| The cacophony of yet another boisterous election is slowly
receding. Another fractured verdict and another mad race for post-poll allies. We tend to
turn up our noses at coalitions, yet they can serve a useful purpose. Majority governments
often fritter away their energy endlessly debating controversial issues or fighting vested
interests that inevitably develop. A coalition government tries to skirt controversy for
the sake of survival. If the emerging coalition confines itself to a short list of agreed
national priorities, it could yet make an impact. It could even force the country to avoid
political conflict and concentrate on what India really needs -- good governance. So this week, as part of our special election issue, we have prepared
what we call an Agenda For Change for the new Government. It is
an attempt to look beyond self-serving manifestos and into the very core of what India
needs urgently, from cutting back on bloated government spending and an immediate push in
infrastructure to something as simple as providing safe drinking water and good
sanitation. A team coordinated by Senior Editor Sudeep Chakravarti spent days discussing
the best, practical approaches with analysts, politicians, business chiefs, bureaucrats
and social development experts. "We were astounded," says Chakravarti, who
joined India Today as Business Editor in 1991. "Many of the good suggestions have
been already made, they were just buried by the bureaucracy or weak-willed
governments." Governments also handcuff themselves by their unrealistic agendas,
promising far too much and then finding it impossible to deliver. Our agenda advocates a
more measured approach and suggests a much shorter and more practical list of goals. All
of them achievable if the Government actually buckles down to the business of governance.
(Aroon Purie) |
