About the Hypocrisy of Indians and their Negative lens on Government

Who is the Actual Culprit – The Government or our conditioning about the Government?

When it comes to us Indians, there are many topics which make it to our list of favorites for discussion. However, one topic tops the chart and it is THE GOVERNMENT. Anybody and everybody likes to discuss about the government, but mostly in a negative light. Very conveniently over a cup of tea, we manage to judge the government and declare that the people there are not doing their job properly, without taking the pain to understand how difficult it is to run a country. We always pinpoint that people in the government are not right and they are corrupt but what we fail to realize is the fact that, government is formed by people amongst us only. We are the ones who vote for them. Just think logically, how is it possible that the leaders we choose by legitimate voting, turn out to be wrong every time. Just to explain it with an example, it is like, there is a manufacturing unit and all its products are turning out to be faulty. Without any defect in the process or machinery in the manufacturing unit, it is not possible for the product to be defective. Something to think about. In the same way if we feel all the time that politicians sitting on the top are not ethically correct, it’s high time that we think as to what kind of moral grounds we as a country are having. Since India is a democratic country, if any of us feels that we can do their jobs better, we can and should by all means stand in the elections and lawfully be a part of the government for a greater good. 

It is a general observation in human psychology that we like people who talk and act like us, who share a similar thought process and talk about our good. This applies to us while choosing our leaders too. We will be naturally inclined towards leaders who will talk about the convenience of the masses, giving them freebies and showing them daydreams. On the other hand, we will almost hate the person who will show us the real picture and make us realize about the difficult road we need to walk on for the country’s progress. Just to quote an example, if a kid is given an option to design his own school time table, he will definitely keep all the periods or at least 6/8 periods as sports, games or music and completely ignore important subjects like Math, Science, Geography, English etc. Why? Because, being kids, they naturally enjoy playing games more than studying tough subjects. But everyone knows that for the holistic development of a child, it is necessary for him/her to learn all these subjects as well. In the similar manner we as a country need to implement some tough decisions to get things in order. Just to quote an example, a prominent leader of the past, Ms Indira Gandhi, was trying to take strict measures for population control in the form of sterilization. Instead of trying to understand the rationale behind the thought, Ms. Gandhi was vehemently opposed for her decision. Although, the  path chosen to implement population control might not be right, but the objective definitely was. We were not even 100 crores back then and today we are a population of more than a whooping 141 crores. When we deep dive into all the existing problems that we are facing as a nation, it comes out that the deepest root cause of these problems is overpopulation. And the reason for such a huge population is abysmally low literacy rates. Literacy not only in terms of a formal education, but also including areas like yoga, spirituality, meditation etc. which makes energy management of an individual easy and channelised and helps him/her take meaningful decisions. Although, spiritual knowledge & understanding is below average in most of the countries. Again, it turns out that literacy levels are low because the population is very high and we do not have enough resources to cater to so many people all at once. So it’s like a vicious never ending loop. So if we come back to Ms. Gandhi’s decision, she could not go back in the past and change the literacy levels, but at least she had a forward looking vision for the country’s progress. 

It is a very well known fact in human psychology that fear drives control. Such a large population and lack of resources have made us rather selfish and cruel. In this era of cut throat competition, we hardly think about not harming others for our benefit let alone thinking about others well being. And this is a story of almost every household. Also there is one more interesting research which suggests that around 40 years from now, there will be extreme shortage of resources. Soil quality will go down to the point where it won’t be able to produce enough for the entire population. Already we are putting a lot of pressure on our soil to produce extra by treating it with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Also there have been cases since a long time wherein cattle also has been exploited to produce extra milk for daily products. This artificial supply and urgency has resulted in so many illnesses and poor health conditions which were not very common and heard about  in the past. 

