It is the laxity in administration at different levels that has brought on one of the biggest crises for the Congress-led UPA even in the midst of euphoria about India’s high growth and its recognized role in global economic decision-making. No doubt, the party dealt firmly with allegations of corruption or misconduct involving its ministers and a Chief Minister (Maharashtra), who were asked to step down pending inquiry. Nevertheless, the overall image of Government at the Centre suffers for delayed actions or when it cannot control inflation hurting the common people.
Tough posturing of the leadership, which marked the deliberations of the 83rd plenary Congress session near the capital (Dec.19-20), was mainly directed at the BJP-led opposition, which had paralysed the winter session of Parliament over the 2G spectrum allocation scam, and was spreading “politics of insinuation and scandal-mongering”. But the historic occasion – the 125th anniversary of the Congress — served as a springboard for the party to rejuvenate itself in a polity going through turbulent times and political uncertainties.
Ms. Gandhi called upon her partymen to “confront our political opposition aggressively” and put across the nation the “solid accomplishments” of Congress-led UPA Government in the economic and social spheres over the last six years it has been in office. Ms. Gandhi’s opening address and the political resolution had a forthright condemnation of the role of BJP for “maligning” the institutions of democracy and “denigrating” the office of Prime Minister whom she described as “the embodiment of sobriety, dignity and integrity”.
On the political side, she set a four-point agenda for Government under which there would be fast-tracking of all cases of corruption by public servants including politicians so as to bring the guilty to book quickly and clear those unfairly charged. Secondly, Government has to ensure, through legislation and clear procedures, full transparency in public procurement and contracts to prevent subversion of due process, protecting whistle blowers. Thirdly, an open, competitive system of exploiting natural resources should be enforced and fourthly, all Congress Chief Ministers and Ministers would relinquish discretionary powers, particularly in land allocations which breed corruption. Those holding office were enjoined not to indulge in greed, extravagance and luxury.
The Congress has had to do soul-searching in the context of the electoral setback in Bihar and the impending elections in several states over the coming two years. Already, the UPA-II, lacking an assured majority of its own, is not even as comfortable as it was, with Left support, during its first term (2004-09). The Bihar election has demonstrated, as Ms. Gandhi acknowledged, there is no alternative to earnestly beginning the process of reviving the party organization from the grassroots, including in those states where the party is in coalition.
There has also been growing concern that in states where the Congress is not in power, efforts are made by other parties to take credit for welfare programmes for which huge funds are transferred by UPA Government “without any discrimination”. The Congress in Tamil Nadu, having been kept out of power by DMK, made an issue of it. Ms. Gandhi therefore wanted the party workers to create awareness of the role of UPA in framing and funding these schemes and also be vigilant to ensure that funds reached intended beneficiaries.
Also, the resolution makes it clear that notwithstanding coalition politics at the central level, the leadership would be supportive of the aspirations of state-level partymen for “a larger political space” wherever they may be. This becomes significant especially in the context of the DMK-Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu which would come up for review before the assembly elections in May. The outcome of the ongoing investigations and Supreme Court hearings in the case relating to 2G spectrum allocation, over which Mr A Raja of DMK had to resign from the Union Cabinet, could become a major factor in the forthcoming election.
There is no doubt that the UPA has a solid record of accomplishments in the economic, social and international spheres over the six years since 2004 it has been in power, a period of growth averaging a little over 8 per cent, partly helped by the pre-crisis expansionary phase of the world economy. Higher growth provided the resource base for several flagship programmes for rural employment and infrastructure and for education and health care services.
The Economic Resolution lauds the Government for “faster and inclusive growth” but hardly informative on benefits of growth accruing to the people. It envisages the economy moving to double digit-growth in the coming years. Poor will continue to wait for incremental benefits. Jobless growth must be avoided, the resolution says. Industry was regarded at one time as the major route for employment generation with a downgrading of agriculture. Over the years, in spite of higher economic growth, employment in the organized sector as a whole has declined. It is the dynamic expansion of services, private sector-driven, that is generating jobs on a growing scale.
Likewise, the informal or unorganized sector has been making the largest contribution to employment besides having a sizeable share in national output and exports. This sector is largely outside the benevolent attention of the state. Workers in small units or tiny sector do not have decent wages or social security protection, though recently Government seems to have woken up to the need to ameliorate their conditions to some extent, following the report of the Arjun Sengupta Committee.
“Primacy” of agriculture gets higher emphasis in the resolution now that Ms. Gandhi has begun promoting food security as an entitlement, involving a whole range of reforms for foodgrain production, storage and public distribution. She also emphasized in her speech that prices of essential commodities” must always be kept at affordable levels and inflation kept in check”. The resolution makes a claim of its measures 'in the recent past' (such as?), have moderated inflation. Despite being relegated to a secondary role, RBI gets a signal as the resolution calls for “monetary and administrative measures” to moderate and contain inflation. This is timely with the expected surge in inflation triggered by the rise in international oil and commodity prices. (IPA Service)
India
CONGRESS MOVES TO SEEK CLEAN IMAGE OUT OF SCAMS
GOVERNANCE WILL BE THE LITMUS TEST
S. Sethuraman - 2010-12-22 09:48
Awakening to new challenges to its credentials, the Congress led by Ms. Sonia Gandhi , with a better grasp of ground realities than what the complacent UPA office-holders would admit, has given itself a reinvigorated charter of effective political and economic governance at the Centre, underlining its determination to take corruption “head on”, adhering to “probity and transparency” in public life.