Driving out my Social Apathy
Background:
My experiences (captured as a blog) while travelling back from an International trip in January 2021 posed me an important question - What standards of public service should be expected by an average citizen of this country (Bharat i.e. India)? The ardent nationalist inside me tries to brush aside the difficult questions pertaining to lack of service from various public authorities by attributing it to few assumptions like:
a. The country and the city is too crowded
b. There is a lack of resources available with authorities and its not lack of intent.
c. What am I contributing to feel entitled to ask after all I am blessed middle class citizen whose basic needs are taken care of. I should feel blessed when compared to the poor who have nothing at all and hence resist expecting better public service as it would be made available to the poor class.
The 7 days of institutional quarantine that followed by return made in ponder on the above in solitude. I decided to arm myself with facts to corroborate the above assumptions. This blog is a result of my initial fact finding expedition which screams of the fact that the problem is my “APATHY”. I intend to work more in this expedition in the days to come and work on getting rid of my apathy.
Capturing few facts to address my assumptions listed above:
a. The assumption of being crowded: Any visualization of Bharat generally includes animal on road, bazaars on road and snake charmers. Over the years I have managed to make this as part of my own imagery of Bharat. Table below captures population density of some cities:
City Population per Square kilometer
Mumbai 21666
Delhi 12142
Chennai 16666
New York 10700
Paris 20300
London 5701
In comparison to London, cities of Bharat would seems overcrowded. However the contrast is not as dramatic in comparison with New York and seems similar to Paris. If New York or Paris can manage to offer reasonable public service, there is no reason for Municipal authorities of Cities of Bharat offering this as a reason for inability to serve. If I don’t change my own imagery, how do I expect the world to treat me differently.
b. Lack of resources: Bharat is a poor country. There are statistics doled about contrasting per capita income, GDP per person, accessibility to education, healthcare and similar fundamental rights. If one compares Annual budget of Ney York City (USD 95 billion) with that of Mumbai (less than USD 4 billion) the results seems to reflect a situation of lack of resources. However that is validated only if viewed from prism of money. If we compare physical resources – Humans (as services are rendered by human) then the comparison is lot better. New York city has about 325000 employees whereas Mumbai has 200,000. Thus the difference is not that stark. Further in the current day and age of technology as lot of services are automated and resulting in better throughput if harnessed well. Bharat has demonstrated capability (if supported with intent) in harnessing technology to render public service. Two examples: implementation of Aadhar (universal ID) and Direct Benefit transfer scheme. For service, it never only monetary resource but a resourceful leader which matters.
c. Entitlement to ask: This question was a tricky one to examine. The stereotypical image of a Bharatiya is someone who believes in “Fate”. Bharatiya is expected to take everything in a stride and believe that it is destiny. Generally standing up to authority or expecting from others is looked down upon as bad behaviour. However these are matters of perception and hard to quantify. I attempted only to examine the economic aspect at this juncture to evaluate what do I contribute. My analysis is as follows: An average household of Mumbai would be earning about INR 15 lakhs a year. Income tax on the same would be about INR 2 lakhs. Additionally the general GST applicable on consumption is 18%. Average annual consumption on which GST would be applicable is estimated at about 600,000/-. The GST paid on the same would be estimated at INR 1 lakh. Property tax/ water charges is also estimated at about INR 20,000 per year. Thus a household pays about INR 3.2 lakhs per annum (approximately 21% of its income) towards public finance. If I am manager of a for profit organization, such high level of expenditure would warrant scrutiny and better management. Shouldn’t similar metrics / logic apply which I evaluate what I as a citizen get for the largest expenditure (after cost of house property) from public service?
In conclusion:
Spending a week in solitude made me think of my approach to life. Coming from a conservative and economically poor background, made me focus on what my personal gains were. Social apathy gained complete control in my drive towards self-aggrandization. The Covids impact on few of the life savers (read household helps, car cleaning service person, retail shop teller) with whom I developed rapport over the years made me review my position in the matter. I hope to not seek refuge in superficial assumptions and ignore my social responsibility.
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