They despair of this and I cannot count the number of times I have heard ordinary, apolitical Indians say, ‘Sab saaley chor hain’. They are all thieves. But there is no reason to despair. This column offers a solution. Let us teach our politicians to make money out of doing good for the country instead of doing bad. I am being serious.

The idea is not my own. It originated from a friend who likes to mull over the state of the country. Weary of major infrastructure projects being delayed because someone or the other had been insufficiently bribed, he said he was going to pay someone like McKinsey & Company to do a report on how to teach Indian politicians to make money out of doing good for the country.

‘You see,’ said he, ‘during those decades of socialism our politicians perfected the art of making money out of obstructing things from happening. Files would not move unless palms were greased, permissions to build something would remain in suspended animation until everyone was satisfied with their cut. What they did not learn was how to make money out of speeding up the process. A report by McKinsey into new ways for Indian politicians to make money would, I think, offer valuable advice.’

By way of example, let us take the power sector.

We need nearly 100,000 more megawatts of power in the next five years just to keep India going. One of the reasons for this power shortage is the amount of bribes that have to be paid before a power facility comes into being. What about doubling the rates for those politicians who make things happen double quick? When this is done, we can apply the same formula to roads, schools, hospitals and all the other things we need. Who would mind if a politician who did really good work bought himself a Porsche and the wife a Cartier necklace? Nobody.

... contd.