[It’s Up To Us Now – Rajesh Jain – May 2010] Page 1

It’s Up To Us Now

The Path to Reclaim India

Rajesh Jain

May 2010

1

A year ago in May, Indians gave a definitive verdict to the

Congress delivering it more seats than any single party had got

in a long time. The hope was that we would finally have a

government that works. The 100-day agenda outlined by the

new government offered promise.

That was all a year ago.

What a difference a year makes.

Last Friday night, I opted to watch some of the news channels

instead of India getting clobbered by Australia in the T20 match.

Headlines Today was playing the Raja-Radia tapes and focusing

on the umpteenth expose of the spectrum scandal. That Raja

continues to be our telecom minister is a telling tale on the state

of affairs of the nation. That Our ‘Honourable’ Prime Minister

continues to let him continue to be in the cabinet is an even

sorrier story. But the sorriest part is how we – the educated

Indians – have become immune to corruption and the misdeeds

of the politicians. The casualty, as we stumble from one crisis to

another scam, is governance and much-needed development of

the country

I will, in this note, discuss my frustrations with what I see

happening around us. I have my biases – having helped co-found

the Friends of BJP last year, and working through this year to

revive the movement. For a moment, leave the political

affiliation aside. Focus on the future of the country and our

children. We are watching what is happening. If 10-15 years

from now, your then grown-up child were to ask you, “You saw

what was happening. Why didn’t you do something about it?”

What will be your answer? That answer – and the action we take

(or choose not to take) now – will determine the fate of this

country.

2

When India became politically independent in 1947, it started

off with major handicaps such as high poverty, low literacy,

inadequate infrastructure, and indifferent leadership. But India

also had the necessary ingredients for overcoming those:

adequate natural resource base, the goodwill of foreign nations

(consequently aid from them for development), large labour

force, a large number of sufficiently educated citizens to create

the hard and soft infrastructure, etc.

But even after 63 years, India is in many senses worse off than it

was in 1947. We have to understand the whys and hows of

India’s failure to develop. That’s the unavoidable first step to

putting India on a path to recovery. We cannot fix problems that

we don’t understand the causes of, or worse yet, if we don’t

even admit that we have problems.

Here are a few questions we have to answer to get an

understanding of what went wrong and why.

Why is India still poor?

Why have the numbers of Indians below the poverty

line doubled to more than 500 million since 1947?

Why doesn’t India have a decent education system?

Why are 70 percent of Indians still stuck in tiny villages

in the 21st

century?

Why is 60 percent of the labor force involved in

agriculture?

Why is India’s industrial base so small?

Why doesn’t India generate sufficient electrical

power?

Why doesn’t India have a modern rail network?

Why doesn’t India have a serviceable road network?

Why is India so unfriendly to business and

entrepreneurship?

The search for these answers is the start for the path to

reclaim India. Our so-called leaders have failed us. It is up to us

now to change the course of our nation.

3

Till Jan 2009, I was only peripherally interested in politics, just

like many other educated Indians. I was an entrepreneur first

and a citizen of India later. I would read newspapers, watch TV

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news once in a while, discuss politics and politicians in drawing

room conversations, and move on with life. My view of Indian

history was filled with the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi,

Jawaharlal Nehru, and the rest of them. Names like Swami

Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo were only of passing interest.

I have had a privileged education – being one of the few to get

into IIT-Bombay. Then, I went to Columbia University. I had

promised my father that I would do what he did in the 1960s.

After 4 years in the US, I was among the handful to return to

India in 1992. Working in India for another company was out of

the question as the only path I wanted to follow was that of an

entrepreneur.

After many failed efforts, I finally made it big with the launch of

India’s first Internet portals. The hard work paid off when

IndiaWorld was bought by Sify in one of the biggest Internet

deals in Asia. I was then all of 32 years. After much thought, I

went back to being an entrepreneur trying to create things that

hadn’t been done before. The path since then was been a mix of

a few ups and a lot of downs. But the important thing is I chose

that path.

