Problem is Not in the Implementation

       In this note I want to address some dangerous myths that underlie public discourse and Civil society participation in public policy discussion and lobbying for their pet concerns.  There is an illusion, bordering on delusion, that the source of all our problems is the Central Government in Delhi and if only it had the intelligence and the moral fiber to pass the right laws, all our problems would be solved.  The problem is the opposite: there are myriads of laws, rules regulations programs and projects on every conceivable problem and issue under the sun and we keep adding to them every year, without putting in the hard work of studying and changing them.  On the other side, the bureaucracy, which stretches from State capitals (including Delhi as a State distinct from the central govt) down to the village, is completely in adequate to implementing the plethora of laws, rules regulations and of carrying out programs and projects with any degree of rationality.  The few intelligent and sincere people who still try to do their job to the best of their ability, are completely outnumbered by those who make little pretense of serving public purpose and are there merely to further their own welfare.  Unlike in a business, there is no metric to alert the public of the performance of any government office.
      As I wrote over a decade ago,"The power to do good has been severely reduced while the power to do harm has increased." As the proportion of the corrupt increases the constraints on corruption decline. The bureaucracy, from the pettiest official at the bottom of the pyramid to the top, has little positive incentive for doing good, while the risk of going against the prevailing culture of self-aggrandizement is grave. So it is advisable to keep your head low and do the basic tasks with a minimum of effort.

      Is there a way out of this negative spiral.  In the same paper (which incidentally was presented at RGIDS, published in 2 journals and reprinted in 3 books) I suggested that Government must focus its limited resources (financial, human, attention span, time) on those problems and issues only it can do well and others cannot do.  Business and Non-Government organizations must not only be freed to do what they are good at, but be encouraged and supported. 

     "Inclusive Growth" is a very nice phrase that captures the philosophy and poetry of what the government must try to do, but unless backed by hard scientific analysis of problems solutions and priorities, it results in a further diffusion of focus to more and more problems, and less and less solutions.  It adds to the burden of the 150 odd programs that a typical district magistrate/collector is required to run in a district -- One has to be totally delusional to believe that the DM/DC can actually run so many programs or that he even bothers to try.  

     A law, rule, policy or regulation that is made without understanding the system that will be required to implement it, is a bad law, rule, policy regulation.  Those who propose it, cannot later deny culpability, by saying that "the problem was in the implementation,"or that "It is the failure of the system."  If you claim the right to determine policy, people have the right to expect you to learn about the system that will implement it!

      An understanding of systemic limitations leads to two different but complementary approaches: One, keep trying to reform the system, even though this is a long and frustrating process. Two, in the immediate future try to minimize/reduce the demands on the government system by creating a policy and regulatory environment that makes it possible for business, non-government organizations and civil society to solve the problem more effectively.  In the decades since I understood the system, I have applied this approach to policy reform.  Focus on essentials, prioritize, compare solutions and suggest only those that have a higher probability of success (there are no perfect solutions only better or worse). 

     If you want to get a flavor of these policy reform suggestions in different areas & sub-sectors, see www.chintanlive.org. When you are ready to dig deeper see https://sites.google.com/site/drarvindvirmani/ .

Delhi Rape Reform

Translate Rape Outrage Into Fundamental Police and Legal Reforms

It is December 2012 and Delhi’s residents have been outraged at the brutal rape of a young girl in Delhi.  Encouraged and supported by the media, the outrage has spread to other parts of the country. People are demanding reforms with an emotional immediacy that is sincere and compelling.   My thoughts drift back to another December, six years ago, to another outrage the abduction, rape and killings of a number of girls, including six children, when the Nithari murders came to public notice. In December 2006, the horror enfolded slowly, but the sense of horror and outrage was no less.  One can recall numerous other incidents of rape, shooting and murder, but there are many others across the country that go unnoticed or are occasionally seen in small print.  These are all symptoms of a police-judicial system that is breaking down and in urgent need of reform.  It is legitimate for the public to demand immediate measures such a reallocation of existing personnel from VIP security to public security, increase in police vans and other resources devoted to women’s safety, fast track courts, more sensitive handling of women’s complaints of harassment and rehabilitation of rape victims.  However it is equally, if not more, important to use this public attention and outrage to demand fundamental changes in the police and legal system, before it reaches breaking point.

