Column

MICRO VIEW

A few weeks ago, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda had a public spat with IT icon NR Narayana Murthy over Infosys' land requirements and his (allegedly ineffective) role in getting the city's airport project off the ground. Net result: Murthy quit. While most businessmen have been appalled by Gowda's boorish behaviour, Murthy did not do his cause any good by quitting. He merely exhibited a vulnerability to criticism. Politicians are not going to be shamed by this act. In fact, his best course of action would have been to accept the criticism of Gowda and soldier on with what needs to be done.

Good things happen in India mostly by accident, and it's often because one individual gets it into his head to do what is right. Collectively, we tend to act sensibly only when there is no other alternative; in fact, when things appear to be all right, we do all the foolish things. (Gowda's bid to throw a spanner in the IT industry's works is a case in point). The best ends are often achieved through illegal means.

Consider the evidence. We opted for economic reforms only when the country was close to bankruptcy in 1991-92. Now that we are far from that prospect, look what the original architect of reform has been reduced to. Nobody thought we needed a truly independent election commission till one bull-headed individual (AL Seshan) decided he wanted one. Nobody did anything about pollution in Delhi till the Supreme Court ruled that buses should run on CNG.

The IT sector boomed because our policymakers took the right decision by mistake. They decided that India needed foreign exchange and created a tax-free export industry to achieve that purpose. They aim was not to create a world-class IT industry; that happened by accident, When Y2K came, hundreds of cheap Indian software engineers were hired all over the world. Overnight, everybody discovered India's hidden strengths and the Internet did the rest.

The cable boom happened because thousands of cable operators threw wires across buildings - illegally - to beat the law. The telephony revolution floundered when the country went by the book and invited bids for service providers. Remember the huge, irresponsible bids by companies called Himachal Futuristic, which finally had to be annulled? Remember also the complete lack of mobile penetration for years when tariffs were unrealistically high at Rs 16 a minute or more? The revolution really started rolling only when one intrepid businessman (Ambani) decided to cock a snook at the law and called his mobile service a fixed service to avoid paying huge licence fees. Where there is a WLL, there is a way.

To cut a long story short, I believe India's current run of success has nothing to do with policy-makers doing the right things. It is largely the result of good (and bad) people doing things largely in their own interest, often by breaking the law. If Murthy wants more land for Infosys' growing numbers or a better airport for Bangalore, he should try and keep the government out of it as much as possible. If Kochi can build a private airport and make it profitable, I see no reason why Bangalore can't. The Gowdas of the world should be called in only to share the honours - so that they don't end up destroying what is built. Email: r_jagannathan@dnaindia.net