Turning Points (20 page)

E-governance:
Establishing national ID and building e-governance grid for G2G and G2C services are gaining
momentum. Government of India announced Rs 23,000 crore for the G2C e-governance services and setting up of SWAN (State Wide Area Network)

12. Do you propose to devote your enormous talent and energy and great dedication to some of your dear ideas after you demit office? Like guiding science research and teaching doctoral students? Would you resume your earlier work at the Anna University?

I will continue to work for realizing the Developed India vision before 2020. I will pursue teaching and research. My interaction with students and the youth will continue.

I also intend to devote substantial time every year in the north-east region. This is to focus on shaping developmental initiatives and enable implementation of projects which can make a good impact in a time-bound manner in improving the quality of life of people there and it will also offer a lot of opportunity for high-value employment to the youth of the region.

13. Would you also like to reveal what has been your greatest disappointment despite the great office you have held with such distinction?

I have great hope about the future of our country. I am only concerned about the pace of development. If all the stakeholders work in a coordinated fashion with a common goal by empowering the youth of the nation, we can realize the development goals of India 2020 much faster. Everyone of us should work with the spirit that the nation is bigger than us. I have the greatest confidence in the 540 million youth of the nation.

14. You have visited the north-eastern states and have advised them with road maps for their development. But
don’t you consider such advice is not enough in a situation where there are many insurgent groups in almost all the states, the insurgency is preventing flow of investment and lack of investment breeds dissatisfied youth and that feeds the insurgent groups thereby creating a developmental logjam. Is there hope for the suffering people of the north-east in such a situation?

The north-eastern states provide us many opportunities and challenges. I also find that the people have started realizing that insurgency is working against the future of the youth. As aggressive development of the north-eastern states picks up, people will be ready to make sacrifices and meet any challenge coming in the way of development. Hence the message I would like to give both the state and central governments is to go for aggressive development programmes by empowering the youth of the state. We have to improve the employment opportunities through skill-enabling, knowledge-enabling and entrepreneurship development irrespective of the insurgencies and extremist violence.

15. What is your view on the opening up of trade, communication and road-rail routes to the east from the north-eastern states? Would that provide a stimulating influence on the economy and create more jobs and opportunities?

It is a must for development. The political system should facilitate such an opening up of trade, communication and road-rail routes to the east as quickly as possible. I have discussed with the state and central government authorities about the border trade development which can enhance the employment potential of the youth.

16. Will Rashtrapati Bhavan set an example in shifting our energy use from conventional to non-conventional sources as you are stated to be planning to do?

Presently, the experience in the country is only with the solar power systems of kilowatt capacity. What we are planning in Rashtrapati Bhavan is a 5 MW solar plant. The Ministry of Power and Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources are actively working on this project for establishing the power plant at the earliest.

17. In view of the concerns over the energy situation would you be using your influence to promote such a shift across the country – solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, etc?

As you have noticed in my speeches, I have been suggesting research in the areas of solar energy with CNT (carbon nanotube)-based solar photovoltaic cells for improving the efficiency of solar power plants. I am also suggesting nuclear power through the use of thorium. In the transportation area, I have suggested large-scale plantation of jatropha for bio-diesel generation. Our scientists are working on all these areas.

The visit to three NE states gave me the confidence about the potential of the states in biodiversity and specialized products in horticulture, food processing and garments. This visit also gave me lot of confidence about the inspiration of the youth of these states to succeed in life. They need to be provided with an overall vision of development. Simultaneously, there is a need to enhance the availability of communication and movement infrastructures which makes them remain connected with the external world that will make the states achieve accelerated growth.

APPENDIX-II
Mission Mode Implementation

I
n my speech before I laid down the office of president, I set out a detailed plan for strengthening Parliament. I suggested that each of the long-term objectives/goals, and other challenges that I had identified be implemented jointly by Parliament and the government, that is cutting across the boundaries of various ministries, departments and institutions, through public-private partnerships where required, in a time- and resource-bound manner characterized as ‘mission-mode’. I hoped that the visionary leadership for each of these missions would emerge from the talented members of Parliament. In this way, all the members, cutting across party lines, would be enabled to take a real stake in effective governance. By taking ownership for specific missions, accountability would follow.

The Organizational Structure for Mission Management

Going by the typical model for mission management in advanced areas, I visualized that

• While selected parliamentarians would coordinate the missions, the Cabinet minister in charge of the concerned administrative department would provide directive leadership for the same mission to the required scope and extent within the boundaries of his/her ministry/department.
  
