REDESIGNING THE AEROPLANE WHILE FLYING: REFORMING INSTITUTIONS
Arun Maira
Rupa Publications India
204 + xxiii pages; Rs 595
Arun Maira, unassuming and soft-spoken, is an iconic figure to those who know him. He has thought through the layers of baggage that hold India back from achieving the socio-economic growth that is its potential; he is deeply committed to charting the path forwards. As a business consultant, he has worked on system reform and the human face of change.
Since 2000, at the Confederation of Indian Industry and then as member of the Planning Commission (2009-2014), he has worked at "scenario planning", a method for crafting consensus among mutually opposed stakeholders on complex eco-societal issues. The "scenario planning" method was refined in 2005, when the National Council of Applied Economic Research was brought in and predicted that the heady days of nine per cent growth would not last owing to structural deficiencies. Finally, in 2012, a quasi-official exercise at the Planning Commission threw up the same deficiencies.
"Scenario planning" permeates the book, which concludes with four visions for India: scenario I, "Buffaloes wallowing", riven by lethargy, none able or willing to break out; scenario II, "Peacocks strutting, birds scrambling", with the peacocks well fed, and hungry sparrows waiting for another day; scenario III, "Tigers growling", tigers and wolves roaming, and small animals living in fear; scenario IV, "Fireflies rising", wherein change occurs through complex self-adaptive systems, uncontrolled by a single centre. A graphic picture accompanies each of the four scenarios, all of which coexist in our country. The question is, which one will dominate?
Elegant as they are, it is not the scenarios but the necessity for institutional reform that is the book's leitmotif. The "institutions" to which Mr Maira refers include the ways in which things are done, and "the norms of society". The core of his message: "It is no longer enough to tinker with institutions or merely change personnel at the top. The structures of institutions must be fundamentally changed." The book is devoted to the "how" of achieving this change.
In seven short pages, the author paints with rare elegance the many-layered global storm and the tectonic shifts of a planet in stress vis-à-vis the situation India confronts. He takes the reader through a series of writings and global think fests to hammer home his basic message that India has the capacity to become a society that is "inclusive, democratic and capitalist", thereby harmonising the contradictions that are inherent in each of these three core concepts.
In essence, the way to achieving this entails attaining real "democratic deliberation", as exemplified in an effective scenario-building process, where three prior conditions are fulfilled: political equality, deliberation that is rich in mutual understanding, and mass participation. Such deliberation can take place in a "democratic home" that is marked by "six Ls": listening (through deep engagement); localisation (an expression of "complex self-adaptation" where citizens and managers spread power around); lateralisation (a horizontal process of mutual communication); learning (by setting targets for gaining new capabilities); leadership (where the vision of the end objective is understood and shared by all); and locus (where the institution works on knowledge and skills that improve its learning).
This also adds up to the notion of a learning institution. The author tells us of a World Bank seminar in October 2013 that looked at "state learning" in terms of generation of new information, its transmission horizontally and acting upon it. China and India were compared and it was found: (i) China's public administration has undergone reform every five years since 1978; India has seen two reform attempts in 65 years, and recommendations of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission remain unimplemented. (ii) Chinese think tanks and their provincial branches work on change; Indian think tanks are concentrated in Delhi and work mainly on theory. (iii) China uses its federal structure for learning; learning among Indian states is yet to develop. (iv) Human resource management in China uses modern concepts, including "360-degree appraisals" and performance; India does not do this.
The book has two deficiencies. One, it has no index. The lack of an index, however, works as an advantage: it forces the reader to trawl through the entire work, which is short and easy to read. Also, comprehensive references are provided. The other, bigger flaw is that the book leaves out external inputs in the development process, as well as the contribution that sound foreign policy governance can make to the growth and democracy paradigm. Too many in India fail to treat this domestic-external connect with finesse and thoroughness.
Mr Maira asks if it is India's destiny to show to the world how a bridge can be built between the seemingly opposed notions of inclusiveness, democracy and capitalism, in the finest sense of these concepts, fulfilling the vision of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. "If we don't create the future, the present extends itself," declares Toni Morrison, in Song of Solomon. This is a simple thought, easy to grasp.
The reviewer is a former diplomat, teacher and honorary fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi
kishanrana@gmail.com
kishanrana@gmail.com
