Continued from Part - 1

Judging the public mood which gave Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi his single party majority, the advantage of which is being frittered, apart from the desire for new infrastructure and clean cities, what India’s new generation seeks is a modern 21st century identity. To create that a five-point agenda is suggested which Janata leaders might consider for their policy agenda to introduce social and cultural change.

• First, the prevalence of corruption remains the biggest concern. There are two aspects to it. One, existing corruption cases must be addressed. Second, steps are required to prevent future corruption. For existing unpunished cases it is impractical to prosecute all guilty people. There are simply too many of them. A voluntary disclosure scheme with a cut off date promising confidentiality in return for substantial percentage of ill gotten wealth to the state must be introduced. After cut off date expires ruthless prosecution of all corruption must commence. This should help recover substantial amount of black money from within India and abroad.

• Secondly, to curb future corruption no new impractical Lokpal institution is required. Within the Constitution the President should be empowered with an appropriate secretariat. Under his authority similar secretariats must be established for all Governors. These secretariats in the centre and in the states should monitor all administration to ensure no law is transgressed. Crime, corruption and terrorism can only occur if some law is violated. The President as a Super Lokpal must implement this single goal of ensuring that all laws are observed.

• Thirdly, to build a genuine modern national identity caste based reservation must end. Within a declared time frame during which compulsory primary education is delivered to every child job reservation based only on economic criteria should ensure social justice. Caste based job reservation should be replaced by vocation based reservation. Job quotas should be replaced by reservation in industries run by workers’ cooperatives financed by government related to vocations employing scavengers, cobblers and others. For example, the huge garbage disposal industry can be reserved for a cooperative in control of trained scavengers belonging to all castes.

• Fourthly, for genuine inclusive governance a new tier of policing at the primary level of the village panchayat or the urban local body must be introduced under the direct jurisdiction of the elected executive of panchayat or local body. In addition to inclusive governance this would provide an invaluable data base for intelligence if Internet connection is established between central or state level authorities and all local bodies. Local residents are best positioned to perceive any suspicious activity by strangers that can be reported to higher authorities.

• Fifthly, the world’s premier language English and the national language Hindi should be developed simultaneously through official approval of a voluntarily chosen Roman script in addition to Devnagari. This would equip school children with knowledge of English without impairing learning of Hindi. The artificial difference between Hindi and Urdu would vanish. Vocabulary would hugely expand. Foreigners would have easier access to Hindi. Hindi would become a modern global language as Netaji Subhash Bose had envisaged.

This five-point agenda would hasten the emergence of a modern Indian identity better equipped to play the nation’s future role as a global power.