvind will need to understand the concept of liberty better, and pay serious attention to policies.
He agreed to read any material that I may send to him. I promised to do so soon.
I also explained that on FTI we only take people who are determined to become Prime Minister of India. If people don’t have such determination – to offer their PERSONAL services to India as its leader, they should not waste our time.
Indeed, on FTI there are at least 60 Arvind Kejriwals today (figuratively speaking). They are currently not well known (e.g. Somnath Bharati), just as Arvind was not well known when he first started his work. But the capability is there. 100 per cent! I also explained that some well-known leaders like JP of LokSatta are effectively members of FTI.
Therefore Arvind can consider joining FTI when he is ready. I'll provide more details to Arvind via email.
That, in sum, was the discussion:
a) Showing Arvind that doing IAC work is fine so long as everyone in IAC knows that this work will NOT change (by even ONE BIT) the lives of the poor people who live like pigs just outside Arvind’s office.
b) Showing Arvind that our fundamental problem is lack of liberty (with accountability).
c) Showing Arvind that without directly offering our PERSONAL political leadership to India, we are never going to be free of the corrupt rascals who govern India.
Let us battle these thugs at the hustings. Let us take over the parliament.
Our meeting ended on a pleasant note, with a photo, shown below.
I met Arvind Kejriwal yesterday. I'll summarise my meeting with him in a separate blog post. But first, to set the context of some of the discussions, I'm presenting this picture gallery. (Click images for a larger picture; if you need a high resolution photo, contact me at sabhlok@gmail.com).
Picture above: Approaching Arvind's office: wild cows occupying half the road.
Now you will be shown 4 photos of Arvind's human neighbours who live practically in the same condition as wild cows, dogs and pigs.
And now for two pictures when you enter Arvind's office:
Notes from my meeting with Kejriwal: Dear Arvind, the only path to corruption-free India is through policies of liberty
Anna Hazare is a medievalist of no further consequence to India. It is now too late to change the image he has formed in the minds of millions. Simply saying that he will no longer campaign only against Congress won't help him. It's over.
Anna is neither a Gandhi (with a strong foundation in the theory of non-violence), nor a proponent of classical Hinduism like Gandhi was (Gandhi meticulously distinguished his wholistic view of Hinduism from parochial, fascist Hindutva and RSS-type ideas).
Indeed, Anna's violent village-level habits – of whipping people by tying them to a pole – are no longer a secret but widely known. And his anti-democratic refusal to allow elections to be held in his village. And his dictatorial ban on eating meat by Dalits.
All in all, Anna is DEFINITELY not the kind of leader India wants for its future.
But Arvind Kejriwal is a potential leader of tomorrow's India. He still has potential, despite some mistakes.
For instance, his RTI movement was good. It was (a relatively small) part of systemic improvement of India's governance. But by chasing after the mirage of Lokpal, he moved into an irrelevant reform (it is not a systemic solution at this stage). And aligning with the medievalist Anna Hazare was a big mistake. It now makes him appear anti-Congress (i.e. not independent).
He needs to rapidly retrieve himself from Anna, or he will need to openly join BJP to survive. He can't remain independent after his strong association with the politically aligned Anna.
Arvind should speak up strongly about economic and governance reforms that India needs. Corruption is an interesting and important issue, but its causes are the problem, not corruption per se (which is merely the symptom). Corruption is like the fever that a malaria patient has, not the malaria parasite that causes the fever. Shortage of Lokpal is not the cause of corruption, socialism is – and hence the primary problem of India. So that must go.
In particular I'd suggest that Arvind consider promoting the electoral reforms I've outlined in detail in BFN.
I'm visiting India in February and (if he wishes) I can explain these reforms to him, so he can then become an independent exponent of GOOD IDEAS for India.
And he MUST, thereafter, commit to contesting elections – on a platform NOT RELATED to Congress or BJP. This endless carping against India's parliamentarians is self-defeating. By insulting India's democracy, he insults the intelligence of Indians who elected these representatives, and no one can take that kind of insult for long. If he is so "holier-than-thou" then let him offer his candidacy.
If he then starts speaking in the voice of LIBERTY, FTI membership could be opened for him.
For long the ideas of Arvind Kejriwal appeared to me to be extremely diffuse, and I've so commented on this blog on occasion. I recently asked to see his theory of state, for I couldn't understand where he comes from in the theoretical sense. My initial analysis of his theory showed that he is seriously confused. I said:
Socialism is the underlying cause of India's misgovernance, but Kejriwal's paper doesn't even show the REMOTEST understanding of that. He imagines that simply by having more local power things will become miraculously better.
NONE of his ideas, for instance, drill down into the underlying causes of corruption. He is clearly happy with India's socialist policies, just concerned about a few minor fringe issues (his "solutions" therefore TOTALLY fail to deliver, e.g. RTI. Why did RTI not eliminate corruption, – why did it also need Lokpal? The same fate will attend the Lokpal – which doesn't address ANY of the causes of corruption. Why is state funding of elections NOT being promoted by IAC?)
Well, Kejriwal has now cleared the air and declared himself SOCIALIST:
Do you have ideological inclinations?Let me speak about the people in the leadership as I cannot speak for all the people who have participated. There cannot be anyone in the leadership who has a communal background. Our core team consists of 25 people and most of them are left centre. I hope that answers your question.
Need I say more? Now, everything fits.
No wonder there has been no response from Arvind Kejriwal (or Kiran Bedi) to my personal messages (delivered through intermediaries). THESE PEOPLE ARE SOCIALISTS – NO DIFFERENT TO THE CONGRESS AND BJP LEADERS THEY CLAIM TO OPPOSE.
Well, it is good to have his views made so explicit (like Amartya Sen made explicit his leftist leanings, once, and is no longer a credible economist in my list of Indian economists).
So now the whole of Inda knows that Arvind and I are on OPPOSITE SIDES. That's good to know.
I left the Academy (in August 1994) one year before Arvind Kejriwal joined the civil service (1995). Had I been at the Academy in 1995 I would have taught him. At the least I hope he was taught by Atindra Sen of the 1978 batch of IAS (now with the Bombay chambers of commerce) – an economist whom I hold in high esteem.
But the Academy's thrust was, of course, socialist under the leadership of NC Saxena (and Harsh Mander who was a couple of batches senior to me – 1980 vs mine – 1982). That might have prevented good economics education from being imparted to the young officer trainees. And so we have managed to create YET ANOTHER economic illiterate who is now further damaging India – damage that was started by Nehru.
If Arvind will kindly do me the courtesy of reading BFN (as his countefactual professor at the Academy) we can discuss further.
Else I'm going oppose anything he does to destroy India's future. Sorry, I can't tolerate socialists. They are THE ENEMIES OF INDIA. Period.
The failure of economics education in India is colossal. A disaster.
Related:
- Can I see Arvind Kejriwal’s theory of state (or of Anna Hazare), please? On September 1, 2011
- Why RTI is NOT the solution to India’s problems On August 7, 2010
- Arvind Kejriwal’s theory of the state #1 On September 3, 2011
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