Agenda for the new government

A new central government will assume office in India, in a few days. This is a great opportunity to look at the current state of affairs with a new perspective and reorient the policy framework.

The present state of the Indian economy is characterized by the rising incidence of unemployment, disguised unemployment, and underemployment; higher than acceptable socio-economic inequality; strong and rising intellectual and skill inequality; gradually bridging but still high regional imbalances; low productivity especially in the agriculture sector; oversized government with abysmal level of decentralization; incapacitating supply constraints, especially in social and physical infrastructure terms; and trust deficit at all levels. A younger demography provides high potential in terms of growing workforce and consumption demand. However, the potential remains under-exploited due to low skill levels, lack of adequate employment opportunities, financial and social exclusion, and disillusionment of youth due to political indifference and poor governance standards.

I suggest the following 15-point program for overcoming many of these problems and exploiting the tremendous potential of the Indian economy that has been widely recognized. I shall discuss these points in some detail in the coming days.

1.      Take convincing measures to bridge the trust deficit between society and public institutions.

2.      Overhaul the education system to make it job-oriented. Inculcate enterprising skills in students from the primary level.

Emphasize developing traits like discipline, social responsibility, empathy, cleanliness, sustainability, tolerance, etc., at the primary level.

Transform RTE into the “Right to equal and uniform education”.

Skill youth in modern and evolving technologies on top priority.

3.      Promote cooperation movement in industry.

Allow employees’ cooperatives to buy a controlling stake in PSEs.

4.      Enhance agri-productivity to the highest level.

Promote collective and commercial farming.

Take factories to farms.

5.      Make at least 5 global education clusters by creating special zones.

6.      Develop at least one truly world-class tourism center in each state on the PPP model, with the local population being one of the partners.

7.      Stop river waters from flowing into the sea.

8.      Give equity in natural resources to the local population.

9.      Minimize the size of the government.

Devolve full powers to Panchayati Raj Institutions and local bodies.

Empower and encourage local communities to self-regulate and self-govern.

10.   Completely overhaul the police force and justice delivery system.

11.   Reorient public services to treat every citizen as a valuable customer.

Ensure the dignity of all citizens in birth, education, marriage, and death.

Transform public works departments and civic authorities. Reorient the civic work to care for public safety, convenience, sensitivities, and impact.

Make people’s lives easy.

Abolish toll on urban roads. Consider abolishing toll on all highways that are less than 6 lanes.

12.   Make public offices unremunerative by stripping most discretion.

Obliterate the feudal character of public representatives and bureaucrats and make them truly public servants.

13.   Implement electoral reforms. Consider state funding of elections. Afford equal opportunity to all citizens in public representation.

14.   Settle border disputes with neighbors and enter into a new era of cooperation and coexistence.

15.   Make winning multiple Nobel prizes in science and medicine a mission.