India’s political paralysis

Gasping for breath

Short of authority and direction, India’s rulers flail in the face of growing problems

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Readers' comments



None of the Political Parties in India wish to tackle corruption, for it will be akin to a self destruct action on their part. Bureaucrats are only too happy and shall do whatever it takes to ensure that graft continues to enjoy a prominent place in the Indian society. The common man too, in general is half hearted about tackling corruption. Integrity of many of the members of the so called "team Anna" has come into question even as they cry hoarse about the corrupt politician. The fact is that corruption is ingrained in our culture and nothing ever can be done about it.

Yingnam Fong

Great democrazy. So many outspoken elite pushing their own views with no wish to make a compromise. No one is powerful enough to set out the priority of work for the country. It is amazing for the guys to have so many considerations and arguments on some straight forward bills lasting beyond the deadlines or reasonable time(if any). The marathon debate wont do any good to the masses. I think the debaters must have swallowed a lot of valiums to stretch on. Why not list out options for voting? Why not put the argumentative policy at a trial run at a designated city to assess the effectiveness? Dont let the talking parliament talk too much. Got to move the ass and action.

AussieLouis in reply to Yingnam Fong

This is the problem with western democracy as we know it today. Whether it is in India or the US, congressmen would keep talking and talking until the wishes of their masters are adhered to or their financial self-interests are secured.

No wonder China and Singapore are racing ahead!

Yingnam Fong in reply to AussieLouis

To AuusieLouis
You are absolutely right. We all know that the Congressmen in both US and India have the power to influence the bills. But whom they are speaking for would often remain unknown. The experience has it that some of the key Congressmen might be working for the lobbyists who got pay from the interest groups to stall or facilitate the passing of a bill into legislation. This being the case, the rules of the game might often be twisted. On comparing the west and east systems, the result of their performance should have a final say on which one is the better.


North Korea is a country ruled by a dynasty, calls itself democratic when it is not and spends massive amount of money on defense while its people are starving

trollslayer in reply to VLHC

utterly inane comment, didn't know the economist's readership included such idiots, sure, the gandhi family is powerful, thats because of a strong association with the freedom movement south asia's general fascination with dynastic rule, and of course deep pockets, india is a democracy, which is the reason why unpopular reforms will not pass, regardless of their merit


India's Congress party led by the every so charming Gandhi dynasty, wins elections and stays in power by using the power of (hollow) sloganeering. It fools the poor by telling them that it sides with them and not with the rich or the middle class. This type of sloganeering wins them elections, but yet decade after decade, it does ALMOST NOTHING to provide better health (40% child malnutrition rate), better education, to the poor or tap peoples' real potential by building better roads, electricity, and water supply infrastructure. Here in Mumbai, the Congress goons encourage slum building, because almost every slum provides them with a ready made vote bank. Congress is the reason why the slums near Mumbai's international airport will never get cleared, it's poor will never get a chance to move out into a decent respectable place.

sashtejo in reply to Raj2010

Sloganeering does not win elections. It is the money power displayed a couple of days before the elections that does it. It is the money power that draws huge crowds to public meetings held by politicians. It is the money power that creates and nurtures vote banks. Voters rarely care about the backgrounds of candidates, unless he/she belongs to dynasties. This is not the type of democracy envisioned at the time of independence.


We may not be as bad as the Monarchical or Aristocratic forms of Govt which are being protested in other parts of the world. But the grim reality is that every Indian faces a Micron-ized Aristocrat at every public service department. To expect a service without bribing is a matter of laughing and unfortunately so after assuring a heavy pay package full of perks and security to the servants from the very public money that the govt pays them from. Nothing less than buying Humiliation, Torture and helplessness from the govt by paying hard earned money, thanks to the Govt.s incapability to handle corrpution. If Manmohan Singh, the most qualified and clearly with high integrity amongst the chosen "few dozens" is directionless, it is a clear imperative to major constitutional amendments tat the nation and the people deserve to reduce the corruption and the unaccounted money, into limits, if not "zero" it. BJP is not exception to the incapability and indecisiveness and corruption. The counterpart for Manmohan Singh being A B Vajpayee who now is rested by his own choice or any other good reasons. Sushma Swaraj sees an adapted son in a most outrageous Mining Don. And quickly withdraws her blessings from him for a face saving U-turn. All the leaders in opposition or in ruling party are deeply stuck into their own corruption quicksands that any wrong movement in a directionless ruckus would end them up in tarnish and blacklists in public lives.

The nation is going thru a transition but still struggling under the license raj attitude where the development and progress is being challenged by "whats in it for me?" infection in the leaders spanning a couple of generations.

The government has to be able to see beyond the elections and political gains to take a few bold decisions to cut short the severity of the corruption infection. The security and longevity of public servants has to be revised for better ownership , discipline and control, Monitoring and auditing mechanism has to be revised for effectiveness, Growth sectors have to be untouched so that the nation's future would not get impacted. looks like it takes a mentally stronger and younger leader and not necessarily an aged guru bonsia'ed by his own cabinet colleagues, that is required to inch thru the chaos. But again the question remains, is it the only family we would have to look at again or is there a better choice to look for from the 1.2 Billion population. ??????


