Towards a New India
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TOWARDS A NEW INDIA TOWARDS A NEW INDIA Governance Transformed 2014-2019 V. Srinivas Foreword by Bibek Debroy Konark Publishers Pvt Ltd New Delhi • Seattle KKKonark Publishers Pvt Ltd 206, First Floor, Peacock Lane, Shahpur Jat, New Delhi - 110 049 Phone: +91-11-41055065 Mob: +91 93552 93900, +91 93552 94900 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.konarkpublishers.com KKKonark Publishers International 8615, 13th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98106 Phone: (415) 409-9988 e-mail: [email protected] Copyright © V. Srinivas, 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed in this book are the author’s own and the facts are as reported by him, which have been verified to the extent possible, and the publisher is not in any way liable for the same. ISBN 978-81-935-5542-2 Edited by Deepak Goel Cover Jacket by Dushyant Parasher Typeset by The Laser Printers, New Delhi Printed and bound in India by Thomson Press India Ltd. To my parents Late Shri V.L. Kantha Rao and Smt V. Ranganayakamma A Note of Caution... In this book the data has been updated upto October 31, 2018; there has been progress in the various schemes since and latest data is available at https://transformingindia.mygov.in/ performance-dashboard/#primary Contents Foreword by Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister ix Message by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog xiii Message by K.V. Eapen, Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India xv Appreciation by Prof Vinod Kumar Paul, Member, NITI Aayog xvii Preface xix 1 New India 1 2 Gandhi Jayanti Swachh Bharat Diwas 10 3 Cooperative Federalism: Finance Commissions, NITI Aayog, GST Council 28 4 Health Care For All 49 5 Education and Rural Development 60 6 Jan Dhan Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana and PMAY-Urban 74 7 Digital India 91 8 Skill India and Make in India 114 9 Social Inclusion Measures 136 10 Yoga, Culture and Sports 153 11 India’s Fight Against Corruption 168 12 Improving Justice Delivery Systems 176 13 A March to New Age India – 21st Century Challenges Before the Civil Services 186 Conclusion 193 Index 197 Foreword Foreword transition from the IMF to a ‘New India’ is also new. The last book A V. Srinivas wrote was on India’s relations with the IMF for the period 1991 to 2016. Reforms mean different things to different people. Subject to that caveat, reforms are often incremental though sometimes a structural break occurs, as was the case in 1991. The year 1991 represented a major change, with its whiff of liberalisation, globalisation and competition. More than 25 years have passed since 1991. In 1991, if people had tried to predict what India would be like in 2019, they would have gone hopelessly wrong, though they might have got some broad aggregate trends right. This is precisely what happens when large countries go through rapid growth and socio-economic change and churn. Who drives that change and churn? Individuals, communities, enterprises and government, in its three layers. Reforms are also about reinventing government, decentralising and devolving, stepping back from areas where government presence is unnecessary, but not abdicating from areas where government presence is necessary. V. Srinivas isn’t just a disinterested observer, or an interested citizen, in this process of reinventing government and governance. As a member of the distinguished steel frame, he is an active participant. In addition, his cadre is Rajasthan, historically, one of India’s poorer and relatively backward states. This brings to bear a unique perspective. In that March towards a ‘New India’, the government’s role is one of delivering public goods and services, whatever be the definition of public goods and services. Most of these public goods and services are in social sectors and the stated focus of this book is on social sectors. Often, social sectors are interpreted as health and education. Indeed, some of the chapters in this book are on health and education. But inclusion and social sector intervention are interpreted in a broader way, bringing in ix Towards a New India - Transformed Governance 2014-2019 financial inclusion, electricity, housing, skill formation, digital tools and justice delivery too (There is an extremely interesting chapter on improving the efficiency of revenue courts). Typically, public goods and services aren’t delivered by the Union government, but by the state governments and local governments. It has often been argued that India is excessively centralised. Governance structures became centralised under the colonial administration and became even more so during the planning and licensing process (This is typified in the continued use of the expression Centre-state relations, even though the word Centre does not figure in the Constitution). Therefore, the decentralisation and fiscal devolution agenda is important, such as through the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendations (increasing the untied share of states in the divisible pool of taxes), restructuring centrally sponsored schemes, altering the mandate of the former Planning Commission and replacing it with NITI Aayog and even the consensus-based approach of introducing a dual GST through the GST Council. That such a chapter exists in a book on social sector inclusion is indicative of the author’s comprehensive understanding of the canvas. But even that is not what makes this book come alive. It comes alive because it steps away from mere dashboards and drawing boards and tells us how these assorted public expenditure schemes were implemented in Rajasthan. Governance is not just for the people, it is also by the people. That participatory process distinguishes governance from mere government. As one reads the book, he/she therefore imbibes a sense of optimism, not because of government publicising schemes, but because there is a sense of citizen involvement. To invoke the Preamble to the Constitution, ‘We the People’ ensure the march towards the new India. At the stroke of the midnight hour in India on 14th/15th August 1947, the rest of the world did not sleep. It was awake. Absolute improvements notwithstanding, and there have been several in India since Independence in 1947, in purely relative terms, such as in comparisons with East Asia, x Foreword India under-performed and the promised pledge was substantially not delivered. It has often been said about India that the past and the future are both glorious, it is the present alone that is bleak. The promised future now seems to be blending seamlessly into the present, urged by an enabling government and driven by a young and entrepreneurial India. This is a personalised account of how that has been happening in Rajasthan, a geographically large and historically BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh) state. Towards the end of the book, Srinivas quotes George Bernard Shaw: ‘I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I love. I rejoice life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle for me, it is sort of a splendid torch which I have got hold of, for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.’ This is a quote from ‘Art and Public Money’, which appeared in 1907 in an article in Sussex Daily News, a printed version of a talk Shaw delivered. For the author, a sentence not quoted by him is perhaps even more appropriate. ‘I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.’ This volume gives you a sense of that. In the process, you also learn how India is changing. Bibek Debroy Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister xi Foreword lR;eso t;rs Message xiii Preface lR;eso t;rs Message xv Appreciation OCIAL sector policymaking in India is a complex exercise involving Sa number of Ministries, State Governments and several other stakeholders. It is also clear that India’s social sector policies affect the lives of millions of people. The Nation has made huge strides in affordable health care, and a number of innovations have been made in Education and Rural Development. Further, over the past 5 years, there has been a major emphasis on Swachh Bharat so that by 2019, Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth centenary, India will have successfully implemented the Swachh Bharat campaign. India has also focused on improving the living conditions of its poorest population – the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana aimed at universal financial inclusion; the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana aimed at free LPG distribution and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana aimed at housing for all. These schemes, in addition to the policies aimed at health for all, education for all, best represent the strides in the March to a New India. A lot has been written about India’s progress in recent years. Where this book by V. Srinivas makes a difference is in giving a detailed and insightful account of an administrator’s experiences in implementing the digitalization practices, improving justice delivery systems and in identifying the challenges for the civil servants in a 21st century India. As he has rightly pointed out ‘Commitment to public good against all odds’ best represents the values of an ideal civil servant. This book, free of any bias or prejudice, will enable the readers to make an informed and independent judgment themselves.