The image of the Indian prime minister, like the American president, is that of a chief executive. But in reality, the title of "chief executive" is a highly misleading one -- actually a misnomer. Under no circumstances can the prime minister, again like the American president, be compared to a CEO in Indian or American corporate business. In a corporation, when things are tough, the CEO can get tougher -- sell off subsidiaries, fire middle management, close plants, and reduce overheads drastically. Right here, the comparison between an Indian PM and the CEO stops. The occupant of North Block is much weaker, especially when trying to run his corporation -- the union government, as we have been seeing for some time

The Indian PM is nobody's chief executive. He can’t really fire anyone -- not even his tainted ministerial colleagues; for these posts must be refilled anyway. It’s a different matter that the DMK, part of the UPA coalition, is not in the right mood to grab the two reserved ministerial vacancies. Once the PM is elected, he and the nation are locked in. That’s why veterans of the Delhi scene correctly believe that “no one is in charge of the government”.

If power corrupts, then New Delhi agencies are corrupted absolutely by the absence of a chief executive with counterbalancing power. Today the situation is like a private corporation was heading towards bankruptcy and no one is allowed to try to turn it around. There is disquiet in the land. For the first time in decades, the majority of Indians are seriously debating the integrity and judgment of their union government. There is a gnawing concern, an undercurrent of overheard on supermarket checkout lines and voiced in public opinion polls.

There's little doubt that the Indian public is confused and frustrated by what's happening in New Delhi. Every now and then, a supposed debate about governance deficit to rule erupts in the capital and infuriates the nation. The ruling party as well as the opposition show accusing fingers at each other. It becomes a partisan brouhaha with great pulses of heat, but no illumination.

Is the government truly my friend? Or if not my enemy, is the government indifferent to my concerns? Indians are asking these penetrating questions regardless of party or ideology. And not always in the nicest of tones. A consensus of disappointment with New Delhi that transcends partisanship is developing, making for a confrontation of them versus us. People are suspicious that something is fundamentally wrong in the system. How deeply incompetence and misdirection infect the root of the Indian government and cripple its ability to serve all its citizens is much in show.

The reported scandals are mere blemishes on the national skin, eruptions that don’t truly reveal the erosion going on within the politic. One reason for people’s frustration is that they feel detached from New Delhi-that most of what goes on is not good for their lives.

In some ways, the union establishment, which bears little resemblance to the one set up by the founding fathers, might be compared to a huge racket. Now, more than at any time in Indian history, the government seems determined to help selected people, not the nation as a whole. Many of government policies are dictated by the needs of special interest groups - banks, lawyers, doctors, and hospitals, corporations, real-estate people, foreign interests, insurance companies, defence contractors oil and gas firms. Anyone you can think of -- except the working middle class.