Forget democracy and empowerment, we are talking about plain and simple matter of electricity supply; or the lack thereof.
I remember that a couple of years ago when I was visiting India, one of my relatives asked me, "So, they say that there are no power cuts ever in London, right?" I nodded sagely, "Absolutely, that is one of simple and amazing things that in most of these countries 24- hour power is taken for granted."
Well, its never a good idea to take anything for granted.
On 12th February, there was a power failure in parts of central London when a burst water pipe flooded a sub-station. Interestingly, the Royal Courts of Justice, the U.K.'s supreme legal authority, was on the receiving end too, and had to postpone all the hearings scheduled for that day.
To long suffering Lakhnavis (residents of Lucknow) the scenario is barely worth noticing; it is something they deal with on an almost daily basis. Whereas, for Londoners it is rare enough to be a newsworthy item.
The real noticeable difference perhaps lies not in the rarity of the event but in the response time. In London, power was restored to all customers by the evening. How likely would that be in Lucknow? I am sure that the answer is, "It depends. If it were the area near the ministers' bungalows... yes, it would have gotten fixed the same day."
Is it paucity of resources? Or just that the average citizen/ customer doesn't count for much in Lucknow? So, in a round about way, is it really about democracy and empowerment?
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Taking on from the Lko-London comparison. It is normally easy for us to connect the dots and but expect us in India to have poor infrastructure and public service track record but then I got a flavour of Africa – yes, the Dark Africa made up of countries that we rarely spare a thought to. What struck me was that while Anglo-phone Africa (ex-Brit colonies) was the standard mess that I had seen in India, the Franco-phone Africa (ex-French colonies) were pleasant places where 24/7 electricity and water supply, decent telephone connections (in the pre-mobile days), well maintained roads and fairly clean cities with a responsible and responsive administration (water, electricity companies, police, municipal structures). And I do not just mean better known countries like Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal but also the lesser known like Gabon, Benin, Togo, Tchad, Cameroon etc etc.
To my lay man’s eye the message was that decent public services are possible even within limited resources. I think some basic discipline is required for creating decent places, a desire by many/all to create and live decent lives.
That was a really informative comparison, Rano, thanks. As you know, I had travelled to Africa intensively during six months in 2005, but my visits were restricted to the Anglophone Africa (Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe) so I didn't really have a basis for comparison with Francophone Africa.
I am glad that by comparing you have removed the crutch we often use, that of limited resources, and helped focus our attention on some of the real issues: the will to execute and discipline. Thanks.
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