Failure To Reform Administration Dents Government Credibility

Addressing the first annual meeting of chief secretaries, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh referred to the anger of the common man at the extreme indifference, lethargy, and corruption of the government machinery. His evaluation of the general mood pervading the country was, of course, correct. However, it is equally true that problems cannot be avoided by merely admitting them. Had confession of shortcomings been enough the purpose would have been served much earlier.

Warning to Bureaucrats
Complaints on corruption in administration have been raised for years. It has also been pointed out that hardly 5 percent or 10 percent of the total allocation was being spent correctly. If the prime minister is under the impression that a warning to the bureaucrats is all that is required, he is only day dreaming, since this too is an old practice.
Strangely enough, he has confessed that the administration has become quite complicated in the present situation. Yet, he has refrained from taking any steps to make its functioning smooth.

Recommendations of Second ARC
The country would like to know why recommendations of the second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) are not being implemented? They should have actually been introduced in the first term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. It is very difficult to predict in the present conditions whether this will be done during its present term. It is both frustrating as well as disconcerting that the work, which should have been taken up on a priority basis, now seems to have been excluded from the agenda.
What is even more tragic is that an effort is being made to solve the problems by giving advice. Are our bureaucrats so naive that they will be aware of their obligations on listening to such advice? It is a waste of time and money to summon senior officials in the states, now and then, to Delhi in order to counsel them on improved methods of functioning and on meeting public expectations. If the federal government fails to realize even now that the situation cannot be improved in this way it is rather unfortunate for the country.

Government's Style of Functioning
On 1 February, the prime minister confessed before the chief secretaries that the masses were getting restless with the speed at which results are declared. On 2 February, he referred to the shortcomings that still remain in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act at a function organized on the completion of four years of this scheme. If the most important project of the federal government suffers from lapses can it be said with certainty that everything is satisfactory at least in some field?
The weaknesses of bureaucrats cannot, of course, be removed overnight. But if necessary steps are not taken in this direction, what can be deduced from such reluctance? At a time when it is necessary to change the government's style of functioning drastically, failure to take even ordinary measures prove that the government is itself not determined to reform the administration. Due to this lack of resolve, the UPA government has so far failed to create any impression during its second tenure.

Indian Economy Poised For Fast Development After Recession

Amid all indications of improvement in the Indian economy, the World Bank has also estimated that the country's economic growth rate, between financial years of 2010-11 and 2011-12, could be from 7.5 to 8-percent. The point to be noted is that the average growth rate of the economy between 1995 and 2005 had been 6.4-percent. From this viewpoint, the World Bank's estimate is also presenting a rosy picture of the country's economy on lines of other estimates and is confirming that India's economy has come out of recession and is well on the way of progress.

Improvement in Economies of High-Income Countries
There are strong possibilities of further development of the Indian economy. It would continue to get stronger with foreign demand. Improvement in the economies of high-income countries would also benefit the country's economy, because this would increase demand from these countries and the flow of foreign investment would increase, which would further strengthen the country's economy. The commendable thing here is that the country would achieve this even when the stimulus packages, given for recovering from the economic recession for the next year i.e. 2010-11 are withdrawn.

Impact of Global Recession
One more noteworthy thing would be that while the Indian economy surges ahead in the years 2010-11 and 2011-12, the pace of global economic growth would be quite slow. Continuous growth of our economy is confirmed by the export figures for December 2009. An increase of 9.3-percent was registered in exports in January. This is the second consecutive month registering growth in export. There had been a fantastic growth of 18.2 percent registered in exports in November 2009.
After falling continuously for 13 months, exports had registered increase for the first time in November 2009. The global recession had been the reason for continuous fall in exports, but with satisfactory growth registered for a second consecutive month, it is proved that our export sector is emerging from recession.

Export Growth
With improvement in industrial activity, there has been increased import of raw material for export trade. This means that exports are growing. There is hope of 10-percent growth in exports in the year 2010-11.
The export sector of the country would become stronger after price rise comes under control, as it would make our goods more competitive in the international market. There is hope that price rise would soon come under control with other measures being taken at the government level, along with increase in the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank of India.

Tension in US-China Relations

Tension is on the rise between the United States and China over the issue of the US supply of arms to Taiwan. Trade and censorship on the Internet have already become disputed issues. The US decision to supply arms to Taiwan may further deteriorate relations between the two countries.
The United States has argued that supply of arms to the tune of $8.5 billion to Taiwan would help in bringing stability in the region. The argument itself is an evidence of cunning US moves. One wonders that if stockpile of arms in a country can lead to stability and peace, why are the United States and its allies raising the bogey of Iran producing the nuclear bomb, although Iran has repeatedly and categorically made it clear that it has no intention to become a nuclear power. Any way, this is a different issue. What justification is there in the US claim that should Taiwan have a huge stockpile of arms, it would lead to peace and stability in the region?

China's Influence, Prestige in Region
As a matter of fact, the US action is aimed at reducing China's influence and prestige in the region. It appears that the United States feels that if Taiwan possesses a huge stockpile of arms, it would bring about a balance of power between Taiwan and China, though such thinking is nothing more than self-deception. Truly, supply of arms to a country has always led to an atmosphere of war and deterioration in the situation. This is simply what the United States wants.
The United States, today, is passing through a major economic crisis. The US multinational companies and banks continue to go bankrupt. The purchasing power of the US citizens continues to decline. Opportunities to earn money through new discoveries have also slipped out of US hands because countries like Japan, China, and India are leaving the United States behind in this field also. Under the circumstances, the United States, the self-proclaimed champion of peace, is left with no option but to earn money through sale of arms, as it continues to be the biggest merchant of arms even until today. Business and trading of arms by the United States continues unabated in the name of the war against terrorism or regional stability, and even in the name of self-defense.

Pressure on China
The very aim behind supply of arms to Taiwan is not to bring about stability or peace in the region, but the United States is striving to kill many birds with one stone, which is symbolic of its duplicity. One of the aims is to boost its arms trade and earn money. The other is to give a severe jolt to China. Both the United States and China do not see eye to eye on several issues, and their differences are common knowledge. It is worth a mention that China lays its claim on Taiwan, maintaining that Taiwan is part of China.
Although there is an autonomous government ever since 1947, China warns that if Taiwan even talked about complete independence, China would carry out military action against the same. Clearly, the inclination is not correct and the international community may exert its pressure on China diplomatically, but should the United States supply arms to Taiwan, the situation may deteriorate further.

Impact of US Decision
In light of the US decision to supply arms to Taiwan, China has announced to ban on US companies dealing in arms and ammunitions, immediate suspension of military exchanges with the United States, and of cooperation it extends to the United States in different sectors. If China indeed acts on its announcement, it would certainly have an adverse and negative impact on China-US relations. This would not be a one sided impact, as these measures may harm the United States, but it would affect the Chinese industry also, because the United States is a major market for the Chinese goods. If the issue escalates further, it would have an adverse impact on Chinese export as well. Equally true it is that opening up such a front against China does not go in US interest either.
China has categorically said that the US-Taiwan defense deal would certainly have an adverse impact on the continuing cooperation between China and the United States. However, the rising tension and skirmish between the countries on the issue of supply of arms does not augur well for Asia, and also the region.