EDITORIALS

of tax reform, the system remains extremely complicated, opaque and discretionary. The tax bureaucracy uses its powers of discretion and the only groups to benet are the lawyers and

accountants. But the solution lies in doing the hard work required to reform the tax code and administration, and not in pursuing an idea whose only appeal is its supposed simplicity.

We Have Overcome
India wins the war on polio; now it needs to be extra vigilant.
fter successfully eradicating smallpox in 1980, India has now gone three straight years without reporting any new case of poliomyelitis infection (polio). This qualies it to receive the World Health Organisations (WHO) certication for being polio-free. Undoubtedly, this is a victory that has been fought every inch of the way by myriad agencies on a number of fronts and against what seemed like insurmountable odds. The lessons learnt are precious beyond words and the expectation is that these will be harnessed to ght other infectious diseases that plague the country. In fact, the how of the war on polio for a war it was is as fascinating as educative. There is though some controversy about whether polio really has been eradicated in India and there are warnings about a possible return. There is also the remaining challenge of treating and rehabilitating those who have already been crippled by the disease. In the mid-1990s the vaccination programme that was undertaken involved the government, United Nations bodies, charitable organisations and private donors. While coordinating the activities of all these agencies was a humungous task, the vaccination programme itself called for dealing with fears and prejudices social, religious and cultural and the physical logistics of reaching every nook and corner of a vast country. The task was even more difcult in the high-risk states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh which also witness large-scale outmigration. Nearly two million vaccinators not only went to slums and villages but also provided their services at railway stations, bus terminals and construction sites as well as at fairs and other public gatherings, apart from making house to house visits. Religious and community leaders were persuaded to preach and cajole where parents were afraid of vaccination even as the media, college students, volunteers, lm stars and celebrities were roped in to popularise the campaign. The expectation now is that this strategy and the mechanisms that have been put in place can be used to tackle other diseases like measles which claim thousands of under-ve lives and even to push for 100% immunisation of

children against the major infectious diseases. Of course, vaccination is not a cure-all solution for all infectious diseases. There are other aspects of public health like provision of sanitation and supply of potable water that need to be addressed and are as important as, if not more so than, vaccination. There are alarming signs, however, in reports that a suspected increased dosage of polio drops in India has given rise to cases of non-polio acute accid paralysis (NPAFP). While the cause of the NPAFP cases is disputed, a number of doctors and health activists have pointed out that the governments surveillance data shows that in the past 13 months, 53,563 cases have been reported. The government attributes this to more sensitive and vigilant surveillance and not to the increased vaccination dosage. The fact remains that along with those who are already the victims of polio, this huge number of NPAFP-affected need treatment and rehabilitation. In 1985 there were 1,50,000 reported cases of paralytic polio, whereas in 2009 the fresh cases numbered 741 (half of the worlds number). This came down further to 42 in 2010 and the last reported case was in 2011. Indias achievement in eradicating polio provides hope for other countries where the socioeconomic conditions are similar. But Indias victory is fragile for until polio is eradicated from every region in the world, there remains a constant risk of a return. Going by the experience of a number of countries, it is easy for polio to be imported from neighbouring countries even after it is completely eradicated at home. At present, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the polio-endemic countries while previously polio-free countries like Syria and Somalia saw an outbreak last year. As the battle against a number of other health issues, notably the ght to bring down the maternal mortality rate shows, the link between increased public awareness and discourse and the political will to deal with them is a strong one. For the wellbeing of its children, India simply cannot afford to forget the lessons it has learnt in its battle against polio.

Can AAP Slay the Dragon?

AAP wants to slay the dragon of crony capitalism, but the problem is all capitalisms are crony.
t is just as well that the self-proclaimed non-political Gandhian Anna Hazare did not go along with Arvind Kejriwal. Hazare is no Jayaprakash Narayan (JP); neither does he have the stature of JP nor the Lok Nayaks political vision. But 8

the Janata Party that evolved from the JP movement, with politicians from the right of the political spectrum to the socialists joining the bandwagon, soon began to emulate what the movement had fought against in Gujarat and Bihar in 1974.
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EDITORIALS

