Attention: Delhi

After their first appeal to the UPA in January,a group of 14 business leaders and public figures (including a former judge,a civil servant and an RBI governor) has written a strong letter to the prime minister,outlining their preferred path for reform. They point to the dark side of discretionary decision-making and the nexus between “certain corporates,politicians,bureaucrats and power-brokers”,and the corruption that dogs citizens across the most routine transactions,from getting land deeds or birth/ death certificates,accessing utilities or transacting with the state for minor matters. They stressed on a raft of land,judicial,electoral and police reforms — some of which are widely acknowledged as necessary,but easier said than done.

Others are patently doable,requiring a mere flick at laggardly institutions,and it reflects badly on the UPA that they should continue to be problems. Environmental clearances,for instance,continue to hold up investment by shredding any reasonable timelines and being notoriously arbitrary. The prime minister has spoken of his fear that we are stepping back into a licence-permit raj,and announced plans for a new and independent environmental appraisal agency. These plans must be enacted as soon as possible,given the scale of the obstruction caused by a shoddy clearance system. The other reform that this group stressed was open auctions for natural resources,a move that will cleanly cut through corruption and crony capitalism,and help locate the right price for these resources. We need efficient and transparent processes to manage allocation. They also suggested legislation along the lines of the UK’s far-reaching bribery bill passed in 2010,which keeps a check on local and foreign companies,even commercial-to-commercial bribery. Of course,none of these suggestions is exactly news to the government. There are already many bills in the works that aim at one or the other aspect of these suggestions,from the public procurement bill to the judicial accountability bill,among others. But as the letter gently stressed,the government and opposition must throw their combined girth behind these initiatives.

This letter,like the one before it,is a soft-spoken expression of anguish and a sound blueprint,charted by those who played a leading role in India’s success story. They are not speaking for corporate behemoths,or talking a language that is at odds with the interests of common citizens — they are articulating what the people now expect rational,progressive policy to look like. It would be in Delhi’s own interests to pay heed.