4

In Jan 2009, as the economy slowed, my company was not doing

that great. I had started the process of making some changes

within the company, but they would take time to play out. I was

not disheartened – the life of an entrepreneur is about long

periods of struggles punctuated with some moments of

delightful successes.

Even though I had a privileged education, my upbringing was as

modest as one could imagine in the India of the 1970s. My early

days were spent in Chinchpokli in Mumbai in a 100 sq ft room,

shared by my parents, along with my father’s four siblings and

mother. Travel was in buses with my mother – where every 5

paise saved was valuable. My father worked hard through

multiple ventures as an entrepreneur and tasted success in

some of them. By the time I was 7, we had moved to Nepean

Sea Road, and I joined St. Xavier’s High School.

I mention this because we so often forget our past. (As a

collective, we have indeed forgotten our national past.) It is only

from the crucible of our experiences that we can mold the

future. I am a product of Middle-class India, of parents who

worked hard to ensure good education for my sister and me,

and then gave us the freedom to chart our own course. Luck

obviously plays a role in what we become, but its foundation is

built on Hard Work.

5

For the first fifteen years after my return from the US, I was busy

in my companies. There were times when I considered what a

person like me could do to make India great. Somewhere along

the line, I started writing. But that was about it. India needed to

be transformed and I thought that the answer to everything was

technology.

In Jan 2009, a quirky set of circumstances led to me to meet a

senior person from the BJP. I spoke to him about the lack of

‘disruptive thinking’ in the party. Coming just after the tragic

incident of 26/11 in Mumbai and Obama’s election in the US, I

was frustrated by what I was seeing in the country. Elections

were near, and there was an opportunity to change India’s

future.

Out of that one accidental meeting arose a group – the Friends

of BJP – with the objective of getting Middle India politically

engaged. Elections were just around the corner. In February-

March of 2009, it appeared that the BJP had an opportunity to

win and perhaps put India on a different track from the

Congress. For the few of us who worked through those months

before the elections, travelling across India trying to get more

people engaged to think about the country, it was a mission of

Change. We were a start-up, heedless of the impossibility of the

mission.

6

I wrote these passages during the first half of 2009. They capture

the essence of my thinking. You may not all agree with the

choice of the party I decided to support, but what is inescapable

is the need for each of us to get involved and take sides.

Jan 29, 2009: I am one of us. Till some time ago, I assumed that

my contribution to the 2009 elections and the future of India

would be my one vote. But, somewhere along the line, things

changed. Maybe it was 26/11 and seeing some of us out on the

streets demanding action. Maybe it was seeing Obama become

President, and see politics really change in America, bottom-up.

Whatever it was, I have woken up to the fact that we have to do

more - much more - if we are going to rewrite our future and

rebuild our India into the glorious country that it once was….We

are India’s educated civil society. If we cannot act individually

and as a team, then we forfeit the right to complain. Democracy

comes with responsibilities and duties. It also comes with a

generation having to make some sacrifices so the Tomorrow for

our children can be better than our Today…. We have to become

the Voice of India. For 60 years, we have been led. And for

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many of those years, led down a wrong path. The time has now

come for us to Lead.

May 14, 2009: If there is one feeling that I am left with it, it is

that India needs more like us to become engaged at different

levels in the political process. It requires a tremendous

commitment from us to help bring change in India. We cannot

remain disengaged. And we have to engage with one of the

national parties to help bring about this change. India deserves

better. And we have a duty to make that future happen.

7

Then came the Election results on May 16, 2009. I spent the day

with a group from the Friends of BJP at my home. As the results

were announced on TV, it became clear what had happened.

The BJP had been beaten by a resurgent Congress. It was a harsh

verdict for the BJP.

The next few months were even harsher for BJP sympathisers.

As the party leadership imploded, so also disappeared any

semblance of opposition to the Congress. But still there was a

feeling that the country could now look forward to a progressive

government and positive governance for the next five years.

