No Subject

[Sanjeev Sabhlok <sabhlok@almaak.usc.edu>]

Charu's views:

> I agree that 1 Rupee per person per year is a LOT of money.
> 
> Then [as now] this will make the position of MP a much coveted post
> because of the material reward it represents, and there will be extreme
> competition for this position. 

Excellent! Today there is no competition. It is a complete walk-over [Def: 
Walk over: when the competitor does not come to the match] for those who
have amassed crores of rupees by stealing from public property (funds
meant for school buildings, guns, etc.) in their previous tenure as our
"leaders," or have bribed the income tax system to pay little tax when
they own hundreds of times more money than they declare (typical of film
star type politicians), or those who directly engage in smuggling and drug
traffiking/ similar outstanding activities. In other words, today you have
to be a part of the National Mafia of the Corrupt in order to even have a
miniscule chance of being allowed to enter the arena of Governance.

A good system, in my opinion, is that which would throw up the best men
and women that a society possesses at a given point of time, for its
governance, repeatedly, and without fail, in each generation, till
eternity. In other words, goodness in the 'rulers' (actually our
contractors) should be the guaranteed and **unique** "equilibrium point" 
of the system. 


In my opinion, also, the current design of our polity guarantees a **
unique ** equilibrium. But that eqbm. is not what you and I think as being
good. The current "System equations"  ALWAYS and in-terminably solve for 
incompetence, corruption, thieves, tax-evaders, and hate-mongering.

The other side of the coin is that the good are **uniquely** and
interminably "kicked" out - both from the competition for governance and
the competition for survival in India. Hence you find not only that honest
folk do not enter politics, but honest folk do not go far in the IAS,
honest folk do not even like to remain in the IAS any longer, and our best
and most competent brains invariably attempt to get out of India. 

Solve this "System" any way you like it. Only one solution you will find. 
I guarantee that. I stake my entire reputation on that. I challenge any
socialist or swadeshi to tell me if the system has any alternative
equilibrium. 

That does not mean (the fact that I claim - and everyone claims - that
this system has a unique 'resting point' of Decadence) that providing an
alternative system within the Constitution of India (which I think is a
pretty good effort put in the 1940s by some folk) is an easy task.

It is not easy to design human society easily. The contradictory pulls and
differences of understanding are too many. However, **at the very least**
a good system should enable **at least some** good folk a reasonable
foothold to compete for provision of Governance Services. To compete to be
our contractors. The system design being proposed (electoral reform,
economic reform, transparency, civic citizenship) does precisely that. It
will not eliminate the Mafia - at least not in the very short run. It will
not ensure that people who are honest, competent, and with a vision, will
all go through. For sure, some will die on the way, merely for having the
courage to raise their voice and to enter the competition. But the
churning of the system - as proposed now - will, I believe, and I am sure
most members on this list agree so far, lead to a reasonable hope of our
seeing good people think about governance, and try to be our contractors.

> I think what you're proposing is like a band aid over gangrene.

I would once again, like I requested last time, not enter into a
point-by-point debate on why this system that we have so far 'designed' is
not perfect. Of course it is not. How can you expect perfection in human
affairs when even the definition of perfection is imperfect, subjective
and incomplete? 

All I would recommend is that you (and anyone else who has a better idea) 
propose the exact source code (the **words**, the syntax) for the new
Operating System for India which will provide **at least** some feasible
solutions with alternative equilibria. In other words, I'd be happy with a
system that does not have unique eqbria solving for "The Best Leadership,"
but offers multiple solutions with at least a distinct and reasonable
probability of solving for the "Good leading India," as one of the
equilibria. 

So =-=-=->>>>

Propose the **exact alternative** to what I have summarized from the
debates so far. That is how we will progress. Else, let me put this
summary on the web page in the "manifesto" and move on to other topics
like the Rule of Law. We can revert to electoral reform once a better
source code is proposed by anyone.

SS



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