Socio economic reforms: Speeding on the information highway

Arnav Pandya

There has been a heavy emphasis on social reforms in India over the last several years. The nature of these social reforms has resulted in a situation where individuals have a bigger voice in the various events around them that occupy a spot in their daily lives. The passage of the Right to Information Act (RTI) and the introduction of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) along with the move towards the passage of the Lokpal Bill are a few measures that has lead the change in this field.

Information is the bedrock of taking the right decision and the proper information will also bring accountability to the process. In the absence of the right kind of information it was not possible for the average Indian to know what is going on around them and that too especially when it came to the usage of public money and the manner in which government departments functioned. The RTI Act as it is popularly known provides the average citizen with the required information related to public authorities within a period of 30 days by making a simple application.

The biggest advantage of the RTI Act is that it will make transparency a basic feature of the Indian landscape. There is also the requirement for the authorities to actually computerise their records so that the details can be given and also to proactively publish certain information which will aid the common man. This will lead to better utilisation of the nations resources as there will be transparency in the manner in which various activities are carried out. 

The RTI allows individuals to obtain copies of government documents plus even inspect permissible documents so there is a lot that they can ask for. Service standards in government department will improve over a period of time as any individual can file a RTI application asking for the details about what work has been done. The charge for the application and for getting photocopies of the documents is also not too high. This ensures that even a small individual can approach any government department for getting the required information and they can then base their further action on this.

India lives in its villages though there has been a rapid pace of urbanisation over the last few decades. The share of agriculture in the total gross domestic product of the country has been declining though the rural areas continue to be the largest area for generation of employment. Due to the dependence on rain fed agriculture and other factors there are a lot of people who do not find the required employment for the entire year. THE NREGA scheme is meant to ensure that there is security of livelihood for a minimum specific period of time during the year for people living in the rural areas.

The scheme provides for a minimum 100 days of employment for those in the rural areas to a household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. This ensures that there is a certain employment guaranteed to the rural population and the wages too are fixed so this increases the element of comfort and guarantee. A recent development has been that the wages for this scheme have been linked to inflation so that there is a steady rise in the wages which will help an individual beneficiary to take care of the inflation that they face in their daily lives. In the future as the implementation is improved it could lead to creation of significant works in the rural areas helping the people to improve their lives.

The Lokpal and the Lokayukta bill is also under process for consideration by Parliament and a strong bill will be a step to ensure that there is more accountability of public servants across the country. This is expected to be a major tool in the fight against corruption across the country which will once again lead to every person getting the services that they are entitled to.

(The writer is a certified financial planner)