It is quite extraordinary how one small mention of a mole in the Narasimha Rao government, dead and gone, with a decade and more between then and now, can titillate the mainline media and put an erstwhile minister, author of his part autobiography, on the headlines night and day this week. It has become national news without being any ?news? at all.

It would be far more interesting if the same journalists did some hard investigations and exposed similar improprieties of today. And far more productive if political commentators raised the many serious questions about the breakdown within the administrative and political system and the rapid descent into being a soft and vulnerable state because of a lack of leadership. The past is there as empirical background to finding the discrepancies and plugging the leaks.

If Jaswant Singh knew who the mole was and if he had all the proof he claims to have at his fingertips, the responsibility of his office demanded he inform the then Prime Minister and his other cabinet colleagues officially. If he did not, it betrays his oath of office and therefore, the country at large. Senior leaders cannot behave in this kind of arbitrary manner at the cost of national interest. That is the lesson to be learnt.

An intellectual lethargy and systematic exploitation has enveloped all four pillars of our democracy, much like a heavy fog that blinds the vision, distances and excludes the citizenry from many silent shenanigans, making itself less and less accountable for all the wrongs being inflicted by the government on this society.

Abdication of service seems to be the mantra of today, one that has made sure India stagnates while a small coterie of parasites, rulers and their administrators, gnaw away at the very foundations of our fledgling nation-state.

Nothing whatsoever is done for the people. Everything is tailored to give more draconian powers to this ruling coterie, much like the colonisers of yore, the only difference being the colour of the skin of those who rule us today.

? If Jaswant Singh knew about the mole, why did he not inform the then PM?
? In India, abdication of service is the mantra, with the country stagnating
? It is also suffering due to regressive policies and sub-standard thinking

Because we have succumbed to corruption across the board, the only all-embracing, inclusive truth of our nation. It has been nurtured, preserved and venerated by the state and its incumbents. We have, as a people, been forced to fend for ourselves to live, develop and grow.

Nothing entrepreneurial is permitted to raise its head, even when the seed has been cared for, waiting to burst forth and blossom. For the state machinery with its draconian rules, made to be broken with bribes operated by corrupt custodians of the same stifling rules and therefore the state, have made it their business to kill all that comes alive.

India has had to face the deep-seated insecurity of its state apparatus and has suffered the regressive policies that come with sub-standard, stagnant thinking processes that are all-exclusive.

The bureaucracy of India, the obsolete administrative machine, is a class and caste apart. It encompasses and suffocates every aspect of life. To make things worse, it is disconnected with India, isolated from the new challenges and realities, constantly fighting the generation that will take us onto another level in the future.

In this selfish avtar, the State is forcing chaos and anarchy across the subcontinent. At a time in our history when the adrenalin should be flowing to consolidate an emergent India as a world power, this country is struggling to find its niche in a competitive world.

The UPA government has not been able to step out of the conservative status quo and shake the system in an effort to build a paradigm for the new millennium. It has lost its historic opportunity to alter the course and excite the new generation by initiating the cleansing of a corrupt and corroding structure, or by correcting the ineffective operation of government. There has been a lack of inventive, clean and appropriate governance. It has just been a little ?less worse?, to use an Indianism.

This government seems confused about its agenda. It appears insecure and smug at the same time. It does not take strong decisions because it does not want to rock the boat, desperate to be in power. We all know what political power brings in its wake, and the rulers this time round seem no different to those from the past.

How long will India have to wait?