Rating Governance and Civic Facilities

 One way to keep governments in check is through Rating their performance on various counts that matter to you and me.. 

I propose a Rating on a 1 to 10 scale on the following-

1. Commute- ease, cost and availability of options

2. If there is a metro, ease of getting there and last mile connectivity

3. Cleanliness- availability of dust bins and garbage clearance on roads

4. Enforcing traffic rules - stopping errant drivers of all kinds, crazy parking and so on..

5. Ease of business at any govt. office we encounter.. RTO Passport, or any other

These will do for a start. Periodically do this through public posting based on actual experience, through independent agencies and individually through social media instead of stupid Whatsapp forwards.

Why Things Don't Change for the Better

 We live in a world where power is concentrated in the hands of a few- monarchies were a good example. Now, many countries have democracy. But the common man/woman has very little say in governance priorities, once elections are over. 

For instance, potholes on our roads. Many governments later, the Indian roads are full of them. The nexus between the builders of these, and the ones who award contracts and monitor quality (?) is strong and unbreakable.

Policies that encourage people or institutions to do their best should be a given. Yet, we have regulations that stifle, rather than encourage. Perhaps the quintessential Babu or bureaucrat is to be blamed for some of these.

But as members of society, civic sense is also a culprit why we have a lot of filth on the roads, or in public spaces. Or why we don't come on time anywhere, or why we don't do our job as well as we could/should.

Multiple reasons, therefore, why things remain as they are. Mobile phones and technology gives you an illusion that they are better, but are they, really? It's a moot point. 

A sense of humour does help one survive, though. Nurture that..

Thought Leaders

 Who is a thought leader? Anyone who takes it beyond the ordinary level, in whatever sphere or domain he is thinking about. It could be science, art, leadership, management, architecture,... what have you.

Governance too. If we had more thought leaders as politicos, it would do us a world of good. Simple ideas can help the common man live better. Job generation could be one such thought process (this includes entrepreneurship, the generator of jobs).

Delicensing was one such, that India did in 1991. Before that, to set up a factory producing nuts and bolts (or anything), one needed a license, and multiple permissions. Naturally, that led to corruption and zero competition. The consumer, or the common man, came last. In the USA, one of many reasons that the consumer gets a good deal is minimal government interference in the process of starting a new business. I have a friend who got his license to operate in the mail, without having to visit any office personally! Why can't this happen elsewhere?

Public transport that is cheap and efficient can solve half the commuting problems that common people face. The local trains of Mumbai solved this, and remain the cheapest and most efficient mode of transport, barring some Metro trains in other cities. One reason why Mumbai grew much faster.

Miniaturisation of electronics by the Japanese was a similar thought process, that led to pocket radios and much more. Digital innovations have led to a communication revolution, and made it possible for you, dear reader, to be able to read what I am writing, even if these are not world-changing thoughts.

Year 2 of The Coronavirus Pandemic

 It was around a year ago that we first heard about this new virus. Never imagined that it could have such a profound impact on lives. Historically, humankind has lived in jungles with predators, ill-equipped to deal with them. The way our ancestors survived was by using their brains to develop tools that they could use to protect themselves and also to hunt for food-non-vegetarian food. Today, with an excess of humans on the planet, nature may want to restore the balance-and man is helping, with chemical or other weapons, biological ones too. These have been used in parts of the world, to carry out mass killing.

Anyway, the point is, this is not the only pandemic we have to worry about. We have a few vaccines, and will invent more, and it will pass-in a year, maybe. At least the life-threatening part will. It may morph into another virus like the common cold virus, which also has no cure. But it has forced us to re-evaluate what is important for Nature and for Humankind, I hope. Why can't governments around the world concentrate their energies on Healthcare for all, at a low cost, even if it's not free? Why are natural disasters man-made, more often than not? Why do we almost always focus on the non-essentials, except in a pandemic or other emergencies/disasters? Are exams really important? This last is a question for the education sector, particularly in India. Learning can happen without necessarily having so many exams. At least, that's my theory, and it can be tested. I once worked in an institute of management where, due to time pressure, we admitted students without an entrance exam, only through a personal interview and they were as good as any other subsequent batch of students. Prior academic performance indication was already available through some other certificates they had. Just an example of how it did work.

