75 lakh commuters use Mumbai locals every day and their safety is under
tremendous threat to the state of the bridge. Elphinstone foot
overbridge was a tragedy waiting to happen. With MPs to Mumbaikars, all
are raising a red flag.
A day after the tragedy, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal did stock taking
and made crucial changes to ensure that the safety of commuters is
paramount. So much so that the Indian Railways is expected to work on a
war footing to identify bridges that need fixing and foot overbridges
will now be treated as essential and not an amenity.
While these measures are being taken, the question we ask is when will
the bridge be built? Previous Railway minister Suresh Prabhu announced
the bridge in Feb 2016 and the tender is yet to be awarded. Does the
government need to prioritise between railways and bullet train?
Seconds
after the midnight ceremony on 15 August 1947 transferring power within
a newly truncated country from London to Delhi, those who took over
from the British headed in limousines to official residences hastily
vacated by their former masters. Had Mahatma Gandhi more time on earth,
there is little doubt that he would have demanded that India’s new
masters adopt a lifestyle more in sync with the people they were ruling,
rather than emulating the British in their pomp. Both Nehru and Patel
kept the structure and chemistry of British rule intact. To this day,
key branches of the executive follow manuals and procedures that have
their origins in the nineteenth century. The Indian Police Act or the
Indian Penal Code, to name just two examples, seem poised to celebrate
the second century of their being made the foundation for
administration. The bungalows, aircraft, automobiles, staff and other
accoutrements of colonial authority remain, including going about on
horseback as an essential part of training of those passing the IAS, the
IFS, the IPS and other services examinations. Those entering them
believe themselves superior and remote from the population they govern,
for such continues to be the ethos of their cadres. There is even a
caste system that remains in force since “birth” (i.e. central services
examinations), and which classifies individuals according to the service
they have been chosen for, with the IAS clearly at the apex, followed
by the IFS and the IPS. Just as the white man (or, in rare cases, woman)
was assumed (by themselves) to have the ability to understand and to
command disparate wings of government, the IAS in particular continues
to—in effect—run even those institutions (such as Niti Aayog) that were
explicitly set up to create a different paradigm of governance. Neither
bad performance nor lifestyles far removed from salaries by too many
have been permitted to stand in the way of regular promotions such that
practically every entrant to the IAS reaches the top of the salary
scale, and enjoys the benefits of One Rank One Pension without a whimper
of protest from North Block.
Several of the members of the IAS are indeed outstanding,
perhaps about a third of them, but another third are either venal or
incompetent or both, and need to be turfed out. A third of the IAS
should be inducted each year from high achievers in “lower” cadres,
while the remaining third should come from outside the services, and be
chosen for their track record of proven achievement and integrity rather
than frequency in attendance at Lutyens and other durbars. Both these
streams should be given the same conditions of service as the third who
will enter through the examination route. 10-year renewable contracts
should be the norm for every member of the IAS (as well as other
services), with lifetime tenure (i.e. doing away with the 10-year
limitation) being given only to a quarter of the entire service,
including those from other services and from outside, based on an
exhaustive review of performance carried out after 10 years of entry.
The operative words in the IAS are “Indian” and “Service”, and the
values of both need to be inculcated through ensuring that field
experience be present in all cases. For example, officials in the
Ministry of Defense need to spend an initial ten weeks embedded with the
armed forces, of which at least 10 days should be at a forward post.
Such experience alone will give context and depth to the decisions
needing to be made by IAS officers about how to make the armed forces
have high morale and performance. In addition, at least a third of
Defense Ministry posts at all levels should be held by those in uniform,
who should serve one to three years in such jobs. A 10-week embedding
within the police needs to be carried out for those officials posted in
the Ministry of Home Affairs, just as practical experience in a print or
television outlet should be mandatory for those in the Ministry of
Information & Broadcasting, including members of the Information
service. Those in the Commerce & Industry ministry need to have work
experience in these before taking up their departmental
responsibilities. Every five years thereafter, a practical refresher
programme of immersion in field streams needs to be ensured for every
official. The IAS is the pivot of the administrative system, hence the
need to ensure a level of knowledge and performance sufficient to carry
out the vow of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to transform governance in
India from a 19th century to a 21st century construct.
The way in which a necessary move such as GST has been
implemented in practice illustrates the problem created by 21st century
policies implemented in a 19th century fashion. First, the measure ought
to have been passed in the first six months of the new government.
Extra time was sought to “improve” the GST but it is difficult to see
just what the improvements were that led to a wait of three years.
Second, the measure contains such abominations as disallowing
inter-state items for those above Rs 75 lakh turnover. Aside from the
fact that the floor for exemption should have been Rs 5 crore rather
than a paltry Rs 75 lakh, the blocking of inter-state trade is
retrogressive in the context of Modi’s efforts at uniting the entire
country into a single market. Third, there are too many rates and
categories. A fixed rate of 10% would have ensured higher output in
succeeding years, and therefore greater revenues over a 5-year period.
Lower tax rates ensure higher collections. Relying on the Big Stick as
has been done in the case of GST and demonetisation is counter to the
Prime Minister’s credo of a citizen-friendly “Minimum Government”. Treat
the Indian well and he will respond with enthusiasm. Treat him badly
and he will call upon the experience of our country’s thousand years of
survival in conditions of slavery to game the system, the way it
happened with the return of almost all the cash extinguished on 8
November 2016 to the banking system. Those who have faith in the Prime
Minister are confident that Modi will act soon to ensure that GST gets
refashioned into a genuinely 21st century policy. Over to the PM.