Tag: Governance

The App-ization of Development Discourse

In the recent aftermath of the Deonar dumping ground fire in Mumbai and the non collection of garbage due to union action in Delhi; the conversation on urban environmental governance has been brought into the limelight again before it disappears in the face of other eminent news such as a celebrity scandal . The Swatchch Bharat programme now has a World Bank expert helming it as lateral entry into the bureaucratic leadership which is rare. India, is distinctly urban nowadays  with a constellation of townships around the metropolitan city creating an urban agglomeration; case in point being the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority auspices and the National Capital Region.

The cities are simply revenue generating centres with the real political capital emanating in the hinterland. Western Maharashtra vis-a-vis Mumbai and Noida versus the districts of western Uttar Pradesh. Indian cities do not posses the ‘real’ political architecture for contemporary governance. The Mayor of Mumbai is still subordinate to regional authorities sitting in Mantralaya. Delhi as a semi-state is better even sans law and order powers based in the federal home authorities. New York and Bloomberg or Blasio is a dream for the well heeled crowd in Bandra or Malabar Hill. But, does the South Bombay boy vote on polling day rather than taking a drive to the cooler realm of Lonavala?

With the anvil of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor cities of Dholera, GIFT City and Shendra Bhidkin touted as Smart Cities being built as India’s answers to Shenzhen and Pudong Delta, urban solutions have resorted to the technocratic cookie cutter approach rather ground up community centered governance such as ‘Mohalla Sabhas’ or community forums, which the AAP Government in Delhi is pioneering through the Delhi Dialogue Commision. The Shiv Sena is a largely urban party having ruled the Mumbai Corporation for the last 25 years but it has a very different operating system unlike the Aam Admi Party. Delhi certainly voted in last year a very smart ‘App’. Well, that is to be seen in the aftermath of the dengue break and the garbage crisis.

Smart Cities may have the waste management facilities and recreation spaces figured out, but how will the political governance with a small ‘g’ flesh itself out?

The technocratic model of building a smart phone application for all developmental ends seems like a band aid fix. The data needs to be acted upon, and big data needs thick data for the questions to make sense. Geographic Information Systems spatial set and information platforms at a go enables good decision making, but will it tackle the landfill cartel in Mumbai? Or will it simplify land acquisition for the next Metro Project expansion?

Start Up India is well and good with all the sops, but where is the 24×7 power and data grid for such an initiative. The entrepreneurs need to be politically savvy to hack the bureaucracy. Are the App developing start up kids developing a killer app to enable smoother traffic in our cities. Simply more e-commerce unicorns won’t make a better India.

The Development agenda is a political animal. Voters in Mumbai and other metros have voted for the status quo apart from Delhi as the entrenched actors have been re-elected. Urban Development needs a multiplicity of actors  working in sync to execute a level of livability which is aspirational. Sadly, not every problem has a big data fix. South Asia is the hotbed of mega cities, a few solutions need to be drawn from London, Singapore and New York in terms of decentralization of power at the mayoral level.

Why Arvind Kejriwal will transform Politics in India?

India has now reached the inflection point in which the post liberalization generation who have not experienced the License Raj economic climate of the days of ‘Hindu Growth Rate’ demanding a scale up. Economic Reforms 2.0 have taken a back seat of sorts as the Congress led coalition focuses on delivering Welfare measures as it concentrates on Main Street than Mint Street. A ‘chowraha’ or a four point crossing-intersection, emblematic of a town centre like Sangli or Anantapur is an image that conjures up in my head. The electoral politics of the Congress dictates a pro poor orientation (which the writer full heartedly endorses as welfare is an enabler for the poor) and the urban voter base is not the target audience which it normally courts. Although the Congress dispensation, has been ruling urban Delhi over the last 15 years.  It is quite ironical but Sheila Auntyji has been doing a good job with Infrastructure in spite of the CWG Scam and poor security for the better gender.

Discontentment with the current government has reached a tether. The economy is tanking although ‘Governator’ Rajan has started off with a bang. The encouraging development in this state of political churning is the role which the educated middle class is playing in shaping the political discourse in a small but critical fashion.  The National Advisory Council is the best illustration of an Educated Citizen Elite contributing to construct policies.  While Aruna Roy and Harsh Mandar spearheaded the Right to work Program Bill, Jean Dreaze and Prof Amartya Sen extended intellectual legitimacy to the Right to Food Act.  Welfare Legislations help in transforming voters into citizens as democracy is not only about voting but about governance.

 The idea of the Citizen Elite was sparked while reading the famed Indian Sociologist Dipankar Gupta’s new book “Revolution from Above: India’s Future and the Citizen Elite”. A breakthrough read, Prof Gupta enunciates the concept of the Elite of Calling’s role in creating transformational change like bring universal healthcare and suffrage in 19th Century Victorian England. Closer home, Sati practice abolition was an act of the educated elite who thought of the greater good of the ‘public’.  Remember Raja Ram Mohun Roy and the Bramha Samaj Reformation Movement?

