It has to be one of the most misused words in the lexicon. "Agenda" means things to be done, a programme of business for a meeting, a plan. Every party -- or coalition -- has one. The pity is that it's usually their agenda, not the country's, though they play blustery martyrs to perfection in their manifestos. It's also why so much is left undone.

As the agenda is never one designed for change, when it happens there is little conviction. The Congress had minimal plans for reform in 1991, for instance, the situation forced the hand. "The only blueprint was the letter Manmohan Singh wrote to the IMF saying it will do the following things," says S.P. Gupta, director and chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. Harsh, but true.

The two United Front governments that followed made flashy, forced statements about a Common Minimum Programme. At least a decent joke has come out of the policy mess they have left behind. "How could we get maximum results," wags a senior member of the last cabinet, "when all we had in common is a minimum programme? We were bound to be 'Left behind'."

It shows. Substantially, little has moved. Today's long-overdue initiatives are the same as those from two years ago. Such myopia. A wide range of moves like privatising public-sector companies, making them more efficient, curbing government's administrative expenditure, re-orienting bureaucrats, reducing subsidies and freeing private business will not only help the government run itself better, but boost a hundred acutely essential areas. Just one or two broad sweep moves like privatising the public sector and long-term funds like insurance could provide enough money to pay for all the power, jobs and safe drinking water that India needs in the next decade. There will also be enough left over for better roads, effective defence capabilities, better education and sanitation -- a staggering 600 million live without proper sanitation. "It's not just good economics," says CII Director-General Tarun Das, "but good politics."

The government has to have the stomach to start the fire-fighting, and the heart to see it through. Government has to stand firm when its bureaucrats start carping about losing control, public-sector employees about losing jobs, party cadre about the inadvisability of taxing rich farmers. These things have to be done. At best, it will pinch for a while but it won't maim anyone except the inefficient. The country can't afford the luxury of endless debate, but urgently needs immediate action. What follows are suggestions -- some the government's own, unused research paid for with taxpayers' money -- about how India can drag itself out of the muck.

So, welcome. But that's enough talk, already. It's time to get down to work.

GOVERNMENT

The Government of India is like a decrepit old house. It requires too much money for its upkeep, some portions are beyond repair and need to be demolished. And others could do with some redesigning and modernisation.

For instance, there is absolutely no need to have ministries for Civil Aviation and Tourism, Coal, Communications, Food Processing, Information and Broadcasting, Planning and Programme Implementation, Steel, Surface Transport, Textiles, and Petroleum and Natural Gas. Some of these, such as Civil Aviation, Surface Transport, Tourism and Communications are better run by regulatory directorates headed by qualified technocrats, or, in the case of Petroleum and Natural Gas, by autonomous corporations.

Equally, there is a case for merging some departments to form a single ministry like Science and Development, and a Ministry of Natural Resources which will include Environment and Forests, Water Resources, and Non-Conventional Energy. There's also a crying need for a Ministry of Infrastructure that can oversee and track nationwide development in a wide variety of areas, which autonomous agencies for road and highway development, power, telecom and ports cannot do separately.

This re-orientation should be reinforced with the way the bureaucracy thinks, works and earns. Accountability and efficiency must begin with the 5,000-strong IAS. If the Fifth Pay Commission's recommendations on pay have been accepted, so must another recommendation: elimination of 3.5 lakh vacant posts in government, plus 30 per cent cuts in its overall size in the next 10 years. It would help if New Delhi stayed away from handling state-level subjects like agriculture, education, health and so on. This will build up state-level efficiency and make the IAS a leaner, more efficient machine.