The economist has an awful understanding of Indian politics and society. Anna Hazare turned anti-congress only after the congress refused his demand for a strong lokpal bill,necessary to check the growing menace of corruption. He is certainly not perfect: he supported the incident of sharad pawar being slapped after advocating non violence during his demonstrations. But before calling him populist,u should check his past record: even the so called "gurus" dont have such squeaky clean records as far as being honest is concerned....he enjoys mass popularity in India in an era of cynicism only because he has nothing to hide and doesn't mind any investigation against him....its the congress which has fallen flat on its face whenever he challenged them to investigate him


Corruption is the main problem facing the country and the ruling parties degraded themselves by submitting instead of giving clean governance and it has become a monster. The present rulers have lost their credibility in face of the expose of recent multi-billion scams. It's a lost cause for indian democracy and the only light of the landscape is the recent anti-corruption agitation of Anna Hazare. The Indian public have overwhelmingly responded to it and itshows a little hope for the country in the elections. There is nothing we can do till then and endure the hardships of mis-governance.


All I can say is that the government with some of the most qualified people in Indian politics has failed miserably. I cannot fathom what would happen if the opposition comes to power.

P M Warnekar in reply to G-Sub

Men who run this government may have attended Oxford or Cambridge may affect an accent that they imagine is elite. But they have shown themselves totally incompetent to lead this country to progress.
The opposition in contrast ran a purposeful government with the PM (with only 182 MPs from his party) firmly in command. He dismissed Mamata, Jethmalani, Mahajan and scores of other ministers when they incurred his displeasure. Because he did what he believed in.
MMS wants to show he is doing something that he never believed in - economic reforms.


mr tharoor has never lived in britain, but for a few months as an infant, yet affects a putative edwardian accent that he fondly imagines is the hallmark of the upper-classes of that country. now we are to understand that he has suggested scrapping parliamentary democracy in favour of a presidential system. by presidential he most probably is limiting himself to the north american system, with a strong legislature that any policy wonk knows is not a walk over. it is doubtful if a first time MP with no legislative experience, limited policy experience or policy writings (he was for a long period the communications director, raised to under secretary general at the united nations, a spin doctor of sorts), but a cachet of novellas attractive to the chattering classes, would have secured parliamentary confirmation as minister of state.
india is a noisy democracy - opinion makers always make noise until a thing is settled; then they accept it.

No Mist

it is wrong to say that a "lesser man might have quit by now".

a poodle doesn't quit licking the feet of its masters. only men do.


Your report last para is economical with truth. Team Anna invited memenrs of ALL major parties to share the stage with Mr Hazare but Sonia Party refused and instead used attack dogs to cast aspersions on him and other members of his team.


The purdaha system is the foundation of the indian family system,driven by the urge to be modern,we have given up the family system.MMS in his drive for change opted for RTI destroying the political system.

The nuclear families have led to increased wastage,we are not consuming more,we are just repeating the consumption patterns without any extra benefit to the user.

The economic system is flooded with cash flows,finding no avenues for investment the money is going into curroption.

Strong leadership is the need and this can happen immediately through a mid term poll.Let the new order emerge


Foreign Direct investment(FDI) in Retail is opposed by the all the parties in India. The trading community is the backbone (financial) of all the parties in India and Black money( unaccounted money) is the life giving oxygen for all the political parties ,more so for the Congress. Hence with all the sincerity of Man Mohan Singh and the immature Rahul Gandhi, no politician who knows the dynamics of the Indian political system will ever support the FDI.For that to happen, we have to get rid of all the current generation of politicians and replace them with 10-0% honest politicians- a tall order under the current circumstances.


"Gasping for breath" is not something new to wonder about. Veteran observers of India know that problems cited by TE have always been present albeit in different forms in India.
Some facts have never changed in history of 60 years of Indian independence:
1. It is not a democratic country as believed by many (including Indians and foreigners alike). Its a mafia-country spearheaded by royal Nehru family(renamed to Gandhi family - which is the cleverest trick of Nehru family so far)

2. The problems of corruptions and nepotism are not new. It starts right from Nehru - the first prime minister. As for corruption, getting a job done in a government office without paying bribe was not possible even in 60s.

3. Increased reporting and sharing of news about India is being confused with increase in "occurrences" of gaft/neopotism/sycophancy/incompetence. Such events are part of life for Indians since as far back as they can remember.

4. For Indian politicians politics is a career that rewards extremely well in Indian setup - abundance power and money (and prestige) with zero accountability. An easy way is to carry on such a career is to keep the masses poor/uneducated/divided. That way they can carry on with their loot/plunger without any accountability.


In another context, the presence of "less govt" might have seemed a plus point. A govt with a co-alition partner nixing its work......must be like a vacation for the opposition.

Gautam Agrawal

This analysis is bang on. It is time this government is booted out. It has lost direction and sense of purpose or rather it never had any.



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