The Hindu Business Line : Can Bihar rise from the ashes?<br>Determined political push is crucial

The new government that takes over in Bihar must make up for the time the State has lost — and pushed to the bottom of the table in many a parameter — by building up a fast, reliable, instant, effective network for delivery of services and demonstrable political commitment to good governance and clean politics. This is what, perhaps, the people expect from their firm verdict, says B. S. Raghavan.

Bihar's new Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, must leverage the people's clear mandate to him by making service delivery his highest priority. — Ranjeet Kumar

THE PEOPLE of Bihar, one can be sure, are not in the least worried about confabulations and computations over whether theirs is a positive or a negative vote, or what the wider repercussions and ramifications of their vote will be on the UPA or the NDA, or whether Mr Ram Vilas Paswan is a spoiler or is going to be in or out or nowhere.

Their one thought at this time is whether the change they have wrought in all deliberation by installing the JD(U)-BJP combine in the place of the RJD will rescue them from the backwardness and the quagmire of misgovernance-cum-malfeasance that had been their lot for as long as they can remember.

Abysmal record

They do not need any abstract analysis by elitist pundits to know that in every vital parameter of development, human, social or economic, their failed State stands at the very bottom of the ladder. They have known it all the time, they have seen it all around them, and they have been painfully bearing the cross. They have had a raw deal, despite government after government and party after party showering on them promises of economic betterment, social justice, honest administration and hooey of that sort.

Bihar has had an abysmal record in literacy, investment, agriculture, maternal and child welfare, per capita income, job opportunity, law and order, implementation and performance — the list is endless. In no other State is there such visible evidence of institutions of every description — bureaucracy, police, judiciary, legislature, you name it — being in a state of disarray, if not collapse. No wonder, Bihar has been forfeiting more than one-fifth of the Central Plan assistance from 1997 onwards because of its inability to use the funds allocated for Centrally-sponsored schemes. What the people of Bihar are crying for is a government that governs, and what Kerala, one of the more advanced States, in a burst of inspiration, has set up as a model worth emulating: Friends (Fast, Reliable, Instant, Effective Network for Delivery of Services).

There can be no two opinions about the importance of service delivery, as the first and immediate step in the new Government's strategy for a turnaround.

These services range all the way from attending to basic necessities such as food, drinking water, health-care, housing and livelihood to civic responsibilities such as street lighting, solid waste disposal, drainage and sewerage, hygiene and sanitation, and clearance of slums and encroachments to the ones falling within the larger role of the state, such as roads, communications, including telecommunications, public transportation, electricity and water supply.

To make a perceptible and enduring impact on the living conditions of the people and the quality of their life, the services various public agencies undertake to deliver should not be fitful or erratic but available in a sustained manner at guaranteed norms of performance, adequate to the actual and emerging needs, and affordable at the household level.

Compulsory reading

One of the findings of political science is that people form a judgment about the credibility and capacity of a new government within the first hundred days of its assuming office. For the new leader also, it is imperative to take time by the forelock, strike while the iron is hot and stamp his personality on events and issues by setting new courses and directions before vested interests form and resistance builds up.

If Mr Nitish Kumar has to make an impression by demonstrating his effectiveness within this period, he can do no better than making service delivery his highest priority, for, that is where it is possible for him to leverage the clear mandate given to him and win the people's trust and appreciation.

For guidance on how best to proceed, all he needs to do is to make the recent report of the World Bank on "Reforming Services in India" compulsory reading for himself and his Cabinet. (In fact, other State governments too will immensely benefit from having it considered in a special Cabinet meeting.) The inestimable value of the report derives from the two sets of lessons it draws.

The first broadly covers the nature and role of the approaches, mechanisms, modalities and managerial innovations based on a study of 25 success stories all over India where they have brought about impressive improvements, even within the short term.

These parts of the report have mostly to do with invigorating existing institutions by decentralisation, greater autonomy, and computerised records, empowering people through right to information, simplifying procedures, making transactions transparent and instilling accountability and a people-friendly attitude.

It commends highly the working of E-Seva (offering under one roof the services of some 13 State and local government agencies and nine private sector organisations) and CARD (computer-aided administration of registration department) in Andhra Pradesh; "Friends" (a one-stop centre complete with full networking) in Kerala; Bhoomi (computerised land records); the functioning of public transportation; the curbing of transfers; and the activist vigour of the Lok Ayukta in Karnataka; computerised inter-State check-posts in Gujarat; effective involvement of panchayati raj institutions in the areas of primary education and hospital management in Madhya Pradesh; access to information in Rajasthan, Delhi and Karnataka; and linking of districts through computer networks, on-line access to land records and achievement of human development goals in Tamil Nadu.

Here is a quote from the report about Bihar: "Bihar... received some Rs 3 crore from GoI in 1998-99 to begin the process of putting its land records on line. Over the next six years, Bihar spent only half of this amount, precluding further funding from GoI for the project.

The Director, Survey, who was charged with implementing land records computerisation, had an average tenure of about three months during this on-going project... Because the error rate in paper records is so great in Bihar, Collectors, not irrationally, saw little point in computerising them... "

Criticality of political commitment

It is the set of recommendations it makes on creating an enabling environment for better service delivery that are the most valuable and deserve to be taken to heart by the new Chief Minister of Bihar (and of other States as well).

The report repeatedly draws attention to the correlation, wherever the level of people's satisfaction with their governments' performance has been high, between access to services on the people's part and the "centrality" of the commitment of political leadership evidenced by sustained and unrelenting push that the Chief Ministers themselves have given to make the service providers perform with a sense of public-spiritedness and accountability.

To quote the report again: "Chief Ministers play a crucial role in creating a positive enabling environment. Intensive dialogue with (them) is important for improving services... Civil servants managing reforms (in service delivery) need to be given high-level access to decision-makers to resolve obstacles in a timely fashion. The political leadership needs to signal support... . Political support is an important pre-requisite for effective programme delivery. When politicians care about a particular programme, they are more likely to insist on effective implementation by the civil service, including providing autonomy and additional resources. Programmes that enjoy political support are better positioned to ward off rent-seeking (bribe-seeking!) behaviour by influential groups"

Thus Mr Nitish Kumar has his work cut out for him. In approaching his tasks, it is best if, by deploying his persuasive skills and the standing he himself enjoys as an upright and efficient doer, he manages to forge a political consensus cutting across parties so that implementation across the board is on the desired lines. What matters now to Bihar is not perpetuation of old feuds and playing games of one-upmanship but making up for lost time by building up a fast, reliable, instant, effective network for delivery of services and demonstrable political commitment to good governance and clean politics.

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