Remembering Norman Tebbit, working-class Tory, originator of the ‘cricket test'
As a young man, Tebbit, who died on Monday aged 94, developed the individualistic, pro-enterprise philosophy that would make him a natural fit for Thatcher's new conservatism — a marked departure from the post-War, Keynesian consensus until then: Nationalised industries, strong trade unions and welfare state. Thatcher's 1979 victory would see much of this demolished, leaving a legacy that remains deeply divisive. Tebbit played his part, weakening the powers of unions, driving privatisation and, as party chairman, leading a successful re-election campaign in 1987. He retired from frontline politics afterwards to care for his wife, who had been left disabled by an IRA bombing.
A working-class Tory who died a baron, Tebbit's life was not without its paradoxes: He developed his animosity for certain union practices early on, but later served as a union official during his career as a pilot and even went on strike. Always a plain speaker and a caustic wit, he was once asked if God existed. 'He ought to,' he said.
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Mint
6 hours ago
- Mint
Nitin Pai: A caste census is likely to perpetuate division and weaken our nationhood
I want to sound a warning: a caste census not only risks diverting India away from development but could also undermine our foundational constitutional values. Instead of reducing the salience of caste in Indian society, it will reinforce it. In so doing, it goes against B.R. Ambedkar's warning on day-zero of the Indian Republic: 'The castes are anti-national. In the first place because they bring about separation in social life. They are anti-national also because they generate jealousy and antipathy between caste and caste. But we must overcome all these difficulties if we wish to become a nation in reality. For fraternity can be a fact only when there is a nation. Without fraternity, equality and liberty will be no deeper than coats of paint." Also Read: Caste census? Okay, but we must handle it with care Our politicians and liberal intellectuals are not being honest about the real reasons for India's caste census. Questioned at a forum last year, a prominent young leader of the opposition party blithely asked: 'What's the harm in just counting?" There is abundant evidence from psychology and sociology that counting is always and everywhere political. We know from our own history that when the British started counting a century ago, caste groups mobilized to show strength in numbers. In the post-Mandal era, there are open displays of caste identities on car bumper stickers. Evidence from social science affirms Ambedkar's argument that jealousy and antipathy are inevitable. When students are arbitrarily assigned to different houses in school, the houses quickly become identities and spark competition. Now, if those identities are not arbitrary, but instead claim long traditions, notions of superiority and inferiority, and carry with them historical grievances and long memories, you can imagine how they will interact with each other. Fraternity and a national consciousness are the victims. It thus follows that an Indian nationalist cannot perpetuate caste consciousness. Also Read: Himanshu: India's caste census must serve its purpose More honest politicians and intellectuals will respond that the caste census is necessary to promote social justice. By this they mean the system of reservations and quotas. Yet, it is hard to see how a caste census improves the prospects of the historically most oppressed communities. On the contrary, the demand for reservations in most states is a tussle among socially powerful communities for more political power. If we are honest, we will accept that the real reason for the caste census is that it is expected to inform caste-based power sharing. This might have been acceptable were it not for the fact that identity-based power sharing hollows out any attempt to create a nation that transcends caste. Some might argue that a sense of national identity is not important or that it co-exists with caste, ethnic and linguistic identities. That it is okay if we discover our Indianness only when competing with or fighting against other countries. It sounds comforting until you realize that we have pending questions like delimitation, fiscal federalism and regional autonomy for which we cannot find amicable, mutually acceptable solutions unless there is a strong sense that all of us are in this together. For the people of India, nationalism is not merely a slogan. It is central to our unity, security and prosperity. Also Read: Sanjoy Chakravorty: A caste census is a Pandora's Box that India must open anyway Grand ideas apart, lack of fraternity manifests in our daily lives to such an extent that it's everywhere but we blind ourselves to it. What I have called a sense of 'us-lessness' underlies the poverty of our public lives. With little exaggeration, I could argue that there is no 'public' at all in our country. There is only 'me' and 'my extended caste community.' There is a very weak 'my civic community.' As I have explained in an earlier column, this is why our public toilets stink, roads are jammed, parks are encroached, officials are often corrupt and our public spaces are usually ugly, dirty and crumbling. Few care about the public because few feel part of the public. The forthcoming caste census will supercharge caste consciousness. This will weaken our sense of fraternity, destroy social capital and result in poor public services. It will reduce our potential economic growth rate, limit what Indian society is capable of and reduce free citizens to being mere members of their identity groups. The economy will still grow, but our quality of life will not be commensurate with our material prosperity. Those who can afford it might withdraw into private realms with private transport, security, water, electricity, schools, healthcare and so on. Those who cannot will have to make do with shabby public services, inefficiently provided by vote-bank governments and grudgingly financed by sullen taxpayers. The Constitution enjoins us to work towards social justice and rid society of the animosities and discrimination that have held India down for centuries. But the train of social justice should not come to a final halt at the station of reservations and quotas. To solve our age-old problems, we need better ideas and new thinking. The first step, however, is not to worsen matters. Discrimination based on caste cannot be eliminated by strengthening caste consciousness. The author is co-founder and director of The Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy.
