BUS DRIVERS VS. PILOTS QUALITY ISSUE

In search of a good politician

Policies and institutional quality are to a large extent endogenous, growing from within. This reflects the constraints to policy reforms, constraints that can be a major impediment to changes that are dearly needed to bring about better governance and improved living standards for all people, especially the poor and underprivileged.

here is increasingly broad agreement on good policies e.g. greater prosperity is achieved by ensuring a stable and open microeconomic environment, by building accountable and inclusive public institutions, and by investing in health, education and social safety programmes.

These programmes, coupled with rights to free speech and associations, help to empower civil society organisations, thereby giving greater voice to the interests and aspirations of marginalised people. Our political environment needs to be thoroughly overhauled, banishing all bad elements from its orbit

Dirty politics
The entry of criminals into politics must be stopped. Unscrupulous politicians rely on black money?  We must stop, or even diminish, the use of bribery in government commercial deals. Can we succeed? The answer must be “No”, so long as India's politicians and political parties cannot survive without the injection of illegal funds.

It was a different era when India fought for independence from British colonial rule. The giants of the freedom movement were those who were successful in their own professions or calling. What mattered then were education, integrity, talent and capacity to serve the nation. You first earned an honest living before people accepted you as a leader.

The scenario changed almost overnight as India became free. Before he could lay moral standards for an independent India, we killed Gandhiji. Jawaharlal Nehru soon found that politics in free India was becoming dependent on donations from large industrial houses. Perhaps he closed his eyes to the manner in which the Congress party's financial managers collected money. Alarm bells were ringing even then. An early defence scam, the jeep scandal emerged as did the Mundhra affair

But that era has passed. A new leadership emerged and with it came strange shady characters, which seemed to have a remarkable influence on matters of State and on the State's leaders. Extra-constitutional power centres flourished. A “kitchen cabinet” was said to surround Indira Gandhi. Established political norms faded, and following the break-up of the Indian National Congress, the politics of big money moved in to prop up the new Congress.

Drastic actions needed
Many of us constantly wring our hands over the growing criminalization of politics, and call on political parties to choose better candidates. Such moral lecturing is vacuous. Criminals are not entering politics because of some inexplicable moral lapse by candidate selection committees, but because they have huge incentives to get in. To get them out, we must change the incentive system. Many laws need changing, but one single change can have a huge impact. Let the law provide that criminal cases against legislators will be heard before all others on a day-by-day basis to ensure a quick verdict. In one stroke, that will create a huge disincentive for criminals to contest elections. Many will resign from the legislatures to escape the consequences. Today, criminals join politics to gain influence and ensure that cases against them are dropped or not proceeded with. The law disqualifies convicted criminals from fighting elections. But this does not keep criminals out of politics because legal delays, often abetted by political pressures, make convictions of resourceful crooks rather rare.

Cleaning up operation
We must take up this operation seriously and carry it out ruthlessly. Our political scenario cannot suddenly turn clean. We shall have to clean it up. We shall have to ensure that good people enter politics and we elect our representative who is the best. We should look for the following qualities in our politicians

• Has clear vision
• Self control
• Positive lifestyle
• Trained to lead people
• Ability to improve performance in public life

Qualities of a good politician

Unlike successful people in other professions, politicians have a larger role to play. Since it is their choice to give up the comforts and advantages of a well-defined 9 to 5 job, people expect them to be different from others. They expect politicians to be benevolent, dedicated, sincere, and compassionate with abilities to lead the people to a glorious future.

Clear vision
It is perhaps naïve on our part to expect our politicians to be visionaries. Nelson Mandela is the last surviving visionary politician. Our own A P J Abdul Kalam is a visionary but not a politician. But we still nurture the utopian hope that the lost tribe of visionary politicians would surface again and lead our nation to become a superpower.

Self control

• Good politicians should work for the nation. While taking decisions the national interest must motivate him and not for promoting self or party image.
• Politicians must not indulge in appeasement policies for influencing the electorates to cast their votes in exchange for favours.
• Favoritism and nepotism must be banished from the minds of politicians.
• Shed fundamentalism in religious practices

Positive lifestyle

Politicians should adopt human religion. They should visit their constituency regularly and spread the message of tolerance towards believers of other religions.

Politicians should work hard for improving the system of governance. They should persuade the government for solving regional and local problems. They should also regularly visit local areas for understanding their problems.

By practicing yoga and meditation they should be able to equip themselves for handling tensions and develop the faculty of positive thinking.

Trained to lead people
Successful politicians everywhere know that getting results does not depend on managing the process. Success depends on leading the people who elect them to be their leader. Good politicians will not just learn these principles but actually apply them by practicing these principles. They should know what makes their electorate tick, and how to use human behavior techniques to inspire, motivate and be their leader by setting and achieving goals.

Training of politicians
Two weeks training should be made compulsory for elected representative at the Administrative Staff College where newly recruited IAS officers are trained. At the end of the training, their performance should be monitored and some kind of grade should be allotted for assessing their potential for making a positive change in the lives of those who the politicians represent. The future career growth of the politician will be decided after these assessments are made.

The structure of the training programme should be as follows

Formation of code of ethics

Behaviour in the Parliament/Assemblies

Exposure to government expenditure for exercising judicious scrutiny

Sufficient knowledge about India's history and geography

Adequate awareness about India's diverse cultural heritage and about ethnicity

Exposure to rural problems and rual development issues

Thorough awareness about various government schemes for development

Knowledge about India's economy, commerce and industry

Ability for Improving Performance
The performance of every trained politician should be monitored on Internet through the performance index by the training institute. The index should be calculated taking into account the following –

• Proper utilization of public funds
• National/international issues raised
• Attendance in Parliament/Assemblies and participation in debates
• Contact with criminals
• Misuse of power

Our Model Politician

The picture that emerges for our model politician sounds reassuring. The goal that we have set for cleaning our politics is achievable. All we want that we should be led by good politicians. All we expect from our politicians is an assurance that they would make sincere efforts to become good.