Which model will work to empower India?
By Manohar Manoj
Ever since America dropped several bombs on India including 50 per cent trade tariff and costlier H1B visas, there has been a debate going on in the country as to which path the country should choose. Keeping in mind its future, what kind of acceleration should be given to the journey of development and public welfare that the country has undertaken so far? The country’s governing head, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is now continuously calling for self-reliance. He has recently given a statement that India will have to manufacture everything from chips to ships itself. In this sequence, almost 8 years after the implementation of GST, the government has made an unprecedented reduction in both the number and burden of GST slab rates and has given a huge shopping offer to the huge middle class of the country in the upcoming festive season.
The objective is to give a booster dose of new momentum to the indigenous industries by bringing a huge increase in domestic demand. Apart from the government, the economic experts of the country are also flooded with ideas and suggestions in the media regarding the increase in the country’s growth rate, trade and employment. Some are talking about an alternative model to America, India’s largest foreign trade partner, some are talking about the model of encouraging domestic demand and internal trade, while some are emphasizing on indigenous resources, focus on research and development and greater exploration of new economic sectors. But in this talk about the country, the basic thing of the people of the country has been ignored which is the real link to strengthen and develop the country. And this is the basic thing about the governance of the country.
The first important need for the reconstruction of the country is making the entire structure of governance smooth, transparent, service-oriented, economical and public sensitive. If we want to promote public cleanliness, enhance productivity, fairness in all decisions and spread inclusiveness, the foremost responsibilities lies with the three crore bureaucratic workforce of the country. If they are ready to fulfill its role with the help of its behavior, character, gesture, mind, speech and actions or the top political leadership will prepare them, then be sure that the fate of the country will begin to change.
Second, when our public sector becomes capable of presenting an example of its own, then our private sector will make good use of the incentives, opportunities and environment of the government, and then they will also start presenting an equal example of their own. After this, i.e. in the second phase,
In the third phase, when the public and private sectors of the country are on the right track, then the task of controlling, regulating the people of the country and turning them in the right direction and connecting them will also become easier. The 140 crore population of the country will automatically be forced to adopt their duty, their discipline, their role and their character. It will happen either because of the inspiration of the top decision making people involved in the government or due to the fear of punishment. The work of the above three phases is like the churning of an ocean, which includes the country’s Constitution, legislation, policy rules, work laws, construction and welfare programs and all the matters related to improving and awakening the work culture of the institutions.
Under all three phases, the country has to face different challenges .
However the country has resolved many issues but many reform agendas are still pending. For example, the country should identify the possibilities of corruption and misuse of power under the three branches of the legislature, executive and judiciary. We cannot accomplish the important task of controlling corruption just by giving statements based on the political narrative of corruption. The structure of corruption from top to bottom i.e. from PMO to Panchayat and from South Block to every block of the country. Whatever elements are involved in it, but even before that, whatever factors are responsible for corruption, i.e. policies, rules, discretion, work culture, lack of incentives, we should comprehensively review all these and its complete status should be made public. There are about 25 lakh public offices in the country which include all the departments of central, state and local government. This also includes school, college, hospital, panchayat, bank and police station. All legitimate public complaints should be invited to all these offices and their redressal should be done through Janata Darbar, e-governance and third party public convenience centers and IT technology. All of them will start performing their roles better and believe me; the revival of the country will begin. Many role models have also emerged in the country in this great work of public cleanliness which needs to be propagated everywhere.
Talking about the second phase, the private sector has become a major reality in the country for the last thirty-five years. We operate them through our various policies and controls. But the most successful approach has been the presence of both public and private sectors through a regulatory authority, participation, mutual competition and a level playing field. In this sequence, many changes and revolutions took place in the country such as telecom revolution, information revolution, mobile revolution, real estate, rapid development of highways-railways-airway-waterways etc. But there are still many sectors left where both public and private exist but there is no regulation authority and level playing field. This includes education, health, public transport, agricultural inputs and marketing of products, energy generation, transmission and distribution, railways etc.
Talking about the third phase, instead of punishing the people of criminal character, improving them psychologically is a big challenge of the society. Instead of controlling corruption and crime, the country should work on preventing them even from occurring.
The country is looking for a new path, why don’t we carry out the huge task of all the basic social, political, economic and administrative reforms of the country. Do a penance on the three major problems of the country, corruption, unemployment and inflation and two big infrastructure i.e. social overheads, education, health, cleanliness and physical infrastructure, roads, railways, electricity etc.
Under this process the technology and privatization have played a big role in combating corruption in the country, but corruption keeps growing in many new vested interest forms in the country, which can be eradicated with strong political will in auto correct mode.
Regarding unemployment, first of all the three tier governments of the country will have to fill their vacant posts of about 75 lakhs. The work culture of these newly appointed people can be brought only through proper contractual appointment. The second thing is that the organized private sector should be given the task of generating at least 1 crore jobs annually by adopting a policy of employment and wage liberality and productivity strictness. If the revolution of every kind of construction is going on in full swing in the country, then five crore people will always remain in continuous employment.
The record of the present government regarding inflation has been more or less consistently satisfactory. On top of this, there is a possibility that it will be further under control with the new regime of GST. Talking about infrastructure, the present government has done better work in terms of both social and physical infrastructure, but there is still a need to make private and public partnership in a more clear and meaningful manner.
Overall, maintaining the series of political, social, economic and administrative reforms in the country will determine the possibilities of becoming a developed nation. These steps will ensure economically high growth rate to the country, socially high human development rate, politically better competitive democracy and administratively work efficiency and great public sensitivity..