By Biswaraj Patnaik, July 15, 2015 :  While on a morning walk down a desolate street in a Bhubaneswar outskirt location, a retired engineer identifies a familiar face begging. Distressed, he walks up to the emaciated middle-aged guy and seeks to know what went wrong in life. The beggar was an ace Bajaj scooter mechanic who, only a decade ago, did not even have time to eat properly due to want of free time.

Bajaj scooters ruled the Indian roads then. One had to wait for years to own a scooter which was the pride of India and had put Rahul Bajaj in the big league of world industrialists. Bajaj Scooter Company was the second most profit-making outfit in the country next to the Tata Steel among the private operators and respected worldwide for its ‘Chetak’ model exported to even developed countries. All this has become history now.

The ‘morning walk mechanic’ was the most desired person among the rich and powerful officials, politicians and business tycoons. He would be treated as king if ever he paid a very rare visit to a wealthy household. He created at least one hundred technicians himself after having been trained and rewarded by the Bajaj Company. He lived in a decent house and his children went to an English medium school. His wife organised feasts for fellow women once or twice a year. Now all this is history. The Bajaj scooter is a relic of the past. Most of the middle-aged mechanics have been rendered jobless, because catching up with the motor cycle invasion has been difficult. India has become all motor cycle now. Bajaj scooter has been erased from the minds of the Indian youth of today.

The ace mechanic was waiting for a construction supervisor to choose him as a daily labourer. His wife is now a domestic cook, and the half-educated grown children are permanent burdens on the helpless parents. Life is so tough now.

Technology advancement too has its victims. Hundreds of such talents are now in streets looking for a job to only survive in vain because of age and lack of high-tech skills. There is no help available for them. The state has ignored this community in distress as if they don’t exist. Around this time, Prime Minister Modi calls for ‘subsidy give-up’. He is right in persuading people to help the nation financially, but the call appears misplaced because he has failed to motivate people by leading. If only he had taken initiatives to scrap the most loathed 5-crore rupee annual MP LAD fund, the limitless free train travel in luxury class, unforgivably free phone calls, water, electricity and above all the Parliament canteen food subsidy, people would have taken his call seriously.

Further, the Law makers’ pay-hike issue cropping up every now and then has irked the people of India as much as the hefty pension for a 5-year period fun (pension schemes have already been scrapped for ordinary government employees). The Administrative Reforms Commission, successive Parliamentary committees and even the Sonia Gandhi inspired National Advisory Council with members drawn from various walks of life, have strongly recommended scrapping of the MPLAD arrangement which is anti-people in nature. They have never been respected. There is big talk of gross abuse of funds as much as absolute non-use and kickbacks for grant to unworthy projects.

For all this, the Modi administration has to be cautious on its calls to people. ‘Man Ki Baat’ and super-frequent foreign trips are being considered theatrical by people who believe the actions are a ploy to evade critical domestic issues. Modi was expected to be a saviour after the UPA’s two-term debacle, but nothing much has been done to sooth the burning hearts of the masses. Media made Modi a larger than life figure; it could end in demolishing him soon enough unless there is quality delivery of public goods in good time. So instead of harping on giving up subsidies, Modi should devote more time in persuading law makers to be more worthy and credible. Or else, a second term may not happen at all.