Bharat is elsewhere

As the world changes, at some level it stays the same. In the Shivaliks it was raining cats and dogs and paddy was in full swing.

As the world changes, at some level it stays the same. In the Shivaliks it was raining cats and dogs and paddy was in full swing. In the hills, a 8220;large8221; farmer kulak? happily told me that it hadn8217;t rained so much in decades and all the tankas were full. It was good in a large part of the Gangetic plain. But in Andheri Deori in Beawer; in Jawangarh, Kheda and Raas in Pali; in Wataman Chowky in Gujarat; and in the rain shadow region of the Shayadris, the parts I visited saw drought. The weatherman has predicted rain in August but it is too late for the kharif. Hoping against hope, areas which cultivate cotton, rice or soya have gone in for jowari as fodder. If it rains end-July and early August will we store it for the future, for drinking water, the rabi or next year8217;s pre-sowing irrigation if there is rain failure again?

Many years ago, the prime minister was to announce a National Rainfed Areas Authority, and eventually in this year8217;s Performance Budget, we were told that a CEO and members had been appointed. J.S. Samra, who is the top man, is in the great tradition of Indian agricultural science. Pushing his science with a nose to the ground, a team man and a performer. Will they get things moving in the rain failure areas? It will get their chief dry-land votes also.

What is the reform to get this going? As Mani Shankar Aiyar has been saying, the real problem lies in the divide between the two Indias and that exists across the country, for the richest states have their own problem backyards. Aiyar and others have made the point that in problem areas the trouble is not money or planning. The draft of the Eleventh Plan lists big-ticket schemes for every area. All the good ideas are there: watershed development, cereal and food sufficiency, faster and widespread agricultural growth, Sarvashiksha Abhiyan, 24215;7 health schemes.

The problem is not schemes and money, but effectiveness. Yojana Bhavan is repetitively and monotonously correct here. IRMA8217;s State of Panchayat Report brings it out again and again. In every scheme, the cutting edge is planning, execution and learning by doing at the village and taluka level and accountability at the top. Pradip Khandwala, one of the best men we have on this, has designed this in a far more focused manner in a framework of what he calls 8220;agencification8221;. Global experience is used to build up structures of autonomy, responsibility and accountability. But there are no takers; it needs Gandhigiri to give up power to become more effective and powerful. With a smaller vision you can8217;t do it.

Also, unfortunately, we think that village empowerment is wasteful and inefficient. The world over, local governments are growing and accessing more resources. In India, the last Finance Commission abolished formula-based assistance to regional governments, built up assiduously by giants like the late D.R. Gadgil. RBI data show that state borrowing has declined: governments are flush with Central funds; but these are all from the big Central schemes, with no local manoeuvrability. Local bodies need funds without strings and also some free play. Give them less but be efficient.

If efficient, they can themselves raise resources. IRMA8217;s econometrics showed that in about a quarter of the best cases, as the local economy grows, resources raised by panchayats grow at twice the economy8217;s growth rate. Institutionalise these aspects and let PRIs enter the financial markets. More than 30 cities now have CRISIL ratings for non-sovereign borrowings. The finance ministry must ensure that it is as easy to buy an Indian municipal bond as it is to buy a tax-free bond of a global metropolis. It is only in India that the Planning Commission and the World Bank want decentralisation; but, in the name of reform, we get centralisation. Reform must empower and not limit possibilities.

Reform doesn8217;t have to be people-unfriendly. The Investment Commission has a report on a road map on power distribution, again at the lowest level, and another committee on financial reform. Implement these not by setting up another committee but with time-bound action. V. Krishnamurthy has a Manufacturing Competitiveness Plan. We are told that, working for him, a think-tank has prepared details to get 31 industries going. Krishnamurthy is old-fashioned enough to believe that competitiveness and employment can go together, as China has shown. The notion that manufacturing employment has to be low is correct only if your industry doesn8217;t grow fast. A double digit growth rate for industry and four per cent in agriculture is possible, if we have the guts to tackle the problems head on.

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The writer, a former Union minister, is chairman, Institute of Rural Management, Anand

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