Reforming sub-national governance

BACK TO BASICS

The passing of the landmark bill which restricts the size of the council of ministers to no more than 15 per cent of the strength of the lower house is a big step in the right direction.

The full impact of this move will be felt only when the sub-national governments implement this ceiling. Currently, most state governments have council of ministers that are between 22 and 50 per cent of size of their legislatures.

Arunachal Pradesh being the highest with 50 per cent. There are some states like Gujarat and Andhra that are operating below the ceiling.

If this move has to be the first step in reforming the governance system of the nation, it is imperative to contextualise it within the framework of moving from a bureaucrat-centric to a legislator-oriented system of governance. Seen thus, the road to reform is much clearer.

The capping of the size of the council of ministers needs to be a part of a larger reform package that will seek to give more responsibility to the legislators in the process of governance and enhance their role, status and effectiveness in the existing system of governance.

The agenda for reform should be to reinforce the institutional capacity of the legislative system; strengthen the participation of legislators in the formulation and implementation of public policies; and support the processes of decentralisation of political power and democratisation of government.

This is the only way to promote a democratic culture in the citizenry and ensure the neutrality and objectivity of public administration.

If the resource allocation and the public service provision systems have to be adapted to respond to the needs of the disadvantaged it is imperative to overcome the politicisation of public administration.

The "capture" of which by particular interests has resulted in the phenomena of clientalism and cronyism that are the causes of inefficiency, corruption and distortion of state actions and policies.

What is needed is a system wherein legislators form the institutional platform for the formulation and implementation of public policies that respond to the general interest of society, with complete subordination to the law.

This is not a case for handing over the adminstration to legislators. Administrative institutions should be strengthened, not only for the importance that they have in and of themselves, but because their solidity is a necessary condition to make investments profitable in any policy sector.

Instead it is to reduce the excessive bureaucratisation of state action and policies that has resulted in a weakening belief in, and a lack of understanding of the virtues and knowledge needed for a successful democratic form of government.

The fact is that the bureaucracy's role is not only dominant in the implementation of public policies but is pervasive too in respect of policy formulation

It is a sad fact that the operations of the state legislatures and the roles of individual legislators are often little understood (even by themselves) by the citizens, and that public understanding of the institutions and processes of the government is now restrced to that of the bureaucratic apparatus.

What is needed is to restore or redefine the role of the legislator in policy making, arbitration of interests, the treatment of individual and localised claims and the balance between political accountability and administrative discretion.

Alongwith this role redefinition, a part of the reform package should be to revise the remuneration package of all legislators.

In the current dispensation, a legislator is paid about Rs 12,000 per month including travelling allowance and sumptuary allowance.

No wonder then being a legislator is not a career option for anyone young and bright. Far from being lucrative, it is simply not enough for sustenance.

For legislators to deliver and not delve into the other resources, it is important that they be given a "proper competitive" salary of, say, Rs 50,000 per month; plus an office, a residential house, telephone reimbursements up to a limit, petrol allowance up to a limit and medical and health insurance. The cost to government for a legislator per month will be about Rs 1 lakh.

In the overall expenditure size and structure, this will not amount to much. Take the case of Jammu and Kashmir. Such a change will mean a total expenditure of about Rs 10 crore.

The additional burden, of course, will be less if you were to net out the savings made by having a smaller number of ministers.

In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the size of the council of ministers will have to be reduced from the existing level of 29 to 17.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that this will mean an additional expenditure of Rs 7 to Rs 8 crore per annum. This is less than a crore a month.

And given that the total salary bill of the state is Rs 2,500 crore, it is less than 0.5 per cent of the salary of the administrative set up! Double the numbers, it will still be less than 1 per cent.

If financial allocations are any indicator of the value of work, it is a sad fact that we today spend 0.05 per cent (in J&K) on our democratically elected leaders of what we spend on our babus!

haseebd@business-standard.com