Since independence, our country may have done well on various aspects but somehow these achievements do not elate us. To give an extreme view, there is no “our” left in the country – our education, our society, our ideals, our goals, our consumer products, our lifestyle, etc has become the “other” especially in a rapid manner in the last twenty years. As a nation, it appears as if the whole multitude of people is waiting for the next best idea from the world that we must also emulate – we have become an emulation nation. We have lost our originality and become a dumping ground of ideas from outside the country. While good ideas are always welcome, it always remains a concern as to whether we have quite easily become the “other” and have thereby lost ourselves completely.

Keeping the above context in mind, I wish to share a few ideas that a new government may consider that may pave the way of possibly bringing us back to ourselves. Our country has to regain its identity as a source of the new ideas while co-existing with good ideas from other parts of the world. When a new government comes to power which is favourably disposed towards our country, it needs to experiment an approach that will bring our country back from the “other”. Without much ado, let me get straight into these ideas with a humble submission not to read these ideas in a literal sense but absorb the spirit behind the ideas. Any idea that brings us back into ourselves, restores national confidence and brings people together is an idea that must be encouraged and the following a contribution towards this spirit.

 Well deserved sweetener

From a tax perspective, we are today treating an artificial and synthetic entity like a Company in a manner similar to a human being. While taxing artificial entities formed with the purpose of a commercial motive does make sense. Taxing human beings with a similar spirit must be reconsidered. Direct Taxes on individuals must be removed. I am aware that this sounds like a demand for a free gift or a subsidy but this is not so. Indirect tax remains a far bigger contributor; effort in collecting direct taxes is significantly higher and administratively complex. Besides, as a sound and fair principle, tax approach must ideally focus on one approach – tax at the time of undertaking a transaction (viz indirect tax) or tax on income (viz direct tax). With expansion of taxation to services also, there is nothing that has been left un-taxed in modern India. While one accepts that Government must have a mechanism to earn revenues in meeting its social obligations, it is however unfair to make individuals pay on both ends and removal of direct taxes on individuals will correct this anomaly. In addition, if efforts to recover illicit funds abroad makes headway and such funds to come into government coffers, the partial loss, if any, from reduction of government income will be more than offset by incremental revenue.

While so-called intellectual analysts may dismiss this as a gimmick or may term this as a subsidy or an economic disaster, one must respond that ours of one of the few countries that is sticking to a principal of taxing individuals in a fair manner and not indulging in a double whammy that is inherently unfair. Our actions must be determined by sensible human principles – not blind emulation of practices followed in other countries.  The impact of such an action will be debated internationally also and may have positive spin-offs in other countries also if implemented successfully in India.

Sports

In the early nineties, Madhu Sapre made a statement in the finals of a Miss India contest that if she becomes the head of our country, she will build sports stadiums and complexes across the country. This statement unfortunately was criticized and people even demeaned her. Personally however, she made a very visionary statement. Sports as an institution creates a lot of spin-offs across the country – apart from entertainment, it creates business opportunities for people as well as the industry and more importantly, gives an opportunity for a talented but poor person to become a country or global star based on sheer merit of talent possessed by him or her.
Dividing the country into districts (instead of using the state definition), an inter-district competition across the entire length and breadth of the country must be initiated and implemented. Such competition must be held on a yearly basis with suitable publicity and prize money for winners and other participants. One must additionally note that this is not about making India win medals in Olympics – instead, it is about inculcating a high level of sports spirit across the country, enhance the interaction of people with one another on account of sports and thereby bring people together. In addition, we can instil a feeling among the lowest of the low that even they can aspire and win national recognition from their talent, For this reason therefore, Government must propose this competition only in 10 disciplines and these disciplines must be such that we do not need exhaustive infrastructure (like those need by rich sports like Tennis, Golf or Swimming) but require pure talent and basic infrastructure. I propose these disciplines as under

1. Hockey (not on astro-turf but normal ground)
2. Weight-lifting in select weight categories
3. Discuss throw
4. Athletics in select categories (e.g.100M, 200M, 400M, 800M and Marathon)
5. Football
6. Volleyball
7. Boxing in select weight categories
8. Chess
9. Kabaddi
10. Hand Wrestling (in traditional akhada style)