• The cabinet minister would delegate necessary ministry/departmental resources to the ‘Mission Minister’, who would then be made responsible to Parliament for the realization of annual physical and financial targets for his mission.
  

A conceptual sketch of a Matrix Structure of Multiple Missions to realize the India 2020 vision is shown below.

Mission-mode management would require about 15 to 25 per cent of a ministry or departmental budget to be decentralized and internally allocated mission-wise. Responsibility within each ministry for a particular mission would be assigned to a specific executive of joint secretary/director rank. The mission minister would thus have a team from several JS/directors from different ministries and focus them to accomplish the goals of the mission. Each member of the mission management team would be administratively accountable to the Cabinet minister, but functionally responsible to the mission manager.

It could be easily seen that comprehensive involvement of MPs in this way of ‘matrix management’ would require principles of organization and accountability as follows:

1. Mission ministers may be ministers of state or drawn from Parliament and even from parties not in the ruling configuration.
   
2. Vertical delegation of resources and powers by Cabinet ministers to mission ministers for specific missions, programmes and projects.
   
3. Horizontal integration of a specific mission by mission ministers across departmental boundaries through mission-management teams.
   
4. Planning Commission and each ministry/department would have to set up India 2020 vision planning teams for overall mission planning and resource allocation.
   
5. A comprehensive Vision 2020 plan would be carefully prepared by the Planning Commission with each ministry and mission-planning team.
   
6. Resources would be committed to missions from start-to-finish, and the life cycle of missions would extend beyond the life cycles of Parliament and government.
   
7. E-governance network would be used extensively.
   
8. Mission ministers would be directly accountable to Parliament.
   
9. Cabinet ministers would be accountable to the Cabinet which is accountable to Parliament
   
10. Large number of mission ministers would be involved in the India 2020 vision matrix, thus enhancing the role and accountability of Parliament; and increasing the number of high public offices for specific missions.
    

Democratic institutions are no doubt important in the functioning of a democracy. However, they should not be viewed as merely mechanical devices for development. Their successful use is dependent on societal values and on effective public participation in ensuring accountability of the governance structure. The time, then, has arrived for a national debate to serve as a catalyst for systemic change.

INDEX

Acharya Mahapragya,
159
-
60

Acharya Shantideva,
58

AEC (Atomic Energy Commission),
18

Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE),
17

Agni V,
10
,
78
,
79

Agni missile system,
21
,
79
,
87

Airborne Surveillance Platform,
86
-
90

Akash missile,
79

Akshardham,
93
-
94

Ambedkar, Dr B.R.,
35

Amma (Mata Amritanandamayee),
24
-
25

Anna University,
9
,
25

Aravind Eye Institute,
14

Arunachalam, Dr V.S.,
19
,
70

Azad, Maulana Abul Kalam,
35

Aziz, Shaukat,
119

Bachchan, Jaya,
129

Banaras Hindu University (BHU),
74
,
139

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),
13
,
20

Bhatnagar, R.,
89

Bihar assembly, dissolution of,
125
-
29

Bihar, mission for,
55

Bokaro Steel Plant,
23
,
141

Bose-Einstein laboratory,
103

Bose, Subhash Chandra,
35

Bush, George W.,
121

Bush, Laura,
121

C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar,
82

Cape Town,
103

capital punishment,
133
-
34

Central Hall of Parliament,
14
,
15
,
33

Chandrayaan,
76
-
77

Children’s Science Congress,
107

Chinnadurai, Prof.,
14

Chitrakoot PURA,
115
-
16

Circular Error Probability (CEP) test,
80

Coconut Wheeler Island,
80

Congress party (INC),
12
,
20
,
134
,
135

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR),
122

court cases, arrears of,
37
-
40

Dabur,
75

Deendayal Research Institute (DRI),
115

Defence Institute of Work Study (DIWS),
18

Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL),
19
,
70
,
80

Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO),
19
,
20
,
22
,
71
,
79
,
122

Department of Atomic Energy (DAE),
20
,
21

Deshmukh, Nanaji,
112
,
115

developmental politics,
49
-
50

Dhawan, Dr Satish,
18
,
19
,
70

Drexler, Dr K. Eric,
84

e-governance,
6
,
29
-
30
,
56
,
74
,
75
,
97
,
129