An evening with Mr Anil Swarup
Many of us are cynical about whether the government machinery can be made to move at all. But a lot can happen in the government. Former IAS officer, Mr Anil Swarup explained how this is possible.
Mr Swarup’s core belief is that to come up with a good solution we must understand the cause of the problem. Otherwise, we will only be scratching the surface. In India, it is easy for people to come up with ideas and suggestions. But various conditions must be fulfilled for these ideas to fructify. Mr Swarup explained how to make things happen on the ground.
To watch the full session, click the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYD66qle4sIAbout Mr Anil Swarup
Mr Anil Swarup is a retired Indian Administrative Service officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, 1981 batch. Mr. Swarup served in various capacities and went on to become the Secretary to the Government of India.
Mr Swarup served in various key positions for both the Union Government and the Government of Uttar Pradesh, like Education Secretary of India, Coal Secretary of India, Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat of India, Additional Secretary of Labour & Empowerment, Export Commissioner in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of India and the District Magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri.
Mr Swarup became Secretary in the coal ministry after the coal scam in which the Supreme Court of India cancelled more than 200 blocks allocated since 1993. He successfully conducted coal auctions in a transparent manner. In 2015, he was transferred to the Education Ministry when he refused to give coal produced by Coal India away at a discount to "privileged businessmen.
Mr Swarup was selected as one of the 35 Action Heroes in India Today’s 35th Annual Edition.
Mr Anil Swarup has authored three books namely “No More a Civil Servant”, “Ethical Dilemmas of a Civil Servant” and “Not Just a Civil Servant”. After his retirement, Mr. Swarup has started a movement, “Nexus of Good” and set up a Foundation to identify, appreciate, replicate, and scale good work.
Politically acceptable
Politicians must be first convinced about the idea. Take the example of reservations. It is quite possible that if a referendum were held today, people would vote against reservations. But it would be difficult for politicians to speak against reservations.
The behaviour of politicians often reflects what is happening in society. Mr Swarup explained that it is possible to convince politicians in most cases. In fact, many politicians are amenable to suggestions and open to ideas. We must first convince ourselves that the idea is good. We must then deploy the communication skills necessary to convince the politicians.
It is wrong to assume that money must be paid to get politicians on our side. Once Mr Swarup had a disagreement with the Prime Minister. But the PM came around.
Socially desirable
If a society does not accept an idea, it will not fly. In the 1970s, family planning was politically acceptable. But it was socially not desirable. So, the idea was not accepted. When something is not socially desirable, we must evolve appropriate communication channels and approach the stakeholders. New ideas can come from anywhere. Not just from government bureaucrats. Policy making is a complex process and must consider inputs from all sources.
Technologically feasible
Technology can be a game changer. But the current state of technology must be appropriate. It should enable things to happen on the ground. In 2016, when Mr Swarup was the Education Secretary, there was a shortage of teachers. One of the advisors proposed the deployment of smart screens and remote instruction. But India was not connected at that point of time. The technology was not appropriate. So, the idea could not take off.
Financially viable
An idea must be financially viable. The National Education Policy is a good example. It is an excellent document. But it calls for allocation of 6% of GDP. It is inconceivable that such a large amount will be available for education. The highest budget allocation we have achieved since independence is 3%. So, the implementation will run into problems.
Any policy maker should worry about where the money will come from. It is wrong for policy makers to assume that the people in charge of implementation will somehow find the money.
In case of NEP, if financial viability had received due attention from the policy makers, the action items would have been prioritised. For example, many of the issues pertaining to teachers do not need much investment. Teachers are pivotal to school education. If we take care of them, there will be a lot of improvement in the education system.
When he was Education Secretary, Mr Swarup would argue that in view of fund constraints, private schools must be encouraged. Their profits can always be taxed and generate useful income for the government.
Administratively doable
Take the case of healthcare. To improve healthcare, we need enough doctors and para medical staff. If we do not address that, we cannot reform the sector, how much ever money we may spend.
Judicially tenable
If an idea is contrary to the law, it will not work. The government gets dragged to the court in many cases. The private sector and the government should come together. Indeed, all the good people must come together. Bringing stakeholders together can build a strong case. When he was Coal Secretary, the government won all the cases.
Emotionally relatable
The farm laws were generally sound and beneficial to the farmers. But the government failed to take the stakeholders along. When Mr Arun Jaitley was the finance minister, he took the stakeholders along. He was a great negotiator. That is why GST was a success.
Q&A
Coal: When Mr Swarup took over as Secretary, the country was facing a crisis. Mr Swarup did not know much about the sector. But he realized that it was important to take the stakeholders along: Prime Minister, Minister, State Governments, etc.
Mr Swarup did not hold a single meeting in Delhi. He went to the states and made them aware of the value proposition. As Mr Swarup explained, in negotiations, it is always important to make the adversary feel that he will benefit.
West Bengal is an important state when it comes to coal mining. Ms Mamata Banerjee was creating a lot of problems and standing in the way of land acquisition by Coal India. Mr Swarup met the West Bengal Chief Secretary and convinced him that by not allocating the land, the state government was making a loss. So, the government allotted the land.
CBSE exam paper leakage: Mr Swarup was in Dehradun at that point of time attending to his ailing father. The chairperson of CBSE called up to check what she should do. Mr Swarup advised her to meet the media. But the minister did not like this idea, and no one met the media. The next day the Minister insisted on the resignation of the Chairperson. But Mr Swarup convinced the Minster that if she were sacked, the media would be after him. The minister accepted the logic, and the lady went on to become Secretary, School Education.
