Empowering People: Govts need to delegate, decentralise

I had, in this column, a few years ago, written a piece on the importance of empowering Local Self Government (LSG) bodies, such as the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), in order to strengthen the roots of democracy, and in furtherance of which the 73rd and the 74th amendments to the Constitution of India had been brought in. In that article, I had emphasised the importance of concrete, and sincere steps, to decentralise, and not merely delegate, authority and power, together with the requisite functions, funds and functionaries. I had, in passing, also highlighted the difficulty which institutions, as well as individuals, experience, in letting go of power. I had also quoted, in that contest , what the present Defence Minister of India, who was then a Member of the National Commission for Women, had said to me, while I was appearing before that Commission, in a hearing at Hyderabad, while working as the Chief Secretary to the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

This week, I intend to refer to the very promising beginning, made by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh, to actualise the lofty objectives of the constitutional amendments through the establishment of Village Secretariats. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of Grama Swarajya that promotes villages becoming self-sufficient, autonomous entities, and launched on the Gandhi Jayanthi Day, that step that made Andhra Pradesh the first Indian state to launch such a programme.

The stated purpose of the state government is the revamping of delivery systems to improve the living standards of the people. A transparent, and corruption-free, delivery system, being the main goal of the programme, the state government has deployed Village/Ward Volunteers in rural /urban areas, and established Village/Ward Secretariats, for delivering services at the doorstep of all eligible households, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, gender and political affiliation.

An important feature of the programme is the provision of the Village/Ward Secretariats with necessary infrastructure, including state-of-the-art office equipment. All Government to Citizen (G2C) Services will be provided through a one-stop solution offered by a united service delivery platform.

The Gram Volunteers / Ward Volunteers & Village Secretariats / Ward Secretariats (GVWV & VSWS) department of the state government has also taken steps to integrate to G2C and Business to Citizen (B2C) Services, as also services available under the ‘e-Shram’ programme of the Ministry of Labour of the Government of India, in order to ensure availability of all services to citizens through the Village/Ward Secretariats.

In an effort to emulate the AP initiative, and to build upon the lessons therefrom, the Tamil Nadu government, in 2022, announced its intention to establish the Village Secretariat model, by building 600 such facilities in the state, to provide administrative offices, a conference hall, and other amenities. A senior government functionary of the Uttar Pradesh government, during a recent visit to the state, described the programme as a revolutionary concept, adding that such development and welfare schemes should be well-publicised so that other states can adopt them.

One waits, with interest, to see which other development of the state government will benefit from this refreshingly innovative approach of the government, and also to see to what extent other states will follow the example of Tamil Nadu, in emulating the spirit of the initiative.

The Jagan Mohan Reddy government‘s attempts to decentralise services and provide them at the very doorstep have not stopped with this. The spirit has pervaded the health sector, also, with the launching of the ‘Family Doctor Programme,’ with the objective of preventing complications arising from lifestyle diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. Under the programme, over 10,000 YSR Health Clinics have been established and all Primary Health Centres provided, two, doctors each. One of the doctors is expected to stay in the PHC while the other attends the Clinics, in accordance with a fixed schedule, to provide ante-natal and post-natal care, in addition to screening, and follow-up, of hypertension and diabetes cases. In respect of elderly, and chronically ill, patients, home visits are conducted. The doctors, in addition, follow up on beneficiaries of the ‘Arogyasri’, another flagship programme of the state government.

While on the subject of empowering local self-government institutions, one needs to recall what Gandhiji said: “India lives in its villages”. Likewise, the famous Telugu poet, and freedom fighter, Gurajada Apparao, wrote the rousing poem “Desamunu Preminchumanna …”, or love your country. One line in that poem goes “Desamantey matti kadoyi, desamantey manusuloyi” – or “a country is not land, but its people”. Even the preamble to the Constitution of India, for that matter, begins with the words, “We, the people of India…”, clearly emphasising the fundamental principle of democratic philosophy, namely, that power, and authority, in the ultimate analysis, reside in the hands of the people of a country. It is in furtherance of the firm commitment of the government of India to the precept, that the voice of the people, or vox populi, is what the governance apparatus of the country exists to serve, and that determined steps are being taken, to strengthen grassroots-level institutions.

One does not, of course, expect the process underway to extend, in the near future, to such practices as the as the selection of police officials and judicial officers in the USA. Having said that, one must concede that there is a long way to go, before it can be said that the aspirations of the Constitution makers have been fulfilled, in the matter of local self-governance. After all, as Thomas Jefferson said, “That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.”

It is not, however, as though the programme has not attracted criticism. Informed experts have, in fact, pointed out that, rather than usher in an era of ‘good governance’ at the grassroots level, it has become a bone of contention, between existing government departments, such as Panchayati Raj and Revenue. The experts also feel that the introduction of the system has also created hitherto non-existent friction between the official machinery and the elected representatives-in particular, between the Sarpanch in the Village Secretary.

Just as in the case of other similar government interventions, especially those which seek to become game changers, this programme will also close monitoring closely. Quantified, and preset, deliverables will have to be defined, and milestones, and signposts, prescribed, to enable monitoring, which, as shown by experience, is best done by an external, and independent, agency with established credentials.

At the end of the day, all governance, at any level from the national, to the state, district and local, needs to adhere to the fundamental requirements of being sincere, efficient and honest. Fear of retribution, and the temptations offered by the trappings of public office, can easily lead one astray from the straight, and narrow, path. I remember watching a skit, decades ago, in which a village Sarpanch, when asked why infrastructure, such as water supply, and roads, is not being provided to the villagers, laments, saying “you mean to say you don’t want me to spend the funds of the Panchayat on my foreign travel, my son’s education and l my daughters marriage? And, instead, fritter it away on provision of infrastructure for you people?”

While that may have been by way of dramatising the phenomenon of corruption, it spoke volumes about the manner in which politics is becoming a business these days.

(The writer is formerly Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh)