In fact, this is a good moment to examine the working of key ministries within the government and make a bold (if fanciful) suggestion: if a police station in Rajasthan can strive to get ISO 9000 ratings then why can't the ministries of HRD, Home and Urban Development also make a similar effort? In fact, there is an urgent need to move the reforms process out of the corporate sector and into the government. There is an urgent need to reform the reforms process. If 'to globalise' implies international standards of excellence, then there is an urgent need to globalise the ministries of Home, HRD and Urban Development.
The HRD Ministry is a dinosaur from the pre-liberalised past. There is no reason why it should exist except as a monument to the folly of Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi created this monster in 1985 with the sole purpose of making state administrations more subservient to it. The HRD Ministry is not even a ministry. Instead, it's a gargantuan collection of different departments all meddling in areas where they should emphatically not be in. Imposing quotas on higher education, ordering the rewriting of history textbooks, the HRD Ministry, constantly and unabashedly betrays what a hopeless misfit it is with the 21st century. If the HRD Ministry were globalised, it wouldn't insist on quotas. Instead, it would set up quality schools and colleges across India where excellent English education was made accessible to as many as possible. It would make sure that a system of scholarships was made available. It would make sure publicprivate partnerships were created to set up vocational schools and that IT training centres were established in the remotest corners. In short, it would ensure that every Indian was enabled to make the most of his talent and skills. But no, the HRD Ministry is not doing any of these things. Why is it not? Not only because it's headed by an octogenarian leftover of the licence permit raj, but simply because the ministry itself is a sick PSU in dire need of disinvestment.
The Ministry of Home, too, is in need of disinvestment. In November 2005, Naxals attacked the jailhouse in Jehanabad in Bihar and freed their comrades. The first crucially important feature of this raid was that this was no pre-dawn strike on a remote village by some rag tag band of Maoists. Instead, it was a calculated strategic strike to destroy all visible symbols of the government, namely telecom, law and order and electricity supply and show that Jehanabad, just kilometres away from Patna, could so very easily become part of the Naxal liberated zone. It was also calculated to show that today, the Naxal army is far better armed and far more motivated than any police force.
The second crucial feature about the Jehanabad jailbreak (arguably one of the most important incidents in the history of the Indian-State) was that the police simply melted away. The SP was nowhere to be found. The police put up no resistance. Why did the police not put up any resistance?
Simply because today, no one, least of all a policeman, wants to die for the government of India.
Supposing, hypothetically, the SP had stood his ground and opened fire on the Naxals and been gunned down in the line of duty. What would the Home Ministry have done for the (hypothetically) slain SP of Jehanabad? Given his family a meagre compensation? Kept his widow waiting for years for his pension? Noted his name down in some voluminous file? An assistant sub-inspector of police has recently been killed in east Champaran district of Bihar in a battle with Naxals. The Home Ministry has failed to notice. Now if the Home Ministry was globalised, that is, if it became competitive with other Home Ministries across the world, it would be forced to follow international standards in compensation, in motivation and in instituting a system of rewards. A police officer might stand and fight against Maoists if he knew that somebody would look after his family if he died protecting the Indian-State. If the Home Ministry had to strive for ISO 9000 ratings, it would be forced to look after, rehabilitate and compensate, those who died protecting Indian law.
The Ministry of Urban Development is equally in urgent need of being globalised. A ministry that seeks to raise Indian cities to excellence cannot operate by means of nontransparent orders that suddenly announce, as recently happened in Del hi, that shops in certain areas need to be sealed and Municipal Corporation forces and police must move in to enforce an arbitrary totally non-transparent decision.
A globalised Ministry of Urban Development would make sure that Indian cities became excellent, as 'Indian cities'. That the five lakh cycle rickshaws of Delhi were not treated as illegal, instead, were given licences. That vendors were not treated as scum but as the fundamentally important economic actors that they are. That cycle tracks and vendors' markets were created. That low-cost apartments were built for thousands of domestic workers and they did not have to rely on 'servant's quarters'.
It is an utter scandal that a city like Delhi does not have cycle tracks when it is the cycle (and not the Pajero) that is the chariot of the majority of people. If the Ministry of Urban Development had to strive for ISO 9000 ratings it would be forced to perform to its optimum capacity to create city plans that reflected the true character of an 'Indian' city. A ministry committed to excellence would be transparent, integrated with citizen groups, committed to the dignity and welfare of every city dweller: be he a Mercedes-riding tycoon or a cycle-riding slum dweller.
Reforms have always had a positive value in India. We Indians love reformers, whether they are Kabir and Mirabai or Manmohan Singh. But the reforms process is getting far too stuck in the economic and the corporate. The benefits of reform should not just be to rationalise tax and gain FDIs. Instead, the State's recognition of citizens' rights, the State's behaviour with citizens (why do our policemen still use lathis?) the obligation to provide quality education, excellent law and order and healthy wholesome housing should all be rewarded with the ISO 9000 seal. Only when a government begins to strive for excellence, only when a government begins to believe that even governing should be a competitive globalised business, will a government be motivated to look far beyond ridiculously old fashioned instruments like reservations and quotas. About the AuthorSagarika Ghose Sagarika Ghose has been a journalist for 20 years, starting her career with The Times of India, then moving to become part of the start-up team...Read Morefirst published:April 14, 2006, 10:35 ISTlast updated:April 14, 2006, 10:35 IST
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Twenty-seven per cent reservation of seats for OBCs, in all IITs, IIMs and central universities proposes Arjun Singh, Minister for Human Resource Development, who has inevitably been reminded of social justice at the height of the election season. The minister's proposal, according to him, aims to lift sections out of backwardness and make them more globally competitive. In fact, the minister's proposal is nothing but yet another glaring example of how the Ministry of Human Resource Development itself needs to be uplifted from backwardness and made more globally competitive.
