One of the most defining narratives
of present-day India is nepotism. Otherwise a simple term – a polite hark back
to help out poor dear nephew(s) – that sounds and feels so innocuous, it is
hard to believe how this cancer has metastasized and colonized every cell of
Indian society. We see it everywhere in India today, even in places which
proclaim to be the high priests of the rule of law, so much so that what we see
is not democracy but nepocracy (or nepotcracy, if that’s easy on your
tongue!) – the rule by nepotism.
Blame it on feudalism or the biradiri culture that pervades popular
thinking and our collective unconscious, the damage nepotism – by its seeming legitimacy,
by edging out and derecognizing merit – has wrought on a supposedly arm’s
length system that bureaucracy pretends to be, is incalculable. It is
heartening that the PM has accorded accountability and transparency the pride
of place in governance. While the will
is admirable, the biggest challenge lies in
execution. So firmly entrenched nepotism is and so smug and comfortable
most networked practitioners in high social/official perches are with this
cuddly abstraction that it will take the most cosmic – even unconscionable and
asinine – optimist to believe that this nepo-cart can indeed be upended. Nepotism,
to be honest, is a part of the gene-DNA combo of our national character, and
followed with such zeal and fervour that it is difficult to see the difference
between this brand of fundamentalism and the one called religious – this the
holy grail of Nepotistic Fundamentalism!
Nepotism is spawned when the arm’s
length system supposedly in place via rules, codes and manuals is given a royal
heave-ho and the questionable relationship system takes over, gains traction
and trumps the former. While financial dishonesty in our popular template has
been accorded legitimate censure and frowned upon as reprehensible, the
insidious damages wrought by intellectual dishonesty is often glossed over and
not granted its rightful due. We have experienced over the years, particularly
in the last decade, how the Teflon-coat of unimpeachable financial honesty
shrouded the wanton and relentless intellectual dishonesty, which is unfolding even
today.
So inside, beneath, and wrapped
around this innocuous nepotism there
is the unmistakable touch of intellectual dishonesty. This kind of dishonesty
makes a man with zero morality a potentate in an opaque atmosphere where the
relationship system is firmly entrenched, duly aided by discretion, and abetted
by the surety of no punitive action forthcoming. In cold calculus it can be
represented thus: Nepotistic Relationship System (NRS) = Intellectual Dishonesty
(ID) + Discretion (D) – No Punitive Action (NPA) – No Instant Transparency
(NIT). Or simple put: NRS = ID + D – NPA – NIT.
See the formulaic elements. While
instant transparency and quick punitive action, as also discretion, can be
taken care of externally either by instituting a system in place as in the case
of the first two or by removing or limiting the third, not so the other element
–intellectual dishonesty – because it is one which can only be appropriated
from within and not taught or imposed from without. In a way, intellectual
dishonesty will put pay and decimate all trappings of instant transparency and
quick punitive action – and foil foisting an Arm’s Length System (ALS), the
ideal to approximate.
Man congenitally is an obsessively
possessive epicurean – so aptly captured in the prime minister’s Independence
Day speech, mera kya, mujhe kya – the reason why he is more kleptocratic
even in a much touted democratic construct; his every behaviour either mimics
or at best shrouds through unmistakable posturing such gross instincts. In
ideal conditions, his behaviour is impeccable; but when no one is looking
around, he does what his primitive instinct prompts him to – to steal and
pillage, appropriate unto himself things not Caesar’s, and weave his way around
to perpetuate every wrong for himself and his biradiri. It embraces the entire society, every profession and
vocation – government, private, corporate – feeding and cross-nepotizing each
other and one another as it flits across these divides. Though I would rather not
speak to any particular case, it is only the obtuse who can miss out how this
cross-fertilization of nepotism shows itself up in today’s world: public
officials’ children punching much above their academic weight in bagging blue-chip
jobs in the corporate world, postings in high perches and post-retirement
sinecures given away as quid pro quo – past, present, and future – are but a
few illustrations to emphasize the efficacy of nepotism. Given this scenario, the
need is to checkmate this nepotistic man so that the relationship system –
spawned in a value-free environ stemming from no scruples and morals – he is
congenitally keen to give full rein to, is stymied.
How, then, is one to approximate
this? And how likely such a system can be ushered in in an environment where
public servants delude telling the world that they are public servants when they
are nothing better than serious private servants forever pursuing personal interests,
though, to be fair, once in a while – more as an accident than any else – they
do something worthy that possibly can qualify as public work? This is when –
and why – an arm’s length system that admits of no tinkering needs to be
clamped. Inverse the Relationship System (RS) by snuffing out the
self-regarding acts and you possibly can think of an Arms’ Length System (ALS) that
translates to the following calculus: Arms’ Length System (ALS) = Quick
Punitive Action (QPA) + Instant Transparency (IT) – Intellectual Dishonesty
(ID) – Discretion (D). More simply put: ALS = QPA + IT – ID – D.
Introducing instant transparency
though seemingly easy, isn’t exactly so. While in popular parlance, sunlight is
said to be the best disinfectant, it is well to realize that most people are fiercely
scared of sunlight. But it is possible, though people will demur at the
completeness of wholesale and real-time transparency. Punitive action that is
quick and time-bound too doesn’t appear very likely in a democracy where
long-winded legal processes and procedures, coupled with legalese mouthed by
motormouth lawyers, duly propped up with labyrinthine rules and procedures, can
help drag and protect the corrupt for decades on end. It is any one’s guess if
we are in a position to work through this maze and bonsai cast-iron punitive
measures out of it. Similarly, given the feudal mentality of most networked public
officials and the long years of practice they are used to, the issue of
discretion that needs to be exercised in a bipartisan manner seems a far cry.
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