The prolonged disruption of the monsoon session of the Lok Sabha by recently elected MPs which resulted in the President’s address to both houses of Parliament and the government’s Rs.477,000 crore Union budget 2004-05 being passed without any debate, marks a new low in independent India’s history. Though some of the blame for this unprecedented impasse could accrue to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for inducting ‘tainted ministers’ into the Union cabinet, the preponderantly greater share of the blame has to be laid at the door of the BJP-led opposition parties grouped under the umbrella of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which was unexpectedly voted out of office in the general election held in May this year.

The plain truth is that the over-confident leaders of the former NDA government have not yet come to terms with the rejection by the electorate of their inegalitarian development model driven by a divisive hindutva ideology. This is why from the very first day that the new Parliament was convened on June 2, its proceedings were disrupted over the issue of MPs with criminal charge-sheets being inducted into the council of ministers. True, the induction of individuals with serious criminal charges filed against them into ministerial office (explained away by the government as the compulsion of coalition politics) is a cause for protest, but not for crippling the business of the country’s apex legislative assembly. Particularly since the NDA government’s council of ministers also included individuals with criminal charges for involvement in the demolition of the Babri Masjid pending against them. The BJP leadership’s nit-picking distinction between common criminal cases and ‘political’ crimes is specious and spurious. On the contrary it could be argued that political crimes which incite lynch-mobs to mayhem and riot are more reprehensible than common and garden criminal offences.

The fascist-style contempt which the leadership of the BJP (and its sangh parivar allies) displays towards Parliament and its established procedures is evidenced not only by its disrespect for a President installed in office by the NDA government and boycott of the multi-billion rupee Union budget, but also by its unprecedented decision to withdraw from all the standing committees of Parliament. Fortunately wiser counsel prevailed and this latter decision was reversed after a short boycott. Moreover the NDA leadership’s abortive attempt to present amendments to the boycotted Union budget directly into the prime minister’s office (instead of the floor of Parliament) and subsequent hullabaloo about the disrespect allegedly shown to its delegation by prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh when he rightly rebuked them, is indicative of a schizophrenic mindset which seems to have seized the NDA leadership.

Though it’s embarrassing to instruct leaders of the nation about the rationale of parliamentary norms and procedures, this needs to be done. These procedures have been devised during the past half century to facilitate intelligent and informed debate on matters of national importance and to legislate laws of the republic. The NDA leadership should note that a political revival strategy based upon contempt of Parliament is likely to arouse public antagonism and revulsion rather than sympathy.

In a society in which the central and state governments are omnipresent in the lives of people, orderly conduct of the business of government is a non-negotiable obligation of all members of Parliament. MPs who believe otherwise should resign their seats and take to the streets to pursue their political agendas. In particular they need to bear in mind that their disorderly behaviour while conducting the vital business of government sets a very bad example to the student and academic communities and renders the task of the latter more difficult than it is already. 

Indian industry a mirror image of Indian education
Though the bounteous south-west monsoon has showered its blessing upon 23 of the 36 meteorological districts of the country this year bringing some relief to farmers who remain pathetically dependent upon the mercy of heaven’s bounty notwithstanding half a century of detailed centralised planning and an aggregate investment in dams and irrigation networks estimated at Rs.88,000 crore, copious rains are not an unmixed blessing. Every year the Indian economy suffers colossal damage due to flooding, washed-away roads and damage to buildings and property during the monsoon seasons.

Unfortunately there is a distressing tendency to ascribe such rain damage to the categories of inevitable accident or acts of God when in reality they are manifestations of poor quality civil construction, planning and management. In turn below par infrastructure construction and management are a reflection of outdated syllabuses and the substandard quality of science and technical education being dispensed in the nation’s institutions of higher education.

The continuous damage inflicted upon the national economy by this blindspot of Indian education is exacerbated by unwarranted disdain for vocational education which is grossly under-financed. As a result millions of carpenters, masons, junior engineers and lower-rung technicians such as electricians, plumbers, motor mechanics and shopfloor workers are deprived of formal craft and skills training, having to learn their trade on the job. Little wonder that slipshod sub-optimal project execution is the rule rather than exception in India’s government dominated infrastructure and civic projects, if not in Indian industry where huge investments are made in in-house training.

Regrettably despite the huge annual loss suffered by way of low organisational and shopfloor productivity and high capital-output ratios, Indian industry is a marginal spectator rather than energetic driver of the spluttering half-hearted national education effort. The continuous investment effort of American industry in education by way of promotion of blue-chip universities and floods of research grants and endowments — which has transformed the US into the world’s most productive and inventive nation — is a conspicuous blindspot of Indian industry. The consequence is perhaps the highest in-house training costs in the world which blunts the competitive edge of India’s also-ran corporates and businesses.

The way forward for Indian industry is to become more proactively engaged in the national education effort which is showing signs of revival. Somewhat surprisingly captains and leaders of Indian industry seem to have some difficulty in grasping the self-evident proposition that a nation’s corporates and business enterprises can only be as good as its schools and colleges. In a spirit of enlightened self-interest, Indian industry which at best supports the unacceptable status quo in the education system, needs to become an actively involved pressure group for radical transformation of school and tertiary education. For the simple reason that it has the most to lose.