Fixing implementation Fillip for Congress Profligate plan

With reference to “Three-page notes considered harmful” (October 16), policies, whether administrative, commercial or legal, should not only formulated but also implemented. Policy implementation calls for determination to overcome hurdles in its path. However, there is a large hierarchical system in all institutions with a clear demarcation of authority at various levels for decision-making. Failure in an aggressive approach at any level leads to disciplinary consequences for the one who takes a decision. Out of 10 aggressive strategies two may fail. However, the standard organisational notion is not that eight decisions were successful but why two have failed to fix accountability. Corrective measures should be undertaken to plug loopholes rather than to take punitive action. The absence of this leads to a hesitation to implement policy as safety and security precede dynamism and functional failures are invariably linked to corruption. This applies to other spheres of economic functioning also — administrative, financial or legal.

Procrastination prevails over dynamism and managerial abilities are discouraged from coming to the forefront, with career growth linked more to policy formulation than implementation. No wonder that specialised functionaries are inducted from outside to stem the rot and take the next step forward. Investment in business or enterprise is directly governed by the confidence of the shareholders. The confidence emanates and is retained when budgetary targets are achieved, growth is ensured and profits are obtained. Four decades of socialist economic functioning laid greater stress on job security than job performance. Politics, within the organisation or externally, also prevails in policy implementation as a result of which decisions stop at words and do not convert into action. Such politics may either lie within the organisation or governed by external forces and is better avoided. Thus the basis for economic strengthening should be more towards policy enforcement than a compilation of figures.

C Gopinath Nair Kochi The Congress, which has suffered successive defeats in most states, has all the reasons to feel jubilant after it emerged victorious in the by-elections to Gurdaspur and Vengara. The victory in Punjab is an extension of the Assembly election results six months ago. Notwithstanding this, the Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party must see the writing on the wall and not downplay the bypoll results. At the same time, the Congress cannot think that the Modi juggernaut has come to a halt with these wins. A Congress revival in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections might not augur well for the country, considering its track record from 2004 to 2014 that witnessed several scandals.

Modi’s attempt to change the face of India for the better is above suspicion. Mistakes may happen. There is a line between mistake made without malafide intent and those committed for personal gains. The first type of mistakes can be condoned. But plundering the nation for personal gains by those at the helm is unpardonable. The Modi government has had a clean record in terms of service to take the nation toward glory. The Karnataka legislature secretariat’s reported move to gift all the 300 legislators with gold biscuits, each costing around ~55,000, to mark the diamond jubilee of Vidhan Soudha is the most atrocious example of profligacy at the expense of taxpayers. It also betrays insensitivity to people’s growing anger at the potholed Bengaluru roads killing citizens virtually on a daily basis. It is gratifying that such a lavish spending plan has not gone down too well among the potential beneficiaries themselves, across party lines. What is even more unacceptable is that the proposal has been reportedly sent without obtaining prior consent of the administrative departments concerned and their respective ministers in charge. It is hoped that the chief minister, with his years of experience in handling the finance portfolio, will scuttle this ill-advised proposal as the political cost would far exceed the economic cost. If the government goes ahead it would be a political hara-kiri that the CM and the Congress party can ill afford with months to go for polls.

S K Choudhury Bengaluru