The argumentative Indian is in full flow after the latest incident in a long line of social crimes against women, and hopefully the last straw that breaks the back of the camel of tolerance and helplessness. One view is that sexual abuse of women has forever been the ugly underbelly of India, so what is new is just the media's discovery of it. Our comment is that the sin may be old but the forceful protest is new.
All educated and privileged Indians who have refused to accept — in fact seriously campaigned against — economic stagnation citing India's long history of socialism, must apply the same evangelical zeal to campaign against social stagnation. Another view is that women stand to lose much more, so they have to behave carefully and not 'ask for trouble' by provoking men. While this 'practical wisdom' doesn't even deserve a response, since it is mentioned often at all levels, we would like to say that those who either bask in the glory of Indian past civilisation or in the spotlight of the future prospects as a world economic power, cannot afford to be advocates for the law of the jungle. The question needs to be examined —what is the purpose of economic growth? As Amartya Sen says, it is for people to lead a valuable and valued life. Not to brandish a GDP growth number as an end in itself.
But to provide dignity to all. Yet another view is that this protest is just another flash mob of people who are not relevant to 'the real india', and will die down. We disagree. Every segment of India is 'real India', and those who believe in the idea of economic reform benefits trickling down must also believe in the idea of social reform benefits trickling down.
Another argument is that 'society has to change', and how much can government do? In this article we table some ideas on what the government can do to catalyse social change. But before that, we would like to add that despite the heated debate all around, the business associations and chambers of commerce have been silent. We urge them to come forward and lend their considerable intellectual and lobbying might to push for actions on social and institutional reforms — because it is a myth soon to be exploded that Indian economic progress can enduringly occur without human progress.
Even assuming a narrow perspective that the business of business is business alone, the FDI, FII story will be hard to sell, as perceived country risk increases with perceived increasing social unrest. Now, for the gender issue. The economic growth of India is as much dependent on its women as its men. Women comprise almost half the population and no country in the world has sustained economic and social progress by being exclusionary to women.
The organised corporate sector may believe that it has managed quite well so far, but the end of that road is clear, for two reasons. The informal sector and particularly the aspiring lower and lower middle masses who outnumber the upper middle and the upper class, is increasingly seeing women either doing small business from home or working alongside their husbands or working outside the home. They may not figure in the way women's participation in the workforce is measured but they do contribute to GDP.
Two, with increasing education of girls, they offer a real and significant augmentation to the worrying short supply of the right skills and competencies to fuel our economic growth ambition. The business case is clear and even the narrowest of corporate and business interests must see that enabling social equality and freedom from fear is in the interest of serving the god of GDP at whose altar they worship. This preamble is to also make the case that a decrease in corporate profit margins to help the government raise funds to spend on enablers of social progress, is not a horrifying idea— rather it is a very good one.
Here are our ideas on what specifically can be urgently implemented, and what we hope Corporate India will push for money to be allocated for, in addition to its usual agenda of labour reform, GST, FDI, among others.
Urgently needed police reforms detailed in the 'Police Reforms Commission' headed by Rustomjee must be funded and implemented. Concrete evidence of this will be budget allocations in the national and state budgets with specific action areas that build capacity and capability to handle the multiple and complex issues and situations that our police force have to deal with. Today, most police stations are not even 'functional' and certainly do not have the infrastructure to deal with a plethora of crimes. The most obvious would be motorcycles, cars, communication and investigative equipment at each police station. If almost half the population of this country is women, we need to spend on attracting, recruiting, training, enabling and retaining more women in the police force.
We also need to see a higher budgetary allocation on design and delivery and incentivisation of education and programmes that focus on gender sensitivity and equal rights of women. The corporate sector needs to do a lot more in sensitising its employees on gender issues, respect for women and children and the norms of a healthy society. It isn't enough to have a few service industries with a larger proportion of women to implement whistleblower policies and anti-sexual harassment policies.
Additionally, all corporations must implement and demonstrate intolerance for sexual harassment at the workplace and this must be a mandatory policy, open, transparent and in the public domain. Job losses of people at all levels for gender-unfriendly behaviour will help send the message to the society at large.
The Planning Commission also needs to think out of its usual 'inside out' box and include 'people and society' based targets in all those areas that impact the social (not just the physical) quality of life, and determine plan outlays to achieve those.
This is not the time to be cynical and say "so what's going to change"? Public-private partnerships are needed to not just build roads and airports, schools and hospitals, but also to influence a social code that delivers justice, respect and dignity for all. In the dialogue that the government has with industry and other specialists, leading up to the Union Budget and guidelines for the next Fiveyear Plan, these aspects must become centre-stage with clear action standards and timelines for implementation. The guiding idea for this action is ensuring that there is a level playing field for both men and women and that economic progress and social development happen synergistically.