Indian Express published an interesting excerpt on the usage of Right to Information. The base study has been done by RTI Assessment & Analysis Group, and their website has much more detailed information. The presentation below captures some of it.
In my view, the relevance of this act will multiply several folds as more and more people know about it, and citizens start using this rather than just NGOs and activists. Also, from the presentation, it seems clear that the OD challenges earlier referred to on nextindia.org for other governmental functions are equally relevant here – from PIOs not knowing about it, to not wanting to answer, to not having the requisite training. An integral part of this might be the incentive (or penalty) system that one can implement. It seems that the current penalty system in place lacks enforcement, partially due to the realization that the enablers for PIOs are not in place yet.
At the outset heartiest congrats for starting this blog. I look forward to contributing and learning. We  have started a movement to bring Universal Financial Services (UFA) to every Indian by 2013. I am going to make all members of the UFA movement aware of Next India as some of them may want to subscribe and/or contribute. Thanks for adding UFA to the Next India blog roll. In this post I am making all readers of Next India aware of UFA but later I intend to contribute/learn on other topis as well. The overview follows
UFA or Universal Financial Access is scalable microfinance using innovation and no subsidies.
Microfinance is the ability to provide micro – savings, payments, loans, insurance investment and pensions profitably and experts are unanimous that microfinance improves lives and is a key enabler in the battle against poverty. High costs have prevented microfinance from scaling. Innovation and technology can be used to eliminate the high cost problem.
UFA will give every Indian self confidence and a path to financial independence. We have started a movement to get our PM to declare UFA by 2013 a national priority as soon as possible. With this clear signal we believe private capital will rush in and find ways to achieve the goal. The movement is about what needs to be done and not how it should be done. It is agnostic to business or technology models.
India has already done this in telecom where we have near universal telecom access and the government has made money. This gives us confidence that if we have the will we can achieve UFA by 2013. Please browse our website  and if you feel inspired please join the movement and get others both institutions and individuals to join. The movement also has a Facebook page where you can become a fan and suggest to your friends that they become fans.
We need a large number of online and offline institutional and individual members to strengthen the Governments hands against vested interests that oppose UFA. This is every persons opportunity to make a difference and you do not need to burn buses, block traffic or send roses. You need to convince anybody who will listen to join the movement. Join now. If you need convincing contact me or any other UFA member.
Thanks for your time in reading this post and I look forward to reading and answering any comments positive or negative.
Like past President Kalam & late PM Rajiv Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, too is a reluctant politician. Upon becoming PM the first time, he announced that no new policies are needed, what is needed is administrative reform to ensure the effective implementation of the existing policies.
The solutions to the problems of India are mostly known. Problem is in the structure & HR policies of the Government of India. It is an OD issue. People who join the government are motivated mostly by security & power. Once in, they will earn till they die, they cannot be fired, at worst they can be transferred. This must change, what we need is people who are motivated to acheive & accomplish. Today, such people will simply not join government because its HR policies attract exactly the opposites.
 The appointment of Nandan Nilekani as a Cabinet Minister equivalent is a very positive and refreshing development.
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A loose federal structure allows things to fall between cracks, there are no accountabilities. Results are in form of reports not actions & outcomes. The checks & balances are based on mistrust rather than fail-safe strategies. What we need are institutions headed by strong personalities who identify with its successes & failures. Delhi Metro & ISRO are two such examples.
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Once elected, PM is nation’s leader including that of opposition. Opposition’s perennial role to destabilise the government tantamounts to sedition. PM must be empowered not undermined.
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AÂ captain can be only as good as its team. We can keep on changing the captains but the team remains the same.Â
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The top down and bottoms up approach to change must converge. As much as we need to weed out corrupt politicians we need to weed out the ineffective middle and bottom layers too.
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There is no problem that India faces for which the solution is not known, what remains unknown is how to change the government structure, systems & staff. Who is responsible for that? How do we iniate a HR & OD overhaul? Where does one start? Any answers?
Yesterday I got a call from a PIO  who lives  in the Silicon Valley for the past 23 years and serving one of the most prestigious airline company in North America for 22 years. He was referred by one of our common acquaintance. I asked him the usual question (many a times a dip test  !!) – how has his experience been while being in India for the past few days.  And out in a ziffy was his reply – What you see is not what you get. !!
I see a lot of opportunity in what he remarked. My belief is that the awakening needs to happen from the within.
Can we initiate a few baby steps like encourage a queue system for whatever it takes and learn to drive our 2/4-wheeler in lanes and respecting the traffic rules wherever possible. Can we take the pain of cleaning our almirahs at home and desks at office and their orderliness at the end of each day instead of postponing the same around our convenience.
Instead of deliberating on the have nots and endorsing negative vibrations – the same time and energy can be used to complete some orderliness as cited above. We do have time – what we dont is awareness of consequences of the choices we make.
Sounds cliched but are there more simpler practises than these that can help us inch towards rebuilding our credibility.
