What Young India Wants by Chetan Bhagat

Author:Chetan Bhagat
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9788129121271
Published: 2013-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

How to Reverse the Trust Deficit

'Are we sending the right people to Parliament?'

Anna Hazare managed to spur one of the most unapproachable governments in the world to positive action. He lit a desire for change among young people. He also started the much-needed process of restoring good values in Indians. Yes, many of us are still corrupt, whether forced by the system or otherwise, but a part of us yearns to be good. That part just became stronger. This mass booster shot of morality is the biggest contribution of the Team Anna movement, apart from the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Of course, these achievements did come at a cost. We saw a relatively long period of unsettling turmoil. We saw ugly, unpleasant qualities like stubbornness, insolence and over-aggressiveness from both sides on public display. In an ideal world, people would be reasonable and, irrespective of their position or power, do the right thing. However, we live in a far-from-ideal world and, given the circumstances, we came out relatively unscathed. This time, our youth did not come out on the streets to hurt people from another caste or religion. They came to simply demand a more fair and just society in a peaceful manner. It is a proud moment for all of us. India's current generation is different, and a salute to that.

However, I was shocked and disheartened by the intense criticism of Anna from certain sections of the English-speaking intellectual circles. If the elite had backed Anna more strongly, we could have had a quicker and better consensus. Of course, people have a right to an opinion. However, I often found that the opinions seemed more like a generic negative bias towards Anna, perhaps because of his rustic background, methods or sudden rise to fame which were all irrelevant to the issue at hand.

The strongest anti-Anna argument was that Parliament cannot and should not be subverted. There is no doubt that Parliament and the Constitution are important and have to be respected. However, these work on a basic assumption—confidence of the people. If confidence in them is lost, the institution does not work. And that is what we have to restore in Parliament now before we ask people to respect it.

How important people's confidence is, is illustrated by the following example. The paper notes we carry in our pocket have value only if people believe they have value. In many instances, people have lost faith in a country's currency. This normally happens when the government prints money without care, thereby devaluing it at a rapid pace, such as in Zimbabwe. At one point in 2008, prices were doubling in Zimbabwe every twenty-four hours. The profligate government printed money in higher denominations. The price of a loaf of bread reached 10 billion Zimbabwean dollars. Eventually, people dumped the currency and switched to a barter system. Now imagine, if elite Zimbabwe intellectuals came on TV and said that the monetary system of the country, the government and their currency must be respected above all. Would anyone have bought the argument? I don't think so.

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