The assumption of power in Delhi by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has the potential to force a change to India's politics for the better. By privileging transparency and accountability - and showing that those qualities can be vote- and seat-winners - the AAP could shake longer-established political parties out of their complacency. However, in order to do this, the AAP has to demonstrate that transparency can coexist with responsible governance. On the strength of the first few actions of the new Delhi government, it appears that it has not quite internalised this fact yet. Nor is it unfair, in this case, to comment on a government less than a week old, given that the AAP government has already announced at least two schemes that are, perhaps, more hasty than well thought out - and which have dangerous implications for Delhi's future.
The first was the announcement that every Delhi household would be entitled to 670 litres a day of water free. At first glance, this may not break the bank. But it completely misses the point. By some estimates, Delhi already has the country's highest per capita consumption of water. The problem is not consumption or price; it is the distribution system. Most areas receive barely two hours of piped water a day. According to estimates from a few years ago, only 1.7 million of Delhi's 2.8 million households have access to piped water. Unsurprisingly, over half of Delhi's water is lost to leakage - in other words, it is diverted to those without connections. However, the AAP's position is that this leakage is, essentially, an invention. According to a position paper on its website, it says the Delhi government "fudged the figures" for non-revenue water - water that is produced for which the Delhi Jal Board doesn't get any revenue from customers - and "used this artificial NRW to award multi-crore projects to reduce NRW". This is a serious allegation. The first step should have been to ascertain the truth of how much water is actually leaked; if it is in fact minimal, then the government could take action to improve overall supply. If it is not minimal, then the need is to upgrade distribution first and then think about reducing tariffs. Either way, the priorities of the new government, as evident from its actions in the last few days, do not inspire much confidence in its ability to deliver responsible governance.
Similarly dangerous is the new government's action on electricity bills. The AAP, while campaigning, said that the previous government had inflated customers' bills in collusion with private electricity distribution companies. A proper audit would clear up the deception, they said. However, once in power, the AAP has not waited for an audit. Instead, the government has declared a substantial subsidy within a few days of taking office. Does that not mean any audit is meaningless, since the government has already made up its mind as to what it will find - that bills are inflated? If not, does the government intend to roll back its subsidy? Responsible governments know that subsidies are easy to declare, and not so easy to take back. There are also leakages and misuses of such subsidies, which in the normal course can be neither plugged nor prevented. In its rush to fulfil campaign promises, the AAP has chosen to overlook the principles of good governance. And, in the act, it has rendered its promise of an audit irrelevant, too. The new government need not be in such a hurry; responsible policymaking requires it should ascertain the facts first. If it fails to do so, all its potential may come to naught.
