A Developed Economy Cannot Be Built On A Nation Of Scofflaws

On the face of it, there is little in common between two news items that appeared in Delhi papers – the temple fire tragedy in Kerala and the booking of a rich brat in Delhi in a hit-and-run case.

One involved deaths of hundreds; the other was about one man’s death in a road accident. The first dominated the front pages of newspapers across the country; the second made it to the front pages of only some Delhi newspapers.

But there is more in common between the two than is initially apparent. Both tragedies show a cavalier attitude to the law, rules and regulations and behaviour in the public domain. These were not the first incidents of their kind, nor will they be the last.

In each case, there was wilful flouting of safety standards, basic disregard for public safety and some casual carelessness - whether it was the stampedes at the Kalubhai temple in Maharashtra in 2005 when 300 people were killed, or the Uphaar cinema hall file in Delhi in the 1990s, the death of children after eating mid-day meals in a Bihar school, industrial accidents, accidents caused by underage drivers. 

And as long as this scofflaw attitude exists (whether in our daily lives, in business dealings, in public events/gatherings) the dream of India becoming a developed nation will remain just that – an unattainable dream.

Because becoming a developed nation isn’t about economic growth numbers alone, it is also about a mindset, about discipline, about the rule of law. Without these, even the economic growth that is achieved will be chimerical.

Look at the advanced economies – they are orderly societies, where people largely follow the rules, especially when it comes to public spaces. Sure, there are deviants there, but they are deviants, not the norm. 

Economic growth and social development are not something a Narendra Modi can deliver on his own, despite all that his devotees may claim. All he can do as prime minister is to remove shackles that chain people’s entrepreneurial energies or are barriers to economic activity.

But there are some minimum rules that every society and economy has to abide by and strict enforcement, while important and necessary, alone cannot ensure they are followed. If bribing to get past rules is part of our DNA, then this will only lead to widespread corruption as is the case in India.

Who is to blame for this state of affairs? In the light of the Kerala temple tragedy, politics will get blamed. It is now reasonably clear that political pressure was brought in to let the fireworks show happen. Hindu groups have been mentioned but so is the Congress Christian minister from that area.

The temple has been holding this kind of fireworks display in violation of rules for years, we are told. That means it happened during Left rule in Kerala as well. This shows that there is perfect secularism when it comes to pandering to religious sentiments, especially when elections are around the corner.

When religion spills over into the public space – Hindu and Muslim shrines sprouting on roads and pavements, processions, pilgrimages, use of loudspeakers, fireworks – they have to be subject to the law and rules and regulations. But they never are, on the grounds of not hurting religious sentiments.

What this leads to is even action against non-religious criminality being given a religious colour in order to escape action. Remember the case of the brave IAS officer in Uttar Pradesh acting against the sand mining mafia? She was transferred on the grounds that she had demolished a mosque wall; the fact that even the legality of that wall was in question became immaterial.

Most commentary over that incident rued the fact that a communal colour was sought to be given to cover up a criminality. But few pointed out that if the mosque wall was illegal, she was right in demolishing it.

In the case of the teenaged driver, everyone is to blame – his parents, the police, neighbours. It now emerges that the boy had been driving the car for some time now and had been involved in mishaps even earlier. Why did the police let him and his father off with a minor slap on the wrist. Why did neighbours who are now coming forward to say he was always a rash driver not force the police and authorities to act?

Could it be that many of them may also have been allowing their minor children to drive – a common problem across the country? Or is it the typical Delhi sanu ki (what’s it to me) apathy coming to the fore?

Either way, it portends ill for the evolution of a rule-based society. Treating minor demeanours of children indulgently is becoming common, as a result of which they grow up into scofflaw adults.

What does all this have to do with India becoming a developed economy?
This chalta hai attitude to everything is what leads to businesses cutting corners needlessly, affecting the reputation of Indian products in global markets.

The business may well be run by a young person who has become used to winking at the law. The government official who is supposed to enforce standards may be another young person who has grown up bending rules.

All this will then trip up Modi’s Make in India programme and make his exhortation of zero defect, zero effect a meaningless slogan. It prevents India from exploiting the opportunity of global value chains, since that could require adhering to higher labour standards.  (The issue of labour standards is a complex one, but India lags even on basic issues like industrial safety.)

It results in even the most basic of environmental safeguards being flouted. It leads to a situation where blue-chip companies wilfully default on loans to banks, endangering not just the viability of the financial sector but also the country’s growth prospects.
India is undeniably an over-regulated country in many respects and that is what stretches the enforcement capacity of the state and makes it ineffective.

There is a need to get the state out of a whole lot of areas, especially in the private space. But laws and rules relating to behaviour in the public space need to be made transparent and fair and be enforced strictly, regardless of religious or other considerations.

But this will also require something else – for ordinary people to refrain from breaking rules at the drop of a hat, for politicians to refrain from protecting rule-breakers, especially when religious groups are involved. A culture of following rules has to be inculcated. A developed economy cannot be built on a nation of scofflaws.