Better ideas are welcome. The key point is that the disciplines are easy for everyone to aspire for. The selection is left to enterprising individuals within the district and the self-organizing ability of the people will get tested and improved upon. Once winners are suitably awarded, participation will increase and this may become a nationally followed event year after year. Once again, this will be a unique feature of India that is run with the objective of inculcating sporting spirit (and not for medals in international arena), local cooperation among people, entertainment, promotion of local sports and a source of aspiration for lowest of the low.

Measurement of Growth

Thanks to Gujarat, this has become a hot topic for discussion in the country. At an international level, economists have been struggling to define a common model for development that goes beyond the GDP approach. Happiness Index has been in place as a concept for the last few years but this has not been internationalized as a proper measure that is used by any government in a structured manner to measure and achieve success. Bhutan has been featuring as the World’s most Happy country but given its small size, one does not know whether such a measure can be replicated successfully in a larger country and across the world. Why should India not be the first country to take this on in a strategic manner?

I have found an answer in Devi Bhagavatam. Within the vast corpus of 18000 shlokas is one line which states that a society that is based on Dharma must necessary have the following: – Truth, Charity, Cleanliness and Compassion. Dharma is similar defined in the Srimad Bhagavatam and other texts also. Clearly, these words have been stated in a certain context and I felt that there is scope to adapt these words for implementing the rule of Dharma in the modern India. So how do we adapt these words for implementing a society of just order? I am making an initial attempt and more intelligent people can come together to construct something more finite and concrete. Essentially, I am proposing that we create an index of development that has the four broad parameters which are in turn split into specific components Each of these can be assigned a score and the region which achieves the best score is a Dharma society vis a vis other societies in comparison with the same statistics.

Base parameter	Sub-parameter	Grade	Why this metric?
Truth or Justice	Number of open court cases outstanding beyond two years	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	Justice delayed is justice denied.
	# of public violence incidents	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	Violence against public property shows that people do not respect their own neighbourhood
	# of physical violence incidents against women/ elders and children	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	This aspect shows lack of culture within the society
	# of Court Cases adjudged as frivolous that were put merely to harm the opponent	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	If people are honest and truthful, they will not put frivolous cases against one another.
	Sales of local language publications (newspaper or magazines)	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	For India to continue to maintain its unique identity, local languages must continue to prosper and thrive. This measure recognizes this aspect.
	# of people in pursuit of the law of singularity or Advaita either through science or Adhyatma	??	This is a tough one – some measure has to be figured out to recognize areas where people pursue either modern science or Adhyatma vidya to recognize and pursue the principle that the World is after all ONE or an emanation of the ONE. Pursuit of such a domain must be encouraged and building society in principles of the ONE must be recognized. I however recognize that this is a tough one!!!
Compassion	Accidents per Lakh of population	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	Accidents arise on account of negligence, absence of culture of following rules or bad planning. It is a society problem and not just an individual discipline issue and if such aspects are taken care off, one can say that the people collectively have compassion for life and thereby set their area in a manner that it is accident free
	Divorce rate	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	This is based on principle that one must marry only once and once married, must work towards making this the best marriage. One may argue that this is not proper. One may therefore
	# of murders per Lakh of population	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad
	Percentage of forest cover or green cover or # of trees within the district	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	We cannot allow our country to become a fully urbanized place that loses its forests or green cover. Regard for environment shows the compassionate character of the people against trees and animals & birds within the environment
Charity	Quantum of donations made per capita to Government, Charitable Institutions & Trusts	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	This shows charitable mindset possessed by individuals within the region
	# of new Court Cases lodged against fellow citizens	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	An area of considerable discord of public with one another leads to an outcome where people fight with each other for land, property, or other assets. The outcome is court cases. The more people are accommodative and congenial and charitable with one another, the more court cases will reduce.
	# of Institutions/ initiatives providing free food/ lodging to the needy all through the  year	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	This shows charitable mindset possessed by individuals within the region
Cleanliness	Per capita oil consumption	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	The extent of buying of petrol and diesel from local pumps reveals the use of personal transport vis a vis public transport or use of walkways. People must eventually be encouraged to use environment friendly cars or use public transport or create mechanisms of transport that eliminate the use of oil.
	Per capita generation of urban waste	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	This is a self-explanatory metric
	Height of Ground Water	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	This will encourage people to be thrifty in usage of water and discourage wastage and thereby contribution to cleanliness. In addition, building of check-dams and appropriate architecture to conserve water will gain fillip
	Per capita consumption of medicines	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	Unclean environments cause presence of diseases and with this, the consumption of medicines rises. Using this metric will enable people to remain healthy either through Yog but also work towards cleaning their neighbourhoods in a pro-active manner and thereby reduce the incidence of use of medicines.
	Quantum of import of goods into the district	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	How does one encourage self-reliance? Instead of depending on imports from outside the region for items of daily use, regions must be encouraged to build products and food from their own region. If this works favourably, over a period of time, the need for more and more infrastructure is reduced as regions become self-reliant for most of their needs. This is the model of old India where villages were self-reliant for most of their needs and change in external circumstances does not vitiate the internal environment of any region. Thus, culture and life of a region continues without any severe break. This is an anti-globalization drive and driving movement towards localization. The spirit of future must be BE GLOBAL IN OUTLOOK AND IDEAS AND BE LOCAL FOR PRODUCTS AND NECESSITIES. I agree that this is a tough one to measure.
	Extent of air pollution levels	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	This is a self-explanatory metric
	Per Capita consumption of electricity from non-environmental friendly sources	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	This is a self-explanatory metric
	% of households receiving pure drinking water 24X7 in their homes at nominal water cess	Score 1 – Very GoodScore 2 – Good Score 3 – Average Score 4 – Bad Score 5 – Very Bad	Any measure that will eventually works to tap local water tables by building them and using them for local use must be encouraged rather than depending on water tankers or private brands for meeting basic water needs.

