Needed: Governance revolution

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

Everyone will agree that the Indian system of governance needs a serious shake-up if the nation is to fulfil its true potential on the global stage. If proof were needed for this proposition, one has only to turn to the eighties and nineties of the past century, when the first stirrings were made in the direction to free the productive forces of the country, chiefly relating to regulations binding the system of production, distribution and foreign trade and commerce. There is simply no room for disagreement that those alterations — some would say “tinkering” with the existing system since Independence — led to the unleashing of productive energies, which surprised not only the nation itself, but also the international community at large.

The principal inference from this experience is that, left to themselves, Indians can produce wonders in the realm of innovation generally, adding immeasurably to the corpus of wealth emanating from this part of the globe. The critical phrase here is “left to themselves”, which hasn't been the case since 1947 till the mid-eighties. But clearly, if the phrase is to be operationalised in the best interests of the Republic, the system of governance will have to be re-crafted in such a way that it will produce the best results.

SHAKE-UP NEEDED SOON

Basically, the structure of governance comprises the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Each arm of the structure will have to be “reformed” to match the ethos of development, founded on the concept of providing every Indian effective independence in the exercise of his or her productive powers. The scale of the reformation is, therefore, Himalayan, the inference being that such a change simply cannot be brought about by “degrees” of reform. What is needed is a huge shake-up, akin to a “revolution”, which will have to be undertaken within the general contours of the Republic's Constitution.

How is this to be accomplished within the shortest possible time? Is it too much to expect people like Ms Sonia Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh to take the lead in introducing major changes in the system of governance, which will start paying dividends within a decade?

OVERCOMING BUREAUCRACY

Left to themselves, they would, in all probability, have chosen sweeping changes. But then, they have to contend with, among others, the army of “technicians” — the career administrators — who are certain to put some hurdles in the way, not because they don't have the vision, but also because they are, willy-nilly, prisoners of an ethos which should by now have been dumped in the dustbin of history.

In short, the IAS, which today can in no way be compared with the elite ICS of the British period, will have to be reformed substantially from within and without, before it comes to be identified publicly as the main wrecker of the vision of a vibrant India. For this, its mindset will have to undergo a sea change, and “administration” will have to be seen as a profession instead of an examination-based sinecure.

(This article was published in Hindu on January 17, 2012)