By Biswaraj Patnaik

Angus Maddison, one of the greatest modern day economists is referred to while assessing what aids or ails national economies around the world. This British genius who died in 2010 spent nearly all his productive days in finding out how India and China fared on the economic front in comparison with Great Britain around the beginning of the 17th century.

Interestingly, both the Asian regions were wealthier than the whole of what is UK today in terms of per capita income and GDP. From 1600 onwards Britain started making waves in economic domains primarily because sharp brains made new machines and equipment that essentially reduced human labour and made assembly-line mass production of things that made life of human beings so much the more comfortable.

Industrial Revolution is what made Britain zip past other enviable economies of the world. More than mere industrial activity and entrepreneurship, what matterd more critically was the ‘Rule of Law’ which turned Britain a perfect ground where innovative brains were able to imagine, invent and share great ideas and products with the masses to make the nation wealthy. The inventors’ technology was safeguarded by way of patents and they never lost money or fame.

The rules of doing business too were very people-friendly. When the rulers made life easy and conducive for entrepreneurs, more and more ambitious people took leaps to become seafarers who left the shores of home to look for wealth elsewhere by taking calculated risks. And thus the Britons became resilient at risk activities with incredible endurance. They also saw things ahead and took supreme advantage of inventions and discoveries made by other nationals. The Italian explorer Columbus charted the sea route to the Americas (he only got as close as Puerto Rico). Portuguese Vasco da Gama found the best route to India known then as one of the wealthiest regions with nearly 564 princely states in independent command.

Not much explanation is necessary to prove the British people were and are a law-abiding lot even today. Great Britain comprising England, Wales and Scotland, expanded itself to become the United Kingdom by annexing the northern region of Ireland in 1801 by an act passed earlier. But what is so marvellous about the UK is that the ‘Rule of Law’ prevails and flourishes there perpetually as the heart does in a living being. Some experts might blame the British for the colonisation of many countries and kingdoms of the world where rule of law was methodically destroyed. But that is not ever true. Even during the British domination in India, laws once made could not be violated without attracting severe punishment. Even the erring British officials were punished exemplarily back at home if not on the Indian soil.

The story is not to praise the British. It is only to highlight the fact that both India and China have remained visibly poor only due to the ‘rule of law’ having been undermined at all times. And Incidentally, China was never a colony of the British, even though constant battles were on between the two races for business interests of the colonial masters.

In India, great laws are manufactured nonstop by the law makers most of whom are extremely fond of breaking them. Shockingly, the BJP-lead central government did not have one scrupulous person to know and declare that elected government authorities are much above cosmetic incumbents in any position in the governance structure. The Delhi crisis has brought the image of India down across the democratic world. Fortunately, the Judiciary came by to save democracy in good time. The Lieutenant Governor is indeed a rubber stamp when it comes to decisions being endorsed by a popularly elected government.

It is strange that legal luminaries like Arun Jaitly too failed to define rule of law in a democracy and persuade colleagues fittingly. It is for sure that Modi studied law for fun and Jaitly practices law for pleasure. Rajnath is a street-smart politician who does not seem to bother about laws, rules or norms. It is also a fact that the NDA report card is not very impressive on the issues of regaining paradise Modi promised through the election manifesto.

Except the branded mouthpiece agencies of the BJP, no sensible political analyst or known statesman speaks very high of the progress made by the NDA outfit. Someone wrote a couple of days back that Modi was very smart in escaping the heat and humidity of the Indian summer by organising trips to cooler climes and signing blindly some trade or security treaty or the other to prove to Indians that he is busy pulling in ‘acche din’ of the best kind. These words of caution are critically important to Modi as majority of the Modi fans are likely to be disillusioned unless true ‘acchhe din’ arrive soon enough. The keystone principle of democracy is ‘Rule of Law’ which has been grossly undermined in the case of ‘Kejriwal-Jung row’ over supremacy.