I must start by saying that I am in a very comfortable position compared to the majority of people in India. I do not have any financial pressures, do not have a family to support and have food on the table and a roof over my head.
I also have more than enough time to think and brood about what is right and what is wrong in our world. Perhaps something good will come out of this through this blog.
The Modi government has started its second term. Efforts are on for the One Nation, One Poll initiative, for abolishing triple talaq and (what else) Kashmir.
But this ignores what is fundamentally wrong in so many areas in India. I am speaking from experience. There is much which is wrong as far as labour laws are concerned, the civil and criminal justice system is another and there is the question of the State (that is the Government) running businesses, Public Sector Undertakings.
What I want from the Government is:
- Reform the Civil and Criminal justice systems. Justice delayed is justice denied and justice is delayed in India to such an extent that it ceases to have any meaning. In my opinion India will never join the ranks of developed countries until its people respect the laws of the nation. I have myself suffered because of this as I was forced to compromise a criminal case that I had filed against some persons. We are paying taxes to the Government and we are entitled to protection against both internal criminals and external enemies. The role of acting as a protector is the primary job of the State.
- Instead of the Government doing its primary role (stated above) it is running PSUs at a huge loss to the tax payer. In my opinion the Government has no business being in business. It should create the physical, legal and social infrastructure for the private sector to do business. The government should not be in any business that is not required for reasons of national security and other strategic purposes.
- Labour laws need to be reformed to enable hire and fire for businesses. I have worked in the UAE where there is absolute transparency about hire and fire and I can testify that the office atmosphere is a lot better and there is much less harassment at the workplace. In India if the employer wants you to leave, he cannot fire you because of labour laws. So he harasses you to force you to quit. In addition, businesses would be much more efficient and people would not think ten times before starting a business if labour laws were simplified.
There is much talk about nation building but I am mostly concerned with having life more abundantly as the Bible puts it. The time and energy we spend on disputes like Ram Mandir, Kashmir and so on is time that we can never get back as far as the life of the nation and our individual lives are concerned. I would much prefer to read a good book or meditate or learn new skills (like Martial arts for example) than fight a case in our courts for 20 years. The time we spend in avoidable disputes is time which we could have used for some constructive purposes like the above mentioned activities. And that is time we have lost forever.
As Omar Khayyam puts it:
The moving finger writes and having writ moves on,
And not all thy piety or wit can lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash a word out of it.
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