The government is not a monolith. Just like there are good and bad businessmen, there are good and bad officers. But we do not publicise the good work enough. In contrast, negative news makes newspaper headlines. All officers are not dishonest. If we recognize the good work, even the fence sitters will start changing their behaviour. Everyone wants to be appreciated. Instead of being critical of the wrongdoing, we must appreciate the good work being done. We should make people feel good about doing good work rather than make them feel bad about doing bad work.
A lot can be done. Many labour laws must be scrapped. They only enable the inspectors to harass businessmen. We should protect the rights of the labour and not the inspectors. Instead of having so many labour inspectors we must move towards self-certification. We should embrace voluntary disclosures with random auditing by someone who is not a local. This is already being done in the case of Income Tax. Today, due to the unwieldy labour laws, we are neither able to protect the rights of the labour nor encourage industrialists.
More generally, Mr Swarup mentioned that the physical interface between the common man and the government must be minimized. If we have digital interfaces and the common man does not have to deal with the government so frequently, opportunities for harassment and corruption will reduce.
Socially and culturally, we are always in a mad rush. We do not have patience. This extends to parking. We occupy the limited space available in any manner that suits us. In Delhi, people who are educated often come to fisticuffs.
Mr Swarup added that in some important matters, we must have social discourse. The government cannot discipline everyone. In Sikkim, the streets are clean, and no garbage can be seen. The whole society has come forward to clean up the place. Indore is another good example.
People must be taken along. Public private partnership is important. The NGOs and civil society will have to come together. The government is needed to scale up initiatives. The private sector can bring efficiency. The two must work together for the good of the country.
We must make the process transparent. Technology can be a big enabler. When Mr Swarup was part of the Project Monitoring Group, some Rs 500,000 crore worth of projects were sanctioned in 15 months without any finger being pointed. The decision-making process was thrown open to the public. Some decisions did go wrong. But in these cases, as soon as they were announced on the portal, people pointed out the mistakes and corrective action was taken. Committing a mistake is human. But if we are transparent, we can make amends. No one will find fault with us and decisions will continue to be taken faster and based on merit.
Digitization is the key to transparency. Once the well-known industrialist, Mr Kumara Mangalam Birla visited Mr Swarup’s office. He was impressed that there was no file lying on the table.
Mr Swarup added that government officers are gradually accepting technology. Not only does it improve transparency but also it speeds up decision making. It is easy to track where the file is and make sure that it keeps moving.
If even a small thing goes wrong, the officer can get into trouble. So, it is important to empathise with officers.
During his first 10-15 years as an IAS Officer, Mr Swarup felt the pressure from politicians. Thereafter, he was able to deal with the pressure effectively. Pressure usually does not come suddenly. We can always anticipate pressure coming from politicians and be ready to cope with it.
At the policy level, there is not much corruption. There are interest groups. There is lobbying. But by and large, money does not change hands.
When it comes to action plans, programs, and schemes also, there is not much corruption.
It is during the actual delivery that there is corruption. As a result, the common man gets affected. This must be addressed though measures such as digitization. Think of railway reservation. How corrupt it was once. How transparent it has become today.
We must build systems that eliminate corruption. Samagra in Haryana is an outstanding example of how digitization can improve the life of the common man. As coal secretary, using digitization, Mr Swarup cleared investments worth Rs 170,00 crores without any finger being raised.
Supreme court judges can hold a press conference against the Chief Justice of India (CJI). Also, recall the compromise made in a sexual harassment case and how a former CJI became an MP. Or consider the way supreme court judges are being appointed. Such incidents do not inspire confidence in the judiciary.
But there are many good judges. And a lot can be done to improve the administration of justice.
The need of the hour is for the judges to look inwards and see how they can improve. The judges must go beyond pontification and telling others what to do. The judiciary should not consider itself to be different from other sections of society. Recruitments should be transparent. There should not be double standards. Why should there be a two-month summer vacation for the courts? That suited the British who would go back to Britain during summer to avoid the heat. How is it relevant today? Why should advocates have to wear gowns in our hot climate?
We should not treat the examination as a burden. We should enjoy the preparation and the process of learning. We should derive satisfaction from each step of the learning journey instead of looking at the peak of the mountain and getting intimidated.
The philosophy behind this initiative is that good work needs to be recognized. There are hundreds of good stories on the portal. The whole idea is to understand, appreciate, replicate, and scale up good work. Even a small appreciation can be a big boost.
Some public servants are approachable while other are not. We can make a positive reference to those who are approachable. We could say that nothing good is happening. But we could also say that so much good is happening and a lot more can happen. That is the positive mindset that can drive change. It is just a matter of tweaking the communication. The Nexus of Good is a step in this direction.
One of the biggest impediments to industrial growth has been the absence of an exit policy. So people hesitate to set up a business. The situation is much better than 10 years ago. The IBC is playing an important role. We can improve the situation even further. For that we must sit with the stakeholders, especially the people who have suffered and listen to their views. During his days as education secretary, Mr Swarup urged private schools, which were being criticised for profiteering, to come up with a legislation to discipline themselves. Similarly, people involved in IBC, especially those who are suffering can be encouraged to come up with a policy.