The author is executive director and chief operating officer, Saatchi & Saatchi.
The allusion of this case to reality demands that I be objective and realistic. Therefore, I would look at this case from the viewpoint of creating an understanding and what we can do with an optimistic attitude.
What is the fact? A young, educated and honest man gets killed in the line of duty. Let us examine this from the broadest perspective, and then narrow it down to the incident. Currently, the economy is polarising our society into two worlds: the new world and the traditional world. The traditional world when compared to the new one is autocratic and controlled by a few. Historically, the control emanated from the primary resource of the old world: land. Wealth creation was based on exploiting the masses to fill the coffers of the landed gentry.
This economic system pervades all sections of our country, and the landed gentry have evolved a protective mechanism to guard and propagate this system. This protectionism is economic, social as well as physical. It is still prevalent in the majority of the land mass of our country. Education has been and will continue to be the biggest enemy of this system because it moves wealth creation from land to enterprise.
Our economic growth is essentially coming from growth of enterprise and is, therefore, posing a direct challenge to the control of the old economy of the landed. In its most naked form, the resolution of this conflict at the individual level resorts to the basest form of domain protection - through violence.
Machaan epitomised the power of the new order by challenging the exploitation of the old order by an individual.
When we installed democracy in our country, we also resolved to make education a fundamental right. But a large majority of our population is still deprived of education at a time when the world is bursting at its seams with information and has the easiest access to it.
The truth is that most of those in the political system who represent the people do not get elected by the informed choice of people, but by their own economic and physical might. These are also the people whose primary objective is to protect their domain.
Now examine the scenario. We have two powerful groups: one has created economic power through knowledge, skill and enterprise, and the other commands the political system and subverts the enforcement machinery to prolong their control over their shrinking domain. More than a third of our parliamentarians have established criminal records. Yet, we allow them to run the highest decision-making bodies of our country. The magic of this conflict is that it is making a political system irrelevant through democratisation of wealth creation. The old order has never been more aware of this as it is now. So, they will get even more desperate as they become more aware of this shift in power.
Those of us who represent the new order must be more aware and spread the understanding that we put a serious threat to the old order. The greatest threat to the new order is the lack of this awareness. We must also be aware of the power we wield to challenge and break down the old order. When we wish to exert the power, we must also be aware of the consequences. The pain of Machaan's death is also a gain. It is for us to protect this gain - the demonstration of the power of the individual against the old order establishment. I have great faith in our judiciary, and believe that Machaan's murderers will be punished. That itself is a blow to the old order.
Let me explain why I believe Machaan's murderers represent the old order.
Oil is the lifeline of our economy. Therefore, the people who distribute oil exert incredible control in their geographical domain. We also know that the licence to distribute oil is controlled by the state and, therefore, the political class. The political class also understands the shift of economic power. They are also aware that the shift will necessitate their control over the enforcement infrastructure of the country. Unfortunately, the enforcement infrastructure has been subverted so badly that it works more on fear rather than the confidence of the polity. We can only hasten the demise of the old order if we empower the individual economically, which can only come through education. This is where our responsibility lies.
If we are moved by the sacrifice of Machaan, let's do something about it. If all of us, who have had good education and are reaping the benefits, put some money back into our institutions to create a corpus of funds, it can be used to provide free education to children who are not able to access it. This will be a giant step forward.
If we are aware that we have the economic power to destroy the old order, let us exert it and adopt the teachers. If each one of us shares our economic power with our teachers, I believe, it will be the best tribute we can pay to people like Machaan.
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