2500 Yr old blue print for India: The Chanakyan state
The Arthashastra by Chanakya was written around 350 BCE. This is a treatise on governance, program management, realism and last mile connectivity. This was also a book on how to think the unthinkable.
The book talks about various facets of governing a country, was written by a king maker for the kings. But the state was the ultimate aim throughout the book. The book makes a lot of sense even today, especially for today’s context for India.
Let us look at some key aspects which are relevant even for today
Rooting out termites: RCA, resolution and ruthlessness towards internal threats
After Chandra Gupta won various battles against the Nanda empire as well as Greek satraps he was firmly entrenched as the king in Pataliputra or Patna as it is called today, there was internal turmoil being fostered by the past rulers and his supporters. These were worrying times and Chanakya was deep in thought as to how to crush the rebellion. As he was walking by, he saw a weaver who was putting fire to parts of his house that were infested with termites. He was surprised that one could go to this extent to root out issues. Legend says, looking at the weavers resolve and resolution, Chanakya made the weaver in-charge of security of Pataliputra and gave him the charge to root out internal disturbance. The job was done to perfection.
Now to put this to some context to current scenario. The stone pelters in Kashmir, the urban naxals with their ideological poison and the 4th estate (the so called media) or the news traders who pose the greatest threat with respect to disinformation, destabilization and reducing the writ of the Indian state. Shouldn’t they be culled with the same ruthlessness that the weaver employed? When does freedom of expression stop and sedition come forth?
what would have Chanakya done? He would have punished the stone pelters and would have made them pay. He would have empowered the soldiers with boots on ground to carry out whatever was necessary within bounds. He would have ensured the urban naxals were rooted out completely including their support structure and supporters. Made the media pay for any violation of their freedom of speech. He would made sure there was a cost to everything that was done against the state. That is not fascism, but realism and cost of freedom. Freedom is not free, nor is it a right. It needs to be earned and has to be protected with certain laws.
He was always wary and scared of the threat from within, just like termites in a house. They can slowly but steadily eat away the entire house from the foundation. Internal threat is the most dangerous WMD ever found. Remember the battle of Talikota.
Thinking the unthinkable: Taxing prostitutes and Herman Kahn
In the initial days of the Mauryan empire of which Chanakya was the chief strategist and architect, he did the unthinkable. He brought the entire sex trade industry mainstream. Offered protection, taxed them and ensured they were protected from abuse. He also co-opted them into spies. How many people have let loose their tongues in the midst of ecstasy.
In the present day context, every fucker will take a moral high ground, while jacking off to porn or visiting brothels. Imagine the amount of corruption trying to regulate this basic human need and vice. The amount of resources being directed towards regulating the genitals of humans. The collateral benefits of regulating prostitution are numerous
A. The police force could be deployed else where gainfully. Say Women protection
B. Reduce corruption and the power of human trafficking gangs
C. Human vice can be a very high source of revenue (currently cigarettes and alcohol take the cake)
D. Offer protection to the most marginalized community in our country, reduce crime against women and reduce epidemics.
Would any politician worth his salt legalize human vices? Human vice will always find a way to cater for the demand. You can only regulate the demand and never with the supply. Grass, prostitution, drugs, betting you name it you have it. But under the carpet. Chanakya would have legalized, put rules, made enforcement and double checked on the enforcers and made a lot of money for the state while collecting information using these excellent human resources for spying.
Herman Kahn too was made of the same mold as Chanakya. He wrote many books among which were “On thermonuclear war” and “Thinking about the unthinkable” . Do read his article on “in defense of thinking”
His own words on thermonuclear war “ In our times, thermonuclear war may seem unthinkable, immoral, insane, hideous, or highly unlikely, but it is not impossible. To act intelligently we must learn as much as we can about the risks. We may thereby be able better to avoid nuclear war. We may even be able to avoid the crises that bring us to the brink of war. But despite our efforts we may some day come face to face with a blunt choice between surrender or war. We may even have war thrust upon us without being given any kind of a choice. We must appreciate these possibilities. We cannot wish them away. Nor should we overestimate and assume the worst is inevitable. This leads only to defeatism, inadequate preparations (because they seem useless), and pressures toward either preventive war or undue accommodation”
Bee sucking honey from a flower & Matsya Anyaya
The entire governance treatise Arthashastra can be condensed into the above two phrases. Let me tell you how
Chanakya says, the way Bee sucks honey from the flower, in a very sensitive yet sure way, so should the state tax its people. Taxation should be simple, painless and effective towards the end objective. Now look at the Indian tax system. The wordings sound like the latest model from a terminator franchise with huge vital stats. 80cc, 80dd!!! what the hell are these?
If Chanakya were to manage the tax system of today he would stick to these few principles
A. Make the damn language simple and easy to understand. In multiple languages
B. End of tax terrorism (remember the vodafone tax case and the IT departments
C. End of tax avoidance and severe penalty if done so. Instant Karma so to speak
Now coming to Matsay Anyaya: Which in Sanskrit means big fish eating the small fish or equality for all in front of the law and the state. I still remember the classic dialogue from the movie, the enemy of the state. Will Smith’s wife says “Who;s going to monitor the monitors of the monitors” Chanakya would and he did 2500 yrs ago.
He did this using spies, more spies and even more spies combined with absolute lack of trust in anyone. People are people and will cheat, lie and sell their souls most of the time. So they need to be tested regularly for their loyalty. Chanakya never trusted bureaucrats. They were essential to his administration, but were never trusted.
The minority in India is the individual. Who can’t expect justice from the courts, the police or the elected representatives. There are millions of cases pending for decades resulting in both the highest court as well the lowest. Some statistics are given below
This was the bane of ancients too!! But they had a solution. Scaling, decentralization, hefty fines and local knowledge of law.
I still remember a very famous case where a poor chap Sarvjeet Singh was accused by Jasleen Kaur of harassing her verbally and molesting her. It turns out it was flase and he has suffered immensely after 15 months. He has changed 3 jobs and the case still goes on.
The most frustrating part, however, is that the arguments in the case against him are yet to begin as Jasleen has failed to attend even a single one of the hearings. In his own words
There have been 13 sessions in 3 years and she has been absent in every single one of them. He says:
“Each time I go to the court for the hearing, they call out my name, ask me to put my hand up and write down my name. They ask if the complainant has come. Because she is absent, another date is given and the matter is dismissed. This has been happening for the past three years.”
In ancient Mauryan state, she would have been penalized within 3 to maximum of 7 days. Instant justice with punishment for fraud. She would never have played with another persons life this way.
In Chanakyan state the law would have been as follows
A. The justice department was decentralized with lower courts empowered to give decisions.
B. Local laws and customs were respected and elders were made part of the jury to dispense justice.
C. Property laws and boundaries were sacrosanct as agriculture was critical for a countries growth or death. Any dispute was settled by a group of elders owning plots nearby the disputed land, elders from near by villages were also roped in. Justice was dispensed immediately without any delay. Think local, govern global was the mantra
I can go on and on. But if the above is just a tip of the iceberg. We have an ancient template that worked and can work if there is a will to implement it. It is time we went back 2500 yrs back for the basics. To the master realist.
