Neeyat, nyaya, niti to enhance trust

The aggregate machinery of government seems to be failing our citizens

Recent rhetoric says “less government, more governance”, but the unfolding reality do­es not match up. Our governments, at the Centre and in the states, face a real governance issue. Nyaya and niti are foundational to a thriving civilised society. In this article, I comment in the Covid context.

I express a different view from the commentaries made so far about the stimulus measures. Though the fact was denied, the economic slowdown long preceded Covid, so a stimulus was overdue. There are no perfect measures, so debate about adequacy and efficacy of the measures will continue. However, there is another need: To develop a more nurturing environment and better governance. To draw from an agricultural metaphor, curated la­nd helps even mediocre seeds to de­liver superior crop.
 

The metaphor implies three guiding principles: neeyat, meaning good intent; nyaya, meaning efficient laws; and niti, meaning effective conduct.

Business enterprise in India is wi­dely dispersed. There are 63 million enterprises, 12 million registered for GST and only 19,500 companies with capital of Rs 10 crore or more. There are instances of dubious neeyat (intent) though the economy desperately re­quires good-to-honest entrepreneurs. Bad neeyat must be deplored, while ho­nest risk-taking must be encouraged. National cha­m­be­rs of commerce have an important role to play, but for the few larger players. The MSME and start-up sectors must al­so play their role. Odd and difficult-to-unravel things are thought to happen. For example, the stories on Ruchi Soya (V Keshavdev & Krishna Gopalan, Ou­t­look Business, June 5, 2020; N Mahalakshmi, Outlook Business, June 8, 2020). Like Yu­dhi­s­h­thira, companies must lead better by demonstrating exemplary conduct, wo­rthy of emulation. Creating a nurturing business atmosphere is everybody’s national duty.

Business atmosphere is greatly in­fluenced by how public leaders, both central and state-level, think, behave and act. No ecosystem has perfect nya­ya and niti, but society should experience progressive improvement. With respect to nyaya, in my last column (May 28), I referred to the dilution of the principle of promissory estoppel by a recent Supreme Court ruling (Uni­on of India vs VVF Company and others).

Nyaya and niti are intertwined. Niti of businesspeople is influenced by the fair, transparent and consistent en­for­cement of nyaya. Our ease-of-doing-business rankings apart, our laws are full of ambiguities and frequent cha­n­ges. Proper and righteous conduct by citizens is severely inhibited because greed overpowers goodness. Even tho­ugh set in a local context, the Shoojit Sircar film, Gulabo Sitabo, exemplifies the influence of nyaya on niti through a twisting story about ownership of a Lucknow haveli.

Public leaders should set an example for citizens. When the framers wro­te our Constitution, they consciously chose a federal system of government and as­si­gned lists of responsibilities of the Ce­ntre, Concurrent and State. The central government is charged with nurturing harmony among the states, but what the citizen experiences these days is quite the opposite. The Centre-state system was designed to be an asset, not a liability. In times of crisis, the central government’s duty is to lead the public through a process of diagnosis and identifying a shared plan for solving it. To implement the plan, central leaders will need to activate the machinery of the whole of governme­nt, set policies and direct resources. But the aggregate machinery of government is failing our citizens.

In his column (June 13), T N Ninan had pointed out the sloganeering that accosts citizens: 2Ps for plug and play; 2Cs for command and control; 3Ds for democracy, demography and demand; 3Ps for people, planet and profits; 5Is for intent, inclusion, investment, in­frastructure and innovation; 5Ts for talent, tradition, tourism, trade and te­chnology; 5Ss of foreign policy — samman, samvad, sahyog, shanti, samriddh. There are slogans like Make in India; Vocal for Local; and Minimum Government, Maximum Governance; not to forget hypes like UDAY for electricity and return of black money through demonetisation. It is time that verbiage is buried and pragmatic ac­tions that deliver is implemented.

A friend of mine mentioned a four-quadrant leadership grid with niti on the x-axis and nyaya on the y-axis. The two top boxes are occupied by Maryada Purshottam Sri Rama (high nyaya and high niti) and by Leela Purushottam Sri Krishna (high nyaya and medium niti). The two lower boxes are occupied by Duryodhana (high nyaya and poor niti), and by Ravana (both poor).

Both in business and the public do­main, citizens need to operate largely in the Sri Rama and Sri Krishna boxes. Then and only then can an ecosystem of trust grow.

The writer is an author and corporate advisor. He is a distinguished professor of IIT Kharagpur. He was a director of Tata Sons and a vice-chairman of Hindustan Unilever

Email: rgopal@themindworks.me