I also wonder how the world, with so many resources-particularly human resources-at its disposal, cannot organise itself to focus on the essentials. Among world leaders of this century and the last, I can only recall Gandhiji advocating simple living. What would he have thought of the world in 2021? I wonder...

Governance Made Simple

 In school, we were asked to write essays such as "If I Became President/Prime Minister/Chief Minister.." etc. where you could write about your childish fantasies, and be happy. I am no longer a child, and I am not writing an essay. Just bear with me. This is one and only one Mantra for Successful Governance, in my view. Ok, we'll call it Customer or Citizen-oriented Governance, maybe.

The Mantra is just this- Keep it Simple. Air Deccan used to have a slogan- Simplifly. I would recommend the same. For instance, why need people to go stand in line? Most government services can be home-delivered, if there is a will. A small additional charge is cheaper than wasting a citizen's time, energy and effort in finding which office to go to, and waiting endlessly with file pushers and gatekeepers looking for excuses to delay everything. If we want to progress from being a third-world country to a First rate one, an opportunity is in governance. Singapore has shown the way in many ways. 

Visa processes exemplify this in another sphere. I will henceforth only travel to countries that have a paperless visa not requiring a visit to the Consulates, or have a visa on arrival. Why should I subject myself to red tape and multiple visits to their consulates? They are not pretty tourist attractions, after all. 

Anyway, I think I have made my point. Let's exit red tape, bureaucracy, and meaningless paperwork which are all relics of the past- or should be, anyway.

Artificial Governance- A Satire

Why we need a politician to govern us is beyond me.

Bureaucrats can run the show with the help of AI. All you have to do is load the AI machines with all the important functions of the functionaries.

Online auctions can be performed after every election to find out who wants to change parties at what price-that takes care of government formation.

Digital signatures can also be used to clear any files, and regular attendance can be changed to optional in any office. Imagine the reduction in vehicular pollution levels, and the savings in petrol.

Social media can be used to conduct a referendum on all important ideas- if only Britain had asked me for consultancy, they'd have been saved an election, and lots of confusion- and Pounds (or Euros).

If AI has gone for maintenance, it can be called a Chai break/Lunch break- an indefinite one.You get the drift, I am sure.. you are intelligent, naturally.

Administration Versus Leadership

I have deliberately not used the word Management, because I am not talking of MBAs alone, but more generally, about spheres that affect more people than the corporates.

Administration can be the routine activities, and more to do with implementation of rules that were framed by someone else. For instance, the Municipal administration mainly has to do with implementing rules and duties already assigned to the department. Few new things, maybe once in a while, like building a new flyover.

Leaders may be distinguished (if they are at all) by some creative ideas that they are able to come up with for the non-routine, which may benefit a lot of people. Many leaders give us hope, but few live up to it. In our political landscape, maybe three or four have solved problems of masses creatively, though many may have contributed in bits and pieces. TN Seshan, E Sreedharan (Metro Man), Verghese Kurien, and a few other bureaucrats from within the system were leaders who did this by probably going beyond their brief. The Metro has the potential to solve public transport problems if designed well- I have now travelled by Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore metros and can vouch for this.

I had the fortune to live in Andhra Pradesh when Chandrababu Naidu came up with a computerised service for citizens to pay their bills in one place. It was called eSeva, and was later (much later) copied by other states. Before this, people spent huge amounts of time in lines to pay their own utility bills.

The latest example of good leadership is the way the Orissa Cyclone called Fani has been handled, with able leadership directing the various administrative wings in saving at least a few thousand lives. It involved coordination among different administrative bodies/wings, making it all the more remarkable.