The educated intelligentsia usually confined to the civil service and the academia has found a voice in think tanks and the electronic media. Legions of bloggers-online writers such as me write on topical issues to generate a conversation in communities we reside in rising above discussing mundane ‘Big Boss’ and ‘Grand Masti’. It is the Citizen Elite who has the bright and the right set of ideas for masses even if they might not be popular at the moment. The masses do not have the time or the resources to agitate. Even if they do, it fizzles off as the ruling class throttles the oxygen for the masses to survive.  It is easy to harass the activist bunch in India by accusing him of tax evasion and something more heinous that even.

The Jan Lok Pal Agitation is an ideal case study to illustrate the soft and symbolic power of the Caravan reading Indian cultural elite. Aided by the 24×7 beast called as the electronic and social media to fuel the rage, Anna Hazare had his Nelson Mandela moment as the political totem symbolizing the dearth of moral leadership in this nation. Much diluted ombudsman legislation was ratified in a shoddy manner, but that was a victory for the ‘Elite of calling’ lead by civil society leaders as Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and Ms. Kiran Bedi. The Jan Lok Pal Team is a bunch of Moral Entrepreneurs with an exemplary track record.  Mr. Kejriwal, a Magsayasay Awardee led the movement for the Right to Information Act.  Shazia Ilmi, an excellent journalist who traded positions to be the media contact person for the Jan Lok Pal Agitation.

These people had good ideas, went to elite educational institutions, worked in the top echelons of civil service and corporate sector to bring those skills to the advocacy and political conversations. More importantly, they had a profusely keen sense of destiny that they can make the world a better place.

That is the differentiating element between the ‘Citizen Elite’ and current crop of political leaders who are political entrepreneurs; second generation legislators or business tycoons who buy their way through Rajya Sabha like Bellary Mining Tycoon Avinash Lad or the revered Dr. Mallaya. A Jay Panda is a parliamentarian of the Citizen Elite Genre. Naveen Jindal, although an Industrialist has pioneered the path for a common man to unfurl the National Tricolor sans inhibition.  

The Prakash Jha directed ‘Satyagraha’ starring Amitabh Bachchan is a cinematic take on the Jan Lok Pal Movement with Bachchan portraying a loosely caricatured Anna Hazare taking the lead over an anti corruption movement.   The former Jan Lok Pal Team apart from Kiran Bedi has formed the Aam Admi Party which is creating a flutter before the Delhi Assembly Elections.  Lok Satta Party’s Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan is a former civil servant turned MLA from Kutapally, Andhra Pradesh who stands for a clean political discourse. He had put up exemplary candidates for the Karnataka Assembly Polls although none of them won. The entire point of the exercise is about signaling a change.

In the rough and tumble of politics in India, ‘the Citizen Elite’ are slowly gravitating from the periphery to the epicenter of elections. I hope for more Jairam’s and Kejriwal’s to join the conversation.

 Only the Citizen Elite can bring the Change. Yes, We Can.

 

A Letter to Dr. Singh: a plea from a liberal

Dear Dr. Singh

We had a lot of hopes from you, Dr Manmohan Singh. A stellar career academic, bureaucrat whose track record was too good to be true.  As a RBI Governor, UGC Chairman and Finance Minister; you knew the inner workings of the Indian Economic Establishment like no one else. Your track record as a reformer was stellar from 1991-96, which was a minority government backed by the political brains of a particular Narsimha Rao.  When you had become the prime minister, I thought as everyone else that a clean, technocrat has taken office although with the Congress High Command Culture I had reservations but my heart was filled with hope. During UPA 1, welfare legislations such as MNREGA were passed and the Nuke Deal with the US was a prestige issue and you won with flying colors. The People gave your administration a resounding mandate in 2009 to continue your good work.  The inclusive agenda of the congress inspired me as well. The narrative changes as the UPA 2 began

UPA 2 has been a disaster, sorry to say Sir. Your Government has become a ‘one a day scam regime’. 2G, CWG, Coal Gate and other scams have unique acronyms that have become a part of our daily lexicon. Your silence has become so loud that it is deafening. Sexual Crimes happen every day and you do not speak even as a father of three very successful daughters.  People mock your regime as being in coma, rudderless and without direction.   These are certainly not pretty adjectives to be attributed to an esteemed technocrat like you Sir.

India is also thankful to you for delivering a secular government without riots apart from Assam and Dhule. The 100% FDI in retail legislation was important as did other social sector legislations and other concordant spending increases. But with graft being the main word attributed to your government and with a weak foreign policy with the Chinese incursions and Sarabjeet case; history is going to judge you harshly for being weak and ineffective. Your Reputation is an Indian’s reputation. Please help us to salvage our nation’s reputation.

All your good work is certainly getting wiped off the Indian citizen’s psyche with the performance of UPA2. Your name will definitely be registered with IK Gujral and HD Deve Gowda in the club of weak PM’s.

Please once again, do not let this happen. We would like you to speak up.

Yours Sincerely

An Indian Liberal

 

Is the Secularism Question, really secular?

