In an interesting ToI article on the "revolutions" sweeping North Africa and the Arab world, Vikram Singh Mehta notes four important trends of today, of which only the first and the fourth are worth anything. So here is his fourth forecast, on urbanisation:
Finally, the world is fast urbanising. It is estimated that three-quarters of the global population of nine billion in 2050 will be living in cities. Given that current decisions on urban planning and urban infrastructure will hardwire energy demand, water consumption and environmental condition for decades to come, the quality of urban governance today will be a crucial determinant of the quality of human lifestyle in the future.
Now, let us read his first bit of trend-spotting in our own country - in public politics:
First, the people are restive. They are not happy with established institutions of governance. They want greater transparency and accountability. Technology is part cause and consequence of this restiveness. It has empowered people by providing them access to multiple sources of information and the ability to connect with each other. The consequence of empowerment is a questioning of the existing social contract and the amplification of unpredictable behaviour. The state is on the horns of a dilemma.
So, the public is "restive," and the primary issue is urban self-government, a subject in which I can rightfully call myself an "expert."
In the meantime, elections are being held for the municipality of Panjim, Goa's capital city. One of the candidates is the "education minister."
Democracy cannot solve the problem - unless each city and town reverts to democracy as practised in an earlier age, when only those with Property worth above a certain threshold value could vote to elect a governing council for their fair city. There is no "one correct way": You can have a strong mayor - weak council system or vice versa. Or you can hire "city managers."
In my view, a city council elected by Property owners should select "city managers" to execute the rest. According to the tenets of New Public Management (NPM), the city government "provides" services but does not "produce" them. Everything is "contracted out." So, there are strict contracts between the city and providers of services like garbage collection, roads and footpaths, tramways, sewerage, street-lighting, security and the like - without any personnel being hired by the civic administration. This is the lean and mean civic administration that can cut down budgets, liberate government employees en masse so that they can find a better future in The Free Market, and also deliver the goods.
The great advantage with NPM is that the city manager, after finalising all his contracts, has plenty free time to actually go around checking that his contractors are performing their tasks as they are supposed to; and, if not, he can take action against them. With conventional bureaucracy, the man-on-top spends most of his day on "bureau inputs": personnel matters like leave, promotions, discipline and so on; purchases and the like. He therefore has no time to inspect "bureau output." He can never know whether his street-sweepers are actually cleaning the streets. And if they are not doing the job well, there is precious little he can do about it, since he too is bound by rules.
NPM became the wave when Public Choice theory conclusively proved that bureaucrats are "self-interested": that is, just as businessmen are "profit maximisers" and consumers are "utility maximisers," bureaucrats are "budget maximisers." Bureaucracies were no longer seen as "benign." It became necessary to cut them down - and NPM was the way. Nations that took to NPM realised that Big Government is bad; that the bigger The State, the poorer the Society; for governments spend wealth, while businessmen produce wealth - by producing and exchanging goods and services in The Market.
With NPM, India's cities and towns can obtain basic services employing just a handful of good people. The "knowledge failure" of Central Planning will be solved because mayors and their NPM-wallahs will apply local knowledge to local issues and problems. There is no other way.
Inverting the pyramid in this manner also means that the question of paying taxes to our The State must be seriously re-considered. If the Principle of Subsidiarity is strictly applied, then each city and town should be collecting "contributions" from the local bourgeoisie for running that place. From these resources higher orders of government must draw their funding, through negotiations, for performing essential tasks that the lower institutions are unable to perform on their own.
The Central State's JNURRM is not going to solve anything - and Kamal D Nutt is the minister.
Local elections like the one taking place in Panjim will not work either.
About New Public Management: It is a growing movement in the world of practical Public Administration all over the western world. Thus, such "experts" can be hired en masse from the international skills market.
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