How Do We Navigate The Minefield Of Slothful Administration?
By Moin Qazi
14 January, 2016
Countercurrents.org
I wondered several times that when there were so many government programmes for the welfare of rural poor why poverty was so endemic. Either the nets were not cast wide or there were too many holes blown in them. But money, as a senior programme officer told me, is irrelevant. ‘What is the point of putting more water into the bucket if it is already leaking so badly? The problem is not lack of money. It is the accountability of those who spend it’. Even the government feels that 85 per cent of development spending does not reach the poor. It is either sponged by the ‘delivery mechanism’-the consultants, advisers, their equipment or studies-or pocketed. This has become a touchstone for all government programmes and is now parroted in all Indian development literature. Much Western world aid is running down bureaucratic ratholes. Fortunately civic societies are training local leaders to serve as watchdogs by using the audacious Right to Information Act. The aim is not to blame or indict per se—bare-knuckled confrontation would alienate the government—but to remind public servants that someone is watching them, and that the negligent will be named and shamed. It is something of a disgrace that our own aid-giving bureaucrats should be abashed, as if they were the Greeks bearing gifts. Their paternalistic and patronizing attitude affects the dignity of the aid seeker
One of the discouraging features of Indian democracy is the politicization of rural society. A decade back, villages had a very remote link with political parties. Those who contested panchayat elections were elected on the strength of their electoral merits, irrespective of their ideological stripes. Cast did remain a strong card, but the candidates’ character played a critical role. The growing tendency of village groups to seek outside political support for solution to local development issues has ruptured the traditional social structure. Each leader in a village has a political master in the nearest town. All these developments have made the village social structure highly complex and confusing. In the coming years rural assignments for officials of government and banks are going to become hazardous on account of the growing criminalization of villages.
There is no easy solution to the problem. The basic risk mitigation agency, the justice system, is dysfunctional. No crook, who runs away with a bank’s money, can be brought to book under the present system, unless he is a small fry. Banks cannot send musclemen to throw acid, take away cars or burn crops as lenders in the informal system do to discipline borrowers. The way India’s political system evolved has made politics the surest path to wealth.. The public distribution and social security systems are wrecked by inefficiency and corruption. Social obligations, too, cast a heavy load on the rural population.
Some may feel that their position is hopeless, that there is nothing they can do. The ‘system’ is too strong for them. Perhaps the best antidote to this despair is to study the examples and lives of those who have fought against the odds and succeeded. In every country there are some courageous people — political and religious leaders, civil servants, workers in voluntary agencies, academics, scientists, and others — who have refused to give in, who have stuck by their principles and whose lives shine as examples to others of what can be done. For those who side with the poor, too, there may be unexpected floods of support. But not all can expect recognition or to become folk-heroes. For most of those who put the last first, the satisfaction and rewards are not fame, but in knowing that they have done what was right, and that things are, however slightly, better than they would have been. Their small deeds may not command attention; but in merit, they may equal or exceed the greater and more conspicuous actions of those with more freedom and power.
For the test is what people do. Social change flows from individual actions. By changing what they do, people move societies in new directions and themselves change. Big simple solutions are tempting but full of risks. For most outsiders, most of the time, the soundest and best way forward is through innumerable small steps could be just nudges and tiny pushes. Slower and smaller steps also help building up people’s adaptability to changes. We should look for small innovations, not just blockbusters. Big hits are rare, but too many executives swing for the fences with each new innovation. This not only marginalizes people who work on smaller projects, but also tends to result in projects modeled on existing market successes—that is, not that innovative. Truly new concepts often spring from smaller beginnings It is easier for native populations to embrace small innovations and cultural shifts. The tough resistance occurs only when the new initiative appears to supplant the existing traditions. Many small reversals then support each other and together build up towards a greater movement. The lives of many people already show a will to make reversals, to put the last fist. Some contribute from a distance. Others work directly with and for those who are rural and poor, helping them to gain more of what they want and need and to demand and control more of the benefits of development.
Small gains well consolidated as part of a sequence can mean more than big gains which are unstable and short-lived. By changing what they do, people move societies in new directions and themselves change. Big simple solutions are tempting but full of risks. Many small reversals then support each other and together build up towards a greater movement. Some contribute from a distance. Others work directly with and for those who are rural and poor, helping them to gain more of what they want and need and to demand and control more of the benefits of development.
Several development successes have occurred in less than optimal settings often under appalling conditions of weak governance ,widespread corruption ,minimal infrastructure ,deep-rooted social divisions and poorly functioning judicial system .in each case ,creative individuals saw possibilities where other saw hopelessness .they imagined a way for ward that took into account local realities’ and built on local strengths they were willing to experiment and ignore the skeptics ,until the skeptics became supporters and often partners working to bring about change on a larger scale
Moin Qazi is a well known banker, author and Islamic researcher .He holds doctorates in Economics and English. He was Visiting Fellow at the University of Manchester. He has authored several books on religion, rural finance, culture and handicrafts. He is author of the bestselling book Village Diary of a Development Banker. He is also a recipient of UNESCO World Politics Essay Gold Medal and Rotary International’s Vocational Excellence Award. He is based in Nagpur and can be reached at [email protected]