A classic example of positive results due to population control is China. China could control the population due to its very strict measures. Although we are no way advocating their methods as correct, but just examining the issue objectively. It was heard that as soon as a second child was born in China, they used to bury the child alive. When other countries found out about this, they all accused China for their immorality. Later it was found that they were giving iodine injections for sterilization to avoid population growth. Though the methods were harsh and in no way acceptable , regardless China was able to control the population.This led to  China successfully managing and optimizing its internal resources well and fulfilling the needs of the masses. As a result, China’s global economy over a period of 3 decades, grew to a whooping $84 trillion. It is the world’s largest exporter by value. Pick up any household and you are sure to find a chinese product may be right from a small wire to a bigger appliance. It is single handedly a leader. Also an interesting fact to know about the Chinese economy is the fact that they are providing skill based training to their citizens.They divide their states / regions into economic clusters . For example – they have regions for say experts in manufacturing of screens, experts in manufacturing of batteries etc. So, to make a mobile phone,they just combine people and instruments from these regions and assemble them. They have streamlined their processes in an impeccable manner. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to us, we don’t like leaders who speak the truth and show us the real path to growth, which is a hard one. We like leaders who speak our language of comfort. The ones who promise to offer us freebies, free water, free grains, free electricity, free education etc. The ones who promise us a life of comfort without any hard work. We have utmost hate for someone who shows the real path to progress as a nation through hard work and strategic planning. But we don’t understand that the leaders offering us the free stuff are making us crippled at a mental level. Slowly we are acting as termites for the system and the nation, rotting it one day at a time. Why don’t we have the courage to tell our government that we don’t want the free supplies? Instead help us to acquire skills that can help us make a decent living. We will pay for our own food, water, electricity and grains but we are eager to learn and make money in a right and sustainable manner.

It is rightly said that we can not understand someone’s situation unless we step in their shoes. Same is the case for our government. We happily criticize them without giving a second thought. But what about our own shortcomings? Our day to day life revolves around an office or in our business where we are an employee or we are handling a team / department or a business. And we are not 100% successful in that. There are n number of things to manage like the budget, people, department supplies, salaries and many more. I don’t think we are juggling all these parameters perfectly well. Outside of work, we have families to take care of including their emotional, financial and security needs. And we are not doing very well at that as well. India has the highest number of nuclear families than ever before. Well, if we have to do crisis management almost every day to handle such small units, how do we expect our leaders to be perfect at everything they do, with no room for mistakes? They are one amongst us at the end of the day. 

Well, if we want a prosperous society and a happy country we need to accept and choose leaders who are working for the greater good and making tough choices. Prosperity does not only mean money. Since we have all seen poverty in the country, from the very beginning, it is hardwired in our mind to associate prosperity with money. But we need to know that there are many aspects to a prosperous society, for example – The Happiness Index. India ranks 136 out of 146 in the Happiness Index. The number here speaks for itself because we are not growing sustainably.

Also to further add to our despair, we even oppose the good initiatives taken by our leaders. Just for an example our honorable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi came up with the initiative for National Register of Citizens (NRC) but he did not get much support from the citizens. People made it a caste game, whereas the plain purpose of the initiative was to document all the legal citizens of India and identify the illegal immigrants. What is coming as an even bigger shock to the foreign nationals is the fact that it was not there in India till now. On the top of it, when the government is trying to take corrective measures, we are opposing it for our personal agendas. Just imagine it in a corporate scenario, if a HR/ team manager does not know how many employees work in their organization or doesn’t have complete information about the team members how are they going to process the salary and all other work related tasks. This is supposed to be an obvious thing. By opposing such initiatives, we are only creating hindrance in a smooth administration. This is like, any immigrant can come to our country, have a voter id and a ration card and enjoy the benefits while our own people are starving to death. We might think we have grown mature, but maturity does not come from passing the school, college, getting married and having kids. We really need to introspect as to where we are heading with such an approach?

You can only compare an apple to an apple. We very easily compare our government to the government of foreign countries, but miss out on a thorough check of the facts. The kind of support foreign leaders get from their citizens both in form of tax and otherwise is much higher than India. The ex-US president Mr John F Kennedy has rightly quoted in this context – “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”  We are operating on one sided expectations of wanting every privilege without any hard work and still criticize the government. 