I am pretty sure that we can keep up a flurry of such innovations to ease the life of a common man, if we give enough thought to it. That would make for smart cities and villages, and much more. Maybe a citizen scrutiny and rating system may work, and get people to participate more in governance too.

Innocence Lost in Lanka and Elsewhere

There was a time when governments fought wars over territory, or colonials conquered the armamentally backward for commercial gain, all through history. Dictators occasionally chipped in with murder and mayhem, but at most of these times, common people got along well, and there was an age of innocence among them. It seems that those innocent times are now history. It is no longer an army participating in an officially declared war with some rules (Dharma Yuddh?), but anyone who has a grouse getting up and killing anyone who may or may not have had anything to do with the creation of that grouse.

Where all this will lead, is anybody's guess. This could be the time for good governance to kick in, and show that it can bring humanity back from the precipice where it finds itself. More than all the nukes in the stockpiles of the nuclear powers, this is the trend that is likely to eliminate humanity. Not sure how much of it remains, after the regular spate of killings by individuals and organisations that see no other alternatives to killing other humans.

Hopefully, there is still some hope..

Marching Along

Left, right, left.. is one way to do it. It is much more humdrum in finance and academia- we reach the financial year-end in finance, and academic year-end in academia.

But it also brings on a season of wonderful memories of the year gone by, of faces you will not see (for some time)- the students graduating, or going on a hiatus for the summer. And of course, the anticipation of a hot summer followed by cool rains in the Indian monsoon. This year, hotting up the summer will also be a General Election to India's Parliament.

I am more of a Governance animal than a political animal, so I am more interested in the WHAT rather than the WHO of governance. I just expect and want the governance to be good, and keep score on that count. A person or a party is the medium who may (or may not) accomplish that, and is therefore secondary to the WHAT. I have, over the years, visited several countries and lived in one (the U.S.), and I feel we have a long way to go in improving governance in almost every sphere. Public transport is one which affects millions in our cities, and must be made world-class. It is nice to see some metros under construction or near completion, and those may solve commuting problems of many.

In my view, all the governments (maybe with one or two exceptions), starting with Narasimha Rao's in 1991, have done a lot to improve things in some sphere or another, and let's hope that continues with the new one to take charge in the coming months. All the best to us, citizens.

Good Governance- Lessons From Monarchy

There were good monarchs too. We sometimes forget that. What did they do?

Ideas that work.

Jobs/work.

Peace.

Justice.

They had respect for wise people, many of whom were advisors in their court.

They had a witty humorist too, to break the monotony. Tenali Raman and Birbal come to mind readily.

Did they build walls with the neighbouring countries? Probably not.

They were well-informed, and used multiple channels to get information, including personal visits to corners of their kingdom.

They assigned the right people to the jobs they had in mind.

The Economy

The economist talks about the monetary policy, fiscal policy, Industrial indexes of Production, Purchase, interest rates, global shocks, quantitative easing,...

The common man understands it as the price of petrol, onions, tomatoes, cars, scooters, availability of public transport, non-collapsing bridges/overbridges, trains which run on their given tracks, and the bribes that he pays (or doesn't) to do what he needs to do.

The politician who understands this the best, and achieves ease of doing business for the common man (not just for businesses) would probably achieve great success in coming years. After all, the big buzzwords are of no use unless they ease the pain of an average citizen.

We had a combination of good economics and politics in 1991 with the Narasimha Rao-Manmohan Singh team. Hope that happens once again, and India achieves 10% growth in its GDP, and not just 7%.

Marketing Orientation in Government

Citizens ought to be treated as consumers, and their satisfaction needs to be a prime objective. So what are some ways to achieve this?

Distribution- many government services are available at few places, inaccessible to most people. Chandrababu Naidu's e-Seva changed that to some extent in Andhra Pradesh when it was introduced. Now, at least for people with Online access, a trip to the govt. office should be made redundant. Anything that they need to do should be made available online and delivered home. Even if there is a price premium charged, most people would happily opt for it. Post offices can be used for all address verification, for instance.