A year later, that idea lies in shambles. Even though the BJP

perhaps is in only a marginally better situation than it was a few

months ago, the current state the Congress-led UPA government

is something no one could have scripted or predicted. Non-

performing ministers, scandals and scams coming out of every

closet, internal and external security threats rising, central

institutions being completely misused – it is a state of affairs

that Indians should find disgusting and repulsive.

But we don’t. Like ostriches, we in Middle India have buried our

heads in the sand. We don’t care.

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We in Middle India don’t care. As long as we get the money we

need, we use that to create insulation around us from the

perpetually planned poverty that lies around. All that ails the

nation can be made to vanish in the cocoon we have created

around ourselves. The feeling is, “We have an honest PM, a

woman President, a sacrificing Mother India, an economy

starting to grow at 8% again, what more can we ask for?”

Our children, thankfully, will not be as callous. They will hold our

feet to the fire. And one day, we will have to answer that

question, “You saw what was happening. Did you do something

about it?”

I have decided to do something about this. I am ready with an

answer when Abhishek asks me that question. The answer is

“Yes, I did the best I could.” I hope you too will be able to give

the same answer. Because if we do, then millions of us can

indeed change the future of India to be something more

wholesome and better than what has been the past.

9

To change the course of India, we have to first inform and

educate ourselves. I have put together a Reading List. These are

books I came across in the past year, and they help in different

ways – from learning an accurate – or at the least a less biased—

history of India (the one they never teach us in history books in

schools) to organising ourselves to understanding how the

psychology of crowds work to learning about how to make ideas

sticky and change people’s thinking.

The first three books provide insights into Indian and American

history.

A New History of India by Francois Gautier: A very

different (and more honest) take on India’s history.

From the book’s description: “We see more and more

today that Indian History has to be rewritten according

to the latest linguistic and archaeological discoveries, if

Indian children are to understand who they are and

where they come from. We know now that not only

the history of India's beginnings were written by

European colonizers, with an intention to downsize,

downgrade and postdate Indian civilization, but that

unfortunately, generation after generation of Indian

historians, for their own selfish purposes, endorsed

and perpetuated these wrong theories, such as the

Aryan invasion, which divided India like nothing else,

pitting South against North, Aryan against Dravidian,

Untouchables against Brahmins. Hence this book,

which we hope will lay the foundations for the next

generation of Indian historians.”

India: The Emerging Giant by Arvind Panagariya: This

book traces the economic history of India since

Independence through the policies of the various

governments. This understanding will help us hold our

past leaders accountable for diminishing the Indian

star. From the book’s description: “Why did the early

promise of the Indian economy not materialize and

what led to its eventual turnaround? What policy

initiatives have been undertaken in the last twenty

years and how do they relate to the upward shift in

the growth rate? What must be done to push the

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growth rate to double-digit levels? To answer these

crucial questions, Arvind Panagariya offers a brilliant

analysis of India's economy over the last fifty years--

from the promising start in the 1950s, to the near

debacle of the 1970s (when India came to be regarded

as a "basket case"), to the phenomenal about face of

the last two decades. The author illuminates the ways

that government policies have promoted economic

growth (or, in the case of Indira Gandhi's policies,

economic stagnation), and offers insightful discussions

of such key topics as poverty and inequality, tax

reform, telecommunications (perhaps the single most

important success story), agriculture and

transportation, and the government's role in health,

education, and sanitation.”

Upstream: The Ascendance of American

Conservatism by Alfred Regnery: This track traces the

rise of the Right in the US through the second half of

the 20th

century providing us with learnings on what

we need to do in India. A quote from Paul Johnson

about the book: “The rise of conservatism in the

United States over the past half-century has been one

of the most important political developments of the

age -- not only for America, but for the world. Much

has been written about it, most of it under-researched

and inaccurate. Alfred S. Regnery has now performed

the invaluable task of writing a first-class and fully

documented history of the movement. He describes its

political and intellectual origins, its inventors, its

leaders, its high and low points, and its achievements.

He has a lot to say about the books and journals, the

columnists and media commentators who drove it

forward, and not least about the wealthy people and

the foundations that supplied the financial means. In

all, this is a valuable addition to our understanding of

modern politics."

