This is apropos the series of front page reports captioned ‘Red-flagging Traffic Jams’ which have appeared in Cityline, with one being ‘Sitabuldi City’s Heart Officially Choked’. Nagpur is a rapidly growing Tier 2 city with a population of 3 million i.e. roughly one-tenth of that of the whole of Australia / Saudi Arabia. Though administration of such an enormous population is a huge challenge, the leadership and bureaucracy at all levels (syndicate) has been failing to govern persistently, despite the availability of the necessary resources.

 

This is evident from the overall chaos that has gripped the entire city akin to the Norse mythological giant Kraken with its multiple tentacles. The administration alone cannot be blamed for the chaos when the majority of the citizens inherently lack civic sense which includes traffic sense as well. Whether the inimitable lack of civic sense is due to improper upbringing and/or inappropriate education is another story. The incompetence of the syndicate is evident from its election-oriented communally-biased socio-economic policies on one hand, and its lackadaisical approach on the other hand, towards the real issues affecting all citizens including tax-payers. Citizens have not been getting the basic civic amenities that befit an urban city despite the fact that taxes in Maharashtra have always been the highest in comparison to other states which have average/poor amenities.

 

Governance in the past decade clearly shows that the syndicate does not intend to solve real issues, while it might go to any length in concealing its faults and evading accountability via legislation/amendment/regularisation, and via creation of larger issues to subdue current issues and divert attention. The term ‘syndicate’ is applicable in case of both erstwhile and the incumbent administrations. Nevertheless, the culture of a good society depends heavily on its ‘Sanskar/time-tested’ values, for the sake of civilisation. The legendary Kautilya’s philosophy of ‘Yatha Raja Tatha Praja’ (As the king, so will be the people) speaks of why conscientious leadership is essential for the society to imbibe good values and produce better citizens.