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The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has urged the Chief Ministers of all States to initiate measures for disaster mitigation and integrate disaster management into development planning. Addressing the Ninth Meeting of the Inter-State Council here today, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of good governance by various wings, in particular by the police, criminal justice system and various services delivery agencies.
Following are the excerpts from the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh’s speech at the Inter-State Council Meeting :
“It is indeed a matter of great satisfaction for me to have chaired this important meeting of the Inter State Council, which has a special place in our constitutional make-up. It is indeed heartening to note the collective resolve of all of us to promote Good Governance, but promotion of good governance is not a one day affair we have at all levels to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and integrity of all the delivery mechanisms both at the Central, State, municipal and local body level. Therefore, the processes of governance have to be kept under continuous review, there has to be a continuous dialogue between the Centre and the State and we must all be willing to learn from better or best practices in other States of the Union.
The last few decades have seen a phenomenal increase in the size of government, in terms of both its physical size as well as its financial size. From being principally a regulator of law and order and a few other areas at the time of independence, the government and its agencies, rules, laws and personnel are now all pervasive, visible in every sphere of human activity. It has been estimated that public expenditure in our country taking Centre, State and local bodies, is about 33 per cent of our national expenditure. Such a large proportion of national expenditure, if wisely spent, can make a lot of difference to the processes of poverty alleviation. But if there are leakages and these leakages are not controlled, they then become the instrument of fanning disaffection, dismay and cynicism about the functioning of government agencies. Therefore, it is very important that the nature of tasks and functions performed by government must be kept under continuous review. Even with the changes in our economy over the last decade, during which period government has reduced its role as a licensor or controller in many sectors, government continues to play a major role as an umpire and this role will increase, it cannot diminish.
At the same time, the size of government in absolute terms has grown phenomenally. The size of our First Five Year Plan was about 292 crore, look at the size of the Tenth Five Year Plan. This indicates a massive increase in the resources now consumed by Government at all levels.
This is but natural. As our economy grows, and becomes more broad based, government takes on many developmental and welfare functions. That’s what the founding fathers of our Republic also wanted us to do. But this is a phenomenon seen even in the most advanced countries where government expenditure is between 25 – 50 per cent of GDP. Therefore, efficiency, effectiveness and integrity in processes of Government expenditure decisions is of crucial importance to judge the effectiveness of governance in our country.
Given this secular rising trend in the size of government and the consequent increase in government expenditure, it becomes essential that governments function in an efficient, effective and accountable manner. They need to have institutional resources which are able to meet the tests of efficiency, effectiveness and accountability while managing large programmes and schemes involving huge outlays. Only such institutional mechanisms can ensure that outlays do in fact turn into desired outcomes.
There is another level at which there is a need for good governance. If we ask the question as to what are the fields where a common citizen has an interface with the government, the natural responses are either the police and other law enforcing machinery or the service delivery wings of the government. It is in these spheres that a citizen runs into the brutal, sometimes insensitive side of government and hence, the need for good governance in these crucial areas.
There is a need in particular, to ensure that our police forces and criminal justice systems are responsive, sensitive, caring and humane. We have to make our law enforcement agencies sensitive to the human rights dimension of our citizens. They need to be not just efficient or accountable but also responsive to citizen's needs. In the same manner, the service delivery wings of government - such as those providing electricity, water supply, health care, education, municipal services - are wings which have a high degree of public interface. Here too the principle of good governance can ensure that government-citizen interactions are pleasant and responsive. In this context, I commend the work of Professor Samuel Paul of the Centre for Public Affairs in Bangalore, who has done path-breaking work to highlight the importance of good governance, improving the delivery system and how this can be done by bringing these institutional set ups under close public scrutiny of the civil society.
Good governance requires efficient institutions. The efficiency and effectiveness of institutions, in turn, depends on the delivery mechanisms and the supportive framework of rules and procedures that are adopted. All these have to work in harmony in order to generate the desired outcomes. Good Governance aims at achieving these desired objectives by bringing together people, knowledge and technology. It also aims to periodically alter institutional structures to meet emergent needs and in all this, there is no universal or single royal road to success. We have to experiment and experiment innovatively and also learn from good practices elsewhere in various States of our Union.
