Louis XIV and Ghaziabad
Today’s Ghaziabad Municipal corporation has much in common with the seventeenth century ancien régime in France.
In a piece in Foreign Affairs [subscription required], Sheri Berman wants the policymakers to look to Louis XIV and the development of France’s ancien régime for guidance while undertaking state-building in Afghanistan.
During the second half of the seventeenth century, accordingly, he and his ministers focused on buying off and winning over key individuals and social groups that might otherwise obstruct their state-building efforts.
Adapting and expanding a common practice, for example, they repeatedly sold state offices to the highest bidders; by the eighteenth century, almost all the posts in the French government were for sale, including those dealing with the administration of justice. These offices brought annual incomes, a license to extract further revenues from the population at large, and exemptions from various impositions.
The system had drawbacks in terms of technocratic effectiveness, but it also had compensating benefits for the crown: selling off public posts was an easy way to raise money and helped turn members of the gentry and the emerging bourgeoisie into officeholders.[Foreign Affairs]
But they are already following this approach at Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation in Uttar Pradesh, if Dilip Cheriyan’s piece in the Deccan Chronicle is to be trusted.
Municipal authorities in Ghaziabad, near Delhi, may have found the answer to an ancient riddle: how to make babus work efficiently. For suddenly the municipal corporation is awash in funds, from revenues collected by its army of babus. Apparently, the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation earned Rs 121 crores in revenues in the current fiscal year — the highest collection in its history.
But more than the increased revenue, what is truly surprising is how the much-maligned babus are behind this remarkable turnaround in the municipality’s fortunes. In fact, the learning may be of some interest to management and administration gurus! Last year the municipal authorities decided to offer plum postings to its tax inspectors through a bidding process. The babus were invited to choose the postings they wanted, and in most cases were granted their request. The babus are now working hard to meet their collection targets and ensure that they retain their plum posting, according to A.S. Pandey, municipal commissioner. Those who miss their targets are likely to face departmental action while those who perform can look forward to out-of-turn promotions, even those who are facing departmental inquiries for previous alleged misdemeanours.[Deccan Chronicle]
History is repeating itself, that is, French history of the seventeenth century is repeating itself in twenty-first century India. And you thought that erecting your own statues at state’s expense, followed by raising a special police force to protect them, was the lowliest of it all.
One can only wish that Ms Mayawati had read her Thucydides: History is Philosophy teaching by examples. Or maybe she has!
The French and GZB experiments remind me of an idea I had proposed to the head of the economics dept in my college while preparing for a joint paper we had to present in some inter-college economics seminar.
Without getting into the technical details of what the idea was, here is the gist of it: Let the police dept give a commission to the traffic cop for each traffic violation he records and collects the fine for. For instance, he could be given Rs 10 out of the Rs 100 he collects from motorists jumping the red light.
This has multiple advantages. The traffic cop will be proactively hauling up people for violations and therefore supplementing his income legally instead of the wink-wink-nudge-nudge kind of extortion he usually indulges in. The state will have increased revenue because cops will now catch more violators. And most important, since this is a disincentive for motorists (including auto, bus and taxi drivers), they will drive more carefully and carry all their updated documents.
As a result three things will happen:
1) The traffic cop community will have more disposable income (and thus contribute meaningfully to the economy).
2) The state will have more income for infrastructure building projects and other such development activity; and
3) There will be fewer accidents (and therefore, deaths) on the streets of Indian cities as motorists will live in constant fear of getting caught for even the most minor of violations.
My economics teacher, with very good reason, rejected the idea, calling it “absurd”, and threatened to throw me out of her team. I relented, but only because she was good-looking and eminently pleasing to the eye.
How I thank my good fortune that Mayawati — who would have been in complete agreement with my “revolutionary” idea — was not my guide for that seminar.
Sachin,
A minor tweak to your proposal will render it acceptable/implementable: announce performance-based incentives/bonuses, monetarily equivalent to the x% commission. Calling it a commission will get you thrown out of class, calling it a performance bonus will fetch you a good grade (or at least get you into the good books of the good looking teacher)
Hi Nitin,
If only you had given me this advice 17 years earlier, the history of the world (OK, an exaggeration; my history) would have been different. In the end, my college team were the runners-up at the seminar contest, but our paper was all about the bland and text-bookish interpretation of Dr Manmohan Singh’s reform programme.
Of course, in a cruel twist of fate, the teacher later got married to HER university professor and “settled down” in some small town where they together now run a school. Needless to mention, I took refuge in graduating in mathematics and statistics, and became a low-paid journalist.
Sigh!
Maybe Karnail who couldn’t ‘encounter’ enough enemy Jawans to donate
blood was ok to Kissan ~ ghoos for gander. Sadly, buying commissions,
silladaring by umedwars now closed. Might help to hire dirty dozen types. Neighbor Inc uses them all the time. No need to be squeamish in any type of outsourcing, incentives or any other workable operational and transform methods, all is fare.
Nitin, so what are you saying? I didn’t gather from your post (or the comments below) if you are saying it’s GOOD or BAD that history is repeating itself in Ghaziabad.
Bringing things out in the open is definitely better than wink-wink-nudge-nudge. It is regime uncertainty that is scary. If bought cops stay bought, then business can be done assuming an extra cost. If there is uncertainty even after that, then very little can be done.
I don’t know how can such a thing happen.
Tax inspector are employees of state govt – not municipal employees and where is the revenue coming frm.
It is just a mis – report. Maybe planted by some political party to show Maya down. Nothing else.
People need something to talk about – that is it.