August 24, 2017 should be remembered as a day of great significance in the history of our country. It is on this day that the Supreme Court of India passed the landmark judgment on Right to Privacy. A judgment which more or less reminds the government of the many basic rights the citizens must have, at all times, and that it will not allow anybody to trample or manipulate it. Most of the population already grappling with government’s double whammy of demonetisation and GST are unfortunately not in a position to rejoice the strengthening of their rights, by the highest court of the land.
Meantime, citizens ultra active on social media, are wondering as to what this fuss is all about. After all they have voluntarily decided to post every personal event of their life, for friends to have a glimpse, or so they think. Many will be astounded to know that the government has plans to gatecrash and scrutinise their social media accounts, even if they have not invited them to be their friends or followers, on the pretext of checking the color of every citizen’s financial background. Of course there is no reason to worry if every big ticket purchase or that extravagant holiday is paid and accounted for, through proper channels. But is the government allowed to stalk its citizens in this manner, especially after the Supreme Court judgment, is a matter of debate.
Democracy is all about debate, even if it means time-consuming and indecisive, but a debate nevertheless. Big decisions cannot and should not be made on a whim, by a single individual, even if it bolster’s the image of the decision maker as somebody bold and decisive. Democracy is designed to take into account the citizens ‘Mann Ki Baat’, also. Yes, it might be noisy and distorted, but it’s more or less intended to have a bottom-up approach. Does not mean we make the entire population stand in a queue and tell them they have five minutes to speak to the nation. Technically, even that is possible now with social media providing an effective tool to every citizen to vent their feelings or throw up ideas that might work for the country. Yes there is extreme risk of trolls and social media manipulation, that is already prevalent at the moment, but we need to give time for the system to evolve, rather than clamp it down just because the message that comes out is awkward.
Has anybody figured out why, there have been such a big spike in the criticism of the central government handling of the country’s economy? Everybody knew GST would be slowing down things temporarily, but why have people grown impatient? It might have something to do with the timing of the Right to Privacy judgment. Hell seems to have broken loose, especially for the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, about the functioning of the economy, not only from rivals, but also from their internal party members. This is exactly what happens when you gag freedom of speech, pressure builds up, and when it gets released, it has the potential to sweep away even other good things the government has attempted.
Politicians must therefore take a leaf on how successful companies run their businesses. For every product they sell or the service they provide, they have a feedback mechanism in place. These companies are not stupid to waste their time and money to check on the product or service, after the transaction is complete. They do it, because they value consumer opinion and that too in an open online environment, where prospective customer can easily see the brickbats as well as praises. It is this transparent process that differentiates them from being a fly by night operator, to the guys that are in for the long haul, without losing their main focus on continuous product and service improvement. So even if they have the best managers internally to point out deficiencies in their system, they still depend on unbiased consumer opinion, or for that matter, independent external consultants.
A country is naturally much bigger then a company, and with such high stakes, all the more reason the government humbly listen to unbiased feedback it gets. Yes citizens can get greedy sometimes, and vote for a party or a candidate that takes care of their personal interests, and then opine only in favor of the administration. Governments instead of getting carried away with such ego inflating commentary, should actually lookout for genuine criticism that might come from unexpected quarters, all written or commented in good faith.
The economy of the country has some genuine problems ahead. Domestically, the end game of the Indian banks non-performing assets, internationally the winding down US Federal Reserve balance sheet and the impact it will have on emerging markets and their respective currencies. When the country is faced with genuine problems, praises from biased people might not be as helpful as genuine critics that might identify the problem and come up with solutions. It is because of this reason that the freedom of speech channel should always be open.
Goa for example had a Party C government that was not only corrupt and arrogant, but hardly bothered to read or hear what was written or said about them, no voter feedback at all. Comparatively Party B, not without its faults and totally behind the curve, but at least they keep an ear on what is written about them. Yes they are still at wits’ end on tackling Party C corrupt deeds, but they have implemented some ideas that were suggested to them through mainstream media.
Be it India or Goa, a country or state is made up its citizens; our political system were designed to encourage collective thinking, so as to get the best possible solution to genuine problems we face. The Supreme Court in this judgment has merely reminded us of not only our right but also our duty towards the nation.
(The author is a business consultant).
