Bill of rights

Governance may be scheduled for a version upgrade, now that the cabinet has cleared the 2011 bill for time-bound delivery of services. This is a governmental retrofit of a well-tested commercial instrument. The agreement that penalises service providers for overruns and under-delivery, took the uncertainties out of turnkey contracts. Now, the same principle will be used to urge government officials towards compliance. Significantly, the penalties will be borne by officials responsible for tardy delivery of services, not by their departments or a faceless government. The fixing of blame is a game-changer, casting aside the mythical cloak of governmental inefficiency, which conceals the real problems of callousness and corruption.

If implemented right, this law could provide a better check to corruption than the standalone, apical institution of the Jan Lokpal, the key demand of the Anna Hazare mobilisation. In each of its several versions, the Lokpal's reach would be limited to those who can approach it and its fatal flaw is that it is corruptible itself. A multi-level monitoring system for complaints would ease access while preventing a monopoly of the entire anti-corruption apparatus by a set of individuals. The bill for time-bound delivery of services relies on systems and protocols rather than people, which is preferable for combating corruption. Corruption has battened on discretionary powers. It is best fought with the opposite — enlightened automatism. Governmental service providers will be required to publish public charters and deviations can be referred by state or Central grievance commissions to the Lokpal or for criminal investigation.

The states had taken the lead much earlier in offering service-level guarantees but a Central legislation could standardise the quality of service delivery across the country. A law on service delivery cannot address big-ticket corruption, which can only be faced down with political resolve. But it would shrink what may be termed retail corruption — the culture of petty speed money associated with the acquisition of government documents and payments, like BPL cards and pensions. That alone would bring relief to millions, and the government should push home the advantage by applying the law to the delivery of crucial but broken services like schools, hospitals and the public distribution system.

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