INDIA’S TIPPING POINT

When Namo thundered from the Red Fort ramparts on Independence Day that what India needed was more thunder boxes (loos) many of his admirers were askance, thinking that he had a loose hinge! Not me. I genuinely felt that it was the most exciting thing to happen since the election of Pope Francis. Let me tell you why.

A seemingly unrelated incident was the board meeting of the Kanpur Electric Supply Corporation (Kesco), held in Lucknow. There was a Rupees One Thousand Crore proposal for the long term restructuring of Kesco, One Hundred Crores for immediate upgradation of transformers and transmission lines, and a seemingly innocuous One Crore for blue uniforms for the staff. The mega projects sailed through, but the uniforms were a sticky point. Surely not for the money, but perhaps for the idea – a brainwave of Dr Roshan Jacob IAS, the visionary District Magistrate of Kanpur, who was given additional charge of Kesco, because of her administrative acumen.

What’s the connection between Namo’s loos and Jacob’s blues? Much, much more than meets the eye.

For this I revert to the gyan that I picked up from the book “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell. Its subtitle is “How little things can make a big difference”. Significantly, it has the image of a matchstick on its cover. A small match can cause a huge inferno. Small is big. Astrophysicists tell us that the smallest particles that were formed immediately after the Big Bang of creation pack the deadliest punch. The particle collider at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland is 25 kms in diameter. So small is big, powerful and effective. Little things should never be underestimated. It is in this context that I see the loos and the blues. What their visionaries are trying to tell us is; start somewhere cognizable, to make the effect recognizable.

Gladwell’s best-seller is full of fundas and real life illustrations. The one that had a major impact on me was on how crime was arrested in New York City (NYC). To understand this phenomenon I will first quote some of the phrases used to describe Gladwell’s book – crossing a threshold, tipping the scales, taking off, wildfire proportions, epidemic of contagious diseases, achieving critical mass, exponential overdrive, virulent virus, stickiness; and individuals can make a difference. See where I am heading.

So let us follow the case study of how crime was arrested in NYC. In 1980 it had over 2000 murders and 600,000 felonies (crimes). Conditions in the subway transit system were chaotic, filthy, littered and the 6000 coaches were covered with graffiti. The system was also losing $ 150 million annually from ticketless travel. In 1984 there were 15,000 felonies on the subway alone, and they climbed to 20,000 by 1990.

In stepped William Bratton, and felonies dropped by 75%. How? By a change of environment. Gladwell propagates the “Broken Window” theory. A broken window on a coach is indicative of callousness, which in turn, acts as a trigger to petty crime. It sends out a message that such small things don’t really matter. The converse is actually true – they do. Gladwell claims that “crime is the inevitable result of disorder”, and the graffiti was symptomatic of such disorder or disregard; like the broken, unattended windows. Crime, like fashion, is contagious, and disorder is the perfect breeding ground for it, claims Gladwell.

He propounds the theory that “the impetus to engage in a certain type of behaviour is not coming from a certain type of person, but from a feature of the environment”. So if we want to change societal behaviour we need to first change the environment in which we live.

When David Gunn took over as the Director of the subway system he insisted that the all-pervasive graffiti “was symbolic of the collapse of the system”. So he got cracking, ensuring its erasure during the changeovers. He was sending out an unambiguous message – the time for change had come, and he was in charge of the situation. The clean up took all of six years, but he didn’t give up.

I here recall an incident that dates back to 1986, when there was just a bi-weekly train to Bangalore. I arrived there in the morning and returned the same evening. Coincidentally I was in the same bogey and berth as for my outward journey. At that time I had noticed that there was a slash in the upholstery. During the changeover it had been mended. This prompt action for a “broken window” left an indelible mark on me.

Now back to the NYC subway. Bratton cracked down on ticketless travel, “a small expression of disorder that invited much more serious crimes”. There were then 170,000 daily ticketless travelers; eventhough the fare was a measly $ 1.25. To curb the menace Bratton gave exemplary punishment. Instead of lengthy legal procedures, he just handcuffed the offenders and kept them at the stations for a few hours. It had its intended deterrent effect. Bratton also found that several of these “petty offenders” were also involved in more serious crime.

Seeing his success, NYC Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani appointed him as the chief of the police force. Here too Bratton began small. He cracked down on public drunkenness, urination and littering. He asserted, “Minor misdemeanours were Tipping Points for violent crime”.

From identifying the root causes of societal behaviour, or rather misdemeanour, we now move to the solutions. I have always held that if one bad apple can cause the entire basket to rot, then it is equally true that one injection can heal the entire body. Gladwell puts it thus, “A social epidemic (contagion) can be reversed (tipped) by tinkering with the smallest details of the immediate environment”. This is because even a “criminal is sensitive to his environment, and commits crimes based on his perception of the world around him”.  Gladwell concludes that “What really matters is little things – you don’t have to solve big problems to solve crimes”.

So the loos and blues are not merely symbolic acts; they have a far deeper portent. They are sending out an unambiguous message – Enough is enough. Shape up or ship out. Much has already been written about the Swatch Bharat campaign, so I won’t say more about the loos, except to reiterate that it should be truly significant, and not stop at mere symbolism.

What of the blues – the uniforms? There are three inherent qualities in a uniform. The obvious one is that it bestows a distinct identity. The second is similar, that it commands respect. The third is not so apparent, that it is a deterrent to wrongdoing. We see defence personnel in uniform and we respect them. We also see police in uniform and we tend to detest them. If we see religious leaders wearing a distinctive dress we are inclined to venerate them. What we wear creates an environment, an aura around us.

Here again the converse is equally true. Not wearing a uniform gives anonymity, and by default, the liberty to indulge in one’s passions.  This is one of the reasons why sexual offences by Catholic priests increased alarmingly after the obligation to wear clerical dress was watered down about 50 years ago.

Unfortunately, today most Govt employees, including those who come to our homes, like postmen and telephone linesmen, seldom wear their prescribed uniforms. So they can easily shirk work, as they cannot be easily identified. Surprisingly, even many traveling ticket examiners on trains are not in uniform. This encourages imposters collecting money on trains; or others posing as linesmen, gaining access to houses, and committing heinous crimes.

For the last 40 years I have worn a distinctive form of dress except when I am on holiday. It is a simple kurta-pyjama with a wooden rosary and crucifix worn around my neck. On the one hand it bestows a distinctive identity on me (many find me an oddity), while on the other it acts as a powerful deterrent against any wrongful or immoral act. Simply put, I can shame myself, but not the One that I signify. So I see a uniform as an inbuilt mechanism for self-discipline.

Isn’t self-discipline integral to both sanitation and progress? Can we start with ourselves – not spitting, shitting or littering in public, not breaking traffic rules, standing in line, not rushing for ice-cream and gulab jamuns at our lavish weddings, not getting into reserve compartments without proper tickets, and generally respecting the dignity of the “other”? Even small things like personal hygiene and keeping our homes clean do matter.

Else Namo’s loos and Jacob’s blues will just be so many straws in the wind. If we want to tip the scales and make a difference, let us begin somewhere. Remember that it is usually just one small addition that tilts the scale, and one small step that makes a difference. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful New Year resolve?

  

DECEMBER 2014