Give Trust a Chance!

Honesty, integrity and probity! Big words but in our practical world, particularly in government, do we have that exemplar leader who is truly that? One who has never misused official machinery, or enjoyed a consideration of any kind from any one with whom they have official dealing. Not many, for sure. I was certainly not one of them. Yet, I was what I would say, reasonably honest. I am glad today that I was. Why? After I retired, the jealous and downright corrupt among IR bosses started hounding me and the ICF Vande Bharat team with fake Vigilance cases because the advent of this train and its appreciation was either unpalatable to them or detrimental to their corrupt dreams. In those days, it is this confidence that we had been honest kept us going fearlessly. Yes, friends, these words written by Shakespeare are not cliches, truer words have perhaps not been written:

 

‘No legacy is so rich as honesty’ (Mariana in All's Well That Ends Well), ‘Virtue is bold and goodness never fearful’ (Duke Vincentio, Measure for Measure ) and ‘Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind’ (Richard, Henry VI)

 

I and the members of the team who were being victimized endured the machinations let loose by these mercenaries through the richness of our honesty; although under considerable stress, but being totally free of any guilt, we were never fearful.

 

It is easy to be transparent as long as it is divorced from delivery. It is also, perhaps, easier to deliver if there was no pressure of transparency. Merit lies in delivering while being transparent. In general, transparency is the quality of being easily seen through. A secondary connotation also refers to complete predictability, that is, the output is entirely predictable on knowing the input. Since constructive and effective ordering of stores is not a computer game, if you follow such blind transparency, it is liable to be misused by incapable suppliers.

 

Why am I bringing this subject? Simply because this caboodle of the crooked, with either nefarious or jealous designs, would declare that the way we went about ordering and executing the Train 18 project was not very transparent. Well, it is neither my intent nor place to defend individual cases as in any case, no wrong was done, and good sense prevailed through the office of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner to close the cases. I would, however, attempt to address the larger question. Trust.

 

The British built a system of governance and administration predicated on mistrust, even distrust, of Indians. A maze of rules, regulations and procedures on one hand to ensure that Indians in position of power were kept under check and multiple monitors and watchdogs to evaluate decisions before sanction, during execution and after completion. The system, unfortunately, was not demolished at all after independence. I dare say that it has rather been buttressed with more checks and balances. What has it led to? Has the government been a corruption-free agency to manage the country or execute development works? Largely no. Most would agree that corruption has actually increased whereas delivery has hardly improved except in cases where IT has brought in significant agility and transparency.

 

Let me give an example of how trust can transmute even well-entrenched systems. When the design work of Train 18/Vande Bharat started, the most crucial role was that of two gentlemen - the Chief Design Engineers, Mechanical and Electrical. They would be the best judge of what to purchase and from whom, whether from a single source, from a limited panel of sources or through open bidding. I gave them a carte blanche. Their decision would be final and no GM, Chief Engineers, Production, Planning, Finance or Stores would question them. Both of them were very competent officers and given this freedom, they ensured that the train got built in record time with materials sourced from the best possible sources.

 

Readers would remember the example of Metro Man E. Sreedharan. The man worked with complete trust of the administration and he made use of this confidence to complete the DMRC project at such speed and precision that it has become a benchmark in the Metro arena today.

 

I am not getting into redefining processes and roles. I am only talking of the spirit. Recalling the Nurse in the bard’s Romeo and Juliet, ‘There’s no trust, No faith, no honesty in men, all perjured, All foresworn, all naught, all dissemblers’. Indeed, my granduncle, that’s what your dishonest looter descendants thought of us but we have driven them out long back, banished from India. It is time now for Indians to stand up for Indians. The government, and to start with the central government, which is by far the biggest spender, must act.

We need some hypercorrection, Chachā (uncle) Ghālib:

Tire va.ade par jiye ham to ye jaan jhuuT jaanā

ki ḳhushī se mar na jaate agar e'tibār hotā

(jaanā: beloved, e'tibār: trust, confidence. Your promise made me live but not because it deceived me; I would otherwise lose my life because of sheer happiness if I trusted your vow). 

My appeal to the highest political leadership in the government is that they kindly wake up to infuse this e'tibār in the eco-system, it will lead to hopefulness and happiness, not death. I am sure it would not only result in things getting done, corruption also would actually come down.

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PS: Readers may also like to go through a related blog:

http://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2020/04/musings-transparency-delivery-must-meet.html