A draft policy framework for tomorrow’s India
Many of you read and commented on Sanjeev Sabhlok’s guest post on this blog re. the Freedom Team.
The team has grown to about 25 members since then and there is an active and robust discussion going on at Yahoo! Groups regarding the approach, policies and tactics that will be necessary to make the vision of the team a reality.
One important outcome of those discussions has been a draft document that encapsulates the team’s position with regards some fundamental issues.
They have been grouped under the heading of policy snippets and further categorised under first order, second order and third order functions. As can be expected, the draft is being revised almost daily as members debate and discuss the various points.
I am putting the Reform of Governance and First Order Core functions here on this blog to attract further comments and responses from a wider audience.
The latest version and the full draft of policy snippets is here.
Please be aware that I am not necessarily in complete agreement with all the points here. This is work in progress and must be treated as a draft document only.
Meanwhile, in a heartening development, I came across another new political party: “Bharatiya Democratic Party“. It is led by Sh. N P Singh and Sh. Gagan Bhatia. Over the next few days, I will try and get in touch with them to hear their views on various issues.
Hopefully this could be the third part in the series (parts one and two are here).
*** DRAFT POLICY FRAMEWORK ***
Policy Snippets
General principle: As a general rule the policies implemented will either be proven best practice from around the world, or best practice as advocated by outstanding thinkers. These will be enabling policies which increase freedoms of the people, give them more choice, and generally provide them with a stable framework of rules, security, and equality of opportunity within which they can succeed in proportion to their talent and effort.
Political system reform
The reason why good people do not enter politics as a vocation is because MPs and MLAs are paid very poorly and they are guaranteed to lose money in contesting elections. State funding of elections (about Rs.15 per valid vote polled) will be introduced. In addition, election expenditure limits will be abolished even as accountability for funds spent is increased. Finally, MPs and MLAs will be paid significantly more than they get today, while abolishing their hidden perquisites.
Administrative system reform
The civil service will be completely reformed in three key ways: (a) senior positions will be made contractual, and paid significantly more (b) existing tenured civil services will be abolished and (c) the number of government departments will be reduced to 10.
Distinction between state and religion
The vestiges of interference by the government into religious affairs will be abolished. The government will not manage or fund religious institutions or occasions. For instance, the subsidy to travel to Haj will be abolished equally as Hindu and Muslim laws will be repealed, and no government functionary appointed to the Tirupati Temple.
Reforming public finance
Only a little over 1/6th of our GDP is spent on services provided by government, with at least a quarter of this being sucked out by corruption; so Indian governance runs on 1/8th of our GDP. It is important to increase the tax base, through broadening it, to a level of roughly 1/4th of our GDP, to allow the government to provide high-quality services.
Increasing transparency
India’s defence and security has been compromised infinitely more by politicisation and corruption by socialist governments than by leaks of information. Almost the entire information handled by the Government will be made directly accessible to citizens through the internet. The obvious exceptions to this will be: content that identifies individuals and thus impinges on their privacy, and matters generally dealt with by the defence and external affairs departments.
Local government
The centralised management of cities by bureaucrats appointed by state governments will be scrapped. Instead, an incentives-based governance model will be adopted, giving full control to elected representatives over the employment of bureaucrats working in local government bodies. Local councils will be given complete flexibility in raising rates from their residents.
A new Constitution for India
A much shorter Constitution and social contract, of around 10-15 pages, to be agreed through a referendum, and to sunset every 30 years, will be prepared. It will focus on the delivery of freedom and security to the people of India, with details of the management of the democracy left to the Parliament to determine through its laws.
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First order core functions
Defence
The ramifications for increased professionalismin the defence forces and providing it focused capability will be extended and explored.
