It is only through more taxpayer-funded trips abroad that our ministers can bring genuine change to India
Our politicians need to fly abroad as often as they can, for as long as they need to, because it is only by seeing how the world outside functions that they can replicate those conditions here. PIC/By Special Arrangement
This sort of thing tends to happen every year, whenever the World Economic Forum meets in Switzerland to ‘improve the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.’ Many of our politicians travel to Davos at this time, to try and make the amazing lives of Indians even better, and they promptly get called out for wasting taxes on what critics say accomplishes nothing.
I wasn’t surprised when the honourable chief minister of Maharashtra got the same treatment last month for taking that flight to sign a few MoUs with Indian companies. The comments on social media platforms were predictable: Couldn’t he sign those agreements in Bombay? What was the point of an entourage? Why did companies based in India have to go through what felt like a charade? There were also some cynics who questioned earlier MoUs, wondering how none of those massive deals had led to perceptible changes on the ground.
The annoyance wasn’t restricted to the people of Maharashtra. Apparently, the commerce minister of Karnataka was in Switzerland, too, to meet representatives of companies from Bombay. The Madhya Pradesh government also had a meeting with officials from an Indian media company, while the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh met with the Chief Minister of Assam in Zurich.
I must confess ignorance when it comes to the outcome of these meetings and signings of MoUs, but I am sure they are terribly important. If they weren’t, why would ministers have to take the trouble of flying to Switzerland and meeting so many people? We all know how busy they are in India, and how little free time they get, so why would anyone in their right mind visit Europe if not for dedication to the people they represent? To suggest that there are selfish motives behind these trips is naïve at best, and just false when one looks at the results.
Politicians need to fly abroad as often as they can, for as long as they need to, because it is only by seeing how the world outside functions that they can replicate those conditions here. If our ministers hadn’t to visit neighbouring countries time and time again, they simply wouldn’t have come up with the radical idea of transforming Bombay into Shanghai or Singapore. If we have great roads, abundant greenery, world-class infrastructure, and running water today, it is only because of those elected visionaries who spent days and nights working hard in hotels abroad to bring foreign ideas back with them.
The biggest argument to be made about the need for more travel comes from the honourable Prime Minister, who happens to be India’s most widely-travelled leader. Over the past decade, he has reportedly made 97 trips to 79 countries, and we simply have to look around at today’s India for proof of how those visits have transformed every aspect of life for the common citizen. He has reportedly visited the United States ten times, which would explain why Indian Americans are treated with the respect they enjoy in that country today. Those visits have also sparked a series of astonishing ideas that have amazed the rest of the world, from demonetisation and the Smart Cities Mission to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that routinely makes tourists gasp in astonishment at the levels of hygiene practiced in every corner of this country.
I would argue that many of the things that have transformed India into one of the world’s most advanced countries today would not have been possible if our ministers weren’t making so many fact-finding trips abroad. To say that they are wasting our taxes on holidays dressed up as PR-exercises is to miss the wood for the trees. Remember, when politicians go abroad, they also represent us. They show the world how educated, well-behaved, and intelligent all Indians are, which is surely worth more than a few thousand crores in taxes.
It also seems as if we are fast approaching a time when these trips may no longer be necessary. Sometime last year, the chief minister of Maharashtra stated at a public meeting that Bombay no longer needs to become like Singapore or Shanghai. He argued instead that other cities should aspire to be like Bombay. Given how this city is now more advanced than New York, London, or Paris, I wouldn’t be surprised if the World Economic Forum asks for permission to move its headquarters here within a year or two.
When he isn’t ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
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