Rajeev's Blog

Elections 2009: Decisive elections for many reasons. Completing the shift of Political power to the Regional Parties.

2009-03-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

Its National Election time in India again - The Indian democracy is dusting off and preparing its vote gathering machinery again. I have been a participant in the democratic process many times before, but this is the first time that I am experiencing elections as a sitting Member of Parliament.

Five years ago, the people power of India shocked the complacent BJP Led NDA government by rejecting it and offering an even more shocked and surprised Cong an opportunity to cobble together a ‘secular’ coalition and form a UPA government with Communist party support.

Five years of unremarkable governance later, dominated by the Indo-US Nuclear debate later - India is in the midst of a full blown Economic and Security crisis – accompanied by a sharp fall in the confidence of people in their governments and politicians. South Asia seems to be suddenly full of failing, failed or terror struck states – with situations in Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Burma and at a stretch even Sri Lanka all posing serious challenges to India in terms of terrorism, immigration and a host of other problems. Even, China poses a serious economic threat - with its manufacturing industries increasingly looking at the Indian markets to dump its products into as its traditional markets contract or become too expensive to export to.

For all the above reasons, these elections represent a very important milestone. Most importantly, these elections could represent a significant turning point in India’s politics - already struggling with unwieldy coalitions. Elections 2009 could mark a shift in the center of gravity of our National politics - where the Regional parties end up together accounting for the majority of the seats in Parliament. The actions of Regional satraps like Lalu Prasad Yadav’s in Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s treatment of Cong in Uttar Pradesh and Naveen Patnaik’s breakup with the BJP in Orissa clearly establish the surging confidence in the Regional parties and the relative contempt with which they regard the National parties.

Its made even more ironic because our founding fathers in the early years of our democracy thought of regionalism as a threat to the concept and idea of India, clubbing it with casteism and other divisive pulls as dangers to the idea of United India.

On the face of it, regionalism seems to be natural response to the aspirations of many people in various states around the country that were unrepresented in mainstream political parties. However there are serious challenges to our polity, governance and democracy emerging from this relentlessly increasing trend of regional parties – problems that our founding fathers and our constitution clearly didn’t provide for. These need to be understood and a case for some changes in our constitution to be made.

While regional parties have been around and so have coalitions (Kerala has had a bipolar coalition politics for many years), the concern is the continued fragmentation of our polity with increasingly smaller and smaller parties entering the fray – each addressing smaller and smaller groups of citizens and aspirations. The Janata Party has split into multiple political entities , The Dravidian movement into many as well with even a more recent DMDK of Capt Vijaykant etc, most states are increasingly seeing 3 way election fights and some even four way, testing the first-past the post principle of our Parliamentary electoral system – when candidates are winning with only 20-30% of popular vote. This leads to the first problem of regional parties – which is that India and its democracy is increasingly electing representatives who don’t come close to having the majority of the popular vote and therefore go against the spirit of representative democracy.

The second problem with this trend is of fragmented regional parties is that political coalitions are coming to power with narrow margins and so these political coalitions are increasingly unstable. If we develop an index of political stability and plotted that in a graph, that graph would show a steadily declining line – indicating that inherent instability of governments in Delhi is on the increase. Staying a full term of 5 years is not a measure of stability anymore, its simply a reluctance to face elections before the term is over. Take the case of term of the UPA government - Born as it was on the back of support of it’s political and ideological opponents like the Left, BSP and SP, the UPA was clearly a case of significant political instability – translating into tentative government decision making, short Parliament sessions and tentative approach to legislations by a Government afraid to face Parliament – None of this is obvious or clear to observers of our democracy where the measure of a stable government is length of term – its not, the stability of a government can be measured only by it does or manages to achieve in its term – which explains why the much vaunted economic dream team of the Congress could do precious little by way of Economic reforms in these last 5 years. Italy and smaller countries have unstable coalitions and continue to limp along – but India with its size and diversity will find it difficult to cope with political instability and volality of that kind!

