Hyderabad: The term “failed state” connotes a national being which is bereft of any authority and power. Authority and power are often confused as being the same. They are not. The record of the Indian State in improving the living standards of the majority of its people is abysmal, said Mohan Guruswamy in his talk “India, a Failed State?” at Manthan on Friday.
Mr Guruswamy said that on all infrastructure indices “we are well below – forget China – even that failed state, Pakistan.”
How long can a State that doesn’t accomplish its goals by so much, exist, he questioned.
“Have you ever wondered why our states are so dirty? Why nobody bothers about the government? Are people getting what they were promised years ago? Are people able to file FIRs without any issues?” he queried.
What do you say about a State which cannot take care of its people? How long does it take to get justice? You cannot turn to the courts for justice either, because several million cases clog the higher courts. The delay in justice routinely leads to broken contracts and agreements. Mr Guruswamy gave his own example,
“I had filed a defamation case 20 years ago against a famous editor who published in a newspaper that I don’t have a Harvard degree, but the case is pending since 20 years.”
He says, “Now revolution of India is an extracted system and India had always had an extracted system. India, as one State, has never been larger. Like Ashoka’s great Empire, the Mughal Empire never went down southwards and eastwards very much. After the British left, this was the biggest single State left.”
The GDP of the country is growing, Mr Guruswamy said, but there is no money in the government’s pocket. What is the use of growth in GDP when government doesn’t have any money in its pockets? Politics decides the economy, not economics, he added.
Mr Mohan Guruswamy graduated in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry from Nizam College in Hyderabad. He is a post-graduate in Public Policy, International Affairs and Management. He is an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Mohan Guruswamy is a frequent commentator on national and international TV and radio on matters of current interest and writes a widely read and disseminated newspaper and magazine column.