Once the above is established, we can divide the entire country into sensible districts and obtain data on the above parameters from each of the districts. Once done, on an annual basis, data must be obtained on the above parameters. Out of 500+ districts that may come about, the ones which perform the best on the above parameters and maybe recognized as the top 20-30 districts must be rewarded. The reward may include the following:

1.  Zero indirect taxes for a period of one year
2. Top 2-3 needs of the people from the district (specific infrastructure requirement or any other collective need) may be given to such district.
3. (we could create some other motivation criteria)

The balance districts may be divided into 3-5 classes wherein the good performs maybe taxed moderately while the worst offenders must be heavily taxed.

Key principles under which the above is being proposed is the follows:

Democracy does not mean elections and voting only – people must come together within each district to improve life on the parameters suggested above. It cannot be a distant and central “my-baap” government alone which will achieve the above. Efforts to convert our from a parliamentary to a participative democracy must come about. This will force people to get into action on events within their own neighbourhood.

1. GDP Growth rate based approach is intellectually bankrupt and time is ripe for alternative on the above lines. How not start this in India itself?
2. Changes in specific parameters of development that are transparent to the entire population and used to measure success on a consistent basis creates a transparent basis to achieve happiness in life. All people can collectively work towards achieving success in parameters.

It is a mammoth exercise to start with but given its noble intention and positive benefits, it must be undertaken on a war footing. Further, if through practice, better idea of governance comes about, we can and must tweak the above parameters to create a just and good model for common good. But we need to start somewhere and the is an idea that kick-starts this thinking.

 What makes India ONE?

A book titled Breaking India by Rajiv Malhotra (as well as writings by other right thinking country-men) has spurred the urgency for having an open debate and agreement on this key question within our country. If one throws this question around, people may say democracy, Secularism, Hinduism, Hindi Cinema, our love for cricket, etc. While intuitively there is a far deeper connection between all of us Indians, this is not formally recognized within the Constitution (and thereby our text books) in a form and manner that makes any contrary view ineligible for discussion. Once all Indians collectively realize that there are deeper bonds between each Indian with one another irrespective of complexion, race, height, weight, eating habits, etc., this feeling of one-ness will become the glue that will strengthen the nation permanently for all years to come. Besides, we will also know who is our enemy (both inside and outside) who refuses to recognize this inherent strength and we can take appropriate action to handle such enemies.

