An Agenda for 2014.
The Indian State has failed Indian people. After 66 years of freedom almost 400 million people are poor. Many millions are hungry, illiterate and unemployed or under employed.
India has become self-sufficeinrt in food grains production but poor are still hungry. Millions tonnes of food grains rot in rain or infested with pests. Public Distribution System has succeeded only in one or two states but has failed to provide food for the needy in many other states. Many have doubts about the effectiveness of the Food Security Act
India gets abundant mansoon rains and has many perennial rivers but there is a scarcity of water in many parts of the country. Every year there are floods in some part of the country, there is drought in some other parts of the country.
Our educational system produces graduates and diploma holders who do not have skills to get employed. Almost 50 or more percent of students fail every year.
These and other problems of the people cry for solutions.
Our present way of orgnaising economic activities have stifled initiative by individuals or groups to promote economic growth. We have to think laterally. Our problems require new ideas which can tap our vast human and material resouces.
Here are a few suggestions.
1.Decentralize and empower the village panchayat : As Mahatma Gandhi pointed out long ago, India still lives in villages – almost 60 percent of the people depend on agriculture which now contributes less than 15 percent GDP. This gives an idea of deprivation, and stagnation. Let us make our villages liveable. Development should be village-centric. Anna Hazare in Relegoan Siddhi and Popatrao Pawar on Hirve Bazar, both in Maharashtra, have proved even in a rain-shadow areas, villages can be prosperous by harnessing the water – water-shed development, rain water harvesting. This should be duplicated by encouraging young and educated youth to transform their villages.
Our former President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam has developed the concept of PURA – provding urban facilities in rural areas. This is the modren version of Mahatma Gandhi's village development envisaged by him for India. With multiple connectivities such as physical connectivity (roads), knowledge conncetivity (education) and commercial connectivity ( trade), our villages could be as dynamic and progressive as cities.
Implement the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act.There is a need to decentraize power (taxation, planning projects and their execution ) to all civic bodies – in villages, municipalities and districts. Government should develop a cadre of officers who can enable villages to plan and execute projects for the benefit of the people. All elected members of the panchayats, districts, states and members of the parliament should undergo a course on their rights & responsibilities and obligations to the people.
The Comptroller & Auditor General should be entrusted with responsibility of auditing accounts of the elected bodies and present it to these elcted bodies as well as to the general public. Misuse of power by politicians and bureaucrats should be punished after enquiry within months, not years. Every elcted member should address his voters every year, if not more often, on his activities - achievements and failures.
Some of the Indian states are as big as some of the countries of the world, and they have failed to do justice to all regions of the state. There have agitations to divide these states. Smaller states seems to have done better in providing better governence. The new government should constitute another states reorganisation commission to look into the validity of the demand and make appropriate recomendations. There should be no hesitation to reorganise states for better governance.
2.Health and Education : Every village should have a primary school and every cluster of villages shoud have a primary health care centre. Since agriculture is the mainstay of most of the villages, the secondary school should have modren methods of agriculture as one of the subjects. There should be free special courses on modren agriculture for adults – seeds selection, micro-irrigation, use of organic manure or fertilizers, benefits of cooperatives, how to access credit from banks etc.These courses should be conducted by the Agricultural Universities of the states. Since banks have failed to reach every village, post offices should be strengthened with skilled man-power to provide banking services.
If we can provide potable water and sanitation facilities to every village, health of the poor would improve tremendously. The time has come to implement short course on medicine to cater to the needs of poor in the villages.
3.Involve people in implementing welfare measures : The central and state governments allot crores of rupees on many welfare activites. Some departments do not spend most of the amount, when spent, it does not reach the intended recipients. There has to be social auditing of these social welfare measures. Every central, state, district and village level authority should be associated with social groups (ngos) who promote social causes and corporates who can give managerial support. Many people are not aware of the facilities provided by the government bodies.
