Long back I read somewhere “India is not only the largest democracy in the world rather it is the largest functioning democracy in the world.” Flipping through the pages of the Book ‘Despite the State’ forced me to question my long held belief. Although it is a well known fact that India is a functioning democracy but the question is functioning for who?
The book ‘Despite the State’ written By Investigative journalist M Rajsekhar is an investigative report about the functioning of state institutions in 6 different states viz. Mizoram, Orissa, Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. The book was published as part of his ‘Ear to the Ground’ Project.
M Rajsekhar starts with the state of Mizoram where the state is not able to pay salaries partly because of the states’s incapacity to generate enough revenue and partly because of the rent seeking activities in the government. The state of Orissa missed the iron ore boom and it lost huge amount of revenue that could have accrued to the state. The state of Punjab is captured by one family and the state of Tamil Nadu is practicing populism. Whereas in the state of Bihar the state is largely absent, in the state of Gujarat the state itself is promoting majoritarianism.
The incapacity of the centre in not being able to provide the basic facilities to its people has been studied upon immensely. However the dysfunctionalities of the states to provide things of basic facilities to its people has largely been ignored although it is the states which are working closer to the people. In the book ‘Despite the State’ the writer precisely tries to achieve the same. The incapacity of the states to provide basic facilities like roads, hospitals and the ‘state capture’ by the states’ ruling elites has been brought out in the book with full facts.
Democracy was founded on the belief that the public representatives will work in the interest of People. However as brought out by many New Public Management theorists, the public representatives when in the position of power work more for self interest rather than for the public interest. In this process the lives of thousands of people are affected because in developing states like India people are dependent on states for many of their basic needs like roads and hospitals etc. The entire book of M Rajsekhar is about this one aspect. The public institutions in India are working for the select few and benefitting the select few. For example in the case of Punjab all the public institutions of the state seem to be working in the interest of the Ruling family only.
Is India progressing? The answer is certainly yes! is the growth inclusive? The answer is certainly No! As the states are the primary carriers of the socio-economic growth its people, certainly there is a need for course correction on part of the states so that the fruits of the progress are shared by all the strata of the society rather than a select few.