This paper argues that the process of decentralization should go much further if the nation is to get more teeth into its policy making. The paper talks about the issues involved in policy development like training and policy development, legislation, attitude of govenment officers, short and long-term FDI and end user chargeability. It discusses the existing models in India and offers suggestive models for better policy making and implementation. The examples from UK and New Zealand have also been elaborated and the paper concludes by saying that merely copying the models will not work. The need is to implement the existing policies and development of such policies so that maximum benefit can be given to the end users. In sum, the policy must support a macroeconomic climate conducive to effective resource allocation.
Policy Development in India has often been a theoretical exercise. A number of pet policies have been trotted out with a determination to enforce them, based on political and moral ideology. There has been very little effort to find out whether these policies are relevant to the practical situation or not. The policy makers have somehow "assumed" that they know what is good for the country based on their own experiences.
In many cases they have been right. But given that India is a vast country with often sharply contrasting cultures and points of view, it is obvious that the experience of a person or group of people would by necessity be extremely limited in the national context. Also, in the first 45 years after independence, there was a general tendency to control everything from the center. It is only recently, that the states have been given their due in the policy making process. This paper argues that the process of decentralization should go much further if the nation is to get more teeth into its policy making. Every Jilla, even every village, should enjoy some sort of autonomy in its policy making, even if this means a certain level of dichotomy in the process. |