In fact, this is a good moment to examine the working of key ministries within the government and make a bold (if fanciful) suggestion: if a police station in Rajasthan can strive to get ISO 9000 ratings then why can't the ministries of HRD, Home and Urban Development also make a similar effort? In fact, there is an urgent need to move the reforms process out of the corporate sector and into the government. There is an urgent need to reform the reforms process. If 'to globalise' implies international standards of excellence, then there is an urgent need to globalise the ministries of Home, HRD and Urban Development.
The HRD Ministry is a dinosaur from the pre-liberalised past. There is no reason why it should exist except as a monument to the folly of Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi created this monster in 1985 with the sole purpose of making state administrations more subservient to it. The HRD Ministry is not even a ministry. Instead, it's a gargantuan collection of different departments all meddling in areas where they should emphatically not be in. Imposing quotas on higher education, ordering the rewriting of history textbooks, the HRD Ministry, constantly and unabashedly betrays what a hopeless misfit it is with the 21st century. If the HRD Ministry were globalised, it wouldn't insist on quotas. Instead, it would set up quality schools and colleges across India where excellent English education was made accessible to as many as possible. It would make sure that a system of scholarships was made available. It would make sure publicprivate partnerships were created to set up vocational schools and that IT training centres were established in the remotest corners. In short, it would ensure that every Indian was enabled to make the most of his talent and skills. But no, the HRD Ministry is not doing any of these things. Why is it not? Not only because it's headed by an octogenarian leftover of the licence permit raj, but simply because the ministry itself is a sick PSU in dire need of disinvestment.
The Ministry of Home, too, is in need of disinvestment. In November 2005, Naxals attacked the jailhouse in Jehanabad in Bihar and freed their comrades. The first crucially important feature of this raid was that this was no pre-dawn strike on a remote village by some rag tag band of Maoists. Instead, it was a calculated strategic strike to destroy all visible symbols of the government, namely telecom, law and order and electricity supply and show that Jehanabad, just kilometres away from Patna, could so very easily become part of the Naxal liberated zone. It was also calculated to show that today, the Naxal army is far better armed and far more motivated than any police force.
The second crucial feature about the Jehanabad jailbreak (arguably one of the most important incidents in the history of the Indian-State) was that the police simply melted away. The SP was nowhere to be found. The police put up no resistance. Why did the police not put up any resistance?
Simply because today, no one, least of all a policeman, wants to die for the government of India.
Supposing, hypothetically, the SP had stood his ground and opened fire on the Naxals and been gunned down in the line of duty. What would the Home Ministry have done for the (hypothetically) slain SP of Jehanabad? Given his family a meagre compensation? Kept his widow waiting for years for his pension? Noted his name down in some voluminous file? An assistant sub-inspector of police has recently been killed in east Champaran district of Bihar in a battle with Naxals. The Home Ministry has failed to notice. Now if the Home Ministry was globalised, that is, if it became competitive with other Home Ministries across the world, it would be forced to follow international standards in compensation, in motivation and in instituting a system of rewards. A police officer might stand and fight against Maoists if he knew that somebody would look after his family if he died protecting the Indian-State. If the Home Ministry had to strive for ISO 9000 ratings, it would be forced to look after, rehabilitate and compensate, those who died protecting Indian law.
The Ministry of Urban Development is equally in urgent need of being globalised. A ministry that seeks to raise Indian cities to excellence cannot operate by means of nontransparent orders that suddenly announce, as recently happened in Del hi, that shops in certain areas need to be sealed and Municipal Corporation forces and police must move in to enforce an arbitrary totally non-transparent decision.
A globalised Ministry of Urban Development would make sure that Indian cities became excellent, as 'Indian cities'. That the five lakh cycle rickshaws of Delhi were not treated as illegal, instead, were given licences. That vendors were not treated as scum but as the fundamentally important economic actors that they are. That cycle tracks and vendors' markets were created. That low-cost apartments were built for thousands of domestic workers and they did not have to rely on 'servant's quarters'.
It is an utter scandal that a city like Delhi does not have cycle tracks when it is the cycle (and not the Pajero) that is the chariot of the majority of people. If the Ministry of Urban Development had to strive for ISO 9000 ratings it would be forced to perform to its optimum capacity to create city plans that reflected the true character of an 'Indian' city. A ministry committed to excellence would be transparent, integrated with citizen groups, committed to the dignity and welfare of every city dweller: be he a Mercedes-riding tycoon or a cycle-riding slum dweller.
Reforms have always had a positive value in India. We Indians love reformers, whether they are Kabir and Mirabai or Manmohan Singh. But the reforms process is getting far too stuck in the economic and the corporate. The benefits of reform should not just be to rationalise tax and gain FDIs. Instead, the State's recognition of citizens' rights, the State's behaviour with citizens (why do our policemen still use lathis?) the obligation to provide quality education, excellent law and order and healthy wholesome housing should all be rewarded with the ISO 9000 seal. Only when a government begins to strive for excellence, only when a government begins to believe that even governing should be a competitive globalised business, will a government be motivated to look far beyond ridiculously old fashioned instruments like reservations and quotas.
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