In the run-up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games the Delhi government is planning to install a new traffic signal system which will monitor and detect signal failures promptly. A ‘hassle-free’ signal system is indeed welcome and, looking at the number of traffic snarls caused by signal failures in the city, most Delhiites will agree that this feature requires urgent attention. However, what is symptomatic of the ills of our system of governance is that an essential civic need had to wait for the occurrence of the Commonwealth Games to receive any consideration. It is only major events that compel the administrative authorities to attend to the urgent everyday needs of a society. Hosting major international sporting events everywhere requires considerable planning. Additional sports complexes need to be built, existing stadiums have to be refurbished and new housing for participants and tourists need to be created. Most cities focus on the special needs created by such events but for the rest they focus on sprucing up what exists. City administrations seek to ensure that the lights shine brightly upon the pavements and everything has a fresh coat of paint. In Delhi, by comparison, while preparing for sporting events the government is attending to the most basic concerns, such as, the security of passengers travelling from the airport to the city and the functioning of traffic signals. Surely, these concerns of safety must be taken care of, but one would expect a city administration to take care of them in a routine manner for they affect its own citizens on a day-to-day basis. One might even say that they affect the people living in the city much more than the tourists who are likely to pour in for a given event. An essential element of the liberal democratic way of life is the belief that the state, and with it the government, exists primarily to ensure law and order so that individuals can enjoy their liberties and rights. Citizens, in turn, owe allegiance to the state and obey its laws only because it fulfills that basic necessity. Political obligation, in other words, rests upon the state honouring the original contract and ensuring that conditions necessary for protecting the individual and her liberties do exist. Good governance is for this reason not simply a requirement of decent life; it is the condition of our obligation to the state. The people of Delhi may be relieved that some of the civic necessities are finally going to receive the attention they deserve, even if it is for the sake of ‘beautifying’ the city for the Games. But this does not obliterate the fact that a government, and not just citizens, has duties that it must honour and fulfil. However, most often we overlook the lapses of a government in this regard. In fact, in recent times we are beginning to shift the responsibility upon “civil society”. Instead of holding the government and its members accountable for breach of civic contract we are hoping that other actors will step in to perform the jobs that are the first and foremost responsibility of a government. Even as we sit back and celebrate the coming of age of our civil society, we need also to consider if this is absolving the democratically elected government of its primary duties and responsibilities. It is also pertinent to remember that while preparing for the Games, what is uppermost in the minds of the government bureaucracy is not the interest of the people who live in the city but a misplaced sense of national pride. The desire to show the world that we can undertake a task and do it as well as any one else is supposed to instill a sense of pride in our selves. Undertaking a task and executing it efficiently is always a little exhilarating, but the bonds it foments and the sense of wellbeing it creates is unlikely to last beyond the moment. A deeper sense of belonging and commitment to the nation can only be nurtured and sustained when the people feel that their interests are protected and their concerns are taken care of by those who govern the state. The rhetoric of the government officials and functionaries is, in this instance, laced with the familiar references to the famously warm Indian hospitality. This apparently justifies the special efforts that are being made. However, even as the government makes a special effort to make the ‘guests’ comfortable, it may do well to also make her people feel at home and cared for.The writer is professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