Indian Express
15 hours ago
- Indian Express
P Chidambaram writes: How to build, how to grow
Watching the cricket matches between India and England, I was struck by the tag line of an advertisement by a leading cement company. It read, 'As India Builds, India Grows'. Absolutely correct. We must build — and we must know how to build — public goods such as roads, bridges, railways, airports, buildings for schools, colleges, hospitals and offices, etc. for growth. Jawaharlal Nehru was a great builder. The criticism of Nehru-haters is not worth a tuppence. In 1947, the population was 340 million, and growing, and the literacy rate just 12 per cent. Under Nehru's 17-year stewardship, he built schools and colleges. He was the main driver of important institutions and projects like IITs, IIMs, steel plants, IOC, ONGC, NLC, HAL, BHEL, ISRO, Bhakra Nangal, Hirakud, Damodar Valley and countless others. The time was the nascent years post-Independence and the context was a country sparse on education, technology and skills. What Nehru built survives to this day because although India was short on many things it was abundant in people with integrity, native intelligence and dedication. In the second century CE, Karikaalan, the Chola king, built the Kallanai (the Grand Anicut) on the river Kaveri. It is one of the oldest irrigation dams in the world, is built from unhewn interlocking stones without any binding material like mortar, and is in use today for irrigation and flood control. The Taj Mahal was completed in 1653. The building materials were red sandstone, marble, brick-in-lime mortar, and well foundations to ensure stability. South Block and North Block, the seat of the central government, were completed in 1931. They are magnificent and solid buildings. India has a 2,000-year tradition of constructing iconic structures. India continues to build every day but there is a twist. Every citizen knows the difference in the quality and endurance between private construction and public construction. Building contractors are engaged for both types of construction but their behaviour is different. The processes are also different. In this essay, I am concerned with public construction using public money. Private constructions vary in quality depending upon the choice of architect and contractor, and availability of funds. Public construction, especially of nationally important projects, do not suffer from constraints of land or money. But what do we see happening? Highways and new roads cave in; sewer lines burst flooding the road. On Ashoka Road, New Delhi, a sewer line burst and the road caved in for the third time in the last 18 months. Cars and buses fall into large depressions on the road. In Gwalior, 15 days after a Rs 18-crore road was opened to the public, it caved in. In Morbi, Gujarat, 141 people were killed when a bridge collapsed four days after it was ostensibly repaired and re-opened to the public; it was found that an unqualified company had 'repaired and restored' the bridge using sub-standard material. In Bihar, no one is surprised when bridges collapse shortly after, or even during, construction; one bridge fell three times. In June, people of Aishbagh, Bhopal discovered to their horror that a 648-metre bridge that had been constructed after seven years of bickering between the Railways and the PWD had a 90-degree turn! There are many reasons for such colossal waste of time and money. The first reason is total lack of accountability. The prevailing rule seems to be 'that since many persons are responsible for a disastrous project, eventually no person is held accountable'. A long history of group immunity has metamorphosed into group impunity. Another reason is the process. The lowest price bid is usually selected as the winning bid. Departure from the lowest-priced bid invites questions and, often, an inquiry; so why depart? The winner uses sub-standard material and takes liberty with the approved plans in order to make money. In many tenders, the bidders collude among themselves to allow a contractor to quote a winning price 'above the estimate'. The winner uses the money 'above the estimate' to pay bribes. The design, drawings and estimates are prepared, and supervised, by poorly qualified persons. The senior officers (who have climbed the ladder) are not abreast with improvements in design and materials, advanced construction technology and machinery, and management practices that save labour, money and time. A major reason is political corruption. There is competition among ministers for so-called 'lucrative' portfolios. There is a 'rate card' in many states. Some departments/agencies are notorious for deplorable execution of projects: PWDs are at the top. DDA and equivalent bodies that build low-cost housing (in reality, concrete slums) are near the top. Highways and Railways are not far behind. It is a Gordian knot that cannot be unknotted. It has to be cut. That means phasing out the public agencies that 'build' public goods. Past efforts to 'reform' the system have failed and will, if attempted again, fail again. On the contrary, privatisation and healthy competition have improved the quality of public goods in telecommunications, distribution of electricity, transportation, mining, and oil exploration. That is the way to go forward in public construction. In the short term, there will be an increase in costs. Cartels will be formed. Weaknesses will emerge. We must make corrections and keep faith in the new path — private enterprise to build public goods amidst genuine, healthy competition.
