Laws, Rules and Jokes

"Why don’t people stop, the signal is red?”

Cars were still zooming past, while she looked  around her stationary car, as if the traffic signal did not exist. We were not in small village somewhere in the remote parts of India, but in Pune, in the center of Pune at the Rakshak Chowk (those familiar with Pune would remember it as a big signal). Yet there was scant regard for the law.

“Well it is a Sunday morning, and anyway roads are empty.” I tried my best to rationalize the situation.

“Then we might as well take down the traffic signals. Why have the fa?ade of being civilized?” The better half retorted.

“It takes time for people to get used to new rules.”

“Yes this signal has been around for five years now, how much more?” She snapped back.

The disregard for the rule of law is not limited to the roads but is seen in almost all aspects of life. We have this genetic virus in our personal systems that make us allergic to follow rules. When we see a cop at the signal, we also see the red light, but when there is no cop, it is always green. We find ways.

When I read this big figure of 1 USD Billion, quoted by NASSCOM, as the possible loss that the ITES units operating out of Delhi would suffer due to the ban on diesel cabs, I was very surprised at the failure of the Risk Management teams at both the micro company level and also at the macro industry level. If such a big figure was at stake, how was it missed out in the Risk Management process? Was it a sudden decision taken by the Supreme Court in a jiffy!

On December 16th 2015, the Supreme Court had decided no more diesel cabs in Delhi wef 1 March 2016. So as I watched the indefatigable media coverage of the Delhi traffic nightmares, the first question to which I am still trying to find an answer being, why do we need the judiciary to do the executives’ job? Why does the Supreme Court have to step in and decide which cars should run and which should be banned in a particular city?

Traffic problems in our country, particularly in metros like Delhi is the worst kept secret. Bumper to bumper clutch driving is the norm, with car speeds in single digits but triple digit speed of expletives. The changing roads, the rising number of flyovers, the introduction of new transport modes like metro, etc nothing seems to be working.  The number of private vehicles just keeps rising. It was estimated sometime back that some 500 new private cars are unleashed on the Delhi roads every day, thanks to the low downpayment requirements and a plethora of bankers ready to fund the aspirations of an upwardly mobile population. A 2014 WHO survey of more than 1,600 cities ranked Delhi as the most polluted, partly because of the nearly 10 million vehicles on its roads. The Supreme Court has been pressuring authorities to reduce dangerous levels of haze and dust that choke the city, with a string of orders last year including a ban on new, large diesel cars, mainly SUVs.

The traffic, in collaboration with other offenders like industries, does contribute significantly to pollution in any city.  Let us say driving on the way from home to office, when you are stuck on the flyover (these flyovers become crawlers at peak hours) and the car ahead has not moved for five minutes, open the BMW door, and step out to take in the sultry humid polluted air of Mumbai, and you would understand the spelling and meaning of pollution.  It applies equally well to Delhi or any other city.

No one has an answer to why the difference between the inside of the car and the outside should be SO stark? And this includes the Delhi administration too. Arvind Kejriwal is one of the most evolved politicians and yet he too seems to have done very little on fixing the pollution problem. The Odd Even scheme, a good to have plan, is a recent brainwave and is doing its bit, but is not enough to fight the battle against pollution. The Air Quality Index reveals a grim picture every day.

So whenever the executive arm fails, the judiciary steps in. Every time the judiciary steps in, it dilutes democracy. So the SC had in its wisdom decided that diesel cars would be banned. It gave the diesel car owners three clear months to make arrangements so that they can comply with the new rules.

There are thirty thousand odd diesel taxis. Most of these are owned by individuals who own and operate these taxis. These people were supposed to change the system onto CNG to ensure that they could continue to ply their trade. And given that this was their livelihood, they should have been very meticulous in getting the conversion done on time. Or in the alternate, may be exchange their diesel car for a compliant car. But no! The rule was treated with due respect and nothing was done. For they knew divine powers would intervene.

The deadline was extended to 31st March, giving them one more month for complying with the rules. There was probably one thing that the judiciary overlooked was to question the Delhi Government on knowing what percentage of people had complied with the new requirement. That would have shed some light on the intent of the erring cab owners to comply. For the intent was missing, in most cases barring the corporate owned diesel cabs. And if the intent itself is missing, giving more time makes no sense.

