THE GREATER COMMON GOOD
THE GREATER COMMON GOOD
Renunciation, sacrifice, living
for others, giving up individual rights for the benefit of society are the
different terms used and abused by those in power all over the world. A few
days ago the Supreme Court used this phrase in the context of the judicial
reference made to it in the 2G spectrum allocation case. The basic question
that needs to be answered is that in a welfare democratic state where
inequalities exist, should the Government intervene for the welfare of the
disadvantaged? If the answer is yes as our leaders with socialistic leanings
from the Nehru-Gandhi era thought, then why did the welfare state go horribly
wrong? The next question that needs to be answered is can the state allow
market forces to rule the roost and believe that such market driven GDP
measured growth will benefit the poor by the so called “trickle down theory”?
The last question to be asked is that are the present policies favouring corporate India
at the cost of welfare economics, the correct way to go forward?
Small is beautiful and self
sufficient. An economic model based on small units, local production, local
consumption, reduction of needs and desires was the dream of the Father of the
Nation. Production by masses rather than mass production was Gandhi’s mantra. Independent
India with its aspirations and with Nehru at the helm quickly dismissed these
ideas as impractical and ancient. Modern India looked on the large public
sector where Government became the provider of all services and individuals who
wished to create industries for profit were looked down as enemies of the
nation. It was thought that the state was paramount and the repository of all
wisdom, and would work for the greater common good. In the guise of the greater
common good, small industries, local arts and crafts and forest based tribal
cultures were brushed aside in favour of large factories and projects. Large
dams, mono-culture fertilizer based farming, acquisition of forest and tribal
land led to huge internal migrations and exploitation and misery for the poor. In
every field, native wisdom was forgotten and the state became dominant. The
result of these policies was a massive flawed inefficient state along with the
killing of individual enterprise, creativity and entrepreneurial initiative.
The license-permit raj led to a low growth rate and a brain drain where Indians
went away from the country and excelled abroad. Taxation and state interference
in the name of the “greater common good” made the people evade tax and become
cynical and frustrated.
After 1990, in the face of huge
external debts and an economic crisis, the state took a U turn and unleashed
the Indian enterprise and allowed the private players a free hand. The private
players created massive wealth and used all means fair and foul to amass
wealth. A country where showing wealth was considered vulgar, the display of
wealth became the norm and the role models of society changed overnight. It was
believed that the market forces would create demands and jobs and the poor
would become rich. Foreign players were given free rein and allowed to come in
with some safe guards. All of this is resulting in a gradual abdication by the
state of its duties and responsibilities to the poor. The greater common good
has been forgotten. Corporate India
has cornered and influenced policy by fair and often foul means to create
massive wealth for itself without serving the greater common good. Anything for
welfare like right to food, loans for the farmer, social security schemes is
considered as unjustified expenditure, but cheap land acquisition of industry,
soft loans for corporates, rescue of faltering companies by loan waivers and tax
concessions is considered good economics. This has resulted in unprecedented
massive corruption. The crass materialism and spawning of unbridled desires has
resulted in an erosion of values on an unimaginable scale. The ravaging of the natural
resources and mother earth has resulted in a complete reversal of the principle
of “the greater common good”.
"I
will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes
too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and
the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step
you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain
anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life
and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry
and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self
melt away." "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs but not even one man's greed". Both these quotes from Gandhi reflected his vision and ability to see and
understand the concept of individual growth and the greater common good, long
before we have as a nation reached the present state.
A model of individualized local
development, with technology assisting human growth and development rather than
exploiting masses to create wealth for few should not be beyond the
capabilities of human beings. Today, I do not think that the state is capable,
willing or trustworthy enough to create such a model. While listing examples of
wrong intent on the part of the state will make this blog too voluminous, I would
only like to take the burning issues to make my point. 2G spectrum allocation
in the name of creating widespread cheap telephony was used to amass wealth by
the ruling class. The trading of ministries as a bargaining chip for supporting
minority government obviously points to wrong doing. Coal gate is another
example of such doings. Diesel price hike has hit the poor while creating a
situation where 90% of the luxury passenger vehicles produced is running on
subsidized diesel. SUV’s are sold cheap so rich take example of this subsidy
while the poor and made to pay extra for their LPG cylinders. Does this policy
seem correct??
FDI in retail, why?? Can we not strengthen
our farmers by creating the infrastructure, cold chains and storage facilities
in our own country instead of inviting foreigners? Why kill our local
shopkeepers who can provide variety and individualized services for large
monsters catering to material desires and creating wealth for corporate. Does India
need a rise in the number billionaires on Forbes lists or a rise in human
development indices?
Can we trust the state to do its
duties and serve the greater common good in the real sense different from the
Nehru model and the liberalization model? I think it is time for persons with
vision to take up this task in earnest and work to make a sustainable model to
truly serve the greater common good. The answer will come by going back to the
grass roots and connecting with native wisdom.
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