CAUTION: LONG POST. READ AT LEISURE.
Dear Mr. Modi, it is now about 18 months since the NDA was voted to power. You are roughly a third into your term of office of one of the world’s most tolerant democracies. When you had taken over at the helm, the economy was in doldrums, due to disingenuous management of the country by the previous regime. You had successfully ridden on the discontent, projecting “ache din” and hope for the future, in the hearts of the voters. Expectations were raised by you and the rest of the campaigning teams, and the emphatic vote of approval of your leadership made it incumbent on you to deliver. You had taken over, in the face of a toothless opposition, a stunned media, and a mortified western money power, which had hoped that you lost. The grandiose way in which you started off made us all believe that change is in the air.
I am sorry to note that in just these 18 months, all this looks like a mirage. Or at least that is what the perception is, amongst people, especially the man on the street. In my opinion, there are have been a few glaring acts or omission and commission, which I would like to bring to your attention:
1. Your reputation as a master communicator has taken a severe beating. See Mr. Modi, oratorical skills are different from communication skills. So, while you raised people’s expectations during your campaign days, and rightly so, you probably forgot to switch off the campaign mode, and to switch over to communication mode. Your first mistake was failing to level-set people’s expectations. You failed to communicate effectively that it would take time for 68 years of mismanagement to be reversed, and for tangible results to be seen, and that until then people need to be patient. This should have been targeted at the large middle class that voted you to power. The result? Expectations were raised sky-high on day one, and when the commoner did not see tangible results, discontent set in.
2. Wrong choice of words in communicating the intent and suggested actions with regard to black money, did not help either. Of course, you did not do that, but your partymen did. So, the commoner was left to believe that he would actually get Rs.15 lakhs into his own bank account within a hundred days of your government. The media and the opposition happily fed into this gaffe. Even if I were to take it as a pre-poll rhetoric, I expected you to step up, and communicate to the people on what exactly could be expected, and how long that would take. You failed. Result? Your government became the laughing stock of the naysayers, and is now being perceived as a untrustworthy one, by the voter. So, when you proclaimed bravely that 1.25 lakh crores were to be allocated to Bihar, people rolled on the floor, laughing.
3. Contrary to what people perceive, your government has indeed done some groundbreaking work already, in the background, the effects of which will be seen in the years to come. But, alas, a majority of them are intangibles, and are best understood only by the relatively more educated people. The commoner does not understand most of them. Therefore it became all the more incumbent on you to explain the plans and progress, and more importantly, the expected benefits, to the commoner. You failed. Result? The commoner knows something may have happened, but he does not understand what for, in the midst of more mundane problems. The most glaring example of this is the Jan Dhan Yojna, where more than 19 crore accounts had been opened in less than a year, in the remotest of villages, but the commoner does not understand the real purpose of them – that the hitherto subsidies are going to be done away with, and the money is going to go into his account directly. Very poor communication, Sir.
4. You are quietly clamping down on some of the gravest of malaises that are affecting our country – flow of illegal foreign money for nefarious activities through NGOs, clamping down on illegal use of government resources by officials, putting an end to lobbying in North and South Blocks for bureaucratic postings, making the babus a lot more accountable for their actions, than in the past, ensuring government servants are accountable for their responsibilities, by bringing in work discipline, cutting down red tape for faster decision making in the corridors of power etc. But along the way, you should have anticipated that resentment would arise, big time. For , those used to laid-back work style are now affected and would protest. And so, you should have stepped up your communication in this area to the customer of these services- the commoner. The common man should have been highlighted on the works being done to improve productivity, efficiency and accountability, and how it will benefit him. But, you failed. Result? A large section of the government employees are disgruntled, while at the same time, the consumer is not feeling any perceptible change at the ground level. In short, no one seems to be happy.
5. You let the loose cannons in your establishment continue with some of their irresponsible statements in public. I expected you to step up in a statesman-like manner, and put an end to those foul mouthing. Instead, I was shocked to find you joining the row, stooping to levels that no PM would perhaps have done, to berate your opponents, during your election campaign in Bihar. The opposition and media, aided by sinister foreign funding were quick to latch on to these blunders, instigated some of their stooges to “ return awards to protest against intolerance” and launched a scathing attack on your government. Almost to the level of comparing your government to that of Benito Mussolini. And yet, your silence has continued. I am sure, Sir, you are aware that sustained silence is tantamount to acceptance. I am sure you are not accepting any of the canards being spread, because you know that is not the truth. Yet, you chose to compete with Manmohan Singh in silence. Result? The image of your government has taken a severe beating.
