Opinion On yesterday’s deadline

Cabinet Minister 2: I have a bold plan for overhauling PSUs with me. But sorry,not in this environment. This government is moving in different directions. It does not care for its allies.

This cabinet minister belongs to a Congress ally. He talks about the government,but deliberately chooses to exclude allies who hold important ministries. The Ramdev episode is the latest one where the government took “unilateral” decisions that backfired,he told this correspondent three weeks ago.

Secretary to the Government of India: All files that should be cleared by my joint secretaries are coming up to me for direction. When we joined the civil service,we were told,if there are 70 issues before you,decide on all,no matter if 10 turn out to be wrong.

One of the brightest bureaucrats today,he doesn’t fear speaking his mind out,often before his own minister. According to him,the situation has deteriorated in the past 12 months. The fear of the three Cs — CBI,CVC and CAG — has left the bureaucracy paralysed. Few civil servants want to expose themselves to the risk of being hounded by the three Cs for genuine errors of judgment.

Director to the Government of India: There is no premium on innovation. Clearly,many sticky issues need out-of-the-box solutions. But these are not proven,and nobody wants to risk it.

He is in the loop on most infrastructure-related projects of the government. It is at his level — young,but still experienced in administration — that officers come up with bright ideas,ones that are not of the “standard set of three options” variety. But,in the government today,such ideas are said to be not finding many takers. This is not to say that the government needs to invent big ideas with promises these will transform the nation. It is rather in bringing unique solutions to tricky projects.

The point of these examples is to underline that bureaucrats today admit policy decisions are being inordinately delayed. That being so,what is more worrisome is that infrastructure projects are stalled because the atmosphere has been spoiled such that officials are sitting tight on issues fearing adverse repercussions down the years and the few bright ideas are being kept under lock and key. Bureaucrats have turned strict adherents to the rule book. But difficult problems cry for innovation,in other words a deviation from the rule book.

The leader of infrastructure practice in one of the Big Four consulting firms,who has worked with the government on many big-ticket projects,says global CEOs are not concerned about inflation and the downside risks it presents to India’s 8-9 per cent growth story. What they are really baulking at it is the breakdown of decision-making and a huge slowdown in the infrastructure sector. India’s economic engines were fired largely by corporate investments. These have started tapering off. This situation needs to change,at double quick time. And the government can demonstrate a drastic attitudinal change only if it clears,say,five big projects that are hanging fire for long for no good reason.

Let’s take the proposed locomotive factories to be bid out by the railways in Madhepura and Marhowrah. Conceived during the tenure of UPA 1 by Lalu Prasad,these projects were again brought to the table by Mamata Banerjee. She finally decided to bid out these projects. But the government is still working on the financial bid conditions. A senior government official,who does not wish to be named,says that it’s a one-of-a-kind project,making financial bidding very difficult. To be structured as a public private partnership,the Railways will hold a minority stake in the proposed company and will also be the sole customer over the next 15-20 years. How to price the locomotives to be supplied over a long tenure is turning out to a tricky proposition,calling for innovative solutions. But,those sitting on the decision are refusing to take a call,fearing a decision today could land them in Tihar a couple of years after they retire. So,they would rather choose to retire than sign on any proposal.

Or,for instance,the Navi Mumbai airport project. After much jostling,Jairam Ramesh finally accorded green clearance for the second airport last October. Of course,the ball is now in the state government’s court,but again Maharashtra is ruled by the Congress. It has been over six months now,but the state government is yet to call for a request for qualification or request for proposal. All it requires is a meeting of the relevant departments by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan and some moral persuasion by the Centre for quick,forward movement.

Similarly,in the ports sector,the government’s track record over the last three years hardly inspires any confidence. Of the 22 port projects the shipping ministry hopes to bid out this year,14 have been carried forward from 2010-11. The roads sector is beginning to see some activity,but only after the prime minister stepped in. Dr Singh is taking reviews of all infrastructure sectors — roads,industrial corridors,ports and railways. In fact,his office is saddled with files from Rail Bhavan since Banerjee did not take any decision over the last eight months.

Ministers have waited long enough for a cabinet reshuffle; hopefully it will happen soon. But more than anything else,signalling is critical. The PM must ask his key lieutenants across infrastructure and relevant ministries to sit together and sort out vexed issues in back-to-back meetings. Indeed,yesterday was the time to act.

pv.iyer@expressindia.com