India First

Mumbai, Nov 26- 29^th, 2008

India First

I am an Indian in the mind, body and soul, but a Mumbaikar at heart- and that is not intended to differentiate both but to emphasize my special connection to Mumbai. I have traveled and worked around the world but it is Mumbai that has given me everything. I love Mumbai- Mumbai is home and as someone long ago said home is where the heart is.

Who am I?

Born in ’56- in the first decade after independence – a generation that saw through the troubling times of the sixties and seventies and nurtured the opening economy of the eighties; a generation that grew up without technology, IT, Television, Internet and cars-on-demand and yet helped these into India- and made them feel at home. I was born to a dad in the army- a man with great intelligence, dedication, courage and passion for India. A passion I inherited. He was taken into the Intelligence Bureau and saw things at a range so close he saw and investigated the pieces of flesh clinging to the wreckage of the plane that Sanjay Gandhi piloted; a range that exposed him to all aspects of the heart of India’s establishment.

As a defense services child, I traveled schools frequently and learnt what it meant to be secular and Indian- every other child in every other army colony I stayed in were from different languages, religions, cultures and traditions- and yet India bound us all together in a way no cultural or religious ties ever could. I was in my last year of school when dad and all the Uncles went to war with Pakistan in ’71. I know what that meant and can’t forget. That war and the Sri Lanka venture (IPKF) made me cherish our children and youth and to this day I am unable to see a child or a young person- man or woman die- it kills a part of me and I cry that a young flower that is about bloom is taken away. Maybe that deep down feeling guided my destiny to CHILDLINE India Foundation in Mumbai, where I work and with whom I attempt to reach out to every little child that is ever in need of care and protection.

I started work as a raw 18 year old in a company that was also Ratan Tata’s first assignment- Nelco. Got to know him at a time when JRD (Jeh), whom I hero-worshipped, was still around. And I became a lifetime fan of Ratan Tata. My career in the corporate sector took its twists and turns through the changing Indian economy taking me onto a roller coaster ride of success, failures, entrepreneurship, teaching, consulting, envisioning; in marketing, advertising, research, communication, relationship management, change management, management education and now into the development sector. Many of the things that Indians take for granted were built brick by brick by people like me knowing that what we did would bear fruit for another generation far away.

Did I make some spectacular contribution to India? I did not build a nuclear reactor, did not discover a Nobel-winning concept neither did I solve Einstein’s mysterious unsolved equation. And yet, by being straight to the point of dullness, by being dedicated to whatever I did, by opening my mind to learning and welcoming change without throwing out the valuable old , by learning the true meaning of secular and never once giving into divisive concepts, by bridging the gap between a socialist India to a resurgent developing ‘open’ economy , by neither falling prey to the cynicism of the extreme left or the hostile, narrow-minded rigidity of the extreme right, by controlling desires and learning from mistakes , by speaking the language of India and the not that of parochial jingoism- I have made a far bigger contribution to India: I placed India first and built the foundation for a new India- the India of the generation of the eighties- the first generation that was born in a new global India and grows up on a equal platform with the rest of developed world.

I am the ordinary Indian middle class citizen. I have no significant claims to fame. Yes I have had my moments under the spotlight from awards, some accolades, recognition and some achievement (that seems to pale into insignificance with time). But what lives on is the solidity of clean middle class values: ‘simple living and high thinking’ as my generation was used to putting it. Of hard, indeed very hard work and the faith in the learning of Karmani ewadikaraste ma falesu kadachana, ma karma phaa hetur bhur ma te sango stv akarmani: we have the right to do our dharma of working but have no rights to demand the fruits of our labour. If the fruits came then well and good, if they did not then god intended them for someone else.

Why I write?

Somehow, today my thoughts have changed. No, I don’t want any ‘fruits’. But India is today overwhelmingly a young country- 70% of India’s population is below 35. Over 42%, of our 1.1 billion population, is below 18. I want to dedicate this decade of my life to making sure that this young India is allowed to bloom and take our country to her true position in the league of Nations in the world. I want to make sure that nothing, absolutely nothing is allowed to stand in the way of young Indians- when I look around at our youth- I am truly proud that they are so bright and eager to prove themselves. They are full of ideas and enthusiasm, with boundless energy and a fiercely competitive spirit they are staking their claim to the world. I want to be sure that no effort is spared to ensuring that we protect our youth and our children. I will do everything I can to help our young people discover themselves. It is they who will see that the dream of the father of our nation is realized. They may not realize it but Bapu’s dream was indeed a country that stood up on its own and gave to the world while seeking nothing from the world. I want to help the eighties generation transit from a student generation to a parent generation with far greater skill and knowledge then I did. My sense is very simple: if we can’t even protect our young and allow them to bloom- what have we achieved?

