The proposed Lokpal Bill,
notwithstanding all the drama and protest surrounding it in recent
days, is just a piece of a much larger agenda of reform of our
existing institutions, infrastructure and processes to democratise
information, enhance accountability and deliver development to all
parts of the country.
Today the country needs adequate information systems as much as it
needs civil society's participation. Without modern information
infrastructure to enhance openness, transparency and accountability,
civil society protests could merely remain theatre for the 24/7 news
channels instead of institutionalised reform measures.
India has a unique and historic opportunity to break away from 19th
century mindsets premised on information control and centralised
decision-making processes that the British Raj left behind to fulfil
long awaited aspirations. It is time to start thinking like a
leading 21st century information and knowledge society that is both
open and responsive to the needs of the people.
To understand the implications of the Lokpal Bill on shaping the
short-term and long-term destiny of India, it is important to
understand the Right to Information (RTI) Act. RTI has played an
important role in exposing some of the recent corruption trends and
cases. The United Progressive Alliance government must be
complimented for taking bold initiatives such as the Right to
Information, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (NREGA), as well as focusing on education and sustainable high
growth for the last seven years. However, the introduction of the
RTI without modern digital infrastructure and technology cannot
deliver accurate and timely information and cannot showcase the true
strength of this landmark act.
Today key decisions in the government are locked up in the 'nadawali
file' which is a vestige of the British Raj and perfection of
bureaucratic bottlenecks. Until the nadawali file gets digitised and
delivered with proper security on to the net and until requests and
responses for the RTI are converted into digital domain it is
difficult to effectively answer information queries and redress
grievances of 1.2 billion people regarding decisions that affect
their lives. It is time to recognise and accept that information, to
the extent that it does not compromise national security, ought to
be within the public domain to truly empower the public. Based on
this, it is important to recognize that for the Lokpal Bill to have
a meaningful impact the following five initiatives will have to be
addressed simultaneously:
Institutional reform
Most of our institutions are archaic and have degenerated over a
period of time into highly complex, monolithic, bureaucratic,
ineffective and expensive exercises. For the Lokpal Bill to succeed
it is important to have commitment to electoral reform, political
reform, administrative reform and judicial reform to bring about a
change in our institutional structures. For instance, we cannot go
on funding elections the way we have been doing, nor can we
guarantee promotions to government officers based on mere seniority
and protect them despite mediocre performance and lack of
appropriate domain knowledge. The present human resource policies of
the government cannot effectively work in a modern business
environment, nor can these policies deliver the right candidate for
the right job. Similarly, centre-state roles and relationships
defined in our constitution and processes may benefit from a serious
review in the light of increasing growth and disparities as well as
by assimilating increasing trends towards decentralised
decision-making. Institutional reform will be key to reducing
corruption and delivering equitable development.
Process re-engineering
All our processes related to public services such as getting land
records, birth certificates, school admissions, ration cards,
pension, starting a business, and filing grievances have not changed
since independence. We need to systematically re-engineer all our
major processes that affect the lives of ordinary citizens to
simplify and deliver services in a time-bound and transparent
manner. In fact, the effort today to a large extent is geared
towards computerising age old processes without paying attention to
the process changes required to meet the needs of the 21st century.
Community participation
There is very little local community participation, except by
panchayat members, in our public institutions. The perception among
citizens is that once you pay your taxes, the money becomes the
property of government officers and politicians. The community has
very little voice and visibility in how the money is spent on local
developmental activities. There is no reason why a decision related
to a local teacher at a school cannot be made by the local community
as opposed to a government officer sitting in a remote office in a
state capital. To expedite development and improve productivity and
efficiency at the local level, local community engagement is
essential and should be systematically encouraged.
Democratisation of information
Information is power and is often used in hierarchical systems to
perpetuate power structures. Given the role that information can
play in empowering people, it is critical to use modern technologies
and tools to assure transparency, accountability and access to
timely information to every citizen. This requires on the one hand
digitisation of the nadawali file and on the other hand connectivity
to local governments at the panchayat level, with appropriate
applications related to financial management, administration,
government programmes and priorities. This will also require
multiple open platforms and a variety of portals with open source
software for people to freely access information of interest and
with assured privacy.
Innovation
For all of these things to happen simultaneously we will have to
focus on changing our mindset and innovating to find new ways to
govern, manage, collaborate and empower. Without engaging innovative
thinking in addressing systemic challenges, trying to solve a single
piece of the puzzle such as just the Lokpal Bill will not deliver
the desired results. However, such an innovation strategy will have
to focus on Indian solutions, inclusive growth and proper eco-system
to encourage innovations by the people and for the people.
While the Lokpal Bill movement is laudable as an expression of
democratic dissent as well as a symbol of galvanised civil society
action, we must not be under any illusion about the efficacy of such
pieces of legislation to transform India without democratising
information systems and fundamentally reforming our age old
processes and institutions. It would be a mistake to remain content
with merely enacting powerful laws without spending any additional
effort on creating supporting information infrastructures and
ecosystems to execute and deliver development to meet the
aspirations of people at large.
(Sam Pitroda is a
globally respected Information and Communications Technology Guru.
The views expressed here are his personal views.
He can be contacted
at sam.pitroda@c-sam.com)
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