4.Transperancy in administration : The Right to Information Act has provided political and social workers information on the use and misuse of power by the bureaucracy and the politicians. One has to write to the competant authority for every bit of information. Every department of the government ( except defence ) should have a website where all the information including tenders and allotments should be made availble for the benefit of the citizens. Ever department should be computerised and the citizen should be able to receive information on his application without much delay.
5.Corruption & Black Money : Corruption and black money started during the second world war due to the rationing of food grains and other essentials. It continued after Independence due to permit-licence raj. Gold import ban and prohibition added to it. High marginal income tax upto 97% gave impetus to it.
Moderate income, excise, service and import taxes plus enforcing the same without fear and favour should be the guideline for the government. The new government should confiscate all money deposited in off-shore banks. Bureaucrats,politicians and businessmen should be offered a chance to declare their black money holdings without imprisonment but with 75% confiscation
There is an urgent need to establish the institution of Ombudsman ( lokayukta) at the central and state levels or to have a bench in the high courts and the supreme court only to hear corrution cases. CVC & CBI can work under Ombudsman or the judge.
6.State-funding of political parties: There is no mention of political parties in our Constitution. The Constitution should be amended to include a provision on political parties and how they should function. Every political party should have internal democracy.All donations should be properly accounted for. It is a sad commentary on our democracy that most of the funding of the political parties is in cash. Loka Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan had observed long ago that election is the gangotri (fount) of corruption.
The state should fund most of the election expenses of the recognised political parties with reference to a rational formula – number votes/seats won. All banners, processions on the roads and loud speakers which disturb normal life should not be allowed. The Election Commission can be entrusted with the oragnisation of meetings of all candidates in each constituency to reduce election expenditure. With the reduction of illiteracy in the country most of the voters are aware of the political developments in the country. The Election Commission can distribute the highlights of the manifestoes of political parties to every household. It can bring out special supplements in newspapers with the manifestoes. The TV channels can be asked to give time for all parties. These measures would reduce election expenditure of all political parties.
7.Defence industry : India's defence needs are increasing with the undemarcated boundaries with two of our neighbours and their continued belligerance. We import most of our defence requirements from abroad. It is a constraint on our strategic autonomy. India should build a defense industry in cooperation with the private secor, and it should also seek collaboartion with defense industries in other countries.
8.Solar Energy : India should invest money, talent and R&D to harness solar energy in a big way to tap 360 days of sunshine in the country. Fossile fuels are polluting and atomic energy is dangerous. We should be pioneers in solar and other non-conventioal energy sources. In the meanwhile, there should be an intense effort to explore and locate hydro-carbon resoures in the country. Dependence on imported crude oil should be reduced.
9.Harness the water : It is said that the next world war would be on water sources. We have to harness every drop of water available in india. Rain-water harvesting, micro-irrigation projects, and check-dams should be encouraged all over India. India should also construct a network of canals to harness the flood waters to quench the thirst for water in rain-shadow areas. Every state can try river-linking projects for this purpose.
10.Manufacturing Industry : India has neglected small-scale and large manufacturing industry. While Computer software industry is the pride of India today, which provides employment to many engineering graduates, it is the manufacturing industry which gives employment to skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers. India should have been at the top for garment exports with its vast experience in textile industry, we find that China, Bangladesh and Hong Kong are in the big league, not India.
We import cheap toys and even idols of Indian gods from China. Indian government should give concessions and tax incentatives to build manufacturing industry. Building industry ( houses, hospitals, schools), which has multiplier effect on the economy, needs to be given industry status and freed from red-tape and the large number of permissions which delay projects. The slums and crumbling buildings in Mumbai and other cities is shame and an eloquent testimony of the government's inactivity.
I have seen my country become Independent, lay the foundation for economic growth, and promote democracy. Some of the initial policies ( permit-license raj, social and religious divide etc.) distorted our growth and progress. Indians are intelligent and hard working. They just want more opportunities. The above suggestions, I believe, would provide them.
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