That’s why it hurts to loose ATS Chief Hemant Karkare- he was from my generation. That’s why I cry for Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan- he is from the youth and we- India, failed him. I cry today as I wept when young boys green behind their NDA and IMA trained ears were killed in Kargil and before that in Sri Lanka. It hurts too see the youth of Kashmir not being a part of India’s growth and the opportunities that growth brought. It hurts to see the youth of North East India not becoming a part of mainstream India. It hurts deeply to see our village youth, in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal and Orissa sacrifice their futures to leftwing extremism. I have no illusions: India is failing her young blood.

This vicious attack on Mumbai and on India on the 26^th of November will have a very painful fallout. I have no delusions about that. It will singe into the consciousness of India’s youth a anger and a deep hurt- one that will eventually hurt India. It will put many of our youth on a path not because they want it o\r because they think it is good – but because they will become disillusioned and cynical about the government’s ability to guard their interests. Many youth will take to a life of intense hatred. Many will join the defense services- not to protect and serve the nation but to extract revenge.

Impact of live television coverage

Think about it: In June ’84, for 3 days, the only national television channel- Doordarshan broadcast the mayhem at the Golden temple in which 83 defense forces and nearly 500 civilians were killed as army tanks drove into the temple. The result: a festering hurt amongst our Sikh youth that led to the assassination of Indira Gandhi and a carnage on the streets of Delhi. It split Sikh youth forever and the seeds of sedition were planted.

In 1987, Rajiv Gandhi ordered the Indian Army and Navy into Sri Lanka on a ill-fated peace keeping mission – watched on television by the horrified nation and the result: the premature and tragic end of the voice of India’s youth: Rajiv Gandhi.

1990 saw the return of IPKF forces from Sri Lanka and the opening of Indian skies to CNN and then other domestic and international channels.

This brought our youth into their own- they took to IT and Television with gusto and see the result: They delivered software for IT companies of the world and helped Rupert Murdoch establish the Satellite Television Asia Region (STAR TV) in Asia. In that 10 years the young of India grew up to a new economy and adapted themselves to it.

When Kargil happened in May 1999, our fresh newly minted young journalists like Barkha Dutt were blooded and matured overnight to establish a vibrant electronic media industry in India. The result: their innocent and impassioned reporting untied India like nothing had. The contrast to what happened in Pakistan media is so stark – it is clear what our young people could deliver given a safe environment to bloom and given the tools to nurture their minds. Over the next 9 years until today, India provided our youth with tremendous opportunities and peace. The result: youth delivered Bill Gates to India; they serviced American homes and business sitting in remote cities in India and drove new financial sectors and telecom sector to dizzying growth. They bought hope and medals for India.

It is significant that during the period 1990 to now, it is people from my generation - Pranoy Roy, Naryana Murthy, Sunil Mittal, Anand Mahindra, Uday Kotak, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev- among the many that helped nurture young talent and provide space for them to grow. See what one young Prime Minister did to India’s economy- Rajiv Gandhi listened to Manmohan Singh and cleaned the cobwebs of the license raj! What does this tell us?

India is now at a new crossroad: at this point of time we can continue as before or we can use the Mumbai attack as a time to review and change so that the children and young people of India can find a peaceful protective environment to acquire the skill sets to take India to her next curve- one that will finally establish India as a great developed nation that balances environmental friendliness, traditional Indian warmth and competitive industry with a human face that shows the world our rich legacy of wisdom.

So, what can we do? What should we do? What is possible?

Let’s get our house in order first – forget Pakistan or a bunch of terrorists taking advantage of our mismanagement- and that is what it is. Nothing more, nothing less.

Calls for not voting or military rule or throwing politicians out whole sale are kneejerks and any of these insane actions will throw the baby out with the bath water.

Let’s celebrate Indian secular, pluralistic, tolerant democracy that even allows us to be angry and hurl abuses.

Anger is a great and powerful emotion- it can lead to change. Change is the key word.

