We can get no satisfaction

Electricity. Would Madame Sonia like to explain what her government8217;s achievements have been? Is there even the hint of a policy that would provide the average Indian with sufficient supplies of this most basic of 21st century requirements? Would she like to tell us why things have got so bad that in Maharashtra, ruled by one of her chief ministers, desperate citizens have been rioting in the streets to protest the endless power cuts? Roads. It is to the credit of the Vajpayee government that during its tenure highways came up across the country with a speed unseen before. Eleven kilometers a day, they liked to boast, compared with eleven kilometers a year in Congress times. Things slowed down immediately after the government changed and I have it from people who know about these things that there has been hardly any speeding up during the course of the past year.

Drinking water. Madame Sonia has cast herself in her late mother-in-law8217;s 8216;8216;ghareebi hatao8217;8217; mould but despite this and despite the slum-dwelling economists and jholawalas who fill her National Advisory Council we have seen neither interest nor direction in this area. If Madame is 8216;8216;fully satisfied8217;8217; she must tell us why.

Speaking of the poor, is she fully satisfied with the absence of even the smallest attempt to improve the delivery systems that reach government assistance to the desperately poor? The Public Distribution System is a disaster, most Government anti-poverty programmes leak like sieves and are so designed that the only real beneficiaries are the officials who run them. What has been done to change this in the past year?

Healthcare and education, vital components of the fight against extreme poverty. Has anything at all happened to bring improvement in the past year? It is important to remember here that some of the best private hospitals in the world now exist in India and there are admirable, private efforts being made to improve our abysmal education standards. The Azim Premji Foundation, to mention only one example, is working with several state governments to improve standards of primary schools by demonstrating what quality education is, by helping schools with computerization programmes and by training teachers to make schools more child friendly. And, what has the Sonia-Manmohan government done in the past year? Nothing.

When the good doctor became PM I remember that one of his first promises was administrative reform. He admitted that at every level in the interface between citizen and government there was red tape, needless harassment and official arrogance. He was going to do something about this, he said, and what has happened? Things have got worse. Two examples. Earlier it was possible to renew your passport without going through a police investigation. It no longer is and there has been no reduction in the endless forms you need to fill. Most democratic countries have a one page form and no police investigations because a passport is the right of every citizen. Example number two. The Fringe Benefit Tax that the Finance Minister introduced in his Budget. May I suggest that the Prime Minister try filing fringe benefit returns so that he understands that instead of administrative reform he is giving us administrative madness.

Notice that I have not mentioned economic reform, with or without a human face, and the reason for this is that if there have been any reforms in the past year they have escaped my attention. It would be unfair not to mention here that I have noticed that every time an attempt at reform is made it is crushed by the government8217;s Marxist friends but is that a good enough excuse? Is it not possible to occasionally remind the commies that their economic ideas have been proven wrong in country after country across the world? Now that the Soviet has collapsed and China is one of the world8217;s leading capitalist countries can they tell us which country they see as a role model?

To return to Sonia and her satisfaction may I request those of you who write me hate mail every time I attack her to please be more constructive this time. Instead of abuse would you send me a short list of the things that you think cause her to be 8216;8216;fully satisfied8217;8217; or even a list of the things that have satisfied you personally about the government8217;s performance. For my part I am not just disappointed by the Sonia-Manmohan government8217;s performance but worried by the 8216;8216;satisfaction8217;8217; because if this is the best they can do we have had it.