When I was growing up in the 1960s, a young man had to aim to be an engineer or a doctor. A few years on, the ideal son-in-law had to be a chartered accountant. That too had a relatively brief shelf life. Today, an aspiring young man or woman must be a management graduate to be taken seriously by in-laws or by society at large. Yes, even an engineer or an accountant these days should snag an IIM degree if he or she wants around the globe. Some are CEOs of multinationals, some are innovators in Sillicon Valley while others blaze trails across the world as entrepreneurs. Many belong to the global elite's Davos club. Yet, India the nation seems almost unmanageable. The latest stunt of Mamata Banerjee to pull support from the UPA coalition is one more instance of how incredibly difficult it has become to manage the nation from New Delhi. Make no mistake, today it's Congress led government pushed into a miniority position in Parliament, tomorrow it could well be a BJP. Led one, It appears that the nation's managerial problem may not lie with any party or its leaders. We should ask: Is the very design of our political administrative system now defunct? To recap, briefly how that system evolved over the past six decades, we could outline Indian politics in three acts. The first was an era of Nehruvian consensus, fired by bold aspirations of a new nation in thrall of a towering leader who commanded huge majorities in Parliament and faced only mild opposition Nehru launched India, many would say mistakenly, on a path of centrally planned and controlled economic growth without serious hindrance while the Congress barely faced any challenge. It’s end began with a disastrous border war with China in 1962 golloerf doon by the death of Nehru in 1964. A period of turbulence followed until Indira Gandhi came out as the Empress of India after humiliating Pakistan in the Bangladesh war, she assumed total control of the Congress party by hollowing out its power structure, ending internal party democracy and subjugating all regional leaders.That was the second act of political evolution in India. Indira Gandhi ruled with authority, in a good and bad sense of the word, from 1969 till her assassination in 1984, barring a short post Emergency period when others tried to hold power with patch work coalitions. Her son, Rajiv, had good intentions but couldn't really deal with opposition from vested interests within the Congress during his five years in power till 1989. That's when a third era of politics pattern began and became the patter. The point to note is that this third era of politics that we are living through now needs a type of management skill that is fundamentally different from what was necessary in the first two eras. When I was growing up in the 1960s, a young man had to aim to be an engineer or a doctor. A few years on, the ideal son-in-law had to be a chartered accountant. That too had a relatively brief shelf life. Today, an aspiring young man or woman must be a management graduate to be taken seriously by in-laws or by society at large. Yes, even an engineer or an accountant these days should snag an IIM degree if he or she wants around the globe. Some are CEOs of multinationals, some are innovators in Sillicon Valley while others blaze trails across the world as entrepreneurs. Many belong to the global elite's Davos club. Yet, India the nation seems almost unmanageable. The latest stunt of Mamata Banerjee to pull support from the UPA coalition is one more instance of how incredibly difficult it has become to manage the nation from New Delhi. Make no mistake, today it's Congress led government pushed into a miniority position in Parliament, tomorrow it could well be a BJP. Led one, It appears that the nation's managerial problem may not lie with any party or its leaders. We should ask: Is the very design of our political administrative system now defunct? To recap, briefly how that system evolved over the past six decades, we could outline Indian politics in three acts. The first was an era of Nehruvian consensus, fired by bold aspirations of a new nation in thrall of a towering leader who commanded huge majorities in Parliament and faced only mild opposition Nehru launched India, many would say mistakenly, on a path of centrally planned and controlled economic growth without serious hindrance while the Congress barely faced any challenge. It’s end began with a disastrous border war with China in 1962 golloerf doon by the death of Nehru in 1964. A period of turbulence followed until Indira Gandhi came out as the Empress of India after humiliating Pakistan in the Bangladesh war, she assumed total control of the Congress party by hollowing out its power structure, ending internal party democracy and subjugating all regional leaders.That was the second act of political evolution in India. Indira Gandhi ruled with authority, in a good and bad sense of the word, from 1969 till her assassination in 1984, barring a short post Emergency period when others tried to hold power with patch work coalitions. Her son, Rajiv, had good intentions but couldn't really deal with opposition from vested interests within the Congress during his five years in power till 1989. That's when a third era of politics pattern began and became the patter. The point to note is that this third era of politics that we are living through now needs a type of management skill that is fundamentally different from what was necessary in the first two eras. Submit