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The next three books from the past give insights into grassroot

organisation, and understanding how crowds and groups work.

Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky: This book from the

1970s is a primer on how to organize at the grassroots

level. Even though the book was written in the US,

many of the ideas are what we can apply in the Indian

context. From the book’s opening paragraph: “What

follows is for those who want to change the world

from what it is to what they believe it should be. The

Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on

how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the

Have-Nots on how to take it away.”

The Crowd by Gustave le bon: Published nearly a

hundred years ago, the lessons from the book still ring

true. From its description: “One of the greatest and

most influential books of social psychology ever

written, brilliantly instructive on the general

characteristics and mental unity of a crowd, its

sentiments and morality, ideas, reasoning power,

imagination, opinions and much more. A must-read

volume not only for students of history, sociology, law

and psychology, but for every politician, statesman,

investor, and marketing manager.”

The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the

Theory of Groups by Mancur Olson: This books

discusses the theory of groups (which will be central to

what we will discuss later). From the book’s

description: “This book develops an original theory of

group and organizational behavior that cuts across

disciplinary lines and illustrates the theory with

empirical and historical studies of particular

organizations. Applying economic analysis to the

subjects of the political scientist, sociologist, and

economist, Mr. Olson examines the extent to which

the individuals that share a common interest find it in

their individual interest to bear the costs of the

organizational effort.”

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The final three books give us inputs on the “how” – how to make

ideas sticky, how to bring about change, and how to leverage

the power of social networks.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others

Die by Chip and Dan Heath: In the coming battle of

ideas, how do we ensure our ideas win? The book’s

SUCCES formula shows us the way. From the book’s

description: “Made to Stick is a book that will

transform the way you communicate ideas. It’s a fast-

paced tour of success stories (and failures)–the Nobel

Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to

prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who

make use of “the Mother Teresa Effect”; the

elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually

prevented racial prejudice. Provocative, eye-opening,

and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us

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the vital principles of winning ideas–and tells us how

we can apply these rules to making our own messages

stick.”

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard

by Chip and Dan Heath: The second book by the Heath

brothers is about how to bring about change – which is

what we will have to do going ahead. From the review

in Publisher’s Weekly: “Change is not inherently

frightening, but our ability to alter our habits can be

complicated by the disjunction between our rational

and irrational minds: the self that wants to be

swimsuit-season ready and the self that acquiesces to

another slice of cake anyway. The trick is to find the

balance between our powerful drives and our reason.

The authors' lessons are backed up by anecdotes that

deal with such things as new methods used to reform

abusive parents, the revitalization of a dying South

Dakota town, and the rebranding of megastore Target.

Through these lively examples, the Heaths speak

energetically and encouragingly on how to modify our

behaviors and businesses. This clever discussion is an

entertaining and educational must-read for executives

and for ordinary citizens looking to get out of a rut.”

Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social

Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas

Christakis and James Fowler: We are connected with

many others in many different ways. If we are going to

bring about change in the next few years, we will have

to use our social networks to diffuse ideas and drive

action. This books gives many examples of how it can

be done. From the book’s description: “In

CONNECTED, the authors explain why emotions are

contagious, how health behaviors spread, why the rich

get richer, even how we find and choose our partners.

Intriguing and entertaining, CONNECTED overturns the

notion of the individual and provides a revolutionary

paradigm-that social networks influence our ideas,

emotions, health, relationships, behavior, politics, and

much more. It will change the way we think about

every aspect of our lives.

There are many other books. But armed with this starting

library, we will have the motivation and the approach to start

working towards bringing about political and policy change in

India – by 2014.

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In any country, the only segment of the population that can

bring about radical change is the middle class. The people at the

top of the heap are too invested in the status quo and too

comfortable where they are to risk upsetting the great deal they

have by trying to change things. They correctly do not want to fix

something that they don’t believe is broken.

Those at the bottom of the heap, the unwashed huddled

masses, are too busy keeping body and soul together. All their

energies are focused on getting two meals a day.

That leaves only the middle class.

