Exiting Through In-Gate, Initiative and Efficiency

Exiting through In-gate, Initiative and Efficiency
Arun Kumar
The Economic Times, May 15, 2006.
http://www1.economictimes.indiatimes.com/articlelist/1836347985.cms
On regular visits to a private Hospital in Delhi three years back I observed that a majority exited the hospital through the in gate rather than the adjoining out gate. Does it matter when in India traffic (especially, police vehicles) can be seen going in the wrong direction? It reflects the mind set of the elite, who should know better. The impetus for completing the article came while driving back home during the heavy and chaotic Delhi traffic on the day Mrs. Gandhi resigned from the Parliament. There is a deep interconnection in all this.
Just like exiting through the in-gate is mundane so is the violation of the conventions by say Ms Bacchan or Ms Gandhi. Breaking of rules and conventions is now an integral aspect of the working of the Indian system. It is the underlying reason for why systems break down or quality is poor or living conditions are poor. So, water in the tap cannot be trusted, milk may have urea in it, cheques in transactions are not accepted, people avoid the police, etc. All this affects economic efficiency and the collective welfare.
On the road, stuck in crawling traffic and unnerved by frequent violations of traffic rules, the links cannot be missed. Light poles or signboards obstructing a view of traffic lights, buses standing in the middle of the road to drop off passengers and causing pile up of traffic, poorly designed new flyovers leading to jams at the beginning or the end of the flyover, unmarked potholes, etc., create the mosaic of chaos. It is not that traffic is very dense but it is the way everyone drives that everyone is stuck. Even those violating rules to get ahead take longer to reach their destination than if everyone followed the road rules.
Our rulers are in a race to get ahead, whichever way. MPs do not mind taking up jobs/work they should know better to stay away from. But is it surprising if they take dirty money for fighting elections, freebies from businessmen or money for asking questions or fixing meetings, etc. They feel they are the rulers and above the law. They believe they can change rules as and when required. Those who have recently resigned feel aggrieved and not ashamed and want to come back to power again. Any notion of shame and morality is missing. As is often said, what is the use of being in power if one cannot bend the rules – what is shame?
Our rulers have a feudal mind set and think of themselves as above the rule of law. They have got away for long with thinking of themselves as special - giving themselves huge perks to live a regal life. Leaders are not in service of the public and the executive is not `Public Servant’. They, in cahoots with the vested interests, indulge in misuse of their power to amass wealth through corruption. They set the standards that others follow.
The other elite sections in cahoots with the politicians and the executive are businessmen, professionals, entertainers, and so on. The PM and the Chief Justice have now also pointed fingers at the judiciary. In other words, large numbers in the elite circles in India routinely break the law. So exiting through the in-gate is natural.
When rules are broken with impunity, systems become run-down and inefficiency follows. Is there a trade off between the efficiency of the system and the creativity of the individual. Is it the case that systems kill individual initiative and lead to loss of creativity?
In India, initiative often means flirting with rules and bending them as much as possible. Farm houses in Delhi and educational institutions in Maharashtra are only a case in point. It is said in the bureaucracy, the file work of those who are the most corrupt is impeccable. The MCD engineers checking the violation of building bylaws, after taking bribes also note the violation in the files and send notices but do not act thereafter. The file is complete and sleeping.
Successful businessmen are supposed to have the highest degree of initiative. Most of them bend as many rules as they can – environmental rules, labour laws, tax laws, etc. So the black economy is flourishing and large - at least 40% of GDP. Great, our GDP is larger than reported and we are better off than the official statistics reveal? So, individual initiative seems to work even if it propagates illegality.
Certainly, those who are rich have higher incomes than they declare. But, 93% of the workforce is in the unorganized sector and certainly has little part of the black economy. Many in the middle class hardly earn any black incomes. Thus, a small elite section, a mere 3%, has a substantial part of the black economy.
Much of the black economy is like digging holes and filling holes, where there is activity without productivity. Roads are repeatedly repaired. To check illegality, there is a bloated bureaucracy – the inspector raj. Laws have become complex and a battery of lawyers and chartered accountants are employed to creatively interpret them. Consequently the overall economic potential of the economy is not achieved - the level of output is lower and the rate of growth is less than it could be (10%). We collectively make ourselves inefficient just like stalled traffic.
Can laws ever be perfect? If the spirit is unwilling, human ingenuity can always circumvent any law. The government that governs the least should mean that it needs to intervene the least because people automatically follow rules and the regulatory apparatus required is the least. If a few rules are broken, it would not matter but when each one breaches some rules, it becomes systemic and we stall. More thieves and therefore more police would lead to employment but little productivity. If the black economy had not existed, each one of us would be many times richer than we are; even the rich.
Initiative in breaking rules slows everyone down including those who break rules, like in Delhi traffic or in the Indian Parliament which seems to be perpetually stalled because skeletons are falling out of the rotting doors of the closets at regular intervals.
CESP, SSS, JNU, N Delhi 110067.
nuramarku@gmail.com.