On the due date, again the divine powers intervened. The Delhi government once again stood up like a disobedient child summoned by the headmaster, owned up its inadequate preparation to enforce the rule, sought another extension to give more time to the taxi owners to arrange for the conversion to CNG and the Principal with some stern warnings, obliged, extending the deadline to 30th April.

Come 1st May, all last minute attempts to again placate the SC failed. The rule was finally enforced with Delhi Police taking stern action against the diesel cabs still plying on Delhi roads in contravention to the SC order. Some 100 cabs were impounded by the DP. Allegations and counter allegations of harassment and corruption flew wildly. Everyone would agree that the more the number of rules, more the possibility of street level corruption. And here we are talking of cab owners, who are used to dealing with cops, unlike regular citizens who would generally pay up the fine demanded by the cop and demand a receipt for the same.

The cab owners struck. They did what we Indians know to best. When we are caught on the wrong foot, we shall protest. Neither shall we work, nor shall we let others work. On Monday, i.e. 2nd May, the first working day after the ban came in force there was mayhem. Affected cabbies blocked several arterial roads and important junctions. NH 8, that links Gurugram (used to be Gurgaon) to Delhi was blocked, completely.  People conducted their meetings and conference calls from their cars.

The situation was further worsened by two factors. The temperature in late morning crossed 40 degrees, and soon enough touched 46 degrees. Delhi is anyway known for road rage. The setting was perfect. It got worse by the second factor.

The compliant cabs like Uber, Ola, went back to making most of the situation. So Delhites either got a “no availability” message from these service providers or they got surge pricing before they could get inside the cab which would take them to work and which eventually got stuck in the man-made traffic jam. Delhites reacted in the way they know best. Road rage.

The reaction of the politicians was even more interesting. The Union Minister for Surface Transport announced that the Central Government would request the SC to reconsider its decision. “The ban has created an unprecedented situation of thousands of taxis getting off the road and people facing severe hardships.” And for a change the AAP Government, which normally is never found to be sharing the BJP viewpoints, appeared to have similar views.

Ever wondered why the general population does not take rules seriously?

As per the Delhi Govt counsel, the ban had created a law and order situation, besides a human problem, and requested the SC to give more time for the taxis to switch from diesel to CNG. The SC agreed to grant Delhi Govt two days to come with a comprehensive plan for pollution control.

Somehow the politicians who are worried about the loss of tangible votes, don’t seem to be concerned about the tangible effects of pollution on Delhi population and the intangible effects of not respecting the law. 

The unprecedented situation had risen precisely because those erring diesel cabs were not off the road but on the road blocking the roads. The best course of action is to ensure these cabs are kept off the road and not allow a handful of non-compliant taxi drivers to hold the entire population to ransom.

It is not a question of a few thousand tax drivers. At stake is whether our cities be allowed to breathe? Does the Delhi Government really have any plan to control, forget bringing down, pollution? If it has not done anything in the last one year, what kind of a half baked plan will it produce in two days?

At the next level the question is of our governance system and the kind of people who govern us. Recently Delhi Government was in the middle of a storm when it approved a significant hike to Delhi MLAs in Dec 2015. We wonder what was that hike for?  What had they achieved to earn such a steep increment?

Was it for its failure to pass laws to control traffic led pollution? Or was it for its failure to enforce SC decisions?

Probably it was for not acting against those miscreants who brought Delhi to a standstill, and then pleading for them on “human hardship” grounds.  It looks like a big joke on all of us. SC is doing what Delhi Government was supposed to do in the first place and Delhi Government instead of being happy that the unpopular decision has been taken by SC goes out of its way to tell SC why it cannot be done. What should the principal do with a student who is consistent in not complying with the rules? Should it be lenient and spoil the student further?

Now while we do have a problem in the public domain as our elected representatives fail us, we also have a problem at the corporate level, when the risk management teams failed to note the full impact of the December decision by the SC.  The process implemented by the cabbies to comply with the rules should have been monitored and tracked, with adequate warning signs, so as to make alternate arrangements.

The incident does point out to the need for our Risk Management systems to keep an eye open on the broad politico-legal developments, but also the Control functions to ensure adequate oversight on the management systems. NASSCOM representative, Sangeeta Gupta, was quoted, “There will be a potential 1 B USD loss if the ban on diesel cabs continued for 2-3 weeks.”

The very concerned lady should have also explained the steps taken by the affected companies in the last four months to mitigate this known risk.