Some regional party backed coalitions are also resulting in political blackmail and rampant corruption – Institutions are increasingly coerced to play the political line – the CBI is an example with its inconsistent prosecution of many political cases – another classic case being the Assam MLA who drove into Kaziranga national park with an AK 47 determined to hunt in a protected area – with a Government machinery unable to stop him, because the government depended on his support. Our constitution never foresaw the eventuality of small groups of MPs as small as 5 to 10 controlling the political outcomes in our Nation. Its precisely because of this unprecedented shift in power to these small groups, that we see the shameful instance of a government getting through a vote of confidence on the back of defections and Cash for votes!
Off course the most critical challenge arising out of this form of regional politics and therefore coalition governments is the lack of a clear governance agenda - The lack of consistent political or economic idealogy binding a coalition can have the effect of no clear governance agenda and a government of fiefdoms and individual policies and approaches. On March 12th post the Tumkur convention of the 3rd front in front of a large crowd of 2 lakh people on the outskirts of Bangalore, national media went into a tizzy with worried news anchors questioning the lack of a common ideology amongst these 3rd front parties. Conveniently ignoring the fact or maybe acknowledging the fact, that the results of the 2004 elections also tossed up the UPA government that had no common ideological moorings as well.

In early February a leading regional party leader discussing elections with me in Central Hall of Parliament, said something prophetic “No regional Party will sit in opposition post this election.” The implication is simple – conventional ideologies being tossed around by National parties like Secularism (by the Congress) and Nationalism (BJP) are failing to create permanent connects to regional parties and their constituents who seem to be more concerned about improving the lot of their state. Political pundits, TV anchors and other ‘experts’ who seem to appear from no-where around the time of elections are all agreeing that Government of India post Election 2009 will be decided from a cast of regional leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Jayalalitha, Nitish Kumar and not Sonia Gandhi or LK Advani. Their ideas for India and their views about the same (outside of the political rhetoric) are not known or documented. I know at least one regional leader who holds strong views on increased devolution of Power to the state and marginalization of the center – completely contradicting the essence of our constitution. There is even talk for the first time of two Prime Ministers sharing the 5 year term – a model of power sharing perfected in state politics.

All this indicates that elections 2009 could be an inflection point for our country. We are probably entering new political age - a period of transition, uncertainty and possible volatility for a country and people that’s always known and is used to visibility of economic and political ideology of its governments. This surely can’t the best news for a country that’s spend the last five years being fed dreams of becoming an Economic Superpower by well heeled and well travelled commentators/ministers who were spending far more time in Davos than in the state capitals around India. Elections 2009 could prove to be the most eventful one that you and I have voted in!

Push for governance reforms and accountability

2009-01-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

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I believe and so do many in civil society and Business, we are at a cross road today as a nation and progress over the next five years in a divided polity where national parties figure less and less, will depend significantly on the ability of Political leaders and their Parties to forge a consensus on the vital issues impacting our growth and progress as a nation and a people.

While India has developed tremendously over the last decade and a half on the back of the innovation, creativity and energy of Private entrepreneurs, it is obvious that the state capacity has lagged behind significantly, and make no mistake, we require both Private Entrepreneurship and Efficient Governance as two critical elements of the Long term growth equation or challenge. Notwithstanding the rhetoric in exotic International locations like Davos, New York etc of India becoming a superpower or an Incredible India etc, we must accept that, all of that will remain a pipe dream if the State of the Government and governance doesn’t improve dramatically and keep pace with the changes in the private side of our economy.
More recently, the dastardly attacks on 26/11 and the menace of terror has awakened the many millions of silent and meekly accepting Indians and is transforming them into activist citizens that are demanding accountability and delivery from governments and Political leadership.

As someone recently said in Bangalore, if India became Independent to get rid of rulers and being ruled, it couldn’t have been the founding fathers intentions to replace one set of British Rulers and Bureaucrats with another set of Indian Rulers and Bureaucracy. It seems being Ruled or governed is still the feeling that an interaction with Government leaves behind. There is no sense of responsiveness, long term thinking and vision or public service and instead there is a general perception of corruption, political lackeydom, short cuts and short-sightedness.

At the same time, our governance model doesn’t recognize and reward excellence and initiative and integrity within the Government. Proof of this is in the Padma Awards, where you almost never see any Government officers. Last year I raised in Parliament a question where I asked why in the Industry and Trade category no PSU head was being recognized? I got a usual obfuscating answer that has become the norm for Parliamentary questions. So we should assume either there is no excellence in government or there’s no need to recognize this excellence. I don’t subscribe to the latter because it’s the government system that launches Chandrayaan, which leads to the conclusion that the system doesn’t really encourage or incentivize the people doing the right things.