How does one arrive at something like this? It may be an excellent idea to throw this across as a competition with reward for the best answer. This may be open for a year long debate and thereby ensure that this is adequately debated and sufficient interest generated across the entire country. I agree that there is a danger that this may spill out of control and one may need to put down some principles to make this within control (I alone find it difficult to conceive the dangers and collective thought is therefore required). Other challenges include the decision as to who will arbitrate on the final decision. One may be to propose an initial list of items so that people have a headstart on this topic. Other items may be added/ removed depending how the debate goes on across the country. Voting may also be resorted to if the situation warrants this.

Based on my reading of ancient Indian history as well as a few Puranas, I propose an initial list as follows:

1. A person who is love with its land, its rivers and mountains
2. A person who is in love with the historical accounts of and traditions passed on by the ancestors who roamed the sub-continent and is actively inspired by these narratives to run their own lives today
3. A person who relentlessly lives life to pursue the quest for knowing the one truth knowing which all becomes known
4. A person who sees one common truth as the substratum behind all multiplicity within the Universe and strives to organize various aspects of society, personal life, dance, music, law, architecture, medicine, etc as an expression of this truth
5. A person who believes in living life as per one’s own convictions and take responsibility for actively cooperating with others to create a society that they believe will meet their needs
6. A person who loves all people within the Indian sub-continent as his own family and equally respects people outside the sub-continent to lead their lives in their own way
7. A person who believes in increasing the self-less quotient of his/ her actions in one’s lifetime and actively respects and promotes people & institutions who perform self-less actions.

Many may feel that such an initiative is dangerous and may be potentially divisive. I however come back to the book that I referred to where the author has stated that the feeling of unity amongst Indians is a big impediment to carrying our evangelical activities as well as creating multiple identities. If we therefore succeed in creating a common minimum that the entire country agrees on, the benefits of such an intellectual exercise will go a long way in strengthening the Unity of the country. In addition, an important benefit is that such ideas may also shape future public behaviour in the lines of the above principles and bring significant positive spin-offs to not just India but the whole world.

Who is an under-privileged person? 

British rule has been criticized for various reasons and while all of them are right on their own manner, one critical aspect where the damage has been significant though less recognized in public debate is the damage caused by the outcome of Census exercise initiated by them. Today, when we talk of development in India, we talk of tribals, Dalits, Hindus, Brahmin, OBC, Muslims, Women, SCs, STs, etc. We have internalized these terms of such an extent that we are unable to think of development and societal benefit without thinking about these categories. It is surprising that these categories did not exist a century earlier but these are now regular fare or staple for everyone thinking about Indian society.

Modi’s statement is the first in recent times to state that all he cares about is six crore Gujaratis and not their individual artificial categories. We need to broaden this thought further and give this a strong personality. Of course, only a strong individual can commence such a dialogue within the society. Essentially, the proposal is this:

Any individual having at least three or more of the following features will be considered as an individual who is under-privileged. As far as government is concerned, it must and will exert significant efforts to ensure that people falling within these categories are protected. Any other classification or feature or attribute of an individual is irrelevant from a governance perspective. What could these attributes be?

A person who is physically handicapped

1. An illiterate person
2. An orphan who has not completed graduation
3. A person who is part of a family whose household income is below a certain defined criteria (say Rs 25000 per month in urban areas and Rs 15000 per month in rural areas) that makes subsistence and living a normal life difficult, if not impossible.
4. A person who is part of a family which is living in a neighbourhood with troublesome physical environment (high noise level, extremely poor sanitation bad or no drinking water, no job opportunities, etc)