The middle class in India has been historically disinclined to help

bring about change. That’s one of the reasons why it took so

long for India to rid of a few thousand Britishers ruling the

country. It was not some great revolutionary action that made

the British to leave. They left because they had finished with

looting the country and it was time for them to leave. (However,

that is not what we were taught in school.)

13

Middle class India can be safely assumed to not be agents of

change. But as history has shown repeatedly, change usually

comes from a few. In the words of Margaret Mead, “A small

group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's

the only thing that ever has.“

Middle class India has many more people than the few required

for change. These are the people who are frustrated with the

state of affairs, and are willing to do something about it. They

genuinely want to see a successful India, an India that they and

their descendants would be proud of.

But these few feel disheartened. They feel isolated and alone.

The task appears to be too immense compared to their

numbers. They are forced to accept that the change they want is

beyond their reach. They accept the unpalatable reality much

like the poor accept poverty because constantly fighting to get

out of poverty and failing is worse.

With a clear direction, the right leadership and a deeper

understanding of the change that is needed, a small group of us

can indeed change the country’s future.

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Let us first think about the change India needs.

India needs political leadership of the likes of Abraham Lincoln

and Lee Kuan Yew. From that leadership will flow policy changes

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that we need as a country. The hard and soft foundations of a

nation has to be engineered. The soft foundation encompasses

national interest, the elimination of corruption, the elimination

of artificially created divisions of castes and communities (which

are today being used as ‘vote banks’), the creation of a truly

modern education system, real economic, personal and political

freedom, efficient markets, and so on.

The hard foundation is about infrastructure that will ensure the

urbanisation of India: modern high-speed nationwide rail

network, sufficient power generation capacity to meet the

needs of an industrializing economy, ubiquitous affordable

broadband access, efficient ports and airports, etc.

15

The hard and soft foundations will not only eliminate poverty

but actually propel India to become a truly important participant

in the global scene. To bring that about, India needs foresighted,

intelligent, and dedicated leaders.

This kind political leadership exists in India. Such leaders are

born once in a lifetime. India is fortunate to have a few such

leaders. But they are not where they need to be.

Just to be clear: this leadership is not about photo-ops, but

about getting things done. It is about working against the odds

and delivering results. India has had many such leaders – but

somehow they have been lost in the maze of cut-throat politics.

That is what Middle India’s change agents need to change. We

need to ensure that these leaders can get to the top. We need

to give them an environment for them to succeed. This is where

the passionate few need to come together.

16

Here is what I wrote on March 9, 2009 in a post entitled “Middle

India needs to come Together”:

Politicians and therefore the governments they form divide India

into two distinct fragments. On one of them, governments and

politicians lavish an amazing amount of attention, with the

interest rising as the elections draw nearer. They feed this India

to feed themselves. This is the India they are immersed in

because it benefits them. This is an India they interfere with

because it gives them their power. This is the India whose value

lies in the votes that it offers. This is Meddle India - an India that

the people in power love to meddle with, an India that cannot

survive on its own, an India that is constantly on dole from one

government scheme or another. This is an India that even after

60 years of our own government is kept poor because it keeps

the politicians rich. This is an India that 60 years after the British

left is still ruled.

Then, there is the other India. This is an India that our

government and politicians broadly ignore. This is an India that

doesn’t vote based on promises - because there are none. (In

fact, this is an India that barely votes.) This is an India whose

voice is not heard because it doesn’t talk. This is an India that

can be found in the cities, but is lost because it has no

leadership. This is an India that has dreams, but finds obstacles

put at every step. This is the India we live in. This is Middle India

- an India that can be the engine for growth but is denied power,

an India that can be the workhorse for the world but is denied

proper education, an India that can be the entrepreneurial

capital of the world but is denied connectivity. This is an India

that was born free, but is still held captive by a government that

knows no better. This is an India that 60 years after the British

left is still seeking not to be ruled but be led.

Every five years, there comes an opportunity for both Indias to

speak up. Meddle India casts its vote based on transactional

arrangements (free rice, free TV, and now free cash) because

that has been the norm. Middle India either doesn’t cast its vote

or is forced to choose the lesser of the evils at the ballot box,

knowing fully well that it is an exercise in futility.

