Elections 2019- Views and issues!

‘Dance of democracy’, ‘Festival of democracy’- are some of the sobriquets used for elections in India. Even as this round reaches fever pitch and hopefuls begin to throw their hat into the ring, the very proactive RWAs around my neighbourhood are making an all-out effort to get people to meet all contestants. Much respect to them ! In the first of the “meet your contestants” event, we had the opportunity to meet a film star turned politician contesting as an Independent candidate. And so, an hour of Saturday evening was spent where people asked him questions on his views of various issues as well as how he fancied chances in what seems to be an unequal battle that involved money and muscle power. While the intent with which questions were asked and answered were honest, as the session progressed, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that we have conflated issues from the municipal, state and parliamentary elections. The discussion did not differentiate between the municipal, state and central governments. If the issues we discuss and debate over remain the same in all our elections, why have 3 levels of elections? Are we voting for amenities only in all elections? We definitely need a better understanding of what we are voting for.

The mandate of any government is maintenance of rule of law and enforcement of contracts.The government also steps in where the market cannot cater to the demand of a particular product or service. Eg; street lights, roads and other basic infrastructure.However, the level and nature of involvement of each level of the government is different. By equating all governments to the direct provision of infrastructure we are undermining demoracy and in the process undermining ourselves. As we get into the frenzy of the general election of 2019 it may serve us well to look at what each government does and therefore what should be the focus of each election.

Applying basic HR learnings, we need to write out a job description for each of those rules and then derive competencies for them such that we identify the right people for the right job. Are we getting the jd-candidate fit right? Are we interviewing candidates based on the right parameters? Ceteris paribus between parties and candidates, since we don’t really have much to choose from, what would you look for among candidates ?Here is an attempt to help you understand the job right so that you can interview and evaluate right!

The Indian Parliament with both its Houses provides a framework or the edifice, for the laws in the country. To bring in a corporate parallel, it acts as a “strategy team”. It also performs the crucial function of budgetary oversight. Therefore, it can be deduced that law-making and budgetary oversight constitute the main job of a parliamentarian. Having established the JD of the role, we need to outline some the competencies -i,e.,those attributes desirable in a candidate that will help him/her deliver into the role . Some of them that I can think of for a parliamentarian are — knowledge of the constitution, experience in drafting laws, ability to drive consensus and work as part of committees, knowledge of budgets and experience in drafting and defending budgets, experience in execution of programmes that will feed into law making. Ability to visualise and be thinkers are great pluses here. Are there others that you can think of ? Yes? sure-make a matrix and grade the hopefuls. In a democracy like ours, the narrative is set by the political parties and we choose based on the what parties promise. However, we should also look at the candidate’s ability to contribute effectively to the discourse on matters relating to lawmaking on items in the union list ,which essentially give shape and form to governmental action. The subjects in the union list range from defence to atomic energy to diplomacy and citizenship to currency and money matters. How do the candidates presented to you fare on the above competencies? Do make a note.

Side note: Most corporates have an On- boarding program to ensure employees are aware of rules, regulations of the company and the expectations of the role. Does the Parliamentary procedure provide for a similar program for first time legislators? If not, we need to ensure first-time parliamentarians are trained in specific modules to be able to discharge their duties effectively.

The State government can be likened to a specific business unit leadership team in the company. The business unit head and the rest of the team follows overall strategy set out by the CEO or company wide strategy team and has specific issues that it will address for the unit. They also work towards specific goals that they have set out for themselves with control on budgets for the particular unit. The state government performs a similar role for the respective state and state lists. Understanding state specific problems and having worked on some of them in addition to working in committees, driving consensus would be important competencies to look for.

The municipal government is the one that carries out municipal works such roadworks, drainage etc and spends monies. The municipal government in corporate parlance is the particular project/business centre where work gets done. Execution abilities demonstrated by working with different wings of the government bodies would be the most important criteria to evaluate candidates on here.

Therefore, as enlightened citizens, the questions that we need to ask prospective candidates should revolve around specific issues scoped out for that election and role and we should not incessantly harp on whether the road across our apartments will get fixed . Yes, those are important issues and finally the ones that affect us most closely, but the time for that is not the General Elections.

Armed with this knowledge, what are the issues that you would like debated in the run-up to the polls. Here is my list :

1. Rule of law: Maintenance of rule of law is the most important reason for which we have a government. The law as spelt out in the Constitution needs to be fair and just and apply equally to everyone irrespective of caste, religion, gender. Historically, the application of the rule of law has not been consistent across the country. The recent spate of lynchings and mobocracy have only added to the fires and do not bode well for society. Therefore, in the coming elections we should see how manifestos, speeches and actions of political leaders across the spectrum and specifically candidates in our respective constituencies measure up against providing solutions to ensure higher adherence to the rule of law. We need to question hopefuls about their views on national security, national identity and internal security as well as structural changes to governance systems. An issue like Aadhaar or the NRC should be debated in the run up to the elections.
2. Democratic institutions: The rule of law is enforced and strengthened by democratic institutions. By its very nature, a democratic republic implies predictability and continuity of the rule of law irrespective of who and which party governs the country. Not withstanding the “strong leader” syndrome afflicting us, it is these institutions are pillars of the country which need to be strengthened by law and practice. Laws that give more teeth to and accountability from institutions such as the RBI, CBI, the election commission and judiciary should be the focus. How will prospective candidates work towards strengthening of these institutions ? How will he/she ensure democracy percolates down to the lowest unit? Let us hear from them. Laws relating to the much talk about Lokpal, strengthening of the panchayati raj system will need to be discussed. Do candidates know enough and will they ensure they are heard?
3. Economic strategy: Revenue mobilisation along with maintenance of law and order are known to be the key strengths of the State. A modern state also needs to steer the economy through trade and taxation policies. Should we trust the power of markets or should the state need to assume a controlling role? Under this, the GST in its current form, increasing protectionist policies need to be debated with candidates. Liberalisation of the factor markets are the need of the hour.The million dollar question of jobs and income need to be addressed by all parties/contestants.The views of the candidates/parties on changes to land and labour laws need to be ascertained. To realise its true economic potential, a country needs to invest in basic indicators like health and education. Strategies on how we can make this investment effective need to be debated and political parties need to clarify their stand on solutions to these.
4. Others: Questions on structural changes to governance systems, incentive structures, overall trade and business policy, tax structures, devolution of tax revenues, centre-state relations, inclusive growth and social justice are some of the other subjects that need well thought-through answers from parties and their candidates.

It is only when we get the edifice right will we be able to work downwards towards more devolution of power. The quality of lawmaking determines its implementation on the ground. The General Election is an opportunity to get this right by electing representatives who will contribute to the debate so that eventually we get faster and better solutions to our day-to-day problems.

But ofcourse, we can choose to ignore all of it and discuss the mandir, statues, gotras and history?It is upto us to set the agenda right and get this dance of democracy, in-step with the right beat. Will we rise to the challenge ? What are the issues you would like to talk about?Do let me know in the comments.