The above can refined and tightened by people who are experts and who are more aware of India than a mouse-click activist like me. Key point to note is that the Census will get accurate data to zoom into people who really deserve special focus from the Government of India. Once these people are identified, specific measures are drafted to enable them to ride over the disability that they are plagued with. Census does not have to bother about religious affiliation or community affiliation of such a person who qualifies as a under-privileged person and such person deserves help not only from the Government but also the fellow society. There is no need for use of words like minority-majority, etc once the above is established. Any classifications that are continued by the society remain the domain of the people itself – as far as Government is concerned, its focus must remain having names and numbers of people who are under-privileged and work to uplift them in all spheres – education, employment, entertainment, etc. Rest of the tags or categories are irrelevant to the government and may be ignored completely from a governance perspective.

Given our collective history, I am aware that I am being naive and dismissive of reams of literature being written and models used to understand people in terms of these categories. Dalit entrepreneur forums are being created, tribal success forums may be created tomorrow and over a period of time, these identities may get further fillip to demand separate states (optimistic scenario) or separate countries (worse case scenario). Given our shared identity as people from India and working towards a shared future, the earlier we make an attempt to stop using these identities as parameters of social development, the better we will be in making a strong United India. I have made a simple proposal but if wise minds can fine-tune this or broaden its scope to make this more effective, we must encourage such efforts.

Appendix (e.g., infrastructure)

I have relegated an agenda like infrastructure as an appendix. This might sound unusual but this is deliberate. One must not focus on visible or external signatures of development and thereby ignore the real reasons why we are seeking infrastructure. My core belief is that the aspects covered in the first five sections are critical and need to be measured and fixed. If, in the process of fixing these, infrastructure needs to enhanced, it must be done accordingly. Infrastructure needs to be a means to an end not an end in itself unlike what the convention wisdom in media seems to be indicating. Having said that, i will still state the below but one needs to understand that is that in terms of criticality, what is mentioned below is indeed an appendix and may be ignored if the five areas covered above are indeed focussed on properly.

Nothing else is a more visible sign of success than the physical infrastructure present within the country. This is a known fact and our country has been pursuing this direction for the past few years. Besides, there is also a debate about environment friendly infrastructure – meaning that we must have adequate green cover, green technology as well as good roads, etc. However, with efforts being undertaken in a dispersed manner, success continues to elude the country. One therefore needs focus in this aspect and I propose three areas of focus while other actions are being taken simultaneously:

1. The decision to electrify entire Gujarat 24X7 is a masterstroke and needs to be repeated across the country. Simple (though difficult) outcome like this will spur its own benefits where people will be empowered to bring changes in their lives on their own thanks to availability of abundant electricity. Electrification with locally built check-dams across the entire country must be made as the first priority. Even the lowest of the low use railways but despite their commendable resilience, this remains dirty, slow & unsafe mode of transport for most of the Indians. To make this of a premium experience on a war footing remains a critical task.
2. The idea of a university or training school for teachers in Gujarat is again an impressive thought. On a war footing, we as a country need high quality teachers and if we manage to increase the number of high quality teachers together with rebuilding the school network in every village and town of the country, we will have a nation of educated and articulate young and thereby reap the benefit of demographic dividend in a positive manner.

Both the above can be given to dynamic individuals who will drive these initiatives to success and the positive spin-offs from these two initiatives will again bring significant and far-reaching benefits to the entire country for all days to come. One must note that other initiatives must not be discontinued but high priority, resources, money, etc must be focused on these two sectors to bring a speedy benefit to the people of the country in a visible form.

LAST ONE (for now…)

I do not want to be elaborate but could not stop stating this. Taking of themes of taking baby steps to erase false identities, can we explore the possibility of removal of “surnames” from the naming tradition in the country? This concept is an artificial concept and brought into our country owing to a colonial legacy of making surnames mandatory for every individual. To avoid the situation of confusion of identities (since many people have similar names), we can add mother’s name to the name of the individual. Since mother is anyway a must for all individuals (except that it creates challenges in respect of orphans), this will ensure preservation of identity as well as promote Ardhanareeshwara concept of identity where both woman and man together make a person. I will not write more – I have already written enough.

Thanks very much for reading through the paper

With lots of love