MEMEHIF (My Engineer MBA Educated Highly Intelligent Friend) recently
returned from a trip to Singapore. When I met him, he had only good
things to say about Changi Airport.
"Awesome airport, bro", he
said, 'bro' being the impact of meeting some young americans in S'pore, I
suppose, "Must see, this Changi airport. Huge. Most impressive is the
security guys. Young guys walking around with AK47s, their eyes are ever
watchful to any funny business. Non-invasive is the word that I
am looking for. Security is non-invasive. They trust the people but do a
very good oversight and in case of any problem, they are quick on the
uptake", said MEMEHIF
Normally this torrent is followed by a philosophical discourse. It was not long in coming.
"Public policy should be non-invasive like the security at Changi. It should not intrude into the lives of citizens. It should gel with the daily lives of people.Government should set rules and have good oversight, but must stay out of people's lives. Government should govern, it should not be running business. 'Minimum government, maximum governance' must be the mantra for any government"
"But demonetization is a serious intervention to the lives of individual citizens, isn't it? Forcing them to stand in line to withdraw their own hard earned money is the highest level of government intrusion into private lives. Do you agree with this?"
"Indian people are different. They listen only to the language of 'Danda' (Stick). You need someone superior to force them to do things that are good for them. Logic doesn't work for Indians", he replied.
P is for paradox....
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