Nevertheless, JPs recital of the Hindustani poet Ramdhari Singhs Karo Singhasan Khaali Ke Janata Aati Hai (Vacate the throne, for the people are coming) at a mass rally on the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi before the declaration of the Emergency, and its electrifying effect, remains unsurpassed; the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement just does not compare. AAPs evolution from the IAC movement is of a different trajectory, and for now at least it has barely managed to come to power in the city-state of Delhi, and, that too, with the support of one of the two of the biggest and most corrupt of the nations political parties. The eradication of corruption is AAPs principal goal though and its leaders never tire of claiming that the party has no ideology and no afnity to any political doctrine, liberalism, socialism, or Hindutva. What is indicative though is the fact that AAP is attracting technocrats into its fold. Of course, a number of non-residential Indian professionals and entrepreneurs have provided nancial support and it is pertinent that a recent entrant into the party, V Balakrishnan, a former member of the board of the IT major Infosys, describes AAP as the most successful start-up by an IIT-ian ever. AAP, a start-up, and the most successful one at that? That is how technocrats conceive of it. Now, a start-up, prior to its launch, in its R&D stage, has negative cash ows coupled with high levels of risk. An overwhelming number of such would-be start-ups never attain the technological and commercial denitions required to make it to the next stage. It is only those that survive that are launched in the marketplace. That is the start-up phase that Balakrishnan is talking about AAPs successful launch in the political marketplace. But even in this start-up phase failure rates are between 30% and 50% and negative cash ows persist. Moreover, there is a lack of commercial references, which deters the big nanciers. But the venture capitalists do come in and there is a chance of making it to the growth phase, when a progressive decrease in risk expands the range of potential investors. That is quite a cynical way of looking at budding politics, though politics today is largely politics-as-business. But it is not at all fair to paint a political party set up to cleanse politics of corruption with such a jaundiced brush. During a particular

phase of his intellectual life, Thorstein Veblen placed his progressive hopes in the hands of technocrats he hoped for the emergence of a Soviet of Technicians. He imagined a technocracy bereft of the predatory instincts of absentee business, and, delightfully, full of the creative instinct of workmanship. This was a technocracy, in Veblens imagination, devoid of the pecuniary culture of the big business elite, which, if organised and brought into participation in politics, could take society to the Promised Land. Engineers placed in political control, and in public-service bodies, like the Delhi Jal Board, could be the vanguard. It is their knowledge, Veblen hoped, that will substitute private property as the prime currency of status and power. It was in the eventual strength of this vanguard that Veblen placed his hopes for the rescue of American economy and society from the depredations of the robber barons. Over the last two decades, capital in India has been on a ruthless drive to accumulate wealth by any and all available means, and politics is now a form of business too. In such a setting, corruption has, not surprisingly, hit the roof, and naturally there is widespread moral outrage. In this setting, there are a lot of wellmeaning and decent people who think that the system can be reformed by a Lokpal and an AAP. The problem, however, is that this institution and this party view corruption in an extremely narrow perspective. Some sub-inspector of police or some ofcial of a municipal corporation taking a bribe one who receives gratication over and above his/her legitimate remuneration will be deemed corrupt. But top government ofcials and politicians in power who are steeped in neo-liberal ideology, and therefore believe that in providing all possible pecuniary incentives for the private sector to take over public assets and service functions they are serving the public interest, will be deemed visionaries and rewarded in myriad ways. It seems it is a travesty to deem them to be corrupt. Nevertheless, AAP has to be credited in its bid to delegitimise politics-as-business. And now one can only hope that in the process of its ght against crony capitalism it will realise that seldom does capitalism go by the impersonal discipline of the market alone; it also has an inherent tendency to take advantage of cronyism.
The Party branches are dividing, but it is unclear who will end up with the majority. ... Some aspects of the Ceylonese scene have a familiar ring, particularly the linguistic problems and, remembering Bhubaneshwar, the appropriation of nancial institutions. But matters are a little sharper in Ceylon. Ceylonese business, no doubt delighted with Ceylonisation, is hardly pleased with nationalisation, particularly of the most protable activities. The Ceylonese workers and middle classes are increasingly restive under the ination. The Tamils have declared war on the ofcial language. And the left parties, the crucial support in Mrs Bandaranaikes election campaign, are increasingly divided. Perhaps she will weather the storm, but the meteorological signals are not currently optimistic.

From 50 Years Ago

Vol XVI, No 4, january 25, 1964

WEEKLY NOTES

Leftists Divided
The linguistic approach to unity has received its nal solution. While the D M K is still ofcially prohibited, the Tamils still have their Federal Party and Jatika Vimukti Peramuna, both of which have been active in opposition to the introduction of Sinhala. On October 1, the Federal Party launched a campaign of civil resistance, demanding a boycott of all who follow the Government policy in the Tamil
Economic & Political Weekly

areas, and culminating in a mass demonstration against the ofcial Language Act at the beginning of this month. Many some 1,110 Sinhalese and 848 Tamils in the Civil Service have availed themselves of the opportunity to retire with full pension rights (on the grounds of lack of prociency in Sinhala). The sharpness of the left opposition attack, however, has been increasingly blunted by the split in two of the three parties comprising the United Left Front, announced with much ourish in August. In November, the left Communists, expelled from the Party, decided to convoke the Party Congress (postponed since December, 1962) in deance of the central committee majority, and when the Trade Union Federation held its annual session in midDecember, the two factions came to blows. ...

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JANUARY 25, 2014

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