Resounding Failures

Of these two challenges -- "two faces of the same coin", the PrimeMinister called them -- development is by far more intractable. Internalsecurity crises, while deeply distressing, have manageable solutions, once thenecessary crystallisation of will, strategy and resources occurs (though this isstill far from the case in virtually every theatre of the present conflict). Thedevelopment deficit, on the other hand, is rooted in the Byzantineinefficiencies, waste and corruption of entrenched patterns of governance thatcontinue to hold back large segments of the economy and the population; and thatthe present regime, like a succession of its predecessors, appears to have nocapacity to correct it. Indeed, the "sustained growth" that has beensecured over the past decade and more has largely been the result of sectors ofthe economy that have escaped or been freed of government control, and theentire government and public sector, with rare exception of a few monopolisticundertakings -- such as the oil and natural gas sector -- continues to be adrain on national resources. Eventually, the core infrastructural sectors, whichfall largely into the province of government undertakings by virtue of theirextended gestation, and the relative lack of private investment, on which allother future development now hinges, will become the most significant brakes onthe accelerating national economy.

While the Prime Minister's analysis in this regard has been excellent -- fewcan surpass Indian skills in dissecting a problem into its many and complexconstituents -- the prescriptions leave much in doubt. Procedural difficultiesand delays in clearance and release of resources for various projects; otherinhibitors such as the present policies and practices relating to therehabilitation of those displaced by various industrial and developmentalprojects, and hindrances to the timely execution of major irrigation andinfrastructure projects are each recognised.

But the 'solution' in most cases is the setting up of a succession of newcommittees to look into these problems. On virtually each one of these issues,past committees have already pronounced their damning denunciations and givenclear sets of recommendations, few of which have ever been implemented. Theproblem has been the lack of political will, rooted principally in a collusivearrangement through which the corrupt continue to profit from inefficientcontrols and obstructive practices.

Worse, the managerial capacities of the government are spread thin across avast number of often superfluous functions and undertakings and the quality ofmanagement has seen precipitates decline, as the best minds and talent seek thegreener pastures of the private sector. Under the circumstances, it is necessarythat the government rapidly hive off the numerous commercial operations it iscurrently wasting itself on, with little profit, and also trim the moreunproductive departments within the administrative sector, concentrating purelyon core functions to ensure that these are performed efficiently and thatbenefits start flowing to the people as early as possible.

Defence, security and justice administration, infrastructure development,education, social welfare and human security (in the widest sense) represent thecrucial nucleus of governmental functions. The sooner these become the exclusivefocus of the state, the more rapid will be our transition from the patchy growthwe have experienced over the past years to a more equitable and sustainable"inclusive economic development".

Historically, the most critical deficit in the Indian system was the deficitof financial resources, but this now seems a thing of the past. Indeed, there islittle scarcity of finance today for any worthwhile project. It is ratherslipshod management and gross incompetence that are coming in the way of theefficient utilisation of project funding. Corruption and 'leakages' are not, asmany rants would have it, the only problems. Minimal capabilities of planningand implementation appear to be conspicuous by their absence in most governmentdepartments and undertakings.

The power sector, on which much of our future growth certainly hinges, is acase in point. India is one of the most inefficient producers of power today andentrepreneurial advocates have argued that a unit of electricity can cost up toRs 10.71 here, as against Rs. 2.05 in China, Rs. 1.96 in France and a 'high' Rs.4.10 in the UK and Rs. 5.20 in Japan. Despite this exorbitant pricing, powercuts are endemic and most industries run a large proportion of their productionon even more expensive (and nationally wasteful) captive power plants.

Against this backdrop, we see national capacities stagnant for decades andonly now beginning to augment at a snail's pace, much slower than their plannedschedules of implementation. The government has announced nine Ultra Mega PowerProjects, each with a 4,000 mw capacity under the Eleventh Plan, but it isalready apparent that these targets will not be met, even as targets foradditional capacity creation under the 10th Plan remain unfulfilled. The reportof a Parliamentary Committee on Energy noted in April 2007 that the 11th Plan'stargeted addition of 69,869 mw was unfeasible, even while the 10th Plan targetof just 41,110 mw was yet to be met. The Committee blamed the Ministry of Powerfor 'slipshod planning'. Worse, it noted that while budgetary allocations hadbeen rising continuously, utilisation had actually declined, falling to just 57per cent in the year 2005-06.

This, in fact, is the story of all major government projects today. Thebureaucracy has had an augmenting managerial deficit for decades, with standardsdeclining precipitately over the years. All our grandiose plans and projectionscollapse at the stage of execution and the truth is that the planning process isincreasingly becoming a blueprint for the waste and misappropriation of nationalresources by government agencies. Many government organisations and committeeshave documented this -- the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General doesthis constantly -- but no correctives are administered. government departmentsappear to believe that they are outside the purview of external assessment oraccountability, in accordance with reasonable norms of efficiency or competence.A reality check must be administered urgently, if the fragile enterprise ofIndia's development is not to founder because of the inflexibility andineptitude of the bureaucratic mind.

K.P.S.Gill is former director-general of police, Punjab.He is also Publisher, SAIR and President, Institute for Conflict Management. This article was first published in The Pioneer