“Spurring Value creation in IT services”, I read this interview by Mckinsey quarterly way back in September 2007. Â With each word, and each comma the fervor for the interviewee multiplied in my mind.Those words taught about a new business language, leadership values and a ‘dynamic’ model that will create a balance between all tasks in the organisation.
That Dynamic model was “Satyam Way”, and the interviewee Ramalinga Raju. Little did i know that Satyam shares i bought in bulk after reading that ‘dynamic model’ will go off roads within an year.
Many hearts sank faster than the Satyam shares and whole of the Indian IT industry went defensive.  The swollen markets and faces made the accident worse. It was very easy for ‘created’ muddle to produce ripples that could shake the foundations of the markets. The Indian Government acted as an ephemeral spine for Satyam computers with firm thought that it won’t subsidize the wrong doing and fraud directly or in-directly. Rather than acting like a Dady feeding his Spoiled kid with chocolates; like the way Uncle Sam feeded the bankrupt companies with so called nourishing bailout packages, Indian Government made it sure that Indians’ tax money is not used as a curtain to cover the rape of Corporate Governance. Instead of eyeing the public accounts, it made the biding open for private players to save the doomed enterprise and relaxed code regulations of Securities and Exchange board of India. At every step Indian Government planned to save Polio riden enterprise from cruches and look for a prosthesis that will help regain its shape and momentum again.
Only time and the stock market will tell how the government of India has faired in this task, but one thing is for sure that every element engaged in the scene has gained from this strategy be it the private enterprise who took over, Satyam clients, shareholders and employees and the common man whose hard earned penny could have gone for the higher management’s wine and cheese bills.
While Ramalinga Raju is still figuring out the dynamic ‘Satyam Way’ model in jail and Uncle Sam is running after Financial giants to check the bonuses like a mom with a glass of milk and stick , Indian Government is having a sound ‘proud’ sleep; not literally though. 🙂
The Budget session of the 15th Lok Sabha was convened on July 2. Given the 100-day plan of the new UPA government there are some important legislations listed for discussion. These include the Women’s Reservation Bill, 2008; The Right to Education Bill, 2008; The Foreign Contribution Regulation Bill, 2006.
Arvind Kejriwal came and spoke to some of us about the need for local self governance and direct democracy at grassroot levels. Essentially, why it makes sense for people to take decisions collectively, rather than through elected representatives, at the local level. As a living example of potential effectiveness of such a model, he shared this video about Hiware Bazaar. Over last twenty years, Hiware Bazar has transformed itself into a “model village” and transformed the lives of people there – right from per capita income to water adequacy, afforestation, land holdings and so on. Take a look (you might have to “Download Video” to watch it in its entirety).
CHRI, one of the key players in the RTI movement has circulated a note on the proposed amendment to the RTI Act. There is widespread apprehension that the government will try to restrict the scope of the RTI law. One key issue is that of the status of the ‘file notings’. This group might be interested in discussing this impending issue.
There were three attachments to this CHRI letter, which I have not included here. Pls contact CHRI for more information.
Goldman Sachs has a good paper on key priorities for India to achieve its potential. High on the list is to improve governance at various levels, including:
Improving accountability of politicians
Enhancing clarity in roles and responsibilities
Organization of citizens to demand better services
The broad roadmap suggests more public-private partnerships, transparency with respect to information and decentralization. Incidentally, GS has also come up with its expectations from the budget and the list on governance looks pretty interesting.
Governance reforms - GS expectations from budget 2009
Welcome to the Next India platform. This is a platform to share and discuss ideas around bringing more transparency and accountability to all levels of governance in India – right from local level to the parliament. We are not tied to an ideology or to any prioritization of such initiative, but seek to provide a broader engagement and dialogue with all such efforts. The fundamental belief behind this platform is that citizen participation must increase in order for our democracy to thrive.
If you would like to contribute to this platform, please drop a mail to alokmittal [at] gmail [dot] com
Congrats to Arvind and his team. This does instill confidence in the electorate and common man. The road ahead is arduous, but the answer is Arvind's style: keeping it simple, being fearless, involving a large set of people in decision making. As AAP and like minded parties grow, there would be unintentional mistakes, maybe even […]
Arvind's accomplishment, given the situation in the country and its politics is of scale which can not be measured easily. What 'AAP' has done in one year should be role model for every leadership course worth its dime. It is an exemplary display of resolve, perseverance, planning, keeping-head-grounded and most of all flawless execution. The […]
Hi Alok, Iv known you as a professional for about 2 years. This is my first ever comment on any of your blogs and it comes straight from the heart. Every word of it I relate with. When I started supporting AAP, I got questioned left, right and center. Iv never met Arvind, but a […]
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Indian Express published an interesting excerpt on the usage of Right to Information. The base study has been done by RTI Assessment & Analysis Group, and their website has much more detailed information. The presentation below captures some of it.
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