Parth Shah is a liberal idealist. In 1998, he came back from the US with the ambition of promoting liberalism. I was the first man he came to see. I accommodated him and his Centre for Civil Society in my house for some years. He continues to attract young people and send them out to find out how our society works and could work better. In this column in Business World of 3 November 2003, I reported on what one of his team had found.
How Delhi
government works
Eighteen young
students did not take their summer holidays this year. Instead, they visited
all the branches of the Government of Delhi – ten departments, seven ministries
seven enterprises and three schemes. They collected material on the resources
of these branches and the tasks they were entrusted with. They talked to
officials, users and victims of the government. They hunted around for official
and unofficial reports on its working. They took photographs of liquor shops
and rubbish dumps. And – most important – they asked themselves how the tasks
of the government could be done better, and with fewer resources. The result is
the neat, spiral-bound report of the Centre for Civil Society, State of Governance: Delhi Citizen Handbook
2003.
Here are some of
the findings:.
Ø Four out of five children who have passed class V from the schools
of Municipal Corporation of Delhi cannot write – or read – their own names.
Ø The government runs an old age pension scheme; anybody an MLA
certifies is considered eligible. A third of the beneficiaries were not old,
and 168 were getting pensions although they had died.
Ø The number of food inspectors was 28 in 1960, and is 28 today. If
each food inspector inspected one registered food establishment a day, the turn
of a restaurant would come once in 17 years.
Ø The number of drug inspectors is 29, and they have only 5000
establishments to inspect – roughly one a working day. But these establishments
sell Rs 40 billion of fake drugs every year.
Ø A bus that runs two shifts would require two drivers and two
conductors; together with cleaners, mechanics and some spare staff, it may need
five persons. A Delhi Transport Corporation bus has a dozen persons to occupy
it. No wonder DTC loses Rs 20 million a month.
Ø The government’s labour department has holiday homes for industrial
workers in Hardwar and Mussoorie. Each holiday-maker incurred a subsidy of Rs
1545 in Mussoorie and Rs 2612 in Hardwar. Between 1997-98 and 2000-01, 151 of
the 239 people staying in the Hardwar holiday home and 206 out of 326 staying
in the Mussoorie holiday home were Delhi officials..
Ø A quarter of Delhi’s
population does not receive water from the government; two-fifths are not
connected to sewage lines. A quarter of the water provided by the government is
wasted. If it spent just a seventh of its annual wage bill to install meters,
it would be able to check leakage and theft.
Ø Delhi Energy Development Agency installed solar water heaters at the
houses of ministers and officials for demonstration, and gave them solar
lanterns and solar cookers; but these were useless for demonstration since no
member of the public could enter the VIPs’ houses. In1994-97, it spent Rs 1.13
million on advertising solar cookers, and sold cookers worth Rs 165,000.
Ø The government finances seven cow shelters; only 13 per cent of
their capacity was utilized, while cows continued to roam the streets. The
government spent Rs 4416 per cow – more than it spent per schoolchild.
But let me not
give the impression that this report is a simple piece of muck-raking. Every
chapter has a section of suggested reforms. They are based on six principles.
- Do not obstruct: Review, revise or remove all laws that restrict the right to
earn an honest living, especially of people with little capital or skills.
- Separate provision from
production: Provide money for goods and
services, but leave it to the private sector to supply them.
- User fees, not taxes: Free or subsidized services are invariably regressive; charge
the actual costs of power, water etc.
- Expand choice and competition: Give subsidies without restricting the receiver’s freedom to
buy services from his preferred source.
- Focus on core functions,
contract out the rest: Let hospitals
concentrate on providing medical services, and contract out cleaning,
security, pharmacy and canteen.
- Give subsidies directly to
users: Do not use them to reduce prices or
distort incentives.
A commendable
exercise; I prefer it to the endless processions Calcuttans take out in protest
against something or the other. They should be more constructive, and should
focus on changing things, not merely condemning them.
