Redefining the 'social contract'

Recalibrate encapsulates the distilled wisdom of two long careers devoted to public policy

The authors of Recalibrate are very well-regarded, retired IAS officers. This book is a collection of essays and speeches.

Mr Singh is the senior of the two, from the 1964 batch of the Bihar cadre. Dr Mishra is of the 1972 batch, of the Gujarat cadre.

Both belong to that rare subset of the IAS that, along with the usual brains, also has an intellect. This book is the result of that latter quality. It’s the distilled wisdom of two long careers devoted to public policy.

Mr Singh has held many key posts in the Government of India, and is now the Chairman of the Finance Commission. Dr Mishra is the principal secretary to the prime minister. He, too, has held many important posts in the central government and in Gujarat.

Dr Mishra writes about his experiences in government. Mr Singh has focused on several large issues of governance. Together the two authors have provided a unique perspective on how India is run and how it needs to be run.

The book has three sections called Matters of Governance, People-First Policy and Fiscal Matrix and Beyond. There are in all 13 chapters.

Since the book is not a conventional solo theme book, the chapters can be read at random. That makes it easier to absorb the contents.

The main task before the country, say the authors, is to redefine the “social contract” between the state and citizens. Hence the title, Recalibrate.

Singh’s songs

Deferring to the seniority rule of the bureaucracy, it’s appropriate to discuss the highly thoughtful contributions of Mr Singh first. He has covered a wide range of topics from the relationship between the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Secretariat to Centre-state relations to the need for a fiscal council that will supervise the finance ministry to a whole clutch of other important issues.

On the PMO-Cabinet Secretariat issue, Mr Singh thinks there is an “inherent tension” between them and that the relationship needs to “shift from a mindset of hierarchy to one of complementarity and equality”.

On Centre-state relations Mr Singh has confined himself to the fiscal aspects. He points to the fundamental contradiction between the Seventh Schedule that comprises the Central, Concurrent and States lists and Article 182, which contradicts it.

This is a big problem but not as big as the next one he points to, namely, the “asymmetry in the working of the GST Council and the Finance Commission”. Basically, it would seem to be the old problem of who proposes and who disposes.

Thus, “this leads to unsettled questions on the ways to monitor, scrutinise and optimise revenue outcomes”. He says India needs a mechanism for coordination between the two.

 He also points to an International Monetary Fund report that says around 80 countries now have fiscal councils. Their job is to guide the ministries of finance towards prudence and accuracy in fiscal matters. But it’s not very clear how successful these councils have been.

Finally, the gorilla in the room: Climate change. Mr Singh is deeply concerned about it and has made lots of suggestions to mitigate it. Pakistan, which is inundated by floods, should pay heed.

However, as Professor Raj Krishna pointed out in 1979, governments are “knowledge proof”. To which one could add the story told about Atal Bihari Vajpayee who apparently sat through a long presentation on how India could grow at 10 per cent.

When it was over he asked in his languorous manner, “Par yeh sab hoga kaise?”

Mishra’s medley

Dr Mishra has focused on agriculture and what needs to be done to and with it and on disaster management. He handled both while he was in service. There’s also a chapter on reminiscences called “People, Politicians and Bureaucrats”, all of whom he lets off with his customary kindness.

In the case of agriculture he correctly points out that it is among the riskiest of businesses and suggests ways of dealing with the problem. This chapter contains a long list of things that the Narendra Modi government has done. A few paragraphs on why nothing seems to help Indian farmers who now rely on non-farm incomes would have been helpful.

Dr Mishra is internationally acknowledged as a disaster management guru and the chapter, like the one on agriculture, is precise in its recommendations. Preparedness is the key but, sadly, Indian governments tend to neglect it. The response after something happens, however, is pretty good.

These essays by Mr Singh and Dr Mishra cover such a wide range of topics that it is hard to do justice to them in the allotted space. But one thing is for sure: The book should be made compulsory reading for all entrants into the civil services and, later on, perhaps the PMO as well. It will broaden their horizons.