It is in this backdrop that I believe we should examine the efforts of the Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Shri Veerappa Moily. Through a number of Volumes it is the biggest and most exhaustive exercise in reviewing our Administrative framework and planning its transformation and restructuring for the coming years. Whilst I am sure that there will be debate about many of his recommendations and I am sure he will welcome it, what we must not allow to happen is for this important work to become another set of dusty reports that tend to created and then shelved without action in Government.

This form of restructuring is vital because Vibrant Entrepreneurship in India is having to contend with Deteriorating state capacity. The Indian state and government, despite rapid economic growth has deteriorated over time. Whether its providing Law and order, Sanctity of contracts, Delivery of Public services, Public policy formulation, the stench of decline is all pervasive. A recent article in a newspaper described, on a crude measure of government effectiveness, India’s Governance performance as having declined sharply, In the early 1960s, India was in the top 20% of countries in governance, slipping to middle ie, only in the 50% of the countries sampled in recent times.

Part of the reason is that, it is easier to create a free market and entrepreneurship because all it requires is for the government to get out of the way, its harder to create state capacity and governance. That requires creation of institutions, building them, nurturing them and protecting them from politicization and ad-hocism and as importantly keeping them accountable. In Weber’s memorable words, “Building public institutions is like slow boring of hard boards”. In this context, it is a much harder job for us to address this issue of arresting Government Institutional decline than the past few years of economic liberalization and unleashing of entrepreneurship. To quote Ramachandra Guha, the historian “We have to repair one by one, the institutions that we have inherited and build new ones to help us meet the challenges of the coming years”.

Along with Shri Moily’s ARC, there are many in this country who have silently worked hard at this over many years, including Justice Hegde as Lok Ayukta of Karnataka, Prof Mehta and Dr Shah and many others. The Media rarely ever covers them unfortunately. As a citizen of Karnataka and a representative of that state in Parliament I can say that it worries me when there is not enough civil society demand for strengthening institutions like the Lok Ayukta that is serving to shine a spotlight on the actions of the Government and seek accountability.

We at FICCI, will work hard to place the issue of Accountable and responsive Governance as an issue of political consensus for Political parties before the next election along with other issues such as Re-building existing institutions and building new ones that are apolitical and accountable, Costs of Government, Complete restructuring of Public spending programs to address wastage, leakage and corruption, Restructuring of subsidies into a more directed delivery mechanism , Disclosure of interests, More open and transparent Public policy formulation, Opening of Parliamentary committee debates and depositions to public etc, Ensuring free and intense competition in all aspects of the Economy etc. These form, what we at FICCI refer to as the Common Minimum Economic and Governance agenda for mainstream political parties to agree on.

I look forward to an increased participation not just by Business but also by Civil society in helping forge a National consensus on this critical issue of Administrative reform and other issues for National consensus and coerce or force a change in direction of our Political and executive leadership of our Country.

