India bureaucracy: Innovation NOT Reform
Modi government has commendably accelerated the government efforts in almost every area. But it is more innovation NOT REFORM.
Pre-2014, India suffered from government ineptitude. Policymakers and government officials were hands in glove, trying to create avenues for corruption and self-enrichment (rent-seeking). Modi changed that to an extent. The government became focused on policies that benefit the citizens and eliminate rent-seeking. In most departments, ministers and top bureaucrats were chosen or driven to ensure projects were completed on time. Yet, all this we have achieved without REFORM.
Policy Innovation is the main driver of this achievement
Modi’s success has been driven mainly by removing the bureaucracy or limiting its interference in the implementation of the policies.
This idea is not new. I am old enough to remember the way the Passport department would grind people to tears till the remarkable turnaround approx. 15 years ago. The efficiency and customer-friendliness were achieved by outsourcing all the customer-facing work to TCS.
Modi has looked to technology to improve government efficiency. The common denominator for Direct-benefit-program or Vaccination drive has been the Aadhar-enabled technology-based process that removes middlemen, mostly government officials, from the policy.
The Modi government also depends on direct operational monitoring and oversight by its ministers. The impressive developments in electricity access, rail infrastructure, road networks etc. are driven by ministries that control the bureaucratic interference and exercise close oversight of ground-level government officials. You will find many examples of ministers or under secretaries (high-level officers) calling deputy collectors (lower-level officers many levels down).
Modi has successfully limited corruption at the top and middle levels of bureaucracy; thus, we no longer have telecom scams, mining scams, etc.
Finally, Modi and BJP governments in general have rewarded clean, performance-oriented bureaucrats. They are also experimenting with lateral postings from corporate and other sectors.
But this is not REFORM.
Despite Modi’s best efforts, lower bureaucracy remains corrupt. They desperately try to scuttle the best schemes intended to help the people.
The government machinery (politicians, bureaucrats, judiciary, police) considers itself to be the ruling class. It is not in their conception that the branch was created to SERVE. It is firmly in their minds that they RULE over the general public.
Here are two examples:
Stadium is emptied, athletes told to leave so that IAS officer can walk with dog.
Chhattisgarh IAS officer slaps man, smashes phone; says sorry after video emerges.
More common are examples in day-to-day life. People dread interaction with government departments, particularly the lower bureaucracy. Their sense of entitlement is going to be a hurdle in the next phase of improvement in governance..
No matter how much governance we can automate and monitor closely, you will need efficient and service-oriented bureaucracy.
Who will bell the cat?
The problem of bureaucracy was highlighted in Chanakya’s Arthshastra more than 2000 years ago. In the 4-century play Mudrarakshasa, Chanakya is shown holding the family of the enemy prime minister hostage to get him to negotiating table. At the negotiating table, Chanakya surprises this prime minister, Amatya Rakshasa, by telling him that his family is safe and he wants to offer him the role of prime minister.
Singapore uses a performance-based model for bureaucracy. It focuses on technology-enabled interactions with lower bureaucracy and future-oriented higher bureaucracy. Singapore pays the bureaucrats well. We need to explore more models of efficient bureaucratic systems.
Till then, the question remains on how to solve this conundrum.