Good Governance Matters – Guest Post by Marie-Lou Fernandes
Dear All: It is my great pleasure to publish this guest post by Marie-Lou Fernandes IPS , former DCP, Mumbai City, a good friend and above all, a concerned fellow citizen. Marie-Lou had an illustrious career before she ran foul of the powers-that-be (no points for guessing why) . I hope to carry an interview with her in one of the future posts. For now, read her thoughts on why good governance matters – even in India (emphasis added).
*** Good Governance Matters, In India by Marie-Lou Fernandes ***
There is a new reason to feel vindicated, and hopeful, about India.
Last month the Indian state of Bihar – situated to the north of the country with a population of 83 million people (more than a quarter of the United States population) – re-elected a successful political alliance led by an outstanding Chief Minister. Bringing the alliance back to power through an unprecedented 206 of the 243 seats in the State Assembly, the voters of Bihar issued a resounding affirmation for good governance.
Bihar is significant not only because of the population and corresponding political impact on the Central Government. It is significant in terms of symbolic value to the rest of the country. For several decades Bihar has been India’s darkest state, the black hole of governance, the most cited example for crumbling infrastructure, poor economic development, regressive social conditions, institutionalized corruption and criminalized political elites. Decades of unscrupulous politics had pitted communities, castes and sub-castes against each other. In short, Bihar was India’s state of despair – one that fit the Western stereotype of a “Third World” society, dominated by primitive loyalties and doomed to squander its resources on infighting.
But it took one strong leader with vision to change that perception. When Nitish Kumar assumed the post of Chief Minister in 2005, he positioned his government as a unifying force, in stark contrast to predecessors and contemporaries who were appealing to constituencies on the basis of community, caste and sub-caste. He then forged a strong development-oriented agenda aimed at maximizing economic and social gains for the broadest segments of population. In the words of the manifesto – sadak, shiksha, suraksha (roads, education, security), commonsensical goals for a land splintered by hundreds of rivers and streams, for a population with a shocking 47% literacy rate and for a citizenry that had been thoroughly oppressed by mafia goons.
In the past five years of his governance Bihar has added 10,000 kilometers of road and built 2,100 bridges – more than what was achieved in the previous four decades of government. A positive spinoff from these and other development works was the creation of 4.2 million jobs in 2009-10 and a growth rate averaging 11.4% over the span of the new government.
To move forwards on education, more than 100,000 teachers were hired, 400,000 bicycles distributed to female students in rural Bihar to increase access to school (where female literacy is an abysmal 29.6%) and hundreds of new schools established.
But the boldest achievement was in crime control – the determination shown in tackling the criminal-politician nexus, and in breathing new life into a defunct criminal judicial system. In five years, the Nitish Kumar government ensured the conviction of more than 50,000 criminals by setting up fast-track courts to complete mass prosecutions in record time. Discerning the right officers for each post, and letting them do their jobs without undue interference, was all it took. For those of us who have worked at the cutting edge of police management in India, this is the heart of the matter.
Police managers in India are recruited through extremely competitive selection procedures, trained rigorously in professional skills and knowledge, and then, more often than not, expected to work under the dictates of an increasingly criminalized executive. When criminals control the Home Departments (Ministries of State), the mafia calls the shots through political puppets and the judicial system takes years to begin prosecution, there is very little justice the citizen can expect.
By acknowledging this reality, having the courage to tackle the criminal-political nexus, and then systematically addressing failures in the judicial system, the Nitish Kumar government has measured up to the greatest challenge of governance. And by re-electing this government, the voters of Bihar have demonstrated that it is good governance, and not primitive loyalties, that matter, even in a developing country like India.
For Western analysts and academics who are often predisposed to the ills of long-distance vision, and are wont to view societies in the “Third World” as symptomatic of exotic irrationalities and ancient hatreds, India’s darkest state may have just proved you wrong.
*** End ***
Related Post: First Shashi Tharoor, next Kathlal now Nitish Kumar and the NDA alliance…
P.S. This article first appeared in the Huffington Post on 4th Dec. Image Courtesy: Government of Bihar
“But it took one strong leader with vision to change that perception”. Perhaps.
On the other hand, perhaps, it was also because one (opportunitstic) leader opened janata’s eyes. Most other leaders in India exploit the system but project themselves as clean and nice. That is where Janata gets cheated.
Lalu Parshad Yadav did not need the clean image. His caste identity was sufficient to propel him to the leadership and to keep him there for a couple of decades. He expolited the system in the most efficient (ruthless?) manner. After a few elections, people of Bihar firmly understood the futility of caste politics. They were ready for a change. Nitish, who cut his teeth in the same political youth group as Lalu Parshad Yadav was ready to answer their call.
At the National level, leadership is more a matter of image than delivery. Hopefully, that will change sometime.
Thanks for this, Shantanu. I applaud Nitesh Kumar’s work as depicted here. I do believe, however, that this can be bested easily with the kinds of policies advocated in BFN (http://bfn.sabhlokcity.com/). Imagine what could be done if we were not handicapped by tenured civil services and could align incentives perfectly to get results.
But good work anyway. I find this heartening. I’m not sure if any dent can be made against political corruption unless significant fundamental reforms are undertaken. What Bihar can do at best under the current system is to become closer to Gujarat.
Which is not saying much. Still less than half way to a good governance system.
Regards
Sanjeev
Couple of more Nitish Kumar and we may see a some educated and law abiding people enter into politics for the greater good. Criminal-political nexus is a big reason middle class has lost all interest in politics and hope in governance. It is a Catch 22 – Should middle class rise first and take control or wait for more Nitish Kumars to clean up the mess first.
Anupam
“For Western analysts and academics who are often predisposed to the ills of long-distance vision, and are wont to view societies in the “Third World†as symptomatic of exotic irrationalities and ancient hatreds, India’s darkest state may have just proved you wrong.”
I thought this was the most interesting line in the article. The Western viewpoint on India is born out of colonial necessities and the embarrassment that is the Raj. The Western viewpoint is that Indian culture is inherently inferior and prevents development (although they would never put it so bluntly). Unfortunately, many Indians end up believing that their own countrymen are incapable of cooperation and rational group behaviour. It may be too soon to tell for sure, but perhaps this election shows otherwise.
It would not be correct to read too much into Nitish Kumar’s victory. His victory may be because his opposition failed to band together. Caste is very much into the equation and Muslim votebank was completely divided. I am very surprised with BJP’s upsurge though. It means BJP retained vast organizational influence in the cow belt even at a time party bosses could not show the maturity of playing together.
There is no denial about Nitish’s effort towards good governance. But please do not forget that he has done his share of partiality towards Kurmis (his own caste). Some Biharis did not like the way he has given too many permits for desi liquor shops in the villages to fund the urban infrastructure project. He may interpret this victory as people’s approval of this abuse and may drive down where several other lumineries like Lalu Prasad Yadav have gone before. Next few months would tell us if he would evolve into Srikrishna Singh or Lalu Prasad. We have been had too many times to be deluded so fast.
Delhi is still very far. Let him win another election. It would require a separate metal to over-ride the powerful babu-politician-opinion-manufacturer clique to implement good governance mandate. Nitish’s Bihar, Raman Singh’s Chhattisgarh (let us not forget that they are most successful against Maoist insurgency even with a large tribal population), Modi’s Gujrat – all of them tried to implement cleaner governance at the basic level and that is the correct approach. A cleaner governance mandate dictated by very far away Delhi resulted into no improvement so far. Let state governments implement governance, center should help with judiciary and executive reform. A little more decentralization would help a lot.