It is time to carry out the small reforms without losing track of the bigger and the more splash-making ones
Each generation has its own fashion of words. Characteristically, today, it is the ‘in thing’ to talk of innovation, ‘out of the box’, initiative, leverage, engage, filter, space, interface, team, reform — the list goes on. There is nothing wrong with this. However, if quality assurance becomes total quality assurance which becomes quality management which becomes total quality management which becomes International Organisation for Standardisation, it does not necessarily mean that the content has definitionally changed. It may be probably, old wine in a new bottle.
Since independence, there has been a need for reform. In terms of ground conditions, there are hundreds of laws which are so outdated that even quoting them would evoke ridicule. The laws affecting the ‘couriers’ is one such example. Every political party has promised to annul these laws. And if there is one thing, they have all failed to do is to begin annulling them. Everyone is so used to this rather ludicrous violation of elementary logic that evokes no commentary, far less anything other than a casual comment.
Even the television anchors (including those with a ‘halo’ around their head), do not even flag it. It does not figure in the list of non-observance of poll promises. The implied sense of comfort is disturbing, but they tell tales about our polity. life goes on, till some zealous functionary turns up at the door step of a national leader (with more pictures in public domain than a movie actor), to ask for the colour of his hair! Gusty debates are, then, generated on everything from snooping to espionage to how everyone is equal before the law.
The basic question goes a begging. By all means, get the information, but do it intelligently. Fill out the form and get it authenticated. It is not only the vulnerable person’s life but everyone’s life that is riddled with many half-baked forms to fill. Reforms as a state activity or as a corporate activity so often focuses on the grand and the great that the normal and the routine misses their attention.
Go to any bank to deposit a cheque. The form requires the signature of the depositor. Does anyone know the identity of the depositorIJ What is the authenticationIJ When audit takes place, an unsigned form will merit an audit objection and the management will have to respond. Consider the time wasted on this class of purposeless effort. This question needs to be raised in the avalanche of talk of big reforms, half of which are either plain rhetoric or simply incapable of being handled by the existing delivery mechanism.
Setting up commissions after commissions has converted the process of forming commissions, itself, to be a source of patronage. The same is true of committees. A particular Government had a powerful person as its key official. The official was reportedly hyperactive in getting persons from a particular background into key positions. In some cases it was done by simply superseding the eligible. When the Government went out of power, he withdrew to the ‘backyards’. He began taking calls from his ex-boss selectively. Public domain is full of stories. A cursory analysis of a selection of files of his tenure would show how, the much needed reform is the functioning of such powerful offices.
More particularly, the little bird has it, that there was a committee dealing with governmental reforms and the boss wanted an academic on it. Promptly, this person espoused the name with the so-called expertise in production management. When the recommendation of the reforms body became public, in practice it was rendered infructuous.
There was clearly the need for a query on the inputs which went into the formation of the body. After such waste exercises, much money than virtues of curtailing expenses are discovered. Budgets are cut, allocations are reduced and legitimate activities are given the go by. The time has come to flag this kind of wasteful austerity.
There is a need to carry out the small reforms without losing track of the bigger and the more splash making ones. The present Government came into power with a mandate for ‘achche din’. The writing on the wall is clear.