Since the beginning of 2013 I have noticed one peculiar thing about Indian public discourse. Be it in the cacophony of debates on television channels or in conversations at restaurants and tea stalls – the central theme, more often than not, is what others need to do to set things right in the country. We all talk about matters of national importance, of how the political leadership should act and what they need to do bring change in India.
The discussion is passionate. Every person has an opinion on the matter and everyone has a suggestion for the other. But what we conveniently overlook in these discussions is the individual’s responsibility towards setting things right. More than “I”, the noise is about this amorphous entity called ‘AAP’, of which everyone is part of and yet no one really is. We all want change. Do we want to do different things or do the same thing differently or a combination of both?
This requires a deeper analysis. We need to assess our current systems; policies; capability to handle/manage the change. As we always discuss in corporate world – some amount of chaos is always good but if we breed it beyond a particular threshold, it leads to anarchy. Most in the political world have overnight become too critical of what we have achieved. They are talking about completely changing the wardrobe! We don’t need a revolution in the country , we just need a sustainable change by including more and more qualified / competent people in the decision making process.
Our bureaucracy is one of the finest in the world. Political class needs to learn how to work effectively with them. It is about simplifying the policies; systems and laws so that one develops a better understanding of one’s role; duty and responsibility. Use of technology to enhance reach and inclusion with simplification of the rule book is the need of the hour. To achieve the same you should be brainstorming in a conducive environment with the concerned professionals to bring about the change and not hold public Raj Durbars or constantly be in front of media handling their queries.
Forming public opinion and creating opinion pollution are completely diverse objectives and one cannot achieve both! You need time to think and then enough time to execute your thoughts! As an opposition, one can challenge everything and the good part is that so called “intellectuals” who seems to know everything under the sun, will give a new meaning to the challenge! However to govern is a different ball game altogether. We need to have a fine balance between the debates/discussion and execution.
After all, it is the election year. However, putting the blame on others and limiting the discourse to just that is convenient and detrimental to change. Convenient because, at the end of the day, everyone wants to be seen on the right side of things and be perceived as taking some action, but without any set of responsibility. Detrimental to change because the roles might change and the chairs might revolve, but the blame game will continue, for there will always be this entity ‘AAP’ who is supposed to do things.
We all seem to have ideas and suggestions on what “they” should be doing. But the real change will happen when people start talking about what I can do to achieve change and take responsibility for it. In management theory, team work has a major role to play. Imagine a situation wherein all the functions of a company keep advising others and not take responsibility for their own departments, would a company succeed? Chances are it will not even be operational!
“Corruption” is a major issue but you cannot ask the entire country to get into a sting operation to address the issue. However if you really want to address the issue by not just talking about it but wanting to do something about it then we need to bring change in two basic areas: education and employment. How can we provide access to quality education to India’s children and youth and what employment avenues are we creating for them.
Be it the centre, state or the corporate, if we all do what is possible within our ambit and collaborate on these two areas, change will happen. The energy of each and every one can then be channelled into nation building. In the end, we must all understand that bringing change is not akin to preparing a 2-minute noodle. It will also not happen by putting the onus on others. Substantive change happens over a period of time and when every man and woman contributes to it. At the end of the day, one must ask himself, what have I done today and how have I shifted the needle? And that is the foundation of progress – for individuals, organizations and nations.