Society and Culture

Meager Expectations & Unmet Potential: India’s Malaise

Not a day goes by without the newspapers hailing some Indian achievement. In the eyes of the media India is already a great power. And nowhere is this self-congratulation more evident than in discussions of Delhi’s infrastructure improvements and promises of an emerging ‘World City’.

Yet, Delhi is still very far from being anything world-class and promises to the contrary remind of the equally hollow slogan of ‘India Shining’ in the last general elections. Then, India’s economic growth had failed to include those outside the middle class. Similarly, today I find myself both disappointed and frustrated by Delhi’s progress and am scathing in my criticism. I am struck not by how much things have changed, but how much they have not.

The problem is not that progress does not occur – to be fair things have improved. By all accounts Delhi’s roads are much better, and certainly the best in the country. But to compare with other cities in India, is hardly setting an ambitious target. My problem is simply that they could be much better.

Delhi’s Infrastructure: Failing to Meet Potential

Delhi’s road improvements have occurred at a breakneck speed and at a massive cost to the taxpayer. Yet the flyovers have been built piecemeal, ignoring even the basics of traffic management such as room for merging traffic, lane changes, and usable directional signs. Roads have been broadened, but without thought to the parked cars, hawkers, and pedestrians that now have nowhere to go. All these improvements completely ignore the vast majority of people that walk, bike, or use public transport. And, did I say they are very ugly?

The problem is epitomized by the flyovers at AIIMS and Dhaula Kuan, which were supposed to be state-of-the-art. Far from it, they failed to account for pedestrians, approaches to them are blocked by badly placed bus stops, each is unique requiring familiarity with each and they are a colossal waste of space. For anyone that has traveled on a western highway, these flyovers generate confusion and shock but hardly admiration.

These failings would be understandable if solutions to them were not viable. Yet, they are both inexpensive and easy. Keeping existing lanes clear of humans, animals and other obstructions is cheaper and more effective than expanding roads, and separate lanes for turning traffic smoothes flow without flyovers. There is empirical evidence too of these problems. In spite of them average traffic speeds have fallen and road accidents increased. A report by the Central Road Research Institute condemned the flyovers for poor design and urban planning, and suggested many further changes.

Delhi’s People: Failing to Demand More

Curiously enough, nobody I know shares my frustration. Why is that? How is it that the government and construction mafia has siphoned millions from the taxpayer, delivered arguably mediocre results, yet satisfied its constituents?

At issue here is not whether Delhi, indeed India, is improving. Rather, it is the point to which it is. My colleagues in India compare the roads today to what they used to be. I compare them to what they can be. So they are satisfied, I am not.

This willingness to accept mediocrity is all the more curious, given its dichotomy from our performance in other spheres. In the export-oriented private sector we have proven to be world-class across a host of sectors. Yet, we demand nothing of our public services.

Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize winning economist has provided a formal explanation for this contradiction. In discussing the limitations of utility in economic theory Sen argues that a person’s happiness is not sufficient to measure his well-being. Also important is his ability to aspire and his agency in achieving those ambitions. As he states, ‘the hopelessly deprived lack the courage to desire much, and their deprivations are muted and deadened in the scale of desire-fulfilment.’

In other words, we demand little of our public services because we have never known better.

A Country with a Future, but what of the Present?

I started by writing about Delhi and its roads. Yet, my observations apply to much else. Corrupt officials are accepted, indeed patronized; public utilities are not expected to provide electricity, so we install backup power; public education is eschewed for private; inept police cannot serve nor protect so we avoid them or hire bodyguards; murderous politicians are publicly defended and voted to power, because we do not think to ask for more.

So what allows us to move forward nevertheless? It may be what we call jugaad, an ability to improvise and ‘make-do’ in an environment of scarcity and survival. As a positive, it indicates ingenuity and a natural inventiveness that Indians have often leveraged to their benefit. Yet, there is a catch. Since jugaad exists because the status quo has failed it implies also a willingness to accept rather than change it.

As a nation, we seem to have tempered our expectations. It would, of course, be tempting to place the blame on government, because surely we could do better than 8.5% GDP growth with a more capable public sector? Yet, our inability to meet our potential is not the government’s failure. It is ours. It is the reason why, contrary to its self-generated media hype, India remains a country of the future, not the present. Because its citizens accept, indeed rejoice, in a mediocrity that chains our ingenuity. And a citizenry that does not ask for more is not likely to get, nor deserves more.

© 2006 The Discomfort Zone.