The big debate in India is whether there is crisis of leadership or there is crisis of vision and mission to run the country. While there can be endless debate on the leadership issue, there exits a consensus that there is policy paralysis in our country and India is in dire need of reforms at various levels to redeem itself.
An interesting book "Reforms to Save India" by S. Gokulraj lists out number of suggestions that needs attention, although some may be laughing stock and quite out of context. Notwithstanding the facts, the author wants to convey the message that India needs systemic change in order to gallop on the highway of progress.
Attacking on the electoral system of India the author makes some pointed reference towards electoral reforms. He says the solution for general elections is to have a Single Transfer Direct Preferential voting system as it is followed to select the President of India. This will empower the people to select the person they want directly as they cast a primary vote for a person of their choice and a secondary vote for their second choice. He suggests that there should be provision for the recall of the representative after two-and-a-half-years if he fails to perform.
He also sees problem in the way our Parliament in our country functions. He finds it very lethargic in it operation. As part of Parliamentary reforms he suggests that t he President should be made the speaker of the Lok Sabha and the question hour should be at the start of the proceedings and not in the end.
He also likes to see reforms in the system of Cabinet of Ministers that constitutes the government. He suggests that at the ministerial level, there should be three ministers for every ministry. A ministry should have an executive minister with the specific background of the portfolio he holds and should be selected by the UPSC. Then there should be a shadow minister from the opposition party, and third be an elected representative from the ruling party. He insists that proper educational qualification should be mandatory for handling the ministry.
Getting down on the issue of accountability, the author demands that the employees in Government offices should be made accountable. There should be monthly targets of work and this has to be audited on monthly basis. In finance and administration, he recommends, a self-sufficient revenue model.
He wants to see municipal reforms and likes each municipal corporation maintain a treasury and use 50 per cent of the money for developmental activities. He also mentions introduction of EVCC (Electronic Voting and Complaint Registration Card) which can be used as an ATM card to register complaints on bad roads and drains. The author is of the view that this model would help faster implementation of development activities in the cities towns and districts of India.
Turning his attention to the villages that is sulking in penury, he advocates Corporate Cluster Cooperative Farming in agriculture, where corporate houses adopt villages, invest money in agriculture, and buy the produce from the farmers in bulk.
He wants reforms in the employment exchange level and likes the government to help the economically weaker sections of the society. As a means to rehabilitate such people, he suggests attaching them to the agencies such as the employment exchange that may generate jobs for them in the Government or in Corporate Sector.
Coming to judicial reforms, he wants a compounded court system. He wants the entire judicial apparatus should be located in one complex where there should be multiple courts to deal with crime, social issues, family problems, business and corruption. There should deadlines for the judges to clear the cases and their progress should be audited.
S. Gokulraj also wants reforms in the UPSC that selects officers under a complex pattern of examination to govern India. He rebukes on the current selection pattern saying one exam selects officers for 24 postings and because of the ranking system; a qualified doctor is posted to look after the revenue department. He is of the view that the best of the talent can be put to use in the respective fields by conducting individual exams in that particular field. The selected candidates should then be given appointment in the respective departments.
Even though, there may be many shortcomings in the author's prognosis to save India, one thing that he certainly stands out is that he is able to provoke us that our country is in need of reforms at various level if it has to run like a well oiled machine.
The policy paralysis is apparent. At the corporate level the policy that is followed is to make rich richer, so that a parasite white and blue collar class can develop and lives as hangers on to fill there belies. The best example we protected our industries for forty years and in the process created our own capitalist class. When we opened our economy, it is same the class which benefited from the liberalized policies. Those who made cycles in the protected regime started making motor cycles in the liberalized regime. Such stories and many more are in dime and dozens.
We need to understand that the operational dynamics of democracy works on party system and parties need money for contesting the mammoth elections. So a corporate class was developed to finance the democracy. This class touted as growth engines of the nation, even though being very small and electorally being insignificant, controls the systems of governance in the country.
While at the corporate level it's the parasite policy that works at the rural level where the actual vote bank exits a different policy is being followed. In rural areas the big farmers are not allowed to flourish and are robbed of their holdings and have been brought to the starting line. Its here the developmental polices are made how to make the rich poor and leave farming. While such plans had succeeded to an extent, plans made to uplift the marginalized section remains in fits and starts. Now the talk is to bring corporate into farming and develop the same corporate model in the rural areas as well.
What this discussion has brought into fore is that our country needs reforms and these reforms has to be well thought out and leads to the next level of development. The methods of our plans and policies that is ridden in the trials and errors has done no good to the country. If the book Reforms to Save India is of any worth then its only to raise consciousness level of the people that we are in dire need of reforms to save the country. This aspiration has to grow thick and fast in each one of us, if we want to make our country a true functional democracy.
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
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