As I said earlier this morning, we have embarked on a very ambitious programme of 'Bharat Nirman'. Under 'Bharat Nirman', we have aimed at a target of providing 100 per cent connectivity to India's villages through roads, electricity and telecommunications and ensuring 100 per cent coverage of safe drinking water supply by the year 2009. In addition, we aim to create one crore hectares of additional irrigation and provide 60 lakh houses for the rural poor. We have equally ambitious programmes for universal elementary education, for improvement of rural health through the National Rural Health Mission, for universal coverage of the mid-day meal, for expanded coverage of the ICDS Programme, for agriculture transformation through the National Horticultural Mission and for addressing food security through the expansion of the 'Antodaya Anna Yojana'.
All these programmes have been allocated large funds and they have to be managed at the state and district levels. The success of these initiatives in meeting their goals and outcomes depends heavily on the service delivery mechanism of Governments in the State and at the local level. I am, therefore, certain that, given the concern for good governance we all share, we can implement these initiatives effectively and realize our development objectives.
I hope the work of the Inter-State Council Secretariat and this meeting will reinforce our common desire for good governance and enable all governments to take practical, meaningful steps for achieving this goal.
With regard to disaster management and disaster preparedness, we all know that our country is vulnerable not only to natural calamities like floods, droughts, earthquakes, landslides, cyclones, tsunami but also to man-made calamities. In our federal polity, State Governments are primarily responsible for taking preparedness and mitigation measures and for responding to disasters. However, the Central Government plays a key role by supplementing the efforts of State Governments. The response to the recent tsunami bears testimony to the ability of the Central Government, State Governments, NGOs and local communities to work together for providing succour to affected people. I must say that the State Governments have done a commendable job.
However, there is a need to move away from a purely relief-centric approach. The Government is already moving in this direction. Necessary institutional and coordination mechanisms are in the process of being set up by bringing a Bill on disaster management, constituting a National Disaster Management Authority and putting in place a National Policy on Disaster Management. Pending enactment of the law, the National Disaster Management Authority has been constituted through an executive order. And earlier today, the Home Secretary has outlined what needs to be done at the State and district level to give this new experiment the real thrust that it needs.
The role of the community and Panchayati Raj Institutions is very significant in these endeavours. While the community is always the victim of a disaster, it is also the first responder. Therefore, capacity building of the community is essential and should receive top priority under any disaster management framework. Disaster Management requires a multi disciplinary approach and, therefore, Central and State Governments, elected representatives, the corporate sector, youth organizations and the community have to work together for a safer and more secure India.
While the Central Government has initiated various mitigation and preparedness measures, and I would like to compliment my colleague the Hon’ble Home Minister for the measures that have been taken by the Home Ministry under his distinguished leadership. It is necessary that State Governments also take up similar measures and integrate disaster management into development planning. State Governments should develop state plan schemes for mitigation and preparedness in consultation with the Zila Panchayats and include them in their five year plans and annual plans. I assure you that we will provide all the possible assistance to State Governments for capacity building efforts in the field of disaster management and preparedness. Recurrent disasters are a grave threat to the economy of the country; economic development cannot be sustainable unless adequate attention is paid to all facets of disaster management. Hence, the centrality of this subject.
This Council provides us an active forum for free and frank discussion on issues that have a bearing on Centre-State Relations or have inter-state dimensions. The Council and its Committees have done a laudable work during the last 15 years by dispassionately deliberating on various complex issues raised by the Sarkaria commission and have succeeded in building a broad based national consensus. I am quite confident that this healthy institutional framework and the practice of consensus building will continue to help us in future and would add to the strength of our national polity.
Our Constitution is a living guide which is supreme and we all are duty bound to uphold it. The values of our Republic are sacred and we must work together to protect and preserve these values. The more I read the Constitution, the more I am struck by the great reservoir of wisdom possessed by the founding fathers of our Republic. I think those values have stood the test of time. We all have to live by them and work in harmony to ensure that this value system continues to guide us in our endeavours in the 21st century as we work towards emerging as a great nation on the world stage.”
YSR/DS/RK/SKS
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