It is well known that in India the exception is more often the rule. Exemptions granted to any number of people to bypass rules makes a mockery of most regulations drawn up to govern anything, be it a queue, grant of licences or just being served in a public place.
An extreme example of how to kill the “odd-even” traffic plan to curtail choking Delhi’s high pollution is the list of exemptions that make the whole thing almost farcical. It seems almost everyone is exempt except a few thousand four-wheelers, that too may seek women to drive to beat the rules taking effect on New Year’s Day.
Ironically Robert Vadra, himself a beneficiary of India’s VIP culture, now speaks sense in questioning exemptions. The other big issue is VIP security and how politicians and top officials clamour for it. The list of those exempted from airport frisking is an embarrassing pointer to the kind of muddled thinking imposed by self-important people who feel sure ordinary rules don’t apply to them. Rules are apparently only for the aam aadmi to follow!
A former Lok Sabha Speaker had once cancelled his trip there when told quite unequivocally that no one could be exempted from airport frisking in that country. The Indian liking of queue-jumping and name-dropping is so deeply ingrained that the love of privilege over the common man’s head has been cultivated for years and become a national habit. One fears that there is very little hope that things might change.
