ENTITLEMENT VERSUS EMPOWERMENT – WHICH IS THE ROAD AHEAD?

If there is a basic difference in the way the Left and Left of Centre Thinkdom (LLCT remember!) and the present government teats the poor and the downtrodden then this is it – the LLCT believed in the policy of ‘entitlement’ whereas the present dispensation is of the opinion that ‘empowerment’ is the way ahead for them. So when the LLCT believed in providing the poor with a free fish now and then, the present government wants to teach them how to fish so that they never have to go hungry in future.

Let us understand these two words very clearly right at the outset before we go about comparing them.

Entitlement: the unhealthy belief held by a group or an individual that they deserve special treatment because of their special circumstances. Constantly giving a handout reinforces this mindset. They feel they have a right to have, do, or get something and they are deserving of or entitled to certain privileges.

Empowerment: providing an individual the skills and information that helps them make an informed decision. Giving someone a hand up by taking the time to believe in them, nurture them in love and teach them a new skill. This is an effort to give official authority or legal power to enable and promote their self actualization of goals in life.

At the family level

Forget about the complexity of governing a country as big and as varied as India, let us compare these two phenomena at a family level. On the one hand we have the pampered son of a business baron who, on the first day of his employment, walks into the company board room because he is entitled to do so as he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. On the other hand we have an equally successful businessman who insists that his son should start from the shop-floor level and gradually climb up the ladder after learning the tricks of trade from every department. So on one hand we have an executive who has no knowledge of his business, his products and his people and on the other you have one who knows almost everyone by his/her first name, knows what they are good at, how can they contribute maximally and contribute towards the success of his company. The first guy is entitles by birth where as the second one is empowered by experience………who do you think will be more successful?

A cycle that repeats itself

There are many ways people often become entitled or empowered, but most commonly it has to do with their childhood and how they were raised. Most successful empowered individuals grew up in poor families. Wanting to change the circumstances of their lives, they often aspired to do great things to change the lifestyle they had grown accustomed to. That’s right! Those children, who learn early on that in order to achieve a goal, they must work for it, have a greater likelihood of achieving the same kind of success in their adult lives.

Entitled individuals often come from a childhood where they were given everything they wanted. If they needed something, often their parents gave it to them. They didn’t have to work for it and if they did, it was most likely a simple menial task that anyone could accomplish. It’s this reinforced behavior that often follows them into their adult lives.

So this leads to a very fundamental question, what causes parents to take actions that will either lead their children to become entitled or empowered? The simple answer is that it’s a cycle. Parents who grow up with nothing as children often become empowered to change their lives. When they become successful, they often want to give their children what they did not have, this leads to children who when they become adults feel entitled and often lead unsuccessful lives. This becomes a cycle that will often repeat every 2-3 generations. Look around in your own surroundings, among your friends and relatives, and you will appreciate what I am referring to. Look at the third and fourth generation Indian Americans; do they have the same hunger to succeed as the first and second generation ones?

Parents should adopt characteristics required to inspire the behaviors that lead to empowerment. Because if the individual is empowered as a child, you will give them the tools they need to become empowered and successful in their careers.

At the factory level

Now let us take this comparison from the family to a bigger level – a factory. An empowered employee typically has a track record of success and thereby has gained a positive reputation for delivering results based on actions. An entitled employee often feels that they are owed decision-making ability either by any number of factors such as caste, title, money, or tenor. Behaviorally, they are completely different. One has the ability to inspire teams to greatness, while the other can be disruptive and sometimes lead to failure.

Managers must follow the same behavior guidelines. A manager who gives, gives, gives  and keeps on giving without expecting work will create an employee that feels they should receive the best no matter what. A manager that rewards based on action and success will create an employee that delivers results and will feel empowered to do more. In business, the entitlement "ethic" has become a rotting cancer, infecting big business and reducing them to ruins. Entitled by caste, creed, domicile, proximity to power and political nuisance value the government sector is today infested by unemployables and it is not surprising to find so many vital government sectors in the red.

At the National level

Now that we have seen the family and the factory levels let us see what these two policies of Entitlement and Empowerment are doing to the country.  Like a ship at sea, we, as a nation, are today on storm tossed waters. Our choices have become more complex, yet the courses they set are chilling. If we choose to make it, to strive, to fail and to rise again, we are empowered. If we succumb to handouts, subsidies, free food, unemployment checks we are opting for the easier option of entitlement.

Kerosene subsidy, power subsidy, railway fare subsidy, fertilizer subsidy, LPG subsidy were the hallmark of the LLCT governments. The kerosene was sold to the petrol pumps to adulterate diesel and the really poor and needy were condemned to use firewood, cow dung pats or simply waste material, which they would collect by foraging far and wide. The fact that the fare increase will help the Railways to stop making losses, enable it to expand its network, undertake necessary modernisation and improve facilities for ordinary passengers was conveniently forgotten by LLCT. These activities generate employment and also improve railway safety and provide much needed connectivity for the poor people living in remote areas who have no other means to escape from their miserable local environment and search for jobs and better living. The huge and persistent haemorrhaging of the State Electricity Boards precluded capacity expansion and did not allow even the critically needed upgrading of transmission and distribution networks. The urea / fertilizer subsidy almost entirely benefitted either the fertiliser companies or the middle and large farmers who are its major users. These populist policies have an even more harmful consequence. They are creating a culture of entitlements from which it will become increasingly difficult to wean away the non-poor beneficiaries. And we are still not talking about how these entitlement benefits never reached the poor and  were siphoned out by the systemic corruption which was the hallmark of the LLCT governments!

This entitlement culture breeds corruption, inertia and dishonesty. Instead we could use the same amount of resources to train people, educate them, improve access to quality health services, reduce power cuts, make them better connected and in overall terms make the common man more empowered. Giving ‘Right to Food’, ‘Right to Education’, ‘Right to Employment’ are simply hollow promises if they are not supported by matching budgetary provisions and serious intentions. Liberty is no use to us if more and more of us are finding ourselves chained by poverty while an elite few climb higher and higher and the LLCT policy of entitlement was doing exactly that. Let us hope that the Empowerment policies of the present government – Make in India, Stand up India, Start Up India do not remain hollow slogans and truly give us the fruits of empowerment.

Empowerment is a far bigger investment and for a longer period of time but invest in the poor and you will see dividends. Make higher education more readily available, increase the quality of public education, improve their health by making medication more affordable, be creating incentives to live healthier lifestyles and equip them with skills to succeed in life. These will make them more productive employees, increase their buying power, increase their ability to rely on themselves which will then allow them to contribute more to our economy.