Police
The new recruitment practices for senior public servants will also apply to senior officials in the police forces, including significant salary increases and removal of tenure. These positions will be recruited through open competition, including internationally. Complete modernisation of our policing systems will be quickly implemented. Unskilled policemen who, after being given opportunities for training, do not meet international standards of competency would be let go. Vigorous surveys of the public on their perceptions of corruption in the police would also be introduced and senior managers held personally to account for maintaining a zero corruption public image.
Justice
Justice is the most basic of all concepts underpinning freedom. Processes will be set in place to appoint as many judges, each on five-year contracts, to the Supreme and High Court as needed, who will prioritise and systematically dispose the entire judicial backlog. The salaries of judges would be brought on par with the 90th percentile of lawyer earnings at that level of court. Cases pending for more than 1 year will be allocated clear timelines for disposal and the list of such cases published on the internet once a year. So-called “criminals” who have been imprisoned for significant periods of time without trial will be released subject to their having behaved well while in jail, and pending the completion of their trial.
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Dear Sir,
The thoughts are what every “Bharatiya” will endorse. These are the reformations which every public leader has been talking about, but will not implement as it is “BLOCK VOTING” that counts.
If you look at it the “Dharma Acharya Sabha” has been only talking about removing the tentacles of the Government from the administration of the temples. This has not happened. On the other hand we have Christians and Muslims appointed to oversee activities if the Hindu temples!
The BJP has been crying hoarse to have a uniform civil code, but what has happened, IT IS THERE RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES.
The BJP was the fist Party to give thought to increasing the pay scales of the Army, even way back in the 70’s.
The BJP was the initiaor for a dialogue for state funding of elections.
But it is branded a Fundamentalist party; because it talks of temples under the administration of HINDUS!
It is branded a Fundamentalist party; because it talks of a Uniform Civil Code for all INCLUDING HINDUS!
It is branded a Fundamentalist party; because it talks of strengthening the Defence forces which help this nation, but is branded because the majority are HINDUS!
The ideas are great and I will be the first one to vote for such a party.
Wish the NEW FREEDOM STRUGGLE ALL THE BEST
Regards,
vck
Thought provoking post…but am not quite convinced with the idea of having top govt positions to be contractual…
I think to improve the efficiency and efficacy in govt services it is high time that we take cues from the corporate world…esp from those huge business empires …
why can’t governments run like businesses??
Sorry about my ignorance on the topic…
What I meant here is the positions and incentives should be goal-driven and performance based rather than contract/term driven…
Dear PS
Positions which are contractual are the only ones that can be goal driven, since if you fail to meet goals, your contract is terminated.
That is the model adopted by the West in all their senior executive services – it is also the model of all modern corporations in the world. The Indian model of tenured services like the IAS is completely outdated since it is based on tenure for life where one can only be kicked out for total corruption (if caught!). One could simply sit on a chair doing nothing, and still continue to get one’s pay since inefficiency is not sufficient reason to be kicked out (even total drunkenness is not; you could be suspended but keep getting your salary). So goals and performance doesn’t count at all.
Please read chapter 5 of my book at:
http://www.sanjeev.sabhlokcity.com/breakingfree.html
which is an extensive discussion on this issue.
Regards
Sanjeev
We have to accept the fact that any positive movement has to commence from the “here and now” reality, which is quite dismal on account of innumerable acts of omission and commission on the part of our governments during the past 65 years.
I believe the single most important element of any country is the quality its population. And look what we’ve done with it! The human resource problem has been compounded and made enormously complex by criminal neglect of education, health, and development of rural areas, by our long, porous borders, by endemic corruption, and infinite compromises by our power- and vote-hungry politicians.
The moral as well as secular quality of the average Indian needs to improve greatly if India is to ever experience real and lasting progress.
I also believe that the two main areas that must be first cleaned up and made sensitive, responsive, and accountable before ANYTHING will work are our Administrative-political system and our Judicial system. Both bear the stamp of British colonialism and need to be reformed massively. This is the toughest task since the entire system has become a sort of parasite that thrives at the cost of the average Indian.