Watching events unfolding in Egypt in early 2011, I had noted in “Euphoria of a winter revolution” ( Business Line , February 15) how through “their peaceful, but determined and dogged protests”, young Egyptians had got rid of a dictator whose family fortunes were estimated at around $70 billion. And added that it had been “a winter of discontent for Indians” with each passing week bringing “news of scams and scamsters… How long will a billion-plus people continue to remain proud of a democracy which only fattens the chosen, or elected few? How long will the masses watch helplessly the shenanigans of the extremely corrupt amassing wealth, while their own lives remain a struggle, with only their once-in-five-years-vote as a brahmastra ?”

Well, the Anna Hazare storm against corruption, strengthened by disillusioned, frustrated and angry Indians, has already rocked the Monsoon session of Parliament and jolted the politicians. Sure, it's going to be a long, long fight against corruption which has firmly spread its tentacles across the political/ sarkari fabric of this country.

One may question the means employed and raise questions on the personal credentials of some members of Team Anna. (That right has to be respected because Caesar's wife should be above suspicion and, hence, Anna Hazare's belligerence on that count is indeed puzzling.) But there is no doubt that the popular uprising against corruption was badly needed.

Corner for the privileged

Is corruption among our ruling classes — from the topmost echelons in New Delhi to the dusty environs of a sarkari daftar in the Indian interior — the only disease plaguing us? Not really. What about the widening divide between the rich and the poor? Isn't that as, if not more, disturbing an evil? Or the kind of opportunities that are available to different sections of society to make it to the small corner reserved for the more privileged Indians?

In a recent freewheeling chat with the RBI's Deputy Governor, Dr Subir Gokarn, who was in Chennai to address a huge gathering of students at the SRM University in Chennai for a BL Club event, I quizzed him on how he saw the future of India's future — youngsters — panning out.

His take: “What I am most worried about is that the employment opportunities are just not there for the large number of youngsters coming into the workforce every year.” Giving the example of business education, he said only a minority of students could afford it, either through their own resources, loans or scholarships. “Most people are not able to transit from school to higher education. Unless we deal with this by giving them not only skills but also upward mobility in terms of income, and so on, we are not really delivering on the development commitment. I am not very happy, at this point, at the pace at which this process is going on. Of course, we have good economic growth, which is fine, and opportunities have increased, which is great. But the backlog, to my mind, is getting problematic.”

He thinks better progress on the economic reforms agenda, more vigorous and labour-intensive manufacturing activity, as this is “the natural absorber of people”, are required. Also “we need to skill people differently” by moving away from the one-size-fits-all schooling system. “I'm not an expert in education, but think we need to create employable skills at a much earlier age,” he added

Safety net

Then, of course, there is that section which doesn't even get close to the aspiration stage of a higher education for their children. For them, mere subsistence with two meals a day continues to be a grim challenge.

Dr Gokarn favours NREGA as a safety net framework as it is “addressing an absolutely basic buffer between just subsistence and destitution. We need to expand this because when you reform the labour market and talk about flexibility and the freedom to hire and fire, which is a requirement for generating jobs, then you need a safety net too.”

On the allegations of leakages and siphoning of NREGA funds, and why the banking system can't be mobilised to put money directly into the beneficiaries' accounts, he says, “Benefits moving through the banking system is clearly the central objective of the financial inclusion scheme.” Once the benefit system is plugged into the UID (Unique Identification) scheme, it would automatically connect with the banking system.

This debate brings us back to the most crucial issue: Will our governing classes be able to do all this quickly enough to at least check, if not reverse, the growing restlessness and sheer anger of the disadvantaged and underprivileged classes? Surely, just like those among us who have the means and the money to become victims of the greed and graft of our netas and babus , and hence found it so easy to rally around Anna Hazare's call against corruption, their patience must be running out too. Actually, their forbearance levels should be much lower, as they have got nothing… absolutely nothing… from this country's so-called growth and development.

So they too must be waiting for a messiah to launch an agitation for them… an agitation to ensure the most modest of rozi-roti for them. While they await such a messiah, here is a snatch of conversation a colleague overheard the other day in a bus as it went past the glitzy Express Avenue, the most happening mall in Chennai. Watching some youngsters swagger into the mall, one passenger told another: “Where do these people find the money to spend in a place like this?”

Being a patron of this mall herself, she cringed at the truth of this observation and felt a sharp stab of guilt.

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in and blfeedback@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics