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Business News/ Opinion / Online-views/  Is the era of ‘chalta hai’ over?
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Is the era of ‘chalta hai’ over?

With endeavours like attendance.gov.in, there is a bigger message that is coming through: a rules-based regime, long promised by India, is slowly taking root

If you had logged onto www.attendance.gov.in on Sunday, you would have found that 586 government staffers had logged their presence. A little over a month ago, this was not an option.Premium
If you had logged onto www.attendance.gov.in on Sunday, you would have found that 586 government staffers had logged their presence. A little over a month ago, this was not an option.

If you had logged onto www.attendance.gov.in this Sunday, you would have found that 586 government staffers had logged their presence. A little over a month ago, this was not an option.

The point here is not to sing another hosanna for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). (For the record, the idea of a transparent attendance system is not the first of its kind, and it was promoted by a close associate of Nandan Nilekani, who is a member of the Congress party and was part of the previous government.)

Instead, there is a bigger message that is coming through. It is that a rules-based regime, long promised by India, is slowly taking root. Not only does it mean less discretion, but it also demands greater accountability. In short, the attitude of chalta hai, or disdain for rules that has defined India, may be beginning to fray.

A blog discussion published online defined the phrase “chalta hai", the best. “Literally translated, it means ‘it walks’, but the real meaning is ‘it’s ok’. Basically this means brushing off things like rules because people think they don’t matter."

The blogger is right. It has been employed to justify virtually anything. From little infractions like the practice of jumping lights, breaking queues, petty bribes, to larger crimes such as corruption, political vendetta, bribing for votes, everything could be explained away by two words and a shrug of the shoulder. It progressively reinforced a discretion-based regime which suited everybody as there was absolutely no accountability.

On first thoughts, it may sound far-fetched to make the claim that the idea of “chalta hai" is on the way out merely on the basis of a centralized attendance system. It won’t, if we do not look at this development in isolation.

Take for example the recent decision of the Supreme Court to cancel all the coal licences issued to all but four of the 218 coal blocks awarded between 1993 and 2010. Most of our attention has been taken up by the mess that this decision has created—in terms of how the NDA would unravel the allocations, loans and land acquisition. True, this is important. But equally pertinent is the fact that this inclement decision was based on the true interpretation of the law.

To put it simply, the apex court found that all the licences violated existing law and, hence, even if the mines were operational, they were illegal. It was an indictment of not just the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, but every government that has held office since 1993—including the NDA. The court is signalling that regardless of when the infraction is discovered, the action will be deemed illegal (like the apex court had done while cancelling the 2G auction licences).

Further, the court emphasized the fallout of not following a rules-based regime: crony capitalism. “These proceedings look to the future in that by highlighting the wrong, it is expected that the government will not deal with the natural resources that belong to the country as if they belong to a few individuals who can fritter them away at their sweet will," the Supreme Court observed.

Similarly, the apex court had ruled last year that politicians once convicted will have to immediately forfeit elected office. It effectively plugged the loophole wherein lawmakers could file repeated appeals against their convictions and, thereby, hold on to power—something that forced Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa to resign after her conviction by a Karnataka court in the case against her for disproportionate assets.

What the Supreme Court’s decisions over the last few years have done is to ensure, albeit belatedly, the enforcement of a rules-based regime. The humiliating defeat of the Congress, which struggled to deal with the raft of allegations of corruption, in the recently concluded 16th general election was the political reaffirmation of a country towards zero tolerance to corruption—an implicit thumbs up to a rules-based regime. Together, they have created the perfect context to bury the idea of “chalta hai".

This is exactly why the idea of Swachh Bharat (a repackaged programme) is resonating; the people are ready to listen to the notion that clearing garbage is as important in creating it. In other words, dealing with garbage is as much the responsibility of every individual as it is of the civic authorities. To put it simply, it is no longer acceptable to say chalta hai while littering.

Now, that is a beginning.

Anil Padmanabhan is deputy managing editor of Mint and writes every week on the intersection of politics and economics.

Comments are welcome at capitalcalculus@livemint.com

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Published: 13 Oct 2014, 01:36 AM IST
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