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Mr Yogendra Yadav (YogenJi) was someone I had always admired. But, I could never understand how he could not free himself from the ‘Socialism’ shackles he seemed trapped in, all these years. As such, at his talk at the Manmohan Singh (MMS) ‘shradhanjali’, in Bengaluru, early last month*1, it was most refreshing to hear him candidly, and most sportingly, admitting that he had been mistaken in opposing MMS-Ji’s pitch for “LPG” – liberalisation, privatisation, globalisation. And he went on to elaborate that what was wrong was “Crony Capitalism” of the “Modi sarkar” kind, and not the kind MMS was trying to promote.
Well, I posted a series tweets mentioning all of this, and went on to add that, in that respect, there was the most successful & equitable Delhi power supply PPP model *2, which Sri L K Atheeq (who had worked under MMS for 5 years and expressed admiration for him too, in his talk*3, on the same occasion), and is currently an Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Govt of Karnataka, should be able to convince the Socialist, Siddaramaiah-avaru into adopting too, right away. And, perhaps thereafter similar route could be followed in other areas, particularly in infrastructure, liberating the state and the citizens thereby, and setting an example for other states to follow too.
Naysayers may point out to job losses. True – but, the greater efficiency will create increased economic activity, and more jobs therewith. Also, rather than creating more jobs, what’s needed today is nurturing interests, talents, passions – well, that’s another debate*4 altogether.
A few days later, there appeared an article headlined “Calls intensify for expert involvement in Bengaluru make-over – we will give more powers to BATF (Bangalore Agenda Task Force), D K Shivakumar”, in a prominent daily*5. I immediately responded with a series of tweets, saying in essence – Yes, apparently, #BATF’s relevance has finally dawned on the powers that be, perhaps following YogenJi’s (the most genuine Socialist of all times), recent admission that he was mistaken in opposing MMS’s LPG efforts.
Now, I had been on the theme of ‘privatisation’ from long, and had even filed a PIL to end BMTC (then composite KSRTC) monopoly, way back in 1996*6. As such, when BATF was promoted by Sri S M Krishna (SMK), around early 2000, I was invited by the Convener of BATF (a highly respected industrialist) to participate, by engaging with BMTC, to improve its services. But, since there was no scope for involving the private sector (as mandated by the CM, or more likely as conveyed that way by a bureaucrat), I declined, knowing full well that it would then be a futile exercise. Actually, SMK himself was not against the involvement of the private sector, which was borne out later through a series of mail exchanges, directly with me, leading to the birth of “Bendre Nagara Sarige” in Hubli-Dharwar*7. So, as much as MMS, SMK too was very much a reformer.
Another reformer was Madam Sheila Dikshit (again a Congress CM), who transformed power distribution in Delhi, about which I have already mentioned, in the 2nd para above.
Well, apparently LPG’s time has finally come, even if rather late, and perhaps BATF can be the vehicle to implement it in Bengaluru. Whichever way, there is no more time to lose.
When I posted a link to the above on a RWA WhatsApp group, a vocal Civil Society member, who is a champion of the car-centric growth model of fly-overs, and now of the tunnel roads proposed across the city too, came up with – “Privatisation of an organisation/ service delivery outfit is one thing; but privatisation of governance of a city is quite another thing. If thats the way to go, we might as well scrap the concept of elections and even the constitution for that matter. BATF had unbridled control of planning and execution, and then fell on its own contradictions.“
The irony of it all is that, even the idea of ‘privatisation’ (rather, involvement of the private sector, ideally on the lines of Delhi’s PPP model) of BMTC, was rejected by the BATF convener, due to which I had declined to participate. For all of that, when talks such as “BATF having unbridled control of planning and execution“, “privatisation of governance of the city“, etc, come up, the problem obviously is “pseudo-Socialism” (as different from Yogen-Ji’s genuine Socialism), all of which has eventually led to an autocrat handing over the country’s entire economy itself to an oligarch.
One hopes and prays other enlightened members of the Civil Society, who besides have no axe to grind, will begin to assert their views boldly, and liberate city and state from the strangle-hold of pseudo-Socialists, on the one hand, and the marauders, on the other.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW_GB3TTeA0
https://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2018/08/05/failed-ppps-and-finally-good-model
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-q4lfifxvM
https://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2012/05/23/oh-government-job#comment-38766
https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/calls-intensify-for-expert-involvement-in-b-luru-makeover-3351477
WP8313/1996
https://praja.in/en/~bangalore/blog/murali772/2009/04/09/yi-did-not-fail-it-was-dumped#comment-38771
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