Dr Singh146;s ruling code

Dr Singh8217;s vision of a super powerful Central Authority stands out as unique. The sole comparison to his policy that we can find in modern times is the Conseil d8217;Etat in France, which Napoleon crafted. Unless the proposed Central Authority has that kind of impregnable imprimatur that only the combined will of Parliament and the force of the Supreme Court can entrust it with, it will crumble instantly on activation.

Measurement, reward, assessment and such can no longer be left to bureaucrats. And, even less to tainted politicians. Many years ago, I remember the scorn and derisive mirth with which my favourite mentor in matters administrative, the late P.N. Haksar, had dismissed the concept of reforms from within. When the super experienced L.K. Jha was assigned by Indira Gandhi to execute administrative reform, his acerbic words were: 8220;Just because an ass gets old it doesn8217;t get brighter.8221; A stinging indictment, not on the late super-senior bureaucrat, but more on the futility of having babus attempt to either police, rate or even assess themselves. Addressing babus, it was Indira who had remarked wryly, 8220;there are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit.8221; She exhorted babus to 8220;try to be in the first group8221; because, she added, 8220;there is less competition there.8221;

Ah, competition 8212; and all that it means. Surely Dr Singh knows that competition in bureaucratic systems requires objective assessments, measurements and, very often, reordered rankings. Only the Indian administrator is saddled throughout most of his career by his entrance examination ranking. In the corporate world, this practice would be as retarded as Lever8217;s ranking top managers on the basis of their management school marks!

Insulation, the other key element of the proposed Code, today looks like a pipedream from Utopia. But it is vital. In the situation we are currently in, where the only thing we can bank on is coalition governments changing frequently, only career civil servants remain. They accumulate experience and skills hopefully, which ensures the continuity in the affairs of state. For this to happen, civil servants should be willing to design public policy, not just implement it, and also to focus on the needs of the state rather than pursuing venal personal or politically shifting agendas, as is more tempting and today infinitely more rewarding.

A reformed bureaucracy with the power to execute important decisions without fear of persecution from a revolving pantheon of political overlords is crucial to a developing economy in the throes of change. From the lowly safai karamchari, who by the way is also a 8216;government servant8217; who needs and deserves protection, even if it is from the local bully in the form of the politician corporator, bureaucratic shields must work at multiple levels for them to be credible and truly transitive 8212; for the bottom to the top of the heap.

It is not as if we are uniquely enfeebled by our bureaucracy as it is today. One year after Katrina devastated New Orleans, Paul Krugman reports that of the allocated 17 billion to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, till last week, the babus there had only spent a piffling 100 million. A Kafkaesque situation in which devastated towns seeking government funds were made to jump through complex hoops, proving that felled trees were actually knocked down by Katrina!

We are not uniquely crippled by political and bureaucratic corruption either. Philippines President Gloria Arroyo just this Monday ordered a reorganisation of the government body that administers nursing examinations because of a cheating scandal that has tainted the reputation of Filipino nurses. Board members were accused of receiving bribes but a hamstrung Arroyo was constrained into merely considering putting nursing review centres under the responsibility of the education department. Setting thieves to catch thieves, perhaps?

There is no doubt as to origins of this urgency. A Parliament that is on the verge of expansion and dissolution is also increasingly interventionist and unwittingly faces the wrath of public opprobrium over the fact that its members have just voted themselves a substantial wage hike. Worse is to follow. The proposed Pay Commission will cripple the Central budget, drive states into debt and in all likelihood halt substantial development expenditure everywhere. Inevitably informed public opinion is likely to rise in revulsion, once all of this happens.

But more substantially, the fact remains that when the story of Dr Manmohan Singh8217;s government and its achievements are analysed, it will be recognised for the two substantive reforms that were attempted, both of which came croppers well before the government8217;s own half-life was over. As far as the RTI Act is concerned, it is a sad story of clear bureaucratic over-dominance and petulance that verges on deliberate bungling. The rash of farmers8217; suicides destroyed the credibility of the right to work programme and what was left was ruined by poor implementation in Congress states. So it8217;s not just a blotted copybook but also one that is pathetically empty. So, if the good doctor wants to be remembered for something, then this ring-fencing act may well be his last hurrah.

The writer is a public affairs specialist