If we think we are so honest and hell bent to serve the nation, we should ask ourselves as to why is everyone in India so desperate to get a government job. If we deeply introspect as to what we are looking for from a government job – we will get a very clear answer that we are seeking job security and money, without the need to work very hard. Although the candidates preparing for positions like IAS or IPS might be exceptions, but besides them most of the people in the country are willing to accept just any government job. Look at any typical household in India and you would find the elders encouraging the kids to get any government job just once so that they would be settled for life. Why? Because we are a fragile generation. We are so soft and cowardly that we can’t take even a little bit of job stress, pressure or accountability. This system was introduced in India during the British reign wherein they wanted Indians for their clerical work. They introduced the medium of education as English and designed the curriculum in a way so that the Indians would know some basic mathematics and administrative work. They made sure that the creativity of Indians was not encouraged in any manner and refrained us from using our intelligence. Well, even after having an opportunity now, we are continuing the same trend simply because we are too lazy to work or too lazy to learn any new skill and get a job on our merit. We simply want the stability of any government job and sit and enjoy for the rest of our lives. We want a government job but not for the country’s well being, but for our own well being. It is such a hypocrisy – that everyone wants to teach in a government school, but nobody wants to study in a government school. Unfortunately this is what most of our elders in India have trained us for. Is this what we are going to leave as a legacy for our next generations?

What is also ironic is the fact that we come from the land of Lord Krishna. Almost every household in India is having the holy Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta. Krishna is the greatest teacher, giving the biggest lesson on Karma. And here are we Indians. We are simply hoarding the book in the house and doing the exact opposite of it- Kaamchori aka laziness and procrastination. 

We take so much pride in the fact that Lord Krishna has imparted his teachings to Arjun on the importance of Karma, on the Indian land of Kurukshetra. However, we have miserably failed to incorporate those teachings in our lives practically. Are we imbibing Lord Krishna’s teachings only in theory?

While we are just dragging through our work, the work culture in Japan is an epitome of perfection and integrity. Being fired from job is considered as an absolute insult by the Japanese and they tend to commit suicide in such an instance. I would like to share a personal encounter here from when I was working in Malaysia. One of my friends was Indonesian and was in love with a Japanese girl. On the day of their wedding, the girl’s father could not attend the marriage ceremony because he was a senior official at work and his work required his presence there. Such is the commitment of Japanese people towards their work. No wonder Japanese products and technology are loved and accepted so much worldwide. Sometimes I really wonder, did Lord Krishna impart those teachings of Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta on the land of Kurukshetra in India or in Tokyo Japan? They seem to be taking his advice and implementing it way more sincerely than us Indians.

One another fact that surprised me was that the military spending in the US is 10x of India and that in China is 3X of India. To add it, out of our allocated budget for the military, 50% of it is spent on their salaries and maintenance. It is anticipated that, in the next 20-25 years we are going to be the highest populated country in the world. But unfortunately we do not have sufficient budget to take care of the military requirements for such a huge population. Our tax collection is rather insufficient and the money from tax collection also needs to be allocated to other departments as well. Also the number of taxpayers in India and collection of tax volumes is very less compared to other countries. We say that we love our country but our actions speak otherwise. Neither do we want to enable our leaders, nor pay taxes , nor contribute to the country’s well being and economy in any meaningful way. Citizens in foreign countries pay enormous amounts of taxes and the government in return utilizes these taxes for the upskilling and well being of its citizens. It is like a cycle of paying the taxes and reaping the benefits. Here in India, we start blaming the government even at a Rs 2 petrol hike. On the top of it, if someone is sincerely paying their taxes without trying to find the means to escape the tax system, we discourage them also. We make them feel like fools who are paying their complete taxes on time, while there are many so-called smart people who are escaping the tax payments.We need to understand that these taxes ultimately are utilized for public benefit. Where does the money for building and repairing roads, making hospitals, the army and all other public expenses are going to  come from? 

To sum it up, no system is completely clean and perfect and things take time to change. Looking at the government only from a negative lens will only make it worse. Rather, thinking where we can contribute as responsible citizens of the nation and taking the first step will definitely make the scenario better for us as a nation. It’s high time that we think about what we are leaving for the next generation? Only some bank balance and a few pieces of land? A legacy is much more than this. India is a land of spirituality and culture and it deserves nothing less from its people than maintaining that diversity and passing on that rich culture ahead by doing our part. We should not forget what our ancestors have done for us and how priceless is the freedom that we have received.