3M- Man Mohan Model
Posted : May 18, 2006 at 6:02 pm [IST]
It is now two years that the Model is in place to steer the fate of the nation of a billion plus democracy called Bharat (India), to usher in the equitable development, and to move the country to the status of developed one. In any democracy, it was perhaps the first time that some one who own election for the party almost single-handedly nominated almost an outsider to head the government and run it. If I am wrong, I shall like to be corrected by some wise persons.
During last two years, many good things have happened at least on paper. And I do believe that once it comes on paper, it gets implemented too. Naturally, NREG (National Rural Employment Guarantee) and Right of Information Acts were the revolutionary legislations. If implemented honestly with efficiency, NREG can bring smile on the faces of millions in rural India below the poverty line. I don’t know how much credit can be given to the Prime Minister for these initiatives, as there are many claimants of that. However, the main task is to empower those millions to sustain the smile. It can happen only with good education and skill building for the children of these underprivileged households. People must participate and, if necessary, must protest against the teachers who are failing the system. Education at the different levels must build values, must bring out the latent creativity in the kids, and later stage the professional education must emphasise on the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation at any work one does.
Going back on 3M, Man Mohan Singh has approached the national issues in any significantly different manner. He has mastered the art of setting GoM (Group of Ministers) or a panel of three ministers on every important issue his government faces- may it be SSP (Sardar Sarovar Project) vs. NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan) conflict of Medha Patkar or the enhanced quota for OBC created by his shrewd HRD minister. With the Sonia’s letter on FTA to PM, it appeared there is some problem in working of this 3M model. Unfortunately, it is very clear that Man Mohan Singh had never been very free to select his cabinet colleagues. Most of them are nearer to Soniaji. Some of his ministers are bold. Prafull Patel is one who could allocate the work of the modernization of Delhi and Mumbai Airports to private agencies against all odds. But Shinde and Baluu, the ministers responsible for power, roads and ports have not made any great impact to solve the acute problems in the sectors. Perhaps, the task is beyond their capability. Power shortages and lack of quality roads will kill all possibilities of India competing to come up a serious player in manufacturing. Man Mohan Singh has failed to use the younger, aggressive and educated MPs of the party in execution of some of the great projects of national importance. He could have used them to give a special push to the execution aspects of the ideas.
Many times it appears to me that Man Mohan, as prime Minister has not been as effective as he was as finance minister with Narsimha Rao as PM. And the history will go on remembering him more for his reformist approaches in 90s. Is it a case example of the Peter’s Principle?
There would have been more visible construction and project execution activities all around the country to achieve a growth of 8%+ growth rate. I expected 3M would be more effective in streamlining the administration and making it more accountable with built-in systems. But hardly any significantly revolutionary steps have been taken to improve our competitive index in fast mode.
Most of the acts of the government in last two years in chair have been to show that they care for the ‘aam adami’, but most of it is clearly and obviously for the vote banks- minority, OBC, dalit, government employees, tribal class and unorganized workforce. However, I wish the schemes to succeed and benefit those people for whom these are intended.
A YEAR back, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave his government six out of 10. It’s not clear how he’d rate it this time after the completion of two years in office. “It will be fair to say my government’s performance has not deteriorated… I think our performance has been good,” the PM told London’s Financial Times in his pre-anniversary interviews. But, he admitted, it’s too early to judge whether the Centre’s programmes are fostering more inclusive growth. The people have become too ambitious. They can’t remain satisfied with a performance that is ‘not deteriorated’. They expect accelerated great performance and certainly visible inclusive growth.
I consider ‘Bharat Nirman’ as the best of his initiatives. And the unique part is its target time frame that is up to 2009 before the end of this government lifetime. I shall like that his government at the end of two years tells to the people some bare facts. How many kilometers of 4- 0r 5-lane roads, megawatts of power generation capacity and kilometer of irrigation canals have been added in last two years?
And the question remains. Will the 3M be a trendsetter or be a model preparing the groundwork for a royal family member to take the chair after next election? I will love 3M to continue for one more term so that the Man Mohan Singh would not feel sorry for not getting sufficient time to get his plans executed in reality, as Atal Bihariji felt after the great dethroning in 2004.
Related ones
Manmohan trips on Mandal
Some Interesting Readings
‘India is world No. 1 in profits’
Quota will kill quality: Murthy blasts Centre
Sonia shackles ‘Reservations Rambo’
Quota for brahmins, not for rich SCs et al: CPM
Population growth rates dip below 1 pc in TN, Kerala
Reservations: Let down by weak data
The Left: Getting it right
- Indra
Category: Government Policy/Administration |
1 Comment »
“judge whether the Centre’s programmes are fostering more inclusive growth. The people have become too ambitious. They can’t remain satisfied with a performance that is ‘not deteriorated’. They expect accelerated great performance and certainly visible inclusive growth.”
Here is a good place to compare our people’s ambitiousness. Let’s look at places like Taiwan, South Korea, and your favorite China. Clearly they’ve been able to greatly increase their citizens quality of life. China beats our life expectancy numbers, our deaths per childbirths, our literacy percentage and our per-capita income numbers. They have managed to become manufacturing driven economies. I’m not saying we should blindly copy their techniques but if anything, we have not been ambitious enough!
Let’s take a look at a simple case. When China bought AirBus planes, they mandated that those planes must be assembled in China and have at least some percentage of local parts sourcing and achive some measure of technology transfer. India is also buying lots of AirBus and Boeing planes. Did we get any concessions like this?? Why not?
Let’s take a look at another case. A woman in the USA spilled hot McDonalds coffee on herself and sued McDonalds for not warning her that the coffee was very hot. Do you think she should have won? Well, she did win and the payment was around 1M dollars. Now compare that to the around 5,000 people who died immediately in Bhopal on the night of Union Carbide/Dow Chemical committed an act of industrial terrorism against India, then the 10,000+ people who died within 6months-to-1year due to complications from the methyl isocyanate, then the increased incidence of genetic abnormalities and stillbirths since then. Has even a paisa really been paid to the victims? Why the discrepancy in payment between the woman with hot coffee and Indian citizens?
And my final case. Look at the Maharashtra-Enron debacle. We gave millions of our hard earned tax money that went to feed Enron theives such as Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skillings and their cronies and traitors to the country in the local government.
My conclusion is that our citizens are not angry enough, and not ambitious enough. We’re too quick to forget and forgive too easily. As long as these characteristics remain true, we will never become a great nation.
Posted by: Jayakumar at May 18, 2006 @ 8:44 pm
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