So, is everything lost, Sir? No. Not at all. On the contrary, this is a fantastic opportunity for some real course correction- provided you choose to view it as such. As an outsider, I do observe a few areas, that may need your immediate attention. I am sure a lot more can be done than just this small list.
1. Where is the daily media briefing, Sir?. Why don’t you set up a team, who will do a daily briefing to the media on what has been happening, how performance has been against set targets, and what the nest steps are, and how long they will take? This is one of the biggest gaps, as I see it. Are you afraid that uncomfortable questions would be asked? Of course, uncomfortable questions are bound to be raised. But, running away from them is only going to exacerbate. Instead, take the bull by the horns, with the help of a few very capable media management people in your team. Explain to the people, through the very media that seeks to deride you, on what exactly had been happening, the progress, challenges and actions, going forward. This will inherently bring in a modicum of transparency and accountability in the system. Without this, the only news people will hear from a parochial media is some beefy news, and unjustified jokes about your foreign trips. Use the media to your advantage. Don’t allow them to be your adversaries.
2. Make sure that visible change for the better happens on the streets. I was initially happy the food inflation was maintained low, in spite of projected lower rains. However, towards the end of the rainy seasons, it was amply evident that the government had not taken proactive steps to import more pulses, and help control the prices. The raid on hoarders was a welcome step, but it could have been done much earlier, in order to prevent any heartburn. Sadly, that did not help. Plus, not enough surplus pulses of the variety we consume were available, making imports tougher. But again, no one in your government came out and explain the real situation to the public – yet another communications failure.
3. It is time for you to make significant changes to your council of ministers. A few of them like Suresh Prabhu, Parrikar, V K Singh, Irani etc are doing fabulous jobs. A few of them are OK types. The rest are rank incompetent, starting with your Finance minister. Mr. Jaitley has not been able to effectively manage inflation, but had ended up arm-twisting the RBI into drastic interest rate cuts, in the hope that credit off take would happen. He does not have a pulse for the ground reality – where, demand is simply collapsing. The excess capacity that as created earlier on by India Inc will take time to absorb, and until then no matter how low the interest rates goes, incremental demand is unlikely to pick up. If you want more proof, look no further than corporate performance has fallen off the cliff over the last two questers. While revenues are down, due to lower demand, profits too are lagging, in spite of lower commodity prices. Mr. Jaitley’s shocking push to have interest rates reduced, at a time when inflation was expected to pick up due to poor monsoon, was inexplicable. No wonder, the CPI has clawed back to 5% and is expected to rise further. And his latest attempts to impose a Swacch Bharat cess smacks of amateurism in implementation. We need a much better Finance minister. And as for the rest of the pack, the less said, the better.
4. While it is with good intention that you are undertaking novel schemes like voluntary surrender of gas connections, the swacch bharat cess etc., we would like you to present, during the ensuing budget session in Feb 2016, a report card on how much money was saved/ generated, and where it has been spent, or will be spent. The same applies to the perceived disproportionate reduction of prices of petrol and diesel prices at a tie when global oil prices are crashing. People do not realize that when oil prices go up, traders and merchants are quick to blame that, and increase prices, but refuse to pass on any reduction in prices. So, while I can understand that you are beefing up the oil pool account, rather than letting the middleman profiteer, we would much appreciate if you can table on the floor of the parliament( whenever the Opposition condescends to allow functioning, that is) , a status paper on the oil pool account and how you are planning to feed on it, if and when the oil prices start rising again. Communication, and accountability, Mr. Modi, is the need of the hour.
