By Amitabha Bhattacharya
It is widespread expertise, reinforced by our day-to-day experiences, that even the ideal of governments are characterised by systemic limitations that render them inadequate to satisfy increasing public expectations. Is it mainly owing to government’s preoccupation with balancing the conflicting desires of many stakeholders or to the inclination of these operating the machinery to stay danger-averse and beholden to processes rather than to outcomes? What tends to make policy formulation at larger echelons and its implementation at the operating level so complicated a course of action that, even with the loftiest intention and the brightest minds working for it, the outcomes generally finish up as sub-optimal? To be capable to pierce via the surface of reality and approximate towards deeper truth, one has to be endowed with empathy and a mixture of expertise and ability that is beyond the attain of lots of.
Akhilesh Tilotia, a item of IIM-Ahmedabad with an impressive record in the economic world, had the occasion to serve in the workplace of Jayant Sinha, minister of civil aviation. This dual knowledge in the private and the government sector made him an ‘outsider-insider’, getting been each an observer of and a participant in the choice-producing course of action. Interestingly, he displays the ability of a social scientist to problematise troubles, and of a practicing manager to determine the important action points in order to resolve these troubles. The outcome is this slim volume that packs inside its covers an admirable variety of info and fresh, sometime even original, insights.
Tilotia’s detailing of “private cost of public failure” shows the fault lines of the public service delivery program and the causes thereof, in the context of complicated engagement in between government, company and society. Defining attributes of these “three pillars” and their interfaces have been ably articulated, establishing ‘how’ to go about solving complications inside the program is as significant as ‘what’ needs to be accomplished.
Tilotia ideates that the ladder of progress “builds upon the framework of public goods: Personal capital for basic needs (roti, kapda, makaan), Physical capital (bijli, sadak, paani) and Human capital (shiksha, swasthya, suraksha)” and defines improvement “as the act of building the probabilities of gaining access to public goods by transcending the existing fault lines.” And he explains his thesis with the assistance of clear examples.
Who must make this ladder of improvement and be the agents to usher in the modifications in the preferred directions? The politician, the bureaucrat, and you! Tilotia devotes a chapter to every of these 3 agents — beginning with the 1st principles and then investing them with layers of complexity. He attempts to be uncomplicated, “but not simpler” or simplistic. The complicated life of a effectively-which means politician — “many things are out of your control, but you are the face of all expectations. You will be surrounded with fake news, over-interpretation, outrage, and political uncertainty…” — has been portrayed with an objectivity, seldom visible in public space that seeks to paint all politicians with a crude brush.
Attempting to skilfully decode the guiding norms of the bureaucracy, Tilotia expands on how “Process compliance matters more than outcome!” A massive component of that derives from the reality that ultimately a bureaucrat gets judged on course of action compliance. “Outcomes are impacted by many factors, difficult to attribute…” The life of a civil servant, as a public-program manager with various ambitions to realize through uncertain tenures, can be extremely rewarding, but is in no way shorn of frustrations or disappointments. How the oversight of the 4Cs — CVC, CBI, CAG, and the courts —requiring stringent focus on the course of action, and guidelines framed with superior intentions can collectively ‘create filters’ that can vitiate or even obviate outcomes, have been discussed with outstanding clarity.
Finally, Tilotia shows why a conscientious citizen has to ‘check-in’ and work via the program to impact modify —”checking-in is not just about paying taxes or voting often. It is about engaging in public discussion and debate and undertaking your bit to shape the destiny of the nation. You can choose projects you like or assistance shape policies that effect you…” How must one choose, for instance, to move from the private sector to the government? An instructive study for the widespread man as also for these contemplating to be inducted via lateral entry into senior positions of the government.
Tilotia observes, in the context of the inviolate principle of equality, that the government must either develop into a ‘credible competitor’ or an ‘effective regulator’ in supplying public goods, and that the “focus has to shift to outcomes supported by rules, policies and procedures, and not simply following rules, policies and procedures. This is a fundamental redesign of the system from the current one, where there is intense oversight on process and limited penalty for lack of delivery…” This prescription might sound as clear like all truisms of life are, but what do not seem clear are the intricate, generally counter-intuitive, interplays in between systems and procedures, institutions and people, woven densely via this work of really like. There lies the genuine strength, and probably uniqueness, of the book.
Amitabha Bhattacharya is a former IAS officer who has also worked in the private sector and with the UNDP
Through The Looking Glass: An Outsider-Insider’s Perspective on The Making of India
Akhilesh Tilotia
Leadstart India
Pp 228, Rs 299