Editorial 1 : The era of the politics of performance
Context
Competency needs to be one of the central pillars of political discourse.
India’s vibrant democracy
- India’s vibrant democracy thrives on the idea that elected representatives embody the people’s mandate.
- So, 795 MPs, approximately 4,123 Members of the Legislative Assemblies and and 31.8 lakh elected representatives in the local government, together formulate policies and ensure their implementation at the levels of the central and State government, raise the issues of the people in Parliament, Assembly, and Councils, and work on issues of importance as part of committees.
- At least 75% of Lok Sabha members and nearly 64% of MLAs are graduates. While educational qualifications provide critical skills, effective governance requires a spectrum of qualities in the form of behavioural, functional, and domain-based competencies.
The competencies that are needed
- Behavioural skills are at the heart of political competency, enabling politicians to engage effectively with various stakeholders.
- Representatives must excel in communication, verbal and writing, and public engagement.
- Effective leadership and negotiation skills are vital in uniting diverse teams behind a shared vision and managing different stakeholders.
- Second, functional competencies. Beyond being people-oriented, representatives must deeply understand the rules and processes underpinning legislation and policy implementation.
- Representatives must also be competent in translating citizen grievances and communicating those policy gaps to decision-makers. This will ensure that the voices of citizens are plugged into policy-making processes.
- Domain-based competencies are crucial for elected officials, and tailored to meet the specific needs of their constituencies and manage their unique portfolios effectively.
- Insights into infrastructure and urban planning are also fundamental, where understanding effective urban planning, transportation systems, public works, and sustainable infrastructure development are critical.
- Apart from these domains, awareness of the latest technological advancements and their implications on public services and economic growth are essential, ensuring that policy decisions are forward-thinking and inclusive of technological progress.
- Further, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, the National Health Policy, the Mental Healthcare Act, and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Rules are recent examples of individuals shaping policies through domain expertise and commitment.
- As we advocate a competency-based approach, we must be careful about the competency trap, where an excessive focus on specific skills might suppress the innovation and creativity needed to solve complex problems. Instead, we should foster an environment that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills alongside technical expertise.
- Promoting collaboration between representatives with diverse backgrounds and expertise will ensure a multi-disciplinary approach to tackling complex challenges.
Institutionalising the vision
- To effectively institutionalise this vision, it is crucial to align these competencies with their specific roles, incorporating the Karmayogi Competency Model from Mission Karmayogi.
- This process involves identifying existing skill gaps and evolving training needs through consultation with elected officials, citizens, and domain experts.
- To facilitate this continuous learning, we can leverage existing resources from central and State training institutions such as Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies, National and State Institutes of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, as well as the Integrated Government Online Training platform and civil society organisations such as PRS Legislative Research, Participatory Research in Asia, Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini
Conclusion
Ultimately, the success of competency-based politics also relies on a shift in public perception. Citizens need to demand more from their elected representatives, holding them accountable not just for their promises but also for their ability to deliver on those promises. As we move towards a Viksit Bharat, let us make competency a central pillar of political discourse, where effective leadership is not an exception but an expectation.
Editorial 2 : Giving primacy to human development
Context
According to a study, “The top 1% earn on average 5.3 million, 23 times the average Indian (INR 0.23 million).
A poor ranking on HDI
- Two recent reports reveal some important facets of India’s development.
- First, the Human Development Report 2023-24, published by the United Nations Development Programme, takes a comparative perspective and maps the achievements in the area of human development.
- Second, a paper published by the World Inequality Lab in March 2024 provides long-term trends in income and wealth inequality in India between 1922 and 2023.
- These reports do not reveal very encouraging trends on both fronts and can be used for future course corrections.
- More importantly, the evidence published is a significant guidepost for the forthcoming government, if it is to advance human capabilities and enhance the welfare of citizens, which are agendas of the major parties.
- India ranked 134 out of 193 countries in the UN Human Development Index (HDI) in 2022, which was an improvement compared to 2021, when it ranked 135 out of 192 countries. This places India is in the medium human development category.
- However, even though India moved up a rank compared to 2021, it still fell behind Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and China.
- The index on which India registered an improvement is the Gender Inequality Index. In 2022, India was ranked 108 out of 193 countries, while in 2021, it ranked 122 out of 191 countries.
- However, India also has one of the largest gender gaps in its labour force participation rate as there exists a 47.8% difference between women (28.3%) and men (76.1%).
Concerns
- The Report raises concerns on rising inequality and its implications for advancing human development.
- Inequality between countries at the upper and lower ends of the HDI started to increase each year since 2020.
- This divergence is compounded by substantial economic concentration, as almost 40% of the global trade in goods is concentrated in three or fewer countries.
- The reports states that the share of people reporting having very high control over their lives is low and relatively equal for the bottom 50 percent of the population, but rises with income for deciles 6 and above.
- Thus, income inequalities, which often intersect and are associated with other inequalities in human development, shape agency.
Widening inequality
- The World Inequality Lab study shows that the bottom 50% were getting only 15% of India’s national income in 2022-23.
- This stark income inequality in India has important implications on the aggregate demand and consumption and on human welfare.
- The real growth rate of incomes at each percentile of the income distribution shows that growth for the top decile has been significantly higher than the rest of the population.
- When growth gets very concentrated at the top, the pace of economic polarisation accelerates eventually resulting in the emergence of two classes, the haves and have-nots.
- Household debt levels in India reached a record high of 40% of GDP by December 2023, and the net financial savings plunged to 5.2% of the GDP, according to a recent report.
Way forward
Given low levels of human development, high levels of inequality, low savings and high debt, it is time to think about an alternate growth strategy which accords primacy to human development and convert it as a route to accelerate growth. This needs political will and thinking beyond short-term electoral gains.