In India the reality is that the discourse on secularism boils down to trivial politics. As per the 42nd amendment (in 1976) to the constitution the politically contentious term ‘secular’ was added to the preamble. So it seems that Secularism is a relatively recent addition to our dictionary of political discourse.  A ton of writings has already been authored by intellectuals and scholars from the social sciences, so I would not mind adding my two cents to the burgeoning literature volumes with this post. This question about secularism is overbearing the entire national conversation in the run-up to the next national polls, hence it is vital that secularism as a notion is de-constructed to release its essence, to make meaning out of the term.

Secularism essentially calls for the separation of the Mandir and the Mantri-land, but India has been a state where religion has been a personal affair but at the level of the state, faith is not a guiding force as in the case of Islamic Theocracies in the Mashreq.  Secularism as a term is mis-construed as minority appeasement as it is equated with reservations and soft approach towards terrorism (which is highly debatable as left wing extremism has been in India since the late 1960’s and Mahatma Gandhi was killed by a right wing hindu fanatic). It has been intensely politicized to the extent that ‘Sickularism’ is a term imposed by the Indian Right on their left wing ideological cousins.  The Indian Right treats the Hindu community as a monolith, but as a 79% block it has many sub-divisions such as backward and schedule castes who do not align themselves very comfortably with the ideology of Upper Caste Dominated Right.  There are also states in India where Christians (North East), Sikhs (Punjab) and Muslims (Hyderabad City, J&K) are in the majority along with major minority populations in large states. In short, the whole secularism debate is a complex one. Minorities too have to shed the victim mentality mindset to be a part of the national conversation on growth. It is a two way traffic always. Give and Take; business and trade-off are the most important tool in ensuring secularism.

Power Politics is played out in the name of secularism.   We have the 2nd largest Muslim Population in the World and the right has no option but to accept it. The Left has to make peace with the fact that India has been culturally as a Civilization: ‘Hindu’. The Congress also has to offer India development along with minority protection which in 1984 it miserably failed in Delhi. The BJP has to make overtures to moderate Muslims to be the part of its growth story plan, which in Gujarat it has conveniently excluded.  Every major political party is guilty of a political sin in a mission to garner votes. And I have not started to even comment on linguistic politics in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu where Hindu from Samastipur is politically pitted against Hindu from Konkan.

The conversation on secularism has to be elevated on a practical platform. How do we embed secular ethos in policy design and planning?

The questions should address broader notions of secularism such as ecological and social justice, equity and economic efficiency in access to welfare rendered by the state. Petty Power Politics in the name of Faith and Identity is easy but regressive; can win one election but there are larger, critical matters at stake in governance.We need to raise above trivial definition based contests on secularism to one, on inclusive growth coupled with equity.

 

 

Environmental Governance as inclusive Developmental Architecture: Time for action

There are a few issues with the public discourse on Environmental issues.  Environment matters are essentially political as they are backward integrated in to public values. Environmental issues are livelihood concerns for native communities off the economic grid. The retinue of ‘Quality of Life’ Indicators is contingent upon the environment. Free Market Capitalism and Environmentalism since the days of Rachel Carson,  are always at odds. As the pioneering Environmental economist Herman Daly once quipped that what will a saw mill be worth without a forest captures the paradox of the relationship between the scent of money and the fresh breeze of the forest.  Robert Costanza’s 1997 paper on Valuation of Ecological Services was a watershed moment, in academic circles but incorporating these lessons in mainstream policy frameworks is all together a different cuppa. Valuing and taxing Greenhouse gases through CDM and other market oriented vehicles have resulted in a mixed bag. These instruments have been appropriated by neo-liberal forces to extract money out of multi-lateral institutions rather than catalyze foundational transformations which take longer timelines. My environmental policy professor at grad policy school at the National University of Singapore was right when he meant that it is only money that prompts people towards normative ends and not good intentions alone.

The real issues regarding the metastructure of Environmental Governance get drowned in the cacophony of the rhetoric between Growth Fundamentalists and Ecological Activists. The price here at stake is usually quite basic; clean air and water. Investment Bankers drinking beer on a Friday evening at a South Bombay Pub will like to breathe cleaner air, as a person cannot buy clean air in a can. The Bottom-line matters but the biosphere does count slightly too.

This seems very simple but political will backed by resources along with active community engagement is the key. I can visualize another pitfall. The policy community is good at theorizing problems, but activating those ideas in to concrete action is the chink in the Developmental Architecture.   There is a slip between the cup and the lip. Civil Society, Industry and Government all have their own agenda and there is no synergy in thought processes for concrete action.

The National Advisory Council of celebrity academics and activists are bent towards entitlement welfare legislations. Environmental and Social Justice go hand in hand, and the writer of this post would suggest the esteemed body to focus on incorporating Environmental issues while designing welfare mandates. The Environment Ministry has been tainted with the tag of being the fore-bearer of a new Green Tape License Raj regime. While the perception exists, statistically it’s in correct.

Our focus ultimately needs to be re-calibrated to solve real issues, and embedding environmental drivers in to policy design is a good way ahead.