INDIAN bureaucrats stationed in various states may be asked to play a larger role to facilitate business and help India gaining its ranking in the global survey of ease of doing business. The message may be given in a meeting of state industry secretaries to be held on October 30 in New Delhi as regulatory issues pose as hurdles in starting a business in most parts of India.
The meeting is convened in the backdrop of a recently commissioned study by the World Bank on "Doing Business (DB) in India" comparing major Indian cities in terms of ease of starting and operating businesses. While there is a need to simplify and reduce regulatory procedures, there are a number of best practices developed by different states which can be replicated without much difficulty and without significant allocation of resources, the study found. According to the study, if each state/city were to adopt the best practices available within the country, India’s rank would improve by as much as 55 positions in the global ranking, a department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) release said.
The meeting to be held on coming Friday is expected to engage state bureaucrats in accelerating the process of industrial reforms in the country.
From Old Files
The Grace Commission, set up in 1982, was a major initiative of US President Reagan for securing government reform as desired by the private sector. It interviewed some 2000 businessmen to find out how wasteful and mismanaged they perceived the federal government. Some 2500 specific recommendations were provided by the Grace Commission for getting rid of wasteful programmes, removal of red tape, and divestiture of assets of the federal government, etc. which, it claimed, would save the government $424 billion in three years. These recommendations were controversial. However, the White House claimed later that 80% of the prospective savings could be achieved. (Reproduced from a report of India's 2nd Administrative Reform Commission)
No personal comments in BoI
BoI (Babus of India) will not provide a platform to pass personal comments on any bureaucrat. In response to babu blogger's post on
"Who are ‘officials in the Indian Railway Board’ who took dollar bribe?" a number of anonymous comments were received in which senior officials were directly attacked. There were mentions of officials being solicited with prostitutes when they were on foreign tours. Those comments were rejected as they were not suitable for publication. It's hereby requested that no such comments should be sent, though anonymous comments on issues related to bureaucracy are always welcome.
The speculations that India’s one of the most influential bureaucrats Pulok Chaterji, a 1974 batch UP cadre IAS, may come back from the World Bank to join newly-constituted National Advisory Council (NAC) which is being reconstituted under UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are ill placed, sources close to him said. Mr Chaterji may rather complete three years as Executive Director in the Bank to get himself eligible for World Bank’s pensions rather than venturing into an early homecoming. Mr Chaterji, who has always remained close to 10 Janpath thanks to his earlier stints as district magistrate of Rae Bareli in early 1980s, a director in the PMO during Rajiv Gandhi’s time, a secretary (joint secretary equivalent) in Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in early 1990s, and then a private secretary to Sonia Gandhi when she was the leader of the Opposition.