Politicians are necessary to represent people They will seek divisive policies not because they invented it but because they have a personal power-equation agenda. That is a necessary evil. Unfortunately Politicians today have forgotten to lead and mastered the art of survival. At the same time there is much to commend the leadership skills that visionary politicians bring. True they have more then their share of black sheep – but institutions like RTI , CAG and a healthy free media is adequate to keep the check and balance.

But it is upto us, the citizens of India to nurture the young uncorrupted potential leaders among our politicians- Milind Deora . Rahul Gandhi, Omar Abdullah, and many others. Lets not kill their careers as leaders even before they can show their talent. And lets not dishonour the commitment of outstanding thinkers politicians- our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram, and a handful others to India. They are certainly not the scheming power hungry politicians.

Similarly, let’s also accept that by and large the Indian system of political administration and governance has worked. A free Election Commission, a free Judiciary and a independent-of-political-control Defense services has delivered democracy to every Indian.

But the world has also changed and its time to accept that: India is more closely linked to the rest of the world and we will be impacted when our international economic partners are affected we will be too. The cold war is dead and with that lies buried India’s friendship with the erstwhile Soviet Union. Today’s Russia is enriched by growing oil prices and does not need India – indeed it finds India a competitor. Willy-nilly shared democratic values and a common-ness in our people’s characters have brought India closer to the USA and to Israel.. We compete with China!. Many countries in our neighborhood are in the throes of bloody and painful change: Nepal, Mynmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan. What happens in our neighborhood will affect us – bound to. So it stands to reason that India lives today in a new environment and we have to adapt our 60 year old institutions to this new reality. We need to change. Every management in any company changes strategy when circumstances change.

Change does not imply a radical change of the Indian polity or administration mechanisms. It is clear that secular institutions have best served the nation and remember the union Government and all of its arms are truly secular: what makes them so?

It is also true that some institutions have been spectacular failures despite the faith in them: CBI, Coast Guard, Police, IB, RAW, Municipal administrations and utility services- particularly in the Major Metros. These institutions are helping India bleed.

It calls for some out-of-the-hat thinking. I offer some ideas and suggestions and invite the opinion of like minded Indians to add to them.

Some Changes, my thoughts:

1. Let the Central Bureau of Investigation become and independent institution reporting to the President of India just like the Election Commission. The CBI will:

- Be the nation’s premier detection agency.

- Be the nation’s premier Intel agency for crime and terrorism

- Be the nation’s premier agency for forensic investigation.

- Be the nation’s premier agency for IT and financial frauds and crimes.

2. The CBI will have an independent budget and will not report to either the Prime Minister or Home Minister or any State Chief Ministers. This will free the CBI from controls of politicians. Certain matters such as those that affect the nation’s interests would automatically be investigated by the CBI.

3. The National Security Guards (NSG) will become independent of the Home Ministry, and report directly to the President of India with a Chief of Staff on par with the Defense Services Chiefs. Operationally it would work with the three Defense forces. It would have separate divisions for Coastal, border, anti terrorism, industrial security, Railway protection, VIP security, national and international event security (such as Asian Games). The current RPF, BSF, Coast Guards, ITBF, CISF, CRPF will report to the Chief of NSG though for operational reasons they will retain their independent identities and operational profiles. But the centralized command would ensure Intel sharing and operational coordination.

4. All state Police forces will continue in their current structures. However, there will be a clear delineation between detection and policing – with Policing reporting to Police Commissioners who will report to the State Chief Minister. The detection would directly report to the IGP of each state.

5. All mega Metros- covering the greater metro regions around them will have a elected City Commissioner. The city Commissioner would have a budget and be allowed to appoint a team of paid staff ( as in the US model where the US President appoints a paid professional non-elected team to assist him). The City Commissioner cannot represent any party and would be directly elected by the citizens of the greater Metro region. However, the Commissioner would report to the Chief Minister of the state in which the Mega Metro is. The Municipality, city Police, the city public transport services , utilities of the city will directly report to the city Commissioner. This move would ensure that each Mega Metro would have a clear single point head accountable to the people. But free of political linkages, s/he would be responsible for delivering coordinated results in the city. The political party in power in the state would also have an interest in ensuring effective services delivery in the city. This system will not take away anything from current structure but only add to it.

These simple changes in strategies would eventually lead to overcoming all lapses in the current system. Think about it and add your suggestions and pass it on to those you know can make a difference to India.

Nishit Kumar

Mumbai