Come elections and there have been scores of new schemes which have been promoted by various regional and central parties in India. Some have gone to the extent of providing television sets and refrigerators; ironically they have gone on to win massively too. In some cases certain people have been offered free power for hours together when the rest of the state reels under darkness and sweat in summer.
Whatever is the case the Indian politician never stops amusing me. The latest drive has been the much publicized “Austerity Drive” by none other than the grand old Indian National Congress. This comes from a party that boasts of 137 multi-millionaire MPs. Though we all know the simple man at the helm who may live up to the notion of austerity drive, Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh, it is difficult to fathom its prolonged existence given we all know that this is the land where politicians are notoriously known for the muscle of their wealth. Whether it is the grand gala weddings, or vast number of the statues intended to be installed, or expensive living habits, etc. it is unbelievable for anyone to imagine a power mongering and power spoilt Indian politician to live up to the demands and hype of this new drive.
This is definitely a novel idea if only this is the start and definitely not if it is an end. A common man will never understand the need for a rich politician scaling down his travel expenses. There are such innumerable issues which need to be handled at a very urgent priority, this new measure is most likely viewed by critics as a mere election gimmick rather than an honest initiative.
On one end there is this drought looming and on the other the approaching of the next elections in some very key Indian States. It remains to be seen whether this new drive turns out to be a much talked about fizz which dies out eventually (or even before the elections) or if this is a big gamble which is the fodder for the weakened opposition. The opposition from most of the quarters has already called it a sham and cheap election gimmick. It has also been highly ridiculed in almost entire media.
What started it and how?
Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee provided his two recommendations during the press conference talking about the austerity drive. Mukherjee said “These measures are not new and are there already in the standing instructions of the finance ministry for quite some time. Due to the growth in revenue as indicated in the budget figures, these measures were not strictly adhered to”. Mukherjee added two points: “Those passengers, such as MPs ministers and certain category officers, even though are eligible and entitled to travel executive and 1st class in international service, I suggested that in domestic service you should try to avoid that”.
It all started when Mrs. Sonia Gandhi has come out in mid September and asked the party leaders to forego a fifth of their pay towards the relief efforts in the drought stricken areas. To convey her message and in a move to lead from the front she even flew economy on a commercial flight from Delhi to Mumbai. When a VIP travels in economy it comes at a cost. Think of the case of Sonia’s travel – all credit to her to begin the initiative by herself - two rows of seats were needed to be booked to accommodate her with her security personnel. Normally she as a Congress President travels by the Indian Air Force special aircraft.
With this she joined a list of ministers who have now actively participated in this ostensible drive. Following her mother’s footsteps, the congress scion, Rahul Gandhi let go his travel plans by a chopper to travel by train from Delhi to Ludhiana and back. He set the bar reasonably high by not travelling the executive class of the super fast Shatabdi Express. This was another hyped travel with the couch and the seat numbers flashed across major TV channels. All this comes with its own overhead - the security arrangements, the food preparation on the train car, etc. What followed was a series of 'austere' moves by senior leaders including Pranab Mukerjee apart from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in their attempt to play Aam Aadmi.
Publicity extended:
This drive is taken a step further when the Prime Minister adopted it for his G20 meet in Pittsburgh when travelling via Frankfurt, Germany. Even the menu on the official aircraft of the Prime Minister – Air India One, has been reported to have trimmed down on its contents resulting in caviar being eliminated and expensive biscuits. The accompanying delegation is spared from this trimming and was served the choicest of the alcohol. Party sources said that following an all party meeting this drive is expected to be extended to rest of the Members of Parliament (MPs).
Montek Ahluwalia, Planning Commission Dy. Chairman, said he would travel 1st class and not business as a small sign of solidarity towards the austerity drive to G20. When speaking on a show he said, “I saw that news report and I will be strictly observing the austerity drive which says whenever we fly domestic we fly economy and when we fly international we fly business class”. He also said “The Govt. is not saying this is a key wasteful expenditure but it is meant as a small sign of solidarity that when many of our countrymen are experiencing lot of difficulties, let us do a little austerity where we don’t have to stay in these 5 star hotels, etc. The total expenditure in the country is consciously raised in order to meet the stimulus. This is not in the luxury area but mainly on things such as infrastructure…”.