Awakened, Aware, Active , informed and Determined Citizens can create change

2009-01-06T03:24:00.000-08:00

Someone wise said that out of every tragedy comes some good! It’s difficult to find any silver lining in the cloud that was 26/11, but if there is something at all, it’s the collective wakening of the conscience of all of the many thus-far silent Indians. Civil Society is now realizing that we have a war being waged against us and terror is not something that can be any longer seen as something distant and unconnected to our lives. People of Kashmir, Assam and other states have been suffering terror for many years and we have remained immune and silent.
26/11 has only reaffirmed that our Governments are failing again and again in its basic and most solemn responsibility of protecting its people. This is symptomatic of a larger failure of government. Some of us have been saying for some years now that our Government is broken and the quality of our Politics and Politicians represents the biggest threat to the future of India. The institutions that are supposed to stand up and deliver to its people have long since been compromised, corroded and hollowed out by the all-pervasive and un-opposed effects of Politics and corruption. Unfortunately for the most part of the last 6 to 7 years, our efforts at drawing attention to the threat represented by failing governance, have been swamped in the public debate, by the cheerleading of India and talk of the imminent rise as an Economic superpower and the other accompanying rhetoric about Incredible India in locations like New York, Davos etc.
The reality of our country is a very far cry from these rosy visions of imminent glory and prosperity, as 26/11 has shockingly reminded us! The biggest challenge and hurdle to this economic heaven is our Politics and Governance – being played out in New Delhi and capitals and cities all across our country.
So we want change ? This is good ! Let’s talk about defining the change we want – Accountability from our governments – Performance and governance from our Governments – The ability for our politicians to work together and create political consensus about the real issues that face our people – Transparency in Public policy etc
I have had the good fortune of reading constitutional assembly debates, conducted in the early days of our life as a free nation. It is very clear from those speeches of our founding fathers, that our constitution is a contract between our Politicians and our people – and that Politics was supposed to be a form of Public service and not about Ruling. It was to get rid of Maharajas and the British that we got freedom and a written constitution. It was not to replace one set of rulers with another set. So that’s the change we should seek, of transforming our Politics to Public service and demanding that. This can happen only if we and more and more of us seek to force that change, vote in people who come into Politics to serve and make a mark serving and not to make money or any other objectives. The change should be that people are chosen to office on the basis of their public service and not because of their money, caste, creed or any of the other variables that are dominating and determining political success today.
The outpouring of anger and grief all over the country has made a considerable effect on the Politicians of our nation. In recent debate on the new legislations to tackle terror, many MPs who otherwise would’ve played politics with this were coerced into action purely out of fear of the public reaction. This is clear evidence to you and all of us that this collective voice is resonating in Delhi.
But clearly this isn’t enough – we need enduring and permanent change in the direction we are going. Change isn’t an easy business – especially to a political system engrained and entrenched over the last 60 years with the worst characters and qualities that one can see.
So two points to note – Firstly, Change will take time – So don’t hold your breath and expect change to come tomorrow just because we woke up today and want change. Those who are determined to have change should be prepared for a long 2 to 3 year struggle for change. This coming election gives you all a great opportunity to establish the first marker for change. But some changes relating to Security and counter terrorism are more urgent.
Secondly, Civil society needs to redefine its own role vis a vis Politics and Government. You need to ask more and demand more. 26/11 and its aftermath represents a lot of what is wrong with our Politics and Governance. But serious as that event was, there are many more examples of the effects of poor governance and rampant out of control politics, all around us , all made possible thanks to a meek, accepting and silent civil society. For real change in our polity, we have to play a new role – of an Awakened, Active, Aware, Informed and Determined citizen. I can promise you that a large group of Awakened, Active, Aware, Informed and Determined citizens will surely succeed in making the change for the future generations and leave them behind an India that we can be proud of and most importantly let’s not wait for the next 26/11 to happen and many lives to be lost before we act.
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Agenda for Change
1. Focus on rebuilding Institutions of Government – The Police, The IAS. Depoliticize them and make them professional and FULLY accountable
2. Build new Institutions that safeguard Citizen Interests – like institutions of Lok Ayukta – strengthen it and give it more powers, Like Federal and Regional Counter Terror Agencies.
3. Reform our administrative machinery – a form of de-bureaucratization – make things simpler and more transparent.
4. Bring in a regime of respect for Law and enforcement.
5. Bring in a regime of Transparency and Disclosures for all Government decisions.
6. Push for constitutional changes that create more accountability and transparency from our representatives, institutions
7. Coax, Pressure media to be more focused on researching, understanding and highlighting poor governance and politics. At the same time, media and civil society must recognize and encourage the many silent heroes in the Government system.

Redefinition/Change in our role

1. Be an Awakened, Active, Aware, Informed and Determined Citizen.
2. Start thinking of being an Indian – make that your primary identity.
3. Start becoming law abiding citizens. The moment we use shortcuts, we have forsaken our right to demand anything from our government
4. Create citizen groups amongst your friends. It’s always better to approach politics and governments in groups. Politicians respect groups and crowds.
5. Register to Vote. Make sure at least 2 months before any election you reconfirm your name is on the electoral rolls of your constituency
6. Read up the manifestoes of Parties and familiarize yourself with the candidates.
7. Remember you have rights. Familiarize yourself with your rights and establish those rights from your government and your elected representatives. Use the Right to Information act to get the data and details you want.
8. Make sure the media is aligned to your interest. Boycott media that doesn’t help your cause of a better governance and transparency. Remember media survives on advertisements and advertisers depend on you and me. If you choose to stay away from a particular media or support a particular one and do so visibly, advertisers will follow you.
9. Be more aware about what your government is doing. There is no substitute to this. Getting into an uninformed debate leads to loss of credibility, which is what the accusation against civil society all along has been – that we have talk through our hat. Be prepared to take to the streets and participate in opposing/protesting instances of bad governance or lack of response from our governments.
10. Be prepared for and commit to a 2 to 3 year struggle to make this change happen.

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