A number of eminent experts and professionals have given very useful suggestions to address the vital issue of safety and security of women: One has diligently followed these on TV and read these in the newspapers. We have to sift through all these suggestions and extract those that have the possibility of sustaining over the long term any measures adopted under public pressure by making more fundamental changes  A 1999 Monograph titled, “From Poverty To Middle Income: Reforms For accelerating Growth in the 21^st Century,” stressed the need for Institutional reform of Administration (e.g. Freedom of Information Act), Outdated Laws and the Legal system (e.g. Criminal Procedure code), in addition to economic policy  reforms relating to Labor, Land, Natural resources, Education and Infrastructure.  According to the World Bank’s definition of country income classification, India was a ‘Low Income Country’(LIC) in 1999  and had become a  ‘Lower Middle Income country’ (LMIC) by 2011.  Having transited over the past decade to “Middle income”, the urgency of Police, Legal and Judicial reforms has therefore heightened, with necessity of aligning these with the needs of a Middle income country.

  What do we as a country need to do?  There are six broad elements of fundamental reform:

(1)    Public Education through media and Civic education in schools to change mindsets relating to social ills.  Besides treatment of girls and women, this would also include other issues like public health, cleanliness and, behavior in public spaces and basic civic responsibilities of all citizens/residents.

(2)   Police System: Separating investigation, forensic analysis and prosecution of all crimes, from the normal police, which reports to the home minister/chief minister of each state, into a separate organization under an independent police Commission that will have full administrative autonomy and be accountable to a constitutionally appointed overview authority that includes civil society representatives along with government and opposition representation. This is a version of the reforms recommended by the Law Commission and others and approved by the Supreme Court in 2006 in a case filed by Prakash Singh et al.. The directions of the SC have been blithely ignored by all State Governments (who are responsible for Police under the constitution).

(3)    Legal System: Reform of the Code of Civil Procedure Code, to eliminate opportunities for willful delay by lawyers such as through filing of interrogatories, appointment of commissioners for local inspection, temporary injunction and attachment of immovable property and adjournments under Order 17, rules 1 and 2 of the code.  Procedural bottlenecks like serving summons and verbal arguments also need to be streamlined.  Fast track courts for rape cases would be helpful till such time as the more fundamental reform is operationalized.

(4)    Laws: Reform of the laws relating to physical violation of females and children of both genders so as to define different forms/categories (e.g. statutory rape of children under age of consent, possible chemical castration of multiple/serial offenders) so that they can be carefully linked to minimum-maximum punishment in each category.   In making more stringent laws and procedures, a civilized society must not forgot to provide reasonable protection against to those who may be falsely accused, sometimes in collaboration with police, to extract ransom or bribes.

(5)    Social education of police who deal with crime against women and reform for procedures for dealing with rape cases, given the trauma that the victims have gone trhough, including the rehabilitation of victims.  Especially in metros like Delhi, the proportion of policewomen in the police force could be increased at a faster pace. A special Female Police Commissioner can also be considered for overseeing crimes against women and children.

(6)    Administrative:  Given the already low ratio of police and judges to population, the fact that a substantial proportion (10-15%) of vacancies in the police force and of judges at different levels have remained vacant for decades, shows a serious failure of administration.  A major program of computerization, use of information technology and modern management tools to register, gather evidence on, file and prosecute cases and to manage, monitor and dispose of cases in the courts, can be launched immediately as part of the 12^th plan.  

      The outpouring of anguish will lead to some visible changes relating to protection of women.  Given the deteriorated state of the police-legal system and the recent history of such short term changes they are very unlikely to be sustained, unless more fundamental changes to improve the system as a whole.  I would  urge the young people on the streets and the news media to focus on these fundamental changes.