This Article is From Jul 14, 2015

When Rain Creates Hell, Take Chief Ministers to Court

In India, it rains every year. It is not an unpredictable miracle, nor is the fact that if it rains, water will accumulate, and it will need to be drained out. There is no rocket science here. We have some fine organisations, which, for a lack of better phrasing, are called municipal bodies. Municipal tasks are their focus but they are more adept at accepting bribes than any form of planning or civic responsibilities - like having drains working. Most of these bodies are stacked with corrupt officials, almost all of whom are aligned to some political party or the other, which makes them immune to both shame and responsibility.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi envisions smart cities for India. Where these cities will have the best infrastructure and the finest amenities, and thus will be "smart" compared to the dull inefficient cities we have today. Hopefully, these cities will have people helming it who are sincere, hard-working and honest. A tall order but then since when was hope an outcaste?

For the last two-three days, all of Delhi and Gurgaon was flooded. Roads gave way to rivers. In many places, the road itself had caved in, morphing into giant waterfalls. Not one official was found anywhere. No one was in charge. Chief Ministers who would otherwise make foolish utterances maintained a stony silence whilst the hapless citizen suffered: like the hapless citizen always does. There was the usual apathy, the usual noise on television, lots of citizenry rage, but then nothing. All sound and fury but no clear action on the ground, which, by the way, has become the Indian leitmotif. 



And all of this when we talk about Delhi as the capital of India which is at the cusp of greater world glory, and Gurgaon as the show-window of what we can do in terms of real-estate. Many condominiums in Gurgaon command the highest rate per square foot in the country. They boast of uninterrupted power supply, swimming pools and club houses, all of which sound very nice for a brochure, but then when you also have to swim to your pool, reality bites.

Gurgaon is also home to some of India's largest corporations: CEOs and young people alike live and work in Gurgaon. Meetings on future investments are held in luxury hotels there, and yet what a goddamn shame when these very potential investors see the havoc that is wreaked by one rainfall. A tsunami didn't hit us nor did an earthquake. It was just torrential rain that brought both Delhi and Gurgaon to its knees.



Why does every metropolis in India resemble a dysfunctional slum? Why do our municipal bodies work as if they are living in the Dark Ages? Why can't the common citizen except common benefits when they are paying taxes and electing what we believe are decent people? 

I believe the fault lies with us as much as it does with the authorities. We are easily swayed when it comes to greasing palms when we need our illegal work legalized. We station our cars in places which are clearly marked 'no parking'. Many contractors dump construction material and debris on roads instead of getting rid of it properly. There is unplanned construction and the Mafiosi nexus between builder-politician-police exists to this day no matter what Modi might say about corruption. We have a tolerant and diseased mindset when it comes to corruption of our own making, but we are first to scream and shout if that corruption impacts us in the most heinous way. That is our tragedy as citizens.

We are loath to complaining about the corruption which causes this mess since many a time we partake of it. We are scared of the establishment so we won't hold them accountable. We are easy to please: so once the rains stop, so do our worries and our anger. But this is not the way forward for any civilized society. Or for that matter for a media which pretends to be a watchdog most of the time but is weak on follow-up.



Something needs to give. We need to unshackle ourselves from the burdens of this annual misery and the only way we can do this is to identify people including Chief Ministers and take them to Court since the judiciary seems to be the only thing they fear and respect. We need to take them to the cleaners as it were, as also those citizens and/or builders who through some machinations have created a living hell for us common folk. But the time to act is now and not wait till next year.

Our ability to forget and forgive is our biggest weakness, which the Establishment exploits unabashedly.

My belief is that unless we shame these civic officials publicly and shame the politicians who are constantly running amuck, nothing will change. We can then keep living in squalor and fear as also disease. We can continue to boast of living in Delhi or Gurgaon whilst even Hell would be more attractive and be in this false reverie that we are doing fine. We are not getting the basics and yet we have to fear the taxman and comply with paying taxes.

The solution quite simply is to protest; shame and take these jokers to court. They don't understand civility. And they never will. No matter who they are and of which political dispensation.

(Suhel Seth is Managing Partner of Counselage: India's only strategic brand advisory.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
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