Offstumped – Commentary on Indian Politics

Governance is not about running welfare schemes

Governance is about making the Institutions of the State deliver

all the time everytime for everyone

The BJP is holding a first of its kind National Convention on Good Governance at the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini’s Knowledge-Excellence Centre at Bhainder near Mumbai between June 5th and and 6th 2010.

The convention was announced by former Goa CM and fellow IIT Mumba alumnus Manohar Parrikar who was also recently appointed as convenor of the BJP’s Governance cell.

The convention will be attended by Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states and others from NDA ruled states with Narendra Modi set to deliver the keynote.

Following is an Open Letter from Offstumped to the attendees of the Convention.

Dear BJP Chief Ministers and Leaders focused on Good Governance

As you get together in Mumbai to discuss Good Governance, I am reminded of a poem by an American Poet Ogden Nash.

The poem is titled “A Stitch too late is my fate” and builds on the famous proverb “a stitch in time saves nine” alluding to the Middle Class ethic of planning ahead to secure tomorrow.

I want to expand on this Middle Class ethic in the Indian Context and more specifically on why I think Institutional Reform must be the center piece of any agenda on Good Governance. I want to also highlight that without that Institutional Reform we will fail to chart the future for Young India.
  
Arun Shourieji writing in his latest book has given that profound message an Indian Context that all of us must reflect on.
 
Shourieji says that an extremely high price the country paid for starting the reforms late. And even these late reforms have taken place only in economic policy and not in administration and governance. Reforms in these fields are stonewalled because politicians don’t want to commit harakiri. One major problem before the country is the plethora of small parties who have their own narrow agendas and no national vision. Combined with the corrupt section of the business class, they derail even essential reforms. Shourie suggests that to bring about these mandatory changes, what is needed is a lobby for excellence.

There has been a lot of debate in our political world on the priorities of Government. Unlike Vajpayeeji’s NDA Government, Manmohan Singhji’s government has placed a higher priority on what it calls “Aam Admi” policies which have come at the expense of real development oriented reforms.
 
This government’s motto has been to postpone politically tough real reforms.
 
Instead this government has avoided the political challenges to pursue what at best can be called “feel good” policies by taking the easy way out of populism, thus postponing real reforms.
 
Unless we think “a stitch time in saves nine” we cannot muster the will for real Institutional reform .
 
I have no hesitation in saying that the BJP’s mission of Antyodaya cannot be realised unless there are Institutional reforms that make the system work all the time and everytime for everyone and not just the “Last Man Standing in the Queue”. 
 
It is only in a system that works all the time and for everyone can the poorest of poor be helped without being at the mercy of opportunistic politics.
 
This can only happen if Institutional Reform focuses on the areas of Economy, Local Governance and Education.
 
The UPA government has been very succesful in its pursuits of feel-good politics.
 
Thus a Right to Education bill is passed without real reform in maximizing educational opportunities for everyone through public and private means.
 
Tomorrow a Right to Food bill is being contemplated which too is aimed at making us all feel good without any real reform on the wastage and inefficiencies in the Public Distribution System.
 
Learned Policy Experts who are neutral and not associated with any political party have in recent days analyzed and exposed the fallacies of the UPA’s feel good policies.
 
Pratap Bhanu Mehtaji writing in the Indian Express has cautioned us on what he calls the diversionary tactics of the Government in ignoring Price rise and inflation which in part could have been contributed by the very same feel good policies touted by the Government from NREGA to the loan waivers.
 
Bibek Debroyji also writing in the Indian Express has also reminded us of the many failed promises of the UPA on reforms in the Food sector and how the UPA has failed accurately identify the Poor.
 
If there is one consistent message from these politically neutral experts, it is that the UPA’s feel good policies are deeply flawed and have come at the expense of real Institutional Reforms.
 
It is this postponement of reforms that has jeopardized our economic future as Pratap Bhanu Mehtaji puts it impacting not just the welfare schemes for the poor but also the costs of Education and other public services for the Middle Class.
 
Neutral experts are warning us that the Economic Success of past 2 decades the seeds of which were sown by Narasimha Raoji and which was harvested by Vajpayeeji’s government is at a grave risk on account of the UPA’s flawed policies and politics.
 
It is time for us to wake up before it is too late and to remind ourselves that a “stitch in time saves nine”.
 
Recently the Middle Class in Bangalore exploded many a myth about the BJP and Urban India by voting overwhelmingly for the BJP in the municipal polls. This should be taken as an opportunity for the BJP to distinguish itself in the area of Local Governance.  An important area of Urban Local Governance is Security and Police reforms. Unless Institutional reforms focused on building capacity we cannot win the war against Maoists or Islamists and the stray un-Hindu terrorist.
 
As a demonstration of your commitment to Good Governance the BJP should pledge to distinguish itself as the Party for Institutional Refors and the Party of Local Governance. 
 
Please pledge that you are ready to make tough political choices so we can bring in the Institutional Reforms we need urgently. 

Let us not forget what the experts are saying. The UPA is spending its way out of the gains of the last economic boom. Without Institutional Reforms there is little hope of incubating the next economic boom. Without either of these we will not be able to afford the welfare schemes needed to help the poorest of the poor for Antyodya.
 
With these words I enjoin you to think of  yourselves as a Lobby for Excellence as Arun Shourieji puts it and strive to dispel the “chalta hai” mindset in Governance and spread the message “ab nahi chalega”.

Regards

Filed under: ABIDE Bangalore, betrayal of aam admi, DesiPundit, economic freedom, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, jeetega-bharat, Karnataka Polls 2008, Local Governance, Narendra Modi, Nitin Gadkari, UPA-II Critical Appraisal