…Middle India can make a difference. We are 400 million of us.

We may not have one voice, but we have a common dream - of

an India with more economic freedom, of an India with more

personal freedom, of an India where education matters, of an

India where good governance is the norm rather than the

exception. This time, our continued silence will not help us. We

need to come together and make a choice that takes us forward

and makes our dreams come true.

17

India has 543 Lok Sabha (Member of Parliament, or MP)

constituencies. Out of them, about 150 can be considered as

urban (with about 50% or more urbanisation). Each constituency

has about 1 million voters. In the general elections, the average

victory margin is about 70,000. Only about 50-60% of eligible

voters cast their votes. A significant proportion of middle class

Indians don’t bother to vote. They have essentially

disenfranchised themselves.

To bring about change, one has to work within the boundaries of

the political system. We have two national parties. It is well near

impossible to create a new national party in the country in

anything less than 25-30 years. And our deadline for change is

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four years from now – 2014, in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Because we do not have more time to lose.

Imagine, if we can get 100+ ‘good’ people elected into

Parliament in the next elections. These candidates would have

to be from one of the two national political parties. Assuming

that party can win another 100 seats in rural India, it would have

200+ seats in the Lok Sabha – and we in Middle India would have

influence on half of them.

For this to happen, Middle India needs to vote. It not only has to

vote but it has to vote for good candidates. And most important

of all, it has to vote as a block and become a “vote bank.”

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First, Middle India needs to agree on a set of principles that it

believes in and which lie at the foundation of good governance.

Think of these as “Pretty Good Principles.” (Thanks to my

colleague, Atanu Dey, for this phrase.)

So, what can these “Pretty Good Principles” be? Here is a

starting recommendation.

Equality and non-discrimination: All citizens have equal

rights and the government must treat all citizens

equally.

Minimal government: Government must be restricted

to matters related to judiciary, central monetary

authority, law and order, external affairs, and defence.

Market economy: Government must not be in any

business producing goods or services which the private

sector can produce.

The Funding of Public Goods: Where justified, public

goods may be subsidized through public funding. This

includes some public utilities, education up to the high

school level, and some science and technology related

R&D.

An efficient and incorruptible justice system

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Second, Middle India needs to create a base in every

constituency that does three things. First, each member agrees

to vote. Second, each member agrees to vote for the candidate

selected by the group in that constituency – a candidate who

stands for the ‘pretty good principles’ as outlined previously.

Finally, each member agrees to be counted.

Now look at the scenario. There will be in every constituency a

Middle India group consisting of 1-2 lakh voters, all agreeing to

vote for the candidate from one of the two national parties who

is committed to upholding the “pretty good principles.” Given

that each of the parties has an existing support base and most of

this Middle India haven’t been bothering to vote in the past, this

1-2 lakh voting population is the swing vote that can transform

the election in an irreversible way.

No longer will people be able to say that their vote does not

count.

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What I have outlined may seem quite simplistic. But it is a start,

and there is much more to it. What I wanted to do is get us start

thinking about change. And that change is not about a

generational shift from one member of a dynasty to another. It

is about doing away with dynasties altogether since India’s

troubles can be traced back to policies set by members of the

dynasty. And those who have got us into the mess are not the

ones who can get us out of it.

What we need to start doing is to stand up and be counted.

Stand up and say, Yes, I am willing to do by bit to help change

India’s political and policy climate by 2014. And then, look

around. You will be amazed by how many people you will see

standing. Today, we sit and think – and so do many others. And

so, we don’t see anyone else.

Middle India is waiting for real leadership. We can either

continue on the dismal path that India’s past leaders have set

India upon, or we can create a different path that leads India to

its true destiny. It will not be an easy path – it is a road that will

have many twists and turn, and obstacles at every turn. We have

do take this new path if for nothing else but to be able to look

our children in the eye and say, “Yes, my dear, we did what we

had to do and we did it well.”