Another prominent MP Shashi Tharoor, a former under secretary-general at the United Nations, was recently scorned by both the senior leadership and his followers in his twitter website for allegedly commenting on the austerity derogatorily. He got into trouble initially for making a “cattle class” comment which he used to describe travelling in economy class on the twitter. Some leaders in the party have even asked for his resignation. Later Foreign Minister S.M.Krishna and Tharoor both were reported living in luxury hotels which did not go well with the party high leadership. Both ministers said they had paid for their suites - priced at 50,000 rupees ($1,030) and 100,000 rupees a night - themselves, but the report sparked uproar in the media and congress leadership.
Change coming?
It is reported that once Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar’s return from his official trip from Rome, it is expected that Vice President Hamid Ansari will call an all party meet to discuss this issue and we hope that this will be implemented as a general rule to all Members of Parliament. In fact UPA has requested the upper and lower house chairpersons to convince all the MPs to join the drive. Ideally if this can be extended to the State level representatives too it will surely pass the litmus test of people and will ensure that austerity drive is here to stay.
"Austerity, in its latest avataar, is a chimera that the Congress has manufactured, rather anachronistically, to package itself as the party of the masses, partaking of their drought-induced suffering," one of the papers said in an editorial.
Terming the austerity drive of the Congress as a “political stunt”, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Maneka Gandhi said it would have been better if the Congress government focused on strategizing ways to fight corruption. “If ministers get committed to weed out corruption, I think there would be surely no need for any austerity drive. The one undertaken by the Congress is just a political stunt and holds no significance,” she told reporters in Bareilly. She also said, “The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance should concentrate on curtailing the galloping food prices in the country. It’s the need of the hour. The government now must act seriously to check the rising prices.”
And then the scandals:
Scandals too seem catch up too. A report surfaced that in a letter to the airline management, Indian Airlines pilots alleged that “some” ministers and MPs insist on an upgrade – that is seats in business class – after boarding the aircraft on economy tickets, thus bringing the euphoria of the austerity drive to a free fall, though later J. Bhargava, executive director, Air India Appellate Authority, in a statement has denied all these allegations. But an airport official from one of the private airlines said: “Many private airlines have instructions fed into their systems to give upgrades automatically, subject to availability, to certain powerful names from the political and bureaucratic spectrum. The austerity drive has mainly meant loss of revenue for us as when certain VVIPs are checked-in, we do insist on upgrading them. Sometimes they don’t accept the offer and sometimes they do. But they all want to know if some senior party leader or UPA functionary is on that flight before accepting the upgrade.”
Adding salt to the injury recent out of the roof expenses for office renovations by the UPA ministers was published in the media which caught the congress leaders off guard. It is alleged that these expenses run into some hundreds of thousands of rupees, with different parts for renovations coming from different countries:
- Estimated renovation expenses for Udyog Bhawan office of Vilasrao Deshmukh, Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises was Rs 17.54 lakh.
- Estimated renovation expenses for Udyog Bhawan office of Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry was Rs 14.78 lakh.
- Estimated renovation expenses for Shastri Bhawan office of Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas was mentioned by CPWD in an initial outlay as Rs 2.85 lakh for laying a laminated wooden floor in the office.
Will it be a true change this time?
If Mahatma were to initiate an austerity drive today, it would have been very well received. Since it has become customary to attribute corruption with politicians, even if there is any such genuine effort by any party or politician, it is always viewed skeptically. In my view it is a great gesture to lead the people from the front in such a sincere effort spearheaded by leaders such as Man Mohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi but the true value of this drive will show up when it affects the common man in such a way that they also start implementing it in at least very minute ways. I hope for the sake of the common man more than politicians that this is not an act for mere political gains but a true sense of austerity. : (ANI)
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