Attitude- Even if a citizen lands up in a government office, he is faced with an obstructionist attitude which tells him what he has done wrong. The opposite needs to be the case.

Finally, the onus of proving that the citizen is wrong should be on the government--in other words, like in jurisprudence, you are always right, unless the govt. can prove that you are not.

Service Guarantees - If you don't get that service on time, it should be free.

Repeat customers should be rewarded.

Might help improve satisfaction by miles.

Selfienomics- Book Review

If you take this book seriously, you may not like it that much. If you don't, chances are you will like it a lot. Because it is written in a folksy (facebookish) style with plenty of hashtags and humour. There is an underlying seriousness, though. It aims at improving you. If you are like 99% people (or is it 99.98, like the CAT cutoffs) who believe firmly that they will not improve (# Hum Nahi Sudhrenge), then that is effort wasted (# Gaya tel lene).

But it is definitely worth reading. He even takes off on IIMs and other holy cows, after saying how we Indians don't like anybody criticising our icons. Some of his jokes are ROFL type, and will keep you going through the boring parts- there are a few, like advice on how much water to drink a day and why (haven't we been through this somewhere?).

There is also a panacea for many of India's ills- a better justice system, which works fast and well, and online where possible. The solution may sound naive (after all, he did not take the offer from IIM Bangalore), but the point is well-taken, that many of our systems of governance and citizen services are archaic.

Another point well-taken is about our responsibilities to society, and to ourselves, being neglected in the blind pursuit of the "family's good" (# Mere paas maa hai).  His advice on personal branding is good, and the reason why I bought the book in the first place. Create a first opinion, rather than just a first impression. Because people take time to form an opinion, but stick to it after they form one. Don't waste money on branded clothes, but dress well. ("If you want to know how, look at gay people-they have been in the closet longer than most"- jokes like these abound in the book). Remember things about people who you want to know better, if necessary by digging up info on the net, and using it to make conversation (# Stalking-the good side).

Generally, quotes from lots of people (like 'Patriotism is loyalty to a piece of real estate'- be a global patriot instead) also make this readable. (#Go Read it)

Thought Leadership vs. Incrementalism

Reaching the moon in a few years- Kennedy's dream.

Just in Time or JIT from the Japanese.

Miniaturised electronics, from many American and Japanese firms. Sony Walkman, an example.

All examples of thought leadership. Including the mobile phone, and the internet. But why is it that governments largely lack big ideas? The last one I heard was from Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh when he introduced e-seva, saving people from long lines to pay their own electricity or phone bills, and much more.

Many government services need decentralisation and more contact centres- these can be outsourced where skills needed are minimal, creating huge employment opportunities, and serve people better.

Just one big thought for now, but you may get a dozen a day, if efforts are made. Why don't governments do this?

Fallacies

One of the major fallacies that is going around is that education is going to solve all problems. That needs a lot of qualifying, for it to be true.

Education cannot be just a degree, or a string of degrees.

Good human values like concern for people, environment come before education of the degree-adding variety. Or, should be a part of it. Common sense is as valuable as education.

Education of the wrong kind can actually breed a lot of problematic kids/adults.

Good governance has a lot to do with happiness. A reasonable job opportunity according to skills acquired solves most discontent. The lack thereof 's the reason for most migrations, including the current ones. Education should not end up producing an army of overqualified (mostly on paper) people who have aspirations not matched by skills.

Superman is not going to save the earth.

Reforms in Governance

This is wishful thinking in areas of governance that give the common citizen great amounts of irritation, if not angst.

All government services must be home-delivered at the customer's (citizen's) convenience. The government can employ people with minimum levels of education and lots of common sense to do the home-delivery, and charge customers for it if necessary-if the fee already charged is not enough. This can boost employment tremendously-it does not have to be in rural areas/farming. Could be a part of the govt. employment schemes, too.

There must be a fixed time period in which the delivery must happen, if not, the service should be free (or discounted appropriately).

There should be visible penalties (like a transfer to the boondocks) for non-compliance by the government official responsible.

