Mature transitions

New government should carry forward the projects of the old

One aspect of Indian governance has always been particularly problematic: the inability to handle transitions. Initiatives associated with one particular incumbent or set of incumbents are frequently abandoned when they lose power or fall into disrepair. The thinking seems to be that any success would only serve to brighten the reputation of the earlier lot, and not the current lot. This is particularly noticeable in several Indian states. In Rajasthan, for example, some schemes of the earlier Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party government, which lost power in 2008, were discontinued by the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress. Police reforms, for example, which allowed people to contact their beat constables directly, were shelved and ignored. When Ms Raje stormed back to power in 2013, she did the same - reviewing and dropping schemes that the previous government had introduced, particularly in the last year or so of its tenure.

This is an unfortunate phenomenon. As India faces a general election that will likely lead to a transfer of power away from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), it is not something that should be repeated blindly at the national level. Fortunately, there are some positive examples that should be used as precedents, allowing the next government to resist the temptation to drop everything that has been already planned or built. One such is the UPA's implementation of a scheme associated indelibly with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the National Democratic Alliance - the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. This programme, which was aimed at building rural roads across India, was not only mentioned in the Congress' 2004 manifesto, but was also pushed by the government and the National Advisory Council. The UPA expanded the scheme, in fact, refocusing it from building just the "last mile" of roads to constructing longer "farm-to-market" connectors. Rather than ignoring a scheme associated with its predecessor, the UPA in this case at least worked on implementing it effectively.

Similar efforts must be made by the new government. Yes, the quick way for it to restart the economy once it comes in would be to take a fresh look at pending clearances for private sector projects. But in order for it to hit the ground running, it should also ensure that the previous regime's better ideas for its own schemes are carried forward. For example, the various industrial corridors across India that the Centre has identified - the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) foremost among them - have the potential to be transformative efforts, building a necessary backbone for a manufacturing, urban economy. The DMIC, which is being built in collaboration with - and with financial support from - Japan, has seen considerable activity recently. The Uttar Pradesh government and the Centre are working to develop the Noida leg of the project south of Delhi, and the Maharashtra government and the Centre are focusing on a new town outside Aurangabad. These efforts should be carried forward under the new government. Naturally, there is always space for new and better ideas. But in the process of political transitions, too many good ideas are lost. India deserves better than for that to happen on a regular basis.