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Can Tata and Mamata Banerjee ever be business friends?
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills A lot of activities connecting the past, present and (intended) future happened over the last fortnight. The much-awaited, almost-given up reunion of Oasis happened in Cardiff on July 4. The epochal final 'Back to the Beginning' concert of Black Sabbath and its legendary frontman Ozzy Osbourne in Birmingham took place the next day. But a decidedly quieter meeting of no less momentous proportion took place in Kolkata on July 9. Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee met at the latter's office on Wednesday. This was the first time that a Tata Group chairman met a West Bengal CM in 14 years - the last two being Ratan Tata and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, just before the woman who drove Tata Motor Dixie out of Bengal took over Bhattacharjee's portfolio, and much warring Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher had been fighting for 16 years. Ozzy had been put out to Sabbath for health reasons for 20. But somehow, Didi's darbar with Chandra, at least to people with a more ironic sense of history - especially where economic progress has been history for some time - felt more fateful than a re-Oasis or I - like most others who believe puddings should be first eaten before one considers them to be pudding - have seen Banerjee, in her post-Che chief ministerial module, rack up MoUs with corporate houses like she was Le Chiffre piling up chips at the baccarat table in Casino Royale. But her annual BGBS (Bengal Global Business Summit) is not likes of Ambani, Adani and other open- and closed-vowelled big names of industry fly down to Kolkata have photo-ops with Banerjee, make investment promises, and then take the first flight back to where they'll put their money where their MoUs Chandra, Didi reportedly exchanged pleasantries, a core strength of Bengalis. TMC officially noted: 'The meeting reflected Bengal's commitment to fostering meaningful public-private partnerships that drive innovation, investment and inclusive development... the conversation centred on deepening the Tata Group's presence in the state'. If you say so. And never mind Singur and the Tata Motors factory turned to factionary by then-in-opposition Didi. US goods trade with Vietnam was some $149.6 bn in 2024, 'Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh!' it's not the present tete-a-tete offensive's genuineness I doubt. Or whether bygones can be made to be bye-byegones. It's the continued mismatch between how Bengal - not just its CM or political class, but also its people - sees business and the way rest of the world sees it.A perfect example of this is Kolkata's roads, arguably the worst among India's metropolitan cities. But here again, Bengalis will trot out examples of collapsed bridges in Gujarat and bombed-out highways in UP to make a point that they are being picked on for conspiratorial reasons. The definition of 'maintenance' is radically different from that in the rest of are floated, vendors are chosen, councillors get a slice of the MLA fund... the repair work (sic) is done in such a calibrated shoddy manner that the 'fixed' road will turn into a lunar landscape and public hazard by the next round of rains. Wash, rinse, repeat. And everyone is fine with this 'circular economy' there's 'wealth creation' itself. At some fundamental level, wanting to be rich - never mind being rich - is taboo, as if akin to wanting to sleep with one's own cousin. This is largely because most people in this everything-is-politically-connected economy make money by cutting corners, slipping slips, nailing turfs, promising cuts....'Mou' in Bengali is honey. 'MoU' is sweet nothing. For a state that takes pride in being constantly angry, 'When Chandra Met Mamata' remains a romcom scene famous for 'faking it' - at least until the pudding of actual investment is eaten.P.S. Rumour of the meeting originally scheduled for July 8, and then pushed a day later after someone pointed out that Tuesday was Jyoti Basu's 111th birth anniversary, I'm sure, was nothing but a rumour.