5. Your Make in India is a bold idea and will help us immensely, in future, no doubt. You do recognize the need for skilled labour, through the Skill India, to drive this big initiative, and rightly so. It is a well-known fact that virtually every budding youngster aspires to become an engineer or a doctor, and any other profession is considered a compromise. The result is a mushrooming of Engineering and Medical colleges across the country, throwing quality of education to the winds. As rightly pointed out by Mr. Narayana Murthy, almost 75% of the engineering graduates that come out of college are simple unemployable, meaning, they do not possess the necessary skills to jell into the corporate world, and worse, there is a massive dearth of skilled labour in the shop floors of manufacturing units. The only solution to this is vocational training, and the state governments should really be driving this. The Central HRD minister, apart from focusing on her full-time job of re-writing history books, should also devote at least part of her to grow at 8% like China did, we need skilled labour in serious numbers. Men and women, who are skilled in specific industries, eg., textiles, petrochem, airlines, leather, gems and jewellery etc. – rather than “engineers” who are not good enough to take up more challenging jobs, and who are too egoistic to take up skilled labour jobs. Let Skill India not remain a slogan. We are keen to see specific actions underneath, and the expected timelines. And if they are already happening, then it is all the more incumbent on your ministers to articulate it to the public.
6. More than 30% of our GDP still comes from Agriculture. More importantly, 47% of our people are still engaged in this sector. It is shocking to see farmers being driven to the edge, and committing suicide, after almost 70 years of our independence. I do not want to indulge in rhetoric of what the successive governments had done about it. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say. While agriculture is a state subject, the Central government has a big role to play, by being proactive, and by planning for the longer term. Clearly, the governments have to act both short term, as well as long term. Short term measure include waiving off the loans of the affected farmers in the districts that are declared as drought-affected, providing alternative means of livelihood , like the MNREGA and numerous other schemes of public employment. The state governments have to take the lead, but will have to be backed up by the central government funds. You may ask where the money is going to come from. Well, the answer is, until we stop looking at the skies for rains, for survival of the farmer, this may have to go on. And, if we can find money to “re-capitalize” banks’ balance sheets, a euphemism for pardoning off their mismanagement of loans, I do not see why the farmers cannot be supported. Pls find a way, else please ignore the farmers at your own risk. The longer term measures include land reform acts that would enable larger tracts of land for mass cultivation, interlinking of rivers within a state ( to start with), like you have done in Gujarat, so that surplus water, does not go waste into the sea, but is gainfully diverted to the need areas. You will do well, Mr Modi, to remember that your popularity in Gujarat was to do with what you had achieved in each and every village there. We expect you to do an encore at the national level now.
7. Lastly, the world is full of crooks who are hell bent on diverting your intent of development. They have bought over the media, as it were, with funds supposedly from abroad, and are indulging in an unprecedented 24*7 smear campaign, to turn you from a hero to villain in less than 5 years. Today, each and every political party worth it’s salt has a media house under it’s belt – be it in publishing, or electronic media. Except your party. I understand that the parent organization of yours may be considering it unethical to manipulate people’s opinion, and that therefore you may be hesitating. But Sir, this is the time of Duryodhanas. There is no point in being a Dharmaputra. You need to be a Krishna, and play their own game, and defeat their evil designs. I suggest that your party takes up owning powerful media houses that can communicate the good works of your government, unlike the others who harp only on your shortcomings, but hide the good developments in the country. In today’s world, the power of the media cannot be over-emphasized. It is quite possible that this new media structure too may end up being biased in your party’s favour, but we will bear with it, for the sake of the nation’s betterment.
Sir, we appreciate your vision for the future. We laud your efforts in making India a progressive nation. In energy, where your big thrust in Solar power will surely bring down our dependence on coal, and make our development less polluting, in the years to come. In Nuclear power, where your efforts to lock in fuel supplies with the likes of Canada, France and Australia will help us in no small measures. In cleaning up the much maligned Ganga, and effort that will take a few more years to fructify. In providing the minimum basic toilet facility for one and all through Swacch Bharat … these are only a few good initiatives that I have listed.
The list of your initiatives and the to-dos may be much bigger than what I have tried to capture. The bottom-line, as I see is that a lot is being done, but needs to be communicated much more effectively that is currently being done. Remember Sir, managing expectations is much more important than the actual works, for your party to continue in power.
The nation is behind you, Sir, eager to see their lives change permanently for the better. We all are waiting, with bated breath, like an expectant father. We all know that if you cannot deliver, no one else can, from the current crop of leaders. Please step on the gas, and make “ Sab Ke Saath, Sab ka Vikas” a reality – and soon.
You yourself had mentioned that you need at least two terms in office to deliver what you had set out. It is now in your hands to make sure that you earn the second.
Thank you.
heart emoticon D heart emoticon
