lately, numerous columnists including political science teachers have been expressing their views on good governance. Still people too curious too get the fundamentals right do not seem to be satisfied. The expression ‘good governance’ first emerged while discussing development of poor countries, most of which had terrible rulers. Despots, dictators and self-opinionated military heads have been taking over reins of poor nations. Nearly twenty years ago, the World Bank while discussing development of nations first used the concept of ‘good governance.
The simplest definition of good governance is ‘the way power is exercised in the management of a country’s affairs’. Hence, the way development processes are planned and implemented would indicate whether or not good governance is in place. The World Bank lays enormous emphasis on aspects of corruption control, people’s participation and importance of human rights.
In a democracy like India, representatives are chosen and placed in ‘power houses’. The popularly elected leaders are not exactly popular among people because dominant political parties with ill-gotten money and illegally organised muscle power dump their sycophants and bootlickers into the law making houses. The unworthy candidates bribe voters and enter the legislature. Power sharing being the most critical aspect of governance, most federal and regional governments and regimes figure very low on the scoreboard because they have developed a culture of a supremo calling shots like that of a dictator. The political parties are expected to have their ‘high command’, a synonym for the ‘working committee’. During the Indira Gandhi days, she became a dictator and sycophants kept nurturing that status because she was considered a star vote puller. Indira Gandhi, born with a compassionate and humanitarian heart, discarded the heart and began trusting the head more. Consequently, machinations rather than good intentions became the order of all her designs in planning and implementing public projects. She imagined life would be miserable without power. Jayaprakash Narayan and a few others toppled her in good time; but again, due to confusion in power-sharing, the successive reformist regimes crumbled too.
The present day leaders, only to keep clinging to power, are willing to slide down to any depth of infamy. For this unfortunate situation, politicians have begun breeding leaders at home, thereby bringing in place dynasties. Parent politician promotes son or daughter or even in-laws. And if husband leader dies or goes to jail, wife takes over. No wonder, we have whole families lining up leaders one after the other. Very sadly, the voters, most of them lazy young people, keep doing the publicity jobs for a little bribe like food, alcohol and pittance of a pocket money. Thus, the youth goes spoilt, the thug enters the legislature to loot public money and keep promoting family members to replace him in case the next stop is jail or the ‘other world’.
Odisha is a miracle State, where a Chief Minister has not been able to retire for even a day in fifteen years, nay going to be twenty. Despite the drudgery of nonstop incumbency, no opponent has been able to have Naveen Patnaik, the CM with magical powers, dismissed. The Biju Janata Dal he heads is a monopoly outfit, which has wiped out all other parties. The reasons are too well-known: disorganised opposition parties with monumental infighting or lack of credibility.
The BJD president has scant regards for the elected members because he knows they have no star power like him. He is, therefore, the supremo like Sonia Gandhi of the Congress. The BJD working committee has either been sleeping or nodding heads because they are a pure breed of slaves. The CM knows well the ordinary politicians are too afraid to be out of the power fold by being voted out without his star image. Fairly literate, erstwhile high-profile socialite and too conscious of his supremacy, Naveen uses his bureaucracy to call shots, which is hailed as great by politicians.
Good governance, as per the World Bank guidelines, would have no place for populist schemes, come whatever may, not even illogical subsidies and sops for the poor. These are considered antithetical to true development as such components breed corruption. The Naveen administration ensured the first mass appeal by doling out one-rupee/kg rice, a sin which has crushed the youth potential and strength. The young males do not engage in any productive activity as food is ready at home (rice and a few backyard edible leaves and an occasional free fish or so make a meal). Young Odisha is destroyed forever. This dysfunctional youth force waits for the thug politicians to give them a dole once in a while to organise votes during all kinds of elections.
The bureaucracy has the last say mouthed routinely by the supremo. Even within the party cadres there are whispers that the CM listens only to civil servants. The bureaucracy is just not a part of ‘the executive’ anywhere in the world. The ‘Council of Ministers’ is the executive. And because the domains of administration are too big in number and complicated, the bureaucracy was created only to apprise and update the executive on matters of what is expected to be done and how, so that legal mistakes are not committed for the Government run by Ministers. The civil servants read, analyse and interpret the prevailing laws, the norms and the codes that determine right and wrong. So, in spirit and text the bureaucracy is only the ‘Rulebook’ master and keeper. Its role ends absolutely there. But only because the Ministers have no patience, and sometimes time, to listen to sanity and correct modes of decision making, the civil servants intimidate them with utmost ease and guide them in a way that keeps law intact, thereby creating big opportunities to make immense private gains. That’s how ‘democracy’ gets killed to make way for ‘bureaucracy’ which in essence is ‘bad governance’.
The whole State of conscious Odisha is suffering because the ‘Council of Ministers’ is only acting a rubberstamp team. The Ministers, if they were truly gutsy, would override the bureaucratic rulings by discarding them as ‘unacceptable’ and grossly against ‘public interest’. They keep quiet because they are not knowing or true leaders. They have come on the scene to make money for a couple of generations and pose as ‘larger than life’ figures to keep the ignorant, innocent and gullible public in awe of them. The CM clinging to the most critical ‘Home and Water Resources’ portfolios for ever is a glaring example of ‘bad governance’.
The most important principle of good governance is the absolute Rule of law, which is horribly undermined in Odisha. Ponzi company nabbing is good theatre. But Kalpataru Das and son Balbantray having been caught as land grabbers but not landing in jail for duping the public is not taken well by people. The father still remains an MP and the dark glass-sporting son an MlA.
Further, the field situation has not changed impressively just once. Most police stations, land administration officials, engineering executives and other enforcement functionaries including the commercial tax, weights n measures and drug control domains are thoroughly corrupt. The works, public health and rural development officials are a few of the worst-known to mankind. Needless to say, rogue contractors and vendors are accommodated to loot and share public money with the erring officials. Shockingly, the Transparency International has come out with a startling survey report: In India, the healthcare community is a very corrupt one second only to the police force. Odisha is no exception. Doctors take pay from the public exchequer and rob the patients at private hospitals. But no step is taken to push them behind bars.
Bad governance in Odisha is not figured out by the ordinary citizens, who are too engrossed in making out a living. Maybe, the Modi wave slowly rising in the State will instil some life in the BJP cadres to at least expose the errant State officials towing the BJD lines. Modi has said his administration would have minimum government and maximum good governance by keeping the number of Ministers the smallest ever and making them work overtime to keep the public happy.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)