The Next Gen Benefits

Why do you think Pavlov is darling for many? He brought out an important concept, 'Conditioning'. What should Government ideally be using this concept for? For the benefit of greater good. Really? How? We are in a country where fortunately or unfortunately we are low on civic sense. Let us accept it and face it.

According to Confucius, "Government Exists for the Benefit of the Governed".  Ideally rulers to induce good behavior adopt several practices. 1.Constant reinforcement of  good practices 2. Provide incentives to people who display Good behaviour 3. Penalise the subjects

One of the serious problems which world faces today is Pollution. What solution did Delhi Government come up with? Odd and Even! How does it solve the problem? It probably prevents further damage, but the problem is left hanging in mid air. It also will have a probable damage - Those who can afford and currently with an 'Odd' number registration, will buy a second car with an 'Even' number registration and guess what Pollution levels won't come down! Will they? When constant reinforcement and levying taxes doesn't work, Government should realise that there could be a third way of addressing the problems - declare incentives to people who adhere to law and respect Natural Resources.

As an example, let's take power consumption. Climate change is it for Real? Yes. Almost all Governments agree too. The fault with current Government slabs is that, it doesn't incentivise people with Good behaviour and those respecting Natural resources.

Scenario

If in a state with 85,500 citizens, if government revises slab rates across, it is a loss - loss situation. 1. The over all consumption of people won't come down because they don't see any motivation to do so and 2. It is an erosion of that much extra wealth of citizens on expenses.

Are the current solutions of reinforcing people with switching off lights or levying extra burden by increasing prices working? No. This is where, Government should take measures to increase good behaviour by pulling in more people to  the bracket where they consume lesser Natural resources . Consider the following table:

Pulling in people towards lesser consumption

If through some measure, people's consumption comes down, you could see a significant reduction in expenditure and so will be the usage of Coal over a period of time

How do we achieve this? As a solution, consider not increasing prices for citizens under "0-100" slab. Pass the additional burden upwards. That should motivate people to reduce their power consumption as they see an incentive to be in the lower pool of consumption.

Incentives

As a hypothetical situation, it serves as a punishment for those who neither realised the importance of Natural resources yet nor respect them. If the entire country is a team, those with lesser income are allowing their better off counter parts to use resources and are receiving rewards. In the end, this post is an example of how we could look at solving problems differently but the time is definitely ripe to look at offering benefits differently.

Impact of Bad infrastructure - a Bigger Picture

If I were to ask you, what do you remember the most and can have impact on you, is it the most happiest moments?  Or the unhappiest moments which tend to leave a scar on you? How much ever, you may deny its the latter which have a long lasting impact on our lives. Just think about it, years of hard work in a relationship, doesn't it usually ruined by one momentary temper lapse? An argument early in the morning, won't it shape your day? Well, how to have a healthy relationship is a topic for another day. Then, what is the correlation between Infrastructure and our relationships?

Let me take an example, over a weekend, you decide to watch a movie along with your family. You had a GOOD time. How long are those happy memories retained? 14 Days or less than that. Now, let's say, you had a very unpleasant experience, how long are those memories retained? Sometimes, a life time isn't it? Whenever you have an unpleasant experience, i.e any experience which deviates from your expectations, you tend to get protective. The natural tendency is to save oneself. In order to do so, you spend more energy and when you spend more energy for an unproductive purpose, your brain stores the information as a warning. It warns you next time, not to visit the theater again, to be-aware of such situations etc., Ever touched a hot stove when you were a kid? Why don't you touch it again? Your brain immediately warns you against such an action. It is for your survival.

The more unhappy moments you accumulate, the more Frustration, Anger, Jealousy, Sadness get accumulated in the system which aren't your good friends. If your life is a Bank account and your daily deposits are just negative experiences / feelings / emotions, what will be your annual / monthly or daily returns?

When we are living in a society, it is the responsibility of the Government to provide its citizens with Good infrastructure and there is an equal responsibility of the citizens to conserve and protect the infrastructure by proper usage and help the Government with maintenance.

Some of the common Infrastructure problems which India faces are lack of Good roads, Schools, Irrigation projects and Health related Infrastructure. Imagine you're struck in traffic for 2 hours and the distance from your home to office is just 10 Kms! Isn't it frustrating? If it happens daily!? Imagine the negative deposits of emotions in your bank account. All these negative emotions kill you slowly, bit by bit. These emotions kill Nations. Its people tend to get more frustrated, they will lack concentration ability, promises will be missed, Accidents tend to increase, Productivity will be decreased, efficiency of vehicles will come down, Corruption and Pollution will increase, citizens will vent anger on innocent people. I could go on.

So, as policy makers it is important to concentrate on building quality infrastructure. Either have no infrastructure or have excellent infrastructure in place. Build excellent roads. Not roads with pot holes. Build excellent Schools. Not Schools with just roofs! Build excellent dams. Not half built walls! Build excellent Hospitals. Not a shed with some beds. If transforming nation into a super power is your aim, with happy citizens dwelling in - Concentrate on Infrastructure.