HVK Archives: Editorial - Left unsaid
Editorial - Left unsaid - Indian Express
Editorial
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7 June 1996
Title : Left unsaid
Author : Editorial
Publication : Indian Express
Date : June 7, 1996
The United Front's programme asks the country to believe
it is being offered an "alternative model of governance".
Looking at the big picture, it is more or less
indistinguishable from the ones presented by previous
govemments. But there is a discernible shift of emphasis.
Because the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) gets many
of
the specifics right, it is tempting to think that the
United Front does, indeed, intend to pay closer attention
to what is necessary for the government to do directly
to improve the quality of life of the population in
general. In other words, it recognises that the trickle-
down effects of economic growth are not enough. The
underlying belief is that government intervention is
necessary to enhance economic opportunities. The
intention appears to be to achieve high economic growth
rates not as exclusively through industrial and export
growth as hitherto. It is planned to raise the
contribution of agriculture (on which 60 per cent of the
population depends) through higher investment and
deregulation. It is proposed also to further the growth
of human potential through the mechanism of decentralised
decision-making.
Turning to the fine print on social development, within
the general promise of raising educational and health
levels, which are among the lowest in the world, the
emphasis has rightly been put on primary education,
primary health services and skills training for
artisans, craftspersons, and the scheduled castes and
tribes. Since these and poverty alleviation are
essentially State functions, transferring centrally-
sponsored schemes to State control makes sense. It ought
to make the schemes more appropriate to local
requirements and cut corruption by half. But the mere
devolution of resources all the way down to the
panchayats is not the entire remedy. Unless management
of the schemes is improved, State politicians and
bureaucrats will end up being the real beneficiaries.
The CMPis woefully short on ideas here. Even as it is
essential to give priority to the social sector, to
drinking water, nutrition, shelter and gender equality,
the UF must, as a matter of urgency, give thought to the
delivery mechanism especially in States where the
political machinery and bureaucracy are notoriously
corrupt and inefficient. Otherwise, it is going to be
corrupt governance as usual.
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