No citizen should stand in a line begging for any favours. Approval of most things can be done online, or not depending on merit. A copy of the request can go to the Lok Pal of the respective jurisdiction, and maintained for a certain period until the window for complaints runs out.

You will see wonders happening, and bureaucrats lose their swagger in no time.

A Five Point Program for Good Governance

Ask all government employees to stand in line and get a certificate from ten common citizens about their conduct on the job. Give all those who score less than 60% a one year warning to shape up or..

Put all rules on the web, pertaining to any government permission, license, permit etc. and ask the citizen to print the stuff, stick a picture if needed, and post a copy to the government official concerned (maybe a scan). If you don't hear from him in three days, the citizen is deemed to have got the certificate/license/permit. Then the burden shifts to the official to prove that the citizen should not be carrying that.

Remove all subsidies on gas cylinders. It does not help a household anyway-too small an amount. Instead, cut the inefficient supply chains and make gas available on demand. It will help shut down all the inefficient dealers. And bring prices down. Even if the prices don't go down, people will be willing to pay for efficiency and lack of time-wastage. Even better, supply piped gas and get rid of ALL dealers -and cylinders.

Collect fines on spitting and littering at a small rate, say 10 or 20 rupees an offence. Municipal bodies will be rolling in money for some years. Use the money to build roads, or subsidise public transport. That will reduce pollution and traffic.

Audit all election promises (make promises compulsory) every six months, and disqualify candidates with less than 70 percent unfulfilled promises. This is for the election commission.

Sit back, relax, and watch the country flower into a new, improved Republic.

Delhi Government and Governance

What is governance? The Delhi governance imbroglio inspired this one.

Defence is a part of it, and so is law and order.

Apart from these, it should ideally be, at least in a democracy, people who serve the citizens. Citizen services include transportation, housing, health, water, drainage, education and so on. How to provide these in a fair and just manner is what the government needs to decide- and implement.
It does not include showing undue favours, transferring officials every few months, or wasting time on activities detrimental to providing services to citizens.

Democratic governments can do a lot of damage by not doing any of the things they need to do. Also by doling out free goodies to sections of people (or all the people) forever. That kills motivation to work for a living. The poor and helpless deserve help but usually don't get it.

Also, by wasting time in controlling the private sector without a good reason. Rules can be framed transparently, and independent regulators with professionals left to regulate various sectors.

The challenges are vast, and sometimes technology can help. Applications for a passport, ration card, driver's license (barring the test itself), registration of land, and many more can easily be made online with scanned documents and verification within a time-bound manner ( a service guarantee?) by officials concerned. If not, it should be deemed correct. Responsibility must shift to the officials for proving anyone wrong. This would improve governance manifold.

Kejriwal's Win and Lessons From It

The 'wal' has arrived. When Rahul Dravid retired, we were not sure if anyone would take his place. We now have a strong number 3 player (after BJP and Congress), at least in Delhi.

It was a stunning win, almost like BJP's national victory in 2014. If it means what I think it does, it's a good tiding. Perform or perish, or think differently. Connect with your constituency- the people. Be honest. Admit your mistakes, and you will be forgiven. All these are things even marketing and customer service people need to learn, to stop themselves from becoming irrelevant. Customers (like voters) will express themselves when they get a chance, and you might not get a second chance after that.

Not taking people for granted is a great lesson, and Kejriwal deserves accolades for teaching us. Now for his fulfilling his own promises. Like he said, it's scary, given the high expectations. 

Swinging the Vote

I was watching a bit of the election results and "analysis" on the news channels. Results of Maharashtra and Haryana state elections in India. There are a few things that I concluded.

1. Modi is a vote-puller.

2. Rahul Gandhi is a vote-killer.

3. All others are in-between.

4. Pawar may finally be forced to stay away from power.

5. MNS seems to be headed nowhere with their anti-UP, Bihar rhetoric.

6. Young voters are increasingly voting more intelligently than the old ones (our gen) used to.

7. Better governance than the current one is a near-certainty.