The
stalemate in governance continues at the center and if we want to get out of the quagmire then no magic
wand but best practices, like facilitating business and industry is the need of
the hour.
In this
regard, Swami's take is very apt and timely:
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/entry/wanted-a-new-social-contract-between-business-and-politics
Our
Babu's are not known for their efficiency and unless we have firm turn-around
times, for issuing certificates, licenses and permits, then these are not issued. What is more,
after setting turn around times the time limits should be progressively reduced
to bring in efficiency.
Our high
rate of unemployment could actually be a boon here. For any and every license
to be issued there should be a turnaround time for the government officials and
then the pending application should automatically go to another bucket, where
private accredited agencies would do the processing; again within a stiffer
deadline. For this to happen the processes are to be documented and then
seamless digital license approval processes should be instituted.
As
courier agencies can track the position/ stage of the consignments, the
applicants for various licenses should also be able to track the status of
their application from their offices. Any additional compliances required
should be intimated to them on-line and provision should be made for most of
those compliance to be made without a visit to any office.
When the
government officials fail to do something and hence that is passed over to the
private agency then their performance should be compared to that of the private
players and where ever necessary the stick should be welded.
The
performance of the private agencies should be monitored and evaluated against
pre-fixed parameters and the focus of combating inefficiency / corruption
should shift to this leg; for now there would be little corruption in the
government agencies where private parties are attached at the backend.
